666 



THE AGRICULTURAL GAZETTE. 



receive it, its Slate of gradual liberation may be for them 

 the most advantageous possible ; and to this conclusion 



The knives add about 15 per cent, to the draught of 

 the plough, but they produce a sufficiently fine tilth 



thing about Mm 



[Oct. 6, 1855. 



all experiments on the large scale appear most obviously for the reception ot seed, with very little after-use 





to tend. It is described as an excellent check to the too 

 forcing power of guano ; and from If. Barral's experi- 

 ment we see that it either prevents the too rapid 

 eremacausis of the latter, or stores up the ammonia 

 as it is formed. As a manure for growing crops, all 

 experience and all theoretical considerations therefore 

 show it to be the most valuable ; but when employed 

 to mix with manure heaps which have to stand for con- 

 siderable periods of time, theory would pronounce, as 

 practice has in many cases done, that its power of 

 retaining ammonia under those circumstances is at the 

 best doubtful." 



Draining, subsoiling, liming, burning, and the 

 application of light earths and vegetable manures, 

 perform wonders in transforming heavy clay into 

 more porous and friable mould ; yet, when all these 

 means of amelioration, chemical and mechanical, 

 shall have been everywhere persevered in, our pre- 

 sent dead-fallow districts will still remain by com- 

 parison the "strong lands" of the kingdom — 

 demanding great judgment and more than average 

 labour in their tillage management. Chemically 

 the clays are inexhaustibly rich : their physical 

 roperties, however, have prevented us from fully 

 eveloping this fertility ; and when we have tried 

 every process for improving their texture, there 

 will still be the problem how to effect a thorough 

 revolution in their mechanical treatment. 



" Britons" may u venerate the plough," but every 

 observant cultivator of heavy soil can read counts 

 of indictment Pgainst it ; employing it only until a 

 more perfect implement is supplied him. No one 

 will say that dragging horizontally is essentially 

 the right motion for rawing and turning the soil, 

 and that a tool o*:ii<inally devised for scratching the 

 surface is specially adapted for inverting a deep 

 staple. The screw- wedge implement, improved to 

 the highest pitch of excellence, is (on stiff clays) 

 only a make-shift expedient for applying animal 

 pow r er to an operation which only manual digging 

 has ever yet done well. The plough only partially 

 inverts — leaving unhuried vegetation peeping from 

 the furrow seams ; it only half cuts and divides the 

 soil — leaving slices of such size and continuity as 



of the harrow— thus mainly avoiding the great 

 injury of trampling and poaching. A full descrip- 

 tion of this invention is contained in the Royal 

 Agricultural Society's Journal, vol. in., 1842, Mr. 

 Brown informs us that he still continual to use 

 these knives when preparing land for seed, although 



they are not required for fallow ploughing. 



Both these examples point out the right direction 

 for improvements in tillage machinery: we must 

 discard the longitudinal motion and wedge action of 

 the plough, and cut up the soil into considerably 

 finer detail. We have an implement answering 

 these conditions, but unfortunately it cannot be 

 worked by either horses or steam, and to employ 

 manual labour for the purpose is thought too expen- 

 sive, and otherwise impossible for large farms — we 



mean the spade. 



If any inventor can construct an efficient revolving 

 digger or forker strong enough to grapple effectually 

 with tenacious clay, to be drawn by wire-ropes from 

 a fixed steam-engine — or, still better, if a very light 

 motive-power can be discovered and made to traverse 

 our fields — we shall then possess the principal part 

 of the machinery of which we are in search. But 

 a few words more upon this subject on a future 



i. a. a 



part of the Continent. 



average of 53£. 3s. each. 



occasion. 



THE SUFFOLK HORSE. 



Butley 



collec- 



to harden into unmanageable slags requiring weeks 



for their proper reduction. In effecting this im- 

 perfect tillage, it exerts a detrimental action upon 



the subsoil, by the pressure of its cleaving share, 



and the hard polishing of its sliding sole ; and 



the horse's hoofs also pound and knead both surface 



and subsoil. Then the principle of twisting up a 



tough furrow-slice with a screw blade mould- 

 board, and still more of sledging the whole weight 



of the implement, involves an enormous amount of 



friction; so that a third part of the draught is 



engaged in simply conveying the plough towards its 



work. Yet the avoidance of friction is one of the 



main points in a machine for tilling an adhesive 



clagging substance like clay. Xo modification of a 



drawn plough is therefore likely to be successful. 



