THE AGRICULTURAL GAZETTE. 



29 



M The first remark 



to be made upon the nourishing j poisons upon plants wouKi be a very \ 

 Iwavs contains a substance of lion to scientific agriculture. " 



The properties of gum 



fluid of plants is, that it al 

 the nature of gum or sugar 



will be considered in the next chapter, as well as that of 

 the other substances immediately to be alluded to. W 6 

 shall here only mention that it consists of carbon, hydro- 

 Sen, and oxy-m That the basis of the nourishing fluid 

 of plants should be gum is very intelligible, when we 

 consider that the greater part of the structure of plants 

 (wh eh structure is of course formed out of the nourish- 

 ing fluid) consists of the same elements as gum does. 

 We may specify wood or woody fibre, the waxes of 

 plants, their oils, resins, &c. But the nourishing fluid 

 of plants must contain also the other elements which, 

 although in much smaller quantities, make up the struc- 

 ture of vegetable beings. Many parts, for instance, of 

 plants contain nitrogen, and all plants contain some of 

 the following elementary bodies, — potassium, calcium, 

 mafmesium, sodium, silicon, aluminum, iron, manganese, 

 sulphur, phosphorus, and chlorine. The nourishing 

 fluid of any plant must and does contain all the elements 

 of which the structure of that individual plant is com- 



Eosed. Besides providing for their own structure, plants 

 Ly up a store of nutriment for the young embryo that 

 springs from them. This must likewise be formed from 

 the nourishing fluid. This substance, we may add, is 

 always insoluble in cold water, and is known by the 

 name of starch. It is obtained in abundance from 

 Potatoes -and otlier roots, from flour, and from many 

 other vegetable products. When we come to examine 

 the blood of animals, or of man, we find that it bears an 

 exact analogy to the nourishing fluid of vegetables. As 

 it not only forms but keeps up (for we shall soon have 

 occasion to see that animals differ from plants, inasmuch 

 as their structure is always wasting) every part of the 

 body, it must contain all the elements which the body 

 is made up of ; and as it is continually parting with 

 these, it must receive a continual supply of them. This 

 supply is obtained at the stomach in the shape of food, 

 and at the lungs in the shape of air. But as few animal 

 substances do not contain nitrogen, the compound which 

 is, as it were, the base of blood is not a substance com- 

 posed of carbon, oxygen, hydrogen, like gum, but is a 

 compound of carbon, oxygen, hydrogen, and nitrogen. 

 It is called albumen, and its properties will be considered 

 Id the next chapter. Although, however, albumen is 

 the basis of blood, it does not appear that it can be 

 directly converted into animal tissue. A slight altera- 

 tion is made in the proportion in which its elements 

 are united, and another substance called fibrin is pro- 

 duced. To use a very ingenious comparison of Dr. 

 Carpenter's, albumen, fibrin, and organised tissue, bear 

 the same relation to one another, that raw cotton, cotton 

 am, and woven cloth do. Fibrin may be easily obtained 

 irom blood by stirring this fluid with a stick, to which 

 the fibrin will adhere. Fibrin can, by vital forces, be 

 converted back again into albumen ; and this we shall 

 afterwards see is effected in those animals whose food is 

 flesh. The blood, then, of man and the higher animals 

 consists of albumen, because this substance can be con- 

 verted, by the vital forces, into fibrin ; a substance 

 fitted, by its constitution and properties, for the repair- 

 ing and renewing the greater part of the constantly 

 wasting organs of the body. But as the body contains, 

 although in much smaller proportion, other elementary 

 bodies besides the carbon, oxygen, hydrogen, and nitrogen, 

 which constitute fibrin, the blood must also contain 

 these. And we find that it does. In the blood we can 

 detect potassium, sodium, calcium, magnesium, silicon, 

 aluminum, iron, sulphur, phosphorus, and chlorine. 

 Carbon also exists in blood, in the form of carbonic acid. 

 The blood also contains ready-prepared oil or fat. We 

 saw that plants laid by a store of future nutriment, in 

 the shape of starch. The office of fat seems analogous 

 to that of starch ; and, what is very curious, we shall 

 afterwards have occasion to see that animals have the 

 power of converting starch, taken as food, into fat." 

