■.".-'. V: '•', ,! JV> v. Mil li\ a '■.iiiucroity of California An. Division Range Shelf Received /j&#/ AGRIC> LIBRARY ■Jcka<&A-'i87&. t^ i * f h '/ ft s . w - 1 AN ENCYCLOPAEDIA OP AGRICULTURE COMPRISING THB THEORY AND PRACTICE OF THE VALUATION, TRANSFER, LAYING OUT, IMPROVEMENT, AND MANAGEMENT OF LANDED PROPERTY, AND OF THE CULTIVATION AND ECONOMY OF THE ANIMAL AND VEGETABLE PRODUCTIONS OF AGRICULTURE. 1*7777 UPWARDS OF TWELVE HUNDRED ENGRAVINGS ON WOOD, BT BRANSTON. BY J. C. LOUDON, F.L.G.Z. & H.S. &c AUTHOR OF THE ENCYCLOPAEDIA OF GARDENING ETC. L j BRA j SEVENTH EDITION, rr AT T \- i • 1 -> I \ h H8ITV i» OALIJ si LONDON : LONGMANS, GEEEN, AND CO. 1871. LONDON 1 : PIUNTI2D BT SPOTTISWOODH ANI> CO., NKW-8TBKET Mjl'AHB AND PAHl.tAMKNT STKEET 7 PREFACE. The subject of Agriculture admits of two grand divisions; the improvement and general management of landed property, which may be termed Territorial Economy ; and the cultivation and treatment of its more useful animal and vegetable productions, which are called Husbandry, or Agriculture in a more limited sense of the term. Numerous as have been the publications on rural matters during the last twenty years, there are but two or three of them whose titles might lead to a supposition that they embraced both of these departments. That none of them did embrace both, however, previously to the appearance of this Encyclopaedia, may be confidently affirmed. This work, which is tenned an Encyclopedia of Agriculture, on account of its superior comprehensiveness, though in part an original composition from the author's practical experience and observation, is yet chiefly a compilation from books. It professes to embrace every part of the subject; and, what has never hitherto been attempted, to give a general History of Agriculture in all countries ; and a condensed survey of its present state in every county of the British Isles. A systematic arrangement is adopted as by far the best for instruction, and also as best admitting of compression. At the same time, a copious General Index is supplied, to render the whole work of the easiest access as a book of reference. So much information as is here given could only be com- pressed into one volume by the use of a very small type, and by the liberal employment of engravings. By means of the latter, much verbal description is avoided ; a know- ledge of implements and operations is more forcibly conveyed to the reader; and such a body of useful matter is brought together, as, by the system of detached copper-plate engravings, and ordinary letter-press, would have occupied half a dozen volumes. Throughout this work, we have kept in view the following objects: in Part I., to depict what may be termed Universal Agriculture, by giving a historical view of that of all countries ; in Part II., to exhibit the principles on which the operations and results of the Agriculture of all countries are founded ; and, in Parts III. and IV., to apply these principles to that particular Agriculture which is practised in Britain, and adapted to similar climates. In pursuing these objects, we have aimed at language sufficiently free from provincial or obscure technology to be understood by all classes of readers. In describing the Agriculture of Britain, we have held up to view that of the northern counties of Northumberland, Berwickshire, and East Lothian, as examples, in most things, to the other parts of the empire. In addressing landlords, superior agents, valuers of land, and patrons, we have pointed out the advantages of equitable and liberal conduct to their tenants and dependants : in discussing the duties of land stewards, bailiffs, and other serving agriculturists, we have recommended habits of order, vigilance, and economy : and, finally, we have submitted to all classes of readers, the advantages of enlightening the minds and ameliorating the condition of the working classes of rural society, by facilitating the attainment of instruction ; by pointing out the evils of their entering too early into the marriage state ; by increasing the comfort and improving the appearance of their cottages and gardens ; and, especially, by repaying the labour of farm servants to a certain extent in productions calculated for their chief support. (See § 7834. 7862. and §7953. to 7980.) For, in our opinion, the main comfort of all those engaged in agriculture as a profession, from the labourer to the gentleman farmer, will ever consist more in the possession wit/tin themselves of the essential means of comfortable existence, than in the power of accumulating fortunes, such as manufacturers and commercial men frequently acquire. As much of the value of a work of this kind will depend on the knowledge it con- veys of the modern improvements in implements and buildings, particular attention has been paid to these subjects. Many of the latest improvements in implements and buildings have not found their way into any books, and for them we have had recourse to the originals, and to the most eminent agricultural mechanics and manufactui ers of implements. Our thanks, in this respect, are particularly due to the proprietors of Weir's Agricultural Repository, Oxford Street, London, for permitting us to take sketches from iheir extensive collection, and more particularly of those implements and machines which the late Mr. Weir invented or greatly improved. Our best thanks are also due to Mr. Morton, Leith Walk, Edinburgh, who is equally eminent as an agricultural mechanist in Scotland; to Messrs. Cottam and Hallen, of Winsley Street, Oxford Street, manufacturers of agricultural implements and machines in iron ; and to Mr. Wilkie, ot Uddistone, near Glasgow, a scientific mechanist, and an eminent manufacturer A 2 >» PREFACE. of agricultural implements both in timber and iron. There is no implement or machine mentioned in this work which "ill not be bund on sale, or may not be made t<> order, in the establishments of these gentlemen, in the best manner, and a t an equitable charge. For import. mt assistance in the Veterinary Part of this work, our best thanks are due t.< an eminent professor. Through the kind assistance of this gentleman we have been enabled to bring together a body of useful information on the anatomy, physiology, pathology, breeding, rearing, and general treatment of the horse, the ox, the sheep, and Other domestic animals, even to dogs and poultry, such as we can safely assert is not to be found in any other single volume on Agriculture. It may he necessary to mention. ;i- a key to this work, that such technical terms as arc- used in a more definite Bense than usual, or such as practical readers in the country, or mere general readers, may In- supposed not familiar with, are explained in a Glossarial Index (p. I'Jll.) ; and that the abridged titles of books are given at length in an appro- priate catalogue (p. viii.) The systematic nomenclature of plants adopted is that of our Horiu* Britannictu, with some exceptions which are noted where they occur. In the specific nanus of the more common animals, we have followed Turton's edition of the Si/stcma Naturts of Linnaeus ; in those of insects, we have followed modern authors : such chemical, mineralogies!, and geological terms as occur, are those used by Sir H. Davy in his Agricultural Chemistry, and by Professor Brande in his Geology: the weights and measures are always according to the standard of Britain, and the temperature to that of Fahrenheit's thermometer, unless otherwise expressed. Systematic names of animals, vegetables, and minerals are accented, and their derivations indicated, in the manner adopted in the Gardener t Magazine and in the Magazine of Natural History, as ex- plained in a separate article, (p. vii.) The recent changes which have taken place in the market value of currency, render price a criterion of much too temporary a nature to be employed in any work which aims at general and permanent utility. For this reason we have in this Encyclopaedia generally avoided money calculations, preferring to indicate the value of objects or operations by the quantity of materials and labour requisite to produce them, or by stating their cost relatively to the cost of other articles. We have also avoided entering on the subject of state policy, as to the relative pro- tection of agriculture and manufactures, or of the protection of the home against the foreign grower of corn. Natural prices "ill always be safer for the farmer than arti- licial ones; and with low prices the farmer has the chance of deriving a greater benefit on an extraordinary rise, and sustaining less loss on an extraordinary fall. If the prices of corn were one half lower than they are, neither fanners nor proprietors would find their comforts diminished ; for the value of manufactures and importations would fall in pro- portion to that of agricultural produce. Price, it is true, is not always value ; but they are never materially different for any length of time. The first edition of this work was written in the autumn and winter of 1822-3, and published in June, 182.5. In this second edition, commenced in January, 1828, and completed in January, 1 831, will be found very considerable additions and improvements, including nearly 500 new engravings. Of these engravings nearly 200 are more useful figures, substituted for others considered less so ; and the remainder, consisting of nearly 300 are entirely additional. A catalogue of all the engravings in the work arranged systematically is also given (p. xxxii. ), for more convenient reference, when the purpose of the reader is a choice of implements or machines. The principal additions to the letter-press of this edition have been made at the suggestion of our much esteemed friend Mr. Cleghorn, of Edinburgh, late editor of the Farmer's Magazine, formerly published in that city; and, in consequence of the assistance procured by the Proprietors, on our recommendation, from Mr. Swainson, the eminent naturalist. The former gentleman perused an interleaved copy of the Ency- clopaedia, and suggested on the blank pages whatever he thought wanting ; indicating at the same time the books or other sources which might be consulted for the purpose of supplying these wants. Mr. Swainson most obligingly took the trouble of writing some paragraphs it: the Agricultural History of South America (p. 200.), and the whole of the article on Insects from p. 1 I 12. to p. 1 121. , with some other sentences and para- graphs in different parts of the work, not always considered of sufficient importance to be marked with his signature. Dr. Trail, of Liverpool, on our suggestion to the Pro- prietors, examined the chemical and geological departments of Part II. Book III., and was good enough to send us some corrections and additions, most of which are indicated by the letter T. With the exception of the additional engravings of implements before mentioned, Mr. Swainson's article on Insects is by far the most valuable addition which the Encyclopedia has received ; and it is but doing justice to him to state, that he is the Only gentleman among the List of Contributors (p. vi.), who took the trouble to write out his additions in such a manner as to accommodate them to the portions of the PREFACE. v work for which they were intended. The amalgamation of the information sent by the other contributors, and the selection and description of the engravings, are of course our own ; together with what we have been able to collect ourselves, not only from books and correspondence, but also from the personal observations we made, during a tour in France and Germany undertaken in 1828-9 on purpose for this work. In consequence of repeated invitations given on the cover of the Gardener's Magazine, a considerable number of corrections, additions, and suggestions, have been sent us by the anonymous and other correspondents enumerated in the list (p. vi.) before referred to. The essence of the greater part of these communications was inserted in the Gardeners Magazine at the time they were received, and the whole of these are either given, quoted, or referred to, in this edition of the Encyclopaedia, in the proper places ; but some which arrived too late for being used in the body of the work are given in the Supplement, (p. 1279.) Similar Supplements are intended to be published occa- sionally, perhaps every two years, and sold separately at the lowest possible price. To every supplementary paragraph will be prefixed the number of the paragraph in the body of the work to which the additional information belongs ; and every future im- pression of the body of the work will contain references from the proper paragraphs to the additions to these paragraphs given in the different Supplements : the manner is exemplified in p. 1138., viz. by the star (*) placed before §7790., which signi- fies that an. addition to that paragraph will be found in the Supplement given in the present edition after the General Index, (p. 1279.) Where the supplementary matter contains figures, similar references will be made from the Systematic List of Engravings, as in (p. xxxii.), where the star (*) prefixed to Threshing Machines indicates that the Supplement contains a figure or figures of one or more kinds of threshing machines. This improvement in the manner of rendering supple- mentary information available to a work already in type, and, considered in all its bearings, a very great one it is, can only be effected in consecutive editions of a stereotyped book, in the plates of which stars or other marks can at any time be easily introduced It is calculated to save the reader much trouble that would other- wise be unavoidable in referring to numerous Supplements at random ; to prevent any additional information from escaping his attention ; and to render it unnecessary on the part of the Proprietors to publish, or on that of the possessors of the work to purchase, a new edition for several years to come. We have stated above that the essence of most of the improvements contained in this edition, and many of the new engravings, have been given from time to time in the published volumes of the Gardener $ Magazine ; into which they have been introduced in conformity with that object of the work indicated in the titlepage by the expression " Re- gister of Rural and Domestic Improvement." We think it right here to repeat, what we stated in the Prospectus and Introduction to that Periodical (see vol. i.), that though chiefly intended as a perpetual Supplement to the Encyclopcedia of Gardening, it is also meant to be a perpetual Supplement to the Encyclopcedia of Agriculture in all matters of vegetable culture, implements, buildings, and territorial improvements, with a view to farm bailiff's and land stewards. Temporary agriculture and statistics, and matters connected with live stock and other things which more immediately interest the commercial farmer, we leave to journals and newspapers wholly agricultural. In order to show how much we are indebted to contributors for the improvements contained in this second edition, as well as to simplify the duty of thanking them, we have placed their names or signatures in the following alphabetical list ; and we beg leave, on the part of the Proprietors and ourselves, to return them sincere thanks. We have earnestly to request that these contributors and all our readers will examine the present work with a scrutinising eye, and send us whatever they think will contribute to its farther improvement. Our ardent wish is, by means of frequent Supplements, to keep it at all times on a pace with the rapidly advancing state of agri- cultural knowledge and practice ; and we are well aware that this can only be done by the extensive cooperation of scientific and practical men. By referring to the Calendarial Index (p. 1233.), those parts of this work which treat of Farm and Forest Culture and Management may be consulted monthly, as the operations require to be performed; by recurring to the General Index (p. 1248.), any particular subject may be traced alphabetically, through all its ramifications of history, theory, practice, and statistics; and, by turning to the Glossarial Index (p. 1241.), the meaning of all words not familiar to general readers may be found. Thus we have here combined an Agricultural Treatise, embracing every part of the subject, a Husbandman's Calendar, a Dictionary of Rural Affairs, and a Glossary of Agricul- tural Terms. J. C. L. Bays water, January, 1831. A 3 LIST OF CONTRIBUTORS TO THE SECOND EDITION OF THE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF AGRICULTURE An Amateur Naturalistic. ; Anon, C oleshill, Vv ar- wickahlre; a Header 0/ the Gardener < Magazine from us commencement ; « Subscriber to the ]iflljtlll , and the veterinary part of the subsequent articles on agricultural and domestic animals. Beli the Rcr. Patrick, of Mid Lioch, Auchtcr House, near Dundee, inventor of a greatly improved reaping-machine. Drawingl and an elaborate description of his excellent invention, p. 182. Booth and Co., distillers, Brentford, Middlesex. The details of their establishment tor fattening cattle, furnished to us on the spot, p. 1025. Burnet, —, Farm manager to the Duke of Glouces- ter, at Bagahot Park. . ..,.«., Various hints, and permission to publish plans of his machine, &C Cleghorn, Jamet, Accountant, Edinburgh; editor of the latter volumes of the Farmer's Magazine, till that work was discontinued ; characterised by the late Professor Coventry to us, in 1822, as the first agricultural writer in Scotland. Author of the article Agriculture in the Supplement to the Encyc. Brit and of other works. _ A general examination of the whole work, with numerous corrections, various suggestions lor im- provements, and references to works where the requisite information might be obtained. Cottam ami llallen, agricultural implement manu- facturers, chiefly in iron, Winsley Street, Oxford Str, i . Corrections, additions, and every assistance in delineating some new implements and machines. Diclaon, W. formerly a farmer near Edinburgh, now of Kiilhrouk, in Kent \ arious details respecting his farm when in- spected by us, in April, 1829. Dombasle, C. J. ' Mathieu lie, director of the agri- cultural' i -tab ishment at Roville, near Nancy, in France, and author of various agricultural works. Various information respecting ihe agriculture of France, and the inspection of all the details of the establishment at Roville. Eichthal, M. le Baron de, an extensive proprietor in Bavari'a.who has resided sometime in Britain, and especially in Scotland; studied our agriculture; ami introduced it on his Bavarian estates by means of Scotch farmers. . Various information respecting the agriculture and state of property in Bavaria, in London in 1826, amt at Munich and Eichthal in 1828. Forsi/th, William, F.H.& 8tC, Nottingham Place, London. Various corrections and additions, more espe- eiallv to the bibliography, p. 1206. F. and' !('., the latter a Scotch farmer of experience both in l'lleshue and Middlesex Notes on the agriculture of franco and Italy, from a tour made there in 1828. Gibbs and Co., Messrs., nursery and seedsmen, Lon- LUtS of hardy fruits suitable for a field orchard in the midland counties of England, p. 667, and information respecting the Serradilla, p. 886. Cibbs, M .-en , late nurseryman at Inverness ; after, wards superintendent of a British colony attempt- ed to be established at Caraccaa, Information respecting the agricultural capa- bilities of .-ome parts of Noith and South Ame- rica. Gladstone, V., engineer, Chester. Drawings of several of his late father's inven- tions ; among others, of the bean reaping-machine, p 427., and water-furrowing plough, p. S97. Gorrie, Archibald, F.H.S., &c, Aimat Gardens, Errol, Perthshire. Various corrections and additions, as to the wheat-fly and other matters. Gossicr, M. 1' Abb.' de, of Rouen, late president of the Agricultural Society there. Information respecting the state of agricultuic in Normandy. Graham, Jamet, formerly a farmer in Perthshire; afterwards in Middlesex; and latterly in the neigh- bourhood of Sydney, in Australia. Some notices respecting Australia Bam'. M •, president of the Agricultural Society of Bavaria, and the father of improved agriculture in that country; author and editor of various works. . Various corrections and additions relative to the agriculture of Bavaria. Headrick, the Rev. J, author of the Survey of For- farshire, and of various chemical and agricultural works. . Various additions and corrections to the sta- tistics. J 6", near Alnwick, Northumberland, a very ex- tensive farmer, and an enlightened political economist. Various corrections and additions. J. W. L. . . , , Corrections and additions to the statistical de. partments, and especially to Worcestershire and Warwickshire. Lai/cock, .V., Islington. The details of his dairy establishment, from which we drew up the account, p. 10'29. Lindley, John, F.R.S. L.S. &c, professor of botany in the University of London. Botanical corrections. .1/., an extensive proprietor, who cultivates a part of his own estate in Suffolk. A general examination of the whole work, and various corrections, suggestions, and additions. Jfrtin, James, A.L.S., &c , editor of the British Far- mer's Magazine; author of the Cottage florists Directory, and other works. General corrections and additions. Masclcl, M. le Chevalier de, late French consul at Edinburgh, and then a writer in the Farmer's Magazine and other periodicals; now residing in Paris. . . Various corrections and additions relative to the agriculture of France and Flanders. Menteath, C. G., stuart of Closebum, Dumfries- shire. An account of his limekilns, waggons, and movie of improving grass lands, p. 626. ttseq. Morton and Co., Leith Walk, Edinburgh, agricul- tural implement manufacturers, chiefly in wood. Various information respecting agricultural im- plements, and several drawings of some new ploughs, drill-machines, &c. Pearson and Co., Messrs., nurserymen, Chilwell, near Nottingham. Lists of hardy fruits suitable for a field orchard in the northern counties of England, p. r>68. I!. M. Of Devonshire. Additions to the dairy department. Rnvtome and Co., agricultural implement makers, Ipswich. Drawings of ploughs and other implements. Rhode* and Co., Islington. The details of their dairy establishment, from which we drew up the account, p. 1028. Ronalds and Sons, Messrs., nurserymen, Brentford. Li>ts of hardy fruits suitable for a field orchard in the midland counties of England, p. fil>8. Sherriff, Patrick, of Mungo's Wells, near Hadding- ton. Several important suggestions, and various cor. rectioos. Sinclair, George, F.L.S., U.S., &c. of the firm of INDICATIONS, &c, OF SYSTEMATIC NAMES. vii Cormack, Sons, and Sinclair, nursery and seeds- men, Newcross, London. Various corrections and suggestions. Snovden and Co., agricultural implement manu- Some hints as to the subject of the application of steam to agriculture. T. \V. H., agricultural pupil with a farmer near Woolerin Northumberland. facturers, Oxford Street, London. Information and corrections. Drawings of the leaf-gathering machine, and other implements. Swainson, William, F.R.S., L.S.. &c, author of vari- ous important works on natural history. Various corrections and additions ; more espe- cially the entire article on insects injurious to agriculture, p. 1 113. Taylor, R. C, F.G.S., &c. Geological and statistical corrections, and in- formation from North America. Taylor, Samuel, F.R.S., &c, late editor of the agri- cultural department of the Country Times news- paper. Various corrections and additions. Trail, Dr., of Liverpool. Geological and chemical corrections. Tredgo/d, Thomas, civil engineer, author of various works, who died in 1829. Vilmorin, M., of the firm of Vilmonn and Co., seedsmen, Paris. Various corrections as to the agriculture of France, and additions to the forage plants and Cerealia. If'., proprietor of the Metropolitan Dairy establish- ment, in the Edgeware Road, London. The details of his dairy establishment, from which we drew up the account, p. 10i.'9. War and Co., Oxford Street, London, agricultural implement manufacturers, chiefly in wood. Corrections, additions, and every assistance in making drawings and descriptions of a great variety of new implements, machines, and utensils. Wilkie,J., of Uddistone, near Glasgow, agricultural implement maker, both of wood and iron. Various drawings and descriptions ; especially of his new plough, p. '39-2., and cultivator, p. 405. INDICATIONS AND ACCENTUATION OF SYSTEMATIC NAMES. The systematic names employed in the sciences are for the greater part derived from the Greek or Latin, as being dead, and consequently fixed, languages ; and partly also as being languages more or less understood by men of science throughout the world. The Greek language is preferred to the Latin, as being more copious and flexible. In general, family or generic names are composed of two or more Greek words, indicating some quality common to the family or genus ; and specific or individual names, of Latin words indicative of some quality in the individual or species. A number of names, however, are formed by giving Greek or Latin terminations to aboriginal names, or by aboriginal words unchanged ; not a few names, generic and specific, are given in honour of individuals ; and some, more especially specific names, point to countries, towns, or other places connected with the history of the plants. All systematic names, whether generic or specific, which Greek or Roman authors have applied to the same class of beings as the moderns, and which on this account are called classical names, are indicated by the first letter being put in Italic when the remainder of the word is in Roman, or in Roman when the remainder of the word is in Italic; as, £ v quus, the horse; Pinus, the pine tree; A/armor, marble : or, E^quus, the horse ; Finns, the pine tree ; tidrmor, marble. Names, whether generic or specific, formed from aboriginal words by altering the termination of the aboriginal word, or by adopting the aboriginal word without altering its termination, and names of uncertain derivation, are distinguished by all the letters being in Italic when the preceding and following words are in Roman, and in Roman when the preceding and following words are in Italic ; as, Gliima 'Camelus Glama), the lama; Tabitcum (Nicotidnn Tabacum^, tobacco; and Tifa (Cemcntum Tufa), vol- canic earth : or, Glama [Camelus Glama), the lama s Tabacum (AYco/iana Tabacum), tobacco ; and Tufa [Ceme'ntum Tufa), volcanic earth. Names, generic or specific, commemorative of individuals, are indicated by putting the letters added to the name of the person, or the final letter if none are added, in Italic when the preceding and folic ' as. of fVerneri, the Olivine of Werner. RULES FOR PRONOUNCING SYSTEMATIC NAMES. SYLLABLES. In classical words there are as many syllables as there are vowels ; except when a with any othervowel follows g, q, or s, and when two vowels unite to form a diphthong. The diphthongs are ce, a;, ai, ei, oi, tii, au, eu, and hi. These seldom coalesce in final syllables, oo, ee, ea, and other combinations which never occur as diphthongs in classical words, follow, in commemorative names, the pronunciation of their primi- tives, as Teedw, Woodsto. VOWELS. In this work the sounds of the accented vowels are indicated by the mark placed over each ; the long sound by a grave accent C), and the short by an acute ( ), as Mary, Martha. In addition to the primary accent, every word of more than three syllables contains a secondary accent, which is regulated by the same rules. The secondary accent must always be at least two syllables before the primary accent, as in Chclidonium ; for its place the ear is a sufficient guide, and even were it entirely omitted, still, however inharmonious, the pronunciation would not be incorrect. CONSONANTS. C and g are hard before a, o, and u, as Cornus, Galium ; soft before e, i, and y, as Cetraria, Citrus. T, s, and c, before ia, ie, ii, to, iu, and en, when preceded by the accent, change their sounds, / and c intosA, as Bletm, Ticia ; and s into %h, as Blasfa : but, when the accent is on the first diphthongal vowel, the preceding consonant preserves its sound, as aurantiacum. Ch, before a vowel, is pronounced like k, as Chelidr.nium (kel), Cilchicum tkolkekzsm) ; but in comme. morative names it follows their primitives, as Richardsoiifa, in which the ch is soft. Cm, en, ct, gm, gn, mn, tm, ps, pt, and other incombinable consonants, when they begin a word, are pronounced with the first letter mute, as P teris 'ten's), Cnlcus [niltus), Gmellna [melina], Gnidia (nidia) ; in the middle of a word they separate as in English, as Lap.sana, /.em-na. P-h, followed by a mute, is not sounded ; but, followed by a vowel or a liquid, sounds like/, as /"hleum (fleum). Sch sounds like sk, as .Scha^nus (skenus) ; in tl and zm both letters are heard. S, at the end of a word, has its pure hissing sound, as Dactylis; except when preceded by e, r, or n, when it sounds like z, as Ribes (rz). A', at the beginning of a word, sounds like z, as Xanthium ; in any other situation it retains its own found, as Taxus, Tamarix. {Gardener's Magazine, vol. v. p. 2J2J A 4 LIST OF BOOKS REFERRED TO, THE TITLES OF WHICH ARE ABRIDGED IN THE TEXT. Of those marked • tome further account, or some notice of their authors, will be found in the Agricultural J Bibliography, p. 1206. ACCOUNT of the Shetland Sheep, by Thos. John- son, page 1051 Report on the subject of Shet- land Wool. Lond. 179X 8vo. 2*. Advt by Cormack, Son, and Sinclair, p. 8!>4. A few pages printed and given away by Cormack, Son, anil Sinclair, seedsmen, New Cross. Lond. 8vo. • Agriculture appliquee, &c. p. S21. See Chaptal. AgncultureappuqueeaChimie, p. 322. See Chaptal. Agr. Chim. app, p. 895. See Chaptal. • Agricultural buildings, p. 7+1. See Waistell's Agri- cultural Building*; Agr. Rep of Cheshire, p. 713. See Holland. Agr. Mem., p. S'>6. Agricultural Memoirs; or, History of the Dishley System, in answer to Sir John Sebright. Lond. 1819 8vo Agricultural Memoirs, &c., p. 805. See Agr. Mem. • Agr. Tuscan, p 50. Tableau del' Agriculture Tos- cane. Geneva, 8vo. 1801. » Alton, p. 1015. A Treatise on Dairy Husbandry. Edin. 8vo. * Alton's General View, p. 1185. General View of the Agriculture of the County of Ayr, with Ob- servations on the Means of its Improvement Glaag. 18U Svo. Amer. Quart Rev., p. C6r>. American Quarterly Review, New York. 8vo. American Farmer, 1090. New York. 4to. Amitn. Acad., p. 109. Amcenitates Academica?, seu Dissertationes varia:, &c. Bj Charles Linnaeus, &c. 3d edition. Erlang. 17*7. * Amos's Essay on Agricultural Machines, p. 391. Minutes of Agriculture and Planting, illustrated with specimens of eight sorts of the best, and two sorts of the worst, natural grasses, and with accurate drawings and descriptions of prac- tical machines, on seven copper-plates, &c. Lond. 18(H. 4to. • Anderson's Recreations in Agriculture, p. 387. Recreations in Agriculture, Natural History, Arts, and Miscellaneous Literature. Lond. 17 !i — 1802. 6 vols. 8vo. Andrew's Continuation of Henry's Hist., p. 42. See Ihnry. A Continuation of Henry's History of Great Britain. Lond. 1796. 4to. Ms. 2 vols. 8vo. Annalendes Ackerbaues. Vol II 1. 8. 389. Berlin,Svo. * Annals of Agriculture, p. 488. See Young's Annals of Agriculture, » Annals of Agric, p. 47. See Young's Annals of Agriculture. Annals of l'hil. Annals of Philosophy, \c. In monthly No*. 8vo., continued in conjunction with the Philosophical Magazine. Annual Biography, p. 1208. Annual Biography and Obituary. Lond. 8vo. 1vol. annually. Archer's Dublin, p. 1291 Statistical Survey of the Count} of Dublin, with Observations on the III ins of Improvement, drawn up for the Dub- lin Society. Dub, 1803. Bvo. Archer's Statistical Survey, tec, p. 1199. See Archer's Dublin. * Arthur Young's Survey, p. 1 15.7 Genera] View of the Agriculture Of the ( ounty of Lincoln ; drawn up for the Board of Agriculture Lond. 1799. 8vo. •Arthur Young's Oxfordshire, p. 1137. General View of the Agriculture of Oxfordshire. Lond. 18o8. 8va •Arthur Young's Survey, p. 11 10. General View of the Agriculture of Hertfordshire; drawn up for the Board of Agriculture. Lond. 1804 8vo. A. Young's Sussex, p. 1127. A General View of the Agriculture of the County of Sussex ; drawn up for the Board of Agriculture. 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A Botanical, Historical, and Prac- tical Treatise on the Tobacco Plant, in which the art of growing and curing tobacco in the British Isles is made familiar to every capacity, as deduced from the observations of the author in the United States of America, and his prac- tice in field cultivation in Ireland. Lond. 8vo. Brown's Derbyshire, p. 1152. General View of the Agriculture of Derbyshire Lond. 1794. 4to. * Brown's Treatise on Bural Affairs, p. 129. Treatise on Kural Affairs; being the substance of the article, Agriculture, originally published in the Euinburgh Encyclopaedia, with improvements and additions. Edin. 1M1. 2 vols. Svo. * Brown's West Riding, p. 1157. General View of the Agriculture of the West Riding of Yorkshire, surveyed by Messrs. Rennie, Brown, and Sheriff, in 1793 ; with observations on the means of its improvement, and additional information since received ; drawn up for the Board of Agricul- ture. Lond. 1799 Svo. Browne, p. 195. 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Burchell's Travels, p. 182 Burched's Travels iu Africa. Lond. 1821. 4to. C. Cssar deBelL GalL, p. 36. De Bello Gallico, a Mair. 1808 8vo. Cat., p. 14. Cato de Re Rustica, cum Notis Beroaldi. Reg. 1496. fol. Chalmers's Caledonia, p. 45. Caledonia ; or, an Ac- count, Historical and Topographical, of North Britain, from the most arcient to the present times, with a Dictionary of Places, Chronolo- gical and Philological ; in 4 vols. Lond. 4to. * Chaptal de l'lndustrie Francaise, p. 68. De ['In- dustrie Franchise. Paris, 1819. 2 vols. Svo. La Chimie appliquee a l'Agriculture. Paris, 1822. 2 vols. 8vo. Chateauvieux, p. 268. Italv, its Agriculture. Trans- lated by Dr. Rigby. Norwich, 1819. Svo. Chimie appliquee, p. 345. See Chaptal. Chimie appliquee a l'Agriculture, p. 135. See Chaptal. Chron. Gervas., p. 37. A Chronicle of the King of England, from the year 1122 to 1200. Claridge's General View, p. 1168. General View c the Agriculture of the County of Dorset. Lond 1793. 4to. 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Lond. 1782. 2 vols. 4to. * Cleghorn on the Depressed State of Agriculture, p. 125. Edin. Svo.. Climate of Britain, p. 368. Williams's Climate of Great Britain. Lond. 1818. Svo. Climate of Great Britain, p. 353. See Climate of Britain, p. 368. Cobbett's Treatise on Cobbett's Corn, p. 1208. Lond. 1829. 12mo. Code. See Sinclair. Code of Agriculture, p. 453. See Code. Col., p 14. Columella De Re Rustica. Collection of Antiquitie, p. 24. A collection of curious Travels, Voyages, Antiquities, and Natural Histories of Countries. * Collection de Machines, p. 26. Collection de Machines, d'lnstrumens, &c. employes dans l'Economie Rurale, Domestique et Indus- trielle, d'apres les Dessins faits dans diverses Parties de l'Europe. 2 vols. 4to. 2^0 pis. Paris, 1820. Coll. de Mach., p. 51. See Collection de Machines, p. 26. Commun. to Board of Agriculture, p 21. Com- munications to the Board of Agriculture Lond. 7 vols. 4lo. New Series, 1 vol. Svo. 1797 — 1819. Communications to the B. jf Ag., p. 304. See Com- mun. to the Foard of Ag p. 21. ConxB. Ag., p. 1153. See Commun. to Board of Ag., p. 21. * Complete Farmer, p. 441. Dickson's complete Sys. tern of Modern Husbandry. Lond. 1811. Svo. Co-operative Magazine, p. 1230. Lond. 1827. 8vo. Cooper's Lectures on Political Economy, p. 122a New York, 1830. 8vo. ; Coote's Agricultural Survey of King's County, p. 12011. Dublin, 1801. Svo. Coote's Statistical Account of Cavan, p. 1204w Dublin, 1801. Svo. LIST OF BOOKS RKFKRRED TO. Cootc'* Survcv <>f Muiiaghan, p. I . l Dublin, IsOI. Bvo, Cootc's Survoyof Armagh, p. 190* Dublin, 1904. 8vo. Court, tte , p : " Hou»eau Court Complctd'Agn- Parit, i • Court ( Droplet d* Agriculture, p. 333. Sec Cours, &<". p Count v Reports, p 470. The Itcports of the different Counties ol Great Britain and Ireland, drawn up for the coiiMdcration of the Board of Agri- culture Country Timet, p. B9S A weekly agricultural news. paper, commenced in, 1830; the agricultural part of which wai for tome time edited by S. Taylor, Esq , Kli.s. •Coventry on Live Stock, p 1017. Obterrationson I. re Stock, in a letter to Henry Clinc, Esq. Edin, v * o, Cruicksbank't Practical Planter. The Practical Planter ; containing direction) for the planting of watte land, and management of wood ; a itn a new method of rearing the oak. Edin. 1830. Bra Crutchley't Report, p 11561 Crutchley's General View of the Agriculture of Rutlandshire. Loud. 1791 4to. • Culley'a Introduction, p. 302. Observations on Livestock; containing hints for choosing and improving the best breeds of the most useful kindsof domestic animals. Lond. 1786. 8vo. • CuUey on lave Stock, p. 954. See Culley'a Intro- duction, p. 302. Cumming's Kssav on the Principles of \\ heels ami Wheel Carriages, p. 605. 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Treatise on the Culture and Management of Fruit Trees ; in which a new method of pruning and training is fullv described. With plates. Lond. 1802. 4to. 1827. 8vo. For. Rev. and Cont Misc., p. 61. The Foreign Review and Continental Miscellany. Lond. In quarterly Nos. Svo. For. Ouart. Rev. The Foreign Quarterly Review. London, Paris, and Strasburg. In quarterly Nos. Svo. Fraser's General View, p. 1169. General View of the Agriculture of the County of Devon ; with observations on the means of its improvement. Lond. 1794. 4to. Fraser's Cornwall, p. 1171. A General View of the Agriculture of the County of Cornwall. Lond. 1794. 4to. Fraser's Survey of Wexford, p. 1199. A General View of the Agriculture of the County of Wex- ford. Wexford, 1796. 8vo. Frier's Survey of Wicklow, p. 1 199. General View of the Agriculture of the County of Wicklow. Frazer's Dissertation, &c. A Dissertation on the High Roads of the Duchy of Lorraine, as well ancient as modern ; done from the French. 1729. Svo. Fulton, p. 615. Treatise on the Improvement of Canal Navigation, &c. 17 plates. Lond. 1796 4to. Galpine's Compendium, p. 316. A Synoptical Com- pend of British Botany (from the Class Mo- nandria to Polygamia inclusive), arranged alter the Linniean System ; and containing the es- sential characters of the genera, the specific characters, English names, places and growth, soil and situation, colour of the flowers, times of flowering, duration, and reference to figures. Lond. 1806. l2mo. * Gardener's Magazine, p 167. Lond. 1826. In Svo. Concluded in 1842. 19 vols. Garten Magazin, p. 98. Neues Allgemeines Garten Magazin, &c. Weimar. 4to. Gaufiid. Vinisauf. Iter Hierosolymit. p. 38. Galfrid; ltinerarium Regis Ricardi in Terram Hiero- solymitanam, &c. Oxon. 1687—91. 2 vols. fol. General Report of the Agricultural State of Scot- land, p. 470. General View of the Agriculture ol the Northern Counties and Islands of Scotland. Edin. 1812. 8vo. General Report of Scotland, p. 302. General Report of Scotland. Edin. 5 vols. Svo. General Survey of the Agriculture of Shropshire. By Joseph Plymley, M.A. Lond. 1803. Svo. p. 310. General View, bv J. Bailev and G. Culley, p. 1161. General View of the Agriculture of the County of Cumberland. 1811. Svo. Georg. p. 21. The Works of Virgil, translated into English. By Robert Andrews. Birming. 17oo. Svo. )ll LIST OF HOOKS UKKKKUr.l) TO. iphle .li - PI tnl ■•. p 370, Humboldl graphic de* Plantei Paris i, p, 317. Geological I !ssaj - l Rich ird Kirwaii, 1. 1. I). I ond Setchichte, p. 270, Blcklert Gtttcblchte di ii lumsucht, tec Leipzig, Bva Technological Rep., p. 108H. The Technolo- gical Repository. In Bvo No* monthly. Gilpin's life of Latimer, p. 4ft I U ofHughLati- mar, Biahopof Worcester. Lond. I..'". 8va (iitaM. Cambrens. p. B Itinermriura Cambria), &c Lond, 1585 Bvo \ translation li\ s ir Richard Coll Hoare, in I Girald. Cambrens Dei ript Carabrise, p 18. See Girald, Cambreni . p etterah ire Report, p. 724 Survey of the Agri- culture of the County of Gloucester, drawn up lor tin- Board of Agriculture Bj the Rev. s. Rudge. Loud. 1807. 8vo. Gooche's Cambridgeshire, p. 1134. General Viewol tin- Agricultun iridgeshire, drawn up for the Board of Agriculture. Lond. 1811. 8vo. Granger's General View, p, 1159. General View of the Agriculture of the County of Durham. Lond. 179* tto. Gray's Implements, p. 400. The Plough Wright's IJMistant; or a Practical Treatise on various implement* employed in agriculture, illustrated with 16 engravings. Edin. 1808, Bva • GrisenthwsJte, p. 318. A Mew Theory of Agricul ture, in which the nature of soils, crops, and manures, is explained, many prevailing preju- dices are i splodecLand the application of bones, gypsum, lime, chalk, &c determined on scien- tific principles. By W. Grisentnwaite, Weds, l'Jlllo. H. • 1 1 i :. Wob.,2d. edit. p. 420, 421. KSP. H .rtus Gra- milieus Woluinunsis ; or, an account of the re- sults of various experiments on the produce and fattening properties of different grasses, and other plants used as the food of the more valu- i li domestic animals ; instituted by John Duke of Bedford. To which is added, an appendix, pointing out the different grasses best adapted for the manufacture of Leghorn bonnets, &c. By G. Sinclair. Lond. Royal 8va 1825. Harleian Dairy System, p. H ;. 'The Harleian Dairy System, &c By William Harley. Lond. 1829. 8 vo. Harrison's Description of England, p. 42. The first volume of the Chronicles of Englande, Scot- lande, and Irelande, ,\c Lond, 1577. fol. See Description of Britalne. Harte's Essays, p. 11. Essays on Husbandry. Lond. 177'!. Bva Hassal's Report, p 1143, A General View of the Agriculture of Monmouthshire. Lond. I7!I4. 4to. • Headrick's General View, p 1190. General View of the Agriculture of the County of Angus, or Forfarshire; with observations on the means of its Improvement Drawn up for the consi- deration of the Hoard of Agriculture, and in- ternal Improvement. 1813. 8vo. • H irick's Survey, p. lp.17. See Headrick's Ge- neral View, ll!M. Henderson's Genera] View, p. 1193. General View of the Agriculture of the Countv of Caithness Bva II a erson's Treatise on Swine, p. 1076. Treatise on the Breeding of Swine and Curing of Macon, with hints on agricultural subjects. Edin 1K11 8vo. Henry, p. 40. Henry's History of Great Britain, ii om the tir-t Invasion of it by the Romans under Julius Csesar. Continued by Andrews Lond 1814. 1-' vols, Kvo. • Hi hland Society's Transactions, p. o7:>. Prize Essays and Transactions ol tbi Highland So Of Scotland. Edin. to 1820. ii vols. Bvo, New Series, published in the Quarterly Journal of Agriculture, commencing 1828 to 1831. 2 vola forming the' 7th and 8th. Hints to Paviors, p. 602. Hints to Paviors. By Colonel Macerone, Loud. 1896, Bva \ ; edition in 1827, by the Editor of the Mechanics' Ms azine, in which is given a Comparative View of all the different methods of paving hi- therto used or suggested. History of Britain, p. 39. See Henry. History d'un Morceau de Bois. Hort Tour, 1 See Neill's Horticultural Tour. Hlstoryof Java, p I",: \ Statistical Account of the li, id ol Java, Bj I. S, Raffles, Lieutenant Governor of Batavia. Lond. 1815.2 vols. 4to. of Mi iw, p. 107. Lyall's History and De- scription of Moscow. Lond 1 s J t 1 vol. ito History of Northumberland, p. 1112. The Natural Historj and Antiquities of Northumberland, of so much ol the County of Durham as lies between the rivers Tyne and Tweed. By J. Wallis, a. U Lond. 1769, 2voU 4to. History Of Sumatra, p. 164. The History of the I-l ind of Sumatra, &c. Bv W. Marsden. Lond. 1811. 4to. Hodgson, p. 88. Hodgson's Travels in Germany. 2 vols. 8va 1819. Holinshead, p. 41. Chronicles of England, Ireland, and Scotland. Lond. 1577. 2 vola fol * Holland's General View, p. 1163. General View of the Agriculture of Cheshire ; drawn up lor the Hoard of Agriculture. Lond. 1M7. Bvo. Holt's General \ lew. p. 1162. General View of the Agriculture of the County of Lancaster; with observations on the means of its improve- ment Drawn up for the Board of Agriculture. Lond. 1795. 8va Homer's Enquiry into the State of the Public Roads, p. 567. An Enquiry into the Means of Preserving and Improving the Public Hoads of this King- dom. Oxford, 1767. 8va Horner's Art of Delineating Estates, p. 546. De- scription of an Improved Method of Delineating Estates. Lond. 1813. 8vo. Horse-hoeing Husbandry, p. 126°. See 'lull. Hort. Trans., p. 155. Transactions of the London Horticultural Society. Lond. 7 vols. 4to. 1815 to 1831. Houghton's Collections, p. 44. Collections for the Improvement of Husbandry, relating to Coin. Lond. 1727. 4 vols. 8vo. Huish's Treatise on Bees, p. 1107. A Treatise on the Nature, Economy, and Practical Management of Bees. Lond. 1815. 8vo. Husb. of the Ana, p. 22. The Husbandry of the Ancients. Edin. 1778. 2vols..8vo. •Husbandry of Scotland, p. 1138. An Account of the Systems of Husbandry adopted in the more im- proved Districts of Scotland, &e. By Sir John Sinclair. Bart. Edin. 1812. 8vo Hunt's Agricultural Memoirs, p. 127. See Agricul- tural Memoirs. Huntingdonshire Report, p. 746. General View of the Agriculture of Huntingdonshire. Drawn up for the Board of Agriculture. By 11. Park- inson. Lond. 1811. 8vo. I. * lllust.of L. G. Illustrations of Landscape Garden- ing and Garden Architecture, or a collection of designs original and executed, for laying out country residence's of every degree ( 1 extent, from the cott?ge and farm, to the national pa- lace and public park or garden ; kitchen gar- dens, flower-gardens, arboretums, shrubberies, botanic gardens, scientific gardens, cemeteries, &c. In different styles, by different artists, of different periods and countries. Accompanied by letter-press descriptions in English, French, and German. By J. C. Loudon. Lond. 1830. Atlas fol., in half yearly parts. •Improvements on the Marquess of Stafford's Estates, p. I14& Loch's Improvements on the Marquess of Stafford's Estates. Lond. 1819. 8vo. Introd. to Gerardin's Essay, p. 16. An Essay on Landscape ; or on the means of ornamenting the country around our habitations. Translated from the French, said (but erroneously) by Da- niel Malllivs, Esq. Lond. 1783. l2mo. Inwood's Tidies for Purchasing Estates, &c. p. 541. Tables for thePurchasing of Estates, Freehold, Copyhold, or Leasehold; Annuities; and for the renewing of leases held under cathedral churches, colleges, or other corporate bodies, for terms, or years certain, and for lives, &c. Lond. 8vo. * Italy, p.. r )0. SeeChateawicux. on the Trade in Corn, and on the Agriculture "i Northern Europe, p. 90. Lond. fol 1826. LIST OF BOOKS REFERRED TO. Xlil Jacob's Travels, p. 115. Travels in the South of Spain, in Letters written A. D. 1809 and 1810 ; illus- trated with 13 plates. Loud. 1811. 4to. Jamaica Planter's Guide, p. 194. Roughley's Ja. maica Planter's Guide. Lond. 1823. 8vo. * Johnstone's Account of Elkington's Mode of Draining Land, p, 691. An account of the most approved mode of draining land, according to the system practised by the late Mr. Joseph Elkington ; with an appendix, containing hints for farther improvement of bogs and other marshy grounds, after draining ; together with observations on hollow and surface draining in general. The whole illustrated by explanatory engravings. Drawn up for the consideration of the Board of Agriculture. Edin. 1797. 4to Journ. de Med., p. 10H6. Journal de Mcdecine. Pa- ris, in 8vo. Nos. monthly. K. • Karnes, Gent. Farmer, p. 742. The Gentleman Farmer; being an attempt to improve agricul- ture, by subjecting it to the test of rational principles. Edin. 1776, 8vo ; fifth edit., Edin- 1S02. 8vo. By Henry Home, usually called Lord Karnes. Keith's General View, p. 1191. General View of the Agriculture of Aberdeenshire ; drawn up for the Board of Agriculture. Lond. 1811. 8vo. 15s. Kent's Hints, p. 316. Hints to Gentlemen of Landed Property. Lond. 1775. 8vo. Kent's Hints to Gentlemen of Landed Property, p. 542. See Kent's Hints, p. 316. Kent's Norfolk, p. 1136. General View of the Agri- culture of the County of Norfolk ; with observ- ations on the means for its improvement. Drawn up for the Board of Agriculture, and Internal Improvement ; with additional remarks from several respectable Gentlemen and Farmers, &c. Norwich, 1796 8vo. Kerr's Berwickshire, p. 1181. Statistical, Agri- cultural, and Political Survey of Berwickshire. 1809. 8vo. Kingdom, p. 167. Account of British Colonies. Lond. 1820. 8vo. Kirby, p. 298. An Introduction to Entomology ; or elements of the natural history of insects. Il- lustrated, with coloured plates. 2 vols. 8vo. 1815 — 1817. A fourth edition, much improved, in 1S22. Kirby and Spence, Int. to Entomology, p. 1120. See Kirby. Klapmeyer in Thaer's Annalen., p S75. SeeThaer. Kincardineshire Report, p. 1052. General View of the Agriculture of Kincardineshire. By James Robertson, D.D. 1811. 8vo. I^ncashire Report, p. 903. General View of the Agriculture of the County of Lancaster; with observations on the means of its improve- ment. Drawn up lor the Board of Agriculture, By John Holt. Lond. 1795. 8vo. Lancisis Disputatio Historica de Bouvilla Peste, Paris, p. 1032. 8vo. Lardner's Cyclo. Dora. Econ., p. 672. Lend. 1S29. 12mo. Last Col. de Machines, &c, p. 740. See Col. de Machines. Leatham's General View, p. 1158. General View of the Agriculture of the East Riding of York- shire. Lond. 1794. 4to. Lectures on Natural Philosophy, p. 311. A Course of Lectures on Natural Philosophy, and the Mechanical Arts. By Thomas Young, M. D., F. R. S. Lond. 1807. 2 vols. 4to. Leges Burgundiorum, p. 34. See Ranken's History of France. The History of France, Civil and Military, Ecclesiastical," Political, Literary, Commercial, &c, from the time of its conquest by Clovis, A. D. 486. Lond. 1801—1805. 3 vols. Leges Wallica>, p. 36. See Henry's History of Bri- tain. Lehman's Topographical Plan Drawing, p. 543. Lond. 1819. Oblong folio. Leslie's General View, p. 1192. A General View of the Agriculture of the Counties of Nairn and Murray. 1811. 8vo. Les Pri'juges Detruits, &c, p. 1226. Los Prejuges Dctruits ; par J. M. Lequinio. Membre de la Convention National de la France, et Citoyen du Globe. Paris, 1792. 8vo. Letter to a Young Planter, p. 195. Lond 1785. 8vo. Letters and Communications, p. 578. See Communi- cations to the Board of Agriculture Letters on Italy, p. 56. See (hateauvieux. Letters on Road-making, p. 578. See Paterson. Life of the Duke ofOnnond, p. 134. Tlu History of the Life of James Duke of Orn.ond, from his birth in 1610, to his death in 1688 ; with a collection of his letters to verify the said his- tory. By T. Carte. Lond. 1735, 1736. 3 vols, folio. Linn. Trans., p. 258. Transactions of the Linna?an Society of London. Lond. 1782 — 1831. 17 vols. 4to. * Loch, p. 708. See Loch's Improvements of the Marquess of Stafford, 470. Lond. 1820. 8vo. Loch's Improvements, p. 1148. See Loch. London Encyc, p. 237. Tegg's London Encyclopae- dia, Lond. 1825. 8vo. London Journal of the Arts, p. 591. See Newton's Journal. Long's Jam., p. 195. History of Jamaica, Lond. 1774. 3 vols. 4to. Lord Karnes's Gentleman Farmer, p. ?P1. See Karnes. * Lord Somerville's Facts, p. 1054 ; Facts and Ob- servations relative to Sheep, Wool, Ploughs, and Oxen ; in which the importance of improv- ing the short- woolled breeds by a mixture of the Merino breed, is deduced from actual practice. Together with some remarks on the advantages which have been derived from the use of salt. Lond. 1803. New edition, 1809. 8vo. * Loudon's Hortus Brit, p. 316. Loudon's Hortus Britannicus. A Catalogue of all the Plants, indigenous, cultivated in, or introduced to, Britain. Lond. 1830. 1 vol. 8vo. Lowe's Report, p. 1155. General View of the Agri- culture of the County of Nottingham ; with ob- servations on the means of its improvement. Drawn up for the Board of Agriculture and Internal Improvement. Lond. 1794. 4to. M. M'Ad.tm's Remarks on Roads, p. 577. Lond. 1819. 8vo. M'Adam's Report to the Board of Agriculture, p. 577. See M'Adam's Remarks on Roads. Macdonald's General View, p. 1197. General View of the Agriculture of the Hebrides. 1811. 8vo. Macdonald's Report of the Western Islands, p. 519. General View of the Agriculture of the Hebrides. A new edition. 1811. 8vo. Macdonald's Report of the Hebrides, p. 1052. See Macdonald's Report of the Western Islands, p. 519. M'Evoy's Survey of Tyrone, p. 1204. A General View of the Agriculture of the County of Tyrone. Dublin, 1802. 8vo. Mackenzie's General View, p. 1192. A General View of the Agriculture of the Counties of Ross and Cromarty. Lond. 1810. 8vo. M'Nab's Hints on Planting Evergreens. Hints on the Planting and General Treatment of Hardy Evergreens in the Climate of Scotland. Edin. 1830. 8vo. M'Parlan's Survey of Leitrim, p. 1203. A General View of the Agriculture of the County of Leitrim. Dubl. 1802. 8vo. M'Parlan's Survey of Donegal, p. 1204. A General View of the Agriculture of the County of Done- gal. Dubl. 1802. 8vo. M'Parlan's Survey of Mayo, p. 1203. A General View of the Agriculture of the County of Mayo. Dubl. 1802. 8vo. M'Parlan's Survey of Sligo, p. 1204. A General View of the Agriculture of the County of Sligo. Dubl. 1902. 8vo. Maison Rustique de Cayenne, p. 201. Paris, 8vo. Mag. Nat. Hist., p. 1126. Loudon's Magazine of Natural History. Lond. in Svo. Incorpo- rated with Ann. Nat. Hist. Major's Treatise on Insects. A Treatise on the Insects most prevalent on Fruit Trees and Garden Produce ; giving an account of the .-latL's they pass through, the depredations they LIST OF BOOKS REFERRED TO. commit, including the Recipe* of * .1 r n .u-> bu. t lior- lor tli-ir destruction, with remark- on their utility ; ii-", ■ few Hints on theCaiuei and 1 1. timiii ui mildew •inii canker on fruit tree*, cucumbers, ftc ftc London and Leeds Malcolm's Survey, p 11961 General View of the Agriculture of the Count) of Surrey. Loud. r,"t. itn • Manual of Gardening, ISS5 Loudon'a Manual of Cottage Gardening! Husbandry, and Architecture, m., with 3 nana ind. 17SS. 2 vols. 8vo. Martin's Essay on Plantership, in Young's Annals of Agriculture, p. HO. See Young. Massinger's New Way to Pay Old Debts, p. 550. Plays, with Notes critical and explanatory, by William Gilford. Lond, 1805. 4 vols 8vo. Matthew on Naval Timber, \c. A Treatise on Naval Timber, and Arboriculture; to which are added, Critical Notes on Anthers who have recently treated the Subject of Planting. Loiul. 1831. 8vo. • Mavor's Report, p. 1138. Mavor's Agricultural Survey of Berkshire • Maxwell's Practical Husbandman, p. 391. The Practical Husbandman; being a collection of miscellaneous papers on Husbandry. Edin. 1757. 8vo. • Maxwell, p. 1134. See Maxwell's Practical Hus- bandman, p. 391. Mech. Mag., p. 429. Mechanics' Magazine, Mu- seum, Register, Journal, and Gazette. Lond. 8vo. In weekly Kos. and Monthly Parts. Mem. de la Soc. Agr. du Seine, tomeii. p. 80S. Me- moires de la Socute d'Agriculture du Seine et Oise. Paris. 8vo. Mem. de la Soc. Agr., p. 49. See Mem. de la Soc. Agr. de Seine. M in de la Suri.'t.' R ovale ct Centrale d'Agr. de Pari*, p. 3 13. Pari*, 8vo. Middlesex Report, p. 731. A View of the Agricul- ture of Middlesex ; with observations on the means of its improvement ; with several Essays en Agriculture in general. Drawn up for the Board of Agriculture. Eond. 179.8. 8vo. Middleton'S Survey, p. 1125. See Middlesex Report, p. 731. Middleton'S Survey of Middlesex, p. 519. See Mid- dlesex Report, p. 731. Minnies of Evidence before a Committee of the House of Commons, p. 572. Lond. fol. Montfaucon, M., Monumensde la Monarchic. Ees Monumens de la Monarchie Francaise,avec les fig. de chaque Regne, que 1'injure du Temps a . |. irgm'es. Par. 1729 — 17!J. 5 vols. fol. Mouthy Magazine, p, 744. The Monthly Magazine, Lond In Monthly Nos. 8va • Morel de Vlnde, p 340. Essai BUT les Construc- tions Rurales et Economiques ; contenant lours Plan*, Coupes, Elevations, Details, et D, vis, it.iblis aux plus bas Prix possibles. Paris, folio, 1822, 10 pages, with 36 plates. Morier's Second Journey, p. 141. A Second Jour- ney through Persia to Constantinople, between the Years IS 10 — 1816; with a Journal of the Voyage by the Brazils and Bombay to the Per- sian Gulf; together with an Account of the Proceedings of his Majesty's Embassy, under In- Excellency Sir Gore Ousley, Bart., Fit s i. With maps, coloured costumes, and other en- gravings, from the designs of the Author. 1818 Moryson'a Itln., n.42 Itinerary; written hr-t m the Latin tongue, and then translated by him. sell Into English; containing twelve Years' Travels through Germany, Bonmi Hand, Switz- erland, Netherlands, Denmark, Poland, Italy, Turkey, France, England, Scotland, and Ire. land. In three parts. Lond. 1617. fol. Mowbray, p 1086. A Practical Treatise on the Me- thod of Breeding, Rearing, and Fattening Domestic Poultry, Pigeons, and Rabbits. Lond. 1815. 8vo. Munro's Guide to Earm Book-keeping. A Guide to Farm Book-keeping, founded upon actual practice and upon new and concise principles. Edin. 1822. 8vo. N. Naismith's General View, 1185. General View of the Agriculture of the County of Clydesdale, with Observations on the Means of its improve, ment. Drawn up for the Consideration of the Board of Agriculture and Internal Improve- ment. Brent 1791. 4to. Narrative,]). 155. Personal Observations made dur- ing the Progress of the British Embassy through China, and on its Vovage to and from that Country, in the Years 1816-1817. By Clerk Abel. Eond. 1818. 4to. Nat. Hist., p. 14. See Piin. Nicholson's Journal of Natural Philosophy, Che. mistry, and the Arts. Illustrated with engrav- ings. Lond. 1797 — 1802. 5 vols. 4to. Nic Jour., p. 1223. New Series. Lond. 1802— 1814. 36 vols. 8vo. Neil', p. 69. Journal of a Horticultural Tour throughout some parts of Flanders, Holland, and the North of France, in the Autumn of 1817, by a Deputation of the Caledonian Hor- ticultural Society. Drawn nil by P. Neill, one of the Deputation. Edin. 8vo. 1823. New System of Cultivation, by General Beatson, p. 402. A New System of Cultivation, without Lime or Dung, or Summer Fallows, as practised at Knowle Farm, in the County of Sussex . Lond. 1820. 8vo. Plates and Supplement, 1821. 8vo. plates. * New Theory of Agr., p. 260. A New Theory of Agriculture, in which the Nature ofSoils, Crops, and Manures is explained, many prevailing Prejudices are exploded, ard the Application of Bones, Gypsum, Lime, Chalk, &C., determined on scientific Principles. By William Grisen- thwaite. 1820. 12mo. Newenham, p. 1S5. A Statistical and Historical En- quiry into the Progress and Magnitude of Popu- lation in Ireland. Lond. 1805. 8vo. 1818. 8vo. Newenham's Statistical Survey, p. 1205. See Newen- ham, p. 135. Newton's Journal, p. 372. The London Journal of Arts and Sciences, &c. Lond. Monthly Nos. 8vo. * Northum. Survey, p. 127. A General View of the Agriculture of the County of Northumber- land, with Observations on the Means of its Im- provement. Drawn up for the Board of Agri- culture. By John Bailey. Newcastle, 1797. 8vo. 1800. 8vo. * Northumberland Report, p. 501. See Northum. Survey, p. 1 27. Notes, p. 107. Notes on the Crimea. By Mary Hol- derness. Loud. 18-1. 12mo. Notes to Sir H. Davy's Agr. Chem., p. 353. Davy's Agricultural Chemistry. Edit. 1826. 8vo. Nouveau Dictionnaire d'Histoire Naturelle, p. 309. Paris, 1,3 vols. Svo. O. * Obs. on Husbandry, p. 43. Observations on Hus- bandry. By Edward Lisle, Esq. Lond. Second edition. 1759. 2 vols. Svo. * Observations on Irrigation, p. 731. Observations on the Utility, Form, and Management of Wa- ter Meadows", and the Draining and Irrigating Peat-bogs ; w ith an Account of Prisley Bo^', and other extraordinary Improvements, conducted for the Duke of Bedford. By William Smith. Lond. 1809. 8vo. Observations upon Roads, p. 576. Fry's Observations on Roads and Wheel-Carriages. Lond. 8"c LIST OF BOOKS REFERRED TO. XT Odyss., p. 10. The Iliad and Odyssey of Homer, translated by Alexander Pope. Lond. 18(Jti. 4 vols. 12mo. * On the Conversion of Arable Land into Pasture, p. 895. On the Conversion of Arable Land into Pasture, and on other Rural Subjects. By Francis Blaikie. Lond. 1^19. 12mo. On Hedges and Hedge-row Timber, p. 10. A Trea- tise on the Management of Hedges and Hedge- row Timber. By Francis Blaikie. Lond. 12mo. Oxfordshire Report, p. 745. General View of the Agriculture of the County of Oxford. By Richard Davis. Lond. 1794. 4to. P. Pal. p. 21. Translation of the Fourteen Books of Palladiuson Agriculture. By the Rev. T. Owen. Lond. 1807. 8vo. Pallad., 16. See Pal., p. 21. Paper apud Transactions of Sc. Ant. Soc, p. 42. Transactions of the Antiquarian Society of Scotland. Edin. 4to. Parker's Essay, p. 502. An Essay or Practical En- quiry concerning the Hanging and Fastening of Gates and Wickets. Second edition, im- proved and enlarged. Six 4to plates. Lond. 1804. Parker's Essay on Hanging Gates, p. 504. See Par- ker's Essay, p. 502. •Parkinson, p. 11.34. General View of the Agricul- ture of Huntingdonshire. Drawn up for the Board of Agriculture. Lond. 1811. 8vo. Paris, M. Hist., p. 38. Historia major Anglia? Guli- elmo Victore ad ultimum annum Henr. 111. Lond. 1684. fol. Paris, M., Vit. Abbot, p. 38. See Paris, M., Hist., p. 38. • Parochial Institutions, &a, p. 1226. Parochial Institutions; or an outline for a National Edu- cation Establishment, as a substitute for the National Churches of England, Scotland, and Ireland. By J. C. Loudon. Lond. 1829. 8vo. Paterson's Letters, p. 581. Letters on Road-making. Montrose, 12mo. Pearce's Berkshire, p. 1138. General View of the Agriculture of Berkshire. Lond. 1794. 4to. Perth Miscellany. The Perth Miscellany of Litera- ture, Agriculture, Gardening, and Local In- telligence. Perth, 1830. Three Nos. Peyrouse, p. 71. A Sketch of the Agriculture of a District in the South of France. By Baron Picot de la Peyrouse. Translation, with notes. Lond. 1819 8v» Phil. Trans., p. Ill'* The Philosophical Transac- tions of the Royal Society of London, from their commencement in 1665 to 1831. Lond. 4to. Abridgement bv Hutton, Shaw, and Pear- son. Lond. 1804— 18"09. 18 vols. 4to. Phil. Trans, et Abr., p. 1207. See Phil. Trans., p. 1118. Philos. Mag., p. 334. The Philosophical Magzaine. Lond. 8vo. In monthly Nos. Continued. Phys. des Arb., p. 241. Physique des Arbres, ou il est traite de l'Anatomie des Plantes, et de l'Economie Vegetale : avec une explication des termes propres k cette science. Par Henri Louis du Hamel du Monceau. Paris, 175S. 2 vols. 4to. * Phytologia, p. 329. Phytologia, or the Philosophy of Agriculture and Gardening, with the theory of draining morasses, and with an improved construction of the drill plough. By Erasmus Darwin, M. D. Lond. 1801. 4to. Pitscottie, p. 40. See Henry's History of Britain. Pitt's Report, p. 1156. A General View of the Agriculture of Northamptonshire. 8vo. Lond. 1S09. Plant. Kal., p. 640. The Planter's Calendar, by the late Walter Nicol ; edited and completed, by Edward Sang. Edin. 1820. 2d edition. 8vo. Planter's Guide, 193. The Planter's Guide; or, a practical essay on the best method of giving immediate effect to wood, by the removal of large trees and underwood, &c. By Sir Henry Steuart, Bart, LL.D., &c. Edin. Svo. 5 pis. pp. 473. Plin. Nat. Hist, p. 17. Pliny's Natural History of the World, translated into English by Phile- mon Holland. Loud. 1601. 1634. 2 vols., ge- nerally bound in one, fol. Plumtree's Residence in Ireland, p. 133. London, I'M. 4to. Plymley's Shropshire, p. 1145. A General View of the Agriculture of Shropshire. Lond. 1804 8vo. Polydore Virgil, p. 41. Historia Anglicana. Basle, 1534. fol. Pomeroy's Worcestershire, p. 1 142. General View of the Agriculture of the County of Worces- ter. Lond. 1794. 4to. Potter's Antiq., p. 10. Archacologia Graca; or, the Antiauities of Greece. Oxf. 1697 — 16g9. 2 vols. Svo. Present State of Turkey, p. 121. The Present State of Turkey ; or a description of the political, ci- vil, and religious constitution, government, and laws of the Ottoman empire, &c. By F. Thorn- ton. Lond. 1807. 4to. Principles of Botany, p. 243. See Willdenow. Pringle's General View, p. 1162. A General View of the Agriculture of the County of Westmore- land, with observations on the means of its improvement. Edin. 1794. 4to. Pringle's Present State of Albany, South Africa, p. 181. * Prof. Plant, 639. The Profitable Planter ; a trea- tise on the cultivation of the larch and Scotch pine timber,showingthat their excellent quality, especially that of the former, will render them so essentially useful, as greatly to promote the interests of the country. By William Pontev, Huddersfield. 1S00. 8vo. Quarterly Journal of Agric, p. 316. The Quarterly Journal of Agriculture: and the Prize Essays and Transactions of the Highland Society of Scotland. Edin. 1S28. In Svo numbers, quar- terly. Quar. Jour. Science, p. 602. The Quarterly Journal of Science. Edited at the Royal Institution of Great Britain. !n 8vo numbers, quarterly. In October, 1830, it was given up, and the Journal of the Royal Institution of Great Britain sub- stituted. Quayle's General View, &c. of the Norman Islands, p. 1172. Quayle's General View of the Agricul- ture, &c. of the Islands on the coast of Nor- mandy subject to Great Britain. Lond. 1815. 8vo R. Raccolta dei Autori che trattano del' Aque, p. 329. Firenze, Svo. Rawson's Survey of Kildare, p. 1200. A General View of the Agriculture of the County of Kil- dare. Dubl. 1807. 8vo. Recherches de Physiologie et de Chimie Patholo- gique, par P. N. Nysten., p. 311. Paris, 1811. 8vo. Recr., p. 144. See Anderson. Recueil Industriel, p 810. Recueil Industriel Ma- nufacturier, Agricole, et Commerciel, *:c. Paris, 1829. In monthly numbers, 8vo. Continued. Rees's Cyc, p. 1224. The New Cyclopsedia, or Uni- versal Dictionary of Arts and Sciences, formed upon a more enlarged plan of arrangement than the Dictionary of Mr. Chambers, compre- hending the various articles of that work, with additions and improvements; together with the new subject of biography, geography, and his- tory, and adapted to the present state of litera- ture and science. Lond. 1802, 45 vols. 4to. Reflections on the Commerce of the Mediterranean. By John Jackson, Esq. Reflections on the Com- merce of the Mediterranean, deduced from ac- tual Experience during a Residence on both Shores of the Mediterranean Sea, &c. Lond. 1804. Svo. Regiam Majestatem, p. 39. See Henry's History of Britain. Relat of Heat and Moisture, p. 359. Short Account of Experiments and Instruments depending on the Relation of the Air to Heat and Moisture. By John Leslie, F.R.S., &c. Edin. 1813. 8vo. Relat.'du Voy. fait, en Egypte, p. 7. Relation du Voyage fait en Egypte, dans l'Annee 1730. Par Granger. Paris, 1715. 12mo. Reliquiae Spelmannianae, p. 36. Reliqua? Spelman- nianse ; or his posthumous works, &c. Par Edmund Gibson. Oxf. 1698. FoL XVI LIST OK HOOKS REFERRED TO. Etenurki mi Live Stock, p. Retnarki on Live Block) in ■ ii'ttfi t.. Henri Cline, Esq. By Andrew Coventry, M. D Edin 1808 Bva Report of the Edinburgh Railway, p.579 Edin. ka Report of Nairn ami Moray, p. 1018. Donaldson 'i Oeneral View of the Agriculture "i Nairn, Lond. 17 U 1. 4t<>. ; and ol Elgin ami Moray, Lond. I7"i. Mo Report df Northum., Ill G Bailey. * Report of the Workington Society, p. 771 Bj John c Curwen, M r. Repton*i Enquiry, p. 566. An Enquiry Into t lie :n i'.nte and I. u... By Humphry Repton, Esq. Lond. I * Robertson's Rural Recollection*, p.1178. Rural R, . or, ii"' progn - <>i Improvement in agriculture ami rural aii.urs. Irvine, Svo. » Robertson's Survey, p. 117*. Oeneral View of the Agriculture of the County of Mid-Lothian, with observations on the means of its improve- ment Wiih the additional remarks of several respectable gentlemen anil farmers in the county. Drawn up for the Board of Agricul- ture, E- sils, p. 1125. Lond. 1819. Smith's History of Kerry, p. 1202. The ancient and present State of the County of Kerry, &c. Dublin, 1774. Svo. Smith's Introduction, p. 262. An Introduction to Physiological and Systematical Botany. Lond. 2d edit. 1809. 8vo. * Small's Treatise on Ploughs and Wheel Carriages, p. 391. Treatise on Ploughs and Wheel Car- riages. Edin. 1784. 8vo. * Somerville's General View, p. 1180. General View of the Agriculture of East Lothian ; drawn up from the papers of the author. Lond. 1805. Svo. * Specimen of a work on Horse-hoeing Husbandry? p. 1161. By Jethro Tull. Lond. 1731. 4to. Spectator, p. 1226. The Spectator Newspaper. In weekly Numbers. Long 4to. Spix, p. 200. Travels in Brazil. By Drs. Spix and Marlius. Lond. 1824. 2 vols. 8vo. Spix's Travels, p. 165. See Spix. Straho, p. 3ti. Geographia, &c. Oxford, 1807. 2 vols. folio. * Statistical account of Scotland. The Statistical Account of Scotland; drawn up from the com- munications of the ministers of the different parishes. Edin. 1791—1799. 21 vols. 8vo. Stedman's Surinam, p. 201. Narrative of a five Years' Expedition against the revolted Negroes of Surinam, in Guiana, on the wild Coast of South America, from 1773 to 1777 ,• elucidating the history of that country, and describing its productions, viz. quadrupeds, birds, fishes, rep- tiles, trees, shrubs, &c. ; with an account of the Indians of Guiana and negroes of Guinea: il- lustrated with 80 elegant engravings, from drawings made by the author. Lond. 1796. 2 vols. 4to. * Stevenson, p. 1127. General View of the Agricul- ture of the County of Surrey. Lond. 1809. 8vo. ♦Stevenson's General View, p. 1168. See Stevenson, p. 1127. ♦Stevenson's Surrey, p. 439. See Stevenson, p. 1127. * Stevenson's Survey, p. 1126. See Stevenson, p. 1127. * Stevenson's Plan for Track-roads, p. 570. See Brewster's Encyclopaedia. Art. Road. Stillingfieet's Life and Works, p. 5. His Literary Life, and Select Works By William Cox. Lond. 1811. 3 vols. 8vo. Stone's Bedfordshire, p. 1132 General View of the Agriculture of the County of Bedford. Lond. 1794. ito. Stone's Report, p. 1155. See Stone's Bedfordshire, p. 1 132. Stone's Huntingdonshire, p. 1134. A General View of the Agriculture of Huntingdonshire. Lond. 1733. 4to. Strickland's View, p. 1158. A General View of the Agriculture of the East Riding of Yorkshire. Lond. 1812. 8vo. Strutt's Complete View of the Manners, &c. Horda Angel-Cynnan; or, a complete view of the manners, customs, arms, habits, &c, of the people of England from the arrival of the Saxons till the reign of Henry VIII. ; with a short account of the Britons during the govern. nient of the Romans. Lond. 1774 — 1776. 3 vols. Ho. LIST OF BOOKS REFERRED TO. Survey of the West Riding of Yorkshire, p. 391. See Brown's West Hiding. Survey by St John Priest, p. 1 131. General View of the Agriculture of Buckinghamshire. 8vo. Lond. 1810. in 4to. Swainson's MSS., p. 2(0. Matter furnished by Mr. Swainson, F. R. S. See List of Contributors, p. 6. System of Chemistry, p. 311. A Svstem of Chemis- try. By Thomas Thomson, M. D., F. R. S., &c Lond. 1817. 4 vols. 8vo. T. T., p. 347. Matter furnished by Dr. Trail of Liver, pool. See Li»t of Contributors. Tacit, de Morib. German., p. 36. The works of Taci- tus. Bv T. Gordon. Lond. 1770, 1771. 5 vols. 12mo. The Country Gentleman's Companion, p. 521. By Stephen Switzer, Gardener. Lond. 1732. 8vo. The Country Gentleman's Recreation, p. 1100. Lon- don. 1753. 2 vols. l2mo. The New York Daily Sentinel, p. 1226. A Daily Newspaper published at New York. The Rev. Dr. Singer's General View, p. 1183. Ge- neral View of the Agriculture, State of Pro- pertv, and Improvements in the County of Dumfries. Edin. 1812. 8vo. The Woodlands, p. 6t0. The Woodlands; or a treatise on planting, describing the trees, &c. By William Cobbett. Lond. 1826. 8vo. The Working Man's Advocate, p. 1226. A New York Newspaper. Theo. de Caus. Plant., p. 25. Historia Plantarum, a Theodoro Gaza interprete. Ven. apud Aid. 1498. Theophrast. Hist Plant., p. 251. See Theo. de Caus. Plant., p. 25. Thomson's General View, p. 188. General View of the Agriculture of the County of Fife; with observations on the means of its improvement. Edin. 1800. 8vo. Thomson's Survey of Meath. Dublin, 1802. 8vo. Thornton, p. 121. The present State of Turkev, &c. By Thomas Thornton. Lond. 1810. 2 vols. 8vo. * Thouin, p. .371. Cours de Culture et de Natural- isation des Yegctaux, &c. By Andre Thouin, with an Atlas of 25 plates iii 4to. Published by his Nephew Oscar Leclerc. Paris. 1827. 3 vols. Svo and 1 voL 4to. Tighe's Survey of Kilkenny, p. 131. Statistical Ob- servations on the Countv of Kilkenny, made in 1S00 and 1801. 8vo. Tooke's View of the Russian Empire, p. 105. View of the Russian Empire during the reign of Catherine II. and to the close of the present century. I.ond. 1799. 3 vols. 8vo. Townsend, p. 118. A Journey through Spain in the years 1786 and 1787; with particular attention to the Agriculture, Manufactures, Commerce, Population, Taxes, and Revenue of that coun- try, and Remarks in passing through part of France. Lond. 1791. 3 vols. 8vo. Townsend's Spain, p. 115. See Townsend, 118. Townshend's Cork, p. 1.34. Statistical Survey of the County of Cork. 1810. 8vo. Townshend's Survey of Cork, p. 1201. See Town- shend's Cork, 134. Traite des Assolemens, p. 333. See Nouveau Cours complet d'Agriculture, Sec. Traite de Chim. Element p. 226. Recherches Phy- sico-Chimiques. Par MM. Gav-Lussac etThe- nard. Paris. 1815. 2 vols. 8vo. Transactions of the Dublin Society, p. 568. See Dub- lin Soc. * Trans. Higlil. Soc, p. 1187. See Highland Society's Transactions. Trans I r. Acad. p. 367. Transactions of the Royal Irish Academy. Dublin, 4to. Trans Soc. Arts, p. 373. Transactions of the So- ciety for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufac- tures, and Commerce. &e. Lond. 1783. Svo. Travels, p. 95. See Jacob. Travels in Hungary, p. 96. Travels from Vienna through Lower" Hungary; with some Account of Vienna during the Congress. Bv Richard Bright, M. D. Edin. 181S. 4to. Numerous engravings. 'iTavels in the Tarentaise, p. 62. See Bakewell Travels through Germany, Poland, &c , p. 89. Mar- shall's Travels through Germany, Poland, &c. Travels, trans, by A. Plumtree, p' 122. Travels through the Morej, Albania, and other parts of the Ottoman Empire. From the French of Poucqueville. 1813. 4to. Treatise on Cobbett's Corn, and Quar. Journ. Agr., p. 831. A Treatise on Cobbett's Corn ; contain- ing instructions for propagating and cultivating the plant, &c Lond. 1S28. 12mo. * Treatise on CountryResid. vol. 2., p. 64. Loudon's Treatise on Country Residences, &c. Lond. 1826. 2 vols. 4to. ' Treatise on Dew, p. 359. Garstin's Treatise on Dew. Lond. 8vo Treatise on Horses, p. 308. Philosophical and prac- tical Treatise on Horses; and on the moral duties of man towards the brute creation. By John Lawrence. 1809. 2 vols. Svo. Treatise on Roads, p. 571. Paterson's Treatise on Roads. Montrose. 18 . 12mo. Trotter's General View, p. 1 1 ST. General View of the Agriculture of West Lothian ; with ob. servations on the means of its improvement. 1812. Svo. Tuke's Report, p. 1157. General View of the Agri- culture of the North Riding of Yorkshire ; drawn up for the Board of Agriculture. 15 plates. Lond. 1800. 8vo. Turner's Report, p. 1140. A General View of the Agriculture of Gloucestershire. Lond. 1794. 4to Tyrwhitt's Tracts on the Improvements at Dart- moor, p. 1169. Printed, but not published, 1819. U. Uie's General View, p. 1188. A General View of the Agriculture of Kinross-shire. Edin. 1795. 4to. Val Max. p. 17. The History of the Acts and Say- ings of Valerius Maximus. By W. Speed. Lond. 1678. Svo. Vancouver's Cambridgeshire, 1134. A General View of the Agriculture of Cambridgeshire. Lond. 1794. 4to. Vancouver's General View, p. 1165. General View of the Agriculture of Hampshire, including the Isle of Wight ; with observations on the means of its improvement. Drawn up for the Board of Agriculture. 1811. 8vo. Vancouver's Survey of Devon, p. 1048. General View of the Agriculture of the County of De- von ; with observations on the means of its im- provement. Lond. 1807. 8vo. Vancouver's View, p. 1169. See Vancouver's Sur- vey of Devon, 104*. Var., p. 21. Marcus Terentius Varro, Libri de Re Rustica, Reg. 1496. fol. Translated into Eng- lish, bv the Rev. T. Owen. Lond. 1800. Svo. Var. de R. R., p. 14. See Var. p. 21. Varro, p. 22. See Var. p. 21. Vet. Outlines, p. 997. The Outlines of Veterinary Art ; or the principles of medicine, as applied to a knowledge of the structure, functions, and economy of the horse, the ox, the sheep, and the dog; and to a more scientific and successful manner of treating their various diseases ; illus- trated with plates. By Delahere Blaine. Lond. 1802. 2 vols. New edit. 1816. 8vo. Voyage, &c., p. 149. The Journal of a Voyage to Madras and China. By James Wathen, Esq. 1804. 4to. W. Waistell's Designs for Agr. Buildings, p. 810. De- signs for Agricultural Buildings, &c. ; to which are added, plans and remarks on Caterham farmyard, as it formerly was ; and also, as it has been improved. Lond. 1826. Svo. Wakefield, 1199. An Account of Ireland, Statis- tical and Political. Lond. 1812. 2 vols. 4to. * Wakefield's Statistical Account, p. 132. See Wakefield, p. 1199. * Wakefield's Statistical Survey of Ireland, p. 1201. See Wakefield, 1 199. Walker's Hebrides, p. 519. The Economical His torv of the Hebrides and Highlands of Scot land. Edin. 1812. 2 vols. H\o. V 111 LIST or BOOKS REFERRED TO. er"i Report, p. ii'". A General View of Hi.- Agriculture ol Hertfordshire I Ho Warner's I«le of Wight, p II""'. The History of tlu- Isle hi' Wight, Military, Ecclesiastical, i .:. .ui.i Natural : to which i- added ■ view of its Agriculture. Southampton, 179 Bvo. \\ , ,i •• '. i .. I,, i l Gei ii View c,i the \ i' nil ure ol I hi I o intj of Cheshire. i ii. . Wi.it,'- Prentise on Veter. Medy p. 443. Treatise mi Veterinary Medicine Lond, 1815. f vol-. I ■.urn. Wliiu- .ui.i Macfarlane'E Report, i>. 1186 General \ n ,.: ilu- Agriculture of Dumbartonshire; with dbservatii n the mi ans "i ii- improve- ment : drawn up 1'ir the Board of Agriculture Glasgow, 1811. Bvo. Widowson, p. 168. Present StateofVan Diemen's Land . comprising an account of it- agricultural capabilities, &e Lond. I s . 7. Bvo. Widowson 's Present State of Van Diemen's Land, p. 166. Se - Widow son, p. Wilkin-, Leges Saxon., 35. Leges Anglo-Saxonies Ecclesiastics el Civiles; acceduut Leges Ed. vardi Latins, GuiL C luestoris G alio- Nor. mannics, el Henrici I. Latum'; subjungitur II. Spelmanni Cod. Legg. Vett a Guil. I. ad lh ii 111.; ,t Dissertatio GuiL Nicolsoni, de .lure 1", nit. Vet Saxonum, cum Notis, &c; I.at. ft Sax Lond. 1721. foL Willdenow, Prine Bot, p 263 The Principles of Botany ami \ egetable Physiology, translated from the German. Edin. 1805. Svo. With pl.it. - Withering, p. 935. An Arrangement of British Plants. 3d edition. Birmingham, 179u". 4 vols. 8\o. Worgan'a Cornwall, p. 1171. General View of the Agriculture ol the County of Cornwall Loud. 1811. Bvo, Wurgan's Survey, p. 1171. Sec Worgan's Cornwall, p. 1171. Works, |i 5 Bee Stlllingflcet. Wottou'd Legei Wallics, p. 1176. Legea Wallirs i Civiles Hoeli Boni et aliorurn Principum Wallis, &C, Welsh, with a Latin translation, Notes, ami a Glossary. To which is added a Preface by Mr. Clarke. Loud. 17JU. lol. Post'). y. * Young, p. 135. See Young's Tour, and Arthur Young. •Young's Annals of Agr., p. 194. Annals of Agri- culture, and other useful Arts. Published in Si.-. Boxy St Edmund's, 1790—1804, 40 vola Svo. • Young's Norfolk, p. 1136. General View of the Agriculture of the County of Norfolk. Lond. 1801. Svo. • Young's Report, p. 1155. General View of the Agriculture of the County of Lincoln. Drawn up for the Board of Agriculture. Lond. 1799. Svo. •Young's Suffolk, p. II ^li. General View of the Agri- culture of the County of Suffolk. Drawn up for the Board of Agriculture. Lond. 1797. Svo. •Young's Survey, p. 1129. General View of the Agriculture of the County of Essex. Lond. 1806, 1S07. 2 vols. Svo. * Young's Tour, p. 1200. Tour in Ireland ; with ge- ne ral Observations on the present State of that Kingdom ; made in 177(5 — 1779. Dubl. 17S0. 2 vols. 8vo, N.B. Such as are in possession of some of the County Surveys above enumerated, may probably find the year of publication in t'u' titlepage different from what is here given. The reason is, these survey-, most of which belonged to the late Board of Agriculture, were twice sold to different booksellers, on wl . ii occasions new and altered titlepagss were printed We have generally endeavoured to give the original title ; and, through the kind assistance of Mr Forsyth, we have been enabled to do so in moat instances. AGRICULTURAL WEIGHTS AND MEASURES. As a source of reference to the readers of agricultural works, foreign as well as domestic, we have deemed it useful to bring together in this place comparative views of the land and corn measure of Eng- land, Scotland, and Ireland, and of different foreign countries. We have also given a general view of the French metrical or decimal system, as being the most perfect which has hitherto appeared, and alone worthy, in our opinion, of universal adoption. All young persons ought to make themselves masters of this eystem as one likely to be in general use, at least in Europe, North America, and Australia, before they become old men. LAND MEASURE. Contents of a single Measure of each sort Number of each equal to England Acre .... English Square Yards. French Acres. 10 English Acres. 4S40 40-466 10-000 Scotland Acre ... 6150 51419 7«69 Ireland Acre . 7840 65 549 6-173 France Hectare . 11960 loo-ooo 4046 Berlin Great Morgen ... 6786 56 "736 7-132 Little Morgen ... 3054 25534 15848 Prussia Morgen .... 3053 25-526 15'S53 Saxony Acre .... 6590 55 098 7 344 Hamburg Scheffel of Corn Land 5022 41 984 9-637 Morgen .... 11545 96*525 4- 19-2 Hanover Morgen .... 3100 25918 15 613 Nuremberg Corn Land Morgen 5654 47272 8560 Meadow Morgen ... 2544 21 -270 19-025 Rhineland Morgen ... lolvi 85 158 4752 Dantzic Morgen - - 6650 55-642 7-278 Geneva Arpent ... 6179 51661 7 833 Amsterdam Morgen . 9722 81-286 4-978 Netherlands Vii-rkantebunder . 119'6 1-000 406 722 Naples Moggia ... 39!'8 33-426 12-106 Spain Fanegada - - - - 5500 45-984 8-800 Portugal Geira .... 6970 58*275 6944 Sweden Tunneland ... 5900 49329 8 203 Switzerland Faux - ... 7855 65*674 6161 Tuscany Quadrato ... 4074 34-062 11-880 i ROAD MEASURE. Length of a single Measure of each sort. Number of each equal to French Kilometres. lOu English England Mile .... English Yards. Miles. 1760 1-609 100000 Mile, geographical ... 2025 1*51 86913 Scotland Mile .... 1984 1*814 88709 Ireland Mile - - - - 2240 2 ■<'!«; 78*571 France Kilometre . . - 1093 l-ooo 161-024 League of 2000 toises 4-63 3898 41*285 League of 25 to the degree - 4860 4-444 36*214 League, marine 6076 5'555 28 966 Germany Mile, geographical 8101 7-407 21-725 Mile, long . . - 10126 9-258 17-381 Mile, short 6859 6-271 25-6*59 Netherlands Mile, metrical ... 1093 1-000 161*024 Poland Mile, long - 8101 7407 21*725 Mile, short - 61 (76 5*555 28-966 Denmark Mile . . . - 8244 7*533 21348 Holland Mile .... 8101 7*4fl7 21*725 Spain League, common 7416 6781 23-732 League, judicial 4635 4238 37 972 Russia Werst 1167 1 O.'n 150-814 Sweden Mile 11700 10*698 15042 Switzerland Mile .... 9153 8369 19 228 Tuscany Mile . . . 1*0S 1653 97.345 Turkey Berri . ... 18C6 1-669 96-385 a 2 xx AGRICULTURAL WEIGHTS AND MEASURES. LONG MEASURE. Length of a single Measure of each sort. Number of each equal to 100 English Feet English Inches. French England Foot - Decimetres. 12-00 3-048 100-000 France Pied de Roi ... 12-78 3-248 93 896 Metre . 3937 10-000 30-480 Khineland Foot . - - 12-35 97-166 Amsterdam Foot - 11-14 2831 107719 liliineland Foot ... 1235 3138 97166 Berlin Foot . . - - 1219 3097 98-441 Bourdeairs Foot . 140+ 3-567 85-470 Copenhagen Khineland Foot ... 12-35 3138 97166 Dantxic Foot .... 11-30 2-869 106194 Frankfort Foot - - 1128 2-865 106 382 Hamburg Foot . - - - 1128 2 865 lOdv 82 Leipsic Foot - - - 11-11 2 822 108010 Builder's Foot . . - 11-13 2 826 107-816 Malta F'oot - • - - 11-16 2 836 107-526 Moscow Foot ... 1317 3343 91116 Prussia Khineland Foot ... 12-35 3138 97166 Home Foot - - - - 1172 2978 102-389 Spain Foot - ... 11-12 2-826 107-913 Sweden Foot - ... 11-68 2-968 102739 Vienna F'oot ... 12-45 3161 96-385 Wirtemberg Foot . 11-26 2860 106571 CORN MEASURE. 1 Contents of a single Measure of each sort. Number of each equal to One English England Bushel Cubic Inches. Bushels. French Litres. Quarter. 2150-4 1-000 35-236 8-000 Scotland Wheat Firlot . 21973 1-022 36-005 7-827 Barley Firlot 3205-5 1-490 52-525 5-369 France Setier 95 19-5 4-427 156-000 1-807 Hectolitre 6102 2837 100-000 2-819 Boisseau Usuel 7627 0-354 12-500 22-598 Amsterdam Mudde 6788 3157 111-256 2-534 Berlin Scheffel . 3180 1-479 52107 5-409 Bourdcaux Boisseau 4682 2177 76708 3-674 Cadiz Fanega ... 3439 1-599 56-351 5-0U3 Copenhagen Toende ... 8488 3947 139,084 2-026 Constantinople Killow ... 2023 0941 33148 8501 F.lbing Scheffel - 2965 1-378 48-584 5-805 Florence Stajo 14*6 0-691 24v!69 11-577 Frankfort Malter ... 6590 3064 107 984 2-611 Hamburg Scheft'el 6426 2988 105 296 2.677 Munich Scheffel - 22 ISO 10-290 362-622 0.777 Netherlands Mudde - 6102 2-837 100-01 2819 Poland Korzee ... 3120-8 1-451 51-137 5513 Russia Chetwert- 12800 5-952 209-740 1 ;44 Sicily Salma grossa 21014 9771 34433 0-818 Salma generate - 16S86 7-851 27-667 1-019 Spain Fanega ... 3439 1-599 56351 5003 Sweden Tunna of 32 Kappar 8940 4157 146 490 1-924 Kami ... 1596 00742 2-615 107 816 Vienna Metzen ... 3753 1-745 61-436 4-584 Zealand Sack ... 4556 2-119 74660 S-775 FRENCH WEIGHTS AND MEASURES. What is called a standard in weights and measures is merely an authority ; and this in rude ages is founded on custom, or some arbitrary quantity ; while, in the progress of improvement, a stand tid is derived from nature. Among the various natural standards, the two following may be considered the best : — 1. The length of a pendulum that vibrates seconds of mean solar time. 2. The length of an arc or portion of a meridional circle. From the measurement of a meridional arc in France ; the length of the quadrantal arc was computed ; and the ten-millionth part of this quadrant is the metre, which is the standard unit for all French mea- sures. The standard unit for all weights is the gramme, which is the weight of a cubic vessel of water ol the greatest condensation and purity ; the side of such cube being the hundredth part of the metre. From these two units the other measures are denied by decimal division or multiplication, and hence ths system is generally called AGRICULTURAL WEIGHTS AND MEASURES. XX! THE METRICAL OR DECIMAL SYSTEM. In order to express the decimal proportion, the following vocabulary of names has been adopted, in which the terms lor multiplying are Greek, and those for dividing are Latin : For multipliers, the word Dcca prefixed means 10 times. Hccto 100 times. Kilo luuO times. Myrtd 10,000 times. On the contrary, for divisors, the word Deci expresses the 10th part. Centi 101 th part. Milli 1000th part. Thus, Decametre means 10 metres. Decimetre the 10th part of a metre. Kilogramme 1000 grammes, &c. The are is the element of square measure, and la a square decametre, equal to SB55 English perches. The itere is the element of cube measure, and contains 35.317 cubic feet English. The litre is the element of all measures cf capacity. It is a cubic decimetre, and equals 21135 English pints. 100 litres make the hectolitre, which equals i 26'4I9 English gallons, or 2838 Winchester bushels. The decimal Weights and Measures of France, compared with the Weights and Measures at present considered the National Measures of Britain. Long Measures. British arbitrary System. 003937 inches. 0-39371 inches. 3-93710 inches. 39-37100 inches. 3280916 feet, 328-09167 feet Decimal System. Millimetre Centimetre Decimetre Metre Decametre Hectometre Kilometre 109363H9 yards. Myriametre lu;-3d-.jSOi.n yards, or 6 miles, 1 furlong, 28 poles. Superficial Measures. Centiare 1 -I960 square yards. Are i a square} „.,„,„ , decametre) j J 19 ' 6046 s 1 uare >' ards - Decare 1196-0460 square yards. Hectare 11660-4604 square yards, or 2 acres, 1 rood, So perches. Measures of Capacity. Millitre 0-06103 cubic inches. Centilitre 061028 cubic inches. Decilitre 6 10280 cubic inches. Litre (a cubic ) J 61 02802 cubic inches, decimetre) J ]_ or 2 1 135 wine pints. Decalitre 610 28028 cubic inches, or 2t342 wine gallons. Decimal System. British arbitrary System. Hectolitre 3-5317 cubic feet, or 26'419 wine gallons, 22 Imperial gal. Ions, or 2'839 Winchester bushels. Kilolitre 353171 cubic feet, or 1 tun and 12 wine gallons. Myrialitre 35317146 cubic feet So/id Measures. Decistere 3 5317 cubic feet. Stere (a cubic metre) 353174 cubic feet. Decastere 3531714 cubic feet Weights. Milligramme 0'0154 grains. Centigramme 01543 grains. Decigramme 15434 grains. Gramme 154340 grains. Decagramme 1543402 grains, or 5 64 drams avoirdupois. Hectogramme 3-2154 oz. troy, or 3-527 oz. avoirdupois. Kilogramme 21b. 8 oz. 3 dwt. 2gr. troy, or 2 lb. 3oz. 4.4-8 drams avoirdupois. Myriagramme 26795 pounds troy, or 22-0485 avoirdupois Quintal 1 cwt. 3qrs. 251b. nearly. Millier, or Bar 9 tons 16 cwt. 3 qrs. lilb THE FRENCH STSTEME USUEL. The Systhne Usvtl has the metrical standards for its basis ; but their divisions are binarv ; and instead of the new nomenclature, the names of the ancient weights and measures are used, annexing the term usuel to each : thus, the half kilogramme is called the livre usuelle, and the double metre, the toise usuelle, &c. This system was legalised by an imperial decree in 1812, for the use of retail traders, and the decimal system was continued tor all other kinds of business and measurement : but as the law was left optional, it led to many difficulties, insomuch that in 1816 the systeme usuel was enforced bv a royal decree, in which the use of weights or measures decimally divided is absolutely prohibited in shops or any departments of trade connected with retail business, while the decimal system is confirmed for all other purposes. As the systeme usurl has the metre and gramme for its basis, any of its divisions may be easily com. puted from the foregoing tables. The following, however, are the contents of its principal units in Eng. lish measure : — The toise usuelle of 2 metres equals 6 feet 6f inches English. The pied usuel equals \ of the toise, and the inch J, of the foot. The aune usuelle equals 3 feet ll± inches English, with all its divisions in proportion. The long measures are also divided into thirds, sixths, and twelfths, which are easily computed from the foregoing dimensions of the toise and aune. The boisseau usuel is | of the hectolitre, and equals 0"S5474 English bushels, with halves, quarters, &c. in proportion. The litrou usuel equals 1074 Paris pints, with halves, quarters, &c. in proportion. Apothecaries have adopted the systeme usuel in compounding medicines ; which weight, in small quan- tities, scarcely differs from the poids de marc. Diamonds are still weighed by carats of 4 grains each; but these grains differ from the foregoing: thus, 1 carat equals 3.S76 grains poids de marc, or 3798 grains usuels, and also answers to 2 01 decigrammes, or Sto En S !isn grains. The livre usuelle = 500 grammes = 9413-575 grains poids de marc, or 7717 English grains ; and all its di- visions and multiples in proportion. Hence the common pound of France equals 1 lb. 11 oz. 104- drains avoirdupois; and therefore the quintal metrique of 100 kilogrammes answers to 220486 lb. avoirdupois, or 1 cwt. 3 qrs. 24Jlb., which is 1000 grains less than has been hitherto reckoned, on account of the undue proportion allowed to the French weight {Kelly's Cambist, vol. i. p. 140 ) The Systeme Usuel of the French, compared with the British St/stem. Comparison of Weight. Troy Weight. Grammes, lb. oz. dwt. gr. Kilogramme 1000 2 8 3 2 Livre usuelle 500 1 4 1 13 Half 250 8 o 1S5 Quarter 125 4 9"25 Avoirdupois. lb oz . dr. 2 3 4.1 1 1 «H 8 13# 4 tH Eighth Troy W Grammes, lb. . .. , 62-5 31-3 eight. oz. dwt 2 1 10 5 2 gr. 45 2-25 1-125 0-5 IK-25 Avo lb rdupois. ox. dr. 2 Si 1 l'; Half 15-6 7-8 3-9 "j. a 3 kan AGRICULTURAL WEIGHTS AND MEASURES. Companion of Linear Measure*. *1 irM ommUm. ICti^IKK Hibmm< Httnfc K.-el. In H ■■ I' "i - uuelle - ... <> Pied, or l'i»>t 0$ ... 1 Inch 0',a - Anne ljl ... 3 Half 0j ... 1 Quarter 0^ ... Eighth Ojb ... Sixteenth O^j, ... Mi mm utuelles. M ( .lres. One third of an aune ... i jj . Sixth 01 • Twelfth oj, . G 9 1 1} 1 1* 11 3 11 7J 11 9f 5 101 2 llyj With halves and quarters in proportion. 1 leet. Imrliiili Meararts. Inches. 1'arts . 1 3 9 7 10$ 3 111 Comparison of Measures of Capacity. J. ilrcs. English bushels. Roisseau usuel 12'5 0"S5474 With halves and quarters in proportion. Paris plnle. Litron usuel 1074 English pint. 2i ENGLISH WEIGHTS AM) MEASURES. The following Tables; show the state of English weights and measures as long established ; but a new law has latelj passed, which proposes the following alteration in measures of capacity, that is to say, both in liquid aim dry measures, from the 1st of January, 1826. Thus, instead of the three different gallons heretofore used, v <\t, the wine, ale, and corn gallons, one measure only is to be adopted, called the imperial gallon, with its divisions ami multiples, which are to be as heretofore for wine measure. But for corn or other dry goods not heaped, the divisions and multiples are to be as in corn measure. The imperial gallon is to measure 277'274 cubic inches, and to weigh 10 lb. avoirdupois of water at the temperature of 62 degrees of Fahrenheit's thermometer, thebarometer being at thirty inches. The imperial bushel is to measure and weigh eight times the above, and all the other multiples and di- visions of the imperial gallon are to be in proportion. All new measures in lutnre are to be constructed on the imperial plan ; but the old measures may con. tiiinc to be used, provided their contents be marked on them, that is, the proportion which they may be found to bear to imperial measure. The following Table shows the contents of the differ. Cut Gallons, both in Measure and Weight. Imperial gallon Wine gallon .... Cubic Inches. Avoirdup. Weight. Trov Weight. 