THE AGRICULTURAL GAZETTE 



" ■ ■ 



tetbecii 



frequent matter of discussion, whether it is the i reserve stating more until 1 have again heard 



lav on the manure in the autumn, and | Inquirer." "" 



The Equiiwxe*. 



weald 



Jan to 

 ■loath it in before winter, or to do this before spring 

 *Tpjn r. The for ing considerations would lead to the 

 affeeticn of auti nal manuring, immediately followed 

 covered by the plough, by which means tlie manure 

 be thoroughly incorporated with the soil during 

 the three or four months they would be intermixed. The 

 nuin objection to that system was heretofore considered 

 to be that the fertilising elements of the manure were, 

 ba Ere** measure, lost by the washing of the winter 

 rains. The obsei i ations, however, made of late years, 

 on the abior ben t powers of all soils, except those com- 

 peted mainly of sand, and which have been recently 

 Ottrated by the highly important and interesting 



mt Professor Way, have clearly established 

 the fact that the soil has the peculiar property of absorb- 

 ing and appropriating all those elements of manures 

 intermixed with it which are essential to the growth of 



the most valuable discovery perhaps, in its 

 for which agriculture has been indebted to 



Q. Wilkins. 



■ 



11m 



science. Cha*. Lawrence. 



Deep Draining.--- Permit me to reply to the inquiries 

 made of me by " An Inquirer," I observe, however, 

 I should much rather have done so, if he had favoured 

 me with his address, and which, I think, he ought to 

 have done ; I conclude that when one " voluntary " 

 correspondent addresses another, whether privately or 

 through a public journal, like your's, he ought to give 

 his name and address ; that is, if he would expect a 

 careful and courteous reply. But " An Inquirer " 

 writtt, that he occupies " land of all degrees of stiff- 



le very stiff, some a jointy, brashy, mixed 

 ..me half clay, half sand, or at least partaking 

 of the character of the two." « I am hurt," he con- 

 tinues, " by the water from the clouds, which does not 

 let readily off." He then goes on to state further, that 

 drains cut just out of the reach of the ploughshare, or 

 the poaching of a horse's hoof, would surely catch it 

 (the water) sooner than a drain from 3 to 5 feet deep ; 

 and, in addition to this, he adds, how is it to get so low 

 through a stiff subsoil in time to do me good ? &c. &c 

 On reading this account, I at first thought « An In- 

 quirer " was quizzing me ; but whether he be so or not, 

 I will endeavour to reply to his inquiries ; and as heasks 

 me to be brief, I will endeavour, also, to satisfy him in 

 tins respect. I lay it down, therefore, as a truth not 

 to be refuted, that no fertiliser that can be put upon 

 any kind of land is equal in value to " water from the 

 clouds ;^ and also, as another truth, that this water 

 CMnot be permitted to run off land, or through such 

 TOns as " An Inquirer M advocates, without continually 

 (Mtnaratiiig the value of the land. I likewise inform 

 An Inquirer," and all others who think and act a~ 

 ne professes to do, that on no account whatever should 



«ILi 0P i / put Such drains M he advocates into 



^LT °i mm f ; or were he or the y t0 do s°, I should 

 consider that thev had <rr«n.l v 5„«„*~l ™,. I 



and 



«# T*Lu bring an acti ° n ^««^ r them ^ for Yamaies! 

 •ut i will give an example in point. A tenant drained 





These, as is pretty generally known, 

 occur twice in the year ; but the influences they exert 

 upon the weather of the succeeding half year does not 

 appear to excite sufficient attention. The vernal equi- 

 nox of the present year took place at 56 minutes past 4 

 in the morning of March 21st, the wind beimj then 

 South-West by South— -very lively— temperature° about 

 42 Q Fahi\, weather pretty tine at the time. The baro- 

 meter, then low (several degrees below the usual mark 

 of " changeable,") continued to fall steadily, till it marked 

 28 77 inches on the evening of the 22<L On the corre- 

 sponding days of the last year (1850), the mercury stood 

 at 30.13 and 30.20 inches, the whole of the preceding 

 period, from the 4th of March having witnessed its 



extraordinary altitude— above 30 inches ("Fair") 



amounting to 30. I inches, as the maximum. Without 

 venturing to prognosticate, it may safely be asserted 

 that the meteorology of equinoctial periods a fiords 

 tolerably correct indications of the intervening seasons. 

