'L--. -•^, D V y^ C^f 4^ 'S-^y ^-^ ^\^ J L r ^ ^^^^Xy^. THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. VOLUME THE TWENTY-SECOND. (second series.) JULY TO DECEMBER, MDCCCL. LONDON : O F F I C 1-:, 2 4. N (J R F O L K S T R E !•: T, S T R A N D , MAY UK IIAU liY ORUKR rilHOUUU ALL noOKSlU.LKKS. c 9: A n Li\J il JJ V 1^ • Printed by Joseph Rogerson, 24, Norfolk-street, Strand. INDEX TO THE TWEJNTY-SECOND VOLUME. (second series.) Agriculture, Application of Steam Power to the General Purposes of, 430 Agriculture and the Rural Population abroad. From the Correspondent of the ^lorninj Chroni- cle, 437, 530 Agriculture, Gleanings in, 242, 323, 535 Agriculture, Notes on American, 199 Agricultural Districts of England. By the Times Commissioner, 30, 108, 245, 336, 404,539 Agricultural Improvement, the Rise and Progreys of. By M. M. M., 3 Agricultural Intelligence, 82, 170, 206, 302 Agricultural Physiology, 543 Agricultural Reports, 79, 173, 263, 359, 457, 550 Agricultural Societies — Newton, 335 North Lonsdale, 511 Northumberland, 213 Penworthen, 410 Saffron ^Yalden, 436 Trafalgar, 515 Agricultural Statistics, 168, 300 Animal Food, on Increasing our Supplies of, 17 Averages, Imperial, 87, 181, 274, 309, 464. 557 B. Bark, Price of, R8, 182, 276, 370, 464 Barley, Cultivation in Strong Soils, 399 Bog (.'ultivation, 321 I5ritish Yeoman, Pedigree and De;i?rii)tion of, 183 Butter Market, 88, 182, 276, 370, 404, 558 Cattle Food and Cattle Feeding. By M. M. M., 187 Cattle, Great Sale of Mr. "Watson's t-hort-Horned, 260 Cattle-trade, Review of the, 174, 2<5i, 3&0, 4aS, 651 Chapmfini Mr. TbcttiM/ Memoir oit 1 Cheese-Making, Lecture on, 293 Chemistry applied to Agriculture, 476 Cheviot Ram and Ewes, Description of, 371 Clover, 259 Compost Heaps, on their Construction, 442 Corn Trade, Review of the, 83, 177, 270, 364, 459, 553 Covent Garden Market, Prices in, 182, 275 Currency, per Imperial Measure, 86, 181, 274, 368,463,557 D. Domestic and Cultural Economy. By J. Towers, 9, 92, 184, 277, 372,465 Drainage, Deep, 429 Drainage and Improvement of Land, 353 Drainage of Clay Land, the Theory and Practice of, 375 Draining certain Clay Soils too deeply, Mischiefs arising from, 312 Draining Strong Clays. By M. M. M., 281 Drains, Dec]) or Shallow, 400 Dry Warping, on, at Hatfield Chase, 334 Dublin Cattle Market, 451 E. ICast Loihian System of Farming, 478 E.vhibition of 1851, 382 F. Farm Buildings, a Plan for. By J. Hudson, Esq., of Castle Acre, 342 Farmer, the British. By Cutlibcrt W. Johnson, Esq., 90 Farmers' Clubs — Berwickshire, 427 Burton-on-Trent, 191 Clyst, 31.") Haddington, 305 London, 37, oOU Newcttbtlc, 405 Eparkcnhoei 202 iNrT:x Farming high in Aj'rshirc, 953 Farms, on the Pecuharities in the Management of, 394 Flax, Price of, 88, 182, 276, 370, 464, 558 G. Gas Water as a Manure, 542 Grass Permanent, on Laying-down Land to, 240 Green Crops, Ploughing-in versus Feeding-ofF, 401 H, Handley Testimonial, 446 Hay, Price of, 87, 276, 370 Hedges, the Osage Orange for, 1 14 Heifer, Description of a Short-Horned, 89 Hide and Skin Markets, 88, 182, 276, 370, 464, 558 High Farming, Discussion on, 37 Highland and Agricultural Society's Show at Glas- gow, 226 Highland and Agricultural Society, 481 Hops, the Management of, Picking, Drying, and Packing, 313 Hops, Price of, 87, 1 8 1, 275, 369, 464, 558 Horses, on the Feeding of Farm, 387 Horticulture, Calendar of, 77, l7l, 261, 357, 455, 54/ I. Jerusalem Artichoke, on the Cultivation, &c., 469 Irish Amelioration, 432 Irrigation, Lecture on, 315 Irrigation of small Plots of Grass Land, 467 Islington Cattle Market, 451 L. Labour and the Poor, 50, 159, 228, 325, 412, 522 Labourers, English, Irish, and Scotch Agricultural, 95 Lancashire, a Few Days in, 396 Land Drainage Water, its Composition. By Cuth- bert W. Johnson, Esq., 1 1 Landlords' Duties, 538 Landlords — Want can they do for us? By a Farmer, 290 M. Manure, Bone, Preparation for, 268 Manure, Liquid, 13 MauLire, Liquid, best and most economical Ap- plication of, 513 Manure, Liquid, distributed by Steam, 25 Manure, Liquid, Irrigation by, 257 Manure of the Pig, 373 Manure of Towns, Disposal of the Refuse, 105 Manures, Economy of. A Lecture, ])y Dr. Ander- ton, 223 Manures, Price of, 88, 182, 276,370 Market, Live and De:ul Moat, in the Metropolis, 244 Meat Trade in Paris, 534 Meteorological Diary, 81, 170, 269, 361, 453, 545 549 o. Oat-Hay, and the relative Nutritive Value of Oats, cut green, and cut fully ripe. By Dr. A. Voelcker, 67 Obituary — Mr. Wilham Blacker, 452 Mr. W. Pile, 452 Oils, Price of, 88, 182, 276, 464, 558 Ox, Description of a Short-Horned, 277 P. Peat Charcoal, 150, 151, 152, 215, 258 Peat Charcoal and Human Excretge, Value as a Manure. By J. C. Nesbit, Esq., 345 Plantations of Young Forest Trees, on the Making of, 527 Plantations, on the Management of, 149 Ploughing, on Subsoil, 319 Potatoes, Price of, 87, 369, 464, 558 Provision Report for Liverpool (Annual), 449 R. Rats and Mice, to destroy them in Stacks, 151 Review — Family Herald, 458 Rigden, Mr., Report of a Visit to his Farm, 433 Royal Agricultural Society of England, 62, 115, 211, 498 Royal Agricultural Society of England's Meeting at Exeter, 121 Rutland Ploughing Meeting, 444 Seeds, Price of, 87, 181, 275, 369, 464, 558 Sheep, Description of the Black-Faced Heath Breed, 89 Sheep, Description of Short- WooUed, 465 Sheep, on their Winter Feeding. By the Hon. Dudley Pelham, 288 Short-Horns, Sale of, at Yanwath Hall, 448 Short-Horned Cow, Description of, 465 Short Horns, Sale of, at Aynhoe, 544 Smith, the late Mr. James, of Deanston, 66 Smithfield Market, 148 Soil, the Formation of. By Cuthbert W, John- son, Esq., 136 TO THE TWENTY-SECOND VOLUME. Soils, on Mixing, 454 Soils, their Power to absorb Manures. By Cuth- bert W. Johnson, Esq., 279 Soils, their absorbent Power, 347, 403 Soils, the mechanical Effects of Mixing, 93 South Down Ram Show, Mr. Jonas Webb's, 106 South Down Wethers, Description of, 277 Sow of the Large Breed, Descrij)tion of, 183 Spade Husbandry and Stall Feeding, 3-18 Steam Power in Agriculture, 19 Stock, the cheapest Mode of Feeding, 59 Straw for Cattle, on cutting, 509 Sussex Agriculture, 491 T. Tallow Market, 8S Tenant Right Digest of Agricultural Customs, 153 Thrashing by Steam, 529 Timber, Price of, 88, 370 Turnips, on Thinning, 103 Voltigeur's Pedigree and Performan 371 W. Wheat Midge, 480 Wheat Soils, their Constituents, 210 Wheat, the proper Quantity of Seed for, 322 Wire Worm, Destruction of the, 324 Wool Markets, 88, 182, 276,370, 464, 558. THE EMBELLISHMENTS. Thomas Chapman, Portrait of Page 1 Farm Buildings at Trusthorpe . ib. A Yearling Heifer . 89 Black-faced Ram and Ewes • . ib. Sow and Pigs . . 183 British Yeoman . . ib. Short-horned Ox . 277 Three Southdown Wethers . ib. Engravings descriptive of Draining . 285 Plans of Farm Buildings . . 343 Cheviot Ram and Ewes . 371 Voltigeur, "Winner of the Derby . ib. Illustrations of Drai ing . 3/6 , 378, 380, 381 Short-horned Cow . 4G5 Short-woolled Sheep . , . ib. Fork for raising Jerusalem Artichoke s . . 474 GEKKKAL YIEW GROVND FLAN tJrree ~bed rooms o^er, and (MH<^ (hal'-Savise/ and' Washaiise^ IS^S Qnxfheiise' for fftree' Cbui DriMi^ht liarses. S^'en- Stall Stabler ^vvfft/ Dam Cote- aver ^"I^ Gear Those Stables ^S'W and ^Jivent*- fwc Emdjow Sooces ■-JO'^S -each/ Root Mousey 25* W Straw Bam.^ W*24' Two DiTsswff 7ncu^7i€s oa thc' Qraiaid. -floaf with ITiroskuia -mn^nnje' w4t^, and-- CbiTi Cfuskrr abom' OtafrBmzse ib ' 24- Cijnt Bam 33' ZZ Eiig'uie' fei^it liorxe. -powcrj BmZa- wim^ Dfyutg chamber aboyf. Ccjixl/ rt/uZ "En^me. hoasC' ,. _^ DnzuglUJlorses^ faur stail^stablr 2i -jl I tirrtojid Waggon Iwvisej 6 2 '2^ in^i/ Omnary ever ^? IS one! 19 ' Runp and' IboV Ttpnee i6^*^ 12 I R^geruseach 4^*<9.0tn', and' 6 §^7 Bout lU^o Ben- limbspy oitt ^ ^ \ Fold Sxrd'^w^^Openy Sfiad^ SO' SO i Loose Bosy k \ Ibtd-Maa ipitJi. OpefvShadc .52 '50 ; rvumrxij\i/si^'sr > Fold Yuarl -wid) nppen Siiad£ 55 - 50 ' lovse Bool- l&^9 i WaifT ^ rt J FonZtir lwast4 21 '13 I Bta^xfTfutlis Shop I /i/ ^r Mcaaire' S T.zgutd' Mpni^re/ Tank/ N AGRICULT THE FAKMEK'S MAGAZINE. JULY, 1850. No. L— Vol. XXII.] [Second Series. PLATE I. PORTRAIT OF MR. THOMAS CHAPMAN. ENGRAVED UY J. B. HUNT, FROM A PHOTOGRAl'H BY CLAUUKT. PLATE 11. GENERAL VIEW AND GROUND I'JAN OF THE FARM BUILDINGS AT TRUSTHORPE, LINCOLNSHIRE, BKLONtaNG TO WILLIAM LOl'T, ESQ. MEMOIR OF MR. THOMAS CHAPMAN. " We, the undersigned, entertaining as we do the highest sentiments of regard and respect for the character of Mr. Thomas Chajjman, of Stoneleigh, who for nearly three-fourths of a century i)assed in active public Ufe, has ever been found a zealous supporter of British agiiculture, and an earnest promoter of every improvement that has had a tendency to advance its interest, benefit his country, and produce that harmony and good understanding between landlord and tenant that tends to the mutual advantage of both — feel extremely anxious to mark our sense of his high and sterling integrity by handing down to posterity a memorial of the friendship and esteem we feel for him in private life, and of our warm admiration of his pubhc conduct : we therefore earnestly request him to allow us the opportunity by sitting for his portrait." The duty of selecting men, no matter of what class or occupation, to hold uj) as examples to their fellows, must always be a trying and an anxious one. To examine their merits with a feeling entirely ' OLD SERIES.] freed from all partiality or prejudice is one of the I first, but by no means the only requisite, for a ! proper discharge of the office so undertaken. Many ! and various may be the acquirements and acts tliat I lead to any name being determined on ; that selec- tion, however, once made, the introducer stands for ever committed to it, as with him rests the re- sponsibility of showing to the public those reasons and causes that prompted him to pay honour where he judged honour was due. In direct contradiction to the time-honoured saying that "No man is a prophet in his own country," we would venture to assume that in no place is a useful fjood man so thoroughly apjire- ciated. It is in his own country, or his own jKuish, that you have his public, and may be more '* showy" character confirmed ; it is here that we trace out the value and stability of that we have been taught to look up to and respect in a more general com- ])any, and under less favourable ojjportunitics of as- certaining its real worth. u [No. \.—VOL. XXXI II. iHE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. The words of the tebtimoniai we have quoted say so much for the character of the Eminent British Farmer we-have this month inchided in our gallery, that we feel we might very justly leave the portrait without another word in justification of the choice we have made. It does all we could wish, even to proceeding to the likeness (though for the use of private friends only) that we are now enabled to offer more publicly and generally, and as a key to which we furnish the few further re- marks. Mr. Thomas Chapman, now upwards of eighty years of age, has occupied a prominent position in the agricultural v,->)rld for more than half a century, during which period he has done much for the ad- vantage of others, and deservedly established an enviable degree of credit and respect for himself. Within the last twenty years he accepted the agency of Lord Leigh, and went for that purpose to Stone- leigh, in Warwickshire, where he still continues to reside. Prior to this he had been extensively engaged as a valuer in the midland counties, more especially in Leicestershire, Staffordshire, and Warwickshire ; a profession for which he was singularly well adapted from a great practical knowledge, com- bined with proportionate physical strength, indomi- table energ)', and high mental ability. The result of such fiiculties frequently and earnestly employed could scarcely fail to be otherwise than highly favourable ; and the name of Thomas Chapman is, and long has been, proverbial for soundness of judgment, independence of character, and honesty of intention. It is not, however, merely for his usefulness as an agent, or his integrity as an arbitrator, that we class Mr. Chapman as an eminent farmer. He is entitled to the rank in the fairest and most literal accepta- tion of the term, having now for many years occu- ])ied a farm at Drayton, in Leicestershire, where his repute as a cultivator of the soil and as a breeder of stock has long been established. Without ever professedly setting up for a breeder we may men- tion his success in the selection and propagation of Leicestershire sheep, as well as with a superior kind of pigs. It is, indeed, as a judge of stock that the subject of this notice is perhaps best known as a ]jublic man : his long experience here again, quickness of perception, fineness of touch, and love of symmetry furnishing him with superior quaUfica- tionu for amply discharging the duties of an ofhce he has so often been called upon to fill. At the Smithfield Club he has on several occasions acted as steward, only going out after three years' service the Christmas before last ; as well as being frequently chosen as one of the judges both for the shows of that club, as also of the Royal Agricultural Society of England. In the local agricultural associations he is, as may be expected, even still more in request, and was, in fact, one of the origi- nators of the Warwickshire Society for giving Premiums to Tenants and Prizes to Stock — an in- stitution in which he continues to take the greatest interest, and to afford some of tlie best support. It sounds almost superfluous to add that with such attainments, and so generally recognised an authority before the world, Mr. Chapman should have commanded the respect and gained the friend- ship of many gentlemen celebrated for their success in the same pursuits as he himself had devoted his talents and energies to. The testimonial, for instance, with which we commence this paper was signed by the late Lord Spencer, and many other peers of the realm ; while the closer intimacy and fellowship of such men as Mr, Pryce, of Riall, Mr. Buckley, of Normanton, and indeed of almost every famed breeder, over the merits of whose pro- duce he has been called upon to decide, stamps the truth and worth of Mr. Chapman in a sphere where Englishmen know peculiarly how to appi'eciate them. The life of a man whose energies have been devoted to useful labour rarely furnishes those points to dilate on, or those incidents to enumerate, we fre- quently find in the career of others whose ambition may have been of a more imposing kind, but whose progress can never be of more sterling service. The memoir of the utilitarian, in short, is summed up in a few words, as in the testimonial before us : it gives the fit attainment of as good an aim, and sup- plies a moral and an example that all may profit by remembering and adopting. It is a position to be reached, not by one lucky hit or brilliant thought, but rather by a whole course of useful conduct directed by the soundest discretion and highest princii)le. In this manner has Mr, Chapman reached it, and in this wise do we acknowledge him here, as one who, in the words of those who know him best, has done much " to advance the interests of agriculture and to benefit his country." THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. ON THE RISE AND PROGRESS OF AGRICULTURAL IMPROVEMENT. No. II. BY M. M. M. Doubtless the withdrawal of the Roman power gave a check to the development of agricultural im- jirovement. The warlike Saxons were more of a pas- toral than a cultivating peoj)le, and followed the de- pasturation of animals Uke the previous sojourners in Gosham. In their time so low had the estimation of agriculture fallen, that an acre of land sold for 16 Saxon pennies in the reign of Edgar the Peaceable, or about four shilhngs of our money : and so little was cultivation attended to, that when the popula- tion was so thin, like all previous jjastoral people, they were often suliject to famine. So much did this ]jrevail, that in the year 1043 a quarter of wheat sold for GO Saxon pence, equal to 15 of our shillings. In these days it is clear there is little material for a history of agricultural improve- ments. Indeed it seemed as if all the knowledge which had been attained had been lost by the pre- sence of this new race of warHke she])berd-kings. The Norman conquest gave a slight impetus to agriculture. One of the retainers of the con- queror, Richard de Ruins, inclosed and drained a great extent of countiy, and embanked the river Wielland, and is described as being so zealous an improver as to make the country a "garden of delights." His object was, however, probably more to obtain pasturage for his horses and cattle, which he delighted in breeding; and so far pastoral did the animus of the country remain, that the ivool rather than the corn seemed for centuries to be the great object of attraction. And when a prohibiting law was first put on corn, in the year 14G3, the object of the foreigner seemed rather to be to obtain a supply of English wool than a profit for the corn. The real revival of British husbandry was, I ap- prehend, due to the introduction of agricultural literature. The " Boke of Husbandrie," by Sir A. Fitzherbert, one of the Judges of Common Pleas, published in 1532, was the beginning of a series of valuable productions, in which all the practical system of the classic writers was reduced to British comprehensions. He was followed IjyTusser, who wrote his "oOO points of Good Husbandry;" by Sir Hugh Piatt, who published a work in the quaint style of the age, entitled "The Jewel House of Art and Nature;" he was again followed by Blyth, the deep drainer, in the time of the Com- monwealth; he again by Evelyn, Hartlib and Norden, Mortimer and Jethro Tull, Bakewell, Arthur Young, Marshall, Lord Kaimes, and others, bringing us down to the ])eriod of the great revo- lution in agriculture, by the publications of those who began to apply scientific discoveries to farming, commencing with Sir Humphrey Davy and termi- nating in Liebig. It would be wrong not to glance for one moment at the state of the agriculturists in those dark ages, by which it will be shewn how impossible it was for any great or permanent improvements to be made by a class so degraded. Fitzherbert descriljed the farmers' wives' occupa- tion to be, to " winnow all manner of corne, to make malt, to wash and wring, to make hay, to shere corne, and, in time of nede, to help her husband to fill the muck wayne, drive the plough, load hay, and such other." Hugh Latimer's father is described as having a farm of £3 or £4 per year, kept half a dozen men, had a walk for 100 sheep, and his wife milked 30 kyne, married his daughters with £5 a ])iece, kept hospitality with his neighbours, gave alms to the poor, educated his son at Oxford, and all this out of a £4 per annum farm. We cannot give a better idea of the disposal of the profits of a farm than given by Tusser, who divided it into ten divisions, making the following allotments : — 1. One part cast forth for rent due out of hand ; 2. One other part for seed to sow thy land ; 3. One other part leave parson for his tyth ; 4 . Another part for harvest sickle sy th ; 5. One part for ploughwrite, cartwrite, knacker, Smith ; 6. One part to uphold thy teams that draw there* with ; 7. Another part for servants and workmen's wages laie; 8. One part, likewise, for fillbellie, day by day ; 9. One part thy wife for needful things doth crave ; 10. Thyself and thy child the last part would have." A recent writer on the history of agriculture, Chandos Wren lloskyns, Es(| , ascribes nearly the whole of our present advanced state of agricul- tural science to Jethro Tull, and endeavours to es- tablish the fact that his theories were the basis of all or most of the great improvements of the present ,. 9 THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. day, by the application of physical science to bear upon the increase of the productions of the soil. He says, "The life of Jethro tull exhibits all the phenomena which have usually marked the career of a great and original discoverer. Pursued by rather than pursuing one ruling idea, his errors and excesses, as they are called, are as instructive as his most successful experiments. The very failures to which they led, through causes unforeseen, tended to pare down and expose in its truer proportions the simple and fundamental principle which he dimly saw, and only missed the full attainment of by the want of a helj)ing hand from that master- science which the genius of Davy and of Liebig has since held out to later and more favoured experi- ments." Again he says : " The inimitable researches of Professor Liebig in organic chemistry have since brought to light, step by step, the beautiful mys- tery of which Tull might be said to have distin- guished the form without seeing the face." I cannot help differing from that worthy authority in this conclusion. The great arcana of agricidtural improvement, as developed by applied science and vital chemistry, have their first lines deeply laid in principles and appliances long antecedent to Tull ; and though his theory might, in some respects, be useful in its way, it is rather in improving some practical details, such as drilling and hoeing, than in developing or even shadowing forth the great outlines of agricultural improvements. I have spoken before of the pastoral and wool- producing habits of the British farmer, and this with the new element of our long and snow-covered winters forced upon the English farmer the great leading ])rinciple of all success in farming — that of growing green crops for the purpose of feeding stock. For this purpose the turnip plant, the sheet- anchor of British farming, was early introduced- Worlidge, a correspondent of the Houghton collec- tion in 1684, says of them — " Sheep fatten very well on turnips, which prove an excellent nourish- ment for them in hard winters when fodder is scarce, for they will not only eat the greens but feed on the roots in the ground, and scoop them hollow, even to the very skin." The great keystone of improved farming — the alternate system of crop- ping— was rather laid in the Roman rotations and the sheep-keeping tendency of the Enghsh, than any of the everlasting corn-growing propensities of Tull. "Ten acres," says Worlidge, with all the know- ledge of modern days, of which Tull never availed himself, and would have despised in his heart — " ten acres sown with clover and turnips will feed as many sheep as 100 acres would have done before." It was the same pastoral tendency of the British mind which applied itself to the improvement of species of animals as that which provided them food. And the principles of breeding successful animals have rather been illustrated than discovered by ani- mal physiology, the very principles of that science having being taught before a single scientific axiom had been applied. The watching of physiological tendencies, and availing themselves of these judiciously in practice, was long anterior to scientific research. Emulating the skill of the wily progenitor of the Jewish race, and intelligently perceiving what was required, a Culley and a Bakewell attempted and attained the production of sheep and of cattle " ringstrated, spotted, and speckled," at pleasure. Seeing the necessity of economising food, they set about pro- ducing those animals which came to maturity early, and so produced vastly more animal food from the same amount of vegetation. Knowing that fat was an element of favour in a northern clime, they endea- voured to obtain animals with a tendency to secrete it in large quantities. In order to this they observed the qualities indicative of those propensities ; and knowing that it is as true in physiology as in ma- thematics, that like produce like, they selected and bred from these until they stamped their qualities permanently and invariably and indelibly on the race. With these they managed to combine, per- haps, their invariable concomitant, symmetry ; and hence the origin of our improved Leicester sheep, and of our noble short-horn cattle, woven, even in their mortalitj^ with the proud national axiom of the " Roast Beef of Old England." It is quite manifest that it would be utterly im- possible to go through anything like a list of the broadest and most palpable outlines of agricultural improvement in the compass of one short paper, but I will allude to two or three of the great leading characteristics of our times in this respect, and it will not be difl[icult to trace their origin in the wonder-working transformation of the princely river of one of the first nations of antiquity. If we observe the warping of Lincolnshire, w e see the very identical results ; not from a regular flood, because we have no tropical rains to produce it ; but ingenuity and skill have adapted the ebbings and flowings of the tide to the ])roduction of the same results ; a deposit of silt is made to cover the poorest soils, and to convert them into the richest ; a slow and gradual accumulation of all the principles needed by vegetation is deposited; and the land before barren and desolate is made, Egypt-like, a land of corn, and wine, and oil and olive, in the wheat, the barley, and fat animals which luxuriate on its fertile bosom. When the mud is not available, the water only is used. If we go to Clipston Park we shall observe a small insignificant stream transforming, by its talismanic agency, a barren wilderness into a fruit- THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. fill garden. On one side you have the moss and the gorse and the heather : on the other you have a luxuriant meadow, which six times a year yields its willing fruits to the spirited owner. Need we look to our drainage and its magnificent consequences ? — drying the wet and melting the stubhorn surface of our soils — as it is drying our atmosphere and improving our climate, from the Roman-like twig-drains of Berkshire to the pipe-tile of modern science, nay up to the powerful steam- engine which throws ii]) the water of many a swamp, and lifts it into some friendly stream which lies many feet above it. While the first feeble efforts remind us of the Egyptian watering with the foot in the days of primeval simplicity, the drainage of the Lake of Haarlem or tlie embankments of Holland carry us back to the aqueduct of Hadrian, amongst the civilized Romans, But in manuring — in restoring the worn-out elements of production to an exhausted soil, has agricultural science triumphed in the most remark- able degree. The tons of suspended matter in a swollen river might convey the idea of an extraneous supply of fertilizing ingredients being necessary ; but it would also convey the notion that such quantities were needed as it would be an im- possibility for man to convey, even if he knew where to obtain them. If it even taught them to separate and analyze — so as to detect the useless from the good— it might fail of suggesting the source of sujjply, or the principles or modes of ap- plication ; and it is not wonderful that all these deep mysteries should only be revealed by an in- vestigation of the whole cycle of the sciences, de- pendent as they are on each other for modifications of characteristic phenomena. Here organic che- mistry, and vital phenomena, and geological re- search ste]) in ; they take the reins, and, with a master stroke, dash away into streams of un- traversed extent, dig into mines of unrevealed depth, and soar away into atmospheres previously unguessed of in our narrow jihilosophy. They teach us that plants and animals have a connection as mysterious as invariable, forming a beautiful and intricate chain in the contrivances of the Great Lord of all ; that the latter cannot exist on the raw materials (so to speak) of nature, but require the former to organize and eliminate them before they can be adapted to their complicated organizations ; how the decomposed vegetable be- comes capable of building up animal structures, and how the vital principle holds these together until the expiration of the time appointed for all living, when it gives back its elements to its mother earth, again to build up new structures of the ve- getable world, to invigorate and feed and maintain a new-born race of animals. It teaches us, too. how decay is the sustaining agent of vitality, and liow intimately bound up are the entire processes of nature in one harmonious whole of microscopic littleness, as of extent unbounded, except by the Infinite, The Romans might understand the value of the droj)pings of thrushes, and a cab of doves' dung might be valued at five pieces of silver at the gate of Samaria; but chemistry and geology alone could solve the peculiar principles which afforded food to vegetation. These, in our days, have taught our farmers that the animal respires from its lungs the starch and the sugar, the gum and the resin, it consumes in the vegetables ; that from this air a new race of vegetables receive and re-assimilate it, forming a storehouse for a fresh supply; that the animal body obtains its ammonia, its sulphur, and its phosphorus from the plants it consumes in its lifetime, and surrenders them back at its dissolution ; and hence the agricultural chemist is taught, when he wants to oljtain his crops, to feed himself or his cattle, that he must supply them with carbon, with ammo- nia, with sulphur, and with jjhosphorus. Where in the wide field of nature can he obtain a supply ? The air he breathes will supply carbon ; Liebig discovered it will also supply ammonia; animal and vegetable decay will furnish him with sulphur and with phosphorus. But the air alone will not supply enough carbon to grow the luxuriant crop, at which a cultivator for profit will aim; he possesses no means of making the clouds drop fatness, and hence he brings the green crop to his assistance. The leaves are the mouths, and they gather it largely, and those he consumes or ploughs in for a supply for the future. He then begins to ransack the battle fields of Europe for the bones of the warriors who fell in the battle, or he digs into the deeply buried strata for the remains of animal ge- nerations long since extinct, in ordrr to feed the living on the remains of the dead. But it is not enough to give food to a plant or an animal : it must be given in a manner, in a state, in a quantity suited to its demands. Chemistry has stepped in, and taught man to cook the food of his plants as well as of his animals. She knows that the ammonia and the ])hosphorus are locked up in the bones of the animal, or the organic fossils ; and she teaches him to treat them in her laboratory, to unlock their mysterious Qualities. She provides the sulphuric acid to liberate their energies, and science triumphs in a noble crop. Agriculturists now understand the value and im- portance of deepening the soil. They knew this as a practical fact before they knew the precise scien- tific principles involved in the practice. Geology and chemistry have taught them the reasons why. G THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. other things being equal, a deep soil is more pro- ductive than one that is shallow. Soil owes its origin to the disintegration of solid rock and the decomposition of vegetable matter. Hence all our rocks soon become covered with a green mantle of vegetation. The action of rain, of frost, and of the oxygen of the atmosphere is the cause of this crumbling of the rock ; and, as each portion from day to day be- comes disengaged, the chemical ingredients it con- tained are left free for absorption by the plants. Now, in order to deepen this stratum of soil, it is necessary either to bring up the bottom or subsoil to the surface, or at any rate so to loosen and lighten the upper soQas to admit the free access of oxygen, of frost, and of water. And when a deep soil is formed, not only is there more space for the roots of the plants to obtain their food from, but there is double the amount of food to secure in the deep soil as compared with the shallow. Nor is it difficult to trace the idea of the neces- sity for deepening the soil. It was impossible year after year to see the Nile valley become deeper and deeper in soil, and to see it year after year retain its productiveness, and not find out the value of deepening the soil. Thus again, we trace the out- lines of this doctrine of improved agriculture to tlie physical principles taught by that river whose source was a point of dispute in the times of the Ptolemies. Nor is this all. The practice of subsoiling is one claimed by the men of this generation, and Deanston is pointed to as the classic place from whence this boon to clay soils derived its parentage and its origin. But it only requires to see the first invented Deanston subsoil plough to observe that in almost every lineament it resembles the plough of the Egyptians. Connected with agricultural improvement are, as a very first element, improved implements where- with to work the land. The barbarous plough now used in Russia, and the equally barbarous harrow — composed, as the former is, of unshapely pieces of iron-shod wood, and, as the latter is, of crooked tvr'igs tied together— are an indication of the state in which primitive agriculture was once, and are as op- posed in their feeble and scratching operations to the ploughs and harrows of the present day as the spade is an improvement over the turning of the soil with the hand, or the locomotive steam-engine is to the common stage waggon. Whether me- chanical science has done so much for farming as it ought to have done, or whether it is but in its infancy, we cannot predict, because we have not the means of judging; but if we now see motions perpendicular, oblique, and horizontal brought into pby to aid the cultivator, we may say tliat it is only in details, and not in principles, that any great pro- gress can be made. V>'^e need only reflect a moment on the principles which have to guide the strong-land cultivator, in preparing his soil for the seed, and compare the means he had of overcoming his difficulties, say, twenty years ago, with what he has now, and we shall see how very different is his position rendered by the application of mechanical science. We speak not of his profit, abstract or comparative ; but we cannot help being struck with the vast differ- ence in his resources of meeting the difficulties of his position. Once he had to plough with three or four horses, and to cross plough with great labour and difficulty, then to harrow with an implement which ])roduced scarcely any impression on the stubborn clods — to plough and harrow, and plougli and harrow, whenever he could, until he possibly found it necessary to set his workjjeople, in some seasons, to complete his operations with the mallet and the stone hammer, to break the unruly clods. He had to jjulverize and to clean — the one could not be accomplished without the other, and the former had to be effected somewhat in this manner: — First the unctuous clay was cut in long longi- tudinal parallel pieces by the plough, and left on edge to dry, being divided by a double wedge — a plough — the history of which we have attempted very faintly to sketch in a preceding paper. This mass sufficiently dry to admit of the treading of horses' feet with impunity, is cross-cut all into large cubes, and these are subjected to the action of natural processes. The sun and air dry out all the moisture, owing to the large surface exposed to their action ; the weeds are also necessarily killed from the same cause. The moisture abstracted, the clods begin to crack, and show here and there symptoms of fissures by the evaporation of the moisture, form- ing receptacles for the next rains, which one by one again swell out the particles, and so break down the whole mass into a friable soil, capable of giving a properly elaborated seed-bed for the reception of the seed. It is evident, therefore, that the elements have much more to do with the formation of the fallow than the mechanical appliances, as the old bare fal- low is and has been constituted ; and hence the process, like most of nature's operations, is gradual and slow. Now, by the application of a simple share, the weeds, which in soils so very tenacious are generally very near the surface, are merely lifted out of the ground, and so little soil removed with them, that their abstraction becomes a matter of comparatively little consequence. The plough then ploughs up the soil below, and it is soon sufficiently dry to make it a solid cube of soil. Here such an implement as the clod crusher, or some similar THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. powerful separator of clods, is brought into action, and by once or twice going o^-er the wliole, the soil is reduced to as fine a tilth as if it had undergone a whole summer's exposure. But it is not always that a season suitable for fallows can be obtained in this uncertain climate — there may be too much wet or too little heat, to ac- complish the entire destruction of the weeds, and the entire disintegration of the soil — while seasons have to be watched with all the intensity of sun- shine in hay time, or dry weather in harvest. A crop of turnips may thus be substituted for a bare fallow, or a crop of corn, by the mere appliance of improved machinery ; and this alone will show that in a few years a vast effort has been made in the l)erfection of the implements of tillage. The harroic, the next implement after the plough —the substitute for the " feet of swine " — used by the Kgyptians, is a series of improvements over the twigs and prickles of the shrubs and branches of trees, which were at one period in use for the j)urpose of covering the seed ; and tlie present bush-harrow gives us not an unapt idea of the natuie of the primitive modes adopted to cover the newly sown grain. As lately as IGGS, Gervase Markham says, in his directions as to an imple- ment for covering the seed — " Get a pretty big whitethorn tree, which we call the hawthorn tree, and make sure that it be wonderful thick, bushy, and rough grown" p. Gl. For these branches, the first harrows — frames of wood and their tines of iron, the ne.xt steps in im- provement—we have now the angular, serpentine, or zig-zag harrows, with an action so steady and uniform that the most precise calculation can be made as to their eflects upon the land ; and in what mode soever they are arranged, they have an action so as to make the incisions of the tines in equi- distant and precisely jjarallel lines. The sowing of the corn by the hand seems to have been the almost universal ]n-actice until within a very recent period. Still there is tradition of a dibber, and of a drill, in C!hiiia ; and animals' feet seem to have done their ])art in treading in the seed when they sowed " betiide all waters, and sent forth thither the feet of the ox and the ass "' (Is. x.xii. 20). Worlidge and Evelyn mention mechanical modes of depositing seed corn with aj)- probation ; but Tull may be f;\irly called the father of drill husbandry ; and to carry out his plan of ^^heat after wheat in succession, wide rows, and horse-hoeing without manure, he adopted holes in revolving cylinders to dei)osit the seed at regular intervals and in straight lines ; and now we have the steerage drill as a perfection of the principle he invented, and so judiciously, though too theo- retically, laid down, Hand-reaping, too, like hand-sowing, was for- merly the invariable practice, nor can we now de- pend u])on any process but the hand for the bulk of our agricultural operations of this description. The " sickle " is an instrument used in the times of the most ancient and most authentic, as well as the most venerable of records, and it is for very recent ages to have invented reaping machines ; nor can they be depended upon for any but standing crops of corn, and therefore cannot become univer.=5ally adopted. Early in the jjresent century Boyce in- vented a machine, which consisted of a vertical spindle, with knives inserted in connexion with a revolving axle, and just cut and strawed the grain on the ground, having no provision for gathering it. Plunket's machine substituted the saw, or ser- rated knife, for the plain one ; and Gladstone was the first who adopted a mode of collecting the cut corn in parcels, thus saving the waste and destruc- tion which any indiscriminate depositing of the corn would occasion. Ogle's machine, depicted in the 5th volimie of the ]\Icchaiucs' Magazine, the inven- tion of a Birmingham schoolmaster, comprised an apparatus for collecting and leaving the corn in sheaves, as well as for cutting, and was calcitlated by the maker to cut fourteen acres per day. Mr. .Smith's (of Deanston) machine was a revolving barrel with spikes to collect the corn, and fitted with cylindrical knives below ; it was pushed before two horses, and was exhibited at the Liverpool show of the Royal Agricultural Society of England. But perhaps Mann's machine is that which ac- com])lishes the most of the requisites of a reaping machine, and may be of great utility in a season when, from inauspicious weather, or any other catise, there is much delay in cutting the corn. It was made in iS22. It is described as having " a revolving polygonal cutter of 1 2 equal sides, and produces its cutting effects by a very rapid series of strokes ; it gathers the cut corn by means of re- volving rakes, and strips these in such a manner as to lay down the corn in a regular swathe ; it is drawn by one horse walking alongside the standing corn ; and it cuts a breadth of 3i feet at each turn, and is capable of cutting about 10 acres in 10 hours." The efforts which have been made t(j construct reaping machines, show the disposition there is to invent machinery to diminish the amount and in- tensity of hand labour, and the great difficulties the agriculturist has in overcoming the natural obsta- cles arising from the peculiarities of his occupation. Connected with reaping is the cutting of gras.s and making of hay, which both seem to be naturally manual oi)erations. For garden mowing, a machine a step in advance of the scythe, and only a very meagre one, has been adopted ; but a more power- 8 THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. fill implement has supplanted the use of the rake in spreading and turning. The peculiarity of hay- making, restricted to the times when the " sun shines," involves a great amount of work in a little time, and hence machinery here is of the greatest value. A machine, or " devil," as the clawed and disturbing monster is called, will spread or turn as much hay as 20 women, and in much less space of time ; so that for large properties it has undoubted advantages. The great difficulty with this machine have been the inequalities which generally occur on grass land ; but even this has been obviated by a very ingenious implement of Mr. Smith's, of Stam- ford, which has for many years carried away the palm of victory at successive shows. By means of a set of springs the rakes have a double action, so that any resistance, in either direction, while the machine is in motion, will instantly call the spring into operation and reverse the action of the rake, so as to allow it to escape. The strength of the spring is, nevertheless, sufficient to resist the weight of the grass only, so that it operates when it is wanted, but gives way at any great degree of resistance. It is difficult to conceive an improvement in so per- fect an implement. Connected also with reaping and cutting, is the question of thrashing ; and here, as the material is collected into a more manageable compass, the idea of machinery is more natural, and its application more facile. Hence, in very early ages, we have clear indications of animal power being substituted for manual, in this operation. The flail may have been the first instrument, but it was certainly super- seded at a very early period. Thus one of the merciful laws given to the chosen race of Israel was, that "Thou shalt not muzzle the ox that treadeth out the corn "—or as the margin has it, " thresheth "— Deut. xxv. 4. Young animals were early taught the operation, and loved it, doubtless from the above provision, as the prophet Hosea in- cidentally proves by comparing one to Ephraim — " J:phraim," he says, " is as an heifer that is taught and hreth to tread out the corn" (Hos. x. 11.) But that a more complicated and real threshing- machine was in use is evident, for Isaiah xxviii. 28, says — " He will not ever be threshing it, nor break it with the wheel of his cart, nor bruise it with his horsemen." Nay, more : we are told in the preceding verse that " fitches are not threshed with a threshiiKj instrument, neither is a cart wheel turned about upon the cummin "—perhaps because of the tendency to bruise it, and hence we may infer safely that other instruments than wheels and tread- ing were then in use. This is also sufficiently in- dicated by the beautiful imagery of that poetic ])as- sage — "Behold, I \vill make thee a new sharp threshing instrument having teeth; thou shalt thresh the mountains, and beat them small, and make the hills like chafF" (Is. xH. 15.) Whether any recently adopted threshing instrument were here indicated or not, we have no means of know- ing ; but its sharpness proves that the edges, we apprehend, were of some unequal or fluted surface ; nor can the teeth fail to remind us of the modern "peg" principle; while its power is indicated by the image of threshing the mountains " small." It is not difficult to imagine every expression here, to refer to the modern threshing-machine. In our own country the first important attempt recorded to make a thrashing machine was in the 18th century, when one Michael Margies, a Scotch- man, invented some series of flail-like contrivances; and of one similar attempt at Knaresboro', in York- shire, it is reported that his invention unluckily caught his own body, and gave him an unmerciful pummelling instead of the corn, and from which he must have perished, had he not been rescued by his wife. The rollers and beater appear to be a more recent invention — so late as 1795 (Tubb's Patent). We shall just allude to winnowing machines, as they are the only implement now required to fit the corn again for its seed-bed, and these have formerly been very rude and imperfect machines. The wind was, doubtless, the first mode used to separate the chaff from the grain'; and a shovel appears, by the prophet last quoted, to have been used for turning over the corn ; and when the wind might not be propitious a fan was made suitable : Thus he says — "The oxen hkewise, and the young asses that ear " (or ]ilough) " the ground, shall eat clean pro- vender, which hath been winnowed with the shovel and with ihefan " (Is. xxx. 24.) This idea of plenty, nay, of luxury of clean provender, is associated with the condition of the lower animals in that glorious millennium to which the prophet here refers. How different now from the complicated dressing- machines of Mr. Cooch, Mr. Hornsby, and others, which combine every nicely-adjusted motion, for not only separating the chaff from the wheat, but the fat and rank ears from the " stunted and ill- favoured." Such are a few of the instances of the vast strides which in the course of a few centuries have been accomphshed by the aid of mechanical inventions. And can we say that what has hitherto been done is at all approximating to what may be? We know so little of the future, so little of man's ingenuity, i man's skill, man's foi-ethought — nay, of his power to subserve the laws of nature themselves to his use — that it would be idle indeed to risk an opinion. j We know that it is possible to make implements I for cutting drains — we see not now perhaps, or we ^ see imperfectly, the exact ways and means, we can THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 9 only conceive a bare possibility ; but plans may be in embryo which will develop its complete triumph. We have witnessed attempts to make an instan- taneous fallow. Messrs. Winrow and Carey, for instance, invented a machine — powerful and cum- berous it is true — which was to destroy insect, seed, and weed, by a jet of steam issuing from its rear ; but being before the spirit of the age, it failed even before its embryo blossoms developed themselves ever so little. We have seen, one after another, steam-engines for tilling the land, and other general farm opera- tions ; but they seemed to fail in producing the desired effect. And whj', we would ask, if the manufacturers can economically avail themselves of the use of steam-engines, why may not agriculture derive an advantage at least approximating, from the exercise of the same vast motive power ? But it must be borne in mind that the farmer has always one natural law to contend with, from which the manufacturer is free. The latter may, in a building of comi)aratively small area, carry on a business in- volving the expenditure of tens of thousands of pounds ; nor will any reasonable increase of busi- ness invariably involve a great increase of premises. But after a certain point is attained in farming, there must be a vast increase of area to increase materially the produce ; and hence to embark a very large capital implies a very large erap loyment of power — for distance from the motive pow er always imj)lies waste of that power. Nor can the farmer have locomotive jjower but at a great sacrifice, and at a great loss; and the whole farm cannot be made into roads adequate to convey the ponderous loco- motive, and the soil is by far too imstable and yielding to admit of its passing over itwithout them. This has been the real barrier to the general em- ployment of engine power to agricultural opera- tions ; and how far the genius of man may in time totally overcome it seems at any rate questionable. Indeed it is difficult to conceive any plan to effect it but the engine laying and taking up its own railway, and this was attempted by Mr. Heathcoate some years ago ; and though it was an experiment of the highest interest, and manifested great skill and power, they were not able to make it either gene- rally applicable, nor even useful in that particular case — one indeed specially adapted for its employ- ment. Still we would not limit the powers of man, nor doubt the possibility of what is confessedly within their range, but wait until some fresh mind is brought to bear upon the point, and see what new ideas can produce on a subject so complicated, and so beset with difficulties. Soicerby, Thirsk, June 10, 1850. DOMESTIC AND CULTURAL ECONOMY. nV J. TOWERS, .MKMBF.R OF THE ROYAL SOCIETIES OF AGRICULTURE AND HORTICULTUUE. No. III. So important are cleanliness and perfect freedom from taints of everj' kind, in all the operations of tlie dairy, that I would urge particular attention to the milk vessels, and the construction of the milk- house itself. Where they can be afforded, vessels of glass, of Wedgwood ware, or of porcelain-lined light metal, are to l)e preferred, as are also marble shelves, polished-tile flooring, or perhaps the new enamelled slate. Wooden utensils are generally employed; but they retain damp, and thus are apt to acquire and retain a faint musty odour. These contingencies must, above all things, be avoided. The hours of milking are usually seven in the morning and four in the afternoon ; and these, if once adopted, should be punctually observed. Some persons milk three times in the 24 hours, if the weather be very warm ; but, under any circum- stances, the cow or cows ought to be supplied with some kind of food most agreeable to them. Sweet hay is in winter to be preferred, and in spring and summer some green fodder, cut a few hours before, and a little aired to carry oft" mois- ture. This food ought to be placed in a small trough, at an height most convenient to the animal, for too much attention cannot be paid to secure her comfort. Violence of any kind ought to be avoided, for to this may be ascribed the obstinacy and other troublesome habits which milkers com- plain of. If a cow be kindly treated from the first, if she be at all times coaxed and agreeably fed, she will seldom withhold her milk, or be inclined to resist the dairy-maid, or kick over her pail of milk. In every case where it is the primary object to obtain cream and butter, instead of rearing and fattening the calf, we would recommend that, so soon as jjossible after the entire abstraction of the " biestings," the calf should not be permitted to suck the mother, but be either brought up by hand or transferred to another or foster mother, because great inconveniences may and do result from habits 10 THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. formed by long indulgence ; and it is a fact, how- ever unaccountable it may appear, that when a calf continues to suck, though partially as to its own re- quirements, the milk drawn by the hand is always deficient in cream, so much so as to be insufficient to supply much 1)utter ! In milking, the last drop that can be abstracted by tender and judicious " stripping" must be obtained ; otherwise, as Dr. Anderson taught us long ago, the loss of the last half pint of milk would implicate that of cream to an extent equal to all the cream contained in eight whole pints of the earlier drawn milk. The mys- tery of the phenomenon has at length been solved by a physiological investigation of the udder; and it has been proved that the latter rich milk, when retained, coagulates; and if the error be persisted in, either through indolence or ignorance of conse- quences, not only a great loss of milk will be sus- tained, but the risk of serious injury to the udder itself incurved. I refer, on this subject, to the '• Book of the Farm," part ii., page 522. At whatever hours (whether twice or thrice a day) a meal of milk has been obtained, it should be immediately taken to the dairy, and strained into the dish through the milk sieve. A very little cold water is to be put into the milk-pail, with which it is rinsed ; and then the rinsings are passed through the sieve into the body of the milk. This rinsing effects a double object ; it cleans the utensils, and somewhat dilutes the milk v.'ith a pure cold fluid, which also is found to hasten the separation of the cream. In large dairies it would be wise to follow up the indications of nature, and to add a very small quantity of carbonate of soda, in solution. Fresh drawn milk presents a slightly sodaic alkaline reaction; and therefore a grain or two of the crj^stals of soda dissolved would counteract, so far, the tendency to acidity which milk evinces. Creaming. — In any weather cream ought not to remain on the milk beyond three milkings, or from 20 to 22 hours — in very hot weather only IS hours. Thus, if the cows be milked three times a day, the cream of the previous mid-day's milk should ])e skimmed off in the following morning, and at mid- day the milk of the previous evening should be creamed ; again, it would be most safe to anticipate the operation by one meal, for the following s'mple but imperative reason — that, " the milk should on no account be allowed to turn sour before the cream is taken off, because the cream off sour milk always makes bad butter;" whereas, let sweet cream become ever so sour after being taken off sweet milk, and no harm will accrue to the butter." My experience refers chiefly to the management of one cow only : and though for several years we milked only twice a day, and made butter only once a week, we never failed in consequence of the milk becoming sour before the cream was skimmed off. A cool un-sunned dairy will rarely fail to preserve new milk. Every time a fresh portion of cream is added to the cream jar the contents of that vessel should be stirred with a clean stick kept for the purpose, so as to thoroughly blend the whole of its contents. These soon become sour, and on no account should be kept beyond a week, in cold weather, before they are churned ; otherwise a bitter taste may be acquired. In warm weather the churning should be made twice a v/eek, however little the quantity of cream may be. The heat of the cream is. and has been, the per- plexing and vexed question. It can be, however, definitely solved ; for, if 62 degrees of Fahrenheit's scale be never exceeded, butter of good quality will be the result, even in hot weather. In ^v^nter, however keen the weather, provided that degree in the cream be obtained, the labour of churning will be trifling, for the separation of the butter will assuredly be effected in about 30 minutes. From 60 to 62 degrees furnish the limits of certainty at which— the cream being good — the best fresh butter of the season can be obtained ; and either of the degrees can be commanded by the judicious use of ice in a cool room during summer, and, in winter, by bringing the body of cream in the jar to the full required heat, by placing it on the hob of a stove, or in a vessel of hot water, the churn itself being also washed with the same till of a corresponding temperature. The facts asserted above have been confirmed by a steady course of experiments ; and though we ourselves were not, 15 years ago, fully aware of the precision which it is now certain can be at command, we were but too frequently perplexed by the results of a too power- ful degree of heat after midsummer, and wearied out by the hard labour of churning for six or more hours, without any product, during the depth of a frosty winter. Having thus alluded to data, which if acted on will, I think, demonstrate that no longer time than 30 to 40 minutes should elapse before the perfect separation of butter in the churn, during the coldest weather of winter, and that the quality of the butter is not debased by the shortness of the time (even if that be from 5 to 12 minutes) consumed in the hottest period of^^summer, provided the heat be kept down to 60 degrees, I proceed to cite a few lines from the " Book of the Farm," on the subject of churning : " I have made," says Mr. Stephens, " several ex- periments with a table churn, in churning cream at different temperatures and with different velocities, but never obtained good butter in less than 30 minnlps; and when formed so quickly as in 15 THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 11 minutes the butter was soft and frothy. I have heard it alleged that butter of the riuest quality cannot be obtained from sweet cream ; but I know from experience that butter of the richest quality, flavour, and appearance, c(m be made from sweet cream. It has been found that 55 degrees Fahren- heit is the temperature at which the greatest quan- tity of the finest butter can l)e obtained, and this is easily attained in a cool apartment early of a sum- mer's morning. The churning should be done slowly at first, until the croam has been completely broken to an uniform mass, when it becomes thin- ner, and the churning is felt to be easier. After this the motion may be a little increased, and con- tinued until a change is heard in the sound within, and an unequal resistance is felt to be given to the agitators ; the butter may then be expected to form soon after this, and the moment it becomes firm, and impedes the agitators, the motion should cease." The butter should be directly taken from the churn, put into a flat trough slanting in an inclined position, and kneaded by clean hands (not washed with soap), pressed and rolled several times, plenty of pure cold water being a])i)lied, till every particle of the butter-milk is expelled; and washing must not cease so long as a shade of milkiness can be discerned. The butter is then to be patted and moulded into any approved form. Some persons object to washing with water. They say that a thorough kneading, with a very httleoftlie purest salt, so as entirely to press out the slightest trace of fluid, is the safer mode of pro- ceeding. Experience must decide ; but in hot weather the coldest spring water must assuredly tend to confer firmness of texture, and it cannot impart any injurious qualities. A few words remain to be said to those especially who keep but one cow. It generally hai)pens that a cow does not yield milk longer than during nine or ten months of the year. Yet there are many exceptions, and this my own experience has proved ; for, in the Isle of Thanet I had a cow which— after calving within 12 hours of her coming to me— failed to breed again ; her milk remained good and abundant for a very long period ; and, to my own great loss and detriment, I was persuaded to fat her on oil-cake for the butcher. I could never replace this cow. Mr. Stephens adduces a variety of these anomalous instances ; one in which a cow belonging to Mr. Ball, near Hampstead, continued to yield milk for seven years subsequent to her first and only calf. If ( I can assert) a barren cow prove a good and steady milker, she is invaluable ; and a wise econo- mist will be verj unwilling to change a certainty for an animal which, under ordinary conditions, must involve a great deal of trouble and anxiety. THE COMPOSITION OF L A N D - D R A I N A G E WATER. BV CUTHBEllT W. JOHNSON, ESQ., F.R.S. The comi)osition of the surplus water which in various proportions drains away from all soils, is a question of very considerable interest to the land- holder. It involves not only s-everal great collateral objects of examination, but the result of an analy- sis of such water points out in many instances courses of practical inquiry as to the plants best adapted to the soil, and the elevation of the land most conducive to their ])rosperity, as well as the mineral or more permanent fertilizers which it will be found advantageous or useless to ajjply to the soil. In the course of such an inquiry it will al- most invariably be found that tlie water which fd- ters from a calcareous soil abounds with the carbo- nate of lime, with a portion of sulphate of lime ; and that such waters are known to the housckee])er as the hard waters for domestic jmrijoses. On the soils from which these waters tlrain, or which they are wont to cover during Hoods, the farmer notices the superior growth of sainfoin or lucerne, and one or two other grasses whose aslies abound with the carbonate or sulphate of lime. Such soils he finds little benefited by marling (ir chalking, and only to a limited extent by top-dressings with gypsum (sulphate of lime). In examining the water flowing from siliceous sand, however, or gravels, a different series of phenomena commonly present themselves. The water in such places eenerally contains but a small portion of carbonate of lime ; they do not ])resent the bright sparkling appearance of the wa- ters of the chalk or other calcareous districts ; they are the soft waters of every-day life. The lands from M'hich those waters flow do not commonly produce good crops of sainfoin or the other grasses to which. I have alluded ; the red clover plant, too, languishes there; the rye grass, abounding as it does in siliceous matters is un\\illingly preferred by the farmers of these lands as an artificial grass. The use of calcareous fertilizers on such soils is found very beneficial : they supply a deficiency which the cultivator feels the efl'ects of, without always being aware of the cause. The cil'cct of such additions to the soil naturally alters the composition of the land or drainage-water (since all such waters are merely rain-water filtered through the soil) which is pretty certain to dissolve the soluble substances which it 12 THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. meets with in the earth. We should not, perhaps, be prepared to expect that the change in the com- position of such waters was so rapid, and so consi- derable as it is even by the application of two or three hundred weights of guano or gypsum per acre. I have on one or two occasions in Essex had an opportunity of noticing the effect produced upon the water of a well, by a small dressing of gypsum applied to the adjoining pasture, its softness being very materially diminished, an effect, too, which continued for several months afterwards. In some experiments of Mr. J. "Wilson, the present excellent Principal of the college of Cirencester, the drainage water of a field was examined both before and after the application of a top-dressing of the soil with guano {Farmer's Almanac vol. iii., p. 247). These trials were made in East Lothian in 1845, the water draining from the soil of a winter fallow was found by him to con- tain, when examined firstly on the 29th of April (18 gallons held then 15.2 grains of solid matter), just before being dressed with guano and sown with barley, and secondly on the l6th of May (when 18 gallons held 27.5 grains), the water in both cases being obtained from the same drains, the result of the comparative analysis was as follows ; — April 29. May 16. Organic matter and water 3"4 7'8 Silica 0-9 07 Silicate of alumina 0'4 0*2 Chloride of magnesium ri2 — Common salt 1*8 2"6l Carbonate of lime — 2"7 Chloride of calcium 3*0 2'1 Sulphate of alumina 0'85 — Peroxide of iron 2*1 2*25 Magnesia — 1 '69 Phosphate of lime 0.3 S'l Phosphate of magnesia — 1*8 Phosphate of alumina — 0'45 13.8/ 25-41 The turbid portion of the drainage water first dis- charged from the soil, after heavy rains, being ex- amined by Mr. Wilson, was not found to differ materially from the drained soil ; it held, however, less silica and more lime, the matter deposited by the turbid water containing per cent. Silica GO-0 Silicate of alumina 17"5 Protoxide of iron 6 "5 Sulphate of lime 9*4 Sulphate of magnesia .... 