 On Poison. — " Poisons act as powerfully upon plants 



aluable « ntribu- 



We may add that the work is nicely illustrated with 

 instructive woodcuts. 



Dec 



METEOROLOGICAL REPORT. - 



{Continued from page 14.) 



[Our readers are requested, in our Ust week's report, to draw 

 a^ line across the type below 10 p.m., Dec. 2d, whica was 

 accidentally omitted. — Ed.] 



Time. 



Dec. 10 



11 

 12 



8 



a.m 



10 



p.m. 



7.30 



a.m. 



10.30 



p.m. 



7.30 



a.m. 



10.45 



a.m. 



10.30 



p.m. 



8 



a.m. 



10.30 



p.m. 



It 25 



a.m 



5.30 



p.m. 



10 



p.m. 



10.40 



p.m. 



Max. 



Min. Wind. 



IilMASKS. 



30.06 



« • • 



20.85 



1 



29.8-' 



29.82 

 29.71 



• • . 



29.95 



• . . 



2>.73 

 29.80 



. . . 



29.58 



« • « 



• • ■ 



29.nO 



■ . . 



29.41 



8.25 a.m. 



10.33 p.m. 



6 a.m. 



9 a.m 



29.35 



29 35 

 29.35 



• a • 



E 



s 

 s 



sw 

 wsw 



sw 

 sw 

 ssw 



3 



s 



Very Iittle>ind during 

 these day i, but foguy, 

 with occasional rain. 



This storm travelled 

 North ward, and must 

 have lain a long way 

 off ro the Westward. 



2921 



11 a.m. 

 4.30 p.m. 

 6 p.m 



10.30 (p.m. 



17 



23 94 

 29.14 



» • • 



ssw 



Much rain with this 

 storm, which came 

 from the Southward 

 and Westward, with 

 heavy thunder and 

 lightning about 5 to 

 6 p m., on the 14th. 

 This .storm passed 

 off to the Northward 



29.19 



• • 



29.15 



18 



8.30 a.m.] 29.17 

 3 p.m 

 5.30 p m. 

 11.15 p w. 

 7,3l> a.m 

 0.33 p.m. 



28.93 

 28.98 



■ • • 



SW 

 SW 



• • - 



. • . 



29.13 



• • • 



29.30 



■ ■ * 



19 

 20 

 21 



2.40 p.m 



6.15 p.m. 



10.50 p.m. 



7.45 a.m. 



p.m. 



29.22 



28 93 

 29.01 



29.26 



sw 



SW 

 NYV 





10.30 



8 

 7 

 8 



a.m. 

 p.m. 

 a.m. 



• • . 



• ■ # 



« * » 



• . 



29.75 



■ 4 



30.10 

 30.11 



22 

 23 



11 a.m. 



1.30 p.m 



6 p.m. 

 10.30 p.m. 



8.40 a.m 

 11.40 p.m. 



7.30 a.m. 



29.0o 

 29.05 

 29.10 



29.93 



• * • 



• • » 



SE 



3 



WSW 



tf to 



SW 



Calm 



30.11 

 30.09 



3 M0 



3o!io 



30.40 



30.06 



. . . 



30.27 



• ■ • 



« • * 



Dorchester, Dec. 24th. 



( To be continued.) 



Heavy wind early a.m. 

 on the 15tb, and 

 again towards night. 

 It was difficult at 

 that time to say 

 which quarter it did 

 no* come Irom. This 



storm probably 



crossed Ireland and 

 the South of Sc,u 

 land. 



Heavy rains with tii i s 

 storm, blowing hea- 

 vily in the evening. 

 This storm probably 

 crossed the North of 

 Scotland, having 

 come from the West- 

 ward. 



This storm probably 

 went over Holland". 

 At 1.26 p.m. noticed 

 very remarkable ap- 

 pearauce of strata of 

 dark clouds, from 

 NWto NbyE, with 

 cumuli of white 

 masses rising behind 

 them to N by B. 



Itaining towards sun- 

 set. This storm came 

 from the Bay ot Bis- 

 cay, with little wind 

 and not much rain. 

 It went off to the 

 North, producing 

 hard frosts on the 

 19th, 2uth, and 21st, 

 being: the effects of 

 the back current ot 

 a storm rotating in 

 a colder latitude. 



