7)08 



THE AGRICULTURAL GAZETTE 



REPORT ON THE AGRICULTURAL SECTION 



OF THE GREAT EXHIBITION. 

 No. XIII. — No. 259, Class 9, is an interesting stand 

 of spades and other tools, exhibited by — Winton, of 

 Birmingham. These tools are each of them completed 

 from one solid piece of cast-steel, without joint or weld, 

 and are quite elastic. They consist of forks, spades, 

 trenching tools, &c. 



A model shown by E. Jones, 1 38, Leadenhall-street, 

 of an • Airish Mow," or Cornish corn-rick, adapted to 

 the preservation of corn in the harvest time of rainy 

 reasons, will perhaps communicate as useful, as novel, a 

 piece of knowledge to the farmers of many districts. 

 Miniature ricks for the storm- threatened harvest field 

 are known in several parts of the kingdom, in Glouces- 

 tershire going under the name of " pooks ;" but still 

 they are strictly provincial, aud their introduction into 

 counties, especially the north midland, liable to wet 

 harvests, would undoubtedly be a saving of produce in 

 quantity and quality. It is the custom of the Cornish 

 farmers in the neighbourhood of Falmouth, when the 

 weather is showery in the harvest season, to help each 

 other in turn (assisted by their labourers), to save the 

 corn. To effect this, when the grain is ripe, and a bright 

 day occurs, a field of Wheat is cut, tied into sheaves, and 

 made into ricks like the model, between sunrise and 

 night-fall of the same day, — men, women, and children 

 ielping. From the peculiar formation of the mow, into 

 the centre of which the air penetrates, there is no fear 

 of the new cut corn becoming heated ; and its outward 

 form allows the rain to drip off, without reaching the , 

 ears which are inside. The grain may remain for weeks 1 

 in these ricks, until it can be safely housed. In the 

 month of August, in 1848, during the rainy weather that 

 then prevailed, the coast between Falmouth and Ply- 

 mouth was crowned with these ricks, and the corn in 

 an excellent state ; while, near Bristol, and in many 

 districts between it and London, the corn already cut 

 was lying blackening and spoiling on the ground. 



The mow is represented in its different stages of con- 

 struction by five models in one glass case. No. 1 shows 



consist- 



the first centre or beginning of the foundation f 

 mg of three sheaves set up with their heads together, in 

 the same way that the best workmen commence a stick. 

 No. 2 represents the second round, and consists of 

 nine sheaves placed round and against the first three, 

 leaving spaces between, near the ground, for the air to 

 pass. No. 3, the third round, is composed of 21 sheaves I 

 placed obliquely, their heads resting partly over each 

 other, and below those of the preceding course. No. 4 

 consists of about 32 sheaves, their heads placed below 

 those of the 21 ; and in this round the sheaves are laid 

 less obliquely than in the last. This round determines 

 the width of the foundation. To complete the rick two 

 men are required, one to place the bundles, the other to 

 pitch them to him. The first kneels on each of the 

 bundles as he places them in a spiral manner as in 

 No. 3. He works always on the outer side of the 

 rick, going round and round on his knees ; and gra- 

 dually diminishes the circle after the fourth outer course. 

 He gradually works himself and the rick upwards, 

 resting his feet on the ties of the bundles, and pressing 

 the straw ends of each new course into the one below 

 it, uutil he has accomplished 10 rounds; the last 

 six diminishing the rick almost to a point. In the 

 last row he ties each sheaf to the next by raising 

 a handful of the straw end of one bundle and 

 passing it into the tie of the next, at the same time 

 spreading out the straw ends of all the sheaves of this 

 last round to serve as conduits for the drops of rain. 

 The top is covered with a cap of straw, held down with 

 three straw cords fastened with small wooden stakes. 

 As soon as the Wheat is cut, women and children 

 commence tying the bundles, and then carry and place 

 ihem in large rings on the spaces where the ricks are 

 to be made. The sheaves are not so thick as in other 

 parts of the kingdom ; being about a foot wide, and 

 tied at about one-third of their length from the straw 

 end. Ihese neks contain from 300 to 400 such sheaves 

 of corn ; and in a very catching season must be more 

 safe and advantageous, we should say, than the common 

 shocks or stooks, even when the latter are well hooded. 

