620 



THE AGRICULTURAL GAZETTE. 



[Sept. 15, 1855. 



4 The supply of the waste or increase of fat. 



The warmth natural to living animals depends upon 

 the consumption of a certain portion of the food in the 

 process of breathing ; the substances consumed in this 

 manner are chiefly those which contain a large quantity 

 of carbon, which passes off in the breath, in the lorm of 



carbonic acid. 



The most important warmth-giving foods are, starch, 



su^ar gum, the softer fibres of plants, and oily or fatty 



substances ; as the natural warmth of an animal in 



leilth remains the same at all times, it necessarily 



fellows that a larger supply of warmth-giving food is 



required in cold situations than in warm ones. 



During motion, or under excitement of any kind, the 

 breathing is hastened, and consequently a larger 

 amouut of carbon is thrown off by the lungs. In quietude 

 and sleep, or the contrary, the breathing is slower, and 

 the quantity of food consumed in this manner is lessened, j 

 These circumstances will render evident the utility of ; 

 keeping fattening animals in a house of moderately 

 warm ^temperature, and one sufficiently quiet and 

 darkened to conduce to rest and s'eep. 



To supply the materials of the growth of young 

 animals, and repair the waste arising from the daily 

 action of the limbs, and from other causes, a second 

 variety of food is required ; for the starch and other 

 substances before enumerated have been proved, by 

 direct experiment, to have not the slightest action in 

 supplying* these wants. Substances-possessing this power 

 may be termed flesh-forming foods. The most impor- 

 tant are the gluten, and similar substances, existing in 

 variable quantities in different grains ; and, in larger 

 proportion, in the varieties of Pulse, as Beans, Peas, &c. ; 

 and in the materials which form the solid parts of the 

 flesh of animals, of eggs, of milk, &c. In consequence 

 of their containing the element of nitrogen, which is 

 wanting in th6 other varieties of food, these flesh - 



forming substances are frequently termed nitrogenous ! vinced at a glance 

 foods ; whilst the fat-forming and warmth-giving are 



called carbonaceous foods. 



The mineral and the saline substances contained in 

 the bones, and in other parts of the bodies of animals, 

 occur in larger proportion in the bran than in the inner 

 part of the grain. A due supply of bone-making and 

 saline materials is absolutely requisite to the growth of 

 a healthy animal ; as, if wanting in the food, the bones 

 become soft, and the general health speedily fails. 



In reference to the present subject, those substances 

 which supply the materials for replacing the waste or 

 the increase of fat are the most important. It is still 

 a point unsettled, amongst scientific authorities, whether 

 the starchy materials before spoken of as warmth-giving 

 food, are, or are not capable of being converted, by the 

 living forces of the body, into fat ; although there is 

 but little doubt that under favourable circumstances 

 they are so, but it is unquestioned that where it js 



desired to fatten animals rapidly (or supply fat to be 



consumed in generating warmth, as is necessary in all 



cold regions), it is the absolute requisite that the food 



eaten should contain oily and fatty matters which can 



be readily absorbed by the digestive organs, and either 



stored up or applied to the immediate wants of the 



body. ^ There appears no doubt but that the fatty 



materials in the food are rapidly absorbed by the body 



without undergoing much alteration, therefore, the 



nature of the food influences very greatly the character 



of the fat ; and, not to seek for examples beyond the 



•animals whose fattening is at present under considera- 

 tion, the writer knows of an extensive feeder of geese, 



who always sends his birds to market in an excessively 



fat condition, but which nevertheless do not command 



-the prices paid for some others in a less fatted state, 



from the very soft and oily character of the fat, and its 



being known to lose excessively in cooking. This feeder 



keeps his process of feeding a secret ; but there is little 



doubt but that oil-cake or Linseed enters largely into 



his dietary. The rapid fattening effects of cod liver oil 



on men and animals prove also, that fatty substances 



can be rapidly assimilated by the vital powers ; and the 



lelogram to be 336 yards long, or twice the \Zt 

 of the circumference of the circle, it will follow tW 

 by the time a machine can be dragged lfift ya rds 



or one quarter of one "bout," the steam m ac l W 

 worked on the circular method would have executed? 



