THE AGRICULTURAL GAZETTE, 



Sept vr 



must be such an one as 

 the rich grazing farms of Lincolnshire 



'He 



the owner or occupier of 



-combining 



cannot but 



of the forest send down their roots to depths beyond and this is the moi 



some tillage with much grazing 

 realise a fair profit while the general prosperity 

 of the kingdom continues to insure numerous 

 consumers of beef and mutton, and butter (pro- 

 ducing 19*. per lb.), on both sides of their bread 

 We found a higher price than this for fresh 

 butter in the Boston market, where a remarkably 

 well dressed and respectable looking assemblage^ ot 

 farmers' servants and market-women was disposing 

 of their dairy and poultry-yard produce at decidedly 



remunerating prices. 



In West Cumberland the wages ot labourers are 



at least as high as in Lincoln, and there they enjoy 

 the great boon of very cheap coals. Farm offices 

 are springing up, with due regard to the manure 

 tank system, and bearing out Sir James Graham's 

 declaration, that there are competitors enough for 

 any vacated farm. The labourers there are anions 

 the best in circumstances in England. 

 be otherwise, when they usually receive 10s. a week, 

 with hardly any expense for coals, and bread on 

 such cheap terms! It is curious that farm wages 

 are now so much higher in the north than in the 

 south of Kngland, though the contrary was the fact 

 200 years ago. Mr. Macaulay states that at that 

 period Wheat was 70s. a quarter, and labourers 

 earned only Is. in summer, and 6s. in winter in the 

 southern counties, and less in the north. The 

 labourer in the north and north-west of England is 

 now certainly as well off in every respect as those 

 of his class have ever been. 



The competition for labour in those counties 

 where neither manufactures nor mining (as in West 

 Cumberland) afford employment, will, as far as we 





xcusable as thpl ~~" 

 what we can conceive to be the reach of aerial influences, best adapted to the Potato. Indeed a m **• -^ 

 and of the regions of organic food, into the magazines of the Irish Farmers 9 Gazette, who farms ver^i***^* 

 crude inorganic matters. commends in clay soils the application of -* 



By the experiments of Wade, we are taught that *~ "*-- 



the dissolving action of water is not sufficient to 



How can it 



extract from the aluminous particles of the soil the 

 ammonia of their saturation, and we are thus taught 

 to look for a more powerful elective attraction 

 in the roots of plants ; this appears to reside in the 

 spongioles of their extremities. In the first growth 

 of a plant, when its roots are small and few, this 

 attraction, although sufficient for a development of 

 leaf that will ensure the continuance of its kind, may not 

 be, and is not found able to exert a force equal to that 

 abnormal production which our cultivation requires ; a 

 mass of vegetable and animal matter, giving out an 

 excess of ammonia over what the circumjacent clay can 

 absorb, will, placed immediately in contact with the 

 roots, <nve a supply of free ammoniacal and carbonaceous 

 food as will enable the plant to put up an immense 

 development of leaf, far exceeding what it could do were 

 it depending on what its elective attraction could force 

 from the embraces of the particles of clay with which its 

 few weak and minute spongioles could come into 

 contact ; neither does a plant at this period of its 

 growth require the inorganic matters of the soil. We 

 see in impoverished soils how much, from this want of 

 a free supply of food, the young plants suffer at the 

 period of their growth when they have used up the food 

 their seeds gave them ; their leaves turn yellow, and 

 some unfortunate insect is conjured up to account for 

 this appearance, and for the gaps that starvation has 

 caused. In my land, of its first year's occupation, by 

 me, this is evidently seen- — for years wretchedly tilled, 

 unmanured, cold, and wet ; nine-tenths of the seed I 



dung. 