0'75 Phosphate of lime 0*G Alumina 4'0 Water, &c 1-25 These wafers were both what would be called very soft water by the housekeeper, the amount of the carbonate of lime being in one case very small (only 2'7 grains in 18 gallons), and in the other its amount was not definable. The difference in this respect of waters from even adjacent sources of supply is very noticeable : it is a fact in every re- spect worthy of the serious consideration of the owners of lands which it is intended to convert into water meads. To give an instance : There is a reservoir on the common at Southampton, into which is gathered the drainage waters of the sur- rounding land. This surface-water contains only about 3"2 grains of chalk per imperial gallon. Close by the reservoir a shaft has been sunk to a siderable depth down to the chalk. The water ob- tained from this contains 18"4 grains per imperial gallon. {Uancjer's lieport on the Sanitary state of Southampton, p. 98^. In my own neighbourhood in Surrey, the difference between the water from difierent sources is equally remarkable : that which flows from a spring at nearly the highest portion of the parish of Sydenham contains onlj' about two grains of the salts of lime ; that of the Thames, furnished to the parish by the Lambeth Water Works Company, holds more than ten grains, and that of some of the water draining from the London Basin clay nearly three times this amount. At Croydon the same dissimilarity in the composition of the waters exist. That of the River Wandle containing about 16 grains of calcareous salts per gallon, that of some of the adjacent land springs varying from 17^ to 48 grains per gallon. The composition of surface-drainage water is naturally afiected by the amount of the rain which falls on the land. Now this amount is not only affected very considerably by the latitude of the place, but by its elevation above the level of the sea; truths which, however applicable by the farmer, as aiding him in the choice of his rotations, are but seldom sufficiently regarded. This differ- ence has not, in the south of England, been ac- curately determined by careful observations. In the north the rain-registers kept by Mr. J. F. Miller, in the lake district of Cumberland and Westmoreland, have shown some remarkable and little anticipated results. He observes, in his valuable yet cautiously drawn report {Trans. Roy. Soc, 1849, p. 85), that it would be premature, from the limited data already obtained, to draw any decided inference as to the gradation in the quantity of rain, at these great elevations above the sea. But it seems probable, that, in mountainous districts, the amount of rain increases from the valley upwards, to an altitude of about 2,000 feet, where it reaches a maximum, and that above this elevation it rapidly decreases. The observations made during the summer of 1846, and the year 1847, during every variety of season, con- firm the above deductions in every essential par- THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 13 ticular; so that we may fairly assume the combined results to be indicative of a physical law, so far, at least, as relates to the particular locality in question, which it is observable is a most remarkably wet district. In twenty-one months the val- ley, IGO feet above the sea, received of rain a depth, in inches, equal to 170"55 Stye Head 1290 feet, 18574 Sea-tollar common 1334 180-23 Sparkling Tarn 1900 207"91 Great Gable 2925 130-98 Sea Fell 316G 128-15 Mr. Miller notices an apjiarent exception to this law, in the case of the rain gauge stationed at Brant Rigg, about midway between the top of Stye Head and the Vale of Wastdale, at an estimated height of 300 feet above the sea, and which, in 1847, received about one-eighth less rain than the valley. This is the only one of the gauges situated on the slope of a mountain ; it is on the windward side, and I imagine that, in such a position, eddies or counter- currents are produced in windy weather, which cause a less quantity of water to be deposited in the instrument than is due to the elevation. We know, indeed, that all slojjing roofs, from the same cause, materially diminish the receipts of rain gauges. These observations may tem])t some of my numerous country readers to examine, with easily constructed rain gauges, some of the meteo- rological questions, to which I have been alluding in this paper ; and if they are thus led to examine into a few of the phenomena of nature, which are exhibited around them, it is almost certain that they will be rewarded by sohd replies to the ques- tions which they thus ask — answers on which they may safely rely, on many important and practical occasions. LIQUID MANURE, Connected with the question of the employment of fresh or partly decomposed farm-yard manure, is that of fermentation or non-fermentation of urine and Tujuid drainage. It ])y no means follows, how- ever, that the reasonings on the two are perfectly analogous. It may either be that farm-yard manure requires a degree of fermentation which will not apply to the urine, or that the latter may require a further process of decomposition not needed by the former. For though farm-yard manure may and does contain a considerable portion of urine, yet it is usually believed by those who are advocates of fermentation, that it is rather useful for the breaking- down of the woody fibre of the straw, than for any peculiar decomposition of the juices with which the manure is saturated. Nay, more ; the washings and eva|)oration may be said most certainly to tend rather to waste and evaporate, than to be much ad- vantaged by the operations necessary to promote fermentation in the manure. Mr. Davy, in his prize essay before alluded to, says on this matter, having more apjiarent reference to the mixture of urine with rain water, but certainly embracing the question of fermentation — " We have the authority of the great German chemist, Sprengel, that the ammonia contained in putrefied urine is increased by being previously mixed with rain water ; and we know the fertilising powers of farm-yard manure dcjjcnd in a great measure on the quantity of am- monia it contains." After giving Sprengel's well- known table of urine analyzed at the different stages, he goes on t" say, " By the above analysis, Sjjrengel found that 100,000 parts of urine contained, when fresh, 205 parts of ammonia; after becoming putrid the ammonia was increased to 487 parts; but when fresh-mixed with its own bulk of water, and then allowed to become putrid, it contained 1,622 parts of ammonia, or between seven and eight times the quantity it did when fresh." On this the editor of the Transactions of the Yorkshire Agricultural Society has some quahfying observations. Alluding to the same table he says, "The principal part of the ammonia, in the instance before us, is derived from the decomposition of a substance called " urea," of which it will be observed there were 4,00y parts in 100,000 parts of fresh urine. Urea is a substance which decomposes with great rapidity under the ordinary circumstances requisite for all decompositions, viz., moisture and a temperature above freezing. In examining the second analysis before us, we find that 4,000 parts of urea, which were shown by the first analysis to exist in this sample of lu-ine wlien fresh, have been reduced to 1,000; but the ammonia only exceeds that in the first experiment by 282 parts. AVhat then has be- come of the ammonia resulting from the decompo- sition of the 3,000 parts of urea, amounting to 1,700 parts r There is no difticidty in answering this question. Ammonia is so volatile a substance, that there is great difficulty in retaining it at all, except in closely covered vessels. Again, in the third analysis the urea is still further reduced to GOO parts ; so that 3,400 parts have been decomposed out of 4,000, which ought to have shown an excess 14 THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. of ] ,92b parts of ammonia above that contained in the first analysis or 205, whereas the analysis shows only 1,622 parts in all; so that there has been a loss of 509 parts by volatilization." The editor then goes on in his comment to show that this process of decomposition and waste would go on until the whole of the urea was decomposed, and nearly the whole of the ammonia dissipated by volatilization, and then appears to advise the application of urine in a fresh state, on account, as we apprehend, of the loss of ammonia which its putridity must necessarily occasion. And if the urea can be taken up by the plants with as much facility as we know the ammonia can ; nay, if it can be taken up as such, and decomposed in their systems, as some parties hint it is possible for them to be, we can see no reason for any danger of waste being permitted. If, on the other hand, the urea must be decomposed, the more free the am- monia is, the better it is, as a pabulum for the plants. Then, as we said of the farm-yard manure itself, it may be allowable to have a little waste for the sake of obtaining what remains, in that state most favourable for the use of the plants. It is quite impossible that any one can have a higher opinion of another than we have of the judgment, scientific research, and general ability and acquaintance with practical as well as scientific facts, possessed by the editor of these Transactions, and therefore we may be allowed to express a doubt whether the cases he has adduced in favour of the non-fermentation of urine, are such as bear strongly on the point. He says, " A strong confirmation of this view is afforded by the excellent effects arising from the folding of sheep upon the land, where the whole of the urine is absorbed in a fresh state." But there are so many other circumstances — as the exudations from the fleece— the manure — the evo- lution of carbonic acid from the lungs — and, above all, the peculiar kneading of the soil, that it is difficult to say what specific efiect the urine has on the soil. Guano, and its rapidity as a fertilizer, containing its ammonia in a state of urate or oxlate of ammonia, we think hardly proves the point, for urate of ammonia is not precisely the same thing as urea itself separated from the other constituents of the urine, as it must become when poured fresh upon the soil. But, further, we think the admission that in Bel- gium practice has decided in favour of well-decom- posed urine is a very important part of the question; and though, as the writer intimates, its object there, is to force on a crop with the greatest possible rapidity, as in the case of stubble, turnips, carrots, &c., still we are persuaded that nine crops out of ten are all the better for a vigorous development in their early stages. That the ready-formed ammonia is more im- mediately efficacious for the growing crops is not, we think, denied ; and therefore if steps are taken to prevent the excessive fermentation of the urine, no fear need be apprehended, but every advantage may be expected from an incipient fermentation. As fermentation cannot go on without a fresh supply of air, an air-tight and well-trapped tank and drains \\\\\ just admit sufficient for incipient, and not too much for excessive, fermentation. — Gardeners' and Farmers' Journal. NETHEREXE FARMERS' CLUB.— NEW PRINCIPLE OF DRAINAGE. The Rev. R. A. Roberts, of Kentisbeare, who has already published a pamphlet on "The Science of Underground Field Drainage," deHvered a lec- ture before the members of this club, at the Ruff- well Inn, on Wednesday, the 12th ult., Mr. R. May in the chair. The attendance was numerous. The Lecturer commenced by expressing his sense of the honour done him by being permitted to be present at that special meeting; and he thanked the members for the additional compliment paid him by allowing him to occupy their time upon a subject which as yet was but little known or under- stood. Whether he shovild succeed in imparting to them a conviction of the correctness of his views remained to be seen. The principle which he con- tended for was this, that a power was exercised at the orifice of drains, and that power led to the ex- traction of water. There were many branches of science to be brought to bear upon the question : the law of gravitation and the law of attraction were amongst them — the laws that governed the motions of bodies which had substance, and those which had no substance. The surfaces were drained by the agency of power and heat, which, acting on the orifices of the drains, produced what he should call suction : not that that word was the proper one, but he used it as one with which they were most familiar. The question was put to him, " Do you mean to say that you can draw water up the side of a steep hill ?" Yes he could, and had done so : he placed a zinc pipe 35 feet long be- tween two common pipes, and the experiment THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 15 proved that double the quantity of water was car- ried away by the zinc pipe over the other two. This was accounted for by the fact that a greater (juantity of heat was generated by the metal pipe than ])y the earthern ones. He would explain the mode of proceeding on the part of the water as it falls from the heavens, and the treatment it received, if he might so express himself, when it came in contact with the ground. There was a stratum and substratum of soil, — clay resisted water as much as it could, — gravel yielded a most passive obedience, — other soils were acted upon according to their natures ; and the interstices were filled up quickly or otherwise in accordance with their temperament or texture of the land ; and owing to the resistance below the water rose to a table level on the surface. In speaking of this water, some might call it the water of attraction, but he would speak of it as the water of repletion. He looked to the surface for the table level of the water repletion, and he found a cure for that in its subsidence. This must be effected by the revulsion of elements which com- l)ose the space to be acted upon ; and this revulsion must be eftected above the spot on which the mis- chief occurs, or it would be a useless imdertaking. If they wished to stop it below they must divert it above. A drain was acted upon at the higher and lower orifices : at the higher by the attraction of heat, at the lower by that of air — he might say light. They had an equal pressure along the whole surface of a drain diverting the water to two points of attrac- tion, and when the attracting principle was the ele- ment of heat the water became a dissolving body, ran out of the spot which governed the table level of water and the whole surface of land, whether in the higher, middle or lower parts. (iravitation will do the work till they got to the level of the drain, but then they must call in the aid of heat. He now came to speak of what was called absorp- tion, and he must say that he had in vain looked for an explanation of that theory : he had never been able to catch a ghmpse of its reality : it was a dirty, slow, sloppy experiment unworthy of those in- telligent agriculturists who claimed it as their child. AVhat was the meaning of absorption r He under- stood it to be water by gravitation, or some means or other so as to find its way through the joints, cracks, or crevices of the pipes, — or if by none of these it was somehow or other to be drawn into the pipes from the porosity of the material. Now it was a strange thing that Parkes and others who contended for this method of draining should have recommended glazed pipes ; they found, no doubt, that such pipes would draw better, and thus had come round to the principle which he contended for. The lecturer proceeded to combat what he considered to be the errors of the theory of drain- ing by absorption, and to contend that his idea was the only one which could be adopted for effective draining. Take a sim})le illustration, that of a fiower-pot : — Water placed in the saucer would be attracted upward by the temperature of the soil in the pot being of a higher character than the sub- stance of water in the ])an. So far as we could gather from the rev. gentleman, we understand his principle to be, that drains are not only aqueducts or channels for carrying oflT water, but tunnels or tubes for generating and containing air and heat, and that it is the action of these two elements which wiU cause the water in the land to find its way to the upper orifice of the drain even in hilly coun- tries. Mr. Roberts gave tlic result of one experiment although upon a very small scale, ^^'e have not one word to say as to the correctness or otherwise of the principle he laid down, but we must add that it would have been far more satisfactory if he could have favoured his auditory with a detail of experi- ments upon a variety of soils, and applied under a variety of circumstances : some idea could then have been formed as to the practicabihty of the scheme, and the cost at which it might be carried into execution. In justice, however, to the lecturer, we must add that he stated his desire to be, to give rise to a controversy upon the subject, and we do not doubt that he will be prepared to support his views by reducing them more extensively to , practice. PAROCHIAL ASSESSMENTS. Lord Malmesbury has addressed the following letter to the committee of peers now sitting on this subject: — " Wliiteliall-gardcns, June 3. '■ My I.oitu, — As a connuitlce of your House is now sitting to consider ' the laws relating to pftrochial assessments,' I trust that the folio. viiig suggestions, which I venture to present to your liOrdship, will not be decniod illtimed or irrelevant. " I assume that the injustice of assessing all local rates ex- clusively upon real property is admitted. " I also assume that the anomaly of our parochial system ia acknowledged, its most ghiriug defects being that the proprie- tors of close rural parishes can, and do, transfer their poor population to a neighbouring parish, thereby reaping all the advantage of their labour when ellic-ient, without the responsi- bility of their maintenance when impotent ; anrowth, will convert that profitably which on an animal of coarser build and less tlnifty growth would be thrown away. The latter would lose more of their food than the advantage of the proportion they managed to assimilate would repay ; and thus the only question to determine is, what degree of nutritiveness is it most profitable to con- fer on the food given ? The use of this better food is perfectly economical even with a poor stock, pro- vided it be used only to raise what of the farm pro- duce may be below the standard of quality which this question indicates. With poor stock I have used linseed with profit. A thin linseed soup poured over straw chaff" will confer a savourj' taste, even though it be so diluted as to leave the food thus prepared of less nutritive strength than th J ordinary green food of the farm; and there is, perhaps, no better door open to an increased pro- duce of meat for the country at large than means such as this aft'ord of inducing the larger consump- tion of what is now trodden under foot. A salt, hot, and weak linseed soup thrown over straw chaff', while conferring its own flavour, brings out that of the straw, which is thus far more readily consumed than the mere addition of oil-cake is likely to make it. This fact is submitted to those who are in the habit of using such large quantities of oil-cake as cattle food. AVe have kept oxen through winter in a rapidly improving condition* on turnip-tops at the commencement, and half a cwt. of turnips dail)- a-piece afterwards, along with an ad lib, allowance of straw chaff", over which about half a pailful of salt water for each beast, containing lib. of linseed meal boiled in it, had been thrown. Of course a more intensive system of feeding is profitable in the case of well-bred animals. Many instances of this are scattered about in agricultural publications, but they illustrate the possibility rather than jirove the truth of our statement. They are not numerous enough nor various enough to show that the average experience of farmers bears us out ; but I may specify one or two cases as illus- trations, and for the rest appeal to the common im- pression which has arisen, however carelessly, out of experience, to corroborate the assertion that high feeding, by its greater produce of valuable manure, is profitable to the farmer ; and in the case of well- * At a cost of for turnips (at 10s. a ton). . .3d. daily. ,, linseed id. „ 4d. a day Or -i.-i. 4 J. a-week, beside fuel, attendance, and straw. C 18 THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. bred animals, by its greater produce of meat, is profitable even to the feeder. The following is a bit of our own experience during the past winter: — Four good Hereford oxen were bought towards the end of October for £60 at a dear market, and sold again in thirteen weeks at 6d. per lb., for £11 . These four oxen in thirteen weeks gained £17 or 26s. per week, or 6s. 6d. per ox per week. They consumed during that time 18 tons of mangold wurzel, 30 bushels of beans, and 4 cwt. of linseed meal, for which, besides the manure, we have thus obtained the following prices : — £ s. d. 4 cwt. linseed, or more than 5lb. daily 1 9 ^ r, per ox, at 1 1 s J 30 bushels beans, or nearly 61b. daily ( ,, ^ per ox, at 4s. 6d S 18 tons mangold wurzel, or 1 cwt. daily \ per ox, at 9s 5 2 0 £17 1 0 This has paid well : but though one of the oxen was ill for a fortnight, and lost flesh by its illness, I have no hesitation in saying that the result is far beyond the average truth in such matters. The method of feeding adopted in the case of our four Hereford oxen was the same as we have for the last few years adopted with all our cattle and sheep. Each sheep gets about one-eighth the quantity given to an ox, with about 20lbs. of swedes daily in the beginning of winter, or of mangold wurzel in the spring. The same method is adopted with cattle during summer : they are fed on the lin- seed compound along with cut clover or vetches ad lib. The following is our present arrangement, in which, simply owing to the proportion of the stock of food on hand, our proportion of Imseed-meal and bean and other meal varies from it much. Every day 40lbs. of linseed are boiled in 70 gallons of water and thrown over 44 heaped bushel baskets full of chafF, on which again 250lbs. of bean and other meal are dusted. Of this the sheep (200) get 16 baskets, i.e. about 15lbs. of Unseed and QOlbs. of meal, equal to 1 5 oz. of linseed and nearly half- a-pound of meal daily a-piece ; and the cattle (30) get 24 baskets, i. e. 22lbs. of linseed and 135lbs. of meal, equal to about 12 oz. of linseed and 4^1bs. of meal each daily. The rest is given to horses. I might give other instances of the profit of feeding cattle on purchased food, and of the greater economy of home-made food compared with the oil-cake \ which is generally used. Mr. Warnes' own pub- lished experience has furnished instances ; and the following is a case which he quotes : — Mr. Postle, of Smallborough, Norfolk, tried the merits of oil-cake against those of hnseed and peas. He found that six cattle consumed £20 6s. l^d. in linseed, peas, fuel, and labour, besides the swedes and hay they received : and that the other six con- sumed £21 14s. 9d. in linseed cake, besides an equal quantity of grown food and hay. The former lot, though apparently of only equal weight and quality with the latter at the commencement of the experiment, had gained by the close of it, during a period of six months, about 45 stones of beef more than the other. And this advantage on the part of linseed and meal over oil-cake holds good in the case of sheep as well as cattle. Mr. Bruce, of Waughton, in a report communicated to the High- land Society in 1844, gave the result of an experi- ment on this point, in which lots of twenty sheep each were fed variously and tried against one another for a considerable period, and the increase of each being compared with the food consumed, it was found that to every pound of increased weight in one case, there had been a consumption of 101 oz. of linseed cake ; and to every pound of increased weight in another there had been a consumption of 59 oz. of linseed and beans, (mixed 1 to 6) ; and to every pound of increased weight in a third there had been a consumption of 565 oz. of linseed and beans (mixed in the proportion of 3 and 2) ; while, in a fourth instance, the same growth had been effected during the consumption of only 46 oz. of linseed by itself. It appears, therefore, that it is economical to use linseed whole rather than the mere husks of it which we obtain in oil-cake. In all the former cases it was ground to meal and boiled in water enough to make a mucilage, and then thrown over chaflF enough to make nearly a bushel of the porridge to every beast, the bran and other meal being first dusted over the whole and incorporated with it. In the last the linseed was given to the sheep whole, and they ate it out of troughs as they ate the oil-cake. Mr. Warnes has latterly recommended the linseed to be given in a cold mucilage, which can be obtained at less cost by the mere soaking of the meal in cold water for a day and a-half. One measure of linseed meal is to be placed in seven measures of water stirred up and allowed to stand ; it will form a jelly in about 30 hours, and may then be thrown over chaff, and used with other meal just as the hot solution is : cattle, it is said, are found to do as well on the cold as on the warm food. I have no experience to offer on this assertion, but I should doubt it. And this leads to the question in what condition should food be oflFered to cattle. Of summer food, vetches, &c., cut and carried to the house, a some- what costly experience makes us say that it should be cut and left to wither some hours before use. Green and succulent as the vetch or clover is, they are as often physic as they are food, unless some- what dried before consumption. Of winter food — turnips and mangold wurzel—I have only to say THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE, 19 that they should be used in the order of their ripening : common turnips first, then the hybrids, then swedes, and lastly mangold murzel. They are rarely given boiled. IMr. Warnes has recom- mended thera when cut to be laid in a heap or raashed in a cask along with the hot linseed mucilage which he pours over them, so that the whole is warmed ; but the few existing experiments on the subject, however favourable to the feeding of pigs on Iwiled food, have not recommended its use to cattle. Mr. "Walker of Haddington found five oxen and heifers on steamed turnips, &c., to cost £5 19s. more during the period of the experiment than the same number on food uncooked ; and while the latter, after putting a certain value on the food consumed, paid £4 12s. beyond their cost, the former did not repay their expenses, similarly esti- mated, by about l6s. on the lot. And as regards the condition of the artificial food given to cattle, the Harleston Farmers' Club re- commends the boiling of the corn even more than of the linseed with which it is mixed. Our practice has been to boil the linseed merely, and then dust the corn meal over the chaft' after the boiling mucilage has been added. And that it is of impor- tance thoroughly to reduce the linseed by grinding, and boil it, and convert it perfectly into a mucilage, is proved by the experiments of Mr. Thompson, of Moat Hall, near York. He found that of 1,000 grains of uncrushed linseed boiled for one hour 845 were still insoluble, while of the same quantity crushed and similarly treated only 525 were in- soluble. And notwithstanding that most of our meat-producing animals chew the cud, it is well to be particular in assisting mastication and digestion by the utmost reduction of their food before it is adminstered. Turnip-cutters and chaff-cutters and corn-crushers are useful in a meat manufactory, not only by causing the consumption of what would otherwise, to a great extent be lost but also by enabling the more perfect exhaustion of the nourish- ment contained in that which is consumed. — Prize Essay by J. C. Morton, in the Journal of the Royal Agricultural Society of England. STEAM POWER IN AGRICULTURE. Some time since, Mr. Mechi delivered a hcture at the Coggeshall Mechanics' Institute, " On the necessity and advantage of apply- ing steam power to Agriculture," before a ver^' numerous audience, amongst whom were a goodly number of farmers, millers, and others, connected with agricultural pursuits. W. P. Honywood, Esq., presided. The lecturer, who was very cordially greeted, said — I consider it the duty of us all to communicate to each other any little know- ledge we may possess upon a particular subject; and having been requested by the committee of this institution to deliver a lecture, I have chosen the subject of the application of steam to agricul- ture, because those I address are living in the midst of an agricultural district ; and believing that no man who has been accustomed to travel by steam would like to go back to the old system of fifty miles in six or eight hours, I consider the time is come when the farming body must mend their pace. The spirit of the age is jirogression, and it would be strange indeed if agriculture should escape the general influence. Steam ! — mighty steam ! (continued the lecturer). The term suggests a thousand pleasing and j)rofitable reflections. That marvellous and almost invisible j)o\ver which brooks no opposition, which never tires — scouring the plains, piercing the hills — threading the valleys, and ploughing the wide ocean— mastering, with indignant ease, time and space, wind, water, and seasons. The varieties of its power may well amaze us — here 'tis wielding the ponderous hammer that gives shape and con- sistence to gigantic metallic masses — there it weaves the gossamer web, or twists the slender fibre. It plunges the hardy miner deep into the bowels of mother earth, and raises from her lap her mineral and metallic treasures. These glow and flow with liquid meltings at its powerful blast; here 'tis printing l)ank notes, there coining golden sovereigns. To-day 'tis preparing food and clothing for the body ; to-morrow it feasts the mind, spreading far and wide, in countless numbers, the broad sheets of intelligence. Instruments of death and of preservation alike acknowledge its power. What a comprehensive word is this said ste.a.m : it means peace, progression, civilization, education, abundance, and cheapness ; it is the death-blow to monopoly and privation. Ignorance and jirejudice shrink away at its approach ; the iron barrier of separation is Ijroken by steam. The interposition of time, of distance, or of poverty, no longer wounds the tender affections. It increases alike our j)oli- tical power as a nation, and our morality; for the increase of physical comfort must, in a ('luistian community Hke blessed England, jiredispose fo moral good. But if this all-pervading power clothes the body with elegance and c!iea|)ness, and t 1» 20 THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. stores the mind with knowledge and intelligence, can agriculture alone escape its influence? Im- possible ! It must and will feed as well as clothe the people cheaply. The landlord or farmer who saves his time and his money by the concentrated power and speed of a hundred horses on the raU, or five hundred on the ocean, must draw compari- sons and conclusions adverse and disparaging to our present slow and crawling system of agricul- tural mechanics. The general application of steam in agriculture involves a thorough change and re- formation of our farming system. It is a question of more capital and less land, both for landlord and tenant (Hear, hear) ; it is a question of abolition of men of straw, and substitution of men of capital — industry, intelligence, and integrity are all capital ; it is a question of a compensation for unexhausted improvements, or an ample security of tenure by lease ; it is a question of public registration and easy transfer of landed property. It will compel a more acute observance of the laws of mechanics, and will sharpen the intellects of the agricultural labouring community. In a word, the employment of steam power in agriculture will compel or induce a larger employment of labour and production of food. Drainage, deeper cultivation, open fields, good roads, better buildings, more live stock, and less weeds (laughter), must and will be the con- comitants of agricultural steam-power ; for steam- power means amendment and progression. It would be a curious statistic could we accurately know the number of horses that would be required to produce a power equivalent to that now in action by our fixed, locomotive, or marine steam engines. I apprehend that if the whole surface of England were sown with oats and cropped with grass for hay, there would be not enough to feed the requisite number of horses : but if there were food enough we must have whole towns of stables, streets of harness-makers, and squares of farriers and veterinary surgeons (laughter). The very leather for our shoes would be doubled or trebled in value. Take as an illustration one of our transatlantic steam vessels of one thousand horse power ; why, as she ploughs the ocean without intermission by day and by night, it would require at least 4,000 horses to do her work— more likely 6,000— because no horse could labour incessantly and without in- termission for six consecutive hours. Just imagine food, water, harness, shoes, grooms, drivers, and stables for four thousand horses! Conceive the possibility of combining and applying their power on one particular object, or of using it on water ; fancy the space they would occupy. Any one who has seen 4,000 bullocks on a Monday in Smithfield market may illustrate it. Why they would cover acres of ground, or reach miles in length. The mere hiring, superintending, lodging, and feeding their necessary attendants would involve a tolerable commissariat. The whole affaii would be best re- presented by a moderate-sized town. Well, then, but for steam the happy inhabitants of merry England could not and would not have those luxuries, comforts, or necessaries which they now enjoy. Honour be to that departed philosopher whose sagacity and perception, under Divine Pro- vidence, applied the bubbling resistance of our tea- kettles to the most noble and useful purposes of humanity (applause). After the last illustration, I need hardly say that steam will do on a farm that which horses cannot do. I will now descend to the dry details of first cost and daily expense of my own six-horse power steam-engine, and the uses to which it is applied ; this is essentially necessary, in the presence of my practical agricultural friends, because I know too many who have considered or believed that Mr. Mechi was a visionary theorist, or crazy enthusiast in agriculture ; but time (aided by a certain number of goodly stacks) is working changes of opinion ; and I would advise certain folks to look after their laurels, for the physic of sound theory is beginning to operate at Tiptree Hall Farm (laughter), as the forthcoming crops promise most abundantly to illustrate. Steam has already done something for agriculture. That vast expanse of swamps and bogs, the safe and solitary refuge of the snipe, the duck, and the bittern — I mean the great Bedford level— presents now a dry and rich extent of corn, of roots, and of stock. As the flitting railway train wafts us through this line of country, the peering shafts of powerful pumping engines indicate the cause of this great change. At a recent inaugurative trial of a new 40 horse power pumping engine, I see it stated that it raised 120 tons of water per minute ! There is no doubt but ultimately ^ve shall avail ourselves of steam for irrigation, in our warm and dry districts, for summer green crops. Ultimately the power of steam will be applied to the working and stirring of the soil ; already many experimental trials have taken place. One thing is quite certain, that the general appli- cation of steam power in cultivation will necessitate such a squaring and levelling and re-parcelling of the soil as will thoroughly reform the hedge-and- ditch-row-ism and topography of this kingdom (laughter). It will equally compel a reformation and re-adjustment of the system of transfer or ex- change of land, which should change hands as easily as the three per cent, consols. A farm of 600 acres should represent a square mile with a farmery in its centre, having half a mile diverging roads to its extremities; whereas now, under the system of old custom and un alter ability, a farm of that size generally involves the intricate threading THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 21 of miles of almost impassable green and muddy lanes, with fields of every form except the right one (laughter). In another century it will scarcely be credited that in this great agricultural county, of one million acres, there could not be found half a dozen agri- cultural steam engines ! indeed, it is only recently that steam power is being gradually applied to our county corn mills ; so that if we depended on meal for our stock they would alike be subjected to starvation by a long calm, a heavy flood, or a dry summer (Hear). The absence of engines imphes a scarcity of engineers, which has been a sad draw- back ; fortunately now for this neighbourhood two able working young men (Messrs. Striffler and Algar) have located at Kelvedon. To me their services have been truly valuable on various emer- gencies, and I can speak highly of their practical engineering intelligence and acquirements. In fact, they have passed the ordeal of a metropolitan experience in marine and other engines. They as- sure me they are able to supply high pressure en- gines, with boiler and fixing and brickwork complete, at £25 per horse power. Their first attempt appears to me most simple and useful. If they succeed, great will be the advantage to our neighbourhood. You must remember that a steam engine is like a gigantic watch ; every part must work together smoothly and harmoniously. The amazing velocity, power, and pressure of steam tries to the utmost every screw, bolt, joint, cog, or strap. You must, therefore, allow for " the miseries of a steam engine" as well as its comforts and ad- vantages ; above all things, the good going of your engine will, like the watch, depend not only on the skill and integrity of the original maker, but also on the ability of those who repair it when out of order. Some idea of the intricacy of a steam engine may be formed from the fact that there are more than five thousand separate pieces in a railway lo- comotive, the failure of any one of which pieces might endanger or obstruct its proper action. I am enabled to form a correct comparative estimate of the relative power of horses and steam, because, unfortunately, my first attempt was with six real horses ; the remembrance of that great mistake awakens many unpleasant and unprofitable reflec- tions (laughter). The mere working space required for the six horses is three times as great as that necessary for the engine and boiler— to say nothing of the stalls, attendance, and food. Horses, when not at work, must be fed and attended to, even on Sundays ; whereas a steam-engine may be rested days or weeks without cost or injury. If a steam- horse costs only £25, it is quite clear that it is in first cost, power, maintenance, and durability, more advantageous than a real horse; besides, if you feed it well with coals and water, you may work it all night as well as all day. First cost and outlay of ray own six- £ 8. d. horse power engine, best wTOUght boiler 1 50 0 0 Fixing shaft, brickwork, &c 70 0 0 Pair of mill stones, gearing, and miller's tools 50 0 0 Turner and Hurwood's linseed crusher and gearing 15 0 0 Pump and gearing 15 0 0 Sack tackle and gearing 10 0 0 Threshing machine and gearing, shut- ters, &c 50 0 0 Dressing-machine and gear 20 0 0 Chaff"- cutter and gearing 20 0 0 Grindstone and gearing. 10 0 (J £410 0 0 I believe Messrs. Striflfler and Algar would un- dertake the whole for a much smaller sum ; but of course the cost must vary in some degree with the buildings. DAILY CHARGE. £ S. d. Coals (i a ton) 0 10 0 Miller and engine-driver both com- bined in one man 0 3 4 Sperm oil, rags, candles, packing, &c. 0 0 6 Wear and repairs to engine, &c 0 1 6 0 15 4 Interest of capital, £410, at 5 per cent. 0 14 Daily profit 0 16 0 11 £18 0 The cinder ashes from the engine are given to the pigs, and they eat them with great relish and advantage (laughter). DAILY WORK DONE. Charged at the price we should have to pay in the re- gular way, independent of cartage to mill, &c.— £ s. d. Seven quarters of corn ground J 1 0 130 bushels of chaff cut l-8th of an inch long (less woman's time 7d.) . . 0 3 (3 Miller's toll saved, 4 lbs. per sack, is 50 at Jd. (laughter) 0 3 0 Linseed crushed, water pumped, sacks raisetl, grindstone turned, water boiled, food steamed. . . . c gratis. £18 0 For a small additional cost I could drive an extra pair of mill stones. My agreement with my miller is to work later if required. So that we could, if necessary, do much more at a trifling increase of fuel. The daily charge for fuel depends on a variety of circumstances, such as the price of coals and the quantity of work done in a given time; mine of G-horse power driven with great rapidity THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. (about 92 revolutions per minute) consumes in the ten working liours nearly half a ton of coals. They are the large Blyth coals, which cost me, including cartage to the farm, ISs. 6d. per ton. The quan- tity of work done hy this engine is much more than ten horses could possibly accomplish. COST OF A day's THRESHING. 30 qrs. of long mowed wheat, threshed, £ s. d. dressed, and sacked up in eight hours, or 40 qrs. of reaped wheat; coals, 10s.; engine driver, 3s. 4d.; oil rags, &c., 6d. ; wear and repairs to engine. Is. 6d.; interest on capital. Is. 4d.. . 0 Wages of seven men at Is. 6d 0 Three women and three boys at 8d. each 0 16 10 4 0 £1 11 2 or Is. per quarter for the mowed and 9d. per quarter for the reaped wheat ; more might be done, but thirty quarters of mowed wheat is as much as a good man can pass through his hands in the time. (Hear, hear). But even if, instead of lis. 4d. daily gain we only conducted our business at the ordinary cost, still there would be an im- mense convenience in being able to do everything our own way and at the right time, without cartage to mill and the uncertainties of supply. Steam will have the eflfectof abolishing or diminishing the extent of land in grass. Some farmers would stare with dis- belief if you told them that it was easy to keep working horses in good order without hay ; but I can assure them it is quite possible to do so, pro- vided we allow them a sufficiency of meal with their cut straw chafF, and add a little linseed soup to it. The same remark apphes to feeding cattle. The facility of cutting straw into chaff and grinding corn into meal by steam power will convince land- lords and tenants too that the poor grass lands will be more advantageous converted into good corn and root growing arable land. The Scotch system of two years grass for rest will naturally give way to the improved method of obtaining abundant manure by purchased corn on boarded floors or under sheds. My daily consumption of chaff is more than 130 bushels. If, by any mischance or repair, the engine is not at work for a few days, great is the outcry for its use. Everything seems out of joint without it. But on what sized farms can steam be advantageously used ? Here I am sure I shall differ most widely from the majority of landlords and of tenants of the present day. Before I answer the question I should ask what amount of live stock per acre do you mean to keep ? If you determine to keep, as I do, £4 to £5 worth of live stock per acre, you will require a steam engine on a farm of 130 to 200 acres vcirying in power from four to six horse. Mine of six-horse power finds ample employment on a farm of 170 acres. In fact, as I extend my accommodation I shall increase my quantity of live stock, being convinced that on this depends the increased fertility of our soils. It may be said, if everybody did as you do, meat would be very cheap. I can honestly tell you there is no fear of everybody doing so, prejudice or want of capital, both by landlords and tenants, will be an eftectual bar to its general and immediate extension; but the sooner we begin the better, for it is quite clear that even in this well cultivated county, we are a desperate long way from perfection. (Hear, hear). The system of seUing off corn and cattle from the land without bringing back an equivalent in feeding stuffs or artificial manures, will not stand the test of abundance and cheapness. This im- poverishing system is alike fatal to the land and he who farms it. It has been urged that the employ- ment of steam power displaces manual labour. However specious this objection may appear it is not founded in fact, because the same principle of profit and economy that would induce an agricul- turist to employ steam would also cause him to drain and subsoil his land, open his ditches, square his fields, trim his fences, mend his roads, burn earth, cart chalk, keep his land free from weeds, and do many things that tend to the increased em- ployment of labour. Besides, the making of a steam-engine is nearly all labour, except the mere iron ore obtained by labour. Thousands of labourers are rendered permanent and premature paupers by the slavery of agriculture — I mean threshing aud chaff-cutting. These operations are generally paid for by the piece or task work. The result is over exertion, a short cough, asthma, pain in the side, or some permanent disability. I see too many instances of this kind. Steam power would prevent them. The use of hand threshing machines is cruelty indeed, and most unprofitable. In conclusion, I recommend the use of steam in agriculture on the principle of humanity; as impi'oving, by the cheapening and increase of food, the physical, moral, and social condition of the working classes — on the score of economy and jirofit, individual, parochial, and gene- ral— on the ground of providing food and employ- ment for our mechanical engineers and miners, rather than for our horses ; and last, not least, aa the basis for promoting the honour and safety of the nation by increasing the number of hardy tars to navigate our coal laden vessels ; or, if need be, to man and defend " Old England's wooden walls." (Applause). Mr. Mechi concluded by observing that he should be happy to hear and answer any questions, on any point that might be discussed upon the use of his system. Mr. F. U. Pattisson. — How many horses do THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 28 you consider necessary to be used upon a farm containing 170 acres ? Mr. Mechi. — The number I have employed in woricing upon the farm, irrespective of those en- gaged in the carting of chalk, is eight horses, but we think we can do with six. Mr. Pattisson.— Then what do you consider to be your saving in horse power ? Mr. Mechi. — It saves two horses on the farm. Mr. Pattisson, — But eight horses will do for a farm of 200 acres. Mr. Mechi. — But no part of my land is grass ; the whole of it is subsoiled, and I require and use more horse labour than many of my neighbours do upon their farms ; in fact, I subsoil it once in every four years. Mr. Giles. — How many horses do you keep now less than you were in the habit of keeping before you had the steam-engine ? Mr. Mechi. — We reckon that we save two horses upon the farm ; but I am very much in love with deep cultivation, as being a great improvement to land that is drained ; and wherever we have so cultivated the soil we have derived very great ad- vantages from it. But I have made a charge for all that is done in one whole day, so that I do not see that it interferes so much with horse power on the farm. Mr. Pattisson. — I think, if you do not lessen the horse power by the use of the steam engine upon your farm there can be no great gain or ad- vantage in the use of it. But for milling, grinding, thrashing, and so on it may be advantageous, and not else. Mr. Mechi. — Your horses cannot be thrashing and doing other work at the same time, and the employing of horses in thrashing out corn wears them out so much. I could thrash out the produce of my own farm in fourteen days, and my produce is perhaps larger than that of most other farms of the same size, for I grow 340 quarters of wheat — or take it in round numbers at 300 quarters — 84 of barley, and beans besides. Mr. Pattis.son. — But we can thrash l)eans at one shilling per quarter. Mr. Mechi. — We can do it on the terms already named, but we could not do so much on the farm without the steam engine. We use five or six quarters of meal per day, and 13 bushels of chaff", and they use the steam engine for thrashing and chaff" cutting only. On farms of 300 acres in Scotland they invarialjly employ the steam engine ; but the cost for thrashing by a hand machine would be 3s. per quarter. I never knew a person who had a steam engine but he found some em- ployment for it, and it stimulated to improvement. Hear, hear). [Mr. Mechi here read a letter from Messrs. Stiffler and Algai', giving the opinions of those gentlemen on the steam engine.] If Mr. Pattisson were going to London he would prefer being drawn by a steam engine, and those engines were of 70 or 90 horse power. He was happy to speak to the chairman, and say, that when a man invested £500 in the purchase of a steam engine and the other buildings that might be wanted, he must invest more capital in the soil, and the tenant should have every encouragement and security given to him; and this engine, he had no doubt, would make the farm produce more profit and grow more corn. For if you put the corn into the land again after it has passed through the animals it must make the succeeding crop better. But he thought the cow farmers, with their making of butter and rearing of calves, had done more harm to land than enough. Mr. Hall enquired, in the event of a steam engine and other things not answering upon a farm, whether the landlords would be compelled to take these new-fangled improvements off their hands. Mr. Mechi. — I am sorry, Mr Hall, to hear you say " new-fangled improvements." (Laughter). Mr. Hall. — But if landlords would grant leases, then there would be more security for the tenant in improving his farm. Mr. Mechi. — I am quite sure that such a man as our worthy chairman, and many others would never part with a respectable tenant ; but speaking as a general rule we should take the advantage of obtaining a lease whenever it was to be given. The law, however, should impose some securiiy for the tenant, and we must invest more capital in the soil, or take less land — (hear, hear,) — we must in- crease the quantity of food grown upon that farm, and also increase the other advantages of the farm by the application of science and steam power. In the manufacturing districts the markets could not be met without the application of steam power, fm- no man in his senses would go back to horse power in the manufacturing districts. Such a course would be looked upon as madness ; one thing is quite certain, viz., that any man would think me mad to attempt to do by horse power, that which I can now do by the aid of steam. (Hear, hear). Mr. Piper asked what quantity of corn per day could be ground by Mr. Mechi's steam engine. Mr. Mechi replied that the quantity of corn groimd, must, of course, depend upon the number of revolutions made by the engines in a minute; for upon them would depend the quantity of flour produced. His own engine made 90 revolutions per minute. He was afraid of Mr. Piper. (Laughter). Mr. PiPEH. — You think, because I can beat vou 24 THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. in farming that I can beat you in milling also. (Laughter). Mr. Mechi. — The cost of grinding is about a shilling a quarter, and we can grind about seven quarters of barley per day with a stone of 4ft. 4in. In reply to a question asked by a gentleman as to whether his steam engine had ever ground 14 sacks of corn in 10 hours, he could say that it had done so. Mr. Stiffler here rose, and said that he must add his testimony, in one respect, to the statements which had been already made by Mr. Mechi, for he had seen one sack of meal ground by his engine in 20 minutes. (Hear, hear). He was sure that was the truth, and that rate of grinding was kept up for six sacks consecutively. With respect to the quantity of 15 sacks per day of 10 hours being ground on a 3ft. stone, he felt, in some measure, quite able to corroborate Mr. Mechi's statement. Such was the case, whether some gentlemen felt in- clined to believe the statement or not, and he be- lieved that even more than the quantity he had mentioned could be got oft' the peak stone if barley were ground upon it. In conclusion, he could only repeat that what had been stated as to the quantity ground was a fact. (Hear, hear). Mr. Mechi. — In 10 hours one engine will grind 30 sacks. Mr. Stiffler. — A stone of 2 ft. 10 in. would do it ; and one person had said that he had seen ten sacks off" a 2 ft. 10 in. stone, where the revolutions had been 240 to 245 in one minute. Mr. Mechi. — As to the durability of an engine, the question was mooted some time since in Suffolk, where a man said that he had an engine of 12 horse power that had been in use for 12 years, and that at the expiration of that time she was as good as on the first day that he drove her [Hear, hear]. Mr. Hall said that he had had an engine of 10 horse power in use for twenty years, and it was a second-hand one when he bought it [Laughter]. Mr. Mechi said he did think that their rnillering friends would ultimately avail themselves of the ad- vantages of steam, and he hoped they would work for the public cheaper than they did at present. He believed that his own engine was worked two days out of three. Mr. SwiNBORNE (gelatine manufacturer) re- ferred to Mr. Mechi's estimate of Is. Cd. a-day for repairs, observing that exceeded his experience of • the matter : for though his engine had broken down three times, it had not cost him such a sum as that. He should be very sorry to return to the use of horse power. Mr. Mechi said, that on his farm they had 200 pigs, 25 bullocks, and 140 sheep to feed every day, and the horses were all kept in doors. Mr. Pattisson. — Ladies and gentlemen : I have been requested to move a resolution, and will do so wth the greatest pleasure. It is to propose a vote of thanks to Mr. Mechi, in coming forward to enlighten us on the present occasion. With regard to steam power, which Mr. Mechi has described in his lecture as meaning " amendment and progres- sion," and I am a decided friend to both, I have yet to learn the great advantages of its being applied to a farm of 200 acres, without Mr. Mechi can show me that it lessens horse power; and at present I think he has failed in the attempt, although I thought he would have shown that it was of great advantage to agriculture. As to the question of grinding corn by steam, it does not appear to me that the saving by so doing is so great as to make it desirable either for a farmer or a landlord to go to an expense of £500 or £600 in providing pre- mises for such a purpose, and I should feel some reluctance in doing so, unless I saw more advan- tages to be derived from it than have been pointed out at present. I shall be glad to look over Mr. Mechi's premises. I never meet him without a smile, and he has no hesitation in showing his premises to the public, or in giving them a general invitation, and in treating them with kindness when they visit him. I think, therefore, it is for us to treat him in the same way, when he comes amongst us ; I have therefore great pleasure in proposing the resolution [Cheers]. Mr. Sadler seconded the resolution. Mr. Mechi had, he said, delighted them very much that evening, and he felt great interest in the advance- ment of the pursuits of agriculture. Mr. Giles moved "That this meeting is of opinion that it is desirable that agriculturists should turn their attention to the subject of using steam upon their farms." The Chairman. — I feel great pleasure in ])ut- ting to the meeting the resolution, proposing a vote of thanks to Mr. Mechi, for the kind manner in which he has come forward on the present occa- sion. Whether we agree with him, or whether we do not agree with him, is a matter of opinion ; but we can all acknowledge with gratitude the way in which he has come forward to instruct the agricul- tural community as well as he can [Hear, hear]. You may either adopt his views or reject them, as you like: but I know it has been the fashion among narrow-minded men — [Hear, hear]— to try and cry him down ; and I will say, that to tenant farmers he has done great good throughout this commu- nity. He is himself a ])ractical man, and whenever he has come forward, he has benefited those whom he has come amongst that are bad farmers, and I hope those that are good ones also. I think, then, we are under a deep debt of gratitude to him, THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. and much in his debt for his kind conduct on this occasion [Loud cheers] . Mr. Mkchi. — I hope I feel and duly appreciate the kind and friendly manner in which you have acknowledged my services of this night, and hope I shall be found, as a public man, an advocate for the benefit of my fellow creatures. I think that when it is advantageous for countries, or nations, or cities, to come forward, it is also beneficial to have an interchange of individual experiments and senti- ments, and the more v^e discuss in a friendly tone certain things,Jthe more will it tend to elicit the truth. [Hear, liear], I have often l)een asked to shew a profit upon my experiments, and on this occasion I have shewn you that I gain 1 Is. 8d. per day by the use of the steam-engine. But at the same time I must tell you that I have taken the minimum profit, and I will grind IS quarters of corn, or three sacks, in ten hours. As to the displacing of horse- power, my system has taken two horses off my farm, and has therefore liberated two horses for other purposes. With regard to the subsoil that is my look-out, but I shall be happy to see all who will come to my farm, and if I can instruct my millering friends I shall be most happy to do so [Cheers]. Mr. Giles again moved "That this subject is well worthy the attention of agriculturists ;" but the motion was not seconded. Mr. Pattis.son then moved a vote of thanks to the chairman, which was duly seconded, and carried with cheers. The Chairman said, if his services had been of any value, the meeting were exceedingly welcome to them. It had been a great satisfaction to him to hear Mr. Mechi, and he hoped that gentleman would come amongst them again, for he was an honour to the county of Essex, and had done all in his power to stimulate the cause of agriculture. Even one gentleman jjresent had now admitted that he wanted steam, whereas the same gentleman was only just previously opposed to it. In conclusion, he would be happy to come amongst them at all times when he could assist in the promotion of that high, moral, and social feeling which they had that evening the pleasure of enjoying. The chairman sat down loudly cheered, and the discussion ended. HIGH FARMING IN AYRSHIRE. LIQUID MANURE DISTRIBUTED BY STEAM. It has long been a subject of complaint that farmers as a class are slow to take advantage of those benefits which the scientific knowledge and mechanical ingenuity of the age hold forth to them. It is otherwise with manufacturers. If the chemist discovers a method by which cloth may be better or more cheaply dyed, or the mechanist contrives a machine that will simplify any process of its manu- facture, the improvements are instantly brought into general use. The manufacturer is necessitated to act on the best principles in all the departments of his business, or he would soon be jostled from the market. His art has thus been brought to the highest efficiency of which it is capable with our ])resent knowledge. Why should not agriculture profit in an equal degree from the advances in science and art, for which the present time is so famous ? Can they not be brouglit to bear with equal success in farming as on the other productive arts ? The cultivators of the soil are beginning to look for assistance in this direction — and when once in the right path it is wonderful how much British enterprise can effect. They will learn from the chemist the constituent elements of the soil, of manures, of growing plants, and living animals, and the relation which each bears to the others. This knowledge, confirmed by observation and in- duction, will lead to the establishment upon correct principles of the art of producing beef and grain ; and the mechanical arts will afford the means of lessening the cost of this production by the con- trivance of the best machines for in-door work, and implements for turning over and comminuting the soil, and in i)articular by the substitution of steam power for manual and horse labour in every de- partment in which it is ])0ssible to ai)ply it econo- mically on the farm. There are as yet only a very few steam-engines on farms in Ayrshire; but will any of the parties who use them incline to give them up ? Nay, verily. Once on the homestead, and the giant, powerful as he is, is harnessed by degrees to so many purposes as to tax his utmost strength. By-and-bye engine-stalks will be almost as common on first-class farms as on factories. We seldom reflect how much the progress, which from time to time is made in the arts, is owing to tlie original views and the exertions of a very few individuals. A large proportion of men can do their work well according to a system which they have been taught, or have seen followerove- ment, not that I am disposed to comment sevei-ely on the conduct of parties who may be anxious for improvement in agriculture ; not that I would give credit to a man who knows nothing about farming, and censure those ■who would instruct him ; but when I see crops which would beat the crops of these lecturers, and make them feel ashamed ; when I know that these crops have been produced by men who have been bred farmers, and who cultivate their five or six hundred acres of land in the most superior manner, and when I hearmenbruiting abroad their own scientific knowledge and their high- farming, I say that the course which is pursued is preposterous, it is unfair — I was going to use, but I will not, a stronger term — it is injuiious to the country at large (cheers). Place things in their true light (Hear, hear). If there are those who are placed in favourable circumstances and yet do not farm well, lecture them if you please ; but do not complain of the farmers of the United King- dom as a class, when there are to be found in almost every parish persons who are fully competent to produce, and who do produce, far better crops upon a farm, and until lately at a better profit, than those who, having a long purse to go to, have, I am certain, been producing at a loss (Hear, hear). Gentlemen, I regret that we have not some of our really high-farming friends — some of those who are in the habit of attending here — to speak on this question, and to back up the practical observations of our friend Mr. Baker. But I hare no hesitation in saying, that I could go into a dozen counties, and find hundreds of farmers who are, and have been, producing crops quite as large as any of which we have heard in point of quantity, and much more bene- ficially to themselves and the country at large, than has been the case with respect to crops produced by parties of whom we have heard so much, but of whom, I am quite sure, if they only progress for a sufficient length of time, we frhall by-and-bye hear very little (Hear, hear). I was very much surprised to hear the remark of our friend opposite (Mr. Fordham), that the farmers of his locality have lately begun to farm to advantage (Hear, hear, and laughter). They may have been making very great exertions — Mr. Fordham : I spoke of their having improved their farms to advantage, not of advantage to the pocket (Cries of "Oh, oh!") Mr. Shaw : After that I certainly will not make any comment. Gentlemen, I will not trespass any further on your attention. Not finding that any one rose im- mediately after Mr. Baker, I rose myself, rather, I con- fess, with the view of easing my mind of the annoyance which I feel daily at the lecturing which we get from parties professing high farming, but who really— I say it unhesitatingly — know nothing at all about the matter (Cheers and laughter). The press has lately produced a number of publications, pandering, I will say — for it is nothing less — to the interests of landlords (Hear, hear). I cannot believe that all this arises from dis- interested motives, when I look at the results which accrue from these publications. I say that men who pro- fess and propound the doctrine that farmers can at once, per salhtm, change from a system which has been going on for many years, to one which is altogether new — that a man who has had capital sufficient to carry him on under the existing system, can at once change to an alto- gether new system without injury— the men who would persuade landed proprietors that a farmer can farm as well, and pay his labourers as well, and provide a sub- sistence for his family as well, with wheat at 40s., as he could when it was 56s., appear to me not to be honest men (Hear, hear). There is nothing in the history of farming which shows that farmers have, either in their personal enjoyments or in the money which they have been able to accumulate, been realizing the difference be- tween 40s. and 56s. during the last fifteen or twenty years (Hear, hear). If a farmer cttn go on now and pay his rent, his taxes, and his labourers as he did before, be- sides providing for himself and his family, with wheat at 40s., one of two things is certainly true : he must either have been living most expensively when wheat was at 56s., or he must have been making a large fortune. Now, having lived from my boyhood amongst far- mers, I must say that, with the exception of cases in which there has been some adjunct to farming— cases in which men have been agents of estates, or valuers, or have had some extra engagements which have paid them well, I have scarcely known an instance where a man has, in the ordinary course of farming, and by the mere investment of his capital in the soil, realized a large fortune (Hear, hear). There may be peculiar cases, for example, where a man has got an advantage- ous occupation on a long lease ; but, regarding farming as a business, I do contend that it has paid as little as, if not less than, any of the other trades or occupations of the day (Hear, hear\ Gentlemen, I have to apologize for troubling you with these remarks ; but I was anxious to say something on the subject, and I trust that whati have said will be followed up by others. The Chairman said, before they proceeded further he was anxious to be set right with Mr. Fordham. It certainly had struck him as it had struck others, that what that gentleman said was, in effect, that the parties alluded to were proceeding in such a judicious manner that they were enabled to pay their way under present prices (Hear, hear). It was very important that nothing should emanate from that Club which was not perfectly correct. If iMr. Fordham were in a position to prove that any set of gentlemen in his district were, through judicious management and arrangement, enabled to pay their way, be was, of course, perfectly entitled to do so ; but (continued tlie Chairman) on the other hand, I must say that what he appeared to state does not cor- respond with what I have witnessed in my own dis- trict for some time past (Hear, hear). Mr. Fordham : It would be impossible for me to assert what every practical farmer must know to be contrary to the truth, namely, that farmers are enabled to pay their way with present prices (Hear, hear). My assertion was, that the farmers of my neighbourhood were progressing in their business ; that they were im- THK FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 47 proving in farming, not in selling the commodities of farming (Hear, hear). Mr. Nesbit had understood Mr. ForJham to say that a profit was obtained by the judicious management of sheep. The Chairman said he had understood him in the same manner. The general purport of the remarks ap- peared to be that, through judicious management in all departments, the farmers referred to were able to pay their way. Mr. Nesbit said ; There are one or two points in Mr. Baker's able paper to which I wish briefly to allude. First, with respect to the limits of production. Of course Mr. Baker used the phrase in a scientific sense. Now I think there are limits to production, and that on the best farms they are not very distant. As regards the corn crops, if you altemptto use nitrogenous manures too exclusively you will luu a risk of throwing down the corn; and unless there are some means of keeping the crop standing, there is on most lands a very speedy limit to the production of corn. Experiments have proved that, by the aid of one or two substances, you may ven- ture to a greater extent in manuring than you could otherwise. I speak here of the application of salt. If along with guano, or v,ith a large quantity of farm -yard manure, there be an application of from 4 cwt. to 8 cwt. of salt, in the case of wheat, you will almost invariably find that it causes the straw to stand perfectly erect, while it allows unlimited action for the manure in pro- ducing the grain. You can, as Mr. Baker observed, apply manures to a much greater extent in the produc- tion of roots, and of such plants as clover and grasses, than in the growth of corn. These plants, having large foliage, act very powerfully upon the air, and are con- stantly bringing down a much greater quantity of nutri- ment than is brought down by narrow-leaved plants. Let me say a word or two with respect to the use of what Mr. Shaw has termed external manures. Now there are very few farmers who complain that they have too great a supply of manure, even when their green crops are fed off by sheep and bullocks. When such crops are produced by them to a great extent, there is generally room for the application of artificial manures in some shape. It has been stated to-night that it would not be prudent, because it would not pay, to introduce external manures. Now I say that if you are to farm at all it must pay to bring in these manures, under certain cir- cumstances. In the first place, you have all the regular expenses of the farm : you have rent, tithe, labour ; and if it can be proved that by the application of a certain amount of guano, or of nitrate of soda, you can increase the production of the crop so as more than to pay for the additional manure — I say if you can afford to farm at all you can afford to spend a certain amount of money in bringing these manures on the farm (Hear, hear). I know one or two parties who, through the judicious use of such manures, have hitherto managed to make farm- ing not quite so losing a concern as it has been in other hands where minutiic have not been .so carefully attended to. I ou;;ht to offer some defence for our friends who have been so much spoken against this evening. I must say I do not think it is exactly fair to compare our young learners in farming with the oldest and best men who have been for years employed in practical farming. Mr, Shaw : Why do they compare themselves with them? (Hear, hear.) Mr. Nesbit : I say it is not fair on our part to com- pare them with such men as Mr. Hutley and Mr. Hud- son. These parties have had to pay very dearly for the information which they have already acquired. They are not in a position to compete in farming with some of our best farmers, but at the same time they have been of material service in stirring up on every side a much greater regard for agriculture than was witnessed before. If landlords choose to deduce wrong conclusions from their premises, or if these men themselves deduce wrong conclusions, that is a fair ground of attack ; but I think it is impossible to compare those who have been paying so much for their varied information with men of equal ability, great talent, and equal energy, who have had all the results of many years' experience to assist them. Probably Mr. iSIechi's farming may, for a series of years, when he comes to debit himself with a fair rent, present some results which we have not yet seen (Hear, hear). I shall be happy to see the results of his farming when he charges himself with a fair rent, and places himself in the position of those practical men who are now con- tending against difficulties which would be apt to dimi- nish the energy of any one but an Englishman. Mr. Sk ELTON said : IMr. Shav.' very properly alluded to the absence of some of the leaders amongst the high farmers. Whether they are right in assuming the posi- tion which they do, or whether they know more than the practical men who have also been referred to, this at least is certain, that the assumed high farmers have attacked the practical men, whom we know to be in reality high farmers (Hear, hear). I do not think, there- fore, that the apology made by our friend ."Mr. Nesbit was called for or just. I concur in the remark of another speaker, that the credit of real, practical, and profitable high farming is due to those who have for a long time proved their ability in farming ; and I do think that the attacks made by those upstarts, those mushroom men (laughter), who are going