i8;>i/| 



THE AGRICULTURAL GAZETTE. 



363 



jrtars, 



» re the Sainfoin leas remain sewral 

 anil are of great importance to the li lock- 



Tin the practice i sow about o ] -litis 

 of rott£" ^eed per acre, with Barley or Oats, put in 

 after Turnips, and to add 4 or 5 of lbs. Hop Clover to 

 £11 up the deficiency of the first year's growth. The 



spirited farmers, occasionally have a crop of 

 follow 1 by Rape, the tatter being fed off early ; 

 the land is put in with Wheat, and the same quantity of 

 -^infoin iriiled acruss the rows of corn in the spring ; 

 1*1 as the land is iniened to remain in Sainfoin for a 

 term of years, this plan is a very good one, for much 

 additional fertility is given by feeding off two successive 

 men crops with sh- p, and the tillage the land receives 

 gives a great check to the growth of weeds. One cause 

 of Sainfoin leas so soon bt ling am: of Couch and 

 1 Grass, is the practice of fe ing sheep with hay, that 

 has stood too long b >re being cut ; all good managers, 

 her* re, are car* d to us >nly Mich hay (upon land 

 intended for Sainfoin) as is made from Grass cut before 

 be seed is formed. 



Sainfoin is usually fed or cut for hay the first year : 



be time for cutting begins as soon as the beautiful 



blossoms of variegated crimson make their appearance. 



Tne manner of ma tig into hay is not very different from 



iiat of Clover, but care must be taken to move the 

 awathes as little as possible, while the sun \ much 



power, or a great deal of the leaf, the best part, will be 



In die alternate system, lately introduced upon the 

 light land farms of Suffolk and Norfolk, Sainfoin ikes 

 the place of the ordinary Clover or mixed leas, and its 

 becoming more extensively cultivated imv he nttrihnt I ' 



therefore the term "still more terrific " was totallv 

 unjust and inapplicable. The writer, after entering into 

 a further description of the Archimedian and its work- 

 ings, goes on to state, " we should expect it on trial to 

 be immediately clogged full of dirt," although he pre- 

 viously described the cylinders as armed of u different 

 forms, being for varying soils and purposes ;" and 

 further stated, " it may be set by screws in its frame to 

 a greater and less depth." And truly so did he state 

 the fact, because it can be made, if necessary, not to 

 enter the soil more than one inch. And yet how this 

 writer and reviewer could not perceive that, from the 

 different arming of the various cylinders, and the use 

 of the regulating screws, this very egregious objection 

 of his could be obviated and prevented, it is diffi- 

 cult to conceive. But the reviewer has cautiously 

 avoided offering the slightest censure against the principle 

 involved in the invention of tins machine, and by which 

 alone its utility can be truly tested, because he found it 

 probably unassailable, and yet this machine is equally 

 applicable to the performing, in the one operation, the 

 work of four ploughs, at its full size; as well as in its 

 diminished form it is capable of being used by mere 

 manual exertion for horticultural purposes, like an 

 ordinary garden wheelbarrow. The writer and reviewer 

 may no doubt term this an * unwarrantable assertion," 

 ut it will be for the public to judge, and more especially 

 for the scientific portion of it to d ide win titer his own 

 objections are anything more, and whether any impartial 

 and just object can be in view by a writer who endea- 

 vours to disparage an invention marked for its novelty, 



both to its being so highly esteemed as food for sheep 

 and other >i k, s well as to its being a most excellent 

 preparation >r W heat, when ploughed up after the first 

 or second year. About 4 bushels of are sown with 



Barley, grown after Turnips, or, what is better, the 

 seed is drilled with a common coulter corn drill, across 

 the row* of a crop of Wheat or Barley, that has b; ;i 

 put in after a root crop, fed off. The plan we have 

 practised with the most success is by drilling the seed 

 upon young W heat, on land in good condition, and that 

 has been thoroughly cleaned. The seed vegetates with 

 greater certainty when the land is moderately firm, 

 with a finely pulverised surface. Seed of Burnet, Rye- 

 Grass, and of a variety of brown Grass (?), is too 

 Often grown with Sainfoin,and it is very difficult to sepa- 

 rate from the seed while it remains hi the husk. When 



„$Jf}i**? camiot otherwise be obtained, " DreweV or 



Milled "seed may be sown, from 5jO to CO lbs. being 



used per acre. The husk is removed from the seed by 



Objecting it repeatedly to the rubbing action of a pair 



of millstones. The seed will vegetate sooner, but i 



hardly so certain of producing a plant as rough seed. 



