







■ 





1 



1851.1 



THE AGRICULTURAL GAZETTE. 



203 



M 



iug 



^1 fine tilth 



fa usual time of sowing ; 



If artificial 



-*! 



-^ Carrot produces heavy crops upon the best 



^ouTof stiff loams ; yet the difficulty of securing 



-u„t with the additional expense of cultivation, causes 



iKfeivnce to be given to land of a lighter texture 



A%2d Wheat stubble may be treated in a similar 



for the Turnip, with the addition of a deep 



and that the tillage should have earlier 



25^ both in the autumn and spring, so that a deep 



^fin^ tilth is insured by the month of Apru\ which is 



or, if necessary, this can be 

 xfar^'until Mav, particularly on land known to be 

 *Mect to annual weeds, which will overgrow the young 

 JvLts before they can be distinguished. 



If fcmi-varJ manure is used, from 12 to 15 tons may 

 ^ ploughed in before Christmas, that it may decompose 

 innf mix with the soil ; raw manure applied in the 

 Z^n* being found to make the roots grow stringy, and 

 otherwise injure the quality of the crop. If artii 

 manure is employed (and we use it in preference to 

 knn-vard dung), we can recommend animalised carbon ; 

 nit mixed with soot, guano and superphosphate, and 

 these mav be mixed with a larger proportion of peat 

 charcoal or turf ashes ; and if a portion of the latter has 

 saturated with liquid manure, it makes the manure 

 more valuable ; but we do not recommend any one 

 manure as a specific, but would as nearly as possible 

 supply those Ingredients in a soluble form, which are 

 found to exist in the plant, or which are essen- 

 J for the full development of its growth. To pre- 

 vent the seed clogging in the drill, it is well rubbed, 

 to remove the bushy particles, and then mixed in the 

 proportion of 4 or 5 lbs. of seed to 2 bushels of pow- 

 dered charcoal or dry ashes, which is the quantity 

 drilled per acre. Charcoal, from its known property of 

 absorbing moisture, will be found to promote the vege- 

 tation of the seed. The width between the drills may 

 vary from 10 to 15 inches. A small quantity of Oats or 

 Mustard, or any other seed that vegetates more rapidly 

 than the Carrot, may be drilled with it, to show the 

 rows, upon land that is much infested with weeds. 



The plants are hoed out to a distance of about 8 or 9 

 inches, and the land is kept clean by repeated horse and 

 hand hoeings, as required. The crop is ready to harvest 

 in November ; the roots are forked up by men and 

 women, the tops cut off by a gang of boys and girls, and 

 the roots are then stored by being placed in long heaps, 

 about 2J feet high and 3 feet wide, which, to protect the 

 roots from frost, are covered with straw, and then with 

 a layer of earth. The produce varies from 500 to 1 300 

 bushels, or from 10 to 26 tons per acre, exclusive of 

 tops. The great art in the cultivation is the obtaining a 

 plant, and the subsequent cleaning from weeds. A thin 

 plant should be ploughed up, for the expenses are nearly 

 as great upon a crop of 5 tons as upon one of 25. 



Mr. Hugh Raynbird, in the Transactions of the High- 

 land and Agricultural Society of Scotland for 1850, esti- 

 mates the cost of cultivation per acre of the Carrot crop 

 as under ; upon good sandy and light loamy soils. 



country. Many of your readers are not unaware, that 

 the commissioners of education in Ireland have for 

 some time past combined agricultural instruction with 

 the ordinary routine of literary studies in their schools, 

 and that the lessons inculcated in the school-room are 

 practically borne out in many cases, on small farms 

 varying from 2 to 20 acres, attached to the school. 

 This is the plan, organised, to combat the evils of Irish 

 agriculture, by bringing home to the doors of a be- 



m Fossa x but somehow or other he has been converted 

 not only from the use of stones on the top of the pipes^ 

 in so far as it improves the work, but also to " wide 

 intervals" — 30 feet draining, which he formerly objected 

 to " having always been disappointed with wide interval 

 draining on stiff clays." He is now content to rest the 

 use of stones on the tops of pipes upon the simple ground 

 of convenience, and then only in those cases where they 

 are dug out of the land. " Surely," says he, " it would 



nighted peasantry the practical truths of a refined bus- 1 be economical to bury those stones on the spot, and take 



• •• 



* » ? 



• • • 



Cleaning stubble, 3 scarifying, 4 horses 



4 Harrowing* 



* Rollings (2 horse) 



Fickm- and burning weeds 



1 - n* .. '" • • • • • • • • • 



io ions ot manure, valued at 3*., or arti- 



TM11. manure to the same value 

 Filling and spreading dhto 



Hauling according to distance ... 