to enlighten all other men in farming, are most ridiculous ; and I am very sorry that our friend Mr. Nesbit should have made any apology for such gentlemen (Hear, hear). Mr. Nksbit said he had made an apology because he thought that one was required. Instead of comparing these mushroom farmers, as they had been termed, with the very elite of the farmers, they should compare them with the mass, or the average. If they did that, they would probably find that these men, though not compe- tent to teach the best farmers, were superior to the mass. Mr. Knight said: As there are so few practical speakers present this evening, though I am not in the habit of speaking, I think it due to my friend Mr, Baker that I should make a few observations (Hear, hear). In the first jilace I would thank him for the miinner in which he has brought Ihe subject forward, although he has not, I must say, treated the subject in the precise form that I had expected he would. The 43 THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. question ia stated on the card as follows : — " Upon high farming, showing how and to what extent capital can be applied to a given quantity of land to ensure the greatest amount of profit." Now I did hope, when I entered this room, that my friend Mr. Baker would show me how, if I applied money to a certain quantity of land, I should derive profit from it (Hear, hear, and laughter). At the same time I thought it almost impossible that any profit could be gained with the prices which we are now realizing. I am not therefore, on the whole, dis- appointed. I could have wished that the question had been stated in this form — " Showing how it is possible, under the best management, for a person to gain a pro- fit with present prices" (Hear, hear). Mr. Bakershows that it is impossible. He takes not quite a fair standard in taking the Essex one. And here I must say that I could wish that when our friend Mr. Baker makes observations on farming, he would let them have a gene- ral application, and not confine them entirely to his own county. I admit that there are excellent farms in that county, and I also admit that the expenses of farming are as high there as in almost any other county in the king- dom ; but still the question should be considered in re- ference to other counties as well as Essex. I know that in Bedfordshire, Norfolk, and other counties, farming is carried out on a different plan ; and I hope that Essex and Suffolk will not always be the sole counties alluded to. I wish the statement or implied statement on the card could have been verified. It would have been satisfactory to myself, and no doubt to the country generally. Notwithstanding, however, that Mr. Baker has failed in that respect, I thank him for what he has done to assist, as he is in the habit of doing, the tenant farmers of this country in arriving at just conclusions (Hear, hear). Mr. Tattersali, said : I certainly did expect, after reading the question on the card, that we should have seen here this evening some of those who are called the " new lights" of the present day — our friend Mr. Mechi and other gentlemen holding similar views ; and also that we should have been addressed by some leading gentle- men belonging to the club, on the other side ; but as these gentlemen are not present, perhaps it will not be con- sidered presumptuous in myself to make a few observa- tions. I think the question under discussion ought to be looked upon as a question between high farming and low farming — whether high farming, as contradistin- guished from low farming, will pay. Not that I mean to assume for a moment that high farming will pay with present prices ; but that is not, I conceive, the question raised on this paper. What we ought to discuss is, I think, whether high farming, if properly carried out, will pay better than ordinary farming. I have for some years been living in a county where high farming has been carried out to as great an extent as in any county in England. I take the counties of Norfolk, Suffolk, Essex, and Cambridge ; and I say that in those counties high farming is carried out as beneficially as it can be, or is, in any county in England. I find that business-like men who carry out high farming are those men who can compete best with others at the present time. I need not mention names, for they will suggest themselves to you ', but I say, as a matter of principle, that if any farming pays at the present time high farming pays. Mr. Baker has very properly put before us the difference between high- farming and farming on the common system ; but I think it should be distinctly understood by all, that high- farming, when carried out by business-like men, such as the Messrs. Hudson, Hutley, Jonas, Hobbs, and Webb, gives the greatest return in the present day. These are men who have been carrying on farming all their lives, and they are men against whom the keenest wits of the new school would be pitted in vain. We have seen them carrying out high farming beneficially to themselves and to those around them. Men, carrying out their views as they have done, will beat out of the field such men as Mr. Mechi. Now I say that high farming, as a rule, pays the best ; I see it pay the best wherever I go. The men who must sink under the in- fluence of the present times are the men who, having but little capital, are not able to carry out high farming to any considerable extent ; but I do not see that men who have sufficient capital to carry out high farming will be obliged to retire. I do not mean to say that even they are gaining anything at the present time, but it is they who are most competent to contend against difficul- ties like the present, which are, I hope, only temporary, at least they are by many considered temporary. With regard to high farming, I may observe that I believe the use of various kinds of artificial manure has been greater in the past year than in any previous one, which seems to indicate an extension of the opinion that high farming is the best; at all events, I for one am decidedly of opinion that unJer any circumstances high farming is more beneficial than farming in the ordinary wny. But I would further observe that I do not think it is to be expected that high farming will be carried out to the full extent unless landlords give either leases, or, what is equivalent to leases, a proper covenant (Hear, hear). Men in their senses cannot be expected to carry out high farming, unless they have that without which farming cannot be advantageously carried on, namely, security of tenure. I look to security of tenure as that on which the carrying out of high farming profitably depends ; assuming, first of all, that high farming is the only kind of farming which can pay in the present day. The Chairman said : I hope my friend Mr. Baker will excuse my saying that I think we should have been more likely to come to a sound conclusion if the ques- tion had been worded somewhat differently. It would have been better, I think, if, instead of attempting to show us how to insure the greatest possible profit, he had shown us how to avoid the least possible amount of losses (Hear, hear). That is the question which we should have understood best in our present position as farmers (Hear, hear). I do not say this by way of ob- jecting, but I think we should, in the way that I have stated, have got more easily at the fact (Hear, hear). I am one of those who fancy that neither by high farm- ing nor by low farming can we get any profit at the pre- sent time. If that be so, the question, as stated, is rather opposed to the facts ; and, under all the circum- THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 49 stances, I think we shall merely come to the conclusion that the system which Mr. Baker has recommended for the adoption of farmers generally is one which will enable them to farm with a less degree of loss tlum any other. Many remarks of a practical nature have been made by Mr. Baker, which cannot be too strongly im- pressed on a meeting like the present. I would first notice his recommendation as to spouting the farm buildings, covering the manure heaps with turf, and so on. Those are plans which have been adopted in my county very extensively. I never think of carrying manure on my own farm without covering it with earth the next day to prevent the ammonia from escaping. That is a plan which cannot be recommended too strongly. Mr. Baker also alluded to the cutting up of tares into chaff. We have been doing that for years. If we suffer our rye and tares to grow too strongly, we find that we have got too far advanced in the season to compete success- fully with turnips. I don't think anything can be more injurious to the land than rye, if it be allowed to get beyond a given state. Our land is all manured for rye and tares, and, generally speaking, I have found crops very precarious after tares. I should like to hear from Mr. Baker whether the twelve loads of manure were produced under the four-course system. Mr. Baker: Twelve loads per acre per annum upon the whole farm. I explained at the outset that it was equivalent to twelve. There is a detailed statement re- pecting it. The Chairman : Mr. Baker recommends the cutting down of large fences. I do not think anything requires more to be pressed on the attention of landlords than that. Nothing damages a farm more than the keeping up of a large quantity of hedge-row timber (Hear, hear). The injury is almost incalculable (Hear, hear). It is monstrous that so much hedge-row timber should be al- lowed to remain when the injury it does is so great (Hear, hear). I understood Mr. Baker to say that you could better wheat after oats than any other crop. Mr. Baker : On my land. The Chairman : You don't mean better wheat after fallow ? Mr. Baker : No ; I mean that I can better wheat after oats than oats after wheat. Mr. Tattersai.l : What is the nature of the soil ? Mr. Bakkr: It is a gravelly soil, rather too heavy for feeding off turnips. Mr. Bakek replied. He said Mr. Shaw was right with regard to the figures. Of course what he had said on the subject of the result had reference to the relative prices of 5Gs. and 40s. As regarded artificial manures, he would never dispute for a moment that the application of a liberal quantity of manure was beneficial. In con- sidering this statement it should be recollected that agri- culturists had not had guano at their command for more than two-thirds of the period of ten years. His in- tention was to show what had been the result of high farming. Whatever might be Mr. Tattersall's opinion as to high farming in the counties which he had men- tioned, it was impossible to show a greater production than there had been in the case which he (Mr. Baker) had brought under tlicir notice. The land of which he had spoken was a portion of a small farm close to the home stall ; he had bestowed great attention on it, and had made its cultivation a pleasurable pursuit, doing all for it that could be done for land so situated. He had shown what was the utmost amount of production under the circumstances. He had shown a very liberal ma- nagement— a management under which £'10 per acre was expended, with a result of i.'13 per acre under late prices. He knew of no mode of proceeding so likely to be effectual as the application of the means to the end which was made by the farmers of the district in which he lived. He had stated the facts connected with his own case, and he left farmers to draw their own con- clusions. He was quite satisfied as to which kind of farming would pay the best. He was convinced that if at the present time farmers did not cultivate well they would farm at a great loss. Even with good cultivation there must be a loss under present prices, but the loss would be much greater with indifferent farming. Mr. Tattersall said he had felt quite sure that Mr. Baker and himself thought alike on that point. Mr. Baker said, of course on such a question he had felt some difficulty in preparing to come before the meeting. He confessed that he had never experienced so much difficulty before. If his task had been to show that their greatest profit arose from high farming, he must have entered into the different systems of farming in different counties. The object of the inquiry was to show how much could be realized. He had to show how much could be realized when a given amount was ex- pended, and what proportion the one bore to the other. He had no doubt that when his statement should appear in print there would be some hard hitting on the part of the scientifics (laughter). Though they had not been there that evening, they would no doubt pounce upon him very shortly. He would draw them out ( Hear, hear). So long as they remained in the bush it was impossible to deal with them (Hear, hear, and laughter). These gentlemen gave them elaborate statements of their ex- penditure, but when the balance-sheet had to be talked about they never made their appearance (Hear, hear). If farming was to be practically carried out it must be carried out beneficially to the farmer. Every man who farmed extensively did so in order to ob- tain a profit by his exertions — to obtain a return for his capital, a livelihood for his family and for him- self, and to make a proper provision for old age. Any person possessing adequate capital might expend money on land ad libittini, and like the guano when he pur- chased it, mix it with the land ; but the question was, how to collect it again (Hear, hear). He had ventured on some occasions when farms had fallen into his hands to bring them into something like tenantable condition ; but he had never succeeded in doing so without fright- ening the landlord. There was great expense always attending the bringing of heavy land into proper culti- vation : he knew one farm of that description in his own county which was formerly let for 1,000 guineas a year : it was in the hands of a gentleman who came into the county, with plenty of capital, science, and skill, but who K 60 THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. lost all that he invested. The landlord then took the j farm into his own hands ; he farmed it one year and lost two rents, a second and lost nearly the same. He then took counsel and let the farai, which had before fetched one thousand guineas, for £400 a year. Of course the person who took it at that price, with all the improve- ments which had been made, realized a considerable profit. It was afterwards let at ^£"600 a year. This case was an illustration of the fact that when land was out of cultivation it was very difficult to bring it into a proper state. Mr, Nesbit said the whole argument of Mr. Baker proceeded on the supposition that no rent at all could be obtained. Mr. Baker said he had spoken comparatively : he meant to say that no profit could be got. Mr. Shaw said they were well aware that it was the practice of this club to come to some conclusion with regard to the various questions which were discussed ; but on that occasion there was great difficulty in doing so, on account of the necessity of steering clear of another question on which there might be great dif- ference of opinion. The resolution which he would pro- pose, with a view of meeting the case, was as follows : " That high farming has long been practised by the most experienced and intelligent practical farmers where they have enjoyed security of tenure, and is essential to suc- cess ; but that the extent to which capital can be applied to a given quantity of land, to insure a profit, must de- pend on the relative proportion of the cost of production to the market value of agricultural produce." After a short conversation, the resolution was adopted unanimously. On the motion of Mr. Knight, secondedby Mr. Shaw, a vote of thanks was given to Mr. Baker for the able manner in which he had introduced the question. This terminated the proceedings. LABOUR AND THE POOR.— THE RURAL DISTRICTS, (From the Morning Chronicle.) THE FISHERIES AND THE FISHEKS OF CORNWALL. Letter X. Although, strictly speaking, not falling within the compass of an inquiry into the condition of the agricultural labourer, I propose, before quitting Cornwall, to give a brief account of its fishing and mining interests, and of those employed in connec- tion with them ; as, otherwise, the sketch of the industry of the county would be incomplete, seeing that it cannot with propriety be classed either with the manufacturing or the metropolitan districts. In doing so, I shall first consider the fisheries of the county, and the circumstances of those engaged in them. Cornwall was celebrated for its mineral wealth long before it attained any very great celebrity in connection with its fisheries. For the last three centuries, however, the latter have been plied with unwearied assiduity and varying success. This, like all the other great branches of our industry, was, early after developing itself, taken under the fostering care of the legislature ; but it may be rea- sonably doubted, looking back at its legislative history, whether the interest sought to be thus ad- vanced was not more injured than benefited by the interference. To this day the fishing of the coimty is strictly regulated by parliamentary enactment ; but the regulations to which it is now subjected have reference more to the practice of fishing itself than to the trade in fish, in its economical aspect. The chief fisheries of the south and west of Eng- land are undoubtedly those of Cornwall. The only two ports on the English Channel which can at all compete, as fishing stations, with the Cornish ports are Brighton and Plymouth. The fishermen of Sussex, Devon, and Cornwall, all sweep the entire channel for fish — the Brighton and Plymouth boats being sometimes seen on the C"rnish coasts, and the (Jornish boats far more frequently seen off' the shores of Devon and Sussex. The most hardy, adventurous, and scientific fishers of the south are those of Cornwall. They do not confine themselves to their own stations, but proceed to great distances in prosecution of their vocation— the Brighton fishermen, pei'haps, coming next to them in hardi- hood and adventure. They not only frequently proceed more than thirty miles to sea in quest of fish, but they compete even with the Irish fishers on their own coasts, and have been known to pass through the Caledonian canal, and descend the east coast of Scotland and England in pursuit of the herring. But a short time ago the fisheries of Cornwall embraced the entire coast of the county, and ex- tended in an unbroken line from Lundi Island, round the Land's End, to the Rame Head. But this is no longer the case, the fishing interest of the north coast having become almost extinct from the uncertain movements and capricious habits of the fish. As on all other points of the coast of the United Kingdom, ^vhere fishing is plied as a dis- tinct vocation, the habits of the shoals of fish which annually visit the shores of Cornwall have greatly changed within the memory of living man. But a few years ago the pilchard used regularly to as- cend the Bristol Channel as far as Lundi Island, whence they would strike oflf towards Milford, and thence across St. George's Channel in the direction ofWaterford. But for some time past they have shown no preference for the estuary of the Severn, seldom ascending now much higher than St. Ives, and striking thence across to the Welsh and Irish THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 51 coasts as before. The consequence has been the ruin of the small fishing communities which ex- tended from St. Ives to Lundi Island. Some of them yet exhibit faint symptoms of fitful and gal- vanic life, but most of them are perfect wrecks — the ruin entailed upon them having been not only disastrous to themselves, but also most injurious to the interests of the agricultural labourer in the im- mediate vicinity of each. The fisheries of Cornwall may, therefore, now be regarded as confined to that portion of the coast which extends from the llame Head, round the Land's End, to St. Ives — that is to say, to the whole southern, and a small part of the northern, coast of the county. St. Ives is now the chief fishing station on the north, and Mount's Bay that on the south. On this latter coast there are many other stations, differing from each other in magnitude and importance — such as Falmouth, Mevagissy, Charlestown, Towey, Polperro, and Looe. Along the shore of Mount's Bay, which stretches from the Lizard Point nearly to the Land's End, are several fishing communities, the chief of which are Newlyn and Mousehole. They are all, however, comprehended under the common desig- nation of the Mount's Bay fisheries. Cod, hake, ling, and congor are caught in con- siderable quantities off the Cornish coast, but the mackerel and the jiilchard are the great son ice of the fishing industry of the county. Although these are the chief jn'oducts of the fisheries of Cornwall, they are not the sole objects, of a Cornish fisherman's exertions. AV^hen he cannot fish on his own coast for the fish frequenting it, he is off to the Irish, and sometimes to the Scotch coast, in search of the herring. The herring fishing, therefore, although the herring is not strictlj^ a Cornish fish, must be included in the annual routine of a Cornish fisher- man's vocation. There are three kinds of fishing practised in Cornwall — the drift-net fishing, the seine or sean fishing, and that by hook and line. Both mackerel and pilchard are caught by the drift nets, whilst pilchard alone is generally the object of the seine fishing. When the hook and hue are used, it is cod, hake, ling, or whiting that is generally caught. For each species of fishing a distinct set of boats is used. The longest and best boats are those em- ployed in the drift-net fishing, the smallest are those used for that by hook and line, seine fishing being carried on by an intermediate class of boats. The hook and line fishing is generally abandoned to men with but little capital, or to those who are unfitted for the other and more arduous branches of the caUing. The hook and line, too, are not un- frequently resorted to by the drift-net fishermen, Avhen, from the absence of the pilchard or mackerel, or other unfavourable circumstances, but few fish are meshed in the nets. In order that the reader may properly understand the life and labours of a Cornish fisherman, I shall now — having taken, as it were, a bird's-eye view of the fisheries and of the modes in which they are plied — describe it briefly to him, commencing with jthe month of January, and ending with that of December. The fish which earliest in the year engages the "Sherman's attention is the mackerel, which, in its annual migration, comes first within the rather wide scene of his operations in the month of Janu- ary. But before following him to his first fishing ground for the season, it may be as well here to describe his boat, and the other appliances of his calling. The boats employed for the cajiture of the mackerel are the dnft-net boats already alluded to. They are the largest, the most commodious, and the best built of the fishing fleet of Cornwall. From a slight peculiarity in their build, and their close resemblance to each other, they are generally at once recognized whenever they appear off the coast. This is more especially the case with the Mount's Bay boats, which have so strong a family likeness pervading them as to render it next to impossible to mistake them. They are great pets, not only with their owners, but also witli those who join in the adventure and man them. A Mount's Bay fisherman will wax as eloquent on the good points of his boat as a huntsman will on the virtues of his horse. The total number of boats connected with the fisheries of Mount's Bay is from 250 to 300 ; nine-tenths of which may be taken as engaged in the drift-net fishing. They are chiefly built of oak, sometimes of elm, and average from 20 to 22 tons burden. The drift-net boats are divided into two classes, determined by their dimensions and capa- city. The first class boats have a length of keel of from 30 to 35 feet, and a breadth of beam of from 7 to 12 feet. They are sharp at both ends, but are generally very wide at midships. The ballast, which is usually of stone, is stowed away beneath a low deck, or rather a kind of flooring for the boat. The Mount's Bay boats are now almost all partially decked, having a cabin both fore and aft, in which the men can eat and sleep, and a covered chamber between the masts, in which the nets are stowed away until they are called into use. Some of them by simply covering a large hatchway in the middle, can be rendered full-decked at once in case of ne- cessity, which is a great safeguard to them in rough weather. It is not many years since the fisherman's lot was less comfortable on board his boat than it is now. A short time ago, but few of them were provided with any cabin at all. 'J'he men were then subject to very great privations, from their constant exposure to the weather. With the exception of the sail or the tarpaulin, in which they might wrap themselves, they had no shelter whatever from the wind and rain. In Mount's Bay this has been rectified ; but the improvement has not very gene- rally extended itself. The smaller boats used at other fishing stations, such as Mevagissy, Looe, and Polperro, are very seldom even partially decked, The fishermen of these places are therefore sub- jected to much greater ])rivations than their more fortunate, because more provident, biethren of the west. In some of the boats provided with cabins there are fixed Ijerths for the men to sleep in ; whilst in others the cabins are sufficiently large to admit of the hanging of hammocks. Considering his ficquent and long exposures to the weather, espe- cially during the winter (isheries, a great step to- wards the preservation of his health and the general amelioration of his lot has been taken, in simply providing him with a covering to shelter him whilst E 2 52 THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. he sleej^s. The boats have generally two masts -a fore and mizen mast. Their sails consist of a fore and mizen lug sail, two top sails, a jib and fore sail. Their sails are very large, some of them con- taining from 130 to 150 yards of canvass. By car- rying several sets of sails they are provided against ordinary accidents. When in trim for sea their draft is about two feet more astern than at the bow. They generally draw about five feet aft, and not more than three in front. In building these boats every effort is made to endow them with good sail- ing attributes. As a general rule they sail best on a wind. The fishermen have an important object to secure in having them constructed to sail well, particularly in the summer time, when it is espe- cially necessary to get the fish caught early to mar- ket, as any great delay would impair their fresh- ness, and materially lower their value. The model of his boat is therefore always a matter of great so- licitude to the fisherman. In addition to this, with a view to speed, he resorts in Mount's Bay to a practice not very generally known or imitated in the other fishing ports of the country. When he overhauls his boats for a change of fishing, he be- smears the bottom with a coating of blacklead, which, he believes, preserves imimpaired its saihng powers, by preventing the rapid accumulation of seaweed and dirt on her hull, which would other- wise take place and clog her speed. The boats differ in price according to their class. For boats of the same class, however, the same price is gene- rally paid. A first-class boat will cost, ready for sea, about £l80. The price of a second-class one is about £120. This is, of course, in both cases exclusive of nets and other appliances. But as a man may save money by buying the cloth for his coat, so may a fisherman by buying the wood for his boat, particularly if he can give ready cash for his materials. In that case he might get a first-class boat ready for sea, for £140, the hull alone costing about £80. But of course if he gets credit, which is generally the case, and orders his boat without himself providing the materials, the prices first mentioned are those which he will have to pay, according to its class. The boats are owned in dif- ferent ways. A few of the wealthier fishermen have a couple of them ; but the majority have only one. In some cases the boat is subject to a joint- ownership — two, three, or four, as the case may be, having an interest in her. In other cases the boat may belong to one or more parties, whilst the nets, &c., appertain to others. There are others, again, who have no share either in the boats or nets, their only capital being their labour. A boat's crew may thus consist of the owner or owners of the boat, the owner or owners of the nets, and those who have only theii labour to bring to the adventure, which is thus a species of co-partnery for the time being, each partner's share of the proceeds being deter- mined, of course, by the amount of his interest. But the possession of the boat, whether owned by one or more, is only half the battle. Other and equally expensive appliances are necessary, which I shall now ])roceed to explain. The boat is, of course, imperfect without its complement of nets. These, as already seen, are not always the property of the owner or owners of the boat, fur the boat and nets may belong to different individuals, or sets of individuals. This is often the case, the nets being so expensive that it requires a fisherman to be a man of some consi- derable capital to have both boat and nets exclu- sively his own. A few have not only one but two boats, with their full complement of nets. The nets used by the Mount's Bay fishermen are generally made in the port whence the boat sails. Sometimes the men themselves, when they have nothing else to do, employ themselves in construct- ing them ; but this is a task which is generally left to the women and children to perform. The twine of which the nets are made is in almost all cases procured at Bridport, in Dorsetshire. In general it is very soft, but not fine. The fisherman receives it in what are called " parcels," each parcel con- taining twelve large skeins, for which he pays about 13s. ; the price, however, depending to some extent on the nature of the transaction, as to whether it is a cash or a credit one. The nets are made as it were in sections. It requires seven parcels of twine to make a pilchard or herring net. Four of the smallest sections, when put together, form a net which usually goes under the designation of a piece-of-four A complete net, as actually used in fishing, for a first-class boat, consists of fifteen of these pieces-of-four. The makers of the nets are generally termed by the fishermen the "breeders." As they come from the breeder's hands each piece- of four is from fifty to sixty fathoms long ; but they have afterwards to undergo an operation to prepare them for service, which causes them to shrink con- siderably. In addition to this, they are, when ac- tually used, so put upon the " head ropes," that their length is diminished to about 36 or 38 fathoms. In depth the nets vary from 13 to 15 score meshes, there being about ten meshes to each foot, which will make them from 26 to 30 feet deep. A set of nets, therefore, in actual fishing order would in length extend to about 600 fathoms, or somewhat more than two-thirds of a mile. In general the nets are " home made" — that is to say, at the house of the fisherman for whom they are made. The wages given for making them are very low, which chiefly prevents the men, even when they have spare time on their hands, from frequently employing them- selves in their construction. Sometimes they are made by the Avife or daughters of the fisherman, when of course the wages which would otherwise be paid for them are saved. At other times, girls and children are hired for the purpose. A girl if she works early and late can work off about two skeins a day. In doing so her fingers fly about as nimbly as do those of a lace worker OA'cr her cush- ion. Her remuneration is one shilling a week and her food. Sometimes, however, the nets are " put out" to be made, when the "breeder" gets £1 per net, in which case food is not included. When the work is thus given out by the piece, as many as three skeins a day are sometimes worked up ; but this requires extraordinary exertions, which could not be long continued. The entire cost ofapiece-of four is about £8. The twine alone costs about £4. lis. There is then the cost of making and of bark- ing, and the expense of the cork and head ropes required, A complete net, therefore, consisting of THK FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 53 fifteen pieces-of-four, will cost about £120. The same nets are generally used both for the ])ilchard and the herring fishing; but some l)oats are pro- vided with ditierent sets of nets for each. For herring, the law requires a larger mesh than for l)ilchard fishing. "When there is but one set of nets for the two fisheries, the mesh is generally the smallest allowed by law for the capture of the her- ring. Of this mesh there are about ten and a-half to the foot. This, which is the smallest for her- ring, is ribout the largest used for the pilchard. The consequence therefore of having but one set of nets is, that some loss is experienced in both fish- eries, for whilst the larger herrings do not get meshed, the smaller pilchards escape through the ineshes. Until recently, the fisherman was sub- jected to a large yearly outlay for barking his nets. To preserve them from decay, and keep them in good working order, they were generally ])arked four times a year. The barking of a set of nets for the season, then, costs the fisherman about £11 4s. In addition to this, the process entailed upon him, on the average, a loss of from four to six days' fishing. But by the use of catechu instead of oak- bark, a^ saving, both as to time and money, has been effected. The nets are now overhauled but twice a year, at a cost of about £1 each time. It is strange that notwithstanding this great saving the oak-bark should still be used at many of the fishing stations. At Mount's Bay it is now uni- versally superseded by the catechu, which was at first looked upon, even there, with some suspicion ; so slo\v is the progress of improvement, even when men's interests would be directly subserved by ad vancing it. The length of time' for whicli a set of nets will last, dejiends upon a variety of circum- stances. If the twine is good, and they are well l)arked, and kept carefully dry when not in use, they will last for a considerable time. Their endu- rance greatly depends, too, upon their owner's suc- cess in fishing. If that is great and constant, his nets will all the more often require repair, as well as more frequently require to be renewed. They generally last, however, from four to seven years. The nets are not in all cases made at the stations where they are used. But kw, for instance, are made either at Looe, Polperro, Fowey, Charlestown, or Mevagissy. This is to be regretted, for the sake of these communities themselves, inasmuch as they swarm with idlers, who might be thus usefully em- l)loyed. liut they ])refer getting their nets ready made from Bridport. The women and children have thus little or no employment wherewith to fill up the time on their hands. I have hitherto spoken only of the nets used for the cajiture of pilchard and herring. But the ob- servations made with respect to them apply, with but few excei)tions, to the mackerel nets. These are generally longer when in actual use than the herring or i)ilchard's nets. A complete set for a first-class boat generally consists of twenty-eight ])ieces-of-four— each piece-of-four when fit for use, measuring about thirty-two fathoms in length, and about three in depth. A mackerel net will thus be about a mile long. The mesh, when the net comes from the "breeder's" hands is about an inch and a-half in si/.e. but it is reduced to nearly an inch and a-quarter by the use of the catechu. These nets last about the same length of time as the other; although, from the frequency with which they are in use, they require more constant repair. The seine nets are made with a much smaller mesh than either of the nets alluded to. The rea- son of this will be obvious when the process of seine-fishing comes to be described. Being prepared with all the appliances of his craft, it is now time to follow the fisherman in pur- suit of his prey. The mackerel first calls him from his home, and it is often the last fish to engage him during the year. This fish is on the Cornish coast more or less throughout the whole year; but as it frequently varies its position the fisherman must dance attendance upon it at different points of the I coast. During the winter months the course of the mackerel is generally up the Channel, which they sometimes ascend as far as Brighton, and more fre- quently as far as the Isle of Wight. But as a general rule they do not ascend in great masses much be- yond the Devonshire coasts. Until tlie advance of spring they keep in deep water at a considerable distance from the shore; as spring approaches, they change their course, and tend towards the westward, in doing which they come nearer the shore, and rise to the surface. ' It is then that the fisherman deems it time to commence his opera- tions. As at this period they are to be foimd in the greatest quantity on the 'coast of Devon, the Cor- nish boats sail eastward to Plymouth, where they meet the Brighton lioats, whi'ch hie westward to the same point. They annually meet at their com- mon rendezvous, Plymouth Sound, about the end of January. The Cornish l)oats, particularly those from Mount's Bay, are generally first on the ground ready for action. Both they 'and the Brighton boats are frequently at work 'before the Plymouth fishermen themselves are ready to begin. It often ha])pens, therefore, that the Plymouth market is for some time supplied by the Brighton and Cor- nish boats. It is seldom that any preparations are now made for the spring mackerel fishing until some time in January, although the Mount's Bay boats have been known to be off for Plymouth be- fore Christmas. There are three mackerel seasons throughout the year— the spring, summer, and autumnal seasons. In prosecuting the spring and autumnal fisheries the drift nets only are used. During the summer months when the fish approach the shore, and get into shallow water to deposit their spawn, they are caught in considerable quantities by the seine. But this fishing is very irregular. Tlie mackerel is also sometimes caught by the hook and line, but in such small quantities as scarcely to entitle this mode of capture to l)e regarded as a distinct branch of the fishing of the county. By far the most imi)orlant branch of the mack- erel fishing is that carried on with drift nets. The seine fishing is limited in duration, and so fre- quently fails, that it is to the drift nets the different markets of the south-west liave chiefiy to look for their supplies. The mnnbcr of boats in Mount's Bay that en- gages in ihi' mackiMvl fi'^hing is- fniMi I'li) to 200. 64 THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. After having been thoruugbly overhauled during the previous December, they are afloat and ready for action early in January. Nothing can be finer than the sight of the Mount's Bay fishing fleet when equipped and ready for sea. The number of hands to a boat does not vary much, although there is considerable variety as regards their ages and ca- pacities. Some boats have seven men and a boy on board ; others carry seven men without a boy ; and others again but seven in all including a boy. In most of them a boy is to found, who, although he may take no active part in the fishing, is nevertheless exceedingly useful on board for many purposes, cooking included. He is thus early inured to the undoubted hardships of the hfe which, in all pro- bability, he will ever afterwards follow. The men go on board well and warmly clad, and frequently with a complete change of dress. His enormous boots form an expensive as well as a prominent item in the fisherman's attire. The poor fellows have generally their names marked upon the breast of their Jersey jackets, so that they may be recognised in case of any casualty. It is but a short time since some were washed ashore at Polperro who could only have been thus identified by their friends I asked my informant if they lost many at that port? "No," said he, "they're seldom lost; they're generally washed up some time or other at the point there." The men never take spirits nor even malt liquor on board with them. Their commissariat generally consists of bread, sometimes potatoes, tea, and cof- fee, a little salt meat, and a supply of fresh water. Thus provided, they set off in January in their small but seaworthy craft for the mackerel fishing off Plymouth Sound. They generally manage to arrive at the fishing ground a little before sunset. At sunset the boats are permitted to drive or float, as it were, at random, during which time the nets ai'e being heaved over- board, generally from the right quarter of the boat, the object being, if possible, to throw them across the tide. The nets all overboard soon assume a perpendicular position in the water, the whole being kept close to the surface by the large and buoyant corks attached to their upper edge. It is ditFerent in the pilchard fishing, the nets being suffered to drop some distance below the surface, but stil! hang- ing perpendicularly in the water. Wiien the nets are all let out, the drift rope attached to the head of them is given out for some length, after which it is carried forward and secured to the bow of the boat, which thus rides to the nets as if at anchor, and keeps them constantly on the stretch. Things being in this state, the men proceed to prepare their sup- per. As they always carry a portable cooking ap- paratus, they have hot tea or coffee always for break- fast and supper, and, such as choose, for dinner also. This, with bread, salt meat, and fresh fish, forms their chief fare. They renew their stock of provi- sions every time that it is necessary to do so, when they are ashore disposing of their fish. Supper being over, the first watch is set for the night, the rest of the crew retiring to rest. At midnight they are called up, and if the watch can report symp- toms of a good " take," the nets are then hauled in. If not, the first watch retires to sleep, leaving the second on duty till four o'clock in the morning, when they are called, and the nets almost invariably hauled in. Tnis is aone ny moving the drift rope to the right quarter, over which the nets are hauled. If the fish caught are in moderate quantity, they are taken out of the net as it is being drawn. If in great quantity, and the fishing is near the shore, the fish are left in the meshes, and the ne'. drawn as soon as possible, lest it should ground. The fish are in this case detached from the net when the boat gets ashore. When the demand for fish is great in Plymouth, and the price consequently good, the boats may not come ashore for a week or more at a tune, the price being sufficient to induce others to visit them in light sailing trauls, who purchase their fish from them, and sell them ashore. About Mount's Bay it is customary for the boats to land every morning with their fish, which is disposed of to the "jowsters" — a set of middlemen, as it were, between the producers and consumers, who trans- mit the fish to Bristol, or hawk them about the country in carts. These hawkers or jowsters visit almost all the fishing ports, coming frequently all the way from Launceston to Polperro and Looe to purchase fish, Saturday is the only working day on which they do not make their appearance, when fish is exceedingly cheap at the ports, whiting fre- quently selling for one halfpenny a pound. When the fishing is being carried on off the Scilly Islands or in St. George's Cliannel, and the daily access to market is rendered impossible, another plan is hit upon for the disposal of the fish. Eight or nine boats then act in concert, one being made the mes- senger for all the rest, and conveying the fish of all to market. The boats take this duty in rotation. The period of their absence depends upon the dis- tance of the market, but it varies from two to four days. The boat which is thus absent disposing of the fish is entitled on its return to an equal share of what the others have caught in the meantime. Sometimes on reaching a market, the messenger ijoat finds it overstocked ; in which case another market is if possible sought without delay ; when leached, it also may be found overstocked, or by the time it is reached the fish may be unfit for sale, and has to be thrown away. This is not during some seasons an unfrequent occurrence. The division of profits is generally made as fol- lows : — One-seventh of the proceeds is laid aside for the boat ; the remainder is divided into two equal parts, one of which is appropriated to the nets, the other being divided amongst the men, share and share alike. If there is a boy on board he is entitled to half a man's share. If the owner of the boat, or of the nets, is on board, he is en- titled to his share as one of the crew, in addition to what is appropriated to the boat or nets : this ap- propriation is made with a view to keeping them in working order, and of returning a fair per centage upon their original cost. The mackerel fishing is Uable to great fluctua- tions, its success depending upon a great variety of circumstances. Sometimes, for instance, the fish may pass up or down near mid channel, at other times near shore, sometimes near the surface, and at others in deep water. It may thus be that the fishing may be plied for days with dis- THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 55 couragin^ results, owinz to ij^norance of tlie posi- tion of the fish, bonietiines a very i^lij^ht change of position makes all the difference in lliis respect. The mackerel fishing off Plymouth Sound lasts for ahout six weeks, the fish taking then a westerly direc tion. They are pursued by the Cornish Ijoats, particularly those of Mount's Bay, off which the fishing is pursued with great industry for about six weeks more. Formerly a lull used to take place from about the middle of May to the middle of July, in the ac- tive routine of a fisherman's life. To the great bulk of the drift-net men this time was wholly lost; the only fishing which could be plied, and that for only ])art of the time, being the precarious one of seining the mackerel, and few of them having any interest in seines. But now this is all changed, and the two months which used to be lost are at present to the fisherman the most active, ad- venturous, and sometimes the most profitable of the year. As soon as the mackerel fishing is over for the spring and summer, he begins to prepare for the herring fishing. In doing so the nets are closely looked to and repaired, and tha boat is thoroughly overhauled; for in prosecuting this branch of his \'ocation he has to change the scene, and frequently goes to a great distance. About the middle of June all is prepared, and the great bulk of the Mount's Bay boats repair to the Irish Sea and the north coas^t of Ireland ; most of them make Howth their head-cpiarters. The herring fishery thus ])rosecuted is not so much a Cornish fishery as an occupation for Cornish fishermen — and that, too, at a period of the year when they would not otherwise be employed. The value of this adven- turous episode in the annual routine of their exer- tions may be inferred from the fact that they have sometimes carried back with them from seven to ten thousand Pounds into Mount's Bay alone. This I had from a gentleman well known in Cornwall, and connected with a bank through which most of the money passed. It was about 1820 that Cornwall sent its first fishing expedition to the Irish coast. So encouraging were the results of the first experi- ment, that it has since been repeated every year, and is now as much looked upon as part and jiarcel of the work of the year as is the fishing off the coast. I have already intimated that they have been known to ascend the Scottish coast, and go through the Caledonian Canal to the German Ocean, fish down the whole of the east coast, and return home by the Straits of Dover and the English Channel. But the Irish Sea is the chief .scene of their labours during this portion of the year. During their stay there they supply the English, Irish, and Welsh markets bordering upon that sea. When the weather is good the Irish boats compete with them ; but they laugh when they tell you that whenever the weather is bad they have the fishing all to themselves. The fishermen do not all go to the herring fishing. The old and the very young stay at home, as do such as are in- dolently disposed. They generally, however, ply the hook and line fishing in the absence of their lellows. About the end of July the absent fishing fleet re- appears off the Cornish coast. The fishermen re- turn, not to leisure or recreation, but to ply their vocation against a new i)rey. xVbout the period named commences the early pilchard fishing for the year. The pilchard fishing is a momentous event in Cornwall, the pilchard season being, in fact, the turning point of the Cornish year. From that time up to the beginning of September, the whole coast, from St. Ives to the Rame Head, is in a state of excitement and activity. Extra hands are called into i-equisition, and whilst some abandon the fields, others quit the mines, to lend their aid, and to lay in for their own and their family's con- sumption a stock of this favourite and useful fish for the year. So much do the comforts of all the labouring classes depend upon a successful capture of pilchards, that an unproductive season is nearly as disastrous as a deficient harvest would be. Like the mackerel, the pilchard is caught both by the drift-net and the seine. Tlie descri])tion given of the process 1;y which the former is captured will apply to the latter — bearing in mind that the boats have, generally speaking, fewer hands in fish- ing for pilchards, that the nets are shorter, and that they do not, like the mackerel nets, swim on the surface, but drop some distance below it, being prevented from going to the bottom by buoys at- tached by short cords to the head ropes. I may here mention, however, that when the nets are thrown, they are so attached to the head ropes as to have a drawn appearance — a device which ena- bles them to bear the pressure better when they have a plentiful take of fish. Were they extended at their full length a heavy catch might break them, when great portions of them would be lost. Having frequently spoken of the seine fishing, I now proceed to describe it. There is but very little of it now carried on in Mount's Bay, or in- deed at any point on the southern coast of the county. There are still a few seines at Newlyn and other stations on the bay ; but there are now none at Mousehole, the next fishing village in point of size and importance to Newlyn itself. The chief seat of the seine fishing is St. Ives, on the opposite coast, at which place drift-net fishing is pursued, but to a very limited extent. Seine differs from drift-net fishing in this, that it is jmrsued during the day, and almost invariably near the shore and in shallow water. It also differs from it as regards the whole modus operandi. To work a seine three boats are required. The first and largest is called the seine boat, and carries the stop seine. It is generally manned by a crew of nine, six of whom are to row, two to shoot the seine, and one called the bow man, on whom the course of the boat depends. The second boat, a smaller one, is called the " volger," or follower, and carries the tuck seine. The third is the "lurker," the smallest of the three, and is chiefiy occupied by a functionary called the " huer," and some boys. The whole number of hands usually employed to work a seine is about fifteen, in addition to the boys. The stop seine is of various lengths, being generally from "250 to 300 fathoms. Its depth is from 13 to Ifi fathoms. Its meshes are much I smaller than those of the drift-nets, the object being i to enclose the fish without meshing them. The seine net has a lino of head ropes, to which av« 56 THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. attached corks and other buoys, to keep its upper edge near the surface. To the lower edge are attached innumerable small pieces of lead, which bear it down and keep it close to the ground, the object being to shoot the seine in shallow water with a clear bottom. The "tuck" is a similar net, but of smaller dimensions ; its mesh is of the same size as that of the seine, but it has in the middle a hollow bag, as it were, into which the fish go when the process of tucking is going on. These nets are very expensive, costing about £300. The boats, with everything complete for seine fishing, will cost from £800 to £1,000. It is obvious, therefore, that none but considerable capitalists can engage in this species of fishing; indeed, almost the whole seine fishing of Cornwall is in the hands of a few wealthy capitalists, the smaller capitahsts confining themselves to the deep sea, or drift-net fishing. The seine fishing is usually pur- sued from sunrise to sunset, the seines, however, being generally shot in the afternoon. The boats having taken their station, remain at anchor waiting for a signal from the huer. The business of this functionary is to take his station on an eminence within sight, and watch for the fish. As soon as he sees them he holds up both hands, in each of which there is generally a bunch of furze, so that the movement can be more distinctly seen. Each seine has its own huer, and the object of the lurker is chiefly to attend upon liim if necessary. As soon as this is observed, all is got ready for ac- tion on board the little squadron, the huer then indicating, by waving his right or left hand, on which side the fish is to be found. If he is doubt- ful as to whether there is fish or not, there are sig- nals by which he can send the volger or lurker to reconnoitre in any particular spot. The signal that there is fish being given, the boats weigh anchor and prepare to shoot. The operation of shooting is preceded by another signal, which, being given, the stop seine is thrown overboard, and the two shooters have it all given out in about five minutes. The huer remains at his post giving signals until, by the movement of the boats, the ends of the seine are brought togetlier, by which means the fish are enclosed, and, whilst they do not get meshed, cannot escape. The huer is then taken on board by the lurker, and gives further orders for the ma- nagement of the seine. The seine is then secured by several anchors, according to the strength of the tide, and the next operation is deferred until low water, or nearly so. That operation is " tuck- ing," and is conducted as follows: — The volger passes over the corks of the seine-net at anchor, and takes up a position in the enclosed space. The tuck-net is then attached to the upper edge of the seine-net, after which the lower edge of it is drawn up, and a quantity of the fish enclosed are caught in the bag or " bunt" of the tuck. The fish is then lifted by " flaskets" into the boats, and sent ashore. There they are put into what are called " corvals," in which they are carried by the women to the cellars where they are to be salted. A corval holds about 360 fish, for carrying which a woman gets id. or 2d., according to the distance. The wages of the cellar-women, who salt the fish, are about 3d. per hour, in which time they can lay down a great many in salt. Seine fishing is too precarious in its results for the men engaged in it to take their chance of the adventure and share in its profits ; they are, therefore, invariably employed at fixed wages ; the ordinary men receive, on the average, 10s. a week; the seine shooters 12s. ; the master seiner has generally 15s.; and the huer one guinea per week. In addition to his wages, the huer claims one seventeenth of the whole fish caught. Sixpence per hogshead is also divided between the two seine-shooters and the bowman, the seine-shooters getting 2id. each, and the bow- man the remaining penny. With the exception of these and the master-seiner, the rest of the crew may be, and generally are, landsmen. During all this time the deep-sea fishers are capturing the pilchards with their drift-nets, and are chiefly instrumental in supplying the home market. The fish caught by the seines ai'e mostly cured for exportation, large quantities of them being sent to the Mediterranean, particularly to Naples and other parts of Italy, where they are largely consumed during Lent. It is thus that a favourite toast with the fishermen is " Long life to the Pope and death to thousands." The thousands, of course, apply to the fish. On my asking one of the fishers why he drank long life to the Pope ? " It would be a bad thing," said he, " if some wasn't to think fish necessary to salvation on a Friday." The value of the Pilchard fishery may be inferred from the following statement, showing the extent to which it was exported during each of the years from 1833 to J8-16 inclusive:— Year. Hhds. Year. Hhds. Year. Hhds. 1833. . 9,924 1838. . 7,627 1843. . 8,820 1834. . 25,034 1839. . 12,824 1344, . 13,959 1835. .23,314 1840. .23,310 1845. . 29,986 1836. . 18,718 1841. . 9,605 1846. .34,350 1837. .15,384 1842. .20,714 It will be seen that the fluctuation in the quan- tity exported has been very great from year to year. The price has fluctuated to an equal extent during the same period — having ranged from 33s. to 60s. for winter, and from STjs. to 70s. for summer fish. The early pilchard season is scarcely closed when preparations are made for the autumnal mackerel fishing. This is generally at its height during the month of October, when the largest and the finest mackerel are caught. It is immediately followed by the late pilchard season in November, which sometimes extends into the following month. But, generally speaking, there is a complete cessation from fishing during the month of December. But even then there is no rest for the fishermen, for this is the time when their chief aftairs are effected. The boats are thoroughly overhauled, and the nets carefully inspected, foot by foot; and by the advent of the new year all is prepared for the same routine of busy and adventurous occupation as marked the year which has closed. From this hurried account of the life and occupa- tion of the Cornish fisherman this at least will be obvious — that, in the main, he enjoys tlie advantages of continued employment. This is more particu - THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 57 larly the case in connection with the (]eep-s?a fish- ing, which is generally plied by those who combine the capitalist, on a small scale, with the fisherman. ']'he seine fishing aflbrds neither such steady nor such lucrative employment to the great bulk of those engaged in it. It is confined to a ])articular season of the year, and that not of very long dura- tion. Whilst it lasts it calls into requisition the labour of a great many extra hands, which flock from the interior to the coast. So far as these are concerned, however, the pilchard fishing has this advantage — that it is most active just before and after harvest ; thus giving employment, at good wages, to many on shore, whose employment would be otherwise precarious, and whose wages would be low and fitful. It follows, from the constant nature of their em- jjloyment, that the fishermen are comparatively well oflf as a class. To the great majority of them the whole year is more or less profitable. They are not in the position of the ordinary agricultural labourer, who may be employed to-day at wages in- sufficient for his own and his family's comfort, whilst to-morrow he may be entirely out of work, without a ])enny wherewith to buy bread for his children. There are few pursuits more liable to fluctuation than that of fishing. It may be pro- litable to-day and profitless to-morrow; but it has this advantage — that it is sometimes highly pro- fitable, enabling the provident man to provide to some extent against the contingency of profitless adventures. Not so, however, with the agricultural labourer. At the best, his work for the day brings him but a sufficiency for the day. He has no surplus, and can make no accumulation as a resource against a temjjorary failure of work. The fisherman need never be out of work, though at times his work is profitless. For this, however, he may be prejiared ; but the agricultural laliourer depends upon the continuity of his employment, not only for his comforts, but for the barest neces- saries of life. Although the fishermen are comparatively well off as a clas.s, they are not all equally so. They are divisible into three classes — those owning the boats or the boats and nets, those owning the nets alone, and those only having their laliour to bring to the work. These classes differ in their relative jiroportions at difi'erent ])oints of the coast. Those who own the boats and nets, or the boats or nets separately, are the capitalists of their calling. When the fishing is at all jirosperous they make a good thing of it, by the appropriations made at the divi- sion of the spoils to the boats and nets. You can almost always distinguish a fisherman thus situated l)y his generally healthy look, and the superior style of his house, family, and dress. His profits may frecjuently be discouragingly small ; but a season must be very unfavoiu'able indeed to reduce him to very straitened circumstances. The loss of a boat or of anetmay ruin him, and reduce him to thecondi- tion of the lowest class of his calling. Tlic nets are sometimes destroyed by an over-take of fish ; at other times they are cut, jiarticularly the mackerel nets, which swim on the surface, by vessels passing to and fro in the (yhannel. The lowest grade of fisliermen are no strangers to privation. It is seldom that thry can coviimand much beyond the necessaries of life, and not aluays even these. After the seventh, and sometimes only the eighth, is laid by for the boat, they get only their share of the moiety which remains, the other moiety going to the nets. Their earnings are neither large nor regular, although their work is tolerably continuous. In addition to this, they have to submit to great extortion in their purchases of such necessaries as tea, coffee, and sugar. They cannot aflbrd to go to Penzance and buy in quantities of the retail dealers there, thus j)aying but one retail profit. They pm'chase in small quantities from an inferior set of dealers, who charge their own profit over and above the retail profit in Penzance, the poor consumers thus paying two retail profits instead of one. This is one of the penalties of being poor. Poverty is at every disadvantage. This of itself is sufficient to account for the scanty com- mand which this class of fishermen have, even in the best of seasons, of the comforts of life. They are a more emaciated and sickly-looking, whilst they are a less spirited, set of men than tlieir more fortunate brethren possessed of a httle capital in the shape of boats or nets. For the last few seasons all classes of fishermen have been more or less in a depressed condition. Not that the fishing has been unfavourable or the prices very imremunerative. The great cause of the depression of all, and of the privation which has overtaken the lowest class of them, is the failure of the potato. This has been a great blow to the fish- ermen. Some of them used to raise their own pota- toes, but the great bulk purchase them. But few have raised any this year, and fewer still are able to buy them at their present price. Independently of their cheapness when abundant, the j)Otato is the best accompaniment to the pilchard, which forms the staj)le of the fishermen's food. They will only eat bread to it when potatoes are not to be had. When they do eat bread, that of which they are most fond is the barley-bread, which lliey bake in the form of a loaf. Indeed this is general through- out Cornwall, barley bread being consumed by the fishers, miners, and agricultural labourers. The labourers of De\'on and Somerset would turn up their noses at it. Nothing but the finest flour will satisfy them. Yet the barley-bread is Ijoth sweet and nourishing. I have frequently tasted it and found it excellent. It has the additional recom- mendation of being comparatively cheap. When the potato is used with the pilchard they are boiled together, or the potato is mashed and then baked before the lire with the pilchard over ';,. The oil of the fish is thus difliiscd through the ])o;atoes, and strongly flavours them. When bread is used it is a common practice after the ])ilchard is cooked to s(|ueeze it between Iwo ])ieces of bread, it thus gives out its oil, with which the bread jjecomes well saturated. The pilchard is a very fat and oily little fish. Naturalists may tell us that it is not exactly a herring, but it looks amazingly like one. It also greatly resembles the herring Ijoth in taste and flavour; both, however, being somewhat stronger than those of the herring. 