30—1* &Ll 



THE AGRICl LTUHAL GAZETTE. 



475 



uleomu adjunct tlmt was the great *»id* 

 «md this would never be attained by the. 



mi which uuuiaiineiioii was uaadeU t* 



aonatitueuts which are only taken from the field 



w be lUiuBtd to it in duo coiwse by the luwue manure 



£us% and those which are actually sent off the 



Ekta rlialiraiiain was, however, seldom, if ever, 



||r chemists uncoantofc i with praci d agrieul- 



nod t«> this cause may in great part be attributed 



re€ommendatioms to imitate ia artificial 

 composition of the ash*s of tbe plants to be 



In eanduskaB, then, if the muaarad theory of Professor 

 Liebig simply implied that the growing plant must liave 

 within ita reaaih a suinciency of the constituents of which 



is to be btailt up, the authors fully and eatirely 

 ited to so evident a truism. But if, on the otlver 

 matii lwre it understood that, in the ordinary 

 - agriculture in Giv Britain, it is in relation 

 to the mineral constituents found in their ashes that the 

 toy would fee exhausted, they did not hesitate to say 

 that th >«ere in ignorance of a siagle fact, to favour 

 suh a view. Ob the contrary, they beheved that mtro- 

 <pu is the eoustir nt most ■ bausted, relatively to other 

 aysititueiitfr ; that of the minerals, phosphoric a*kl 

 is tulmutted more than the alkalies ; and, further, 

 that the apparent demand for an artificial supply of 

 nuDsral substaMef for the production of crops in agri- 

 cultural quantity (itself an artificial process) is fre- 

 quently greater than can be aoeettnted for by the mere 

 idea of supplying the actual constituents of the rop. 

 I f, : .tfceti, we would attain, by the ai» if science, a rational 

 system ol agriculture, the actual facts of the art itscS 

 together with a study of the functional Actions of plants 

 sad animals, must receive a due share of our attention. 

 Ia fa chemistry alone will do nothing tor practical 

 sericulture. 



i * - ~ 





ON' THE CULTURE OF RAPE. 

 The Rape was cultivated in England before the 

 intraductioa of Turnips, and is even supposed to have 

 been used by the a ucientRomaas^ in alternation with the 

 crop* of grain. It is certain that they had some plant of 

 As leafy < bbage kind, hue the particular vegetable is 

 unknown. Rape is more palatable than Turnips to the 

 tsjteof animals, grows more readily and abundantly on 

 a variety of soils, produces a larger crop of leaves, and 

 vields a much greater quantity of seed. But the value* 

 is almost wholly obliterated from the page of agriculture, 

 by the want of the bulbous root, which constitutes the 

 cHef excellence of the Turnip, and which is not, in any 

 degree, formed by the Rape plant. The leaves are more 

 hardy than those of the Turnip, and better withstand the 

 cold of winter. 



Rape lias been much cultivated on the pared and 

 burned land of the Fens of Lincolnshire, and on the 

 altevial grounds of Essex. In these cases, it is sown bv 

 hand in broad cas^ at the rate of 9 or 4 lbs. on an acre 

 and stands to carry a crop of seed, and is thought to 

 make a good preparation lor a crop of Wheat, The* 

 broad and spreading leaves do certainly smother and kill 

 the weeds— but the stems, and the formation of the seeds 

 extract much nutriment from the soil, and much more 

 than the formation of leaves and fleshy bulbs. This con- 

 dition now granted, and the growing of Rape seed is 

 interdicted in some lease*. The seed is very unequally 

 ripened, the upper and lower pods being wide apart in 

 the season of maturity. In wet harvests much seed is 

 lost ; and without much attention, a loss is sustained in 

 any season. The crop should be cut when the dew is on 

 it, and moved as little as possible. If the weather per- 

 mits, it is threshed out on a cloth in the field, and as 

 many threshers are employed as can be conveniently col- 

 lected, that no time may be lost when the weather is 

 fair. ^ The seed is spread out on the floor of a granary, 

 that it may not heat, and is turned over frequently. It 

 is then sold to the crushers, who express the oil. The 

 pods and small branches broken off in threshing are 

 much relished by cattle. When the oil has been pressed 

 out from the seed, the residue, which contains a portion 

 of starch and mucilage, not changed into oil, and the 

 husk of the seed forms a hard cake, known by the name 

 of rape-cake, which is a manure of very considerable 

 value. It is reduced to powder, and drilled with the 

 seeds : or it may be spread on the surface of the ground, 

 and covered by a ploughing. When drilled, it is best 

 mixed with ashes, or any porous earth, which prevents 

 ™ too rapid decomposition. The Flemish feed cows 

 and pig S w ith it, and mix the powder in the urine pits, 

 where an excellent manure is formed. An application 

 of it very much promotes the growth of Flax, and may 

 P«atly assist the action of saltpetre, and the nitrate of 

 **»> where these salts are applied. An average crop of 

 the seed of Rape is about 30 bushels on an acre. 