277-274 268-8 231 282 lb. oz. d»\ 10 o !) 10 1| 8 5 fiJ 10 2 11| lb. oz.dwt.gr. 12 1 1(5 16 11 9 7 12 10 1 9 22 12 4 6 8 The al>ove Table will be found useful in compar- ing different vessels where gauging cannot be relied on. liules for converting the Old Measures to the New, and the contrary. 1. Wine Measure multiplied by 5 and divided by 6 will give imperial measure, and the contrary. 2. Corn Measure multiplied by 31 and divided by 32 wil 1 give imperial measure, and the contrary .;. Ale Measure multiplied by 59 and divided by 60 will give imperial measure, and the contrary. The coal measure is scarcely changed by the new law, and therefore will probably remain unaltered in practice. Tables of English Weights and Measures, compared with those of France. TROV WEIGHT. French grammes. 1 grain 0"0648 24 grains 1 pennyweight 1 - S552 2992 6^ toils I wey 82-543 2 wevs 1 sack 165-08/ 12 sacks 1 last 1981044 LUNG MEASURE. Fr. metres. 00254 0-30i8 09144 5-0291 3 barleycorns 1 inch 12 inches 1 toot 3 feet 1 yard b\ yards 1 pole or rod 40 poles I furlong 201-1632 8 furlongs 1 mile 1609-3059 3 miles 1 league 4827-9179 60 geographical, "| or 69% Eng- J- 1 degree 11120.7442 lish miles... J Besides the above, there are the palm, which equals 3 inches; the hand, 4 inches; the span, 9 inches ; and the fathom, 6 feet. CUBIC OR SOLID MEASURE. SQUARE MEASURE. Fr. sq. metres. 144 inches 1 squire foot 129 9 square feet 1 square yard 08361 304, suuare yards... 1 square pole 25"2916 40 square [xjIl'S ... 1 rood 10116662 i roods 1 acre 406+ 664S i The inch is generally divided, on scales, into tenths, or decimal parts ; but in squaring the di- mensions of artificer's work, the duodecimal system is adopted ; — thus, the inch is divided into 12 parts or lines, each part into 12 seconds, and each second into 12 thirds. In land measure there are (besides the above pole of lo£ feet, which is called statute measure the woodland pole of IIS feet, the plantation pole of 21 feet, the Cheshire pole of 24 feet, and the Sherwood Fo- rest pole of 25 feet. A rope in some kinds of mea- | surement is reckoned 20 feet, 30 acres is called a yard of land, 100 acres a hide of land, and 640 acres | a mile of land. Land is usually measured by a chain of 4 poles, or | 22 yards, which is divided into 100 links. 10 chains in length and 1 in breadth make an acre, which equals 160 square perches, or 4840 square yards. 1723 cubic inches I cubic foot Fr. cubic metres. •0283 J 27 cubic feet 1 cubic vard -7645 40 ft. of rough timber > j , oad ^ C Vj3j6 oroOtt. hewn ditto j ( 1 4lo/ i 42 cubic feet 1 ton of shipping 11892 By cubic measure marble, stone, timber, masonry, and all artificers' works of length, breadth, and thickness, are measured, and also the contents of all measures of capacity, both liquid and dry. DRY MEASURE cub. in. Fr. litres. 4 gills 1 pint 33 n 0"55U53 2 pints 1 quart 67.2 110107 2 quarts 1 pottle ... 1J4.4 '- -' 214 2 pottles ... 1 gallon... 268.S 4'40428 2 gallons... 1 peck 537.6 8"8C856 4 pecks 1 bushel ...2150.42 35S 4 bushs 1 cooin 4.977 feet 140'9372i 2 cooms .... 1 quarter .. 9. 954 ditto .... 281 "8 1 443 49.770 ditto .... 5 qrs. fl wey > t or load j 1409-37216 2 wevs ."l last ....... 99.540 ditto 281874432 The Winchester bushel, which is the legal mea- sure for corn and seeds, should be 18£ inches wide, and 8 inches deep. Its contents are therefore, as above, 2150'42 inches. Corn and seeds are measured in the port of London by striking the bushel from the brim, with a round piece of light wood, about 2 inches in diameter and of equal thickness from one end to the other. All other dry goods are heaped. There are two other bushels of different shapes, but containing the same quantity ; the one, called the drum bushel, generally used for the London granaries, is 13 inches in diameter, and 16.2 inches in depth ; and the other, called the farmer's bushel, is chiefly used in the country, its diameter is 15.375, and depth 11589 inches. These shapes are chosen for the convenience of working and loading ; but the shallow vessel or standard, to avoid the effects of pressure in filling, which depth might cause. The dimensions or the imperial standard bushel are as follows : — The outer diameter 19f inches, and the inner diameter 18j The depth is 8|, and the height of the cone, for heaped measure, is 6 inches. Hence the contents of the stricken imperial bushel are 2218 192 cubic inches, and it is to weigh 80 lb. avoirdupois of water. The contents of the imperial heaped bushel are 28154887 cubic inches. The subdivisions and multiples of this measure are of course in the same proportion. In some markets corn is sold by weight, which is the fairest mode of dealing, but not the most conve- nient in practice. Even where measures are used, it is customary to weigh certain quantities or pro- portions, and to regulate the prices accordingly. The average bushel of wheat is generally reckoned at 60 lb. —of barley 49 lb. — of oats 38 lb. — peas 64, beans 6i, clover 68, rye and canary 53, and rape 48 lb. In some places a load of corn, for a man, is reckoned five bushels, and a cart load 40 bushels. COAL MEASURE. Coals are generally sold by the chaldron, which bears a certain proportion to Winchester measure. 4 pecks 1 bushel. 3 bushels 1 sack. 3 sacks 1 vat. 4 vats 1 chaldron. 21 chaldron 1 score. The coal bushel holds one Winchester quart more than the Winchester bushel ; it therefore contains 2217 6. cubic inches. This bushel must be 19| inches wide from outside to outside, and 8 inches deep. In measuring coals, it is to be heaped up in the form of a cone, at the height of at least 6 inches above the brim according to a regulation passed at Guild- hall in 1806). The outside of the bushel must be the extremity of the cone, and thus the bushel should contain at least 28I4"9 cubic inches, which is nearly equal to the imperial heaped bushel. Hence the chaldron should measure 58.64 cubic feet. The chaldron of coals at Newcastle is not a mea sure, but a weight of S3 cwt., which is found some- times to equal two London chaldrons ; but the common reckoning is, that the keel, which is 8 Newcastle chaldrons, equals 15| London chaldrons. In such comparisons, however, there can be no cer- tainty, as coals not only differ in their specific gra~ vity, but even those of the same quality weigh more, measure for measure, when large, than when broken into smaller parts. — Mortimer's Comma: cial Dictionary, art. Weights and Measures.) UNIFORMITY OF WEIGHTS AND MEASURES IK BRITAIN. The act for this purpose, which came into force in 1826, contains the following clauses which more immediate! v concern the agriculturist : — Standard yard defined as the measure of length.— The straight line or distance between the centres of the two points in the gold studs in the straight brass rod, now in the custody of the clerk of the House of Commons, whereon the words and h r ures " Standard Yard, 1760," are engraved, shad be the original and' genuine standard of that measure of length or lineal extension called a yard ; and the same straight line or distance between the centres of the said two points in the said gold studs in the said brass rod. the brass being of thetemnerature of sixtv-two degrees by Fahrenheit's thermometer, shall be and is hereby denominated the " Imperial Standard Yard,- and shall be the unit or only standard measure ot exten- sion, wherei'rom or whereby all other measures of extension whatsoever, whether the same be lineal, su- perficial, or solid, shall be derived, computed, and ascertained, s. 1. m Standard pound defined weight. — The standard brass weight of one pound troy veight, made in the year 1758, now in the custody of the clerk of the House of Commons, shall be declared to be the oiiginal and genuine standard measure of weight, and such brass weight shall be denominated the imperial stand, ard troy pound, and shall be the unit or onlystardard measure of weight from which all other weigr.ts siiail be derived, computed, or ascertained, s. 4. a 4 »vlv AGRICULTURAL WEIGHTS \M> MEASURER , gallon 1 1 be the measure oj capacity — The standard measure of capacity, at well for liquids »s for dry goods noi measured i» heaped measure, shall be rni usjxon, containing ten pounds aymrdu. ttilled water weighed In air, at the temperature of sixty-two degrees ol Fahrenheit's tnermo- , the barometer being .it thirty Inches . and it measure shall he forthwith made <>j brass, qf such am- i, under the dire turns of the commissioners ol his majesty's treasury; ana such lirass tall be the imperial lUndard gallon, and shall be the unit and ■>nl> standard measure ol capacity, from which all "Hut measures "t c ipacit) to be us id, as w« II for wine, beer, ale, spirits, and all torts of iv goods, n.it measured in heap measure, shall be derived, computed, and ascertained: .,H measures shall be taken in part- '. ights. — The several F.uropean colonies make use of the weights of the states or kingdoms of Europe they belong to. For, as to the aroue of Peru, which weighs twenty-seven pounds, it is evi- dentlv no other than the Spanish arroba, with a little difference in the name. African Weights— As to the weights of Africa, there are few places that have any, except Egypt, and the countries bordering on the Mediterranean, whose weights have been already enumerated among those ..i the ports of the Levant. The island of Madagascar, indeed, has weights, but none that exceed the drachm, nor are they used for any thing but gold and silver. The above information is taken from an elaborate quarto volumes of Dr. Kelly, and the very use- ful Commercial Dictionary of Mortimer It is impossible to turn over the leaves of such a book as Kelly's, without lamenting the time which every commercial man must lose in acquiring, and in Eractising, the art of overcoming the obstacles which not only impede the intercourse of nations, ut open a fertile source for deception and chicanery. How easy it would be for one nation to become acquainted with another, even it they spoke different languages, provided their weights, mea- sures, monies, and all that was done by figure's, were the same! How easy for the three leading powers Of the world, France, Britain, and America, to effect this ! Naturalists in every part of the world js e the same language, and the same names for natural objects, and they accordingly form but one lamily, every member of which, however remotely situated, holds ready communication with all the others How easy for the gnat powers alluded to, "by prospective measures, which would occasion no inconve- nience to anv one, not only to render one description of weights, measures, and monies, universal, but one langu tge ! The establishment in one nation after another of Parochial Institutions, such as those al- ready existing in Wirtemberg and Bavaria, and obliging some one language to be taught to every one in addition to that which was the native tongue, would have the complete effect in two generations. But legislators, al least in Europe, have hitherto been too much occupied with the concerns of their own day and generation to think of futurity; and the policy has too generally been to devise measures which should isolate nations, and separate their interests, "rather than unite "them in one common intercourse, commercial and intellectual. CONTENTS. Preface - List of Contributors - - - Indications and accentuation of Systematic Names - 111 vi Rules for pronouncing Systematic Names List of Books referred to Tables of Weights and Measures List of Engravings vn . viii ■• xix xxxii PART I. AGRICULTURE CONSIDERED AS TO ITS ORIGIN, PROGRESS, AND PRESENT STATE AMONG DIFFERENT NATIONS, GOVERNMENTS, AND CLIMATES. BOOK I. HISTORY ANCIENT OP AGRICULTURE AMONG AND MODERN NATIONS. Chap. I. Page Of the History of Agriculture in the Ages of Antiquity ; or from the Deluge to the Esta- blishment of the Roman Empire, in the Cen- tury preceding the vulgar /Era ... 4 I. Of the Agriculture of Egypt - - 5 II. Of the Agriculture of the Jews, and other Nations of Antiquity - - - 7 III. Of the Agriculture of the Greeks - 9 IV. Of the Agriculture of the Persians, Cartha- ginians, and other Nations of Antiquity - 11 Chap. II. History of Agriculture among the Romans, or from the Second Century B. C. to the Fifth Century of our JEra. - - -12 I. Of the Roman Agricultural Writers - 12 II. Of the Proprietorship, Occupancy, and General Management of Landed Pro- perty among the Romans - - 13 III. Of the Surface, Soil, Climate, and other Agricultural Circumstances of Italy, during the Time of the Romans - - 15 IV. Of the Culture and Farm Management of the Romans - - - - 1C 1. Of the Choice of a Farm, and of the Villa or Farmery - - - . - 16 2. Of the Servants employed in Roman Agri- culture - - - - 18 S. Of the Beasts of Labour used by the Romans - - - - - 21 4. Of the Agricultural Implements of the Romans - - - - 22 5. Of the Agricultural Operations of the Romans - - - - - 24 6. Of the Crops cultivated, and Animals reared by the Romans - - 28 7. Of the General Maxims of Farm Manage- ment among the Romans - - 29 V. Of the Produce and Profit of Roman Agri- culture - - - - 30 VI. Of the Roman Agriculturists, in respect to General Science, and the Advancement of the Art - - - 31 VII. Of the Extent to which Agriculture was carried in the Roman Provinces, and of its Decline - - - - 32 Chap. III. History of Agriculture during the Middle Ages, or from the Fifth to the Seventeenth Cen- tury - - - - 33 I. History of Agriculture in Italy, during the Middle Ages - - - - 33 II. History of Agriculture in France, from the Fifth to'the Seventeenth Century - 34 III. Of the Agriculture of Germany and other Northern States, from the Fifth to the Seventeenth Century - - - 35 IV. History of Agricultuie in Britain, from the Fifth to the Seventeenth Century - 35 1. History of Agriculture in Britain during the Anglo Saxon Dynasty, or from the Fifth to the Eleventh Century - 35 2- Of the State of Agriculture in Britain after the Norman Conquest, or from the Eleventh to the Thirteenth Century - 37 3. History of Agriculture in Britain, from the Thirteenth Century to the Time of Henry \ 111. - - - 39 Page 4. History of Agriculture, from the Time of Henry VIII. to the Revolution in 1688 - 40 V. History of Agriculture in Ultra-European Countries during the Middle Ages - 47 Chap. IV. Present State of Agriculture in Europe - 47 I. Of the present State of Agriculture in Italy - - - - 47 1. Of the Agriculture of Lombardy - 48 2. Of the Agriculture of Tuscany - - 50 3. Of the Agriculture of the Maremmes, or the District of Pestilential Air - 54 4. Of Farming in the Neapolitan Territory, or the Land of Ashes - - - 56 II. Of the present State of Agriculture in Switzerland - - - 58 1. Of the Agriculture of the Swiss Cantons - 58 2. Of the Agriculture of the Duchy of Savoy (S2 III. Of the present State of Agriculture in France - - - - 65 1. Of the Progress of French Agriculture, from the Sixteenth Century to the pre- sent Time - - 65 2. Of the general Circumstances of France, in respect to Agriculture - - 66 3. Of the common Farming of France - 68 4. Of Farming in the warmer Climates of France - - - 70 IV. Of the present State of Agriculture in Holland and the Netherlands - - 72 1. Of the present State of Agriculture in Holland - - - - 72 2. Of the present State ot Agriculture in the Netherlands - - 73 V. Of the present State of Agriculture in Ger- many - - - - 87 1. General View of the Agricultural Circum- stances of Germany - - 87 2. Agriculture of the Kingdom of Denmark, including Greenland and Iceland - 83 3. Of the Agriculture of the Kingdom of Prussia - - - - 90 4. Of the Agriculture of the Kingdom of Hanover - . - - 92 5. Of the present State of Agriculture in Saxony - - - - 91 6. Of the present State of Agriculture in the Kingdom of Bavaria - - 95 7. Of the present State of Agriculture in the Empire of Austria - - 96 VI. Of the present State of Agriculture in the Kingdom of Poland - - 100 VII. Of the present State of Agriculture in Russia - - - 104 VIII. Of the present State of Agriculture in Sweden and Norway. - - 109 IX. Of the present State of Agriculture in Spain and Portugal - - -113 X. Of the present State of Agriculture in Eu- ropean Turkey - - - 121 Chap. V. Modern History and present State of Agricul- ture in the British Isles - - 123 I. Political History of Agriculture in Britain, from the Revolution in 1688 to the pre- sent Time - - - 123 II. Professional History of Agriculture, from the Revolution to the present Time - 125 III. Of the Literature of British Agriculture from the Revolution to the present lime 130 tr CONTENTS. H IV. Oi'tlirK: :■•■, Progress, and present Statr Of V . itfture in Ireland - - I'M (II M- \ I Of the present State ol Agriculture In Ultra. ijiean t louutries - 1 Of the preaent State of Agriculture in A*U 1. 01 tne presenl State of Agrloulture in Asiatic Turkej 2. Of the preaent State of Agriculture In Persia ..... ."5. Oi the present State of Agriculture in In- dependent Tatai y 4. <>i the preaent State of Agrieulture in Arabia - - - - 5. Of the present state of Agriculture in Hindustan i, Ofthe Agriculture of the Island of Ceylon it!) 7. Of the present State ol Agriculture in the Hum. m Empire. inJ.ua, Malacca, Siain, Cochin-China, Tonquin, Japan, &a 8. Of tin- present State of Agrieulture in the Chinese Empire 9. Of the present State of Agriculture in i Itinese ratary, Phibet, and Bootan I i. ( ii the present Mate of Agriculture in the Asiatic islands - - - II. Ol' the i.rc-. in State of Agrieulture ill the Australian Isles - - III. 01 the present state of Agrieulture in Polynesia - - - - IV. Of the present State of Agriculture in Africa - - - - 1. Of the present State of Agriculture in Abyssinia - - 2. Of the present State of Agriculture in Egypt - - - - 3. Of the present State of Agriculture in the Mohammedan States of the North of Africa - - - - - 175 I 7 1 B i ;s 149 143 144 150 155 162 163 165 169 171 171 172 Page i in the present State of Agriculture on the Western < baal ol Anna . . 177 5. 01 the present state of Agriculture at the i ape ol Good Hope - - 178 6. Of the present Si .t.' of Agriculture mi the Eastern Coast of Africa, and in the Afri- can Islands - - - 183 V. Of tin- present Suite of Agrieulture in North America - - - - 1st 1 Of the present state of Agriculture in the United states . . .184 2. Of the present State of Agriculture in Mexico - - - - - 189 3. Ofthe present State of Agriculture in the British Possessions of North America - 191 4. Of the present State of Agriculture in the West India Islands - - - 1!>-' VI. Of the present State of Agriculture in South America - - - 197 BOOK II. AGRICULTURE AS im-lii.m 1:1) BY GEOGRAPHICAL, plnMCAL, CIVIL, AND POLITICAL CIRCUMSTANCES. Chap. I. Agriculture as influenced by Geographical Circumstances - - 203 Chap. II. Agriculture as influenced by Physical Circum. stances - 204 Chap. III. Agriculture as affected by Civil, Political, and Religious Circumstances ... 206 Chap. IV. Of the Agriculture of Britain. - - 207 PART II. AGRICULTURE CONSIDERED AS A SCIENCE. BOOK I. HIE STUDY OK THF. VEGETABLE KINGDOM WITH A VIEW TO AGRICULTURE. Chap. 1. Of the Study of Systematic Botany 20 Chap. II. Vegetable Anatomy, or the Structure and Or. ganisation of Plants - - - 210 I. Of the External Structure of Perfect Plants 210 II. Of tin- External Structure of Imperfect Plants - . . .211 III. Of the Internal Structure of Plants - 213 1. Decomposite Organs ... 213 2. Composite Organs ... 214 3. Elementary, or Vascular, Organs . 215 CHAP..IIL Vegetable Chemistry, or Primary Principles of Plants - - - - 216 I. 1 ompound I'roiiucts - - . 217 II. Simple Products . . -226 Chap. IV. Functions of Vegetables - - -226 I. Germination of the Seed . .227 II Pood ofthe Vegetating Plant - -228 ill. Process of Vegetable Nutrition - .233 IV. Process of Vegetable Developement - 241 V. Anomalies of Vegetable Developement - 245 VI. Of the Sexuality of Vegetables - -249 VII. Impregnation of the Seed VIII. Changes consequent upon Impregnation 251 IX. The Propagation of the Species - - 252 \ Causes limiting the Propagation of the Species - ... 254 XI. Evidence and Character of Vegetable Vi- tality - .... 25a Chap. V. Vegetable Pathology, or the Diseases and Ca- sualties of Vegetable Life ■>. - 258 I Wound? and Accidents - - 258 II. Diseases III. Natural Decay - 259 - 263 Chap. VI. Vegetable Geography and History, or the Dis- tribution of Vegetables relatively to the Earth and to Man - - - - 264 I. Geographical Distribution of Vegetables - 265 II. Physical Distribution of Vegetables - 265 III. Civil Causes affecting the Distribution of Plants - - - - 270 IV. Characteristic or Picturesque Distribution of Vegetables .... -.'71 V. Systematic Distribution of Vegetables - 272 YT. Economical Distribution of Vegetables. . 273 VII. Arithmetical Distribution of Vegetables . 274 VIII. Distribution of theBritish Flora, indige- nous and exotic - - 274 Chap. VII. Origin and Principles of Culture, as derived from the Study of Vegetables - -278 BOOK II. OF THE STUDY OP THE ANIMAL KINGDOM WITH REFERENCE TO AGRICULTURE. Chap. I. Systematic Zoology, &c. Chap. II. Animal Anatomy I. External Anatomy of Animals II. Internal Anatomy of Animals 1. Osseous Structure ot Animals 2. Muscular Structure ol Animals 3. Structure ofthe Nervous System Chap. III. Animal Chemistry; or the Substances which enter into the Composition of the Bodies of Animals - - - 289 . 282 - 283 - 283 - 285 - 286 . 287 - 289 CONTENTS. XXMl Chap. IV. Page Animal Physiology; the Digestive, Circulat- ing, and Reproductive Functions of Animals £92 I. Of the Digestive System - - - L'- II. Of the Circulating System - - -29.3 III. Of the Reproductive S> stem of Animals -293 Chap. V. Animal Pathology ; or the Duration, Diseases, and Casualties of Animal Life . - 295 Chap. VI. On the Distribution of Animals - - 296 Chap. VII. Of the Economical Uses of Animals - - 299 Chap. VIII. Principles of Improving the Domestic Ani- mals used in Agriculture - - 500 1. Objects to be kept in View in the Improve- ment of Breeds - - - - 300 /I. Of the Means of Improving the Breed of Animals - - - 300 III. Of the General Principles of rearing, ma- naging, and feeding Domestic Animals - 306 IV. Of Feeding for Extraordinary Purposes - 309 V. Of the Modes of killing Animals - -310 BOOK III. OF THE STUDY OF THE MINERAL KINGDOM AND THE ATMOSPHERE, WITH REFERENCE TO AGRICUL- TURE. Chap. I. Of Earths and Soils - - - 312 I. Of the Geological Structure of the Globe, and the Formation of Earths and Soils - 312 II. Classification and Nomenclature of Soils - 314 III. Of discovering the Qualities of Soils - 315 1. Of discovering the Qualities of Soils by means of the Plants which grow on them 315 2. Of discovering the Qualities of Soils by Chemical Analysis ... 317 3. Of discovering the Qualities of a Soil me- chanically and empirically - - 318 IV. Of the Uses of the Soil to Vegetables -318 V. Of the Improvement of Soils - - 322 1. Pulverisation - - - 322 2. Of the Improvement of Soils by Com- pression - - - 323 3. Of the Improvement of Soils bv Aeration or Fallowing - "- - 323 4. Alteration of the constituent Parts of Soils - - - - 325 5. Changing the Condition of Lands in re- spect to Water - - - 328 6. Changing the Condition of Lands, in re- spect to Atmospherical Influence - 331 7. Rotation of Crops ... 331 Chap. II. Of Manures - - - 333 I. Of Manures of Animal and Vegetable Origin - - - 333 1. The Theory of the Operation of Manures of Animal and Vegetable Origin - 333 2. Of the different Species of Manures of Animal and Vegetable Origin - - 334 S. Of the Fermenting, Preserving, and Ap- plying of Manures of Animal and Vege- table Origin - - - 341 II. Of Manures of Mineral Origin - - 343 1. Theory of the Operation of Mineral Ma- nures ... - 343 2. Of the different Species of Mineral Ma- nures - - - - 344 Chap. III. Of the Agency of Heat, Light, Electricity, and Water in Vegetable Culture - - 349 I. Of Heat and Light - - - 349 II. Of Electricity - - - 353 III. Of Water - - - 353 Chap. IV. Of the Agency of the Atmosphere in Vegeta- tion - - - - 354 I. Of the Elements of the Atmosphere - 354 Page II. Of the Means of Prognosticating the Wea- ther .... 361 III. Of the Climate of Britain - -367 BOOK IV. OF THE MECHANICAL AGENTS EMPLOYED IN AGRI CULTURE. Chap. I. Of the Implements of Manual Labour used in Agriculture ... 369 I. Tools used in Agriculture - - - 369 II. Instruments - - - - 372 1. Instruments of Labour - -372 2. Instruments of Science - -375 III. Utensils used in Agriculture - - 378 IV. Hand Machines used in Agriculture - 379 Chap. II. and Machines Of Agricultural Implements drawn by Beasts of Labour I. Tillage Implements and Machines 1. Swing Ploughs, or such as are constructed without Wheels - - - 2. Wheel Ploughs - - - 3. Tillage Implements, known as Scarifiers, Scutflers, Cultivators, and Grubbers Tillage Implements of the Hoe Kind Machines for Sowing and Planting Harrows or Pronged Implements for Scratching the Surface Soil, for covering the Seed, and for other Purposes Rollers - V. Machines for laying Land even, and other occasional or anomalous Tillage Ma- chines - - - - Machines for reaping and gathering the Crop - Horse Rakes and Haymaking Machines - Reaping Machines - Machines of Deportation 1. Carts - - - - 2. Waggons - - - - VIII. Machines for threshing and otherwise preparing Corn tor Market IX. Mechanical and other fixed Apparatus, for the Preparation of Food for Cattle, and for grinding Manure 4. II. Ill IV. VI. 1. 2. VII. S9 389 389 397 402 405 408 413 416 419 420 ♦20 421 428 428 433 435 - 440 Chap. III. Edifices in use in Agriculture - - 442 I. Buildings for Live Stock - - 443 II. Buildings as Repositories, and for perform- ing in-door Operations - - 4-19 III. The Farmer's Dwelling-house - -453 I V. Cottages for Farm Servants - - 454 V. Stack-yard, Dung-yard, and other Enclo- sures immediately connected with Farm Buildings - - - - 459 VI. Union of the different F'arm Buildings and Enclosures in a Farmery - 461 Chap. IV. Fences used in Agriculture - - 473 I. Situation or F^mplacement of Fences - 473 II. Different Kinds of Fences - -474 1. Ditch or Drain Fences - - 474 2. Hedge Fences ... 475 3. Compound Hedge Fences - - 480 4. Paling Fences - - - 492 5. Wall Fences - - - 496 Chap. V. Gates and Bridges appropriate to Agriculture - 498 BOOK V. OF THE OPERATIONS OF AGRICULTURE. e- Chap. I. Page 506 Manual Labours and Operations I. Mechanical Operations common to all Arts of Manual Labour - - - 506 II. Agricultural Labours of the simplest Kind 507 III. Agricultural Operations with Plants -510 IV. Mixed Opeiations performed by Manual Labour - - - : >H CONTEN rs r. i (in p. I!. Agricultural Operation* requiring the Aid of Labouring < attic I Operations for the Care of Li ve Stock II Laboun with Cattle on the Soil III. Labours and Operationi w. it ii the Crop, performed with the Aid of Cattle Char III. Scicntifi • ()|>orati<>iis, and Operation! of Order ami general Management - - 533 I ft«e I. Scientific operations required of the Agri- Culturist - - - - 53S I. Measuring relatively to Agriculture - 5: 8, Taking the Leveli oi Burlacea .;. Division and laying out of Lands 4. Estimating Weight, Power, and Quanti- i K i ."■ Estimating the Value of Agricultural La- bour and Materials, Rents and Tillage! - 8, Professional Routine of l-and Surveyors, Appraisers and Valuators, in making up their Plans and Report! II. Operations of Order and Management 535 536 538 539 543 548 PART III. AGRICULTURE AS PRACTISED IN BRITAIN. BOOK I. Of THE VALUATION, PURCHASE, AND TRANSFER OF I LNDBD PRoPEHTV. Chap. I. The different Kind* and Tenures of Landed Pro pe rt y in the British Isles - - 551 I. The Kinds of Landed Property, and its dif- ferent Tenures, in England - - 551 II. The Kind! and Tenures of landed Pro- perty in Scotland • - - 552 III. The Kinds and Tenures of Landed Pro- pel ty in Ireland - - - 552 ClIAP. II. Valuation of Landed Property Chap. III. Purchase or Transfer of Landed Property BOOK II. - 55 557 LAYING OUT, OR GENERAL ARRANGEMENT, OF LANDED ESTATES. Chap. I. Consolidated detached Property - 559 Chap. II. Appropriating Commonable Lands - - 560 I Origin and different Kinds of Commonable Lands - - - - 560 II. General Principles of Appropriating and dividing Commonable Lands - - 562 Chap. III. Choice of the Demesne or Site for the Proprie- tor's Residence - - 565 Chap. IV. Formation and Management of Roads - - 567 I. Different Kinds of Roads - - 568 II I. me of Direction, or laying out of Roads . 570 III. Form and Materials of iloaris - - 574 1. Formation of Roads, and of their Wear or Injury - - - 574 2. M' Adam's Theory and Practice of Road. making - - - - 576 3. Road making, as treated of and practised by various eminent Engineers and Sur- veyon .... 579 I V. Paved Roads - - - 597 V. Milestones, Guide-posts, and Toll gates - 602 VI. Preservation ami Repair of Roads . 605 VII. Railroads - - 61j Chap. V. Formation of Canals - - .616 I. Utility and Rise of Navigable Canals - 616 II. Of discovering the most eligible Route for a Line of Canal - - 617 III. Powers granted to Canal Companies by Government - ■ - 619 IV. Execution of the Works - - 619 (mvp VI. Improvement of Estates bj the Establishment <<( Mill*, Manufactories, Villages, Markets, fcc, ESS Chap. VII. Of Mines, Quarries, Pits, and Metalliferous Bodies - . - ti'^4 Chap. VIII. Establishment of Fisheries - - 629 I. Marine Fisheries - - - 6'J9 II. River, Lake, and other Inland Fisheries - 630 Chap. IX. Plantations and Woodlands I. Soils and Situations which may be most pro- fitably employed in Timber Plantations - II. Trees suitable tor different Soils, Situations, and Climates - - - III. Forming Plantations - - IV. Mixture of Trees in Plantations V. Culture of Plantations 1. General Influence of Culture on Trees 2. Culture of the Soil among Trees 3. Filling up of Blanks or Failures in Plant- ations - - - 4. Pruning and Heading down Trees in Plantations 5. Thinning young Plantations VI. Improvement of Neglected Plantations VII. 'Treatment of Injured and Diseased Trees VIII. Products of Trees, and their Preparation for Use or Sale - IX. Estimating the Value of Plantations and their Products, and exposing them to Sale - 633 633 634 636 641 645 6*5 647 648 648 652 654 655 657 662 Chap. X. Formation and Management of Orchards - 664 I. Soils and Situations most suitable for Or- chards - - - 664 II. Sorts of Trees and Manner of Planting - 665 III. Cultivation of Farm Orchards - 669 IV. Gathering and Keeping of Orchard Fruit - 671 V. Manufacture of Cider and Perry -671 VI. Machinery and Utensils necessary for Cider-making - - - 675 Chap. XL Farm and other Laying out of F'arm and other Cultivable Lands - °7"6 I. Extent or Size of Farm and Cottage Lands 677 II Laving out Farms and Farmeries -677 1 Situation and Arrangement of the Farmery 677_ 2. Laying out Cottages - - - 685 3. Laying out the Farm Lands - - 687 BOOK III. OF IMPROVING THE CULTORABLE LANDS OF AN ESTATE. Chap. I. Draining Watery I-ands - - 690 I. Natural Causes of Wetness in Lands, and the general Theorv of Draining - 690 II. The Methods of Draining Boggy Land - 6tate - - . - 759 L. Steward or Manager of an Estate, and his Assistants - - - 759 II. Land Steward's Place of Business, and what belongs to it - - - 761 Chap. II Duties of Managers of Estates - - 762 I. General Principles of Business considered Relatively to Land Stewardship - - 765 II. Management of Tenants - - 763 1 Proper Treatment of Tenants - - 763 2. Business of letting Farms - - 764 3. Different Species of Tenancy -764 4. Rent and Covenants of a Lease - - 766 5. Receiving Rents . . - 768 III. Keeping and Auditing Accounts 769 BOOK V. 8ELECTI0N, HIRING, AND STOCKING OP HUMS. Chap. I. Page Circumstances of a Farm necessary to be con- sidered by a proposed Tenant I. Climate, in respect to farming Lands II. Soil in respect to farming Lands I I I. Subsoil relatively to the Choice of a Farm IV. Elevation of Lands relatively to Farming - V. Character of Surface in regard to farming Lands - - - - VI. Aspect in regard to farming Lands VII. Situation of Farm Lands in regard to Markets - VIII. Extent of Land suitable for a Farm IX. Tenure on which Lands are held tor Farm- ing . X. Rent - . . . XI. Taxes and other Burdens which affect the Farmer - .. . - XII. Other Particulars requiring a Farmer's Attention, with a View to the Renting of Land - - - 771 771 773 774 775 775 776 776 777 777 777 779 779 Chap. II. Himself, which a selecting Considerations respecting Farmer ought to keep i and hiring a Farm I. Personal Character and Expectations of a professional Farmer II. Capital required by the Farmer Chap. III. Choice of Stock for a Farm - - I. Choice of Live Stock 1. Live Stock for the Purposes of Labour 2. Choice of Live Stock lor the Purposes of breeding or feeding II. Choice of Agricultural Implements, Seeds, and Plants - - III. Choice of Servants - - Chap. IV. General Management of a Farm I. Keeping Accounts - II. Management of Servants III. Arrangement of Farm Labour IV. Domestic Management and personal Ex- penses - - - - BOOK VI. CULTURE OF FARM LANDS. Chap. I. 780 780 781 782 782 782 783 785 788 769 789 795 796 797 98 General Processes common to Farm Lands I. Rotation of Crops suitable to different De- scriptions of Soils - - 798 II. The working of Fallows - - 800 III. General Management of Manures -803 1. Management of Farm-yard Dung • 801 2. Lime, and its Management as a Manure 805 IV. Composts and other Manures - - 807 Chap. II. Culture of the Cereal Grasses . -808 I. Wheat - - - 811 II. live - - - - 821 III. Barley - - - 822 IV. The Oat ... 826 V. Cereal Grasses cultivated in Europe, some of which might be tried in Britain - 828 1. Maize, or Indian Corn - - 829 2. Canary Corn - - 832 3. The Millets - - - 832 4. Rice, and some other Cereal Gramina - 834 Chap. III. Culture of Leguminous Fit Id- Plants, the Seeds of which are used as Food for Man or Cattle - - - - 834 I. The Pea - - - - 833 II. The Bean - - - 838 III. The Tare - - - - 841 IV. Various Legumes which might he culti- vated in British Farming - - 843 XXI CONTENTS. Ciiaf IV. Page Hants cu'tivatcd for their Hoots nr leaves in a mvnt State as Food In Man or tattle Ml I. Tin- 1'. ' - - -8*S II TbeTnrnip III. The Carrot iv. The Parsnep \ rhe Field Beel \ 1 ["he t abbage Trilio - - - 86/ \ 11. Other Planti which might bo rultivatcd in the li'iii- lor their HJoota or Leavi -, aa FoikI lor Man or Cattle, in i recent State 869 Ciivp. v. Culture of Herbage Plants - - 871 I. The (lover Family - - - 871 I I. I.ueern - - - - 877 III. Saintfoin - - - 880 IV. Various Plant* which are or may be culti- vated ai Herbage and for Hay • 883 Chap. VI. Cultivated Grasses - - - 886 I. Tall-growing or Hav Grasses - - 887 1 rail or Hay Grasses of temporary Dura. tion - - - - 887 2. Tall or Hav Grasses of permanent Dura- tion " - - - - 8«9 II. Grasses chiefly adapted for Pasturage 893 III. Genera] View of the Produce, L'-es, Cha- racter, ami Value of the principal Bri- tish Grasses, according to the Result of John Duke of Bedford's Experiments at Wobum - - - 895 Chap. VII. Management of Lands permanently under Grass - - -901 I. Perennial Grass Lands fit for mowing, or Meadow Lands - - -901 II. Permanent Pastures - -905 1. Rich or feeding Pastures - - 905 2. Hilly and Mountainous Pastures - 908 III. Improvement of Grass Lands, by a tem- porary t onversion to Tillage - - 909 1. Gra-s Lands that ought not to be broken up by the Plough - - 909 2. Advantages and Disadvantages of break- ing up Grass Lands - - - 910 3. Breaking up Grass Lands, and afterwards restoring them to Grass - -911 Chap. VIII. Plants cultivated on a limited Scale for various Arts and Manufactures - - -912 I. Plants grown chiefly for the Clothing Arts - 912 1. Flax - - - - 913 2. Hemp - - - - 917 3. The Fuller's Thistle, or Teasel - 918 4 Madder - - - 919 5. Woad - - - -930 & Weld, or Dyer's Weed - - !>-< 7. Bastard Satl'ron - - - 922 8. Various Plants which have been proposed as Substitutes for the Thread and dyeing Plants grown in Britain - -923 II. Plants cultivated lor the Brewery and Dis- tillei v - - - - 923 1. The Hop - - - 924 2. Culture of the Coriander and Caraway - 930 3. Plants which may be substituted for Brewery and Distillery Plants - 930 III. Oil Plants - - - 931 IV. Plants used in Domestic Economy - 933 1. Mustard - - - 9 13 2 Buck-wheat - - - 934 3. Tobacco 4. Other Plants used in Domestic Economy, which are or may lie cultivated in the Fields - - - 942 V. Plants which are are or may be grown in the Fields for Medicinal Purposes - 943 BOOK VII. Till. BCOROW OK UVB slotK AND THE DAIRY. Chap. i. rage The cultivate.l Horse - - -949 I. Varieties of the Horse - - 950 II. Organology or exterior Anatomy of the Horse - - 955 III. The Bonv Anatomy or Osseous Structure of the Horse 1. Osseous Structure of the Head my Anatomy of the Trunk • -964 3. Bonv Anatomy of the Extremities - Hrl 4. General Functions of the Bon j skeleton . • IV. Anatomy and Physiology of the soft Parts 1. Appendages to Bone, the Muscles, and Tendons 2. Blood-vessels of the Horse - - 967 3. Absorbents of the Horse 4. Nerves and Glands of the Horse - 968 5. Integuments of the Horse's Body - 968 6. The Head generally - - - 9 !> 7. The Bar 8. The Eye and its Appendages - - 970 9. The Nose and Sense of Smelling - 971 10. The Cavity of the Mouth 11. The Neck - - - 972 12. The Thorax or Chest - - - 973 13. The Abdomen ... 973 1 i. The Foetal Colt - - - 975 15. The Foot - - - 976 V. Diseases of the Horse - - 977 1. General Remarks on the Healthy and diseased State of the Horse - - 977 2. Inflammatory Diseases of the Horse - 978 3. Diseases of the Head - - 979 4. Diseases of the Neck - - 980 5. The Chest 6. Diseases of the Skin - - - 984 7. Glanders and Farcy ... 985 8. Diseases of the Extremities - - 985 9. Diseases of the Feet ... 9S7 VI. Veterinary Operations - - 989 1. Treatment of Wounds . - 989 2. Balls and Drinks - - - 989 3. Fomentations and Poultices - -989 4. Setons and Rowels - - - 990 5. Blistering and Firing - - 990 6. Clvstering and Phvsicking - -990 7. Castration, Nicking, Docking, &c. - 991 8. Bleeding - - - 991 VII. Veterinary Pharmacopoeia - -991 VIII. Shoeing of Horses - -993 IX. Criteria of the Qualities of Horses for various Purposes • - - 995 X. Breeding of Horses - - - 997 XL Rearing of Horses - - - 999 XII. Training of Horses - - 1000 XIII. The Art of Horsemanship - .1003 XIV. Feeding of Horses - - luu4 XV. Stabling and Grooming of Horses - 1006 X V I. Management and Working of Horses - 1007 1. Management and Working of Race Horses - - -1007 2. Management and Working of the Hunter 1009 3. Working and Management of Riding Horses - . - 1009 4. Horses in Curricles and Coaches - 1010 5. Working of Cart, Waggon, and Farm Horses - - - 1010 945 Chap. II. The Ass 1012 Chap. III. The Mule and Hinny, Hybrids of the Horse and Ass - - - - 1013 Chap. iX. Marine Plants used in Agriculture Chap. X Weeds or Plants injurious to those cultivated in Agriculture - - 947 Chap. IV. Neat or Horned Cattle - - -1014 I. The Ox - - 1014 1. Varieties and Breeds of the Bull - 1014 2. Criteria of Cattle for various Objects and Purposes - - - 1019 3. Breeding of Horned Cattle - - 1<>20 4. Rearing of Homed Cattle - .1181 5. Fattening Calves by Suckling - .1023 6. Fattening Horned "Cattle - - 1024 7. Management of Cows kept lor the Dairy .... 1025 CONTENTS. Page 8. Working of Homed Cattle - - 10-'9 9. Anatomy ano Physiology of the Bull and Cow - '- - 1031 10 Diseases of Horned Cattle - - 1032 II. The Butt'aio - - - 1035 Cha<\ V. The Dairv and its Management - - 10S5 I. Chemical Principles ol Milk, and the Proper- ties of the Milk of different Animals - 1036 II. The Dairy House, its Furniture and Uten- sils ... 1037 III. Milking and the general Management of Milk - - - - 1040 IV. Making and Curing of Butter - - 10+1 V. Process of Cheese-making - - 1013 VI. Catalogue of the different Sorts of Cheeses and other Preparations made from Milk 1045 Chap. VI. The Sheep ... - 1049 I. Varieties of Sheep - - - 1049 II. Criteria of Properties in Sheep - - lti52 HI. Breeding of Sheep - -1053 IV. Rearing and general Management of Sheep - - - 1055 1. Rearing and Management of Sheep on rich grass and arable Lands - - 1056 2. Rearing and general Management of Sheep on Hilly and Mountainous Dis- tricts, or what is generally termed Store Sheep Husbandry - 1058 V. Folding of Sheep ' - - - 1061 VI. Of Fattening Sheep and Lambs -1062 VII. Probable Improvement to be derived from Crosses of the Merino Breed of Sheep - - - - 1063 VIII. Anatomy and Physiology of Sheep .1064 IX. Diseases of Sheep - - 1064 Chap. VII. The Swine .... 1067 I. Varieties of the Common Hog - - 1068 II Breeding and Rearing of Swine - -1069 Page III. Fattening of Swine . . 1070 IV. Curing of Pork and Bacon . . 1070 V. Diseases of Swine - - - 1071 Chap. VIII. Of the Goat, Rabbit, Hare, Dormouse, Deer, and various other Animals, that are or may be subjected to British Agriculture - - 1071 Chap. IX. Animals of the Bird Kind employed in Agri- culture .... 1083 I. Poultry Houses and their Furniture and Utensils - - - 1083 II. Gallinaceous Fowls, their Kinds, Breeding, Rearing, and Management - - 1084 III. Anserine or Aquatic Fowls - - 1001 IV. Diseases of Poultry - - R95 V. Birds of Luxury which are or may be cul- tivated by Farmers ... 1095 Chap. X. Fish and Amphibious Animals subjected to Cultivation - - - 1100 Chap. XI. Insects and Worms which are or may be sub- jected to Culture - - - 1104 Chap. XII. Animals noxious to Agriculture I. Noxious Mammalia II. Birds injurious to Agriculture III. Insects injurious to Agriculture 1. Physiology of Insects 2. Arrangement or Classification of Insects 3. Insects injurious to live Stock 4. Insects injurious to Vegetables 5. Insects injurious to Food, Clothing, &c. 6. Operations for subduing Insects IV. Worm-like Animals injurious to Agri culture 1108 1108 1112 1112 1112 1113 1114 1115 1118 1119 . 1120 PART IV. STATISTICS OF BRITISH AGRICULTURE. BOOK I. OF THE PRESENT STATE OF AGRICULTURE IN ' BRITISH ISLES. Chap. I. Different Descriptions of Men engaged in the Practice or Pursuit of Agriculture I. Operators, or serving Agriculturists II. Commercial Agriculturists III. Agricultural Counsellors, Artists, or Professors . - - IV. Patrons of Agriculture 1121 1121 1122 1123 1123 Chap. II. Different Kinds of Farms in Britain relatively to the different Classes of Society who are the Occupiers - - - - 1124 Chap. III. Topographical Survey of the British Isles respect to Agriculture I. Agricultural Survey of England II. Agricultural Survey of Wales III. Agricultural Survey of Scotland IV. Agricultural Survey of Ireland in - 1125 - 1125 . 1173 . 1178 - 1198 Chap. IV. Literature and Bibiiogaphy of Agriculture - 1206 I. Bibliography of British Agriculture - - 1206 II. Bibliography of Agriculture in Foreign Countries .... 1214 1. Bibliography of French Agriculture - 1214 Calendarial Index Glossarial Index General Index i Bibliography of German Agriculture - 1219 Bibliography of Italian Agriculture - 1221 Bibliography of the Agriculture of other Countries of Europe - - 1222 Agricultural Bibliography of North Ame- rica - - * 1 *-3 Chap. V. Professional Police and Public Laws relative to Agriculturists and Agriculture - - 122.3 BOOK II. OF THE FUTURE PROGRESS OF AGRICULTURE IN BRITAIN. Chap. I. Improvement of Agriculture, by refining the Taste of the Purchasers of its Products, and the Knowledge of Agricultural creasing Patrons - 1225 Chap. II. Improvement of Agriculture, by the better Education of those who are engaged in it as a Profession - - - - I. Degree of Knowledge which may be at- ' tained by Practical Men, and general Powers of the human Mind as to Attainments II. Professional Education of Agriculturists - III. Conduct and Economy of an Agricul- turist's Life - . 1233 - 1241 . 1248 1226 1226 1228 1229 LIST OF ENGRAVINGS, ARRANGED ACCORDING TO THE SUBJECTS. Thoso marked f are chiefly of historical interest ; those marked * are considered the best of their kind. 5 38 152 481 641 651 1170 24 182 1197 369 369 712 725 4s 1 710 481 712 725 1170 712 No. Page No. Picks and Mattocks. 2 t Primeval pick <>f Egypt 25 t Pick of the ancient Britons 124 t Pick* <>r Pick hoes of Java 46o * The planter** foot-pick 590 6 * The planting-mattock 590 c * The planter's adze 1115 a, b Grubbing-mattocks of Devonshire Spades. 14 t The Roman spade ... 155 + The Bushman's spade 1136 t The caschrom or Highland spade 210 The Flemish spade 211 * The turf spade ... 661 * Draining-spades 679, 680 * Irritating-spades 469 b * The hedger's spade 655 a The semicylindrical draining-spade Shovels and Scoops. 459 * The ditcher's shovel 661 d * The drainer's shovel 6S0 a, ft* Irrigation shovels 1115 c The Devonshire paring-shovel 661 a, b, c * Draining-scoops 680 c * The irrigator's scoop Dibbles. Page - 112 . 372 58 725 856 596 Forks. 25, 26, 27 t Forks of the Ancient Britons 682 c * The irrigator's fork 753 * Forks for spreading dung 548 * The road-maker's fork Drags or Hacks, and Pronged Hoes. 7"2 * A light dung drag - - .856 756 * A turnip-honk, or pronged hoe - - 859 215 * A three-pronged double hoe - - 370 282 * The pronged hoe and turnip chopper . 386 Rakes. 25 t Rake of the Ancient Britons 38 212 * The English enrn-rake - - 370 213 * The East Lothian corn-rake - .370 214 * The daisy rake - ... 370 Hoes. 121 c + The hoe of Ceylon - - - 149 124 4. c t The hoes of Java - - - 152 215 * The double hoe, with a pronged blade 370 216 Ducket's hoes - - - - 371 169 a The common Dutch hoe ... 485 217 * The improved Dutch hoe - .371 218 * Knight's improved thrust-hoe - - 371 219 * The Spanish draw-hoe ... 371 513 The Dutch wheel-hoe - - - 509 590 rf Sang'j plantation-hoe - - - 6+7 760 * The best turnip hand-hoe - - 858 Weeding Implements. 250 • Baker's thistle-extirpator - .371 S21 a * The Scotch thistle-drawers - - -371 221 6 * The Havre weeding-pincers - - 371 Rope-ttoislers. 222 The common twisting-crook - - 372 £23 • The improved twisting-crook - - 378 91 The Swedish dibbling-board 224 * The double corn-dibble Scythes. 21 t Italian scythe and scythe stone of the middle ages - ... 33 25 t 26 t Scythes of the Ancient Britons - 38 49 The Brabant cradle scythe ... 69 fil The great Brabant sevthe - - 83 60 * The Hainault scythe - . - 83 225 * The improved Hainault scythe • - 372 226 * The improved cradle scythe - .373 Rea]iing.hooks. 6 t The reaping-hook of Egypt - - 7 25 t 27 t Ancient British reaping-hooks - 38 121 i t The reaping-hook of Ceylon - - 149 125 a, b t Reaping-hooks of Java - - 152 227 * The improved reaping-hook - - 373 Boring Instruments. 228 * The stack-borer - 238 * 239 * 241 1 * Good's improved well-borers 377, 241 * Busby's quicksand borer 242 * The peat borer - 662 The common draining-borer 663 * The horizontal boring-machine - 708 * The root borer for rifting roots by gun- powder - ... 704—707 Stone borers, or jumpers for blasting stones - 373 378 378 378 712 713 744 743 Hedge-bills and Pruning.axes, and ground Knives. 36 t The pruning-hook of the middle ages - 53 121 nt The jungle-hook of Ceylon - - 149 121 b t Thepruning-axe of Ceylon - - 1 125 c to g + The pruning-hooks of Java - - 229 a * The Berwickshire hedge-bill or hedgc- sc imitar .- 229 c * The bill-hook - 229 rf* The dressing-hook . - - 229 e * The lopping-hook - 229 ft * The hedge axe - - 459 d * The hedge switching-bill 469 e* Stephens's hedge-cutting bdl 469 /* Stephens's hedge-axe 661 <•* The drainer's sod knife - 681 * The turf knife - - 6S2 a * The water scythe .... 682 b * The water-hook - - - - 152 374 374 374 374 374 485 485 485 712 725 725 725 Level Instruments. 234 * The common road-level 233 * 1'arker's level 235 a * The American level 235 b * The square level 235 c * The object staff 235 d to h * The levelling staff - - 549 * Telford's road-level - - 677 a * Brown's irrigator's portable level 678 * The compass-level Hand-Hummelling Implement. 405 * The hummelling-roller 406 The hummelling-beater 375 375 S76 376 376 5'*: 725 725 4|n 440 LIST OF ENGltAVINGS. XXXIII Nu Page Miscellaneous Implements and Instruments. 230 * The woodman's scorer - . S74 23 1 * 232 * Potato-set scoops ... .'574 2-36, 237 * Hunter's odometer ... 376 59S * Barking instruments - - - 659 699 * Broad's callipers for measuring standing timber .... 653 703 * Callipers for raising stones - - 7V> 600 * Hogers's dendrometer ... 663 708 * The blasting screw for rending roots of trees - - ... 7+1 892 * Sheep crooks - ... 1057 870 * Syringe and enema tubi-s for relieving horses, cattle, sheep, and swine . 1031 838 * The fleam for bleeding horses - . 991 S66 * Ring for fastening cattle ... 1030 867 * Yoke and bow for oxen ... 1030 Miscellaneous Utensils. 27 t The ancient British harvest-horn - 38 1119 (i Cornish dung panniers ... 1171 1119 e Cornish faggot and sheaf corn panniers 1171 243 * The corn-screen - - - - 378 244 * The iron corn-basket - - - 378 2+5 * The seed-carrier - ... 378 246 * Jones's corn and seed drier - - 379 811 Barrel for blanching endive - - 942 977 * The turnip beetle-net - - -1120 978 * Curtis's lime-duster ... -1120 * Utensils for Poultry. 926 a, h, c Poultry coops .... 1084 926 5 * The earth hand-barrow . . 380 256 The dung hand-barrow . . 380 257 * The improved dressing machine - 380 258 * The hand threshing-machine - . 380 259 * The maize sheller . . .381 260 * Marriott's improved maize separator - 381 1120 The box barrow of Cornwall . .1172 Handmills. 261 * \ hand flour-mill for grinding maize . 381 734 The maize sheller ... 831 262 * A hand bolting-machine - - 381 263 * The furze bruiser . . . 382 266 * The root breaker or bruiser - - 383 267 * The corn bruiser ... 383 268 * The potato flour-mill ... 383 269 * The chaff-cutter . . .384 281 * The turniji-slicer . . 386 Weighing and Draught Machines. 276 * The weighing-cage - . 385 2"<7 * Weir's cattle weighing-machine . 385 279 * Smith's potato-weighing machine . 386 278 * The sack-weighing machine - - 3^5 280 * Ruthven's farmer's steelyard . . 386 272 * The hay-weighing machine - . 384 274 * Finlayson's draught-machine . . 385 275 * Braby's draught-machine ... 385 No. Page Hand-drills, Dihhling and Sowing Mai /tines. 281 * The common hand-drill - . 387 287 * The hand turnip-drill . . 388 28 i * Coggins's corn-dibbler - . . 587 2'3 * Plunknet's bean or potato dibbler - 387 285 * The broadcast sowing-machine . . 387 Traps for Vernnn. 290 * Field rat.trap . - 38S 291 * Improved rat-trap . - - 388 292 Wooden mole-traps - - - 388 964, 965 * Paul's rattery ... 1110,1111 177 270 273 288 289 243 750 872 767 768 *» 409 705, 987 9 11 12 13 22 23 38 50 51 74 89 90 97 100 109 113 119 121 131 294 295 296 297 29S 299 300 301 302 303 304 305 306 1130 Miscellaneous Hand Machines. t The whin-bruiser of Britany -272 * The hay-binder ... * The rope-twister - ... * The hand turnip-roller . - - Doxat's mechanical power * An improved grindstone . - - Machine for washing potatoes The gin-wheel potato-wa< Pearson's pipe draining-plough - 710 Prungcd Tillage Implement*. 322 * Wilkie's parallel adjusting-brake - 40'! 323 Wilkie's improved prongs for brakes ex- plained - - ... 403 324 * Finlayson's cultivator and harrow - 403 721 * Kirkwood'l grubber ... 803 325 Weir's improved cultivator - - 404 326 The Scotch cultivator or grubber - 404 327 Parkinson's cultivator - - - 404 !&8 Hayward's cultivator - - 405 Horse-hoes and Drill- Harrows. 880 * Wilkie's horse-hoe and drill-harrow - 405 331 ** Finlayson'i Belf-cleaniug horso-hoe and drill-harrow - 406 332 * Blaikie's inverted horse-hoe - - 406 333 The Scotch horse-hoe - - - 407 334 Henry'i improved icarifier - - 407 S35 Amos's horse-hoe and harrow - - 407 3:3<) 1'he horse-hoe and castor wheel - 407 337 The thistle hoe, or hoe scythe - - 408 982 A icuffler used in Essex - - 1129 995 A drill hoe used in Worcestershire - 1142 Horse Machines for sowing and planting. 838, 339 Cooke's corn-drill and horse-hoe 408, 409 340 The Norfolk lever-drill - - ■ - 409 341 * Morton's improved grain-drill - 409 342 * The improved bean-drill - - 410 343 The horsebean dibhler - - - 410 S44, 345 * The Northumberland two-row tur- nip drill - - - - 411 346 * The Northumberland one-row turnip drill 411 347 ** Weir's manuring one-row turnip drill 412 722 * * The improved broad-cast sowing- machine - - - 809 Watering Machines. 348 * Young's drill.waterer - - 413 362 The watering-roller - - 418 569 * The road water-barrow ... 610 Harrotrs. 124 f Harrow of the Singalese - - 152 32). 349 Principles on which harrow prongs a»c formed 403. 413 3W * The Berwickshire harrow - - 414 351 The angular-sided harrow - - 414 795 1 he gran-ground harrow ... 906 352 • The grass-seed harrow . - 414 353 The common brake ... 415 354 * The gTuhber, or levelling-harrow . 415 355 » Morton's revolving brake-harrow - 415 356, 357 Gray's wet-weather harrow - 416 358 The bush harrow ... 416 518 The improved single harrow - - 528 565 The road-lmrrow ... 608 990 Circular harrows ... 1136 1003 * An excellent harrow used in Derby, shire - - - - 1152 W-'Vcr?, Cutters, and Scrapers. 12! a, h t gcrauffx of Ceylon - - - 149 559 * The loaded roller - - - 417 363 The furrow r Her - - - 418 3<8 The roller and water.bos - - 418 3o4, S6S * The pressing-plough . - 418 360 Hartlett's cutting rollei or cultivator - 417 366 Brown's furrow cross-cutler . - 418 .',< /. 1'he road roller - - - 608 567, 568 * Boase's road scraper and sweeper 608, 609 620 Riddle's road-maker - - - 611 709 Peat rollers - - - 7*6 No. Levelling Machines. 69 The Mouldebaert or Flemish leveller 367, 368 * The Scotch land-leveller 369 The improved Flemish leveller Horse- Hakes, and Hny-viaking Machine.'.. 370 The Norfolk horse-rake 371 • Weir's Improved hay or corn rake $14 * Salmon's hay tedder improved by Weir 373 The hay sweeper - - - Page 8S 419 - 419 420 421) 421 42! Heaping Machines. 16 f A Roman reaping machine 375 Smith's reaping machine 376, 377 * Bell's reaping-machine 37S * Gladstone's bean reaper 379 The clover-pod reaper Carts. - 26 - 422 - 42a 425 - 427 . 427 55 39 f The modern Roman cart 48 t The gaimbarde, or one-horse hay and wood cart of Paris - . 6P 78 t Cart of Livonia - - 108 103 f The cart of Albania - - 122 1119 t Cornish sledges - - -1171 380 — 383 Principles respecting wheels and axles, as applied to one-horse carts 428,429 386. 388. 390, 391, 392 Principles of adjusting draught and drags - - 4.0. 432, 433 384 The Scotch one. horse cart - - 450 385 The Scotch corn.cart - - - 430 386 The Scotch two-horse cart, with adjusting traces - - - 430 387 Somerville's drag cart - - 4>1 1008, 1009 Simple carts in use in Yorkshire - 1158 Waggons. 62 t The Flemish grand waggon 65 t The old Danish waggon 67 t '1'he Hungarian travelling waggon 68 t The Hungarian agricultural waggon - 75 t A Polish waggon ... 149 f Dutch waggon of the Cape of Good Hope - 1118 The Cornwall harvest waggon 395, 394 Batideley's waggon with bent axle - 395 * The Berkshire waggon 396 Rood's waggon - - - 397,398 Gordon's one-horse waggon * Threshing Machines. 17 f The Roman threshing machine 32 t Threshing-rollers of modern Italy 399, 400 * Meikle's two-horse threshing machine . - - - 401 * Meikle's water threshing machine 402 * Meikle's water and horse threshing machine . - - - 984 * A threshing machine driven by water Smut and Hummclling Machines. 403 Hall's smut machine ... 404 Mitchell's hummelling machine Cider and Oil Mills impelled by Horses or Water. 83 88 96 97 102 180 1171 433 4i4 434 435 26 49 437 488 4.38 1130 439 440 - 1 . 1 157, 675 675 676 141 117 158 160 602 Common cider-mill 603 * Improved cider-mill 604 French cider-mill 994 The cider-press 95 t The olive-oil mill of Spain 128, 129 t Oil-mills of China 13; t Water oil-mill of China Miscellaneous Horse Machines. 98 The Noria, or bucket-wheel of the Moors 119 374 Snowden's leaf collector - - 4-1 565 Harriott's road harrow - . - boa 566 Beatson's road roller or protector for common carts - - - ™ s 567 * 568 * Boase's road scraper and sweeper W 8, 609 569 The improved road-waterer - - 610 570 571 Biddle's machine for repairing roads hit 592', 593 Sleuart's machine for transplanting large trees - - - MJ LIST OF ENGRAVINGS. xxxv Ho. Pa 8 e Miscellaneous Machines impelled by Water. 44 t The NorU of the Alps ... 64 S04— 206 The Persian wheel of Blair-Drum- inond ... - 326 Fixed Apparatus. 40" * A cattle food-steaming machine - 441 597 * Boiler for distilling the spray of trees - 607 934 * Bonnemain's apparatus for hatching eggs by hot water - - 1037 Portable Structures for Corn or Forage. SID * The stack guard - - - 532 520 * The stacking stage ... 533 1136 Structures for drying hay and corn in use in Argyleshire ... 1197 79 t The Russian roofed frame for drying corn in the sheaf - - - 1U8 Farmeries or Homestalls. 123 t A Singalese farmery - - 150 175 t An Alpine farmery of Norway . - 205 55, 56 t A Flemish farmery - . - 74, 75 418 * An octagon corn farmery, ground plan and isometrical views, designed and drawn by J. C. L. in 1820 - - 449 419 * A rectangular farmery, ground plan and isometrical view, designed and drawn by J. C. L. in 1820 - - 450 420 * Circular farmery, ground plan and isometrical view, designed and drawn by J. C. L. in 1S20 - - . 4.% 443 * Waistell's farmery for a grazing farm in a hilly country ... 46t 444 * Waistell's arabie and grazing farmery 466 445 Marshal's octagon farmery . . 467 416 Beatson's small farmery - - - 468 447 * A Berwickshire farmery . . 468 448 * A proprietor's farmery with bailiff's house .... 469 419 * A very commodious farmery . -470 450 * A very complete farmery - . 471 451, 452 * Waistell's large farmery - . 472 605 * Fearn farmery with steam-power threshing machine ... 679 606 * Knolwell farmery - - - 680 607, 608 * A Middlesex farmery, designed by J. C. L. - - - - 681 609, 610 Farmerv for a hav farm in Middlesex, designed by J. C. L. - - - 682 611, 612 * A corn and stall feeding farmery, designed by J. C. L. - - - 683 613 * A farmery for a meadow farm, designed by J. C L. - - - - 684 614, 615 * A farmery for a turnip farm . 684, 685 loll A Northumberland farmery . - UHI 1112 A Cheshire farmery ... 1154 1116,1117 A farmery in" Cornwall ... 1171 Farm-houses. 35 ■f A farm-house in Tuscany - - 51 419 (18 to 21 * Position of the farm-house relatively to the farmery explained . 450 422, 423 Farm-houses of the lowest class . 453 424 * 425 * Small farm-houses - - - 454 986, 987 An octagonal farm-house, erected by Francis, Duke of Bedford . - 1132 988 A square farm-house, erected by Francis, Duke of Bedford - - - 1133 998 * A farm-house of the Marquess of Staf- ford's in Shropshire ... 1145 1132 A farm-house combining an inn, erected by the Marquess of Stafford in Suther- land 1194 Cottages. S3 A Swedish log cottage - - .110 104 + A Hungarian cottage ... 123 139 t Hut of the Arabs - - - - 1"3 84 t Circular huts of the Laplanders - - 111 148 t Mud huts of Nubia - - - 175 141 t Straw huts of Egypt . . 175 146 f Heed huts of the Foulahs - - 177 150— 152 f Huts of the Hottentots - . 1*1 160 t A mericari cottage built of logs . . 189 169 t Brazilian shelter - - .200 431 An economical stair for cottages - - 457 ♦22, 423 Cottages approaching to the character of farm-houses ... 453 b No. Page 426 * 427 * Cottages for farm-servants . . 455 428 * A double cottage for farm-labourers - 456 429 * * Waistell's double cottage with cow. houses ..... 456 430 * * Another double cottage by Waistell 456 4.32 * 433 * Gothic cottages by Holland - 458 434 * An ornamental cottage, erected by Lord Penryn . . - - 458 435 * An economical double cottage, designed by J. C. L. - - - - 458 616 * An economical double cottage - - 685 617 * A labourer's cottage with cow-house and piggery - ... 686 618 * A good mechanic's cottage - - 686 619 A group of three cottages - - - 686 620 An ornamental Gothic cottage for a la- bourer - ... 686 621 An Italian cottage ... 686 622 An entrance lodge to a farm - - 686 981 A cottage for a small farmer - . 1129 991 A cottage erected in Berkshire - - 1139 1002 A cottage erected in Staffordshire - 1148 1122 A cottage in North Wales - - 1174 1125 A cottage in Berwickshire - - 1181 1126 A cottage in Ayrshire ... 1185 1129 Two cottages in West Lcthian - -118" 1138 1 A cabin in King's County, Ireland . 1200 Buildings or other fixed Structures for Horses, Cattle, and Implements. 410 Trevises or partitions ... 444 1004 * A mounted crib for hay, ill use in the field in Derbyshire - - - 1152 1113 A rustic shed or shelter - - -1165 1121 The cow or cattle feeding house in Corn. wall 1172 421 Open cart or cattle shed - - 452 See the details of the Farmeries. 411 * Cattle hummels - - - 445 412 Section of Harley's cow-house - .446 413 * Calf-pens ... - 44*1 421 Open cattle-shed for fields - -452 865, 866 Fastenings for cattle - 1030 868 A shoeing-stall ... 1030 Buildings or other fixed Structures for Cows and the Dairy. See p. xxxix. Buildings or other fixed Structures for Sheep and SwtTie. 416 A sheep-house and dove-cot combined - 449 891 * I nclosure for washing sheep - - 1057 895 — 897 Rustic sheep-houses by Kraft - 1063 11'8 A rustic sheep-house ... 1197 414 Harley's pigsties - - - 447 Fixed or Portable Structures for Poultry, Pigeons, Rabbits, $c. 110 t Pigeon-houses of Persia - - 141 415 * Section for general poultry-house - 448 416 A dove-cot ami sheep-house combined - 449 908, 9oo Bird-cages .... 11(30 47 t Elevated hen-roost of France 69 Fixed or Portable Structures for Bees. 417 The bee-house - - - 449 960 The chained hive - - .1106 961 * The Polish hive ... 1106 Portable Structures for Cattle or Sheep. 796 Portable shelter - - - - 908 fH A {Mvtablc hay-rack ... 1061 883 Wakefield's portable bridge - . - 1130 Fundings or Fixed Structures for Corn or Forage. 122 + A Singah*e threshing-floor - - 150 436 * ltie common rick-stand - - 40) 437 * The cast-iron rick-stand ... IfiO X \ \ V I LIST OP KN(i HAYINGS. No, Vi" W'aistcll's circular ric'<.<-(and - - !■•" ■».(•■ Per lim!-.i ■ ;i!iil inn nck.sI.iniJ - - +.1 MO 'Hi <■• ■inn!.;, '..in* Of biriis, illustrative Irs! prim iples . - - VU ■ — -. * — i - : i racks tor drying corn - U3 riii- Kussiau kiln for drying corn in the thcal .... 888 hineJdbu. S7'> Booker') limekiln - - - ' 581— v, MetiteaUi'l limekilns - - •■- 581 Heatiiurn's liine-kiln and coke oven - u.s MiseeUaneout Bw'ldmgi or Structure*, Landscapes, and Diagi am ., , !,:jiy of Historical Interest. 1 f Sfount Ar . - - 5 f Rain ng water from the Mile Id A Roman villa and ita environs, accord- to c.i-tii - 41 Arrangement! in the Lake Facino for breeding oysters ... 45 Hanoi France, showing its climate 66 t A post-house, combining a f.irm, situ- ated on the Frische HotT. between Memcl ami Kiinigsberg in Prussia - 72 t A post-house and farm in Poland 73 f A Jewish village in the south of Poland 76 t A Russian \ ill/ 77 t A tannery in the British style in the neighbourhood of Moscow 80 t A church and mountain scenery in Norwa] - . 84 t Lapland huts - - 102 t The plain of Thessaljr ... 106 f Buschire and its territory 120 A corn-mill in Penang ... 126 t A Chinese village 134 t Villa of Thibet 144 f Camps of the nomadic agriculturists of Morocco .... 157 t Small English villa or cottage ornee . 1(52 t A West Indian overseer and his maid 172, 173 t Stedman's cottage and sleeping- place while at Surinam 176 + The Sunday dance of Norway 201 t View in Mexico - - - - 11.34 i View of Dunrobin house in Sutherland 1195 1114 t The D-rtiuoor depot for prisoners of •far 1169 Live Fences. 455 The double ditch and hedge between - 475 457, 458 Pruning and repairing old hedges - 479 if,2 — U>7 Diagrams illustrating the art of planting hedges 468 Hedge drains 47m — 173 Illustrative diagrams 476 Protecting young hedges 4T7 Cutting down an old hedge 402, 483 The poplar or willow fence 1 6 19 57 67 R9 100 101 106 1!•<; Pruning' hedge-row trees - - 655 597 Distilling spray for pyolignous acid - 657 593 Barking instruments ... 65') 599,600 Timber measures ... 66! 717, 713 Planting irregular grcunds - - 754 Fruil Trees. 601 Portrait* of five sorts of standard pear trees .... 667 Operations 1131 The Marquess of Stafford's estate in Sutherland - - - HI'* Plans of Farms. 623 * A newly inclosed farm 712 A farm in Norfolk - - - 713, 714 A farm in Middlesex, laid out by J. C. L. 715, 716 A grass farm in Middlesex 719, 720 A hill farm in Berkshire 893 A store sheep farm - 980 A seed farm in Essex - 1007 A cottage farm in Derbyshire 1123 Cottage farms in North Wales 689 751 752 753 755 1059 1189 1156 1.74 Plans of tillages. 577 The village of Bridekirk 578 Village sea-port 118.! A fishing village in Stitheiland 150. + 153 Villages of the Hottentots 170 A Surinam village . 623 - 624 - 1195 . 181,1*2 LIST OF ENGRAVINGS. XXXV'.] No. Pa S e Road-making and Roads. 534, 535 Sections ... - 5fi8, 569 545, 546, 547, ami 650 Sections - 592, 593, 594. 597 5i6 Field or farm roads - - 569 537 Street roads with stone tracks - - 569 5.38 Road over a hill - - - 573 539 Leverage of the feet of animals - 57) 540 Leverage of wheels - 57s 541 Locomotive table for breaking stones - 590 542 Gauge ring for the size of stones - - 590 54 i Hand-barrow measure for broken stones 590 544 Wire-guard for the faces of stone- breakers ..- - 590 548, 549 Implements ... - 596 551 — 55~> Stone railways for roads of different kinds .... 598, 599 556—559 572 Different modes of paving 601,602. 612 563 Comparative effect of broad anil narrow wheels on roads - 605 564 Effect of heavy waggons - - - 607 565 — 570 Machines for repairing oi cleaning roads - - - 608—611 Railroads. 573 Railroad carriage ... 614 574 Flat railways ... - bio Milestones, lluide-posts, and Toll-gales. 560 An improved milestone ... 603 561 Improved guide-posts ... 604 562 Edgware toll-house and gate - - 604 619, 620 693—696 - 698, 699 - 700, 701 - 701 - 703 . 704 - 70.", 7' 6 707, 708, 709 - 70S - 709, 710 - 710 - 711 - 711 - 711 boring - 712, 713 Canals. 575, 576 Sections Draining and Drains. 624—628 Plans and sections 629 — 631 Plans and sections 633—635 Plans and sections 636 Section of a drain 637 Section of a conduit drain 638 — 640 Essex draining 641, 642 Sections ... 643 — 65-' Different kinds of drains - 646, 647* Draining tiles 653 — 655 * Draining implements 656 Pearson"s draining-plough 658 The Cheshire turf drain 659 The mole drain 660 Cartwheel draining 661—663 Draining implements and machines . Embanking. 661 — 669 Sections of banks 670 Sea wall - 671 — 673 Protecting river banks, and chang- ing the course of rivers - -719 — 721 674 — 676 Dams, heads, or banks - - 722 Irrigation. 677 — 682 Implements and instruments - 725 683 Sluices - - - - 684 — 687 Examples of flooded land - 72! Ponds. 688 Section of a circular pond 735 Plans and sections of field ponds - Boring fur Water and Wells. Ill + Persian wells .... 691 The manner of boring an Artesian well 132 f Universal lever well - 715 717 7i8 7S0 734 141 7.36 160 Lifting Water. 697 Buckets moved by horse power - 699 Raising a bucket obliquely as practised on the Continent ... 698 * * Siebe's pump ... Filtering Water. 700 Filtering bv two casks ... 700 Filtering into a tank 70'r Filtering salt water . 739 740 739 740 741 74i No. Page Remaning Rocks, stones, anil Hoots. 703. 705, 706 Machines for raising large stones 745 704 — 707 Modes of blasting stones - . 745 708 Blasting or rending roots of large trees . 744 The Culture of the Potato. 747 Cutting a tuber into sets . . 848 748 Planting in Lancashire ... 849 749 Planting in Argyleshire - - 850 750 Machine for washing potatoes - . 853 The Culture of the Turnip. 751.— 766 The improved mode of cultivating in drills, from the preparation of the ground to the taking up and storing or consumption of the crop . 856—859 Scientific Diagram. 2o7 Nomenclature of the clouds 358 Plants, or Parts of Plants, to illustrate Vegetable Anatomy and Physiology. 178 a DionaeV Muscipula, Venus's fly-trap - 211 178 b Sarraceni'a purpurea, purple side-saddle flower - . - - 211 178 c -Vepcnthes distillatbria, the pitcher plant - . - - 211 179 a b The A/usci - - - 212 179 c The Hepaticae - - . - 212 180 a Laminaria saccharina - - 212 180 b Halvmenia palmata - - 212 180 c Halvmenia edulis - - - 212 181 a Fungi which grow on the surface of the earth - . 213 181 a Fungi which grow on the stumps of rotten trees - - - 213 182 Interior integument in the garden bean 213 183 Section of the stem of herbaceous and annual or biennial plants - - 214 1S4 Section of the stein of trees and shrubs - 214 185, 1M5 The cortical layers ... 215 187 Simple tubes - - - 216 188 Physical phenomena of the germination of seed - - - - 228 189 The foxtail root - . - - 2 5 190 The flattened stem - . - 246 191 a Bunches or knot exhibiting a plexus of voung shoots - . . 246 191 * The oak apple - - - 246 192 The knot or bunch formed on the branches of the dog rose ... 247 193 The proliferous flower - . 248 194 The flower of the fig . . 248 195 A fruit with an unnatural appendage of leaves - - - - 249 196 Vallisncrid spiralis, spiral vallisneria - 249 197 Pericarp of the dorsiferous fern - . 252 198 ^vena fatua, the wild oat - . 252 199 Specimens of genus C'oraliina or Coral- lines - - . . 258 200 Cuscuta europa^a, the dodder - . 269 Botanical Figures of Trees and Shrubs, of His- torical Interest, or belonging to Foreign Agri- culture. 31 Paliurus australis, southern Christ's thorn 48 37 Pinus Pinea, stone pine - - 54 46 Capparis spindsa, common spiny caper tree - . 67 96 Cistus ladam'ferus, labdanum-bearing rock rose - - - 117 99 Quercus Siiber, cork tree oak - - 120 101 O v lea europa> N a, European olive - 121 1 17 Cocos nucifera, common nut-bearing cocoa-nut tree ... 146 127 a Camell/rt Bohea, bohea tree camellia - 157 127 b Camellia Sasdnqua, sasanqua camellia 157 135 Piper nigrum, black pepper - - 164 136 Mtisa paradislaca, the plantain - - 169 1.37 Arica oleracea, the cabbage tree - 170 147 Mimosa nil6tica, the gum arabic tree - 177 148 Pentade^ma butyracea, the butter tree - 17S 161 Swieteu«7 Mahdgoni, the mahogany tree 192 161 Cqff'ca arabica, the coffee tree - . 196 167 Theobrbma, the chocolate plant - - 198 166 Biza Orcllana, the annotto plant - 198 145 (Teratoma siliqua, carob tree, or St.John's biead - - - 177 xxx-.in LIST OK ENGRAVINGS. No. Page Ji.'anical Figures of Herbaceous and Culmiji -rout I'liinls nf Historical Interest, or belonging to Foreign Agriculture. V4 ij .-/'lue soccotorina, the pifi, or aloe 94 b Cactus Opfintia, the liina, or Indian rig 1- Si s.umim orient ill', the oily grain onvolvulus lioiatas, the sweet |x>tato - 40 G'o-svpium lu-ro iccuui, the cotton plant 43 .Vclilbtus officinalis, the common inelilot 6! Clcer aricfnium, the chick pea 54 MeUmpj rum prat. 'use, the meadow COW. weed - 58 Spt'-rgula arvensis, the field spurry ( \p, rus eacutentua, the eatable cyperua fly li .Istr.igalusbu? ticus, liutic milk v. till 86 Lycopbdium complanatum, the Battened club moss - 87 /tubus Chamean! rua, the cloud berry 105 Blcinui communis, the common castor oil nut ... 1 16 Indig.'.fera tinctoria, the dyer's indigo - liu Cdrlhamut tinctorius, the dyer's saf- flower - - - 154 ntmui elephantipes, the elephant's foot 156 l> Salsbla Kali, kali saltwort 165 Dioscorea sativa, the cultivated yam 196 Vallisnerm spiralis, spiral vallisneria 200 CAscula europa? x a, the common dodder Cereal Grasses,or Bread Corns. 725 a Priticum aMivum, summer wheat, or spring wlie.it - 723 b Prticum hybernum, Lammas wheat - 723 c Priticum compoaitum, Egyptian wheat 723 d Triticum turgidum, turgid wheat 723 e Priticum polouicum, Polish wheat 723/ Priticum Spe'lta, spelt wheat 723 g Priticum monococcum, one-grained wheat - ... 725 Secale cereale, rye . 726 a //ordeum vulgare, spring barley 726 6 //ordeum hexastichon, winter barley 7-6 c //ordeum distichon, common or long- eared bariey ... 726 d //ordeum Zeocriton, sprat or battledore barley 727 a 4vepa saliva v. vulgaris, the white or common oat - 727 b yjvena sativa v. sibirica, the Siberian or Tartarian oat 729—733 Zea Mays, maize or Indian corn 829, 735 Phalaris canadensis, Canary corn 736 a Setaria germaiiica, the German millet 736 b Setaria ///ihaeum, the common or cul- tivated millet . . - 736 c Setaria italica, the Italian millet 739 Oryza sativa, the rice - - - 740 Zizaniaaqu.itica, water Canada rice 116 116 28 4» 57 61 70 80 98 98 112 112 138 145 174 182 is.; 196 249 269 812 812 812 812 812 812 812 821 8£3 823 823 823 826 - 826 830 832 8.33 833 834 8J4 No 794 793 793 793 ~"\ 794 794 794 Tali growing or Hay Grasses. 789 a 7,Mium pcrenne, the perennial rye- grass - - 789 b J)actylis glomerata, the cock's-foot grass 789 c //edeus lanatus, the woolly soft grass - 790 a Festitca prateusis, the meadow lescue- grasa . . - - 790 b Festitca elatior, the tall fescue-grass . 790 c Festitca foliacea, the spiked fescue- grass - - - - 790 d ,/iopi ciirus prati'nsis, the meadow fox- tail grass - 790 e Poa pratensis the great or smooth- stalked meadow grass 790/Pba trivialis, the rough. stalked mea- dow grass - - - - 791 nPhl.'um pratense, the cats-tail or Timothy grass . 791 b Fesruca fluitaus, the floating fescue- grass - - - - 791 c Ffil aquhtica, the water meadow-grass 791 d Agr6stis stolonifera, the tiorin-grass - Pasture Grasses. 792 a Anthoxftnthum odoratum, the sweet. scented vernal. grass 792 b yfvena pubescens, the downy oat-grass 792 c Poa annua, the annual meadow -grass 792 d //grostis vulgaris, the fine bent-grass . 792 * Pba angustifolia, the narrow-leaved meadow-grass Pare a Cyneauma cristatua, thedog's-tail grass Si"* b nstitca durinacula, the hard leacue. grass - - - - 8;<4 e Festitca glabra, the smooth fcscue-gra*s 8!>4 d Festitca AordeiformU, the barley-spiked rescue-grass - - 894 a Fe-.tuea uvina, sheep's fescue-grass . 894 b Pb.i alp'ina, alpine meadow-grass - 8S4 e /jirac.TspitOsa, the tufted air.grass . 894 d Prlza media, the common quaking- grass - - - 894 Grasses for fixing Drift Sands. 710 Artir.do arenaria, the sand reed, or Mar. ram grass ... 749 711 aPlymus arcnirius, the sand or sea-side Lyme-grass - - 749 711 6 E ly'mus geniculatus, the knee-jo. nted Lvme-grass ... 749 711 c E lymus sibiricus, the Siberian Lyme- grass - ' - - - 749 Leguminous Field Plants. 741 Plsum sativum, the pea - - - 835 742 Picia sativa, the tare, vetch, or fitch - 841 743 £'rvum /.ens, the lentil - - 843 744 /.athyrus satlvus, the Spanish lentil - 844 745 Plcia pisif.rmis, the lentil of Canada - 844 746 Pup'inus a'bus, the white lupine - - 844 Clovers and other Herbage Plants. 769 Cichirium /'ntybus, the chiccory - 770 Symphytum asperrimum, the rough com. frey - 771 //emer'ocallis fulva, the day lily 772 a 7'rif. Hum pratense, the red clover 772 b 7'rif; hum rfepens, the white or creeping Dutch clover - - 772 c 7Yifdlium procumbens, the yellow clover 772 d Prifolium medium, the meadow clover 773 Medicago lupulina, the hop medick 774 TYifolium iucamatum, the flesh-coloured clover - - - 775 Medicago sativa, lucern - - - 776 Medicago falcata, yellow lucern 777 //eoj'sarum Onobrj'chis, saintfoin 778 Poterium Sanguisorba, the burnct 779 Plantago lanceolata, the ribwort plantain 780 ITlex europa? N a, the whin, furze, or gorse 781 Spergula arvensis, the spurry 7^2 Spartium scoparium, the common broom 783 Spartium 7'iinceum, the Spanish broom - 784 ^*pium Petrosellnum, the parsley 786 /.btus corniculatus, the bird's-foot trefoil 786 Lotus tetragonolobus.the four-wing podded trefoil . - - - 787 Trigonella Pce'Vium-grse^cum, the fenu- greek - 788 a B' nias orientalis, the oriental bunias - 788 b ^chillen Afillefblium, the yarrow 8^8 889 889 890 890 890 890 89 891 891 892 892 892 893 - 893 j 893 j - 3:-5i 870 870 870 872 872 872 872 872 872 877 878 880 883 833 884 885 885 885 885 886 8S6 886 886 Plants used in carious Arts and Manufactures. 797 a Llnura usitatissimum, the common flax 913 7"7 b Llnum perenne, the perennial flax - 913 799 Dipsacus fullonum, the fuller's thistle or teasel - - - 918 800 Piibia tinctbrum, the madder - - 919 801 /satis tinct.'ria, the woad - - 920 802 Peseda Lut; ola, weld or dyer's weed - 922 S03 Hiimulus Liipulus, the hop - - 924 804 a Coriandrum sativum, the coriander - 930 104 6 C'arum Carui, the caraway - - 930 805 a Sinapis alba, the white mustard - 933 80.) 6 Sinipis nigra, the black or common mustard . . - - 933 806 Polygonum Fagnpyrum, the buck wheat 934 807 a Polygonum tataricum, Tatarian buck wheat - 9> x ' 807 b Polygonum emarginatum, emarginated buck wheat - - - - 935 808 Nicotidnrt Tabacum, the Virginian tobacco - - - 937 309 Kicotidnn riistiea, the common green tobacco - ... 937 310 o.NicoOdiw repanda, the scolloped to- bacco - - - 937 810 b Nicotidtta quadrivalvis.the four-valved tobacco - - - - 937 810 c Nic3t/'i»n nana, the dwarf tobacco - 937 8!2 Astragalus hoe ticus, Brptic milk vetch - 942 s| J „ Crocus satlvus, the saffron or autumn crocus - - 943 LIST OF ENGRAVINGS. XXXIX No Page 813 b Glycyrrhlza gl&bra, the liquorice - 943 8)3 c rtheum palin'ttuin, the rhubarb . 9+3 813 rf Lavandula Sp'ica, the lavender - . 343 81* Aheum australe, southern rhubarb - 944 815 a Fucus vesiculosus, bladdered fucus - 946 815 b Fucus nodb-^us, knotty fucus - - 946 815 c Fucus serr&tus, serrated fucus . 946 815 d Laminaria digitata, digitate laminaria 946 Weeds. 816 a Arenaria, sandwort ... 947 816 b TJumex Aceto>a, sorrel - . 947 816 c 7'ussilago Farfara, coltsfoot - . 947 817 a Polygonum amphibium - . 948 817 b Fquisetum, the horse-tail - . 948 917 c Serratula arvensis, the corn thistle - 948 Animals of Historical Interest, or belonging Foreign Agriculture. 8 f The camel - - - . 42 The goat as harnessed in Switzerland 70 f O v vis Strepsiceros, the original Hun- garian sheep - 107 + Persian camels and horse 112 f /?6s grunniens, the ox of Thibet 114 f The dromedary - 118 f The jackal 138 f Abyssinian oxen - 141 f The dromedary in Egypt 143 f The zebu or humped ox - 168 ■)■ The wild swine of Paraguay 174 f The true Amazonian parrot 71 HMix pomatia, edible snail 171 a, b II The Curculio palmarum of Suri- nam ... to 9 60 99 140 142 143 147 171 175 175 198 as 99 - 201 Equus Cabdllus, the horse. 818 The Arabian horse - 819 The race horse ... 820 The hunter .... 821 The improved hackney 822 The old English road horse 823 The black horse .... 824 * The Cleveland hays - 825 * The Suffolk punch 826. 1127 The Clydesdale or Lanarkshire horse 954. 118(5 827 a The Welsh horse - - - 954 827 b The Galloway horse - - - 954 827 c Horse of the highlands and isles of Scotland . - - 828 Exterior anatomy of the horse 830 Anatomical skeleton of the horse 831. 833 Interior anatomy of the horse - 969. 974 832 Eye of the horse - - - 970 834 The coeeum, or first large intestine of the horse . - 835 — 8.37 Anatomy of the foot of the horse 838 A fleam for bieeding the horse 839—843 Horse shoes of different kinds 993- 829. 844, 845 Teeth of the horse - 957. 996, 997 846 A horse as in the act of trotting - 1001 847 Position of the reins of the bridle in the hands of the rider ... 1003 848, 849 Position of the rider's feet in the stirrup .... 1003, 1004 850 Russian carriage horses - - 1010 K'quus A' sinus, the Ass. 851 Female ass and foal 852 The use of the ass in Syria . - 853 F'quus A sinus y ..Villus, the mule 950 951 952 952 952 i>r>r, 953 954 954 956 963 975 9~6 991 -995 - 1012 - 1012 - 1014 Biis Taurus, Horned Cattle. 112 143 8.54 855 856 857 858 859 860, 861 862 863 865, 867 868 8»jy t The ox of Thibet - - - - 14? t The zebu or humped ox of Africa - 175 The long-homed or Lancashire breed - 1015 * The improved Leicestershire breed - 1015 The short-homed or Dutch breed - 1015 The Devonshire breed ... 1016 The Sussex and * Herefordshire breed - 1016 The polled or hornless breed . - 1016 864 * The Ayrshire breed - 1017, 1025 The Argvleshire breed ... 1018 The Welsh breed . . 1018 The wild breed - . . 1019 866 Fastenings for cattle - - 1030 A yoke and bow for draught oxen - 1030 Shoeing-stall for cattle ... 1030 Ox shoe for cattle - - . 1030 No. I'ag . 870 Syringe and enema tubes for relieving cattle - ... 1034 The Dairy, as connected with Horn Cuttle. 871 * A dairy and cow-house ... 1037 873 * A dairy for a private family - . 1038 874 — 876 * A dairy on a large scale . - 1038 877 'l'he cheese press ... IDS" 878 A lactometer ... 10:39 879 * 880 * 881 Churns . . 1038.1040 989 The Chinese dairv at Woburn Abbey - 1133 993 The milk tankard' ;or cut) of Berkshire 1H0 1006 The milk tankard of Derbyshire - 1153 Crvis A\ies. The Sheep. 70 f The Hungarian sheep - - 99 882 The Teeswater sheep - - . 1050 883 The Dishlev sheep - - . 1050 884 The Devonshire Nots sheep - - 1050 885 The Dorsetshire sheep - . 1051 886 The Herefordshire sheep . - 1051 992 The Berkshire polled sheep . .1140 887 * The South Down sheep - - 105] 888 The Herdwick sheep - - - 1051 889, 890 The Spanish or Merino . . 1052 891 Arrangements for washing sheep - 1057 892 Crooks for catching sheep - . 1057 893 A store sheep farm in Scotland - . 1059 895—897 Sheep houses ... 1063 Sus Scrofn, the Swine. 16S t The wild swine of Paraguay - . 198 898 t Pile wild boar of the continent of Eu. rope ... . 1067 899 The common European hog - - 1068 900 The Chinese hog . . - 1068 901 * The Berkshire swine ... 1068 902 The Hampshire swine - . -1068 903 The Herefordshire swine ... 1068 904 The Suffolk swine - - - 1069 Capra lE'gagrus, the Goat. 42 f The goat of Switzerland, as harnessed 60 905 The common goat ... 1071 906 The Syrian goat .... 1072 Cetnis familihris, the Dog. 917 The English sheep dog - . 1079 918, 919 * Sheep dogs of Scotland . .1079 920 The mastiff, or guard dog . . 1079 921 The terrier - ... 1079 922 The pointer, setter, and spaniel . . 1080 The Hare, Rabbit, $c. 907 Z-epus funiculus, the rabbit - - 10;3 910 Lepus timidus, the hare . . - 1075 911 Cavia Cohaya, the guinea pig . . 1075 923 Mustela Furo, the ferret ... 1083 Deer, 912 a Cervus F'lephas, the stag . . 1076 912 6 Cervus Capreolus, the roe . - 1076 912 c Cervus Dama, the fallow deer . - 1076 913 Cervus Tarandus, the rein deer . 1077 Antelopes. 914 a Antelope TJupfcapra, the chamois . 1077 914 b Antelope picta, the nilgau - . 1077 Camel Family. 915 Camelus bactrianus, the dromedary - 1078 916 Camelus G/ctma, the lama - . 1078 Poultry or Birds which are or may be cultivated in British Agriculture. 928 Gallus SonnerMsi, the jungle cock - 1084 929 The game cock and hen - . 1084 930 * The Dorking cock and hen - - 1085 931 a * The Poland cock and hen . - 1085 931 b The golden Poland fowl . . 1085 932 The bantam cock and hen . . 1085 933 The Chittagong or Malay hpn . . 1085 936 Afeleagris Gallipavo, the turkey - 1090 937 Numidia il/eleagris, the guinea hen . 1091 938 Cr&x Elector, the crested curassow - 1091 939 /Pnas Boschas, the duck . . 1091 941 A\ias A'nsvr, the goose ... Hh>3 «1 LIST OF ENG HAVINGS. Nc Page i No. 942 Cy"gnus mansuetus, the mute or tame swan ... . )iirinus 7*inca, the tench - - l!u| 950 ,• Cyprinus Gnbio, the gudgeon . .1101 956 d Perca fluvifttilis, the perch - - lloi 956 i- i'Vis Lucius, the pike - llol 956 / 6^'prinus Phoxinus, the minnow - llol Miscellaneous cultivated Animals. 957 a /tana esculenta, the esculent frog . 110" 957 b /rana arbbrea, the tree frog - - ll03 958 a 7v.-t.do grseca, the common tortoise 1103 958 b 7'cstudo lutaria, the mud tortoise - 1103 96! Cancer A stacus, the craw or cray fish - 1 10^ 71 Helix pomatia, the edible snail - !" 959 /Wmbyx mOri, the silk-worm - - llol Quadruped I'ermin. 963 Afus Rattus, the domestic rat - -1109 966 a Afus sylvaticus. the long-tailed field- mouse - - . - 1 1 1 1 9f>6 b The short-tailed field mouse - -1111 964 *, 965 * Paul's rattery - - 1110, 1 1 U Insects, Worms, and Mollisca. 63 Bostrichus piniperdus - 86 7'.'4 a C'ccidomVia trftici - . 820 7-4 h Cecidomyia destructor, the Hessian fly 820 S67 a AVio" virgo, the green dragon-fly 1113 907 b A.'phemera vulg'ita, the day fly '.*u c Phryganca rhoinbica, the spring fly - 968 Papilto urtlex, the small tortoise.-hell butterfly - 909 a CS*Strus /."qui, the horse bee, male 969 b CE'strm l-.'qw, the horse bee, female - 909 c fVi'strus /-"qui, the larva of, commonly called " tiie lots " . 969 d, <*,/, m (E strus Bbvis, the ox fly 969 g, h, i IE strus OVis, the sheep Hy - . . I Tabani, horse Hies 970 a S.arabje^us .Velol6ntha, the cock-chafer or midsummer dor ... 970 b Scarabse'us A/elolontha, the larva of . 970 c, d C'urculio nucuin, the hut maggot, the larva of - . 970 e, e Curciilio niicum, perfect insects of - 971 a Caterpillar of Plena br&ssicae, or white Cabbage butterfly ... 971 b Caterpillar of Plerur, in thechrysalis state 971 c Pleris brassier, perfect insect of 971 ra. 7. Estimating the value of the writers of antiquity on diese principles, they maybe con- sidered as reaching back to a period 1 GOO years' before our a?ra, or nearly 3500 years from the present time ; and it is truly remarkable, that, in the Eastern countries, the state of agriculture and other arts, and even of machinery, at that period, does not appear to have been materially different from what it is in the same countries at the present day. Boos I. AGRICULTURE OF ANTIQUITY 5 Property in land was recognised, the same grains cultivated, and the same domestic animals reared or employed : some led a wandering life and dwelt in tents like the Arabs ; and others dwelt in towns or cities, and pursued agriculture and commerce liki the fixed nations. It is reasonable indeed, and consistent with received opinions, that this should be the case ; for, admitting the human race to have been nearly exterminated at the deluge, those who survived that catastrophe would possess the more useful arts, and general habits of life, of the antediluvian world. Noah, accordingly, is styled a husband- man, and is said to have cultivated the vine and to have made wine. In little more than three centuries afterwards, Abraham is stated to have had extensive flocks and herds, slaves of both sexes, silver and gold, and to have purchased a family sepulchre with a portion of territory around it. Isaac his son, during his residence in Palestine, is said to have sown and reaped a hundred fold. Corn seems to have been grown in abundance in Egypt ; for Abraham, and afterwards Jacob, had recourse to that country during times of famine. Irrigation was also extensively practised there, for it is said (Gen., xiii. 10.) that the plain of Jordan was watered everywhere, even as the garden of the Lord, like the land of Egypt. Such is the amount of agricultural information contained in the writings of Moses, from which the general conclusion is, that agriculture, in the East, has been practised in all or most of its branches from time immemorial. The traditions of other countries, however, as recorded by various writers, ascribe its invention to certain fabulous personages ; as the Egyptians to Osiris ; the Greeks to Ceres and Triptolemus ; the Latins to Janus ; and the Chinese to Chin-hong, successor of Fo-hi. Sect. I. Of the Agriculture of Egypt. 8. The origin of agriculture has been sought by modern philosophers in natural cir- cumstances. Man in his rudest state, they consider, would first live on fruits or roots, afterwards by hunting or fishing, next by the pasturage of animals, and lastly, to all of these he would add the raising of corn. Tillage, or the culture of the soil for this pur- pose, is supposed to have been first practised in imitation of the effects produced by the sand and mud left by the inundations of rivers. These take place more or less in every country, and their effects on the herbage which spontaneously springs up among the deposited sand and mud must at a very early period have excited the attention of the coun- tryman. This hypothesis seems supported by the traditions and natural circumstances of Egypt, a country overflowed by a river, civilised from time immemorial, and so abundant in corn as to be called the granary of the adjoining states. Sir Isaac Newton and Stiilingfleet, accordingly, considered that corn was first cultivated on the banks of the Nile. Sir Isaac fixes on Lower Egypt; but, as Herodotus and other ancient Greek writers assert that that counti-y was once a marsh, and as Major Rennel in his work on the geography of Herodotus is of the same opinion, Stiilingfleet (Works, vol. ii. 524.) considers it more probable that the cultivation of land was invented in Upper Egypt, and proceeded downwards according to the course of the Nile. 9. The situation and natural phenomena of Upper Egypt, Stiilingfleet considers, rendered it fitter foi the invention of cultivation than the low country ; " for, while Lower Egypt was a marsh, formed by the depositions of the Nile, the principal part of Upper Egypt was a valley a few leagues broad, bounded by mountains, and on both sides declining to the river. Hence it was overflowed only for a certain time and season ; the waters rapidly declined, and the ground, enriched by the mud, was soon dry, and in a state fit to receive seed. The process of cultivation in this country was also most obvious and natural ; for the ground being every vear covered with mud brought by the Nile, and plants springing up spontaneously after its recess, must have given die hint, that nothing more was necessary than to scatter the seeds, and they would vegetate. Secondly, the ground was prepared by nature for receiving the seed, and required only stirring sufficient to cover it. From this phenomenon the surrounding nations learned two things : first, that the ground before sowing should be prepared, and cleared from plants ; and secondly, that the mixture of rich mould and sand would produce fertility. What is here stated may appear without foundation as to Upper Egypt ; because at present, in the vicinity of Thebes, water is raised by art. But this objection is obviated by the testimony of Dr. Pococke, who is of opinion that formerly Upper Egypt was overflowed, in the same manner as Lower Egypt was afterwards, and is to this day." (Stillingfeet's Life and Works, ii. 524.) 10. The invention of agricultural implements must have been coeval with the invention of aration ; and, accordingly, they are supposed to have originated in Egypt. Antiquarians are agreed, that the primeval implement used in cultivating the soil, must have been of the pick kind. (fig. 2.) A medal of the greatest antiquity, dug up at Syracuse, con- tained an impression of such an instrument (Enci/c. of Gard., fig. 77.) : and its pro- B 3 6 HISTORY OF AGRICULTURE Part I. gn-ss till it became a plough has been recognised in a cameo, published by Menestrier, on which a pick-like plough is drawn by two Berpents ( fig. :i. «) : it may be also Been on a medal from the village of Kima, in Sicily, published by Combe (6) ; in a figure given by Spon, as found on an an- tique tomb (<•) ; in an Etrus- can plough, copied from a fragment in the Roman col- lege at Home, by Lasteyrie (d) ; and as we still see in the instrument depicted by Niebuhr, as used for plough- ing in Egypt and Arabia at the present day (<•). What seems to confirm these conjectures is, that the image of Osiris is sculptured with a similar plough in each hand ( fin. 4, a bed), and with a harrow (c) suspended by a cord (V) Over the left shoulder. This plough there can he little doubt was used in war as well as in agriculture, and seems to have been of that kind with which the Israelites fought against their enemies the Philistines (1 Sam., xiii. 19. 23.) ; it is thought, by some, to be the archetype of the letter alpha (the hieralpha of Kircher) ; and, by others, the sounds necessary to conduct the processes of culture are thought to have founded the origin of language. Thus it is that agri- culture is considered by some antiquarians, as not only the parent of all other arts, but also of language and literature. 11. Whether the culture of corn were invented in Egypt or not, all testimonies concur that cultivation was carried to a higher degree of perfection there than in any other country of antiquity. The canals and banks which still remain in Lower Egvpt, and especially in the Delta, are evidences of the ex- tent to which embanking, irrigation, and drainage have been carried. These works are said to have been greatly increased by Sesostris, in the 17th or 18th century B. C. Many of the canals and drains have been long obliterated ; but there are still reckoned eighty canals, like rivers, all excavated by manual labour, several of which are twenty, thirty, and forty leagues in length. These receive the inundations of the Nile, and circulate the waters through the country, which before was wholly overflown by them. The large lakes of Maris, Behire, and Mareotis, formed vast reservoirs for containing the superfluous waters, from which they were con- ducted by the canals over the adjacent plains. Upon the elevated ridges, and even on the sides of the hills which form the boundary to the flat alluvial grounds, the water was raised by wheels turned by oxen; and by a succession of wheels, and gradations of aqueducts, it is said, some hills, and even moun- tains, were watered to their summits. All the towns at some distance from the Nile were sur- rounded with reservoirs for the supply of the inhabitant., and for watering the gardens. For this last purpose the water was raised in a very simple manner, by a man walking on a plank with raised edges, or on a bamboo or other tube, which, it is observed in Calmet's Bible, is the machine alluded to by Moses, when he speaks of sowing the seed and watering it " with the foot." {J)eut.,\\. lo.) They also raised water by swinging it up in baskets ( fig. 5.) ; a mode which, like the others, remains in use at the present day. The water is lifted in a basket lined with leather. I wo men, holding the basket between them, by a cord in each end fastened to the edge Book L AGRICULTURE OF ANTIQUITY. 7 of it, lower it into the Nile, and then swing it between them, till it acquires a velocity sufficient to enable them to throw the water over a bank into a canal. They work stark naked, or, if in summer, only with a slight blue cotton shirt or belt." (Clarke's Travels.) 