'J'o those ac- customed to ])ilchard (and what Coiiiishman is not ?), the herring appears a dry and tasteless fish. 58 THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. It is a great favourite becaiiic it is strong and tast3% and generally very cheap. It is also liked by fa- milies because at a meal each member of the family has generally his own fish. This prevents the squabbling which sometimes takes place over a larger fish, which has to be divided. There was, perhaps, no district in England on wliicli the loss of the potato fell with greater seve- rilv than on Cornwall ; yet when the distress was at its greatest height, the sufFerei's could not be prevailed upon to eat Indian-corn bread. Tiiey seemed to l)e utterly ignorant of its very nature, their aversion to it having a no more respectable origin than a groundless prejudice. This season there are many of the lowest grade of fishermen and their families in the deepest dis- tress. Numerous instances of extreme privation came under my notice in the snaaller fishing ports. At Mount's Bay the proportion of this class is .smaller, as regards the whole number, than else- where. The distress is greatest where there are families of \ery young children, or where the fami- lies are large, and consist mainly or wholly of girls. Some most painful instances of privation under these circumstances came under my observation at Looe and Polperro. Much privation is of course averted from the door of the fisherman by his great command of fish. The practice is to salt such fish as cannot readily be disposed of on coming ashore. Pilchards, cod, ling, and hake are thus salted, eitlier for sale should any demand arise, or for the use of the family during the season. The curing houses, v.here the fish are dried and salted, are to he seen dotting the hill- sides in the neighbourhood of all the fishing ports. They j^resent a singular appearance against the (lark hill-sides, overhanging such places as Meva- gissy and Polperro. \Vhen the boys are active, too, it often happens, even before they are old enough to be taken to sea, that they cost little or nothing to their parents so far as their diet is concerned, especially during the busier parts of the fishing season. When a boat goes out for jiilchards, it frequently occurs that it brings to shore a quantity of other fish. Of this other fish neither the boats nor nets get any share, the whole being divided amongst the men. On coming ashore they ])ick the best of them for their own use, and leave the rest to such boys as will, in consideration thereof, clean out the boat. They light a fire, and cook the fish themselves. At Pol- perro they cook them at some lime-kilns in the neighbourhood, digging up a few potatoes, per- haps, from a neighbouring field to eat along with them. They often in the same way procure large Cray and unsaleable shell-fish, which they cook and eat, without making their appearance at home until bed-time. Again, the ])rivation to which many are sub- jected is to a great extent attributable to themselves. Some suffer as the consequence of their improvi- dence and bad habits ; others from being very in- expert at their vocation. Two I)oats may fish close to each other, one of which may return laden and the other empty, so nnich depends on the fisher- men. I am told, by one well acquainted with the lives. habits, and necessities of the fishermen,, that they cannot live at all comfortably under l3s. a-week. It is not easy to get at the exact number employed in the Cornish fisheries. About Mount's Bay alone there are fully 1,500 men and boys so employed. In order that they should live comfortably it is necessary that they should land each year about £50,000 worth of fish. Of this sum £36,000 should go for wages, and the remaining £14,000 for re- pairs. It is extremely difiicult to get at a fisher- man's earnings, as it is only the seine fishers who have fixed wages. But, taking one year with ano- ther, they are sujjposed to amount to from lOs. to 13s. per week. This is of course applicable only to the lowest grade of fishers, the others earning much more if the season is at all prosperous. As regards the house accommodation of the fish- erman there is the same difference to be observed as there is in reference to his wages. The lowest grade are the worst housed ; and at some points, such as Looe and Mevagissy, their habitations are of the most straitened and filthy description. There are tenements in West Looe and Mevagissy that may well vie with the cellars of Leeds or the attics of Rosemary-lane. The same observation might at one time have applied to Polperro, which, when I visited it, was remarkably clean. The whole town had been whitewashed externally, and the floors in almost every house were kept sanded and clean. The rooms were well ventilated, and everything had a neat and tidy appearance about it. Some tene- ments were indeed squalid and miserable enough, but the description here given applies to the great bulk of the town. Polperro has been rewarded for its cleanliness, for it has escaped the visitation of the cholera. So much cannot be said of Mevagissy. This place also underwent a general cleaning, but no sooner was its purification effected than the in- habitants relapsed into their former habits of filth- liness, and now almost every trace of cleanliness is gone. Here the cholera fell with terrible severity. The people of Mevagissy form in many respects a marked exception to those of most of the other fishing towns. The inhabitants of the neighbour- ing districts stand in dread of them, and hold no communication with them beyond such as is abso- lutely necessary. At St. Ives there is also much domiciliary wretchedness ; but the greatest misery in this respect is to be found in the decaying fishing stations to the north-east of that town. At Mount's Bay they are better off. In Newlyn and Mouse- hole, the two largest villages, the bulk of the houses are comparatively good. They are not so crowded as elsewhere, and have all at least two bedrooms. They have also two rooms belov/, one of which, unless the occupant has a covered place behind, is used as a cellar, v/here fish are cured and salted. A fisherman's house is not complete without his cel- lar. If he has not one under his roof he must hire one elsewhere. The evil of filthy and over-crowded dwellings is much enhanced in some of the fishing villages by the number of agricultural labourers who, Ijy the clearing system, are driven into them from the circumjacent rural parishes. The rent of a house averages about £4. The better class of fishermen and the provident of all classes have clothing for shore ajid clothing THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 59 for sea. That for shore is used when they are at work ou land, in addition to whicli they have gene- rally a Sunday suit. Whenever butcher meat fifjures in their diet, it is almost invariably fresh. They eat too much salt fish to have any relish for salt meat. The diseases to which they are lia1)le are mostly of an inflammatory character. They are also fre- quently subject to cataract, from exposure com- bined with much straining of the sight. When I visited Newlyn and Mousehole (Cornice Mouzlel, I found the fishermen standing about in groups, evidently discussing some point interesting to them all. On reaching Mousehole I inquired what it was, and was inforn^ed that they were wait- ing in momentary expectation of getting news of the approach of the late pilchards. They were waiting, one of them told me, to hear of the " north coasters :" these being neither more nor less than the pilchards, which, descending from St. George's Channel, strike about this time of the year the coast of Cornwall. Within the memory of living man it is only since 1819 that they have been in the habit of coming from this quarter. Some of the oldest fishermen remember hearing their fathers say that they knew them to do so. They were ra- ther late of making their appearance this year, and some anxiety was felt on their account. Scouts were daily running from St. Ives to Mount's Bay bringing tidings concerning them. It is at St. Ives they first touch, a'ter which they turn the Land's End and enter the Bay. If they have not made their appearance by this time the late pilchard fish- ing will be a failure for the year. This will be a serious misfortune. Although but a mile and a-half apart from each other there is a great difference between the cha- racter and habits of the people of Mousehole and those of Newlyn. There is much n;ore reckless- ness in the latter than in the former. The men of Newlyn do not drink on board, but they drink a good deal on shore. A tipsy man i.s scarcely ever seen in Mousehole. This great reform is the work of the last few years. There were formerly five public-houses in the village; and now, although it uas a population of about 1,500, it does not atibrd sufficient custom to su])port even one. The habits of the people are in all res])ects sujierior to those of Newlyn. No fisherman from Mou.sehole will take to the sea on a Sunday. Every one of them attends some place of worship or other on that day. They are generally Methodists. They are also very well educated, considering their circumstances, 'i'he village school is a very efficient one. As indicative of their energy I may here menti* n, that the fishermen of Mousehole have, at a cost of £ 1,400, built for themselves a pier, which with the breakwater built many years ago by the Govern- ment forms their little harbour. To construct it they raised £1,200 on their own joint bond, which they are paying oil' by instalments, each boat being- put under a yearly contril)Ution for the purpose. But their harbour is far too small, and they are very anxious that the Government should aid ihem in enlarging it. The assistance of Government might be much worse bestowed. On the whole, therefore, although considerable distress at present prevails amongst a portion of this laborious, adventurous, and deserving class of men, their ])rivations are seldom so severe or so long continued as are those of the agricultural la- bourer. Nor is there a class, not even the lowest grade of fishermen, the members of which, by or- dinary care, activity, and providence, may not place themselves in a far better position than that of the labourer in the fields. (To be continued.) ON THE CHEAPEST MODE OF FEEDING STOCK. It is not surprising that men's minds should now be universally turned to the cheapest mode of feeding stock. It is a question forced upon every man, by the very low prices at which fat meat of all kinds sells by the producer; and hajjpy will it be if " necessity" here should so far be " the mother of invention" as to make the process of beef-manufacturing remunerative. It need scarcely be mentioned that there are two modes, as regards food, by which the feeding of cattle may be reduced in expense — either by the adoption of a new kind of food of a cheaper description, and equally efficacious for the ])urpose; or by so i)re])aring any known description of food as to economise its use and fit it for a morejjrofita- ble assimilation in the animal economy. The oscillation of public opinion for and against linseed, as against linseed-cake, is somewhat remarkable ; but it is probable that it depends a good deal upon the jieculiar cases to which each is respectively applied. Where fat alone is to be made — in other words, where matured and full-fleshed animals are fed, and where little more than the waste of flesh has to be supplied, it would be reasonable to assume that if the linseed itself could be so prepared as to be capable of ready digestion and assimilation, it would be preferable ; whereas, if the animals were growing ones, and their food of a thin and limited description, it were desirable to supply a highly nitrogenised substance. Now the difterencc be- tween linseed itself and linseed-cake is this ; the former contains a larger quantity of oil and less husk — which, by the bye, like bran, may not be altogcthet useless ; the latter, less oil, but more proportionate quantities of nitrogeneou* matter, as 60 THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. well as more mucilaginous and saccharine material. The recent analyses of Professor Way, Professor Anderson, and others, have done much to add to our information on these points ; and the following difference per cent, between linseed itself and linseed-cake is worthy of a careful study by all persons interested in the feeding of cattle. If we take the three points, viz., the per centage of water, of oil, and of nitrogen, in English seed and English cake, they will stand somewhat thus : Linseed. Cake. Nitrogen 4*35 4-57 per cent. Oil 34-76 13-52 „ Water 10-62 8-60 ,. Ash 3-52 7-27 „ If we take a foreign sample of each, it will be as imder (say Russian) : Nitrogen 3-41 5-14 per cent. Oil 36-37 11-86 „ Water 9-44 8-88 „ Ash 4-78 8-39 ,, Taking, however, the English specimen as being that which most commonly represents the food in use in this country, we have some curious facts as to the purchase-value of the two articles. If we take the person who purchases a ton of linseed, we shall find that he pays the price of the article — be it seven pounds or twelve pounds, or any other price per ton — for nearly two hundred-weight of %i)ater : whereas, if he expends the same, or any other sum in cake, he will be purchasing a little more than one and a half hundred-weight of water — so much for what is worthless. But in the first case lie purchases also nearly seven hundred-weight of oil ; whereas, in the latter, he buys only two and a half hundred-weight. Hence if oil, in any of tlip forms in which it may be given, be fat nearly ready-formed, it would seem he was obtaining that in a large quantity. We have heard of those who attempted to feed, or who recommended the practice of feeding, their cattle on barley-meal and linseed- oil : if the oil be so desirable, it seems a pity to pay for its extraction by the crusher and all the profits of that trade. But even to the feeder of growing or immature stock, where the elements composed of nitrogenised material or albuminous matter are so valuable, we cannot see any great advantage ; for a party buying a ton of linseed will obtain of nitrogen some 95|lbs.; while one expending his money in linseed-cakes will obtain only 100 lbs. — the difference being only some 42lbs. of nitrogen l)er ton. Professor Way says, " Now as linseed-oil con- tains no nitrogen, it is obvious that the cake must be richer than the seed in albuminous ])rinciples, in the exact proportion of the oil which is lost by Oil. Water. Ash. 9-0() . 7-60 . . 7-89 11-41 .. 7-60 . . 6-35 9-84 . 7-98 . . 9-56 11-86 . 8-88 . . 8-39 11-84 .. 9-03 . . 7-55 6-80 .. 9-46 . . 8-02 the pressure." That the expression of a non- nitrogenised substance from one which is nitro- genised must increase the proportion of nitrogen in the latter is perfectly true; but that it does so in any very great degree is obviously not the case, by the analysis of the Professor himself, for there ap- pears to be a difference of only 0-22, or less than one quarter per cent! But, we would ask, is there not also a larger proportion of husk in the latter than in the former? And as this is often found to come from the animals whole, we may fairly infer that it will nearly be a set-off" for the excess of nitrogeneous matter in the cake as compared with the seed. The variations in the qualities of linseed-cake as manufactured in foreign countries — not more perhaps than the different kinds in this — will be interesting, and we give them below : Nitrogen. French 4-72 . American 4-74 . German & Dutch 4-65 . Russian 5-14 . Italian 5-03 . Sicilian 4-72 . Now if these are compared with the English given above, we shall perceive that they all contain much less oil than the English, and hence the absurdity of the notion that they are re-crushed in England for the purpose of extracting more oil. Is it not to make these old and bad priced cakes rather into a more saleable and English article, and so to make a profit to the crusher ? Persons acquainted with the proximate elements of which linseed cake and linseed itself are com- posed, will not be surprised to hear that there are various other kinds of food which are closely iden- tical with both these, and v/hich may be obtained for a price considerably below either of these now much-sought-for, and expensive sources of food for cattle. There are, however, it must be admitted, arcana far beyond the mere chemical analysis where organi- zation is to deal with, which to a very considerable extent modifies the mere chemical composition of bodies ; and there are the mysterious selections of instinct, and the influences of a Protean vitality, which assume a status out of the reach of chemical analysis, and move in a sphere removed from the laboratory of the physical philosopher. Animals — especially wild, but even domesticated animals — have an instinctive appreciation of the best kinds of food, as a rule. We do not mean the very first taste, especially of tamed animals; but l)ractice will invariajjly teach them to choose the food most nutritious and useful, and to reject that which is the least serviceable. Instinct teaches the THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 61 mid animal to reject the heilj wliich is injurious or poisonous : the same instinct, in a modified sense, preserves domesticated animals ; but that much of this may be maternal teachinjLf is jjretty clear from the fact, that lambs brought up pets, without a mother's care, often die from eating poisonous herbs ; while domestication will also often so in- fluence the cow as to make her eat \nth all the avidity of a natural instinct even glass, or rags, or leather, so depraved will sometimes become her appetite, by the mere habits of artificial existence brought on by servile domestication. Exceptional as these confessedly are, and making proper allowance for them accordingly, we must not forget that they by no means affect the rule ; and as such rule, we find cattle invariably preferring such materials of food as are the most nourishing — namely, oil-cake, bean-meal, &c., and giving a de- cided ])reference to those articles above all others which experience teaches us are the most suitable for nourishing the system. Amongst new substances analogous to linseed oil-cake is the cotton-seed oil-cake, which is used extensively throughout the whole of the East Indies for the purposes of cattle-feeding. In quantity the seed is about double that of the cotton, so that there must be an enormous quantity available. Assum- ing the annual consumption of cotton in this country to be three millions of tons, there will be at least 156,000 tons of seed extracted, which it appears may be available as food for cattle, and at a very small cost. We understand it may be bought on the spot at some fourteen shillings per ton, but the freight would be high, perhaps as much as £4 per ton. If the oil were worth anything, it appears pretty clear that the cake itself would be far from costly, even at this rate. We give Pro- fessor Anderson's analysis of this cake as com- pared with linseed cake : — Cotton -seed cake. Linseed cake. Water, 11.19 8. GO Oil, 9.0S 13 52 Sugar, 10.70 notgiven. Nitrogen, .'5 95 4.57 Ash 5. 04 7.27 It would seem that tliough the cotton cake is infe- rior in most if not all the desirable qualities of lin- seed oil-cake, yet it still possesses them in an inferior degree ; Imt it is pleasant to the taste, and is bitter, according to Professor Anderson, and of a much less mucilaginous character than the linseed oil- cake. We agree with Professor Anderson in thinking that a practical trial would be very desirable, and would suggest that it is a proper one to be taken ' up by the Royal Agricidtural College at Cirences- ter, wlu'ie so many a])i)liances%re ready for weigh- ing, registering, &c. In accordance with the practice in Frencli Flanders, Mr. Pusey tried an experiment with rape-cake, as food for stock, in 1S40, and gave in the " Journal of the Royal Agricultural Society" of that year an account of his exjieriments. The price of the two kinds of cake were £9 and £5 per ton re- spectively. He commenced by mixing one-tenth part of rape-cake to nine-tenths of linseed cake, until he increased it to one-fourth of the whole cake, for his fattening tegs, or shearlings as they are other- wise provincially called ; while to his old ewes he increased the jjroportions, until he gave them rape- cake alone. He then refers to the analysis to show its elements to be capable of fat-forming as well as flesh forming, and adds that no bad consequence followed from 500 sheep using this food, but does not unhappily give any experiments as to the com- parative merits of the two in actual feeding. We give side by side the analyses of rape and linseed cake — Rape-cake. Linseed cake. Water, 6.62 8,60 Oil, 10.62 13.52 Nitrogen, 5.58 4.57 Ash, 10.71 7.27 Now, wo think that there can be no doubt whatever that rape-cake may be advantageously, and espe- cially as respects economy, substituted for linseed cake, at least to a certain extent ; and we are glad to have an opportunity to give our personal testimony to the decided success with which it is jjractised by a gentleman who, as well as being a sound prac- tical farmer, and a man of considerable general scientific attainments, is also a very observing naturalist, fond of studying the habits and instincts of animals : we allude to Charles Charnock, Esq., of Holmfield House, near Ferrybridge, in York- shire. This gentleman has for many years used it as a substitute for linseed cake ; if we remember rightly, he gives it alone, unmixed with the latter, and accustoms his very lambs to it, by giving it to their mothers, and to them as soon as they are dis- posed to eat it, from the lambing season to the period when they are sold ott" Hit, which is in the spring of the first year ; and so superior are his hogs, or tegs, or, if we please, " unshorn lambs," that tin y are as fat and as heavy at one year old as many farmers show them at two ; and indeed now in these days of fat-repudiating mutton, by far too heavy for the market. We say, therefore, that after this practical fact, sustained by years of experience from such a man, we have no hesitation in recommend- ing a trial of rape-cake as food for stock, and espe- cially sheep. — tJardcners' and Farmers' Journal. 62 THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. ROYAL AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY OF ENGLAND A Weekly Council (vas held at the Society's House, ia Hiiiiover-square, on Wednesday, the 29th of May : pre- sent, the Earl of Chichester, V.P., in the chair; Lord Camoys; Sir Charles Lemon, Bart. M.P. ; Sir James Ramsay, Bart. ; Sir Robert Price, Bart., M.P. ; Col. Austen ; Mr. Raymond Barker ; Mr. Burke ; Mr. W. Clavering; Mr. Pendarves, M.P. ; Mr. P. Severn, and Mr. Richard Trench. Miscellaneous Communications. — Result of trials to naturalise Thibet sheep in Wales, from Mr. C. R. Man- sel Talbot, M.P., and information connected with their natural history, from Colonel Sykes. Letters from Mv. Curtis, expressing his opinion on the character of insects destructive to the Wheat and Potato crops, transmitted by Mr. Fisher Hobbs and Colonel Napier. Suggestions from Mr. G. Robinson, of Wolverhampton, for papers on feeding sheep and pigs, and on crops, to be adopted on the failure of turnips. Copy of resolutions passed at the Botley and South Hants Farmers' Club, on questions connected with land-drainage, from Mr. W. C. Spooner, the secretary of that club. Letter from Mr. Drake, on the mottled and white-faced Hereford cattle. Letter from Mr. Brutton, reporting the local advantages ofFered at Exeter for the trial of H.R.H. Prince Albert's plan of arresting the progress of sewage matter, and converting it into manure for the land. Copy from Mr. A. Castellian, of Liverpool, of M. Hamoir's details connected with the extraction of sugar from the beet- root. The noble Chairman and Sir Robert Price favoured the Council with interesting local information connected with the history of the breeds of Southdown sheep and Hereford cattle, respectively ; and with the change of taste, at different periods, in the preference given to particular varieties by breeders, on account of certain occuiTences of colour or conformation, supposed by them t') indicate excellence. Wheel-Axles—Mv. Lee, C. E., of 103, Long Acre, had leave to exhibit to the Council his axle and wheel, intended, by the arrangement of its double action, to prevent the injury sustained by ordinary axles, when subjected to the sudden jerk occasioned by a casual ob- stacle to the progress of the wheel ; by the mode in which lubricating matter could be applied and retained for a long period, in contact with the parts liable to friction, to promote freedom and uniformity of motion ; and, by the simplicity of its fastenings, to make the putting on, or taking off, of the wheel, the work only of a moment. Mr. Lee stated that the expense of this construction of axle, applied to agricultural vehicles, would be very little greater than that of the ordinary axles at present in use. The Council gave no opinion on the invention submitted to them, but thanked Mr. Lee for the trouble he had kindly taken in bringing it before their notice, and ex- plaining to them its peculiarities of construction. Presents. — Among the numerous presents made to the Society were the following : — Treatise on Poultry, from Mr. Nolan, of Dublin ; Transactions of the Royal Asiatic Society, and the Yorkshire Agricultural Society ; Prize List from the Manchester and Liverpool Agricul- tural Society ; and Reports from the Royal Institution of Great Britain, and the Athenaeum Club. A ' Monthly Council was held on Wednesday, the 5th of June : present, the Marquis of Downshire, Pre- sident, in the chair ; Earl of Lonsdale ; Viscount Hill ; Lord Bridport ; Lord Portman ; Hon. R. H. Clive. M.P. ; Hon. W. G. Cavendish, M.P. ; Sir Thos. Dyke Acland, Bart , M.P. ; Sir Matthew White Ridley, Bart.; Sir Charles Lemon, Bart., M.P. ; Sir Robert Price, Bart., M.P. ; Mr. Raymond Barker ; Mr. Bram- ston, M.P. ; Mr. Braudreth ; Mr. Burke; Colonel Challoner; Mr. Evelyn Denison ; Mr. Garrett; Mr. Brandreth Gibbs ; Mr. Gould, of Poltimore ; Mr. Fisher Hobbs ; Mr. Lawes ; Mr. Kinder ; Mr. Neill Malcolm ; Mr. Miles, M.P. ; Mr. Milward ; Mr. Pendarves, M.P. ; Mr. Pusey, M.P. ; Prof. Sewell; Mr, Shaw, of London ; Mr. Villiers Shelley ; Mr. Sillifant ; Mr. W. Simpson; Mr. Stansfield, M.P. ; Mr. Turner, of Bar- ton ; and Prof. Way. Finances. — Colonel Challoner, Chairman of the Fi- nance Committee, laid before the Council the report on the accounts of the Society to the end of the previous month ; from which it appeared that, on the 31st of May, the current cafh-balance in the hands of the bankers was ^'2,493. The Chairman explained that this general balance included £^1,260 as the Exeter subscrip- tion, and ^'210, as the amount received on account of life-compositions, to be invested ; leaving a balance of £"1,023 available for current purposes. The Chairman added, that the arrears of subscription remaining unpaid were in due course of recovery, by means of the County Courts, agreeably with the instructions of the Council. This report was adopted. Prize Essays. — Mr. Pusey, M.P., Chairman of the Journal Committee, reported the further awards made by the Judges of Essays ; and the motto papers being laid before the Council, the following result was declared ; I. The prize of £50 for the best Keport on the Farming of Lincolnshire, awarded to John Algernon Clarke, of Long- Sutton. — The judges " highly comraeuded" the esaay, in the same class, bearing the motto " Hope." n. The prize of £20, for the best Essay on the Rearing and Management of Poultry, awarded to William Trotter, of Ilealey Mill, Stocksfield, near Gateshead. Durham. — The judges commended" tlie essay, in this class, bearing the motto " Dorset." Mr. Pusey, M.P., having passed his high opinion on the great value of the two Lincolnshire Essays, then brought before the notice of the Council, Mr. Miles, THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 68 M.P. expressed his regret that there was at the disposal ot the Journal Committee no second prize, by which they might have had it in their power to mark their esti- mation of the peculiar value of the second Essay, which the judges had highly commended. Having himself had the pleasure of reading both the Essays, he could say, that although the prize was justly due to the i'.rst Essay, it happened in a remarkable manner, that its deficiencies were just those topics which in the second Essay were so fully and admirably treated: so that, great as were their respective merits, neither of them was complete without the other; but by an amalgamation of the two, the most perfect Essay might be produced that had ever appeared in the Journal on that subject, or any other. He made these remarks with confidence, having been for so long a period well acquainted with the peculiarities of Lincoln- shire farming, as well as with its progress and present condition. He hoped the talented author of the second Essay, bearing the motto " Hope," would allow ac- knowledged notes to be added from his own Essay to thatofMr. Clarke, when it should appear in the Journal, in order that the report on Lincolnshire farming might be rendered complete. The Council concurred with Mr. Pusey and Mr. Miles, in hoping that the author would allow this second Essay to be published. Essay Prizes for 1851.— Mr. Pusey then sub- mitted to the Council the schedule of prizes for the Essays and Reports of next year, the following subjects and respective amounts of which were discussed and agreed to ; subject to such conditions of competition as sliall be published in the ensuing prize-list of the Journal, and to the Essays being sent to the Secretary at the house of the Society, on or before the 1st of March, 1851 : — namely, Farming of Shropshire £50 Farming of Northamptonshire 50 Diseases arising from the mismanagement of horses 20 Diseases of Cattle after parturition 20 Agricultural Geology ot England and Wales 50 Production of Butter jO Any subject in Agricultural Chemistry 20 Mr. Fisher Hobbs then called the attention of the Council to the desirableness of attracting public con. sideration more strongly to the application of steam and other motive-power to the purposes of agriculture ; and an interesting discu.ssion ensued. — Mr. Pusey agreed with Mr. Hobbs on the importance of this question, and the only doubt he felt on the adoption of any means taken to procure an Essay for the Journal, was the interference it might occasion with the objects of the stewards of implements, who, at the country meetings of the Society, only allowed prizes to be awarded after actual trial of the practical value of the implements entered for competition. — Colonel Challoner thought that where a steady, uniform draught was required, as in the use of the windlass, and in the case of the mole and draining ploughs, horses might be much more advantageously employed tlian they had hitherto been.— Mr. Miles and Mr. Pnsoy referred to Nottinghamshire and other counties where draining, ploughs had been drawn by means of a moveable wind- lass. — Mr. Garrett could bear his testimony to the great interest felt very extensively at the present moment on the application of steam-power to agricultural purposes. The minds of many men were actively on the alert to devise means by which steam-power could be best adapted to the requirements, not only of ploughing, but of other field-operations; and many patents, having in view the accomplishment of these important objects, were now in the course of enrolment. No new engine or new power was required, but simply the adaptntion of the present steam-power. Mr. Hobbs's suggestion he thought a very good one, and well-timed ; for two years ago it would have been premature, two years hence it will be too late. With regard to horses, Mr. Garrett thought it should be borne in mind that the horses on a farm consumed one-fiftii of the whole produce of the land, while steam-power would call manual labour and human superintendence into exten- sive requisition. He conceived that an essay expound- ing the possibility and advantages of the adaptation contended for, would lead the way to the actual construc- tion, exhibition, and trial of the agricultural engine so much desired. — Mr. Shelley considered, that with re- ference to motive power, that of water was not to be neglected where it was to be had. With regard to steam-power, he haJ himself employed it largely, and to his great benefit, for the last two years, and the com- monest labourer could manage it. He believed that nothing would so much tend to set the farmer on his legs as the adoption of steam power, and the efficiency and economy with which its application was in every case attended. He had, however, great difficulty in get- ting his neighbours to look at his own arrangements, much less to get them to adopt them. He therefore hoped that such a prize essay as Mr. Fisher Hobbs pro- posed would reach the eye of farmers, and tend to con- vince them of the opportunities within their reach, but which they had neglected. He thought the Council owed their best thanks to Mr. Hobbs for having brought forward the proposition. — Mr. Shaw, of London, fully concurred in the desirableness of the prize proposed. We were not yet aware of the extent to which steam may be applied, nor the consequent amount of advan- tage to be derived from its means to the jiractical farmer. He conceived that a statement of the present a])plication of steam on the one hand, and its prospective applica- tions on the other, to agricultural purposes, would prove of the highest value. — Mr. Pusey concurred in the gene- ral opinion of the Council, tliat such a prize could not interfere with the operations of the country meetings, but in a great degree tend to promote them, by detail- ing the various modes of applying stuam-power to farm operations, and proving its advantages, by showing its economy ; he had therefore much pleasure in seconding Mr. Fisher Hobbs's proposition. It was then carried unanimously, " that a prize of .£'30 be offered for the best ejsay on the relative advantages of steam and other motive powers, apidicablo to agricultural purposes," to be sent to the Secretary, at the House of the Society, on or before the 1st of March, 1852. Exeter Meethiff.— Lord Portraan laid before the 64 THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. Council the Report of the General Kxeter Committee, which was unanimously adopted. The points to which it had reference were the following : — 1. Preparations for the Pavilion Dinner. 2. Contracts for the Pavilion and Show-yard. 3. Ijecture requested of Professor Simonds : " On the Struc- ture, Functions, and Diseases of the Liver in domesticated animals," to be delivered in the Athenaeum at Exeter, at six p.m., on Wednesday, the 17th of July. 4. Av.ards of prizes in the classes of Cattle to be read at the conclusion cf that Lecture. 5. Sale of tickets to members only duruig that day from ten a.m. till six p.m., and on the Thursday to members and any of their friends, from eight a.m. till three p.m. Mr. Shelley thought the Society was so much indebted to those railway companies who so liberally lent the aid of their extensive opportunities to promote the great objects of the Society at its country meeting, that he would desire the Secretary to report to the Council the present state of his correspondence on that subject. The following is accordingly the list of the companies who, up to the present time, have, in the handsomest manner, granted concessions to the Society's exhibitors, at the Exeter Meeting ; namely, RAILWAY CO.Ml'AMES. Bristol and Exeter Chester and Holyhead Cocker.nouth and 'Workington East Anglian Eastern Counties Great 'Western Leeds and Thirsk London, Brighton, and South Coast London and South Eastern London and South 'Western Manchester, Shelheld, and I-incolnshire Shrewsbury and Chester South Devon Stockton and Darlington Stockton and Hartlepoal Taff A'ale York, Newcastle, and Berwick The Secretary was in communication with the remain- ing railway companies, and there was no doubt that they would in the same liberal and enlightened spirit, renew their former concessions for promoting the success of the Society's country meeting at Exeter this year. Judges. — Lord Portman reported progress that the judges' committees were in active communication with the parties whom they had decided to recommend as judges at the Exeter meeting. Meeting of \%b\, — Lord Portman also reported, on the part of the Inspection Committee, that H.R.H. the Duke of Cambridge, as Ranger of Hyde-park, had in the most gracious and condescending manner expressed the satisfaction it gave him to place at the disposal of the Society, for the show of breeding stock in 1851, that part of Hyde-park near Kensington-gardens which lay between the Serpentine River and the Victoria Gate in the Bayswater-road. — The Council expressed their satisfaction at this additional instance of his Royal Highness's interest in the Society, and his appreciation of the value of its public objects. A Weekly Ojuucil was held at the Society's House in Hanover-square, on Wednesday, the 12th of June : present, Mr. Raymond Barker, V.P., in the Chair; Earl of Lonsdale, Hon. R, .H. Clive, M.P., Hon. Dud- ley Pelham, M.P., Sir Montague Cholmeley, Bart., Sir E. M. Elton, Bart., Mr. B. Almack, Mr. Bastard, Mr, Berners, Mr. Burke, Mr. Burton, Dr. Calvert, Mr. Clavering, Mr. Capel Cure, Mr. Dyer, Mr. Fuller, M.P., Mr. Brandreth Gibbs, Mr. Baskerville Glegg, Mr. S. Grantham, Mr. P. Love, Col. MacDouall, Mr. Lennox Naper, Mr. Parkins, Mr. Pendarves, M.P., Rev. Reginald Chandos Pole, Mr. T. Rowlandson, Prof. Sewell, Prof. Simonds, and Prof. Way. — Colonel Morris, Vice-President of the New York State Agricul- tural Society, attended the meeting. Steeping Wheat. — Mr. James Smith, of Wainfleet, Lincolnshire, informed the Council that arsenic having been used this season, by two farmers of his acquaint- ance, for dressing Wheat, Barley, and Oats, previously to sowing, had proved unnecessarily destructive to the feathered game on their land. He was desirous of ascertaining whether some other equally efficacious, but less deadly poison, might not be employed for the pre- paration of seed-grain. Mr. Fuller, M.P., corroborated, from his own experience, the destructive effects attending the use of that mineral. — Prof. Sewell had recently seen a statement of a very large number of sheep having been poisoned from the same cause. — Mr. Dyer had found blue vitriol most effectual for steeping grain. — Mr. Ray- mond Barker had been in the habit of using dry lime with great advantage. Lime for Slug.s. — The Rev. Thomas Cator, of Skel- mersdale-park, near Pontefract, communicated to the Council a statement of tlie mode by which Mr. Leetham Reynolds, one of his tenants, had in 1837, and subse- quently, prevented the ravages of slugs, by applying lime to his Clover and Seed-leys, before ploughing them up in the autumn ; a plan which had been extensively adopted afterwards by the other tenants of Mr. Cator in that part of Yorkshire, and with the same success. The lime employed had been that obtained at the Womers- ley quarry ; and it had been applied at the rate of three " dozens" to the acre. In one case, that of Mr. Geo. Stones, of Stubbs-Walden, a single acre, in the middle of a six-acre field, had been limed before ploughing up, while the remaining five acres had been left in their ordinary state, the whole of the six-acre field being afterwards submitted to the same uniform management. The result was, that the crop on the single acre was full and good, while on the other five acres the roots were nearly all destroyed by the slug, and had to be re- sown. — Mr. Almack and Prof. Way thought the lime might probably have had a greater action on the growth of the Clover-plant than on the slug, which was often known to withstand the application of lime, especially in dry weather. At the suggestion of Mr. Almack, in- quiries were addressed to Mr. Reynolds, on the follow- ing points: — 1. The peculiar quality of the lime, its difference from the Knottingley lime, and its chemical analysis, if made. 2. Its state, on application. 3. Rate of bushels applied per acre ; and definition of THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 65 "dozens" of lime. 4. Interval of time between appli- cation and breaking up of the ley. 5. Whether the appli- cation of the lime occasioned a decided increase of growth I in the Clover. VentUation of Drains.— Mr. Turner, of Barton, communicated a statement made to him by l\Ir. John Piper, a tenant of Lord Ashburton's, residing on a farm of 300 acres, at Bucklandfilleigh, near Crediton, on the success with which he had employed for the last twelve months a system for the ventilation of the pipe and tile , drains on his lands, which promoted the passage of I water through them, and prevented their " blowing up ;" I a system, as far as he, Mr. Piper, was aware, which he j had been the first to employ, having devotcdhis attention j for the last twelve years to the theory and practice of land-drainage ; and in consequence of the perfect state of drainage to which one of his fields had been brought, it had now growing upon it a crop of wheat such as he believed had not before been seen in that part of the I country. His plan of ventilation was very simple, econo- mical, and durable, and offered no obstacle to the work- ing of implements in the subsequent preparation of the land : it would increase the flow of water through the drains in wet weather, admit the air into them during the summer months, and prevent the growth of fungi within their recesses. Mr. Piper did not enter into a detailed statement of his jilan, but referred simply to the principle on which it was founded, namely, tiie free ad- I mission of atmospheric pressure. I Diseases of Cattle. — Prof. Simonds took that oppor- tunity of returning his thanks to the Council, for having again done him the honour to request that he would deliver a lecture before the -Members of the Society at their country meeting : a request with which he most readily complied. The subject of the lecture, as requested by the Council, to be delivered by him at the ensuing Exeter meeting, namely, the Liver in Domesticated Animals, would enable him, he hoped, to lay before the : members some views and details of great practical value in reference to the diseases of that important organ of tlic animal frame. The anatomy he thought was too well known to require elucidation ; but there were many conditions connected with its derangement of function and change of structure which were of great interest and importance : of these, the " rot" in sheep, and the " red-water," were familiar instances. — The Hon. R. H. Clive, M.P., inquired of Prof. Simonds the extent of pleuro-pneumonia among stock at the present time, llu had himself been a sufferer to a great extent. He had been recommended to give alcoholic drinks to cattle attccted with that complaint : he wished to know Prof. Simonds' views on the subject. — Mr. liaskerville Glegg also stated, that in Cheshire the dairy cows had been very liable to the attacks of pleuro-pneumonia. — Prof. Simonds had always been opposed to bleeding in that complaint. He regarded it as a purely non-inflammatory disease, in which diffusible stimulants might be of service ; but in that case, there were better remedies of that class than the alcohol referred to. He had found kreosote a very valuable remedy ; but no specific could be safely recommended, so much depended on the stage of the disease and the particular constitution of the animal. — Dr. Calvert inquired whether camphor and ammonia had been tried.— Prof. Simonds replied that the acetate of ammonia and various other preparations of that alkali had been usefully employed in the disease. — Prof. Simonds then stated to the Council the progress of the inquiry he had been directed by the Veterinary Committee of the Society to make in reference to cows belonging to tenants of Lord Portman, in Somersetshire, affected for several years with a kind of atrophy or wasting of substance, from some unknown cause. The circumstantial evidence had appeared to fix the cause of the malady on the water the animals had been in the habit of drinking ; but Prof. Way's examination detected in that water no ingredient prejudicial to health, and his own anatomical examination of one of the animals slaughtered for the purpose, led to no dis- covery of the poisonous action of such water. The serous membranes of the body, those in particular of the lungs and abdomen, were much affected. He hoped by the next month to complete his report on this sub- ject, and in it to submit to the Council, through the Veterinary Committee, the whole details of the case. In the meantime, two of the animals had been removed to the Royal Veterinary College, and were rapidly im- proving in their condition, although only ordinary care was taken of them. — Jlr. Raymond Barker thought that in many cases animals were lost from the want of a sufficient amount of wholesome and nutritive food. — Mr. Capel Cure then submitted to the Council the casa of disease among his own stock. He had occupied liis farm at Blake Hall, in Essex, for the last 30 years. The arable and pasture grounds were very good, and well drained. His stock consisted of 17 dairy cows, 6 bullocks, and 12 calves, the health of all which had been very good until June last year, since which time he had lost 20 of them. The disease had first appeared among the fatting stock, and very little time had elapsed between the attack and death ; and it prevailed variously among animals of different age and condition. It had been prevalent in the neighbourhood, but not so severe as in Mr. Cure's case. The outbreak could not be traced to any particular circumstance of contagion or infection. The symptoms were shortness of breath, and other indications of pleuro-pneumonia. All the animals attacked had died excepting one. — Tiiis case having been referred to the Veterinary Committee, Professor Simonds has been directed to proceed to Mr. Capel Cure's farm, and to report the result of his inspection. The Agricultural Society of Caen transmitted to (lie Society various Reports and Jilssays connected with their proceedings, for which the Council ordered their thanks. N E AV M E ]\I B E R S. Edward Ludd Betts, Esq., of Preston Mall, Maid> stone, was elected a Governor of the Society. The following new members were elected : Hadcock, Henry, Taunton, .Somerset Barnard, lU'V. I^Iordainit, I,ittlc Bardlicid Rectory, Hraintrce Bingham, Richard, Bingliams, Melcorabc, Dorchester 1' 66 THE FARMER'S MAGAZLM^:. Bro«i!, William WiUi.ims, Alleiiou Ih'.il, Leeds Garden, John, BariiaHC, Templemorp, Irelaiid CampbeH, Sir Alex. T. C, Bart., Newton House, Barnstaple Carter, Thomas, Scales, Richmond, Yorkshire Chetwynd, Viscount, Teigamouth, Devon Collins, Rev. C. M. E., Chudleigh, Devon Cotton, H. P., Quex Park, Isle of Thauet, Kent Croote, G. II., Crooke, North Tawton, Devon Dewe, William, Westleigh House, BiJeford Douglas, James, Athelstan-ford, Drem, Haddiiigtoiisliirc Drake, Charles, Cutliffe, Springfield, Barnstaple Dunn, Colonel, R.A,, Dcnford House, Hungerford Feiklen, H. Master, Croston Lodge, Chorley, Lancashire Fisher, Rev. John Campbell, Harpford, Sidmouth Fryer, William Fleming, the Wergs, Wolverhampton Gibbs, Robert, Carhampton, Dunster, Somerset Goram, Lieut.-Geueral Sir William Maynard, K.C.B. (Com- mander-in-Chief of the Forces at Bombay), 10, New- street, Spiing-gardens Harness, Thomas B., M.D., Tavistock, Devon Howard, James, Alphiugtou, E,xeter Karslake, Rev. W. Heberden, IMeshara, Southmolton Kennedy, Rt. Hon. Thos. Francis, Dunure, Ayrshire Kiuneir, Richard, M.D., Livingshays, Silverton, Collumptou Ley, Henry, Ley House, Mamworth, Devon jMackay, Thomas Henry, juu., Petham House, Canterbury Merson, Richard, Brinswotthy, Northmolton, Devon Mogridge, Richard, Holland, Southmolton Monday, John, SLaplegrove, Taunton JMorris, Thomas, Maisemore, Gloucester Moorsora, Capt. W. S., Great George-street, Westmiuster Mules Rev. James, Yarnscombe, Barnstaple, Devonshire Norrish, Samuel, Horwell House, Colebrooke, Crediton Overell, John, Aspenden, Buntingford Owen, William, Rotherham, Yorkshire Paramore, J. Rawle, Southmolton, Devon Pennell, Richard Lewin, M.D., Exeter Prickraan, Thomas, Broadnymet, North Tawton, Devon Quartly, John, Champson-MoUand, Southmolton Riccard, Russell, M., Southmolton, Devon Savery, John, Sdverton, Exeter Sedgwick, Rev. Leonard, Lathkirk, Middleton-Teesdale Shelley, John, Avington, Hampshire Sydney, John, Wolaston, Wolverhampton Thomas John, Cholstrey, I^eominster Tucker, John, Morehard-Bishop, Crediton Wainwright, Chas., Rawlinson, Shepton-Mallett Walker, Samuel, Barn Park, Teignmouth Ward, John, Donnel Farm, Whittiogton, Oswestry Webb, Richard Anthony, Oxton, Exeter Wills, George, Whelmstoue, Colebrooke, Crediton Winter, John, Ash-Priors, Taunton Woollcombe, John M., Ashbury, Okehampton, Devonshire Woollcombe, Rev. H., Higli-Hampton, Crediton, Devonshire Wreford, Samuel, jun., Grattan, Crediton AVright, Richard, Field Bank, Macclesfield. THE LATE MR. JAMES SMITH. Whatever opinions may be entertained on the pecuharilies of the system of draining adopted and advocated by the late James Smith, of Deanston, there can be no difference on the fact of his being an able, original, and energetic man ; nor any, that he has done much for the age in which he lived, and given a great impetus towards, at least, the right principles of the drainage of clay soils. And though we may fancy we see a doggedness in re- taining once-formed opinions, and a strange per- tinacity in holding them and something, perhaps, of a dogmatic spirit in enforcing them ; yet it cannot be denied that a great man is gone, both in designing and carrying out what was vast and com- prehensive. Whether he always did everything in the most facile and economical methods, or whether he had not some of the ambition to carry out his points to a great amount of expenditure in making a thing perfect, rather than to a large return for the outlay, we will not argue ; because, give him the comprehensive, the vast, and the difficult, and he was at once the man for carrying his point ! As a mechanical genius and an engineer he con- fessedly .stood high. His work at Lewis will at once stamp liim as a man of acute and com- prehensive mind ; ])ut he more than all, in our opinion, deserves a statue in honour of his services. for giving a right direction to the public mind on the subject of draining strong land. To what extent soever the system of draining clay land deeply and thoroughly may have been practised in the South of England, it was neither sufficiently known nor appreciated to become a model; but the improvements at Deanston, brought prominently before the public in the evidence before the House of Commons on agricultural distress, gave a great impetus to the system, and immor- talized James Smith as the deep drainer of the day. Occupying at Deanston, a farm of what in Scotland is called a red clay — different it must be confessed in tenacity to the clays of Buckinghamshire, or any of the beds of the lias, and what in England would be called strong loam — he drained uniformly at a depth of 30 inches, and on the soil we have described from ten to fifteen feet apart. He then filled up some fifteen inches with broken stones, leaving fifteen inches of puddled soil above them, and then he laid the whole surface of the land per- fectly flat and level ; added to this, he subsoded, or stirred the subsoil without l)ringing it to the sur- face, and by this means rendered the soil so porous and friable as to dispense upon it altogether with fallows, and to be enaljled to grow green crops in their place. THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 07 His system he called a deep drabwfje systoa, because it went deeper than the received perfection of drainage in his day; and as all things are great and small only by comparison, he met with a vast storm of prejudice from those who drained from 18 to 24 inches deep, who asserted that his system was utterly useless, and burying of tiles to no purpose to go so deep upon strong land ; and so was his laying down of flat surfaces, as they contended that the water needed a fall to the tops of each drain, and then recjuired a very shallov/ stratum of porous material, through which to run speedily into these drains. Hence they threw out all the clay, and filled up with soil — sand, gravel, or any porous material. He, in contradistinction, was anxious that each drop of water should find its way down in the place where it fell ; hence, he puddled the clay directly over the drains, in order, as far as jiossible, to overcome the tendency of the water to drop excessively into them ; and rather aimed at the making of the soil through which the water percolated a natural filter, so as to have it clear in the tiles. He, moreover, called his system the frequent drain system, not because the in- tervals he selected for his drains were so much smaller than those of his contemporaries, but be- cause it " i)rovided frequent opportunities for the water risiiir/ from below, or, falling on the surface, to pass freely and completely ofl"." Here he re- cognized the pressure of land-springs below, and the force of gravitation from above, and laid down a system calculated, as he contended, to remedy both these inconveniences, in contradistinction to the prevailing system of the day, which attempted to remedy one only of these disadvantages. More- over, from the suj)posed, and correctly supposed, tendency of his system to leave a large area of active soil unsaturated with water, and through which the air was freely passing, as v*'ell as the roots of plants, and from which the cold evapora- tion was to a certain extent prevented, he therefore denominated his system one of tlioroinjli dra'uiiny, \\q are not now about to enter into the question whether the Deanston system of 30 inches, or the more recent, and now more fashionable, one of 48 inches, is the best. It does not invalidate the claims of James Smith as the deep-drainer of his day, and the introducer of a better and sounder and safer system of clay drainage, that some deeper drainer has followed in his wake. He stands stamped as a great man, whether his system is best or only second-best ; and ought to be regarded not with chilling neglect by posteritj', but with ad- miring gratitude should that memory be cherished which broke in upon the prejudices and wont practice of his age, whatever opinion may be enter- tained of any subsequent improvement of his sys- tem which might be introduced at a subsequent period. We cannot, and will not, for one moment at- tempt to deny that there was a doggedness of opinion about James Smith, a degree of exclusive attachment to 3()-inch drainage, which savoured of prejudice and weddedness to his own system; nor did he, we think, make proper allowances for dif- ferences of substrata ; but, we would ask, is there not as much one-sidedness, as much dictatorial and dogmatic teaching, by his deeper-draining compeers ? and can we charge upon him exclu- sively, as a failing, that which equally belongs to his class ? Nay, more, as the inventor of the sub- soil plough (we use the definite article advisedly ; foi% all in all, a better for yeiieral purposes has not been introduced), as the improver of the reaping- machine, as a mechanical genius, a great and original thinker, and general agricultural improver, especially when great difllcullies and a gigantic mind were required, we hesitate not to repeat that posterity will look unon James Smith as a great man, and, above all, a benefactor to his race. May more be raised up like him !— Gardeners' and Farmers' Journal. OAT-HAY, AND THE RELATIVE NUTRITIVE VALUE OF OATS, CUT GREEN, AND CUT FULLY RIPE. BY DR. A, VOELCKEB, I'UOF. OF CHEMISTRY, ROYAL AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE, CIRENCESTER. It is now generally admitted, that it is more pro- ' tinctly this desired state of ripeness— or, in other fitable to reap corn crops before they are fully ripe ; words, the best time for reaping his corn crops, but wc still want a series of well-conducted experi- With respect to wheat reaped at various times, ments, made with a view to ascertain that state of we possess a series of careful experiments, made ripeness of the different grain crops which is best by Mr. John Ilannam, which prove, in a satisfac- calculated to secure the largest return of money to tory manner, that one period of their age is better the farmer, and to detect a ready means l)y which than another fjr reaping wheat ; and that the ad- the practical man will be enabled to recognise dis- vantages, which result by reaping wheat before it F 2 68 THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. is fully ripe, are very considerable, and, indeed, almost surprising, when we calculate the benefits following such a practice to the extent of ground under wheat culture in the kingdom. Mr. Han- nam's interesting experiments are recorded in the Quarterly Journal of Agriculture (vol. xii., p. 22- 37, and vol. xiii., p. 170-187), and are well worth a perusal by any one who feels inclined to make a number of experiments with the other corn crops, in the direction which Mr. Hannam first followed in his experiments with wheat. I am convinced that every one, who will devote the same degree of attention, zeal, and circumspection to a set of such experiments, as Mr. Hannam has given to his on wheat, will not only gain the thanks of all interested in the progress of agriculture, but will also feel the satisfaction of having contributed their share to the increase of the wellbeing of the country — a duty which becomes daily more pressing, since the in- crease of the population, without a corresponding increase of food, is attended by many evils, which press heavily on the wealth of the country. The loss of grain incurred by the reaping of perfectly ripe grain, or by the shaking of the ripe plants by wind, is sometimes considerable ; and if we add to this the unavoidable loss which we will have to suffer in carting and stacking fully ripe corn, I think we must be convinced that, on this account alone, corn should not be allowed to become fully ripe. But it is not enough to know that the only means to avoid the shaking effects of the wind, or the neces- sarjr manual operations, is to reap the crops before they are quite ripe ; we likewise require to be in- formed what the best time is for reaping our gene- rally cultivated corn crops, and how that time can be recognised by the degree of ripeness of the plants. The general rule which Mr. Hannam laid down, with respect to wheat, appears to hold good with oats ; for Mr. Stephens, in his Book of the Farm, mentions an observation which he accident- ally had occasion to make, which is in perfect ac- cordance with Mr. Hannam's experimental results. Mr. Stephens observes, that he once cut down a patch of potato oats, to obtain a more convenient access to the stack-yard in which the hay-stack was to be built. The oats were full-grown, quite green, but full in the ear. When threshed by the flail, the sample produced was a most beautifully silvery plump grain. The next year Mr. Stephens cut down a larger patch of potato oats in the same state ; and this result, as well as those obtained in subsequent trials, was equally favourable as in the first in- stance. 1 am not aware that any experiments have been made with oats, with a view to ascertain their comparative money value, reaped at different periods of ripeness ; and I may be allowed, there- fore, to recommend the subject to the intelligent farmers of Scotland, as one of the greatest impor- tance, well worth careful investigation. It is not my intention to report on experiments of my own on this subject; but as my attention has been directed to a subject closely connected with the one referred to, I could not help bringing to recollection the interesting experiments of Mr. Hannam, and recommending them as a model for similar experi- ments. In this paper I shall report on some experiments which I made, with a view to ascertain the relative nutritive value of oats cut down green and oats fully ripe, in as far as chemistry is justified to give an opinion on this point. My attention was first directed to investigate this matter by Mr. James Walker, of Glyn, by Larne, county Antrim, Ireland, who, during his residence at the Cape, had occa- sion to observe the excellent feeding properties of oat-hay, and whose experience of them has con- vinced him that oats cut green have better feeding properties than oats allowed to ripen ; and that also the straw is better for converting into manure. In order to enable me to investigate how far the theoretical nutritive nature of oats, in the two men- tioned stages of growth, corroborated Mr. Walker's practical experience, this gentleman kindly supplied me with samples of potato oats in straw, grown at Newport, Fifeshire, by Mr. Alexander Ru.-sell. Sample No. I. was quite ripe, the ear and straw of bright yellow colour. No. II., on the contrary, quite green, but the ear fully formed, though still a little milky. Both samples were grown on sandy soil, upon the same field, of a uniform character, and cut at the same time, the green oats having been sown about a month later than the ripe sample. I. Oats fully ripe. — In order to ascertain the water in the straw and grain, one plant was taken, and the straw and grain weighed separately. The straw of the whole plant, air dried, weighed 1 1 9.7 grains. It was dried in a water-bath until it ceased losing weight ; and when perfectly dry the straw weighed 79.50 grains. The amount of water, there- fore, in the straw was 33.58 per cent. The number of pickles of this plant was 1 00 ; the weight of which, with the husk, was 70.17 grains ; when dried at 212« F., they weighed 53.20 grains, and had lost, consequently, 24,18 per cent, of water. Another plant yielded 76.55 grains of straw, which was dried in the water-bath, and left 43.42 grains of dry straw ; and therefore contained 43.27 per cent, of water. The number of pickles was 91, which weighed in the wet state 59.54 grains; when dry 48.88 grains; the amount of water in them, therefore, was 17.13 per cent. II. Oats cut green. — One plant gave 92.16 grains of straw, air dried— perfectly dry, the straw weighed 42.46 grains. The amount of water in the straw, THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 69 therefore, was 53.92 per cent. The same plant | cent, of water. The number of pickles of the same contained 64 pickles, which weighed 38.04 grains ' plant was lOO, which weighed, wet, 57.77 grains; wet; dried at 212'^ F. till constant, the weight was j when perfectly dry, the weight was 38.15 grains ; 29.15 grains ; per-centage of water, 23.37. Ano- they had lost, therefore, 33.96 per cent, of water, ther plant of the green unripe oats gave 212 grains In the following table these i-esults are put to- of wet straw; when dried at 212^* F., it weighed gether, in order to faciUtate their comparison with 100.30 grains, and had lost, therefore, 52.68 per ' each other ; — 0.\TS FULL\ RIPE. No. One plant of Oats. Weight of Straw. Weight of Pickles. No. of Pickles. Proportion of Straw to Grain. Straw. Grain. ] Wet Grains. 119.7 79.5 33.58 76.55 43.42 43.27 Grains. 70.17 53.20 24.18 59.54 48.54 17.13 100 91 62.94 59.91 56.24 47.21 37.06 Dried at 212'^ F 40.09 2 Per centage of water Wet 43.76 Dried at 212=' F 52.79 Per centage of water OATS CUT GREEN. Wet Dried at 212° F Per centage of water Wet Dried at 212<'F Per centage of water 92.16 42.46 53.92 212. 100.3 52.68 38.04 29.15 23.37 57.77 38.15 33.96 64 100 76.67 58.65 72.22 23.33 41.35 21.42 27.78 A glance at this table teaches us — 1 . That the unripe oats are more succulent — that is to say, that the per centage of watery juices in the grain, and in particular in the straw of the green oats, is greater than that in the fully ripe oat-plant. 2. That tlie dry grain of the oats, cut green, is not so heavy as that of the fully ripe oats ; 100 pickles of the fully ripe oats producing 53.2 grains of perfectly dry oats in one case, and 53.34 grains ill the second (91 pickles giving 48.54 grains); whilst 100 pickles of the green oats weighed only 45.54 grains according to the first experiment (64 pickles weighing 29.15 grains), and only 38.96 grains according to the second experiment. 3. That the greater the produce of straw which the difftrent plants furnished, and the more suc- culent it is, the smaller the produce of grain. In No. 1, the straw of the whole plant weighed dry 79.5 grains, and contained 33.58 per cent, of water ; for 79.5 grains of dry straw we obtain .'j3.2 grains of dry grain, or for 100 of dry straw, 66.9 of dry grain. No. 4 is a plant cut green, which produced 100.3 grains of dry straw, and contained 52.63 per cent, of water; for 100.3 grains of dry straw we obtain only 38.15 grains of dry grain, or for 100 grains of dry straw, 38 grains of dry grain. No. 2 produced 73.42 grains of dry straw, and contained 73.27 per cent, of water; the produce of dry grain was 48.54 grains ; for 100 grains of dry straw we obtain therefore 111.7 grains of seed. No. 3, the plant cut green gave 42.46 grains of dry straw, with 53.92 per cent, of water, and 29.15 grains of dry seed; for 100 grains of dry straw we obtain therefore only 68.6 grains of dry seed. Before I give the following details of these expe- riments, 1 may be allowed to make a few observa- tions in reference to the most economical mode of using food for cattle, and to the nutritive value of articles of food in general. Much remains to be acquired ])y us before we shall have arrived at anything like a rational know- ledge of the process of nutrition ; and though it cannot be denied that, during the last years, many persons have l)ecn engaged in investigating experi- mentally the relative nutritive value of articles of food, or in advancing theoretical speculations cal- culated to throw light on the imperfectly understocd or rather still mysterious process of nutrition— all which endeavours were useful in so far as to dif:- 70 THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. perse many erroneous views, and to establish many well-authenticated facts, in place oi Jioafinc/, and often contradictory knowledge — yet we are bound to confess that, notwithstanding all that has been said and written on the relative value of articles of food/ we are still far from that, practical knowledge which teaches us how to make the best use of food — that is, how to obtain the best results with the greatest economy in food. Many of our theories are plausible, and clever too, but nevertheless cannot be depended on, simply because they are not based on experience, and consequently do not express the real state of matters. Experience in this, as in so many other things, should be our only guide, and no one ought to attempt to recommend a favourite theory of his own to practice — by praising certain modes of culture, or recommending certain articles of food, and certain practices in feeding cattle, &c. — before having an opportunity of testing his theoretical speculations by experience. I think if scientific men would always avail themselves of this experi- mentum crucis, for testing the correctness or falsity of their theoretical speculations, we would hear less of the disappointments of practical farmers, and fewer complaints of chemistry doing them no good ; at all events, they would save themselves the trou- ble of wrhing, and the agricultural world the still more onerous task of reading, undigested favourite ideas, which, strange to say, are frequently pre- scribed in the shape of j^ractical recommendations. On the other hand, I am convinced that practical men will remain in the dark on many of the most important points of agriculture as long as they despise the aid of chemistry, and persist in solving inquiries connected with agriculture by mere blind experimentising — by experiments, I mean, made without plan, or clearly-defined and distinctly- understood objects. If those engaged in such random trials would bear in mind that nature does not give a precise answer to an indistinct question ; and if they would be candid enough to believe, in all cases in which an experiment has failed to fulfil their expectations, that the experiment itself or the anticipated result must be false in principle, and that consequently the fault is their own, and not on the part of nature — a great deal of good would be effected. Unfortunately, however, most men are as quick in condemning the value of the materials used in a bungling experiment, as they are eager to praise, and enthusiastic in recommending every result when the experiment proves favourable to their views ; and when such an experimenter has some kind of theoretical notion in his head, with v/hich the experiment happens to tally, the case is still vi'orse. In this way a great deal of harm has been done, and the progress of scientific agricul- ture retarded instead of advanced ; and I have no hesitation in saying, that such experiments are utterly worthless, and calculated to do harm instead of good. To make a good experiment is a far more difficult task than many are inclined to imagine ; indeed, it is very diflUcult, and requires not alone a considerable amount of theoretical knowledge, but also much practical skill, patience, circumspection, caution, zeal, energy, modesty, and above all, sin- cerity— qualifications which happily are still to be found, but which are seldom so in the possession of one and the same individual. It is not know- ledge alone which makes a good experimenter; nor is it practical skill alone, nor zeal and sincerity. If the first were as wise as Solomon, but with no can- dour, his experiments would not deserve any con- fidence, and hence would be worthless ; and again, however zealous and conscientious a man may be, if he have no knowledge, he will nev^er make a good experiment. It is, therefore, not one or two of the enumerated qualifications, but the union of them all in one individual, which are calculated to make a good experiment — a union, no doubt, of gifts which we but rarely meet with. There are few men of whom it can be said that they are good farmers, good chemists, and good men, in one person ; and I think that, generally speaking, it requires all the energy, zeal, and time of one man, to become either the first or the second, and to fulfil all the duties conscientiously of one particular calling, leaving the endeavour to become a good man out of considera- tion, as a duty incumbent on all men. However, this must not discourage us : the principles of di- vision of labour are well understood in other pro- fessions, and I do not see why they should not find an application equally well in ours ; and I am con- vinced that in the course of a few years we shall be in possession of a series of well conducted, well considered experiments, which cannot fail to benefit the practical husbandman, if chemists and agricul- turists would unite more closely than they have hi- therto done m the endeavour to settle questions, which, considered by the chemist or agriculturist alone, will remain problems for ever, but which must yield to the united efiforts of both, and cease — to be unsatisfactory. a These few general remarks on experiments apply more in particular to experiments on feeding which have been already made ; while other experiments are still required on the principles now enforced, before we can form a rational idea of the relative nutritive value of articles of food. Our knowledge on this subject, as mentioned in the outset, is still | in its infancy. It is true we know that the substance of all articles of food does not consist of one element or one simple combination : weall know that the sub- ance of different kinds of food is exceedingly va- riable, and hence we infer that it must be so. Let THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 71 us take, as an example, milk — an article of food I prepared by nature itself, of which we know that it is perfectly capable of supporting animal life by itself, when consumed in sufficient quantity by the ' animal. Cow's milk consists of the following sub- stances : — ■ a. Nitrogenous organic substances (casein aud j extractive matters). b. Organic substances free of nitrogen (butter, milk, sugar, &c.) c. Salts (chloride of sodium, phosphates, &c.) d. "Water. Now, the same substances we find in all sorts of milk — in the milk of the ass, goat, cat, dog, or any animal, we find the same substances. The qualita- tive composition of all sorts of animal milk is the same ; but if we inquire after the quantitive com- 1 position of different kinds of milk, we soon find i out a great difference in the relative proportion of the above-named substances. Thus we find, in the milk of the cow, goat, and sheep, for 4*5 parts of nitrogenous substances, about 8 parts of non-nitrogenous substances. In the milk of the dog, on the contrary, we find, for 19 parts of sub- stances containing nitrogen, 14"7 parts of non- nitrogenous materials. These differences, in the relative i)roi)ortions of these two classes of bodies found in milk, cannot be accidental ; and as milk alone is capable of supporting growing animals, we are justified in inferring, that the relative pro- portions of nitrogenous and non-nitrogenous sub- stances in the food for full-grown animals must be a fixed proportion, different for every kind of ani- mal. Our reasoning is supported by the fact, that animals which are quite tame when fed properly, get wild and unmanageable when too large a pro- portion of nitrogenous food is given to them ; and that swift and active creatures get lazy and heavy when the food they consume contains too great an excess of non-nitrogenous food. The fact that there are so many fat bakers, no doubt, finds its ex- planation partly in the excess of amyleceous food consumed by them. That we cannot trespass, without impunity, the laws of nature, nobody can deny ; and although I cannot share the opinion of some wi'iters, who think the Irish are lazy and apathetic because the great mass of the population of Ireland lives almost entirely on jjotatocs, and that the English are an active and incrgetic nation, on account of the Ijeef and porter with which their table is su])plied, I nevertlieless believe in a certain connection which exists between the food and the moral and physical constitution of man. It is well known that no man, nor any animal, can exist without food containing nitrogen. It is imi)ossible for any animal to live for any length of time on food which does not contain nitrogen, however great and varied the daily supply of such food may be. The proportion of the nitrogenous and the non-nitrogenous substances in many articles of food has likewise been determined, and their relative nutritive value been estimated accord- ing to the quantity of nitrogen they contain ; but it is clear that the proportion of nitrogen which an organic compound may contain cannot be regarded as an absolute measure of its greater or smaller nutritive value, because the proportion of nitrogen is only one factor amongst other circumstances which ought to be taken into account, in judging the nutritive value of an article of food, and because a part of the nitrogen may exist in the food in a combination which is not at all fit to increase its nutritive value. Now, to this latter point I wish to draw particular attention, as it appears to me that it has hitherto been overlooked by many, or met with a consideration which evidently shows that no particular importance is attached to it. The form, I think, in which food should be presented to ani- mals, is as essential as its composition ; and if we take only the latter into consideration, in de- termining the nutritive value of any article of food, we cannot be surprised if we arrive at conclusions contradicted by experience. However, the propor- tion of nitrogen may serve, in many cases, as an indication of the greater or lesser nutritive value ; and if we have reason to believe that the nitrogen is contained in combinations which are analogous to casein — for instance, in albumen, fibrin, gluten, &c. — and if our comparison is restricted to different varieties of food belonging to one class of organised compounds, (i. e., if we compare different root-crops with each other, or diflferent grain crops, or leguminous seeds, &c., with each other,) we are justified in pronouncing those articles which contain the gi-eatest proportion of these com- pounds the most nutritious. Another important point, in judging of the nutritive value, is to pay due regard to the influence of those constituent jiarts of food which are not assimilated by the animal organism, and consequently rejected with the forces. The amount of nitrogen, therefore, at the best, can only be regarded as an indication in estimating the probable nutritive value of an article of food, but it never can represent the actual feeding quality. It is quite possible that one kind of food may contain just as much, or even a larger proportion of nitro- gen than another, aud nevertheless the latter be more nutritious. Amongst other reasons, one principal ground of this apparent anomaly is, per- haps, founded in the circumstance, that the first substance is so indigestible that the stomach of the animal cannot afford the time necessary for the complete digestion of that kind of food, and hence much of its nutritive matter will bo rejected in tlie 72 THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. droppings of the animals fed upon it. Another kind of food, though perhaps not so rich in really nutritive matter, on account of its greater digestibi- lity, is assimilated more readily by the animal organism : the droppings of the animals fed upon it wUl not contain particles of food which have not undergone some change, for the food has fulfilled its purpose, and none of its nutritious elements have been lost. As an illustration of this, I may mention a case familiar to every farmer. Dry un- bruised corn escapes frequently half-digested from the horse, in consequence of which a large amount of its nutritive matter is lost ; but if the same food is presented in a less solid state, if the corn is first bruised, it is rendered more digestible : the whole of the nutritive matter has a chance of becoming assimilated, and the practical result is, that a smaller quantity of bruised corn goes a much further way than the unbruised. Instances of a similar nature occur frequently enough to practical men, but the consequences are seldom traced to their true causes ; and thus it happens that an article of food is pronounced worthless, which, prepared in a judi- cious manner, or given along or mixed with other substances, might have proved a most valuable one. I will not at present occupy the attention of the reader, by enumerating other influences which ought to be taken into account before we can give an opinion as to the nutritive value of an article of food, because I think the few I have referred to will con- firm my assertion, that our knowledge on the process of nutrition is still in its infancy, and that the determination of the nutritive value of an article of food is not so easily found, but that it requires, on the contrary, a thorough study into the nature of food and the vital processes — a study which can- not be successfully cultivated by a person whose mind is prejudiced by a favourite or fashionable theory, but which will be rewarded by the hap- piest result, if prosecuted with candour ; while, at the same time, nature is chosen as our guide, and experience held as the only ground upon which we are justified in building theoretical speculations. The following nitrogen determinations were made according to the method of Dumas — a method which is described in works on analytical chemistry, and is well calculated to secure accurate results, pro- vided certain precautions have been taken, which I cannot enumerate in this place. I. Oats fully ripe. a. Whole grain. — 1.253 grammes, dried at 200 deg. C, gave 24.54 c. cm. of moist nitrogen, at a temperature of 5 deg. 6 min. C. and 751.8. m.m. barom. Nitrogen, 2.39 = 14.92 of protein com- pounds. b. 0.646 grammes gave 13.9 c. cm. of moist nitrogen, at a temperature of 12 deg, 8 min. C, and 756 m.m. barora. Percentage of nitrogen, 2.54 = 15.87 of protein compounds. c. Straw. — 0.809 grammes of straw, dried at 100 deg. C, gave 9.81 c c. m. of moist nitrogen, at a temperature of 17 deg. 8 min. C. and 765.3 m.m. barom. Percentage of nitrogen, 1.33 = 8.31 of protein compounds. d. 0.927 grammes produced 10.63 c. c. m. of nitrogen, at a temperature of 14 degrees 4 m. C. and 761.2 m.m. barom. Percentage of nitrogen, 1.36 — 8.62 of protein compounds. II. Oats cut green. a. Whole grain. — 0.943 grammes, dried at 100 deg. C. gave 22.9 c. cm. moist nitrogen, at a tem- perature of 12 deg. 2 min. C. and 758.4 barora. Percentage of nitrogen, 2.87 = 17.93 of protein compounds. b. 0.770 grammes gave 17.99 c. c. m. moist ni- trogen, at a temperature of 5 deg. 3 min. C. and 760 m.m. barom. Percentage of nitrogen, 2.85 = 17.81 of protein compounds. c. Straw. — 1.125 grammes of dried straw pro- duced 16.36 c c. m, of moist nitrogen, at a tem- perature of 11 deg. 1 min. C. and 760.7 m.m. barom. Percentage of nitrogen, 1 .74 = 10.87 of protein compounds. t?, 0.749 grammes gave 11.43 c c. m. of moist nitrogen, at a temperature of 12 deg. 2 min. C. and 758.7 m. m. barom. Percentage of nitrogen, 1.80 = 11.25 of protein compounds. These results, represented in a tabular form, ad- mit of better comparison, thus : — WHOLE GRAIN. Percentage of nitrogen, equal to Protein compounds, .... STRAW DRIED AT 100 C. Percentage of nitrogen, equal to Protein compounds . . . . RIPE OATS. OATS CUT GREEN. 