178 
THE FIELD 
[Saturday, 
their fair share of periland inconvenience, and at least an equal 
amount of glory ; and os these, with the pleasure of a healthy 
trip, seem to be the chief objects of young gentlemen engaged 
in these enterprises, the present journalists have their 
reword. 
An Account qf the present deplorable state of the 
Ecclesiastical Courts of Record. By W. D. Bruce, 
Esq. Henry Adams. 
Everthing which tends to ventilate this very mouldy 
subject, is heartily welcome ; and although the question of 
the reform of the Record offices has been for a very con- 
siderable time before the Legislature, it behoves every one, 
of no matter what political part)’, to keep public and private 
attention constantly fixed on the subject. How the abuses 
have grown it matters very little now ; but to be told in cold 
blood, as the author of this pamphlet informs us, as a deduc- 
tion from the facts which he has been at much lubour to 
collect, that all the wills of England are the private property 
of the registrars, is indeed a startling piece of enlighten- 
ment. The author says — “From Mr. Dyneley’s evidence 
we may expect, ere long, to see an advertisement in the 
Times, announcing that Messrs. Puttock and Simpson have 
been instructed by the executors of Mr.” (no matter who), 
registrar, “ to offer to public competition this unique and in- 
teresting collection.” Without the slightest disrespect to that 
most excellent body, we may be allowed to say that the clergy 
are not first-rate men of business, and it would be a satis- 
faction to seo documents, which may be fairly 6aid to contain 
the title deeds of nine-tenths of the community, in more 
certain hands. Whether Mr. Bruce’s remedy is exactly the 
right one, we leave for others to discuss ; but the safe 
custody of the testamentary documents of the kingdom is a 
matter of too much personal and literary consideration to be 
passed over in silence. 
iBm gdfer-gig. 
CAPITAL RUN WITH THE VINE FOXHOUNDS. 
The meet was on Thursday, the 16th in6t., at Wasing 
Park, where the hounds, on being thrown into covert in the 
park, soon proclaimed that reynard was at home. He soon 
broke, and went away at a slapping pace through Alder- 
moston Park to the fir plantations at Mortimer West End, 
evidently whliing to find a safe retreat from his foes in the 
■ ■Id Roman Walls at Silchester, but was doomed to disap- 
pointment by being headed by some foot people. He then 
turned short to the left, leaving the plantations on his left, 
across the Burnt common, through Padworth Gullies and 
Aldermaston Park back to Wasing Park, where he endea- 
voured to run to ground in a rabbit’s burrow, but was pre- 
vented by the gallant pack running into him. The run 
throughout was very fast, and with scarcely a check. They 
then trotted off to’ Tadley Place, where the varmint was 
again at home, and went away at a slashing pace through 
Baughurst to Wolverton, where, having come to a check, 
and it* being late, they were compelled to whip off. 
Amongst the field was a little boy on a pony, who greatly 
distinguished himself by his daring riding. 
I ain happy to say that under the able management of 
the worthy master and his efficient servants, this pack is 
redeeming its character. Harkaway. 
TIIE DUKE OF BEAUFORT’S HOUNDS. 
Sir, — P ew packs of hounds have shown better sport 
than the Beaufort, taking the season throughout ; the 
present Duke enters into the spirit of the chase, and is 
evidently very fond indeed of hunting — in the proper 
acceptation of the word — if report says true, there is every 
probability of these hounds hunting five if not six days a 
week, next season. I regret to add that Charles Long, the 
first whipper-jn, met with so serious an accident last week 
that there can he little hope of his appearing in the field 
again this season ; the accident happened in the Trouble 
House country, from Long’s horse falling on him, from 
which he received severe internal injuries. The Duke, 
with the usual kindness for which the Beaufort family is 
proverbial, had him conveyed home and placed under 
medical advice. These hounds are looking well, and Will. 
Long is as cheery as ever ; and I should not be surprised 
if he was to be haunted with the ghosts of foxes in his 
sleep (from the numbers he has killed), similar to our 
friend, in your excellent picture, in last week’s paper, after 
his kidney 6upper. — Yours, Ranger. 
