1851.J 



THE AGRICULTURAL GAZETTE. 



rntltv of the herbage is placed in the feeding racks in 



e varJa in the afternoon of each day, and the horses 

 - e jodged in the yards during the nights, from 6 o'clock 

 in the evening to the same hour in the morning, when 

 tbey eat a feed of Oats in the stable, and go to work. 

 Durinz the dry periods of summer the imlch cows are 

 terv advantageously treated with the evening's proven- 

 <jer"in cut Vetches, and given them in a feeding yard, 

 irbieh adjoins the cow-shed, and in which the greater 

 part of the cows are lodged more comfortably than in the 

 J^ed, where the closeness of a roofed house produces an 

 0Ter heated atmosphere, from the respiration of the 

 animals surcharged with the gaseous fluids of the succu- 

 lent Vetch. The open air is the best lodging, accom- 

 modated with a shelter shed. This feeding of the cows 

 tcrv much increases the quantity of milk. The store 

 gwine and even the brood cows that are not suck- 



\v are very economically fed with Vetches, of which 

 they eat the green and leafy part, and tread into dung 

 the under steins that are bare of foliage. Pigs are very 

 fond of Vetches, and thrive well upon the vegetable. 



The use of green Vetches for feeding horses, cows, 

 lldj swine, as above described, will extend throughout 

 the summer to the month of October. During that 

 t mo a very large quantity of excellent manure will be 

 produced if the very essential provision be made of an 

 ample store of straw for tlTe summer's use, and built 

 in'oa stack for the special purpose from the spring 

 tlTe3liings of the grain. 



Ani nals fed with Vetches render much urine, which 

 impregnates the earthy culms of the straw, and is the 

 be t use of liquids that is yet known. The quantity of 

 li.ter must be sufficient to absorb all the urine, and if 

 this condition be complied with, the yards will be 

 employed in the manufactory of dung in the summer 

 equally as in winter, and the process will never cease 

 throughout the year. This is a grand point of attain- 

 ment to have a constant fabrication of the vital prin- 

 ciple of any agricultural undertaking. The animals will 

 refuse the under stems of the Vetch plant, as they 

 become woody, and bare of leaves, and this residue 

 must he spread evenly over the surface of the yards, in 

 order to get mixed with the straws, and be decomposed 

 • ether. The level accumulation being evenly wetted 

 with the urine of the animals, will become a mass of 

 much value. 



A crop of Vetches must completely cover the surface 

 of the ground, by means of the umbrageous foliage which 

 is intertwined and linked together by the tendrils, or 

 spirally twisted threads on the upper ends of the common 

 footstalk of the leaves. In this way the Vetch resem- 

 bles the crop of Peas, as both plants belong to one 

 family, and smother and kill every weed, retain moisture, 

 and encourage an incipient decomposition of particles on 

 the surface of the ground, by the exclusion of air and 

 light. Consequently, when Vetches are grown on clayey 

 loams, the land is sown with Wheat, on a single furrow 

 of ploughing, after being scuffled clean of any surface 

 *eeds, and in some cases treated with a light dose of 

 farm-yard dung. This last application refers to lands of 

 prime quality, which is in tilth and cleanness to be sown 

 with Grass seeds. In most cases, the Vetch forms a 

 catch crop, and the land is fallowed before being seeded 

 *rith Clovers. When Vetches are grown on 'inferior 

 knd, the following crop is generally Oats in the* spring. 

 The latest crop of Vetches has been made into hay, 

 which has proved to be the most healthy provender that 

 can be eaten by horses. There are seeds formed in 

 some quantity at that season, and adhere to the 

 haulm ; and though, singly, they have proved a very 

 beating food, yet in mixture with the straw they may 

 be die cause of the value of the hay of Vetches. 