1st Ex- 2d Ex- 1st Ex- 2d Ex- peri- meut. peri- ment. peri- ment. peri- ment. 2.39 2.54 2.87 2.85 14.92 15.87 17.93 17.81 1.33 J. 36 174 1.80 8.31 8.62 10.87 11.25 This table shows that the straw of the unripe oats is considerably richer in those principles which serve to replace the waste of the muscular fil)re, and that the grain of the unripe plant is likewise more nu- tritious. That the green straw should be more nu- tritive one might expect beforehand, but I was quite unprepared to find the proportion of protein compounds in the grain of the unripe plant larger than in the fully ripe, for which reason I repeated the analyses ; and as I took care to avoid any source of error, I got nearly the same results in the second determination, and cannot, therefore, doubt the correctness of the analytical results. THK FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 73 These results I communicated to Mr. Walker, asking him at the same time to favour me with a short account of his practical experience in the feeding (pialities of oat-hay; and as I have no douht that his observations will be interesting to many, I insert his answer in reply to my letter. "Glyn, by L.vknk, County Antrim, June 2, 1849. " I am made extremely happy in the receipt of your favour of 29th May, and trust your forthcom- ing paper will meet that attention from the agri- cultural world its importance and your treatment of the subject merit. AVhen your i)a]ier gets into cir- culation, and practical men test the virtues of the food I recommend against a like quantity served and used as at present, experience will corroborate my assertion, as your present analyses so far do, ' that a very material saving is effected by cutting the oats intended for live stock while the straw is yet green, the ear being nevertheless fully formed though still milky, or nearly so.' " My own experience at the Cape of Good Hope, (though confined to young horses), leads me to as- sert, that oats thus reaped and cut into chaff, half- inch to inch length, will go one-fourth further than the same allowed to rijien, and used as in this country. I need hardly allude to the evident saving of labour — saving of there being no risk of the best grain shaking out and being lost — the dif- ferent appearance a manure-heap would have at this season for turnips, &c., — all these will strike the intelligent husbandman, and induce a trial on dif- ferent kinds of stock, which, I doubt not, will amply repay the attention you have devoted to my sug- gestion. James AValker." Mr. Walker's practic?.! experience that oats cut green are highly nutritious, is in perfect accordance with Mr. Stewart's of Glenormiston, who recom- mended oats to be cut green and used like hay, under the name of oat-hay, and who likewise found it to be an excellent food for horses. Some animals ajipear to be very fond of oat-hay : Mr. Stewart informs us, in his paper, that his horses preferred this fodder to every other kind of hay. The i)ractical experience of Mr. Walker and of Mr. Stewart finds its explanation in the analytical results given above, which show distinctly that, apart from all other advantages, which are in favour of oat- hay, the relative proportion of really nutritive matters in equal quantities of oats cut green, and oats fully ripe, is larger in the former than in the latter. I say apart from all other advantages, for there are several to which Mr. Walker has hinted at in his letter ; but I will only add a few remarks, before I conclude, to the very important one referring to the superiority of manure. It is not only the better appearance of the manure-heap which speaks in favour of the use of oat-hay, but the fact itself is a sure indication how thoroughly the food has been digested in the stomach of the animal. The reason why oat-hay is more readily and completely digested than fully ripe oats is obvious. I have shown, in the above ex})eriments, that oats cut green contain more watery juices than oats allowed to become fully ripe ; in other words, oat- hay contains a larger proportion of soluble substances, which are readily digestible, but which substances become insoluble, and less readily digestiljle, when oats are allowed to ripen on the land. Again, we all know that the young shoots of many vegetables are found to be soft and eatable, and, like young roots, and readily digestible ; but these shoots or the young roots become woody and indigestible, when allowed to grow for a couple of months longer. Animals, which fed upon the young shoots will thrive very well, can scarcely maintain themselves on the more matured food ; a great part of it becomes indigestible, and, when consumed by the animal, passes through the intes- tines in a great measure unchanged. The reason of this difference is, that the starch, gum, sugar, and other soluble and readily digestible substances, which we find in the young shoots of vegetables and roots, and partly rendered insoluble, and gradually changed into indigestible woody fibre, which sub- stance increases with the age of the i)lant.— Journal of Agriculture. ON THE FOOD OF PLANTS. {Frojn the French.) BY A KARMER. If we imagine a soil properly ])ulverized, and yet I also to supply the moisture necessary for the wants retaining such a degree of firmness and consistency of the i)lant. But if the mineral ingredients of as to give a secure hold to the roots — a plant such a soil are insoluble and fixed (as it is expressed situated in it will find a matrix at once suitable to in chfinical phraseology), a plant will certainly live receive and transmit the atmosjiheric influence, and in such a situation by deriving much of the food it 74 THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. requires from the atmosphere. But vegetation in such a situation, and under such circumstances, will not suffice for the farmer. It is only by means of certain soluble ingredients in the soil that this normal state is attained ; and if the soil does not contain these soluble substances, or does not con- tain them in sufficient quantities, it then becomes our business to supply them. These supplemen- tary substances (if the expression may be allowed), this sustenance for the plants, to which the name of " manures," or " stimulants," have been given, according to the point of view under which they are contemplated, is therefore an important subject for study. After having given the plant a suitable dwelling-place, we must also supply it with suitable food : in this respect plants resemble animals. But in order to understand what we are about, it may be advisable briefly to recapitulate the principles of vegetable physiology on which this doctrine is based. If we call to mind the mechanism of vegetation, we find that water, containing various substances in solution, penetrates byendosmose into the roots, rises from thence by capillary attraction under the bark, Avhere it it is called sap. "When it reaches the leaves a portion is removed by evaporation, and the solution of course becomes more condensed. Un- der the action of air and hght, the free carbonic acid contains is decomposed— carbon is fixed in the plant, and oxygen given off into the air. During the night, on the contrary,* the oxygen of the air is absorbed by the leaves, combined with the car- bonaceous elements of the sap, to be again decom- posed at the return of light. The solid matters present in the sap are deposited, according to their special natures, round the cellular vessels, or on the surface of the leaves, or at certain determinate parts of the structure ; the superfluous or injurious matter being carried off by the descending sap, and eliminated from the roots as excrement. It is unnecessary to follow the sap through the various changes its elements undergo— the succes- sive changes by which sugar, mucilage, gluten, al- bumen, and the various vegetable acids are formed — this part of the subject belongs to vegetable physiology. All soluble matters within their reach being ab- sorbed by plants (a fact well ascertained even in the case of virulent poisons), which of these substances are so essential to vegetation that plants in general cannot be deprived of them without suftering? And, it the second place, do certain kinds require certain substances to be present in the soil, which are not absolutely necessary to others ? In a word, is * This assertion that during the absence of light growing vegetables vitiate the air, is to be received with some caution, as it is l)y no means well estab- lished (Translator). there in vegetables a universal footl, ko to speak? or does each plant require a special one ? These are the questions which we have to examine. ist. The Food necessary for all Vegetables. The attempt has often been made to ascertain by experiment the substances essential to vegetation, or those by means of which the vegetable can live and grow, though deprived of all others. It has at least been ascertained that a plant cannot live without oxygen and carbonic acid. In an atmos- phere deprived of moisture a plant will not live ; water is therefore also indispensable, not only on account of its solvent powers, but also because its elements enter into the formation of many of the products of vegetation. As for carbonic acid, that which is absorbed by the leaves, though sufficient to support life, does not appear to be enough to secure the full development of plants, as the fol- lowing experiment (which also goes to prove the importance of vegetable matter in the soil) will satisfactorily show. Two boxes were taken, the one containing soil calcined so as to destroy all organic matter; the second contained soil in its natural state. In both a few grains of peas were sown, and it was observed that the plants in the former were much less vigorous than those in the natural soil. Upon ex- amination, the first contained "46 of its weight, and the second '57, or rather more than half its weight, of carbon. This difference was undoubtedly owing to the carbon present in the second box. In all the experiments which have been made, none have, as yet, been undertaken under such circumstances as to exclude nitrogen in its simple form, so that we cannot speak positively as to its importance. But as it is universally present in the form of ammonia, and as it enters largely into all the more important vegetable products, we may safely affirm that nitrogen is requisite for plants. Thus, oxygen, water, carbonic acid, and nitrogen, are the primary and indispensable elements of vegetation. Their action is undoubtedly assisted by the important agents heat and light, and in all probability by electricity. Chemical analysis demonstrates the justice of this conclusion. Amongst a great number of substances, varying with the species, the chmate, and the soil, these important ingredients are alsvays present. They exist in the form of starch, gum, sugar, manisite, ulmic, gallic, acetic, mahc, citric, and other acids, and neutral sub- stances. In a word, they form the basis of the almost endless variety of organic compounds which modern chemistry has brought to light. 2nd. The special Food of Vegetation. It might have been thought that the above men- THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. tiuned substances would have sufliced to give sta- bility and solidity to plants, especially as carbon forms such a large proportion of the vegetable tis- sues. If even this had been possible, the frame- work of a plant is not exclusively composed of carbon, certain alkaline and earthy matters being always found to be present along with the organic portion of vegetation. The difficulty exists in the varying proportion in which these alkaline and earthy substances are found, not only in different plants, but in even the same s])ecies when grown upon different soils. They are to a certain extent interchangeable amongst each othei", so that it is difficult or impossible to say which of them are absolutely indispensable to vegetation. It is even possible to imagine a plant existing without any of them, in the same way as a mamraiferous animal may live after all the solid portions of bones have been removed*. In both cases, though life might be maintained, neither the animal nor the plant could fulfil their destined uses. Besides the materials necessary to support life, as oxygen, water, carbon, &c., there are therefore others, which, though of less importance, are necessary to enable plants, as well as animals, to arrive at full perfection. It is therefore of importance to ascer- tain how these are introduced into vegetation. The plant lives and grows by absorbing into its substance the various gaseous elements that exist in the atmosphere and the soil. The water absorbed by the roots contains, in solution, a considerable <]uantity of the alkalies and earths ; drawn upwards towards the extremities of the plant, this solution is evaporated by the leaves. The various solid mat- ters which are thus introduced, after passing through a great number of chemical changes, are then by the flow of the sap dispersed over the plant. Are we then to consider these substances as excretions which the vitality of the plant is able to carry no further, or arc they essential to the or- ganization of the plant ? If the substances of which we speak are only to be regarded as excretions, or as an attempt made by the organs to relieve themselves of useless mat- ter, it becomes necessary to explain how it hapj)ens that potash and soda, added to a soil deficient in alkalies, so powerfully assist vegetation. We can only understand the action of these substances, by supposing them capable of supplying an element necessary to the growth of vegetation, and i)erhaps they also in some way or other assist the chemical * We very much dou])t the possibility of an animal living under such circumstances ; if even it could, such abnormal existence or disease (as it should be called), does not afford ground for com- parison. changes which are going on in the interior of the plant. For certain plants it is necessary to admit the value of chalk or lime ; and the impoi'tance of gyp- sum to certain of our cultivated plants, is also sufficiently well-known to prevent it from being considered a substance to which they are indifferent. If it be also considered that silica, alumina, (?) phosphoric acid, oxalic acid, &c., are not deposited indifferently in all portions of the plant, but in certain special determinate organs ; that there is therefore, on the Tiart of these organs, a certain power of choice — a vital action, which enables them to separate those substances from the sap which they require, to the exclusion of others — it is diffi- cidt to assign any other reason for this well known arrangement, except that nature has prepared a special place for each of these substances, and has assigned them certain determinate functions in the formation of the vegetable tissues. These reflections conduct us to the conclusion that a great number of the earthy and alkaline sub- stances, carried by the current of the sap into tlie circulation, are useful to vegetation, by giving to them their full vigour, their pro])er size, and their diversified properties. We do not yet pretend to be able to assign to each one of these various sub- stances its particular function in accomplishing these important ends. It may, perchance, be sliov/n at some future time, that certain comj)ouncls are absorbed and assimilated by plants in the state in which they exist already in the soil, or in the manure. The science of vegetable chemistry is yet far short of perfection, and holds out the most brilliant results to those possessed of the industry and skill necessary to investigate this difficult sub- ject. After having thus settled the first question pro- posed, another one arises — Do all plants make a similar consumption of the soluble materials pre- sent in the soil, or have they the power of selecting those most suitable to their wants ? In a word, do the different species of plants require, each one, a different nutriment ? Plants, even when grown in the same soil, do not draw up a sap exactly identical. Saussure has proved in the most positive manner that the roots have the power of selection, though his experiments on the imequal absorption of different salts are not quite satisfactory : for instance, sulphate of copper, though soon causing the death of the jilant, is ab- sorbed in as large quantities iis any of those com- I)ounds which arc beneficial to vegetation. Saus- sure exi)lains this anomaly by showing that in the case of the sulpliate of cojiper, the roots were de- composed, and consequently excej)t at the com- mencement of the exj)eriment, only acted mechani- 76 THE FARMERS MAGAZINE. cally. It was well ascertained that the substances present in any solution were absorbed in very dif- ferent proportions where their substances were not, like the sulphate of copper, positively injurious— for instance Bidens (bur-marygold?), and Poly- gonum (buckwheat?), absorbed the salts in the fol- lowing proportions : — Bidens. Polyponum. Chloride potassium 1(3 .. 14.7 Chloride sodium 15 .. 13.0 Nitrate of lime 8 . . 4.0 Sulphate of soda 10 .. 14.4 Muriate of ammonia 17 .. 12.0 Acetate of lime 8 . . 8.0 Sulphate of copper 48 . . 47.0 Gum 32 .. 9.0 Sugar 8 . . 29.0 Humus {extrait de terreau) . . 6 . . 5.0 These experiments were repeated with the greatest care, and it was proved— 1st, That plants absorbed all mineral substances when dissolved in water : 2nd, That they were absorbed in very dif- ferent proportions, according to the plant experi- jnented on; this absorption was also quite irre- spective of the fluidity of the solution ; and 3rd, That organic matter, when dissolved in water, is not in that shape absorbed by the roots, but de- composed by their influence, and then partially absorbed. 1 . Without entering into the minute details of the experiments, the absorption of the following sub- stances was proved — prussiate of potash, chloride of sodium, sulphate of copper, acetate of lead, chloride of barium, ioduret of potassium, and many others. The absorption of nitrate of silver, cor- rosive sublimate, and gallic acid, did not take place until after the death of that portion of the plant plunged into their solution. 2. When the plants were placed in a solution containing two salts in equal proportions, it was satisfactorily ascertained that they were absorbed in different proportions. Even, when the salts were present in different proportions, this elective absorption was not deranged. In a solution con- taining three times as much common salt as nitre, a plant of Chenopodium viride (Goosefoot) absorbed mucb more nitre than common salt; whilst the contrary took place with Solanum lycopersicum (Nightshade). Other plants selected also common salt, and the Tamarix choose only sulphate of mag- nesia. 3. It was also ascertained that, when a plant was placed in a solution of fermenting manure, the disagreeable smell, which had been previously emitted, gradually disappeared. If these experiments have not quite settled the question, they have at least strengthened the opinion that plants appropriate to themselves soluble sub- stances in very diflerent proportions. Chemical analysis of different plants grown on the same soil, also completely establishes this proposition. With regard to the oxygen, carbon, hydrogen, and nitro- gen, chemical analysis has also proved that they are present in plants in proportions varying with the species, but agreeing very closely in the same plant. Analysis has also most clearly established the great diversity of the proportions in which dif- _ ferent plants assimilate the alkaline and earths. ^ For example, some plants will be found to contain common salt in large quantities, whilst wheat grown on the same soil will contain none. Other plants again, as the wall pellitory, the nettle, and borage, will be found to contain nitrates in large quantities, though they may be grown alongside of plants con- taining none at all. It seems therefore impossible to avoid the conclusion that plants possess the pro- perty of choosing, or at least of retaining, ceitain substances in preference to others, and, conse- quently, that different plants require different food. But this opinion does not rest on the authority of chemical analysis alone, it is confirmed by the ex- perience of agriculturists. For instance, it is known that certain manures seem especially to favour the gi'owth of certain plants — as gypsum for clover — that certain plants only thrive on soils where they can obtain an abundant supply of a special ingre- dient^ as the fern and the chestnut, on soils rich in potash, or such as are derived from slate rocks, and those of volcanic origin ; that a mixed husbandry is the most productive ; that a plantation containing a variety of trees produces more wood than if one species alone had been planted. These multiplied facts prove that it is not a certain quantity of a nutritive principle, but a choice amongst several that is necessary to vegetation. 3rd. Researches respecting the Food most suitable to different Plants. The difficulties which we encountered in at- tempting to settle the general question become still more serious as the attempt is made to descend from general to particular cases. It is rarely that an opportunity occurs which enables us to decide upon the effect of such or such a manure upon plants. To do this with certainty the substances tried must be in a state of chemical purity ; and as plants are composed of a great num- ber of different substances, it would also be neces- sary to try each one of these separately, and to ob- serve the effect of their application, and of the want of them — an admirable subject for the study of those who are ambitious to establish on sure grounds the principles of scientific agriculture. The long and difficult experiments necessary for this purpose THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 77 have as yet hardly been commenced, and our know- ledf^e of this important subject is as yet merely empirical. But the information we already possess must not be despised because it has not as yet ar- rived at the jierfect solution of the question, espe- cially as the benefit of certain mixed manures to certain ])lants is well known. In addition to the examples quoted in a former part of this paper, the benefit of lime to cereals, and of the sulphates to leguminous and cruciferous plants, is well known. But the very limited number of instances we can quote, is a significant proof of the state of our knowledge. The most of the manures used con- tain a great number of the elements of v^egetation, and it is difficult to distinguish what each plant carries off, and what is left for future crops. In the meantime, until the experimental applica- tion of difl'erent manures shall have pointed out what is most suitable to the plant we wish to cul- tivate, we ha\-e no other guide than chemical analysis, or examination of the (piantity of nitrogen, carbon, and mineral matter present in the ashes of the plant. Such an analysis shows us the sub- stances which a plant has absorbed. But it is only after ha\ang submitted the growing vegetable to an experimental test, that the effect of these various nutritive matters, and the theory of vegetable food, can l)e established on a settled basis. ^Vhen we shall have arrived at results from the combination of these two methods, first ascertaining by analysis the materials which enter into the composition of plants, then by synthesis offering these materials, and thus satisfactorily ascertaining their individual effect — the science will then be perfect. CALENDAR 01^^ HORTICULTURE.— JULY. Retrospect. — After the date when the calendar for June went to press, the weather became showery (with, in many counties, severe thunder storms on the 23rd and •24th of May), followed by a most brilliant and sunny season to the -Ith of June. As further remarks now would be premature, and a change is anticipated, they are postponed to the turn of days. Vegetable DepartiMent. Turnips. — A full crop for winter is generally sown in open ground, remote from shade of trees. This bulbous crop is of most importance in field culture as food for stock, and as such has attracted the notice of agricultural chemists. By comparing the results of four analyses of the bulbs by Bous- singavdt and Daubeny, I find the average per centage of the ashes from 100 parts of fresh bulbs to be about 3.38 ; and that from 100 parts of such ash, were obtained, of — Bulbs. Tops (by Way &Ogston). Potash 35,80 15.21 Soda 3.30 2.84 Common salt ... . 3.80 15.30 Lime 11.15 28.49 Magnesia 4.10 2.81 Peroxideof iron, . 4.93 1.68 Silica 4.05 3.99 Sulphuric acid. ... 9.6 1 8.43 Phosjjhoric acid . , 10.5" 6.77 Carbonic acid .... 9.86 9.98 Sand and carbon. . 4.67 — Chloride of potas- sium — 5.94 A trifling excess occurs in both, perhaps from ab- sorption of water in the last, and by the total absence of soda in Boussingault's analysis of the bulb, which thus interferes with the average of the two chemists. However, we discover, great differences in thecom- j)onents of the bulljs and herbage, particularly in the lime and two chlorides. Bones, cither as dust or vitriohzed, and guano, are theoretically indicated, and (by practice) carbon with a suljstratum of rot- ten dung. Sow early in the month Cape broccoli, curled en. dire, kidney beans, and runners, for the last time, leftnces, broad and Flemish spinach. Hoe and thin carrots and parsnips. Transplant leeks, to very rich beds ; weed onions, and hoe the soil between the rows in dry weather. Parsley — trans])lant the most curled in moist weather, in rows, each six inches at least remote from the other : thus fine specimens may be ob- tained, which will also produce the best kind of seed. Plant celery in prepared trenches, for a full croj). Cucumbers and melons, without heat, will now be coming into full bearing ; tlie shoots (the laterals and fruiting leaders previously stopped) being re- gularly pegged down. It is always prudent, for melons particularly, to have a frame with lights over the plants, raised some inches from the soil by bricks, placed at the corners to support it. Mushroom-heds can now be spawned : I again allude to Mr. Williamson's practice, as described many years since in the Horticultural Transactions. A common melon-bed is spawned when it is earthed up for the last time. The strong new yellow loam made use of for the melon plant is peculiarly suit- able to the mushroom, and if made firm over the spawn (aided by the heat of the bed), it will cause a 78 THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. i - tu extend itself throughout ; and wbea the w.don plants decay in September, the surface is to be cleaned, the i^lasses put on and kept close. A little gentle shower of rain should, however, be now and then admitted ; a renewed moist heat will thus ob- tain, and a vast crop of mushrooms will appear over every part of the bed. A second crop will arise after the frosts of winter are passed, when the warm spring showers will re-excite the mushrooms. Broccoli, caulijioivers, and all the winter greens are to be planted out in the course of the month ; and cabbage seed sown about the 25th for coleworts. Garlic, potato (or underground) onions, and shallots, are to be raised when the leaves begin to decay, and laid to dry in an airy place ; then se- cured dry and cool for winter. Sow radishes, salading ; plant slips of sage, and perform all the customary duties either of propa- gation, or connected with order and regularity, that have so frequently been noticed. Fruit Department. Strawberries. — Begin in earnest to obtain an ample supply of runner plantlets (the first from the parents), for forming new plantations, or for potting and transferring to forcing frames. Every string not wanted for these objects may be timdy and constantly obliterated. Look over all the stone-fruit wall trees, remove the superfluous shoots, nail in and secure those re- tained, and take away superabundant duphcate fruits. Espaher apple, pear, and plum trees, also open dwarf standards, will require corresponding regulations. At the end of July begin to prune back, or snap the projecting shoots of spur-bearing fruit trees, in order to induce fruit-producing buds at their origin. Vines require a weekly regulation, the object of which is to cut away all useless shoots, to stop at one leaf all the new shoots that proceed from the fruit-bearing laterals ; but carefully preser\'e all the primary leaves in every part of the vines — their functions are essential in every point of view. Trained^^-trees must be kept orderly, and close to the walls ; but in localities where the fruit ripens upon open trees (as at the south coast), they require only the obliteration of ground suckers. Budding of every kind can be safely jn-oceeded with about the end of the month. Destroy wasps, snails, ants, and earwigs. Fruits under Glass. Vines. — ITie grapes of the second crop \\\\\ now be ripening in rapid succession. A dry atmosphere and plenty of air should be attended to, and care taken not to admit rain; which, if July prove showery, and the sliding sashes be opened, might do serious injury. The vines of the first crop, al- ready .gathered, may be permitted to grow at their own free will, to strengthen the trees. Syringing can be resorted to, if the acarus show itself. Fines ripen in succession ; let two of the best suckers be left on the plant. Succession and nurs- ling plants ought to be growing rapidly, and should have air and water accordingly. So much advan- tage must result from open beds without any pots, the soil warmed by hot water underneath (or, as it may be, by dung chambers under the soil), that we hesitate to say more of pot-culture : plenty of space between plant and plant is an important condition. Melons grow well and bear fruit without artificial heat ; but they ought always to be within pits or frames, and have plenty of night air in hot weather, Cucumbers and vegetable marrow require little or no covering. Plant-stote. Assiduous attention to cleanness is essential. Air in abundance, and a moist atmosphere raised by the copious watering of the floor and paths early in the day, are necessary'; and the vigilant eye of the gar- dener should ever be directed to destroy those nu- merous insects which disfigure and injure the plants. The dry or succulent house must also be well aired, and so much water given as will encou- rage growth ; at which stage also a moist atmo- sphere is beneficial, as it conforms to the dictates of nature : perfect aridity at the period of rest and dor- mancy, is another and important contingency. In the greenhouse and conservatory where aza- leas and camellias have formed their buds after early excitement, much shading is required ; and for the latter a north exposure is to be preferred. It were well to have all houses glazed with a rough or clouded glass that woidd admit only a softened and diflused light. The direct ray frequently effects sudden injury, and seems to possess no decided advantages. Ornamental Departments. hook over all the flower-borders and parterres, to remove by the scissors or a very sharp knife useless seed-stalks and all decayed portions of the plants. Let nothing be rent oiF, especially in gathering roses, where it frequently happens that a large \ member is split, and even a bud at its junction with the stock (if young and tender) torn away. Neatly trim and cut away diseased or ill placed shoots of shrubs ; and particularly prune off" the seed clusters of rhododendrons, azaleas, and kal- mias ; they disfigure the plants, and somewhat im- pede the new growths. Pull up decaying annuals and herbaceous plants : deposit all such matters in the rubbish yard, where, if they are occasionally wetted with house-sewage, a rich vegetable manure mil be formed. Support pinks, carnations, and other flowering plants which are apt to fall over. THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 79 and become straggling, with several neat sticks, and ties passed round from one to the other. Layer carnations and picotees : in doing this move away some of the old soil around the plants, and substitute a mixture of fine road sand, rich mould, and about one-sixth of the whole of finely sifted old lime-rubbish or ])owdered chalk. Place this rather dishformed, so that the side shoots may repose on it : then trim off two or three leaves from each : carefully slit the shoot below a joint, to and through the one above that : jieg each se- curely down with a fern peg or slender hook: cover with more of the prepared earth. Water and some- what elevate each layer, pressing the earth about it on every side. Pipe pinks in a similar soil : choose a shady spot : water and cover with a hand-glass. Budding roses may commence about the third week. This is a nice operation, the success of which mainly depends upon a clear sight, a light and accurate hand— subject, however, to a growing and sappy state of the annual shoots of the present spring and summer, and the detachable condition of the shield of bark that comprises the bud with its central pith, alburnum, and liber entire. The varieties of the wild dog-rose are more or less arbi- trarily adapted to the several varieties of cultivated roses; but we now hear much of the manietti stock. I am endeavouring to elicit the merits of the theory by experiment. The usual routine of the gardener's duties must be urged : but these have been repeatedly de- scribed. Closing Retuostect. Summer appears to be es'ablished after a variety of mutations. Everything was progressing steadily but slowly, in a state of general health, till the visi- tation of that fierce current of south-westerly wind which commenced on Wednesdaj', the 12th, and became furious on the 13th. These winds are not uncommon in June : they almost invariably intro- duce much rain, and in their course burn or scorch vegetation, as if (which by the way may be viewed as a fact) they were a pure electric stream. The eflFects are now discernible in some hawthorn hedges, and in the destruction of pears, which fall in abundance. Caterpillars abound on the hawthorn, and aphis on the rose-buds and the young shoots. These light inflictions are of little moment— the general promise is fine. Potatoes are really beauti- ful ; and, if we may believe the prognostics, a warm, husbandman's summer awaits us. Croydon, June 20, John Towers. AGRICULTURAL REPORTS. GENERAL AGRICULTURAL REPORT FOR JUNE. The weather experienced in the early part of this month was not to say favourable for the growing crops. The somewhat severe frosts of the 14th and 15th materially retarted their progress, and, we regret to say, produced much damage to the early as well as the late planted potatoes, especially in Essex and some parts of Kent. Since the date last above mentioned, the atmosjjhere has been ex- ceedingly hot and forcing; the hay-harvest has been rapidly proceeded with in the whole of the early districts ; and the wheats, including all spring corn, have been greatly benefited. In some quar- ters wheat is now in full ear; and from nearly all parts of the kingdom our accounts agree in stating that a full average crop may be safely calculated upon. Of course, much will depend upon the state of the weather during the next two months, but present appearances are decidedly in favour of a good yield. A few continuous showers of rain would now act beneficially upon barley, oats, beans, and peas, notwithstanding that much moisture would be prejudicial to the interests of those en- gaged in hay-making. Much difference of opinion exists as regards the hay -crop ; but we are inclined to believe that it will turn out good, both as to quantity and quality. Notwithstanding that the aggregate sales of Eng- lish wheat this season have been considerably in excess of those of 3849, say from 400,000 to 500,000 quarters, including private transactions, the stocks in the hands of the farmers are still, un- questionably, extensive for the time of year. This fact, together with the steady and continuous im- ports of fox'eign grain and flour, has produced much inactivity in the demand throughout the month ; neverthelesSj prices have been well supported in every instance. Free-traders have informed H9 that very little grain will reach us during the re- mainder of the year from abroad, but experience has taught us that low prices \vill not have the effect of keeping the foreigner out of our markets. Since the beginning of the year, the total arrivals have been at the rate of nearly 12,000,000 quar- ters annually — a positive proof, if proof were wanting, of the distressed state of agriculture abroad. We are now within six weeks of harvest; and on the continent it will be o 2 80 THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. commeaced about the latter end c,f July. Y\'e should not, therefore, be surprised to iiiul new foreign wheat, barley, and oats, in our markets be- fore the latter end of September. From the United States, however, veiy little grain, e.xcept Indian corn, can arrive hither, owing to a scarcity being complained of in some quarters. That the quantity of live stock at this time in most of our large grazing districts is large, must be evident from the immense supplies brought forward in Smithfield and elsewhere. Prices have given way quite 10 per cent., with a very inactive demand. From abroad the imports have been steadily on the increase ; and the arrivals of cured and other pro- visions, including fruit and vegetables, from the continent, have been unusually large. Our own growers and producers are literally driven out of the markets, except at foreign prices. Nearly 4,000 tons of new potatoes have already reached us from Holland, France, and Belgium ; and an intelhgent correspondent at Rotterdam intimates that at least 150,000 tons will arrive hither during the next six or eight months. Up to the present time no com- plaints have reached us from abroad respecting potatoes ; and the supplies at hand in the metro- polis give earnest of a good crop. The early fruits have gone on well, and the mar- kets are very extensively supphed with them. The produce of apples promises to be much larger than last season. The quantity of English barley remaining on hand is exceedingly small— smaller, indeed, than since 1847 ; hence, nearly the whole of the supplies of that grain derived from abroad have passed into consumption. That of oats is likewise small, and the consumption has fallen chiefly upon foreign qualities. The arrivals of Indian corn having considerably increased, prices have given way Is. to 2s. per 480lbs., although the demand on Irish account is good. The continued low ])rices have prevented any shipments of grain to England either from Ireland or Scotland, worthy of notice. Not a single quar- ter of oats has arrived from the former country into London. Surely free-trade has done but little good to the Irish cultivators, who are now shut out from what was once a profitable market for them. The markets for the sale of wool have continued steady. Public sales of 46,000 bales of colonial are in progress, and their result is expected to be very satisfactory. Present appearances indicate a good growth of hops. Our accounts state that scarcely any fly has been observed in the plantations. The duty has, therefore, been done as high as £165,000. REVIEW OF THE CATl^LE TRADE DURING THE PAST MONTH. Since we last wrote, the supplies of both English and Foreign stock on sale in Smithfield have been on the increase and of full average quality for the time of year. Owing to the hot weather, those of slaughtered meat exhibited in Newgate and Leadenhall have fallen off: yet they have proved quite equal to the demand. Both beef and mutton have met a very heavy demand, at a decline in the quotations of quite 2d. per 8 lbs. without clearances being eflTected. The large number of foreign calves brought forward has reduced the value of inferior veal down to 2s. 6d. per 8 lbs. ! At that low figure the butchers have purchased with extreme caution. The provincial cattle markets have been equally inactive, notwithstanding the abundance of food in the country, which has enabled the stock to fare remarkably well. We hear of very few losses being sustained by the epidemic, and we are glad to find that no serious cases of foot-rot have pre- sented themselves. The following supplies were brought forward in Smithfield : — Beasts 16,60S Head. Cows 448 Sheep and lambs .......... 182,620 Calves 2,453 Pigs 2,475 SUPPLIES AT CORRESPONDING PERIODS. June Beasts. Sheep & lambs. Calves. PJRS. 1844 13,290 169,800 1,840 2,600 1845 13,476 131,390 2,212 2,345 1846 15,284 163,080 1,312 2,580 1847 16,222 148,660 3,064 2,488 1848 17,452 152,730 3,846 2,641 1849 15,899 153,320 2,667 2,322 The annexed statement shows the quarters from whence the principal portion of the home bullock supplies \vere received : — Head. Norfolk, Suftblk, Essex, and Cambridgeshire 10,000 Western and Midland Counties 1,200 Other parts of England 1,450 Scotland 1,200 From Ireland, 124 beasts, 461 sheep, and 99 calves have come to hand by sea. The imports from abroad have been as under : — Beasts 1,515 Head. Sheep 7,398 Lambs 302 Calves 1,600 Pigs 125 COMPARISON OF CORRESPONDING PERIODS. June 1847. June 1848. June 1849. Beasts 4,594 .. 2,044 .. 1,300 Sheep 29,430 .. 9,591 .. 7,631 Lambs 995 . . 74 . . 386 Calves 844 .. 1,692.. 1,459 Pigs — -.. — .. 2 Beef has sold at from 2s. 4d. to 3s. 6d.; mutton, 2s. 6d. to 3s. lOd.; lamb, 4s. to 5s. 2d.; veal, 2s. 6d. to 3s. 4d. ; and pork, 3s. 2d. to 4s. per Slbs. to sink the oflfals. THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 81 METEOROLOGICAL DIARY. Barometer. jl 1 Thermometer. 1 Wind and State. 1 Atmosphere. Weath. Day. 8 a.m. lOp.m Min. Max. lOp.m Direction. Force. J8 a. ra. 2 p.m. lOp.m. May -21 in. cts. 1 in. cts. 29.71 29.70 50 72 CO j Northerly gentle fine sun fine jdry 22 29.07 1 29.53 53 67 57 Every way gentle cloudy fine fine rain 23' 29.53 29.50 53 67 55 S. West gentle cloudy sun fine 'sprinkle 24; 29.50 1 29.50 46 61 54 lE. to S. W. lively cloudy cloudy fine Jshowerv 25 29.50 1 29.52 51 63 53 'S. West brisk fine cloudy cloudy [showery- 26 29.61 29.70 52 62 53 w., s. w. forcibl. fine sun fine showers 27 29.70 29.75 53 62 54 S. West lively cloudy sun cloudy 'showers 28 29.98 30.14 50 65 55 W.byN., S. lively fine fine fine jlshowers 29 30.20 30.15 52 68 62 Southerly gentle fine sun fine dry 30 30.08 30.00 56 66 59 Easterly gentle fine cloudy fine dry 31 30.09 30.20 54 70 59 Easterly lively- fine sun fine dry June 1 30.20 30.33 54 67 59 N. Easterly lively fine sun fine dry 2 30.35 30.36 49 73 59 Easterly lively fine sun fine dry 3 30.35 30.30 51 68 56 S. East lively fine sun fine drv 4 30.29 30.10 50 69 59 S. Easterly hvely fine sun fine Ijdry 5 30.04 29.80 51 73 60 S. Westerly vai'iab. haze sun cloudy Idry 6 29.73 29.56 55 60 51 S. West brisk cloudy cloudy fine sprinkle 7 29.55 29.50 50 66 — W. by South brisk fine fine fine jshowers 8 29.80 30.00 53 69 — W. by North gentle fine sun fine ishowers 9 30.00 30.16 48 70 — w., s. w. gentle fine sun fine dry 10 30.10 29.90 55 74 — S. by E., by W. gentle fine sun fine dry 11 29.70 29.73 53 75 — N. AVesterly lively fine sun fine dry 12< 29.72 29.72 53 68 — West brisk fine cloudy cloudy dry 13 29.71 29.67 57 67 — S. Westerly forcibl. fine cloudy fine showers 14 29.50 : 29.55 — — — S. by E., W. moder. cloudy cloudy fine rain 15 — 29.80 — — 53 N.N. by E. gentle cloudy cloudy fine rain 16 30.00 30.02 38 62 52 N.byE.,S.E. gentle fine sun fine dry 17 30.03 30.12 45 65 1 55 Every way afentle fine sun fine dry 18 30.20 30.30 45 68 62 W., N. W. gentle fine sun , fine dry 19 30.34 30.34 56 73 I 63 Northerly gentle fine sun 1 fine dry 20 30.33 30.20 55 1 75 i 63 S. West gentle ' fine sun 1 fine dry estimated averages of JUNE. Barometer. I Thermometer. High. I Low. High. I Low, I Mean, 30.40 I 29.60 j 90 I 37 | 58.7 REAL AVERAGE temperature OF THE PERIOD. Highest. I Lowest. I Mean. 67.7 I 53.1 60.4 Weather and Phenomena. May 21 — Warm and clear sun. 22- - Early showers; fine day. 23 to 28— Showery at times 29 — Change of weather, summer-like and sunny. — [Oaks far in advance of ash trees.] Lunation.— Full moon 20th 'day, oh. 8m. morning. June 1 — Cleai' air, hot sun; a few spots on the disk about this time. 2— Cool breeze, lulling at sunset. 3— Cloudless. 4 — Cirrus form ; a parhe- hon before sunset. 5— Changeable ; cirro-cumulus and stratus. 0— Showers at a distance ; chilly. [N.B. From 7th to the 15th, inclusive, absence precluded tlie ^ regular^ instrumental observations.] 7 — Occasional showers and gleams. 8 — One shower, otherwise fine. 9, 10, 11 — Summer; increasingly warm. 12 — Clouds form; rainy ap- pearances. 13 — A shower. 14, 15 — Very cold, much steady rain ; fine evening. 16 — Cold morn- ing; sunny improved day. 17, IS — Fine, sunny, hay weather; wheat, oats, and barley seen in ear. 19 — Perfect summer; no solar spot. 20 — Very warm ; solar halo ; mass of clouds. Lunations. — Last quarter, 3rd day, 3h. 47m. morning; new moon, 10th day, 7h. 20m. morn- ing ; first quarter lOth, lOh. 22m. p.m. Remarks rkkerring to .\griculture.— The weather has been favourable as a whole, yet the occasional very cold nights have retarded, and the fierce S. W. wind of three days, which intro- duced the bitter cold north-easterly rain of the 1 4th instant, cut up and blighted some of the hedges and hardier fruits. A morning hoar frost was per- ceived in some parts on the lOth. Hay jjrogresses finely. AVheat and the spring corn are coming into ear, A change of weather is, liowever, threatened. Croydon. J. Towers. 82 THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. AGRICULTURAL INTELLIGENCE, FAIRS, &c. BEDALE FORTNIGHT FAIR, June 18.— A moderate supply of fat beasta, aud a large number of buyers, which caused the stock to sell readily, at prices a little better than last fort- night, though nothing quotable. Mutton sold same as last market. Beef, 5s. 3d. to 6s. 3d. per stone ; mutton, 4id. to 6d. per lb. CHIPPENHAM MONTHLY MARKET, June 14.— Ninety-six tons of cheese were pitched, aud the sale was very good ; broad doubles, 30s. to 36s. per cwt. ; old ditto, 40s. to 46s. ditto; prime Cheddar, 56s. to 633. ditto; thin, 30s. to 383. ditto ; loaves, 50s. to 56s. ditto ; skim, 16s. to 22s. ditto. Beef. 8s. 6d. to 93. per score ; mutton, 5d. to 5id. per lb. ; lamb, 7d. ditto. DROITWICH FAIR (Monday last.)— Fat cows were worth from 45d. to 5|d. per lb. ; there were but few of good quality, and those met with a ready sale. Good lambs, of which there was a very small supply, were much sought after, and were worth 6id. per lb., but inferior ones, which formed the greatest portion, were much lower iu price. The store cattle were mostly driven away unsold. NEWTON-STEWART CATTLE MARKET.— There were about 430 cattle shown to-day, principally two and three- year-old Galloways, with a portion of stirks. The demaud was good, but prices as low as ever. A large proportion of the stock changed hands, a circumstance which seldom occurs with low prices. Good two-year-olds were sold at £6 lOa., £6 12s. 6d., and £6 17s. 6d., aud several lots brought a much lower figure ; £8 was asked for one lot, probably the best iu the field, but they remained unsold when the market was very near a close. According to the opinion of one who ought to be a judge, cattle were sold at as low prices to-day as have been witnessed in a Newtou-Stewart market for a considerable pe- riod. NORTHAMPTON FAIR, June 19.— There was rather a short supply of fat sheep, which caused a brisk trade. Good wether muttou made from 3s. 4d. to 3s. 6d. per Bibs. The supply of lambs was also Umited, and made from 3s. lOd. to 4s. 4d. per stone. Beef was scarce ; good made from 3s. 6d. to 3s. 8d. per stone. Most of them were sold, there being a full attendance of buyers from Coventry, Birmingham, and other places. The supply of stores, which consisted chiefly of Devons and Welsh beast, with a few lots of Irish, was also limited. The supply of milching cows was scanty, but buyers being scarce little was done iu them. ROCHDALE FAIR, June 17.— We had a great attendance, and the best calving cows were rather higher iu price than they were a month ago. Drapes, and other descriptions of horned beasts, were a trifle higher in price, and a full average number were disposed of. SHEPTON-MALLET FAIR was well supplied with all kinds of stock, which met a ready sale, as graziers and butchers attended from long distances. Fat beef sold at from 83. 6d. to lOs. per score; muttou 5^d. to 6d.; lamb, 6d. to 6id. per lb.; some of which were very good, especially those of Messrs. Welch and Richmond's. Cows and calves sold pretty well, as did also barreners. Pigs were plentiful, and sold rather brisker than of late, although prices were unaltered. The horse fair was pretty well supplied, amongst which were some good colts, which sold at high prices. There were also some pretty good nag horses, many of which changed hands ; aud, on the whole, it was a better selling fair than has been held fthis neighbourhood for some time, and promises to become a air of note. SHREWSBURY FAIR.— There was a large supply of fat cattle, with a good demand, and a clearance; prices obtained may be quoted at 5d per lb., snine few a sliade more. Fresh store Cittle sold freely at improved prices, alsj the best sorted cows and calves. In the sheep market there was a very exten- sive supply, most of which were sold, fetching from 5d. to SJd. per lb,, the latter figure only obtained for smart light- weighted wethers. Lambi were eogeily bought up from 6id, to 7d, per lb., many more being required than were brought for sale. Pigs were sold much about the same as of late ; there was a great number at market. TAUNTON FAIR, (Monday last.)— There was a good sup- ply of cattle (horses excepted), but the sale was rather dull, aud the followmg were the average prices : — Cows and calves, £8 to £14 each; best three-year-old steers, £24 to £26; old oxen, prime quality, £32 to £34, and £36 the pair ; fat beef 83. 6d. per score ; fat sheep, £2 lOs. each ; sheep out of wool 5d.; sheep in wool, 6d.perlb. ; fat lambs, 20s. to 233. each. In the horse fair there were few animals worthy of notice, as they were mostly of the lower order, and few sales only were eifected. THORNE FAIR (Tuesday last) was exceedingly well at- tended. The supply of stock was large, and, consequent upon the late advanced rates elsewhere, there was a brisk sale upon better terms. YORK FORTNIGHT FAIR, June 20.— We had a goed supply of fat beasts, which met with a ready sale at from 5s. 6d. to 6s. per stone, the market being well attended with buyers. A large number of fat sheep sold at from 5d. to 5^d. per lb. The quantity of lambs shown was large, and the price 6d. per lb. A thin supply of lean beasts sold at rather better prices. IRISH FAIRS. — Inistioge (Monday) was poorly sup- plied with stock, and badly attended by buyers, which was consequent upon the occurrence of a fair in New Ross the same day. There were neither milch cows, fat cows, fat sheep, nor fat pigs. Strippers sold at from £5 10s. to £6 10s.; two- year-olds, £4 ICs. to £5 10s.; yearlings, £2 10s. to £3 10s. lambs, 12s. to 14s. each; store pigs, 45s. to 50s.; bouhams, from 24s. to 32s. per couple. There were no horses. Cal- LAN (Wednesday) was of an encouraging character, aud much business was done. Fat cows brought from £10 to £11 10s. each ; new milch cows, £9 10s. to £11 ; strippers, £6 to £7 10s.; two-year-olds, £6 to £7 ; yearlings, £3 to £4 ; fat sheep, 32s. to 38s. ; hoggets, 32s. to 36s. ; lambs, 15s. to 18s.; fat pigs, 44s. per cwt.; stores, 42s. to 48s. ; bonhams, £1 to £1 6s. per couple. There were not many horses disposed of. Ballybrood, "Wednesday, — Mutton rated at 5|d. per lb.; beef, 42s. per cwt., sinking ofl'al. Milch cows, £7 10s.; strippers, £5 to £7; yearlings, £2 to £4 10s. each. There was a great scarcity of fat stock. Creggs, on Thursday, was an exceedingly good one, and a great quantity of cattle exchanged owners. Mount Talbot, on Wednesday, was also a very good one. Cows, heifers, fat sheep, and good lambs went off ] well. Indeed, the rain, with which we have been blessed up to this, has increased the e^uantity of grass to such a degree that farmers are obliged to increase their stock. "Wool is in ■ great demand here, at 16s. 6d. to 17s. per stone. Nothing can equal the luxuriant appearance of the crops. — Roscommon Journal. Derby. — Monday, as regards the display of stock and sales, was far behind many of our former June fairs, £18 was the highest price obtained for bullocks, and only one went , at that. Of cows there was an average exhibition, and prices low. Sheep a limited supply ; prices ranged downwards from £2. Thirteen I'igs were sold at £4 each ; there were no fat pigs offered for sale. Lambs brought from £1 down to lOs. The supply of horses was good, but rather deficient in quality. There were, however, a few fine animals offered for sale, and good three-year-olds brought £30. — Carlovv, (Saturday last.) — The show of stock was small, but of good quality. Fat stock sold high. Milch cows from £7 to £9; three-year-old heifers (fat) £8 to £9 ; stores, £4 to £6 ; four- year-old heifers, £4 to £7 ; two-year-olds, £6 ; yearlings, £3 to £4 ; pork, 42s. to 443. per cwt. ; sheep, 40s. to 42s. Mr. Dowse sold a lot of ewes and wethers at 42s. each. Lambs, 18s. to 20s. Four Kerry heifers, three years old, belonging to R. Clayton Browne, Esq., brought £32. Wool, ISs. to I69, 6d, Prices were cousLdered remunerative. — Carlow Sentinel, THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 8S REVIEW OF THE CORN TRADE DURING THE MONTH OF JUNE. That a reaction is taking glace in public opinion in regard to free trade even the most biassed mind must now admit. Not only the owners and occu- piers of land, but the great bulk of those employed in commercial and many branches of manufacturing industry, have discovered that the unrestricted ad- mission of foreign products into Great Britain is not exactly the best mode of giving remunerative employment to our industrial classes ; and that to impoverish our farmers and their dependants must be followed by so great a falUng off in the home demand for textile fabrics, and other manufactures, as wholly to counteract the expected advantages which it was believed would be reaped from in- creased exports. There is perhaps little probability Df any immediate return to protective duties, but natters are steadily working in that direction; and ;here is every reason to suppose that whenever a general election may occur, and the voice of the country be fairly called upon, the decision will be ' against a continuance of the legislative policy of ;he present cabinet. Meanwhile it behoves all those 1 ivho conscientiously believe that to retrace our steps t -vould be the means of adding to the nation's pros- perity, to keep themselves ready to assist in the struggle to re-establish a fair protection to native ndustry. Not the slightest improvement has taken place n the general tone of commercial affairs since our last; money is abundant, but no profitable em- ployment can be found for the same, and complaints Df a want of activity in business are almost univer- sal with all classes of the community. The corn trade has felt the effect of this general depression ; ind, though supplies have been moderate, the de- mand has throughout the month been slow for most irticles. The weather has, of course, had more or less influence ; but though the changes of tempera- ture have been great, prices of grain have not fluc- tuated much. The month of June commenced favourably ; and vegetation, which had been much retarded by the want of genial waimth during part of May, speedily showed the beneficial effects of hot sunshine and occasional sliowers. The nights were, however, cold till about the middle of the month; and on the 15th instant so severe a frost was experienced as to cause some uneasiness to be felt in regard to its effects on potatoes. These fears were, however, of short duration, the weather Ixaving since been of a character to_ repair the mis- chief which was unquestionably done to the stalk and leaves, but which fortunately did not extend to the roots. The mean range of temperature having been low throughout the spring, the season is about a fortnight later than last year, and there is not much prospect of harvest being commenced till August ; indeed we are inclined to think that little corn, excepting rye, will be ready to cut until about the middle of that month. The wheat plant is hardly yet out in ear in the backward parts of the kingdom ; and even in the most favoured localities it is not so forward as at the corresponding period of 1849. Beyond this there is little to complain of, as the plant wears a healthy appearance, is thick on the ground without being rankly luxuriant, and altogether affords promise of a plentiful return should the remainder of the summer prove propi- tious. In reference to the spring-sown crops it is not so easy to obtain accurate information, attention being so exclusively directed to the wheat crop as to cause other articles to be but little noticed in the generahty of agricultural reports. The seed having been committed to the soil under very favourable auspices, and the first stages of its growth having been favoured by showers in the early part of April, both barley and oats came up evenly and strong ; the cold subsequently experienced checked the growth ; still nothing has hitherto occurred, if we except the extreme heat of the last week or two, to lead to the belief that in proportion to the breadth sown the produce of these kinds of grain, or of beans or peas, will fall short of an average. That all kinds of spring corn and pulse now stand in need of moisture cannot be questioned, but what would benefit these crops would perhaps do more or less mischief to wheat. We have from time to time heard rumours of symptoms of the potato disease having manifested themselves, but these have been of so vague a cha- racter as to attract little attention. Our own im- pression is that, so far as a judgment can be formed tluis early, everytliing is going on remarkably well, and that the prospects for the future are decidedly promising in reference to the probable supply of home-grown food ; but it still wants six weeks or two months to hai-vest, and it would therefore be rasli to speak positively as to the range prices may take. The changes in quotations have been very slight since the close of May; and we are inclined 84 THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. to think, if nothing untoward should occur to cause uneasiness in reference to the growing crops, that next month will pass away without much alter- ation. The quality of last year's growth of wheat is very fine ; and those farmers who have any quan- tity left (being mostly men in a position to hold) are not disposed to force sales at the present low rates so long as any uncertainty attaches to the result of the harvest. For some time past the deli- veries from the growers have been very small, which has counteracted the effects of the fine wea- ther, and prevented prices giving way. That some holders may lose confidence, if all should progress favourably during next month, is not unlikely ; but on the whole we do not look for any immediate decline in the value of wheat, and stocks of all kinds of spring corn are so nearly exhausted that we are more disposed to expect a rise in prices of barley and oats than any reduction. What may occur subsequent to harvest it is impossible to foresee ; but of this we feel quite satisfied, that if (as there is reason to believe will be the case) the crops yield a good return in this country, and potatoes escape the disease here and in Ireland, the value of all agricultural produce would rule very low in the autumn, unless something should meanwhile be done to check importations from abroad. Not- withstanding the want of encouragement to con- sign to Great Britain, and the exhaustion of old stocks abroad in consequence of the immense ex- ports to England in 1848 and 1849, the supplies of foreign grain and flour into the United Kingdom have been very liberal this year. Since the opening of the Baltic navigation upwards of 1,000,000 qrs, were received during the month ending 5th May, and 800,000 qrs. of foreign corn and pulse were entered for home consumption the month ending 5th June. The shipments from Danzig, and some of the other leading ports, have lately been on rather an extensive scale ; and there must at present be a considerable quantity on passage to this country. There is consequently little chance of our stocks of old wheat running short, even if harvest should be delayed somewhat beyond the usual period. At present stocks in granary are not heavy, but most of the large millers, and many of the principal dealers, have fair quantities on hand ; it having be- come the fashion of late for parties to buy through the agents established here, who represent foreign houses, and import direct without the employment of a factor. It is therefore difficult to arrive at any- thing like a correct estimate of the quantity of foreign corn in the country ; but we are inclined to think that stocks are not so short as is generally supposed, which opinion is grounded on the extent of the foreign importations and the acknowledged productiveness of the harvest of 1849. It is, how- ever, certain that the quantity of really good fresh wheat on hand is comparatively trifling ; a very large proportion of the recently-received supplies from abroad having come to hand in indifferent condition. Farmers are now busily engaged with hay- making ; immediately round about the metropoUs a great portion has already been secured in excellent order, and both in point of quantity and quality the result is far better than from the bare appearance of the meadows in May could have been calculated on. In the North cutting has only just been com- menced, and much must therefore still depend on the weather as regards the general crop. We shall now proceed to give our usual retrospect of the trade at Mark Lane during the month, which will be found to bear out what we have ah-eady said with regard to business in the provincial markets, viz., that though sellers have been firm, the demand for most articles has been too slow to admit of any advance being established. The supplies of home-grown wheat into the port of London have been very small — scarcely aver- aging 2,500 qrs. per week. Nor have the arrivals by railway been on a more liberal scale ; and the millers having found it absolutely necessary to use a moderate quantity of fresh English wheats to work off" their foreign, they have had to comply with the prices asked by factors. We have had hardly any wheat from Cambridge- shire, Lincolnshire, or Norfolk — the shippers on the east coast having found it more to their advantage to ship northwards than to London, and we have been dependent almost wholly on Essex and Kent for our home supply. Not the slightest change occurred in quotations until the 10th inst., when, in consequence of the extreme insignificance of the quantity on sale, and' the appearance of buyers on Yorkshire account, an advance of Is. per qr. on previous rates was, in partial instances, paid for the finest qualities of* red — 43s, per qr. being realized for choice samples weighing 63 lbs. per bushel. About this period the weather assumed a settled appearance, and the temperature having risen materially in the interval, business was very heavy on the succeeding Mon-' day ; still the advance was not lost, nor were lower' terms accepted on the 24th, though increased caution was exercised by purchasers on the latter' occasion. The demand for red wheat has throughout the month been more active than for white, and the latter is scarcely worth as much at present as it was at the close of May. This may be accounted for by the fact that a good many cargoes have THE FARMER'S MAGAZliNE. 