 Now, therefore, as the wind in several instances, blew 

 forcibly from some point, to the South, accompanied 

 with profuse rain, from the 17th to the 26th, including, 

 of course, the precise moment when the sun entered the 

 spring sign of Aries— at the intersection of the two 

 great horizontal circles— no doubt can exist that a 

 thoroughly wet and boisterous equinox has been esta- 

 blished. The writer was first induced to observe the 

 equinoctial periods, in the year 1822, when the clergy- 

 man of St. Peter's, Isle of Thanet, told him that he 

 knew an aged man who, during the course of 60 years, 

 had rarely failed thereby to obain a correct indication 

 of any ensuing summer or winter. The Irish meteor- 

 ologist, Kir wan, had stated, long ago, to the effect that 

 " If there be a storm at South- West or W.S.W. on the 

 19th or 22d of March, the succeeding summer is gene- 

 rally wet, five times in six. Since 1822— a fine and 

 fruitful year — many cases in point might be cited. Thus 

 the March of 1828 was dry and serene till the 18th ; 

 the barometer at an average of 30 inches, but West and 

 South- West winds prevailed. The mercury fell rapidly, 

 cumulo-cirro-stratus clouds formed, and a South- West 

 gale succeeded ; the summer everywhere wet. The 

 equinoxes of 1829 and 1830 indicated, and were followed 

 by a rainy and changeable summer. On the contrary 

 those of 1831, 1832, 1834, and 1835, predicted fine 

 summers; and the results corresponded. 1 ' (See " Natur- 

 alists' Calendar," of March; "Domestic Gardeners' 

 Manual.") Subsequently the summers of 1841, 1843, 

 1 845, and 1848 were wet ; and whoever can see the 



the dried root. Chicory requires 



deep loam, cl 



or a kiln. 



" Edinburgh Quarterly Journal " of March instant, will 



find a notice of the two equinoxes of last year, and of and leaves have been stated to be very useful aperients; 



their resnlta in the* n\*+'m]a, i r 1 !™™*^™:^:.,.. »r lot-Ati ««*:.,« :ui._ «„j • .% . • u.^i. / im • ■ -. 



a good soil of warm 



, .,. . . . - jlKrotted manure lai . 



on a stubble m the end of autumn, and ploughed under 

 with a deep furrow. In the spring, the grub* r, driven 

 lengthwise and crosswise, prepares the land for being 

 sown with the - I in May, by the coulters of a machine 

 winch makes ruts for the reception and covering of the 

 seed. When risen to the height of 2 or 3 inches, the 

 plants are thinned out to 6 inches in the rows, and most 

 carefully weeded. The intervals of the rows are scari- 

 fied by a three-toed scu filer. In September, the plants 

 are gathered, and the roots taken up, which may be 

 done with a common Potato fork ; they are then 

 cleaned by scraping and washing. Split where they are 

 thickest, and cut across in pieces about 2 or 3 inches 



se pieces are dried by means of a slow oven 

 Some nicety is required in drying, to prevent 

 rooi irom being scorched, and to keep the proper 

 rour. In this state it is sold to the merchants, packed 

 in bags. It is afterwards cut or chopped into small 

 pieces, and roasted exactly as coffee, ground in a mill, 

 and packed in papers, in pounds and half pounds, for retail 

 sale. When coffee, as well as all colonial produce, be- 

 came too dear for the labouring classes in .France and 

 Germany, Chicory was almost universally used as the 

 best substitute, and the taste is by many thought so 

 grateful, that they prefer the coffee with which a fourth 

 or a fifth part of Chicory has been mi ltd. Chicory is 

 said to exhaust the soil, and to require fresh ground, to 

 prevent its d exonerating. Unless the soil is rich and 

 light, the roots will not come to a good size in one 

 season, and old roots become tough and stringy. It is 

 only the young roots that are fit to be prepared fop 

 commerce. They lose a great portion of their weight in* 

 drying. The best preparation of the land for Chicory 

 is Grass or Clover, or a very clean stubble. The 

 manure laid on the ground in autumn, as before directed, 

 will be decomposed during winter along with the roots 

 of the stubble or Grass, and a deep furrow in the spring 

 will lay the land light, and raise a depth of mould. The 

 surface is then harrowed fine, and the seed deposited in 

 rows of 12 inches apart and rolled. Liquid manure 

 spread over the ground will much accelerate the growth 

 of the plants, which must be thinned out, like Tur- 

 nips or Carrots, to 6 or 8 inches from plant to plant. 

