■-■'-■ 



-ia 





TTT 



UTTT UUA 



AZETTE 



iared 



o 



n we ik mossy Boils, or where the sub >U was , 22 feet in one minute ; but, according to the general 



. . »/ i «-*i mi t — i-i„ notion, that a horse's power means 33,000 lbs., raised 



lie ground wnen me irost occurred, as wen «a 

 the « 1 1 y and exhausting droughts which succeeded, 



na.] li\ hnvo Kp*>n an far Tirpindir'ial tn fhfi CfODS. 



S E 



The dry state 

 as well as 



irony and unfriendly to vegetation. Tl: 

 u! the ground when the frost occurred, 



"lausting droughts which 



seeniej to have been so far prejudicial to the crops. 



When the soil was somewhat open, dry, and mossy, 



Jhe destruction to the green Oats was complete ; 



they literally " rotted ere their youth obtained a 



beard." But where they had a plentiful supply of 



moisture at their roots, they escaped uninjured. 



Young Turnips which were ready for the hoe were 



jlltogether destroyed on moss, but did not suffer in 



the least on clays and good gravels. As a curious 



instance of crops being constitutionally weak, where 



they are grown i <Ier certain conditions, whereby 



th*ir vitality and vigour may be impaired ; but, at 



the same time, they may fulfil the required ends of 



the cultivator, except in instances as the present, 



where mch severe trials make the weak go to the 



walh On a field of 16 acres of mossy land, which 



all dunged with farm-yard manure in autumn, 



and ploughed in, a coating of siliceous gravel was 



applied over one-half of the field. The whole 



was sown in the end of May, with Rape, 



and a fine equal plant was obtained, which 



almost covered the land by the 1st of July, but 



the front killed every plant where the ground was 



pot dressed with gravel, while the other half of the 



field escaped with very little injury. Could a 



mineral manure not be got to supply the place of 



the gravel t 



It has been our object, at present, to draw attention 

 to the influence of the amount of moisture in the 

 air, so far regulating the night's temperature, as to 

 afford an easy and pretty correct estimate of the 

 hygrometry of our seasons, by observing the lowest 

 (Jepr .on of the thermometer. Owing to the 

 continual variation of the winds, this is liable to 

 many exceptions, when individual instances are 

 taken. We have known the moisture of the air 



I ' 1 • -M *•* * ■ 



notion, that a horse's power means 33,000 lbs., raised 

 1 foot high in one minute, and that 1 gallon of water 

 weighs 10 lbs., it would require 10 horse-power to lift 



i ?aa ii a„ iU» u~:,.Uj. „*.~a~,i mi x_ i_ _ 



*T. r,, 





" ■ 7 — ■ :jl 



gallons to the height stated. There seems to be 



we should like to have it explained. 



ww 



1500 9 



some mistake , »»w ouuuiu mvw «v h**t^ u cApamcu. 



Class 16. Leather, saddlery, and harness ; skins, fur, 

 and hair, contains objects of importance to the farmer ; 

 and our cart harness, generally speaking, needs im- 

 provement. 



Class 21. Cutlery, edge, and hand tools, exhibits 

 many specimens of improved tools for agricultural pur- 

 poses ; but we close, for the present, our task of in- 

 spection, merely mentioning that, in other classes beside 

 the manufactures from glass, gutta percha, &c, the 

 farmer may find many new things calculated to assist 

 him in his lesser labours. We must not forget to name 

 the models wliich are to be seen here and there, such as 

 that of Danhill's design for a suburban metropolitan 

 cattle market, with accommodation for 6000 oxen and 

 40,000 sheep ; Spurin's model farm, Mechi's farmstead, 

 and others in which all the machinery is shown in 

 motion ; and likewise Mr. Dawn's model of a Somerset- 

 shire decoy for entrapping wild fowl. 



