748 



Th^AGRI CULTURAL GAZETTE 



of llahv Coat, in th<? Abi y Holi , Cumberland, who 



tried his invention in 1832. " The cutter is a disc of a 

 r< da olygon of 12 sides, and the gatherer a revolving 

 drum with rakes, from the teeth of which a comb strips 

 the straw, which then drops at one point of the machine 

 in a continuous swathe. It requires horse power and a 

 man to grid*." Tims it appears that the reaping machine, 

 which < nes to us from America as an original invention, 

 had its birth in England ; that some of those which were 

 not successful, though not so simple and effective m the 

 cutting apparatus, were greatly superior in the property 

 of depositing the grain on the ground without the clumsy 

 and expensive process of the man and rake ; and we 

 think that, by and bye, one horse and a boy driver will 

 be hand sufficient for the work. While we attribute to 

 the American machine all the merit that belongs to it, 

 there is no need of lamentation that we derive it from a 

 foreign source ; for, independently of what we have 

 stated, it is a further consolation that Mr. M'Cormick is 

 himself a Scotchman, and so is his assistant, Mr. 

 M'Kenzfa Newcastle Journal. 



dead weight, and about 9 lbs. or more of meal or oil-cake undoubtedly 

 to make 1 lb. of beef. The fact is, when you sell a pig tress of the 



Home Correspondence. 



Clipping Farm Horses and Bullocks.— Having done 

 this the last five years, I can confirm its utility, and 

 even necessity, by my experience. If you doubt it, try 

 it on one of a pair of plough horses, and in less than a 

 week your horseman, however prejudiced, will beg to 

 have the other clipped. I assume, of course, that the 

 farm horses have a comfortable ventilated stable to lie 

 in at nights, the same as our nag horses. Is it not 

 strange that a farmer cannot consider the same prin- 

 ciple applicable to both classes of animals? Where is 

 t fir re so much vigour, condition, and activity as in the 

 London horses ? who are all comfortably ensconced at 

 night, their hay and straw cut, and their Oats bruised, 

 And their water "chilled " I find it a urood plan to clip 

 my farm horses piece-meal, my man taking a slice off 



h daily — the change is less sudden. The same re- 

 mark applies to bullocks. They certainly go on faster 

 without their great coats, which were never intended 

 ior warm boxes or stalls, but Nature's open fields. 

 Besides, I apprehend the hair requires daily nourish- 

 ment, as much in proportion as any other portion of the 

 body. The horses, instead of remaining wet all night, 

 are dry in a few minutes. /. /. Mechi, Tljptree Hall, 

 Nov. 4. 



Open Boarded Feeding Floors. — Having, since my 

 last, made many inquiries,! beg to state, first, that saw- 

 dust is a most excellent and useful absorbent ; and, 

 like the cut straw, becomes powerfully affected by the 

 action of the manure. I use all I can get in the neigh- 

 bourhood ; and, although I have not tried it, I have no 

 doubt tanners' refuse bark would be decomposed, and 

 answer well under the floors. From 24 to 30 inches is 

 deep enough fur the pits, which should be under cover, 

 and the building troughed. If in a sandy or porous 

 soil, it should be of bricks set in cement. The pits 

 under the bullocks should be at least 30 inches deep, 

 esp tally if, as in my case, there are two in a box, 

 10 feet by 8 clear of the feeding trough. I think I said, 

 before, 10 superficial feet for a sheep, and from 40 to GO 

 for a bullock, according to size, is ample space. In 

 winter your pigs can hardly be packed too close, if well 

 ventilated. Their shed must feel warm, or they will 



ing winter. Convenient sizes for lifting out 



to 



you get paid for his skin at full price, and head and foot 



half price ; whilst in a bullock you almost give away 

 the skin, head, &c. If I remember right, the skin is 

 about 15 per cent, of the net weight, or 8 per cent, of the 

 gross weight. This is why I like pig feeding. I think 

 it takes 160 lbs. of Turnips to make 1 lb. of meat, even 

 with good management. /. J.Mechi, Tiptree Hall, Nov. 4. 

