S28 



THE AGRICULTURAL GAZETTE. 



• 



[Dec. 15, 1S55. 



is to a raiiier laes quantity per acre than i have named. 

 You will perceive, sir, I am writing in a somewhat posi- 

 tive strain ; but having previous to harvest predicted 

 the failure, as our county papers will show, I have 

 been at some pains to see how far results have borne 



Dredictions : unfortunately, I find them fully 



out my f , . a 



verified. Any man at all accustomed to the inspection 



of Wheat fields was aware of the many untoward cir- 

 cumstances at work (I am speaking of this county) from 

 the very time of blossoming— ice on the 21st June, the 

 very midst of that season ; the Wheat fly, the parent of 

 the vellow maggot, as busy as bees in a flower garden; 

 the old blask sort of blight, first affecting the straw, 

 with black spots of fungi absorbing the juices, and con- 

 sequently shrivelling the grain ; heavy thunderstorms, 

 prostrating the already smitten crop, rendering it more 

 su*cej.tib!e of mischief ;— here was a combination of 

 evil from which the results are not at all surprising, 

 and they are as I have stated them. I am happy 

 in tins opportunity of entering my earnest protest 

 against the delusions enunciated by Mr. Caird, 

 through the columns of the Times; his letters are 

 full of assumptions, but in which I look in vain for 

 one single established facf, as regards our usual average 

 growth, the consumption, and more particularly of 

 this year's produce, and how any man of practice 

 could have ventured to assume an extra planting 

 of one-fourth in acreage of Wheat, in the face 

 of an iron frost from January the 12th to the 

 Cth of March, the only period during which any 

 sensible increase could have been sown, throughout 

 which the plough was frozen to the earth, and after 

 which it was too late and useless to sow Wheat, is a 

 matter of astonishment to all reasoning men ; there 

 were very many acres ploughed up in various parts of 

 the country killed by the frost, and I very much ques- 

 t\on whether, on strict investigation, it would not appear 

 that the acreage thus lost to the country did not quite 

 equal that sown over and above the usual quantity. 

 I believe Hampshire is one of the worst affected 

 counties this year ; but I know there are many others 

 'very bad, and it is curious to note on almost 

 every farm, the great difference in produce in 

 the various fields on the same occupation and 

 very near together, with very little difference as to 

 the time of sowing ; we find 26 bushels per acre growing 

 alongside of 12 bushels, the one being a fair sound 

 sample, the other tailing corn, and what is still more 

 strange the best manured lands, with the heaviest crops 

 of straw, although standing upright, yield much worse 

 than those of a moderate bulk, and more lightly dressed. 

 When you have received the information you are 

 seeking from the various correspondents, you will be 

 in a position to draw a faithful conclusion as to our 

 stock and probable wants. Testing these by Hampshire 

 alone, our position would be alarming indeed ; and I am 

 inclined to believe, taking in the few, if such are to be 

 found, whose yield shall come up to Mr. Caird's own 

 reported produce, your balance sheet will show a re- 

 quirement of at least five millions of quarters over and 

 above our own growth to carry the nation on till the 

 harvest of 1856, a good Potato crop notwithstanding. 



T. Twynani. The Wheat crop in this district between ; 



Southampton and Lymington rivers is not over two ! 

 thirds of an average crop ; some fields in Fawley parish 

 as low as 8 bushels per acre, of a very bad quality. None 

 of us can thresh out more than half the usual quantity 

 per day ; the cause I believe to be a blight just before 

 harvest, owing to an over luxuriant growth and thin 

 plant on the ground. Barley a good average crop, 

 rather over than under ; Oats the same. J. Earner, 

 Lymington. 



Dorsetshire. — Having a large agricultural connection 

 in this county, besides being a buyer of corn, I have an 

 opportunity of knowing something of our produce, and 

 I am happy to say our yield of Wheat turns out better 

 In quality and quantity than wa3 expected at harvest. I 

 think we had about one-tenth more land under Wheat 

 thin in average years, and I now think in this county 

 the quantity per acre is about an average, but much less 

 than iast year. Less land by one-tenth of an average 

 under Barley and Oats, but the quantity per acre an 

 average of each. R. Darner, Dorchester. 



thirayear of ihe JrWo blight 1 made a similar trial 

 from \ large Potato accidentally procured from a 

 vessel from France. I planted it the first week m May. 

