GC^ 



THE AGRICULTURAL GAZETTE 



■ 



6, 1855. 



When the fowls have arrived at a state tit for killing 

 they should be kept lor 12 hours without food or water, 

 in order that the intestines may be as empty as possible, 

 otherwise the bird turns green and useless in a fchort 

 time ; this is readily managed by killing the bird before 

 feeding time in the morning. 



The writer has never found it requisite to have re- 

 course to the unnatural practice of cramming ; hut as a 

 description of the process may be supposed to be essen- 

 tial to an essay on fattening; fowls, an account is inserted. 

 In cramming, the usual plan is to mix the oatmeal 

 rather solid with milk or water, and to roll it into small 

 sausage-shaped masses, the size of the finger, and about 

 2 inches long ; half a dozen of these are taken, and 

 having been dipped in some liquid, as milk, are placed 

 one after the other in the back part of the mouth of the 

 fowl, when the beak is closed, and the mass gently 

 assisted down the throat by the latter being stroked by 

 the hand before a second is inserted. 



The birds are crammed in this way two or three 

 times a day, care being taken to ascertain, by gentle 

 handling, that the last meal has passed through the 

 crop; should this not be the case, more is not given, 

 but some lukewarm water is poured into the mouth to 

 loosen the hardened mass, and prevent the bird becom- 

 ing crop-bound, an evil which would render it useless 







for the table. 



The fattened 

 market by the 

 termed capons, 



Dorkings prepared for the London 

 plans above described are frequently 



hut incorrectly, as the operation of 

 capon ising has not been performed on them ; in fact, 

 it is not required if the birds are cooped before they 

 arrive at maturity ; and the extremely severe nature of 

 the operation in fowls, as compared with the corre- 

 sponding one on quadrupeds, renders it attended with 

 so much risk and loss, that it is very seldom practised 



in this country. 



In conclusion, a few words may be said respecting 



fattening the other varieties of domestic poultry. 



Turkeys. — If well fed, scarcely require any fattening 



process. Should, however, it be deemed requisite, they 



may be confined within a moderate range, aud liberally 



50 tons the Irish acre, Without making any deduction tax 

 the space occupied by the stem of the Cherry tree It 

 is now one month and two days since it was cut dm ng 

 which it has made shoots in some cases over 21 incftea 

 long. I mean to cut it again in another month, .hen 

 I will remove both the tree and the plant. The latter 

 I mean to propagate in lines, leav.ng the plants 3 feet 

 apart every way to admit of better cultivation and 

 manuring when required 5 and as the plant is one which 

 requires support, I mean to insert beside each young 

 one a pole 6 feet long, branched from j bottom to -top as 

 supporters, and should the final result be of benefit to 

 the public, they shall have it. In the meantime I may 

 add from my own experience, there are many of 

 perennial, commonly called « herbaceous plants, used 

 lor decorating our flower borders, pleasure grounds, 

 and parrerres, that would be highly prized by the rent- 

 paying farmer, if he but knew their true value, which it 

 !s thetosiness, I had almost said the duty, of the more 

 intelligent gardener to make known. Edward Carroll, 



Cranemort House, Clonegal. . 



Growth of Grain.— To ascertain the progress made in 

 the filling of Wheat, I gathered from the same field for 

 five successive weeks some ears of corn, and when quite 

 dry, having selected the most perfect grains from each 



pie, found — 



" ' 5, weighed 



12 „ 24 per cent, weekly increase 



26 „ 5 

 1 .. 2 



n 



11 

 n 



11 

 n 



ir 

 it 



it 



ii 

 v 

 it 



100 grains, gathered Aug 



76 



59 



54 „ „ ii 



52 „ ,, Sept. 



Thos. C. Brown, Cirencester. ■ -. 



