796 



THE AGRICULTURAL GAZETTE. 



thins: is. 



uneer 



Here science muse aid him, or he will be left j duty to do so, in justice to those gentlemen who had 

 *u- j--i j __..«. ... We mule, imported, and used the cake there referred to 



prior to Mr. Barber. Notices of it will be found in the 

 " Transactions of the Highland and Agricultural Society 

 of Scotland" of 1850, No. 28, and in the "Journal of 

 Agriculture," No. 45, both published by Wm, Black- 

 wood and Sons. Mr. Burn, Merchisron House (a friend 

 of my own), referred to in the " Transactions of the 

 Highland Society/ 1 as the first maker of the cake in this 

 country, holds a medal awarded by the jurors of the 

 Great Exhibition of 1851, as the importer and manu- 

 facturer of the seed, and also obtained honourable men- 

 tion as the exhibitor of the only sample of Cotton seed 

 cake. I have been importing the cake for years back, 

 and latterly the seed, and I would suggest that instead 

 of the cake being called after any gentleman it ought to 

 retain its appropriate name of " Cotton seedcake," to 

 distinguish it from Linseed, Rape seed cakes, &c., and 

 by which name it has been known in Scotland for some 

 years. I will be glad to show the cake to any one 

 desirous of seeing it, and can give the names of highly 

 influential agriculturists in the Lothians and in Fifeshire 

 who have made use of it for feeding. James Bennett, Leith. 

 The Sunflower. — I have copied the following from a 

 newspaper paragraph ; will you kindly give in your 

 next Number some information respecting the cultiva- 

 tion of the Sunflower, and the process used to extract 

 the oil and make the cake. " The Sunflower is now 

 much cultivated for its oil, and as food for cattle and 

 poultry. One acre will produce 50 gallons of oil and 

 1500 lbs. of oilcake. The stalks when burnt for alkali 

 give 10 cwt. of potash. An Admirer. 



Root Crops at Canarn, Mylor. — Passing through this 

 farm the other day, I had but just finished admiring 

 the beautiful green hue of one of ;the Grass fields 

 through which I had just passed, as also the fine hand- 

 some short-horn cows that were grazing in it, when I 

 came into a field where the hands were- busily employed 

 taking up the crops of Mangels and Turnips. My 

 attention was immediately drawn to the enormous size 

 of some of the former. On mentioning it to the farmer, 

 Mr. B. Lawrance, he at once complied with my request 

 to get some weighed. Four square yards of each of 

 the following were then measured off, and after being 

 taken up and carefully divested of all the adherent soil, 

 but not tops, weighed as follows : — 



__ lbs. tons. cwt. qrs. lbs. 



Mangels, Yellow Globe = 99 = 53 9 2 6 



Turnips, Coppertop Swede = 76 = 41 1 8 

 „ Pomeranian White = 80 = 43 4 1 4 



[Dec. 1, 1355. 



For 



may learn much from the book of experience, but its 

 teachings are vague and uncertain, unless we are some- 

 what acquainted with the laws which regulate the 

 universe. A physician practising his profession in 

 ignorance of general principles, and trusting to his ex- 

 perience, might avoid doing much mischief in ordinary 

 cases, but in those of complexity and peril he would be 

 completely at sea and utterly helpless. The like case is 

 that of the farmer who has no scientific knowledge. 

 He may indeed wish to read correctly the laws of the 

 practical world, but this he cannot do accurately with- 

 out science. This is the difference between the empirical 

 and the scientific physiologist. The empiric is con- 

 tented with observing and recording the resulting fact, 

 while the scientific physiologist must ascertain the 

 manner in which physiological laws operate. The 

 attention of the one is directed to results in the im- 

 provement of his art, and that of' the other to the 

 enlargement of his stock of knowledge. There is a 

 strong tendency in those two methods to combine and 

 unite in one grand result. That they do so combine 

 ia unquestionably true. All science is true, and the 

 results of the operation of the great principles which it 

 teaches must be exactly in accordance with it. Now, 

 the object of the scieuce of agriculture is, to construct 

 a scheme of knowledge which shall not only explain 

 results, but be a guide to the evolutiou of correct sys- 

 tematic practice. This identity of result is not merely 

 important as respects the discoverers and improvers, 

 but to man as man, elevating him morally and intel- 

 lectually, and providing largely for his temporal wants. 



