Nov. 10, 1855.] 



THE AGRICULTURAL GAZETTE. 



747 



pertained in his kitchen on the refuse from that ridge, . 

 than he is now with I s. a day, and no recourse but to a 

 hi*h market, where that Is. is barely sufficient to supply 

 \£n with Indian meal, leaving him nothing for condi- 

 ment. The fact is, he was formerly a capitalist to the 

 amount of his year's provision; he had his own seed, he 

 paid at the highest 51. an acre for his manured Potato 

 ground, which, at a moderate average, would yield 

 him six tons of Potatoes : this would give him 2\ stones 



% jay about enough for the support of a small family, 



and the labour oi h ilf his time or three days in the week 



paid the rent of it. 



The rate of wages has then increased, but with this 

 increase the expense of subsistence has more than kept 

 pace. It is, however, to be expected that gradually a 

 return to conacred Potatoes will obtain and, if they 

 come to be depended on, this small increase in wages 

 will tell in favour of the labourer, and then the prophecy, 

 for it is yet only a prophecy, of the Poor Law Commis- 

 sioners will be realised. 



But why cannot the farmer afford his labourers wages 

 approaching somewhat to those of England and Scot- 

 land with the markets of those countries open to him, 

 and his home market perhaps not lower than the 

 markets of country towns in England and Scotland, with 

 lower rents and less taxes, with a superior soil to work 



! We cannot with the priest lay it to the door of 

 the landlords or legislation ; we all know how few are 

 the ills this can cure, and it is rather sins of omission 

 that we may charge to landlords than commission. 

 They very rarely provide the necessary homestead 

 accommodation, and they are not sufficiently watchful 



preventing the deterioration of their lauds at the 

 expiration of leases, so that the incoming tenant to 

 land that has fallen into the landlord's hands is at cost, 

 but then leases in effect seldom expire, for a tenant who 

 can and does pay his rent is scarcely ever called upon 

 to surrender his holding ; indeed, it is a very common 

 and certainly an indulgent practice to allow a tenant 

 who can no longer pay his rent to dispose of his farm 

 to another who will pay up the arrear, and for a few 

 years make a better hand of it. Very few landlords 

 press hardly on industrious tenants, and very many 

 assist them. A farmer in Ireland with capital and 

 intelligence instead of being injuriously interfered with 

 by his landlord is very agreeably situated, for he is 

 unshackled and uncontrolled in the entire management 

 of it, and has as free and unrestrained use of the laud as 

 though he were proprietor of it ; his crops are not in- 

 jured by his landlord's game, for there is but little. It 

 is not then from landlord interference that he is unable 

 to pay better wages to his labourers ; nor is it to be 

 imputed, as too commonly it is, to a reckless expen- 

 diture on his part, for whatever may have been the 

 character of an Irishman in former days, it now perhaps 

 approaches too near to a parsimonious one ; the days 

 of a riotous hospitality are extinct. In Irish rural life 

 the public-house is not regularly frequented as it is in 

 England ; the newspaper although read with avidity is 

 not found there ; the peasant does not zo there to spend 

 his evening in the enjoyment of politics in a pot ; he 

 falls in, accidentally meets a friend — it need not be a 

 very intimate one — treats him to a glass ; the treat 

 must be returned, and very frequently it ends in in- 

 toxication — sometimes in kisses, at others in blows ; but 

 the excess of the evening rarely interrupts the labour of the 

 next day. But why cannot the farmer pay higher wages 

 to his labourers \ It is not the legislature, it is not the 

 landlord, it is not always poverty, for the rich and the 

 poorequally grudge the labourer his reward ; the labourer 

 in return grudges his labour ; this has become a habit 

 and a mutual complaint, and cannot be quickly broken 

 into by a liberal employer or an honest labourer : but 

 an all prevailing cause, I think, is to be found in the 

 little estimation of labour, in the under manufacture of 

 ground, and in the small returns afforded by ignorant, 

 deficient, and erroneous cultivation ; the mildness of our 

 green winters very much precludes the necessity for the 

 confinement of stock or the raising of winter food for 

 them, a very small breadth of land is therefore under 

 cattle crops, and very little more manure is made than 

 the Potato crop uses up ; nothing then can be grown as 

 intermediate with grain crops, and the consequence is 

 grain crops are grown in succession till they do not pay 

 the rent and labour of the ground they stand on ; this 

 exhausted and dirty ground is then left waste, as they 

 very properly call it, for three or four years till it 

 recovers some fertility. In the meanwhile it just keeps 

 *hve some wretched kind of stock, while its rent and 

 taxes must be defrayed out of the productive land. 

