851.1 



THE AGRICULTURAL GAZETTE. 



75 



it may be accomplished, aod it may be worth while to 

 look seriously at the subject ; and the question may be 

 agked, Has a fair trial yet been made ? Have the 

 various theories, systems, and plans, which have been 

 propounded, as the result of scientific research and 

 investigation been properly tested, and carried into 

 operation, or have they only been partially and incor- 

 rectly attended to ; probably in some few instances they 

 v have been and now are carried out, though only to 



when up, at the 





end of two months was weak and 

 stunted ; some died away. A few only of good Turnips 



_ j ^w.vv.. ^.xu.j «. u ^, were to be found when taken up. The land was all of 



attention has been paid to this subject daring the past equal quality, and the dressings were depo&ited bv hand, 



c/". C. Etdtesy Uarly Thorn, Stone, Staffordshire, Jan. 22. l 



few years, and some advances have been made ; but it 

 has not yet been done to a sufficient extent Has there 



Cottages. — As you have often kindly attended to hints 



been as mucli stock produced as might have been ? and of mine, I venture to send for your Gazette my plan f or 

 do the fanners keep a proper quantity \ Upon investi- a labourer's cottage ; you will at once see that it meets 



very limited extent, and certainly not sufficient to 

 afford a fair and suitable trial. Agriculture, unlike the 

 jtfipr great concerns of the empire, requires a consider- 

 able time to test an experiment properly. Time alone 

 will do it ; it has to contend with the changes of seasons, 

 and various and numerous contingencies and circum- 

 stances which no earthly power can control, and which 

 some unexpected and unlooked-for occurrence may pre- 

 vent success for a season, when probably it might answer 

 well another year and the like disappointment not again 

 happen. Thus time, patience, expense, and persever- 

 ance are required. But the practical farmer will 

 exclaim, How can I do all this ? I cannot afford it ; I 

 depend upon my year's produce to meet my unavoidable 

 expenses, and therefore I am not in a position to ex- 

 perimentalise, as probably I may meet with disappoint- 

 ment, aiid not succeed. All tins is correct, it becomes a 

 question whether the dependant farmer is the person to 

 run the risk of testing experiments ; who then is to do 

 it 2 If it is admitted that agriculture is of so much 

 importance to the welfare of the empire, and if the 

 farmer i» to maintain his position amidst all the diffi- 

 culties with which he has to contend, surely it becomes 

 a serious question who is to try these schemes, who is to 

 carry into effect the theoretical suggestions now before 

 the world properly and fairly, and thereby ascertain 

 whether they will answer the purpose or not, and re- 

 munerate die farmer who depends upon his business for 

 his support, and who doubtless would avail himself of 

 them it the fact could be demonstrated that they were 

 worthy his adoption. 



Is the landed proprietor, then, the proper party to 

 look into the matters, or must it be done by some public 

 or national institution ? The subject requires to be 

 seriously inquired into, and ample resources must be 

 appropriated to the purpose of giving the new schemes a 

 lair and proper trial, in order that those which are vague 

 and visionary may be abandoned, and those winch are 

 worthy of adaptation recommended to the farmer from a 

 source upon which implicit confidence may be placed. 

 Some of the following important items, for the improve- 

 ment of which many suggestions have been made, ought 

 to be attended to, viz. :— The best system of drainage ; 

 management of manures, farm-yard, liquid, and chemical 

 or artificial ; the possibility of advantageous continual 

 cropping, and discontinuance of long fallows; steam 

 machinery, and selection of suitable implements ; sub- 

 soiling, ploughing, &c. ; thick or thin sowing; rotation 

 of crops and cultivation of root crops ; management and 

 selection of livestock, and the means of keeping an ad- 

 ditional quantity ; economy of labour of all descriptions ; 

 agricultural chemistry; proper management of accounts, 

 and result of experiments. 



Many items in the above enumeration, even at the 

 present period of what is called agricultural improve- 

 ment, are only known theoretically, and consequently 

 have been but little tested by the farmers, and chiefly 

 because so few of them can afford to do it ; but were 

 they properly and carefully carried out, and their utility 

 Mi a remunerating sense demonstrated, no doubt numbers 

 would gladly make strenuous efforts to adopt them. 