sainfoin seed can seldom fc bought for less than 30*., 



»n<l it sometimes exceeds 40*. per quarter— the produce 



oi clean drawn seed from a quarter of good seed is a 



trifle above 1 cwt. From this it will be seen that the 



expense of sowing down an acre varies from 15* to 25s., 



*lncn, upon poor land, is much too great an outlay to 



be compel ued for by the produce of a single year ; 



still, when it remains for a succession of years, upon 



tie poor light soils of this country, I believe there is no 



Plant, whether in its produce of nutritious sheep food 



othayorofseed,orinits amelioration of the land by 



to theW 11 '^ 1611 ^ *****' ° r faof so much advantage 



An important feature in its culture is the almost 

 marvellous effect which sometimes results from the 

 application of 3 or 4 cwt. of gypsum per acre. Instances 

 occur where the increased value of produce from the 

 nrst crop exceeds many times the value of the manure 

 and, at the same time, in other cases, the benefit by the 

 use of gypsum is quite imperceptible. Our advice is 

 always to try whether the gypsum is productive of 

 advantage, before applying it extensively. //. R. 



«c rce, Cork. 



Spade Husbandry. — I am glad to learn tliat Lieut. 

 Goodiff has converted the sabre of war into the spade of 

 the husbandman. I hope he may find more satisfac- 

 tion in nourishing than in destroy ing his fellov 

 creatures, and that instead of the blood-stained Laurel, 

 his brow may be adorned with a richly gemmed cereal 

 wreath as the reward of his mental and manual labours, 

 both in the pages of the Agricultural Gaz& , and the 

 wide farm-garden he is now cultivating. Fearing, 

 however, that his benevolent efforts to encourage and 

 assist the poor desponding occupiers of small farms may 

 not n ive that attention they deserve, and do the 

 good they ought to do, in consequen of their coming 

 from one who has had more experience in drilling 

 oldiers than acres of corn, and more to do with military 

 manoeuvres and inspecting open columns of red-coated 

 men than wide spaces in large yellow-grained corn- 

 fields, I wish to recommend my brother farmers to read 

 Mr. Goodiff's excellent letters again, and, after con- 

 sidering them well, try his plan. After an experience 

 of nearly half a century, during which I farmed both on 

 a small and on a large scale, I have retired and gone 

 about to see how the farmers were doing in distant parts 

 — a privilege which tenant farmers can seldom find time 

 and money to enjoy ; and from my own experience, and 

 the practices I have elsewhere noticed, I am thoroughly 

 convinced of the benefits which Mr. G. so clearly and 

 forcibly exhibits and explains as the con.- [uence of a 

 far more liberal expenditure in manual labour than has 

 yet been practised on little or large farms in the way of 

 deep and wide-rowed cultivation. As an old tenant 

 farmer, I am convinced that, with present prospects, 

 the farmer must have no more land in tillage than he 

 can manage in as perfect a maimer as a well-cultivated 

 market garden. Instead of half working his tillage 

 ground, let half his land be either taken away from the 

 farm or sown down for pasture, and the other half 

 doubly cultivated. I mean that the subsoil and top soil 

 hould both be cultivated, changing places annually. By 

 this means, and by digging or ti telling between \er\ 

 wide rows, I am convinced that as much produce ma; 

 be obtained from half the land as was formerly produced 

 on it all, and that the additional produce will pay for 

 the additional labour. I have found, that where formerly 

 only two light crops were grown in three years by drain- 

 ing, trenching with the spade or plough, drilling and 

 hoeing, the land has produced three or four good crop 

 in the same time in which it used to produce only two 

 bad ones. I have also found it a good practice to grow 

 Turnips, Carrots, or other green crops, in altematt 

 rows with Beans or grain crops, having intervals 

 wide enough to admit the plough between the rows ; 

 but I strongly recommend the substitution of the spade 

 and the fork occasionally in lieu of the plough, particu- 

 larly in winter, when hands are plentiful. Having long 

 since recommended such practice, I .-hould not now 

 have repeated the recommendation, had it not been for 

 a wish that my brother farmers, for whose sufferings I 

 feel, should be benefited by the really useful letters of 

 Mr. G., who will not be displeased, but encouraged 

 by the opinion of An Old Farmer. 