 Storing Mangold WwzeL—ln regard to this subject, 

 I have to state that the method of storing is very simple, 

 but I do not think quite so cheap as the estimates given 

 in your Paper of the 8th. The price we give per acre 

 for pulling, twisting off the tops, and loading into the 

 cart, is 75. 6cl. per acre. We do not cut anything about 

 them when taken up. And % 1 think there is sufficient 

 reason for this, because we know that Beet-root is best 

 when taken up without the root being cut, as that allows 

 the sap to escape, and Mangold is much of the same 

 nature. We have no posts nor rails to store them 

 between, but lay them on the ground, about 6 or 8 feet 

 wide at the base, raising them up in a roof shape, 

 as high as they will lie together ; then we cover 

 them up with rough straw, sufficient to keep out the 

 frost. Afterwards they are thatched with straw as 

 it is tied up from the threshing-machine. The machine 



Irish. 



remedies 

 But we _ 



or starvation is a sad alternative' -In* T Cln 'gnai* 

 not be, and which, therefore, ou4 llTt that *3 

 landowners and land-agents --=» to be - " 



^ ; it is a UteThK; 

 ought not to U iK 

 their duty and their 'mt^^^f** to negfej 

 remain ill-cultivated or uncultivated • n? • Sh ° uld *® 

 sublet ; and if, from want of beUer J v ^ to * 

 peasant be still doomed to exist u poil f^V^ ** 

 until these evils cease, emigration mLth. £*> l H 



the noor starving T™hJL . ^? USt be a Messing 



to 



SI 



cot pay durin 



If there is a 



are panes of spars about 7 or 8 feet by 5. 

 deficiency of ashes, sawdust, or other absorbent, a 

 drain for the liquid is desirable, but I prefer having the 

 solid and liquid together. ~ " 



T Cattle and sheep may be 



• either loose or tied up on the floors. " 

 being loose, unless quarrelsome. 



I prefer their 

 T - — For fixing ammonia, 



i use gypsam from Mr. W. II. Potter, Clapham-road- 

 place, London. I find it better and cheaper than the 

 ground and expensive gypsum or stone. Some com- 

 mon salt, too, answers admirably for the purpose, and 

 gives us, by decomposition in the manure the alkali so 

 necessary for our crops. I have had abundant proof of 

 this on my own and other cases. As to feeding, my 

 young bullocks, weighing 400 lbs. net, get about 4 lbs. 

 of Kape-cake, and 1 bushel of cut roots, and about 

 14 lbs. of cut Wheat-straw chaff, with 1 lb of 

 Bean-meal. My cattle eat 100 bushels, or 900 lbs 

 of fine cut Wheat straw chaff daily. It is put into 

 large cast-iron pans, and the meal sifted amongst 



i* * 1 ° Z ' ° f 8aU t0 each 8ma!1 buHock, and 

 •ufh ent water to moisten it. The waste steam from 



IT pa i Se8 under and wound these pans, and 

 heats them ; the next day the food is given to the 



Sfl J P r Wann water for «**y animal where 

 ^^l eQ Tl * -~ *• «pe«« & heating it by 



Horses mfcht drink warm 



the carbon of the food. 



water at any time, as is the case at the London brewer,e 8 



ILTT iS 8 K g !, r0US t0 S ive them cold water Xn 

 heated, a hough the ploughmen are too apt to do so 



and g,ve them the « gripes." There is no dLht «t° ™! 



warm 



them 



being wliat is termed a bolting one, tnat is, 



that 



the 



sheaf is fed in sideways instead of endways, and the 

 straw comes out nearly straight, and fit for thatching. 

 If there is any danger of the bottom of the heap lying 

 too damp, we dig a small trench round it, or draw a 

 furrow with the plough, turning the furrow from the 

 heap; otherwise, if turned to the heap, it would catch the 

 rain that falls on the roof, and convey and keep it among 

 the roots. We have stored them between double rows 

 of hurdles, the distance between the inside hurdles being 

 about 6 feet, and the outside line about 8 inches from the 

 other, the opening being filled with straw. But this 

 requires a great number of hurdles, which are of little 

 use afterwards. The other is less trouble, and answers 

 equally well, for I am sure that we might have 

 kept the last year's crop up to the present time, if it 

 had been necessary. So you see the storing is simple, 

 and you shall presently see that the consummation of 

 them is equally so. We sometimes boil a few to mix up 

 with bran or Barley -meal for young pig?, or sows with 

 young, but we always let them have what they can eat 

 raw, as they come from the heap, and the young ones 

 soon learn to eat them without cooking. It is amusing 

 to see a little pig standing on the top of a root nearly as 

 large as itself, and eating it with a hearty good will : 

 they soon declare themselves independent of the cook. 