Wmter Vetches constitute a permanent variety of 

 the plant, and has no doubt been got by occasional 

 leavings of the spring-sown Vetches having been 

 observed to live through the winter, and being used in 

 propagation from the seed that was so produced. The 

 winter Vetch is sown on one ploughing of the land after 

 a crop of Wheat, and in two or three successive sowings 

 during the months of September and October, and 

 covered by the usual harrowings. A mixture of Wheat, 

 parley, and Oats is recommended, arid also Rye and 

 ^nter Beans, in a small ratio, with the Vetch seed ; and 

 ^pe is much used for that purpose, and very favour- 

 WJT where the crop is intended to be consumed by sheep, 

 ine crop of winter Vetches comes into an early use in 

 we ^spring, and is cut for soiling the animals of the farm 



603 



prove very beneficial and cannot fail to materially assist I county of Ireland ; and hem the extensive cultur^f 

 the general amelioration of the farm. In cases of upe- [ the Taw til v Oats, so called locally because of vj 



rior lands, the crop is used as above described ; and 

 after it is consumed, the land is sown with Wheat, on 

 one ploughing, in the month of October. The crop t 

 Vetches defers the fallowing process, but by no means 

 abolishes that indispensable renovator of fertility on all 

 soils that cannot be cultivated by drilled plants. 



Vetches, in the two varieties of the winter and summer 



of green food, which has become an easy attainment, 

 from the plants that are now known in the agricultural 

 world. Rye comes first in the spring as food for sheep, 

 and chiefly for ewes and lambs. Winter Vetches suc- 

 ceed closely, and introduce soiling in the yards, along 

 with feeding in the fields. Red Clover follows, and is 

 succeeded by the spring Vetches, which, in the dim nt 

 sowings, reach the month of October. White Turnips are 

 then ready — green globes succeed ; Swedes, yellows, 

 and hybrids are next introduced, which, with the assist- 

 ance of stored Cabbages and Beet-root, reach the season 

 of the winter Vetches of the next spring. Potatoes render 

 much assistance in feeding swine and the young cattle 

 in the yards, and in being steamed for the work horses. 

 By this arrangement every part of the year is supplied 

 with juicy esculent food, without which animal life must 

 ever be very imperfectly developed. And any farmer 

 who neglects the ample provision of such provender 

 knows not half his business, and is only qualified to 

 degrade the profession, and ruin himself. 



When success attends a crop of Vetches, no plant 

 better repays the labour of the farmer— it yields a large 

 quantity of very palatable food, and an immense residue 

 for the dung heap, which is formed both of easily de- 

 composable matter and of a more lasting earthy struc- 

 ture. In this respect the haulm of the Vetch ex 

 almost any other plant, both in the quantity and quality 

 of the decomposing residue. Like the Pea. it must 



colour ; but better known elsewhere as* the Don, or Dui. 

 Winter (hits, which stands the severest winters, and 

 ripens early. The grain is good, though the pr luce is 

 light, and the straw of little value, except for dung, 

 threshed by a machine, or thatch, when threshed in the 

 ordinary way. 



Black Oats. 



The Tartarian, more especial Iv, seem 



distinctions, constitute a very valuable link in the chain to do much better in this countv, being less liable to 



blight than the white kinds. 



Beans, on all setts suited to their culture, never did 

 better than they did this year ; but within the last ten 

 days they appear to have suffered much from blight in 

 the leaves, and, of course, a cessation of growth in most 

 places. The early sown, or forward crops, will be good ; 

 but the late sown*, I fear, will be light in quantity, and 

 poor in quality. This should be a lesson to Irish Bean 

 growers to sow early— before Christmas, if possible. 



poor 



peared 



to do better than they did this year, up to the present 

 time ; but whether the farmer's* h< pes will I realised 

 as regards quality in this crop, is yet to b< determined : 

 but speaking from long experience in the growth of 



Teas, it is much to be feared that the showery weather 



now set in will much favour the rava s of. maggot 



long known to be highly injurious to the Tea crops in 

 wet harvests. 