 Can we wonder then that the farmer cannot afford to pay 

 higher wages to his labourers ? /. M. Qoodiff, Scrably. 



ON STORING TURNIPS. 



There are only two places on a farm where Turnips 

 cau be conveniently stored— that is, at the homestead, 

 and in the field ; and as each plan must be worked on a 

 different form, I shall here notice them separately. 



1st. Storing at the Homestead.— I prefer storing as 

 aaany here as will last for six or eight weeks. The store 

 ^y be erected in any convenient place about the 

 stackyard, or as near the byres as possible ; of wood, of 

 *n oblong shape, from 6 to 7 feet wide, to give room 

 e aough for a cart, and 4 feet high. The sides consist 

 °f two rows of posts, pitted in the ground about 6 feet 

 a part, and made close between with backs of trees, or 

 •toy old wood that may be at hand : for the sake of con- 

 venience, the store should be erected piecemeal, as the 

 process of tilliug it goes on. Where wood is scarce, the 



AUrniDS TT1AV h«» 1«iH rlnan in »n nhlnncr ridffe. about 7 



or 8 feet wide at the base, and sloped off to the top on 

 an angle of 45 degrees ; the whole should then be 

 thatched over with 6 inches deep of straw : old thatch 





of what 1 have paid by contract for * eral years back, 

 when the work was performed u en, and if it could 



be done by boyi and women for lOd. or 1#. per day, the 



lessen 



'irers 



po-e, fixed down with wooden spars and straw ropes. In 

 stores of this sort the keeping of the Turnips depends 

 much on the state of the atmosphere shortly after stor- 

 ing. I have sometimes seen a week or two of misty 

 soft weather prove hurtful in heating the Turnips ; but 

 some wooden ventilators, placed at regular intervals in 

 the heap, are likely to prevent such an occurrence. 

 Another safeguard is to make the heaps small. These 

 two modes of storing involve about the same expense — 

 8s. an acre, exclusive of carting, which depends on the 

 distance, and in no case have I taken it into account. 

 I should not, however, like to risk large quantities of 

 Turnips in this description of stores, and, for spring use, 

 I have always stored them in the soil, where they keep 

 better, and lose less of their specific gravity. I have 

 tried them on the steelyard before and after being 

 stored in the soil for five months, and found the loss in between the Aberdeen and short-hornai breeds, selected 



of that sort are often difficult to obtain, and the 

 for storing short and precarious, it is perhaps better to 

 do the work by contract at once, and have it finished in 

 due time, even at a small additional expense. 



I now proceed to the tetopd division of the subject — 

 viz., the results deducible from observation end experi- 

 ment, in order to test by experiment the comparative 

 feeding properties of Turnip tared in November, and 

 those drawn from the field during the wint* r Mid spring 

 months as required. At the end of November, 1854, 

 the necessary quantity for the experiment was stored 

 in the field in heaps or pits, as before described. They 

 were of the best Golden Yellow variety, of a deep 

 orange colour, and in point of quality may be classed 

 next to the Swedish Turnip. On the Mth Jauuary, 



years 



weight to be very small. Not so with the thatched 

 stores, particularly in a very dry windy season, and 

 when left standing till spring. 1 then found the loss in 

 point of weight to be very considerable. It is therefore 

 desirable that all Turnips for spring use should be 

 stored in the soil ; and I shall next describe the modes 

 I have used in doing so. 



2nd. Storing in the soil. — Take a space of twelve 

 drills wide, from tad to end of the field, and pull the 

 two centre drills, throwing the Turnips aside ; along 

 these drills turn out a heavy plough-furrow, first in the 

 one direction and then the other, thus clearing a hollow 

 from 10 to 12 inches deep. Into this hollow throw the 

 twelve drills of Turnips, and trim them up in a uniform 

 ridge, when a double turn of the plough, with little 

 assistance from the spade, will cover them sufficiently 

 from frost and vermin. In this way I have found 

 Turnips keep better, and less loss of weight, than in any 

 other way I have tried. The only objection to this plan 

 is the length of time occupied in taking them up, and in 

 wet weather it is difficult to get them anything clean. 

