MASSACHUSE'lTS STATE COLLEGE GOODELL LIBRARY Per ^■0^ 5cv>.3 -' y31 No. 1, Vol. XXXI.] JANUARY, 1867. [Third Series- THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE AHD MONTHLY JOURNAL 01" THE AdEICULTURAL INTEREST. IBetrirattlr TO THE FARMERS OF THE UNITED KINGDOM. LONDON : rUBLISHED BY ROGERSON AND TUXFORD, 246, STRAND. PRICE TWO SHILLINGS. ROGERSON AND TUXFORD,] [PRINTERS, 246, STRAND. J. & F.HOWARD, BRITANNIA IRON WORKS, BEDFORO, PATENTEES AND MANUEACTURERS OE CHAMPIOlf PLOUGHS, STEAM CULTIVATORS, STEAM PI.OUGHS, HARROWS, HORSE RAKES, HAYMAKERS, AND OTHER AGBIGULTUBAL IMPLEMENTS. From their long experience and great manufacturing facilities, J. & F. Howard are in a position to supply Agricultural Machinery, not only of the best design, but of the best workmanship it is possible to produce. Tlieir aim for many years has been to manufacture Implements which, whilst most efficient in work, should prove economical and durable in use. Being extensive Farmers themselves, they have full opportunities of testing every machine before offering it to the public. J. & F. HOWARD have long devoted attention to the Manufacture of IMPLEMENTS FOR ALL PARTS OF THE WORLD, AND BEING THE LARGEST EXPORTERS IN ENGLAND OF PLOUGHS, HARROWS, AND HORSE RAKES, Ihey are fully acquainted with the kind of Implements adapted for various countries. Their Implements are made piincipally of WROUGHT and MALLEABLE IRON, and are not only constructed so as to take to pieces and pack in the smallest compass to gave freight, but are so simply arranged as to leave no difficulty in putting them together. Packing Cases and Packing charged Cost Price. CATALOGUES, with full Particulars, sent POST FREE on application. London Office— 4, Cheapside, three doors from St. Paul's, RANSOMES & SIMS, ORWELL WORKS, 9, GRACECHURCH ST. IPSWICH AND LONDON. Il7^>.]SrSOMES' &; SIMS, ORWELL WORKS, IPSWICH. LONDON: 9, GRACECHURCH STREET. RANSOMES' PRIZE PLOUGHS WON FOUR FIRST PRIZES IkX the last great Plough Trials of the Royal Agricultural Society of England at Newcastle, July, 1864, . BEING FOUR TIMES AS MANY AS WERE WON BY ANY OTHER MAKER. Since that time they have also Won 83 ALL ENGLAND CHAMPION PRIZES In 24 difTerent Counties. Money Value upwards of £350. N.B. — No other maker has ever won so many in so short a time. JBANSOMES' PRIZE PLOUGHS HAVE ALSO WON a great number of Prizes in the hands of Farmei's' Sons and Local men, including 23 SILVER CUPS, 2 SILVER WATCHES, 5 SPECIAL AWARDS, 24 LOCAL CHAMPION PRIZES and many First Class Awards, Medals, and Diplomas from British, Foreign, and Colonial Agricultural Societies. Prices and. Particulars of some of Ransomes' Prize Ploughs : — B.F.I. B.F.S. A Pony Plough A one-horse Plough one wheel £2 7 6 one wheel 2 17 6 two wheels £3 7 6 K.N.D. A light two-horse Plough as a swing 3 7 6 two wheels 4 5 0 R.N.E. A light general purpose Plough , as a swing 3 17 6 two wheels 4 15 0 R.N.F. A strong general purjiose Plough as a swing 4 2 6 two wheels 5 0 0 Ski)n coulter, 5s. Drag chain. 2s. Steel breast, 7s. 6d. extra. ; Besides the above R. & S. manufacture Ridging, Subsoiling, Potato Raising, Trenching, Double Furrow, One-way or Turnwrest Ploughs, etc., and many others, both ^uvith Iron and Wood Beams, and adapted for every kind of Culture. Full particulars of w^hich they w^ill be happy to furnish on application. iMISOlES' PATEIT CHILLED PLOTJ&H SHIRES ' being made with the greatest care, and of the best selected Iron, AEE MOBE DURABLE THAN ANY OTHEES. Bansomes & Sims also manufacture Harrows, Horse Bakes, and other Field Implements, of the highest excellence. IMW PATENT SEir-CLEAinG AUD ADJUSTABLE ROTARY CORI SCREEN, FOR SCKEENING BARLEY, WHEAT, ETC. More than one thousand of these invaluable machines are in use. They have peculiar mej-its, which are fully explained in a special catalogue that will be forwarded on application, ^'rice in its simplest form . £12 12 a | Price, for attaching to Thrashing, with i Stone-Separator . 13 13 0 j Machine, including Packing with'Stone Separator and Blower 16 16 0 _ Catalog-U-es sent Free on application. £9 9 <» RA.ISrSO]V£]ES & SIIVIS, ORWELL WORKS, IPSWICH. LONDON : 9, GRACECHUROH STREET. STEAM THRASHING MACHINERY. Thirteen Gold Medals, the Council Medal of the International Exhibition of 1862, and nnmerou* other Certificates, Prizes, and Awards, have been received by Eansomes & Sims for their Thrashing Machines. These Maelunes stand in the first rank for simplicity, durability, economy of power in proportion to tlie work done, and excellence in all the operations they profess to perform. PATENT DOUBLE-BLAST FINISHING MACHINE. Prices of chus K. Machine A 3, 5 ft. drum. . . £150 Ten-Horse Power Portable Engine, with all usual ) 240 Machine A 1, 54 in. drum Eijiht- Horse Power Portable Engine £125 210 £335 accessories PATENT SINGLE-BLAST MACHINE. Prices of class 0. Machine C 1, 54 in. drum Eight-Horse Power Portable Engine 100 210 £310 Machine C 3, 5 ft. drum Ten-Horse Power Portable Engine £3911 £120 240 £3fi0 PORTABLE STEAM ENGINES. LEADING FEATURES OF THESE ENGINES. 1. Simplicity of design and construction. 2. Excellence of materials and workmanship. . . i -i-i +1 3 Strength and good proportion in the Boilers, so that without sacrificing portability tliey contain ample Heating surface and abundant room for circulation of the water, ami rapid formation of steam. 4. Great economj' of Fuel. ~-~^-= — - zss-=^ - 5. Adaptation to any description of Fuel. ^ . SINGLE CYLiNUEK PORTABLE ENGINE. Q, Great durability and facility of repairs ; all Avearing parts for Lngines ot the same size are interchangeable ; they have ample wearing surface, and are case hardened wheres^er desirable. 7. Each Engine is furnished with all necessary Tools for its efficient working. 1 SINGLE CYLINDER KNGINE.S. NOMINAL HORSE POWER Price of Portable Engines Price of Self- Moving Engines £ 130 150 165 180 195 210 340 To 1 12 240 370 270 D0UI5LE CYLINDER ENGIN ICS. 10 1 12 14 16 18 20 260 \ 300 1 390 1 440 335 480 375 410 445 STATIONARY STEAM ENGINES. BEST MATERIALS & WORKMANSHIP. SIMPLE. COMPACT. DURABLE. I^ll Power. Complete. Power. Complete. Power. Complete. ^ftj 4-Horse £150 0 10- Horse £230 0 20 -Horse £460 0 i5lF 6- Horse 185 0 12-Horse . 270 0 25-Horse . 554 0 ^^ 8- Horse 195 0 15- Horse . 400 0 30- Horse 800 0 IMPROVED DRESSING MACHINES, Price, No. 4, without the Spiked Holler „ No. 3, with the Spiked Roller „ No. 6, without the Spiked Roller „ No. 1, with the Spiked Roller £ 9 0 0 ) ic'dl dfenn 10 0 0 ji 30 bushels. 11 11 0 I will dress 13 13 0 60 bushels. Tobacco, and other Tropical crops. RA-lSrSOlVIKS Sc BIMS, ORWELL WORKS, IPSWICH. LONDON: 9, GRACECHURCH STREET. IMPROVED HORSE GEAR, DUIVING^ AIST ARKAISTGEIVIENT OF FOOD ^SIACHINBRY. One-Hoise Gear . . £9 0 0 Intermediate Motion, for eitlier, 4 O O Two-Horse Gear, £10 O O PuUej'S and Straps according to size. SELECT LIST OF THE MOST USEFUL SIZES OF FOOD PREPARING MACHINERY FOR HORSE POWER. £19 9 6 1 Two-Horse Gear, £10 0 0, 1 Intermediate Motion, £4 0 0 20-inch Pulley on ditto, 1 for driving Oil Cake Breaker, £0 14 6 24-in(jh Pulley for driving Universal Mill, £1 1 0 Strap for Oil Cake Breaker, £1 17 0 Strap for Universal Mill, £1 17 0 ) 1 Chaff Cutter No. 24, cuts two lengths, | ami | in. without change of wheels. Will cut about j 15 cwt. of hay or straw into | in. length ]ter hour, with 1 Horse power, £9 O 0 Change lVhecls\ for other lengths, Ss. 6d. ^xr pair. Crotch on the Chaff Cutter for connecting it to Intermediate | "Motion £0 5 0 ) 1 Pulper No. 14, will pulp about 40 cwt. of roots per hour £6 6 0 18-inch Pulley on ditto for | connecting it to Intermediate Motion, £0 10 0 i 1 "Dniversal Mill No. 15, will split about 24 bushels of beans and bruise about 15 to 20 bushels of oats, or one-half more linseed per hour, £10 10 O 18-inch Pulley on ditto for connecting it to Intermediate Motion, £0 10 0 1 Oil Cake Breaker No. 4, will break about 30 cwt. of cake per hour, fine enough for sheep, or ^ for bullocks about twice as much. The dust is screened out, and the roller teeth are chilled so | that they do not wear blunt £4 4 0 18-inch Pulley on ditto for connecting it to Intermediate Motion £0 10 0 j The above are the most useful sizes, hut It. d- S. manufacture both larger and smaller Machines of the same description. Particulars on application. 9 5 0 6 16 0 11 0 0 4 14 0 £51 4 6 HAND POWER MACHINES. Biddell's Patent Chaff Cutter No. 3 (First Prize K.A.S.E. at Chester) .... Chaff Cutter No. 22 .... . ( The cheapest Chaff Cutler in the trade) Oil Cake Breaker No. 2 . . , . Biddell's Patent Oat Mill No. 4 . . Biddell's Patent Bean Cutter or Maize Splitter . Biddell's Patent Combined Mill for beans and oats. No. 10 ..... . Ditto, for beans, oats, and oil cake. No. 11 Ditto, for beans, oats, and oil cake, stronger, No. 17 Gardner's Patent Turnip Cutter, Single- action, for sheep M ,, ,, ,, Double-action for sheep and bullocks Biddell's Patent Root Pulper, No. 10 . ... BIDDELL'S PATENT MILLS. CHAFF CUTTER No. Fullij Illustrated 'Catalogues forwarded gratis on apph'catioJi. More than 1,000 Men and Boys are employed at the Orwell Works, and their labour is aided by the best modern tools and appliances. ---".i;S&f London PuhUshed by Jtacyrr.^vn- Z Tnj-fvrd 2-1 6 .SIra/iri . IH67. \ followed by another large crop of Revet wheat (laughter). Gentlemen might smile at that ; but he had over and over again, on stiff Essex clay, taken six or seven quarters of white wheat of good quality, and that was followed up by from six to eight quai'ters of Revet wheat (renewed laughter). It was not a laughing subject, but a very serious one. He could only say that in 1864 and 1863 the two crops taken on the clover-ley thus treated amounted to 13 quarters an acre of wheat. That proved, at any rate, that when manure was taken from the yards and spread out under the hot summer sun in July, or late in June, on the clover-ley from which the hay crop had been removed, all the manuring qualities were applied to the land. Instead of being w"ashed away by the heavy rains of winter from dung-heaps, the whole of the valu- able substances went into the soil. He could confirm what the Professor had said as to the impropriety of leav- ing small heaps of dung on the laud. When dung was carted on the land it should be spread at once without reference to the time at which it was to be ploughed in ; for if that were not done it would adhere so that it could not be afterwards spread until rain had fallen. He should be glad to know whether the Professor agreed with Baron Liebig that the bottom soil could not be manured through the top soil. The Baron said that poor clays were so greedy and so deficient in manure that nearly all the manure was appropriated by the first few inches of ]iloughed soil. Perhaps that accounted for their not being able to take red clover more than once in eight years ; and he believed that even swedes could not be taken as often as they used to be, in consequence of the absence of food in the subsoil. He might add that a Swedish gentle- man had lately told him that in his country farmers never attempted to take sw'edes oftener than once in eight years. Mr. C. S. Read, ]M.P. (Honingham Thorpe, Norwich), said Professor Voelcker had told them that farmers' profits were not large; but he was inclined to dis- believe that, after what they had just heard (laugh- ter). If farmers' profits generally were not large, the profits of Tiptree Farm must be Veiy considerable (great laughter). With regard to autumn manuring, bethought a great deal must depend on the nature of the soil. Whereas the application of farmyard manure in the autumn to clay soils was very beneficial, he must say that on the other hand he had generally found that the appli- cation of manure at that season to light land was rather the contrary (Hear, hear). Mr. Mechi had told them that when they folded sheep, they did not want a dung- heap ; but he (Mr. Read) knew well that if they fed off a certain quantity of turnips in Noveml^er, about one- half the same quantity fed off' in March would produce an equally good result. He was now speaking of course of very light soils ; and he was quite sm-e that, however difiicult it might be to manure the stiff subsoils and heavy clay of Essex, there would on the light lands of Norfolk be no difficulty in having the particles of manure applied in autumn washed into the gravelly subsoil by the winter rains. There was one question which he (Mr. Read) wished to put to Professor Voelcker. The Frofessor said they should apply manure to the clover ley. Was it, he would ask him, best to apply it to the young seeds in winter, or after the clover was cut, which Mr. Mechi said was his system ? As regarded nitrate of soda, he thought that if his friend ]\Ir. Hudson wished to apply a large dressing, he would divide it into two. They coidd not tell in February what kind of weather there was going to be ; and hence it was the general practice in Norfolk to apply half the dressing in the last week in February, and the other half in the first week in April. The Rev. E. Smythies (Hathern Rectory, Lough- borough) said much difference of opinion existed in this country as to whether the greatest benefit would be obi 'Z. .,Ji.J^^ ^ / THE FAEMEK'S MAGAZINE. taiucJ from spreading manure on the surface either of strong or of light soils, but particularly the former, or from ploughing it in iimuediatcly. It was well known that in many parts of the country, and especially in the midland counties, it was the practice, in regard to clay soils, to spread manure on the soil, and allow it to lie there for months before ploughing it in. A very strong impression prevailed among enlightened farmers that that practice was erroneous ; and he confessed that he had becu convinced by reading an able work of Mr. Chandos Wren Hoskyns, relating to clay soils, that it was best to plough in at once. That was a point on which they re- quired the aid of science ; but it had appeared to him that spreading manure on the surface resembled shallow draining, which did a certain amount of good, but not the greatest amount that might be realized (Hear, hear). The opinion of some chemists seemed to differ from that of Professor Aoeleker : they seemed to think the best prac- tice was to plough in at once, inasmuch as nothing tended so much to fix the valuable constituents in the soil as the soil itself. As there was a great diversity of opinion and of practice in that respect, he should be glad if the learned Professor would offer some explanation on the point. The Professor seemed to think there was no loss from spread- ing manure on the surface. "Would he, then, say that if rotten manure lay on the surface — and, of course, manure must to a certain extent be rotten in the month of July — if it were spread on land for wheat or any other ci'op, and left there for a considerable time, there could be no loss from that cause ? Of course, farmei's often had to consider the question of convenience ; they had to do the best they could, and not merely what was best in the abstract (Hear, hc^ar) ; and he should be glad if the Pro- fessor would tell them how he thought they could most advantageously manure strong clay soils in such a winter and spring as they had in the early part of 1 his year (Hear) . Would he tell them how, in such weather as that which prevailed at that period, they were to avoid working their horses to death, and reducing the land to a condition in which it was fit for little more than to make bricks (Hear, hear) ? Mr. John Hud.sox (Castle Acre Lodge, Brandon, Norfolk) said before the learned Doctor gave them his reply, he hoped they would excuse an old man who had turned 70 for giving a little of his own experience (cheers). He concurred very much in what Dr. Voelcker had said with regard to the time and manner of putting manure upon the land. He believed they hunted a great deal in couples iu that respect. He had always found that when manure was put on the land and spread im- mediately, it acted very differently from what it did under Lord Berners' system of applying it — covering it up in heaps, and not sulFering the worms to pull it in. Why they knew that if they spread it on the land the worms would in a few nights have a gi"eat deal of it in. The worms showed by what they put up what they would take into the land. He firmly believed that if the manuring of their clover leys in jireparation for their wheat crops were done early, the result would be so nmcli the better. He had never found the sun produce any detrimental ctfects. He had some very tenacious land in Xorfolk. There was a farm which was bought by his father in 1826, and which he had occupied ever since. It had grown wheat and beans alternately during the whole period ; and as long as he could grow 5 quarters per acre of either crop he should not change his system (Hear, hear). He had had maniu-e for beans lying on the land for six weeks before it was ploughed in, and he had never found manure producing so good a crop when it was ploughed in immediately. With regard to what Dr. Voelcker called artificial manures, he would I'ather that name were changed to fertilizers; for there was in fact nothing artificial about them. He thought the Doctor was right as to the time at which they should l)e applied. He (Jlr. Hudson was not now a great advocate (though he was some time ago) for applying nitrate of soda in large quan- tities. He preferred mixing a little nitrate of soda with 2 cwt. of Peruvian guano and 2 cwt. of salt an acre for the wheat crop ; and he would rather apply this mixture iu two dressings than in one. If, inclecd, they could tell what the weather was going to be iu the last fortnight in June and the first fortnight iu July, they might grow almost what tliey liked ; but they could not know that ; and in trying to get what their friend Mr. ^lechi did — namely, six or seven quarters per acre — they might get only three. If the season Avere a dry one, they might be able to grow as much as Mr. Mechi ; but if there should be a great deal too much wet, even he might find that he had too umch straw and too little corn (laughter). He fjNir. Hudson) wished to ask the Professor whether he did not consider it desirable to mix a small quantity of superphosphate or dissolved bones with Peruvian guano before it was sown for wheat ? He had himself done that with good results. He did not know that it would answer iu every season ; but he had tried it two or three times Avith advantage. He thi-evv this out in the hope that other people would try the experiment as well as himself. There was an article called "phosphate guano ;" but he did not sup])Ose it was anything else but superphosphate mixed with guano, and that was a mixture which they could make for themselves (Hear, hear). As regarded manure for wheat, he had found that when he had applied farm-yard manure in October, and ploughed it in immediately, it had not done half so much good as when he applied it in September, and left it exposed for the rain to fall upon and the worms to take it into the ground. It could not be put on too soon after the first crop of hay was oft'. To put the manure on as soon as possible, and let the second crop be well grown before it was fed oft', was, he believed, the best preparation they could have for wheat. Mr. E. Edjiuxds (Rugby) said that there seemed to be considerable anxiety to ])ut the manure out of sight. In his district the great difiiculty was to keep manure at all. What was found to answer best was to keep the manure as near as possible to the surface of their hungry soils. He had ploughed-in farm-yard manure in the autumn for tur- nips and mangolds, but this did not succeed — it was gone when wanted for the crop. He had grown the best crops of turnips and mangold by this practice. He liked to have his land ploughed six weeks or two months before the time for ridging, about the last week in April for man- gold, the last week in ]May for swedes. He opened the ridges. He then applied 15 or 20 tons to the acre be- tween the ridges ; he then sowed broadcast a mixture of 2 cwt. su])erphosphate, 1 cwt. guano, and 1 cwt. salt (for mangolds he used 3 cwt. salt) ; the ridges were then closed, rolled down, and sown with all his care. When the time came for sowing barley in the spring, scarcely any trace of the farm-yard manure can be found. Mr. J AS. EvERiTT (Eaton House, Norwich) said it might appear presumptuous in him as a Norfolk man, and a new member, to say so, but he could not help thinking that it would be better for them to act upon their own experience than upon any theory which they might hear that evening (Hear, hear). He would defy any chemist to lay down a rule which would be applicable universally throughout the kingdom. His own experience, in some measure, coin- cided with that of his friend Mr. Hudson. He had always found that a mixture of artificial manures had produced tlie most beneficial results. He did not think any artificial manure used by itself, on soils which he had occupied now for nearly forty years, would produce the same result as an admixture of guano, superphosphate, small iine-bone THE FAEMER'S MAaAZINE. 13 manure, and a moderate quantity of rape cake. That combination he had tested practically, and he had found the best etfects from them on the light lands of Norfolk. Mr. P. H. Ereke (Cambridge) said :is regarded the best time for applying manure, he thought they were all agreed that the stilfer the soil the earlier it should be applied. "With respect to the mode of application for roots, his attention had lately been called to the fact that the roots of plants mainly took up their nutriment from the first sucker at the end of the root, and that they diverged and radiated as they went out from the small original germ ; and that being the case, it would be un- wise to manure close to the seed for turnips. The hoeing of the turnips would pretty well diffuse over the intervals between the drills the manure which was first deposited in the drills. Therefore for the convenience of the turnip crop he thought they should apply the manure in the driU, leaving it to the man who singled the plant to distribute it over the surface. But the case was ditferent as regarded coleseed or rapeseed. These were not singled, and there- fore it would be best, he thought, to apply the manure broadcast. On the lighter part of his land the soil was so sandy that he could not grow even white turnips in a dry season. Hence he grew rape ; but this year he had grown white turnips along with the rape, and with satisfactory results. Although this last year had been rainy, in the dry part of England white turnips sown alone on dry land had not done well ; the leaves had been shrivelled up, and there had been very little feed in the root ; but when white turnips were mixed with the rape there was a great deal of feed — in fact, much more than he could possibly have imagined there would be. lie threw this out for consideration in relation to sandy laud. Mr. James Howard (Bedford) said : He thought it due to Professor Voelcker that he should mention one fact. Up- on his recommendation some years ago, he applied dis- solved bones to wheat in autumn instead of in spring, and he had every reason to be satisfied with the advice he re- ceived. On strong lands there was no comparison be- tween the result of applying dissolved bones iu the autumn and the result of applying them in the spring. There was one other fact of which he had been reminded by the discussion. One of the most practical and the best managers of light laud that he ever knew was his own father-in-law, who farmed his own estate iu Essex. He invariably put his farm-yard dung on clover leys in the month of July, and maintained that there was a dift'erence of 8 bushels per acre between applying it then and put- ting it on at Michaelmas. He was a thoroughly practical man, quite innocent of anything like science (laughter). He (Mr. J. Howard) thought they would all agree with him, that not ouly the Farmers' Club, but the farmers of England owed a deep debt of gratitude to Professor Voelcker, for coming forward from time to time, to pour out from the storesof his knovvdedge fortheir benefit (cheers). Mr. L. A. CoiJSSMAKER (Westwood, Guildford) was glad to find that the practice which farmers had followed on clay land, of carting their manure to the land when they could do it most conveniently, was not far wrong. On light lands a man might cart his manure when he pleased, and plough it in immediately ; but on heavy clay lands they were obliged to cart at a time when it would not injure the laud. The elTeet of carting manure on such lands when the weather was very wet was, as it was termed in his county, to podge the soil, and carting then did more harm than the manure good. Hence the practice, gene- rally speaking, was, to cart the manures in the autumn, spread them as soon as they could, and plough them in at leisure. That might not be the most desirable practice; but clay farmers were obliged to adopt it. Mr. ChahI/ES Howard (Biddenham, Bedford), said ; They? was » very styong opiuian aniopg some practical inen in his county, with whom he was acquainted, against the propriety of putting on farmyard manure in very severe frosty weather ; and as the Professor had not nicu- tioued that point, he shoidd be glad if he would do so iu his reply. With regard to autumn manuring, his experi- ence coincided with that of i\Ir. Read, that it did not answer so well on sharp gravelly soils. He had tried it for some years, but had found the manure tell better when applied nearer to the time of sowing. When Dr. Voelcker did him the favour to walk over his farm, upon a close inspection of the soil, recommended this course. ^Ir. E. LrrTLE (Lanhill, Chippenham) said his object in rising was to ask Professor Voelcker a practical ques- tion, which, though not strictly in accordance with the wording of the subject, was intimately connected with it. Having suffered along with many of his neighbours from the rotting of roots grown with artificial manures, he wished to know whether the Professor could account for that serious evil. For the last two or thi-ee years the evil had largely increased, particularly in connection with the use of superphosphate of lime. Swedes and turnips had rotted to a great extent in the present year. He had a piece of land used for swedes, on which he mixed vegetable ashes with 3^ ewt. of superphosphate of lime, and the result was that one-third of the crop was rotten and not fit for use. He found that roots did not rot with farm-yard manure combined with a certain proportion of artificial manure. Whether the result in the other cases was owing to the use of too large a mixture of artificial manure with the ashes he coirld not tell ; but when a small quantity of artificial was combined with a large quantity of farm-yard manure there was no sign of disease. The Professor had recommended them to give up in a great measm-e the use of bones (which was a favourite manure with him), on the ground that it took two or three years to bring out the value of that manure. He diftercd from the Professor on that point. He had foxTud of late years that when he used superphosphate he did not get so great a quantity of barley or clover as re- sidted from the use of bones, nor did he think the wheat crop was so good. He believed that bones were as good a manure as they were twenty years ago, and he intended to continue using them. The Chairman thought the time had now come for terminating the discussion. He was quite sure they must all agree with him in thanking the Professor for one of the most scientific and practical lectures ever delivered. It often happened that Professors gave lectures that were merely scientific ; but in this case the science was mingled with practice. They had, indeed, benefited already, and they would no doubt benefit still more when they read and studied the paper. It woidd seem from the remarks of various speakers that the practice of putting manure on land in the autumn was very good on moderately strong land, but that when it was carried out on light land the manuring properties would be washed away. An opinion had, however, prevailed for some time that the damage done to manure spread on the siu'face arose from the wind and the sun ; but what they had heard from the Professor had set their minds at rest on that subject, and practical farmers who had spoken in the discussion seemed to con- sider that the injm'y arose not from the wind and the" sun, but from the washing away by rain. He had com- pared the results of ploughing-in manures and putting it on the surface, and he coidd never perceive any difl'erence; and, therefore he did not believe any evil arose from ex- posure. He quite agreed wdtli jNIr. Read that turnips eaten off in the autumn did not do so much good as tur- nips eaten off in the spring when the manure was fresher. The smell given oour are to be found also for an influx of capital ; only in both cases inducements as well as facilities are necessary to produce au effect : as the labourers must not only find it easy to leave, but must be tempted away by the prospect of better wages elsewhere, so it is necessary to tempt capital here by a prospect of good interest. And, therefore, the true question to be considered by those who are in earnest ii; wishing an improvement of wages, is this — Will the land of Devonshire yield a propor- tionate profit for an increased outlay ? Happily this question is one that may be considered without any soi-e feeling, or bad blood, or question of wrong and robbery. But certainly on the answer to it, beyond all others, depends th.e iirospect of legitimnfe improvement of the wages of the Devonshire labourer ; and because that answer must be given practically by those who now occupy the laud, therefore it is that I hold that tlie interests of the employed can only be promoted (ex- cept, indeed, by revolutionary violence) through the settled convictions and deliberate action of the employers. Whether there are sufficient reasons to persuade the present occupiers of the land that it would be remunerative to lay out more capital upon it, and to employ more labour, is a question well worthy of serious attention and discussion in this room. At present, I only wish to impress upon you that this is the only direction in which any considerable iniproveinent of the laljourers can be sought — that is, not by paying them more for their present work, but by being prepared to offer more money for more work and bettei- work. Nay, even without assuming a greater expenditure in wages than at present, it may be believed that the state of the labourers, as well as of the general community, would be inqji-oved if a truer jn-ojior- tion was observed between the value of the work and the price paid for it. The householder in the Parable showed his right to do what he would with his own by giving to all the labourers the same wage; but, jterliaps the Devonshire employers would sometimes best show their independence, and do most good with their money, if they used more discrimi- nation in awarding it. A uniform and customary rate of wages is very apt to put the labour of the idle and the diligent falsely and mischievously on a level. Many a thirty shillings that is now paid in equal sums to three labourers for their hire would be mori; profitable to the employer, and much more beneficial ultimately to the employed, if one of the party found that he had truly earned and received I. 5s., and another only 5s. But the superintendence implied in such a just appor- tionment requires no little diligence, courage, and experience in the employer ; and this again brings me to repeat that it is through the improvement of the employer that the era- ployed will receive most real and lasting Ijcnefit. But here I shall be told by those who arc throwing upon the farmers the blame of the low wages of the labourer that I am only con- firming the grounds of their blame ; and that when I say that improvement of the emiiloyer means improvement of the labourer, I, in fact, condemn the farmer by implication as much as they do by direct indictment. But it is not so. They, by their blame, impute a wrong done — an actual injury in- flicted— by the thinner upon the labourer ; and to this accusa- tion I believe the farmer may plead " Not guUty ;" and if the case be inquired into before the impartial tribunal of reason and justice, he will, undimljtedly, he acquitted, both from the nature and from the facts of the case. By the nature of the case, the farmer cannot give less than its value for an article for which the market is open ; and, according to the facts of the case, it will appear that the labourer is content with his present wages, partly because he is conscious that his work is not of the hardest or of the highest value; partly be- cause these vyages, beyond their money-value, imply privi- leges and attachments which he is not prepared to sur- render. Among other advantages, this is to be noticed. Owing to the numerous farms in Devonshire, and the very- graduated rise from the small farms to the large, there is no bar, as in other districts, to an industrious, intelligent, and spirited labourer becoming a farmer ; and certainly, if I were a labourer, I should estimate this chance of promotion as an equivalent for any detect in money remuneration, I would rather receive ten shillings where I and my children were not condemned to remain always in the bottoui_ class of society, than twenty shillings where a social rise was impossible. But as another ^consequence from this state of things, not only may the labourer iu Devonshire hope to rise and become a farmer, but he is, or may become, even as a labourer, socially con- nected with the liirraing class, and not unfrequently a sharer and inheritor of the farmer's capital. I am not sure tliat this close connection between the employed and employing classes is, in all respects, an advantage to the farmer, though I have no doubt that it ought to be considered a very important advan- tage to the labourer. The same ladder of smaller and larger farms by which the labourer may rise may be the means through which the farmer's family too reatlily descends. But this is not now the point. The fact is, that the agricultural labourer in Devonshire enjoys advantages and opportunities from this con- nection between the two classes which must always be taken into account iu estimating the equivalents he receives for hU ■ ' ^ (-'3 20 THE FAEMEE'S MAGAZINE. labour. The same state of tilings modifies tlie opinion we sliould form aljout tlie allowance of food by whicli in many cases wages are supplemented. "Where there is much fellow- feeling, and even family connection, these things assume a different aspect, and ought not to be compared to the infamous truck system by which some employers of labour drive a trade out of their labourers' earnings before they pay them. On these grounds, I Ijelieve, the Devonshire farmer may stand ac- quitted of the charge of wrong and injury done to the labourer. And my own doctrine, that the improvement of the labouier must be a consequence of a step in advance taken by the farmer, implies no more blame to the farmer for not having taken, or for hesitating to take that step, than the proprietors of the old stage-coaclies were to bo blamed for not anticipating the railways and so standing in the way of the vastly-improved position of the drivers, stokers, and porters of the present day over the ostlers and helpers of olden time. Any decided step in advance in the proportion of capital applied to our Devon- shire acres, and the consequent increase of employment, m\ist depend on many conditions. Among others I will mention two that seem to me most important. First, increased con- fidence in the security that the owner of the land may be able and willing to give to the occupier, that the capital which he, in the shape of labour and manures, mingles witli the natural soil shall remain his own. This is a first condition of any increase in the projiortion of capital to the acre, and the second con- dition is, I believe, the soundness of what is a new principle in agricultural economy; one which is ouly just presenting itself for consideration, and remains to be tested. I mean the principle tliat, owing to free trade and cheapened conveyance, the corn produce of other countries may be relied upon as an economical food, not only for our people, but for our cattle. If this should prove to be the remarkable and unexpected result of recent legislation and of improved communication, then I do seriously believe that we have before us a wonderful opening for the extension of our agricultural employment in England, and especially in this great cattle-producing county. The great barrier between agriculture and manufacture will then be broken down. If we do not bring back the labourers we have lost we need not part with any more, for we shall be able to employ all who remain and their offspring. And it is possible that the great towns of the north may yet be balanced by the thriving populous villages of the south. The opinions, then, which I venture to put before you concerning the labourers' wages are briefly these. IVo body of men could be better fitted than yourselves to endorse or refute them. 1. That the farmers have neither the wish nor the power to treat the labourers as slaves or to defraud them of their fair earnings. 2. That if the money earnings of Devonshire labourers are lower than those of other counties, they have compensating advantages that make an equivalent ; due account being taken of the shorter hours and frequently inferior work which the Devonshire labourer, as compared with other dis- tricts, is accustomed to return for his pay. 3. That there are only two methods by whicli wages can be raised without rob- bery to the employer— decrease of labourers, or increase of capital. (The first, through migration and emigration, has been now for some time in operation, and has reduced the population enough to make the turn of the market more favour- able to the employed than the employer. That this reduc- tion of the rural population is considerable, may be shewni both by the census and by the unanimous evidence of all persons acquainted with the state of the labour-market.) 4. That the second method of improving wages, by increasing the capital that may be expended in additional labour, while it is the only method through which any real improvement can be effected, yet involves questions of ri'sk and profit too serious to be hastily decided — questions which may be fairly started from philanthropic or other points of view, but which can only be practically decided by the experiments and observations of those who occupy the land. And as a corollary to these opinions I would lay down these axioms : 1. The true friend to the labourer is the improving farmer. 2. The greatest enemy to society is he who sows distrust between ' Emplover and Em- ployed.' And now let us shift our attention from 'tlie point of wages to that of the labourer's home. And here I know that the instinctive feeling of all present will be, if I may meta- idiorieally express it, to take off their hats— to acknowledge l.iat they are entering a region within which they have no right to intrude, and only nsk to be admitted as friends, In his own bouse the lord of the cottage is as mucb to be respected as the lord of tlie castle ; but I am much mistaken, and have lived in agricultural districts for many years under an extra- ordinary delusion, if the kindly visit of the employer is ever considered an intrusion by the employed ; if even the 'squire or the clergyman are received with more cordiality in a cottager's home than the farmer. And let me ask, what interest has the farmer in the discomfort of the labourer ? AVhat pleasure can he have in seeing those homes untidy, unhealthy, indecent ? Is not his interest, are not his wishes all the other way ? For what do clean, wholesome, respectable houses indi- cate ? They are the outward visible signs of inward virtue and liappiness, of industry, of temperance, of honesty. And what farmer can be at once so wicked and so stupid as to desire to profit, or to think that in the long run he can profit by the laziness, and drunkenness, and dishonesty of those to whom he must entrust the execution of his ]dans, the cultiva- tion'of his fields, the tending of his stock ? What right, how- ever, have I to speak of any English homes as otherwise than clean, wholesome, and respectable ? or of any English la- bourers as lazy, drunken, and dishonest? Alas! the right of too palpable facts, of too common experience. And in the face of tliese"facts, and in the light of this experience, I can- not be content with expressing a conviction that it is not the wish of the employers that these things should be so ; but I shall be, I believe, ouly carrying out the wishes of those em- ployers if I raise the question. In what most practical man- ner can the employers, as a body, enable the employed, as a class, to rise above the degraded state into which too many of them have fallen ? Permit me then, gentlemen, to suppose the case of one of yourselves with the friendliest feeling visiting the cottage of one of those you employ. Many things that per- haps would be noted at once as extremely shocking by a visitor inexperienced in real rural life would not strike your attention at all, or if pointed out to you would not seem to you any fit matter for compassion or blame. A low roof, a lime-asli floor, a rude staircase, a cob wall, you would know to be in certain situations the tokens, not only of a v^holesome, but of a com- fortable home ; and even scantier sleeping-room than prevails in model houses would not seem to you so necessarily con- nected with indecency and immorality as many speakers and writers on the subject pronounce. For you would know that whatever might be the case with bodily health, yet de- cency and morality do not depend upon cubic feet or partition walls ; but that virtuous families are never too poor to provide sufficient screens ; while no building arrangement where vir- tue is absent will ensure purity. Your visit, therefore, to your labourer's cottage would not, I am well aware, produce in you at once the feelings of disgust and indignation which many express at the ordinary abode of the English labourer. If in your visit you found the inside of the cottage clean, the chil- dren healthy, the wife busy, and, perhaps, the grandfather or grandmother watching, one the pot, the other the infant, you Mould be very little disposed to pity the inmates or condemn the home. You would not notice or look for many of those de- fects which a sanitary inspector might find it his duty to in- vestigate, and report to your Board of Guardians. But if, in- stead of cleanliness and health and industry, you were to find your labourer's house filthy, his children diseased, and other indications of wretchedness, I am confident that you would wish very much that this wretchedness could be lessened or removed, and you would be disposed to listen with attention to anyone who could at all point out any reasonable and hopeful means of amelioration. And there is one principle which the instincts of your own profession would peculiarly recommend to you, viz., that those social evils to which so many homes owe their wietchedness should, like injurious weeds, not he merely smothered and suppressed, but searched to their very roots, and by complete and persevering exposure destroyed. Now the very point which in a happy home is the last noticed becomes the most apparent in a wretched lionie — I mean the utter unfitness of the house itself and I must acknowledge I so far agree with the outcry of the day as to be convinced that iu far too many instances the wretchedness of the inmates is to be traced to, or at least is inseparable from, the utter unfitness of the cottage to be a human abode. Where this is the case the employer, who would be his labourer's friend, may iu many cases be so in a quiet and effective manner. An honest re- presentation to the landlord of the true state of tlie case will jiot olten be luinttended to, when it comes from the occupier Qf THE FAEMER'S MAGAZINE. '21 the farm for the benelit of which the cottage was erected or is maintained. There can be little doubt that in many cases the landlord or ids agent would liave pleasure in responding to the appeal of the tenant ; all the more if thej- felt that it was disinterestedly made for the sake of improving the labourer's condition, and not merely to throw upon the landlord some share of the employer's own obligation. There are other cases in which the cottage of the labour belonger to owners on whom the employer lias no claim, and who, perhaps, will not listen to any considerations of fairness or generosity, who have either no motive or no means to make their property more habitable. But even in these cases the employer can with less invidious- ness than almost any man bring the power of public authority to bear. It miglit be a very false step for a clergyman or a medical man to become an informant, or to meddle with indi- vidual cases when they are concerned with whole communi- ties ; but this objection would never apply to a farmer press- ing tlie case of his own labourer's wrongs. But after giving the utmost allowance to tlie argument that a bad house makes a bad home, no man who has had much ex- perience of the more favourable aspects of the English labourer's home will hesitate to look to otlier causes of mis- chief. For, improve the liouses as we will, unless other things are improved, we shall still be far from our wishes. Is all as it siiould be as regards those public and other influences that ought to l)ear upon the labourer's own character ; and so upon the comfort of liis liome ? How about his education ? his religion ? how about his amusements and his friends ? how about his shops and purcliases ? Is there not room in some of these things for the employer to be a friend to the employed — for the master to do good service to his servant ? I \vill not in the last minutes of a lecture break ground to which it would be quite impossible to do justice, even in a course of lectures. I will only try in a very few sentences to indicate the direction in which I venture to believe that a kind interest taken by the employer would, more than any other conceivable influence, produce a practical improvement in the condition of the era- ployed. As regards education, it is much to be wished that tlie employers generally would make it, more than they have done, their business to understand the present state of this great national subject. As it is, they are, it is to be feared, sadly ignorant of what has been done, and what is being done, and what is wished to be done, both by the Government and the religious denominations towards preparing the labourer for his future life. The subject has been looked at from all points of view, except, perhaps, that of the employer's ; and much that is still undone, and much also that has been overdone, is likely to be practically supplied and corrected by their counsel and co-operation. If there is some hope at last of seeing es- tablished a thorough public system of English education, reaching to all classes, without disturbing the present frame- work of society, raising all but levelling none, this happy eon- summation will not be reached, unless the efforts of the higher class to elevate the lower, or of the lower to raise themselves, are at once seconded and controlled by the concurrence and practical guidance of the middle-class. If one can hardly conceive a more direct method of producing social discontent than to educate the labourer beyond the employer, so it is dilEcult to imagine a surer w-ay to promote general happiness than that the better-educated employer should be in his turn the educator of the employed. Almost the same wishes might be expressed with regard to religion. For what is religion but at once the highest form of education, and its completion? And those employers cannot surely be accused of presumptuous interference, who, thinking that the condition of the labourer may be improved by the influence of religion, shall demand earnestly and impartially of the ministers of religion to see that the light entrusted to them shines out clearly and strongly to guide and comfort every class and person, but especially those who labour. The responsibility of the clergy of the es- tablished church is great in this matter. They are receivers of the most sacred of all public funds ; and they are required to include in their ministry not only the like-minded, who may agree with them, but every inhabitant of their parish — of whose pleasure or displeasure they are, however, iegaUy and purposely made independent. The employer therefore may al- ways count upon two motives that should make the clergyman of his parish disposed to listen seriously and gratefully to any appeal that he may make, either generally or in a particular case, respecting the condition of the labourer. The first motive will be his sense of duty ; the second his sense of inde- pendence. He, of all men, is bound to do his utmost ; but while he may be reminded, informed, and advised, he cannot be dictated to. And whatever accusations may be brought against the clergy for neglect of their duty on the one hand, or for an over-assertion of independence on the other, I may, I believe, venture to say emphatically, in the name of the great majority of my reverend brethren, that we should only feel our hands strengthened and our hearts encouraged, if the em- ployers in our parishes would more frequently bring to our notice their own views of what might be done by us in our proper sphere of duty to promote the highest interests of those they employ. And even in matters less than the highest the clergy will not be found reluctant to assist in any measure for providing innocent amusements or friendly gatherings, and in all kindly projects for making the daily life of the English labourer happier to himself, more creditable to his country, and more satisfactory to his employers. My subject hardly permits me to close without an allusion to those who think that it is a political rather than a social movement that is to make right all the WTongs and to remedy all the miseries of the EngUsh labourer. I can only ask, what benefit is likely to accrue to the lower class of society by any violent changes in our political constitution ? and how can any change not be violent which aims at transferring in one convulsion a Government through the highest to a Government by the lowest, a leadership of masters and employers to a pre-eminence, or at least prepon- derence, of servants and employed ? And yet, fear and excite- ment apart, who is there who does not oppose the wish that a real pohtical change for the better might accompany and grow out of other changes in the labourer's condition? This does seem to be one way in w hich the change might be peacefully and fairly effected ; though as it does not run in the grooves of any existing party, it may on that account be treated as an im- practicable" suggestion. But it is strictly within the compass of my present subject to inquire what would be the effect of extending to our unrepresented towns and villages the privileges of voting in convenient districts for the present borough members. Let the county representation be still for the most part in the hands of the higher and middle classes ; but let the borough representation, at whatever limit of rate or rent it may be fixed, extend to the whole country. By such a measure the two dangers which many thoughtful Englishmen are dreading, will be greatly lessened : I mean the preponder- ance of overgrown towns, and in those towns of the wage- earning class. Every claim that can be set up for the artisan in the town must apply in fairness to as good a man in the village ; and, as regards rates and rent, the sums paid in the village will betoken a decidedly superior grade of house- holder to the same sum which is paid in the town ; so that whatever limit might be fixed to bring in the artisan class in the towns would bring in rather a superior section of the same class in the villages : especially those who having been journeymen had become masters, and passed out of the class of the employed into that of the employer. The carpenters, masons, smiths, tailors, shoemakers, and tradesmen of the villages and rural towns would become thus a makeweight against the massed artisans of the great towns ; and at the same time from their closer connection vntii the agricultural labourers they would represent their wishes, till the time might come when, with safety to all, a less limited franchise might be introduced, and all house-holders exercise the privileges of citizens. Meanwhile, having reduced down to some reason- able and safe limit the borough franchise, and having extended it like the higher county franchise to tlie whole country, we might be allowed to pause before all political power should be concentrated in the urban population. Before the members for Totnes are transferred to Manchester or Leeds, we might be allowed to see the experiment tried of making them re- present, not the miserable town which within its own boundaries has no interests of its own strong enough to balance the interest or resist the purse of any would-be M.P., but the great and important agricultural district of which Totnes is the natural centre. It has, perhaps, been a misfortune that agricultural interests have been so much confounded with land- lord interests, and that it has been assumed tliat the county members adequately represent aU the population not included in the represented boroughs. But as there are only 163 county members to oS-I borough members, while the county population is 11,1^7,000, and that iu the boroughs 9,300,000, 22 THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. there is a manifest injustice to the inlialjitauts who do not dwell within the present horough boundaries. And, looking only to the (|uestion before us, viz., what can he done pohticaUy to improve the condition of tlie employed class in the country ? is it quite unreasonable to believe that to extend to them a proportionate share in the election of the 3.31 horough members would have a considerable ellect in catling into more active life among them the wholesome feeling of citizenship wthout exposing them (as a false distribution does the present liorough electors) to manifold temptations ? It would be a. very useful result of such an electoral change if it should gradually open the doors of I'arliament to a class of men of whom one only, as by a miracle, now gets into Parlia- ment. Not that it would be any gain if the more influential or aspiring of tlie tenant farmers were to take the place of the present county members ; for we have not too many represen- tatives of the higher order of the great agiicultural body. And it is probable that the present member for East jSTorfolk may not be able to retain the position in which his brother- farmers have placed him, because the landlords in that county will have learnt the lesson intended by that election. But surely there are many men like jMr. Head in the farming class, who would be most useful members of Parliament, and true representatives of a lower and more popular franchise in agri- cultural districts. The same good sense which makes the farmers prefer to be represented by a landlord ■neU-kuo\™ and with a stake in their county, would make the better portion of the em- ployed class prefer to be represented by an employer well-known and interested in their district. Or if any treat these views as Utopian, and believe that a labourer would be sure to choose a labourer, a farmer a farmer, and a landlord a landlord — each class its own special representative — I umy fairly say there is a strong current of English feeling in another direction, a direction of trust, confidence, and respect, wherever superior worth in any person or class has made itself felt. Aiul real English feeling has a tendency, after all, to shape and influence real life according to its better iustincts, and I therefore am not ashamed to entertain the hope that the time may come when in Parliament itself employers of labour as good as Mr. Cobden, if not as eloquent or as violent as Jlr. Bright, will faithfully and wisely advocate all measures tliat may promote peace and happiness, on the foundation of truth and justice, through every district of the land. And now I drop my subject, sincerely hoping that, though I may have Wearied your attention, I shall have said nothing to increase the dillieulties which at the present time especially attach to the duties you. have to discharge as employers. T am well aware that I have very imiierfectly done justice to the interest you take in that most important of all subjects, " the im- provement of the employed." You will remember that at our inaugural dinner the Archdeacon of Barnstaple referred to a liberal donation of a bullock made by a highly-respected em- ployer in this neighbourhood to the labourers of his parish. I notice in the Norlli Bccoil Journal that that generous act of Mr. Crang had been most handsomely acknowledged by the labourers of ChaUacombe, who have requested jMr. Crang to keep a memorial of their gratitude and a token of the good- will they feel for each other in the shape of a valuable ink- stand. I commend this genuine, but not exceptional illustra- tion of mutual good feeling between emjiloyers and employed to the consideration of those who are making or beheviug the monstrous statement that the farmers of Devonshire are black tyrants, and the labourers of Devonshire white slaves. Mr. A:>JBUEW (Park Gate) moved, " That this meeting cordially approves of the sentiments contained in the excellent lecture tlie president has just delivered, and would particularly impress the importance of paying wages according to merit, and that more attention be given to the imju-ovement of la- bourers' cottages." lie highly apjiroved of the principle of making a distinction in the remuneration of the skilled and unskilled labourer: the beder class of men would thns get better wages, and tlie stigma thrown on agriculturists as a body that they did not suliicienlly pay their labourers would be removed. Mr. Yeo seconded the proposition. Mr. James Mooke said that one tiling which would en- able the agriculturists to pay higher wages would be the ex- tension of leases by the landlords, so that the farmer might have a reasonable expectation of realising a return for the outlay of his capital, Mr. Johnston asked whether he understood rightly that there was a deficiency of labour in the county ? BIr. John Langdon said there was a great outcry about the dilapidated state of the cottages in the country, hut he believed they were worse in the town than in the country. ]Mr. F. Maunder pointed out tliis diifercnee which existed in the two cases. The labourer in the town had the oppor- tunity if he did not like his cottage of getting a better one, whereas the labourer in the country working on a certain farm had no alternative but to live in the house which was provided for him ; and, therefore, he thought the lecturer's su.ggestion that the employer should take an interest in the cottages of the labourer and use his efforts to procure from the landlord an improvement, was a most excellent and important one, and he was sure that it would be well received by the agriculturists of North Devon. The provision of better cottages would lead to the cultivation of better tastes, and there would be less in- ducement to frequent the public-house if there was a com- fortable home provided for the labourer. Mr. James Moore acbuitted the fact that the labourer ought to be paid a higher rate of wages, but asked how it was possible for the farmer to do this under present circum- stances ? Mr. Maunder thought that the point mentioned just now by Mr. Moore as to the extension of leases was a most import- ant one, and suggested that an independent lecture sliould be given bearing upon it, which should be followed by a very strong and decided resolution. Mr. Johnston would like to be informed on two points, viz., whether there was any difficulty in obtaining the labour required by the agriculturists ; and, secondly, whether, in the opinion of those gentlemen present, the wages they gave to their labourers was as much as they could afford ? lie had been hitherto acting on tne assumption that there was a paucity of labour in the county — that emigration was denuding this part of the country of its labour, and pressing on the resources of the fanner ; but if this were not the case aU his remarks would be useless. If, however, such was the state of things how were they to prevent it ? There were many means by which the position of the labourer might be materially im- proved, and a desire excited in him to benefit by all the ad- vantages which he naturally possessed in this country, in- stead ot removing to another part of the world ; and if his assumption was correct, he should be glad to state how he pro- posed that emigration should be interfered with and prevented to a very considerable extent. And on this part of the subject he would say that he thought it was a very promising omen indeed that they found so many of the clergy of the Esta- blished Church connecting themselves with this Assoeiatiou, for it was principally through their influence, he believed, that the labouring man could be induced to rest more con- tented with the country than he was at present. The clergy in the darkest ages and in the most troublesome times had always bridged over the chasm that existed between the rich and the poor; and although circumstances had, within his own recol- lection, strongly altered, he had seen a great revolution in society taking place, which was diminishing very much indeed that broad line of distinction which formerly existed between the upper and lower classes. Still there would always he a ne- cessity for some bond of union at those numerous points of contact where the same class met in future, and that bond of union must still, he believed, be the clergy, and that, too, of the Established Church. In several directions he had lately seen very great exertions made towards improving the mind of the labourer. It was seen in the endeavours to promote cottage garden exhibitions and rural enjoyments of every kind, and they ahnost always found them connected with the name of the clergyman of the parish. Now, he would tell what his experi- (mce on the labour ([ucstion was in a colony where he resided for the greater portion of his life — what made the bulk of the emigrants, after a short experience, discontented with their new position and wish tliey had never left England ; and that was the want of education for tlieir children. They saw very plainly that by removing to a country which was on the bor- ders of savage land their children would take a step nearer to barbarism ; they felt certain that the next generation would come still closer, and they had the evidence before them of white colonists, who in the course of a century had sunk to the level of the savages around them. He thought that greater I'liE FAEMBU'S MAGAZINE. yr ^xertions slionld be raailc in tlio clirecliou of eduealioii, and ho was very glad to hear tlu; I'lci^idciit's obsprvations iipou it in his lecture. Auotlier thing which made the colonists discon- tented with their position was the want of medical advice, and it led him to suppose that if the poorer inhabitants of this country could obtain greater facilities for attendance when they were sick, and if also there was a certain provision made for them when they became old, it woidd have very great weight with them in balancing whether tliey should quit the country or not. He had these thoughts presented to his mind from a perusal of one of the rules in the Govcrninent institu- tion for insurances and annuities, which he thought might be worked with especial benefit to the working classes here, and which would most unquestionably bind them to the country — indeed they could not without great prejudice to their own in- terests go away. The rule was to the tbllowing efl'ect : — " If any person under the control of the Commissioners of Inland lie- venue or the Commissioners of Customs, or any person em- ployed in any Government department, or any person em- ployed by the directors of a railway company, or by a manufac- turer, or other large employer of labour, after effecting an in- surance on his life or contracting to purchase a deferred an- nuity or monthly allowance under tliesc regulations, shall de- sire to have his premiums or instalments deducted from his salary or wages, and paid over to the ollicers of the Postmaster- General, and if the persons under whom or hy whom he is em- ployed shall be willing to undertake the deduction of such pre- miums or instalments from his salary or wages, with the view of paying them over to the officers of tlic I'ostmaster-General, then the Postmaster-General may, if he think fit, make ar- rangements with the said employers for such purpose, and may pay to such employers such remuneration for the work done by them or their officers or servants as shall be agreed upon betw-eeu him and them. An arrangement of this kind will be very beneficial to the persons whose lives are insured or who are purchasing annuities, as, under it, they wUl run no risk of breaking their contracts by any failure of payment. If any employer of labour be desirous of entering into this arrange- ment for the accommodation and benefit of the persons in his employ, he may obtain information as to the nature of the ar- rangement by applying to the Secretary of the Post Office." Now, he considered that in connection with any national school this scheme might be worked quite as easily as a common club. An association of the employers might be formed in the parish, and leaving the ministrative functions in the hands of the clergyman who should adopt tlic principle con- tained in this rule, an interest might thus be aroused in every individual labourer, of such a character that they could not, without losing veiy great advantages indeed at a future tune, leave the country. In connection with this he would attach the principle that, instead of the sick club held at public houses, they sliould be maintain-d simply and solely for the supply of medical attendance. That would, he was quite sure, satisfy the labourer as regarded two immediate wants in sickness. Sickness was the cause of three-fourths of the pauperism of the land ; a system of this kind would, he believed, awaken greater interest in the poorer classes, and make them more contented with the locality in which they were born, than anything else wliicli could be suggested. And, further, he would give to those gentlemen present who miglit be guartlians another hint with reference to the treatment oi the sick poor — that instead of entertainiug the idea of sending theni'o the workhouse for the purpose of keeping down the rates as much as possible, the cottage-hospital system might he in roduced in connection with this very object of the annuities and medical club, to be supported by subsidies from the Union. It had been tried in several of the large towns, and he t nought that on a smaller scale the principle might be applied to every village. Mr. Wm. ThoPvNE remarked that if ever any public works had been started in this neighbourhood they had always found a large number of labourers seeking to be employed — a proof in itself that there was labour abundant in the country ; and if labourers were not so abundant here, we should not hear of wages being lower than in any other part of the country. There was a want in the country, however, for skilled labour, and the observations made in the President's lecture were very pertinent and deserving the consideration of meuof all classes who were in the habit of employing labour. He had been a large employer of labour in his day : and he had found in this neighbourhood men who were earning 10s. a-week better workers than those employed at 13s. a-wcek. Of course it was not to be expected that they would be scientific men. These men had been put on piece work. One of them earned OS. Cd. a-day, and he would cam no more, his system being to go to work early in the morning, mark out his day's work, and after he had finished it he would leave. He used often to say to the man, " Why don't you go on at your work, and earn auothcr shilling ?" He used to say, " No, tliat's not my plan ; I keep up my strength ; I go and have my rumpsteak and pot of beer, and then t am tit for work. When they compared Devonsliire with other counties it must be home in mind that they had not the skilled labour of other counties ; and it was natural that this should be the case, because they were not long enough employed in one class of work to become masters of it. It appeared to him that if any improvement was to be made in the condition of the agricultural labourer here it must be by some system to be adopted among the farmers of doing their labour by task-work, which would enable the skilled man to earn a larger amount of wages than he now did. It was quite true that the wages of the Devonshire labourer were complained of, but their lowuess was not the f ;udt of the for- mer. The farmers in this district paid quite as much for what they got done as anybody else ; but the labourers in other places were more skilled and had the opportunity of serving their master equally well and quite as cheaply, though they got a much higher rate of wages. If there was anything practical arising out of these remarks, it was that farmers should endeavour to devise some scheme by which labourers might devote themselves to one particular class of work, and by working for one farmer one week and for another the next, the men would get much better wages, and the work would be better done and more cheaply than before. Mr. J. B. PtOCK said he recollected that ahout the year 1828 the very best labourers in this neighbourhood earned 10d._ a- day, whilst provisions were quite as dear as now. A few years after that, they rose to ls.'2d. a-day, and after the estab- lishment of the Poor Law Board and the erection of union workhouses to Is. 3d., Is. 4d., and upwards. It was his opinion that the condition of the labourer, so far as wages and living went, was better now than it ever had been before. Years ago he had ground thousands of bushels of barley for human food, but they had not heard of such a thing for the last 15 years. The labourers now ate as good bread as the farmer or the squire of the parish— that was to say, if he was indus- trious and economical. Then there was another thing that had been done for tlie labourer during the last few years. They would find in almost every parish a charity-school where the children were taught sufficient to enai)le them, if they had anything hke thrift or talent, to get on in life. There was another'fact when they looked back to the time he spoke of, there were no railways to bring such exhibitions as the Bath and West of England and the Royal near to us, and the people in the west were isolated, and had not the enjoyments tliey had now. Now there were cottage-garden and other exhibitions, whereas then there were the village revels, where the men tore the flesh off each others' back like wild beasts, and fought like demons. That was a bad state of things, but it was very different now. The mechanic was better educated, better ted, quite as loyal and more so, and, he believed, contented, witli but few exceptions. While tliey had been making progress in tliese things, there was one thing in which they had stuck fast — the lalionrers lived in the same cottages v/hich had been erected hundreds of years ago. lie maintained that it was the imperative duty of the landlord or the owner of the parish to see that this was no longer allowed to continue ; and he thought that if the clergyman ofthe parish or the tenant made proper representations as to the actual condition of the cottages, the evil would be speedily remedied. In his opinion this was where they ought to begin, if they wished to improve the moral tone of agricultural labourers as a class. Every house ought to have at least three bedrooms — one for the father and mother, one for the daughters, and one for the sons; then some sort of self-respect would be engendered. Not only were the cottages in a bad state, but the farm-houses were worse. Some of them had stood for three or four cen- turies, and they \tci-eT5tiiIt in most imhealthy situations, where no provision whatever had been made for drainage. It behoved the landlords to provide more decent accommodation for their tenantry. There was another thought which had been sug- gested to him by a remark made by Dr. Johnston — viz., tlie 24 THE FARMER'S ]\IAGAZINE. advisability of providing cottage hospitals for tlie sick poor. He tliought tlie best thing they coiild do was to provide healthy cottages and well drain them, so as to prevent the people get- ting ill. With reference to the wage question, the law of supply and demand would always rule the price of labour, and the most skilful, the most orderly, and the best-conducted men would always get the best wages over the profligate, the weak, and the dissipated. Tlie Cii.ukma:*, whilst admitting the advantage of putting out work by task, pointed out some of the difficulties that pre- sented themselves. There was the want by the farmers, for instance, of a system of comparison, in order to be able to satisiy themselves and the labourers that certain work was executed in a superior manner. There was also another point worthy of consideration — viz., whether early education could not be brought to bear on the excellency of future labour. In some parts of England the greater portion of the work was done by what were known as gangs of labourers ; but the evil of this system was that the gang-masters were often persons who, although they knew their work, were not tit to have under their control a large number of young boys and girls. This system did not prevail in Devonsliire, but he had always thought that it would gradually sliow itself, because it was eco- nomical and successful ; and he was anxious to see if it was not possible for them to anticipate in Devonshire that system by endeavouring whilst the labourers' children were still at school to employ them in some useful way that would serve them as a sort of apprenticeship to their future work. He saw very great difficulties in the way, but to his judgment it did seem so very desirable that he had for some years persevered in keeping up a small labourers' school on the principle that the boy who came to it should go to work during half the day, as nearly as possible, fair reward being apportioned to him for the work done. He had found tluit those boys could pay a shilling a- week for their schooUug, and get from a penny to threepence a-week besides for themselves. In his opinion that was one of the most important points connected with education — that we should well consider how far the preparation for the actual earning of wages might be connected with the preparation for fitting a man for a decent position in life. After some further consideration, the discussion terminated. The President announced that two agricultural works had been presented to the library by a member, and commended the example to the rest of the Club. THE REPEAL OF THE MALT-TAX, The Shropshire Chamber of Agriculture held its first meet- ing for discussion at the Lion Hotel, Shrewsbury, the subject being the Repeal of the Malt-tax. The attendance was very large, the agricultural element, of course, largely predomi- nating. The chair was taken by Mr. R. 0. Gore, one of the members for the northern division of the county ; and there were also present Colonel the Hon. I'ercy Herbert and Mr. R. Jasper More, the members for the southern division. The CuAiRMAJN having explained that he had been very un- expectedly called on to preside, said his object in attending was not to make a speech, but to learn the wishes of his consti- tuents on the subject which had called them together. He felt tliat it was his duty to do so, and to back up his consti- tuents to the best of his ability, both in and out of Parhament. It was their wish that he should attend the meeting, and he considered it his duty to do so ; and he could only say there was no one in the roum who had the su'iject of the repeal of the malt-tax more deeply at heart than he had. He had always been strongly in favour of the repeal of the tax, believ- ing it to be a most unjust and obnoxious tax. There were a great many arguments — better known to many present than to himself — adduced both for and against the tax ; but as far as he could judge, the arguments against the tax very much preponderated over those in favour of it. He be- lieved the malt-tax was now the only tax, or nearly the only one, levied on the raw material. There were some few other exceptions, such as chicory ; but none of equal importance to the malt-tax. One of the great arguments against the repeal of the tax was the large amount of revenue derived from it ; but if the levying of the tax were an injustice, then the greater the amount derived from it the greater tlie injustice inflicted; so that that was really an argument in favour of repeal. Se- veral suggestions had been made to obviate the difficulty of doing away with so much revenue. The late Government — he wished to confine himself to the subject, and not to go further into party politics than he could help — thonglit ""it right to repeal the duty on paper, playing-cards, and I'rench wines, whicii produced about the same sum as tlie malt-tax ; but he (Mr. G.) thought those duties might have been well left on until the malt-tax had been repealed, for he believed that tax to be most unjust, and therefore the first which ought to have been repealed. He believed it had been proposed in some quarters that the duty should be taken off malt and put on beer ; and he thought that would be better, because the duty would then fall on liie consumer, whereas it now fell on the producer, and they would get rid of the anomaly of the raw material being taxed. That would be objected to by some of the large brewers, but not by all, for lie might mention his friend Mr. Bass as being in favour of the alteration. The objection made to the duty being put on beer was that there would be difficulty in levying it, that it would be an inquisitorial act, and need- lessly expensive, to ascertain how much beer was brewed in private places. If they considered the amount entirely lost to the revenue in the collection of the malt-tax, he thought they woidd say that was a strong argument in favour of the re- moval of the tax from tiie raw material. The malt-tax was about the only one which had not been reduced. In 1750 the duty was only 4s. per quarter, but in 1865 it had increased more than five-fold, viz., to 3Is. Sd. ; and the result, he con- tended, was a great injustice to the Rritish farmer. When they took the duty off foreign wines he thought it a great in- justice to the industrious and hard-working population of this country that the legislation should be infavour of the foreigner wJiile their own claims were passed by. If tliey reduced the duty on malt, the poor man would be more likely to have his beer pure and nutritious than he now got it, because it would not pay the manufacturer to adulterate it if malt were cheaper. That would be a great thing for the working man, for he (Mr. G.) believed that a great deal of the disease and illness to which he was subject was occasioned by the bad quality of the beer which he diaiik. There was oue thing he ought to mention : thurc was no liope of getting anytliing from the late Administration ; but they ought to have some hope now, because in 1852 Mr. Disraeli, then Clbancellor of the Exchequer, brought in a budget in which, though there was no surplus, he undertook to take ofl'thc malt-tax. That budget unfortuately was not passed into law ; but having given that public expression of his opinion in the House of Commons, he did not see how Mr. Disraeli could now get out of it. If, therefore, there was a clamour now made, he thought sometliing might be done in the removal of this obnoxious tax. What the other members of the Administration might think, now that they were in power, he could not tell; but lie knew that some of them were very much opposed to the tax before they came into power. The hou. Member concluded by stating that he had briefly expressed his own views, that his heart was in the cause, and that he would help them to the best of his ability. Mr. GoUGU (Gravel Hill), after explaining circumstances which liad led to the absence of several friends who had assented to speak to the resolutions, said that however feeble and impotent he might be in the discharge of the duty he had undertaken, no one felt more strongly than he did the great injustice of the malt-tax. The question had been so canvassed that it would be but a mere repetition of what had been so often said to advance arguments against the tax ; but he wished particularly to call their attention to the circum- stances of the jiresent being a most opportune moment to go for a repeal of the tax, because the present Chancellor of the Exchequer had almost lost his situation by proposing to de- THE FARMBE'S MAGAZINE. 25 fend the interest of agriculture ou this particular point. He (Mr. Disraeli) had shown liis earnestness by proposing a re- duction of the tax to one-half ; so that they had a right to calculate they should have his assistance. He certainly had not expected much ft-oin the late Chancellor of the Exchequer. His sympathies were so much with free trade, and he had allied himself so much witli ]Mr. Bright — whose only desire seemed to he to stir up the passions of the people, "and set class against class — that he did not think the hon. gentleman (Mr. Gladstone) would give liis attention to the repeal of the malt-tax, or to any measure calculated to be beneficial to agri- oulture. Mr. Gladstone's attention, he believed, was more likely to be directed to measures which he (Mr. Gough) should be sorry to see carried in England— to franchises, and ideas about " the same flesh and blood," which if introduced into the House of Commons would he likely to result in other measures than the repeal of the malt-tax being carried. Mr. Gongh here read the resolution he had to propose : " That the tax.upou malt, being a tax upon the raw nuiterial, is op- posed to the fundamental principles of political economy." Now what, he continued, was political economy ? It was imagined by many that free trade was the great panacea for all the Uls of this country ; but it must be remembered th-g we had lived under protective duties for many years ; and that England then went on progressing and growing, though not to so great an extent as at the present time. It was admitted that England was going on and becoming richer, and perhaps happier — but about that he did not know — and greater than ever it was under the old system. If then, he would ask, fi-ee trade, applied to other things, had led to this great advance- ment and progress, why should it not be also applied to agri- culture ? Could it be called free trade when the English far- mer had to pay 2s. 9d. a bushel duty on malt to feed his cattle, while the Frenchman could import malt, feed his cattle and sheep with it, and tlien compete with the Enghsh farmer in the sale of beef and mutton fed ou a highly-taxed article ? If that was free trade. Heaven defend him from it. He should consider it a trade which taxed Englishmen, while the foreigners were let free. He was ready to admit tliat free trade was for the benefit of the country, but why hamper the farmer by it ? Tiie paper duty had been takeu otf. The paper manufacturers never asked for that to be done ; but the gentleman to whom he had alluded thought it right to take it off because it was in accordance with free trade ; and that being the principle whicli liad been acted upon, he wanted to see free trade fully carried out by the repeal of the malt-tax. The maintenance of tlie tax was an injustice to the landed in- terest of this country — more so than to the tenants — for it was a tax upon every acre of laud. Some said that the tax would only atfect the barley growers ; but he maintained that, in consequence of the tax, land adapted for the growth of bar- ley was put under wheat cultivation. None but the best bar- ley would pay for growing ; and as the effect of the tax was to disarrange the ordinary four-course system by growing wheat on barley soil, and thus reducing the price of wheat as a consequence of the increased produce, he maintained that the tax affected the wheat-grower as much as the barley- grower. Having again alluded to the prospect of getting a repeal of the tax from Mr. Disraeli, Mr. Gough said he be- lieved that Mr. Disraeli liad the otlier day stated that if he saw he was sufficiently backed liy the country he would risk his situation— and a very proud one it was to hold — on this question ; but no one had a right to expect him to do that un- less the country, and especially the agriculturists, wished him to do so. The position of Mr. Disraeli was a proud one, which he had been fighting for for years, and he would be a madman if he risked it for the sake of repealing the malt-tax unsup- ported by the country. There were parties combining together for bad purposes, and where they did so it was right that others should withstand them by combining for good purposes. There were parties who, let Lord Derby's Government do what it might — let it propose the best Reform Bill that could be framed — let it take off the malt-tax, or introduce any other liberal measure — would say : " We won't have liljcral measures from you at any time ; we will shut you up at once, and move a vote of want of confidence." Deprecating this course, Mr. Gough noticed the honourable conduct of Mr. James, a Liberal member, who said the other day, " Let us wait and see what measures the Derby Government propose, and if they are right we will support them," and concluded by sub- mitting the resolution to the meeting. Mr. JLvNSELL (Adcott) seconded it, and it was carried unanimously. The Chairman read a letter from Mr. R. G. Jebb, of The Lyth, near Ellesmere, expressing himself strongly in favour of a repeal of the malt-tax, and quoting the opinion of Sir Roljert Peel that after the repeal of the corn-laws the malt-tax could not be continued. Mr. Geo. Hilditch proposed the next resolution — " That the question of the repeal of the malt-tax has suffered from want of combination amongst agriculturists, and want of funds suljscribed in order to bring tlie question properly before the country." Tlie resolution emliodied principles which he had advocated the last forty years. It had been said by the late Mr. Cobden, the great apostle of free-trade, that having abolished the tax upon corn, it was unjust to maintain it upon malt. Now, admitting this, why had not the tax been re- pealed before this time ? It was from a want of combination among the farmers, and they alone were to blame. Every other l)ody in the State looked after their own interests, and organized a defence when their interests were imperilled, and that policy was always successful. There was nothing new to be said by way of argument in favour of the repeal of the malt- tax : they were so well known, and had been so often used, that they liad become stereotyped in tlve minds of men ; but tlie important thing was to act upon what was known. He considered the question to be entirely in their hands, and that if they said they would have the malt-tax repealed, it would be repealed. It required no one to come from tlie dead to tell them that, because it was as plain as the sun at noon-day. The great question was — Would they act unanimously, would they recollect the distinction between singular and plural ? Having spoken of the intelligence of the British farmer in his own avocations, Mr. Hilditch strongly recommended unity of action. If they did not take that course the malt-tax would not be re- pealed, because the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whoever he might happen to be, was glad to have a quiet sheep, like the agriculturist, ready to come and be shorn. He would not mention names, but he would remind the meeting that thirty- five years ago one of the county members for Salop lost the seat which the farmers had given him, by voting wrong on the malt question ; and he would say, let every county member of England tremble for his seat if he did not vote for the repeal of the malt-tax. Mr. P. W. BowEN, in seconding the resolution, predicted certain success if the farmers would act together ; and he asked what greater insult could have been oftered to the farmers of tlie kingdom than that which has been offered by Mr. John Stuart Mill, the grand philosopher, who said that because the coal-fields would lie exhausted in a certain time the farmers ought to be made to pay the national debt. If such an obser- vation as that was not enough to stir up agriculture, he did not know what would do so. There were many other thinn-s too, which should make them think of the way in which tliey had been insulted by the Legislature in the last session. Mr. Bowen went on to argue in favour of combination, showin"- the effect of railways in bringing farmers into communion more frequently than formerly, and also pointing out the sys- tematic course of combination pursued by the manufacturers in all matters affecting their interests. Col. the Hon. Percy Herbert, M.P.,was the next speaker. Suggesting that the meeting should endeavour to give some practical turn to its proceedings, the hon. member referredtothc subject of petitioning Parliament. He pointed out that from the manner in which petitions were frequently got up, little at- tention was paid to them in Parliament ; but at the same time they might depend upon it that petitions, signed by influential people really interested in the matter, would have weight witli any Chancellor of the Exchequer or First Lord of the Treasury. That was one very obvious way of forwarding the question. An argument in favour of the repeal of the Malt Tax was tliat it would reduce the price of beer, and thereby also enable smaller capitalists to brew than did so now, and so diminish the practice of adulteration. Of course that would tend to diminish drunkenness, because a deal of drunkenness came from bad beer. It might also be urged upon the attention of the public and Parliament that a duty levied in the early stage of a manu- facture is twice as pressing as one levied at a late stage. He was astonished last session to hear Mr. Gladstone and Mr. Miluer Gibson compare the duty on malt with the duty on tea, the one article being taxed in the first stage and the other iu 26 THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. the last, so that there could be no comparison between thcni. The present system was protective, and a great many of the maltsters were not anxious to have the duty taken otf, because it kept a great many small men out of the market, lleferring to a resolution wliich had been drawn, expressing the willing- ness of the Chamber to accept a tax upon beer as a means of supplying the deficit caused by the repeal of the Malt-Tax (but which resolution was not submitted to the meeting), Col. Her- bert said he did not tliink it was any part of their business to suggest the means of meeting the deficit. He would also venture to say that he did not think they could reasonably ex- pect any Chancellor of the Exchequer to create a deficit by taking off the Malt-Tax; but they would be perfectly right in urging the justice of repeid, and as there had been for some years a surplus of a million and a quarter or a million and a- lialf, if that surplus were applied to the deficit created by tlie repeal of tlie ]Malt-tax, within the next five years it might dis- appear. The imposition of new taxes to meet the deficit would be unpopular, but it might be submitted that as tlie ?nanu- I'acturiug and commercial interests had for some years liad the benefit of the surplus revenue by the remission of a great many duties, the surjjlus should now be applied to the benefit of the agricultural interest. Mr. Waxteu Mi:<'OR said he quite agreed witli the lion. Colonel as to what they should do and what they should not do : but there was one point he must just allude to. He (Mr. Minor) was in the lobby of the House of Commons in the last session on the very night when this question was brought for- ward, and not one of tlie Members for the county was present except Sir. More. Isow, if the Members would attend in their place and do their duty on the (question — [the remainder of the sentence was lost in a tumidt of applause], lie had not (he continued) made ttds observation with the view of giving any offence, but he did not consider that, when gentlemen were placed in the position that the Members for the county were in, and more particularly when they had pledged tliemselves on a certain (juestiou, they ought cither to ])erform tliat duty or else do what the hon. Member for North Sliropsliire had done, resign thek positions. The Chaikjia^ said be was iU in bed at the time and could not move, otherwise he should have been in his place in Par- liament, and lie believed he had written to that elfect to the newspapers. Col. Herbert said that IMr. Minor should have made him- self acquainted with the facts before bringing such an accusa- tion against him, as he (Col. Herbert) was present in tlie House on the occasion and did vote. Mr. MI^'OR said he was not aware of it. Col. Herbert replied that if Mr. Minor had taken the trouble to look lie might have correctly informed himself, and then he could not have made sucli an accusation. Had lie (Col. Herbert) been absent from the meeting the accusation might liave been taken as true. It was perfectly scandalous that Mr. ]\Iinor should make an accusation of that kind. Mr. ]Mi>'OR said he was sorry he had made it. He knew Mr. More was present. Col. Herbert : And you might have found out who else was there. Mr. HiLDiTCn and Mr. Goucn spoke in approval of Col. Herbert's view that it was not the business of the advocates of a repeal of tlie malt tax to propose a substitute to the Chan- cellor of the Exchequer : the latter also pointed out — as an instance that Shropshire members had done their duty on the question — that some time ago 10 out of the liJ members had voted for the repeal of the tax. Mr. J. BowE^ JosES argued that the tax ought to be en- tirely removed ; but, if tlie alternative were put that the malt tax must remain or a beer tax be substituted for it, lie consi- dered they would do well to accept the tax in its last stage, the present tax being upon the raw material, instead of the manu- tactured article. A tax upon beer would be relieving the far- mer and also the consumer, the brewers' profit being upon the tax as well as the raw material, aud the cost of conversion. He, however, considered, with previous speakers, that it was not their duty to suggest any substitute, as they were not ama- teur Chancellors of the Exchequer. Mr. Jasper More, M.I*., said he was glad that Mr. Gough had given the Shropsliire members due credit for their support of tliis question. The chamber had discussed the repeal of the malt tax before any other question, from the interest the county took in it, and to sliow Mr. Disraeli, as he liad said his dealuig with the question depended on the support it received in the country, that Shropshire was as willing as ever to sup- port it. IS aU other agricultural coimties did their duty to the question as Shropshire had done, and if the repeal was a question of support in the country, the tax would soon go. He agreed with many county memers who said it was rather their duty toUsten to the views of their constituents on occasions like the present than to speak ; but he thought that on a sub- ject in which many constituents were interested the voices of their representatives with them would not be discordant. The repeal of the malt tax required study for those who had no practical knowledge of the subject, and there were no public books of reference in Shrewsbury. He hoped by degrees, however, they might form a smaU and select library for their own use. They might, however, state facts aud figures which they knew from experience, without caring for fine language or eloquence to express them with. There w ere various objections made to the repeal in tlie House of Commons, which they, from their practical experience, ought to instruct their repre- sentatives how to answer. The fiist was that the repeal would not benefit agriculture so much as they thought. ;2nd. That malt would not be extensively used for feeding purposes if the tax were repealed. 3rd. That working men coidd or woidd not brew at home, and therefore the repeal would not keep them from the pubUc-house. Again, it had been said that this was a consumer's question, and not one for the producer, and that therefore it did not so much concern the farmer. Those four questions he should like them to answer. Kow with regard to the impolicy of taxing the raw material, the teach- ing of Sir R. Peel had been thus summarised m the House of Commons : " If you tax a raw material, \i liieh has to pass through different stages before it becomes a manufactured article, the tax before it reaches the consumer is doubled, rebled, or quadrupled. Tiie consumer pays two or three times the amount of the original tax, whilst two-thirds or three-fourths are lost to the country ; and although he has to bear the burden of the v.'hole amount, scarcely one-third or one-fifth goes into the Exchequer." In the ease of barley, 1st there is the tax on mult ; 2nd, on maltster's licences ; 3rd, on breners' licences ; -Ith, on publicans' heences ; 5th, the salary of the exeise-oftiecrs ; aU of whicii, besides the publicans' profits, the consumer has to pay for. The question with regard to beer as a substitute, is whether a tax o n beer could possibly make the consumers pay as much ;is these put together. With regard to what had been said of the commercial classes not standing such a tax on their commerce, Mr. M'Culloch, the best authority on pohtical economy and taxation, gives an instance in connection with the malt-tax. He speaks of the duty of 3|d. a yard on printed calicoes, wliich amounted to £000,000, and was repealed in 1S31. He allows that, like the malt-duty, it appeared to fall ehielly upon the consumer, but it fell powerfully on the pro- ducer by narrowing trade. He says the depression of the nuilt- tax on agriculture is analogous, and the statements made re- specting calicoes might be made, iiuitaiis mutandis, with respect to the pressure of the malt-tax on agrieultui-e. With respect to the question of funds for promoting the repeal, the iVnti-Malt-tax Association only received £800 last year, and he regretted to see no Shropshire name but Mr. Pryce Bowen's on the list of subscribers. AU classes having condemned the tax on principle, it was said to be only defensible by reason ot the amount of revenue it produces. This led to the question of whether repealers should suggest a substitute or not. To this he woidd remark that whenever a repeal had been at- tempted a substitute had been suggested. In ISoJr, when the House of Commons carried the repeal — and here he would just observe, as a remarkable fact, that the agricidtmists were never so strong as just after the passing of the Heform BiU — Sir U. Peel at once proposed a substitute, which was a property- tax, the very thought of whicli made the coimtry gentlemen come down to the house and rescind the vote. When Jlr. Disraeli, in 18ui, proposed the reduction by one-half, he also proposed a substitute, a liouse-tax, and found liimself in a minority on his budget • And here, he would say, it did not follow that he was in a minority because he proposed a reduc- tion of the tax, but because he proposed a house-tax as a sub- stitute. Mr. Cobden, when he was written to on the subject, at once proposed a substitute. Viewiug the matter from a liberal point of view, lie proposed that the agriculturists THE FAEMER'S MAGAZINE. 27 shoulcL aid him in effecting a rciluclioii of public expenditure to prevent any delicil being made. "Whctlicr there was the least chance under tlie present Government of a reduction of the two chief items of expenditure, the army and navy, his hon. and gallant colleague might might be better aljlc to judge than any of them. He only feared that such Mould not be the case. With respect to a tax on beer, it had this merit, that the money could be raised by a tax of only Id. per gallon, which would nearly produce the sum. It was a fact with which all must have been struck who had travelled much in Europe, that in the countries where the tax is upon beer, in those beer is cheapest. Of course, Eavaria, which had the greatest reputa- tion for beer, had so small a revenue to make up, that the.fact might not be worth much as an argument ; but it was a fact that in Bavaria and Prussia, where the tax was imposed on beer, it was cheaper than in any other parts of Europe. In his opinion the greatest sinners in the world were the brewers, on whose heads the tax ought to fall. Sir Morton Peto, the best writer as an opponent of the repeal, said this of them in his work on taxation, " Tlie brewers have a monopoly, not only of the supply, but the. sale of beer. "By aid of the investment of a vast amount of capital in public-houses, and by means of the licensing system, the brewers have been able to keep the value of beer in their own hands. They have raised the price of beer to the highest figure the public can bear, without ail'ord- iug the public the slightest share of any one of the advantages wliich they themselves have derived from a repeal of the corn- laws, the remission of the hop duties, or the relaxation of the restrictions which were formerly applied to the various branches of their business. If an increase of this tax would not be in- jurious to agriculture or trade, if it fell alone on the present in- ordinate prolits of the brewers, there are few if any of us who would not think that the tax might be raised." He could only say that if the counties were now to show such an unanimity of earnestness in tills question as would make all their represoiita- tives earnest in the House of Commons, such a pressure would be put on any Government, whether Liberal or Conservative, as would oblige them to repeal the tax. Mr. John Meire spoke in terms of regret of the absence from the meeting of tlie landed interest of the county, without desiring to particularise or cast censure upon any one. Con- tending that the landlords were interested in this question, he hoped tliey would be stimulated to do their duty ; and as to the Government, he trusted it woidd act upon enlightened principles, so that the springs of industry miglit be relieved, and that there should no longer be a tax falling heavily on the producer to the amount of six or seven millions. If tlic Govern- ment did justice to the British farmer, it might have a long run of office ; but if it neglected the opportunity, it would com- mit suicide as a political party and be the laugliing-stock of the country. He trusted that, at any future meeting of farmers, he should see as many determined to seek their rights as he saw present that day, and he was sorry there had hitherto been so much apathy exhibited amongst them and the other classes upon this suliject. Mr. John Bather addressed the meeting at consideraiile length. In a complicated system of taxation, he said they might disagree as to wiiether it should be direct or indirect taxation, for they were happily not come to the simplicity of a revenue levied by one tax, and that an income-tax made by those who did not pay it, but how soon it might come to tliat they knew not. They had not only to consider the repeal of the tax, but also the consequences of the repeal, lie was not afraid to take that course of argument among the company of enlightened men he had met there that day. He tliought they ought to take tlie tax as producing six or seven millions. It was not the only tax that would have to be repealed ; but, as Sir. Glad- stone, one of the cleverest ClianccUors of the Exchequer we had ever had, had said that if the malt-tax were repealed there was no escape from a repeal of the tax upon spirits, tliat it would not be satisfactory to tlie country if the drink of England were untaxed while the drink of Scotland and Ireland were taxed. The repeal of the malt-tax, therefore, involved tlie re- peal of the duty on whisky. He did not know how much that amounted to, but perhaps three times the amount of the malt- tax. It liad been argued tliat it was the business of the Chan- cellor of the Exchequer — for which he was paid — to find a substitute for the malt-tax ; but he (Mr. B.) maintained that they could not consider the question of repealing the tax with- out looking at the coDse(piences, as it was one of the largest sources of revenue from incUrcet taxation. And what would the consequences be of repealing this large item of indirect taxa- tion ? Ten or twelve years ago there was a partial repeal of the tax upon malt for exportation. That cost the revenue but a small sum, and no doubt it was a wise measure, as it deve- loped a large trade ; but how was the Chancellor repaid for the loss ? Why, by inllictiug upon tlic landed property of this coun- try the heaviest blow it liad ever, in his opinion, received in the memory of living man, viz., the imposition of the succession duty. Mr. Meire had just said tliat the owners of landed pro- perty did not go with them ; the truth was they had not tbeir hearts in it ; they did not want a repeal of the tax ; they knew what would follow. If they were present they would not hesitate to speak their sentiments any more than farmers. Was it not strange that this tax had not been repealed if it was really so burdensome ? They were only prolonging the question if they did not speak out their niincls. If this tax were repealed, lauded proprietors were afraid that there would be substituted direct taxation. If they attempted to substitute a beer tax, as was suggested, the proposal in the House of Commons would not have the least possible chance of being carried, as the interests of a large number of the members would be opposed to it. That was one of the reasons why the owners of property did not care about the repeal of the malt- tax. The repeal of the tax would not benefit farmers so much as they imagined ; they supposed they paid the greater part of the tax, but that was a mistake. He (Mr, Bather) believed that the greater part of it was paid in the manufacturing dis- tricts, where there was more beer drunk, and of better quality. There was more beer drunk at a single beer-selling place in London or IManchester in one week than in half of Shropshire, in the agricuUural districts, in twelve months. Now, what was the price of barley ? It was nearly Ss. at the present time (No, no), and wheat was 9s. 4d. or Us. Gd. He maintained that if barley was at 8s., the price proportionately of wheat should be 12s. It was the malt-tax that kept up the price of the best bar- ley. It would be short-sighted policy if they fought for tlie repeal of the malt-tax witli the view of increasing the interests of barley growers. As to using malt for .feeding cattle it was the greatest mistake in the world (No, no). Well, gentlemen niiglit have their own opinion. As to a tax upon beer, some- thing of the kind had been introduced several sessions ago, when it was proposed that not only pubhc brewers and those who sold beer, but also householders should take out a beer licence of about £i; tliat was found so hateful that that part of the Bill was immediately aliandoned. And if a tax were put upon beer, what boon would that be to the poor man ? The result would be that they (the better classes) would go free and the poor man taxed. He could not see how this was defending the interests of the poor man. If there were a pressure of work, instead of giving the agricultural labourer beer they had better give him more wages ; it was the princi- ple adopted in trades and manufactures, and the sooner it was applied to agriculture the better. He hoped and believed there were many there who delighted in tlie name of Conservative ; but he hoped they would not measure their Conservatism by malt, for it was not a fair test. Tliey were something more than growers of malt, and he did not think Conservative opinio)^ should be sacrificed to the malt-tax or any such sub- ject, and he could not but regret if there were any there call- ing themselves Conservatives who were induced to swerve from their principles by any such considerations. Mr. Gough, Mr. Hilditch, Mr. John Meire, Mr. Henry Smith, and Mr. Prycc Bovven severally replied to Mr. Batlier. It was argued that malt is an excellent feeding stulf for cattle and sheep, and would be extensively used if the tax were repealed ; that the price of barley is attributable to the small quantity grown — that, in fact, it would soon almost cease to be cultivated if the tax on malt were continued ; that the reUef allbrded by tiie abolition of the 2s. lOd. duty would give a large sum to be expended in comforts and necessaries and thereby tend to relieve the taxation of the country ; and' that if there was any connection between the duty ou malt and the duty on whisky, takiug the converse of the proposition whicli had been put by ]\Ir. Bather, Mr. Gladstone should have repealed the malt-duty when lie took a large part off tlie duty ou spirits. A hope was also expressed (by Mr. Meire) that Mr. Bather liad libelled the coimty gentlemen. Mr. Moke said they all felt much indebted to Mr. Bather for giving them the other side of the question. There was 28 THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. one statement of liis which ought not to go fortli to the world without eomraent ; and lie wished to ask him whether lie felt sure that the succession duty was imposed on property in consequence of so small a hoon to agricul- ture as the exception from duty of malt for exportation and distillation ? That duty was taken off on August 1-ith, 1S55, when the quantity of malt exported was less than 200,000 bushels. The repeal of the duty made the amount of malt exported rise in a year to a little less than a million bushels ; but, taking malt for exportation and ., agricultural implements, artificial foods on hand, artificial manures, tenant-right, and the like, connected with agri- culture, to the amount of, say, £10,912,449, and we have the good round sum of £400,000,000 as the personal pro- perty of the farmers of the United Kingdom, to say nothing of the value of the fee simple of the land held by very many of them. This is a low estimate, no doubt ; but I deai in round numbers, and I find ample margin for my purpose. Besides, it must be remembered that up- wards of £200,000,000 of this estimate is the cmmiaf arable produce, and nearly the same amount is realized annually (for th« business of a farm is nearly an annual one) by the breeding and fatting of live stock, &c., &c., although many heads of stock remain over. I therefore do not think 'it far beyond the mark at the present tirae_ (1866) to estimate tke animal agncuUural froduce of the United Kingdom at 400,000,000 of pounds sterling ! and for this wonderful annual production the country is principally indebted to the skill, energy, and in- dustry of the tenantry of the United Kingdom ; and, further, to realize this astounding amount, their expen- diture in payments for laboiu- alone, exclusive of farm servants, annually amount, according to reliable estimates of the occupations of the people, to no less a sura than £75,000,000 ; and this sum is paid to working-men for, work done upon the farm. The total earnings of every class of workiag-men and women in the United King- dom, includingsoldiers, police-servants, &c., &c., amount to about £418,300,000: of this sum the agricultural la- bourer receives the handsome quota as above of £75,000,000. Can anything show more forcibly the value and importance of the tenantry of the Lnited Kingdom to the well-being of the community than this statement? Their productions as a contributioa or share in promoting the general weal, their coun- try's prosperity, is far beyond that of any other class; indeed, it nearly doubles the total amount produced by all other of the productive classes, which, according to Spackman, did not, in 1851, exceed £200,000,000. Having, I think, fairly shown, in the short summary given, that " the tenantry form a most important body in the country, I ask, what is their actual position and political status ? Do they, as a body, take that high standing in the United Kingdom, or in the Senate, which their value and importance to the State indicate ? Do they seek political influence, and exert themselves suffi- ciently to obtain it ? Are they fairly represented in Par- liament ? Every reply must be a decided negative. Time was when the aristocracy and country gentlemen did re- present them, or professed so to do, as considering their interests identical ; but latterly " the landed interest" has either been too negligent, too easy and supine, or it has been overmatched" or overpowered by the various interests connected with other branches of the Legislature. They have given in to party and to expe- diency ; and " the tenantry" are the sufferers. They now have no exclusive advantages in the country's taxa- tion as formerly — protection in reference to corn imports, for instance. Why, then, is their barley to be so heavily taxed when made into malt ? Why are they to bear the chief maintenance of the Chiu'ch, the county expenditure, the repairs of roads, the paupers of the country, at the same time bearing their full share in the general taxation ? There are many matters of a legis- lative character connected intimately with their interests requiring close watchfulness and investigation — i.e., tithe averages, county rates, corn returns, import of cattle regulations, agricultural statistics, game-laws, road re- form, uniformity of weights and measures, &c., &c. ; yes, and Parliamentary reform too, lest the landed in- terest should be wholly swamped. £400,000,000 a-year should have some weight in the Senate commensurate with its desirable and permanent prosperity. All these matters, according to Mr. Bright, are in the hands of " the tenantry." Why should they, then, not take their proper pkce ? Why should they not send members tq 42 THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. Parliament from their own class ? Tliere are plenty of clever, well-educatedj business-like tenant-farmers now to be found in every part of the country. Why not form combinations amongst "the tenantry," raise subscrip- tions, and endeavour to return them, i.e., tenant-farmers, wherever a fair prospect presents itself, be it either in county or borough ! Paid members are of course held somewhat at a discount, or to be in a humble position, by millionaires and aristocrats ; but " the workman is worthy of his hire :" by all means remunerate in modera- tion the men who represent us. There is nothing dis- creditable in this on either side. The removal of the Malt-tax would be a very desirable object. The meat of the people is untaxed, so should its drink be free. Beer is the poor man's best-loved and necessary beverage : it ought to be untaxed. Besides, what an advantage it would confer upon inferior barley-growers ! This is mainly a tenant's question. He desires an increased consmnption of barley, and an enhancement of price for that of inferior growth, as no maltster will pay a heavy tax upon an inferior article. This is the great blot upon the page of eveiy Chan- cellor's speech upon " the Budget." It is the crying sin of England's system of taxation. Every other necessary of life has been relieved from taxation to a great extent. or altogether ; malt only is the unfortunate exception. Politicians say the tax cannot be spared. What say tenant-farmers? "We have nothing to do with that." We leave that to every successive Chancellor of the Exchequer, not one of whom would be long without a substitute if that tax was abolished. It is patent to all^he world that the tenant-farmers of England, or rather the United Kingdom, are no longer the lowly, uninformed, and servile kind of men they were some fifty years since. There is not a class of men in the kingdom more improved during the past half-century, and who are more intelligent or more independent, than the main body of the yeomanry of this country, nor one which has done so much to add to a nation's wealth. They have truly " achieved great- ness"; and as these are days when all classes are aiming to advance class-interests, each for theu- own class, it be- hoves them to do the same. [The farmers of Eugland wiU be slow to act upon the advice of Mr. Bright. One of the first principles of this " School" is that no class can improve its position until it joins the democratic movement ; and we once heard a deputation of Midland Counties' men told as much, certainly to their no little astonishment. — Editor F. M.] PROaRESS OF THE POTATO. The potato holds its own at home and abroad, and the cultivation and consumption seem to be larger than ever. Exclusive of our home-growth, we imported nearly 807,000 cwts. from the Continent during last year ; and the average imports of the past thi-ee years were 50,000 tons annually. Although in some former years the foreign imports were half as large again, the home production has probably extended. There is scarcely any doubt that the annual growth in Great Britain and Ireland equals what it was estimated at some fifteen years ago, namely, nine million tons. Wherever the climate and soil are suitable, there the British settler carries with him and extends the culture of his favom-ite tuber. We find it in the southern African colonies, in parts of India, all over Australia, while in Tasmania and New Zealand it has long proved one of the most important crops. Even so far north on the great Australian continent as Queensland there are some five or six hundred acres already devoted to the potato. In the British North American colonies and Bermuda, pota- toes are also much attended to. The Celestials have taken to its culture in the northern parts of China ; and potatoes sell there at five shillings the hundredweight and a quarter. In Ireland, the extent of land under potatoes still keeps large, and has averaged in the last ten years, with but slight fluctuations, 1,100,000 statute acres. The average yield has dropped-off, however, one-half from what it was ; for, while in many past years it exceeded six and seven tons to the acre, it scarcely reaches one- half that amount now. In 1847, the average was seven and a-quarter tons per acre, and the produce two million tons ; in 1849, at five and a-half tons per acre, the yield was four million tons; in 18.55, at six and a-half tons, the produce was six and a-quarter million tons ; in 1863, at three and a-half tons, the yield was thi-ee and a-half millions. With a rapidly-increasing population in Australia, whose breadstuff wants are considerable, the demand for potatoes is yearly becoming larger. Potatoes, being next in importance to wheat as tlie food of man, are especially important in a mining colony like Victoria. The extent to which potato-cropping has been carried in Victoria for some years past indicates the intention of the colonists to adopt it as a standard crop ; and, looking at the require- ments of a mining population, they are right. As the climate of Victoria has been found to ripen the crop at three periods of the year, that circumstance suggests the feasibility of double-cropping the field in potato-rotation between its wheat-harvest and its barley-seeding. It is curious to trace the progress of potato-culture in Port Phillip. In 1840, there were but 300 tons of pota- toes raised ; in the next year, this increased to 3,734 tons; and in 1844, to 12,500 tons. Last year, there were 28,000 acres under culture; but the average produce in the past ten years was three tons to the acre, showing that much remains to be done to inci'case the produce. The import of potatoes to Melbourne from the adjoining island of Tasmania is very large : in 1842, it was but 384 tons; in 1853, it was 9,000 tons, valued at £170,000 ; and now it has risen to very much larger proportions. In 1864, one-fifth more land was planted with pota- toes in South Australia than in the previous years ; but the season proving very unfavom'able, the quantity dug only exceeded that of the previous year by 224 tons : 2,963 acres were sown, yielding 6,493 tons, or 44 cwts. to the acre, being 11 cwts. below the previous year's average. This small acreage-yield contrasts strongly with England and Ireland. The importance of the potato in New Zealand we recently aUuded to ; and the very large yield per acre thei'e, ranging from ten to twenty tons, will bear favom-able comparison with any country, however high the cultivation. In the United States, the produce of potatoes increased from 65t million bushels in 1850 to llOJ million bushels in 1860. Of this quantity. New York produced fully oue-fourth, the next largest producing States being Pennsylvania, 12 million bushels; Ohio, SJ million bushels ; Maine, 6^ million bushels ; Vermont, Michigan, Illinois, New Jersey, and New Hampshire ranging from 4 to 5 million bushels. In the Southern States, sweet potatoes (Batatas eduHs) are also grown to the amonnt THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. of 43 millioa bushels aanually. In our own North Ame- rican Provinces the quantity grown is large. In 1860, three million bushels were raised, being an increase of fifty per centr over 1855. In New Brunswick, 37,067 acres produced over foui* miUion bushels, valued at 2s. a bushel : in Nova Scotia, about the same quantity. In Upper Canada, the quantity of potatoes grown increased from five millioa bushels in 1856 to fifteen and a-half million bushels in 1861. These several facts and figures may prove useful to those interested in potato-culture here and elsewhere; more especially as they are not generally accessible to the public, but are the results of close research in various offi- cial channels. THE BIRMINGHAM POULTRY SHOW. This was decidedly the best show that lias ever been held muler the auspices of our own or any other society. Descending from generalities to particulars, the coloured Dorking cocks exceeding one year old are an exceUeiit collec- tion ; and to understand how good they are, we need only look at those which follow in the wake of the prize takers with mere commendations. Their juniors, with some exceptions, seem to lack size and substance. The hens are quite equal, if not superior, to their elder associates. Admiral Hornby's pen being worthy of his old renown. In respect to their sub- ordinates, we may avow a preference for the Duke of New- castle's third over the Rev. Mr. Hustler's second-prize pen. The pullets likewise command admiration, the Hon. Mrs. Arbuthuot's pair claiming a large measure of it for beauty of condition and plumage. Those of Mr. Fox are larger, but do not approach them in feather. Tliese to our thinking con- stitute the cream of the Dorking classes, and this estimate is supported by the fact that nearly, if not quite, one-third of the pens are embraced in the awards. Of the silver grey Dorkings, the pullets are much tlie best, and the same may be said of the whites, which, we may add, are above the average of several recent years. No breed, however, is so well re- presented here as the Cochins, wliich appear to have regained aU their iormer pirsiir/e. Indeed, we do not remember ever to have seen them in higlier perfection than on the present occasion ; and in proof of this we may refer to the unpre- cedented number of commendations by which the prizes are supplemented. The class for cocks above one year old is headed by Mr. Yardley and Mr. Tomlinson with birds whicli for size, form, or colour leave nothing to be desired. The younger birds muster in great force, and appear likely to sup- port the credit of their race, Mr. Causer taking first honours with a very handsome bird only eight months old. The hens are exceedingly fine, many of the pens — more especially those of Messrs. Fell and Nelson — being models for imitation in regard to feather and pliunage ; but, taken en masse, the puUets do not rise to the same level. The brown and partridge- feathered varieties are much in advance of any which we have had for many seasons, Mr. Fenton's first-prize cock of the old birds being a noble specimen, and Colonel Ewart's young one very promising. The hens and pullets are both very good ; and tlie whites must participate in the eidogiums we have passed upon the other classes, the judges pronouncing them the best assemljlage which they had witnessed for some time. Bramah Pootras are uncommonly abundant, and the class of dark-coloured contains many large and symmetrical birds ; but we thought the bulk of the light kind somewhat weedy. The dark-coloured hens and puUets, however, do not compare favourably with the light ones. The Malays are in the ascending scale both as to numbers and quahty, while the large and robust-looking Creve Cccurs manifest tlie effects of the care bestowed upon them by their English patrons, and justify their growing popularity. The Spanish maintain their position ; both cockerels and pullets echpsiug the old birds both in numbers and merit. The Hamburghs present the usual discrepancies. The black and silver-pencilled appear to be progressing, but the golden-pencilled and silver spangled are stationary, white ear lobes being too frequently absent among the hens of the latter variety, wliUe the gold-spangled hens and pullets are sadly out of condition, and unworthy to mate with their confreres, which have better combs and ear lobes, and are richer in plumage than they formerly were. The Polish are more plentiful, and all three kinds have undergone a marked improvement. The Game Fowl have invariably been a leading feature of these shows, and they still retain their old supremacy. We believe, indeed, that those which are this year brought together have never been equalled. The competition in all the classes but the black and brassy-winged was very close, and the task of deciding upon the comparative merits of the candidates must have been a perplexing one. Where all is so excellent it is unnecessary to enter into detail, and we may tlierefore content ourselves with observing that some autho- rities look upon the brown-breasted reds as entitled to prece- dence, and tliat the judges considered Mr. Wood's silver-cup pullets to be the most perfect specimens they had ever seen. The class for other distinct varieties is well filled, and includes praiseworthy pens of La Fleche, Speckled Houdans, Cuckoo, Dorking, Andalusian, Buff Pohsh, Japanese, and Sultans, to which prizes are given. There is a marvellous display of Ban- tams of every kind. The game, of which there arc many beautiful examples, predominate ; but both the gold and silver laced are very good. The chief recommendations of the Turkeys, Geese, and Ducks are, of course, their quaUficatioi^s for the table, and we consequently give the weight of the prin- cipal pens : First prize Aylesbury ducks, 181bs. ; second, IGilbs. ; third, 16ilbs. First Rouen, 19lbs. ; second, 18ilbs. ; third, IT^lbs. White geese above one year old — first, STjlbs. : second, 47ilbs. ; cUtto young birds, 43ilbs. ; second, 4U-tlbs. ; third, 36flbs. Grey and mottled geese, above one year old — first, oOjlbs. ; second, SO^lbs. : ditto, young birds — first, 4'2flbs. ; second, 435lbs. ; third, 39|-lbs. Turkeys, above one year old — first, 49|lbs. ; second, 475lbs. ; third, 465lbs. : ditto, young birds — first, SQJlbs. ; second, Se^bs. ; third, So^lbs. The exhibition of Pigeons is many degrees in advance of its predecessors, the number of entries being largely increased, and the generality of the birds being of more than ordinary merit. The blue Dragoons are of almost unique excellence ; and the Almond Tumblers exceedingly good, while the Mottled Tumblers, the Pouters, in class 97, the Barbes, and the Owls of any other colour than blue or silver, all elicit from the judges encomiums which are appended to their awards. We may add that the first-prize llunts are the heaviest we have ever known, weighing 41bs. 15oz., and that the second and third prize pens weigh 41bs. 9oz. each. — Midland Counties Herald. The receipts at the doors on Monday amounted to £314 10s., against £344 last year, and £358 7s. 6d. in 1864. The aggre- gate of the poultry sales was £901 16s., against £789 3s. 6d, in 1865 ; and £616 7s. 6d. in 1864. On Tuesday, the receipts for admission were £158 3s. 6d., against £334 3s. last year, and £339 16s. in 1864. Sales of poultry £314 16s., against £135 13s. 6d. last year, and £308 19s. in 1864. The company at the Dog Show has also been large. THE GROWTH OF ROOTS AND CABBAGE.— At the Botley Club Meeting, Mr. W. Dickinson, of New Park, near Lymington, exhibited four cabbages 75 lbs., a cattle melon 931bs., six mangolds 1581bs., six swedes 65 lbs., and six carrots 37lbs. ; total 4391bs, Mr. Dickenson said, with regard to the growing of roots, his system had been to sow bis land with salt, to plough and subsoil the land after- wards, and then to lay it up for the winter ; and in the spring to give it a good dressing of farm-yard manure — 3 cwt. of guano and 6 cvrt. of salt — which, by the providence of God, had helped to produce the crops which they liad seen. Some of the ground was so hard that the point of the pickaxe would not afl'ect it, and they were obUged to blow it up with gun- powder before the drainer could get to work. They were ii THE FAEMER'S MAGAZINE. compelled to underlay it with a sutsoil of gravel and iron. Some of the pieces which were blown up by the gunpowder were so large as to be placed over the buunies to enable the carts to pass over. He could tell them clearly and distinctly that his mangolds bad weighed 50 tons an acre, and his caiTots upwards of 20 tons. The cabbages he did not know, and the swedes were stiU under ground ; but four tons had been taken up for Mr. Fletcher, of Southampton, and when the ground was measured, it was found that the yield had been at the rate of 20 tons an acre. RUTLAND AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY. Tlie thirty-sixth anniversaiy of this society for the exhibition of horses, sheep, pigs, and poultry, was held at Oakliam ou Thursday, j\"ov. 22. The quahty of the sheep exhibited was equal, if not superior, to that of previous years, and fully sus- tained tlie reputation the county of flutland has gained in this way. Amongst the competitors in those classes were the Marquis of Exeter, Lord Gainsborough, Lord Berners, Colonel Lowther, j\Ir. C. J. Bradskaw, and Mr. W. Shipman, all of whom succeeded in carrying off prizes. x\.mongst the pigs were some extraordinary specimens of highly -fed animals, some of these being considered to far surpass any of the kind before seen at these shows. The principal attraction of the exhibition was the horses, of which there was a greater number of entries than in any previous year, especially in the hunting class. The annual dinner was held in the Corn-exchange, as usual, and the chair was taken by G. H. Finch, Esq. SHEEP. To the exhibitor of the best three long-wooUed fat wether sheep, one year old (open to All England), a silver cup or money, value £10, to Lord Berners, and £5 to Mr. C. J. Brad- shaw. Colonel Lowther commended. To the owner, being a tenant-farmer, of the three best loug- woolled fat wether sheep, one year old, £10 to Mr. C. J. Brad- shaw, and £.5 to Mr. W. Shipman. To the exhibitor of the best three short-woolled or short and long-woolled cross-bred fat wether sheep, one year old (open to AU England), a silver cup or money, value £10, to Colonel LowUier, and £4- to the Earl of Gainsborough. To the exhibitor of the best four long-vfoolled breeding ewes, £5 to Mr. C. J. Bradshaw, and £3 to Colonel Lowtlier. To the exhibitor of the best four long-woolled theaves, one year old, £5 to Mr. C. J. Bradshaw, and £3 to Colonel Low- ther. Mr. George Turner and Mr. W. Shipman commended. To the exhibitor of the best four long-woolled wether lambs, £4' to Mr. W. Shipman, and £2 to Colonel Lowther. Mr. Charles Chapman commended. To the exhibitor of the best four long-woolled ewe lambs, £4- to Mr. W. Shipman, and £2 to Colonel Lowther. Mr. Charles Chapman commended. To the exhibitor of the best sheep shown as extra stock, a silver medal, \ alue £3, to Mr. C. J. Bradshaw. Mr. W. Slup- man highly commended. PIGS. To the exhibitor of the best fat pig, under 18 months old (open to All England), £5 to Mr. John Lynn, and £3 to Lord IBeraers. Mr. W. Carver highly commended. Mr. George Turner and Mr. B.. C. Duckeriug commended. To the exhibitor of the best fat pig, under 10 mouths old, not to exceed 30 stone live weight (open to All England), £5 to Mr. W. Carver, and £3 to Mr. John Lynn. Mr. George Turner commended. To the tenant occupier of not more than thirty acres of land in the district for the best fat pig, of any weight, £2 to Mr. RudiUc, and £1 to Mr. C. Speed. To the exhibitor of the best in-pigged or suckling sow or yelt, £3 to Mr. W. Carver. HORSES. To the exhibitor of the best mare for the general purposes of agriculture, £5 to Mr. T. Nicholson, of Barleythorpe. Mr. W. H. Wright, of Caldccott, highly commended. To the exhibitor of the best two-year-old gelding or lilly £3 to Mr. T. Stokes, of C;ildecott. Mr. B. Wood, of Clapton, higldy commended. To the exhibitor, being a farmer, of the best four-year-old hunting mare or geldiug, £25 to Mr. W. King, of North Luffen- ham, and £10 to ilr. \V. Kirk, of Wymondham. Mr. H. Hunt, of Caldecott, commended. To the exhibitor, being a farmer or tradesman, of the best half-bred banting mare or geldiug, under seven years old, £20 to Mr. W. Gilford, of North Lutfenham, and £10 to Mr. W. Shipman, of Waltham. Mr. 11. Ward, of Owston, commended. To the exhibitor, being a tenant farmer or tradesman, of the best mare most adapted for breeding hunters, £7 to Mr. R. L. Healey, of Hambleton, and £3 to Mr. John Linney, of Thistle- ton. Mr. R. Healey, of Hambleton, and Mr. R. Hornsby commended. To the exhibitor, being a tenant farmer or tradesman, of the best hackney mare or gelding, under seven years old, £10 to Mr. AV. Fabling, of Bnrley, and £5 to Mr. Joseph Hind, of Ryhall Grange. Mr. Joseph Rawlings, of Oakham, com- mended. For ponies under 7 years old, £3 to Mr. N. Walters, of Oak- ham, and a hunting whip to Mr. A. Guy, of Eaton. Mr. John Palethorpe, of Harlaxton, commended. THE SUSSEX COUNTY SHOW. The Christmas show of fat stock, poultry, roots, and imple- ments, in connection with the County Association, formed at Brighton about five years ago, took place on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday, Dec. 5, 6, and 7 ; but in consequence of the Orders in Council necessitating the absence of beasts, theex- hibitiou was not marked with that success which has attended the previous efforts of tlie association. The carriage-shed, which the liberality of the Brighton Company has hitherto placed at the service of the society, not being available this year, the committee secured a piece of land between North- road and Church-street. The sheep were divided into two classes — wethers and ewes ; and the animals shown would cer- tainly have done credit to any exhibition in the countrv. In the class for wethers, Mr. H. H. Penfold, of Selsey, near Chichester, excelled with a pen of three choice animals, aged twenty-one months two weeks, which were bred by himself The competition for second prize resulted in favour of Mr- Henry Humiihrey, of Ashington, whose sheep, twentv-one mouths old, were bred by the exhibitor. The executors of the late Mr. John Waters, of Motcomb, Eastbourne, were deservedly awarded the third prize ; indeed, this pen rau Mr. Humphrey rather close. In the class for ewes, each of which had brought up a lamb, Mr. H. Humphrey, of Ashington, carried off the highest laurels with a pen of very fine animals, aged forty-five months, bred by himself, which were pro- nounced by competent judges to possess points of the highest merit in Southdown sheep. 3Ir. Arthur T. Newman, of West- dean, exhibited a pen of handsome sheep, aged fifty-seven months and two weeks, which were awarded the second prize. Scarcely less meritorious were the forty-five months sheep of the executors of the late Mr. Waters, who carried off the third pri^e in this class also. The judges must have con- sidered the class to be generally good, because the only re- maining pen, exhibited by Mr. Charles Hogben, of Shripney, THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 45 Boguor, aged 56 months, received at, their hauds, and justly so, a higli commendatiou. In the class allotted to pigs under six mouths old, there were two pens showu ; hut they were of very fine quality, and therefore hoth were awarded prizes — the first to Mr. Thomas Cooper, of Norton, Bishopstone, near Lewes, aged 5 months and 20 days ; and the second to Mr. William Bottiug, of Westmeston-place, Hurst, aged four months. In the competition for pigs above six and under nine months old, three pens were entered, all of which were also awarded prizes. Mr. John Kent, of Goodwood, Chichester, carried the " crack" with a pen aged seven mouths and 21 days. The pen of Mr. Thomas Cooper, of Norton, carried off second honours, while the third prize fell to Mr. Thomas Saxhy, of Eirle, whose pigs were seven mouths and two days old. In class 12, for single pigs above nine and under 12 montlis old, the competition was rather larger, tliere being five entries. The 10 months old pig of Mr. W. Stanford, jun., of Charlton Court Farm, Steyuing, was awarded first prize, it being an exceedingly choice animal. Mr. William Minter, of Firle, Lewes, took second prize for an animal aged 11 months and nine days, hred by Mr. Thomas Saxhy. The Eev. George Pimiock, of Eastdean Vicarage, achieved the third prize with a pig aged ten months and eight days, bred by himself. The extra stock shown included two pens of Border Leicester sheep, one aged three years and eight months, and the other twenty months and three weeks, bred and exhibited by Mr. John Scott Dudgeon, of Pc-xrcelands, Westhoathly ; and a pen of five Sussex and Berkshire Pigs, hred and exhibited (not for competition) by Mr. Thomas Lester, of Rowlands, Lingfield, Surrey, aged nine months and ten days. The next feature of the show to which attention must he directed was the poultry, of which there was a most extensive and excellent collection. In some of the classes, es- pecially for Dorkings and game fowls, the competition was very close, and the judges had great difficulty in coming to a decision, which they could only do after a most minute and careful inspection. The classes devoted to Aylesbury and Rouen ducks were well filled, and the birds shown were of great merit. There were also some fine geese and splendid turkeys. The Cochin-Chiuas were not very strongly repre- seuted, hut the birds were very bred. The pigeons, of which there was a numerous collection, deservedly attracted much attention. The show of roots was rather small. — Sussex Express, THE ROYAL AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY OF ENGLAND. Monthly Council : Wednesday, Dec. 5, 1866. — Present, Mr. H. S. Thompson, President, in the chair ; the Earl of Powis, the Earl of Shrewsbury, Lord Chesham, Lord Tredegar, Lord Vernou, Lord Walsiugham, Major- General the Hon. A. N. Hood, Sir Watkiu W. Wynu, Bart., M.P., Mr. Barthropp, Mr. Caiitrell, Colonel Chal- loncr, Mr. Druce, ]Mr. Brandi-eth Gibbs, Mr. Hornsby, Mr. Jonas, Colonel Kingscote, ]M.P., Mr. Lawes, Mr. Milward, Mr. Pain, Mr.^Raudell, Mr. Read, M.P., Mr. Rigden, Mr. Torr, Mr. Wells, Major Wilson, Mr. Jacob Wilson, Mr. Frere, and Dr. Voelcker. The following New Members were elected : Allender, Henry James, 6, Belmont-road, Liverpool. Cliandler, W. B., Sutton, Woodbridge. Clarke, John Algernon, Long Sutton. Oakley, George, Greeuhurst Park, Godstone. Ward, P. W. The Lea Farm, Cleobury JNlortimer, Salop. Finances. — Major-Gencral the Hon. A. N. Hood, chairman, presented the report, from which it appeared that the Secretary's receipts, during the past three months, had been duly examined by the Committee and by Messrs. Quilter, Bali, and Co., the Society's accountants, and found correct. The balance in the hands of the bankers on the 30th November was £1,110 13s. 8d. The Com- mittee think it their duty to the Council to mention the fact that the present rate of expenditure exceeds the income, and beg to sviggest that this subject may become one for future consideration. This report was adopted. Journal. — The President reported that the prize of £10 in Class VIII. Miscellaneous, " Experiments on the Potato Crop," had been awarded to the Essay bearing the superscription G. M. The Committee entertained some doubt whether these letters caa be considered a motto as required by the conditions of competition ; but as they have not been seen by either of the judges, it is thought sufficient to announce that, for the future, letters, whether the initials of the writer or not, will not he considered a motto, and essays bearing letters only as marks of distinction will be disqualified. The writer was ascertained to be George Maw, Esq., F.S.A., BenthaU Hall, Broseley, Staffs. Chemical. — Mr. Wells reported, that Professor Voelcker delivered last season the following lectures : 1, on Disin- fectants ; 2, On the conditions to be observed in carrying out Agricultural Experiments in the Field. Dr.Voelcker reported on the experiments which were TOftde uader bis direction ou different forms, la no in- stance the use of potash-salts for root crops was found beneficial, and in some cases crude potash-salts somewhat diminished the produce. He ascribes this to the cold and wet season, and the Committee suggest that the same experiments should be repeated for a succession of years, on light as well as on heavy land. The in- structions for carrying out field experiments will be printed in the next volume of the Journal, and persons willing to undertake them are requested to communicate direct with Dr. Voelcker, w^ho will gladly render every information and assistance in this desirable work, which, in order to be practically useful, should be taken in hand by as many as possible. ' Dr. Voelcker contributed the following papers to the Society's Journal for 1SG6 : — 1, Ou Disinfectants and Experiments on Carbolic Acid ; 3, On the Composition of Orange Globe Mangels — Bulbs and Tops ; 3, Field Experiments on Clover-seeds; 4, first Report with Prof. Coleman on the Improvement of Grass-land on the Manor Farm, Braydon, Wilts. Dr. Voelcker has in preparation for the next volume of the Journal — 1, A Paper on the changes whijh take place in Grass and Clover during hay-making and in the stack ; 2, A short Paper on I'ield Experiments with crude potash- salts and common salts ou Mangels. Dr. Voelcker reported that in a recent visit to'Switzer- land he found that irrigation with town sewage on mea- dow-land had been practised for more than 300 years in the immediate ueighbonrhood of Lausanne, and that the general experience there agreed well with that in England. The following analyses were made by the cousidting chemists for members of the Society : Analysis nwdefur Memhers of the Royal Ayrlcullitral Society of Eiiyland in 18CG. Guanos ... ... ... . . ■■. ... 21 Superphosphates and similar artificial manures ... 93 Nitrate of soda and salts of ammonia 20 Refuse manures ... ... ... ... ... 27 Bone-dust ... ... ... ... ... ... 1'^ Limestone, marls, and other minerals ... ... 32 Soils 27 Waters 36 Oilcakes ... ... ... ... ... ... 51 Feeding meals and vegetable production ; ... 13 Examination for poison ... ., 3 This report was adopted. 33§ 46 THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. House. — Major-Geu. the Hon. A. N. Hood reported that the certificate of the Registrar of Friendly Societies, with regard to the rating of the house, had been received. The builder's alterations in the house having been com- pleted according to the contract, the balance due is now recommended to be paid, together with the architect's commission, amounting to £19 17s. This report was adopted. Implements. — Colonel Challoner reported that the committee recommended that the words " including steam engines not qualified to compete for the above prizes" be added to the miscellaneous awards iu the prize sheet. Education. — The Earl of Powis reported that the Committee had followed out the scheme of prizes offered in the last Report, in connection with the Oxford Local Examinations, and had made the following award of prizes : — • List I. — Prizes to Candidates who obtain Certificates, regard Ijeiiig had to their place in the General Class List. Seniors. Three in Oxford First Bivisioh. — A. Pollard, Liverpool Institute, £7; J. Lake, Alfred House Sc, Bow, Middlesex, £5 ; C. J. Laugley, Abington House Sc, Northampton, £5. Four in Oxford Second Dieision. — Tiiomas Hill, Grammar Se., Wolverhampton, £3 ; H. T. Bovey, Clevedon Coll., Northampton, £3 ; C. O. Mackwood, Clarendon House, Kenuington-road, £3 ; R. P. Rudd, Clarendon House, Ken- nington-road, £3. Juniors. Two in Oxford First Division. — W. H. Davies, Manchester Gr. School, £7 ; E. King, Abington House Sc., Northamp- ton, £7. Seven in Oxford Second Division. — P. Cliubb, Mansion House Sc., E.Keter, £3 ; G. B. Lovett, Ramsgate Coll. School, £3 ; C. A. Day, Clevedon Coll., Northampton, £1 ; C. Higham, Clevedon Coll., Northampton, £1 ; J. Luxton, Devon County Scliool, £1 ; W. Mortimer, Devon County School, £1 ; J. C. Sargent, Abington House Sc, Northamp- ton, £1. List IL — Prizes given to Candidates who, having passed the Preliminary Examination, are distinguished in any of the sutjjects mentioned in the R. A. S. E. Prize List. Seniors. C. J. Langley, Abington House Sc. (Mathematics), £5 ; A. Pollard, Liverpool Institute (Mathematics), £5 ; H. T. Bovev, Clevedou CoU. (Mathematics, £3 ; J. Lake, Alfred Ho. Sc, Bow (Mathematics), £3 ; R. P. Rudd. Clarendon House (Mathematics), £3; F. B. Kingdon, 11. A. Coll., Cirencester (Chemistry), £5 ; A. Pollard, Liverpool Institute (Chemistry), £3 ; J. W. Sanders, Ullesthorpe House (Physiology), £5 ; A. Pollard, Liverpool Institute (Physiology), £3. Juniors. F. Chubb, Mansion Ho. Sc, Exeter (Pure Mathematics), £4; ; E. King, Abington Ho. Sc, Northampton (Pure Mathe- matics), £4; W. Mortimer, Devon County Sc. (Pure Mathe^ matics), £4?. List III. — Mechanics applied to Agriculture. F. B. Kingdon, Royal Agr. Coll., Cirencester, £3 ; H. R. Goddard, Royal Agr. Coll., Cirencester, £4 ; T. J, Elliott, Royal Agr. Coll., Cirencester, £3 ; J. L. Waldon, Devon County School, £3. Chemistry applied to Agriculture. — F. B. Kingdon, Royal Agr. Coll., Cirencester, £5 ; J. L. Waldon, Devon County School, £-1 ; H. R. Goddard, Royal Agr. Coll., Cirencester, £!