85 lately been received from Danziy, and tlvsc liaviny come to hand in better order than the generahty of the red wheat from abroad, there has been less ne- cessity for mixing with Enghsh in the one than in the other case. The transactions in foreign wheat have been on (juite a retail scale since our last. The country demand has at no time been active, and, owing to the reason already referred to, viz., the imports direct by millers, the local demand has been much less extensive than would otherwise have been the case ; and last, though not least, the constant and regular supply of French flour has deprived the metropolitan millers of a certain amount of trade. It would be useless to particularize the operations of separate days — the one having been precisely similar to that of the other. Buyers have in general objected to take a bushel more than needed for im- mediate use; and though the arrivals from abroad have not been by any means heavy, importers have been under the necessity of landing a ])ortion, owing to the impossibility of finding purchasers disposed to take cargoes from on board ship. In this j)osition of affairs, factors have refrained from attempting to force business, and quotations have remained very nearly the same as they were at the end of last month— say, 38s. to 40s. for moderately good, and 4 Is. to 43s, for the finer kinds of red, whilst for Danzig from 42s. up to 46s. per qr. has been realized in small quantities. There is some :-hoice Rostock on the market held Is. to 2s, per r|r. higher than the top price named for red, and really fine high mixed Danzig may, in some cases, have reached 48s, ])er qr, ; but these prices cannot be taken as a criterion of the rates at which any quantity could be placed. The top quotation of town -manufactured flour has not varied ; indeed, the millers have had hard .work to buy fine wheat so as to leave them a profit —the finer kinds having commanded relatively higher rates than the commoner descriptions. Good fresh country flour has sold readily, and the receipts from Norfolk having been scarcely equal to the demand, the value of the most ap])roved marks has rather crept up. French flour, having been ofiered at terms relatively below what the English manufacturers have been enabled to take, has commanded a fair share of attention, and 'stocks in warehouse have diminished, notwith- i-itanding the fresh imports. Latterly, 28s. to 29s. |has been paid for the commoner sorts, and 31s, to J328. for good serviceable parcels. The sudden set- ;ting in of the hot weather in the middle of the month caused a considerable quantity of the foreign jtlour on the whai'fs to go out of condition, which increased the value of all fresh-ground sorts, and caused the slight ad\ance which took place in prices of Norfolk households. The arrivals of English barley have been per- fectly insignificant during the month ; but all the leading maltsters having left off work for the season, the smallness of the supply has been little felt. The business done in the finer sorts has been of so little consequence as to render it diflicult to quote the precise value, but we believe that the prices last paid was about 25s, per qr, for superior qualities the growth of Kent. The supplies of this grain from abroad have been tolerably good, 20,000 qrs. having been received at this port during the first three weeks of the month. Besides a good local inquiry, we have had a steady country demand : and though sellers have been unable to establish any advance, they have succeeded in obtaining rates quite equal to those current at the close of May. The extreme heat experienced since the 16th instant is supposed to be acting somewhat detri- mentally on the growing crops of spring corn, and holders of barley have therefore, within the last week, exhibited additional firmness, good heavy parcels having been held at 18s, to 19s. per qr., and other descriptions at proportionate rates. Malt has not varied in value, and buyers have conducted their operations with considerable cau- tion. The receipts of home-grown oats into the port of London have been trifling in the extreme, only a few hundred quarters per week (including the Scotch) having come to hand : the arrivals from abroad have meanwhile fallen off considerably, and only a comparatively small proportion of what has come to hand has consisted of unsaleable qua- lities, the greater part of the cargoes having become heated on the voyage. The market is, conse- quently, bare of really good fresh oats, and such are likely to remain scarce up to harvest. The moderate character of the arrivals, and the idea that the dry hot weather may be doing injury to the growing crop, have had the effect of causing prices to tend upwards ; but the large dealers have at no period of the month bought freely; and consumers having declined taking more than re- quired for immediate use, the transactions have not been by any means extensive. Tolerably good Danish and Swedish oats may now be quoted at 15s, 6d, to l6s, 6d., and fine Dutch Polands l7s. to 18s., whilst really fresh English or Scotch feed would command 20s, to 21s, per qr.; indeed, the last-named price was paid on the 24th instant, for a lot or two from Kent, and a larger parcel from Lin- colnshire, weighing from 42 to 44 lbs. per bushel. Beans were very dull of sale in the early part of the month, and their value had a downward ten- THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. dency ; but within the last week the demand has rather improved, and prices are not at present lower than they wei'e at the end of May. Peas of home growth have come sparingly forward, and the receipts of the article from abroad have been moderate. The crop certainly stands much in need of moisture, and holders have lately assumed a firmer tone, the best white boilers, such as were obtainable at one period at 25s., having recently been held at 26s., and even 27s. per qr. No change has taken place in the value of feeding Peas. The demand for Indian corn on Irish account having subsided, the article has excited little at- tention, and we have heard of very few sales of floating cargoes during the last week or two. At Liverpool the article is still worth 29s. to 30s. per qr. Before concluding, we shall briefly notice the po- sition of affairs at the chief markets abroad. The advices from North America are of precisely the same character as before. Very small supplies of flour and wheat appear to have been received from the interior at the ports on the coast, and though there had been no demand for shipment to Europe, the quantity required for home consump- tion, together with occasional purchases for Cali- fornia, had kept stocks low and prices high. It is clear, therefore, that no supplies of any conse- quence will reach us from the other side of the Atlantic, except of Indian corn from some of the southern states. It is, however, more than probable that the north of Europe will be enabled to furnish us with fully as much Wheat, and France with all the foreign flour, we are likely to require. Notwithstanding the close approximation of our prices to the quota- tions at most of the leading continental ports, the rates 'asked by foreign merchants have been so high as to leave little margin for profit. At Danzig really fine high mixed Wheat was, ac- cording to the most recent accounts, still held at 42s. to 44s., moderate good qualities at 38s. to 40s., and the light and inferior kinds at 36s. to 37s. per qr. free on board. Freight to London was about 3s. per qr., and to other British ports in proportion, which, with sound dues, insurance, &c., would bring the price here fully up to the present value at Mark Lane ; still purchases were being made on English account week after week, to the extent of 10,000 to 12,000 qrs. At most of the Lower Baltic ports from which we are accustomed to receive the best red wheat, stocks are reduced into a very narrow compass ; still occasional shipments are made from Stettin, Rostock, &c.; and from Hamburg, Rotterdam, Antwerp, and the ports along the coast of France we may also calculate upon some further supplies ; though it must be confessed that the chances o. deriving benefit by consigning to the British markets are at present very slight. CURRENCY PER IMPERIAL MEASURE. ShilUnifs per Quart' r OLD. NEW. Wheat, Eases and Kent, white ........ 40to47 40to47 Ditto, fine selected runs — — 46 48 Ditto, red 37 38 39 41 Ditto, extra 38 40 41 42 Norfolk, Lincolnshire and Yorkshire. . — — 37 40 Ditto, white — — 40 42 Batiley, English, maltin? and distilling. . — — 23 25 Ditto, Chevalier....". _ _ 26 27 Ditto, gnriuding _ _ 19 21 Malt .. Essex, Norfolk aiid Suffolk 43 45 44 48 Kingston, Ware, and town made ... . 45 52 48 54 Oats, Essex and Suffolk — — 16 17 Lincolnshire and Yorkshire (Polands) — — 16 18 Ditto, feed — _ 15 17 Devon & West Country, feed — — 14 16 Northumberland and Scotch, feed .. — — - 17 22 Dundalk, Newry, and Belfast, potato — — 16 17 Limerick, Sligo, and Wcstport, potato — — 16 18 Ditto, feed — — 15 16 Cork, Waterford. Dublin, Yoiighal, and Cloumel, black — — 14 14 Ditto, white — — 14 15 Galway _ ~ 12 13 Beans, Mazagan 24 26 22 24 Tick 24 27 24 26 Harrow 29 31 27 28 Pigeon, Heliogland 31 36 28 30 Windsor _ _ 24 26 Long pod — — 24 27 Peas, non-boilers — — 23 24 White, Essex, and Kent, boilers .... — — 25 27 Ditto, fine Suffolk , — — 26 28 Maple — — 24 26 Hog and grey •. — — 23 25 Flour, best marks (per sack of 280 lbs.).. — — 32 87 Norfolk and Suffolk, ex-ship _ — 27 32 Rye _ — 20 22 FOREIGN GRAIN. S billings per Quarter. Wheat, American, white 37 to 41 Canada 33 41 Dantzic and Konigsherg , 43 45 Dantzic, fine white, extra quality 45 49 Stettin and Hamburgh 37 89 Danish 33 37 Rostock, Pomeranian and Rliine 38 42 French and Belgian 35 40 Mediterranean, Odessa, and St. Petersburgh .. 34 37 Black Sea (no-'ninal) hard to soft 32 36 Buck or Brank 21 23 Barley, malting 20 22 Grinding and distilling 17 18 Hamburgh, Dantzic, Kouigsburgh, and Riga . . 17 19 Danish, Meckleuberg, and Pomeranian 17 18 OATS,Dutch,brew. Polaii.l.Fricslaud, and Groningen 17 19 Danish and Swedish 15 17 Russian 15 17 Beans Small 22 26 Egyptian , , 18 20 Peas, white boilers 21 24 YeUowditto 24 27 Non-boUers 22 24 Maize, white 29 30 Flour, American, sweet 21 23 Ditto, sour 20 22 Canadian, sweet 21 23 Ditto, sour 20 21 French, per sack 27 32 Rye Meal (per ton) £6 6s. to £6 lOa.' Indian Corn Meal (per brl. of 196 lbs.) nominal THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 87 IMPERIAL AVERAGES. For the last Six Weeks. AVhcat. Barley. Oats. Rye. Beans Week Ending: May 18. 1S50.. Mav25, 1850.. .Tiiue 1,1850.. .luiie 8, 1850.. June 15, 1S50. . June 22, 1850.. Aggregate average of last six weeks 40 Comparative avge. same time last year 44 Duties 1 39 11 40 5 d. 8. d. 22 5 15 5 21 22 10 16 3 22 0 15 11 4 16 7 9 16 11 8 16 10 22 6 16 4 3 17 11 0 1 0 d.: 8. d. 725 6 22 4;26 4 22 026 11 23 7|27 O' 22 8'26 10 22 626 7 22 526 6 25 irsi 1 0 1 Pca«. 3. d. 24 11 25 6 26 2 26 8 26 2 31 3 1 0 LONDON AVERAGES. £ 3. d. I Wheat. . 4,556 qrs. 2 3 4 Barley.. 135 14 4 Oats .. 191 0 18 2 Rye,. Beans Peas — qrs 0 0 0 411 16 0 0 4 COxMPARATIVE PRICES AND QUANTITIES OF CORN. Averages from last Friday's i Averages from the correspond- Gazetts. Av. ing Gazette in 1849. Av. Qrs. s. d. ars. s. d. Wheat -.103,816 . . 40 5 Wheat . . 78,618 . . 44 6 Barley .. 3,242 . . 22 8 Barley . 1,506 . . 26 0 Oats .. .. 9,902 . . 16 10 Oats . . . 11,354 . . 18 9 Rye . . 52 . . 22 6 Rye . . . 155 . . 25 9 Beans . , .. 3,813 . . 26 7 Beans . . . 1,807 . . 30 10 Peas .. 573 . . 26 9 Peas . . . 261 . . 31 5 DIAGRAM SHOWING THE FLUCTUATIONS IN THE AVERAGE PRICE OF WHEAT during the six WEEKS ENDING Jl NU 15, 1850. PitlCH. 4U.1 7.1. 409. i-'d. 39s. 8d. SQs. 7d. 388. Od.. 39s. lid. May 11 .^LI May 18. IMay 25. June 1. June 8. June 15. :: ' .. 1 .. 1 .. Account shewing the Quantities op Grain and Flour imported into the United Kingdom during the month ended 5th June, 1850, the quantities admitted for Home Consumi- tion during the same month, and the Quan- tities remaining in Warehouse at the close thereop. Sjiccies of Grain. Wheat, from Britisli Possessions liarli V, do 'I, ...do do ,do or Indian Com,do. if, foreign v,d( do ^io. .'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'..'.'.. sdo •■ or Indian Com, do wiiput or llige ]'."iir from OritlsU PoS' > .Mons Flour, foreic^n .. Quantity imported. Quantity en- tered for consumption qrs. bush, a402 7 900 0 3340&n 7 129803 8 IMI.'Jl 1 20S09 I68'J1) »8152 143875 2 0 3 0 50 6 nwts. qrs.lbs. 1216 3 21 US386 1 24 qrs. bush. 2102 7 900 0 334745 1 129633 7 114162 3 26800 2 16829 0 3845'> 3 143875 0 60 fl cwtH.qrs.lbs. 1215 3 21 145380 1 24 Quantity remaining in warehouse. qrs. busi). 40 C 17147 1 022 1 1263 4 106 7 10S9 6 e4'i3 7 13 7 cwts. qra.lbs. BREAD. Tiic price- of wliciitin Bread In tin; inetmj.oliB are from M, Id,; an'1 househulii do., 4d. le .'i^d. per 4lb<>. loaf. SEED MARKET. Friday, June 28. Very few buyers were in attendance to day. For all Seeds the denoand ruled heavy, at almost nominal quo- tations. Cakes were somewhat easier to purchase. The following quantities of Cloverseed paid duty up to the 22iid iust. :— London Liverpool Hull Stock in bond 1850. 1849. 55,210 87,416 7,G91 9,722 23,4:32 33,933 . .. 26,750 cwts. BRITISH SEEDS. Cloverseed, red 35s. to 4O3.; fine, 45s. to 50s.; white,358. toSOs. Co* Grass (nominal) — s. to — s. Linseed (per qr.). . sowinjf 54s. to 56s. ; crushing 40s. to 42b. Linseed Cakes (per 1,000 of 3 lbs. each) . . £8 Os. to £9 Os. Trefoil (per cwt.) 14s. to ISs, Rapeseed, new (per last) £32 to £36 Ditto Cake (per ton) £4 15s. to £5 lOs. Mustard (per bushel) white . . 6s. to 8s. ; brown, 83. to lis. Coriander (per cwt.) 16s. to 258. Canary (per qr.) new 74s. to 84s. Taies, Winter, per bush., nominal; Spring, 3s. Od. to 4s. Od. Carraway (per cwt.) 28s. to 29s. ; new, 30s. to 32s. Turnip, white (per bush.) — s. to — 3.; do. Swedish, — s. to — s. FOREIGN SEEDS, &c. Clover, red (duty 5s. per cwt.) per cwt. (nominally) 33s. to SOs, Ditto, white (duty 5s. per c^^i;.) per cwt. „ 24s. to 428. Linseed (per qr.) . . Baltic 383. to 44s. ; Odessa, 423. to 468. Linseed Cake (per ton) £5 10s. to £7 10s. Rape Cake (per ton) £4 lOs. to £5 Os. Hempseed, small, (per qr.) 32s. to 33s., Do. Dutch, 33s. to 348. Tares, (per qr.) small 21s. to 24s., large 25s. to 30», Rye Grass (per qr.) — s. to — s. Coriander (per cwt) — s. to — s. BOROUGH HOP MARKET. Fridav, June 28. Favourable accounts having reached us from Kent and Sussex, and the duty having been done as high as .£165,000, our market is exceedingly inactive, and last week's prices are witli difficulty supported. Per cwt. New Mid and East Kent pockets 1 22s. to 2108. New Weald of Kent do 120s. — 160s. New Sussex do 125s. — 132s. New Farnhams 240s. — 260s. Yearling Kents 63s. — 88s. Yearling Sussex 50s. — 658. Old Hops 20s.— 60s. POTATO MARKET. Borough and Spitalfields, Friday, June 28. Nearly 700 tons of foreign Potatoes have arrived hither, since Friday last, in excellent condition. The supply of those home-grown is comparatively small. Scarcely any old Potatoes are now on sale. New ones move off steadily at from 58. to 16s. per cwt. HAY MARKETS. Thursday, June 27. A few loads of now Meadow Hay sold at from £2 os. to £2 8s. per load. In old Meadow, as well as Clover Ilay and Straw, very little was doin;,''. At per load of 36 truBSoi. Sn.ltli field. Cumbcrliuid. Wliitpchnpd. Moscow Hay 60s to 72s I 48b to 738 I ITs to 72s Cover Hay 65< $0i 57s 848 6.',^ 8HS Straw 22s 29g 2?s 30s SSi SOB 88 THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. PROVISION MARKETS. Friday, June 28. The supply of Dutch Butter having fallen off, the de- mand for that article is steady, at full prices. Fine Fries- land, 66s. to 68s. ; fine Holstein, 5Gs. to 60s., and in- ferior, 44s. to 50s. per. cwt. Irish Butter moves off slowly, and late rates are barely supported. Carlow, Clonmel, and Kilkenny, landed, firsts, 66s. to 68s. ; Limerick, 64s. to 66s. ; and Water- ford, 62s. to 64s. per cwt. For forward delivery nothing is doing. In English Butter, the supply of which is large, very little is doing. Fine weekly Dorset, 74s. to 78s. ; infe- rior and stale, 56s. to 60s. ; fine Devon, 60s. to 66s. per cwt. ; fresh, 6s. to 10s. per dozen lbs. Irish Bacon moves off briskly at a further advance in the quotations of from Is. to 2s. per cwt. Prime small Waterford, landed, 58s. to 60s ; heavy, 56s. to 57s. per cwt. Contracts for delivery have been made at 60s. American Bacon is firm. Hamburgh qualities have risen Is. to 2s. per cwt., with a good demand. ENGLISH BUTTER MARKET. Monday, June 24. Our trade continues very dull, and none but best qua- lity is saleable. The supply of fresh Butter is abundant, and exceeding the demand. Dorset, fine weekly 74s. to 78s. per cwt. Ditto, stale . ■ 56s. to 60s. Devon 60s. to 66s. Fresh ..^ .... 6s. to 10s. per doz. lbs. TALLOW MARKET. Friday, June 28. We have letters from St. Petersburg, dated the 15th inst. The demand for Tallow ruled heavy, at drooping prices. The transactions had been confined to 1,700 casks, at 109| roubles. The last quotation was 109 roubles — sellers. A few parcels of Ukraine, for June, had been done at 111 roubles. Our market is in a very inactive state, and prices have given way 3d. per cwt. To-day, P. Y. C. on the spot is selling at 36s. 6d. to 36s. 9d., and for delivery during the last three months, 37s. 9d. per cwt. Town Tallow, 35s. 6d. per cwt. net cash; rough fat, 2s. per 81bs. TIMBER. £ s. Baltic Timber, per load of 50 cubic feol.. 2 12 Yw. Deals, per Btandard hundred .. 10 10 Dock Deals, per 40 feet .S in 0 1.5 Pipe Staves, per niillo ............11.5 0 Lathwood, per fm. of 6 feet 8 1 'J Petorsburgh, Riga, and Archangel .... ) ,„ - Yw. Deals, per stand, hundred.. J White 9 0 Yw. Battens 12 0 Riga Logs, for 18 feet cube 2 15 Stettin Staves, per inille of pipe 100 0 Swedish Tinaber, per load . 2 14 Gothenb.Yw. Deals, per 100 12f. Sin. Sin... 17 0 V/hite ditto 15 0 Yw.Battens, per hJ. 18 ft. 2jin. 7 in. 11 0 OhrlstianiaYw.Deals, perhd. 12ft. 3in. 9in. 23 0 Whiteditto 20 0 Quebec and St. John's Spruce Deals., ) ,„ n per 100, 12 ft. 3 in. 9in „ J ''* " 1st qual. yw. Pine Deals, per st. hd. 12 0 Second do. do ,.a. 8 10 Third do. do 7 10 RedPine Deals, perhd. 12ft. Sin. 9in. 16 0 Red Pine Timber, per load 3 0 Yw. ditto o 2 10 Birchditti 3 10 Klra ditto : 3 0 Oak ditto ... 3 1.5 Standard Staves per mille standard 50 0 Puncheon Staves, per mille 12 0 d. £ B. d. 6 to 3 10 0 0 .. 15 10 0 0 .. 1 0 0 0 ..130 0 0 0 .. 9 10 0 0 .. 15 0 0 0 .. 10 0 0 0 .. 14 0 c 0 .. 3 15 0 0 ..140 0 0 0 ,. 2 17 6 0 .. 22 0 0 0 .. 18 0 0 0 .. 14 0 0 0 .. 21 0 0 0 .. 21 0 0 0 ., 16 10 0 0 .. 16 10 0 0 .. 10 0 0 0 .. 8 0 0 0 .. 20 0 0 0 .. 8 10 0 0 .. 3 15 0 0 .. 4 10 0 0 .. S 5 0 0 .. 4 10 0 0 .. 70 0 0 0 .. 16 10 0 MAHOGANY, &C. Mahogany, St. Domingo .... Old. to Is. 9d. per foot. Cuba 5| 1 6 Honduras 4^ 1 0 African 0 0 0 Cedar ...- Havana f>\ 0 6i Rosewood. Rio la'. 20/. per ton. Bahia 9/. \M. HIDE AND SKIN MARKETS. s. d. s. d. Market nides, 66 to 641bs 0 1* to 0 1 J per lb- Do. 64 721bs 0 IJ 0 ll „ Do. 72 SOlbs 0 2 0 2j „ Do. 80 881bs 0 2i 0 2} „ Do. 88 961bs 0 3 0 Si „ Do. 96 104Ibs 0 SJ 0 8j „ Do. 104 IK'lbs 0 4 0 0,, Calf Skins, light 2 9 3 6 each. Ditto, full 5 6 6 0 „ Hoise Hides 6 fi 0 0 „ Lamb Skins , \ 6 2 5 „ Shearlings 0 7 0 10 „ OILS. Linseed, 30s. 6d. per cwt.; Rapesced, English, refined, 37s. ; do. brown, 353. ; GaUipoli, per tun, 42Z. ; Spanish, 41L ; Sperm, 85?.; do. bagged, 83;.; South Sea, 34?. ; Seal, pale, 31?.; Cod, 35L ; Cocoa Nut per ton, 38?. to 40?.; Palm. 32?. BARK. Per load of 45 cwt. English, Tree £\?, 0 0 to £15 0 0 Coppice ..., 14 0 0 16 0 0 FLAX. ^ BELFAST, (Friday last.)— Fine, 70s. to 80s., good, 65s. to 70s.; good middling, 50s. to 65s. ; middling-, 583. to 65s; mid., 46s. to 56s.; coarse, 44s. to 45s. r cwt. WOOL MARKETS. Friday, June 28. A full average number of buyers has been in attend- ance at the Colonial wool sales held this week. Very few parcels have, as yet, been withdrawn, and the result of the auctions is expected to be very satisfactory. Ar- rivals are still taking place from Australia to some ex- tent. MANURES. London, June 24. Guano. — The demand being somewhat subsided, with more arrivals, the importers are now warehousing. Linseed Cakes of all kinds continue iu good demand, considering the lateness of the season, and higher prices must be paid, as the stock on hand is considerably reduced. Nitrate of Soda nothing doing. Superphosphate of Lime. — No alteration since our last. PRICES CURRENT OF GUANO, ARTIFICIAL MANURES, OIL CAKES, &C. Guano, Peruvian per ton „ In quantities under 5 tons „ Potter's Guano „ Nitrate Soda ,, Nitrate Potash or Saltpetre ,, Superphospliate of Lims ,, Soda, Ash or Alkali , Gypsum ,, Coprolite , Sulphate of Copper, or Roman Vitriol for Wheat steeping. . . . „ Salt „ Bones, ^ inch per qr. ,, Dust „ Oil Vitriol, concentrated per lb. ,, Brown „ Rape Cakes per ton Linseed Cakes — Thin American in barrels or b.ngs ,, Thick ditto round „ Marseilles ,, English „ £0 0 Oto £9 5 0 0 0 0 to 9 10 0 0 0 0 to 7 0 0 14 6 0 to 14 10 0 26 0 0 to 28 0 0 0 0 0 to 6 6 0 0 0 0 to 9 0 0 1 10 0 to 1 15 0 3 0 0 to 3 5 0 27 0 Oto 39 0 0 0 0 0 to 1 6 0 0 0 0 to 0 15 0 0 0 0 to 0 17 0 0 0 Oto 0 0 I 0 0 0 to 0 0 n 4 0 0 to 4 5 0 7 0 Oto 7 10 0 6 5 0 to 6 10 0 6 10 0 to 6 15 0 6 5 0 to 6 10 0 I Printed by Joseph Rogerton, 24, Xorfolk-sfreet, Strand, London. ^ii V ?iV'^ THE FARMEK'S MAGAZK^E. AUGUST, 1850. No. 2.— Vol. XXII.] [Second Series. PLATE I. A SHORT-HORNED HEIFER. The subject of our first plate, "The Lady of Brawith," a yearling heifer (roan), was caJved June 2nth, 1848, Was got by Emperor, dam Moss Rose 2nd, by Sir Walter (2639), g. d. Moss Rose, by Belvedere 2nd (3127), gr. g. d. by Waterloo (2816), gr. gr. g. d. by Barmpton (54), gr, gr. gr. g. d. by Kitt (■2179), gr. gr. gr. gr. g. d. by Kitt (2179), gr. gr. gr. gr. gr. g. d. by Mr, Page's Bull (6269), gr. gr. gr. gr. gr. gr. g. d. by Mr. Middleton's Bull (438). " The Lady of Brawith" obtained first prizes at the country meetings of the Royal Agricultural Society at Norwich in 1849, and at Exeter this year, and at local meetings in Leeds and Gateshead. The gold challenge cup, value 100 guineas, and silver medal of the Royal Agricultural Improvement Society of Ireland was awarded to her last year, and again this year at Cork, where she also obtained the first prize of 10 sovereigns as the best heifer in calf or milk, and the gold medal as being the best all prize cows and heifers exhibited at the show. PLATE II. RAM AND EWES OF THE BLACK-FACED HEATH BREED. The ram and ewes which form the subject of our second plate obtained the first prize, in their respec- tive classes, at the Highland and Agricultural Society's Show at Edinburgh, in 1848. The ram obtained first prizes at two different local shows, since held, in the district of Campsee ; the ewes were never afterwards shewn. The black-faced heath breed is chiefly foimd in the more northerly division of the chain of moimtains which extend from the high lands of Derbyshire on the south to the confines of Scotland on the north, and the elevation of which tract is from 1200 to 3000 feet; the highest summits being Cross Fell, near the sources of the South Tyne and Tees on the eastern part of Cumberland, Skinner Fell on the confines of \ orkshire and Westmoreland, and Wharnside and others in the westerly part of Yorkshire, Professor Low in his work on the Domestic Animals of the British Islands, says : " This breed possesses characters which distinguish it from every other breed in the British Isles. It is of the smaller races of sheej), with respect to the weight at which it arrives ; but is larger and more robust than the Zetland, the Welsh, and the ancient soft-woolled-sheep, which it displaced. It somewhat resembles the Wallachian ; and, as the latter has an affinity with the Persian, it might be conjectured that it is derived from the east. But it is more natural to assume that its peculiar characters have been cornmunicated to it by the effects of food and climate, in the rough heathy districts from which it is derived. Tiie male and female have horns; very large and sjjirally twisted in the nialo. but sometimes disappearing in the female. The limbs are lengtliy and muscular, and the general form is robust, but the shoulders are not so low as in the Welsh breeds, nor are the jiosterior limbs so long. The face and legs are black, and there is a tendency to this colour in the fleece, but there is no tendency to the brown or russet colour which distinguishes the older fine-woolled races. The fur is shaggy, and the wool coarse, in which respect it differs from tliat of all the other mountain breeds of the country. It is of medium length, and weiglis about three pounds the fleece, when washed." The ordinary weight of the wethers, when killed at tlie age of aljout four years, is fifteen pounds the quarter, but some are made to exceed thi.s weight, when projjerly treated and sufiicicntly fed from an early age. The mutton is not so delicate as that of the Welsh sheep, or the Southdowns ; but it is more juicy, has more of the venison flavour, and is preferred lo every other I)y those who are used to it. The mothers are hardy nurses, and OLD SERIES.] H INo. 2.— VOL. XXXI U. 90 THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. are able to bring up their young, when thsy themselves have been exposed to severe privations. In snowy weather, this wild and hardy breed will dig uj) the snowy surface to reach the herbs beneath, and support life under circumstances in which the more delicate races would perish. They do not, like the sheep of Wales, prefer the summits of the mountains, but feed wherever pasturage can be obtained, and are not so nice in the choice of herbage as the Southdowns, Merinos, and other races, derived from coun- tries yielding the finer grasses ; and, although wild and independent in their habits, they are not so rest- less as the rnountain sheep of Wales and other parts, but can be induced to remain in enclosures, when sufficient food is supplied to them. THE BRITISH FARMER. bY CUTHBERT W. JOHNSON, ESQ., F.R.S. The past month has been marked as the period when England's farmers have held their great annual gathering at the valuable country show of the Royal Agricultural Society of England. That show has again borne witness to the skill, the la- bour, and the indefatigable perseverance, in times too of extreme depression, it must be remembered, of the cultivators of our varied soils — labours which have never slackened, never ceased during all the ebbs and flows of agricultural prosperity. The show to which I allude proved some of these state- ments. There was no falling off there, either in the number, the breed, or the quality of the stock ex- hibited, or in the skill displayed in the implements produced. Their owners had evidently continued their efforts amid all discouragements. Adverse seasons, steadily falling markets, had not restrained their steady efforts to improve the live and dead stock of the farm. They seemed to have taken a more hopeful course, and to have, perhaps cor- rectly enough, concluded that such a state of com- mei'cial affairs as we are now enduring (if we are to be guided by the experience of all bygone ages) cannot but soon pass away, and that in their place, in some way or other, will arise that steady re- turn of prosperity which must ever attend the cul- tivators of the soil of every nation not hastening to destruction. The history of the English farmers aflfords us no exception to this rule even in its most primitive days. The time was, we know, when England's farmers were in the state of those of all half-civilized countries ; and all other classes were in a similar condition. Commerce was only carried on by pedlars or at country fairs. The merchant was a much rarer and very different character than now : the country shopkeeper was then nearly un- known. As I have had occasion to remark in an- other place, those who wish for the return of the state of English cultivation which attended the middle ages must be content to expect only the ill- productive arable soils of those days, and their pea- sant-farmers, too. All high cultivation must be aban- doned, all improvement of breeding retarded or endedj the least expensive tillage only adopted : the crops produced must be left as much as possible to nature — every possiljle outlay of labour or capital- avoided. Such, in fact, was the state of the tillers of England's soils three centuries since. Bishop Latimer flourished in the first half of the sixteenth century ; and his father was among the most respectable yeomen of his time, yet his farm evidently did not exceed 100 acres. " My father,'* says Latimer, " was a yeoman, and had no lands of his own ; he had only a farm of three or four pounds by the year, at the utmost ; and hereupon he tilled as much as kept half a dozen men. He had a walk for 100 sheep ; and my mother milked thirty kine," &c. {Latimer's Sermons, p. 30.) But that this class of society was then not very refined, is proved by Sir A. Fitzherbert, in his Book of Husbandry, declaring, " It is the wife's occupation to winnow all manner of corn, to make malt, to wash and wring, to make hay, to shear corn, and in time of need to help her husband to fill the muck- wain or dung-cart ; to drive the plough, to load corn, hay and such other ; and to go or ride to the market, to sell butter, cheese, milk, eggs, chickens, capons, hens, pigs, geese, and all manner of corn.** To these bygone primitive days of wretchedness, all classes of our islands have for ever^ I trust, bid adieu. Society has left those days far behind, and the English farmer is certainly not an exception to the still-advancing comfort and knowledge of our country. His profession, it is true, like that of all others, has its period of prosperity and temporary depression ; but the good sense of the legislators of almost all nations has ever held as an axiom of the most unerring kind, this great truth, that amid the apparently conflicting interests of all ranks and classes, the first in importance, the first in real value to any state, are the cultivators of its soil. It is also true that a certain proportion of small holders is desirable in all agricultural districts ; and it is still more desirable that a higher and better degree of instruction should be introduced amongst not only them, but amid the labourers of agriculture from whom these little landholders commonly spring. Such a class of cultivators can often very THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 91 profitably farm the soil near to large towns, or in localities where the plough cannot be so success- fully introduced, or only in conjunction with the fork or spade. At the last meeting of the Farnley Tyas Associa- tion (near Huddersfield), Mr. John Gill, a spade farmer, of that place thus briefly and usefully de- scribed the rotation of his crops on his eight-acre farm, cultivated on the four-course shift, as fol- lows : — Two acres in green crops, mangle wurtzel, turnips, potatoes, and cabbages ; two acres in red clover ; four acres in corn ; half an acre of tares following the last grain crop, as an extra one, fol- lowed the same year by turnips. By manuring the two acres under root crops, the whole farm becomes manured in four years. By stall feeding the farm is made to support itself with manure, with the ex- ception of hme and gypsum. In one year, from November 1848, to November 1849, manure has been manufactured that will supply one- third of the farm, exclusive of the liquid manure prepared for the clover; and this manure remains partly in store for the second crop. The red clover is sown with the first grain crop, and by sowing it over with gypsum, and by sprinkling the sward when cut, with tank liquid it can be cut three times ; and it is found that a good crop of clover so managed will stall-feed the most cattle on the least space of ground. The produce even on poor soils like these is always comparatively large. They are often bet- ter tilled and more carefully weeded than is well attainable on larger extents of and. This was shown in some degree by the amount of produce, rewarded not long since at the meeting of the Royal Agricultural Society of Guernsey — an island where the farms are almost all very small holdings. The following was the produce of root crops : — Mr, James Mahy— Potatoes at the rate of lOJ tons the acre. Mr. Thomas Carre — Parsnips at the rate of 20j tons the acre. Mr. N. Naftel— Swedes at the rate of 29| tons the acre. Mr. II. Quertier— Turnips, after vetches (long white), at the rate of 31 tons the acre, Mr. N. Mellish — Mangold wurtzel (yellow globe), 49 tons the acre. -Mr. J, T. Blondel— Carrots at the rate of 3U tons the acre. In the training of children so as to enable them in after-hfe to become the efficient holders of such little farms, the value of those schools, in which the boys are occasionally employed in agriculture, is very considerable. At the same meeting at which Mr. Gill described his farm, the master of the Farnley Tyas School thus detailed the results of the first year's cultivation of the ])oor land (we believe only an acre), attached to the school. " In most of the operations of the garden the abler children have been called into use, and it gives me the greatest pleasure to report that at all times the greatest willingness has been shown. No compul- sion has been used ; but whenever they have been wanted I have always found them most willing ; and I have to remark that those boys who are dili- gent in this little work are the more so in their les- sons in the school ; and I feel convinced of late that with a little arrangement of their lessons on any day when it is requisite to take them out, no loss will be sustained by the boys in the routine of the school business. An account has been kept of their labour, and I am in great hopes that what has been learned and practised in that little plot of ground will be of use to them in after life ; that the same taste will go with them into mariliood, and that they will embrace the facihties now offered for the possession of garden plots ; and they will culti- vate such pieces of land with the same pleasure as they do now. I have endeavoured as much as pos- sible not to interfere with school hours; and I am prepared to state that the greater part of their labour has bgen performed between half-past twelve and two o'clock. In the matter of field gardens or allotments of land to the industrious, too much praise cannot be given, as the advantages of the possession of a small portion of land to one with a family are many. For myself, I can speak as having derived great jileasure at all times from the cul- tivation of the school allotment, it having given myself and family many hours of pleasant recrea- tion both before and after the school hours. One half-acre has again been prepared and sown with wheat. Yard manure and night soil have been used. Below is a statement of the produce and expendi- ture : — DR, SCHOOL FARM. £ R. d. Oats and barley seed Oil 0 One ])ack of potatoes 0 14 0 Two loads of lime .... 1 5 0 l| cwt. of guano 0 12 6 Other seeds 0 6 0 Hired labour (boys) 2 17 0 My own labour 2 10 0 Rent 110 0 £10 5 6 CR. PER CONTRA £ S. d. 18 bushels of oats at 18s. per qr 2 0 0 5 bushels of barley at 3s. 4d. per bushel 1 10 0 10 pecks potatoes at 8s 4 0 0 1 2 pecks peas at 6d 0 6 0 Oat and barley straw 2 0 0 Mangold wurtzel, turnips, and beans . . 10 0 Cabbages 0 2 6 10 IS G These are the young cultivators who, in after life, wllinneed till the plots of land to which I have before H 2 9^ THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. alluded. In their proper place they will prove an i that they will be useful in their proper place ; but invaluable class of the community. But my readers I trust and feel well assured that these will never must not misunderstand me, or suppose that I am advocating the introduction of these to the exclu- sion of the larger farmers. We all know full well supplant the present race of English farmers, who we must ever regard as the most valuable body of agriculturists that ever tilled the soils of any country. DOMESTIC AND CULTURAL ECONOMY. BY J, TOWERS, MEMBER OF THE ROYAL SOCIETIES OF AGRICULTURE AND HORTICULTURE. No. IV. Complaints continually occur of the quality of butter. One appeared in the Agricultural Gazette of the 30th of June, on the sudden but continuous deterioration of quahty in a private dairy, where, till lately, butter of fine flavour had always been obtained. It is impossible to meet the complaints made in print ; and we can only agree with the editor's remarks, and observe, that, in all proba- bility, want of thorough cleanliness might have left some decomposing matters either in the milk-vessels or in the churn. Bad herbs, as wild garlic for instance, appearing among the meadow grass, will assuredly taint the milk of any cow; therefore, care and caution from beginning to end in every part of dairy operations must be exercised, if a family hope to attain a perfect butter; and even then, atmospheric electrical agencies may inter- fere. As to salted Irish butters, the complaints are justly numerous ; and therefore I feel it necessary to introduce the following passage on the Swiss method of preserving butter for winter use, which is found in that amusing and instructive work by Dr. Forbes, entitled The Physician's Holiday. It has been alluded to in several periodicals ; yet, although somewhat objectionable on account of the change in quality which the process must produce, is worthy of serious attention. The learned phy- sician shall, however, speak for. himself, and my quotation is literal. " Formula. — Into a clean copper pan, (better, no doubt, if tinned) put any quantity of butter, say from 20 to 40lbs., and place it over a very gentle fire, so that the butter may melt slowly ; and let the heat be so graduated that the melted mass shall not come to the boil in less than two hours. During all this time the butter must be frequently stirred, say once in five or ten minutes, so that the mass may be thoroughly intermixed, and the top and bottom change places from time to time. When the melted mass boils, the fire must be so regulated as to keep the butter at a gentle boil for about two hours more, the stirring being still continued, but not of necessity so frequently as before. The vessel is then to be removed from the, fire and set to cool and settle, still gradually ; the process of cooling being supposed to require about two hours more. The melted mass is then, while still quite tepid, to be carefully poured into the crock or jar in which it is to be kept. In the process of cool- ing there is deposited a white, cheesy sediment, (proportioned to the quantity of butter,) which is to be carefully prevented from intermixing with the preserved butter. As might be expected, there are some variations in the practice of different indi- viduals. One very experienced man assured me that a much shorter time than two hours need elapse between the setting of the vessel on the fire and the bringing the butter to the boiUng point. Another said that the time should bear some relation to the quantity of the material used ; an average of ten minutes being allowed for every pound. The same party also told me that the appearance of the grounds rising up to the top when the mass is stirred, is itself a proof that the coction is sufficient. My guide at Chamouni told me that his wife usually added a small portion of salt to the mass, in the early stage of boiling. " Everybody agreed in asserting that butter so preserved will last /or years perfectly good, without any particular precautious being taken to keep it from the air, or without the slightest addition of salt. Indeed, I, myself, tasted more than once butter so prepared fully twelve months after pre- paration, and found it without the slightest taint. It wanted the flavour of fresh butter, but seemed to me infinitely more palatable than our coarse butter. This boiled butter, however, is not com- monly used, even in Switzerland, as a condiment with bread, as fresh butter is, but merely as an article in cooking, for which purpose it is said to be even better than butter newly made. I saw at the Hotel d'Angleterre, in Chamouni, the very jar out of which all the butter used in the kitchen was taken, and certainly it would not be easy to find more delicate cookery than we there met with." I have preferred to copy this entire passage for the double object of proving, first, that by a similar THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 93 process of clarification, (as in the corresponding case of honey), any person who possesses a properly tinned saucepan can furnish himself with hutter which will keep for months. The operation must be conducted slowly and attentively — with perfectly good fresh butter — in autumn, when the weather is cool; and by it the casein is deposited, while the water of the whey that had been retained is carried off by slow evaporation. True, it is, that butter so clari- fied undergoes some chemical alteration in flavour and texture ; but at the same time it is divested of those constituents which inevitably produce ran- cidity; a condition that salt, however applied, even if it be perfectly pure, cannot wholly obviate. Second, by retaining the whole passage, the facts adduced obtain the sanction of good authority ; for no doubt or suspicion can attach to statements made by an eminent physician, who thus testified what he had seen and experienced. Fresh hutter must in all cases and seasons be used within a week or ten days ; and where a family can so pronde it, nothing more will be required. The question then at issue is this : — By what means can the pubUc be supplied with a pure winter butter, imdecomposed and free from the putrescence of rancidity ? I have insisted upon the superiority of meadow- grass over every other kind of food, and therefore urge the necessity of good hay-making. It would now be out of time and place to dwell upon that operation, especially as it was amply described in i this magazine of June, 1849, to which the reader is referred ; but if meadow is to be turned to the best : advantage, care must be taken to extirpate docks, [vile and flavorous weeds, and wandering elm- sucker ; rashes, if present, prove the existence of a ; watery subsoil, which can be removed by drainage only. During the spring months the cow or cows should always be suj)plied with green grass, cut daily and taken to the yard, where there ought to be a shed and stall. ^Vhen the remaining grass becomes fit for the scythe it should be mown, always taking advantage of that period in June, wherem the wind blows from some quarter east north, which rarely fails, even in the wettest seasons. A lightish crop well secured is always to be preferred to one left to become heavy, and subse- quently spoiled by July rains. We insist upon " stall-feeding," (always including a spacious straw- yard for air and that degree of exercise which the animal's health must require), because experience has proved that the volume of milk is daily lost by wandering abroad, even for a few hours in a home meadow. If the domestic property do not comprise mea- dow sufficient to supply spring grass and dry hay for the winter, recourse should be had to hired clover, and lucerne grown at home. Of this crop, and the various appliances which must be resorted to in order to fulfil the required conditions to obtain milk, cream, and fresh butter free from foreign taint, something remains to be said hereafter. ON THE MECHANICAL EFFECTS OF MIXING SOILS. The changes which are daily going on in soils are amongst the most extraordinary circumstances with which the agriculturist has to deal. At one period the entire struggle amongst farmers is for the " good wheat and bean land," and at another time for " light dry gravel :" nay, the land which when first taken out of grass would grow turnips and potatoes with facility, soon becomes so adhe- sive, and of a texture so tenacious and unyielding, that scarcely any amount of fallowing or any pro- cess of disintegration which can be given to it by the cultivator, will render it fit for the growth of these crops. Now, if cultivation of one kind will make one soil tenacious and adhesive, may not some other kind make the opposite the same, and render our sands capable of growing wheat ? On this subject a gentleman, once a farmer, writes — " The present low price of wheat has a tendency to reduce the prices of spring corn, oats, and bar- ley ; it operates also in making the farmers turn their attention almost exclusively to the growth of wheat, which holds out a better prospect of remu- neration for their capital, skill, and industry, and of which the farmers as a body possess no small share in the aggregate, whatever may be said to the contrary. The lands which before were almost ex- clusively devoted to the growth of turnips, barley, and oats, with an intervening crop of clover, are now, from the low prices of way-corn, of necessity sown with wheat, which, in many instances, proves a failure. Nevertheless the farmer is obliged, from sheer necessity, to proceed, and try again and again, until at length he overcomes the difficulties which he has to encounter in following out his new plans, and is rewarded for his jierseverance by a bountiful crop. AVheat thrives best on heavy soils, and is very uncertain on those of a loose sandy nature. " The mode of cultivating light soils has been, winter fallow, crop of turnips, which has been partly pulled partly eaten on with sheep — barley, seeds, and oat><, then fallow again, thus never at- tempting the growth of wheat, because the soil was 94 THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE^ considered unfitted for it. In order to procure a remunerating crop of wheat on light soils, it is ne- cessary to pursue some method of making the land as tenacious as possible ; for although the wheat may look remarkably v/ell during the winter season and the beginning of spring, yet it has a great ten- dency during the time it is tillering, in the latter end of the month of March, to turn out of the ground ; hence the necessity of keeping the soil in as solid and compact a state as possible. The fal- low should be well marled or covered with compost, of which clay should form the greater part ; then, by means of repeated ploughing and harrowing, thoroughly incorporate and mix the whole ; then manure for the crop of turnips — 150 to 200 tons of marl is not too heavy a dressing. The turnips would be best sown on the level (provided the land is not too subject to run to weed, so as to need horse hoeing) by means of one of the improved Northumberland drills. By sowing on the level on such lands, the moisture so necessary to the young plant is much better retained in the land than by ridging. Let every means be used to check evaporation, and give additional solidity to the soil, for it is by the particular treat- ment of the land for the foregoing crops that it is to be brought into a fit state for the growth of wheat. The turnips should be eaten on with sheep, as, by their repeated trampling backwards and for- wards between their food and their resting place, the land gets kneaded \vith their feet to the con- sistency of dough. A little oilcake given them would also tend to make the turnips last longer, and also serve to make the land more tenacious, and the soil would be benefited to a greater extent by the dung and urine of the sheep when fed by this description of food. The time most proper to eat- oflF the turnips is in the beginning of winter, as the soil is generally the wettest at that season of the year, and likewise the turnips have stopped growing, which they would again resume if left until further on in the season, and so drawing nourishment from and impoverishing the land, and also striking their roots deeper into the soil, and thus rendering it more porous, and defeating the object we would attain. " In order to give additional solidity to the soil, it should be left unploughed through the winter until the first week in March, or about a week or ten days before it has to be sown ; it will become firmer by the rain and snow which may fall beating and lying upon it, and the frost will not have the power of rendering it so porous as if in a ploughed state. " Barley is the best kind of spring corn to sow, in order to secure a full crop of seeds, which are iiecessary for a good crop of wheat, ns it does not grow so tall and rough as oats, and by that means prevent the clover from vegetating as it ought. The clod-crusher should be freely used upon the soil when available, in order to render it as solid and compact as possible. The young seeds should be eaten-oft' pretty near, after the barley is secured, in order that the soil may be as much exposed to the rains and snow of winter as possible ; but during the ensuing summer it is best not to eat them so near, but give them full scope for the growth of their roots, which grow in proportion to the size of the top of the plants, and penetrate the soil and secure the particles of which it is composed firmly together, acting in a manner precisely opposite to the effect ascribed to the roots of turnips. " The clover ley should be ploughed up for wheat about the first or second week in October, and the ploughs followed by a heavy land presser, which will make a firm bed for the seed, and also preclude the possibility of turning out in the spring or losing moisture. " If the new-sown land were also trodden well with sheep, it would, no doubt, be a great benefit. The clod-crusher should be freely used in the spring, whilst the land is rather damp, and every means adopted to seal the pores of the soil and check eva- poration ; for the tighter the surface can be made, the greater the chances of a good crop. " The best kind to sow is the Spalding's prolific, which is proved by experience to thrive and yield the best on a loose sandy soil. A farmer, who oc- cupies a large quantity of this kind of soil, states that he finds it to answer remarkably well, for by sowing Spalding's and judicious treatment of his land, he has been enabled to realize a crop of fifty bushels per acre, and that on land which fifteen years since was not worth ten shillings per acre. "R. H. B." The mechanical effects of mixing soils are amongst the most extraordinary means the farmer possesses of adapting soils, naturally unfavourable, to the growth of any particular species of plant. Yet, to spread two hundred tons of sand, for in- stance, over a clay field might do little good, but the same quantity on a deep peat bog is very valuable ; whereas, to spread as many tons of clay of the very poorest kind on an acre of sand or peat, will so alter its texture as to enable it to produce a range of crops to which it was before an utter stranger. But if a marl, or a marl compost, as " R. H. B." suggests, be adopted, you have, in all probability, not only a mere mechanical, but also a chemical application ; for there are few of the marls which do not contain more or less of organic re- mains, and consequently phosphoric acid. Nor can sheep-treading be too highly estimated ; and if, as " R. II, B." suggests, a small quantity of oil- THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE, 95 cake be added to the ordinary food of the sheep, either on the seeds or on the turnips, a far greater amount of consoUdation will be effected. More sheep will be fed on the same area of land, there will be more dung, and more treading ; besides, the residuum of linseed or rape-cake has in itself an eflfect so binding, that it alone will, in some degree, promote the proper consolidation of the soil. We witnessed a very remarkable instance of the power possessed by marl, of making a field, literally a sand-bed, and totally unproductive, capable of growing sound and healthy crops of wheat. The soil was a white, sharp sand, full of springs, and covered over with a thin stratum of peat, the result of decomposed heather and moss. The poor tenants had dug up the peat for fuel, and what remained, in many instances, amounted to a sand-bed, as complete as if a sandstone had been pounded to powder. In this state the farm was entered upon by Mr. William Linton, of Sheriff Hutton. He deep-drained the sand to tap the springs; and in performing this operation dis- covered a bed of unctuous marl at some six feet from the surface. This he took up and spread over the sand, sowed turnips and wheat upon the land, and we can bear witness from personal inspec- tion that a very complete v/heat-producing soil was the result. The quantity of marl was from 150 to 200 cart-loads per acre ; and not only was it suc- cessful in the production of wheat, but the quick- wood fences planted on this same sand were also marled, and the effect was most wonderful ; the recent fences soon overtopped some others which had been planted in the sand many years ago. We will not now stop to inquire why some plants require more tenacious soils, and others the more porous and friable. May it not be— nay, is it not — the impatience of the presence of a large quantity of oxygen which injures the roots ? For it is evident that the mere tendency to retain moisture will not of itself account for the difference. We hope in an early number to glance at the chemical peculiarities of wheat soils, as we have now alluded to the mechanical. — Gardeners' and Farmers' Journal, OUR AGRICULTURAL LABOURERS— ENGLISH, IRISH, AND SCOTCH. BY MR. W. BURNESS, LONDON. Nations may talk of the greatness of their manu- factures and the success of their commercial enter- prise ; but boasting of great things in these times is no evidence of realities. The history of the world in all ages pronounces but one undeviating decree on the subject — that the prosperity of every nation is proportional to the industry of its agricul- tural labourers ; hence the marked attention which the greatest of statesmen have bestowed upon them. It is true that manufactures and commerce have given rise to more discussion in the senate — so does the sickly child and the prodigal in the i)arlour ; but, doubtless, if the latter cannot be advanced in favour of the one, neither can the former in favour of the other. No nation, perhaps, has more right to boast of its manufacturing and commercial industry, gene- rally speaking, than Britain ; and nowhere do we find such striking anomalies as among her agricul- tural labourers ! Science, certainly, has been more successful in reducing t'le labours of the former to something like equality, than those of the latter. The simple craft of more simple times has (led be- fore the mechanical ingenuity of Glasgow, Man- chester, and Birmingham. But in agriculture, the ingenuity of the husbandman has not yet succeeded in banishing such implements as the caschrom, &Ct Britain, however, exhibits more interesting ano- malies among her agricultural laljourers than those just referred to, relative to their implements. A compound of various tribes, the sworn enemies of each other, it is not to be wondered at that nation- alities the most diversified should at one period have existed, connected with the management and domestic economy of this class of the inhabitants of the British isles. But how these have been transmitted to posterity so complete and unchanged in character, and how Englishmen, Scotchmen, and Irishmen pertinaciously cling to them, in many instances with a warmth of zeal more like religious fanaticism than the sj)irit of intelligent workmen, is a question not so easily reconciled with the pro- gress of science, and the march of modern imj)rove- ment already referred to in the other l)ranche8 of industry. In every art it is but natural to look for something like uniformity in the qualifications and circumstances of its artizans. However diversified their talents may be when individually examined, yet, collectively, a common level characterizes the whole ; and in every case, generally H|)eaking, there is no better index to the perfection wliicb any art has attained than tliis very level itself. But when we examine the qualifications and circumstances of the agricultural labourers of England, Scotland, and Ireland, we are driven to the conclusion th.%*. .96 THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. as yet a common level has not been attained or ap- proximated to. A cursory review of their numbers, employments, incomes, amount of labour per- formed, and the produce of their labours, brings before us results the most conflicting imaginable — results which call loudly for progress. 1°. Number of Labourers, — In England, accord- ing to the census of 1841, there were, above the age of twenty, 724,625 men; Wales, 47,477 — total, 772,102 of this age. Under this age in the former, 139,661; in the latter, 17,155 — total young men and boys, 156,816. Of females engaged in agri- culture, above the age of twenty, 26,888 in Eng- land, and 1,300 in Wales — total, 28,188. Under this age, 8,460 in the former, and 735 in the latter —total, 9,195 :— grand total, 37,383. Of agricul- tural labourers male and female, according to this account, we would have, for England, 899,634, and Wales, 66,637— total, 966,271. If we add to this sum the number of small farmers who cultivate their own farms, and also take into account the assistance received from Ireland and the manufac- turing classes during harvest, both of which is ne- cessary in any comparative view, we cannot esti- mate the total number of labourers employed annually in Enghsh agriculture at less than 1,000,000 effective hands. In Scotland there were estimated to be at the same period, 109,550 men, and 39,854 j'oung men and boys — total males, 149,404. Of females there were, above the age of twenty, 13,528, and under that age, 5,114— total, 18,642 :— grand total, men and women, 168,046 ; and giving credit for assist- ance, as in the case of England, the number of effective hands annually engaged in Scottish agri- culture may be set down at 1 70,000. In Ireland we shall have more difficulty in coming to satisfactory conclusions. " It is esti- mated that about 5,358,000 persons are directly dependent upon the cultivation of the soil." If we take five as the number of members in each family, it mil give us 1,070,000 heads of families. Of this number, 300,000 occupy under five acres of land each, 250,000 under fifteen acres, and 70,000 thirty acres and upwards ; so that we may set down the number of farmers who only rank as labourers at 600,000, and householders or heads of famihes, only 400,000— total labourers whom we may consider above the age of twenty, 1,000,000. This number, being heads of families, would em- brace a population of 5,000,000 equally divided or nearly so as to sex. If we estimate the number of boys and girls under the age supposed fit for la- bour at 2,000,000, it will leave us a remainder of 1,000,000 more labourers, 500,000 young men and boys, and an equal number of young wo- men and girls ; so that Irish agricultural labourers stand thus : — Indoors, 1,000,000 mothers and 2,000,000 children; out-doors, 1,000,000 fathers and 1,000,000 sons and daughters— total, 2,000,000 engaged in agriculture. Such being the number of labourers in each of the three kingdoms, exclusive of 4,246 for the isles of the British seas, and 45,727 gardeners for Eng- land, 1,218 for Wales, 6,418 for Scotland, and 287 for the isles, the following will present a tabular view of the whole ; — England and Wales 1,000,000 Scotland 170,000 Ireland . , 2,000,000 Isles of the British seas 4,246 Total agricultural labourers. Gardeners 3,174,246 53,650 3,227,896* 2"\ Employments. — If we take one ploughman for every fifty acres, which is about the rate cal- culated in Huntingdonshire with one plough, and assume the rest of the labourers for all England to stand in the same ratio to ploughmen as the la- bourers did to the ploughmen with which we stood connected in the same county, then we may deduce the following analyses : — Ploughmen in regular employ- ment 263,000 Cattlemen and shepherds, exclu- sive of boys 87,666 Total generally employed on day's wages 350,666 Taskmen regularly employed .. 131,500 Young men and boys under 20 years of age 100,000 Total of this class 231,500 Taskmen not regularly employed 289,906 Young men and boys 56,816 Total of this class Females Small farmers and reapers in har- 346,722 37,383 Grand total as before 1,000,000 vest 33,729 * The above is principally quoted from M'Cul- loch's British Empire ; and in this note we may append the number of farmers and graziers : — England and Wales 258,232 Scotland 54,866 Ireland 685,309 Isles of the British seas 3,960 Total, 1,002,367 Comparing the one table with the other, there appears to be in England four labourers for every farmer; in Scotland about three and a half; and in Ireland the number of farmers exceeds that of the labourers, not reckoning their own families such. THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 97 We may take the same ratio for Scotland as we have done above for England as to ploughmen, thus : — Ploughmen 67,800 Cattlemen and shepherds 20,000 Common labourers 21,750 Yoimg men and ])oys 39,854 Females ' 18,642 Small farmers and reapers 1,954 Total as before 170,000 In Ireland, wliere system and order form the exception, the subdivision of labour into employ- ments is not to be looked for. He who carts out the manure must also spread it, and afterwards plough it into the soil ; and he who sows the seed must also harrow in the same, let consequences fol- low as they may. The grand problem in the sister country is. to get the 2,000,000 hands started upon the field. Her arable acres are generally cultivated either with the plough, spade, or loy, generally seeded, and her crops are invariably harvested. Her cattle are also cared for. All this is done by her own 2,000,000 labourers, without any assist- ance from England, and the following may convey some notion how it is accomplished. Two small farmers, for instance, each holding some ten acres, will each keep a horse. These join and form a plougli, which is sometimes the property of one, but as often the joint property of both, al- though one generally pretends to own it. In a few i cases, one of the two may manage the team when in yoke ; but in the generality of cases both are required — the one to hold the plough, and the other 80,000 small farmers conjunctly 20,000 . . singly 40,000 hired ploughmen 53,750 250,000 labourers with the spade and loy. to drive the horses. If they are active, as Irishmen count activity, they may cultivate some thirty to thirty-five acres. There are perhaps 80,000 small farmers, who have a horse each, and join in this manner, making 40,000 ploughs. If we say 35 acres to one plough, then these will cultivate ], 400,000 acres. There are, again, perhaps 20,000 farmers, holding from 15 to 20 acres each, who keep a pair of horses and plough. Many of this class are above the rank of jobbing farmers, and only assist their own relatives. We cannot, there- fore, in this case, set down more than 25 acres to each ploughman ; so that the whole would only cultivate 500,000 acres. A holding of from 25 to 30 acres is considered a " brai:^e farm ;" and, with few exceptions, gives full employment to a plough- man and pair of liorses. Of this size there may probably be 40,000 farmers, each having a hired ploughman, ploughing on an average 30 acres — total, for this class, 1,200,000. There may proba- bly be cultivated with the spade and loy 500,000 acres more, leaving a remainder of 2,150,000 acres to be cultivated by landlords and gentlemen farmers at the rate of 40 acres to a jjlough. We know of many of this class who equal this country, and plough 50 acres with each team ; but a great many who only farm from 40 to 80 acres, keep two ploughmen — a circumstance which will bring down the average to what we have stated, making the total number of ploughmen in the employment of this class, 53,750. The number of ploughmen and ploughs employed in the cultivation of Ireland may be thus tabularly stated : — Ploughs. Acres. 