Agricultural Statistics.— Mr. Caird, in his evidence 

 <>i ven in a late Number, insists on the necessity of having 

 some means of checking the accuracy of the returns 

 made by the persons employed in the collection of agri- 

 cultural statistics. This necessity is very evident. The 

 value of the statistics depends on their accuracy, and 

 their accuracy can only be ascertained by the application 

 of some test. The plan of collecting agricultural 

 statistics now carried out in Scotland under the auspices 

 of Mr. Hall Maxwell confessedly affords only incidental 

 opportunities of checking the returns. It has, however, | 



years, had given a decided impetus to agricultural 

 science, and the improvement consequently was uni- 

 versal. Take an isolated case — a farmer well to do 

 remained at home, content with what he had, and heed- 

 less as to how the world went on, unaware that there 

 was any farm superior to his own, or any system of 

 agriculture better than that which he and his neighbours 

 had acted on. Not so with the farmer who had become 

 acquainted with what was passing beyond the limits in 

 which he resided — who knew what had been done to 

 improve the soil, to improve cattle, to advance farming 

 in every particular. The last-mentioned farmer, actuated 

 by that principle of human nature which will not permit 

 the mind to rest where superiority is seen to exist, 

 without an endeavour to emulate or excel, must endea- 

 vour to improve ; with eyes and ears open, he returns 

 to farm with a determination to do what he can to make 

 his farm as good as that of which he has heard, or 

 which he may have seen ; he finds that he has not been 

 so very improving as he had imagined, and he sets 

 about remedying defects of which he had no knowledge 

 before. He would not speak from imagination or from 

 fancy— he would tell what he had seen and what they 

 had seen, not only within the last few days, but years 

 ago. They enjoyed an unparalleled climate and a soil 

 the most abundant in the world. They had seen fields 

 and farms divided 8, 9, 10, 12 yards from side to side, 

 with fences which were not only wasting all the land 

 that might be used profitably, but a nursery for all 

 those weeds which overran the fields, and for those 

 blazing flowers of red weed which they knew so well 

 and which appeared like an overgrown crop in some 

 localities. He had seen the farm-yard so well planned 

 that all the refuse and manure of the yard and the pig- 

 stye drained into it, thus not only wasting the manure 

 which might be placed so profitably to account, but 

 poisoning that water which might be a source of health 

 and cleanliness to himself and to his family. He had 

 seen whole families living in rags and in want on a 

 miserable patch of land which was not sufficient to 

 afford them sustenance for three months in the year ; 



__ „ , worked so well as to render any change, such as the 



supplied with meal and milk, with occasional green food, of ^ ^.^ , und esirable. By the 



as recommended for fowls Barley mea is usual y ; an efficieat check ., would be rendered corn- 



employed, but its inferiority to oatmeal has already - ^^ ^ ^^ w()uld require to be both co _ 



been insisted on. I extensive with the survey and independent of it ; and 



the one I am about to propose appears to me to fulfil all 

 the conditions required. Every year a change of occu- 

 pancy takes place over a considerable area in every 

 district over the country. In the great majority of cases 



Geese. 



-Geese are also, if well kept, usually in suf- 

 ficiently good condition for killing. Should it be required 

 to fatten them, several together should be confined in a 

 comfortable shed, kept very clean by the daily removal 

 of the soiled litter, aud they may be fed for a fortnight 

 on Oats thrown into a pan of water ; and should they 

 be required still fatter, an additional ten days' feeding 

 on scalded meal or middlings and meal will be found all 

 that is requisite ; a little green food and gravel being 

 given at the same time. 



When geese are killed very young, they are usually 

 termed green geese; and for this purpose it will be 

 found more desirable to restrict them from the water 

 than to allow them free access to it, as they fatten more 

 readily, and attain a larger size at their early age. 



Ducks. — Ducks, from being not at all particular in 

 their diet, require to be confined to clean food some 

 days before they are killed. If they are shut up in a 

 •shed, or confined in a small enclosure, and liberally fed 

 with whole Oats in water, and meal slaked, they will be 

 •found- in a fortnight to have become sufficiently fat for 

 ■all useful purposes. It is not essential that they should 

 have water to swim in during fattening — in fact, such 

 exercise rather lessens than tends to increase the accu- 

 mulation of fat. 



The early ducklings that realise such high prices in 

 the London markets are of the Aylesbury variety, dis- 

 tinguished by their great size, white plumage, and large 

 pale flesh-coloured bills. If fed with an unlimited supply 

 of Oats placed in a vessel of water, and not allowed 

 -much room to swim, the old birds will lay freely in 

 winter ; when the eggs should be hatched under hens, 

 :and the ducklings liberally fed with slaked Oatmeal and 

 fine middling-*, and afterwards with Oats in water. 