<. In all these lists where prizes of the same value are given to more than one candidate for the same subject, the candidates' names are arranged in alphabetical order. The whole number of candidates was 45. The number entered for the first Cambridge Examination in 1865 was 120. Those entered at the first Oxford Examination in 1866 were 45. This apparent diminution arises from the fact that at first it was supposed that every agricultural candi- date who passed the examination would receive some prize. The masters therefore entered all their agricultural pupils for Cambridge, l)ut finding afterwards that the prizes were limited, entered for the Oxford Examiliatious only their best scholars. Mr. Pinches, Hon. Sec. of the Loudon district for the Oxford Examinations, infonus our Hon. Sec. that the Prizes offered by the Society at the last Oxford Examina- tion had not become sufficiently known, and that should the Society offer any prizes for the year 1867, he would be able to assist in distributing the notices. With regard to the Cambridge Local Examinations to be held during the present month, the Council have deter- mined upon offering the following prizes : I. To Candidates who answer papers to be set in Mechanics and Chemistry as applied to Agriculture. Open to Seniors and Jmiiors who have passed the Preliminary Examination as above, and also to any young men not exceeding 35 years of age (duly recommended). Mechanics applied to Agriculture ... ... £10 Chemistry applied to Agriculture ... ... £10 II. To Candidates who obtain certificates, regard beiJig had to their place in the General Class List, &VMo;'*, a 1st prize of ... ... ... ... £5 /(?//w)'i', a 1st prize of ... ... ... ... £5 III. To Candidates who (having passed the Preliminary Examination) are distinguished in any of the following special subjects ; Seniors. Section t? f I'lire Mathematics, a 1st prize of ... £5 ■ I A.pplied Mathematics, a 1st prize of ... £5 Section F. Chemistry, a 1st prize of ... ... £5 Section G. 1. Zoology, and the elements of Ani- mal Physiology, a 1st prize of £5 3. Botany, :ind the elements of Vege- table Physiology, a 1st prize of £5 3. Geology, including Physical Geo- graphy, a 1st prize of ... ... £5 No student will be examined in more than one of these three divisions (1) (3) (3). Juniors. Section 7. Pure Mathematics, a 1st prize of ... £5 Section 8. Mechanics, a 1st prize of ... ... £5 Section 9. Chemistry, a 1st prize of ... ... £5 c i- lA ((«) Zoology, a 1st prize of ... ... £5 Section 10. i >;\ -n 4- 1 1. ■ e pr (_ (6) Botany, a 1st prize oi ... ... £5 No student will be examined in more than one of the two divisions («) and (b). A sum of £30 will be given away in secondary prizes of not less than £3 each, according to the discretion of the Com- mittee. Seventy-four candidates are entered for these prizes. Of these, twenty-one are seniors, and forty-five juniors ; while ten are entered for the special prizes in mechanics and chemistry applied to agriculture, of whom two are also entered amongst the seniors. The Council also offer (besides the foregoing prizes) one senior scholarship of £50, and four junior scholar- ships of £20, to be competed for at the ensuing Cam- bridge Local Examinations in December, 1866, limited to sons of tenant-farmers, or of owners, if not exceeding 500 acres, occupying their own land, on the following conditions : — That the senior scholarship shall only be given on condition that the scholar spend a year with a practical agriculturist, to be approved by the Education Committee, or at one of the agricultural colleges, such as Cirencester, Glasnevin, or the Agricultural Department at Edinburgh, aud that the money shall not be paid uutil a testimonial as to good conduct and industry be produced, at the end of the year of scholarship, from the body or person under ■\vhom the scholar has studied. That the junior scholarships shall only be given upon con- dition that the scholars spend a year at a school to be approved by the Education Committee, and that the THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 47 money shall not be paid until a testimonial as to good conduct and industry be produced at the end of the year of scholarship from the person under whom the scholars have studied. These scholarships will be awarded according to the order in which the candidates stand at the Cambridge Local Examinations. Seven candidates present themselves for the junior scholarships. The Couucil have again obtained the assistance of Mr. Besant, of St. John's College, Cambridge (senior wrangler, 1850), to examine in mechanics applied to agriculture, in conjunction with Mr. Amos, the Society's consulting engineer ; Mr. Liveing, professor of chemistry in the University of Cambridge ; and Professor Voelcker, the Society's consulting chemist, will conduct the ex- amination in chemistry applied to agriculture. Buitr St. Edmunds Meeting. — The Earl of Powis stated that the committee had accepted the offer by the local committee of prizes for plans for labourers' cot- tages, subject to Mr. Randell's suggestions, of which the local committee present approved. The local committee were requested to provide corn in the straw for trials ; hay, straw, cabbages, clover, and other forage, as agreed on last year : the secretary to confer with Mr. Brandreth Gibbs, and send information as to the kind and quantities required. They recommended that the Society's surveyor go down forthwith to stake out the roads and approaches to the sliowyard, and tliat he submit a plan for a smaller size of boxes for ponies to the next meeting. This report was adopted. PouLTKY Phizes. — Major-General the Hou. A. N. Hood having advocated the otfer of a sum not exceeding £200 in prizes for Poultry at the Bury Show, the motion was seconded by Mr. Barthropp, and opposed by Mr. Torr and Mr. Milvvard. The motion was ultimately carried by 12 ayes to 5 noes ; and a Committee, consist- ing of Major-General the flon. A. N. Hood, Mr. Read, M.P., Mr. Barthropp, Mr. Cantrell, Mr. Druce, Mr. Brandreth Gibbs, and Major Wilson, was appointed to carry out the necessary arrangements. Committee of Selection. — The President stated that the Committee recommend that Sir Edward Kerrison be elected a Vice-President, to till the vacancy caused by the death of Mr. Fisher Hobbs, and take this opportu- nity of expressing their deep sense of the great services rendered by that gentleman to this Society from the time of its formation, and beg to suggest that a paragraph be inserted in the Report to the general meeting on Wed- nesday next, expressive of the great regret occasioned by his death to all his late colleagues on the Council. Mr. D. R. Davies, of Mere Old Hall, Cheshire, having been proposed by Mr. Dent to fill the vacancy caused by the election of Mr. Jonas as Vice-President, and the Committee having ascertained that district C, in which Mr. Davies resides, contains 502 members of the Society, and is represented by only four members of Council, ?.Ir. Davies is recommended by the Committee accordingly. As the names of the six elected members of the Com- mittee have been so recently before the Council for elec- tion, it is proposed that they shall continue in office for the coming year, with the exception of Lord Vernon, who is going to the Continent, and Mr. Jacob Wilson, in con- sequence of his great distance from London, thus leaving two vacancies to be fiUed up by the Council. On the nomination of Mr. Torr, seconded by Mr. llandell, Sir Edward Kerrison, Bart., M.P., was unani- mously elected a Vice-President of the Society, in the room of the late Mr. Fisher Hobbs, whose loss was deeply felt by the Council ; and Lord W^alsingham took occasion to pronounce an eloquent eulogium upon the ca- pacities for business and the straightforward, honourable character of Mr. Fisher Hobbs, who was always ready to give the Society his best advice and assistance. The President, in the absence of Mr. Dent, MP., pro- posed, and Mr. Milward seconded, Mr. D. R. Davies, of Mere Old Hall, Knutsford, Cheshire, as a Member of Council, in the room of Mr. Jonas, elected a Vice-Presi- dent. Mr. Davies was elected unanimously. Cattle-Plague. — Lord Walsingham reported that the Committee had drawn up a series of resolutions, as follows : The points to which the Committee particularly wish to draw the attention of the Council are : — ■ 1st. The importation of Foreign Cattle ; 2nd. The re-opening of Fairs and Markets ; and 3rd. The necessity of extending the time during which the powers granted to the Privy Council under the Acts of the last Session may be exercised. With respect to the first point the Committee believe that the existing restrictions are probably sufficient for the present, but they think that unless they are made permanent, it will not be considered worth while to erect lairs for the purpose of carrying out regulations which may be only of a temporary nature, and that consequently such as relate to quarantine will become inoperative. The constant presence of the disease in various parts of the Continent of Europe makes it extremely probable that, except under very stringent regulations, the disease will frequently be re-imported ; and they believe that it will eventually be found that nothing short of perman- ent regulations for killing animals intended for slaughter at the ports at which they are landed will prevent its in- troduction ; and that with respect to store cattle, the re- gulations should be of such a permanent character, as will lead to the provision of such buildings as will be necessary for carrying out an efficient system of quarantine. With respect to the second point adverted to by the Committee, they think considerable danger .will be in- curred by re-opening fairs and markets at the present time, except under the restriction of immediate slaughter. With reference to these and thei-emaining points submitted by the Committee, they recommend that a deputation be authorised by the Council to seek an interview with the Lord-President of the Privy CouncU, to represent their opinions on this subject, and to call the attention of the Government to the importance of obtaining, if necessary, parliamentary powers, so that the trade in cattle may , be placed upon such a footing as may ensure the greatest amount of security to owners of cattle ; and that, at the same time, the dealers and importers may know under what restrictions the trade is to be carried on, and be en- couraged to provide such appliances as may enable them to conduct their business with the least possible incon- venience to themselves, and the smallest risk to and in- terference with public interests. This report was adopted, and it was resolved that a deputation from the Society should wait on the Lord Pre- sident of the Privy Couucil, at the Privy Council Office, on Friday the 7th inst., and impress on his Grace the above resolutions. The Annual Reports of all the Standing Committees were presented by the respective Chairmen. The Standing Committees for 18G7 — viz.. Finance Committee, Journal Committee, Chemical Committee, House Committee, Implement Committee, Veterinary Committee, Stock-Prizes Committee, General Bury Com- mittee, Show-yard Contracts Committee, and Education Committee were appointed. The Live-Stock and Lnjdement Prize Sheets for the Bury Meeting were settled at a Special Couucil, which met by order of the President at the rising of the Monthly Couucil. 48 THE FAEMER'S MAGAZINE. DEPUTATION TO THE LORD-PRESIDENT OF THE COUNCIL. Oil Friday afternoon, Dec. 7, a deputation of the Council of the Royal Agricultural Society of England, obtained an inter- view with the Duke of Buckingham, Lord-President of the Council, at the Privy Council Office, to submit the resolutions of the Council on the subject of the cattle trade to his Grace, and to elicit the views of the Government thereon. The deputation was composed of Mr. H. S. Thompson (president), the Earl of Powis, Major-General the Hon. A. N. Hood, Mr. Cantrell, aud Mr. H. Hall Dare, secretary. The members of the deputation having been introduced to the Lord-President, Mr. Tiioiipsox said the points to which the Council par- ticularly desired to draw the attention of the Lords of the Privy Council were, first, the importation of foreign cattle ; second, the re-opening of fairs aud markets ; and, third, tlie necessity of extending the time during which the powers granted to the Privy Council under the act of last session may be exercised. With respect to the first point the Council believed that the existing restrictions were probably sufiicieut for the present ; bnt they thought that unless they are made permanent, it would not be considered worth while to erect lairs for the purpose of carrying out regulatious which may be only of a temporary nature, and that consequently such as re- late to quarantine will become inoperative. The constant presence of the disease in various parts of the Continent of Europe made it extremely probable that except under very stringent regulations the disease would frequently be re- imported, and they believed that it would eventually be found that nothing short of permanent regulations for killing animals intended for slaughter at the ports at which they are lauded will prevent its introduction, and that with respect to store cattle, tlie regulations should be of such a permanent character as would lead to the provision of such buildings as would be necessary for carrying out an efficient system of quarantine. With respect to the second and third points adverted to by the Council, they thought considerable danger would be incurred "by re-opeuing fairs and markets af the present time, except under the restrictions of immediate slaughter, and they begged leave to call the at- tention of the Government to the importance of obtaining, it necessary, additional parliamentary powers, so that the trade in cattle may be placed on such a footing as may ensure the greatest amount of security to owners of cattle, and that, at the same time, the dealers and importers may know under what restrictions the trade is to be carried on, and be encouraged to provide such appliances as may enable them to conduct their business with the least possible inconvenience to themselves, and the smallest risk to, and interference with, public interest. Mr. Thompson proceeded to enlarge on the resolutions of the Council. As to the importation of cattle, he thought that it was assuming more and more importance, and ought to be put on a permanent footing, for the sake of the large in- terest involved, and considering the new position in which that trade is placed by the opening of so many more railways across the country. The greater facilities of locomotion and the higher price of cattle, rendering a greater inducement to bring cattle from the various ports of arrival across country, made it so much the more necessary that every possible precaution should be taken to prevent the re-importation of the cattle- plague from time to time. Tlie Lord-Presidext observed that at present there was no power existing to make permanent regulations for quaran- tine. With regard to the importation of cattle there was, however, in operation a temporary system of strict quarantine for not exceeding 28 days. It was probable that one large place for importation, Harwich, would be opened in the course of a few days. A member of the deputation inquired what was to be the arrangement made with regard to store cattle at Harwich ? The LORD-PuESiDEXT repHed that formal plans had not been set down ; but from the interviews they had had with the railway authorities, there seemed to be no difficulty in the way of an arrangement of the kind being carried out. The ground appeared to be well isolated, and the piers eonveuient for land- ing, the land itself being of considerable extent. There were at Harwich ^ certain uumber of sheds, autl several acres of pasture-land, divided hy salt-water creeks, the supply in which was never less than four feet of salt water at the lowest ebb. And tlie isolation was almost complete. There was a high sea embankment between the land and sea-shore, along which runs simply a footway, and the access was exceedingly difficult. The land on the other side was entirely isolated by the railway. In fact, the land was all the property of the railway company. It was proposed to make the northernmost pier a cattle-landing pier. There were two ranges of sheds imniediately adjacent, aud there would be slaughter-houses for slaughtering animals. Major-General Hood thought it would be desirable for Government to take into consideration the number of ports which would thus be required to supply the wants of the country. The Lord-Presidext said probably one port would suffice. Harwich was the only port which had applied that, had suf- ficient area. It would not do to concede the same permission to a port where the pier was in the centre of the town. The regulations which were to apply to Harwich were now under discussion between the Privy Council and the Customs ; and he had a rough draft of those proposed, though as yet un- matured, and which his Grace then read. I3y these, it was proposed to impose certain restrictions on the admission to the pens of imported cattle ; also upon persons visiting the pens, no person except the owner being admitted, except by the permission of the officer in charge. No animals, carcases, or liideSj were to be removed, except on a certificate from the inspector ; and the pens, &c., were to be strewed with strong lime, or otherwise disinfected, every day. Then it was pro- posed that the pens should be placed entirely in charge of the C-iistoms' officers, just the same as bonded warehouses ; and they would appoint a person to take charge of the pens. It was further proposed that, on the inspector of quarantine certifying that the animals had remained there twenty-eight days without disease, his certificate should be equivalent to the order ordinarily given for the removal of stock. The Earl of Powis asked how the proposed arrangement would apply to foreign or store cattle taken to the Metro- politan Market? The Lord-President answered that all cattle imported would have to go under quarantine, or be immediately slaugh- tered. As regards the removal of fat animals, the views of the Government were that it would be extremely dangerous to permit it, except under the ordinary regulations. Mr. TiiOJiPSON expressed his beUef that removals of cattle were to a large extent clandestinely carried on. He cited the cases of Wakefield and Rotlierham, and said that at Rother- ham there was a large number of cattle sold, not one-tenth of which was consumed there. And as to the case of Wake- field, a great deal of the cattle sold there was supplied to Leeds. Therefore it was very important this matter should be looked after. The Council of the Agricultural Society had thought it might be regulated sufficiently by the magistrates giving licences for the removal of uninfected animals from the fat- cattle market where they are first shown, and by the railway companies agreeing not to let animals go by their lines unless they had such magistrates' licence. They should then only be allowed to go one journey, and be slaughtered withiu a certain number of days. The Lord-President said the Government had had memo- rials from Brighton, Aberdeen, and other places, on the sub- ject, and there seemed to be a difficulty as to the distance animals might be removed under one licence. It was well known there had been cases where cattle had left the metropo- litan markets and gone down into tlie country. Major-General Hood remarked that the opinion generally among agriculturists seemed to be that wherever fat cattle are taken there they ought to be killed. He thought, if tlie pre- sent restrictions were kept, say for another three months, until the plague is quite gone, then they should be entirely free to act ; but if the restrictions, were relaxed, the disease might again spread, and the horrors of the plague be repeated. The Lord-President said, with regard to the second point, the re-opening of fairs and markets, that was a question of time, and must be regulated by the degree of danger. They were re-opened in Scotland. Major-General Hood observed they were freer in Scotland from the disease than we are in England, and had been foi't tuuately so for st greater leugtb of time. THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 49 The Lokd-President said the markets in Scotland were re-opeued within a month of the last case of plague, and no ill consequences had resulted, there having been no reappearance of the disease. A member of the deputation having alluded to a difference between the metropolitan and suburljan markets, The Lord-President said it appeared to the Government that the greatest danger existed from the unauthorised sales which were known to be carried on. It was a practice for a large number of cattle to be got together on a piece of private groimd outside the boundaries of the boroughs in which mar- kets are closed, and to carry on illicit sales there. Mr. Thompson confirmed his Grace's remarks by citing an instance in whicli that had been done in Yorkshire. The Lord-President proceeded to say that under those circumstances the Government had had to consider whether there was not a greater danger under the system of unau- thorised sales (which there was great difficulty in preventing), under wliich they had no clieek upon tlie removal of animals, than under a system where markets are opened and regularly licenced. The question was whether markets under the re- strictions of licences carefuOy examined and recorded were not safer than the practice of unauthorised sales. His Grace then inquired of the Deputation, as representing the agricultural in- terest, how they would supply dairy cows for large towns ? Major-General Hood remarked they had already the power of removing cows ; but he cited an instance in which, on his sending a cow into Hertfordshire, wlien it got to London the authorities declined to let it go any fartlier. The Lord-President observed that, unless cows were al- lowed to be brought to London without being killed, the dairy- man's business would be materially interfered with. Then, with regard to the markets, tlie deputation did not indicate any time that they desired them to be kept closed. As he under- stood, the opinion of the Royal Society was that all the mar- kets for store cattle should be kept closed. Did they apprehend any great danger from animals imported under strict qua- rantine ? Mr. Thompson replied negatively, provided there continued the same machinery as now in operation. The Lord-President said there was one point of deep moment which had been lost sight of. It was a fact that a great number of the inspectors had been paid otf or reduced by the local authoritiesi, although the disease miglit at any moment break out again. In fact, this had occured recently in two cases, in the East Riding. They had learned this from a pri- vate source. And, through the cause of which he had com- plained, the Government had no official report of the outbjeak until yesterday, nor of the place having been declared infected. He did not see why the local authorities should thus dispose of their inspectors. For the Government was actinj' upon the assumption that if every possible care is not taken, the dis- ease may break out again and spread. In Scotland, although the country was tree from the plague, the same precautionary measures were taken, and all the machinery remained in force. But in England, the Government were aware that a very large number of inspectors had been dismissed altogether. In several districts there was no inspector to be found for 12 or 20 miles, and in one county they were entirely without an in- spector. A member of the deputation suggested whether it would not be well for Government to issue a notice calling the atten- tion of tlie local authorities to the inexpediency of discharging or reducing the number of inspectors ? The Lord-President replied that the Government had already done that, and it rested with the country to second the efforts of the Government to free the land from this terrible scourge. The consequence of neglecting the inspectors might be very serious. The disease might again spread, and the expense to the local authorities of maintaining the system of inspection would be as nothing compared with that which would result from a return of the plague. After some remarks from the deputation, The Duke of Buckingham observed, it should be stated that the Government had not intended to grant any licence for the opening of any market where imported cattle would be received. The deputation having thanked the Lord-President for the courtesy and consideration which he had manifested, the inter- view ended, having lasted only half au hour. The Annual Meeting of this Society was held on the Wed- nesday in tlie Smithfield Show week, in Hanover-square, the President, Mr. H. S. Thompson, occupying the chair. The attendance was very large, considerably exceeding that at any previous meeting for some time past. The Secretary, Mr. Hall Dare, rend the following report of the Council: REPORT OF THE COUNCIL. During the last half year G governors and Il-i members have died, while 1 governor and 32 members have been elected, so that the list now comprises 76 life governors 82 annual governors 1,380 life members 3,972 annual members 15 honorary members making a total of 5,525. The Council have elected Sir Edward Kerrison, Bart., M.P., and Mr. Jonas to supply the vacancies in the class of Vice- Presidents caused by the decease of Mr. Thomas Raymond Barker and Mr. Fisher Hobbs. In tilling these vacancies the Council avail themselves of the opportunity of recording on their minutes an expression of their sincere regret at these losses, and their deep sense of the valuable services which these gentlemen had uniformly aud unwearily rendered to the society. Major Wilson, of Stowlangtoft Hall, Bury St. Edmunds, has been elected a member of Council in the room of Blr. Ha- mond, resigned ; Sir Henry Vane, Bart., of Hutton Hall, Penrith, in the room of Mr. Wilson, deceased ; and Mr. D. 11. Davies, of Mere Old Hall, Knutsford, Cheshire, in the room of Mr. Jonas, elected a vice-president. Tlie statement of accounts for the half-year ended 30th June has lieen examined and apjiroved by tlie society's auditors and accountants, and has been furnished to all members iu the last number of the Journal. The funded capital has been reduced by the sale of £1,000 Stock, and now stands at £18,027 19s. 6d. in the New Three per Cents. Tliis sale has been rendered necessary partly by the cost of the addition of a new storey to the society's house, which materially adds to the value of the premises ; and partly by the appropriation of a considerable sum to a thorough in- vestigation into the results of the cultivation of the soil by .steam-driven machinery in various parts of the country. To this latter object the Council determined to devote a sunt not exceeding £1,000, and, notwithstanding the wet autumn, considerable progress has been made in the inquiry, the result of which will be fully made known in the first number of the. Journal for next year. The implements for which prizes will be given in the ensu- ing year consist of iixed and portable steam engines, fixed and portable thrashing machines, finishing machines, hand dressing machines, barley hummeUers, chaff cutters, miUs, crushers, oilcake breakers, bone mills, turnip cutters, and field gates ; and as a period of four years will have elapsed since the trial of some of these classes of implements, it is to be anticipated that many improvements will be exhibited at Bury St. Edmunds. The country meeting next year will be held in the week commencing Monday the 15tli of July. Prizes to the amount of £2,925 are offered by the Society for live stock, and £ioO for implements, while £570 are added by the Suffolk vVgricul- tural Society aud the Local Committee. It is also proposed to offer £200 iu prizes for poultry, the eastern counties hav- ing long been famous for their success in this department. The Education Committee have followed out the scheme of prizes offered in the last report in connection with the Oxford local examinations, and have made the following award of prizes ; — List I. — Prizes to Candidates who obtain Certificates, regard heing had to their 2^lacc in the General Class List. Seniors. Three in Oxford First Divisiou. Name. , School. Prize. A. Pollard Liverpool Institute £7 J.Lake Alfred House School, Bow, Middlesex 5 C. J. Langley Abington House School, Northampton 5 Four iu Oxford Second Division. Thomas Hill Grammar School, Wolverhampton ... £2 H. T. Bovey Clevedou College, Northampton ... 2 C. O. Mackwood... Clarendon House, Kennington Road 2 R. PRudd „ „ 2 E 50 THE FAEMEB'S MAGAZINE. Juniors. Two in Oxford First Division. W.H.Davis Manclipsfer Grammar Scliool E. King Abington House School, TS'orthampton Seven in Oxford Second Division. F. Chubb Mansion House School, Exeter . . . G. B. Lovett Rarasgate College School G.A.Day Cleveden College, Northampton C. Highara „ ,, J. Luxton Devon County School W. Mortimer ,, „ J. C. Sargent Abington House School, Northampton List II. — Prizes giren to C'andidales irJio, having passed PreUminary Examination, are distinguished in any of suljcots mentioned in the R. A. S. E. Prize List. Senioks. Mathematics — C. J. Langley Abington House School A. Pollard Liverpool Institute H. T. Bovey Clevedon College J.Lake Alfred House School, Bow 11. P. Rudd Clarendon House Chemistry — F. B. Kingdon ... Royal Agrie. College, Cirencester ... A. Pollard Liverpool Institute Physiology — J.W.Sanders Uilesthorpe House A. PoUard Liverpool Institute ... Juniors. Pure Mathematics — F. Chubb Mansion House School, Exeter E, King Abington House, Northampton W.Mortimer Devon County School... List III. — Mechanics applied to Agricidtxre. F. B. Kingdon Royal Agrie. College, Cirencester ... H. R. Goddard.... T. J. Elliott J. L. Waldon Devon County School Chemistry applied to Agriculture. F. B. Kingdon Royal Agrie. College, Cirencester ... H. R. Goddard .... Royal Agrie. College, Cirencester ... J. L. Waldon Devon County Scliool... £5 4 4 In all these lists where prizes of the same value are given to more than one candidate for the same subject, the candi- dates' names are arranged in alphabetical order. The wliole uuniber of candidates was 45. With regard to the Cambridge Local Examinations to be held during the present month, the Council have determined upon offering prizes for the same subjects as before. Seventy-four candidates are entered for these prizes. Of these, 21 are Seniors and 45 Juniors : while 10 are entered for the special prizes in Mechanics and Chemistry applied to Agriculture, of whom 2jire also entered amongst the Seniors. The Council also offer (besides the foregoing prizes) 1 Senior Scholarsliip of £50, and 4 Junior Scholarships of j£20, to be competed for at the ensuing Cambridge Local Examina- tions in December, 1866, limited to sons of tenant-farmers, or of owners, if not exceeding 500 acres, occupying their own land, on the following conditions : — That the Senior Scholarship shall only he given on condi- tion that the scholar spend a year with a practical agri- culturist, to bo approved by the Education Committee, or at one of the Agricultural Colleges — such as Cirencester, Glasnevin, or the Agricultural Department at Edinburgh — and that the money shall not be paid until a testi- monial as to good conduct and industry be produced, at the end of the year of scholarship, from the body or person under whom the scholar has studied. That the Junior Scholarships shall only be given upon con- dition that the scholars spend a year tit a school to be ajiproved by the Education Committee, and that the money shall not be paid until a testimonial as to good conduct and industry be produced at the eml of the year of scholarship, from the person under whom the scholars have studied. These Scholarships will be awarded according to the order in wliich the candidates stand at the Cambridge Local Ex- aminations. The Council have again ohtained the assistance of Mr. Besant, of St. John's College, Cambridge (Senior Wrangler 1850), to examine in Mechanics applied to Agriculture, in conjunction with Mr. Amos, the Society's consulting En- gineer. Mr. Lieving, Professor of Chemistry in the University of Cambridge, and Professor Voelcker, the Society's Consult- ing Chemist, will conduct the examination in chemistry ap- plied to agriculture. While heartily uniting with the whole kingdom in the thanks- giving for the abatement of tlie Cattle Plague, the Council are at the same time sensible of the imjiortance of continuing many of the existing restrictions on the traffic in live stock, and' with this view have instructed a deputation to wait on the Lords of the Privy Council to draw their attention to the fol- lowing points : 1st. The importation of foreign cattle. 2nd. The re-opening of fairs and markets ; and 3rd. The necessity of extending the time during \\'hich the powers granted to the Privy Council under the Acts of the last Session may be exercised. With respect to the first point the Council believe that the existing restrictions are probably sufficient for the present, bnt that unless they are made permanent it \\ill not be considered worth while to erect lairs for the purpose of carrying out regulations which may be only of a temporary nature, and that consequently such as relate to quarantine will become in- operative. The constant presence of the disease in various art s of the Continent of Europe makes it extremely probable that except nnder very stringent regulations the disease will frequently be re-imported, and they believe that it will eventu- ally be found that nothing short of permanent regulations for killing animals intended for slaughter at the ports at which they are landed will prevent its introduction, and that with respect to store cattle the regulations should be of such a permanent character as will lead to the provision of suitable buildings for carrying out an efficient system of quarantine. With respect to the second and third points adverted to by the Council, they think considerable danger will be incurred by re-opening fairs and markets at the present time, except under the restrictions of immediate slaughter, .and they wish to call the attention of the Government to the importance of obtaining, if necessary, additional Parliamentary powers, so that the trade in cattle may be placed upon such a footing as may ensure the greatest araon nt of security to owners of cattle, and that at the same time the dealers and importers may know under what restrictions the trade is to be carried on, and be encouraged to provide such appliances as may enable them to conduct their business with the least possible incon- venience to themselves, and the smallest risk to, and inter- ference with, public interests. By order of the Council, H. Hail Dake, Secretary. On the motion of Jlr. Caldwell, seconded by Mr. EUraan, the report was nnanimously adopted. The Chairman then said : I now proceed, gentlemen, to read a short address, which at the request of the Council I have prepared, and I may observe that one reason why it is a written address is that it contains figures and statements with which I could not trust my memory. He then proceeded to read as follows :— The Royal Agricultural Society not having held a country meeting this year, the Council lost their cus- tomary opportunity of meeting the members of the society, and of manifesting, by the success of their show, both the vitality of the society and the steady progress of Bri- tish agriculture. I therefore take this opportunity of mak- ing a few remarks on some of the topics which possess most interest for agriculturists at the present time, in the hope that other gentlemen may join in the discussion, and give the meet- ing the benefit of their experience and their opinions on those subjects. I wish first to mention that I shall only advert to those topics which possess a common interest for all our mem- bers, and shall avoid all such as may be likely to rouse feelings of antagonism and class interests (Hear, hear). I press this point strongly, because some of these forbidden topics involve questions of great importance, and, as chairman of the Journal Committee, I have frequently been urged to take steps to pro- cure articles on such questions as leases, tenant right, preserva- tion of game, 5i.'c. These and other similar questions are, no THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 51 doubt, deeply iuterestiug to both landlords and tenants, and nothing' can be more reasonable than tliat men who have a commou interest in any subjects of this nature should meet and discuss tlieui — should, if they think flt, write pamiihlets and newspaper articles, and endeavour as much as possible to en- list public opinion in support of their particular views ; but when aU is done, landlord and tenant must in the future, as in the past, settle their mutual rights and privileges by individual negotiation and agreement ; and in the great majority of cases euch negotiations will assuredly end in land being let at its market value, such market value varying in some measure ac- cording to the security afforded to the tenant, that if he lays out his capital on land that is not his own he will get it back with fair profit (Hear, hear). Whilst, however, admitting the fuU importance of this class of subjects, I do not hesitate to state that the consideration and discussion of them were not the objects with which this society was founded. I am one of those who took an active though a very subordinate part in its formation, and have been a member of the Council from that time to this, and I can safely say that the principal aim of the founders was to promote the improvement and development of those two great branches of industry known as stock and crop farming, upon which the prosperity of Ijoth landlords and tenants must ultimately depend, and in the iirosecution of which landlords and tenants cau heartily pull together (Hear, hear) . I must here guard myself against the supposition that I mean to ex(dude from the list of subjects properly occupying the at- tention of tins society such (juestions as the education of the agricultural classes, the best construction of labourers' cottages, and many other kindred subjects. ]\"othii\g can be farther from my intention. These subjects were set forth in our charter, and naturally and properly occupy the attention of the society at the present moment ; but improvements of all kinds, whether in education, or in farm buildings and cottages, require ample means ; and I repeat, therefore, that the first great object of the formation of this society was to increase as much as possible the amount of wealth to be extracted from the soil, leaving the apportionment of it between landlords, tenants, and labourers, to be settled ^ between man and man at fitting time and place (Hear, hear). Nor is the sphere of our operations thus defined eitlier a nar- row or an ignoble one. We may well be content to devote our energies to the production of the great sta])le products which must always form the jjrincipal Ijulk of the food of man, and to produce this food in greater tpiantity and of better quality than heretofore is one of those highly gratifying results which, whilst improving the position of the agriculturist himself, adds at the same time to the comfort and wellbeing of even the humblest classes of his countrymen (Hear, hear). Having th\is limited myself at the outset, I will first advert to that sub- ject which has been one of absorbing interest during the whole of the past year — I mean the cattle plague. At this time last year the Council of this Society were exerting themselves to bring the collective weight of this and other leading agricultural so- cieties to bear in inducing the Government to adopt certain stringent regulations for preventing the movemeut of cattle generally, and for killing promptly those attacked by the disease. The resolutions unanimously adopted by the Council with tliis view were, as nearly as may be, subsequently embodied in the Cattle Disease Prevention Act; and, looking at the im- mediate check given to the cattle plague when that Act came into force, and its subsequent rapid and contiuous decline, few persons are now found to question the soundness of the policy then pursued. The cattle plague has now for a considerable period been brought into such narrow compass that we may reasonably liope soon to see it altogether extinguished ; and it seems to me important that, wliilst its disastrous eftects are still fresh in our memories, we should not allow our attention to be diverted from the true character and results of this ca- lamity until such regulations be permanently adopted — be made, in fact, part of the law of the land — as may give us all the security against its recurrence which the nature of the case will admit of (Hear, hear). The late attack of rinderpest may (e said to have lasted little more than a year ; for though the first cases were observed at the end of June, 1865, it had not made very great progress before August of that year, and by the end of August, 1866, the attack of the disease had been re- duced within very narrow limits. In point of duration, there- fore, the great visitation of rinderpest of the last century, which lasted from June, 17-ii to 1757, or thereabouts, varied materially from this. But rinderpest, like other things, travels by railway in these days, and in little more than three months from its first appearance it had invaded more than half the coun- ties of England and a large portion of Scotland. The number of diseased animals which have died or been killed amounted, on the 2'Mi of November last, to 309,333. No return of their value can yet be obtained, but taking the average value of 1864j head slaughtered in the West Riding of Yorkshire, and applying that average to the whole number, we obtain a total of £3,690,000. 'This, however, does not represent the whole of our loss, as a considerable number died before the passing of the Cattle Disease Prevention Act, whose deaths were not reported to the inspectors. Heavy losses were also incurred by the forced sales and premature slaughter of young animals in store condition, in consequence of the panic caused when- ever the disease made its first appearance in a new neighbour- hood. On the whole I cannot rate the national loss caused by the cattle-plague at less than three millions sterling. It is mortifying to reflect that (luunanly speaking) this great loss might have Ijeen in great measure prevented if we had not been too proud to profit by the experience of our own and other nations who had frequently to battle with this terrible scourge, and wh J had uniformly come to the conclusion, after repeated attempts at cure, that immediate isolation and slaughter of all animals attacked by rinderpest was the only mode of escaping heavy loss. No doubt some willbe found to dissent from my conviction that this great loss might have been almost entirely prevented if our existing machinery for stamping out cattle-plague had been set to work on its first outbreak. It will be difficult, however, to escape from this conclusion if we compare the results of the " laissez aller" and the " stamping out" methods in the summers of 1SG5 and 1866. Compare, for instance, the month of July, 1865, with the month of September, 1S66. In the former month there were 79 fresh outbreaks of the disease ; in the latter there were 7-i. So that the number of new centres of infection created were in each of these montlis nearly the same. In the latter case, however, the stamping-out principle was applied to these new sources of infection, in the other they were left to increase and multiply. And what was the consequence ? Two mouths later the full effect of these new outbreaks would be fully seen ; and we find in September, 1865, 954- fresh out- breaks' attacking 5,300 animals : whilst in November, 1866, there were only 8 fresh outbreaks attacking 16 animals. Why should not the 7-i fresh outbreaks in September, 1866, have done as mucli mischief proportionately as the 79 in July, 1865? Some will say that the disease was worn out, had become less intense or less contagious than it was a year before. This, however, is not the case, as throughout the whole of this visitation the nature and character of the attacks have been remarkably uniform, and in the very latest cases, the disease has shown itself just as contagious and just as fatal as at the first commencement. I have already shown that we, as a nation, have incurred a very heavy loss rather than admit that our scientific means and appliances are as insufficient now to cure or even mitigate this disease as they were a century ago, in this country, or as they are in otlier countries up to the present day ; but having paid so dearly for our experience, it would be totally inconsistent with the business-like and prac- tical character of Englishmen if we did not take steps to profit by our past error, and to prevent our having to buy our ex- perieuce over again at the same heavy cost (Hear, hear). With this view the Council have within the last few days sought an intervievk^ with her Majesty's Government, and we stated our unanimous conviction that so far as the present attack of rinderpest is concerned, it would be highly impolitic to relax the restrictions which have proved so eifective until a sufficient time shall have elapsed without, the occurrence of a single case to afford a reasonable probability that the disease is extinct in Great Britain. Witli reference to the future we also pointed out the importance of obtaining from Parliament, in a permanent form, the power to revive at any time when required the existing machinery. That this machinery is efficient for its purpose, is proved by the fact that in any of tlie later outbreaks the disease lias rarely extended beyond the farms where it first appeared, un- less from great apathy and negligence on the part of the local authorities. If the provisions of the Cattle Diseases Preven- tion Act are not renewed, they will expire next June, or at the end of the then session of Parliament ; and, on any new 52 THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. outbreak of the disease, Parli:imeut would liave to be called together, or, if then sitting, the tedious process of passing a bill through both Houses would have to be incurred before any effective measures could be taken, and we should assuredly have agaiu to pay dearly for our want of foresight. The third point— which the Council consider of equal, if not greater, im- portance than either of the two former — is that the importa- tion of foreign cattle should be permanently placed on a safe footing (Hear, hear). The whole character of this trade has been clianged by the continued extension of railways on the Continent of Europe, occurring as it has done simultaneously with a great increase in the price of cattle in the English mar- kets. These two causes combined make it answer to the im- porter to bring cattle from much greater distances ; and we can no longer consider Rotterdam and Ilamljurgh as the ports from which only Dutch or North German stock are brought here, but they have become the termini of a great network of railways, at the other end of which lie the great steppes of Eastern Europe, from which the rinderpest is rarely absent ; and we are placed in nearly as much danger as countries like Austria and Prussia, which, geographically, lie much nearer to the sources of infection, and which have only kept them- selves free from the most calamitous losses since they have adopted veiy stringent regulations as part of their pennanent code, ready to be put into active operation at the shortest pos- ,;sible notice. The supplies of store cattle imported are so limited in number that it would not be difficult to establish an efficient systein of quarantine for them ; and there can be little doubt but that, if it were once thoroughly understood that in future all fat cattle must be slaughtered at the ports of disem- barkation, arrangements would soon be made by which it could conveniently be carried out ; and I am sanguine enough to believe that, after a time, it would be conducive to the in- terest of the importer, as it assuredly would he to that of the consumer. Let it be assumed that convenient slaughter- houses were -constructed at the ports both of export and im- port. In winter, when the passage is rough and tedious, and the importers suffer great losses by general deterioration and numerous deaths amongst their live cargoes, they would slaughter the cattle at Rotterdam, Antwerp, Ostend, and other convenient ports ; and during the winter mouths the meat could be brought over in capital condition. During the sum- mer months, when fresh meat would not bear a sea-voyage, the animals must be brought over alive ; but at that time of year the passage loses half its terrors, and the cattle would be slaughtered at Hull, Harwich, or the port of Londou. Even now, fresh meat is becoming an article of daily importation ; and from a return kindly furnished to me by the President of the Board of Trade, I learn that in the month of October last no less than three millions four hundred and twenty-eight thou- sand pounds of meat, salted and fiesh, wereiraported, of which the greater portion was fresh mutton (Hear, hear). The next (luestion to which I shall allude is what has been termed the labour difficulty. All who are engaged in rural pursuits are aware that wages have risen very much during the last few years, and that not only has labour become a more costly item in farm expenditure, but it is extremely difficult in many dis- tricts to obtain a suificiency of the right sort of men. Some years ago it was very common to hear farmers severely iilamed for not giving high enough wages to their labourers, and now it is equally common to hear the labourers found fault mth for asking extravagantly high wages. In each case the complaints are equally unreasonable. A farmer who should from kindness of heart give much higher wages than his neighbours would soon find himself in the Gazette, aud it would be equally unbusiness-like to expect that labourers should ask lower wages than they think they can obtain. Several causes have contributed to bring about the present scarcity of labour in particular districts — the rapid expansion of trade, the successive alterations which have been made in 1 he laws of parochial settlement, and, above all, the great in- crease in the facilities and cheapness of locomotion (Hear, hear). The cliange is, therefore, likely to be permanent, and it is an interesting question how best to deal with it. A noble lord at an agricultural dinner in one of the midland counties, a few months ago, was so much impressed with the import- ance of the question as to suggest the possibility of applying the co-operative system to agricultural labour. Judging from ilie newspaper report of his lordship's speech, he did not do more than throw out the idea witli the viejv of eliciting dis- cussion. It does not appear to me that the labourer could be made a sharer in the farmer's profits in good seasons unless he could also bear his share of the farmer's losses in bad ones, which he would clearly be unable to do (Hear, hear) ; but there is one mode in which the farmer might admit his labourers to be partners in his farm, which would, I think, go some way towards surmounting the present labour difiiculty, and would, with little cost to the farmer, be of incalcul- able benefit to the labourer. The plan I would suggest is that the farmer should let to a certain number of his labourers sufficient grass land to enable eacli of them to keep a cow, and that these allotments should be the rewards of industry and sobriety. I have for some years watched the operation of two modes of carrying this out, one plan being to let each man a separate field of two or three acres, which is much preferred by the men ; the other being to devote two fields of consider- able size to a number of men, who use one in common as a summer pasture for their covins, and mow the other for hay, the separate holdings being marked out by a post at each corner. The latter method is suitable for large farms on which it might be difficult to find, or to form a sufficiency of small fields for separate allotment. Both plans work well. The cost to the farmer is trifling, as the cottagers are always willing to pay a fair rent for the land. To labourers with families the advan- tage of keeping a cow can hardly be overrated ; but I do not think it advisable to confine it to fathers of families, as a steady married man without children is thus enabled to save a little money, and become so muchinterested in liiscow and his pig that the alehouse is no longer the chief source of attraction during his leisure hours. Those who are best acquainted with agricul- tural labourers will, I feel confident, bear me out in the as- sertion that a man who can ensure regular work, at fair wages, with sufficient land to keep a cow and a pig, and obtain even a moderately-good cottage among the friends and neighbours whom he has known from his childhood, will seldom be found willing to exchange his position for the crowded courts and alleys of the large towns, even by the temptation of con- siderably higher money wages. The Council have, during this year, devoted a good deal of time and attention to the or- ganization of a critical inquiry into the results of steam culti- vation, followed up by an examination of selected farms in most of the counties of England. The high price of mutton and wool for several years has given such a stimulus to light- land farming that the strong wheat lands have receded in public estimation, and are at present most in need of improve- ment. Yet Mr. Lawes has proved that, even by the ordinary methods of cultivation, about two quarters of wheat per acre may be grown on strong land for twenty years in succession, without manure ; and Mr. Smith, of Lois Weedon, has carried this further, and shown that by a thorough disintegration of the soil, and repeated exposure of a fresh surface to the fer- tilizing effects of the atmosphere, at least four quarters of wlieat per acre may be calculated upon as the average produce of moderately good wheat land for un equally long period". The only drawback to this gratifying result consists in the heavy cost of cultivating the stiff clays. The steam-plough is the most likely agent to get over this difficulty ; and the able men who are at present engaged in arranging the great mass of information they have collected on this subject will, we trust, be able, in their reports, to show us the extent to which the employment of steam machinery in the cultivation of strong land has been commercially successful^ and also to point out any special causes which have retaraed its intro- duction and diminished its beneficial efl'ects, whether arising from the imperfections of the machinery, or from improper modes of applying it (Hear, hear). One of the most pro- mising features in the agricultural prospects of the present day is the almost unlimited demand which exists for many of those products which our soil and climate are especially adapted to produce in perfection. The \^'estern sides of Great Britain and Ireland are peculiarly well fitted for the breeding and rearing of live stock ; yet our constantly-increasing im- ports sliow that the home-supply is by no means equal to the demand. If our acute, but misguided, fellow-countrymen in Ireland would abandon their Fenian follies, and devote themselves heartily to the cultivation of green crops and he improvement of their pasture lands, they might ap- propriate a large portion of the vast sums which are now expended in bringing live-stock from the most distant parts of Europe. Even now there are more cattle in Ire- THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. laud tlmu in Eiiglaud— 3,i0o,000 agninst 3,307,000; and that number might with ease be very largely increased. Dairy produce, too, has for some years borne a very remunerative price, and needs fear no competition from distant countries. The effect of the cattle-plague on the supply of milk to large towns is remarkably illustrated by the quantity of milk now conveyed by railway for the supply of the metro- polis. The seven great railway companies, who principally conduct this trade, have kindly furnished me with the follow- ing interesting particulars. One company says that the in- crease in the quantity carried in 1866 above that in 18G-i is 86 per cent. ; another company says their increase is 120 per cent. ; a third, 353 per cent. ; and the London and North- We.steru and 13righton Companies state their increase at fifty and sixty-fold respectively. There are now more than 320 stations sending milk to London, by passenger or special milk- trains, from distances varying from 7 to 190 miles, for a charge varying froni a minimum of a jd. to a maximum of 3d. per gallon for the whole distance. In the last three months, Septemljer, Octoljer, and November, 1866, which are the worst months in the year for the milk trade, no less thaa 1,653,000 gallons of milk have been brought into London by rail, shomng that \ve should probably underrate the total quantity carried for the year 1866 if we stated it at 7,000,000 gallons. This is a remarkable instance of the rapidity with which so extensive a trade in an article which is difficult to move in large quantity, and which yet will not bear delay, has been transferred to new and distant localities when circum- stances required it. It is to be hoped that this large intro- duction of good country milk will effect some improvements in the very unsuccessful mixture which has hitherto been sold iinder the name of London milk (Hear, hear, and laughter) . The favourable prospects of which I have spoken are by no means confined to the western side of England. The drier climate of the eastern counties is specially adapted for the growth of first-rate barley, and the value of a little extra quality in the sample was never more highly appreciated than in the present season. The landowners of the eastern coun- ties, however, must pardon me for saying that they do not make full use of their advanrages. Barley-growers will all tell you that they can only grow good barley on good land ; but a large portion of the light sands have marl or clay in tlieir immediate neighbourhood, and that marled sand will grow good barley is well known and extensively acted upon by many of tlie leading agriculturists in that district ; but there are still thousands of acres of poor weak sands with marl in their midst, which only require a liberal application of it to double the value of the land, and to grow better barley than any yet imported from other countries. To watch for and promptly seize any opening for a profitable trade vv'hich the changing circumstances of the times may afford, and especially to turn thoroughly to account any peculiar advantages of soil, climate, or position, requires not only the shrewd sagacity for which our farmers are distinguished, but also a cultivated in- tellect, the result of a really good education, which, unfortu- nately, many of our farmers have not been able to obtain. In the endeavours which the Council have lately made to fix the attention of the agricultural world on this subject they have naturally felt that the amount of funds which could be s])ared for this purnose was so small as to be utterly inadequate to provide, or even materially assist in providing, the means of education for the most limited number of youths. They have therefore adopted the only course which was open to them — that, namely, of oft'ering a few prizes of moderate amount for general competition, in the hope tha,t this practical expression of opinion on the part of the Royal Agricultural Society would, at any rate, draw attention to the question, and might be of some value as an indication of the kind of education which is most required for young farmers, and in which they are most deficient at present (Hear, hear). By way of recapi- tulation, I wish, first, to urge strongly the importance of treat- ing cattle-plague like a conflagration, and that it is as much a matter of ordinary prudence to keep up the machinery for stamping out the one as it is to keep fire-engines and firemen ready at a moment's notice to extinguish the other (Hear, hear). Secondly, I hope to see the method 1 have suggested of dealing with our labourers generally adopted, and supple- mented by others of a similar character, whereby we may give the men local interests, and tlie strongest possible inducement to establish a kind of savings bank each in his own pigsty and cow-house, which is not unlikely to lead eventually to the savings bank in the neighbouring town (Hear, hear) ; but at all events this will increase the self-respect of the labourers themselves, and enable them to bring up their families in health and comfort (Hear). Thirdly, the education of the rising generation of farmers requires thoroughly overhauling and "adapting to the wants of the day (Hear, hear). This movement has already begun in one or two counties ; but there are many deep-seated prejudices to be removed, and there is much vis iiteiiue to he overcome, before our middle-class educa- tion is brought up to the present high standard of English civilization (Hear, hear). Lastly, under the good providence of God, who has promised us a return of " seed time and harvest" so long as the world endures, the present prospects of English agriculture arc highly encouraging. By means of the improved facilities of transport, both by sea and land, we are continually obtaining access to whole nations of new customers, and as long as our foreign trade continues to increase, so long will the consumption of our home-grown commodities be such as to provide a remunerating demand for all the beef and the beer, the milk, butter and cheese which he combined "Practice with Science" of our farmers may enable us to s.upply (cheers). Mr. C. S. Read, M.P., said he was sure they all felt deeply indebted to the President for the able, learned, and valuable address which he had just delivered (cheers) ; and he was glad that an opportunity had thus been afforded of making that meeting something more than the dull routine meeting it had hitherto been (Hear, hear). There were one or two subjects in tliat address upon which he would venture to make a few observations. The Chairman had referred to the farmers iu tlie eastern counties as growers of the best qualities of barley. Now, he would respectfully tell him that there were greater hindrances to the growing of barley than were to be met by the use of marl or clay (Hear, hear). It was impossible, with the present oppressive restrictions on barley-growers, for them to do what they wished iu that respect (Hear, hear). Witli regard to the Chairman's able remarks on the question of giving labourers an interest in the farm by appropriating to them a certain quantity of pasture land, he (Mr. Read) could only say tjiat in the eastern counties farmers were so badly olf for pasture that they could not find food enough for their own cows, and consequently kept but very few. There was one thing which must, he thought, be kept in mind, namely, that the best way of de.aling with the labour question was to have more task-work and less day-work (Hear, hear). As to wages, they in Norfolk had been twitted with paying only ten or twelve shillings a-week. He had gone through the figures connected with a farm of 1,000 acres of arable land for the last four years, and he had found that the average rate of wages received by the labourers was something like los. 6d. a-week, or between £30 and £40 a-year. There were certain classes of labour, such as the tending of stock and the care ol improved implements, which required a man who had a head as well as hands, and such men must be paid, not by task work, but according to the ability which they devoted to their work. There were other kinds of labour which required a man with not merely a head but strong arms : he referred to such work as hedging and ditching ; and a man who possessed the requisite strength would, of course, earn good wages at such employments. No system, he contended, could be worse than that of keeping labourers generally down to a certain level by paying them all so much a-day or so much a-week, instead of endeavouring to raise them to the highest point by employing them as much as possible on task work (Hear, hear.) One word with regard to the report whicii had just been presented. He could assure the Council that it did not come one day or one hour too soon (Hear). Outside that room there had been vague and unpleasant reports as to the condition of tiiat Society ; and it was satisfiictory to learn that, notwithstanding all that the institution had gone through, the decrease in the number of members was not thousands or even hundreds, but only 97 (cheers). Moreover, although the Council had expended a certain amount of capital, there was, it appeared, still £18,000 in hand, which was surely enough for the wants of any society (Hear, hear). Then, again, it was pleasing to hear that the addition to that house, which had been considered ouly a nuis- ance to the neighbourhood and a disfigurement to the Square, was really and truly a very profitable investment of the so- ciety's funds. Tlie Council had been charged with having chosen an out-of-the-way town — Bury St. Edmunds — for the 54 THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. iioxt sliow, and liad been told that neither tlic town nor the railway could jirovide proper accommodation ; hulr in iiis opin- ion, tlioiiyli Tniry was a small town, it would he found expan- sive ciiougii for all the visitors to East Anglia, and he believed the railway aceonimodation would also prove sufficient. As rej,'arded the list of educational prizes, he regretted to fmd the study of two sciences which were especially connected with agriculture, namely, geology and chemistry, so little encouraged in the competition. In conclusion, he thought that on the whole the Society had gooil grounds for being thankful I'or the past and looking forward hopefully to the future (cheers.) Mr. S. Sidney thought the time had arrived when, with the means at its command and the influence it possessed, the Council might build up a monument of agricultural progress, which would be an enduring honour to the Society and to agriculture. They could command the assistance of noblemen and other large landlords, of practical farmers, of implement makers, and of all classes of agriculturists, and he thought that the information that could be supplied by all these should be made available. Let the Coxmcil begin by forming itself into a conunittee to consider the best means of carrying out this object, and he believed they would soon come to the conclusion that the best course would be to form a num- ber of committees — one to take the subject of live stock, a second cultivation, a third manures, a fourth mechanical pro- gress, and so on. A series of ciuestions might be ft-amed re- lating to the various subjects dealt with. At tlie same time there should be a map of England, divided not into counties, but into agricultural districts, and he believed there would soon l)e found in every district a zealous, voluntary, standing com- mittee ; and through the medimn of the questions they would be enabled to show what had been done of late years for agriculture, what was the position of agriculture in its various branches at the time when the Society was founded, and what is its position at the present period. A large amouirt of most valuable information would be obtained, and the Society, as well as agriculture, could not fail to be benefited. Dr.Cjusp thought that if questions like those suggested by Mr. Sidney were sent out to farmers in various parts of the country the result would be that the Council would obtain such a mass of chaotic information tliat it would be almost impossible to separate the wheat from the chaff. As regarded the Jonnial, he must say that the members had a great deal for their money. No man could very well object to pay a guinea sub- scription, considering that he received for it two copies of the Journal a year. "Whatever might be said of the quality, no one could complain of the quantity (laughter). Now, he had always thought — they must pardon him for saying so — that that Society had been a great obstructive to the progress of medical science. The Society had prevented the Government from doing what it ought to do ; and he believed that until the Government took up the question of agricultural education they would never have a good and efficient system. Professors should be appointed by the State, whose whole time would be devoted to the elucidation of what would be most beneficial in different departments of agriculture. He did not agree with the Cliairman that the losses from the caltle-plaiiUe amounted only to £3,000,000 ; he thought £6,000,000 would be nearer the mark (Hear, hear). AVith respect to the cattlc- l)lague, it would be recollected that some time before it reached this country Professor Simonds and Mr. Erne were sent out by the Royal Agricultural Society, the Scotch society, and the Irish society to investigate the matter. He did not wish to reflect on those gentlemen, who, no doubt, did their best, considering the time allowed for their labours. But what was their report ? Why, that there were so many military cordons between this country and the countries where the plague existed, that it was impossible it could reach our own shores. He believed that if this matter had been managed by the Government they would never liave had the cattle-plague. What was the present position of farmers with regard to the importation of diseases from abroad? During the last week or two he went down to the neighbourhood of Harwich to investigate smallpox in sheep. A large quantity of foreign sheep were brought to the port of Harwich. Those sheep were distributed about, and almost as a matter of necessity disease v/as distributed about the neighbourhood. If a farmer had smaU-pox among his sheep, he was compelled to confine them to his own parish or district, various restrictions were imposed upon him, and he got no compcusation. He was confident that unless a very different system were adopted with regard to foreign sheep, unless the animals were killed at the port of landing, a very great loss would be sustained. He believed that the 6,000 sheep reported to have died of cattle-plague did not represent half the actual number ; and it was very hard upon English farmer.? that they should be liable to have their sheep infected, and have no redress. If foreign sheep and cattle were to be im- ported into this country, proper means must be taken to pre- vent them from spreading disease ; and he held that if proper means were not taken, the Government were responsible, and ought to compensate those who suffered (Hear, hear). Sir Massey Lofez said he should like to mention one fact in confirmation of what the Chairman had said with regard to the maintenance of the present restrictions on the cattle trade. Previous to the establishment of the restrictions at the ports of debarkation, farmers in his locality suffered very much from the importation of foot-and-mouth disease ; but during the last twelvemonth there had not been a ease of that sort in his neighbourhood (South Devon) . He mentioned this to show how important it was tliat the restrictions should be main- tained. Of course, the malady \\ hich he had mentioned was not so fatal as rinderpest, but still it was one from wliicli far- mers had suffered very much. Mr. Albert Pell said; Next to the evil of having the cattle plague in the country was that of a constant reference to it, and having himself worked very laboriously in connection with it, and paid considerable attention to it, he must say that he thought the discussion of it might nov/ very fairly be dropped (Hear, hear). There were certain points referred to in the admirable address of the Chairman which he should like to have seen to a certain extent amplified. First, with regard to a question which was of special importance to them as far- mers— the question of labour. The Chairman attributed the excessive price of labour to one of many causes. One cause which had been most injurious to farmers liad, thank God, been removed ; he referred to the law of settlement. In his county that law had the effect of driving people from one neighbourhood to another irrespective of the price of labour. Near him there were at the present moment cottages being built on sites of cottages which were pulled down, and induce- ments of all kinds were being held out to bring back the hands which were so foolishly driven away (Hear, hear). He was not going into the question of the law of settlement. AU he would say was that he hoped the principle on which the Legis- lature had acted would have a wider application. Tlie Chair- man had referred also to co-operation among labourers. Now, he could not for a moment believe that the principle of co- operation, in the way in which they understood it, could be carried out to anything like success as between the owner of capital and the labourer who was paid out of that capital. But there was an indirect application of the principle which he had found in his own experience very useful. A year or two ago he became connected by purchase with a very poor parish in the Midland counties. That parish was a by-word far and wide ; it was described as a scene of constant drunkenness, dissoluteness, and irregular habits, though at the same time the people living in it were employed in one of the most lucra- tive trades in England. Having had some experience of the working of the system, he putTliimself in communication with some of the originators of the co-operative stores with a view to a trial. There had now been established there for about 18 months a small store, in which they were turning over a thou- sand pounds a-year. There was a very small capital, and all of it, without the exception of a single penny, was the result of the savings of men who they were told before had nothing whatever in their pockets, and whose pockets were so ragged that if any money were put into them it would drop out (laughter). But they had carried the principle still further. Holding as they did that good beer was the legitimate drink of all Englishmen (Hear, hear), they had introduced into that house the sate of beer against the premonitory caution and advice of the clergyman who had had long experience, and in the face of three or four public-houses situated in the midst of a population of only GOO people (cheers). The sale of beer had been going on now for eight months, and the result was that they had a very l:u'ge trade in very excellent beer, such beer as no gentleman in that room could be otherwise than glad to drink, either on a hot or a cold day (laughter). It was sold as low as 4d. a gallon, and as high as 3s. The result was that the very clergyman who cautioned them against the introduc- THE FARMEE'S MAGAZINE. 55 tion of beer said, that in the evening the streets were quieter than they were a year ago (cheers). That might be due to some change in his sermons, or it might he due to a change in the quality of the beer (laughter). But they had gone far- ther ; they had closed one of tlve public-houses of the village. and they had established a reading-room in connection with the stores. They had not a squire resident in the parish, and they did not receive from outside their own borders, with the except- ion of one guinea a year, a siujile penny to assist them. With regard to the education of tlie poor, he would remark that that was a verv wide question, aucl he believed it was more of a Parliamentary question than one which could be decided by an assembly like that. But let him see whether he could not make a suggestion which, spreading through the country, might be of practical use in reference to the education of children in union workhouses, i^lany nf them were guardians of the poor ; many of them went weekly into the schools of the unions. Now, did it not strike them that there was a very bad application of public money, or the money of the rate- payers, in the way in which tlie education was carried out ? They had perhaps in their county some ten or twelve great unions, and they had an equal number of imperfectly-educated and under-paid schoolmistresses. They had in connection with the school the association of very young children with per- sons whom they knew to be among the worst of characters. The children were constantly brought in contact with the mothers of illegitimate children and persons whose example could scarcely do otherwise than contaminate girls who were growing up towards womanhood. Now, it did strike him that it would be well to adopt the suggestion made on that subject by an excellent nobleman, one to whom the country was largely indebted for the suppression of the cattle plague, namely, that they should adopt the Metropolitan system with respect to pauper children — that there should be a school to which such children should be removed immediately they were ready for education — a school where there would be one or two good mistresses, and where the children would be free from those contaminating influences which he had alluded to (Hear, hear). This was done in a parish in London with which he was connected by ownership — St. George's-in-the-East. Cliil- dren there, instead of remaining in the union house, were placed in a school away from it, and the result was such as he could wish to see in agricultural parishes. Now, before sitting down he wished to put a question to the Chairman on'a point which was referred to in the early part of the chairman's address ; he alluded to the statement that the objects of the Society were limited by the terms of the charter. There had been a rumour abroad that an attempt was to be made to alter the character of the Society by a change in that portion of the charter which referred to their dealing with questions which were pending in I'arliament. Now, he had been a member of that Society for something like six-and-twenty years, though he had very seldom attended in that room, and had, he believed, never before spoken, and he must say that his own private opin- ion was that it would be very injudicious to make the alteration in question (cheers) ; and he would now ask the President to be good enough to state whether there was any intention on the part of the governing body of seeking a change in that respect ? Mr. Edmunds, of Rugby, said he had on a previous oc- casion submitted to the Council whether it was desirable to continue offering prizes for implements which did not require any further improvement. Could there, for example, be any mprovemeut on Gardner's turnip-cutter ? (Cries of " Yes.") It was all very well to oifer prizes with a view to improved steam cultivation ; but when they had got what they wanted, where was the necessity of oti'ering a prize for it? (Hear, hear.) Gardner's turnip-cutter was stamped with the ap- proval of the Society twenty years ago, and yet the same thing occurred at Norwich. As regarded the education of the poor, he thought that was scarcely a question that belonged to the Royal Agricultural Society — it was the education of the sons of farmers wliicli most interested them as a Society (" Oh, oh"). He maintained that the poor were as well cared for under the Government system of education as it was possible for them to be, and that it was their own fault if they were not well educated. He admitted that the Society had done much by means of its Journal and in other ways to improve the agriculture of the kingdom, and all he and others desired was that it should take care to do what all the rest of the world was doing — namely, move on. If the Society was to represent agriculture, it must take up every question connected with agriculture. He wished the Society instead of having only 5,000 members had 50,000, so that it would be able to make its voice felt in the nation as commerce made its voice felt. It was not said that commerce belonged to any particu- lar party ; but if any question arose in connection with agri- culture, they were sure to be told that it belonged to a par- ticular party (Hear, hear). What he wanted was to see the Society really representing the feelings of the conibjned agri- culturists of the kingdom, and in that case it would approach the Government and Parliament with a weight which woul([ ensure the speedy redress of any real grievances (Hear, hear). He was glad that the Society had offered two education prizes in the shape of scholarships. As to the prizes of £2 and £3, though he did not like opposing them, he must say that he thought the money would have been better employed in pay- ing for the education of boys at a college, or in placing them under the training of some farmer of eminence. Mr. H. Woods said the last speaker had rather reproved the Council for offering a prize for the best turnip-cutter. • In his opinion that reproof was not deserved (Hear, hear). As a practical man he felt very strongly that even Gardner's turnip- cutter was capable of great improvement (cheers), and he sincerely thanked the Council for having continued to offer a prize. Adverting to what had been said respecting fanners' sons, he would observe that though he had for many years been an advocate for sound practical education, yet he felt convinced that a number of men who were springing up every year, and endeavouring to teacli farmers how to cultivate land and to produce meat, had done a great deal of mischief. Tliat man was the best farmer who made the most money out of land, and kept it in the best condition (Hear, hear). Some years ago in the district with which he was connected a far- mer took a farm which was considered very poor. After the lapse of a few years he was ruined, and everyone con- sidered his case one of great hardship. Another man took the farm at an increased rental ; but he was a sound, practical farmer, and was at this day one of the winners of prizes at the annual show of the Sraithtield Club and other exhibitions of the same kind. That man pretended to no scientific know- ledge ; but he had a great deal of practical knowledge. Not ouly did he get a living on the farm, but he saved money. He had placed out five or six sons, who were now occupying large farms, and were men of influence in their localities. He be- lieved that when that man began he had oilly sufficient capital for the farm which he occupied. He was, as the meeting must feel, a model practical farmer, instead of being one of those who had too little knowledge, too little practice, and too much theory (laughter) . Mr. James Caied said there was one important quest ion not emiiraced in the admiralile address from the chair, to which he desired for a moment to allude. No doubt, most of the gentle- men present had learnt from the newspapers that there was some prospect of a cessation of the supply of Peruvian guano. It hacl been rumoured that the supply might any day altogether stop. Those who were conversant with the subject would re- collect that fifteen or sixteen years ago a good deal of agitation arose on this question. At that period the Government gave orders to the admiral on the Pacific station to make inquiries as to the probable extent of the supplies of guano available for agriculture. The admiral made a report, and he well remem- bered that every one who was interested in the matter was very much startled at its contents. He reported that, so far as he could ascertain, in about eight years from that period — ■ namely, 1853 — the supplies would be totally at an end, if the existing rate of consumption continued. That rate of con- sumption had not diminished, but had rather increased ; but still up to this day there was no proof given that the supplies had been materially aftected. Recently, however, a report had reached this country, from which it would appear that that which was prognosticated as destined to happen at the end of eight years from 1852 was now about to occur — that the quan- tity taken away from the islands had been so great that they might hear any day of the cessation of the supply. He be- lieved that information of an authentic character on this point was now in the hands of the Government. Under these cir- cumstances, he would suggest to the Council that they might render valuable service to agridilture by representing to the Government the importance of obtaining full and accurate in- j6 THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. •ormat ion with regard to the remaiuiug supijly of Perm iaii uuiuio, asking them whether tliey had any authentic inibrnia- Tion on the subject ; and if they replied in the negative, urging them to take steps to ascertain whether the report to which he had alluded was correct. Let it be renienibered that to say that the supjjly of Peruvian guano was nearly exhausted was cquiv;deut to saying that the price of all other niaiiuics must be immediately enhanced (Hear, hear). Mr. Lawson wished to say one vford on tlie labour question, in which he felt deeply interested. They had, no doubt, ail seen what was said by Lord George Manners the other day about applying the co-operative principle to the case of agri- cultural labourers. He (Mr. Lawson) liad himself adopted a plan something like that whicii was thus suggested. He was a struggling farmer in the north of England, and at the be- ginning of the present year he told those whom he employed that he would give one-tenth of his income this year to be divided among them in proportion to the amount of their wages. He had nothing to say about beer. A Member : That tenth came out of the profits of farming ? Mr.'L.vwsoN : It was chiefly fanning. As regarded beer, the sale of whicli was so strongly advocated by Mr. Albert PeU, he would remark that, though there were about 600 co- operative societies in this country, not half-a-dozen of them supplied beer. Mr. Simons hoped it would not go forth that it was the opinion of the members of that society that it was possible for farmers to raise the price of labour. Tliat was, in fact, quite impossible ; those who attempted it would be ruined ; and when he heard benevolent persons dwelling on the duty of raising the wages of labourers, he always replied, " Try it your- self" (Hear, hear, and laughter). Mr. W. Tour believed that, however they might talk on that subject, they must all come to the same point, namely, that the price of labour must, like everything else, be regu- lated by supply and demand (Hear, hear). One of the greatest drawbacks on farming at the present time was the great ad- vance in the price of labour, and the increased cost of cultiva- tion in consequence, and it was not fair to farmers to say that the wages of agricultural labourers had not been increased in proportion to those of other industrial classes of society. He believed that the wages of agricultural labourers had advanced more than those of any other class of labourers during the last seven years. With tlie improved style of farming, an in- creased price of labour was inevitable. If they wanted a better or higher class of labour they must pay for it. Of course, one thing that had increased the price of labour was emigration, which in the rural districts at all events had been going on rather too fast. Formerly emigration was looked upon as rather beneficial in removing an inferior class of labourers, but now it took from them the best labourers in- stead of the worst. Many farmers had now found that it was better to pay 3s. a-day for a good labourer than ~s. 6d. for a bad one, inferior labour being in all cases the worst labour. He might remark that it was his practice on his farm to assist his labourers by giving them milk. Having 13 or 14 cows he gave the milk of one of them, which used to be valued at 8 guineas a-year, but might now be put down at 10 gs. He thought the landlords of England ought to go hand in band with the tenants in endeavouring to improve the cottages of the labourers, and he thouglit oue means of doing that would be to include cottages in the rent of the farm (" No, no.") He meant to a certain extent, say to the extent of one cottage to every huudred acres of land. There was a great cry now for three-roomed cottages ; but he thought it v ould be best to have half with three rooms and the otlier half with two. When a labourer*was first married he could only buy furniture enough for two rooms, and he would be better off with a small cottage than a large one. He allowed every one of his la- bourers a small portion of land for i]otatoes, from (iOO to 800 square yards. It was cultivated for them, and they had only to put in the seed. Tlie tenant should, in his opinion, look upon his labourers almost as part of liis household, and if he were aided by a kind and liberal landlord the result must be the improvement of agriculture (Hear, hear). Mr. DucKiiAM agreed with Dr. Crisp that the loss arising ffom the cattle plague had exceeded £3,000,000. It should be remembered too that in many cases the loss was irrcparaljle, as the animals slaughtered belonged to pedigree stock, and could not be replaced. He could have wished that something had been said by the Chairman respecting the prevention of various contagious diseases. Enormous losses had been sus- tained throughout the kingdom from pleuro-pueunionia. He believed he was not wrong in saying that the total loss since the first visitation exceeded that occasioned by the cattle plague ; yet only thirty years ago pleuro-pneumonia was not known in this country. He thought tlie Council would ren- der valuable assistance to agriculture by urging upon the Home Office the necessity of establishing a better system as regarded the sale of animals, both home and foreign, in the various markets of the country. The CiiAiRM.VN, in replying, said some remarks had been, made on points raised by his address, which he should like to notice. Mr. Read referred to the difficulty of finding grass land to allot to labourers in certain districts, one district being his own. He would suggest to that gentleman that if he were to try the plan of putting some inferior grass lands in the hands of his labourers, he might find tliat they were the best improvers of land that he could have. He believed they would make that land superior at all events to the average run of grass land. Mr. Torr had mentioned another method of doing what he (the Chairman) recommended — namely, giving milk to labourers. One thing might answer iu one ueigWjourhood, and another iu a different one ; but what he objected to was the condemnation of a par- ticular plan by those who had never tried that or anything else of a similar kind. If a man who had tried a plan which was recommended said that he had found it was not so good for his labourers as some other plan, he was bound to respect his opinion ; but if a man who had never tried it told him he was sure it would not answer, and that certain evil results would follow, he could not admit the validity of sucli a mode of objection. ]\Ir. Sidney's suggestion that there sliould be an agricultural survey, of course could not be dealt with then : it would be referred to the Council, and dealt with on its own merits. Mr. PeU's question with regard to the charter compelled him to say one or two words on that sub- ject. A false impression had got abroad that the object of the Council in dealing with the charter was to do away with the prohibition of the discussion of political questions in that Society. That was not the intention. The intention was, if there was a restriction in the charter whicli now prevented it, to have such an alteration made as would enable them to dis- cuss questions which, though they were before Parliament, were not political questions (Hear, hear). There were agri- cultural questions, the interest in which was not confined to one side or the other of the Houses of Parliament, and which did not in any way trench upon politics, except that they were before the Legislature. Such questions as those the Council conceived might properly be dealt with by that Society ; and when a question of that kind arose recently — he referred to the case of the cattle plague — the Council, though there were restrictions in the charter which, strictly interpreted, might have seemed to mitigate against it, did deal witii that (luestion, and used their inlluence in a way whicli he believed was very useful last winter. Having explained that that was the object of the alteration, and not the s\veeping one of admitting politics, be would refer the meeting for further information on that point to Mr. Ilolhiud, who was on the committee to which the matter was referred. The committee met that morning. Mr. Holland would tell them the result of what took place. Mr. Edmunds had suggested that they should not offer prizes for implements which seemed to be as good as they could be. Now, he \\ ould say in answer to that, in the first place, that im- plements which liad been thouglit to lie as good as they could be when brought into competition with new inventions, had had to give place to them, the supposed perfection not having been rcaUy attained (Hear, hear). Again, even supposing particular instruments were as good as they could be, it was very desirable that anyone who visited the show-yaid should be able to see what was the best implement of a particular kind that could be bought, whether it were an old implement or a new one. Mr. Caird put a question with regard to the supply of guano, which was exceedingly useful. The Council would certainly take an opportunity of ascertaining whether any in- formation that was likely to be useful was possessed by the Government. If there were, no doubt they would communi- iiicate it, as had been done before on similar occasions ; and if the case should be otherwise, it would be suggested to them that the consuls nearest the spot should obtain authentic iufor- THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 57 mation. He'woukl only say, in conclusion, that he was very glad indeed that g-entlemcn who attended that meeting had thrown out so many jiractical suggestions. Whether they would bear examination or not, they at all events bore on questions of interest whicli were open to discussion there ; one great object of that Society was, to bring together for the purpose of discussion those who had a common interest in agriculture (clieers). Mr. Holland, M.P. : I will simply say that the Committee met this morning, and came to the determination not to re- commend any amendment of the charter (Hear, hear). The grounds upon which tliey came to that resolution were these : The two questions to be considered were the question of educa- tion and the question whether the Council had any power to take into their consideration matters not political but agricul- tural which were before the Legislature. We found that in practice we liave been acting up to any amendment which could be made in the charter. For during the whole of this year, though it was opposed to the mere wording of the charter, we have been occupied in considering questions re- lating to the cattle-plague, markets, and so forth, and we have more or less been upheld in our proceedings in opposition to the charter by the very body — namely, the Privy Council — ^who gave us that charter. If tliey sanctioned our proceedings, we are not likely to be called to account for them (Hear, hear). On the other baud, we took into consideration the best mode of dealing with all the dangerous questions which might bn brought before us, but which now need not be brought before us in order to ensure their loeing dealt with. There has lately been established a Central Chamber of Agriculture, having local chambers connected with it, where there is no charter, and where members can bring forward any subject they please ; and large bodies of agriculturists throughout the country luay now collect together, as has been done in Scotland, for the pur- pose of expressing their opinions and bringing them to bear on the Government. We think it better, therefore, that we should confine ourselves to practical matters connected with the Society, and therefore our report to the Council will be that we do not recommend any alteration of the Charter (Hear, hear). The Rev. J. Nodder moved a vote of thanks to the audi- tors, which was seconded by Mr. Arkell, who took the op- portunity of calling upon the Council to urge the Government to adopt the mosi stringent measures of a permanent character to prevent the future importation of the cattle plague, and other contagious diseases, from abroad. English graziers hav- ing made the sacrifice involved in the slaughter of cattle in their own immediate districts, and sending it to London as dead meat, it surely was not too much to require of the im- porters of fat cuttle that they should slaughter at the ports. If that measure were not adopted, the necessity would be im- posed of placing greater restrictions upon Islington market. Mr. Arkell added, that so pleased was he with the able and comprehensive review of agricultural affairs laid before the meeting by the President, that he hoped the hou. gentleman's example would be followed by his successors. The motion was agreed to, and Messrs. Astbury and Corbet were re-elected auditors ; and Mr. Prancis Sherborn, of Bed- font, was, on the motion of Major-General Hood, seconded by Lord Tredeg.vk, appointed as their colleague, to fiU the vacancy occasioned by the death of Mr. Cohen. Sir Walter STiRLiN(i : There is one duty which is left to us to perform, that of returning thanks to the Chairman (loud cheers), not only for the manner in which he lias conducted the business of the meeting, but for the admirable essay with which he favoured us in the early part of the day (renewed cheers). It appears to me that if ever there was a nmn who more thoroughly understood, and sensibly felt, the responsi- bility of his office than another, it is our excellent President, Mr. Tliompson (cheers) ; and, if I might be allowed to indulge in any terms of self-gratulation on this occasion, I would say that when I, though possiljly most unworthy of the honour conferred upon me, was asked to propose him as President, I felt that I myself, in so proposing him, was the means of con- ferring an essential advantage upon the Royal Agricultural Society (cheers). Again, witli regard to the questions whicli have been touclied upon by tlie several gentlemen who have taken part in the discussion to-day, whatever tliey may be, I am perfectly satisfied that they cannot be transferred to a more valuable judgment than that of our excellent President for the disposal of them (Hear, hear). I believe that you all fully agree with me in these remarks, and will cordially assent to the proposition I now make to you of offering our most hearty thanks to Mr. Thompson for his conduct in the chair, and for the other services which he has rendered the Society (cheers). Mr. Coleman having seconded the motion, it was put to the meeting by Lord WALsmoiiAM, and carried with enthusiasm. The President, on rising to make his acknowledgments' was hailed with a fresh burst of cheering. He said : I am ex- ceedingly obliged to yon, gentlemen, for this mark of your kindness, and to Sir Walter Stirling, not only for proposing the vote of thanks, but for nominating me originally as President of the Society. I am the more indebted to him, because any thanks that are expressed by him are dictated solely by public considerations, for I have not the honour of his private and personal acquaintance (cheers). So far as the Royal Agricul- tural Society is concerned, it is entitled to my best services during the twelve months ; and all I can say is, that it shall have them (cheers). The meeting then separated. CENTRAL CHAMBER OF AGRICULTURE The first general meeting of the members of this recently- formed association, branches of which are now being established in different parts of the kingdom, took place on the Wednesday in the Sinithfleld Show week at the London Coffee-house, im- mediately after a preparatory meeting of the Council on the same day. The chair was taken by Mr. Albert Pell, of Hazelbeach Hill, Northampton. The attendance was not numerous, but it included delegates from some local chambers of agriculture. The CiiAiRM^v:"}, in opening the proceedings, said that that was the first general meeting of the Central Chamber of Agri- 'culture — an institution which had had its origin within the year 1S6G ; but although its origin had been so recent, the want of it was not of so late a date as the present year. Eor a long time an almost universal feeling had been entertained tliat something of the nature of that which they were inau- gurating that day was required for the advance and support of tiie interests of tiie landowners and farmers of this country, usually termed the landed interest ; but it was chiefly to the labours and exertions of their Honorary Secretary, Mr. Charles Clay, of Wakefield, that the meeting they were then holding was due. To pass from that subject. However, he must be allowed to say that they owed their existence to what some persons had been pleased to term a defect in the charter of the Royal Agricultural Society. He himself did not hold it to be any defect whatever ; but in that charter it was distinctly laid down that that great So- ciety should entertain no question which was pending in the Legislature. The motto of that Society was "Practice with Science ;" and so far as he had known it for 26 years, he believed it had fully acted up to that principle. They had been reminded by writers in the public press that they were attempting to do what was not needed, because an older, and certainly a greater, society than they were could do what they proposed to do by a simple change in their charter. He wished then to clear up that point once for aU, conclusively and de- cidedly. He had made it his business that day to attend the general meeting of the members of the Royal Agricultural Society, and he put that question distinctly to the chairman ; and although he was obliged to leave before it was answered, he was told that his answer was to the effect that the Royal Agricultural Society had very recently — he believed that morning — been considering that very point, and had decided to leave the charter untouched and unaltered, partly because, as one speaker said, they thought the charter worked well in its present shape, and because there was a new institution 68 THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. alloat vvliicli proiuiseil to deal witli political questions aflcctiiig agriculture in i\t least as clear, it' not in a better, manner than an older society, indoctrinated witli certain ideas, could ever aceoniplish. They knew the footing- on which they stood with regard to the lloyal Agricultural Society. Let theni look for a moment at their footing as regarded the local associations. They were of great importance, and he distinctly asserted that uo successful attempt was ever made to draw all these small societies into one including bond, until this Central Chamber had undertaken it. Knowing that the farmers were a class of men who, from their position and circumstances, were not very ready or able to come together at public meetings, they hoped to arrange such a system that, in spite of that natural obstacle to getting the expression of their views, they would be able to receive it in Loudon, embody it, put it before the public in a suc- cinct and concise form, and direct it with a home thrust at Downing-street, or St. Stephen's itself, if needed (Hear, jiear). The question vras, whether the thing was wanted at all. Be- cause if the Royal Agricultural Society had worked well under the old system, they were wasting their time and doing mis- chief by attempting to initiate a new one. They had read of the days when Israel, in the face of the I'hilistines, had no smith within their borders, and that they went hither and tiiitlicr everymau to point his share or to furbish his weapons ; and that had been very much the condition of the farmers of England up to that moment. If they wished to bring before the Government a question of the most vital importance to themselves, they had first of all to spend a day in ascertaining what branch of the Government they were to communicate with. The next point was, were they, as tenant-farmers, the proper gentlemen to entertain such questions at all. That was another embarrassing thing. Then what said the Court of Quarter Sessions ? That was another embarrassment. Then what said tiie Iloyal Agricultural Society ? Well, all that was exceed- ingly embarrassing. Then, with regard to the department of Government to which they should go. They might go to the Prime Minister. They might go to the Home-office. They might descend still lower — to that vague and iucomprehensiljle abyss, the Board of Trade. They had it then riddled out into something more distinct in the Queen's Stationery-ottice at Westminster — a department headed by Col. Harness. Surely, t hat was not precisely the way in which to deal with so great and important an interest as Agriculture in I8G6 ; and he must say that the time had arrived when it was for them, and societies in connection with them, to set about altering and improving it. In his opinion they were entitled to claim a distinct department, either in tlie Board of Trade, which was merely a Committee of the Privy Council, or they might go further, and this might be still more useful and lead to some- thing more distinctly beneficial : they might claim a Minister of Agriculture and a separate department in the Government (loud cheers) . Be that as it might, however, he thought that some alteration must be made, and that alteration might he discussed on some future day by tliose who were then present, and by the representatives of local Chambers, who, he had no doubt, would attend to aid them in such a dis- cussion. He wished now to refer for a moment to some of tlie action taken by the Council during the past year, in order to show how useful it would have been to the community at large had they been recognised and consulted by the State. In ^I'ovember last they held a Council meeting in London, which was attended by gentlemen who were large capitalists and pro- prietors of land from all parts of England. Some of them were from the north, others from the far west, some from the south, and many from the centre of England ; and at that meeting it was the unanlnunis opinion, carried by acclamation, that the existing restrictions which they had won with so much dillieidty from the Wliig (iovrrnment, and the maintenance of vvliich they had pressed upon tlie Conservative Government, should not be tampered witli or modified, at least until the first of the new year. Tliat resolution he had had the instructions of the Council to communicate either to the Privy Council or to Col. Harness, as might be most practicable. Accordingly l\e went down to Westminster, and discovered that gentleman's olllce in the midst of the public Stationery. Unfortunately, however, he was too early for Col. Harness in the first in- tance — it was about Italf-past nine or ten, and too late also on his second visit, which was about two o'clock. But he had hiul put into his hands tliat which was as conclusive as any in- terview he could have had with liim — namely, one of the last / orders in Council, that which had been agreed to the 17th of November, and which set forth that, on the apphcation of the local authorities, and snl>j(xt to certain conditions, English markets might be opened again for the trade and tratiic in cattle. He believed that a more injudicious modification of good orders was never passed, more unwished for by the owners of stock, more uncalled for by the men whose money was invested in that all important part of tlieir farm produce. Vii'ho it was who pressed the advisaldlity of doing tliat he knew not. (A voice : " The boroughs"). Clearly and decidedly it was not the farmers or the great land- owners, as far as he knew them (Hear, hear). Now, observe the ill effects of tliat : the cattle plague was increasing 'Hear, hear) ; but he had been asked, how could he connect the in- crease of the cattle plague with the relaxation of the orders, when that relaxation had not extended to the county where tlie disease was again breaking out ? How did he connect it ! Was not that order of the 7th of November, as distinctly as it could be, an assertion that the cattle plague had left, or was leaving, their borders — that it was either abating in its viru- lence or departing from the country ? But it there was stiU any doubt as to the interpretation to be put upon i t, surely the action of the Archbishop of Canterbury was quite conclusive upon the subject ; for in Ila/.elbeach Church they had been thanking God for the extinction of the cattle plague, though it had increased fifteen-fold last week (Hear, hear). He would tell them how he connected that order of November with the increase of the plague. It led the magistrates to believe that they might be more lax, and encouraged the public to be more careless as to the measures to be taken for keeping it down. Most certainly, it had led to carelessness on the part of the workmen, because the inspectors were dismissed, and when the plague broke out again there were no inspectors to report it. Such, then, he contended, was the effect of that order. In those circumstances a series of resolutions would be moved that day, which, if concurred in by the meeting, the Council proposed to lay before the Government on the follow- ing day. He would not, therefore, enlarge further on that point at that moment. There was one observation, however, which he wished to make in connection with the local Cham- bers of Agriculture. They, the Central Chamber, thought it \^ould be desirable to prompt the local Chambers in England upon the questions which they should entertain in their in- fancy ; and he believed he expressed the opinion of the majority of the Council when he said that they should deal with no- thing that was merely theoretical or philosophical (Hear), but with matters that came within the compass of tlieir own know- ledge, and which they might deal with to some practical end (Hear, hear). And here he desired to mention that there was one subject on wliich he thought they could unite not only all the local Chambers in their favour, but many who had not yet joined them ; he referred to the unfair and unequal basis of the poor-rates (Hear, hear) . There were large tracts of valuable property in this country which were wholly exempt from poor- rates, with the object of affording protection for their produce. Let them take, as an instance, timber (Hear, hear). That, he concluded, was exempted from the poor-rate in former times ~ by reason of considerations connectecl with the " wooden walls of Old England." Again, take coals : if coals were wrought in a pit open to air they were subject to poor-rates, but if won tiirough a shaft they were exempted. ]\Ir. J. Abbs (Sunderland) M'ished to con-ect the statement just made. He came from a coal district, and could assure them that both were liable to rates ; lead, iron, and other minerals were exempted. The Act of Parliament expressly mentioned coal mines : other mines continued free. The Chairman : Here at all events was an example of the advantage they would derive from their Chamber ; they would get at the right information (Hear, hear). And he thoughl that the basis on which the poor-rate was assessed was a ques- tion which it was desirable that the local chamber should deal with. After treating the collection and assessment of the ])oor-rate, they might go further and consider its distribu-' tion. That in turn would open up the law of settlement, and so they might advance from one branch to another of that im- portant subject (Hear, hoar). The code of rules for the government of the new Chamber, as settled l)y the Council, was put to the vote and agreed to unanimously, willi two or three verbal alterations of small moment. THE FARMEJi'S MAGAZINE. 59 The Cluiiniirtu next rcud tlic I'oUowing report of the Cciincil, which was ordered to be printed and circidated : aEPORT. " Your Council have to cougratulate the members on this their first annual meeting, on the very successful and influential position which the Central Chamber of Agriculture has attained in so short a period. It ia sufficiently evident from this success that such an association was much wanted ; in fact, the very existence of the requirement is proved by the readiness with whicli the country has responded to the invita- tion of the promoters. It is scarcely twelve months since the Chamber was introduced to public notice ; and at the present time it numbers ninety subscriptiou-memljcrs and about twenty local societies \A'orking in conjunction with and subscribing to the funds of this Chamber and sending deputies to its meet- ings. , These local chambers may fairly be taken as averaging 150 members each, which will give 3,000 members, making with the Central Chamber 3,090 as the number of agricul- turists now co-operating witli the Central Council, whose opinions may thus readily be obtained on any subject aifect- ing the agricultural interest. This your Council believe is a position never attained in so sliort a time by any other agri- cultural society, and we may confidently expect that another year wiU at least double the influence of this Chamber. " The Council report that the chairman has received a letter from the secretary of the Scottish Chamber of Agriculture • announcing the resolution of that important national institu- tion to co-operate witli the Central Chamber, and to contribute to their funds, doing us the honour of giving a seat cx-offic'w at their Council board for our chairman and vice-chairman or secretary, and requesting the same opportunity to be afforded to them in our Council. " There is one feature of the estaljlishnient of the Ceuti'al Chamber of Agriculture which it would be well not to lose sight of. The Council conceive that tliey attbrd an oppor- tunity for giving effect to the opinions of members of farmers' clubs and agricultural societies on questions penduig in Parliament or to be brouglit before the Government, by their deputies, if appointed, appearing in the Council, to k^ represent their views. The exclusion of the poHtical clement from these clubs as a general rule appears, though inseparable from their qmet existence in the countiy, to have in many in- stances a deadening effect, which, it is possible, some co-ope- ration with our Chamber might modify or remove. " The Council have pleasure in stating that, although only in their infancy, yet they are able to meet all their liabilities up to the present time, and have a balay.ee in hand to begin the next year with. A full statement of the accounts will be pub- lished, according to the rules, at the end of tliis month. " A Council-meeting was held on the Cth of November last, wheu it was resolved that the Chairman should convey to tlie Prive Council the unanimous opinion of the Coxmcil of the Central Chamber in favour of continuing the then-existing re- strictions upon cattle trattic to the end of this year. Your Council regret to say that, almost simultaneously, the Privy Council, entertaining different views, issued Orders modifying the old ones, and tending to a greater freedom in the trade and movement of cattle. Y'our Council are of opinion that this action of the Government was premature, iU-advised, and likely to prove a source of future trouble, by a revival of the cattle plague ; and they wish particularly now to call the at- tention of the Chamber to the consideration of measures of a permanent character, to be recommended for adoption by the Government and Legislature, to guard against foreign infec- tioy, and any future outbreak of tlie cattle plague or other contagious disease." Lord Berners wished to express liis most cordial approba- tion of the object which the Society had in view, and his desire to co-operate with it in its work. During a practice of up- wards of forty years, he had often felt regret tliat there was no cliaraber of agriculture, as there were chambers of commerce ; and he thougTit that the agricultural interest had been placed in a disadvantageous position by reason of not having such a machinery for making its views properly known to the Legis- lature and the country (Hear, hear). He trusted that every means would be adopted to induce landowners as well as occu- piers to join them in this movement, and that members of Parliament would be encouraged to attend their meetings, for he was satisfied that many gentlemen would have voted differ- ently from what they had done on agricultural subjccia, if tliey had had a body of practical men to inform them as to the ])ar- ticular measures which would be for the benefit of the agricul- tural interest. ]Mr. Albert Pell was then re-elected Chairman for the ensuing year, on the motion of Mr. C. S. Read, M.P. On the motion of Mr. Willson (Leicestershire), seconded by Mr. G. May (Tamworth), Mr. Robert Jasper More, M.P., was re-elected V^ce-Chairman ; on the motion of Mr. T. HoRLEY, Juu. (Leamington), seconded by Mr. Meire, the Council were re-elected ; and on the motion of Colonel Hal- ford (Leiccstersliire' , seconded by Mr. J. Baldwin (Strat- ford-on-Avon), Mr. Charles Clay, the Honorary Secretary, was appointed to the office of Treasurer. Mr. T. HoRLET moved, " That this Chamber views with serious apprehension the opening of store markets and fairs ; and feels confident that there is a serious danger of the spread of the cattle plague by the relaxation of the stringent regula- tions which have been in force since Pebruary last." He was quite sure that everyone present must feel that the danger of tlie disease spreading had Ijeen greatly increased by the relaxation of tliese regulations, and anyone who had a doubt on the subject need only to have been at the dinucr of tlie Farmers' Club tlie previous day to liavc Jiad that doubt removed ; for on that occasion there was a large collec- tion of the most influential occupiers of land in the country, and they entertained but one opinion on the subject. Por his part he believed, and the opinion widely prevailed in his county, that the only persons who were interested in the open- ing of markets and fairs were a class of persons many of whom they would be better- without — he referred to the cattle dealers (Hear, hear). If men would only make up their minds to con- duct their own business themselves, as used to be the case some twenty years ago, he beheved they would remove one great source of the spread of the disease ; for the middle-men were the means of carrying many disorders, including the cattle plague, from one part of the kingdom to another. Mr. Brewster (Shropshire) seconded the resolution ; and said that one reason for his doing so was a fact that came under his personal observation last Monday week. Being in want of store cattle, he received a letter fi'om a dealer, inviting him to look at some wjiich he said he had in the yard at the Crewe railway-station. But, upon reaching Crewe, he ascertained that, instead of being at the station, they were in a field a mile-and-a half ofl". He went there to see them, and was in- formed by a neighbouring farmer that within a very short period he had buried fifty head of stock — in fact, all he had, and that these cattle were grazing in the field adjoining. Now lie thought there must be something very wrong about tlie November regidations in allowing these cattle to be removed to a distance of a mile-and-a-half from tlie Crewe station. Nay, he might have purchased and sent them into Shropshire without any further order. Mr. Brandram (Hertfordshire) wished to state a fact which showed how the application for opening markets might and had been made. On Saturday fortnight, a petition, asking the authorities for permission to open the market in his neigh- bourliood for cattle intended for immediate slaughter, was brouglit to him for his signature, and, knowing the parties, he signed it. On no account, however, would he have done so if it had been in favour of opening the store-cattle market. That petition was laid before the local cattle-plague committee at Hertford ; and it subsequently turned out that the words " for immediate slaughter " had been run through with a pen after a number of signatures had been ol)tained to the docu- ment. He was sorry to say that all his efforts to trace tlie author of this piece of wickedness had failed. The Chairman asked whether the petition had been pre- sented in its altered form ? Mr. Brandraji answered in the affirmative, and said that • a more disgraceful thing he had never heard of. If he could discover the parties who did it he would spare no expense in order to bring tliem to justice. Mr. May said that in Staffordshire the feeling was very strong in favour of keeping the markets closed — so strong, indeed, that an attempt had been made to provide a substitute for opening tlie markets. With tliis view, certain rules were submitted to, and approved by, the lord-heutenant of the county, and then forwarded to the Privy Council in London ; but nothing more was heard of them afterwards (a laugh). 60 THE FAEMER'S MAGAZIND. Tlie resolution, Itcing put to u t.lujw of liaiids, was ciirrieil unanimously. _ . r. , x- Mr. C. S. Head, M.l'., in moving; a series oi resolutions containing suggestions tor the future permanent regulation of the trade and traffic in live-stock, adverted to what had heen remarked by a previous speaker on the subject of dealers. They had found out in Norfolk that they could not only do without the dealer, but, in a great measure, without markets ; for the graziers went direct to the breeders, and the cattle came home to their farms in much better health and condition, and at a comparatively much cheaper rate than they had ever done before. On the other hand, the result of having no markets was, that they had had no disease, and up to the last fortnight there had been a marked cessation of the foot-and-mouth disease. Norwich Hill was re-opened about a month ago, and now they had the foot-and-mouth disease pretty generally amongst them again. He then moved the resolutions as follows : — " The Central Chamber of Agriculture, deeming it neces- sary that permanent arrangements should be made by the Go- vernment to regulate the trade and traffic in live-stock, so as to prevent as far as possible the further introduction and spread of contagious and infectious disorders, respectfiilly re- commend the following suggestions : — 1. That the importa- tion of foreign stock should be confined to certain ports spe- cially licensed by Government, which ports should be provided with suitable markets, slaughter-houses, quarantine grounds, and officers. That all foreign fat-stock should be forthwith slaughtered at such markets, and that all foreign store stock should be subjected to 28 days' quarantine before they are per- mitted to remove inland. 2. That should the rinderpest or sheep-pox be again imported or break out afresh, slaughtering and compensating powers, similar to those of the Cattle Disease Act of February last, should at once be put in force, and the district proclaimed. 3. That stringent regulations should be mr.de with regard to the expeditious transit and watering of animals conveyed on railways, and that a thorough cleansing of all trucks, pens, and layers, and the proper space and ven- tilation of the holds of cattle boats should be enforced by Go- vernment inspection. 4. That the wilful exposure of any animal sutfering from such contagious and infectious diseases as rinderpest, pleuro-pneumonia, sheep-pox, scab, glanders, or foot-aud-mouth disease, upon any highway, boat, or railway, or in any market or fair, should be an offence punishable with fine or imprisonment. 5. That a more stringent inspection of all dead-meat, especially that imported from countries known to be suffering from cattle plague, should be enforced by Go- vernment." These resolutions having been seconded by Mr. ^Iasikx, considerable discussion ensued as to the propriety of including in the 4th resolution, as au olfence punishable with fine or im- prisonment, the wilful exposure of animals ■ ulfering from " foot-and-mouth disease ;" and the balance of opinion being against the retention of these words, they were eventually struck out. Mr. Jasper Moke, M.P., dissented from the second resolu- tion on the ground of his objection to the compensating powers it proposed to create. This elicited from Mr. Holla^'d, ]\1.P., the observation that exactly the same machinery as at present could not exist ; and Mr. More not pressing his views to a division, the whole string of resolutions, with the single alteration mentioned above, were ultimately agreed to. The gentlemen who took the more prominent part in dis- cussing the fourth resolution were Mr. Masfen, Mr. T. Browne, Mr. Wilson, Colonel Halford, Mr. Duckliam, Mr. Goode, Mr. Meire, Mr. C. S. Read, M.P., and the Chairman. One fact stated by the Chairman carried great weight with it in guiding the Chamber to a conclusion. It was that he had sent cattle in perfect health from his farm in Northamptonshire to another farm in Leicestershire, only 14 miles off, and that on their arrival at the latter place they were found to be suffering from the foot-and-mouth disease. Consequently, if the exposure of animals with the foot-and- mouth disease were included in the category of punishable offences, he himself would in that case have been liable to fine or imprisonment for a thing over which lie had had no control whatever (Hear, hear). A unanimous vote of thanks having been passed to the CiiAiRM.oi, that gentleman in acknowledging the compliment seized the opportunity to remove the impression which rather widely prevails, that there is some feeling of pique between the Farmers' Club in Loudon and the Central Chamber of Agriculture. He could assure the meeting that there was not the slightest particle of such a feeling existent so far as he knew. The two institutious, it was true, were moving in tlie same direction, but not in the same groove. They were like two great armies, one on each side of a river, moving in parallel lines in the same direction to the attack on the same enemy. Whether they would be able to bridge over the river and unite at a common point hereafter remained to be seen. At all events, no effort should be wanting on his part to ac- coniplisli that object, if he believed it would be for the benefit of this Society and the older institution in Salisbury Square. Thanks were also voted by acclamation to the Honorary Secretary, and the proceedings terminated. THE SMITHFIELD CLUB CATTLE SHOW. AT THE AGRICULTURAL HALL, ISLINGTON. A decidedly short show is the first impression cue gathers in a bird's-eye view from the gallery of the Agricultural Hall. And yet, under the circumstances, considering the ditliculties breeders and feeders have liad to contend against, the entry is as good or better than could have been expected ; for the character of some of the classes is especially high. The opening section of Devons is, for instance, really famous, as the three classes of steers and oxen have seldom been better, and Mr. Farthing's Ox should stand in for the Cup. Mr. Overman's first, again, by the renowned Wellington, and full of Holkhain blood, is as excellent a young beast as ever was fed; whilst Mr. Farthing comes to the front again amongst the COWS: although looking from above the Harptrec Gently has more style and symmetry than cither of the Stowey cows placed above her. The Herefords, on the contrary, are the weak place of the whole exhibition, as there are only twenty-four entries of white-faces against forty-seven Devons and lifty-one Shorthorns. One of these, moreover, a very good ox, the pro- perty of Mr. Bettridge, having broken his leg in landing on Friday, was at once destroyed. Amongst the Shorthorns the great sti'ength of the show centres manifestly over the cows and heifers, as ]Mr. Stratton's Garland and Lord Feversham's Princess are, in familiar phrase, " a pair of beauties," with Mr. Ferris's heifer — another admirable one to the eye, if she could not have been so good in her quality, as she just missed the third place. The Shorthorn cows include some still better known animals, such as Mr. Stratton's Diadem, Mr. Lynn's Pride, and the Messrs. Howard's Claret ; but poor old Claret has grown very gaudy, and the pick was all between tlie other two, where the Cup at the time we write should rest. The Sussex appear to offer a better front than they have done of late, as the classes of Norfolk and Suffolk Polls are fairly tilled ; but there are only four Long-horns in two classes, and the Scotch High- landers are by no means up to their wonted strength. The Scotch Polled beasts, on the contrary, are led off by one of THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 61 the very finest auimals iu the yard, exhibited by the executors of the bite Sir Gordon Cumming. Tliere is not such a back to loolc down upon in the whole show, and Mr. M'Combie's entry, although placed second, had no chance whatever against the Altyrc specimen. Even the Cup with niauy was held to be a foregone conclusion, or at least credited to Scotland, as Mr. Heath Harris' cross- bred is anotlier wonder from above, well supported as he is by another happy "nick "shown by the Martins of Aberdeen . With the sheep there is another strong lead, that is amongst the prime West-end sorts, as we take tlie South- down to hold much the same rank amongst slieep that the Devon does amongst cattle. The two shearling classes were never better ; for Mr. Moore, on the part of Lord lladnor, admitted to never having made up any pen supe- rior to these, if they could only finish third ; the Mer- ton flock, as it will be found, having regained its supremacy, and certainly truer sheep have seldom been seen. In the old class the Duke of Richmond's and Lord Walsingham's were, taking the pens through, just of about equal weight ; but Goodwood deservedly gained the pride of place, as being more blood-like than their rivals. Lord Berners is still invincible with his Leicesters, and Mr. Wigmore confirmed the favourable opinion of his Cotswold flock, which, as we said, was so generally expressed at Birmingham. Neither the Lin- coln nor Romney jNIarsh varieties are in any force, and many of the exhibiters of Shropshires were quite satisfied with their experience of Bingley Hall, Lady Willoughby de Broke, Lord Wcnlock, and Mr. Anderson May all de- clining any further competition. Mr. Henry Smith, how- ever, brought on liis lot, though he was defeated for first by Lord Chesham, who has been breeding from the stock of Mr. Thornton and the Messrs. Crane. The Oxfordshire Downs were not numerically imposing ; but Mr. Tapp ^ sent on an extraordinary pen of pm'e Exmoors, and Sir John Harpur Crewe was put "in reserve" with his Portlands, which did well, if not otherwise quite show sheep. Some of the classes, the Devons more especially, took a deal of judging, but the pigs were very expeditiously dis- posed of, as the competition was not great. The prize list is mainly remarkable for the number of new men in, and old hands out of it. Mr. Underwood, Mr. Mitchell, Captain PelLam Warren, Mr. Biggs, of Cubbbington, and Mr. Pitt- man King are none of them names very familiar hitherto iu the chronicles of the Smithfield Club ; while exhibitors like General Hood, Mr. Stearn, Mr. Sexton, and Lord Radnor, had to be content with, at best, lesser honours or merely complimentary notifications. The attendance during the earlier part of the day was very thin, scarcely a member or an exhibitor coming to meet the judges on the opening of the Court ; nor for the next hour or two did the attendance increase very perceptibly. Indeed, on the experience of this morning, we can see little or no reason why the public should not, under cer- tain easily-arranged conditions, be admitted, as they are elsewhere, to the body of the building during the time the awards are being determined. The above report embodies a more general view, as taken from the galleries ; while we now proceed to amplify these remarks, merely stating that the general character which we have given the show has been in every way borne out. The Devon classes are strong in numljcrs and character. In Class 1, Mr. John Ovei'man once more comes to the front, and wins the first prize with a beautifid steer exceedingly well got up ■ he has a compact frame loaded with prime flesh, and very kind looks. Mr. Smith takes second ])rize with a very complete steer, nearly equal ill quality and form to his competitor, and three months younger. In Class 2, JMr. Thomas Bond takes the fii'st honour with a steer having a very deep fore- ([uarter and full breast -. his ribs and thighs not good, rather flat sides, and body too large. Mr. W. Smith takes second prize in this class also. His steer is of better ([uality, and has a capital purse, but not so even as No. 1. Mr. W. Farthing takes third prize : his steer has a good back and I'ldl thighs, but with the quality of meat not equal to his competitors. In Class 3, Mr. W. Farthing takes the first place with a superb ox of very deep cylindrical frame, well and e\"enly-fed, hips but loin rather high, and tail too low, with fine quality of meat, and nice coat. Major- Gencral Hood takes second prize : his ox is of admirable quality, and thickly fed, while he girths well. Mr. J. Tingey takes third prize with a good ox of deep frame and excel- lent quality of fiesh, but not evenly fed ; and Mr. J. Paul's excellent ox is highly commended. In the Class of Devon heifers we always look for something truly attractive and beautiful : but, as a whole, we do not think them so handsome as in some former years. Mr. J. Dashwood takes first honours. This heifer comes nearly up to our wishes ; but she has a thin neck, and is somewhat defective in rib, loin, and thigh : body too fully out. Mr. W. Farthing takes second prize with a very useful heifer, but defective in Iicr forequarter and unevenly fed. Mr. R. Farthing takes third prize. His heifer is much larger, and well-ted : her defective rmnps and high loin disqualifying her for any higher distinction, which otherwise she ought to have had. Mr. J. H. Benjafield's heifer in this class deserves honourable mention for her uniformity. In Class 5, Mr. W. Farthing takes first honom" with a very superior cow Pink, of fair pro- portions, and excellent quality. Mr. R. Farthing takes second prize. This cow, Rosa, is larger than number one, and good in form ; hand not quite so good : in other respects she more than equals her fortunate rival. Mr. W. Taylor takes third prize with his Gentle, of nice form and style, but of no such service iu the herd as her more successful competitors ; and hence probably her place. Mr. J. H. BuUer's cow is commended, and very properly, being a capital animal. These cows and heifers may be called pedigree animals, and rejoice in distinguished names well-known in the West. The Hereford classes are not remai'kably full, nor good, but they contain meritorious S2)ecimens of the breed. In Class 6, there are only three entries ; but Mr. R. Shirley maintains his high reputation by again taking a first prize in this class. His steer is of exceedingly- good form, deep frame, hips level, but not wide, nice hair, and it seems a pity to kill him. Major-General Hood takes second prize with a capital steer ; rather long frame, evenly fed, and good purse. In Class 7, General Hood comes to the fore, and wins with a very useful steer, but no more. Mr. R. Shirley takes second prize with a steer of rather higher order, but with nothing wonderful about him. Mr. H. Bettridge takes third prize with a likely useful steer. Only three entries for the three prizes, and all awarded. Class 8 is of ex- cellent merit, and receives very properly a conimendatiou as a class. Mr. Beach stands at its head with an ox deep in his chest, with a full breast, level fed, and with fair quality of meat. Mr. V. E. Nightingale takes second honour : a good proportionate frame, well and evenly fed, firm hand, capital thighs and twist, but not a thorough " white-face." Mr. W. Heath wins the third prize with an ox that stands high, has a rather long ft-ame, but deep in form ; a fine animal ; his hind-quarters some- what slight, or he would have achieved higher distinction. In the heifer class we again look for excelling beauty, nor are we disappointed, except in point of numbers, as only six put in an appearance. Mr. J. H. Arkwright holds first prize ; this heifer. Spot, is handsome and iu good form. 62 THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. short nnd compact in make, firm in lianil, and evenly fed. Mr. r. Tiu'uer takes second prize with Queen of the Vale, a longer-framed but well-foraied heifer, and very pretty ; of excellent quality, and has had one calf. Mr. J. D. Allen ranks third with Lady Shaftesbury, which has a longer frame, but is nicely fed. _ I\Iajor-General Hood receives a high commendation ia this class. Is not a heifer, after her first calf, a yomig cow ? In Class 10 Major-General Hood agaia comes to the front with a capital old cow, exceedingly well and evenly fed, rejoicing ia the name of Sunflower. Mr. H. Bettridge takes second prize with Sally, a heavy, good cow, with capital fore- quarters and large body, and Mr. J. M. Reed third prize with Lydia, a useful, well-fed cow. The Shorthorn classes scarcely maintain their superi- ority at this meeting, although the classes are fairly tilled. Still, as a lot, the steers and oxen are decidedly below- the average, and Mr. Stratton publicly denounced them at the dinner. In Class 11, Leney and Son take first prize. The steer is a good specimen of the breed, of large size for his age, and cylindrical in frame, but he wants more time to make him up. Lord Radnor takes second place with another tolerable steer. In Class 13, Mr. G. Taylor is successful with a beautiful roan, having some of the proportions of an admirable Shorthorn ; top superb, but slight flank, and underneath parts require to be more matured. Mr. J. S. Bult's steer takes second honour : be is somewhat defective in rump, hip, and flank, or he ought to have stood first. Mr. W. Shaw's steer stands third : evenly fed, of good size, capital chest, and good forequarter. Mr. E. L. Retts receives a high commendation for his steer by Sixth Duke of Airdrie, and Mr. AV. Sisman for his very useful steer. In Class 13 Mr. C. W. Packe receives first honour. His ox, by White Velvet, is a very highly fed animal ; but he wants more nobility of character- tremendous w-eight but plain, very massive frame, exceed- ingly fat, the brisket and flank defective, hips rather high, short nimp, and deep thighs. Mr. R. Wood takes second place with an ox by Britannicus, a more handsome animal, and well-formed throughout ; his frame very catching, and of noble appearance ; not so heavy, nor such good heavy flesh, and lighter in general proportions. Mr. R. N. Morley takes third prize : a large and capital ox. Mr. W. Heath receives a high commendation with his very fine ox. In Class 14 Mr. R. Stratton very deservedly wins the first prize Avith his beautiful heifer. Garland. She is nearly perfect in frame; her pro- portions are very symmetrical and even ; a handsome good roan. There may be a little defect at the back of the shoulder, and slight deficiency in the fore-quarter ; but her kind and quality are nearly all that can be desired. Lord Faversham takes second honour with Princess, a beautiful heifer, standing on short legs ; very full frame and large girth ; hips not quite out enough ; quality of flesh very good. Princess, like Garland, has been a winner at some of our great breeding shows, but curiously enough Lord Faversham has never had his heifer put to the bull ! The third prize goes to a new exhibitor — Sir C. M. Lampson, of Atlantic Telegraph fame. His Rose is a great, if not sweet, beauty ; ^-ery even and cylindrical in frame. She certainly wants more time, and would, if kept over, form a topper for next Show. Lord Radnor has a high commendation. The heifer Recherche stands rather low, but is of fine form and deep frame. Mr. Swinnerton has a commendation with Lady Alice, a good deeply-framed heifer, with rather short rib, but good quality of meat. There are twelve superior animals in this class of exceedingly fine proportions and quality. In Class 15 we have much that is attractive and profit- able— a better class is seldom seen. ilr. R. Stratton's COW', Diadem, stands at the head of it, as well as of all the cows in the yard, taking the first prize and silver cup. She is of very massive frame and full pro- portions, being one of the finest cows ever exhibited. She is long in frame, but very cylindrical and fully thrown out — girth great; full chest, and breast; and flank and thighs full and broad ; rib, as it should be. She is well- fed, very fat, and of excellent quality. Perhaps her hip and loin are too high, but they are well covered : her girth is 9 feet 3 inches. Mr. Lynn, another successful exhibitor, takes 2nd prize with the well-known Pride. She is very evenly fed, and is fair in hand ; her hips and rump broad, and tuts large ; capital girth — a fine-made, good cow. Mr. C. Leney stands third with his Blush — a handsome, well-formed large cow of good pro- portions, and highly fed. Messrs. J. and F.Howard re- ceive a high commendation withtheu* famous cow Claret ; but she has gone all to pieces. Mr. Game has a com- mendation with his cow Jacinth, and Colonel Brise receives a like honom* with his cow Scullery Girl — both most creditable specimens of Shorthorns. Having travelled rather elaborately through the three popular breeds of the kingdom, we must now pass more rapidly over the remaining classes. Of these 16, 17, IS, and 19 are for the Snsse.rhxceA.. We seldom saw a better exhibition of these cattle ; they are improving greatly, but there is still too much length of frame in proportion to depth and breadth of form. Mr. J. Napper's prize ox is a capital beast, but has too much of the usual characteristics of the breed, a narrowness of frame, and the absence of that touch which shows inclination for rapid fattening. The SiiffoUcs and Norfolks are fairly re- presented, with some of the spechnens unusually handsome and good, showing more depth of frame, and excellence in quality of meat. The Long-horn classes are more sparingly filled, only four animals competing, but they are of high order, and their quality of flesh fully equal to any in the show, taking lean meat as intermingled with fat. The Scotch-horn classes have some good animals ; the Duke of Sutherland's ox has a tremendous depth of frame, but is not very fat ; while Mr. Stewart's prize ox is exceedingly good, as is also Mr. Crawley's cow. The Foiled Scots classes possess some most extraordinary animals in the Hall. The late Sir A. L. Gordon Cunimiug's ox is of very immense proportions, so uniform and full, with a wonderful back ; while he stands very high, is very long in frame, and of vast weight, his girth 9 feet 6 inches, and his meat firm and good. Jlr. W. M'Combie's second is nothing like so clever. The IFehh classes are scant, Ijut ]\Ir. Henry Piatt's ox is in almost perfect contour of form, so uniform in fatting and so firm in flesh, beyond most others ; as Lord Penrhyn's ox takes after him ; and Major Hayw'ard's, if not handsome, is very deep in frame, and the quality of his meat exceedingly good. The Cross-hreed classes are famously filled. In these, indeed, are a few w'onderful animals. The Gold Cup winner, the property of Mr. R. H. Heath, of Forres, ^Morayshire, is of astonishing proportions, and almost without a fault. His general contour of frame is remarkably full in every part, even to his veiy ears ; and his girth, 10 feet 2 inches, rivals the celebrated Durham ox. His quality of flesh is superior, hut not equal to some others; while in appearance he takes all after the Shorthorn. Mr. P. Beattie's heifer is beauti- fully formed, and of excellent flesh, as is also Mr. ^loir's. The Extra Stock classes comprise some excellent animals. Mr. W. Farthing's ox is a beautiful Devon, of a superior quality of meat; and Mr. J. ]M. Read's cow is one of the best in form and most evenly-fed animals in the Show, as well as firm hand. A little Bretoune steer is in this class, just serves to show how unprofitably we may breed. Ju speaking of the shee]) classes, we may premise a remark THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE, 63 or two. Is it not right to support those breeds which have attained a high character and stand as established types, rather than to continue aiming at something new, or to go on reconmiending those of interior oi'der and imperfect in form ? Here are our classes : Leiccsters, Cotsivohh, Lincohis, Kentish or llomney Marsh, other Lung-vjools, South Downs, Hampshire or Wiltshire Downs, Shrojjshires, Oxfordshires, Mountain, Ryclamls, Cheviots, Dorsets, and Cross-breeds. Are all these varieties worthy the high distinction conferred upon them by liberal prizes from tiie Smithficld Club ? We should prefer more prizes or honours for the best breeds, of which it has seldom been our 'privilege to go over a better show. The classes of South Downs were never seen in liner condition or in higher order of beauty than at the present meeting ; they are superb as a whole, and in goodly num- ber. The Leicesters and Long-wools are not quite so good nor equal to some former years. The Hampshire and Wiltshire Downs are short in numbers, and the Shrop- shires moderate in most ways. The Oxfordshire Downs were well i-epresented, at least for quality ; while the Mountain breeds evidenced the most marked improvement of any of the sheep classes. The Rylands and Cheviots were of no very commendable character. In class 35, Leicesters, Lord Berners takes the first prize, as also the silver cup, as the best pen in the long-woolled classes. They are a very bloodlike lot, with full, deep, well-formed frames, capital plaits and chests, good rumps, and broad fat backs; wool perhaps a little too light, and varying in staple and quality, and altogether light sheep. jNIr. G. Walmsley takes second prize with a pen of ex- ceedingly good sheep, but not so perfect as the above, either in form or hand; but with wool more alike, and much greater weight. Mr. W. Bi-owne receives the third prize with sheep of larger frames, but of excellent character and hand ; wool rather thinly set. In Class 36 Lord Berners is 4. again successful in carrying oif the first prize. These are rather short but with full frames, nice backs, good plaits, short rumps, more level in their fleeces, and of heavier wool. Mr. C. J. Bradshaw takes second prize with a pen of very useful sheep, but not compact enough in frame. There did not seem io be much system in judging the Leicesters, small and large having in turn the call. Class 37, Cotswolds -. Only four pens ! Mr. Wigmore takes first honours, and richly merits them : we have seldom seen abetter pen of this breed, at the age, with backs and hand equal to the best Leicester ; fine handsome looks, great depth of fi-ame, large in size, and fidl of mutton and good wool. These sheep were at Birmiugham, where we spoke to their remarkable uniformity. Messrs. G. and T. West take second prize : they are longer-framed sheep, of great weight ; wool long and good ; hand not equal to the first lot. Mr. J. K. Tombs receives third prize, with a very good pen, but unequal ; one of them is a very fine sheep — a good class, though so small. Class 38, Lin coin s : Only two pens ! Mr. John Edwards takes first prize with a very nice lot. They have great length and depth of frame, neat heads and looks, prime good mutton, light offal, plenty of good wool. Mr. J. Pears takes second prize with a good pen, nearly equal to the above, and with better rumps and thighs. Kentish, orRomney Marsh, Class 39 : Only two pens ! Mr. F. Mutton, who usually stands well in this class, is again awarded first honour. These pens we could not take to be pure-bred Kents : if so, they must have wonder- fully improved in character of late. Mr. Murton's lot have good contour of fi'ames, well fatted, heavy wool, heads coarse, and ears long. ilr. M. Cox takes second prize. This pen denotes a cross even more than the others : they are very' useful, fair-foi-med sheep. Class 40, any other long wools: ]\Ir. J. Edwards again comes to the frout and receives first prize with a Lincoln and Leicester pen, exceedingly well fed and with good fleeces. Mr. J. Newman takes two prizes with a very useful pen. We now come to the gems of the show — the pure Southdowns. Class 41, Lord Walsingham takes first here, as also the silver cup, as the best pen in tlie short-woolled classes. They are very beautiful, full and perfect in frame, of true symmetrical pro- portions, of great size, exceedingly well and evenl_v fed, hand firm, nice countenances, wool fine and thick-set, likely to yield well — though with one face a little too dark. Lord Sondes is awarded second honours, with a beautiful pen, exceedingly vyell got up, chines broad, and well-formed of good wool. Lord Radnor takes third prize. These have longer frames, but well- formed heads, rather large, but correct in colour ; good thighs, wool fair. Mr. II. II. Pcnfold receives a high commendation with an excellent 2)en, but not so per- fect in form as the Peers' pens. Necks rather long and thirt, ears short, chine and chest too narrow ; but well fed. In Class 43 Lord Walsingham is again first ; his first-prize pen are beautiful types of the Larger Downs. They are quite as symmetrical as his Lordship's other lot, with better thighs and quality of meat unsurpassed. Lord Sondes is again in the second place. This pen has longer frames and necks, ears too short, chine too narrow, fine- quality mutton, and fair wool. Mr. G, L. Foljambe takes third prize. This -is a pen of very useful sheep, longer in frame, but of fair depth, and well fed. Lord Radnor receives a " high commendation" with a superior lot, of like character to those of his lordship^s just named. In Class 43 the Goodwood flock once again comes to the front, and the Duke of Richmond takes the first place with a very splendid pen : W'C have seldom seen one so good. Their fatting has been done to perfection as to quality of meat, but not altogether uniform. They are somewhat long in frame ; necks, chines and shoulders, and plaits are, if anything, a little scant ; their backs, rumps, loins, thighs, flanks, very good. Lord Walsing- ham takes second prize with a wonderful pen, each animal so good both in frame and form — not so long, but more compact than the Duke's, and with rumps, loins, backs, plaits, chests, and necks superior ; but they are not uniform in size. One is an extraordinary sheep for depth of chest and breadth of plaits and bosom. Lord Radnor has third with a pen of lai'ger and longer- framed sheep, but not so deep and compact in form : fair rimips, and quality undeniable. Mr. W. Rigdeu, we are happy to see, receives a commendation for a verv good pen. We yet, in this entry, observe samples of the old distinctions in these flocks — the somewhat long frames, but thorough-bred looks, of the Duke of Richmond's, Lord Radnor's, Lord Sondes', and Mr. Fol- jambe's flocks, and the more massive and compact frames of Lord AValsingliam's, Mr. Rigden's, and the Webb tribe. Having been somewhat particular in our remarks upon the more popular and older-established breeds, we must be more concise upon the remaining classes. Hampshire and Wiltshire Downs : We sometimes wonder why these Downs are so preferred to the Southdown. The}' are un- gainly-formed animals as a class ; we may like their size, but not their shape. They are not in great force this year. In Class 44 we have the lot of Mr. S. King taking first with a pen of large long-framed sheep with good level backs, fair plaits, long necks, thick heads, and queer looks, but firm hand, wool good ; Col. Loyd Lindsay taking se- cond prize with a similar lot, and still worse looks. Mr. W. B. Canning has third prize, and Messrs. J. and M. Arnold receive a commendation. The Shropshires, again, are by no means in any imposing display ; while thev are often trimmed and touchcd-up to a very absurdity. In Class 45, Lord Chesham takes first hpuours with three 64 THE FAEMER'S MAGAZINE. very fiuc, wcll-funiieJ sheep, liaudsoiuc, full of mutton ;inJ wool, both of siiijerior quality. Mr. II. Siiiitli takes second prize with his Birmingham pen, having good broad, fat backs upon well-formed frames. Mr. J. Beach lakes third prize ; but as a whole this is a moderate class. In Class 46 there is only one competitor, ISIr. H. Smith, w ho takes lirst prize with a splendid pen, almost equal to any in the show for perfect contour of frame and general a])pcarauee, so well-formed and thrown out in every part. One sheep is particularly large and good. Oj/on/a/zifes .