V storm passing at a 

 great distance to the 

 Westward, so great 

 as not to alter the 

 current produced by 

 the previous 6torm. 

 The wind during its 

 passage was light 

 and northerly. 



F. P. B. M. 



Calendar of Operations. 



DECEMBER AND JANUARY. 



Dorset Farm, Dec. 31.— At this season of the year there is 



little that can be said about the work of the farm. Everything 



is dull, and the out-door work as little exciting as at any time 



of the year. The chief attention is directed to feeding our 



as upon animals. Moreover, plants constantly exposed cat j l f r f?5 , g *J*^SPl„^t a ^j5? ,t '*^5^-S^^.®' t ^ ^E!?-.— — ^ J?^."!™^?^^?^* 



to the influence of slowly-acting poisons, become diseased 



and out of health. When speaking of the unfertile soil 

 (p. 118), we mentioned that the cause of its unfertility 

 was probably the excess of iron in it. Indeed it would 

 appear that an excess of any of the alimentary principles 

 necessary for the food of plants, acts as a poison. This 

 is very well exemplified in the following table, extracted 

 from Mr. Johnston, and containing the result of an 

 experiment made with guano. The quantity of land 

 experimented upon was a Scotch acre. 



Quantity 





of guano. 



4 cwt. 

 8 ... 

 16 ... 



Effect upon Turnip Crop, 



Effict upon after 

 Wheat Crop, 



Good Wheat. 



Inferior. 



Stubble black, grain 

 dark and not larger 

 than small Rice. 



Good Turnips, 18 tons. 

 Very indifferent, 14 tons. 

 Grew up wonderfully, looked 



beautiful, but there was 



little bulk. Produce 10 tons. 



i Nothing is more prejudicial to most plants than the 

 continual presence of water at their roots. Part of the 

 evil effect so produced may be attributable to the low 

 temperature at which soil, in which water is also present, 

 is kept ; but another part of its bad action must be attri- 

 buted to the very diluted state of the food of the plant. 

 This causes the plant to be unable to absorb a sufficient 

 amount of nutriment. It also prevents the carbon of 

 the humus from combining with the oxygen of the air. 

 The remedy is of course thorough draining. It some- 

 times happens that a crop at first grows very healthily; 

 but at a certain period, when its roots penetrate deeper, 



ih 1C u ? wi * her8 > and dies - This is probably owing to 

 the subsoil containing matters which are poisonous to 



tne plant. Indeed, a minute inquiry into the action of 



and Mangold Wurzel cut together, as many as they can eat; 

 with hay twice a day, and 4 lbs. Linseed-cake each per day. 

 The Turnips are cut in slices, with the Mangold Wurzel. Our 

 fatting sheep are tied up, and stand on bearded floors, having 

 their Turnips cut small, and 1 lb. of cake each per day. In this 

 way they do very well, but great care must be taken to keep 

 the house clean, for if much dung is allowed to accumulate 

 below them, they will soon show the bad effects produced by 

 its fermentation. It ought never to lie until fermentation 

 commences. We give our store pi*s, such as sows and growing 

 ones, nothing but raw Mangold Wurzel, and they thrive very 

 well on it and eat it hearti y. The younger ones have also as 

 many of these roots as they will eat, amd besides have a little 

 milk, with gome Barley and boiled Turnips. Aud the fatting 

 ones have, in the first stage of fatting, boiled Turnips, mixed 

 with Barley meal, the proportion of meal being increased as 

 they get riper. We have, throughout the autumn, and up to 

 the present time, had very mild weather, and, consequently, 

 have had no slip lambs. Wheat is everywhere looking well, 

 and work is now far advanced ; the only ordinary work now is 

 carrying the dung to the fields, and when dry, ploughing some 

 of the land for next Turnip crop, leaving it as rough as possible, 

 to get exposed to any frost that we may have. G. S. 



Lammermcik Sheep Farm, Jan. 3.— The weather during the 

 past month has been very fine — for December; only a moderate 

 fall of rain, little frost, and no snow. The past autumn, as 

 might have been expected, has been highly favourable for hill 

 sheep. With such mild weather they are in excellent con- 

 dition, while the dryness of the season ha3 effectually swept 

 away the rot, even on the " softest" grounds. No doubt our 

 severest storms are after the new year, but their danger is 

 greatly lessened when the sheep meet them in good spirits, for 

 though their previous good condition will not, like the far- 

 famed fat of bears, sustain them comfortably during months cf 

 frosts and snows, when nothing else is to be got, yet it goes a 

 great way, and enables them to bear up against and come 

 through many a privation, which would s»oon crush them did 

 it overtake them when already in a poverty-stricken state. 