Slight improvements alone are possible while the 



implement remains fundamentally wrong. 



We may here advert to two ways in which the 



imperfect work of the plough has been sought to be 

 obviated. In Jethro Tuxt/s day, the ploughs cut 

 in all strong land (as they do now) a thick furrow- 

 slice in one whole piece, or but slightly broken ; 

 cross ploughing did not thoroughly divide and over- 

 turn the furrows of the first ploughing, but drove 

 them up into heaps, with their surfaces lying in 

 various postures, so that the turf not turned under- 

 most continued to grow vigorously, still matting the 

 slice together with its roots. Heavy drags with 

 huge iron tines in them were next employed to 

 tumble and partially break the great pieces of 

 furrows, but it required months to reduce them to a 

 moderate fineness. Seeing that all this arose from 

 the undue size and solidity of the first furrows, 

 Tuxl contrived a plough with four coulters, which 

 cut the slice to a great depth into four parts, each T . - - ^ . r . ~ _ . 



of about 24 inches thickness and these in turning Lot 4 > De PP er » m foal t0 Duke » 



oi about z* incnes tn cKness, ana tne.se m turning Hobbg &t 9Q inea8> The remah 

 over broke and fell into many smaller pieces. With 



The death of the late Mr. Thomas Catlin, of 

 Ahbey, occasioned the disposal of his valuable 

 tion of cart horses. At the beginning of the present 

 century the pure Suffolk horse was almost extinct. 

 The late Lord Huntingfield and the late Sir Robert 

 Harland were about the first men in high station who 

 appreciated the value of the breed, and to what at that 

 time was considered the enormous prices which they 

 paid for colts and fillies of undoubted purity may be 

 ascribed the impulse given to our agriculturists not to 

 neglect any longer the development of the fine qualities 

 characteristic of the race — strength of limb, compact- 

 ness of mould, lightness of carriage, and soundness of 

 constitution. Fortunately, Mr. Thomas Smith, of Par- 

 ham, possessed an entire horse of unmixed blood, which 

 became the progenitor of all the splendid animals that 

 have since made the breed so renowned. The celebrity 

 of the Suffolk horse, however, beyond the limits of the 

 county, is in a great measure due to the exertions of 

 Mr. Catlin. For a long period of years he bad, in 

 common with other gentlemen, devoted much care to 

 the improvement of the stock, but he was one of the 

 first, if not the very first, who boldly challenged com- 

 parison with other breeds at the meetings of the Royal 

 Agricultural Society, and this brought it into the repute 

 which it now enjoys throughout England and on the 

 Continent. The high price of 300 guineas for which 

 Boxer, an entire horse, was sold a few years ago to the 

 Duke of Manchester, the high price of 100 guineas for 

 which a foal was recently sold to the King of Hanover, 

 and the numerous prizes gained by the Royal Duke and 

 other horses at both national and provincial meetings, 

 were so many laurels that placed Mr. Catlin in a posi- 

 tion of which the whole county of Suffolk was justly 



proud. 



The sale took place on Wednesday, and was conducted 

 by Messrs. Cana & Cook, of Woodbridge. The attend- 

 ance at one period was between 4000 and 5000 persons. 

 The first lot put up was — Diamond, 3 years, by Duke, 

 dam by Catlin's Old Boxer, in foal to Sultan ; gained 

 the first prize at the East Suffolk Agricultural Society's 

 meeting, Ipswich, 1855 ; the prize as a 2-year old at 

 the Saxmundham meeting, 1854, and was highly com- 

 mended at the meeting of the Royal Agricultural Society 

 held at Lincoln. The biddings commenced at 60 guineas, 

 from which they made a jump to 100 guineas, next to 

 125 guineas, and then advanced 5 guineas each bid, 

 until 180 guineas was reached, for which sum the mare 

 was knocked down to Mr. Arthur Crisp. Lot 2, 

 Doughty, 3 years, sire Duke, in foal to Sultan, awarded 

 the first prize at the East Suffolk Agricultural meeting 

 held at Ipswich, 1853, was put up at 60 guineas, and 

 purchased by Sir Edward Gooch, Bart., M,P., at °5 

 guineas. Lot 3, Darby, 3 years, sire Duke, in foal to 

 Sultan, was sold for 100 guineas to a Mr. Patterson. 



fell to Mr. Fisher 



he might as well read the history^ 

 ose name had been given to the horae I 

 vn nil over England and on a great 

 " Royal Duke " passed into the 

 uauua m »**. «.«»*«;* nubbs, at the price of 255 guineas. 