12. .Of these immense embankments, some of which served to keep in the river, and others to oppose the torrents of sand which occasionally were blown from the Great De ert, and which threatened to cover the country as effectually as the waters of the Nile, the ruins still remain. But, in spite of these remains, the sand is accumulating, and the limits of cultivated Egypt have been annually decreasing for the last 1200 years ; the barbarous nations, to which the banks of the Nile have been subject during this period, having paid no attention to cultivation, or to the preservation of these noble works of antiquity. 13. Landed property, in ancient Egypt, it would appear, was the absolute right of the owners, till by the procurement of Joseph, in the eighteenth century B.C., the paramount or allodial property of the whole was transferred to the government. The king, however, made no other use' of that right, than to place the former occupiers in the situation of tenants in capita ; bound to pay a rent or land-tax of one fifth of the produce. This, Moses says, continued to be the law of Egypt down to his time ; and the same thing is confirmed by the testimony of Herodotus and Strabo. 14. The soil of Egypt is compared by Pliny to that of the Leon tines, formerly regarded as the most fertile in Sicily. There, he says, corn yields a hundred for one ; but Cicero, as Gouguet observes, has proved this to be an exaggeration, and that the ordinary increase in that part of Sicily is eight for one. Granger (ltelat. du Voy. fait, en Egypte, 1730.), who paid much attention to this subject, says that the lands nearest to the Nile, which during the inundation were covered with water forty days, did not, in the most favourable seasons, yield more than ten for one ; and that those lands which the water covered only five days', seldom gave more than four for one. This, however, is probably owing to their present neglected state. 15. Of the animal or vegetable products of Egyptian agriculture very little is known. The ox seems to have been the chief animal of labour from the earliest period ; and rice at all times the principal grain in cultivation. By a painting discovered in the ancient Elethia (Jig. 6.), it would appear that the operation of reaping was performed much in the same way as at present, the ears being cropped by a hook, and the prin- cipal part of the straw left as stubble. Herodotus mentions that, in his time, wheat was not cultivated, and that the bread made from it was despised, and reckoned not fit to be eaten ; beans were also held in abhorrence by the ancient inhabitants : but it is highly probable, that in latter times, when they began to have commerce with other nations, they laid aside these and other prejudices, and cultivated what they found best suited to the foreign market. 16. Agriculture was, no doubt, the chief occupation of the Egyptians : and though they are said to have held the profession of shepherd in abhorrence, yet it appears that Pharaoh not onlv had considerable flocks and herds in his own possession, but was desirous of introducing any improvement which might be made in their management ; for when Jacob, in answer to his questions, told him that he and his family had been brought up to the care of live stock from their youth, he expressed a wish to Joseph to have a Jewish bailiff for the superintendence of his grazing farm : " If thou knowest any men of activity among them, then make them rulers over my cattle." (Gen., xlvii. 6.) Sect. II. Of the Agriculture of the Jews, and oilier Nations of Antiquity. 17. Of the agriculture of the nations contemporary with the Egyptians and Greeks nothing is distinctly known ; but, assuming it as most probable that agriculture was first brought into notice in Egypt, it may be concluded that most other countries, as well as Greece, would begin by imitating the practices of that country. 18. On the agriculture of the Jews, we find there are various incidental remarks in the books of the Old Testament. On the conquest of Canaan, it appears that the different tribes had their territory assigned them by lot ; that it was equally divided among the heads of families, and by them and their posterity held by absolute right and impartial succession. Thus every family had originally the same extent of territory ; but, as it became customary afterwards to borrow money on its security, and as some families became indolent and were obliged to sell, and others extinct by death without issue, landed estates soon varied in point of extent. In the time of Nehemiah a famine occurred, on which account many had " mortgaged their lands, their vineyards, and houses, that they might buy corn for their sons and daughters ; and to enable them to pay the king's tribute." (Xchcm., v. 2.) Some were unable to redeem their lands other- wise than by selling tin ir children as slaves, and thereby " bringing the sens and daugh- B 4 8 HIST0R1 OF AGRICULTURE. Part I. tcrs of God into bondage." Hoaz came into tliree estates by inheritance, and also a wife, after much curious ceremony. (Hath, iv. 8 — 1'2.) Large est a t es, however, were not approved of. Isaiah pronounces a curse on tliose " that join house to house, that lay held to field, till there be no place, that they may he placed alone in the midst." While some portions of land near the towns wife enclosed, the greater part «as in common, or in alternate proprietorship and occupation, as in our common fields. This appeals both from the laws and regulations laid down by Moses as to herds and flocks; and from the beautiful rural Story of Ruth, w ho, to procure sustenance for herself and her widowed mother-in-law Naomi, "came and gleaned in the field after the reapers, and her hap was to light on a pari of the Jield [that is, of the common field] belonging unto BOBS." (linth, ii- 3.) 19. B would appear that every proprietor cultivated his own lands, however extensive ; and that agriculture was held in high esteem even by their princes. The crown-lands in King David's time, were managed by seven officers : one was over the storehouses. one over the work of the held and tillage of the ground, one over the vineyards and wine- cellars, one over the olive and oil-stores and sycamore (i-'icus Sycomorus Linn.) plant- ations, one over the herds, one over the camels and asses, and one over the flocks. (I Chron., xxvii. 2.5.) King Uzziah " built towers in the desert, and digged many wells ; for lie had much cattle both in the low country and in the plains ; husbandmen also and vine-dressers in the mountains, and in Carmel, for he loved husbandry." (2 Chron., xx\i. 10.) Even private individuals cultivated to a great extent, and attended to the practical part of the business themselves. Elijah found Elisha in the field, with twelve yoke of oxen before him, and himself with the twelfth. Job had five hundred yoke of oxen, and five hundred she-asses, seven thousand sheep, and three thousand camels. Both asses and oxen were used in ploughing ; for Moses forbade the Jews to yoke an ass with an ox, their step or progress being different, and of course their labours unequal. 20. Among the operations of agriculture are mentioned watering by machinery, plough- ing, digging, reaping, threshing, &c. " Doth the ploughman plough all day to sow ? doth he open and break the clods of his ground ? When he hath made plain the face thereof, doth he not cast abroad the fitches, and scatter the cummin [Cuminum Cyminum I inn.], and cast in the principal wheat, and the appointed barley, and the rye, in their place?" (Isaiah, xxviii. 24, 25.) The plough was probably a clumsy instrument, re- quiring the most vigilant attention from the ploughman ; for Luke (ch. ix. 62.) uses the figure of a man at the plough looking back, as one of utter worthlessness. Covered thresh- ing-floors were in use ; and, as appears from the case of Boaz and Ruth, it was no uncommon Uiing to sleep in them during the harvest. Corn was threshed in different ways. " The fitches," says Isaiah, " are not threshed with a threshing instrument, neither is a cart-wheel turned about upon the cummin ; but the fitches are beaten out with a staff', and the cummin with a rod [flailj. Bread corn is bruised, because he will not ever be threshing it, nor break it with the wheel of his cart, nor bruise it with his horse- men." (Ch. xxviii. 27, 28.) The bread corn here mentioned was probably the far of the Romans (maize, Zea Mays L.), which was commonly separated by hand-mills, or hand-picking, or beating, as is still the case in Italy and other countries where this corn is grown. Corn was " winnowed with the shovel and with the fan." (Id., xxx. 24.) Sieves were also in use, for Amos says, " I will sift the house of Israel, as corn is sifted in a sieve" (Ch. ix. 9.); and Christ is re- presented by St. Luke as saying, " Simon, Simon, Satan hath desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat." Isaiah men- tions (vii. 25.) the " diggi/tg of hills with the mattock :" to which implement the original c pick (fig. 2.) would gradually arrive, first, by having the head put on at right angles, and pointed (Jig. "■ a) ; next, by having it flattened, sharpened, and shod with iron (b c) ; I and lastly, by forming the head entirely of metal, and forked (/ iu land, among the Greeks, seems to have been absolute in the owner, or what we would term freehold The manner of inheritance seem*; to have been that of gavelkind ; the sons dividing the patrimony in equal portions. One of Solon's laws forbade that men should pun base as much land as they desired. An estate containing water, cither in springs or otherwise, was highly valued, especially in Attica : and there a law existed relating to the depth of wells ; the distance they were to be dug from other men's grounds ; what was to be done when no water was found; and other matters to prevent contentions as to water. Lands were enclosed, probably with a ring-fence, or boundary-mark ; or, most likely, the enclosed lands were such as surrounded the vil- lages, and were in constant cultivation ; the great breadth of country being, it may be presumed, in common pasture. Solon decrees, that " he who digs a ditch, or makes a trench, nigh another's land, shall leave so much distance from his neighbour, as the ditch or trench is dee]). If any one makes a hedge near his neighbour's ground, let him not pass his neighbour's landmark : if he builds a wall, he is to leave one foot between him and his neighbour; if a house, two feet. A man building a house in his field, must place it a bowshot from his neighbour's." (Poller's Antiq.) 29. The surface of Greece was, and is, irregular and hilly, with rich vales, and some rocky places and mountains : the soil is various ; clayey in some places, but most gene- rally light and sandy, on a calcareous subsoil. 30. The operations of culture, as appears by Hesiod, required to be adapted to the season : summer falkws were in use, and the ground received three ploughings, one in autumn, another in spring, and a third immediately before sowing the seed. Manures were applied: in Homer, an old king is found manuring his fields with his own hands ; and the invention of manures is ascribed by Pliny to the Grecian king Augcas. The- ophrastus enumerates six different species of manures ; and adds, that a mixture of soils produces the same effects as manure. Clay, he says, should be mixed with sand, and sand with clay. The seed was sown by hand, and covered with a rake. Corn was reaped with a sickle; bound in sheaves; carted to a well-prepared threshing-floor, in an airy situation, where it might be threshed and fanned by the wind, as is still practised in modern Greece, Italy, and other countries of the Continent. Afterwards it was laid up in bins, chests, or granaries, and taken out as wanted by the family, to be pounded in mortars or quern-mills, into meal. Thorns and other plants for hedges were procured from the woods, as we find from a passage in Homer, in which he represents Ulysses as finding Laertes digging and preparing to plant a row of quicksets. (Otlyss., lib. xxiv.) 31. The implements enumerated by Hesiod are, a plough, of which he recommends two to be provided in case of accident ; and a cart ten spans (seven feet six inches) in width with two low wheels. The plough consisted of three parts ; the share-beam, the draught-pole, and the plough-tail. The share-beam is to be made of oak, and the Other parts of elm or bay: they are to be joined firmly with nails. Antiquarians are not agreed as to the exact form of this implement. Gouguet conjectures it may not have been unlike one still in use in the same countries, and in the south of France ; others, with greater probability, refer to the more simple plough still in use in Magna Gracia and Sicily (Jin. ft.), originally Greek colonies. The rake, sickle, and ox-goad are men- tioned ; but nothing said of their construction, or of spades or other manual implements. 32. The beasts qf labour mentioned are oxen and nudes ; the Conner weremore common ; and it would appear, from a passage in Homer (//., lib. xiii. v. 70 4.). were yoked by the Book I. AGRICULTURE OF ANTIQUITY. 11 horns. Oxen of four years and a half old are recommended to be purchased, as most serviceable. In winter, both oxen and mules were fed under cover, on hay and straw, mast, and the leaves of vines and various trees. 33. The most desirable age for a ploughman is forty. He must be well fed, go naked in summer, rise and go to work very early, and have a sort of annual feast, proper rest, good food, and clothing consisting of coats of kid skins, worsted socks, and half boots ot ox hides in winter. He must not let his eye wander about while at the plough, but cut a straight furrow ; nor be absent in mind when sowing the seed, lest he sow the same furrow twice. The vine is to be pruned and stalked in due season ; the vintage made in fine weather, and the grapes left a few days to dry, and then carried to the press. 34. The products of Grecian agriculture were, the grains and legumes at present in cultivation, with the vine, fig, olive, apple, date, and other fruits : the live stock con- sisted of sheep, goats, swine, cattle, mules, asses, and horses. It does not appear that artificial grasses or herbage plants were in use ; but recourse was had, in times of scarcity, to the mistletoe and the cytisus : what plant is meant by the latter designation is not agreed on; some consider it the Medieago arborea /,., and others the common lucerne. Hay was, in all probability, obtained from the meadows and pastures, which were used in common ; flax, and probably hemp, were grown. Wood for fuel, and timber for construction, were obtained from the natural forests, which, in Solon's time, abounded with wolves. Nothing is said of the olive or fig by Hesiod ; but they were cultivated in the fields for oil and food, as well as the vine for wine. One of Solon's laws directs that olive and fig trees must be planted nine feet from a neighbour's ground, on account of their spreading roots ; other trees might be planted within five feet. 35. In Hesiod's time almost every citizen ivas a husbandman, and had a portion of land which he cultivated himself, with the aid of his family, and perhaps of one or two slaves ; and the produce, whether for food or clothing, appears to have been manufactured at home. The progress of society would, no doubt, introduce the usual division of labour and of arts ; and commercial cultivators, or such as raised produce for die purpose of exchange, would in consequence arise ; but when this state of things occurred, and to what extent it was carried at the time Greece became a Roman province (B. C. 100), the ancient writers afford us no means of ascertaining. Sect. IV. Of the Agriculture of the Persians, Carthaginians, and other Nations of Antiquity. 36. Of the agriculture of the other civilised and stationary nations of diis period, scarcely any thing is known. According to Herodotus, the soil of Babylon was rich, well cul- tivated, and yielded two or three hundred for one. Xenophon, in his book of (Eco- nomics, bestows due encomiums on a Persian king, who examined, with his own eyes, the state of agriculture throughout his dominions ; and in all such excursions, as occasion required, bountifully rewarded the industrious, and severely discountenanced the slothful. In another place he observes, that when Cyrus distributed premiums with his own hand to diligent cultivators, it was his custom to say, " My friends, I have a like title with yourselves to the same honours and remuneration from the public ; I give you no more than 1 have deserved in my own person ; having made the selfsame attempts with equal diligence and success." ((Econom., c. iv. sect. 16.) The same author else- where remarks, that a truly great prince ought to hold the arts of war and agriculture in the highest esteem ; for by such means he will be enabled to cultivate his territories effectually, and protect them when cultivated. (Harte's Essays, p. 19.) 37. Phoenicia, a country of Asia, at the east of the Mediterranean, has the reputation of having been cultivated at an early period, and of having colonised and introduced agriculture at Carthage, Marseilles, and other places. The Phoenicians are said to have been the original occupiers of the adjoining country of Canaan ; and when driven out by the Jews, to have settled in Tyre and Sidon (now Sur and Saida), in the fifteenth century B. C. They were naturally industrious ; and their manufactures acquired such a superiority over those of other nations, that, among the ancients, whatever was elegant, great, or pleasing, either in apparel or domestic utenrils, was called Sidonian ; but of their agriculture it can only be conjectured that it was Egyptian, as far as local circumstances wotdd permit. 38. The republic of Carthage included Spain, Sicily, and Sardinia, and flourished for upwards of seven centuries previous to the second century B. C. Agriculture was practised at an early period in Sicily ; and, according to some, Greece received that art from this island. It must have been also considerably advanced in Spain, and in the Carthaginian territory, since they had books on the subject. In 147 B. C, when Car- thage was destroyed by Scipio, and the contents of the libraries were given in presents to the princes, allies of the Romans, the senate only reserved the twenty-eight books on agriculture of the Carthaginian general Magon, which Decius Syllanus was directed to translate, and of which the Romans preserved, for a long time, the original and the translation. (Encyc. Mcthodique, art. Agriculture.) 12 HIST OfeY OF AGRICULTURE. Part I. 39. Italy, and a part of the south of France, would probably be partially cultivated, from the influence of the Carthaginians in Sicily and Marseilles; but the north of France, and the rest of Europe, appear to have been chiefly, it' notentirely, in a wild state, and tin' scene of the pastoral and hunting employments of the nomadic nations, the Kelts or Celts, the Goths, and the Slaves. 40. The Indian mid Chin, -sr nations appear ti> beof equal antiquity with the Egyptians. Joseph de Guignes, an eminent French Oriental scholar, who died in the first year of the present century, has written a memoir (in 1759, 12mo), to prove that the Chinese were a colony from Egypt ; and M. de Guignes, a French resident in China, who pub- lished at Paris a Chinese dictionary in 1813, is of the same opinion. The histories of the Oriental nations, however, are not yet sufficiently developed from the original sources, to enable us to avail ourselves of the information they may contain, as to the agriculture Of so remote a period as that now under consideration. •11. With respect tb the American nations, during this period, there are no facts on record to prove either their existence or their civilisation, though Bishop Iluet and the Abbe Clavigero think that they also are descendants of Noah, who, while in a nomadic state, arrived in the western world, through the northern parts of the eastern continent. Chap. II. History of Agriculture among the Romans, or from the Second Century B. C. to the Fifth Century if our jEra. 42. We have now arrived at a period of our history where certainty supplies the place of conjecture, and which may be considered as not only entertaining but instructive. The attention of the Romans to agriculture is well known. The greatest men amongst them applied themselves to the study and practice of it, not only in the first ages of the state, but after they had carried their arms into every country of Europe, and into many countries of Asia and Africa. Some of their most learned men and one of their greatest poets wrote on it; and all were attached to the things of the country. Varro, speaking of the farms of C. Tremellius Scrofa, says, " they are to many, on account of their culture, a more agreeable spectacle than the royally ornamented edifices of others." (Tar. de R. R-, lib. i. cap. 2.) In ancient times, Pliny observes, the lands were culti- vated by the hands even of generals, and the earth delighted to be ploughed with a share adorned with laurels, and by a ploughman who had been honoured with a triumph. ( Nat. Hist., lib. xviii. c. 3.) The Romans spread their arts with their conquests; and their agriculture became that of all Europe at an early period of our a?ra. 4:5. The sources from which we hare drawn our information being first related, we shall review, in succession, the proprietorship, occupancy, soil, culture, and produce of Roman agriculture. Sect. I. Of the Roman Agricultural Writers. 44. The Roman authors on agriculture, whose works have reached the present age, arc Cato, Varro, Virgil, Columella, Pliny, and Falladius ; there were many more, whose writings are lost. The compilation of Constantine Poligonat, or, as others consider, of Cassius Bassus, entitled Geoponika, already mentioned (18.), is also to be considered as a Roman production, though published in the Greek language at Constan- tinople, after the removal thither of the seat of government. 45. M. Porcius Cato, called the Censor, and the father of the Roman rustic writers, lived in the seventh century of the republic, and died at an extreme old age, B. C. 150. lie recommended himself, at the age of seventeen, by his valour in a battle against Annihal ; and afterwards rose to all the honours of the state. He particularly distinguished himself as a censor, by his impartiality and opposition to all luxury and dissipation ; and was remarkably strict in his morals. He wrote several works, of which only some fragments remain, under the titles of Qrigines and De Re Rustica. The latter is the oldest Roman work on agriculture : it is much mutilated, and more curious for the account it contains of Roman customs and sacrifices, than valuable for its georgical information. 46. M. Terentius Vai-ro died B. C. 28, in the 88th year of his age. He was a learned writer, a distinguished soldier both by sea and land, and a consul. He was a grammarian, a philosopher, a historian, and an astronomer ; and is thought to have written five hundred volumes on different subjects, all of which are lost, except his treatise De Re Rustica. Book I. AGRICULTURE OF THE ROMANS. 13 This is a complete system of directions in three books, on the times proper for, and the different kinds of, rural labour ; it treats also of live stock, and of the villa and offices. As Varro was for some time lieutenant-general in Spain and Africa, and afterwards retired and cultivated liis own estate in Italy, his experience and observation must have been very considerable. 47. Publius Virgilius Maro, called the prince of the Latin poets, was born at a village near Mantua in Lombardy about 70 B. C, and died B. C. 19, aged 51. He culti- vated Iris own estate till he was thirty years old, and spent the rest of his life chiefly at the court of Augustus. His works are the Hucolics, Georgics, and JEneid. The Georgia is to be considered as a poetical compendium of agriculture, taken from the Greek and Roman writers then extant, but especially from Varro. 48. Luc. Jun. Moderatus Columella was a native of Gades, now Cadiz, in Spain, but passed most of his time in Italy. The time of his birth and death are not known, but he is supposed to have lived under Claudius in the first century. His work De He Rustica, in twelve books, of which the tenth is still extant, was a complete treatise on rural affairs, including field operations, timber trees, and gardens. 49. C. Plinius Secundus, surnamed the elder, was born at Verona in Lombardy, and suffocated at the destruction of Pompeii in his 56th year, A.D. 79. He was of a noble family ; distinguished himself in the field and in the fleet ; was governor of Spain ; and was a great naturalist, and an extensive writer. Of the works which he composed none are extant but his Natural History in thirty-seven books ; a work full of the erudition of the time, accompanied with much erroneous, useless, and frivolous matter. It treats of the stars and the heavens, of wind, rain, hail, minerals, trees, flowers, and plants ; gives an account of all living animals ; a geographical description of every place on the globe ; and a history of commerce and navigation, and of every art and science, with their rise, progress, and several improvements. His work may be considered as a compendium of all preceding writers on these subjects, with considerable additions from his personal experience and observation. 50. Rutilius Taurus Emilianus Palladius is by some supposed to have lived under Antoninus Pius, in the second century, though others place him in the fourth. His work De Be Rustica is a poem in fourteen books, and is little more than a compendium of those works which preceded it on the same subject. The editor of the article Agri- culture, in the Encyclopedic Methodique, says it is too dull to be read as a poem, and too concise to be useful as a didactic work. 51. These works have been rendered accessible to all by translatiojis ; and a judicious and instructive treatise composed from them by Adam Dickson, a Scotch clergyman, was published in 1788, under the title of The Husbandry of the Ancients. To this latter work we are indebted for the greater part of what we have to submit on Roman agriculture. 52. The Roman authors, as Rozier has observed (Diet, de I'Agr., art. Hist.), do not enable us to trace the rise and progress of agiiculture, either in Italy or in any other country under their dominion. What they contain is a picture of their rural economy in its most perfect state, delivered in precepts, generally founded on experience, though some- times on superstition ; never, however, on theory or hypothesis. For, as the Rev. Adam Dickson states, " instead of schemes produced by a lively imagination, which we receive but too frequently from authors of genius unacquainted with the practice of agriculture, we have good reason to believe that they deliver, in their writings, a genuine account of the most approved practices ; practices, too, the goodness of which they had themselves experienced." (Husb. of the Anc, p. 16.) He adds, that if in the knowledge of the theory of agriculture, the Roman cultivators are inferior to our modern improvers ; yet in attention to circumstances and exactness of execution, and in economical management, they are greatly superior. Sect. II. Of the Proprietorship, Occupancy, and General Management of Landed Property among the Romans. 53. The Roman nation originated from a company of robbers and runaway slaves, who placed themselves under their leader Romulus. This chief having conquered a small part of Italy divided the land among his followers, and by what is called the Agrarian Law, allowed 2 jugera or li acre to every citizen. After the expulsion of the kings in the 6th century B. C., 7 yoke, or 3f acres were allotted. The custom of distributing the conquered lands, by giving 7 jugera to every citizen, continued to be observed in latter times ; but when each soldier had received his share, the remainder was sold in lots of various sizes, even to 50 jugera ; and no person was prevented from acquiring as large a landed estate as he could, till a law passed by Stolo, the second plebeian consul, B. C. 377, that no one should possess more than 500 jugera. This law appears to have remained in force during the greater period of the Roman power. Whatever might be the size of the estate, it was held by the proprietor as an absolute right, without acknowledgment to 14 HISTORY OF AGRICULTURE. Part I. any superior power ; and passed t«> his successors, agreeably to testament, if he made one; or if not, l>y common law to his nearest relations. 54. In tin- first nget of the commonwealth, the lands were occupied and cultivated by tin' jinijiri,-/ors themtei v, i • and as this state of things continued for Pout or five centuries, ii «as probably the chief cause of the agricultural eminence of the Romans. When a person has only a small portion of land assigned to him, and the maintenance of his family depends entirely upon its productions, it is natural to suppose that the culture of it employs his whole attention. A prison who has been accustomed to regular and systematic habits of action, such as those of a military life, will naturally carry those habits into whatever he undertakes. Hence, it is probable, a degree of industrious appli- cation, exactness, and order in performing operations, in a soldier-agriculturist, which would not he displayed l.y nun who had never been trained to any regular habits of action. The observation of Pliny confirms this supposition : he asserts that the Roman citizens, in early times, "ploughed their fields with the same diligence that they pitched their camps, and sowed their corn with the same care that they formed their armies for battle." {Nat. Hist., lib. xviii. C 3.) Corn, he says, was then both abundant and cheap. 55. Afterwards, when Home extended her conquests, and acquired large territories, rich individuals purchased large estates; the culture of these fell into different hands, and was carried on by bailiffs and farmers much in the same way as in modern times. Columella informs us that it was so in his time, stating, that " the men employed in agriculture are either farmers or servants ; the last being divided into free servants and slaves." (Col., lib. i. cap. 7.) It was a common practice to cultivate land by slaves during the time of the elder Pliny; but liis nephew and successor let his estates to formers. 66 In the time of Catn the Censor, the author of The Husbandry of the Ancients observes, though the resided frequently in town, the management of their country affairs was committed to a baihfi or over- seer Now their attention to the culture of their lands and to every other branch of husbandry, appears, from the directions given them how to behave upon their arrival from the city at their villas. " Alter the landlord " says Cato, " has come to the villa, and performed his devotions, he ought that very day, if pos- sible to' go through his farm; if not that dav, at least the next. When he has considered in what manner Ins fields should be cultivated, what work should be done, and what not ; next day he ought to call the bailiff, and enquire what of the work is done, and what remains ; whether the labouring is far enough advanced for the season, and whether the things that remain might have been finished ; and U hat is done about the wine, corn, and all other things. When he has made himself acquainted with all these be ought to take an account of the workmen and working days. If a sufficiency of work does not appear, the bailiff will say that he was very diligent, but that the servants were not well ; that there were violent storms ; that" the slaves had run awav ; and that they were employed in some public work. When he lias given these and many other excuses, call him again to the account of the work and the workmen When there have been storms, enquire for how many days, and consider what work might be done in rain ; casks ought to have been washed and mended, the villa cleaned, corn carried away, dung carried out a dunghill made, seed cleaned, old ropes mended, new ones made, and the servant s clothes mended On holidays, old ditches may have been scoured, a highway repaired, briars cut, the prden digged, meadows cleared from weeds, twigs bound up, thorns pulled, far (bread-corn, maize) pounded, all things made clean. When the servants have been sick, the ordinary quantity ot meat ought not to have been given them. When he is fullv satisfied in all these things, and has given orders that the work that remains be finished, he should inspect the bailiff's accounts, his account of money, of corn, fodder, wine, oil, what has been sold, what exacted, what remains, what of this may be sold, whether there is good security for what is owing. He should inspect the things that remain, buy what is wanting for the year, and let out what is necessary to be employed in this manner. He should give orders concerning the works he would have executed, and the tilings he is inclined to let out, and leave his orders in writing. He should inspect his flocks, make a sale, sell the superfluous oil, wine, and corn ; if they are giving a proper price, sell the old oxen, the refuse of the cattle and sheep, wool, hides, the old carts, old iron tools, and old and diseased slaves. Whatever is superfluous he ought to sell ; a farmer should be a seller, not a buyer." (On., cap. ii.) 51. The landlord is this supposed by Cato to be perfectly acquainted with even/ kind of work proper on his farm, and the seasons for performing it, and also to be a perfect judge how much work, both without and within doors, ought to be performed by any number of servants and cattle in a given time ; the knowledge of which is highly useful to a farmer, and what very few perfectly acquire. It may be observed, likewise, that the landlord is here supposed to enquire into all circumstances, with a minuteness of which there is scarcely even an actual fanner in this age who has any conception. . Varro complains that, in his time, the same attention to agriculture was not given as in former times ; that the great men resided too much within the walls of the city, and employed themselves more in die theatre and circus, than in the corn fields and vineyards. ' ( Far. de It- R-, lib. i. prsef.) 59. Columella complains that, in his time, agriculture was almost entirely neglected. However, from the directions which he gives to the proprietors of land, it appears that there were still a few who continued to pay a regard to it; for, after mentioning some things, which he says, by the justice and care of the landlord, contribute much to im- prove his estate, he adds, " But he should likewise remember, when he returns from the city, immediately after paying his devotions, if he has time, if not, next day, to view his Book I. AGRICULTURE OF THE ROMANS. 15 marches, inspect every part of his farm, and observe whether in his absence any part of discipline or watchfulness has been dispensed with ; and whether any vine, any otiier tree, or any fruits are missing. Then likewise he ought to review the cattle and servants, all the instruments of husbandry, and the household furniture. If he continue to do all these things for some years, he will find a habit of discipline established when he is old ; and at no age will he be so much impaired with years as to be despised by his servants." (Co/., lib. i. cap. 9.) 60. The earliest farmers among the Romans seem not to have been upon the same footing as in Britain. The stock, on the farm belonged to the landlord, and the farmer received a certain proportion of the produce for his labour. The farmer, who possessed a farm upon these terms, was called politor or polintor, from his business, being the dresser of the land ; and partuarius, from his being in a kind of copartnership with his landlord, and his receiving a part of the produce of the farm for his labour. Cato takes notice of this kind of farmers only, and it is probable that there were no others in his time. " The terms," says he, " upon which land ought to be let to a politor : in the good land of Casinum and Venafrum, he receives the eighdi basket ; in the second kind of land he receives the seventh ; in the tliird kind he receives the sixth. In this last kind, when die grain is divided by the modius, he receives die fifth part ; in the very best kind of land about Venafrum, when divided by the basket, he receives only the ninth. ...If the land- lord and politor husk the far in common, the politor receives the same proportion after as before; of barley and beans divided by the modius, he receives a fifth." (Ch. xl. xli.) The small proportion of the produce that the politor received, makes it evident diat he was at no expense in cultivating the land, and that he received his proportion clear of all deductions. 61. The coloni or farmers mentioned by Columella, seem to have paid rent for their farms in the same manner as is done by the farmers in Britain. The directions given by this author to landlords, concerning the mode of treating them, are curious as well as important. A landlord, he says, " ought to treat his tenants with gentleness, should show himself not difficult to please, and be more vigorous in exacting cidture than rent, because this is less severe, and upon the whole more advantageous. For, where a field is care- fullv cultivated, it for the most part brings profit, never loss, except when assaulted by a storm or pillagers ; and therefore the farmer cannot have the assurance to ask any ease of his rent. Neither should the landlord be very tenacious of his right in every tiling to which the fanner is bound, particularly as to days of payment, and demanding the wood and other small things which he is obliged to, besides paying his rent, the care of which is a greater trouble than expense to the rustics. Nor is every penalty in our power to' be exacted, for our ancestors were of opinion, that the rigour of the law is the greatest oppression. On the other, the landlord ought not to be entirely negligent in this matter; because it is certainly true, what Alpheus the usurer used to say, tiiat good debts become bad ones, by being not called for," &c. {Col., lib. i. cap. 7.) 62. These dircctitjns are valuable even with reference to the present times ; and they instruct us respecting the general management of landed property among the Romans. It appears that the landlord was considered as understanding every thing respecting the husbandry of his estate himself; and that there was no agent, or intermediate person, between him and the farmer. The farmers paid rent for the use of their farms, and were bound to a particular kind of culture, according to die conditions of their lease ; but tiiey were perfectly free and independent of their landlords ; so much so, as sometimes to enter into lawsuits widi diem. On the whole, they seem to have been upon the same footing as the farmers of Britain in modern times. Sect. III. Of the Surface, Soil, Climate, and other Agricultural Circumstances of Italy, during the Time of the Romans. 63. The agriculture of any country must necessarily take its character from the nature of that country. The extent and manner of cultivating the soil, and the kind of plants cultivated, or animals reared, must necessarily be regulated by the surface of the soil, the natural productions, the climate, the artificial state, and the habits of the people. 64. Tlie climate of Italy is regular, dry, clear, and considerably warmer than that of Britain. At the bottoms of the mountains, it is subject to severe storms of hail in summer, and snow in winter, which often do considerable damage ; but these are only accidental disadvantages ; and in the champaign lands and gentle declivities, the vine, the fig, and the olive, ripened anciently, as now, in open plantations, from one extremity of Italy to die other. 65. The surface of Italy is very irregular. A ridge of hills, and mountains passes tlu-ough its whole length, forming numerous valleys of different degrees of extent ; some elevated and narrow, others low and watered by a river, a stream, or by lakes. The immense plain of the Po constitutes a capital feature towards the north-east ; the -andy plain of Calabria towards the south ; and die marshy plain of Terracino, and 16 HISTORY OF AGRICULTURE. Part I. the rocky coast of Genoa, towards the western shore. Columella and Palladius agree in stating, thai the best situation for lands is, not bo much on a level as to make the water Stagnate, nor so steep as to make it run off "ith violence ; nor so low as to be buried in the bottom of ■ valley, nor so exposed as to feel die violence of storms and heats; for in these a mediocrity u always best: but champaign lands exposed, and whose declivity affords the rain a free passage; or a hill whose sides gently decline; or a valley not too much confined, and into which the air has easy access; or a mountain defended by a higher top, and thereby secured from the winds that are most pernicious, or, if high and rugged, at the same time covered w illi trees and grass. (Cbt, lib. ii. cap. 2. ; 1'allad., lib. i. cap. 5.) The situation of lands which Cato reckons the best, is at the foot of a mountain with a south exposure. Varro and l'liny concur in this opinion, and the latter states that the best lands in Italy are so situated. 66. The soil of halt) is as varied as the surface. About Genoa a yellow marly clay forms a base to schistous cliffs and hilly slopes ; a blue clay containing sulphur and alum on the west coast between Florence and Venice; volcanic earth about Rome and Naples; sand about Florence, and at the estuaries of most of the rivers; rich black loam in the central parts of Tuscany ; and rich, deep, soft, moist earth, and mild marly clay, in I.onibardv. Columella divides the soils of Italy into six kinds; fat and lean, free and still', wet and dry : these mixed with one another, he says, make great varieties. In common with all the other writers, he prefers a free soil. 67. The native productions ious in describing farm culture and economy, than in relating the state of landed property as to extent and proprietorship. Their directions, being founded on experience, are in great part applicable at the present day : they are remarkable for their minuteness ; but we can only give a very brief compen- dium, beginning with some account of the farm and the villa, or farmery, and taking in succession the servants, beasts of labour, implements, operations, crops cultivated, animals reared, and profit produced. Subsect. 1. Of the Choice of a Farm, and of the Villa or Farmery. 72. In the choice of a farm, Cato recommends a situation where there are plenty of artificers and good water ; which has a fortified town in its neighbourhood ; is near the sea or a navigable river, or where the roads arc easy and good. {Cat., cap. 1.) To these requisites Varro adds, a proper market for buying and selling, security from tlueves and Book I. AGRICULTURE OF THE ROMANS. 17 robbers, and the boundaries planted with useful trees. The interior of the farm was not subdivided by enclosures, which were seldom used but for their gardens, and to form parks in the villas of the wealthy. 73. The soil preferred by Columella and all the Roman authors is the fat and free, as producing the greatest crops, and requiring the least culture ; next, fat stiff soil ; then stiff and lean soil, that can be watered ; and, last of all, lean dry soil. 74. The state of a farm preferred by Cato and some other writers is that of pasture, meadow, and watered grass-lands, as yielding produce at least expense ; and lands under vines and olives, as producing the greatest profit according to the expense. The opinions of the Roman agriculturalists, however, seem to disagree on the subject of meadows, apparently from confounding a profitable way of management, with a capacity of yielding great profit with superior management, and none without. 75. The word Villa originally denoted a farm-house and its appurtenances. In the first age of die commonwealth, these were very plain and small, suitable to the plain manners of the people, and adapted to the small size of their farms : but, when the Romans had extended their empire, when they had become rich and luxurious, and particular persons were possessed of large landed estates, then the villas became large and magnificent. In the time of Valerius Maximus, there were villas that covered more ground than was in the estates of some of the ancient nobles. " Now," says he, " those think themselves very much confined, whose houses are not more extensive than the fields of Cincinnatus." (Vol. Max., lib. iv. cap. 4. sect. 7.) In the days of Cato, it is probable that they had begun to extend their villas considerably, which makes him give a caution to the proprie- tors of land not to be rash in building. He recommends to them to sow and plant in their youth, but not to build till somewhat advanced in years. His words are remark- able : " A landholder," says he, " should apply himself to the planting of liis fields early in his youth ; but he ought to think long before he builds. He ought not to think about planting ; but he ought to do it. When he is about thirty-six years of age, he may build, provided his fields are planted." (Cat., cap. 3.) 76. Men should plant in their youth, and not build till their fields are planted ; and even then ought " not to be in a hurry, but take time to consider. It is best, according to the proverb, to profit by the folly of others." (Plin. Nat. Hist., lib. xviii. cap. 5.) The rea- son why these authors recommend greater attention to planting than building is, that the labouring oxen in Italy, in the time of the Romans, were fed, for several months in the year, with leaves and mast ; and the vine, the fig, the olive, and other trees, were cul- tivated for their fruit. 77. Build in such a manner that your villa may not be too small for your farm, nor your farm too small for your villa. (Cat., cap. 3.) Varro assigns proper reasons for this. " In not attending," says he, " to the measure of the farm, many have gone wrong. Some have made the villa much smaller, and others much larger than the farm required. One of these is contrary to a man's interest, and the other hurtful to the produce of his lands. For we both build and repair the larger buildings at a greater expense than is necessary ; and, when the buildings are less than what the farm requires, the fruits are in danger of being destroyed." (Far. de B. B., lib. i. cap. 11.) Columella expresses himself to the same purpose, and mentions two persons in particular who had fallen into each of the extremes. " I remember," says he, " that many have erred in this point, as these most excellent men did, L. Lucullus and Q. Scaevola, one of whom built a villa much larger, and the other much less than the farm required." (Col., lib. i. cap. 4.) 78. Pliny, noticing the above remark of Cato's, observes that Lucullus had thereby rendered himself liable to the chastisement of the censors, having less occasion to plough his lands than to clean his house. " In this case," says he, " to plough less than to sweep, was a foundation for the chastisement ot the censors." (Plin. Nat. Hist., lib. xviii. cap. 6.) 79. Proportion the ex)mnsc of the building to the rent, or the profits arising from the farm. " An edifice should be built according to the value of the farm and fortune of the master, which, immoderately undertaken, it is commonly more difficult to support than to build. The largeness of it should be so estimated, that, if any thing shall happen to destroy it, it may be rebuilt by one, or at most by two years' rent or profits of the farm in which it is placed." (Pal., lib. i. tit. 8.) 80. The position of the villa, and the situation of its different parts, are also noticed by some of these authors. " Some art," says Pliny, " is required in this. C. Manus, of a very mean family, seven times consul, placed a villa in the lands of Misenum, with such skill in the contrivance, that Sylla Felix said, that all others in this respect were blind, when compared to him." (Plin. Nat. Hist., lib. xviii. cap. 7.) All of them advise that it shall not be placed near a marsh, nor fronting a river. Pliny cites the authority of Homer for this. Varo says, that such a situation is cold in winter and unhealthful in summer ; that, in such a place, there are many small insects which, though invisible, enter the body at the mouth and nostrils, and occasion diseases. (Var. de B. B-, lib. i. tit. 1?.) Palladius gives reasons of the same kind. (Pal., lib. i. tit. 7.) Besides this, Varro C 18 HISTORY OF AGRICULTURE. Part I. directs, that, if possible, it shall be placed at the foot of a mountain covered with woods, in such a manner as to be exposed to the most healthful winds, and to enjoy the sun in winter and the shade in summer. An east exposure, he thinks, is the best for this pur- pose, | Var. de R. R., lib- i- cap. 1--) Palladius proposes that, for the same purpose, the villa' shall front the BOUth-east ; that the pratorium, or master's house, shall be a little higher than the rest of tlie villa, both lo BeCUK the foundations, and to have a more agreeable prospect. (/'..i inlands for peacocks. 2i, Corn-fields. nratiorium. 14, Placefiir turkeys (!! ),rather swans, 23, Vineyards. 4, Stone-banks to the canal. and rheir keepers: turkeys being 24, Olive grounds. 5 Bridges, natives of Amcrici, and conse- 2s, .Meadows. fij m„ quently unknown to the Romans. 26, Orchard. 7, River Vinlus. 15, For geese and their keeper. 27, Garden. 8, Part of the island surrounded !>y 16, Cochlearium. 28, overground. that I 17, Dormice. 29, v\ oods, 5tc. 9, The other river. 18, Apiary. 30, Coppices. 10, Walk on the hank of that river. 19, Threshing floor and barn. 84. It is remarkable that no directions are given as to the materials of which the villa should be built. These would, in all probability, depend on local circumstances; rammed earth, timber, brick burned or only dried in the sun, or stone, would be taken according to convenience. The remains of villas which have reached modern times, are chiefly of brick stuccoed over. Pliny mentions walls in Africa and Spain, called formacii, the formation of which, by cramming the earth between two boards, exactly agrees with the French mode of building mud walls, called en pise. He also mentions walls of unburnt brick, of mud, of turf, and frames filled up with bricks and mud. {Nat. Hist., lib. xxxv. cap. 14.) Subsect. 2. Of the Servants employed in Roman Agriculture. 85. The servants employed in Roman agriculture were of two sorts, freemen and slaves. When the proprietor or fanner lived on the farm and directed its culture, these were directly under his management; in other cases there was a bailiff or overseer, to whom all the other servants were subordinate. This was the case so early as Cato's time, who is very particular in bis directions respecting the care a bailifT ought to take of the servants, the cattle, the labouring utensils, and in executing his master's orders. 86. The bailiff was generally a person who had received some education, and could write and keep accounts ; and it was expected that he should be careful, apt to learn, and capable to execute his master's orders with a proper attention to situations and circumstances. Columella, however, says that " the bailiff may do his business very well, though lie is illiterate." Cornelius Cel'sus says that " such a bailiff will bring money to his master oftcner than his book ; because, being ignorant of letters, he is the less capable to contrive accounts, and is afraid to trust another, being conscious of fraud." (Col., lib. i. cap. 8.) There arc some other tilings mentioned by this author, with respect to the bailiff, that are very proper, and show particularly the attention of the Romans. ' He Book I. AGRICULTURE OF THE ROMANS. 19 ought not," says he, " to trade on his own account, nor employ his master's money in purchasing cattle or any other goods ; for this trading takes off his attention, and prevents 10 ^> him from keeping square accounts with his master. But when he is required to settle them, he shows his goods in the place of money. This, above all, he should be careful of, not to think he knows any thing he does not know ; and always to be ready to learn what he is ignorant of. For as it is of great advantage to do a tiling well, so it is most hurtful to have it ill done. This one thing holds true in all rustic work, to do but once what the manner of culture requires ; because, when imprudence or negligence in work- ing is to be set to rights, the time for the work is already wasted ; nor are the effects of the amendment such as to make up the lost labour, and balance the advantages that might have been gained by improving the season that is past." (Co/., lib i. cap. 8.) 87. The qualities of the other villa servants are represented by the same author in this manner : " The careful and industrious," says he, " should be appointed masters of the works ; these qualities are more necessary for this business than stature or strength of body, for this service requires diligent care and art." Of the ploughman he says, 88. In the ploughman, though a degree of genius is necessary, yet it is not enough. " There should be joined to it a harshness of voice anil manner, to terrify the cattle : but he should temper strength with elemenev ; because he ought to be more terrible than cruel, that so the oxen may obey his commands, and continue the longer at their work, not being spent, at the same time, both with the seventy of labour and stripes. But what the offices of masters of -n.-orks and of ploughman are, I shall mention in C 2 '20 HISTORY OF AGRICULTURE. Part I. their propel pUkCM. It is nifBcient at present to observe, that tallness and strength are of great use in the one, .iml of very little- in the other ; for we ihould make, ns I have said, the tallest man a ploughman, both for the reaeon I have already mentioned, and because there is no ruatlc work by which a tall man is lea fatigued than bj ploughing , because, when employed in thia, walking almost upright, he may lean upon the ha mil.' of the plou) h." Or the common labourer he aaya, " The common labourer maj he of any size, provided he ii able to endure fatigue. " An. be vine dresser, " \ mcyar.ls do not require such tall men, provided they are thick and brawny; for thia constitution of body u i t proper for digging, pruning, and the other culture necess urj for them. In this work diligence is less necessary than in the other works of husbandry ; because the vine-dresser ought to perform in- work in company and under the eye of ■ director, i oromonly wicked men are of ■ quicker genius, which this kind ol work requires; and, as it require I only a stout servant, but one ol an active contrivance, vineyards are commonly cultivated b) slaves in chains." c./.hh i. rap ft) Thus we see, that, among the Romans, labourers were appointed to the different works of husbandry, according to their strength, size, and genius. 89. With respect to /h,- wages of agricultural labour among the Romas, very little benefit can be derived from knowing the absolute sum of money paid for any article, unless it can be com pa red whli the price of other commodities. The price of a slave in Cato's time, was about 50i\ ; in the time of Columella it had risen to 60/. ; or to the price of eigbl acres of good land. A good vine-dresser cost 661. 13s. 4d., and a good ploughman or labourer not less than 60/. The interest of money at this time was 6/. per cent per annum ; therefore, in stating the expense of farm labour, a slave must be rated at not less than l'-V. percent, as being a perishable commodity; so that one who cost 60/. would fall to be charged at the rate of 7/. 4s. per annum, besides his maintenance and clothing. This may give some idea of the wages that would be paid to a free servant who hired him- self by the year ; of which, however, there appears to have been no great number, their wages not being stated. 90. All the servants were maintained and clothed by the farmer or proprietor ; and as may be supposed, it was the interest of the latter that this should be done in a good and sufli- cient manner. Columella mentions what he calls an old maxim, concerning the bailiii': " That he should not eat but in the sight of all the servants, nor of any other tiling but what was given for the rest." He mentions the reason of this : " For thus," says he, " shall lie take care that both the bread be well baked, and the other things prepared in a wholesome manner." Col., lib. i. cap. 8.) The same author mentions the treatment that masters ought to give their slaves : " So much the more attentive," says he, " ought the master to be in his enquiry concerning this kind of servants, that they may not be injured in their clothes and other things afforded them, inasmuch as they are subject to many, such as bailiffs, masters of works, and gaolers; and the more they are liable to receive injuries, and the more they are hurt through cruelty or avarice, the more they are to be feared. Therefore a diligent master ought to enquire, both at themselves, and likewise the free servants in whom he may put greater confidence, whether they receive the full of what is allowed them ; he himself ought likewise to try, by tasting the good- ness of the bread and drink, and examine their clothes, mittens, and shoes." (Col., lib. i. cap. 8.) In another place, he says, " That the bailiff 7 should have the family dressed and clothed rather usefully than nicely, and carefully fortified against the wind, cold, and rain ; all which they will be secured from, by sleeved leathern coats, old centones thick patchwork as bed-quilts) for defending their heads ; or cloaks with hoods. If the labourers are clothed with these, no day is so stormy as to prevent them from working without doors. (Col., lib. i. cap. 8.) Cato likewise makes particular mention of the clothes of the slaves : " The vestments of the family," says he, " a coat and a gown three feet and a half long should be given once in two years ; whenever you give a coat or a gown, first receive the old one ; of these make centones. Good shoes should be given once in two years." (Cat., cap. 59.) 91. Cato informs us what quality of bread and whir, and ivhat other kinds of meat, were eiuen to la- bourers. Of bread, he says, each labourer was allowed at the rate of three pounds avoirdupois, or of three pounds twelve ounces avoirdupois in the day, according to the severity of his labour. " During the winter," savs he, " the bailiff shrild have four inodii of wheat each month, and during the summer four modU and' a half; and the housekeeper, or the bailiff's wife, and the shepherd, should have three. During the winter, the slaves should have four pounds of bread each in the day ; from the time that they begin to dig the vineyard, to the ripening of the tigs, they should have five pounds each ; after which they should return again to four." (Cat., cap. 5l>.) To this bread, there was a daily allowance ot wine; during the three months that immediately followed the vintage, the servants drank a weak kind of wine called lora. The manner in which this liquor was made, is described both by Pliny and Columella; and from the description given by them, it may well be supposed to be as good as the small beer given to servants in Britain. Vim. Nat Hist , lib, xiv. cap. 10.) It does not appear that the Roman slaves were much restricted in the quantity; t'ato mentions no measure; he only says, that they have this to drink for three months after the vintage ; he proceeds in this manner : " In the fourth month, each should get a liemina of wine in the day, which is at the rate of two and a half congii in the month ; in the fifth, sixth, seventh, and eighth months, each a sextary in the day, which is five congii in the month ; in the ninth, tenth, and eleventh, each three heiniiue in the day, which is an amphora in the month. More than this, at the saturnalia and compila/ia, to each man was given a congius. The quantity ot wine tor each man in the year is eight quadrantals; however, as addition must be made according to the work in which the slaves "are employed, it is not too much for each of them to drink ten quadrantals in the year." This allowance of wine, it must be acknowledged, was not inconsiderable, being at least seventy-four gallons in the year, or at an average lvi'J parts of a pint in the day. 92. Besides bread and urine, the slaves «ot what was called px/mentaratm, which an- swers to what in some parts of the country is called kitchen dripping or fat. (1'lin. Xat. /fist., lib. xviii. cap. 8.) For this purpose Cato recommends the laying up as Book I. AGRICULTURE OF THE ROMANS. 21 many fallen olives as can be gathered ; afterwards the early olives from which the smallest quantity of oil is expected ; at the same time observing that these must be given sparingly, that they may last the longer. When the olives are finished, he desires salt fish and vinegar to be given, and besides, to each man a sextarius of oil in the month, and a modius of salt in the year. {Cat., cap. 18.) Columella, for this purpose, directs apples, pears, and figs, to be laid up : he adds, if there is a great quantity of these, the rustics are secured in no small part of their meat during the winter, for they serve for dripping or fat. {Col., lib. xii. cap. 14.) Subsect. 3. Of the Beasts of Labour used by the Romans. 93. The labouring cattle used by the Romans, as well as by all the ancient nations, were chiefly the ox, the ass sometimes, the mule for burdens, and but very rarely the horse. The horse, however, was reared ; but almost exclusively for the saddle, the chase, or for war. The respect for the ox which existed among the Egyptians, Jews, and Greeks, was continued among the Romans, so much so that Varro, and after him Columella and Pliny, adduce an instance of a man having been indicted and condemned, for killing one to please a boy who longed for a dish of tripe. 94. The breeding, breaking, feeding, and working of the ox are very particularly treated of by the ancient authors. 95. Bulls, says Palladius, " should be tall, with huge members, of a middle age, rather young than old, of a stern countenance, small horns, a brawny and vast neck, and a confined belly." (Pal., lib. iv. 9& The cmvs Columella " most approves of, are of a tall make, long, with very large belly, very broad forehead, eyes black and open, horns graceful, smooth, and black, hairy ears, strait jaws, very large dewlap and tail, and moderate hoofs and legs." (Co/., lib. vi. cap. 21.) 97. Breeders both of horses and cows, Virgil observes, should attend principally to (he make of the female. '" If any one," says he, " fond of die prize at the Olympic games, breeds horses ; or if any one breeds stout bullocks for the plough, he diiefly attends to the make of the mother, who ought to be large in all her parts." ( Georg., iii. v. 49.) The same maxim is enforced scientifically by Cline. {Commun. to Board of Ag., vol. iv.) 98. For breaking and training cattle to the yoke, Varro and Columella give very parti- cular directions. " To break bullocks," says Varro, " put their necks between forked stakes ; set up one for each bullock, and give them meat from the hand ; they will become tractable in a few days : then, in order that by degrees they may become accustomed to the yoke, let an unbroken one be joined with a veteran, whom he will imitate ; then let them go upon even ground without a plough ; then yoked to a light plough in a sandy soil. That they may be trained for carriages, they should first be put to empty carts, and driven, if convenient, through a village or town ; the habit of hearing frequent noise, and seeing a variety of objects, will soon make them fit for use. ( Var., Ub. i. cap. 20.) 99. Training commences with the calf state ; and " calves," says Virgil, " which you intend for country labour, should be instructed while their youthful minds are tractable, and their age manageable : first bind round their necks wide wreaths of tender twigs ; then, when their free necks have been accustomed to servitude, put real collars upon them ; join bullocks of equal strength, and make them step together ; at first let them frequently be employed in drawing along the ground wheels without any carriage upon them, so that they may print their steps only upon the top of ihe dust ; afterwards let the beechen axle groan under the heavy load, and the pole draw the wheels joined to the weighty carriage." {Georg., iii. v. 163.) 100. Labouring oxen were fed with the mast or nuts of the beech or sweet chestnut, grape stones and husks after being pressed, hay, wheat and barley straw, bean vetch and lupine chaff, all parts of corn and pulse, grass, green forage, and leaves. The leaves used were those of the holm oak, ivy, elm (considered the best), the vine, the poplar, &c. The poplar leaves were mixed with the elm leaves to make them hold out, and when diere were no elm leaves, then oak and fig leaves were used. {Cat., cap. 54.) The food pre ferred before all others by Columella, is good pasturage in summer, and hay and corn in winter; but he says the food and manner of feeding differ in different countries. 101. Oxen were worked in pairs abreast both with the cart and plough, and stood in the stables also in pairs, in bubilia or stalls formed on purpose. They were carefully matched, in order that the stronger might not wear out the weaker. They were yoked either by the horn or neck ; but the latter mode was greatly preferred. 102. Yoking by the horns, Columella observes, " is condemned by almost all who have written on hus. bandry ; because cattle can exert more strength from the neck and breast, than the horns ; as in the one way, they press with the whole weight and bulk of their bodies; whereas in the other way, they are tor- mented with having their heads drawn back and turned up, and with difficulty stir the surface ol the earth with a light plough." (Col., lib. ii. cap. 11. 22.) 103. Oxen, when in the plough, were not allowed to go a great way without turning ; one hundred and twenty feet was the length fixed upon, and further than this it was thought improper for them to pull hard without stopping. The Reverend A. Dickson thinks it probable, that " the breaks or plats for the different kinds of corn and pulse C 3 HISTORY OK AGRICULTURE. Part I. were laid out nearly of thia length and breadth" (Hutb. of tine Anc.,'d. 452.) ; and there appear grounds lor concluding that the caae was the same among the .lows and Greeks. It was thought proper that oxen, in ploughing, should be allowed to stop a little at die turning, and when they stopped, that the ploughman should put the yoke a little forward, that so their necks might cooL " Unless their necks are carefully ami regularly cooled," says Columella, " they will soon become inflamed, and swellings and ulcers will arise." The -one author directs that " the ploughman, when he has unyoked his oxen, must rub them after they are tied up. press their backs with his hands, pull up their hides, and not sutler them to stick to their l.odies ; for this is a disease that is very destructive to working cattle." No food must he given them till they have Ceased from sweating and high breathing, and then by degrees, in portions as eaten ; and afterwards diey are to be led to the water, and encouraged by whistling." (Col., lib. ii. cap. 3.) 104. //' purchasing working oxen, Varro directs to choose such as have " spacious horns, rather black than otherwise, a broad forehead, wide nostrils, a broad chest, and thick dewlap." (Lib. i. cap. 'JO.) All the Roman authors agree that the best colour of die body- is red or dark brown ; that the black are hardier, but not so valuable ; that the hair should be short and thick, and the whole skin very soft to the touch ; the body in general very long and deep, or, as Columella and Palladius express it, compact and square. The particular parts they also describe at length in terms such as would for the most part be approved by experienced breeders of cattle ; making due allowance for the difference be- tween choice for working, and choice for fatting. They all concur in recommending fanners to rear at home what oxen they want, as those brought from a distance often disagree with the change of soil and climate. 105. The ass u-as the animal nc.it in general use. Varro says they were chiefly used for carrying burdens, or for the mill, or for ploughing where the land was light, and that they were most common in the south of Italy, especially in Campania. (Lib. ii. cap. 6.) He gives directions for breeding and rearing them ; and states that the female should not be allowed to work when in an advanced state of pregnancy, but that the male does not improve by indulgence in labour. The foal is removed from die dam a year after being foaled, and broken for labour in the third year. 106. Mules, Columella says, " are very proper both for the road and the plough, provided they are not too dear, and the stiff lands do not require the strength of the ox." " Mules and liinni," Varro observes, " are of two kinds ; the first being the offspring of a mare and an ass, and the second of a horse and an ass. A hinnusis less than an ass in the body, com- monly of a brighter colour ; his ears, mane, and tail like those of the horse. The mule is larger dian the ass, but has more of the character of that animal in its parts than the hinnus. To breed mules, a joung jackass is put under a mare when he is foaled, and being reared with her is admitted to her the third year ; nor does he despise the mare on account of former habits. If you admit him younger he soon gets old, and his offspring is less valuable. Persons who have not an ass which they have brought up under a mare, and who wish to have an ass for admission, choose die largest and the handsomest they can find, from a good breed." ( Varro, lib. ii. cap. 8.) Mules are fed like the ass, on spray, leaves, herbage, hay-, chaff, and corn. 107. The horse was scarcely, if at all, used in Roman agriculture, but was reared for the saddle and the army, by some farmers. Varro and Columella are particular- in their directions as to the choice of mares, and breeding and rearing their young ; but as these contain nothing very remarkable, we shall merely remark that the signs of future merit in a colt are said to be a small head, well formed limbs, and contending with odier colts or horses for superiority in running, or in any other thing. 108. The dog is a valuable animal in every unenclosed country, and was kept by the Roman farmers for its use in assisting the shepherd, and also for watching. Varro men- tions two kinds : one for hunting, which belongs to fierce and savage beasts ; and one for the shepherd and the watch-box. The latter are not to be bought from hunters or butchers, because these are either lazy, or will follow a stag rather than a sheep. The best colour is white, because it is most discernible in the dark. They must be fed in the kitchen with bread and milk ; or broth with bruised bones, but never with animal food, and never allowed to suffer from hunger, lest they attack the flock. That they may not be wounded by other beasts, they wear a collar made of strong leather set with nails, the inward extremities of which are covered with soft leather, that the hardness of the iron may not hurt their necks. If a wolf or any other beast is wounded by these, it makes other dogs that have not die collar remain secure. (Varr., lib. ii. cap. 9.) Slbsect. 4. Of the Agricultural Implements of the Romans. 109. The Romans used a great many instruments in their culture and farm manage- ment ; but their particular forms and uses are so imperfectly described, that very little is known concerning diem. 1 1 0. The plough, the most important instrument in agriculture, is mentioned by Cato as Book I. AGRICULTURE OF THE ROMANS. 23 of two kinds, one for strong, and the other for light, soils. Varro mentions one with two mould boards, with wliich, he says, " when they plough after sowing the seed, they are said to ridge." Pliny mentions a plough with one mould board for the same purpose, and others with a coulter, of which, he says, there are many kinds. It is probable indeed, as the Rev. A. Dickson has remarked, that the ancients had many kinds of ploughs, though, perhaps, not so scientifically constructed as those of modern times. " They had ploughs," he says, " with mould boards, and without mould boards ; with and without coulters ; with and without wheels ; with broad and narrow pointed shares ; and with shares not only with sharp sides and points, but also with high-raised cutting tops." (Husb. of the An., ii. 388.) But amidst all this variety of ploughs, no one has been able to depict the simplest form of that implement in use among the Romans. Professor John Martyn, in his notes to Virgil's Georgics, gives a figure of a modern Italian plough to illustrate Virgil's description. Rosier says the Roman plough was the same as is still used in the south of France (fig. 11.) Some authors have made fanciful representations ; j , of it of the rudest construction ; others have exhibited more refined pieces of mechanism, but most improbable as portraits. 111. From the (liferent parts of the plough mentioned by the Roman authors, a figure has been imagined and described by the author of the Husbandry of the Ancients, which, from his practical knowledge of agriculture, and considerable classi- cal attainments, it is to be regretted he did not live to see delineated. A plough in use from time immemorial in Valentia (fg. 12.), is supposed to come the nearest to the common Roman imple- ment. In it we have the buris or head (a) ; the temo, or beam (b) ; the stiva, or handle (c) ; the dentale, or share head (d) ; and the vo- mer or share (e). The other parts, the aura or mould board, and the culter or coulter, composed no part of the simplest form of Ro- man plough ; the plough- staff, or paddle, was a detached part ; and the manicula, or part which the ploughman took hold of, was a short bar fixed across, or into the handle, and the draught pole (/) was that part to wliich the oxen were attached. 112. The plough described covering seed and ridging ; but that which we have de- picted, was the common form used in stirring the soil. To supply the place of our mould boards, this plough . required either a sort of diverging stick (g), inserted in the share head, or to be held obliquely and sloping towards the side to which the earth was to be turned. The Romans did not plough their fields in beds, by circumvolving fur- rows, as we do ; but the cat- tle returned always on the same side, as in ploughing with a tumwrest plough. 11:3 Wheel ploughs, Lasteyrie thinks, were invented in or not long before the time of Pliny, who attributes the invention to the inhabitants of Cisalpine Gaul. Virgil seems C 4 24 HISTORY OF AGRICULTURE. Part I. 116. 117. lis. i 19. to have known such ploughs, and refers to them in his Georgia. In the Greek monu- ments of antiquity are only four or five examples of these. Lasteyrie has given figures of three wheel ploughs from Caylus'a Collection of Antiquities (Jig. Id. a and b), and from a Sicilian medal (c). Ill Th, • terns to have been a plank with several teeth, used as our brake >>r cultivator, to break rough ground, and tear out roots and weeds. 14 1 15. The mites seems to have heen a kind of harrow ; The raslruin, a rake used in manual labour ; The sarculum, a hand hoe, similar to our draw hoe ; and The marra, a hand hoe of smaller size. Thebident (bi-dens) seems to have been a two-pronged hoe of large size, with a hammer at the other end used to break elods. These were used chiefly in cultivating vineyards. 120 The ligo seems to have heen a spade (Jig. 14.), and the pala a shovel or sort of spade, or probably a synonym. The ligo and pala were made of wood only, of oak shod with iron, or with the blade entirely of iron. 121. The securis seems to have been an axe, and the same term was applied to the blade of the pruning knife, which was formed like a crescent. 122. The dolabra was a kind of adze for cutting roots in tree culture. 1'-':!. The reaping hook seems to have been die same as that in modern use : some were used for cutting off die ears of far or maize, and these, it may be presumed, were not serrated like our sickles ; others for cutting wheat and barley near the ground, like our reaping hooks. In the south of Gaul, Pliny informs us, they had invented a reap- ing machine : from his description this machine must have borne a considerable resemblance to that used in Suffolk, for cropping the heads off clover left for seed, and not unlike other modern attempts at an engine of this descrip- tion. (See Jig. 16.) 124. There were threshing implements for manual labour, and for being drawn by horses; and some for striking off the ears of corn (Jig. 15.), like what are called rippling combs, for combing oft' the capsules of nevvly pulled flax. 125. A variety of other instruments for cleaning corn, and for the wine and oil press, are mentioned ; but too obscurely to admit of exact description. Subsect. 5. Of the Agricultural Operations of the Eoma7ts. 126. Of simple agricultural operations, the most important are ploughing, sowing, and reaping ; and of such as are compound, or involve various simple operations, fallow- ing, manuring, weeding, and field-watering. 127. Ploughing is universally allowed to be the most important operation of agri- culture. " What," says Cato, " is the best culture of land? Good ploughing. What is the second? Ploughing in the ordinary way. What is the third? Laying on manure." (Cap. lxi.) The season for ploughing was any time whei. land was not wet : in the performance, the furrow is directed to be kept equal in breadth diroughout, one furrow equal to another ; and straight furrows. The usual depth is not mentioned, but it was probably considerable, as Cato says corn land should be of good quality for two feet in depth. No scamni or balks (hard unmoved soil) were to be left, and to ascertain that this was properly attended to> the farmer is directed, when inspecting the work done, to push a pole into the ploughed land in a variety of places. The plough was generally drawn by one pair of oxen, which were guided by the ploughman without the aid of a driver. In breaking up stiff land he was expected to plough half an acre, in free land an acre, and in light land an acre and a half, each day. Land, as already noticed (103.), was ploughed in square plots of 120 feet to the side, two of which made a jugerum or acre. A similar practice seems to have existed among the Eastern nations, and is probably alluded to in the book of Samuel (chap. xiv. 5. 14.), where Jonathan and his armour-bearer are said to have slain about twenty men within half an acre, or literally " half a furrow of an acre of land." 128. Fallowing was a universal practice anions the Romans. In most cases, a crop and a year's fallow succeeded each other ; though, when manure could be got, two crops or more were taken in succession ; and on certain rich soils, which Pliny describes as favourable for barley, a crop was taken every year. In fallowing, the lands were first ploughed after the crop was removed, generally in August; they were again cross- ploughed in spring, and at least a third time before sowing, whether spring corn or winter corn was the crop. There was, however, no limit to the number of ploughings and sarclings, and, when occasioned required, manual operations ; the object being, as Book I. AGRICULTURE OF THE ROMANS. 25 Theophrastus observes, " to let the earth feel the cold of winter, and the sun of summer, to invert the soil, and render it free, light, and clear of weeds, so that it can most easily afford nourishment." (Theo. de Caus. Plant., lib. iii. cap. 25.) 129. Manuring was held in such high esteem by the Romans, that immortality was given to Sterculius for the invention. They collected it from every source which has been thought of by the moderns, vegetable, animal, and mineral, territorial, aquatic, and marine. Animal dung was divided into three kinds, that produced by birds, that by men, and that by cattle. Pigeon-dung was preferred to all, and next human ordure and urine. Pigeon-dung was used as a top-dressing ; and human dung, mixed with clean- ings of the villa, and with urine, was applied to the roots of the vine and the olive. " M. Varro," says Pliny, " extols the dung of thrushes from the aviaries, as food for swine and oxen, and asserts that there is no food that fattens them more quickly." Varro pre- fers it also as a manure ; on which Pliny observes, " we may have a good opinion of the manners of our times, if our ancestors had such large aviaries, as to procure from them dung to their fields." {Nat. Hist., lib. xvii. cap. 9.) Dunghills were directed to be placed near the villa, their bottoms hollowed out to retain the moisture, and their sides and top defended from the sun by twigs and leaves. Dung usually remained in the heap a year, and was laid on in autumn and spring, the two sowing seasons. No more was to be spread than could be ploughed in the same day. Crops that were sickly were revived by sowing over them the dust of dung, especially that of birds, that is, by what is now called a top-dressing. Frequent and moderate dungings are recommended as pre- ferable to occasional and very abundant supplies. Green crops, especially lupines, were sown, and before they came into pod ploughed in as manures : they were also cut and buried at the roots of fruit trees for the same purpose. Trees, twigs, stubble, &c, were burned for manure. Cato says, " If you cannot sell wood and twigs, and have no stone that will burn into lime, make charcoal of the wood, and burn in the corn fields the twigs and small branches that remain." Palladius says that " lands which have been manured by ashes of trees will not require manure for five years." (Lib. i. 6.) Stubble was very generally burned, as it was also among the Jews. Lime was used as a manure, especially for vines and olives. Cato gives particular directions how to form the kiln and burn it. He prefers a truncated cone, ten feet in diameter at the bottom, twenty feet high, and three feet in diameter at the top. The grate covers the whole bottom ; there is a pit below for the ashes, and two furnace-doors, one for drawing out the burnt stone, and the other for admitting air to the fire. The fuel used was wood or charcoal. (Cap. 38.) 130. Marl was known to the earlier Roman authors, but not used in Italy. It is men- tioned by Pliny as having been " found out in Britain and Gaul It is a certain rich- ness of earth," he says, " like the kernels in animal bodies that are increased by fatness." Marl, he says, was known to the Greeks, " for is there any tiling," he adds, " that has not been tried by them ? They call the marl-like white clay leucargillon, which they use in the lands of Megara, but only where they are moist and cold." (Nat. Hist., lib. xvii. cap. 5. 8.) But though the Romans did not use marl, because they had not dis- covered it in Italy, they were aware, as Varro and others inform us, of its use. " When I marched an army," says Varro, " to the Rhine, in Transalpine Gaul, I passed through some countries where I saw the fields manured with white fossil clay." (Lib. i. cap. 7.) This must have been either marl or chalk. 131. Sowing was performed by hand from a basket, as in modern times ; the hand, as Pliny observes, moving with the step, and always with the right foot. The corns and leguminous seeds were covered with the plough, and sometimes so as to rise in drills ; the smaller seeds with the hoe and rake. 132. In reaping corn, it was a maxim, that it is " better to reap two days too soon than two days too late." Varro mentions three modes of performing the operation : cutting close to the ground with hooks, a handful at a time ; cutting off their ears with a curved stick, and a saw attached ; and cutting the stalks in the middle, leaving the lower part or stubble to be cut afterwards. Columella says, " Many cut the stalks by the middle, with drag-hooks, and these either beaked or toothed : many gather the ears with mergee, and others with combs. This method does very well where the crop is thin ; but it is very troublesome where the corn is thick. If, in reaping with hooks, a part of the straw is cut off with the ears, it is immediately gathered into a heap, or into the nubilarium, and after being dried, by being exposed to the sun, is threshed. But if the ears only are cut off, they are carried directly to the granary, and threshed during the winter." (Co/., lib. ii. cap. 21.) To these modes Pliny adds that of pulling up by the roots; and remarks, generally, that, " where they cover their houses with stubble, they cut high, to preserve this of as great a length as possible ; when there is a scarcity of hay, they cut low, that straw may be added to the chaff." (Nat. Hist., lib. xviii. cap. 30.) 133. A reaping machine used in the plains of Gaul, is mentioned both by Pliny and Palladius, which w thus described by the latter : — " In the jlains of Gaul, they use this quick way of reaping, and, without •26 HISTORY OP A GUI CULTURE. Part I. reapers, out large Balds nrith an "\ In one day. r.. r iins purpose. ••> machine is made, carried upon two wheels re surface bas boards erected at the side, which, imping outwards, make a wider space the board on the fore pari Is lower than the others ; upon it there are s j-* '«•;» t many small teeth, t m a row, answering t.. the height of the ears of the- com, and turned upwards at the ends; mi the back part of tins machine two ii ifts are fixed, like I '" ol a litter i to these an ax Is yoked. with bis be id to the machine, and the yoke and traces likewise turned the contrary way : he Is well trainedj and does not g<> raster than he is driven. When this machine is pushed through the standing corn, all the earsarec prehended bj the teeth, and heaped up In the hollow part of it, being cut offfrom the straw, which is left behind] the driver setting it higher or lo vet, as he finds it i i sarj ; and thus, by a few goings and returnings, the whole field is reaped I bis machine dues very well in plain and smooth fields, and in places where there is no necessity for feed. Ing with straw." (Pal., lib. vii. I I A conjectural delineation of this ma. chin. is given by Lasteyrie, in his Collection des Machines, $c. 134. The Romans did not bind their corn into sheaves, as is customary in northern cli- mates. When cut it was in general sent directly to the area to be threshed ; or, if the ears only were cropped, sent in baskets to the barn. Among the Jews, Egyptians, and Greeks, the corn was bound in sheaves ; or at least some kinds were so treated, as appears from the story of Ruth " gleaning among the sheaves;" of Joseph's dream, in which his " sheaf arose ;" and from the harvest represented by Homer, on one of the compartments of Achilles's shield. (//., lib. xviii. 550.) Reapers were set in bands on (he opposite sides of the field or plot, and worked towards the centre. As the land was ploughed in the same maimer from the sides to the middle, there was an open furrow left there, to which the reapers hastened in the way of competition. A reaper was expected to cut down a jugcrum of wheat in a day and a half; of barley, legumes, and medica or clover, in one day ; and of flax in three days. 1 35. Threshing was performed in the area or threshing floor, a circular space of from 40 to 60 feet in diameter, in the open air, with a smooth hard surface. The floor was generally made of well wrought clay mixed with amurca or the lees of oil ; sometimes it was paved. It was generally placed near the nubilarium or barn, in order that when a sudden shower happened, during the process of threshing, the ears might be carried in there out of the rain. Sometimes also the ears or unthreshed corn of the whole farm were first put in this barn and carried out to the area afterwards. Varro and Columella recommended that the situation of the area should be high and airy, and within sight of the farmer or bailiff's house, to prevent fraud ; distant from gardens and orchards, because, though dung and straw are beneficial to the roots of vegetables, tiiey arc de- structive when they fall on their leaves." ( Var. , lib. i. cap. 51.) 136. The corn being spread over the area a foot or two 17 in thickness, was threshed or beaten out by the hoofs of cattle, or horses driven round it, or dragging a ma- chine over it. This machine, Varro informs us, was " made of a board, rough with stones or iron, with a driver or great weight placed on it" A machine com- posed of rollers studded with iron knobs, and furnished with a seat for the driver {Jig. 17.), was used in the Carthaginian territory. Sometimes also they threshed with rods or flails. Far, or Indian corn (Zea Mdffs L.), was generally hand-picked, or passed through a handmill. 137. Corn was cleansed or winnowed by throwing it from one part of the floor to another (in the wind when there was any), with a kind of shovel called rentilabrnm ; another im- plement, called a van, probably a kind of sieve, was used when there was no wind. After being dressed, the corn was laid in the granary, and the straw either laid aside for litter, or, what is not a little remarkable, " sprinkled with brine ; then, when dried, rolled up in bundles, and so given to the oxen for hay." (Plin. Nat. Hist., lib. xviii. cap. 30.) 138. Hay-making among the Romans was performed much in the same way as in modern times. The meadows were mown when the flowers of the grass began to fade ; " as it dries," says Varro, " it is turned with forks; it is then tied up in bundles of four pounds each, and carried home, and what is left strewed upon the meadow is raked together, and added to the crop." " A good mower," Columella informs us, " cuts a jugerum of meadow, and binds twelve hundred bundles of hay." It is probable that this quantity, which is nearly two tons, was the produce per acre of a good crop. A second crop was cut, called cordum, and was chiefly used for feeding sheep in winter. Hay Book I, AGRICULTURE OF THE ROMANS. 27 was also made of leafy twigs for the same purpose. Cato directs the bailiff to " cut down poplar, elm, and oak spray, and put them up in tune, not over dry, for fodder for the sheep." (Cap. 5.) 139. Weeding and stirring the soil were performed, the first by cutting with a hook, or pulling die weeds up with the hand ; and the second by sarcling or hoeing. Beans were hoed three times, and corn twice : the first time they were earthed up, but not the second or third ; " for," says Columella, " when the corn ceases to tiller, it rots if covered with earth." Lupines 'were not sarcled at all, " because so far from being infested with weeds, they destroy them." Horse-hoeing was also practised, the origin of which is thus given by Pliny : " We must not omit," says he, " a particular method of ploughing, at this time practised in Italy beyond the Po, and introduced by the injuries of war. The Salassi, when they ravaged the lands lying under the Alps, tried likewise to destroy the panic and millet that had just come above ground. Finding that the situation of the crop prevented them from destroying it in die ordinary way, they ploughed the fields; but the crop at harvest being double what it used to be, taught the farmer to plough amongst the corn." This operation, he informs us, was performed, either when the stalk was beginning to appear, or when the plant had put forth two or three leaves. The corn being generally sown in drills, or covered with the plough, so as to come up in rows, readily admitted this practice. 140. Pasturing and harrowing corn, when too luxuriant, were practised. Virgil says, " What commendation shall I give to him, who, lest his corn should lodge, pastures it while young, as soon as the blade equals the furrow." (Geor.,i. 111.) Pliny directs to comb the corn with a harrow before it is pastured, and sarcle it afterwards. 141. Watering on a large scale was applied both to arable and grass lands. Virgil advises to " bring down the waters of a river upon the sown corn, and when the field is parched, and the plants dying, convey it from the brow of a hill in channels. (Geor., i. 106.) Pliny mentions the practice, and observes that the water destroys the weeds, nourishes the corn, and serves in place of sarcling. Watering grass lands was practised wherever an opportunity offered. " As much as in your power," says Cato, " make wa- tered meadows." Land that is naturally rich and in good heart, says Columella, " does not need to have water set over it, because the hay produced in a juicy soil is better than that excited by water ; when the poverty of the soil requires it, however, water may be set over it." The same author likewise describes, very particularly, the position of the land most proper for water meadows. " Neither a low field," says he, " with hollows, nor a field broken with steep rising grounds, are proper. The first, because it contains too long the water collected in the hollows ; the last, because it makes the water to run too quickly over it. A field, however, that has a moderate descent, may be made a meadow, whether it is rich or poor, if so situated as to be watered. But the best situation is, where the surface is smooth, and the descent so gentle, as to prevent either showers, or the rivers that overflow it, from remaining long ; and, on the other hand, to allow the water that comes over it gently to glide off. Therefore, if in any part of a field intended for a meadow, a pool of water should stand, it must be let off by drains ; for the loss is equal, either from too much water or too little grass." (Col., lib. ii. cap. 17.) 142. Old water meadows ivere renewed by breaking up and sowing them with corn for three years ; the third year they were laid down with vetches and grass seeds, and then watered again, but " not with a great force of water, till the ground had become firm and bound together with turf." (Col., lib. ii. cap. 18.) Watering, Pliny informs us, was commenced immediately after the equinox, and restrained when the grass sent up flower stalks ; it was recommenced in mowing grounds, after the hay season, and in pasture lands at intervals. 