40,000 at 35 acres, 1,400,000 , 20,000 at 25 do 500,000 40,000 at 30 do 1,200,000 53,750 at 40 do 2,150,000 500,000 443,750 153,750 5,750,000 We have thus succeeded in starting nearly a fourth part of tlie Irish labourers on the field ; but the most difficult part of the problem remains to l)e solved— the getting of a job for the remaining mil- lion and a-half. The management of live stock upon small farms is always an expensive concern, and the number of small holdings in the sister country, consequently increases the number of persons engaged in this emjjloyment. The amount of labour expended in this department, including the dairy find the management of pigs and poultry as well as oxen and sheep, prol)al>ly comprehends the labours of the one-fourth of the labourers en- gaged in Irish agriculture ; so tliat we may a})])ro- priate 500,000 of them to this job, the one-half of whom will be women. This would still leave a balance of 900,000 besides the 250,000 engaged probably one-half of the season upon their own lioldings with the spade and loy. Probal)ly 150,000 of these again may be for the most employed at the species of jobs falling to the lot of the common labourer by landlords and gentlemen fai-mers ; but regular em})loyment for any of this class, generally speaking, where so many are idle, forms the ex- ception. " Fair play," the continual, or we may say the national, watcliword in the sister country, demands a share for each, and this is generally given if i)ossible. Hence the intermit- tent character of the operations of the field wliich so cons[)icuous]y present themselves to a stranger, but which are unobserverl by the parties, either master or servant. Twenty labourers may be seen 98 THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. collected into a field to perform a job which one Scotchman or Englishman would have to do in a week. If they finish it the master is content : fewer hands would not have done so, and hence would have encroached upon to-morrow ; and with this opinion the labourers are fully satisfied. " The job was never done so well in one day with a less num- ber. It is not fewer hands which Ireland wants, but an additional job, at present unhappily * lost for the want of seeking,' to fill up the odd days of the calendar !" From these approximations, the agricultural la- bourers of Ireland may be thus stated in round numbers : — Ploughmen, or those generally engaged at horse-work 450,000 Attending live stock and the dairy 500,000 Employed for the most part on their own holdings 250,000 Do. „ by landlords, &c. 150,000 Occasionally 600,000 Harvest work in the United Kingdom equal to 50,000 3°. Incomes. — In England the wages of the la- bourer are generally paid in cash, with the excep- tion of an allowance of beer or cider during hay or corn harvest. The amount is very various, the rate in some counties being nearly double that in others. In Huntingdonshire, which may be taken as an average, first and second-rate servants may have, the former 12s. per week, and the latter 10s. ; infe- rior hands from 8s. to lOs. As the price of wheat rises above the ordinary level, the wages of the labourer are increased. This equitable rule is somewhat difterent in form in dif- ferent districts, but the same in principle through- 2,000,000 vance in money, wheat is allowed at a fixed price, while in other districts wages are regulated by the price of bread. If the half-peck loaf, for instance, is sold at Is. 8d., the wages of the labourer maybe Is. lOd. ; and if at 2s., then 2s. 4d. per day, or 14s. weekly, the sum which we paid in 184/ to com- mon labourers — bemg an increase over that of 1845 of eightpence per day, 4s. weekly, or £10 8s. per annum. Some landlords and farmers, we believe, paid a higher advance, while others paid a less, so that this may be re- garded as an average. The following accounts will exhibit the whole of a labourer's receipts under ordinary and high-priced years : — out. In some districts instead of giving an ad First-rate Ploughmen, Cattlemen, and Shepherds under ordinary years. £ 48 weeks at 12s. per week 28 4 „ harvest at 22s. do 4 Ale and other allowances 2 d. 0 8 0 0 0 16 Yearly income of principal servants 35 4 0 Advance under high prices 10 8 0 Yearly income under high prices £45 12 0 Second-rate Ploughmen f^nd Common Labourers. £ 48 weeks at 10s. per week 24 4 „ harvest at 20s. do. 4 Ale and other allowances 2 s. d. 0 0 0 0 0 0 Yearly income of this class with average prices 30 0 0 Advance under high prices 10 8 0 Yearly income under high prices £40 8 0 The yearly income of a taskman may be thus stated, supposing that a loss of one week is sus- tained from bad weather during the whole period :— £ s. d. 3 weeks at day work, during the year, at 10s. per week ... llo 0 41 do. making on an average 1 2s. 6d. at task 25 12 6 3 do. hay and pea harvest making 15s 2 5 0 4 do. at corn „ do. „ 25s 5 0 0 Beer and other allowances 2 10 0 Yearly income in this case « 36 17 6 Advance under high prices 10 8 0 Yearly iiiicome under high prices, £47 5 6 THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. The wages of boys regularly employed may be rage of the real prices which we paid him in 1847, given, as in the following account, which will also as taken from our private cash-book, so that the exhibit the net income of an industrious labouring difFerence between the two is immaterial : — man and his family. The prices are about an ave- ' £ s. d. Income of the father as formerly stated ■< 4/ 5 6 Eldest boy, 48 weeks at 7s 6d £18 0 0 Do. 4 „ harvest at 15s 3 0 0 Beer, &c 1 0 0 22 0 0 Second boy, 48 weeks at 5s Do. 4 „ harvest at 10s Beer £12 0 0 2 0 0 0 10 0 14 10 0 Besides the above two boys we had occasionally a third, two sisters and the mother ; the joint weekly earnings of whom were Us.; and during harvest the latter was worth to her husband 12s. per week. If we say from this source only G Then the yearly income of the family will be £90 0 0 The incomes of labourers irregularly employed we cannot approximate with the same degree of accuracy. Their work is generally performed by the task — a system, although it has got many ad- vantages to recommend it to both parties, yet, with a dense population, it is liable to be abused. Gene- rally a few choice hands besides horsemen, cattle- men, and shepherds, are regularly employed during the whole year, while the majority are only called in during hoeing and harvest time. As soon as their services can be dispensed with they are dis- missed, and the greater their numl)ers are in any district the shorter will be the period of their employ- ment. They axe not only dismissed when the jobs they have undertaken are finished ; but, in the event of unfavourable weather intervening during the execution of these, so as to stop the process of hoeing or reaping, &c., the regularly employed taskmen have other jobs to go to, of a different kind, while they have to lounge about the village idle, in dubious uncertainty, for several days together, until a change of weather takes place. It not unfre- quently occurs that a whole week transpires with- out a single day's employment, or wages coming in. At any time, a job on this farm and another on that, a week here and a week there, is the manner in which this portion of our rural population is em- ployed. The result as to yearly income is obvious; for, what from the loss of time by bad weather and between jobs, a general loss is sustained, amount- ing to a serious deduction — probably not less than from one-third to one-fourth of the wages of the other section of this class of labourers regularly employed. Such being the case, their yearly in- comes may be stated at £25 on an average, and £35 under high prices, as in 1847, for crop 1846. Women have from sixpence to tenpence per day. But, as outdoor labourers, they have a great many " broken days" from bad weather ; so that the yearly income of the 37,383 cannot be estimated at more on an average for each than £10. If we now suppose the average incomes of la- bourers regularly employed, including horsemen, cattlemen, shepherds, and taskmen, to be £35 per annum, the balance to men not regularly employed £25, boys regularly employed £l6, irregularly £10, and women £10, then the following account may be taken as an approximation to the cost of manual labour applied to the English soil an- nually : — Ploughmen, &c., regularly emjiloyed 482,166 at £35 Taskmen, &c, irregularly 323,635 at 25 Boys regularly employed 100,000 at 16 Do. irregularly „ 56,816 at 10 Women , 37,383 at lo Total. 1,000,000 £16,875,810 8,090,875 1,600,000 568,160 373,830 £27,508,675 In Scotland, labourers are partly j)aid their wages in money, and partly in kind. There are very few exceptions from this plan in any of tlie counties. An unmarried man may have from £10 to £l8 per annum, with bed and board ; the diftcrence in the wages of good and l)ad servants being always computed in casli. Instead of their victuals in tlie farm kitchen, they frequently receive an allowance of oatmeal, milk, and firing, with a " bothy" in which to cook for themselves. Taking the average at £14, the boll of oatmeal (140lbs.) at 20s., then his income may be stated thus ; — 100 THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. Cash 14 0 0 6 J bolls of oatmeal at 20s 6 10 0 540 Scotch pints of milk at 2d 4 10 0 Firing, lodgings, allowances, &c 5 0 0 Yearly income of a single man . £30 0 0 Married men have houses with gardens contigu- ous to, or at no great distance from, the homestead. They have also a plot of potato-ground, and the privilege of keeping a pig. They may have the usual allowance of oatmeal and milk, or more ac- cording to agreement. They are generally consi- dered more expensive servants to the farmer than single men, hut more steady and care-taking. Both of them are regularly employed for the most part, so that there is not that diiFerence among the in- comes of the common labourers as in England : £30 may not therefore be far from a general average for the whole of the agricultural labourers above the age of twenty. Young men and boys under twenty, from the fact that they are generally boarded, or else receive an allowance of oatmeal and milk little short of that of the others, will maintain a higher average than the same class in England. For the same I'eason so will women. The former we may set down at £l6, and the latter at £14 per annum. According to these figures, the following account will exhibit the total expense of manual la- bour in Scottish agriculture :— Men 111,504 at £30 = £3,345,120 Boys 39,854 at 16 = 637,664 Women 18,642 at 14 = 260,988 Total 170,000 £4,243,772 The income of the Irish agricultural labourer bond fide as such, is pitiably small. In other re- spects, the manner of hiring by the day or week, and the general mode of treatment, is analogous to that of England, with the exception that no advance of wages is made during high-priced years. Some- times, although payment of wages is stipulated in cash, yet it is made in potatoes, either by an account- current opened for potatoes where the annual sup- ply invariably balances to the full the earnings of the labourer, let him be regularly employed or not. Under the plough. England and Wales ^ 1 3,1 50,000 Scotland 3,355,000 Ireland 5,748,500 or else by a plot of potato-ground on the conacre system. Over a considerable extent of Ulster and in the neighbourhood of Dublin, wages are esti- mated at Is. per day. In other parts of Ulster and the south, lOd. ; but 8d. and 6d. are more frequent in the western and southern provinces than lOd. ; so that 8d. per day is the highest figure which can be advanced for the average of the whole of the sister country. Some writers have even stated it at the half of this sum ; but taking the whole, it only amounts to about £10 per annum when regularly employed. Now of the 2,000,000 we cannot say that more than the half are regularly employed, and the other 1,000,000 at half time ; so that the yearly income of the whole, and the total expense of manual labour in Ireland cannot be estimated at more than £15,000,000, allowing the same wages to women, boys, and girls, as to men ! 4°. Number of acres cultivated, or quantity of work performed. — In England and Wales there are estimated to be 13,150,000 acres under aration, exclusive of 150,000 acres of gardens. In Scotland, 3,355,000 acres, exclusive of 35,000 under gardens. In Ireland, 5,748,500, exclusive of 1,500 under gar- dens. The management of grass lands consumes a large amount of the labours of the farmer, but the num- ber of acres in this case affords no certain guide as to the measure of quantity in any comparative view. Probably the nearest approximation which we can make to it is to reduce the whole of the grass lands, woodlands, and wastes in each of the three king- doms to a common level, according to their respec- tive values and the values of the whole. Thus Mr. M'CuUoch estimates the value of pasture and wood- lands in England at £3 12s. per acre, and the whole at £61,614,000— this would give 17,000,000 acres of equal quality. In Scotland, pasture and wood- land at £3 — total pasture, woodland, and waste, £9,000,000, equal to 3,000,000 acres at this value. In Ireland, pastures, &c., at £2 10s. — total pasture, woodland, and waste, £20,000,000, giving 8,000,000 acres at the annual value of 50s. The whole, ac- cording to this estimate, may be tabularly stated thus : — Total 22,253,500 Gardens. 150,000 35,000 1,500 186,500 Grass lands, &c. 17,000,000 3,000,000 8,000,000 28,000,000 Total. 30,300,000 6,390,000 13,750,000 50,440,000 The value of the agricultural produce of the three hingdoms is thus stated : — ENGLAND. Crops under the plough £77,742,857 Grass lands, &c 61,614,000 £139,356,857 Gardens 2,250,000 . .,—-. £141,606,857 THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 101 SCOTLAND. Crops under the plough £18,219,286 Grass, &c 9,000,000 Gardens IRELAND. Crops under the plough £28,020,834 Grass and woodlands 20,000,000 Gardens £27,219,286 525,000 £48,020,834 180,000 27,744,286 48,200,834 Sum total £217,551,977 We have thus arrived at a fruitful field for comparative reflection — more so, we are afraid, than what our limits will admit of being reaped, as will appear from the following examples : — Example 1. — England. Scotland. Ireland . Example 2. — England. Scotland. Ireland . Example 3.- Exaraple 4.- Exaraple 5.- Example 6.- Example 7.- -England . Scotland. Ireland . -England . Scotland. Ireland . -England . Scotland . Ireland . Arable acres to each labourer. 13- i9i^ Arable acres to each ploughman. 50 50 26 Arable acres to each common labourer. 30 . . 159 .. 7 .. Arable acres to each boy. 84 . . 84 . . 11 .. Arable acres to each woman. 351 .. 186 .. 11 .. Pasture. Total. 17 17|; 4 30i 37]? 62 Pasture. Total. 74 44 41 124 94 67 Pasture. Total. 40 142 10 70 301 17 Pasture. Total. 109 77 16 193 161 27 Pasture. Total. 459 166 16 810 352 •27 Value of the produce of arable acres to Pasture, each labourer. -England £77 14 9 £6112 3 Scotland 107 3 5 52 18 9 Ireland 14 0 0 10 0 0 Labourers. Wages. -England 1,000,000 £27,508,675 Scotland 170,000 4,243,772 Ireland 2,000,000 15,000,000 Total. £139 7 0 160 2 2 24 0 0 Return. £139,356,875 27,219,286 48,020,834 The foregoing tables fully bear out the truth of what was premised at the commencement of this paper — that a similarity of practice has not yet been established in the three kingdoms sufliciently clear to be recognised as a common index to the state of their agricultural industry ; that differences exist, not only at variance with science, but of a charac- ter and magnitude affecting the health of tlie em- pire— differences, too, not only between the long- degraded sister country and England, but also be- tween England and Scotland. Every labourer of the latter, it will be perceived, returns his employer from the comparatively jjoor soil of the north. £20 annually more than do those of the former from the richer soil of the south ; and were the fertility of soils equal,' the difference would be still greater. But, even as it is, such a difference for each la- bourer is obviously a national shortcoming, which amounts to a sum c(|uivak'nt to little short of Old England's rent-roll ! 102 THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. In Ireland, again, were the whole of her produce divided among her agricultural labourers, allowing nothing for tradesmen's accounts, tithes, rates, and the interest of capital invested by landlord and ten- ant, it would not advance them to a level with those of England. Hence the impropriety of those mea- sures, purely political, so generally demanded by Irishmen to alleviate calamities arising from an im- perfect state of labour. The elements of national labour are not organized according to science. In- stead of subdividing labour Irishmen have subdi- vided land, than which scarcely anything can be more opposite. The small farm system of the sister country is purely a remnant of the patriarchal times once enjoyed by all the United Kingdom ; and, however well it may harmonize with the natural feelings of man, is unsuitable for him in the artificial state in which he has placed himself; for the infalhble sen- tence, " Cursed is the ground for thy sake," has subjected every son of Adam to labour — the com- bination and subdivision of which the patriarchal system excludes. Hence, with the jjrogress of science, the system has been abrogated in every province of Britain now in the enjoyment of com- parative prosperity, and of necessity must be so before industry in a national sense can be estab- lished ; for the amount of labour required by the small-farm system to produce a given effect is much greater than that required by the large. Ireland probably expends four times the quantity of labour in producing from her fertile soil £48,000,000 value of produce, which Scotland does in producing £27,000,000. We found, for instance, two Irish- men at one plough ; and setting aside the cha- racter of the plough itself, its working order, and the tugging and twisting of the team, we would rather plough the 35 acres out and out than do the work which devolves upon the ploughman upon the headlands of the small fields of the sis- ter country. At one period of our manufacturing history, one artizan performed the whole manipu- lations in pin-making, and probably did not finish more than twenty pins daily : now twenty are em- ployed, and each manufacture 5,000 each in the same time. It would be useless for any one to open a pin manufactory single-handed, in modern times, on the plea of a want of capital or to give more employment, as is pleaded by more than small farmers of the sister country in favour of the patriarchal system. No person would make the attempt, much less listen to the plea of a want of capital, or an increase of employ- ment in the making of a given number of pins ; yet why is it atteinpted, practised, and pleaded in agriculture ? Simply because the science of labour is less understood in that art than in that of pin- making, and other arts where labour is sub- divided. It may be said that the subdivision of land in- stead of labour, in a national sense, cannot be pleaded as the reason why the agricultural industry of England falls so far short of that of Scotland. Granted : but there may be other patriarchal cus- toms to which her farmers may cling with as much pertinacity as an Irishman to a conacre — customs on which our limits, as well as the sub- ject, will only at present admit of a few remarks in conclusion. England at one period, doubtless, shot far ahead of Scotland in agriculture, and continued to keep in advance until towards the end of the last cen- tury, when in an unpropitious hour she appears to have undervalued the proud position she was qua- lified to maintain, and to have fallen considerably behind her northern sister in the practice of this parent art. The energies of her people appear as if they had been engrossed in the commercial enter- prise and the mental movements of this extra- ordinary period of her history. Her conquests and territorial extent of dominions abroad eclipsed from her view the more important value of her fields at home; and the first and noblest of the arts (that upon which all others depend) was seemingly ac- knowledged by her proprietary interest as of secon- dary consideration. Late years, however, have wrought~a visible change for the better, and Eng- land is now again making laudable efforts to ad- vance. There cannot be a doubt that, at the period we write, farms in England and also in Ireland are equally well cultivated as any in Scotland ; and that the three kingdoms once di- vided, bat now united, are ijrepared to go for- ward together in the march of agricultural im- provement, as in every other branch of national industry. The science of labour will reduce the same principles to practice in the one country as in the other — the same economy and subdivision of labour may be studied in England, Scotland, and Ireland. The size of farms, mode of husbandry, and management of labourers, with their domestic economy, will be reduced, comparatively speaking, to a common level. Others than the agricultural labourers of each, however much they may yet show vestiges of former diversity, are fast approximating to a general uniformity of national appearance, lan- guage, manners, customs. In this they are as- sisted by the progress of science, by the power of steam-navigation and railways, and the facilities which those conveyances afford to society for com- mingling together, and exchanging sentiments upon all subjects of national interest. No doubt in Eng- land, among the lower classes more especially, the Scotch are still regarded with considerable jealousy THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 103 and suspicion — partly, perhaps, because of their \ eagle's eye, are equally considered as unwelcome numbers, and partly because of their preferment to many lucrative situations of trust and responsibi- lity ; while in Scotland, in like manner, the Eng- glish settlers are looked upon with dissatisfaction ; and no doubt, too, the English and Scotch who intruders. Yet these are the natural beginnings, and even more than beginnings, of the dissolution of national differences, of the repeal of parchment unions, and of the blending together into one mighty people three great nations, long disunited have become resident in Ireland ; while others, who even in union, through the uncivilisation of their are surveying her patriarchal holdings with an ' common natures. — Journal of Agriculture. ON THINNING TURNIPS. The all but general process of turnip-hoeing, which now meets the eye on almost every fai'm, reminds U8 that it is not improper to glance shortly at the practice and principles of thinning turnips. This is an operation most generally performed by the hand ; for, though several machines have been invented, and some of much merit, still not one could be considered as an entire substitute for the use of the hand. On flat-drilled plants, we have seen a small light harrow with shares instead of tines ; and this was sent crosswise over the drills, and when the plants were very thickly set, it doubt- less diminished the labour of thinning; and on ridged turnips we even saw a still more ingenious httle implement called, "a turnip hoer," which consisted, in addition to a scuffler, of a series of rapidly revolving knives, which thinned out the plants at eight or nine inches, or any other given distance, according to the length of the knives- the interval between the action of each knife acting as a space which left the turnip i)lants standing. But it is evident that powerful and useful as these implements might be in a very thickly standing crop of turnips — much as they might relieve the pressure, if the plants were taking harm from want of hoeing — they are quite inadequate to the purpose of singling out the plants ; and all turnip growers agree, that the plants must at any rate be single, if any prospects of a successful crop are to be enter- tained. Nor is it difficult to see the reason for this. The leaves are the lungs of the plant, and have to ab- stract the carbonic acid gas from the atmosphere, which exists in it in a very small quantity. A full- leaf process is required ; and if they are crowded together, there is not space for that development which is necessary to their deriving the full benefit of the atmospheric influences. No more can they live crowded, than the inhabitants of a prison or a street can live in too close proximity. But more : the roots send out thousands of filmy radicles to Gearch out and arrest the various matters in the soil calculated for their growth and development, and if too many of them interweave in the same particles of soil, they rob each other of their legi- timate nourishment, and thus we have a feeble plant, and a small and stunted crop. The exact distance at which turnips should be singled out from each other depends upon a variety of circumstances — as, for instance, whether they are for puUing off when a large bulb is a sine qua non, or for consuming in the land late in winter, when a smaller and firmer bulb is found to be more economical and more capable of resisting the winter frosts. As an average, however, the distance aimed at may be stated to be seven to nine inches ; the former, as a mininum on light soils for eating on ; the latter, as a maximum for stronger soils for pulling oft'. The question is, however, being raised where weight per acre, irrespective of quality, is an object, whether the distance is not too small ? In beans we know that a distance of 27, or even 30, inches between the rows is often a great advantage in absolute weight of crop, and the question has yet, we think, to be tried, whether in the case of turnips a greater distance may not be the most ad- visable. Last autumn the Annandale Farmers' Club determined to have an inspection and weight of the turnips in the district — not for competition, but for information ; they examined the turnips on as many as 34 farms, and they gave a tabular statement of the results of the investigation, which appeared in the March number of the Trans- actions of the Highland Society of Scotland. The average of the whole was — Tons. Cwt. Swedes, per imperial acre, 21 16 per acre. Yellows, ,, 20 2 White, ,, 22 7 The drills averaged 25 to 30 inches apart, and we apprehend that the whole was sown in ridges. Now, as regards the thinning, we have this some- what astonishing fact, tliat the turnips of Mr. Elliott, of Ilardgrave, were thinned out not eight or nine, but thirteen inches apart. His land was re- ported to be very inferior; a few years ago it was, indeed, a moor, worth only 3s. per acre ; and his return was, per acre — 104 THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. Tons. Cwt. Swedes = 28 9 Purple Yellow 25 2 White Globe 26 10 Hardy Green 25 7 which is, we think, the highest average on the whole table. But he even goes further, and says that, when properly manured, fourteen inches is the proper distance. The distance between the rows is 28 inches. On this subject the committee of the Annandale Farmers' Club say, " The result of the weight in his fields, which are rather of inferior quality of land, as well as observation in other cases, induce the club to believe that at least this should in future be extensively and generally tried experimentally. Deficiency of manure (which, however, should never be), late sowing, or cold situations or soils, will, of course, be good reasons for modifying the extent of the practice in the first instance. It may be noticed, however, that in some cases — as at Milbank, Beckton, Kirkburn, &c., crops of 30 tons per Scots acre of swedes have been produced at hoeing from 6 to 7 or 7^ inches. In the case of common white or red turnips, more especially with full-mixed manure, it seems quite ascertained that the general practice of hoeing at seven or even nine inches is much under the proper width." Connected also with the thinning of turnips is the proper quantity of seed to be sown. This has a very important influence upon the future time, mode, and operation of thinning. A thick set of plants grow by far the most rapidly at first, seem to get best out of reach of the fly, and appear at least, more capable of resisting any evil influences ; whereas a thin crop at first makes slow progress. But the hoeing of a thin crop may be much longer deferred, and is performed at much less exjiense than a thick one ; and if, in the latter case, it be deferred to a very late period, and when ever it may be performed, it will be found to be much more difficult and expensive. If all the seed grows, half a pound per acre will be found a very ample seeding; but the risk of all not germinating, the possibility of the attacks of the fly, &c., generally induce parties to sow three times at least, and possibly four times, and even, in some cases, six times that quantity. "We think it safest to sow one-and-a-half pounds of seed, and prefer the very thin singling out of turnips to be tried only experimentally at first. — The Gardeners' and Farmers' Journal. THE LATE MR. SMITH, OF DEANSTON. There is a name well known in this country and wherever the spirit of agricultural improvement has penetrated, which should not be forgotten amidst the distraction of recent public calamities. A few weeks ago it was our painful duty to announce the demise of Mr. Smith, of Deanston, one of the greatest public be- nefactors which modern times has produced. When we mention his name we call to the recollection of every person acquainted with contemporary history a long list of ingenious services in the cause of agriculture, manu- factures, and sanatory reform, sufficient to entitle the memory of Mr. Smith to the warmest gratitude and respect of posterity. It is only, we believe, because of public losses which have absorbed all interest and atten- tion, that the claims of Mr. Smith have not received the most emphatic acknowledgment ere this ; and it is with the highest sense of the great benefits he conferred upon his country, that we now venture to mention his name. Mr. Smith was almost equally eminent as a mecha- nician, a civil engineer, and a scientific agriculturist. He effected several improvements in machinery by which manufacturing processes were greatly promoted. He was patentee of the first self-acting mule applied to wool-spinning. The floating bridge erected by him at Gargunnock, and the enormous wheel of the Shaws Water Cotton- Mill, are lasting memorials of his great abilities as an engineer. But it is probably in connection with agriculture that his name shines forth with brightest lustre, and will be longest remembered. He may be called the author of thorough draining and subsoil ploughing improvements, which mark a new era in the culture of the soil, which have immensely enhanced the value of land, enriched the proprietors, given employ- ment and wages to thousands of labourers, and afforded increased supplies of bread to the ever-increasing millions of our population. Mr. Smith, indeed, is one of the fathers of agricultural science, and his name is indissolu- bly associated with that modern improvement in the three kingdoms which has caused the soil to assume a new aspect, and revel in a new fertility. It would be difB- cult to point to another name of the illustrious dead which has left so many memorials of itself — in the increased wealth and productiveness of almost all parts of Great Bri- tain. Sanatory reform was one of the last works in which Mr. Smith was engaged, and on this subject he has left us many great and useful ideas to realize. We have lately perused a pamphlet printed by Mr. Smith in 1842, for private circulation, and addressed to Sir John Gladstone, of Fasque, in which he throws out ideas that are now- embodied in the Drainage Act, and have been the means of doing incalculable good in all parts of the kingdom. The palace and the cottage have equally shared the benefits of Mr. Smith's labours. It would be discreditable to the country if so great a benefactor should go down into the dust without some durable tribute to his name and memory. The Royal Agricultural Societies of England and Ireland meet im- mediately ; and the Highland Agricultural Society assembles here at the end of this month. These bodies will naturally be disposed to take up this subject ; but we have deemed it our duty to express our opinions now, in the hope that an interest may be early excited in an undertaking which will reflect honour on the locality or the public body which is the first to engage in it. — North British Mail. THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. tOo DISPOSAL OF REFUSE MANURE OF LARGE TOWNS. The sanitary improvements which arc goin^jf on, especially resjiecting the cloac.T of large towns, are bringing every day more prominently forward the important inquiry as to the best mode of disposing of them, so as to get rid of them in the most effectual manner, and still to make them available for the purposes of manure, for which they are most valuable. There are two modes by which this is effected ; the first is, by the use of the water-closet system, which sends the whole into the drains, and wliich, though very cleanly, and possibly healthy as regards the house, is very detrimental as respects the jniblic, unless the drains arc properly trapped and protected. The other mode is by using the refuse matter of the house — the sweepings and ashes — j)artly as an absorbent and vehicle for facilitating the removal of the offensive matter, and partly to dispose of these accumulations of material, useless at least to the householder. Now, as our great towns are the growth, in most cases, of a comparatively recent period, and as no jjrovision could be made at that time for their sub- sequent growth, we have no hesitation in saying that the most of them have not any means for drainage, sufficient to carry off the refuse matter below ; and hence it is necessary to make the best provisions possible for its present disposal ; for the entire drainage and removal of the sewage of a town cannot be accomplished in a day ; and how far the present state and apj)liances of the mode of re- moving the cloaca of a large town may be improved by a very little attention, we need only gi\-e the re- marks of an agricultural correspondent, who, having retired from farming, is now residing in a large town, and who therefore has before him the practical working of the whole matter. He thus speaks on Sanitary Improvements promotive of : Agricultural Prosperity : — I I " While much improvement has been made in other thiug8, the want of it in privy accommodation is dis- graceful to a civilized and populous country. The common construction of these necessary buildings, with I their ash-holes attached, is such as to prevent tlie degree of effect which the ashes might have in deodorising and ! disinfecting the manure and preserving its enriciiing virtues, as might be, if those ashes were daih/ deposited I upon the manure instead of being thrown behind it. The smell of those places is exceedingly oflensive, and ex- tremely injurious to the public health. This need not be, and therefore ought not to be so ; for various clicapc r and more cflfcctual means mi''ht be found, instead of the wasteful and expensive .substitution of water-closets. These pollute the streams, and convert what ought to be a source of life into a messenger of disease and death. In many cases, where better means were wanting, it might be desirable to have each privy-seat made with a drawer or drawer-frame, in which should be placed a box with a couple of handles. Then let a cart go a rc;4ular round every morning, with a bell attached to announce its arrival. This cart should be so constructed as to carry forty or fiity boxes, empty or loaded, all made of a re- gular size. On hearing the sound of the bell- cart, those who desired their boxes to be emptied would open a 'door and give the signal, when a couple of men would carry in a clean box, with a small quantity of peal-charcoal or other deoderizer in it, and a moveable lid over it. This lid should also contain a small portion of peat- charcoal or gypsum, so deposited as to fall upon the contents of the loaded box, which should be immediately carried away with the lid of the empty box, which bo\ is to be left in the place of the loaded one ; the lids being made to fi'. wny of the boxes readily and securely. These loaded boxes should then be taken altogether to the manure depot, which should be established at the out- side of every town, from whence this most valuable manure might be easily conveyed in a light, dry, in- offensive state to the farms in the surrounding district. Oil reaching the depot, the manure should be imme- diately mixed with an additional quantity of peat-char- coal, so as to retain all its virtues and make it fit for the drill, which would sow it with the seed. To prevent the escape of noxious elHuvia, and more perfectly to retain the efficacy of the manure, it would also be desirable t« have some convenient contrivance for dropping gypsum upon it as soon as ever it is deposited in the privy. Tiiis might be done by means of a handy slide, so as to drop the needful quantity from a place in which the manure carriers would regularly dej)osit a small quantity of gypsum or some other kind of deodorizer. Some such contrivance might quite supersede the ujc of cn pensive and wasteful water-closets — being equally inoffensive, and profitable instead of wasteful. A jdau of this kind would prevent the manure from being wasted and the water polluted as it is by means of water-closets, which carry their contents from the abodes of the wealthy to the habitations of the humbler classes. And this, bad as it is, is far from being all the evil that results fiom the use of water-closets or common jirivies. They generate noxious gases, which carry disease and death in at- mospheric miasma even to tliose who hecdUisly disre- gard the injury done to those beneath them, a;id the public in general. The immense waste of property and health which the public suffer from want of attention to these matters is almost beyond calculation ; we can only form a very i!iade(iuato idea o!' it by the sums annually paid for guano and other manures and for foreign jiro- vi-io'.is, which wc may confidently l.elicvc would be 1 106 THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. unnecessary ii all our own resources were properly economised. The subject is an important one, well worth the consideration of the legislature, the local governors of towns, and private individuals ; and it is to hoped that all will cordially co-operate so as to convert a common nuisance into a public benefit.* Let none fear thfit our foreign commerce will be injured by increased domestic supplies, for population usually increases or decreases in proportion to the increase or decrease of the means of living. But even if our foreign trade should suffer some injury, it would be amply compensated by an increased supply of employment and food at home." Aoiongst the improved modes of dealing with solid cloace?, the deodorising process of the peat- charcoal application, as recommended by Jasper W. Rogers, Esq., v/illhold an important part ; and if its value as a manure is sustained — and we understand it is now being tested by the Yorkshire Agri- cultural Society and other bodies — we doubt not but it will be a valuable acquisition in facilitating the removal of fpecal matter, and rendering the privy system to a large extent innocuous. The small confined privies attached to houses in erowded streets, lanes, and alleys ; the effluvia escaping during accumulation, and the most offen- sive and dangerous evolution of noxious gases during the removal of the accumulated faecal matter — the droppings and losses in the streets, and with all the vast waste as regards agricultural value of the refuse matter so useful, are evils which demand some efficient remedy. We understand that there has been introduced into the Borough of Leeds a very valuable machine for rendering the removal of cloacte a cleanly and unobjectionable employment. An air-tight cart or covered cylinder has affixed to it a hose at one end and an air-pump at the other. The former is in- troduced into the ash-pit, and the latter set to work to pump out the air. The whole of the cloacae, liquid and solid, rush into the vacuum, which when full is closely sealed, and then the whole is carried to any distance without loss or eiHuvia, or indeed any inconvenience whatever. We believe the introduction of this invaluable contrivance is due to that public-spirited and warm-hearted man — Edwin Eddison, Esq., whose efforts in farming, are equal to his public spirit in promoting anything to improve the condition of his fellow-men. — Gardeners' and Farmers' Journal. MR. JONAS WEBB'S SHOW OF SOUTH-DOWN RAMS. Oa Friday, July 12, the twenty-fourth annual letting of this celebrated Stock took place at Babraliam, Cambridgeshire. The weather proved exceedingly fine, and the number of agri- culturists and gentlemen was larger this year than we ever remember to have seen it on almost any former occasion. Amongst those present we observed the Earls of Hardwicke and Chichester ; the agents of the Dukes of Manchester and Bedford, and of Lord Walsiugham, Lord Radnor, and Lord Ducie; the Hon. C. C. Cavendish, Mr. "V'^Tiithead, Mr. Fol- jambe, ]Mr. Sheridan, M.P., Hon. — Liddell, Hon. and E,ev. H. Yorke, Capt. Key, R.N., Messrs. Pym, Townly, St. Quin- tin, jun., — Iluddlestone, S. Batson, Esq., Saville Onlej', Hieks, Barnett, Rigdeu; besides a large body of leading agri- culturists from every part of the kingdom, and two from America. The sheep were penned in the usual close before the house, and excited much interest and admiration. We could hear but one universal expression of approbation of their symmetry and great perfection of breeding, and that from the most emi- nent and impartial judges ; this applies with particular force to the young sheep, and especially to two very magnificent shear- lings, one of which let for 50 guineas, and the other 46 guineas on the present occasion. It has given us much pleasure to find during the last 12 or 14 years, that Mr. Webb is not confining his attention to tlie breeding of Southdowns. By the introduction of the best blood, he has at length succeeded in breeding a large quantity of shorthorn stock, A herd in front of Mr. Webb's residence * As very large sums are pnid for the 2^riviler/e of coUectivy dust and ashes in London, there can be no doubt but this would prove a very profitable business. attracted great attention on the present occasiou, and was by able judges much admired. The lettmg, in tlie unavoidable absence of Mr. Nockolds, was conducted by Mr. King. It is a singtdar but convincing testimony iucidentally borne as to the value of Mr. "Webb's flock in the prices they continue to realize, notwithstanding the depressed condition of agriculture. It was hardly expected prices could have kept their average ; we find, however, that last year 62 were let before dinner on an average of £22 each ; this year 60 were let averaging £22 10s. each. In 1849 Lord Ducie hired the highest price tup for 86 guineas, which las lord- ship retains this year on the same terms. At the present letting this nobleman hired a shearling at 52 guineas. The highest priced tup let this year was for 64 guineas to Lord Berwick. Mr. Stevens, from New York, hired one sheep at 35 guineas, and this gentleman, we understand, also purchased ewes of Mr. Webb previous to the sale. THE DINNER. After the letting, a large party of customers and frieuds sat down to a very excellent cold dinner collation. Tlic Earl Hardwicke, Lord Lieutenant of the county, occupied the chair, supported on his right by the Earl of Chichester, Mr. Pyffl, Mr. Adeane, and Mr. Sheridan ; on the left, by the Hon. Mr. Liddell, Mr, St, Quintin, jun., Capt, Key, R. N., and Mr, Barnett, After the usual loyal toasts had been given from the chair and hastily responded to, that of the " Lord Lieutenant of the County" was replied to by the Chairman, and the " Army and Navy," by Capt, Key, R, N. Tiie Chairman said he should now propose the health of a gentleman who was but little known to them personally, TilE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 107 having but recently cornc to tuke up his residence amongst those with whom it was his iuteutiou to live : he alluded to Mr_ Adcaue. (Loud cheers.) lie had now the pleasure to intro- duce to them the eldest sou of one of the best landlords that ever existed — a man, who, whatever might be his political views, had DO other object ia advancing and carrying them out than the promotion of the happiness and welfare of the people, lie was oue of the most conscientious men he ever knew ; and if he had ever a criticism to make in his personal character, it was that his feelings of justice and kindness were SO beautifully blended as to render it diiiicult for him to take any part which he feared might be attended with any evil re- sults to any portion of the community. From such parents, coupled with the e 'ucation they had received, they might rea- sonably entertain great hope of the offspring. He would give them the health of Air, Adeaue, the owner of the soil on which they were met (loud cheers.) Mr. Adeank, with much feeling, briefly returned thanks. Mr. Sheridan proposed " Suciess to the Royal Agricultu- ral Society of England," a society which had done much for agriculture, much for society generally, much for England as a Dation. But for the existence of this society he did not be- lieve they would have had the pleasure of witnessing the exhi- bition of sheep at ilr. Webb's on the present occasion. He would couple with that toast the name of the Earl of Chiches- ter, the President last year. The Earl of Cuichester said he was proud to belong to that society, because he believed that from its commencement up to the present time it had been conducive to the improve- ment of agriculture, and in no respect more conspicuously than in the stimulus it gave to the breeding of good stock. He might point to the history and example of Mr. Webb to show how much might be done by skill and industry and persever- ance in the breeding of pure southdown sheep. He was oue of Mr. Vi'ebb's imitators in the breeding of sheep, at a very humble distance ; and he came there not merely for the plea- sure of meeting an esteemed friend, and of seeing some very splendid specimens, but to take a lesson from the great master^ lie considered him one of the greatest benefactors to the agri- cultural world. As agriciUtutists, they had had lately to pass through a season of great difliculty and loss ; and when a landlord addressed a large body of tenant- fanners, he ought to be ashamed of himself if he did not allude to thfse trials, from feelings of sympathy as well as those more selfish fce!in:;s, feeling the pinch mutually with the tenantry. lie could not help looking upon thoir present position with some degree of regret and dismay ; still he was sanguine as to the future (Mr. S. Jones, " I wish to God I was !") and he had the personal satisfaction of feeling that, if there was oue ray of light in the horizon, it seemed to begin to dawn upon the breeders of South Down Slieep. This was evi- denced in the recently improved price obtained for their wool. He would urge upon them all to persevere, because, whatever happened to the interests of this county, there was no like- lihood of the population leaving off eating South Down mut- ton ; nor did he think, notwithstanding some recent reports in the papers, that they would abandon the use of woollen clothes (Hear, hear). He did not mean to say that he looked to any one partic'.ilar interest for the prosperity of the whole county ; but he firmly believed that on the success which attended the industry of tenant farmers very much depended the condition of the entire kingdom. He looked upon the gradual improvement in the condition of the people as full of hope to those inte- rested especially in the prosperity of agriculture ; no one could doubt but that this must benefit all classes, and the agri- cultarista would share in it. He differed with some arouud him as to how this favourable state of thirr? n.^ghl be brought about ; but that certain efftcts would result from the causes iu operation he had referred to, no one would dmy. The very succci.s which had attended Mr. Webb seemed intended to cheer them by showing the success which his own industry and intelligence had brought to bear on one department. The noble lord concluded by expressing himself in terras of the most unqnalilifd approbation of the specimens which had that day been submitted to competition. Mr. PvM, in proposing the health of Mr. Adcanc and family, expressed the great gratification he had in agaia being able to be present at this meeting to witness the triumph of honest industry and successful enterprize. He had always felt that these meet- ings taught a great moral lesson, in exhibiting what a tenant farmer should be, and what by industry and perseverance he might become. When Mr. Coleman, from America, was visiting this country to ascertain what was its social position, a few j'tars since, he met him at Braybrook and ofi'ered to introduce him to Mr. Adeane and Mr. Webb, as a specimen o'. what our country gentlemen and his tenants shoidd be — a good and liberal landlord, with enterprizing and satisfied tenantry, and with a peasantry happy, contented, and thankful, tie then told him he was but a specimen of what might be found in every county in the kingdom. And he remembered he instanced Lord Chichester, iu Sussex, and the estate of his Grace the Duke of Richmond, near Brighton. As the respon- sible guardian of the family of the late Mr. Adeaue, he felt a peculiar pleasure in introducing the two eldest sous to the meeting, and he would urge them to follow in their parents' steps. ilr. S. JoxAS proposed the health of their chairman, and alluded to the frequent kindnesses he had conferred upon them by presiding on previous and present occasions similar to this, and to the great ability with which he discharged the duties of president at the Royal Agricultural Society, when their great meeting was held at Derby. The Chairman thanked them for the compliment paid him. He said he was delighted with the stock shown to-day ; every year was a proof that Jlr. Webb did not stand still, but that his stock was improved ; his name he had an opportunity of knowing was well known in all the great markets and capi- tals of the world. He was an instance to show how a man might raise himself as a tenant-farmer to become as useful a member of society as the statesman, or the politioian, or the lawyer. He remembered hearing a man, who came from America to visit this country, asked what particular objects struck him most, and he said, the Archbishop of Canterbury, and Mr. Webb's tups (loud laughter). Lord Chichester had told them that he was sanguine as to the improvement which would so shortly take place in agricultural prospects: he wished he could sec this as clearly as Lord Chichester ; they must, however, re- member that the voice which told them so came from the Downs, and the Downs were just now iq) (laughter) ! He should like to know what the cl((ys would say to that ! There was as great a dill'erence between the condition and prospects of the clays and the downs, as between tlic Archbishop of Canterbury and ilr. Webb's tups. In order to show that the Downs were looking up a bit in the world, he would read them an extract from the Board of Trade returns in reference to woollen manufactures. This return would tend to raise the hopes of the wool sellers, whom he would advise to look out a little bit. In the year ending June 1848 the quantity of woollen manufactures imported by the yard was 2,203,540; in the month of June 1850 it was 7,157,622 yards. Throughout the whole of the woollen trade the increase was in the same I 2 108 THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. ratio, although for brevity lie only referreil to the increase in exported goods by the yard. Taking the first five months of the present year, and comparing them with the corresponding ones of 1848, the same resnlt was apparent. In 1818 it was 10,908,791; in 1850, 23,617,142 yards (Cheers). On the snbject of the Downs, therefore, no doubt there was a ray of hope in the horizon ; but, alas ! their noble and worthy friend did not hve in Cambridgeshire. It was impossible to disguise the fact that the farmers of this country were living under a great experiment (Hear, hear; and a voice, " and a precious sharp one too !") Those who suffered from it had a right to call for justice from the other side. No doubt they must exert themselves, and he had no doubt but that if they did, such was the great energy of the Anglo-Saxon race, wherever found, they would be able to drive the present system from their statute book as they once drove the foreign invader from their shores. Still they were not fairly treated, inasmuch as the present experimental legislation was based on false pre- mises, and assumed advantages they did not nor ever had pos- sessed. The Chairman gave, in conclusion, the toast of the evening, " The Health of Mr. Jonas Webb" (loud cheers). Mr. Jonas Webb expressed his gratitude for the kindness he yearly received by the increased number of friends who frequented and supported his sale ; this it was which gave him encouragement to pursue the path he had adopted with increased zeal. He felt delighted to see his future landlord at the table; he belonged to an excellent stock, and he should never forget the nume- rous acts of kindness he had received from his late re- spected father. He was sure he would remember that meetings of this sort brought them more and more closely together, and that if anything could estrange them it would be because they did not meet more frequently. Their noble president had referred to the improved prospects of the wool trade ; he believed if they held their wool a little longer they would raise the price 3d. per lb. He had heard with regret that there were some of his friends who could not obtain room; all he could say was, that if he lived till next year he would throw half the field open to accommodate his customers and friends. The Hon. Mr. Liddell proposed " Prosperity to Agri- culture," The Chairman proposed the health of Lord Berwick, the hirer of the highest priced tup. The Hon. Mr. Liddell proposed — Success to Agriculture, coupled with the name of Mr. Pym, and urging the unfairness and national impolicy of exposing the unprotected Home pro- duce to competition with the comparatively untaxed foreigner, and the impossibility of farmers living with wheat at 5s. a bushel. Mr. Pym, in returning thanks, referred to a speech which he made some 25 years since at a public meeting in the Town Hall, at Cambridge. In this speech he propounded a sentiment for which he was called to order by Lord Fitzwilliam. He said he believed national prosperity to depend upon the prosperity of agriculture. Lord Fitzwilliam said " No — national industry was the basis." True, my good lord ; but national agriculture formed almost the entire basis of national industry. With res- pect to Free-trade, one thing often struck him — that many of those who talked much about it knew very little of the subject. (Cheers). He would, however, with great confidence, assert that the Government would rue it if they gave to agri- culture a blow more severe than she was now suffering from. Upon one occasion he had ventured to oppose, at a public meeting, the great and deeply-interested champion of Free-trade — Mr. Cobden. Mr. Cobden told him that if his ancestor, whose name history had made famous, were there, he would have taken what he was pleased to desig- nate a more rational course. His (Mr. P's) answer was that he believed that the desire both of himself and ancestor was similar : they both desired the good of their country, and they both desired to attain it by constitutional means, not by agi- tating it from one end of it to the other, sowing discord be- tween landlord and tenant, and misrepresenting facts bearing on one particular class. He wished to see tenants in fair and easy circumstances, able to bring up their families respectably, and not obliged, after years of toil, and a large expenditure of capital, to look at their wives and children, and say, " And is it come to this, that we are to be made the victims of a cruel and heartless experiment to serve the whim or caprice of a few agitators?" Mr. Pym concluded by drawing a picture of what would be the inevitable result to the agricultural labourer, if from the pressure on the tenantry land was no longer able to be retained in cultivation. The Chairman gave the health of Mr. Rigden, from Sussex, an eminently practical man, and wished their legislators would seek advice of such men as he, rather than apply to cer- tain gentlemen whom he would not name. Mr. EiGDEN said, in reply, that they had a gentleman in Sussex, whose name he should not mention, who had written to prove that under the blessings of the free-trade system they were better off than under the old one (cries of. That's J. V. Shelley). Now, if that gentleman would come down here and convince them of that, as far as the county of Sussex was con- cerned, they should be very happy to spare him. He wished more Sussex friends had accompanied him to-day ; he feared this was partly attributable to a certain amount of prejudice. He had none of that about him, and he went where he could find the best animal ; and they could not, he felt sure, find in the whole county of Sussex snch a show of Southdown sheep as they had that day witnessed. The above toasts were followed by the health of Mr. Webb, sen., Mr. Barnett, and fox hunting, &c., Mrs. J. Webb, and family. After which the Chairman left, and with him the greater portion of the company. THE AGRICULTURAL DISTRICTS OF ENGLAND. FROM THE times' COMMISSIONERS. (Continued.) Dorchester, Feb. 8. From the well-woocled, sheltered, and genial valleys of Devon, to the bare, exposed, and chalky downs and uplands of Dorset, the change is so great and marked that one would hardly suppose * them to be adjoining counties. The kindly climate, the productive soil, the undulating perspective, clothed with luxuriant verdure and gladened with Tllli FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 109 refreshing streams — all these attributes of the dis- trict we have just left behind us are no longer to be met with in that upon the survey of which we are now engaged ; and in their stead we have open tracts of land, partly devoted to tillage and partly to pasture — where the swelling outlines of the scenery indicate the character of the formation be- neath— where trees, instead of spreading over and embracing the soil, are collected together in masses — where the fields again widen to a size adaj)ted for the development of skilful husbandry — and where nature seems to invite, for the improvement of her hiuigry-looking surface, the comforting and en- riching appliances of agriculture. Certainly a first view of Dorset is hardly so jjrepossessing as its situation on the map might suggest. The timber looks stunted in growth, and forms so small a fea- ture of the landscape that the copsewoods attract notice. These serve a useful purpose, for the hazle, of which they generally consist, bupj)lies hurdles to the farmer for folding his sheep, and fuel to the la- bourer in the absence of coal. They are cropped every seven years, and are looked upon with suffi- cient favour to find a place on most of the large farms as a part of their internal economy. The hedge-rows of Dorset are reduced in size and num- ber, and furnish no reasonaljle ground of complaint. The inclosures of tillage-lands are quite large enough for the purposes of husbandry. The downs appear to want shelter for the sheep grazed u])on them. Small hamlets, formed of labourers' cottages, are seen at distant intervals, but a considerable pro- portion of the rural popolation reside upon the farms upon which they are employed. The coun- try generally has not the appearance of being thickly peopled, and the space intervening between each iioinestead indicates that the holdings are more extensive than usual. As for the soil itself, it is thin, the chalk usually betraying its presence by unmistakeable signs within a very few inches of the surface, and sometimes being laid completely bare. IJeds of gravel and clay are of no unfrequent oc- curience ; but whatever varieties of formation it pre- sents, tlie land whicii occupies the central parts of Doi'sc-t does not appear to be possessed of much natural fertility. As might therefore be expected, the rents in this district are low ; the average, in- cluding rates and tithes, being from 16s. to 'lOs. ])ev acre. Of course some lands let higher, the amount per acre being in some degree regulated by the quantity of down pasture attached to a farm. That quantity is usually in the proportion of one- half to one-thiid, but on some holdings there is none at all, and in such cases, the land being of superior quality, the rent presents a corresponding increase. For some years the downs yielding in- ferior grass (and least profitable for pasture) have been j)loughecl up and cultivated, and thus the whole average of grazing land in the county has of late been considerably decreased, to the joint ad- vantage oi tenant and landlord. With this gradual conversion the system of farming pursued was also changed. It used formerly to be the custom for the larger tenants to have a dairy as well as a sheep stock; but tliat twofold management is less in favour now, and sheep usually occupy their undivided at- ^ ^^enlion. Tbt' small tenants, however, vtill continni- in their practice to combine dairy and arable farm- ing. The holdings of this class, which are chiefly in the low grounds, average from 100 to 200 acres, and their management, from the want of capital and skill among them, is said to be very defective. They are surtering severely from the present ])res- sure, and many of them, we are informed, if low prices continue, will be unable to retain their farms much longer. 'I'he produce of the Dorsetshire dairies being jjrincipally butter, they, like tlie dairies of Devonshire, have suffered less than, for instance, those of Gloucestershire, where cheese is produced. The depreciation in the latter case was, it will be recollected, from £9 to £6 10s. for the yield of a cow, while here and in Devon the yield of a cow has only fallen from £10 to £9. Inquiring into the relations between landlord and tenant in order to ascertain how far these furnished any legitimate grounds of complaint, we found that farms were in tlie majority of cases held by yearly agreement, and that the present depression in prices appeared to make this species of holding more ac- ceptable to the farmers than it hitherto has been. Leases for terms of years varying from 7 and 10 to 21, are also not unfrequent ; and although tenants do not view them so favourably just now as ])re- viously, yet they slate that the certainty of posses- sion thus given Ins proved very beneficial to the cultivation of the soil, and has encouraged largely the investment of capital and the disphiy of in- creased skill in improvements. Many of the largest and best farms are held under lease; and tenants from year to year, though perfectly satisfied with the conditions on which they themselves hold, as regards the present times, generally give it as their opinion that leases are more advantageous for the ]jermanent interests of agriculture. On the es- tate of Lord Orford, not only are leases granted, but the rent payable is a produce rent, being deter- mined in amount at each half-yearly payment by the market i)rice at Dorchester, for the preceding six months, of so many bushels of wheat and barley. His Lordship's tenants a])peared to ap- prove greatly of this mode of adjusting the ques- tion of rent ; but we could not ascertain that the example had been at all followed by other proprie- tors in the county. The manner in which the jire- sent crisis is usually met in this district, if met at all, is by a deduc tion of rent, and we understand that this has been done to a considerable extent. Hardly any other arrangement appears to have been made by either of the parties most interested to meet a new order of things. Tlie best farmers say that they are waiting to see how free-trade will work before coming to an understanding with their landlords; and when asked if they jn-opose re- modelling their system of cultivation, so as to suit, if possible, the altered circumstances around ihem, they generally re|)ly that their system admits of no change and is the most improved that tliey can l)ractically adopt. In the meantime they have dis- continued to a considerable extent the purchase of artificial manures, stopjjcd the ;)l()Ughing up of their down jiaslures, and diminished as far as pos- sible the more expensive ami generous cultivation wliicli llie hungry character of their chalk soils has hitherto indiiceit thcin to pursue, and wliii'h they no THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. state that they have up to the present depression followed with advantage. We were assured that want of capital is a common evil among the farmers of this county, and that men very often take large holdings which they are not able adequately to stock. The principal tenants, however, are not xinfrequently possessed of property independently of their immediate pursuits. As to the landlords of this district, the system of agriculture pursued is such as to bring them less in contact v/ith their tenants than is the case in many other parts of the country — drainage and extensive farm-buildings for cattle not being considered requisite, and the tenant, though generally bound by conditions of agreement to observe certain rotations cf crop, being, in fact, left to do pretty much as he thinks proper. There seems to be a good understanding between the two classes, and less of that struggle for a permanent reduction of rent which we have traced in other counties. In fact, labour appears to be the question which the present crisis has brought most prominently forward here. That subject, however, we forl)ear entering upon till we have made furtlier inquiries with regard to it. The chief characteristics of the farming of Dorset are the breeding of sheep, and the folding of them to enrich the ground for the production of corn. Its thin chalk lands yield naturally a very scanty herbage; but when tilled and well-manured, the al- ternate crops being eaten on the ground by sheep, they bring good returns to the "cultivator. The tillage farms, as has been already mentioned, are extensive, and most of them include a range of down or sheep-walk, which is not permitted to be ploughed without the consent of the landlord. On this the ewes are fed during the day in summer, and driven to the arable grounds, where they are folded at night; thus carrying the dung of the grass lands on to the arable to enrich it. The points chiefly considered are the production of wheat and barley, and to promote these the breed- ing and management of sheep, and the other opera- tions of the farm, are subordinate. The maxim is, the greater the number of sheep the greater the quantity of corn ; so that the course of cropping, though uniform in principle, is varied in detail, according to the greater or less extent of permanent grass or down land which a farm contains. Thus, a farm consisting of one-half of down land and one- half of arable is farmed on the four-field system ; •while another, with only one-third of down land and two-thirds of arable, may be farmed on the five-field rotation, both systems being thus made to afford nearly an equal proportion of grass-land for the feed- ing of sheep. Each method is carried out much in the same way, only the seeds are left a year longer un- ploughed in the five-field than the four. Beginning with the wheat crop, the land, after the second crop of clover being fed with sheep, is dunged from the farmj'ard and then ploughed, pressed with the furrow presser, and sown, the wheat-seed falling into the hollows made by the presser, where it is covered by the harrows. The more common plan, however, where the furrow presser is not used, is to harrow the ground after it is ploughed, and drill-in the seed with the Suffolk drill. To give it that degree of solidity vJiich on chalk lands is found advan- tageous, 700 or SOO sheep are driven backwards and forwards over the field, the shepherd beginning at 5 o'clock in the morning and keeping the sheep on the ground three hours, by which time they are found to have gone suflficiently over something like 10 acres. This is repeated day after day till the whole is accomplished. When the wheat crop is removed one-half of the ground is ploughed and sown, part with rye and part with winter vetches for spring feed. The other half is manured during the winter by the flock of sheep being brought from the land on which they feed during the day, and folded there at night. This part is in the ensuing spring prepared for swedes, which are sown in June, and is followed by the sowing of white tur- nips on that portion on which the rj^e and vetches have just been eaten off. A few of the swedes and turnips are taken to the farmyard for consumption by the cattle, and the rest are fed off by the sheep. This is followed by barley, one-half of which is sown with clover seeds. The barley, when ripe, is mown v/ith the scythe, and carried and stacked without being tied in sheaves. After the crop is removed, the half of the land which was not sown with seeds is dragged, and part of it sown with scarlet trefoil and part with rye. The first crop of clover is usually cut, the second eaten off, as also the rye and trefoil. After the rye, which is first consumed, the land is sown either with mus- tard to be ploughed in for manure, or with rape to be eaten off. It is then ploughed for vi-heat, which again commences the course. When the five-field course is adopted the clover is pastured the second year; or a portion of the land is dunged and ploughed in spring and sown with peas, which are followed by wheat, as before. During this course the ground is repeatedly manured. First, the clover is fed off and dunged for wheat ; secondly, the wheat land is trodden by sheep after being sown ; thirdly, the wheat- stubble, after being ploughed, is folded over by sheep, and the rye and winter vetches ai-e eaten on the ground as a preparation for the turnip crop. The swedes are manured with ashes and artificial manures, and the greater proportion of the whole turnip crop is afterwards fed off in preparation for barley. When peas are sown the land is pre- viously " mnckled," that is, straw is carted out and spread over the ground, the whole of which is then folded with sheep, and the straw and manure ploughed in together to enrich it for the peas. This constant manuring might be expected to force good corn crops, yet the average groducc per acre of wheat is said not to exceed 20 to 22 bushels, and of barley 32 bushels. An explanation of this may perhaps be found in the fact that the sheep are a breeding stock, never very highly fed, and that j'ear after year the land produces and parts with a crop of wheat, barley, lambs, aged ewes, and v/ool, for which the moderate quantity of jjurchased manures brought back to the farm is certainly not an equi- valent. The folding of the sheep on the arable from the pasture and down-land no doubt enriches the former at the expense of the latter, but does not in any degree, on the whole, make good what is thus annually alistracted. It is usual to chalk the land once in 20 years, THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. Ill the sour description of soil being that to which it is found most advantat(eous to a])ply it. The chalk is dug out of ])its in the field to which it is applied, and it is laid on someiimes with barrows, but more cheaply with the aid of donkey:^. The first method costs 40s. an acre ; the last, .los. where hired donkeys are used, and 208. to '25s. where the donkeys are the property of the farmer. The chalk is laid on in large lumps, which soon break down by the action of frost and ex])osure to the weather. Chalk is occasionally burnt and applied as lime, in which state it is jireferred by many farmers, notwith- standing the increased cost of the burning. The hollows or valleys in most of the large farms are occupied by water meadows, which seem to be carefully managed, and furnish very useful early feed for the ewes and lambs and hay for them in winter. The sheep generally kept are South-downs, which have in most instances su])erseded the old Dorset breed. The ewes are now dropping their lambs, and are driven every night into a warm littered yard with sheds all round, where they are carefully watched and tended. As they lamb they are drawn with their lambs into the sheds, and separated from the rest of the Hock. Next morning they are i)ut into a well- sheltered pasture, where they are supplied with swedes on the ground. In a few weeks, when the lambs are strong, they will be placed in the fold on sv.