 As harvest is coming on, and the fickle and anarchic 

 hand of the barometer still wavering at " Change," this 

 description may perchance be of value to some who now 

 look forward with fear to an unpropitious in-gathering f 

 their cereal fruits. & b 



distance from the shore increases. Of its great intrinsic 

 agricultural value we have direct as well as indirect evi- 

 dence. Every farmer who can command a supply, uses 

 fish, and is ready to afford direct testimony of its value. 

 This has been fully borne out by the elaborate analysis 

 of Professor Way. Of indirect evidence we have an 

 abundance, did we seek no further than the limits which 

 guano itself points out. For it is clear enough that 

 guano is but digested fish, or fish minus a proportional of 

 nutritive matter, which has been assimilated by the sea- 

 bird in the process of digesting the fish, which is its only 

 food. If, then, the chemical treatment which the fish 

 has undergone, in being converted into Normal Guano 

 has not added anything that can be noxious to vegeta- 

 tion, or removed any of the well-known beneficial 

 components of the fish, this manure is obviously of 

 considerable value as a fertiliser ; and if it can be 

 economically produced, will prove a great advantage to 

 agriculture. The obstacles that oppose themselves to 

 the extended application of unprepared fish as a manure 

 are at once evident : it is only found in the requisite 

 abundance at the edges of the island ; it is bulky, and 

 requires to be applied liberally, so that the carriage is 

 costly ; it is only to be found at uncertain periods ; its 

 speedy decomposition and consequent offensiveness 

 before the opportunity occurs for using it, renders it a 

 very "hasty" manure, no matter what the season of the 

 year may be. Now if some process, like that of 

 manufacturing the Normal Guano, can prepare 

 and preserve the valuable matter of the fish for 

 cheap transport to the interior of the country, we shall 

 soon be independent of Ichaboe, purchase no longer of 

 exorbitant Peru, nor fetch offensive freights from 

 Bolivia and the African coasts; but we shall obtain 

 immense stores of enriching matter from the sea as a 

 set-off against the vast amount of manure which now 

 drains into it by our rivers. The ocean furnishes us 

 with an inexhaustible supply ; and if we can only make 

 use of its bounties, here is at once a new field for the 

 investment of manufacturing capital as well as an addi- 

 tion to the resources of the nation. Professor Way has 

 suggested the subjection of sprats to pressure, in order 

 to express the oil which they contain, and reduce them 

 into a dry and portable mass, rich as guano in Wheat- 

 producing nitrogen. And Mr. Hannam, in Morton's 

 " Cyclopaedia," refers to the steaming and drying of the 

 carcases of horses for manure, practised in South Ame- 

 rica, as applicable to the preparation of fish manure. 

 Normal guano, however, professes to have already 

 effected the object ; and we express our hope that it 

 may answer in every respect its high and worthy pur- 

 pose. This new substance has the appearance of very 

 dark guano ; which may be attributable to the oxidation 

 of the oil of the fish, which, of course, has not been 

 removed by sea-birds for their sustenance, as is the case 

 with common guano. This fact may go far to indicate 

 the mild treatment to which the fish has been subjected 

 by this new process ; and is, so far as it goes, in favour 

 of the manure. Apart from agriculture, the result of 

 this discovery or application of chemistry may be the 

 means of affording employment to the inhabitants of the 

 towns which stud our long line of coast, as well in Corn- 

 wall as in Scotland and in Ireland. A large " take of 

 fish " must be a positive advantage where a certain and 

 hungry market is ready to receive it : at present, the 

 reverse is often the case ; for a large supply lowers the 

 price to a toilsomely unremunerative degree, and, in fact, 

 discourages the fisherman in his labours at a point when 



a little perseverance would considerably increase his 

 freight. 