COURSING. , 
Mr. Editor, — H aving seen a widely-circulated report in 
your | aper of last week of the course of Steamer and Light- 
ning run at Hurborough Magna, Warwickshire, at a day 
given by the kind permission of SirTbomas Skipwith, Bart., 
in which course a red dog, named Andy, was also slipped by 
mistake, I take the liberty of writing to you. I happened 
to be in a position to see that course, and I have no hesita- 
tion in stating that the red dog, Andy, and LightDing were 
the only dogs who coursed the hare, the white dog, Steamer, 
being “ Nou est inventus ; ” also that the red dog Andy had 
decidedly the best of the course. I am also authorised to 
state that the owner of Andy is perfectly willing to mutch 
the said Andy to run against either Lightning or Steamer 
for SOL, or aDy other sum t lie owner of Lightning may 
choose, giving the owner of Lightning the choice of ground ; 
providing only that a public judge he appointed. If you 
will allow this to appear in your columns, you will greatly 
oblige. Yours, 
A Tyro. 
LADIES' PETS. 
Mr. Editor,— I t is with much pleasure and amusement 
that I read your valuable paper every week ; and I find that 
many ladies besides myself do the same, and derive much 
information from your pages. 
My motive, Mr. Editor, in addressing you is to inform 
you that y ou would be conferring a very great boon on your 
fair readers if you would, from week to week, give them 
some plain directions for keeping and breeding, rearing and 
managing their domestic* pets — that is to say, small dogs, 
parrots, and all kinds of cage birds. I am unxious to 
breed from my toy terriers, but people tell me it is dungerous 
to do 60 on account of the risk the mother runs. I am also 
anxious to try and breed canaries and goldfinch and linnet 
mules. I have read the Bird Keeper’s Guide, &c., but I 
find them very deficient of information. Now, Mr. Editor, 
can you or any of your contributors favour your fair readers 
with some information on these matters? Must canaries 
and goldfinches be caged up to breed, or let loose in a room ? 
I remain, sir, yours most obediently, M. A. T. 
COCHIN CHINA FOWLS. 
Sir,— C an any of your readers inform me, through your 
valuable paper, what are the characteristics of a genuine 
Cochin China fowl ? We have so many auctions and sules 
of real (?) Cochins, that we are at a loss which lot J6 genuine 
or which spurious. PJeose excuse this trouble, and oblige. 
Please say are the eggs larger or smaller thun common. 
Yours truly, An Amateur. 
Cork, Feb. 17. 
TOP RING FOR TROLLING. 
Sin, — I ajrrce with your correspondent AXubg that the 
present trolling tops are very imperfect. In fact, the wear 
upon the line is so very great, more especially after the 
top ring is wet in channels by the running of the line, that 
I have to replace my dressed line of sixty yards every 
season. 
I am not quite certain that the plan your correspondent 
suggests will do all that is required. Will he oblige by 
allowing me to see one f 
A frien !, when trolling with me last week, lost a good 
fish from the breakage of the line at the part where it 
hangs at the ring, previous to making the cast. 
I have myself twice this season lost fish from the same 
cause. 
When spinning, a fish cannot be struck too quick and 
hard or with too stiff a rod, hence arises the importance of 
keeping the line in good condition. I am yours, 
W. A. Adams. 
Birmingham, Feb. 22nd, 1854. 
TROLLING TOPS FOR PIKE FISHING. 
Sir, — T he ring for a trolling top for pike, as described 
in your paper of last week, is a very good one. I always use 
that kind of ring, having seen a description of the 6ame 
ring, and also a drawing of it, in a book published by Van 
Voorst, Paternoster-row, in 1851, audjenti tied “ Fly-fishing 
in Salt and Fresh Water, See.,” in which book A \uiie, who 
appears to be a determined pike fisher, would, I think, find 
some very useful information respecting the art of trolling. 