On this subject Mr. Hunter savs 



kind of manure for this subj ect^ 1^2t * 

 manure, in its first stage of decomposition r?** 

 mentation half over. The more J? ; ' R ^ 

 weight, so much the better is it ; f or bv k * * * 

 decomposition, the space which it L >&*** 

 become more vacant, and the surface^ 16 ? * 

 naturally sink therein, during which proc J°!L 

 will be kept open by this imperceptible m ft 

 through which the air will have free access ^^ 

 benefit much to be desired in the raisin* nV w* 1 

 crop." M- w— *— «. -.:«:— t- i-"- . * 0! » T 



for he not 





Mr. Hunter's opinion is deserving of att«2* 

 >t only is an extensive grower of Twr? i^ 



nips.ll 



also succeeds in raising large unmissing crops off LS 

 clay soils. Yet with due deference to this nVin- 



°puuon, n| 



however desirable it be to keep clay soils own 1 1|S 

 this bulky manure in the shallow drills he rwnm * 



r ecommp|fc 



would render the drills too dry ; perhaps, howem » 

 the dripping climate of Cork this may not be the c* 

 Besides, as it is in the last stages of decomp 08 ia on rfZ 

 manures supply their nutritious products to pfa«k 

 the young Turnip in its first growth, whVk 

 most requires stimulants, would derive vervjfcu 

 benefit from manure in its " first stage of decom™**^-» 



Liebig 



can judge, continue, without probability of greater 

 encouragement to the midland and southern farmer 

 to employ labourers. " What is your secret ?" — we 

 asked of a West Cumberland gentleman, engaged 

 both in agriculture and commerce. " My secret," he 

 replied, u is, not to waste manures ; I buy inferior 

 and damaged Indian Corn and Rice for my pigs ; 

 and I sell my best Barley and Oats. Bacon 

 pays me well. Foreigners will send us Wheat 

 in preference to Oats— and I now grow Oats ac- 

 cordingly, which this year are paying well." 



We know how the miser saved his starving horse 

 from death— by " trying Oats." We shall do the 

 same ourselves if we can ; but this, however it might 

 answer as a particular specific for one tenant 

 farmer, cannot be looked upon as a general remedy 

 or at all calculated to improve the lot of the 

 labourer. We cannot see any immediate prospect of 

 alleviation in his condition, and we should regret 

 to find a forced flow of emigration from England 

 become as necessary as it appears to be in Ire- 

 land, where the able-bodied peasants are leaving 

 their homes in hundreds of thousands. M. D, 



sowed in it perished ; the plants came up so poor and 

 weak as scarcely to be seen — they were starved in their 

 infancy ; yet such as survived, when their roots had ex- 

 tended, and had' acquired strength and mouths to force 

 from the clay and take in the organic matter it holds, 

 show in their rankness that there is no deficiency of 

 diffused manure. 



The Irish are very fond of growing their Potatoes in 

 beds, and contend the produce is greater than in drills, 

 and I verily believe they are right on the average tillage ; 

 here the manure is distributed in a thin stratum over 

 the whole bed, and, lying between two layers of clay, it 

 acts upon a large surface of inorganic matters, convert- 

 ing them into soluble salts ; and I have heard it con- 

 tended that the land is even left more fertile than when 

 the dung has been concentrated in drills, and the inter- 

 vals comminuted by repeated workings. To the small 

 farmer with a weak team, this plan of tillage, however 

 unthinkingly condemned by would-be improvers of the 

 day, has the advantage of a deeper tillage than he could 

 effect under the drill practice, for he digs the furrows to 

 the full depth of the surface-soil, and generally brings 

 up some little of the subsoil. Yet I have had under 

 peculiar tillage far heavier crops of Potatoes in row 

 than I have seen in beds. Still there are said to be 



says " Ammonia is the last product of fe 

 putrefaction of animal bodies ;"' " Carbonic acid mi 

 water, and ammonia, are the final products of auM 

 and vegetable matter. 51 And again he says, tt |^ 

 nutriment of young plants consists of carbonic adit 

 contained in the soil in the form of humus, and jf 

 nitrogen in the form of ammonia." 



The first development of plants, and their fat 

 abnormal growth, mainly depends on the eaftg 

 enlargement of the organs through which they iolk 

 their food, is then promoted by concentrating their 

 nutriment within the reach of the young roots, wife 

 their after progress is better ensured by a distribute 

 of our manures through the soil, which, in their ex;: : 

 division will, aided by atmospheric influences, so act « 

 the crude inorganic substances in the soil, as to suppfr 

 them in greater abundance with matter in a state fit 

 for assimilation, than they would be supplied with, wo* 

 the action of the manure restricted to their 



superficies which, placed in a cmicentratedlineinill^ 

 it would expose to the surrounding inorganic partickl 

 of the soil. /. M. Goodiff, Granard. 



