1851. J 



THE AGRICULTURAL GAZETTE. 



251 



^ w "' for theni)"ur Mangold Wurzel, or Carrots ; 

 Jfhar iiilf eidier Barley, or Oatmeal, not dressed too 

 "ZlTmih a handful or two of greaves, during the three 

 ™ mentioned ; this proportion will do trail till you 



TUiem up to fatten ; hut they require a tolerably good 

 Ca of 4ry «•« oace a day (say mid-day) ; tins will, oi 

 ie,^ of the tail corn, Wheat, Barley, and Oats ; 

 tW require this more, as the Hail* are laid up as the 



adwnoes; they require good living, without 

 r them fat. 



I believe tliat tiie xau corn uaunui, we uuuci c^jiwjwu 

 ihaa in feeding poultry, though it is always spoken of 

 3h 6Uth contempt ; in fact it has afforded me much 

 imatdinent to hear the remarks made upon a former 

 communication of mine to your Paper, and copied into 

 the Cbmty Chronidc *>n this subject. I can say it is 

 noti<*k*d upon with indifference here— quite the reverse. 

 It has been found most convenient here every week that 

 thev have been sent to London ; and this, on a holding 

 cf little under 1000 acres, shows that it is considered 

 no inking matter. I do not say any tiling upon the 

 jjfnantr of fowls, as there are many good books on this 

 subject by persons better qualified to speak on this 

 subject than any common farmer can be expected to be. 



£. X. 





Home Correspondence. 



-The attention of 



the 



Allow me to observe that 



Adulteration of Manures. 

 agricultural public has recently been directed very 

 properly to the extensive 

 guano and other manures 



agriculturists have themselves to blame very much for 

 the extent of this mischief, by their incessant craving 

 after cheapness, and their encouragement to anybody, 

 jmd everybody, who, will minister to their depraved 

 appetite, for depraved it undoubtedly is, when indulged 

 in with almost total disregard to the real merits of the 

 articles purchased. It is sufficient for a manure to be 

 offered in the market, under the name of some re- 

 ted manure, at a less price than that at which the 

 genuine article can be purcliased for, from some 

 stable manufacturer, and some farmer will be found 

 •fiilly enough to purchase it, provided always, that it 

 flniei good. For the accuracy of the following cases, 

 Abe writer can vouch, and they are all of recent oc- 

 curence. Case I. — A respectable farmer, a few weeks 

 since, purchased a certain quantity of top dressing for 

 Wheat, from a total stranger, so much so, that he 

 absolutely forgot the name and abode of the party ; 

 having taken no memorandum of the transaction, and 

 was therefore unable to complain of the non-arrival of 

 the manure at the time appointed. He knew nothing of 

 the party previously, and was not recommended to him, 

 but was indueed to purchase solely because the manure 

 appeared cheap, and had a strong smell. Case II. — 

 Sometime since, a quantity of Peruvian guano, stated to 

 fce of the finest quality, was purchased by some gentle- 

 men of a London dealer, at 125. per ton under the 

 price that would have been charged them in the regular 

 course of business. A week since, a sample of the 

 article was ^ sent to the writer for examination, and on 

 submitting it to a few analytical experiments, I readily 

 found that it possessed double the water, and double the 

 ash contained in genuine Peruvian, and that in fact it 

 was damaged Peruvian extensively adulterated with 

 earthen admixtures. Case III. — A quantity of inferior 

 Chilian guano has lately been extensively sold by corn 

 dealers as genuine Peruvian, at 30*. under the market 

 price, the guano being mostly taken in exchange for corn. 

 This system of barter is very injurious to farmers, and 

 they stand in their own light, when they encourage 

 it. Case IV. — A quantity of inferior Wheat was 

 offered to a manure manufacturer for a given 

 quantity of superphosphate of lime, who made a calcu- 

 lation, allowing the full value the Wheat would realise, 

 and offering the utmost quantity of genuine superphos- 

 phate that could be sold for the amount in exchange ; 

 but this would not suit the farmer, who went to a corn 

 merchant not quite so scrupulous in the quality of his 

 manures, who at once accepted the bargain. I have 

 mentioned these facts to show the very loose manner in 

 which the farmers spend their money in the purchase of 

 .manures, and the encouragement they are thereby 

 giving to dislionesty and fraud ; and, I venture to 

 assert, that amongst the various suggested methods of 

 remedying the evil complained of, none will be found 

 more effectual than that of paying some regard to the 

 standing and respectability of the party from whom 

 manures are purchased, and enabling, by giving him a 

 3air price, to retain the genuineness and quality of his 

 Jawuwes. W. C. Spooner. 



