

5 



1861.1 



THE AGRICULTURAL GAZETTE. 



experiment. I applied the nitrate of soda in opposition 

 guano, apportioning the application of both sub- 



to 



stances to the equivalent of the nitrogen in each. But 

 if ray calculations are right in respect of nitrogen, 

 the guano is decidedly superior. It is right, however, 

 to state that the drought seemed to affect the nitrate 

 to a greater extent than the guano. After rains 

 came, the crops from the nitrate made the greatest 

 amount of progress, but too late to be of much 

 service, at least, in overtaking the 

 auxiliaries of application 



process of decomposition to have been a loss of about a i the side of a cart or a 

 quarter of the manure. At this late period of the dj 



waggon, 



The 



guano, 

 perhaps the greatest 

 question of the day connected with the economy of farm 

 management My own experience is all in favour of 

 using guano and other foreign substances in connection 

 wi th farm-yard manure. Not only do we effect a saving 

 in expense, but we are enabled to grow a large breadth 

 of Turnips or Potatoes, and by intermixing sheep 

 husbandry with our management, we do equal, if not 

 greater justice to our soil. But instead of enlarging, 

 I prefer to give an experiment of this year, which very 

 clearly shows the advantages of using guano. The 

 mode I adopted in this experiment was to determine, 

 as nearly as possible, from authority, the quantity of 

 nitrogen in home manure, and, by withdrawing a pro- 

 portion of this from each lot, to supply it in the form of 

 guano. In consequence, my quantities of manure are 

 not exactly what I generally use. I prefer riving not 

 less than from 16 to 20 cart-loads of manure. The°field 

 is the one already alluded to. The results are as follows. 

 The experiment decidedly proves the advantages of 

 using guano in connection with farm-yard manure. As 

 I have already Mid, however, I prefer giving a If 

 quantity of home dung than 12 cart-loads. °My usual 

 quantity is from 16 to 20 carts of dung, and from 3 to 

 o cwt. of guano. For raising Turnips, bones dissolved' 

 are quite equal to guano ; but I prefer a mixture of the 

 two substances. — In answer to a question by Mr. 

 Balfour, Mr. Main explained that the rotten ma- 

 nure referred to in his experiment was not turned 

 over previous to applying it to the crop. It had lain in 

 heap lor four months, and cut quite rotten in the spring 

 He did not consider it necessary to turn it over — 

 Dr. Anderson said : He agreed with the opinion of Mr 

 Finme, that the plan of absorbing the liquid manure by 

 some substance capable of retaining its valuable matters, 

 and then applying it to the soil, as a general rule, would 

 be found more practically applicable than the many plans 

 proposed for distributing it in the liquid form. No 



2 DVlcfn/1 Im ««*1^!*JL ^A- _ !• . • ■ 



bavin 



Hig 



communicating 

 alkaline properties. 