 The leaves and roots of Chicory have always been, and 

 are yet, held to be medicinal, though the plant has not 

 obtained a place in the Pharmacopoeia* The virtues 

 depend on its milky juice, which is of a penetrating, 

 bitterish taste, but of no remarkable smell, or particular 

 flavour ; the roots are bitterer than the leaves or stalks, 

 and these much more so than the flowers. The roots 





perha 

 But I 



l.i,.« u ' —-.—"""****""*""» L "*-'° > " ,B tlle s were to 

 nave been put m at least 4 feet deep, but the tenant was 



2*. f f i?° u° f " '}" ] **"£*" and so he P ut them ^ at 

 about half that depth. The land continued cold and 



wet, and water stood upon it in many places j ' " 



orauis were worthless, or worse than worthless 

 which the ■ -■ - 



ormer too*. kh> iuu into nis own 

 trained the land with pipes a 



more. 

 and 



their results in the article "Characteristics of 1850." 

 Experience lias proved that an equinox may exercise, 

 at the very hour of its occurrence, a changing influence. 

 As a general rule, however, the prevailing weather, be 

 that changeable and fickle, fine and dry, or wet and 

 windy, must be taken as the index. The one just past 

 is decisively adverse, more so than any other that can be 

 called to mind since 1 828-2.9. We therefore are warned 



, „ , , • Upon 



landlord and tenant quarrelled, and the 



tne lanu with pipes at a depth of 5 feet, or 

 I saw the land under both kinds of draining 

 the landlord's drains, though on an average full 

 4 ieet deeper than the tenant's, rendered the latter 

 altogether useless. I saw the deep drains pourin* out 

 their water mto a deep ditch, whilst the shallow drains 

 were perfectly dry. After that the landlord went to the 

 expense of taking up all the tenant's tiles, and which 

 were lymg in large heaps at the corners of the fields 

 when I last went over the farm.' The land is now at all 

 times, as the proprietor informed me, and as I myself 

 ttave witnessed, as dry and in as fine a state for cultiva- 

 tion as a well cultivated garden. And such is the state 

 0! my own land ; the deepest drains always run the 

 JPS after a long drought. At this time I am now 

 writing, one drain only is running, and that in some 

 Places is at least J feet deep, and the water is as pure 

 •no clear as water can be. But let me draw attention 

 w another fact, and as worthy of serious reflection 



It rtSJW 86 T undra J ned field *° have open furrow; 

 "stated intervals ; as I have before stated, at everv 



KTl PU ° D the knd ' and the sadd so val «able to all 



Whin 8 ' are /'f hed ° Ut and Carried ' first down 

 mosef urrows d thence intQ dUch 



XfrTS "^ ^ ° t0 the Sea - B »* let ■■ »PpSn 

 tiW ' . ,' An Inf i u,re r " should put his pipes or 



** crystal Tf « \ * t • « P dram s as clear 



tk experiment on some cold, wet, stiff ^1™^ 

 •nd he or they will soon find 'that auT hnv/suiTS 

 fleetly correct. But, M, Editor, these are no ttf 



by experience to anticipate a very rainy and unpro- 

 pitious harvest. Veritas. 



On the Culture of Chicory.— Chicory has been long 

 cultivated in Italy on a large scale, and esteemed, cither 

 green or dry, as an excellent fodder for horses, cattle, 

 and sheep. In France it has produced large crops ; and 

 found its way into England in 1/88, by the enthusiastic 

 recommendation of Mr. Arthur Young. The moist 

 atmosphere of our island is less favourable to its beini 

 made into hay. In Lombardy it is sown, mixed with 

 other herbs of pasture, and cut 3 or 4 feet high. It is mon 

 reputed there to increase both the milk and flesh of 



acting mildly and without irritation. The inferiority 

 has been fully established of Chicory as a green food in 

 comparison with Lucerne^ — as a root, it sinks far below 

 Mangold Wurzel ; and for hay, or a dried state, the 

 succulent leaves are very unsuitable, as the juice evapo- 

 rates, and leaves a shrivelled, tasteless fibre. In Britain, 

 the culture can only be done on the soils and under the 

 climate that suit the Parsnip and the Carrot, and it even 

 requires more favourable circumstances than the latter- 

 plant. For agricultural purposes, the produce is inferior 

 to either of the above-mentioned esculents, and the only 

 value consists in the powdered roots being mixed with 

 coffee. «/. D. 