£3 



got 



MANURES : CONCENTRATION OR DISTRI- 

 BUTION ? 

 In the Agricultural Gazette, of the 14th June last, 

 attention is called under the above heading to the 

 action of manures ; and, if it is not matter of indif- 

 ference how manure is deposited, and we cannot think 

 it is, we owe thanks to Mr. Charles Lawrence for 

 calling attention to the subject, and I did hope his 

 appeal would have awakened more than, by the silence 

 with which it has been received, it appears to have 

 done. I must think it one well worthy of discussion 

 and of experiment, too, in which latter itappears to have' 

 been altogether neglected. Possibly the mode of 

 application should be ruled by the object with which 

 manure is applied ; if to promote the rapid and 

 large development of the plant in its first stage of 

 growth, then the concentration will be found of great 

 value, as in that of superphosphate of lime, bones, 



dun- in the Turiup-drills ; but as all roots 

 descend m the ground, almost immediately after the 

 production of their first leaves, to a greater depth 

 than we can suppose the influenee of the fres 

 applied manure to extend, the manure thus concen- 

 trated, except in the immediate short lateral fibres 

 must very soon cease to be operative in the farther 

 development of the plant ; and it then lies _ _ \ )^ 

 untd distributed through the soil in future tillage, after 

 the removal of the crop. It is a very great error to 

 suppose the concentration of manure will restrain the 

 roots of plants from extending into unmanured space- 

 it^ a rule of Nature that th°ey should so extend/ tney' 

 thus secure the stability of the superstructure of the 

 plant and the more r ular and abundant supply of 



heldTr° aTery ' < US ** «™*™> ^ " ^ 



of our 



and 



The roots 



only descend beyond the influenc 



short period it inevitably perishes" 

 ", 2S^** ^Uer, no" 



instances, and not uncommon ones, of 12 tons bein 

 from an acre of beds. But Potatoes do not require the 

 same immediate action of manure that seeds do, for in 

 the sets they contain a much larger amount of directly 

 available food ; indeed it is a practice that appears very 

 successful, to plant the sets in the beds and not to manure 

 them till they are coming above ground, when the 

 manure is covered from the furrows ; it is attended with 

 an advantage in smothering the first growth of weeds, 

 and really helps very much to their future cleanliness, 

 for, with a second dressing of clay from the furrows, 

 when they are breaking through the first, a second 

 smothering takes place, and the growth of the plants 

 then being very rapid, they cover the ground before the 

 third growth of weeds acquire strength. In rich feeding 

 grounds, it is common to grow, on breaking them up, two 

 crops of Potatoes in succession, and three of Oats with- 

 out manure, and then to leave them to get a coat of 

 Grass again, which they soon do. 



In Turnips, on the contrary, from the smallness of 

 the seeds, the food of the young plants they contain is 

 so soon exhausted, that an immediate supply of free 

 organic pabulum is required, and this becomes still 

 more necessary from the very fatal attacks of the fly in 

 their first growth ; the concentration of the dun^ 

 therefore, immediately beneath the seeds, appears 

 advisable. Yet, as the young plant very soon sends 

 down its roots to a greater depth than we can suppose 

 the influence of this fresh application of concentrated 

 an inert mass, | manure to extend— a Turnip, when it attains its rough 



leaf, has pushed down its root nine or more inches— we 

 must think it will tend to continue the quick growth 

 which we have induced by concentration, to provide for 

 its after food by manure more deeply distributed I 

 should think that, instead of leaving the farm-yard 

 manure in a body in the drill, as is usual, and with the 

 usual mode of using with it guano and superphosphate 

 ot lime, it would promote a large development of the 

 Turnip to work the farm-yard manure into the drill 

 to as great a depth, and to mix it with 



POULTRY PILGRIMAGES. 