 It was long and full eyed, weighing nearly a pound, 

 from which I raised 31 plants at distances of lu inches 

 in a single row. At the end of August I found hem 

 diseased, and « although very unripe" I removed them, 

 in number 273, 60 of which weighed 56 lbs., the others 

 were very small. The total weight was over 

 and I believe, under favourable circumstances, it might 

 have been 40 lbs. more. I think it possible to get 

 3 bushels from the like bulb. It is not the Potato 

 alone that will give us (with high cultivation) an almost 

 incredible increase. In Peas I have it verified. On the 



80 lbs., 



24th of last April I put in a single row of 30, 15 inches 

 apart, and they were harvested in August ; the produce 

 of these 30 Peas Vas over 11,000 ; five of them gave 

 2693 perfect Peas, viz. 



1 621 \ 



2 540 



3 527 



4 505 



5 500 



- 2693, 



length) I 

 the same 



Wil- 



the straw of which (rather over 3 feet in 

 have here, and ?hall be pleased to forward 

 for the inspection of Professor Lindley, &c. 



Ham Harrison, New Romney. In reply to your 



correspondent of the 24th ult, I add, that having 

 adjourned to a field at the home farm of Mr. Ed. 

 Smith on the 3d of October last, I witnessed crops of 

 Potatoes evidencing an admirable system of culture. 

 In looking over the varieties grown, my attention 

 was drawn to one entirely distinct from any known 

 in cultivation. Upon an intimation from Mr. Smith, I 

 learned this peculiar growth belonged to a hybrid 

 seedling, named by its raiser Smith's Prolific Kidney. 

 At my desire one root was dug up, when 39 good sound 

 tubers appeared ; 31 were of a large size, the remainder, 

 excepting two, fit for culinary purposes. The weight 

 of the root was 18 lbs. (the tubers being washed clean 

 previous to weighing). I further ascertained that the 

 parent of this produce was a small firm tuber, weighing 

 5 oz. ; also, that this had received precisely the same 

 cultivation as the general crop. /. R. T., Gardener to 

 G. S. Wintle, Esq., Hucclecote Gardens, near Gloucester. 



octettes* 



Home Correspondence. 



Potatoes in Bread. — In reply to the inquiry of a 

 u Subscriber " as to how and in what proportion to use 

 Potatoes with flour in making bread, I beg to state my 

 plan, as follows : — first place in a pancheon or paste* 

 bowl 15 lbs. of flour near the fire to warm ; take 5 lbs. 

 of good Potatoes, those of a mealy kind being prefer- 

 able, peel and boil them as if for the table, mash them 

 line, and then mix with them as much cold water as 

 will allow all except small lumps to pass through a 

 coarse sieve into the flour, which will now be ready to 

 receive them ; add yeast, &c, and mix for bread in the 

 usual way. This plan I have followed for some years, 

 finding that bread made according to it is much supe- 

 rior to that made of flour only, and on this ground 

 alone I would recommend its adoption, even if Potatoes 

 were the same price as flour ; but in addition to that, 

 taking the present high price of flour, and moderately 

 low price of Potatoes, here is a saving of over 20 per 

 cent., which is surely an object worth 

 only by those of limited means. E. B. 7 



Society of Arts, Dec 12.— On the Progress and 

 Results of the Under Drainage of Zand in Great Britain. 

 — The following is an abridgment of the Paper on this 

 subject read before this Society by Mr. Bailey Denton. 