can 

 si in 





mechanics, when I shall show them they must in a i suppose each of the lines 

 measure return to that simplicity of operation from 

 which they are fast departing, before they can advan- 

 tageously employ the power of steam in place of the 

 living horse. Agriculture in the field is remarkable 

 beyond all other arts for its simplicity ; such being the 

 fact, you must agree with me there need not be the 

 least necessity to farm by algebra when it can be done 

 by simple arithmetic. The business of farming may be 

 difficult, but agricultural processes ever have been and 

 are simple enough. I once knew a " promoted scare- 

 crow" who could perform every operation connected 

 with tillage in first-rate style; and I also knew a farmer 

 who could not write his name, yet made a fortune off 

 500 acres of land. Hence agriculture must be a simple, 

 not an elaborate practice in its general principles ; as 

 such I wish your readers to regard it, because I shall 

 have occasion to make some (apparently) very simple 

 overtures for the purpose of bringing my * method " of 

 tilling the soil, sowing the seeds, and hoeing the weeds, 

 &c, into practical operation. By turning to my last 

 letter, p. 573, it will be seen I adduced certain examples 

 to show that Nature, when she desires to execute as 

 much work as possible in the least time and with the 

 least expenditure of labour or materiel, invariably 

 includes the work to be done within a circular figure. 

 It now remains to me to demonstrate how and why the 

 work of tillage or cultivation, to be offered to the steam- 

 engine to execute, should also be included within a circle 

 of a definite and practicable area. The point is difficult 

 to elucidate by mere words, I admit — being an argu- 

 ment of a practical, or rather material, nature, it 

 requires to be shown by practical illustration in the 

 field ; that is, to explain myself convincingly, I ought to 

 have the power of addressing the eye, rather than the 

 understanding ; this cannot be, therefore we must make 

 the best of it, bearing in mind that he who is not con- 

 will never be convinced by a 

 multiplicity of words. The proposition is this, viz., we 

 want to do a great deal of work in a very short time, 

 and for very little money ; the- power we propose to 

 employ is that of steam ; the material we have to operate 

 upon is an extensive plane surface. Now as we know 

 we cannot act upon a vast plane surface all at once by 

 mechanic means, wo will without hesitation divide it 

 into parts, and take a portion, say a half-acre (or, 

 entire acre) ; this is strictly admissible, because " What 

 is a farm \ " Why it is an acre of land, or, an aggrega- 

 tion of acres from 5 to 500, but all as separate and 

 distinct, the one from the other, as much as our fields 

 are, if we choose to view it so. Therefore, my proposal 

 is to cultivate only one acre of land by steam-power ; 