Previously Mr Geonre "Tbnm~n^T"p7*' "I U "?^| U,IJ 8 . 0,i Tar <® «* Vetches.— Vetches are one of our most 

 *eanicl^^ ^een crops, thriving best on heavy soils ; 



«w~ 21. r° P*oceeus to say, it is an immense and when well manured, or fed off with sheep on the 



1 *\ v% v I «V I -k .<— 11; I 1 . 1 r\ . m - — - — 



ig most suited to our climate 







Home Correspondence. 



Mr. Murphy's Archi at ion Agricultural Machine 



Belying upon your sense of justice and candour I 

 expect and solicit that you will give insertion to this 

 communication, in order to reply to an article which 

 appeared in your Journal, as emoted in tho *v™. „ 



"*«v.xa pmpuiteu u> convey an l 



aodei of my " Archimedian Agri 

 delayed at the Great Exhibi 



te, now 

 \- ,- , — — -«*v** v* ivuji, and for 



««?♦ * ob ' aiued , a Provisional registration under 

 Relate Act. If such criticism arose from a candid 

 »d impartial spirit, I should Lave no objection to its 

 P^ucauon ; but when it evidently commits mistakes 

 »at a fourth-form schoolboy would repudiate, I con- 



Iutt,r hY i° lh !° ™- Vsd f and the P ublic to set the 

 matter befnr, tl,™ f..j„ For instance • describing 



tangular 



each of 

 •igine L 



it 11 feet by 8, 

 carriage wheels, 



*»*ow, the 



Archimedian) wine 

 'f the machine 



land, the Wheat or other crop sown after them will be 



n pared 



I it. A 



one of 



is likewise an excellent -ubsti- 



tute as a variation to the four-i Id course, by prevent in 



m tIie too frequent recurrence of Clover on the same land. 



jt» Mu« i^, ^^^K 7^7*1 t f ; B >77 iu ^ Tartsfromt !^^^nung of autumn to th 

 * length by 4 feet in diameter) is certain y not h if 1 T ° TP* * succ ~ W» be had throughout th 

 **gmtude of the other, a* the writer colli vl * ?**? both to cut 8 rcen for H ' i,5n F *<**** aml for fehee P 



•Wdby any hoolboy, f UwSe hn etf^SuK * *"*, f* W *» ft* * obM to * *» «* for keel into 



^taaate the scale at winch the mode^ STffiSr! a ! E"* 1 m s > whicJl vviU thus ^^ ail W«« eaten 



mouel *as formed, and , clean up. Although Vetches are a very good laxative 





for horses in summer, they are not equal to Lucerne, 

 which is now gaining ground very much, from its great 

 luxuriance and quickness of growth, shooting up directly 

 after being cut, and affording three or four crops in the 

 year : so that, without giving up the growth of Vetches, 

 it might be useful to combine the two on a farm, as well 

 as Saintfoin, another specie* of the same family. 