 Another plan I have frequently adopted is to pull the 

 twelve drills, and lay them in three rows, of four drills 

 each, which can be done without hindrance in the pro- 

 cess of pulling ; then collect them into the centre row 

 in round heaps of about one cart-load each, — and where 

 the crop is goo J, the distance will not be far to bring 

 the Turnips into heaps of that size : a slight covering of 

 mould, from 3 to 4 inches deep, put on by the spade, 

 will in general be found sufficient protection. The roots 

 keep well in this way ; and as they can be taken up 

 more speedily, and cleauer, than from the last-mentioned 

 stores, I am most in favour oi this plan. The former 

 mode costs 9s., and the latter 9s. 6d. per acre. The 

 cost of storing per acre, in either way, will to some 

 extent depend on the nature of the crop and the rate of 

 wages at the time ; but the foresaid prices are an average 



for the x peri men t. They were weighed on the steel 

 yard, and divided into two lots, as nearly equal in weight 

 and quality as thn circumstances would permit. One lot 

 was then tied up on tin >red Turnips, and the other 

 on the same kind of Turnips pulled and drawn from 

 the field, load by load, as the cattle consumed them, all 

 clear of tops and tails. The stored Turnips were also 

 brought from the field as required in the same manner. 

 The feeding -byre was roomy and well ventilated, and 

 contained four double stalls, two for each lot, e<< that 

 the animals were kept perfectly separate, and enjoyed 

 the same freedom, comfort, and air — the byre being, as 

 nearly as possible, kept at a temperature of 48° 1 ahr. 

 Uoth lots of cattle received equal quantities of Turnips 

 daily, nearly as many as the could eat, with Oat straw 

 ad libitum, for a period of 84 days, when it was found 

 they had consumed 28J tons of Turnips, or an average 

 of 95 lbs. per day to each beast. From the 20 th < Ktober 

 till they were tied up, both lots of cattle were fed in 

 loose sheds, four and four together, on headed Turnips 

 and straw ; the first six weeks on White Globe*, and 

 the rest of the time on Golden Yellows. 1 might have 

 tied them up earlier, but certain circumstances pre- 

 vented this. Up to the time the experiment commenced 

 • thp weather hatroened to be soft and fresh ; and in that 



case, and at that season of the year, it is likely that 

 little difference would have arisen in feeding on Turnip 

 from the stores or from the field. The experiment, 

 however,' just began with the bad weather, and continued 

 through two months of very severe frost and snow and 

 a month of dry windy spring weather, both f which 

 were surely well suited for testing the effects of stored 

 Turnips. A reference to the following table will show 

 the result of the experiment, and strongly indicate that 

 the period of trial was quite long enough for the unfor- 

 tunate animals that were fed from the fields from day 

 to day. 



„ r ^^ _ „. Turnips, and the tame number 



from the field as required, during a period ofM days. 



Lots. No. 



I. 



II. 



Description of Turnips. 



1 

 2 

 3 

 4 



1 

 2 



3 

 4 





Fed on Turnips 

 stored in November 



Fed on Turnips 

 pulled as required 



Weight on 

 January 28. 



cwt. qrs. lbs. 

 8 

 8 2 

 8 14 

 3 2 



9 



7 



9 



B 





 2 

 2 

 





 14 



7 

 





Weight on Weight on 

 February 25. March 25. 



Weight on 

 April 22. 



Increase of 

 weight during 

 the experiment. 



ncrease of wei 



on each Int ii 



experiment. 



cwt. qrs. lbs. cwt. qrs. lbs. cwt. qrs. lbs. 



6 



8 

 9 







9 



1 



2 



14 



21 

 21 



7 





e 



B 

 B 

 9 



1 

 3 

 3 

 3 



14 

 

 



14 



9 



9 



s 



10 



3 





 3 







14 

 14 

 21 

 14 



9 

 7 

 9 

 B 





 2 

 2 

 



7 



21 





 14 



9 



7 



8 



1 

 3 

 3 



1 



cwt. qrs. lb*. 

 3 14 

 2 14 



3 f 

 2 14 



cwt, qrs. lbs. 



. . . 