 As a feeding crop, Rape is grown on lands prepared 



Ktl I>S ' ""* S0Wn in Au S ust » on aruls 1 foot apart, 



fil Cro P S rows ver 7 forward before winter, it may be 

 Jed off by sheep, but, in general, it is best to let it remain 

 ^touched till spring. It affords a very agreeable food 

 *> ewes and lambs, in March and April. When it begins 

 w flower, it must be immediately removed, when the 

 jw<* is sown with Barley and Clover. Rape is a valua- 

 Slf^titnte for Turnips, on lands that are too wet and 



It is more succulent than the 



of the Rape, before a ngle blade of tne Tumio was 

 touched. But this predilection is unable to con 

 for the want of the 1 Ibous root. 



In the case of poor lands, that do not preduee an ade- 

 quate supply of farm-yard dung, and in remote situation 

 where the access of auxiliary manures is difficult, or the 

 circumstances inconvenient, Rape is wry advantageously 

 used in being sown in August, on the fallowing of the 

 land, when it affords a very useful provision of green 

 food ia the early spring, and is consumed in time for 

 sowing the land with Barley. When sown at this season, 

 on good land, the crop is eaten on the round, to admi 

 the sowing of Wheat in November, and then the strong 

 crop of fibrous stems proves very inconvenient in the 

 ploughing and harrowing, and is best pulled by hand, and 

 removed before the ploughing commences. On good 

 lands, the tendency is very great to yield stems rather 

 than leaves. The plant rises high, and the stems are cor- 

 respondingly enlarged. On poor soils, the leaves are 

 more abundant in proportion to the stems, and this cir- 

 cumstance forms the value of the plant for the special 

 purpose of yielding food for sheep, and through the ani- 

 mals 1 excrements a good manuring to the land. The 

 plant is mor hardy than the Turnip, and grows more 

 readily, and also more abundantly, and, in some cases, 

 affords more utility. But these instanci are compara- 

 tively few in number, and remote in the application. But 

 they do occur. 



Rape is very usefully mix 1 with the I 1 of winter 

 Tares, that are intended to be used for 1 ding sheep in 

 the spring. The mixture is very agreeable to the ani- 

 mals, as the juice is more concentrated than that of the 

 Vetch plants, and helps to correct the very watery 

 quality of the Tare, in the earliest growth. There is no 

 better use of Rape than in this way, which has been loi 

 followed by the Hoc km asurs of South Ihii n, where the 

 climate allows the cultivation of winter Tares. The 



various soils and substrata, particularly those 

 band, as it is known amongst farmers, a 



u these I 



three 





woody growth of the stems is prevented by the early rise 

 in the spring, and the leaves of the previous autumn 

 afford a quantity of food that proves very serviceable to 

 the sheep. 



Rape maybe sown in the spring with one furrow, on 

 the clean ground of Barley or Oate ; and the crop being 

 consumed on the land by sheep, Wheat is sown in tin id 

 of autumn with one furrow of ploughing. In this way, 

 Rape constitutes a catch crop, and very usefully, in some 

 cases— but it never enters a stated crop into a systematic 

 rotation of the use of land. 



The value of a full crop of Rape for feeding, is esti- 

 mated at 30s. to 40*. per acre. J. D. 



Home Correspondence. 



Beer for Labourers. — Your Paper has been put Into 

 my hands these two weeks, and 1 am thankful to say I 

 can just read, having had a smattering of education at 

 a national school. I have read with nrucli pain tlie 

 severe remarks of "Falcon" upon beer and cider 

 drinking. I can only wish that he was along with me, 

 or us, just now. We begin at 3 o'clock in the morning, 

 and leave off at 9 in the evening. Eighteen hours very 

 hard work ; would u Falcon " have the hardheartedness 

 to deny us several pints of beer during the day ? We 

 breakfast at 6, " Falcon " breakfasts at 10 likely, just at 

 the time I am having my second beer, and after losing, 

 by perspiration, much of my strength. Water may do 

 for an idle man, but never for a hard-working labourer 

 of any sort ; above all us, working under a burning sun. 