 Lucerne, like Vetches, flourishing best on deep soils ; it 

 has a tenacity of remaining in the soil. After the May 

 crop of Vetches are fed off, Turnips may follow, which 

 being in their turn folded off, leave the land in good 

 condition for Wheat, winter lieans,or Barb .according 

 to choice. In the neighbourhood of London Vetches 

 are cut in May. after which the land being inn liately 

 ploughed is planted to Pot- >es, Ma old Wurzel, or 

 Swedes, to be off in time for Wh t *owing. They should 

 be sown on well pulverised land; ii alter Wheat, 

 the land should be deeply ploughed and scarified, as 

 well as, if necessary, manured, and when up, hoein 

 may be advisable, having given the Vetches plenty 

 rooin in th e drills for working between, according to 

 the Tullian system, and, in fact, it is observable in the 

 case of Tares, Luc. rue, and other wide-spreading crops, 

 that the wider they are apart in the rows, the thic 

 they spread eventually, and this must apply to some 

 extent to corn crops as well, which thus b t ,uivalent t< 

 thin sowing, varying in its effects on different so 1 



Masons. There en many van, tics of the Vetch or 



Tare, but only the common Vetch is used with us, as 



In the south of 

 France, they have a white Vetch, a perennial, grow n for 

 the sake of its seeds, from which stup is made ; it grows 

 in light soils, and is 1 t affected by frost ; it also goes 

 by the name of the Canadian Lentil. Another variety 

 is the yellow Tare, an annual, flourishing in stony soils 

 and among bushes ; it covers the ground very thickly, 

 nd is cut twice in the year. The Vetch, or as it is 

 termed in Scripture, the Fitch, is found in every 

 country, and in time of famine, has, in times of old, 

 been used as food. In Judea, it is given to pigeons, who 

 are fond of it. The Tare of Scripture has no affinity to 

 the Vetch; in the parable in which Tares are mentioned 

 as being sown amongst the corn, Matt. xiii. 2.5, the plant 

 called in the East the Zizania, is considered to be the 

 Tare. " It grows amongst the corn, which it resembles, 

 but is rougher ; the reapers do not separate it 

 till at tlnreshing time, when, from having no husk, 

 it soon is sieved off ; the same reason makes 

 it so easy, from its lightness, to be scattered among 

 growing corn : if eaten, the Zizania, or Tare, produces 

 sickness."-- ( Rev. S. S. Wilson's " Travels in Judea.") 

 In my last paper on the subject of Turnips and Man- 

 gold Wurzel, I did not consider that the too early 

 sowing the Swede would be liable to bring it to too early 

 a maturity, subjecting it to the risk of mildew, and am 

 obliged for your mentioning it. A slight erratum 

 occurred in the n 06 Paper, in mis-spelling the place 

 called Kingweston alluded to, which by an error of the 

 printer's was put down as Tringweston, which I am not 

 aware exists. Since last Paper I have put in some 

 Mangold Wurzel, on the plan I mentioned, with a cup- 

 ful of superphosphate of lime and ashes to each &eed f 

 which is now beginning to appear, but wants more rain 

 to bring the plants up regularly. I have also tried the 

 same experiments in a garden, with various vegetables ; 

 trying some seeds with bones, others with guano, both 

 mixed with ashes, I am not aware which is considered 

 the best manure for Parsnips ; I have dibbled some 

 according to the above plan with the seed on manure, 

 but should be glad of any extra information on the 

 subject, and meanwhile must wait for time to give a 

 further report of these experiments. H. E. 



Oath Cid < qf Buckwheat. — Buckwheat is supposed 

 by some to have come originally from Africa, but it is 

 yiu rally allowed that we derived it from Asia. In 

 China and Japan the flour of Buckwheat has been long 

 made into cakes. It is not indigenous in Europe, though 

 it has found its way into most of the European Floras, 

 aud occurs on dung-hills, and about cultivated fields. 

 In England it is certainly not indigenous, nor will it bear 

 the rigour of our winters. It flowers in July and 

 August. The seeds of Buckwheat are very white in 

 colour, and yield a fine flour, of which thin cakes are 

 made, and are said to be nutritious, not apt to turn acid 

 upon the stomach ; whole or unbroken, and mixed with 

 chaff, bran, and grains, the seeds have been reckoned 

 excellent for horses, and that a bushel is equal to two of 

 Oats. The herbage cut green, just before blossoming, is 

 said to flush milch cows with milk, but sheep become 

 unhealthy when eating it. In Sweden, cows, sheep, and 

 goats, are kept upon Buckwheat, but swine and horses 

 refuse it. The seed is excellent food for poultry, and 

 any merit of the plant rests upon that property. A field 

 of Buckwheat furnishes a rich repast for bees late in the 

 season ; hence Duhamel advises to move the hives in 

 the autumn to a situation where plenty of this plant is 

 sown. Buckwheat requires land of at least a medium 

 quality clear- of weeds, and in good heart. The most 

 general and approved culture is to sow the seed in two 

 bushels on an acre in the first half of the month of May. 

 on one ploughing of a Barley stubble that has succeeded 

 a duly performed Turnip fallowing of the land, or after 

 a crop of winter Tares. The seed is covered by the 

 common harrowing. The crop seldom ripens before 

 lichaelmas, and requires much harvest room. The 

 stems are succulent and retain much moisture, and ia 

 wet harvests the crop is often wholly lost or preserved 

 with much difficulty, even in ordinarv «po«f M tk« 



and 



seasons. The 



purpose of being dried. Tha 