In conclusion, we remind our readers that we have 

 done little more than describe the more interesting of 

 the English implements and agricultural machinery ; 

 our animal and vegetable productions have received 

 but a scanty criticism, and all the foreign and colonial 

 implements and products remain yet to be noticed at 

 some future time. I. A. C. 



the culhirp nf ail tCrr c ll; ' ^ tl u i*e «- „ , ^ 



An \»Tu 0r ^tigm:^^ 



induce nhai.yfcTuWnTbuTiT 

 the culture of aU * 1 - 



less gamblers ? „ u r. nglMlmui * \T— «**£ 

 years ago steward to the Ma2 J 2?' *W,?£ 

 >e got four quarters and a half 1 of u> m °H toft 

 and, and that if he had other L?/- ., hcat on °3£ 

 he could obtain five and a h, M**** nei S"33 

 such products do not appear union 1 "^ 3 ft °SK 

 On old Grass land, tZ^lT™'^ *Hl 

 neighbourhood had 7 quarters to^S'^^S 

 two acres of laud. From t ,V T 6 ' °« *S 

 Portumna, in the county of Gahvav T r ghboux Wrf 

 of brown-chaffed white Wheat fe ™* ******£ 

 ported English seed. Yet we have f™*^ 55 

 on a diminished breadth of this cron ;f *i T^"^ 

 being unsuitable to our humid" dS2e ** ** 

 1 he progress of the disease is favouraM* + . 

 its eventual discontinuance. It £H** ab ^< 



***, 



SKS rtftS - (a A least *« **£ 7d' 



*. 



) 



I 



the dew-point is taken during the maximum heat of 

 the day, the minimum range of the thermometer will 

 be anticipated for the succeeding night if the wind 

 does not change. A protected thermometer will 

 generally fall about 2" lower than the mean dew- 

 point. R. 



REPORT ON THE AGRICULTURAL SECTION 



OF THE GREAT EXHIBITION. 

 r*o. XV.— Appold's centrifugal pump, which keeps 

 up such a continual cascading i n Class 6, is well adapted 

 for the purpose of draining fens and irrigating Hat land 

 We do not anticipate, however, that it will quickly 

 Wpplaiit the scoop-wheel, for the duty performed by 

 this pump is 70 per cent, of the power employed, 

 scarcely equal, we believe, to the duty effected by the 

 best fen scoop-wheels. But stijl its cheapness, sim- 

 liuty, and extraordmary lightness are great points in 

 te favour ; ami we should not be surprised if, after a 

 time the wheel, 2 or 3 feet in diameter, spinn in- at a 



Sai iT 'J** lUt ^V 1 ^™' 1*oald be found pre- 

 ferable to the massive wheel of 30 or 40 feet diameter 

 Blow y crcumvolving with many tons weight of waS 

 beanng upon lts axle . In ^ ^ £J%Zfi* 



tte momentum it acquires from passing through a 

 rapidly revolving drum, divided by radial blade" W 

 on the same principle that wind is urged by Si £ T a 



winnowmg-machine. As there are no valves in act'on 



this pump is not liable to w*,,. «- a ?„_ aC .. n > 



Band 



THE POTATO CROP. 

 In the counties of Longford, Leitrim, Cavan, and 

 Westmeath, the Potato fields are now very generally 

 blackened, and it is a very common complaint that the 

 disease is extending to the tuber, with greater rapidity 

 than it did last year, having respect to the time of its 

 appearance on the leaf. The leaves seem to be more 

 withered than in former years, before the blotches ap- 

 peared on the stems ; yet tlie peculiar smell of the 



helds is as powerful as ever, a positive indication of 

 disease. 



vary 36° within 12 hours in winter ; but in general, if ,. To Ireland , there is not a more interesting subject of 

 the dew-noint is takpn <fni-in<v fk« ™n V ;~,, — 1— i .*■ discussion than the fate of the Potato ; her whole well- 



E -i *~* ^ * ^v *^. 1 1_ _ _ a . « _ 



being, her only hope rests on the recovery of it, or in in iretana, wJ 



VWBL 



the ability to export 12 or 13,000,000/. worth of produce, 

 M well as render her independent of foreign supply, for 



observed in the leaf and stem) unti lit *L I ^ 

 almost the whole of the Potatoes rotted T "S* "^ 

 846, far less abundant in tubei 1 n >*?.»• 

 leaves, and stems decayed very earl v thi \ 4a » *• 

 ia the ground and generally wh^'^^CSl 

 arrived were excessively deficient in flavour F *! 

 that year to the present, though the leavP, L 4 "* 

 have Drematurelv 5«««™3 ^i?.i,™ ,ea ^ es » nd ««l 



and have progress! vely impr^edT kZTnfS"^ 

 flavour ; indeed those that have **£?%*£ 

 or nearly so, have now recovered all theirftS 

 gratefulness ; and although the regularity of the aS 

 alternate late and early appearance of the disease S 

 indicative of a lengthened continuance, it ig 'i 

 unfavourable to a belief of its eventual disappear** 

 for it furnishes a sufficient proof that it is produced^ 

 some external causes, and not by a constitudoeJ 

 depravity in the Potato. This latter has beea h£ 

 supposed and unwittingly attributed to a too stimulated 

 growth, while a high abnormal development of all other 

 vegetable, as well as animal productions, is not Hippo*! 

