186 



THE AGRICULTURAL GAZETTE. 



R. 22 



give the result per acre. 



red Clover. 



are wholly to be placed to the credit 

 The Rye-grass on both divisions was 



equal, and if a difference existed, I am inclined to 



the early 



give it in favour of the Rye-grass on 

 ploughed division. I attribute the superior results 

 of the late ploughed division to the greater abund- 

 ance of red Clover. On the whole eleven lots, the 

 late ploughed division gives an average increase 

 of 53 stones per imperial acre— in otter words 53 



stones of red Clover. 



" My observations on the experiment during the 

 growth of the crop are all against the idea, that the 

 food theory has anything to do with the failure of 

 Clover. None of the substances applied seemed to 

 have any particular influence on the Clover plant, 

 other than was exerted on the Rye-grass. Perhaps I 

 should except the mixture of sul. of ammonia and 

 gypsum. This application certainly produced a 

 luxuriant growth of Clover. But whether luxuriant 

 or the reverse, not one of the substances had the 

 effect of producing a larger amount of Clover plants 

 than the appearance of the crop warranted previous 

 to the application ; and certainly none of the sub- 

 stances not affecting the Rye-gra: had any effect on 

 the Clover. The substances having no effect may 

 be stated as gypsum, sulphate of magnesia, common 



Salt." 



This, then, is one more proof, if any were needed, 

 of the untenableness of the " food " theory of the 

 Clover failure. There remain the suggestion of 

 Mr. Thorp regarding the texture of the soil, and 

 that of Professor Henslow regarding the treatment 

 of the plant to choose between ; and we hope that 

 some of our readers may interest themselves in the 

 matter, so far as to try the experiment we have 

 named, and report its result next spring. 



An examination will show excavating three liquid manure tanks of the following taught me," that dependence ou ateokkeem ^ 



to a most imprudent extent -an extent invoMn^^ 

 fallacy and loss consequent on any excessive ^ *• 

 of capital in a particular product, whether c^*** 



cavation is through stiff clay and marl, and I find the cotton, shoes or hats. Now, the first d ^^ 



greatest possible advantage from the use of this railway, — *-* u: ~* *..... n 



laid on a very steep incline and pulled upon a frame 



under which the cart is backed and the wasrson at once 



point, on which very much further information ; princi P^ 

 is the item, « one double-diggin- of the S Wa *H 



MR. NEILSON'S FARM RAILROADS. 



In reply to your enquiries, I beg to say that the fol- 

 lowing circumstance led me to invent and adopt the plan 

 of portable railways, of which the " Times Commissioner" 

 took such favourable notice in his report on South 

 Lancashire. My farm consists of heavy clay land ; and 

 when I first took it, was entirely undrained, and com- 

 posed of many small fields, averaging about 2 acres 

 each, parated by large crooked fences, with wide 

 ditches and abounding in pits, from which, according to 



discharged into it Each wa^on holds a single horse 

 load. The form of the rail is as follows : —The sides 

 are of the common deal, 18 feet long, or shorter if 

 thought more desirable, nearly 3 inches deep, and 

 2 J- thick, A balk of timber, 18 feet lcng and 12 inches 

 by 13 square will cut up into 20 of them. They are 

 connected by means of wooden sleepers of tougher 

 material (slabs or thinnings of Oak, Ash, Beech, &c.) 

 2 feet 5 long, 3 inches broad by 2 inches thick, and 

 morticed through the side pieces about every 4 feet ; 

 the tennant is left on the upper side of the cro3S piece, 

 and the mortice is cut in the side piece so as to allow 

 the bottom of it and the cross piece to be on a level, so 

 that the flange of the wheel will travel above. The 

 tennauts are fastened by a half-inch wooden pin, driven 

 through the side piece £ of an inch from the outer edge ; 