 The rams having been among the ewes for six weeks, will be 

 removed in the course of a f^w days, and receive a small ' 



allowance of Turnips In one of the inclosures. It U the prac- 

 tice of tome stock masters to allow them to remain constantly 

 amoug the ewes, only removing them for a few we*k* ia 

 autumn, when the ewes begin to come in season. Though a 

 saving in expense in artificial food is thus secured, we think 

 that tall is more than counterbalanced in several ways. Tb«y 

 are never in that condition which is desirable in this descrip- 

 tion of stock, and, if you are a ram breeder, can ne r be shown 

 to advantage. There id also the annoyance of lambs dropping 

 for v. eks and even months after the regular season. These 

 mav, indeed, for awhile supply the farmer's family with a kind 

 of 4 * house lamb," but are or very little murket value ; aud wo 

 quite agree with the common remark, that 4 *an eilJ (barrea) 

 ewe is better than a late lamb." Then, again, where it is the 

 practice to graze the ewes and ewe hogs together, a piece of 

 cloth is pewed over their tails to prevent them having iambs. 

 This appendage is uncomfortable at any time, but particularly 

 so during frost, and is taken off whenever the rams are removed 

 from the ewes. When all the kinds remain together during 

 winter, the bogs must either be subjected to this ann^jance, or 

 many of them will be seriously injured, if not destroyed, by 

 having lambs at an age when the nature ot their pasture 

 renders them utterly unfit, not to nurse them merely, 

 but even to bring them forth. The work on the arable 

 part of the farm has consisted of the ploughing of Oat 

 htubble for the Turnip crop ; the storing of them during 

 dry weather, and the carting out of manure for the next 

 year's crop during frosts. The stubble ploughing is now 

 completed; aeon lerably larger breadth than u>ual having 

 prevented its being all turned over until a later period than wo 

 would have liked. The ploughing of lea for Oats is begun, 

 and, with favourable weather, willl be fiuuhed during the pre- 

 sent month. Those Turnips which we pupo.se consuming on 

 the ground with the ewes, have been all earthed up to preservo 

 them from frost. This operation we perform with the common 

 plough, giving each drill a single furrow. Taking in an/ 

 convenient number of drill*, the plough (with two bores) 

 star < in the middle, and taking a furrow from the edge of the 

 drill, g »»ng as near to the Turnips as possible without touching 

 them, throws It on the top of the one next ; it returns down the 

 second drill to the right, and removes a furrow from It also, 

 and proceeds round and round in this manner until the whole 

 p ece is completed. As the drill at the closing has been pared 

 from both sides, a furrow is thrown back upon it from the 

 drill next it. We have tried the double mould-boaTd plough 

 for this purpose, but found, especially on steep ground, at a 

 season when the soil is damp and does not readdy leave the 

 moulds, that the draught was too severe for two horses, while 

 the work was neither faster nor better done. Besides being 

 an excellent preservation to the Turnip root*, this operation 

 acta in a very beneficial way upon the tof), by exposing a much 

 larger surface to atmospheric influences. The whole of our 

 *rop of Swedes has been lifted and stored in loug heaps, 

 which are first covered with a few inches of >traw, and then 

 with Heather turf from the moor, cut in pieces about 18 inches 

 square and 1 thick. These are laid above the straw, lapping 

 slightly over one another like slates on a roof, and prevent the 

 <n trance both of frost and rain. In spring, when their pre- 

 sent office is over, we purpose charring and mixing them Hi h 

 manure for the Turnip crop. In taking leave of lft50, we 

 must say that, upon the whole, it has been a good 3 ear tor the 

 stock farmer, at least he has been much better off than 

 ! hU brethren on arable farms. The p.tat season has beeii 

 remarkable for fine, dry, warm weather, consequently our 

 stock have beeu healthy and in excellent condition ; markets 

 for lambs and other lean sheep have been relatively higher 

 than those for fat, vshile the price for wool has risen con- 

 siuerably from the previous year— Cheviot wool being at what 

 we never can take it above, and grumble when it fall-* below, 1*. 