Jjraught of Steam Plough— Can any of your readers 

 who have a dynamometer, and with rope, say 200 yards 

 long or any given length more, sufficient to draw two or 

 more ploughs in a framed carriage such as Williams', 

 say what is the draught required to draw it over, first, level 

 land or a regular inclined plane ; second, over a convex 

 surface (stating the convexity) 





while they were gr^T^he ouen~~br^akT y, 

 this purpose he had portable houses as lightly ffi J' 

 as possible, consistent with a proper de^P r 

 strength, 10* feet long and 5 feet wide, o Den n ° f 

 one side, and closed at the back and the two end 

 These he spread about the fold, and the sheen Jft 

 they had filled themselves, retired to them for warn 2 

 and shelter. Thus a great portion of the food whir? 

 would otherwise have been expended in keeping unth 

 animal heat, became converted into nutriment and wm 

 consequently, so much food saved. In feeding of m!! , 

 too, he resorted to the same expedients. He ner» 

 gave them meal unmixed with bran or pollard ; and h 

 also most frequently gave them steamed roots in adit 

 tion ; and thus in feeding pigs for the London markets 

 vhich purpose pigs from 40 lbs. to 50 lbs were 

 amply large enough, of which he fed a large quantity 

 he hardly gave them any corn at all. Parsnips, by the 

 bye, were excellent roots for fatting pigs. When he 

 exhibited his prize pulping machine, at the Smithfield 

 Cattle Show last year, a gentleman from the Isle of 

 Ely came to his stand, and seeing his mincing machine 

 there, was much taken with it, and said it was just the 

 thing he had been seeking hitherto in vain, a machine 

 for reducing roots to a fine mince. He said 



for 



w 



he 



was m 





the habit of growing a large quantity of Parsnips f or 

 feeding pigs for the London markets \ now he would grow 

 double the quantity, and he would have fiye of his (Mr 

 Phillips's) machines. At this time 15 of them had 

 been sent into the same parish. 



&cbtcUj£ 



u e r and thirdly, over a 

 concave surface, stating the concavity as nearly as 



P?^ s, . ble? The object we have is to ascertain what 

 additional draught such a rope would add to the plough 

 carriage in ploughing, supposing it wound up upon a 

 drum or windlass at the headland by a stationary engine. 

 Any party who can answer the question will readily 

 appreciate its importance at the present moment, and 

 may vary it in any manner he think* h**** <*AU n u**A *~ 



afford information. ^ 



strain upon the two anchors of an endless wire^rone'in no9 OMU , m. ,, . , , 



being drawn over the ground empty it would be of Seat f n o '• l he Ma ° gels J^ pUt 1D earl - V in Mft * in 

 value. W. B P V or great drills 20 inches apart, with a dressing of 3 cwt. 2 qrs. 



Brain* with Brmhwood.-The reply of " A Constant t gUaD ° ^I^J t^ 8 * 6 T * mi P* late in June ; Wllite 



Header » to the inquiries of « EL l£» althoulh^tten ' *" T? ° - ^ 5 T h Wi * a dre8Bifl * ° f l cwt 



with much authority, is far fromb^ The Swedes, I was informed, 



With the experience of the present day?* wS Respect « U ^ ^ Tt ^ bUt f ° r * at IMi P e8t the 

 to using Brushwood, I should not venture to »y,^ P h^ > - y ■ haV « g ^ ned off the whole ° f thc first 



If we could ascertain again the 



The Agriculture of ike French Exhibition ; an Introduc- 

 tory Lecture, delivered in the University of Edin- 

 burgh, Session 1855-6. By J. Wilson, F.R.S.E.,'and 

 Professor of Agriculture in the University of Edin- 

 burgh. Edinburgh : Adam & Charles Black. 



We have received a copy of this lecture since the 

 condensed report of it in another page was put in type. 

 Its readers will find that the account of it which wa 



does, "lands may be safely drained with it," even ad- 

 mitting « it may last ten years," seeing that when it 

 commences to decay the drains become partially stopped 

 and the land is made very much wetter than ever, and' 

 lar more difficult to drain, from the lodgments of water 

 in the old drains ; nor can I consider, seeing how small 

 is the cost of pipes, that it can ever be advisable to 

 use Brushwood. Of this I am sure— it is always 

 adviseable for the landowner to come forward and 

 arrange with the tenant for the substitution of pipes : 

 and with respect to the recommendation to use " the 

 old-fash, oned horse-shoe tile laid upon a flat sole," 

 iortunately there are so few now made, and they are 

 so seldom to be had— the introduction of pipes bavin* 

 ^ery generally altogether superseded them— that ° 

 ittle harm can come of it. 