 For two years we have fed the large store pigs and dry 

 sows on the raw root entirely ; when the weather was 

 dry we gave them plenty of water in their trough, but 

 nothing else ; and some of them have appeared quite 

 fit for the butcher ; but we should not think them fit 

 to kill if only fed on this, because the flesh will not be 

 so firm as if they have Barley-meal, or any other grain. 

 I am aware that some have said Mangold is apt to make 

 the sows slip, but with us this has not been the case ; 

 indeed, out of from 20 to 30 sows, we have not had more 

 than two slips for these two years past, and that was 

 proved to be from the rough treatment they received 

 from their companions. Our fatting pigs have always 

 as many of the roots as they can eat. One word more 

 as to storing. All that we have to do is to keep out the 

 frost and rain, and at the same time give them air (which 

 they will obtain through the covering) and not have the 

 roots at all injured. Dorset Farm, Nov. 10. 



Fossil Remains. — A year ago last Christmas, I was 

 engaged levelling down an old pit on my farm, situate at 

 Middleton, in Suffolk, about three miles distant from the 

 sea, as the crow flies, and four or five by the road from 

 Dunwich. As I collect any fossil remains of shells and 

 bones that I can get, I instructed my men, if they turned 

 out anything curious, to save it for me, and accordingly 

 when I went to see how the work was going on, a very 

 beautiful (in my estimation) specimen of the ammonite 

 was presented to me, which they had dug out. The soil 

 in which they were digging was sandy, with a slight 

 admixture of clay, and as -far as our excavation went, 

 which was equal to a pit face of about 200 square feet, 

 it was perfectly barren of fossil remains, except the one 

 above mentioned, which I ought to mention is not quite 

 perfect, though sufficiently so to see a strong resemblance 

 to the fossil commonly called " ammonite.'' The follow- 

 ing paragraph in Sir C. LyelFs « Elements of Geologv" 

 (page 326) has raised three questions in my mind, 

 viz.,— How did this fossil get there ? Does it belong to 



poor starving Irishman ; and, until t\ SSln ? 

 duty and interest it is to remove these J?°** * h( "» 

 their part, emigration should be m^un^**?* 8 do 

 them take a friendly admonition, or aSS* , But * 

 suffer severely from the evils which thl J ^ ^ 

 has brought upon them Let them con^eTthS' 

 working poor constitute the sinews of w7li ?* 

 labour, well directed, constitutes the chief i '' 



only source of wealth. And let 



them 



p that 

 not the 



prevent that dire necessity which ~ compels *thJ* *° 



An exile, I am doom'd to roam." 



fairest isles in the Atlantic ocean, since it 

 many peculiar advantages ; its hidden tremre^^u 

 are incalculable. Even in its boss the c\*m* n *«'e f 



Let them consider that^ Ireland ought to be one of ri 



possesses 

 es, untold, 



i a a i i - . ekme «t8 of pros- 



perity are concealed ; and labour, guided by science £ 



the key to unlock and the power to bring them forth! 

 Deep draining— the manufacture of peat charcoal-the 

 cultivation and manufacture of Flax— the cultivation f 

 Beet and the extraction of its sugar— the adoption ot 

 the Belgian system of agriculture— and, where cultiva- 

 tion cannot be carried on, the more extensive breeding 

 of sheep and goats ; these, and other similar things, 

 offer a fine scope for the profitable employment °of 

 labour and the investment of capital. Yet, with all its 

 advantages, Ireland is still one of the most neglected 

 degraded islands under the "sun. And while ignorance 

 continues to keep its depressed inhabitants in their miser- 

 able condition, emigration must be a blessing to the poor 

 creatures. It makes a fine opening for the influx of 

 Scottish and English occupiers, who, with their enter- 

 prise, capital, and skill, will effect a complete reforma- 

 tion, converting many barren bogs into productive fields. 