 to bring similar results, and when the disease ku 

 been universal, while the means of forcing a large pro- 

 duction has been restricted to a few favoured countriea 



I m B. 1.1 J ■ 



In Ireland, where, comparatively to the breadth of 



the food of her people. It is sheer folly to talk Vf'her 

 losing her dependence on it ; she must depend on it 

 and, bad as her expectations may be from it, it still 

 constitutes her only, her forlorn hope ; her perseverance 

 in the culture of it is not the desperate resource of the 

 gambler— it is the noble, hopeful, continued energy of the 

 sailor in the storm and the tempest-it is his longing look 



ofVhe 3 s C un aranCe ° f ^ Cl ° UdS ' aUd tllG cheer »V sight 



And this hope will not be vain. It is in the very 



nature of an epidemic, to be of only temporary con. 



t nuance. It is in the very nature of all abnormal pro- 



uct.on to sink back to its original normal amount, when 



hat which conduced to its increase has beased to operate 



itself m W T y A na ! Ure -° f a " excessiv e force to exhaust 



strositi^f " atUr V nt0 m& S^oent, beautiful mon- 



stiosities if you please, but vast enlargements ; we remit 



back?i tb nt -° nS '- and , - the - Se artifidal d-elop'ments S 

 back to their origmal insignificance- if Nature, in any of 



her works, can be insignificant. * 



We have the authority of the wisest that there is 

 nothing new under the sun ; we have no right to suppose 



£?i£K the 1 da ? of the P resent «^»«W aught new 

 has been brought forth. The seed of the Potato fungus 



oTlL ha ;i!i US ^ d f nce firs ' ™ recorded the sabS 



and no artificial manure employed, noi' oil-cake, Mr 

 meals used for feeding, the manure little else than rotted 

 straw and bog mould, no over luxuriance, no excessire 

 stimulation could have vitiated the plant. Neither 



to.weir^^rv";-;.;:;.^:"":- ».<**"-k *. «r», c reator; „„-„- „Tre t i,;7irr P «"r,'; 



Pump that is, when the « head " of water in th! 



STSS.T SS 7&1*. srUJt 



fluids > f „„ r «. m o; P he;;";r;„;z;zrj,; f 't! 



of the tide, where the feu wa t P r« . J ™?^ - ght I . of crea ted matters in their march, its present 



Lcinstev 



s*s±**£ --sns ^ .„ b;. ^r+srsza, 



when the head S high ZnT« fe? 8 $** turned »»owly 

 *e centrifugal ^^1 '* '« l0W ' ^ 

 pame speed, no matter what nm t L' Pr esei ' ves the 



principle £ ***Zil°t™^: ^/PP**** I» 

 performs, acconling tV he exhul "* , the 4 dut y » 

 equal to 90 per cent of the If* tor 8 lmnd - b »», is 

 understand the item. ^T" g T'^ We do ™ 

 The bill states that 34 C^S^a* «P*i«t«es. 

 numna. will ^;«„ m -^ ^T^° w «» With one of these 





- « xeasonaoie expectation that the Potato will 



rPrtidrc? 1 ?- 1° A "^ ° f ^ ™* 

 TJlZt l?i * h ' ch ' l^JS n °**»g that it has 



feet 1 



pumps 



"> one minute, „.«;.<.-» a( .n ftr , . 



lAtion 84 horae-powcr can r ;1 g i ° £? usual ca 

 ^t height in tf,at L?" ZZTtg? **» 

 be-ng 90 per cent., this statemem m 7ef; ° f Ule ' 

 ■go than it possibly can. A^X^T^ 

 ■*"h 7 horse-power 1500 gallons' have be 



ligh 



condition. 