 Ploughing 



Subsoiling (3 horses)" Z Z 

 4 ItarrottiDra 

 Boiling (2 horse) 



Bo- (I hone) 

 Drilling 



... 



• • ♦ 



• • • 



• • • 



■ • • 



• • » 



• • t 



* • • 



• •• 



5*<U or 5 lbs. at 1*. ft*. 



* bushes of asfaes, or peat charcoal 



Hoeing between drills 



Jingling out ... 



Second hoeing 



Third hoeing 



i wo horse hoeiogs ... 



Taking up and storing 



ntntiiig routs 



««, tithe, and taxes 



- . - 



• * t 



• • • 



• • • 



■ • • 



■ i 



• « * 



■ • • 



• t • 



• •• 



• - • 



• » • 



• - • 



• • t 



• • • 



it* 



£ s. 



d. 





£ 8. 



a* 



4 



6 



to 



6 







2 







• • • 



2 







1 



6 



• • • 



2 







2 







• • • 



2 



6 



7 







• • • 



7 



6 



t 5 







• • • 



2 5 







2 



6 



• •• 



2 



6 



4 







• • » 



6 







7 







• • • 



7 



6 



10 







• • • 



11 







2 







• • ♦ 



2 











9 



• • • 



1 











4 



■ • • 







6 



1 







• • » 



1 







6 







• • » 



7 



6 



1 







• • • 



1 







1 



6 



• • • 



2 







8 







• • ■ 



12 







3 







■ • • 



5 







2 







■ • • 



3 







2 







• • • 



2 







15 







• •i 



1 







2 







• • a 



8 







2 







• • f 



2 10 







Total expense per acre ... £8 10 7 to 10 2 6 



Carrots are frequently sold off the land at 5d. or 6cL 

 per bushel, which will give a good return to the grower. 

 H hen consumed upon the farm they are very valuable 

 as a winter and early spring food for milch cows, colts, 

 *na horses, and for fatting cattle ; for these purposes 

 «ej are superior to most other roots. Independently of 

 «* importance of the crop itself, the extended cultiva- 

 ■on of Carrots may be advocated, because, the 



more 



£nou8 the crops upon a farm, the greater is the regu- 

 *My of the labour required, and the more independent 

 ^s the farmer become of failures caused by the vicis- 



tuoes of this variable climate ; the weather which 



on ^T ? n * cro P ma y h ^ten the growth of another 

 oneisttt**^ k„ :._, ts or blight ^ ano 



placed solely upon one class of 

 , . Jt tin 



^destruction at one and the same time. 



'in giving a more extended and varied character to 



worth f 0n of ^ e farmer > which of itseIf is a matter 

 fa *L a * tentl ? n - A system of cultivation suitable 

 g |oor sandy soils will be detailed in a future paper. 



^Attacked by insects or blight, another escapes: 



atafc I de P endance be Placed solely upon one class of 

 r-***, tue whole of the year's growth may be visited 



Carrots will 



bandry. It is in such schools where youth can be 

 impressed with the folly of trusting to old and slovenly 

 systems of farming for future comforts, and where the 

 young mind will be indelibly stamped with improved 

 principles and practices of farming. Such a scheme is 

 obviously a radical cure. From the different small 

 agricultural schools throughout the country, the most 

 deserving pupils are drafted to fill the vacancies at the 

 model farm of 130 acres, belonging to the commis- 

 sioners at Glasnevin, near Dublin — an institution which 

 has been very favourably noticed in Caird's u Plan- 

 tation Scheme/' and Osborne's " Gleanings in the West 

 of Ireland." At this institution the pupils are boarded, 

 lodged, and receive the benefits of agricultural lectures, 

 and literary instruction for one or more years gratis, 

 after which they are prepared to fill situations as land- 

 stewards, agriculturists, or agricultural teachers. In 

 this way the commissioners annually train a number of 

 young men, who, when dispersed over the country, 

 become the pioneers of a more healthful system of cul- 

 tivation. Surely the training of youth to habits of early 

 industry, to science and sense, must favourably react 

 upon the rural ignorance of the land ! Surely the teach- 

 ing of the child the nature of the soil, and its mode of 

 improvement, the nature of crops, and the judicious 

 method of their culture ; the nature of manures, their 

 relative values, and different circumstances under 

 which they are applied, are as powerful adjuncts 

 towards the melioration of the country as his acquisition 

 of literary information ? The business habits of the 

 after-man must be formed in his youth, and it is by 

 educating thus the rural youth of the country, by esta- 

 blishing in every viliage an agricultural school and 

 model farm, that we can reach the seat of Ireland's 

 misery — the ignorance of her agricultural population. 