 per ib. Not but that we have been feeling the piessure of tho 

 limes also, for wo believe that were our stock sold off now, it 

 would not bring within 30 per cent, of its value a few years 

 ago. JMost sheep farms in this district have loo or 200 aires 

 under th<; plough, bttt this, except in a. far as it produces 

 hay and Turnips to assist the sheep through the winter and 

 spring months, is, in very few cases, a source of direct pront, 

 but rather the reverse. We can answer for ourselves, that if 

 we can grow as much corn as suffi s to pay the fbepherd'a 

 meal— sow the next crop— and keep the horses eating, we 

 consider we have done well, having ottener fallen bhort of than 

 exceeded this mark. An elevation of from 700 to l JQ0 feet, is 

 too great to be profitably farmed in any other way than as a 

 sheep walk. A Lammervnuir Farmer. 



Centkal Yorkshire, Dec, 31. — Throughout the whole of this 

 month the weather has been extreme y variable, occasional 

 frosts have intervened with storms, and a thick foggy atmo- 

 sphere ; on the whole there has been an unusually Bmail 

 quantity of rain for the season ; and altogether the montn has 

 been favourable for farming operations. The young Wheats 

 are sho ting a full and healthy plant ; the Turnips have con- 

 tinued to grow throughout the month, and winter leed for sheep 

 was never more abundant. We have finished storing our 

 Swedes for spring consumption, and our sheep are siill on 

 white Turnips, their quality continuing very good. The 

 weather having been to mild throughout the mm to, the cattle 

 in ihe yards have consumed straw very slowly. Our lean 

 cattle— in fact nearly ail throughout the country have been 

 suffering from the disease in the mouth and feet ; but we have 

 been free from pleuro-pueumonia for some time. A portion of 

 our fat cattle have gone to market •, wa have realised about 

 5a. 9d. per stone for prime heifers and bul ocks. Our draft 

 ewes of last year are now going to market from TurnipB. At 

 last sa e we made 42#. per head, for 28 lbs. per quarter sheep, 

 a miserable price indeed. Pork feeding, although grain is so 

 cheap, has been a losing concern, the article making only from 

 3^(2. to 4d. per lb. Our principal farm work during the month 

 has been ploughing stubbles for white Turnips, deep plougmng 

 land for Swedes and Potatoes (this land haviug beeu previously 

 scarified and weeded), ploughing Turnip la d for Barley, 

 threshing Barley, and, during frost, Barring manure from 

 yards to couch, and to distant fields. We have also been 

 engaged in stubbing up some crooked and imperfect fences* 

 and iu replanting the same. J. 8., Kirk Deighton. 



Notices to Correspondents. 



Cabts : Tuesday. We do not know Busby's prize cart. He lives* 

 near Bedale, Yorkshire; neither do we know where Mr. 

 Rogers's peat-charcoai is sold iu London. Perhaps this notice 

 may elicit information on both points. 



Charcoal: Charcoal and others. In a future number full details 

 shall be given. 



Chicort: fiev E P. The roots should be chopped up, after 

 being cleaned, in sizes about an iuch cube, aud spread in a 

 bop kiln to dry, as soon as possible after being removed from 

 the ground. The most economical method for the farmer is 

 to sell them raw. Tnere is ample demand for them. We 

 could sell haudreds of tons if we had them, without diffi- 

 culty, at oOs. a ton. 



Deaisung Tiles: }K They ae burmd by themselves. We 

 hope to give the whole subject rery soon. The wash ot a 

 house, exclusive of closet, is worthy of being conveyed by 

 drain to the tjrm tank. 



Dimmbbt's Hoe. The hoe is 10 inches long in the blade, 

 eliiptical, nearly 5 inches broad, rounded at the handle end, 

 and pointed at the working end. It is not sold by iron- 

 mongers. Your blacksmith oan make it from this descrip- 

 tion. 



Field hear London : J W. It is quite impossible to name the 

 rent of a field from a description of it. Any soluble poison 

 in the soil may be got rid of by drainin and patience. II joo 

 can grow Mangold Wurzel on it, that will probablj be a* 