Open Furrows on Drained Land.— Mr. Mechi, in the 

 Agricultural Gazette of February 8th and March 22d, 

 ^s given his opinion that draining in stiff clay soils 

 ww not enable open furrows to be dispensed with. This 

 -te a point of much ' 

 discussion wlnV.v. 1 



mportance, and well worthy of the 



famfuuf m ins views. It involves, to a considerable ex- 



!r'r V"*tuHi, whether clay soils can be gradually 



jade friable by draining, followed by a propel- system 



' ^ *><* ti»age ; for if the rain falling upon 



S ™ «? **? made to sink readn y trough them, 

 2jpj» off by the drains below, air will also %e freely 



mSSln * the /° U to the re 1 uired de P th mu *t be 



£ • K^ in r P ? Ved ,' CVen without the aid « f deep til- 

 6 , i out if the drains do not draw down the water 



SS nor S"*?* S? ^ Deithcr i8 6«fficientlv 



effier bv R T v VCU *" , kept S ° to the P r °P er de P ti; > 

 «<* by subsoihng or other means. Any accumulation 



of which was 

 other half the 

 was tolerably 

 carefully con- 





of water re-cements its particles more or less, and may 

 render 6ubsoiling or even the more expensive operations 

 of digging or liberal manuring, of little avail. It is very 

 desirable, therefore, that the whole of the surplus water 

 should sink equally and quickly down to the drains, 

 acting upon all the particles of earth in its descent ; and 

 I think we should not be too ready to conclude that 

 this object cannot be attained, seeing that this would 

 almost be to abandon the hope of managing clay soils to 

 advantage either at present or prospectively. We 

 should rather try the effect of drains at narrow' intervals 

 and of a suitable depth, their bottoms accurately cut, 

 and laid with tiles of considerable size, so as to main* 

 tain a clear circulation of air throughout, taking eare 

 also to fill them above the tiles with porous material, 

 rejecting the whole of the stiff subsoil if necessary. How 

 far Mr, Mechi's draining comes up to these conditions is 

 not for me to say, farther than by commenting on the 

 information furnished by him ; but it is evident that the 

 neglect of any one of them may materially influence the 

 result. His width of only four yards ought to answer, 

 especially in a dry climate such as that of Essex ; but 

 the 10 inches of stones with pipes laid above them may 

 perhaps never prove effectual. Stone drains without a 

 proper opening below are by no means so efficient as 

 some suppose. I know a stiff field, half 

 drained 10 years ago with stones, and the 

 succeeding year with tiles ; the subsoil 

 equal ; the draining in both cases WM 

 ducted, and the drains were all at the same depth and 

 distance. The tile draining is efficient. The stone 

 draining now is not so. The tile drains may act a long 

 time, but not being constructed according to the im- 

 proved methods now known, they will eventually fail. 

 The stone drains will become less effectual every year, 

 and must soon be replaced. As regards the width of 

 36 feet, Mr. Mechi cannot reasonably expect drams so 

 placed to answer his purpose ; that is, if his soil is really 

 a stiff clay. The distance is much too great, except for 

 porous soil. It is a great error to drain imperfectly, 

 merely for the sake of saving a few drains in a field. 

 The success of other costly operations so much depends 

 upon perfect drainage, that when these operations are 

 undertatken, a loss may be sustained every year, equal 

 to the saving in the number of drains. The form of the 

 surface also materially affects the filtration of water. 