 The discussion which followed the reading of the paper 

 we hope to give next week : 



In selecting the subject of drainage as a topic for considera- 

 tion, at a moment when war and its consequences upon the corn- 

 producing countries of Europe have brought the price of Wheat 

 to lls.6d. per bushel, and the price ©f bread to XQd. the loaf, the 

 council of this Society have been doubtless influenced by a desire 

 to extend the knowledge we possess of an art which has been 

 rightly esteemed the foundation of agricultural improvement, 

 and the most simple and certain means by which the produce of 

 the soil may be increased. If we consider the deprivations 

 which seem to be multiplying upon us, we shall be led to ap- 

 preciate more sensibly the importance of the present inquiry, 

 and we shall be struck with the fact, well known but too little 

 reflected upon, that in proportion as extremely high prices move 

 the community at large to desire that the capabilities of our 

 native soil should be more fully developed, in order to increase 

 its produce of food, so do many owners of that soil abate their 

 zeal in pursuit of improvements necessarily admitted, though 

 but partially performed, during the more pressing difficulties of 

 extremely low prices. If this should sound like mere asser- 

 tion, the evidence afforded by the expenditure in drainage, 

 under the Government loan, will leave no doubt on the point, 

 for in 1852, when Wheat was 405. 9i. per quarter, the expendi- 

 ture was 412,269!. 155. 6d. It became in 1853, when Wheat rose 

 to 53*. Sd. per quarter, 334,115/. 135. 3d.; and declined still further 

 in 1851, when the price was 725 5d.per quarter, to 316,220/. Is. 4d. t 

 or about 100,0002. less than in 1852. This fact, in its reference 

 to the particular subject of drainage, is the more to be lamented, 

 because the operation may be considered essentially to rank 

 among the obligations of the owner and not the occupier of the 

 land, and it is so necessary to found the present discussion upon 

 a right understanding of this important point, that I must be 

 pardoned for dwelling upon it. It is hardly 12 months ago since 

 I had an opportunity of introducing this subject to the attention 

 of the London Central Farmer's Club, the members of which are 

 for the most part tenant farmers; and it was then suggested to 

 me, that, however convincing the evidence might be in proof of 

 the profitable results from .systematic drainage, and however 

 interesting in themselves the details of the necessary operations, 

 it was so manifest that drainage, to be satisfactory, must be done 

 effectually and permanently, and must therefore involve such a 

 much larger outlay than a tenant farmer could be expected to 

 make, that my statements should be rather addressed to the 

 owners than to the occupiers of land. The whole tenor of the 

 discussion on that occasion went to show, that considerations of 

 expediency were paramount with those whose interest in the soil 

 was limited by the nature of their tenancy, while it was con- 

 tended that principle should rule with those whose interest in 

 the soil was permanent and secure. 



The object to be arrived at by both parties is to secure the 

 best effect with the utmost durability. Already it has been made 

 apparent that the short term of 22 years [during which the re- 

 payment of an expenditure on drainage is an annual charge 

 upon the land] with all the advantage of the low rate of 

 interest of the Government loan, has necessitated a charge 

 upon the tenants which many, even of the most enlightened 

 are indisposed to bear as a standing increase of rent—or 

 it has caused dissatisfaction on another and worse ground viz 

 that the works themselves have been inefficiently done from a 

 prede termination to limit their cost to such an amount as will be 

 repaid by a given charge. I refer to the experience of this fact 



would be from 45. Gd. to 55. 'Sd. per acre * and in theTattPr f » 

 65. 6d. to 75. 2d. The difference is nearly 50 per cent. Xow^r 

 drainage is substantially done, there is no reason whatever ♦ 

 doubt that it will last at least 50 years, and it follows, therefo 

 that the period of repayment may extend, if need be to th* 

 period. ' 



Mr. Denton then, after some remarks on the increased 

 productiveness of drained land, proved by cases drawn 

 from his own experience, gives the following illustration 

 of the general progress of land draining : — 



To understand clearly the advance we have made and the 

 extent of work yet to be done, the whole country should be divided 

 geologically into three great characteristic areas. 



A curved line drawn from Exeter to Berwick will make a 

 very close give and take division between the western and middle 

 districts, and the lower margin of the chalk, commencing at Wey- 

 mouth in Dorset, and ending at Flamborough Head in Yorkshire 

 will form an excellent boundary between the middle and eastern 

 districts. 