[I. May 8, 1851] 



Ditchingham Park skirts the highway leading tm 

 Norwich to Bungay, at about two miles north of we 

 latter town, which is just within the borders rf Saffifc 

 It affords the most pleasing prospect which metis* 

 eye of the traveller for many a mile. The to $m 

 over the park-paling gives a hint that the jte if 

 have been laid out under the inspiration <Atef* 

 Genius of Capability; the gentlemanly red-brick nfr 

 sion, backed bv evergreens, the unbroken woods ot m 

 and Oaks, the broad expanseof pasture sloping from m 

 and the handsome sheet of water which reposfflM* 

 bottom of the valley, bear witness to the hiatoncjw 

 that Brown was the artist here. And tins umm 

 be said of his performances, however closely tne, ■* 

 be criticised, every one enjoys and admires tbe^*- 

 features that have just been described .m ^ 

 the high road, but the perfect point of vie* i> 

 hall door of the house. On looking for^jJJ 

 distant object is the handsome steeple ot wwjgj 

 Church, rising above the woods, which aie 

 right and left "to the very foreground on eacu . _. 

 picture ; between them is a bright swepJJJ 

 Grass, divided by what appears a respecter 

 the middle distance of the water is an islaja* fc 

 three-quarters of an acre, modelled on tno* 

 Thames above Richmond. On tins is a J* * 

 house, just conspicuous enough to attract l u . ^ 

 right point. The island appears « *%££+ 

 the river which Hows past it, tat this f P J^ji 

 be removed by changing some of tlie iax e 

 stand on it for shrubs. , ^ eye!* 



A merit in the Brownean landscapes * ^ » 



that ornamental poultry and ™ ter /'' to* 



give them the last finishing touchy A P* beaS »(f 



before one of Brown's mansions is ten , ^ ^ 

 priate as the high-heeled shoes, sdken sac ^ ,g 

 hedges in one of Watteau's garden s ce n^ ^ (ti j 

 and gentleman are dancing a ^nuet * » rf ^j 

 one does not regret being unable to ne./, ^m 

 tabor. On the lake there must be swan * 



besides them whatever water hi/d* "* fci*!** 

 half-familiar, half-independent habits i h(0 m 



continue their residence within ui *^*m 

 Farm-yard things are to be kept oj|ti ^ J* 



as rigorously as errand-boys with paiceb ^ 



Bedingneld tried ^ ^ his J* 



iusly 

 Exchange. Mr. 



mass of manure, but at very ^f^S^f^f I intilB ^5*« fcK£^ to fa^th A^Uri^h 

 «.^k u_ — mJ.;*-..*.. * J Periods of their compost. In clay soils, where the bottoms of the drills 



turning 



duck- 



some party-coloured i taine ^y bjg 



but' they would not do at ah*. « e ' tk #& WJ 



growth, beyond that of the manure which has becomo ' 

 d.str,buted_through the active soil of our cuTtivation" 

 their roots, either tap or fibrous, will, I believe wW 

 ^surmountable obstructions do' not «£"£ ^ 



dSetd to w Td d r not rt s T^y be *"»*S 



«*scend to a depth exceeding the height of the plants 

 above the ground. Governed^ this rule the lofty u'ees 



are so much consolidated by the carriage of the manure, 

 tins breaking ot them up must alone be advantageous, 

 by facilitating the development of the root ; and by tin 

 treatment longer manure may be applied, if it can be 

 worked in, than where the immediate feeding of the 

 seedling is intended. 



ducks, but they avoided the water, . »« ^ ^ m 



thrown out the heads of some ***£*£&& V>*~A 



by hook, without taking the trouble e ^ ^ 



j." 



the instruments of their capture, o ^ u 

 ducks that swallowed them of the ^ s - de9 s*& 

 tl re was soon an end of them. river no ^ 



mallards, the great ornaments 01 ^ ^ 

 Zir?'" ".— «^- /» «e*na,i must think, long or bernicle geese. There is a pa* . ^fes,* w 

 short dung is too indiscriminately applied to Turnips ; whatever may be the merits of tlus s F- 



In Ireland,! must think/ Ion 