 The seven lots in the stallion class produced an a»«^ 

 gate of 8242. 5s., or an average of 1172. Ids. each. ^ 



The entries in the class of entire yearling colts were 

 six in number. They realised a total of 3842. 6s., or an 

 average of 642. Is. each. The next class of aninuls 

 offered for sale was the brood mares with foals bv their 

 side, and here again the choicest lots commanded hi*h 

 prices. The aggregate realised by the 12 mares was 

 8142. 16s., an average of 672. 18s. each ; aud the aggre- 

 gate realised by the 1 2 foals was 4372, 17s., or an average 

 of 362. 9s. 9d. each. 5 



In the class of bay teams there were 12 lots, which 

 sold for 5112. 7s., an average of 422. 12s. each. Five 

 three-year-old fillies and geldings sold for 2652. 13*., an 



Of the two-year-old fillies lot 

 94, by Duke, own sister to lot 1 (obtained the first 

 prize at the meeting of the East Suffolk Agricultural 

 Association held at Saxmundham, 1854), was put opal 

 50 guineas, and after a spirited competition, fell to Mr. 

 Wolton, at 125 guineas. Five two-year-old colts sold 

 for 162/. 15s., an average of 322. lis. each ; and 10 one- 

 year-old fillies and colts produced exactly the same 

 average, being disposed of at a total of 3252. 10$. The 

 remainder of the sale consisted of nag horses, colts, 

 and ponies, which call for no especial notice. For the 

 assistance of those of our readers who may feel interested 

 in preserving a record of this remarkable sale, we append 

 a classified summary of the results : — 



Total. 

 38 Working horses and mares 



7 Stallions 



6 Entire yearling colts 



12 Brood mares 



12 Foals at Foot 



12 Bay mares and geldings ... 



5 3-year-old-fillies and geldings 



7 2-year-old fillies 

 5 2-year-old colts 



10 1-year-old fillies and colts 



• • ♦ 



• • • 



£2137 165. 

 824 5 

 384 6 

 .814 16 

 437 17 

 511 7 

 265 13 

 392 14 

 162 15 

 325 10 



Average. 

 £56 5*. 2d. 



117 15 

 64 1 

 67 18 

 36 9 

 42 12 

 53 3 

 56 2 

 32 11 



32 11 





 

 9 

 3 

 

 

 

 



114 Total £6256 19 



Average all round, £54 175. Sd. 



Abridged from the Suffolk Chronicle. 



pipes 



• EXPERIENCES IN LAND DRAINAGE. 



XXVIII. The result of my drainage operations on all 

 descriptions of land has been perfectly satisfactory.— 

 The drainage adopted is on a parallel system.— The 

 prevailing depth of the drains is 4^ feet— I have made 

 no difference in my mode of draining between arable 

 and Grass land.— The direction of the minor drains U 

 with the fall. 1 have not followed the furrows where 

 the land is in ridges. — The pipes used have been l|-inch 

 for minor, from 3 to 6 and in some cases 8 inches for 

 mains. No collars or socket-pipes used.— Giving air 

 at places to either main or minor drains has not been 

 found necessary.— No particular number of acres are 

 drained into one outlet, but the size of the main-drain 

 ,^ is increased accordingly towards the outlet. 

 —The subsoil is weald clay, in most cases intermixed 

 with iron sandstone.— The mean height of the land 

 drained above the sea level is a little over 200 feet- 

 The average depth of rainfall in this neighbourhood tor 

 the last ten years has been a little over 29 inches. 

 From Sir J. V. Shelley, Marcsfield Parle, Sussex. 