its 



arger 



he was unwilling to occupy the time of the Society by 

 entering upon many other subjects of interest There 

 was only one other matter to which he would refer 

 which was the nature of the absorbents to be employed 

 for absorbing the liquid manure. His attention had 

 been particularly directed to this subject of late by its 

 I having been remitted to him by the Committee of the 

 hland Society, to enquire into the economic uses of 

 peat, which have of late excited so much attention 

 Much of that enquiry, which included the distillation of 

 peat, &c , was irrelevant to the subject of the present 

 debate. But he had also enquired into the comparative 

 absorbent powers of peat charcoal, and of peat itself for 

 ammonia. His experiments had been made by adding 

 to dry peat and peat charcoal, successive small quan- 

 tities of a diluted solution of ammonia of known strength, 

 and ascertaining how much could be added with- 

 out eommnnieat.W the smell of ammonia or 



_ _ He had thus found that peat 



absorbs a much larger amount of ammonia than peat 

 charcoal, but that the amount of ammonia absorbed 

 is dependent upon the dryness of the peat. When 

 absolutely dry he found it to absorb about 5 per cent, of 

 ammonia, but when not so dry, about 3 per cent. ; while 

 his peat charcoal was incapable even of absorbing 1 per 

 cent, of ammonia. These, however, were merely the 

 preliminary experiments, which he intended to repeat 

 and vary, so as to ascertain all the circumstances of the 

 absorption. Other substances might also be employed 

 such as dry earth, and the like, but he believed their 

 value to be inferior to that of peat.— Lord Kinnaird 

 agreed with Dr. Anderson that the experiments made 

 by Ar. Campbell of Craigie, and which went to show 

 that covering did not improve the manure, were not 

 quite satisfactory. As to Turnip shaws, whether these 

 should be ploughed in immediately after being pulled 

 or . be allowed to decompose, a difference of opinion 

 exists. He had made the experiment with one-half 

 ploughed in and the other half allowed to rot, and then 

 afterwards ploughed, and found no difference whatever 



he could not manage 



m the 



more than one-fifth part of the weight he lifted 

 first case: and of course the higher the edge over which 

 rhe material has to be thro wn-the higher the e d» of 

 the cart or the waggon that he is hlling-the mor fill 

 be the labour connected with the shifting of a given 

 weight of material. To lower the edge and bed of the 

 vehicle one foot, would lessen the labour of filling it \Z 

 a fifth or sixth part, a most important difference- and 

 when, as in Stratton's Northampton cart, compared with 

 the waggon, the difference between the levels on which 

 the load is to be carried amounts to nearly 2 feet the 

 relative merits of the two, on the score of economy 

 appear plainly enough. J. C. M., in Morton's Cyclopedia 

 oj Agriculture. 



METEOROLOGICAL REPORT. 



(Continued from page 61.) 



Jajt. 



Date. 



Time. 



Taur.16 



* 



17 



5 a.m. 

 10 35 p.m. 



7.40 a.m. 

 1.20 p.m 



Max. 



Min. 



T 



13 S 



Sun. 19 



.m. 



10.40 p.m. 



29.57 



• • • 





29.52 



• • • 



29.94 



29.29 



Wind, and Remarks. 





20 



t 





21 



8.30 a.m. 

 10.30 p.m. 



8.20 a.m. 

 10.40 p.m. 



7.50 a.m 

 9.45 a.m. 



29.90 



Blowing at S. all day, and a 

 very heavy gale all the 

 evening and night. 

 29.43 Stiff SW. breeze, and fine 



morning, but very heavy 

 showers in afternoon. 

 Evening calm and raining. 

 NW. Gentle air and white 

 frost. Fine, sunny. 



SW. and S. day, and clear 

 evening. 



29.81 



- « • 



29.79 



29.70 



• tt 



• • ♦ 



• • • 



29. 38 



It might be explained by the different effects produced 

 in winter compared with summer, as in the latter case 



the loss would be <jreater. 



doubt instances existed in which its application bv mean* TT- S , them - * was 



of pipes distributed over the to£^?tf£dto t?"™? 5 P er T da >' to ^ «*«* 

 believed was, employed with profit ; bu? these ^ere ex- SlPCS I IT* t0 Mr '. Hu 



employed with profit ; but these were WA - 

 ceptional cases, and he was of opinion that the plan could 

 never be advantageously applied to the general hus- 

 bandry of the country. It could, in fact, only be used 



7h7Z • f 6 ? rcumst ? nc f of the f arm were such as caused 

 the production of what he might call a disproportionately 

 large quantity of hquid manure, such as would admit of 



nrHi?/ f m l ? v P quantit ^ at aQ y tim *- In an 



mfZ7hTi Pr0 ^r g the ° rdinar y amoun * of liquid 

 manure he believed that the benefits derived from its 



application were not likely to repay the large outlay re? 



quired for pipes. He believed, in fact, that, al ofS 



happens when matters have been altogether neglected 



rler 1 *Zf * P'™^ int0 notice > that *™™ 

 rather a tendency to over-rate the value of liquid 



manure. He trusted that in this statement he won d 



rather ZT^f * ^ t0 de P redate this ^nure, but 

 Tt ™ ii W rd aga,nst an ov er-estimate of its worth 



iffiud m? 6 remembered > tha * ^ amount of ammonia 



wiTntlrTv a t ^7"* u™ *' and that in Phosphates it 

 ZTn!t? y defi L c,ent » so *at it could never be relied on 



rfffi r, mUSt to C ° DJ0ined with a <*rtain proportion 

 of the solid manure. Mr. Finnie and Mr Balfour ad 



referred to the increased value of the manure made under 



a point in which theory strongly supported them 

 Curiously enough, however, we were%LaSly defident 

 in experiments, to show their relative values. He knew 

 mdeed, but one experiment on the subject, which wis 

 made on the home farm of a very zealous and actTvl 

 member of the Society, Mr. Campbell, of Craigie, in 

 which two different quantities of Turnips were frown 



ta L^T^ made ] under c o^r, and one with it much 

 m the old way, and the result was, that no appreciable 



^V howev eXUt : d . b6t u Ween the tw ° cr °P 8 " H e ™* 

 2an« °T er ' ? at that experiment did not by any 

 ISS ^ subject, it did no more than 5et£ 



Ko n » . th t I ? anUre U P° n the Present crop, 



mnu% n ; h T Unt ° f km VaIue 0f the "^exhausted 

 to b / J WaS P robab >y considerable, for it appears 



£der co ™ ,> ZS thew * that manure PrepS 

 than tw T U Underg0 ^composition more slowly 



cukrly int^J r, the ° ld P ,an - Hehad been paS 

 Main^ SSEV 7 "F» of ^e statements of Mr. 