143. Draining, though an operation of an opposite nature to watering, is yet essential to its success. It was particularly attended to by the Romans, both to remove surface water, and to intercept and cany off under the surface the water of springs. Cato gives directions for opening the furrows of sown fields, and clearing them so as the water might find its way readily to the ditches : and for wet-bottomed lands he directs to make drains three feet broad at top, four feet deep, and a foot and a quarter wide at the bottom ; to lay them with stones, or, if diese cannot be got, with willow rods placed contrariwise, or twigs tied together. (Cap. 43.) Columella directs both open and covered drains to be made sloping at the sides, and in addition to what Cato says respecting the water-ways of covered drains, directs to make the bottom narrow, and fit a rope made of twigs to it, pressing the rope firmly down, and putting some leaves or pine branches over it before throwing in the earth. Pliny says the ropes may be made of straw, and that flint or gravel may be used to form the water-way, filling the excavation half full, or to within eighteen inches of die top. 144. Fencing was performed by the Romans, but only to a limited extent. Varrc says " the limits of a farm should be fenced (rendered obvious) by planting trees, that families may not quarrel with their neighbours, and that the limits may not want the 28 HISTORY OK AGRICULTURE. Part I. decision of a judge." (Lib. i. 15.) Palladius directs to enclose meadows, and gardens, and orchards. Columella mentions folds For enclosing the cattle in the night-time; but the chief fences of his time were the enclosures called parks tor preserving wild beasts, and forming agreeable prospects from the villas of the wealthy. Pliny mentions these, and says they were the invention of Fulvius Lupinus. (Nat. Hist., lib. viii.) Varro describes fences raised by planting briars or thorns, and training them into a hedge; and these, he says, have the advantage of not being in danger from the burning torch of the wanton passenger ; fences of stalks, interwoven with twigs, ditches with earthen dykes, and "alls of Stone or brick, or rammed earth and gravel. (Lib. i. cap. 14.) 11". Treei were primed and felled at different times, according to the object in view. The olive «a> little cut; the vine had a winter dressing, and one or two summer dressings. Green branches or Bpray, of which the leaves were used as food for oxen and sheep, «ere cut at the end of summer ; copse wood for fuel, in winter; and timber trees generally in that season. Cato, however, directs that trees which are to be felled for timber should be cut down at different rimes, according to their natures: such as ripen seeds, when the seed is ripe ; such as do not produce seetls, when the leaves drop ; such as produce both flowers and seeds at the same time, also when the leaves drop ; but if they are evergreens, such as the cypress and pine, they may be felled at any time. 14G. Fruits were gathered by hand. The ripest grapes were cut first; such as were selected for eating were carried home and hung up ; and those for the press were put in baskets, and carried to the wine-press to be picked and then pressed. Olives were plucked by hand, and some selected for eating ; the rest were laid up in lofts for future bruising, or they were immediately pressed. Such as could not be reached by ladders, Varro directs to be " struck with a reed rather than with a rod, for a deep wound requires a physician." It does not appear that green olives were pickled and used as food as in modern times. 1-17. Such <>re the chief agricultural operations of the Ro?nans, of which it cannot fail to be observed as most remarkable, that they differ little from what we know of the rural operations of the Jews and Greeks on the one hand, and from the practices of modern times on the other. Subsf.ct. 6. Of the Crops cultivated, and Animals reared by the Romans. 148. The cereal grasses cultivated by the Romans were chiefly the triticum or wheat, the far, or Indian corn (Zea), and the hordeum or barley : but they sowed also the siligo or rye, the holcus or millet, the panic grass (Panicum wiiliaceum), and the avena or oat. 149. Of legumes they cultivated the faba or bean, the jihum or pea, the lujtinvs or lupine, the ervum or tare, the lens or flat tare (P&thyrus tlcera), the chickling vetch (Pa- thyrus sativus), the chick or mouse pea (Cicer arietinum), and the kidneybean (Phaseolus). The bean was used as food for the servants or slaves, the others were grown principally lor food to the labouring cattle. 150. The sesamum, or oily grain (Sesamum orientale P.) (J'a- 18 0» was cultivated for the seeds, from which an oil was expressed, and used as a substitute for that of olives, as it slill is in India and China, and as the oil of the poppy is in Holland, that of the walnut in Savoy, and that of the hemp in Russia. 151. The herbage plants were chiefly the trifolium or clover, the medic or lucern, and the cytisus. What the latter plant is, has not been distinctly ascertained. They cultivated also the ocymum an&famum greecum, with several others, which from the descriptions left of them cannot now be identified. The napus or turnip, and rapa or rape, were much esteemed and carefully cultivated. Pliny says "they require a dry V | soil; that the rapa will grow almost any where; that it is nourished by mists, hoar-frosts, and cold; and that he has seen some of them upwards of forty pounds' weight. The napus," he says, " delights equally in colds, which make it both sweeter and larger, while by heat they grow to leaves." He adds, " the more diligent husbandmen plough five times for the napus, four times for the rapa, and apply dung to both." (Nat. Hist., lib. xviii. cap. 13.) Palladius recommends soot and od as a remedy against flies and snails, in the culture of the napus and rapa. \\ bile the turnips « ere growing, it appears, persons were not much restricted from pulling them. Columella observes that, in his time, the more religious husbandmen still ob- served an ancient custom, mentioned by Varro as being recorded by Demetrius, a Greek. Tins was, that while sowing them they prayed they might grow both for themselves and neighbours. Pliny says the sower was naked. 152. Of crops used iii Ike arts may be mentioned the flax, the sesamum already men- tioned, and the poppy ; the two latter were grown for their seeds, which wcrebruised'for oil. Book I. AGRICULTURE OF THE ROMANS. 1 53. The ligneous crops were willows, both for basketmaking, and as ties and poles for olives and vines. Copse wood was grown in some places for fuel ; but chiefly in natural woods, which were periodically cut. Timber was also pro- 1 9 cured from the natural forests, which were abundant in oak, £J S, f\ <;'■, elm, beech, pine, and larix. 154. The fruit trees cultivated extensively were the vine and M* the olive. The fig was grown in gardens and orchards, and also the pear ; and in the gardens of the wealthy were found most fruits in present use, with the exception of the pine- apple, the gooseberry, and perhaps the orange, though the , lemon seems to have been known in Palladius's time. The vine was supported by elms or poplars (Jig. 19.), or tied to differ- 20 ent sorts of trellises (Jig. 20.), as in Italy at the present day. 1.55. Suck are the principal Jield crops of Roman agriculture from which, and from the list of cultivated vegetables given by Pliny, it appears that they had most plants and trees now in use, with the exception of the potato, and one or two others of less consequence. 156. Of animals reared, the quadrupeds were of the same kinds as at present ; and to the common sorts of poultry they added thrushes, larks, peacocks, and turtle doves ; they also reared snails, dormice, bees, and fish. The care of the poultry was chiefly committed to the wife of the farmer or bailiff; and it was principally near Rome and Naples that the more delicate birds were ex- tensively reared. When Rome was at her greatest height, in the time of the Casars, the minor articles of farm produce bore a very high price. Varro informs us that " fat birds, such as thrushes, blackbirds, &c, were sold at two shillings, and sometimes 5000 of them were sold in a year from one farm. ( Var., lib. iii. cap. 2.) Pea-fowls were sold at ]/. 13s. 4rf. ; an egg was sold at 3s. 4d. A farm produced sometimes as many of these fowls as to sell at 500/. (Var., lib. iii. cap. 6.) A pair of fine doves were commonly of the same price with a peacock, 1/. 13s. Ad. If very pretty, they were much higher in the price, no less than 8/. 6s. 8d. L. Anius, a Roman knight, refused to sell a pair under 13/. 6s. 8d." ( Var., lib. iii. cap. 7.) Some kinds of fishes were very highly valued among the Romans in the time of Varro. Hortensius, whom Varro used frequently to visit, would sooner have parted with a pair of his best coach-mules, than with a bearded mullet. (Var., lib. iii. cap. 17.) Herrius's fishponds, on account of the quantity offish, were sold for 33,333/. 6s. 8d. (Plin. Nat. Hist., lib. ix. cap. 55.) ; Lucullus's, likewise, for the same price. (Id., lib. ix. cap. 54.) Subsect. 7. Of the general Maxims of Farm 2,[anagement among the Romans. 157. In every art which has been long practised, there are maxims of management which have been handed down from one generation to another ; and in no art are there more of these than in agriculture. Maxims of this sort were held among the Romans in the greatest estimation, and their writers have recorded a number derived from the lost Greek writers, and from their own traditionary or experimental knowledge. A few of these shall be noticed, as characteristic of Roman economy, and not without their use in modern times. 158. To soiv less and plovgh better was a maxim indicating that the extent of farms ought to be kept in their proper bounds. Pliny and Virgil consider large farms as pre- judicial, and Columella says, one of the seven wise men has pronounced that there should be limits and measures in all things. " You may admire a large farm, but cul- tivate a small one ; " and the Carthaginian saying, that " the land ought to be weaker than the husbandman," were maxims to the same effect. 159. The importance of the master s presence in even- operation of farming, was in- culcated by many maxims. " Whoever would buy a field ought to sell his house, lest he delight more in the town than in the country," was a saying of Mago. " Wherever the eyes of the master most frequently approach," says Columella, " there is the greatest increase." It is justly remarked by the Rev. A. Dickson, that though " every person knows that the presence and attention of the master is of great importance in every business ; yet every person does not know, that in no business are thev so important as in fanning." (Hnsb. of the An., i. 206.) 160. That more is to be gamed by cultivating a small spot ivell than a large space indif- ferently, is illustrated by many sayings and stories. " A vine-dresser had two daughters and a vineyard ; when his eldest daughter was married, he gave her a third of liis vine- yard for a portion ; notwithstanding which, he had the same quantity of fruit as formerly. When his younger daughter was married he gave her the half of what remained, and still the produce of his vineyard was not diminished." (Col., lib. iv. cap. 3.) Pliny mentions a freedman, who having much larger crops than his neighbours, was accused of witchcraft 30 HISTORY OF AGRICULTURE. Pjiut I. ;md bTmigbl to trial. He produced in tlie forum a stout daughter, and his excellently constructed iron spades, shears, and other tools, w iili his oxen, and said, " These, Romans, arc my charms.' 1 He was acquitted. (Nat. Hist., lil>. xviii. cap. a.) 161. Ostentatious or profuse culture is not less condemned than imperfect culture. " The ancients," says Pliny, "assert that nothing turns to less account tlian to give land a great deal of culture. To cultivate well is necessary, to cultivate in an extraordi- nary manner is hurtful. In what manner, then," he asks, " are lands to be culti- vated to the best advantage ?" To this be answers, "In the cheapest manner, if it is good ;" or " by good bad things," which, he says, were the words in which the ancients used in express this maxim. 162. Industry is recommended by numerous maxims. " The ancients," sa_\s Pliny, " considered him a bail husbandman who buys what lus farm can produce to him ; a bad master of a family, who dues in the day-time what he may do at night, except in the time of a Storm; a worse, who does on common days what is lawful on holidays; the worst (if all, who on a good day is employed more within doors than in the fields." (Xnt. Hist., lib. xviii. cap. 6.) 163. Kindness and humanity t<> servants and slaves is strongly recommended. " Slaves," says Varro, " must not be timid nor petulant. They who preside must have some degree of learning and education ; they must be frugal, older than the workmen, for the latter are more attentive to the directions of these, than they are to those of younger men. Besides, it must be most eligible that they should preside, who are experienced in agriculture j for they ought not only to give orders, but to work, that they may imitate him, and that they may consider that he presides over them with reason, because he is superior in knowledge and experience : nor is he to be suffered to be so imperious to use coercion with stripes rather than words, if this can be done. Nor are many to be procured of the same country, for domestic animosities very often arise from tliis source. You must en- courage them who preside, by rewarding them, and you must endeavour to let them have some privilege, and maid servants wedded to them, by whom they may have a family ; for by these means they become more steady and more attached to the farm. On account of these connections, the Epirotic families are so distinguished and attached. To give the persons who preside some degree of pleasure, you must hold them in some estimation ; and vou must consult with some of the superior workmen concerning the work that is to be done : when you behave thus, they think that they are less despicable, and that they are held in some degree of esteem by their master. They become more eager for work by liberal treatment, by giving them victuals, or a large garment, or by granting them some recreation or favour, as the privilege of feeding something on the farm, or some such tiling. In relation to them, who are commanded to do work of greater drudgery, or who are punished, let somebody restore their good will and affection to their master by afford ing them the benefit of consolation." 164. Knowledge in matters relative to agriculture is inculcated by all the rustic authors. " Whoever," says Columella, " would be perfect in this science, must be well acquainted with the qualities of soils and plants ; must not be ignorant of the various climates, that so he may know what is agreeable, and what is repugnant, to each ; he must know exactly the succession of the seasons, and the nature of each, lest, beginning his work when showers and wind are just at hand, his labour shall be lost. He must be capable to observe exactly the present temper of the sky and seasons ; for these are not always re- gular, nor in every year does the summer and winter bring the same kind of weather, nor is the spring always rainy, and the autumn wet. To know these things before they hap- pen, without a very good capacity, and the greatest care to acquire knowledge, is, in my opinion, in the power of no man." {Col., lib. i. prsef.) To these things mentioned by Columella, Virgil adds several others. " Before we plough a field to which we are strangers," says he, " we must be careful to attain a knowledge of the winds, from what points they blow at the particular seasons, and when and from whence they are most violent ; the nature of the climate, which in different places is very different ; the cus- toms of our forefathers ; the customs of the country ; the qualities of the different soils ; ami what arc the crops that each country and climate produces and rejects." ( Virg. Georg.,i. 1.) 165. The making of experiments is a thing very strongly recommended to the fanner by some of our authors. " Nature," says Varro, " has pointed out to us two paths, which lead to the knowledge of agriculture, viz. experience and imitation. The ancient hus- bandmen, by making experiments, have established many maxims. Their posterity, for the most part, imitate them ; we ought to do both, imitate others and make experiments ourselves, not directed by chance, but reason." (Var., lib. i. cap. is.) Sect. V. Of the Produce and Proft of Roman Agriculture. 166. The topics of produce and profits in agriculture} are very difficult to be discussed satisfactorily. In manufactures the raw material is purchased for a sum certain, and the Book I AGRICULTURE OF THE ROMANS. SI manipulation given by the manufacturer can be accurately calculated ; but in farming, though we know the rent of the land and price of seed-corn, which may be considered the raw materials ; yet the quantity of labour required to bring forth the produce, depends so much on seasons, accidents, and other circumstances, to which agriculture is more liable than any other art, that its value or cost price cannot easily be determined. It is a common mode to estimate the profits of farming by the numerical returns of the seed sown. But this is a most fallacious ground of judgment, since the quantity of seed given to lands of different qualities, and of different conditions, is very different ; and the acre, which, being highly cultivated and sown with only a bushel of seed, returns forty for one, may yield no more profit dian that which, being in a middling condition, requires four bushels of seed, and yields only ten for one. 167. The returns of seed sown, mentioned by the ancients, are very remarkable. We have noticed Isaac's sowing and reaping at Gerar (7.), where he received a hundred for one. In Mark's gospel, " good seed sown upon good ground, is said to bring forth in some places thirty, in others forty, in others sixty, and in others even an hundred fold." (Mark, iv. 8.) A hundred fold, Varro informs us, w^as reaped about Garada in Syria, and Byzacium in Africa. Pliny adds, that from the last place, there were sent to Augustus by his factor nearly 400 stalks, all from one grain ; and to Nero, 340 stalks. He says he has seen the soil of this field, " which when dry the stoutest oxen cannot plough ; but after rain I have seen it opened up by a share, drawn by a wretched ass on the one side, and an old woman on the other." {Nat. Hist., lib. xviii. cap. 5. ) The returns in Italy were much less extraordinary. Varro says, there are sown on a jugerum, four modii (pecks) of beans, five of wheat, six of barley, and ten of far (maize) ; more or less as the soil is rich or poor. The produce is in some places ten after one, but in others, as in Tuscany, fifteen after one." (Lib. i. cap. 44.) This, in round numbers, is at the rate of twenty-one and thirty-two bushels an English acre. On the excellent lands of Leon- tinum in Sicily, the produce, according to Cicero, was no more than from eight to ten for one. In Columella's time, when agriculture had declined, it was still less. 168. The farmer s profit cannot be correctly ascertained ; but, according to a calculation made by the Rev. A. Dickson, the surplus produce of good land in the time of Varro, was about fifteen pecks of wheat per acre ; and in the time of Columella, lands being worse cultivated, it did not exceed three and one third pecks per acre. What proportion of this went to the landlord cannot be ascertained. Corn, in Varro's time, was from Ad. to 5\d. per peck ; seventy years afterwards, in the time of Columella, it had risen to Is. 9d. per peck. Vineyards were so neglected in the time of this author, that they did not yield more to the landlord as rent, than 14s. or 15s. per acre. 1 69. The price of land, in die time of Columella and Pliny, was twenty-five years' purchase. It was common, both these writers inform us, to receive 4 per cent for capital so invested. The interest of money was then 6 per cent ; but this 6 per cent was not what we would call legal interest ; money among die Romans being left to find its value, like other commodities, of course the interest was always fluctuating. — Such is the essence of what is known as to the produce, rent, and price of lands among the Romans. Sect. VI. Of the Roman Agiiculturists, in respect to general Science, and the Advancement of the Art. 170. The sciences cultivated by the Greeks and Romans were chiefly of the mental and ■mathematical kind. They knew nothing of chemistry or physiology, and very little of other branches of natural philosophy ; and hence their progress in the practical arts was entirely the result of observation, experience, or accident. In none of their agricultural writers is there any attempt made to give the rationale of the practices described : abso- lute directions are either given, as is frequently the case in Virgil and Columella ; or the historical relation is adopted, and the reader is informed what is done by certain persons, or in certain places, as is generally the case with Varro and Pliny. 171. Wherever the jyhenomena of nature are not accounted for scientifically, recourse is had to supernatural causes; and the idea of this kind of agency once admitted, there is no limit that can be set to its influence over the mind. In the early and ignorant ages, good and evil spirits were supposed to take a concern in every thing ; and hence the endless and absurd superstitions of the Egyptians, some of which have been already noticed, and the equally numerous though perhaps less absurd rites and ceremonies of the Greeks, to procure their favour, or avert their evil influence. Hesiod considered it of not more importance to describe what works were to be done, dian to describe the lucky and unlucky days for their performance. Homer, Aristotle, Theophrastus, and all the Greek authors, are more or less tinctured with this religion, or superstition as we are pleased to call it, of their age. 172. As the Romans made few advances in science, consequently they made equally few in divesting themselves of the superstitions of their ancestors. These, as most readers know, entered into every action and art of that people, and into none more than agri- 32 HISTORY OF AGRICULTURE Part I culture. In some cases it is of importance for the general reader to be aware of this, before perusing their rustic authors ; as in the case of heterogeneous grafting, and the spontaneous generation and transmutation of plants, which, though stated by Virgil and Pliny, and others, as facts, are known to every physiologist to lie impossible : hut other relations are too gross t<> he entertained as truths by any one. Of these we may mention the lunar days, the impregnation of animals hy particular winds, && It is impossible not heartily to concur with Lord Kaimes in congratulating the present age on its delivery from SUCh •• heavy fetters." It is curious to observe the religious economy of Cato. After recommending the master of the family to he regular in performing his devotions, he expressly forbids the rest of the family to perform any, either by themselves or others, telling them that they u re to consider that the master performed sufficient devotions for the family. (('.•'., cap. 43.) This iv.i, probably intended not only to save time, but also to prevent such slaves as had .naturally more susceptible imaginations than the Others, from becoming religious enthusiasts. 17:;. What degree of im ricvlture received from the Romans, is a question we have no means of answering. Agriculture appears obviously to have declined from the time of Cato and Yarro to Pliny ; and therefore any improvement it received must have taken place antecedently to their era. As these authors, however, generally refer to the (links as their masters in this art, it appears very douhtful whether they did any thing more than imitate their practice. As a more luxurious people, they introduced new Quits, and probably improved the treatment of birds, and other minor products ; but these belong more to gardening and domestic economy, than to field cultivation. In the culture of corn, herbage, plants, and fruit trees, and in the breeding and rearing of cattle, Noah and his sons, the Jews, the Babylonians, Egyptians, and Greeks, may have been as far advanced as the Romans, for any tiling that appears to the contrary. The great agricultural advantage which mankind have derived from the Romans, is the diffusion of the art by their almost universal conquests. Sect. VII. Of the Extent to which Agriculture was carried in the Roman Produces, and of its Decline. 174. The art of agriculture was not only familiar to, but held in estimation by, even/ Ro- man soldier. It was practised by him in every foreign country where he was stationary ; and he taught it to the inhabitants of such as were uncultivated. In some countries, as in Carthaginia, great part of Spain, and a part of the south-east of France, agriculture was as far advanced as in Italy ; because at Carthage and Marseilles the Greeks had planted colonies, which flourished anterior to the Romans, or at least long before they extended their conquests to these countries : but in Helvetia, Germany, and Britain, it was in a very rude state or unknown. 17.5 In Germany, except on the borders of the Rhine, agriculture was never generally practised. The greater part of the country was covered with forests ; and hunting and pasturage were the chief occupations of the people when not engaged in war. The decline of the Roman power in that country, therefore, could make very little dif- ference as to its agriculture. 17G. In Britain, according to Ca?sar, agriculture was introduced by colonies from Belgium, which took shelter there from the encroachments of the Belgae from Germany, about B. C. 1 50. These colonies began to cultivate the sea coasts ; but the natives of the inland parts lived on roots, berries, flesh, and milk, and it appears from Dionysius that they never tasted fish. Pliny mentions the use of marl as being known to the Britons ; and Diodorus Siculus describes their method of preserving corn, by laying it up in the ear in caves or granaries. 177. But the general spread of agriculture in Britain was no doubt effected by the Romans. The tribute of a certain quantity of corn, which they imposed on every part of the country, as it fell under their dominion, obliged the inhabitants to practise tillage; and from the example of the conquerors, and the richness of the soil, they soon not only produced a sufficient quantity of corn for their own use and that of the Roman troops, but afforded every year a very great surplus for exportation. The Emperor Julian, in the fourth century, built granaries to receive this corn, and on one occasion sent a fleet of eight hundred ships, " larger than common barks," to convey it to the mouth of the Rhine, where it was sent up the country for the support of the plundered inhabitants. 178. Agriculture among the Romans themselves had begun to decline in J'arro's time, and was at a low ebb in the days of Pliny. Many of the great men in Rome, trusting to their revenues from the provinces, neglected the culture of their estates in Italy ; others, in want of money to answer the demands of luxury, raised all they could upon credit or mortgage, and raised the rents of their tenants to an oppressive height to enable them to pay the interest. The fanner was in this manner deprived of his capital; his spirits were broken, and he ceased to exert himself, or became idle and rapacious like his landlord. The civil wars in the end of the second century, the tyrannic conduct of Eook I. AGRICULTURE OF THE MIDDLE AGES. S3 the emperors in the third ; and the removal of the seat of empire to Constantinople in the middle of that which followed, prepared the way for the entrance of the Goths in the beginning of the fifth century, which completed the downfal of agriculture and every peaceful art. It declined at the same time in all the western provinces : in Africa and Spain, from the incursions of the Moors ; in France, from the inroads of the Germans ; in Germany and Helvetia, from the inhabitants leaving their country and preferring a predatory life in other states ; and in Britain, from the invasion of the Saxons, and the inroads of the Scots and Picts. Chap. III. History of Agriculture during the Middle Ages, or from the Fifth to the Seventeenth Century. 179. In the ages of anarchy and barbarism which succeeded the fall of the Roman power in Europe, agriculture appears to have been abandoned, or at least extremely neglected. Pasturage, in troublesome times, is always preferred to tillage, because sheep or cattle may be concealed from an enemy, or driven away on his approach ; but who would sow without a certainty of being able to reap ? Happily, the weaknesses of mankind sometimes serve to mitigate the effects of their vices. Thus, the credulity of the bar- barians of those times led them to respect the religious establishments, and in these were preserved such remains of letters and of arts as had escaped from utter destruction. These institutions were at first very limited, both in their buildings and possessions, and the inhabitants frugal and virtuous in their habits ; but in a very few years, by the grants of the rich warriors, they acquired extensive possessions ; erected the most magnificent buildings, and lived in abundance and luxury. Their lands were cultivated by servants, under the direction of the priests, who would have recourse for information to the Roman agricultural writers, which, in common with such other books as then existed, were almost exclusively to be found in their libraries. "We know little of the progress of agriculture under these circumstances for nearly ten centuries, when it began to revive throughout Europe among the lay proprietors. We shall notice some particulars relative to this revival, first in Italy, and next in Germany, France, and England. So little is known of the husbandry of Spain and the Netherlands during this period, that we shall defer what we have to say of those countries till we treat of their modern state. Sect. I. History of Agriculture in Italy, during the Middle Ages. 180. Little is laioivn of the agriculture of Italy from the time of Pliny till that of Crescenzio, a senator of Bologna, whose work In Commodum Buralium, written in 1300, was first printed at Florence in 1478. He was soon followed by several of his countrymen, among whom Tatti, Stefano, Augustino Gallo, Sansovino, Lauro, and Torello deserve to be mentioned with honour. From some records, however, it appears that irrigation had been practised in Italy previously to 1037. The monks of Chiarevalle had formed extensive works of this kind, and had become so celebrated as to be consulted and employed as hydraulic engineers, by the Emperor Frederic I., in the thirteenth century. Silkworms were imported from Greece into Sicily by Roger, the first king of that island, in 1146 ; but they did not extend to the Continental states for many years afterwards. 181. In the early part of the fourteenth century, the inhabitants of the south of Italy were strangers to many of the conveniences of life ; they were ignorant of the proper cultivation of the vine, and the common people were just beginning to wear shirts. The Florentines were the only people of Italy who, at that time, traded with England and Fiance. The work of Crescenzio is, in great part, a compilation from the Roman authors; but an edition published at Basil in 1548, and illustrated with figures, may probably be considered as indicating the implements then in use. The plough is drawn by only one ox : but different kinds to be drawn by two and four oxen are described in the text. A driver is also mentioned, which shows that the ploughmen in those days were less expert than during the time of the Romans, who did not use drivers. A waggon is described with a wooden axle and low wooden wheels ; each wheel formed Af^g, either of one piece or of four pieces joined together. Knives, scythes r7h/ff\\ S1 (fig. 21.), and grafting tools, as well as the mode of performing the ^V-^? operation, are figured. Sowing was then performed exactly as it was \"?\ among the Romans, and is still in most parts of Europe, where a sowing Vp machine is not employed. The various hand tools for Stirling and jjj turning the soil are described and exhibited; and the Roman bidens ...^Lj, shown as in use for cultivating the vine. All the agricultural and horti- ^sS" cultural plants described by Pliny are treated of, but no others. D 34 HISTORY OF AGRICULTURE. Part I. 1 R'j. Towards the end of the tuteenth century, Toivllo's Bicordo £ Agriculture was published In 1584, Pope Sixtus, according to Harts [Essay*.), forced his subjects to srork, thai they might pay me heavy taxes imposed oh them ; and by this means rendered them happy and contented, and himself rich and powerful. He found them sunk in sloth, overrun with pride and poverty, and losl to all sense of civi] duties; but he recovered them Gram that despicable state, first to industry, and next to plenty and regularity. 183. Naples being at this period a Spanish province, the wars in which Spain was engaged obliged her to put a tax upon fruit ; and as fruits were not only the chief delicacies, but articles of subsistence, among the Neapolitans, this imposition is said to have rendered them industrious. But though some agricultural books were published at Naples during the sixteenth century, there is no evidence that they ever made much pro- gress in culture. Their best lands are in Sicily ; and on them a corn crop and a fallow v.is and is the rotation, and the produce seldom exceeded eight or ten for one, as in the time of the Romans. This is the case in Sicily at present ; and it is likely that it was not different, or at hast, that it was not better, from the fifth to the seventeenth centuries. 184. The greatest agricultural improvements in Italy which took place during the period in question, were in Tuscany and Lombardy, In the former country the culture of the vine and the olive were brought to greater perfection than any where else in Europe. The oil of Lucca and the wines of Florence became celebrated in other coun- tries, and the commerce in these articles enriched the inhabitants, and enabled the pro- prietors to bestow increased attention on the cultivation of their estates. Lombardy excelled in the management of corn and cattle as well as of the vine. The butter, cheese, and beef of the country, were esteemed the best in Italy. The pastures were at that time, and still are, more productive than any in Europe, or perhaps in the world, having the three advantages of a climate so temperate in winter that the grass grows all the year, a soil naturally rich, and an abundant supply of river water for irrigation. The irrigation of Lombardy forms the chief feature of its culture. It was begun and carried to a con- siderable extent under the Romans, and in the period of which we speak extended and increased under the Lombard kings and wealthy religious establishments. Some idea may be formed of the comfort of the farmers in Lombardy in the thirteenth century, by the picture of a farm-house given by Crescenzio, who lived on its borders, which, as a French antiquarian (Paulinay) has observed, differs little from the best modern ones of Italy, but in being covered with thatch. Sect. II. History of Agriculture in France, from the Fifth to the Seventeenth Century. 18.5. The nations who conquered France in tin- ffth century were the Goths, Vandals, and Franks. The two former nations claimed two thirds of the conquered lands {Leges Jiurgundiorum, tit. 54.), and must of course have very much altered both the state of property, and the management of the affairs of husbandry. The claim of the Franks is more uncertain ; they were so much a warlike people, that they probably dealt more favourably with those whom they subjected to their dominion. 186. All that is known of the agriculture of these nations and of France, til! the ninth centun/, is derived from a perusal of their laws. These appear to have been favourable to cultivation, especially the laws of the Franks. Horses are frequently mentioned, and a distinction made between the war horse and farm horse, which shows that this animal was at that period more common in France than in Italy. Horses, cattle, and sheep were pastured in die forests and commons, with bells about the necks of several of diem, for their more ready discovery. The culture of vines and orchards was greatly encouraged by Charlemagne in the ninth century. He planted many vineyards on the crown lands which were situated in every part of the country, and left in his capitularies particular instructions for their culture. One of his injunctions prohibits an ox and an ass from being yoked together in the same plough. 187*. During great part of the ninth and tenth centuries, France was harassed by civil wars, and agriculture declined ; but to what extent, scarcely any facts are left us to ascer- tain. A law passed in that period, respecting a fanner's tilling the lands of his superior, enacts that, if the cattle are so weak that four could not go a whole day in the plough, he was to join these to the cattle of another and work two days instead of one. He who kept no cattle of his own was obliged to work for his superior three days as a labourer. 188. In tlte eleventh and twelfth centuries, the country enjoyed more tranquillity, and agriculture was improved. Judging from the Abb6 Suger's account of the abbey lands of St. Denis, better farm-houses were built, waste lands cultivated, and rents more than doubled. The church published several canons for the security of agriculture during this period, which must have had a beneficial effect, as the greatest proportion of the best lands in every country was then in the hands of the clergy. 180. In the thirteenth century little alteration took place ; but the number of holidays were diminished, and mills for grinding corn driven by wind introduced. Book I. AGRICULTURE OF THE MIDDLE AGES. 35 190. In the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, agriculture suffered greatly by the English wars and conquests, and by political regulations relative to the export and market price of corn. 191. About the middle of the sixteenth century, the first agricultural work produced in France made its appearance. It was entitled, Les Moyens de devenir riche, and was com- posed by Bernard de Pallisy, a potter, who had written on various subjects. It is a very short tract, composed of economicaJ remarks on husbandly, or rural and domestic economy. Towards the end of this century, under Henry IV., and his virtuous minister Sully, considerable enterprise was displayed. Canals were projected, and one begun, and, according to Sully, France in his time abounded with corn, grain, pulse, wine, cider, flax, hemp, salt, wool, oil, dying drugs, cattle great and small, and every thing else, whether necessary or convenient for life, both for home consumption and exportation. (Mem., xvi. 225. ; Rankens Hist, of France, i. 433.) Sect. III. Of the Agriculture of Germany and other Northern States, from the Fifth to the Seventeenth Century. 192. The nations north of the Rhine and the Danube, during the first half of these centuries, were chiefly employed in making inroads or conquests on their southern neigh- bours ; and during the whole period diey w r ere more or less engaged in attacking one another. Under such circumstances, agriculture must either have remained in the stale which we have already described (178.), or it must have declined. In some states or kingdoms it may have been less neglected than in others, or may even have improved ; but, during the whole of this period, nothing was effected which demands particular attention. 193. The earliest German author on husbandry is Conradus Heresbachius, who was born in 1508, and died in 1576. His work, De Re Rustica, was published after his death. It is an avowed compilation from all the authors who had preceded him, and contains no information as to the state of agriculture around him. It is a dialogue in four books, and also includes gardening. The persons are Cono, a gentleman retired into the country; Rigo, a courtier; Metelea, wife of Cono ; and Hermes, a servant. The conversation is carried on in Cono's house, and on his farm, and the different speakers are made to deliver all that has been said by all the Greek and Roman writers, from Ilesiod to Pliny, by Crescenzio and other Italians, and by various writers on genera] subjects: they converse on the advantages of agriculture as a pursuit; on its general maxims and practices ; on the culture of particular plants ; and on the economy of the house and garden. 194. No other boohs on agricidture, of any note, appeared in Germany during the period under revieiv. About the middle of the sixteenth century, the Elector of Saxony, Augustus II., is said to have encouraged agriculture, and to have planted the first vine- yard in Saxony ; but, from the implements with which he worked in person, which are still preserved in the arsenal of Dresden, he appears to have been more a gardener than a farmer. It is to be regretted that the histories of the arts in the northern countries during the middle ages are very few, and so little known or accessible, diat we cannot derive much advantage from them. Sect. IV. History of Agriculture in Britain, from the Fifth to the Seventeenth Century. 195. Britain, on being quilled by the iiomans, was invaded by the Saxons, a ferocious and ignorant people, by whom agriculture and all other civilised arts were neglected. In the eleventh century, when the Saxons had amalgamated with the natives, and con- stituted the main body of the English nation, the country was again invaded by the Nor- mans, a much more civilised race, who introduced considerable improvement. These two events form distinct periods in the history of British agriculture, and two others will bring it down to the seventeenth century. Subsect. 1. History of Agriculture in Britain during the Anglo-Saxon Dynasty, or from the Fifth to tlie Eleventh Century. 196. At the arrival of the Anglo-Saxons this island, according to Fleury (History, vol. iv. p. 97.), abounded in numerous flocks and herds, which these conquerors seized, and pastured for their own use ; and, after their settlement, they still continued to follow pasturage as one of the chief means of their subsistence. This is evident from the great number of laws that were made in the Anglo-Saxon times, for regulating the prices of all kinds of tame cattle, for directing the manner in which they were to be pastured, and for preserving them from thieves, robbers, and beasts of prey. (Wilkins, Leges Saxon., passim.) 197. The Welsh in this period, from the nature of their country and other circum- stances, depended still more on their flocks and herds for their support ; hence their laws respecting pasturage were more numerous and minute than those of the Saxons, (lieges D 2 x<, HISTORY OF AGRICULTURE. Part I. U'.iliii 7. Tlic various operations of husbandry, as manuring, ploughing, sowing, harrowing, reaping, threshing, winnowing, .S.C., are incidentally men- tioned by the writers of this period ; but it is impossible to collect from them a distinct account of the manner in which these operations were performed. Marl seems to have been the chief manure next to dung, employed by the Anglo-Normans, as it had !>ecn by the Anglo-Saxon and British husbandmen. (M. Paris, Hist., p. 181. ; In Vit. Abbot., p. 101. col. 1.) Summer fallowing of lands designed for wheat, and ploughing them several times, appear to have been common practices of the English farmers of this period : for Giraldus Cambrensis, in his description of Wales, takes notice of it as a great singularity En the husbandmen of that country, " that they ploughed their lands only once a year, in March or April, in order to sow them with oats ; but did not, like other farmers, plough them twice in summer, and once in winter, in order to prepare them for wheat." (Girald. Cambrens. Descript. Cambrite, c. viii. p. 887.) On the border of one of the compartments in the famous tapestry of Bayeux, we see the figure of one man sowing with a sheet about his neck, containing the seed under his left arm, and scat- tering it with his right hand ; and of another man harrowing with one harrow, drawn by one horse. (Montfaucon, Monumens de Monarchic Franqois, torn. i. plate 47.) In two plates of Strutt's very curious and valuable work (Jigs. '26, 27.), we perceive the figures of several persons engaged in mowing, reaping, threshing, and winnowing ; in all which operations there appears to be little singular or different from modern practice. (Strutt's Complete View of the Manners, Customs, $-c, of England, vol. i. plates II, 12.) 208. Agriculture in Scotland seems to have been in a very imperfect state towards the end of this period. For in a parliament held at, Scone, by King Alexander II., A. I). 27 . ^wlk I 2 1-1, it was enacted, that such farmers as had four oxen or cows, or upwards, should labour theii land., bj tilling them with a plough, and should begin to till fifteen days Book 1. AGRICULTURE OF THE MIDDLE AGES. £9 Normans. before Candlemas ; and that such farmers as had not so many as four oxen, though they could not labour their lands by tilling, should delve as much widi hand and foot as would produce a sufficient quantity of corn to support themselves and their families. (Regiam Majeslalem, p. 307.) But this law was probably designed for die highlands, and most uncultivated parts of the kingdom ; for in the same parliament a very severe law was made against those farmers who did not extirpate a pernicious weed called guilde (Chrysan- themum st'getum L.) out of their lands, which seems to indicate a more advanced state of cultivation. (Ibid., p. 335.) Their agricul- tural "operations, as far as can be gathered from old tapestries and illuminated missals, were similar to those of England. Thresh- ing appears to have been performed by women (Jig. 28.), and reaping by the men (Jig. 29.), which is the reverse of the modern practice in that and in most countries. Such is the account of Henry. (History of Britain, vol. vi. p. 173.) 209. The field culture of the vine, which had been commenced by the monks for their own use, was more extensively spread by the William of Malmsbury, who flourished in the early part of the twelfth century, says there were a greater number of vineyards in the vale of Gloucester than any where else, and that from the grapes was produced a wine very little inferior to that of France. Orchards and cider were also abundant, and the apple trees, it is said, lined die roads in some parts of the country, as they still do in Normandy, whence in all pro- bability the plants or at least the grafts were imported. Subsect. 3. History of Agriculture in Britain, from the Thirteenth Century to the Time cf Henry VIII. 210. Agriculture in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, it appears, was still earned on with vigour. Sir John Fortescue, in a work in praise of the English laws, mentions the progress that had been made in planting hedges and hedge-row trees before the end of the fourteenth century. Judge Fortescue wrote Ins Legum Anglioe in the fifteenth century, but it was not published till the reign of Henry VIII, In the law book called Fleta (supposed to have been written by some lawyers, prisoners in the Fleet, in 1340), very particular directions are given as to the most proper times and best manner of ploughing and dressing fallows. (Fleta, lib. ii. chap. 73. p. 163.) The fanner is there directed to plough no deeper in summer, than is necessary for destroying the weeds ; nor to lay on his manure till a little before the last ploughing, which is to be with a deep and narrow furrow. Rules are also given for the changing and choosing of seed ; for pro- portioning the quantity of different kinds of seed to be sown on an acre, according to the nature of the soil, and the degree of richness ; for collecting and compounding ma- nures, and accommodating them to the grounds on which they are to be laid ; for the best seasons for sowing seeds of different kinds on all the variety of soils ; and, in a word, for performing every operation in husbandly, at the best time, and in the best manner. (Fleta, lib. ii. chap. 72, 73. 76.) In the same work, the duties and business of the steward, bailiff, and overseer, of a manor and of all the other persons concerned in the cultivation of it, are explained at full length, and with so much good sense, that if they were well performed the manor could not be ill cultivated. (Ibid., chap. 72. 88. ; Henry, viii. 267.) This work, as well as others of the kind, is written in Latin, and even the farming accounts were in those days kept in that language, as they still are in the greater part of Hungary. 211. During the greater ]>art of the fifteenth century England was engaged in civil wars, and agriculture, as well as other arts, declined. The labourers, called from the plough by royal proclamation or the mandates of their lords, perished in battle, or by accident and fatigue, in immense numbers. Labour rose in price notwithstanding various laws for its limitation, and this at last produced a memorable revolution in the state of agriculture, which made a mighty noise for many years. The prelates, barons, and other great proprietors of land, kept extensive tracts around their castles, which were called their demesne lands, in their own immediate possession, and cultivated them by their villains, and by hired servants, under the direction of their bailiffs. But these great landholders having often led their followers into the fields of war, their numbers were gradually diminished, and hired servants could not be procured on reasonable terms. This obliged the prelates, lords, and gentlemen to enclose the lands around their castles, and to con- vert them into pasture grounds. This practice of enclosing became very general in England about the middle of this period, and occasioned prodigious clamours from those who mistook the effect of depopulation for its cause. 212. The habit of enclosing lands and converting them to pasture continued after the cause had ceased, and an act was passed to stop its progress in the beginning of the reign D 4 40 HISTORY OF AGRICULTURE. Part I. of Henry VII. The dearths of ihb period furnish another proof of tlie low state of agriculture. Wheal in 14S7 and 1498 rose from 4s. or 4s. <;f Spain, nrhere corn, grass, butcher's meat, cheese, butter, rice, silk, cotton, wine, oil, and fruits arc produced, all in the highest decree of perfection. Only a fifth of its surface is considered sterile ; while only a fifth of the surface of France is considered fertile. The population of Italy is greater in proportion to the surface, than that of either France or Britain. 261. The writers mi i/a- rural economy of Italy are, Arthur Young, in 1788; Sis- niondi, in 1801; and, Chateauvieux, in 1812. From the works of these authors, from those of Forsyth, Wilson, and other recent tourists, anil from our own observations ill 1819, we shall select some of the most characteristic traits as to the agriculture of Italy, adopting the division of Chateauvieux, of the region of irrigation, and the rotation of crops, in Lombardy ; the region of vines and olives, exemplified in Tuscany ; the region of insalubrious air, or the states of the church ; and the region of volcanic ashes, or the Neapolitan culture. Subsect. 1. Of the Agriculture of Lombardy. 262. The climate of Lombardy is less irregular than that of some other districts. It is temperate on the declivities of the mountains in Piedmont, where the richest sheep pastures are situated ; subject to great vicissitudes and to severe storms at the base of the Alps; and warm and humid in the plain of the Po. In some parts the olive and the orange endure the open air throughout the year, as in the islands of the lakes ; in other places, at Milan for example, they require nearly as much protection in winter as in England. 263. The soil of the plain of the Po has evidently been formed by the recession or deposition of water, and is a rich black mould, deep, and every where perfectly level. 264. These lands are every where enclosed, either with hedges and ditches, or with open water-courses for irrigation. The hedges, however, are not very well kept : they are a mixture of different plants ; often of willows chiefly, occasionally of the mulberry for feeding the silkworms, and sometimes of reeds. The hedge-plants of the country are the Christ's thorn (Miliums australis,^. 31.), common hawthorn, and pomegranate. 265. The lands are generally farmed by metayers (from meta, one half, Ital.). The landlord pays the taxes, and repairs the buildings ; the tenant provides cattle, implements, and seed ; and the produce is di- vided. In sonic cases the landlord's half is delivered to him in kind ; in others it is valued annually at har- vest, and paid in money, or partly in money and partly in produce. There are some farmers who have leases, generally for short periods, not exceeding nine years, and pay fixed rents. The size of farms is from ten to sixty acres ; but there are a few of two or three hundred acres. The latter, however, are chiefly cul- tivated by the proprietors. Farm-houses are of brick, sometimes stuccoed, and covered with tiles. They are not always detached ; but two, three, or more, farmeries are often grouped together, and their united buildings might be mistaken for those of one large farm. One side of a square contains the houses of the farmers, the stables, and cattle-sheds ; and the three others are sheds, supported by columns, and open on all sides, for implements and produce. The metayers never get rich, and are seldom totally ruined ; they are not often changed; the same farm passes from father to son, like a patrimonial estate. 266. Landed property is generally vianaged by a steward or factor (fattore), whose business it is to inspect the cultivation of the lands, to direct repairs, pay taxes and tithes, and see that the landlord has his proper share of the produce. Tithes have been greatly lessened by the sale of a great part of the church lands at the revolution ; but are still taken in kind, or commuted for, in order to support the parish clergy. 267. The irrigation of Lombardy is its most remarkable feature. The antiquity of the practice has been already noticed (180). In most states of Italy, the right and property of all rivers, and in some, as Venice, even of springs and rain, are considered as vested in the king or government. All canals taken from rivers are, therefore, purchased from the state, and may be carried through any person's lands, provided they do not pass through a garden, or within a certain distance of a mansion, on paying the value of the ground occupied. Such canals, indeed, are generally considered as enhancing the value of the property they pass through, by enabling them to purchase water, which is sold by the hour, half hour, or quarter, or by so many days' run, at certain fixed times, in the year. The right to water from such canals may even be purchased ; and Arthur Young Boos I. AGRICULTURE IN ITALY. 49 mentions that the fee-simple for an hour's run per week, through a sluice of a certain dimension, near Turin, was, in 1788, 1500 livres. The water is not only used for grass- lands, which, when fully watered, are mown four, and sometimes five, times a year, and in some cases (e. g. Prato Marcita) as early as March ; but is conducted between the narrow- ridges of corn-lands, in the hollows between drilled crops, among vines, or to flood, a foot or more in depth, lands which are sown with rice. It is also used for comblcs, or depositing a surface of mud, in some places where the water is charged with that mate- rial ; and tliis is done somewhat in the manner of what we call warping. The details of watering, for these and other purposes, are given in various works ; and collected in those of Professor Re. In general, watered lands let at one third higher than lands unwatered. 268. The implements and operations of agriculture in Lombard!/ are very imper- fect. The plough is of very rude contrivance, with a handle thirteen or fourteen feet long. It is drawn by two oxen without a driver or reins, the ploughman using a long light rod or goad. The names given to the different parts of the plough are corruptions or variations of the Roman terms already mentioned. (111.) Corn is generally beaten out by a wheel or large fluted cylinder (Jig. 32.), which is turned in a circular track, somewhat in the manner of a bark-mill in England. 269. The cattle of Piedmont are, in some cases, fed with extraordinary care. They are tied up in stalls ; then bled once or twice ; cleaned and rubbed with oil ; afterwards combed and brushed twice a day : their food in summer is clover, or other green herbage ; in winter a mixture of elm leaves, clover-hay, and pulverised walnut-cake, over which boiling water is poured, and bran and salt added, Where grains (pouture) can be procured, they are also given. In a short time, the cattle cast their hair, grow smooth, round, fat, and so improved as to double their value to the butcher. (Mem. della Soc. Agr., vol. i. p. 73.) 270. The dairies on the plain of the Po, near Lodi, produce the Parmesan cheese. The peculiar qualities of this cheese depend more on the manner of making than on any tiling else. The cows are a mixed breed, between the red Hungarian or Swiss cow, and those of Lombardy. The chief peculiarity in their feeding is, that they are allowed to eat four or five hours in the twenty -four ; all the rest of the time they are stalled, and get hay. Both their pasture and hay are chiefly from irri- gated lands. The cheeses are made entirely of skimmed milk ; half of that which has stood sixteen or seventeen hours, and half of that which has stood only six. The milk is heated and coagulated in a caldron (fg. 33.), placed in a very ingenious fire-place, being an inverted - semi-cone in brickwork, well adapted for preserving heat and for the use of wood as fuel. Without being taken out of the caldron, the curd is broken very small by an implement, consisting of a stick with cross wires ; it is again heated, or rather scalded, till the curd, now a deposition from the whey, has attained a considerable degree of firmness ; it is then taken out, drained, salted, and pressed, and in forty days is fit to put in the cheese- loft. The peculiar properties of this cheese seem to depend on the mode of scalding the curd ; though the ~ — ~~ dairyists pretend that it also depends on the mode of Where one farmer has not enough of cows to cany on the process himself, it is common for two or more to join and keep a partnership account, as in Switzerland. More minute details will be found in Book IV. Part VII. 271. Sheep are not common in Lombardy : there are flocks on the mountains, but in the plains only a few are kept, in the manner pigs are in England, to eat refuse vegetables. The Merino breed was introduced, and found not to succeed. 272. The rotations of crops are not so remarkable for preserving the fertility of the soil, as for an immediate return of profit. The produce however being seldom bulky, the object is defeated. As examples, we may mention, 1. maize drilled ; 2, 3, and 4. wheat; 5. maize drilled; 6, 7, and 8. wheat. Another is, 1. fallow; 2, 3, and 4. rice; 5. fallow ; 6. wheat and clover, &c. Hemp, flax, lupines, rape, millet, panic, rye, and sometimes oats, with other crops, enter into the rotations. Rice is reckoned the most profitable crop ; the next, wheat and millet. The rice-grounds receive but one plough- ing, which is given in the middle of March, and the seed is sown at the end of the same month ; sometimes in water up to the seedsman's knees, but more frequently the water is not let on till the rice is come up. The water is then admitted, and left on the ground till the beginning of June, when the crop is weeded by hand, by women half naked, witk their petticoats tucked to their waists, wading in the water ; and they make so droll a E feeding the cows 50 HISTORY OF AGRICULTURE. Tart I figure] that parties are often made at that season to go and new the rice-grounds. When the weeding is finished] the water is drawn off 1 t'<>r eight days; it is again drawn off when the ear begins to form, but after it^ formation is let in again till tin.- rice is nearly ripe, which is about the end of August or beginning of September. The produce is from ten tO twenty fold. : . / the herbage crept cultivated, may be mentioned chiccory, very common in the watered meadows, rib-grass, also very common, oat-grass, and some other grasses ; luit not near the variety of grasses found in the English meadows and pastures; fenu- greek fTrigonella /..), clovers, lucerne, Baintfoin, and in some places burnet and spurry. •271. Among the tree* grown by tin- fanner, the mulberry predo min ates, and is pollarded once or oftener every year for the silkworm. The tree is common in the hedge-rows, and in rows along with vines parallel to broad ridges. The vine is generally cultivated; trained or rather hung on mulberry, maple, or flowering ash pollards, or climbing up tall elms, or in the hedges, or against willow poles or rude espalier rails. Tli e olive is not very common, but is planted in schistous declivities in warm situations; the apple, pear, and green gage plum are common. 275. Though the agriculture qf Lombard*/ appears to be practised more for subsistence, than for the employment qf capital and the acquisition of riches, yet, from the effect of irrigation in producing large crops of grass, the profits of rearing silk, and the rigid economy of the farmers, it is thought by Chateauvieux that it sends more produce to market than any district of Italy. (Italy, let. iv.) Subsect. 2. Of the floriculture of Tuscany. 276. The picture of the agriculture of Tuscany given by Sismondi, a distinguished literary character of Geneva, who resided five years as a cultivator in that country, is well known. Sismondi arranges the rural economy of this district into that of the plains, the slopes, and the mountains ; and we shall here state the most interesting or characteristic circum- stances which occur in his work, or that of Chateauvieux, under these heads. According to Forsyth, one half of Tuscany consists of mountains which produce nothing but timber ; one sixth of olive and vine hills ; and the remaining third is plain. The whole is distri- buted into eighty thousand fattorie, or stewardships. Each fattoria includes, on an average, seven farms. This property is divided among forty thousand families or corporations. The Riccardi, the Strozzi, the Feroni, and the Benedictines rank first' in the number. The clergy keep the farmers well disciplined in faith, and through the terror of bad crops, they begin to extort the abolished tithes. This was in 1802: tithes are again fully established under the Austrian power. 277. The ctimate qf Tuscany is esteemed the best in Italy, with the exception of that of its maremme, or pestilential region on the sea-coast. The great heats commence at the end of June, and diminish in the middle of September ; the rest of the year is a perpetual spring, and vegetation in the plains is only interrupted for two or three weeks in the middle of winter. On the mountains there is snow all the year; and the hilly districts enjoy a temperate but irregular weather in summer, and a winter of from one to three months. 278. The soil qf the plains is either sand or mud of " inexpressible fertility ;" some parts were marshy, but the surface is now comparatively elevated and enriched (as was that of the Delta; by combles (colmata), or warping, a process ably described by Sismondi. (Agr. Tuscan., § ii) 279. Irrigation in the plains is practised in all the different modes as in Lombardy, but on a smaller scale, correspondent with their extent. 280. The plain is every ichere enclosed. The fields are parallelograms, generally one hundred feet broad, and four or five hundred feet long, surrounded by a ditch planted with Lombardy poplars and vines, with rows, lengthwise, of mulberries, maple, or the flowering or manna ash, also interspersed with vines; and often, by the way-sides, these hang in festoons, from tall elms. (Jig- 34.) The poplars supply leaves for feeding heifers, rods which are sold for making espaliers for vines, and spray for fuel. Every now and then a few are cut down for timber, as at twenty years they arc found to he too large for the situation. The top of the ash and maple is used for fuel ; the timber for implements of husbandry. The mulberry is pollarded every other year lor the leaves, which are stripped off for the silk- worms, and the spray used as fuel. The produce of raw silk - is one of the most important in Tuscany, and is almost the only article the farmer of the plains has to exchange for money. He has wine also, it is true, but that, though pro- duced in abundance, is of so wretched a quality, compared with that of the hills, that it brings but little. Hedges are only planted on the road sides to keep, off beggars and thieves, who arc very numerous, and who steal the grapes and the ears of maize. Some- Book I. AGRICULTURE IN ITALY. 51 times the grapes next the road are sprinkled with mud or lime-water to deter them ; at other times a temporary dead fence of thorns is used during the ripening season and taken down afterwards. The hedge plants are the hawthorn, sloe, bramble, briar, evergreen rose, ilex, service, myrtle, pomegranate, bay, laurel, &c. 281. In the arable lands of the plains, the row and mostly the raised drill culture are generally followed, or the land is ploughed into beds of three or four feet broad, between which water is introduced in the furrows. Every year a third of the farm is turned over with a spade to double the depth of the plough, so as to bring a new soil to the surface. The sort of trenching which effects this is performed differently from that of any other country ; the spade being thrust in horizontally or obliquely, and the trench formed by taking off' successive layers from the top of the firm side, and turning them regularly over in the trench. In this way the surface is completely reversed. 282. The rotation of crops in the plain includes a period of three or five years, and five or seven crops. There are, for a three-years* course ; 1. wheat or other grain, and lupines in the autumn ; 2. corn of some sort, and turnips or clover in the autumn ; 3 maize, panic, or common millet, and Indian or black millet (ifolcus Sorghinn). Corn is cut about the end of June close to the earth, left to dry a day or two, and then tied in bundles (bottes), and put in cocks for a week or two. At the end of this period the ears are cut off*, and beaten out on a smooth prepared piece of ground in the farm-yard. The straw is stacked, and the corn cleaned by throwing it with shovels, &c. The corn is laid up till wanted in oval excavations in dry ground, which are covered with tiled roofs. The excavations are lined with straw ; one holds from twenty to a hundred sacks, and being covered with straw, is heaped over with earth. In this way it is kept in perfect pre- servation a year or longer, and untouched by insects. The lupines sown after wheat are often ploughed in for manure ; sometimes French beans are substituted, and the ripe seeds used as food ; or turnips are sown for cattle. They have few sorts of turnips that are good ; and Sismondi complains that half of them never bulb. Maize is sown in drills, and forms a superb crop in appearance, and no less important, constituting the principal food of the lower classes in every part of Italy where the chestnut does not abound. When the male flowers of the maize be- gin to fade, they are cut off by degrees, so as not to injure the swelling grain ; the leaves are also cut off about that time, cattle being remarkably fond of them. In the plain of Bologna, hemp, flax, and beans enter into the rotation. 283. Cattle in the plains are kept con- stantly in close warm houses, and fed with weeds, leaves, or whatever can be got. The oxen in Tuscany are all dove- coloured ; even those which are im- ported from other states, are said to change their coat here. They are guided in the team by reins fixed to rings which are inserted in their nostrils ; sometimes two hooks, jointed like pincers, are used for the same purpose. In general, only one crop in four is raised for the food of cattle, so that these are not numerous ; it may thus appear that manure would be scarce, but the Tuscan farmers are as assiduous in preserving every particle both of human and animal manure as the Flemings. 284. The farm-houses of the plain of Tuscan;/, according to Lastcyrie [Coll. de Mach.), are constructed with more taste, solidity, and convenience, than in any other country on the Continent. They are built of stones generally, in rubble work, with good lime and sand, which become as hard as stucco, and they are covered with red pantiles. The elevation ( Jig. 35.) presents two deep recesses, the one a porch or com- mon hall to the ground floor, or hus- E 2 ." d 52 HISTORY OF AGRICULTURE. Fast I. bandry pari of the edifice fa) ; end the other above it to the dwelling family apartments. The ground floor consists of this porch) which is arched over («), a workshop (6), a harness ami tool-room (c). pigsty (. '/'//(■ vine on the hills is generally raised where it isto remain, by planting cuttings; but it is aKo planted with roots procured by layering : in either case, it seldom bears fruit Book I. AGRICULTURE IN ITALY. 53 till the fifth year after planting. It is trained on trees, poles, and trellised roofs, over paths, and different kinds of espalier rails. The poles are of barked chestnut, and the lesser rods used are generally of reeds ; the latter forms a profitable article of culture on the brink of water-courses for this purpose. These reeds last from one to four years, according to their size. The ties used in binding the vine both on the hills and plains are of willow, often the yellow or golden sort. The general maxim in pruning the vine is to leave as much wood to one stool as possible, in order to prevent two shoots from proceeding from one eye, in which case both are generally barren. They give no summer pruning ; but, when the fruit is nearly ripe, they cut off the extremities of the shoots for the sake of the leaves as forage, and to admit the sun and air more directly to the fruit. The pruning-hook they use {Jig. 36.) is not unlike a hand hedge-bill. The fruit is gathered by women, and put into baskets and hampers ; then carried to a tub or cistern of masonry, where it lies and ferments, being frequently stirred, but not pressed as in France and other parts of Italy. The management of the wine is not considered good ; and there are but few sorts of Tuscan wine that will keep above a year. 291. The potato, little known in Lombardy, was introduced in the hills of Tuscany by Sismondi, but was little cultivated or esteemed. It is only known, he says, to the gardeners of Florence and Leghorn. If not taken up about the middle of July, the Tubers are either burned and rotted by the heat, or they germinate at every bud. An early sort, he thinks, might be introduced both in the plain and hill culture with great advantage. 292. The hill farmers, like those of the plains, are generally metayers, and rent their farms, which seldom exceed seven or eight acres ; and the most general conditions of their lease (bail), according to M. Sismondi, are the following: — 1. The fanner engages to cultivate the lands, and find the requisite props for the vines. 2. To advance the half of the seed, and the half of the dung that is obliged to be purchased. 3. To deliver to the proprietor half the crop, or sell it for his account. 4. To divide with the proprietor the profit made on cattle, and to deliver a certain number of eggs, chickens, and capons in lieu of that on poultry. 5. To wash the whole or a part of the proprietor's linen, he finding soap. The proprietor on his part engages to advance the other half of the seed, and of the manure which must be purchased ; to be at the expense of making up new grounds and other radical improvements, to effect repairs, &c, and to find the first props for newly planted vines. This contract goes on from year to year, and can only be dissolved by a year's notice ; changes, however, very seldom take place. The conditions in some places are more severe for the farmer ; and on oil and certain other articles he only receives a third of the profits. 293. The culture of the mountains of Tuscany consists of the harvesting of chestnuts, and the management of live stock and of forests. The chestnut trees, Sismondi is of opinion, have been originally planted, but they now receive no other care than that of replacing a worn out tree by a young one, and cutting out dead wood, which is done more for'the sake of fuel than any thing else. The fruit is gathered in November, after it drops on the turf: it is eaten either in its natural state, or it is ground into meal and prepared as flour. Such as are to be ground, are first kilndried ; next, they are put into small bags, which hold half a bushel each, and these are beat against the ground till the outer husk is removed ; they are then taken out, the outer husks separated, and the chestnuts replaced, and beat as before till the inner husk comes off; they are then cleaned in the wind, and sent to a corn-mill to be ground. The flour they produce has no bran, and is mild and sweet, and keeps well. Lands covered with chestnuts are valued, not by their extent, but by the number of sacks of fruit annually produced. Chestnut flour is chiefly used in the form of porridge or pudding. In the coffee-houses of Lucca, Pescia, and Pistoja, pat£s, muffins, tarts, and other articles are made of it, and are considered delicate. 294. The management of sheep in the mountains is rude and unprofitable, and so little is mutton esteemed in Tuscany that it always sells at two or three sous a pound under every other meat. The sheep are pastured all the summer under the chestnut trees ; but in October, when the fruit begins to fall, they are sent to the maremmes, where the} remain till the May or June following, at the cost of not more than a penny a head. A wretched cheese is made from the milk ; but, bad as it is, it is better than what is made from the milk of goats or cows. The Tuscans, indeed, are so unwilling to believe that good cheese can be produced from the latter animals, that they consider the Dutch and other excellent foreign cheeses which they purchase at Leghorn, as all made from the milk of sheep. 295. Forests of timber trees cover the highest parts of the mountains. These form sources of profit to the peasantry, independently of the sale of timber, which is very limited, owing to the difficulty of carriage. Hogs are pastured there, left to themselves the whole year, and only sought for when wanted for the butcher. Their flesh is excellent, E 3 51 HISTORY OF AGRICULTURE. Part I. and, being very abundant in the markets of most parts of Italy, is not dear. Acorns are collected in some places, and sold to the farmers of the plains, for feeding swine. The cones of the Pinus Pinea (fig. 37.) are collected, and the seeds taken out : these art.' much esteemed, and hear a high price. The , same thing is, in some places, done with the cunes of the wild pine, commonly but erro- neously called the Scotch fir (/'inns sylves- tris /,.), whose seeds are equally good, though smaller. Strawberries, bramble-berries, goose- berries, currants, raspberries, and other wild fruits, are collected, and either sold publicly in the markets of the plains, or privately to the confectioners for flavouring ices; an article in great demand throughout all Italy. Sismondi seems to have been the first who noticed that the black mulberry was grown in the mountains for its leaves, being considered as hardier than the white. The fruit was only eaten by children. In the plains and gardens of Italy the mulberry is scarcely known as a fruit tree, though the white species is every where grown for the silkworm. 296. The mountain farmers are generally proprietors of their farms. They live together in villages, which are very numerous; many of them hire themselves to the farmers of the maremmes, where there is a scarcity of population, to assist in their harvests ; and with the money saved in this way, and by sending fruits, collected by their wives and children, to the towns in the plains, they are generally better off than the farmers of the hills, or of the low country. 297. The agricultural establishment of Rossore may be mentioned as belonging to Tuscany. It is situated at the gate of Pisa, and was founded by the family of Medici, in the time of the crusades, and now belongs to government. A league square of ground, which was so poor and sandy as to be unfit for culture, was surrounded by a fence, and, having been left to itself, has now the appearance of a neglected park. A building was erected in its centre as a lodge, and the grounds were interspersed with stables and sheep houses. The park was stocked with an Arabian stallion and a few mares, and some Asiatic camels ; and these were left to breed and live in a state of nature. About the beginning of the present century a flock of Merino sheep was added. The horses have formed themselves into distinct tribes or troops, each of fifteen or twenty mares governed by a stallion. These tribes never mix together, each has its quarter of pasture which they divide among themselves without the interference of shepherds. The shape of these horses is wretched, and the spare or superfluous ones are sold only to fuel-drivers (coalmen, carbonari) and the post. There are more than two hundred camels which associate together, and multiply at pleasure. They are worked in the plough and cart, and the spare stock supplies all the mountebanks of Europe, who buy them at the low price of six or seven louis each. The next feature of this establishment is a herd of 1 800 wild bulls and cows, fierce and dangerous : the superfluous stock of these is either hunted and killed for their hides and flesh, or sold alive to the farmers to be fed or worked. The flock of Merinos are but lately introduced. Such are the chief features of this establish- ment, which Chateauvieux terms a specimen of Tatar culture. It is evident it has no other art or merit than that of allowing the powers and instincts of nature to operate in their own way ; and it forms a very singular contrast to the highly artificial state of rural economy in Tuscany. Scbsect. 3. Of the Agriculture of the Maremmes, or the District of Pestilential Air. 298. The ertent of this district is from Leghorn to Terracina in length ; and its widest part is in the states of the church ; it includes Rome, and extends to the base of the Apennines. '299. The climate of the maremmes is so mild that vegetation goes on during the whole of the winter ; but so pestilential that there are scarcely any fixed inhabitants in this immense tract of country, with the exception of those of the towns or cities on its borders. 300. The surface is flat or gently varied ; and the soil in most places deep and rich. In the maremmes of Tuscany it is in some places a blue clay abounding in sulphur and alum, and produces almost nothing but coltsfoot ( Tussilago). 301. The estates are generally extensive, and let in large farms, at fixed rents, to men of capital. The maremmes of Rome, forty leagues in extent, are divided into a few hundred estates only, and let to not more than eighty fanners. These farmers grow corn, and pasture oxen of their own ; and in winter they graze the wandering flocks of the mountains of Tuscany and other states at so much a head. The corn grown is cluefly wheat, which is reaped by peasants from the mountains, some of whom also stay Book I. AGRICULTURE IN ITALY. 55 and assist in sowing the succeeding crop ; after which the whole disappear, and the maremmes remain a desert with a few men, whom Chateauvienx designates as " half savages, who run over these solitudes like Tatars, armed with long lances, and covered with coarse woollens and untanned skins." The lance they use in hunting down the oxen when they are to he caught for the butcher, or to be broken in for labour ; and the clothing alluded to has been recommended by the medical men of Rome, as the most likely to resist the attacks of the malaria (bad air), or pestilence. 302. The agricultural implements and operations differ little from those of other parts of Italy. The plough, or araire, of Rome (fig- 38- ) * s a ru( * e i m pl ement > wltn a broad flat share, on the hinder end of which the ploughman stands ; and thus drawn along, his weight makes a deeper furrow. Two strips of wood (the bince uures of Virgil), about eighteen inches long, are often attached to the share, diverging a little from each other, and these serve to lay open the furrow like our mould-board. In the operation of propagating the vine 39 L MLnJULf cuttings are planted in trenches four feet deep, into which stones have been previously thrown, for the alleged purpose of encouraging moisture about the roots. The same mode was practised in Vir- gil's time. (Georg., ii. 316.) The common Roman cart (Jig. 39.) is supposed to have been originally de- signed by the celebrated Michael Angelo, in Ms quality of engineer and wheeler. (See J.astei/rie, Col. des Much.) 303. The farm ofCampo Morlo (field of death) includes the whole property of St. Peter's church in Rome, which is supported from its sole revenue. This vast estate is situated in the Pontine marshes, and the following outline of its management is taken from a letter of Chateau vieux, written in July 1813 • — SO*. The farmery, the onlv building on an estate of many thousand acres, consists of a central building and two wings, the ground-floor of the central part consists of an immense kitchen and five large rooms, the latter without windows, and unfurnished. The first story consists of six rooms, used as corn-chambers, with the exception of one, which was furnished, and served to lodge the principal officers. The two wings contained large vaulted stables, with hay-lofts over. One female lived in the house, in order to cook for the officers or upper servants, whose wives and families live in the towns as do those of the shepherds. There was no garden, nor any appearance of neatness or cleanliness, and not a fence or a hedge, and scarcely a tree on the whole farm. 305. The fattore, or steward, was an educated man, and a citizen of Rome, where his family lived ; he and all the other officers, and even shepherds, always went out mounted and armed. 306 The reapers were at work in a distant part of the estate, when Chateauvieux went over it : they were an immense band, ranged as in the order of battle, and guarded by twelve chiefs or overseers on horseback, with lances in their hands. These reapers had lately arrived from the mountains; half were men and the rest women. " They were bathed in sweat ; the sun was intolerable ; the men were good figures, but the women were frightful. They had been some days from the mountains, and the foul air had begun to attack them. Two only had yet taken the fever ; but they told me, from that time a great number would be seized every day, and that by the end of harvest the troop would be reduced at least one half. What then, I said, becomes of these unhappy creatures ? They give them a morsel of bread, and send them back. But whither do they go? They take the way to the mountains ; some remain on the road, some die, but others arrive, suffering under misery and inanition, to come again the following year." 307. The corn is threshed fifteen days after being cut : the grain is trodden out under the feet of horses, cleaned, and carried to Koine. The straw was formerly suffered to be dispersed by the wind ; but it is m.w collected in heaps at regular distances over the country, and always on eminences : there it lies ready to be burned on the approach of " those clouds of grashoppers which often devastate the whole of this country." 308. The live stock of the farm consisted of a hundred working oxen ; several hundreds of wild cows and bulls, kept for maintaining the stock, and for the sale of their calves and heifers ; two thousand swine, which are fatted upon nuts and acorns in the forests belonging to the estate; and a hundred horses for the use of the herdsmen. There were four thousand sheep on the low grounds, and six hundred and eighty thou- sand on the mountains belonging to the estate. Of the latter, eighty thousand were of the Negretti breed, whose wool it was intended to have manufactured into the dresses of all the mendicant monks in Italy, and into the great coats of the shepherds : the rest were of the Pouille breed, which produces a white wool, but only on the upper part of the bodv. As mutton is not good in Italy, and but little eaten, they kill most of the tup-lambs as soon as thev are born, and milk the ewes to make cheese. The temporary flocks had not arrived when Chateauvieux was at Campo Mono, the fields not being then cleared of their crops. 309. The farmer of this extensive domain is M. Trucci, who pays a rent for it of 22,000 piastres (4950/.). This, said M. Trucci to Chateauvieux, « supposes an extent of three thousand rubbi, or six thousand acres, of cultivable land. I have nearly as E 4 56 HISTORY OF AGRICULTURE. Part I. much that is not fit for tlie plough] and it is there ray pigs and my cows principally feed. My three thousand rubbi are divided into nearly nine equal pails of three hundred and thirty rubbi each : one of these is in fallow, another iii corn, and the seven others in pasture. On the two thousand three hundred rubbi, which remain in grass, I support four thousand sheep, four hundred horses, and two hundred oxen, and I reserve a portion for hay. In the niacchie (bushy places, woody wastes) I have seven hundred cows, and sometimes nearly two thousand pigs. 310. My expenses " are limited to paying the rent of the farm, to purchasing bread for the workmen, and to the entire maintenance of my army of shepherds, superintendents, and the fattore ; to paying for the work of the day-labourers, of the harvest-men, &c. ; and, in short, to the expense of moving the Hocks, and to what, in large farms, are called the extra-charges, the amount of which is always very high. There must also be deducted from the gross profits of the (lock about one tenth, which belongs, in different proportions, to my chiefs and to my shepherds, because I support this tenth at my expense. We have also, in this mode of culture, to sustain great losses on our cattle, notwithstanding which I must acknowledge that our farming is profitable. 311« ( If annual profit " I average above five thousand piastres, besides five percent on the capital of my (locks. You see, then, that the lands in the Campagna of Rome, so despised, and in such a state of wildness, let at the rate of eighteen francs (fifteen shillings) the Paris acre : there is an immense quantity in France which does not let for so much. They would, doubtlessly, let for more if they were divided and peopled, but not in the proportion supposed : for the secret in large farms consists in their economy ; and nothing on the subject of agricultural profit is so deceptive as the appearance they present to our view, for the profit depends solely on the amount of the economical combinations, and not on tlie richness of the productions displayed to the eye." (Letters on Italy.) Subsect. 4. Of Farming in the Neapolitan Territory, or the Land of Ashes. 312. Tlie farming on the volcanic soil, in the neighbourhood of Vesuvius, belongs to the valley forming of Tuscany ; but, as it varies a little, and as the farmers are much more wretched, we shall give the following relation, as received by Chateauvieux from a Neapolitan metayer : — 313. We, poor metayers, he said, " occupy only so much land as we can cultivate by our own families, that is to say, four or five acres. Our condition is not a good one, since we get for our trouble only a third of the produce, two thirds belonging to the owner, which we pay in kind into the hands of the steward. We have no ploughs, and the whole is cultivated by the spade. It is true that the soil, being mixed with ashes, is easily stirred ; and even our children assist us in this work. At times the mountain, hence named Vesuvius, pours forth showers of ashes, which spread over our fields and fertilise them. 314. The trees which you sec on the land, " are not without their use; they support the vine, and give us fruit ; we also carefully gather their leaves : it is the last autumnal crop, and serves to feed our cattle in the winter. We cultivate, in succession, melons, between the rows of elms, which we carry to the city to sell ; after which we sow wheat. When the wheat crop is taken off, we dig in the stubble, which is done by our families, to sow beans or purple clover. During six months, our children go every morning to cut a quantity of it with the sickle, to feed the cows. We prefer the females of the buffaloes, as they give most milk. We have also goats, and sometimes an ass, or a small horse, to go to the city and carry our burthens ; but this advantage belongs only to the richer metayers. 315. We plant the maize " the following spring, after clover or beans. We manure the land at this time, because this plant is to support our families ; this crop, therefore, interests us more than all the others, and the day in which it is harvested is a day of festivity in our country. All the villagers assemble together, the young women dance, and the rest of us walk slowly, being laden with our tools : arrived at our dwellings, each family goes into its own ; but they are so near each other, that we can still converse together. 31(5. We often gather seven ears from one stalk of maize, " and many of them are three palms long. When the sun is high, the father of the family goes into the adjoining field to get some melons, while the children gather fruit from the surrounding fig trees. The fruit is brought under an elm tree, round which the whole family sits ; after this repast the work begins again, and does not cease until the close of day. Each family then visits us neighbours, and tells of the rich crop the season has bestowed upon them. 317. We have no sooner gotten in the maize than the earth is again dug, to be sown once more with wheat ; after this second crop, we grow in the fields only vegetables of different kinds. Our lands thus produce wine and fruit, corn and vegetables, and leaves and grass for the cattle. We have no reason to complain of their fertility : but our conditions are Book I. AGRICULTURE IN ITALY, 57 hard, little being left for our pains ; and if the season is not propitious, the metayer has much to complain of." {Letters on Italy.) 318. The cotton plant (Gossypium herbaceum) {fig. 40.) is beginning to be cultivated in the neighbourhood of Vesuvius, and in Sicily. It is sown in March, in lines three feet distant, and the plants two feet apart in the lines. The earth is stirred by a one-horse plough, or by hoes, and carefully weeded. As soon as the flowering season is over, about the middle of September, the ends of the shoots are nipped off, to determine the sap to the fruit. The capsules are collected as they ripen ; a tedious process, lasting two months : the cotton and the seeds are then separated ; an operation still more tedious. The most ex- tensive cotton farmers are in the vale of Sorento. There the rotation is, 1. maize; 2. wheat, followed by beans, which ripen next March ; 3. cotton ; 4. wheat, followed by clover ; 5. melons, followed by French or common beans. Thus, in five years, are produced eight crops. In this district, wherever water can be commanded, it is distributed, as in Tuscany and Lombardy, among every kind of crop. 319 The tomato, or love apple (Sblanum Lycop^rsicum L.), so extensively used in Italian cookery, forms also an article of field culture near Pompeii, and especially in Sicily, "hence they are sent to Naples, Rome, and several towns on the Mediterranean sea. It is treated much in the same way as the cotton plant. 320. The orange, lemon, peach, fig, and various other fruits, are grown in the Nea- politan territory, both for home use and exportation : but their culture we consider to belong to gardening. 321. The Neapolitan maremmes, near Salerno, to the evils of those of Rome, add that of a wretched soil. They are pastured by a few herds of buffaloes and oxen ; the herdsmen of which have no other shelter during the night than reed huts ; these desert tracts being without either houses or ruins. The plough of this ancient Greek colony is thought to be the nearest to that of Greece, and has been already adverted to (31.). 322. The manna, a concrete juice, forms an article of cultivation in Calabria. This substance is nothing more than the exsiccated juice of the flowering ash tree (O'rnus rotundifolia), which grows there wild in abundance. In April or May, the peasants make one or two incisions in the trunk of the tree with a hatchet, a few inches deep ; and insert a reed in each, round which the sap trickles down : after a month or two they return, and find this reed sheathed with manna. The use of manna, in medicine, is on the decline. 323. The filberts and chestnuts of the Calabrian Apennines are collected by the farmers, and sold in Naples for exportation or consumption. 