XXIX.— My drainage operations on all description 

 of land have been highly satisfactory.— I have adopted 

 a parallel system.— The prevailing depth of 'the drama 

 has been 4 feet for branches, mains 4$ or 5 feet, occa- 

 sionally more, as the level requires.— No difference 

 made in draining between arable and Grass land 

 direction of the minor drains has been generally witu 

 the fall, and generally following the furrows, wtocft » 

 found to answer best— The pipes used have been J-inca 

 for minor, 4 and 5, occasionally 6 for mains. *f®*Z 

 used collars.— No benefit by giving air at P l ^T 

 either main or minor drains. All closed are P reIerr T 

 —As to the average number of acres discharging : « 

 one outlet, most fields have only one outlet.-- in * e 



eflvsawi- 



The 



this implement, followed by the common plough, 

 &c, he could resolve stubborn ground into a fine 

 seed bed in much less time than by any other 

 means. 



Upwards of 30 years ago, Mr. Brown, of Kin- 

 warton, near Alcester, attached a couple of pulve- 

 rising knives behind the mould-board of a plough, 

 which, projecting horizontally into the furrow-slice, 

 cut and crumbled it, so that on stiff adhesive soil 

 the work had the appearance of that of the spade. 

 This seveiinij and disintegrating of each furrow- 

 slice immediately after it is raised by the mould- 

 board, and before it is pressed into a compact mass 

 by a succeeding one, and so left to dry and harden 

 in a whole piece, is analogous to the manipulations 

 of the gardener, who bruises and pulverises each 

 spadeful of earth as he throws it up from the trench. 



remainder of the working 

 horses and mares in foal realised prices below these, as 

 will be seen by reference to the catalogue below, the 

 amounts ranging from 24 guineas for lot 37, Proctor, 10 

 years, a gelding, to 80 guineas for lot 12, Diamond. 3 

 years, sire Ben ham's horse, in foal to Sultan. The 38 

 animals placed in this class produced a total of 2137/. 

 16s., an average of 561. 5s. each. 



The first stallion offered — Duke, is described in the 

 catalogue as the best cart stallion in England, 16 J hands 

 high, 9 jears old. The following prizes have been 

 awarded to Duke : — In 1848, the first prizes as the best 

 2-year-old, at the meetings of the East Suffolk and the 

 West Suffolk agricultural meetings; in 1848, the first 

 prizes as the best 3-year-old, at the East and West 

 Suffolk meetings ; in 1851, the first prize at the meeting 

 of the Royal Agricultural Society at Windsor ; in 1852, 

 and again in 1854, the first prize at the East Suffolk 

 meetings. The auctioneer said the fame of Duke was 

 so well known that it was useless to attemnt to sav inv- 



alid subsoil 



bottom, &c. — *..w 6 wvi~ & .^ — . v m .. &c 



stone, occasionallvmountainlimestone, millstone gn , • 

 The mean height of the land drained above the seai 

 is between 600 and 700 feet. Replies from ***< 

 Witkam, Lartington Hall, Barnard Castle. . rf 



XXX.-Drainage operations on all descnpWJJ . & 

 land have been satisfactory —The system aaop ^ 

 parallel— The prevailing depth of the drains » 

 5 and 6 feet— No difference in the mode o or* ^ 

 between arable and Grass land.— Have *>" J*^ {or 

 furrows where the land is in ridges.— T he FF* ^r 

 minor and for main drains have been lj-men i ^ tf 

 and 3-inch main ; no collars or sockets.— i na ^^ 

 tried giving air at places to either mam or minor ^ 

 —The average number of acres discn * r 8 l t ,^ nil & 

 one outlet is 4 to 6 acres.-The soil and jJJ^ 

 clay and loam, and clay with gravelly veins atD ^ 

 The geological formation London clay ana p ^ 



—The average depth of rainfall m this ne, f , for the 



-I have drained exten^Llji^ J 



is 16 to 18 inches. [?]— I have drain ea ex «»-'"{ am of 



opUtt* Sfeel is the beat depth for heavy i-j^ 

 clay subsoil, where there is no bottom water. ^ 



drain 3 feet deep and 18 to 21 f ™\»^^«^ 

 mean to say that 4 feet deep and 1 8 feet aj£ ^ it 

 not be efficacious ; I think it would but Ido t J^.^ 

 would be better, and the expense is toogren , d8yjgr ds 



■ 



