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THE AGRICULTURAL GAZETTE 



21 



Ate.«d d«< land ht*avt-r since 1 n thoroughly dry, 

 ■*£* i \*mt theneeessitv of r tammgany iurrows. 

 fSt l^r '*2 iZTduVi : the wettest part of ! 

 1 —^ - V re was no water at all to be seen on the 



the ground underfoot had become perfectly 

 EiH! prevUm to die draining, after similar 

 _** rains, I have often seen, on the inclined surfaces 

 52 Sdt rallies n ited out 2 and 3 feet deep, and 

 t^L» of ie fields were so rotten that a person could 

 ISTalk on them without sinking over his shoes at 

 — '_, -iM The subsoil of tins farm is also the gault 



*l'iM oolv mention one more instance, taken from the 

 wjof a friend and neighbour of mine. The land he 

 wdnttoed rests upen the Londan clay. Previously it 

 « verv poor v t pasture ground, producing little 

 Rushes and Moss. He could not obtain a tenant 



He therefore determined to 



His drains are placed 

 The remedy has proved 



for it at A. 6tf. per acre. 



it and occupy it himsi 



deep, and 3</fcet <apai 



fectnal, the land being as good now as the rest ot ins 



fcim, and he could readily let it for 30*. per acre. 



Here a<*ain, we liave an illustration of the non-neces- 



rv for open furrows derived from an experiment over 



or 60 acres, the whole of which now lies per- 



fectly flat 

 It is obviously impossible to lay down any uniform 



set of rules as to the proper distances at which drain 



ihould be place* 1 soas to make them thoroughly efficient ; 



these must be regulated in each case by the texture and 



lei] of the soil ; but I do most unhesitatingly 



in tain, if the land be truly under- drained, that is, 



deeply enettgh and thickly enough, that open furrows to 



earrv off surface water are more than useless. To the 



scientific fanner it would he mere waste time to descant 



upon die advantages accruing from water percolating 



through the soil instead of running over it ; and more 



particularly since so much light has been thrown upon the 



rationale of th benefits arising from the percolation of 



water, by the invaluable discoveries .resulting from the 



invee Rations of Professor Way and Mr. Thorn pssti on 



the mamiring-absorptive power of clay in our agricul- 



iral soils. 



I ought, perhaps, to add that I invariably trench or 



mbsoil immediately after draining. 7". M. Pcmk . 



March \ I. 



P.S. On n ling Mr. Meehi's paper on u Open Fur- 

 rows," in the Gazette of to-day, I immediately determined 

 this afternoon to walk to my farm and see the effects of a 

 continuous heavy 12 hours' rain upon the land alluded 

 to in my former letter. I considered this a capital 

 opportunity for testing the accuracy of my statement 

 relative to the absence of all surf/ wt r, upon my 

 thtckh nd deeply drained I id ; for before the storm of 

 to-day, during the past week, the rains have been so 

 heflyy as to iturate the Boil with water, and our low 

 grounds have been constantly flooded ; so I thought if 

 ever water was to be seen on the surface, I should find 

 it there to-day. It was pouring with rain when I started 

 from home, but there was a temporary clearing up of 

 th< weather about five minutes before I reached this 



part of my farm, in company with my bailiff. We 

 walked over ©my part of the stiffen gault clay field that 

 I possess, containing about 12 acres ; and I can* most 

 confidently assert that there was no water whatever on 

 the surface, and there was no symptom of the slightest 

 rill having run upon the surface, during the heaviest 

 period of the rain. In fact, every drop of water per- 

 cohted through tl into the deep drains below, from 



whence copious streams were issuing like little ri vers. 

 Moreover, it so fa >pencd that in this field there were 

 20 or 30 holes dug about it in different parts, e h 2 feet 

 deep, and tJ / were all free from ter, with the ex- 

 ception of 2 or o, on a quarter of an acre, in one corner 

 of the field, where the drains were placed 18 feet apart, 

 instead of Y2 feet, as in all other parts of the field — here 

 there were about 2 inches of water at the bottom of the 

 holes. This field is in Hops ; the ground has not yet 

 been dug, but the Hop hills are cut ; thus leaving, at 

 every 6 feet, little circular basins, 6 inches deep, most 

 excellent receptacles, therefore, for the retention of 

 surface water, if there had been any. Afterwards, 

 adeed, on returning home, on lands not drained, I found 

 these little basins filled to the brim with water. I am 

 tempted to send you this statement of a simple fact, 

 *Hh a request that it may be added as a postscript to 

 ^y letter sent to vou some ten days a£0. /. M. Paine* 

 March 2-2. * 



Home Correspondence. 



