316 



THE AGRICULTURAL GAZETTE. 



12 or 14 years since, I shallow drained with tiles and 

 soles a Grass roadway of stiff London clay. I took up 

 the tiles last week, finding the water standing on the 

 surface continuously; the tiles were empty—indeed 

 the water had flowed to them freely on piercing the clay 

 with a wire ; but though the drains were only 4 yards 

 apart, the land was puddled. I believe that the ne- 

 cessity for the continuity of drains depends as much 

 upon the rapidity of the inclination, as it does on the 

 depth or on the nature of the soil. I. E.G. 



Rotation of Crops for a Cottage Plot of Land.— Divide 

 the plot into three parts ; let the first be trenched in 

 the autumn, 18 inches deep, placing a good coat of 

 manure 9 inches below the surface, and plant it with 

 early Cabbages, which should be sufficiently forward to 

 be cut in time for a crop of late Potatoes to be put in, 

 in the spring ; which may be succeeded by Wheat or 

 other grain the second year. In the third year a crop 

 of early Potatoes, followed by a crop of Turnips, may 

 be taken, and the rotation commence again by trenching 

 and manuring. If the production of roots is preferred 

 to that of grain, Mangold Wurzel or Carrots may be 

 substituted ; or Broccoli might be planted instead of the 

 Turnips in the third year, if the crop could be removed 



in time. T. W., Boxley. 



Hedgerow Trees. — One of your correspondents, in the 

 last Number, proposes that the landlord shall pay his 

 tenants a shilling per annum for all the trees on the 

 farm more than 10 years old ! Why, there are many 

 finely cultivated farms in Warwickshire and Worcester- 

 shire, where the sura to be paid by the landlord would 

 exceed the rent, under such a proviso. An Enquirer. 



Fa%m Manure and Lime. — There are but few practices 

 in farming which have been more condemned than the 

 applying manure and lime at the same time, and yet 

 none has so often resulted in a good crop of Turnips, as 

 far M my limited observation has extended. Upon a 

 strong clay soil in the neighbourhood of Leeds, last year, 

 I saw a most splendid crop of Swede Turnips ; and as 

 good crops were rare, I asked how they had been 

 managed, and was told that after being manured from 

 the farm-yard, they had been limed, and sown with 2 cwt. 

 of guano, sown broadcast on the same day, the guano 

 being sown before closing the ridges. In a field of our 

 own, containing a good deal of iron and clay, my father 

 owed Swede Turnip, after manuring with night-soil and 

 lime, both put on in the same day ; it was one of the 

 best crops we ever grew, and though very large, they 

 were all planted for seed, and to prove that the plan 

 had not exhausted the manure, the crop of seed was the 

 heaviest I ever remember to have seen. Not to mention 

 other examples, the only good crop in our neighbourhood 

 last year was on strong land, managed on the same plan. 

 Now, every one knows that to mix fresh lime in a 

 manure heap, or with a heap of guano, would be to injure 

 it, but if, as Professor Way has proved, clay and iron 

 have such an affinity for ammonia, where is the danger 

 of placing fresh lime and manure in contact with them, 

 as they would be in strong soils ; may it not be a good 

 plan to render manure more immediately available for 

 the crop ? Does not strong land require the manure to 

 be so prepared, and is this not the reason * We have 

 found bone of little or no use here, and yet dissolved 

 bones have had the best effect on the same land. I think 



this. But before I sent my observations to the press, 

 I put the principles I advocate to the test on my own 

 land. Fourteen years since, when I took possession of 

 the land I occupy, I found it in stitches with open 

 furrows at every 2 yards of intervals. The land was 

 then full of water, and water stood all over it ; as often 

 as it rained, also, nearly the whole of the rain-water run 

 off the land down the open furrows, washing away with 

 it the essence of the manure held in solution, and with 

 that the sand out of the soil ; thus, at every shower the 

 land was deteriorated and the manure wasted. But 

 I set to and drained my land in my own way ; but, and 

 as I have often advocated, I made my drains, on an 

 average, full 5 feet deep ; and since then my land is 

 become one large filterer ; all the water passing through 

 it into the drains below, how much so ever may fall in 

 a given time on it ; and it empties itself from the 

 drains as clear as crystal. I add, also, that the subsoil 

 of my land is a stiff clay ; and yet this land is in good 

 working condition always, and may be ridden over or 

 walked upon with pleasure at any time, and at all times. 

