sask 



organic portion 



.-- 

 Hi: 



3k 



Juteh chemist, h; 



THE AGRICULTURAL GAZETTE. 



igasarenie!- ssion, seems 



e picked up uncommonly high ideas as to the sum 



But is this correct? Has 



as: 



worked out, the history c 



"lumus, or vegetable mou 



sntirely brought ab ■: 

 une Doaies tnas lormed are all of them, more or less, 

 insoluble, and consequently useless to vegi 



which ammonia is one of the chief, and becoming 

 ihereby more or less soluble salts, just in proportion as 



the presence of carbonate of lime ; for when one of 

 these, and the humus for each is formed, a p 

 tion of the woody fibre takes place; carter, 



(that ia hydrogen just liberated from com: 



formed. This nascent hydrogen has the power of 



uniting with the nitrogen of the air, thus forming 



all engaged in growing Turnips ; and certainly the plan 

 by which this can be realised one year with another 

 would be worth knowing ; and if it did succeed would 

 do more to shut the mouths of all those bawling about 



do for them. My own experience, so far as it goes, is 

 that from 6s. to 7s. per ton is the usual average re- 

 ceived from them during a series of years ; particular 



hadTnd on'some occasions, more" The fe^dfng qXies 

 of a given weight of Turnips varying in different situa- 

 tions from quality of land, manure, or climate, may 

 account for the sum stated by Mr. Tuke ; there are 



-Tmore. By 



rienre faleeduT ^mu* 



^ proved by e: 



far I progress for sore 





butThe ISne* 



g power. There is no donb 



point. As a practical proof of the above, 



immediately preceding the Wheat crop for the 

 tion of lime, for then all the soluble portions 

 farm-yard dung applied with the Turnips is ex! 



humus, which is only capable of being roused 

 and energy by the presence of quicklime. J. C 

 Cottage, Berkshire. 



What is a Ton of Turnips worth?— Farm] 

 strange trade, and there are very few followin 

 that do not think themselves wondrous wise i 

 particular department of it, but somehow or oi 

 individual experience of each does not alway 

 with that of others, and in no department doe 



turns from feeding cattle on Turnips. We ha 

 Mechi, after making a searching investigation 

 farm accounts, finding that his root crops had 

 little else than the manure. Then we have vour Gallo- 



June, 1848, y... respondents de- 



tailing his experience, which, however, if 

 the actual outlay for Linseed-cake, &c, and the manure 

 which was also done in the former case the sum 



ww ^iritt* *** t0a f ° r Swed ™ an * Mangold 



from the 12th of October preceding, and in the most 



i Civ„m» 



. ./. i/ . i: 



desirable that the 

 the plough, as is t 



?.— The c 



srn husbandry. It may not be 

 e of a farm or district be under 

 ise in Scotland from Edinburgh 

 id by Dunse, for a distance oi 

 l the mixed husbandry which ii 

 us, a large proportion of the 



having been produced by the drill system ; but to hire 

 capital are required, and it will not'succeed^unle™^ 

 soil be well pulverised. Facilities for this pulverisa! 

 tion being obtained by the crops being drawn into row. 

 proper use is to be made of this by the frequent apE 

 tion of the horse and hand hoe ; and thus not only are 

 weeds killed and extirpated, but the soil is brought info 

 a friable mould for the roots of plants to expatiate in 

 which, as has been shown, extend much further than i« 

 generally supposed, often from 3 

 hoeing a plant, the additional 



growth and perfection. Such being the advantages o{ 

 seem extraordinary that it has not been brought into 

 more general use. The Scotch, with all their admirable 



without a weed, are still very backward in this branch 

 of husbandry. As a proof of it, there was only one 

 implement of the kind shown at the great Edinburgh 

 agricultural meeting last year. On inspecting the East 

 Barnes farm, I found only one field drilled, which had 

 not been horse hoed, and which had a very indifferent 

 crop of Wheat. In addition to the advantages already 



mentioned, the thin sowing Bystem may be adopted. 