 Under this treatment they may be made ready for the 

 table in less than two months, and yield a very remu- 

 nerative return. Ducklings invariably grow much more 

 rapidly if kept from swimming than if allowed Iree 

 access to a pond or river. W. B. Tegetmeier's Prize Essay 

 in tlte Yorkshire Agricultural Society's J ouimal. 



when a farm passes from an * outgoing" to an " incom- 

 ing" tenant, the growing crops are valued, i. e., their 

 produce is estimated by men of skill* These valuations 

 are as near the truth as possible, and we have this 

 pledge of their accuracy that the payment of large sums 

 of money depends on them. A small fee paid for every 

 certified copy of such a valuation delivered to some of 

 the county officials would ensure returns of all the 

 valuations made in every county. These returns would 

 show both the distribution of the crops and the average 

 produce over a certain portion of each county. Whether 

 such average coincided exactly with the true average 

 of the whole crop would depend in some measure on 



and they lived on that wretched patch in that misery I t 

 destitution, because they preferred this " dignity « of 

 occupying land to the labour of earning a livelihood 

 from others who could afford them employment. He 

 did not talk of introducing costly and cumbrous ma- 

 chinery at weighty expenses, such as they had m 

 England. It would be difficult at any time to introduce 

 machinery of that kind— their farms were too small for 

 it— and they would continue, he believed, always too 

 limited for the employment of such machinery as that 

 to which he referred. There were evils to be remedied, 

 but they were not of a nature that could uot be easily 

 removed by the application of that common sense which 

 was so natural to the Irish people. It was a calamity 

 to say, as some had said, that the peasantry of Ireland 

 were naturally idle; he did not believe that-he repelled 

 the calumny. Who was it that made the railway 

 Who was it that dug the canal 1 Who was it fat did 

 all the hard work that was done in England \ who 

 that cleared the new lands of America and removed 

 the forests \ Who did all these things \ In nine cases 

 out of ten, he was prepared to answer, it was the um 

 peasant. Who had improved every country in tne 



^extentTf the area over which the valuation extended, I world but his own ? If to W«* back to causes , totbiB 

 which would vary from year to year, but the individual state of things, he could, he repeated, hn^tne^ 

 farms being as it were taken at random, would afford a 

 pretty fair average sample of every county. The valua- 

 tions are generally made on the eve of harvest, and as 

 the compilation of the returns would not involve much 

 labour the averages deduced from them might be pub- 

 lished before or shortly after the conclusion of the 

 harvest. The plan proposed might be carried into 



state ui uiiuu», «*? ia/u*v, «v ~~r --? , *. 



in stating them he should say something tha would no 

 be agreeable to all, or practically useful at the pr^en 

 moment. He believed that much of the miwrj m 

 had to deplore was caused, not by one class, wi uy 

 classes, and that all were equally in kj^JJ J at a 

 lishea neiore or Bnoruy auer me cuociuoiuu ui mc , say, let bye-gones be bye-gones. . , f t u ev wo uW 

 harvest. The plan proposed might be carried into ! new era had opened for Ireland, and ti « J w 

 execution at a trifling expense, and it would be valuable j now consult their own duties by taiung 



as affording an independent estimate which would act 

 as a check on the annual " stock taking " of the crops of 

 the country, which we may now look forward to with 

 some degree of confidence. B. D. T., Sept. 28. 



Smutty Wheat— I should be very glad of your advice 

 in the management of a crop of Wheat badly infected 

 with smut. A large portion of the ears although looking 

 well at first sight are filled with a black powder of a 

 fetid odour, and when it is threshed this dirties and fouls 

 the sample so that it appears of the colour of Coffee on 



I have tried washing it, and this seems 



advantage of the advent. 



fteMeto 



By Margaret H- 



Tins is a 



Little Millie and her Four Places. w 



Brewster. Hamilton, Adams, and to. 



story book addressed to ^ aIlt .^ 



intended professedly for their benefit, thougn 

 reading it we should have judged it adaptea ^ 

 for the correction of their mistresses. V , r the 

 there are few who rightly understand the rnmas ^ 



afu 



rather 



On c 



Home Correspondence. 