On Oats. — As the time for sowing this grain has now 

 recurred, it may not be unsuitable to pen a few plain 

 remarks on the management of the crop, leaving it open 

 for any corrections or additions that may suggest them- 

 selves to your editorial judgment. Oats, then, is a crop 

 which with proper management may be grown on most 

 lauds, and after almost any tiling ; although it may be 

 considered an exhausting crop, as drawing much nourish- 

 ment from the soil ; and some formers prefer buying 

 their Oats, to raising them on their own land. And 

 those who raise them, may often with advantage 



specially 



con- 



sump 

 Ursef 



^d in lambing time, a few Oats and Cabbages support 

 the ewes uncommonly well. Where land is too poor or 

 stony for Barley, Oats may be, and often are, substituted, 

 after fed off 1 urnipe for instance, in which case Saintfoiu 

 (likewise a crop flourishing well on stony soils) may be 



sown down with them. After Beans may be another 

 mode of culture, taking care to have the land well 

 cleaned ; but Oats often succeed best on a Clover or 

 Saintfoiu ley stale fallowed, and the*seed harrowed broad- 

 cast in ; under which method 1 have seen extraordinary 

 crops grown, and tire Oats came up thick a second time, 

 so as to stand (with a mild season) mixed with Vetches, 

 winter sown, for feed in May and June. In sowing 

 this crop, more seed seems, by universal consent, to be 

 used than any other grain ; from 4 to 6 bushels. Four 

 seems enough, and of course less in dibbling them, as 

 is occasionally practised in Norfolk and Suffolk. Scotland 

 claims the chief celebrity for its Oat raising, which are 

 generally broadcast sown, the Scotch Potato-Oat being 

 their best variety, which I have seen answer very well, 

 grown on some thin stone brash land, in this county 

 (on Mr. Dickenson's estate), the land having been 

 brought into high cultivation by sheep folding and arti- 

 ficial manures ; so that in these days of high-farming 

 we may be safely placed on a par with our Northern 

 neighbours, as to Oat growing ; and from 10 to 12 qrs. 

 per acre may be reckoned an average growth on a good 

 soil, with good management. In some neighbourhoods 

 it is the fashion to give horses Oats in the straw, but 

 this is a wasteful practice, and it is always better to give 

 it them bruised, with their chaff— the latter steamed, if 

 the premises of the farmer allow of convenience- for it. 

 The following is the rate of feeding per horse, I find on 

 referring to a former report on Mr. Dickenson's farm — 

 "Each horse is allowed, per week, H bushel of Oats, 

 i bushel of split Beans (taken off through the summer, 

 and Vetches or other green food allowed), i cwt. of bran, 

 moistened and mixed with as much steamed straw-chaff 

 as they will eat ; this treatment they thrive under. The 

 chaff is cut by an engine of Corae's, worked by a pony, 

 which cuts 1 bushel per minute, for horses, with the 

 smaller wh 1, and 2 bushels per minute for sheep and 

 beasts, with the largest. Oats, ground into coarse meal, 

 form much of the food of the Scotch poor. The meal 

 is stirred in boiling water, to a thick consistency, 

 which is then called porridge/ and is eaten with milk or 

 treacle. But it is in cakes that it is chiefly used ; being 

 made into dough, with water, and baked on an iron 

 plate. In France and Germany they usually bake their 

 Oats, as well as Rye, into loaves for horses' food, which 

 they seem much to relish, and must be, one would 

 imagine, a saving practice. Oats are often apt, when 

 ripe, to shed, by which many are lost ; which speaks 

 strongly in favour of their being cut green, by which 

 ideed they make the better sample. They are also 

 often, as well as Barley, raked up loose at harvest, like 

 hay, but why should not they have the same attention 

 paia them as Wheat ! and be tied up in neat sheaves. 