 Surely, then, it would be a mark of insanity in me to 

 leave open furrows on my land to carry off all the 

 fertilising rain-water, and with it the sand out of the 

 soil, and the essence of the manure put on it also ! But 

 I have some other land, lately come into my possession, 

 and not drained, and that is now as wet as land can well 

 be ; and, consequently, on that, until I can drain it, as 

 the less of two sore evils, I would leave open furrows ; 

 but I will get rid of this nuisance, and the necessity for 

 it, and put deep and proper drains into that land on the 

 very first opportunity I may have. I am aware, Mr. 

 Editor, that some persons have said that I ought to 

 employ myself better than in the amusing the world 

 with my agricultural doings ; but I have the consola- 

 tion of knowing that many farmers are following the 

 pie I have set them ; and that, in my parish, three 

 farmers in 49 seeded their lands, on an average, with 

 just one Winchester bushel of Wheat an acre, and that 

 the produce on one of the farms was nearly 6 quarters 

 an acre, that of another 5 quarters an acre ; and I have 

 no doubt but the produce of that on the third will be 

 quite as much as that of the others : but it is not yet 

 threshed. I add, also, that those three farmers have 

 reduced their seed corn still lower this year, and that 

 I have seen a fine field of Wheat on one of their farms, 

 which was drilled last autumn with a little over 2\ pecks 

 an acre ; and I add, also, that all the farmers in this 

 neighbourhood, since I have been resident in it, have 

 considerably reduced their quantities of seed-corn ; and 

 I feel satisfied with considerable profit to themselves, 

 and at a benefit to their country. And I add further, 

 that throughout the whole of my experience, the more 

 intelligent I have found farmers to have been, the deeper 

 and better they have drained their lands ; the deeper 

 and better they have ploughed it, and the less seed-corn 

 have they used. Let me, also, ask the advocates of open 

 furrows, if market gardeners, who pay 51., 61., 81., or 

 101. an acre for land, use them I and if they are not all 

 of them thin-seeders ? For example, ask the intelligent 

 Mr. Cuthill this question. G. WUUns, April 22, 



Rotation of Crops for Allotments. — One of your 



correspondents a few weeks ago asked for information 

 on this head 



T i , .. ., - m ~ - „ — - - *m tma Jici»u , and as no answer has appeared in vour 



isTol^ few BuggestionB. I assume that the 



nrlvl^ of these allotments are similar to the 



previously limed. I believe the kind of land was not 



stated ; if strong, was it not from the raw, unprepared, 



state of the manure, and was not lime required to convey 



away the acid, and leave the phosphate in a state proper 



for the crop ? Whilst on the subject of lime, can any 



of your readers say what per cent, a soil must contain 



when it ceases to be advisable to apply it, and what is 



the minimum quantity a good soil ought to 



yerld on analysis. Is it necessary to apply quicklime 



to soil containing a good proportion of lime in the state 



of carbonate 1 and if the subsoil be rich in carbonate of 



lime, will deep ploughing be sufficient for th*> want * nfi ir i*..*.- « * 



the field ? lAhei questions are in Ipute here the I fnl """ft °i T ^ /? *F" ™ d five ^ TS ' 



discussion of these subjects, will give mXjlelSe to P ™* ^ ** ° f the three VearS r ° tati ° n 



some of your constant readers. J. R. P., Chilwell. [Read 



the chapter on Lime in Prof. Johnston's Lectures on 

 Chemistry.] 



Open Furrows .- 



generality of others ; that they differ from the farmer's 

 occupation by a higher rent, and the tenant's having 

 a greater command of labour and manure. It is clear 

 then that there must be proportionate increase of 

 produce, and, to effect this, the land, during the growing 

 season, must never be without a crop upon it. Also, 

 when the farmer sows, the cottager, to save time, must 

 often transplant such crops as Mangold Wurzel and 

 Swede Turnip. Besides this, he must aim at growing 

 what he wants to consume himself, instead of buying and 

 selling. I will endeavour to illustrate my meaning by a 



-Improved agriculture cannot admit 

 of open furrows j their existence, at any time, can only 

 be defended as the less of two great evils. Wherever 

 land has been properly drained, or wherever it does not 

 require draining, m all such cases open furrows are an 

 abomination which no logic can defend ; but wherever 

 land has been improperly or unscientifically drained • 

 or wherever, from some cause or other, land does not 

 admit of being drained, though it greatly requires it 

 there, m such places, open furrows, as the less of two 

 evrfs, may, or must, be tolerated, but in no other case. 