Flax, now becoming again a favourite crop with 

 the people of this countv, wherever fairly cultivated^ 

 did very well this year ; so much so, that many 

 farmers, hitherto listless in its regard, are already 

 making up their minds on a more extensive cultivation 

 of it next year ; whilst those who have establishment^ 

 for stepping on Schenck's system, with iflipfoi 1 dressing 

 appendages, are enlarging their establishments, and new 

 stablishmentsspringi p in localities where until lately 



thickly sown, not under four bushels an acre on land of such had not been thought of; and as home grown seed 

 any degree of quality. The writer of this article has has been known to produce as good crops, if not better 



had a long and large acquaintance with Vetches on 

 lands of various descriptions, from the very light sandy 

 loams of the new red sandstone, and the iron sands 

 that lie below the gault of Surrey, to the most obdurate 

 and intractable of all eultivaf Hands in Britain — in the 

 clays of the plastic formation, and the London deposit ; 

 and he can very safely state that the above quantity of 

 four bushels is not at all an overseeding of an acre of 

 Vetches. The spring sowing requires more seed than the 

 autumn season, when three bushels will be sufficient. A 

 thin crop of Peas or Vetches is the most pernicious to 

 the land of any growth that is known— the vacant spaces 

 are quickly filled with weeds, which are propagated 

 unchecked both by the root and the seeds. Vetche 

 being cut for use, do not allow the maturation of the 

 seeds so much as the ripened crop of Peas, but of either 

 plant a thin crop should be ploughed without delay, and 

 the land fallowed. Very much of the prejudice enter- 

 tained against these plants arises from this point of 

 misman agemen t. 



A use of Vetches has been proposed in allowing the 

 whole crop of the spring sown plants to remain on the 

 ground and die, and rot upon it, and answer the pur- 

 pose of a manuring. In this w-ay, a good crop of Oats 

 might be obtained by one ploughing of the land, but 

 a year's value of the land will be lost, and the farming 

 will be foul, by reason of the weeds being imperfectly 

 extirpated, and the Vetches would leave many remnants 

 of life to encumber the crop of Oats. Consequently, 

 the intervention of this rotting crop would only lengthen 

 the rotation, and defer the fallowing of the land ; and it 

 might form too large a subtraction from the value of the 

 crops of the rotation to have two years idle in the 

 bare fallowing, and the Vetches growing on the land. 

 If the crop of Vetches can be obtained, the rotting of 

 the vegetables on or in the ground might tend to add 

 loam to the soil, which is just what is wanted by clay 

 lands. J, D. 



less by the 

 and lately 

 full vigour. 



In ih J i ' and is also eaten on the ground by sheep, 

 hurdl ♦) ™* 7 ' the animaIs are confined in a fold of 

 *s that is pitched in a close regularity over the 

 "id closely adjoining to the growing Vetches, 



ima u CUt hy sc J the > and pJaced in racks in the fold. 

 of f ?y thod is undoubtedly preferable to the old custom 

 ^ joiamg the animals upon the Vetches, and thus 



ground 



*hi 



Thi 



'J**S together the food, urine, and excrements, 

 j^ne ground from which the Vetches are cut for soil- 

 j,J[ IS inured by folding the sheep regularly over the 

 ©the***' t0 which tlle vegetables are carried from the 

 IauV * >artS °* ^ le cro P' and pl ace( * in racks in the fold, 

 the T W * y a fieId of Iand 5s e q uall >' benefited ; and when 

 late j P 1S Wholly used > the land is once Ploughed j n the 

 *uffl T^ ° r eariv Ju,v » 8evere,v harrowed, and lightly 

 It is and fiovvn witn TmtipBi in rows on the flat. 

 pnlver^ ^ °PP ortunit y ot " "sing guano, or some finely- 

 fein* k . auxiliar y manure j and a fair crop of Turnips 

 Wf V L ne< k a second manuring will be given to the 

 *nd uii? ♦! Turni P s bein S' consumed on the ground, 

 feedin confer a lasting fertility by two successive 



jT* n S crops. On lands that fall below the medium 

 ^ ree of fertility, this mode of using the ground will 



CROPS IN THE COUNTY OF WEXFORD. 



Wheats are, I believe, far below an average crop, 

 being in all places, with very few exceptions, blighted 

 in various w r ays. First, by the rotting of the roots, which 

 caused a simple cessation of further growth in the 

 plants, before the grain became much more than merely 

 " set." Secondly, by the attacks of the Wheat-fly, whose 

 ravages by the larvee are very extensive in most places. 