 knowing full well that if we fulfil the required conditions 

 in executing that one acre, we can by a repetition of 

 the same means accomplish 500 acres or any greater 

 number. It will be understood in this letter we are 

 endeavouring to find out the method of application — 

 not the machine which is to till the land. When we 

 shall have first found out the method or railway (to 



the 



engraved 



in the 



,.„.-^ v .. w .vvuvu.c« iiicuiuu wouia nave executed in 

 the same period of time an entire half acre of land 

 Here is economy of " time » in operating on extensive 

 surfaces by machinery ! Who can object to it J Who 

 - object to the obtaining such great results bv so 

 pie a change in method ? Let me observe, if a field 

 were to be worked up by a steam tillage machine in 

 separate portions (half acreB or acres), of course it 

 would present an unusual appearance ; in fact it would 

 resemble a lot of "molehills" or beautifully pulverised 

 circular areas, such being the visible and practical 

 result of .my method. I hope I may claim the 

 hearty support of " Talpa," because he has, with that 

 prescience for which he is remarkable, in his letters 

 alluded to this probable "molehill 1 ' method of cultiva- 

 tion : * he writes, " There's the tiny mole, a fierce sub- 

 navigator in his way, but his track turns up some pretty 

 cultivation, it only wants spreading far and wide • it's 

 not so wise to throttle him as you think ; I grieve to 

 see him hanging gibbetted, his clever paddles stopped 

 by cruel ignorance. For he is your only granulation- 

 master ; he taught us drainage and sub-cultivation, and 

 we shall learn of him another and a greater lesson some 

 day, and call him a prophet." It will be evident from 

 the above quotation that " Talpa " evidently discerns 

 that the m molehill " method of pulverisation presents 

 the finest and most perfect tillage imaginable ; although 

 his mind instructed him of this fact, yet he might not 

 discern how the like could be effected by mechanical 

 means, but this will not detract from his merit I 



the suffrage of 



also claim 



suffrage 

 writers in the 



the gardener. For 

 Oazette have talked 





speak figuratively), then we will describe the tillage- 

 machine or locomotive which is to run, or operate 

 according to the nature or requirements of the method 

 discovered. We have here a circle and a parallellogram, 

 each of which contains half an acre of land. 



following extract from the 11th volume of the " Phar- 

 maceutical Journal " substantiates the fact, that they 

 are absorbed without undergoing much change : — 



"A quantity of refuse cod livers were sent into the 

 country, and turned under some rubbish for the purpose 

 of forming manure. Some time after several pigs dis- 

 covered the treasure, and fed extensively upon it ; 

 although not put up to fatten they became in very high 

 condition— so much so that they were killed without 

 any further preparation. On dressing them it was 

 found that the fat was yellow, and the flesh very peculiar ; 

 during cooking it gave out a very strong smell, similar 

 to that of boiled cod livers, and was so offensive that it 

 was unfit for food ; in fact it was saturated with the oil, 

 which even exuded from the lean when pressed. The 

 fat of the pork did not solidify, but was soft, and smelt 

 like rancid cod liver ; even the lungs and the liver 

 appeared saturated with oil ; the hams had the appear- 

 ance of having been soaked in that liquid, and could not 

 be made to take the salt. This circumstance appears 

 to prove that the fatty matter, are absorbed without 

 their sensible qualities being altered; the 



tTZTJ^Z ^ d *™* « the cod liVer oil affect- 

 ing the fat of the pork." 



(To be continued.) 





liquid 



Home Correspondence. 



Steam Cultivation.— r lhe readers of tliP a«***f* ™„ Q * 



•not consider (until they shall have k^^SfiS 



am about to make a retrograde movement in field 



The parallelogram exemplifies the angular or square 

 method by which tillage mechanism is now worked, 

 and the circle shows the method by which I propose to 

 grind up the soil so as to obtain a seed-bed, &c. Now 

 let us consider the relative advantage of the two 

 systems. The first condition required from a steam 

 cultivator was that it shall do more work in less time ; 

 hence, suppose the motive power employed is situate at 

 B on the circumference of the circle, the length of the 

 line representing the circumference will be (in round 

 numbers) 168 linear yards ; now arises the question, 

 what time will it take a cart-horse or a steam-engine 

 moving at horse pace to travel this distance? The 

 answer will be 2\ minutes ; hence, if we can (hereafter) 

 show it is practicable to construct a steam tillage 

 machine, which shall extend its arm from the motive 

 power at B to a fixed point (point d'appui) at A, in 

 the centre of the circle, and be connected therewith 

 we know to a certainty that the traversing movement 

 of the engine at B would cause mechanism to sweep 

 over the entire surface included within the circle in the 

 same period of time as its own description ; and that, 

 as a consequence, proper mechanism being provided we 

 could execute all the customary processes of tilla 

 over half an acre of land in 2$ minutes of time. Now 

 this rate of operating would perfectly fulfil the condition 

 we proposed, viz., of doing more work in less time than 

 is now clone. Therefore it is proven that a circular 

 movement round a fixed point, the power moving having 

 connection with that point, is the method by which 

 we can fulfil the condition of time. Let us now 

 examine the parallelogram, which also contains half 

 an acre, and exemplifies the present method of 

 operating. Owing to the want of a point of attach- 

 ment, or fixed point for machinery to work from 

 and also from the extreme difficulty of turning at the 

 headlands, to complete the " bout;' our present field 

 mechanism is limited (as a rule) to 9 feet. Now 



years past 



about and stated that they desired " horticultural agri- 

 culture." Now we propose to divide a field into half 

 acre or acre plots, and to pulverise them mechanically 

 by steam-power ; such being the case, what expression 

 (figuratively) would the gardener apply \ Why he 

 would call it his "flower-pot" system on a larger scale. 