— Seep. 28, plate V., in that book. I am, &c., 
Flumen. 
SMELTS. 
Sir, — I asked a question in the last week’s “Field” 
about fly-fishing for 6molts. The answer was — “I know 
nothing about fly-fishing for smelts, or, indeed, what fish is 
meant. If it he the young of salmon, no doubt it will take 
the fly; but I, for one, would never advise to their killing.’’ 
Perhaps some of your readers can say whether the smelt, 
in some counties called the sparling, i6a distinct species from 
the salmon. I know a river in Cambridgeshire where they 
are caught in great numbers, and no salmon are ever seen 
in the river, which is nearly a hundred miles from the 
nearest place where salmon are caught. Some of your 
renders may be able to say also whether they can be taken by 
angling. 
In a small work called “British Fish and Fisheries,” it 
is said the smelt “ breeds in the fresh water, and resides there 
throughout the greater portion of the year.” 
It smells like a cucumber, and is a delicious fish. If you 
have never tasted one, you have a pleasure in reserve. 
Perhaps my queries may be noticed in your next number. 
Minnow. 
TREASURE TROVE. 
Sir, — T he gold coin which your correspondent states to 
have been found on the beach a few days ago by a coast 
guardsman, is probably ail aureus of Elagabalus; if 
II. A.L. L. will send yon an impression of the coin in seal- 
iug wax, I will endeavour to give him some idea of its 
value. Your obedient servant, 
J. C. J. 
CHESS. 
PROBLEM No. 47. 
Black. 
White. 
This position occurred recently in a game between Mr. E. 
Williams and an amateur, to whom he gave the odds of a 
Knight. 
Whitb having to play, gave mate in six moves. 
%* For answers to Chess Queries see “Notices to Correspondents.’ 
AGRICULTURAL TALK. 
The Boyal Agricultural Society have offered 
premium of two hundred pounds lor a steam cultivator 
which shall do the work of the spade or plough more 
economically than either of those ancient implements It 
is sufficient to announce the fact; it would be a useless 
risk to prophesy the result of this small premium on 
invention. It is scarcely probable that it will give any 
remarkable stimulus to the efforts of established implement 
makers, but it is just possible that it may direct the utten 
tion of some unknown mechanical genius to a very i m ~ 
portant subject, just as the attention of Jaquard was 
turned to experiments which ended in the invention of his 
celebrated loom. 
The attempts to supersede the plough with a rotatory 
digger have not succeeded. If the implement be light, the 
tines do not penetrate the ground ; if heavy, the work 
becomes too severe for any ordinary team of horses. 
The Lincoln Meeting will bring into notice a number of 
local implement makers, whose names have not hitherto 
travelled beyond Yorkshire and Lincolnshire. 
From a late number of the North British Agriculturist it 
appears that that capital implement the grubber has been in 
use, as a substitute for the plough in autumn and spring cul- 
tivation, for nearly thirty years in Mid-Lotliinn; and alight 
“ two-horse grubber,” invented twenty years ago, is quite as 
effective as any of the modern inventions. The Mid- 
Lothian farmer relates, that more than thirty years ago a 
Mr. Brown, at Lennie, on the banks of the Almond, 
practised grubbing in spring and autumn “ on a deep dry soft 
soil,” and thence the implement travelled into Peeblesshire. 
The form was very simple, being a frame containing the 
tines, with two handles for guiding it, and a double draw- 
ing bar, resting on an axle a foot long, supported by two 
wheels fifteen inches in diameter. The depth penetrated 
by the hind wheels was regulated by the man holding it, 
and the two wheels steadied the action of the front teeth, 
and prevented the horses suddenly jerking it into the fast 
soi 
The same writer observes, that the autumn grubbing 
alone will not extirpate weeds: Guano is the best exter- 
minator of weeds; — none are to be seen on outcrops that 
have been heavily top-dressed. “ With grain crops and root 
crops thoroughly shading and protecting the soil from the 
summer’s sun, a well-adjusted rotation, and deep autumn- 
ploughing of stubbles, root-weeds won’t long hold out; 
annuals may, but grubbing does not seem to kill them or 
thistles.” 