324. The culture of indigo and sugar was attempted in the Neapolitan territory, under the reign of Murat. The indigo succeeded ; but sufficient time had not elapsed to judge of the sugar culture when it was abandoned. The plants, however, grew vigorously, and their remains may still (1819) be seen in the fields near Terracina. 325 Oysters have been bred and reared in the kingdom of Naples from the time of the Romans. The subject is mentioned by Nonnius (De lieb. Cib., 1. iii. c. 37.) ; and by Pliny (Nat. Hist., b. xviii. c. 54.). Count Lasteyrie (Col. desMach.) describes the place mentioned by the latter author, as it now exists in the Lake Facino, at Baia. This lake {fig. 41.) communicates with the sea by a narrow passage. On the wa f er near its margin, 58 HISTORY OF AGRICULTURE. Part I. a house (c) is constructed for those who take care of the oysters, and who sell them to the dealers in Naples, or to those who come and eat them on the spot; and adjoining the house is a covered enclosure (4), where the oysters arc kept till wanted. Along die margin of the lake, and in most parts of it, are placed circles of reeds (a), with their sum- mits above tire water. The spawn of the oysters attaches itself to these reeds, and grows there till of an edible size : the oysters are then removed to the reserve (6), and kept there till wanted. In removing them the reeds are pulled up one by one, examined, and the full-grown oysters removed and put in baskets, while the small-sized and spawn are suffered to remain, and the reed is replaced as it was. The baskets are then placed in the reserve, and not emptied till sold. In two years from the spawn, Lasteyrie observes, the oyster is fully grown. Sect. II. Of the present State of Agriculture in Switzerland. 326. The agriculture of Switzerland is necessarily of a peculiar nature, and on a very confined scale. The country is strictly pastoral ; little com is produced, and the crops are scanty and precarious. Cattle, sheep, and goats constitute the chief riches and dependence of the inhabitants. Each proprietor farms liis own small portion of land ; or the mountainous tracts belonging to the communities are pastured in common. But, whether private or common property, it is evident that mountainous pastures are little susceptible of improvement. (For. Quart, and Continent. Miscell-, Jan. 1828.) 327. Though of a very primitive kind, this agriculture is not without interest, from the nice attention required in some parts of its operations. The surface, soil, and climate of the country, are so extraordinarily irregular and diversified, that in some places grapes ripen, and in many others corn will not arrive at maturity ; on one side of a hill the inhabitants are often reaping, while they are sowing on the other ; or they are obliged to feed die cattle on its summits with leaves of evergreens while they are making hay at its base. A season often happens in which rains during harvest prevent die corn from being dried, and it germinates, rots, and becomes useless ; in others it is destroyed by frost. In some cases there is no corn to reap, from die effect of summer storms. In no country is so much skill required in harvesting corn and hay as Switzerland ; and no better school could be found for the study of that part of Scotch and Irish fanning. After noticing some leading features of the culture of the cantons which form the republic, we shall cast our eye on die mountains of Savoy. Subsect. 1. Of the Agriculture of the Swiss Cantons. 328. Agriculture began to attract public attention in Switzerland about the middle of tbe eighteenth century. In 1759, a society for the promotion of rural economy esta- blished itself at Berne : they offered premiums, and have published some useful papers in several volumes. Long before that period, however, the Swiss farmers were considered the most exact in Europe. (Stanyans Account of Switzerland i?i 1714.) Chateauvieux attributes the progress which agriculture has made, near Vevay, on the Lake of Geneva, to the settlement of the protestants, •who emigrated thither from France, at the end of the seventeenth century. They cut the hills into terraces, and planted vines, which has so much increased the value of the land, that what was before worth little, now sells at 10,000 francs per acre. (Let. xxi.) Improvement in Switzerland is not likely to be rapid ; because agriculture there is limited almost entirely to procuring the means of subsistence, and not to the employment of capital for profit. 329. Landed property in Switzerland is minutely divided, and almost always fanned by the proprietors and their families : or it is in immense tracts of mountain belonging to the bailiwicks, and pastured in common : every proprietor and burgess having a right according to the extent of his property. These men are, perhaps, the most frugal cultivators in Europe : they rear numerous families, a part of which is obliged to emigrate, because there are few manufactures ; and land is excessively dear, and seldom in the market. 330. The valleys of the Alpine regions of Switzerland are subject to very peculiar injuries from the rivers, mountain rocks, and glaciers. As the rivers are subject to vast and sudden inundations, from die thawing of die snow on the mountains, diey bring down at such times an immense quantity of stones, and spread them over the bottoms of the valleys. Many a stream, which appears in ordinary times inconsiderable, has a stony bed of half a mile in breadth, in various parts of its course; thus a portion of the finest land is rendered useless. The cultivated slopes, at the bases of the mountains, are subject to be buried under ebouleincns, when the rocks above fall down, and sometimes cover many square miles with their ruins. I. E boulement (Fr.] denotes a falling down of a mountain or mass of rock, and consequent covering of the lower grounds with its fragments ; when an immense quantity of stones are suddenly brought down from the mountains by the breaking or thawing of a glacier, it is also called an (bunlcmcnt. [Baketuell, vol. i. p. 11.) Vast eooutement are every year falling from the enormous precipices that overhang the valky of the Rhone: many of these are recorded which have destroyed entire villages. .DOCK I. AGRICULTURE IN SWITZERLAND. 59 332. One of the most extraordinary eboulemens ever known was that of Mont Grenier, five miles south of Chambery. A part of tins mountain fell down in the year 12-18, and entirely buried five parishes, and the town and church of St. Andr<5. The ruins spread over an extent of about nine square miles, and are called I.es Abymcs ties Myans. After a lapse of so many centuries, they still present a singular scene of desolation. The catastrophe must have been most awful when seen from the vicinity ; for Mont Grenjer is almost isolated, advancing into a narrow plain, which extends to the valley of the I sere. 333. Mont Grenier rises very abruptly upwards of 4000 feet above the plain. Like the mountains of Les Echelles, with which it is connected, it is capped with an immense mass of limestone strata, not less than GOO feet in thickness, which presents on every side the appearance of a wall. The strata dip gently to the side which fell into the plain. This mass of limestone rests on a foundation of softer strata, probably molasse. Under this molasse are distinctly seen thin strata, probably of limestone, alternating with soft strata. There can be little doubt that the catastrophe was caused by the gradual erosion of the soft strata which undermined the mass of limestone above, and projected it into the plain ; it is also pro- bable that the part which fell had for some time been nearly detached from the mountain by a shrinking of the southern side, as there is at present a rent at this end, upwards of two thousand feet deep, which seems to have cut off a large section from the eastern end, and that now " Hangs in doubtful ruins o'er its base," as if prepared to renew the catastrophe of 1248. 334. Avalanches, or falls of immense masses of snow from the mountains, often occasion dreadful effects. Villages are overwhelmed by them ; and rivers, stopped in their course by them, inundate narrow valleys to a ruinous extent. In February 1820, the village of Obergestelen, with eighty-eight of its inha- bitants, was overwhelmed by an avalanche. 335. The glaciers, or ice-hills, or ice-heaps, slide down into the mountain valleys, and form dams across them, which produce large lakes ; by the breaking up of the glacier, these lakes are sometimes suddenly poured into the lower valleys, and do immense mischief. Man, in such a country, as Bakewell has observed, is in a constant state of warfare with the elements, and compelled to be incessantly on his guard against the powers that threaten his destruction. This constant exposure to superhuman dangers is supposed to have given the aged inhabitants, especially of the Vallais, an air of uncommon seriousness and melancholy. 336. The Swiss cottages are generally formed of wood, with projecting roofs, covered with slates, tiles, or shingles. A few small enclosures surround or are contiguous to diem, some of which are watered meadows, others dry pasture ; and one or more always devoted to the raising of oats, some harley, and rye or wheat, for the family con- sumption. In the garden, which is large in proportion to the farm, are grown hemp, flax, tobacco, potatoes, white beet to be used as spinach and asparagus, French beans, cabbages, and turnips. The whole has every appearance of neatness and comfort. There are, however, some farmers who hire lands from the corporate bodies and others at a fixed rent, or on the metayer system ; and in some cases both land and stock are hired ; and peasants are found who hire so many cows and their keep, during a certain number of months, either for a third or more of the produce, or for a fixed sum. 337. The villages of Switzerland are often built in lofty situations, and some so high as 5000 feet above the level of the sea. " In a country where land is much divided, and small proprietors cultivate their own property on the mountains, it is absolutely necessary that they should reside near it, otherwise a great part of their time and strength would be exhausted in ascending and descending, as it would take a mountaineer four hours in each day, to ascend to many of these villages and return to the valley. In building theii houses on the mountains, they place them together in villages, when it can be done, and at a moderate distance from their property, to have the comforts of society, and be more secure from the attack of wolves and other wild animals. Potatoes and barley can be cultivated at the height of 4500 feet in Savoy, and these, with cheese and milk, and a little maize for porridge, form the principal part of the food of the peasantry. The harvest is over in the plains by the end of June, and in the mountains by the end of September. Several of the mountain villages, with the white spires of their churches, form pleasing objects in the landscape, but on entering them the charm vanishes, and nothing can exceed the dirtiness and want of comfort which they present, except the cabins of the Irish." (BakeweWs Travels, vol. i. 270.) Yet habit, and a feeling of independence, which the mountain peasant enjoys under almost every form of government, make him disregard the inconveniences of his situation and abode. Damsels and their flocks form pleasing groups at a distance ; but the former, viewed near, bear no more resemblance to les bergeres des Alpes of the poets, than a female Hottentot to the Venus de Medicis. 338. The vine is cultivated in several of the Swiss cantons on a small scale ; and either against trellises, or kept low and tied to short stakes as in France. The grapes, which seldom ripen well, produce a very inferior wine. The best in Switzerland are grown in the Pays de Vaud round Vevay. They are white, and, Bakewell says, " as large and fine-flavoured as our best hot-house grapes." The physicians at Geneva send some of their patients here during the vintage, to take what is called a regular course of grapes ; that is, to subsist for three weeks entirely on this fruit, without taking any other food or drink. In a few days a grape diet becomes agreeable, and weak persons, and also the insane, have found great relief from subsisting on it for three or four weeks. (BakeweWs Travels, ii. 206.) 339. Of fruit trees, the apple, pear, cherry, plum, and walnut, surround the small field or fields of every peasant. The walnut tree also lines the public roads in many places, and its dropping fruit is often the only food of the mendicant traveller. 340. The management of woods and forests forms a part of Swiss culture. The herbage is pastured with sheep and swine as in Italy ; the copse wood and lop are used 60 HISTORY OF AGRICULTURE. I. for fuel, as in all countries ; and when a mode of conveyance and a market can be found the timber is sold, but in many places neither is the case. A singular construction was erected for the purpose of bringing down to the Take of Lucerne the fine pine trees which grow upon Mount Pilatus, by the engineer Rupp. The wood was purchased by a company tor 30002., and 9000t were expended in constructing the slide. The length of the slide is about 44,000 English feet, or about eight miles and two furlongs; and the difference of level of its two extremities is about 2600 feet It is a wooden trough, about five feet broad and four deep, the bottom of which consists of three trees, the middle one being a little hollowed ; and small rills of water are conducted into it, for the pur- pose of 'diminishing the friction. The declivity, at its commencement, is about 22^°. The large pines, with their branches and boughs cut off', are placed in the slide, and descending by their own gravity, they acquire such an impetus by their descent through the fust part of the slide, that they perform their journey of eight miles and a quarter in the short space of six minutes ; and, under favourable circumstances, that is, in wet weather, in three minutes. Only one tree descends at a time, but, by means of signals placed along the slide, another tree is launched as soon as its predecessor has plunged into the lake. Sometimes the moving trees spring or bolt out of the trough, and when this happens, they have been known to cut through trees in the neighbourhood, as if it had been done by an axe. When the trees reach the lake, they are formed into rafts, and floated down the Reuss into the Rhine. 84 1 . Timber is also floated down mountain torrents from a great height. The trees are cut down during summer and laid in the then dry bed of the stream : with the first heavy rains in autumn they are set in motion, and go thundering down among the rocks to the valleys, where what "arrives sound is laid aside for construction, and the rest is used as fuel. 312. The chamois goats abound in some of the forests, and are hunted for their fat and flesh, and for their skins, which are valuable as glove and breeches leather. They herd in flocks, led by a female ; live on lichens, and on the young shoots and bark of pines ; are remarkably fond of salt ; and require great caution in hunting. (Simond's Swit- zerland, vol. i. p. 245.) The common goat is fre- quently domesticated for the sake of its milk, and may be seen near cottages, curiously harnessed (Jig. 42.) to prevent its breaking through, or jumping over, fences. 343. The care of pastures and mowing grounds ^§-2Z^5^i>"iii'^ fonns an important part of the agricultural economy ^-St-^j — a of Switzerland. In places inaccessible to cattle, the peasant sometimes makes hay with cramps on his feet. Grass, not three inches high, is cut in some places three times a year ; and, in the valleys, the fields are seen shaven as close as a bowling-green, and all inequalities cropped as with a pair of scissors. In Switzerland, as in Norway, and for the same reasons, the arts of mowing and hay-making seem to be carried to the highest degree of perfection. Harvesting corn is not less perfect ; and the art of pro- curing fodder for cattle, from the trees, shrubs, and wild plants, and applying this fodder with economy, is pushed as far as it will go. In some parrs, very minute attention is paid to forming and collecting manure, especially that liquid manure, which, in the German cantons, is known under the name of jauche or mist-wasser, and in the Canton de Vaud, of sissier. (For. Quart. Rev. and Cunt. Mis., Jan. 1828.) S44 Coius,poats, and sheep constitute the wealth of the Swiss farmers, and their principal means of sup- port ; or, to discriminate more accurately, the goats, in a great measure, support the poorer class : and the cows supply the cheese from which the richer derive their little wealth. The extent of a pasture is esti- mated by the number of cows it maintains : six or eight goats are deemed equal to a cow, as are four calves, four sheep, or four hogs ; but a horse is reckoned equal to five or six cows, because he roots up the grass. Throughout the high Alps, they are of opinion that sheep are destructive to the pastures, in proportion to their elevation, because the herbage, which they eat down to the roots, cannot, in such a cold climate, regain its strength and luxuriance. The mountain pastures are rented at so much per cow's feed, from the 15th of May to the ISth of October ; and the cows are hired from the peasants for the same period : at the end of it, both are restored to their owners. In other parts, the proprietors of the pastures hire the cows, or the proprietors of the cows rent the land. The proceeds of a cow are estimated at 31. or 31. 10s., viz. M')S. in summer ; and, during the time they are kept in the valleys or in the house, at 11. The Grin- delwald Alps feed three thousand cows, and as many sheep and goats. The cattle are attended on the mountains by herdsmen ; when the weather is tempestuous they are up all night calling to them, other wise they would take fright and run into danger. Chalets are built for the use of the herdsmen : these are log-houses of the rudest construction, without a chimney, having a pit or trench dug for the fire, the earth thrown up forming a mound around it, by way of a seat. To those chalets, the persons whose employment it is to milk the cows, and to make cheese and butter, ascend in the summer time. When they go out to milk the cows, a portable scat, with a single leg, is strapped to their backs ; at the hour of milking, the cows are attracted home from the most distant pastures by a handful of salt, which tne shep- herd takes from a leathern pouch hanging over his shoulder. During the milking, the Rang ties f'aches is frequently sung. [For. Quart. Rev. ami <'»«/. Misc.) 345. The Siviss cows yield more milk than those of Lombard?, where they are in great demand ; but after the third generation their milk falls ott! In so-\ie narts of Switzerland they yield, on an average, Book I. AGRICULTURE IN SWITZERLAND 61 twelve English quarts a day ; and with forty cows, a cheese of forty-five pounds can be made daily. In the vicinity of Altdorf they make, in the course of a hundred days, from the 2uth of June, two cheeses dailv of twenty-rive pounds each, from the milk of eighteen cows. On the high pastures of Scarla, a cow during the best season, supplies near sixty pounds of skim-milk cheese, and forty pounds of butter. Reckoning twentj pounds of milk, observes our author, equivalent to one of butter, the produce in milk will be eight hundred pounds for ninety days, or less than nine pounds a day. This small supply he ascribes to the great elevation of the pastures, and the bad keep of the cows in the winter. {For. Quart. Rev. and Cont. Misc.) 346 Great variety of cheese is made in Switzerland. The most celebrated are the Schabzieger and Gruyere; the former made by the mountaineers of the canton of Glarus, and the latter in the valley of Gruyere. The cheese of Switzerland must have been for a long period a great article of commerce ; for, Myconius, of Lucerne, in the beginning of the sixteenth century, in a commentary on a poem of his friend Glarianus, expatiates on the large quantities of butter and cheese which his fellow-citizens sent into Burgundy, Suabia, and Italy : he adds, that twenty cows would bring in, annually, a net sum of 10(1 crowns. In 1563, a law was passed in the Upper Engadine to guard against fraud in the manufacture of cheese meant for sale. Formerly, the depots of rich cheese were principally near Lake Como; it was supposed that the exhalations, at once warm and moist, ripened the cheese, without drying it too much ; at present, however, these depots are not near so numerous. In the Upper Engadine, cheese loses, by drying, a twentieth part of its weight in the first ten weeks ; and skim-milk cheese the half of its weight in two years Of the quantity of cheeses exported from Switzerland we have no information that can be relied upon ; but it is computed that thirty-thousand hundred-weight of Gruyere cheese « », .* ... alone, fit for exportation', is annually made ; and that, from the middle Jgi ^§ff^ of July to October, three hundred horses, weekly, are employed in trans- j§»3t§lft«fra porting Swiss cheese over Mount Grias. [For. Rev. and Cont. Misc. ^jjjji^saj,',' 'i^j'y ft2 347. The Schabzieger cheese is made by the mountaineers of the Can- IgK 3 - '. JZzf ySS. ton of Glarus alone ; and, in its greatest perfection, in the valley of Kloen. It is readily distinguished by its marbled appearance and aromatic flavour, both produced by the bruised leaves of the melilot. The dairy is built near a stream of water; the vessels containing the milk are placed on gravel or stone in the dairy, and the water con- ducted into it in such a manner as to reach their brim. The milk is exposed to this temperature, about six degrees of Reaumur (forty-six degrees of Fahrenheit), for five or six days, and in that time the cream is completely formed. After this it is drained off, the caseous particles are separated, by the addition of some sour milk, and not by rennet. The curd thus obtained is pressed strongly in bags, on which stones are laid ; when sufficiently pressed and dried, it is ground to powder in autumn, salted, and mixed with either the pressed flowers or the bruised seeds of the melilot trefoil (ifelilotus officinalis), (fig. 43.) The practice of mixing the flowers or the seeds of plants with cheese was common among the Romans, who used those of the thyme for that purpose. The entire sepa- ration of the cream or unctuous portion of the milk is indispensable in the manufacture of Schabzieger. The unprepared curd never sells for more than three halfpence a pound ; whereas, prepared as Schabzieger, it sells for sixpence or seven-pence. (For. Rev. and Cont. Misc.) 348. The Gruyere cheese of Switzerland is so named after a valley, where the best of that kind is made. Its merit depends chiefly on the herbage of the mountain pastures, and partly on the custom of mixing the flowers or bruised seeds of Melilotus officinalis with the curd, before it is pressed. The mountain pastures are rented at so much per cow's feed from the 15th of May to the 18th of October ; and the cows are lured from the peasants, at so much, for the same period. On the precise day both land and cows return to their owners. It is estimated that 15,000 cows are so "grazed, and 30,000 cwt. of cheese made fit for exportation, besides what is reserved for home use. 349. Ewe-milk cheese of Switzerland. One measure of ewe's milk is added to three measures of cow's milk; little rennet is used, and no acid. The best Swiss cheese of this kind is made by the Bergamese sheep-masters, on Mount Splugen. (For. Rev. and Cont. Misc.) 350. The establishment at Hofwijl, near Berne, may be considered as in great part belonging to agriculture, and deserves to be noticed in this outline. It was projected by, and is conducted at the sole expense of, M. Fellenberg, a proprietor and agriculturist. His object was to apply a sounder system of education for the great body of the people, in order to stop the progress of misery and crime. Upwards of twelve years ago he undertook to systematise domestic education, and to show, on a large scale, how the cliildren of the poor might be best taught, and their labour at the same time most pro- fitably applied ; in short, how the first twenty years of a poor man's life might be so employed as to provide both for his support and his education. The peasants in his neighbourhood were at first rather shy of trusting their children for a new experiment ; and being thus obliged to take his pupils where he could find them, many of the earliest were the sons of vagrants, and literally picked up on the highways ; this is the case with one or two of the most distinguished pupils. 351. Their treatment is nearly that of children under the paternal roof. They go out every morning to their work soon after sunrise, having first breakfasted, and received a lesson of about an hour: they return at noon. Dinner takes them half an hour, a lesson of one hour follows ; then to work again till six in the evening. On Sunday the different lessons take six hours instead of two ; and they have butcher's meat on tint day oi ly. They are divided into three classes, according to age and strength ; an entry is made in a book every night of the number of hours each class has worked, specifying the sort of labour done, in order that it may be charged to the proper account, each par- ticular crop having an account opened for it, as well as every new building, the live stock, the mat-hires, the schools themselves, &c. &C. In winter, and whenever there is not out- 62 HISTORY OF AGRICULTURE. T-^r T. of-doors work, the- hoys plait straw for chairs, make baskets, saw logs with the cross-saw and split them, thrash and winnow corn, grind colours, knit stockings, or assist the wheel- wright and other artificers, of uliom there are many employed in the establishment For all which different sorts of labour an adequate salary is credited to each boy's class. ! The t>oi/s never see a newtpaper, and scarce!,/ a book ; they are taught, viod voce, a few matters of feet, .nut rules ol pr.u-nc.il application : the re»l ol their education cons'wta chiefly in inculcating habit* of industry fru rality, veracity, docility, and mutual kindness, by meant of good example, rather than pre- cepts: and above all, by the absence of bad ex imple. it has hem said or the Bell and Lancaster schools, that the hi'mkI ilu-v ilo is nic.stlv negative : they take children out of the »treets, employ them in a harm, leg, Bor tol rt two or three hours in the day, exercise their understanding gently and pleasantly, and accustom them to order and rule, without compulsion. Now, what these schools undertake to do for a few hues of each week, during one or two years of a boy's life, the School o> Industry at Hofwyl does incessantly, during the whole course of bis youth; providing, at the same tune, for his whole physical maintenance, at a rate which must he deemed excessively cheap for any but the very lowest of the people. 353. The practicability of this scheme for inculcating individual prudence and practical morality, not onlv in the agricultural, but in all the operative, classes of society, M. Simond considers as demonstrated; and it only remains to ascertain the extent of its application. Two only of the pupils have left Hofwyl, for a place, before the end of their time; and one, with M. de lellenberg's leave, is become chief manager of the immense estates of Comte Abaffy, in Hungary, and has, it is said, doubled its proceeds by the improved method of husbandry he has introduced. This young man, whose name is Madorly, was originally a beggar boy, and not particularly distinguished at school. Another directs a school established near Zurich, and acquits himself. to the entire satisfaction of his employers. M. Fellenberg has besides a number of pupils of the higher classes, some of whom belong to the first families of Germany, Russia, and Swit- zerland. They live en famille with their master, and are instructed by the different tutors in the theory and practice of agriculture, and in the arts and sciences on which it is founded. (See Siinond's Account of Switzerland, vol. i. ; Ed. Rev. 1819, No. G4. ; Des Institutes de Hfwyldepar Cte. L. de V. Paris, 1821.) Subsect. 2. Of the Agriculture of the Duchy of Savoy. 354. Of the agriculture of Sarny, which naturally belongs to Switzerland, a general view, with some interesting "details, is given by Bakewell. (Travels in the Tarantaise, Sen., 1820-22.) Landed property there is divided into three qualities, and rated for a land- tax accordingly. There is an office for registering estates, to which a per centage is paid on each transfer or additional registering. There is also an office for registering all mortgages, with the particulars ; both are found of great benefit to the landed interest and the public, by the certainty which they give to titles, and the safety both to borrowers and lenders on land. 355. Land in Savoy is divided into very small farms, and is occupied by the proprietors or pat/sans, who live in an exceedingly frugal manner, and cultivate the ground with the assistance of their w ives and children ; for in Savoy, as in many other parts of Europe, the women do nearly as much field labour as the men. 356. The lands belonging to the monasteries were sold during the French revolution, when Savoy was annexed to France. The gradual abolition of the monasteries had been begun by the old government of Sardinia before the revolution, for the monks were prohibited from receiving any new brethren into their establishments, in order that the estate? might devolve to the crown, on the extinction of the different fraternities. This measure, though wise in the abstract, was not unattended with inconvenience, and perhaps we may add, injustice. The poor, who had been accustomed to fly to the monasteries for relief in cases of distress, were left without any support, except the casual charity of their neighbours, who had little to spare from their own absolute necessities. The situation of the poor is therefore much worse in Savoy, than before the abolition of the monasteries. The poor in England suffered in the same manner, on the abolition of the monasteries in the reigns of Henry VIII. and Elizabeth, before the poor's rates were enacted. The cliaritv of the monks of Savoy lost much of its usefulness by the indiscriminate manner in which it was generally bestowed: certain days and hours were appointed at each monastery, for the distribution of provisions, and the indolent were thereby enabled to support themselves during the whole week, by walking to the different monasteries on the days of donation. This was offering a premium to idleness, and was the means of increasing the number of mendicants, which will, in every country, be proportionate to the facility of obtaining food without labour. The peasantry in Savoy are very poor, but they cannot be called miserable. In the neighbourhood of towns, their situation is worse than at a distance ; and not far from Chambery may he seen a few families that might almost vie in squalid misery, rags, and filth, with the poor of Ireland ; but the general appearance of the peasantry is respectable. Having learnt the price of labour in various parts of Savoy, Bakewell proposed the following question : Is it possible for a labourer, with a family, to procure a Sufficient quantity of wholesome food for their consumption ? One of the answers was, " Cela est Iris facile (It is very easy', the other was, "The labourer lives very fxugalljr (tres-sobrement)." " In general he eats very coarse, but wholesome, bread, and, except in the mountains, he eats very little meat, and rarely drinks wine, hut he has a great resource in potatoes." 558. One day's labour of a farming man will purchase about twelve pounds avoirdupois of wheat, or from four to five pounds of hci f, veal, or mutton ; but these are dainties which he rarely tastes ; potatoes, rye. bread, chestnuts, and milk, form the principal part of the food of the poor. The day-labourer in Savoy has ■ duct, from the amount of his labour, about seventy days in the year, including saint-days and Sundays, on which be receives no wages. [Bahevoell'S Travels, vol. i. 314.) 359. There are four modes of occupying land for cultivation in Savoy: by the pro- prietors ; by fanners ; by grangers ; and by tacheurs. Land very near to towns is generally cultivated by the proprietors, who either keep cattle, or take them in to graze at so much per head. Book I. AGRICULTURE IN SWITZERLAND. 63 361. By farming land, is understood, letting it at a fixed rent, to be paid according to the value of the produce, taken at an average of ten years 362. By grangers, or renting land a moitie fruit, is understood, that the proprietor takes half of all the grain anil fruit, half the produce or increase of the cows, half the eggs, and, in short, half of every thing which is productive. 363. By tacheurs, is another mode of cultivating land, in the immediate vicinity of towns. The pro- prietors, to avoid keeping too many servants in their own houses, place a father of a family in the house upon the farm. This man is called le tacheur. He takes care of the cows, for half their produce: he ploughs the ground, receiving for every pair of oxen employed, or for three horses, from seventy to eighty francs per annum : he has half the wine : the share he receives of the wheat and grain is in the proportion of two parts for every nine taken by the proprietor. The latter pays all the taxes, and keeps the accounts. The tacheur may be changed every year. When he is employed in repairing fences, &c, he is paid by the day; this is always undertaken when he enters the farm. 364. The leases granted to the farmers and grangers are on terms of three, six, or nine years ; but when the leases are for six or nine years, a reservation is always made, that at the expiration of every three years the proprietor may revoke the lease, by giving three months' notice, if he be not satisfied with the tenant. The proprietor always supplies the farmer or granger with a sum of money without interest, called chaptal (capital), to aid him in buying oxen : for a farm of two oxen it is generally about twenty louis ; for a farm of four oxen, forty louis ; and so on. The proprietor, for this sum, has an exclusive right to seize the cattle of the farmer, should he sell them clandestinely. 365. The mode of pasturage in Chamouny will apply, with little variation, to all the Alpine communes in Savoy. The rich peasants in the Alps possess meadows, and even habitations, at different heights. In winter they live in the bottom of the valley, but they quit it in spring, and ascend gradually, as the heat pushes out vegetation. In autumn they descend by the same gradation. Those who are less rich have a resource in the common pastures, to which they send a number of cows, proportionate to their resources, and their means of keeping them during the winter. The poor, who have no meadows to supply fodder for the winter, cannot avail themselves of this advantage. Eight days after the cows have been driven up into the common pasture, all the owners assemble, and the quantity of milk from each cow is weighed. The same operation is repeated one day in the middle of the summer, and at the end of the season, the quantity of cheese and butter is divided, according to the quantity of milk each cow yielded on the days of trial. (Bakexvell.) 366. There are chalets, or public dairies, near the mountain pastures in Savoy, as well as in Switzerland ; persons reside in these chalets during the summer months, to make cheese and butter. In many situations it is the labour of a day to ascend to these chalets, and return to the valleys immediately below them. There arc also public dairies in some of the villages, where the poorer peasants may bring all the milk they can spare, from the daily consumption of their families. The milk is measured, and an account kept of it ; and at the end of the season the due portion of cheese is allotted to each, after a small deduc- tion for the expense of making. {Id.) 367. No large flocks of s/ieep are kept in Savoy, as it is necessary to house them during the winter, at which time they are principally fed with dried leaves of trees, collected during the autumn. Many poor families keep a few sheep to supply them with wool for their domestic use. These little flocks are driven home every evening, and are almost always accompanied by a goat, a cow, a pig, or an ass, and followed by a young girl spinning with a distaff As they wind down the lower slopes of the mountains, they form the most picturesque groups for the pencil of the painter; and, seen at a distance, carry back the imagination to the ages of pastoral simplicity, sung by Theocritus and Virgil. {Id.) 36S. The vineyards in Savoy are cultivated for half the produce of the wine. The cultivator pays the whole expense, except the taxes, which are paid by the proprietor. 36". Walnut trees, of immense size and great beauty, enrich the scenery of Savoy, and supply sufficient oil for the consumption of the inhabitants, and for the adjoining canton of Geneva. The walnut has been called the olive of the country. The trees belong principally to the larger proprietors. They are planted by nature, being scattered over the fields, and in the woods and hedge-rows, intermixed with chestnuts and forest trees of various kinds. (Bakewcll.) 370. The walnut harvest at Chateau Duing commences in September. " They are beaten off the trees with long poles ; the green husks are taken oft* as soon as they begin to decay ; the walnuts are then laid in a chamber to dry, where they remain till November, when the process of making the oil commences. The first operation is to crack the nuts, and take out the kernel. For this purpose several of the neighbouring peasants, with their wives and elder children, assembled at the chateau of an evening, after their work was done. The party generally consisted of about thirty persons, who were placed around a long table in the kitchen. One man sat at each end of the table, with a small mallet to crack the nuts by hitting them on the point : as fast as they are cracked, they are distributed to the other persons around the table, who take the kernels out of the shell, and remove the inner part ; but they are not peeled. The peasants of Savoy are naturally lively and loquacious ; and they enliven their labour with facetious stories, jokes, and noisy mirth. About ten o'clock the table is cleared to make room for the goute, or sup- per, consisting of dried fruit, vegetables, and wine ; and the remainder of the evening is spent in singing and dancing, which is sometimes continued till midnight. In a favourable season, the number of walnuts from the Duing estate is so great, that the party assemble in this manner every evening for a fortnight, before all the walnuts are cracked ; and the poor people look forward to these meetings, from year to year, as a kind of 61 HISTORY OF AGRICULTURE. Part r. I tival. They do not receive any pay ; the gouti anil the amusement of the evening are their only reward." {BakerueU.) S7L The iv.iinut kerneU .-ire laid cm clothe to dry, ami in about a fortnight arc carried to the crushing. mill, where they .ire ground into .1 paste ; this ia pul into cloths, ami undergoes the opt ration of pressing to extract the oil. The best oil, which 1* used for salads and cooking, is pressed cold; hut an inferior oil for Ut in ] >- 1- extracted by heating the paste. Thirty people in one evening will crack as many walnuts a- will produce sixty pounds of paste; this yields about fifteen wine quart* of oiL The walnut shells are not lost among so frugal a people as the s.ivoy.ir.i-, but are burned for the ashes, which are used lor washing. Two pounds of these ashes are equal in strength to three of wood-ashes ; but the alkah is so caustic, that it frequently injures the linen. The paste, after 't is pressed, i- dried in cakes, called pain amerj this is eaten by children and pour people, and it i- Sold in the shop- in Savoy ..ml ( leneva. atnui i:il, preyed cold, has hut verj little of the kernelly taste ; but it maybe easily distinguished (torn the best olive ml, which it resembles in colour. If the peel were taken off the walnuts, the oil would probably be quite free from any peculiar flavour; but this operation would be too tedious. (lb.) .'.7 I. Tobacco, which is much used in Savoy, was cultivated with success in the neighbourhood of Ramilly ; hut on the restoration of the old despotism, its culture was prohibited, and the implements of manufacture seized. 374. The cult urc of artificial grasses is spreading in Savoy, hut is not yet very general. In the neighbourhood of Aix, Ramilly, and Annecy, wheat is succeeded by rye. The rye-harvest being over in June, they immediately sow the land with buck-wheat (sarrasin), which is cut in September ; the following year the land is sown witli spring corn. \'~~i. The grass-lands are always mown twice, and the latter mowing is sufficiently early to allow a good pasturage in the autumn. Water-meadows are occasionally found near towns. The water is generally let down from mountain streams ; but sometimes it is raised from rivers by a sort of bucket-wheel (Jig. 44.), which is called the Noria of Ike yi/j's. This wheel is raised or lowered by means of a loaded lev*»r (a), which turns on a fulcrum (0), formed by a piece of wood with its end inserted in the river's bank. 376. Agricultural improvement in Savoy must be in a very low state, if the answers Bake well received respecting the average quantity of the produce are correct. One of the answers stated the average increase of wheat to be from three to five on the quantity sown, and near the towns from five to seven. Another agriculturist stated the average increase on the best lands to be nine, and, in the neighbourhood of Annecy, thirteen, fold. One part of Savoy is, perhaps, the finest corn-land in Europe ; and the very heavy crops Bakewell saw in the neighbourhood of Aix and Annecy, made him doubt the accuracy of the above statements : but, on referring to Arthur Young's account of the agriculture of Trance before the revolution, it appears that four and a half was regarded as the average increase in that country, which is very similar in climate to Savoy. (Travels, i. 328.) 377. The salt-works if Moutiers, in the valley of the Isere, in the Tarantaise, are parti- cularly deserving attention, being perhaps the best conducted of any in Europe, with respect to economy. Nearly three million pounds of Gait are extracted annually from a source of water which would scarcely be noticed, except for medical purposes, in any other country. 378. The springs that supply the suit-winks at Moutiers, rise at the bottom of a nearly perpendicular rock of limestone, situated on the smith side of a deep valley or gorge. The temperature of the strongest spring is ninety. nine Fahrenheit, it contains IS:', per cent of saline matter. It may seem extraordinary that the waters at Moutiers, which haveonl] halt the strength of sea-water, should repay the expense of evaporation ; but the process by which ft is effected is both simple and ingenious, and might be Book I. AGRICULTURE IN FRANCE. 6a introduced with great advantage on many parts of our own coast, more particularly in Ireland. It is obvious that water, so weakly impregnated with salt as to contain only one pound and a half in every thirteen gallons, could not repay the expense of evaporating by fuel in any country. The water of the North Sea contains two and a quarter per cent of salt, and yet it has never been attempted to make salt from it by evaporation with toal-fires, even on the coast of Northumberland or Durham, where refuse coal, suited to the purpose, might be purchased for one shilling and sixpence per ton. In order to make salt from the saline water at Mouters, it was necessary to concentrate it by natural evaporation ; and to effect this speedily, it was required to spread the surface of the fluid over as large a space as possible, the ratio of evaporation being, ceteris paribus, in proportion to the extent of the surface exposed to the action of the atmosphere. The first attempt at Moutiers was made in 1550, by arranging pyramids of rye straw in open galleries, and letting the water trickle through the straw gradually and repeatedly. This was abandoned, and faggots of thorns were substituted: these faggots are suspended on frames, the wjter is raised to their height, and spread by channels so as to trickle through them : it passes through three separate sets or frames of thorns, and has then become so concentrated as to contain nearly '22 per cent of salt : it is then boiied in pans in the usual manner. 379. Evaporating on vertical cords, erected in a house open on all sides, is a third method, which succeeds even better than the mode by thorns. The water, by repeatedly passing over the cords, is found in forty-five days to deposit all its salt on them, and the saline cylinder is then broken off. The cords are renewed once in twenty or thirty years, and the faggots once in seven years. Minute details of these simple but very ingenious processes" will be found in the very scientific Travels of Bakewell (vol. i. 230.). Sect. III. Of the presetit State of Agriculture in France. *380. The first agricultural survey of France was made in 1787, 8, and 9. by the celebrated Arthur Young. Since that period no similar account has been published either in France or England : but several French writers have given the statistics and culture of different districts, as the Baron de la Peyrouse, Sinetti, Cordier, &c. ; and others have given general views of the whole kingdom, as La Statistique Generate de la France, by Penchet; De V Industrie Francoise, by Chaptal ; and Les Forces Productes et Commcr- ciales de la France, &c, by Dupin. From these works, seme recent tours of Englishmen, and our own observations in 1815, 1819, and 1828, we have drawn the following outline of the progress of French agriculture since the middle of the sixteenth century, and more especially since the time of Louis XIV. ; including the general circumstances of France as to agriculture, its common culture, its culture of vines and maize, and its culture of olives and oranges. Subsect. 1. Of the Progress of French Agriculture, from the Sixteenth Century to the present Time. *381. That France is the most favourable country in Europe for agriculture, is the opinion both of its own and foreign writers on the subject. For, though the country " suffered deeply from the wars in which she was engaged, first by a hateful conspiracy of kings, and next, 'by the mad ambition of Bonaparte, the purifying effects of the revolution have indemnified her ten fold for all the losses she has sustained. She has come out of the contest with a debt comparatively light, with laws greatly amended, many old abuses destroyed, and with a population more industrious, moral, enlightened, and happy, than she ever had before. The fortunate change which peace has made in her situation, has filled her with a healthy activity, which is carrying her forward with rapid strides ; she has the most popular, and therefore the most rational, liberal, and beneficial, system of govern- ment of any state in Europe, Britain not excepted ; and, altogether, she is perhaps in a condition of more sound prosperity than any other state in the old world." (Scotsman, vol. xii. No. 861.) 382. The agriculture of France at present, as Mr. Jacob has observed (Report, f-c, 1828), occupies one of the lowest ranks in that of the Northern States of Europe; but the fertility of the soil, the suitableness of the subsoil and of the surface for aration, and, above all, the excellence of the climate, are such as are not united to an equal extent in any other European State. When we consider these circumstances in connection with the extraordinary exertions now making for the education of the laborious classes, and the no less extraordinary progress that has been made within these few years in manufactures (JFor. Rev., Jan. 1829, art. 1.), it is easy to see that in a few years the territorial riches of France will be augmented to an extraordinary extent. 383. Of the agriculture of France, previous to the middle of the sixteenth century, scarcely any thin°- is known. Chopin, who it appears resided in the neighbourhood of Paris, wrote a°treatise on the Privileges of Labourers, in 1574, which, M. Gregoire remarks (Hist, of Agr. prefixed to edit, of Olivier de Serres, pub. in 1804), is calculated rather for the advantage of the proprietor than of the fanner. A Code Rural, published some time after, is characterised by the same writer as a Manual of Tyranny. 384. French agriculture began to flourish in the beginning of the seventeenth century, under Henry IV?, and its precepts at that time were published by Olivier de Serres, and Charles Estienne. In 1621, great quantities of corn were exported to England, in con- sequence of a wise ordinance of Sully, passed some years before, permitting a free commerce in corn. In 1641, the draining of fens and bogs was encouraged; and, in 1756, the land-tax taken off newly broken up lands for the space of twenty years. Mazarin, during the minority of Louis XIV., prohibited the exportation of corn, and checked the process of its culture. This circumstance, and the wars of that king, greatly F G6 HISTORY OF AGRICULTURE. Part I. discouraged agriculture, and produced several dearths. Flcury, under Louis XV., was not favourable to agriculture ; but, in \754, an act was passed for a tree corn trade, which effected its revival. The economists of this time, however mistaken in their views, inspired a taste tor the art; and agricultural societies were first established in France under tile patronage and at the expense of government. In 1761, there were thirteen such societies in France, and nineteen cooperating societies. Those of Paris, Lyons, Amiens, and Bourdeaux, have distinguished themselves by their published Memoirs. At Tours a georgical society was established and directed by the Marquis of Tourbili, a patriot and agricultural writer. Du Ilamel and BufFon gave eclat to the study of rural economy, and many Other writers might be mentioned as having contributed to its im- provement. 31. de Trudaine introduced the Merino breed of sheep in 1776, and Comte Lasteyrie his studied that breed in Spain, and written a valuable work, on the subject; as has the Baron de Mortemart on the English breeds, some of which lie has introduced. :\85. The agriculture of France in 1819, as compared u-ith ichat it was in 1789, presents, Chaptal observes, astonishing improvements. Crops of every kind cover the soil ; numerous and robust animals are employed in labouring it, and they also enrich it by their manure. The country population are lodged in commodious habitations, decently clothed, and abundantly nourished with wholesome food. The misery which existed in France in former times, when properties of immense extent supported little more than a single family, is banished, and its place supplied by ease and liberty. We are not to suppose, however, the same author observes, that the agriculture of France has arrived at perfection ; much still remains to be done : new plans of im- provement should be more generally introduced ; and a greater quantity of live stock is wanted for every province of France, except two or three which abound in natural meadows. Few domains have more than half the requisite number of labouring cattle ; the necessary result of which is a deficiency of labour, of manure, and of crop. The only mode of remedying these evils is to multiply the artificial pastures, and increase the cultivation of plants of forage. Abundance of forage is indeed the foundation of every good system of agriculture* as a proper succession of crops is the foundation of abundance of forage. The rich inhabitants of France have already adopted these principles ; but they have not yet found their way among the lowest class of cultivators. According to M. Dupin. four fifths of the peasantry of France are proprietors of land, which they cultivate them- selves ; and though they are at present very ignorant, yet knowledge of every kind is rapidly advancing. The wages of labourers in France, compared with the price of corn, are calculated to be higher than the wages paid to labourers in England. Subsect. 2. Of the general Circumstances of France, in respect to Agriculture. 386. The surface of France has been divided by geographers into what are called basins, or great plains, through which flow the principal rivers, and which basins are separated by original or secondary ridges of mountains. The chief basins are those of the Loire (fig. 45. a), of the Seine (6), of the Garonne (c), and of the Rhone and Saone (//). (Journal de Physique, torn, xxx.) 887. The soil of France has been divided by Arthur Young into the mountainous district of Languedoc and Provence (e) ; the loamy district of Limosin (f) ; the chalky districts of Champagne and Poitiers (g) ; the gravelly district of Bourbonnois (/<) ; the stony district of Lorraine and Franche Comte (?) ; the rich loam of Picardy and Guienne(A-); and the heathy surface on gravel, or gravelly sand, of Bretagne and Gascoigne (/). {-dgr. France, chap, ii.) 888. The climate of France has been ingeniously divided by the same author into that of corn and common British agriculture, including Picardy, Normandy, French Flanders, Artois, Hainault, Sec. (fig- 45. /, b, k) ; that ol vines, mulberries, and common culture (y, a, h, g, i) ; that of vines, mulberries, maize, and common culture (c,f, d, i) ; that of olives, vines, mulberries, maize, oranges, and common culture (o, e). It is singular that these zones (m m, n n, and o o) do not run parallel to the degrees of latitude, but obliquely to them to such an extent that the climate for die vines leaves off at 46° on the west coast (;/ m), but extends to 49^° on the east (g m). The cause is to be found chiefly in the soil and surface producing a more favourable climate in one place than in another; birt partly also in the wants of cultivators. The vine is cultivated in Germany in situations where it would not be cultivated in France, because wine is of more value in the former country than in the latter. The northern boundary of the vine culture has even extended in France since the revolution, from the natural wish of small proprietors to supply them- selves with wine of their own growth. In Germany the vine is cultivated as far north as latitude 52°, on the warm sides of dry rocky hills. 389. The centrtd climate, which admits vines without being hot enough for maize (y, a, h, g, i), Young considers as the finest in the world, and the most eligible part of France or of Europe as to soil. " Here," he says, " you are exempt from the extreme humidity which gives verdure to Normandy and England ; and yet equally free from the Book I. AGRICULTURE IN FRANCE. 67 burning heats which turn verdure itself into a russet brown : no ardent rays that oppress with their fervour in summer, nor pinching tedious frosts that chill with their severity in winter, but a light, pure, elastic air, admirable for every constitution except consumptive ones." This climate, however, has its drawbacks ; and is so subject to violent storms of rain and hail, that " no year ever passes without whole parishes suffering to a degree of which we in Britain have no conception." It lias been calculated, that in some provinces the damage from hail amounts, on an average of years, to one tenth of the whole produce. Spring frosts are sometimes so severe as to kill the broom : few years pass that they do not blacken the first leaves of the walnut trees ; the fig trees are protected with straw. *390. Of the vine and maize climate (c,/, d, i) some account is given by M. Picot, Baron de la Peyrouse, an extensive and spirited cultivator. He kept an accurate account of the crops and seasons in his district for twenty years from 1 800 ; and the result is, twelve years of fair average crops, four years most abundant, and four years attended with total loss. *391. In the olive climate (o, e) insects are incredibly numerous and troublesome, and the locust is injurious to corn crops ; but both the olive and maize districts have this advantage, that two crops a year, or at least three in two years, may be obtained. The orange is cultivated in so small a proportion of the olive climate as scarcely to deserve notice. The caper (Capparis spinosa) (Jig. 46.) and the fig are also articles of field culture in this climate. 392. The climate of Picardy and Normandy is the nearest to that of England, and is rather superior. The great agricultural advantage which France possesses over Britain, in regard to climate, is, that, by means of the vine and olive, as valuable produce may be raised on rocky wastes as on rich soils ; and that in all soils what- ever, root weeds may be easily and effectually destroyed without a naked fallow. (Young's France, ch. iii.) 393. The lands of France are not generally enclosed and subdivided by hedges or other fences. Some fences are to be seen near towns, and in the northern parts of the kingdom more especially : but, in general, the whole country is open ; the boundaries of estates being marked by slight ditches or ridges, with occasional stones or heaps of earth, rows of trees, or occasional trees. Depredations from passengers on the highways are prevented by gardes champctres. which are established throughout all France. Farms are sometimes compact and distinct, but generallv scattered, and often alternating in the common field manner of England, or run-rig of 'Scotland. The farm-houses of large farms are gene- rally placed on the lands ; those of smaller ones in villages, often at some distance. F 2 68 HISTORY OF AGRICULTURE. Part I. 39 l- The value of landed property is in general lower than in England, being al present (I8'_'!>) sold at from twenty-two to twenty-six years' purchase. 995i The farming of lands in France, according to Professor Thouin, naturally divides Itself into three kinds: 1. The grand Culture, in which from two to twelve ploughs are employed, and corn chieflj cultivated ; '-'. The middle culture, including the metayers, who also gram corn, but more frequently rear live stock, maintain a dairy, or produce silk, wine, cider, or oil, according to the climate in which they may be situated ; and 3. The minor culture, or that which is done by manual labour, and into which live stock or corns do not enter. The middle culture is bj tar the most common. There are very few farms of six or eight ploughs in France, and equally few farmers who do not labour in person at all times of the year. It is acknowledged by Professor Thouin, that each of these di\ isions is susceptible of very great improvement. Subskct. 3. Of the common Farming of France. 396. The cum farming in France is carried on in the best manner in French Flanders, Ficardy, and Brie, The fust may be considered as equally well cultivated with Suffolk ; and thi' last produces three crops in two years, or five in three years. The crops of these districts are wheat, beans, turnips, maize, and buckwheat. The most frequent rotations are, two corn crops and a fallow, or an alternation of corn and green or pulse crops, without a naked fallow. In the heath district, broom enters into the rotation for fuel, and is cut the fourth year; buckwheat is also extensively sown, and rye and oats. After I. mils have borne crops, it is usual to let them rest a year or two, during which they produce nothing but grass and weeds, and they are afterwards broken up with a naked fallow. Potatoes enter more or less into the field culture of the greater part of France, and especially of the northern districts ; but in Provence, and some parts of Languedoc, they are still little known. Irrigation, both of arable and grass lands, is adopted where- ever it is practicable. It is common in the Vosges, and remarkably well conducted in the lands round Avignon, formerly for many miles tlie property of the church. 397. The meadows of France contain nearly the same herbage, plants, and grasses as those of England ; but though clovers and lucerne are cultivated in many places, yet rye- grass and other grasses, either for hay crops or temporary or permanent pasture, are not generally resorted to. (Ckaptcd de C Industrie Francaise, vol. i. p. 157 ) *398. To sheep the French have paid considerable attention from the time of Colbert. ; and there are now considerable flocks of short-woolled and Spanish breeds in some places, besides several national flocks. That of Rambouillet (established in 1786 by Louis XVI.) is managed by M. Tessier, a well known writer on agriculture, and when visited by Birkbeck, in 1814, was in excellent order. Sheep are housed, and kept in folds and little yards or enclosures, much more than in England. Great part of the sheep of France are black. [Birkbeck.') Some curious attempts have lately been made to inoculate them for the claveau and the scab, but a definite result has not yet been ascer- tained, at least as to the latter disease. Birkbeck considers the practice of housing as the cause why the foot-rot is so common a disease among sheep in France. Where flocks remain out all night, the shepherd sleeps in a small thatched hut or portable watchhouse, placed on wheels. He guides the flock by walking before them, and his dog guards them from the wolves, which still abound even in Picardy. During summer, in the hottest districts, they are fed in the night, and housed in the heat of the day. Hay is the general winter food; and, in some parts of the Picardy climate, turnips. In 1811, Bonaparte monopolised the breeding of Merinos, and from that time to the passing of an act for the exportation of wool and rams in 1814 they declined; but they are now greatly on the increase. Among the most extensive flocks, are those of the cele- brated M. Temaux. '399. The beasts of labour are chiefly the ox on small farms, and the horse on the larger. Both are kept under cover the greater part of the year. The breeds of oxen are very various ; they are generally cream-coloured. The best oxen are in Auvergne, Poitiers, and Languedoc. Normandy furnishes the best breed of working horses ; as Limosin does of those for the saddle. In the south of France the ass and mule are of frequent use in husbandry. There, as in many parts of Italy, the poor people collect the stolones of ./giostis, and creeping roots of couch, and sell them in little bundles to the carriers and others who keep road horses. A royal stud of Arabians has been kept up at Aurillac in Limosin, for a century ; and another has been lately formed near Nismes. Studs of English horses and mixed breeds of high blood, have been established by government in several departments. 400. The best dairies are in Normandy ; but in this department France does not excel. In the southern districts, olive, almond, and poppy oil supply the place of butter; and goats' milk is that used in cookery. 401. The goats of Thibet, have been imported by M. Temaux, who has been success- ful in multiplying them and in manufacturing their hair. Book I. AGRICULTURE IN FRANCE. 69 402. Poultry is an important article of French husbandry, and well understood as far as breeding and feeding. Birkbeck thinks the consumption of poultry in towns may be equal to that of mutton. The smallest cottage owns a few hens, which often roost under cover, in a neat little structure (Jig. 47. ), elevated so as to be secure from dogs, wolves, and foxes. *403. The breed of sitine is in general bad ; but excellent hams are sent from Bretagne, from hogs reared on acorns, and fatted off with maize. Pigeon-houses are not uncommon. 404. The management of fish-ponds is well understood in France, owing to fish in all catholic countries being an article of necessity. In the internal district there are many large artificial ponds, as well as natural lakes, where the eel, carp, pike, and a few other species, are reared, separated, and fed, as in the Berkshire ponds in England. 405. The implements and operations of the common farms of France are in general rude. The ploughs of Normandy resemble the large wheel-ploughs of Kent. Those farther south are generally without wheels ; often without coulters ; and an iron mould-board is rare. In many parts of the south the ploughs have no mould- board, and turn the earth in the manner of the simplest form of Roman plough. (1 10.) Harrows are in general wholly of wood; and, instead of a roller, a plank is for the most part used. Large fanner; plough with four or six oxen as in Normandy, small fanners with two, or even one ; or, when stiff soils are to be worked out of season, they join to- gether, and form a team of four or six cattle. Their carts are narrow and long, with low wheels, seldom shod in the remote parts of the country. The guim- barde of the Seine and Oise (fig. 48.) is a light and useful machine. Corn is reaped with sickles, hooks, and the Brabant and cradle scythes, (fig- 49.) Threshing, in «v Normandy, is performed with the flail in houses, as in England ; in the other climates, in the open air with flails, or by the tread of horses. There are few permanent threshing-floors ; a piece of ground being smoothed in the most convenient part of the field is found sufficiently hard. Farmers, as we have already observed, perform most of their operations without extra labourers : and their wives and daugh- ters reap, thresh, and perform almost every part of the farm and garden work indifferently. Such farmers " prefer living in villages ; society and the evening dance being nearly as indispensable to them as their daily food. If the farm be distant, the farmer and" his servants of all descriptions set off early in the morning in a light waggon, carrying with them their provisions for the day." (Keill.) Hence it is, that a traveller in France may pass through ten or twenty miles of corn-fields, without seeing a single farm-house. 406. Large farms, which are extremely rare, have generally farmeries on the lands ; and there the labour is in great part performed by labourers, who, as well as the tradesmen employed, are frequently paid in kind. (Birkbeck.) *407. Ml the plants cultivated by the British farmer are also grown in France ; the turnip not generally, and in the warm districts scarcely at all, as it does not bulb; but it is questionable, whether, if it did bulb, it would be so valuable in these districts as the lucerne, or clover, which grow all the winter ; or the potato, from which flour is now made extensively ; or the field beet, which may be used either as food for cattle, or for yielding sugar. Of plants not usually cultivated on British farms may be mentioned, the chiccory for green food, fuller's thistle for its heads, furze and broom for green food, madder, tobacco, poppies for oil, rice in Dauphine (but now dropped as pre- judicial to health), saffron about Angouleme, Zathyrus sativus, the pois Breton or lentil of Spain, iathyrus setifolius, Ticia Zathyrciides and sativa, Cicer arietinum, iTrvum i£ns, il/elilotus sibirica, Coronilla varia, iJedysarum coronarium, &c. They have a hardy red wheat, called I'epeautre (spelt), which grows in the worst soil and climates, and is common in Alsace and Suabia. They grow the millet, the dura or douro of Egvpt F 3 70 HISTORY OF AGRICULTURE. Part I. (//ulcus S6rghum L.), in the maize district. The flower-stalks and spikes of this plant are sold at Marseilles and Leghorn, for making chamber-besoms and clothes-brushes. The hop and the common fruit trees are cultivated ; and the chestnut is used as food in some places. An oil used as Food, and also much esteemed by painters, is made from the walnut. The other fruits of field-culture, as the almond, fig, vine, caper, olive, and orange, belong to the farming of the southern districts. 408. The forest culture of France is scientifically conducted, both in the extensive national forests, and on private estates. The chief objects are fuel, charcoal, and bark ; and next, timber for construction : but in some districts other products are collected, as acorns, mast, nuts, resin, &c. The French and Germans have written more on this department of rural economy than the English, and understand it better. 409. A remarkable feature in the agriculture of France, and of most warm countries, is the use of leaves of trees as food for cattle. Not only are mulberry, olive, poplar, vine, and other leaves gathered in autumn, when they begin to change colour, and acquire a sweetness of taste ; but spray is cut green in July, dried in the sun or in the shade of trees in woods, faggoted, and stacked for winter use. During that season they are given to sheep and cattle like hay ; and sometimes, boiled with grains or bran, to cows. The astringency of some sorts of leaves, as the oak, is esteemed medicinal, especially for sheep. Such are the outlines of that description of agriculture which is practised more or less throughout France, but chiefly in the northern and middle districts. Scbsect. 4. Of Farming in the tuarmer Climates of France. 410. The culture peculiar to the vine, maize, olive, and orange climates, we shall extract from the very interesting work of Baron de la Peyrouse. The estate of this gentleman is situated in the maize district at Pepils, near Toulouse. Its extent is 800 acres ; and he has, since the year 1788, been engaged, and not without success, in introducing a better system of agriculture. 411. The farm-houses and offices in the warm d'istrkts are generally built of brick ; framework filled up with a mixture of straw and clay ; or, en pise ; and they are covered with gutter-tiles. The vineyards are enclosed by hawthorn hedges or mud walls ; the boundaries of arable farms are formed by wide ditches ; and those of grass lands by fixed stones or wild quince trees. Implements are wretched, operations not well performed, and labourers, and even overseers, paid in kind, and allowed to sow flax, beans, haricots, &c, for them-, selves. The old plough (fig. 50.) resembles that used by the Arabs, which the French antiquarian, Gouguet, (Origine des Lois) thinks, in all probability, the same as that used by the ancient Egyptians. They have also a light one-handled plough for stirring fallows, called the araire. (fig. 51.) A plough with coulters was first employed at Pepils ; and a Scotch plough, with a cast-iron mould-board, was lately sent there, and excited the wonder of the whole district. In nothing is France more deficient than in suitable agricultural implements. 412. Fallow, wheat, and maize con- stitute the common rotation of crops. 413. The live stock consists chiefly of oxen and mules; the latter are sold to the Spaniards. Some flocks of sheep are kept ; but it is calculated that the rot destroys them once in three years. Beans are the grain of the poor, and are mixed with wheat for bread. The chick pea (6'icer arietinum) (fig. 52.) is a favourite dish with the Provencals, and much cultivated. Spelt is sown on newly broken up lands. Potatoes were unknown till introduced at Pepils from the Pyrenees, where they had been cultivated for fifty years. In the neighbourhood they are beginning to be cultivated. Turnips and rutabaga were tried often at Pepils, but did not succeed once in ten years. Maize is reckoned a clearing crop, and its grain is the principal food of the people. *414. The vine is cultivated in France in fields, and on terraced hills, as in Italy, but managed in a different manner from what it is in that country. Here it is kept low, and treated more as a plantation of raspberries or currants Book I. AGRICULTURE IN FRANCE. 71 is in England. It is either planted in large plots, in rows three or four feet apart, and the plants two or three feet distant in the row ; or it is planted in double or single rows alternating with ridges of arable land. In some cases, also, two close rows and a space of six or seven feet alternate, to admit a sort of horse-hoeing culture in the wide interval. Most generally, plantations are made by dibbling in cuttings of two feet in length, pressing the earth firmly to their lower end ; an essential part of the operation, noticed even by Xenophon. In pruning, a stem or stool of a foot or more is left above ground, and the young shoots are every year cut down within two buds of this stool. These stools get very bulky after sixty or a hundred years, and then it is customary, in some places, to lay down branches from them, and form new stools, leaving the old for a time, which, however, soon cease to produce any but weak shoots. The winter pruning of the vine generally takes place in February : a bill is used resembling that of Italy (fig. 36.) ; die women faggot the branches, and their value, as fuel, is expected to pay the expense of dressing. In summer, the ground is twice or thrice hoed, and the young shoots are tied to short stakes with wheat or rye straw, or whatever else comes cheapest. The shoots are stopped, in some places, after the blossom has expanded ; the tops are given to cows. In some places, also, great part of the young wood is cut off before vintage for feed for cows, and to let the sun directly to the fruit. The sorts cultivated are almost as numerous as the vineyards. Fourteen hundred sorts were collected from all parts of France, by order of the Comte Chaptal, and are now in the nurseiy of the Luxembourg : but little or no good will result from the collection, or from attempting to describe them ; for it lias been ascertained that, after a considerable time, the fruit of the vine takes a particular character from the soil in which it is planted ; so that fourteen hundred sorts, planted in one soil and garden, would in time, probably in less than half a century, be reduced to two or three sorts ; and, on the contrary, two or three sorts planted in fourteen hundred different vineyards, would soon become as many distinct varieties. The pineau of Burgogne, and the auvernat of Orleans, are esteemed varieties ; and these, with several others grown for wine-making, have small berries and branches like our Burgundy grape. Small berries and a harsh flavour are universally preferred for wine- making, both in France and Italy. The oldest vines invariably give the best grapes, and produce the best wines. The Baron de la Peyrouse planted a vineyard twenty years ago, which, though in full bearing, lie says, is still too vigorous to enable him to judge of the fineness and quality of the wine, which it may one day afford. " In the Clos de Vougeol vineyard, in which the most celebrated Burgundy wine is produced, new vine plants have not been set for 300 years : the vines are renewed by laying (provigner) ; but the root is never separated from the stock. This celebrated vineyard is never manured. The extent is 160 French arpents. It makes, in a good year, from 160 to 200 hogsheads, of 260 bottles each hogshead. The expense of labour and cooperage, in such a year, has arisen to 33,000 francs ; and the wine sells on the spot at five francs a bottle. The vine- yard is of the pineau grape. The soil, about three feet deep, is a limestone gravel on a limestone rock." (Peyrouse, 96.) 415. The white mulberry is very extensively cultivated in France for feeding the silkworm. It is placed in comers, rows along roads, or round tields or farms. The trees are raised from seeds in nurseries, sometimes grafted with a large-leafed sort, and sold generally at five years, when they have strong stems. They are planted, staked, and treated as pollards. Some strip the leaves from the young shoots, others cut the»e off' twice one year, and only once the next ; others pollard the tree every second year. 41G. The eggs of the silk-moth (Bumbyx mbri) are hatched in rooms heated by means of stoves to 18° of Reaumur t7§i° Fah.). One ounce of eggs requires one hundred-weight of leaves, and will produce from seven to nine pounds of raw silk. The hatching commences about the end of April, and, with the feeding, is over in about a month. Second broods are procured in some places. The silk is wound off the coccoons, or little balls, by women and children. This operation is reserved for leisure days throughout the rest of the season, or given out to women in towns. The eggs are small round objects ; the caterpillar attains a considerable size ; the chrysalis is ovate ; and the male and female are readily distinguishable. < 417. The olive, of which the most luxuriant plantations are between Aix and Nice, is treated in France in the same way as in Italy. (288.) The fruit is picked green, or, when ripe, crushed for oil, as in the latter country. 418. The Jig is cultivated in the olive district as a standard tree; and dried for winter use, and exportation. At Argenteuil it is cultivated in the gardening manner for eating green. 419. The almond is cultivated about Lyons, and in different parts in the department of the Rhone, as a standard, in the vineyards. As it blossoms early, and the fruit is liable to injury from fogs and rains, it is a very precarious article of culture, and does not yield a good crop above once in five, or, according to some, ten, years. 4-20. The caper is an article of field culture about Toulon. It has the habit of a bramble bush, and is planted in squares, ten or twelve feet plant from plant every way. Standard figs, peaches, and other fruit trees are intermixed with it. 421. The culture of the orange is very limited; it is conducted in large walled enclosures at Hieres and its neighbourhood The fruit, like that of Geneva and Naples, is very inferior to the St. Michael's and Maltese oranges, as imported to Britain ; but the lemons are good. 422. The winter melon is cultivated in different parts of Provence and Languedoc, and especially in the orange orchards of Hieres. It forms an article of exportation. 4'23. VarioriS other fruits are cultivated by the small proprietors in all the districts of Fiance, and sold in the adjoining markets ; but this department of rural economy belongs rather to gardening than to agriculture. F 4 72 HISTORY OF AGRICULTURE. P.»kt I. Sect. IV. Of the present State of Agriculture in Holland and the Netherlands. 4-24. The agriculture of the Low Countries, and especially of Flanders, has been celebrated by the rest of Europe for upwards of 600 years; that of Holland for its pasturage, and that of the Netherlands tor tillage. We shall notice a part of the agricultural circum- stances of the two countries. Subsect. 1. Of the present Stale of Agriculture in Holland. 425. The climate of Holland is cold and moist. The surface of the country towards the sea is low and marshy, and that of the interior sandy and naturally barren. A considerable part of Holland, indeed the chief part of the seven provinces comprising the country, is lower than the sea, and is secured from inundation by immense embankments ; while the internal water is delivered over these banks into the canals and drains leading to the sea, by mills, commonly impelled by wind. In the province of Guelderland and other internal parts, the waste grounds are extensive ; -being overrun with broom and heath, and the soil a black sand. The marshes, morasses, and heaths, which are characteristic of the different provinces, are, however, intermixed with cities, towns, villages, groves, gardens, and meadows, to a degree only equalled in England. There are no hills, but only gentle elevations, and no extensive woods ; but almost every where an intimate combination of land, water, and buildings. The soil in the low districts is a rich, deep, sandy mud ; sometimes alluvial, but more frequently siliceous, and mixed with rotten shells. In a few places there are beds of decayed trees ; but no where rough gravel or rocks. The soil of the inland provinces is in general a brown or black sand, naturally poor, and, wherever it is productive, indebted entirely to art. *426\ The landed properly of Holland is in moderate or rather small divisions ; and, in the richer parts, generally in farms of from twenty to one hundred and fifty or two hundred acres, often farmed by the proprietor. In the interior provinces, both estates and farms are much larger ; and instances occur of farms of five hundred or seven hundred acres, partly in tillage, and partly in wood and pasture. 427. The agriculture of Holland is almost entirely confined to a system of pasturage and dairy management, for the production of butter and cheese ; the latter well known in every part of the world. Almost the only objects of tillage are some madder, tobacco, and herbage plants and roots for stall-feeding the cattle. The pastures, and especially the lower meadows, produce a coarse grass, but in great abundance. The cows are allowed to graze at least a part of the day throughout the greater part of the year, but are generally fed in sheds, once a day or oftener, with rape cake, grains, and a great variety of other preparations. Their manure is preserved with the greatest care, and the animals themselves are kept perfectly clean. The breed is large, small-legged, generally red and white, with long slender horns ; they are very well known in England as the Dutch breed. The fuel used in Amsterdam and most of the towns is peat, and the ashes are collected and sold at high prices, chiefly to the Flemings, but also to other nations. A considerable quantity has been imported to England ; they are found excellent as a top dressing for clovers and other green crops, and are strongly recommended by Sir John Sinclair and other writers. Other particulars of Dutch culture and economy correspond with the practice of the Netherlands. *428. The fi eld implements, buildings, and operations of Holland, are more ingeniously contrived and better executed than those of any other country on the Continent. The best plough in the world (the Scotch) is an improvement on the Rotheram or Dutch implement. The farmeries, and especially the cow-houses and stables, are remarkable for arrangements which facilitate and economise manual labour, and insure comfort to the animals and general cleanliness. Even the fences and gates are generally found in a better state than in most other countries. They have a simple field gate (Jig. 5:3.) constructed with few rails, and balanced so as it may be opened and shut without straining the posts or hinges, which deserves imitation. Their bridges, foot-planks, and other mechanical agents of culture, are in general indicative of more art and invention than is usual in Continental agriculture. Book I. AGRICULTURE IN THE NETHERLANDS 73 Subsect. 2. Of the present State of Agriculture in the Netherlands. 429. The Netherlands and Holland, from the tenth to the fifteenth century, were the great marts of manufactures and commerce in the west of Europe ; and, at the same time, made distinguished progress in other arts. The particular causes which first contributed to the advancement of agriculture are not exactly known at this distance of time ; but it is certain that even in the thirteenth century the art was in an advanced state, and, ever since, the culture of the Low Countries, both agricultural and horticul- tural, has been looked up to by the rest of Europe. 430. About the beginning of the seventeenth centunj. according to Harte, the Flemings dealt more in the practice "of husbandly, than in publishing books upon the subject : so that, questionless, their intention was to carry on a private lucrative trade without instructing their neighbours ; and hence it happened, that whoever wanted to copy their agriculture, was obliged to travel into their country, and make his own remarks ; as Plattes, Hartlib, and Sir R. Weston actually did. 431. To make a farm resemble a garden as nearly as possible was their principal idea of husbandly. Such an excellent principle, at first setting out, led them of course to undertake the culture of small estates only, which they kept free from weeds, continually turning the ground, and manuring it plentifully and judiciously. Having thus brought the soil to a just degree of cleanliness, health, and sweetness, they ventured chiefly upon the culture of the more delicate grasses, as the surest means of acquiring wealth in husbandry, upon a small scale, without the expense of keeping many draught horses or servants. After a few years' experience, they soon found that ten acres of the best vegetables for feeding cattle, properly cultivated, would maintain a larger stock of grazing animals, than forty acres of common farm grass : and the vegetables they chiefly cultivated for tliis purpose were lucerne, saintfoin, trefoils of most denominations, sweet fenu- greek (Trigonella),buck and cow wheat (J/elampyrum pratense) (fig. 54.), field turnips, and spurry (Spergula), by them called Marian grass. 432. The political secret of Flemish husbandry was, the letting farms on improvement. Add to this, they discovered eight or ten new sorts of manures. They were the first among the moderns, who ploughed in living crops for the sake of fertilising the earth, and confined their sheep at night in large sheds built on purpose, whose floor was covered with sand, or earth, &c, which the shepherd carted away every morning to the compost -dunghill. Such was the chief mystery of the Flemish husbandry. (Harte.) 433. The present state of agriculture in the Netherlands corresponds entirely with the outline given by Harte, and it has probably been in this state for nearly a thousand years. The country has lately been visited with a view to its rural economy by Sir John Sinclair, and minutely examined and ably depicted by the Rev. Thomas RadclifF. To^ such British farmers as wish to receive a most valuable lecture on the importance ot a proper frugality and economy in farming, as well as judicious modes of culture, we would recommend the latter work ; all that we can do here, is to select from it the leading features of Flemish farming. 434. The climate of Flanders may be considered the same as that of Holland, and not materially different from that of the low parts of the opposite coast of England. • 435. The surface of the country is every where flat, or very gently elevated, and some extensive tracts have been recovered from the sea. The soil is for the most part poor, generally sandy ; but in various parts of a loamy or clayey nature. " Flanders," Radchff observes, "was in general believed to be a soil of extreme natural richness ; whereas, with the exception of some few districts, it is precisely the reverse." He found the strongest and best soil near Ostend ; and between Bruges and Ghent some of the worst, being little better than a pure sand. 436. From confowiding the Dutch Netherlands with the Flemish Netherlands, a good deal of confusion in ideas has resulted. RadclifT, on arriving in Flanders, was informed that, " with respect to culture, not only the English, but the French, confounded under the general name of Brabant or Flanders, all the provinces of the Low Countries, however different might be their modes of cultivation ; but that in Flanders itself might best be seen, with what skill the farmer cultivates a bad soil [un sol ingrat), which he forces to return to him, with usury, a produce that the richest and strongest lands of the neigh- bouring provinces of Holland refuse to yield." The districts described as East and West Flanders, are bounded on the east by Brabant and Hainault ; on the west by the German Ocean ; on the north by the Sea of Zealand and the West Scheldt ; and on the south by 74 IIIS'IOKY OF AGRICULTURE. 1\\ French Flanders. It b about ninety 1 1 1 i 1 «_■ •> long, and sixty broad, and abounds with towns and villages. 4:57. The landed property of Flanders is not in large estates: very few amount to 2000 acres. It is generally freehold, or the property of religious or civil corporations. When the proprietor does not cultivate his own lands, which, however, is most frequently the case, lie lets it on leases ; general ly of seven, fourteen, or twenty-one years' endurance, at a fixed money rent, and sometimes acorn and money rent combined, 'llie occupier is bound to live on the premises, pay taxes, effect repairs, preserve timber, not sublet without a written agreement, and to give the usual accommodations to an incoming tenant at the end of the lease. Leases of fourteen or twenty-one years are most common : there are scarcely any lands held from year to year, or on the metayer system. Estates are every where enclosed with hedges, and the fields are generally small. 438. Farmeries are convenient, and generally more ample in proportion to the extent of the farm dian in England. On the larger farms a distillery, oil mill, and sometimes a flour mill, are added to the usual accommodations. The buildings on a farm of 150 acres of strong soil, enumerated by RadclifT, are : — 1. The farm-house, with an arched cellar used as a dairy, an apartment for churning, with an adjoining one for a horse wheel to turn the churning machinery. 2. A small building for the use of extra- labourers, with a fire-place for cooking. 3. The grange or great barn, 130 feet long, by 35 feet wide. The ground floor of tins structure, besides accommodating by its divisions all the horses and cows of the farm in comfortable stables, and furnishing two threshing floors for the flail, is sufficient also for a considerable depot of com in the sheaf, in two extensive compartments to the height of twelve feet, at which elevation an open floor of joists, supported by wooden pillars, is extended over the entire area of the barn, and is repeated at every five feet in height, to the top. Each floor is braced from the pillars, and not only forms a connection of strength throughout the whole, but separates at the same time, without much loss of space, the different layers of corn, securing them from damage, by taking off the pressure of the great mass. 4. A house for farming implements, with granary over, and piggery behind. In the centre is the dunghill ; the bottom of which is rendered impervious to moisture. 4:59. A plan of a Flemish farmery, is given by Sir John Sinclair, as suited to a farm of 300 acres : it is executed with great solidity and a due attention to salubrity, being vaulted and well aired. Sir John mentions that he saw, in some places, " a mode of making floors by small brick arches, from one beam to the other, instead of using deals, and then making the floor of bricks," a mode generally adopted in British manufac- tories, where the beams which serve as abutments are of cast-iron, tied together with trans- verse wrought-iron rods. 440. The accommodations of this farmery (fg. 55.) are, 1 , The vestibule, or entrance of the farm-house. it The hall. 3, 4, 5, Closets. 6, Shetls destined for different purposes, but more espe- cially for elevating or letting down grain from the granaries, by machinery. 7, Kitchen. B, \\ .isluiu'-bouse. '.», Chamber for female servants. 10, Hall. 11, IS, Closets. 1.*, Necessaries. 1 1, Room for the gardener. 15, Mied f„r fuel. 1'.. 16, Kitchen-garden. 17, tin IS, Poultry-yard. ly, 20, Stables for cows and calves. 21, Necessaries for the servants, connected with the cis- terns. 22, 23, Sheep-fold». 24 , 25, Sheds for carts. 26, Bam. 27, Area. 28, Flax barn. 29, 30, Sheep-houses 31, 32, Stables for the horses and foals. 33, 54, 35, 56, Places for the hogs. 37 and 38, Cisterns destined to receive ihe urine of the cattle. 39, Well. 40, Dung-pit, concave in the middle. 41, Pool serving to receive the superabundant waters of the dung-pit, the weeding of the gardens, &c. 42, 42, Reservoirs to receive the waters of the farm-yard. 43, Entrance gateway with dovecot over. 44, Small'trenches, or gutters. 45, 45, Sheds destined for clover, cut green in summer, or dry in winter. 46, Cistern for the wash-houses. 47,47, Situations of the com stacks, in years of abundance. Book I. AGRICULTURE IN THE NETHERLANDS. 75 Four elevations [fig. 56.) represent the four internal sides of the quadrangle; the north side (a); Hie 'jam, or west side ^6) ; the south side (c) ; and the house, or east side {([). 5G cj a a a b m a □ n □ □ n a a rp ar | / o £3 \ a o Q E3 D n □ 23 a f~ \ a u Q Q □ a m m □ a □ □ n u 5D U ii □ Q Q ?;'^ 441 Urine cisterns are formed in the fields, to receive purchased liquid manure ; but, for that made in the farm-yard, generally in the yard, or under the stables. In the latter case, the urine is conducted from each stall" to a common grating, through which it descends into the vault, whence it is taken up by a pump • in the best-regulated farmeries there is a partition in the cistern, with a valve to admit the con- tents of the first space into the second, to be preserved there free from the more recent additions, age rendering it considerably more efficacious. This species of manure is relied on beyond any other, upon all the light soils throughout Flanders ; and, even upon the strong lands (originally so rich as to preclude the necessity of manure), it is now coming into great esteem, being considered applicable to most crops, and to all the varieties of soiL 442. The arable lands of Flanders include by far the greater part of the surface of the country. The crops raised are the same as those in Britain ; but, from local circumstances, flax, hemp, chiccory, rape, spurry, madder, woad, tobacco, and some others, enter more generally into rotations. 443 Falloics, according to Sir John Sinclair, are in a great measure abolished, even on strong land ; by means of which, produce is increased, and the expense of cultivation, on the crops raised in the course of a rotation necessarily diminished ; and bv the great profit they derive from their flax and rape, or colsat, thev can afford to sell all their crops of grain at a lower rate. The Flemish farmers, however, understand their interest too well, to abolish naked fallows on strong clayey soils in a humid climate. 444. In regard to soil and culture, RadclifF arranges Wanders into eleven agricultural divisions, and°of the principal of these we shall notice the soil and rotations, and some other features of culture. 