 And thirdly, by an unknown cause of blight, which 

 affects one side, and one side only, of most heads, all 

 through each field. Thus far, as regards autumn or 

 winter-sown Wheats. Spring-sown Wheats appear, up 

 to the present, to have escaped the above disasters ; 

 perhaps, because of their less advanced state towards 

 maturity, at the periods of occurrence in those more 

 advanced. And it depends now on the favourableness 

 of the month of September, and the latter part of this j 

 month, to determine how far spring-sown Wheats may 

 be more successful, as they were in many places last 

 year, than the more early sown crops. Should this 

 anticipation be realised, it will go still further to re- 

 move the old objection to Turnip culture, — * the land 

 could not be cleared of the crop in time to sow the autumn 

 or winter Wheats." 



Barley is in this locality, and, I believe, throughout 

 this great Barley-growing county, a good crop, much 

 better than of last year. 



Oats.— All the white varieties sown in spring severely 

 blighted, nor have the same kinds, though sown in 

 autumn, fully escaped. Such blights are more common 

 in 



than those produced from imported s^ed, and as the 



value of the seed is now becoming so well known in the 

 economy of stock feeding, very many who nevel* before 

 grew Flax, are now seeking to save their own seed both 

 for feeding and future growth. 



TiRMrs. — The ravages of the new pest, the moth, so 

 much complained of in most places, have proved fatal 

 to many of the best Swede crops in this county. The 

 very early and strong Swedes appear to have escaped 

 best, at least, so with me ; whilst the late sown rough- 

 leaved varieties are likely to do well, now that the 

 ravages of the pest appear to have ceased. 



Cabbagrs, of all kinds, suffered more or 

 moth in question, especially those young 

 transplanted, whilst the little animal was in 



Mangold Wurzel, so long so highly prized in this 

 county, has had a narrow escape this season, owing to 

 the attacks of a fly, in character much resembling the 

 u blue bottle," which produces " the jumpers" in bacon,, 

 or the fly which produces the "maggots" in sheep. 

 This fly deposited its eggs between the two skins— the 

 upper and under— of the leaf, in large quantities ; and 

 as these pests increased in size, and fed through the 

 leaf, actually destroyed its functions ; hence it is we now 

 see so many fine crops disfigured by withered leaves, and 



the crops less luxuriant than under other circumstances 

 they w r ould be. 



Sugar Beet, now becoming a favourite crop, not only 

 for cattle feeding, but with the view of obtaining 

 supplies to warrant the establishment of segar manu- 

 factories, suffered in the same degree with the ordinary 

 Mangold Wurzel ; but in spite of the ravages of the insect 

 in many places still at work, good hopes are entertained 

 of heavy crops of all the sorts. 



Carrots, in some parts, thin in number ; the Altring- 

 ham more especially (with me at least) promising very 

 well. The White Belgian and Long Red Surrey doing, 

 much better. 



Parsnips, the Hollow-crowned more especially, on all 

 suitable soils well prepared, a successful crop. 



Meadows generally good, and hay generally well 

 secured. 



# Pastures, quality of land considered, very fair, though 

 the produce in butter is light in most dairies, whilst the 

 -ale of store and fat Cattle is far from remunerative^ 

 The case is quite different with sheep, for both lambs, 

 hoggets, fat sheep, and wool, have in price rewarded the 

 flock-keeper's laborious industry. 



Pigs healthy; and though the prices have been low, the 

 sales have been remunerative, owing to the low prices 

 of foreign food and the improved systems adopted in 

 pig feeding on the produce of the farm, despite the 

 repeated Potato failures. 



Poultry on the increase, and much improved in cha- 

 racter of breeds and quality of marketable specimens. 



Whenever varied cropping with such modern improve- 

 ments have been adopted, and mutual confidence exist- 

 ing between landlords and tenants in this county, the 

 farmer's pro-pects are by no means so discouraging as 

 in others, where the system of wild extirmination cuts 

 a more prominent figure. But even in this our "model 

 county," we have our "dark spots," and sullen looks of 

 despair, in uttering the fatal words now so common 

 amongst the once happy Wexford farmer, whose desti- 

 nation is " the poor-house or America 



E. Carroll, Bey 



Erin, Castlcbridyc. 



Teas 



THE CULTURE OF THE PEA. 



February 



• 



umn, luuy escaped, such blights are more common ***» are sown during the months ol , 



this county than I have ever known in any other and March on the stubbles of Wheat, Barley, and 



