

Sept. 29, 1855.] 



THE AGRICULTURAL GAZETTE. 



>1 



^B 



It occasionally happens that fowls are infested with J mean temperature of ihe ground of a field at Yester j 



ijce to such a degree that they become irritable, and 



; in these cases, a little flour of brim- 



refuse to fatten 



■tone dusted under the leathers before cooping thein 



immediately expels the vermin. 



[To be continued. j 



Mains, in its natural, wet, undrained state, as follows : 



Mean. 



• • » 



• • • 



THE PRIZE REAPING MACHINES. 



We have just observed in the Mark Lane Express of 

 the 17th inst. an extract from a Scotch paper depre- 

 ciating the value of our improvements in M'Cormick's 

 Reaper and questioning; the decision of the Royal 

 Agricultural Society in awarding to us the first prize at 

 the recent trial at Abbot's Leigh. The best reply we 

 think we can make is to produce the evidence of well- 

 known practical farmers who have used our reapers 

 this harvest, and we leave it to the public to decide 

 between that and the remarks of perhaps a wholly un- 

 qualified critic. Burgess & Key, 103, Newgate Street 



" Princes Gate Farm, Havering Bower, Essex, Aug. 18, 1855. 

 u Gentlemen, — In reply to your inquiry, I am happy to inform 

 yon the reaper has very far exceeded my most sanguine expecta- 

 tion, particularly in the clean and correct mode of its cutting, 

 gathering, and delivering, leaving the swarth in a most perfect 

 form, very far better than could be done by the best workman I 



have ever seen. 



'• I commenced on 14 acres of Oats, and we cut them down at 

 the rate of 1} acres per hour. I have this day cut down 11 acres 

 of "Wheat, commencing at 9 a.m. and finishing at 20 minutes to 

 6 o'clock; Wf h«rses travelled at the rate ot 2 J miles per hour, 

 and it was not harder work than their usual ploughing. 

 The machine seems very simple, and not liable to derangement, 

 nothing up to this time having caused us one minute's delay ; 

 we have not removed the knife or sharpened it, and from 

 examination of the work, I am surprised to find it seems but little 

 the worse for wear. I have 70 acres yet to cut, and 1 think it 

 certain to finish the whole. Allow me to congratulate you on 

 your spiral delivery — the motion is simple and effective, and 

 without it, I consider the machine would be of but little me to 

 agriculture. I think I have now answered your various in- 

 quiries, but I shall be happy to give you further information, as 

 I proceed with the harvest, and you are quite at liberty to refer 

 any gentleman to me you may think proper, to see it in operation 

 dnring this harvest, Wishing you the success you so fully deserve, 

 I remaiu, gentlemen, your obedient, 



"Mt i t Burgess and Key. (Signed) Collinson IIa.ll." 



" Stanford le Hope. 



"Dear Sir,— In reply to your inquiry respecting your self- 

 delivery screw reaper supplied to Mr. Eve, I have cut about 30 

 acres of Wheat with it, but have not had an opportunity to 

 ascertain the quantity of acres it will cut per day until this 

 morning, when I went into a 6 acre field at 11 o'clock, and 

 finished it by half-past 3 o'clock, which was a little more than 

 1$ acres per hour. I may mention that I never changed the 

 sickle, also that some of my best men said that they could not 

 lay it so well with the scythe.— Yours truly, 



"J. Robertson - , 



" Messrs. Burgess & Key." " Bailiff for Mr. Eve." . 



And since then the following has been received from 

 Mr. Hall :— 



"Princes Gate Farm, Havering Bower, August 26, 1855. 

 Gentlemen, — I reply to yours of yesterday, I have continued 

 reaping with your machine about 7 acres per day, that being 

 about the quantity we could get tied up and trussed, but now, 

 having more hands, we shall cut 10 acres per day for the next 

 two days, which will finish my Wheat. All my friends and 

 neighbours are truly astonished with the regularity of the work, 

 and I am pleased to say we have not had one delay from any- 

 thing breaking. You can refer any one to me ; I can only say 

 that the principle is admirable, and will in a very short time 

 relieve the harvest field from its heaviest implement, the scythe. 

 My men at first were much unsettled at the introduction of such 

 an innovator on human toil, but they will soon view it in the 

 proper spirit, and like the steam threshing machine, kind friends 

 where they anticipated enemies. — I remain, gentlemen, 



" Your obedient servant, Collinson Hall." 



" Lazenby, Redcar, Sept. 21, 1855. 