We should think that this Normal Guano could be 

 produced at some of our large fisheries ; where a de- 

 mand may be said to exist already for the better sort or 

 parts of fish, leaving the other or inferior sort to be 

 chemically treated, and for which it may be more fit 

 perhaps than that which would be selected for human 

 food. /. A. C. 



not \u 



I am sorry to say^T^^^ 

 locally visited by the IW Cornw ^U 

 West Norfolk (as* far as 1? ^ °^ the »U 

 been more o/ ilTt^Jfib J* tJ»« 

 caterpillar, the produce of the in ? 1* b ? ^ 

 least, the moth having apl red £$"* m °* S 

 require very strong te8tSS g ^^^.iri 





CRN, 



a 

 extensive 



my ™. a . an " other field. 



remember a similar visitation t«T el<k 1^ 

 the last 40 years, in which hue T I ** ° CCUr ^ 

 The plants do not at preS .' —grown tl* 



?* 



seven miles east of Plymouth r^thT I ' Aev *o». 

 I beg to enclose VyT r inspe InT^- - 

 pillars which are now so Sf SOme of *e <%. 

 Turnips in this and Z nei?hb ou ICT"- ***** 

 instances, I believe, the crop ffS , 1 "* 

 «P by them, and the huj is ^» <*. 



Turnips, 

 earl 



hop 





r -l u , ls sown w ith the 



I should have sent »«■■ ^ 



earlier but waited for the* lasfnui^ou^ 

 hoping to find that in it some coriJLi y ! J0 "H 

 than I, had called yonr attentionTt Ctf I 

 you more particulars than I can. It apS^fe 

 the earher sown Swedes, especially '/££*?& 

 condition, are those which have fared bes,' * 

 those on good warm land, if i a condition tofa?J2 

 plant rapidly ; but where the land is poor,'^ 

 cold and wet, and the growth of the plant proSH 

 slow, then the most havoc has been made P Some 25 

 have eft their crops unsingle.l , in the hope, I ,£? 

 that the greater number of plants would afford nZB 

 m proportion to the enemy, and that therefore tl, e 2 

 vidual plants would suffer less ; but, I think in Z 

 instances, they will be disappointed, as the 'crowZ 

 together of the plants has prevented their rapid W 

 and left them longer tender, and consequently an 

 prey to the devastator. I have had quick-lime appU 

 to them, with, I think, some advantage, as therein 

 two dry days after its application ; but in other i 



We have now quitted Class IX, although we have 



E?«nW t ° mitted / COre8 ° f new and valu ^ things 

 for want of time and space. We step into Class I. of 



Product^ H a,S ' inC l Ud!n , g " Min '"S *»* Minera 



1 roducts. Here are found many things to interest 

 agriculturists of liberal minds ; fo/besidet metSs and 

 stones of all descriptions, and the curious, and, we may 

 say, ponderous and Titanic processes by which thev 

 are rendered available for our every da/employment, 

 are useful geological maps and sections ; differen 

 soils and rocks ; the vegetable substances grown upon 

 .hem ; mineral manures ; and likewise productions which 

 have been unavoidably kept out of their proper places- 

 such as the Royal Dublin Society's Hemp and F*axfrom 

 Afferent localities, alpaca wool grown in Kerrv an" 



Scastle' ^^^ maaUre for di ®*ent ^'frem 



The chief substance we shall notice is « Normal 



Guano, a manure prepared from the refuse of ?ht 



E Cm 8 ' f % * S T ri ° r fr tiliser ? inve «te? by W 

 L. Gill, of Truro, Cornwall. Fish is applied with Z\ ' 



vanfcge to a great extent of land within tff StT J tl ls 



island ; but its use as a manure is the less known L the 



Home Correspondence. 