1st. The western and north-western or Alpine district includes 

 the mountainous granite, mica, and slate rocks with the trap 

 rocks, clays, and debris associated with them, and the conglome- 

 rate clay "and loam of the red sandstone which cover a wide 

 breadth of the lower-lying portions of the district. 



The district is made up according to Table I. (next page). 

 The system of drainage applicable to this district being for the 

 most part occasional or "spring drainage," the expenditure will 

 he brought rather below the cost of parallel or uniform drainage. 

 Where parallel drainage has been deemed necesary in the valleys 

 of the granite district, the cost has been generally high, owing 

 to the large quantity of bolder stones and rock fragments which 

 crowd the debris of which the soil is constituted. In the clay 

 slate valleys, too, the cost has been found to be very great, owing 

 to the necessity of breaking through and blasting protruding 

 rocks, frequently bringing the cost as high as 11. or 81. per acre! 

 The drains in the hill sides, however, being at comparatively 

 wide intervals will be executed at from 27. 10s. to 4J. per acre, and 

 the average cost of the whole will thereby be much reduced. It 

 may be assumed that the quantity of land permanently drained 

 in this district by means of borrowed capital and by private out- 

 lay, does not exceed 300,000 acres, and that 36,000,000^., will be 

 required to perfect the under-draining of the remaining 7,725,000 

 acres of wet land. 2. The middle district, including all the 

 secondary strata from the basis of the Devonian, Cambrian, and 

 Cumbrian ranges up to, but exclusive of, the chalk formation, 

 comprises the mountain limestone, the coal measures, the new 

 red sandstones, and magnesian limestone, the lias, the oolitic 

 strata, and the portion of the green sand with the gault lying to 

 the west of the main ridge of chalk. 



The counties, parts of counties, and parts of Wales and Scot- 

 land (Table II.), make up the middle district. 



This district, consisting of nearly nineteen millions of acres, 

 comprises soils of every degree of tenacity and porosity, from the 

 stiffest clays to the freest sands. About one half, or eight 

 millions of acres of the cultivated lands, and lands capable of 

 improvement, are believed to be either clays or loams requiring 

 drainage on the parallel system, with more or less distance 

 between the drains, and about 3j millions of acres are of com- 

 paratively porous matter, which require occasional drains, or 

 drains at very wide intervals, to free them of the water upheld 

 by the underlying clays. Some of the stiffest clays, however 

 particularly patches of the red sandstone clay, some deep beds oi 

 the lias and Oxford clays, and the Ganet, require very close 

 drainage to be effective. An interval of 6 or 8 yards is quite 

 wide enough for these soils. The necessity of thus increasing 

 the number of drains in some places will counterbalance the 

 comparatively small cost of the occasional drainage of the water- 

 logged strata, and will bring the average cost of the whole to 57. 

 per acre. We cannot assume that there are less than ten 

 millions of acres in this district still to be drained. This is, sup- 

 posing that 415,000 acres have been already permanently drained, 

 and on such assumption it will require 50,000,000/. to perfect the 

 under-draining of the district. 3d. The eastern district in- 

 cludes the chalk (the uppermost formation of the secondary 

 strata) — the green sand which surrounds the "Weald clay 

 —the Wealden clay and Hastings sands, and the tertiary and 

 post-tertiary formations, which comprise the London and 

 plastic clays— the Bagshot sand and associated clay, the crags 

 of Norfolk and Suffolk, the rich deposits of Holderness m 

 Yorkshire, and the more recently recovered fens of Norfolk, 

 Cambridgeshire, Huntingdonshire, and Lincolnshire. Bower 

 and transported clays are very frequently found in this district 

 also, covering the out-cropping strata. The counties or parts 

 of counties (as stated in Take 1 1 1.) make up the district. 