445. The first division extends along the North Sea, and includes Ostend. This district consists of the strongest and heaviest soil which Flanders possesses, and a similarity of quality prevails generally throughout, with some occasional exceptions. It may be represented as a clay loam of a greyish colour, and yields the various produce to be expected from a strong soil ; rich pasture, wheat, beans, barley, and rape, considered as primary crops ; and, as secondary (or such as are not so generally cultivated), oats, carrots, potatoes, flax, and tares. In this division, however, though the nature of the soil may be stated under the general description of a clay loam, yet there are of this three degrees of quality, not to be marked by regular limits, but to be found throughout the whole, in distinct situations. It becomes the more necessary to remark this, as the succession of crops depends on the quality of the soil ; and as there are here three different degrees of quality, so are there three different systems of rotation. 446. Upon the first quality of soil, the succession is as follows : first year, barley ; second, beans ; third, wheat; fourth, oats ; fifth, fallow. For the second quality of soil, the succession is as follows : first year, wheat ; second, beans or tares ; third, wheat or oats ; fourth, fallow. For the third quality of soil, the succession is as follows : first year,' wheat; second, fallow; third, wheat ; fourth, fallow. Besides these three qualities of strong soil, another of still superior fertility prevails in this district in considerable extent, known by the denomination of Polders. 447. The polders, or embanked lands of Flanders, are certain areas of land reclaimed from the sea by embankment, whose surface, once secured from the influx of the tide, becomes the most productive soil, without requiring the assistance of any description of manure. They owe their origin partly to the collection of sand, in the small branches of rivers, gradually increasing, so as naturally to embank a portion of land, and convert it into an arable and fertile soil. They also have proceeded from the contraction of the river itself, which, by the effect of the tides, is diminished in one place, whilst an alluvial soil is formed in another by its overflow. Hence it is, that, within a century, entire polders in certain situations have been inundated, whilst, in others, new and fertile land has appeared, as if from the bosom of the water. These operations of nature pointed out facilities many centuries back, which excited the industry of the Low Countries, an industry 76 HISTORY Ol-' AGRICULTURE. Part I. which has been rewarded by the acquisition of their richest soil. These newly-formed lauds, before their embankment, are called sckorres. They are flooded at every tide by the water of the sea, and are augmented by mire, bits of wood, rushes, sea-weeds, and other marine plants decayed and putrid, also by shells ami fishy particles which the ebb always leaves behind in considerable quantity. This growing soil soon produces various plants and grasses, and improves daily. When such lands have acquired a crust or surface of black earth, three or four inches deep, they may be embanked and fallowed. Those are always the most productive which have been deepened in their soil by the augmentations of the sea; and experience proves that in the coiners and hollows, where, from an obstructing boundary, the greatest quantity of mire has been deposited, the soil is doubly rich and good, and cannot be impoverished by the crops of many years. In some instances, the embankments are made on the part of government ; in others, by companies or individuals, under a grant of a specific tenure (generally twenty-one years), rent free, or, according to circumstances, at some moderate annual payment. 448. The polder of Snaerskirke, near Ostend, contains about 1300 acres. It is of Ir.te formation, and was overflowed by a creek with its minor branches every spring tide. By constructing two banks and a flood-gate at the creek, the sea is excluded, and the space subdivided by roads, and laid out in fields of thirteen acres each, surrounded by ditches. The bank is fifteen feet in height, thirty feet in the base, and ten feet across the top : the Jand which has been reclaimed by it, was let for a sheep pasturage at 600 francs (25/.) per annum, and was thrown up by the farmer as untenable. Upon being dried by this sum- mary improvement, the lots, of which there are one hundred of thirteen acres each, were sold by auction at an average of 7000 francs (291/. 135. 4rf.) a lot, and would now bring nearly double that rate. They are let to the occupying farmers at 36 guilders the mesure, or about 21. 15s. the English acre, and are now producing superior crops of rape, of sucrion (winter barley), and beans, which constitute the usual rotation ; this, however, is varied according to circumstances, as follows: — 1. oats, or rape ; 2. winter barley, or rape ; 3. winter barley ; 4. beans, pease, or tares. 449. Other examples of reclaimed lands are given. One called the Great Moor, recovered through the spirited exertions of M. Hyrwein, contains 2400 acres. Attempts had been made to recover it by the Spaniards, in 1610, but without success. This marsh was seven feet below the level of the surrounding land ; therefore, to drain it, the following operations became necessary : — 450. To surround the whole with a bant; of eight feet in height, above the level of the enclosed ground, formed by the excavation of a fosse, fifteen feet wide and ten feet deep, which serves to conduct the water to the navigable canal. — To construct nulls to throw the water over the bank into the fosse". — To intersect the interior bv numerous drains from eight to twelve feet wide, with a fall to the respective mills, to which they conduct all the rain water, and all the soakage water which oozes through the banks. 451 . The mills in use for raising the water, are of a simple but effectual construction, and are driven by wind. The horizontal shaft above works an upright shaft, at die bottom of which a screw bucket, twenty-four feet in length, is put in motion by a bevil wheel, at such an angle as to give a perpendicular height of eight feet from the level of the interior drain to the point of disgorgement, whence the water is emptied with great force into the exterior canal. With full wind, each mill can discharge 150 tonneaux of water every minute. The height of the building from the foundation is about fifty feet, one half of it above the level of the bank. The whole is executed in brickwork, and the entire cost 36,000 francs, about 1500/. British. It is judiciously contrived that the drains, which conduct the water to the mills, constitute the divisions and subdivisions of the land, forming it into regular oblong fields of considerable extent, marked out by the lines of osiers which ornament their banks. Roads of thirty feet wide lead through the whole in parallel directions. 452. The soil of this tract, which has been formed by the alluvial deposit of ages, is a clay loam, strong and rich, but not of the extraordinary fertility of some polders, which are cropped independent of manure for many years. The first course of crops, commencing with rape, is obtained without manure, and the return for six years is abundant ; the second commences and proceeds as follows : — 1. Fallow, with manure from farm-vard. 5. Clover. 2. Sucrion (winter barley). 6. Beans and Peas mixed. 3. Beans. 7. Oats. 4. Wheat. 453. The second division adjoins French Flanders, but does not extend to the sea. The soil may be described as a good loam of a yellowish colour, mixed with some sand ; but is not in its nature as strong as that of the former division. Its chief produce is wheat, barley, oats, hops, tobacco, meadow, rape-seed and flax, as primary crops ; and, as secondary, buckwheat, beans, turnips, potatoes, carrots, and clover. This division, unlike the former in this respect, is richly wooded. 454. The general course of crops in this division is asfolloivs : — 1 . Wheat upon manured fallow. 5. Flax, highly manured with urine and rape cake, 1 t Fallow, manur«t. r, top C t Turnip., } """ vear ' wi,houl manute 8'. Kant, manured, •_'. ( '.lata, tup iln-^itl with ashes. 6. Wheat, >or< Rye. Hi Book 1. AGRICULTURE IN THE NETHERLANDS. 77 q Who-it 14 - Wheat. in oVk 15- Hops, with abundant manure. 57' V' V.-r»c This la>t crop remains generally five years, and the erotltld 1 12 live ** afterwards tit for anj kind of produce. is! Tobacco, three times ploughed, and richly manured. 455. In another part of this division, where hops are not grown, the following rotation is observed : — 1. Potatoes, with manure. 9. Wheat. 2. Wheat. J? !r a ' S '- 1 same year. 3. Beans, with manure. «• i u ""P s ' ■! . 4. Rve. 12 - FalIow > without manure. 5. Wheat, with manure. J3. Rye- 6. Clover, top-dressed with ashes. 1 <■ Tobacco, richly manured. 7. Turnips, with manure. 15 - Wheat. 8. Flax, highly manured with urine and rape cake. 456. In addition to these crops in some parts of the district, particularly in the line between Wooraen and Ypres, magnificent crops of rape are cultivated, and are relied on as a sure and profitable return. Flax is also a crop upon which their best industry is bestowed, and their careful preparation of the soil is scarcely to be surpassed by that of the neatest garden. , 457. In the third division the soil is a good sandy loam, of a light colour, and is in a superior state of cultivation ; it yields a produce similar to that of the foregoing- division, with the same quality of hay ; but plantations are here more numerous. The succession is as follows : — 1 Wheat with dune. III. Clover, with ashes, seeds sometimes saved. %. Clover ,'with asheS,' seed sometimes saved. 1 1 • Oats, without manure. 3. Flax, with urine and rap? cake. . Jf • gax, with urine and rape cake. 4. Wheat,withcompostofshortdungandvarioussweepings. 13. Wheat, with dung. 5. Potatoes, with farm-yard dung or night soil. \ Beans, with dung. B Rve with urine. 14.< Beet root, with rape cake, or 7. Ripe seed, with rape cake and urine. 1 Tobacco, with rape cake in great quar.tit.es. 8 Potatoes with dung. Turnips are also. grown, but are taken as a second crop after 9.' Wheat, with manure of divers kinds. raiie, flax, wheat, or rye. 458. Passing over the other divisions to the eighth and ninth, we find the reporter describes them as of considerable extent, and, in the poverty of their soil and abundance of their produce, bearing ample testimony to the skill and perseverance of the Flemish farmers. The soil consists of a poor light sand, in the fifteenth century exhibiting barren gravel and heaths. The cliief produce here consists of rye, flax, potatoes, oats, buckwheat, rape- seed, and wheat, in a few favourable spots ; clover, carrots, and turnips generally. 459 On the western side of these districts, and where the soil is capable of yielding wheat, there are two modes of rotation : one comprising a nine years' course, in which wheat is but once introduced ; and the other a ten years' course, in which they contrive to produce that crop a second time ; but in neither instance without manure, which, indeed, is never omitted in these divisions, except for buckwheat, and occasionally for rye. The first course alluded to above is as follows : — 1. Potatoes or Carrots, with four ploughings, and twelve tons 5. Oats with Clover, with two ploughings, and ten tons and a of farm-vard dung per English acre. half of farm-yard dune per English acre. 2. Flax, with two ploughings, and 105 Winchester bushels 6. Clover, top-dressed, with lt)j Winchester bushels ot pea. or of a-hes, and 48 hogsheads, beer measure, of urine Dutch ashes per English acre. per English acre. 7. Rye, with one ploughing, and 52 hogsheads, beer measure, 3. Wheat, wiili two ploughings, and ten tons and a half of of night soil and urine. farm-yard dung per English acre. 8. Oats, with two ploughings, and 52 hogsheads, beer measure, 4. Rve and Turnips, with two ploughings, and ten tons and of night soil and urine. a half of farm -yard dung per English acre. 9. Buckwheat, with four ploughings, and without any manure. 460. Of the Flemish mode of cultivating so?ne particular crops we shall give a few examples. The drill husbandry has never been generally introduced in the Low Countries. It has been tried in the neighbourhood of Ostend, forty acres of beans against forty acres of drilled crop, and the result was considered to be in favour of the system. But the row culture, as distinguished from the raised drill manner, has been long known in the case of tobacco, cabbages, and some other crops. 461. Wheat is not often diseased in Flanders. Most farmers change their seed, and others in several places steep it in salt water or urine, and copperas or verdigrise. The proportion of verdigrise is half a pound to every six bushels of seed ; and the time in which the latter remains in the mixture is three hours, or one hour if cows' urine be used, because of its ammonia, which is considered injurious. The ripest and plumpest seed is always preferred. 462. Rye is grown both as a bread corn, and for the distillery. In Flanders frequently, and in Brabant very generally, the farmer upon the scale of from one hundred to two hundred acres of light soil is also a distiller, purely for the improvement of the land by the manure of the beasts, which he can feed upon the straw of the rye, and the grains of the distillery. 463. Buckwheat enters into the rotations on the poorest soils, and is sown on lands not got ready in time for other grain. The chief application of buckwheat is to the feeding of swine and poultry, for which it is preeminent ; it is also used in flour as a constituent in the liquid nourishment prepared for cattle and horses ; and bears no incon- siderable share in the diet of the peasant. Formed into a cake, without yeast, it is a very wholesome, and not a disagreeable, species of bread ; but it is necessary to use it while 78 HISTORY OF AGRICULTURE. Pakt I fresh] as, if kept, it would turn sour sooner than bread made of barley, rye, or wheaten flour. Its blossom is considered to afford the best food for bees. If cut green, it yields pood forage, and if ploughed in when in flower, it is thought one of the best vegetable manures in use. It is also said to be used in distillation ; but this is not generally admitted to be the case. 464. liape [colza, colsat, or cole seed ; not the 7?rassica iVapus of LimiEeus, but the Ji. campestris of Decandolle) is considered an important article of Flemish agriculture. It is sometimes sown broad-cast, but the general and improved method is by transplanting, v hich they allege, and apparently with great justice, to have many advantages : one is, that the seed-bed occupies but a small space, whilst the land which is to carry the general crop is bearing corn. By having the plants growing, they have time to harvest their corn, to plough and manure the stubble intended for the rape, which they put in witli the dibble or the plough, from the latter end of September to the second week of November, without apprehending any miscarriage. 4tVj. Thi- teed-bedlB sown in August, and even to the middle of September. In October, or sooner, the stubble is ploughed over, manured, and ploughed again. The plants are dibbled in the seams of the ploughing v each furrow slice being twelve inches broad), and are set out at twelve inches' distance in the rows. Instead of dibbling upon the second ploughing, in many cases they lay the plants at the proper distances across the furrow, and as the plough goes forward, the roots are covered, and a woman follows to set them a little up, and to give them a firmness in the ground where necessary. Immediately after the frost, and again in the month of April, the intervals are weeded and hand-hoed, and the earth drawn up to the plants, which is the last operation till the harvest. It is pulled rather green, but ripens in the stack ; and is threshed without any particular management : but the application of the haulm, or straw, is a matter of new and profitable discovery ; it is burned for ashes, as manure, which are found to be so highly valuable beyond all other sorts which have been tried, that they bear a price as three to one above the other kinds, and it is considered that, upon clover, a dressing of one third less of these is amply sufficient 466. The seed is sold for crushing ; or, as is frequently the case, it is crushed by the farmer himself; an oil mill being a very common appendage to a farmery. 467. The oilette, or poppy (Papaver somniferum), is cultivated in some parts, and yields a very fine oil ; in many instances, of so good a quality as to be used for salad oil. The seed requires a rich and well manured soil. The crop is generally taken after rape, for which the ground has been plentifully manured ; and for the oilettes it receives a dressing not less abundant. The seed is sown at the rate of one gallon to the English acre, and is lightly covered by shovelling the furrows. The average produce is about thirty Winchester bushels to the English acre. The seed is not so productive as rape, in point of quantity, but exceeds it in price, both as grain and as oil, by at least one sixth. The measure of oil produced from rape, is as one to four of the seed ; that produced from the seed of the oilettes, is as one to five. 468. Poppy seed is sown both in spring and autumn, but the latter is considered the best season ; great attention is given to the pulverisation of the soil, by frequently harrowing, and (if the weather and state of the soil permit) sufficient rolling to reduce ill the clods. 469. The harvesting of the poppy is performed in a particular manner, and requires a great number of hands. The labourers work in a row, and sheets are laid along the line of the standing crop, upon which, bending the plants gently forward, they shake out the seed. When it ceases to fall from the capsules, that row of the plants is pulled up, and placed upright in small sheaves, in the same, or an adjoining field, in order to ripen such as refused to yield their seed at the first operation. The sheets are then again drawn forward to the standing crop, and the same pro- 57 cess is repeated, till all the plants are shaken, pulled up, and removed. In two or three days, if the weather has been very fine, the sheets are placed before the rows of the sheaves, which are shaken upon them, as the plants were before ; if any seed remains, it is extracted in the barn by the flail : and, if the weather is unpromising, the plants are not left in the field after the first operation, but are placed at once under some cover to ripen ; and yield the remainder of their seed, either by being threshed or shaken. 470. The red clover is an important and frequent article in the Flemish rotations. The quantity of seed sown does not exceed six pounds and a quarter to the English acre. The soil is ploughed deep and well prepared, and the crop kept very clear of weeds. Their great attention to prevent weeds, is marked by the perseverance prac- tised to get rid of one, which occasionally infests the clover crop, and is indeed most difficult to be exterminated. The Orobanche, or broom rape (Orobanche major) (Jig. 57.), is a parasitical plant which attaches itself to the pea tribe. In land where clover has been too fre- quently sown, it stations itself at its root, and, if suffered to arrive at its wonted vigour, will spread and destroy an entire crop. The fanner considers the mischief half done, if this dangerous plant is permitted to appear above the surface ; and he takes the precaution to inspect his clover in the early spring. The moment the Orobanche establishes itself at the root, the stem and leaf of the clover, deprived of their circulating juices, fade to a sickly hue, which the farmer recognises, and, with true Flemish industry, roots up and destroys the latent enemy. If this is done 'in time, and with great care, the crop is saved ; if not, the infected soil refuses to yield clover again for many years. Book I. AGRICULTURE IN THE NETHERLANDS. 79 471. The turnip is not in general cultivated as a main crop, but usually after rve or rape, or some crop early removed. The turnip is sown broad-cast, thinned, and hoed with great care ; but it affords a very scanty crop of green food, generally eat off with sheep in September or later. The Swedish turnip is unknown ; and indeed the turnip husbandry, as practised in Britain, cannot be considered as known in Flanders. 472. The potato was introduced early in the seventeenth century, but attracted little notice fill the beginning of the eighteenth. It is cultivated with great care. The ground is trenched to the depth of nearly two feet ; and small square holes having been formed at about eighteen inches from each other, a set is deposited in each, the hole nearly filled with dung, and the earth thrown back over all. As the stalks rise they are earthed up from the intervals, and manured with liquid manure ; and, as they continue to rise, they receive a second earthing round each distinct plant, which, with a suitable weeding, terminates the labour. Notwithstanding the distance between the plants, the whole surface is closely covered by the luxuriance of the stems, and the return is abundant. If the seed is large, it is cut ; if small, it is planted whole. In some parts of the Pays de Waes they drop the potato sets in the furrow as the plough works, and cross-hoe them as they rise ; but the method first mentioned is the most usual, and the produce in many cases amounts to ten tons and one sixth, by the English acre. 473. Potatoes are the chief food of the lower classes. They are prized in Flanders, as being both wholesome and economical, and are considered there so essential to the subsistence of a dense population, that at one time it was in serious contemplation to erect a statue, or some other monument of the country's gratitude, to the person who first introduced amongst them so valuable a production. They are also very much used in feeding cattle and swine ; but, for this purpose, a particidar sort, much resembling our ox-noble, or cattle potato, is made use of, and the produce is in Flanders, as with us, considerably greater than that of the other kinds intended for the table. 474. The carrot is a much valued crop in sandy loam. The culture is as follows : — After harvest they give the land a moderate ploughing, which buries the stubble, and clearing up the furrows to drain off the waters, they let the field lie so for the winter; early in spring they give it a second ploughing very deep (from eleven to twelve inches), and shortly after they harrow the surface well, and spread on it ninety-six carts of manure to the bonnier, about twenty-one tons to the English acre. This manure is in general half from the dunghill, and half of what is termed merrfe, or a collection from the privies, which being ploughed in, and the surface made smooth, they sow the seed in the month of April, broad-cast, and cover it with a harrow. The quantity sown is estimated at eleven pounds to the bonnier, or about three pounds to the English acre. The average produce, about one hundred and sixty bushels to the English acre. 475. The carrot, as nutritive food both for cattle and horses, is a crop extremely valuable. In Flanders it is generally substituted in the room of hay, and a moderate quantity of oats is also given. To each horse, in twenty-four hours, a measure is allotted, which weighs about twenty-five pounds. This appears a great quantity, but it makes hay-feeding altogether unnecessary. To each of the milch cows, a similar measure is given, including the tops, and this is relied on for good butter, both as to quantity and quality. 476. The white beet, or mangold-wiirzel, is not in use in Flanders as food for cattle, but was once cultivated very extensively for the production of sugar. At the time the French government encouraged the manufacture of sugar from this root, experiments were made on a considerable scale, and with great success, in the town of Bruges. The machinery was unexpensive, and the remaining cost was merely that of the manual labour, and a moderate consumption of fuel. The material itself came at a very low rate, about ten shillings British by the ton ; and to this circumstance may be chiefly attributed the cessation of the manufacture. Instead of encouraging the cultivator, the government leaned altogether to the manufacturer, and made it imperative on every farmer to give up a certain proportion of his land to this root, without securing to him a fair remuneration. The consequence was, that the manufacturers, thus supported, and taking advantage of the constrained supply, have in many instances been known to refuse payment even of the carriage of a parcel, in other respects sent in gratuitously ; and a consequence still more natural was, that the farmers, wherever they had the opportunity of shaking off so profitless a crop, converted the space it occupied to better purposes. 477. To the manufacturer of beet root sugar the profit was ample. An equal quantity of sugar with that of the West Indies, which at that time sold for five shillings a pound, could be produced on the spot from mangold-wiirzel, at less than one shilling by the pound : and to such perfection had the sugar thus made arrived, that the prefect, mayor, and some of the chief persons of Bruges, who were invited by a manu- facturer to witness the result of his experiments, allowed the specimens which he produced to exceed those of the foreign sugar. 478. The process of manufacturing beet root sugar, as then in use, was simple. A cylindrical grater of sheet-iron was made to work in a trough, prepared at one side in the hopper form, to receive the clean- washed roots of the beet, which, by the rotation of this rough cylinder, were reduced to a pulp. This pulp, when placed in bags of linen or hair-cloth, and submitted to a pressure resembling that of a cider press, yielded its liquor in considerable quantity ; which being boiled and subjected to a proportion of lime, the saccharine matter was precipitated. The liquor being then got rid of, a solution of sulphuric acid was 80 HISTORY OF AGRICULTURE. Tart I. • precipitate, which being boiled again, the lime was disengaged ; the saccharine matter, being ■i mi the liquor, granulated, and was ready lor the refiner. The pulp has been found to yield, Added to the i then freed (rot.. - usiiii) distillation, a wholesome spirit, very interior, but not very unlike, to geneva, and has been proved excellent as a manure, but not valuable as food for cattle, beyond the lirst or second day from the press. The foregoing process required but a fortnight to complete it 479. Floa is cultivated with the utmost care. The field intended for this crop, after two or three plougbings and hanowings, is again ploughed, commencing in the centre, and ploughing round and round to the circumference, so as to leave it without any furrow. The heavy roller is drawn across the ploughing by three horses; the liquid manure is then spread equally over the entire surface, and when well harrowed in by eight or nine strokes of the harrow, the seed is sown, which is also harrowed in by a light hurow, with wooden pins of less than three inches; and the surface, to conclude the operation, is again carefully rolled. Nothing can exceed the smoothness and cultivated appearance of fields thus accurately prepared. 480. The manure universally used for the Jinx crop, demands particular notice : it is termed liquid manure, and consists of the urine of cattle, in which rape-cake has been dissolved, and in which the vidanges conveyed from the privies of the adjoining towns and villages have also been blended. This manure is gradually collected in subter- raneous vaults of brickwork, at the verge of the farm next to the main road. Those receptacles are generally forty feet long, by fourteen wide, and seven or eight feet deep, and in some cases are contrived with the crown of the arch so much below the surface of the ground, as to admit the plough to work over it. An aperture is left in the side, through which the manure is received from the cart by means of a shoot or trough, and at one end an opening is left to bring it up again, by means of a temporary pump, which delivers it either into carts or tonneaus. 481. Tlie liquid is carried to the field in sheets or barrels, according to the distance. Where the cart plies, the manure is carried in a great sheet called a voile, closed at the corners by running strings, and secured to the four uprights of the carts ; and two men, standing one on each side of the cart, scatter it with hollow shovels upon the rolled ground. Where the tonneaus are made use of, each is carried by two men with poles, and set down at equal intervals across the field in the line of the rolling. There are two sets of vessels, which enable the men, who deposit the loaded ones, to bring back the others empty. One man to each vessel, with a scoop, or rather a kind of bowl with a long handle, spreads the manure, so as to cover a certain space ; and thus, by preserving the intervals correctly, they can precisely gauge the quantity for a given extent of surface. For the flax crop they are profuse ; and of this liquid mixture, in this part of the country, they usually allow at the rate of 2480 gallons, beer measure, to the English acre. 482. Spurry (Spergula arverisis) (fig. 58.) is cultivated on the poorest soils. It is so quick of growth and short of duration, that it is often made to take an intermediate place between the harvest and the spring sowing, without any strict adherence to the regularity of succession. It is sown sometimes in the spring, but in general in the autumn, immediately after harvesting the corn crops. One light ploughing is sufficient ; and as the grain is very small, it is but very lightly covered. About twenty- four pounds of seed to the acre is the usual quantity. Its growth is so rapid that in five or six weeks it acquires its full height, which seldom exceeds twelve or fourteen inches. The crop is of course a light one, but is considered of great value, both as supplying a certain quantum of provender ^P|jr- ' — \\ at very little cost, and as being the best food for milch cows, to improve the quality of the butter. It lasts till the frost sets in, and is usually fed off by milch cows tethered on it, but is sometimes cut and carried to the stalls. 483. Where spurn/ is sown in spring the crop is occasionally made into hay ; but from the watery nature of the plant, it shrinks very much in bulk, and upon the whole is much more advantageously consumed in the other manner. It is indigenous in Flanders ; and, except when cultivated, is looked on as a weed, as in this country. 484. The hop is cultivated on good soils, and generally after wheat. The land being four times ploughed, the plants are put in, in the month of May, in rows with intervals of six feet, and six feet distant in the row. In the month of October they raise the earth round each plant, in little mounds about two feet and a half high, for the purpose of encouraging a number of shoots, and of preserving them from the frost. When all harsh weather has disappeared, about the beginning of April in the second year, they level those little heaps, and take away all superfluous shoots at the root, leaving but four or five of the strongest. They then spread over the entire surface, at the rate of twelve carts of 1500 lbs. each, by the English acre, of dung, either of cows, or of cows 81 iress- Boox I. AGRICULTURE IN THE NETHERLANDS. and swine mixed ; bur they avoid the heat and fermentation of horse-dun". This dr nig is given when the shoots begin to appear ; at which time also, tliev fix in the earth close to each hill, a pole of dry wood, about eighteen feet in length, for the vines to cling by. In the month of July, they give the surface another dressing with urine at the rate of 1000 gallons the English acre. In the month of August, the crop ins nearly arrived at its full growth, and flourishes in all its beauty. fjf£ VH-£ r ° P " ^y' . grt>> cr in the month qf September, when they cut the runners at about three feet from the ground, and in November they cut them to the earth ; they then heap up the soil about TnonH^ ? ^ lOTe ' *? thG he « ght 0t H°- fe ^ and a half > and foUow precisely the same bourse as above. ine.itior.ed each year during five which is the usual time they suffer the plantation to continue, and at the expiration of which the land is in the highest condition, and suited to the reception of any other 486. Madder is sometimes cultivated, but only on land of the best quality, and with plenty of manure. At the end of April or May, accordingly as the young plants are large enough to be transplanted, the land must be' ploughed in beds of two feet and two feet and a half wide ; the beds are then to be harrowed and raked, and the young suckers of the roots or plants are to be put down in rows, at intervals of a foot or a foot and a half, and six or eight inches distant in the row. .. a , they are gathered or torn ort, and planted m new beds, m the same manner as has been pointed out above- and then in the month ot September or October, after the faded leaves have been removed, the old roots are taken up 489. The madder thus taken up should be deposited under cover, to protect it from the rain • and afte' ten or twelve days, placed in an oven moderately heated. When dried sufficiently, it is gently beaten with a flail to get rid of any clay that may adhere to the plants ; and, bv means of a small windmill is ground and sifted, to separate it from any remaining earth or dirt. It is then replaced in the oven for a short time, and when taken out is spread upon a hair-cloth to cool ; after which it is ground and cleaned once more. It is then carried to a bruising-mill, and reduced to a fine powder, after which it is packed in casks or barrels for market. 490. The culture of wood, though not general, has been practised in Flanders. It was an object with the French government to spread the cultivation of it, and a con- siderable quantity of seed was sent gratis into the country for that purpose. 491. Woad thrives only on gravelly and sandy soils, which must be well pulverised, manured, and formed into beds, as in the case of madder culture. It is sown in .March or April in rows, or broad-cast, and harrowed or covered with a rake. All weeds are cleared away, and the plants thinned, if a careful culture is followed. The leaves are the part of the plant which is used by the indigo manufacturer. Thev should be gathered singly, like those of spinach, as soon as they begin to show signs of maturity, 'and the mature leaves taken off from time to time as they grow. Tliis operation o-oes on from June to September in the first year, and from June to August in the second ; when the plant being a biennial, shoots into flower stems. The leaves are fermented, and the dye precipitated from the liquor and dried, &c, in a mp.nner analogous to what is practised in India with indigo; but with great improvements, made at the instance of the French government, which, in 1810, called forth the process described in a French work, and translated in the appendix to Radcliff's report. At present it is to be considered more as matter of curious historical information, or of local adoption, than of general utility ; because no mode of cultivating or preparing woad could bring it into competition, either in the European or American market, with indigo. 492. With culinary vegetables the Flemish markets are abundantly supplied. Most of these are grown by the small farmers, and are of excellent quality. To every cottage in Flanders a garden of some description is attached ; and according to the means, the leisure, and the skill of the possessor, is rendered more or less productive. The general principles of management with all are, frequent digging, careful weeding, ample ma- nuring, and immediate succession. The rotation depends on circumstances. The chief vegetables in common use are, parsnep, carrot, turnip, scorzonera, savoy, jettechou cabbage (Brussels sprouts), onions, leeks, peas, beans, and all kinds of salading, with another vegetable called fere haricot, a large species of French bean, which has a place in the field or garden of almost every fanner, and being sliced down, pod and seed, is made a chief ingredient in all farm-house cookery. 493. The treatment of asparagus here, and generally in Flanders, differs considerably from our method. In forming their beds, they are not by any means particular as to very deep trenching, or a profusion of manure ; nor, as they grow up, do they cover the beds with litter for the winter, nor fork and dress them in the spring. In the furrows they form a rich and mellow compost of earth and dung, with which, before winter sets in, they dress up the beds to the height of nearly eighteen inches from the level of the crowns ; and, without any further operation (except supplying the furrows again for the ensuing year), as soon as the buds appear, they cut them nine inches under the surface, by which means, having but just reached the light, the whole of the stock is blanched. G 8'J history or agriculture. Part I. 494. The frequent manuring! fdven In/ the Flemuk farmer astonish a stranger; the sources whence it is obtained in sufficient quantity form the difficulty, and this can only be resolved by referring to the practice of soiling ,• to the numerous towns and villages ; and to the care with which every particle of vegetable or animal refuse is saved for this purpose. Manure in Flanders, ;h in China, is an article of trade. The selling price of each description is easily ascertained ; the towns let the cleansing of the streets ami public retiring places at great rents. Chaptal says there are in every town sworn brokers, expressly for the purpose of valuing night soil ; and that these brokers know the exact de- gree of fermentation in that manure which suits every kind of vegetable, at the different periods «>f its growth. [Chimie appHqude a V Agriculture, 1. 137.) 495. Every substance that constitutes, or is convertible to, manure, is sought after with ariilili/, which accounts lor the extreme cleanliness of the Flemish towns and pavements, hourly resorted to, with brooms and barrows, as a source of profit. Even the chips which accumulate in the formation of the wooden shoes worn by the peasantry, are made to constitute a part of the compost dung-heap ; and trees are frequently cultivated in barren lands, merely to remain till their deciduous leaves shall, in course of time, have formed an artificial surface for the purpose of cultivation. The manures in general use are, — 496\ The farm-yard dung, which is a mixture of every matter that the farm-yard produces, formed into a compost, which consists ol dung and litter from the stables, chaff, sweepings, straw, sludge, and rubbish, all collected in a hollow part of the yard, so prepared as to prevent the juices from being wasted ; and the value of this, by the cart-load of 1500 lbs. of Ghent, is estimated at five francs. 497. The dung of sheep, pigeons, or poultry, by the same cart-load, five francs and a half. 498. Sweepings of streets and roods, same quantity, three francs. 499. Ashes if peat and wood mixed, same quantity, eight francs. 500. J'riry manure and urine, same quantity, seven francs. 501. Lime, same quantity, twenty-four francs. 502. Rape-cake, per hundred cakes, fifteen francs. 503. Gypsum, sea mud, and the sediment of the canals, have been all tried experimentally, and with fair results ; but the two former have been merely tried ; the latter is used successfully in the vicinity of linages. 504. Bone manure was altogether unknown in Flanders; but, at the suggestion of Radcliff, is now under experiment in that country. 505. The agricultural implements of Flanders are by no means such as the excellence of the Flemish culture would lead us to suspect. They are in general of rude work- manship, but constructed with attention to strength, durability, and cheapness. 506. The jAough has a rude appearance, but works easily, and makes excellent work in loose friable soil ; though it would not make a sharp angled furrow-slice in breaking up pastures. It is never drawn by more than two horses, and on light sands often by one, or by a single ass. 507. The binot, or Walloon plough, used in Brabant, described by Sir John Sinclair, is a plough with a double or scuffler share, two mould-boards, but no coulter. It is chiefly used for breaking up lands. If the soil is foul, they employ it two or three times, for the purpose of cleaning it thoroughly. The land is not turned over, as bv the plough, and the weeds buried, but the soil is elevated into small ridges, by means of which the couch and other root-weeds are not only cut, but they are exposed to the frost in winter, and to the drought of spring ; and when the land becomes dry, which it does quickly when thus elevated, these weeds are collected' bv the harrow, by a trident (or large pitchfork), by a rake, or by the hand. After the binot, the land is always ploughed for the seed furrow. This implement and its appli- cation are strongly recommended to the' British farmer, by Sir J. Sinclair, as improvements ; but, as the editor of the Farmer's Magazine observes, the implement is nothing more than a double mould-board plough, and the operation of ridging with it is the justly exploded practice of " ribbing." The late machinist Weir informed us, that he had orders for several binots from Sir J. Sinclair and others, and that he used exactly the same form, as when a double mould-board plough was ordered. 50R. The mouldebaert (fg. 59.) is a curious and useful implement. It resembles a large square malt or cinder shovel, strongly prepared with iron on the cutting edge, and Book I. AGRICULTURE IN THE NETHERLANDS. S3 is drawn by a pair of horses with swingle-trees. It is used to lessen inequalities of surface, by removing a part of the soil from the heights to the hollows, which it does in an easy and expeditious manner. The driver, who uses long reins, by pressiii"- moderately on the handle (a) as the horses go forward, collects and transports about, five hundred weight of earth to the place where it is to be deposited ; which is effected in the most summary manner by his letting go the handle : this causes the front, or edge of the machine, (/;) to dip, and catch against the ground, whereby it is at once inverted and emptied of its load. The extremity of the handle, to which a rope (c) is affixed, by this inversion strikes against, and rests upon the swingle-tree bar, and in this manner the mouldebaert is drawn along towards, the accumulated earth, when, by taking up the rope, the driver draws back the handle, collects his load as before, proceeds to the spot which is to receive it, and the horses are never for a moment delayed. The saving of time and labour, in filling and emptying, gives this implement a decided superiority over the cart; nor is the ground so much injured by this, as by wheels. 509. The Hainault scythe {fig. 60.) is the general reaping instrument both in the Netherlands and in French Flanders. The handle is fourteen inches, with a shield for the hand of four and a half inches, in all eighteen and a half inches : the blade is two feet three inches in length, the point a little raised,* and the entire edge bevelled upwards so as to avoid the surface of the ground, N and the frequent use of the sharpening stone. The handle of the crooK being of hard wood, is used as a scythe board. A farther account of the mode of using this instrument, and of a series of trials which have been made with it in Scotland will be found in a succeeding part of this work. 510. The great Brabant scythe {fig. 61.) differs little from the British implement, and is in " eneral use for mowing clover. 511. The kylanderie, to which Radcliff seems to attach unmerited importance, is nothing more than a screen for freeing grain from vermin, dust, or small seeds. It resembles a gravel screen, and is used in the same manner. 512. The trenching spade consists of a blade of iron fifteen inches long, and a han- dle of two feet. The labourer standing in the last formed trench, with his left hand at the bottom of the handle, and his right near the top, by the weight of his body, and without the assistance of his foot, sinks the spade about eighteen inches, and standing sideways, throws off the soil with a peculiar sleight and turn of the wrist, so as to lodge it in an oblique position in the trench, and against the preceding line of work, retiring as he casts it from the spade, and thereby effecting some little mix- ture of the two strata, though the upper surface is at the same time placed below the other. 513. The pronged hoe has a pronged blade on one side, and a common plate on the other ; it is exceedingly useful ; one side may be used for cutting weeds where they .prevail, and the other for stirring a surface already clean. ' 514. The chariot, or great cart {fig. 62.), is the only machine of the Flemish farmer which appears to transgress the bounds of a rigid economy. This, as it is not only to be used for the transport of grain, but of the farmer and his family occasionally, to the market-town, is more ornamentally finished than any other, and is painted in showy colours, chiefly green and red ; an awning also is very ingeniously contrived, as an occasional defence against the rain and sun. From the natural spring of so long a perch, the centre part of this muchiue is by no means an uneasy conveyance ; and there the farmer sits in all solemnity, whilst a well appointed boor acts as a postilion, and his fine and spirited pair of well-trained horses bring him home from market at a rapid trot. 515. Agricultural operations of every kind are performed with particular care in Flanders. The most remarkable feature in the operations of culture consists in the fre- quent ploughings given on all soils ; in strong soils for the sake of pulverisation as well as cleanliness ; in the lighter, chiefly for the destruction of weeds, and blending the manure with the soil. But, considering that but one pair of horses is in general allowed to about thirty acres, it is surprising how (with the execution of all the other farming work) time can be found for the number of ploughings which is universally given. Very generally, the number, for the various crops, respectively, is as follows : — G 2 4 HISTORY l'..r M «.'«(, hra plot 1 . with ' " '/• , lu.tOl tli r.v iHl 0| ditto. <*!/», ditto. ditto. hM - r, 1. i.r ditto. ditto. * or nrf.t. four ditto, ditto. Hu, two dJ \". ditto. ' A nhraC. four ditto, ditto. i: tin. M ditto, ditto. BM Qua) -tut- , ditto. OF AGRICULTURE Tart I. vlnjrs. Vat tht.tr *, two >>r tlmi- I'lotiRMncs, with two harrowin^s. Touoobo, f.mr < it i: . >, ditto. Htmpi t.tut ditto, ditio. Tumi > I' 1 ' 1 tcrop f ditto, ditto. ' P> i oiif.t. a second crop, ditto, ditto. a amrt a ftnit crop, ditto, ditto. • i" V* ^oneatftODoandcrop, ditto, ditto. lii'tttt, inn ditto, ditto. tttitotii, fourorfiva ditto, ditto. 516. Trenching is a feature almost peculiar to Flemish farming, and that of Tuscany. This remarkable practice is confined to the lighter soils, ami is not used where the strong day prevails, [n the districts in which it is adopted, the depth of the operation varies with that of the soil; but till this has arrived at mark two feet of mellow surface, a little is added to it at each trenching, by bringing to the top a certain proportion of the under stratum ; which, being exposed to the action of the atmosphere, and minutely mixed with a soil already fertilised, gradually augments the staple till the sought-for depth be required. 517. The management of live stock in "Flanders, though good, is not so eminently ex- emplary as their tillage Culture. The cattle are the short-horned Dutch breed; the colour generally black, or black and white. Little attention is given to the improvement of the form by selection. The sheep are long-woolled and long-legged, and afford a coarse fleece and very indifferent mutton. They are housed at night, and, in the daytime, follow the shep- herd ami, his dog through pathways and along the verges of the fields and roads, picking up a mere subsistence, and never enjoying the range of a sweet and wholesome pasture. In winter they are let out but once a day, and are fed in the sheep houses on rye and hay, &C. A cross with the Merino breed has been tried ; but, as might have been predicted from the incongruous parentage, with no benefit. The swine are long-legged, narrow- backed, and flat-ribbed ; not easily fatted, but, when well fed and long kept, making excellent pork and bacon. .5 1 H. The horse is the animal for which Flanders has long been noted, with regard to the excellence of its working breed ; and that of England has been considerably improved by the frequent importation thence of stallions and mares, previous to the French revolution. The Suffolk punch horse comes nearest to the most prevalent variety in Flanders ; the resemblance is strong, not only in colour, but in some of the essential points of form : however, though the prevailing colour is chestnut in all its shades, yet other colours are likewise to be met with ; and, with very few exceptions, the Flemish h' uses are of superior strength, and of the true working character. The chief, indeed almost the only, defects to be observed in any are, a want of depth in the girth, and a dip behind the withers ; for symmetry, perhaps the shoulder also, at the top, should be a little finer ; but in all other respects they possess the best shapes. 519. Every farmer breeds his own work-horses, and disposes of the redundance. Even the total absence of pasture is not suffered to prevent it; and the foals are found to thrive remarkably well in a close bouse For this purpose, as well as for the general keep of the stock, a regular dietary is observed. The manger is formed of well cemented brickwork. In summer clover, and in winter carrots, are usually given ; hay in very small quantities, but in all cases chopped straw mixed with corn or beans, or both, and water aired by keeping in the stable, anil whitened with a pretty strong proportion of barley-meal. With every symptom of sufficient spirit, they are extremely docile ; and, besides being obedient to the word, are guided in intricate cases, in a manner surprising to a stranger, by a single curd ; this rein is never thick, and, in some instances, is as small as a stout whipcord, and yet in the deeper soils three powerful horses abreast (the bridles of the middle and ott-side horses being connected with tiiat upon the mar-side horse, to which this rein is affixed) are guided by it at all the turnings, the ploughman holding the rein in one hand, and his single-handed plough in the other, and performing his work with the must accurate Btraightness and precision. Of corn to market, a pair of horses generally draw tun t.,iiv ; of manure to the held, one ton and half; and on the pavement in the towns, three tons, without appearing to be overloaded. 5'iO. The shoeing of horses in Flanders is attended to with particular care, and in that country has long been practised the mode of preserving the bars of the hoof, and of letting the frog come in contact with the ground, recommended in England by Freeman and Professor Colman The use of cockers, or turned heels, is, except in part, entirely abandoned. In two respects, however, the shoeing in Flanders differs from any of the methods in use with us. In one, that to prevent ripping, the hoofs of the fore- feet are pared away towards the toe, and the shoes so fitted, that the fore part shall not touch (within three fourths of an inch) the same level surface, upon which the heel and middle of the shoe shall rest. 821. This preparation of the foot la in general use: the horses are not thereby in any degree injured and are particularly sure-footed. The other point of difference is, that the shoe is nailed' on flat and close to the foot, which, iii depriving the Iron of all spring, and all unequal pressure against the nails, may be in part Hie cause of the durability of the shoeing. For shoeing vicious horses every precaution i^ taken by the use of the forge machine, a common appendage to the smithies in Flanders. If the horse is not altogether unmanageable, his hind loot is tied to a cross bar, or his fore leg to a stilt and bracket ; but if he is extremely vicious indeed, lie ran be raised from the ground in a minute, by means of a cradle-sling of strong girth web, hooked to the upper side- rails, which, with a slight handspike, are turned In the blocks that support them (the extremities of the sling thereby coiling round them), till the horse is elevated to the proper height, and rendered wholly powerless. 52:j. The Flemish and Dutch tlairirs are more remarkable for the abundance than the excellence of their products ; owing to the inferiority of their pastures, and the cows Book I. AGRICULTURE IN THE NETHERLANDS. 85 being kept the greater part of the winter in the house. In summer the principal article of food in Flanders is clover, cut and carried to the stall. On a small scale, when pasturage is to be had, they are left at liberty ; when this is not the case, each cow is led by a rope, and permitted to feed round the corn fields, the grassy borders of which are left about ten feet wide for tills purpose. 5^4. The food for one coir in winter, for twentv-four hours, is straw, eighteen pounds ; turnips, sixty pounds. Some farmers boil the turnips for theui ; others give them raw, chopping them with the spade : one or other operation is necessary to obviate the risk of the animal being choked, where the turnips, which is usuallv the case ia Flanders, are of too small a size. In lieu of turnips, potatoes, carrots, and grains are occasionally used. Bean-straw is likewise given, and uniformly a white drink, prepared both tor cows and horses, consisting of water in which some oilcake has been dissolved, whitened with ryemeal, oatmeal, or the flour of buckwheat. 525. Ik the dairies the summer feed is pasturage day and night ; in winter, hay, turnips, carrots, grains from the breweries, cakes of Unseed, rapeseed, bean and other meals, and the white drink before mentioned. For the sake of cleanliness, the tails of the cows are tied to the roof of the cow-house with a cord during the time of milking. The cow-houses, both in Flanders and Holland, are kept remarkably clean and warm ; so much so, that a gentleman " spoke (to Radcliff) of having drunk coffee with a cow- keeper, in the general stable, in winter, without the annoyance of cold, of dirt, or of any offensive smell." The Dutch are particularly averse from unfolding the secrets of their dairy management; and, notwithstanding the pointed queries of Sir John Sinclair on the subject, no satisfactory idea was given him of dieir mode of manufacturing butter or cheese. 526. The woodlands of Flanders are of considerable extent ; but more remarkable for the care bestowed on them, than for the bulk of timber grown. To this purpose, in- deed, the soil is inadequate ; most of these woods having been planted or sown on land considered too poor for tillage. 527. Informing artificial plantations, the general mode is to plough the ground three or four times, and take a crop of buckwheat ; afterwards the plants or seeds are inserted and hoed for a year or two till they cover the surface. For the Scotch pine, which is sometimes sown alone on the poorest soils, the most common and the simplest mode is that of burning the surface, for which process its heathy quality gn es great facility. 1 ing to circums light shoveling i but as drains to carry off the surface water. 528. Extensive artificial woods have been created in this manner, converting a barren soil into a state of productiveness, the least expensive, very profitable, and highly orna- mental. Of six years' growth, there exist flourishing plantations (treated in this manner), from five to nine feet in height. At about ten years from its formation, they begin to thin the wood, and continue to do so annually, with such profit by the sale, as at the end of thirty years to have it clear of every charge ; a specific property being thus acquired, by industry and attention merely, without the loss of any capital. 529. Pine woods are often' sown, and with great success, without the labour of burning the surface ; as at Vladsloo, in the neighbourhood of Dixmude, where a luxuriant crop, seven feet liigh, though of but five years' growth, had been cultivated by Madame de Cleir, by merely ploughing the heathy surface into beds of fifteen feet, harrowing, sowing at the rate of six pounds to the English acre, raking in the seed, and covering the beds lightly from the furrows, which are sunk about eighteen inches deep. 530. Another mode of sowing, practised bv the Baron de Serret, in the vicinity of Bruges, was productive ot less luxuriant, merely by -sowing the seed upon sand ;taken trom the excavation tor a . j .u- 1 .i... f„..~ «l. rt ^<>,1 »-.. 1-0,1 in nnH ttiA furrows shnvpleHl lln. purpose als'o.'th'e'broom YsfirequentFy sown upon waste "lands of a similar description, and" at the end of four or five years is pulled away, leaving the soil capable of yielding crops of corn. 532. The preservation of trees is attended to in the strictest manner, not only by proprietors, but by the government. As an example of this, Radcliff mentions that at a certain season of the year, when the caterpillars commence their attack upon the trees, every farmer is obliged to destroy those upon his own premises, to the satisfaction of the mavor of his particular commune, or to pay the cost of having it done for him. As a proof of the strictness with which this is enforced, the governor sends round a circular letter annually, reminding the sub-intendants and mayors of the obligations and penalties for nonperformance. 533. There are a number of royal forests in Flanders ; and, besides these, all the trees on the sides of the public roads belong to the government. In West Flanders there are five, amounting together to nearly 10,000 acres. They are superintended by eighteen persons: an inspector, resident at Bruges; a deputy inspector, resident at lpres; two gardes genHraux, and fourteen pariiculkrs, or privates. Tie inspector is answerable tor all : from him the garde general takes his instructions, and sees that they are enforced l'y the privates, to whom is committed the regulation of the necessary labour. 86 HISTORY OF AGRICULTURE. Part I. out, and found to resist the sea-breeze. It is said extensive plantations have been made nt tins the coast of Prance, at Bourdeaux, and that it produces excellent timber; but whether it u species, or a variety possessing any particular qualities, or merely the common wild or Scotch i favourable situation, dees not appear. Most probably the last circumstance is the case, 'the 534. The cutting* take place pcriadlcallg with reaped to small trees and ore-wood, so as to secure an annual produce ; but reserves are always Kit to beri.nn-, eventually, large and valuable timber. The cutting of the tailtf* or coppice, chiefly used as fire- wood, takes place every eleventh year; that ofthe high and grosser coppice, every twenty-fifth year ■, the felling of the half-grown forest trees, i . . irj sixtieth year; and that of the full-grown finest trees, once in a hundred years. . /;/ tlie management ufcop/nces, it is considered essential to preserve the roots from stagnant water; the trenches originally formed for that purpose are from time to time cleared out ; and the sediment and manure from the felling leaves, which have accumulated in them, are carefully spread upon the ridge, or rounded set, which the wood occupies. A second branch of regular attention is to remove all brambles and briars; a third, to replace the old and fading stocks by new plantations; a fourth, to thin the stems with regularity and care. 537. The tort* of treei are birch, oak, service, ash, maple, elm, beech, poplar, aspen, wild pine, "Wey- mouth pine, plane, lime, larch, Spanish chestnut, and alder. A variety of pine, called the /'inus mari- tima, but not the plant of that name which is known on the coast of Italy and Greece, has been tried on the sea-coast, and found to resist the sea-breeze. It is said extensive plantations have been made in i tb a distinct pine, ill a „ pine is liable to the attacks of the Bostrichus puuperdus (J'K- 6S-)i on the WOOd of the Old branches, and ofthe larva of a species of moth i. n the leading young shoots. The moth deposits its eggs among the buds at their extremities : the turpentine or resin which oozes from the buds, protects the eggs till the insect is brought out by the warmth Of the atmosphere, when vegetation commences; it then inserts itself into one of the young shoots, about live or six inches below the end [fig ol." . and works upwards till it finds its way out at the extremity (f>), which at this time begins to shoot, and lodging itself in the centre of it, perforates the young shoot up and down, till it either breaks off, or withers. 53S. The domestic circumstances of the Flemish farmer and his servants are depicted by Radcliff in a favourable point of view. " Nothing," he savs, " tends more to the uniform advancement of good ' farming, than a certain degree of ease and comfort in those who occupy the soii, and in the labouring classes whom they employ. Without it, an irregular, speculative, and anticipatory extraction of produce, always followed by eventual loss, is resorted to, in order to meet the emergen- cies and difficulties of the moment; whereas, under different circum- stances, the successive returns of a well regulated course become tlie fanner's object, rather than the forced profit of a single year ; and whilst he himself is thus intrinsically served, his landlord is secured, and his ground ameliorated. .539. The laborious industry of the Flemish farmer is recruited by intervals of decent and comfortable refreshment ; and the farm -servants are treated with kindness and respect. They uniformly dine with the farmer and his family, at a clean tablecloth, well supplied with' spoons, with four-pronged forks, and every thing necessary for their convenience. In Flanders, the gentlemen are all farmers ; but the farmers do not aspire to be gentlemen, and their servants feel the benefit. They partake with them of a plen- tiful and orderly meal, which varies according to circumstances. One standing dish, however, is universal, a soup, composed of buttermilk, boiled and thickened with flour or rye-bread. Potatoes, salt pork, salt fish, various vegetables, and eggs are common ; fresh meat and fresh fish occur occasionally, though not for daily consumption : add to these, a plentiful supply of butter, or rendered lard, which is sometimes substituted ; and when it is recollected that these articles of provision arc always made palatable by very tolerable cookery, it will be allowed that the fanner's table is comfortably supplied. The potatoes are always peeled, and are generally stewed in milk ; a particular kind of kidneybean, as mentioned before, the fere haricot, sliced and stewed in milk also, is a frequent dish. No fanner is without a well cultivated garden, full of the best vegetables, which all appear at his own table; and apples are also introduced into their cookery. The great fruit and vegetable markets of the towns are supplied by gardeners who make it their means of subsistence ; but the gardens ofthe farmers, unless in case of redundance, are cultivated wholly for their own consumption." 640. The farmjervants partake of their master's fare, except in his refreshments of tea, coffee, and 541 The dag-labourers arc not so well provided : they have, however, rye-bread, potatoes, buttermilk, and occasionally some sail pork. The labourer is, in general, very well able to support himselt by Ins work- in a country where so much manual labour is required in weeding, the labourers tamily is occupied pretty constantly in summer ; ami ill winter they spin. Each day-labourer has, in most cases, a small quantity Of land, from a rood to half an acre, for his own cultivation. ,...,., , -,» ! Beesari in common times are scarcely to be seen, except in the towns, and but few there. In the country habits of industry are kept up till health fails ; and to meet the infirmities of age, the poor po,m-s ., revenue from pious donations, regulated by the government, and vested by tiiemm commissions, ,,i which the mayors of the different communes ave presidents, respectively, in right of their office. 54:3 The clothing of the peasantry is warm and comfortable, good .-hoes, stockings, and frequently r ni.-, . <.l I. ithcr or strong linen, which air sold very cheap ; their innate frugality leads them however, to economise in those articles, substituting on many occasions coarse flannel socks and wooden sabots, both ol which are supplied in all the public markets at about I ightpence cost, Ihcir comfortable supply Book I. AGRICULTURE IN GERMANY. 87 of linen is remarkable; there are few of the labouring classes without many changes. In riding with .i by a labourer and his family, and that the linen was all their own." It must, however be observed that universally in proportion to the supply is the postponement of the washing, which causes the greater display, and particularly at the beginning of May, which is a chosen season for this purpose. Any circumstance connected with the cleanliness, health, and comfort of the lower classes is interesting ; and to this of which we have been speaking, a peculiar degree of decency is attached. If the labourer is'com. fortable in point of apparel, the farmer is still more so. In home-work, the farmer generally protects his clothes by a smock-frock of blue linen ; and great attention to cleanliness prevails throughout his operations. 544. With respect to the farm-house, the exterior is for the most part ornamented with creepers, or fruit trees trained against the walls ; and within, the neatness which prevails is quite fascinating. Every article of furniture is polished; the service of pewter dis- plays a peculiar brightness ; and the tiled floor is purified by frequent ablutions. 545. The cottage of the labourer, though not so well furnished, is, however, as clean ; a frequent and periodical use of water and the broom pervades every house, great and small, in the country and in towns; originating, perhaps, in the necessity of cleanliness, and the public enforcement of it, when Flanders was visited by the plague. *546. The Flemish former seldom amasses riches, but is rarely afflicted by poverty : in- dustry and frugality are his characteristics ; he never looks beyond the enjoyment of moderate comforts ; abstains from spirituous liquors, however easily to be procured ; never exceeds his means ; pays his rent, punctually ; and, in case of emergency, has always something to command, beyond his necessary disbursements. Sect. V. Of the present State of Agriculture in Germany. 547. The agriculture of Germany is, in many respects, less different from that of Britain than is the agriculture of France or Italy. It is, however, but very imperfectly known in this country; partly from the numerous petty states into which the German empire is divided, which greatly increases the variety of political circumstances affecting agricul- ture ; but principally from the German language being less generally cultivated bv Britons, than that of France or of Italy. The outline which we submit is drawn chiefly from the published journals of recent travellers, especially Jacob, Hodgson, and Bright, and from our own observations made in 1S13, 1814, and 1828. Those who desire more copious details may consult Timer's Annals der I.andwirtschaft, Hassel's Erdebeschreibung, and the agricultural writings of Hazzi, Schwartz, and Krunitz. Subsect. 1. General View of the Agricultural Circumstances of Germany. 548. A great variety of soil, surface, climate, and culture must necessarily exist in a country so extensive as Germany. From the south of Hungary to the north of Den- mark are included upwards of twelve degrees of latitude, which alone is calculated to produce a difference of temperature of twenty degrees : and the effect of this difference of geographical position is greatly increased by the variations of surface ; the immense ridges of mountains, inlets of the sea, lakes and rivers, and extensive plains. The winters in Denmark and Prussia are very severe, and last from six to eight months ; the winters in the south of Hungary are from one to three months. The south and south- east of Germany, comprising part of Bohemia, Silesia, and Hungary, are the most mountainous : and the north-east, including Prussia and part of Holstein and Hanover, presents the most level surface. The richest soil is included in the interior and south- western parts ; in the immense plain of the Danube, from Presburg to Belgrade, an extent of three hundred miles ; and great part of Swabia, Franconia, and Westphalia. The most barren parts are the mountains and sandy plains and heaths of the north, and especially of Prussia ; and that country, and part of Denmark and Holstein, abound also in swamps, marshes, and stagnant lakes. 549. Landed jyroperty, throughout Germany, is almost universally held on feudal tenure, and strictly entailed on the eldest son. It is generally in estates from one hun- dred acres upwards, wliich cannot be divided or increased. Most of the sovereigns have large domains, and also the religious and civil coq^orations. 550. The farmers rf Germany are still in many instances metayers; but the variety of this mode of holding is much greater there than in France and Italy. In some cases the farmer does not even find stock ; and in others, more particularly in Hungary, he and his family are little better off than the cultivators of Russia. In Brandenburg, Saxony, and part of Hanover, the farmers hold on the metayer tenure, or that of paying a fixed rent of corn or money, unalterable either by landlord or tenant. In Mecklenburg, Fries- land, Holstein, Bavaria, &c., most of the property is free, as in Britain, and there agriculture is carried to great perfection. Tithes are almost universal in Germany ; but are not felt as any great grievance. Foor-rates are unknown. 551. The consequence of these arrangements of landed property in Germany is a com- paratively fixed state of society. The regulations wliich have "forbid an augmentation G 4 88 HISTORY OF AGRICULTURE. Part I. of rent, or a union of farms, ami which have secured to the owner the full enjoyment of the use of the land, haw prevented any person, except the sovereign, from amassing an enormous quantity, and have preserved among the inhabitants a species of equality as to property. There are, comparatively, few absolutely destitute labourers. The mass of the people do not live in such affluence as Englishmen ; but this is more than com- pensated to them by all being in some measure alike. In civilised society, it is not destitution, hut the craving wants which the splendour of other persons excites, which are the true evils of poverty. The metayer regulations have hindered improvement; but they have also hindered absolute destitution and enormous accumulation. (Hodgson.) Sa'J. From the regulation* concerning landed property in Germany, it has resulted that fewer paupers are found there than in our country. Some other regulations are known, which have probably assisted in protecting Germany from the evil of pauperism to the same extent in which it exists with us. There is no legal provision for paupers A law of the guilds, which extended to most trades, forbade, and still forbids, where guilds are not abolished, journeying mechanics from marrying ; and, in most countries of Germany 9 people are obliged to have the permission of the civil magistrate, before it is legal for the clergyman to celebrate a marriage. The permission seems to be given or withheld, as the parties soliciting it are thought by the magistrates to be capable of main- taining a family. At least, it is to prevent the land from being overrun with paupers, that the law on this subject has been made. 55:3. The agricultural produce of Germany is for the greater part consumed there; but excellent wines are exported from Hungary and the Rhine; and also wool, flax, timber, bark, hams salted and smoked, geese, goosequills, the canary, goldfinch, and other singing birds, silk, tVc. 551. The culture of the mulberry and rearing of the silkworm, hi Germany, are carried on as far north as Berlin ; that of the vine, as Dresden ; and that of the peach, as a standard in the fields, as Vienna. The maize is little cultivated in Germany ; but patches of it are to be found as far north as Augsburg, in Swabia. Rice is cultivated in a few places in Westphalia. The olive is not planted, because to it, even in the warmest part of Germany, the winters would prove fatal. 555. The common cultivation includes all the different corns, and many or most of the legumes, roots, herbage, and grasses, grown in Britain. They grow excellent hemp, flax, and oats ; and rye is the bread-corn of all Germany. They also cultivate turnips, rapeseed, madder, woad, tobacco, hops, saffron, teasel, caraway ; many garden vegetables, such as white beet, French beans, cabbage, carrots, parsneps, &c. ; and some medicinal plants, as rhubarb, lavender, mint, &c. ; independently of their garden culture of fruits, culinary vegetables, and herbs for apothecaries. The most common rotation in Ger- many is two corn crops and a fallow; or, in poor lands, one or two corn crops, and two or three years' rest ; but in rich lands, in the south-western districts, green crops or legumes intervene with those of corn. 556. The best pastures and meadows are in Holstein, and along the margin of the Ger- man Ocean ; and for the same reasons as in Holland and Britain, viz. the mildness and moisture of the winters. There are also good pastures and meadows on the Danube, in Hungary ; but the great heats of summer stimulate the plants too much to send up flowers ; and the culture there is not so perfected as to regulate this tendency by irrigation. Irrigation, however, is very scientifically conducted in some parts of Holstein, and on the Rhine and Oder. 557. The operations and implements of German agriculture vary exceedingly. They are wretched in Hungary, and some parts of Bohemia, where six or more oxen may be seen drawing a clumsy plough, entirely of wood, and without a mould-board. In Denmark, Hanover, and in Prussia, they use much better ploughs, some of which have iron mould-boards; and in many places they are drawn by a pair of oxen or horses. The plough, in the more improved districts, has a straight beam, two low wheels, a share, which cuts nearly horizontally, and a wooden mould-board sometimes partially shod with iron : it is drawn by two horses. In Friesland, and some parts of Holstein, the Dutch swing-plough is used. The common waggon is a heavy clumsy machine on low wheels. (fig- 65.) Tlie theoretical agriculturists are well acquainted with all the improved im- plements of Britain, and some of them have been introduced, especially in Holstein, Hanover, and Westphalia ; but these are nothing in a general view. Horses arc the most common animals of labour in the north and west of Germany, and oxen in the south. nothing can lie worse than the mode of resting lands, and leaving them to be covered with weeds during two or three years in succession Fallows are rarely well cultivated ; and Book I. AGRICULTURE IN GERMANY. 89 558. Of the live stock of Germany, the best breeds of working horses and of oxen are in Holstein, and some districts between Hamburg and Hanover. The best saddle horses are reared in Hungary. There are also excellent oxen and cows reared in that country, and exported to Italy and Turkey. The best sheep are in Saxony and Prussia, where the Spanish breed has been naturalised. Swine are common ; but the breed is every where very indifferent. Goats are reared in the mountains ; and also asses and mules. The forests are stocked with wild deer, boars, stags, hares, and other game. Fish are carefully bred and fattened in some places, especially in Prussia ; and poultry is every where attended to, and carried to a high degree of luxury at Vienna. Bees are attended to in the neighbour- hood of the forests ; and silkworms in the southern districts, as far as Presburg. Canary and other singing birds are reared in Westphalia, and exported to most parts of Europe. 559. The culture afforests is particularly attended to in Germany, for the same reasons as in France, and the details in both countries are nearly the same. The number of German books on Forst-wissenschaft is astonishing, and most of the writers seem to consider woodlands in that country as a more eligible source of income than any other. 560 The common agriculture of Germany may be considered as every where in a state of gradual improvement. Both governments and individuals have formed institutions for its promotion, by the instruction of youth in its principles and most enlightened practices ; or for the union of men of talent. The Imperial Society of Vienna, the Georgical Institu- tion of Presburg, and that of the late Professor Thaer, in Prussia, may be mentioned as recent efforts. The farmers in Germany are particularly deficient in the breeding and rearing of horses, cattle, sheep, and swine. Of the latter two, they require new breeds from judicious crosses ; and the former require selection, and much more care in rearing. The implements of husbandry also require to be improved, and the importance of working fallows in a very different manner from what is now done should be inculcated. If peace continue, there can be no doubt that these, and all other ameliorations will go rapidly forward ; for the spirit of agricultural improvement is at present, perhaps, more alive in Germany than in any other country of Europe. 561. In noticing some traits of agriculture in the different states of Germany, we shall begin with Denmark at the most northerly extremity, and proceed, in the order of geograpliical position, to Hungary in the south. Subsect. 2. Agriculture of the Kingdom of Denmark, including Greenland and Iceland. 562. The improvement of the agriculture of Denmark may be dated from 1660, when the king became despotic, and was enabled to carry measures of national benefit into execution without the jarring interference of councils. The slaves of the crown were immediately made free, and the example followed by several wealthy proprietors. Acts were passed for uniting and consolidating landed property by equitable exchanges, and for preventing the right of free way ; both which led to enclosures, draining, and irrigation. There are now better meadows, and more hedges and walls, in Denmark, than in any country of Germany of the same extent. Various institutions for instruction and reward were formed, and among others, in 1686, the first veterinary school founded in Germany. Artificial grasses and herbage plants enter into most rotations, and rye-grass is perhaps more sown in Holstein than any where, except in England. In a word, considering the disadvantages of climate, the agriculture of Denmark is in a more advanced state than that of any other kingdom of Germany. 563. The Danish farm-houses are described by Dr. Neale, in 1805, as " generally built upon the same; plan, having externally the appearance of large barns, with (biding doors at each end, and of sufficient size to admit loaded waggons ; on one hand are the apartments occupied by the farmer and his family ; on the other, the stable, cow-house, dairy, and piggery ; in the centre, a large space, set apart for the waggons, ploughs, harrows, and other implements of husbandry ; and overhead, the granary and hay-loft." As the postmasters are generally farmers, it is customary to drive in at one end ; change horses, and then drive out at the other, which is the case in the north of Germany and in Poland, and more or less so in every part of the north of Europe. 564. Of the farmer's family, the same accomplished traveller observes, " we were often agreeably surprised at finding the living-apartments furnished with a degree of comfort and neatness bordering upon luxury ; every article was substantially good in itself, and was preserved in the greatest order and cleanliness. Thus, white muslin curtains, with fringes and draperies, covered the windows ; looking- glasses and chests of drawers were placed around ; excellent large feather beds, and a profusion of the best well-bleached linen displayed the industry of the good housewives, while their dinner tables were equally well supplied with damask cloths, and snow-white napkins ; and near the doors of the dairies were ranged quantities of large, singularly shaped, brass and copper vessels, bright as mirrors." 565. The dimensions of some of their buildings, he says, " is surprising ; one measured 110 yards long, resembling in extent the area of Westminster Hall. " On the tops of their roofs are generally displayed a set of antlers, and a weathercock ; on others, two horses' heads are carved out in wood, and announce the rank of the inhabitants ; the antlers, or rather bulls' horns, denot- ing the house of a tenant ; and the horses' heads, that of a landed proprietor. This form of building {fig. 66.) _ seems to have been adopted from the earliest ages 4= amongst the inhabitants of northern Germany," as similar ones are described by Joannes Lasicius in the middle ol the sixteenth century. {Travels through Germany, Poland, §c. 13.) 90 HISTORY OF AGRICULTURE. Part I. . r >GG. The rural economy of Greenland end Iceland lias been given, the former by Crantz, and the latter by Sir G. Mackenzie. Only a small part of Greenland produces pasture, and a still smaller part grain. The culture of the last, however, is now given up. Cabbages and turnips grow well in the gardens, and there are some oak trees, brambles, and junipers between the 60° and 65° N. lat. Sir G. Mackenzie thinks potatoes and barley might BUCCeed in some places. There are considerable pasture farms, a good and hardy breed of horses, and herds and (locks of cattle and sheep. Farmers have no leases, but pay rent in kind, and cannot be removed from the land unless it can be proved that they have neglected its culture; that is, they hold on the metayer system. The stock of cattle and sheep is considered as belonging to the soil of the landlord. A tenant may quit his farm whenever he chooses, but must leave the proper amount of stock to be taken by his successor. Subsect. 3. Of Ike Agricxdture of the Kingdom of Prussia. *567. The agriculture of Prussia was considerably advanced by its second king, Frederic William, who is said to have imported 16,000 men from Saltzburg, and expended 25 millions of francs in building villages and distributing lands among them. His successor, Frederick the Great, after having procured a peace, made exertions in agriculture as extraordinary as in war and architecture. He drained and brought into cultivation die borders of the lakes of the Netz and the Wasta, and established 3600 families on what before was a marsh. He drained the marsh of Fridburg, and established on it 400 families. He made extensive drainages, enclosures, and other improvements in Brandenburg, and in Pomerania, and built the extensive embankments of Dallast, in Friesland, by which, by degrees, a large tract of land was recovered, which the sea sub- merged in 1 724. He formed a Council of Woods and Waters for managing the national forests, and regulating rivers and lakes. He established the Royal Economical Society of Potsdam, and other societies, and cultivated a farm. He created a market for agri- cultural produce, by the establishment of manufactures ; and, in short, he left nothing unattempted that might benefit his kingdom. The successors of the great Frederic have not distinguished themselves as encouragers of agriculture, with the exception of the present king, Frederic William I. 568. The surface and soil of a country so extensive as Prussia are necessarily various ; but, nevertheless, there are few or no mountainous or hilly districts, or fertile plains. The prevailing soil is sand, and almost the whole of the country is in aration. 569. The soil of the maritime provinces of Prussia is in general so light, that it may be easily ploughed with two oxen, and those of diminished size, and no great strength. Jacobs not unfrequently saw, on the smaller portions of land, a single cow drawing the plough, and whilst the plough was guided by the owner, the cow was led by his wife. The more tenacious soils, on the banks of the streams, are commonly but of small extent. There is, indeed, a large portion of land in the delta, formed by the separation of the Nogat from the Vistula, between Derschau and Marienburg, which, under a good system of management, would be highly productive, and which requires greater strength to plough ; there are some others, especially near Tilsit, of less extent ; but the whole of them, if compared with the great extent of the surface of the country, are merely suffi- cient to form exceptions to the general classification which may be made of the soil. {Jacob on the Trade in Corn, and on the Agriculture of Northern Europe.) 570. The landed estates in Prussia, previously to the year 1807, were large, and could only be held by such as were of noble birth, or by merchants, manufacturers, or artisans, who had obtained a patent of nobility. When the French had overrun the country, in 1807, these restrictions were removed ; and, by successive measures, personal services have been abolished, and the whole of the enslaved peasants have become converted into freemen and freeholders. These small and numerous freeholders are the occupiers and principal cultivators of the soil ; rent-paying farmers being seldom to be met with, except in the vicinity of large towns, and on the domains of the crown. (Ibid.) 571. The general course of cultivation in Prussia is to fallow every third year, by ploughing three times whin designed for rye, or five times if intended for wheat, and allowing the land to rest without any crop during the whole of the year, from one autumn to the next. Most of the land is deemed to be unfit for the growth of wheat, under any circumstances. Where it is deemed adapted to that grain, as much as can be manured, from their scanty supply of that article, is sown with wheat, and the remainder of the fallow-ground with rye. The portion which is destined for wheat, even in the best farms, is thus very small ; and, as on many none is sown, the whole of the land devoted to wheat does not amount to one tenth of that on which rye is grown. (Ibid.) 572. The live stock, in proportion to the surface, is very deficient. According to a calculation by Mr. Jacob, the proportion of animals to an acre, over the whole of East Prussia, West Prussia, and Pomerania, is less than one third of what it is in England. Boos I. AGRICULTURE IN GERMANY. 91 *x- *573. The implements of husbandry are quite of as low a description as the working cattle. The ploughs are ill-constructed, with very little iron on them. The harrows are made of wood, without any iron, even for the tines or teeth. The waggons are mere planks, laid on the frame loose, and resting against upright stakes fixed into its sides. The cattle are attached to these implements hy ropes, without leather in any part of the harness. The use of the roller is scarcely known, and the clods, in preparing the fallow- ground, are commonly broken to pieces by hand with wooden mallets. In sowing, the seed is carried in the apron or the skirts of the frock of die man who scatters it on the ground. {Ibid-) 574. The produce of the soil, whether in corn or cattle, is of an inferior quality, and bears a low money price. The scale of living of all classes, is influenced by this state of tilings. The working classes, including both those who work for daily wages, and those who cultivate their own little portions of land, live in dwellings provided with few con- veniences, on the lowest and coarsest food ; potatoes, rye, and buckwheat form their chief, and frequently their only, food ; linen, from flax of their own growth, and cloth from wool spun by their own hands, both coarse, and both worn as long as they will hold together, furnish their dress ; whilst an earthen pot that will bear fire, forms one of the most valuable articles of their furniture. (Ibid.) 575. The improvement of the agriculture of Prussia is ardently desired by the present government, and in consequence, about twenty-four years ago, the Agricultural Institution of Moegelin on the Oder, conducted by the late Von Thaer, justly celebrated in Ger- many as an agricultural writer, was founded. This institution was visited by Jacob in 1819 ; and from his Travels we shall give a short account of it. 576. The Agricultural Institution of Moegelin is situated in the countrv or march of Brandenburg, about forty-five miles from Berlin. The chief professor, Von Thaer, was formerly a medical practitioner at Celle, near Luneburg, in the kingdom of Hanover ; and had distinguished' himself bv the translation of various agricultural works from the French and English, and by editing a Magazine of Rural Economy. About 1804, the King of Prussia invited him to settle in his dominions, and gave him the estate of Moegelin to improve and manage as a pattern farm. diI. This estate consists of liiuO acres. Thaer began by erecting extensive buildings for himself, three professors, a variety of tradesmen, the requisite agricultural buildings, and a distillery. The three pro- fessors are, one for mathematics, chemistry, and geology ; one for veterinary knowledge ; and a third for botany and the use of the different vegetable productions in the Materia Medica, as well as for entomology. Besides these, an experienced agriculturist is engaged, whose office it is to point out to the pupils the mode of applying the sciences to the practical business of husbandry. The course com- mences in September. During the winter months, the time is occupied in mathematics, and the first six books of Euclid are studied ; and in the summer, the geometrical knowledge is practically applied to the measurement of land, timber, buildings, and other objects. The first principles of chemistry are unfolded. By a good but economical apparatus, various experiments are made, both on a large and small scale. For the larger experiments, the brew-house and still-house with their respective fixtures are found highly useful. 578. Much attention is paid to the analysation of various soils, and the different kinds, with the relative quantity of their component parts, are arranged with great order and regularity. The classifica- tion is made with neatness, by having the specimens of soil arranged in order, and' distinguished by different colours. Thus, for instance, if the basis of the soil is sandy, the glass has a cover of vellow paper ; if the next predominating earth is calcareous, the glass has a white ticket on its side ; if it is red clay, it has a red ticket ; if blue clay, a blue one. Over these tickets, others, of a smaller size, indicate by their colour the third greatest quantity of the particular substance contained in the soil. This matter m generalis the large natural history is throughout the civilised world. 5,9. There is a large botanic garden, arranged on the system of the Swedish naturalist, kept in excellent order, with all the plants labelled, and the Latin "as well as German names. A herbarium, with a good collection of dried plants which is constantly increasing, is open to the examination of the pupils, as well as skeletons of the different animals, and casts of their several parts, which must be of great use in veterinary pursuits. Models of agricultural implements, especially of ploughs, are preserved in a museum, which is stored as well with such as are common in Germany, as with those used in England, or other countries. 580. The various implements used on the farm are all made by smiths, wheelers, and carpentprs, residing round the institution ; the workshops are open to the pupils, and they are encouraged by attentive inspection, to become masters of the more minute branches of the economy of an estate. 5S1. The sum paid by each pupil is four hundred rix-dollars annually, besides which thev provide their own beds and breakfasts. In this country, such an expense precludes the admission of all but youths of good fortune. Each has a separate apartment. They are very well behaved young men, and their conduct to each other, and to the professors, was polite, even to punctilio. o61. Jacob's opinion of this institution is, that an attempt is made to crowd too much instruction into too short a compass, for many of the pupils spend but one year in the institution ; and thus onlv the foundation, and that a very slight one, can be Laid in so short a space of time. It is, however, to be presumed, that the young men come here prepared with a considerable previous knowledge, as they are mostly between the ages of twenty and twenty-four, and some few appeared to be still older. 