

138 



THE 



=T, it a l 8 o-&ey are B ot"fowd jr. our jpnng 



m and ,*«o the W.r of on* drw» .J«M ^ 



waters 



ft 



Sail quantity of a few mineral salts 



to the 



•nts of the analyst. 



This fort hU be ascertained to he truejn the 



case 



of soil place* 1 m g 

 riment. Solutions of 



of c rtain 8*1. I u\if and certain spec.mens 



tubes for the purpose of expe 

 the carbonate and sulphate 



of ammonia are tad I Mr. J-^^JT 



SSkTStil. -aid, andstrong c ay sod -ere 



A GRICULTURAL G AZETTE. 



iifc-t the fannin* latere s ts, and this ^afcomimw 



wflw SWntly and longer by those vho were pre- 

 SuS^ntar^- J £ who fc. having had too l T ted 

 •apitak found their land m a 



can 



„ state that precluded an 



mo ch more general in Ireland than m e.thei of the 

 Biskr kingdoms, for here there has ever been a yeiy 

 reat and" common deficiency of agricultural capital, 

 an" in addition to the deterioration m the price o • agrw 

 cultural produce felt by all, the disease in t he > ma n stay 

 crop of he country came to augment the difficulties o 

 Srt s for the L*er part of our income .was derived 

 from the export of our gram, wtaoh *• Potato enabled 



am 

 The general result 



dy, clayey, 



strong solution of the carbonate of 



used over the v.^etable mould. 



convince I Mr. TtionpsoN;that either 



or 1 Tegetable soils, possessed the power of 



retaining a mnch larger amount of ammomacal salts 



than they receh I in the most liberal manuring. 



The practical inferences he drew from the inquiry 



were as follows : ., 



1. That clay soils might he manured a consider- 

 able time before so < ng without loss. 



2. That light shallow soils should not be manured 

 long before sowing shoul not be heavily manured 

 at one time ; an I that the manure should be kept 

 as near the surface as practicable without leaving it 



uncovered. 



3. That it ia desirable to deepen the cultivated 

 soil of all light land, as it then gives it a greater 



B well nigh altogether to dispense with. 



rears all but annihilated, for 



?nd the only exceptional «*J^*e»£ | h , s been fo r *g*£j 



>orter of foi 



d in our in - . - , - 



lower than our oatmeal, is almost_ the exclusive foodd 



the meal 

 a stone 



hJugh sdli an';; Irter of our own grain we have been 

 very large importer of foreign gram (Ma«e) , the meal 

 of which r ailed in our inland marKets at 2d. 



is almosl 

 the humbler classes ; Potatoes, from their high price 

 having become unattainable by them, and even a luxury 

 in respectable houses. 



I must think it lamentable that means could not have 

 been devised to let us down more easily, lne chiet 

 obstacle in our way to meet a lessened value by an in- 

 creased produce is the want of capital ; this might have 

 been foreseen, and the deficiency supplied by banking 

 accommodations, extended beyond the time suitable to 

 the trading communities to that adapted to the more 

 distant returns of the farmer ; we might not then have 

 been so ruinously affected by the change, and in Ireland 

 much life, property, and suffering would have been 

 saved ; and wha'is yet more to the weal of the empire, 

 this island would not have been depopulated by an 

 igration, which, increasing in a geometrical pro- 

 gression, promises to leave us without labourers, and, 

 should a struggle come on, without soldiers to fight our 

 •Utlrs. There are no men or women who go to 

 America, but endeavour either by their own means or 



rofitable to feed, or in such w 

 and to such extent. 