 An open furrow glazed over with the plough and 

 trampled by horses, when harrowing, naturally bears up 

 the water, and conveys it along until it forms a consider- 

 able stream, and some farmers to prevent this lay the 

 land flat, or avoid clearing out the furrows after har- 

 rowing, believing that the water then sinks down without 

 causing injury. Mr. Mechi himself says that the quan- 

 tity of water entering the furrows at any one place is 

 small, but being carried forward it soon accumulates, 

 and a stone drain, or even a carelessly laid tile 

 drain, with an opening at any place ready to absorb it, 

 would not be very safe. The permanent improvement 

 of heavy soils is a most important matter, and every 

 day's experience shows that it can be done with certainty, 

 but the means taken to attain this desirable result are 

 very various. In some places deep tillage, thorough 

 pulverization, liberal manuring, and a good system of 

 green and white crops, all founded upon thorough 

 drainage, are the rule ; and the land so managed, not 

 only yields abundantly at the time, but is always nnder 

 improvements ; whilst in other places, shallow ploughing, 

 with all the other features of mismanagement usually 

 attendant thereon, are still common. The crops are 

 consequently poor and precarious, and the soil is de- 

 teriorated ratlier than improved. I have seen several 

 patches of originally stiff' land, which were at one time 

 cultivated as garden ground. The buildings and gardens 

 have long since been removed, but these patches always 

 maintain a great superiority over the surrounding land, 

 producing much better crops, with less labour and 

 manure. There is little doubt that the same manage- 

 ment would have produced a similar result on all the 

 land in the neighbourhood, and the plough, harrows, 

 and grubber, if properly used, would make a good sub- 

 stitute for the spade. It is to be hoped, therefore, that 

 the correspondents of the Agricultural Gazette will 

 continue to discuss this subject until the whole truth 

 has been elicited and made known. James Donald, 

 March 25. 



Premium List of the English Agricultural Society. — 

 On looking over the different premiums to be awarded 

 at the approaching meeting in July, I am very much 

 amused at the selection made between the " Welch, 

 Irish, and other pure breeds ;" because, I do consider 

 that there is as much difference between the Welch 

 cattle and the Irish, as between the Short-horns and 

 Herefords if they were to be classed with any other 

 breed of cattle ; why not class them with the Devons, 

 which are so much alike in every point except colour, 

 and as unlike any * Irish " as a Hottentot and white 

 man. A Bortoeth Farmer, March 27th. j 



Chicory — In an article on the cultivation of Chicory, 

 which appeared in the Agricultural Gazette of March 8th, 

 the following passage occurs: "Time for Sowing. — It 

 must be sown within a day or two of the 12 th of May, 

 not later or earlier ; if later, it will produce runners or 

 woody fibrous roots ; if earlier, it will seed, which it 

 should not do." Such a direction appears to me to be 

 suitable only for an invariable climate. In Britain the 

 seasons differ from each other considerably as regards 

 earliness, and such a precise rule is surely, therefore, of 

 doubtful propriety. On an average of seasons, the 12th 

 of May may be the best time for sowing in a certain 



such be the case, is it not advisable to *ow*afew day* 

 earlier in the north of England, or in Scotland I A. 

 little more information on this point will be interesting 

 to many of your readers who, like myself, know little 

 about the proper culture of the plant Are the roots 

 liable to injury from frost before they are taken jip I 

 If they incur much risk of this kind, will they be of 

 less value in any other respect tlian as regards bulk by 

 being pulled before the middle of October \ I under- 

 stand that the growth of Chicory will be attempted this 

 year in several parts of the country in which there is 

 more reason to be apprehensive of early frosts than in 

 those districts where it has hitherto been chiefly culti- 

 vated. J. D. H. [The information referred to is true oi 

 the south of England. We have no information regard- 

 ing the growth of the crop in Scotland.] 



Sujrittfesu 



ROYAL AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY OP ENGLAND. 



A Weekly Council was held at the Society's house 

 in Hanover-square on Wednesday last, the 16th of 

 April ; present, Mr. Raymond Barker, Vice-President, 

 in the chair; Lord Bemers, Sir Robert Price, Bart, M.P., 

 Sir John V. B. Johnstone, Bart., M.P., Don Domingo 

 Savignon, Mr. Burke, Col. Challoner, Mr. Clarke, Mr. C. 

 Cure, Mr. Dyer, Mr. Gadesden, Mr. Brandreth Gibbs, 

 Col. Hall, M.P., Mr. Fisher Hobbs, Mr. Kinder, Mr.W. 

 Long, Mr. Parkins, Mr. Pocock, Mr. Howlaudson, Prof. 

 Sewell, Mr. Sheridan, M.P., Mr. 11. Thompson, Prof. 

 Way, and Mr. G. Wood. 



The following new members were elected ; 



Burbury, John Jackaoo, Ibstock Grange, Leicestershh'e. 