- Class 47, only six entries. Mr. S. Druce takes first prize with verv good sheep indeed, possessing much mutton, and exceedingly well fed. The Duke of Mai-lborough takes second prize: these are very compact; wool thick-set, and mutton good. IMr. S. Freeman takes third prize with a similar lot, having rather more wool. Mr. A. Kogers receives a high commendation ; and Mr. A. M. Muinford and Mr. F. Street receive commenda- tions ; so that, as at Birmingham, every one of the Ox- fords receives a compliment of some kind from the judges. Mountain Sheep : No class has met with greater improvement than this. In Class 48, Mr. J. Tapp wins first prize with a prime lot of Exmoors : they are large of the sort — about the size of average Leicesters, good in form, fat and firm, and with plenty of wool. Mr. "\V. Smith takes second prize with a very similar lot of equal quality. In Class 49, Mr. J. Peel takes first honour with a pen of very large pure Louks, weighing nearly 401bs. per quarter. They look regular mountain-climbers for length and activity : and their feeding is admirable. Mr. J. McGill takes second prize with a very singular pen of cross-bred sheep, apparently by a Lincoln ram on a Scotch mountain ewe. There is much long wool ; a good-formed, large - framed sheep, of good quality of mutton, with apparent activity enough for hiUy districts. Ri/elands, Cheviots, and Lorsets : In Class 50, Mr. J. B. Downing takes first prize with a good pen of fairly -formed sheep ; Mr. McGill takes second prize with a pen of pure Cheviots — ^just the animals for right down cold weather and rough living. In Class 51, Cross-bred Sheep, Mr. John Overman wins 1st prize and the Silver Cup with his pen of Lei- cester and Southdowns. These sheep as a lot are decidedly the best-formed and most complete animals in any of the modern-breed classes. They are large, fine forms, well made up to exceeding quality, and have much wool. Mr. Z. \V. Stilgoe takes 2nd prize, and Mr. J. White 3rd prize. There is a capital sheep in this pen. In Class 53, Mr. John Overman once more comes to the fore, and wins with another pen similar' to his lot above- named : Mr. George Hine takes second prize. We will now go shortly tlu'ough the Extra-Slock Sheep. In the Leicester wethers, ilr. G. Walmsley takes the Silver Aledal with a very superior sheep, exceedingly handsome ; thick, finely-moulded frame ; well and evenly fatted ; excellent quality ; nice wool. In Leicester ewes, Mr. C. J. Bradshaw takes the Silver Medal. This ewe is quite a model of her breed — beau- tiful in form, very highly fed, and has good rumps and plaits. In other long-woolled sheep, riot Leicesters, Mr. J. H. CassweU takes the Silver ^ledal with an extraor- dinary ewe of the finer class of Lincoln longwools. Her fi-ame is wonderfully filled out in every part but the rump, which is somewhat short; back, loin, and plaits exceedingly good ; her girth, 6ft. 7in. ; mutton rather loose. Mr. J. Edwards receives a commendation with a Lincoln wether of very commendable character. Southdown wethers : Mr. G. S. Foljambe takes the Silver Medal with his wether, having a beautiful rather small frame and fine mutton. The Duke of Richmond receives a high commendation in the same class. Southdown ewes : In this class Lord Sondes takes the Silver ^Medal with his pretty little ewe, the most perfect in frame and beauty amongst the Southdowns, as she cannot be excelled in quality of mullon. ilr. G. S. Fol- jambe receives a high commendation with a beautiful larger- framed ewe, not so complete as that of Lord Sondes, but a more profitable breeder. In other Short-wools not Southdowns Mr. G. Wallis takes the Silver Medal with his Oxfordshire Down, a very useful sheep, but not in jter- fcct form. 31r. J. Tapp receives a high commendation with another of his capital Exmoors. I\Ir. S. King has also a high commendation with his West-country wether, and Mr. N. B. Canning a like honour with his Hampshire Down. In the cross-bred sheep class, Mr. John Over- man takes the Silver Medal with another of his Leicester and Down sheep. The pigs prove, upon examination, a very moderate lot ; and, unmistakeably, the least improving section of the show. In Class 53, we begin with Captain 1'. P. Warren's third-prize pen, which are good models of the small breed, with fine hair. Mr. Underwood's first-prize pen are much larger, and of nearly equal quality, with very- compact pretty frames, and well fed ; hair rather thin, but strong. Mr. Mitchell's second-prize pen have much thicker frames, deep sides, broad backs, capable of fatting to great weights ; hair stiff, and rather long. Major- General Hood's highly-commended pen have very pretty frames, and are good in quality. Mr. Slade's highly-com- mended pen are exceedingly small, like bantams in our poultry classes; very pretty, and would make good roasters. Mr. Melville Cartwright's first prize pen, in Class 54, shows a good heavy-fleshed trio, of ggod quality, and thick in form, with nice hair. The Earl of Radnor's third-prize pen are longer in frame, and rather coarse in quality of flesh and hair. Mr. Biggs, second-prize pen have much thicker frames, deep in form and look like good bacon pigs. ]\Ir. Underwood's highly-commended pen are very good, rather loose hand and light hair: while ^lajor-General Hood's are well fed, with thick short frames, good form, and thin long hair. In Class 55, the lu'st prize is won by Mr. C. Cattle, who has long stood well as a first-class breeder of pigs: he shows a nice pen, having capital frames, well fed up, with good quality of flesh, necks and chests full, broad backs, and deep sides, hair long and nicely set. Capt. R. P. Warren takes the second prize with a pen of deep-formed pigs, of longer frames, good backs, and full thighs, and quality of flesh fine. The thii-d prize is taken by Mr. G. M. Sexton with a pen of broad-framed pigs of nice length and depth, with good necks, and fed-up to their snouts like many others exhibited. Mr. INlainwaring's highly commended pen are a very nice, compact lot ; level backs, well fatted, thin, fine, long hair. Mr. J. Biggs' commended pen are a lot of heavy pigs, long in frame but well filled out, hair long aud thin. In Class 56 Mr. Coate, of Hamnioon, of long-established repute, takes first prize aud silver cup, with a lot of big plain pigs ; but their flesh is flabby, and their hair short and patchy. There have been often far better "firsts and firsts ;" and had Isix. King Tombs' three been " all in " he should have won. The second prize goes to Lord Radnor, who has long stood before us as a first-class breeder. His pen match each other well ; frames rather long, but deep and broad ; though t hey are far behind what Coleshill has done in this way. The third prize is taken by ^Ir. J. P. King with a heavy lot, but somewhat coarse in quality. They have long, good frames, and are also excellent bacon pigs; supposed weight " 25 scores." Mr. G. M. Sexton's highly commended pen, larger and longer, are w'ell fed but not of fine quality. Mr. Walter's are roughish profitable pigs, not highly fed, hair thick aud coarse. In the Extra Class there are several good pigs. Mr. Stearn takes the silver medal in this class with the most evenly-formed pig in the show, and of excellent quality; as we spoke to his merits at Birininsiham. Mr. J. H. Clarke's hiiihlv commended THE FARMEli'S MAGAZINE. 65 pig is almost too long in form, and of rather coarse quality ; while Mr. Saunders's comnieuded pig is a good fat animal for bacon. Lord Radnor's commended pig is similar in frame, but of better quality. ^lessrs. J. and F. Howard's sow of the large Yorkshire breed is very long in frame, but not proportionate in breadth and depth of form — a family failing, undoubtedly, with many of the larger sorts. The trade, more particularly during the earlier part of the week, was dull, and beasts were making better prices out of the Hall than in it. Still, a great number of animals were sold at some price, and sheep and pigs more briskly, when it was known that the slaughtering restric- tion did not apply to these classes ; but the butchers had on the whole the business pretty much their own way. AWARD OF PRIZES. LIST OF JUDGES, 1866. DEVON, HEREFORD, SUSSEX, NORFOLK OR SUFFOLK, LONG- HORN, IRISH AND CROSS, OR MIXED-BRED CATTLE. J. Buckley, The Cottage, Loughborough. John Moon, Maristow, Roborough, South Devon. R. J. Newton, Camsfield, Woodstock, Oxon. SHORTHORN, SCOTCH, AND WELSH CATTLE. Francis Fowler, Henlow, Biggleswade, Beds. Richd. Milward, Thurgarton Priory, Southwell. J. B. Thompson, Anlaby, Hull. LEICESTER, COTSWOLD, LINCOLN, KENTISH OR ROMNEY MARSH, OTHER LONGWOOL, CROSS-BRED, OXFORD, AND MOUNTAIN SHEEP. Robt. Game, Aldsworth, Northleach. George Mann, Scawsby Hall, near Doncaster, Yorks. John Painter, Forest-road, Nottingham. SOUTHDOWN, HAMPSHIRE OR WILTSHIRE, SHROPSHIRE, RYELAND, CHEVIOT, AND DORSET SHEEP. John Claydou, Littlebury, Saffron Walden. C. Randell, Chadbury, Evesham. J. S. Turner, Chington, Seaford, Sussex. PIGS. John Brown, Uffcott, Swindon, Wilts. A. F. M. Druce, Burgbfield, Reading, Berks. John Slater, North Carlton, near Lincoln. CATTLE. DEVONS. Steers, not exceeding 2 years and 6 months old. First prize of £20, to J. Overman, Burnham Sutton, Nor- folk. Second of £10, to Wra. Smith, Higher Hoopern, Exeter, Devon, Steers, not exceeding 3 years and 3 months old. First prize of £30, to T. Bond, North Petherton, Bridge- water, Somerset. Second of £20, to W. Smith, Higher Hoopern, Exeter, Devon. Third of £10, to W. Farthing, Bridgewater, Somerset. Steers or Oxen, above 3 years and 3 mouths old. First prize of £30, to W. Farthing, Bridgewater, Somerset. Second of £20, to Major-General the Hon. A. N. Hood, Windsor. Third of £10, to J. Tingey, Elhngham, Altleborough, Nor- folk. Highly commended. — J. P. Paul, Newclose, Yarmouth, Isle of Wight. Heifers, not exceeding four years old. First prize of £25, to J. Dashwood, Ryde, Isle of Wight. Second, of £15, to W. Farthing, Bridgewater, Somerset (Duchess). Third, of £10, to R. Farthing, North Petherton, Somerset. Cows, above four years old. First prize of £35, to W. Farthing, Bridgewater, Somerset (Pink). Second, of £15, to R. Farthing, North Petherton, Somerset (Rosa). Third, of £10, to W. Taylor, Bristol, Somerset (Gently). (Commended. — J. H. Buller, Downes, Devon. HEREFORDS. Steers not exceeding 2 years and G mcnth old. First prize of £20, to R.Shirley, Baucott Muuslow, Church Strettou, Salop. Second prize of £10, to Major-General the Hon. A. N. Hood, Windsor. Steers not exceeding 3 years and 3 months old. First prize of £30, to Major-General the Hon. A. N. Hood, Windsor. Second prize of £20, to R. Shirley, Baucott Munslow, Church Stretton, Salop. Third prize of £10. to H. Bettridge, East Hannay, Wantage , Berks. Steers, or Oxen, above 3 years and 3 months old. First prize of £30, to J. Beach, Brewood, Stafford. Second prize of £20, toV. E. Nightingale Burway, Ludlow, Salop. Third prize of £10, to W. Heath, Ludham Hall, Norwich, Norfolk. Commended. — Class generally. Heifers, not exceeding i years old. First prize of £25, to J. H. Arkwriglit, Leominster, Here- fordshire (Spot). Second prize of £15, to P. Turner, Pembridge, Leominster, Hereford (Queen of the Vale). Third pize of £10, to J. D. Allen, Tisbury, Salisbury (Lady Shaftesbury). Highly commended. — Major-General the Hon.A. N. Hood, Windsor (Constance). Cows above 4 years old. First prize of £25 to Major-General the Hon. A. N. Hood, Windsor (Sunflower). Second of £15 to H. Bettridge, East Hannay, Wantage, Berks (Salles). Third of £10 to J. M. Read, Elkstone, Cheltenham (Lydia). SHORTHORNS. Shorthorned Steers, not exceeding 2 years and 6 months old. First prize of £20, to F. Leney and Son, Wateringbury, Kent. Second prize of £10, to Earl of Radnor, Highworth. Steers, not exceeding 3 years and 3 months old. First prize of £30, to G. Taylor, Bridlington Quay, Y'ork. Second prize of £20, to J. S. Bult, Kingston, Somerset. Third prize of £10, to W. Shaw, Far Coton, Norlhaniptou. Higldy commended. — E. L. Betts, Aylesford, Kent. Commended. — W. Sisman, Kimboltou, Huntingdon. Steers or Oxen, above 3 years and 3 months old. First prize of £30, to C. W. Packe, M.P., Prestwold,Loug]i- borough, Leicester. Second prize of £20, to R. Wood, Clapton, Tlirapston, Northampton. Third prize of £10, to R. N, Morley, Leadenham, Gran- tham, Lincoln. Highly commended. — W. Heath, Ludham Hall, Norwich. Heifers, not exceeding i years old. First prize of £25, to R. Stratton, Walls Court, Bristol, Gloucester (Garland). Second prize of £15, to Lord Feversham, Duncombe Park, Helmsley, York (Princess). Third prize of £10, to Sir C. M. Lampson, Bart., Rowfant, Crawley, Sussex (Rose). Highly commended. — Earl of Radnor, Coleshill, Highworth (Recherche) ; and T. Ferris, Manningford Bohurne, Marl- borough. Commended. — R. Swinnerton, Nuneaton, Warwick. Cows, above 4 years old. First prize of £25, to R. Stratton, Walls Court, Bristol, Gloucester (Diadem). Second of £15, to J. Lynn, Stroxton, Grantham (Pride). Third of £10, to C. Leney, Leavers, near liadlow (Blush). Highly commended.— J. and F. Howard, Bedford (Claret). Commended. — T. Game, Broadmoor, Northleach, Glouces- ter (Jacinth) ; and Col. Brise, Spain's Hall, Braintree, Essex (Scidlery Giri). SUSSEX. Sussex Steers or Oxen, not exceedmg 3 years old. First prize of £20, to J. and A. Heasman, Angmering, Arundel, Sussex. Second prize of £10, to L. Steere, Dorking, Surrey, V 6(3 THE FABMBR'S MAGAZINE. Steors or Oxen, above 3 years old. First prize of £25, to J. Napper, Wisboro' Green, Horsham, Sussex. Second prize of £15, to G. C. Coote, Tortington, Arundel, Sussex. Third prize of £10, to W. Sturt, Fetcliam, Leatherhead, Surrey. Heifers, not exceeding 4 years old. First prize of £20, to J. Shoosmith, Berwick, Lewes, Sussex (Lauret). Second prize of £15, to G. C. Coote, Tortington, Arundel, Susses. Cows above i years old. First prize of £20, to J. and A. Heasman, Angmering, Arundel (Spot). Second of £15, to G. Jenner, Udimore, Rye, Sussex (May. flower 3rd). NORFOLK OR SUFFOLK POLLED. PoUed Steers or Oxen, of any age. First Prize of 151. to T. M. Hudson, Castleacre, Brandon, Norfolk. Second Prize of lOL to D. Walker, Pauxworth, Norwich, Norfolk. PoUed Heifers or Cows, of any age. First prize of £15, to W. Postle, Norwich. Second prize of £10, to Lord Sondes, ElthaniHall, Thetford, Norfolk, LONGHORNS. Steers or Oxen, of any age. First prize of £10, to R. H. Chapman, Upton, Nunheaton, Warwick. Second of £5, to Sir J. Harpur Crewe, Bart., Calko Abbey, Derby. Heifers or Cows of any age. First prize of £10, to R. H. Chapman, Upton, Nuneaton, Warwick (Lady Cheesepan) . Second of £5, to Sir J. H. Crewe, Bart., Calke Abbey, Derby (Broodliead 3rd). SCOTCH-HORNED. Steers or Oxen of any age. First prize of £30, to J. Stewart, 1 and 2, New Market, Aberdeen. Second of £15, to the Duke of Roxburgh, Kelso, Rox- burgh. Heifers or Cows of any age. First prize of £15, to J. S. Crawley, Stockwood, Luton, Bedford (Stonefield). Second of £10, to the Duke of Sutherland, Dunrobin Castle, Sutherland (Kate). SCOTCH POLLED. Steers and Oxen, of any age. First prize of£30, to The Executors of the late Sir A. P. Gordon Cumraing, Bart., of Altyre, by Forres, Moray. Second of £15, to W. McCombie, Tillyfour, Aberdeen, N.B. Highly commended, J. Stejjheus, Conglass, near Aberdeen ; commended, E. Ling, North Repps, Norwich, and Tlie Duke of Grafton, Thetford, Norfolk. Heifers or Cows, of any age. First prize of £15, to J. Reid, Graystone, Alford, Aberdeen- shire. Second of £10, to The Duke of Buccleuch and Queensbury Tibbers, Thornhill, Dumfries. IRISH. Steers or Oxeu, of any age, [No entry.] Heifers or Cows of any age. [No entry.] WELSH. Steers or Oxen (Runts) of any age. First prize of £20, to H. Piatt, Bryn-y-Newadd, Bangor,, Carnarvon. Second prize of £10, to the Right Hon. Lord Penrhyn, Penrhyn Castle, Bangor. Heifers or cows, of any age. [No entry.] CROSS OR MIXED-BRED. Steers, not exceeding 3 years old. First prize of £25, to J. Stewart, 1, 2, and 3, New Market, Aberdeen (Shorthorn and Aberdeen Polled). Second of £15, to J. K. Farthing, Cunypool, Charlyuch, Somerset (Devon and Guernsey). Third of £10, to R. Moir, Meikle Tarty, Ellon (Aberdeen and Shorthorn). Steers or Oxen, above 3 years old. First prize of £25 to R. Harris, Earl IIUl, Forres, Moray- shire (Shorthorn and Scotch Polled) . Second prize of £15 to W. Scott, Glenronach, Huntley, Aberdeen (Shorthorn and Scotch Polled). Third prize of £10 to J. and W. Martin, Aberdeen (Short- horn and Polled). HigUy commended, J. Napper, Wisboro' Green, Horsham, Sussex (Devon and Sussex). Heifers, not exceeding 4< years old. First prize of £20, to P. Beattie, Dunnydeer, Insch, Aber- deen (Shorthorn and Polled). Second of £10, to R. Moir, Meikle Tarty, Ellon (Shorthorn and Aberdeen). SHEEP. LEICESTERS. Fat Wethers 1 year old, under 23 months. First prize of £20, to Lord Bemers, Keythorpe, Leicester. Second of £15, to G. Walmsley, Bridlington, Yorkshire. Third of £5, to W. Browne, Ilome-on-Spalding Moor, York. Fat Wethers, 1 year old, under 23 months. Each 'Sheep not to exceed 2201bs. live weight. First prize of £20 to Lord Bemers, Keythorpe, Leicester. Second of £15, to C. J. Bradshaw, Burley-ou-the-Hill, Rut- land. Commended. — G. S. Foljambe, Worksop, Nottinghamshire. COTSWOLDS. Fat Wethers 1 year old, under 23 months. First prize of £20 to J. Wigmore. Much-Marcle, Hereford Second of £15, to T. and G. West, Bletchington, Oxon. Third of £5, to J. K. Tombs, Langford,Lechdale, Glouces- LINCOLNS. Fat Wethers 1 year old, under 23 months. First prize of £20, to J. Edwards, Buckworth, Huntingdon-, shire. Second of £15, to J. Pears, Mere Branston, Lincoln. KENTISH OR ROMNEY MARSH. Fat wethers 1 year old (under 23 months.) First prize of £15 to F. Murton, Smeeth, Kent. Second of £10 to M. Cox, Waltham, Kent. ANY OTHER LONG-WOOLS. Fat Wethers, not being Leicesters, Cotswolds, Lincolns, or Kentish, 1 year old (under 23 months.) First prize of £15 to J. Edwards, Buckworth, Huntingdon- shire (Lincoln and Leicester). Second of £10 to J. Newman, Harrowden, Bedford. SOUTHDOWNS. Fat Wethers, one-year old (under 23 months.) First Prize of 20^, to Lord Walsingham, Thetford, Norfolk. Second Prize of 10^. to Lord Sondes, Thetford, Norfolk. Tliird Prize of 51. to Earl of Radnor, Highwortli. Highly Commended. — H. H. Penfold, Chichester, Sussex. Fat Wethers, one-year old (under 23 mouths), each Sheep not to exceed 200 lbs. live weight. First Prize of 151. to Lord Walsingham, Thetford, Norfolk. Second Prize of 10^. to Lord Sondes, Thetford, Norfolk. Third Prize of 5/. to G.L. Foljambe, Worksop, Nottingham Highly Commended Earl of Radnor, Highworth. Fat Wether, 2 years old (above 23 and under 35 nonths.) First prize of £20, to the Duke of Richmond, Goodwood, Sussex. Second prize of £10, to Lord Walsingham, Thetford, Nor- folk. Third prize of £5 to the Earl of Radnor, Highworth. Commended. — W. Rigden, Hove, Sussex. HAMPSHIRE OR WILTSHIRE DOWNS. " Fat Wethers, 1 year old (under 23 months). First prize of £20, to 8. King, Bockhampton, Berks, Second prize of £15, to Colonel Loyd Lindsay, M.P., Lock- inge, Berks. Third prize of £5, to W. B. Canning, Elstou, Wilts. Commended. — J. and M. Arnold, Westmeon, Hants, THE FAEMEB'S MAGAZINE. 67 SHROPSHIRES. Fat Wethers, 1 year old (under 33 months). First prize of £30, to Lord Chesham, Latimer Chesham, Bucks. Second prize of £10, to H. Smith, Sutton Maddock, Shrop- shire. Third prize of £5, to J. Beach, Brewood, Stafford. Fat Wethers, 2 years old (above 23 and under 35 months). First prize of £15, to H. Smith, Suttou Maddock, Slirop- shire. Second prize of £5 (no competition.) OXFORDSIIIEES. Fat wethers, 1 year old (under 23 months). First prize of £30, to S. Druce, Eynsham, Oxon. Second prize of £15, to The Diike of Marlborough, Blen- heim, Oxon. Third prize of £5, E. Freeman, Chilton, Oxon. Highly commended. — A. Rogers, Bromham, Bedford. Commended. — J. A. Mumford, Thame, Oxon ; and F. Street Bromham, Bedford. MOUNTAIN. Fat Wethers, of any White-faced Mountain breed, of any age. First prize of £15, to J. Tapp, Twitchen, Devon (Exmoor). Second prize of £10, to W. Smith, Higher-noopern, Devon. Fat Wethers, of any Black-faced or Speckle-faced Mouutain breed, of any age. First prize of £15, to J. Peel,Kuo\vImcre, Clitheroe (Sark). Second prize of £10, to J. M'Gill, Botchell, Dumfries (Speckleface). RYELANDS, CHEVIOTS, AND DORSETS. Fat Wethers. First prize of £15, to J. B. Downing, Holme Lacey, Hero- ford. Second prize of £10, to J. M'Gill, RotcheU, Dumfries, CROSS-BRED. Long and Short-woolled Cross-bred fat Wethers, 1 year old (under 33 months.) First prize of £20, to J. Overmann, Buruham Sutton, Nor- ^ folk (Leicester and Southdown). Second prize of £15, to Z. W. Stilgoe, near Banbury (Cots- wold and Oxford). Third prize of £5, to J, White, Rickmansworth, Herts (Cotswold and Devon). Conuueuded. — G. Hine, jun., Oakley, Bedford (Down and Leicester). Long and Short-woolled Cross-bred fat Wethers, 1 year old (under 33 months.) Each Sheep not to exceed 2301bs. live weight. First prize of £10, to J. Overmaun, Burnham Sutton, Nor- folk (Leicester and Down). Second prize of £5, to G. Hine, jun., Oakley (Oxford and Leicester). PIGS. Pigs of any breed, not exceeding G montlis old. First prize of £15, to J. A. W. Underwood, Warmington, Nortlmmpton. Second prize of £10, to J. Mitchell, Iver, Middlesex. Third prize of £5, to Captain R. P. Warren, Basingstoke, Hants. Highly commended. — Major-General Hood, Windsor, Berks, and A. F. Slade, Chislehurst, Kent. Of any breed, above 6 and not exceeding 9 months old. First prize of £15, to T. L. Melville Cartwright, Fife. Second prize of £10, to J. Biggs, Cublington, Beds. Third prize of £5, to Earl of Radnor, Highworth. Highly commended. — J. A. W. Underwood, Warraiugtoii, Northampton ; and Major-General Hood, Windsor. Of any breed, above 9 and not exceeding 12 montlis old. First prize of £15, to C. Cattle, Bawtry, Yorksliire. Second prize of £10, to Captain R. Pelham Warren, Basiug- stoke, Hants. Third prize of £5, to G. M. Sexton, Wherstead Hall, near Ipswich, Suffolk. Highly commended. — A. Mainwaring,Worting, Basingstoke. Commended. — J. Biggs, Cubbington, Beds. Of any breed, above 13 and under 18 months old. First prize of £15, to J. Coate, Hammoon, Dorset. Second pri^e of £10, to Earl of Radnor, Highwortli. Third prize of £5, to J. P. King, North Stoke, Berks. Highly commeuded.— 6. M. Sexton, Wherstead Hall, «ear Ipswich. GOLD MEDALS. Gold Medal to the breeder of the best Steer or Ox in any of the classes, to A. Cowie, Cromhly, Bank-EUon, Aberdeen. Gold Medal to the breeder of the best Heifer or Cow ia ajay of the classes, to R. Stratton, near Bristol. SILVER CUPS. Silver Cup, value £40, to the exhibitor of the best Steer or Ox in any of the classes, to R. H. Harris, Earn Hill, Forres, Morayshire, for Cross-bred Ox. Silver Cup, value £40, to the exhibitor of the best heifer or cow in any of the classes, to R. Stratton, near Bristol, for Shortliorn Cow. Silver Cup, value £20, to the exliibitor of the best pen of Leicest^rs, Cotswolds, Lincolus, Kentisli, or other Long-woolled breed, in any of tlie classes, to Lord Berners, Keythorpe, near Leicester, for Liif\^ster. Silver Cup, value £20, to the exhibitor of the best pen ol one year old Southdowns, Hampsliire or Wiltshire Downs, to Lord Walsingham, uear Thetford, Norfolk, for Southdowns. Silver Cup, value £20, to the exhibitor of the best pen of Shropshire, Oxfordshire, cross-bred, or any other breed ol sheep (not specitied in the prize list) in any of the classes, to J. Overman, Burnham Sutton, Norfolk, for Crossbreds. Silver Cup, value £20, to the exhibitor of the best peu of Pigs in any of the classes, to J. Coate, Hammoon, Dorset. EXTRA STOCK. Silver Medal, to the exhibitor of the best Steer or Ox in extra stock, and £5 prize, to W. Fartliing, near Bridgewater, Somerset (Devon). Silver Medal, to the exhibitor of the best Heifer or Cow in extra stock, and £5 prize, to J. M. Read, Elkstone, Chelten- ham (Hereford). Silver Medal, to the exliibitor of the best Leicester Wetlier Sheep in extra stock, to G. Walmsley, near Bridlington, York- shire (Leicester). Commended: W. Browne, Holme-on- Spaldiug-Moor, York (Leicester). Silver Medal, to the exhibitor of the best Leicester Ewe in extra stock, to C. J. Bradshaw, Burley-ou-the-HiU, Rutland. Silver Medal, to the exhibitor of the best Lougwoollcd Sheep (not Leicester) in extra stock, to J. H. Casswell, Haughton, Lincolnshire (Lincoln). Commended: J. Ed- wards, Buckworth, Huntingdonshire (Lincoln). Silver Medal, to the exhibitor of the best Southdown Wether Sheep in Extra Stock, to G. S. Foljamlie, Worksop, Nottingham. Highly commended. — The Duke of Richmond, Goodwood, Chichester. Silver Medalf, to the exhibitor of the best Southdown Ewe in Extra Stock, Lord Sondes, Thetford, Norfolk. Highly commeuded. — G. S. Foljambe, near Worksop, Nottingham. Silver Medal, to the exhibitor of the best Short-woolled Sheep (not Southdown) in Extra Stock, to G. WaUis, Old Shifford (Oxford). Highly commended. — J. Tapp, Twitchen, Devon ; S. King, Bockhampton, Berks ; and N. B. Canning, Elston, Wilts. Silver Medal, to the exhibitor of the best Cross-bred Sheep (long and Sliort-wooUed Cross) in Extra Stock, to J. Overman, Burnham Sutton, Norfolk. Silver Medal, to the exhibiter of for the best Pig in Extra Stock, to S. G. Stearn, Brandestou, Suffolk. Highly com- mended.— C. Cattle, near Bawtry, Yorksliire ; J. II. Clark, near Maidenhead, Berks. Commended. — J. Samiders, West Stafford, Dorchester ; and the Earl of Radnor, near High- worth, Berks. THE NOVELTIES IN THE IMPLEMENT DEPARTMENT. We heard a sharp young fellow, connected with the implement trade, declare that he was " blest if there was a single new thing in the whole show ;" and if his scrutiny be correct, our present report must needs be very short iu- deed. But, with due deference to such observing powers, we decline to confirm the statement that nothing new was presented. We do not propose to criticise all the fine stands of machinery, hut merely to mention some few novelties that we found. F 2 68 THE FAEMER'S MAGAZINE. Rausoines and Sims have l;rouglit out a slcclclou tiivn- wrest plough for liilly hiud, greatly simplified and im- ])rovL'd since we first saw it last year. The action of a lever, which is readily worked by the ploughman without leaving the handles of the plough, brings alternately into operation first one and then the other of a jiair of right- hand and left-hand plough breasts, and withdraws the other one, while the share is also turned at the same time. This movement is very ingenious, and the plough altogether perhaps the lightest and most practical of the turnwrest sort. Gretton and Abbott's broken-barley separator, made by Boby, should be well known now among barley- growers : but we found in "the Arcade" anew form of screening apparatus for effecting similar results. This is I'oyser's patent, manufactured by Kansomes and Sims. Immediately below the hopper is a fan, the blast of which expels dust, smut, chaft' and light corn, allowing the heavier or head-corn to fall upon one or more perforated plates of a stone-separator. In passing through this part of the machine, the grain is thoroughly freed from all stones, beans, peas, dirt, and other foreign substances, the head corn falling upon a sloping screen called the "broken or half-corn separator." The final act is to rub the grain between a perforated plate, screen, and a number of trans- verse india-rubber rollers fixed above it, which ensures all the broken kernels passing through, while it polishes and brightens the bulk. The Beverley Iron and Waggon Company have intro- duced further improvements into their wide reaping ma- chine: the lowermost india-rubber l)and has been ex- changed for an endless-chain of a new shape made by patented machinery, enabling the reaper to cut cdoser to the ground ; the shoe is new, reducing the outside breadth of the machine three inches ; the iron stay supporting the reel-fi-ame is placed more out of the \vay of the de- livery of the cut corn ; and the reel itself is very pro- perly driven with a slower motion. On Ashby and Jeft'ery's stand was exhibited a splendidly-executed work- ing model of a new high-pressure condensing steam- engine ; and they have made the supports of their re- markably-efficient and easily-adjusted chaft'-cutters of wrought angle-iron, giving wonderful stiffness and strength in proportion to the Aveight. We shall not be expected to dilate upon the " atmos- pheric churns." We never yet saw a churn that was not " atmospheric ;" and the number of different contri- vances which will bring butter in ten minutes out of either cream or whole milk — we are not quite sure how many prefer to churn butter out of old milk or whev— we cannot count on our fingers without going several times backwards and forward. Amies and Barford are bringing out a new potato-planting machine ; but as it was not exhibited, but only talked about, Ave cannot include a description of it among the show novelties. And in the same category of invisible inventiltns is the instrument which Nicholson, of Newark, has imported from a scien- tific German at Paris, for eating off incrustation from steam-boQers. Coleman and Morton's new oilcake " cutter" is an improvement upon the breaker, for soft cakes, which make a great deal of dust and waste, and probably it will be found to work easily in getting the hardest cakes into " bidlock pieces." Steam tillage was represented by Messrs. Fowler's engine and plough, and by the reports of its late performances upon hght land, which seem to equal any of the results yet attamed upon the clays. The great novelty in this de- partment, however, was Messrs. J. and ¥. Howard's new engine, for working, not only on the " double" system, but on what may be called the " double-double;" there bein"- two unplements in work at once, as well as two engines^ As the whole system of working and the i)articular mechanical details of these newengine.s will be probably described in these columns when the spring aflbrds an oi)portunity of showing theni in action, we merely reiVr now to the fact of one engine and a drawing of the plan of working having been exhibited at Islington side by side with the Bedford steam-cidtiyators and champion ploughs. THE IMPLEMENT STANDS. GROUND PLOOR. Baker, T., Compton, Berks. — Liquid manure pump, with 12 feet of suction ; and liquid manure and portable iron tumbler carts on wooden wheels, for horse or pony. RrsTOJV, Proctor, aind Co., Lincohi.— Six and eight- horse power portable steam-engines, 85- and 9f in. cylinders ; combined finishing-thrashing machine, with 4 ft. drum niid improved chaff-bagging apparatus ; and improved circular- saw benches, with 2-i and 36 inch saws, fitted with slidc- feuce of easy adjustment. Wallis, ILvslam, .v:^d Sti\t:xs, Basingstoke. — Eight- horse power portable engine ; 54-inch combined thrashing machines ; winnowing machine ; corn screen, with extra separator ; vertical drilling machines, with lever and screw ; set of X 10 Excelsior harrows ; sackholders to hang on beam or carry on wheels ; If and 2^ inch patent spherical bear- ings ; and patent spring hanger. G.uiRETT .^js'D Sons, Saxmundham.— " Contractor's" port- able steam-engine, with high-pressure boiler, arranged for easy conversion into steam cultivating engine ; portable agricultural steam-engine for driving thrashing machines and corn mills ; locomotive traction steam-engine ; single and combined thrashing, dressing, and straw-shaking machines for steam power ; light occupation and Suffolk corn, seed, and manure drills ; Chambers' manure distributor ; improved corn- dressing machines ; and lever horse-hoe for general purposes. HoRNSBY A^-D SoNs, Grantham. — Eight-horse power steam-engine, suitable for every variety of agricultural work or manufacturing purposes ; combined thrashing machines with screen and chaff apparatus ; swathe side-delivery, and semi- manu:d side-sheaf reaper (with improvements), " gover- nor" self-raking reaper (new implement), one and two horse baek-deUvery reapers, with improvements for side- sheafing or swathing ; two " Monitor" combined nt.owers and reapers (new inplement) ; grass-mowers ; corn, seed, and manure drills ; an assortment of Champion ploughs and moulding ploughs ; root-pulpers and turnip-cutters in various sizes ; combined washing, wringing, and mangling machines ; and patent mangle. Tasker and Sons, Andover. — Pour-horso power portable steam-engine, for small occupations, with valves for making the tubes self-cleaning ; portable combined single and treble blast finishing-thrashing machines, fitted with Ransome's screen and chafi'-bagging apparatus ; and improved winnowing machine. BuRRELL, Thetford, Norfolk. — Eight-horse power single cylinder traction engine ; and patent improved straw-elevator, made to deliver at any angle. Ti'xroRD AND Sons, Boston. — Ten-horse power two- cylinder patent housed engines, for agricultural and other pur- poses ; one, two, three, and ten-horse power improved portable horizontal engines; combined thrashing, shaking, dressing, and finishing machines, for three, four, or eight-horse power engines ; straw stacker, with 28 feet spout, and patent feediiiR- table for any angle ; improved circular-saw table, with 24 inch saw ; centrifugal pumps for drainage or irrigation purposes, to discharge 350 and 1,400 gallons per minute ; and grinding mill on iron frame, with 3-feet stones. PowLER ANU Co., 71, Cornhill, London.— Ponrteen-horse power steam ploughing engine, with clip drum attached, mounted on wrought iron wheels 20 inches wide ; ten-horse power traction-engine ; four-furrow ' balance plough, with slack gear ; and seven-tine cultivator, with slack gear. Catciipool and TiroMPSON, Colchester.— Portable thrash- ing machine, for steam power; and Carr's patent twenty- horse power rotating engine. Dymoke, Kerman, and Co., Spalding.— Steam fire-engine ; viUage brigade, and B. tank, and agricultural farm fire- engines ; B. engine, for steam and manual power; agricultural and garden barrows ; garden engine ; and 2|, 3, 3^, 4, and 5-incli cast iron lift pumps. Clayton, Siiuttieworth, and Co,, Lincoln.— Six and eight-liorsfi power portable steaiij-engines ; ten, twelve, and THE FAEMEE'S MAGAZINE. 69 tvvculy-hoi'sc power double cylinder port:il)lc steam-engines ; eight and ten-horse power single and double cylinder improved traction-engines ; six-horse power portable steam-engine, fitted with double barrel irrigation or liquid manure pumps ; teu- liorse power single cylinder irrigation engine ; ten-horse power fixed steam engine and Cornish boiler ; single, double, and treble Ijlast tlirashing and finishing machines; Hayes' and Campain's straw-elevators ; iroii frame and other corn mills, with stones of various measurement ; 15-inch flour-dressing macliine ; 24, 30, and ■i3-iuch saw benches ; and double-action irrigation and liquid manure pmnps. liALL AND So2i, Rotliwell, jN'orthauiptonshire. — Two-horse waggon on spring and patent arms ; two strong one-horse carts, with 4 and 4J-incli wheels ; light and strong land general purpose ploughs ; seven-tiiied cultivator ; and im- proved horse-rake with steel teeth. Rawlings, Melbourn, Cambs. — Eight-horse power hori- zontal steam engine, portable grinding mill, and improved laud roller. Howard, J. and F., Bedford. — Fourteen-horse power trac- tion and steam ploughing engine ; double-action steam culti- vator, with five tines and ridging body ; pair of Bulstrode' snatchblock slings ; three-wheel rope porter ; one-horse, two- wheel, general purpose, swing, double furrowing, ridging, and other ploughs ; sets of three and four-beam harrows, of various widths ; improved turnip and chain (or flexible) harrows ; horserake with steel teeth ; double action haymakers, for small occupations and for three horses ; improved iron plough sledge, dynamometer, and new self-acting sheaf delivery reaper. KiNSEY, Nottingham. — Four and twelve-horse power hori- zontal tank steam engines, the smaller engine requiring no foundation ; and one-and-a-half and four-horse power vertical steam engine and boiler. HoLMiis AND Sons, Norwich. — Portable steam engine ; two portable steam thrashing and finishing machines ; portable steam power cloverseed sheller ; circular-saw table ; corn dressing machines j barley hummeller ; and corn, seed, and manure drills. Bevekley Ikon and Wagoon Comp.any, Beverley. — Three-horse double self-acting swathe delivery reaping machine ; V Newcastle, Plymouth, and Leeds model one-horse carts, witli sets of harvest shelving and ladders ; Plymouth prize two-horse waggon, with harvest ladders ; liquid manure or water carts, with pump and hose pipe, and apparatus for watering four rows of turnips ; bone mills, with one and two pairs of roUers, and vibrating or revolving jiddles ; self -cleaning clod crusher, with pair of travelling wheels , sets of cart and waggon wheels and axles ; plain field roller, in nine parts ; portable farm rail- way and tipping trucks ; Archimedean root washer ; and pig trough. Ransomes and Sims, Ipswich. — Eight-horse power portable steam engine ; eight-horse power self-moving engine ; double blast fiuisliing steam thrashing machine; adjustible self-clean- ing rotary corn screen ; new stone grist mill, on iron frame ; pony, one-horse, two-horse, light generalpurpose,and strong ge- neral purpose ploughs, with two wheels ; Skelton's improved turnwrest plough ; Biddell's bean, oat, combined, and oQcake mills ; universal mills for linseed, beans, &c. ; single and double action Gardner's turnip cutters ; Biddell's root pulpers for hand, horse, and steam power ; chaff cutters ; and oilcake breaker. BiiowN jVND May, Devizes. — Eight-horse power portable steam engine ; and three-and-d-half-horse power portable engine. Woods and Cocksedre, Stowmafket. — Threea nd /" our- horse power improved vertical steam engines ; twenty, thirty, and thirty-six inch corn grinding mills, with French burr and Peak stones ; universal and roller crushing mills for oats, malt, and linseed ; root graters ; single and double action Gardner's turnip cutters ; one and two-horse works, complete ; oilcake breakers ; barrel root pulpers, for steam power ; one-horse carts, witli and without harvest frames to curry 25 and 30 cwt. ; and Ruinbelow's pig, dog, and poultry troughs. Turner, E. 11. and F., Ipswich. — Portable five horse power steam engine, with improved flush firebox for giving ample water and steam space ; C thrashing machine, mounted on wood wheels, and fitted with patent screen ; six horse power liorizontal fixed engine ; mills for crushing linseed, beans, oats, corn, and malt ; oilcake breakers for lambs, sheep, and beasts ; chalf cutters for hand, horse, and steam ; one horse gear work ; com grinding and American grist mills ; and thirty inch circular saw mill. AsHBY AND Jeffery, Stamford. — Three horse power plain portable steam engine, with flue and tubular boiler ; one horse power horizontal stationary st^am engine (working model) ; combined thrashing machine, with beaters and hummellers ; Palinerston haymaking machine, with wire screen ; improved steel tooth horserake ; thirty inch stone flour mill ; safety chaft' cutters for hand, horse, or steam power ; oat and bean mills, on stands ; oilcake breaker ; chain and rotating harrows ; smaU and large root pulpers ; double oat and bean mills ; cir- cular saw table, with planed top ; set of crank shields ; wire garden seats ; and Spencer's clod crusher. Humphries, Pershore. — Portable combined tlirashing ma- chine. The Reading Iron Works (limited), Reading. — Three, six, and eight horse power portable steam engines ; eight horse power traction engine ; tw'clve horse power double cylinder portable steam engine ; four horse power horizontal fixed en- gine ; one horse power gas engine ; 42 and 54 inch combined thrashing and finishing machines; portable horse power thrashing machine; saw bench, with boring apparatus; 42 inch stone grinding mill ; cranked axle hay machine ; lever horserake ; barley aveller ; twelve foot seed machine ; oilcake, oat-crushing, and oat and bean mills ; chaff cutters for hand, horse, or steam power ; and sack cart and holder. Burrows and Carmicilvul, Banbury. — Eight horse power portable engine ; thrashing and finishing machine, fitted with Penney's screen and bean thrashing tackle ; and American grist mill. Marshall, Sons, and Co, (limited), Gainsborough. — Twelve horse power double cylinder portable steam engines ; two and a half horse and eight horse power single cylinder steam engine; three self-acting circular and other saw- benches, complete. Gibbons, P. and H. P., Wantage, Berks. — Portable com- bined thrashing machine, to prepare the corn ready for the market. Allchin and Sons, Northampton. — Eight horse steel boiler portable steam engine, mounted on springs, and screw jack for portable engines. Crosskill and Sons, Beverley. — Small and large clod crushers, improved plain rollers ; strong one horse, light, pony, and harvest carts ; liquid manure carts, with portable pump and pipe ; pair horse waggon, pairs of broad and nar- row wheels and axles, Victoria reaping machine, single and double roller bone mills ; portable farm railway, with side and end tipping truck and turn table ; improved fixture and circu- lar pig troughs, and Archimedian root washer. RoBEY AND Co. (Limited), Lincoln. — Twelve and twenty horse power portable steam engine, six horse power vertical steam engine on foundation plate, and combined thrashing and finishing machine. Tye, Lincoln. — Double flour mill on metal frame, witli two pairs 3ft. Gin. French stones ; single miU complete, and beam mill. THE GALLERIES. Whitworth and Co., Rotherhithe. — Samples of super- phosphate of lime ; fish manure for wheat, oats, barley, and hops ; grass manure, nitrate of soda, nitro-salt, and ground wooUen rags tor hops. Larkwortiiy, Worcester. — Two-wheel iron plough, pairs of duck-feet scuffle drags, sets of patent "Excelsior" harrows, and steel plougli \i hippletrees. Headley and Son, Cambridge. — Improved wrought iron water cart, with pump and suction pipe and manure distri- butor ; wrought iron nine-tine cultivator, and wrought iron cattle and pig troughs of various measurements. Cambridge and Co., Bristol. — Notched wheel roUers or clod crushers of various diameters, combined tine and chain harrows for one and two horse power (round and square iron), double blast winnowing machine, single and double action turnip and chalf cutters, one and two horse gear, two wheel and thr^e wheel land pressors, and horse rakes. Peirce, 75, Bridge-road, Hammersmith. — An assortment of inimitable pig, cattle, and sheep troughs, in various sizes ; patent IGO-gallon water cart, trough, crib, dipping apparatus, or fire engine ; samples of navvy, garden, farmyard, and gal- vanized wheelliarrows and waterbarrows, shop and maltsters' trucks, specimens of shovels, garden syringes and engines, 70 THE FARMER'S MAGAZDTE. portable fiirnaee and sfeaminsr apparatus, corn bins and com measures, dairy utensils, g;U'»anized iron farmyard buckets, water pots and manure bowls. Pennfa .v:vd Co. (Limited), Lincoln. — Four sizes of adjustable com separators, two improveil sack lifters, malt and retrister jrravel or lirae screen, rolls of galvanized wire sheep and game netting; and washing, wringing, and mangling machines. GiBBS Ayx> Co., II;Jf-moon-street, Piccadilly. — Collections of dried specimens of pemianent grasses ; specimens of English and foreign wheats, barleys, and oats iu the ear ; and samples of agricoltnral and kitchen garden seeds, mangel wnnels, swedes ;vud other turnips, carrots, parsnips, kohl rabi, cattle cabbages, &c., in great variety. L'^'iTE, Edgeware-road, London. — ^Model of rick doths, samples of hay and horse cloths, sacks, sheep netting, halters, hay ropes, and cart grease. WirEELiR a:xi» Sox, Gloucester. — Collections of roots and seeds. Edgisgto:^ axd Co., Old Kent-road, Londra. — ^Various tarpatilin and canvas waggon and cart covers, sheep netting, samples of wheel grease, engine oil, and m;vnnres ; horse covers, nosebags, aprons, halters, driving bands, and flour and hran sacks. GiBBS AXD Co., Down-street, Piccadilly. — ^A general col- lection of agricultural roots, dried grasses, wheat, barley, oats, and various seeds. Paget, Clerkenwell, London. — A collection of navy, hay, waggon, and cart tarpaulins, canvas, and indiambber sheeting and covers in various measurements ; horse blankets, saddlery, and stable necessaries ; sacks of various dimensions, sack tyers and plough line, and models of marquees and tents. Wright jlSTi Sox, Great Beutley. — Grass specimens and seed, and agricultural seeds and roots. MoKTON AXD Co. (LIMITED), Liverpool. — ^A collection of models and drawings iUiistrative of the application of iron rooting for agricultural purposes : models, dra^^ings, and speci- mens of park and fann fencing ; and models of iron buildings, hay bams, stores, Sec. IL^^rVBiRD, Caldecott, Bawtree, Dow^ixg, and Co. (Limited), Basingstoke. — Collection of agricultural seeds, seed com, and roots ; and collections of oilcakes, feeding stutfs, and manures. B.uiR A>"D SuGDE>', King-street, Covcnt-garden. — Seeds and roots, with a variety of horticultural elegancies and neces- saries. Alway, Chapel-street, London. — An assortment of milk- man's necessaries, and dairy utensils in great variety. Allxutt, Fleet-street, London. Specimen copies of Esfafcs Ga:etfe newspaper, weekly and annual wheat dia- grams, catalogue and selection of agricultural books and in- straments, and land agents' directory. Arnold a^td Sox, Sniithtield, London. — A general as.sort- ment of instruments and apparatus in use amongst veterinary surgeons for service with horses, cattle, sheep, &c. AxGEL, 171, Fleet-street, Loudon. — Miscellaneous collection of agricultural and horticultural hooks. The Atmospheric Chtrx Comp.vxt (Limited), Bond- street, London. — Samples of one to eight-gaUou chunks with pump handles, and fourteen-gallou chum with rotary motion. Herbert, Gray's Lin-road, London. — An assortment of scales, weighing machines, weights, and steelyards ; com and seed measures, and hand barrows. Bkowx, Oakley-street, London. — Samples of steel spring lever oil feeders. Excelsior vermin esterminator, and Lewis's horse and cattle embrocation. CorDROX, T. AXT) R., Bingfield-street, London.— Flexible bmshes for cleaning horses and carts. Croggox axt) "Co., London. — Samples of felt, poultry and rabbit fencing, perforated zinc, galvanized paUs and feeding troughs, garden and fire engines, spades and shovels, models of galvanized iron buUding and shed covered with felt, galvanized black iron cisterns, and wrought iron guttering. CuLLiXGEORD, Stratford.-~Cocoa nut fibre, hemp, 1^-ire, batfolding, and rabbit netting in variety ; bird traps and nets, rick cloths, cord, and garden netting. Day, Sox, axd Hewitt, London. — Stock-breeder's medi- cine chest, chests of " Chemical extracts," " gaseous fluids," " red drench or inflammation powders," and " red paste or condition balls;" copies of three agricultural pamphlets — " Key to Farrierv," " Rearing of Calves," and the " Breeding and Management of Sheep. Dextox, Wolverhampton. — Sets of different-sized chain harrows. The Driitteld axd East-Bjdixg Pcbe Lixseed Cake CoMPAXY (Limited), Yorkshire. — Samples of pure linseed cake. Hvix, Westbury. — Collection of roots. The GrTTA Percha Comp.vxy. — Samples of bands and tubing, liquid-manure pump and suction complete, guttapercha veterinary instrument, malting shovels, buckets, measures, w.iteriug-caus, carboys, and roO sheeting. Hardox, Manchester. — Patent cake and condimented food. Masox, Ipswich. — Portable boilers and steamers, and hand drills. Retxolds, London. — ^Variety of poultry and game preserv- ing netting, and hurdles ; galvanized riddles for gravel, and seed protectors. HoLGATE AXD Co., London. — Mill bands, hose pipes, buckets, and heavy cart harness. Spratt, ax'd Co., London. — Febrine dog biscuits, and me;il for poultry and pigs. Tilbury axd Co., London. — Variety of pressure gauges, gauge mountings, gauge glasses, valves, and ste^am cocks ; and improved scales for weighing sheep and agricultural pro- duce. S.VLKELD AXT) Co., London. — The " Jebb" tubular chum, American grist mills, sausage and ]uincing machines, circular- saw bench, wine and cyder press, and American washing and mangling machine. White, London. — Specimens of oil-feeders for small and large machines, chaiT cutters, thrashing machines, and power- ful engines and machinery ; artificial dams for feeding foals and calves ; v^Tiuging and washing machines ; specimen coils of condensed leather hands and laces ; and a variety of save- aU oil cans. RosHER, F. AXD G., London. — Improved paving bricks or stables, cattle sheds, and yards ; glazed walls and other iles, and variety of garden brick and tUe edgings, t RoBixsox axt" Neavi, Barton-on-Humber. — Cases of water cart and liquid manure cart valves, and model of clod cmsher. Johxstox, London. — Chums in sizes for from 1 to 20 pounds of butter ; mUk pails, pans, yokes, sieves, and butter prints, knives, and beaters. Jox*ES, Gloucester. — Gloucestershire specific for foot-rot in sheep ; and composition for waterproofing and preserving all descriptions of leather. M-VTHEWs, Sox, AXD Co., Driffield. — Samples of new com feeding cake. Toole axd Co., Dublin. — " Tlie Monitor" combined reaper and mower. HoDSox, Louth, Liucolnshirc. — Specimens of hayforks, drarning tools, swathe rakes, and agricultural hand tools. Hitchcock, Bury St. Edmunds. — Samples of leather driv- ing bands. Hirst axt) Sox, Haliliis. — ^Two w aterfell wasliing, wring- ' ing, and mangling machines ; ten to twenty inch manuring macliines ; and various turnip cutters. Hooper axd Co., London. — Variety of agricultural seeds and roots. Carter axt) Co., London. — Dried specimens of natural grasses, collection of agricultural roots, and combined mowing and reaping machine. Edgixgtox, B., London. — An assortment of rick, hay, waggon, and other tafpauMn and canvas clotlis in various sizes ; fruit, sheep, and poultry netting ; horse cloths and nose-bags, sacks and bags ; samples of cart grease ; and models of marquees for agricultural or other shows. Skirvtxg, Liverpool. — Collection of roots and seeds. Kjxg, London.— -Samples of sacks, rick cloths, nose-bags, horse clothing, and ropes and lines. ULTiPnRiES,Walton-on-Tliames. — Continuous-action pump, and portable lift and force pump. Edgixgtox, J., London. — Samples of tarpaulins, sacks, horse and hay clotbs, nose-bags, and model of rick cloth. SCTTOX axd Soxs, Reading. — Collection of -200 distinct specimens of natural grasses ; specimens of improved varieties of mangel wurzels, swedes, and other turnips, green and purple kohl rabi, large drumhead cabbages, and about fifty samples of potatoes for field or garden culture. THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 71 Owens akd Co., Loudon.—" Cassiohury'" iire extinguislior witli delivery liose ; estate or factor's fire engine ; Holraan's double barrel lire engine ; force pumps, hydraulic rams for raising water ; liquid manure, garden, and cottage pumps ; Paxton garden engines ; and collection of hose pipes and pulley blocks. The St. Pangeas Iron Works Co. (Limited), London. — Wrought iron stable or cattle stall divisions and loose boxes; an assortment of wrought iron and other stable fittings and necessaries ; specimens of stable paving bricks ; improved iron cow stalls and piggeries ; collection of collar bar ; sheep and cattle hurdles, field gates ; and specimens of wire rope for fencing. Hancock, J. ajvd P., Dudley. — Machines for purifying butter, in sizes for household use, and for from one up to 30 cows. Eaton and Co., Birmingham. — Grinding mill for agricul- tural purposes. Tinkler, Penrith. — Three sizes of patent churns. Nalder and Nalder (Limited), Wantage, Berks. — Winnowing and dressing machines ; machine-jnade corn- screens for hand power ; screens for thrashing machines ; sack holder ; and model of new roller. Weir, London. — Spirit and workmen's drain-level ; sets of box, metallic, and double-action churns of various sizes ; sets of dairy utensils, instruments, and necessaries ; parallel vice for farm work ; washing, wi'ingiug, and mangling machines ; steel mills, mincing-machines, and sets of poultry-feeding ap- paratus, Deane, J. AND A., London-bridge. — Variety of farm har- ness, nosebags, and horse-cloths ; corn and flour bins in various sizes ; waggon and cart-jacks, bruising-mill, chalf-cutters, enamelled mangers and water-troughs, and collection of stable fixtures, tools, and requisites. Read, London. — Garden watering engines, lever-action pail engines, suction piunps, greenhouse and veterinary syringes, and variety of instruments for horse and cattle service. BuRNEY AND Co., London. — Wroiiglit-iron ■iOO-gallon cistern ; water or liquid-manure cart body to hold 200 gallons ; wronght-iron corn bins ; and round iron edge cattle-troughs, to hold 53 gallons. CoTTAM AND Co., Loudon. — Model of stable stalls and loose boxes, set of portable cow fittings, samples of wrought-iron corn bins, and loose-box and stall fittings ; sets of ventilating brackets, for stable use ; and samples of stable furniture and paving. Preer and Co., llothley, Leicestershire. — New patent six- wheel dibbling machine. Coultas, Grantham. — Two twelve-row general purpose and corn drills, and Royal Society's prize reaper. BoBY, Bury St. Edmunds. — Three sizes of corn screens, with stone separator; corn screen, with Grettonand Abbott's appa- ratus for removing broken barley ; Gretton and Abbott's barley extractor dressing machines, barley aveller ; and two sizes of double-action haymakers. Downing, London. — Chafl? machines, turnip cutter, pulper, corn bruising mills, corn bins, sack truck, lawn-mowing ma- chines, and samples of hay and manure forks. Lloyd and Son, London. — Nine sizes of flour mill and dressing machine, eight corn crushers, corn-grinding mills, and seed mUls, for horse or cattle medicines. Brawn and Co., London. — Lawn mowers, with ten to thirty-inch cutters ; chaff-cutting machine, corn-crushing mills, washing and mangling machines, portable platform weighing machines, hydropults, and fire anuihilators, barrow engine, galvanized wire netting and fencing, and wrought iron hurdles, roller, and garden seats. Tyler and Co., London. — Powerful double-barrel irri- gating pumps " California," fire engine, and double-acting lift force and barrow pumps ; improved horse reels, various sizes; ormamental cottage and house pumps, liquid-manure pumps, with suction hose complete ; model garden, and en- gines, water barrows, garden syringes, and Jordan's " Combi- nation" steam boiler, for agricidtural and other purposes. Rollins, London. — American wheel horse-rake, combined blowing and dressing machines, thermometer churns. Pair- banks and Shaler's sack weighing machines; bundles of hay and manure forma, hay rakes, spades and shovels ; Ameri- can cistern pumps, garden barrow, seed sower, roller cotton gin, scales for farm use, farmers' tools, and mounted grindstone. Picksley, Sims, and Co., Leigh, Lancashire.— Albion and Bedford pattern chaff-cutters, of various sizes; steel mill, with pulleys ; oat and bean mills, with pulleys ; llardley's oil- cake and roller mills ; Gardner's and treble-action turnip cutters, pulpers, horse-gear complete ; combined reaper and mower ; sack trucks and pig troughs. Stacey and Sons, Uxbridge. — Pour sizes of chaff-cutters, horse-power chaff-cutters, and set of iron harrows. Wedlake, Hornchurch, Essex. — Three-horse power porta- ble engine ; thrashing machine, with 4-feet drum ; one, two, and four-horse patent safety gear, with adjustable intermediate motion ; patent hay machine, horse-rake, chaff cutter, corn- mill, one-horse spur gear, circular-saw bench with augurs, and large portable crushing mill. Warren, Waldon. — Six chaff cutters ; set of one-horse gear ; double and single-action turnip-cutters, oilcake mills, hand and horse-power bean mills, oat bruiser, patent iron-beam ploughs, sets of harrows and round pig troughs. Branford and Son, March, Cambridgeshire. — Diamond and lever horse hoes, and washing, wringing, and mangling machines. Amies, Bareord, and Co., Peterborough. — Improved corn- grinding mills, for horse or steam power ; portable and fixed steaming apparatus ; wrought-iron water-ballasting field and garden rollers ; large and small size oilcake mills, and new potato planting machine. Woods, London. — Grass-mower, constructed to be changed from a mower to a reaper, one-horse reaping-machine, and self-rake side-delivery reaper. Smith and Grace, Thrapston. — Pulping-maeliine, single and double grist and bean mills, and chaff-cutters. Brigham & BicKERTON, ]3erwick-on-Tweed. — Excelsior self'-dehvery reaping-machine, and Buckeye junior combined reaping and mowing machine. KiTTMER, Louth, Lincolnshire. — Combined dressing and blowing machines, with double moving screens. ILvNSOME AND Co., London. — Weston's differential pulleys, Wilmot's sack-truck, lii1;ing-jaeks, leather driving-bands, glass and other gauges, steam-cocks, portable forge, atmospheric churn, iron corn-bins, Nye's, Hale's, and Excelsior sausage and mincing-machines, iron bottle rack, weighing-machine for farm purposes, Long's specific, and fleeces to show the use of Long's preparations. Burgess and Key, London. — New swathe-delivery reaping- machine, McCormick's sheaf-delivery reaper, one-horse reap- ing-machine to deliver at the back out of the way of the horses, and mowing machine with parts for reaping. Bamlett, Thirsk. — Two-horse grass-mowing machines, and combined mowing and reaping-machines. Sawney, Beverley. — Winnowing, blowing, screening, and hariff machines, improved sheep racks, rack-lifter, improved treadle grindstone, and riddliug-maehines. Bury and Pollard, London. — Portable wind-engine for diiving turnip-cutters or small grist-mills, combined oat- bruiser and bean-kibbler, portable iron seed-rack, conical boiler and stand, set of four conical boilers, and model of self- regulating wnd-engine. Smith, Kettering. — The Plymouth and improved horse- hoes, winnovring-machines, blower and winnowing-machines combined, improved cake-breaker, sack-truck and sack-holder. Nicholson, Newark. — Pour hay-making machines, cake crushing mills, sack elevators, winnowers, corn elevator, sack lifter and weighing machine, garden roller, barn and malt shovels, and horse-rakes. Page and Co., Bradford. — Draining pipe and tile machines, chaff-cutting machines, disc root-pulpers, linseed-cake mills, colonial and wrought-iron ploughs with one and two wheels, sets of diagonal iron harrows, pair of scuffle-drags or twitch harrows, and galvanized coniigated-iron pig and sheep troughs, Samuelson andCo. Banbury.— Self-raking manual-delivery and swathe-delivery reaping machines, grass mowers, single and double-acting turnip cutters, chaff cutters, and root pulpers. Ball, Rugby. — Cart for agricultural purposes. Mason, Afford, Lincolnshire. — Sheep, pig, wool, and hop- weighing machines, machines for weighing agricidtural pro- duce generally, double-action cake-breaker, double-action hand turnip cutter, small and large sack-barrows, and case of butter scales. Turner's Patent Strap ajto Hose Compamy, London. THE FAEMER'S MAGAZINE, — Collection of sample rolls of improved siiigle-leiitlipr driv- ing straps for all purposes. iinviN, London.- — Atmosplieric churns, assortment of gar- den implements, liquid manure pumps, spades and digging forks, sausage and mincing machines, weighing machine, grindstone, hose and tubing, garden seat, dairy utensils, and rooting felt. Priest and Woolnougii, Kingstou-on-Thames. — Nine, eleven, and thirteen-row Norfolk, Surrey, and Suli'olk drills; lever horse hoes for hght, heavy, and mixed land ; turnip and manure drill, manure distributor, drills for grass seeds and general purposes, and Price's coke and coal barrow. Tkeloar, London. — Netting for sheepfolds, stable brushes, and lining for stables. Bentall, Maldon. — Chatf-cutters for hand, horse, or steam ])Ower ; disc and other root pulpers, Gardner's single and double-action turnip-cutters, corn and seed-crushers and beau kibblers for horse and steam power, universal mill, oilcake breakers for hand and horse power, horse gear and intermediate motion for drawing chafi'-cutter or thrashing machine ; broad- share, scaritier, and subsoil mouldboard, and other ploughs ; single-ridge mangle hoe, two-wlieel potato raiser, and thrashing machines. JLiYNARD, Whittlesford. — Portable steam-power sifting chaff engine, and model of a self-acting horse rake. Sheen, T. and R., Aylesbury, Bucks.— Chaff-cutters for hand or horse power, single and double-action turnip-cutters, beau mill, combined mill, horse hoe, wrought-iron cultivator, sack barrows, and tin shovels. James, Cheltenham. — Liquid manure distributors with stir- rers and force pumps ; washing, wringing, and mangling ma- chines ; bundle of gapping drills, and roller or clod-crusher. Green and Co., London. — Four-horse steam engine and boiler, sausage-chopping macliines, lawn-mowing machines, and garden rollers. WiLKiNS, Ipswich. — Portable combined corn-grinding mill and chaff-cutter on four wheels, and corn-grinding miH for horse and steam power. Trowbridge, Loudon. — Corn, hay, and general farm- purpose weighing machines ; platform weighing machines for cattle, dairy scales and weights, corn measures, and sack trucks. Straeeord, Euston-s(iuare, London.— Set of Coates's Herd- Book and agricultural works. Taylor and Co. (late Dray, Taylor, and Co.), London- bridge. — Chaff-cutting machines for hand or horse power, oat and bean-crushing mills, improved grindstones ; combined pulper, stripper, and slicer ; double-action turnip-cutter, im- proved corn bins, American box churns, improved portable boiler, improved oilcake-breaker. WiUTMEE AND Co., London.— A variety of corn-crushers, corn-grinding mills, domestic flour mills, chaff-cutting machines, and two French burr-stone flour mills. PtAY, Mj;ad,andCo., London.— Two-and-a-half horse power ' horizontal engine and boiler complete, chaff machines, four to eight-bushel square corn-bins, galvanized-iron wheelbarrows, manure or water carriers and cisterns, galvanized-iron bowls, stable buckets, and vanes. IIiLL AND Smith, Brierley Hill.— Specimen lengths of continuous and premium fencing, flat and round-bar iron hur- dles, wrought-iron field and entrance gates and pillars, wrought- iron tree-guard, sample of game-proof netting, rotary gravel screen, wrought-iron cow-crib and wheelbarrows, and samples of black varnish for fencing and hurdles. BuRCHFiELD .VND SoN, London. — Improved chaff-cutters for hand power, portable flour mill, oat bruiser, and variety of weighing machines. Carson and Toone. — ChafT-cutting engines for hand, horse, and steam power ; Moody's patent turnip cutters, oil- cake crushers, prize horse hoes, single cheese press, and two- horse gear. Peene, Braintree. — Root graters, single and double-action oUcake breakers, and hand power chaff-cutters. Smyth and Sons, PeasenhaU.— Lever seed and manure drills, and clover seed box. " v^^^ ^^^ ^°'' -'^°'^'^°'i- — Bnish and croquet lawn mowers ; " Economical" chaff-cutters, double-action turnip cutters, root pulpers and slicers ; Universal oat, bean, barley, and malt inihs ; samples of hurdles, fences, and gates ; wire netting ; corn bins ; self-adjusting scythes ; and pig and poultrv troughs. Brenton, Polbathic, Cornwall.— Reaping machine. Hughes and Sons, London. — French runner and bed stones ; Newcastle grindstone ; smut and flour dressing ma- chines ; iron prober, mahogany stone staff, pulley blocks, corn measures, sack barrows, wire, lifting jacks, and other millers' necessaries. Dell, London. — French burr runners and bed stones, wheat cleaning machine, smut cleaning machine for flour mills, port- able agricultural mill, sack lifters and barrows, rolls of wire, screw lilting jacks, leather driving bands, millers' flour scales, bench vice for farm use, and a large variety of articles in con- nection with the mUling trade. Clay, Wakefield. — Cultivators with grubber and drag harrow, horse hoes, chain harrows, one-horse grubber, and urnip cutters. Whitehead, Preston. — Machines for making solid bricks by horse, steam, or water power : drain pipe, tile, and brick- making machine for hand power ; and improved brick pressing machine. Hunt, R. and R. — Steam power clover and trefoil seed drawing machine ; side and back delivery manual reaping ma- chines ; one-horse gear with intermediate motion ; corn and seed dressing machine ; single and double turnip cutters ; im- proved oilcake breakers ; improved disc root pulpers, root graters ; and barrow and one-row hand drills. ToPiiAM, London. — Variety of self-expanding and otlier bruslies for cleaning boiler tubes, and patent oil cans. Tree and Co., London. — Variety of cattle gauges and rules for measurement ; horse standard in Malacca walking cane ; telescope draining level, and agricultural barometer, thermometer, and microscope. Webb and Son, Stowmarket. — An assortment of leather machine bands, buckets, and hose. Smith, Ipswich. — Improved horserakes, cultivator, sets of solid beam harrows, and model of drying and cleaning machine tor corn, &c. Richmond AND Ch.\ndler, Salford. — Chaff cutters for hand, horse, or steam power ; com crushers ; improved horse gear with motion ; steaming apparatus, sack holders, root washers, and turnip cutters. Hunt ^vnd Pickering, Leicester. — Cake breakers, chaff cutters for hand and horse power, corn crushers, sack barrows, turnip cutters, combined root pulpers and slice strippers, mea- dow and lawn mowers, plough with steel mould board, sets of whippletrees, and bundle of twitch rakes. Baker, Wisbeach. — Combined blowing and dressing ma- chines, and elastic reaping machine rake. Reeves, R. and J., Westbury. — 'IVo and three-row liquid manure and seed drills ; lever, small occupation, and manure and seed drilis ; manure distributor, water cart, barrow pump and tubing, and corn screen. Coleman and Morton, Chelmsford. — Cultivators for mixed, heavy, and general purposes ; Hanson's potato diggers ; horse gear complete ; improved dressing machine ; water cart, rope porter for steam cultivation, and samples of shares for cultivators. ANNUAL MEETING OF THE SMITHFIELD CLUB. The annual meeting ofithe Sraithfield Club was held on the Tuesday in the Show week, at the Club rooms in the Agricul- tural Hall, the President, his Grace the Duke of Richmond, occupying the chair. The minutes of the last meeting having been read and con- firmed, the Hon. Secretary, Mr. Braudreth Gibbs, read the report of the Council. It stated that in order to obtain the necessary licence for holding the show, under the Order in Council referring to "exhibitions of fat stock for immediate slaughter," it was found necessary that an undertaking should be given by the Metropolitan Board of Works to the Privy Council that all the cattle should be slaughtered within four days of the close of tlie exhibition, and within the metropolis, and that consequently the Metropolitan Board of Works re- quired a similar undertaking to be given on behalf of the Club. This arrangement having been come to, the Council deemed it their duty to take a similar undertaking from each exliibitor of cattle, and in order that the destruction of every animal might be traced, they directed that the " delivery order" should con- THE F^VEMER'S MAGAZINE. 73 tain tlte name and address of the butcher by wliom it had been purchased or the person to whom it is to l)e delivered. The Council therefore requested liis Grace the President and the Hon. Secretary to \\ait on the autliorities at the Cattle- plague Department, to ascertain the exact conditions required as to the slaughter of slieep and pigs, in order that notice of the same might be posted in the yard this day (Wednesday), and, if necessary, that fresh delivery orders for sheep and pigs should be issued. The Council furtlier reported that the a«- counts for the year to the 1st inst. showed a balance in hand of 2,413 2s. 6d. The total receipts are £2,668 3s., and the expenditure £2,95-1 Is. 6d. — thus showing an excess of ex- penditure over income of £276 ISs. 6d. This increase of ex- penditure has been occasioned in some degree by the extra expense incurred in consequence of the cattle plague, amount- ing to about £100, in addition to which there are the fees paid to the stewards and judges and tlie rewards to the feeders of the first-prize animals ; but at the present show they antici- pate a saving of about £45. The capital of the Club invested as reserve in the Three per Cents, amounts to £4,971 5s. 9d. Once more turning their attention to the cattle plague, the Council aimounce that they had come to the following reso- lutions, which they had requested the President and the Hon. Secretary to present to the Privy Council : 1. That no fair or market for store stock be opened before the 1st of April ; 2. That the greatest care should be taken that the regula- tions as to the quarantine be rigidly adhered to ; and 3. That permanent lairs be established at the ports of de- barkation. Mr. Moore (Coleshill), in moving the adoption of the re- port, observed that the steps taken by the Council on the whole seemed to be satisfactory, and, without entering into de- tails, he ventured to express what he was sure was the general feeling tliroughout the yard, namely, liow much they were all indebted to the active and vigorous exertions of their Hon. Secretary (Hear, hear). Mr. G. Turner seconded the motion, wliich was put from the chair and carried nem. con. Lord Berners proposed that the Earl of Hardwicke be elected President for the year 1868. The noble earl had not been with them for several years, and he was quite certain that his coming again to preside over them once more would be an event that would be haUed with universal approbation. Lord Peversiiam seconded the motion most cordially, in- quiring at the same time whether Lord Beruers had ascer- tained Lord Hardwicke's own views on the subject, and whe- ther he would consent to act if appointed. Lord Ber:sers had put tliat question to the Secretary, who had given liini to understand that it was probable Lord Hard- wicke would accept the office. Mr. GiBBS said he had not communicated with the noble earl, but he thought that was likely. ]\Ir. ToRR observed that the Club was provided with a pre- sident for 1867, and the motion applied to 1868. The motion was then agreed to unanimously. On the motion of Mr. C. Barnett, seconded by Mr. J. Clay- den, the vice-presidents were re-elected ; and on the motion of Major-General Hood, seconded by Mr. J. EUman, Messrs. Charles Barnett and Samuel Druce were re-elected trustees, and Mr. Torr was chosen as the third trustee, to till the va- cancy created by the death of Mr. Greatham. Mr. Torr moved the re-election of Mr. Brandreth Gibbs as Hon. secretary, wliich he remarked was one of the most popu- lar motions that could be made. The proposition, having been seconded by jMr. Painter, was carried by acclamation. The eight places in the Council made vacant by the retire- ment iu rotation of Messrs. Buckley, C. Howard, H. W. Keary, R. Leeds, B-. Overman, J. Robinson, H. Smith, and J. Thompson, who are ineligible for re-election until the expira- tion of a year, were then tilled up by the appointment of Mr. John Baldwin, Luddington, Stratford-on-Avon ; Mr. llichard Horusby, Spittlegate, Grautham ; Mr. E. W. Moore, Coleshill, High worth; Mr. Clare Sewell Bead, M. P., Honingham Thorpe, Norwich ; Mr. ^ . Sauday, Holmepierrepont, Nottingham ; Mr. H. Thuruall, lloyston, Herts ; Mr. J. S. Turner, Chyng- ton, Seaford, Sussex; and Mr. OwenWaUis, Overstone, North- ampton, all of whose names were contained in the " House List." In reporting the result of the ballot, Mr. Crosskill, one of the scrutineers, suggested on their behalf that the bye-law should be altered so that twelve names might be submitted instead of eight. This would, he said, en- able the members to exercise some choice in the election, which tliey were precluded from doing now. Mr. GiBRS said, to do that it would be necessary to call a special general meeting of the Club. The CiiAiRMAJi remarked tliat the suggestion necessitated liis putting the question whether they desired to have a spe- cial meeting for the purpose of taking the matter into con- sideration ("No, no"). Mr. Crosskill had hoped the Council could have done it, and that at the next general meeting the members would con- firm it. Mr. Gibbs said by one of the bye-laws a formal notice was required to be given of a special meeting for any such pur- pose, and all the members of the Club would have to be sum- moned. Lord Berners added, that, as the matter stood, it was open to members to obliterate any of the ' names ' in thei^house-list and substitute others ibr tliem. The subject then dropped. A vote of thanks to the President having been carried by acclamation. His Grace, in acknowledging the compliment, said it was a matter of much gratification to him to be so inti- mately connected with the Sinithfield Club as he had been during the past year. The Council had had very little to do, owing to the efficient exertions of iheir hou. secretary in get- ting the Show allowed by the Government; indeed, lie be- lieved that but for Mr. Gibbs they would not have had the Show this year (Hear, hear). That afternoon it would be his duty, accompanied by the secretaiy, to attend on Colonel Har- ness, at the Privy Council, for the purpose of ascertaining whether the rule as to slaughtering witliin four days applied to sheep and pigs as well as to cattle, and no time should be lost in publishing the result in the yard, so that if the sheep and pigs were not to be slaughtered within four days the ex- hibitors might have the chance of makingthe best terms tliey could with the butchers. It was also his intention to see the Duke of Buckingham, and impress upon him the necessity of carrying out the resolutions adopted by the Council of the Club that day ; and he hoped to be able to report the result of the interview at the dinner on the following evening (clieers). Mr. Smith, an exhibitor of Devons, complained of the al- teration made in the position of the lairs, which had liad the effect, he said, of putting that class of stock somewhat in the background (a laugh). The Hon. Secretary replied that the alteration was made by the new Clerk of the Works, who was not acquainted with the previous arrangements, and that when the mistake Mas discovered it was too late to correct it. Mr. Smith observed that generally the visitors took more interest in the Devons than in any other class of cattle (laugh- ter), adding that it looked as if the object of the change had been to put them out of sight as much as possible (laughter, and cries of " Oh !") This terminated the proceedings. THE SMITHFIELD CLUB DINNEE. Tlie annual dinner of the Smithfield Club came off oh tlie Wednesday, at the Sal>sbury Hotel, Salisbury Square, when tlie chair was taken by the President, liis Grace the Duke of Richmond ; and aobut 80 sat down. The corajiany was admirably catered for by the manager of the hotel, Mr. Lewis, who gave practical proof that tlie "Salisbury" is a worthy competitor of the most popular public dining establishments in London. After the usual loyal toasts, Tlie Chairman gave " The Army, the Navy, the Militia, and the Voluuteers." Major-Gen. A. N. Hood, in responding on behalf of the army observed that it might je said to be now in a state of transition. In a few months it would be anued with breach- loading rifles, and though the would be converted Eufields 74 THE FAEMER'S MAGAZINE. li(!y were coiisitk-rcil Ijy judses superior to any other arm oi' the same kind iu Europe. Moreover, the recent military commission recommended important chang'es in our system oi' recruiting, in pensions, pay, allowances, and various other mat- ters. All this must, he heUeved, tend to improve the condi- tion of the army and to render it more efficient than it had been hitherto. Mr. UrciiEK, in responding for the Volunteers, remarked that they comprised a total force of from 150,000 to 200,000 men, and he hoped that whenever they might be called upon it would be found that they had not forgotten the words of Nelson — " England expects every man to do liis duty." The Chairman said he now rose to propose the toast of the evening, namely, " Success to the Smithlield Club" ; and al- though that might seem like proposing that they should drink to their own success, yet it should be recollected that connected with thatsuccesswasthe welfare and good of all classes of the com- mmiity (cheers). That it was a club which had for its end the im- provement of agriculture in the production of the various classes of stock that were exhibited at its shows ; and he thought that if it had not been productive of benefit to the larmers and the country, it would not be supported as it had been ; they might fairly assume that it would have fallen through altogether, and that if it had been of uo use nothing would have been heard of it (Hear, hear). Those who were iu the habit of attending exliibitions of stock, whether in the south or in the north, must be aware that after a Society of this sort had been in operation some time, nothing was so common as to find in the reports of its judges of stock the statement that they could not close their observations without callmg attention to the great uuprove- ment in the breed of stock iu their district since the institution had been formed. Especially was this the case in the North, iu Scotland ; because there, untU of late years, such societies had not been so common as iu England (Hear, hear). He was indebted to a pamphlet written by their honorary secretary a few years ago for the history of the rise and progress of the Smithfield Club ; and with their permission he would call at- tention to a few prominent points connected with the Club wliich he had gathered from that publication. He found, then, that the club was originally established in the year 179S, and became a permanent institution in 1800. At first it con- sistsdofonly 50 members ; audiu that year the tliree days' ad- mission fee produced only £40 3s. ; whereas a gentleman con- nected with the building where the stock was now exhibited had informed him that the receipts for the first two days of the present week reached £~,000. And he believed that, instead of 50 members, they now numbered upwards of 300 (cheers). In the year 1821 the then Duke of Bedford proposed to dis- solve the Club, on the ground that, iu Ids view, it had attained the highest point of success that it could ever hope to reach, and that, therefore, it coiJd be of uo further benefit to the country, fortunately, however, both for the country and for agriculture, Sir John Sebright, being of a difi'erent opinion, moved and carried, as an amendment, that the Club should be continued. And the result was that the Society had gone on increasing in numbers and in influence until it had attained its present gigantic proportions (cheers). He confessed that, when reading the pamphlet referred to, he was led to make a comparison, which perhaps some persons might be inclined to laugh at, for the simple reason that they had not the same grounds for thinking so much as himself about the Southdown sheep (Hear, hear, and a laugh). Now he could not help comparing the liistory of the Smithfield Club to that of the Southdown sheep. The Club began its career in 1800 with small proportions. The EUman of that day was one of the most famous breeders of Southdowns, and his sheep were termed very small anbnals. Thus the Smithfield Club and the Southdown sheep were pretty much on a par. But since, the Club had increased in size and usefvdness, and so liad the Southdown sheep (cheers). The Club had as- sumed very large dimensions, and so had the Soiith- down sheep (renewed cheers, and laughter). Aud here he ought to stop, with the expression of a hope that neither the Smitlifield Cattle Club nor the Southdown sheep would ever attain such gigantic proportions as to make them unwieldly and unfit for the purposes for which they were designed (cheers). There was another point of view in which the Club • was of gi-eat utihty. It enabled them to detect the points in which their sheep and beasts were faulty, and to get hints which they might take home with them, and there digest and improve upon. And it had certainly this effect also in Ids own case, that this year it had entirely confirmed the opinion he had expressed before leaving home, that the old sheep were the best he had ever seen sent from Goodwood, whilst the others were but mode- rate (Hear, hear). In tlds view one of the judges had stated Ids full concurrence ; and he mentioned the matter now in order to show the great advantage of having those public shows, where they coxdd come and form their own opinion as to whether the animals they exhibited were good or not, and what were the points in respect of whicli they might be im- proved. Another recommendation of the Club was the social advantages connected with it. In tlds country it was of the greatest importance that all classes should have an opportu- nity of mixing together. If they confined themselves solely to their own immediate circle, they got dull, stupid, and rusty ; and if they rubbed up against other persons and classes they must be either very didl or very stupid if they did not derive from such contact something for which they woidd be the bet- ter (Hear, hear). At least such was the case with himself; and he ventured to say there was no occasion on which it was his pleasure to meet farmers that he was not able to take away with him some information that he afterwards found to be most valuuble (cheers). Such meetings enabled the largest landowners and the smallest occupiers to mix on terms of equality, kindly-fellowship, and goodwill (loud cheers). He must say he always felt very much at home at meetings of farmers. There was a sort of free-masomy about those who assembled at them, at which they all felt as if they were row- ing in the same boat ; and there was a blending together — a cementiug of good fellowship — wldch he cmdd not help think- ing was a good thing for the country. He considered that Club worthy of support, then, on three grounds : first, because it had done a great deal practically for the improvement of all classes of breeds of stock and sheep ; and if it had not had that efl:eet it woidd not have been supported as it had been, and continued to be. And, in the next place, because it was exceedingly useful, in a social point of view, in bringing dif- ferent classes of agriculturists together, aud putting them, for the time, on the footiug of equality that they ought to be (cheers). Before sitting down he wished to remark that, in compliance with a resolution unanimously passed at a general meeting of the Club on the previous afternoon, the Honorary Secretary and himself had had an interview on that afternoon with the President of the Council, and dehvered to him the re- solution recommending the continued closing of markets aud fairs, and urging the great necessity for having the orders re- lating to quarantine more strictly enforced than they ap- peared to have been on many occasions ; and, further, that it was Idgldy desirable that permanent lairs should be estabhshed at the ports where foreign cattle were disem- barked. The President of the Council received them in the most courteous maimer, and, after discussing with them the points raised, said they woidd receive the most carcfid consideration, and that he felt exceedingly obUged to the Club for the suggestions which it had made. He thought he ought further to add that it was higldy desirable that it should be generally known that the disease had, un- fortunately, broken out again, chiefly owing to very great neglect on the part of farmers themselves. There appeared to have been a Sort of reckless conduct where the disease had revived, a repetition of which coidd not be too strongly depre- cated ; and he hoped they woidd be the means of convincing persons in the various parts of the country with which they were connected that all the precautionary restrictions wldch had been iu operation this year should be still maintained (Hear, hear). He understood the Piesident to say — the Hon, Secretary would correct him if he were mistaken — that at Holderncss, iu Yorkshire, the re-appearance of the disease was caused by extraordinary neglect on the part of farmers in the district. He would not detain the company any longer on that subject, but he was glad to have had an opportunity of making these remarks ; and he would uow call upon them cordially to drink " Success -to the Smithfield Club." The Hoji. Secretary then proceeded to read the list of winners of the gold medals and cups for the lUffercnt classes of animals, their healths being proposed in succession. Mr. E.. Stratton, in returning thanks for his health, as the exhibitor of the best cow or heifer in the yard, remarked that the shorthorn heifers this year were pretty good; but that THE FAEMER'S MAGAZINE. 75 the oxen in tliat class were not what such animals used to be twenty years ago. There was, he added, in these days, too much breeding for pedigree, without considering wliat kind of animal was most usefuL Had he been ;i breeder of any other kind of beasts tlian sliorthorns he wouUl certainly not hesitate to breed some of the Scotch sort, of wliich there were some fine specimens in the yard, especially a large black polled steer, shown by the late Sir Gordon Cumming's executors. That was a wonderful animal. The Chairman, in giving the health of Lord Walsingham, as the winner of the cup for short-wooUed sheep, expressed his determination to enter the lists with him again as a com- petitor in that department, adding that he hoped next year to have the pleasure of hearing his health proposed as the winner of the silver cup. Lord Waisinghaii, in returning thanks, observed that to have won any prize at such a show as that of this year was un- doubtedly a great honour. Although that show was held under circumstances certainly not the most favourable, a great and terrible disease having only recently abated, and uncer- tainty having existed almost up to the last moment as to whe- ther the show would be held, yet he might congratulate them on their having an exhibition which he believed had seldom, if ever, been excelled even by any show of the Smithfield Club (Hear, hear). The noble dute had made some observations re- specting the success which he (Lord Walsingham) had this year obtained as an exhibitor of short-wooUed sheep. He remem- bered that not many years ago, in the time of their Chairman's noble father, whom they all so much loved and respected (loud cheers)— he well remembered that in those days he was glad to pick up only a few crumbs which had been left by the Good- wood flock (laughter) ; and if he were now able to meet his noble friend the" present Duke upon something like an equality, it was a matter of considerable gratification to him (Hear, hear). He took up his noble friend's challenge, and he told him that he should relax no effort, but should endeavour, by the same patience and perseverance that had been exercised in making his flock what it was, to make it, if possible, still better ""(cheers) ; though he was not vain enough to beheve that the day would not come when he would fall from the step in the ladder which he had reached, when the noble Duke and the Goodwood flock would take their own again, and other ex- hibitors would come into successful competition with him. This year had been a year of triumph for the cross-breeds. If, however, he might give a little advice to cattle breeders m general, it would be not to forget the pure breeds (Hear, hear). He did not deny that cross-breeds had very great merits and imdouljtedly many of the cross-breed animals estabhshed this year had an enormous quantity of meat, and were veiy hkely to be useful to the butcher ; but let it be recollected that un- less they had pure breeds to cross from they could not expect to maintain permanent exceUence. o, ■ r< +i Lord Berneks, in proposmg the health of his Grace the President, expressed the pleasure which he felt of seeing him following the footsteps of his father, bearing as he did the honoured name of" Richmond" (cheers). Tlie toast having lieeu drunk with great cordiahty, _ The CiiAlRJLVN said he should indeed be wantmg m the commonest gratitude, were he not to feel deeply the honour which had been conferred upon him by the reception given to the toast, as well as the terms in which it was proposed by his noble friend. He was weU aware that, following as he did in the steps of one who presided so ably, and for so many years, over that Club, he had a very diflicult task to perform-m one sense of the word diflicult: but he felt that in another sense ot the word he had an easy task, because he had only to iotiow the example set by his father, to ensure his not being very lar wrong (cheers). When lie looked on the medal conferred on the successful competitors, he saw the impress of one who had been most dear to him, and he felt that he had, so to speak it they would forgive him for saying so, an hereditary right to ths position whicir at that moment he had the honour to hM ae their President (Hear, hear). He could assure them, theretore, that it was no mere words when he told them that he did teelc highly honoured at having been selected as their President Bound up as he was with the agricultural body in the North and in the South, and everything he possessed in the world depending on the prosperity or want of prosperity of tlie agri- cultural interest in this country, it could not be cousideredt an odd thing that be should feel that every subject thatp had to do with the prosperity of farmers was most intimatelv connected with his own prosperity (cheers). He had" the satisfaction in the North of presiding over a happy and prosperous tenantry. He had the turtlier satisfaction in the South of presiding over a tenantry as coinfortalile and happy as the people upon any estate m the country (Hear, hear). And he believed that they had been brought into that condition by one who had gone before him ; and it was his earnest endeavour, and had been as long as he lived, to avoid all schism between himself and his tenantry ; and those over whom he had the good fortune to find himself placed should in future years and as long as he was spared continue the same happy and united family (cheers). He must apologize to them for having been guilty of this di- gression ; but the mention of his father's name called to mind so many 'recollections of the past, in connection not only with this Club, but the tenantry of the country at large, that he had been led away rather in a discursive strain from the (oast. He had inherited a large, and he hoped and beheved a good flock ; and it should be his endeavour to keep up that flock, if pos- sible to the point of excellence it had undoubtedly attained (Hear, hear). Possibly his noble friend. Lord Walsingham, would'say that he must do more than that, that he must make it still better or it would be no good. Well, he agreed with his noble fi-iend, and would endeavour to do so (cheers). Prequently he had been told, "Yes, the Southdown sheep! He is a very nice article on the dinner- table, but he is a small animal, after all: you cannot n-et I'lim any size." His answer to that was, "Go to the Smithfield Show (cheers). There I have three pens of South- downrs, and they average 284.1bs. each (Hear, hear). H that is not size enough, then I am sorry for you" (loud cheers) . And they were large enough for anybody, and especially were tliey large enough for the land for which they were adapted ; and as they ought not to attempt to breed Leicesters on land adapted only for Southdowns, so they ought not to attempt to hreed Southdowns on land adapted for Leicesters (Hear, hear). He believed, therefore, that if they were contented, in the va- rious locahties in which they were placed, to bring to the highest perfection an animal, be it buUock, sheep, or pio-, that was best adapted for the district, they might be sure that they were conferring a benefit on the community. It would be as ridiculous for him, in his part of the world, to attempt to bring the Leicester sheep to the same state of per- fection that his friend Mr. Torr succeeded in doing in his district, as it would be for Mr. Torr to attempt to bring out the Southdown sheep in the same state of perfection as he (the Duke of Richmond) had done. In conclusion, he could assure them that with the termination of his year of office his interest in the Smithfield Club would not cease. On the contrary, he hoped on many occasions to have the pleasure ot meeting the gentlemen around liuii in the show-yard and at the dinner-table, and, more than that, he hoped to be able to carry away many prizes (loud cheers). j. , -n • Lord AValsingiiam next proposed the health ot the Presi- dent-elect for the year 1867, Major-General the Hon. A. N. Hood (loud cheers), and in doing so the noble lord spoke m flattering terms of the stock shown by the lion, and gallant gentleman as the representative of Her Majesty the Queen. Major-General HooB returned thanks. Speaking as the representative of Her Mejesty he said that she took the greatest interest in everything that appertained to agriculture (cheers). He might mention, as an Interesting fact, that very recently Her Majesty visited both the Norfolk and Llenush farms lor the purpose of seeing the beasts that were coming up for ex- hibition at the meeting of the Smithfield Club, and that he had had the gratification of telegraphing to her that some of these animals had been successful (cheers). On a former oc- casion his friend Mr. Torr had suggested the expediency of substituting a luncheon at the Agricultural Hall for tins annual dinner. He did not know whether IMr. Torr had changed his opinion, but certainly the dinner to-day was a very good one, and they had met in an excellent room (loud Mr. ' Owen Wallis proposed the health of the Vice- Presidents, and Lord Rerners responded to the toast. ^ Mr. J. Hudson, in giving " The Trustees of the Club, said the first was a gentleman who rode straight across couu- ry, Mr. Charles Barnett (cheers) ; the next was a man who roduced the sheep that made mutton for the miUiou, Mr. 76 THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. Samufl T)i-uco ; niiil the tliiid was a person wlio did cvery- lliiii;; wcdl, Mr. Win. Torr (loud cheers). He need say no iiioie t(i induce them to iill their gksses bumpers and drink (o tlie licalth oftlie trustees. Mr. C. Baknett, in returning tluinks and alUiding to the compliment paid him by Mr. Hudson, said tliat with advanc- ina: years lie found that riding straight across country did not present the same attractions that it did at an earlier age. He was still, however, a lover of fox-hunting ; for he l)elieved that it created kindly feelings between man and man, pro- moted intercourse between landlords and tenants, and was ad- mired by the community generally. In proof of the latter observation, he might add that he was at the death of a fox the other day when the inhabitants of a whole village turned out, and manifested their interest in the sport by cheering the huntsmen (cheers and laughter). Mr. Toiui then proposed the health of the Judges, and animadverted on the leading features of the Show. As a whole, he said the Show was an extremely good one, taking into account the very unfavourable circumstances under whieli it was held. It was not quite so numerous as it had been the last two or three years ; but it was not the mere number of en- tries in the aggregate, Ijut the number of fair specimens of the various Ijrecds of stock, that made the Show. Of course this was only his own opinion. As regarded the relative merits of the shorthorns and the cross-breds, the latter were entirely adapted to a colder climate and a harder mode of living than the former, and fattened at a later age ; whilst the shorthorns were better adapted for a milder climate, and fattened at an earlier age. General Hood had been good enough to speak of the views which he (Mr. Torr) had expressed on a previous occasion respecting the dinner. AU he could say on that sub- ject was that he still held the opinion that it would be more popular if they had a luncheon instead, immediately at the close of the judging; but if it were the general wish to continue the annual dinner, they would always find him amongst tliem, perhaps talking nonsense (" Ko, no," and laughter). Mr. TURXER, one of the judges of short-wool sheep, respond- ed. He had attended the shows of the Club for very many years, and he ventured to say that there were few gentlemen in the room who could remember seeing a better class of short-wools than the Southdowns were this year (Hear, hear). At previous exhibitions they might have seen now and then a pen that was superlative, whilst the rest were comparatively inferior. On this occasion, however, all the classes generally were good, and neither the noble chairman nor his late father had ever exhi- bited a better pen of Southdowns than was the pen of three old wethers in tlie showyard from the Goodwood flock (Hear, hear). Lord Walsingham's young sheep were deserving of everything he could say of them, and those of Lord Sondes, the Earl of Radnor, and several others were very fine. The judges, in consequence of this evenness in qiialitj', had had considerable difliculty in selecting the best; and altliough it had been his lot many a time to act as a judge, he never experienced greater difficulty in deciding than he did iii several eases this year. This difficulty was also met with in comparing tlie Sliropsliircs and the cross-breds. He hoped to witness the com- ))elition between the Duke of Uichmond and Lord Walsing- luuu for many a year to come. Eacli would have something to do to beat the other, and the battle would be a hard-fought one. In conclusion, Mr. Turner gave the health of the " Stewards." Mr. J. Ellm.vn acknowledged the compliment. Tlie next toast was the " Honorary Secretary," which was proposed by Mr. C. Howard, who, in doing so, said that if ever he should be fortunate enough to win the Cup he only hoped that he should be above indulging in such ill-natured remarks on his competitors, as had that evening characterised tiie speech of Mr. Stratton. Mr. Branuretii Gibbs, after a brief response, gave " Con- tinued success to the Agricultural Hall Company." Mr. J. Clayden, chairman of the Company, returned thanks. ]\lr. J. Howard proposed the " Royal Agricultural Society of England," and remarked that landowners, tenants, and manufacturers must feel interest in a Society which was formed for the purpose of raising the standard of British agri- culture. When they reflected on the great progress which had been made in the art of agriculture during the last 20 years, very much of which was owing to the Royal Agricultural Society, they could not but admit that that Society had been most successful, and that the farmers of England and all classes interested in the prosperity of the land were laid under deep obligations to it (cheers). No doubt the Socic^ty had fallen short in some tilings. Perhaps it was very much in the same position as many gentlemen around the table ; it had done many things that it ought not to have done, and left undone many things it ought to have done. On the whole, indeed, they must admit, when they contemplated the great advance that had been made, that they were mainly indebted to the operations of the Royal Agricultural Society for the exalted position which British agriculture had attained. Opposite him he saw on the wall the motto of the Society, namely, " Prac- tice with Science." Every one seated at that table knew that the " practice" of agriculture had advanced considerably in this country ; and he believed that the " science" of agriculture had kept pace with the practice (Hear, hear). And perhaps he might be forgiven the expression of a hope that the Royal Agricultural Society would always keep its motto in mind, and never forget that both the practice and the science of agriculture were progressing (Hear, hear) ; that it would not jump to the conclusion that perfection had been reached ; for as sure as a society or an individual, a manufacturer or a farmer, came to the conclusion that perfection was attained, from that moment retrogression commenced (Hear, hear). In the room where they were then assembled, he told the Fanners' Club, a month ago, a few things in rgspect of which their cousins across the Atlantic were in advance of the agriculturists of this country. He was not going into the subject again. What he stated was before the world in print, and he hoped the lesson it gave woidd not be lost upon the Royal Agricul- tural Society of England (loud cheers). Mr. Robert Smith, having replied for the Council of the Royal Agricultural Society, concluded by proposing the health of the " Butchers." The Chairman* then gave the toast of the " Labourers," and when this had been drunk the company separated. THE SMITHFIELD CLUB. THE IMPORTATION OF FORAGE. On the Thursday morning a meeting of graziers and agricul- turists was held in the board-room of the Agicultural Hall on the subject of the cattle plague, but more especially to protest against the importation of hay while cattle are known to be in a diseased state, it being held that such importation is a fruitful source of disease. Mr. W. Torr, who presided, said the meeting had been con- vened at the instigation of a niunber of gentlemen connected with agriculture, who felt that some protest ought to be made to the Government against the importation of foreign forage from the Continent. Hay was continued to he imported from Holland in large quantities, although the cattle plague was known to be raging there worse than it had been in this country, and it was considered that the Government should be called upon to put a stop to so glaring an inconsistency. Mr. Stefhen.son said there was a large number of gentle- men present from the north, who were prepared to show that whilst the importation of foreign cattle was prohibited, large quantities of Dutch hay was almost daily landed at Leith from Rotterdam. Here was the gross anomaly. So particular were we at home, in order to prevent the spread of the cattle- plague, that hay was prohibited from removal even from one district to another in England. Yet Dutch hay and other forage, subject to the droppings of the cattle in Holland, where the plague raged fearfully, and which, no doubt, therefore, con- tained the virus of the disease, was permitted to be imported without restriction. The reason this hay was patronized was that it was obtained at from £1 and upwards per ton less than good wholesome English hay. Mr. DuxN read a protest which had been drawn up by agri- culturists of the north on this subject, and ridiculed the re- strictions put upon the importation of Dutch cattle and hides, if this importation of hay was permitted. Mr. Randalj. oil'ered similar views, and moved a resolution to the eflect that a representation be forthwith made to the Privy Council urging that the Government should immediately make such regulations as would prevent the importation of hay and straw or other forage from any foreign countries known to be afllicted with the cattle-plague. He remarked that the Dutch agriculturists sent their forage here, as they had but few cattle of their own to eat it. The resolution, having been duly seconded, was carried unanimously. THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 77 METROPOITAN CATTLE MARKET. THE GREAT CHRISTMAS SUPPLY.— Dec. 17. Notwithstanding tliesevere losses sustained tliis year from the cattle iilasjue, and the lar£!;e sales of half-fat animals dis- ]iosed of by the feeders in the early part of the season, there was a full average number of Beasts on ott'iir here to-day for Christmas "consumption. Eortunately for the graziers, this has been a favourable year for the produc- tion of live stock. Although since the third week in August considerable quantities of rain have fallen in most parts of the United Kingdom, natural food has been very abundant, the root crops have tiu-ned out wonderfully heavy, and both ]5easts and Sheep have been kept louger upon" the land than usual. The graziers' expenses have thus been lessened, and there is an abundance of good food on hand for winter use. For numerical strength the Shorthorns here to-day stood first. This noble breed, which has extended itself in all parts of the country for breeding purposes, came to hand in excellent condition, and in large force, consider- ing the large numbers sold at a much earlier period than ■ in the usual run of years. Some of the Beasts weighed upwards of 200 stones, and realised high quotations in spite of the restrictions still placed upon the removal of stock from this market to distant localities. We may next place the cross-breds in the category of excellence. There were crosses between the Short- horned Bull and the Ayrshire Cow, between Shorthorns and Scots, bred and fed in Norfolk, Suffolk, and Cam- bridgeshire, and, indeed, between almost every other breed in the kingdom. With some few excep- tions, where the very best animals had not been used, the show in this respect was wonderfully good. The points of the animals were well preserved, and the weight of meat was fidly equal to any former year. The Herefords stood next. This splendid breed ex- hibited points of great excellence, and elicited great praise from the butchers. The prices realized for them were about on a par with the general run of good crosses. As regards the Devons, we may observe that they came to "hand in excellent condition. The supply, how- ever was only moderate, not from any scarcity of stock in the West of England, but from the unwiUmgness on the part of the graziers to forward largely durmg the continuance of the present restrictions upon the move- ment of stock to the provinces. High rates were paid for them in every instance. There was a most splendid exhibition of Scots and Crosses from Scotland and Norfolk. The Scotch cattle especially were unusuaUv good. The Norfolks were larger in size taken collectively ; but the Scots, from Scotland, had quite as much consumable meat on their backs as their more stately rivals. There was very little difficulty m finding a ready sale for this portion of the supply, ihe number of polled Scots brought forward was rather limited. Their quality and condition, however, were very prime. . , , . - r Of Sussex Beasts there was a fair arrival ; but most ot them ranged from six to seven years old, consequently did not command much attention. «■ i j. There were some very good Welsh runts on offer ; but the Irish bdlocks were deiicient in quality. Mongrel breeds were somewhat more numerous than could be desired. The long-horns were very few in num- ber ; but most of them were of f«ll average weisjht. With this general outline of the show, we now direct attention to the more salient points ol the supply. The following return shows the number of Beasts ex- hibited, and the prices realized for them, on the great days during the last twenty-five years -.— Yeaks. 1S« 1842 1843 1841 1845 184G 1847 1848 1849 1850 1851 1853 1853 1854 1855 1856 1857 1858 1859 1860 1861 1^?62 18G3 1864 1865 Beasts suown. 4,500 3 4,541 3 4,510 3 5,713 4 5,326 3 4,570 4 4,283 3 5,943 3 5,765 3 6,341 3 6,103 3 6,271 3 7,037 3 6,181 3 7,000 3 6,748 3 Prices. d. 8 to 4 to 8 to 0 to 6 to 0 to 4 to 4 to 4 to 0 to 3 10 8 to 4 2 8 to 2 to 6 to 8 to 6,856 3 6,424 3 7,560 7,860 6 to 4 to 8,840 3 8,430 3 10,370 3 7,130 3 7,530 3 6 to 8 to 4 to 4 0 4 10 5 4 4 2 5 0 4 8 5 0 5 4 5 4 5 0 5 0 5 3 5 8 At Mr. George Dickson's stand there was a large col- lection of Scotch Beasts, which attracted much attention. Some of the best Scots and crosses were forwarded by Messrs Knowles, Martin, Wishart, Biddie, Read, Win- ner Prost, Bruce, and other graziers of Aberdeenshire ; and by the' Messrs. Longmore, Mr. Stodard, and others of Banffshire. Messrs Maidwell and Hoyland exhibited some very prime animals, the property of Mr. Reid, of Greystone, Vale of Afford ; Mr. Martin, of Aberdeen, and various other graziers. Mr. Vorley's stand was well filled with remarkably good stock, from various counties. Mr. Hicks's stand was well filled with some wonderful stock,' consigned by the leading graziers in Scotland. TVIr. Duckworth had some excellent Beasts, which re- alized" good prices. One bullock was offered for sale which had been exhibited in the show-yard. Various other lots of prime Beasts were brought for- ward- amongst them were some remarkably good Beasts, the property of Mr. M'Combie, of TiUyfour, Aberdeen. Taken as a whole, the supply of Beasts was quite equal to most former years, both as regards weight and quality. The quality and condition of the Sheep were good. Mr. Gurrier had on sale some very good Cotswolds, bred by Mr. Hewer, of North Leach. Mr. Dodd had a good show of Downs and half-breds, forwarded by John Walter, Esq., of Barewood ; Messrs. Deane, Righton, P. Dodd, and Healey. Mr. Lintott's stand was well filled with prime Sheep, the property of Mess, Cox, Bates, Latiraore, St. Albans, 78 THE FAEMEE'S MAGAZINE. and Ilolgen, of Cliichcster. Mr. Drewett, of Guildford, sent some very fine stock. Mr. Still had four very fine Downs belonging to Mr. Canning, of Elston, Devizes. Mr. Eland had some very prime Lincoln Sheep, belonging to Mr. J. H. Casswell, of Laughton, Folk- ingham. Mr. Weall, Mr. Burrell, Mr. Starkey, lh\ Caton, and Mr. Corfe had some very good Sheep on offer. State op the Trade. The supply of Beasts being very large, and of excellent quality, the sale for all breeds was in a sluggish state. The absence of the usual number of country butchers operated against the demand. A few very superior ani- mals sold at 5s. 6d. per Slbs., but this price was by no means general. The best large Oxen produced 5s. 2d. per Slbs. The ai'rivals fi'om Lincolnshire, Leicestershire, and Northamptonshire were about 2,200 Shorthorns, &c. ; from other parts of England, including Norfolk, 1,600 Scots, &c. ; fi'om Scotland, 1,000 Scots and crosses ; and from Ireland, 700 Oxen, &c. The show of Sheep was very moderate, but most breeds came to hand in good condition. The demand for all breeds ruled steady, at an advance in the quotations of 2d. per 8 lbs. The best downs and hixlf-breds sold at Bs. 4d. per 8 lbs. Calves were in moderate supply, and fair request on former terms, viz., fi'om4s. 8d. to 5s. lOd. per Slbs, In Pigs, the show of which was good, very little was passing, at the late decline. The top figure was 4s. 6d. per 8 lbs. Per Slbs., to sink the offal. s. d. s. , d. Coarse and inferior Beasts 3 8 to 3 10 Second qualitj' ditto 4 0 4 8 Prime large Oxen 4 10 5 2 Prime Scots, &c 5 4 5 G Coarse and inferior Sheep 3 10 4 3 Second quality ditto 4 4 5 0 Prime coarse- wooUed ditto 5 3 5 10 Prime Southdown ditto GO G 4 Large coarse Calves 4 8 5 4 Prime small do 5 G 5 10 Large Hogs 3 G 4 0 Neat Small Porkers 4 3 4 6 Suckling Calves 20s. to 23s., and Quarter-old store Pigs 27s to 30s. each. HEAD OF CATTLE ON SALE TO-DAY. [from the books of the clekk of the mahkbt.] TOTAL SUPPLIES, Beasts 7,3i0 Cows — Sheep 19,120 Calves ;. 200 Pigs 310 Pigs IMPORTS INTO LONDON LAST WEEK. FROM WHENCE. BEASTS. SHEEP, LAMBS. CALVES. PIGS. FOREIGN SUPPLIES. Beasts 2,150 Cows — Sheep 3,640 Calves 103 40 Aarhus 9 11 3773 114 3898 — 109 26 21 21 30 14 38 259 Antwerp ... 73 ... 293 — Bremen Calais DeauviUe 1 ... 150 1 Hamburg Harlingen ... 291 ... 470 7 Ostend Kotterdam Total.... .. 12S6 117 125 COMPARISON OP THE « GREAT DAYS." Statement showing the Supplies and Prices of Fat Stock Exhibited and disposed of on the "Great Days" in 1865 and 1866. 1865. s. d. s. d. Coarse and inferior Beasts 3 4 to 3 8 Second quality ditto 3 10 4 6 Prime iarsre Oxen 4 8 5 0 Prime Scots, &c 5 2 5 4 Coarse and inferior Sheep 4 0 4 8 Second quality ditto 4 10 5 6 Prime coarse-wooUed ditto 5 8 Prime Southdown ditto ... 6 4 Large coarse Calves 4 0 Prime small ditto 4 8 Suckling Calves 19 0 Large Hogs 4 0 Small Porkers 4 Quarter-olds (each) 30 Supplies on Sale Dec. 18, 1865 Beasts 7,530 Sheep 24,810 Calves 12 Pigs 370 0 1866. d. s. a. 8 to 3 10 0 4 8 5 2 5 G 4 2 5 . 4 . 5 .20 . 3 . 4 .27 Dec. 17, 1866. .. 7,340 .. 19,120 200 310 LIVERPOOL FAT STOCK SHOW. The Liverpool show of cattle, sheep, and pigs was held on the 12tli and 13th December, at Stanley, and brought together a verj' fine display in all departments. There were eleven classes of cattle, three of these l)eing for Irish stock, and the total entries 51 ; nine classes of sheep with 41 entries, and three classes of pigs with 24 entries. Tlie principal prize for oxen was awarded to Mr. R. 11. Harris, Earuhill, Forres, Elgin, for a cross-bred shorthorn-and-poUed ox. To this animal, in addition to the prize of its class, was awarded a subscription silver cup, value ten guineas ; it was sold to Mr. Archer, a Liverpool butcher, for £00. For ^horthorn oxen Messrs. J. aud W. Martin, Newmarket, Aberdeen, took the first prize ; for Scotch polled oxen Mr. W. M'Combie, TUlyfour, Aberdeen ; for cross-bred oxen Mr. R. H. Harris took both first and second prizes ; for Highland oxen Mr. James Stewart, New- market, Aberdeen, took first aud second prizes ; for Hereford oxen Mr. Barwell Ewins Bennett, Marston Trussel-hail, Northampton, took both prizes ; for shorthorn cows or heifers Mr. James Stewart took both prizes ; for Scotch polled cow or heifer ]\Ir. James Reid, Alford, Aberdeen, was awarded first prize ; for cross-bred cow or heifer Messrs. J. and W. Martin took the first prize ; for Irish oxen Mr. T. St. G. Pepper, Ballygarth Castle, Meath, took both prizes ; and for the best Irish ox, cow, or heifer ]\Ir. Matthew Sttibbs, Litlierlanil, Lancashire, obtained first prize. For sheep Mr. Edward Crawshaw obtained first and second prize for Leicester aud long-wooUed wethers, and also the subscription silver cup, value 5 guineas. Mr. BarweU Ewins Bennett also took a first jirize for Leicester and loufj-wooUed sheep. Mr. WiUiam Yates, of Grendle House, Shiffnal, Salop, took both prizes for Sliropshire and other Downs ; Mr. J. iM'Gill, Kirkcudbright, first two prizes for CheWot wethers ; Mr. George Coultbard, Cumberland, for Cheviot and Leicester half-breeds ; Mr. A. G. Sproat, Wigtown, first prize for Scotch black-faced half bred with Leicesters ; Mr. James Stewart, both prizes for black- faced Highland wethers ; and Mr. Allan PoUok, Galway, first prize for Irish wetliers. For pigs Mr. Thomas Atherton, of Speke, Lancashire, obtained first prize for a small-breed pig, and witli the same animal the subscription silver cup, value 5 guineas. The Earl of Derby took second prize in this class. ]Mr. James Birch, Sefton, Lancashire, obtained first prize in tlie middle-breed class ; and Mr. James Harding, Priory, Bootle, Lancasliire, the first prize in the large-breed class. THE FAEMER'S MAGAZINE. 79 "FORBIDDEN TOPICS" AT THE ROYAL AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY. The spirit with which the proceedings went off duiing the Smithfield week, the full attendance at ahnost all the meetings called, and the gross receipts at the doors of the Agricultural Hall, all tend to prove the vitality of our cattle shows. There was a peculiar zest given to the occasion, a keener sense of enjoyment observable, and a thorough determination evinced to make the most of the opportunity. This is the more significant, as farmers have of late had but a bad time of it ; and many a man, had he so desired, might have framed a very reasonable excuse for not coming to London. There were doubts up to the very last as to^the Show being held; many of the leading exhibitors had nothing to enter, and a variety of other collateral causes existed which might have conduced to a thinning down of our visitors. But the contrary, we repeat, was the case. Whether at the gatherings of the Royal' Agricultural Society, of the Smithfield Club, or of "the Tarmers' Club, there have not for many years been so many people present. The Salisbury Hotel, as the head-quarters of Agricultm-e, might have been filled four or five times over, and the annual meet- ing of the Eoyal Agricultural Society brought so many members together, that seats were at a premium, and the two rooms amply occupied. At something of a crisis in the fortunes of the Society, this may be very fairiy re- garded as the 2;reat demonstration of the week, and it was clear that no'^little interest was felt for the future of our national institution. The business opened with the read- ing of the Report, from which, as usual, little or nothmg coidd be gathered, as in plain truth the composition of *^ this paper was in places little less than disgraceful to all concerned in its production. Tlie chief aim appeared to be, to say as little as possible in the greatest number of' words, and to dwell over the most trifling topics. But we' scarcely dare trust ourselves to speak to the merits of this precious document, and we BhaU, consequently, prefer to give our readers the opinion of our contemporary the Gardeners' Chronicle an expression, be it said, in which we heartUy concm-: "It was nothing less than startling to ourselves, and no doubt to many others also, to find that among the leading agii- cnltural facts of the year recorded in the Report read last Wednesday is the important announcement that P. Chubb, E Kin"- and W. Mortimer had won £4 at a recent exami- nation Tn pm-e mathematics; and that Hill, Mackwood, Rudd, and many others, had won similar distinctions at recent examinations into their general educational attain- ments. We read also that these young gentlemen were educated at Clevedon College, Abing-ton House and the Devon County School ; and nearly one-half the Annual Report of the Council of the Society is taken up with announcements of this kind." After going on to declare that but for the serious side of the subject, such a state- ment in such a place would be " simply ludicrous, the article concludes in this wise : " ^Vhat the sanguine edu- cational movement led by Mr. Acland and permitted by the Council has hitherto accomplished may be seen in the grotesque absiu'dity of the fact that in their annual address to the great national agricultural interest for the year 1866 there is positively more said about the £5 prizes won by a lot of schoolboys than there is about the Cattle Plague !" Would it really not be well, as is the habit with other Societies, that copies of the Half-Yearly Report should be obtained on application for four teeu days previous to the Meeting, and then Mcmhers would be prepared to speak to the several points placed before them, instead of the Report being received and adopted, as was the case on Wednes- day, without a word of reference to its contents or pur- port ? The President, however, supplied the deficiency. It, in fact, would almost look as if the Society's Report was rendered designedly dull in order that the President's . address might become the more piquant. Mr. Thompson, as previously announced, read an elaborate treatise on the Past and Present of the Royal Agricultural Society, wliich was listened to with marked attention, and pro- nounced by many of the succeeding speakers to be an " admirable" exposition. For our own part we cannot share in this high estimate of the oration ; as, to our thinking, Mr. Thompson appeared as often inclined to make the most of trifles, to the sacrifice of more important topics, as the unhappy Report which acted as the over- tm-e to his own more pretentious performance. The very opening sentences of the speech gave utterance to something" like a sneer. As chairman of the Journal Committee, it seems that Mr. Thompson has fi-equently been urged to procure articles on such questions as Leases, Tenant Right, the Preservation of Game, and other such "forbidden topics"; but upon this he says, "No- thingcanbe more reasonable than that men who have a com- mon'interest in any subjects of this nature should meet and discuss them— should, if they think fit, write pam- phlets and newspaper articles, and endeavour as much as possible to enlist public opinion in support of their par- ticular views" — and so forth. Of course they can, without any particular leave or licence, as we take it, from the President of the Royal Agricultural Society, whose own. speech was a pamphlet or a newspaper article, specially written out, as he himself said, previous to delivering it, in order that the newspapers might have it in fu'u. But why are leases or the game abuse for- bidden topics ? " Because," answers Mr. Thompson, " when all is done, landlord and tenant must in future, as in the past, settle their mutual rights and privileges by individual negotiation and agreement ; and in the great ma- jority of cases such negotiations will assuredly end in land' being let at its market value, such market value varying; in some measure according to the security aff"orded to thelenaiit that if he lays out his capital on land that is not his own he will get it back with a fair profit ;" which, being interpreted, means to say, so far as we can understand the rather dubious phraseology in which the sentence is worded, that discussions, or pampjileteering, or newspaper articles, on such forbidden topics, are of little or no actual use after all. Fortunately, "every one knows the reverse to be the fact, and that of late years the clauses in leases have been improved, the secmity of capital has been ensm-ed, and the evils of gartie-preserva- tion have been diminished proportionately as these matters have been discussed or written up to. But in any case, says Mr. Thompson, such topics as Leases and Tenant- riaht are forbidden in the Journal of the Society. We bea; to dcmiu- even to the statement of so high an authority as Mr. Thompson, and in doing so to take him back to a still higher. In the earlier histoiy of the Royal Agricultural Society, when its Jom-nal was conducted with an ability that it never has been since, Tenant-Right and Leases were not forbidden subjects in its pages ; on the con- trary, they were well known to be two of the favom-ite topics of Philip Pusey, feeling as he did how much the agriculture of the country and the proper position of the farmer depended upon these questions being properly 80 THE FAEMER'S MAGAZINE. adjusted, through the force of public opinion, or even, if vou wiU, tlirough the interference of the Legislature. And what does Mr. Thompson set up agaiust such sub- jects as these, as being more worthy of the considera- tion of the Royal Agricultural Society ? Education, Agri- cultural Farm" Buildings, and Labourers' Cottages. If Education be an adherence to the absurdities paraded in the Report of the Society, then God help the agricultural pupil ! As to farm-buildings, why the tenant's right to jmll down the buildings he had himself erected was con- ceded as the result of this very tabooed Tenant-right in- quiry. And then the labourer, and his cottage, and his cow? — his audience was too well bred to laugh in his face when Mr. Thompson recommended the farmers of Eng- land to sub-let their grass-lauds to the labourers to keep cows and pigs upon ! But we do not believe there was a man in the room who ever thought for a moment of following such advice. And these are the topics that the Great National Society of Agriculture should engage itself upon — to carefully provide for Pollard getting his £7 as the head of " tlie General Class," and for Bran renting as much grass laud as will keep him a cow and a pig ! All this may be very admirable, as some gentle- men declared it to be ; but we emphatically protest against the condition to which the Royal Agricultural Society is being brought, when it dare not treat on topics of all others most important to the actual business of farming, and that, perhaps the best friend the Society ever had, declared by his practice to be above all others most worthy of attention. We are quite willing to allow that Mr. Thompson made the most of the cattle-plague, and of the very little the Council has hitherto done iu dealing with that matter ; but the general tone of his pamphlet struck us as being eminently conservative or obstructive, for we need not stay to search for phrases. There can be, indeed, little wonder that the Council is so ready to shift over tlie real care of the cause to the New Chamber, or to any one who will take it, when the Tenm-e of Land is proclaimed as a " forbidden topic" in a community of agricultm-ists ! THE ROYAL DUBLIN SOCIETY'S CHRISTMAS SHOW. This exhibition was held in the Society's premises, Kildare-street, on Tuesday, Dec. 11, and the two following days. The number of entries in the different sections was considerably less than on former occasions, partly in consequence of the apprehensions which existed until a recent period concerning the outbreak of the cattle- plague, and partly from the Society not having deter- mined on holding the show in time to enable the exhibitors to prepare for the contest. In the section for the best Shorthorned ox calved in 1864 the prize was awai-ded to Mr. Allan Pollok, for a roan bullock with a good rib aud back. The prize for the best ox more than two years old was also given to 3Ir. Pollok, for a very evenly-Heshed animal, with capital hips, and good rib and chine. In the section for the best West Highland ox, of any age, there was no compe- tition, the prize being awarded to Mr. Allan Pollok for a very fine beast, with grand back aud loin, and a ca- pital chine. Mr. Pollok also carried off the prize for the best Scotch polled cow, of any age, with a rather nice animal. The prize for the best Hereford cow was won by Mr. R. Featherstonhaugh with a very well-finished cow, with splendid hips, rib, and loin. In the section for the best cow of any age or breed, the prize went to i\Ir. Mark Leonard, for a nice Shorthorn, with prime chine and loins. The prize for the best Shorthorn heifer, under forty-eight months old, was won by Mr. Pollok with a splendidly-finished heifer, with fine sirloin and rib-. In this class a heifer belonging to Mr. Nathaniel Barton was commended. Iu the Kerry heifer class the prize was awarded to Mr. N. Barton, for a beautiful evenly- covered heifer, with good round ; and in the same section Mr. Sam. Garnett, jun., received a high commendation for a nice heifer, with good rib and chine. The prize for the best heifer, not included iu the foregoing sections, went to Mr. A. Pollok, for a heifer with good back and rib, and capital round. In the class for the best pair of out- door and grass-fed heifers the prize went to J\lr. Thomas Gerrard. There were only five other lots shown. The number of entries of sheep was also small. Those shown were, however, very good. The prize for the best pen of three Long-woolled .shearling wethers went to ilr. J. S, Naper, for a capital pen of well- finished wethers, a very nice pen belonging to Mr. Johu Radclil" being comraended, In the pen of three Long-woolled shearling wethers, exceeding one aud not exceeding three-shear, the prize was awarded to Mr. Thomas Gerrard, for a capital pen of sheep, which were fed solely on grass, without any artificial food whatever. Mr. James Simpson was highly commended for a pen of Leicesters ; and a very fine pen belonging to Mr. A. Pollok was commended. There was also a pen of very fine wethers shown by INIr. Richard Walsh, which appeared not to have been noticed by the judges. The prize for the best pen of three long-woolled shearling ewes, of any age, was given to Mr. William Owen for a very fine pen of Leicesters ; a pen belonging to Mr. Sey- mour Mowbray being highly commended, and another belonging to Mr. PoUok being commended. In the section for the best pen of three short-woolled shearling wethers there was but one exhibitor, Mr. J. S. Naper, who received a certificate of merit for a nice pen of Shropshires. In the class of three short-woolled shearling wethers, exceeding one, and not exceed- ing three-shear, there was but one exhibitor ; and no prize was awarded. The prize for the best pen of three long-woolled shearling ewes, of any age, was awarded to I;icutenant-Colonel Tottenham, for a very good pen of Shropshire Down ewes. Mr. Samuel Gar- nett carried oft" the prize for the best pen of five sheep, of any age, sex, or breed, not competing in the foregoing sections, with a very fine pen, fed on nothing but grass. In this section, Sir. Allan Pollok received a highly commended card; and a pen of Leicesters belonging to Mr. James Simpson was commended. In the swine classes the entries were small, but the animals shown were very good. In the section for the best pen of three pigs, coloured breed, imder six months old, there was a very nice lot of sm;dl Windsor, crossed with black Berkshire, shown by Captain IVederick J. Isaacke ; but no prize was awarded, he being the only exhibitor. The prize for the best single pig, coloured breed, of any age, was awarded to a remarkably fine Berkshire sow, belonging lo Mr. Richard Winter Reynell. Mr. J. L. Naper obtained the prize for the best pen of three pigs, white breed, under six months old, with a nice pen of Yoikshire and Cimiberland pigs. The prize for the best single pig, white breed, any age, went to Mr. Daniel Bayley, for a very good hog of the white Yorkshire breed. THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 81 The number of entries in the poultry classes was very large ; in fact, this was the only portion of the show that was at all equal in point of nimibcr to what it had been on former occasions. The Dorkins classes were well filled, the birds exhibited being very fine. The principal prize-takers in Dorkings were Mr. R. Palmer Williams, Mrs. Warburton, and Mr. 1\ W. Zurhorst. The number of Spanish fowl shown was not quite so great as that of the Dorkings. The prizes here went toiNIr. Alexander Conyers, iun., Mr. Seymour Mowbray, Mr. R. P. Williams, and Mr. Charles E. M'Clintock. The turkeys and geese were very fine. There were some beautiful Hong Kong geese shown by Mr. Thomas Butler. The exhibition of agricultural produce was very credit- able. The first prize in long red mangel was won by Lord James Butler with six roots, which weighed 1261bs. ; second, the Marquis of Clanricarde. Lord James Butler also got the prize for long yellow ; weight of six roots, 771bs. In red globe mangel the prize was awarded to Lord James Butler; weight of six roots, 1031bs. ; second, Lady Butler ; weight, 1021bs. Por the best yellow globe mansjel the prize went to ^Ir. Thomas Smith ; six roots, 921bs. The prize in Swede turnips also was awarded to Mr. Smith for six roots ; weight, 1361bs, The show of butter was good, both as regards quality and entry. There were two sets of prizes in this class, one lot given by the society and the other by the hotel keepers of Dublin. Those given by the society were for cools, not less than 401bs., and the prizes weie awarded-first, to Mr. Michael Roche Carlow ; second. Miss C. Jones, Wicklow ; third, Mr N Dowling, Wick- low ; fourth, Mr. James Roghe, Carlow. fhe hotel keepers' prizes went to the following : Mr. P. Hughe Mr J. Smith, Carlow ; Mr. T. Bergm, W.cklow ; Mi. Cecil, Wicklow ; and Mr. H. Bolan, Wexfoixl There a prize or certificate given to the dairymaid who shaU hive made the winning cool of butter. In this instance there were two awarded : first, to the dairymaid of Mi. Alichael Roche ; second, to Miss Jones' dairymaid. * The prize for the best collection of farm produce went to Mr B L Guinness, M.P. ; while in the wool section there 'were some excellent fleeces shown but the prize for the best fleece of long wool was awarded to a cross- bred fleece, the length of staple of which was only about five inches ; though there were splendid long-wool fleeces shown by both Dr. Taylor and Mr. Owen the staple of which was remarkably fine, and fuUy nme inches in length, THE TREDEGAR SHOV/. The Cattle-plague restrictions again kept away the Shorthorns and Herefords, as well as sheep and pigs ; but there was a really good entry of horses of every age and sort fi-om the thorough-bred stallion to the rough, quick- stepping Welsh pony. The town of Newport was the customary head-quarters of the meetmg, while the trial-ground for the hunters was in the meadows a mile begond Tredegar Park. The fences were m the figure of eight-easy, but sufficient to test the capability ot a °Theie were two classes of hunters tried, viz., those up to 14 stone and 11 stone respectively, who should prove themselves "good and straight fencers over such fences as may be sekcted ; more than three refusals at any fence to be a disqualification." Amongst the weight-carriers The Pride of Erin was a regidar Irishman in appearance, with fine shoulders, nice springy action, a good tencer, but to whom we should fancy 11 or 13 stone more suit- able than 14. Cxoliah, a 17 -hands 3 in chestnut, had evidently been well-tutored, and did his leaps easJy and weUin the hands of his owner, the Honourable 1. C Morgan, whose other entry, Jamaica, by Maroon equaUy well-handled, is a fine slashing marc and looked more fit to sail along across Leicestershire than for an enclosed countiy, handy though she be. ^'^tieuce a strong, short-legged mare, looked hke a real good sor and did aU her leaps, with the exception of the tmibei weU ; but a large-capped hock would spoil her chance ot apri^e. Bantam, a six-year-old brown gelding jumped weU,and appeared to have a good turn ot speed ; but lie twists his forelegs in galloping, and we shoidd think would be likely to cut himself. Mountain Dew, a four- vear-old black gelding by The Era, dam by Wmdhound, pleased us more than anything we had yet seen having fine even action, and doing all his leaps in splendid torn. He must, if all goes weU with him, turn out a very valu- able animal. Troublesome, a weU-named, strong, commou-looking chestnut, jumped well, barring the tim- ber, where he nearly came to gne , the resiilt, appa- rently of having * bad mouth, and throwing his head about in R most " troublesome " manner to hi« ridev ; he will however, improve with age, we doubt not m which case he will be a very useful horse. A big bay horse called The Bishop, was the only one m this class who took a bath which, however, was not of much consequence in his case, as the company he had to keep was evidently too good for him. Next came the horses calculated to carrv 11 stone to hounds, with the same conditions as to- their leaping capabilities as the former. Cabm Boy, by Morning Herald, reminded us of his grandson Chanti- cleer, and is a very showy nag-a great favonrito m the neighbourhood from his performances He did his fences in first-rate style, and galloped, in the opinion of many people, to perfection; though we nevertheless consider his action and general appearance more fit tor Rotten Row than for the hunting-field; but, if we kept but one horse, we could very well put up with Cabm Boy. The brown Rarey, without a pedigree, was every inch a hunter in appearance-which his pei-formance did not belie. Alice was a chestnut mare, that looked more like steeplechasing than hunting, and we heard that she has been pretty successful in that line. Col. H. Cxore Lind- sey's King of Sardinia is a nice, well-bred one, and, as well as his grey Seagull, a good performer. Young Mr. F. H Beaver's chestnut, Kildare, is a niee sporting-lookmg nao- who evidentlv can jump anything, and it is a pity heVas not mounted by someone who con d ride him, as he refused several times simply from bad handling. Le Papillon, a four-year-old by Wild Dayrel is too bght for a 12-stone hunter ; and the chestnut gelding Alma has a plain head, and short back-ribs, but he went well. On Wednesdav morning the show proper was held m the cattle market at Newport, three sides of which are surrounded by excellent stabling for the hoi-ses, and m which were ranged yearlings, two, three, and tour-year- old huntina- colts or fillies to be got by a thoroughbred horse and' bred in the counties of either Monmouth, Glamorgan, or Brecon ; cobs, ponies, and cart horses as well as the hunters that were tried on the yesterday— all ot which were respectively before the judges and afterwards paraded for the benefit of the general public The judges were Major Lewis from Pembrokeshire, Mr. Barthropp 82 THE FAEMEK'S MAGAZINE. from Suffolk, and Mr. Cookes from Worcestershire, for riding horses; and Mr, Higgins fi-om Gloucestershire and Mr. Adams from near Chepstow for cart horses. Beginning with the yearlings shown for Lord Tredegar's cup — seven entries — the winner, belonging to Mr. Thomas, St. Hilary, near Cowbridge, is a smart colt by Kildonan, but will never be up to much weight : his action no doubt got him the prize. Mr. Henry Dowell had a nice grey or black filly by Llandaff, which obtained a commenda- tion. The two-year-olds, with twelve entries, were a mottley group, comprising the neat thoroughbred, one animal fit for a Brougham, one or two ponies, and some nondescripts. The winner, after a great deal of drafting, appeared in a strong chesnut filly, haK-sister to Mountain Dew, being by Ancient Briton,dam by Windhound ; but she is not so good-looking as the horse, having rather a plain head and short forehand ; though her action was so supe- rior to any of the others that it outbalanced the rather common look which at first struck you. The Hon. G. G. Morgan showed three very nice animals, but they were all too light ; The Cadger, being the best of the lot, was commended ; and the Hon. F. C. Morgan was also highly commended for his good-looking Wild Dayrcll colt, which appeared to be in training. Three-year-olds : Six entries, the winner being a sood old-fashioned sort of horse, with fine shoulders, and altogether the stamp we want more of. The Hon. F. C. Morgan shows a nice filly by Clapham, which is commended : the winner of this cup is by Caliph^ and the property of Mr. W. Morgan of Llanvetherine! The cup for four-year-olds was won by Mr. 11. Rees with a bay horse by :Morpeth, having fine shoidders and a capital back, with good action ; a black mare by Knight of Gwynn, being highly commended and very deservedly, being a fine pronxising mare in spite of a little slackness about the loin. The hunters, whose juniping powers ■were tested yesterday, were now brought up for judg- ment, the pl-izes being £20 and £5 for the best hunter up to 14 stone; and it is only necessary to say that Captain Heygate won with Mountain Dew, the Hon. F. C. Morgan's .Jamaica taking the second place. The prize of 10 guineas for the best hunter up to 12 stone ■went to Mr. C. H. Williams' Rarey, not\<'ithstanding its being pretty generally known that' Cabin Boy was sold for £200 on the previous day ; but he was only highly commended; and Mr. Holt Beever's Kildare and'the Hon. J. F. Clifford Butler's Bella Donna were com- mended. The silver cup for the best thoroughbred entire horse from two years old upwards was awarded to Mr. Miles' Prince of Wales, a horse of fine outline, but whose action is evidently gone, from age ; while Clapham, the commended horse, is all wrong in'his back and action ; the three other entries require no comment from us. The cup for the bast nag mare with foal at fool or in-foal brought out a very odd lot ; but the winner, the property of 3Ir. T. P. Booker, was of a nice sort, and, as we were told, had been a good hunter. We were disappointed in the ponies, though there were ten entries : these were, however, soon reduced to four, and over these the judges dwelt a loiig time, there evideutly being some difference of opinion amongst them ; but at last the point was settled, the prize going to a nice dark-chesnut mare, belonging to Mr. J.Williams from near Cowbridge; the other thre'e being commended. A prize of 5 gs. for the best cob or gallo"- way brought the largest number of competitors, there bemg eighteen entries, though they were not so uniform a lot as might have been expected in the locality. After a deal of drafting, the prefercuce lay between a very neat bay mare and a rather plain horse, whose action before was certainly better than the mare's, and which we suppose must have gamed him the prize for his owner, Mr R H iiichards. We had not time to pay much attention to the cart horses, of which the show was far from being good, there being but 29 entries, and but few of these requiring notice. The cup for the best yearling colt or filly was awarded to a strong useful colt of Mr. R. W. Bridge- water's. Five guineas for the best two-year-old was won by Mr. W. Blowers with a coarse-legged grey, whose shoes did not appear to sit comfortably on his fore feet, if we may judge from his manner in the stable. The prize for three-year-olds was won by Mr. D, Downes with a very useful animal. Mr. J. Logan wins the set of cart harness for the best working horse for agricultural pur- poses with a thick good mare. But one cart mare with foal at foot was shown, still she was a fine one. The stallions were a bad lot^ and it would be invidious to name one in particular ; though it strikes us that a horse with more quality and less hair on his legs would be preferable to those atin-eseutin use in the neighbourhood. The poultry show was excellent, as may be inferred from the fact that Mr. Fowler of Aylesbury v/as only com- mended in some classes ; and there was a fair supple- mentary exhibition of agricultural imi)lements. The day's proceedings were wound up by a dinner at the King's Head Hotel, under the presidency of Lord Trede- gar, at which, however, we were unable to attend. There was a deal of angry discussion over the award of the stallion prize to Prince of AVales. Mr. Cartwright said that, to his knowledge. Modesty, Prince of Wales' dam, had been running as a half-bred for several years, and he objected to the prize being awai-ded to that horse, as appeared on the list, until itwas satisfactorily proved a thoroughbred. He looked upon a half-bred stallion as the greatest nuisance that could be introduced into a country. Lord Trcdegau thoroughly concurred with the remarks of Mr. Cartwright, and'int'iniated that the prize would be withheld until Modesty should be proved to be a thorough bred. On the name of Mr. G. Miles's horse. Prince of Wales, being mentioned also for the Cor- poration Prize of 20 gs. for the best entire horse in the yard, the Mayor rose and said, on behalf of the corporation whom he represented, that he objected for precisely the same reason as that given by Mr. Cartwright to Prince of Wales taking the Corporation Prize. Mr. Relph, although he agreed with the decision of the Chairman in regard to the former prize, objected to their withholding the prize to the same horse in the Corporation competition. He drew attention to the fact that the prize was off'ered to the best entire horse, nothing being said as to thorough -brfed. He tlierefore thought it Undesirable to alter the terms of the prize after they had been published. The discussion was warmly continued for some time ; but at length Lord Tredegar said he had got the three best judn;cs he could obtain, and as they had awarded the prizeto the best en- tire horse in the yard, in accordance with the terms of the awal-d (no mention in this instance being made of thorough-breds), he would, with the permission of the company, hand over the prize to Mr. Miles. Mr. Miles, on receiving the cup, expressed himself strongly on the point which had been raised, and contended" that Mr. Cartwright Avas wrong in the view he had taken. Of course the Judges al-e in no way implicated in this dis- pute, which must depelid entirely lipon the wording of the conditions. Mr. Bortou, of Barton, Yorkshire, has just sold two Leicester rams, to go to New Zealand, being shipped for Major Whit- more, of Rissington Napier, Hawkes Bay. They are both shearlings. No. 33 by the Royal Worcester prize ram, dam by Old Buckfoot; and No. 36 by the Royal Worcester Ram, dam l)y the Old Royal Lincoln ram ; wliilst 33 and 30 have tliem- selves been also successful on the show around. THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE, THE FARMERS' CLUB DINNER. The annual dinner 6f the Farmers' Club took place on the Tuesday in the Smithfield Show week at the Salishury Hotel, under the presidency of the chairman of the year, IMr. George Smythies, when nearly one hundred sat down. The dinner was an exceedingly good one, and Mr. Ransford enlivened the proceedings by singing at intervals some excellent songs, admirably appropriate to the toasts as they severally followed. After the usual loyal toasts, the Cilvikm.vn gave " The Armv, the Navy, the Militia, and Volunteers." Mr. James Howard responded, as Captain of the 9th Bedfordshire Volunteers, observing that he was the first volun- teer to enrol himself in his native county. The CnAiRMAN said he was quite sure the next toast on the list would be drunk with enthusiasm by the majority of those in the room, being "Success to the Farmers' Club" (cheers). He said the majority, because some of those who heard him were not members of the club, but visitors. They were congratulated from the chair that time last year on having so good a house and so good a room for their meetings, and he was quite sure that the anticipations then held out had been fuUy realized. Since they had had such an excellent place to meet in, the club had thriven as it never throve before. During the last twelve months they had elected one hundred new members. Not only had that large addition been made to the list of members ; but the Committee had felt obliged to reject the applications of a great number of gentlemen who v/ished to belong to the Club— rejecting them not on account of any fault in the can- didates themselves or of any legal objection to their election, but because they wished to confine membership of that Club as much as possible to persons who were interested in some way or other in the land (cheers). If they went on electing members as fast as applications were made for election,_ they would soon have a larger number than could be conveniently accommodated; and hence the Committee had felt it their duty to reject candidates who would otherwise have been very desirable (Hear, hear). The Club had not only prospered iu the last year as regarded the increase of its members, but also in a pecuniary point of view, having been enabled to invest £200 more in solid securities (cheers). Wealth was, generally considered a proof of respectability, and he hoped therefore tlie pubHc would soon regard them as having attained that grand point (laughter). He did not intend to detain them with a long speech ; but he thought that, whUst he was con- gratulating the Club upon its advancing prosperity, he ought to congratulate the country at large on its improved position as regarded other matters of deep importance connected with the history of the last twelvemontli. And the first thing which suggested ifself to his mind in that respect was the great decrease which had taken place in the number of diseased cattle. This time last year tiiose who were most conversant with that matter were labouring under a great and just dread of the future. There were, indeed, persons who thought the fears entertained unfounded ;' but he might appeal to all present whether those fears had not been aniply justified by what had taken place during the last twelvemonth. Since last December the cattle plac^ue had assumed such proportions as to have become really alarming ; but owing, as be thought, in a great degree to the admirable measures adopted by the Government (Hear, hear), and carried out more or less strictly throughout the kingdom, the country had happily at length obtained almost entire free- dom from that terrilile calamity. A few weeks ago he was in hopes that he would be enabled to remark on that occasion that they were entirely rid of the disease, but lie was sorry to find that that was not the case ; on the contrary, he believed that a small revival of the plague had recently taken place, arising probably from the fact that many were too eager to anticipate the great results which would be realised when it was quite removed (Hear, hear). No doubt great inconvenience arose to one and all of them from the restrictions which were, as he believed necessarily, still imposed on the cattle trade ; but they must bear the burden a little longer (Hear, hear),^ for they would probably sutler much more if ia consequence of their having obtainedtemporary relief from the evilthe stringency of the Government regulations should be relaxedtoo soon(Hear). He considered it, therefore, a duty to urge them to do all they could in their respective localities, to see that the Orders ot the Privy Council were still carried out in the strictest nian- uer however inconvenient that might be to themselves and their neighbours. He was quite sure they would be amply repaid for any present inconvenience by taking that course (Hear, hear) . He had intended to mention one or two other subjects, but he felt that he was detaining them too long (cries of" No, no," and " Go on"). With regard to the recent harvest, he felt that a very great many farmers near the eastern and southern coasts had to be congratulated, not only upon the amount of their crops and the manner in which they were har- vested, but also upon the high prices which they were novv re- ceivui"-— high, he meant, in comparison with the prices whicli had prevailed of late years ; but they must recollect that that success or those prices had been obtained at the cost ot their less successful brethren. In the west and in the north the farmers had certainly sustained great losses ; and while those to whom he had just referred might congratulate them- selves on having high prices, he hoped they would not forget that it was at the cost of others. Having made these remarks he would now call upon them cordiaUy to drink " Success to the Fanners' Club" (loud cheers). The toast was drank with great enthusiasm. Sir S. ViLLiEus SURTEES said, were he rising on that occa- sion for the purpose of tendering to them his opinions or advice on those subjects which commonly formed matter of discourse there, his proper diffidence would at once say to him, " Not so : you came here to listen and to learn— not to speak." But the pleasing duty which devolved upon him that evenina- was of a totally different nature. The subject which he wished to commend to their consideration was one that required no lessons from him. Fortunately, they had had the best of teachers— their own personal experience. They all knew and had long known, their worthy Chairman (cheers). They' had had opportunities of fully noting bis mam charac- teristics—his dignity and courtesy as chairman, the singularly rapid instinct which guided him, the clearness and soundness of his always impartial judgment ; and they could never forget that he coiabiued with these quahfications a perfect acquaint- ance with various branches of the multifarious subjects with which the Farmers' Club was conversant. But they had looked upon him thus far only iu the light of their Chair- man ■ before they passed from the subject let them remember that they owed a large debt of gratitude to him personally. Let them now go further a-field— let them not only look at that part of the country where bis family were born, but con- sider what they had done for the length and breadth of Great Britain and of" the whole world. He need not recall to their memory that the Chairman was one of those who lived on the land of the red sandstone- that land which was pre- eminently, the land of one of tlie brightest jewels m the agri- cultural crown of Great Britain— the Herefords (Hear, hear). He believed he was right in stating that the Chairman w'as not the first of his family who had distinguished himself m con- nection with that breed of animals. It was within his own knowledge that on the previous day a brother-branch of the same family had shown what it could do for agriculture. But he believed he was right in speaking of an earlier ancestry, in speaking emphatically of the chairman's father as the mau who first brought this great jewel into public notice, and thereby benefited the whole of mankind. The old French herdd was right which said " Bon sang n'a jamais mente. This was true in the present case; it was true of the breed and of the family which had done so much to assist it. It could hardly be expected that he (Sir S. V. Surtees)— a member of a family cradled at the very head-quarters of the Short- horns, nay cradled on the very banks of that beautiful stream in whose clear waters Collins' herd first slaked its thirst— it could hardly be expected, he said, that he could conceive that the Star of the Teeswater would ever pale its ft 3 84 THE FAEMER'S MAGAZINE. orb Lefore any other luminary (lauglitpr). At the same time candour bade him admit, as every one in Durliam would do, that the Hereford was a most worthy rival of tlie Shorthorn (Hear). He would not go further than that (laughter). The whole world, too, would l)ear him out in saying that each of those breeds had its own merits, and all present would agree with him that each under its own proper circumstances was better than the other (Hear, hear). He now called upon them to drink with brimming l)umpers to tlie health of the url)ane and intelligent chairman, of the eminent agriculturist, of the polished gentleman, of their social friend the Chairman (loud cheers). The toast having been cordially drunk with the honours, a final cheer being given for " the Herefords," Tlie Chaikjiajj returned thanks. He said, however proud he might lie of the cheers which had just been given, he was more proud of the last clieer, that for the Herefords, than of all tlie others. He felt that, however unworthy he might be, the Herefords were every way deserving of all the commenda- tion bestowed upon them by Sir Villiers Surtees. As regarded himself, he was sure there could not be a man in that room who did not feel that Sir Villiers had said a great deal more of him than he had merited (" No, no") ; but, nevertheless, as chairman he felt greatly indebted to the proposer of the toast and to those who had received it so cordially, and he hoped he might conclude from what had occurred that in their estimation he had at all events done nothing during the past year to disgrace the proud position of chairman of that Club (cheers). He should be proud under any circumstances to be chairman of so iiiflueutial a body as the Farmers' Club, but lie was particularly proud tliat it had fallen to his lot to fill that position during the iirst whole year that they had occupied their new premises. The last President occupied the chair during a year only part of wliich was spent by the Club in that building ; but he, himself, had had the honour of presiding during the first whole year after a change which he believed to have been a grand turning point in the history of the society (Hear, hear). They had now premises which afforded ample accommodation for the members of the Club, and to which they were not ashamed to invite their friends, and that was certainly not the case before. He hoped that for every agricultural association, whatever it might call itself, whether the Farmers' Club, or the Smithfield Club, or the Chamber of Agriculture, or liy some other designation, that place would prove a central and rallying point (cheers). It was owing not so much to the isolated position in wliich farmers were placed in their own localities, as to the want of some central gathering-place, that attempts to produce an im- pression on the country or the legislature had hitherto gene- rally proved futile. That difficulty was now at an end ; and to whatever association farmers belonged, they might now hope to succeed in any reasonable object (cheers). Mr. C. Sewell Read, M.P., proposed as the next toast — " The Three Great Agricultural Societies of the United King- dom." In doing so he observed that it was particularly grati- fying after the expiration of bis first year of Parliamentary apprenticeship to find, by the reception they had given him, that he still enjoyed the good opinion and, he hoped, the con- fidence of his brother farmers (cheers) . He did not suppose it was necessary to give an account of his stewardship at that time, though he might perhaps be allowed to give a brief sum- mary of the few important agricultural subjects which came under the consideration of Parliament in the last session. First of all, of course, came the Cattle Diseases Act, to the rigorous enforcement of which might be ascribed the almost total extinction of the disease throughout the country ; but he endorsed the opinion of the Chairman that they'had yet to fear that the withdrawal of the restrictions on the opening of store-cattle markets was likely to keep them in a state of painful suspense much longer than if vigorous measures were still continued. The next subject, and that not a very pleasing one to him, was the malt tax. And he must confess that be had been greatly disappointed by the manner in which that question was treated by the House of Commons. For his part, he was very thankful indeed that he had not been born or bred a philosopher ; because philosophy would so pervert a man's judgment as to allow him to rise in the House of Com- Tnons and say that, in consequence of the decrease in the supply ?C °-2 •!? 