704 Domestic Notices : — Scotland. 



of his sending us one of the fruit, which he did, and which proved of excel- 

 lent flavour. — Cnnd. 



The new Turkish Onion has attained, witli me, a very large size. I exhibited 

 three bulbs at the Hereford Horticultural Society's show, on September 22., 

 which, when cleaned and deprived of their tops, weighed together 5 lb. 10 oz. 

 The largest one, when newly gathered, weighed 2\ lb. They were spring sown ; 

 otherwise, if they had been sown in the autumn, I have no doubt but they 

 would have been considerably larger, as they were not ripe when gathered. 

 At the Hereford autumnal show in 1835, I received a prize for three onions of 

 the Tripoli kind, the largest of which weighed 2 lb. 4 oz. — James Alexander, 

 Maeslaugh Castle Gardens, Oct. 1836. 



The Mercer Potato. — Some tubers of this potato have been sent us by the 

 Earl of Mount Norris, of which His Lordship's gardener gives us the following 

 account : — The end of the month of May last, 20 tubers of this excellent 

 potato arrived in a box of plants from the Bartram Botanic Garden, Phila- 

 delphia. The tubers were planted whole, on a piece of ground 28 ft. by 3 J ft. 

 wide. When taken up on October the 8th, the net produce in weight was 

 1 cwt. 20 lb. Taking into consideration the unfavourable weather of the 

 past summer, the produce of this excellent new potato has a preference of 

 from nine to ten in its superiority over all other sorts of potato in culture with 

 us. Robert Carr, Esq., the proprietor of the Botanic Garden above men- 

 tioned, declares " this is the best potato known." — Arley Garden, Oct. 12. 1836. 



We had some of the potatoes sent, cooked; they had a decidedly earthy 

 flavour ; and, though they might perhaps be as good as potatoes grown in 

 kitchen-gardens generally are, and perhaps as prolific as any variet)', yet, as an 

 eating potato, this sort is, to our taste, far inferior to various kinds: for 

 example, to those of a roundish shape and variegated with red or purple, which 

 are sold in Covent Garden Market under the name of Scotch potatoes; or to 

 the roundish pink-skinned potato called the Irish apple. — Cond. 



The Steam-ploiigli and the Scotch System of Husbandry, — At the fifth anni- 

 versary of the East Suffolk Agricultural Association, held at Wickham Market, 

 Sept. 8., the most interesting remarks of the evening were the opinions ad- 

 vanced by the president, by Lord Henniker, and by Mr. Shawe, in favour of 

 the new poor law, the steam-plough, and the Scotch system of husbandry. 

 Lord Stradbroke enforced the necessity of improving the implements of agricul- 

 ture; and pointed to the manufacturing districts for proof that the improve- 

 ment of machinery brought an increase of wealth to the capitalist, and of 

 comfort to the workman. The agriculturists must keep pace with the spirit of 

 the age in doing their utmost to lessen the cost of cultivation. The steam- 

 plough, of which his former mention had been received with incredulity, had 

 actually been completed, and, with a little alteration, was likely to be brought 

 into general use. He was convinced that means like these were the best that 

 could be devised for the relief of the agriculturists, and by which they might 

 hope to become once more an exporting, instead of an importing, nation. Lord 

 Henniker said he hoped that a day of greater prosperity than they had yet seen 

 was dawning on the farmer, and that his difficulties were nearly at an end. In 

 corroboration of the president's statement as to the steam-plough, he had 

 received a letter from a friend in Lincolnshire, who informed him that in his 

 neighbourhood they had got one already, and that it would plough eight acres 

 and harrow thirty in a day. Mr. Shawe thought that some time must elapse be- 

 fore the steam-plough would be brought into general use ; and in the mean time, 

 as it appeared by the evidence before the Agricultural Committee that the 

 Scotch system of husbandry was n)uch less costly than ours, he suggested that 

 a deputation should be sent into Scotland to enquire whether any more 

 economical method could be introduced here. (^Bury and Norivich Post, Sept. 14.) 

 We hope such a committee will be appointed : the farmers of England, not 

 even the most intelligent of them, including what are called the gentlemen 

 farmers, have not the least idea of what farming is in the best cultivated dis- 

 tricts of Scotland, — for example, in East Lothian. The effects of the subsoil 