-edes, and afterv/ards on rye and vetches. The lambs are weaned in May, and shorn when six months old. The " j^en" or wedder lambs are sold in autumn, as also the four-year-old ewes. The number of lambs annually reared from the flock of ewes varies exceedingly, but scarcely ever in any case averages a lamb for each ewe. From a flock of 700 ewes shown to us the shepherd had on one occasion gained the prize of his district for rearing 670 lambs ; but this was regarded as quite uncommon, 500 to 550 being reckoned a good ])roduce. The losses by death, both of ewe and lamb, in lambing, are some years very great; the owner of the flock above mentioned having assured lis that one season he lost as many as 300, stating at the same time that he was unable to account for this. We incline to think that the daily driving of the ewes while in lamb from the feeding ground to the fold and back again — often a mile ormorel)oth ways — the close and crowded state in which they are nightly confined, the perambulation of the wheat fields, and the other uses to which these peripatetic manure-spreaders are applied in Dorset, very reasonably account for the mortality and scant produce described. Previous to the introduction of guano and bones, and more recently of cheaj) feed- ing slufts for stock, the practice of folding enabled the farmer to produce fair crops of corn on kmd which could not then have been otherwise kept in tillage with advantage. The high value of the corn made the care of the flock a minor consideration. Free-trade has changed these relative values, and there can be no doubt that the sons of the men who introduced the jiractice of folding will soon adapt their management with ecpial skill to tlie different position in which they are now jdaced. Tiic increased use of artificial manures and bought food, the general introduction of tlio turnip-cultcr, a greater economy of straw, and its conversion into rich dung, will gradually change the present system of breeding sheej) into that of feeding out their pro- duce also, thereby increasing the annual return from slock, and bv the consumption of better food adding fertihty to the corn land. Folding as a sys- tem will probably be superseded by attention being- devoted to the feeding of the flock as the ]>rincipal object, the enriching of the land following as a matter of course, but not forming, as heretofore, an object paramount even to the welfare of the stock. It may then be found that to enrich the soil by wasting the substance and injuring the con- stitution of the sheep in driving it to and fro, and confining ihem in a crowded fold, is a more expen- sive and less effectual ])lan than the direct applica- tion of those manures and food which science and commerce have ])laccd within the reach of the mo- dern farmer. Nor is this the only mode of in- creasing his returns which the Dorsetshire arablo farmer fortunately has still to fall back u])on. On these thin chalk lands we were surprised to find that, in order to consume their straw, the farmers carried it out and s!)read it over the soil, v.diere, after the sheep had been folded upon it, it is left exp'osed to the weather for weeks or months before being jdoughed in. Its economical consumption by cattle in stalls, with the aid of roots and cake or corn, will no doubt ere long be found by the farmer a much more profitable mode of converting it inio a source of gain to himself and of fertility to the soil. Shaftesbury, Dorset. Any account of the agriculture of Dorset would be very incomplete without some description of the farms of Mr. Huxtable. This gentleman, the rector of Sutton Waldron, by his pami:)hlet on Present Prices, has raised such a storm of reprobation among the farm.ers of the several districts through which we passed, that we were anxious on every account to examine his system and obtain accurate data for forming a correct judgment upon it. It may be necessary to premise that Mr. Huxtable is a self-taught farmer, and that in carrying out his plans he has intrusted them to the direction of the people he found on the land, without calling to his assistance the aid of a skilled bailiff". The out-door work, therefore, wants that finish which a tasteful farmer likes to sec in the management of his land, 'i'he West Farm, about a mile from Sutton Waldron, is the first on v/hich Mr. Iluvtable com- menced his improvements. It is very various in quality, but chit-fly a rather wet and tenacious soil, now drained, and all superfluous hedgerows and timber removed from it. Tiiis is strictly a breeding farm, keeping a stock of milch cows, the calves of which, when reared, are removed to the Hill Farm to be fattened, 'i'here is nothing peculiar al)out the management of the slock here whiuh will nijt be detailed in the description of the Hill Farm, so that it is only necessary to call attention to the plan adoi)ted by Mr. Huxlablc for the cheap distribution of liquid manure ovrr the different di- visions of this farm. The whole liquid is carefully c'ollo( tod in a series of tanks, from the lowest of 112 Till: farmi-:r'S magazine. which it is discharged as required by a force-pinnp into pipes, which carry it to the several fiekls in succession. The pipes are of well-burnt clay, an inch thick, their joints secured with cement. 'I'hey cost 7d. a-yard, and, inclusive of an upright dis- charge column every 200 yards, will not exceed £1 an acie. The jjipes and columns are now laid down for the accommodation of 60 acres of the West Farm. When it is requisite to apply the liquid to any portion of these GO acres the force- pump is set to work, and a stop put on at the dis- charge column nearest the place to be watered. A hose is then attached to the column and carried into a tub placed on a light broad-wheeled water- cart, which, as soon as filled, is drawn off, and another of the same kind put in its place. The first is then emptied by a man with a bucket, who scatters its contents over the land. By the time he has emptied the first tub the second is full, and he repeals the same process with its contents, and so on, the man at the forcing-pump being thus enabled to deliver a continuous stream of manure at the distance of many hundred yards. We think no apology necessary for occupying some space in describing this process; for the application of manure in a liquid form, fitted for immediate ab- sor|)tion by growing plants, is a matter of the highest importance to the farmer. The time may soon come when all manures will be first prepared in the dissolving tank, and then carried, in a liquid form, without waste or expense, and applied with- oiit injury to the surface at any stage in the growth of the plant which may be deemed advisable. The Hill Farm is the most interesting, for here Mr. Iluxtable has most elaborately carried his science into practice. A few years ago this was an open chalk down— it is bare and barren, high and windy, rising abruptly from the adjoining vale to an eleviition of 500 feet. Its cultivation was un- dertaken chiefly with the object of increasing the field of employment in the parish; and not only has that object been accomplished, but problems having an important bearing on our national agri- culture are here in course of being solved. The farm consists of 280 acres of land, all of which bear every j'ear alternate crops of corn and cattle food. The corn crops are wheat and barley, the former of which will average this year 36 bushels an acre ; the green crops comprise white and yellow turnips, swedes and mangold, the latter of which especially was a lieavy crop ; and also rye, vetches, clover, and Italian rye-grass, though the last is not in great favour on this farm. Implements of every kind for economizing and perfecting labour are in requisition, cultivators, scarifiers, clodcrushers (the most approved of which is the smooth-ringed, as r.ot being so lialile to choke in damp weatherj, seed-drills, dibbling machines, and liquid-manure and seed-drill. At this season the operations on the land are not so interesting as those going on in the buildin?:s, the meat and manure factory of the farm. These comprise an extensive range, not al- together on the most convenient plan, as additions and alterations are constantly being made when more room is required, and when experience and observation suggest a better arrangement. They arc constructed, however, with a strict eye to eco" nom}', both of expense and labour, and there is not a nook about them which the critical eye will discover as either unnecessary or very incon- veniently situated. The whole stock of the farm, except the breeding ewes, are kept constantly housed night and day, summer and winter, and no particle of their food or manure is suffered to be wasted. Beginning our description with the steam- engine- -it thrashes and winnows the corn, cuts the thrashed straw into chaff, turns the stones for grinding the cattle-food into meal, and by a sepa- rate belt, when requisite, works a bone-crusher, in which, also, the hard American oilcake is broken down. Over the furnace is a drying-loft, where beans or damp corn are jjrepared for the better ac- tion of the millstones by the v/aste heat of the en- gine fire. The straw-chaff is carried to the root-house, where, by Moody's machine, turnips, mangold, &c., may be described as ground down rather than cut, and the roots and chaff are then mixed together in the proportion by measure of one bushel of the former to two of the latter. The cut straw sticks to the juicy fresh-cut roots, the whole exudation of which it absorbs. This mixture forms the staple winter food of the cattle and sheep, cake and corn being added in such proportions as are deemed necessary. The cut straw is not, even in this state, thought so soluble as it should be, and a large steaming-chest is being erected, in which the steam from the engine-boiler will be employed in rendering every substance used as food in the fittest state to afford its entire nutritive powers to the animal. The mess so prepared will consist of cut straw-chaff, ground roots, meal, oilcake or bran, and crushed furze ; for Mr. Huxtable turns nature to account in all her productions, and the scrubby furze, which is, except in Wales, generally looked on as a nuisance, is here enlisted into the service of adding to the nation's food. After due inquiry, he satisfied himself that, properly used, this is a most nutritious substance. It becomes, therefore, an object of careful cultivation, and when crushed and steamed in conjunction with other materials adds a flavour to the whole, which, besides its nutritive qualities, makes an extremely j)alatal)le mess for any animal to which it is given. Some people, no doubt, will say that steaming reduces the bulk of the roots, and is therefore a wasteful ])lan ; but in the process, as here carried on, nothing is wasted ; the I)ulk which leaves the turnip swells and melts the chaff, and, carried into the paunch of the animal in this state, cannot produce that chilling efi'ect which a mass of roots, containing 90 per cent, of cold water, must necessarily cause. Such is the winter food of the cattle and sheep. Pigs are treated differently. They are kept as a manure factory, from which a given expenditure in meal will be returned, with the cost of attendance, in the in- creased value of the animals, and all the manure they leave be clear gain. When this is reduced to a certainty, our supply of the richest manure will be limited only by the means at our command for pur- chasing pigs and corn, and it is right to mention that at the present prices of both a handsome profit was this year made by Mr. Huxtable over and above the manure. The j)ig food is therefore all purchased exc^usively on their account, partly in THE FAR.vlKR'lS MAUAZLNK. 113 the market and partly from the inferior corn of the farm. Cheap Egyptian beans, lentils, and barley, are ground into meal, the proportion of beans being increased in cold weather, and barley in warm weather, as being then respectively most suitable to the constitution of the animal. The re- quisite quantity is steeped over night in cold water, to render it more palatable and soluble, but under- goes no other preparation. Having described the machinery for the prepara- tion of the crops and the management of food, we shall now i)roceed to the buildings in which the dif- ferent kinds of hve stock are accommodated. The average stock of cattle ke])t is 30 milch cows and their produce, the whole of which are constantly housed, the younger being promoted from stall to stall as their elders depart under the butcher's charge to fultil their destiny. From 90 to 100 head are thus regularly kept on the farm. The cattle are all tied up in stalls, occupying three parallel rows, with plenty of light and air, and exhibit, notwithstanding constant confinement, the greatest liveliness and contentment. To economize as much as jiossible every particle of straw, they are all placed on s))arred boards raised (3 inches above the water-tight lloor, and by this arrange- ment fully half the usual supply of straw for litter is saved. The liquid is collected in an under- ground drain, whence it passes off to the tank. The cattle-house is very cheaply constructed, the walls being of wattled furze, which admits air with- out producing a draught, and the roof is thatched with straw, as being not only more economical in first cost, but far Ijetter adajjted than a slate or tile roof to insure an equable temperature, being warm in winter and cool in summer. This point is well worth consideration, as we were assured that under one part of the buildings which was slated the stock are much annoyed in warm weather by flies, which scarcely ever make tlieir appearance under that por- tion which is covered with thatch. The sheep- house comes next under observation. It is a light, cheap, thatched building, with a walk up the centre, and a double row of sheep, standing on sparred ])oards, and tied up by the neck, quietly feeding on either side. iMr. Huxtable first tried his sheep in small ])ens on boards, but they n^ver became so quiet and docile as they do after being tied up a day or two by the neck. The ])rogress of tlic sheep is tested at intervals of a fortnight or more by placing them on the weighing machine ; and it has been observed that, from some unexplained cause, they at certain periods seem to make little progress as compared with otbers. When this is noticed, the house is carefully washed with chloride of lime, which seems to have an invigorating effect on the animals. They are found to thrive and fatten rapidly urder this system of house-feeding. The solid manure is removed daily, and the liquid passes off by a covered drain. No litter whatever is required by tlie sheej). The accommodation for pigs next demands attention. Two methods are adopted, the one most approved biing a long low thatched building, with a walk xip the centre, and divided into compartments on cacli side. The pigs all stand on sparred boards, beneath which tlie ground ig shaped like the letter V, for the collec- tion of manure. The solid portion is removed at convenience, the liquid passing off by a drain to the tank. 80 or 9o pigs are kept on the farm, and seemed in a state of perfect contentment with their quarters. It is unnecessary to describe the root- houses and farm-stable ; but, crossing the road, we enter a building isolated from the rest, and divided into loose boxes, to which the milch cows are re- moved when about to calve. This house is also used as a quarantine, in which are kept for a few weeks any animals that are i)urchased, and which must first j)ass througli this ordeal before being admitted to free pratique in the rest of the farm- buildings. A httle way further down is the esta- blishment for the collection and preparation of manure. It comprises two extensive water-tight tanks for liquid, and a house in two compartments for the different kmds of solid manure. Here every element that is not carried off in the sub- stance of the cattle, the sheej), and the ]iigs, is carefully preserved, to be again m due time restored to the soil, and the slender stream which con- stantly runs into the liquid manure tank is directed into a box filled with gypsum, through whicli il is passed, in order to fix the ammonia, described by Mr. Huxtable as "the spirit-like essence of tbc farm — ever longing and struggling to Hy off into boundless air." It would occupy too much sj)ace to detail all the other processes going on on this farm, the dissolving of bones, the extraction of am- monia from rags, the conversion of earth by fire into an absorbent of liquid manure — all these must be examined to be thoroughly ap])reciated. The jjractical farmer will ask. Does all this ])ay ? For crop 1847 Mr. Huxtable's books show a balance in his favour. For cro]) 184S he was a loser of £'20 9s. 8d., after paying rent and all expenses, inclusive of interest of capital; but that arose, not from a deficiency of crop, but from the ruinous harvest which so seriously damaged all corn crops in the south of England that year. F'or crop 1S49 a very profitable return is expected. Neither of Mr. Huxtable's farms, as will be ob- served from our description, enjoys any advantage of soil or climate. The Hill I'arm is in both respects inferior to the average of the arable farms of this county. We have thought it necessary to enter into these particulars, in order to satisfy the public that Mr. IIuxtal)le is no mere theorist, and we strongly advise such as disagree from his con- clusions to visit his farm before they condemn them as impossible. They may there acquire a know- ledge of important facts in their business, elicitcrl by a truly philosophic mind, guided by (juick ])er- ception of detail and energetic action, and applied to the good i)urpose of increasing the food of the people and enlarging the field for their employ- ment. The conditimi of the Dorsetshire labourer has been so often exposed in the Times, that it would be a work of supererogation on our jiart to advert in more than a very i)assing manner to that sub- ject. We found among tlie large farmers a great anxiety to vindicate themselves from the iniijutaliou of underpaying and unfairly treating the people under them. Several of them produced their labour-books in order to esoneratc iliemsclves from 114 THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. blame, and they all complained loudly that excep- tional cases had been described as applicable to the whole of Dorset, and that they had been held up to the public and were believed bj'^ it to be heartless grinders of the poor. The statements made by them v/ere to the effect that they gave their labourers Ss. a-week, a piece of potato ground, fuel, beer in harvest time, with extra wages, and sometimes for their carters, shepherds, and other principal servants, a house. The fuel supplied is brushwood and turf, which each labourer prepares for use himself, but which the farmer carries home for him. The allowance of beer is a gallon daily for each man, and that enormous quantity is usually consumed in the following manner :— A quart to breakfast at 10 o'clock, apint at half pasi 11 o'clock for luncheon, a quart during dinner between 1 and 2 o'clock, a ])int at 4 o'clock, with something to eat, or, as it is called, a " nammuck," at 5 o'clock, and the rest when the work is finished. These details were given to us as a triumphant refutation of the chaige that the Dorsetshire labourer is generally ill-used by his emj)loyer. We were further in- formed that the consumption of beer on a large farm involves in the year an expense of from £70 to £80 for malt. The supply commences with the hay-harvest, and ends when the corn corp is se- cured. Vve were not able to ascertain that any ])crnicious consequences to the health follow from this practice, which is the same as that already described in Devonshire, with the exception that there cider is used. A Devonshire cider cellar is little inferior in dimeneions to a vault in the docks, and in one of them we saw no less than 150 hogs- heads collected, about one-half of which were destined for the consumption of the farm. The labour-books exhibited to us certainly went to show that on the large holdings the principal labourers received the wages and perquisites above mentioned, but how far these are given to all em.- ployed we are unable confidently to state. V/omen are ]iaid Gd. a-day, and boys from half-a-crown to 3s. Gd. a-week. A compulsory sale of "gristings," or tail-wheat, to their people was strenuously denied by the farmers we visited ; but, although this may be perfectly correct with regard to them indivi- dually, we have reason to believe that this piactice still exists to a great extent in Dorsetshire, and that the small and poor tenants esjecially lesort to it ex- tensively. Among this last class the wages given at present aie as low as 7s., and even 6s. a-week; yet, with this miserable pittance to live upon, there is said to be no more distress among the labourers than for years they have been obliged to bear. "We were informei that they appreciate fully the advantages resulting from the low price of provi- sions. A clothing club has been established in the district of the county round Blandford, to which the labourers and their employers contribute equally, the subscription being Id. per week for each member of a familj'-, and the fund thus formed being applied to tlie purchase of clothes, v/hich are made at the labourers' homes. For instance, a labourer with two children subscribes 3d. per week, to be paid monthly ; his master pays an equal sum ; and at the end of the year the labourer gets clothing for his family to the amount sul>scribed by both, and of such a description as he chooses to select. In this manner £3,000 are said to be collected annually. Yfe close our survey of Dorsetshire by rtating hov/ for among the more intelligent farmers visited by us we heard opinions stated calculated to explain or meet the distress from which they are at present suffering. In this district they do not yet appera- to have i-elinquished the hope of a return to pi'otec- tion. We were not able to discover any traces of a movement to adjust the system of farming pur- sued in this county to the altered circumstances of the times ; the only change made being in the way of retrenchment, and, consequently, tending to diminish that high cultivation of the soil v.'hich is nov/ indispensable to profitable farming on these thin chalky uplands. In our last communication we pointed out some of the modes in which a re- duction of expense had already been effected. Vie have now to add, that the opinions expressed to us seem to indicate a further saving of outlay by lov/er- ing the wages of labour. From that lowering of wages discontent and tin-bulence are expected to arise, but be5'ond this point the anticipations of the Dorsetshire farmers do not as yet appear to extend. The large tenants appear less dissatisfied with their landlords, and less disposed to raise from the present distress a question of rent, than we have found to be the case in other parts of the country. Com- pensation for unexhausted improvements, the re- adjustment of the burdens on land, produce rents, security of tenure, and the various other subjects to v.'hich we have found the attention of agriculturists elsewhere so closely directed, do not seem to be very prominently discussed in this county. Yet it must not be supposed that the farmers of Dorset are not suffering from the prevaiHng distress : on that score they complain bitterly and loudly, and, if these com.plaints are well founded, the inference seems to be that, in tlie present depressed state of agriculture, men with large holdings of thin land cheaply worked with a corresponding rent, and men with smaller farms, the soil of which is good and the outlay and rent ])roportionaUy high, are equally exposed to the ad\'erse influences of the' markets. (To ie confinuecl.) THE OSAGE ORANGE FOIUIEDGES.— Mr. M Saul, of Garstang, has received the following from a correspondent at Pert Hope, Columbia, Co. Wisconsin, United States: — " I am obliged for your directiuff my attention to the Ohio Cultivator: in No. 2 there are full (liiections for obfaini:-- and sowing the seed of the Osage orange for hedges, v.'hich is found well calculalcd for that purpose. In No. 4 there is an engr.iviiig given, with full direclious for planting and cutting. They make a complete fence in four years from the so>viiig of the seed, as they make shoots of four feel in or.e season. This is a most important discovery to agriculturists: the seed is obtained at Texas, and sold at cue dollar per quart, and the oue-year-old plants at five dollars per thousand." Mr. Sanf writes as follows : — " Sir, — By allowing the above to appear in your columns, it may induce some of our agriculturists ob- taining either the seeds or plants from America, at;d give it a trial in England. Our thorn hedges almost require a man's life-time in raising; v.hereas, if this Osage orange pla!;t B ould answer in England as well as in America, it would be of the greatest importance in our agricultural improvements." THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 113 ROYAL AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY OF ENGLAND. Professor Way, Consulting-Chemist to the Socletj', delivered a lecture before the members, at iheir lIou»e ia Hanover-s(juare, on WeJnesdaj', the 19th Juae, " On Variations in the Chemical Composition of Water, as affecting its Agricultural Uses," his Grace the Duke of Richmond, K.G., Trustee, being in the chair. Among the members pi esent were, the Earls of Lonsdale and Chichester, Lord Bridport, Hon. II. H. Clive, MP., Sir Thomas Dyke Acland, Bart., M.P., Sir M. W. Ridley, Bart., Sir Charles Lemon, Bart., M.P., Sir John V. B. Johnstone, Bart., M.P., Sir Montague Cholmeley, Bart., Mr. Barugh Almack, Mr. Raymond Barker, Mr. Burke, Mr. Decimus Burton, Dr. Calvert, Mr. Carden, Rev. Thomas Cator, Mr. W. G. Caven- dish, M.P., Colonel Challoner, Mr. W. Clavering, Mr. Capel Cure, Mr. S. Druc.^ Mr. Dunne, Mr. Dyer, Mr. FieKlen, Mr. Fuller, M.P., Mr. Brandreth Gibbs, Mr. Harding, Mr. Fisher Ilobbs, Colonel MacDouall, Mr. Marshall, M.P., Mr. Maw, Mr. C. E. Overman, Mr. Parkins, Mr. Pendarvcs, M.P., Mr. Puller, Mr. Pusey, M.P., Mr. Thomas Rowlandson, Prof. Sowell, Mr. Shaw (London), Mr. Sillifant, Prof. Simonds, Ivlr. Slancy. M.P., Mr. Augustus Smith, Mr, Wilson (Stowlangtoft), and Mr. Vrrightson. LECTURE ON WATER. Professor Way commenced his lecture by stating, that he intended on that occasion to call the attention of the members to three important heads of in quiry connected with water ; more with a view to elicit from them prac- tical illustrations founded on their individual experience, than to offer to them anything particularly novel or established. These heads of inquiry vrcre the following : namely— 1. On Water for Steam and other Boilers : the means of ascertaining its comparative suitableness for that purpose, and of counteracting its tendency to in- crustation. 2, On Water for Irrigation : its chemical impregnation, and the theory of its action. 3. On the influence of Water, obtained under different circum- stances, on the health of Cattle, Horses, and other live stock on a farm. He remarked, that as the first head of inquiry related to the mechanical and chemical agency of inert matter, its details came within the range of analytical investigation, and he would he enabled to speak with much confidence on the facts he had to bring together under it ; but as the other two heads included a reference to local circumstances, and to the influence of the vital operations of vegetation and animal physiology respectively, in the production of results, what he had to say on these points would be much less decisive, and advanced more for the purpose of seeking than for giv- ing informntion. I. Waler for Sleam Boilers. — The water from the clouds reached the earth almost pure in a chemical sense, as a homogeneous liquid, composed of the ele- ments o.xygen and hydrogen. It was distilled from the sea and land, and from the leaves of veg^jtablcs in a state of purity, and formed clouds ; from which it again fell at intervals to the earth through the atmo- sphere, bringing with it only very minute traces, va- rying according to circumstances, and frequently in- appreciable by the chemist, of carbonic acid gas, am- monia, nitric acid, and the eflluvia arising from i.nia)al per.referred a jioiul into which dung fvater had run. — The Earl of Chichester had observed the same preference given for such water by cattle, but not to the same extent by sheep. — Dr. CaU 118 THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. vert had noticed that oxen preferred water in tronghs to that in the clearest springs. — The Duke of Richmond remarked that water given to race-horses in the stable had always the chill taken off it. — Sir John Johnstone, in reverting to the subject of hardness, referred to the softening of water by boiling, as in the well-known case of water for tea, and inquired whether the whole of the 15 or 16 degrees of hardness occasioned by the car- bonate of lime was removed by that action ? — Prof. Way stated that the deposition of the carbonate of lime did not take place at once on the application of heat. Prof. Clark considered H O" 2^ hours' boiling to be required to effect that object — The Rsv. T. Cator referred to the use of soda in softening water, which Prof. Way ob- served was adopted on account of its being cheaper than soap. — Mr. Raymond Barker alluded to the effect of toasted bread in softening water. He had a few days ago an opportunity of witnessing a confirmation of what had been stated of the predilection of cattle for impure water, by seeing them turn away from fresh water drawn for them out of a well, and seek the mud- water collected in little pools in the meadow where they were jiastured. He believed that cattle were generally indisposed to drink hard pure water. — Mr. Pusey, M.P., then favoured the meeting with his views on the action of water in connection with the beneficial effects attending the irrigation of Ian J. He doubted Vvfhether, in the present state of our knowledge, it could be admitted as a general axiom that hard water was good for irrigation, and soft water, on the contrary, prejudi- cial. In Devonshire, the criterion by which practical workers in water-meadows were guided in their judg- ment of the quality of the water most suitable for their operations, was that of a certain warm, soft, and oily sensation it communicated to the touch, when a portion of it was held and examined in the palm of the hand ; the absence of such a quality indicating, in their opinion, a water unsuitable for irrigation. He knew, as a fact, that when lime existed in any water in such excess as to give to it petrifying properties, such water was considered bypractical men as decidedly unfit for irrigating purposes. He accordingly much doubted whether hard water was the only water fit for irrigation. He trusted that water- meadows would not be confined to the lime-stone dis- tricts ; for in those geological districts of the west of Eng- land, where irrigation had been so long and successfully practised, lime was absent, and had therefore to be brought on the land from other districts, as requii'ed for the purposes of cultivation ; the v.ater being in con- sequence naturally soft. He considered that water in general became softened by remaining some time in ponds. In the hilly districts of Devonshire, the water of the small streams running down the declivities was found to improve in its irrigating qualities by such resting. Again : it had been found that water running over peaty land was prejudicial to it ; but that the same water filtering through such land into the drains was advantageous to it, probably from carrying off the peaty matter ; and by such percolation it became soft, and adapted for irriga- tion. He simply wished to express an opinion formed on the facts which had from time to time come before him on this subject, that it would, in the present state of their knowledge, be unsafe to assume the exclusive use of hard water in irrigation as an essential condition. In his paper on the Devonshire water-meadows, in the Society's Journal, he had only mentioned the prevailing opinion in that part of the country on this subject ; he thought they were still ignorant on many important • points in connection with the theory and practice of irri- gation, and he trusted that the practical inspection of the Catch and Water-meadows of Sir Thomas Acland and Mr. George Turner, at the Exeter Meeting, and the chemical analyses of the waters to be made by Prof. Way, would tend to a more exact acquaintance with tl\e principles and conditions of irrigation. — The Rev. Thos. Cator considered that the soil itself had much to do with the results of irrigation. — Mr. Almack fully agreed with the opinions expressed both by Mr. Pusey and Prof. Way. He thought that time would prove each of them to be correct in his views, when the particular conditions of each case were duly limited by further experience. He considered snow as the best exemplification of the bene- ficial action of water containing ammonia, and possessing chemical qualities from other impregnation, in addition to the influence exerted by its peculiar mechanical struc- ture.— Mr. Fisher Hobbs was glad to find from Prof, Way that this subject, of the economical employment of water, was to be pursued by him still further, especially in reference to points connected with agricultural opera- tions. He did not think that animals generally pre- ferred muddy to clear marly water from clean wells, al- though they might prefer it, after it had been drawn and stood some time, to the same water in its cold fresh state as obtained immediately from the well. The cattle on one of his farms had so great a predilection for the drain- age water from sand and gravel, that he was obliged to l fence off the mouth of the drain whence the water issued ' in order to restrain them. He thought farmers ouglit not to allow the runnings from their farm-yards to get into their ponds. He could fully confirm the views of Mr. Pusey. A curious circumstance had come within his ob- servation in reference to drainage water. He had cut a drain in his land one furlong in length and from eight to twelve feet in depth through sand and gravel, and veins of clay, and which yielded three gallons of drainage- water per minute. When the hot weather set in, a most obnoxious odour proceeded from this drain, and there was found, on examination, an accumulation of several cart-loads of a congealed gelatinous-looking substance, of an ochre- ous colour, and in substance resembling fresh animal liver. On revisiting the place, a fortnight ago, the whole mass of corruption had vanished, and only a few insects were to be found in its place. — Mr. Row- landson made some observations on the soap-test process of Professor Clark. He thought it a very simple and useful test for the hardness of water in all cases, ex- cepting when (as in the water of the Dolomitic districts) the hi carbonate of magnesia was present ; whenever the hardness arose from magnesia he believed the soap-test would fail to indicate its degree, or rather, it would give a false indication of its amount ; which might mis- lead, unless other tests were conjoined with the soap- test, for the j)urp03e of guarding against this occurrence. — Professor Way was aware that Professor Clark's test j applied only to certain waters ; it was useful from its ' generally applicable and simple mode of employment : at the same time, he agreed with Mr. Rowlandson that, in cases where magnesia was suspected, it would be desirable to employ a collateral test, although the indi- cation of hardness given by the soap -test with magnesian waters would at once, by its unusual amount, show the disturbance occasioned by the presence of some other salt than those of carbonate and sulphate of lime. With regard to the questions affecting the action of , water in irrigation, he had only to repeat his difiidence ii on the subject, although he thought the criterion of ,] hardness by which the Devonshire makers of water- meadows were guided might be fallacious, and that hard water might produce a soft, oily feeling to the hand as well as soft water. He had himself formed the opinion that the effects resulting from irrigation were due more to the chemical qualities of the water than to the circum- stance of its higher or lower temperature ; but he was sensible how ignorant we were on these difficult questions, and he should be most open to conviction, and glad to learn all that he could on the interesting subjects to which THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 110 be had tUcii Lad t'ut; plcasuic oi calling the attention of the uieuibers. On the motion of the Earl of Chichester, seconded by the Earl of Lonsdale, the best thanks of the meeting were tlien voted to Professor Way for his kindness in delivering before the members so interesting a lecture on that occasion. A Weekly Council was held on Wednesday, the 26th of June; present — the Hon. Robert Henry Clive, M.P., Trustee, in the Chair ; Earl of Lonsdale, Earl of Chichester, Lord Lovaine, Sir Thos. Dyke Acland, Bart., M.P., Sir .hohn V. B. Johnstone, Bart., M.P., Sir Montague Chohneley, Bart., Sir Robert Price, Bart., M.P., Sir E. M. Elton, Bart., Mr. T. Raymond Barker, Mr. John R. Barker, Dr. Calvert, Col. Chal- loner, Mr. Fuller, M.P., Mr. Brandreth Gibbs, Mr. Fisher Hobbs, ?.Tr. D. Lewis, Mr. Miles, M.P., Col. Morris, Mr. C. E. Overman, Mr. Parkins, Mr. Pen- darves, ?I.P., Mr. Thos. llowlandson. Prof. Sewell, Mr. Shaw (London), Mr. Shelley, Prof. Simonds, Mr. Towneley, Prof. Way, and Mr. AVilson of Stowlangtoft. Aiujlo-Merlno Wool. — Air. Rowlandson read to the Council a correspondence he had recently carried on with Mr. Leyland Woods, on the subject of Anglo- Merino Wool for the purposes of dyeing ; and submitted to the Members a sample of that Wool. He stated that it retained all the fineness of the old Southdown with a longer staple, which was susceptible of improvement from carding and fine combing, and was sought after for the mauufactureofcachmereandother shawls. Its quality was good, but its colour dirty, an unfavourable circum- stance, which prevented the wool from taking that bril- liant dye assumed by foreign wools. The great object of his bringing this subject before the Council was, to in- quire whether the bad colour of this wool might not be obviated or removed by judicious management of some kind. Unfortunately, the close quality of the South- down wool did not admit of that perfect washing to which the more open-fleeced wools could be subjected. The sample he exhibited possessed firmness and staple, and would fetch a high price in the market ; and it would compete with the finest foreign wools, if by any means it could be properly cleansed for the dyer. An interest- ing conversation then ensued between the Earl of Chichester, Mr. Shelley, The Hon. Mr. Clive, and Mr. Overman, on the circumstances connected with the growth of this wool, the character and age of the sheep from which it had been obtained, the management of the v.ool, and its market price compared with other wools. — Mr. Fisher Hobbs agreed with Mr. Roland- son on the importance of preparing this wool hy such detergent mtans as would increase its quality for the dyer, and its market value as an article for the ma- nufacturer.— Mr. Rowlandson remarked that the fineness of staple of this wool was adapted only for the finer class of goods, which were less in demand ; it had every quality for that purpose, evcepting purity of colour ; and he feared the stain or discoloration, on account of winch it thus failed in being perfect, was in- delible, and arose from natural causes, not from acci- dental circumstances. — Mr. Raymond Barker thought that the colour of wool was much influenced by the Boil on win'ch the sheep were kept. — Mr. Overman suspected tliat the application of spirits of tar was the frequent cause of the stains which were the subject of (complaint. — Mr. Fisher Hobbs had never found any difficulty ux cleansing his wool by washing it twice with soft soaj) and once with water. He thought it very desirable that some arrangement should be made by the woolstaplers and flockmasters, by which more induce- ment might be off-icJ for the production of sii^'crior wools. Turn'' p- Fly. —IacmX. Brown, R.N., exhibited to the Council his first attempt at adapting his Horticultural Fumigator to agricultural purposes. That littleinstrument had long been known to horticulturists as a simple, effec- tual, and portable means, by which volumes of tobacco or other fumes could be thrown in a cool and dense mass on shrubs and flowers, without injury to the most deli- cate plant ; or, by which green-houses, stoves, frames, apiaries, houses, ships, or other enclosed spacers might be fumigated in the most direct and precise manner. The successful employment of that instrument for those purposes had led Lieut. Brown (who had for many years in earlier life been extensively engaged in practical fanning) to attempt its adaptation to field uses, espe- cially to destroy or paralyze the ravages of the turnip- fly, by fumigating the crop with the empyreumatic smoke resulting from the slow burning of vegetable field refuse. This instrument was made for him by Messrs. Cottam and Hallen, and exhibited in action in the court-yard of the Society's house to the mem- bers. It consisted of a barrow-wheel and shaft-handles, supporting an iron-plate circular chamber, within which revolved (by means of a strap s:t in motion by such wheel) an axis with radiate fan-plates, at right angles to the plane of revolution of such axis. The chamber had two openings ; one at the side, by which the smoke was drawn into it (through an upright cylinder, at the top of which was the combustion box) by the rapid revolu- tion of the fans ; and the other in iront, by which the smoke was driven out through a pipe or nozzle, moving on a hollow ball-and-socket joint, and directed, like the same part of a garden. engine, on any object at pleasure. Mr. Brown was satisfied with the result of this first attempt, as far as it established, io his opinion, the application of his principle ; but he was dissatisfied with it inasmuch as the mechanical adjustments for generating the fumes, and throwing them out in sufficient quantity, and with the requisite rapidity, were incom- plete. He hoped, by the 10th of July, to produce a perfect engine for the inspection of the Council. In the meantime, he remarked that smoke of any kind was known to have the effect of paralyzing the fly, and arresting its ravages on the turnip crop, until the young plants could get into rough leaf, and out of danger. The only practical difficulty consisted in the mechanical means of applying it : this, he hoped, would be ac- complished when the engine he had the honour to ex- hibit to the Members should be perfected. This barrow- fumigator was wheeled by one man within the drills, at the rate of three miles per hour : it could be set for any width or depth, and employed for any crop. Cork Meetitiff. — Mr. Bullen, Secretary to the Royal Agricultural Improvement Society of Ireland, informed the Council that the country meeting of that Society would this year be held in the city of Cork, in the week succeeding the Exeter Meeting of the Royal Agricultural Society of England ; and he invited the attendance of the members and exhibitors who attended the latter meeting to pass over into Ireland to the Cork Meeting, where a most cordial and grateful reception would be given to them, for such an instance of their sympathy and kind interest in the agriculture of the sister island, placed like that of England under the auspices of a kindred Royal Society. At a Monthly CotiNciLheld at the Society's House in Hanovcr-squarc, on Wednesday, the 3rd of July: present, the Marijuis of Downshire, President, in the Chair; Lord Camoys, Lord Bridport, Lord Portman, Hon. R. H. Clive, M.P., Sir Matthew White Ridley, 120 Till-; FARMER-o MAGAZINE. Bart., Sir Charles Lemon, Bart., M.P., Sir Robert Price, Bart., Colonel Austen, Mr. Raymond Barker, Mr. C. Barnett, Mr. S. Bennett, Mr. Blanshard, Mr. Bramston, M.P., Mr. Brandreth, Mr. Burke, Mr. \V. G. Cavendish, M.P., Colonel Challoner, Mr. Garrett, Mr. Brandreth Gibbs, Mr. Fisher Hobbs, Mr. S. Jonas, Mr. Kinder, Mr. Pendarves, M.P., Mr. Pusey, M.P., Prof. Sewell, Mr. Shaw, of London, Mr. Shelley, Prof. Simonds, Mr. W. Simpson, Mr. Stansfield, M.P., Mr. Turner, of Barton, Mr. Jonas Webb, and Prof. Way. Finances. — Colonel Challoner, Ch^iirraan of the Finance Committee, presented to the Council the IMonthly Report on the Accounts and Funds of the Society; from which it appeared, that on the last day of the month of June, then just ended, the current cash- balance in the hands of the Bankers was ^'2,435. He explained that this general balance included ^£"'660 on the Exeter Subscription Account, and £290 to be in- vested as life-compositions ; leaving a balance of ^^1,485 available for current purposes. Colonel Challoner then proceeded to inform the Council that the cases of arrears in the County of Middlesex had been gone into, and where proceedings had been taken, the amounts claimed had either been paid into court, or at the office of the Society. In the case of one party, however, who re- sisted the claim in a court of law, the Society obtained the amount of their demand with full costs. He added, that as soon as the period of the approaching Exeter Meeting was over, the Finance Committee would be prepared to proceed in the same manner with defaulters in other counties. This Report was unanimously adopted by the Council. Lecture-Room. — The Report of the House Committee having been read, the consideration of that part of it which had reference to a recommendation by the Com- mittee that a lecture-room should be erected on the Society's premises, was deferred until the Committee were prepared to submit to the Council a working plan of the room proposed, and an estimate of its cost of erection. — The Marquis of Downshire then informed the Council that, as their President at that time, it gave him very great pleasure to testify his respect to the Members, and to evince his abiding interest in the welfare of the Society, by making a proposition to the Council which he hoped they would as readily accept, if it should be deemed advantageous to the prosecution of the worthy objects of the Society, as it was most readily and cheerfully oifered on his part ; namely, to avail themselves, as they should find it convenient, of the prin- cipal apartment in his family mansion in Hanover Square, where, by giving a day's notice to his servants, every accommodation would at once be made for any Lecture the Council might at any time decide upon as calculated to diffuse scientific and practical information on agricul- tural subjects. — On the motion of Lord Camoys, seconded by Mr. Shelley, this most considerate and handsome offer on the part of the Marquis of Downshire was unanimously accepted by the Council, with an ex- pression of their grateful sense of the kindness which had prompted his Lordship to make it to them. Agricultural Chemistry. — Mr. Pusey, M.P., in sub- mitting to the Council the Report of the Chemical Committee, took that opportunity of expressing his satisfaction at the favourable progress made by Pro- fessor Way, in carrying out in his laboratory the various researches connected with important points of agricul- tural science and practice, recommended by the Com- mittee and approved by the Council. Veterinary Inspection — Mr. Raymond Barker, Chair- man of the Veterinary Committee, laid before ihe Council the Report of that Committee, along with the special reports made to them by Professor Simonds, the Veterinary Inspector of the Society, on the case of cows in Somersetshire belonging to a tenant of Lord Portman's, and on the outbreak of pleuro-pneumonia among the stock of Mr. Capel Cure, in Essex. These reports were referred to the Journal Committee. Pro- fessor Simonds continued to regard pleuro-pneumonia as a purely non-inliammatory disease at its commencement. Exeter Meeting. — Lord Portman transmitted to the Council the following report from the General Exeter Committee : — 1. The Committee have concluded contracts with Mr. Manning for the execution of the paviliou and show- yards, and for the hire of hurdles. 2. They have concluded a contract with M. Soyer, for the supply and furnishing of the pavilion diuuer, at the average rate of the contract price at the former country meetings of the society. 3. They have chosen by lot the stewards of the tables in the pavilion. 4. They have referred the invitations to the high tabic to a committee, consisting of the president, the past pre- sident, and the president-elect. 5. They have made a preliminary arrangement for the toasts and speakers at the pavilion dinner. G. They have received and published the secretary's tinal report, on his communication with the railway com- panies, on the subject of concessions in favour of the Society's Exhibitors at the Exeter ileeting. 7. They have made the usual applic:ition to II er Majesty's principil Secretary of State for the Home Department for metropolitan police. 8. They have made due arrangements for the various tickets and the official badges required at the Exater Meeting. 9. They have completed and published the programme of proceedings for the occasion. This report having been adopted by the Council, a report was received from Mr. Manning, the Society's contractor of works, on the near completion of all the arrangements connected with the erection of the Pavilion and Show-yards. — Mr. Brandreth Gibbs informed the Council that he should proceed to Exeter in a few days from that date, for the purpose of commencing his operations in the Show-yard, and that he should be pre- pared, as the Honorary Director of the Show, to receive and attend to any instructions the Council might think proper to transmit to him. Judges. — Lord Portman, Chairman of the Judge's Committee, having transmitted to the Council the list of Judges recommended by them for]the Exeter Meeting, in the different departments of Implements and Live Stock, the Council adopted that report, and made the appoint- ment accordingly of the various parties proposed. Sheep. Shearing. — On the motion of Mr. Shaw, of London, seconded by Mr. Jonas, the Council passed the following resolution : — "That it be an instruction to the judges to see that, ac- cording to the terms of the certiftcate, the sheep ex- hibited at the country meetings of the society be fairly and properly shorn; and that the director of the show be requested to take measures that no shearing be allowed in the show-yard." Leicester Sheep. — Mr. Pawlett, of Beeston, ad- dressed a letter to the Council, entering into a detail of the " unfair practices that had been used at some of the shows of the society, and which he understood would be again attempted at the ensuing Exeter Meeting; a com- munication he made in the hope that the Council would order special instructions to be given to the Judges of Leicester Sheep, to examine the different animals shown iu those cliisses, before awarding the prizes, in order to disqualify all those that were not produced agreeably with the printed conditions." Agricultural Implements. — Colonel Challoner, Chair- THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. man of the Implement Committee, presented to the Council the Report of that Committee, from the various practical details of which connected with the Stewards' Department, the following two paragraphs may be se- lected for publication, on account of the general interest felt on the points to which they refer, namely : — 1. The Committee have the satisfaction of reporting to the Comicil, tliat the improvements made by Mr. Amos, the Consulting Engineer to the Society, in the appa- ratus for testing the pcver of machinery, will supersede the necessity of the Society's hiring or purchasing a steam-engine of their own for the trials at their Coun- try Meeting. 2. The Committee recommend that the Judges, in tlieir awards to implements under the head of " Miscella- neous," bear in mind the requirements of small farmers. Colonel Challoner assured the Council that Mr. Amos's arrangements were now most perfect. It had been feared that the necessity of the Society's being put to the great expense and inconvenience of having their own Steam-engine for their trials of Agricnllural Im- plements and Machinery would prove an imperative one : he, however, had not felt that fear so strongly as others had done: he knew the principle adopted for as- certaining what quantity of power each machine required to do a certain amount of work, to be a sound one; and he had full confidence that the zeal and mechanical science of Mr. Amos would ultimately triumph, as it had done, over every temporary obstacle. — Mr. Turner, of Barton, expressed the satisfaction he felt to find that attention was recom- mended to the wants of the small farmer, who required for the cultivation of his land only those implements that were simple in their construction and easy to be worked. — Colonel Challoner remarked, that being so well acquainted as he was with the County of Somerset, he well knew how much such implements as those re- commended by the Committee, and referred to by Mr. Turner, were required by the small holders in the West of England ; and he should never rest content with the results obtained by the Society until implements on the best principle, and for every purpose of cultivation under those circumstances, could be made at a moderate expense by any common blacksmith througliout the country. 121 s^ The President laid befoi'e the Council a comnuiuica- tion addressed to him by M. CClestin Chilliard, of Paris, on his mode of arresting the })rogress of the potato disease. Lord Rossraore conveyed the Council his high sense of the value of the^ciety's Journal. Mr. Nestit, of Kennington, presented a copy oi" h\» chart of the principal Fossiliferous Deposits in the British Islands, prepared for the use of his pupils. Mr. Layton Cooke [iresented a copy of his " Referee and Guide to the Valuation of Real Property," dedicated by him to the Society. Mr. Henry Besley presented a copy of his " Hand Book to Exeter, and to the Exeter Meeting." The Council having ordered their usual thanks to the respective authors of these communications and presents, adjourned to the following Wednesday ; and notice was given that, on the rising of that Meeting, they should adjourn (over the Special Councils to be held at the Guildhall in Exeter) to their Monthly Meeting in Lon- don, on Wednesday the 7th of August. The following new members were elected : Amos, Charles Edward, C.E., The Grove, Southwark Birmingham, William, Thillerton, Broadclist, Devonshire Bullock, George, East Coker, Somerset Cutler, George Henry, Upton Lodge, Torbay, Devon Dillett, John, Petticombe, Torringtou Durant, Richard, Sharphara, Devon Ffooks, Thomas, Sherborne, Dorset Gard, Richard Sommers, Rougemont, Exeter Hardy, John, junr., 3, Portland Place, London Hurd, Thomas, 2, Blandford Square, Ijondon Jolmson, James, Chatterley Hall Farm, Tuustall, Staffs. Lidstone, Roger, George-street, Plymouth Miles, William, Dix's Field, Exeter Morris, Colonel I>ewis G. (Vice-President of the New York State Agricultural Society, and Chairman of (he Board of Agriculture of the American Institute), Morrisani:i, near New York N\iiui, James Hardy, Pool-place, Great Yeldham, Essex Koundell, Rev, Henry, Southernhay, Exeter Sncll, Benjamin, Wayton, Devouport Snow, Tiiomas, Franklyn, Exeter Wytliis, George, Reigate, Surrey. ROYAL AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY OF ENGLAND.— ANNUAL COUNTRY MEETING. ORIGIN OF THE SOCIETY. The following account of the origin of the Society, from the Norfolk News of last year, com- piled ljy Cuthbcrt W. Johnson, Esq., will be in- teresting to the agriculturists of the district in which the meeting of the Society has just been held. For many years after the dissolution of the Board of Agriculture, there was not to Ijc found in this country any national society which, in its ob- jects and power, could l)e compared to the great and successful Highland Society of Scotland. The first person who steadily and successfully exerted himself to form such a society was Mr. William Shaw, of London — a gentleman to whom in this, as in many other great eflbrts, agricidture is deeply indebted. On many occasions, during 1S34 and the succeeding years, in more tlian one agricultural periodical, he suggested and advocated the esta- blishment of a national institution for the advance- ment of practical agriculture, and of ])raclical agriculture only. He had also, to accomplish this object, several personal communication:-; witli the late Lord Spencer, the Duke of Richmond, Mr. Handley, and other great leading agriciiltinists ; and, in consequence of these efforts, at the dinner of the Smithfield Club, on the 1 1th of December, 1837, Lord Spencer, in his address to the Members of the (Jlub, suggested the establishment of such a society — a suggestion which was warmly received by the meeting, and was immediately responded to l)y the Duke of Richmond, Mr. Handley, Mr. E. W. Wilmot, and, in fact, by the whole party. Lord Spencer remarked (alluding to the Smith- field Club), " Our society in the metropolis is totally useless for the promotion of the general purjjoscs of agriculture ; but if a society were esta- blished for agricultural purposes exclusively, I hesitate not to say that it woidd be productive of the most essential I)enefits to the English farmer. There is one point, however, which I must impress uj)on you, in reference to the formation of a iuciety such as I have mentioned, namely, that there can be no prospect of our obtaining any useful results, unless politics, and the discussion of all matters which might become subjects of legislative enact- ment, are scriii)ulously avoided at its meetings." The Duke of Richmond, at the same meeting, ex- pressed as his opinion that " such an institution 1-22 THE KARMKR^S MAGAZINE. would promote agriculUirej and confer great and inestiraable advantages on every class of the com- munity." Mr. Handley, when observing that he had long contemplated the formation of such a society, very truly remarked that " there is not a single department of farming but what is capable of vast improvement." — Far. 3Ic(j.,yo\.\ui., p. 48. A short time after this discussion, there ap- peared a very excellent pamphlet from the late Mr. Handlej', dated from Culverthorpe, in January, 183S, entitled "A Letter to Earl Spencer (Presi- dent of the Smithfield Club) on the formation of a National Agricultural Institution." In the course of this, he very justly observed (and the answer to his concluding question can only be made in one way) "great attention and expense, spirited emula- tion, and well-directed e.iperiments, grounded upon scientific principles, have succeeded in jiroducing that near approach to perfection in breeding and feeding cattle, which was so remarkal^le at the late Christmas show. Why, then, should not the same combined eflbrts be united in the application of science to the sister art,agriculture, which your lord- ship has justly pronounced to be still inits infancy ?" The public impression of the value of such a society to the advancement of agriculture now became too general to fail of producing the ex- pected results, and in the early part of the following month of March an advertisement appeared in the public papers, to the effect that several noblemen and gentlemen "having observed the great ad- vantages which the cultivation of the soil in Scot- land has derived from the establishment and exer- tions of the Highland Society, and thinking that the management of land in England and Wales, both in the cultivation of the soil and in the care of woods and plantations, is capable of great im- provement by the exertions of a similar society, re- quest that those who are inclined to concur with them in this opinion will meet them on Wednes- day, the 9th of May, 1838, at the Freemasons' Tavern." To this was attached the signatures of the Dukes of Richmond and Wellington, the Earls FitzwiUiam, Spencei', Chichester, Ripon, and Strad- broke. Lord Portman, R. Clive, B. Portman, B. Baring, Sir James Graham, Sir F. Lawley, J. Bowes, E. Buller, R. A. Christopher, H. Blanchard, W. T. Copeland, J. W. Childers, R. Etwall, H. Handley, C. S. Lefevre, W. Long, W. MUes, J. Neeld, E. W. W. Pendarves, P. Pusey, E. A. Sandford, R..A. Slaney, J. A. Smith, R. G. Town- ley, W. Whitbread, and Henry Wilson. In consequence of this address, on the 9th of May a very numerous and influential meeting was held, at which Earl Spencer presided ; and at which, after some attempted interruption by one or two persons who did not exactly comprehend the ob- jects of the projjosed society, it was resolved, on the motion of the Duke of Richmond, seconded by Mr. Handley: — ]. "That a society be es- tablished for the improvement of agriculture in England and Wales, and that it be called the ' English Agricultural Society.' " 2. On the mo- tion of Sir Robert Peel, seconded by Mr. C. Shaw Lefevre, "That no question be discussed at its meetings of a political tendency." 3. On the mo- tion of Sir James Graham, seconded by Mr. W. T. Copeland, " That the s(jciety should consist of two classes. Governors and Members." 4. On tl%e motion of Earl FitzwiUiam, seconded by Mr. P. Pusey, "That annual meetings be held successively in ditFerent parts of England and Wales." 5. On the motion of the Earl of Chichester, seconded by Mr. E. S. Caylejr, " That a Committee be appointed to frame Rules and Regulations, and to report to a general meeting on the 27th of June." And it was finally agreed that all those who joined the Society before that day might become members of the Society ; but that subsequently to that ])eriod, they should be elected by the Committee. The list of those who by the 12th of May, or within three days of the Society's formation, were its members, is worthy of being preserved : it is a hst which we have little doubt will long be a source of interest to the English farmer, for it contains the names of almost all those who, with Mr._ Shav/, may be regarded as the founders of the Society. LIST OF SUBSCRIBERS TO THE ENGLISH AGRI- CULTURAL SOCIETY, M.\Y 12, 1838. Acland, Sir T., Bart. Challoner, Col. Adeane, II. J. Chapman, T. Alston, R. Chai)man, G. Alston, R. G. Chichester, Earl of Amherst, Lord Childers, J. W. Angersteiu, J. J. Christopher, R. A. Antrobus, Sir E., Bart. Clay, W. Arbuthnot, Right Hon. C. Clive, Hon. R. Arelideckne, E. Cook, O. Ba?ge, W.,M.P. Copeland, Alderman Baker, J. W. Cormack, W. Barber, R. Cormack, W. J. Barclay, C. Cronipton, S. ■<, Barclay D. Cure, C. 'I Baring W. B. Curteis, E. B. 4 Barker, G. Curtis, \V. 4 Barker, J. R. Dacre, Lord A Barker, T. R, Davenport, E. « Barnard, R. David, F., E.«.q. Barncby, J. Dcnison, W. J. Beach, Sir M. H., Bart, Dixon, R. W. Bevell, J. Downshire, Marquis of Blachford 0. Drury, G. Blake, — Egerton, T. W. Bland, W. Eliot, Lord Bhinchard, H. Ellnian, J. Bowes, J. Ellman,T. Boys, H. Enys, J. S. Boys, — Essex, Earl of Bouverie, E. Etwall, R. Bramston, T. W. Euston, Earl Braybroke, Lord Evans, W. Bridport, Lord Exeter, Marquis of B rem well, Rev. II. FitzwiUiam, Earl Brookes, J. Flight, T. Bruges, W. H. L. Flounders, B. Budd, Capt. H, Freeman, W. P. Buller, E. Gardner, Rev. C. Buller, T. W. (iibbon A. Banbury, Sir H., Bart. Gibbs, H. Burke, F. Gidley C, Burlington, Earl of Gooeh, Sir T., Bart. Caldecote, R. M. Goodrick, Sir F., Bart. Calverley, T. Gordon,—, M.P. Cambridge, H.R.H. the Goring, Mrs. Duke of Goring, C. Capper, — Gorringe, J. P. Cavendish, Hon. C. C. Gorringe, Mrs. J. P. Cayley, Sir G., Bart. Gowlng, E. Tilh FARMKR'S MAGAZINE, 123 Grace, Rev. li. T. Gfahani, Sir J., Bart. (Jnifton, the Duke of Graliain, Rev. II. G. Graiuliam, t>. Grey, W. II. C. Griiiibliaw, \V. Hall, G. W. Hal^tecI, T. Haiiilley, IF. Jlaiulley, W. F. Hal lici toil Lord Hay ward, M. H(atlicc>ate, J. Heatlicoate, Sir. W., Burt. Henea^'e, E. Herbert, Hou. S. Hewer, J. Hewitt, Lieut. Hewitt, W. H. Hillvard, C, E?q. Hobbs, W. F. Hod-es, T. L. Hodsud, W. Hod.-ou, — Holu.es, W. S. Honey, Rev. J. Ho?kii)*, K. Howick, Viseouut Hulse, SirC, Bart. llur*t, H. H, Hurst, — Ide, J. liclicster. Lord Jodrell, tjir I'., Bart. Johnson, Sir ]•'., Bart. Johrison, Rev. Dr. Joliuson, C. W. Kenyon, Lord Kerrison, bir E., Bart. Kilsoii, Rev. II. Kirnbcrley, \V. G. Kiiii, Lord KuatchliuU, SirE., Bart. Knif-ht, 11. G. Lansdowiip, Marquis of Lauli V, Sir F,, Bart. Lefevi'e, C. S. LemoD, Sir C. L(y, J. H. Livcsev, T. Lontr, W. Lyon, J. Marsl.all, Capt. H. iMar.«hall, W. Melbourne, Viscount Miles, P. J. Miles, W. Milne, A. Moore, Rev. H. ' Moreton, L<)rd Moreton, Hon. A. Moruan, Sir C, Bart. JSlorton, J. ' Morrison, J. I Mount, \V. I Neate, H., St. John I Neeld, J. i Nouki!", — North, F. Northuniberl md, Duke of Nurse, W. '' 0'^\e, H. I Oliver, W. Pa-(!en, — Palnicr, R. Piirkcs, J. W. H. Patten, W. Patterson, W. S. Peel, Sir R., Bart. Pcgus, Rev. W. Pell, Sir \V. O. Peudarvcs, E. W. Peppercorn, II. Perry, G.W. Philips. J. Burton Phillips, Mark Phipps, Thomas Hole Pinnock, Rev. J. Pinnock, Rev. H. Pittman, Rev. T. Piatt, — Ple.^tow, C. B. Portman, Lord Price, Sir R., Bart. Pusey, P. Radnor, Lord Ranso'.ne, J. A. Rawden, C. Wyiul Rayleigh, Lord Richards, James Richmond, Duke of Ridgway, J. Ripon, Earl of Robinson, Rev. W. B. Rogerjon, John Rogerson, Joseph Rushbridgcr, John Russell, Lord C. Sadler, Henry Salomons, David Sandford, E. A. Saunders, T. B. Satterfield, Joshua Shaw, Wni, ShcHield, Lord Shcrborn, George Sheridan, R. B. Slaney, R. A. Smith, Jeremiali Smith, J. A. Smith, VV. Smythies, Rev. J. R. Sonde*", Lord Spencer, Cai)taia Spencer Earl Stace, — Stanley, Lord Starr, — Stone, \V. Stradbroke, Earl of Stafford, Dugdale Suffolk, Earl of Sumner, Col. H. Talbot, Earl of Tattersall, J. Thompson, P. B. Thompson, Rt. Hon. C. P. Tildeii, John Town ley, R. G. Trotter, John Vane, Rev. J. Veriiev, Sir H., Bart. Wall, B. C. \Vats(m, Hon. R. Webb, William Webster, Lady Weeding, Thomas Wclby, Sir W., Bart. Welland, Ciiarles Wellington, the Duke of Wrrisley, Rev. J. A. Whiiear, Rev. J. A. Whitbread, W. Whitlaw, C. Wi.itting, J. H. Wilbraham, G. Wilkinson, Rev. F. Wiiliaiii;-, W. Wilriiot, Sir E., Burl VV'ilmott, E. W. Wills, B. Wilson, Henry W ingate, W. B. Wood, C. Wood, John Worsley, Lord Youatt, William, Tims commenced the Royal Agricultural Societv of Eiit;lanil — an associatkin which, in ton years only from its formation, has outstripped, both in power and in usefulness, not only the Highland Society of Scotland, and every other agricultural association in the United Kingdom, but bids fair to aulueve still greater things hereafter, for the husbandry of Great Britain. PREPARATIONS FOR HOLDING THE MEET- ING FOR 1850 IN EXETER. [from the EXETER. FLYING POST.] The Council of the Royal Agricultural Society having intimated in the early part of the year 1848 that the meeting for 1850 should be held in ons of the south- western counties, and a letter to that effect having been forwarded to Dr. Shapter, then Mayor of Exeter, accom- panied with certain queries which the Society required to be satisfactorily answered, that gentlemim, after an interview with G. Turner, Esq., of Barton, decided on holding a public meeting in Exeter, and which took place on the 28th July, 1848, in the Guildhall of this city, and was attended by gentlemen belonging both to the city and county. At that meeting, the advantages resulting from the proceedings of the Royal Agricultural Society, in improving everything connected with farming pursuits, whereby the largest and best amount of farm produce could be obtained, was ably placed before the meeting by G. Turner, Esq., B. Fulford, Esq., J. SiUi- fant, Esq. (the then high sheriff for the county), and others. The benefit likely to result to the city from the great influx of visitors was also stated ; and in that res- pect the statements of those who were the first movers in the matter have been fully reahzed. At that meeting a committee was appointed, consisting of many of the gentry and great agriculturists of the county, as well as the most respectable inhabitants of the city, to invite the Society to Execer, and to set before the members of the Council the great advantages Devon possessed over the other counties comprised in the south-western dis- trict. At the same meetin;;;, subscriptions amounting to upwards of £300 were immediately entered into towards defraying certain expenses, and which the ."Society re- quired should be guaranteed before they made their se- lection. Amongst those whose nam( s were then put down were Sir T. D. Acland, Bart., M.P., Sir J. Y, BuUer, Bart., M.P., and L. W. Buck, Esq., M.P., for £bO each. These preliminaries having been entered into, the committee set to work, and through the untiring exer- tions both of G. Turner, Esq., tlic treasurer, and C. Brutton, Esq., the secretary of the committee, the sum required was soon realized; sites for show-yards, &c., were inspected and duly rejiorted, and everything put in a proper course to receive the committee of inspection. Accordingly, on the 18th April, 1840, the committee, consisting of R. Barker, Esq., H. Brandreth, Esq., W, F. Hobbs, i:sq., \V. Shaw, Esq., and R. Mdlward, Esq., visited this city, and. with the local committee, inspected the various localities, as well as ma