&otittit$ 



cattle, and to be very nutritious when made into hay. 

 Horses eat it greedily, and it is freely eaten by sheep, 

 and it is very valuable as a green food for soiling. The 

 growth is early, and defies drought, and the large 

 spreading leaves retain moisture by'covering the ground 

 The stalks are thick and stiff, and withstand the storms 

 of wind and rain. The most severe colds do not injure 

 it. The earliness of the produce affords an abund^ftt 

 food when other articles are scarce; and the growth is 

 more rapid than Burnet, Lucerne, or Sainfoin. Two 

 cuttings may be made of it the first year, and three or 

 four, according to the season, every year after— in May 

 July, and October— never letting' it become hard or 

 sticky ; or it may be cut continually, by beginning again 

 when the whole piece is gone over, and thus afford a 

 constant supply of fresh food during seven or eight 

 months. The produce is said to exceed that of Lucerne as 

 three to one, and the average produce of four vears was 

 nearly 30 tons. The partiality with which novelties are 

 commonly viewed was not of long continuance in the 





ROTAL AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY OF ENGLAND. 

 \ (Continued from p. 365.) 



*ECTURE, on the agricultural employment of corn- 

 salt, was delivered before the Members, at a 

 Weekly Council, held at the Society's House, in Hano- 

 ver-s<mare, on Wednesday, May 14 (the Hon. Robert 

 Henry Clive, M.P., Trustee, in the chair)* by Pro- 

 fessor Way, the consulting chemist to the Society. 



Professor Simonds, the Veterinary Inspector to the 

 Society, then made a few observations, at the request of 

 Professor Way, on the Action of Salt on the Animal 

 Economy. He was not then prepared to enter fully on 

 the subject ; but he might remark, as a general rule^ 

 that although different conclusions had been drawn from 

 the use of salt, according to the amount and under the 

 circumstances it had been supplied, it was exceedingly 

 beneficial in moderate quantities but prejudicial in large 

 ones, as a condiment for the food of animals. He was 

 aware that it had been considered by some persons to be 

 injurious, in producing abortion "in ewes and cows. 

 His experience, however, had not led him to such an 

 opinion ; for even when large quantities of salt had been 

 given to animals, he had not found that it exerted any 

 specific action on the uterine system, such as that which 

 the ergot of many Grasses was so well known to exert 

 both violently and deleterixmsiy on those organs. He 



case of Chicory. Some accurate experiments were made in „^» „««», auu uemenousiy on tnose organs Ylo 

 ^^TJSS^i farm ° f * a /f r lkt > to ascertain thought undu'e quantity of foofanS SSaS^mS 

 Zll \ f ^ ^'. com P ared 1 *■* Lucerne, and other probable cause of abortion. " P 



green lood. 1 he Chicory was declared inferior, giving 

 a disagreeable taste to milk and butter, when cows are 

 kept upon it. " * ■ 



_ For sheep it is very good, and a small 



portion mixed with their other food, may probably be 

 a preservative against the rot. The value of the plant 

 has sunk to the quality of the root, as a medicine, or an 

 infusion. Chicory is now chiefly cultivated in Germany 

 and Belgium, for the purpose of preparing from the 

 root a powder, which can be substituted for coffee. This F . VF « 

 has become a very considerable article of commerce. It salted 



ttages 



ining, but I 



l 



was very lately introduced into Britain, and the con- 

 sumption of it, and consequent demand, increased so 

 rapidly, that the Government thought proper to put a 

 check on its importation, by a duty of 20/. per ton on 



r .. . _ . , . It was difficult to fix the 



limit m which salt should be given to animals. Prof. 

 W ay had placed m his hands a tabular statement of the 

 amount of common salt contained in various kinds of 

 herbage, from which he had been enabled to estimate 

 the amount of that substance constantly taken into the 

 stomachs of grazingp cattle along with their ordinary 

 food He showed that cart horses, feeding on meadow 

 ha } , Bean-meal, and bran, took in a considerable daily 

 proportion of salt ; that in other cases the hay was 



on * f u a i th u free USe of rock " sal t was common 



Si T : n the MWnals thus living these sup. 



plies of salt were not only uninjured by its u*e but 

 absolutely benefited m their health, gaining vigour and 

 strength. Sheep fed on Cfom*^ Ld iLnips would 