 Agriculture is a nation's sheet-anchor, its prosperity is 

 the standard of a nation's greatness. We, therefore, 

 see how" governments are turning their attention to the 

 establishing of agricultural colleges for imparting 

 agricultural information. We see, in Holland, agricul- 

 ture, scientific and practical, taught in her colleges, as a 

 primary pursuit. Germany, the seat of learning, has 

 long since set the example. American States now raise 

 a cry for agricultural education and model farms, to be 

 extended throughout the length and breadth of the 

 country. York, Durham, Edinburgh, and Glasgow, 

 acknowledge the intrinsic value of agricultural informa- 

 tion. The new Irish colleges are provided for means 

 of communicating the same knowledge. And while the 

 example of imparting such useful and daily-required 

 information is set in the higher seats of learning, let us 

 feel thankful that the lonely cotters and small farmers 

 of Ireland have not been forgotten, in having placed 

 within their reach the means of acquiring, both by pre- 

 cept and example, improved notions of husbandry. 

 Among the many philanthropic measures for improv- 

 ing Ireland, we must heartily wish God speed to the 

 steady and unobtrusive progress of agricultural instruc- 

 tion under the Irish National Board of Education. 

 Well-wisher, March 19. 



How to produce Five Crops off the same Piece of 

 Ground wit) h in Thirteen Months. — In October plant winter 

 Beans in rows, 30 inches row from row, and at the same 

 time interline two rows of early York Cabbages, which 

 should be sown in June ; let the Cabbages be planted 

 10 inches from the Beans, and 10 inches row from row. 

 The Cabbages to be drawn as Cole worts during the 

 winter, and early in spring. As soon as the Cabbages 

 are off, which should not be later than March, imme- 

 diately plant a row of Ash-leaved Kidney Potatoes 

 between the rows of Beans. The Potatoes will be ready 

 to harvest in July ; as soon as they are taken up fork 

 in a little rotten manure, and transplant a row of 

 Swedes, taken from a bed, which should be previously 

 sown for that purpose. As soon as the Beans are 

 harvested, remove them as soon as possible, and after 

 manuring and well stirring the soil, immediately sow a 

 row of 1 rly Six- weeks, or Stone Turnip. The Swedes 

 and Turnips will be ready to betaken up in November. 

 Thus five crops can be procured, from the same piece 

 of ground, within the space of 13 months. W. G. E. 



Drainage under the Acts.-— I can hardly believe that 

 « Fossa;' of January 5th, p. 58, of the Agri Itural 

 Gazette for the current year, is the u Fossa " of your 

 Number of March 8th, p. 155. The first is for drains 

 20 feet apart ; the last never hints at a narrower in- 

 terval than 30 feet. 



the chance of making the soil a little more porous and 

 pervious to the surface water. I am pretty extensively 

 connected with three counties, and have good oppor- 

 tunity of knowing what is the practice in several others, 

 and in each and all the stones amply pay for carting off, 

 as the road and highway surveyors willingly give 1$. 

 a yard for them. (€ Fossa " says they are of no value 

 with him. This I am quite ready to take upon his word ; 