'i.'^'] ^^^ l"'Q^a^lo cessation at uo greatly distant period The iiritUH farmer at^d labourer rauat rHU pay the n^ait tax until such time as the National Debt had been extinguished. He could only say tluit that might be philosophy, but in his opinion it was not justice. The result was, however, that the House of Commons decided by a majority of more than 80 that there should be no diminution of that impost even with a surplus revenue. Now all this was very disheartening, and tiierefore he looked at the question as entirely wrapped up in this, that they must bring their minds to at least approve of a substitute in the shape of a beer duty (Hear, hear, and no, no). He did not say they were to ask for it ; but if it were proposed he did not see that they could anyhow get rid of the imposition of a small beer duty (Hear, hear). Such a measure would do this — and it was essential that farmers should consider it — it ' would get rid of an immense quantity of adulteration, and in- stead of having countless tons of sugar used in the manufac- ture, as had been the case this year in particular, they would find tliat the best and cheapest material for making beer was neither more nor less than malt (cheers). No doubt people tliought that a great deal of wind had been taken out of their sails lately by the high price of barley ; but it was not when they had a poor crop of barley and half of it, perhaps, injured, while some had good crops, that they felt the full force of the tax. It was when they had generally large and abundant crops that they experienced the greatest pressure ; and surely if the brewers could this year pay 50 per cent, more for barley and 50 per cent, more for hops, tliey must be driving a jolly good trade (Hear, hear). There was one other subject, with which he would dismiss Parliamentary matter : he referred to the Irish Tenant-Eight Bill, which, to the surprise of a great number of membeis in the House, he did not support, but, on the contrary, criticised and warmly opposed. He had yet to learn that tenants' right meant landlords' wi-ong; and he con- tended that that bill was nothing less than a partial confisca- tion of property. And although as a tenant farmer he might have been expected to support a measure of that sort, he was sure that honesty was not only the wisest, but by aU means the best policy, and that the only proper way by which farmers could obtain their rights was on all occasions to respect and uphold the rights of those who were above them (cheers). He wished them, of course, every prosperity, and that next year might be a far better one than the past ; and in that spirit he asked the company to drink prosperity to these great national institutions (loud cheers). Mr. J. THOMP.SON gave the health of Mr. E. Little, the chairman-elect for tlie coming year, as an excelleut neighbour, and one whose opinions were held in the highest respect in his own district. Mr. Little, having first acknowledged the compliment, proposed " Continued Success to the Smithfield Club." In adverting to the show of fat stock in the Agricultural Hall, he showed tliat the Smithfield Club also had proved itself wortliy of taking rank as a national institution, for to its exertions the country was greatly indebted for the production of a very large quantity of the best food (cheers). When it was remembered that a quarter of a million of cattle had died of the plague in the course of the year, and that fifty thousand more had only escaped the disease by being killed, he thought they might congratulate themselves upon the fact that the show was one of the finest in respect of quality, if not of numbers, that had ever been held. No other body than the Smithfield Club could have brought together such a collection of stock under existing circumstances; and the result was highly creditable to the pluck of the club and to the enter- prising spirit of the English farmer (cheers). Mr. Buckley, one of the judges of stock, briefly returned thanks. The Rev. E. Sjiytiiies gave, " The Local Farmers' Clubs ;" and, in doing so, availed himself of the opportunity to pro- nounce a high eulogium on the memory of the late Mr. Charles Stokes, who for many years had sat on the committee of the club established in his own neighbourhood, and was also a member of, and a regular attendant at, the meetings of the Central Club, in London. By that gentleman's death, though at a ripe age, they had lost a true and valued friend, and one whose solid character all who knew him had learned to respect (Hear, hear). With the toast he associated tlic name of Mr. Simpson, vice-president of the Wakefield Club, Mr. Simpson, in the course of his reply, expressed an earnest desire to see the various local clubs throughout t!m pountry bound together in a closer union. They might tlien, THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 85 he thought, go to the'.Chancellor of the Exchequer and de- mand the total and immediate repeal of the malt-tax with a much better chance of success. On tliat subject he felt very strongly ; and they might depend upon it that the advautage of such a repeal to the agriculturist would be very consider- able, whilst the maltster liad no conception of the boon it would prove to him (cheers) . Mr. Moss proposed " The Committee of Management," to whom lie tendered his sincere thanks for having obtained such excellent quarters at " The Salisl)ury" for the Club, and con- cluded by urging all present to use their utmost exertions in ensuring the greatest possible success to the hotel (clieers) . Mr. C0USSM.UCEI!,, who responded on behalf of the Com- mittee, observed that whilst prepared to accept any little credit that was due to them for their management, they could uot have achieved such satisfactory results as they had done but fcr the assistance they had received from their able secretary. He had great pleasure therefore in giving the health of Mr. Corbet, with the addition of a hope that the Club might long have the advantage of that gentleman's efficient services (cheers) . Mr. Corbet, who was loudly cheered, said that he looked upon the last two years as the commeucement of au entirely new era in tlie history of the Central Farmers' Club, and he associated that new era witli the building of the house in which they were then assembled. In the few remarks, then, which he had to make in returu for the compliment that had been paid him, he should confine himself to the building of that house and the prospects of the Club in its new hal}itation. As their secretary he was in some degree responsible for their reception and comfort when the members came up from the country, and he could honestly assure them that few could liave any idea of the difficulties which had had to be encountered before they could be accommodated with suitable quarters. Even their secretary himself had out of the savings he could effect been made to invest in the undertaking (laughter and cheers). But that was a merely pecuniary consi- deraHon after all, and one which the Directors of the Hotel Company, the Committee of tlie Club, and he himself as their Secretary had unhesitatingly thrown aside (cheers and laughter). There were other difficidties besides that witli which they had also had to contend, and an old friend of his had at an early period assured him that one of the greatest of them would be that connected with the management. Uiuloubtedly that had been so ; but his charac- ter was sufficiently well known to justify him in saying that if he spoke a good word for a mau he must deserve it (Hear, hear, and a laugh) ; aud when he told them, as he did now, that they had a good man in their present manager, he hoped they would receive the statement in the fullest sense that it conveyed (Hear, hear). Of course, they might expect to hear some complaints. He remembered tliat in one of Bulwer Lyt- ton's best Comedies there was an unfortunate old gentleman in a scene at a West End Club who, however comfortable other people might be, was always driving the waiters about to find tlie snuff-box, and perhaps even some of those present that night had beeu hunting up the snuff-box (great laughter) ; nevertheless, he confidently asserted tliat the members of the Club had never been so well housed and cared for, and that the Club itself had never enjoyed such good prospects as it did at this moment (cheers) . As the question of the malt-tax liad beeu rejerred to, he might be excused for observing that in his opi- nion the only way to effect its repeal was having a larger number of independent men in the House of Commons — men who would run as straight on the question as the Hon. Member for Nor- folk had done (loud cheers). Some eighteen or twenty years ago an attempt was made to get the various local farmers' clubs to unite in supporting the abolition of the malt-tax, but these clubs were found to be of au ephemeral character, and many of them talked themselves out in the course of two or three years. The CiiAiRMAJNf, in proposing the health of the visitors, re- ferred in terms of regret to the loss the Club had sustained duri?ig the year by the deaths of Mr. Charles Stokes, Jlr. Fisher Hobbs, and Mr. R. Garrett ; but as time passed they must accustom themselves to see their older friends drop off one after anotlier. Others, however, were there to take their places, and he was pleased to see present on that occasion a young mau who had very recently been elected member for Shropshire, and in that capacity had shown a deep interest in the welfare of the tenant farmer. He gave them, then, " the health of the visitors, coupled with the name of Mr. Jasper jMoore, M,P," (cheers). Mr. Jasper Moore, in returning thanks for the compliment ^ said he had been charmed with three things in coming among them that evening. Pirst, at finding that his friend and neigh- bour Mr. Smythies was held in sucli high estimation by the members of the Club ; secondly, at hearing the singularly lucid speech of his hon. friend Mr. Sewell Read, and being able to congratulate them that agriculture was represented by a man \vlio enjoyed and deserved respect in the House of Com- mons ; and thirdly, at finding that the agricultural community had such splendid head-quarters as the house in which they were then met. He himself was simply the representative of local tenant farmers, who had tried their best to follow the ex- ample which had been set by the county of Norfolk (cheers). As yet, however, his constituency were new at such attempts, as was apparent from their not having returned a better man than himself (laughter). Although lie miglit differ from many of them in politics, he had made it a rule to waive all considerations of party whenever an agricultural question came liefore the House of Commons ; and he trusted that upon all questions which concerned the agricultural interest, and whe- tlier they were Whigs or Tories, they will be always sensible enough to pull together. With regard to the necessity which existed for having head-quarters for agriculturists in Loudon, he himself was connected with the new Central Chamber of Agriculture, and hc; wished himself that that institution and this Club could ' be amalgamated, for he believed that nothing could be more fatal to their interests than its being generally supposed that they were pulling in opposite direc- tions (cheers). If, however, this could not be effected, he trusted they would be like the two-headed Janus, firmly fixed together, tliough looking in dift'ereut directions; and that whilst the Farmers' Club made it its province to look rather at the science and practice of agriculture, the Chamber of Agriculture would direct its steady gaze upon the interests of agriculture in the House of Commons (cheers) . He regretted that' the malt-tax did not fare better in the House of Com- mons than it had done, in the last session. It is now (said Mr. Moore) for the Conservative party to show whether they are in earnest or not. If they are, I have no doubt that be- tween this and next session Mr. Disraeli will be able to make arrangements for lessening the burden ; but if not, then I trust you will give us Whigs, who also have a large interest in the soil, as much credit as the Conservatives for desiring to benefit you. They (the Conservatives) are on their trial ; and if they repeal the malt-tax, we shall be happy to look upon them with more favourable eyes than we do at present (cheers and laughter). He wished them all success ; and he hoped that in future, whatever their private convictions might be, in London and in the House of Commons they would ever be found a united body (cheers). The company then separated. DEATH OF MU. READ, OF ELKSTON— It is our painful duty to record the death of Mr. J. M. Read, of Elk- ston, Cheltenliam, in the 41st year of his age. As an intelli- gent agriculturist, and one who was not only in the vanguard of progression himself, but who also felt desirous of imparting to others the result of his researches, Mr. Read's memory has a special claim upon our notice. He was one of the earliest to adopt the use of Fowler's steam plough on the Cotswold Hills, and his graphically written essay on its use, which was higlily commended by the R. A. S. E. shows the difficidties he surmounted. His treatise on Cotswold sheep has also commended itself to numerous readers. As a breeeder of Here- ford cattle he was frequently successful in the Royal and nu- merous local shows, and only last week obtained the silver medal in the extra stock cow class, and a third prize in the aged cow class, at the Smithfield Clulj Show, with two of his own breeding. With Cotswold sheep he has as freciuently beeu a successful competitor. In his removal we have lost, in the prime of life, a most valuable man from amongst the farmers of England — a man of sound integrity, blessed with judgment and many sterling qualities, which rendered him highly re. spected by those wlio knew him best. THE LATE MR. R. GARRETT.— A movement has been made for some public tribute to the memory of tlie late Mr. R. Garrett. In accordance with a thoughtful and considerate proviso in Mr. Garrett's will, great coats were presented to 300 of his workpeople the first week in November last, THE FAEMEIL'^ MAGAZINE. ON CROSSING BREEDS OF POULTRY. BY A PRACTICAL FARMER. It was my privilege to visit the late interesting show of the Smithfield Club iu the Agricultural HaU, Islington. Very superior I thought it, as a whole ; but what asto- nished me most was the perfection which has been at- tained by what are called the cross-breeds. In the cattle classes they were very prominent, and first and foremost we have the shorthorn and Scotch polled (query Aberdeenshire) exhibited by Mr. Hanis, who carried off the gold medal and silver cup as the best ox exhibited ; next, Mr. Scott's shorthorn and polled, second prize ; nest, Messrs. J. and W. Martin's shorthorn and Aberdeenshire, third prize ; nest, Mr. J. Napper's Devon and Sussex, highly com- mended— three prizes and a high commendation iu a class of seven, a full proof of their superiority. In the pre- ceding or young steer class there were only four entries, receiving three prizes — ~My.8ifi\\dsi' a shorthorn and polled Aberdeenshire, first prize ; Mr. J. R. Farthing's Jievon and Guernsey, second prize ; Mr. R. Moir's shorthorn and Aberdeen polled, third prize; Mr. II. Overman's shorthorn and Ayrshire, Mr. J. AVortley's shorthorn and Norfolk, and Mr. E. Beck's shorthorn and Alderney — all fine specimens of their respective classes, the shorthorn being the prime progenitor. In the sheep crosses, too, we have surprising specimens of the value of judicious cross- ing. Mr. John Overman's pen of Leicester and South Doion shearlings were not sm-passed in the show, taking first prize and silver medal in the class ; Mr. Z. W. Stil- goe's pen of Cotsioold and Oxford Downs were very fine large animals, taking second prize ; and Mr. i. White's pen of Cotsioold and Down were exceedingly good, takiua, third prize ; and Mr. G. Hme's Leicester and Oxfordshire Down, commended, were capital sheep. Here are four honours for an entry of six pens — another proof of the excellence of cross-breeds. I name these various speci- mens to show that exceUeuce does not always depend upon one particular cross, but it will be observed that the cross is from animals of pure breeds on either side, and, w^hich is the grand desideratum in these crossings — i. e., to be correct and right — both animals must be of pure breeds of their respective tribes. It is " this very super- lative character of the crosses that constitutes the highest compliment to the excellence of the pm-e breeds, from which alone they can be produced." Therefore it is ab- solutely requisite to keep up a hu-ge stock of pm-e-bred animals, " germinal resomxes," from which to obtain the only correct and good crosses — or crosses, indeed, at all, worth the breeding. The second run and other runs of crosses are invariably mongrels, or animals of very irregu- lar type, requiring a sei-ies of years, and consummate judg- ment, to bring them out as an established and profitable breed. Better keep to the first and only correct cross. Now, I want to apply these facts, proofs, and remarks to the Cross-breediny of Poultry. If such remarkable success has been achieved by the cross-breeding of animals — and no one disputes it — why not of birds ? The breed- ing and sale of poultry forms no little item in British agricultural retm-ns, being estimated to yield about £6,000,000 per annum, or about twice the value of the poultry in the kingdom. It therefore behoves poultry- breeders to consider well the best course and practice. It is supposed by some that Great Britain alone contains about 15,000,000 and Ireland about 10,000,000 of heads of poultry ; and notwithstanding tliat extraordinary number — which we should suppose would yield for consumption sufficient retm'ns, both of eggs and poultry — yet we im- port about 400,000,000 of eggs annually, besides about 1,000,000 head of poirltry. Thirty years ago " barn-door fowls" were but little appreciated, and few thought it de- sirable to attempt their improvement. Cockerels and hens were continued in the farmyard dm'ing their lives, and no inquiry made as to their produce, nor notice taken except to complain of the short number of eggs, &c., &c. Even in the present day I could point out fai'myards where change is unknown. Of course, such yards of poultry ai-e very unprofitable. Happily, of late years, the improvement of domestic poultry has not only been at- tempted, but it has become an absolute mania — so much so that om* poultry shows are now our most popular shows, demonstrating a wondrous advancement, and the high breeding has become so general, systematic, and correct, that birds of surpassing beauty and weight are every- where to be met with, and not by any means confined to any specific variety, many birds realizing fabulous prices, We cannot all be amateur breeders, hoping to make or reach these fabulous prices ; but we can all endeavour to make the best of our yards of poultry, with the view to produce both eggs and market-chickens. Much de- pends upon the locality of the breeder as to the best com'se to be adopted. If the farmyard is near to a good market, the breeding and rearing of poultry is the pre- ferable com'se ; but, in the absence of such market, it may be right to keep poultry as layers only. In the latter case, many hens, proportionately, must be kept to make up fair quantities for the best sales. It would never do to sell them, a dozen at a time, to the country shop- keeper : no ; baskets of eggs must be made up, to send to the best market. It is, however, to the breeding of mai'ket-chickens that I more particularly wish to direct attention in this paper. I want to show that these chickens can as readily be produced to weigh fi'om seven to nine, or even ten pounds earh, as the mvich less weight at which they are now usually sold. If so, they need no longer to be sold by the " couple," but by weight. I have three farmyards. At the lower yard, we have pure Dorking hens and beautiful white Cochin-Cliina cockerels ; at the middle yard, we have pure Dorkings, very good (prize birds) ; at the home yai'd, white Cochins and Bra- mali Pootras, veiy good. Our best produce by far is from the cross-breed — Cochin-China cockerels to pure Dorking hens. The chickens are, from the time of their very hatching, more healthy, grow faster, are brought forward to matm'ity at an early age, and with less loss than iu any other sort, and we have tried many. Bra- mah Pootrahs do well for such crossing ; but I prefer the Cochin-China. I have this day dined off' a chicken which looked, on the dish, more like a young turkey than a do- mestic fowl : I think its live weight would be about nine pounds, and without feeding, being taken promiscuously out of the yard. Of course, to carry ouj this mode of breeding, provision must be made to keep up the requisite stock of pure-bred poidtry. In a yard nearly adjoining my home-yard, an attempt has been made to improve the stock by intj'oducing a Cochin cockerel ; but the failure is very manifest — neither the cockerel nor Ihc poultiy have any pretensions to purity of breed. T believe, for general purposes, and of easy practicability, the cross I have named above is most desirable to propagate, being particular to have a well-formed cockerel— not long, high, THE FARMER'S MAaAZINE. 87 and leggy — and a good class of hens. Far be it from me to say that other crosses may not be equally profitable. The Bramah Pootra hens and the Cochin China hens ara both very large, are good layers, good sitters, and good mothers, and, from a lirst-class Dorking cockerel, would produce a good stock; but my impression is that the chickens, when brought to table, would not equal the other cross in quality, nor would they be so easily and profitably reared. Game-fowl, as a cross with the Bra- mah and Cochins, could not fail to produce chickens of fair form and of superior quality of flesh, but would fail in weight. I am aiming to induce the production of great numbers of heavy poultry as most advantageous to society ; therefore, I would not breed or cross-breed from any but large varieties on both sides. Breeders may adopt crossing for quality aud plumpness, as for aris- tocratic tables ; and such may prove profitable, but I could not recommend it. A plump bantam cockerel and Uorking hen, or vice versa, might do well for this purpose ; but it must be'a very fastidious lady who would prefer such little joints. A cross of game-fowl and Dorkings produce splendid table fowls, but too small for the million. In crossing ibr layers as to quantity only, I should prefer the game or Dorking cockerel and the Spangled Hamburgh hens ; and for number and size com- bined, the same cockerel aud Polish or Spanish hens. The Bramah Pootra and Cochin China hens are capital layers ; but their eggs are too small. There is one favourable peculiarity in the latter breeds : they will frequently keep on laying throughout the winter. In the present open winter, they are laying freely; so that we are never without a good supply of fresh eggs — no slight ad- vantage. SALES OP FAT STOCK. HITCHIN AUCTION MART. On Tuesday last, the day after the Great Metropolitan Christ- mas market, Page, Harding, and Eve held a sale of seasonable stock, which included cattle, though there was some ddubt till a late day about any oxen being offered ; a special licence was, however, eventually obtained from the authorities, but the de- lay had a prejudicial eifect on the numbers sent, while the sheep, on. the contrary, were excellent, and in several cases ex- traordinary. The entries were 110 pens of two, four, aud five each, and the prices made for the short-wooUed sheep at a liigli rate per stoue, while the long-woolled white faces, which now come into competition with the very heavy imports of improved sheep from the Continent, made comparatively lower prices. The lower price of wool would also have something to do with this difference, for a heavy fleece with equal weight of mutton would not compensate, under present conditions, for the depreciation in the value of mutton which would have been caused by its growth. Mr. J. S. Leigh, of Luton Hoo, had 20 middling " Down" sheep sold at 63s. 6d. each ; C. H. Lattimore,of Wheathamstead, 15 poorly-fed Hants, at 64s. lOd. each ; George luskip, of Kneesworth, 30 well-fed crosses at 64s. 5d. each ; J. Wilmott, of Harpendeu, 10 Hants, at 66s. 3d. each ; — . Franklin, of Graveley Bury, 10 good-conditioned Hants at 72s. 3d. each ; J. Ivory, Kimpton, lODowu-Lincolns at 58s. 3d. each ; J. Long, Ileulow, 10 large Liucoln-Han,ts at 71s. Gd. each ; E. Bates, Piggots Hill, 10 plain Hants at 72s. 9d. each ; W. Sworder, Westmill, three lots of four each at an average of 89s., and two lots of two each respectively at 101s. and 'Jos. per head. These sheep were admirably fed. Mr. Hanscombe, Pirton Grange, had 20 plain Leicester-Downs sold at an average of 60s. each ; Richard Marsh had the pick of the yard in 14 capital Hants, well-fed, which sold in pairs at an average of 106s. per head ; W. Low, Beadlow, had 20 good Hants-Leicesters sold at from 73s. 6d. to 75s. each ; James Low, Baldock, 20 Hants and Hauts-Lincohi at 83s. each ; C. Border, Willim, had 48 sheep a year old and up- wards, aud 20 from 10 to 11 months, the former were well-fed and made from 75s. to 93s. each, while the latter, which had been clipped as lambs, and were extraordinary for the weight of mutton they carried, as will be judged from the price they made, viz., 67s. 9d. each ; Richard Oakley, Lawrence End, sent 20, which were sold in pairs at 53s. up to 82s. per head. Three prize sheep of the Lincoln breed, sent by Mr. Woodward, Aspenden, were sold singly, aud made an average of 103s. each. The contrast between the price per pound of these sheep, and that given for the short-wooUed breeds, was so marked that it cannot fail to leave a lasting impression op the feeders wlio were present. The caltle made good prices, but not equal to those of the last three years. Six two year and three year old Shorthorns sent by C. Armstrong, Godmanchester, made £29 18s. each ; four of S. Woollatts, Aston Bury, £28 5s. each ; E. Crouch's good Herefords, 12 in all, made from £24 5s. to £33 10s. each; G. Horn's 6 young and fatter Herefords made an average of £26 13s., and four y^amg Shorthorns made £30 each. A very haudsomc and well-fed young Shorthorn heifer, looking only two years old, sent by Mr. Bates, Eaton Green, made £33 10s., and his plain but fat cow made £35 ; Mr. Tossey sent a grand three-year-old Shorthorn, well-fed and well-bred, which induced the offer of a great price, viz., £47 5s. ; his Short- horn cow made £40. Richard Oakley, Lawrence End, sent a young Shorthorn ox, which made £42 10s. ; J. Lavender, Browuham, sent 3 Shorthorns, which sold respectively at £41, £39 5s., and £44 ; Mr. Tiagey, Henlow, had 2 Shorthorns, which sold at £29 5s. and £36 ; Mr. Bolton, Patuoe, sent an ox too higldy fed to please the butchers, therefore although he was of great comparative weight he made only £50. THE LATE PRESIDENT'S BAG.— Wliy do we read in accounts of battues of the amount of " tlie bag" ? Is a bag ever used on those occasions ? And if so, who carries it ? We are induced to ask these questions from seeing in the re- port of the sport at Sir Edward Kcrrison's, on the occasion of the visit of the Prince of Wales, that on Tuesday last His Royal Highness the Duke of Echnburgh " obtained a bag of about 250 head to his own gun," and that " a bag" was made by eight guns on that occasion to the following extent : Pheasants, 300; hares, 326; woodcocks, 3; rabbits, 900. Total, 1,533.— Pff« Mall Gazelle. [Is there not something " prodigious" in the very sound of 300 hares and 900 rabbits ? —Editor M. L. E.] PORTRAIT OF " RAINBOW" THE PRIZE HUNTER AT ISLINGTON.— In the current number of the Sporting Review an admirable Ukcness of Mr. Anstrutlier Thomson's celebrated hunter is given from a painting by Mr. E. Corbet, wlio certainly succeeds in catching the character of a horse and putting it on canvas better than any artist of the day. He has, perhaps, allowed his knowledge of the powers of this wonderful animal to lead him into thickenmg him all over a trifle more than is justified by the original, who does not look the weight-carrier that he is; but, with this trifling exception, the portrait is to the life. The engraving is accompanied by an article from the pen of " Castor," who, of course, cannot fill his tliree pages with a description of the horse ; but the readers of the Review will not quarrel with his running off the main line onto the branch, which leads to the doings of IMr. A. Thomson and his hounds at the celebrated Redcar Show aud in the Pytcbley country. — Field. ■POINTS OF A BREEDING SOW.— S. Lewis, of Boone county, Illinois, gives in the Prairie Farmer his ideas upon tJie above subject : " In the first place she should be square-built, have a short nose and short ears, short legs and back, with latter hollovv or bent. Shoulders should be heavy aud deep. Never let her raise pigs until she is a year old, and never but one litter the first year. Then, if she proves a good milker, let her raise two litters per year. I speak of her being a good milker. This is as essential in a breeding sow as in a good mare. Such an animal will raise better pigs, and, of course, her progeny will be better hogs for market. I find that hasty pudding and milk for the supper and breakfast, and corn for dinner, constitute a very good diet for the breeding sow. _ A great many farmers have fallen into an error in not allowing plenty of straw for a bed. Many build a warm pen in order to avoid giving her much straw. Let her run to a straw stack and she will build a nest to suit her self. If this is not con- venient, she should have plenty of straw in the pen. Attend to these matters, and I will warrant no trouble in raising piga m the coldest weather." THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE, CALENDAR OF AGRICULTURE. The ploughing of the stubbles for fallows and of leys for Lent crops must be vigorously pursued during the fresh weather of this month, in order that lands may have the benefit of pulverization from early ploughing, which no future cultivation is able to confer. During frosts and snows carry stones to roads and drains, fuel to all householders on the farm, and dung from the yards to the heaps in the fields, where it will be required for the green crops. The heaps slope down at both ends, to permit the carts to pass over and deposit the loads, which are spread evenly over the space, that is about six feet high, neatly dressed with earth laid on the edges. The heap should have a dry bed, and level. In fresh weather cut copses and underwoods, cut and plash hedges, scour ditches and roadsides, clear watercourses, and cut drains to half the depth, to be finished in summer. Float water- meadows, and lay dry occasionally. Sow spring wheats on lands cleared from turnips, and on fal- lows missed in autumn. Collect and prepare artificial manures of all kinds, and keep them under a dry, open shed. Give the cattle in the yards fresh straw daily ; and give the turnips or other roots early in the morning, that the animals may eat during daylight, and be seen when choked or swollen. Fresh tur- nips daily from the fields are much best ; but heavy snow and wet weather prevent the access, and the store-heap is resorted to, and not over a month's supply. The yards must be Httered fre- quently with straw, spread thinly and evenly. The milch cows that drop calf must have succu- lent food, steamed roots and chaflf. Suckle the calves for veal and also for weaning, as no substi- tute can equal the warm milk, and in abundance. A portion of the milch cows can be used for pro- ducing butter and cheese, and a portion for suck- ling calves. The calf-pens are best in single apartments, about four feet by eight feet, opening into the cow-sheds from the end or from behind, as the width of the shed may admit. The tioors are boarded, with auger-holes, to pass the mois- ture. The sheep-flocks have fresh turnips daily, in the divisions of ewes, stores, and fatting flocks, as has been arranged. The lambs of the last year, with the fattening flock, may be confined on the growing turnips, or supplied on a grass or stubble field. A two-horse cait-load daily will be sufficient for forty that are fattening, and for one hundred in store. Feed farm-horses with cut chaff of clover and straw, with oats and beans ; and give a warm meal of steamed potatoes after work, in the twilight. Feed the swine largely, and litter very fre- quently. Supply roots to the store pigs, as pota- toes and beets, raw. Give the feeding hogs steamed roots, mixed with meals, served regularly thrice a day. No stock pays better than swine for food and attention. Feed poultry with light grains and steamed po- tatoes, mashed and mixed with meals, in a shed, under cover. Separate apartments for each kind of animal, floors of boards, and heated under- neath by a pipe of warm water, that is warmed below the houses of each division. CALENDAR OP GARDENING. Kitchen Garden. So uncertain is the Vv^eather at this season, that it is impossible to do more than suggest. At all events, if lettuce, radishes, and salads are wished to be got early, frames and lights must be em- ployed, not for forcing, but simply for protection, and with linings of dung, fern, or straw laid so thick around the box and hghts as to exclude a frost of 20 deg., which may last for many days. Air must be given, at intervals of fine weather, to all vegetables grown in frames, the sashes closed every night, and coA-ered with straw mats when it freezes — the most eff"ectual means of defence that can be used. If the weather and ground be open, the green and white Cos lettuce and the brown Dutch, and also a sprinkling of the short-topped radish, may be sown on a warm border. The earth ought to be free, open, and rich, to promote quick growth ; and straw and fern should be at hand, to throw over it on hard nights. Sow radishes twice. A little Horn carrot-seed, a drill of round spinach, and some mustard and cress may be sown, but not well in general. Peas arid beans are so wn, two to three inches deep, in rich soil by previous manurings. Earth-up beans and peas, if any be ready, ob- serving to select the driest weather. Transplant cabbages from the seed-beds. If frosty, protect the frames, and cauliflowers under glasses ; celery by a couple of boards laid ridgewise, or by straw on each side of the ridges. Wheel out manure, to be ready for plots, aspa- ragus-beds, &c. Fruit Garden. Prune very little, unless the buds swell mate- rially. Lay manure around the roots of goose- berries, currants, and raspberries : it very much improves the spring growth. Do the same to fruit- trees and espaliers. If snow abounds, remove the load from off all evergreens before the sun shines, which effectually prevents the scalding of the foliage. Flower Garden. Do nothing in the way of planting flowers ; but sow seeds in pans, mark each, and place them in a frame. Much time and labour are economised, and flowers better secured, by this method of proceeding. THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 89 FOREIGN AGRICULTURAL GOSSIP. The French Ceatral Society of Agriculture has just held its anuual public sitting, after a somewhat laborious year's work. M. Armand Behic, IMinister of Agriculture, Commerce, and Pubhc AVorks, presided at the public sitting, and in a nervous and concise discourse he rendered homage to the science of agriculture in tlie persons of the distinguished savants wlio sat round him. M. Behic observed that agricultural industry had not alvrays occupied iu France the position wliich its im- portance assigned to it ; but, thanks to the impulse and en- couragement given to it by the Emperor and tlie Emperor's Government, it might now be said that at no period and in no country liad it been in greater honour or been more really popular, tteferring to the great inquiry just instituted into the condition of French agriculture, M. Behic said : " It may be believed that sound economic or agricultural principles will come out intact from this test, and that our legislation, or at least the principal bases upon which it has been built, will be relieved by a decided manifestation of opinion from most of tlie reproaches addressed against it. But whatever m.ay hap- pen, this tribute to the agricultural interest wiU not consti- tute a vain and useless demonstration. Pul)lic opinion is the soil in which ideas are sown and fructify ; it gains by being moved and agitated, and it is on this condition that it acquires or reveals all its fertilizing elements." — In connection with the Paris Universal Exhibition of 1867, the Imperial Com- mission proposes to show in activity apparatus working ordi- narily on farms or in fields, and to exhibit methods of produc- tion on conditions as nearly resembling the reality as possible, so as to disseminate in the public mind usefiil ideas as to agricultural practice. All these matters, however, cannot find, either in the Palace of the Exhibition or iu the Champ de Jlars, a theatre adapted to them, and it is proposed accordingly to accommodate them in the He de Billancourt. Already several distinguished agri- culturists have been planning illustrations of their culti- vation, so as to make known their methods and croppings, and the mechanical means which they employ to remedy a want of labour now generally felt. Some chiefs of industry have applied for permission to maintain agricidtural apparatus in operation during the whole duration of tlie Exhibition ; and sites have been granted to them for the production of alcohol, bread, butter, cheese, flax, manures, charcoal, &c. Horticul- turists and arboriculturists wiU exhibit specimens of their cul- ture, according to the most improved methods ; and, finally, some great constructors wiU instal complete workshops, showing agricultural machinery in motion. These latter ex- hibitors propose to make daily trials to show the utihty of their apparatus. Upon the whole, the Billancourt Exhibition has awakened on all sides lively sympathies in the public mmd. It will respond, indeed, to two legitimate wants : it will assure the exhibitor an exceptional publicity, and it wiU put the agriculturist in a position to judge by himself the merit of the implements which he requires.— It is to be feared that 1866 will have proved a very unfavourable year for Italian agri- culture. We have previously, we believe, indicated the three principal causes of the suiferiugs of Italian agriculture— first, the late Austro-Italio-Prussian war ; secondly, the excessive use of paper-money ; and thirdlv, a bad harvest. The first ditfi- culty has been happily adjusted by the conclusion of the treaty of Vienna ; and, already, the restoration of peace has caused hopes to dawn again. The Ministry, in order to provide ao-aiust the other phases of the crisis, has established a com- mission charged with the task of studying the wants of agri- culture in the Italian peninsula, and proposing measures cal- culated to improve its condition. This commission, which is presided over by the Marquis de Sambuy, comprises such 'j-entlemen as Signors Berti-Pichat, San Severiuo, Parla- tore, Cantoni, Cappari, Ottavi, Toscanelli, &c. The com- mission inaugurated its operations with a speech by Signor Cordova, who insisted on the urgency of providing for certain reforms, and of taking account in Legislative arrangements of the natural division of the Italian territory into three great districts— viz., the valley of the Po, the Apennine region, and the sub-Apeiinine plains. The Minister indicated the disorders which prevailed in the forest rajlme, the want of vicinal roads and agricultural knowledge, and he concluded in these terms : " Public attention is fixed on us. For a long time past the country has demanded that the Government — the war of independence once terminated— should develope with solicitude the germs of the national wealth, and utiUze the gifts which Nature has so generously showered upon us. The happy coincidence which has caused your sittings to open at the same time that peace is announced wOl not fail to fortify your hopes." To fulfil its task more easily, the Com- mission has been divided into seven sub-commissions, charged with the duty of specially directing their investigations to the questions of agricultural credit, rural police, agricultural instruction, the representatives of agriculture, public works in tlieir relations with Agriculture, sericiculture, and the relations of customs and octroi duties with agricul- ture. In anticipation of the results of the inquiry based on a programme so vast, the press directs attention to the some- what similar situation established by the inquiry which is being pursued in France, and discusses the reforms wliich it is desirable to introduce. We can only recal them very summarily, as they are numerous. Although the soil of Italy is susceptible of great improvements on con- dition of applying the principles of modern science, the Itahans have hitherto shown very little readiness to ac- cept and adopt the improvements introduced else- where into cidtivatiou ; and the mode of cropping most frequently was not varied for ages. It is, however, important to develope in the future a variety of crops adapted to the new requirements of consimiption ; and even where irrigation is not practicable, it may lie desirable to promote the cidtivatiou of forage and industrial plants by having recourse to the rota- tions. It is important, also, while increasing the fertihty of the soil, to maintain it constantly without increasing the cost price of cereals. In a country which lacks coal, as Italy does, agricultural industry is almost the only branch of human effort which offers chances of remunerative labour, and all exertions must consequently tend towards it. Unfortunately, apatliy and ignorance are almost insurmoimtable obstacles ; and the fact must not be forgotten that Italy comprises in the rural districts, according to the latest statistics collected, more than 13,000,000 individuals who are unable to read or write. It is easy to foresee the deplorable results of such ignorance, which perpetuates bad systems of cultivation and practice condemned by science, which maintains the use of imperfect tools and im- plements, wliich induces cultivators to attempt to farm more land than they can manage, which keeps capital aloof, and, iu a word, increases expenses, to the detriment of production. CATTLE TRAFFIC ON RAILWAYS— It appears that the number of cattle carried on railways iu England and Wales in 1865 was l,87-i,030, as compared with 2,083,354. in 186-i, showing a decrease of 209,231<. The number of cattle carried on railways in Scotland in 1865 was 488,762, as com- pared with 482,656 in 1864, showing an increase of 6,106. The number of cattle carried on railways iu Ireland iu 1865 was 407,048, as compared with 427,447 in 1864, showing a de- cease of 20,399. The whole number of cattle conveyed over the railways of the United Kingdom in 1865 was thus 2,769,830, as compared with 2,993,357 in 1864, showing a decrease last year of 223,527- This decline in the movemen of cattle was, of course, attributalde to the prevalence of the rinderpest in Great Britain in the last five months of 1855. While the traffic in cattle declined last year, the movement of sheep and pigs appears to have increased. Thus the number of sheep carried by railway in England and Wales in 1865 was 7,001,654, against 6,786,127 in 1864: in Scotland, 1,819,125, against 1,241,279 in 1864 ; in Ireland, 515,632, against 428,275 in 1864, and in the whole United Kingdom, 9,336,411, against 8,455,681 in 1864. The number of pigs which made railway journeys in England and Wales last year was 1,448,731, against 1,426,264 in 1864; and in Scotland, 88,388, against 65,329 in 1864; and in Ireland, 887,577 against 773,155 m 1864, making a total for the whole United Kingdom of 2,424,696, against 2,224,748 in 1864. The total receipts from the conveyance of live stock on the railways of Great Bri- tain and Ireland in 1865, were £690,321, as compared with £684,945 in 1864. m THg ^A^M^E'S MAGAZINE. AGRICULTURAL REPORTS. GENERAL AGRICULTURAL RJIPORT FOR DECEMBER. Although only a moderate quantity of rain has fallen in any part of the country, the weather has heen unfavouraljle for out-door farm labour. The want of frost has been much felt in some localities, and the land has continued saturated witli moisture. As a consequence, very little English wheat has been thrashed out, and the markets have heen scantily supplied with both red and white qualities ; nevertheless, although millers have operated with extreme caution, prices have been well supported. The quantity of wheat known to be on pas- sage from various quarters to the United Kingdom is estimated at 300,000 quarters. The whole of that supply— as much of the wheat now in stack in this country, from its damp condi- tion, cannot be tlirashed out for some time— will speedily pass into consumption ; and we shall in all probability have very firm markets for fme samples until after the re-opening of the navigation in the Baltic. A considerable fall having taken place in the value of produce at New Tork, it is presumed that the exports of wheat and flour from America wiU gradually increase. France appears to have very little produce to spare for us ; still we beheve that the deficiency in the last crop of wheat has been much exaggerated. FuU average supplies of both English and foreign barley having been on offer, the sale for that article has been some- what heavy, on lower terms. Malting barley, however, is still very scarce and dear. All other kinds of spring corn have rather given way in price ; but the value of flour, although some large quantities hav.e come to hand from Russia, has beei) well supported. Notwithstanding tliat the potato -disease has committed ex- tensive ravages, the Metropolitan markets have been heavily supplied with potatoes, for which the demand has ruled steady, at from 70s. to 130s. per ton. The imports from abroad have been on an average scale, but mostly in poor condition. A full average business appears to have been transacted in wheat and most other kinds of grain, in the leading Conti- nental ports, for shipment to England in the spring. The public sales of colonial wool held in Loudon closed to- lerably well. All good and fine qualities were disposed of at full prices. Inferior kinds, however, gave way about Id. per lb. on the average. The quantity of colonial wool now unsold is small, and the stocks iu the hands of the manufacturers are very moderate. Low foreign wools have changed hands freely, at full quotations ; but the business doing in English has been very restricted, on former terms. The transactions for export have been trifling in the extreme. The demand for hops has been firjn, and high rates have been realized for all fime qualities. The high quotations de- manded by the factors, in the face of rather heavy imports from abroad, have compelled the brewers to operate cau- tiously. There is a full average supply of cattle-food on hand for winter consumption , yet cakes have sold briskly, and the prices have had an upward tendency. For some time the stock will fare well, at a very moderate outlay for food. The Scotch markets have been scantily supplied with wheat, in which, as a consequence, very little has been passing. Prices, however, have been well supported. The sale for bar- ley and oats has been much less active than in the previous month, and inferior parcels have rather given wny. All other produce has sold at full currencies. The shipments of grain to the South have been only moderate. In Ireland the grain trade has been very inactive. Wheat has mamtamed its value without difficulty ; but most other ar- ticles have met a slow inquiry. The quantity of new wheat as yet thrashed out is small. REVIEW OF THE CATTLE TRADE DURING THE PAST MONTH. Notwithstanding the heavy losses sustained by the cattle plague this year, the leading markets have been well suppUed with beasts for Christmas consumjjtion. The full average supplies brought forward, however, have had very little influ- ence upon price, the best Scots and crosses having sold at 5s. W. to 5s. Od. per 81bs., and the whole of the stock brought forward has been disposed of. These quotations are abput 6d. per Bibs, beneath those realized on the " great day" in Decem- ber, 1864. As is generally the case at this period of the year, the num- bers of sheep brought forward have heen small ; most breeds have therefore found buyers at full quotations, except towards the close of the month, when the best Downs and half-breds decHned to 6s. 2d. per 81bs. Considerable inactivity has prevailed in the veal trade, and the currencies have given way M. to 6d. per 81bs. _ Much heaviness has prevailed in the demand for pigs, espe- cially large hogs, owing to the immense quantities of dead meat on sale in Newgate and Leadenhall. The highest price has not exceeded 4s. 6d. per 81bs. Tlie northern " season" for beasts may now be considered as closed. Most accounts from Norfolk, &c., state that large numbers are now ready for the Metropolitan market. The Scotch beasts have come to hand in very fine condition. The imports of foreign stock into Loudon have been as follow: — Head. Beasts 6,864 Sheep 25,476 Calves 1,307 Pigs 1,011 Total Same time in 1865 ... 34,658 ... 66,721 1864 ... 41.712 1863 1862 1861 ... 34,435 ... 25,435 ... 21,904 1860 ... 20,795 1859 ... 17,430 The total suppUea of stock exhibited in the MetropoKtan Market have been : — Head. Beasts 20,750 Sheep 71,390 Calves 1,053 Pigs 1,950 Comparison of Supplies. Nov. Beasts. Cows. Sheep. Calves. Pigs. 1865 31,720 470 126,170 2,823 2,930 1864 23,780 470 78,410 1,441 2,700 1863 29,302 485 88,470 1,150 2,680 1862 , 25,810 536 85,621 1,354 3,083 1861 24,840 470 81,630 701 2,950 1860 24,540 510 82,340 1,577 3,445 1859 24,484 470 78,980 1,171 2,187 1858 20,533 490 74<,275 1,472 2,450 1857 19,830 375 67,133 1,209 1,915 1856 23,995 475 73,200 1,525 2,880 1855 23,412 590 90,030 1,376 3,184 1854 ...... 20,219 120 88,880 1,573 3,746 The arrivals of English, Scotch, and Irisli stock during the month thus compare with the three previous years : — Dec, Dec, Dec, Dec, From— 1866. 1865. 1864. 18B3. Lincolnshire, Leicester- shire, and Northamp- tonshire 7,800 }0,500 8,500 10,-500 Norfolk — 700 1,200 3,300 Other parts of England . 3,700 4,700 3,300 3,800 Scotland 1,360 2,343 1,901 2,370 Ir^and 2,020 1,150 1,070 2,350 THE FARMER'S lilAGAZINE. 91 Beef has sold at from 3s. 4d. to 5s. 6d., in some iustaiices at 5s. 8d. ; mutton, 3s. 8d. to 6s. -id. ; veal, 4s. 2d. to 5s. lOd. ; pork, 3s. 6d. to 4s. 6d. per 81bs. to sink the offal. Comparison of Prices. Dec, 1865. Dec, 1864. s. d. s. d. s. d. s. d. Beeffrom 3 3 to 5 6 3 6 to 6 0 Mutton 3 8 to 6 8 3 8 to 6 3 Yeal .. 4 Oto5 0 4 4 to 5 6 Pork"!... 4 Oto5 4 3 6 to 5 0 Dec, 1863. Dec, 1863. s. d. s. d. s. d. s. d. Beeffrom 3 4to5 2 3 4 to 5 3 Mutton 4 Oto6 0 3 6 to 5 10 Veal 4 0 to 5 0 3 6 to 5 6 Pork.'.' 3 6 to 4 6 3 4 to 4 8 \bout 40 000 tons of foreign meat have heen disposed of in Nevv^ate aud Leadenhall markets, and the suppUes from various parts of England and Scotland have been extensive. A good business has been passing, but at rates which have not been considered remunerative. WEST SUSSEX. The year is fast drawing to a close, and I fear that very many will have to look back on the year 1866 as a disastrous one In many districts no doubt the harvest was the most tedious and difficult we have had for many years, and a long harvest and a late harvest may generaUy be set down as a bad harvest. In this divisi(m of the county I think wo may con- sider ourselves most fortunate as regards weatlier. Embracing such a variety of soU as it does, of course there were some farms on which the crops lay in the fields until serious damage ensued, but upon the whole I think there is good reason to be thankftil. The price to which wheat has reached L think tolly bears out the opinion I expressed some months ago, tliat the A wheat crop would prove very deficient, and I know- many farmers, ^ who were rather sanguine as regards the yield, that have been obliged to acknowledge their mistake. The very wet weather we had in September made the fanners m the stiff land of the Weald ahnost despair of getting a season to put m theu- wheat • but October came in very fine and dry, and 1 tlunk tlie seed was got in under very favourable circumstances, and m tills division the wheat plant is generally looking uncomnionly weU. The yoimg seeds, too, are generaUy weU set, and the pastures very green for the time of year. Many ot the mar- kets in this division of the county were opened again just tor -' the Clii-istmas stock, but some remain closed inconsequence of the towns where they are held being connected with a port whereforeigncattlemightbelanded. This ot course, leads tosome difficulty ; but as I heard a grazier remark tie other day any- thing better than the cattle plague." M this has led to some irrejiilarity in prices; but I beheve on the whole, for good Christmas stock good prices liave been obtained. I trust I may congratulate my brother-larmers on the prospects of the ^^el Year: aU agricultural produce sells well, and I hope tlus time next year they will be able to thank Pi-ovidencc for hav- n^hadaLod crop, a good harvest, ami altogether a good year I am afraid that the free-traders do not qiute see tlie Jresent prices, but they have had a good turn, and it is quite time that the farmers should have their inmngs.-Dec. 30tli. NORTH CORNWALL. The wheat which was sown in October and early in No- vember is generally looking remarkably weU; but some fields exhibit an appearance which causes some anxiety, it has been the practice of late years to employ the steam machme after harvest, and thrash out large quantities ot corn. Some of this is put aside for seed, aud, if the corn is not spiead thinly on the floor and frequently turned, the vitahty ot the grains wiU be impaired, and if used for seed the crop will surely suffer. We have seen many a tliin field of wheat ot lateyears, which has been fairly attributable to the inferior seed which has been used, and the sickly blade now seen m more than one field in this neighbourhood is probably owing to the same cause. The mangold crop, where the rjght kind of seed was used, is well spoken of; but the swedes and tur- nips are not an average. Many of the early swedes grew with a double top, and not only were the bullis diminished m size, but deteriorated in quality. The best crop of swedes we have seen this year was grown from the " Champion " variety from the Messrs. Sutton, of Reading. Should they stand the winter well, they will soon supersede the old Skirvings. Wheat is now seUing freely at 24s. a Cornish bushel ot 24 gallons. But even with this comparatively high price, it may be questioned if the returns from wheat on most farms wll equal the average of years, the wheat crop being so deficient. Take an Ulustration : A farm may be expected to grow 400 bushels of wheat a-year. Now, it will reciuire 100 bushels for seed and the supply of the labourers aud the home estabhsh- ment. The remainder at 20s. per bushel will amount to £300. But let there be a deficiency of only one bushel per acre, and the saleable produce will only be 350 bushels ; and even sup- posing that the whole should be disposed of at 24s., the re- turns wUl be but £300. We fear that on most farms there will be considerably more than a bushel an acre deficient. The trade in beef and mutton is not nearly so brisk as it was in September, and wool is quite a drug, aud it is supposed that there will be no improvement till after Christmas.— Dec 31. AGRICULTURAL INTELLIGENCE, FAIRS, &c. DONCASTER FORTNIGHTLY MARKET.— We had a large show of sheep, fuUy equal to previous markets of late. There was a ready inquiry, and aU changed hands at about late rates, viz., good light weights, 8|d. to 9d. per lb. NEWARK FAT STOCK MARKET.— Only 147 Sheep were penned, and buyers being scarce, even that small number met with a slow sale at an average of 8d. per lb. . OSWESTRY FORTNIGHTLY FAIR. — The show of sheep and pigs was not so large as usual. Mutton realized 7id. to 8Jd. for prime, and fat pigs aboat 5|d. per lb. PERTH FAIR. — Ayrshire cows sold at from £14 to £33, and country cows in-calf from £10 to £14. Home-bred year- olds were selhng at from £6 to £7, and two-year-olds of the same breed realized from £11 to £15. A large lot of three- vear-old Highland stots,in fair condition, sold at from £8 10s. to £10 a-head. There was a large show of Irish cattle brought forward, there being upwards of 300 of that breed offered for sale. Stirks sold at from £3 10s. to £3 os. Six-quarters-old from £4 to £8, and two-year-olds from £8 to £10. There were very few sheep in the market, the only lot worthy of mention being a large lot of black-faced ewes, which sold at 14s. a-head. Superior draught horses sold at from £35 to £40 ; middling descriptions, £15 to £35 ; inferior £3 to £10. Cobs and ponies sold at from £12 to £25, and colts from £7 to £12. TEWKESBURY FAIR, being the first held since the_ visitation of the cattle plague, attracted a large number of farmers and butchers. There was little else than fat stock, aud nearly tlie whole brought to market was sold by public auction. WORCESTER FAIR.— There was a very good supply of sheep and pigs, but very few horses, and those of an inferior quality. The attendance of dealers was smaU. Prime wethers fetched 75s. 6d., and ewes 49s. to 61s. each. ; fat pigs averaged 16s. per score. YORK GREAT HORSE FAIR.— Young horses from five to eight years old, in good condition and ready for the hunting field, realized according to quality from 100 to 300 guineas each ; those which were seasoned and fast over hght country from 200 to 400 guineas ; and high-bred heavy weights of celebrity from 250 to 350 guineas. There was not nearly so active a trade in carriage horses. Well-bred, up-standing young horses of this class realized from 80 to 140 guineas each ; and those with good action from 200 to 350 guineas a pair. Well-bred selections of match colts of good fashion, grt ^ s or bays, were not plentiful, and, where they changed hands, r^^ahzed from 300 to 300 guineas a piiir. Seasoned high steppers aud broken in double harness reaUsed from 100 to 120 guineas each. There was but little trade done in horses for broughams or light carriage work, (whilst the trade in roadsters, dray, and agricul- tural horses, cobs, ponies, &c., may be said to have scarcely commenced. 92 THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. REVIEW OF THE CORN TRADE DURING THE PAST MONTH. The closing month of the year has fluctuated be- tween frost, fog, and rain, the latter having predo- minated up to Christmas, and rendering field work next to impracticable. With our scanty crop of corn this year, and potatoes still more deficient, it has been well that thus far the winter has been open, leaving the grass and vegetables comparatively un- harmed. The year now nearly ended has been re- markable for a great change in the value of cereals, and though spring corn has lately rather given way wheat has fully maintained its price, as the decline noted on the first Monday of this month really be- longed to the last Monday in November, when fac- tors would not submit to the practicable rates of the day, though forced afterwards to make the con- cession. We are therefore obliged to connect the former with the present month in the matter of wheat, which neither gained nor lost on the whole, but finished with an upward tendeney. Other corn has rather given way, with the exception of fine malt- ing barley. Maize also, which suddenly advanced 3s. to 4s. in November, has since given way Is. to 2s. It would appear that, with some exceptions in Scotland, a full average amount of wheat has been sown this year, and that the young plants look very favourable, the earliest being almost too strong ; so a little check would be rather serviceable. We are now on the verge of a new period of time, with the future as impervious to human foresight as ever ; but as regards the wheat trade, there appears no prospect of a return to the rates current of late years. Indeed, it seems every heavy decline is soon followed by a reaction ; and as nearly all the Baltic ports are now closed by ice, and our last advices show that Taganrog can no longer make shipments, we are about shut up to our own stocks till the opening of the ports in spring. It is observable, however, that France is already competing with us in Germany for spring contracts, while she has been buying on our eastern coasts, and withdrawing heavy shipments of Californian wheat from Liver- pool, in consequence of a further rise in Paris and throughout the country markets. No part of Europe shows any decline in price ; and though at New York accumulated supplies and the want of ' an export trade have lowered rates, they are still far above a profitable business, as prices below will testify. White wheat at Paris was quoted 70s. 6d. and red 67s. 4d. ; while at Bordeaux, Blanquillo Spanish was worth 76s. 6d.; Baltic white, at Brus- sels, was 70s. per qr. ; Pomeranian red, for spring, at Stralsund, 59s. 6d. ; red, at Hamburg, 60s. 6d. per qr. ; French red, at Antwerp, was quoted 68s. ; home-grown wheat, at Waestricht in Holland, 63s. ; white Zealand, at Rotterdam, 60s. ; red, for spring delivery at Stettin, 55s. ; good wheat at Danzig had sold at 61s. ; native red at Cologne, 6ls. ; Ghirka wheat at Odessa, 42s. ; Polish, 44s. ; La Mancha wheat, at Barcelona, was worth 63s. ; hard wheat. at Algiers, was quoted 58s. 6d. per qr. ; spring wheat, at Montreal, 5'2s, 8d. per 480lbs.; low No. 3 Milwaukie wheat, at New York, 49s. 8d. per 480lbs.; amber, 71s. 6d.; prime Californian, 83s. 9d. per qr. ; at Milwaukie and Chicago the best spring wheat was worth 53s. per 4S0lbs. The first Monday in Mark-lane opened on a moderate arrival of home-grown wheat, but the foreign supply was heavy, being nearly 40,000 qrs. Though the fresh samples from Essex and Kent during the morning were inconsiderable, yet those left over from the previous week, when factors re- sisted a decline of 2s. per qr., made a fair exhibi- tion, and it was found necessary to submit to a greater reduction, say 2s. to 3s. per qr., from the actual rates of a fortnight back. Holders of foreign, notwithstanding the abundance on shipboard, were indisposed to make the concessions required by millers, but where sales were ordered it was found requisite to yield Is. to 2s. per qr., more especially on Russian qualities. The same concession was necessary as regards floating cargoes. The country markets, having previously yielded, did not follow that of London to the same extent, but neverthe- less evinced a further decline, say on the average about Is. to 2s. per qr., but Liverpool did not yield either on Tuesday or Friday. At Edinburgh and Glasgow wheat did not decbne more than about Is. per qr. The reduction at Dublin was Is. per brl. ; at Cork it was 6d. to Is. per cwt. On the second Monday there was a considerable falhng off in the foreign arrivals, those of home- growth still being small. There were but small addi- tions during the morning from Kent and Essex, and this circumstance made factors firm. Millers, however, being pretty well provided, were not anxious buyers, and the trade was slow at previous rates. The wea- ther having again become mild and damp, seemed to bring more dulness over the foreign trade, but with the prospect of frost closing the Baltic, holders were not pressing. Floating cargoes were unaltered in value. The unfavourable weather influencing the condition of samples in many country markets, several noted a decline in damp and rough qualities. Hull and Liverpool made no change, and this was the case with several places, while some were cheer- ful, and dearer to the extent of Is. to 2s. per qr., as were Bury St. Edmunds, Boston, Ipswich, and Newark, making the average rather in favour of prices. No change of value was noted either at Glasgow or Edinburgh. Dublin was 6d. per brl. dearer for native wheat, and Belfast exhibited a like improvement. On the third Monday, the English supplies were still limited, but there was a large increase in foreign. The show of samples this morning from the near counties was very scanty, and indicative of more determination on the part of farmers not to submit to a further reduction ; and this was THE FABMER'S MAGAZINE, 93 sufficient to cause an advance of Is, per qr, on dry white qualities ; but red did not participate in the improvement, being generally cold in hand. Several ports in the Baltic being closed by frost, factors early in the morning were asking Is, per qr. advance, which checked business ; but, here and there, some fine Saxonska wheat realized the im- provement. Floating cargoes were very firm, and fine quahties were the turn in seller's favour. The country advices this week were either firm in tone or rather dearer, and the greater proportion noted a rise of fully Is. per qr., which, in a few instances, were exceeded, as at Spalding, Sahsbury, and Bury St. Edmunds. Glasgow and Edinburgh made no change in the quotations for wheat. Dublin was firm "for foreign wheat, and rather dearer for that of home-growth, though the flour trade was rather heavy. . Instead of the fourth Monday, which was merged in Christmas-day, the fourth Friday was held on the old Corn Exchange. This market had but a small supply of English wheat, though the foreign arrivals were heavy. Very few addi- tional samples were seen either on the Essex or Kentish stands, and the trade was consequently firm, though very little was passing, the attendance being small. For all foreign samples, fully the previous rates were demanded, though but little business seemed doing. The imports into London for four weeks were 20 062 qrs. Enghsh, 113,873 qrs. foreign, against 25',558 qrs. English, 40,772 qrs. foreign in 1865. The imports into the kingdom for four weeks ending Dec. l5th were 2,609,147 cwts. wheat, 586,581 cwts. flour. The general averages com- menced at 57s. 6d., and closed at 60s 3d. per qr • those of London began at 65s., and finished at 64s. lOd. per qr. The London exports were only 20 qrs. wheat, 37 cwts. flour. The flour trade ihrough the entire month has been steady, with prices unaltered, notwith- standing good supphes from the country and foreign parts, Russia having made liberal con- tributions; but the quality has not been fine, the best coming only from France and Spam. The American arrivals, though increased, have scarcely any prime samples among them, these being relatively much dearer at New York 1 own millers have kept the top price at 57s. Norfolks have been worth 45s. to 46s., French 48s to 52s ; and as prices have risen in Pans, liberal imports canAot be expected, without an advance here. The imports into London for four weeks were in country sorts, 92,789 sacks; in foreign 44 801 sacks 10,612 brls.; against 85,033 sacks Enghsh, 6,316 sacks 4,176 brls. foreign in 1865. With only moderate supplies of malting barley all throucrh the month, this quality has about main- tained its value, though tiot in such active request, very prime parcels being still worth 53s. to 54s. ; but medium and grinding sorts have declined 2s to 3s. per qr., being in good supply, though light American is still worth 30s. per qr. We have no confidence in the prices of the lower qualities ot this grain, as, notwithstanding the rjse m maize, it is etiil relatively cheaper. The imports into Lon- don for four weeks were 16,437 qrs. British Barley, 49,590 qrs. foreign ; against 29,887 qrs. British, 37,705 qrs. foreign in 1865. Malt has declined Is. to 2s. per qr. during the month, without symptoms, however, of any further reduction. . ■ i xu j The oat trade has barely maintained the ad- vance of last month, excepting for the primest sorts of old. New Swedish and Baltic being, niany of them, inferior and out of condition, have yielded about 6d. to Is. per qr. An extraordmary country demand has, however, still been kept up ; and as many ports in the Baltic are now closed by frost, and stocks in granary are light, it seems pro- bable that full prices will be paid all through the winter. The imports into London for four weeks were 12,565 qrs. Enghsh, 746 qrs. Scotch, 4,388 qrs Irish, 175,805 qrs. foreign; against 11,549 qrs. English, 7,563 qrs. Scotch, 7,360 qrs. Irish, 207 822 qrs. foreign for the same period last year. The recent high prices of beans having en- couraged farmers to send up their new produce and remaining stocks of old, and the same cause having produced liberal foreign imports, this gram has receded in value 3s. to 4s. per qr. As, how- ever the new that come to market, from their general softness, are below buyers' requirements, and the stocks of foreign are limited, we may see some reaction of foreign supplies fall off, as it is very probable they will. The imports into London for four weeks were 5,677 qrs. Enghsh, 13,330 qrs. foreign ; against 7,547 qrs. English, 2,421 qrs. foreign in 1865. , „ i i. Peas have been dull and neglected all through the month ; and, with open weather, the m^p for boilers has been exceedingly limited : all de- scriptions have therefore given way 2s. to 3s. per qr, the foreign arrivals having been lately very free W^hether boilers recover must depend on the 'character of the winter. The imports into London for four weeks were 3,777 qrs. Enghsh, 15,722 qrs. foreign; against 2,857 qrs. bngUsh, 13,427 qrs. foreign in 1865, The Unseed supply has continued very small, and prices have been fully maintained, with a very free sale for cake, . Cloverseed has been hardening in value, as it has become evident our own crop is both very short and of inferior quality. Prices, recently, in France have been steady, and well maintained; and very probably, when the season opens, we may see an advance. Canary has also gra- dually been improving, as well as mustard and other seeds. IMPERIAL AVERAGES For the week ended Dec. 15, 1866. •Wiieat 71,022iqrs, COs. 3d. bS 72 583 „ 458. 7d. K!:::::::::::: 8.5701 .. 2is. 5d. AVE RAGE S Barley. s. d. 44 9 45 3 Wheat. s. d. Foe the last Six Weeks : I s. Nov. 10, 1866 57 2 Nov. 17, 1866 56 7 Nov. 24, 1866 57 6 Dec. 1, 1866 60 0 Dee. 8.1866 61 7 Deo, 15. 1866 60 3 Aggregate Average 58 10 -Tlfistyear ,...,...>, 4fl 8 45 6 45 10 46 3 46 7 45 e 83 9 Oats. 8. d. 23 23 23 25 24 24 24 94 THE FAEMER'S MAGAZINIJ. COMPARATIVE AVERAGES. WHEAT. BARLEY. OATS. Years. Qrs. s. d. Qrs. s. d. Qrs. s. d. 1862.. . 64,302i ... 46 10 95,740 ... 34 9 13,489 ...20 7 1863.. 99,402| ... 41 1 91,436i ... 32 10 11,7491 ... 19 3 1864.. . 78,0741 ... 38 4 84,273| ... 28 8 6,8911 ... 19 10 1865.. 91,844| ... 46 H 81,9701 ... 32 9 7,357 ... 22 11 1866.. 71,022J ... 60 3 72,583 ... 45 7 8,5701 ... 24 5 PRICES OF SEEDS. BRITISH SEEDS. MusTAED, per bush., bro-ivn 15s. to 17s. white 12s. to 158. Caitaet, per qr S8s. 68s. t/LOVEESEED, red 52s 60s. CoBiANDEE, per cwt 18s'. 203*. Takes, \vinter, new, per bushel !!5s! Od 5s "ed" Teefoil 25s '28s* Rtegeass, per qr 22s" 84s' Linseed, perqr., sowing 68s.to.72s.,crushin'g 66s'. 70s'. Bapeseed, per qr gSg. 60s. Linseed Cakes, per ton £10 lOs. to £12 5s. Rape Cake, per ton £5 Os. to £5 10s. FOREIGN SEEDS. CoEiANDEE, per cwt 18s.to20s. Clovebseed, red 52s. to 65s., white 86s 104s Tbefoil ;; 22s.' 24s.' Kyegeass, per qi- ;^gg 20s Hempseed, small 38s. per qr.,Dutch!.'.'.'!.' 40s' 42s' Linseed, per qr., Baltic 64s. to 68s.. .Bombay 69s" 70s' Linseed Cakes, per ton £10 10s. to £12 5s' Rape Cake, per ton £5 Os. to £5 10s. Rapeseed, Dutch 58s gOs Caeeawat 42s. 44s. HOP MARKETS. BOflOUGH, Friday, Dec. 21.— There is no alteration in our market, the demand continuing good for every description of Hops. '■ ^ssex £7 15 £8 0 £8 10 Weald of Kent 8 0 S 12 9 10 Mid and East Kent 8 10 ...... 9 10 ...... 11 8 Farnham and Country 8 10 '. 10 0 11 0 Yearlings 5 13 6 G '.'.'." 7 10 OI^s 3 10 3 10 4 4. POTATO MARKETS. SOUTHWARK WATERSIDE. LONDON, Mo^'DAY, Dec. 24.— During the past week the arrivals coastwise and by rail have been fair. The trade is steady for good quality; second-rate sorts a dull sale. The following are this day's quotations : Yorkshire Flukes per ton 100s. to 130s. „ Regents 90s. to 120s. Lincolnshire Regents gOs. to 110s. Dunbar and East Lothian Regents 100s.' to 130s! Perth, Forfar, and Fife Regents ... 100s. to 110s. Rocks 80s. to 9fis. Irench whites 70s. to 80s. ALEx.^.NDER Tod. BOROUGH AND SPITALFIELDS. LONDON, MoND.u-, Dee. 24.— We have nothing of in- terest to notice in this market. The trade for all kinds of Potatoes has, owing to the near approach of Christmas been very quiet, at late rates. The import into London last week consisted of 485 sacks, 147 tons from Dunkirk ; 52 tons Do- huet ; 14 bags, 6 bales, 5 baskets Rotterdam ; 11 S tons Rouen • and 6 bags Antwerp. ' Yorkshire Regents 90s. to 135s. per ton. I^lui^es 100s. to 150s. ^ocks 80s. to 100s. „ ^scotch Regents 80s. to 130s. „ 1 ^?^^'^'^F POTATO MARKETS.-Doncaster' (Satur- aayiastj: Ihere was a large supply of Potatoes, for which the demand ruled steady at about the former rates ; wholesale ys. to lis. per load of 18 stone, retail Is. 2d. per peck.— JLAjfCHESTEE, (Saturday last): Potatoes 8s. to 15s. per 252 Ibs.-PoNTEFRACT, (Saturday last): Potatoes Is. Id. to cnJLr^ r""" l^^-Y0I^K, (Saturday last) : Large suppUes IwT ^'' '''f'"'^ "> ^'"^ '""'^'^t; «'^<1 the demand being blow previous prices are barely maintained: the quotations are 10s. per tub of 280 lbs., aad 9d. per peck retail. PRICES of BUTTER, CHEESE, HAMS, &c. BUTTER, p. cwt.— 8. Friesland 120 to 124 Jersey 94 110 Dorset — — Carlow — — Waterford — — Cork — _ Limerick — Sligo — _ Peksh, perdoz., 13s. Od. to 17s. Od. CHEESE, per cwt.— „. Cheshire 79 to 1 Dble. Gloucester 74 Cheddar gO American 66 HAMS: York .'go Cumberland 90 Irish — BACON :— Wiltshire 64 Irish, green 56 78 90 74 98 60 CORK EUTTER EXCHANGE, (Saturday last.)— The re- ceipts this week amounted to 10,470 firkins, showing an in- crease of about 1,500 firkins over last week. The demand was dull during the week until to-day, when a spirited competition took place, with an advance in prices. The market closed firm, and higher prices are expected after tlie holidays. Since Monday, firsts rose from 115s. to 116s., seconds fell from 100s. to 99s., thirds rose from 79s. to 80s., and fourths fell from 74s. to 70s. Tliere were over 400 firkins of mild cured butter re- ceived during the week ; it quotes to-day from 85s. to 128s. GLASGOW, (Wednesday last.)— A fair supply of cheese, mostly secondary, which met a rather better sale, at lower prices. About thirty tons passed the weigh-house scales. Dunlop, prime 64s. to 67s. ; ditto, secondary 53s. to 60s. ; Cheddars, prime, 07s. to 71s. ; ditto, secondary, 62s. to 65s SALISBURY MONTHLY CHEESE MARKET.-The supply was unusually short, even for this time of the year, only between fifty and sixty tons being pitched. The demand ruled duU : but before the close of the market a large proportion had changed hands, the figures realized being about the saine as those current last month. PERTH CHEESE FAIR.— There was a small supply ; but, small as it was, it proved more tlian equal to the demand, and a considerable proportion left the market unsold. Skimmed milk, 4d. to 4id. ; Saturdav cheese, 5d. to oii. per lb. CREWE CHEESE FAIR.— The pitch was not large, and the quality was not very prime. Prices were sbhiewhat lower, and ranged from 55s. to 70s. per cwt. ENGLISH WOOL MARKETS. CITY, MoA'DAY, Dec. 24.— Since our last report very little English wool has found buyers, either for home use or export. Prices, however, have been well supported. The supplies now hold by our manufacturers are very moderate, even for the time of year. CtJEEENT PeICES OF ENGLISH WoOL. S. d. S. d Fleeces— Southdown hoggets perlb. 1 7itol 8^ Half-bred ditto ,, 1 91 1 101 Keut fleeces ,, is 19 Southdowii ewes and wethers ,, 17 is Leicester ditto ,, 17 19 SoETS— Clothing ^^ j g j jQi Combing ,| 1 6J 2 0 ^ LEEDS (English akd Foreign) WOOL MARKETS, Friday.— The dimimslie;', supply of English and combing wool has had the effect of shghtly advancing prices, and if the ma- nufacturer can secure improved prices on pieces and yarn, it is probable that wool will be dearer. Tliere is on the whole a quiet state of things in the clothing wool market, without any change of price. GLASGOW WOOL MARI^T, (Saturday last.) — The wool market here continues to show signs of returning brisk- ness. Buyers, however, are very cautious in their operations, and traisactions are restricted within the narrowest possible limits. After the new year, trade is expected to revive consi- dernhlj.—Fi-om F.H. Mcleod's Circular. MANURES. PRICE CURRENT OF GUANO, &c. Peruvian Guanc direct from the importers' stores, £12 53. to £12 10s. per ton. Bonepi,,£6 Ditto Cnushed, f,S lOs. per ton. Animal Charcoal (70 per cent. Phosphate) £5 per ton. Coprohte^ CambrMge, whple £2 10s., ground £3 to £3 2s. Cd. per ton. ■K,-^ ?^^°^h ""^ole £2 to £2 10s., ground £2 10s. Nitrate of Soda, £12 53. to £12 10s. per ton. Gypsum,£l 10s. Superphosphatesof Lime,£55s.to£G5s.perton. Sulphuric Acid, concentrated 1-845 Id. per lb., brown 1712 0%A Blood Manure, £G 5s. to £7 10s. Dissolved Bones, £G 15s. per ton. PrVt?^ eSf'.???\ ''^L^?"'i'''=^° brl.£n 5s. to £12, bag £10 10s. to£10 I5s. Cotton Seed Cake, £G 3s. to £7 per ton. E. PuESEE, London Manure Company, ^^^^^ 116, Fonchurcli Street, E.C. Printed by Rogerson and Tuxford, 240, Strand, London, W.C. THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. JANUARY, 18 6 7. CONTENTS. Plate I.— PORTRAIT OF MR. B. T. BRANDRETH GIBBS. Plate II.— C H ARLOTTE IV.; a Prize Shorthorn Heifer. Descriptions of Plates ..... The Congress at Leamington, — By Cuthbert W. Johnson, F.R.S. Central Farmers' Club: On the Best Mode and Period of Applying TO THE Land ...... What is the Farmers' Club? ..... The Prevention of the Cattle Plague : Central Chamber of Agricu Land in Australia ...... Employer and Employed: Barnstaple Farmers' Club . Repeal of the Malt Tax: Shropshire Chamber of Agriculture Birmingham and Midland Counties Show Bath and West of England Agricultural Society : Monthly Meetin Condition of the Farm Labourer .... The Business of a Farmers' Club .... Mixed Husbandry— Progressive Industry Strangles in Horses ...... Sand and its Masters ..... The Three Modes of Preserving South American Meat Parish Roads. ...... The Tenantry of the United Kingdom.— By a Practical Farmer Progress of the Potato ..... Birmingham Poultry Show ..... Rutland Agricultural Society .... Sussex County Show ....•• The Royal Agricultural Society of England : Proceedings in Counci Deputation to the Lord-President of the Council Annual Meeting Central Chamber of Agriculture Smithfield Club Cattle Show Annual Meeting Dinner The Importation of Forage Metropolitan Cattle Market : The Great Christmas Supply . Liverpool Fat Stock Show ..... "Forbidden Topics" at the Royal Agricultural Society The Royal Dublin Society's Christmas Show. Tredegar Show . . Farmers' Club Dinner ..... On Crossing Breeds of Poultry. — By a Practical Farmer Sales of Fat Stock ...... Calendars of Agriculture and Gardening Foreign Agricultural Gossip ..... Agricultural Reports ..... Agricultural Intelligence, Fairs, &c. Review op the Corn Trade during the past Month . Market Currkncies, &c. . , . • . Manure age. 1, 2 3 6 15 16 17 18 24 28 32 33 34 35 36 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 44 45 48 49 57 60 n 73 76 11 78 79 80 81 83 86 87 88 89 ^^ 91 92 94 THE MOMENTOUS QUESTION. CRINOLINE. rADiE^ SHOiirs AV onrcc see THOMSON'S NEW STYLE, Which, light, graceful, and elegant in outline, combines conifoit aud economy with the very latest fashion. Observe the name " Thompson," and the Trade Mark '"A Crown." Sold everywhere. PICKSLEY, SIMS, AND CO, (LIMITED), BEDFORD EOUNDRY, LEIGH, LANCASHIRE, MAKUFACTUEEES of CHAFF CUTTERS, COEN GEINDINGand CEUSHING MILLS, TURNIP CUTTERS, PULPERS, CAKE BREAKERS, Etc., Etc. lu addition to the ordinary sizes of Chaff Cutters, P., S., and Co. have introduced a new Machine, specially adapted for the London Market, fitted with a large Flj- Wheel and wide Mouthpiece, at a low cost. P., S., and Co. also make a new Combined Machine for Slicing Turnips and for Pulping and Cutting Finger Pi for Sheep. This Machine is entirely new, of treble action, and requires httle power to work it. P., S., and Co., manufacttu-ers of STEAM ENGESTES, BONE-GRINDING and RASPING MILLS, REAPING and MOWING MACHINES, HYDRAULIC and SCREW PRESSES and PUMPS of every description, COTTON GINS, etc., etc. ILLUSTKATED CATALOGUES TREE PER BOST ON APPLICATION. THE MARK LANE EXPRESS AND LARGEST AND THE LEADING FARMERS' AND GRAZIERS' NEWSPAPER. PUBLISHED EVERY MONDAY EVENING IN TIME FOR POST. The object of the Proprietors of the MARK LANE EXPRESS has ever been, to render it in every way the most eflBcient organ of the Agricultural Class, to direct and difiuBe practical and scientitic information of all k'nds relating to rural affairs, to be a medium for giving rirc-ulation to the Proceedings of the Royal Agricultural Society of England, he Hitrhland and Agricultural Society of Scotland, the Koyal Agricu tural Improvement Society of Ireland, and of every Agricultural Society and Farmers' Club in the Kingdom. All political and party discussions are care- fully avoided, eicept such as are purely Agricultural since its establishment, twenty-sixyears since, this course has been steadily adhered to, and the result has been, the accession of a numerous and rapidly-increasing list of Subscribers, comprising the most influential Agriculturists In the kingdom. In limes when the position of the Tenant Farmers has been one of great difficulty, the MARK LANE EXPRESS has ever been directed to the advocacy and support of the bights op the Tekani' Farmers, In stating this, it is not intended to lose sight of that noble principle which the great Lord Leicester so successfully followed ; viz., that liberal conduct toivards the Tenant rvill ever be found to be the most beneficial to the Landlord . THE MALT TAX.— This is the only Farmer'sPaper in London which advocates the Repeal of the Malt Tax. In authenticity and extent of Market information, the MARK LANEEXPRKSSstands unrivalled. A REVIEW OF THE CORN TRADE (British and Foreign; fully explains the Causes which occasion the Rise or Fall in Prices, thus afi'ording the Grovpers and Speculator some grounds for anticipating the stabiUty or future tendency of Prices. The Latest Reports of the Corn, Cattle, Provision, Wool, Seed, Hop, Malt, and Commercial Markets, appear with the leading Country Fairs and Agricultural Meetings. Authentic Weekly Advices are received from all the Important Markets in the king- dom, our Colonial Possessions, as well as all parts of Europe and America, ROGERSON & TUXFORP, ?4G, STRAND, :f.QNDON, Muy tie bftd of all Booisell^Mi Rnd Newynen througUout the KJr^dom, price pevonpenisa, pr ^\ \% H, per pnoqir). THE ROYAL FARMERS' INSURANCE COMPANY, 3, NORFOLK STREET, STRAND, LONDON, W.C. PERSONS Insured by this Company have the security of an extensive and wealthy Proprietary, as well as of an ample capital, always applicable to the payment of claims. First Class Not Hazardous Is. 6d per cent. Second Class Hazardous f" « , " ThirdClass Doubly Hazardous 4». bcl. „ ^.ww -.^.-M-w^ AW-n TfiTi'll.r'ATVXIIiB PBtOPERTY of every description in Pu^if o"?"*Wavetl?-DMS*t;*J"i^e,, Good, ia Boa.s or C.„.l,, Ship, i,. Po,-t „. Harbour, &c., &c., are insured in this Office at moderate rates. SPECIA1< BISK-S.— At such rates as may be considered reasonable. VA-RltrWlVC;} STOCK.-Ss. per cent.; and Portable Steam Thrashing Machines allowed to be use^'^KSfchaTgT iJ^al^y Five' Millions insured in this Office on this descnpfon ot prope.ty alone. I^OSSES paid immediately after the amounts have been ascertained. lilFE.-Life Insurances on moderate terms by Policies payable to the registered holders. BOWUS.— Insurers of the participating class are entitled to four-fifths of the profits. At.bel<..dsc,arailonorBo„„jijMY L7es?„th°^h^T„^''»o^aruiltaym/^ S'S mado/belng''ln'so-,e ca.e, about CO por cent, on the premiums received. Additional Agents wanted. Application to ^^^^ REDDISH, Esa., Secretary and Actuary. IMPORTANT TO FLOGKMASTERS. THOMAS BIGG, Agricultural and Veterinary Chemist, by Appointment to His late Royal Highness Tlie Prince Consort, K.G., Leicester House, Great Dover-street, Borough, Londoa, begs to caU the attention of Farmers and Graziers to his valuable SHEEP and LAMB DIPPING COM- POSITION, whi ch requires no Boiling, and may be used with Warm or Cold Vater, for effectually destroying the Tick, Lice, and aU other insects injurious to the Flock, preventing the alarming attacks of Fly and Shab, and cleansing and purifying the Skin, thereby greatly improving the Wool, both in quantity and quality, and highly contributing to the general health of, the animal. , ... ^ , . •,, ^ . Prepared only by Thomas Bigg, Chemist, &c., at his Manufac- tory as above, and sold as follows, although any other quantity may be had, if required :— . . , . . „„ „ 4 1b. for 20 sheep, price, jar included.. ...AO i 61b. 8 1b. 101b. 201b. SO' lb. 40 lb. eoib. 60 1b. 80 1b. 100 lb. 80 40 50 100 160 200 250 SOO 400 500 (cask and measure included) 0 3 0 4 0 5 0 10 0 15 1 0 1 3 1 7 1 17 2 5 Should any Flockmaster prefer boiling the Composition, it will be equally effective. MOST IMPORTANT CERTIFICATE. Vfom Ma. Herapath, the celebrated Analytical CJiemist:— Bristol Laboratory, Old Park, January 18th, 1861. Sir —I have submitted your Sheep-Dipping Composition to analysis, and find that the ingredients are well blended, and the mixt ire neutral. If it is used according to the directions given, 1 feel satisfied, that while it effectually destroys vermin, it will not injure the hair roots (or " yolk ") in the skin, the fleece, or the carcase. I think it deserves the numerous testimonials pub- lished. I am, Sir, yours respectfully, -c^na Uro ».n William Herapath, Sen., F.C.S., &c., &c.. To Mr, Thomas Bigg, Professor of Chemistry. Leicester House, Great Dover-street, Borough, London, He would also especially call attention to his SPECIFIC, or LOTION, for the SCAB, or SHAB, which will be found a certain remedy for eradicating that loathsome and ruinous disorder in Sheep, and which may be saf.ay used in all climates, and at all seasons of the year, and to all descriptions of sheep, even ewes in lamb. Price FIVE SHILLINGS per gallon— sufficient on an average for thirty Sheep (according to the virulence ol the disease); also in wine quart bottles. Is. 3d. each. IMPORTANT TESTIMONIAL. "Scoulton, near Hingham, Norfolk, April 16th, 1855. " Dear Sir,— In answer to yours of the 4lh inst, which would have been replied to before this had I been at home, I have much pleasure in bearing testimony to the efficacy of your in- valuable' Specific for the cure of Scab in Sheep.' The 600 sheep were all dressed in August last with 84 gallons ol the ' iVo/i- Poisonous Specific,' that was so highly recommended at the Lincoln Show, and by their own dresser, the best attention being paid to the flock by my shepherd after dressing according to instructions left; but notwithstanding the Scab continued getting worse. Being determined to have the Scab cured if possible, I wrote to you for a supply of your Specific, which I received the following day; and although the weather was most severe in February during the dressing, yoar Specific proved itself an invaluable remtdy,forin three weeks the Sheep were quite cured ; and I am happy to say the young lambs are doing remarkably well at present. In conclusion, I believe it to be the safest and best remedy now in use. " I remain, dear Sir, your obedient servant, " For JOHN TING EY E«q "To Mr. Th«mas Bigg." «• KJi^«JSY. ^g- Flockmasters would do well to beware of such prepara- ions as "Non-poisonous Compositions:" it is only necessary to appeal to their good common sense and judgment to be tho- roughly convinced, that no " Non-poisonous" article can poison or destroy insect vermin, particularly such as the Tick, Lice, and Scab Parasites— creatures (?o teniicious of life. Such advertised preparations must be wholly uBcless, or they are not what they are represented to be. Dipping Apparatus r i». . .£ 14, £i, £*, & *8, EOGERSON & TUXFORD'S AGRICULTURAL WORKS PRICE ONE SHILLING EACH, Neatly Bownd in Foolscap Octavo, k EACH VOLUME CONTAINING from 130 to 190 PAGES OF LETTERPRESS, EICHARDSOf S EMAL HASD-BOOES. WHEAT : ITS HISTORY, CHARAC- TEEISTICS, CHEMICAL COMPOSITION, and NUTRITIVE PROPERTIES. By "The Old Norfolk Parmek," Author of " Agriculture, Ancient and Modern," Ac, &c. n^HE AGRICULTURIST'S WEATHER- X GUIDE AND MANUAL OF METEOROLOGY. By Henry C. Creswick, Assistant Observer in tlie Magnetical and Meteorological Department of the Royal Observatory at Greenwich, Author of several papers on Meteorology. FLAX : ITS CULTIVATION AND PRE- PARATION, and BEST MODE OF CON- VERSION. — By James Ward, Author of " The World and ita Workshops," &c. RURAL ARCHITECTURE : a SERIES OF DESIGNS FOR RURAL AND OTHER DWELLINGS. The Ground Plans, Elevations, and Specifications by James Sanderson, Burgh Engineers' Office, Liverpool. THE AGRICULTURAL INSTRUCTOR: or, YOUNG FARMER'S CLASS BOOK.— By Edmund Murphy, A.B. DOMESTIC FOWL: THEIR NATURAL HISTORY, BREEDING, AND GENERAL MANAGEMENT. THE FLOWER GARDEN.— By George Glenny, F.L.S., Author of "Properties of Flowers," &c. rpHE IMPLEMENTS OF THE FARM. J- — By R. Scott Burn, C.E. HORSES : THEIR VARIETIES, BREED- ING, AND MANAGEMENT.— Edited by M. M. MiLBURN. D OGS: THEIR ORIGIN AND VA- RIETIES. HGS: their origin AND VARIE- TIES. COWS AND DAIRY HUSBANDRY.-— By ?r. M. MiLBURN, Author of "The Sheep," &c. The Dairy Department Revised by T. Horsfall. SHEEP AND SHEPHERDING : embrac- ing the History, Varieties, Rearing, Feeding, and General Management of Sheep ; with Treatises on Australian Sheep Farming, the Spanish and Saxon Merinos, &c. By M. M. Milbukn, Author of " The Cow," and various Agricultural Prize Essays. THE HIVE AND THE HONEY BEE. >ESTS OF THE FARM. A New Edition. By M. M. Milburn, Author of " The Sheep,", &c. LAND DRAINAGE, EMBANKMENT, AND IRRIGATION.— By James Donald, Civil Engineer, Derby. SOILS AND MANURES, with INSTRUC- TIONS FOR THEIR IMPROVEMENT.— By John Donaldson, Government Land Drainage Sur- veyor. In the Press, in conUnuaUon of the same Series, rpHE POTATO: ITS HISTORY, CUL- -L TURE, AND NATIONAL IMPORTANCE.— By S; Copland. London: Honlston & Wright, 65, Paternoster Row ; Rogerson & Tuxford, 246, Strand, W.G Dublin : J. McQlashan, Upper Sackville Street. And all Booksellers. ROGERSON & TUXFORD,} [PRINTERS, 246, STRAND. THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. VOLUME THE THIRTY-FIRST. THTRD SERIES, JANUARY TO JUNE, MDCCCLXVIt LONDON : PUBLISHED BY ROGERSON AND TUXFORD, 246, STRAND. MAY BE HAD BY ORDER THROUGH ALL BOOKSELLERS. V, 31 INDEX A. Achievement — Description of Plate, 459 Agriculture, A Board of, 438 Agriculture, Calendar of, 88, 1/2, 265, 351, 450 Agriculture in Natal, 487 Agriculture of South Australia, 248 Agriculture, The Value of Man in, 488 Agricultural Department of the Paris Exhibition, 264 Agricultural Education in Scotland, 355 Agricultural Gang System, 434 Agricultural Geology, 218, 303 Agricultural Intelligence, 91, 175, 267, 359, 454, 546 Agricultural Machinery, 387 Agricultural Reports, 90, 137, 266, 358, 452, 546 Agricultural Societies — Ayrshire, 512 Bath and West of England, 32, 257, 306, 380 540 Boroughbridge, l66, 373 Cheshire, 386 East Lothian, 513 Highland and Agricultural Society of Scotland, 103 Royal Agricultural Society of England, 15, 45, 245, 321, 420, 466, 491 Royal Agricultural Society of Ireland, 307, 372 Royal Bucks, 128, 280 Royal Dublin, 80, 516 Rutland, 44 Southern Counties, 257, 339, 425, 541 Sussex, 44 Tredegar, 81 West Herts, 215 Agricultural Statistics and a Board of Agriculture, 106 Animals, Parasites in, 280 Ashes on Grass, its Results, 221 Australia, Land in, 17 Australian Trade, 408 Averages, Comparative, 94, 178, 271, 364, 458, 551 Averages, Imperial, 93, 178, 272, 364, 458, 551 B. Barley, Price of. On the Repeal of the Malt-Tax, 162 Beef, Cheap Supplies of, 333 Beef versus Beer, 337 Beer, A State of, 263 Beer, Nutrition in, 264 Beer the Poor Man's Beverage, 254 Bees, The Queen of the, 547 Birmingham and Midland Counties Show, 28 Birmingham Poultry Show, 43 Bread-making, The Chemistry of Fermentation in, 278 British Agriculture, The Condition of, 375 Butter, Cheese, &c., Prices of, 94, 175,269, 360, 458, 552 C. Cattle, Permission to Exhibit, 518 Cattle Plague, Letter from Edwards Crisp, M.D., on the, 497 Cattle Plague, On the, 527 Cattle Plague, The Prevention of the, 16 Cattle Salesmen, Liability of, 448 Cattle, The Functions of Smell and Taste in, 283, 498 Cattle Trade, Review of the, 90, 173, 266, 358, 452, 544 Cattle Traffic on Railways, 89 Chamber of Agriculture, The Uses of a, 142 Chambers of Agriculture — Central, 57, 256, 399 Leicestershire, 164 Norfolk, 171 Shropshire, 21 Suffolk, 330 Warwickshire, 508 Cheddar Cheese Store, 152 Cheesemaking, A Talk with Professor Voelcker on, 153 Chemistry, Animal and Vegetable, 138 Chips, 111 Clear Course —Description of Plate, 9o Corn Trade, Review of ths, 92, 176, 270, 362, 456, 549 Crops, the Rotation of; by Josiah Mitchell, of Australia, 198 Crops, Yield of the, in 1866, if an Average Year, 250 Crossing, Judicious, 141 Current Prices in Mark-lane, 177,272, 364, 458, 551 D. Dainty Feeders, 350 Dairy Management, 426 Dew of Heaven ; by C. W. Johnson, F.R.S., 460 Diadem— Description of Plate, 365 E. Emigration ; What to Do, and Where to Go, 312, 335, 338, 354 Employers and Employed, 18 F. Farm-houses, 507 Farm Labourer, Condition of the, 33 Farm, The New, 247, 309, 388, 475 Farm, Tidiness on the, 213 Farmers, Associating with, 249 Farmers' Book-keeping, 209 Farmers' Club, The Business of a, 34 Farmers' Club ? What is the, 15 Farmers' Club Dinner, 83 Farmers' Cows, 340 Farming in New Zealand, 118 Farming Matters in Suffolk, 120 INDEX. Farmers' Clubs — Athy, 130, 430 Bailyreeu, 484 Barnstaple, 18 Central, 6, 171, 233, 312, 409, 469 Chester-le-Street, 33 Cirencester, 144 Croydon, 209 Dorchester, 106 Faringdon, 375 Framling;ham, 202 Hadleigb, 547 Hexham, 206 Lavenham, 120 Maidstone, 481 Midland, 260 Newbury, 138 Wakefield, 341 Winfrith, 141, 154 Farmstead, A New, 436 Fertilising Agents, 166 Feldspar prepared for Manure, 192 First-Class — Description of Plate, 365 Forbidden Topics at the Royal Agricultural Society, 79 foreign Agricultural Gossip, 89, 170, 258, 356, 446, 539 G. Game Laws Amendment Bill, Lord Elcho's, 447 Game Laws in Scotland Bill, 331 Game Victim, A, 543 Gang Labour in the Fens, 353 Gang System, The, 543 Gardening, Calendar of, 88, 172, 265, 352, 451 Garrett, The Late Mr. Richard, 85 Gibbs, Mr. B. T. Brandreth, Memoir of, 1 Grass, On laying down Land to Permanent, 370 Green Crops, The Cultivation of, 260 H. Harvesting Crops, The Best Means of, 469 Herds of Great Britain, 135, 381 Highways and Byeways, 373 Hint, A, 255 Hop, American Culture of the, 511 Hop Market, 94, 178, 269, 364, 458, 552 Hop Oasts, The Structure of, 481 Hop, The Cultivation of the, 124 Horse Show at the Agricultural Hall, Islington, 641 Horse Shows, The Conduct of, 343 Horses Over-reaching : A Remedy, 449 Horses, The Breeding of, 371 Howard's, Messrs., Pigs, 171 Hull, Trade of the Port of, 159 Husbandry, Mixed, 35 Hypothec Amendment Bill, 194 Hypothec Law of Scotland, 342, 514 I. Irish Land Question, 479 L. Labourer and his drink, 336 Labourer, The Agricultural, 288 Labourers' Club-room, gift of a, 165 Labourers, Premiums for, 215 Labouring Classes, The Condition of the, 437 Lambs, The Management of, 341 Land Agency, its Nature and Duties, 206 Land from the Sea, The Reclamation of, 491 Landlord, Tenant, and Field Sports, 465 Law Report.— Walker v. Gillum, 4 10 Leamington, The Congress at; by C. W. Johnson, F R S 3 Leather-belting, To Prevent Rats Damaging, 383 " Leicester Wethers"— Description of Plate, 459 Linseed Cake and Oil Trades, 156 Live Stock, Carriage of, 253 Live Stock, The Rearing and Feedmg of, 484 Liverpool Fat Stock Show, 78 London Averages, 272 M. Malt, 311 ^ , Malt!tax and Chancellor of the Exchequer, 100 Malt-tax and Game Laws, 204 Malt-tax and the Growers of Barley, 478 Malt-tax, How to Deal with the, 335 Malt-tax, Repeal of the, 24, 101 Malt-tax, The Committee of Inquiry on the, 528, 529 Mangel-wurzel Culture, 463 Manure, 195 , Manure, Best Method of Applying it to Land, b Manure Maker's Materials, 158 Manure-pit, The, 451 Manures, Price of, 94, 178, 272, 364 , Manurial Properties of Purchased Food, The Rela- tive Value and, 420 Mare for Stud Purposes, 430 Meat, Three Modes of Preserving South American, 39 Metropolitan Christmas Great Market, 77 "Middle Park," In— Description of Plate, 179 Mills and xMiUing, 222, 289, 390, 519 Mines and Wood Lands, The Ratmg of, 269 Mole, The, 216 Moorland, Management of, 171 N. Nature's Fertilizers of Grass Land; by C W. Johnson, F.R.S., 274 O. Obituary— EUman, John, 279 Feversham, Lord, 246 Read, Mr., of Elkston, 85 Thompson, Mr. J. B., of Anlaby, 449 Oil Market, 272 Oils and Fats and their Equivalents, 130 Owl, the While or Barn, 217 " Ox"— Description of Plate, 95 P. Paris Universal Exhibition of 1867, 441, 535 Parish Roads, 40 Pea Crop and its Culture, 308 Peas, boiled, for Milch Cows and Hogs, 157 " Pigs, Improved Dorset"— Description of Plate, 273 INDEX. Ploughing Match, Plan of a, 256 Police Game PFeservation, 257 Potato Farming, 19I, 311 Potato Markets, 94, 178, 269, 360,458, 552 Potato, Progress of the, 42 Potato, Trade and Markets, 150 Potato, Varieties of the, 122 Potatoes, 259 Potatoes, Ridging for, 277 Poultry, On Crossing Breeds of, 86 Poultry, Our; by C. W. Johnson, F.R.S,, 180 " Prime Minister" — Description of Plate, 273 R. Reviews— Field and Fern, 114 Life of a Salmon, 264 Physiology of the Farm, 439 Rinderpest, the. Precautions and Remedies, 526 Roads, Our ; by C. W. Johnson, F.R.S., 366 Roots and Cabbage, The Growth of, 43 S. Sand and its Masters, 38 Scab in Sheep, 169 Seeds, Price of, 94, l78, 272, 364, 458, 552 Seeds, Vitality of, 288 Sewage and Pestilence, 125 Sewage, the Utilization of the Liverpool, 126 Sheep Grazing in a Wet Season, 464 Sheep, on Diseases in; by Professor Simonds, 321 Sheep-ticks and Red Lice, 214 •' Shorthorned Heifer" — Description of Plate, 2 Smithfield Club Cattle Show, 60, 334 "Southdown Wethers" — Description of Plate, 179 Sow, Points of a Breeding, 87 Stallions for the Season of 1867, 344 Steam Cultivation, On ; by William Bulstrode, of Mount Farm, Cookham-Dean, Berks, 183 Steam Culture, 128 Steam-plough Trials in Suffolk, 433 Stock, The Purchase and Grazing of, 277 Stock Sales — Kitchen, 87 Mr. Logan's Shorthorns, 361 Sir John Shelley's, 361 Kinnellar Shorthorns, 361 Various, 454, 455 Preston Hall Herd, 502 Havering Park Herd, 505 Thorndale and Fencote Herd, 507 Strangles in Horses, 36 Swine, The Way to Catch, 140 T. Temperature, Low; by C. W. Johnson, F.R.S. , 96 Tenant-farmer's Burdens, 99 Tenantry of the United Kingdom, 41 Testimonial to Mr. C. Duckham, 474 Textless Notes; by a Crotchety Farmer, 211, 369, 548 Tithe Commutation, Septennial Averages, 269 Turnpike Nuisance, 256 Turnpike-roads, 110 Turnpike Trusts, 144 Turnpikes, Abolition of, &c,, 233 U. Underwood ? What is Saleable, 262 Vivisection in the French Schools, 168 W. Water, its Good and Bad Effects, 255 Water, Our Supply of, 151 Wheat, Experiments with Different Varieties, 384 Wheat, Fluctuations in the Price of, 271 Wheat, Large crops of, 109 AVheats, the Best for Dorset, 154 Women and Children Employed in Agriculture, 404 Wool Markets, 94, 178, 272, 360, 364, 458, 552 Wool Trade, The Liverpool, 1 55 THE EMBELLISHMENTS " Charlotte 4th," a Shorthorned Heifer B. T. Brandreth Gibbs Cross-bred Ox . A Clear Course . Southdown Wethers In Middle Park . The Prime Minister Improved Dorset Pigs Diadem The First-Class . Leicester Wethers Achievement American Hop Culture ^ Page." 1 1 95 95 179 179 ■ 273 273 365 ' 365 459 459 k > 511 No. 2, Vol. XXXI.] FEBRUARY, 1867. THE [Third Series* FARMER'S MAGAZINE AND MONTHLY JOURNAL oi THE AdRIGULTUEAL INTEEE8T. 2Belruatelr TO THE FARMERS OF THE UNITED KINGDOM. LONDON : PUBLISHED BY ROGERSON AND TUXFORD, 246, STRAND. PRICE TWO SHILLINGS. ROGERSON AND TUSFORD,] [PRniTEES, 246, STRAND. J. & F. HO^»yARD, BRITANNIA IKON WORKS, BEDFORD, PATENTEES AND MANUFACTURERS OF CHAMPION PLOUGHS, STEAH CULTIVATORS, STEAM PLOUGHS, HARROWS, HORSE RAKES, HAYMAKERS, AND OTHER AGRICULTURAL IMPLEMENTS. From their long' experience and great manufacturing' facilities, J. and F. Howard are in a position to supply Agricultural Machinery, not only of the best design, but of the best workmanship it is possible to produce. Their aim for many years has been to manufacture Implements which, whilst most efficient in work, should prove economical and durable in use. Being extensive Farmers themselves, they have full opportunities of testing every machine before ofl'ering it to the public. J. & F. HOWARD have long devoted attention to the Manufacture of IMPLEMENTS FOR ALL PARTS OP THE WORLD, AND BEING THE LAKGEST EXPORTERS IN ENGLAND OF PLOUGHS, HARROWS, AND HORSE RAKES, they are fully acquainted with the kind of Implements adapted for various countries. Their Implements are made principally of WROUGHT and MALLEABLE IRON, and are not only constructed so as to take to pieces and pack in the smallest compass to save freig'ht, but are so simply arranged as to leave no difficulty in putting them together. Packing Cases and Packing charged Cost Price. CATALOGUES, with full Particulars, sent POST FREE on application. London Office— 4, Cheapside, three doors from St. Paul's. EANSOMES & SIMS, ORWELL WORKS, 9, GRAOECHURCH ST. IPSWICH AND LONDON. RA^NSOlVrKS cfe SIMS, ORWELL WORKS, IPSWICH. LONDON: 9, GRACECHURCH STREET. IMPROVED HORSE GEAR, DRIVINGS AN ARUANGEIVIENT OF FOOD JvlACHINEIlY. One-Horse Gear . . £9 0 0 Intermediate Motion, for either, 4 O O Two-Horse Gear, £10 O O Pulleys and Straps according to size. SELECT LIST OF THE MOST USEFUL SIZES OF FOOD PREPARING MACHINERY FOR HORSE POWER. 1 Two-Horse Gear, £10 0 0, 1 Intermediate Motion, £4 O O 20-iiicli Pulley on ditto, ) for driving Oil Cake Breaker, £0 14 6 24-inoli PuUev for driving Universal Mill, £1 1 0 Strap for Oil Cake Breaker, £1 17 0 Strap for Universal Mill, £1 17 0 ) 1 Chaff Cutter No. 24, cuts two lengths, | and f in. without change of wheels. "Will cut ahout , 15 cwt. of hay or straw into | in. length per hour, Avith 1 Horse power, £9 O 0 Change l]']icch\ for other Icnqtlis, 3s. Gd. iter pair. Crotch on the Chaff Cutter for connecting it to Intermediate ( Motion £0 5 0 ; 1 Pulper No. 14, will pulp about 40 cwt. of roots per hour £6 6 0 IS-inch Pulley on ditto for ] connecting it to I uterniediate Motion, £0 10 0 " \ 1 Universal Mill No. 15, will split about 24 bushels of beans and bruise about 15 to 20 bushels of ) oats, or one-half more linseed per hour, £10 lO O 18-inch Pulley on ditto for connecting it to [ Intermediate Motion, £0 10 0 ) 1 Oil Cake Breaker No. 4, will break about .30 cwt. of cake per hour, fine enough for sheep, or \ for bullocks about twice as much. The dust is screened out, and the roller teeth are chilled so / that they do not wear blunt £4 4 0 18-iuch PuUev on ditto for connecting it to Intermediate \ Motion £0 10 0 £19 9 6 9 5 0 6 16 0 11 0 0 4 £51 14 4 The above are (he most asefal sizes, but i?. <£• >S'. manufactvre both larger and smaller Machines of the same descri2>tio'/i. Particulars on application. HAND POWER MACHINES. Biddell's Patent Chaff Cutter No. 3 (First Prize It.A.S.K. at Chester) .... Chaff Cutter No. 22 .... . {The cheapest Chaf Cutter in the trade) Oil Cake Breaker No. 2 " . Biddell's Patent Oat Mill No. 4 Biddell's Patent Bean Cutter or Maize Splitter . Biddell's Patent Combined Mill for beans and oats. No. 10 . PATENT Ditto, for beans, oats, and oil cake. No. 11 . ' , r, J ; .^ Ditto, for beans, oats, and oil cake, strontcer. No. 17 Gardner's Patent Turnip Cutter, Single- action, for sheep Double-action for slieep and bullocks BIDDELL'S . . MILLS. Biddell's Patent Root Pulper, No. 10 CHAFF CUTTER No. 22. F/iUi/ Illustrated Catalogues fonmrded gratis on application. More than 1,000 Men and Boys are employed at the Orwell Works, and their labour is aided by the best modern tools and appliances. J rn THE EARMER'S MAGAZINE. FEBRUAKY, 8 6 7. CONTENTS. t'LATE I.— A CROSS BRED OX. Plate II.— A CLEAR COURSE. Descriptions of Plates . . ; . Low Temperatures. — By Cuthbert W. Johnson, F.R.S. . The Tenant-Farmers' Buhdens and the Turnpike Question The Chancellor of the ExcHEauER and the Malt Tax. The Repeal of the Malt Tax The Central Anti-Malt-Tax Association The Highland and Agricultural Society of Scotland Agricultural Statistics and a Board of Agriculture Large Crops of Wheat .... The Maintenance of Turnpike Roads throughout the Kingdom under Present System , Chips . , "Field and Fern" Farming in New Zealand Farming Matters in Suffolk . Varieties of the Potato The Cultivation of the Hop . Sewage and Pestilence The Utilisation of the Liverpool Sewage Steam Culture Oils and Fats, and their Eouivalents as Food for Stock The Herds of Great Britain. Chap. LIII. The Upton and Calke Abi Animal and Vegetable Chemistry . . . The Way to Catch Swine .... Judicious Crossing : Shropshire Sheep . • The Uses op a Chamber of Agriculture . . Turnpike Trusts . . . . • The Potato Trade and Markets.— By a Practical Farmer Our Water Supply . , . . • A Cheddar Cheese Store .... A Talk with Professor Voelcker on Cheese-making . The best Wheats for Dorset . . Lime as a Manure . . . . • The Liverpool Trade : Annual Report Linseed, Linseed Cake, and Oil Trades 5 Annual Report Boiled Peas for Milch Cows and Hogs Manure Makers' Materials : Annual Report . Trade of the Port of Hull: Report for the year 1866 The Price of Barley upon the Repeal of the Malt-Tax The Leicestershire Chamber of Agriculture The Gift of a Labourer's Club-Room Fertilizing Agents Vivisection in the French Schools The Scab in Sheep . . Foreign Agricultural Gossip . Norfolk Chamber of Agriculture Messrs. Howards' Pigs The Farmers' Club : Subjects for Discussion Calendars of Agriculture and Gardening Agricultural Reports Agricultural Intelligence, Fairs, &c. Review of the Corn Trade during the past Month Market Currencies, &c. Index page. 95,96 96 99 100 101 102 103 106 109 110 111 114 118 120 122 124 125 126 128 130 135 138 140 141 142 144 150 151 152 153 154 154 155 156 157 158 159 162 16^ 165 166 168 169 170 171 171 171 172 173 17? 176 178 M- ri(;KSLEY. SIMS, AND CO. (LIMITED), BEDFORD FOUNDRY, LEIGH, LANCASHIRE, . xTT,,. » TTTTRTf R S of CHAFF CUTTERS, CORN GRINDING and CRUSHING MILLS- ANUFAOTURBRS^of GHAFF^C ,.^:^io^^^^s.^cJ^^^^^^ ___„^ ^_^^^^ ,^, --'J- V - - -^p. „f ph^ff Cuttei- P S., and Co. have introduced a new Machine, specially adapted for MOWING MACmi«iJ.b, ,^j^,,,.,p,^-rED CATALOGUES FREE PER POST ON APPLICATION. jHst PuhUshed, Price in Cloth, HALF-A-CROWN ; Post-free, 2,. M., THE WINTER EDITION OF THE TUEF; OR, POCKET RACING COMPANION POR 1867. A Compute Calendar of Races and ^'^'^P/'L^;.^''' '''. g^^^^^^^ steeple- chase. KOGERSON^TUXFOBD, ■■ SPOUTING REVIEW" OFFICE. .46, STRAND; by all BooWIe,.; .nd at the various RalLaj Stalion..-Pricc Half-a-Cwn in Cloll.. 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Published monthly, price Half-a-Crown, by ROGERSON & TUXFORD, at the " Sporting Review" Office, 846, Strand, London, W.C. ; where all communications for the Editor, aod Works for Review, should be addressed. W Q T [Ml PRICE HALF-A-CROWN, TALES AND TRAITS BY HENRY CORBET. CONTENTS; Tli« Profit and Loss-The Thistle Dowu, or the Economy of a Training Stable-John Gully-The Farmer's Farmers should set about such a Business. ROGERSON & TUXFORD, 246, STRAND, and all Booksellers. BEAUTIFULLY EMBELLISHED WITH HIGHLY FINISHED STEEL ENGRAVINGS. PORTRAITS OF THE NOBILITY, ETC. Puilished Monthly— Price One Shilling Both the Metropolitan and Provincial press have declared this the most deservedly popular of *'« Ladies' Magannes; and a re- ference to any recent number would be sufficient to establ sh its clatms to the patronage it receives. It is the aim of the Editress to render it a decidedly literary publication, considerable space being devoted to notices of, and extracts from, new worlis. 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C. F O L K A R D, ESQ., AUTHOK OP ''THE WILD..FOWLER," &c. THIRD EDITION, considerahly enlarged. London Longman, Green, & Co, 14, Ludgate Hill. Now Ready, Cloth, in two Volumes, 782 pp., with four steel Portraits. Price 16s. uniform with " SCOTT AND SEBRIGHT," " SILK AND SCARLET," &c., FIELD AND EERN, OR SCOTTISH ELOCKS AND HERDS, BY H. H. I X O N. With steel Engravings of Mr. Hugh Watson, Professor Dick, Mr. Nightingale, and the late Duke of ""Thrvolumc's, "North " and " South" (of the Frith of Forth) may bo had separately-Price EIGHT SHILLINGS each. Copies will be sent by Post on application to the Author. PUBLISHED BY ROGERSON AND TUXFORD, 246, STRAND. / '/' /^ '///fy / I '^ i ^ ^ 3 'S; g THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE EEBRUARY, 1867. PLATE I. A CROSS BRED OX. THE PROPERTY OF MR. R. HARRIS, OF EARN HILL, FORRES, N.B. This ox, bred by Mr. A. Cowie, of Crorably Bank, Ellon, Aberdeenshire, was by a pure Short- horn bull from the Shethin Aberdeenshire stock, out of a small 3rd cross Shorthorn and Scotch Polled cow. Indeed, as we wrote when we saw the beast at Islington, " in appearance he takes all after the Siiorthorn." At Ythanside Farmers' Club Show, in July, 1863, the cross was first exhibited, wh(3n, as a yearling/, he was placed only fourth to Mr. Moir's "Tarty." A few weeks subsequently Mr. Cowie sent him to the national Society's Show at Aberdeen, where he took the first prize, and " Tarty" the second ; and Mr. Cowie sold the young one to Mr. Knowles, butcher, of Aberdeen, for £20, in the October of the same year. He was kept on by his new owner at his farm at Mondynes, Kincardineshire, until May, 1864, when, at the sale, he was knocked down to Mr. Adams, of Rama, for £48, being twenty-six months old at the time. His next appearance was at the Royal Northern Show, at Aberdeen, in the July following, where he won the first prize in his class, and was second for the Chal- lenge Cup in competition with steers a year older than himself. He again changed hands here, being purchased by Mr. Harris, who brought him out at the Forres Fat Stock Show, in the Christmas of 1864, when he took the first prize as the best two- year-old bullock in the yard. In the summer of 1865 he won the first prize in the three-year-old cross-bred class, at the Inverness Meeting of the Highland Society ; and again the first prize in his class at the Forres Fat Show, with the Highland Society's Silver Medal as the best ox or steer in the yard. At the Smithfield Club Show, in Decem- ber, 1866, he took the first prize of £25 as the best cross-bred ox above three years old, and the Silver Cup of £40 as the best ox or steer in any of the classes. According to the conditions of the meeting he was sold here, to Mr. Davis, of the Cattle Market, for £70. Long before the judges came lo him we had selected this ox, as, that either with the late Sir Gordon Cumming's Polled or Mr. Heath Harris' cross "the Cup must be credited to Scotland." No beast was ever better furnished throughout ; but, though of fine quality, he was scarcely as good to the hand as the eye. Some discussion having arisen as to the profits connected with this ox, Mr, Harris states that his i'eeding and exhibiting really paid, The follow- Diu Series,] ingare the figures showing the debtor and creditor sides of the account, and indicating that on the beast Mr. Harris has realised a profit of £40 : — TnE SJiTTHriELD Ox— 1866. Dr. £ Price of ox 57 Expenses at Inverness and London 10 Keep, from Sept. 1864 to Dec. 1866 (118 weeks, at 7s. 6d.) ... 44 8. 0 0 5 Or. Prizes at Fon-es, 1864 £ s. and 1865 9 10 Prize in Inverness, 1865 8 0 Smithfield Cup, 1866 40 0 Smithfield Prize, 1866 25 0 Price of ox 70 0 £111 5 £152 10 Deduct outlay ill 5 Profit £41 5 Mr. Harris might have added the value of the Highland Society's silver medal, gained at Forres in 1865, and a silver cup given by Mr. Black, cattle food manufacturer, for the best animal fed on his food at the Smithfield Show ; but he is willing to let these go to make up the difference between the nominal and the intrinsic value of the Smithfield Cup, though silversmiths say it is well worth the money named. As to the sum allowed for the keep — 7s. 6d. per week — if anybody thinks that too little for the feeding of a show ox, he is ready to keep any number on any description of food the owner may desire at that rate, provided the beasts are not less than thirty months old to begin with. Mr. Harris, who is Secretary of the Forres Fat Cattle Show, has had a deal of success during the last four years at the Highland Society's and other Scotch Meetings. At Forres, where they show lots of ten and six in each entry, he has been first two or three times, and for four years has invariably had the best animal in the yard ; though, at the last show, there were nearly a hundred head of fat cattle exhibited. The Christmas of 1866 was the first occasion of Mr. Harris crossing the Border ; while his success in the south is already something extraordinary. In addition to his Smithfield Club honours, he was first and second at Liverpool for cross-bred bullocks ; one of these two animals being also the best of the show. At York, again, he took the Challenge Cup for the best cross-bred beast, and the first prize for a cross-bred the pro- perty of a tenant farmer ; one of these entries being an own brother to the Smithfield ox. Mr. Harris is also well known for his Leicester sheep, which he breeds from the best flocks jn SpQtland. H [Tot. LXL—No, ?. THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. PLATE II. A CLEAR COURSE. In these days, when people go out fishing for sweepstakes, and men make books upon an All- England match, it is quite a pleasure to see a little pure sport, thoroughly free from the influence of filthy lucre. " Here, Jim, we will have the dogs with us, as we may knock up a hare on the Old Down ;" and Harbinger and Heroine take, accord- ingly, a part in the procession. After a due in- spection of the short-wools, shepherd thinks he knows where one is to be found in her form ; and, as she takes a beautiful open line, it is fairly racing from end to end. The young horsejumps the rails like another Lottery ; but the bitch has clearly the speed of her companion, and finishes with a brilliant kill, close on the edge of the plantations. It was a course worth seeing and riding to ; but, bless us all ! if it had only been for the Waterloo, the Mas- ter, with so much money on, would have scarcely dared to witness it, much less put his nag at the timber in the style he did. However, if we should drop on to another hare, we will lay you two six- pences to one that poor puss gets the worst of it ! LOW TEMPERATURES; BY CTJTHBEKT AV. JOHNSON, P.E.S. When, on the last night of 1866, the thermometer fell to 24 deg., we all seemed to rejoice at the seasonable frost, with its slight fall of snow ; when we had to record a further reduction to 19 deg., with a snow-fall of twelve inches, on the first night of the year of Grace 1867, we began to think more gravely of Dame Nature's bright and sparkling appearance ; when, however, we found, on the night of the 3rd of January, our thermometer marked 6 deg., and on the 4th zero, we were then forcibly reminded of the probable effects of such a continued low tempera- ture on vegetable and animal life. We say continued effect, because, with hardly a day's interval, the frost con- tinued till the 23rd of January, the day we are now writing. The meteorologist has noted that the tempera- ture, about the 14th of January, is often very low. Now dnring the month of January, 18G7, the thermometer at Croydon, on the nigbt of the 11th, fell to 19 deg. ; on the night of the 12th, to 13 deg. ; on that of the 13th, to 7 dea;. ; on the night of the 14th, to 15 deg. ; on that of the 15th, to 38 deg. Some of the results of our re- searches upon the effects upon organic life of low tem- peratures will perhaps be useful to our readers. Nature appears to aid our plants to resist the effects of frost in one or two ways. The depth to which frost pe- netrates, in the soils of our islands, seldom exceeding six or seven inches, the roots of plants are rarely frozen. On the nights, for instance, of the 3rd and 4th of January, when the thermometer in the air fell to 6 deg. and zero, the temperature of the soil a foot from the surface, at Croy- don, was 38 deg. Then, again, there is reason to believe that plants have the power of retaining, and even developing heat (in a way that we hardly at present understand), and so preserve their sap from being congealed. As my brother, Mr. G. W. Johnson, remarks, in his work on "The Principles of Gardening," "experiments which I have tried confirm me in acceding to the conclusion to which tbat distin- guished anatomist, Mr. John Hunter, as well as Spren- gel, Schubler, and others, have arrived— that the sap of healthy planis never congeals, however low the tempera- ture to which they are exposed. Even in a temperature 13 deg. below that at which the sap, if taken from the tree, would freeze, yet in the living plant it remains un- congealed. This has been tried upon the vine, walnut, elm, and red pine." These observations, regarded by themselves, would hardly establish the fact that plants have the power of de- veloping heat, since it might be objected that the roots of trees penetrate deep enough into the ground to reach a temperature of 45 or 50 deg., and that thus a circulation of the sap may be maintained from the roots to the branches, and from these back to the roots. Other cm'ious experiments, however, lead us to a different con- clusion ; for, as it is remarked in the interesting volume T have just quoted, it is beyond a doubt that some plants, at one period of their vegetation, generate a considerable degree of heat. The stamens of Ai-iim cordifolium emit so much heat at the time they shed their pollen, that twelve of them, placed by if. Hubert round a thermometer, raised the temperature from 79 deg. to 143 deg. Under similar circumstances, M. Sennebiar observed- that the stamens of the Arum viae uhd urn were nearly 16 deg. hotter than the surrounding air. The flowers of Cahidium plnnaiificlnm, when emitting a strong ammoniacal smell, were observed by Dr. Schuitz to be as warm as 81 deg., though the at- mospheric temperature was but 61.25 deg. The stamens of the pompiou, polyanthus, tuberosa, and others have also been observed to elevate the mercury at the time of shedding their pollen, but in a much slighter degree, f n every instance, this evolution of heat is accompanied by a proportionate absorption of oxygen gas by the stamens and pistils, at the instant of fecundation. The stamens of the Arum maeulatum, for instance, have been shown by M. Saussure to absorb, at that time, two hundred times their bulk of oxygen gas, converting it into car- bonic acid. If, however, a plant is frozen — and though, as we are all aware, some defy the attacks of frost, others are very liable to its fatal influence — death is brought upon them, as it is in the animal frame, by a complete breaking down of their tissues. Their vessels are ruptured, and putre- faction supervenes with unusual rapidity. As is well known, as a general rule, to those engaged in acclimatizing plants, the more abundant is the water present in their vessels, the more apt are they to be injured by frosts ; THE FAEMEB'S MAGAZINE. 97 whence the young shoots are often destroyed, whilst the older branches remain uninjured ; and it is noted that crops on ill-drained soils suffer more severely in winter than those whose drainage is more perfect. We have recorded a curious instance of the effects of a low tem- perature even upon old trees, standing in a wet soil. In the great frost of 1860-61, the old hollies and oaks at Castle Howard, in the East Riding of Yorkshire, were killed. " This hitherto-unheard-of calamity," observed Mr.G.Legard {Gard. Ckroii., 1861, p. 55.3) ''' occurs chiefly hji the sides of a small stream which loinds its loay through the parh." As also bearing upon this fact, we may remember that in the severe winter of 1860-61, when the temperature in several places in our island was as low as from 4 to 12 deg. below zero, the gardens whose plants were by far the most injured by the frost were those from the level of the sea up to an elevation of 300 feet, those from 300 to 400 feet of altitude hardly suffering at all. Mr. R. Hut- chinson, of Carlovvrie, has furnished, in his prize-essay, a list of these gardens and their altitudes {Trans. High. Soc, 1861 — 63, p. 257). From his report on that great fi'ost, and its effect upon the Scotch plantations, we find that the plants In the Gardens of Tt. above Sea. Suffered Riccarton 300 a good deal "West Coates 250 considerably Hanley 150 very severely Carlowrie 92 very severely Carded 80 severely Cony Park 50 severely Ginnock 40 severely Above 300 feet of elevation, the returns were as fol- lows : Oclitertyre 3(56 very little Taymoutli 370 very slightly Greenock 307 almost none The beneficial effects upon vegetable life, during a se- vere frost, of a good covering of snow, as Mr. Hntchin- son remarks, are well known. The snow in some measure maintains the soil at the temperature at which it happens to be when it falls : it may also protect the plant from the excessively drying effect of cei'tain winds : but, under some circumstances, there are disadvantages arising from it. During the winter of 1860-61, the smaller garden- plants, wholly covered and protected with snow, were almost universally preserved ; while larger and older plants, of the same species, have in many instances been killed to the snov)-line, besides those broken down by the weight of the snow resting on their boughs. We have further observed that in some localities, generally with a southern aspect, where the snow, from exposm'e to the sun's rays during the day, succeeded by a frost at night, became a hard, crystalline mass upon the foliage and branches, many shrubs such as the Axeuba Japonica suffered severely. Instead of deriving benefit, therefore, from the covering, they were seriously injured, and sus- tained more damage than if there had been no snow at all. The snow, when deeply covering our fields, there is little or no doubt, protects their crops from the dry in- tensely cold winds to which they would otherwise be ex- posed, and from exposure to the sun's rays when, per- haps, partially frozen. Our farmers of the olden time, when they noticed these things, assigned the benefit their crops received to another cause. They fancied that it had fertilizing pro- perties— that it contained nitre. How they arrived at this conclusion it is difficult to decide; but it is remarkable that modern chemical examinations, although they have failed to detect any traces of that salt in snow, yet it is true that small portions of nitric aeid are found in it, and that acid, by combining with the potash of the soil, forms nitrate of potash, or nitre. It is also true that snow water, according to the examinations by Professor Way, of some which fell at Rothamsted, in Hertfordshire, contained, besides nitric acid, a larger proportion of ammonia than the same amount of rain-water [Jour. Roy. Ag. Soc, vol. xvii., p. 620). The examinations were made on the rain and snow of 1856. The first was made on June 20 : Heavy thunder-rain, after a week of showery weather, this being the largest rainfall in any day of the year (0.9676 of an inch). It contained — Nitric acid 0.035 grains per gallon. Ammonia 0.091 „ This is, if anything, rather below the average quantity of both substances in the rain of the year. August 9, A.M. : Thunder-rain after very hot dry wea- ther for eight or nine days (0.1782 of an inch in the day) — Nitric acid 0.089. Sej^tember 2 : Thunder rain — Nitric acid 0.035. October 22 : Frost, mist, fog, &c. Nitric acid 0.071. October 28 : Fog and mist — Nitric acid 0.089. October 30 : Fog, mist, and little rain — Nitric acid 0.088. November 27 : Suow, which fell on the 26th, melted, and collected with rain on the 27th ; large total fall — Nitric acid 0.053, Ammonia 0.654. The quantity of ammonia in snow is here seen to be comparatively very large, a circumstance which has been repeatedly observed, and which the experiments of M. Boussingault have confirmed. Snow, which fell on the 2nd and 3rd of December, when melted, contained of nitric acid 0.0461 grain. On December 5, there being a little rain and mist, a gallon of the water contained of nitric acid 0.053 grain. As it requires a fall of about 12 to 14 inches of snow to produce an inch of water, the amount of water falling in snow is commonly much less than is generally supposed, and this may serve to account for the larger proportion of ammonia found in it. For, as the Professor remarks, at least so far as rain-water is concerned, these compounds of nitrogen are evidently inversely proportionate to tlie quantity of water falling. In the cases of thunder-rain, the fall being slight, we have a large proportion of nitric acid, although, even then, not much greater than is found in the water of fogs and mists, where the influence of heat and electricity is not supposed. Where, however, a fair quantity of rain falls, accompanied by thunder, we find only the average proportion of nitric acid. The re- freshing influence on vegetation of a thunder- shower is due to the much-needed water as water, and not to its being a vehicle of nitrogenous manure. After such modern researches it is indeed curious to read the words of the poet Thomson, who, near the con- clusion of his " Winter", writing a century and a half since, said — "— — — The joyous winter days. Frosty, succeed ; and through the blue serene, For sight too fine, the eternal nitre flies ; "^ ^ '^ ^ ^ Wliat art thou Frost ?