 on the upper and inner edge of the side piece is laid a 

 strip of iron from ^ to h an inch thick, and from \ to 

 1 inch broad (according to the weight of work required 

 over it) screwed down at every 15 or 18 inches with 

 2-inch screws, the heads being countersunk in the iron 

 rim. Thus the iron strip is clear of the wooden pin that 

 fastens the cross pieces, and need not be removed if any 

 of the latter break and require renewing. The ends of 

 the iron strip are bent over the ends of the side rails 

 and let in flush, and are secured by a band of hoop iron 

 covering the mortice hole outside, passing round the end, 

 and for 6 inches along the inside of the side rail, and 

 through this plate is fastened the joint for attaching to 

 the next rail. After many contrivances I have found 

 the following the best and most convenient mode of con- 

 necting two consecutive rails together : a pin 3 inches 

 long, of half-inch square iron, turned with a half-inch 

 eye at one end and driven nearly home in each end of 

 each side piece. Care must be taken that these pins are 

 fixed half an inch on the inside the centre on one end, 

 and half an inch on the outside of the centre on the other 

 end of the same rail, so that when two rails are brought 

 together the two pins of the one rail are both in- 

 side or both outside the two pins of the other 

 rail, which prevents them separating sideways, and 

 the eyes being level are fastened by a half inch 

 pin or plug put through them, and which, forming a 

 joint, enables the railway to be laid more easily over un- 

 dulating ground. 



being 2 feet of every 5 feet."' The cost ^TSZ . gr<mi i 

 to be U 10* for an ^ihxA^^ «* 

 stated to be 2L, for the first year. The formal *> 

 rate of 3/. 15s., the latter at the rate of 51 L e 

 if instead of two-fifths only, an entire acre - - * *.**** 



dug over. 



were s 



Now I want to know what sort of land rt'' 

 is, and what is the money earned by the labourer X 

 double-digging, to be done at this exceedingly low uri 

 Partly in consequence of this pamphlet, I had a piecT^ 

 land trenched last October. The man was a vervahU 

 person, well used to the work, thoroughly desirous f 

 doing his best, well knowing my wishes, that if I C ouM 

 see my way, I would quickly enough employ him 

 and a dozen more at the work, and I had perfect 

 leisure to watch him the whole time he was at % 

 I paid him 13s. a- week of 9£ working hours per day L* 

 finding his tools, pickaxe, and spade. The land wag a 

 stiff flinty loam, such as is common on the chalk dk. 

 tricts. The ground was certainly very hard and drr 

 last October, but I am certain it could never be done 

 without a pickaxe, except in very wet weather, when it 

 would turn up too cloddy ; nor could it be done deeper 

 than 8 inches then without a pickaxe, on account of 

 the large flints which occur at that depth, at about the 

 rate of 12 one-horse cart-loads per acre. It was done in 

 this way : first the pick-axe went along the breadth of 

 the piece, then the spade threw out what was loosened 

 then the pick-axe again, then the spade, and, lastly the 

 pickaxe merely raised up or loosened 4 or 5 inches of 

 earth. The whole depth turned out was from 10 to 

 12 inches, and the bed of mould when finished was about 

 20 inches deep, judging by thrusting a walking-stick 



It certainly was a beautiful piece of work, 

 the dry weather bringing it up fine, and the large stones 

 got out. Now the man did not, and, I am satisfied, coald 

 not do more than two poles a-day, making the cost 

 somewhere about 91. per acre. It was decidedly hard 

 work, requiring a man to live well, and entitling him to 

 a good remuneration. Mr. Davis says Mr. Smith's land 

 is trenched 2 feet deep. This means, I presume, that 

 the dry and finished bed of mould was 2 feet deep. But 

 even this astonishes me that it could be done at the 

 price ; for here is another important consideration— it 

 must be much easier to trench a piece of land of con- 

 siderable length and breadth, than to trench 2 feet 



through it. 



These pins or plugs are secured to the | wide between rows of Wheat, and to keep 6 inches 

 side pieces by a small piece of light jack chain. Though ; clear of the rows. My trenching 12 inches deep raised 









the ancient custom from time immemorial, the land had 

 been dressed with marl, as the only means of procuring 

 a succession of Wheat and grain crops, by which the 

 sou had been exhausted. I of course commenced my 

 operations by draining, but on a piece of this land not 

 yet drained, where I had levelled the fences and filled 

 some ditches and pits, I sowed some Turnips, having 

 previously well manured and deeply ploughed it ; and 

 the novelty of this proceeding having excited its gra- 

 titude, it grew me a fair crop. The price being high in 

 the Liverpool market, (7 miles distant) I loaded two 

 carts one afternoon, in order to send them off early 

 the nex morning, leaving them in the field during 

 the night. Unfortunately, it rained heavily, and the carts 

 wring been left beyond the filled up ground, the result 

 was, that the united efforts of 4 horses brought away 

 the shafts, but left the loads up to the axles in the mud. 