 I allow it is very disgusting for " Falcon * to ride out 

 after a famous night's rest and a jolly good breakfast of 

 ham and eggs, and sit two hours over it, to see us in a 

 field sitting down for a few moments over our drop of 

 beer, or cider, a piece of bread and hard cheese. * Iron 

 constitutions " eh ! our constitutions would suffer much 

 more were we to drink cold water. I only wish I had 

 half the nourishment in my body in tlie course of the 

 lay that " Falcon" has. Compare a glass of port to a | 

 pint of beer ; talk about bringing us back to a sense of 

 duty ; confirmed drunkards on 9s. a week ! Why we are 

 slaving from morning to night now, and if we are seen 

 enjoying our pipe and a pint just before going to bed, 

 this " Falcon " thinks wrong too. What do we live for ? 

 Why a jolly good laugh after a hard day's toil with a 

 pipe and a pint is all we can expect ; and our master 

 are just as kind now as they were 20 years ago, and we 

 are just as good servants. " Falcon," I am told, has 

 been in all countries ; he is a sort of Captain Grouse, 



view to break these crusts and obtain a deeper 

 staple. Not any of these have proved satisfac ry for 



that purjieae, however useful in general ; nor did a 

 powerful trench plough, got up under my own inspection, 

 ucceed any better, as 1 was still necessitated to have 

 men atieiued with picks at these barriers, to loosen up 

 parts where the plough passed over. The plough 

 thus gliding out where most wanted, led me to turn my 

 attention to the invention and construction of amacuiae 

 which should answer the purposes of the subsoil pough 

 where it works well, and should supply its deficiencies 

 where it fails. This I have accomplished, and I works 

 well. The machine consists of a large wheel, mounted 

 in a frame moving on three smaller wheels, * h as aro 

 used with ordinary cultivators. The wheel fe 5 feet in 

 diameter, and tlie tire iron is 8 inches wide, it is fitted 

 with two rows of i. .ttock- pointed, case-bar lened teeth, 

 set alternately, 8 inches asunder, alonj • atfb edge of the 

 tire. The t* h are o 1 iftefces Ion . and % inches broad 

 at the point, and fastened by wedges in tlie same manner 



as a plough coulter, so that tin an at an; una be easily 



removed for repairs, or for a onjsr and differently con- 

 structed set of teeth, which I intend t> have made. The 

 weight of the wheel is about 11 cwt, and upon this its 

 effective working depends. Tlie fr t wheel of the fram- 

 is on a swivel, for convenience of turning, and is fixed 

 «'! or 9 inches lower down than the two hinder ones. 

 The front wheel runs in the furrow after the plough, and 

 is followed by the grubbing wheel, which it guides. VYhejfc- 



the machine meets with boulders or rock which >t cannot 

 penetrate, tlie be of the wheel are so constructed as to 



allow it to rise without the frame ; and when it is required 

 to be turned, by a powerful lever a man can raise it 1G 

 inches if necessary. 1 have used it sufficiently to be 

 ouite satisfied of its efficacy, as it has never misted any- 

 thing except downright rock ; and 1 think when known 

 it will be admitted to be a step in the right direction. I 

 have had many advisers to Bend it to the Hyde Park 

 Exhibition, or to th* agricultural show at Windsor, but I 

 am not yet satisfied with it as to the materials and 

 workmanship of its construction as to let it stand as the 

 Earl of Bradford's subsoil grubber. When your leading 

 art le of June 21st appeared, by u C. W. 11.," on a 

 toothed wheel being the grand principle to be embodied 

 in the steam cultivator, it was suggested to me that I 

 ought immediately to make my toothed wheel known, 

 lest it should be supposed that I had committed plagiarism 

 on his ideas. When compared, however, they are found 

 very different, both in principle and working. My 

 bantling, in the hands of some of our eminent implement 

 makers, may be much improved, and brought out at such 

 a price as will enable farmers having a team of six horses, 

 to avail themselves of it ; that is, two horses to draw 

 the common plough, and four for the grubber. Unlike 

 subsoil ploughs, it does not mix the bad soil with the 

 good ; but I must now conclude, having already tres- 

 passed too long on your space. Alexander Davidson,. 

 W* , Skifntil) Salop, July 13. 



ROYAL AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY OF ENGLAND. 



(Continual from page 74.) 



Sheep. — We again present the history of the later 

 Sheep Shows in a Tabular form, for which, see next 

 page. 