_ — sowing. 



Better lurnips than the White ones I have never seen, 

 and I should say they cannot be too highly recom- 

 mended. No fingers and toes are to be seen here, but 

 a handsomely formed large Turnip. Observator. 



very 

 , , - They have ceased to be 



used because the pipe is found to he a far cheaper and 

 stronger material j the first cost being one-half (the 

 --inch pipe is made for )is. to 18a. per 1000, while the 

 tile and sole costs 30s. to 40s.), and the cost of cartage 

 and cutting the pipe drain, and laying the pipes, is alio 

 .ess ; and the tile, as I have mjself experienced, and as 

 Mr. (xisbourne, m his very superior little work "On 

 Agricultural Drainage," has pointed out, has long since 

 been found unable to resist the great lateral pressure of 

 4 feet of clay and soft soils. They split along the back, 

 and the sides are pressed together by the weight of 

 4 feet of earth lying against them. With respect to 



mu ttm 7» the drdn3 across the fal1 '" I am at issue with 

 '"• B ;" I »m persuaded from my experience that 



the action of a drain ceases to be perfect whenever 

 taken out of the line of greatest fall. The water in the 

 soil, until set in motion by draining, is in a state of rest, 

 and then does not flow on the face of a plane, or like 

 ram over a surface, but rises into the drain, and takes a 

 course down the line of greatest descent : if the drains 

 take that course, the water follows the drains ; but if 

 the drams cro*s the line of descent, the water will soak 

 trom the lower side of the drains into the soil below ; 

 lor the drams are not like gutters or sunk channels, 

 tfiat catch the water on the upper side and hold it, and 

 do not admit of a parage across, but are always of 

 material .hat affords the like facility of escape as of 

 entry. Nature, (our master drainer) in the course of 

 rivers, which are the earth drains, ever follows the line 

 of greatest descent and the stream when turned aside, 

 will still, by its soakage into the lower ground, show its 

 tendency to take its natural course and true line of 

 drainage— namely down the line of steepest declivity. 

 Bemtt Davuy 8, Frederick's Place, Old Jewry, London. 

 Cotton &eed Cake.— My attention has been directed to 

 ■Sari. Parky ns» letter in the Gazette of the 20th October, 

 and as no one has replied to that letter, I think it my 



Farmers' Clubs. 



Grimshoe Hundred.— Economical Feeding of Stock. 



— Mr. Phillips said his idea was, that there was a <rreat 

 waste committed in the feeding of animals by g?vin» 

 them at one time more highly nutritious food than they 

 could properly assimilate to themselves ; it hence passed 

 through them in waste ; and his remedy was to add 

 largely to that nutritious food other and more bulky 

 and less nutritious substances, which while it filled their 

 bellies, which it was essential to do, would not throw 

 into the system more nourishment than it was capable of 

 assimilating. Thus in feeding farm horses, whose work 

 was slow, instead of giving them a feed of unmixed 

 Oats, he gave them their Oats reduced (so to speak) with 

 a large portion of steamed straw chaff ; and even for 

 the Oats, or at least a large part of them, a portion 

 of roots, either Carrots or Swede Turnips, minced 

 with his patent mincing machine, might be substi- 

 tuted m mixture, with the steamed straw fchaff- 

 so that instead of giving working horses what in this 

 district was the usual allowance, namely 2 bushels 

 of Oats per week, weighing about 35 lbs. per bushel 

 he only gave them half that quantity, and sometimes' 

 even less. He held it to be important also, in the 

 feeding ol horses, to crush their Oats. He was satisfied 

 there was a great saving effected by so doing. It was 

 also an excellent method, in the feeding of horses, where 

 it could be obtained, to feed them largely with tiorse 

 or Furze, crushed ; they were very fond of it, and did 

 extremely well u iJO n it ; and in the feeding of neat stock 

 he carried on the same system. He never eave them 

 highly nutritious food unmixed with food that was less 

 nutritious ; whether therefore he gave them linseed- 

 cake, or even roots, he always mixed them with a We 

 por.ion of minced straw chaff, steamed, which they eat 

 with avidity The quantity of highly nutritious Cd 



not perhaps graze altogether so fast, yet thev had ih* 

 agreeable conviction that there was no wast 2 committed! 