 This is a consummation greatly to be desired, and a good 

 resulting from the calamitous famine, and the Act for 

 the Sale of Encumbered Estates. But let neither 

 Irish, English, nor Scotch capitalists imagine that 

 their estates can ever be prosperous while they 

 are living in another country, and annually drain- 

 ing these estates of that wealth which, like the dew 

 of the earth, should revert to the place from whence 

 it arose. Depopulation and emigration are, however, 

 making a fine opening for colonisation by Scottish and 

 English farmers, who should on no account emigrate 

 to detached farms, but form large colonies, in which 

 they would find mutual protection and assistance. The 

 subject naturally suggests the consideration oi the 

 tenure and cultivation of English as well as Irish farms ; 

 and, in conclusion, I take the liberty to say that there 

 is still great need of improvement in the letting and 

 cultivating farms in England. Of this Binn's « Kotes, 

 on the Agriculture of Lancashire," noticed in your 

 Gazette of the 1st of November, at p. 70Q,and many 

 facts of which I am cognisant, in various parts of the 

 kingdom, give abundant proof. If farms were properly 

 laid out, rightly let, so as to promote the best cultivation 

 and that fully carried out, many farmers might be saved 

 from ruin or emigration. But to effect this, we wait 

 more such men as the late Lord Leicester, and Mr. 

 Blacker, and his noble employer, and a few more of the 

 same character, now living, and striving to benefit their 

 dependents and the whole community, both in W™ 

 and Ireland. May their efforts be abundantly blessed, 

 and their example generally copied, and may nones 

 industry be liberally rewarded in ournative country, t^- 

 Annual Vegetable Exhibition at Chislehurst, W- 

 Nov. 12 — This day theschool-room in the p»* af0, JJ2 

 contains a good display of vegetables and fruit proauc _ 

 by cottagers. It is truly gratifying to behold the res 

 of industry within the district of the Chislehurat ve 

 table Society. Much credit is due to the cottager, as 

 { as to the founders of the Society and p^ff 8 ^ t0 

 first for his produce, the second for its ong«»» , 



the last for its progress. Although the * e ^ D ; 8 t 

 fruit are decidedly fine, the competition * not & . 

 as one would imagine, compared with t 1 

 district and its population. It is my 



> 



tins formation (a part of the tertiary) ? and if it d~oes that the number of exhibitors maybe ^f e fiS 

 not belong to tins formation to what does it belong 1 fold, simply by allotment ground, the benefit of ifof* 



give them raw Man^ld ^ and drvT 5 "' ™ " v ?> 6XpeMC ' l 

 iecess to water. 1 shouM tJSTSi ^1 ^ 

 or lattice pieces are 3 inches 2^^ P ^ 

 damp in the middle and one 'at L^ T* T 

 numerous correspondents will SL2 me i\1m $ 

 «d. of answering their queries. A. to i^^S; 





As these Maestricht beds have been thought to be 

 intermediate in character between the second and 

 tertiary formations, it may be proper to mention, as 

 opposed to this opinion, that the ammonite, baculite, 

 hamite, and hippurite have been found in the maestricht 

 limestone, genera which have not yet been detected 

 strata newer than chalk." 



i compeiiuuu *" - o £^ e 

 as one would imagine, compared with the exten .^ 



be 

 fold, simply by allotment ground, the ben—- j- 



one can deny. I think it not amiss to recommen ^ 

 agricultural labourer without a plot or garden, a ^ 

 there be I could point to in Chislehurst, to app J. 



vicinity 



out delay to the liberal landlord in his immea iww ^ 

 for a field where to exercise his spade a 



w ! implements for an 



to exercise nu* ■»!"— < lD(T oi 

 hour or two of a mom^ 



strata newer than chalk " No doubt a more exp^nc^d ' Z^ta"Sd^ndSt 7h"d^oi^ ^ 



solve my questions ; but in case the circumstance 



aXZit!''"'^ " *° J " m <0r "' S " Um - '■ R - *"** i "h-1 ^.,. to obtain , piece of £■*£'„ ?? 



Z S. ™ d . breed ' n ? ?'»*«"> «"em«i. \* I, , „ ™°" e l*i te r'" f s .? fe ' U " I . M8 "."""" endeavour which the l.tonrerlL to struffile for poe"""'?.",,^ 



takes 



now buy stoi 

 * ready made 



N.B. I 



of pork, net 





exist in 



g circumstances, emigration is ^ vegetables. The next tiling to be co; 