Everlasting Pea as a Farm Crop. — Having seen in the 

 •Gardeners Chronicle (No. 36, Sept. 8) what appears to 

 mean important letter by Mr. Marshall, Ely, headed 

 ■** Everlasting Pea/' I beg to say that I have tried it as 

 food for cattle, horses, sheep, and pigs, all of which " ate 

 it with a good gusto " on more than one occasion. One 

 fact may suffice for the present as to its importance. 



ing to reside here last May, I found in the 



garden, growing round an old stunted Cherry tree, a fine 



plant of this variety, and seeing the rapid progress it 



had made, and feeling the want of early provender, 1 



cultivated it more than ordinarily as regards weeding, 



«only with the view of getting it to bear seed to propagate 



from. It was then coming beautifully into blossom, 



which it continued to do as it clambered up the tree till 



the tfth of August, but producing no seed pods. I then 



cut it down, and ascertained the roots had occupied one 



square yard, in the centre of which stood the old Cherry 



tree, whose stem occupied at least a square 



15 by 15 inches. On weighing the produce, 



found it to exceed 20 tons the statute or nearly 



for me to pursue, so that I may sustain as little loss as 

 possible. It was steeped in the ordinary way in urine 

 and dusted with lime, but I think the urine was hardly 

 stale enough. I may mention that a neighbour had a 

 field sown with his own seed infected, while a field sown 

 with seed from another farm was free of the disease. 

 Any information in your Paper will oblige. A. II. F. C. 

 [Millers get rid of it by a machine which beats and 

 crushes the smutty grains and blows them out.] 



give 

 ourselves on their level ; 



the barn Moor. * ,.*..~ v.. — D --, , »»«,**, <.*v, , v . ~ .. e ..„ v . oruci 



to clean it; if it could be dried effectually on a large ! poorer classes whom they attempt to teac n - . ]ace 

 scale. I should like to know what is the best course to give those below us a lift forwards we m ,,^j g . 



and though many k«wj 

 ; their society with this view 

 fail, it would seem, to get realjusight ™ t0 J^ c J^ e 



its 



all is mismanagement, •-- ■ - u ^ e the 



iisery, because those who ought to g^ ^ 



u w*~y . {im- 

 posed people seek their society with this vie # j 



fail, it would 



judices, diffici 



home where 



experience mice* j, l/cv» u «v. *»~ — — ~ , 



house with discretion know not how to saw 



There is many a 



judices, difficulties, and trials. There is man) » ^ ^ 

 home where all is mismanagement, and ni tfae 



octettes. 



But when their "richer neighbour^ 

 lem their circumst* 

 upon with unaccustomed eyes, and ^/^^^"njavt* 



and happier. But when their richer ™*»r~ loo ked 

 gone to visit them their circumstances have u 



dit has not been 



Tipper ary. 



At the armual dinner of this Society, 

 the following remarks were made by Lord Stanley on 

 the advantages of agricultural societies to those who 

 were members : — He had been going about the farmers 

 for the last few days, and he found that many were not 

 aware of the extent, scope, or what might be expected 

 from the exertions of the Society ; but he was certain 

 they would soon perceive the beneficial effects of its 

 operations. In England the effeets of such operations, 

 which had increased there greatly within the last few 



Ul/UU Willi uiia^VW^iviMAv^ ^j 7 - rf*T^ W& y w 



where aid was really wanted, or how ■ eott *^L A fytli 

 essentially and permanently benefited by opp° ^ ^ 

 helping themselves. We are abd, however, ^ ]Teases 

 little volume from the pen of Miss Brewster. ia n0 doubt 

 an introductory chapter to girls at school, anu ^ ^ 

 intended in all benevolence to benefit this cm >, e([al xe. 

 school teaching has hitherto proved veij rieD ce 



Something more like practical and bodily ^ Mis3 

 seems needed besides book learning, »n« t)yB ide 

 Brewster undoubtedly sees ; but she has evw ^ ^ 

 her book too like a novel, and we fancy w gef ^t 

 leas refinement of sentiment in the g eDera ''Y r f " lit* 

 girls than she gives us in the fancy characte 