 And what better than that ? Surely if he with his weak 

 hands can pulverise the soil and grow his finest plants 

 in a 2-feet flower pot, we could grow our plants far 

 finer than is now the case within the area of an half 

 acre, or whole acre " pots," or " molehills," tilled by a 

 steam-engine ! Of what use is it talking about " horti- 

 cultural steam-agriculture," unless some farmer boldly 

 steps forth to try it \ I also ask the honest opinion of 

 the very small farmer ; for it has long been notorious 

 that the smaller a man's plot of land is the mere he 

 will grow upon it in comparison with larger. On first 

 inspection of my "method " I shall be charged with an 

 apparent loss of land, through the intervals between the 

 circles ; but here (although it requires no ghost to see 

 there need be no loss, unless the farmer chooses), I claim 

 the testimony of Mr. Smith, of Lois-Weedon, the vd- 

 ful disciple of Tull, as to whether there be any real loss 

 by having intervals (or interstitial spaces) among grow- 

 ing plants ; he demonstrates by his practice that Irom 

 the fact of his free use of the " interval " among growing 

 cwp«, it enables him to grow more, and also to grow 

 the same crop year after year, with impunity, on the 

 same laud ; and he attributes it entirely to the use ot 

 the " interval "—hence we may consider it as proven 

 that blank spaces among growing crops instead of being 

 a disadvantage may be turned into a real profit. Cham 

 Burcham, London. . . 



Thin Seeding.— The very intelligent master ot tne 

 Newmarket Union sowed on 8th September last one 

 grain of Wheat of the crop 1852. It threw up seven 

 , which were transplanted about 14th November. 

 On about the 20th August, when the crop was gatnereo, 

 there were 131 ' ' " --=«-■ *** ^insand 



sp 



The master counted and 

 I enclose a few grains^ 



g e 



heads ; these contained 5700 gram 9 ** 

 a few over. The yield more than filled a tumbler, an^ 

 the weight of it was 9£ oz. 

 weighed the grains himself, 

 sample. Contrast this with the ordinary yie 

 bushels per acre would be considered a thm so g» 

 and 40 bushels per acre a good yield-in other wow 

 20 fold ; here we have 5700 fold. On a former occa- 

 sion he sowed one grain in September, and transp ia 

 the spires in November ; and again in February , 

 the yield then was above 6500 ; but he has no* 

 exact particulars. Again, in order to see wlie tae 

 or new Wheat threw up the strongest spires, he 

 on the 25th August, one grain of the crop 185 1 1 „l: A J 

 1852 ; one do. 185^ ; one do. 1854 ; one do. J? * ber 

 the relative heights of the species on the < th bj>pi 

 were-] 851, 5* inches ; 1852, 4 J ; 1853, 5 ; I « J * d 



3i— the spires from the old seed timer 

 stronger. /. //. W. aflf ma de 



Cote of the <• Collins* r— In a severe comment ^ 

 by the Times on the punishment of two labour J2 ion f 

 left their work to go and 6ee a review, no me 

 the hay-spoiling is made ; now, if labourers can ^ 

 their work at a most critical time, and on I J w- e 

 day's wage, farming cannot be carried on. 0«tf y^ r 



a score of Irish labourers employ ed in * * i: V r " i sa of one 

 ing hay, and a storm coming on ; what is the o ^ { 

 day or a week's wages compared to the loss .° ra y 



All other trades are protected from such acciu ^ ^ 

 why should not farmers! There was, m)Te0 ]^ cW \ng 



case a conspiracy, or what would in a nlii11 ia ain^the 

 district amount to it, namely, in the man P er * ]Ce °was 

 boy to leave work. No Cot 'cy. V^ c '|^ n)aS ter 

 sanctioned or forgiven or condoned bj 



' : * Agria iral Gazeiie^Xo.lJ IS* 



1 855, 