Tui-nips and Guano. — The transactions of the Highland 
Society contain some important experiments on the value 
of Guano as manure. Mr. James Porter, of Monymusk, 
Aberdeenshire, manured two half-acres of land, each 
divided into three plots, in the following manner, to the 
first, sowed with Laing’s improved Swedish turnips, with 
the result set down : — 
Tons cwt. qrs. 
Plot 1. Half manured with cwt. guano, 
produced of bulbs . . . 10 0 0 
„ 2. Half manured with 12 cubic yards 
farm-yard manure, produceof bulbs 10 0 2 
„ 3. Half manured with 6 do. & 1 cwt. 
14lbs. guano, produce of bulbs .11 3 2 
2. Golden Yellow Turnips. 
Plot. 1. 1 acre manured with cwt. guano, 
produced of bulbs . . . 17 3 2 
„ 2. 1 acre mnnured with 20 yards farm- 
yard manure, produce of bulbs . 17 2 0 
„ 3. 1 acre manured with 10 yards do. 
do. 2i cwt. guano, produce of 
bulbs . . . . . 18 7 0 
The soil being pretty equal, both fields bad been furrow- 
drained, subsoiled, and deep ploughed, and were in good 
cultivation. 
It will be seen that the difference in produce was not 
material. Nine cattle were chosen by Mr. J. Knowles, the 
butcher to the Queen, in Aberdeen, from a lot of two year 
nnda-half old cattle, crosses between the Aberdeen and 
short-horn, divided into three lots as equal as possible in 
point of weight, quality, and value. 
They had been reared on the farm, for the first four 
months, on milk from the pail, mixed with a little bruised 
oil-cake, and sometimes linseed. The winter following, 
they were fed with as much cut turnips and straw as they 
could eat, with an addition of l£ oil-cake to each beast. The 
following summer they were pastured. The second winter 
they were tied and fed on straw, and as many turnips ns 
they could eat. When shedding their teeth, they had their 
turnips cut ; at other times whole. The succeeding summer 
they were again pastured on old permanent grass land, and 
then fed for a month on rich second crop clover, previous 
to being tied up on turnips. They were housed 23rd Sept., 
fed moderately on yellow turnips and straw till the 8th of 
October, 1852, at which time they were weighed, and the 
experiments before refered to were commenced. The first 
half of the time on yellow, and the second half on Swedes, 
so as to supply richer food as the cattle increased in age. 
The turnips all topped and tailed on the field, and stored in 
November. The average heat of the byre during the 
experiment was 48 degrees Fahrenheit. 
The cattle when tied up were clipped quite bare from 
the rump to the neck, and nearly half down on the rib on 
each side, which had the effect of preventing over perspi- 
ration, and enabling them to be more easily kept clean. 
They stood on the bare stones while feeding, which pre- 
served their feet, and made them travel well ; were fed at 
regular hours, their beds kept clean, and curry-combed 
once a day. Nothing makes cattle thrive more than clean 
keeping, punctuality in feeding, and undisturbed rest at stated 
times. 
At the close of the experiment the cattle were sold to a 
butcher in Aberdeen, at £19 a head. 
The result of the experiment, as* shown in elaborate 
tables, was a gain of the beasts fed on farm-yard manure 
grown turnips of £4 10s. lOrf. over those fed on guanoed 
turnips, farm-yard manure and guano having further an 
advantage over pure guano of £2 S s. 9 d. 
The turnips grown with guano were larger, but softer 
than those grown with farm-yard manure. 
Another series of experiments, of the snme nature, by 
Mr. George Hope, of Fenton Burns, East Lothian, led 
him to the conclusion that the difference was insignificant, 
and guano the cheapest manure. 
Such experiments by careful men are of great value. 
The two papers should be read together ; they are full of 
interest to the beef-eating public at the present moment. 