 " Gentlemen, — Having had Messrs. Burgess and Key's Reaping 

 Machine at work on my farm for several days and operating upon 

 a variety of crops, I have much pleasure in expressing my entire 

 satisfaction with its performances. I have cut autumn and 

 spring sown Wheat varying from 32 to 40 bushels per acre, some 

 much lodged, and Oats a very heavy crop, and so much laid 

 and twisted in parts that I thought it utterly impossible for 

 any machine to cut them at all. One pair of horses worked the 

 machine easily day after day ; they have to travel no faster than 

 the ordinary ploughing pace, and a boy of 15 managed them 

 without any difficulty. The machine is so constructed that 

 there is very little wear and tear going on; it delivers the cut 

 com in a beautiful swathe laid so straight and lightly on the 

 ground that the sheaves are quickly gathered up, the stubble is 

 evenly cut and left particularly clean. I found that the machine 

 Will cut in the manner described from 1J to 1£ acres per hour; 

 it is always cutting its full width, viz., 5 feet 8 inches. I have 

 had great experience in reaping by machinery, and I can 

 honestly say that Messrs. Burgess and Key's machine is on the 

 whole by far the most perfect and satisfactory implement I 

 nave seen. (S%ned) Thomas Parringtox." 



March 

 A pril 

 May 

 June 



July ... 

 August... 



September 

 October 



Vegetating Season. 



> . . 



• • 



• * « 



t • • 



. . . 



■ > . 



• . . 



• . • 



• • 



■ ■ 



• * • 



• • « 



■ 



- 



• • • 



• • • 



■ . » 



• • • 



. ■ . 



• • • 





. . . 



• •• 



• • • 





40 

 4S 

 54 

 5 

 56 

 50 



35 



by 



On 





Mean of the vegetating season 



* t • 



November 



December 

 January 



February 



Nonrveg i S'<tson. 



9 • • 



• •• 



• - » 



• t I 



" 



• •• 



• - ■ 



• • • 



f . • 



• • 



46\75 



Meaii. 

 34 c 

 34 

 B'2 

 34 



Mean of the non-vegetating season 

 Mean of both seasons 



* ■ » 



. . • 



33°. 5 



4: 



The mean temperature of the soil of another field at 

 Yester Mains, after being thorough-drained, was AS 



follows, in 1849 : — 



March 

 April 



r 



June 



July 



August 



September 



October... 



Vegetating Season* 



• ■ • 



• - ■ 



• • • 



• ■ ■ 



* • • 



• • • 



• ■ • 



t * 



• •• 



• • • 



• ■ . 



« •« 



9 9 9 



• • • 



9 • 9 



9 •• 



9 9 9 



.. • 



a * • 



• f • 



• 9 • 



* . • 



• • • 



• • • 



• •ft 



• • » 



■ • • 



• • • 



■ - . 



■ | . 



• • * 



Mean. 

 3J 

 38 

 •17 

 53 

 54 

 46 

 54 

 37 



Mean of the vegetating season 



• 9* 



4) .75 



November 

 December 

 January 

 February 



Xon-vegetating Season. 



• • i 



■ - • 



■ ■ • 



• • • 



« • • 





• * t 



• • • 



• • ■ 



■ ■ • 



■ • • 



• • ■ 



Mean. 

 37° 



;;« 



32 

 38 



Mean of the non-vegetating season 



■°.7.j 



42 B .42 



WARMTH CONFERRED BY DRAINAGE.* 



A series of six thermometers were placed in the 

 soil, in different fields, at the depth of eighteen inches, 

 and their indications were observed and compared, at 

 stated hours of the day, by a qualified person, with 

 thermometers placed in the air above ground ; and as 

 the observations were made in fields similarly situated, 

 and over a series of years, they may fairly be compared 

 together. The reason why the thermometers were 

 placed as deep as 18 inches was, that at that depth they 

 were found not to be sensibly affected by the changes of 

 temperature in the atmosphere. 



Observations were first made to ascertain the tempe- 

 rature of the ground in its natural state, in order to 

 compare it with that of the same ground after being 

 thorough-drained, and after being both thorough-drained 

 and subsoil-trench-ploughed. The observations for each 

 month of the year, for reasons formerly given, are 

 classed into vegetating and non- vegetating periods, such 

 Periods being in unison with the state of the crops when 

 growing* and with the state of the soil when in fallow. 

 The temperature of the routine of the year by the 



Mean of both seasons 



Here, in the same season, 1849, the temperature after 

 thorough draining was one decree lower than in the 

 undrained field in summer. Contrary as such a result 

 may be to expectation, it may perhaps be accounted for 

 from the circumstance of the difference of temperature 

 being observed in different fields at the same time. It 

 is quite possible for thorough draining to affect different 

 sorts of subsoils, in a short time, to a different degree, 

 as regards temperature. Had the thorough drained 

 field been left to the effects of thorough draining alone 

 for more than twelve months, it is probable that its 

 temperature would have been higher than 45°. 75 in the 

 summer. This conjecture is corroborated by another 

 field, where the temperature of the soil in summer was 

 45 Q .4, and where the thorough draining and fcubsoil- 

 trench-ploughing were effected in the same summer. 