 Some few years since I troubled the Agricultural Gazette 

 witn some observations on draining, and the chief object 

 I had in view was to induce farmers to get rid of the 

 necessity of open farrows. I am aware, that whatever 

 I may write on this, or any other subject connected with 

 the cultivation of land, has but little weight with manv 

 readers, because I cannot boast, as some writers have done^ 

 of being a farmer of 800 or 1 000 acres of land. But I wish 

 my friends to know that my parish consists of nearly 3000 

 acres of arable land, under the plough ; and that nearlv 

 every field in it , s as much under my observation 

 as if the whole were m my own cultivation ; I thin! 

 therefore, that I could not be in a better condition for 



the forming of a correct judgment upon any matter of ^T T to . be S™wn. Sigma. 

 land cultivation were the whole of my parish in mv own (}r \. Iurni P* *»d Mnngold Wurzel.— For Turnips, 

 occupation, and perhaps not in so good a condition for T Ti g t0 genera ! ,°P inion and experience, sandy soils 



™ ior ( and loams are considered most applicable ; such as the 



spring oi xne nrst year oi the three years 7 rotation 

 Potatoes were grown. In the autumn after the crop is 

 raised, abundance of dung is forked in, and, in October, 

 winter Beans are dibbled in rows three feet apart. At 

 the same time Cabbage Cole worts sown July 1, or early 

 Cabbages sown August 1, are planted in rows, between 

 the Beans. The open space is well hoed when the state 

 of the ground will allow. The Coleworts will be off by 

 the beginning of April, and Mangold Wurzel takes its 

 place, sown m the last week of that month ; or, if the 

 intervening crop be Cabbages, they will be off by the 

 end of May, and Mangold Wurzel transplanted when 

 the thickness of a man's thumb. At the end of 

 November the Mangold Wurzel will be removed, and 

 the land well manured and forked 15 inches deep, before 

 the end of December In the beginning of the 

 following April, Belgian Carrots are sown in rows 15 or 

 18 inches apart, which will occupy the ground to the 

 end of the third year. The five years' rotation is as 

 follows: -Potatoes- winter Beans, Cabbage, and 

 Mangold Wurzel-Wheat-winter Beans, Cabbage, and 

 Swedes-Carrots, Longpod Beans planted in January, 

 may be used instead of winter Beans in October. Also 

 between the winter Beans, early Cabbage and the 

 Drumhead may be set alternately, the former off in 

 spring, and the latter to remain until autumn, instead of 

 a crop of Mangold Wurzel. The capabilities of the 

 land, and the wants of the cultivator, will determine what 



land 



coast of Norfolk, where th^T^are^cuh 7 

 four-course shift, which, in * fact, Kr*u^.^«^* 

 that county brought over originally fi?m F ft * 

 It is, as well as other regular system* f FUn <*er*. 

 open to objection, and it is now much vl2\ CT ° V ^ 

 to convenience. Since the great i^^J 

 from artificial manures, the method generahv d ? ,n * 

 is, to drill the Turnips with bone-dus^anf I ? h ^ 

 Lincolnshire), or else dissolved, ZL^^^ 

 phate, which last plan is the best, and brines t^™ 

 plant up rapidly into broad leaf, takin* carj JT** 

 plenty of ashes, say five loads per acre, with th* iL** 

 and, lastly, to first well dress the land with fa^J 

 manure, which sends along the Turnip after it f^ 

 imbibed the goodness of the bones, and remain. ^ 



Sri 1 ?! th u laDd ' t0 the beDefU 0f the su cceedin. S 

 With the best management, Turnips are perhaDa 



than any other crop dependant upon season, whicW 

 a dry one, may, from the ravages of the fly take th 

 off, and frustrate the labour and expence of the farm* 1 

 If early sown, we think it should be very early • *!'' 