 I had not then heard of Prince Albert's ingenious mode 

 of uncropping a similar field by passing the Turnips 

 from hand to hand, like >o many . cricket-balls. Sol 

 invented a rude sort of railway of wood, by which 1 

 removed the whole of the crop in time to realise a good 

 pric<*. I have since improved it considerably, until it 

 has resulted in the subjoined sketch, of which Mr 



Crosskih, of Beverley, took the pattern, and now makes 

 it i or sale. 



I have use* it for the last nine or ten years 

 always m taking off my root crop, and frequently in 



Derby used it extensively to CO nvey til* to drain^n 



S£l5 P wf e ° f T" *?*> ^ ^rwaSs to cover Tt 

 with marl, when neither horse nor can could have gom 



yard without sinkingup to thegirthsor axletree ; and many 

 par ties,both m Lnglandand on thecontinent,towhom I have 

 sent the description, have used it with unvaried satis- 

 KcUoiu I may perhaps mention, that I am now 



this description is but an imperfect one, I trust that with 1 

 the accompanying sketch it may be sufficiently under- 

 stood to be tried ; and where the surface is suitable and 

 not too hilly, I'll answer for it that on heavy land it will 

 not readily be discontinued. Of the waggons and turn- 

 tables I presume no description is needed ; the latter is 

 very simple, adapted to the length of the former, and 

 costs about lot The former will hold about 10 or 12 

 cwt. of Turnips, and discharges sideways over the 

 wheel, which is about 18 inches high. Cost, about 

 21. 15s. or Zl. My arrangement for getting off my 

 Turnips is to deliver the rails, waggons, and turn-tables 

 in proper working order to the labourers, who contract 

 to deliver the Turnips at the field gate at so much per 

 acre, and to restore the rails, &c, in good order, or pay 

 for breakage and damage. I fear I have trespassed too 

 much on your valuable space, but presuming your 

 motive to be to impart information, and mine to give 

 others the benefit of what I know to be practically 

 useful, it will, I hope, plead my apology. B. Neiteon, 

 JlalewoocL 





a 



TULL'S HUSBANDRY. 



The high commendation in the Gazette of Feb. 15th, 

 of Mr. Smith's method of applying TulPs system, by so 

 competent an authority as Mr Hewitt Davis, makes a 

 further inquiry into the matter of some moment. The 

 same method was related in last year's Gazette, in a 

 review of Mr. Smith's pamphlet. Being a practiser of 

 Tull's system I perused the pamphlet, and came to the 

 conclusion that Mr. Smith had not made out a case 

 justifying anything beyond mere small experiments. 

 But Mr. Davis's endorsement has caused me to doubt 

 and the best proceeding appears to be to publish an 

 analysis of the statement, and call for further explanation 

 on the part of its author. As further inducement to 

 this investigation, let me add, that I can aay feelinglv 

 with Mr . Davis, « my own experience in farming has 



the ground 8 inches. Had this been between rows 

 of Wheat, the greatest caution would have been required 

 to keep the earth from slipping down and burying 

 the Wheat, which must have proportionately increased 

 the time and expense. These remarks, I trust, 

 justify me m asking for further and exact particulars 

 of the soil, the mode of double-digging,, the depth, ana 

 the rate of wages, with the working hours in a ™J5F* 

 And I shall rejoice if the answer should be to show 

 that my mode of trenching has been so effectual, tna* 

 ever after it will never require to be repeated, uu 

 may be kept in easy digging order, provided it be no 

 trampled on by horses, except at harvest. For it 

 the trampling of horses in ploughing, harrowing, ana 

 rolling, that seems to me so speedily to undo our wok 

 of stirring. My trenched ground does not 9eem . 

 have sunk an inch, though it has been dpne four mon» 

 and had the winter rains. The above further inior- 



of double-digging will probably 

 render unnecessary anything further on the next 

 Single forkings. 



I come now to the third item, "pressing, sowwg 

 hoeing, carrying, threshing, and rates, which are p 

 21 Is. If my memory does not deceive me, uns . 



mation on this first item 



average 



cost 



case 



for threshin 



These latter 

 boys following 

 ff h per quarter 



t many iiucuigo, «w - r j^ 



and how much for rates. ^ * i 

 bandry so lets up the weeds, that hitherto I have i^^ 



My rates are os. w ^ 

 and with this I cannot bring the entire item ^^^ 

 But reaping appears to have been altogether io fe ^ 

 Now, from the enormous weight of straw, 1 J^j^ -# 

 reaping to be extremely close to the ground. ^^ 



not much saved in reaping Tullian Wheat, ine «? ^ 



two hoeings insufficient. 