58 i. The farm at Moegelin was examined by Jacob in the autumn. The soil is light and sandv, and the climate cold. The wheat was put in the ground with a drill of Thaer's invention, which sows and covers nine rows at once, and is drawn by two horses. The saving of seed Thaer considers the only circumstance which makes drilling preferable to sowing broad-cast, as far as respects wheat, rve, barley, and oats. The average produce of wheat is sixteen bushels per acre : not much is sown in Prussia, as rye is the bread corn of that country ; it produces, with Thaer, twenty-two bushels and a half to the acre. The usual rotation of crops is, potatoes or peas, rye, clover, and wheat. Winter tares are killed by the frost, and the summer species come to nothing, owing to the dry soil and drought The spurrv (.Spergula) is therefore grown for the winter food of sheep : it is sown on the stubbles immediately after harvest, and in six weeks furnishes an herbage of which the sheep are very fond, and which is said to be very nutritious. Potatoes are a favourite crop ; and the small-tubered and' rather glutinous ill-flavoured sort common in France ami Germany is preferred, as containing more starch in proportion to bulk, than tli _■ large kinds Thaer maintains that, beyond a certain size, the increase of the potato is only water and 99 RZSTORT OF AGRICULTURE. Pakt I. not nutriment The produce per acre h 900 bushels or five tons, which. Thaer contends, contain more nutriment than twenty tons <>t turnips, because the proportion of starch In potatoes to that in turnips is more than four to one. The soil Is excellent for turnips, but the long series of iiry weather, common on the Continent in the beginning of summer, renders them one of the must uncertain of crops. 584 ./ brewery and distillery are the necessary accompaniments of every large farming establishment in Germany. The result of many experiments In the latter proved that the same quantity of alcohol is produced from 100 bushels of potatoes as from twenty-four bushels of wheat, or thirty-three of barley. A- the products of grain or ol potatoes are relatively greater, the distillery is regulated by that propor- tion. During the enforcement ol the ( ontinental >j stem, many experiments were tried in maki n g sugar from native plants. Von Thaer found, after many trials, that the most profitable vegetable from which sugar could in' made was the common garden turnip of which variety Jacob did not ascertain), and ih i whilst sugar was sold at a rix-dollar thepound.it was very profitable to extract it from that root. The samples ol sugar made during that period from different roots, the processes, and their results, are carefullj preserved In the museum, but would now be tedious to describe. They are certainly equal in strength of sweetness, and those refined, in colour and hardness, to any produced from the sugar-cane of ot the tropics. 685. The improvement qf the breed <>f sheep, which has been an important object of this establishment, as tar as the fineness of the wool is regarded, has admirably succeeded, liy various crosses from select Merinos, by sedulously excluding from the Hock every ewe that had coarse wool, and, still more, by keeping them in a warm house during the winter, Von Thaer has brought the wool of his sheep to great fineness, far greater than any that is clipped in Spain; but the improvement of the carcass has been neglected, so that his, like all other German mutton, is very indifferent ous kinds qf wool have been arranged by Von Thaer, with the assistance of the professors of the institution, on eanis ■ and the fineness of that produced from different races of sheep, is dis- criminated with geometrical exactness. The finest are some specimens from Saxony, his own are the next The fine Spanish wool from Leon is inferior to his, in the proportion of eleven to sixteen. The WOO) from Botany Hay, of which he had specimens, is inferior to the Spanish. He had arranged, by a similar mode, the relative fineness of the wools produced on the different parts of the body of the sheep, so as to bring under the eye, at one view, the comparative value of the different parts of the fleeces ; and he had, also, ascertained the proportionate weight of those different parts. The application of optics and geometry, by which the scales that accompany the specimens are constructed, is such as to leave no doubts on any mind of the accuracy of the results. The scales, indeed, show only the fineness, and not the length Of the fibre ; which is, I believe, of considerable importance in the process of spinning. The celebrity of the Moegelin sheep is so widely diffused, that the ewes and rams are sold at enormous prices to the agriculturists in hast Prussia, Poland, and as far as Kussia. 587. The breeding <;/' cows and the management of a dairy are secondary objects, as far as the mere farming is regarded; but it is attended to with care, for the sake of the pupils, who thus have before their eyes that branch of agricultural practice, which may be beneficial on some soils though not adapted to this. The cows are in good order, of an excellent breed ; and, considering that they are, like the sheep, fed only on potatoes and chopped straw, are in good condition. They yield, when in full milk, from five to six pounds of butter weekly. The custom of killing the calves, when only a fortnight or three weeks old, prevails here as well as elsewhere in Germany. There is no disputing about taste ; but though veal is a favourite food in Germany at the tables of the rich, it always seems very unpleasant to an Englishman. 58S. The ploughs at Moegelin are better constructed than in most parts of Germany. They resemble our common swing-plough, but with a broader fin at the point of the share. The mould-board is con- structed on a very good principle and with great skill ; the convexity of its fore-part so gradually changing into concavity at the hinder-part as to turn the soil completely upside down. The land is cleanly and straightly ploughed, to the depth of six and a half or seven inches, with a pair of oxen, whose usual work is about an acre and a quarter each day. :>8'.\ A threshing-machine is rarely used, and only to show the pupils the principle on which it is con- structed, and the effect it produces ; but having neither wind nor water machinery to work it, the flail is almost exclusively used, the threshers receive the sixteenth bushel for their labour. The rate of wages to the labourers is four groschen a day, winter and summer, besides which, they are provided with habitations and fuel. The women receive from two to three groschen, according to their strength and skill. They Uve on rye-bread or potatoes, thin soup, and scarcely any animal food but bacon, and a very small portion even of that ; yet they look strong and healthy, and tolerably clean. 690. The culture of tin- vine and the rearing qf the silkworm are carried on in the more southerly of the recent territorial accessions which have been made by Prussia. The culture of culinary vegetables is carried on round Erfurth,and other towns furnished with them whose neighbourhoods are less favourable for their growth. Garden seeds are also raised at Erfurth, and most of the seedsmen of Germany supplied with them. Anise, canary, coriander, mustard, and poppy seeds are grown for distillers and others, and woad, madder, teasel, saffron, rhubarb, S.C., for dyers and druggists. 591. The present king qf Prussia has done much for agriculture, and is said to design more, by lessen- ing tile feudal claims of the lords; by permitting estates even of knightly tenure to be purchased by burghers and non-nobles ; by simplifying the modes of conveyance and investiture ; by setting an example of renouncing most of the feudal dues on his vast patrimonial estates ; and by making good communications by roads, rivers, and canals, through his extensive territories. [Jacob's Travels, 189.) Subsfxt. 4. Of the Agriculture of the Kingdom of Hanover. 592. The agriculture of the kingdom of Hanover has been depicted by Hodgson as it appeared in 1817. The territory attached to the free town of Hanover, previously to its elector being made king of Britain, was very trifling ; but so many dukedoms and other provinces have been since added, that it now contains upwards of 11,045 square geo- graphical miles, and 1,314,104 inhabitants. 593. An agricultural society was founded in Hanover in 1751, by Geo. II., and about the same time one at Celle in Luneburg. The principal business of the latter was to superintend and conduct a general enclosure of all the common lands; it was conducted by Meyer, who wrote a large work on the subject. The present Hanove- rian ministry are following up the plans of Meyer, and, according to Hodgson, are " extremely solicitous to promote agriculture." 594. The landed property of Hanover may be thus arranged : — One sixth belongs to the sovereign, possibly three sixths to the nobles, one sixth to the corporations of towns and religious bodies, and less than one sixtii to persons not noble. The crown lands are let to noblemen, or rather favoured persons, at very moderate rents, who either farm diem oi sublet them to farmers. There are six hundred and forty-four noble properties, but few of them with mansions, the proprietors living in towns. For a nobleman to live iu Bcok I. AGRICULTURE IN GERMANY. 93 the country without being a magistrate, or without holding some office, is looked on as degrading. Hodgson met with only three instances of nobles cultivating their own estates, and then they lived in towns. The fanners of these estates are bauers or peasants, who hold from ten to eighty acres each, at old fixed rents and services lono- since established, which the landlord has no power to alter. " It may be from this cause that so few nobles reside in the country. They have in truth no land, but what is occu- pied by other people. The use of these small portions of land on certain conditions, is the property of the occupier, which he can sell, as the stipulated rent and services are the property of the landlord. The bauer has a hereditary right to the use ; the landlord a hereditary right to be paid for that use." 595. The land of religious corporations is let in the same manner as the crown lands. That of towns is generally divided into very small lots of twelve or ten acres, and let to the townsmen as gardens, or for growing potatoes and corn for their own consumption. Almost every family of the middling and poorer classes in towns, as well as in the country, has a small portion of land. Most of the towns and villages have large commons, and the inhabitants have certain rights of grazing cows, &c. 596. The occupiers of land may be divided into two classes, metayers and leibeigeners. ' The first occupy from eighty to twenty acres, and pay a fixed corn or money rent, which the landlord cannot alter ; nor can he refuse to renew the lease, on the death of the occupier. The money rent paid by such farmers varies from seven to twelve shillings per acre. The term leibeigener signifies a slave, or a person who owns his own body and no more. He also holds his land on fixed terms independently of the will of his lord. His conditions are a certain number of days' labour at the different seasons of sowing, reaping, &c, bringing home his lord's fuel, supplying coach or cart horses when wanted, and various other feudal services. The stock of the leibeigener is generally the property of the landlord, who is obliged to make good all accidents or deaths in cattle, and to supply the family with food when the crops fail. This wretched tenure the governments of Hanover, Prussia, and Bavaria are endeavouring to mitigate, or do away altogether ; and so much has already been done that the condition of the peasants is said to be greatly superior to what it was a century back. 597. The free landed property of the kingdom of Hanover lies principally in Fries- land and the marsh lands. There it is cultivated in large, middling, and small farms, as in England, and the agriculture is evidently superior to that of the other provinces. 598. The large farmers of Hanover have in general extensive rights of pasturage ; keep large flocks of sheep, grow artificial grasses, turnips, and even florin ; and have permanent pastures or meadows. Sometimes a brewery, distillery, or public house, is united with the farm. 599. The farm of Coldingen, within eight miles of Hanover, was visited by Hodgson. It contained two thousand six hundred acres, with extensive rights of pasturage : it belonged to the crown, and was rented by an amptman or magistrate. The soil was a free brown loam, and partly in meadow, liable to be overflowed by a river. The rota- tion on one part of the arable lands was, 1. drilled green crop; 2. wheat or rye; 3. clover ; 4. wheat or rye ; 5. barley or peas ; and 6'. oats or rye. On another portion, fallow, rape, beans, the cabbage turnip or kohl-rabi, flax, and oats were introduced. Seven pair of horses and eight pair of oxen were kept as working cattle. No cattle were fattened; but a portion of the land was sublet for feeding cows 600. Of sheep there were two thousand two hundred, of a cross between the Rhenish or Saxon breed and the Merino. No attention was paid to the carcass, but only to the wool. The " shepherds were all dressed in long white linen coats, and white linen smallclothes, and wore large hats cocked up behind, and ornamented by a large steel buckle. They all looked respectable and clean. They were paid in pro- portion to the success of the flock, and had thus a considerable interest in watching over its improve- ment. They received a ninth of the profits, but also contributed on extraordinary occasions; such as buying oilcake for winter food, when it was necessary, and on buying new stock, a ninth of the expenses. The head shepherd had two ninths of the profits." GUI. Of the workmen on this farm, some were paid in proportion to their labour. The threshers, for example, were paid with the sixteenth part of what they threshed. Other labourers were hired by the day, and they received about sevenpence. In harvest-time they may make eightpence. Some are paid by the piece," and then receive at the rate of two shillings for cutting and binding an acre of corn. 602. The farming of the cultivators of free lands resembles that of England, and is best exemplified on the Elbe, in the neighbourhood of Hamburg. A distinguishing characteristic is, that the farm-houses are not collected in villages ; but each is built on the ground its owner cultivates. " This," Hodgson observes, " is a most reasonable plan, and marks a state of society which, in its early stages, was different from that of the rest of Germany, when all the vassals crowded round the castle of their lord. It is an emblem of security, and is of itself almost a proof of a different origin in the people, and of an origin the same as our own. So far as I am acquainted, this mode is fol- lowed only in Britain, and in Holland, on the sea-coast, from the Ems to the Elbe, to which Holstein may be added, and the vale of Arno in Italy. It is now followed in America ; and we may judge that this reasonable practice is the result of men thinking for them- selves, and following their individual interest." ( Travels, vol. i. p. 247.) We may 94 HISTORY Ol" AGRICULTURE. Part I. add thai it is also followed in great part of the mountainous regions of Norway, Sweden, and Switzerland. (See Clarke's Scandinavia and BaJcewell's Tarentaise.) 6'0:i. Many proprietor* of free lands near Hamburg also farm them. Speaking of these tanners, Hodgson observes, "compared with the other farmers of Germany, they live in alllnenee and splendour. They eat meat three or tour times a day, and instead of being clad in coarse woollen, which has been made by their wives, they wear fine English clothes, and look like gentleman. Their sons go tor soldier officers, and their daughters are said to study the Journal (lei Modes. The proprietors ride into town to take their Coffee and play at billiards, and hear and tell the news, and at home they drink their wine out of cut glass, or tea out of china. Their houses are all surrounded by lofty trees and handsomely laid-out gardens; the floors are carpeted, and the windows of plate glass. The dwelling-apartments, the hams, and the places for the cattle, are all covered with one immense roof, and every house looks something like a palace surrounded with a little park. The proprietors direct the agriculture, without working a great deal them- selves, and resemble much in their hearty manners English farmers." 604. /;; Friedand they use a swing-plough, known in England as the Dutch plough, the mediate origin of the Rotherham plough, and remotely of Small's Scotch plough. Even the cottagers who rent free lands are totally different from the batters. Their cot- tages are white-washed ; and they have gardens neatly enclosed, planted with fruit trees, and carefully cultivated. Such is the influence of liberty and security. 605. The farming of the baiters, like that of the metayers, is prescribed by the lease, and consists of two crops of corn and a fallow. " Sometimes," Hodgson observes, " they may sow a little clover, lucerne, or spergel (spurry) ; but they seldom have meadows, and keep no more cattle than is necessary for their work, and those the common lands can feed : sheep are only kept where there are extensive heaths ; one or two long-legged swine are common ; and poultry The large farmers sometimes plough with two oxen ; but the bauers, except in the sandy districts, invariably use horses. When they are very poor, and have no horses, they employ their cows. Two or more join their stock, and, with a team of four cows, they plough very well. Sometimes they work their land with the spade. The houses of the bauers in Hanover, as in most parts of Germany, are built of whatever materials are most readily come at, put together in the coarsest manner. They are seldom either painted or white-washed, and are unaccompanied by either yards, rails, gates, gardens, or other enclosures. They seem to be so much employed in providing the mere necessaries of life, that they have no time to attend to its luxuries. A savage curiously carves the head of his war spear, or the handle of his hatchet, or he cuts his own face and head into pretty devices ; but no German bauer ever paints his carts or Iris ploughs, or ornaments his agricultural implements." (Vol. i. 24C.) 606. To improve the agriculture of Hanover, Hodgson justly observes, " the simplest and most effectual way would be for government to sell all the domains by auction in good-sized farms, as the Prussian government has done in its newly acquired dominions." This would end in introducing the Northumberland husbandry, to which, according both to Jacobs and Hodgson, the soil and climate are well adapted, and double the present produce would be produced. To these improvements we may suggest another, that of limiting the rank of noble to the eldest son, so that the rest might without disgrace engage in agriculture or commerce. This last improvement is equally wanted for the whole of Germany. Subsect. 5. Of the present Slate of Agriculture in Saxony. 607. The husbandly/ and slate of landed properly in Saxony have so much in common with that of Hanover and Prussia, that it will only be requisite to notice the few features in which they differ. 608. The culture of the vine and the silkworm are carried on in Saxony, and the latter to some extent. The vine is chiefly cultivated in the margravate, or county, of Theissen, and entirely in the French manner. (41 4.) The mulberry is more generally planted, and chiefly to separate properties or fields, or to fill up odd corners, or along roads, as in the southern provinces of Prussia and Hanover, and in France. C09. The wool of Saxony is reckoned the finest in Germany. There are three sorts, that from the native short- w-ool led Saxon sheep ; that from the produce of a cross between this breed and the Merino; and that from the pure Merino. In 1819, Jacob inspected a flock of pure Merinos, which produced wool that he was told was surpassed by none in fineness, and the price it brought at market. It was the property of the lord of die soil, and managed by the amptman, or farmer of the manorial and other rights. Till the year 1813, it consisted of 1000 sheep ; but so many were consumed in that year, first by the French, and next by the Swedes, that they have not been able to replace them further than to 650. The land over which they range is extensive and dry ; not good enough to grow flax ; but a course of 1. fallow, 2. potatoes, 3. rye or barley, was followed, Boox I. AGRICULTURE IN GERMANY. 95 and the straw of the rye and barley, with the potatoes, constituted the winter food of the sheep. [Travels, p. 265.) 610. The general rotation of crops in Saxony, according to Jacob, is two corn crops, and a fallow, or two corn crops and pease. There are some exceptions ; and cabbages, turnips, and kohl-rabi are occasionally to be seen. The plough has two wheels, and is drawn by two oxen; " and sometimes, notwithstanding the Mosaic prohibition, with a horse and a cow." There are some fine meadows on the borders of the brooks near the villages; but they are in general much neglected, and for want of draining yield but coarse and rushy grass. The houses of the farmers are in villages, the largest for the amptman, and the next for the metayers and leibeigeners. " The whole tract of land, from Meissen to within two English miles of Leipsic, is a sandy loam, admirably calculated for our Norfolk four-course system, by which it would be enabled to maintain a great quantity of live-stock, and produce double or treble the quantity of corn it now yields. In the whole distance from Wurzen, about fifteen miles, I saw but three flocks of sheep ; two were small, the other, which I examined, consisting of about one thousand ewes, wedders, and tags, belonged to a count, whose name I did not ascertain. As he is lord of a considerable tract of country, the flock has the range of many thousand acres in the summer, and in the winter is fed with chopped straw and potatoes. Upon our system, which might be advantageously introduced, the same quantity of land would maintain ten times as many sheep, and still produce much more corn than it does at present." (Ibid. 301.) 611. The cows near the villages, between Meissen and Leipsic, were numerous compared with the sheep, r ut generally looked poor. " As I saw," continues Jacob, " no hay or corn stacks in the whole distance, I had been puzzled to conceive in what manner their cows could be supported through the winter. Upon enquiring, I learnt a mode of keeping them, which was quite new to me, but which I cannot condemn. The land is favourable to the growth of cabbages, and abundant quantities are raised, and form a material article of human sustenance; the surplus, which this year is considerable, is made into sour-krout, with a less portion of salt than is applied when it is prepared as food for man. This is found to be very good for cows, and favourable to the increase of their milk, when no green food, nor any thing but straw can be obtained. " ( Travels, 303.) 612. The land ivithin tiro miles of Leipsic is almost wholly in garden-culture, and is vastly productive of every kind of culinary vegetable. The fruit trees and orchards, notwithstanding manv of them showed vestiges of the war, surprised Jacob by their abundance. The inhabitants subsist much less on animal food than we do, but a larger quantity of fruit and vegetables is consumed ; and hence they have greater inducements to improve their quality, and to increase their quantitv, than exist in those rural districts of Great Britain which are removed from the great towns. 613. Jacob's opinion of the agriculture of Saxon?/ is, that it is equal to that of Prussia. In one respect he thinks it superior, as no portion of the soil is wholly without some cultivation; but that cultivation is far below what the land requires, and the produce much less than the inhabitants must need for their subsistence. Subsect. 6. Of the present State of Agriculture in the Kingdom of Bavaria. 614. Bavaria, till lately, was one of the most backward countries of Germany, in regard to every kind of improvement. A bigoted and ignorant priesthood, not content with possess- ing a valuable portion of the lands of the country, had insisted on the expulsion of the Protestants, and on the strict observance of the endless holidays and absurd usages which impede the progress of industry among their followers. " Hence a general habit of indolence and miserable backwardness in all arts, and especially in agriculture; and in point of learning, a complete contrast to the north of Germany." During the electorate of Bavaria, one of its electors, contemporary with Joseph II. of Austria, desirous of introducing improvements, abolished monastic orders in some parts of his dominions ; but the people were not ripe for such a change, notwithstanding the existence of masonic societies, ignorantly supposed to have rendered them ripe for any sort of revolution. 615. The agricultural improvement of Bavaria commenced at the time of the French revolution, when the church lands were seized by the government, and sold to the people, and a system of schools was established in every canton or parish, for the education of the lower classes. Soon afterwards agriculture was taught in these schools by a catechism, in the same way as the Christian religion of Scotland is taught in the schools there. In consequence of this state of things the country is rapidly improving in every respect, and will soon be equal to any other in Germany. The names of Monteglas and Hazzi should not be passed over in this brief statement ; nor that of Eichthal, who spent upwards of a year in Britain, and chiefly in Scotland, to study its agriculture, which he has introduced on his estate near Munich by a Scotch manager and a Scotch rent-paying farmer. 616. The surface of Bavaria is mountainous towards the south ; the ground rising in the direction of the Alps, and containing a number of lakes and marshes. To the northward are extensive plains and also wooded mountains ; round Nuremberg is a tract of warm sandy soil, and along the Danube are occasional plains of fertile alluvion, partly in meadow and partly under com. 617. The crops cultivated are the usual corns, legumes, and roots; and the produce of corn and turnips, under proper culture, is equal to what it is in the north of England, or in Haddingtonshire. In the dry warm sand around Nuremberg garden seeds are raised 96 HISTORY OF AGRICULTURE. Part I. to such an extent as to supply the greater part of Germany and a part of France, and they are even sent to Holland and England. 618. The forests of Bavaria arc extensive; and, in consequence of a law of the state, all the public roa.U are bordered with ro«s of fruit tiers, chiefly the cherry and the apple. These trees are raised in nurseries by the government, and sold at cost. Subsect. 7. Of tin- present State of Agriculture in the Empire of Austria. (519. Agriculture is in a very backward state throughout the whole of the Austrian dominions. The soil, surface, and climate are almost every where favourable for hus- bandry ; but the political circumstances of the country, and the ignorance of its inhabitants, which is greater than in most other parts of Germany, have kept it in nearly a fixed Mate for social centuries. Various attempts have been made during the eighteenth century to improve the condition of the peasantry, and simplify the laws relating to landed property, especially by Joseph II. ; but they have produced no effect, chiefly, as it appears, because too much was attempted at once. There are agricultural societies at Vienna, Pesth, Prague, and other places; and a very complete agricultural school has been established at Kcszthely in Hungary, by the patriotic Graf Festetits. A copious account of it has been given by Dr. Bright (IVavcls in Hungary, in 1814, 341. et seq.), by which it appears much more extensive than those of Hofwyl or Moegelin. 020. Tin- landed property 7 of Germany, are unenclosed, with the usual exceptions ; the farm-houses and cottages are usually built of wood, and thickly covered with thatch or with shingles. The cottages are remarkably uniform in Hungary, and vil- lage scenery there, according to Dr. Bright, must be the dullest in Europe. Not less so are their cultivated plains. Speaking of a plain near Prcsburg, he says, " The peasants employed in ploughing the land, and my driver (Jig. 67.) cheered the way hy a were Hook I. AGRICULTURE IN GERMANY. 97 Sclavonian song. But let no one be induced, by these expressions, to figure to his imagination a scene of rural delight The plain is unenlivened by trees, unintersected by hedges, and thinly inhabited by human beings ; a waste of arable land, badly culti- vated, and yielding imperfect crops to proprietors, who are scarcely conscious of the extent of territory they possess. It is for some branch of the families of Esterhazy or Palt'v, known to them only by name, that the Sclavonian peasants who inhabit these regions are employed. Their appearance bespeaks no fostering care from the superior, no independ- ent respect, yielded with free satisfaction from the inferior. It is easy to perceive that all stimulus to invention, all incitement to extraordinary exertion, are wanting. No one peasant has proceeded in the arts of life and civilisation a step farther than his neighbour. When you have seen one, you have seen all. From the same little hat, covered with oil, falls the same matted long black hair, negligently plaited, or tied in knots; and over the same dirty jacket and trowsers is wrapped on each a cloak of coarse woollen cloth, or sheep-skin still retaining its wool. Whether it be winter or summer, week-day or sabbath, the Sclavonian of this district never lays aside his cloak, nor is seen but in heavy boots. *6'24. Their instruments of agriculture (fig. 68.) are throughout the same ; and in all their habitations is observed a perfect uniformity of design. A wide muddy road separates two rows of cottages, which constitute a vil- lage. From amongst them, there is no possi- bility of selecting the best or the worst ; they are absolutely uniform. In some villages the cottages present their ends, in others their sides, to the road ; but there is sel- dom this variety in the same village. The in- terior of the cottage is in general divided into three small rooms on the ground floor, and a little space in the roof destined for lumber. The roof is commonly covered with a very thick thatch ; the walls are whitewashed, and pierced towards the road by two small windows. The cottages are usually placed a few yards distant from each other. The intervening space, defended by a rail and gate, or a hedge of wicker-work towards the road, forms the farm-yard, which runs back some way, and contains a shed or outhouse for the cattle. Such is the outward appearance of the peasant and his habitation. The door opens in the side of the house into the middle room, or kitchen, in which is an oven, constructed of clay, well calculated for baking bread, and various implements for household purposes, which generally occupy this apartment fully. On each side of the room is a door, communicating on one hand with the family dormitory, in which are the two windows that look into the road. This chamber is usually small, but well arranged ; the beds in good order, piled upon each other, to be spread out on the floor at night ; and the walls covered with a multiplicity of pictures and images of our Saviour, together with dishes, plates, and vessels of coarse earthenware. The other door from the kitchen leads to the store-room, the repository of the greater part of the peasant's riches, consisting of bags of grain of various kinds, both for consumption and for seed, bladders of tallow, sausages, and other articles of provision, in quantities which it would astonish us to find in an English cottage. We must, however, keep in mind, that the harvest of the Hungarian peasant anticipates the income of the whole year; and, from the circumstances in which he is placed, he should rather be compared with our farmer than our labourer. The yards or folds between the houses are usually much neglected, and are the dirty receptacles of a thousand uncleanly objects. Light carts and ploughs (Jig. 68.), with which the owner performs his stated labour, his meagre cattle, a loose rudely formed heap of hay, and half a dozen ragged children, stand there in mixed confusion ; over which three or four noble dogs, of a peculiar breed, resembling in some degree the Newfoundland dog, keep faithful watch." (Trav. in Hung., 19.) *625. The agricultural produce of Austria ismore varied than that of anyother part of Ger- many. Excellent wheat is cultivated in Gallicia, where the soil is chiefly on limestone, and in the a Ijoining province of Buckowine ; and, from both, immense quantities are sent down the Vistula to Dantzic. Wheat, rye, and all the other corns, are grown alike in every district, and the quantity might be greatly increased if there were a sufficient demand. Maize is cultivated in Hungary and Transylvania; millet in Hungary, Sclavonia, and Carinthia ; and rice in the marshy districts of Temeswar. Tobacco is extensively cultivated in Hungary, and excellent hops are produced in Moravia and Bohemia. It is U 98 HISTORY OF AGRICULTURE. Part I. estimated that about a sixth part of (he Austrian dominions is under tillage. The most e, million rotation is two corn crops, and tallow or rest. (7'2b\ The Austrian jtrwAnce of Manivia is ver) fertile; and, with the exception of some districts of the Netherlands, scarcely any part of the Continent is so well cultivated. It bears too, a larger proportion of wheat than any other district in the east of Europe. Of the winter corn, wheat is estimated at one fourth, and rye at three fourths; whereas, in the adjoining province of Silesia, the land sown with rye is nearly ten times that sown with wheat. Moravia is defended by tin- Carpathian mountains from the east winds ; anil tin- harvest, the whole way from Teschen to Olmutz, and indeed to Brunn, is nearly six weeks earlier than in Silesia. This better state of things arose from the circumstance of Moravian agriculture finding domestic consumers. It is the chief manufacturing province of the Austrian empire. A greater proportion of the population can afford to live on meat, and to use wheaten flour ; and hence the agriculturists find a market near home for their productions. The demand for animal food, too, being greater, a greater stock of cattle is kept, and more of the land is destined to clover and other green crops ; and it may thence be inferred, that the growth of corn does not exhaust the land, so much as the cattle, by their manure, renew its prolific qualities. (Jacob on the Trade in Corn, ami on the Agriculture of northern Eurojte.) o'jT. The viae is cultivated to the greatest extent in Hungary. The well known Tokay is raised on the last chain of the Carpathian hills, in the neighbourhood of the town of Tokay. The district extends over a space of about twenty English miles. " Throughout the whole of this country it is the custom to collect the grapes which have become dry and sweet, like raisins, whilst hanging on the trees. They are gathered one by one ; and it is from them alone that the prime Tokay, or, as it is termed, Tokay Ausbruch, is prepared, which, in 1807, sold for 100 florins the cask of 180 halbes on the spot. They arc first put together in a cask, in the bottom of which holes are bored to let that portion of the juice escape which will run from them without any pressure. This, which is called Tokay essence, is generally in very small quantity, and very highly prized. The grapes are then put into a vat, and trampled with the hare feet, no greater pressure being permitted. To the squeezed mass is next added an equal quantity of good wine, which is allowed to stand for twenty-four hours, and is then strained. This juice, without further preparation, becomes the far-famed wine of Tokay, which is difficult to be obtained, and sells in Vienna at the rate of V21. sterling per dozen. The greater part of these vineyards is the property of the emperor; several, however, are in the hands of nobles." (Bright's Travels.) 6'28. Another sjiecies of Hungarian wine, called Meneser, is said to equal Tokay ; next to that in value come the wines of OSdenburg, Rusth, St. Gyorgy, and Ofen, followed by a great variety, whose names are as various as the hills which produce them. The grape which is preferred for making the Tokay and other Hungarian wines of that character, is a small black or blue grape, figured and described by Sickler in his Garten Magazin of i8()4, as the Hungarian Blue. <5'29 Plums are cultivated, or rather planted and left to themselves ; and an excellent brandy is distilled from the fermented fruit. 6:30. The culture of silk is in the least flourishing state in Hungary ; but succeeds well in Austria and Moravia; that of cotton was tried, but left off" chiefly on account of the unfavourahleness of the autumns for ripening the capsules. The mountain rice (Oryza mutica), from the north of China, was cultivated with success, but neglected during the late wars. " The greatest advantages which it promised arose from the situations in which it would flourish, and the fact of its not requiring marshy lands, which are so destructive to the health of those who are engaged in the cultiva- tion of common rice." The 7fhus Co tin us is extensively collected from the wastes, and used as a tanning plant, especially in the preparation of morocco leather. Woad is cultivated as a ^» substitute for indigo; the Cyperus esculentus (Jig. 69. a), and the Astragalus boe'ticus (6), ;in substitutes for coffee ; the seeds of the latter, and the tubers of the former, being the parts used The Acer campestre, platanoides, and Tseudo-pl.itanus have been tapped for sugar, and the A. saccharinum extensively cultivated for the same purpose, but without any useful result : it was found cheaper to make sugar from the grape. The culture of coffee, olives, indigo, and other exotics, has been tried, but failed Book I- AGRICULTURE IN GERMANY. 99 i em % 631. The rtaring and care of bees were much attended to during the latter part of the eighteenth century ; with a view to which a public school was opened at Vienna and some in the provinces ; and great encouragement was given to such as kept hives. Some proprietors in Hungary possessed 300 stock hives. It is customary there to transport them from place to place, preferring sites where buckwheat or the lime tree abounds. The honey, when procured, is greatly increased in value by exposure to the open air for some weeks during winter ; it then becomes hard and as white as snow, and is sold to the ma- nufacturers of liquors at a high price. The noted Italian liqueur, roso'dio, made also in Dantzic, is nothing more than this honey blanched by exposure to the frost, mixed with a spirituous liquor : though the honey used is said to be that of the lime tree, which is produced only in the forests of that tree near Kowno on the Niemen, and sells at more than three times the price of common honey. 632. The live stock* of Austria consists of sheep, cattle, horses, pigs, and poultry. Considerable attention has lately been paid to the breeding of sheep, and the Merino breed has been introduced on the government estates and those of the great pro- prietors. The original Hun- garian sheep ( (7 vis strepsi- ceros)(^g.70.)bears upright spiral horns, and is covered with a very coarse wool. " Im provement on this stock by crosses," Dr. Bright in- forms us, " is become so general, that a flock of the native race is seldom to be met with, except on the estates of religious establi sli . ments." Baron Giesler has long cultivated the Merino breed in Moravia. In Hun- gary, Graf Hunyadi has paid great and successful attention to them for upwards of twenty years His flock, when Dr. Bright saw it in 1814, amounted to 17,000, not one of which whose family he could not trace back for several generations by reference to his registers. 633. The horned cattle of the Austrian dominions are of various breeds, chiefly Danish and Swiss. The native Hungarian breed are of a dirty white colour, large, vigorous, and active, with horns of a prodigious length. The cow is deficient in milk; but where dairies are established, as in some parts near Vienna, the Swiss breed is adopted. 634. The Hungarian horses have long been celebrated, and considerable attempts made from time to time to improve them by crosses with Arabian, English, and Spanish breeds ; and, lately, races have been established for this purpose. The imperial breeding shed, or huras, of Mezohegyes, established in 1783, upon four commons, is the most extensive thing of the kind in Europe. It extends over nearly 50,000 acres ; employs 500 persons; and contains nearly 1000 breeding mares of Bessarabian, Moldavian, Spanish, or English extraction. 635. The breed of swine in some parts of Hungary is excellent. 636. Poultry are extensively reared near Vienna, and also frogs and snails. Townson lias described at length the method of treating these, and of feeding geese for their livers. (Travels in Hungary in 1796.) 637. The land tortoise likewise occurs in great numbers in various parts of Hungary, more particularly about Fuzes- Gyarmath, and the marshes of the river Theiss ; and, being deemed a delicacy for the table, is caught and kept in preserves. The preserve of Kesztheley encloses about an acre of land, intersected by trenches and ponds, in which the animals feed and enjoy themselves. In one corner was a space separated from the rest by boards two feet high, forming a pen for snails. The upper edge of the boards was spiked with nails an inch in height, and at intervals of half an inch, over which these animals never attempt to make their way. This snail (Helix pomatia) {fig- 71. a) is in H 2 100 HISTORY OF AGRICULTURE. r great demand in Vienna, where sacks of tbern are regularly exposed to sale in the market, alternating with sacks of beans, lentils, Icidneybeans, and truffles, (/a'- 71. b.) 688. The implements ami operations of the agriculture of Austria differ little from those of Saxony. Dr. Bright has given figures of the Hungarian plough and cart {Jig- 6'K.), and blames the mode of depositing the corn in holes in the ground, lined with straw, by which it acquires a strong mouldy smell. Vineyards are carefully dug and hoed, and the slm.its of the vines, in places where the winter is severe, laid down and covered with earth to protect them from the frost Many of the great proprietors are introducing the most improved British implements on their estates, and some have taken ploughmen from this country to instruct the natives in their use. Prince Estcrhazy has Engli:.h gardeners, bailiffs, grooms, and other servants. 639. The forests of the Austrian dominions are chiefly in Hungary, and on the holders of (iallicia, on the Carpathian mountains. They contain all the varieties of needle or pine-leaved, and hroad-leaved trees, which are indigenous north of the Rhine. The oaks of Hungary are perhaps the finest in Europe. The forest of Belevar on the Drave was visited by Dr. Bright. It consists chiefly of different species of oak, the most luxuriant he ever beheld. Thousands measured, at several feet above the root, more than seven feet in diameter ; continue almost of the same size, without throwing out a branch, to the height of thirty, forty, and fifty feet, and are still in the most flourishing and healthy condition. Timber there is of little value, except for the buildings wanted on an estate, or for hoops and wine barrels. In some cases the bark is not even taken from oak trees ; but in others the leaf galls, and the knoppern, or smaller galls, which grow on the calyx of the acorn, are collected and exported for the use of tanners. G40. The improvement of the agriculture of Austria seems anxiously desired both by the government anil the great proprietors. Various legislative measures are accordingly adopted from time to time, societies formed, and premiums offered. These will no doubt have a certain quantum of effect ; but the radical wants, in our opinion, are inform- ation and taste for comfortable living among the lower classes ; and these can only be remedied by the general diffusion of village schools ; and by establishing easy rates, at which every peasant might purchase his personal liberty, or freedom from the whole or a certain part of the services he is now bound to render his lord. Sect. VI. Of the present State of Agriculture in the Kingdom of Poland. 641. Poland was formerly called the granarw of Europe: but this was when its boundaries extended from the Baltic to the Black Sea ; and when the Ukraine and Lithuania were included. At present its limits are so circumscribed, and its arable surface so indifferently cultivated, or naturally so infertile, that the kingdom of Poland strictly speaking, or what is called Vice regal Poland, furnishes little more corn than supplies its own population. The immense supplies of wheat sent to Dantzic are chiefly from the republic of Cracow, the province both of the kingdom and republic of Gallieia, united to Austria, and from Volhynia and Podolia, now belonging to Russia. 6 12. The landed estates are almost every where large, and either belong to the crown, to the nobles, or to religious corporations. One third of the surface of Vice-regal Poland belongs to the crown. Estates are fanned by the proprietors, by means of stewards ; or let out in small portions on the metayer or leibeigener tenure. There are scarcely any rent-paying farmers. The nobles have generally houses on their estates, which they occupy, at least, part of the year ; at other periods they are taken care of by the stewards, who are always admitted at the table of their lords, being themselves what is called of noble de- scent. The estates of religious houses are of great extent : they are sometimes let to nobles or others on a corn rent, who generally sublet them ; and in a few cases they are farmed by the corporation. The postmasters on the different main roads invariably rent a con- siderable portion of land for the support of their horses. Many of these are metayers, but some pay a money rent ; and there are one or two instances of nobles farming the post. -. " = *S -'-If ■ ■ - ■ i : :: - b- •: MiiUlU 643. The houses and offices of these nohle postmaster} {fig. 72.) afford the only distant resemblance to a Uritish (arm-yard, that is to be met with in Poland. The t'arm-hojse and farmery of the peasant ]»»u Book I. AGRICULTURE IN POLAND. 101 master are both included in an immense shed or barn, with a small apartment at one end for the master's dwelling; the remaining space divided for live stock and implements of every description and for the cattle, carriages, and lodging-place of travellers who may stop luring night. " Most of these places art sufficiently wretched as inns ; but in the present state of things they answer very well for the other pur poses to which they are applied, and are superior to the hovels of the farmers who are not postmasters" and who are clustered together in villages, or in the outskirts of towns. Some villages, however in the south of Poland are almost entirely composed of Jews. There the houses are generally of a superior con. struction {fig. 73.), but still on the same general plan of a living-room at one end of a large barn, the ilBPwniPCi i . r main area of which serves for all the purposes of a complete farmery. The buildings in Poland, except those of the principal towns, are constructed of timber and covered with shingles. The sheds and other agricultural buildings are boarded on the sides ; but the cottages arc formed of logs joined by moss or clay, of frames filled up with wickerwork and clay, or in modes and of materials still more rude. The commonest kind have no chimneys or glass windows. 644 The climate of Poland, though severe, is much less precarious than that of the south of Germany or of France. A winter of from five to seven months, during the greater part of which time the soil is covered with snow, is succeeded by a rapid spring and warm summer ; and these are followed by a short cold wet autumn. Under such a climate good meadows and pastures cannot be expected ; but arable culture is singularly easy on free soils, which the frost has rendered at once clear from most sorts of weeds and soft and mouldy on the surface. 645. The surface of the vice-regal kingdom of Poland is almost every where level, with scarcely an ascent or descent, except where the courses of the rivers have formed channels below the general level of the country. As these rivers, though in summer they appear small streams, are swollen by the rains of autumn, and the melting of the snow on the Carpathian mountains in the spring, thev form large chan- nels, extending over both sides to a great distance ; and their deposit, in many parts, enriches the land, which presents, in the summer, the aspect of verdant and luxuriant meadows. In other parts the periodical swellings of the streams have formed morasses, which, in their present state, are not applicable to any agricultural purposes. The plains, which extend from the borders of one river to another, are open fields with scarcely any perceptible division of the land, and showing scarcely any trees even around the villages. The portion of woodland on these plains is very extensive ; but they are in large masses, with great intervals of arable land between them. (Jacob's Report on the Trade in Corn, and on the Agriculture of Northern Europe, 1826, p. 25.) 646. The soil of Vice-regal Poland is mostly sandy, with an occasional mixture of a sandy loam ; it is very thin, resting chiefly on a bed of granite, through which the heavy rains gradually percolate. Such a soil is easily ploughed ; sometimes two horses or two oxen, and not unfrequently two cows, perform this and the other operations of husbandry. (Ibid.) 647. The southern part of the ancient kingdom if Poland, now forming the republic of Cracow, presents a comparatively varied surface, and a more tenacious and fruitful soil, which produces excellent wheat, oats, and clover. The best wheat of the Dantzic market comes from this district. 648. The province of Gallicia, a part of the ancient kingdom of Poland, but now added to the dominions of the Austrian empire, in surface, soil, and products, resembles the republic of Cracow. 649. The landed estates of Vice-regal Poland and the republic, belonging to the nobility of the highest rank, are of enormous extent : but, owing to the system of dividing the land among all the children, unless a special entail secures a majorat to the eldest son (which is, in some few instances, the case), much of it is possessed in allotments, which we should deem large ; but which, on account of their low value, and when compared with those of a few others, are not so. Of these secondary classes of estates, 5 or 6,000 acres would be deemed small, and 30 or 40,000 acres large. There are, besides these, nume- rous small properties, some of a few acres, which, by frequent subdivisions, have descended to younger branches of noble families. The present owners are commonly poor, but too proud to follow any profession but that of a soldier, and prefer to labour in the fields with their own hands, rather than to engage in trade of any kind. As titles descended to every son, and are continued through all the successors, the nobility have naturally H 3 102 HISTORY OF AGRICULTURE. Part I. become very numerous; but since the Emperor of Russia lias gained the dominion over Poland, the use of titles has been restricted. The whole of the lands being made alien- able may now be purchased by persons of any rank, and are actually held by some who are burghers or peasants; the Jews alone are prohibited from becoming proprietors of the soil, though they have very numerous mortgages upon it. When they foreclose, the lands must consequently be sold; and as these Jews, the monied capitalists, cannot become purchasers, the prices they yield are very trifling. (Ibid.) 650. The cultivators are chiefly peasants. They have a limited property in the lands which they occupy, and the cottages in which they live, under the condition of working a stipulated number of days in each week, on their lord's demesne, and paying specified quantities of produce, such as poultry, eggs, yarn, and other things, in conformity with ancient usage. The extent of these holdings varies, according to the quality of the land, and the quantity of duty-work, or of payments in kind, which are to be fulfilled. The peasantry of Poland were declared free in 1791, and this privilege was confirmed to them in 1815; and though their ignorance and poverty have hitherto prevented the prac- tical effects of liberty from being very obvious among them, yet they are so far elevated in sentiment, at least, as to feel their superiority to the peasantry of Russia. (Ibid.) 651. The arable culture of Poland is abundantly simple: the course of crops is, in most places, 1st, wheat, barley, or rye; 2d, oats ; 3d, fallow, or several years' rest to commence with fallow. In a very few places clover is sown, and also beans or peas, but only in small quantities. The Digitaria sanguinalis is sown as a plant of luxury in a few places, and the seeds used as rice ; the buckwheat is also sown, and the seeds ground and used as meal. Almost every farmer sows linseed or hemp, to the extent required for home use, and some for sale. Rye is the bread corn of the country. Potatoes are now becoming general, and succeed well. The mangold., or white beet, was cultivated in many places in 1811 and 1812, by order of Bonaparte, in order that the natives might grow their own sugar; but that is now left off, and the peasants have not even learned its value as a garden plant, producing chard and spinach. Turnips or cabbages are rarely seen even in gardens ; few of the cottagers, indeed, have any garden ; those who have, cultivate chiefly potatoes, and kohl rube. Many species of mushrooms grow wild in the woods and wastes, and most of these are carefully ga- thered, and cooked in a variety of ways as in Russia. The wastes or common pastures are left entirely to nature. There are some tracts of indifferent meadow on the Vistula, at Warsaw, Thorn, and Cracovie, and some on the tributary streams, which afford a tolerable hay in summer, and would be greatly improved by draining. 652. The implements and operations are incredibly rude. We have seen lands ploughed (after their manner) by one cow, tied by the horns to the trunk of a young fir tree, one of the roots sharpened and acting as a share, and the other serving the ploughman as a handle. In other instances we have seen a pair of oxen dragging a wretched imple- ment (fig. 74.) formed by the peasant, who is in all cases his own plough and wheel wright, as well as house carpenter and builder. Their best or usual plough has no mould-board ; and the crop is in many cases more indebted to the excellence of the soil, and the preceding winter's frost, than to the fanner. Horses are their general beasts of labour ; their harness is very rude, often of straw ropes, and twisted willow shoots. The body of their best market carts, in which even the lesser nobles visit each other, are of wicker-work (fig. 75.), and the axle and wheels are made without any iron. 653. The live slock of Poland is very small in proportion to the land. Poultry are abundant, and swine ; but the latter of the yellow long-legged breed. The horses are very hardy animals, and of better shapes than might be expected from their treatment. "The best-shaped are in the province of Lublin, but they are far inferior to the breed of Saxony. The cows are a small race, and generally kept in bad condition both as to food and cleanliness. Warsaw and Cracow are supplied with beef and veal, chiefly from the Ukraine. Mutton is little used. 654. The extensive forests of Poland are little attended to, except on the banks of the principal rivers, and where oak abounds, from which bark and wheel spokes may be Book I. AGRICULTURE IN POLAND. J<>3 procured. These are cut over regularly at intervals, and standards left in the usual way. The wild or Scotch pine forests are the most extensive ; these perpetuate them- selves by semination ; and the trees are often so crowded as to be of little use but as fuel. The chief proprietors of these forests are the crown and the religious corporations, who, whenever they can find purchasers, are glad to let them thin out the best trees at a certain rate, and float them, down the nearest stream, to the Vistula, Pregel, or Niemen. A good deal has been said about the importance of felling timber at particular seasons. In Politid, the operation generally takes place in summer, but not, as far as we could learn, from any regard to the effect on the timber. The trees are often notched half through a year or two before, in order to obtain rosin. The other products of forests, as fuel, charcoal, ashes, hoops, poles, &c, are obtained in the usual manner. Game is abundant in them ; and bears, polecats, &c, are to be seen in some places. The woods belonging to the crown consist of upwards of two millions of acres, and are felled in portions annually, so as to cut them every fifty years. 655. The management of bees is a material article in the forest culture of Poland. The honey is divided into three classes, namely lipiec, leszny, and stepowey prasznymird, thus described by How. (Ge«. Rep. Scot, app.) 656. Lipiec is gathered by the bees from the lime tree alone, and is considered on the Continent most valuable, not only for the superiority of its flavour, but also for the estimation in which it is held as an arcanum in pulmonary complaints, containing very little wax, and being, consequently, less heating in its nature ; it is as white as milk, and is only to be met with in the lime forests in the neighbourhood of the town of Kowno, in Lithuania. The great demand for this honey occasions it to bear a high price, inso- much, that a small barrel, containing hardly one pound's weight, has been known to sell for two ducats on the spot. This species of the lime. tree is peculiar to the province of Lithuania ; and is quite different from all the rest of the genus Tilia, and is called Kamienna lipsa, or stone lime. The inhabitants have no regular bee-hives about Kowno ; every peasant who is desirous of rearing bees, goes into the forest and district belonging to his master, without even his leave, makes a longitudinal hollow aperture or apertures in the trunk of a tree, or in the collateral branches, about three feet in length, one foot broad, and about a foot deep, where he deposits his bees, leaves them some food, but pays very little further attention to them, until late in the autumn ; when, after cutting out some of their honey, and leaving some for their maintenance, he secures the aperture properly with clay and straw against the frost and inclemency of the approaching season : these tenements (if they may be so called), with their inhabitants and the pro- duce of their labour, are then become his indisputable property; he may sell them, transfer them ; in short, he may do whatever he pleases with them ; and never is it heard that any depredation is com- mitted on them (those of the bear excepted). In Poland, the laws are particularly severe against robbers or destroyers of this property, punishing the offender, when detected, by cutting out the navel and drawing out his intestines round and round the very tree which he has robbed. 657. When spring arrives, the proprietor goes again to the forest, examines the bees, and ascertains whether there is sufficient food left, till they are able to maintain themselves ; should there not be a sufficient quantity, he deposits with them as much as he judges necessary till the spring blossom appears. If he observes that his stock has not decreased by mortality, he makes more of these apertures in the collateral branches, or in the trunk of the tree, that in case the bees should swarm in his absence, they may have a ready asylum. In the autumn he visits them again, carries the June and July work away with him, which is the lipiec, and leaves only that part for their food which was gathered by them before the commencement and after the decay of the flowering of the lime tree. ' 658. The leszny, the next class of honey, which is inferior in a great degree to the lipiec, being only for the common mead, is that of the pine forests ; the inhabitants of which make apertures in the pine trees, similar to those near Kowno, and pay the same attention, in regard to the security of the bees, and their maintenance. The wax is also much inferior in quality ; it requires more trouble in the bleaching, and is only made use of in the churches. 659. The third class of honey is the stcpotrey prasznymird, or the honey from meadows or places where there is an abundance of perennial plants, and hardly any wood. The province of Ukraine produces the very best, and also the very best wax. In that province the peasants pay particular attention to this branch of economy, as it is the only resource they have to enable them to defray the taxes levied by Kussia ; and they consider the produce of bees equal to ready money ; wheat, and other species of corn, being so very fluctuating in price, some years it being of so little value that it is not worth the peasant's trouble to gather it in (this has happened in the Ukraine, four times in twelve years) : but honey and wax having always a great demand all over Europe, and even Turkey, some of the peasants have from four to five hundred ule, or logs of wood in their bee-gardens, which are called pasieha, or beehives ; these logs are about six feet high, commonly of birch wood tthe bees prefer the birch to any other wood), hollowed out in the middle for about rive feet ; several lamina of thin boards are nailed before the aperture, and but a small hole left in the middle of one of them for the entrance of the bees. As the bees are often capricious at the beginning of their work, frequently commencing it at the front rather than the back, the peasants cover the aperture with a number of these thin boards, instead of one entire board, for fear of disturbing them, should they have begun their work at the front. It may appear extraordinary, but it is nevertheless true, that in some favourable seasons, this aperture of five feet in length, and a foot wide, is full before August ; and the peasants are obliged to take the produce long before the usual time, with the view of giving room to the bees to continue their work, so favourable is the harvest some summers. 660. The process of brewing 7>iead in Poland is very simple : the proportion is three parts of water to one of honey, and 50 lb. of mild hops to 163 gallons, which is called a waar, or a brewing. When the water is boiling, both the honey and hops arc thrown into it, and it is kept stirring until it becomes milk- warm ; it is then put into a large cask, and allowed to ferment for a few days ; it is then drawn off into another cask, wherein there has been aqua-vita?, or whisky, bunged quite close, and afterwards taken to the cellars, which in this country are excellent and cool. This mead becomes good in three years' time ; and, by keeping, it improves, like many sorts of wine. The mead for immediate drink is made from malt, hops, and honey, in the same proportion, and undergoes a similar process. In Hungary, it is usual to put ginger in mead! There are other sorts of mead in Poland, as wisniak, dereniak, maliniak ; they are made of honey, wild cherries, berries of the CY.rnus mascula, and raspberries ; they all undergo the same process, and are most excellent and wholesome after a few years' keeping. The lipiec is made in the same wav, but it contains the honev and pure water onlv. The honey gathered by the bees from the Azalea p .litica, at Oczakow, and in Potesia in Poland, is "of an intoxicating nature ; it produces nausea, and is used only for medical purposes, chiefly in rheumatism, scrophula, and eruption of the skin, in which com- plaints it has been attended with great success. In a disease among the hogs called weugry (a sort ot plague among these animals) a decoction of the leaves and buds of Azalea is given with the greatest 104 HISTORY OF AGRICULTURE. Part I. effect and produces almost instantaneous relief. The disease attacks the hogs with a swelling of their throat, and terminates in large hard knots, not unlike the plague, on which the decoction acts as a digestive, abates the fever directly in the first stage, and suppurates the knots. It is used in Turkey, with the same view, in the cure of the plague. 661. Such is the present stale of agriculture in Poland, as it appeared to us during a residence of four months in Warsaw and its neighbourhood in 1813, and the details in Mr. Jacob's Report of 1826 (p. '25. to 37.) afford us but little reason for altering our opinion. But it must always be recollected, that the above view does not include either Lithuania or Gallicia, the agriculture of which districts is of a much superior description. Since the middle of the 18th century some of the principal Polish nobles have occa- sionally made efforts for the improvement of the agriculture of their country ; but they have not been designed and directed in the best manner, and what is much worse, not steadily pursued. Splendid wooden houses and villages have been built, and foreign farmers induced to settle and cultivate the lands. In the first heat of the business, all went on well ; but the proprietors soon began to cool, to neglect their new tenants, and leave them to the mercy of their stewards, who, in Italy and Poland, are known to be the most corrupt set of men that can be met with. The oppression of these stewards, and the total disregard of their masters to their promises and agreements made to and with these strangers, have either forced the latter to return home, or reduced them to the necessity of becoming servants in the towns, or in Germany ; and we know of instances where it has ruined men of some property. There are one or two exceptions ; but we could produce names and dates in proof of the general truth of what we have asserted. The failure of a dairy establishment, and of a brewery, both established before the com- mencement of the French revolution, is attributable to this sort of conduct in the proprietors, *662. The efforts to introduce a better culture into Poland, since the peace of 1814, have been more general, and conducted on more moderate and rational principles. British implements have been imported in considerable numbers, and an iron-foundery and manufactory of machinery of most kinds and agricultural implements is now established in Warsaw. Improved breeds of cattle and sheep have been procured from Prussia and Saxony ; scientific managers are obtained from the German agricultural schools ; and what will contribute essentially to improvement, encouragement is given to foreigners to settle, by letting or selling the crown lands at moderate rates, and not only free from all feudal services for ever, but for a certain period exempted from government taxes. Add to this, that the leibeigeners and metayers of every description may buy up the services which they now render their lords, at very easy rates established by law ; and thus, according to their ambition and means, render themselves partially or wholly independent men. In short, the most judicious measures have been taken, by the new government of Poland, for the improvement of the country ; and they have been followed up with con-= siderable vigour by the proprietors. These proprietors are now a different and very superior class of men to what they were fifty or sixty years ago. They have mostly been officers in the French army, and with it "traversed the greater part of Europe ; better educated than many of the French, and more engaging in their manners than the Germans, they may be considered among the first gentlemen of the Continent. The Polish peasantry arc naturally a much more lively and ingenious race than those of Russia, and since they have been rendered free, they have learned to feel their superiority, and they will gradually participate in the improvement of their masters. Sect. VII. Of the present State of Agriculture in Russia. 663. The rural economy of the Russian empire was first described by Professor Pallas in his travels to explore that country, made by order of the Empress Catherine. It has also been incidentally noticed by various travellers, as Tooke, Coxe, Clarke, and several French and German authors. From these and other works, and a personal residence which occupied nearly a year in 1813 and 1814, we shall present a very concise state- ment of the agricultural circumstances of that semibarbarous country. 664. The territory of Russia which may be subjected to aration commences at the 43° and ends at the 65' J of north latitude. Farther north, the summers are too short for ripeninrr even barley, and the climate too severe for the growth of pasture or trees. It is a black waste, productive of little more than lichens, and supporting a few reindeer. The southern extremity of Asiatic Russia, on the other hand, admits the culture of Italy, and even the southern parts in Europe, that of the maize district of France. 665. The climate of Russia has been divided into four regions, the very cold, cold, temperate, and hot. The very cold extends from 60° to 78° of N. latitude, and includes Archangel. In many of its districts there is scarcely any summer; the spring has in o-eneral much frost, snow, and rain ; and the winter is always severe. In this region there is no agriculture. 666. The cold climate extends from 55 r to 60° N. latitude and includes Cazan Mos- Book I. AGRICULTURE IN RUSSIA. 105 cow, Petersburg, and Riga ; the summer is short, yet in many districts so warm and the days so long, that agricultural crops usually come to perfect maturity in a much shorter space of time than elsewhere. The winters are long and severe, even in the southern parts of the region. The ground round Moscow is generally covered with snow for six months in the year, and we have seen it covered to the depth of several inches in the first week of June. 667. The moderate region extends from 50° to 55° and includes Kioft", Saratoff, Wilna, and Smolensko. The Siberian part of this region being very mountainous, the winters are long and cold ; but in the European part the winter is short and tolerably temperate, and the summer warm and agreeable. The snow, however, generally lies from one to three months, even at Kioflf and Saratoff. 668. The hot region reaches from 43° to 50°, and includes the Taurida, Odessa, Astracan, and the greater part of Caucasus and the district of Kioff. Here the winter is short and the summer warm, hot, and very dry. The atmosphere in all the different climates is in general salubrious, both during the intense colds of the north, and the excessive heats of the southerly regions. The most remarkable circumstance is the shortness of the seasons of spring and autumn, even in the southern regions ; while in the very cold and cold regions they can be hardly said to exist. About Moscow the ter- mination of winter and the commencement of summer generally take place about the end of April. There the rivers, covered a yard in tiiickness with ice, break up at once and overflow their banks to a great extent ; in a fortnight the snow lias disappeared, die rotten-like blocks of ice dissolved, and the rivers are confined to their limits. A crackling from the bursting of buds is heard in the birch forests ; in two days afterwards, they are in leaf; corn which was sown as soon as the lands were sufficiently dry to plough is now sprung up, and wheat and rye luxuriant. Reaping commences in the government of Moscow in September, and is finished by the middle of October. Heavy rains and sleet then come on, and by the beginning of November the ground is covered with snow, which accumulates generally to two or three feet in thickness before the middle of January, and remains with little addition till it dissolves in the following April and May. The climate of Russia, therefore, though severe, is not so uncertain as that of some other countries. From the middle of November till April it scarcely ever snows or rains; and if the cold is severe, it is dry, enlivening, and at least foreseen and provided for. Its greatest evils are violent summer rains, boisterous winds, and continued autumnal fogs. Late frosts are more injurious than long droughts ; though there are instances of such hot and dry summers, that fields of standing corn and forests take fire and fill whole provinces with smoke. {Touke's View of the Russian Empire.) 669. The surface of Russia is almost every where flat, like that of Poland, with the exception of certain ridges of mountains which separate Siberia from the other provinces, and which also occur in Siberian Russia. In travelling from Riga, Petersburg, AVilna, or Brody, to Odessa, the traveller scarcely meets with an inequality sufficiently great to be termed a hill ; but he will meet with a greater proportion of forests, steppes or immense plains of pasture, sandy wastes, marshy surfaces, and gulleys or temporary water-courses, than in any other country of Europe. 670. The soil of Russia is almost every where a soft black mould of great depth, and generally on a sandy bottom. In some places it inclines to sand or gravel ; in many it is peaty or boggy from not being drained : but only in Livonia and some parts of Lithu- ania was it inclined to clay, and no where to chalk. The most fertile provinces are those of Vladimir and Riazane, east of Moscow, and the whole country of the Ukraine on the Black Sea, and of the Cossacks on the Don. In Vladimir thirty-fold is often pro- duced, and still more in Riazane. In many parts of the Ukraine no manure is used; the straw is burned ; successive crops of wheat are taken from the same soil, and after a single ploughing each time, the stalks of which are so tall and thick that they resemble reeds, and the leaves are like those of Indian corn. 671. Landed jrroperty in Russia is almost every where in large tracts, and is either the property of the emperor, the religious or civil corporations, or the nobles. There are a few free natives who have purchased their liberty, and some foreigners, especially Germans, who have landed estates ; but these are comparatively of no account. In the Ukraine, within the last thirty years, have been introduced on the government estates a number of foreigners from most countries of Europe, who may be considered as pro- prietors. These occupy the lands on leases of a hundred years or upwards, at little or no rent, on condition of peopling and cultivating them and residing there. In the country parts of Russia, there is no middle class between the nobles, including the priests, and the slaves. Estates are, dierefore, either cultivated directly by the proprietors, acting as their own stewards ; or indirectly, by letting them to agents or factors, as in Poland and Ireland, or by dividing them in small portions among the peasantry. In general, the proprietor is his own agent and farmer for a great part of lus estate ; and the lest he lets 106 HISTORY OF AGRICULTURE. Part I. to his slaves at certain rates <>f labour, com. persona] services, and sometimes a little money. These slaves, it is to be observed, are as much his property as die soil ; and in seasons of scarcity, or in die even! of any disaster, the lord is bound to provide for them, and indeed deeply interested in doing bo, in order at least to maintain the population, and, if pos- sible/to obtain a surplus for sale or for letting out to the towns. As in Poland, the lands are every where unenclosed. •672. 7V farmeries attached to the houses of noblemen, and the cottages of the peasants, resemble those of Poland They are almost everywhere constructed of timber; the stove and its chimney being the only part built of brick or of mud and stones. The noblemen generally reside on their estates, and their houses are surrounded by the village n hich contains their peasants. These villages (fig. 76.) are in general dull and miserable assemblages of log-houses all of one size and shape, with a small wooden church. The mansions of the poorer nobles are merely cottages on a larger scale, with two apart- ments ; one used for the purposes of the kitchen and other domestic offices, and the other for all the purposes of the family living-rooms : the more wealthy have wooden or brick houses stuccoed, or mudded, and whitewashed. One nobleman in the neigh- bourhood of Moscow has a British steward, who has drained, enclosed, and greatly improved his estate, and has built some farmeries {Jig. 77.) which might be mistaken for those of another country. 673. The agricultural products of Russia may be known from its climates. The Vegetables of the most northerly region are limited to lichens, some coarse grass, and seine birch, abele, and wild pine forests. The animals there are the reindeer, bear, fox, and other beasts of the chase, or in esteem for their furs or skins. Some cows and sheep are also pastured in the northern parts of that region during the summer months. 674. The farming crops of the more southern regions are the same as in similar climates and countries. Winter and summer rye and oats are cultivated in every part of the empire south of latitude 60° ; winter wheat only in Russia as far as the Kama ; summer wheat both in Russia and Siberia; barley and spelt plentifully in Russia. Peas, vetches, and beans are not cultivated in great quantities : but buckwheat is extensively grown, and there is a large variety, called the Tartarian millet ; Fanicum gcrmanicum and maize are grown in Taurida. Ri X is cultivated in some parts of Taurida, and what is called manna (Festiica tliiitans) grows wild in most places that are occasionally overflown with water, particularly in the governments of Novogorod, Twer, Polotsk, and Smolensk. But the grain the most universally cultivated in Russia is rye, which is the bread com of the country ; next oats, which furnish the spirit in common use : and then wheat and barley. 67.5. The culture nf herbage plants, of grasses, clover, turnips, &c, is rare in Russia. Hay is made from the banks of rivers or lakes ; and pasture obtained from the steppes, forests, grass lands in common, or arable lands at rest. Book I. AGRICULTURE IN RUSSIA. 107 676. For clothing and other economical purposes the plants in cultivation are flax, which is cultivated to a great extent on the Volga ; and hemp, which is indigenous, and is culti- vated both for its fibre and its seed. From the latter an oil is expressed much used as food during the time of the fasts. Woad is abundantly grown, madder and cotton have been tried in Astracan and Taurida. Hops grow wild in abundance in some parts of Siberia, and are cultivated in some European districts. Tobacco is planted in great abundance, and the produce in the Ukraine is of excellent quality. The potato is not yet in general cultivation, but has been introduced in different districts. Water melons, cabbages, turnips, and a variety of garden vegetables, are cultivated in the Ukraine and Taurida. Asparagus is extensively cultivated in the government of Moscow for the Petersburg market, and also turnips, onions, and carrots. Mushrooms are found in great plenty in the steppes and forests. About thirty species are eaten by the peasants, exclusive of our garden mushroom, which is neglected. Their names and habitats are given by Dr. Lyali. {History of Moscow, 1824.) The common and Siberian nettle are found wild on the Ural mountains, and their fibres are prepared and woven into linen by the Baschkirs and Tatars. The rearing of silkworms has been tried in the Ukraine, and found to answer, as has the culture of the caper and various other plants. 677. Hemp and flax are extensively cultivated, and form the principal article of exportation. There is nothing very peculiar in their culture ; the soil of the Ukraine is in general too rich for hemp, until reduced by a series of corn crops. Wheat, rye, barley, and oats are succeeded by one or two crops of hemp, and that by a crop of flax ; the whole without any manure. The time of sowing is from the 25th of May to the 10th of June, and that of reaping from the end of August to the end of September. In general the flax is three, and the hemp about four, months in a state of vegetation. The pulling, water, ing, drying, and other processes, are the same as in Britain. 678. Of fruits groivn on a large scale, or plentiful in a wild state in Russia, may be mentioned the raspberry, currant, strawberry, and bilberry. The hazel is so plen- tiful in Kazan, that an oil used as food is made from the nuts. Sugar, musk, and water melons thrive in the open air, as far north as lat. 52°. Pears are wild almost every where, and cherries found in most forests. On the Oka and Volga are extensive orchards, principally of these fruits and apples. The apricot, almond, and peach suc- ceed as standards in Taurida and Caucasus, and other southern districts. The quince is wild in forests on the Terek. Chestnuts are found singly in Taurida and districts adjacent. The walnut abounds in most southern districts. Figs and orange trees grow singly in Kitzliar and in Taurida, planted no doubt by the Tatars before they were driven out of that country. Lemons, oranges, and olives, according to Pallas, would bear the winter in Taurida, and have been tried by Stevens, the director of a government nursery at Nikitka, in that country. The vine is cultivated in the govern- ments of Caucasus, Taurida, Ekatorinoslaf, and other places ; and it is calculated that nearly one fourth part of the empire is fit for the culture of this fruit for wine. An account of the products of the Crimea is given by Mary Holderness (Ifotes, 1821), from which it appears that all the fruits of France may be grown in the open air there, and that many of our culinary vegetables are found in a wild state. The Tatar inhabit- ants, who were driven out by the ambitious wars of Catherine, had formed gardens and orchards round their villages, which still exist, and present a singular combination of beauty, luxuriance, and ruin. The gardens of the village of Karagoss form a wilderness of upwards of three hundred and sixty English acres, full of scenes of the greatest beauty, and through which, she says, it requires a little experience to be able to find one's way. (Notes, 125 — 136.) 679. The live stock of the Russian farmer consists of the reindeer, horse, ox, ass, mule, and camel, as beasts of labour ; the ox, sheep, and swine, and in some places the goat and rabbit, as beasts of clothing and nourishment. Poultry are common, and housed with the family to promote early laying, in order to have eggs by Easter, a great object with a view to certain ceremonies in the Russian religion. Bees are much attended to in the Ural, in some parts of Lithuania, and in the southern provinces. The Russian working horses are remarkably strong and hardy, rather small, with large heads, long flabby ears, not handsome, but not without spirit : the best saddle horses are those of the Cossacks and Tatars in the Crimea. The horned cattle of the native breeds are small and brisk ; the cows give but little milk, which is poor and thin : a Dutch breed was introduced by Peter the Great, near Archangel, and do not degenerate. Oxen are much less used than horses, as beasts of labour. The original Russian sheep is distin- guished by a short tail about seven inches in length : the Merinos, and other breeds from Germany, have been introduced in a few places, and promise success. The great graziers and breeders of horses, cattle, and sheep, in Russia, are the Cossacks of the Don, the Kalmucks, and other nomadic tribes. These supply the greater part of the towns both of Russia and Poland with butcher's meat ; and with the hides and tallow that form so material an article of export. In the northern districts of Russia and Siberia, the chase is pursued as an occupation for a livelihood or gain. The chief object is to 10S HISTOllY OF AGRICULTURE. Part 1, entrap by dogs and mans those animals whose skins an- used as furs, and especially the sable. Next to the latter animal, the grey squirrel is die most valuable ; but foxes, mar- tins, fish, otters, bean, wolves, lynxes, gluttons, ferrets, polecats, and a variety of others, are taken tor their skins by the hunters, who pay a rent or tribute to government in sable skins, or in other fare regulated by the value of those. 68a Theforettsof Ruuiaan hast abundant in the southern districts; but the cold region may, like Poland, be described as one entire forest with extensive glades. Forests Of pine-leaved trees for needle-leaved trees, as the German expression is are chiefly indigenous in she very cold and cold regions. These include the spruce fir, the wild, and black pine, and the Siberian cedar or stone pine (/'inns Cembra). The larch grows on most of the Siberian mountains. Among the leafy trees, the birch is the most com- mon, next the trembling poplar, willow, lime, and ash. The oak is not indigenous in Siberia ; the beech, elm, maple, and poplar, are found chiefly in the southern districts. Timber for construction, fuel, charcoal, bark, potashes, barilla, rosin, tar, pitch, &.C., are obtained from these forests, which can hardly be said to have any sort of culture applied to them. 681 Tar is extracted from the roots of the wild pine These are cut into short pieces, then split, and put into an iron boiler which is closely covered. Fire being applied below, the tar oozes out ot the roots, and collecting in the bottom of the boiler, runs off' by a pipe into a cask, which when closed is fit tor exportation When pitch is wanted, the tar is returned to the boiler, and boiled a second time. BIS. diket for the purposes of lixiviation are obtained by burning every sort ot timber indiscriminately. Alter being lixiviated they are barrelled up and sold for exportation. 683. The implement! and operations of Russian husbandry are the most simple and art- less that can well be imagined. Pallas has given figures of ploughs and other articles ; the former mere crooked sticks pointed, and drawn by horses attached by ropes of bark or straw. Speaking of the operations, he says, " the cultivator sows his oats, his rye, or his millet, in wastes which have never been dunged ; he throws down the seed as if he meant it for the birds to pick up ; he then takes a plough and scratches the earth, and a second horse following with a harrow terminates the work ; the bounty of nature supplies the want of skill, and an abundant crop is produced." This applies to the greater part of ancient Russia and Siberia ; but in Livonia and other Baltic provinces, and also in some parts of the Polish provinces of the Ukraine, the culture is performed in a superior manner, with implements equal to the best of those used in Germany. The most improved form of their carts (Jig 78.), in use round Peters- burg, is evidently copied from those of the Dutch, and was, probably, introduced by Peter the Great. s In the Ukraine they thresh out their own corn by dragging boards studded with flints over it, and preserve it in pits in dry soil. In the northern provinces it is often dried on roofed frames of different sorts (Jig 790, ^ ™ Sweden ; and about Riga and Mittau it is even 79 kilii-dried in the sheaf before it can be stacked or threshed. The r ^ - - ^ manner of performing the operation of kiln-drying in the sheaf, as it may sometimes be applicable in North Britain or Ireland in very late and wet seasons, we shall afterwards describe. ( Part III. Book VI. Ch. II.) 684. In no part of Europe are the field operations performed with such facility as in Russia, not only from the light nature of the soil, but from the severity and long continuance of the winters, which both pulverises the surface and destroys weeds. The same reasons prevent grass lands, or lands neglected or left to rest, from ever acquiring a close sward or tough rooty surface, so that even these are broken up with a very rude plough and very little labour. In short, there is no country in Europe where corn crops may be raised at so little expense of labour as in Russia ; and as no more than one corn crop can be got in the year in almost any country, so Russia may be said to be, and actually is, even with her imperfect cultivation, better able to raise im- mense quantities of corn than any part of the world, except, perhaps, similar parts of North America. 685. The improvement of Russian agriculture was commenced by Peter the Great, and continued by Catherine, and the late and present emperor. The peasants, on many of the government estates, were made free ; some of these estates were let or sold to freemen, and foreign agriculturists encouraged to settle on them. Rewards and premiums were given, and professorships of rural economy established in different parts of the empire. Some of the principal nobles have also made great efforts for the improvement of agriculture. Count Romansow, about the end of the last century, procured a British farme) ( Rogers), and established him on his estate near Moscow, w here he has intra- Book I. AGRICULTURE IN SWEDEN AND NORWAY. 109 duced the improved Scotch husbanary, drained extensively, established a dairy, and introduced the potato there and on other estates belonging to his master. Others have made similar efforts, and several British farm bailiffs are now settled in Russia. The foreigners, merchants in Petersburg, or Riga, or in the employ of government, have also contributed to the improvement of agriculture. Many of these, intending to establi^i their families in Russia, purchase estates, and some receive presents in land from the emperor. On these they in general introduce the culture of their native country, which, if only in the superiority of the live stock and implements, is certain of being better than that of the natives. In short, from these circumstances, and from the comparatively rational views of the present government, there can be no doubt of the rapid increase of agriculture and population in Russia. Sect. VIII. Of the present Slate of Agriculture in Sweden and Norway. 686. Siceden and Norway are not agricultural countries; but still great attention has been paid to perfect such culture as they admit of, both by the government and indi- viduals. From the time of Charles XL, in the end of the seventeenth century, various laws for the encouragement of agriculture have been passed, professorships founded, rewards distributed, and the state of the kingdom, in respect to its agricultural resources, examined by Linnanis and other eminent men. Norway, till lately under the dominion of Denmark, is chiefly a pastoral country ; but its live stock and arable culture have been much improved during the end of the last, and beginning of the present, century, by the exertions of the Patriotic Society established in that country, which gives pre- miums for the best improvements and instructions in every part of tanning. Our notices of the rural economy of these countries are drawn from Clarke, Thomson, James, and our own memoranda, made there in 1813. 687. The climate of Sweden and Norway is similar to that of the cold and very cold regions of Russia, but rather milder in its southern districts, on account of the numer- ous inlets of the sea. The lands on the sea-coast of Norway are not, on this account, so cold as their latitude would lead us to expect ; still the winters are long, cold, and dreary ; and the summers short and hot, owing to the length of the day and the reflection of the mountains. So great is the difference of temperature, that at Sideborg, in the latitude of Upsal, in June or July, it is frequently eighty or eighty-eight degrees, and in January at forty or fifty below the freezing point. The transition from sterility to luxuriant vegetation is in -this, as it is in similar climates, sudden and rapid. In the climate of Upsal, the snow disappears in the open fields from the 6th to the 10th of May ; barley is sown from the 13th to the 15th of that month, and reaped about the middle of August. In some parts of Norway corn is sown and cut within the short period of six or seven weeks. According to a statement published in the Amcen. Acad. vol. iv., a Lapland summer, including also what in other countries are called spring and autumn, consists of fifty-six days, as follows : — June 23. snow melts. July 1. snow gone. 9. fields quite green. 17. plants at full growth. 25. plants in full blow. Aug. 2. fruits ripe. 10. plants shed their seeds. 18. snow. From this time to June 23. the ground is every where covered with snow, and the waters with ice. In such a climate no department of agriculture can be expected to nourish. The cul- ture of corn is only prevalent in two districts, east Gothland, and the eastern shores of the Gulf of Bothnia, now belonging to Russia. *688. The surface of Sweden every body knows to be exceedingly rocky and hilly, and to abound in fir and pine forests, and in narrow green valleys, often containing lakes or streams. " Sweden," Dr. Clarke observes, " is a hilly, but not a mountainous country, excepting in its boundary from the Norwegian provinces. It has been remarked, that in all countries, the abutment of the broken strata, which constitute the earth's surface every where, causes a gradual elevation to take place towards the north-west ; hence, in all countries, the more level districts will be found upon the eastern, and the mountainous or metalliferous region upon the western side ; either placed as a natural boundary against the territory occurring next in succession ; or terminating in rocks of primary formation opposed as cliffs towards the sea." (Clarke's Scandinavia.) This is precisely the case with Sweden : the south-eastern provinces are level and cultivated ; a ridge of mountains on the west separates it from Norway ; and the intermediate space, from Gothenberg to Tornea, may be considered as one continued forest, varied by hills, rocks, lakes, streams, glades of pasture, and spots of corn culture. Norway may be consi- dered as a continuation of the central country of Sweden, terminated by cliffs opposed to the ocean. " The tops and sloping sides of the mountains," Dr. Clarke observes, " are covered with verdure ; farms are stationed on a series of tabular eminences, and grazing around them the herds of cattle all the way from the top to the bottom, no HISTORY OF AGRICULTURE. Part !. ami sometimes i" pl»cei K> -"'!'