 An old practice in the management, if it can be so called, 

 of this crop was to alternately raise Oats and Grass — 

 it example, in Wales, that is in North Wales, amor t 

 the mountains, they *wiil grow Oats, and then leave the 

 land down three or four years for Grass, to take its 

 chance. Occasionally where the altitude of the land 

 allows, that is where it is not too highly situate, Sowing 

 as a variation, Wheat and Potatoes. //. E., Clevedo 



So/>< hire. 



Education. — Your correspondent * f O. F." of last week 



says he is glad to find that landlords and agents are 

 beginning to cultivate improvement, but that as yet there 

 has not been time to cultivate those qualifications in 

 tenants necessary to such improvement. I think it 

 would be to the advantage of landholders to pay a little 

 more attention to our endowed schools. How many are 

 there which are almost useless ? I know a richly- 

 endowed school that is not provided with a single map, 

 where the master's stipend is not equal to the wages of 

 a journeyman tailor, and where the trustees, all of them 

 landlords, will not allow r the Government inspector to 

 visit the school, neither will they take an active part in 

 it themselves ; and yet in that neighbourhood there is 

 not a single school fit for a farmer to send his son to. If 

 he wishes him to receive a decent education he must 

 send him to a boarding-school at an expense of 151. per 

 year more than it ought to cost him, so that if he has 

 two sons to send to school he must spend 307. per 

 year more for their instruction at a distance than it 

 ought to be supplied to him for at home. Thus the 

 boy not only loses the benefit of that physical training 

 which he would receive at home to fit him for his future 

 occupation, but the knowledge that is imparted to him 

 is often of the most superficial kind : e.g., the other 

 day I met with a lad 14 years of age who had been 

 under the care of a clergyman in Yorkshire upwards of 

 two years, at an expense, all things included, of 40?. per 

 year, yet he did not know a noun from a verb ; he had 

 never read any history, and as to geography he hardly 

 knew what it meant ; but he had taken his cyphering- 

 book every half year to show his progre , in which 

 there were a number of crotchety sums that he knew 

 little about, and his father knew less, and so they were 

 gulled. This may be an extreme case, but there are 

 plenty of others that are little better. S. J. 



Taxation. — The " Farmer's Magazine " for this month 



Few 



contains a report of a discussion at the London Fanners' 

 Club on the subject of " How far taxation enters in! 

 the cost of agricultural produce." Notwithstanding 

 the talent displayed, it is not to be wondered at that 

 the conclusion to which the club came was not very 

 definite ; but it does seem strange that tenant farmers 

 do not see that the taxation on the land, though occa- 

 sionally perhaps causing them some inconvenience, 

 in the case of the malt tax, does not, in fact, fall upon 

 them at all. Rent is diminished by the extent of the 

 burdens, whatever they may be. If the burdens wer e 



lighter, the rent woulti be so much the more, 

 landlords calculate how low they can afford to let land ; 

 but, on the contrary, how high a rent a good tenant can 

 afford to pay — just as tenants do not take produce to 

 market to sell at the lo\ at price they can afford to 

 take, but at the highest price at which a purchaser can 

 be found. The parties really affected by taxation on 

 land are the landowner and the labourer ; the former, 

 because it keeps down his rents ; the latter, because it 

 discourages the culture of inferior soils, and so curtails 

 the demand for his labour. If land is cultivated at all, 

 the tenant, in these days of low profits in every depart- 

 ment of trade, must be content to pay over as rent 

 everything beyond a very moderate interest on his 

 capital, and, if a working farmer, he must be satisfied 

 with a very moderate remuneration to himself for 

 superintendence. Protection or free trade will make 

 no difference to him in this respect. It is also very 

 strange to see so many persons introducing into the 

 discussion a comparison between the present price of 

 the public Funds turned into bushels of Wheat, and the 

 price of the Funds in bushels of Wheat at a former 

 distant period. The comparison may be a statistical 

 curiosity, but it has no bearing on the question at issue. 