Tull contended that his constant fallow enabled h' 

 to produce crop after crop without manure ; to deli 

 crops arising from this cause alone, it may be supn^? 

 the system did not survive him, but in availing ou^eif' 

 of the advantages of a perpetual fallow in fertilising 

 soil from the atmosphere, we may augment the ferffl^ 

 thus induced by supplying the soil with what fertiliam 

 matters our capitals enable us, and we may farm with 

 that abundant capital that this so-called high farnihi 

 requires ; indeed, I think we may in this way obtail 

 more certain, and even higher results than are promiS 

 by this high farming, at far less cost. I hope to show 

 practically, that in Ireland this may be effected with a 

 capital not exceeding 4Z. an acre, on land in a much more 

 reduced state than is usually met with in England. And 

 we may. also, with greater surety, manure heavily b? 

 proportioning our distances to the quantity and strength 

 of the manure ; in our common tillage of the Po^fo 

 in lazy beds, we find it is very easy to over-manure 

 them. While in drills we can safely and profitably ^ 

 larger quantities of manure. Some years ago I planted 

 a few Potato sets, some three or four pounds weight, 

 ery deep drills, full three feet apart, excessively 



in v 



power ol holding manure. 



8ome of the* inferences, it will be observed, 

 triretdy bid a place in the minds of all intelligent 

 practical farmer* Ah , if found practically sound, 



would justify the adopt D of an altered and often 



mor teal management of manure. _., — ___ . . 



Mr. Way, unacquainted with Mr. Til »n\ by the help of those emigrants who have arrived before 



• xttiriraet had his attention directed by that gen- them, to remit money to Ireland, to bring over their 

 th£ by M luvr to this subject, in relatives. A servant saves his wages, a small iamiaj, 



IMS, and baa since pro* ted a most successful and even a larger one, furtively disposes o»Jm stock 



T > Tr "T_ :?:_..* i. rm__ u. t_- Rn <l crop, where not permitted by his landlord, to 



enable him to find his way to this El Dorado : and well 

 they may ; the accounts transmitted of the high wages 

 they l '^ive, and the ready employment they obtain, are 

 so exciting to a people struggling with a precarious 

 \istence, that we cannot be surprised at the efforts they 

 make to migrate; and yet they would not leave their native 

 hmd could they obtain moderate wages and steady em- 

 ployment, for they are willing to labour. It is most general 

 that the sober and industrious emigrants (even such as 



uviuin conne ion with t. The results being 

 publish in ti ist volume of the "English Agri- 

 cultural Journal. 11 



Solutions of various strength of caustic ammonia, 



nitrate, and muriate of am- 

 monia, 



were 

 calcai 



carbonate, sulphat 



d through columns of soil, fer- 

 ruginous, calcareous, clay- , sandy, dried, moist, 

 burned, through white sand, .and plastic clay ; 

 through burnt clay, as brick-dust and powdered 

 toba > pipes ; thmngh soil altogether destitute of 

 Tegetable matter, and through s ! containing vege- 

 table matter ; and the results from the 42 experi- 

 ments which the research included, indicate the 

 existent f a power in the soil, which appears to 

 reside in th clay* ingredient of removing aramo- 

 ni from it do ins, and even from its acid combi- 

 nations, and retaining it, notwithstanding the pas- 

 sage f water, so pow ful a solvent of it, through 

 the medium containing it. 



Bat Mr. Wat's experiments related to potash and 

 soda, both caustic and as carbonate, muriate .[sulphate, 

 and nit rat as well as ammonia, and here, too, he 

 found that the soil employed removed the alkalies 

 from their solution Its power over solutions of 

 lime, magnesia, and phosphoric acid, was also 



sought for and found. And besides this piece- | part of them having borne from two to six crops of Oats 

 meal investigation of the subject, experiments were | in succession. The wretched tenant enters on his land 

 institute 



for 



manured, as it was thought, and I turned out from them 

 between 7 and 8 stones. From two rows of Chevalier 

 Barley, sown in very rich ground, 3| feet apart and 

 1 foot 9 inchss from the contiguous rows, I reaped at 

 the rate of near 7 quarters to the acre, a standing crop, 

 with between 5 and 6 feet length of straw ; while in the 

 adjacent rows, at 1 foot 9 inches, the crop averaged 

 under 5 quarters to the acre, with lodged straw only 

 between 4 and 5 feet long. 