^— Jlyriads of little salts !" It must not then be supposed that the exposure of ouv u 2 98 THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. cultivated plants and soils to a low temperature and to )\pavy snowfalls is unattended with great benefit. Al- though this was not the opinion of the gardeners oui- fore- fathers employed, and as I long since had occasion to re- mark, this was a delusion pretty sure to be caused by the reflection that almost every cultivated garden and field crop of Englaud is a native of a warmer climate than our own. Hence, their first introducers very naturally con- cluded that the lower temperature of our island would be much less adapted to their growth than those in which they were indigenous: this fear, however, later and more accurate observations have shown to be in a great mea- sure unfounded. The research, then, into the cfi"eets produced on vegeta- tion by exposure to difterent temperatures is evidently one fi-aught with great interest to the cultivator. Its im- portance did not escape the notice of Arthur Young ; he long since told his contemporary farmers {Ann. of Agr., vol. xxxix, p. 48), that there is no condition of life, but that circumstances may occur in the culture of the earth that will render a greater knowledge of these necessary than usually falls to the share of the generality of husband- men. " Half the operations of agriculture," remarked Young, " are bestowed on plants exotic to the country on which they are cultivated ; every day's experience gives fresh instances of the vegetables of one climate being na- turalized in another." Since the days of this celebrated agriculturist, steady and important advances have been made in the scientific examination of the efl'ects pro- duced upon plants by the varying temperature of our climate. The general result of these observations has been to promote a much earlier practice of seed-sowing than was once deemed prudent by tlie English farmers. I n even the early days of the present century we should hardly have expected to find for the month of January directions like those now given, to the efPect that the far- mer may on dry ground sow peas, vetches, barley, and oats; and moreover, that those thus early sown will in the south of England not only generally prove the best, but that the required quntity of seed is now less by one-third than that which will be needed three months hence (Tar- mer's Almanack, vol. ii, p. 5). That plants are far from being injured by considerable changes in the tempera- t ire of the atmosphere in which they are placed has b3en clearly shown. In very many instances these transitions appear to be very essential to their most vi- gorous growth. These w^ere the kind of valuable investi- gations in which T. A. Knight, the first president of the Horticultural Society, delighted. He was evidently not an opponent of occasional low temperature, even for exotic plants vegetating in greenhouses and stoves ; he saw that by exposure to a low temperature the plants and their seeds vegetated when the temperature was increased, with much more readiness than those which had been kept in a uniform and considerable degree of warmth. He tells ns (Selection from Papers, p. 90), and his observation, it will be seen, applies to the explanation of the phenomena: Linnfcus and others have attempted to account for the ascent of the sap by the expansion of the fluids within the vessels of the plant by the agency of heat ; but the sap rises under a decreasing, as well as an increasing, temperature during the evening and night (if it be not excessively cold), as well in the morning as at noon ; and it is sufli- liently evident that the heat applied to the branches of a vine within a stove cannot expand the fluids in the stem and roots, which grow on the outside. It is also well known that the degree of heat required to put the sap in motion in the plant is not definite, but depends on that to which the plant has been previously accustomed. Thus, a vine which has grown all the summer in the heat of a stove will not be made to vegetate in winter by the heat gf thqt stove ; hut if anothev jdant of tlie same varietv. which has grown in the open air, be at any time intro- duced after it has dropped its leaves in the autumn, it will instantly vegetate. This eft'ect appears to me," continues Knight, "to arise from the latter plants possessing a de- gree of irritability which has been exhausted in the for- mer by the heat of the stove, but which it will acquire again during the winter by being drawn out and exposed for a short time to the autumnal frost. On the same principle we may point out the cause why seedling plants always thrive better in the spring than in the autumn, though the weather be apparently less favourable. In the former season, the stimulus of light and heat is gradually becoming greater than that to which the plant has been accustomed ; in the latter season, it is becoming gradually less. That heat is the remote cause of the ascent of the sap cannot, I think, be doubted, and perhaps frequent variations of it are in some degree requisite (for plants have always appeared to me to thrive best with moderate variations of temperature) ; but the immediate cause will, I think, be found in an intrinsic power of producing motion, inherent in vegetable life." That plants of one climate adapt their habits to its temperature, and even preserve them w^hen cultivated in a different temperature, did notescape the notice of this great vegetable physiologist ; he remarks [ibid]). ITiO, "The Siberian crab introduced into the climate of England retains its habits, expands its leaves and blossoms on the lirst approach of spring, and vegetates strongly in the same temperature in which the native crab scarcely shows signs of life, and its fruit acquires a degree of maturity, even in the early part of an unfavourable season, which our native crab is rarely or never seen to attain. Similar causes are productive of similar eftects on the habits of cultivated annual plants, but these appear to acquire most readily habits of ma- turity in -warm climates, for it is in the power of the cultivator to commit his seeds to the earth at any season. Thus the barley grown on sandy soils in the warmest parts of England is always found by the Scotch farmer, when introduced into this country, to ripen on his cold hills earlier than his crops of the same kind do, wheu he uses the seeds of plants which have passed through several successive generations in his colder climate ; and in ni}' own experience, 1 have found that the crops of wheat on some very high and cold ground which I cultivate, ripen much earlier, when I obtain my seed-corn from a very warm district and gravelly soil, which lies a few miles distant, than when I employ the seeds of the vicinity." It is evident then, from these, and from many other ob- servations of a similar description, that plants are sus- tained, and even grow, with hardly diminished vigour in a lower temperature than that to which they are gene- rally accustomed. "VVe have long seen this indill'erencc of the plant to a low temperature, in the increasing prac- tice in many districts of the much more early sowing of several of the farmer's crops than was formerly deemed advisable. Then, as regards the action of a low temperature upon our soils: here the observations of the agriculturist and the man of science well accord. "The farmer of the heavy adiiesive clay soils, which are reduced to a sufficient degree of fineness only by the most laborious exertions, is the man to whose soils the frost affords the most valuable assistance. The water con- tained in these clays, during its conversion into ice in a low temperature of the atmosphere, expands with a force which nofhing chu resist. As, therefore, the ice pervades every par- ticle of soil, its expansion, as a natural consequence, reduces very completely tlie clay into a very finely divided state. The farmers of such soils, therefore, are much befriended by a hard winter, like that witli which we are now visited, since the frost readily accomplislies that pulverization of the sod, whidi tlip plough and the clod-crusher can only very imperfectly and laboriously imitate. The action of frost on many varieties of such soils, it may l)e h.erc rflraarked, is inost materially aided. THE FARMEE'S MAGAZINE. 99 by the laud being deeply plouglied, aud laid up in liigher ridges tliau are comuiouly thought necessarj'. By tliis plan, the frost penetrates deeper into the eartli, and thus not only is the soil more thoroughly and deeply pulverised, but the destruction of grubs and other insect vermin is rendered much more extensive and effectual. Many of these, it is well known to the ento- mologist, retire deeper into the soil as winter approaches, aud remain torpid during the intense cold of the season, in places beyond the ordinary depth to whiclithe frost extends. It is, therc.*'ore, very desirable that the usual effect of a very low temperature should be facilitated as much as possible. The action of frost upon even fish is well known, those in stagnant fish ponds being peculiarly liable to be destroyed in severe winters. Tliis arises from two causes — first, because, when the pond is completely encrusted with ice, a supply of the atmospheric air, so essential to the existence of fish, is intercepted ; and secondly, because not only is the absorption of the air by the water pre- vented, but the escape of the carburetted and sulphuretted hydrogen jjases, always more or less copiously generated in stagnant waters containing organic matters, is entirely stopped ; iuid as these gases are exceedingly noxious to fish, this also conduces to their destruction. The gardener, therefore, know- ing these things, is careful to have openings in the ice daUy renewed, through which the gases of the pond can escape, and those of the atmosphere have access to the water. " Tliere is no soil, perhaps, upon which the frost operates more rapidly and completely than upon those composed of chalk. Chalk when nearly saturated, we find by our own experiments, contains about ~3 or 21 parts of water ; and we can hence readily see how it is that when such a large propor- tion of water is converted into ice, it thus by its expansion so rapidly and effectually pulverises the chalk spread over the land. It is to this levelling effect of tlie frost that we may, perhaps, attribute the peculiarly rounded smooth surface com- monly possessed by the downs of the chalk formations. These fiicts explain, too, whj it is that the farmers who have the most successfully practised the excellent system of chalkiny, marling, or claying light lands, have remarked that this opera- tion never succeeds so well as when the earth is spread over the land, and allowed to remain on the surface exposed to a winter's fi-ost. The essential condition, in fact, to the success- ful permanent addition to the soil of such dressings is, that the adhesive earths should be so finely divided as to be iniimately combined with the lighter aud more sandy and gravelly soil. If this object is not effected— if the marl or clay is not thus allowed to remain exposed to the action of the frost, and is ploughed in in lumps, less advantage is derived from their em- ployment. The farmer then teUs you that it does no good to the laud, that it remains uncombined with the staple of the soil, and that ' it sinks down into the land. This, therefore, is another instance of the success of earthy dressings being sometimes entirely prevented by the mere neglect of a due attention to the mode and period of the year at which this most valuable operation is best performed ; and it is to this source that many erroneous statements, and much injury to the more general adoption of one of the most certain modes of perma- nently improving light lauds, are owing." These recollections may serve to reconcile us the more readily to the hard frosts with which we are in our favoured land ever and anon visited. AVe may usefully remember, as we are suffering from a biting north-east wind, that those low temperatures are far more felt by the vermin insects which haunt our soils, aud that if our pumps are frozen — our water-pipes burst by the ice — still that the frost has, by solidifying the water on our heavy soils, also expanded and pulverized many a stiff clay far better than the best of clod crushers could have accomplished. And then as regards the vegetable world, we have seen that an occasional low temperature adds to their vigour ; is, in fact, essential to their healthy growth. The same remark applies to the animal world, including ourselves. What would be the etfect upon >is islanders, wdio are taught to brave all weathers, if the ther- mometer never sank below 55 degs. ? Only remember of what kind of stuff those people are made who never saw a snow- storm ? What of the natives of lands where eternal spring reigns P See a whole army of these, flying before a regiment of mountaineers ; and then come home, and thank God that you were placed by him in a land where there are ever and anon hard frosts and heavy snow-falls. THE TENANT-EARMEES' BURDENS AND THE TURNPIKE QUESTION. At the dinner of the Truro Agricultural Exchange Mr. Joiirj Magor said farmers were frequently taunted with being grumblers, yet there was no other class of men who would sit down and quietly allow the burdens to be cast on thoni which they had done. If this were attempted with any other class of men in this country, he felt satisfied that they would rise up in revolt. Eor instance, look at the rates which farmers had to bear. If a merchant found that his business did not answer, he could at any moment close his place of business, and the premises being returned as empty, he was exempted from the payment of rates for them ; but farmers could not do this, for whether they fanned their estates or not, they must pay the rates. These rates had of late years in- creased enormously, and the result had been that the advantage which they had derived of late years, by the improved mode of farming which they had introduced aud the extra exertions and care they had employed, was absorbed by the increased rates which they were called upon to pay. He thought that if financial boards were established, as they would be composed of men who had to look very sharply after their own money, they would lie likely to look more carefully after the money of their feUovv'-ratepayers than the gentlemen who had now the management of the county expenditure. He did not wish to find particular fault with the county magistrates, but at the same time he considered that the establishment of financial boards would introduce greater economy in the county expendi- ture, and prove of great assistance to the magistrates them- selves. It was said that turnpikes were to be abolished, aud the repairs of the highways to be entirely thrown on the rate- payers ; but if this were done, he felt assured that the whole expease would fall upon the farmers, and therefore he con- sidered that it was the duty of the latter to set their faces firmly against the proposal. Mr. Oliver said: There was one question at present agitat- ing the public mind, and that was the turnpike-road question All were benefited by having good roads, and all should con- tribute towards them ; but if there were any one class en- titled to exemption from rates for that purpose, it was the agricultural interest. Inasmuch as trade aud commerce were extending througliout the length and breadth of the land, the cost of repairing roads was much greater than formerly. He bad thought much on the subject, aud it appeared to be a difli- cult matter to say how it was to be dealt with to the satisfac- tion of all parties. To throw the charge of the turnpike- roads on the parishes he thought was absurd, and no Go^.ern- ment, he imagined, would think of doing it ; but the question was how to deal with it in any other form. The only plan, it appeared to him, was to turn their highways generally into large districts, the land to be taxed as at present, aud that all horses not employed for agricultural purposes should have an assessed tax upon them, say of £1 per annum, which should be distributed throughout the country according to the amount of highway-rate paid by the district. By tlua» means every class would contribute towards the maintenance of the high- ways, and the machinery would be very simple and inex- pensive. Mr. W. Trethewy said that he thought at the present time, notwithstanding the losses of the past year, farmers had not much to complain of. One of the things the Exchange should do was to petition Government to give them a Minister of Agriculture. AVith regard to turnpike-roads, however, the matter was settled, he hoped no other burdens would be thrown upon the land. lie should be glad if some steps were taken to assist those who had suffered from the cattle plague previous to the passing of the Compensation Act, 100 THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. THE CHA]N'CELLOR OF THE EXCHEQUER AND THE MALT-TAX. There cau be no doubt but that the Malt Tax was never so ripe for Repeal as at this very moment. The country is more than usually alive to the movement, the Country Party is more than ever committed to the question, and the Farmers' Friends, so to speak, are in office. As Mr. Disraeli told the deputation, there was a golden op- portunity in 1852 ; but that chance was neglected, and might " never return." It will be for the agriculturist, the Auti-JIalt-tax Association, or the new Chamber to say how much or how little may be done with another such an opportunity. Can the Chancellor of the Exchecpier be induced to repeat his proposal of taking off half the duty ? — quite as much, we imagine, as anyone might de- maud or expect, although the right honourable gentleman is supposed to meet Parliament with a good surplus in hand. " The secret audience," as it has been termed at the Treasury, was then, at any rate, well timed ; although, in plain trutli, very little seems to have come of the In- terview. As for the several addresses delivered by his visitors, the sorely tried Chancellor most probably knew all the points of these quite as well as the speakers, or as do our own readers, lie must have heard before now of how the action of the Malt Tax interferes with the rotation of crops, the use of inferior barley, and the feeding of stock. He is aware possibly that, as a rule, the labourer must have his beer to work upon, that the beershops lead to immorality, and that cottage-brewing is desirable. In fact, the Malt Tax has long since been past talking about, saving perhaps in the way in wliich Mr. Punnett put it — that the agricultural interest had "a right" to look to I\Ir. Disraeli for some measure in mitigation of what was felt to be a great injustice to that body. Everything after this was little more than mere matter of form ; and all, of course, depended upon the reply. So far as this has reached us, it is impossible to gather any hope from the few cautious sentences uttered by the Chancellor of the Exchequer. He had much pleasure in receiving the deputation. His own sympathies were with the farmers and the labouring classes. He had always thought the Malt Duty a bad tax, and he had once proposed to reduce it ; but he had met with no support from any quarter, and the op])ortuuity might never return. Almost the only words of comfort consist in an admission that, " since then, the question had excited a very large amount of interest and anxiety throughout the country." This, in fact, is all the deputation has to go on. There is not the ghost of a promise in Mr. Disraeli's brief speech, as even Mr^ Gladstone has often admitted as much, if he has bound himself down to no more. But we will take, as indeed we have done, Mr. Disraeli's word that the cry for repeal is exciting more interest than ever; and we must natm-ally go to the Central Anti- Malt-tax i\ssociation lor corroboration of such a feeling being manifest amongst the people. The official records of that Society, however, scarcely warrant us in assuming so much. The minutes of the last Council meeting have at length, and rather reluctantly as it would seem, been published, as we are now enabled to give these in another column. The result of the sitting is certainly not very encouraging, nor docs it speak very strongly to the in- terest manifested throughout the countrv. The Secretarv resigns his appointment "in consequence of the financial weakness of the Association:" a sub-committee calls special attention to this " iiuancial position," and the f^'^r^ .C""'^'^'^ declares on the motion of the chairman tnat the principle upon which the Central Association has hitherto relied for subscriptions has failed of success." We have, then, the old story that those who have given should give the more, though those had not given who never gave before. This was precisely the case with the former Society, when the Sussex men, with Mr. Jeremiah Smith and a few others at their head, repeated their sub- scriptions and donations until they fairly tired of doiug all the work and finding all the money. But, in the face of such an announcement, we feel inclined to qualify our own opening remark as to the country being so alive to the movement, if Mr. Disraeli be better advised as to the in- terest and anxiety apparent. The true test is, as in the sad case of distress, where one man " felt very sorry" and another "feltafive-poundnote." We remember the old story only the yet more keenly in the appended subscription list of the money raised in the room. We should say there was not a man who put his name down, not one amongst the Punnetts, the Ellmans, the Eleys, the Biddells, the Arkells, and others, but who has contributed, over and over again, for years past. We do not know- whether it is the intention of the Council to publish from time to time any further list, but there is something very notice- able in the first issue. Of that three hundred and sixty odd pounds not a shilling is contributed by a man of title or a member of Parliament. It may be said these gentle- men had not then been invited to do so, but the sooner they are the better. Let us ascertain as quiclcly as pos- sible " how much" they reaUy do feel for the movement. In the days of the League tlie large manufacturers gave their thousands, and gave these again even before further aid was asked; and the landowners are, or should be, to the repeal of the Malt-tax what the millowners were to the repeal of the Corn-laws. There can be no going on with- out money, and the Anti-Malt-tax Association at this minute is terribly in want of money. It is only on this showing that the more recent pro- ceedings of the Association can be explained or under- stood. For the last mouth or two there has been a cu- rious care evinced to avoid publicity, whereas public at- tention should be the very life and heart of such an in- stitution. The more its doiugs are known the better; and a tradesman might as reasonably hope to thrive with his shutters up, as a Reformation Society with closed doors. We do not go so far as to say that the members of the deputation suggested the exclusion of the reporters ; but, on the contrary, we believe that this step was entirely the act and deed of the Chancellor of the Exchequer him- self, as it becomes only the more suspicious on that ac- count. When Mr. Gladstone "received," he bravely faced a whole army of his old friends from " the Gallery," and spoke with the full knowledge that every word he said would go forth to the country, and be taken for what it is worth. It is ditficult to see why Mr. Disraeli, the more particularly if he really means doing anything, should not have adopted a similar course. However, the deputation brought away, no doubt, all it could, and we have consulted two or three vei'sions in framing our re- port of the " Reply." Still the course adopted by some of the members of the Association was, to say the least of it, eccentric. Especial pains were taken to advise the representatives of one daily journal, in \\hich certainly the fullest account of the interview appeared on the next morning, nicely counterpoised by a leader in ridicule of the whole afl'air : — " We can well understand that Mr. Disraeli and his colleagues should admit the evil, and only beg ' time' to effect its removal. How can they do other- THE FABMEE'S MAGAZINE. 101 wise ? As the ' Farmer's Friends,' they are ex officio bound to be of his opinion ; yet who but an enthusiast can ima- gine that the malt-tax is the question of the day ? Con- ceive the Tories going to the country with the cry of ' Derby, and beer at one farthing less per pot.' " Again, " The malt-tax is a capital theme for speeches at an agri- cultural dinner or a market ordinary : it is a grievance, and the British farmer dearly loves a grievance," and so on. But they must be funny tacticians who mahe it their great business to prime their opponents, and dutifully tell all they know, only to be laughed at in return ! THE REPEAL OF THE MALT-TAX. Ou Tuesday, January 15, a comparatively small deputation, from the Central Anti-Malt-tax Association and the Midland Counties Association, had an interview by appointment with the Riglit Hon. B. Disraeli, tlie Chancellor of the Exchequer, iu Downing-street. The deputation consisted, amongst others, of Lord Curzon, M.P., Col. North, M.P., Sir E. BuUer, M.P., Mr. C. S. Read, M. P., Lord George Manners, M.P., Messrs. Punnett (Kent), Brandrara (Hertfordshire), HodsoU (Kent), Fielden (York- shire), Baldwin (Birmingham), Murrell (Lincolnshire), Collett (Berkshire), Bartlett (Northamptonshire), Eowler (Bucking- hamshire), May (Tamworth), Hanley (Liucolnshire), J. Clay- den (Essex), G. Smythies (Shropshire), Clare (Warwickshire), Ere wen (Leicestersliire), Rev. H. Bailey (Swindon), Eley (Kent), Cobhctt (late M.P.), Everett (SutTolk), Pell (North- amptonshire), Willson (Leicester), and Beardsley (Leicester). Lord CuKZON, wlio introduced the deputation, said that the object was to urge on the right lion, gentleman that the present was a fitting time for dealing in some manner with tliis question. He believed tliat tlie malt-tax repealers had a very strong case, and they had every confidence iu the intentions of the right hon. gentleman to deal justly with tlieir claims. The Chajicellor of the Exchequeii expressed his extreme regret tliat, as he had to attend a Cabinet Council at three o'clock, he was under the necessity of rec^uesting the favour of the respective speakers confining tlieir remarks to as brief a term as possible. Mr. PuNJiETT (WestKeut), as chairman of the Central As- sociation, expressed the pleasure with whicli himself and col- leagues waited upon the Chancellor of the Exchecpier on tlie present occasion, the right hon. gentleman being the only states- man of the present day wlio had when iu office made a practical attempt to abolish the duty. The members of the deputation were grateful to him for what he did ou that occasion, aud they believed that all that liad since transpired still tended to streugtlicn the case for the repeal of tlic malt-tax. Mr. Glad- stone had by repeated concessions in legislation admitted the justice of what was advanced by the repealers, and it was now wislied that tlie right hon. gentleman (Mr. Disraeli) should take into his immediate and serious consideration wliether it was not now within his power to grant at least a considerable instalment of what was demanded. It would be unnecessary to trouble one who knew the subject so intimately with argu- ments of a general character ; but it was necessary to submit that the great agricultural interest had a right to look to the riglit hon. gentleman for some measure in mitigation of what was believed and felt to he a great injustice to that body. Any surplus revenue at the disposal of the Government ought in fairness to be applied to the reduction of the malt-duty, aud it was also felt that such other steps ought to be taken as might be found to be within the power of the Government. He would only add that the repeal of the malt-duty had, by commou con- sent, now acquired precedence for adjustment of all fiscal questions whatever. The income-tax was the only question that could possibly be brought into competition with it, but that was one which admitted of great variety of opinion ; but there could be uo reasonable difference of opinion as to the propriety of freeing, at this time of day, the great agricultural interest from an intolerable grievance. Mr. J. K. Fowler (Aylesbury) stated that lie was there as a constituent and warm supporter of the right hon. gentle- man, as well as a member of the Central Anti-Malt-tax Asso- ciation. He complained that he, as a farmer, found the tax seriously to interfere with the due and natural rotation of crops by restricting the use of the inferior qualities of barley that were well qualified for the production of good beer, which iu consequence of the weight of taxation could find no market with the brewers in comparison with the higher qua- lities of barley, and upon which only the same amoimt of taxa- tion was levied. He also urged the consideration of the serious question of rearing stock which was involved in the malt-tax. Young stock was growing more valuable, and it was well known amongst breeders that no better article of diet coidd be given than malt, but its use was practically denied by the existence of the present duty. Another reason which brought the deputation there was that the consumption of beer by the labouring poor was greatly restricted by the duty. Li Ids own case he paid in beer between £50 aud £60 a year to his labourers, and of that amount some £30 or £35 went for duty. Upon one of his farms there was a heavy clay soil, which he was unable to turn to the best advantage because he found it unprofitable to grow certain descriptions of barley which but for the tax now levied woidd be most valuable • for conversion into beer. Mr. May said he came from the Midland Counties Associa- tion. He paid from £80 to £100 a year in beer to his farm labourers, who would be glad to consume the beer produced on his own farm if lie were free of the Excise ; but he was com- pelled to grow wheat, which was more unprofitable under the present state of things than barley would be if there were no duty, and barley would greatly improve the character of the soil. He claimed the same freedom for agricultural industry as had been conceded to all other British industries ; and he could not understand that they, as growers of barley, were to be the only class of the commiuiity to be exempted from the operation of the whole course of the legislation of this country for many years past. Mr. Fielden (Y"orkshire) said lie did not appear as a farmer, having no interest whatever iu land, but as a manufacturer, employing a very large amouut of labour, in Yorkshire. By statistics he showed the extent of the pressure of the tax upon the working men, and further contended that if the tax were removed the labourer could buy malt for the purposes of cot- tage brewing for 4s. a bushel instead of 8s., as f^t present paid. All who were acquainted with the subject knew well that cot- tage brewing was conducive to habits of morality and virtue amongst the poor, aud a vast improvement upon resorting to beershops. If the malt-tax were repealed, he was confident that there would be a large amount of cottage brewing, and the labourer would have an inducement to remain at home with his wife and family, instead of squandering his means in the beershop iu adulterated articles. The Rev. H. Bailey (Swindon) was most anxious to point out what he had found to be the injurious effects of the duty iu a moral point of view amongst the working people of Swindon, where he resided. The beershops were productive of a large amount of drunkenness and depravity. The la- bourers and their families would not get drunk over their can of beer on their own table, and he firmly believed that home brewing woidd be largely resorted to if the malt tax were repealed. The remedy for much of the drunkenness that now existed was the free and untaxed access by the working classes to pure and wholesome beer, which was essential to their strength and iuvigourment. He would trust the working man at his own home, and lamented that injurious deleterious liquor only could at present be obtained by many of them at beershops, where so much of tlie crime of the country was engendered. Mr. Pell (Northampton) said that he found amongst the labourers he employed beer was really a necessary of life, and essential to the restoration of their strength when it had be- come exhausted in the fields, or by other work, He had often 102 THE FAEMEE'S MAGAZINE. been aslced by his men to be supplied with beer, but was never asked by tliem for a glass of giti or a cup of tea. He hoped that, as there had been very l)eueficial changes in the legisla- tion' of the country with regard to the means of the great necessaries of life, justice would not be allowed to stop at malt. The hop duty had been converted into a duty on beer, without any loss to the revenue, and some were of opinion that the same miglit be done with malt. That, however, was a subject with which the deputation would not interfere, leaving it to the discretion and wisdom of the members of her Majesty's Government to devise the best means of removing what he and his friends considered to be a great injustice and wrong which had too long been allowed to remain upon the principal bianch of the industry of this country. The Chancellor of the Exchequer said be need scarcely assure the gentlemen present of the pleasure and willingness with which he had received the deputation. The case had been ably and fairly put beibre him — he might indeed say m quite an artistic manner. His sympathies tliey all knew were deeply with the cultivators of the soil, and the labouring classes of the country geuerally. He had never concealed his opinion that the malt duty was a bad tax, and he liad shown that by the proposal wliich he made, when Chancellor of the Exchequer in 1852, to reduce the amount of the tax by one- half. But he must remind them that when that proposal was made it was not received with any enthusiastic support from the agriculturists themselves. The opponents of that measure told him that his proposal was not sufficient in itself to be appreciated by those who might have been expected to feel the greatest amount of interest in the question, and he was also told that the repeal of one-half of the amount of the malt tax would not meet the exigencies of the case. But he wouli tell them now, that if they liad then assisted him, and the re- duction of one-half of the duty had been effected, no portion of the tax would now have remained. That was a golden opportunity. Unhappily, both with respect to nations and in- dividuals, golden opportunities neglected might never return. The Government of tiiat day did not receive support where they might have expected it; but since then the malt duty had become a question which, no doubt, excited a very large amount of in- terest and anxiety throughout the country. He assured the gentlemen before him that all that had been said so well that day would have the best attention of her Majesty's Govern- ment, and would lie fully remembered and considered. Lord CuRzo>' having thanked the right hon. gentleman for their courteous reception, the deputation then retired. THE CBNTBAL ANTI-MALT-TAX ASSOCIATION. Tlie following miuutes of the Meeting of the Council, at the Salisbury Hotel, in the Smithfield Show week, have been published. Mr. P. S. Punnett in the Chair, and upwards of forty mem- bers prcseut. The minutes of the last meeting were read, and confirmed. A conversation took place with reference to the proposed Lectures by Mr. Dawson, but no resolution was come to. Mr. Kintrea having resigned the secretaryship of the Asso- ciation, 111 consequence of its financial weakness, and his abi- lity and efficiency having been spoken to in complimentary terms by various members present, it was resolved that the arrangement now existing with Mr. Kintrea shall terminate, and that in future his attention shall be directed to tlie agita- tion of the Anti-Malt -tax question as the Parliamentary Agent of the Association only ; and that a gentleman be immediately engaged upon the best terms tliat the Sub-Committee can make, to act as secretary and clerk ; Mr. Kintrea's fee for acting as parliamentary agent to be 100 guineas per annum. The minutes of the sub-committee, referring to the financial position of the Association, were read, and a general discus- sion having ensued, it was unanimously resolved, on the mo- tion of the Cliairman, seconded by Mr. liodsell : " Tiiat inas- much as the principle upon which the Central Association has hitlierto relied for subscriptions having failed of success, the Association be in future conducted upon the principle of direct subscriptions from its members, of not less than one guinea per annum, supplemented by contributions to be invited from the local Associations in their collective capacity, each local Association so contributing to have tlie privilege of electing one member of the Council of the Central Association for every £2b so subscribed ; the Council to consist of twenty other meaibers to be elected by the general body of tlie mem- bers, and the elections to take place in future in the month of December in each year." The foUowiug Document was then subscribed : " We whose names are hereunto subscribed agree to become Members of the Central Anti-Malt-tax Association, and to subscribe to- wards the Pund for 18G7 the amoimt set opposite our respec- tive names." •£' .. 'i J ohn Hodgson (for self) P. S. Punnett (ditto) G. P. Bacon (ditto) 11. H. Ellman (for Central Sussex Association) ... J. H. Hodsoll (for Maidstone Farmers' Club) ... Ditto (for self) Marshall Heanley (for South Lincolnshire)... '..'. J. A. Nockolds (for Herts Anti-Malt-tax Associa- tion) Ditto (for self) ,,[ '" "' \] ['] J, K, Powler (subscription and guarantee) £ s. d. 21 0 0 10 10 0 20 0 0 33 6 8 10 10 0 1 1 0 10 0 0 10 0 0 2 2 0 5 5 0 J, E,. Cobb (for Bucks and Oxon) Geo. CoUett (for Hungerford farmers' Club) ... Banbury Club W. Hadland (for self) W. Eagles (ditto) Geo. Eley (ditto) Previous guarantee (from East Kent) J. B. Brandram (for self) Previous guarantee (from his districts) M. Bidden (from Suffolk) J. S. Gardiner, Sudbury (from Suffolk) Ditto (for self) Edw. Gardiner (ditto) John Smythe (for self) Edw. Smyth (ditto) Thos. Arkcll (North Wilts) John Plumbe (on part of Cirencester, Gloucester) T. Brown (for self) Donation from Midland Counties Association T. Willson W. H. Clare Geo. H. May K. H. Masfen R. U. Chapman J. Birditt James Pertwee (for self) Newbury and North Hants (per H. Frampton) W. Biddell (for self) W. Cother (ditto) E.T.Simpson (dit(o) W. Biddell (for self and district) T. Garratt, Uunsdon Mill (for self) W. AVyman, Westmill Farm (ditto) £366 15 S Dated this 11th day of December, 1806. It was resolved that the Sub-Committee of the Messrs. Punnett, Bacon, Brandram, Eley, Fowler, and Nockolds be and are liereby empowered to conduct the affairs of the association until they sha.'l see occasion for calling a general meeting of the memljers ; and they were also requested to issue a printed circular soliciting subscriptions. Mr. Willson intimated that the Midland Counties Associa- tion had requested Lord Curzon, M.P. to procure an interview with the Chancellor of the Exchequer for that Association, and tliat the attendance of the Central Association was wislied on the occasion. It was resolved, however, that the deputation should be from the Central Association, as representing all the Associations, including the Midland, and Mr. WiUson un- dertook to acquaint the Sub-Committee witli the day and hour fixed, that a general deputation might be arranged by them. £5 5 0 10 10 0 10 10 0 1 1 0 1 1 0 1 1 () 10 0 0 1 1 0 10 0 0 25 0 0 10 0 0 1 1 0 2 o 0 1 1 0 1 1 0 10 0 0 15 0 0 1 1 0 100 0 0 1 1 0 10 0 0 1 1 0 1 1 0 1 1 0 10 0 0 1 1 0 1 1 0 THE FARMER'S MAaAZINE. 103 THE HIGHLAND AND AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY OF SCOTLAND. The half-yearly general meeting of the memhers was held in Edinburgh on Wednesday, January IG, his Grace the Duke of Buccleuch and Queensberry, K.G., President of the Society, in the chair. Council on Education. — By a Supplementary Cliarter under the Great Seal, granted in 1856, the Society is empow- ered to prescribe a curriculum for agricultural education, and to grant diplomas. Board or Examiners : Science and Practice of Agricul- ture— Mechanics and Construction — Professor Wilson ; George Hope, Fentonbarus ; Eobert llussell, Pilmuir ; and John Wil- son, Edington Mains. Botany — Professor Balfour. Chemistry ■ — Professor Anderson. Natural llistory — Professor Allman. Veterinary Surgery — Professor Halleu. Eield Engineering and Surveying — Professor Macquorn Rankiue ; David Steven- sou, C.E. Book-keeping and Accounts — Kenneth Mackenzie, C.A., and Archibald Paterson Meadowfield. The Secretary read the following resolutions of a meet- ing of the directors of the lligliland and Agricultural Society of Scotland, 3rd September, 1866 — His Grace the Duke of Buccleuch and Queensbury, K.G., President of the Society, in the chair : 1. That the directors desire unanimously to express the deep and sincere regret with which they have received the in- formation of the death of their late secretary, Mr. John Hall Maxwell, C.B. 2. That the Society having, in the minutes of the general meeting held on the 17th January, 1866, recorded, upon Mr. Maxwell's resignation of the office of secretary, their sense of the remarkable zeal, energy, aud ability \^ith which Mr. Max- well had for twenty years discharged the duties of his office, it only remains for the directors to deplore the loss which they aud the Society have now suffered by the death of one whose presence at their meetings, both as an extraordinary director aud as a member of the Society, would have doubtless proved of great service if his life had been prolonged. 3. That the directors request the chairman to transmit a copy of these resolutions to Mrs. Hall Maxwell, with their respectful condolence and sympathy upon the occasion of the painful bereavement which Mrs. Ma.xweU and her family have sustained. The Duke of Buccleuch directed the attention of the members of the Society to an equestrian portrait of the late Mr. Hall Maxwell, which had been painted by Mr. Gourlay SteeU, at a cost of £250. Thirty-five new members were elected. Mr. Walker, of Bowland, said that the directors wished to propose an addition to by-law No. 2, referring to the life- composition payable by tenant-farmers, to make th'! by-law the same in substance as by-law No. 1, referring to tlie life- composition payable by other members. By-law No. 2 at present stood as follows : "Annual Subscription of 10s., and Life-composition: That tenant-farmers, secretaries and trea- surers of local agricultural associations, factors, and proprietors farming the whole of their own lands, whose assessment in the valuation-roll does not exceed £500, shall pay at admission, and afterwards annually, in advance, the sum of ten shillings, with the option and power of redeeming the same by payment of five guineas as the purchase of a life-subscription." The directors propose to add the following i " Aud which life-sub- scription may besopurchasedunderdeduction of any annual pay- ment that the member may have previously made, witli this limitation, that at no time shall a member have the power of redeeming the annual payments for a less sum than £3, or six years' annual contributions." The meeting unanimously ap- proved of the alteration. Tn terms of the charter, the mo- tion must be brougiit before the general meeting in June be- fore it passes into law. The Secretary said that it was the intention of the Mar- quis of Tweeddale to be here to-day, to present the report of the Committee on Steam Ploughing, appointed in Pebruary last. But he had been unable to attend, and neither was Mr. Gibson, of Woolmet, present. In their absence he would simply read the report of the committee's proceedings so far as they had gone. The report was as follows : " On the 19th March, 1866, the committee made their first inspection, visiting the farms of Messrs. Sadler, Ferrygate; Tod, Castlemains ; Begbie, Queenston Bauk ; Hope, Fentonbarns ; and Reid, Drem, with the view of examining the work which had been done on these farms after the reaping of the pre- vious year's crop. They found that Messrs. Sadler, Tod, and Begbie had worked Fowler's machines ; Mr. Hope, Howard's ; and Mr. Eeid, Coleman's. The inspection occupied two days ; about forty fields, extending to nearly 900 acres, were each carefully gone over, and the depths at which each field liad been ploughed, smashed, or cultivated, were taken. These measurements were made from the level of the pulverized sur- face to the solid at the bottom of the furrow; above 150 measurements were taken, and, where necessary, were checked by dipping with the spade ; 295 acres had been steam-ploughed to an average depth of lOJ inches ; 470 acres had been grubbed or cultivated to an average depth of 9f iuclies ; and 118 acres had been dug or smashed to an average depth of 11^ inches. On the 4th May, the committee visited Markle Farm, possessed by Mr. Henderson, and saw Mr. Fowler's latest im- proved machine, worked by two engines, which had arrived shortly before from the manufactory. It was harroMing land which had been ploughed in autumn with the common plough, 8 inches deep. iUtliough the soil was clay, and tlie surface'^of the furrow very hard, the harrovv penetrated and pulverized it well to tlie depth of 3^ to 4 inches, covering a breadth of 14 feet ; it was afterwards set to grub or cultivate in the same field to the depth of lOJ and 12 inches, and did tlie work well. The committee were shown other two fields, where it had done the work most satisfactorily, and with no breakages. With the object of arranging to have a comparative test of tlie pro- duce from land worked by the common plough and that which had been steam-cultivated, the committee visited the farm of JMessrs. Sadler, Tod, Begbie, and Hope on the 4th September. All these were much pleased with the appearance of their crops after steam-cultivation, but Mr. Sadler alone could favour the committee with a comparative trial of the produce from land cultivated with the common plough and that by steam, and bdng able to do this with a crop of wheat after potatoes' ou a field of equal soil, he kindly consented to stack equal portions, and acquaint the committee of the result. This they had not yet received. None of the other parties had crops to which such a comparative test could be applied. The coiu- mittee, not haying as yet had au opportunity of inspecting the different machines at autumn work, are now arranging for tjiis to take place on an early day. " (Signed) " John Gibson." Tlie Secretary added that since the dates referred to in this report two inspections had taken place — one, on the 10th November, at Dirleton, where several farms had been visited ; and another at Tester, on the 4th December, to examine Lord Tweeddale's horse-ploughing. The report was approved. Mr. KiNLOCH, jun., of Gilmerton, reported that certain pre- liminary arrangements had been entered into for the two next general shows of the Society at Glasgow and Aberdeen. He also mentioned that the right hon. R. C. Nisbet Hamilton, Sir James Fergnsson, M.P., and Mr. M'Lagan, M.P., had agreed to co-operate with the committee of the Royal Agri- cultural Society of England to allot the space reserved for agricultural implements at the Paris Exhibition. The Scotch exhibitors would find themselves classed with the English and Irish, as all belonging to the United Kingdom. Mr. KiNLOCU moved that the Society enter on its minutes a record of their keen sense of the loss they had sustained in the removal of the late Earl of Rosslyu, and their sense of the valuable services he had rendered to the Society. And this was carried by acclamation. Sir Walter Elliot, of Wolfelee, said he had to bring before them the subject of the better endowment of the Chair of Agriculture in the University of Edinburgh. Much had been 104 THE FAEMER'S MAGAZINE. done recently by the Commissioners for tlie Improvement of flic Universities" in Scotlnml, and the changes they had pro- posed had all been agreed to, but the Chair of Agriculture had been omitted. He observed that, amongst other endowments, they had one in the University of Edinburgh for a Chair for tl\c study of Sanscrit Literature, which had been mainly en- dowed by the liberality of a private gentleman. lie could not help feeling that a Chair of Agriculture ought to have found more supporters than that of Sanscrit. At present, however, the Senatus Academicus had brought the subject again before the Government, with the view of securing a better endow- ment for the Chair of Agriculture. That Chair had been founded in 1790, and was supported by an endowment of £50 a-year from a private individual : but, with some other minor emoluments, the wliole sum for the remuneration of the Pro- fessor was not £100 a-year, really much less than that of any other Chair in the University. Besides that, the governing body of the University had no control over the class ; yet, under Professor Wilson's able management and conduct, the class had been most successful, and a number of excellent stu- dents had been turned out by the perseverance of Professor AVilsou. This society formerly made an offer to the Govern- ment of a certain siun for the Chair, on condition of an equal sum being voted by Parliament ; but the offer had been de- clined. The Senatus Academicus have memorialized Govern- ment upon this matter, and the subject was now before the Treasury. As the matter was pressing, the directors had taken it upon themselves, at their last meeting, to address the Trea- sury also on behalf of this chair. He begged now to move the follo\ving resolution upon the subject : " That the Highland and Agricultural Society learns with ])leasnre that an effort is being made by the University of Edinburgh to obtain an effi- cient endowment for the Professor of Agriculture by an appli- cation to the Lords of the Treasury to place this important Chair in the same position as the other Chairs in the Univer- sity. The members of the Society are glad to find that the directors have already addressed the Treasury in support of the memorial, which meets with the entire and cordial approbation of this general meeting, and direct that a copy of tliis resolu- tion be transmitted to the Lords of her Majesty's Treasury." The ChairjIjVN said lie thought there could be no doubt but tlic Society would approve of what had been done for the endowment of this most important Chair in the University. The motion was agreed to. Professor B;\XFOUR said: It will be in the recollection of those present that, at the general meeting of the Society held on the 6th June last, it was agreed to petition against Mr. Holland's Veterinary Surgeons Bill, which excluded anyone holding the certificate of the Highland Society only from call- ing himself a veterinary surgeou (that title being reserved ex- clusively for members of the Royal Veterinary College), audit was remitted to the directors to consider the subject of a char- ter for a Veterinary College for Scotland. With reference to (he first matter, it need only be reported that the petition adopted by the Society was sent to every Scotch as well as to several English and Irish menibcrs of the House of Commons, and that thereafter Mr, Holland withdrew his BiU. As to the ve- terinary charter, the committee appointed on the 6th of June, in conjunction with the standing committee on the Society's \ eterinary examinations, had held several meetings ; and at a meeting of directors on the 27th June, a memorial to the Privy Council, signed by the Duke of Buccleueh (the president), was forwarded to the Principal Secretary of State for the Home De- ])artment. The memorial prayed for the creation and establish- ment of a Royal Veterinary College in Scotland. The secretary has since had an interview with the Lord Advocate of Scotland on the subject ; but, owing to an arrangement made by the Go- vernment, the matter cannot be taken up till the meeting of Parliament. The petition referred to is as follows : — Unto the Queen's Most Excellent Majesty, in Privy Council assembled, the Memorial of the Higiilaiid and Agricuhural Society of Scotland, incorporated by Royal Charter, Humbly Showeth — That the Society are the patrons of the Veteriiiary School in Edmburgh, which was established by them in the year 1823. That the science of veterinary medicine and surgerv has been taught and practised in Scotland for upwards of forty years with ardour and success, That hitherto, in the absence of a regularly chartered Col- lege of Veterinary Surgeons in Scotland, having authority to appoint examiners and to grant diplomas in veterinary science and art, the certificate of youi' memorialists, granted after due examination, has served to confer a certain status on vete- rinary students. That this certificate has been recognised since 1838 by your Majesty's Government, and by the Honourable the East India Company, and is the only licence granted in Scotland as quali- fying for civil practice in Great Britain and the colonies. That your memorialists are of opinion that the past history and present condition of the veterinary schools in Scotland enti- tle them to the highest consideration of your Majesty, and that the independence and usefulness of these schools would be se- cured, and the advancement of veterinary science promoted, by the creation and establishment of a Royal Veterinary College in Scotland. That the object of the institution of such a college would be to confer degrees in veterinary medicine and surgery on stu- dents who produce evidence of having been duly educated in veterinary medicine and surgery, and prove themselves by ex- amination competent to practise as veterinary surgeons. That your memorialists humbly but earnestly crave yovir Majestj-'s gracious consideration of the above premises ; and in the event of this memorial being favourably entertained, your memorialists wLU be prepared, in concert with other pub- lic bodies iu Scotland, to submit heads of a proposed charter, and your memorialists mil ever pray. Signed in the name and authority of the Highland and Agri- cultural Society of Scotland, BuccLEUCH AND QuEENSBURY, President. Edinhirgh, June 27, 1866. Mr. M'Lagan, M.P., said there could be no difference of opinion as to the propriety of the proceedings 'of the directors, but he thought the general meeting ought to do more than read reports, and have them laid on the table. It was well that they should know how the question stood at the present time. They knew that last session of Parhanient the noble chairman had also been in communication with Government, and had waited on Mr. Corryon the subject, and that a deputa- tion, headed by Sir William Stirling Maxwell, also waited upou him, and the case had been fairly stated to the Privy Council. The deputation had been led to suppose that the Privy Council entertained the proposal favourably ; but shortly afterwards, to the surprise of every one, the Scotch members found that the Veterinary Bill was intended to be pushed through the House of Commons. At last the biU was withdrawn, and a compromise was made that no veterinary charter should be given to Scot- land during the recess. The bill would be again introduced after the meeting of Parliament, and it would strengthen the hands of the Scotch members if the meeting would take a de- cided step in opposmg the bill, and also in applying for a ve- terinary charter for Scotland. If the directors had only known the annoyance to which the Scotch members had been submit- ted last session in opposing the bill, he woidd iiot have re- quired to bring the matter up in that way. They had been informed several tunes that the bUl was withdrawn ; and when the Scotch members, on the faith of that information, absented themselves, they were suddenly informed that the bill was be- fore the House. It was only by the closest watching that they were ultimately enabled to frustrate it. They were told that the object of the bill was to improve the education of veteri- nary surgeons throughout the kingdom ; and no doubt that was one of the objects ; but the effect of it would have been to an- nihilate the Edinburgh Veterinary College entirely. They had only the diploma or the certificate of the Highland Society in Scotland, which was recognized both by the Government of this country and also in India ; but, according to the bill it was proposed to pass, gentlemen holding that certificate would not be allowed to put V.S. to their names, which would be a most anomalous position for gentlemen holding these certificates to he in, and he thought they should take steps to have them re- lieved from such a position. Besides the Scotch members who waited upon the Privy Council, they found that other l)odies had taken up the question ; and the College of Surgeons, the College of Physicians, the Town Council of Edinburgh, and the Chamber of Agriculture, had all petitioned against the bill, and had expressed themselves in favour of a charter for Scotland. It remained for this meeting not only to apply for a charter for THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 105 Scotland, but to take steps to frustrate llie passing of the bill. They were ail aware that the late Professor Dick had left a legacy to carry on a college which he had established in Edin- burgh, and that the management of it was vested in the Town Council of Edinburgh. Now, should the Town Council be in- different in this»matter, the Highland Society ought to take the initiative ; for veterinary science looked to that Society with the affection of a child to a parent, for it had been fos- tered in this country already by what this society had done. Now that veterinary science in Scotland was in difficulties, and likely to suffer injury, he hoped the Society would take steps to prevent tbat injury being passed upon it. Last year, one gentleman bad fought against the bill almost single-handed, as representing Miss Dick and certain vetermary surgeons and the agriculturists of Scotland, lie hoped no single gentleman would be allowed to do that, but that they would be united in their attack upon the bill. He would suggest that the meeting request the noble chairman to wait upon the Government, im- mediately after the assembling of Parliament, and endeavour to get them to grant a charter for Scotland ; and lie had no doubt, if he did so, and was backed by the Society, the applica- tion would be successful. The Chairman confirmed the statements of Mr. M'Lagan as to the bill of last session having only been frustrated by the constant watchfulness of its opponents at every stage. The resolution was imanimously adopted. Dr. Anderson reported on the work of the chemical de- partment during the past year, which, he stated, had been un- f usually heavy, the number of analyses executed for members of the Society having exceeded that of any previous year. The report was approved of. Mr. Irvine, of Drum, reported that since the general meet- ing in June last the following premiums had been awarded for papers lodged in competition for premiums : £20 to Robert Hutchison, of Carlowrie, Kirkliston, for a Report on the Dietaries of Scotch Agricultural Labourers. The Gold Medal or £10 to John Morrison, Coney Park Nursery, Stirling, for a Report on the Best Mode oi Culti- vating Turnips, with a View to Saving Seed. 2^ The Gold Medal or £10 to John Grigor, Eorres Nurseries, Forres, for a Report on the Larch Forests in Scotland. The Gold Medal or £10 to Christopher Young Michie, fo- rester, Cidlen House, CuUen, Banffshire, for a Report on Planting on Exposed or on Barren Tracts. The Medium Gold Medal or £5 to Christopher Young Mi- chie, forester, CuUen House, for a Report on the Varieties of Poplar best suited to the Climate of Scotland. The Medium Gold Medal or £5 to Russell Swanwick, Whit- tington, Chesterfield, for a Report of Experiments on the ^ Comjjarative Effects of different Special Manures on Wheat, by Top-dressing (Crop 1865), conducted on the Parm of Pen- toubarns, East Lothian. The Medium Gold Medal or £5 to William Walker, Ard- huncart, Mossat, Aberdeenshire, for a Report of Experiments with different Special Manures on Oats, by Top-dressing (Crop 1SG5). The Silver Medal to Robert Hutchison, of Carlowrie, Kirk- listou, for a Report on the Varieties of Poplar best suited to the Climate of Scotland. The Silver Medal to Thomas Clark, Craibstoue, Auehmill, Aberdeen, for Dressing Fanners, exhibited at the Inverness Show, 1SG5, and since reported on. Mr. Irvine further reported on the premiums to be offered in 1867. Mr. ScoT-SoRViNa said he had great pleasure, not un- mingled with some anxiety, in making the proposition he had now to make. He had great pleasure, because he was sure what their opinion would be ; he had some anxiety lest the success should not be adequate, or that this meeting should not cordially take it up. A number of farmers' principally had been tliinking for some years that the obligations under which Scottish agriculture lay to the Rev. Patrick BeU were very great indeed. Many of them would have wished to give him some pecuniary testimonial in proof of their fceUng on the subject ; but, as his grace was aware, it was difficult for far- mers to act in a body, except through some society. The proposal he (Mr. Skirving) was now about to make was that Highland Society should give them, not a grant of money, but what they valued much more, their counteuauce and sup- port, and the valuable assistance of the secretary in carrying out the plan. It would be necessary to say a few words on the claims of the Rev. Patrick BeU to this honour which he now proposed. The honour of inventing the reaping-machine had been claimed by America, it had been claimed by England, and it had also been claimed by several individuals in Scot- land ; but a few facts would place the matter before them in its true light. The Rev. Patrick BeU, whom he had not the pleasure of knowing, was far too modest, far too sensible a man to claim to be the originator of the reaping-machine. On the contrary, they all knew that reaping-machines of some kind were used centuries ago; but it was not so old a machine that the records of the world did not let them see beyond. In the very perfect hieroglyphs of Egypt he had seen no trace of a reaping-machine. They had a description given by Homer of reaping which exactly represented a field of Aberdeenshire mowers. But there was no mention of a reaping-machine till Pliny described the fields of Gaul. Pliny stated that the reaper was a large box on wheels, which was pushed into the field by oxen. It was armed with teeth ; and these cut oft' the ears, which fell into the box — exactly what the Times, in its magnificent way, told the English farmers to do last wet sea- son. Now, these ancient machines were not entirely for- gotten, because he found the eminent agricultural writer, Mr. Arthur Young, in 17S5, alluding to them, and proposing that premiums should be given for reaping-machines. Im- mediately after, two reapers appeared in England, one coming out in 1785, the other in 1786. Mr. Scot-Skirving then gave an account of the various machines which had been produced between that date and 1826, when Mr. BeU's macliiue was first worked. Mr. Bell was just nineteen when he began to experiment with his machine. He and his brother worked together ; and, as they thought they might be considered lunatics, they (hd not like anybody to see what they were doing. They wheeled a lot of earth into a shed, and set up straws in it, and worked the machine by stealth. When they got it completed, they took it out first in the moonlight. Their experiments cost a great deal of expense ; and the only money they ever received was fifty pouuds from this society, which did not nearly cover their outlay. In proposing this, he did not ignore the merits of a great many people who had improved upon it ; but he claimed for Mr. Bell that he was the first man who constructed a machine which had kept the field. Mr. Skirving showed the great ex- pense which had been saved to the farmers by this machine, and proceeded to say that he did not wish the Society to give a money testimonial, although the Society had often done so as the reward of accomplished success. Mr. BeU was not in a position to attract attention. He was a Minister of the Church of Scotland in one of the poorest parishes, and he believed a pecuniary reward would be more agreeable than if he were a richer man, although rich and poor alike deserved reward for their good deeds. All he asked was that they should empower the secretary to work the machinery so far as sending out cir- culars and receiving the contributions were concerned. With that courtesy and kindness which he was sure the members generally experienced at the hands of their new secretary, he had intimated that he was perfectly willing to undertake the duty, provided the Society woidd aUow the smaU expenditure that would be necessary in employing for a sliort time an additional clerk to address the letters, &c. He (Mr. Skirving) therefore proposed that the Society should take up the matter, so far as to allow the secretary to send out the circulars and re- ceive the subscriptions. Professor R.vnkine, Glasgow, in supporting the proposal, said it was the general impression amoug engineers that Mr. Bell occupied the same position in relation to the reaping- machine as Watt did in relation to the steam-engine. AU the reaping-machines that were invented before the days of BeU turned out to be failures, and it was his invention that had rendered them successful, just as in the case of Watt with the steam-engine ; and aU improvements that had since been made on the reaping-machine were merely modifications of that of BeU, as the improvements on the steam-engine were modifications of Watt's engine. The Duke of Buccleugh then put the motion to the meeting as follows : " The meeting approve of the proposal to raise a testimonial to the Rev. Patrick Bell by public subscrip- tion, and authorize the secretary to give his assistance to the gentlemen who are promoting it." The noble Duke said that 106 THE FAEMER'S I-IAGAZINE. tlie first time he atteudeii an exhibition in connexion vvitli the Iligliland Society, he recollected perfectly well seeing a model of Mr. Eell's reaping-machine on the ground. He was very Touu"- indeed at the time, bnt he remembered hearing many ipeople say of the machine that it might work well enough as a model, but would not be capable of performing the work of the field, because it would be impossible to get horses to push the implement before them. The machine, however, had not only been found practicable to work with, but it was actually used to cut a line to allow other machines to work. He thought the country was under a deep debt of gratitude to Mr. Bell for having worked out his idea in such a way as to have rendered the reaping-machine a great success ; and the Highland Society ought to do what they could in order to express their feelings of gratitude to one who stands, as had been well remarked, in much the same position in regard to reaping-machines as Watt did to the steam-engine. The motion was then put to the meeting, and carried witli acclamation. On the motion of Mr. Heddle, a vote of thanks was given to the Duke of Euccleuch for presiding, and the meeting separated. AGRICULTUEAL STATISTICS AND A BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. At a recent meeting of the Dorchester Farmers' Club, Mr. Geokge Homer read the following paper : — Statis- tics have been described as that department of political science which is concerned in collecting and arranging facts illustrative of the condition and resources of a state. In order to legislate wisely it is necessary for a Government to obtain correct information on all those subjects upon which they are required to legislate. Sound statistical information is therefore indispensable to sound legislation, whether the sub- ject relate to agriculture, manufacture, or commerce. Partial or limited statistics can never impart sound information. They can only lead to injustice and deception. The bulk of multi- farious quality can never fairly be represented by sample ; it is necessary to have full aud complete returns wheie the quali- ties aiC so various. McCulloch says : " Observations are scarcely ever made or particulars noted for their own sakes. It is not until they begin to be in request, as furnishing the only test by which to ascertain the truth or falsehood of some po)Hilar theory, that they are made in sufficient numbers and with sufficient accuracy." Aud for the collection of them in sufficient numbers, and with sufficient accuracy, nothing less than the authority of Government is required. It is equally evident that, upon all subjects on which they are called to legislate, requiring such extensive information, it is their bounden duty to obtain it, care being taken that all imnecessary exposure of private circumstances should, as far as possible, be avoided. The observance of such rules as these will go far to do away with the objections which have been urged against the collection of statistics ; indeed, it may be asked, why should exposure be feared in this case more than in those of the adjustment of poor-rate or income-tax ? Until lately very little importance has been attached to statistical inquiry ; but recently the more careful study of political economy has brought out its importance, and almost every civilized nation addresses itself to the subject. Indeed it has been said that the civilization of a country may be measured by the completeness of its statistical returns. There is in this country a statistical department in connection with the Board of Trade, the province of which is to arrange the collection of statistical evidence on all subjects required by the Government. The most ancient statisticid record in this country is the Domesday Book, completed in 10S6, and this work, as might he expected, at a time when manufacture and commerce were in their earliest infancy, has special reference to agriculture. It contains a complete record of a survey of the whole country, giving the names of the owners of all lands, the number of tenants and others of various ranks and callings, the quantity and value of lands, and whether in forest, pasture, arable, or waste. In some counties the numbers of cattle, sheep, svvine, and working horses, are given. Surely it is somewhat strange that, although nearly 800 years have passed, this continues the most complete survey of the whole country yet made. This fact alone speaks volumes as to the fertility of our resources, the industry of our farmers, and the bounties of Providence towards us. Had periods of scarcity and famine been frequent this important subject would not so long have remained in abeyance. It is useless to attempt to disguise the fact that this question has been a most unpopular one with the agricultural body. The principal causes whicli have led to this feeling are, 1 believe, the following -. Firstly, the injudicious way in which It has been proposed that agricultural statistics should be col- lected. Secondly, because those at present collected are, either wilfuUy or from apathy and ignorance, most deceptive, and calculated only to mislead and to injure. Thirdly, the little confidence felt by agriculturists in that department of the Government to which their interests are confided — I refer to the Board of Trade. The schemes proposed for obtaining agricult\iral returns have been very numerous, and all that I have seen contain some objectionable feature. In a Bill brought into the House of Commons by Mr. Caird it was pro- posed " that in case the occupier did not make the return, any person duly authorized by the Board of Trade might, after three days' notice, take the necessary steps for obtaining the required information by other means, and for that purpose enter upon the land without being liable to an action for trespass !" In a Bill which passed the House of Lords the compulsory clauses were still more objectionable. Again it has been proposed that the County Police Force should be employed in this work, the plain inference being that whilst these country gentry are looking after rogues aud vaga- bonds on the one hand, and estimating the derelict crops of husbandmen on the other, they are engaged in employments very nearly akin. Surely it can be no impossibility to frame some practicable measure free from such objectionable features as these. I have said that the statistics of agriculture at pre- sent collected are false and deceptive, and in saying this I specially refer to the system at present adopted of arriving at the corn averages. I need not further insist upon the neces- sity of correct returns, since on these are founded the varying annual amount of tithe rent-charge, the corn rentals of farms, and the valuations of outgoing and incoming tenants. This question was so ably brought before yon about two years ago, by a gentleman whom I now see amongst us, that only the great importance of the subject justifies me in reviving it. It was then clearly shown that not one-half of the wheat grown in this country found its way into these returns, less than one- fourth of the barley, and even far less than that proportion of oats ; that the corn w'hich got returned was nearly all of superior quality, and consequently that the average of prices was far above what they ought to be. The arguments and facts brought before you were so unanswerable, and so con- vincing, that this club, in common with others, presented a memorial to the Board of Trade upon the subject; and with what result ? At that time the returns were professedly made from 200 towns, which number was rather more than half of the corn markets of England ; but of that number some were shown to have dwindled to comparatively small dimensmns, and others were obsolete. Our memorial to the Board of Trade, asking for more complete returns, was answered (and I would call particular attention to the fact) by the reduction of the number of 290 towns to that of 150. Upon what princi- ple, I would ask, can the smaller number of market towns carry the more complete returns ? If this be the reply of the Board of Trade, how can we interpret it bnt by calling it mere mockery ? Let us examine how this system works in the ad- joining county of AViltshire. In that county there are but two or three towns where these returns are made, and in these mar- kets (perhaps on account of convenient railway accommoda- tion) higher prices are generally obtained than in other aud smaller markets. In consequence of this, and from the im- portant fact of none of the secondary qualities finding their way into the markets, the corn averages in ordinary seasons stand at several sliilliugs per qr. more than the average prices actually obtained or obtainable by corn growers. This is the THE PAEMEE'S MAGAZINE. 107 case in ordinary seasons ; but this year, from special causes, the injustice is of peculiar magnitude. You are aware that but a small proportion of the barley grown this year in Wilt- shire was harvested in a fit state for malting purposes, by far the greater proportion of it being deteriorated in value by the weather to the extent of about 20s. per qr. In order to ob- tain correct averages it would be necessary that the various qualities of barley should be returned in the same proportions as they were grown. But what is the real state of the_ case ? The returns are made np partly upon the barley grown in that neighbourhood wliich was harvested with but little or no in- jury from weather ; but in a large proportion upon the choicest samples of Dorsetshire barley taken to these markets for sale by growers and dealers. There can be no doubt that the corn averages for the county of Wilts will, for barley, stand at from 10s. to 15s. per qr. higher than the actual market value of Wiltshire barley. You know that it is customary for an incoming tenant, upon taking oif a crop, to pay for it by the averages of a neighbouring market. Thus a tenant, entering upon a firrm, say in the neighbourhood of Warminster, would now, by the averages of that market, have to pay for the barley crop which he takes of from 10s. to 15s. per quarter more than the average value of the barley grown in the county of Wilts. Can we imagine a merchant, a manufacturer, or even a tithe rent-charge proprietor, remaining passive, under a grievance so patent and so painful ? And surely if the patient endurance of the bucolic mind can suffer such in- justice without demand for reparation, it is worthy of all the ignominy whicli it ever and anon receives. In order that the most reliable information may be obtained, and also that it may be rendered in the most practical form, it is needful that the authority engaged in the work should have a competent know- ledge of the subject itself, as well as of the object it is intended to secure. Now if we are to judge by the treatment wliich farmers have received from the Board of Trade, we can come to no other conclusion than that they possess neither the one nor the other, fis an illustration of the judgment that they have not understood the subject itself, I would simply refer to tlie returns called for by them in the spring of this year, m ^ which they required the number of neat cattle, calves, sheep, and lambs kept on each farm. Now this return, be it observed, was to be made at that particular time of the year, viz., the calviug and lambing season, when a farmer might possess ten, or even twenty, per cent, more live stock in the evening than he did in the morning. That they are honestly ignorant of, or wilfully indifferent to, the object aimed at by accurate statis- tics, has been already sufficiently illustrated by the manner m which the corn averages are taken. Is it wonderful that the agricultural body should have so little confidence_ in that de- ^ partment of Government which manages these affairs ? " The powers of labour and of the other instruments which produce wealth may be almost indefinitely increased by using their products as the means of further production." Any one can see with what force this observation applies to manufacture. The results of agriculture are not susceptible of the same un- limited increase. The truth of this proposition is seen m the extensive advance of the manufacturing interest of this king- dom as compared with the agricultural. And yet such_ is the nature of agriculture that it loses not one iota of its im- portance, even comparatively, towards the body politic. But the details of the working of the two interests are so dissimilar, that it would be almost impossible to find a man equally qualified for the superintendence of the one and of the other. The beneficial offices of a Board of Trade no one would attempt to deny ; but we may well question its utility when transformed into a Board of Aj^'riculture. The latter is needed as much as the other : but they cannot be blended into one department without the suffering of either the one or the other. Now we think we have good reason to complain that in recent legisla- tion the interests of agriculture have been too much disre- garded, while those of commerce and manufacture have been treated with favour. The Board of Trade may be in truth and in efficiency what its name imports ; as a Board of Agri- culture also, we deny its qualifications. It has been said that it was rather the province of a Farmers' Club to point out a grievance than to suggest a remedy ; but in this case the course is so plain that it would be mere affectation if we did not state at once what we require, viz., that a Board of Agri- culture should be formed, separate and distinct from the Board of Trade, with its Presidept taking part in tho Councils of Pr,r- liament, as well as in the Councils of her Majesty. To such a Board we might unhesitatingly confide our interests. My pur- pose now, gentlemen, is to shadow forth to you what I conceive to be the proper plan of collecting agricultural statistics. I have before stated that it is necessary for those employed in collecting statistics to have a competent knowledge of the sub- ject on which it is proposed to collect facts. For my purpose T wiU take it for granted that a Board of Agriculture is formed, possessed of the necessary qualifications for its office. Local knowledge and authority are requisite also for the completion of the scheme. Perhaps we could not find more competent bodies for this purpose than Boards of Guardians, since they are generally selected as men of business, and represent every parish in the kingdom. Their imperative duty wovdd be to collect from every farmer in the union the acreage of his corn sown. Let the Boards of Guardians elect an appraiser of quantities, who should pro- ceed to estimate the per-acreage growth from a general survey of crops. The farmers' returns he would have to make up and send to the Board of Agriculture a week before the har- vest. Be it observed that under the proposed arrangement, private affairs would not be exposed to individual members of the Boards of Guardians, they would be known only to the appraiser, who might be sworn to secrecy. As it regards live stock, each farmer should be requested to fill out a return of all that is on his farm at Michaelmas in each year, aud send it to the Board of Guardians, and with regard to these returns it should be the duty of the appraiser to sort and arrange them so that they may be presentable to the Board of Agri- culture. We now come to tlie question of the corn actually grown in the country, and its actual market value. I propose that every farmer should keep an accurate account of all corn he has disposed of throuuliout the year, and at a specific time make a return thereof to the appraiser. It may possibly be tliought that the farmer would consider this duty too onerous ; but it must be remembered on the other hand that he would scarcely neglect it when he considers that his interest is so deeply involved in the correctness of his account. Then as to the corn consumed at home, which is generally of the inferior quality, a mixed sample might be furnished to the appraiser, that it might appear at his valuation in the returns to the Go- vernment. I would now endeavour to concisely sum up the advantages which would accrue if Agricultural Statistics could be collected in an accurate and popular manner. First of all then, it would tend to ensure correct legislative action on the chief questions of the day affecting the farming interests, such as the malt-tax, the basis on which our rates are collected, and the rules and precautions to be adopted with regard to the importation of live stock. It would tend to equalise prices, and prevent excessive importation or exportation of grain. It would afford most valuable information on what is becoming a most important question— the demand for and supply of agri- cultural labour, and would open the eyes of landowners as to tlie imperative necessity of providing more and better habita- tions for the labourers. It would assist in arriving at correct conclusions as to how far machinery may be profitably ex- changed for muscular labour, and one rotation of crops sub- stituted for another. It would afford correct data on which rent charges might be assessed, corn rents paid, and crops he taken by valuation. Lastly, and above all in a political point of view, it would furnish Government with the means of estimating and supplying the wants of the people, and thus go far to secure plenty, peace, and prosperity to the nation at large. Mr. Andrews said he would be glad to know lu what way agricultural statistics could be obtained in a manner satisfac- tory to the farmers at large, and also so as to give that infor- mation which was required. He did not like the idea of an appraiser, for he should have a very great oljjection to anyone valuing his property, and he thought the question of statistics was one on which it was almost impossible to get a unani- mity of opinion. That want of unanimity had been the great curse of agriculturists, for they never had agreed on any one point. The reason was, that A knew that his landlord was favourable to one view, while B's landlord took anotlier view, and unless the occupier held a lease on his farm, he vvould scarcely give his own opinion freely, for should that opinion be adverse to that of his landlord, he might get a little re- minder from the steward " wondering how he could be so care- less as to make such a statement ;" or, if the landlord took a 108 THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. personal iuterest iu it, he might he tolil, " I want to have a little talk with you on that subject ; I am quite of a dilferent opinion, and think what you stated was entirely wrong;" so that, unless a certain amount of independence could_ he secured,' they would never arrive at a practical conclusion. Whatever may he said ahout having good landlords, the first thing for the farmers to obtain, in order that they may be able to express their opinions fairly, must be leases of their farms. With respect to the Board of Trade, tliey could not expect that that body, composed entirely of gentlemen in- terested in trade, and trade alone, would take a proper view of agricultural questions, for they cannot even be got to un- derstand what it takes almost a lifetime to learn (although everyone fancies that he can be a farmer, and give advice to a farmer). Therefore, it becomes the duty of every agricul- turist, where he can do so, to give his close attention to matters relating to agriculture, and tlien really and truly to express what his opinions are. Without entering into politics, he would urge them to give their support to members of Parlia- ment who would devote themselves to agricultural subjects. The Cu.viRiiAN was sure everyone must have listened with the greatest possible pleasure to the address which Mr. George Homer had been so kind as to give them ; and, in order that the matter might be thoroughly discussed, he would divide it into three heads by getting three resolutions proposed : First, as to the desirability of establishing a Board of Agri- culture ; secondly, as to corn averages ; and thirdly, on the mode of getting a good system of agricultural statistics. Eirst, as to whether it is desirable that a Board of Agricul- ture shall be established. Mr. Homer had well explained the manner in which any proposition emanating from them is received ; and why ? Because they were only a club, repre- senting a portion of a very small agricultural county, so that they must get the best information they could, and then stir up their members of Parliament, for they had no one else to apply to. And to this end, they should get other clubs to joiu them. He proposed : " That it is desirable that a Board of Agriculture be established by the Government, which should take the management of all matters relating to that branch of the national industry." Mr. Galpin seconded the resolution. He agreed with Mr. Homer, that the Board of Trade was hardly the body to which fanners should look for the redress of grievances, and for considering subjects relating to their interest ; but he had hopes from the Chambers of Agriculture which are being formed, that through them they might get such a Board of Agriculture as exists iu several foreign countries. He was surprised that in England, a country which depends so much upon agriculture, the subject had not been long before this time brought before the Legislature. Mr. Damen quite coincided with the resolution. It was not a new opinion of his that the Board of Trade had neg- lected aU agriculturul affairs. Wlien they were asked for more complete returns, they took off one hundred and forty from the number of towns making those returns. Parmers' in- terests had had Httle attention, except the imposing of new taxes, and things of that kind. Por years past, trade and commerce had engrossed nearly all the attention of Parlia- ment. There was a time when agricultural members were supposed to have the predominance ; but that time has gone by, and now agriculturists must bestir themselves, for then- interests would never be thoroughly entertained without a jji'oper agricultural Minister ; and why should not agriculture have its special Minister, considering its immense importance to the country ? The resolution was carried unanimously. Mr. Damen proposed the second resolution with respect to the corn returns. He felt much obliged to Mr. G. Homer for the way in which he had introduced the subject, so that it needed scarcely any further remark. They were aware that the returns now made are the most fallacious possible. Only about 75,000 quarters per week are returned as sold in 140 towns, or about 3,750,000 a year, whereas the wheat grown must be something like 13,000,000 quarters, because they know the consumption of 30,000,000 people would be about 20,000,000 a year, for a person will consume a poimd of wheat per day, giving about 6 bushels a year, and, as a sack of flour produces 90 loaves, the consumption must be at least 20,000,000 quarters a year, making allowance for Indian corn used m some parts and oatmeal iu Scotland. The importa- tions for the last ten years had been in round numbers 7,500,000 quarters a year, therefore about 8,000,000 quarters could not have been returned at all, and the present statistics could not be relied on. IMany might contend that these facts are not useiul ; hut it would be monstrous for the Englisliman to be kept in the dark as to how he is fed. In foreign coun- tries, as in Prance, they have the most perfect returns, and so they know immediately if there is enough food for the people, or how much it is deficient ; and they had even come into England, and bought large quantities, while we have had after- wards to purchase to make up our deficiency at much higher prices. It was much better to have a fair price, and no class were injured more than agriculturists themselves ; for every now and then a feeling would go abroad that we want wheat, and more is imported than we require, then that must be sold at any sacrifice, ftnd this keeps prices down. Agriculturists would therefore be benefited more than any other class of the community by reliable statistics. As to the possibility of ob- taining such, he thought Mr. G. Homer had shown that no- thing is more easy, and what could be better than that Boards of Guardians should meet and fix tlie returns ? They might not be exactly right ; hut if done every year, they would be near enough. He had a great objection for the police to be so employed, and wished there were no necessity for any policeman. In other countries, where there is not that great middle-class that exists in England, everything must be done by the police ; hut as a freeman and an Englishman he wished they could be done without. In Scotland returns had been col- lected for many years by the Highland Society of Scotland, and until the Government interfered, there was no reason for questioning them. In Ireland, also, although he admitted by the police, it had been suecesfully done. And why could not some satisfactory plan he adopted in England ? Memorializ- ing the Board of Trade would he, he believed, of no use, if they could not get their agricultural members to interfere, and it seemed a proper preliminary to get an agricultural board, because now, except the county members, they seemed to have no oue to whom to appeal. Mr. Damen then moved " That the present system of obtaining corn averages is altogether objectionable and mosf irregular." He knew that it was so, because he had known millers who had boasted that they never made a return in their life. There was, it is true, r. £10 penalty for not doing so ; but he never knew of but oue person who was summoned for it. Of barley they knew some- thing from the consumption. 75,000 quarters per week are returned in six months. Yet 5,000,000 quarters are malted in this country, and everyone knew that double the quantity is ground. In conclusion, he expressed his opinion that it was only a question of time before the present prejudices would be worn avi'ay. Mr. Chapman Saunders briefly seconded the resolution, which was unanimously carried. Mr. Galpin remarked that the returns are now made from the buyers ; hut a large quantity of corn goes into consump- tion without passing into luiyers' hands, so that if the whole of the corn sold were returned, they would not know the quantity grown. Suppose they wanted the prices of corn for purposes of the tithes, &c. A fanner might grow 100 quar- ters of wheat and sell 70 at a good price, and the other 30 quarters would not be returned at aU. How would they get the value of that ? Mr. Damen said it would be very difficult unless buyers and sellers both make returns. If they did this to the same office, any discrepancy would he discovered. But iu all market towns the Corporation should have some supervision, and could look after the buyers, every one of whom was known, and if one or two persons in each town were appointed for this purpose, there would be an immense improvement, and he believed it would answer all purposes. Mr. T. H. Saunders asked, if the seller were to make no return, who could know how much secondary wheat is grown P He sold a great quantity of secondary corn, and how were they to pay tithes on that ? A farmer ought to he entitled to make a return of all liis corn grown, and should not let it go forth before harvest that they had not enough corn, because tlie merchant would be sure to obtain sufficient, and then they would have a bad crop at a low price. The Chairman remarked that Mr. Homer had proposed that the crops should be submitted to an appraiser. The seller should not make the returuj because he woiild be interested in THE FAEMER'S MAGAZINE. 109 keeping do-^ii the average. If the present £10 penalty ou the buyers for not miiking returns was not enough, let it be £50, for every buyer should be compeUed to make a correct return. Mr. H. Lock did not approve of a person being appointed valuer. The farmer should make a return at the end of the year of what he actually got for the corn sold (No, no). It was not fair to the community that the corn consumed by pigs should be brought into the average. If the wlieat was so in- ferior that it could not be made into bread it ought not to go into the returns. Com sold to the labourers who consume it for bread should be brought into the return at the end of the year. Mr. J. Homer thouglit it was the farmer's own fault if the inferior corn were not returned. Mr. CIjEMents i3aid he was in Kent the other day, where the labourers were said to be receiving 15s. per week. Upon inquiry lie found that they actually received the 2s. 6d. per day, but had to pay 2s. per week for their cottages. In Dorset they paid 10s. or 12s. per week, but, taking into consideration the cottage reut-free and the remuneration in kind — as grist at 5s., gardens and potato ground, &c. — the labourer was equally well paid here. But he believed farmers would find it as much for their interest, and give more satisfaction, if they paid the liigher wages, all in money ; and let it be paid weekly, and on a Friday night. Mr. J. Homer said the first question was, WiU this collec- tion of agricultural statistics be a benefit to the community at large ? Supposing that Parliament carried a measure that the corn statistics of this country should be taken, could they be obtained in such a manner as to make good ground for Parlia- ment and corn speculators to act on ? If they had a better harvest than usual, and grew 14,000,000 quarters, it was doubt- ful whether 8,000,000 would be brought into the market that year, because, whenever low prices prevailed and the quality was good, it was customary to hold it over ou speculation. Next year there might be a bad crop, and statistics would not be taken till about a week or so before haiTest ; but long be- fore that the farmers would know whether they had a good crop, and the corn-factor ^^•ould discover what the prospect ^ was ; and is it not likely that the whole Continent of Europe would know before the statistics were taken ? He believed it would be known before the statistics were in possession of the Government. Therefore he doubted whether the community would gain the expected advantage from statistics. Mr. Damen had quoted France ; the French Government, knowing nearly what quantity of corn is required, obtain sufficient for the food of the country. But France is not a free-trade country, and while England goes to the cheapest market, and sells in the dearest, in France he believed they had sometimes prohibited ^ the exportation of corn, so that he believed we should not be in a better position unless we could get fairly at the whole consumption, and that the produce were to be consumed the same year. But who could make the farmer bring his corn to market in the same year. Supply and demand would govern him at all times. But he would be the last, if it were for the benefit of the country, to say that statistics should not be taken. They would most likely differ on the mode in which it should be done ; but he would give them his own thoughts. That district surveyors should make returns to Government was very objectionable, he thought, and nothing would be so correct as to take the estimates locally. If two men were appointed to look over a union, would they know the quality of the land, and what it would produce, as well as a man who lived there all his life ? He would propose that a vestry should be held a fortnight before harvest, and one or two men be appointed to look over the parish, and send in their estimate of its produce in gross, stating the number of acres of wheat, barley, oats, pulse, &c., wliich return should be sent to the clerk of the Union, who should add up the returns tor the whole union, and make a gross return to the Board ' of Trade, or the proposed Board of Agriculture, so that no names or particulars but the gross totals should reach the Board. For a wet harvest, of course, there must be an allowance made. This would do away with anything inquisitorial, to which there was so much objection, for only the parish oflicer would know who had the best corn. Mr. Homer then proposed the third resolution, " Tliat a well-considered and accurate system of collecting agricultural statistics would materially further the cause of agriculture, and be beneficial to the country at large." Dr. Aldridge seconded the resolution, thanking and com- plimenting Mr. G. Homer for his manner of introducing one of the most interesting subjects that could be brought before the Club. If their representatives had neglected the interests of agriculture, it was because farmers had not furnished them with proper statistics to legislate ou to some purpose, and lie urged them to use their influence to get such statistics, in order to obviate, perhaps, a great crisis happening. Although they were a small club, they must not despise small beginnings, and if the ventilation of this subject should commence through the Dorchester Farmers' , Club, and their friend Mr. Homer, it would be a great honour to the towni, and the whole county. Mr. Damen, in reply to Mr. J, Homer, thought that, except in a few favoured counties, very little corn could be kept in tlie farmers' hands. They were either too poor or too prudent to do so, and it was a fact that, after two or three harvests witli low prices, 'scarcely enough was ever left for three months' consumption, and the usual fault, if any, was to sell much too early. It showed the necessity of statistics that the price of corn varies more here than in any country in the world. It is true that corn factors do get information of short supplies ; but if they had proper facts to go upon, they would not import at a loss. He disagreed with the plan of the farmers valuing their own produce ; when he was a young farmer he found he often estimated his crops at two-thirds more than they pro- duced, and there was amongst others a tendency to estimate the crop less than is. As to two persons valuing the parish, he had heard that there could not be two great men in one parish ; but if there should be, he I'considered great numbers of the growers quite incapable of valuing their own crops, and it was better to leave it to people quite above suspicion. The esti- mates should also be taken twice, before and after harvest. Mr. J. Homer thought his good friend Mr. Damen had a poor opinion of a man if he were open to a suspicion of making a false return. If done by the Board of Guardians, two of them must value their own parish as well as the others m the union ; and they would ride over every other person's corn, for they never walk, and he should have a great objection to a man 'riding over his corn. No stranger could value his corn as well as he could himself, knowing the quality of the laud, for one piece of land might show as much straw as another ; but the person acquainted witli its quality would know there was a great dilference in the quantity of corn. Mr. Galpin congratulated Mr. G. Homer upon the subject he had introduced, and the very lively discussion. He had always been an advocate for agricultural statistics, and would willingly send iu a return like that to the Inland Revenue about their cattle ; but he objected to send returns to the Board of Guardians, because the farmers on that Board reside almost in every parish, and some would be his next door ueiglibours, and in case of his leaving his farm would be his competitors, so that he would rather send to a totally indilTerent person, and the same objection applied to Mr. J. Homer's plan. Mr. J. Homer explained that he wished only the totals to be sent in, and without the names of tlie parishes, while the unions should only send up their totals in gross. Mr. G. HojiER replied to the remarks on his paper, and a cordial vote of tlianks was presented to him. A discussion followed ou tlie propriety of memcfrialising the Government to establish a Board of Agriculture, and it was agreed that the secretary communicate with other farmers' clubs known to them, and with the Central Farmers' Club, in order to obtain their co-operation. LARGE CROPS OF WHEAT, Sir, — The discussion about the peck of wheat per acre, the laughter and disbelief about 7 quarters of white wheat or 8 quarters of revett wheat per imperial acre, present to my mind a painful sense of our national ag-ricultural humilia- tion ; because, if those sneers and laughter are honest and genuine, it proves that small crops are the order of the day, 110 THE FAEMEE'S MAGAZINE ^ oc T Live described are very uncoramou, a,ul that crops such ^^ 1 ^i^;'^t''''i ,iso come to be convinced and produced at very g^e J ^"^^^ ' ^.^ ^ the ordinary tliick ll.at great corn "ops cannot be gro J ^^ ^^^_^^ ^^^.^^^ sowing, and that t us thick so^j-^^^^ ^ " j know and expect to its injuring ^-^-^^XleTcStion wUl raise a tVesh that this statement onyhonesi ..evertheless calmly storm of doubt and ^^^« J^^^.i I conclusion ; and, first give my reasons for ^ommg t^^ucn a f,. ,,ently told ^hen I recommend l^fj^^^^-^^ green crops, but that it ■'that it isall very ^ ell foiootauagv^ ^^^ ^■on't do for eoru.for wegejourcrops a P^^^^^ ^^ the quahty and q;-\^y^^^°;^,^,3To such persons that the But it seems never to h^^^ occ^^ . ^ ^^^ ,nuch manure, ,eal cause of/^^'^f"^, ^^^ L of ^^^^^^i<=*^>' ^°^''' ^^''^'^ but too much seed. Tlie roots oi ^ ^^,^^,^ "vhen the rootlets attempt ^° «^f^ "i,"^,^^^^^^^ battle opponents having the ^^^ J^e -^e^lt number of soil ensues as to ^^h^ch shaU ha^ e f e re. ^^^ granules, and, as in all o.tl^^,''^"'^'^ ^,.3^ There can be no the victors are "ther crippled omjuiea ^^thinned more mistake '^'^o^^VoTlnhoeraml un n^M turnips. Liebig plantation, or a crop of ^ii^f o^fJ"J'\ ^,£^^1 plant is another I „e,.r h=»d ..e o,™ .- f ^STc?. SImS - high for wheat. Well, then, i ^^ser -^ ^,1^1 that m^in cause of s-n grown -oPs J-J;^- however rich your soil >°";^'=^^ 7"^,^^^. There are several with the usual tl'^^^tit^'^^, °[„fthis eT- first, by sowing late, awkward attempts at ^orjec mg this eul n , o^^^ ^^ and secondly, by " A^SS^^S the jvhef^^^/^^^i old tnend of its growth. AmonejMuaknglv^h fa^^^ ^ ^ mine) who grows *.03 a"^^ °^, f„ .^heat and very often whole gang of men lU flaggm? aU Jus w e^^^^^^^ ^,^^^ aU his oats and barley. il"S is lone ^^^^.^ leaf is ^vell-gro^.^lm June, care bemgta^e^^^^ ^^. into the sheath that co"t^"tc?on would be prematurely laid that unless this were done le crop wouM .^ ^^^^^^^ ^^ and greatly injured. B> this fiag^m _^^^^^^_ weigM, and st-ds more e.e^^ the a^^ ro^rhanging canopy ted to the lower portion ot the stem, ^^ prevents of flags no longer shuts in the '^^.^'i^f^^'^.^^^endered imueces- evaporationorcausesmildew jaitlns IS re .^ ^^^ ^^^^ sarybyamore moderate fl^^^^titJ ° '"'fg of quantity, but understood that I 1=^^ '^f^ f™s to ry on a small scale merely -n^mend m^ bro her-farmex^ to t^^^^^^^^^^^ ^^.^^^^^^ comparative eiuantities, so as t<) ^m ^ ^^^^^^ to their very various soils and clmates. 0 ^^ sneers or jibes at one peck °ff^fP"^Xer imperial acre. I even at my g-ff .^I'^.f.^ev rTr ed uT tL knows know at once that he as ^^ver trie , .^^^^^^^ f^.^s on nothing about 1,. having had or seen n ^^ which to form his opinion ; ^"'l' ''™„''g ^f ^ more sound angry, I can ^ ^^^^i^^co^S^^^ I plead guilty mode of arriving at ajusi auu b^'^ matter of thin sowma;' to being an agricultural disturb in tmat^^ ^^^^^^^ .^ and so long as I live and have m^^^^^^^^ ^^^^ ^^^ deprecate errone^ous „f "^j^^ mv comitry. But, eschew- earnest view to benefit and el e ate "y ™Yinarv in growimj ing motives, let us see what ^liere e^t^^o^'l'°ar> 1 g ^^ 7 quarters of white ^^'^^^at, ai^d th^n trom b to ^ ^ ^^^^^ Ilevett,on the same g/o^'l i-l two successive , lieingpoorstitfheavy land and ^ ^Ttoo mucli moisture, SrSSrSS:^"SSfenr^^^^^-^-^''^^" wheat, Mr. Mechi, which we dare not do. Let there be no misunderstanding ='^°;|^/\^;i^,\Sl" ^ ' many who make this remark and farm high, t^l^e tor^eyj^J whea't, and get it of better quality as we - J^^^J^ 'X^cS of thi^k sowing, than taking it immediately aft^turmpsteaou with cake. The land has less " branching force alter removal of the wheat crop. 1 . j j-a-^,. Now although T take two wheat crops, tlie kmds differ almost as much as wheat and barley. I never ^ttemp to take two o-lassv wheat crops in succession. I know that they xa ould faiUCL the silica' is not dissolved iri time ^r a second glassy crop; but, as ft second crop I take the pHln-strawed non-glassy bearded revett, which gives, on our stiff soil, d larser return than barley. ,,r^pti->al pxneriment that 1 But then 1 am eonvincsd by practi a e^^^^^^ should be unable to f t'"';J,°'^i^/,l„^"from Ijecks or even from of seed, althoughl frequently do so iromp ^^^^^^^ Ipeck. These conclusions have been arri ^^^^^ , e.?eriment. For several years I tried 1» ^^^^ acre, against 3 >^"^l^t+f.fbuherwas equal to a rent of 30s difference in favour of thf 1 "^"J^' "^r as my heavy land per acre. This settled the ^^^^ ^^^^J'^J,^ ^i^elf, not by Ls concerned, but every "i=^" ^^^^^^i^^^^er ^e hear of very imagination, but by expcTiment ^ l^^^^^j^^ i,^t that was great yields, it is generally ^'^''^^^J^y' in g-a branch- almost condemned to be ploughed up m^he sp ^^g^^^ ^^^^^^ ing crop is almost always a good one d ^^ manuring, branch-there is no ™oni or power^or tm ^^^^^ r keen plenty of livestock, and so make uiu ^ ^ lu" 3cwt. of Peruvian guano, ni«exl - 1 1 t o ^ c ^^^ salt as manurefor wheat after be^^^^^^^ also for revett wheat after ^^'"^ wheat ^ ^^^^^ dry summer benefit our ^^e'^yy-^^,^i't*rner acre-not farmers' of heavy land wheat averaged / quarters peT ac fcSut really a-\correctly measured a„es^ Mter^^ ^^1^^^ mangel I got 7 ^l>iarters and atte bean j t ^^ ^^^^^^_ wheat, and after 7 quarters of ^li « ^^ leat^ 1 ^^^,^„,end a in conclusion, it must ^^ot ^.'^^'^Pf ^'f^ere of wheat ; but general seeding or sowing ot t pecK ai that a ^he success during three J^^'^^'^J,;^ sown may areat reduction in tlie ausuru . "J,VXs ot other ta i. required, and leave. » ™t "S i " my »^'. ""- f»Si/.t,.St TieiroS™ rrsira. tw'o >-ear. on. ^r:(,ieet.to»d.ee.,™.^^^^^^^^^ drill culture. „,imoTit is clear when lam That there is need for great^meiidme^^^^ ^^ even now frequently told, '^^^f^' IQ^^ i.eed to local oats, 4. of barley, and 3 ot wheat. | ■ mea'sures, for at Carlisle some f^^ t Jt I soon found that that they only put m a bushel of w 'leat.Dm 1 >.u "^pl ^>jf^i:J^^^rS^ £Sl usuany branch On very light land, where ^ n^a ^^ ^^^g_ freely, more seed ^^^^J^ soi^e rape-cake worm and frost, in this case pieu ^^^^_ ^^^^ and compression are more beneficia than too m ^ not only removes wireworm, but protects frost. ^, ^^^ ,-„BtPid of silly sneers and mis- I hope that another year instead ots y ^^^^^^^^ ._ statements, I may receive a list « careuu ^^.^^^_ ments from various districts and differing so s. U P .^^^^^^^^ ably farmed undrained small fiel, hut 1 J ^.^^^^^^^^^ weed-growing hedges, and '•"^J f J^^e'ted be the quantity tfSS^ffS^rsSnt^rru of too much such land. j_ j. Mechi. perous years to m> »™tner a„n ^^^^ ^,^ therefore hope for a good crop and a fair price. Farmers' Club, when the following ™^ "^ ^^^^ trusts were agreed to: "That the o^ct for;^ ^ehjnrn ^^^^^^^^^ established having ceased m .po^if ^^^^-^f^t they ou^ht to be l££rieSs^u'Krsrf=.So,s:-^:r£ tSS^^iSpSj:^^' STL. .Let, aW.ce. THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. Ill CHIPS The subject we propose to discuss iu this paper, and possibly in one or two succeeding papers, is the principles which regulate the operation of the most important of o/i? agricultural implements and machines, basing our remarks on a very elaborate paper on agricultural engineering which has recently appeared in a portly and magnilicently- illustrated volume, issued by the Messrs. Fullarton, of London and Edinburgh, and which treats of the most important branches of engineering and machine-making ; and we have, perhaps, no more striking illustration of the position to which agricidtural engineering has of late years attained than the fact that in a work like this, ad- dressing itself to engineers and machinists, on branches of their calling in every sense special, so prominent a place should be given to the discussion of the subject which forms the basis of our "Chips" — a subject which but a few years ago would have been deemed altogether without the province of the general engineer and machinist, and, indeed, to which the elaborate paper could not have been devoted, and illustrations for which would have been meagre in the extreme, the examples of agricultural machines and implements being at that time confined to but some half- dozen or so, as, to wit, the plough, the harrow, and the roller, in field implements, and the fanners, and the simple form of thrashing machines in barn machines. Now, however, this condition of matters is so completely changed that in the long and widely-diversified array of machines and im- plements which aid the labours of the field and the fold, there is matter afforded as the subject of special volumes, and elaborate papers like the one from what, so to speak, we are now about to " strike off some chips." The writer sets out by remarking that, although much attention has been recently, and is daily becoming more and more, paid to the subject of agricultural engineering, it must not be looked upon as in a fixed, but rather as in a transition state, and that the probability is that we are entering upon a period in its history when, by the appli- cation of juster and more correct principles, a practice will be inaugurated, as remarkable for its results as the period which has been passed through during the last twenty or thirty years. It is to a statement of what those principles are that the writer devotes his paper, and which takes up in regular sequence the following subjects : — (1) "implements used in the cultivation of the soil ;" (2) those connected with the sowing and (3) with the cleaning and hoeing of the crops ; (4) those with the reaping of the crops ; (5) machines for preparing produce for market and (6) food for stock ; and (7) " for the making of butter and cheese ;" and concluding with (8) remarks on the sources of power for performing the works of the farm. Under the first head the subjects discussed are (1) the plough in its various forms of swing, wheel, turn-wrest, and subsoil ; (2) the grubber and cultivator ; (3) the roller ; and (4) the application of steam in the working of these. The implements of the farm used in the pre- paration or culture of the soil for the reception of seed are found exemplified in what may be called the rudimentary forms of the plough, the harrow, and the roUer : of these and from these there are, of course, many modifications and offshoots, but in all of them the rudimentary principles of operation are exemplified. Let us glance briefly at what these are, and first as to the plough. The main fea- ture of the operation of this the oldest and most honoured pf all Qur IHria implements is thp maniier iij which it cuts the soil, and thereafter turns the slices so cut over at a determinate angle ; this principle of under-cutting and turning over, so as to ensure a complete inversion of the slices, is that which distinguishes the plough from all other implements used on the farm. The lollowing dia- gram and description, which are given by the author of the paper, will make this principle, we think, clearly under- stood. Suppose ah, c d (tig 1) to represent the slice FIG, 2 J which the plough cuts off from the land, which is supposed to stretch from an indefinite length. The side « 5 is termed the "land side," and cd the "furrow side." From a to b limits the depth of the slice, usually seven inches ; a d the breadth, usually ten inches. The vertical cut from aio b is made by what is called the " coulter," which is a species of knife attached to the " beam " of the plough. The horizontal cut b c is made by the " share," which goes under and euts off, or rather partially tears and partially cuts off, the slice in the direction b c. The slice abed (fig. 1) thus cut off and separated from the land e, g, g, is take up by the end of the "mould-board," or "turn-furrow," and as the plough is dragged onwards the slice is passed over the varying curve of the mould-board, and made to as- sume a variety of positions, until finally deposited at a determinate angle. Fig. 2 illustrates a few of the posi- tions which the furrow-slice, a b, c d (fig. 1), assumes. Let a b, c d (fig. 2) represent the slice as it originally lies ; the next position is d, e,fg; the final one h i, k j, the angle I, ^' being 45°. In this Ihe final position, the complete inversion of the soil is illustrated. Thus the side b c, which originally is the upper, and covered with herbage in the case of "ley," or the weeds and roots in the case of " stubble" land, is the lowest when the slice is laid over in its final position, as /* i, j k, the side h k corresponding to b c, ij to d a, and h i to d c. It is difficult to conceive of a more complete inversion of a slice, or rather the complete change of its position, so that the side originally exposed shall be covered , and one is constrained to admire the beautiful precision of the implement which effects this complete change. When a number of slices are thrown together they assume the position as shown by fig. %, a b being the line of ground over which the plough sole has to travel. By driiwing a liae, r d ^ parallel t" '■'■ i-, A 'series of " shoulders'' 112 THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. and depressions, &iefg, hijjkl, are shown. The angular depressions form the seed bed, the seed, as it is sown broadcast over the soil (if so sown) fallinp; down the steep sides of the irre-ular shoulders, as/ , and /, the seed is deposited and the plants come up in regular and parallel lines. It is another of the beautiful peculiarities of the plough that, in laying the furrow-slices at determinate angles, as in fic. 3", the "shoulders" or angular projections, as at g'h i,'ij k, contain the greatest possible cubical contents, and expose the greatest possible surface to the action of the atmosphere. " "What ploughing is, is thus illustrated, and it may be defined as '-the cutting of a succession of slices from the soil, and laying them over at a determinate ana;le, exposing the greatest extent of new surface to the action of the atmosphere, covering the old surface, and forming a number of parallel seed-beds or rows." In analyzing the construction of the usual forms of plough, the "swing" and the " wheel," the author offers some suggestive ° remarks, a few of which we shall briefly allude to. There is one point peculiarly observable, namely, the attention to minute matters of detail shown by our best implement-makers, and how important an influence these have on the work- ing of the plough. Thus the writer draws attention to the placing of the stilts or handles of the plough as exer- cisius an influence upon the working condition of the ploughman, fatiguing him or otherwise, according as they are placed ; if too wide and too high at their extremities, much strength is lost, and considerable difficulty is ex- perienced in guiding the plough. The swing plough is under consideration at present, which will account for these last words. The writer states his belief that the position for the handles or stilts is the best as shown in the rough diagram here annexed, the handle being at the extremity b some two inches in- wards from the plane of the body of the plough, the distance between b and c being two "feet. This arrangement is opposed to , that adopted by some makers, who have the ' stilts or handles projecting from the body of the plough and forming equal angles, as thus ThiSjhowever, isnotso much an important point as making the termination at the outer ends of the bandies too high from the level of the ground ; for if too high it is obvious that the •nloughman cannot exercise that control over the imple- pleinent which the working of a swing-plough demands. The height, strictly speaking, of the outer cuds of the handle depends or "should depend upon the height or tall- ness of the man working it; this adjustment is, however, not capable of being very easily made in practice, hence a medium height ha"s been decided upon for swing-ploughs, namely two feet ten inches, or from that to three feet. Another point to which the writer directs attention is the position of the beam at the end opposite to the stilts ; the best position for this being not in a line with the plane of the body, but bent in towards the furrow side of the plough, as in the diagram, which is purposely exagger- ated in outline, the distance of the end a of beam a b from line c d of plane of body b d being \\ inches. In the con- struction of swing-plonghs the land side of the body of the plough, as h d. in the above diagram, or that side which presses against the luicut soil, or soil rather in process of being cut, is generally made flat ; in practice, however, it is sometimes found that this form increases the draught of the plough, which has been found to be obviated by making it slightly concave, the greatest depth of con- cavity being at the centre of the body. So much for the body, the beam, and the handles of the plough, which may defined as the bearing parts of it. In discussing the active parts— as the share, the coulter, and the mould- board— the writer goes very fully into their details of con- struction and mode of operation ; for those in e.rtcnso we must refer to the paper itself : all we pan do within the limited space at our disposal is, to glance briefly at the leading points connected with them. "We have said that the form of the furrow-slice in its normal condition is a rectangle, as shown in figure 1, the opposite sides of which are equal, and that one result of this shape is, that when a number of slices are laid over at an angle of 45 degrees the shoulders are all of equal height, cubical contents, and superficial area ; but as we proceed we shall see how this form and these circumstances of ultimate condition are much modified by the active parts of the plough now to be considered, namely, the share or sock, the coulter, and the mould-board. And first, as to the share or sock, the office of which is to cut the slice horizontally from the ground ; this is not in the ordinary plough spud-shaped, like the sock of the turn -wrest plough hereafter to be noticed : that is, it does not present its cutting edge at right angles to the line of draught, thus : ( j but is placed at an angle thus : This has an important influence upon the cutting action of the sock; for in place of foi-cing portions of the soil and ob- structions^ as stones, &c., before it, if shaped like the first of these diagrams, these slide past, so to speak, at the side of the "sock, the sloping side favouring this. The sock does not completely sever the slice horizontally from the adjacent soil, but leaves a portion uncut to be forced or torn away by the forward action of the mould- board. The office of the coidter is to cut or sever the slice vertically ; and simple as this member appears and its mode of adjustment, there has nevertheless been much discussion as to the best position which it should assume in the plough, this having special reference to the position of the point above the share, and to one side of it, and also in its relation to the land-side of the plough, the writer being of opinion that it is bad prac- tice to have the point of the coidter much above the sur- face of the share, thus forming a space into which the soil can be forced, and thus bring about a disturbing in- fluence upon the action of the plough ; still more decided is his opinion that it is bad practice to place the point of the coulter in advance of the share. Some ploughmen, in order to give a clear and smooth edge to the fm-row-slice, set or temper the coulter so that its side does not lie in a line with the plane of the body, but is twisted in to- wards the land side ; this, in the o])inion of the writer, tends to increase the draught of the plough. It may have been observed by tht reader, in examining various forms of ploughs, that the coulter is set at various rakes and at various angles with the line of the sole of the plough ; some advocate a very sweeping rake or a low angle, while others advocate a less 1 ake or a higher angle. It would be reasonable to suppose that the angle of the coulter would exercise some influence upon the draught of the plough, and that there would be one particular angle at which the draught would be reduced to a mini- mum. But experiments" on an equal soil seem to prove that the angle or set of the coulter exercises very little influence upon the draught, either in the way of increase or decrease. This, how"ever, holds good, we suspect, only in soils of an even and clean character, but the case is and must be dift'erent where stubble or otherwise toul land is bcinc; ploutrhed ; the higher the angle or more THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 113 nearly approaching the vortical at which the coulter is placed, the more resistance will be given to the forward progress of the plough, and this not because it acts upon the soil in a way to I'etard it, but rather this position of the coulter tends to encourage, so to say, the collection and retention of the weeds, in place of throwing them oft" as would be the case to an extent more or less easy if the coulter were placed with a low angle ; indeed, in practice it has been foimd that as much as one-half of the eftective traction power has been lost through the accumulation of weeds upon the coultei-, &c., in foul land. The chief influences at work determining the forms of the furrow-slice are brought into existence through the action of the members we have just described, the share and the coulter. The influence in this direction of the next mem- ber, the mould-board, is less marked : not that its shape has no influence upon the form of the furrow-slice, but it is not so strongly operative as to destroy or get rid of the work of the share and the coulter — this remains stamped, so to speak, upon the furrow-slice throughout, and at its first formation. One great influence the mould-board possesses is the consolidating the furi'ow-slice as it is turned over. By some the peculiarly curved surface of the mould-board, so familiar to us all, is thouglit to be essential to the turn- ing over of the furrow-slice : those who believe so will be surprised to learn that it is not so essential ; for a furrow- slice cut from the land by the share and the coulter can be turned over by a flat board ; this is seen in the Kentish turn-wrest plough, in which there is no mould-board in the ordinary acceptation of the term, but a mere board, the surface of which is nearly flat, only slightly convex, but which has no swelling part, the surface being all in one plane. But the flue curves observable in our finished ploughs perform one office, which by some is considered to be very important, namely, pressing or consolidating the furrow-slice, and giving it that tine smooth appear- ance which is by them considered crack ploughing: others do not hold this opinion, but conceive that that I'c- sult is not the one which it is desirable that a good cul- tivating implement should bring about ; but this opens U]) a controversy which may hereafter be alluded to, as it bears upon a subject of much practical importance. But from what we have said, it must not be supposed that the form of the mould-board — that is, its section — and the ondition of its surface — -that is, its shape in the direction of its length — is a matter of no moment: the reverse is the ease, which may at once be understood from the fact that the inversion of the furrow-slice, which is the office that the mould-board has to perform, is produced by a uni- form and continuous motion, which necessitates therefore an unvarying iiniformity of surface — that is, a freedom from all protuberances. It is defined by our author as a twisted wedge, or rather a " body combining in its con- ibrmation the principles of the wedge and the screw." The author points out the importance of having, as an easy-going plough, a mould-board so made, that if a straight edge is laid along it from one end to another, it will lie flat ; further, that although twisted on its sur- face, still measured at " any part in a direction at right angles to the line of draught, the line so measured will be straia;ht on its surface." " Hence," he continues, "an accurate uniformity of surface is essential, so that the slice shall have an equal pressure given to it both lengthways and transversely, and that the form of slice as determined by the share and the coulter shall be maintained or preserved by it ; and that in the words of the great authority of the agi'icultural world, " the furrow-slice shall lie, after being turned over, in a perfectly straight line, not only unbroken but uncrnshed.' A short mould-board, with abrupt lines coming into a plane at right angles with the line of draught, must therefore show a greater resistance to the force of traction than where its lines are moi'e coincident with the line of traction. A long mould-board with easy lines, tending in a line generally coincident with the line of draught, will therefore be an easy-going plough. But this easiness of draught docs not alone decide the question of the best form of plough. Where the standard of plough- ing we have just named is considered, the long mould- board will be considered the best : where a breaking of the furrow-slice as it is turned over is considered advisable, a mould-board more or less abrupt will be the best to use." ]\luch has been written, with a view to decide the best form to be given to the mould-board; but the discussion of the points would take up too much space to be noticed here; so we can only refer to what the author has said upon it, passing on to note that those in use may be classed under one or other of two forms — the convex and the concave. The convex is formed so as to give a " high-crested," or "high-shouldered" form ; what is meant by this term we shall presently see ; the concave is a rectangular furrow-slice, such as in fig. 1 . Let us glance briefly at the influence upon the form of the slice thus brought about by those forms of mould-board. As the mould-board of a plough passes from xuider the slice — or, to put it more familiarly, if not so correctly, as the furrow- slice passes along the surface of the mould-board, it makes or describes an imaginary line. If the height of the mpnldboard was uniform throughout its length, this line would be parallel to the line of the sole ; but the mould- board is not so uniform in height, but rises wedge-like as it approaches the handles of the plough : the line thus de- scribed by the lower edge of the furrow-slice towards the land side is varying in its outline. On the furrow-slice assuming the vertical position, the land-side edge is at the highest point on the surface of the mouldboard ; and when the plough is well-constructed, this point is distant from the land side of the plough-body equal to the breadth of the furrow-slice. Concave mouldboards exer- cise the pressure upon the furrow-slice chiefly at the ex- treme upper edge, or rather corner formed by the end and side of the slice, so that little influence can be, and is, ex- erted by crushing or squeezing so as to change its shape ; but in convex mouldboards the pressure exercised by them is continued down the side of the slice, so that there is a tendency to crush it, and cause it to bulge upwards, and form what is called a high-crested or high-shouldered fur- row-slice. The chief agencies, however, in changing the form of the furrow-slice so as to form high-crested fur- rows are, as we have before stated, the share and the coulter. And first, as to the action of the share in this way, and which is explained by the author of the paper as follows : If we suppose the cutting-edge of the share to be parallel with the plane of the sole or base of the plough, as a b fig. 4, the surface of the soil being supposed to be parallel also, it is obvious that the slice so cut off will have a depth c cl equal to e f, so that a rectangular slice c ^/./"f? will be formed ; and when a series of slices are turned over by the mouldboard, they will present the appearance as in fig. o. But if the cutting-edge of the share be raised — in practice it is from 1 to Ij inches in heigbt — then the slice it cuts ofi' from the soil will be narrower at one end ((j/fig. 5) than at the other (c d) ; and when a series of such slices are laid over by the mouldboard, they will no longer assume the appearance as in fig. 3, but that in fig. 6. By giving the coulter an in- clination towards the land side, as shown in fig. 7, another form of furrow-slice is also obtained, which, when laid over, gives a high-crested slice. Much has been written as to the relative advanta2;es of these two forms of fur- row-slices, on which says the author, "We have little to say ferther than this, that the general opinion of pi'actical authority is in favour of the rectangular furrow -slice, while that of the theoretical is entirely in favour of it. For if the object aimed at in the formation of a furrow- J 2 114 THE FAEMEE'S MAGAZINE. slice be the getting of a form which gives the maximum of bulk of matter raised with a maximum of surface ex- posed to the weather, which we presume is the aim, then w^e do get it in the rectangular furrow-slice. But the action of the shares which gives this form of furrow-slice must not be overlooked. The sole or pan left by the lec- tangular furrow-slice is perfectly tlat, while that left m the crested furrow-slice is in the form of steps. Acting as retainers of water, there can be no doubt of the dis- advantage of these alternate hollows and elevations in the pan or sole of the ])loughod land. On the other hand, these hollows are filled up sometimes by the soil which is moved otf by the lower edge of the mouldboard. lu either of these cas'cs there is evidently so much less soil exposed to the action of the atmosphere." The high-crested furrow-slice is however in great favour with some, as it is supposed by them to give a much neater finish to the field when ploughed, especially in the case of ploughing lea. There are still several points of import- ance'connected with ploughs, which we propose briefly to discuss in our next " Chip." FIELD AND FERN. (Fi-om Tlie Times) [FIELD AND FERN; oe SCOTTISH FLOCKS AND HERDS. By H. H. Dixoi., author of the Royal Agrictiltural Society of England Prize Essay on "Shorthorns, 1865." London, Rogebsok and Tuxfokb, 246, Strand.] Jogs — an enthusiasm which appears sometimes ludi- crous to those who have little taste for such subjects, but which gives a remarkable vividness and reality to his descriptions'; that he traces the pedigree of a greyhound with a loving devotion such as Sir Bernard Burke might bestow on the annals of a family of historic fame— in short, that he is much at home among famous hunters and racers, and prize bulls, and prize pigs, and prize fowls, as Mr. Frank Buckland is at home among giraffes, and porpoises, and boa constrictors. Before crossing the Border the author had already spent four industrious years in inspecting the flocks and herds of England. His object in visiting Scotland is best told in his own words : — At this festive season of the year— to borrow a favourite advertising exordium — the minds of the most ethereal among usniust occasionally run on the subject of eating. The topic is forced upon us at every turn, whether we will or not. The shop-front of a butterman, which, with its bladders of lard and massive double Gloucesters, is not usually particularly attractive, is converted into a little Dilkoosha, or Garden of Delight, with a mimic lake in the centre, on which swanr, manufactured of the best Dorset, are gracefully floating. The poulterer covers the whole front of his house from attic to basement with geese and turkeys ; while the butcher, by means of gay ribands and rosettes, makes his prize joints look as picturescpie as pos- sible. In short, everybody is reminded that he has a stomach, and that it is his boimden duty to fill it if he can. Again, as we wandered among the stalls and pens of the Islington Cattle Show, and surveyed that unrivalled collection of domesticated quadrupeds, we were compelled to remember that all this display of animal perfection really meant sirloins of beef, haunches of mutton, and legs of pork. It is sad to think that over the majority of those symmetrical beings — at whose nurture Art and Nature have gone hand and hand — the Damocles knife of the blue- tunicked executioner hangs glittering, ready to fall within a day or two. But we do not suppose that many people indulge in these sentimental reflections. Perhaps they feel as the pretty young lady did who delighted her ten- der-hearted lover by compassionating the sufl'erings of the oxen under the merciless drovers' cudgels. " Only think," she said, by way of clinching her arguments, " how it bruises the beef!" One thing, however, is certain. Either from the natu- ralist's or from the epicure's point of view, sheep, oxen, and swine are especial objects of interest to Londoners during the month of December ; so we think we may, without fear of offence, ask our readers to join us in exam- ining a book which treats of the flocks and herds of North Britain. We shall not be too technical for fear of becom- ing unreadable; in fact, we mean to review the book rather in the character of a cockney than of a grazier. The author calls his present book Field and Fern, and has, we notice, published other books under similarly alli- terative titles, such as Post and, Paddock, and Silh and Scarlet. Probably this little etymological device tickles the palates of his rural readers, and, if so, he is quite at liberty to indulge in it. This, however, is but a trifling matter. It is more to the purpose to remark that Mr. Dixon writes with an extraordinary enthusiasm and garnestness poncerniug hpv^es, oxen,, sheep, pigs, and " I wished to visit past and present Highland Society win- ners, in their own stall or fold, and to gather evidence from those breeders who stand high in its annals, not only as to the present progress of the stock on which England depends for such extensive suppUes, but also as to the thoughts and labours of men who have done Scotland good service, and then passed to their rest. Grouse shooting, deer-stalking, and salmon rod- iishing have their own liege lords of the pen ; but still there were "many little points connected with hunting, coursing, racnig, and otter-hunting which seemed calculated to work into a' picture of Scottish life, and to vary the monotony of mere beef and mutton chapters." He soon found that he had set himself a serious task. He had to pluck the heart out of three summers, a winter, and a spring, to travel some 8,000 miles, to sleep .away from home 250 nights, and change his bed 14G times be- fore he wrote a line. As for the manner of travelling, he tells us that he tried walking, but found it unsuitable for the responsible task which he had in hand. Coaches and railways afforded some help ; but after a day under a heavy knapsack he was too tired to undertake the inevi- table evening cross-examination on the all-important sub- ject of stock. Accordingly he pushed his way to the Ork- ueys, and there bought a " garron"— a shy half-bred island 'mare — and on this northern damsel's back per- formed the rest of his preregrinations, riding her ulti- mately up to his own door in Kensington-square. In these locomotive days, when we can scarcely accomplish the simplest journev without seating ourselves in the body of a great black caterpiUar, hundreds of feet long, with fiery eyes and tail, there is something delightful in the sensation of being dependent only on so small and manage- able a creature as a horse. But this mode of travelling has its drawbacks. It is a weary thing to sit at night for three-quarters of an hour on a corn-box in order to make THE FAEMER'S MAGAZINE. Ill sure that tlie ostler does you justice. Then the HigMaucI ferries were a constant source of difficulty ; the Orkney lass bolted whenever she saw a railway train, and the author thought himself lucky when he could put her head in the right direction, so as to get a three hundred yard gallop to the good. In Lanarkshire and Ayrshire he sometimes found a blast furnace roaring like a lion in the path, late at night, between himself aud his inn. The only plan of action to be adopted with the "garron " in this case was to blindfold her, stuff her ears, and twist her round five or six times, just as we twist Buff round at a children's party. " Still, with fine weather," he says, " it is a grand independent way of travelling. It was positively exhilarating to put the inare's head straight across Scotland during a hard frost, from St. Boswell's to Ayr, or to rattle from Athelstaneford to Kelso over the Lammermoors with two shirts and three pairs of stockings ou, with the thermometer at 16 below freezing point, and the cold cutting your cheeks to the bone." Having said so much concerning the mode of travelling, let us accompany the author on some of his excursions. We intend to dwell very briefly on the main topics of the book, which comprise a general sketch of Scottish farming from a prize-stock point of view. Practical men will of their own accord search the pages of Fiehl aud Feni for tliis information — we prefer rather to choose such items of intelligence as will interest the general reader. Our first visit shall be to the Shetland Islands, in the month of August. Lerwick is described as a quaint, old, iniiless town, with one narrow flagged street at the foot of a hill, up which the wayfarer climbs through alleys bear- ing the proud names of Pitt and Reform. Wherever there is a sporting pictm'c to be seen, cither in a shop window, a private house, or a tavern, Mr. Dixon is sure to take note of it. He remarks with satisfaction that the Ler- wickers possessed photographs of Earl Zetland holding a grey horse, but adds, with the melancholy air of a mis- sionary in a heathen laud, — " Job Marsou and Voltigeur are names unknown." Taking a walk into the country we find that the Shetland Islands still retain a good deal of primitive simplicity. There are neither public-houses nor milestones, but the jites of hospitality are well under- stood. The humblest people will provide eggs, oatcake, and buttermillc, and a trifle in the baby's hand at parting will send you away with a blessing. And, except when the Channel Fleet comes, and raises the price of every- thing, provisions are cheap. A goose may be bought for Is. 6d., a good fat hen for 6d., a ewe for 7s. ; indeed, for £60 one could stock a miniature farm, aud have a team of four mare ponies. The sound of these words is tempting to a dweller among bricks and mortar, but we niust uot forget the long dark winter, aud the angry sea which separates the Shetlands fi'om Great Britain. Looking with the eye of a fastidious Southerner at the wild diminutive sheep and cattle, Mr. Dixon bi'eaks out into a strain of humorous lamentation — " Why had we ever loved a shorthorn and nursed our love at Towneley and Athelstaneford ? What had we done that we were paying this fearful penance by walking ' 18 miles on end' to an unknown Voe or a remorseless Pa-Pa ? Shall we over again join in those merry sales at Blenkirou's, and the annual caU for Dundee ? Why liad we given up our herd rambles to English farm-houses, peeping out coyly among bee-hives and apple-blossoms, and redolent of fat bullocks and wedders, to roam in these ancient silences with three-year-old mutton at i lb. a quarter?" We are surprised to learn that Unst, which is, we believe, the most northerly nook of Her Majesty's dominions, may be regarded as the lieart of Shetland, and that in the late northern spring, when other parts of the country are dismal enough, it is a sunny, genial-looking spot. Pass- ing by an interestiug account of the Shetland ponies, let us next glance at the Orkneys. ilr, Dixon gives the Orcadians a high character. No oath, blow, or drunkenness, he declares, has ever been known at Shapinsey revels, which consist of Highland games, sack races, and rifle shooting. The islanders are of a highly studious turn, very fond of astronomy, and have torn AUsoti s Ilistorif of Europe aU to tatters. This island of Shapinsey, which belongs to a single proprietor, Mr. Balfom-, may be selected as a favourable specimen of Orcadian progress, the breadth of land under the plough having increased from 700 acres in 1848 to 6,000 acres in 1863. Shapinsey is six miles long and three miles broad, but, though so small, may fairly compete with the mighty continent of America in claiming Washington Irving as a son of the soil ; for though he was born six months after his parents had quitted the island, his ancestors had lived there for many geuerations. But we must not venture in this article to talk about famous men, unless, indeed, they are famous as sportsmen or breeders of stock. Let us rather remark on the improvements in the Shapinsey stock. The cattle are crossed with shorthorn bulls, the pigs with the Bueclcuch breed, aud the garrons with Clydesdales, whose fifteen two and three descendants are gradually supplanting the pony teams. Mr. Balfour ex- tirpated the aboriginal breed of sheep as utterly worthless, and supplied their places with Leicester-Cheviots. Touch- ing horsebreeding, we read that when the Orcadian gar- rons were garrons, the colt used to live under the cottar's roof, but that this Arab-like feeling has died out, while mongrels from Caithness have ruined the old-fashioned stamp, so that farmers are now compelled to cross with Clydesdales, or whatever they can get. The author evinces much glee at meeting in this out-of-the-way corner of the world one Dick Smith, a Devoushire man, full of Devon- shire hunting stories, but now first whip and kennel hunts- man to the Eortescue harriers. Their kennel is near the sea, and during foggy weather the deep toll of their voices has several times prevented a sliip fi'om running ashore. The Trinity Board really ought to subsidise this pack. Caithness is a stirring agricultural county, considering its high latitude, and its " three climates a day," but it is well stocked with spirited planters and breeders, men who don't know what " impossible " means, who have clothed naked hill-sides with luxuriant plantations, who have spared no expense in importing good blood, and who com- bat the rigom- of their chmate with generous feeding and careful tending. Tlie author gives us a graphic sketch of a night spent on his skittish mare's back in the midst of a dreary Caithness moor during a tempest of rain. He was so tired out that for a couple of horn's he slept ou her back, and awoke much refreshed. Speaking of this, or some similar night, he reminds us that there are pleasanter moments in a man's life than those passed in rubbing down a mare, very short of condition, iu a cow-house on a wild moor at midnight, by the light of a dim spluttering dip, with the wiiid sighing through the broken panes, the heavy rain drops pattering on the door sill, and a 40 miles ride in prospect. A little further on he gravely moralizes ou the fate of two foxes, killed in no fair chase, but stnfl'ed with straw, and creaking like felons ou a gibbet iu front of a shooting lodge. " No Oultou Lowe or Cream Gorse for them," he emphatically exclaims ; " no cheery view-halloo from -lem Hills or John Walker ! " But while commiserating the ignoble end of these lucldess reynards he is compelled to admit that there was no help for a deed apparently so dastardly ; the cubs can't be dug out of the rocks, and the old oues make havoc among the lambs and hares until they grow too fat to trot. Here is an anecdote for invalids who c(j!)iplain of the damp of our cliniite, foi-- getful that to this perpetual moisture our Englishwomen owe their long-lived charms: — A patriarch past 80 years THE FARMEU'S MAGAZINE, 116 was begged to keep warm iu Ms cabin during his last sick- ness. He replied: " It's keeping fra the wet t lat makes me iU." Sturdy men, indeed, they are on this north- eastern coast, doing everything in earnest E\^n the minister of one of the chiu-ches had worn a hole through the floor of his pulpit from the perpetual Sunday emphasis of his right foot. A few sensible words on Highland emigration are worth citing here :— « AlonK the liiU-side to the riglit are the cottages with their plots of ground, which were aUotted to those Higlilanders who wo'Jd not emigrate when they were ordered to qmt the glens. It was, doubtless, a sharp sermon, and rendered doubly so Dy the stern opposition ; but even the traditions of ' hame \nH, as vears •^o on, melt before the conviction that chrome snnlhng and shin-toasting, and rearing a few potatoes witlun a tumble- down wall, are not the mission of a Highlauder. ihey were taken from that useless existence to a spot where tliey Have fuU exercise for their euergies both by sea and laud. It was a readiustmcnt very bitter to the Higlilaud heart, but stdl whole- some and right, as sheep were placed where there ought to be sheep, and men where there ought to be men.' We need not stay long in Koss-shire, the cultivated part of which is a mere fringe of the moors, the other nine- tenths of the county being given up to grouse, sheep, deer, and crofters. The crofters on the west coast live chiefly by Ashing. If they come east in search of fortune they make good v.orkmen, and arc content, like the rest of the labourers, with their cup of coffee, but their Gaelic tongue is sadlv against them. The crofters on the east coast are a superior race of people, who have picked up the Saxon speech. They generally keep a pig, not for home consumption, but for sale, pork being throughout Scotland an object of aversion to the poorer classes. In the matter of flesh meat they are generally dependent on a bit of home- reared mutton. These pets seem to wander over the uufenced crops as they please, and eat out ot the pot as well. Their wool supplies the gudcwife s spinning-wheel all the winter, and two 'or thi-ee of them, a pair ol:' Highland ponies, a stirk or two, and a dozen hens, make up the live stock of one of these five-acre hold- ino-s! Here we must pause for a little bit of meditation. "Which is really the best off, a humble crofter, to whom o'old coins are almost unknown objects, or a town artisan with his 35s. to 45s. weekly wages? We are inclined to think that the former is the happier feUow of the two. The town workman pays dearly for his high wages and intellectual advantages in costly lodgings, confined air, and want of play-room for his childi-en. But the irre- sistible tendency of modern life— until men have grown i-ieh— is to shun the country and flock to the town ; so we had better say no more on the subject. Our readers must not fancy that a true notion of the contents of Mr. Dixon's book is afforded by the ex- tracts hitherto given. These are only the pleasant by- paths in a grand prose epic, which is chiefly devoted to the glorification of sheep and cattle. When he turns into these sidinsrs— apparently for the benefit of benighted beings to whom shorthorn idolatry is but the shadow of a name— the author is pleasant and instructive ; but when he is driving on the main line of Bullockry, he rises with the majestv of the subject, as Lord Macaulay rises when Wil- liam of Orange is on the scene, or as Mr. Fronde rises when telling of the siege of Edinburgh Castle. Here are some of his remarks on the character of a departed stock- breeder:—" The history of the late Mr. Grant Duff's mind on shorthorn breeding may be read through the notes of his annual catalogues. Some breeders keep them bound up, and take to them for light reading on a win- ter's evening. In point of candour he was a perfect Mechi, and showed all the ardour of an old missal-hunter in routing among old herds. He quite rises into prophecy iu some of his foot-notes, when he utters a warning voice against over-feeding for shows, disregard of pedigree, and careless crossing. A cross-bred bull was his aversion He fully allowed that ' a good beast was a good beast, however come,' but adds most wisely, 'We cannot depend upon succession without pedigrees.' When he abandoned his prejudice against stock by Lord kintore s bull it was ' the stock of old Rose that compeUed me ; and when he began to wean his calves on oilcake he only did it m deference to contrary opinions.'"