 Nicholetts, John Toller, South Pttherton, bomersefc. 

 Parrott, Geo. L^wis, Parsonage, Avciey, Romford, Essex. 



The names of six candidates Xor election at the next 



meeting were then read. 



Communications were received from Mr. Lister Maw, 

 on the desirableness of establishing principles on which 

 judgment is given in the award of prizes to breeding 

 -atock at the country meetings of the Society ; and from 

 Col. Hail, M.P., correcting a misapprehension of his 

 meaning at the last Council, in reference to the height of 

 the Turnip plant, when he employed the press-roller, 

 and the exact address of the tirm who supplied him 

 with that implement : * The Turnips were from 2 to 3 

 inches in height, instead of 6 inches, when the press- 

 roller was applied for the destruction of the wire-worm ; 

 and the makers of the implement were .Barrett and 

 Ashton, of Hull, instead of Barrett and Co., of Reading." 



Among the presents made to the Society, were the 

 Bombay Magnetical and Meteorological observations Tor 

 1846-7, from the East India Company ; series of reports 

 on Flax cultivation and management, by the Royal 

 Flax Society at Belfast ; Treatise on the Cultivation and 

 Management of Flax, with instructions in the various 

 Belgian methods of growing and preparing it for marke^ 

 from Mr. E. F. Deman ; Lecture on tne Blights of the 

 British Farm, arising from Parasitic Fungi, from Dr. 

 Plomley,of Maidstone; and a Treatise on Land Drainage, 

 Embankment, and Irrigation, from Mr. Donald, C. E. 



Thanks having been ordered for these communications 

 and presents, an interesting discussion ensued on the 

 mode of treating the fibre of Rye-grass and Flax for the 

 manufacturer ; in the course of which Mr. Rowlandson^ 

 Lord Berners, Colonel Challoner, Mr. Parkins, Sir 

 Robert Price, and Professor Way furnished valuable 

 hints, suggestions, and results of personal experience* 



in 



same day, 

 the chair. 





A Special Council was held on the 



the Earl of Ducie, Vice-President, 

 The following members of the Council and Gover- 

 nor's were present : — Lord Berners, Sir Matthew 

 White Ridley, Bart, Sir Robert Price, Bart, MJ\, 

 Sir John V. B. Johnstone, Bart, M. P., Air. 

 Raymond Barker, Mr. Burke, Colonel Challoner, 

 Mr. Brandreth Gibbs, Mr. Fisher Hobbs, Mr. Kinder, 

 Professor Sewell, Mr. Shelley, Mr. Sheridan, M.P., and 



Professor Way. 



The Marquis of Downshire, Colonel Challoner, Mr. 

 Fisher Hobbs, Mr. Brandreth Gibbs, Mr. Raymond 

 Barker, Mr. Jonas, and Mr. Shaw, accompanied by Mr. 

 Hudson, the Secretary of the Society, having visited 

 Windsor on Monday last, for the purpose of inspecting 

 the sites for the Country Meeting, Colonel Challoner 

 presented the following Report of thai. Inspection Com- 

 mittee, which was read and adopted. 



" The Inspection Committee, in pursuance of the in- 

 structions of the Council, at their last monthly meeting, 

 proceeded on Monday the 1 4th instant, to visit the site 

 in Wiudsor Park, so graciously placed at the disposal 

 of the Society by Her Majesty, for the purposes of its 

 country meeting to be held tikis year in the month «f 

 July. The Committee made a careful survey .of the 

 site proposed for the show-yard and pavilion ; and 

 having received from the gentlemen by whom they were 

 accompanied every reply to their enquiries, they took 

 into their mature deliberation and discussion the several 



the 



points on which they had been called upon by 

 Council to make their report, and finally agreed unani- 

 mously to the following recommendations : — 



"I. That the siteproposed by the authorities of Windsor 

 is in every respect most eligible for the purposes of tke 

 country meeting ; being a firm level mead, on a dry 

 gravelly soil, 19 acres in extent, lying immediately 

 beneath the slopes and terraces of Windsor Castle, and 

 nearly contiguous to the railway stations and the public 

 road leading from the Home-park into the town. 



m II. That on this site a show-yard should be erected, 

 covering an area of 10 acres: capable, however, from 





latitude, that of Cambridgeshire, for instance ; but, if | the usual mode of its construction, of being enlarged or 