 The thorough draining was executed in May and June, 

 the subsoil-trench-ploughing in August and September, 

 and Wheat was sown in October. The operations were 

 thus hastened to improve the land as quickly as possible. 



Butanothercircumstancemay have affected the summer 

 temperature of the two fields first referred to, one being 

 in bare fallow, the other in Grass in 1849. It is possible 

 that the temperature of the subsoil may be differently 

 affected by the state of the surface-soil, when it is 

 covered with a crop or when it is in bare earth. 



If we turn our attention to the temperature in winter, 

 we observe quite another and more favourable result. 

 The temperature in that season, in the same time, had 

 risen no less than 2°.25. The mean of both seasons 

 was rather higher after thorough draining. The advan- 

 tage of a higher temperature in winter is of more im- 

 portance in keeping the soil warm for vegetation than 

 in summer. 



The remarkable celerity with which thorough draining 

 may affect the temperature of the surface soil was 

 observed at Broadwoodside, in one instance, where a 

 thermometer was placed 1 foot under the surface, on 

 the crown of a ridge 18 feet wide, before a drain was 

 cut on each side. The temperature observed was 48° ; 

 and after a drain had been cut to the ordinary depth on 

 each side, in the open furrow of the ridge, the tempera- 

 ture rose to 49°.5 — that is, 1| degree in the course of 

 six hours. The mean temperature observed after the 

 soil had been thorough drained and subsoil- trench- 

 ploughed in the first field mentioned above, was as 

 follows, in 1850 : — 



Vegetating season. 



characteristic of an improved c nate. The mean tn- 

 perature throughout the year was raised 2°.7" 

 thorough draining and subaoil-trench-ploughing. 

 comparing the relating effects of thorough draining with 

 thorough draining and subsoil-trench-ploughing, on the 

 temperature of the subsoil, it appears that thorough 

 draining makes it warmer in winter to the extent of 

 3P.8S ; whereas the conjoined operations warm it 

 4°. 25— tlmt is, they nearly double the heat ; and in 

 tummer the temperature is not i sed at all by thorough 

 draining, for the reasons given on a former page ; wn ^ 

 the addition of Bttbaoii- trench- ploughing raises it 2°. 

 It is thus seen to what extent subsoil- trench- ploughing 

 confers benefit on the subsoil in raising its temperature 

 both in summer and winter ; and the joint operations 

 warm the subsoil to a greater degree in winter than in 

 summer, because of the superior influence of sub il- 

 trench-ploughing in completely pulverising the subsoil. 



Thorocgh-drained and subsoil-trench- ploughed land 

 is more quickly lowered in temperature by a fall of 

 rain than undrained ; but immediately on the rain 

 ceasing, the temperature rises aealu as quickly in the 

 drained soil, whereas it remains low for a long time in 

 the undrained. On a series of Din thermometers 

 placed in the soil 1 inch lower than the other, a con- 

 siderable difference in the tern rature was observed, in 

 April 1 50, on two thermometer* ; one placed 1 inch 

 under the surface indicating —the other, 4 inches, 

 indicatin >nly 49°. Ik-tow I inches the temperature of 

 the atmosphere is found to have a renr slow effect on 

 the temperature of the soil. Thorough draining and 

 eubsoil-tr ich-plcughing first affects sandy soil and sub- 

 soil, then gravelly, then weak clay, and, last of all, 

 adhesive clay. On all these subsoils the conjoint opera- 

 tions of thorough draining and su oil- trench- ploughing 

 have the same permanently beneficial effects. 



The degree of warmth imparted to the subsoil by sub- 

 soil-trench-ploughing, sin ill as it may seem to be, has 

 the effect of melting the snow u] a the surface soil in a 

 short time, whereas thorough diaiuing has not that 

 effect. A striking instance of this difference was ob- 

 served in a field, upon the one side of which, to the 

 extent of 2 acres of Grass, which had been thorough 

 drained but not subsoil-trench-ploughed, the snow lay 

 every year ; whereas upon the r t of the field, which 

 had been both thorough drained and subsoil -trench- 

 ploughed, it lay a comparatively short time. The very 

 furrow which bounded the two conditions of the soil 

 marked the line sharply between the snow and the bare 

 surface. It may prove interesting to give the tempera- 

 ture of the soil of a south border of the kitchen garden 

 at Yester in a high state of cultivation, as indicated by 

 a thermometer placed 1 8 inches under the surface in 

 1849, as a means of comparing the temperatures of 

 soils placed in an inclosed field of a farm, and within 

 the walls of a garden. 