imporUee P h?*' wl , 1,ch a PP eared to him of great 

 experiment*, with ^f P^cularise Mr. Main's 

 b which he £1 * T* and With w ell-rotted manure, 

 * somewhat ££ * *T ™ ^V* "*> he ° btained 

 experiment waf a SJ[ T *° fresh manure ' The 

 more than mi-h ffi lar ! y im P or tant one, and even 



was a matter which nX.f lght appear ' The fact > then, 

 ^bch was really of S- DOt Strike the a ^ience, but 

 Pared 28 tons of fresh tV lm F>?, rtance - Mr - Ma b corn- 

 et it ought to be bornr* 28 - ^ nS of rotted manure ; 

 "T^ if rotted t L r R "^ that ™ ^ ° f fresh 



Y Remarks were also made 



about passing the whole straw of the farm through the 

 cattle, and the consequent saving of Turnips by usin- 

 the^traw along with them. I was giving 180 to 200 lbs 



After reading Mr. 

 uxtable to learn if the 

 statement was fully correct that he only gave 50 lbs 

 weight, and received the following answer- — "The 

 amount stated by Mr. David Milne in his pamphlet is 

 strictly correct, though the quantity consumed by 

 each animal can scarcely be considered ' a constant 

 q ^ a 1^' e £ceeds 1 lbs. per head in the daily avera-e 

 ot 50 lbs. The method employed is this :— The Turnips 

 are rasped into very thin slices by a machine called 

 Moody's Crusher.' The Turnips so finely divided, 

 are well mixed with rather more than an equal bulk of 

 straw. Ihe cattle are thus compelled, along with the 

 roots, to get a considerable bulk of straw. The chief 

 use of the straw is, that • it takes off the chill,' where 

 the employment of a large amount of watery Turnips 

 (90 per cent, of cold water, I believe) is apt to give, 

 exhibited in a loose state of the animal's bowels. I am 

 not sure of the value of this explanation, but I am of 

 the practice itself. It was taught me by a practical 

 larmer some years ago, to whom, when I pointed out 

 some oxen who made no progress, though eating nearly 

 i bS J °l Sweae s <bdy, I owe the instruction that they 

 would do better with one-quarter the amount of roots, 

 H 1 would employ Moody's Crusher, and * 

 chaff as before described. 



22 



29.1'9 



29.33 



■ - - 





23 



8 



a.m. 



• • • 



10.30 p.m. 



8.30 a.m. 

 11.20 a.m. 



30.06 



3X20 



2'JJZ 



• * * 



30.18 



S. Very rough early a.m. and 

 cold day, and blowing very 

 hard alt evening and night. 



S. Wet afternooa and cold, 

 and a very heavy gale of 

 wind and rain all evening. 



SW. Bright forenoon ; 4.30 

 p.m., very heavy squall of 

 wind and rain, lasting about 

 half an hour; the baro- 

 meter remained steady the 

 entire day, from 9.45 a.m. 

 till night. 



W. to N.W. Light airs and 



slight frost and fine. 

 p.m. W. MasBive clouds 



moving slowly. 

 W. by N. Almost calm, and 



very beautiful day. 



* This storm came from the southward, and probably lay very 

 heavily along the coast of Portugal, and went away to 

 northward. ' 



t I anticipate that this storm will have been felt very severely 

 by the North American and .Liverpool steamers off the banks 

 ot Newfoundland, as it must have come from the w-st and 

 north, from the unusual cold which preceded it. Probablyit 

 passed up the Irish chanel, and across the south of Scotland. 



Dorchester, Jan. 24th. jr. p. b. A£. 



{To be continued.) 



Calendar of Operations. 



An Essex Farm.— The horses have been doing little since my 

 ast, the weather being very wet. We have now ploughed all 





mix straw 



. _ The additional nutriment 



necessary to fatten animals I apply in the shape of 



lbs -L « 8 > and > for six weeks at the end of the pro- 

 cess 7 lbs. of meal daily. We feed our beasts four or 

 five times a day ; give the meal at two or three other 

 intervals always throwing it amidst the roots and 

 straw which may be left over the last meal, enticing 

 hem to eat up every bit of straw or left Turnip clean ; 

 t hey, in fact, lick their own mangers perfectly clean, in 

 the process of eating up the dusty meal. I have no 

 experiments (of my own) to determine the relative 

 value of Swedes and Mangold Wurzel. Such a deter- 



mm w Uld , be Ver y difficulfc > for I find that the 

 Mangold Wurzel grown upon my chalk land is 



superior for early use to that grown upon clay soil. At 

 this season of the year, I greatly prefer Swedes to Man- 

 gold Wurzel. I do not always steam the straw with 

 the roots, nor consider it essential ; but I think that 

 tlie cost of the process is more than paid for by the in- 

 creased solubility of the woody fibre of the straw thus 

 treated. When I feed my cattle upon straw and meal 

 only, I consider it absolutely necessary to steam the 

 straw ; and I have found the beasts do verv well upon 

 this diet, for a month at a time ; but I have only had 

 recourse to this system in certain moments of scarcity, 

 which have twice or thrice occurred to 

 cattle in the late spring." 



very 



me, in selling 



Miscellaneous. 