 In the consideration of the probabilities of the con 



ever changing features of the disease in IsZ'Jes, 

 no? ;L\ "IT ^l^ ctat i- *- the Pot P at o g wS 



8ervati\ 



S ^ ?™~^^r<U7£Z Sift 



and of J TanlTf r" g > ' 6M8 the ^ in CI '°P of Egyp 



tbJ Tthen LhabL°d f ^tZ' oTt^l ^ A ^ °^ 

 modern times he XI n 1 the globe, was not. In 



deficieut as VSoLTe^Znl S^SHT " 

 is frequently more destroyed by tL fl. i P C . r °P 

 and now the diamond moth hL I Y d drou S ht s, 



may be continued a^fexTendedhtfnr n raVa " eS which 



table products, either from a deficiency of if ? ge " 



mentinthe soilorfrom some other c l f ^ nUtrU 

 tO eed on Mangold W^tX^^TS^ 

 customed to feed wid.youngturkevsonfl/- , ^." lg ac " 

 vegetabUs largely mASSSSg^^^ 

 ■O longer sought for slugs their usual .? it gai * den 



destroyed my y 0U ii.r Peia ,^ lf i iT a T mmal food 5 '' l 't 



earlier sown Weat Ls Fj&FJ&T P* 

 or four years, been «n '^fl J„!i , ' for the last three 



filling, as to 



_ »»v. v »* t/vuju ii.mv, t uiait/U wit; 2'itiiii. i.iciiiiCi Mil 



improved tillage of the Potato have produced hereaiy 

 mitigation of disease, for its tillage and treatment ius 

 continued precisely the same as heretofore. 



The Potato is not more appreciated in Ireland thn 

 it ought to be, and we are not therefore to be surprised 

 that the continuance of the disease is met with genenl 

 wailing. Jt was in the fulness of the crop that the 

 small farmer expected to render the rest of the prodafle 

 of his farm available to* the other demands upon him; 

 he could grow nothing else to effect this purpose. It 

 was in the fulness of the crop that the labourer expected 

 the stronger farmer would have the means of employing 

 him ; he has no other. The resource of all is now to seek- 

 across the Atlantic a future existence in labour, or in the 

 employment of the little capital they can rescue from a 

 general ruin which they knew not how otherwise to 

 avoid. What think you I The amount of this years' 

 poor rate in one electoral division (Scrabby) of the 

 Union of Grauard— Granard is not in Connaught,butin 



amounts to 1 7s. in the pound, while in another 

 (Mullahoran) it is 9s. 



But in our disappointment are we to abandon the 

 culture of a vegetable most closely approximating in * 

 qualities to a cereal production, because its yield is cot 

 so great as it would be were it not subject to this dtf* 

 ease, which still exceeds, in its most deficient state, ii 

 food value any of our cereal crops, while it doubp 

 them in money value. , 



For the last three or four years the Potatoes am 

 have on an average exceeded half a crop, they ha 

 amounted to it in the worst of these years. A half erop 

 of well tilled Potatoes, at the average markei _ 

 of these years, was worth 1 6/. the acre. It is a n ^ 

 prime acre of Oats that would bring 51. A half crop 

 such Potatoes would give an amplitude of food to a 

 for (.40 days. Such an acre of Oats would not feed ■■» 

 for more than 450 days. Supposing by increased fj 

 duction the market value of Potatoes were reoj£ 

 one half, which would be somewhat near their _ 

 before the appearance of the disease, the acrOQ 

 worth 81. x |j 



But with increased production we should rev^ ft 

 the conacre system of paying labour, wtasfy * ^ 

 afforded a great facility to the employer in pa) 1 * 1 * _ 



nd consequently enabled him to employ -i 



price 



labourer, and consequently eiuimcu «»«* ■ » eatfl ra * 



amount now un thought of, gave to the labourer an q ^ 

 Ifinf. to noar ristiiiii A *u^ am mm*, nf his present wage*** 



aneqw 



lent to near double the amount of his present n r«r~j fa 

 common price at which the manured acre oi . 



Potatoes was let was 51; this he laboured o» Q 



low as 



und- 



- -W . four JS^C Z-^SX^ 



hours, and valuing its produce even so lo ^^ 

 have sold an ordinary good acre for 121. in tne g ^ ^ 

 he would have a profit of 3/., together with n™™ 

 a pig fed on the refuse. , ,i e potato 



It is, then, the yet limited cultivation ol W ^ 

 that keeps us poor. We should ^JSrfjgt- 

 breadth of land under the erop the 

 able produce ; it would then, in sj»~ - . 



still constitute the cheapest as well as tne p» 



...ake up 

 deficiency' 



spit* of |he f 



dise3% 