^ Why do we fee^ m- clined to smile at tbe grave enthusiasm ot this 6-%^.'' It that man is a benefactor who makes two blades of giass ..■row where one grew before, he must be a stiU greater henefactor who multiplies the number ot bullocl^ and ma9:nifies their size. How many ambitious kings, and famous statesmen, and busy churchmen ""'^^^^"'l;,^! °;;;- tors do as much real good to the world as these imobtii - I sive cattle-breeders? Yet we don t laugh over their funeral orations, simply because, in rehearsing their deeds, there is no need to mention oilcake or turnips. I Still more enthusiastic does Mr. Dixon bcrome over the o-loriesof the Sittyton herd, 13 mile^ from Aberdeen. Be- fore visiting the herd he gets hold of a ' o9-page cata- looue, with red edges, containing 216 females,;' and i-eads it up with the keenest reUsh, just as a connoisseur of the Old English School the evening betore the sale at Christie-s gloats over /./. catalogue, and caUs up mental visions of Cromes and Paid Sandbys and Girtms. ^Ae won't inflict the whole of the Sittyton herd on our readeis thoudi to a breeder the history is highly fascmatmg, noi wiU We narrate how Messrs. Amos and Anthony Cruick- shank "gradually built it up f™^^ ^ '^°r;/^-^?"' ;;"^„';^ Durham Countess.-' Of famous prize cattle, Mi. Dixon always speaks in terms of affectionate respect. Here is he story of a certain bull named '-Forth," who went south to the cattle-show : " He was terribly sea-sicl bo h ways on his journey from Aberdeen to Newcastle (to Schhegoti 15s.' return-ticket), and yet his eye was as bright and his handling as firm as ever after a bun- day's rest in the show-yard. In short here never wa 2h a philosophic ' fat boy in Flckwic^r' ^ I'^^^rther m we read that "Lord Raglan came roaring m the o d t^ e round the corner, and kept Amos and his whue ciush-hat almost on the run." Mr. Dixon's sty e is eUiptical, and sometimes we scarcely know whether his names apply to a horse, a bull, a greyhound, or a human beings We presume that the above-named Lord Raglan was a horned quadruped, and not a military l^^P" • '^■^''''l irto'bc Several times of Sir Walter Scott, and l^eheve him to be a buU, and not a novelist, though when we learn that he and sundry other celebrities " are engaged m '^^n-ymgo^t the great object which their owners have held to so steadily for nearly thirty years-flesh production for the people at large-" we f^el that the Scottish bul must be ficasonn' being, with a large lump of benevolenc^ be- tween Ms horns,"and an especial sympathy for roast-beef '" We'inust spare a few lines for John Benzies captain of Mr. McCombie'9 training 'lepot at Bndge-end. John i. a perfect almanac on the subject of fat shows, vvliid seem to act as milestones on his .lourney of hie. lie is decorated with medals both British and oreign, has thrice crossed the Channel, leaving six ^^^1°^^^ ,^™ him and bringing back £370, besides cups aid othei ho murs " It wal here," says Mr. Dixon, speaking re- veTuUally, as of a departed saint, " that the gr-l^ois^y bullock was fed, and John waxed eloquent at the lemem brance of him, although neither he nor his master have hclrd his weight to^his hour." There^s something inimitably pathetic in this last touch. You -e paij d from a dearly-beloved fi-iend, probably foi ever in this world, and you stm cherish his memory f 1-;^^ '/^^^ inconsiderate forgetfulness, he has neglected to tell jou THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 117 how many stone he makes in tile scales. As for the great prize ox of '63, Mr. McCombie observes that a little man would not be able to see him without assistance, and then enthusiastic Mr. Dixon climbs the manger and surveys the vast plateau of roast beef ! " Have you ever looked over more pounds?" was the triumphant query. In his own line the author of Field and Fern is a master of quaint and forcible language. Speaking of some plough oxen that wei-e being fattened, he says, " Flesh has too often a tendency to run to tallow after these furrow gymnastics." " The bloodiest black about the place " sounds coarse, but it only means the black bullock with the best blood in his veins. This animal had declined to profit by any amount of anti-Banting treatment. " His stomach," we read, — " Refused its office ; the tape only told of 8 feet 5 inches, and there he stuck month after montli. His great beauty melted his owner, or he would have sent him in to ' some side-show.' In the spring lie took a start, reached 9 feet 3 inches, and finally won the head prize both at Birmingham and at Islington. On the journey he lost very little ; iu fact, it is only the half-trained beasts that go to pieces then ; but his appetite failed sadly, and all the ilre was out of him when he had gone through the Birmingham ordeal, although he was so wild at home that he required six beasts and four men to coax him to the station." After this biography of " the bloodiest black about the place," town-bred readers may look with a keener in- terest on the men who have charge of these mighty yet sensitive creatures, and may also remember that the tran- quil-looking beasts which they see at Islington have often been tamed into an unnatural quietude by the toils of travelling. Let us now take a long leap from Aberdeenshire to the English border, and pay a visit to Dr. Grant, a famous sportsman of Hawick. He is a Highland-man ; but greyhounds, terriers, otters, and a good practice tie him to the district. His house is a faithful reflex of himself. A stuffed badger on the stairs, a 251b. otter on the landing, and a colony of mats made out of pnppy skins. You wipe your feet at the bottom of the stairs on aU that is mortal of the black-and-tan Merryman, in life a mighty hunter of water rats. Only two dogs are allowed bed and board in the house. These are Bobby and Billy, who, after a hard day's work, dress each other's wounds most de- votedly. They share the doctor's bed, and he takes his l-est with these martial retainers at his back and legs. Regarding the breeding and education of his dogs, the doctor believes " in no other blood than that which is derived from James Davidson, of Hindley, and almost primeval Pepper and Mustard renown." We are a little puzzled by this word " primeval." Even when used by geologists and pakeontologists it is often a doubtful word, but what amount of antiquity does it imply in the mouth of a sporting litterateur ? Are we to suppose that Pepper and Mustard flourished when Nimrod hunted the virgin world, fresh and green after the flood-waters ? or must we bring them down to so ignobly modern a date as the Norman Conquest ? We won't pause for a reply, but proceed to speak of the education of Dr. Grant's dogs : " They were entered with rats, and mounted the scale to cats as age and performance might warrant. Too many of the puppies stopped there, or got no further than a muzzled fox ; but if age gave them solid confidence, they took their B.A. degree with tlie badger. This species of culture tends upwards to the otter, in which Tom and Teddy (the sons of Shamrock and Nettle) have become quite Regius Professors." The reader wiU observe the delicate gradations — rat, cat, muzzled fox, badger, otter. How few of us, in the battle of life, by the way, get beyond the muzzled fox ! The career of these puppies resembles the education of a mercenary beauty, In her pinafore days she flirts with small boys whom she meets at the dancing school. As she gets well into her teens she shoots her arrows at younger sons and Government clerks. Arrived at the full blaze of beauty, she tackles her otter — in other words, the banker, the rising M.P., the risen Q.C., or the broad- acred squire. However, the object of the young lady's pursuit does not treat her so rudely as the otter treats un- lucky Teddy. We learn that he goes quietly up to the " fisli-slicer"- — a cant term for the salmon's deadly foe — and gets almost bitten to death without a murmur. Mr. Dixon invariably fixes the date of past events by sporting landmarks. Let us take an example from a bio- graphical sketch of Will Williamson, a retired huntsman of 82. He does not trouble himself with such triviali- ties as the battle of Austerlitz or Trafalgar, or say a word about Pitt or Pox ; no, the occurrence to which he de- sires to attach a chronological significance took place "when Hamblctonian and Diamond were all the talk ;" and in one of his hero's rambles on Newmarket-heath he saw — not his Majesty, or the Prince of Wales, or Mr. Sheridan, or Lord Eldon ; no, a far grander and more inspiriting sight — -lie saw Sam Ckifaey and Will Edwards ride their maiden race as feather-weights together. A fast fiiendship sprang up between the son of the famous jockey and the Scottish stranger, and the former sealed it at parting with a pair of braces, " the buckles of which have done duty on generation after ge- neration of straps to this hour." The Scottish stranger reciprocated in later years with a suit of Scottish tweed. Talk of the decline of hero-worship I It exists in full swing, only instead of reverencing the bones of saints we idolize the buckles of jockeys. Only the other day, when Grimshaw was killed, the grooms and helpers in a certain inn stable solemnly assembled at dead of night with candles in their hands to do honour to the corpse of the departed worthy as it passed through the town. To how many famous lawyers, clergymen, physicians, mer- chants, or manufacturers would such a spontaneous tri- bute of affection be offered? W'hen manhood suffrage becomes the law of the land, the House of Commons wiU not be filled, as some fondly anticipate, with philosophical radicals or fiery demagogues, but with celebrated sporting men. No futiu'c leader of the Commons need delicately call the attention of the House to the " Isthmian games" at Whitsuntide ; the House will assemble as one man on Epsom Downs. In presence of the Jockey Club the Carlton and Reform will sink into insignificance, the Master of the Horse will become a more important func- tionary than the First Lord of the Treasury, and Admiral Rous will be Chancellor of the Exchequer. A candidate for election will be questioned on his capacity for taking water -jumps and on his proficiency in pigeon shooting ; the statues of Jenner and Havelock v/ill be replaced by effigies of Assheton Smith and Osbaldeston ; while the mutilated Royal figure in Leicester-square will be dis- carded for a herculean presentment of the classic struggle between Sayers and Heenan. " Welshing" will be rec- koned the most heinous crime in the calendar, and, as John Morrissey wiU probably at that time be President of the United States, we may hope for such an entente cordiale between the two nations as the Atlantic cable will never effect. We must devote a word to Mr. Campbell, of Dalgig because of his singular dog-nomenclature. He appears to have invented a special language for the purpose — a cross between the Mexican and the Australian aboriginal tongues, and as musical as either. Here are some speci- mens— Canaradzo, Coodereena, Ciologa, Calabaroono, and Cadazooro. Some of his coursing friends have dared to infringe Mr. Campbell's patent, and oueof them named a dog Dalgigaradzo. On all these musically-named crea- tures Mr. Dixon waxes earnestly eloquent. Of one, we 118 THE FARMER'S MAQAZmE. read : " la tlie slips, she looked oue uetwork of veins ; and all her litters have inherited her beautiful skin." Of another, we learn that " she was seized with dropsy, and became such a swollen object that she was within an ace of being put away" (an eupheuism for "put to death") "like her brother. Mr. Campbell cured her with warm baths and llannel bandages. Ranter, by Bedlamite, was her first love ; but the puppies came at a bad season of the year, and were wrong in their legs as well." Dogs, as well as men, are sometimes over-estimated. "Brighton," we read, "was sold at London for fitfy guineas, and went thence to Amesbury; but he was no good at the stud, as he got his puppies far too fine, and he became a parlour-dog at last." We can conceive the pathetic earnestness with which Mr. Dixon would pro- nounce these last words, conveying as they do a solemn warning to all future puppies. A parlour dog ! What degradation it implies ! Yet among bipeds there are a good many parlour dogs about, and they seem to take to the life very kindly. jMay not a poor man who marries a rich woman, and lives snugly on her money, be regarded as a sort of parlour dog ? We have left numberless good things untouched, but must wind up with a sketch of the character and later history of Charles XII. We are not speaking of the monarch who " left the name at which the world grew pale," but of a famous racer. Mr. Dixon finds a picture of him, by the elder Herring, at a couutiy house. He has a keen eye for a sporting portrait, and goes on to say : — " The ears of the mighty Charles are screwed back, as if he would like right well to have a nip at somebody. Amid all his reverses, when his hack had become quite hoUow, and his tail vi'as cut, he retained some faded notions of royalty, and he would not pass through Balby tollgates, the southern portal to the scene of his St. Leger and Cup victory against Lanercost, Beeswing, and Compensation, tiU both the gates were opened. When he got there, Tom Dawsou, who had trained him when he left John Scott's, did not know him in the sale ring : and although he was tlie sire of some capital Imnters, nu one would venture on him at ' a pony.' He went to Ireland after that, and was eventually put down at Sheflield, when quite a shadow of his old self, and a carving knife and fork were made from his cannon-bones." In his own peculiar line Mr. Dixon is decidedly an original genius. Though his pages bristle with technical terms, he is quite free from the vulgar flippancy and forced fun of the ruck of sporting scribblers ; he writes like a man of cidtivation and reflection, and he is far too much in earnest to indulge in any unseemly jocularity. It would be absm-d to recommend these volumes to ordi- nary circulating-library readers, because, though they could scarcely turn a page without finding something in- teresting, they would be" repelled by the elaborate pedi- grees of bulls, rams, and dogs which occupy a large por- tion of the book ; but for sportsmen and breeders we judge that Field and Tern aftbrds a valuable and enter- taining compendium of information. As the author tells us in his preface that he is preparing a similar work on English Flocks and Herds, we ventm-e to advise him to be more explanatory and less elliptical than he is in these volumes, so that non-sporting readers — by whom he de- serves to be known — may better appreciate him. AVe will give a single instance of his elliptical mode of ex- pression. He speaks of " wandering off to Lochiel and Lochaber to see if the Cheviot is holding his ground after the Siberian 'sixty." We feel sure this would puzzle most readers, nor would the context help them. Mr. Dixon means that he "was anxious to learn whether the very severe winter of 1860 had killed off all the Cheviot sheep in that district. This faidt is partly owing to the terse- ness with which Mr. Dixon writes. He is the Tacitus of sporting literature. Terseness is a fault of which we have seldom to complain. Authors in general might justly hang the gold-beater's arm and hammer over their doors, for they almost always use more words than are needful for the reader's patience or their own popularity. And, as this remark contains a hint for ourselves, we will wish the author of Yield and Fern a friendly farewell. FAR MI NCI IN NEW ZEALAND, Sir, — I have often heard from friends in England of the great difficulty experienced by farmers in obtaining farms, of the enormous rents which tenants are willing to pay, of the tyranny of some landlords, the vexatious damages done to crops by the over-preservation of game, and the large amount of capital which a farmer has to employ to ensure anything like substantial success in his business ; and the more I hear of these things, the more I wonder how it is that men who are willing to risk so much for the chance of obtaining a live- lihood are not more anxious than they appear to be to seek other fields of labour where their capital and enterprise are sure to find remunerative employment. I take it that one of the chief reasons for this is that the farmer is essentially a domestic sort of animal, not at all partial to change or ex- citement, and a stern believer in tlie very questionable wisdom of that proverb which informs us that " a rolhng stone gathers no moss," never asking whether so far as experience goes the stationary stones in agricultural districts gather much either. Then, again, there is a ditliculty in obtaining anytliing like reliable information respecting those places where an English- man desirous of emigrating would naturally turn his thoughts to — tlie British Colonies. He is far too " canny" to give much credence to the reports of emigration agents, and looks with suspicion at the very disinterested advice contained in those little pamphlets, which the owners of emigrant ships get up and distribute, giving glowing accounts of " Gosliens," " Britains of the South," and '* El Dorados," where a man can sit under the shadow of his owai vine and fig-tree, &c., &c., and to which they will be happy to convey you by their splen- did line of A 1. clipper ships. Unless a man has friends in the colonies upon whom he can place reliance, his chances for obtaining truthfid information are very few ; and even then, if through "misfortune, or, what is oftener the case, their own extravagance and folly, these friends are not tolerably well to do, he is very likely to get the other extreme of that pic- ture which the emigration gentlemen paint, and to find the same place called Elysium by the oue and Tophet by the other. With a view of giving, so far as I am able, an account of farming and farmers' prospects in the colony which I have made my home, I commenced this paper. My ability to ex- plain what I know in grammatical and comprehensible Eng- lisli may be questioned ; but my veracity cannot be impugned, for tliis is written from no other motive than to give those, who may be disposed to read, some little information about matters on which they may be anxious to be informed. The colony which I have chosen as my home is New Zea- land, and of a farmers' prospects in that place I shaU write. Of course everybody knows that New Zealand consists of three islands called North, South, and Middle Island. The North is the scene of the Maoric war, and is at present in such an unsettled state, that it can hardly be recominended as a good field for emigration. The southern portion of the Middle Island has not been colonised so long as the North Island ; but, on account of their large exports of wool and gold, the greater advantages which the land offers for profit- able cidtivation, and the absence of a large native population, they have already become more prosperous than their older neighbours— the province of Canterljury especially so ; and THE FARMER'S MAG-AZmE. 119 as this Iwppeus to be the locality where my experieuce has been obtained, I will confine my remarks to that place. Ihe physical features of that part of the province which is available tor a-ncultural purposes are anything hut romantic consisting as they do of one vast plain stretching' north and ioulh, a length of about ISO miles by ahout 40 wide and covered thickly with long, hrowu, native grass on the dry vr'fl ' ''"f^^'^'^e flax on the wet, and dotted here-and-tliere vvirii cabbage trees, sometimes in clusters, sometimes miles apart; and as tliese seldom grow above 15 feet high, and look like a bare pole with a good-sized cabbage on the top tHey do not add much to the beauty of tlie place. This plain IS bounded on the one side by the sea, dnd on the other by a vast range ol mountains, whose bases, thick with wild tangled 101 est, look like a great black fringe to the immeasurable fields ut snow which hides tlieir peaks for months together, and leeci a thousand mountain-streams that rush down towards the I'lain, and, umtmg as they go, form rapid and dangerous rivers, which during winter, when the snow accumulates for nionths without melting, are low and may be safely forded ■ jnit 111 summer, wlien the snow melts, are often so high that It IS impossible to cross them. A large portion of the plain li^ clry land, witii a sandy subsoil ; tlie remainder consists of rough, stony land, which will not pay for cultivation, and rich swamp easily drained, and when this is effected some of the best grass-growing laud in the world. The climate is very changeable, often subject to droughts and high winds ; but in a good season the weather is lieautiful, the winter and autumn especiaUy so, there being but very little ice ever seen here and snow on the plains is a rarity indeed. In speaking of droughts i don t mean to compare them with the Australian droughts, for we are never three months without rain. A farmer landing here with £500 in his pocket would find a choice of three tilings before him— to rent a cultivated farm in the neighbourhood of town, to purchase land from the Go- vernment, or to rent uncidtivated land with the option of purchase in a given number of years. I will endeavour to ex- plain each of these modes. A person renting a farm fenced laid down to Eaglisli grass, with house and slieds upon it,' and within, say, ten miles of town, would have to pav from ~0s. to .30s. an acre rent, and would rely upon sheep or a dairy for his income. Dairy produce always fetclies a o-ood price here, butter averaging about Is. 9d. and cheese Is. per lb. throughout the year. Fair dairy cows can he purchased at about £17 per head ; and on a thoroughly good swamp farm a man could keep two cows to three acres. The mildness of the winter allowing the grass to keep fresli, no large pro- vision of hay need be made for winter feed. Paddock-fed slieep do not pay so well licre as they do in England, on ac- count of the great nuinliers lired and fattened yearlv on the runs. Mutton is seldom over 5d. per II)., and good cross-bred lambs at six months old fetcli only aliout 15s. per liead. Tlie present price for merino ewes is about 14s., and for cross-breds from 18s. to 25s. Of course pure-bred imported slieep fetch Iiigher prices, especially the Leicester, llomuey Marsh, or Cotswolds. A good ram of either of these breeds would 'sell readily at from £25 to £35 ; but tiie cost of obtaining these in England, the freight, and the risk attendim? the voyage, would probably deter any man with small means "from entering into this kind of speculation. It very often happens that properties of the kind referred to above have heeu pretty well exhausted by over-cropping, and have not been sown down in grass till they would grow corn no longer, so that the feed is very poor, and its stock- hearing qualities not at all in proportion to its extent. A great inauy of the swamp farms have borne five or six crops following without the aid of manure, and their beggared state may be easily imagined. As soon as all the goodness is taken out of the land, its owner, having saved money, purchases land from the Government in a large block, and, if he cannot sell, lets his original section to the highest bidder. There are of course a great many cultivated farms to be rented, which are not racked out in this way, but they arc in the minority. The renting of cultivated farms rarely pays much, and none but old people, or those who are not strong enougii to stand rouffh work, should enter into this style of farmina;. The next alternative is to purchase land direct from the Government, the price of which is £3 per acre, and luay be selected in any locality, and purchased at the laud sales which are held at tlie Government Buildings twice a week. All the agricultural laud within 35 miles of town has passed into private hands ; but the opening up of the country by means of railway is rendering thousands of acres of splendid country available for settlement. The land regulations of Canterbury are admitted on all sides to be the best and simplest in the Colony. The comparatively high price deters spectators and squatters from buying it up in large blocks, to the exclusion ot the small farmer ; but nothing, we know, is perfect ; and here the great defect lies in the system of giving to run-holders a pre-emptive right over large tracts of splendid agricultural country for improvements which they for their own benefit and of their own free-will, choose to make on their runs If a person wishes to buy any part of this pre-emptive, he is ob- liged to give the run-holder notice, who has several weeks allowed him to purchase it in, and even then is not comiieUed to buy the whole acreage challenged, but by buying 30 acres can prevent you from buying 300 ; so that often enou-h laro-e sums are kept out of the Treasury, and the settlement of the country retarded. The squatters were of course the earliest colonists here, and as a class are the richest and best-educated rnen in the place ; and its success is in a great measure due to the capital which they imported, and the remunerative field tor labour which their presence opened up. Squatters, and merchants with whom the squatters deal, and from whom the squatters borrow money on the security of their sheep and runs, have always been the dominant party in the Provincial Council; consequently, class legislation has been carried on to a very great extent, the Government of the day knowing too well he consequence of interfering with the interests or thwarting the ambition of the mutton lord and his agents so tlie granting ot pre-emptive still continues. Of course the 'en couragementthus held out to squatters to improve their runs has a beneficial efi^ect on the import trade and the labour mar- ket, so that all are gainers to a certain extent. Supposing the farmer to have purchased 100 acres of land lie gets trom the Government a licence to occupy. Whilst his Crown grant is being prepared, he can commence operations at once. For a man with small mean.s the dry land is best because he need not incur any great outlay at first as in swamps, where a good deal of drainage is sometimes necessary before cultivation can be commenced ; but on the plains the case is different : there is nothing to prevent you from com mencing to plough at once, any more tlian there would be in breaking up an old pasture in England. Supposing the time of year to be August or September, which of course is our spring, the farmer having purchased a pair of horses (Kood ones can be obtained at about £35 each), a Hornsby ploii-h (£13 , dray and harness (£35), and a few bags of oats for teed (say, oO bushels at os.), commences to break up his land He can get a very fair two-roomed sod-house for about f 40 • stable for two horses, £15; and well, say £15. A nair of good horses will break up an acre a day, so that he can get oO acres turned over, and perliaps a few acres down in oats before the dry weather sets in, when the ground is too hard lor ploughmg I hen, if he cannot get work for his team to assist his neighbours witli the harvest, he can give them a res (they grow tat on the native grass), and lie himself can Jind jilenty of employment in tying corn at 10s. an acre and after that in thrashing at 8s. per day, and probably a lob for his horses now and tlien, carting grain to the mill. If a man happened to be able to afford to bring out a reaping machine McCormick's are the favourites here and cost from £70 to £80, if purchased here), he could g t plent^ of work, cutting corn at 10s. per acre, when himsilf team and man could earn from £4 to £5 a-dav for very likely three weeks ninning. And, whilst on this matter, I would wisli to say that a fanner coming out would do weU to brin- all his implements and harness with him. By the time the lieight of the tlraslimg was done, lie would be aiile to commence cross ploughing the land he broke up in the spring, and liav •>; purchased his seed-wheat, would get it all in by the beginn ^ tonX\^ ' "" all probability the ground would b^e damp enough to commence fencing. The fences are made of sods' A hve-sod fence, with a ditch, six feet wide at the top, and about three feet deep, is the general thing ; and this is Ranted with gorse, which, under favourable circumstances, grows into a splendid live fence in the course of three years. The u S shape of a 100-acre section is rectangular, having twenty-five chains frontage on a road, and running back fbrty chdnT iou usually have neighbours on three sides of you/ who of 120 THE FARMEE'S MAaAZINE. course, have to pay for half the fencing between you and them ; so that, in order to enclose your one hundred acres, you would have to do about seventy-eight chains of fencing. A tolerably strong man, having once got into the way of it, can put up a chain of fencing in a day, the usual price being about 13s. per chain for a good fence. Having done so much fencing as he is able, by the middle of September say, he will get the remainder of his section broken up before harvest, which usually commences early in January. Tills year he will find plenty of employment for himself and team in getting-in his own harvest, and will require the as- sistance of a man or two for, perhaps, a month. Good men can be had for about 2os. a-week, and found in everything. The only danger to crops here, after they arrive at maturity, is that, if they are left standing a moment too long, the chances are that tlie hot, strong winds which frequently lilow at this time of the year would blow out a great deal of the grain. I have seen so much as ten or fifteen Ijushels an acre knocked out by this means. Tlio crops on good new laud usually average about thirty bushels an acre, and the price about os. 6d. per bushel, or say .-68 an acre. For a man who had a reaping-niacliiue of his own, and did most of his own work, the absolute outlay would be, for seed, 10s. an acre — £35 ; two men, one month each, say £18 ; cost of thrashing by steam thrashing machine, 'Jd. per bushel — £56 ; twenty gallons of beer, at 3s. Cd. — £3 10s. : total, £101 10s., leaving a balance of £300 for his labour, horse-labour, wear and tear, house- keeping expenses, S:c., and for the purchase of seed-wheat and oats for the next year's crop. It will be seen fiom the foregoing that a period of about eighteen months would elapse before the farmer would get any return from his land ; but the money he would save from his funds when he arrived for housekeeping purposes, the gains of his labour during the first iiarvest-time, and the profits from the first crop, would be amply sufficient to supply all his wants for the first two and a-half years, when his second crop could be realized, and his income be regular from year to year. The second year he would have the whole of his land under crop — the new land in wheat, the stubble in oats, and, if he were wise, a few acres sown to English grass, in order to get suSicient seed to sow down a portion of his section with the third crop. Wheat sown after wheat has been, of late years, subject to blight ; and it is not wise to run the risk of this. ' Oats generally do well after wheat, and rice-rersd. A man with a small freehold of the size referred to above would, in the course of a few years, be in a position to stock his farm well, and to erect comfortable and substantial weather- board buildings ; and if he had farmed his land well, and kept his fences in good repair, would be able to dispose of it at about £10 per acre. There is nothing to prevent a sober, in- dustrious man, blessed with good health and ordinary good fortune, who commenced farming with £500, from being worth £1,200 in five j'ears. I know dozens of instances of men who, five years ago, had not £100, being now worth far more than £1,200. The third system of taking up land is carried out in this manner : A great deal of English capital is sent out here to agents and lawyers for investment ; and the provincial news- papers are fuU of advertisements of money to be advanced for the purchase of laud. One plan is to select Government land in any locality you choose, which the agent buys for you in the name of his client, and which you rent for five years, at Cs. an acre per annum, at the expiration of whicli term you have to purchase it at £5 an acre. Another plan is to pay 10s. an acre when you take the land up, and £3 10s. in seven years, with rent at the rate of 4s. an acre. The advantages of the purchasing-clause system are that it enables a man with small means and plenty of labour in his own famUy to enter into fanning on a much larger scale than if he sank part of his capital in the purchase of land ; and, if he be wise in his selection, he will be able to save a great deal by tlie time the purchase-money is due ; and the balance can be raised by mortgage, at ten per cent, interest. Two-thirds of the farms in the province are held in this way. In making the foregoing remarks and calculations, I have taken it for granted that the emigrant is thoroughly sober and industrious, that he is prepared to work hard with his own hands, and is willing to exercise economy and prudence. Rash speculation and drink have ruined thousands out here. A man who is inclined to be lazy and wild will find afar better field for the exercise of his talents in England tlian here. Such fellows, landing here with a little money, generally hang about the town till they have spent it aU, and then sink into billiard-markers, barmen, or cooks on stations ; or, perhaps, some one, out of respect for his friends at home, takes him on his run as a " cadet," which means that you get all you can iu the shape of work out of him for his food ; and he is gene- rally rather dear at that. A man settling here i^ith wife and family must make up his mind to find most of his pleasures in his own home ; for there are no jovial market-meetings ; no scampers across country after foxhounds or harriers ; no afternoon wan- derings with the old pointer amongst the stubbles, where the partridges go up with a " whirr," a good thirty yards before you, and the hare strides lazily away from beneath your feet : aU these will be things of the past for you if you come here. There is not a brace of foxhounds in the place ; and, as for partridges? well, there are a few in the Acclimatization Gar- dens ; and a shot at one would probably cost you about £20 and the execrations of all good citizens. If you can be con- tent to do without these things, you wiU have few of the cares and annoyances incidental to the English farmer, and so wiU lead a tolerably happy life. If, on the other hand, you are ambitious, and anxious to get rich, your success wiU he a gratification and a comfort to you. A young man, newly-married, say with not sufficient capita' to start farming in England, would find here a profitable field of labour, with the certainty of a modest competency in the course of ten or fifteen years. An elderly man, with lots of sons growing up about him, would find, in Canterbury, the labour of each worth £50 a-year ; and, when they wanted to start in business for themselves, a few hundreds would give them a better chance for success here than thrice the sum \vould in England. Of course, in a paper of this kind one cannot enter fully into details ; Ijnt should this, so far as it goes, prove accept- able to your readers, you will in all probability hear from me again. In writing this, I have only been actuated by a desire to give information to a class in England from whom I am proud to say I sprung, so that they may know what colonial farming is like, and what a farmer's prospects are in this pro- vince, which is the best agricultural portion of New Zealand, and which exports more wool and corn than any other pro- vince in the colony. S. D. G. Caiderbiirt/, New Zealand, Ocl. Tilt, 186G. FARMlNa MATTERS IN SUFi^OLK, At the Lavenham Earmers' Club, Mr. W. Biddell said he hoped the Legislature would not only 'think of Reform, but also one that occupied a good deal of attention in his mind, though it was not just now brought prominently before the public. He hoped that present circumstances would lead them to reflect that it was hardly worth while aggravating the effects of a wet harvest by taxing a commodity which had been so largely injured. They had not studied the interests of the producer much of late, but he hoped they woidd look at those ot the consumer, and not aggravate the pressure which this harvest was exercising upon the working classes by taxing the barley from whence sJionld Come their beer, though very often it did not come from it. Major Parker, M.P., said with regard to the malt-tax, that tlie steps which had recently been taken rather led one to hope that the period was not far distant when that ques- tion would receive a solution more satisfactory than it liad liitherto done. With the varied qualities of barley, though prices of the better kind were very remunerative, it was the in- ferior qualities that sorely pressed upon those wlio liad not had THE FAEMER'S MAaAZINE. 121 the good fortune to harvest their crops in so good a condition as others. Leaving that question however, lie would for a moment turn to another, on which he thought they might congratulate themselves and the country at large. The pre- sent year commenced under the most trying circumstances for agriculturists ; they were threatened with many evils, some of which had pressed upon them with severity. He believed that in the first month of the year more than 10,000 of the cattle of England were dying every week, and in the month of Fe- bruary nearly 40,000 head of some of the most valuable slock in England was lost through the plague with which they were visited. "What was the state of things now? He had re- ceived the last return, up to the 13th of the present month, and he found that during the previous week only one animal had died, and 11 had been killed to prevent the spread of the disease. He thought they might look upon the arrangements made with respect to this matter as among tlie most fortunate the country could have come to. The Legislature having enacted stringent rules, to which their countrymen had readily conformed, hardly a year had passed away before they found that one solitary death was all that was registered in a week, and the disease might therefore be said to have disappeared. About 100 years ago this country was visited by a hke cala- mity. It was the natural feeling of human nature to desire to look out for one's self, and at that time he took it for granted that people did not conform to the rules and regulations pre- scribed, so readily as they had done in the case of this latter attack, for the calamity then remained twelve years amongst them ; this time it had lasted but a little over twelve months. The difference, let them hope, was owing to a great improve- ment in the arrangements of the country, under the blessings of Providence. Another subject which troubled them beyond measure was the probabihty of the plague extending to sheep ; but by the same return, to which he had already alluded, he found that although 6,000 had been lost by the disease, during the last week not a single case had occurred ; so that all those stringent precautions which had pressed so severely upon their industry, their exertions, and their profits, had been amply re- warded by the passing away of those calamities. Mr. Geeene, M.P. for Bury St. Edmund's, said if he took the Uberty of speaking upou the subject of practical agricul- ture, he hoped they would consider he had some right to do so when he told them that he was liimself a fanner of 600 acres of land. In the present day it required tlie utmost at- tention, the greatest vigUance, and the wisest possible way of laying out their capital, to make farming remunerative ; but though he knew that it did not pay a large return, he believed it was to be made to pay, and tliat even yet farmers might live by their land ; but it was only to he done by taking ad- vantage of all the knowledge they could obtain. While they had to grow corn in competition with the whole world, it was quite true that they were at present receiving very remunera- tive prices ; and he might say that once in every seven or eight years there was a turn of that kind that helped one over a bad year. They now had to compete with the world, and he thought there was a prospect of wheat keeping up in price ; but they drew from so large a continent that it was impossible to say what the pi ice might be a few weeks hence, and it would not do to farm upon the basis of hi£;h prices. How then were the moderate prices to be met ? Though he liad adopted, and was still adopting, one of the newest methods of cultivation, he did not look altogether to new-fangled notions for success ; his idea was rather that of carrying out the practical knowledge a man has. Eirst, he would say, " Grow no grass." There was nothing so expensive as growing grass on their arable land. They might rely also upon this — that they must make up for any deficiency in manure, and it would pay to use a portion of an artificial fertilizer in order that they might grow a full and proper crop, because there was very little more expense in harvesting five quarters of wheat per acre than three or four. He was quite aware that steam cultivation was not practicable iu small fields, and from what he had seen iu that neighbouriiood he tliought tlie fields were too small. He had seen both systems of cultivating the soil by steam. The one employing two engines was, he thought, the best ; but, of course, the objection to it was the large out- lay of capita] it involved ; but, still, he was of opinion that that was the principle for heavy land. He would tell them what he was able to do with his engine, adopting the system of ropes and porters. This year, treacherous a season as they had had, he had been able to cultivate and plough more than 100 acres of land, which lie could not have done with horses. Having the power to do it quickly, he did it when the weather was dry. Calculating the interest upon capital, the wear and tear, and all the expense, he could cultivate cheaper by steam than he could by horses, and he had the advantage of being able to do it when other work was going on. There need be no fear that ordinary labourers were unable to do it. He assured them that when he adopted it he made no alteration in the labourers on his farm, excepting that he had a man to drive the engine, for they could not expect a labouier to do that. If he gave the order to his men to cultivate 40 acres of land, and went out for three or four days, when he returned he found it was done, as they did 10 acres a day. The way to do it was to put the work out to the men, and if they did that he would promise them that no time was lost in going from one field to another. He had had the honour of a visit from a deputation from the Royal Agricultural Society, to look at his steam cultivation, and they asked every question they could think of, and told him they had not been on to a farm (fortunately for him they had not then been to Mr. Kersey Cooper's, whom he considered the chief of steain cultivators) where so much cultivation was done per day. He believed that arose from liis giving his men an interest in the work. They had heard a great deal of talk about the labouring man, but he contended that labour was a marketable article. They had got into a verj' different state of things to that which ex- isted when the population was overburdened. The demand was now for labourers, and not for labour, and the man who liad labour to sell could generally find a market for it. But he beheved there was one thing of more importance than any other to a labouring man, and that was a proper cottage to live in. He said it was a burning shame that such wretched dwell- ings as they had in this county should be permitted to con- tinue. It was true they might ask him how itwas to be remedied, and it was a very difficult question, because the cottages hitherto had not been let upon a principle that would not pay interest upon the cost of its erection ; but he was sure that with im- proved wages men would gladly pay more money for a good cottage, and he was sure that if they were to have good men in the agricultural districts they must have more accommoda- tion. It was a matter of necessity that there should be at least ^ three bedrooms in a cottage occupied by a family. Depend upon it this was one of the subjects that required watching on the part of those who desired to see the land fairly treated in Parliament ; for it was not so much that there were Acts of Parhament to help them in a direct manner as to see that burdens were not improperly thrown upon land, as he believed they would if some people had their way. Therefore it had come to this — that they must look to themselves ; for they were to compete with the foreigner, and he beheved it could be done, but it could only be done by the exercise of de- termined perseverance and care. He knew it veas said that anjt man would make a farmer, and that was to some extent true ; but it was not every man that would make a good farmer. He never undertook anything that he did not do practically. He farmed because he was fond of it ; but, although he did it on that ground, he made it his business to look into the minutiee of it, and he could assure them there was no business that required more watching and good judgment, both with respect to the crops and the stock. It was to their stock that they must look ; for what was a farmer unless a man was able to rear stock and breed sheep, so that he liad not to go to the liarn-doors for his rent ? He very often saw gross mismanage- ment upon farms with regard to stock. He often saw young things brought up on a little skim-milk, and then turned out into a field, and at the end of twelve months they were about the same size, or perhaps a little smaller. Then he saw some of his friends go and buy a lot of ill-bred Irish bullocks. He learnt a very good practical lessou on this subject when he began farming. He bought a lot of Imllocks, and though he gave them all they could eat he could not get them fat. It was, however, a che.ap lesson iu the end, for he never bought another lot hke it. Then, again, if a man had a cow, he would send it to any wretched bull that happened to he in the neigh- bourhood ; but, instead of this, they should desire to propagate a good breed of animal. Again, a farmer must have a horse to ride to market, or a mare to drive ; and now and then he would breed from her, and for this purpose he would use any brute of a horse that came round, with neither action nor THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 122 familv to recommeud him, and they availed themselves of him iust because he passed their gate. He wanted them to remem- ber that a Rood horse eats no more corn than a bad one A. eood stable of horses ought to cost them no money: indeed, a farmer who hunted ought to make a hundred pounds a-year of his horses ; and he might teU them that he had himselt, m his vouup-er davs, had many a stable of horses that never cost him''''d "'Mr. Biddell had touched upon a subject which it would not do for him to dilate upon— the subject of Reform. He was one of those who heartily desired to see that ques- tion settled ; but he did not agree with those men who in- duced the working-man to think that some great Ijoon was to come to liim in the possession of the franchise, and that when the Reform Bill is passed he need not go to work any more. They might depend upon it there was no royal road to success in anything. Without industry, perseverance, and uprightness of character, it was impossible to suc- ceed ; and when he saw men (he did not say whether they were right or wrong) endeavouring to instil such notions into the minds of the people, he said they were not lovers ot their country nor did they desire its welfare. To all those who talked in this way he should like to put one simple question. If there was a law that stood between a man and his success in life, he would be among the tirst to work, morning, noon, and nisjiit, to get it repealed ; but he challenged any man to say there was such a law. K any gentleman ditfered from him he asked what there was that prevented a man from going to work and raising himself to the highest position a man could attain to, provided he had the talent, the industry, and the perse- ve'rance ? He was as anxious as any man that all should par- ticipate, and that all should feel an interest in the Government of the country ; and he believed tliat, as long as they had not class legislation, they could not have the basis of the electoral franchise much too wide. Rut when a country had prospered as England had done (and if they expected universal prosperity they would be sure to meet with disappointment,), and when they found that there was no grievance tliat did not find cham- pions in the House of Commons, surely tliey could not teU him that there was any misrepresenlatiou. At the same time it was a question so large that it would be presumption in him to enter deeply upon it. Suffice it to say that no man desired more heartily than himself to see it settled, and the electoral franchise enlarged if need be ; but let it be done on constitu- tional principles. If they were labouring under the tyranny their forefathers did, there might be reasons for getting it re- moved ; but while they saw that all were prosperous, and there was time to reason and see which was the best way, they ought not to jump blindfold into a great measure without know- ing whether its effect upon the country was to be good or evil. He felt that England had before her a time ot pros- perity, provided they gave their attention to commerce, and brought their relations with foreign lauds into a state that would induce them to take their manufactured articles ; and in that case they would be able to take the fanner's produce, for as long as the people were employed they would be sure to get a remunerative price for their meat, if not for their corn. _ It was his belief that agTi culture would rise out of its difficulties; but depend upon it,'it could only be done by a thorough culti- vation of the soil. They could not be expected to farm against losses, but they aU knew that a weU-drained and deeply-culti- vated field would stand against bad seasons better than one that was not so well cultivated. . Mr. J. S. Gardixeu, of Borley, spoke at considerable length in favour of the repeal of the malt-tax. With regard to the argument that the money could not be spared, he said it was not for the advocates of malt-tax repeal to point out the means of making up the deficiency in the revenue, but he sug- gested that a tax of 2d. a gallon on beer would bring in an amount equal to the malt-tax. He also alluded to the question of steam ploughing, and observed that Mr. Greene was at pre- sent but a young hand, and he should not be surprised it m the course of a year or two the expenses of wear and tear and repairs were found to be so heavy that he would be a good deal less sanguine upon the subject of cultivating by steam. lie (Mr. Gardiner) had not yet seen tlie system of steam cultiva- ' tion that could be econoiuicallv applied to the tillage of the soil. VARIETIES OF THE POTATO. The immense number of named and unnamed sorts of potatoes with which we are at present encumbered renders it bewildering to endeavour to select, either from trade catalogues or from other sources, such kinds as are really worth growing. Not manv years hack one could count on one's fingers nearly all the popular and staple varieties then in cultivation. In this part of the kingdom at least, the bulk of the sorts then grown consisted of the old Ash-leaf, AValnut-leaf July, 'Fortvfold, Lancashire, Kidney, Jersey Blue, and a little later the York Regent, together with a few others, but this was prior to the first outbreak of the potiito disease. Out of evil, however, has come good, for unquestionably to the disease may be attributed tiie number of good aew varieties which we now possess. Tired of bewailing their losses, growers thought it wise to attempt the raising of new and improved kinds that should possess a more healthy and vigorous constitution, and greater capacity to resist the attacks of the disease. How far they have succeeded in relation to the freedom from disease may be a matter of opinion ; but with reference to vigour, pro- lificacy, and quality, there can be no tiuestion that we have now many varieties that in all these respects are vastly superior to those old kinds which tiicy have almost or entirely superseded. There are few names probably in connection with potato growing that have become more famous tliaii that of Mr. Paterson, and altliough his labours in regard to the raising and cultivation of new varieties may not obtain a veryvvarm appreciation in some quarters, yet speaking for myself, I do most sincerely believe that in the course of time, when those valuable sorts whicli he has sent out shall become better known, they will be as justly and as deservedly popular as any varieties now in cultivation. Mr. Paterson is not, indeed, the only one whose name is favourably associate! with the potato, for we liave Rivers' Royal Ash-leaf^ jNIyatt's do., Dawe's Matchless, &c., all splendid varieties. ily object however at present is to allude to what I have been doing for a year or two past in the way of growing and testing some 80 kinds of potatoes, more especially as respects the present season and its results. I grew some 50 sorts last year mostly in a small way ; but having increased that quantity this year, I thought I would give them aU as fair a trial as possible. I selected the best soil and situation m my garden for the jjurpose ; and I also got a neig'ibour, a good practical gardener, with newly broken up fresh ground, to plant all the varieties I possessed, and others which he had obtained. We started in our trial with about equal quantities, and although liis soil was of a gravelly character, and mine a deep though not rich loam, we obtained in almost every case equal results. Therefore I think it would not be wrong to assume that, as far as this part of the country is concerned, the description now given of the various sorts of potatoes experimented upon will be found to be correct. The first batch which claims attention is the early kidney, which are unquestionablv tlie earliest in cultivation. They consist of the old Ash-leaf, a fair cropper and good ; Walnut- leaf good in qualitv but very uncertain ; Rivers' Royal Ash- leaf and IMvatt's Prolific Ash-leaf, both first rate as regards produce and qualitv, and with very little difference except in the haubn, in which there is a trifling iissimilanty. An un- proved Ash-leaf, of my own selection is in every respect as good as the two just named, but ^vitll a more robust haulm, aud fs prized bv me because I can obtain from it the best sampls, for early exhibition. Then come— the Red Ash-leaf, In ah respects an excellent potato and very early ; Queen s Oenw very eariy and a good cropper but close ; British Queen, much the same but even closer ; and Mona's Pride, a potato which, if praise could help it, should stand in the first rank of our early Potatoes, but as interested praise is not always a good recom- mendation, so has it proved in the case of this \ anety, which is not even a first early, being at least a week or ten days later tlian the others mentioned above ; it is also very coarse, the larger tubers usually being hollow in the centre, and it boilsj THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 123 close; it is, liowever, a good cropper. I have fouutl one peculiarity about this potato, which is, that when the tubers push young shoots some are purple and some green, but when they come up and in digging, tliere is aot the least difference between them ; tlie liaulm is usually siLgle-stalked, and some- what resembles that of the Walnut-leaf, I obtained my stock of it from a nurseryman in the North, who imported it direct from tlie Isle of Man. Thus far I have particularised only rnose sorts which I have grown as first early kidneys. I believe there are many others sent out recently that are very good, but it is not my intention to say anything about what I have not tried, with this excep- tion, that at our local exhibition in June a sample of the Early May Kidney was shown ; it was very fine, and deservedly obtained a 1st prize. First early rounds with me are not plentiful, the best being the Early Handsworth, the chief recommendation of which is that it produces a very handsome tubei for early competition ; it has a distinct haulm, and is a fair cropper. Giant King is another very early round, but it is coarse, and wholly unfit for a gentleman's table. Of second early rounds there is a considerable number, but none of them are probably earher than our old friend the Eortyfold, although much greater producers. Of course I have grown the Fortyfold, also a variety known about here as the Brown Betty, a rough, netted potato, but in all other respects similar to the Fortyfold. Dalmahoy, also in this class, is a good cropper and first-rate ; as are likewise the mealy Early Oxford, and Sutton's Tenweek. Daiiitree's Seedhug, Prince Albert, and a variety grown largely about here for market purposes, called the French White, ail of which are good croppers, are but of medium quality ; while among others of really good quality and handsome in the tuber, but of medium productiveness, may be classed Golden Drop, Martin's Early Globe, British Queen, and the old Goldfinder. There are yet two potatoes in this class of which I must make particular mention ; these are the Cheshire pink-eyed and the Early Emperor, or Somerset Red. The first of these, a wliite potato, with a pink eye, is very proUfic, of first-rate table quality, and altogether one of the best of potatoes ; the second, as its latter name implies, is a red potato, with a remarkably handsome, pebbly shape, netted skin, and very shallow eye ; it is a good cropper, for table quality unsurpassed, and is altogether a sort fit " to set before a king." It it does as well elsewhere as it does about here, it must soon become a universal favourite. A batch of what I liave no doubt are very good potatoes was sent to me by my friend Mr. R. Fenn, of Woodstock, for trial with my other varieties. They consist of Fenn's On- wards, a seedling of his own, a second early round, good both as to crop and quality ; Beehive, Mitchell's Early Alliion, Shutford Seedling, and Hogg's Coldstream, four second early round varieties whicli with me were medium croppers, and very deficient in robustness, a quality so necessary for good crops ; and two others, Daiiitree's Kidney and Huntingdon- shire Kidney. Of these the last is a good cropper, but late, which is all I can say about it at present. With respect to Daintree's Kidney, which is certainly a very handsome potato, and a really good cropper, I was much disappointed to find that its cooking qualities were of the worse possible descrip- tion, it being both close and stringy. Mr. Fenn showed samples of all these sorts at the International Exhibition in May last, and they were most deservedly admired, both for their size and the manner in which they had been preserved ; and having seen these I was not a Uttle surprised to find that my own produce of the same kinds should have been so small compared with his or others grown close by. I can only fancy that there must be most peculiarity in the soil at Woodstock whicli these potatoes have missed with me, and therefore I shall say nothing further about them until I have given them another trial. I now come to what I shall call second early kidneys, a section which comprises some of the very best potatoes in cultivation. The first I shall mention we call here Haigh's Seedling, a pebble-shaped potato, one of the earliest of this batch ; it is very prolific, and good iu flavour, but it is rather yellow ; then comes Wimborn Kidney, slightly netted, a good cropper, and first-rate in quality ; the White Blossom and Ja(dcson's Kidney being also exceedingly good in every respect. Pink Aslileaf is a heavy cropper and goc;d in quality ; it is slightly marked with red. Maybusli Prolific, a selection of lay own, is also a heavy cropper, and good in flavour, but it is rather yellow in colour. Birmingham Prize-taker is a very handsome smooth-skinned potato, a medium cropper, but good in quality. To this section must also be added Uawe's Match- less, Prince of Wales, and the King of Potatoes, all as large croppers, and as fine samples as any in cultivation. Dawe's JMatchless is a universal favourite about here ; its quality is " matchless," it is fit for any table as soon as it is dug, and it wiU keep as long as any variety with which I am acquainted ; at our local autumn exhibition it invariably takes the first prize. The Prince of Wales is in some respects a rival to the Matchless, both as regards size and quality, but it lacks the whiteness and quality of the Matchless. The King is a smooth-skinned potato, a large cropper and good iu flavour, but, like the Prince, it is rather yellow in colour. There are now a few late kidneys, of which the Lapstone is one of the most prominent. Of course every one knows it as being a good cropper, and first-rate in quahty. The Burmali Kidney is also very good. To a batch of four kinds of the Fluke — the King, the Queen, the Pink, and the Original Flake, the same description wiU apply ; they all crop well and cook well, but when cooked they do not possess any appreciable difiereiice one from another. There are two more late kidneys to notice, which I have not grown, but samples of them have been given to me by Mr. Cross, of Melchet, where I saw them dug up. They are West's Whytam Seedling, a purple kidney, a large cropper, and a very fine sample ; and another kidney called Red Scedhng, as fine as the other. If the qualities of these potatoes are as good as their cropping properties, they are first-rate. We now come to the late rounds, among which there are Walker's Improved Regent, which is nothing particular ; the Scotch Regent, an immense cropper, good in quality, and first- rate for a main crop ; Red Regent, a very fine potato, a large cropper and good in quality, but very coarse in the haulm — a great objection ; Arrowsmith's Seedling, a hollow-eyed potato marked with red, crop and quality good; and three others, aU of very large size, and great croppers, well adapted for field or cottage culture, but totally unfit for a gentleman's table, viz.. Old Jersey Blue, Farmer's Glory or Large Forty-fold, with very deep eyes, and Irish White, an immense cropper, of fair quality, but with very deep eyes and ungainly shape. I have yet one other lot to mention, and then I have done ; these consist of thirteen varieties of Mr. Paterson's raising, which I have grown. First among them come Paterson's Early White Round, a second early, a good cropper, and excellent in quality ; then we have Scotch Blue, a second early, a medium cropper, but very handsome in the tuber, the colour being rich purple ; it has a pebbly shape, and boils very white and mealy. Here are also two kidneys, viz.. Early Red and HinS, but neither possessing any distinguishing qualities. Four late wliite rounds come next, viz., Victoria, Napoleon, Albert, and Regent ; these are all good croppers, and of first-rate table quality. Of coloured varieties, Paterson's Blue, Irish Blue, Oval Blue, Alexandra, and Zebra, in strong soils all yield enormously, but I believe Alexandra to be the best of the batch ; they are, however, more adapted for field than for garden culture. As I alluded to the potato disease in the earlier part of this paper, I expect some of your readers will feel disappointed because I have made no mention of the capacity of the kinds I have grown, to withstand that malady more or less. Well, really I have not had a diseased tuber in all my garden this year, and in this respect perhaps I have been more fortunate than many others ; the bhght certainly presented itself in the haulm in a virulent form, but it was just at a time when the soil was very dry, and the flow of the sap was very much checked, and to these circumstances do I attribute roy freedom from disease this year. I should be very happy if one result of this paper should be to evoke from growers, such as Mr. Fenn aud others, some further discussion of this potato question, and especially if it should elicit what effect difl'erences of soil and climate have upon distinct varieties. What I have stated has only refe- rence to my own locality, let others speak for theirs ; and if no otlier good should result, it may at least be the means of affording useful information as to what are generally the best kinds, and the soils best suited for their growth, — J. B., Man- husk, in Gardeiier's Chronicfe, 124 TIE FAEMER'S MAGAZINE, THE CULTIVATION OF THE HOP. At tlie Withington Ploughing Match Dinner Mr. Flewett said : The first step towards the successful cultivation of the hop plant was the thorough drainage of the soil ; and having had extensive experience in the drainage of land, he could upon the present occasion lay before them the result of a series of care- xol experiments that had been taken by himself in conjunction with Mr. Andrews, a gentleman largely engaged as a land- agent over several estates ; the experiments extending over the drainage of nearly 3,000 acres of land, and through a great variety of soils, from strong tenacious clays to porous sands and gravel. The land from which the drawings were made (Mr. Flewett here exhibited some nicely-tinished drawings, showing the theory of capillary attraction through the earthj was a strong loam. They would perceive that the drains were cut 4 feet deep and 20 feet apart, the water rising in the centre between the drains to the height of 1 foot ; but when the drains were placed 30 feet apart in the same soil the water rose 2 feet ; at 40 feet apart in the same soil the water rose to within a foot of the surface ; thus proving that in this particular de- scription of soil the drains should not be placed more than 20 feet apart in order to secure a thorough drainage of the land. But they were aU aware that this theory would not apply to a strong clay soil, nor to a sand and gravel, as no rule can be laid down for the drainage of all soils ; but all must admit that if the land is allowed to remain full of cold spring w.ater the beau- tiful rains that fall cannot enter into combination with the soil, but run over the surface into the nearest ditch. This is not the case if the land is drained ; the earth then absorbs the rain, and at the same time acts as a filter and extracts from the rain the ammonia and other valuable fertilizing properties which it brings down in its passage from the clouds. Again, we know that as soon as the roots of any plant come in contact with cold water this necessarily retards its growth, unless it is an aquatic one. It is, therefore, of the greatest importance that the land should be thoroughly drained for such a sensitive plant as the hop. Having, through the kindness of Mr. W. Taylor, of Thin geh ill, been supplied with a sample of soil from one of his hop-yards, I am in a position to lay before you the result of a very careful analysis made by myself and two other gentle- men, professors of chemistry. The following I find to be the constituent parts of the sample I received: ANALYSIS OJ SOIL FKOJI MR. TAYLOE'S IIOP-YAKU, THINGEIIILL. Moisture 6.45 Organic matter and water of combustion 3.40 Phosphoric acid 7.50 Oxide of iron and alumiua 14.84 Carbonate of lime 13.80 Silicate of lime 2.SC) Lime 5.00 Magnesium 0.65 Sand and other matter 'lo.SO 100.0 These particulars give us the information that a good hop soil, as well as being rich in phosphoric acid and potash, must also contain a fair proportion of lime. I have no doubt the high character of some of our hop grounds could, by an analysis of the soil and subsoQ, be traced to be mainly due to the richness in phosphoric acid, potash, and lime. I believe it is the rich- ness of our soils in these three ingredients that constitutes their fitness for the successful growth of hops. Coming to the cultivation of the hop, I do not -wish for a moment to dogma- tize, nor do I pretend to state the best way of treating or managing hop lauds, since I know that I am speaking in the presence of some of the most successful hop-growers of the district. A.t the same time permit me to state that, if I can by an analysis of the soil throw any light upon the cultivation, or in any way assist the cultivator, I shall always feel a pleasure in so doing. A careful analysis of the soils we cultivate, and the manures we use, is most valuable in many way. An any- lysis, to be of any use, must be made with great care and accu- racy, as the most important of inorganic substances are found in small quantities. Now, coming to the subject of manure, which I have to bring uuder your notice, the first point we have to consider is — what is manure P This is a simple ques- tion, and yet one which involves a great many considerations. A manure is something we ])ut to the soil to promote the growth of the crops, by supplying food to the plant, and the most typical manure, farmyard manure, is a substance that supplies to the crop what it requires. And here I may state that I have upon many occasions, in passing up and down this county, seen large quantities of not well-rotted farmyard manure cast into the hop-yards. This, in my opinion, is riot a right course to pursue, as I fear that the too frequent applica- tion of farmyard manure teuds to mould in the plant ; but in order to obviate this I should strongly recommend the manure to be made up into a compost of lime and soil ; and here 1 beg to l;e distinctly understood that the lime is not to be applied to the manure unless in conjunctiou with soil, for such are the absorbent powers of soil that, as soon as the ammonia con- tained in the manure is set free by the lime, it is at once ab- sorbed by the soil, as one cubic foot of soil is capable of ab- sorbing fifteen cubic feet of ammonia. The action of the lime upon the manure wiU destroy any fungi that may exist. "\^lien Me turn our attention from the plant to the soil, we find that the substances most essential to the hop plant exist in the smallest proportion iu the soil, namely, phosphorus and lime and potash. In applying manure our object is to obtain from the soil a larger quantity of produce than it would yield in a state of nature, and we are to obtain this larger produce partly by tillage and partly by suitable manures. I find from examination that a few of the principal roots of the 110)5 strike down immediately into the subsoil, but a con- siderably larger number of the smaller roots and fibres strike o/T in a lateral direction, and intersect each other across the furrows. I have here prepared a diagram of a system of manuring which I have much pleasuring in submitting lor the opinion of the practical gentlemen present. Knowing that all manures must become soluble before they can be taken up by the plants, I am of opinion that if the land was manured in the autumn, say about six feet wide in between the ridges and properly dug in with forks, this manure would then be more available for the use of the plants in the spring. Of course, this is simply a suggestion of my own, being quite aware that if the manure is spread over the whole surface of the ground it would eventually find its way to the roots of the plants, my object in making this drawing and calling' your attention to the system being for the purpose of forwarding the work in the spring, and at the same time assisting the growth of the plant by the manure having been rendered into a more fit state to be assimilated by the plant. I now take the opportunity of submitting for your inspection a sketch for the purpose of superseding the use of hop-poles, which I find I made in May, 1865, and intended to have sent it to Mr. John Bosley, but from some cause or other it was overlooked. You will per- ceive by the sketch that it is intended to employ wire strained between two standard posts, jointly fixed in the ground, say about 12 feet high and 30 to 40 feet asunder, the ujiright rods for supporting the bine being hooked on to the horizontal wire at the top and into a staple or eye in an oak stake, 18 inches long, that is to be driven into the ground in the same position as hop-poles are at present pitched. Of course, you can have what number of rods you like to each hop-stock. I have in the drawing only shown three. When hop-picking time arrives it is only requisite to unhook the upright rods from the horizontal wire and the stake, and carry to crib as is usual. In conclusion, permit me to thank you for the kind attention you have paid to my remarks, and if any of them are found to be in any way beneficial I shall feel amply compen- sated for the trouble I have taken. Mr. HoLLOWAY observed that there were cases in which hop-growers had not used manure at all, and yet there was mould. Mr. Hall said such might be the case, but tlie tendency of the fungi was to produce it. THE FAEMEE'S MAGAZINE. 12?; Mr. Vevees said this was a most important subject, and if he could make auy remarks which would be of any worth, he should be glad. It would he a great thing if they could reduce the expense they had to incur in the purchase of hop-poles. He thought witli the aid of the strained wire — strained like a telegraph wire — they might make use of a smaller pole, say a hedder. He thought if a hedder was attached to the wire the plan suggested might be carried out. As he had observed, if they had a second wire about 18 inches from the ground, se- cured at each end as a telegraph wire was secured, then he thought lighter poles might be used by making them to rest upon the \\-ire. These light poles, with a saw niche in the bottom, could be attached to the wires by cocoanut fibres ; and he thought a great deal might be done in saving expense if it were practicable to grow hops round wire. Now if, as has beenshown, it was practicable to grow hops round a wire no thicker than a knitting-needle, it must be practicable to grow it round a wire five or six times thicker. But suppose they added the hedders or light poles to the wire system. These hedders would only cost about two shillings a hundred, and they would only want to be supported by one wire, though if they liked could have another wire at the bottom. This, he thought, would be a very much cheaper plan of pohng their hops than tlie method at present adopted, and he saw HO reason why it should not he carried out (Hear, hear). Mr. BosLEY inquired how long the hedders would last. Mr. Vevers replied that he thought they would last several years — five or six, if not much in the wet. Mr. Hodges said he did not think they would last so long. Mr. Watkins remarked that the light poles would last about four years. Mr. Vevers : The poles would be left attached to the wires. Mr. BosLEY : How would they get the hops to the crib ? Mr. Vevers : They must be cut off. He thought the wire plan might be adopted with advantage. Mr. Hall said he would advise those who wanted to get the best information upon this subject to go into the best parts of Kent. He had the pleasure of visiting that county last week, and of staying with Mr. Elvy, of Bow Hall, a large and suc- cessful grower of hops, who grew £20,000 worth of hops m the last year. Their plan in Kent was to get well-rotted dung, rags, bones, rape-cake, and dig it in evenly some ten or twelve inches deep. Many of the best planters in that county had already had the dung put in their hop-yards in this way. Within the last two years there had been a great extension of the cultivation of hops. The prices of hops were rising, and the price of poles had also increased IDs. or 12s. per 100. Mr. Taylor understood that Mr. Hall said that the Kent hop-growers put the manure over the ■whole ground, Mr, H-M^l said that was quite right. SEWAGE AND PESTILENCE. Sir, — Just now, when typhus fever and other maladies are making their appearance in Adelaide, more especially in the vicinity of the Hospital and Botanic Garden, in a most malig- nant form, the following article which I have taken from the TFesfr Zeifiiiir/ may be read with interest, and perhaps prompt the taking of measures to check the progress of this evil. The Weser Zcitnnrj says : "The cholera has shown its gloomy face once more in Europe, and no hope can be entertained, if we judge from its former career, that it will soon leave us. The commissions which have been formed in several of the larger cities to con- sider how to prevent the further spread of the epidemic will have every opportunity to prosecute their researches. All such researches must converge towards one point — that is, to find out the exact origin of the disease. Concerning its nature we gave, some time ago, an extract from the latest work of Mr. Pettenkofer, which describes all the researches made up to the present time by science with regard to this malady. Accord- ing to these, the origin of epidemic cholera is an organic sub- stance, a fungus {spores), which as yet has escaped observation, even where the eye has heen assisted by the strongest micro- scope, but which without a doubt causes the most terrible of diseases by penetrating in numbers into the lungs and stomach of the human body. Like every other organic substance, the cholera fungi {spores) require a peculiar soil to thrive in. Only when the soil is soaked with stagnant water and putrefying or- ganic substances, such as are produced when too many people live together, the cholera will flourish. All large cities stand on poisoned ground, and the carelessness with which aU noxi- ous matters are allowed to penetrate the soil and to decompose is the cause of death to thousands and thousands. Observa- tion has convincingly proved that drinking out of a well which is situated in an unfavourable place has increased the per- centage of mortality fronr epidemics. ' ^^Hiat is called when in the wrong place " filth," would be called in the right place '' manure,'" was a celebrated saying of Lord Pahnerston. The task of a sanitary board should be to see that every thing is in its right place and nothing in its wrong place. Its aim should not only be to neutralize the infectiousness of cholera, typhus fever, and other similar diseases, but likewise to prevent the future poisoning of large cities, and to mitigate as far as pos- sible the consequences of those evils which are already preva- lent." The magazine Uiisere Zeit (Our Time), published, at the beginning of the year, two articles on "The Disinfection of Cities," by Wilhelm Hamm, which, though they perhaps do not settle the point, furnish useful material for dping so. 'VTe learn from Mr. Hamra's works that there are two opposite systems for purifying cities — the one by removing the filth by sewers, and the other by carting it away. In some cities, as in Berlin, there have been great disputes as to which is more effective. Sewerage removes impure matter by an extended system of a gradient, conducting it several miles below the town into flowing water. This system has the advantage of keeping a town thoroughly clean ; and London, where it has been carried to its greatest perfection, enjoys of all the large cities the most favourable state of health. Yet this system has two disadvantages. It takes away the matter from the wTong place, wliere it is filth, but it does not conduct it to the right place, where it would be manure. It withholds the filth from agriculture, and tends to exhaust the land and to lessen its pro- ductive qualities. Moreover, it conducts the whole of the filth back to the river, and forms in the same a new source of poisoning. The old system of removing filth confines itself to turning the matter iuto pits, thereby saturating the soil in the cities with putridity, and then carrying it away to the farmer. This system also has two disadvantages — it causes the diffusion of gases at once disagreeable and noxious in streets and houses, where its influence on health is greater than generally acknow- ledged. This disadvantage people attempt to check by throwing green copperas (chloride of zinc) or other corrosive matter iuto the cesspool. Agriculture is assisted by the changing of the filthy refuse into useful manure ; yet nothing has been found as yet to effectually neutralize the noxious gases and the consequent danger of epidemic contagion. Besides, the manu- facturing of poudrette and similar tilings is such abominable employment that no man should be asked to undertake it. There is nothing less clean than the act of producing cleanliness. Prom this dilemma between sewerage and the old system of carting away neither practice nor science has discovered a satis- factory escape. We do not even find it in the essay of Mr. Hamm. Clearer and more to the point is another essay. In Frankfort-on-the-Maine, where at present an active interest is being shown in municipal improvements, Dr. Thudichum, a German physician who holds the Professorship of Pathological Chemistry at St. Thomas's Hospital, London, was invited to deliver a lecture on the above subject, which he did on the 8th June, 186.5. The lecture has since been published under the title "On the Fundamental Prin- ciples of Public Health in Cities, founded on the Basis of Medical Investigation (Franlrfurt Baisi -commission)" Dr. Thudichum is alike at home in practice and science. He is well acquainted with the different systems of England, France, and Germany. He is also familiar with the laws of hygeine, and has acquired the necessary k-nowledge of agri- culture, national economy, and engineering. His verdict is for 12G THE FARMER'S MAQAZINE. sewerage, but with the oouelition that the water runmug- off should not be let directly into the river, but used for the irri- gation of meadows. The water is first led into store-basms, which are divided into diflerent compartments by partitions mule of dry reeds or perforated deal boards Through the^se irirtitions the water flows slowly, and is thereby strained in \ very short time aU the mud is deposited, and the clear, scentless water, containing in solution seven-eiglitlis ot the ori-inal strength of the sewage, runs on to the meadows, soaks into the ground, is there purified, and in the end returns to'the river in a state, if anvthing, clearer than when it lett it. The meadows change the filth into grass, and the cattle fattened with that grass supply the fields with what is most essentialto them The deposit in the store-basins has lost its offensive dualities, is dried, and has even then its value as manure. This system has been adopted in several English towns, and is found to answer every purpose. It cleanses the town w-ithout defiUng the rivers ; it returns to agriculture everything ot value to it wliilst it leaves to nature the process of producing poudrette. Dr. Thudichum has suggested a modification to this system for cities which have no meadows available m their neighbourhood. The essay is interesting, aud is wnltcn in !i very iUustrativc style. AVhiHher or not its conclusions are correct scientific men must decide. I do not know if his data can be contradicted, but I know that they must uot be i'niored. "Whoever is obliged to frequently wend his way homeward in the night-time must have often desired that the effusions which then chann more than one of his senses might be brought under the control of science. _ .■.■.■ This subject, though bv no means pleasant, is of infinite im- portance Pure air, health, cleanliness for everybody are the most essential things to promote comfort, prosperity, and civilization. There is nothing more inhuman, nothing less pohtic in a vState, than to undermine the princip es of healtli. It is a difticult task to render justice to the riy^l demands o the medical fraternity, the agriculturists, and the men oi science, but no town population shoidd fail to give it tlieir most active sympathy and consideration. Ihe time lor Adelaide to do this hi'.s fully arrived. I am. Sir, ^c, Dr. C. Muecke. Tcwmda, Anffi'si 3. --In ^^^^'^''^^ Ohserrer. UTILISATION OF THE THE UTILISATiUiN ur xxiJ. LIVERPOOL SEWAGE. sewao-e oi'large towns. Mr. Edward Lawrence was eaUed to the chair, and there was a large attendance, among those pre- sent being Lord Robert Montagu, M.P. The CnMKMAN said: The question of the disposal ot the sewao-e of our large towns was admitted on all hands to he one of vei-y vital importance, and one which was receiving in the present day an amount of consideration which it never had be- fore. He feared that, in days gone by, the question of the pos- sibility of utilising sewage scarcely entered into mens minds, or at aU events, if it did, it only entered to be dismissed, in too many instances, as a thing perfectly impracticable. But pro- bably he should offend his friends who took a deep interest in that'matter if he were to attempt for one moment to question the fact that the question of utilisation had been definitively set at rest. It was quite true that the attempts which had been made to utilise sewage in different parts of the country had not been all entirelv successful, and that perhaps depended rather upon local conditions, and upon questions of management which did not affect in any way the main question at issue. Kow if the facts were admitted that the sewage of our towns could be utilised, the great question for consideration was— m what way it could best be so applied (Hear, hear). That was a question which involved very many considerations, and it in- volved many considerations which would differ in different localities. It involved the question as to the best mode of col- lecting- the sewage, not only with reference to its application to the laud but with reference to the sanitary conditions of the towns in which it was collected. Now, that latter was essen- tially the primary consideration, and it was one which was particularly interesting to them in Liverpool at the present time. No doubt opinions would ever difl'er upon that point, but he thought in Liverpool, in spite of some little differences still existing amongst theiu, they had— at all events the vast maiority of them had— made up their minds that the system them They were extremely fortunate in having the presence that day of a nobleman who had taken a deep interest in that subiect— he alluded to Lord Robert Montagu. Having highly culo-ized that nobleman for the position which he had taken with reference to sanitary affairs, the chairman caUe^ upon Lord Robert to make some remarks, which he saul, would no doubt be received with that attention which the sub- ject claimed at their hands. Lord RoBEKT Montagu, ]\I.P., said an apology, perhaps, would scarcely be expected from him for introducing to their notice a subject of the greatest importance to all men — a subject of importance to the capitalist, to the farmer, and to the municipalities. He might say, perhaps, one word to show them that he had uot ventured to call their attention without some qualification. He alluded to the fact that 15 years ago he himself tried the utilisation of sewage upon land, and so astonished was he with the results that he then determined that if ever an opportunity offered he would do all in his power to urge the general utilisation of sewage throughout the coun- try. He spoke, therefore, from experience. They remembered that in the year ISO-i, when ihe House of Commons gave him a committee to investigate the whole subject, and on that com- mittee some of the most able members of Parliament consented to serve, they were unanimous in the decision to which they came. The result of it was that in the succeeding year, 1865, he introduced two bills to the House. One received the assent of the Government, and passed without opposition — he alluded to the present Sewage Utilisation Act. .^ The other bill was of too large a scope. It was for erecting boards for the management of the Cwhole of the yvatersheds throughout the kingdom. That bill had been put aside, but it had been since used with respect 'to the Thames watersheds. He pro- posed to show, first, the absolute necessity of utilising the sewage of towns ; secondly, the enormous gain that might be which they had lately adopted for the purpose, if he might be expected to accrue from such a practice. If they went back allowed the expression, of collecting their sewage by means of ' +" """-"^ +'•— ^^ —I'l '- f— -' ^'-^ •-<■"-" *• - — the water-closet system, was the one wliich was best calculated to promote the sanitary condition of the inhabitants of this town. He believed the question bad been raised by some gen- tlemen as to whether that system would not have a deterio- rating eft'ect upon the quality of the sewage itself ; but so far as he had been able to ascertain, he believed that the plan which they were proposing to themselves to carry out as thorouglily as they found it practicable in Liverpool, was the one which embraced those considerations which were best adapted for its application to the land. They would agree with him that anything which could tend to enlighten the public mind pTi that subject must be of very great importance to them— to ancient times it woald be found that before there was any written law every man had, by common law, a right to pure water and pure air. The first statute which applied to the subject was as early as the 12th Richard II. — a statute enjoining all mayors of towns to forbid the throwing of any filth, oflal, or noxious matters into the sewers, water-courses, rivers, or ponds of water. Until the year 1817 the plan was for scaven- gers to take the excretions out of the town in carts. What was the result of that system ? Why, those tremendous zymotic diseases which spread all over the country, aud carried off tens of thousands of people. There were various visitations of cholera before th.e year 1840, and the Government were in- duced to tui-a their attention to the subject uf the liealth of THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE, 127 towns. Boards of healtli were appointed, commissiouers were engaged in investigating tlie subject, scientific men turned their attention to it, and the result was the elaborate report of the sanitary board of 184.:2. In conse(|uenee of this, it was resolved that the cesspits of houses should be done away with. Ihe plan first used was to put water into the cesspits, and then pump them out into the sewers. In the year 1847 the Eoard of Health advocated an efiicient water supply and a complete sewerage for every town in the kingdom. Then, in- stead of separate cesspits for each house, the houses were connected by means of drains with the sewers. Thence sprang a very great evil. As the Jiouses were purified, as the air was rendered pure, the rivers became impure. They had before them the choice of two evils or two benefits. The two evils were poisoned rivers and a loss of valuaiile manure, and the tvyo benefits line rivers and great agricultural pros- perity. From poisoned rivers they got infected air and in- fected water, the consequence of which was disease and the concomitant evils drunkenness and crime. The conclusion he drew was, that the excreta must be removed from the houses as speedily as possible ; and he maintained that the excreta must be removed by means of water. Then arose the first point of discussion with the advocates of earth-closets. It was merely the old question between sewers and cesspits whether these excreta should be removed by the hands of man or by the agency of water. The earth closets had been tried at Aldershot, and had failed, besides entailing a cost upon the War-oiRee of £600 a year. The earth-closet was the invention of the Ilev. Mr. Moule ; and he had stated that 3,000,000 tons of dried earth would be required annually for the 3,000,000 inhabitants of London. The meaning of that was, that tiiey wouldhave every year to dig a hole one foot deep over an area of 1,516 acres. Dr. llawkesley had advocated the same system at Liverjiool ; but his figures only went to the extent of sliowing what an enormous obstruction to the traffic of the streets, and how enormously costly such a system would be. The other proposition was tlie removal of the excreta by means of water. He maintained that such a means would be not only easier than removing it in carts, but much cheaper. The reservoir of the best Middlesex waterworks had become silted up to the extent of four feet. Estimates were sent in for removing this by hand, in a period of four weeks, at a cost of £•400. A young engineer, however, bethought himself that, as the water had carried in the sediment, it might carry it out ; so he set a few Irishmen to puddle it, and let the water carry it out. The consequence was that it was got out in four days at a cost of £40. The conclusion of this and other experi- ments was, that it would be cheaper and better to remove the excreta by means of water. They then came to the alternative, what was to be done with the sewage when it was in the sewers ? Engineers who were called upon to purify the town of its sewage naturally looked to the river, which would neces- sarily be in the lowest part of the town, to extricate them from their difliculty, and into the river the sewage went. What did they find was the result of the pollution of the rivers P The same as that arising from the pollution of the air. Dr. Acland, the Regius Professor of Physic at Oxford. had stated tliat if disease was not actively propagated by the rivers, the population inhabiting their banks got into a low state of health, and constantly required stimulants. Dr. Simon, the medical officer of the I'rivy Council, had stated that the diarrheal or choleraic state of towns was attributable to the quality of the drinking water used in those towns. Dr. Simon had been the first to show that the presence of cholera in London was due to impure water. The statements of these gentlemen had been fully borne out by the Registrar-General's returns with respect to cholera in London. Where ffie im- pure water of the East London Company was drunk, there cholera prevailed ; where the East Loudon water mixed with that of other companies had been used, the disease prevailed in a less degree. The same evidence had been supplied at North Shields, in the case of the water from the IVeston Pits. " Cholera and diarrhrea never destroy people where water is pure," says the Registrar-General in his report. Dr. Acland lias stated that the Thames was a disgrace to the nation The people of London were compelled to drink the sewa"-e of between 800,000 to 1,000,000 persons— a thing which no amount of filtration could prevent. It was the same thin"- with respect to the Tame at Birmingham. Mr. Rawlinsoii' the Government engineer, had stated that no words could de- scribe the abominable state of the rivers of Lancashire. The evil of this was one which touched their pocket. The muni- cipalities who used to resort to the rivers for water supply had been obliged to spend enormous sums in waterworks. Since the year 1848 a sum of over ii millions had been spent in this way. Further expenditure was considered necessary. Stupendous sciiemes, such as that for supplying Liverpool from Bala Lake, and London from some place at the back of Plinlimmon, at the expense of £10,000,000, had been pro- pounded. That was the i'lm they had to pay for polluting their rivers. It might be said that the sewage could be de°- odorised or disinfected. That had been tried at several places and had tailed signally. They came then to this conclusion, that the sewage must not be poured into rivers, and to the allernativethat it must be put on land. Tliat was the conclu- sion to which the nation had come, which was proved by re- cent legislation, such as the Thames Navigation Bill and other measures. He would_ proceed to show how such a proposal would be a means of enormous gain. Irrigation by pure water, without the advantage of the raanurial elements, was practised with the greatest benefit in Mexico, Ceylon .and China. Millions of acres of grass land were irrigated every year in the plains of Lombardy, and it was found that every acre of grass land so irrigated produced a corresponding profit. If tliat was the case with respect to irrigation by pure water without sewage, the sewage irrigation should a fortiori be much more beneficial in its effects. They took away from the land every year the elements of fertility, and unless these were restored to the ground in some shape, the ground of neces- sity grew poorer. The most natural course, therefore, was to return the natural elements to the land, instead of pourin"- them into the river. If they did not do that, they were living on the principal instead of their interest, the folly of which he illustrated by the anecdote of Fouvier and the hen-eggs, and the conduct of the father of Alexander Pope. They were paying away £4,000,000 yearly for guano, and £1,400,000 for artificial manure. When they added to this the £16,000,000 which they paid away for corn to America and the Danubian Principalities, and which sum ought to go into the pockets of the English farmer, they had a waste of nearly £22,000,000 a- year, besides which we had to import cattle from abroad. In Belgium, where the sewage was utilised, the land supported 40 people more per square mile than in England. Besides, on the English system, as the population increased, the expen- diture for artificial manure aud the rest increased ; but, if they utilised their sewage, as the population increased, their fer- tilising agencies AVould increase with it. The results of the experiments made in England would doubtless astonish them, and they might, perhaps, be received with incredulity. But so were the statements of Mr. Stephenson ; so were the announcements on the introduction of gas. But these state- ments were made upon the testimony of some men, among others, who at all events would not be prejudiced in favour o1" the sewage scheme. He alluded to a scientific man who had spoken against the scheme before the committee of tlie House of Comnions, and that a manufacturer of artificial manure. He would read from the report of the commmissioners of last year, '{'he amount of grass obtained from an acre of uu- sewaged land in the year ISGl was 9 tons 5 cwt. 3 qrs. ; from an acre on which 6,000 tons of sewage had been spread, 27 tons 1 cwt. ; anil from an acre on which 9,000 tons had been spread, 32 tons 16 cwt. 3 qrs. Similar results had followed m 1863 and 1863, with the dittereuce that the productiveness of the sewage land increased, while that of the uusewao-ed laud diminished. With respect to milk the results were the same. In 1862, after the system had been in operation for two years, the production of milk from an unsewered acre during twelve weeks was 431 gallons, and from a sewered acie 1,145 gallons. He would next go to the actual experiment whichhad been made in other towns. At Edinburgh the re- sult of the experiment had been that the land which came under the sewage let at an enormously-increased rental, and the same thing had occurred at Croydon, where, after inany diliiculties, they had been compelled by injunction so to utilise their sewage. Land at Croydon, which formerly let for 30s an acre, was now being let for £5 and upwards. Experiments had been made at Worthing witli a similar result. Let- them rellcct that if they only put the value of the sewage at 6s. for each inhabitant in Liverpool, it would be worth £150,000 a year, which \yould accrue as profit to the town if the sewage K 128 THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. were utilised. He besought tliera to turn that which was a source of nuisauce throughout the country into a source ot wealth, to remove the infection of the air, the poison from the water and by so doing to obviate evils which had already o-rowu to l)e unbearable. They infected the air, aud the air reveno'ed itself upon them ; they polluted the water, and the water^jjunished them. The land was crying out to be enriched ; and if they poured upou it that sewage wliich was now being worse tlian wasted, lie promised them that un])Ounded wealth would be their reward. Mr. J. F. Bateman, C.E., said the experiments made showed tliat where sewage had been utilised the result had been a considerable improvement in the value of land. The work proposed to be tried in Liverpool was extremely simple. It was not proposed to carry out the whole scheme, but merely a portion of it, so as to enable the public to realise the fact that sewage could be utilised. The company formed in Liver- pool intended to try two or three hundred acres, or more if necessary, at the north end of the to\ni ; to ])lace the pump- ing station at Sandhills ; and to put down sullicient pumping power to raise a million gallons of sewage ; aud the ground, so far as his information enaliled him to judge, was very suit- able for the experiment. Mr. R. Neilson tliouglit it might not be generally known what was the actual weight of water distributed over an acre of land during a lieavy shower of r.ain. An inch of water over an acre represented the weight of 100 tons ; notwithstanding we had had such heavy Hoods during the last month, ou no one day bad one inch of raiu fallen ; and any gentleman acquainted with land knew the value of water ; and considering the matter merely as a ciuestion of water, it would be highly beneficial to the agri- culturist to pay even a very large premium upon the cost in- curred by the proposed company in distributing the sewage on the land. As to the land on which the experiment was to be made. Major Blundell had promised to support the experiment in the most liberal manner. He (JMr. Neilson) had, as a farmer, tried irrigation in a small way, and Mr. Harold Little- dale had tried it to a still greater extent, and in both cases the result had been most beneficial. Mr, J. A. TiKNE remarked that as au old sanitary reformer, and a former chairman of the Health Committee, it was pleasing to him to find there was now a prospect of a scheme being carried out, which, in the days when he took au interest in the subject, one hardly dared to hope would be accomplished. After some remarks from several gentlemen present, Mr. Neilson observed that after the very lucid, clear, and exhaustive statement of Lord Montagu, they ought to thank his lordship for the very kind manner in which he had come forward witli the view of giving them important information. Mr. Thomas Weld-Bluxdell seconded the motion, which was carried by acclamation. Lord Robert Montagu, M.P., acknowledged the compli- ment, and said he was really desirous of the system being tried by the rich and powerful town of Liverpool with its hundreds of thousands of inhabitants, and he had no doubt the result would be as satisfactory as it was in the case of Croydon with its 4.3,000 inhabitants. Should it he so, all the arguments hitherto advanced against the utilisation of sewage would be proved to be futile, and would be swept away. Mr. Robertson Gladstone said no scheme for the col- lecting the sewage of Liverpool could be completed that did not include the thorough destruction of the present^ privy system, and converting" those horrible "institutions" into water-closets. He liad no doubt that the principle involved was extremely convenient and justifiable in the time of Adam and Eve ; but in the present day it was, to say the least, ex- tremely disreputable. As to the matter of expense, and those very disagreeable things, local rates, he believed, if the new system was thoroughly carried out, it would result in a saving of at least one-third of tlie money now expended. The most ex- pensive thing was the night establishment for emptying the privies of Liverpool, and they must get rid of tliat most horri- ble system, the emptjing of .the cesspools and privies through- out the town. The Chairman said he felt sure that the Corporation of Liverpool, which had made an important concession to the company as to the sewage of the town for the next twenty-five years, would do everything in its power to further the object in view. This terminated the proceedings. STEAM CULTURE, The second discussion meeting of the Royal Bucks Agricul- tural Association was held on Wednesday evening, at Ayles- bury, but there was not a numerous attendance. Colonel Caulfeild Pratt took the chair. ]\Ir. J. K. Fowler said : Jumping over a great gap of time, T shall now plunge in. medins res, aud say that in 1856—1 believe I am correct in the date— a shrewd, clever, practical Buckinghamshire farmer, " William Siuitli ofWoolston," put the crude theories of steam cultivation into practice, and com- menced really the cultivation of heavy clay land by steam power. Now, gentlemen, I must at once say, that one of the greatest mistakes that has been made has been in calling this system " steam ])loughing." It is not, and it never was in- tended to be, in any way ploughing. Mr. Smith of Woolston, like many others, had observed that for many years past all our great agricultural machine makers had been inventing scari- fiers, scufilers, grubbers, and skim ploughs, to raise to the surface those curses of all strong-land farmers— couch grass, docks, and thistles, so that the autumnal suns and the frosts of win- ter would kill them. But what was the process ? What is the process now carried on ? First the land is broken up by four or five great heavy horses ; then it is, to use a country word, " thwarted" or crossed ; and when that is done, aU the above implements are put in requisition, to say notbingofmy ancient friend that most elegant and easily-moved inii)lement, the drag harrow— to do what ? Why, to effect that which Smitli's steam cultivator does at its first operation — lay all the weeds on the surface. Now, this is no exaggeration. Jlr. Smith said he saw'a new power to use in the cultivation of the land ; and he said we must bave a new implement ; henceforth the plough must go, and he then uttered this most truthful agricultural dogma, " The plough is the farmer's best filth planter." Any practical man must see at once that the first operation of a plough is to plant all the filth in the land, and that all succeed- ing operations are hut the means of getting it again to the sur- face that it may be more easily destroyed. I shall not enter into the rc.rata quasHo about priority of invention, or which is the best system to be adopted ; it has been so constantly before the public, that I shall leave the agriculturists themselves to judge from the efl'ects they see on land which has been under steam cultivation, which pl;m they deem the best for their purpose ; but in a paper of this description some account should be given of the systems now in use. I think I may say there are three plans in general use which at present take the lead— Smith's, Fowler's, and Howard's. There are others ot considerable merit, such as Savory's, Coleman's, &c.; but the above three arc in full operation, and have each produced ex- traordinary results. The main features in these systems are— 1st, Smitli's is essentially a grubber or cultivator, and is worked by an ordinary stationary engine at any part of a field, gene- rally placed as conveniently as possible for water, aud then snatch-blocks or anchors are placed at dilferent angles of the field, and a steel wire rope is passed round or across the field round these anchors, and is wound and unwound on two «ep!irate drums of a windlass placed near the engine, and turned in the ordinary way by a strap round the driving wheels of both engine and windlass. The mam difficulty Mr Smith had to encounter was to know wluit to do with the slack rope, so as to pull the grubber back again after it had first crossed the field, and he at last succeeded in inventing a very simple plan, which he called a " turnbow," and on which be charged, I beUeve, a royalty of £20. This I plan of Smith's was called the " roundabout" system. Mr. I Fowler's may be described as the direct system, as he places his THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 129 engine, a very expensive one, and not an ordinary farm engine, on the headland of a field, and a traveUiug anchor on the opposite headland, a wire rope heiug attached to the plough, which is generally one of four or five furrows, and liengs on the balance principle. The rope passes round a most in- geniously constructed apparatus, called a clip-drum affixed under tlie holier of the engine, and winds up the rope, drawing the halance-plough after it ; the furrow-plough whicli has been up in the air as it comes to the engine being on its return to the windlass on the opposite side of the field placed into work by a simple movement of the driver, and the furrow- plough Which has been in the ground takes its place in the air back again ; tlie windlass also, in a most singular manner, being attached to an anchor at one corner of tlie field, moves itself along simultaneously with the engine. Mr. Howard's plan is like Mr. Smith's, viz., the roundabout system, but he has a frame for his implement, carrying four or five coulters, with points and shares both in front and behind, so that the grubber or cultivator simply is moved backwards and forwards across the field, without the necessity of using Mr. Smith's turnbow. Mr. Howard has made several most important im- provements in liis windlass snatchblocks, and anchors, and the perfection to which he has brought the manufacture of the steel wire rope has been to a great extent the cause of the successful adaptation of steam to the cultivation of the land. Amongst others is that of a steam-engine with the boiler placed transverse or across the carriage, which eirables the engine to travel up and down hiUs with great facility. I shall only say that it seems to me one of the great advantages of Smith's and Howard's plans over Towler's is, that it matters not if the field be triangular, five-cornered, or ever so oddly shaped, or whether it be up-hill, down-liill, or \^ith high ridges across the field, this roundabout system accomplishes its work thoroughly, and by crossing every bit of the laud can be moved ; but Mith Fowler's system, moving on the headlands, the fields must be square, and the water-cart must follow the engine, and on strong clay lands, where steam cultivation is of such vast importance, the kneading and treading of the head- lands is a matter of great detriment. The advantages which the supporters of Eovvler's system claim are, that the traction being direct the power of the engine to be exerted is less, and tliat only about one -half the rope is required to be used that the other two use. I have thus roughly and very imper- fectly given you a slight sketch of each of the rival systems. In the statement I am about to make to you, you will find I have added the most important item of interest for capital ; but I hope when gentlemer. try to put these statements in com- parison with horse labour, tiiey won't forget wear and tear there ; and that on an average a man is very lucky if his horses last four years each, which at £30 per ho.-se, and selling him at £6, is £6 per annum depreciation on each horse — to say nothing of repairs of plough, tackle, harness, grease, and oil. Now, about five years ago, having seen and fully made up my mind that deep tillage was in future to be the shee; anchor of good farming, and autumn cultivation to be the means of thorough cleansing the land, and having torn to pieces two teams of horses, and broke lots of harness and implements in this attempt, T went to sse Mr. Smith's stiff land at Woolslon smashed up, and I came away determined to use it as soon as I had an opportunity ; but as my occupation at that time was only 200 acres, about 105 lieiug arable, I did not feel justified in purchasing my own set of tackle, and I liired of Mr. Moore, whose implements and rope were very weak, and he broke up about forty acres each year, at 25s. per acre twice over. The following year Mr. Lewis Taylor having purchased a new set of Messrs. Howards', I engaged him to break up all my laud that required it, at the same price, and he did most excellent work ; this convinced me, from the splendid croiis of the next year, how thoroughly efficacious the plan was. The next year I took another farm of the same size, and at once bought a set of Smith's tackle, and set to work in earnest, and the first year — that is in 1864 — I smashed up 150 acres twice over, at a depth of from eight to nine inches. The land was generally very tenacious clay, and being a very dry hot year, it w as as hard as iron: pieces of clay came up weighing some cwts., and the dry autumn killed nearly all the couch-grass and weeds of the fann. The year 1805 1 did the same, doing about tlie same amount of work, but this time much more easily, and breaking it up one inch deeper ; aud I will now give you the result of my operations as regards expenses, I must tell you that I hire my stcam-cugiue, not liaving as yet a ihnusliing machine, and this is a heavy item. I will give it per diem : £. s. d. Hire of engine — 12 -horse power 0 14 0 Engine-driver 0 3 0 Windlass man 0 2 6 Two anchor-men 0 3 6 Two lads with rope porters 0 2 3 on and waste 0 1 G Seven cwt. of coal 0 5 0 Beer — 10 pots per day (plus malt-tax) ... 0 1 8 luterest on cost of apparatus, £220, and • wear and tear, at 12g per cent., on 40 days when used 0 14 0 Water-cart, horse, and boy 0 4 0 Total £2 12 2 Average seven acres per day, or about 7s. 6d. per acre. Now, gentlemen, let (me at once say that I consider price has nothing to do with the question, but I mention this so that there shall be nothing to carp at afterwards, and that I was afraid to show my figures ; the great point was, that I had smashed up and made use of several thousands of tons of soil that had never been disintegrated before and never seen day- light. I had broken the pan of the earth that had been trod- den and puddled for perhaps centuries by heavy horses year after year, and by means of this smashing up had rendered drainage on these stiff clays perfect. The water which for- merly stood up the furrows and all over the land is now never seen'; and above all, I had broken up all my land and com- pleted everything in the way of autumn cultivation by the middle of October. I am convinced that subsoils are often poor because they are not properly cultivated, and they are in an unfit state to receive manure ; but the system will alter all that, and these poor clay subsoils will be found rich in the best constituents ofuseful land. Now, gentlemen, lam prepared for the remarks that probably some persons this evening may mention. " What have you done this year ?" I will tell you. Tliis autumn I have done nothing ; but I will answer tlus ques- tion by asking another : " What have you all been doing this au- tumn with your Bentalls, your scarifiers, your Colemaus, yovr Turners, kc? I am aware that in the majority of cases, where our harvest was so late, it was not economical to bring it out ; but I know that Mr. Smith of Woolston, Mr. Howard, and scores of others liave done lots of work this autumn. But I will tell you what I did this spring : I had thirty-two acres of as stiff' clay as any in this county, which had been under- drained, and only completed by the middle of April. It lay in such a rough state, aud was so wet and soft, that it was al- most impossible to put a horse upon it, and I fetched out my good friend Smith of Woolston, and I smashed the whole of it up aud made a good tilth in less than a week. I drilled it with oats and barley, and had as good a crop as could be seen iu the neighbourhood ; and I am fuUy confident, if I had not liad steam, I should not have had a quarter of corn of these thirty-two acres. Now, gentlemen, I am sure I have tried your patience, but I hope the interest you all feel in this most important subject will be my apology for keeping you so long. All honour, then, to the Buckinghamshire farmer. Smith of Woolston, for his indomitable pluck in bringing this system to perfection, and to those public-spirited men, Messrs. John Eowler and Howard, for the patience and skill with which they have succeeded in still further working out tliis difficult problem. A discussion ensued, in which Mr. J. Taylor gave the results of steam culture on Sir Anthony de Rothschild's farm at Aston Chnton. Tliey had been at work all the autumn, and found it impossible to use the cultivator iu the way it was ordinarUy used ; and they were using the plough, lie would say, use your cultivator to clean your land. But they would find that the cultivator would not supersede the plough ; but let them turn over the land as deeply as possible, for the more they exposed ^the laud to the atmos- ])here the better it would be. He agreed with Mr. Fowler that steam cultivation was not altogether a question of cost. If they once undertook to use steam for the cultivation of the land they would not get the result at once ; but he would be bound to say that they could trace for years afterwards land that had been treated by steam. He was pleased to find that Mr, Fowler did not ouut to give houour to Mr. Smith, who K 2 130 THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. Imd done more to develop steam eultivatiou than any other man. As to difficulties of steam appliances, he did not see any. Sir Anthony's farm was at the top of Aston llill, and notwithstaudiug the qnality of the land there, there was not a sqnare hole that tliey could nut get at with their implements, whether harrow, or plough, or cultivator. In one place, the engine was 150 feet liiglier than the implement at work, which he ascertained hy the use of a spirit level ; and on one occasion by an arrangement of rope they could do ari acre an hour. During the sho''t days of winter they worked ten acres a day. But then it required only one operation, and it was with the view of soiling oats in the spring. That was an example of what could he done by steam. They coidd not perform impossibili- ties hy steam any more than by any other agency; but the fact was, the difficulty of breaking up the laud was greatly reduced by the employment of steam, and he had no fear that farmers employing that agency would ever regret it. He hoped never to be obliged to farm othervrise. Indeed, if they got a steamer, there was otlier work on alarm that could be done by it, such as thrashing and grinding. He dared venture to say he could find employment on a farm for a steam engine every day in the year. He was much amused hy the remark of a pedlar who travelled past Aston for twenty years past, that he used to see the scythe flash through the corn ; but since they had had steam he did not see it at all, but the crops were better, as was in- stanced by tile fact that he grew four or five quarters of barley per acre on the same laud. Mr. J. W. Gill I' FIN alluded to the comparison between steam and horse power. If he had a farm like Mr. i'owler's, he would want to buy some useful colts from £20 to £25 each, and wear one out and then sell it for £50. He would not want to lose £(3 a-year for four years by his horses, and then they to he useless at last. Mr. fowler's calculation that a horse would only last four years was scarcely correct. Mr. W. H. Rose would ask both Mr. Taylor and Mr. Fowler whether they did not think the better crops of which they spoke were partly owing to the manuring and liigh dressing. That was the way to arrive at a correct idea of the relative worth of the two systems. Mr. Tavlok said, of course they had used manure and dress- ing ; but there was a great deal of the land on the Aston Hill, that could not be ploughed by horses, which could scarcely drag themselves up some of the steep sides of the bills; and even if they could, a man could not hold the plough there and walk up. He had no hesitation in attributing by far the greater part ofthe result of the crops to the agency of steam. There was one view of steam power that had not been alluded to — the moral effect. Of all the agencies of civilization there was nothing like steam ; and he was safe in saying that it made all connected with it smarter. Mr. Rose asked if Mr. Taylor could not plough the land with horses, on the lulls, how did he manage to cart off the crop? Mr. Tayi.ou replied that wheels were very dilTerent from dragging a plough. Mr. J. K. lowi.ER said it was not to be understood that after i^irmers adopted steam tiiey sliould keep no horses at all on their farms ; for there were certain operations in which horses would always be wanted, liut it was not profitable to keep the horses still in the stable, merely because they had a steam engine. Cloverley, for instance, was one of the things for which they niiglit fairly be used for turning over the land. The entire superseding of horses by steam was never intended by Mr. Smith or any of the promoters of steam culture. Looking at the comparison in a pecuniary light, it is immea- surably in favour of steam over horse labour. It was abso- lutely impossible that all the horses in England could do what the steam-engine could do. There was no invented imple- ment that could go deep enough. There was no invented harness that could move the masses of earth that steam could ; and the very method by which the steam plough drove like a sledge-hammer into the soil, not like the dead pull of horses, but the banging of the engine itself on the soil, disintegrated it in a way that no horse labour could effect. He was for smashing up. This was perhaps an exceptional year, and, perhaps, owing to the grass laud cultivated, with no frost to kiU the grass, the furrow- plough might be advantageously used ; but as a rule, he was against the furrow-plough smashing up, and on the broad principle that Mr. Smith had enumerated — that they wanted to get the noxious weeds on the top of the soil, and not to bury them. As had been well hinted, the cost of the steam engine should not be charged to steam ploughing alone ; for other work could be done by steam. As to Mr. Griffin's remark about horses, he (Mr. Fowler) once used the same objection to Mr. Smith, but he replied that he ^as more a grazier than a farmer if he meant to make a profit out of the work of his horses. His horses were intended to do the work of the farm, and not to be pampered and sold fo r a lot of money after- wards. Perhaps he had overstated the case in saying a horse would not last over four years. As to Mr. Rose's observation about his crops, he could best answer that by asking him how many times he (Mr. Rose), as a judge of that society, had awarded him the silver cup for his steam-cultivated crops ? Mr. Mechi once said at a dinner that he never had seen fur- rows made by horse-power deeper than a wine-glass ; and he afterwards took a wine-glass and placed it in the furrow in the ploughing field, and in no case was the furrow deeper. He had heard of people ploughing by horse-power ten inches deep ; but he would be glad to go any distance to see it. What he would say was. Let us stick to this principle : whatever is to be obtained, go to steam and have deep culti- vation, especially on your heavy clay lands. A vote of thanks was passed to Mr. Fowler, and a similar compliment having been paid U) the chairman, the meeting ended. OILS AND FATS, AND THEIR EQUIVALENTS AS FOOD FOR STOCK. At the Athy Farmers' Club, Professor Camekon read the following paper. He commenced with some introductory remarks of a general nature, referring to the former and present condition of agriculture in the British Islands, the sources of the supplies of meat, and the probability of keener competition between the foreign and home pro- ducer of meat , after which he proceeded as follows : I shall now briefly describe the composition of those animals the rearing of wliich constitutes no inconsiderable proportion of the business of the Irish farmer. Exclusive of the blood, which contains the elements of all the parts ofthe body, the animal organism is composed of three distinct classes of sub- stances— nitrogenous, non-nitrogenous, and mineral. All these substances must exist in food. In some kinds of nu- triment— milk and wheat-grain, for examples — all these con- stituents are found ; but in otbers — sugar, for example — but one of them occurs. The nitrogenous part of the carcase em- braces the muscles, or lean fiesh, the gelatine of the bones, a small portion of the nervous system, and the skin and its ap- pendages—hair, horns, S:e. The non-nitrogenous constituents are its fats and oils ; and its mineral matter is found chieflv in the bony frame-work. These different constituents are not, however, completely isolated. The mineral matter, no doubt, accumulates in certain parts ; but, in small quantities, it is found in almost every part of the carcase ; and, although the fat forms a distinct tissue, the muscles of the leanest animal are never free from a sensible proportion of this substance. Albumen, fibrine, and casein are the principal nitrogenous sub- stances found in food : hence they are termed " flesh" or " rauscle-foimers," because they alone are capable of repairing the waste of the muscular tissues of animals. The fat and oil of animals are derived from vegetable fats and oils, or from certain non-nitrogenous substances which are capable of being converted into fat in tiie animal body, such, for example, as starch, sugar, and vegetable fibre-. The constituents of food which form fat are termed " fat-forraers," and sometimes " heat-givers" or " respiratory elements," because it is believed that their slow combustion in the animal body is the cause of its high temperature. The mineral elements of the carcase are furnished chiefly by those food-substauces which contain nitrogen, and which, therefore, are flesh-formers. The whey of milk is rich in these ; but they do not occur in pure butter, THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 131 in starch, or in sugar. Fat is a niufU more abundant consti- tuent of the animal body thau is generally supposed. That this substance should constitute tlie greater part of the weight of an obese pig seems probable cnougii ; but few are aware that even in a lean sheep there is fifty per cent, more fat than lean flesh. For a very accurate knowledge of the relative amounts of fiitty, lean, and mineral portions of the carcases of animals we are indebted to Liebig, Lehman, but more especially to Lawes and Gilbert. The investigations, in relation to tliis point, of Lawes and Gilbert I cannot avoid characterising as one of the most laborious, and apparently most trustworthy, on record. The mere statement of the results occupies no less than 187 pages of one of the huge volumes of the " Trans- actions" of the Royal Society. From a large number of animals on which feeding experiments were being conducted ten individuals were selected. These were a fat calf, a half-fat ox, a moderately fat ox, a fat lamb, a store sheep, a half-fat old sheep, a fat sheep, a very fat sheep, a store pig, and a fat pig. These animals were killed, and the dilfereut organs and parts of their bodies were separately weighed and analyzed. The results were that, with the exception of the calf, all the animals contained more fat than lean. The fat ox and the fat lamb contained (liree times as much fat as lean flesh, and the proportion of the fatty matters to tlie nitro- genous constituents of the carcase of the very fat sheep was as 4 is to 1. In the pig the fat greatly preponderated over the lean ; the store pig containing tliree times as much and the fat pig five times as much fat as lean. That part of the animal which is consumed as food by man is termed the carcase by the butcher, and contains Jjy far the greater portion of the fat of the animal. The olJ'al, in the language of the butcher, constitutes those jiarts wliicli are not commonly con- sumed as human food ; at least, by tlie weU-to-do classes. In calves, oxen, lambs, and sheep the offal embraces the skin, the feet, and the liead, and all the internal organs, excepting the kidneys and their fatty envelope. The oft'al of the pig is made up of all the internal organs, excepting the kidneys and kidney tat. It is the relative proportion of fat in the carcases analyzed by Lawes and Gilbert that I have stated to you ; but as the nitrogenous matters occur in greatest quantity in the offal, it is necessary that the relative proportion of the con- stituents of the Ijody, taken as a whole, should be considered. On an average, then, it will be found that a fat, fully-grown animal will contain 49 per cent, of water, 33 per cent, of dry fat, 13 per cent, of dry nitrogenous matter (muscles separated from fat), hide, &c., and 3 per cent, of mineral matter. In a lean animal the average proportions of the various constituents wiU be 54 per cent, of water, Soj per cent, dry fat, 17 per cent, of dry nitrogenous substances, and 3^ per cent of mine- ral matter. As fat forms so large a portion of the body, it is evident that the part it plays in the animal economy must lie a most important oue. Let me state to you the opinion which prevails amongst scientific men as to its physiological functions — an opinion or theory which, at the outset, I may remark, was originated by Liebig. According to this theory, the food of animals includes two distinct kinds of substances — plastic and non-plastic. The plastic materials are com- posed of carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen, and a little sul- phur and phosphorus. Albumen, fibrine, and casein are plastic elements of nutrition ; they fonn the lean flesh, or muscles, the membranes and cartilages, the gelatine of the bones, the skin, the hair, and, in short, every part of tlie body which contains nitrogen. The non plastic elements of nutri- tion include fat, oil, starch, sugar, gum, and certain con- stituents of fruits, such as pectine. All of these substances — and of each kind there are numerous varieties — are capable of conversion, in the animal mechanism, into fat and oil. The non-plastic food substances do not contain nitrogen ; hence they are commonly termed non-nitrogenous elements. The oily and fatty matters contain a large proportion of carbon, tjicir next most abundant com])Oiient is hydrogen, and tliey contain but little oxygen. Unlike the plastic elements, they are altogether destitute of sulpluir and phosphorus. The starchy, saccharine, and gummy substances are com- posed of the same elements as the fatty bodies ; but they contain a higher proportion of oxygen. According to Liebig, fat, unlike albumen, does not possess an organized structure. It is devoid of vital properties, and is merely in a state of mechanical admixture with the tissues — from which, indeed, it may he removed liy mere pressure, or by solvents without in the slightest degree atl'ccting the structure of these parts. If this view of the nature of tat be correct, it is evident that it no more participates in the life of an animal than does the water, which forms the greater portion of the weight of its body. The fatty constituents of the body undergo a slow pro- cess of combustion, by which heat is produced; and just in proportion as the temperature of the medium in which the animals live is low, so will there be a greater demand for the fat-forming or heat-giving food. I have stated that the fat of animals greatly exceeds their lean flesh. This fact is sugges- tive of many important questions : What relation is there be- tween tlie composition of an animal and that of its food ? Should an animal whose body contains three times as much fat as lean flesh be supplied with food containing three times as much fat-formers as muscle-producers ? To these questions there is some diliiculty in replying. There is a relationship between the composition of an animal and that of its food ; but the relationship varies so greatly that it is, at present at least, impossible to determine \vith accuracy the quantity of fat-formers necessary to produce a given weight of fat in ani- mals, taken in gloho. If, however, we deal with a particular animal, placed under certain conditions, it is then possible to ascertain the amount of fat which a given weight of non- plastic food will produce. Lawes and Gilbert found that oxen stored up in permanent increase of fat 10 per cent, of the fat- formers supplied to them ; sheep, 12 per cent., and pigs no less than 20 per cent. The amount of flesh-formers stored up in permanent increase is far less than in the case of the fat- formers ; and it appears to me that too great importance has been given to tne presence of large amounts of nitrogenous or plastic ingredients in food substances. AVhilst it is certain that neither nerves nor muscles can be elaborated exclusively out of fat, starch, sugar, or other non-nitrogenous substance, it is almost equally clear that fat may be formed out of nitroge- nous tissue. The quantity of fat, however, which is produced in the animal mechanism from purely nitrogenous food appears to be relatively very small. No animal is capable of subsisting solely on muscle-forming materials, no matter how abundantly supplied. The food of the carnivora contains a large i)ropor- tion of fat, and the nutriment of the herbivora is largely made up of starch and other fat-formers. Logs, geese, and other animals fed exclusively on albumen or white of egg rapidly decreased in weight, and after presenting all the symptoms of starvation, died in three or four weeks. The fat of the bodies of the ^carnivora is almost entirely formed — and probably with little if any alteration — from the fatty con- stituents of their food . Herbivorous animals, on the contrary, derive nearly all their fat from starch, sugar, gum, cellu- ose, and other non-nitrogenous, but not fatty materials. Although starch is convertible into fat, it is not to be under- stood that a pound-weight of one of these bodies is equivalent to an equal quantity of the other. During the conversion of starch into fat, the greater number of its constituent atoms is converted into water and carbonic-acid gas. The greater number of the more important metamorphoses of organised matter which take place in the animal organism is the result of either oxidation or fermentation : in the conversion of starch or sugar into fat or oil, both of these processes, it is stated, t.ake place : a portion of the hydrogen is converted by oxida- tion into water, and by fermentation carbonic-acid gas is formed, which removes both oxygen and carbon. Perhaps in tlie formation of fat fermentation is alone employed, a portion of the oxygen being removed as water, and another portion as carbonic acid. The chief difference between the ultimate com- position of starch and fat is, that the latter contains a much larger proportion of carbon and hydrogen. The knowledge of the exact quantity of starch required for the production of a given amount of fat is of importance in enabling us to estimate the relative values of both substances. Certain difficulties stand in the way of our acquiring an accurate knowledge on this point : not only are there several distinct kinds of fat, but the precise formula, or atomic constitution, of each is as yet veiled in doubt. Three fats are common to man, the lower animals, and vegetables -. these are stearine, margarine, and oleine. Tlie relative proportions of these vary in the case of esch species of animal, and even in different individuals of the same species. The composition of each fat does not, how- ever, vary to any great extent. This fact, together with cer- tain other considerations, have led chemists to assume that two-and-a-half parts of starch are required for the production 132 THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. of one part of animal fat. Grape-sugar aiul the pectinc lindirs — substances which form the great bulk of the food of the lierbivora — coutain more oxygen and hydrogen than exist in starch, and, consequently, are not capable of forming so large an amount of fat as starch is. We are, I think, very close to the truth when we set down 2| parts of starch, 2^ parts of sugar, or 3 parts of pectine bodies, as being equivalent to one part of fat or oil. We novir turn to a most important ques- tion, which the study of the facts 1 have adduced must suggest to the inquirer's mind : What becomes of the ninety per cent. of the weight of the non-nitrogenous constituents of the food of the sheep, and of the eighty per cent, of that of the nutri- ment of the pig, which they consume, and do not store up ? I have already partly answered this question. This portion of the food is chiefly expended in the production of the heat with which the high temperature of the animal's body is maintained. Part of it, no doubt, passes unchanged through its body,either owingto the indigestibility or to its being given in excess. The quantity of non-nitrogenous matters consumed by a man is influenced greatly by the temperature of the air which he habitually breathes ; and also, but to a far less extent, on the nature of the artificial covering of his body. There may be other conditions at present unknown to us, but these are amongst the chief ones. Now, as there is sufficient reason to lead us to believe that the con- sumption of carbonaceous food by the lower auimals is influ- enced in the same way by the temperature of the medium in which they exist, the question naturally suggests itself, would it not be cheaper to maintain the heat of the animal by burning the carbon of cheap coal or turf outside its body, than by con- suming the carbon of costly fat within it ? The answer to this question is not so simple as at first sight it appears to be. In considering it, we must guard against the mistakes into which pseudo-scientific men so often fall. We must not, with them, consider that because a stone weight of carbon, as coal, cost but a penny, whilst an equal weight of the same element in starch costs twenty pence, that heat may be furnished to a fat- tening animal twenty times cheaper by the combustion of coal than by that of starch. No doubt, the amount of heat evolved by the conversion of a pound weight of carbon into carbonic acid is the same, whether it be a constituent of starch or of coal; but the application of the heat so produced is less under our control in the latter case. All the heat evolved during the combustion of the starch within the animal's body is made use of; whilst a very large proportion of that de- veloped by the combustion of coal in a furnace cannot in practice be applied to the purpose of heating the animal's body. It is only the handiwork of the Creator which is perfect, and no machine constructed by the skill of man, for the direction of force, can rival that wondrous heat-producing, force-directing mechanism — the animal organism. According to Dumas, the combustion of about 2^lbs. of carbon in a steam-engine is re- quired to generate sufficient force to convey a man from the level of the sea to the summit of Mont Blanc ; Init a man will ascend the mountain in two days, and burn in his mechanism only half a pound of carbon. There is no machine in which heat and force are more completely made available than the animal organism ; and were it not — thanks to the influence of antediluvian sunshine— that the carbon of fuel in these countries is so very much cheaper than the carbon of food, there is no doubt but tJiat the cheapest mode of keeping an animal warm would be to allow it to burn its carbon within its body. As the matter stands, however, there is no question as to the advisability of keeping fattening animals in a warm place. If the temperature of the stall be equal to that of thea nimal"s body there wUl be less food con- sumed in the increase of its fat, because less of the fat-forming materials will be expended in the production of heat. In this sense, therefore, heat is an equivalent to food, hut only within certain limits. No matter how high the tem- perature of the air may be, heat will be developed within the animal body. Why it should be evolved under such circum- stances is not very clear. Perhaps it is partly owing to the fact that animal substances are bad conductors of heat, aud that, consequently, an animal, if solely dependant upon the heat of the sun would not have its deep-seated organs maintained by it at a sufficiently high temperature. I do not know that the experiment has ever lieeu made ; but it would he worth the trouble to ascertain whether the centre of the heart of a dead animal has the same temperature as that of the air when the latter is, say, 90 deg. or 100 deg. : I do not think it has. Perhaps the combustion of carbon in the animal organism is involved in the production of nervous force, and that the evolution of heat is an incidental action. Ee the cause what it may, it is quite certain that heat is de- veloped in large quantity within the animal body, iiulepen- dently of the temperature of the air. There is, therefore, no object attained by having the stalls heated beyond 70 deg. or 8U deg. Indeed, it is to be questioned wliether or not stalls artificially heated are ever properly ventilated. If they be not, the health of the animal will sufler, and its appetite — so essential a point in fattening stock — will become impaired. On the whole, then, I think we may safely eliminate from the facts I have detailed the following conclusions : Firstly, that animals, when fattening, should be kept at a temperature not under 70 deg. uor above 90 deg. Fahrenheit ; secondly, that the mode of heating must be such that there is as little waste- ful combustion of fuel as is possible under the circumstances ; and, lastly, that no motives of economy of fuel should prevent the feeding-places from being thoroughly ventilated. The shelterhif/ of animals is perhaps of more importance than the heating of their bodies by the combustion of tuel. Nothing lowers the temperature of the surface so rapidly as a cold wind. Captain Parry, one of the explorers of the arctic re- gions, states that his men, when well clothed, suflered no in- convenience on exposure to the low temperature of 55 deg. below zero, provided the air was perfectly cahn ; but the slightest breeze, when the air was at this temperature, caused the painful sensation produced by intense cold. I could ad- duce the experience of many practical men in favour of the plan of affording shelter to animals, but more especially to those kept in situations much exposed to winds. Mr. Nesbit relates a case bearing on tliis point, which is so instructive that I shall repeat it to you : A farmer in Dorsetshire put up twenty or thirty sheep, under the protection of a series of up- right double hurdles, lined with straw, having, as a sort of roof or lean-to, a single hurdle, also lined with straw. A like number of sheep of the same weight were fed in the open field, without shelter of any kind. Each set was fed with turnips nd UhUti,u. The result was that those without shelter increased iu weight lib. per week for every sheep ; whilst those under shelter, although they consumed less food, in- creased respectively 31b. per week. Having now shown the importance of fats and their equivalents in the nutrition of stock, I shall bring under your notice a few of the more im- portant food-stuff's which, in my opiuion, are chiefly valuable for their non-plastic elements. Within the last quarter of u century great attention has been given to the feeding of stock ; and the effects are observable in the improved quality and greatly -increased weight of the animals. In the year 1839 the average weight of the horned beasts from Ireland sold in the London market was only G401b., whereas at the present time their average weight is about T-iOlb. This remarkable advance in the production of meat is in great part due to the cattle being more liberally supplied with food, and that, too, of a more concentrated nature. The practice of feeding animals destined for the shambles exclusively on roots, containing 90 and even 95 per cent, of water, which once prevailed so generally iu this country, is now limited to the farmsteads of a few old-fashioned feeders ; and the necessity for the admixture of highly nutritious aliment with the bulky substances which form the staple food of stock is almost universally recognised. Of concentrated foods used for fattening stock none stands higher in the estimation of the farmer than linseed-cake, al- though it appears to me that the price of the article is some- what too high iu relation to its amount of nutriment, and that corn, if its price be moderate, is a more economical food. Straw, turnips, and mangels form the bone and sinew of the animals, and enable them to carry on the vital operations which are essential to their existence. Oilcake and similar foods are supplemental, and contribute directly to the animal's increase, so that their nutritive value appears to be greater than it really is. If an animal were fed exclusively upon oU- cake, the greater part of it would be appropriated to the repa- ration of the waste of the body, aud the rest would be con- verted into permanent flesh — the animal's " increase." The addition of straw would produce a still further increase in the animal's weight — an increiise which would be directly propor- tionate to the amount of straw consumed. Thus it will be seen that, whatever the staple food may be, it will have to THE FAEMER'S MAGAZINE. 