 The same applied to the feeding of sheep, whether E£ 

 ting or otherwise; let their roots be rJncVdT,! fi 

 rate by mincing, and nixed, in their troughs with „ 

 portion of steamed straw chaff. It Waa J,, "' , * 

 plan also in the feeding of sheep (indeed h* ri;,i - u 



salt remain m their troughs or mangers fW 

 sheep— he meant fattiug sheep especiallv \ a *u *l t0 



highly important to fu'rniah Vm ^"Itfi? 8 ^ 



have given is a very abridged and condensed statement 

 of the original, which is remarkable, as all Professor 

 Wilson's writings are that we have seen, for simple 

 adherence to the subject, without digression of any kind, 

 whether for rhetorical effect or for the gratification of 

 mere amateur students. The lecture is simply and very 

 fully instructive on the agriculture of the French exhibi- 

 tion. We extract a passage in illustration of the whole. 

 It relates to the specimens of timber exhibited by 

 Canada : — 



" Thus far I have only touched upon the produce of 

 cultivated crops, and these have for the most part been 

 the food substances of Europe. Of these, even some 

 fine specimens were sent from our own colonies, but 

 their strength and importance were displayed in the 

 admirable collection of the produce of special crops, or 

 of those obtained without any cultivation at all. First 

 and foremost of these, in number and beauty of speci- 

 mens, if not in actual imporcuice, must be classed 

 the woods used for construction and for ornamental 

 purposes. In these the English colonies of Canada, 

 Guiana, Jamaica, and Australia were without any 

 rivals. The gigantic dimensions of the soft timber of 

 Canada were only equalled by the strength of fibre and 

 beauty of grain of tiie hard woods of lower latitudes. 

 Each specimen in these large collections was correctly 

 named, and formed an object of study for the economic 

 botanist, no less than an object of commercial 

 interest to the merchants and artificers of Europe. 

 Such a large collection of specimens offered an excel- 

 lent opportunity for testing their comparative value 

 for different purposes of construction ; and a series of 

 experiments were carried out, the results of which, I 

 have no doubt, will materially add to our knowledge 

 of the relative strength of materials. The importance 

 of these experiments would probably be more readily 

 seen in reference to shipbuilding than to any other 

 ordinary purpose for which wood in large quantities 

 is required. In shipbuilding about 40 cubic feet (using 

 round numbers) are required per ton— say 32 cumc 

 feet for the hull, and » cubic feet lor fittings 

 would give for a ship of 1000 tons 32,000 x 

 cubic feet. The two important elements for the con- 

 sideration of the builder are strength and specific gra- 

 vity, both separately and in relation to each other. 

 The value of lhe former is not so <?eneraliv determines 



this 



8000 



as that of the latter 



ne 

 a 



object of the experiments alluded to : let us see,tnen, 

 how far the latter element of the physical character o 

 timber influences the ship. The first-class woods i en- 

 tered at Lloyd's are eight in number— Knglisn °* > 

 American Oak, African Oak, Morung Saul, Kast injj 

 Teak, Greenheart, Mora, Iron Bark ; these mom 

 differ considerably in specific gravity. A cabic *°IIL . 

 English Oak weighs 40 lbs. ; of American Oak, 46l»| 

 of African Oak. Sfl lh« • ^f \TnUh*r Teak. 39 lbs. , 



these, other woods are largely used, as Hon ^ 

 Mahogany, which weighs 31 lbs. per cubic foot ; * 

 lyptus, 50 lbs. ; Canada Pine, 22 lbs. ; a"d UJJ 



25 lbs. Now. takimr thi^a* armmAi* orravities into C*» 



Mora E 



» v jmo. nun, u*Kjii;r iiK-se specmc gr» »'i"^ — . -j 



lation, the hull of a 1000-ton ship would require 

 English Oak, 572 tons ; of American Oak, 657 ton* ' 

 African Oak, 714 tons ; of Teak, 537 tons ; ot *£*» 

 885 tons; oi Eucalyptus, 714 tons, and of l*».JJ q( 

 no less than 930 tons ; while it would only requi' • 

 Mahogany, 443 tons ; of Canada Pine, 316 tons ; o 