As regards the present system of drainage, the intro- 

 duction of what is called artificial manure, the preserva- 

 tion of the liquid drainage of the farm-yard — subsoiling, 

 thin sowing, agricultural chemistry, steam machinery' 

 &c. They appeal- to open a new era in English agri- 

 culture, and are subjects which demand diligent and 

 serious attention ; for if by some of them, together with 

 a judicious system of rotation in cropping, the land can 

 be continuously at work instead of reposing for a year 

 under the burden of all its expenses, and producing no 

 return, a most important object will be attained : and 

 »8 much light is now let in upon the subject by chemical 

 applications, chemistry can lend her invaluable aid, 

 tod suggest the best methods of freeing the soil from 

 the remains of a previous crop. By the use of some of 

 *ne valuable implements now invented, a great deal may 



t *u n \ b ° th duriD S and after harvest to restore fertility 

 *Q the land, and which will be greatly promoted by its 



exposure to the winter season. At this serious but im- 

 portant period of English farming, it behoves all whom 



doaI2. C ? nCern ' P ro P erl y t0 consider what can best be 

 and tn • m are the most P mdent measures to adopt, 

 BrnrJ.*- themselves of any well tested theories or 



suggestions which may assist them. 



it tt™f!i! tUe ver * im P ort *nt subject of live stock, 

 cJ£a?* •? x quite a <l ues tion whether it has been dis- 

 2T h 7 lt ou f h * to be in this country. In some instances 



gation it would be found there is a great deficiency. 

 This is a subject worthy of serious consideration. 

 Certain it is that in this country a splendid breed of 

 animals is to be found, such as no other country 

 can produce ; but it is not universally spread, 

 and while the nation must commend the persevering 

 industry and consummate judgment of those whose 

 names might be recorded as the breeders of various 

 animals of real excellence, and almost perfect sym- 

 metry, it is to be regretted that the numbers are so 

 limited. An inferior animal is as costly to keep as one 

 of the best description, and perhaps more so. And as 

 die live stock upon a farm is a subject of vast import- 

 ance, not only in itself but as regards the productive- 

 ness of the land (as much depends upon the stock which 

 is kept upon it), the subject altogether demands more 

 attention and consideration than has yet been bestowed 

 upon it. 



The object of this paper is to call the serious atten- 

 tion of those who are interested in British agriculture 

 to its position at the present serious crisis ; to arouse 

 the farmers of England to consider their situation and 

 the circumstances by which they are now surrounded ; 

 and to enquire whether anything can be done to improve 

 it which is tangible or practicable. Certain schemes may 

 be concocted, principles and theories laid down, and 

 numerous suggestions made ; but it ought to be known 

 by some means, from a source upon which dependence 

 can be placed, whether they will ultimately answer the 

 purposes and ends which the practical farmer needs, 

 and therefore be desirable for him to adopt them. One 

 may say he has tried tins scheme and another the other, 

 and that it has answered well ; but the important result 

 in the form of a balance-sheet is not forthcoming, and 

 this is a main object of attainment so far as the prac- 

 tical farmer is concerned. Another may say he has 

 pursued a certain system, but it was only on a peculiar 

 piece of land, and under some peculiar circumstances ; 

 while others may have attempted to carry out experi- 

 ments, and have either failed in the attempt or not sub- 

 mitted the results to the world. 



In order fully to appreciate the value of what has 

 been published, and in other ways brought before the 

 farmers of England, they ought to have some data to 

 refer upon which they can implicitly rely — a compre- 

 hensive, yet simple detail of facts, the result of experi- 

 ments superintended by competent skill and knowledge, 

 that the business calculations may be arrived at, and then 

 the farmer may know whether it is worth his while to 

 adopt them upon an extensive scale. J". Low. [The thing 

 is impracticable ; the data desired, whether furnished by 

 some public institution or not, would be true only of 

 the circumstances under which they arose. And the 

 results of individual experience, on which we now depend, 

 are trustworthy just in the same degree, be it great or 

 small, as those of any public institution whatever.] 



all their wants, and I know all their wishes too. I 

 grieve to tell you, that they only fear that it will be 

 thought too good for them. I have forwarded a copy 

 to the Agricultural Society, and one to the Marquis of 

 Londonderry, and others, so that if you will insert it in 

 your universally approved paper, it may not require 

 more publicity from me. One wlw is too often a grieved 

 witness to the unworthy Cottages of Hie Poor. 





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Home Correspondence. 



Test of Manures for Turnips.- — I send you the follow- 

 ing particulars of an experiment on 7 half acre lots of 

 Swede Turnips, grown on a poorish sandy loam, in a 

 second-rate climate, on high land, in North Staffordshire, 

 at the cost of 25s. for the different manures applied to 

 each half acre : (Skirving's seed) sown the 20th June 

 last, in ridges 28 inches apart, hoed out to 1 4 ins. in the 

 row, taken up the 3d inst., tops, roots, and dirt taken off, 

 and weighed in the field. My practice has generally 

 been to apply 12 tons of good farm-yard manure, and 

 %\ cwt. of Peruvian guano to a statute acre ; this dress- 

 ing I value at 3£. 13s. Ridged and separated as above, 

 and in the same field adjoining the experimental lots, 

 sown June 19 ; taken up and weighed the day the 

 lots were. The return on that acre was 23 tons 3 cwt. 

 2 qrs. 15 lbs. I give the weight of each lot, as if grown 

 on an acre, at the cost of 21. 1 Os. 