. . 



Balance in favour of stored Turnips 



The cattle were always weighed at the same hour of 

 the day, and immediately before being fed, at 1 o'clock 

 p.m. The Turnips were grown on good sharp black 

 soil, chiefly with farm-yard dung, and yielded nearly 

 20 tons of Bulbs per acre, fresh and free from disease. 

 It may be expected that the animals would have in- 

 creased more in weight in three months' time, but it 

 must be remembered that young growing cattle do not 

 gain weight in the same ratio as they do size. The 

 above table gives results sufficiently favourable to prove 

 the propriety of Turnip storing, showing an increase o\ 

 animal weight of four young cattle, in the space of 

 three months, of 119 lbs. in favour of the stored lur- 

 nips. Besides this, the healthy appearance of the cattle 

 in lot No. T. presented a striking contrast to those of 

 No. II., being sleek and fresh in their coats, and better 

 down in the bellies ; whilst No. II. were dry in their 

 coats and lanky in appearance. Altogether there was a 

 marked difference of appearance between the two lot 

 such as a stranger acquainted with cattle would easily 

 perceive on entering the door of the feeding-byre ; and 

 I believed lot No. II. to be farther back than the differ- 

 ence of weight indicated. By the damage done to the 

 unstored Turnips, in pulling them from under the snow, 

 and the misch ef by vermin, &c, lot No. II had 1 ton 

 more Turnips, wasted and destroyed, in order to supply 

 them with the same quantity as given to No. L, being 

 equal to the produce of 8 poles of land, or one-twentieth 

 part of an acre, which, at 11 per acre, would be an 

 item of 75.— fully adequate to store three-fourths ot an 

 acre of Turnips. Prize Essay by Mr. Porter m the High- 

 land Society's Transactions. 



" Devonshire 1 * 



of your correspondents, and lately 

 stating the quantity of butter made in a year from one 

 cow to be 13 dozen, I will give the produce of three 

 cows from March 1st, 1851, to March 1st, 1852 :— 

 Weight of butter 714 lb., skimmed milk, sold at three 

 imperial pints for Id., 24 s , The cows were fed on 



Grass and hay only. Anon. 



J. D. Piper's Balance Sheet, 1854.— The 10th year of 

 Wheat after Wheat, without ploughing or digging. 



Expenses. £ *. d. » Receipts. £ s. d. 



• • . 



« * • 



• • ■ 



• • t 



• •• 



« • • 



Rent 



Tithes... 



Rates 



Hoeing 



Sowing 



Seed 



Threshing 



Reaping or mowing. 



Manure 



■ • ■ 



• - ♦ 



. • • 



» • • 



• - - 



• • • 



■ ■ • 



2 



7 



3 



1 15 

 10 

 6 6 



16 10 



9 



2 



4 



sacks W 



16*. 10*. 

 traw. about 



at 



• • • 



• • t 



14 17 



2 10 



Expenses 



« ♦• 



£17 



. 8 



7 

 7 4 



£6 19 8 



£8 7 



s for the last six years 



Profit 5th year 



Average quantity per acre, 9 



aacks, 2 bushels, I pecks 

 Average price per load, 121. 



Average profit per acre, 6 year*, 

 19s. lOrf. 



n 

 n 



H 



6th 

 7th 



8th 



9th 



10th 



»* 





£6 6 $ 



7 8 3 



8 5 3 

 4 11 



... 11 13 9 



... 8 19 8 



» • • 



• . - 



• • • 



♦ ♦ * 



Koine Correspondence. 



Dairy Produce.— Having seen in your Paper different 

 counts of the quantity of dairy produce from several 



6)41 19 2 

 £6 19 10 



ground not at all calculated to grow Wheat, 



but very much inclined to grow Thistles, Twitch Grass, 

 Black GraaB, Coltsfoot, Sirnson, Bell or Land bine, Cats 

 Tails, and wild Oats; besides about 100,000 Ash trees 



fat least they would be if I did not hoe them up), per 

 v -. * i_ .« .i_i_ ^ ot k er trees to toe 



This is a very fine 



Very 



acre, mere are uihu ov umwr »* 



acre. /. D. Piper, Colne Engaine.- 



story Mr. J. D. P., but ■ your field is a gard 



well ! I grant it is, and if every large far 



** 