 not in the month of April If [Too early a maturity % 

 the south of England will generally be attended with 

 mildew.] For Swedes at all events (if the 

 can be prepared in time) ; they would thus get per 

 haps, the benefit of showers for forcing them on 

 if April is true to its character ; whereas May the 

 general time chosen, is often a dry month, sometimes 

 frosty in the mornings. June, again, is often, of late 

 years particularly, a showery month ; in two succeeding 

 years (from a diary kept) 1847 and 1848, nearly half 

 the month was of that character ; in the first year the 

 showers began about the 10th of the month, continuing 

 about 10 days, sometimes nearly every half hour • inti 

 next named year the rain came in later, about the loth 

 or 20th, and kept on through the month. I would 

 therefore, almost rather sow in June, if May is in- 

 clined to be dry, especially in high situations, but if 

 possible, by way of experiment, in April. A good course 

 of cultivation is after Rye : for example, instead of the 

 old system of ploughing up your. Wheat stubble, and 

 leaving it fallow till Turnip time (nearly a year). Sow 

 Rye (manured) as soon as possible, after the stubble 

 has been well got rid of, feed it off in April, about the 

 first fortnight, if possible ; bring the ploughs in whilst 

 the sheep are on the Rye, and drill the Turnips with 

 artificial manure, having some Vetches for the flock to 

 go on, after the Rye is fed. Another system of double 

 fold may be after Mangold Wurzel folded off on the land. 

 A third may be (for late Turnips) after Vetches fed off, 

 and the whole brought to Wheat. A word with respect 

 to Rye and Tares ; these are particularly useful when 

 Turnips are over, before the natural pastures are ready ; 

 and what no farm should be without yearly. I was 

 surprised during a residence in the Lincolnshire Wolds 

 (a county celebrated for high farming), to observe the 

 almost total want of these crops ; so that after the 

 Turnips were out, there was often positively little or 

 nothing for the sheep to go on — perhaps a few seeds or 

 Clover, but on those hills not very forward. Again, the 

 Wheat stubbles, as I before remarked, were there, as 

 in some other districts, left till Turnips, with no 

 intervening crop. It is by attention to these matters 

 that high farming is produced ; nor can we think a 

 district worthy of the name of*a high farmed one which 

 neglects these attentions to sufficiency of artificial sheep 

 feeding year by year. There seems a difference of 

 opinion as to which contains the most " proof "-Swedes 

 or Mangold Wurzel. The fact seems to be, that Swedes 

 and common Turnips are best for fatting beasts during the 

 three winter months, and yellow globe Mangold W urzei 

 to finish them with in spring as a change, cutupwitn 

 steamed chaff, sprinkled with Bean meal or other pre- 

 parations. Mangold Wurzel, different from Tunnps, 

 likes a rather strong deep land, and likewise differs as 

 to its cultivation, that is, according to the present sys- 

 tem pursued by our best modern agriculturists. 

 believe Mr. Huxtable was the first who tttrodijj 

 dibbling the seed in with a pint of manure upon it : w 

 was then tried by Mr. Graburn, agent to thel«n 

 Windsor, at Butleigh, and to the Earl of ? f escu * 

 Devonshire, and has been already descnbe J n° ' n '> 

 Journal by Mr. Mechi, in his « Trip to North iwo • 

 We think, .however, if he had likewise paid a wip 

 Tringweston (near Somerton) to Mr. Dickenson s i > 

 managed by his agent, Mr. Gray, he might baie 

 nearly equal materials for an interesting re f^ { to 

 as regards the culture of Mangold and of tanu s 

 general. Mr. Gray partly took his system non* ^ 

 Graburn ; and when with the former I Bent rep 

 to its working which are alluded to I find m » f £ ^ 



prize Report' of the Farming of Someraetshire, m^^ 



the estinia 



the latter 



in 



Society's Journal. The following was — f driUinfr 



expense of the planting as pursued, and also ° ^ 



if it had been pursued, by way of contrast, sno b 

 advantage of the former by 15s. over 

 cheapness : 



6 men with long dibbles, at 1*. Sd. per day 

 6 women with manure-baskets, at 6d. ... 

 6 children with seed, at4d. 

 Horse with manure- cart, at 35. 



£0 1S 



Poing 91 acres per day, at about 8s. per acre. 

 For drilling would be : t ™ 3 



2 men and boy with drill, at Is. Sd. and 1#. - j 



1 vv 1 th harrows *"' '" <> 



4 with manure carts ... ••• •♦• "] l 1 

 7 horses, at 3s 



£1 IS 



Performing about 6 acrei per dfty-di fferenca ' 



u 



8 

 8 

 8 

 