Lot 1. Horn shavings 



2. Bone sawdust 



3. Superphosphate 



4. Peruvian guano 



5. Farm-yard dung alone, 6 tons 



6. Ichaboe guano 



7. Buenos Ayres animal manure (dried 

 flesh and bones partially calcined) 11 



Remarks. — Lot No. 1 made a bad start, and continued 

 in that state three months, when 43 of the plants threw 

 out no bulb at all, but produced a stalk and top, the 

 stalk like an Ash tree root, and the top like a Gooseberry- 

 bush. The stalk was so fast in the ground that a stout 

 young man could not pull it up without the aid of a 

 fork. As I have no experience in this extraordinary 

 production, perhaps some well-wisher to agriculture will 

 give you a cause for it. There were only three of these 



SJieep.— In the Agricultural Gazette of the 18th thert 

 is a " Village Lecture n on sheep. The lecturer has 

 given a fair description of what the southdown was f 

 but of late years the character of this animal is very 

 much changed. It is rare now to meet with a pure south- 

 down of the Sussex breed ; the farmers have, by high 

 feeding, and by crossing the breed with what are 

 termed Hampshire southdowns, changed their character 

 so much that they scarcely deserve the name. The 

 reason for this change, I believe, is the profit which the 

 farmer derives from increased size, and from the in- 

 creased quantity of wool they yield ; it is true the wool 

 formerly was finer, and was generally worth more m 

 the market than coarser kinds, but this is overbalanced 

 by the quantity of wool and extra weight of the sheep. 

 As a manufacturer, I regret this circumstance, because 

 the wool of this coarse heavy breed is ill adapted to the 

 use which it was formerly put to. I am not quite sure, 

 but the farmers may ultimately beat themselves by the 

 change, because we are compelled to use colonial and 

 foreign wools instead, which would be prevented if we 

 could get fine English, as formerly. Australian wool 

 will have a tendency to go up in price, while the other 

 will naturally recede, for want of more extensive con- 

 sumption. /. /. -P. 





• ■ • 



f t 



• ■ ■ 



- • ■ 



tons, 



cwt, 



, qrs. lbs. 



15 











20 



10 



3 24 



19 



7 



3 1 



21 



15 



1 13 



20 



5 



1 18 



16 



4 



3 Id 



3 8 



tv-«^ a judgment are shown in endeavouring to j bushy plants to be found on lot 2, not one in the field 



rf ai 



Ifl «rv* • 1 * — JSt UJ 



IZ ?™i™l^»*y' As well may a farmer 



nrndnoo « j -fluent are snown in endeavouring to 



11 found J Uptr 1 10r bre€d of animals ; and many arl to 

 xoS ^ Tl h ,T fl a . lmost -equalled quality. But it 



tioT YnfT 1, animal M one of an inf <*ior descrip- 

 a-j • ADa . w ny not to a much greater extent than nnw 



to^Luf^ PUt r ting hims6lf Tn considerable difficulty 



feir or ™, iT °/ mone y t0 Purchase bis cattle at the 



or market, why is he not to look to his own re- 



■""rces—to his isuax for them? With judicious manage- 



besides. This lot came badly at first, and made but 

 little progress till October — then grew fast. No. 

 started rather slowly at first ; like No. 2, came up well at 

 the latter end. No. 4 started well at the end of * ?itf 

 first month, was ahead of the * others, and conti>"«d so. 

 No. 5 came up weak at first, at the end of ^ee months 

 was a fair competitor with lots 2, 3, ^ 4 - No. 6 was 

 a good while in the ground ; wk^n up made slow but 

 steady progress. No. 7 *»•■* tong mthe ground, and 



&otfttte& 



Highland and Agricultural, Jan. 8 : The Best 

 Mode of Preparing and Applying the different Manures 

 produced on the Farm.— Mr. Finme, Swanston^said : I 

 will arrange my observations under two heads : — first, 

 the preparation ; and, second, the application. In treating 

 of the preparation, I am naturally led to refer to the 

 sources from which it is obtained ; and these are *ound 

 to be from horses, cattle kept for either dairv xeeding 

 or rearing purposes, and pigs ; the second mentioned 

 live stock, being kept in open courts, b;*e% or boxes, 

 as the practice of the farmer may be, Hie two leading 

 general principles, which, from exr^nce and observar 

 tion, I hold to be essential for tfee most profitable prac- 

 tice are— first, to have the w^ole dung that is daily re- 

 moved from the bestial MP* on the farm > carefully col- 

 lected into one pl"- e > regularly mixed, and, at the 

 time adding mc* other earthy or vegetable material as 

 is necessary ^ absorb the excess of liquid that exists. 

 Secondly? to preserve the dung-heap during the process 

 f ejection, preparation, and prior to application, as 

 inch as possible, from the effects of the atmosphere, and 

 this both in winter and summer. To follow out these 

 principles in practice, it is requisite for every farm to 

 have a convenient and well-formed dung depot, with 

 liquid manure tank attached, provision being also made 

 for the liquid manure, as it comes from the animals kep t 

 in houses, not m i x ing, in the first instance, with their 