Vegetating Sea ton. 





March 



April 



May 



June 



July 



August . 



September 

 October . 



9 > • 



• » • 



• a a 



• 9 9 



a a ■ 



• • • 



• • * 



■ - • 



' ' • 



■ • * 



• • t 



. . . 



. - . 



* ♦ • 



• • * 



• • • 



• t 9 



* 9 • 



. . . 



9*9 



• • • 



■ ■ ■ 



9 9 • 



• •• 



- ■ ■ 



• • • 



• • * 



Mean. 



42° 



43 



51 



58 

 62 



62 

 59 



50 



Mean of the vegetating season 



... 



Non-vegetating Season. 



Novemher 

 December 

 January .. 

 February . . 



. . . 



• • • 



• • • 



• i i 



• * • 



• •• 



• •9 



• 9 9 





9 • • 



• • 9 



• ♦ 9 



53* .37 



Mean. 

 46* 

 41 

 43 

 53 



Mean of the non- vegetating season 



■ • • 



> • • 



50°.83 



March 

 April 

 May 

 June 



July 



August 



September 



October 



9.9 



• 99 



■ • - 



9 9 ■ 



9 9* 



• • • 



9 • • 



9 • 9 



• ft * 



•• 



• #• 



» a • 



9 t I 



• a a 



a • a 



• • • 



» 9 



• ■ • 



9*1 



• ft • 



• » 9 



• • 9 





• a • 



9*9 



9 9 9 



ft * t 



• ♦ 9 



• •• 



• ■ 9 



• 9 • 



• 9 9 



• - a 



• 9ft 



• •9 



Mean* 

 37° 

 39 

 42 

 54 

 59 

 54 

 55 

 50 



31 ean of both seasons 



The soil in the border was thus comparatively warmer 

 in winter than in summer, as was found in the fields* 

 On comparing the temperature of the soil in the fields, 

 in the best condition, with that of the border in the 

 same year in the vegetating season, the border has the 

 advantage by 4°.62 ; but in the non-vegetating season 

 it has the advantage to the remarkable extent 0^8 ; 

 while, during both seasons, it has the advantage by 5°.75. 

 A higher temperature of 8° in the subsoil in winter is 

 equivalent to the influence of a very superior climate on 

 the functions cf plants, where it would support their 

 life in the garden, while they would die in the , fields. 

 As it is the object of agriculture to approach as near as 

 po ble to horticulture in the treatment of plants, it 

 thus appears that farming has yet much to do to place 

 plants in the same favourable condition as does garden- 

 ing. Yester Deep Land Culture. 



Mean of the vegetating season 



Kon-v eg elating season. 



November 

 December... 

 January ... 

 February . . . 



... 



... 



• • • 



• • • 



... 



... 



. ■ • 



• a • 



• • . 



. * . 



. . . 



• • • 



• ■ • 



• • • 



4b c .75 



Mean. 

 44° 

 39 

 32 



36 



Mean of the non-vegetating season ... 



37°.75 



v.os 



month tells nothing in regard to its state in the period 

 P£ve getation. The th ermo meter in 1849 indicated the 



• "Yester Deep Lwd %^^^^°^ Blackwood j J^*^^ a decided 



Mean of both seasons 



Thus, in comparing the mean temperatures of the 

 vegetating season, before and after thorough draining 

 and subsoil-trench-ploughing the same subsoil, the 

 advantage is 2° in favour of the deep-stirred subsoil ; 

 and in the non- vegetating season the advantage is as 

 jrreat as 4°,25. The higher temperature in the winter, 

 let it be repeated, is the greater advantage, as it tends 

 to equalise the temperature of both seasons ; and equah- 



Home Correspondence. 



Steam Engines.— Permit me to call the attention of 

 those who have steam engines to a volume entitled 

 " C. W. Williams on the Combustion of Coal and the 

 Prevention of Smoke," published by John Weale, High 

 Holborn. I have derived so much practical benefit 

 from its perusal, that I think it an agricultural duty 

 thus to notice it. The author has long been managing 

 director of the City of Dublin Steam Packet Company, 

 and although the book is so modest in ke title, it may 

 really be called a profound theoretical and practical 

 corrector of the enormous errors that most of us are 

 committing in the manufacture of our boilers and the 

 setting out of our flues, flame beds, and furnaces. I 

 have re-arranged, at a trifling cost, the setting of 

 my boiler according to figure 29 at page 66 of 

 Mr. Williams's book, and have forthwith got a great 

 increase of power, with economy of fuel and absence of 

 smoke. The questions raised and proved in Mr. 