13c sustain tlie life of the animal, and will be principally cxpemled for that purpose ; whereas the supplemental food will )ic chiefly, if not entirely, made use of in increasing the weiglit of flesh. To me it appears manifestly incorrect to consider, as feeders practically do, the value of linseed-cake to be seven or eight times greater tlian that of oat-st»aw, and twenty times greater than that of roots. Let us assume the case of an animal fed upon roots, straw, aud oilcake. Seventy-five per cent, of its food, say, is expended in repairing the waste of its body ; and twenty-five per cent, is stored np in its increase. Now, if the three kinds of food contributed proportionately to tlie reparation of the body and to its increase, the roots and straw would be found to possess a far higher nutritive value, in relation to tlie oilcake, than is usually ascribed to them. But it may be asked why straw, if it be relatively a much more economical feeding-stuft' than oilcake, is not employed, to the complete exclusion of the latter ? Simply because ani- mals thrive better on a diet composed partly of bulky, partly of concentrated aliments. This much, however, is certain — that animals can be profitably i^fed upon roots and straw ; whilst it is equally certain that to feed them upon oilcake alone (assuming them to thrive upon such ^ diet) would entail a very heavy loss upon the feeder. At the same time, it must be admitted that the oil of the linseed-cake exercises, in all probability, a beneficial influence on the digestion of the animal, so that the nutritive value of the article may be some- what higlier than its mere composition would indicate. The quantity of oilcake given to fattening stock varies from 21bs. to lilbs. per diem. I believe there is no greater mis- take made by feeders than that of giving excessive quantities of this substance to stock. If their object in so doing be to enrich their manure-heap, they would find it far more econoirfcal to add the cake directly to the manure — or rather of adding rapecakc to it, for this variety of cake is fully as valualile for manorial purposes as the linseed cake, and is nearly 50 per cent, cheaper. A larger quantity of oilcake than 71bs. daOy should not be given to even the largest-sized milch cows or fattening bullocks. If a larger amount be em- ployed it will pass unchanged through the animal's body. Young cattle may with advantage be supplied with from 1 to 31bs., according to their size, and from Mb. to lib. will be a sufiicient quantity for sheep. [ntcUigent feeders liave re- marked that cattle which had been always supplied with a moderate allowance of this food fattened more readily upon it during their finishing stage than did stock which had not been accustomed to its use. The great drawback to the use of linseed cake is the liability of the article to be adulterated. The sophistication is senjetimes of a harmless nature — if we except its injurious eff'ect on the farmer's pocket ; but not un- ft'ecpipntly the substances added to the cakes possess properties wliich comiiletely unfit them to be used as food. Amongst the injurious substances found in linseed and linseed-cake I may mention the seeds of the purging flax, darnel, spurry, corn-cockle, curcus beans, and castor-oil beans. Several of these seeds are highly drastic purgatives, and tliey have been known to cause intense inflammation of tlie bowels of animals fed upon oilcake, of which they composed but a small propor- tion. Amount the adulterations of linseed cake which lower its nutritive value without imparting to it any injurious pro- perties are the seeds of the cereals and the grasses, lirau, and flax-straw. Little black seeds belonging to various species of Polygonum are very often present in even good cakes ; they are very indigestible, but otherwise are not injurious. Rape- cake is stated to be occasionally used as an adulterant of the more costly linseed, but I have never met with an admixture of the two articles. The only way in which a correct esti- mate of the value of linseed cake can be arrived at is by a combined microscopical and chemical analysis ; but as the feeder is not always disposed to incur tlie cost of tliis pro'eess, he should make himself acquainted witli the characteristic of the genuine cake, in order to be able to discriminate, as far as possible, between it aii^ the sophisticated article. I shall in- dicate a few of the more prominent features of cake of excel- lent quality, and point out a few simple and easily-performed tests which may serve to detect the existence of gi'oss adultera- tion. Good cake is liard, of a reddish-brown colour, uniform in appearance, and possesses a rather pleasant flavour and odour : the adulterated cake is commonly of a grayisii hue, and has a disagreeable odour. A weighed quantity of the cake — 3% 100 grains — in the state of powder should be foniu'd into a paste witli an ounce of water. If it be good till- jiaste will be liglit-coloured, moderately stiff, aud endowed with a pleasaut odour aud flavour. If the paste be thin, the presence of bran, or of grass seeds, is probable ; the latter are easily seen througli a manifying glass — indeed, most of them are readily recognisable by the unassisted eye ; tliey may tlierefore be picked out, and their weight determined. Sand —a frequent adulterant— may be detected by miring a small weighed quantity of the powdered cake with about twelve times its weight of water, allowing the mixture to stand for lialf-an-hour, and collecting and weighing the sand which will be found at the bottom of the vessel employed. If there be bran present it will be found lying on the sand, and its structure is sufBciently distinct to admit of its detection by a mere glance. There are a great variety of linseed cakes in the market, of wliich the home-made article is the best. On the continent, the oil- seeds are subjected to the action of heat in order to obtain from them a greater yield of oil : their cakes, therefore, con- tain less oil, and their flesh-forming principles are less soluble, in comparison with British linseed cake. Next to our home- made oilcakes, the American is the best. Indeed, I have met with some American cakes which were equal to the best Eng- lish. The use of rapecake was limited almost completely to. the fertilizing of the soil until the late Mr. Pusey, in a ]iaper published in the tenth volume of the " Journal of the Royal Agricultural Society of England," advocated its em- ployment as a substitute for the more costly linseed cake. The recommendation of this distinguished agriculturist has not been disregarded ; and, since his time, the use of this cake as a feeding stuff has been steadily on the increase, and at the present time its annual consumption is not far short of 50,000 tons. In relation to the nutritive value of rapecake, there exists considerable diversity of opinion. Certain feeders as- sert that animals fed upon it go out of condition ; others, whilst admitting that stock thrive upon it, maintain the economic superiority of linseed cake ; whilst a third set believe rapecake to be the raoet economical of feeding stuffs. How are we to account for these great difl'erences of opinion — not amongst theorists, be it observed, but amongst practical men ? It is not difficult to explain them away satisfactorily. Rape- cake and linseed cake are about equally rich in muscle and fat-forming principles ; and, supposing both to be equally well flavoured, there can be no doubt but that one is just as nourishing as the other. But it so happens that a large pro- portion of the rapecake which comes into the British market possesses a flavour which renders it very disagreeable to ani- mals. One variety — namely, tlie East Indian — is almost poisonous, whilst the very best kind is slightly inferior to lin- seed cake. Now, if an experiment with a very inferior kind of rapecake and a good variety of linseed cake were tried, who can doubt but that the results would be very favourable to the latter article? Mr. Callan, of Rathfarnham, Co. Dublin ; Mr. Bird, of Rentou Barns, and some other feeders who found rapecake to be worse than useless, experimented in all probability with an adulterated article, for they do not appear to have had the cake analyzed. On the other hand, those whose experience with rapecake has proved favourable must have employed the article in a genuine state, moderately fresh, and well-flavoured. It is noteworthy that amongst the advocates for the use of rapecake as a substitute (partly or entirely) for the more costly linseed cake are to be found the most successful feeders in England and Scotland. Ilorsfall, Mechi, Lawrence, Bond, Hope, and many other feeders of equal celebrity, have assigned to rapecake the highest place, in an economic point of view, amongst the concentrated feeding stuffs. Mr. Mechi says : " I invariably give to all ray animals as much rapecakp as they choose to eat, however abundant their roots or green food may l)e. It pays in many ways ; and not to do this is a great pecuniary mistake. Even when fed on green rape, they will eat rapecake abundantly. JMy cattle are now under cover, eating the steamed chafi', rapecakc, malt coombs, and bran, all mixed together in strict accordance v ith the proportions named by Mr. Horsfall, in the ' Journal of the Royal Agricultural Society,' vol. xviii., p. 150, which I find by far the most profitable mode of feeding bullocks and cows." Mr. Hope, ot Edinburgh, states that rapecake is the best substitute for turnips, and that, excepting eases where spurious kinds had been used, he never knew buUocks orraUch cows to refuse it. This gentleman states that it is best given 134. THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. iu coiiiljinatiou with locust beans, or a mixture of locust beans and Indian corn, and suggests the proportions set down in the tables as the best adapted for lean eattle ; but I tliink about two-tliirds of tlic quantities would be quite sufficient. Feed per ^yeek. Per week, lbs. s. d. Rapecake at £15 IdS. per ton 8 ... 3 10^ Do. Do. 10 ... 3 7 Mixture of two-tliirds rapccake and one-third locust beans, £6 8 ... 3 0 Do. Do. Do. ... 10 ... 3 [) Rapccake, locust beans, and Indian corn in equal proportions S ... 3 2J- Do. Do. Do. ... 10 ... . 3 ll| Au intelligent Scotch dairy farmer bears the following testimony in favour of this cake : " 1 liave tried peas-meal, beau-meal, oat- meal, and linseed cake, and after carefully noting the results, I consider rapccake, weight for weight, at least equal to any of them for milch cows ; and, if I give the same money value for each, I get at least one-third more produce, and the butter is always of a very superior quality. Two years ago, I took some of my best oats (lllbs. per bushel), and ground them for the cows ; and although I was about one-third more ex- pense, I lost fully one-third of the produce that I had by using rapecake. I always dissolve it by pouring boiling water on it, and give each cow 61bs. daily. I have tried a larger quantity, and found I was fully repaid for tlie extra expense. I gene- rally use it the most of the summer, but always during the spring months. A number of my neigbbours who liave tried it all agree that it is the best and clieahest feed for milch cows they have used." The best kinds of rapecake come from Ger- many and Denmark. When fresh, and of a pale green colour, these foreign cakes are tolerably well flavoured, and are but slightly inferior to good linseed cake. Most varieties of this cake, however, contain a small proportion of an acrid matter, whicii often renders tham more or less distasteful to stock, more particularly to cattle. This substance may be rendered quite innocuous by steaming or boiling the cake. Either of these processes will also, according to Mr. Law- rence, destroy the disagreeable flavour which mustard-seed — a frequent adulterant of rapecake — confers upon that article. Molasses, or treacle, is an excellent adjunct to the cake, as it serves in a great measure to correct its somewhat un- pleasant flavour. Carob or locust beans answer, perhaps, better the same purpose. It is better, as a general rule, to give less rapecake than linseed cake, unless the pale green kind to which I liave referred is obtainable : that variety may be largely employed. The animals should be gra- dually accustomed to its use. At first — iu the case of bul- locks— they should get only 1 lb. per diem, and the quantity should be gradually increased to about -i lbs. ; but I would not advise, under any circumstances, a larger daily aUovvance than 5 lbs. Given in moderate amounts it will, supposing it to be of fair quality, be found to give a better return in meat than almost any other kind of concentrated food ; and, what is of great importance, it will not injuriously aifect (lie animaUs health. Our experience of the use of rape cake, says Mr. Lawrence, thus used (cooked) extends over a period of ten years of feeding from 20 to 3-t bullocks annually. We have not had a single death during that period, and the aninuds have been remarkably free from any kind of ailment. Rape cake of good quality possesses a dark green colour (the greener the better), and when broken cxiubits a mottled aspect — yellowish and dark brown spots. Sometimes a toler- ably good specimen has a brownish colour ; but the German and Danish cakes arc always of a greenish hue. The odour is stronger than that of linseed cake, and differs but little from that of rape oil. The only serion.s adulteration of rape cake is the addition to it of mustard seed — sometimes accidentally, less frequently, as I believe, intentionally. This sophistication admits of ea.sy detection. Scrape into small particles about half-an-ounce of the cake, add six times its weight of water, form the solid and liquid into a paste, and allow the mixture to stand for a few hours. If the cake contain mustard, tjie characteristic odour of that substance will be evolved, and its intensity will aff"ord a rough indication of the amount of the adulterant. As some specimens of genuine rape cake possess a somewhat pungent odour, care inuM lie taken nol to confound itwitli that of mustard; but, ImWd, it is not iHlIieull lo dis- criminate the latter. The paste of rape cake which contains an injurious proportion of mustard has a rc/-^ pungent flavour. Cottonseed cake is one of the most valuable feeding-stutfs that have come into use of late years. At present, owing to the late internecine war, it is rather scarce, but there is no doubt of its becoming, sooner or later, a favourite with the British feeder. The chemical composition of this cake shows it to be slightly superior to the best linseed cake, and as its price is much lower than that of the latter, it may be fairly considered a more economical food. These remarks apply only to the shelled or decorticated seed-cake, for the article prepared from the whole seed is of very inferior composition, and should never be employed. The use of the cake made from the whole seed has proved fatal in many instances— not from its possess- ing any poisonous quality, liut in consequence of its hard, indi- gestible husk, accumulating in, and inflaming, the animal's bowels. The composition of this cake varies somewhat. The following analysis of a sample from one of the western states of North America, imported by Messrs. G. Seagrave and Co., of Liverpool, was made by me : the specimen was one of the best ever imported into England — Water 8.20 Oil 10.16 Albuminous, or flesh-forming principles 40.25 Gum,sugar, &c. ... ... ... ... 21.10 Eibrc 9.23 Ash (mineral matter) ... ... ... 11.06 100.00 The purchaser of cottonseed cake should be certain that it is not old and mouldy, which is frequently the case. The recently prepared cake has a very yellow colour, which becomes fainter as the cakes become older, i'reslmess is a wry desirable quality iu every description of cake. I have known animals to have a greater relish for, and thrive better upon, home-made liuseed cake than upon cake of foreign manufacture, of supe- rior composition, but of greater age. Rape cake, however, should not be used when too fresh, owing to its acrid flavour, which time partly removes. Palm-nut meal is an article which has recently been introduced as food for stock. I have recently examined a specimen of it sold by Messrs. Wight, of Eustace- street, DubHn, and found it is extremely rich in nutritive ele- ments. Except linseed oil and the seeds of a few oil-bearing plants occasionally given to stock, palm-nut meal is the richest source of oil with which I am acquainted. It contains about 27 per cent, of fatty substances, 15 per cent, of flesh-forming elements, and about 36 per cent, of digestible non-nitrogenous matters. I would strongly recommend it as a suitable food for fattening pigs ; but it is also an excellent food for all kinds of stock, and at its present price I look upon it as the cheapest source of rciuly-formed fatty food. Molasses con- stitute a useful food, more especially as a favouring adjunct. It furnishes only fat-forming matter, in which respect 2^Ibs. of it arc about equivalent to a pound of oil or fat from liuseed cake, palm-nut meal, or similar sources. Gentlemen, I have to thank you for the attentive hearing whicli you have given to this paper, and trust that I have not altogether idly occupied your time. In leply to Rev. Mr. Bagot, Professor Camekon stated that the price of palm-nut meal in Dublin was about £7 per ton. Mr. DouGLiS stated that he had tried rnyie cake with pigs, but they got sick on it. His cattle took it as well, but they were going to die. Professor Cameron : They don't like it at first. Rape should be used when not too old. Mr. RoiiEKTSON : T was always under the impression that it was better than stale, and used in conjuctiou with oil. Mr. Bui.vvER said he had some in au out-house for nine months, and after that time the cattle, which refused to cat it when fresh, devoured it with a wUl. Professor Cameriin said at first the rape cake had a rancid taste, but when cooked with steam it was quite bland. Some observations were made as to the effect which cotton- seed and oilcake had upon milk. Mr. RoiiERT.^^ON thought the quantity would be better than till' ((uality. Piofes.sor Cameron said he had had some experience of I. ill!; -A:; an analyst ; but, no matter whatthe food on which (he c:iUl(' had been led, tluM|uanli1y of solid matter in the milk THE FAEMER'S MAGAZINE. 135 was aiueh the same ; but, of course, there was a differeace iu the quantity and quality of the cream. Mr. BuLMER asked how far were people justified in accept- ing the results of any one analysis. Professor Cameron stated that chemical analyses gave cer- tain facts which might, in most instances, he relied upon. Tlie learned professor repeated from his pajier hints as to liow genuine rape cake might he discerned. It was always known by its colour. Mr. Davidson said he had given the highest price for cake in Athy, and he found it not to succeed at all. Professor Cameron alluded to the great feeding properties of straw and turnips ; but iu this country corn was allowed to get over-ripe. Wlieu the straw began to get yellow an inch or so below the ear, it was then ripe, eveu should the remainder of the straw be green. A vast quantity of the straw was ren- dered valueless by allowing it to get too ripe. ]\[r. Davidson said he was always for giving straw and turnips to cattle : there was nothing better. Mr. Butler mentioned that at Parsoustown, in the King's County, the people hought all the rape cake they could, and sowed potatoes on it. Mr. Davidson : They do perfectly right ; it is fit for no- thing else. Mr. Robertson did not think so. His lambs never throve so well as on rape cake. Professor Cameron alluded to the fatting properties of molasses. Rev. Mr. Bagot said the same might be said of the locust bean. Mr. Butler proposed and Mr. Rawson seconded a vote of thanks to Professor Cameron, which was passed with acclama- tion. THE H E E, D S OF GREAT BRITAIN Chapter LIII. THE UPTON AND CALKE ABBEY. Those who roam through the cattle-ranks at the Royal or Islington, and set down the two or three Longhorus as mere herd-relics of the era of Hilpah and Shallum, which may serve as foils, and nothing more, for their more fashionable neighbours, should bend their wayward steps to the Sparkeuhoe, iu Septemher. Bingley Hall and Smithlield Club writers may affect to despise them ; but at this most sociable of country carnivals, where men- servants and maid-servants, stockingcrs and shepherds, wool and wheat, donkeys and sheep-dogs, and every pro- duction of the farm, living and vegetable, are had in honour, the despised ones exalt their horn. The show lies in the centre of the four counties which have been their home since the Shorthorn drove them from the North ; and they occasionally take an honourable revenge upon their extirpators, by beating them for the head prize of the meeting. ^Ir. Ikkewell and his bull Twopenny have always been regarded as their great improvers ; but j\Ir. Webster, of Canley, near Coventry, and Sir Roger Gresley, of Drakelow, had pioneered the way in the ]Mid- lauds. Three of the counties are thus accounted for ; and in 1771, four-and-twenty years before Bakcwell died. Dr. Johnson met with what, judging from the price he men- tions, must have been Longhorns, at his host's. Dr. Taylor, of Ashbourne, Derbyshire. He thus speaks, of the herd of the Doctor (who lived to read the funeral service over him) : " Let not the barren name of The Peak terrify yon : I have never loanted strawberries and cream. The great bull has HO disease but aye. I hope in time to be like the f/reat bull." The efl'orts of the breeders to bring them np to the mark had full fruition at the Rollright sale, near Shipston- on-Stour, a.d. 1791. In ]Mr. I'owler's eyes, Bakewell's Twopenny had been their Alpha and their Omega ; and the run on the blood of Shakespeare and Nell out of Old Nell by Twopenny, brought the average up to £85 2s. 3d., sucking calves included, for fifty. Mr. Stone and Mr. Buckley, the great Leicester breeders, got Garrick and Washington at .€21.5 3s. each ; Brindled Beauty, by Shakespeare out of his own dam, uuide the top price, £273 ; and Nell's produce of eight seasons realised more than l,000gs. A priced catalogue, " signed R. Parry," was subsequently published, with a preface. There is a laborious flatulence about it, which suggests that he had been trying to imitate the sonorous periods of the chro- nicler of " the great bull," and ))crished mentally in the attempt. " People might have been excited," he says, " by competition, or encouraged by coincident opinions, to exceed tlicir intentions. This may be termed a capri- cious bravery, or implicit confidential boldness, resulting from the judgment or conduct of their competitors ; but where, as at this sale, most of the cows and many of the bulls might have been resold on the spot at considerably higher prices, and I believe none repurchased at their first price, no such imputation of misconduct can apply." He then adds, as the kernel of the whole, " Mr. Fowler's conduct remains an example for imitation for over. He did not die insolvent, as his abstract property was more than the produce of the sale." jNIr. Fowler's deepest regret seems to have been the selling of three Twopenny heifers, in 1771, to a Mr. Guy, who would only let him have one of them — to wit. Painted Lady — back again. Mr. Paget of Ibstock's sale was in the November of '93. " The Dishley one-horned bull," "the Quorndon bull," "and "the Hampshire bull" had all a share iu making his herd ; and Shake- speare, bred by Mr. Fowler, was knocked down for 400gs. " Tiger ! Tiger, burning bright In the forests of the night !" was a couplet of later years' growth; but it was ap- plicable enough to what cattle-breeders consider the dark ages, as 700gs. was offered and refused for a hull of that name. Mr. Paget was also well-known in the land as one of Bakewell's most intellectual disciples, and £62 apiece was made for a pen of his Leicester theaves. j\lr. Prinsepp's of Croxall's sale, in 1811, was another red-letter day for Longhorns. A second Shakespeare had set no clownish mark on the Lupin sort, as three cows averaged £217, and sixty lots in all, £60 lis. 2id. Here the record of great sales ended, and the Durhams moved to the front. Just tw'o-thirds of a century after the first sale sixty-eight were placed in the ring at Roll- right once more, and 4 Igs. for a heifer in calf was the " crowning mercy" of the day. Although their breeders are now few in number, and have no high prices to beckon them on, they are a very devoted band. Colonel Inge has certainly " diooped and turned aside" of late by using a shorthorn bidl : but Sir John fh-ewf, on the other hand, has abjured shorthorns, which nourished at Calke Abbey both in his father's and grandfather's time. The present baronet is not alone in 136 THE FAEMER'S MAGAZINE. liis Derbyshire allegiance, as Air. Cox, M.P., of Spondon I lull, inherits to the full the tastes which made his BraUs- Ibrd kiusmaii speak up to some pur])ose on the Rollright (lay. Mr. Touilinson, of Southward, also breeds pretty extensively, and many of his bullocks have been pur- chased and shown successfully by Mr. Faulkeuer, of Bretby. Mr. Warner, of Weston Hill, keeps up the Warwickshire charter with a herd of a hundred head and eighty years' standing; and so do Messrs. Satchell of Knole, Mr. Moore of Knolc, and Mr. Tvvycross of Canley ; while the Kenilworth Chase herd can make good the claims of long descent through Mr. Jackson and Mr. Burbery of Wroxhall's herds, of which it is the successor. Mr. Shaw, of Pradley, and Mr. Brown, of Farewell, re- present Staifordshire along with Colonel luge; and in the county of their more special adoption Mr. R. K. Chapman and the Messrs. J\I. & N. Taverner of Upton, Mr. W. Berry of Stoke Golding, Mr. J. Godfrey of Wigston Parva, near Hinckley, and Mr. A. Brickwell of Sutton Cheyuel Hall, are its six and only herd owners. The Hon. M. W. B. Nugent once bred them extensively at Iligham Grange, near Hinckley, and won Koyal prizes, both at Bristol and Shrewsbury ; and his brother, the Hon. A. F. Nugent, of Pallas Tynagh, Qo. Galway, is lal)ouring to give the sort a local habitation and a name once more, in a land which is pretty nearly Booth from one end to another. The grandfather of the present Mr. Chapman began his herd career in 17oG, and (eleven years after his entry on the farm) did his best day's work by hiring the infallible Two- penny. He then used his own buUs for thirty years, and by crossing out with Prinsepp's of Croxall and Green's of Odstone Hill, earned Bakewell's praise, that " George Chapman has a capital herd." Washington (by Shake- speare, from the Bow-horned Cow), Mr. Buckley's Eoll- right purchase, was also a bull which he greatly fancied. The herd was taken on at his death, in 1803, by his son, Samuel, who was in turn succeeded in 1854, at Upton, by his son, the present tenant. It is, we believe, a circuui- stanc^e which has hardly a parallel that father and son should hold one farm for 109 years. The late Mr. Chapman was very choice in his selection of buUs ; he leant principally to Astley's of Odstone, Prinsepp's of Croxall, and Pox of Newland's blood, and dipped deep four years in succession into Marquis of Exeter, a Royal prize buU of his own breed- ing. This was in 1846-48, and in 1850 Lord Windsor, after- wards the first prize bull at Windsor, took it up ; and so we come on through Warrior, and ]\Ir. Burbcry's and JMr. Fletcher's bulls, Rollright (bred by Mrs. Baker), amd Warner's Sir Richard, to Old Sparkenhoe, another Royal first. Lord Curzon, and the Earl of Derby. There were good longhorns stiU lingering within hail of Slyddaw and Crossfell, and the present Mr. Chapman did not return empty-handed from Mr. Fletcher of Rigg Wythop's sale in 1864. In the same year he also went to Hagley Hall, when the herd of the late Hon. Robert Curzon was sold ofl', and brought back b«ll calves from Magpie and Jackdaw% the first lots in the catalogue. Of Mr. Chapman's three hundred acres, nearly one half is old grass, and the rest is generally farmed on the six-course system. He breaks up for oats, and sometimes dispenses with second seeds. There is a good marl sub- soil, a little too strong for turnips and barley, and not admitting generally of eating oif the turnips on the land. In 1856 Mr. Chapman won the £30 prize given by Mr. Packe, M.P., for the best-managed Leicestershire' farm above 200 acres. The prize was only given for five years, and ]\Ir. John Burbery of Ibstock, Mr. Breedon Everard of Groby Lodge, Mr. J. Toone of High Cross, and Mr. Simpkiu of Hoby, were the other winners. It has been laid down by professors, that the perpetual dairying of pasture land exhausts the phosphates. Mj-. Chapman's father was of a very different opinion, and considered that the pastures which he had known f(jr more than sixty years were doubled in value at the end of that period ; but that "the burdens on the land more than kept ])ace with its improvement." The dairy herds in the neighboiu'hood arc principally composed of Shorthoi'ns and " Half-horns," the latter of which are, for the most part, a combination of Shorthorn on Longhorn. They come to good beef weights if not taken beyond a first cross ; but of late years very little Longhorn element has been introduced among them. These herds generally number from 25 to 35, and a cow is expected to make from 3 to 4 cwt. (the long hundred of 120 lbs.) of cheese during the season, which may generally be taken to begin in April and last for seven months. Cheese has been as low as 50s., but y5s. per cwt. for a whole dairy was made by two or three dairymen this year. Mr. Chapman considers that for cheese purposes the Longhorns are su])erior to the Shorthorns. His experiments with a Shorthorn friend, who selected his six best against the six Upton cracks in the height of the grass in June, showed that while the majority of pounds of milk was 152 lbs. to 135 lbs. in favour of the Shorthorn, the cheese curd from the larger quantity was only 14i lbs. as against 19.V lbs. The trial was made again on September 20tli with 36 Shorthorns against 32 Longhorns, and the 605 lbs. of milk (10 lbs. to a gallon) from the former made only 662 Ihs. of curd, W'hen the 553 lbs. from the latter made 6'J lbs. Of the Shorthorns 23 were well bred and 13 were guiltless of the Herd Book. There are no " Half-horns" to be seen on Mr. Chap- man's walls. Weaver's hand, which worked so deftly upon the Brother Collings in its day, has left its traces in a very finished painting of some Buckley sheej) and pigs, the property of his late uncle, Mr. Thomas Chapman, of Stoneleigh ; and we are reminded by a small likeness of his kinsman (by marriage), the late Mr. Henry Chamber- lain, of Dcsford, of a very honoui-ed name in Smithfield Club annals, not only as a double gold-medal winner with the best pen of Leicesters, but as a great exhibitor of Hereford stock, and steward and judge as well. The Marquis of Exeter is there ; and so is that trusty stock- getter, old Sparkenhoe. Fifteen months ago he was beaten by Mr. Charles Bos\vorth's Shorthorn bull when they met at Loughboro', but Mr. Chapman liaA full revenge on the Prestwold blood that day, as he beat Mr. Packe, M.P.'s massive "White Velvet " ox, which took the first prize in the aged class at Islington this month. Two firsts each must also be credited to two rare oxen which stand to- gether on canvas, with Stoke Golding church spire in the distance. The Sparkenhoe Club was at first confined to Sparken- hoe Ilundi-ed, and began with monthly meetings at Kirkby and Bosworth in 1846, under the presidency of Mr. Henry Chamberlain. These meetings soon became quarterly, and merged in 1853 into an annual ploughing match. The ladies were then invited to join and dine, and initi- ate a poultry show, and so it has risen into its present eminence, loving everything save long speeches. jMr. Chapman is pretty regular in his attendance at the two great Christmas shows, and he occasionally has a tm'n at the Leicestershire and the Warwickshire for the glory of the old breed. Nine firsts at London and six or seven at Birmingham have fallen to his lot, as well as. firsts at the Exeter, Windsor, Battersea, and Plymouth Roj'als, but Long-horn men are shy showers, and some of these victories were walks-over. Old Sparkenhoe has de- parted to the Coventry butcher for £44 10s. at five off, and his skin alone fetched £2 8s. 4d. Had it been a bullock's it would have fetched even more. The thick skin is the very glory of the race ; it weighs well to the currier, and it saves the beast much torture from the gad- flies. When Arthur Young walked the earth, and found Bakewell among his cow teams, with his Long-horn bul- THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 137 lorks " a.5 fat as hears," and the boast on liis lips that they had thi-ee-hl'ths of roast to two-lifths of boil, he estimated their hide as worth las. more to the tanner than the Shorthorn of that day. The bull, whose skin has caused this digression, was bred by Colonel Inge, and was by General Codrington, the Eollright sale bull of 1856, from a Eollright cow ; and for S^- seasons he was used to the Eollright, Cunilierland, Weston Hill, Wrox- hall, Cm-zon, and Upton tribes, of which the Upton herd is composed. The men of (he West gathered with no slight wonderment round " The iMarquis," in the Exeter show- yard; and when they espied Old Sparkenhoe at Elymouth, some, who were not aware of the similarity of the sort, would have it, " This is the one you. hrought to Exeter iifteeii, years ago." The leading points are of course identical with that of all other four-legged beef producers ; but as regards colour, a white back, with spotted thigh and shoulder, and cherry red, spotty, brindled, or claret sides, are most liked. The coat should be as curly as possible, and a face with a darker shade intermixed is preferi'ed to a white or " bald." A light-coloured or black nose is not liked, and its shade if possible should be in keeping with the sides. Sir. Gibbs of Blackford Mill had several whole-coloured red-briudles, and there have been some whites ; but too nmch white is always thought to betoken delicacy, and the darker colours are preferred. The horns l)egin to show the age-wrinkle after three, and run into all shapes. A good horn in a stii-k should point a little upwards at first, and then curve downwards. The flesh-coloured horn, with blood veins about the root, shows high keep and breeding, and a cock-horn is con- sistently held in abhorrence. The wheel-horn is very common, but the points curl so much back into the cheeks that they have often to be sawn off. Sometimes each horn goes its own way — one cialed back into the head, and the other reaching forward like a boxer's hands in position. There is also the " douk horn," which is more like an exaggerated hockey stick ; and another variety goes into space straight away from the coronet. The plainest cows are often the best milkers, and the milk of a seven or eight-year-old one is thought the richest. Some of the best " fillpails" have given tlieir nineteen quarts at two meals, and the dairy farmers have in rare instances been able to calculate 4^- cwt. of cheese from one cow. They are kept in winter on l)arley-straw and pulped turnips, with hay in addition near calving time, and nurse well when calkd on during the first month or six weeks. Unless it be s6me bull-elect, Mr. Chapman's calves never suck the cow. They have new milk from the first, which is lessened when the cheese-season begins, and gradually they come to oilcake and linseed boiled in whey, or the overnight's milk. As a rule they are dropped from the midiUe of March to the end of April, just in time for the cheese-season. They are remarkably good-tempered, and easy to do with, and the only fault which the butcliers have against the bullocks is that there is not enough of the steel-yard inside them. Very few are exported ; but Mr. Chapman has exported a couple of buUs to Moutserrat in the West Indies, to cross with the native black cattle, and also sent several to Ireland. The Upton Herd at pre- sent numbers between seventy and eighty, and sometimes thi-ee dozen cows and heifers are in milk. The heifers are put to in their third summer, and their constitution, which is as tough as their skins, enable them often to work on till they are fomieen or fifteen years old. Of course, they are being perpetually replaced by younger ones, long before they are worked out, and go off to different herds for a change of blood ; and during the last few years several Uptonian matrons have found their way to Spondon and Calke Abbey. On entering the first shed we found old Lady Cheesepan under condemnation for losing a teat, which six calves had sucked during her nine years' pilgrimage ; and there, too, was a good specimen of a bullock of Sparkenhoe's get, in equally steady and successful preparation for those Christmas boxes which the Smithfield Club dispenses with no niggard hand. These " prize-fighters" generally require a yea'r-and-a-half of it with oilcake and a little meal as their llcsli stimulants. Then we pass through the calf meadow, which contained seventeen Lord Curzous, over the sward which no plough-share has violated within legal memory; and threading divers hedges, where twenty gener- ations of Longhorns have shaded themselves under the wide-spreading " crab apples," we reach the Big INIeadow. About two miles away is the well, which alone is left to mark the spot on Bosworth field where King Eichard lost his life and his crown. The Wars of the Eoses still linger in one sense romid the spot, but Mr. Michael Tavcrner's garden is the head-quarters of the many-coloured army, and the Sparkenhoe tent is their field of battle. Two steers by old Sparkenhoe, and one of them half- brother to the £53 10s. steer at Mr. Cox's sale, stood at the gate, guarding this Longhorned harem. The lengthy Eari of l)erby was in the very centre of the field, with a steer at his side, and his thirty-two spouses were grouped about him. There are some sights in wandering from herd to herd and flock to flock that you never forget again. John Quartly's Devon cows, as they filed down the meadow after the sale, one of them, " the cow called Brown," in- calf with Sobeski, a future Eoyal winner, and the Cranes' Shropshire ewes swelling into still grander proportions as we looked at them in the gloamin', were pleasant and incisive visions,and thereis sometbing very quaint and grand in a field full of Longhorns. Old Eose's fine bold eye had not been subdued by the weight of thirteen summers and the labour and sorrow of eleven calves. Well may Mr. Chapm an say " That old lady owes me nothiny." Countess, lier daughter, by Warner's Sir Eichard, lias rather more size ; and from her we pass on to Spot, with her horn cmled right into her face and her nine and ten quarts at a meal. The grey-faced Broadhorns is the dam of the feeding steer; and Lady Sparkenhoe a deep, nice cow. The big " Cumberland cow," with the hindlegs so neatly set on ; and Duchess, the dam of Ivanhoe, and first at Sparkenhoe, are all high in the ranks. There, too, are Woodbine, by Warner's bull, lying, as usual, right away from the rest ; Wroxhall, a sister of Earl of Derby's, and of rather a lighter brindle; old Crump, dam of the best of the two young steers : the liglit-colourcd Strawberry, fellow- heifer with Ivanhoe in the show -yard ; the dark old brindle PailfiUer, with her failing udder; and Bald-face, the m-.irrow to Brindled Beauty, which went to Sir John Crewe's. They are generally out in the winter for four ov five hours a-day. In the house they live principally on straw and turnips, which are cut, and then mixed by a combined machine, whose lift can be so managed as either to fill the store or load the carts outside, through an aper- ture in the barn wall. A fine morning found us on our way to Calke Abbey. We were quickly through the " Manor of Temple" from which Lord Palmerston took his family name, but which is merely a small parish belonging to Earl Howe. His lordship's capital labourers' cottages catch our eye as we pass through Sibson (or Sibbesdon, as our forefathers were wont to spell it), as welT as Twycross ; and the latter village, with that motto — to which not a Leicestershire man will say Nay — of " Let Cnrzon hold what Curzon held", on its inn sign, is soon on our lee. Leaving Gopsall, with its belt of fox covers, on the right, we come to Snarestone, with its little flat-roofed, ivy-covered church and its pastures, which Mr. Spencer's well-known flock of Leiceskrs ha^e cropped for many a 138 THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. long year. Tlicu come the higli-baukcd " conduit lanes," which were used for that purpose in one Wilkes's clay. Our companion ])oints out the direction of the Raveustone ilock (which Royal and Yorkshire Shows know well), and tells us of Mr. Brown's red shorthorn cow, which went up from these parts to win a Smithfield gold medal a quarter of a century ago. Duly meditating over these shorthorn and longwool honours, we wind past the old and newly-planted avenues of Lady Edith xVbney Hast- ings, into Ashby-de-la-Zouch. There stands the Royal Hotel, with its great portico, and the Saline Cupola Baths behind ; but there is no King Bladud or Beau Nash to bring them into fashion. On we goto Smisby (where the late Sir George Cr«we kept a very fine herd of longhorus some thirty years ago), and leaving Castle Donington five cr six uiiles to the right, we soon look down into the deep wooded hollow in which Calke Abbey is enbosomed. There are 500 acres of park, but from that point of view we should barely guess them at fifty. Passing through a line of trim-cut hedges, we reach Stanley's Barn, and find two bullocks and a fresmartin in preparation for Christmas shows, at which the baronet's bullocks have already taken two firsts. No Holyrood-day sickle had been put to the fern in the park ; and the deer — spotted black and reddish fallow — six hundred strong, were couch- ing deep in it under the oak, ash, and chesnut shade, or coming down to drink at the mere. Donnington had fur- nished some bald-faced stags ; and some mountain wilds an eagle, which is as good as a watch-dog in the farm- yard, and barks persistently at every stranger, with bronchial tubes of steel. Shorthorns had once almost a monopoly of those long cool sheds, both in Sir Henry and Sir George's day ; and the very year before Sir John turned to Longhorns he sold the gold medal Smithfleld cow, of his own breeding, to Mr. Faulkener, who brought her out. The cows were away in the pasture, and only the fine deep old Trimmer, bred by Colonel Inge, and two of Mr, Grcaves's breed were left in the stalls. There were also some good Half- horns, but the best of them was framing rather for beef than for milk. The first cross generally inclines in shape, horn, and colour to the sire ; and in the second cross, the bull, whichever it be, has matters pretty well his own way. i'rom them we pass on to the herd, through the quiet solitudes of Piskern Wood. To the left is Melbourne, Avhose old church — which is supposed to have been built by Ethelred,A.D.677 — has just been restored by Mr. Gilbert Scott's hand, and across the stream is Spring Wood, the farthest boundary of the Quoru. For the first time out of Dorset we meet with a Hock of Portlauds, the love of which is hereditary at Calke. Sir John has nearly two hmidred ewes of this breed, and goes down yearly to Portland to select or exchange rams. Some of them have been occa- sionally put to a Leicester ram, but only for the sake of breeding bigger fat lambs for sale or killing at home. A few have also been crossed with a Norfolk horned ram, and vice versa, and a larger sheep than the Portland, with the same excellent quality of mutton, has been obtained ; but the ewes of this cross have never been bred from. For the first time in our remembrance, a pen of Portlands (from Calke) made their appearance this Christmas at the Smith- field Club : and those visitors who totally despise cata- logues, and tried to evolve the breed from their " inner consciousness," scratched their heads over them in vain, and passed on to the more familiar Lonks. The Abbey was under repair, and hence we could not see to any advantage the stuffed-bird cases with which the Water- tonian tendencies of owners past and present have enriched it. Even the memorable Longhorn head of " Christmas 'Sixty-four" was not in his accustomed nook ; and the driving rain played havoc with all enjoyment out- side. Sir John's Longhorn herd is principally formed by pur- chases from Col. Inge, ]\Ir. Godfrey of Wigston Parva, Mr. Greaves, and Mr. Chapman. Mr. Burbery's Sampson, who won the first Royal prize at Warwick, did good service for his 50 gs. ; and so did a bull fi'om Mr. Cox, M.P. Six cows and heifers came from I pton, all in calf to Lord Curzcn. I'pton and Blackleg, the heifers, were both by old Sparkenhoe, and the former was the first prize one at Plymouth. Of the cows. Blossom and Brindled Beauty are both by Rollright, Mogul either by him or Washington, and Battersea another prize winner is of the " Old Cumberland sort." Lady is part of Mr. Godfrey's contingent, and small waste has been made by time upon her since she was the second prize cow at Warwick. Damson is another representative of Col. Inge; and Cherry Hagley and Tulij) of Mr. Greaves of Car- borough, near Lichfield. Blackleg still bears the marks on neck and shoidder of what almost killed her and gave her a name ; and one almost black from Mr. God- frey, another nearly whole red from the Hon. R. Curzon, and Upton were at an outstanding farm. But our paper notes were reduced to pulp, and we were right glad to put in to port at the steward ]\Ir. Palmer's farm, and be- guile the time with a peep at the three-year-old Sir Colin colt, which had won at Sparkenhoe the year before, and had just rctm'ned from Derby with another first rosette. ANIMAL AND VEGETABLE CHEMISTRY. At the Newbury Farmers' Club, JMr. Hickmam read a paper, in which he said, — There appears to be at the present day a far better appreciatiton of Chemistry than has lieretofore existed ; and this fact must be regarded as a matter for congratulation, because the acquisition or want of this really useful science affects the welfare of a constantly miUti- ))lyiug population. Chemistry has responded very readily to the appeals for assistance to supply the growing- wants of the people. In consequence of these demands, and of a conse- quently larger development of the scieuce during the present centuiy, chemistry has been divided into several distinct branches : such as Agricultural, Phannaceutical, l'lu)to!jraphic, and Chemistry of tlie Arts and jMauufrictines. \\p should liave groat reason to be alarmed al the productiuu of so mutli poisonous vapour by tiie constant rcs]iiration of the \ animal kingdom, were it not wisely ordered by Provi- dence that by a grand compensation principle, the very sub- ' stance emitted by us is eagerly taken up by the vegetable world, and re-converted into pure oxygen by the abstraction of I the carbon, which goes to fonn the solid stems and leaves of plants. It is interesting to contemplate this hcautifid har- ! mouious arrangement, by which dead matter, vegetable life, I and animal life, are bound inseparable together. We employ I them ill inuumeralde ways that minister to our wants or our I comforts, and in so doing we ourselves supply, though uncon- ' sciously, the wants of those vegetable races that ai)pear to grow only for our use and pleasure. The ouly remarkable feature about nitrogen is the curious anomaly its properties present. Surroiiuding plants and animals on all sides, and j being of essential importance in their structures, it is not THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 139 capable of being assimilated in the gaseous state. If it were, it would not be necessary to supply ])lants with it in the shape of ammonia, nitrate of soda, ^c. An analysis of plants tells us that they possess the property of preparing, fronr simple in- organie elements which I'orm a great jiortion of their food, the organic substances required as food by man and otlier animals, such as starch, sugar, gum, dextrin, which furnish food for the combustion which is always going on in the body, and produc- ing the carbon by respiration, and nitrogenous and phosphatic substances, such as gluten and phosphates, soda, lime, and magnesia, that form blood, bone, and muscle — substances which are absorbed by exercise — and these compounds are re- turned by animals in a simpler state, to serve plants again for food. It is a matter of great importance that every farmer should know what each particular kind of crop requires, and also what he must add in the shape of manure, in case there be a deficiency of any substance in his soil. lie requires to know as much, chemically, about his land as he does mechani- cally. For instance, the grass tribes (Graminaceae) require au immense amount of silica (flint or sand), and phosphate of lime and alkalies. Beans (Legumen tribe), peas, and clover require lime aud nitrogen. Potatoes do net require silica ; nor do turnips ; therefore these do not much interfere with the growth of wheat, barley, &c. Silica is generally aljundant on all soils ; sometimes to the extent of 80 per cent. ; but because it is abundant, it must not be inferred that it is in the condi- tion required by plants. Either some alkali nmst be present, or a very strong acid, such as " hydrofluoric," which is gene- rated naturally in the soil. Chemists may hammer indefinitely, but no iiraount of mechanical force will render silica soluble, nor any other of the strongest acids except the one named ; yet, what neither of these will do, chemical affinity with her gentle influence readily accomplishes. Plants require all their food to be supplied in a liquid state, hence the necessity for supplying silica in a state that will dissolve. From experi- ments luade at Rotharasted, the largest amount of produce from both grass and corn crops has been when silicates of potash, lime, and soda have been liberally added with other manures. This is not surprising, because we have both a practical and theoretical explanation of the fact. Mr. War- rington informed us that a crop of wheat (average 30 bushels) contained in the ashes 981bs. of silica ; and out of lOOlbs. of oat grain «hen burnt, there are about 261bs. of ashes, in which there are 191bs. of silica ; in lOOlbs. oat-straw there are 571bs. of ashes, containing 451bs. of silica. Of all manures no doubt farmyard is the best, taken on tlie whole, an d the reason is plain when we look at the analysis, and find that it contains a little of everything that plants require for growth : of course, well nmde manure, and not that from which the more valuable portions in the liquid state have been allowed to drain ofi' into the horse-pond. We notice how valuable the salts of am- monia have proved in these experiments, and yet, strange as it may appear, au immense quantity is annually wasted at the gas-works. I think its utilization would prove of mutual ad- vantage to both farmers aud townsmen. A few days ago, I procured a gallon of the amraoniacal liquor from the gas- works, in order to ascertain how much ammonia was thrown away annually. Having saturated it with commercial sul- phuric acid, I proceeded to evaporate it to procure the com- mercial sulphate of ammonia. It certainly was the most hor- rid chemical experiment I have ever made, for the amount of that abominable smelling gas, sulphuretted hydrogen, driven off by the process, which took about four hours, was some- thing dreadful. However, I succeeded in extracting 12 ounces of sulphate ammonia from the gallon, and it appears that 25 gallons are daily wasted of this rich substance. Calculating 25 gallons daily, 12 ounces per gallon, it follows that no less than 3 tons 1 cwt. lllbs. are annually wasted. Market price is £17 per ton. Two tons sulphuric acid to saturate cost £12 ; deducting £13 from £52, leaves £-iO wasted through want of cc-operation. Artificial manures occupy a very great interest at the present time, and being found of essential im- portance in the growth of crops, the quantity used increases annually. It is exceedingly to be regretted that many farmers have been sadly imposed upon, either oy the unprincipled or ignorant dealer. In some cases of failure, it is possibly not the fault of the manure so much perhaps as the peculiarity of the season aud the nature of the soil. But no doubt can exist of the impudent frauds whicli are carried on in this line by men who seem to rely more upon their want of shame than upon the value of their articles for getting a living. Only last Tuesday i was talking with au analytical chemist of considerable note, and he said, " Look, here is a specimen I liave analyzed of guano, charged about £12 per ton ■ the com- mercial value is properly £2 per ton." Facts of Miis kind speak for themselves, and sliow the necessity of either buying of men of undoubted integrity, or insisting upon a guarantee of the composition of the manure purchased. However ex- travagant the names, the composition, is the point, and no power, magic, or anything else can make plants derive benefit from elements which are unsuited for them. Taking tliese facts for granted, it follows that the excretions of man are the richest form of all animal manure, and in approaching this at-first-sight-somewbat-indelicate subject, I would ven- ture to say that it should be viewed in a philosophical spirit, and not in a fastidious or mock-modest manner. It is then far from being rejmlsive — only another proof of that economy manifested in Creation. Man has congregated into closely- crowded cities for various facilities, and more especially for the advantages of diff'using more readily knowledge of wealth — but at the corresponding loss of pure air, and the sacrifice of health. Of course food has followed man wherever he has congregated, and the vast amount consumed annually in our large and rapidly-increasing towns and cities in the shape of cattle, corn, vegetables, &c., which have all abstracted some demerits from the earth that are essential for the growth of plants, and that ought by the laws of nature to be returned richer than when removed, has caused a drain upon the re- sources of JiiUgland's fertility. Sewage, however, is not dis- posed of usefully, now that the system of water-drainage has been adopted. The visitations of the cholera during late years has brought about the water system of drainage, and the removal of the sewage in any shape, so long as it was disposed of, seems to have been a happy relief. So it lias happened that, although sewage is disposed of, and perhaps the immediate local health improved, that the difficulty has not been removed. Our rivers are intolerably polluted — fish are actually poisoned — pleasure-seekers, fishing or boating, find their enjoyment marred by disgusting efiluvia — and last, but not of least importance, the health of the inhabitants of those towns that depend for a water supply upon that river into which the refuse matters of the towns above has been poured is seriously endangered ; whilst, after all, the far- mers themselves arc obliged to resort to artificial assist- ance to replace those elements whose mis-application has proved such a bane. Surely this is a sign that the ma- chinery of nature is out of gear. Baron Liebig has always upheld the utilisation of sewage, and has been one of its strongest supporters. Two years ago, in a letter to the Lord Mayor of London, he said, " When guano fails, or when political or other events stop the importation of manure into England,' it may well be doubted whether opi- nions like the foregoing (alluding to opposition he had met with), unsupported by facts, and in direct opposition to the laws of science, will avail to ward-oft" existing evils." It is well known that experiments have been tried, and are being- tried, to render this state of things more pleasant. The advantages to be sought for from the utilization of sewage should be, an easy mode of disposing of it, and a purification of our rivers, without a corresponding detriment to the health of towns. In order to learn something practically about this subject, I went to Croydon last week, in order to get some information. There I met with most courteous reception, and every opportunity was cheerfully given for a thorough in- spection. I gleaned a few facts during my visit : That sewage can be most profitably applied to meadow and ryegrass. One acre will take the sewage of 100 persons ; and the total amount per head per annum is estimated at 50 tons in a state of dilution. The sewage flows in drains ; and, by intercepting the drains, the sewage is distributed on to the land : it passes over the land once or twice, and sometimes three times, and joins the river Wandle quite clear and pure. The Italian rye- grass, after three years, dies away, and the earth wants ])lougliing up, and then an intermediate crop of mangolds may be taken. The first year's growth cut five times, the second four times, and the third three times. At Croydon, 57 tons of grass per acre were cut during the last twelve months. Pre- vious to using the sewage for irrigation, several schemes for deodorizing it were tried, and all turned out to be expensive failures. Now, the Board of Health made £300 per annum 140 THE FAEMEB'S MAGAZINE. for tlie sewage. The chief object to obtain a larger increase of produc(s, and, at the same time, purify the river, is accom- plished as tlie results show : — Analysis of Water from— Drainage. Sewage. River Wandle, Inorganic matter 23.40 ... 48.30 ... 20.16 Organic matter 2.40 ... 52.20 ... 2.08 At Edinburgh, larger amounts of sewage are applied than any- where else, and it is for that reason that larger amounts of produce are oljtained than anywhere else ; but the absorbent powers of Mother Earth must not be too severely taxed, or she will not fulfil her duties faithfully, and sewage ^^'onld not be purified. Generally fi'om four to five crops of grass are ob- tained per acre annually, amounting to 30, 40, 50, 60, or even more tons per acre, averaging perhaps £25. These facts speak for themselves. "Another advantage of the appli- cation of sewage to grass lands would be an enormous increase in the quantitj- and riualit}' of milk, butter, cheese, and meat ; whilst, by the consumption of the grass, a large amount of solid manure, applicable to arable land and to crops generally,* would be produced." The N^ewbury To\ni Comicil being about to consider this question of utilization, I have mentioned these fiicts, knomng that John Bull generally wishes to ascertain if it \\i]l pay before commencing anything rather uncertain. I am aware that there are present many who, living some distance from to^ii, the question does not directly concern ; but, indirectly, it concerns everyone. Tlie wealth and the health of the nation alike are affected by it ; ana, being one of those points that link to\™ and country life to- gether, I have addressed you on it, deeming it an appropriate subject for a townsman. In conclusion, I wish to add that it has been my endeavour to make tjiis paper as intelligible as possible, avoiding abstruse terms and tecnical phrases. I have been more irrelevant than I ought to have been, but this kiml of thing is rather a novelty for me ; but if my paper has been the means of imparting any information, my end will have been answered. Mr. Hujs'T said that, being a near resident of the town, he could endorse the opinion expressed by Mr. Hickman, for he had found great benefit arise from the use of niglit-soil as manure. He generally used it to turnip crops ; and he tliought it was more suitable to turnips than anything else, Ijecause there was not in that neighbourhood a large In-eadth of land soflTi with grass. He considered it one of the best manures they could use. The difficulty was in getting a sufficient quan- tity in the state they required it (in a crude state), and the farmer could iix the ammonia himself. He had tiied it for many years, and he contended that it was cheaper and better than anj-thing else ; and, if they could get it in its crude state, he considered it was one of the best adjuncts to the farmyard. Mr. HicKMA:>r thought that IMr. Himter had misunderstood liim : it was only liquid manure that was used at Croydon, the solid was sold. Mr, Everett said that he had no doubt that carefully con- ducted experiments by practical men would l)e very beneficial. The labour of agricultural chemists was very considerable, and the work carried out in the laboratory was of the most labori- ous kind. He was personally acquainted with one of the fi^rst chemists in Europe — Dr. Voeleker — and the labour he went through was something enonnous. He thought, therefore, that the least practical men could do — especially farmers — was to make some return for what agricultural chemists had done for them, and themselves carefully conduct field experi- ments. Mr. Warrington, who gave them an able lecture some time ago, had left several pa])ers containing experiments — and if each member would make one experiment, and pub- lish the result, tlie reputation of the Club would be thoroughly established. If he were correct, he understood from Mr. Hickman that the result of Lawes' experiments with wheat and grass was that the combination of ammoniacal and superphos- phate was the best. Liebig was very prone to contradict a great deal stated by La^ves ; but possibly the diftereuce of opinion between the two clieraists arose in a great measure from tlie different kinds of soils on which the experiments were made. The former practised on a cold, unkind ill-working clay, and Liebig on a light sandy soil. It was of the greatest importance, when experiments were conducted, that tlie kind of soil on which the experiments were made should be s?iven. He believed that this was never meationed, AYith regard to ai-ti- ficial manure, especially oilcake, he wished to draw attention to the vast amount of adulteration that had been going ou for years, and yet farmers take no interest in the matter. In many instances they were in danger of giving £5, £6, or £7 for su- perphosphate which was not worth £1. Mr. S. Wentwouth thought the experiments of Messrs. Lawes and Gilbert were made more of than they ought to be. Mr. Hickman h ul mentioned that the runnings from the farm- yard was a good manure. He had drilled in the black water from his horse pond, and he thought that the good qualities must have evaporated, for the ground was not much benefited. Mr. HiCKMAJN' : Perhaps it was largely diluted. Mr. "Wextwortu : Not pai-ticulaiiy. With regard to ex- periments, I think they should be carried out to a nicety, and that is rather too expensive a process at the present time. Mr. H. Frampton said he was sure they must all feel deeply indebted to IMr. Hickman for his valuable paper. If the Club could adopt Mr. Everett's suggestion with regard to ex- periments, he would be happy to do so, even at a loss, if some other members of the Club would take one each. He thought Blr. Went-svorth must make a mistake ■nith regard to black water, and that the water he used was much diluted. He thought that every fanner must feel that a knowledge of prac- tical chemistry was of the greatest importance. The CiiAiRMA2\' proposed a vote of thanks to Mr. Hickman, for his very able paper, and said that he gathered from the discussion that, after all, ammonia was the grand secret, and if they could only collect it they would be doing themselves a great benefit, as well as improving the produce of the soil. Their weakest point was their farm-buildings, and owners should improve them. Artificial manures were a great means, but only a means, of improvement to the soU. They had heard that it was in contemplation to collect and economise the sew- age of Newbury, and he saw before him the mayor, who took an active part in everything that eoneemed the welfare of the town, and therefore he took upon liimself to suggest the con- sideration of earth-closets, which appeared in the daily papers from time to time. He had no doubt, that if by this process they could collect the solid manure, they would receive the thanks of the agricultural commuuity, and do a great deal of good. He hoped they would adojit iNIr. Everett's suggestion with respects to agricultural experiments. He (the Chairman) was in possession of Mr. Warrington's papers, and any gen- tleman could carry out the experiments with very Uitle difii- culty. The next paper would be read by Mr. Wentworth, on " Winter Management of Stock" (Hear, hear). He hoped the 70 members of the Club would take more interest in the cussions, and volunteer their services. THE WAY TO CATCH SWINE.-Swine of aU ages and conditions, are, commonly, averse to being handled ; and they manifest their disapprobation of it by squealing, kicking, and fighting ; and, when a number are togetlier, of certain breeds, the pugnacity of the whole herd is aroused when we attempt to handle one of their number. Pigs and hogs that one man can handle, should be caught by one hind leg with one hand, while the other hand and arm is passed around the body, and they are taken up in the arms, with their back against the catclier. Large hogs should be caught, first by the hind legs, when two other hands seize him by the ears and bristles. Now he opens his mouth, and like a steutor cries, " miirdera/ion!" Now have a noose on the end of a rope ready, and slip it around his snout. (Sows with jjig should seldom be noosed). In order to get the rope on tlie hind leg, when they are feeding at the trough go up carefully behind them and lay the noose on the floor, close to the foot, holding it with one hand, and touch the leg witii a little stick, and the hog will take up his foot, when the noose must be instantly moved, so that he will step in it. Now raise it above the hoof, nearly to the hock joint, and draw it tight, and he is fast. After we have suc- ceeded in raising his leg, lie is easily managed^ If lie is a large, strong animal, crowd him into a corner with a handspike, after his log is noosed, then it will be easy to noose his snout,'— Cor, Boston QnUivatgr, THE PARMER'S MAGAZINE. 141 JUDICIOUS CROSSING. — SHROPSHIRE SHEEP. At the monthly meeting of the Winfritli farmers' Club Mr. Marks said : This subject certainly (tpens a wide field for discussion, and I therefore liope all present will freely and candidly give their experience and opinions on the question, so that it may be wcU ventilated by a lengthy discussion, vpliich is for better than a long introduction. It is a well-known fact that the agriculturists of this country find their expenditures and outgoings gradually increase, in the shape of rates, labour, artificials, &c., to say nothing about rent, without their taxes diminishing in strict accordance with free trade. We must therefore endeavour to farm in such a way as to meet these increasing expenditures. Now I look on stock, i. «., live stock, as the key of farming. If I am right, it must, or ought to be, OLir first consideration to keep that which is most pro- fitable. I will first speak of cattle. Any person I consider is a general benefactor who can iu any legitimate way increase a national commodity of consumption. Now I think this may be attended by a judicious cross ; for, whatever our favourite breed may be, one cross may be acted on without losing much of the general character of that breed. For four or five years I used Shorthorn bulls, my herd being principally Devons, getting as well as I could one cross through. With such cross I use Devon bulls, intending to continue such until I find the greater portion of the benefit I have gained is lost, such benefit being more size and milk, and refaining to the fullest degree that constitution the Devous are knowu to possess. My opinion, therefore, is that good effects may result fiom cross- ing herds of Devons or Herefords with well- selected Short- horn animals that have been bred from good milch cows, this being an important item to our dairies, wliicli are principally kept for their produce in butter. Now, after this or any other cross is made, there is one thing that demands our best atten- tion and care, i. e., the rearing, it being of no use to go to great expense in producing (however judicious the cross) except the rearing is well done. My o\\'n experience tells me it is economical to give young cattle corn or cake till they are fifteen or sixteen months old (supposing they are calved in January or February), with a moderate su]iply of roots when there is no grass ; after which, in tolerably good pastures, they will do with- out cake tiU October, when they are best in a shed by night, having hay and 31bs. of rapecake per day, or, if in calf, 51bs. The best may thus be brought into the dairy the second sum- mer. I may here remark that I always give my dairy cows when in the straw-yard from 31b. to 5ib. of rapecake, ac- cording to quality of straw. There are many other crosses, wliich I need not particularize, that have been the means of doing much good ; besides, time has not permitted me to do so. I will, therefore, say a few words about sheep. You no doubt remember being told by a member of this club — one who is properly held up as the best sheep farmer in tliQ county — that sheep did not pay. Now, if this can be said by such a person, we all ought to endeavour, living as we do in a sheep farming district, to do our utmost ; for, if stock is the key, sheep is undoubtedly the principal working part, and " pay" or " no pay," w« can do but little without them, as on this our crops of corn mainly depend. Now, as sheep must be kept, the question comes. What sort will lose the least ? Such a ques- tion must be answered individually, according to situation and pasturage ; but, on high exposed situations, with poor Down lands as pasturage, I think a cross with the Shropshire may prove very beneficial, they being a particularly hardy breed, with "Teat aptitude to fatten. I have used Shropshires with my nock (which you know is what is called the West Country Down) with a result, up to the present time, that has much pleased me. I have now three ages of such cross, and am satisfied I have more wool and stronger constitution, witii more flesh-making properties in them. Where I used to lose six in a disease of the lungs, which caused such to adhere to the side, I now lose one or scarcely that. Some may say you can- not use these Shropshire sheep with out DotVn flocks without getting a speck in the face. -Such I have really found is the case ; but it is the exception rather than the rule. Having (lie same ages of other ewes, I can say that my crossed four- tooth ewes are looking better than the other six-tooth, with a better prospect of being quite as large at the same age, while they have all been kept together. Therefore I think this cross is worth consideration to those living in cold, exposed situations. We know that Shropshire is a cold county, and those sheep would be of no use in that district unless they were particularly hardy. As regards other stock, there is of course the horse and pig ; but I have had no time, and scarcely deem it worth while, to enter into that part of the subject. I never was very much of a pig farmer ; but I am fond of see- ing good horses. Still we live in a district that is not very favourable to horse breeding, therefore 1 need not dilate upon that question. I must now leave the subject in your hands, and trust to bear the opinions of those present on the various points worthy of elucidation. Mr. Reader said this was a subject very interesting to all of them. He could not say anything about crossing cattle, because he never had any experience in that way, his stock of that description being very small. But, with respect to sheep, he certainly thought judicious crossing would pay. About eleven years ago he obtained a Leicester ram, which cost him some money, and many people blamed him for using it ; but he found it was of considerable advantage to himself, and he made considerably more money of his wool for two or three years afterwards. During the last few years he had infused a little of the Shropshire blood ; and he was perfectly satisfied with it. He believed that, if they selected from some flocks, they would produce spotted faces and legs ; but many of them were as free from spots as the Hampshire. His sheep were quite as good colour as before he used the Shropshires ; and he believed they could bring the produce into as good condition iu a year and three-quarters as they could the Hampshires in two years and three-quarters. There was considerably more proof in them, and they were quite as good in the heart as the Sussex, in which respect the Hampshires were deficient. On tliis point, he could not help thinking of as good a flock of sheep as there was in this county. Some few years ago a gentleman showed several very fine rams at Dorchester : one was noticed as being exceedingly good ; and he found out that this was the very sheep that had been crossed with a Shrop- shire. Many people said it was the best sheep in the pen — there was a better quality about it. He believed it was got by one Mr. Saunders bought of Mr. Mansell, a weU-known Shropshire breeder. He did not think they were quite as large iu the frame as the Hampshire Downs ; but he believed they coidd make them as heavy. Lady Willoughby de Broke had been paid by the butcher for 1931b. of mutton from one of these sheep, at the early age of a year and three-quarters. That would give them an idea of what they could be Ijrought to. The Hampshires were better than they were a few years ago ; but they were too coarse to suit liis fancy. He never regretted crossing, because he believed a cross was good for the butcher and the breeder. Mr. W. BuDDEN said he could bear out what Mr. Reader had said about the Leicester cross. He recollected buying a dozen lambs from him, after his first cross ; and he must say he never saw such a difference in the length of the wool after- wards from using those ani]nals, while there was only one light-faced lamb out of four hundred. He did not go further, but they found a considerable difference in the quantity of wool for several years after that second cross. It was well known that Ihey could not do anything here with very coarse sheep, and they could not keep any flesh on some such as he had seen from the neighbourhood of Ringwood. There were, however, the Improved Hampshires, which were much better, and Mr. Saunders's were very good, about as fine as the Sussex. lie quite agreed with Mr. Marke that one particular sort of animal would not do for tlie dairy. They must cross. He found that a pure Devon heifer Mould not do. They kept in good condition, but would not pay the dairyman. Inhere was no doubt that a cross with the short-horn was very beneficial, producing muck more for tlie dairy. Tor working beasts, 142 THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. however, they could not have anything better thnn the pure Devous. Mr. Reader said he ought to have told them tliat, owing to the renuirks of many of liis friends, he put the Leicester ram he bought only to one hundred ewes the first year. The lambs all ran together with the pure downs, but the cross-bred wethers went out on an average three months before the otliers, and brought 8s. some odd pence more, besides cutting more wool. The C'liAiKM.vx (Mr. T. H. Saunders) remarked that with respect to crossing cattle there was, no doubt, much to be done by judicious selection. He started with Devons at first, but the dairyman said they could not give anything for them. He had crossed with the Short-horn and the Hereford, and found it much better. Now, he had gone very much into the Hereford breed, with satisfactory results. He had seen very great improvement from a short-horn bull, particularly with Devon cows. He scarcely knew wlueli to prefer, a Hereford or a sliort-liorn, to go with a Devon eow ; but for milking purposes he should select the short-born. With respect to sheep, there had been a good deal said about the Shropshires. He had had a little experience in that way. He bought a Shropshire of the best class, and gave a great deal of money for it. He put twenty-eight of the best ewes on his farm to it, and although he kept it for four or five years he had never occasion to use it again, though he had no fault to find with the animal. He ear-marked every one of the lambs from those twenty-eight ewes, as he thought he should have a good opportunity during tlieir life-time of seeing which were the best. They cut a fair quan- tity of wool ; but he never got any good ewes from them, as they did not come to size, though as to the rams he had none that did better. He could not tell them how it was, for they were out of the best ewes he had; but other persons had told him they had observed the same. He bred four or five of the rams, and they were always sheep that kept in good con- dition. As to the sheep Mr. Reader had alluded to, he did not attribute its excellence to the ram, but rather to the breed of the ewe, for its grandam was always remarkably good in the rump. He had always noticed that sheep from that lamily did remarkably well, and as he kept a pedigree book he could easily trace hack sheep to their parentage. He liked to have a good constitution that would carry an animal well through life. They might have a lamb which was very promisiug, but it might not be so good the next year ; and he had had bet- ter sheep in the tliird generation than from the Shropshire sheep, when he had got his own ewe blood in them. He had let the Shropshire generally ; but he used one of its get, though the produce was not quite up to the size. He bred from a ewe that he always thought had a stain of Cotswold. He had used a son of that sheep, and got two or three very good rams, from a ewe that always cut a very good lot of wool. He kept the sheep to see how the ewes turned out, and if they had given any improvement he would have gone further into it. He had only put the Shropshire to the twenty-eight ewes he had alluded to, but not afterwards. He had nothing to complain of respecting the colour, and he got plenty of wool ; but he found it lessened the size of the ewes very much. As to the coarse Hampshires, they would never do ; but the improved quality had many valuable properties. What they wanted in these days was a sheep that would soon get fat and come up well to the touch. He did not allow his rams to go ahead of the other sheep on his farm. The great thing is to look to breed ; but it was very easy to put flesh on an animal so as to deceive almost any man. He never wished to let any animals that he would not use himself; and he must say that he never had better luck than from what he bred himself, or what they were pleased to call the Watercombe breed. The proceedings closed with a vote of thanks to Mr Marks. THE USES OF A CHAMBER OF AGRICULTURE. At the Staffordshire meeting, Lord Lichfield said that, having communicated with souie of the principal landowners and tenant farmers in the county, he thought the time had come when they should make some movement with a view to establishing a county Chamber of Agriculture. The subject had been so much ven- tilated that it was unnecessary to go at any length into the rea- sons in favour of the establishment of such an association, the principal object in view being to create an organization by means of which the agricultural interest could bring its views to bear with greater weight upon Parliament and upon the Government of the country. He could scarcely better illus- trate the want of such an association than by calling their attention to what had occurred recently in connection with the cattle plague. As they were well aware, various rules and regulations as to the movement of cattle from one district to another had, during the past twelve months, been from time to time adopted, rescinded, re-enacted, &c., &c. (laughter), so that owing to the frequent alteration, and, in many instances, the conflicting natuie of those regulations, very great difficulty and inconvenience had been caused to farmers and others throughout the country from being unable to ascertain clearly what the regulations were (Hear, hear). But, although he had expressed himself strongly as to the unsatisfactory manner in which both the late and the present Government had dealt with this matter, he did not think the Governments were wholly to blame ; he was rather inclined to believe that the real cause of the unsatisfactory legislation which had taken place on the subject was to be found in the fact that neither Government nor Parliament had the opportunity of properly ascertaining what the views of the farmers throughout the country were ; and it stood to reason that it was so, because if a question of this kind was to be dealt with by Parliament, and if they received suggestions and advice from one county in one sense, and from another county in another sense, it was impossible to know which was right, and thus Govern- ment found itself in many cases obliged to adopt the alterna- tive course of doing nothing, or at least they had the excuse of not kno\^•ing what the real opinion of the country was upon a subject for not doing anything. This had been the case, he had no doubt, more than once during the past twelve months (Hear, hear). His Lordship said they might take, as another illustration, the question of the Malt-tax. He had very often heard the House of Commons abused on this ques- tion, and he bad often heard it remarked that the subject was frequently far better handled by a meeting of farmers, at one of their agricultural dinners, than in the House of Commons (Hear, hear). The reason for this was that even the farmers themselves were not agreed on the subject, and had never yet brought to bear any organized weight on the Government, with a view to its being dealt with by legislation. He did not see how the agricultural interest throughout the country could better bring their opinions to bear upon the Govern- ment than through such organizations as these suggested Chambers of Agriculture. The Central Chamber of Agri- culture, which was already established in Loudon, proposed to afford a representation of the views of the different districts and counties throughout England, Wales, and Scotland, by means of delegates from the different local Chambers to be established throughout those countries. He was not prepared to say at present how far the system proposed to be adopted by the Central Chamber would exactly succeed in obtaining the representation to be desired. There was, however, no necessity then for considering the ex- pediency of connecting themselves with the Central Chamber, and therefore he would not attempt on that occasion to point out the advantages which might arise from such connection with the Central Chamber, as at present constituted, but point out what he thought^aud on which he should ask their opinions — ought to be the system on which they should work. It appeared to him that the members of such a Central Cham- ber should represent whole districts, whether of counties or parts of counties. That was a most important point to con- sider at the very outset of the question, and one he thought had not been as yet sufficiently considered, because, when he asked himself whether the Central Chamber of Agriculture, as THE FAEMER'S MAGAZINE. Wc at present constituted, had the weight it was dcsirithle such a body should liave, lie was very much iucliued to ask, " Whom do you represent ?" The answer to that was not perfectly clear, and without going into details it was sufficient to say that there was no organized system on which it professed to represent the different districts of the country. Mr. Pell, the president of the Central CMiamber, had been kind enough to attend that meeting, and would hear any o])inion which might be expressed as to the constitution of the Central Chaiuber, and would afford any information which might be required ; but it did not appear necessary in the iirst instance to consider the question of connecting the chamber proposed to be established in this country with the Central Chamber ; but he would suggest that they should act on the principle that it is desirable and important (hat the agricultural districts of this county should be in some way represented upon a Central Chamber. They must leave to others to provide that Cham- ber, being ready to afford them the means of representing the very important agricultural interests of that county, should a Central Chamber be so constituted as to give them confidence. With regard to the Chamber of Agriculture which was going to be proposed to be established for this county, it might be asked. Why did they want a Chamber of that description at all ? His answer to such a question would be that at present there was no machinery of any kind in existence such as other interests in the country had, by which the agricultural interest could give expression to their opinions and requirements, and bring them to bear with real weight upon the Government of this country in the consideration of all questions affecting them. There was no other interest that was not directly or indirectly represented through their Chambers of Commerce and other bodies in all the different towns and manufacturing districts throughout the country, whilst they, the landowners and agriculturists, had nothing of the kind (Hear, hear). Cer- tainly they had their agricultural societies ; but, as they well knew, it wasa rule with them to exclude, at their meetings, what at the present day was most important to them, questions of a political character, and by so doing they excluded the consideration of many subjects bearing directly upon their in- terests. Now, he was sure they would all agree with him that h it was most important that farmers should have some means of fairly and temperately discussing those political questions — he did not mean party politics — but those questions which threat- ened, or were likely in any way to affect their interests. He thought that on such matters the broadest distinction possible might always be drawn between the discussion of political sub- jects, affecting their own peculiar interests, and party political discussions. For himself, he could not see the slighest reason why any one of the different subjects affecting their interests, which were likely to become the subject of legislation, should 9 not be discussed by Chambers of Agriculture. Let them take one of the most important questions affecting the interests of all connected with land, which was likely shortly to be enter- tained. A strong endeavour was being made on the part of some persons to get rid of the different turnpikes throughout the country. He did not think there was any question more likely to affect the agricultural interst, and one which it was more necessary to keep a strict watch upon, than this. If the roads were to be kept in repair by a rate on the adjoining properties, it must in any case throw a heavy burden both upon the owners and occupiers of that property to keep the turnpike roads in repair for the benefit of other people. He wished it to be understood that he otfered no opinion on the subject, but simply pointed it out as one worthy their consideration, and desired to impress upon them the importance, as tenant farmers and owners of land, of keeping a close watch on such questions, and also how desirable it was for them to be in a position to bring their views practically before Government when such a question was brought forward for discussion. He was inchned to think that the system of excluding the discussion of politics from their agricultural meetings— more particularly latterly — had created too much shyness between tenant farmers and their landlords in discus- sing these questions. Let them take again the question of the game-laws, [which excited differences of opinion between tenants and landowners. Why that question could not be dis- cussed in a proper and rational spirit he could not conceive. He had often heard the expression of a very strong feeling with regard to the question, but he had never heard anyone go to the root of it, and show, for instance, what they would ju'opose in their place, to jireveiit the infringement of the rights of property which the simple repeal of the game-laws would bring about. He had no doubt, however, that if the subject was discussed between owners and occupiers they would come to some rational conclusion. Then there was another important question with regard to the education of the work- ing classes and the rural poijulatiou, and his opinion was that the time had now arrived when tliere was a strong necessity for Parliament to legislate on this subject for the country generally, and to apply some uniform system — they might call it compulsory education if they liked, he did not — but some system by which they might secure the education of all classes, in all employmeuts throughout the country. He had just referred to these questions because he considered them such as might, and he trusted would be advantageously discussed in local Chambers of Agriculture throughout the country. Amongst the subjects which might profitably engage the attention of such a Chamber was that of insurance against losses of cattle from disease, a subject as to which he acknow- ledged that he was utterly in the dark as to the real feeling of the farmers, for he could not make out whether they felt it important or not. An association for this object was estab- lished for the county, and when the cattle-plague was at the door there was a general rush into it, and it was enabled to afford a considerable amount of protection against loss ; but the moment the cattle-plague declined, all interest in it ceased. He did not give any opinion : he only said he was utterly at a loss to understand what the feelings of the farmers really were on the subject, whether they thought it desirable to have such a county insurance association or not. As a society its principles were as sound, and its rules as good as those of any society could be ; but the fact was that only eighteen members joined it in five or six months. He merely mentioned this to show the difliculty of ascertaining what were really the views of the farmers on this and other subjects. He must leave it to them to consider whether these and other important ques- tions could be considered with advantage by such a chamber as he had suggested. (Applause.) Lord llARROWMiY, in proposing the first resolution, ob- served that the question was not without its difficulties, and Lord Lichfield had pointed out some, more especially in relation to the central board in Loudon, and before a chamber repre- senting the county of Stafford would connect itself with a central body it would be necessary to inquiry the conditions of representation — whether the delegate of a small club, paying some £5 a year would have the same weight as the representa- tive of the county of Stafford. If such a chamber were limited to discussion it would not so much matter ; but if its conclusions were to be determined by a majority, it was im- portant to know if large bodies of fanners were to liave only the same voice as smaller sections. But the question for them to determine was whether it was desirable for them to have for their own county such an association as his lordship had indicated, and he had to propose — " That it is desirable to establish a Chamber of Agriculture for the county of Stafford for the discussion of subjects bearing upon agriculture, and to watch over all measures affecting agricultural interests, whether in or out of Parhament." There could be no doubt, as Lord Lichfield had stated, that the ex- clusion of all topics which formed the subject of con- sideration in Parliament from our existing agricultural societies materially enfeebled the influence of the agricul- tural interest upon the public mind, and upon I'arliament. That rule was no doubt sometimes infringed. The force of nature would have its way, and a man who had thought a good deal on an agricultural subject upon which Government was taking action, would speak about it, notwithstanding rules to the contrary. The result was a kind of awkward scramble. One man transgressed ; another rebuked him, and in doing so committed the same violation of rule ; so that discussion was not carried on with that freedom and openness which gave it the value it ought to possess. It was, therefore, very desirable that there shoukl be some means by which the agricultural in- terest of the country might fairly speak its mind on subjects bearing upon it, even though they formed the subject of the action of the Parliament or the Government. There were many questions to which those remarks would apply. For in- stance, there was a growing tendency in the present day to throw the weight of taxation on that kind of property which was visible and tangible ; and this system had its conveniences, 144 THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. because it was easier to deal with what could be seen and handled than with what might be in a man's pocket or iu his portfolio. At the same time it was very unfair, and it was an in- creasing unfairness, because the increase in the value of personal property was much greater tiian in the value of real property, and it reciuired the same amount of protection, and the same couveniences as real property, and it was therefore most de- sirable that those connected with that kind of property should have an opportunity of forming and expressing their opinion on such questions. The proposed local association offered, no doubt, very considerable facilities for such a purpose ; the difficulty was to maintain the interest in the absence of exciting topics, as they had heard in the case of the Insurance Asso- ciation the interest ceased when the pressing danger had passed away ; and he feared similar experience would attend the pro- posed chambers. It was difficult to get people to sacrifice their time when there was no subject of pressing interest, and that applied especially to the agricultural interest. In a town a man had only to put on his jiat and walk across the street ; but when a man had to drive ten, twenty, or thirty miles to at- tend a meeting, it was a much more serious matter. It was, however, important to consider that the very fact that the agri- cultural interest was so scattered and dispersed should be a reason for adopting some means of bringing them together for the purposes of discussion and of common action. The course of political action in this country of late years had been to give increased influence to the town population as contrasted with the country. It was difficult to counteract that tendency, from the population of towns being more concentrated ; but as the great object of Government should, he thought, be to pro- tect minorities against majorities — for majorities could take care of themselves — if it were true tliat the population of the towns was more numerous than that of the country, it vras of the greater importance that the latter should adopt some means by which they might secure that degree of concentration which the town populations possessed, without any artificial organization whatever. His lordship repeated lus doubts as to representations of local chambers of agriculture in one central chamber, and, reserving his opinion on that point, moved the adoption of the resolution. Mr. Pell, in response to Lord Lichfield, said he was free to confess that the difficulty pointed out by the noble Chairman and the Earl of Harrowby had arisen through a defect in the rules of the Central Chamber. They had, however, only been recently formed, and Like tlie larger constitution under wMch we lived it must grow and, perhaps, be licked into shape. He was very glad he had had an opportunity of being present at that meeting to hear the suggestions that had been thrown out. He had no doubt that when the next general meeting of the Central Chamljer was held the rules as they now stood would be altered so to meet the dilficulty pointed out. With regard to the connection of local chambers witji the central body, and the advantages to be derived therefrom, of course they did not expect that the same representatives would always come to their meetings, but rather that tlie difl'erent chambers would send up those gentlemen who were best able to deal with the different questions to be brought under tlie notice of the Central Chamber. TURNPIKE TRUSTS. The November meeting of the Cirencester Farmers' Club was held at the King's Head Assembly Rooms, on Monday, November 19tli, Mr. Edward Bowly in the chair. Sir M. E. Hicks-Beach, Bart., M.P., said : I was very glad to accept the hint of one of the most inlluential members of your club (Mr. Edmonds, of Southrop) that I should under- take to open a discussion on this subject this evening ; for I felt that, although not a member of your club, yet, looking at my position amongst you, and the importance of the subject, it was of the greatest moment that I should learn what your sentiments were upon it (Hear, hear). I come here this evening prepared, iu some respects, with information which I have been able to collect upon this subject, and ready to do what I can to impart that knowledge to you (cheers). I hope also to liear whatever opinions or knowledge any of you may have formed or collected ; and I shall be most willing to acce])t any hints or suggestious that may appear to me to be really good, and suited for the attainment of the end we have in view — the better management of the roads (Hear, hear). There are many among you who, having had many years' experience as surveyors and waywardens, are really better qualified than I to give a practical opinion on this question ; and I again assure you that I shall receive your hints and suggestions with the greatest pleasure, and they will materially influence my future conduct (Hear, hear). I wiU divide this subject into two dis- tinct heads. We will consider, first, the law with regard to turnpike-roads ; and, second, what beneficial alterations might be proposed iu its stead. You are all, of course, aware tha; many years since — I suppose more than a century ago — the roads of this country were little better than tracks. At about the time that coaches were first established, and traffic really began to be developed, larger roads were found necessary, and these were first formed between the principal towus. In many places, to make and maintain these roads. Government ad- vanced large sums of money. The Holyhead road was an instance of that kind. In other cases, large sums of mouey were borrowed by mortgage of the tolls, and by erecting turn- pike gates on the roads, to oblige traffic that passed that way to pay ; for it was felt reasonable and right that those wlio used the roads should pay for them. In this way, many trusts were established in the country ; and I think during that time, and for many years afterwards. Parliament seemed rather to have neglected to enquire whether it was advisable that any par- ticlar road should be managed by a trust or not. They simply allowed a trust to be established when applied for ; so that at one time there existed as many as eleven hundred dif- ferent trusts in the country. On the establishment of a trust, the tolls were mortgaged for a certain number of years ; and on this term coming to an end, it was re-aliowed without .m,;. difficulty ; but, of late years, all trusts whose original terms have expired arc placed together under an Act passed yearly for that purpose, and are continued for one year and to the end of the next session of Parliament. So they go on from year to year until the debt of any one trust is paid off ; and it is then put into the schedule of this Act, and ceases at the end of the year. Qp to the present time, a good many debts have been arranged ; but that has been done by reducing the rate of interest, and fixing a term of years in which the whole shall be paid off. There liave been comparatively few cases in which the debts have been paid off, and the trusts have terminated alto- gether : but in an Act which was passed last July there are no less than 133 trusts named in the whole country wliich \\t11 cease — absolutely cease — by November, 18G7, and the repairs of the roads fall on the parishes through which they pass, unless some alteration in the present law is made. This has, of course, led those who are more directly interested in these trusts to con- sider upon whom the burden of repairing roads wiU fall when gates are abolished. Under the present system, if these 133 trusts should cease, an injustice would be done to particular parishes ; and it is well to consider it beforehand, and to try to guard against it. There are many such cases. Let us take one in this county. Leading from Gloucester westwards, there is a road which branches off, I think, to Ross, Chepstow, and Ledbury. It crosses the Severn by a bridge just at the entrance to Gloucester, and goes through five or six parishes, its whole length not being more than fourteen miles ; but the whole of the traffic that enters the city on that side passes over that trust and over that bridge. That trust has been out of debt some years ; and if the gates are done away with, and the repairs are thrown on those particular parishes, the result will be very serious. Of course, the inhabitants of the parishes strongly object to such a thing ; and Mr. Gambler Parry, who is a large owner of property there, told me it would ahnost ruiu him, as it would add ifiUO a-year to tlie rates of his parish. That gives you some idea of the injustice which might be caused if the trusts were abolished in that way, and the repairs were thrown upon a parish, without enlarging the dis- trict at all. If you take one trust in this manner, and abolish THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 145 it without doing away with a neighbouring trust, you simply offer an inducement to people to leave the roads where gates remain, and pass over those where the gates are abolished (Hear-, hear) ; so that the greater part of the traiiic would be thrown upon roads where there were no gates, and the revenue of the other trusts where the tolls remain would materially suffer. You all doubtless know that there was a discussion on this subject at the last Gloucester quarter sessions; and Sir George Jenkinson brought forward a resolution urging the abolition of turnpike tolls, and the adoption of a county rate, adding that the debt whinh now exists should he paid by a loan from Government, ou the security of the county rates. That was rather a sweeping pro- posal ; and I do not tliink it quite met with the approbation of the court. The magistrates thought the question had hardly been sufEciently inquired into, and that it was rather too soon to adopt anything of the kind. For my own part, T think the more one inquires into this subject the greater the difficulty seems to be. It is almost impossible to do anything in this matter without causing some injustice or hardship to some one or another ; and what we should try to do is to obtain that solution of the question which wiU cause the least (Hear, liear). With regard to the proposal of Sir G. Jenkinson, to place the roads on a county rate, I should like first to say a few \i'ords upon the present system of tolls. We often hear it said that tolls are doomed, and must be abolished. We ought also to inquire why they are doomed, and why they should be abolished? If the present system of -repairing roads is de- nounced as the worst, we ought to inquire why it is the worst ? I think that a few figures which I have put together with re- gard to the county of Gloucester will show you the reason for objecting to tolls. In this county, the sum actually paid to the trustees of the different roads is £40,000 a-year. To that I think we may add at least 6 per cent, as the profit which the lessees get out of the tolls. That gives a sum of £2,4<00 per year. We must also add the livelihood of persons living at the different gates, which we cannot estimate at less than £700 a-year. There are 285 toll-houses in the county, and it has been computed by the best authorities that they cannot re- turn to the occupiers less than £25 a year each. These sums added to the £40,000 paid to the trustees makes a total of nearly £50,000 a-year, besides which £1,000 a-year is paid by the parishes towards the repair of the roads in the county, which increases the amount paid yearly to about £51,000. Now, out of that £51,000 paid annuaUy for the maintenance of the turnpike-roads in this comity, only £28,000 goes in '^actual repair?. You see it is little more than half. Of that amount £2,842 is spent in "miscellanies," which mean, I imagine, improvements, repairs to bridges, and other matters which do not strictly come within the contract for re- . pairs. Then the salaries of surveyors and clerks amount to £3,242 a-year. But the main point I wish to impress upon you is, that while £51,000 is paid by the public for the repair of the roads, only £28,000 is devoted to that object. That at all events is sufficient to establish a paragraph in the report of a House of Commons committee, which sat on this subject in 1864, to the effect that tolls are costly in collection and incon- venient to the public. I am sure every one here can speak for himself of the great inconvenience of being stopped by a turnpike and a stupid pikeman on the road to the station when rather late for the train, or in returning home late at night (Hear, hear, and a laugh). Ou the other hand, it is only fair to consider a very strong argument in favour of toUs. There can be no doubt whatever that they catch people who ought to pay for the repair of the roads — those who use them. I wiU give you a strong instance of tliis. It comes from the evidence of Mr. Peach, who lives in Derbyshire, where tliere are a great many mines. He gave evidence before a Parliamentary Committee on this subject, and he stated that tliere was one coUiery in his own district rated at £700 a-year, and which returned a yearly produce of 20,000 tons. Now, 20,000 tons passing through the turnpike at a toU of 4d. per ton produced £330, which amount he can- tributed towards the repair of the roads over which his coal passed; but substitute for the present system of tolls a 4d. rate, and, taking the rateable value of that coUiery at £700, you would get only £1 2 a-year. Thus in one case the colliery owner would pay £300 a-year for the use of the roads, which he fairly ought to pay, and in the other case he would pay only £12, That is a verv strong instance indeed in favour of tolls. But on the other hand, it may well Ije said that if you can prove that, although you raise a good deal more money from coal mines, and hauliers, and millers, and others of that class by toUs than by rates, yet if as much money as they pay can be saved by substituting a rate for toUs, and other classes wUl not be more burdened, surely it is worth while even in a case like that I have quoted to make the change. At a late meeting of the Gloucester Chamber of Agriculture the rate- able value of several farms — as many as 20, I believe — was returned, together with the estimated amount of toUs which the occupiers now pay Ln a year. Now, I think we shall admit tliat the agricultural interest is one which, in such a case as this, we should be most anxious not to see over-burdened. One farmer at Hanley was returned as rated at £685 per year, and the estimated amount of toUs which he paid in a year was £0 10s. At a rate of 4d. in the pound a farm assessed at £680 would produce £11, so that the farmer in that case would be a loser by the suljstitutiou of a rate for toUs. On the other hand there is a farm at Lentou rated at £780, the occu- l)ier of which calculates that he pays £20 a yeai in tolls, but if a rate was substituted, he would pay only £13 a year, so that he woidd lie a gainer by the change. The truth of the matter is this, in those parts of the country where there are many turnpike-roads — such as in the Vale— the substitution of a rate for tolls would probably in most cases be a gain to the farmer ; whereas in parts of the'country like this, where turn- pike-roads are few and far between, and where the traffic is mostly carried on highways, it would probably be a loss. I have endeavoured to ascertain from several gentlemen here present the amount they pay in tolls in the course of a year, and I have no doubt they will make their remarks on the subject and state whether they think they would gain or lose by such a substitution. For my own part, I have looked into the matter — I don't occupy much of a farm, about 100 acres — and I find that I paid nearly £11 last year in toUs. I don't think I for one shoidd lose by the substitution of a rate for toUs. There is another way in which it is suggested the roads might be sup- ported if tolls were aboUslied. I have seen it argued in one or two letters in the Gloucestershire Chronicle that it might be possible to place a sort of assessment upon everything which used the roads, such as carriages, horses, carts, sheep, oxen, and so on ; but I think you wiU all agree with me that such a plan as that would be impracticable and oppressive and inquisitive to the last degree, and conld not possibly be adopted in this country (Hear, hear). The present assessed taxes are bad enough as inquisitive imposts, and if ever such an adilition as I have mentioned was to be made to them, no- body would be more ready to complain than the gentlemen I see around me, and with great justice too (Hear, hear). There is another point which we must particularly bear in mind in considering this question. It is this : It would be impossible to take the turnpike trusts by themselves. When the question was first agitated, it never occurred to me that it would be impossible to put all roads under one system. If you take turnpike roads alone and put them on a county or district rate, the injustice would be enormous, for you would not only make parishes repair their present highways, but con- tribute also to the rate for the maintenance of turnpikes. The proper way to deal with the matter is to take the whole thing together, and put turnpike and highway roads on the same basis (Hear, hear). If this plan was adopted and a rate was substituted, you would have to put the whole management of all the roads under one board. You would have a certain number of districts in the county, each of which would consist of elected and ex-oificio members, much in the same way as tlie present highway boards. From these certain members would be elected to form a central board at Gloucester, which would control the whole ; in fact the whole would be managed much in the same way as the South Wales counties are at present. You are all doubtless aware that in the six South Wales counties, about 20 years ago, riots too place on the subject of the turnpike roads. Toll-gates multiplied everjwhere, and people could hardly travel a mile on the road without confronting a gate and being called upon for toll. Everyone was justly dissatisfied, and the result was that the roads in each of these counties were con- solidated into a country trust. T have obtained a return from Glamorganshire, and this is what they do there. Over the wholp of the South Wales counties there is a general surveyor I. § 146 THE FAEMER'S MAGAZINE. paid Ijy Govrnimoiit, his salary lieing £1,200 a-year. Each county has a central board, and there is a hoard in each district. Glamorganshire is divided into three districts, and the central board meets about once a-ycar. That county is not nearly so large as this. There the mileage of turnpike roads is C35 miles ; here it is 870 miles ; so that here ve should have more districts and a larger number of ofticers. But, for all that, I find that in Glamorganshire the cost of management is less in proportion to the extent than it is in this count}-. And that lirings me to another proposal made hy Mr. Curtis Ilaward, which is more feasible than the other to which I have referred. It was to consolidate the whole of thetnists in the county into one large trust, which should be managed in the same way as in Glamorganshire. Kow, I viiW. just compare the expenditure and rates of the two counties, which will show you, I think, that the more you consolidate trusts the cheaper you can do them (Hear, hear). In Glamorganshire there are 235 miles of roads, the repairs of which cost £8,250 a-year. These roads are repaired under the management of a general surveyor paid by Government, and two county surveyors, one of whom receives t2r)0 a-year and the other £210. There is a clerk to each of the district boards, and the salaries of these four clerks and two surveyors amount to £710 a-year. Thus the expendi- ture there amounts to this — for salaries, £710 ; for repairs, £8,250. In Gloucestershire there are 870 miles of roads, the repairs to which amount to £28,000 a-year. I really don't know how many surveyors and clerks these roads are managed by ; but I do know this, that many of those in the Vale have a very small mileage indeed to look after. The salaries of these surveyors and clerks amount to £3,242 a-year ; so that, in fact, although the Gloucestershire roads are about 3 j times as much in mileage, and cost about Sk times as much to repair as the Glamorganshire roads, yet we pay 4:^ times as much as they do to our owti surveyors and clerks. That will show, I think, that a considerable reduction would be made hy consolidating the roads in this county (Hear, hear). I have heard it objected that it would be unfair to consolidate trusts, because, in the case of roads which liave no debt, and on which gates might be expected to be abolished, they would have to continue those gates at the expense of the inhabitants of the district, in order to benefit other districts where gates were not abolished on account of debt. No doubt that would be the case, but in the inquiries I have made I have found that the inhabitants of districts where there is no debt, far from being anxious to have their tolls and trusts abolished, would infinitely prefer to have them kept up, to avoid the very great expense they at present see before them if the roads are thrown upon the parishes through which they pass. Again, some trusts may say, " We have allowed the tolls to accumulate for several years with a view of paying olf our debt, and have repaired the roads with the rates of the parish, and' we think it is rather hard that we, having done this, should have to i)ay for other turnpikes for a much longer time than we expected to do." Now, as far as 1 know, there are only two or three trusts in this couuty which are in that position, and supposing the wheol trusts wpi'fi consolidated, I see no reason why such trusts as those at Bibur,- and Wooton Bassett should not be treated as turni)ike roads and included in the consolidation. Next comes the question, if you consolidate the roads, whether you would pay off the debts-by tolls or by a rate ? I am inclined to think it would be better to consolidate them and keep on the tolls till the debt is paid otF. I don't think it would be fair or right to charge the county with the debt incurred for making these roads (Hear, hear). At the time they were made, many of them were imperial highways, not made for the purposes of local traffic, and I repeat that I do not think it would be fair to put upon a local rate (which, after all, a county rate is) the origi- nal expense of making these roads. After the debt was paid off there would be iutinitely more reason for i)ntting the repairs of the roads on the county rate, for no doubt the'tratfic upon them now is purely local. As I have said before, by tolls you to a certain extent catch those who are not ratepayers, but "use the roads ; and if the trusts are properly managedand consoli- dated, so as to be administered in the best way at the least pos- ble expense, I believe that in a comparativelv few vears— sav ten— the whole of tile debt of the county would be paid oft', and in the meantime some better plan might be devised for the future maintenance of the roads. But supposing', on the other band, that a rate was adopted as the best jneans" of paying off the debt, no doubt it would be done by borrowing money from Government on security of the rates. Government could afford to lend money at a less rate than the, trusts at present pay to their l)ondholders, aud so far we should reduce the debt in a way which kee]>ing on the tolls would not do. I am en- deavouring to put before you every argument, as 1 wish to look at the subject in every possible light, and to have your views upon the whole of it (Hear, hear). We now come to the amount of the county debt. I have gone into statistics as well as I can, and I have particularly noticed the calculations wliich Sir George Jenkinson made at Gloucester ; and, so far as I can see, he is about right in placing the county debt at £130,000, excluding the debt on the bridges, the actual money value of which, however, was considerably less. Then from that amount we have to deduct £20,000 due to Government, which I don't think they ought to get, so that the actual money value of the debt is not 'more than £90,000. Out of that £90,000 we have to take say £15,000 tor toll houses and gates, and the io/ia yjV^ debt of the cotiuty is thus reduced £75,000. "Well, now, seeing that every year we collect by tolls and contribu- tions from parishes £-ll,000, aud only spend on actual repairs £28,000, I really think we might hoj)e, in less than ten years, to pay off that debt of £75,000. There is another point which I have not yet mentioned, and to which I ought to allude before I conclude. Under the present system of tolls, towns pay con- siderably towards the repairs of the turnpike roads ; or if the townspeople don't pay, they are stopped by the turnpikes, and they cannot travel. Now, if you adopted a system of rates in- stead of tolls you would not catch the towns at all. I am aware that Cirencester and Cheltenham are both liable to the couuty rate, but I don't think we could in fairness ask towns to repair their streets, and to repair in addition, equally with the rural parishes, the repairs of the country roads. That is a large instance ; hut there are other cases where the system of a county rate as at present levied would hardly apply. Take the cases which 'Mr. Holt gave at Gloucester. A haulier who was now estimated to pay £20 a year toUs would under a rate pay 2s. A miller perhaps may pay now £-10 or £50, but he would not pay more than £2 or £3 under a rate. A gentleman living in a house inthe country for purposes of himting,without occupying any land, would pay no\^' a very considerable sum in tolls ; but if a rate was substituted he would pay a very small sum indeed, as his house would probably not be assessed at more than £100 a-year. There is also tiie case of quarries, coal mines and iron mines — the latter of which are not rated at all. All these cases tend to show that if you put the roads on a couuty rate, you must alter the jn'csent basis so far as highways are concerned. 1 don't think you can with any fairness repair highways by a rate levied under the present system. Why not rate each description of property in a difl'erent manner ? Take the farmer as a unit to start from ; put him at the same amount as he appears in the poor-rate ; put the haulier and miller at several times the amount of their rateable values for the poor-rate ; and assess mines and manufactories in the same way ill prcii)ortion to the wear-aud-tear of the roads which they occasion. I don't see that such an arrangement as tluit is impossible, aud I am sure it would be infinitely fairer than putting on the agricultural interest more than ought to be borne by it (Hear, hear). In conclusion I have only to say that I am nuicli obliged to yon for the patience with which you have listened to me. I have endeavoured to go into the whole question, to explain to you the difficulties which beset every method of dealing with it, and to show you as far as I could the arguments for and against any particular mode. I shiill only be too happy now or at any future time to hear any- thing that any gentleman has to say on the subject, and to en- deavour with you all to consider what are the best means of dealing with this very difficult question. After explaining a point raised by jMr. Warner, Sir Michael stated, in reply to the Chairman, that the amount of debt paid off last year in the county was £4,840. Mr. T. C. Brow^ stated that owing to the peculiar cir- cumstance of deafness he had not heard a word of Sir Michael's address, and he thought therefore, as he had a few words to say on the general question, that it would be most convenient for him to say them at first, and not interrupt the discussion afterwards. The question was, he believed, as to the advisa- bility of altering the present system of repairing the roads by turnpike trusts. Now, for the greater part of his life he had been a commissioner of a laige trust in this neighbourhood, aud therefore to some little extent he had seen the working of THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 147 the preseut system. He thought he might say at tlie outset that they would all be agreed on oue point — namely, that if it woidd be possible to devise a scheme for the repair, uot only of turnpike roads but of aU roads, so as to do away with the toll-taking system and make the traffic entirely free, it would be a very desirable arrangement. But looviug at the present system, he tliought they would be all eciually agreed that it seemed to be based on most reasonable grounds — that was, of making tliose parties pay for tlie repairs who used the roads (Hear, hear). That seemed a very just principle, and unless some sclieme could be devised by which the burden should be so diffused as not to fall upon particular individuds or parislies, he thought they had better remain where they were. But he wasquite aware that they could not stay where they were. They were in a difficulty, whicli was this — that this reasonable mode of repairing the roads was imperfect and in- sufficient, and the consequence was that year by year turnpike roads were coming to a natural end, because they had not the means of repairing them. Now, it seemed to hira that what they had t(j do was to look at the general features of the question. If they were agreed that something ought to be done, they must tlrst consider tlie state they were in, and then how they could best improve it. One part of their present position was this, that money had been borrowed to make these turnpike roads. Now, Englishmen, he believed, loved honesty, and any scheme tliat did not provide for the repayment of those borrowed moneys in proportion to their value — tlieir value might be estimated by the amount of interest they bore — ought not to be adopted. He thought the basis of any altera- tion they proposed to make slioiild lie this — that justice must be done. It had been advocated that a county system should be adopted and tried in Gloucestershire. Now, he saw the greatest difficulties in the way of a county system, and he would never be a party to any proposition to introduce a de- partmental scheme (Hear, hear). Let the system be national (cheers). If it were national, they would all be bearers of the burdens in proportion to their property. He could not there enter into details ; but he believed that any system tliat was not national w ould fail, and what he wished to submit was that if that meeting took any step towards recommending any alteration, it was most desirable that they should proceed on a sound basis, and he repeated that his opinion was tliat the only sound basis was a national one. He thought it was most un- desirable that they should go to Parliament to suggest merely local alterations. Mr. David Bowly said lie came there to be enlightened, but he must confess tbat he was not so at present. He was as much in the wood as ever, and he at present saw no way out of it, except, as Mr. Brown had suggested of going on as tliey were. The legislation liad for the last x!0 years or more had all been with a view of abolishing turnpike trusts. That was seen in the case of their trusts here. It must be a very strong case in- deed that would induce Parliament to renew a trust, and the object was to throw the cost of the roads upon land. As for a county system, he could not see liow that was to work \ntli any sort of fairness, for, as Sir Michael Beach had stated, it seemed a hard thing to put a heavy county rate upon towns which did not use the roads. Many shop-keepers did not go a mile in the year on the roads, and it did uot seem fair that they should be called upon to contribute towards the repair of them. What decision that meeting would come to, he did not know. For himself he could see no way of acting at all, and he should never support anything like going for a county rate. The Chairman could not agree with his brother as to put- ting all the expense upon land. Why, shop-keepers used the roads more tlian farmers. Never a day passed — Sundays more especially — but what large numbers of vehicles of all kinds, driven by towns-people, passed his house, and why should they be exempt ? As to their parish, they took little interest in the matter, as they had to make aU their own roads, and they could not be worse off. Mr. David Bowly : There is not another parish in the county where the roads are used as ours are. Mr. G. F. Newmarcii remarked that as he had given some attention to this subject, perhaps they would allow him to make one or two observations upon it. Going back to the time when there were no such things as tolls, tliey were no doubt all aware that the common law placed the liability to repair the roads upon the parishes. The present feeling of the public mind seemed to be that if these toll-gates were abolished they woidd revert to the original law. Then of necessity, each parish would have to maintain its own roads, which in some cases would be a very great hardship, as he would endeavour to explain. He was clerk to Northleach district roads and some time since he was called upon to give reasons, pro and con, why, that trust being out of debt, it should or should not be continued. He received a circular from Government, and he made a reply to it, which seemed to have effect, as their trust was not discontinued. He would tell them the grounds why, if the repairs of roads were thrown upon parishes, it would press very hardly on that particidar trust, and the same reasons would apply to others if toUs were abolished. It would of course depend on the area of a parish and the amount of road in it. Take two particular parishes in the Northleach district. Hampnett, which had a rateable value of £1,593 per year, would have to pay for the repairs of turnpike roads £58 10s. a-year, while Withington, whose rateable value was £5,095, would only have to pay £12. Again, Dowdeswell, with a rateable value of £3,053, would have to pay £1^; 5s. a- year, while the two Shiptons, whose rateable value was £2,553, would have to pay £74. That arose from the fact that, in Hamp- nett for instance, the greater part of the roads were turnpike, while in the other parishes they were mostly common highways. This instance would show the difficulty of dealing with this question. If they put a road hitherto kept by toll upon a parish, they would seriously shift the incidents of taxation, and, as he liad said before, revert to the original common law. He thought the debt question had been rather a bugbear, and when people tlew olf upon that they looked to the minor point and, left the major. If, to start with, they reduced the debt to what it was worth, and then distributed it over 30 years, they would for about £3,000 a-year pay off the entire debt of the county. Therefore the debt question, if they went into it, would be but a small one. The great question was the question of repairs. If, as he said before, they came to the common law, and forced each parish to pay for its own roads, they would so shift taxation that in some cases it would be very grievous injustice. It was upon that ground that he made a suggestion some time since which he had no doubt was not appreciated, and he hardly ventured to hope that it would be now. It was to the effect that the common law might be raodilied so that, through the medium of the Quarter Sessions, a sum should be raised in a parish which should vary as the Quarter Sessions felt that the justice required. Why could uot this be done ? Tliey did it now with regard to the land tax, a certain sum of money being fixed upon a parish which it had to raise ? lie ventured to make that suggestion before a Committee, but, as he before remarked, the Committee did not seem to appreciate it, nor had anybody since done so. He had now ventured to make the suggestion again, so that it might be ventilated ; for these things, if they were at all out of ihe common way, were not very readily taken up at first. The public mind, accustomed to run in a certain groove, found it a rather difficult matter to travel out of it, and it was only by hammering on that they could get people to look at points which they had never contemplated before (Hear, hear). For this reason he had tlirown out this suggestion again as one mode of getting rid of that inequality between parishes to which he had referred. Let some local body — say the Quarter Sessions, as their local parliament — assess the sum which each parish should pay to the common fund for the maintenance of the roads, and if they did this, he should not see so much objection to throwing the roads to- gether. Another course was to throw the roads on the high- way district, which would be a great improvement, and he was almost inclined to think that was what it would come to. The question of debt could be easily dealt with, and then, accord- ing to this proposal, all ordinary roads would be thrown upon the highway district. There could be no question that that would get rid of a deal of inequality, but at the same time they must bear in mind that it would throw a very large extra burden on land. It was for them to consider whether this would or would not be fair, and whether there were any cir- cumstances wliicli rendered it necessary that landed property should bear these sort of burdens. He was speaking then in an atmosphere of land (a laugh), and to suggest tlie putting of any extra burdens on the land would not meet with approval there, nor was he going to suggest it. He had no hesitation in saying that land in this country bore burdens for which those who owned and occupied it did not seem to gain the 148 THE FAEMER'S MAGAZINE. treilit which was due io them (Hear, hear), and to inerease those hardens was not his object. But they must look the tiling fairly in the face. If they were to get rid of the pre- sent system of tolls, in one way or another they would get an increased burden on the laud. Whether that burden should be fairly distril)utcd hy extending the area, or unfairly imposed by leaving each particuhir ptirish to hear its own burden, was a matter whicli demanded their most careful consideration. Mr. Iles said however they looked at the matter it was fraught with difficulty. There were many parishes whicli had not a single inch of turnpike-road, hut which had roads of their own to maintain ; and if tolls were aholished, he thought it would be rather hard that parishes like these should have to repair their own roads and contribute towards the maintenance of turnpikes as well (Hear, hear). It would also be hard to place the roads on the parishes tlirough which they passed. The matter might be met by a tax upon vehicles, horses, &c. ; but it seemed to him that the better plan would be to throw the roads on the parishes, each of which sliould receive some contribution from the county or other rate, thus making a compromise of it. With regard to towns, no doubt some- tliing was to be said against making them contribute towards the repair of turnpikes, in addition to maintaining their o-wn streets. But he could not agree with what Mr. David Bowly had said as to shop-keepers. If there were not good roads people could not come to town to buy as often and in such numbers as they did now. The fact was that all were interested in the maintenance of good roads, and he thought that if in any way they could compromise the present question, it would be the fairest way of dealing with it. Mr. David Bowly said it should he borne in mind that towns maintained their streets and all the roads round them, for the benefit of the public, without any assistance whatever from any turnpike trust or anything else. That being so, was it fair to go two miles out of the town and compel a shop- keeper to pay for the repair of a road which he never used, when he had to keep the town in repair for farmers to hold their markets in, and country people to make their purchases ? He was as much for tlie lauded interest as any one present, but he did not wish to see an injustice done to towns. He beheved that land was unfairly rated with regard to roads. They had three miles of road thrown on their parish, by whom it was entirely repaired, and he ventured to say that more wheels passed over that road than over any other three miles in the district. As he had said before, any man must be bhnd not to see that, most unfairly, he submitted, the legislature had been endeavouring of late years to throw the roads on the land. Every Home Secretary for the last 40 years woiUd say the same thing. If that was not the object of the Go- vernment, why did they limit a trust for a certain term of years on the expiration of which the parish through which the turnpike ran had to maiutain it. The system was oppressive, and what they had to do was to endeavour as far as possible to get rid of it, and to avert any additional burden. Mr. Thomas Akkell, of Penhill, gave some particulars with regard to the Burford, Lechlade, and Swindon Trust, of which he was a Commissioner. Some years ago it was one of the worst-managed trusts in the country, but in 1853 a better Act was obtained, limitiug the interest to 2^^ per cent., and after fixing the s:\laries of officers and the cost of repairs, they began to pay off the debt, and met with such success that it aJniost frightened them (a laugh). Tliey first compounded with bondholders at a considerable reduction, but the trust was in such a good state now that they were almost paying in fiill. Now, after making that stir for the benefit of the pub- lic, and paying off their debt, they fomid this staring them in the face — the proposal that they should keep the roads and pay for repairing them. He agreed with Mr. Brown that this could not be merely a Gloucestershire question — it must be national. How could they fix a county rate for a trust that went through three counties? After referring to the management of the trust with which he was connected, Mr. Arkell stated that in 1836 the debt on turnpike roads through- out the country was £7,000,000, but by 1861. it was reduced to £4,000,000, the estimated value of which, however, was not more than £3,0U0,000. This sum might be liquidated in 25 years by an annual payment of £180,000, which seemed a very moderate sum if taken in hand by Government. But the question was how was this £180,000 to be raised without putting it on their shoulders or going to the land to repair roads ? He was of opinion that it would he very beneficial to do away with tolls, as they merely held out a premium to people to go roundabout for miles and wear out the roads in order to save sixpence. But if turnpike trusts were abolished, it was right to consider what would he the consequence to them ? They ought to feel much obliged to Sir INIichael for coming there to obtain their views ontiie subject (Hear, hear). He was a pattern to their (North Wilts) county members, and he would take care to give them a hint on the subject. But as to the means. How, in the event of tlie abolition of turn- pike trusts, was the money to be raised so as to keep it off their shoulders and the land (a laugh). They were quite wilHng to pay their share ; but he thought that when magis- trates got to Quarter Sessions and talked about " only a penny county rate," they did not seem to think that a county rate was laid on the same thing as a poor rate, and that a penny county-rate was equal to a twopenny income-tax upon them. Now, he had turned this matter over in his mind for some years, and his impression was that they must come to assessed taxes, and that was the only point on which Sir Michael and he did not concur. Mr. Arkell quoted figures to show the amount that would he realised by assessed taxes, and com- pared with this the proposed rating system, under which cer- tain persons usmg the roads would be comparatively exempt, and the land woiild have to make up the deficiency. Mr. Dewe remarked that when they spoke of assessed taxes they were touching on rather ticklish ground. If they opened this question, it might bejasked why should not far- mer's carts, farm-horses, &c., which were now exempt, be assessed, and they might thus put themselves in a rather bad position. Mr. Arkell said he was not wishing to have cart-horses put under the assessed taxes ; hut if they would take the rate off his farm he would he quite wilUng to pay in proportion to his stock. Mr. Iles thought if Mr. ArkeU's proposal could be carried out it would be a very good one. Mr. Smith, of Bibury, said tliis discussion seemed to be directed towards removing turnpike gates, hut there were other gates which were as great a nuisance as turnpike gates. Perhaps in going to or from home they would, in five or six miles meet with five or six gates ; and what was so great a nuisance, especially if tliey happened to be driving a fidgety horse (Hear, hear) ? Tor Ids part he should like to see all the gates taken off all the roads, and then he should be %viUing to contribute his portion towards repairs. They had recently taken the gates off the liibury turnpike-road on their own responsibility (though some people said their trust did not expire till November, 1S67), for they found, on making a calculation in the eight parishes through which the road ran, that they were called upon for an annual contribution towards that road which exceeded the amount expended upon it. So about two years ago they took to the roads themselves, and they were convinced that they were novi^ repaired at less cost and more efficiently than formerly (Hear, hear). Some people had blamed them for taking off the gates, for they thus allowed travellers who used the roads to go without paying towards them ; but they found that the road, as at present managed, was the least expensive, and surely it would he very unwise to put up gates again and increase their own burdens simply for the purpose of catching stray trafiic (Hear, hear). Their roads were free, they worked well, and he hoped he should live to see all gates of all kinds entirely abolished (Hear, hear). He expressed a fear that Mr. ArkeU's plan as to putting assessed taxes on road-traffic was too complicated to be carried out. Mr. Garne said some gentlemen seemed to have a great objection to having a turnpike road thrown on a parish ; but since the turnpike roads in his district had been thrown on the management of the highway board, he found that he contributed less money ami the roads were better maiutained than when he paid tolls. Their roads, since they had had the management of them, cost them much less than before, and he was satisfied that last year as much stone was put upon them as in fiv(^ years previously. Let them have anything in tlie world Imt the roads thrown on the county, with a county sur\cyor, a county manager, a county clerk, and a county this thing and another. Rather than have that, they had better put up a few extra gates instead of abolisliing the existing ones. The Rev. Thomas Maurice asserted his belief that roads THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 149 coming more aud more upon parishes was inevitable, and he exhorted all who were interested in the matter to take all the pains and care they conld to have those roads put in tolerably good order before they were so transferred. Mr. Warner asked Mr. Garnc the acreage and the extent of turnpike road in his parish. Mr. Gaene : The acreage is about 6,000 acres, and the extent of turnpike road 2^ miles. Mr. Thomas Bkewiji said he achmred the manner in which Sir Michael Beach had brought this subject forward. He had not dogmatised at all, but had laid the whole question before them, in its various aspects, and having stated the whole case, Imd left them to form their several opinions upon it (Hear, hear). He (Mr. Brcvvin) expressed approval of Mr. New- march's plan of throwing the roads on the highway district on the whole of w Inch a rate would be charged, not in the exact ratio of the county-rate, but modified as the justice of the case might sfeem to require. For instance, Cirencester paved and lighted the streets, and it would be hardly fair to rate the whole of the property in the town the same as in the adjoin- ing parish of Baunton, which did nothing of the kind. As to the present turnpike trusts, raising money by that system was a bad one. He thought they were pretty well agreed upon that. Then as to having a mere partial system of turnpike tolls, in his opinion that would be worse than a general one, because no sooner would gates be pulled down in one district than people would travel miles out of their road to avoid pay- ing the tolls which remained, and looking at the loss of time and the wear and tear of roads and material which this would occasion, it would be found to amount in the year to a great national loss. AVith regard to the debt, it was a bad thing to be in debt, but worse to try and get out of it without paying (a laugh). He thought the way in which turnpike bond- holders had been treated was not just. It had beeu more Like Yankee repudiation than anything else. It was not so en- irely, but advantage had been taken of the bondholders, whot had made fine roads for which they had never been really paid, and all that was left for them to do was to attack a body of road commissioners with the Home Secretary at their back for 20s. in the pound. Aud what was the use ? He should not be a bondholder long — he hoped soon to be paid ofi" ; so he was not speaking from a personally interested point of view ; but he could not help saying that English legislation with regard to turnpike trusts had not been an honour to this country. H the toUs were insulhcicnt, they would be content to go unpaid ; if they were otherwise, then those who lent the money on the tolls were entitled to a priority of them. He thought the payment of the debt would not be a very great practical difficulty. It was not very large — nothing at all compared with the burdens of continuing turpike trusts. After some fiuther remarks, Mr. Brewin concluded by expres- sing an opinion that it would be found less expensive to main- tain a good road than a bad one. He had been a surveyor, and he was satisfied of tliis. Give him a contract for twenty years, and for his own sake he would have the best possible road. The Chairman observed that he had not the same com- passion for bondholders, who had of their own free wiU put their money out at interest, and they must accept the conse- quences. Looking at the importance of this subject to them at the present time, he suggested whether it would not be advisable to adjourn the further consideration of the question till next month, and at the same time appoint a committee to confer with the Chamber of Agriculture upon it. He hoped every farmers' club in England would do this. If they were to save themselves from further burdens, now was the time to act. Sir Michael Beach said, if no one else wished to continue the discussion, he would like to say a few words in reply. He felt that they had done that day the right thing, fie was glad that he had come there to open the discussion, as the sub- ject seemed to have excited much interest, and many valuable suggestions had been made. First, in reply to Mr. t3rown, he would state that in his speech he was careful to guard himself against any such thing as suggesting repudiation. Certainly, in no part of England would such a suggestion be less favour- ably received than in Cirencester, where, he was informed, it was difficult to find creditors to take the debt at a thscount of five per cent. If that was the case, no bondholder here had any need to complain of repudiation. Mr. Brown also stated that what was done in this matter should be done in a na- tional way. He (Sir Michael) hardly understood what that meant. If it had reference to something given out of the Consolidated Fund, he devoutly wished they might get it ; but there was a large party in Parliament who were always glad to put any burden upon roads, for they knew it fell upon laud. He had not much hope of receiving assistance from the Con- solidated Fuud, which was levied to a great extent on per- sonal property. Mr. Bowly urged that towns ought to be ex- cepted, because they made their own roads. He (the hen. baronet) would be willing to show them some consideration ; but they should contribute something. Mr. Newmarch's pro- posal was that they should take the highway district in lieu of a county-rate. It was also objected that gentlemen here would strongly disapprove of being rated for turnpike-roads in the same area aud the same rates as the district round Bristol. That was the very point which he tried to press upon the meeting. If mines and manufactories were rated fairly and properly, according to the way in which they used the roads, no one could object to be classified with them. Mr. lies said it would be a hardship to make parishes with only highways repair their own roads and help to make turnpikes as well. He, for one, would not propose such a thing for a moment. All roads must go together. It was impossible to deal with them in any other way. He could not agree with Mr. Ar- kell's suggestion as to increasing the assessed taxes ; and Mr. Dewe's answer was a very good one. It would raise the whole question of taxing agricultural horses and carts, and other things which were now free. Oxen would also be taxed. In- deed, they could not raise the assessed taxes for the repair of roads without taxing every animal and cart which used them. Mr. Smith and Mr. Game instanced the road at Bibury, and stated that the parishes through which that road ran did not object to bear the whole ex- pense of its maintenance. He would like to know what that road cost a mile to repair. [Mr. Smith : " Under £12."] That was very little more, if anything, than was paid for the maintenance of any highway road in any parish. This was why Bibury aud the other parishes did not object to take the burden upou themselves. It was a mere local parish road. In contrast to this, he might instance the case of a trust near Gloucester which cost £78 a mile to repair it. In some cases, it cost £250 per mile ; Imt £7b was the average. He thought if Bibm-y had to pay that, they would object to take the road wholly upon themselves. Having answered the more im- portant points raised, he would state, in conclusion, that the question resolved itself into tliis — the great objection to toUa as at present collected was the enormous waste that was occa- sioned, and the inconvenience to those who passed over the roads. One point in favour of tolls was, that they caught the people who used the roads ; but was it not possible to do this by a rate ? If a rate could be so formed as to catch the people who used the roads in proper proportion to that use, then he thought no one could object to the substitution of a rate for tolls (Hear, hear). It might possibly be done by rating mines and manufactories at three or four times their poor-rate value ; but he certainly should not like to see roads put upou the county-rate without some alteration being made in the present rating system (Hear, hear). On one point, he thouglit, they were all agreed, which was that land was sufficiently burdened ah-eady (Hear, hear). They paid more in proportion for real landed property than personal property paid. It was a large question to enter into. Last session, he moved for a return of the amount paid in rates throughout the country, and the annual value of the property that paid it ; and, side by side with tliis, he moved for a return of the annual value of pro- ' perty on which income-tax was paid. When these were pre- sented, he thought they would show a very severe burden in- deed upon land and real property (Hear, hear). He again cordially thanked them for their attention. Mr. Thomas Arkell proposed a vote of thanks to Sir Michael for his kindness in coming to lay before them the im- portant subject which he had so ably handled that day. Mr. Iles seconded the proposition, which was carried with acclamation. The lion, baronet expressed his acknowledgments ; and a committee consisting of tlie following gentlemen was ap- pointed : Messrs. E. Ruck, H. Playne, C. Hobbs, R. lies, W. Slatter, W. Smith, R. A. Anderson, G. Hulbert, W. J. Ed- monds, J. Plumb, T. Warner, W. Game, J. Kearsey, H. Howell, and J. Barton. Mr. Ellett, secretary to the club, was appointed secretary to the committee. 