 This has lately been brought into much notice by the 

 practice of Mr. Mechi and^ Mr. Hewitt Davis, and also 

 by a publication of the latter in favour of it, and by 

 Mr. Mechi in his series <,f letters. The principle on 



viz., to have the ground in a fine state of pulver'" 1 -'- 



■ 

 says ("New II 





...in 1 . 



considers to be three-fourths. It is certainly the mosl 

 agreeable style of farming, being the least laborious 

 and liable to the least risk, as being not so entirely de- 



however, a consideration how far a milk or a cheese 

 i compatible with the whole land under the plough, 



shire correspondent, when including the value 



manure made, he held it forth as being so consid 



that it was worth endeavouring to imitate. 1 



must confess that with no higher returns from f 



cattle than the above hold forth, 



ment to strive greatly for the increase of the c 



tion of Turnips ; but I am rather inclined to thii 



the actual average value of a ton of Turnips is more 



than 3s. The state of the market when the cattle were 



hought, and the change that took place in it when they 



T?ma\\ he - sM .' ™ ay - in a ^ at de g reeaccount f or such 



happened to most feeders again this slain, for the 



cattle when bought in during October last, 



« such a price that to allow a fair sum for the expence 



**«*. .has been only obtained. Any one who is 

 ^S^l y eD ^ ed in the *"*» mns * * »ce 

 T-™V^i^^ n ft 3 / 9 - Teh T, couVoe 

 made from cattle, even had they received \ut°a 'small 

 quantity of other food, and where much other food was 

 used 1 have no doubt that Mr. Mechi's experience 



M»d agents form high and 

 d sum that is generally pro- 

 crop. In tl 

 • Tuke, when treating of high 



preparing the ploughed 



led land for a succession of ci 

 ^"be^ro^ 



■"■.-.'.■ 

 ot at all, and not even understood. It is certainly 

 lost beautiful method of growing crops, most efficiei 



:■- • ' - . 

 ;. \],. :■;, .• ': - •■ ....... . . 



Cobbett, who further sajs, that it was not the mei 

 putting of plants in rows that was taught by Mr. Tu! 

 but the reasons for doing this, and in the stating i 



reasons for invei 

 The reasons for drilling may 

 ("New Husbandry," p. 169) :- 

 be deposited in the soil with gi 



method : _' that drilling gives the grain a good' holdTf 

 the ground, and gives all the seed the same depth of 



; 3, that the ilanta 



of sun and air, the 





5, that the ground is better ni»— j 



has established beyond all 



young, multiplied root 





miss great part of 



the broken parts of the old, they 

 nu-.-t with tint pasture which their predecessors missed, 

 besides that new pasture whicli the hoe raises for them; 

 and covers again, are turned into a fresh pasture, some 

 broken and some unbroken, all together invigorate the 

 plants. Law. Rawstorne. . .. Mfl 



Mnnaprmmt of .1f„„„rr.-The farmers » lh.JP* 

 of the country (Warwickshire), have a V T f m °' 

 turning over the manure heap in the yard ; after vm 

 it is Lally carted out and* made into a dung 

 in any field for which manuring is required, s " B ™r^° 

 car£; y ev W en after SXyTrequent^ turn it over 

 again while in the field. The reason they give for rt« 

 "that the straw may rot," and I suppose it *•«■ 

 advantage ; but at the same time, what was a nc "r ., 

 rich black manure becomes, to all appearance, nw 

 better than a heap or dried straw. Now, if the nujora 

 ie.v, ,! . ,i ,rrai,ht to the land from the ^yard, mm 

 the straw being rotted, and the land be «"»«»*"*_$ 

 ploughed, I can conceive that the straw bsmgl-jj 

 comparatively strong the plough might be , much * ^ 

 thereby ; but, would not this be obviated by *"» tf 

 beimt cut up into certain lengths before sppbj- 

 bedding to the animal., and when once the sW*. 



as you probably are aware), connected with ttasj ' ^ 

 of manure to the influence of the atmosphere^ «^ 

 is applied to the land of course toleraWr^, 

 but is dried up by the action of the air ana ^^ 

 very few days, and then, to all appearance, « » j ^ 

 than dried straw. Now, there is a fact obser yed 

 often heard observed upon, and have m ^ offl ft any 

 crop, by observation, tell where the manure f*^^ 



time), and the patch of land where the »f"* ^Th* 

 lain has surely beentop-dressedpretty Jjjjj^ bu t 