In ground well tilled and in good heart, not in very 

 hi<di condition, from various experiments through a 

 course of 28 years, I have found about 2 feet, from row 

 to row, the most productive distance for a grain crop ; 

 at such distances I have invariably found as many, if 

 not more, stems, and with better heads, than at any lesser 

 distances, while ample space is afforded for working the 

 land between the rows till the blossoming. ^ The farmer 

 has then the option of a successional grain crop, by 

 sowing in the well-prepared and invigorated intervals, 

 or of a green or root crop on ground in fine tilth for 

 small seeds, without requiring the labour which makes 

 these crops so costly. His Turnips at 55. a ton will nc 

 then trench on the profits of his grain crops. J. Jf, 

 Goodiff, Granardy Jan. Zlst, 1850. 



\ 



could or would do no good at home), before he or she , 

 has been 12 months in America, pays the passage money 

 of, and sends money home for, the fitting out of some 

 one or more of the family. And this, while marriages 

 nd births have much diminished in number. "What 

 country can stand this drain ? 



Although such is our condition, yet we are most cer- 

 tainly recovering from the shock ; the demand for land 

 has increased, and farms rarely become untenanted 

 without a competition arising for them, and with scarcely 

 a wall on them, there are now tenants enough found to 

 give the landlord a sum of money in hand to obtain a 

 I reference ; it has also become common with landlords 

 to ask a year's rent in advance, as a security from the 

 incoming tenant, and these farms are almost totally 

 without dwelling-houses, offices, or gates, the fences in 

 had repair, the lands water-soaked, and a considerable 



which any one can readily perform 

 himself, for the purpose of ascertaining the 

 effect of the soil upon putrid tank-water, town 

 sewerage, and other liquids more nearly approach- 

 ing to the solutions of manure in in dy dressed 

 land ; and it was found that a few inches of any soil 

 containing a certain proportion of clay, wai Ale to 

 remove all taste and smell ; and, therefore, of course 

 all those volatile ingredients to which their taste and 

 smell are owing. 



Mr. Way deduces a number of "practical con- 

 •--- 'from his valuable investigations, relating 

 chiefly to the importance of claying sandy soils to 

 the safety of using liquid manure, even on land 

 unoccupied by a crop, to the advantages of com- 

 minution and perfect tillage of the land, and to the 

 indifference, in reference to ammoniacal salts, as 

 to which of these be used, so long as the requisite 

 quantity of the base be present. Of th 



elusions 



. # M% * the safety 



and economy of the use of liquid manures, even in 

 the^ winter season, to fertilise the soil against the 

 period of growth, appears to be practicall the most 

 important ; and it will, no doubt, be extensively 

 put to the test ere long. It seems very desirable 

 that Mr. Ways paper on this subject should have 

 an independent and separate publication. If repub- 

 lished as a pamphlet, it would, we are sure, have 

 an extensive circulation. 



ON THE TULLIAX CULTIVATION OF LAND. 



No. L 

 Inasmuch as onr markets are, and probablv will 

 be, continuously near the continental and transatlantic 

 level of prices, free trade must for a time seriously 



with, in most cases, not more than a pound an acre of 

 capital. I am speaking of farms under 50 acres, the 

 larger ones are not very generally in much better state. 

 The farm I at present hold contains 50 acres of strong 

 clay, badly fenced, undrained, every Grass field full of 

 rushes, every tilled field in Oat stubbles, some having 

 had five crops of Oats taken off in succession for the last 

 six years ; the hay and straw have been sold off, and no 

 part of the land manured ; the dwelling-house, a small 

 cottage, and offices, of a mean description, were all 

 gutted, doors and windows carried off, and parts of the 

 roofs pulled down, and yet this steading was in the best 

 condition of any untenanted land in this neighbourhood 

 or on this estate, which was valued, before the depres- 

 sion, at ftOoo/. a year. 