160 THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. THE POTATO TRADE AND MARKETS, «y A ntACTLCAL FARMER. The immense quantity of potatoes which are now- grown for the British public makes it a very prominent crop in modern agriculture. The breadth planted in the United Kingdom exceeds, if 1 mistake not, four million acres, and most of this large breadth is cultivated in the highest style for this now popular crop. The amount therefore produced is very large, and very valuable, the prices at the present time ranging from 70s. to 150s. per ton. This being the fact, it behoves all growers to exert themselves to place the potato trade and the potato mar- kets upon a fair, sound, and satisfactory basis, so as to ensure to them, as thc])roduccrs, their legitimate profit or share in the proceeds. 1 will shortly state the courses usually pursued in carrying on the trade both in the couutiy and in the consuming markets, together with some other collateral matters. In every district where potatoes arc extensively cultivated there are plenty of potato merchants ; and in every consuming market there is a superabundant munber of potato salesmen. The grower has his option of selling at home, or consignment to a potato salesman. If he prefers being his own sales- man, he makes an offer to a couutry dealer. If a bargain is made, the dealer sends his own agent to dress the potatoes, at the expense, generally, of the seller ; this is the first diiiiculty to be got over. The buyer will, of course, endeavour to make the sample as good as possible : the seller is dissatisfied at the amount of waste. The buyer can always recoup himself in some measure, of a bad or dear bargain, by extra dressing ; besides, he can frequently obtain a little i'avour from railway companies in respect of carriage, provided he undertakes to send a given quantity or amount of tonnage ; he can therefore, in the main, owing to these favours and salesmen's aids, give a price higher relatively than the salesman can usually make ; but the grower must take into account this extra dressing and consequent waste, which is often con- siderable. He has also to deliver the potatoes to the place of transit, be it either by railway or shipping, the dealer generally finding sacks or bags in which to deliver them. I have been a grower for many years to the extent of about fifty or sixty acres annually. I consider it my best course to send to the consuming market on my own account. The extent of land and quantity grown are worthy the close attention of the salesman, who will put me upon the footing of a merchant, and we can dress them when we like and as we like ; growers of limited quantity had better sell at home. Potatoes, for the most part, are sold in the country by the sack of 2 cwt. each, but occasionally by the ton, to be taken up when and as specified in the bargain. As soon as they are delivered payment is due, and generally in cash, which is usually paid with punctuality, and the transaction is finished. In'sending potatoes to the consuming market — London for instance, which, in fact, is the potato market— there are many things to be considered : — The integrity and responsibility of the salesman ; his commission ; cost of "working;" waste; delivering from station ; carriage by railway or otherwise; place of sale; time of year, or danger from frost ; in sacks or loose in trucks ; kind or sort to send. The Salcviiiin : Mind that he is a thorough man of business, of liiy;h characlcr, and not a merchant or specidator in the trade. Many siilcsmcn arc large buyers ; this must militate against sales for em- ployers on commission — avoid these salesmen. Com- mission : This is very important, and deserves a word more. The usual commission on sales is 5s. per ton ; this is too much, as I will show. Take fat cattle at the Metropolitan Market, they will average £25 each, com- mission 3s. 6d. per head ; slieep to average GOs. each, commission 6d. per head. Wheat, and other grain in pro- portion, average 60s. per qr., commission Is. 6d. Potatoes average 80s. per ton, commission 5s. The per-centage commission in the £ is about l^d. for cattle, 2d. for sheep, 6d. for grain, and Is. 3d. for potatoes. There is no commission paid by the farmer so high as his potato sales commission. It calls loudly for mitigation : no wonder we have so many salesmen. It is manifestly wrong for the grower to pay from 25s. to 30s. for the sale of a single truck of potatoes. They must insist upon a reduction of at least two-fifths of this charge. T//t' Working : This is also an extra charge, generally amounting to some six or seven shillings per truck. Waste: This is one of the most objectionable things con- nected with the trade. We send ample weight; but it never holds out. Do the salesmen's workmen claim cer- tain injured or unsightly tubers as their perquisites ? To send ill. sacks, instead of loose in trucks, would, and does in a great measure, obviate this. Beliveri/ -. The cost in this item is chietly in accordance with the proximity of the station or vessel to the sale market. At the Great Northern Potato INIarket there is no extra charge, as the trucks all run into the market. lUit in the Borough, Spitalfields, Covcut Garden, and other places of sale, the delivery charge is heavy, according to the distance. Car- riage by liailwni/: This is a very important item connected with the ])otato trade, and requires alteration. Take about 100 miles of carriage by railway — a ton of wheat, worth about .€16, is carried for about 12s. ; a ton of pota- toes, worth about 80s., costs the like amount ; a ton of coals about 4s. 6d. ; a ton of stone, bricks, gravel, &c., about 4s. 2d. Fotatoes should not cost more than one penny per ton per mile, and they will leave a handsome profit at that rate. Such heavy carriage as potatoes shoidd be jmt upon heavy-carriage rates, or nearly so. Pla(;e of Sale: This is a point for consideration. It is dangerous in frosty weather to send to any exposed market; rather send to good warehouses. The Great Northern Market is objectionable in bad weather, or a crowded trade. Time is kept according to certain regixlations, so that bulks must be sold or be removed, and the warehouses are cold. Time of Sendiny : This must depend upon the grower's convenience in a great measure. It is always wise to send so long as prices are good, never heeding the chances of a rise. It may be prudent also to refrain send- ing in the severe w-eather of December, January, or Feb- ruary ; but this must depend upon circumstances, which the grower's judgment must decide upon. Kind of Fota- toes to send: The varieties cultivated are so many and various that they are adapted much to certain seasons of the year. The early sorts, such as the ashleaf, early kidney, &c., &c., will, of course, be forwarded between .July and October. Then follow the dalmahoys, regents, rocks, tiukes, &c., &c., for the winter's supply. As the spring puts in, the red regents, the skerry Ijlnes, late reds, &c., &c., and rocks, are best adapted, and are really capital sorts, outrivalling the regent and fiuke. THE FAKMER'S MAGAZINE. 151 In this way a more equable supply may be kept up of good eatable sorts. It is wrong to semi the watery va- rieties before spring puts in ; they are sm-e to meet a bad sale. It is to little purpose to bring these matters before the farming public, unless they will take them up, and at once have them removed, if some salesmen will not reduce their charges, try those tliat will, or establish others from the dilTerent localities where many potatoes are grown. It is to be done ; but if growers are indifferent, it never will be. As to railway charges, there may be more difficulty in prevailing \\\m\\ the traffic managers of these companies to yield ; but the hardship ouglit to be I frequently brought before them in a way likely to be at- tended to. In fact, tlie carriage of potatoes goes largely into the calculation of very many farmers, who object to grow such an cx])ensive crop, and consequently a much ' less breadth is actually grown, which of course accounts ' for the high price they arc now making. OUR WATER SUPPLY. A supply of pure water for domestic and other pur- poses is so essential to the preservation of health and the promotion of comfort, that one would suppose there was no occasion to use any argument to recommend it to public attention. Such, however, is not the case ; for so general is the ueglect of the means for insuring it, and inattention to the quality of the water consumed, not only in the metropolis, but throughout the country and especially in the cities and large provincial towns, that it has been deemed advisable to appoint a Eoyal Commis- sion to inquire into, and make a report upon the subject, and upon the facilities afforded by the rivers, lakes, or springs existing in the vicinity of large populations. It apppears to be the general practice of the com- panies or corporations who supply the water, to keep two points steadily in view, namely, to obtain the supply at the nearest source, and to restrict it as much as possible in its distribution to individual houses. The former has been the subject already of legislation, so far as the metropolis is concerned; and tlie water companies are no longer allowed to supply tlieir customers with water from pipes actually opening within a few feet of a common sewer, as was the case some twenty or thirty years since. The legislature compels them now to go a certain distance to obtain the necessaiy supply ; and they are moreover compelled both to iilter the water through a bed of sand or gravel prepared for the purpose, and also to arch over their reser- voirs with brick, so as to jirevent the casting of dead cats, dogs, and other abominations, into them. So far, 'therefore, a great improvement has been effected and our tanks are no longer reservoirs of a poisonous liquid, alive in warm weather with animalculfe too dis- gusting and horrible to be drunk by any animal such as live on corruption. But with regard to the amount of the supply to individual householders, there is still abundant cause for complaint so far as the poorer neighbourhoods of the metropolis are concerned. Keve- lations on this subject have been made of the state of the water supply at the East end of London that retlect the greatest disgrace both upon the water companies and the proprietors of houses, who seem to have been in league to limit the quantity of water to each house far indeed below what health and cleanliness absolutely reqiure. In cases of fire also it is frequently found that a difficulty exists of obtaining a supply of water because it has to be tm-ned on upon the main, and the tiu-n-cock has to be found ; so that premises arc, in many instances, past saving that might have been rescued but for the delay. The two principal objects, therefore, that the commis- sion must keep in view are, the source fi'om whence a supply of pure water may be obtained, and the quantity that such source will yield to any given community. We are well aware that the hrst thing a corporation or a company will look at and take into consideration is, the expense involved in fetching water from a great distance. If left to themselves, this question will rule their opera- tions ; whilst that of having it from a perfectly pure source and free from the possibility of pollution will be made a secondary, or no question at all beyond what the metropolitan water companies practise at present. To have pure water that requires no tiltering, because it is fetched from a long way into the country from a pm-e source, and preserved from pollution in its course by artificial means, if not beyond the comprehension, is sedulously avoided by the water companies of the metropoUs, and, so far as we know, by those of the provincial cities and towns. If they wish to have an example worthy of imitation in this and all other respects, we would refer them to the history of the Croton Aqueduct, by which the city of New York is supplied with a superabundance of pure water. A short account of this noble and most beneficial undertaking will, perhaps, be interesting to our readers, whilst it must be instructive to the Royal Commissioners, if they would take it for their model, as it is described in the American publications. The Croton river, or stream, rises amongst the moun- tains that overlook the river Hudson, and for soine miles of its course consists of a series of small lakes, which pro- bably received other similar springs. This stream was proposed by a person whose name has not, though it ought to have, been handed down to posterity. It was about the year 1833 or "34 that the suggestion was made to the New York authorities to form an aqueduct for the conveyance of the whole of the Croton lake to that city ; and the proposal was at once acceded to by them. The requisite Act of the Legislature was obtained, so that in 1837 the work was commenced; and on the 27th of June 1842 it was completed, and the water was admitted from the Fountain Reservoir, in the highlands, forty miles from the city, into the whole length of the aqueduct to the Receiving Reservoir, which is now within the area of the Central Park. On the 4th of July it was admitted into the Distributing Reservoir, and from thence to every house in the city. The cost of this magnificent work was 12,000,000 dollars, or £2,400,000 sterling, and the aqueduct is, in fact, a tunnel throughout its whole length, so that there is no possibility of its water being in any way polluted. The sui-face of the Fountain Reservoir is 160 feet above the tidal water at New York at mean tide, and having a fall of 47 feet in reaching the receiving re- servoir at that city, and in the distributing reservoir the water is 115 feet above the level of the mean tide, which renders it available to the inhabitants in every part of the city. In fact, so plentiful is the supply of water, and so small the expense to the householders, that every house is Oil the main, having an abundance of pure water at all times to the very top storeys, and that at one-half the ex- pense paid for the very limited supply to the inhabitants of London. A friend of ours, who occupied a house that would let here for about £70 a year, but the rent of which was nearly double that sum in New York, paid only 36s. 152 THE FARMER'S MA&AZINE. per year for this never-failing supply of water ; for, the longest period of drought, which in that country is some- times very severe, has never sensibly reduced the supply below the requirements of the population, the quantity at present used being 770 million gaUous daily, besides 50 million gallons taken from the river, making an aggregate of 820 million gallons daily to a population of about onc- and- a- quarter million of inhabitants. We recommend the study of the Croton Aqueduct to the members of the Royal Commission, as well as to the water companies of London and all our large cities and towns, many of which are deplorably destitute of this the first necessary of life and health. It woiild appear, by the niggardliness, or rather covetousness, of our water companies, that in searching for a supply of water they have learned nothing since the days of Sir Hugh Myddel- ton, who, when the population of London was not more than one-seventh or eighth of what it now is, conducted the New River twenty miles from its sovirce. This still forms the best portion of the supply of water to the me- tropolis, and so reflects disgrace upon poor Sir Hugh's successors in the work of supplying the largest and richest city in the world with one of the first necessaries of life. A CHEDDAR CHEESE STORE. In the course of our search for some preliminary informa- tion regarding our English contributions to the International Exhibition of Cheese in Paris, we were induced to visit the warehouses of Messrs. WiUiam Clark aud Son, of Bristol, who despatched to the exhibition a selection of Cheddar cheese. The art of making cheese is now nearer perfection than it perhaps ever has been; but the immense increase in consiuuption has had the same effect upon it as it has upon wiaies and whiskies. The demand to a great extent pre- vents the makers and merchants maturing it in large quantities. Hence the fmest qualities are not to be met with every day, even at the high market value wluch they represent. There is, indeed, a prospect of better days to come. The Americans and Canadians arc emulating our most successful dairymen, and really choice i\jnericau and Canadian cheese may now be obtained from those English importers who have made them- selves well acquainted %nth the best sources of supply. The principal in the firm whose stores are mentioned above, even took to America some of our English vats, aud by a course of instruction induced some of the principal manafacturers to adopt our sizes and peculiarities of make, not forgetting the introduction of liquid annatto, which we are told is now in constant use there. Messrs. Clark and Son's business originated at Cheddar, where they stiU liave a central depot for the collection and storage of cheese from the surrounding country. The necessities of an increasing trade, both in the home and export branches, caused them some years ago to open extensive stores in Bristol, which are essentially Cheddar cheese stores. Here we iind represented everj' make coming under the denomination of " Cheddar," and, as we are upon the subject, it may, perliaps, not be amiss to enumerate them, rirst, then, there is the fine white, weigliing from ten to one hundred pounds each ; secondly, fine straw, made in same sizes as the first-named ; and the large red Cheddar, wluch always finds a favourable market in Ii-eland, though only m exceptional districts suitable to the English palate. We next come to those descriptions manufactured especially for ship- ment to foreign countries. These, though varying somewhat in general character and flavour, are all alike in one respect ; they are " closer" made than the fine cheese, and are necessarily new, as well-matured cheese will not keep well in hot climates. The favourite kind for shipment is the small loaf cheese, in sizes of from five and a-half to twelve poimds each, with a dull red and very tough skin. Then there is the double Glo'ster and Cheddar, made especially for shipment, principally to the Austrahan and Indian markets. There is one description of white Cheddar which has become a great favourite in Canada, and this bears the brand of the royal arms. The preference is due in a great measure to the loyalty of her Majesty's subjects there, tliough the quality alone — at least of that shown to us by the Messrs. Clark— is sufficient to recommend it to the fastidious palate. We wonder whether the delicate stomachs of the I'V.niaus now confined in Kilmain- ham and other Irish prisons would revolt against a snack of the royal arms brand — we guess not. « ^}^^' ^^^^^ cheese-eaters are peculiar in their tastes, and n elsh rabbits" are not things of tradition, as some people suppose. The thin single Glo'ster, either very red or very white in colour, may be considered as the Welshman's own cheese. It is good for toasting. It liquidises — if we may use the expression — evenly and readily ; and " Welsh rabbits" are still the AYelshman's favourite, if not his national dish. In these remarks we have endeavoured to show the origin and destiny of some of the best known descriptions of cheese. There is an equ;dly favourite, but quite distinct class — the Leicestershire cheeses ; but of these we will take the earliest opportunity of vnitiug from the midst of one of the extensive stores in the market town of Leicester, where more than Leicesters alone find a central market. Messrs. Clark's ware- houses are of sufficient extent and importance to demand our attention, as wlmt may be appropriately termed stores repre- senting the Somersetsliire and Gloucesterslure districts. The Bristol branch is situated in Temple-street, and consists of six floors, from a hundred-and-fifty to two hundred feet in length. They are of comsc very much alike in appearance — all cheese stores are. One monotonous-looking row succeeds another, and the only variation of the one monotonous view repeated to the eye, no matter in what direction yon turn, is an occa- sional truck used for the removal of the cheese, a weighing macliine here and there, a few vats, shapes, or, more plainly, cases in which some of the larger cheeses arrive, and some white smock-frocked men armed with those well-known in- struments used iu extracting samples for tasting. Yet there is one department which gives some rehef to the visitor, and this is the floor devoted exclusivele to the export trade. It is not generally known amongst our Loudon retail tradesmen that every cheese exported to foreign countries is encased in bladdvirs. At Messrs. Clark's warehouses a number of men are constantly employed in moistening numberless bladders, and pasting them carefidly over the surface of loaf and other cheeses intended for export. In addition to the bladder, a com- position is used which serves to thoroughly exclude the air. The bladders are first soaked in this composition and then rubbed over the cheese, wliich, when dry, are packed in small cases for shipment. Messrs. Clark and Son conduct an ex- tensive export trade, principally with Australia, India, and China. English cheese is becoming a great favoiu-ite in France, and this year more than ever shall we make a good show in the ^''Fromar/es presentes par des exposants etraiigers." Medals of gold, silver, and bronze (represnnting 1st, 2nd, and 3rd prizes) are placed at the disposition of the jury, to be dis- trsbuted to the best lot of cheese exhibited by strangers ; and besides this a prize of honour, consisting of a large gold medal, wUl be awarded to the exhibitor of the best lot, without dis- tinction of class. Messrs. Clark's contributions were sent in ten cases, and comprise single Gloucesters, double Gloucesters, finest white Cheddars, finest red Cheddais, yellow Cheddars, Royal Arms, white Cheddar loaf, shipping loaf (prepared for export) shipping doubles, cream Stiltons, and Cream Cotten- hnra. All the specimens are of tlie finest quality, and come from the best dairies. The white Cheddars are a himdred- weight each ; these obtained a prize at the Evercreech Agri- cultural Show, held at Sheptou MaUet tliis year, where they were placed in competition with some of the choicest descrip- tions made in that cheese-producing district. The white Cheddars, wliich are of the choicest quality that can be made, THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 153 vvill, after the show, lie seut to Windsor Castle for use at the Royal table. Messrs. Clark have for years supplied her Majesty's purveyors at Windsor. The Scotch have been taught to make " Cheddars" by a woU- knowii clieese-niaker of Cheddar, and the manufacturer of some of the wliite cheese of that name which Messrs. Clark have seut to Paris, and who, it is said, took a tour through the length and breadth of Scotland for the purpose of instructing Scotchmen in the way of making cheese. Since this they have l)eeu more successful in their cheese competitious with English makers, and have so far progressed in the art as to essay the making of " Cheddar elieese," which is said to be of good quality. Our cheese producers should, iu the face of this active competitiou, be stimulated to more activity, and agri- cultural societies miglit p)-ofital)ly expend a little of their superfluous casli in prizes for cheese. Tlie Americans have taken a leaf out of tlie Swiss book by estaljlishing public cheese factories to which the dairymen send aU their milk, receiving their due proportion of cheese when the season closes. The American Dairymen's Associa- tion has just published its first annual report. The Society comprises 300 dairies, and receives the produce of 130,000 cows. Great advantages are supposed to result from mixing the various kinds of milk, though this seems hardly fair to the members, unless those who send in the richest milk get the most cheese. Even theu, a Cheddar farmer would hardly like to mix his choice milk with that of sqrae of the " lean kine" belonging to liis less favoured neighbours. The great thing is, that the cheese is always well made and the expense of making is reduced to a minimum. In Switzerland, where the plan has been long in use, the cheese from the public dairies always fetches the "highest price. Butter is made on the same plan, and very successfully, in New York State. " We are uot so sure," says the Mark-lane Erj)ress, " but that it would pay our own dairymen in the cheese and butter counties to form similar establishments. . . . Even where they sold some of their milk it would be better and cheaper to have the rest manufactured in a public dairy than at home." This is what we shall probably come to at last ; butter and cheese factories, " dairy mills" in fact ; but where then will be the poetry of country life ? The flail is almost gone, and now the churn is threatened. — The Grocer. A TALK WITH PROFESSOR VOELCKER ON CHEESE-MAKING. The following is an extract from Mr. Willard's letter to the Uiica Herald, in which he gives an interesting account of a day speut with Professor Voelcker, chemist of the Royal Agri- cultural Society of England : Dr. Voelcker is free to confess that he does not understand the nature of rennet, and lie has proved that the chemists be- fore liim have been wrong in their conclusions. In looking over the result of his analysis of milk, although knowing per- fectly well the per-eentage of its diiTerent constituents, I was struck with the large amount of phosphates which it contains. Me showed me the different solid constituents in a quart of milk. In one bottle was the oUs, in another the casein, in another the phosphates, the milk sugar, &c. The amouut of phosphates in a quart of niilk is no infinitesimal quantity ; but our farmers wiU better understands its bulk when I say that it is " quite a handful," and then consider for a moment the large number of these handfuls that are taken from the soil by our dairy farmers, and never returned. TJie Doctor remarked, while showing me the bottle con- taining the phosphates, that they were really the manures upon which the finer grasses feed, and that the best results always follow their application upon old dairy farms. There is an immense waste of bones in America : here they are husbanded, imported from America and other countries, and largely used. At Utica there are tons and tons of bones annually shipped by canal East. I suppose some of them find their way here. Why wiU not our dairy farmers make some arrangement by which these bones may be ground up, and applied to the pas- tures and meadows in the immediate vicinity ? I am sure no investment would pay better. I was glad to find my views of old pastures being superior for milk to newly-eultivated grounds agree with those of Dr. Voelcker. He says the quality of milk is greatly influeueed by the finer grasses, and these only are found upon the old sward. When you commence cultivating and manuring with barn-yard manures, you get an order of plants that may give quantity of mUk, but of very inferior quality, and he assured me that cheese of the finest flavour could not be made upon such grasses. Nor would it possess the keeping qualities of that made upon the finer grasses grown upon an old sward. He said to me that one of the greatest faults of cheese- makers was in the application of heat. Many used too high heat. The lower the temperature that could be used, and the more uniform or even it could be applied, the better flavour would obtain to the cheese. Another point of importance in cheese-making, and one not generally understood, was in rela- tion to the whey. It should be drawn off, got rid of, just as soon as possible, or as soon as consistent with the necessary operations. The reason he gave was, that you could never tell what matter you had, or what you were dealing with in the whey. It may contain taints of the worst character. You can- not weU determine the degree of its acidity, and hence great risks were run in steeping the curd for a longtime iu the fluid. He would prefer to draw the whey as early as possible from , the curd, and allow the curd to midergo its proper change and arrive at maturity, heaped up in tlie bottom of the vat. There is a general misapprehension among dairy-men iu regard to the qualities of milk. Many suppose that because a certain specimen of milk happens not to be rich in butter, it must necessarily be very rich in casein — that is, what it loses in butter is made up in an extra amoimt of casein. Dr. Voelcker shows this assumption to be false. The casein, in difi'erent samples of milk, show a nearly uniform quantity, whether the milk be rich or poor ; bixt the variation in butter is very great. How important, then, it is to have pastures that will add oil to the milk, rather than water ! I said to him that I had been through Somerset, Wilts, Gloucester, and the great dairy districts in the south of England, and that I could easily comprehend wliy the American cheese contained more butter than the English. Your analysis of elieese shows tliat, and I think one reason is the faulty manner in which the English work or break the curds. I said, " Tiie Americans have been studying for years how to retain all the butter possiljle in the curd ; Imt here, in England, I see among your best cheese- makers a much greater waste of oily particles than at our best factories." He admitted the fact, and remarked that there was far less waste of butter by usmg a sharp-cutting instrument in the curd than by breaking, as practised by many of the best cheesL-;iiakers of .Cheshire and Somerset. He had proved this by the analysis of whey ; and he said when a sharp-cutting instrument had been used carej'idhj and judiciously, but the merest trifle of oil could be extracted from the whey. I ex- plained to him our new process of " coarse curds ;" but he tliought better results coidd be obtained in flavour, by making the curds fine. Speaking of the whey, he remarked that he would always draw it, if possible, while it was sweet ; and, at our factories, it would be profitable to extract the milk sugar by evaporation, as they do in Svidtzerland. I said to him, "From your analyses of different samples of choice cheese, I notice the fine quality does not depend upon the quantity of butter it contains, since your best cheese con- tained a considerable less per-ceutage of butter than our American:" He said flavour and rich buttery appearance de- pended not only upon a nice manufacture, but upon uniform temperature in curing. It will uot do to roast cheese one day and cool it down the next. The process of curing must be so gradual that all the constituents may mingle togethei , without detriment to either. 154 THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. THE BEST WHEATS FOR DORSET. At tlie first meeting of the Winfrith Farmers' Clui) for the winter months, hehl at Wool, theie was a better attendance tliau usual. Mr. J. A Uamen occupied the cliair. Mr. Sly, of Biudon MiUs, said the subject for discourse that evening was tiie Ijcst sorts of wheat to be sown in this neigli- bonrhood, which lie had been kindly asked to bring forward ; and he did so trusting to hear from one and aU their opinions respecling the differcut kinds that they could grow most of, and whicli were best suited to the different soils in tlie locality. By so doing they would not only enlighten each other, but benefit all. The more wheat tliey could grow on a given acreage, tlie better it would be for themselves and the country at large, as a good crop with moderate prices was better than a poor crop with higli prices. Therefore it was their interest as well as their duty to get as much as they possibly could out of tlie land they occupied, at the same time paying due attention to the qualities required for making good flour and bread. There were many varieties of wheat now under cultivation, and their experience had no doubt taught them which were best adapted to the land they had to deal with, whethe>- on the hills or in the vales. As a miUer he might say the best sorts of red wheat wliich he liked when lie got them in the mill, were the old lled-straw, Nursery, and lled-neck. He had also seen and lieard that on the hills tliese three stood best against the bliglit and tlie rough winds. There were other descriptions which grew on the plains, that would suit the miller for mixing. In kindly free soils, for instance, the Golden-drop would answer. But there were others which were preferable, such as the Red Essex, Clover's Red, Red Cluster, Marigold, and many otliers. With regard to white wheats, they are grown best on very free sandy and loamy working land, perhaps after two years' turniping, &c. But if tliey are not saved well from the wet, they are not so good for the miUer as red wheat. But he must leave to their own judgment to decide the best sorts which were adapted to the particular land tliey occupied. Tliis, however, was not all that they liad to do in order to secure a good and valuable crop, which dcpeniled very materially on tlie treatment of the soil a year or two previously. The land that he occupied was of different descriptions — some stiff with clay subsoil, some light witJi gravel beneath, and some boggy, with peat and springs. In this latter the water is quite clear when it comes up, but after being exposed to the air, a red pulpy matter forms by the sides and at the bottom of the ditches, and if the settlement is allowed to remain uudisturbed it becomes crystallized to the thickness of a penny-piece. Where it has been gradually running on the top of the soil for several years it leaves just under tlie surface a layer of hard red sandy stone, impregnated with iron, and the longer it remains the harder it gets. He had drained neaily aU this boggy land ; but the pipes were being continually stopped up by tlie sedi- ment, which in time became as hard as the pipes themselves. On these parts of his farm he had been obliged to apply chalk, clay, and road scrajjings, with a good dressing of manure to get it to bear a good crop of anything. If kept dry it would grow mangel and oats in succession ; but if he allowed the drains to become choked, where the water broke up and spread over tlie land, it killed all vegetation. On his stiff land witli clay subsoil he grew the best wheat after beans, or a good broad clover jdant, both being well dressed with farm- yard manure, llis lighter soil would grow excellent wheat after a good clover plant, with tlie same sort of dressing, or after a good turnip crop, which has been drilled in with a liberal dressing of guano, pig dung, and ashes, and fed off with sheep, or with the turnips ploughed in, by chopping them well and squeezing them abroad with an iron roUer before ploughing, and rolling well after the wheat is sown. He had found that of the two he got the best crop where the turnips were ploughed in. He now begged to leave the subject in the hands of tiii; members, trusting to hear the various opinions which they had formed as the result of their experience. Mr. White said lie did not agree with Mr. Sly as to the old Red-straw. He had always been in the habit of sowing on light sandy land what they called the Pedigree, which he found to answer better than almost anything else, though he had tried different sorts of red wheat; but on the hills he pre- ferred the Nursery. He had sown some late white wheat on light sandy soil ; but he always found the Pedigree paid better, though he did not get so much for it by £1 a load. Mr. Bates observed that in Shropshire it was always con- sidered that there were very few soils that would carry white wheats. In Lincohishire it was also the conclusion that red wheats, owing to the compactness of the ear, were less liable to sprout in a late harvest. In those districts red wheats were considered the best adapted to strong soils. In the course of a little conversation which ensued, several members stated that mi their land they coidd grow more Nur- sery than Pedigree, the difference being attributed to situation and soU. It was also remarked by Mr. Sly that by way of experiment he had grown in his garden no less than 'Jo ears from a single grain, yet he had not found thin sowing to answer in the field. Mr. Reader said he had found from experience that the less strawy wheats produced the most corn. Wheats that grew a large quantity of straw w ere very deceptive to the eye ; but when thrashed they found tlie mistake. He had done with the Pedigree, Kessington, and all red-straw wheats. He gave one or two instances in support of this position, and observed that on the hills they could grow more Nursery than the others he had tried. It stood well, and they could get a good sale for it. The Conservative required pretty good land ; but he did not think it equal to the Nursery, thougli with good soil they could grow a tolerably good crop of it. In reply to Jlr. White, as to the quantity of seed that should be sown per acre, Mr. Render observed that the earher they sowed the less seed was required. With respect to a change of seed, he pre- ferred getting it from a warm climate to a colder. He did not mean (o say that on some kinds of land they might not get a change from a hilly bleak climate w ith advantage ; but, gene- rally speaking, if they obtained their seed from an early dis- trict, the crop would come to harvest several days earlier than that obtained from a late district; and a few days at that period was of the greatest importance. On his hilly land he had found tliin sowing to be a failure. The CiiAiKJiAN said it was not likely they would all be unanimous on this subject, because soils and seasons made a great deal of difference. He agreed with Mr. White, and found lie could grow more of the Kessington or Pedigree wheat than any other, and he was also favourable to Poster's One-year. He liked to see a good quantity of straw, for with- out straw they coidd not have much wheat. Mr. Reauek said he liked to see plenty of straw, but not from a wheat that was inclined to run to straw. After a little further discussion, a vote of thanks was pro- posed to Jlr. Sly, and that gentlemen having expressed his acknowledgments, the proceedings terminated. LIME AS A MANURE.— Nearly every plant and vegetable has a portion of lime in its composition, and from this fact the necessity of keeping up a supply of it in the soil is apparent. A certain portion of it is necessary in every soil — more than tliis is useless. In some cases it has a remarkable effect ; in others no good results are visible. Its effects are not immediate, but are lasting, especially on land laid down for permanent pasture. It promotes the growth of clover, and grasses of every kind, and adds to the size and vigour of root crops. A small quantity of lime mixed with muck or rich soil of any kind will have a better effect thaii a much larger quantity apphed without the addition of any other substance. Professor Johnston says, " Lime acts in two ways upon the soil. It produces a mechanical alteration which is simple, and easily understood ; but it is the cause of chemi- cal changes which arc really obscure, and are as yet suscep- tible of only partial explanation. Pirst, it supplies a kind of inorganic food, which appears to be necessary for the healthy growth of all our cultivated plants. Secondly, it neutralizes THE FAEMER'S MAGAZINE. 155 acid substances whicli are naturally formed in the soil, and decomposes, or renders harmless, ollior noxious compound, which are not unfrequently within the reach of the roots of plants. Tliirjly, it changes the inert vegetable matter in the soil, so as gradually to render it useful to vegetation. Fourthly, it facilitates or enables other useful compounds, both organic and inorganic, to be produced in the soil, or so pro- motes the decomposition of existing compounds as to prepare them more speedily for entering into the circulation of plants." Lime exists in clover and wheat, turnips, oats and maize, and in almost every plant. In nature it mostly exists as a carljonate, that is in conjunction with carbonic acid. Sinclair says that the saving of labour alone would be sufficient to induce a farmer to lime his land, were there no greater benefit derived trom the application tliau the opportunit-y thereby gained of working it more easily and in a more perfect manner. THE LIVERPOOL WOOL TRADE ANNUAL REPORT. The year just closed will ever be a memorable one to the mercantile community of this country. The great deprecia- tion in the value of cotton as well as in ships, tiiiancial disas- ters at liome, and political disturbances on the Continent, attended by war, money for the gi'cater part of the year at extremely high rates (the minimum Bauk rate of discount at 10 per cent, from jMay till August), the prevalence of cholera and cattle disease here and elsewhere, and, lastly, a deficient harvest at home and abroad (Southern Russia and California excepted) ; all these constitute a combination of disastrous • circumstances whicli could not fail to have a very depressing influence upon most branches of trade. It need, therefore, excite no wonder that our report on the wool trade for the last twelve mouths does not share the favourable character of former yoars ; still there is some cause for congratulation in the fact that this important branch has certainly suffered in a less degree than many others — the home demand for woollen goods having been very foir, " short time" resorted to only in exceptional cases, and very few failures having been recorded —proving thus the thorough soundness and stability of the The raw material has, with scarcely any exception, more or less declined in value, so that prices now rule lov.er than they m, did twelve months ago ; but it must be remembered that their ^ range had theu reached an iinprecedentedly high point. Both consumers and dealers have also this year been actuated by great caution, and have seldom purchased more than was re- quired for the supply of actual wants. The imports of wool show again a considerable increase, as it appears, from the Board of Trade returns, that during the eleven months ending 30th November, we have received from Australia about 3^ miUion, from India SJ million, and from other quarters 13 million lbs. more, hut from the Cape 2^- Ik million lbs. less than during the same period of 18G5. " In the exports there is a material falling off both as regards colonial and foreign wools, Belgium alone having taken 8 million lbs. less (owing, no doubt, to the greatly increased di- rect imports from Buenos Ayres), f ruuce 31; miUion lbs., and the United States and other countries about 6 million lbs. less this year than during the previous one ; but with respect to home-grown wools the contrary has been the case, the ex- ports to France having been considerably in excess of former years. . i . i- i j. With regard to woollen manufactures there is but a slight increase in the value of the exports ; the amounts, accordiug to the official returns for the eleven months of this year, being £24.,10(i,367, against £32,980,992 in 1805— the diminution lu those to Germany, accounted for by the late war, having been made up by a corresponding increase in those to the United States. From the subjoined particulars of the returns referred to, it would appear that the quantity of wool for home con- sumption this year exceeds that of the preceding one by about 40 million lbs., but as the quantity in 18G5 was about 36 mil- lion lbs. less than 18G4, the difference is not so striking as it at first sight may appear, and although stocks are larger than last year at this period, they are by no means excessive. AUSTR.U.1AN Wools have arrived in increased quantity, and been brought forward at the quarterly public sales in Lon- don as follows : From the 1st to the 26tli INIarch 85,327 bales, including 30,469 bales Cape ; from the 10th May to the 23rd June, 157, 613 bales, including 15,569 bales Cape ; from the IGth August to 25th September, 138,008 bales, including 19,501 bales Cape ; from the 15th November to 10th Decem- ber, 77,272 bales, including 43,949 bales Cape,— In all 458,280 bales, including 99,488 bales Cape. About 150,000 bales of which have been taken for exportation, principally to France and Belgium. In March, when stocks were low and manufac- turers fiilly employed, prices advanced about l|d. to 2d. per lb. on the previous December rates, but at the May-June sales when the financial crisis and the war on the Coutinant had made themselves felt throughout the whole trading community, they sulfered a decline of about 3|d. to 3d. per lb. This,_ however, in the following series was recovered to the extent of about Id. per lb., whilst during the November-December sales again a reduction of fully Id. per lb. bad to be submitted to. The condition of these wools has on the whole been very satisfactory, although owing to the drought that had prevailed in the colony a larger proportion than usual arrived in the grease. Some descriptions still continue to be infested with burrs, which of course is very prejudicial to their sale. Gape. — The fluctuation in prices of Australian has been fully shared by Cape wools during the three first series of sales, but at tlie hist the decline was even more decided, averag- ing about 3d. per lb., in consequence of the unusually large quantity offered on that occasion, forming more than half of tlie total number of bales. We are glad to report a marked improvement both in the condition and the getting-up of these wools, and as they have realised better prices in proportion, growers will have deservedly reaped the benefit of the care and pains bestowed upon the management of their flocks. Spajvish and Portugal. — The arrivals of the former have been veiy trifling, consisting principally of black wools in the grease, for which the demand has not been very brisk. Spanish Frontier wools have met with ready sale, and pretty nearly maintained the same range of prices throughout the whole year. Oporto fleece has been att'ected in some degree by English wools, for which it serves in many instances as a substitute, and although its vnlue has not undergone the same reduction, prices must be (juoted fuUy Id. per lb. lower than at this time twelvemonth ; the lower grades, however have suffered rather more, and the ditrerence in price of Lambs' and Cotts' is about l|d. per lb. between now and the end of last year. River Plate Wool imports show a fair increase over last year, but although the prices obtained here for fine washed and greasy Merino and Mestizo wools have this season com- pared very favourably with those at Antwerp and Havre, the bulk of this class is still exported to the Continent, the re- ceipts at Antwerp alone being equal to half of the total ex- portsfromBuenos Ayres. In the spring fine washed Buenos Ayres and Monte Video realised good prices : but they declined in value in sympathy with fine Colonial, and are now Id. to 3d. lower. Stocks of this class are, however, very light, and the first arrivals of the new clip will no doubt command a ready sale at full rates. In Cordova, Santiago, San Luis, and Santa Fe we have had a steady business throughout the year at prices which have naturally been more or less influenced by English wools, and, like them, have sufl'ered a decHne in value of from 10 to 30 per cent., the decline being greatest in the inferior, ill-conditioned parcels, of which a considerable quantity has been taken for export to the United States dur- ing the last two months, leaving but a moderate stock of all descriptions. Alpaca and Peruvian exhibit both increased imports. Alpaca has been in excellent request throughout the year, al- most invariably bought for future arrival, and with the excep- 166 THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. tion of a few sales iu July and August, at 3s. to 3s. 2d. for prime quiility, prices have been well supi)orted, being now much the same as at this time last year. Peruvian washed wools have been iu very languid request, both for export as well as for home consumption, throughout the year, and al- though prices have receded fully 2d. to 3d. per lb. stocks are now considerable. Lima and ,Chili greasy wools have ar- rived in moderate quantities, and being now in better request for the home trade, in conse(iuence of their freedom from burr, have generally met with ready sale on arrival, at prices which, although they have iluctuated more or less, are now almost on a par with those of last December. East India and Persian continue to be sent almost ex- clusively to this port. The arrivals have been much larger than in former years, and so has been the aggregate nuniber of bales brought forward of this class at our quarterly public sales which took place here : Prom 25th January to 1st Feb- ruary, with 15,370 bales ; from 3rd May to 9th May, with 13,695 bales ; from 31st July to 11th August, with 23,747 bales ; from 23rd October to 3rd November, with 27,602 bales —in aU, 79,414. bales ; against 01,4-30 bales in 1805, G9,45S bales in 1864, 00,835 bales in 1863, 50,035 balas in 1862, 63,677 bales in 1861, and 56,534 bales in 1860. The propor- tion of clean, well-conditioned wools has this year been un- usually small, the great bulk consisting of inferior, wasty, ill- conditioned, and half-washed shipments ; and this preponder- ance has greatly contributed to the depression in their value ; for whilst really good East India have suffered comparatively little, the reduction on other classes is very considerable, and may be quoted at about 30 per cent, to 50 per cent, below their range at the end of last year. The supply of true-bred Persian has been much less than in former years ; that of bastard Persian, on the other hand, considerably more ; the latter, also, for the most part of inferior quality and condition, have sold irregularly, and undergone a very material decline, quite equal to that iu low East India. Good Persians must he quoted lower, too, than tliis day twelvemonth. Russia. — Donskoi wools have chiefly been sent to London this year, and stocks there have been very considerable, whilst the demand has been but languid. The home trade have not taken their usual share, but a good portion has latterly been purchased for exportation, partly to America. Prices have participated in the general decline. Egyptian and other Mediterranean Wools have not engaged much attention, excepting parcels of prime quality and condition, prices of which have hardly changed ; but the lower and bacUy-conditioned classes of Egyptian, Turkey, Georgian, Smyrna, Syrian, &c., are worth less than at this time last year. Baruary. — The imports show some increase, if compared with the previous twelvemonth. The first arrivals of good wools were readily competed for at veiy fair rates, but latterly the demand has been languid, and sales have only been effected at reduced and irregular prices. Iceland has arrived at this port in increased quantity, but for the whole kingdom the imports have somewhat fallen off. Early iu the year, when English wools were still high in price, some manufacturers contracted for good North wool, to arrive. However, by the time the bulk of this class had come in, Domestic wools had suffered a material reduction, but im- porters being loth to make a proportionate concession, sales have been of but limited extent, leaving a considerable stock now on hand. Mohair. — The imports have been less than in 1865. Prices have fluctuated a little with the demand for this article. They reached 3s. lOd. per lb. for the best quality in September last, but since then prices have given way a little, and although we still quote prime Mohair the same as last year, stocks hav- ing accumulated, and there being little or no inquii-y at pre- sent, they must be considered nominal. Domestic Wools. — At this time last year prices, though very high, were about 10 per cent, below the closing rates of 1864. Por the first five or six months of the present year, however, with but little variation, they gradually receded, as the demand had all along been very sluggish, and at the open- ing of the new clip, prices were found to be from 30 to 35 per cent, below the closing rates of last year. In the beginning of August, and in consequence of the close of the war on the Continent, a speculative feeling became manifest, causing an advance of 10 to 15 per cent., which, however, was of but short duration, and prices now close at about 20 to 25 per cent, under the rates current this time last year, but, we are glad to observe, with a rather better demand for the last fort- night or so. Scotch : We have to confirm the remarks made in our last anuual resport respecting this article, and as com- paratively little of this wool comes now to this market, prices are to a certain extent regulated by the rates current elsewhere. Sheepskins. — There has been an increase in the imports ; rates have considerably fluctuated, having been highest in March and April, since which period they have gradually de- clined ; the better classes, however, have given way compara- tively little, whilst inferior and faulty descriptions have under- gone a proportionately greater reduction. Liverpool, Sec. 31, 1866. R. W. Ronald & Son. LINSEED, LINSEED CAKE, AND OIL TRADES. ANNUAL REPORT. We are glad again to have a pleasing retrospect to call your attention to, in reviewing the business of the past year ; 1866, like its forerunner 1865, having being a profitable one to nearly all those concerned in our trade, and that too in the face of the (taking its extent and duration into account) most disastrous financial crisis which has occurred in our time. The value of linseed has ruled high in consequence of the diminished supplies, but we are glad to learn that the prospects for tlie future are such as to warrant the hope of a lower range of prices after the close of the current season 1800-1867. Linseed was quoted 06s. 6d. cost, freight, and insurance for Calcutta, sound bags, when our last Annual was issued, hut the market was dull for some weeks afterwards, and a fall of 2s. per qr. ensued. Scarcity of supply and an artificial demand for oil subsequently caused an advance of 6s. per qr., and 72s. was the quotation at the end of March. After which the value fell to 65s., at about which it remained during the summer, advancing to 70s. as the autumn approached, when its relative value to other description caused a decline of 2s. Gd. in November, and it has scarcely varied Is. per qr. since, to-day's price being 67s. In the spring and summer, the larger pro- portion of Black Sea seed, and old prejudice in favour of Calcutta, caused a difference of 5s. to 6s. per (jr. between tiie two descriptions ; but this is now reduced to the old margin of Is. to 2s., and iu most of the speculative operations (particu- larly that of November), Black Sea cargoes ha^•e been the medium of j)urchase. The spot price of the latter quality early in the year varied from 65s. to 73s., and then down to under 60s. in June, afterwards advancing quietly but steadily to 67s. last month, with a considerable trade done in cargoes then shipping, up to 68s. per qr., and the cargoes off the coast are to-day held for 67s. The difference between the relative value of spot and forward seed is much duninished, and the prices now assimilate more than formerly, owing to the facilities given by steam navigation, and which are daily on the increase. Monthly range of prices of Calcutta Seed on " Association Tenns," cost, freight, insurance, and sonud bags : ] 866, Janu- ary, 66s. to 64s. 6d. ; February, 65s. 6d. to 70s. ; March, 7Is. to 73s. ; April, 72s. to 68s. ; Mav, 69s. to 65s. ; June, 66s. ; July, 65s. to 66s. 6d. ; August, 0-6s. 6d. to 70s. ; September, 70s. ; October, 70s. to 68s. ; November, 67s. 6d. to 6Ss. ; De- cember, 69s. to 67s. The quality has been fair, as regards admixture, but there has been an unusual amount of comitry damaged grains iu Black Sea parcels, and generally an allowance granted on tliis head. Other sorts have been of about average quality. Por next season we shall prolpably bave a supply ec[ual to any pre. THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 157 vious year, and the qualities are all well spoken of; no trans- actions are reported for future shipment, the jiresent high cost at shipping ports rendering sellers iudill'ei'eut as to entering into contracts. The stock in public warehouse here and on board lately arrived ships is 25,000 qrs. At Liverpool there is none, at Hull 95,000 qrs. in addition to crusher's stocks, whicli are rouglily estimated at 25,000 qrs. Afloat we have a fair quantity, say about 345,000 qrs., consisting of 110,000 qrs. East Indies, 110,000 qrs. Black Sea, and about 25,000 qrs. Mediterranean, Baltic, &c. London has only imported 258,000 qrs., consisting of 170,000 qrs. from East Lidies, 69,000 qrs. from the Black Sea, 12,600 qrs. from the Baltic, and remainder from ]Mediterranean and sundry other ports. The re-export is the smallest on record, amounting to less than 20,000 qrs., or about onc-eujhth the quantity re-shipped in the previous year. The aggregate imports into the United Kingdom is made up of about 195,000 qrs. from Calcutta, 50,000 Bombay, 335,000 Petersburgh, 33,000 Archangel, C6,000 Riga (including 31,000 qrs. sowing seed), 50,000 Memel, Konigsberg, Dantzic, Pillau, and other Lower Baltic ports, 393,000 Black Sea, and lemaiuder Mediterranean and sundries. The Black Sea cargoes coming to direct ports, and calling at Falmouth for orders, consisted of about 310,000 qrs., which were discharged as follows : Hull 116,200 qrs., London 71,200, Grimsby 30,450, Gloucester 16,800, Boston 13,050, Liverpool 10,700, Ipswich 10,050, Bristol 5,300, Rochester 4,300, Dover 3,450, Lowestoft. 2,300, Leith 3,300, New- castle 3,100, Southampton 1,950, Glasgow 1,800, Portsmouth 1,700, Newhaven 1,400 ; 17,100 qrs. went to HoOand, and in addition to which about 50,000 qrs. went from Black Sea ports direct to Antwerp. The direct exports from the north of Russia have included 50,000 qrs. from Petersburg, 43,000 Archangel, 40,000 Riga, and about 45,000 Memel, Konigs- berg, &c., also some 00,000 qrs. of sowing seed iVom Riga. Linseed Oil continues the favourite article for speculation in the particular branch of trade which this circular treats of, and 1866 has been no exception to its predecessors. The early months of the year having been characterised by one of the largest (and probably least successful) operations yet entered into. £38 was the opening price, but the make being in excess of demand, a fall of £3 occurred during J auuary . Large forward contracts about that time came in course of fulflbnent, and^the buyers received and stored the oil ; thus sustaining and advancing prices, which, had they been regulated by the ordinary question of supply and demand, must, in tlie absence of the usual export, have fallen considerably. As it happened, the opposite was the case, and the value went steadily to £41 in March. In April markets were very duU, and although a momentary cheek was given to tlie decline early in May, in consequence of an exceptional inquiry for the United States, be- fore the month closed the speculative holders had taken fright, and the value receded to £33 10s. At this time the heavy stocks previously lield had (assisted by the small make then going on) become absorbed, and the tone of tlie trade was re- stored to much more healthy condition. During June and July £36 was the value, and the following two mouths a steady- American demand coming on, a bare market sufficed to in- crease the value to £43, after which the supply mended, and, in the absence of either American or Continental orders of any consequence, it gradually declined to under £36, but during tlie past month it has recovered to £37 10s., which is to-day's value. We annex our customary statement of monthly Prices of Linseed Oil. — 1806: January, £38 to £36 5s. ; February, £37 5s. to £38 10s.; March, £S9 10s. to £41 ; April, £40 10s. to £37 10s. ; May, £38 5s. to £34 ; June, £36 to £36 10s. ; July, £35 10s. to £30 10s. ; August, £37 10s. to £40 10s.; September, £42 to £43 10s.; October, £40 to £38 10s. , November, £38 to £37 10s. ; December, £36 5s. to £37 10s. The exportation during the past year vidll be found short as compared with 1865. America has, however, taken 8,500 tons, which has in some measure compensated for ,the excep- tionally very small quantity shipped to the continent. It amounts to about 25,000 tons in 1866, against 37,000 tons in 1865. Linseed Cakes. — Home-made as heretofore have been in very large consumption. Prices from January to early No- vember scarcely varied 10s. per ton. Cakes having been in steady demand at £10 15s. to £11 10s. according to quality during that period ; since then the exceedingly high rates pay- ing for all other kinds of feeding stuffs have improved the value for best quality, to £12 per ton, which is the current rate to-day. Of foreign the supplies wiU be found to be 20,000 tons in excess of 1865, amounting to 120,000 tons, of all kinds, into the United Kingdom. As in the case of home- made Cakes, there was but little fluctuation in prices until to- vi'ards the close of the year, when from same causes they par- ticipated in the rise common to all feeding stuffs. The value of best New York bags in January was £10 10s., and barrels £10 15s. to £11, and same prices continued with very little variation until November, when £11 to £11 5s. was paid for bags, £11 10s. to £11 15s. for barrels, and last month bags sold at £11 15s. and barrels at £13, which are to-day's quo- tations also. Rapeseed has been in very large supply from the East Indies, and this, together with an abundant crop on the Con- tinent, has caused a continual fall month by month throughout the year. Spot Calcutta in January last opened at C9s. to 70s., and by end of December had dropped fuUy 18s. per qr., the present value jjcing 51s. to 52s., Bombay Guzerat 59s., Popi^y eis., Niger 50s., Gingelly 78s. to 80s. Rape Oil from same causes as Rapeseed gradually declined Ihroughout the year. Foreign refined being quoted early in January £57 10s., and brown £54, and they fell by end of December £14 per ton — say £43 10s. to £44 for refined, and £39 10s. to £40 10s. brown. Rape Cakes have sold steadily throughout the year, the large make helping the value down 10s. per ton in the summer months. The value in January last was £5, in July £4 to £4 10s., and it has continued at about same rates till now. Cotton Seed. — The import the past year has been less than that of 1865 by about 30,000 tons. The market opened in January with a steady trade at £8 5s. to £8 10s. for seed of the old crop, and £8 15s., for coast cargoes of the new. The price, however, declined at close of the month 5s. to 10s. per ton, and in February it further receded to £7 5s. for old and £8 for new seed. During March an improved inquiry ad- vanced prices, and as high as £8 12s. 6d. was paid for arrived cargoes, and also for several floating. Li April the market again ruled dull with a fall of 10s. per ton in value, and we further declined in May to £7 5s. and £7 10s. at which buyers supplied themselves freely. During June, July, and August we had a steady demand at same figures ; in September seed becoming scarce, prices advanced, say from £8 up to £8 10s., and v.alue was the same in October and November, but last month a good inquiry for cakes and very small stocks of seed, drove up prices to £9 10s. for old, and £10 for arrived cargoes of the new crop. The supply of 1807 promises to be very large and considerably in excess of any previous year's im- ports. Cotton Oil marked £36 10s. early in January, but for some months afterwards was very dull, and sales made at fall- ing rates, until £27 was touched in July ; since then it gradu- ally improved to £33 10s. in September, but is quoted about £3 per ton lower to-day. Cotton Caices continue in great favour, and have been con- sumed extensively. The course of prices varied very little the first six months of last year, say £5 5s. in January, £5 Feb- ruary and March ; £5 to £4 15s. from that time to the end of June. In July and August , as low as £4 10s. was accepted ; since then the value had advanced month by month, say £5 in September and October; £5 10s. to £5 15s. in November, and £6 to £0 to £0 10s. iu December. Tallow was very steady early iu the year, fluctuating be- tween 48s. and 50s. up to end of AprU ; it theirgradually de- clined week by week to 44s. in May, and under great pressure of sales to 40s. for a day or two. Au immediate rally to 43s. followed, and the market has again been steady, since from 44s. to 46s., 45s. being about the value of new P.Y.C. to-day. London, Jan. 1, 1867. Eewaeds, Eastty, & Co. BOILED PEAS FOR MILCH COWS AND HOGS.— "Boiled peas," says a writer in the Virginian Richmond Farmer " as food for milch cows, and for fattening hogs, is far superior to corn-meal, or anything' else I have ever seen tried. My honest opinion is, that two bushels of peas are superior to, or worth more to fatten hogs, or to increase the milk of cows, I than three bushels of corn applied to the same objects. la 158 THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. experimenting, I have found that hoRs not only fattened doubly as fast, but that the improvement of 1 heir g-oueral condition was iu'like proportion." " AVitli respect to cows," he says, " the effect was, in ten days, to double the yield ot milk. My plan in using them was to soak them in water twelve hours or throuo'h the night, before boihng them. By this process their bulk was doubled, and consequently they required less boiling. Besides this advantage, I found the soaked pea an excellent substitute for green food, having not only the effect on stock produced by turnips, carrots and beets, in improving their appetite, general appearance and milking piojierties, but im- ))arts none of the bad taste to tiie milk, which is often derived from the use of the green crops above referred to." It was, moreover, found to exhibit fattening qualities almost equal to those of the boiled pea. He concludes by saying : " I regard the soaked pea for food in winter as decidedly superior to all root crops," and recommends that his " brother farmers should lose no time in testing its value in their own practice." MANURE MAKERS' MATERIALS. ANNUAL REPORT. Manure makers have had opportunities of purchasing well during 18G6, as almost all the materials used by them have been lower than for years past, owing principally to the caution exercised in making purduxses, which may be accounted for by the inability of farmers to pay as formerly, owing to the bad harvest and the cattle plague, and consequently the reluctance on the part of makers to enter into engagements which would, perhaps, necessitate their holding a large stock over until next year, from want of demand. A large number of manufacturers have stiU to buy, and we therefore think present prices, espe- cially for Bones and Ash, are lower than what they will be a month hence. Bones. — The past spring there was only a moderate demand, and prices were therefore more regular than of late years, wiien towards the end of the season we have always seen a sudden and material advance, owing to buyers at a distance coming iu against the grinders in the neighbourhood. The fearful' ravages of the cattle plague had, however, this year the effect of reducing considerably the re(|uireraents of our local buyers, and there was therefore enough for all. In May, after the spring demand had ceased, prices fell 20s. per ton, and in August buyers were so unwilling to purchase that a good quantity of common and steamed legs was sold at .tt 7s. Cd. per ton, the lowest price at which sales have been made for years. During the three months prior to December there was no great change, prices ruling 5s. to 7s. Cd. per ton above the lowest point. Within the past ten days, however, we may quote an advance from the lowest point of 20s. to 25s. per ton, with every likelilmod of a still greater improvement, and still we are 10s. to 15s. per ton below the current price of this time last year. The year's imports are about 7,400 tons, being as near as possible tlie quantity imported in 18G5, and the stock is only about 200 tons now on board the import ship. Bone Ash, when we made our last annual issue, was selling at £5 on 70 per cent.; during January it fell to £i 15s., owing to the demand being only moderate, and the desire of sellers to quit as much as possible from ship's side ; from that time up to June tliere was no great change, and prices ruled at £-i 12s. Cd. to £4. 15s.; during June £4. 10s. was ac- cepted ; and in July £4 os. bought a large parcel ; and since then several cargoes, arriving on ship's account (owing to the difficulty experienced in obtaining freights in the River Plate), some purchases have been made at £4 per ton. To-day's quotations are merely nominal, as no sales of any moment have been made during the last fortnight. Some east coast buyers have this year bought largely here, on account of the great difficulty experienced in getting cargoes with only a small proportion of Bones. The year's imports are about 5,600 tons against 5,500 in 1805, and our stock about 1,000 tons. The market for outports during the past year under- went quite a change to that of previous years, the demand, in- stead of increasing, fell off after June, and each sale reported after this month showed a decline, until prices went from £4 17s. Cd. to £5 on 70 per cent., down to £4 7s. 6d. to £4 10s. on 70 per cent, for Ash, and £6 down to £5 for Bones. There is now little or no demand, and cargoes of Ash with a few Bones may be quoted worth £4 10s. on 70 per cent., and £5, while cargoes with a large proportion of Bones are quite un- saleable. The quantity coming on is ample. Animal CharcOjU.. — Almost all the spent produced here has been sold for France, at prices varying from £5 to £5 10s. as in quality. These figures cannot l)e got here while bone- iish is so low. Dust for ivory-black-making sells readily at £5 15s., and grey and white at £4 5s. on 70 per cent., at wliich it is cheap, as it tests in many instances 80 to 85 per cent. NiTUATE OF Soda. — Early in the past year speculators did their best to buoy up this commodity ; but, the demand not lieing sufficient to take oif the parcels as they arrived, with some slight exceptions, prices gradually fell from 12s. 3d. down to 10s.; and since June it has fluctuated only a little, never being under lOs. or over lis. percwt. ; and now the stock is so formidable— 13,400 tons, against 8,750 tons last year, and 8,200 tons in IStil— that it is not expected any ope- rator will be likely to try aud monopolise the article. Import, 27,000 tons. Guano. — Peruvian has not been so much called for during the past year ; and the stock is very heavy. The agents here, in order to clear a large parcel of indirect, accepted a very low price ; and same has been reselling by a dealer at £10 10s. to £11, as in quantity and quality. Upper Peruvian : The stock is entirely in second hands, and very small ; and there is not much on the way, for which the sellers are asking £0 10s. jMalden Island varies very- much in quality, and there is a good quantity iu second hands, for which £4 to £5 per ton is asked; and it is reported that trials made last year prove it to be equal to any phosphatic guano as a manure, when applied to the land without any preparation. Howland's Island : One cargo only has arrived here for sale, which brought £5 5s. per tou ; and it tested 71 per cent, phosphates. The im- ports have fallen off considerably, and are only about 17,000 tons, against 44,000. Brimstone. — Although the year's imports are nearly 5,000 tons in excess of those of 1865, the stock does not ex- ceed 1,500 tons. Prices .are now, however, 17s. Cd. to 20s. per ton lower than at this time last year. The increased con- sumption may be accounted for partly from the fact that raisers of pyrites are continually increasing their prices, so that many acid-manufacturers have been induced to use brim- stone solely. Imports 14,465 tons, against about 10,000 tons. Sulphate of Ammonia. — The low price of nitrate has affected this article, and caused a fall of nearly 20s. per ton since this time last year. At this decline there is not much demand, and prices will go still lower. Dark is not saleable at anything over £10 10s., and white is hard to sell, at £11 10s. per ton. i'EEDiNG Cakes.— There was no material change in these until November, when prices advanced 20s. per ton, which advance has not, however, been maintained ; but if the pre- sent hard frost continues, we are certain to see them higher. American still holds its ground in some quarters; and when the market has been bare, as iu May, good cake has brought extreme prices, aud equal to English. The imports the past two months have been heavy. It has not, however, given way much ; and to-day £10 10s. may be considered the price for fine cake. Decorticated cotton-seed cake is again coming from the States, aud sells well, at £7 15s. to £8 per ton. „ .„ Liverpool, Jan. 1, 1867. Towill Brothers. THE FAHMEB'S MAGAZINE. 159 TRADE OF THE PORT OF HULL. EEPORT rOR THE YEAR 186G. It is matter of congratulatiou that duriug the past eventful year the commercial credit of this great port lias been well maintained, and remains at the present moment in a very satisfactory condition. The failure in the metropolis of the eminent discount-house, and the collapse of so many of tlie limited liability companies, brought on a panic in the money market, which caused the Bank of England to raise its dis- conat to 10 pcrce/if. This serious and oppressive rate con- tinued for tlie long period oi fumieeii weeJcs, the effect of which was, unfortunately, to give a check to the legitimate trade of the country, as well as to depress the market value of all articles of merchandise, and thereby to occasion inevitable losses to many unoffending parties. Notwithstanding this check, it is gratifying to report that tlie trade of the port during the year lias considerably increased. Wheat. — The wlieat trade of the past year may be charac- terised as a prosperous one on the whole : the fluctuations in prices after the month of April have been almost entirely in favour of the holder, and a gradual improvement since then lias taken place, whicli may be attributed to a moderate im- port, a not very bountiful harvest in this country, and a de- cidedly inferior one in France, which latter country during the first half of the year was a very large exporter of flour and to some extent of wheat, and is now competing witli us in buy- ing for her own actual wants, not only in foreign ports but in our own markets. Altliough we are unable to give a return of the English wheat exported during the year, it is certain that Prance and even Belgium have taken a considerable quan- tity from our shores, and within the last few days the demand has revived and shipments are actually again taking place from this coast as well as the Baltic provinces to France. k We began the year with a stock of 120,000 qrs., and close it with 60,000 qrs. in granary, our imports for the year being 235,078 qrs., against 273,787 qrs. in 18G5. Dantzic again takes the lead, contributing lll,0'i8 qrs., against 156,830 qrs. in 1865. The total imports of wheat and flour into the United Kingdom are about 6,907,300 qrs., against 6,l-il,358 qrs. in 1865 ; 7,065,145 qrs. in 1804. ; 6,604,142 qrs. in 1863 ; and 10,752,929 qrs. in 1862. From Egypt we have again had no wheat, and very little from ports east of Gibraltar has found its way to our market ; while from Spain the quantity » lias been larger than for some years past, and as the harvest in that country has again been a favourable one, a ^similar quantity may be exported during the current year. Tlie in- ferior crops of 1865 in the Baltic provinces and Holland have not been suitable for this market, and consequently the trade in wheat with Konigsberg and Stettin has been only to a small extent. Last year's crop promises better in every respect, and we may hope to see these ports again exporting their usual quantity. Dantzic has shipped nearly the whole of its stock of old wheat, and this year's supplies from that port must ne- cessarily be almost restricted to the crops of 1865 and 1866. Tlie former proved a poor one, and not much of it exists; the latter promises good quality on the whole, although' some sliipments already received indicate wet weather during harvesting. In January, 1866, the prices opened for English red wheat at 46s. to 48s. to 50s., for choice white Baltic 56s. to 59s., and for red 45s. to 46s. per 4801bs. ; the markets remained quiet till April, when the lowest point duriug the year was touched, namely, 43s. to 44s. for English, 54s. to 56s. for choice white, and 4is. to 46s. for red Baltic ; in May prices advanced 2s. to 3s. per qr. for English only. Foreign remaining stationary. During this month a war between Prussia, Italy, and Austria was imminent, and the rate of discount rose from 7 to 10 per cent, in three days ; in June tlie war began, and finished the first week in July, when prices rose Us. to 10s. per qr. on En- glish, and only 3s. to 4s. per qr. on foreign ; in July and Au- gust they receded 6s. to 7s. on English and 2s. to 3s. on foreign; showery weather towards the end of August and heavy rains early in September caused some apprehensions for the unsecured portion of the now crops, and prices again har- dened, advancing 8s. per qr. upon old English, and 5s. upon foreign ; new English red opening at 47s. to 50s. ; in October old wheat became much souglit after, and stocks diminished fast, upon which prices again rose 3s. to 4s. per qr. ; in _No- vemlier new English was found to be only a moderate yield, and mostly damp in condition, so that prices remained nearly stationary, while old again advanced 3s., and foreign 3s. to 5s. per qr. ; duriug the last month business was not so brisk, as the millers had bought freely beforehand, and although sales were made with dilficulty, prices underwent scarcely any change, and we closed the year with a firm tone, and with new Yorkshire red at 54s. to 5Ss., old 61s. to 63s. per 5041bs. ; choice old Baltic, 70s. to 72s., and red 60s. to 63s. per 4801bs., being an advance upon the year of 12s. to 15s. per qr. on En- glish, 12s. to 13s. on white Baltic, and 15s. to 17s. on red Bal- tic. Russian sorts have been almost entirely cleared out : prices opened in January at 44s. to 45s. for fine, and closed in De- cember at 58s. to 60s. per 4801bs., witli scarcely any oftering. The official averages for the price of English wheat for 1866 was 49s. lOd. ; 1865, 41s. lOd. ; 1864, 40s. 2d. ; 1863, 44s. 9d. ; 18G2, 55s. 5d. per qr. Baiiley. — With liberal importations from abroad, and a considerable advance in prices in the preceding year, we were not prepared to report this year nearly twice as large arrivals, and a further important advance in prices both principally oc- curring during the hist three or four months of the year; but such is tlie fact, and tliis is owing to the miseralile yield, espe- cially as regards tlie quality of the English crops, particularly in the large agricultural counties of Yorkshire and Lincoln- shire ; and to a mucli larger extent than last year are our maltsters dependent upon foreign supplies ; but happily, other countries have been favoured with a better harvest. Our closing prices for malting are 5s. to 10s., and for grinding 2s. to 3s. per qr. above those current at tlie end of last year, viz.; fine English malting 44s. to 52s., Danish two-rowed 4.2s. to 43s., and stout grinding 3os. to 36s. per 4481bs. The stock is larger than usual, but a good portion of it belongs to a few of our largest maltsters, who are holding it for their winter use. Oats. — Our import of this grain has also been about double that of last year, but prices have undergone but little fluctuation, and are now about the same as at the commence- ment of the year, being to-day for good new English 25s. to 27s. for 3361bs. The stocks are somewhat larger, consisting of Russian and Swedish ; but a large deficiency also of the English crop of this cereal has to be made good by foreign grain. Pu vs. — We have had a poor yield of our own crop, and the importations from abroad have been comparatively large in consequence. Prices have gradually advanced, and are now 2s. above the average of last year's closing rates, being at present 41s. to 42s. for 5041bs. for good white feeders. Stocks about on a par with last year's. Beans. — The crop has turned out rather better than at one time apprehended, and prices, which in October and November had taken a start of 4s. to 5s. per qr., have again receded, and are now only Is. per qr. higher than a twelvemonth ago, being 44s. to 46s. per 504lbs. for good Hamburg and West Coast middles. Stocks have rather accumulated. Agricultural Seeds. — This trade lias been characterised the past year by more than ordinary fluctuations. Reo Clovers. — As the season advanced it became apparent that the demand for this seed was unusually limited, and, as some bad predicted in many districts, the fearful ravages of the cattle disease caused much less seed to be required than would otherwise have been the case ; and thus prices gradually declined all through the season, and at its close wore some- thing like £20 per ton lower than at the commencement. The new crops this year (with the exception of the south of France, where a fair quantity of fine seed has been secured), in consequence of the cold, wet, and ungonial summer, are very 160 THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. unfavourably reported of. The English crop, wc are in- formed, in many districts will not yield suflicient seed to pay the expenses of thrashing, and what little has been grown wdll be very brown and inferior iii quality ; the same remarks apply to the principal seed-growing districts on the continent, and thus prices have very considerably rallied, and are in fact liigher than at any time during last season. White cloverseed and alsyke being coniiued to much more limited districts than red and the weather being particularly unfavourable prior to and' at the time of harvesting, are reported to be very deficient, amounting in some districts to almost a total failure ; and this is confirmed by the fact that up to tliis time very few new samples have appeared, although any fine old samples remain- ing over from last season have lately been readily saleable at au advance of from £30 to £35 per ton. Trefoil. — This seed being matured much earlier than clovers, and the weather in England at the time it was har- vested having been more propitious, a good average crop has been secured, and mostly of fine quality. On the continent it has been quite the reverse, the samples which have reached us presenting a very brown and weathered appearance, and the yield is unfavourably spoken of ; consequently the prices of fine English seed, which were very low on the first appearance of the new samples, have advanced up to the present time 5s. to 6s. per cwt. LiN.SEED. — We have again to report an increasing business in this important branch of the trade of the port. The im- port into Hull in 1865 exceeded that into any other port in the kingdom, and this year has gone beyond its predecessors ; a fact the more striking because the import into London and Liverpool shows a very large deficiency as compared with 1865. We have received from direct ports 552,832 Qrs. From London and Liverpool 30,000 „ Stock last December 110,000 „ Making our supply for 1866 692,832 „ Our present stock we estimate at 120,000 „ Actual consumption 1866 572,832 „ Against do. in 1865 615,219 „ Being a decrease in consumption of... 43,387 „ Lnport into Grimsby 44,384 qrs., against 42,522 qrs. 1865. The Baltic has again been the chief source of our supplies. From St. Petersburg we have received 290,745 qrs., the total export from thence being 378,009 qrs. This large quantity of seed has enabled us to supply to some extent the wants of crushers, who have hitherto bought in the London market. We commenced the year with a large stock in merchants' and crushers' hands, but with small supplies afloat, the quotation being 67$. Black Sea, 65s. fine Petersburg. Prices in January were scarcely maintained, there being few buyers in the market, and arrivals pretty liberal. The first week in February brought more inquiry with hardening prices, and the deficient quantity afloat having its prospective influence upon prices, an advance in values was established, which continued without interrup- tion until the end of March, when Black Sea was worth 72s., and fine Petersburg 70s. In April the financial disturbances, coupled with the continental war, began to affect our values in common with all other articles of merchandise ; and " cast- ing their shadows before," produced an uncertainty oi feeling, terminating in a wise determination in all quarters to contract within the narrowest limits possible all business engagements. Prices gave way, and continued their downward course with one or two slight reactions of 6d. to Is. per qr. until the mid- dle of October, grounding at 61s. for Black Sea, and 58s. to 59s. finest Petersburg. An improvement set in, the last week of October, gradually enhancing values to the close of the year, our quotations being, as in January last, fine Petersburg 65s., and Black Sea 67s. L.A.T. The stock in aU hands is about 120,000 qrs. against 110,000 qrs. last year. Prices are well maintained, the quantity afloat being 150,000 qrs. short of last year, and the stock in London and Liverpool being un- usually small. No contract business for next season has yet been concluded. The knowledge of large supplies in the North of Russia, and the expectation of a similar abundance in India, deter the consumers and merchants from granting the rates now asked abroad. The quality of next year's supply will be good, and we logk forward to an extensive and, remuue- lative trade. Linseed Oil. — From the causes alluded to in our remarks on linseed, the price of linseed oil during the year has varied very considerably, and the natural variation has also been much increased by the speculative element, which is connected with the trade, and which unfortunately is increasing. The value of linseed oil ranged as follows, viz. : January 36s. to 39s., February 37s. to 40s. 6d., March 36s. 6d. to 42s.— the highest point reached. A gradual decline took place during the next three mouths, and in June and July quotations were at their lowest, viz., 33s. 6d. to 36s. 6d. per cwt. With August an improvement took place, and in September the highest value was 41s. 9d., again declining to 37s. per cwt., at which the year closed. Quantity exported 9,328 tons being 9,644 less than in 1865 ; to London 6,240 tons were forwarded, and New York took from us about 8,000 tons. Linseed Cakes. — During the past year there have only been the usual fluctuations in the value of this article. The average price has been a high one, caused by the supply of linseed not being adequate to the increasing estimation in which linseed cakes are held by agriculturists. The value of pure cake ranged as under : January £10 15s. to £11 5s. per ton, in February and March £10 13s. 6d. to £11 2s. 6d.; from April to August au advance of 5s. took place ; in September £10 to £10 17s. 6d. was the rate ; October £9 12s. 6d. to £10 17s. 6d. ; and the year closed £11 17s. 6d. to^£13 2s. 6d. per ton. Rapeseed, Rubsen, and their products. — ^The import in 1866 was 123,254 qrs., against 45,859 in '65, and 74,330 in '64. The excess of the year's import over that of others has arisen entirely from excellent crops in Germany and Den- mark, which as to quality and condition have seldom been ex- celled. The price at the commencement of tlie year was nominally 80s. per qr. for German seed, and Black Sea 43s., Calcutta 70s., at which rates one or two cargoes were bought off the coast iu January. Further Black Sea arrivals reduced the price to 60s. and 38s. per qr., at which rates they con- tinued till the end of April, when offers of German rubsen were made at 51s. 6d. and 52s. at the port of shipment. With farther arrivals from the Black Sea and the Baltic the market was over-supplied, and crushers generally held aloof, looking for lower rates. The lowest transactions were reached in June, when German seed was offered at 47s. 6d. free on board, and Black Sea on the spot 29s. per qr. This led to business, and the new crop being of good quality considerable transac- tions ensued. Prices advanced during August 10s. per qr., but receded again a little ; again advancing towards the end of the year, whicli closes with steady prices — viz. : Rubsen 60s. to 62s. delivered, and Black Sea to 34s. on the spot and to arrive. The stock in warehouse is larger than usual, being 35,000 qrs. Oil : The year opened with brown at 56s., and pale 58s., which receded to 53s. and 64s. respectively on the appearance of foreign oil in the market. These prices remained with little variation up to April, when they dropped to 44s. and 45s. for foreign brown, and 48s. pale, with a slow trade. A further reduction to 40s. and 43s. took place in June, at about which rates some considerable transactjons took place. Prices fell a little towards the end of the year, which closes however with more firmness and a better demand at 40s. to 42s. per cwt. Cakes -. During last winter good green cake was very scarce, and held at high prices, say £6 per ton, whilst cake from East India and Black Sea seed was more plentiful, and sold at at about £4 10s. This was the only article of the kind on the market during the spring months, and in April brought £5 per per ton. After the new rape crop made its appearance the market was well stocked with both green and browm, and prices gave way considerably— £4 10s. and £5 being paid for best green, and £4 and £4 5s. for brown. A better demand existed during autumn, and prices rallied, but again fell iu October, when considerable transactions took place at £4 13s. 6d. and £4 15s. for green cake. The value at the end of the year was £5 15s. for green, and £4 10s. for brown. Cotton Seed.— The trade in this article has not been equal in extent to that of last year, the import being 31,380 tons, against 43,034 tons in;1865. These figures confirm the statements made in the early part of the year of the deficiency of the Egyptian cotton crop of 1865, as very little cotton seed is imported from any other country. Some small parcels of Brazilian and Algerian seed have been crushed here ; but the results have not been satisfactory to the crusher. A few tons of decorticated cotton seed from the Southern States of THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 161 America have also been tried ; but the difficulty of refining the oil, and the high price at wliich the cake must necessarily be sold, have hitherto prevented the extension of this trade. These difficulties will doubtless be overcome ere long, and cotton seed (like liuseed) will be sent to this country from whatever part of the world it may be produced, more particu- larly as the price obtained for it at the place of production is so much clear gain to the grower, cost of freight and difficulty of transit being the only barriers to an immense importation. The year opened with a very small stock of old seed, which realized £8 15s. Prices fell during the month of January to £8 ; but the first cargo of new seed arriving in the end of the month was readily placed at £8 15s. During the montli of February further arrivals of both old and new seed brought the prices down to £7 and £8 respectively. March was marked by more disposition to purchase, and, in consequence, an ad- vance of 10s. to 12s. 6d. per ton was realized ; but the relative difference in price between new and old seed was not main- tained, crushers finding by experience that good old seed of the crop of 1861; yielded nearly as much oil as the new seed of the crop of 1865. Large arrivals of seed during April caused a rapid fall to £7 10s. per ton, which was about the nominal price up to the middle of August, importers generally landing rather then accept less money, although exceptional trans- actions took place during the panic at £7, and even under. The improved state of trade, consequent upon the reduction of the Bank rate of discount in August, had its effect upon cotton seed, being followed by an advance of 20s. per ton by the end of October. In November the deficient import began to be felt, and prices advanced rapidly from £8 10s. to £9 10s., fol- lowed by a further upward movement in December to £10 per ton, at which figure the year closes, with an ahiiost entire absence of stock. These high prices are, however, maintained solely by scarcity, and as they leave no margin, but an absolute loss to the crusher, they must necessarily fall when large arrivals take place. The shipments from Alexandria during November and December have been small : the supply will, therefore, be very limited during the first two mouths of the year. The Egyptian cotton crop of 1866 is, however, believed to be large, although it will probably not equal that of 1864. Cotton Seed Oil. — A large proportion of the seed liaving arrived in a heated state, the oU was considerably injured for refining, making so great a per-centage of waste as to leave no profit. The immense quantity of rape oil has also interfered very materially with the use of cotton oil, and has assisted to make the year 1866 a very unsatisfactory one for cotton oil refiners ; the business, consequently, has been limited in extent. The year commenced with crude at 33s. 6d. naked, and refined at iOs. 6d. in casks. Prices fell during January in sympathy with seed, reaching 30s. 6d and 37s. 6d. respectively by the middle of February ; a slight advance then took place to 32s. and 39s., from which prices a continuous and almost weekly fall resulted in quotations of 31s. 6d. and 31s. 6d. in the end of June. During the month of July crude rallied a little, and touched 35s. 6d. ; but refined, inlluenced by speculators' re- sales and bear sales from London, was very much depressed, and siiles were made in some instances as low as 30s. to 30s. 6d. in casks. August was distinguished by a rapid ad- vance np to 30s. and 31s. for crude, and 37s. to 38s. for refined. These prices ruled with but little variation, and with very little business passing, till the early part of December, when the absence of demand for refined oil and dulness in other oils brought prices down to 29s. naked for crude, and 36s. 6d. to 37s. for refined, at which figures the year closes. Some httle crude oil is in crushers' hands ; but refiners, discouraged by the unprofitable character of the trade, will not open their refineries at the present ditt'erence lietween crude and refined. Cotton Seeb Cakes. — In the early months of the year the trade was depressed by speculators forcing their contract cakes on the market ; during the spring and summer the de- mand was very limited ; during the autumn the large produc- tion of rape and Iltibsen cakes checked the consumption ; but in the months of November and December all the cakes offer- ing have been eagerly bought up at very high prices. The price at the commencement of the year was £5 5s., which gradually fell to £4 10s. by the end of February. In tlie early part of March a large demand sent the price up, and by the middle of the month the quotation was again £5 5s. During the month of April the large supply of seed and approach of summer brought prices down to £i' 5s., the lowest point of the year. This low price induced speculators to come forward, and the ouotatiou rallied to £4 10s., which was about the value till the middle of August, when an increased demand made the price £5, which was the ruling figure till the end of October, when £5 5s. was freely paid. During November and De- cember absolute scarcity drove prices up to £6, and thence to £6 10s., which is the present value, with scarcely any stock for sale. Olive Oil.— -The imports this year, consisting principally of Gallipoli and Neapolitan, have been 6,9-45 tons against 7,555 in 1865, 5,195 in '64, 5,177 in '63, and 7,454 in '63. Prices have ruled very steady during the year, Galhpoli from about £58 to £61 and £63. Tlie consumption also has gone on very steadily, notwithstanding the advance of prices, conse- quent upon the unfavourable reports of the crop abroad. Stock 193 tuns against 400 tuns in '65, and 569 in '64. Flax.— The import for the year is 10,306 tons against 13,720 in 1865. The very high prices ruhng in the foreign markets during the whole of the year left so small a margin for profit that our merchants have imported less than usual, and there have been fewer consignments. The quality of the flax has not been so good as that of the previous year, and the trade this year has not been so satisfactory as might be desired. Prices opened very firm in Januarj', with a fair demand, Portu- guese F.P.K. being worth £63 per ton. Small stocks and ad- vancing rates abroad caused a speedy advance to £69 to £70, at which price this mark remained until the middle of Febru- ary ; the demand, however, at this extreme point, being con- siderably curtailed. Prices remained nominally firm to the end of March ; but to effect business concessions had to be made, and these small concessions in price characterised the remainder of the year, our closing quotation for Portuguse F.P.K., being £61 to £63 per ton. The import of Tow has been 4,309 tons against 7,104 tons in the previous year. Hemp. — The total import for 1866 amounted to 5,075 tons, viz., 3,357 Petersburg, 3,837 Riga, and 11 tons sundries. The year opened with the price of clean at £36 per ton, receding by the end of June to £33. The inferior quaUty of the new arrivals m July and August caused a frirther decline of £3 and £3 per ton, with the exception of prime parcels of 1864, which were readily saleable at £3 per ton above the current rates. We opened the New Year with a slack trade — although the light stocks here and elsewhere, with an apparent tendency to some improvement in the demand, will probably fully main- tain present prices until the new import takes place. Cattle Bones. — The total import is about 3,000 tons in excess of 1865, and in consequence of the liberal supplies prices have ruled from 10s. to 15s. per ton in favour of buyers. The stock is about 1,000 tons, including 80 tons of bone ash, against 500 tons last year. I'ricc at present is about 5 gs. to £5 7s. 6d. per ton, with but a small demand. Guano. — The supplies ot Peruvian into this port have been less liberal than last year, say 9,115 tons, and the demand is on the increase. Tar. — From Finland and Swedish ports the import this year has been 34,993 barrels against 36,054 ditto last year. During the spring months prices ranged from 16s. to 16s. 6d. As the year advanced, however, prices gradually drooped. Some early arrivals this season altered the price to 14s., and later on, a still further downward tendency was shown, and lower figures submitted to. The market is, however, firmer, and 14s. to 14s. 6d. the nearest value. The present stock in all hands is about 7,000 barrels, against 6,500 barrels last year. Archangel : The import into Hull is still very small, there only being one arrival of 1,193 barrels. A reduction in its value of about 7s. per barrel compared with last season will, however, cause increased consumption, and larger im- ports may be encouraged. 15s. to 15s. 6d. is the nearest value. Turpentine Spirits. — Our market is stUl well supplied, principally with French from Bordeaux. The import direct from foreign ports during the year is near 400 tons. Prices have fluctuated from 44s. to 48s. early in the year. Increased supplies of American spirits into England later on caused un- settled prices. French is now worth 37s. to 37s. 6d., and American 38s. to 38s. 6d. Crude Turpentine : No direct iuijiorts worth notice. llosiN. — Our market continues to be abundantly supplied, mostly from Bordeaux. Increased imports into England from 162 THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. American ports )i:is caused much loflcr prices lo be accepted, especially for the finer kinds suitable for soap making, antl lor which qualities the Trench makers bid lair to outrival the American. The finest soapers' rosins are worth from 14s. 6d. to 18s. ; medium amber, lis. 6d. to 13s. Gd., and common kinds for distilling, 9s. 6d. to 10s. 6d. .,.,,. The abolition of all duty on Wood Goods, m March last, to which may be added tlie'low rate of freight from the Baltic ports, gave great encouragement to the importation of low and inferior qualities of deals and hoards of every variety of dimen- sions ; a class of goods never before imported, and which, but for the very low cost, would not have found buyers. It is now difficult to say the purposes to which some of them are to be applied. The above cause, added to the effect of a high rate of discount during the summer, led to a general depression of prices, and a somewhat sudden curtailment of the American shipments. The stocks in hand are estimated to be somewhat less than they were on the 1st of January last, while the im- portation has been somewhat more in 186G than in the pre- vious year. The present low rate of interest, with the abun- dance of unemployed capital, combined with the increasing confidence, will, it is hoped, lead to a speedy revival of the timber trade from the depression which it has recently suffered, and make the coming year one of greater prosperity tlian the last. Tlie import of sawn wood in 1865 was 203,578 loads ; 1866, 218,753. Hewn wood, 1865, 55,706 loads; in 1866, 51,467. Total, in 1865, 259,284; in 1866, 270,220 loads. Coals. — The export trade this year is 168,764 tons, against 190,734 tons in '65. Although the exports may not keep pace with neighbouring ports, still the annual consumption by our large steam trade causes the demand to be quite equal to the supply. Prices are on the advance, and likely to continue. Coal at the pit mouth is fuUy Is. to Is. 6d. per ton dearer, and the carriage by water is 6d. per ton higher than for an average of years ; and this, to all appearance, is likely to in- crease. An advance of 6d. per ton is at present in agitation by the different railway companies on all minerals. Also, the colliers work so restrictedly, that not two-tliirds of the qjian- tity is got. The average time of labour of a hewer or collier in the South Yorkshire district is now reduced to about 32 hours per week. Tliis accounts for the short supply of coals, and materially checks our export trade. Shipping. — American freights have been very much de- pressed this year, ruling about 28s. timber, SOs. to 82s. 6d. dry deals from Quebec to Hull and Grimsby, 80s. Saguenay. From the lower ports next to notliing has been done on this side, as tonnage always offered plentifully on the spot at very low rates. Eroni the Baltic a better business was done at the commencement of the season. Freights from Cronstadt to Hull or Grimsby opened at 46s. 3d. deals, and advanced to 50s. ; but declined to 47s. 6d. again for the second voyage, and closed at 40s. AVyburg to Hull 55s., Grimsby 52s. 6d., West Uartlepool 47s. 6d. to 50s. was first paid, liut these freiglits also gave way, and finally business was done as low as 42s. Gd. Fredricksham to West Hartlepool.^ Gefle to West Hartlepool was done at 45s. and 43s. Gd., Hull 45s., Liver- pool G8s. ; Bjorneborg 52s. 6d., and 50s. Hull ; Monksound 57s. 6d. ; Narva and West Hartlepool 55s., Riga 48s. ; Go- thenburg and Hull, 30s. ; Archangel and Hull, 4s. 9d. seed. Freights for steamers in the Cronstadt trade ruled low, not at any time reaching the rates current at the best times of pre- ceding years by Is. 6d. and 2s. per qr. From the Prussian grain ports trade was also very dull until late in the season, wlien a demand sprung up at 4s. to 4s. Gd. per qr. wheat, Hull ; 5s. London ; 5s. Gd. to 5s. 9d. Antwerp ; Gs. Rot- terdam. !•• Bruce. IhiU, Jan. 3. THE PRICE OF BARLEY UPON THE REPEAL OF THE MALT-TAX. Who can answer the question ? Will repeal raise the jirice of barley ? Will it make less distinction between the price of best barley ami medinm quality barleys ? Will the grow th of barley be greatly increased thereby ? Will the price of beer be much lowered ? Will the num- ber of common brewers be much augmented ? WiU private brewing become general ? Will the beer itself be greatly improved ? Will maltsters derive much benefit by the repeal ? Will private maltiug be much adopted aud practised ? What advantage will be derived by the public from repeal ? It is a far easier thing to ask ques- tions than to answer them, particularly in a satisfactory and intelligent manner. However, I am so satisfied that the bulk of the community seldom inquire into the precise nature or practical working of any measure, that I am in- duced to oiler, in my plain way, some observations aud speculations upon the probable effect upon the growth of bai-ley aud the brewing trade by a total repeal of the malt-tax. Let us take a few plain facts to begin with. Take the total quantity of malt used in brewing to be nearly 5,000,000 quarters -. upwards of four-and-a-tjuarter millions are used by common brewers. It is said, and we may aiflrm it without much hazard of contradiction, that any one of the three largest brewing establishments in the metropolis re- quires annually for their own separate uses more than all the eastern counties put together ran produce ; and one of them, it is further said, would require nearly all Lin- colnshire to help out. Can this be right ? Docs not this show a monstrous monopoly, and that it requires great capital to pay the malt-tax — ?. e., to be a brewer ? Small capitalists seldom do well in the brewing trade. Take the euormously-large Burton brewers : what capital is there involved ! and many instances elsewhere are found of like extensive establishments, all tending to prove that brewing is a great monopoly, a prejudicid monopoly, created in a high degree by the heavy outlay requisite to keep up a supply of" malt. Maltsters are in a precisely similar position as respects capital. They have the first demand to meet, the tax to pay. Take off the tax, de- stroy the monopoly, and malting and brewing would be- come almost universal — at least, in country districts. The processes might not be so cleverly accomplished, but maltsters' and brewers' profits would be for the most part saved, and a more wholesome drink would no doubt be produced. I take these to be facts. But to my questions. Will the repeal cause a rise in the price of barley ? I venture the assertion that it will, and more particularly inferior barleys, and, as a natm-al consequence, other barleys would derive a similar advan- tage too. Aud why should it not ? Barley is, and will be, ehielly grown for brewing, although iu part for distil- ling purposes. This I venture to assert also, because, as feeding stuff for stock, it can easily be supplanted by foreign importations, and by the more general use of Indian corn and other cheap grain, which is akeady largely in consumption. It is always vauntiugly pirt — You can never expect the price of barley to equal the price of wheat ! But I say, Indeed I do ; why should it not ? I will also reply, Yon never expect to brew such good beer from malted wheat as from malted barley. Wheat is used mainly, aud rightly, for human food; barley — i. e. malted barley— is and w ill be chiefly applied in the provision for human drink. Only take off all restrictions and imposts, and see if it won't go ahead. Good beer is in reality far more valuable than champagne or like similar drinks ; iron is more beneficinlly useful than gold. The consumption of beer, particularly of home-brewed beer, would be enormously increased. It is the adopted beve- rage of every class, and it is only the poorer part of the THE FAEMEirS MAGAZINE. 163 population tliat are debarred its free use. The inferior barleys would come into general use for tlie general public, aud therefore be in greater demand for malting and brew- ing, as, not having any tax to pay, they would be malted, aud the lirst and highest-class barleys would, I anticipate and verily believe, reach fabidous prices ? And why ? Because the trade iu brewing will undergo a great change and a thorough revolution. Our monopolizing brewers will lind their trade for common ales wonderfully fall off, from the increase of small breweries and the love of home- brewed. Hence they will turn their principal attention to the production of fine ales, ales of splendid quality, so fine as were never before produced, and such as are even well calculated to supersede our cheap foreign wines. For this, malt of most beautiful quahty and colour must be forthcoming, and must be provided, to achieve this most needful desideratum. Price will be of no object or accoimt ; it must be had. Growers, knowing this, will redouble their efforts to obtain the finest varieties or sorts of barley, and to produce their crops of a quality to meet such demands. Will it make less distinction between the price of best barleys and medium quality barleys ? jMy opinion is that it will make a wider distinction than now exists. Interior or medium quality barleys will undoubtedly improve iu demand aud price, owing to the increase of minor brew- ing establishments and private (" home") breweries. But the barleys of finest quality and beauty of colour will quite exceed in price every estimate hitherto formed of their ultimate value; as I have said, I believe they will realize fabulous prices, hence the greater distinction between the two. Will the growth of barley be greatly increased thereby ? Unquestionably it will. If a great extension in brewing is to take place — as undoubtedly it will — the demand for malt must be met. But that is not the chief point ; it is that a vast increase in the consumption of beer will arise, aud will require both inferior and best barleys to provide for it. Will the price of beer be much lowered ? I think by no means to the extent supposed ; but common ales will be reduced to the full extent of the reduction of the tax, and probably fiu-ther by unrestricted trade in brewing, aud the use of inferior qualities of malt from inferior barleys. Will the number of common brewers be greatly SECTION IN THE FRENCH SCHOOLS. Prom time to time reports reach us of tlie horrible bar- barities practised in the French Veterinary Schools ; and a description has just been going the rounds of the papers detailing atrocities even more dreadful than heretofore. Horses are systematically cut up aUve. The operations be- gin early in the forenoon ; and at three o'clock in the after- noon, as an eye-witness writes in the Veterinarian, " the poor wretches had ceased to make any violent struggles ; but the deep heaving of the still panting chest, and horrible look of the eyes, when such were remaining in the head, while the head was lashed to a pillar, were harrowing be- yond endurance. The students had begiin theii- day's work in the least vital parts of the animal. The trunks were there ; but they had lost their tails, ears, and hoofs ; and the operators were now engaged in cutting down on the most sensitive parts. One animal had one side of his head completely dissected ; and the students were then laying open and cauterizing the hock of this same animal." This Was the result of a few seconds' observation, when the visitor, and no wonder, " grew quite sick, and has- tened away fi'om this abode of cruelty." There is, as we should hope, scarcely an Englishman, or a horseman, but who would witness such a scene with the same feeling of loathing and disgust. The stronger, moreover, must be our protest when we come to consider the cloak under which such enormities are committed. One of the special missions of science and civilization, twin-sisters who should ever walk hand in hand, is to war against the excesses of our forefathers. We seek to refine, not brutalize ; and we live in an age when the most trying operations may be performed with little or no suffering to the patient. Is the surgeon losing his skill because he has the victim no longer writhing and groan- ing imder the knife ? Is justice less certain in her course though the witness be not put to the torture, nor the pri- soner half-broken on the wheel? It was, we had thought, only the savage who now boasted of his cruelties, and who slowly roasts his enemy, just as in bygone times we floated our witches or flayed our heretics. Gross, raiser- able ignorance could be the only excuse for such doings as these; whereas the present plea lor acts altogether as abominable is the pursuit of knowledge ! The French perhaps of all nations plume themselves upon their acquirements, mental cultivation, and the ob- servance of those good manners which do so much to civilize mankind. They assume to excel other people proportionately in the Fine Arts and such other landmarks of progress ; and it is for this reason, most probably, that they set their students to cut up live animals, and to ha- bitually defy the first instincts of humanity. And with what result ? So far, we are happy to say, with little or no justification for the disgraceful outrages perpetrated in the name of science. Does the French veterinarian, with all these "advantages," know more of the horse in health and disease than the English practitioner ? Not lie ; and in nine educated men out of ten, not so much. Our neighbours are deservedly becoming celebrated for their horses ; but they have English grooms to look after them, and English jockeys to ride them ; as an English trainer will often be quite equal to a French professor, though he may not have gouged the eye out of a live horse's head, or slowly tortured a poor beast to death under the plea of anatomical research ! The French School, however, has at length iound a champion even amongst Englishmen. Mr. John Gamgee of tl^'iUbert Veterinary College, is " astonished at the manner in which the learned bodies of three of the greatest of our European Schools have been held up to odium and contempt, when it has been from these very schools that the humanizing influence of a sound veterinary education has emanated." Humanizing ! Was there ever such a word in such a place? Humanizing! — where the student begins by cutting off the live horse's tail, ears, and hoofs, and goes on with the assistance of a friend to open the head and hock at the same time ! Mr Gamgee says " %vithin forty miles of enlightened Edinburgh, he has known a cow-leech, not a veterinarian, who first cut a cow's tail and salted it for the ' tail ill' ; then excised both haws or third eyelids, because the same poor animal was thought to have even the ' howks' ; and, lastly, the same man on the same un- relieved animal took a pair of shears, and clipped off the beautifid papiUfc on the membrane lining the cheeks, thinking that after all perhaps the disease was the ' pikes.' Tliis must not be thought rare practice, though perhaps the refinement of trying all thi-ee operations on one animal is unusual." Precis'elyso : Mr. Gamgee himself di-aws the distinction. The mail he speaks of was a cow-leech, not a veterinarian, or one who committed these enormities from sheer ignorance, but not wantonly, as his desire was to benefit the poor beast he was torturing. But what are this poor cow-leech's experiments compared to those of the learned Frenchman? Instead of cutting the cow's tail he wovdd have cut it off; instead of excising her eyelids, he would have forced her eyes out of their sockets, and instead of clipping the lining' of the cheek he would have laid bare the head." Three operations on one animal are, we hope as Mr. Gamgee says, " unusual" here, though they are by no means so in France, where tlu-ee orfour are often being proceeded with at ouce. But we are to look to " the beam in our own eye," although one shudders invokmtarily at such a phrase when discussing the practices of these foreign veteriuariaus. The French can " turn the tables" upon us: "We complain of their inflicting a certain amount of animal sufl'ering, but they do this under the deeply rooted conviction that it is the only way to secure the efficiency of their highly educated and numerous body of veterinarians, which is constantly engaged in the pre- vention and cure of disease. In order to promote the same object, the Government spends its twenty and thirty thousand pounds per annum on its veterinary colleges. The numerous departements in France have their seholar- sliips — ' bourses ct demi-bourses' — and there is a perfect veterinary organization over the whole country, so as to reduce disease and sufi'eriug to a minimum." And how has this answered ? or, as Mr. Gamgee puts it, " what did the French Government do, so soon as it heard of the cattle plague in England ? " Simply stamped it out on the frontiei", as apparently their veterinary surgeons knew no more of the disease, or displayed no more ability to cope with it than did our own, and that is saying some- thing, too. We wonder whether vivisection has yet been extended in the French Schools to cows and oxen? However, it seems we owe a deal to the foreigner in one way or the other: "We have lost millions of animals since 1843, which never could have been lost had we not admitted the foreign ox, in ignorance of foreign diseases, into our markets and fold-yards. When a student in 1851, I was amazed to find that no one thought or seemed to know anything of the subject. I visited dairies, slaughterhouses, and sausage factories. Talk of cruelty ! it is" impossible to conceive anything more frightful and revoltina;. It was no uucommou thing for me to see THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 169 twenty and tlilrty diseasetl cows carted away dead from a single yard containing a couple of hundred animals. Fancy their sufferings um'elieved through ignorance ! The French may have cut up five thousand horses in a quarter of a centuiy ; we have caused the painful linger- ing death of a minimum of twenty million animals in the same time, and it has heen impossible to get a proper system of disease prevention inaugurated." Was there ever such an argument as this ! Because we have lost so many thousands of cows, ergo the French- men were justified in cutting up alive so many thousands of horses ! Whereas, if there was a necessity for their cutting up anything, it should have been the poor cows, as they seem to know of no other grand recipe, so far, beyond the stamping out. The prevention of disease is not Science, Mr. Gamgee ; and if om* Government is to spend twenty or thirty thousand per annum on the veterinary schools, and to fill the Veterinarians' " pockets with gold," it must be for something more than p'eventlon I Any organized body of inspectors might be made equal to that. The more we look into this matter the less reason do we see for the abominable cruelties countenanced in the foreign Schools. A man, a young one more particularly, cannot but be the worse for being made callously familiar with such wanton torture, and we hope that Englishmen will ever denounce the practice as energetically as they now- are doing. IMr. Gamgee, to be sure, is the great exception. He would have us apologize for " haste and hard words ;" and he will "hold himself personally responsible for the becoming, considerate, and impartial action of the Veterinary Professors of Prance," whatever this may happen to mean. But then Mr. Gamgee " does not wish ua to suppose that he did not operate on living animals in France," which possibly means to say that he did ; and this, indeed, is about the only great fact we find in support of the system. THE SCAB IN SHEEP. This is one of the most troublesome and obstinate in. fections with which flockmasters have to contend. There is something derogatory and discreditable connected ■with it ; at least so it is considered. All owners of flocks feel a degree of shame or disgrace attached to them, when visited with this pest. It seems as if some gross mis- management had to do with it. Neighbours listen and talk in whispers about it, ; i.e. , " Mr. A . has got the scab in his flock : be cautious. What has he been doing ? How careless ! how foolish ! Why did he do so ? How did he get it? " this reasonable question generally coming last. The fact is, that it does often break out, and no one knows how or from whence it comes, but all know that it can only come by contact either with infected sheep, or from the lairs or fences where infected sheep have been located. It is analogous to the itch in the human frame — vexatious enough, but often unavoidable — and, like it, is under concealment as much as possible. No one likes it to be known in either case. Sheep, when deeply affected with it, are almost unsaleable ; hence one great reason for concealment. It is an extremely unplea- sant and trying visitation, but it does not involve much actual loss in the flock if under intelligent and careful management. Very serious losses, however, do occur from, ignorance and gross mismanagement, which I shall pre- sently explain. One of the greatest boons that could be conferred upon flockmasters would be the discovery of an infallible remedy for the disease. Another and very con- siderable benefit would be derived from the passing of a law to make the exposure of sheep in market or fair, know- ing them to be thus affected, punishable. At present all is left to the honour of parties, if through their means such outbreaks do take place, and seldom any compensation is made. ^lany think it hard to press it, as all in turn are liable to the mishap. It is by no means a decided question whether the sale of infected sheep is unwarrant- able. A case of sale of scabbed sheep was tried in Lin- colnshire some time ago, which caused some local noto- riety. The person suing for compensation was nonsuited owing to the evideiace of the leading graziers in the county testifying to the fail" exhibition of aU sheep in the market, and that the buyer must be satisfied as to the state of the sheep before purchasing, or take the consequences. This is not my law : the buyer cannot detect such infection in its earlier stages : if actually broken out, he is a novice who cannot detect it ; still it is unpardonable for a seller to palm sheep upon a custoniei: as aU right, when he knows to the contrary. It is supposed by many to be a cuta- neous affection of easy cure. I can with pain say that I have not found it so ; in fact, I have often thought it much harder to cure at one time of infection than another, and have been led to suppose that the little minute insect which causes the infection to be of more than one variety. I have at times cured the scab, when fully developed, with- out much loss, by mercurial ointment. A.t other times, dress as I might with the same ointment of like strength, I utterly failed, and I have used as much as a pound and a half to a sheep, I have frequently noticed the same results attend the efforts of my neighbours. I am not well acquainted with entomology, and shall therefore retain my view of there being more than one variety of this mis- chievous insect, till I see the contrary proved. I breed rams for sale and letting, and am sorry to say I seldom get over a season without having one or more returned pretty well troubled with this disease. Hence the cause of my large experience. I much wish some good ento- mologist would take the trouble to enlighten us as to the \farieties of this insect. I feel sure some are more tena- cious of life than others, and also more active and fatal in their attacks upon the skin of the poor sheep. The manner of attack is generally known from the many reports published and essays read upon Scab in Sheep. I shall only remark tliat the insect speedily bm'ies itself below the skin when located upon the sheep. It there with its progeny feeds, and little or nothing is discovered of its abode till some considerable change in the weather occurs, as frosts, snows, or rains. The two latter will soon bring out the scab, and frost will sometimes do it. Inflammatory action of the skin takes place after wetting, and is soon followed by the rising scab. If this is not quickly looked to, and a dressing of some kind applied, it will spread over the whole animal, and almost render it wild with irritation. The itching is intolerable. The animal soon ceases to thrive, and is constantly trying to find places, i.e. gates and posts, to rub itself, and thus spread the infection by leaving some of these little enemies upon the rubbing posts or places, to be taken off by other sheep in rubbing too. Most flockmasters are too well acquainted with the tiresome affection. The great question is as to the mode of cure. I will just premise that I know of no certain cure. All that I have tried, and tried under my own ap- plication and superintendence, have occasionally failed. The all-im^)ortant thing is to follo\V u.p well whatever N 2 170 THE FARMEB'S MAGAZINE. remedy or application is decided upon, till the infection is mastered. Many animals have to be dressed many times over. Every insect must be destroyed or the scab is not cured. The shepherd says, " Oh, see how well the scab rises ! it is all right, cured no doubt." In a few months or less, symptoms ao;ain appear to his dismay. The insects are not all killed : the dressing must be repeated of course. The equally important thing is to ascertain what ap- plication is most etl'ective. I have used, at one time and another, nearly all the specifics and nostrums put be- fore the public ; and all failed, and that repeatedly, however carefully applied. Occasionally they will effect a cure, but they must not be depended upon. These liquid applications are to be preferred to mer- curial ointment immediately after the sheep are shorn. They will destroy numbers of insects and retard the progress of the infliction, and in some slightly in- fected cases effect a cure if properly applied. It ap- pears to me that the whole skin must be moistened by any one of these liquid specifics, or some little hardy fellow escapes ; and to make it effectual all must be thoroughly rubbed or chafed in. It is the skin that requires affecting, so that, taking it as food, they eat to their own destruction. This, I presume, is decidedly the case when mercurial ointment is applied : the whole skin is infected with mer- cury, hence the more certain the cure. I have never found any remedy so sure as mercurial ointment, if pro- perly made and projierly applied, but it can only be used satisfactorily when the wool is long enough to divide into shreds ; hence the desirability of a liquid a])plication when the wool is too short for shedding. I was an unbe- liever in the efficacy of tobacco-water, but last year I cured a bad case upon repeated applications. This would be without actual poison. There appears to be very little danger in the application of any liquid specifics. The animals may be, as in cases of my own, deprived of the use of their limbs for a short time, but no evil arises : but the specific did not cure in one instance, and the others are somewhat suspicious even now. Mercurial ointment is, after all, most to be depended upon ; but it requires great care, not only in the application, but in the managenieut of the sheep salved. There is so much danger from cold, and inflammatory action when under salivation which often takes place when strongly dressed. The flock when salved should be kept in a uniform condition, and as free as possible from wet or wet keeping ; nor must they undergo a change of food to any extent till the action of the ointment ceases. Immense losses have been sus- tained from faking sheep just salved from grass, and put- ting them to coleseed or turnips. The weather has much to do in ensuring safety : cold rainy weather is sure to cause loss in some degree. This veiy important thing must always be kept in mind — Scab is occasioned by the attack of minute insects, therefore they must be killed, be where they may ; hence, fences or rubbing-places should be cleansed. As these dressings are very expensive, it behoves every flockmaster to most carefully watch every sheep, and if any individual animal shows symptoms of a return of scab, by all means remove it at once and repeat the dress- ing. In extremely bad cases, the sheep should be kept apart, under good shelter. rOEEIGN AGEICULTUEAL GOSSIP. M. Gouet, formerly sub-inspector of forests at Clermont, has just been appointed to the direction of the Experimental Forest School, created more than forty years since by M. De V'^ilmoriii, on his estate at Earres (Loiret). The Ereuch go- vernment, justly proud of continuing the work of JM. De Vilniorin, has become purchaser of the portion of the estate of Barres, where the celebrated cultivator liad at his own ex- pense organized the experimental cultivation of exotic forest trees suitable to the Erencli climate. In the erection of the Barres School into a forest establishment of the state, we see a just and striking homage rendered to a memory dear, on many grounds, to French agriculturists. In future, if our in- formation is correct, the ]3arres estate will be called by a ministerial decree the Barres-Vilmorin School. — It is much to be wished that the experience acquired in England with regard to the cattle ])lague could be turned to advantageous account in Holland, and that the Central Dutch government, iuvested by the legislature with sufficient powers, should lie able to overcome all local resistance, and impose in the name of the public interest preservative measures of absolute isolation and compulsory slaugliter, compensated for by a system of iudem- iiities. Unfortunately, it appears that it has liot been possible iu Holland to have recourse in a uniform manner to those pro- tecting measures to which England now owes her safety from cattle plague ; and the disease still commits terrible ravages among the Dutchmen. In the week ending Dec. 4, 18G6, the number of attacks reported was no less than 7,l('i;J, or more than duul)le the total recorded in the corresponding week of 1805. After this the weekly totals seem to have ha])pily re- ceived a certain check ; but in the week ending Jan. 5, 18G7, we find that no fewer than 4.,988 attacks occurred. The bovine pest prevails particularlv in tlie provinces of Utreclit, and south and nortli Holland, but it has also shown Itself in the Fiieseand Overyssel districts, while latterly It has attacked several parishes of tiie Gueldre aud North Bra- bant. Belgium, the relfitions of which with the Low Coun- »fi?/'' veryfreciuent aud extensive, now findatosU threat oned, mA \i op Qiily beg its«lf ftee ftgci the coutagioo ]>j mm^ taining f lie most vigorous precautionary measures. The autho- rities and farmers of the frontiers especially must not lose sight of tliis line of conduct. Holland may be said now to be in an anarchical state vvith reference to a sanitary police applicable to contagious cattle diseases. England has escaped from a corresjionding anarchy, and, contrary to the instinct of its population, has imposed on itself sanitary regulations of ex- treme rigour. We may judge now, from the relative state of the two countries iu the matter of the cattle plague, which of the two systems it will be best to follow. — We learn from Spain that, in the province of Valence, fruit-trees aud orange- trees have been suiiering from an unknown disease which pre- vents them from yielding fruits, and spreads misery in all the places in which the orange is one of the principal products. A local landed proprietor, Seiior J oaquim Guerrero, has con- ceived the idea of abandoning ordinary methods of treatment — such as sulphuring, liming, &c. — and he has obtained, it ap- pears, marvellous results. Senor Guerrero has come to the conclusion that it will be possible to escape from the malady only by fiiulins? a means of absorbing continually round trees humidity and hurtful miasmata. With this object, he has planted round his trees, aud especially round his orange-trees, a wood- land plant known as the 2>i/ft, which seemed best adapted for the purpose. The results obtained are, Senor Guerrero says, extraordinary. He recognized the eliicacy of his process a few days after the first plantations were made, his orange-trees gettiug into the best possible state, so that it would hardly be believed tliat they had ever been injuriously affected. — A great extent of land has hitherto remained sterile and uncul- tivated in Spain, aud during the last few months a law has been promulgated to encourage the gro\ith of population in the agricultural districts, and to stimulate the development of agricultural wealth. By this law special advantages are ac- corded to all who may estabhsh an agricultural centre, or a farm of 400 acres at the most, at distances of at least 4^ miles fi-om the nearest cultivated districts. The buildings aud staif will jjiiy ',10 tax during 15, 30, or §5 years, acicordipg to tha distances ftt vyhicli thw raay establisb. thf!i,i-.elvi*s fi'tiiR tlvi THE FAEMER'S MAGAZINE. 171 cultivated districts. The lands alone will pay during this time the direct contribution which they paid during the year pre- ceding the establisliment of the new farm. Heads of families living on the new farms will not have to discliarge any public duties except tliose of an Alcade ; all, as well as their employes, are to enjoy the gratuitous right of bearing arms ; and finally, the sons of proprietors having resided for two years on farms, will he devoted to tlie reserve force, if their names are drawn at the period of the conscription. — In the course of the past session, Senor Bertrand 'y Aneat, a deputy, pre- sented to the Chambers a project of law, which was taken into consideration, and which had particularly for its object the multiplication of Credit Fonder enterprises. Senor Ber- trand 'y Aueat proposes that it should be lawful to create an indefinite numlier of these enterprises, either by associations of proprietors, or mercantile associations satisfying certain conditions imposed by the law. Without entering into farther details, we may state that Senor Bertrand 'y Aneat entered into particulars and arguments tending to show that increased facility of establishing these enterprises and their multiplica- tion on the national territory was more calculated to promote an increase of agriculture and public wealth than when the same enterprises oflered the characteristic of unity wliich they present in several countries. — Portugal is also occupying itself with the development of agriculture. An agricultural journal of Lisbon, 0 Archico Rurnl, informs us that Portugal engineers have been sent abroad for the purpose of studying drainage and irrigation processes. The same jouriial gives its readers a /i/cmoire filled with details of great interest on irrigations in France, Belgium, Italy, and Spain, by Senor d' Almeida d'Eca, engineer. — !M. Charles MaUet has some interesting details in the Journal tV A(jrlcMure Pratique on the improvement of Algerian cattle. jM. Mallet says : " A journey wliich I made in 1865, in the province of Coustantine, has enabled me to indicate the good effects of selection and careful feeding on the stock of M. Eoucier de Ruze. The line cattle which I saw on the farm of El Aria, 15 miles to the cast of Constautine, \\ere infinitely superior to the ordinary cows of indigenous herds. If the crossings which have been undertaken thus far have not yielded good results, the fault must probalily be at- tributed to a bad selection of reproducers. The Arab bo\ine race is a delicate and distinguished one, while it is at the same time sober and rustic ; in a word, it is perfectly adapted to the conditions of the country which it inhabits. The two points which leave something to be desired arc — first, lieight ; and secondly, production of milk. We may conclude a priori that these two desiderata will be obtained by a crossing with a breed of great size with good milking qualities and analogous to the Aral) breed as regards delicacy and general conforma- tion. Practice has fully justified this theoretical deduction. I have had the pleasure of seeing on the property of M. Schwartz, director of the Geneva Company at Setif, products proceeding from crossings of Schwifz breeds by Arab bulls, and which in every respect leave little to be desired. The Schwitz breed, which has long been known for its milking qualities, came originally from the centre and eastern part of Switzerland; it has also been met with, almost pure, in the Tyrol and in Bavaria under tlie name of the Algan breed. The Schwitz cow offers some striking analogies with the Arab cow. Thus there is the same delicacy of hide anil members, the same description of horns, and the same gi-ey or brown hair. The most striking difference is in the height, a Schwitz cow weighing three times as much as an ordinary Arab cow. The Schwitz Arab products which I saw at Setif are of good average height ; the yield in milk is very satisfactory, and the delicacy and structure are admirable." NORFOLK CHAMBER OF AGRICULTURE. — A meeting has been held to consider the question of roads and road-management. The chairman, Mr. C. S. Read, M.P., stated that at a meeting of the Scotch Chamber of Ag- riculture, the conclusion arrived at was, that old debts on roads should be paid by the owners of lands and heritages, that all repairs should be equally divided between the owners and oc- cupiers of the land, and that all tolls should be of course abolished. This was not only the recommendation of the Scotch Chamber of Agriculture, but of a Royal Commission of inquiry into Scotch roads, which sat some two or three years since, and of wliicli Sir James Ferguson and Sir John McNeil were members ; and twelve counties ia Scotland had already obtained Acts for the abolition of tolls on these very grounds. In Ireland the whole of the tolls had been abolished, and the roads were allot them repaired by the laud assessment, which was divided between landlords and tenants ; and he had every rea- son to believe that the roads in Ireland were in a satisfactory condition. The subject was, however, a diflicult one ; audit was proposed to adjourn the adoption of any resolution upon it to that day fortnight. lu the course of some discussion which follo\wd, Jlr. Grimmer, of lladdiscoe, stated that the repair of tlie roads in that parish cost him, previous to the abolition of turnpikes, threepence per acre ; now that the road was maintained by the parish, the corresponding charge was five- pence per acre. Mr. Leauion advocated the maintenance of roads out of the county-rate. Lord Sullield spoke in favour of a system of union- rating. After some further discussion, the de- bate was adjourned to Saturday, Feb. 2. The Turnpike Question would threaten to eclipse the Malt-tax as the country-side topic of the coming Session. The subject was under consideration in Cornwall, Here- fordshire, and Berkshire,while the Farmers' Club will open with it on Monday, February 4th, and the Chamber of Agricultm e follow on the next day. MESSES. HOWARD'S PIGS. The following letter has been forwarded to Prof. Gamgee : — " Britannia Iron Works, Bedford, Jan. 10, 1867. " My dear Sir, — The mother of the Birmingham pigs has just brought another litter of nine. Will you come or send some one to mark them, so that they can be identified when six months old ? I know you do not, as you stated at Bir- mingham, think it necessary so far as we are concerned ; but if the investigation is to be of any use to the public, there ought to be no room left for doubt. AVe will of course pay the expenses of the necessary journey. " I am, yours very truly, (Signed) James Howard. " Professor Simonds has also been invited. " Professor Gamgee." [Mr. Law, Professor of Anatomy, has since been down and examined this litter on the part of Mr. Gamgee.] THE FARMERS' CLUB. The following subjects have been selected for discussion in 1867 :— Feb. l. — The Abolition of Turnpikes, and provision for Pay- ment of Trust Debts. Proposed by Sir G. S. Jenkinson, Bart., Eastwood Park, Berkeley. Mar. 4. — Emigration : AVhat to do, and Where to go. Rev E. Smithies, Hathern Rectory, Loughborough. April I. — The Desirability of a Board of Agriculture ; as a Government Department. Mr. J. A. Nockolds, Stort Lodge, Bishop's Stortford. M;iy 6. — The Best Means of Harvesting Crops. Nov. 4. — The Management of Benefit Societies in Rural Dis- tricts, Mr. C. Howard, Biddenham, Bedford. Dec. 9. — The Present Aspect of Steam Cultivation. Mr. J. A. Clarke, Long Sutton, Wisbech. THE MANAGEMENT OF MOOR-LAND.— Moor should be cut un into ten-acre squares, and the drain that surrounds these squares kept always open ; make minor drains four feet deep and a perch asunder ; leave the stuff taken cut exposed for a year or two to the action of the air, fill it in again, it will never solidify, and you have a preparation for perfect drainage. When this is done, dig up the entire surface two feet deep; turn it a couple of times; the sun and frost will make it friable, the whole surface will then drain water like a sieve, the drains a perch asunder will take it all away, and now your bog is ready for a clay surface, I have drained moors in this way that pay 40 per cent. The clay was very near tue moor, and there were other great facilities. With your steam power and portable railways you can put on clay for £10 an acre any- where. For twenty pounds an acre the v»-orst acre of the five millions unreclaimed can be' turned into a garden worth 40s. an acre. I saw thousands of pounds buried in Irisli bogs by pompons engineers who believed that drainage without tiles and stones was against all human reason. My system is really worth your notice. To add five million acres to our own little island, and to get 30 per cent, for the job, is just what would please you I know. Why should ycu send yournion