Height of Carriage.— & good labourer, digging a soil 

 evn^- ' ~ - V-¥W lur ™ur month* «« ^ mi at ."T I ordmar y consistency, will turn over more than 200 



an 



in a dav. A-om 



, vi a.wub mi a wneei-oarrow, could not hit n^'e man irom id to 



would appear in this i 20 cubic yards, while if he h«d to throw this earth over 



last, rne weamer being very wet. We have now plougti 



the land intended for Beans, and most of that intended for 

 summer fallowing and Turnips. The ewes are now fast 

 dropping tneir lambs, and hitherto we have not lost either ewe- 

 or lamb. Those that have lambed are turned out on fine days 

 on a dry pasture that has been partly Gurnejised— with this 

 dfference, that it has long dung instead of straw, and this is 

 an improvement. There is a nice bite, quite as much as one 

 has generally at the beginning or middle of April ; they receive 

 as many cut Turnips as they will eat, with chaff cut, half red 

 Clover, and half Wheat straw. Those which have not lambed 

 run during the day on the pastures, and have some whole 

 Turnips strewed about to amuse themselves with ; and they have 

 some chaff in their fold at night, and this seems to keep their 

 bowels from getting too much relaxed. The breed is half-bred 

 Norfolk and Hampshire Downs, and is much liked by the 

 London butchers, being not over-large and coarse. They are 

 better suited for heavy land than a larger breed. The day-men 

 are now land ditching and draining, and have been so for the 

 last two months, and will be so employed for the next fortnight 

 or three weeks, weather permitting. It is part of the agreement 

 in this part to drain a certain quantity every year, as this was 

 no doubt intended to employ the labourers during the winter • 

 but I must say that it would be difficult to find work for them 

 without it, for, from the latter end of November till February, 

 many of the farmers are adopting a system of only employing 

 men when the weather is fine, and suitable for different field 

 operations ; and as the machine is employed to thresh almost 

 all the corn, there is, of course, nothing for them to do, except 

 those engaged about the horses and ca.tle. It is heart-rending 

 to see such a number of strong hearty men walking about 

 doing nothing. Poor fellows, they live hard and work hard 

 enough when fully employed, and their privations must be 

 dreadtul when only emplojed a day or two now and then. 

 Draining is done by the piece, and they earn a little more than 

 at day work, as day-men receive only 1*. per day. It is done by 

 the score rods (54 yards), and the price this winter is about 

 35. per score; mixed soils a little more, and some less, as from 

 the great number anxious to get a job, a man may get it done 

 at his own price. In fact, this county is overrun with labourers, 

 with nothing but the land to employ them ; a good hand may 

 be able to earn Is. 4d. per day, but he must be a good one ; and 

 if he was able to earn more, a reduction would be made in the 

 price. This is in effect a perfect preventive of any exertion 

 on the part of the men ; and so long as the present system con- 

 tinues, of farmers not informing men what they are *o receive 

 for their work until it is finished, it cannot be expected that 

 they will endeavour to do as much work as *hey otherwise 

 would. The greater part of the land now draining appears to 

 have been drained three times at least, from the present cutting 

 going across them ; the oldest drain is not more than 12 inches 

 from the surface, the next about 15 inches, and the last a little 

 more than 18 inches. This shows ^ow much they fill up during 

 a certain number of years. According to the custom in this 

 part of Essex, each field would be drained about every 15 years • 

 and in looking over the books kept for the last 50 years, this' 

 appears to have been *ne case on this farm ; the drains were I 

 believe, always rammed till within the last 10 years, and thev 

 seem to have ^ood pretty well, as most of them appear to be 

 almost as Effect, except the bottom, as the day they were cut 

 but a»j are most silted up at the upper end ItsJIms that 



Xr U W™ t^ t€r ,T nin ? <*°wn PP has e noi haVtuffic en 

 drTins wZ l°« H r ° Ppin K g fr ° m the t0 P aDd 6ide8 J tb * 



out and T« rt « . ^ ^P' about sU iache8 b^ing ploughed 



b^hes IncTl^ -°1 9 iDChe9 each ! the * ar * ™& * with 



l?tti« «? ^ G W i tQ 8traw r °P es twi8te <* ^ry tight. Pipes 



thoSt^S^t\T their * reat We, and tney are ^o? 



^derJ^n^thi^T l ? Dd from the fr<q*ent complaints 



are 