The Turnip Crop. — I observed with interest the 

 notice in your leading article last week, regarding the 

 reported appearance of a moth and caterpillar among 

 the Turnips. I had myself observed it, being on a visit 

 in this part of the country, and have made diligent 

 enquiry and examination since. It is certain that 

 although the Turnip fly was very busy in some places 

 during the late bright and scorching weather, the plant 

 has been much more "extensively injured by another 

 enemy this season, at a later period of its growth. The 

 damage in this neighbourhood has been very considerable 

 but near Barnstaple, I am informed, the produce of whole 

 acres has been devoured, and when not entirely demo- 

 lished, the leaves are so punctured and skinned that little 

 or no nourishment can be supplied through them to the 

 plant. 1 lie slugs have in some cases been also at work the 

 wantof frost last winter having been peculiarly favourab'e 

 to insect life, the small green caterpillar of which I send 

 you several specimens, though unfortunately 1 have lost 

 one, when it was passing into the chrysalis state. I have 

 perceived some aphides also, but few in number I send 

 a specimen of the moth, though I have no proof of its 

 being actually connected with the caterpillar excer, 

 juxta position. The caterpillar has not ^nerallv 

 appeared till after hoeing, and the farmers are conse- 

 quent y induced to leave them very late for that ooerati 

 though no connection can be traced with it I h oe 

 some of your correspondents may send vou m m 

 complete details The visitation of the black caterpillar 

 which you mention is well remembered here John 

 Stuart Fortes' Ifeanton Satchville, Crecliton, ZW 



it seems to have entirely failed, probably in consequent 

 of the immediate heavy falls of rain ; the caterpillar lot. 

 being on the under-side of the leaf, has rendered ii 

 destruction difficult. If you can throw any light upct 

 the birth and parentage of this, to me, uew'pejtfc 

 the Turnip, which shall enable my unprotected poor 

 clods to wage war successfully against these free-bootea, 

 you will be conferring a great boon upon the agricaltonl 

 community at large ; for the loss, or the partial loss of 

 their Turnip crop, is a more serious loss than most of 

 your non-agricultural readers would suppose, andii 

 make them feel more than ever the impossibility of pro- 

 ducing cheap corn in so highly-taxed a country, w bet 

 the most lavish expenditure for those in high placet it 

 year by year countenanced by our representatives, iai 

 when thousands upon thousands are annually spent upon 

 baubles for our court and its hangers-on. "Cheap 

 Corn and Cheap Government" must be our m»tto- 

 unless our rulers can help us in a way more palateablt 

 to themselves. W., Hundred of Bassetlaw, at 

 I observe in your Paper, of the 26th ult., mention of the 

 Turnip crop, in parts of Cornwall, being attacked bra 

 small ash-coloured moth, the grub of which is to be 

 found on the under surface of the leaf, and is rerj 

 destructive ; and you ask whether any of your com- 

 spondents have observed a similar case in this or 

 previous seasons. I am not aware, and cannot lea: 

 that in former years such an insect has been observed; 

 but in this neighbourhood the Turnips have betl 

 severely attacked by it this year. I enclose one of * 

 small moths. On walking through ray Turnips yesterif, 

 I observed them rising from the leaves and ground" 

 great numbers ; and the small green caterpitor, « 

 -rub, is to be found in profusion on the under surta«« 

 the leaf. M v Turnips have suffered severely, and «■ 

 much retarded in their growth, the leaves being <» 

 pletely riddled by the grub ; and unless something p» 

 a stop to the ravages of this insect, 1 fear the crop 



I do not believe it is con 



\gd 



similarly attacked in iw -^ 

 the cause is the same. I * 



of the Turnips being 



and I have no doubt •»» — a«M— 



Currey, Lismore Castle, County of »«W*?< 

 Considerable damage has been done to the l urn i_r 

 throughout this part of the country, vaa^ ^ 



adjoining counties, by a small green cater[ ^ ^ 

 is supposed to have been produced by tBe . 

 coloured moth," alluded to in your notice oi « 



Immediately the TuriuP 

 covered with the moth. 0- J 



7 



in last Saturday's paper 



on 



Colly wes'ton, Stamford. — I am sorry ••■» ^ 

 Turnips along the north-east coast »' /j; 1 descr jba 

 ■offered precisely as your leading article , 



The fields swarm with a tiny li-ht-coloured moi t^ 

 the under side of the Turnip leaves are co 

 green grubs, which lodge in a cavity ^eatej , o • . 

 selves in the coating of the leaf. Whether 

 the offspring of the moth I cannot say, o 

 corroborating evidence is almost strong e» ^ 

 firm the affiliation. Through a mler ^f hiate . * 

 hairs are seen protruding from the lit .j ke beftft» 

 "oldes'tinhabitanf'says that " he never saw « ^ 



.i .• . ,i • *!,„♦ »vpr lie see. . - 



be* 



My 



Peruvian iruaiio. — m; »*>.%..■•— c„ ns » iTiiaai' *- 



directed towards Messrs. Gibbs and &»> » bli( . « 



vertisemen ts, wherein they kindly caution "^^off- 

 be on their guard, when purchasing tins u tftfa 



It appears to me, that they should mo\e » 