At Northampton, 1847, were 45 exhibitors of sheep,, 

 from 23 counties ; at York, 1848, 45 exhibitors, from 

 18 counties ; at Norwich, 1849, 35 exhibitors, from 16 

 counties; at Exeter, 1850, 41 exhibitors, from 1ft 

 counties ; and at Windsor, 1851, the sheep have been 

 furnished from different localities, as follows : 



Counties. Xo. of Exhildtors. 



• ■ • 



• * t 



u Taking notes, and faith he '11 prent 'em. 



ft 



li^T for that root. 

 iurn. 



nich it contains is much relished by every kind of live 

 *p^ The writer of this article witnessed almost de- 



•sive proof of this superiority on a Turnip" field in 

 Cumberland, where two drills of Turnip and Rape 



ere sown alternately, and on which the sheep that con- 



but taking notes against the too oppressed already, is 

 no great credit to any one, and more especially as 

 " Falcon " does not live by the sweat of his brow ; but 

 I have strong reason to think that he is a landlord, half 

 afraid of his rents lowering, or he must be living on the 

 sweat of his country. I trust you will in fairness give 

 a poor man the same chance as " Falcon," by printii 

 every word ; for, considering my small learning, I am 

 not ashamed A Labourer. P.S. Mind do not mix me 

 up with the beer-shop idler and poachers. If " Falcon » 

 were to help in destroying the Game-laws, he would, 

 indeed, be a benefactor to his country. [« Falcon " and 

 "A Labourer" will be very good friends when they 

 understand one another better. "Falcon's" remarks 

 will be endorsed by many who are, both by desire and 

 in fact, the best friends of the labourer.] 



Description ■ >f a n> Subsoil Orubber. — As your 



olumns are at all times open to descriptions of new or 



improved methods of performing agricultural operations, 



I may beg a place for the following. Under the Eari 



of Bradford, at this place, I have had to contend with 



■ ■ . 



•• 



#•■ 



• • • 



J?edtordshire 

 Kerksbire 



Buckinghamshire 

 Cambii'lgesl 



Cumberland 

 Ds*S4J t-hir-e 



Essex 



Gloucestershire 

 Hampshire 

 Hereford ... 



Herttordahire 

 Huntingdonshire 



Lancashire 



Leicestershire 



Lincolnshire 



Carried forward 



■ i • 



■ ■ • 



• ■ • 



• t • 



• • * 



• ■ « 



• • • 



• • • 



• • • 





• a • 



• • > 



» • 



• - ■ 



♦ • • 



■ ■ ■ 



• • • 



• • t 



• •» 



* • ft 



■ * 



s 



2 



2 



1 

 1 

 4 

 2 

 4 



1 



1 



1 



1 

 2 



I 

 2 



I 



is 



Counties. No. of Exhibitors. 



Brought forwafd 

 Norfolk 



Northamptonshire 

 ^orthumberlaacl 

 Nottinghamshire... 

 Oxfordshire 



Somersetshire 



Staffordshire 



Suffolk 



Surrey 



* • 



t • * 



• •• 



• •• 



- . - 



• ■ • 



• • • 



Westmoreland 

 Wiltshire ... 



Worcestershire 

 Yorkshire ... 

 Scotland 



Shetland 



1 1 • 



•• 



• •■ 



• • ■ 



* • ■ 



• - - 



... 



• » « 



ft !• 



28 



4 



1 



2 



3 

 2 



1 



1 



X 



1 



10 



1 

 1 



1 



5 

 2 



1 





Total Counties, &c, 32. 



65 





Instead of entering into a detailed description of the 

 animals which more particularly attracted our notice, it 

 will, perhaps, be more correct, as well as concise, to 

 give verbatim tlie notes jotted down while peram- 

 bulating the show-yard ; and these being just the kind 



i remarks that a breeder was likely to make, will con- 

 vey to every fanner's mind an idea of the special merits 

 or demerits of the sheep here characterised. It must 

 he remembered, however, that the following epithets are 

 merely intended to guide the terms of a regular descrip- 

 tion, and are necessarily very imperfect. 



Leicesters.— Class I. Shearling R s. — The follow- 

 ing numbers were noticed among those exhibited by 

 Mr. T. E. Pawlett, of Beeston, near Biggteswada> Beds. 

 507, a pretty, long-legged sheep, back not well covered, 

 wool Straight, and purse bare. 509, rather deeper mut- 

 ton, of slight form, B back not good, small, wool varied. 



08, more substance and larger irame, but not first-rate 

 mutton. SIC, rather de< v made, but too small. 

 512. a nrettv. but verv little sheep, with thin neck. 