A very wide portion of this district is chalk, and requires no 

 draining. A considerable portion, too, consists of the tens, oi 

 which 1 have estimated only half as requiring under-tfrainin^ 

 Already the prejudice against under-draining these lands is 

 giving way, where the vegetable matter is shallow and the under- 

 lying clay comes closer to the surface. The deep peat, or oiac* 

 fens," may be considered sufficiently well-drained by open ay&v>< 

 and have not been included in the foregoing statement ■J™*' 

 remark, however, that where under-drainage has **J? n ,»lifv 

 has been found to consolidate the soil and improve the ^*" l > 

 of the corn grown. The whole breadth of the fens in ™ sevwa 

 counties is about 700,000 acres. Of the denser clays ™ ^ave « i 

 this district the Wealden and the London clays ; the wnner , 



which covers 650,000 acres, and the latter 1,500,000 ac ^' a " 

 — k*.i :_ -I— n„i JT3 -i-„. -i— :«.*«„ Besides these clays 



degree of tenacity. As f ' - -- -—^.included 



in this district, I have « uincu »u»« nw t v - , j PR : n i nff 



permanently drained, leaving 4,000,000 acres requiring ' |™ ^ 

 the cost of which cannot be estimated at less than /A"w, 

 The summary (Table IV.) gives the totals of the d, stncts. ^ 



Thus we see that there will still be re.| aired 10 7 ^^' 

 the under-drainage of Great Britain, towards which tne w 

 in hand of the Government Loan 1,471,216/. is *PP\ ,cft ° f/ ™ 



id witn bolder ana aimvi» -.«;- , • 



As the metropolis and suburbs are mcludea 



,ave assumed that 450,000 a^hwg» 



3 res requiring draining 



t less than 22,000/HM 



0i 



the sum of 105,528,781/. to be provided from V riy ^^J^i' will 



■teamed that four-fifths, or about ^^^L^tcd 

 be required on loan, and that the collected capita^ " c °w rf 

 drainage and insurance companies will be the ruiiiie ■ ^ 



this it maybe 



Derbyshire, Dec. 11. 



attending to, if 

 High Peak of 



because it is manifest that the extension of the art of draining 

 will very materially depend upon the rate of instalment charged 

 upon the tenants, and however profitable individual cas»i I ©f 

 fr^nagemay be shown to be the benefit to the nation will be 



Sffw^'i "J 1 * 8 ", WG "Hfi the tenAnt * *™*™^ that during 

 all the vicissitudes oftimes they can afford to pay the increased 



rent they are to be charged. The advantage "of a 1 en Sd 

 period will be shown by comparing the increased rent a te nam 



''^°'" /c » +™» XJ ' r»~« »«i w »iwwi uy comparing me increased rent a tenant 



Produce of a Potato.-l beg to rtate that about the ^^F^g%2i^T& &!£!?!* 



case the increased rent 



supply; for it is hardly to be supposed that the le #"* tftica ur 

 again sanction the advance of public money tor tne v ^ n 

 benefit of one class of the community, afrer experience " ^ 

 that private companies are able and willing to lendnaou , 

 the lowest rate of interest ruling in commercial anairs. 



Mr. Denton proceeded to discuss the question of m 

 and Shallow Drainage:— tbe 



Drainage, to be perfectly satisfactory in its effect np f ^ 

 soil, must render it uniformly permeable to the mu u v • ^ 

 drains. The soil midway between them must be in .im> the 



dition to receive and infiltrate the rain thai falls "P° ' Rre nat 

 soil nearest the drains. If this is not accomplished, u j^ ^ 



producing that united effect which « houl V e Jm c in^ an irr* 

 obtained, and there is no more certain way ot P.r°" uv » r distant 



pitnr condition of soil, than by placing the _ d ™ "not perfec* 



from each other, that the influence of one « rai " t ^ J failure* 

 meet the influence of another. Cases have been quoted a* 



_ .... — x ijY tut 



♦Five shillings per acre increased rent will be in of ^ 

 following increie of produce upon a J^^J condition oi 

 bandrv, independent of all benefit from the improved 



the soil for tillage and seeding :— hnshel. 



Turnips, 20 bushels at 3d. per bnsnei. 



Barley, lj „ *•%*• » 

 Wheat, I „ *•***• " 