Although in England and Scotland there are neither 

 the same deficiency of capital or the same miserable 

 want of farm accommodation, capital is yet wanting to 

 make the only resource— hi^h farming— that has been 

 offered to meet the low prices of to-day and to-morrow 

 available to many ; and it is even somewhat question 

 able whether high farming, with abundant capital will 

 pay so well as its advocates assert ; the high fanning of 

 Caird has been much relied on, but the farm of Audi 

 ness is evidently an exception, the best paying crop on 

 it, and which swells the amount of its profits, is even 

 too great for Potato consuming Ireland ; to the maioritv 

 of farmers the profits of high farming, if realisable, offer 

 but the cup of Tantalus. It then becomes a question 

 worth mooting, whether a system of cultivation more 

 within the reach of the majority of farmers may not be 

 found ; and I think this is to be found in the system W 

 ago promulgated by Tull, or in modifications of it In 

 this system of perpetual fallow, Nature, in the atmosphere 

 supplies the dim-heap which high farming raises by 

 high feeding, and the farmer may then, instead of feed- 

 ing tor his dung heap, feed alone on what it may either 



ON BEAN CULTURE. 



The Bean has been propagated into a great number 

 of varieties, both for the use of the garden and the field. 

 But the general character remains, of thriving in a soil 

 that possesses a very considerable degree of tenacity, 

 with a loamy tendency that is sufficient to encourage 

 the speedy and healthy germination of the seed, and 

 the proper development of the roots, which are partly 

 fibrous and tap formed. In Britain the Bean does not 

 thrive beyond the 66th degree of north latitude, and 

 under that parallel it requires the best lands and the 

 warmest situations. 



Beans thrive well on all clay lands of the best descry 

 tion, whether the clayey loams admitting of the grea 

 crop culture, or the most friable soils. But the favounte 

 soil is a deep loam that is rich and moist, such as E 

 seen near Dunbar, in East Lothian, where the Bein 

 yields the largest crops. The red clay lands of W 

 county which overlie the trap rocks are sufficiently 

 friable to admit some cultivation in the early sp* 

 and the preparation of the land for the Bean is sin* 

 with the clayey loams that produce Potatoes and Be«- 



On both soils the Bean follows the Oat CW[ 

 the farm-yard dung being spread in broadcast on tae 

 stubble, and ploughed under with a .good round furrow 

 of 8 or 9 inches. In the first partof the montMJ 

 February, or so soon as the season will admit, the 

 is wrought lengthwise and crosswise by Fuilay 

 harrow, or some similar grubber, and the wee ids 

 carefully picked by hand and removed. The m* 

 then made into drills of 27 inches apart, by one forww 

 of the common plough. The Beans are sown in^ 

 hollows by the double drill Bean sower, and the dr^ 

 are split and reversed over the seed by one furrow 

 the common plough, and the land is harrowed across *} 

 the light seed harrows *ef ore the leaves of the s^ 

 appear above the ground. In this way tiie dung is j^ 

 in the ground during winter, and is intimately 

 with the soil by the workings of the grubber. % 



Another method lays the farm-yard dung ' 

 trampled heap in a corner of the field before tHei 



The land is winter ploughed, and *ro D 



root. 



the Beans are 



before mention* 



jomBiQM 



*bi* 



i ftp 



February. 



in the spring by the grubber, as 

 then made into drills by one furrow of the c 

 plough. The dung is spread along the hollows m jj^JJ 



i are sown by the machine, and the an ^ 

 reversed over the dung by the common plou£»* 

 drills are levelled by harrowing a-s before. ^ 



The quantity of farm-yard dung used on a 

 may be averaged at eight cart-loads of two ^ 

 The quantity of seed at 2 to 3 bushels. x ' ^ 

 time from the middle of February to the end ** ^ 

 The sowing is not profitably prolonged bejo ^ 

 time. Opinions differ in the preference of aPP 1 ^*^ 

 dung on the autumn stubbles, or on the w ^° ctu b* 

 in the spring. On the very best lands tne ^ 

 dunging is preferred, while on the inferior ™ er # 

 lying grounds the manure in the drills is « • ^ 

 esteemed. The climate may have an influence 