 but I would recommend those who are disposed to try 

 the burying system to look out for another grave than 

 the drains afford, as they may chance to break pipes, or 

 make a channel for the passage of silt into them. I am 

 sorry to find that " Fossa " has had so much trouble, 

 and has gone into such inglorious researches to discover 

 the data upon which my calculations were founded, in 

 consequence of the printer having put "rods" for 

 "roods," meaning thereby roods of 8 yards — the common 

 measure here ; but which I am ready to admit I should 

 have converted into imperial measure. The data which I 

 founded on were precisely those which " Fossa" supplied 

 himself in the successful experiment made " to test the ab- 

 surdity of a whim of our own." In describing this, he 

 says, 8 We decided on using those stones in the drains by 

 placing them from 20 inches to 2 feet thick on the top of 

 the pipes. The drains were cut 3£ to 4 feet deep, and 

 20 feet apart." Now 90^ roods of 8 yards are equal to 

 1 32 rods in round numbers — that is, the number of rods 

 in an acre, at 20 feet apart ; and most people will think 

 1J(/. per yard (especially if the ground be stony), not a 

 great deal too much for cutting, laying pipes, and filling 

 in drains of 34 and 4 feet in depth, which is equal to 

 6%d. per rod. Now, as to the quantity of stones 

 required ; suppose the drain is cut to fit the pipe with 

 the utmost precision, we shall have above the pipe a 

 cutting 4 inches wide, and at 2 feet above it, 10 inches 

 will generally be rather over than under the width in a 

 4 feet drain. These figures give an area of vertical 

 section of 168 inches, which will give 93 yards and a 

 fraction for the quantity of stone required for an acre 

 of drains, instead of 30 yards, as stated by " Fossa" in 

 his last letter. It will not do for " Fossa" to tell us 

 that his drains are cut out narrow ; it is impossible to 

 do so where he finds enough of stones to cover the pipes 

 2 feet deep, and the dimensions I have given are under 

 what would occur in actual practice ; and in my former 

 letter I did not proceed to extreme nicety of calculation 

 in regard to the stones. I think I have now shown that 

 my calculations were substantially correct as to quan- 

 tities, as given by " Fossa" himself ; and your readers 

 will be best able to judge whether they can get stones 

 picked, sorted, broken, and put into drains for 3d. 

 a yard. I now take my leave of this subject, with the 

 satisfaction that I have given " Fossa " the opportunity 

 of admitting that he in fact had no very clear ideas of 

 the value of stones ; and that he by no means * advo- 

 cates their use where pipe draining can be done more 

 economically." It will puzzle even " Fossa " to show 

 that stones, on the top of pipes, will be more economical 

 than pipes without them. Agricola Redirivm. 



British Song Birds : a source of Mischief as well as 

 Entertainment. — I have read with much pleasure, thougi" 

 no bird fancier, the many articles published in the 

 < ''< rrdeners 1 Chronicle, from the able pen of Mr. Kidd; 

 but with much more interest have I read the various 



Ua s Home Correspondence. 



Wiutnal Education m Ireland. 



"tedium nf,T aD ^ the a S ricult ural interest, through the 

 r^ u m of the Gazette, permit 

 "Jwnal education 



nxed habits and 



P*judi 



The first is for stones on the top 

 of the pipes. " I have adopted it," he says, "and found 

 it answer admirably, and am not aware that any valid 

 reason has been assigned for the objection which is made 

 to the use of stones on the top of pipes." The last says, 

 " I do not advocate stone draining where pipe draining 

 can be done more economically. I have put in hundreds 

 of thousands of pipes where stone could be had a few 

 hundred yards off for digging and carting." My tetter 

 of February 8th, p. 91, was solely directed to the pre- 

 venting the evil effects of " Fossa's " recommendations, 

 to use stones on the top of the pipes. I am not vain 

 ces xffh\r.u k« r:\ i F .- i ,~~ *: — ~ *" Al4 enough to suppose that my few hasty lines have had the 



«* *hich beget the defective husbandry of the effect of converting such a veteran practitioner as 



Aware of your 



est, through the 



me to notice a scheme of 



oh, 4 / steadily ingrafting itself upon the 



character, and supplanting those ~ " " * 



statements on "thick and thin seed sowing," put forward 

 from time to time in the Agricultural Gazette, and have 

 been, for a long time, a disciple of the thin seeding school, 

 and always, till this season, permanently successful in 

 this species of domestic economy. As I am doomed, I 

 fear, with many others, to pay dear for the whistle of 

 skylarks, who are destroying the young corn in the germ, 

 as we Irish say, " out of a face ;" and so full of effrontery 

 are they, they will not yield an inch to the bird watcher's 

 rattle or creak, pebbles from his sling, blank cartridge, 

 nor even well-loaded and primed musketry shots, till 

 actually slain, which, in my case, would require a maa 

 on every rood of land, of which I have now sown over 

 300 acres, and expect to have 500 more sown still 

 before the 1st of May. I have sown spring Wheats 

 with from 42 lbs. to 70 lbs. per acre ; Oats, with from 

 70 lbs. to 84 lbs. per acre, and Barley 1 hope to sow in 

 the same proportion as Oats, and would be certain of 

 success, as far as an abundance of plants would 

 success, but for the ravages of the larks. I have had a 

 double object in view in this species of thin seeding ; 

 first, a saving of seed, being mostly all imported, and of 

 the best kinds, and in the greatest variety ; secondly, a 

 gain, by an improvement in the quality of grain, com- 

 pared to our Irish grain generally; and, finally, as 

 an inducement to the working farmers in my locality to 

 change their system of thick seeding, and a change in 

 their seed ; but if a failure will take place, such as I 

 apprehend from the depredations of the larks, and that 

 I can devise no means of arresting these depredations, 

 henceforward I must, as in duty bound, advise a dis- 

 continuance of spring corn sowing, lay some hundreds 

 of acres down under Grass for sheep and cattle feeding, 

 and throw on the poor-rates for support some thousands 

 of able-bodied and willing labourers now employed 

 cultivating these crops, all by spade husbandry, w To> 