 Mr. Mechi appeal* to be the only speaker who per- 

 ceived this. In truth, beyond the daily influence which 

 the Varying value of money in the discount market 

 exerts upon the price of the public Funds, their value 

 mainly depends upon a sort of public opinion as to the 

 solvency and stability of the finances of the country. la 

 the midst of a war, in daily expectation of a foreign in- 

 vasion, and with an expenditure far exceeding revenue, 

 what was to be expected but a low price of the Funds 

 as compared with every commodity I Now, all these things 

 are changed, and the price of the Funds is changed as a 

 natural consequence. The only way in which the price 

 of corn influences the price of the Funds is, when a 

 large importation, unbalanced by an equal exportation 

 of other commodities in return, creates an unusual de- 

 mand for bullion for export to restore the balance of 

 trade. Then the Funds, like all other stocks and com- 

 modifies, tend downwards. But taxation on the land, 

 except so far as favours such a state of things by making 

 the acreage of corn less, has no effect here ; and if the 

 acreage of corn were habitually greater, so would also 

 be the number of habitual consumers of the corn of that 

 increased acreage. It is, therefore, scarcely doubtful 

 that the taxation on land has no Influence at all in this 

 matter. Uinpi tionably farmers are in a very difficult 

 position at this moment. But the difficulty arises not 

 from taxation, but from the impossibility of forming a 

 sound opinion of the range of prices under free trade 

 on which to base their calculations. Let not fanners 

 deceive themselves. The landlord may have his rent 

 increased, or the labourer his wages ; but no system of 

 taxation will long give the farmer more than the ordi- 

 nary profit of trade, nor can any system long deprive 

 him of it, -Atecmu r Hall Hall, Watergate, March 20. 



Clover and Barky Seed-time.— rln a leading article of 

 the agricultural part of the G denert' Chronicle oi last 

 Saturday vonr readers are reminded of an experiment 

 which Profe? v Heuslow wishes to make for the 

 determination of the cause of Clover failures. Some 

 years ago, having had my attention directed to this 

 subject, I thought, that as Clover was usually sown 

 amongst a corn crop, grew as an under-growth for 

 some months, in circumstances most unfavourable to 

 the healthy development of the plant, and was left at 

 harvest entirely exposed, it might, from the manner of 

 its growth, be rendered incapable of enduring the cold 

 of winter, or the trying vicissitudes of spring, and thus 

 its frequent failure be accounted for. It appeared, how- 

 ever, from an experiment which I had speedily an 

 opportunity of making, that this idea is not tenable. A 

 friend of mine in this neighbourhood had a field of 20 

 acres, from which the red Clover had entirely dis- 

 appeared in the winter. As it was necessary to plough 

 the field for a crop of some kind or other, I urged him 

 just to re-sow in the Bpring with Clover and Grass seeds 

 for sheep pasture, in expectation that red Clover could 

 not fail to grow and thrive when sown at such a season, 

 and without a corn crop either to render the Clover 

 plant weak, or to destroy it. The field was in excellent 

 condition, and after being spring ploughed, was sown, as 



ingested, in tbe mouth ri April. All the iaeds braintol 



well, the red Clover was abundantly planted, and looked 

 most promising towards the latter half of May, but by 

 the end of June, or beginning of July, befo sheep were 

 turned into the field, there was not one plant of it to be 

 found ; it had entirely gone off, ex ept on a small spot of 

 reclaimed bog, which had been in tillage but a short 

 time. It was not killed by frost, nor by drought, nor by 

 any atmospheric cause, so far as any one here could 

 judge, nor was it choked or destroyed by other Grasses. I 

 beg to suggest to such of your readers as may be designing 

 to make the wished for experiment, that should their 

 Clovers braird and live for a little, and then die, like 

 that about which I am writing, that it may be desirable 

 to subject the dying or dead plants to the microscope ; 

 there may be something in the soil, some parasite which 

 mav prove fatal. You speak of making the experiment 

 on * the Barley land. In this country, Barley gene- 

 rally comes after Turnips ;] and in a rotation of four or 

 five years this would leave a long period between the 

 last failure and the present sowing. Why not try it on 

 ground sown with Clover last spring, which has eitner 

 not grown or died ! If any should make the ^JPf 1 ™** 

 in this way, the Clover, if it braird, will have to be con- 



rli* m *i_* -r :* iw^™o diseased or die, tf 





may 



properly examined* Tweedside, 