• 'I" 1 •« """' k '' how tla - v ""^ fi ? d * f ° 0t ; ing. In some places the elevation of these farms is so extraordinary, that the houses and Bocksappear above the clouds, and bordering on perpelual snow, and the actual site of them is hardly to be credited. Every hanging-meadow is pas- tured by cows and goats; the latter often browsing upon jutties, so fearfully placed, that their destruction seems to be inevit- able ; below is seen the village church with its spire, the whole built of plank (fig. 80.J ; the cheerful bleatings of the sheep, mingled at intervals with the deep tones of the cow-herds' lures {Jig. 81.), resounding from the woods. The lure is a long trumpet made of splinters of wood, bound together by withy." 689. Of FMand, which we have included with Sweden and Norway, a considerable part is under corn culture; the forests cleared, the lands enclosed, and population increased. The whole country ap- pears decked with farm-houses, and village churches, rising t.) the view or falling from it, over an undulat- ing district, amidst woods and water, and rocks, and large loose masses of granite : it may be called Norway in miniature. Farther up the country, towards the north, there are scenes which were de- scribed to Dr. Clarke as unrivalled in the world. Even- charm which the effect of cultivation can give- to the aspect of a region where Nature's wildest features — headlong cataracts, lakes, majestic rivers, and forests — are combined, may there be seen. {Scandinavia, sect. ii. p. 459.) 690. The soil of the valleys is, in general, good friable loam, but so mixed with stones as to render it very troublesome to plough or harrow ; and in many places so much so, that where the valleys are cultivated it is chiefly with the spade. The only exception to these remarks is a considerable tract of comparatively even surface in South and East Gothland, where the soil inclines to clay and is well cultivated, and is as prolific in corn crops as any in Europe. 691. The landed property of Sweden is generally in estates of a moderate size ; in many cases their extent in acres is unknown, their value being estimated by the number of stock grazed in summer. The proprietors almost constantly farm their own estates, or let them out at fixed rents, in money or grain, to cottagers or farmers. The largest arable farms not occupied by the proprietors are in Gothland ; but few of these exceed two hundred acres. The farm-build- ings and cottages are there almost al- ways built of timber and thatched, on account of the warmth of these materials, though stone is abundant in most places. There are a few small enclosures near the farm-yard; but to enclose generally could be of no use in a country where the 8:J snow, during six or eight months in the year, renders them nuga- tory either as shelters or fences. The fence in universal use is made of splinters of deal, set up in a sloping position, and fastened by withies to upright poles. {Jig. 82.) This is the only fence used in Sweden. Norway, Lapland, and Finland; and it is very com- mon in Poland, Russia, and the northern parts of Germany. 692. The Swedish cottage* are built of logs, like those of Poland {fig. 83.), but they are roofed in a different manner. Above the usual covering of boards is laid birch bark in the manner of tiles, and on that a layer of turf, so thick that the ^ grass grows as vigorously as on a natural meadow. The walls "%*~*Sto-=*- =■ are often painted red. They are very small, and generally very close and dirty Book I. AGRICULTURE IN SWEDEN AND NORWAY. Hi \ / within, at least in winter. There are various exceptions, however as to cleanliness, especially among the post-masters, who are all farmers. The post-house at Yfre north of Stockholm, was found by Dr. Clarke and his party so " neat and com- fortable, and every thing belonging to it in such order," that they resolved to dine there. " The women were spinning wool, weaving, heating the oven, and teaching children to read, all at the same time. The dairy was so clean and cool, that we preferred having our dinner there rather than in the parlour. For our fare they readily set before us a service consisting of bacon, eggs, cream, curd, and milk, sugar, bread, butter, &C ; and our bill of fare for the whole amounted only to twenty pence ; receiving which they were very thankful. Cleanliness in this farmer's family was quite as conspicuous as in any part of Switzerland. The tables, chairs, and the tubs in which they kept their provisions, were as white as washing could make them ; and the most extraordinary industry had been exerted in clearing the land, and in rendering it produc- tive. They were at this time employed in removing rocks, and in burning them for levigation, to lay the earth again upon the soil." (Scandinavia, sect. i. p. 179.) *693. The cottages in Norway are formed as in Sweden, covered with birch, bark, and turf. On some of the roofs, after the hay was taken, Dr. Clarke found lambs pas- turing ; and on one house he found an excellent crop of turnips. The gal- leries about their houses remind the traveller of Switzerland. 694. The cottages of the Laplanders are round huts of the rudest description. ( Jig. 84 ) 695. The agricultural produce of Sweden are the common corns. Wheat and rye are -, chiefly grown in South and East Gothland; oats are the bread corn of the country ; and big, or Scotch barley, is the chief corn of Lapland and the north of Norway. The bean and pea are grown in Gothland, and potatoes, flax, and enough of tobacco for home consumption, by every farmer and cottager. Only a few districts &£' grow sufficient corn for their own consumption, .a and annual importations are regular. -jfi 696. The Cenomyce rangiferina, or reindeer moss 7& (frS' 85.), is not only used by the reindeer, but also as fodder for cows and other horned cattle. It adds a superior richness to the milk and butter. It is sometimes eaten by the inha- bitants ; and Dr. Clarke, having tasted it, found it crisp and agreeable. 697. RocceUla tinctoria (Jig. 86. '), which abounds near Gottenburg and in other parts of Sweden, was in considerable demand in the early part of last war as a scarlet dye. 698. The Lycopodium complanatum (Jig. 86.) is employed in dyeing their woollen. Even the leaves, as they fall from the trees, are care- fully raked together and preserved, to increase the stock of fodder. (Scandinavia, chap, yviii.) 699. Tar, in Sweden, is chiefly extracted from the roots of the spruce fir, and the more marshy the forest the more the roots are said to yield. Roots or billets of any kind are packed close in a kiln, made like our limekilns, in the face of a bank. They are covered with turf and earth, as in burning charcoal. At the bottom of the kiln is an iron pan, into which the tar runs during the smothered combustion of the wood. A spout from the iron pan conveys the barrels in which it arrives in this country. tar at once into 1)'-' HISTORY OF AGRICULTURE. Part I. 87 too. The nathe treet and ptantt aflbrd importanl products for die farmer. " Tlieindustry of the Norwegians," Dr. Clarke observes, "induces them to appropriate almost every tiling to some useful purpose, ["heir lummum bonum seems to consist in the produce of the lir (»'. ,-. the wild pine, not the spruce lir;. This tree affords materials for building their houses, churches, and bridges; for every article of their household furniture; for constructing sledges, carts, and boats ; besides fuel for their hearths. With its leaves (here the spruce fir is alluded to) they strew their Unci-,, and after- wards burn them and collect the ashes for manure. The birch affords, in its leaves and tender twigs, a grateful fodder for their cattle, and bark for covering their houses. The bark of the elm, in powder, is boiled up with other food, to fatten hogs ; sometimes, but rarely, it is mixed in the com- position of their bread. The flowers of the baeg-ber (Cornus mascula flavour their distilled spirits. The moss, as a sub- stitute for mortar, is used in calking the interstices between their under walls. The turf covers their roofs. ^ ', 701. The berries of the Claud-berry (Mulms Chanuembrus) r *%'>v> ( fig. 88.) are used in Lapland and the north of Sweden and Norway like the strawberry, and are esteemed as wholesome as 88 they are agree- able. Dr. Clarke was cured of a bilious fever chiefly from eating freely of this fruit. They are used as a sauce to meat, and put into soup even, in Stockholm. 70'2. The live stock of the Swedish farmer consists chiefly of cows. These are treated in the same maimer as in Switzerland. About the middle of May they are turned into meadows ; towards the middle of June driven to the heights, or to the forests, where they continue till autumn. They are usually attended by a woman, who inhabits a small hut, milks them twice a day, and makes butter and cheese on the spot. On their return, the cattle are again pastured in the meadows, until the snow sets in about the middle of October, when they are removed to the cow-houses, and fed during winter with four fifths of straw and one of hay. In some places, portions of salted fish are given with the straw. The horses are the chief animals of labour ; they are a small, hardy, spirited race, fed with hay and oat-straw the greater part of the year, and not littered, which is thought to preserve them from diseases. Sheep are not numerous, requir- ing to be kept under cover so great a portion of the year. Pigs and poultry are common. 703. The implements and 89 operations of Swedish agricul- ture are simple, and in many places of an improved descrip- tion. The swing plough, with an iron mould-board, is general throughout Gothland, and is drawn by two horses. The plough of Osterobothnia | Jig. 89) is drawn by a single horse, and sometimes by a peasant, and called to Dr. Clarke's mind " the old Sammte plough, as it is 7~J still used in the neighbourhood of Beueventum, in Italy, 2 where a peasant, by means of a cord passed over his shoulder, draws the plough, which his companion guides. It only di Hers from the most ancient plough of Egypt, as we see it represented upon images of Osiris [Jig. 90.), in having a double instead of a single coulter." (Scandinavia, ch. xiii.) They have a very convenient cradle-scythe for mowing oats and barley, which we shall afterwards describe ; a smaller scythe, not unlike that of I lainault, for cutting grass and clovers; and, among other planting instruments, a frame of dibblers [Jig. 91.) f. r planting beans and peas at equal distances. *704. Farming operations are, in general, as neatly performed as any where in Britain. The humidity of the climate has given TTT Book I. AGRICULTURE IN SPAIN AND PORTUGAL. 113 \,_ \ rise to various tedious but ingenious processes for making hay and drying corn. The latter often remains in the fields in shocks or in small ricks, after the ground is covered with snow, till the clear frosts set in, when it becomes dry, and may be taken home. Besides the common mode of plachv the sheaves astride with the ear-, downwards on hori- zontal fir poles {Jig. 92 ), there are various others. In some places young fir trees, with the stumps of the ^ branches left on, are fixed in the ground, and the r * J ^s-c?? r - ^- t^trr.ij^-^ sheaves hung on them, like flowers on a maypole, the topmost sheaf serving as a cap or finish to all the rest. Sometimes covered rails or racks are resorted to (Jig. 79.) : at other times skeleton roofs or racks are formed, and the sheaves distributed over them. (Jig 93.) Often in Norway the corn is obliged to be cut<>reen, from the sudden arrival of winter. Dr. Clarke found it in this state in October ; and near Christiana it was suspended on poles and racks to dry, above fields covered with ice and snow. Corn is threshed in the north of Sweden by passing over it a threshing- carriage, which is sometimes • „ \ I 'M— \£ x L made of cast-iron, and has twenty wheels, and sometimes more. 'Hie sheaves are spread on a floor of boards, and a week's labour of one carriage, horse, and man will not thresh more than a ton of corn, because the crop being always cut before it is fully ripened, its tex- ture is exceedingly tough. The hay is sometimes dried in the same maimer. After all, they are in some seasons obliged to dry both, especially the corn, in sheds or barns heated by stoves, as in Russia. (683.) In mowing hay in Eapland the scythe, the blade of which is not larger than a sickle, is swung by the mower to the right and left, turning it in his hands with great dexterity. 705. The forests of Sweden are chiefly of the wild pine and spruce fir ; the latter supplies the spars, and the former the masts and building timber so extensively exported. The roads in Norway, as in some parts of Russia, are formed of young trees laid across and covered with earth, or left bare. Turpentine is extracted from the pine : the outer bark of the beech is used for covering houses, and the inner for tanning. The birch is tapped for wine ; and the spray of this tree, and of the elm, alder, and willow is dried with the leaves on in summer, and fagoted and stacked for winter fodder. The young wood and inner bark of the pine, fir, and elm, are powdered and mixed with meal for feeding swine. 706. The chase is pursued as a profitable occupation in the northern parts of Sweden, and for the same animals as in Russia. 707. If any one, says Dr. Clarke, wishes to see what English farmers once were, and how they fared, he should visit Norway. Immense families, all sitting down toge- ther at one table, from the highest to the lowest. If but a bit of butter be called for in one of these houses, a mass is brought forth weighing six or eight pounds ; and so highly ornamented, being turned out of moulds, with the shape of cathedrals, set off with Gothic spires and various other devices, that, according to the language of our English fanners' wives, we should deem it "almost a pity to cut." (Scandinavia, ch. xvi.) They do not live in villages, as in most other countries, but every one on his farm, however small. They have in consequence little intercourse with strangers, except during winter, when they attend fairs at immense distances, for the purpose of disposing of produce, and purchasing articles of dress. " What would be thought in England," Dr. Clarke asks, " of a labouring peasant, or the occupier of a small farm, making a journey of nearly 700 miles to a fair, for the articles of their home consumption ? " Yet he found Finns at the fair at Abo, who had come from Torneo, a distance of 079 miles, for this purpose. 708. With respect In improvement the agriculture of Sweden is, perhaps, susceptible of less than that of any of the countries we have hitherto examined ; but what it wants will be duly and steadily applied, by the intelligence and industry of all ranks in that country. It must not be forgotten, however, that it is a country of forests and mines, and not of agriculture. Sect. IX. Of the present Slate tf Agriculture in Spain and Portugal. 709. Spain, when a Roman province, was undoubtedly as far advanced in agriculture as any part of the empire. It was overrun by the Vandals and Visigoths in the be- ginning of the fifth century, under whom it continued till conquered by the floors in the beginning of the eighth century. The Moors continued the chief possessors of Spain I ii-i HISTORY OF AGRICULTURE. Pari 1. until the middle of the thirteenth century. They are said to have materially improved agriculture during this period; to have introduced various new plants from Africa, and also bucket-wheels for irrigation. Professor Thouin mentions an ancient work by Ebu-al-Awam of Seville, of which a translation into Spanish was made by Banquieri of Madi id, in 1 so'j, w 1 1 i«.-i i contains some curious particulars of the culture of the Moors in Spain. The Moors and Arabs were always celebrated for their knowledge of plants; and, according to Ilaric, one fourth of the names of the useful plants of Spain are of Arabian extraction. Tic. Agricidlurt formed the princi]>al and most honourable occupation among the Moors, and more especially in Granada. So great was their attention to manure, that it was preserved in pits, walled round with rammed earth to retain moisture: irrigation was employed in every practicable situation. The Moorish or Mohammedan religion forbade them to sell their superflous corn to the surrounding nations; hut in years of plenty it was deposited in the caverns of rocks and in other excavations, some of which, as Jacob informs us [Travels, let. \iii.;, are still to be seen on the hills ot Granada These ex- cavations were lined with straw, and are said (erroneously, we believe, to have preserved the corn for such a length of time, that, when a child was born, a cavern was tilled with corn which was destined to be his portion when arrived at maturity. The Moors were particularly attentive to the culture of fruits, of which they introduced all the best kinds now found in Spain, besides the sugar and cotton. Though wine was forbidden, vines were cultivated to a great extent ; for forbidden pleasures form a main source of enjoy- ment in every country. An Arabian author, who wrote on agriculture about the year I 140, and who quotes another author of his nation, who wrote in 1073, gives the follow- ing directions for the cultivation of the sugar-cane : — 71 1. The ccuics " .should be planted in the month of March, in a plain, sheltered from the east wind, and near to water ; thej should lie well manured with cow-dung, and watered every fourth day, till the .shoots are one palm in height, when they should lie dug round, manured with the dung of sheep, and watered every night and day till the month of October. In January, when the canes are ripe, they should he cut into short pieces and crushed in the mill: 'Hie juice should he boiled in iron caldrons, and left to cool till it becomes clarified ; it should then he boiled again, till the fourth part only remains, when it should he put into vases of clay, of a conical form, and placed in the shade to thicken ; afterwards the sugar must be drawn from the canes and left to cool. The canes, alter the juice is expressed, are preserved for tile horses, who eat them greedily, and become fat by feeding on them. {Ebn-al-Ainam, by Biinquiert. Madrid, 1801, fol ) From the above extract it is evident sugar has been cultivated in Spain upwards of ,ii yean, and probably two or three centuries before. 71 '2. About the end of the fifteenth century the Moors were driven out of Spain, and the kingdom united under one monarchy. Under Charles V., in the first half of the sixteenth century, South America was discovered ; and the prospect of making fortunes, by working the mines of that country, is said to have depressed the agriculture of Spain to a degree that it has never been able to surmount. (Hey tins Cosmograjihia. Lond. 1657.) Albyterio, a Spanish author of the seventeenth century, observes, " that the people who sailed to America, in order to return laden with wealth, would have done their country much better service to have staid at home and guided the plough ; for more persons were employed in opening mines and bringing home money, than the money in effect proved worth : " this author thinking with Montesquieu, that those riches were of a bad kind which depend on accidental circumstances, and not on industry and ap- plication. 713. The earliest Spanish work on agriculture generally appeared in 1569, by Herrera : it is a treatise in many books, and, like other works of its age, is made up of extracts from the Roman authors. Herrera, however, had not only studied the ancients, but visited Germany, Italy, and part of Fiance: his work has been translated into several languages ; and the later editions contain some essays and memoirs by Augustin, author of Secrets tic V Agriculture, Gonzalo de las Cazas on the silkworm, and Mendez and others on bees. 714. The agriculture of Spain in the mitldle of the eighteenth century was in a very neg- lected state. According to I [arte, " the inhabitants of Spain were then too lazy and proud to work. Such pride and indolence are death to agriculture in every country. Want of good roads and navigable rivers (or, to speak more properly, the want of making rivers navigable) has helped to ruin the Spanish husbandry. To which we may add another discouraging circumstance, namely, ' that the sale of an estate vacates the lease : Venta deschaze tenia.' Nor can corn be transported from one province to another. The Spaniards plant no timber, and make few or no enclosures. With abundance of ex- cellent cows, they are strangers to butter, and deal so little in cows' milk, that, at Madrid, those who drink milk with their chocolate, can only purchase goats' milk. What would Columella say (having written so largely on the Andalusian dairies), if it were possible for him to revisit this country? For certain it is that every branch of rural economies, in the time of him and his uncle, was carried to as high perfection in Spain as in any part of the Roman empire. Though they have no idea of destroying weeds, and scratch the ground instead of ploughing it, yet nature has been so bounti- Book I. AGRICULTURE IN SPAIN AND PORTUGAL. 115 ful to tl.em, that they raise the brightest and firmest wheat of any in Christendom." (Essays, i.) 715. A general spirit for improvement seems to have sprung up in Spain with the nine- teenth century, though checked for a while by the wars against Bonaparte; subsequently retarded by internal discords; and again by the cruel interference of the French in 1823. In the midst of these troubles, economical societies have been established at Madrid, Valen- cia, and Saragossa. That of the latter place is connected with a charitable bank in favour of distressed farmers. Money is advanced to defray the expenses of harvest, and two years allowed for returning it. It commenced its operations in June 180i, and then dis- tributed 458/. 2s. to one hundred and ten husbandmen. In the August following it had furnished sixty-two horses to as many indigent farmers. The Patriotic Society of Madrid distinguished itself by a memoir on the advancement of agriculture, and on agrarian laws, addressed to the supreme council of Castile, in 1S12. It was drawn up by a distinguished member, Don G. M. Jovellanos, who recommends the enclosure of lands, the enactment of laws favourable to agriculturists, the prevention of the accumulation of landed property in mortmain tenure ; exposes the noxious state of the estates of the clergy, of various taxes on agricultural productions, and of restrictions on trade and the export of corn. His whole work breathes the most liberal, enlightened, and benevolent spirit, and was in consequence so offensive to the clergy, that they pro- cured his condemnation by the inquisition. (Ed. Rev- ; Jacob's Travels ) 716. The climate of Spain is considered by many as superior to that of any country in Europe. It is every where dry, and though the heat in some provinces is very great in the day, it is tempered during the night by breezes from the sea, or from the ridges of high mountains which intersect the country in various directions. In some provinces the heat has been considered insalubrious, but this is owing to the undrained marshes, from which malignant effluvia are exhaled. The mean temperature of the elevated plains of Spain is 59°; that of the coasts, from 41° to 36° of latitude, is between 63^° and b8 u , and is therefore suitable for the sugar-cane, coffee, banana, and all plants of the West India agriculture, not even excepting the pine-apple. The latter is cultivated in the open air in some gardens in Valencia and at Malaga. 717. The surface of Spain is more irregular and varied by mountains, than that either of France or Germany. These intersect the country at various distances from east to west, and are separated by valleys or plains. The strata of the mountains are chiefly granitic or calcareous ; but many are argillaceous, some silicious, and Mont- serrat, near Cordova, is a mass of rock salt. A remarkable feature in the surface of Spain is the height of some of its plains above the level of the sea. According to Humboldt, the plain of Madrid is the highest plain in Europe that occupies any extent of country. It is 3098 fathoms above the level of the ocean, which is fifteen times higher than Paris. This circumstance both affects the climate of that part of the country, and its susceptibility of being improved by canal or river navigation. The rivers and streams of Spain are numerous, and the marshes not very common. Forests, or rather forest-wastes, downs, and Merino sheep-walks are numerous, and, with o.her un- cultivated tracts and heaths, are said to amount to two-thirds of the surface of the country. Some tracts are well cultivated in the vine districts, as about Malaga ; and others in the corn countries, as about Oviedo. The resemblance between the Asturias and many parts of England is very striking. The same is the aspect of the country, as to verdure, enclosures, live hedges, hedge-rows, and woods ; the same mixture of woodlands, arable, and rich pasture ; the same kind of trees and crops, and fruit, and cattle. Both suffer by humidity in winter, yet, from the same source, find an ample recompense in summer ; and both enjoy a temperate climate, yet, with this difference, that as to humidity and heat, the scale preponderates on the side of the Asturias. In sheltered spots, and not far distant from the sea, they have olives, vines, and oranges. (Townsend's Spain, i. 318.) 718. The soil of Spain is in general light, and either sandy or calcareous, reposing on beds of gypsum or granite. The poorest soil is a ferrugineous sand on sandstone rock, only to be rendered of any value by irrigation. The marshes, and also the best meadow soils, are along the rivers. 719. The landed property of Spain till the late revolution was similarly circumstanced to that of France and Germany ; that is, in the possession of the crown, great nobles, and religious and civil corporations. Tithes were more rigidly exacted by the clergy of Spain, than by those of any other country of Europe (Jacob's Travels, 99-), and a composition in lieu of tithes was unknown in most provinces. Great part of the lands of the religious corporations are now sold, and a new class of proprietors are ori- ginating, as in France. Some of these estates are of immense extent. The monks of Saint Hieronymo told Jacob that they could travel twenty-four miles fiom Seville on their own property, which is rich in corn, oil, and wine. Such was the corruption of this convent, that, notwithstanding all their riches, they were deeply in debt. Lands I 2 I hi IIIxTOKY OF AGRICULTURE. P i. win- and are cultivated in great part by their proprietors; and even the monasteries held large tracts in hand before their dissolution. What is Farmed, is let out in small portions of arable land, with large tracts of pasture or waste, and a fixed rent is gene- rally paid, chiefly in kind. The lands are open every where, except immediately round towns and villages. Many persons in Granada are so remote from the farmeries, that during harvesl the farmers and their labourers live in tents on the spot, both when tiny art- sow in..; die corn, and when cutting and threshing it. The hedges about Cadiz are formed of the soccotrine aloe and prickly pear; the latter producing al the same time an agree- able fruit, and supporting the cochineal insert. Farm-houses and cottages are generally built of stone or brick, and often of rammed earth, and arc covered with tiles or thatch. 720. A bad feature in the policy oftke old government, considered highly injurious to agriculture and tin' improvement of landed property, deserves to be mentioned. This is, the right which the corporation of the mesta or merino proprietors possess, to drive their sheep over all the estates which lie in their route, from their summer pasture in the north, to their winter pasture in the south, of the kingdom* This practice, which we shall afterwards describe at length, must of course prevent or retard enclosing and aration. The emfiteutic contract is another bad feature. It prevails in Catalonia, and is found in various other parts of the kingdom. 15y the emfiteutic contract the great proprietor, inheriting more land than he can cultivate to prolit, has power to grant any given quantity for a term of years; either absolute or conditional ; either for lives or in perpetuity; always reserving a quit rent, like our copyhold, with a relief on every suc- cession, a line on the alienation of the land, and other seignorial rights dependent on the custom of the district ; such as tithes, mills, public-houses, the obligation to plough his land, to furnish hitn with teams, and to pay hearth-money, with other contributions, by way of commutation for ancient stipulated services. One species of grant for unculti- vated land, tube planted with vines, admitted formerly of much dispute. The tenant, holding his land as long as the first planted vines should continue to bear fruit, in order to prolong this term, was accustomed to train layers from the original stocks, and, by metaphysical distinctions between identity and diversity, to plead that the first planted vines were not exhausted, claiming thus the inheritance in perpetuity. After various litigations and inconsistent decisions of the judges, it was finally determined, that this species of grant should convey a right to the possession for fifty years, unless the plantation itself should previously fail. 721. The agricultural products ofSpain include all those of the rest of Europe, and most of those of the West Indies ; besides all the grains, for the production of which some provinces are more celebrated than others, and most of them are known to produce the best wheat in Europe. Boswell of Bahnuto, a Scottish landholder, when at Xeres de la l'rontcira, in the winter of ISO!), was shown, on the estate of Mr. Gordon, a very beautiful crop of turnips, w ith drills drawn in the most masterly style. The drills were by a ploughman of East Lothian, and therefore their accuracy was not to be wondered at ; but the turnips showed what the soil and climate were capable of producing under judicious management. Otlur products are flax, hemp, esparto, palmetto (ChamaeVops humilis), madder, saffron, aloe, cork tree (Qui reus .S'uber) ; the kermes grana, a species of coccus, whose body in the grub state yields a beautiful scarlet colour, and which forms its nidus on the shrub Quercus COCcifera ; soda from the Salicomia and other plants of the salt marshes ; honey from the forests ; dates f/'hic'nix dacty lifera), coffee, almonds, filberts, figs, olives, grapes, peaches, prickly pears, carob brans (the locust trees of scripture. Teratoma siliqua), oranges, lemons, pomegranates, and other fruits. 7J-'. Tin- esparto rush (.SVly«/ tenacUdma L.) grows villi on the plains, and is made into a variety of articles for common use It is em- 94 jib &k l £■/ J ■ ■ ■ /. against the rocks as those which are made of hemp. It is also woven into floorcloths and carpets, and made into baskets or panniers, for carrying produce to market, or manure to the tields. In Pliny's time this plant was used by the poor for beds, by the shepherds for gar- ments, and by thefishermen for nets; but it is now superseded for these and various other ends by the hemp and llax. 723. The pita, or aloe (./'loe soccotorina, Ji« <3 j^Ss U'gP *VJ#=* mm* 94. ), is an important plant in the hus- Book I. AGRICULTURE IN SPAIN AND PORTUGAL. 1)7 bandry of Spain. It grows by the leaf, which it is only necessary to slip off, and lay on the ground with the broad end inserted a little way in the soil : it makes excellent fences ; and the fibres, separated from the mucilage, have been twisted into ropes, and woven into cloth. Bowles, the best Spanish writer on natural history, says, the mucilage might easily be made into brandy. The same plant is used as the boundary fence for villages in the East Indies, and is found a powerful obstacle to cavalry. 724. The hiiia, or Indian fig (Cactus (Jpuntia, fig. 94. b), is cultivated in the plains of Seville for its fruit, and also for raising the cochineal insect. It is either grown on rocky places or as hedges. 725. The palmetto, or fan palm (ChanWrops humilis), is grown near Seville. From the foot-stalks of the leaves, brushes and brooms of various kinds are formed both for borne use and exportation. 726. The potato is grown, but not in large quantities; nor so good as in England. The Irish merchants of the sea-ports import them for themselves and friends. The batatas, or sweet potato (Convolvulus Batatas), turnips, carrots, cabbages, broccoli, celery, onions, garlic, melons, pumpkins, cucumbers, &c, are grown in large quantities. 727. Though the olice is grown to greater perfection in Spain than in Italy, yet the oil is the worst in Europe ; because the growers are thirled, that is obliged to grind their fruit at certain mills. To such mills {fig- 95.) all the olives of a district are obliged to be carried ; and, as they cannot all be ground alone, they are put into heaps to wait their turn : these heaps heat and spoil, and when crushed, produce only an acrid rancid oil. 728. The vine is cultivated in every pro- vince of Spain, and chiefly in those of the east and south. The old sherry wine, Xeres seco, the sherry sack of Shakspeare, is pro- duced in Valencia and Granada, and especially near Malaga. On the hills surrounding this city are upwards of seven thousand vineyards, cultivated by the proprietors, or by petty tenants who pay their rent monthly when in money, or during harvest when in kind. The first gathering of grapes commences in the month of June, and these are dried in the sun, and form what are known in Europe as Malaga raisins. A second crop is gathered in September, and a wine made from it resembling sherry ; and a third in October and November, which furnishes the wine known on the Continent as Malaga, and in England as mountain. In Valencia the grapes for raisins are steeped in boiling water, sharpened with a ley made from vine stems, and then exposed in the air, and sus- pended in the sun till they are sufficiently dry. 729. The sugar-cane (Sdccharum officindrum) is cultivated to a considerable extent in Malaga and other places, and the ground is irrigated with the greatest care. The sugar produced resembles that of Cuba, and comes somewhat cheaper than it can be procured from the West India Islands. Sugar has been cultivated in Spain upwards of seven hundred years ; and Jacob is of opinion that capital only is wanted to push this branch of culture to a considerable extent. 730. The white mulberry is extensively grown for rearing the silkworm, especially in Murcia, Valencia, and Granada. The silk is manufactured into stuffs and ribands in Malaga. 731. Of other fruits cultivated may be mentioned the fig, which is grown in most parts of Spain, and the fruit used as food, and dried for exportation. The gum cistus (Cistus ladaniferus, fig. 96.) grows wild, and the gum which exudes from it is eaten by the common people. The caper shrub grows wild, and is cultivated in some places. The orange and lemon are abundant, and also the pomegranate. 732. Other productions, such as coffee, cotton, cocoa, indigo, pimento, pepper, banana, plantain, &c , were culti- vated in Granada for many ages before the West Indies or America was discovered, and might be carried to such an extent as to supply the whole or greater part of Europe. 733. The rotations of common crops vary according to the soil and climate. In some parts of the fertile plains of Malaga, wheat and barley are grown alternately without either fallow or manure. The common course of crops about Barcelona, according to Townsend, is, 1. wheat, which, being ripe in June, is immediately succeeded by 2. Indian corn, hemp, millet, cabbage, kidnevbeans, or I 3 118 HISTORY OF AGRICULTURE. Part I. lettuce. In the second year the same crops arc repeated ; and in the third, the place of wheat is supplied by barley) beans, or retches. In this way sis valuable crops are obtained in three years. Wheat produces tenfold ; in rainy seasons fifteen, and in some places as much as lifty, for one. Near Carthagena the course is wheat, barley, and fallow. For wheat they plough thrice, and sow from the middle of November to the beginning of December ; and in July they nap from ten to one hundred for one, as the season happens to be dry or humid. The Huerta, or rich vale of Alicant, yields a perpetual suc- cession of crops. Barley is sown in September, and reaped in April ; succeeded by maize, reaped in September; and that by a mixed crop of esculents. Wheat is sown in November, and reaped in June ; flax sown in September is pulled in May. In the vale of Valencia, wheal yields from twenty to forty fold ; barley from eighteen to twenty- four fold ; oats from twenty to thirty fold ; maize, one hundred fold ; rice, forty fold. 734. The live stuck of (he Spanish agriculturist consists of oxen, asses, and mules, as beasts of labour ; sometimes, also, horses are used on the farm, but these are chiefly reared for the saddle and the army- During the reign of Philip II. an act was passed forbidding their use even in coaches. The horses of Andalusia are celebrated : they are deep-chested, somewhat short-backed ; rather heavy about the legs, but with a good shoulder. In general their appearance is magnificent when accoutred for the field. But for the last half century their numbers have been diminishing. The mules and asses are large, and carry heavy loads. The Spanish cows are an esteemed breed, re- sembling those of Devonshire. They are used chiefly for breeding, there being little use made of cow's milk in most parts of Spain ; they are sometimes also put to the plough and cart Goats are common about most towns, and furnish the milk used in cookery. 735. The sheep of Spain have long been celebrated. Pliny relates, that in his time Spanish clothes were of an excellent texture, and much used in Rome. For many centuries the wool has been transported to Flanders, for the supply of the Flemish manufactories, and afterwards to England, since the same manufacture was introduced there. liy far the greater part of Spanish sheep are migratory, and belong to what is called the mesta or merino corporation ; but there are also stationary flocks belonging to private individuals in Andalusia, whose wool is of equal fineness and value The carcass of the sheep in Spain is held in no estimation, and only 7 used by the shepherds and poor. 736. The term ?nesta (equivalent to meslin, Eng.) in general signifies a mixture of grain ; but in a restricted sense a union of flocks. This collection is formed by an association of proprietors of lands, and originated in the time of the plague in 1350. The few persons who survived that destructive calamity, took possession of the lands which had been vacated by the death of their former occupiers ; united them with their own ; converted nearly the whole to pasturage ; and confined their attention principally to the care and increase of their flocks. Hence, the immense pastures of Estremadura, Leon, and other provinces; and the prodigious quantity of uncultivated lands throughout the kingdom. Hence, also, the singular circumstance of many proprietors possessing extensive estates without any titles to them. 737. The flocks which form the mesla usually consist of about 10,000 sheep each. Every flock is under the care of a directing officer, fifty shepherds, and fifty dogs. The whole flocks, composing the mesta, consist of about five millions of sheep, and employ about 45 or 50,000 persons, and nearly as many dogs. The flocks are put in motion in the latter end of April, or beginning of May, leaving the plains of Estramadura, Andalusia, Leon, and Old and New Castile, where they usually winter, and they repair to the moun- tains of the two latter provinces, and those of Biscay, Navarre, and Arragon. The sheep, while feeding on the mountains, have occasionally administered to them small quantities of salt. It is laid upon flat stones, to which the flocks are driven, and permitted to eat what quantity tiny please. During the days the salt is administered the sheep are not allowed to depasture on a calcareous soil, but are moved to argillaceous lands, where they feed voraciously. (Townsend.) 7.38. At the end of Jul;/ the ewes are put to the rams, after separation has been made of those already with lamb. Six or seven rams are considered sufficient for one hundred ewes. 759. In September the sheep are ochred, their backs and loins being rubbed with red ochre, or ruddle, dissolved in water. This practice is founded upon an ancient custom, the reason of which is not clearly ascertained. Some suppose that the ochre, uniting with the oleaginous matter of the fleece, forms a kind of varnish, which defends the animal from the inclemency of the weather ; others think the ponderosity of this earth prevents the wool growing too thick and long in the staple : but the more eligible opinion is, that the earth absorbs the superabundant perspiration, which would otherwise render the wool both harsh and coarse 740 Towards Hie end of September the flocks recommence their march. Descending from the moun- tains, they travel towards the warmer parts of the country, and again repair to the plains of Leon, Estre- madura, and Andalusia. The sheep are generally conducted to the same pastures they had grazed the preceding year, and where most of them had been yeaned : there they are kept during the winter. 741. Sheei>sliearing commences in the beginning of May, and is performed while the sheep are on their summer journey, in large buildings called esquileos. Those, which are placed upon the road, are capable of containing forty, fifty, and some sixty thousand sheep. Book I. AGRICULTURE IN SPAIN AND PORTUGAL. 119 The common plough of They are erected in various places : but the principal are in the environs of Segovia, and the most celebrated is that of Iturviaca. The shearing is preceded by a pompous prepa- ration, conducted in due form, and the interval is considered a time of feasting and recre- ation. One hundred and twenty-five men are usually employed for shearing a thousand «wes, and two hundred for a thousand wethers. Each sheep affords four kinds of wool, more or less fine according to the parts of the animal whence it is taken. The ewes pro- duce the finest fleeces, and the wethers the heaviest : three wether fleeces ordinarily weigh on the average twenty-five pounds ; but it will take five ewe fl eces to amount to the same weight. 74'2. The journey w/tich the flocks make in their peregrination is regulated by particu- lar laws, and immemorial customs. The sheep pass unmolebted over the pastures be- longing to the villages and the commons which lie in their road, and have a right to feed on them. They are not, however, allowed to pass over cultivated lands; but the pro- prietors of such lands are obliged to leave for them a path ninety varas, or about forty toises (eighty four yards), in breadth. When they traverse the commonable pastures, they seldom travel more than two leagues, or five and a half miles, a dav ; but when they walk in close order over the cultivated fields, often more than six varas, or nearly seventeen'miles. The whole of their journey is usually an extent of one hundred and twenty, thirty, or forty leagues, which they perform in thirty or thirty-five days. The price paid for depasturing the lands where they winter is equally regulated by usage, and is very low ; but it is not in the power of the landed proprietors to make the smallest advance. 74:3. The mesta has its particular laws, and a tribunal before which are cited all per- sons who have any suit or difference with the proprietors. The public opinion in Spain has long been against the mesta, on account of the number of people it employs, the ex- tent of land it keeps uncultivated, the injury done to the pasture and cultivated lands of individuals, and the tyranny of the directors and shepherds. These have been grievances from time immemorial. Government, yielding to the pressing solicitations of the people, instituted a committee to enquire into them about the middle of the eighteenth century ; but it did no good, and it was not till the revolution of 1810, that the powers and pri- vileges of the mesta were greatly reduced. 744. The imj)lements of Spanish agriculture are very simple Castile and most of the provinces (fig. 97.) is supposed to be as old as the time of the 97 Romans. It it thus described by Townsend : " The beam is about three feet long, curved, and tapered at one end, to receive an addi- tional beam of about five feet, fastened to it by three iron collars ; the other end of the three-foot beam touches the ground, and has a mortise to receive the share, the handle, and a wedge " From this description it is evident that the beam itself supplies the place of the sheath ; the share has no fin, and instead of a mould-board, there are two wooden pins fastened near the heel of the share. As in this plough the share, from the point to its insertion in the beam, is two feet six inches long, it is strengthened by a retch. That used near Malaga is described by Jacob as " a cross, with the end of the perpendicular part shod with iron. It penetrates about six inches into the soil, and is drawn by two oxen with ropes fasten- ed to the horns. The plough of Valencia, on the eastern coast, we have already given (fl%. 12.) as coming the nearest to that described by Virgil. There are many wheels and other contrivances used for raising water ; the most general, as well as the most primitive, is the noria {fl$- 98 )» or bucket wheel, intro- duced by the Moors, from winch our chain pump is evidently de- rived. A vertical wheel jars, fastened together by cords of esparto, themselves ; bv the motion of the wheel they I 4 over a well has a series of earthen which descend into the water and fill HISTOin OF 1GRICULTURE. Part 1. rise t.> the surface, and then bj the Mine motion empty themselves into a trough, from which the water is conveyed l>y trenches into the different parts of the garden or field. Tin- vertical wheel is put in motion by ■ horizontal one, which is turned by a cow." (Jacob' i Travels, 159.) The construction of dung-pits lias already been men- tioned, (710.) as introduced by the Moors, and the practice of preserving the dung in thai manner is still continued in Granada and Valencia. Threshing-floors are made in the fields, and paved with pebbles <»r other stones. Few of the operatiom of Spanish agriculture afford any thing characteristic. No hay is made in Spain | Totonsend) ; and so dry and brittle is the straw of the corn crops, that in the pr.iees. of treading out. which is generally done by mares and colts, it is bro- ken to pieces. The grain being separated, the straw is put in stacks, and preserved lor litter, or mixed with barley as food lor cattle. Irrigation is carefully pel formed, and is the only effectual mode of insuring a crop of grain, or any sort of herbaceous vegetable. On souk- farms on the Vega in Malaga, scarcely any attention is paid to stirring the soil, but by the very complete irrigation which can be there given, the land yields fifty bushels per acre. Where the soil is naturally light, situated in a warm climate, and not irrigated, it is remarkably free from weeds; because from the latter end of .May. or the beginning of June, when the crop is harvested, till October or November, they have no rain ; and the In at of the sun during that period destroys every plant, and leaves the soil like a fallow which only requires the seed furrow. In effect it gets no more; and thus, under such cir- cumstances, one crop a year, after only one ploughing, may be raised for an endless period. In the AsturiaSj after the women milk the sheep, they carry the milk home in leather bags, shaking it all the way, till by the time of their arrival butter is formed. (Townsend' s Travels, i. 273.) 746. The labouring man of S/min adopts a custom which might be useful to the reapers and haymakers of Britain, in many situations. The labour and heat of hay time ancl harvest excite great perspiration and consequent thirst, which it is often necessary to quench with sun-warmed water. To cool such water, the Spanish leaper puts it in a porous earthen pitcher (alcarraza), the surface of which being constantly moist with tin- transudation of the fluid, its evaporation cools the water within. The frequent appli- cation of wet cloths to a bottle or earthen vessel, and exposure to the sun and wind, effects the same object, but with more trouble. 747. The culture of forests is very little attended to in Spain. The best charcoal is made from heath, chiefly the Erica mediterranea, which grows to the size of a small tree, and of which there are immense tracts like forests. The yy cork tree (Quercus .S'iiber, fig. 99.) affords the most valuable products. The bark is taken off for the first time when the tree is about fifteen years old; it soon grows again, and may be rebarked three times, the bark improving every time, til the tree attains the age of thirty years. It is taken oil' in sheets or tables, much in the same way as oak or larch bark is taken from the standing trees in this country. After being detached, it is flattened by presenting the convex side to heat, or by pressure. In either case it is charred on both x -* : ;. ,-\ surfaces to close the transverse pores previously to its being sold. This charring may be seen in bungs and taps; but not in corks, which, being cut in the long way of the wood, the charring is taken off in the rounding. 748. The exertions that hair been made far the improvement of the agriculture of Spain we have already noticed, and need only add, that if the late government had maintained its power, and continued in the same spirit, perhaps every thing would have been effected that could be desired. Time, indeed, would have been requi- site ; but improvement once heartily commenced, the ratio of its increase is astonishing. Hut the French invasion of Spain, first under Bonaparte, and again under the Bourbons, has spoiled every thing, and for the present almost annihilated hope. 749. The agricultural circumstances of Portugt ' have so much in common with those of Spain, that they do not require separate consideration. The two countries differ in the latter having a more limited cultivation, the sugar-cane, and most of the West India plants grown in Spain, requiring a warmer climate than that of Portugal. The vini- and orange are cultivated to great perfection; but common agriculture is neglected. The breed of horses is inferior, and there an- few COWS or sheep. Swine form the most abundant live stock, and fatten, in a half wild state, on the acorns of the numerous oak forest . which cover the mountains. Book I. AGRICULTURE IN EUROPEAN TURKEY. 121 Sect. X. Present State of Agriculture in European Turkey. 750. The Turkish empire includes a variety of climates and countries, of most of which so little is correctly known, that we can give no satisfactory account of their agriculture. Asiatic Turkey is nearly three times the extent of the European part ; but the latter is better cultivated and more populous. " European Turkey," Thornton observes, " de- pends upon no foreign country for its subsistence. The labour of its inhabitants produces, in an abundance unequalled in the other countries of Europe, all the alimentary produc- tions, animal and vegetable, whether for use or enjoyment. The corn countries, in spite of the impolitic restrictions of the government, besides pouring plenty over the empire, secretly export their superfluities to foreign countries. Their agriculture, therefore, though neglected and discouraged, is still above their wants." (Present State of Turkey, vol. i. p. 66.) 751. The climate and seasons of European Turkey vary with the latitude and local circumstances of the different provinces, from the Morea, in lat. 37° and surrounded by the Mediterranean sea, to Moldavia, between Hungary and Russia, in lat. 48°. The surface is generally mountainous, with plains and vales ; some rivers, as the Danube in Wallachia, and numerous gulfs, bays, estuaries, and inlets of the Adriatic, the Archi- pelago, the Mediterranean, and the Black Seas. The soil is in general fertile, alluvial in some of the richest plains of Greece, as Thessaly ; and calcareous in many parts of Wallachia and Moldavia. These provinces produce excellent wheat and rich pasture ; while those of the south produce maize, wheat, and rice. The vine is cultivated in most provinces ; and there are extensive forests, especially in die north. The live stock consists of the horse, ox, camel, sheep, and swine. (Thornton.) 752. Some traits of the agriculture of the Morea, the southernmost province of European Turkey, have been given by Dr. Pouquevdle. The climate holds the exact medium between the scorching heat of Egypt and the cold of more northern countries. The winter is short, but stormy ; and the summer is hot, but tempered by breezes from the mountains or the sea. The soil of the mountains is argillaceous ; in some places inclin- ing to marl, and in others to peat or vegetable earth : the richest parts are Arcadia and Argos. The plough consists of a share, a ^_ 100 beam, and a handle (Jig. 100.); the share is shaped somewhat like the claw of an anchor, and the edges armed with iron. In some cases it has two wheels. It is drawn by one horse, by two asses, or by oxen or buffaloes, according to the nature of the soil. The corn grown is of excellent quality, though no attention is paid to selecting the seed. The rice of Argolis is held at Constantinople the next in excellence to that of Damietta. The vine is suc- cessfully cultivated ; but at Corinth, " situated in a most unwholesome atmosphere," the iOt culture of that sort which produces the raisins of Corinth is less attended to than formerly. The olive trees (OMea europse v a, g. 101.) are the finest in the world ; the oil of Maina is the best, and held in esteem at all the principal markets of Eu- rope. The white mulberry is extensively cultivated for the support of the silkworm. Elis yields the best silk. The cotton is cultivated in fields, which are commonly divided by hedges of Nepal or Indian fig, which is eaten, but is here more vapid than in Egypt. 753. The figs of the Morea " are perhaps the most exquisite that can be eaten." The tree is cultivated with particular care, and the practice of caprification adopted. They collect the little figs which have fallen from the trees while very young, and which contain numbers of the eggs of the gnat insect (Cynips). Of these they make chaplets, which are suspended to the branches of the trees. The gnats are soon hatched, and spread themselves over the whole tree. The females, in order to provide a nidus for their eggs, pierce the fruit with their sting, and then deposit them. From this puncture a gummy liquor oozes; and after this the figs are not only not liable to fall, but grow larger and finer than if they had not undergone this operation. It is doubted by some modern physiolo- gists whether this process is of any real use, it being now neglected in most fig countries where it was formerly performed. Some allege that it is merely useful as fecundating the blossoms, which most people are aware are situated inside of the fruit ; others that it promotes precocily, which the puncture of an insect will do in any fruit, and which any one may have obseived in the gooseberry, apple, or pear. 123 HISTORY OF AGRICULTURE. Part I. 754. The almond tree is very productive. The orange tribe abounds ; and the pomegra- nates, peaches, apricots, grapes, &c, arc of the finest flavour. The banana is cultivated in the gardens, as are melons, dates, and many other fruits. Carobs (teratoma), quinces, medlars, cherries, cS:c. are wild in abundance. Bees are found in the hollows of trees; and their excellent white honey is exported. 755. The oxen of the Morea are low, and have long.white hair. The most fleshy do not weigh more than from 300 to 400 pounds. The cows give little milk, and are much injured by the jackals, who tear away their teats; and by large serpents, which are said to suck the milk. The sheep are small, and have large horns ; their wool is considered of the second quality of the wool of the East. Cheese is made from their milk, and that of goats. The horses of the Morea are of a breed between the Moravian and Thracian : their form is not admired ; but they are full of fire and courage ; and so vigorous, that they run with a firm and rapid step over the mountains without ever stumbling. The asses are miserable. 75iS. The forests of the Morea produce the cork-tree ; the kermes oak ; the Quercus E'sculus, or Velonia oak, the acorns of which are eaten, and their cups used as oak-galls, in preparing black dye; the azarole, plane, larch, wild olive, sweet chestnut, manna ash; grains d' Avignon (Ahamnus infectorius I..\ from the grains or seeds of which a tine yellow dye is prepared ; Lawsom'a inermis, which furnishes a tine aurora colour, with which the women of the East dye their nails; the turpentine tree, barren date trees, silk tree (Mimosa Julibrissin) with its beautiful tufts, pine tir, and a variety of others. Chest- nuts were at one period the temporary food of nearly the whole country : on Mount Pholoe, where the p> i -ants are half savages, they form the principal food for the whole year. A variety of plants used in the arts and in pharmacy grow wild in the wastes, and there are venison and game in the woods, and fishes in the rivers, lakes, and the surrounding ocean. The Morea, Dr. Pouqueville concludes, is " a fine country :" and though one does not find the golden age here renewed, yet, " under a better order of things,' it will produce abundantly every thing necessary to supply the wants of man." [Travels, transl. by A. Plumtree, p. 206.) 757. Some notices of the agriculture of Thessaly and Albania have been given by Dr. Holland. The plain of Thes- r . _ __ . ^ saly (Jig. 102. ) is an immense |;v tract of level country, with afine ; „n :„i :i ...i.:,."u *-„,j:*™, »■ V.^iJ. alluvial soil, which tradition |&j$0 and external appearance concur ifc*£& in testifying, was once covered^; with water. " The capabili-)$^R^ ties," Dr. Holland observes. "-fgsf " are great throughout the , whole of this fine province; and it would not be easy to fix a limit to the amount and variety of produce which might be raised from its surface. In their present state, the plains of Thessaly form one of the most productive districts of the Grecian peninsula, and their annual produce, in grain of different kinds, cotton, silk, wool, rice, and tobacco, allows a very large amount of regular export from the provinces." The cultivation is not deficient in skill or neatness. Their plough is of a primitive form ; and their carts are small cars, some of them, as Dr. Clarke observes, simple enough [jig. 103.) ; both are drawn by oxen or buffaloes. The 103 n fj ft r wool of the sheep is moderately fine ; the mulberry is grown in dwarf pollards ; and the cotton in drills, well hoed. The men are a stern-looking race, and the women well jmade, and not unlike the antique. " The circumstances by which the amount of produce might be increased, are chiefly, perhaps, of a more general nature, — a better form of government ; greater security to private property ; a more uniform distribution of the inhabitants ; and the prevention of those monopolies in the export of grain, which have hitherto been exercised by the Turkish rulers of the country. (Travels, 2d. edit. p. 281.) 758. The agriculture of Albania differs in no essential particular from that of Thessaly. The common tenure on which land is let, is that of paying to the landlord half the produce. The vale of Deropuli is the most fertile and populous in Albania. The tillage, generally speaking, is remarkable for its neatness. The products are chiefly wheat, maize, tobacco, and rice. The returns afford a considerable surplus for export- ation ; and the tobacco is esteemed the best in Albania. Large flocks of sheep feed on the declivity of the mountains, and aflbrd much coarse wool for the manufactures of the country. 759. The agriculture of Moldavia and H'ollac/iia, two the most northerly provinces of European Turkey, has been given by various authors, as Carra, Bauer, and Thornton. The climate of those provinces is very severe in winter. Spring begins in April ; sum- mer in June ; and in July and August the days are excessively hot, and the nights cold. Heavy rains begin in September, and snows in November. The surface is generally mountainous : but the valleys are dry and rich. The usual grains are cultivated, and also Book I. AGRICULTURE IN THE BRITISH ISLES. 123 maize. Tliey plough deep with six oxen, and never employ manure. They take a crop, and leave the land to rest, alternately. The corn is trodden out by horses, and then laid up in pits. Flax and hemp are sown for local manufacture. Newly broken up lands are planted with cabbages, which grow to a great size. The vine is cultivated on the southern declivities of hills, and the wine is said to equal that of Hungary. The mul- berry is cultivated for the silkworm ; and forests are extensive on the mountains. The common fruit trees are abundant, and an excellent variety of apple, called the doiniasca, grows wild. The olive and fig are too delicate for the climate. 760. But the pasture lands are the most valuable parts of these provinces. The oxen are large and fleshy, and so numerous that they form a principal article of export to Russia, Poland, and Germany. The buffalo thrives better here than in most parts of Europe ; and is valued for its strength and milk. The sheep winter on the Danube, and pass the summer on the Carpathian mountains ; their mutton is excellent, and the annual export- ation of the wool into Germany is very considerable. There are various breeds of horses ; they are brought up in great numbers, for the Austrian and Prussian cavalry. They are well formed, spirited, docile, and remarkable for the soundness of their hoofs. The carriage and draught horses are small but active, and capable of resisting fatigue. They live in the open air in all seasons, though in winter they are often attacked by wolves. Domestic fowls and game abound, especially hares. The honey and wine are of the finest quality. One author (Carra) mentions a kind of green wax, which, being made into tapers, diffuses an excellent perfume when lighted. Many of the cottages partake of the Swiss character, and are more picturesque than those of Hun- gary or Russia. (Jig. 104 ) 761. The poorest agriculture in European Turkey is that of Romelia, including the coun- try round Constantinople. The surface is hilly, and the soil dry and stony, chiefly in pasture or waste. " The capital of the empire," Thornton observes, <*§§£ " as the soil in its immediate vicinity is barren and ungrateful, receives from the neighbouring villages, and from the sur- rounding coasts of both the seas which it commands, all the culinary herbs and fruits of excellent flavour, which the most fastidious appetites can require ; and from the Asiatic coasts of the Black Sea, all materials necessary for fuel, or for the construction of sliips and houses." Chap. V. Modern History and present State of Agriculture in the British Isles. 762. Having, in the preceding chapter, brought down the history of British agriculture to the revolution, we shall resume it at that period, and continue our view to the present time. As this period may be considered the most interesting of the whole series, we shall, for the sake of distinctness, arrange the matter under the separate sec- tions of the political, professional, and literary history of agriculture in Britain, and sub- mit a separate view of the progress and present state of agriculture in Ireland. Sect. I. Political History of Agriculture in Britain, from the Revolution in 1 668 to the present Time. 763. That the agriculture and general prosperity of this country were greatly benefited by the revolution is an undisputed point. That prosperity, as far as respects agriculture, has been ascribed to the corn-laws then promulgated. " In 1670," a masterly writer on the subject remarks, " exportation was permitted, whatever the price might be ; and im- portation was virtually prohibited, by a duty of 16s. per quarter, when wheat did not exceed 53s. 4d. ; of 8s. when above that, and not exceeding 80s. ; and when above 80s. the duty of 5s. 4d., imposed by the act of 1663, continued to be payable. Still, how- ever, as there was a duty payable on exportation ; and as importation, from some defect 124 HISTORY OF AGRICULTURE. Part I. in the law respecting the mode of ascertaining the prices a< which the different duties were exigible] Mill continued al the low duty, the system by which exportation was encouraged, and importation in ordinary cases prohibited, was not completely established till 1688 : > t 1 1 1 1700. In ihr former of these years, a bounty of 5s. a quarter was given on exportation, when the price of wheal did no) exceed 48s., and in the latter the duties on exportation were wholly repealed. Under these laws, not only was the excess of exports rery considerable, but the prices of grain, down to 1765, were much lower th.m during an equal number of years preceding 1688. litis is not the place to enquire how far these laws had an influence in producing this phenomenon; hut the facts themselves are indisputable. Yet the mere circumstance of large exportations of grain does by no means prove the prosperity of agriculture ; far less is its cheapness in the home markets any evidence of the comfortable subsistence of the lower orders. Corn seems to haw been raised in such abundance, not merely because the market was ex- truded by means of the bounty, but because there was little demand for other products of the-., >il, which have, sincethat time, withdrawn a large portion of the best arable land from the growth of corn. And the price was low, because neither the number nor wealth of the consumers had increased in a proportion corresponding to the supply. Before the accession of his present majesty, the number of acts for enclosure was only two hundred and forty-four; a clear proof that agricultural improvements proceeded much more slowly than they have done since. And it cannot be disputed, that, owing to the imperfect culture of that period; when ameliorating crops did not enter largely into the courses of management, any given extent of land did not produce so much corn as under the improved rotations of modern husbandry." 764. The exportation of wool was prohibited in 1617, in 1660, and in 1668; and the prohibition strictly enforced by subsequent statutes. The effect of this on its price, and the state of the wool trade, from the earliest period to the middle of last century, are distinctly exhibited by the learned and laborious author of Memoirs on Wool, printed in 1747. 765. In 1765 the corn-laws established hi the end of the seventeenth century began u* lie repented, and cx- portation was prohibited, and importation permitted without payment of duties, by annual acts, during the seven subsequent years. " A new system was established in 177.3, allowing importation when the price of wheat was at or above HJ*. per quarter, at the low duty of 6<£ Exportation was prohibited when the price was 11,* ; and below that the former bounty of 5s per quarter continued to be payable." 766. By an ne! passed in 1791, the bounty on exportation, when the price was under 44s. per quarter, remained unaltered ; but " exportation was permitted till the price was -tux. Importation was virtually prohibited by high duties when the price was below 50s. ; and permitted, on payment of a duty of Git., when at or above 54*." 767 /" 1804, " the corn-laws were altered for the third time, and the bounty on exportation was paid till the price of wheat was 48*. per quarter ; and at 54s. exportation was prohibited. The high duty of 24*. 3d. was payable on importation till the price was 63*. ; above 63*. and under 66*. a duty of 2*. 6, " improvement has pro- ceeded with singular rapidity in every district ; and while the rental rolls of proprietors have been doubled, tripled, and quadrupled, the condition of the tenantry, and of the lower ranks, has been ameliorated almost in a proportional degree." {Ed. Ency. art. 775. Since the period of 1815, agriculture has sustained a severe shock from the fall of prices, occasioned by the lessened circulation of currency, the necessary preliminary to a return to a currency of the precious metals. In this shock many hundreds of fanners lost all their capital, and were obliged to become operatives to others ; while some, more for- tunate, contrived to retain as much of the wreck of their property as enabled them to emigrate to other countries. Cleghorn, whose pamphlet on the depressed state of agri- culture was honoured with the prize of the Highland Society of Scotland, thinks this loss cannot have been less than one year's rental of the whole island. " The replies sent to the circular letter of the Board of Agriculture, regarding the agricultural state of the kingdom, in February, March, and April, 1816, furnish a body of evidence which cannot be controverted, and exhibit a picture of widely spread ruin among the agricultural classes, and of distress among all that immediately depend upon them, to which there is probably no parallel." (See Cleghorn on the Depressed State of Agriculture, 1S22.) After upwards of fourteen years' severe suffering, both by landlords and tenants, things have now assumed a more stationary condition. Rents have been greatly lowered every where in proportion to the fall of prices and the rise of parochial burdens, and both fanners and landlords are beginning gradually to recover themselves. Sect. II. Professional History of Agriculture, from the Revolution to the present Time. 776. In England, from the restoration to the middle of the eighteenth century, very little improvement took place, either in the cultivation of the soil, or in the management of live stock. Even clover and turnips (the great support of the present improved system of agriculture) were confined to a few districts, and at the close of this period were scarcely cultivated at all by common farmers in the northern parts of the island. From the Whole Art of Husbandry, published by Mortimer in 1706, a work of considerable merit, it does not appear that any improvement was made on his practices till near the end of last cen- tury. In those districts where clover and rye-grass were cultivated, they were cut green, and used for soiling as at present. Turnips were sown broadcast, hand hoed, and used for feeding sheep and cattle, as they were used in Houghton's time, and are still in most districts of England. 777. In the beginning of the eighteenth century, a considerable improvement in the process of culture was introduced by Jethro Tull, a cultivator of Berkshire, who began to drill wheat and other crops about the year 1701, and whose Horse-hoeing Husbandry was pub- lished in 1731. " In giving a short account of the innovations of this eccentric writer, it is U'<5 HISTORY OF AGRICULTURE. Part I. not meant to enter into any discussion of their merit';. It will not detract much from (lis reputation to admit, that, like most other men who leave the beaten path, he was some- time-, misled l>\ inexperience, and sometimes deceived by a too sanguine imagination. Had Toll confined hi ^ recommendation of drill husbandry to leguminous and bulbous- rooted plants generally, and to the cereal gramina only in particular circumstances; and had he, without puzzling himself about the food of plants, been contented with pointing out the great advantage of pulverising the soil in most cases, and extirpating weeds in every case, he would certainly have deserved a lii.nh rank among the benefactors of his country. A knowledge of his doctrines and practice, however, will serve as a necessary introduction to the present approved modes of culture." 778, Tull's theory la promulgated with great confidence; and in the controversy which he thought proper to maintain In support of it, he scrupled not to employ ridicule as well as reasoning. Besides the Roman writers de Re Rustica, Virgil in particular, whom he treats with high disdain ; he is almost equally Bevere on Dr. Woodward, Bradley, and other writers of his own time. 779. 'lull begins by showing that the roots qf plants extended much farther than is commonly believed ; and then proceeds to enquire into the nature of their food. After examining several hypotheses, he de- cides this to be tine particles of earth. The chief, and almost the only use of dung, he thinks, is to divide the earth ; to dissolve the " terrestrial matter which aribrds nutriment to the mouths ot vegetable roots ;" and this can he done more completely by tillage. It is therefore necessary, not only to pulverise the soil by repeated ploughings before it be seeded ; hut, as it becomes gradually more and more compressed after- ward-, recourse must be had to tillage or horse-hoeing, while the plants are growing; which also destroys the weed- that would deprive the plants of their nourishment. The leading feature qf 'lull's husbandry, is his practice of laying the land into narrow ridges of five or .-ix feet, and upon the middle of these drilling one, two, or three rows ; distant from one another about seven inches, when there were three; and ten inches, when only two. The distance of the plants on one ridge from those on the contiguous one, he called an internal ; the distance between the rows on the same ridge a space, or partition ; the former was stirred repeatedly by the horse-hoe, and the latter by the band-hoe 781. The extraordinary attention Tull gave to his mode of culture is, perhaps, without a parallel. " I formerly was at much pains," he says, " and at some charge, in improving my drills, for planting the rows at very near distances ; and had brought them to such perfection, that one horse would draw a drill with eleven shares, making the rows at three inches and a half distant from one another ; and, at the same time, sow in them three very different sorts of seeds, which did not mix ; and these too at different depths. As the barley rows were seven inches asunder, the barley lay four inches deep. A little more than three inches above that, in the same channels, was clover ; betwixt every two of these rows, was a row of saint- foin, covered half an inch deep. I had a good crop of barley the first year ; the next year two crops of broad clover, where that was sown ; and where hop clover was sown, a mixed crop of that and sainttoin; but 1 am since, by experience, so fully convinced of the folly of these, or any other mixed crops, and more especially of narrow spaces, that I have demolished these instruments (in their full perfection) as a vain curiosity, the drift and use of them being contrary to the true principles and practice of horse-hoeing." [Horse-hoeing Husbandry, p. 62. London, 1762.) 782, In the culture of wheat he began with ridges six feet broad, or eleven on a breadth of sixty-six feet ; but on this he afterwards had fourteen ridges. After trying different numbers of rows on a ridge, he at last preferred two, with an intervening space of about ten inches. He allowed only three pecks of seed for an acre. The lirst hoeing was performed by turning a furrow from the row, as suon as the plant had put forth four or rive leaves ; so that it was done before, or at the beginning of, winter. The next hoeing was in spring, by which the earth was returned to the plants. The subsequent operations depended upon the circumstances and condition of the land, and the state of the weather. The next year's crop of wheat was sown upon the intervals which had been unoccupied the former year ; but this he does not seem to think was a matter of much consequence. " My Held," he observes, " whereon is now the thirteenth crop of wheat, has shown that the rows may successfully stand upon any part of the ground. The ridges of this field were, for the twelfth crop, changed from six feet to four feet six inches. In order for this al- teration, the ridges were ploughed down, and then the next ridges were laid out the same way as the former, but one foot six inches narrower, and the double rows drilled on their tops ; whereby, of conse- quence, there must be some rows standing on every part of the ground, both on the former partitions, and on every part of the intervals. Notwithstanding this, there was no manner of difference in the goodness of the rows ; and the whole field was in every part of it equal, and the best, I believe, that ever grew on it. It is now the thirteenth crop, likely to be good, though the land was not ploughed cross ways." [Ibid., p. 424.) 783. According lo Tull, a rotation of crops of different species was altogether unnecessary s and he labours hard to prove, against Dr. Woodward, that the advantages of such a change, under his plan of tillage, were quite chimerical ; though he seems to admit the benefit of a change of the seed itself. But the best method of determining the question would have been, to have stated the amount of his crops per acre, and the quality of the grain, instead of resting the superiority of his management on the alleged saving of expense, when com- pared with the common broadcast husbandry. Tsl On the culture of the turnip, both his principles and his practice are much more correct. The ridges were of the same breadth as for wheat ; but only one row was drilled on each. His management, while the crop was growing, differs very little from the present practice. When drilled on the level, it is impos- sible, he observes, to hoe-plough them so well as when they are planted upon ridges. But the seed was deposited at different depths, the half about four inches deep, and the other half exactly over that, at the depth of half an inch. " Thus planted, let the weather be never so dry, the deepest seed will come up ; but if it raineth immediately after planting, the shallow will eome up first. We also make it come up at four times, by mixing our seed, half new and half old, the new coming up a day quicker than the old. These four comings up give it so many chances for escaping the fly; it being often seen that the seed sown over night will lie destroyed by the fly, when that sown the next morning will escape, and vice versa: or you may hm-plough them when the fly is like to devour them ; this will bury the greatest part of those enemies; or else you may drill in another row without new ploughing the land." 785. Drilling, and horse and hand hoeing, seem to have been in use before the publi- cation of Tull's book. " Hoeing," he says, " may be divided into deep, which is oui horse-hoeing ; and shallow, which is the English hand-hoeing ; and also the shallow horse-hoeing used in some places betwixt rows, where the intervals are very narrow, as Hook I. AGRICULTURE IN THE BRITISH ISLES. 127 sixteen or eighteen inches This is but an imitation of the hand-hoe, or a succedaneum to it, and can neither supply the use of dung, nor of fallow, and may be properly called scratch-hoeing." Bui in Ids mode of forming ridges, his practice seems to have beta original ; his implements display much ingenuity ; and his claim to the title of father of the present horse-hoeing husbandry of Great Britain seems indisputable. A translation of Tull's book was undertaken at one and the same time in France, by three different per- sons of consideration, without the privity of each other. Two of them afterwards put their papers into the hands of the third, .1/. Du Hameldu Mo/treat, of the Royal Academy of Sciences, at Paris, who published a treatise on husbandry, on the principles of Tull, a few years after. But Tull seems to have had very few followers in England for more than thirty years. The present method of drilling and horse-hoeing turnips was not introduced into Northumberland till about the year 1780 (Xorthum. Survey, p 100.); and it was then borrowed from Scotland, the farmers of which had the merit of hist adopting Tull's management in the culture of this root, and improving on it, about 1760, and from them it has since made its way, but slowly, in the southern part of the island. Tull was born in Oxfordshire, was bred a barrister, and made the tour of Europe. He commenced his experiments on his own estate, but being unsuccessful, was obliged to sell it. He afterwards took a farm in Berkshire, where he renewed his oper- ations. He published his book in 1731, and died in 1740, leaving a son, an officer in the army, who ruined himself by projects, and died in the Fleet prison in London in 1764. 786. In the lire stock of British agriculture, very little improvement had been made pre- viously to the middle of the eighteenth century, or later About this time, the best breed -of cattle and sheep were about Don caster, in Yorkshire, and in Leicestershire, and the tirst grand and successful effort to improve thtm was made by Robert Bake well, of Uishley, in the latter county. Bakewell was born about 1 725 or 26 ; and soon after arriving at the years of maturity, took an interest in improving the breed of sheep. His father was a fanner, and died in I 760 ; but the son had taken an active management of the farm for many years before that time, having began, about the year 1755, that course of experiments which terminated in the important improvements for' which his name is celebrated. {Hunt's Agricultural Memoirs, p. 35; Fleming's Farmer s Journal, August, 1828, p. 319.) 787. By BakeweWs skilful selection at first, and constant care afterwards, to breed from the best animals, without any regard to their consanguinity, he at last obtained a variety of sheep, which, for early maturity, and the property of returning a great produce of mutton for the food they consume, as well as for the small proportion which the weight of the offal bears to that of the four quarters, are altogether unequalled either in this or any other country. The Dishley or New Leicester sheep, and their crosses, are now spread over the principal corn districts of Britain ; and from their quiet domesticated habits, are probably still the most profitable of all the varieties of sheep, on farms where the rearing and fattening of live stock are combined with the best courses of tillage crops. 788. The practice of Bakewell and his followers furnishes an instance of the benefits of a division of labour, in a department of business where it was little to b-i expected. Their male stock was let out every year to breeders from all parts of England ; and thus, by judiciously crossing the old races, all the valuable properties of the Dishley variety descended, after three or four generations, to their posterity. By no other means could this new breed have spread so rapidly, nor have been made to accommodate itself so easily to a change of climate and pasture. Another recommendation of this plan was, that the ram-hirer had a choice among a number of males, of somewhat different properties, and in a more or less advanced stage of improvement ; from which it was Ids business to select such as suited his particular object. These were reared by experienced men, who gave their principal attention to this branch alone; and having the best females as well as males, they were able to furnish the necessary supply of young males in the greatest variety, to those farmers whose time was occupied with other pursuits The prices at which Bakewell's rams were hired appear enormous. In 17S9, he received twelve hundred guineas for the hire of three brought at one birth ; two thousand for seven ; and, for his whole letting, at least three thousand guineas. (Encyc. Brit. art. Agr.) 7S9. Messrs. Matthew and George Culley carried the improvements of Bakewell into Durham and Northumberland, and perpetuated them in the north of England and south of Scotland. Messrs Culley were pupils of Mr. Bakewell in 1762 and 1763, and Mr. George Culley soon became Mr. Bakewell's confidential friend, and was always considered his favourite disciple. After practising their improve- ments for a number of years in the county of Durham, they removed, in 1767, to Fenton farm, near Wooler, in Northumberland, containing upwards of Hill) acres. At this time, the sheep flocks that were kept on the arable and grazing districts of Northumberland were a large, slow-feeding, long-woolled kind ; and a mixed breed, between those long-woolled sheep and the Cheviot. These breeds were rarely got fattened before three years old; but the improved Leicester; which were introduced by Messrs. Culley) were sold fat at little more than a vear old ; and though thev met with much opposition at their first introduction, there is now scarcely a flock to be found that has not been improved by them. Their breed of short-horned, or Teeswater, cattle, was also a great acquisition to the district ; and the breed of draught horses was considerably improved by their introducing a stallion of Mr. Bakewell's. They were ,._>8 HISTORY OF AGRICULTURE. Pabi I. always amongst the Bnl t" adopt and make experiment* "i any new mode of culture, new implements of husbandry, or new \ . and the) practised draining, irrigation, fencing, and other improve- ment*, on the m tprinciple*. Hieirgri tU-, unremitting industry, ana supe- rior cultivation, no) only raised ■ iplril ol exertion and emulation in the surrounding neighbourhood, but gained tbem such celebritj a* Itrst-rate breeder* and agricuK I tbej had pupil* from various part* ofthc island, with whom they n ' 8 amplj paid for their board and instruction To all I e acquirements, they added itricl economj ; the consequence of which was a great accumulation <>i wealth, which 1 1 ■»•>. applied a* occasions offered to increasing their farming concern* ; and this to «uch an extent, thai upied rarms to the amount ol about ["he large capital i extensive concerns required, applied with so much attention and in Igment, could not (ail of producing themost lucrative effect*. L'he result is, that, from a small original capital, their respective families are now enjoying landed property to the a unt <>i nearly WOW. a year j.,,1, > sum invested in (arming), the well merited reward ol unremitting industry andexten dtural knowledge. In 1786, Mr George Culley published hi* Observations on /.«"■ stmk which mi the first treatise on the subject that attempted to di - domesticated animals "i Uritaln and the principle* by which they may be improved The great merit* of this work are evinced b) the number or editions it has gone through In 1793, Mr. <;. Culley, in conjunction with Mr. Bailey ,,;• ci, ,ii n , , . Utui U S ■■ i i n Durham and Northumberland, and in is| .; lie died at Fowberry rower, the seat ol bis ion, in tlio T'.'tli year or his age. [Farmer** Mag. voL xiv. p. 274.) 790. Merino shetp were 6rst brought into England in 1788, when Hi-. Majesty procured a small Bock bv way of Portugal. In 179l,anothei (lock was imported from Spain In i. w hen lli Majesty's annual sales commenced, this race began to attract much notice. Dr. Parry, of Bath, has crossed the Ryeland, or Herefordshire sheep, with the merinos, and brought the wool of the fourth generation to a degree of fineness not excelled by that ofthc pure merino itself; while the carcass, in which is the great defect of the merinos, has been much improved. Lord Somerville, and many other gentlemen, have done them- selves much honour by their attention to this race ; but it does not appear that the climate of Britain, the rent of land, and the love of good mutton, admit of substituting it for others of native origin. (Encyc. Brit. art. Agr.) 791. The agriculture of Scotland, as we have seen, was in a very depressed state at the revolution, from political circumstances. It was not less so in point of professional knowledge. Lord Kaimcs, that excellent judge of mankind and sound agriculturist, declares, in strong terms, that the tenantry of Scotland, at the end of the seventeenth and beginning of the eighteenth century, were so benumbed with oppression or poverty, that the most able instructor in husbandly would have made nothing of them. Fletcher of Saltoun, who lived in the best part of Scotland, and in the end of the seventeenth century, describes their situation as truly deplorable. 792. John Cockburn, of Ormiston, East Lothlin, a spirited individual, who rose at this time, and to whom the agriculture of Scotland is much indebted, deserves to be men- tioned. He was born in 1685, and succeeded to the family estate of Ormiston in 1711. He saw that internal improvement could only be effected by forming and extending a middle rank of society, and increasing their prosperity. In fact, as an able writer, Brown, the founder of the Farmers Magazine, has remarked, " the middling ranks are the Strength and support of every nation." In former times, what we now call middling classes were not known, or at least little known in Scotland, where the feudal system reigned longer than in England, After trade was introduced, and agriculture improved, the feudal system was necessarily overturned; and proprietors, like other men, began to be estimated according to their respective merits, without receiving support from the ad- ventitious circumstances under which they were placed. . 1„ 1723, a number if landholders, at the instigation of Mr. Cockburn, formed themselves into a Society of Improvers in the Knowledge of Agriculture in Scotland. The Earl of Stair, one of their most active members, is said to have been the first who culti- vated turnips in that country. This society exerted itself in a very laudable manner, and apparently with considi rable success, in introducing cultivated herbage and turnips, as well as in improving on the former methods of culture: but there is reason to believe, that the influence of (he example of its members did not extend to the common tenantry, who are always unwilling to adopt the practices of those who are placed in a nigher rank, ami supposed to cultivate land for pleasure, rather than profit. Though this socii tv, the earliest in the united kingdom, soon counted upwards of three hundred members, it existed little more than twenty years. Maxwell delivered lectures on agri- culture for one or two sessions at Edinburgh, which, from the specimens he has left, ought to have been encoura 794. Drainim:, enclosing, summer-fallowing ; sowing flax, hemp, rape, turnip, and grass Seeds ; planting cabbages after and potatoes with the plough, in fields of great extent, are practices which were already introduced : and, according to the general opinion, more corn was now grown where it was never known to grow before, than, perhaps, a sixth of all that the kingdom used to produce at any former period. It is singular that though tile prac- tice of summer fallowing seems to have prevailed in England since the time of the Romans, yet it was neglected in Scotland till about the beginning of the eighteenth century, when it was fust practised by John Walker, tenant at Iieanston, in East Lothian. The late Lord Milton considered this improvement of so much importance, that lie was Doox I. AGRICULTURE IN THE BRITISH ISLES. \Q 9 " eager to procure the erection of a pillar to the memory of Mr. Walker." (Farm. Mag., vol. i. p. 164.) 795. Thejirst notice of a threshing machine is given by Maxwell, in his Transaction* of the Society of Improvers, -tjr. ; it was invented by Michael Menzies, advocate, who obtained a patent for it. Upon a representation made to the society, that it was to be seen at work in several places, they appointed two of their number to inspect it ; and in their report they say that one man would be sufficient to manage a machine which would do the work of six. One of the machines was " moved by a great water wheel and treddles ;" and another, " by a little wheel of three feet in diameter, moved by a small quantity of water." This machine the society recommended to all gentlemen and farmers. (Encyc. Brit, and Ed. Encyc. art. Agr. ; Brown's Treatise on Rural Affairs, Introduction, §c.) 796. Dawson, of Frogden, in Roxburghshire, is a man to whom Scottish agriculture is perhaps more in- debted than to any other. Findlater, the author of the Survey of Peeblesshire, one of the best judges, terms him the " father of the improved system of husbandry in Scotland." Dawson was born at Harperton, in Berwickshire, a farm of which his father was tenant, in 1734-. At the age of 16 he was sent to a farm in the neighbourhood of Sheffield, and thence into Essex, where he directed his attention chiefly t(. grazing. He afterwards travelled through several other counties of England, " accurately examining the best courses of husbandry, and storing up for his own use whatever seemed likely to be introduced with advantage into his own country." On his return to Scotland he tried, with the consent of his father, the culture of turnips on the farm of Harperton, but he did not commence the culture of this root upon a large scale until he entered on the farm of Frogden on his own account in 1759. Great exertions were required in enclosing, draining, liming, and manuring the arable part of this farm; but the soil being sandy, the expense was ultimately more than repaid. It was here that Mr. Dawson perfected the drill- system of cultivating turnips, but not before he had grown them for several years in the broadcast man- ner. The first drills were drawn in the year 17ri3, and the extent of turnip crop was about 100 acres annually. In a few years the success which attended Mr. Dawson's management enabled him first to rent two contiguous farms, and afterwards to purchase and improve, in that county, the estate of Craden, a property of considerable extent, adjoining Frogden. On these lands he introduced and exemplified, for the first time in Scotland, what has been called the convertible husbandry ; i. e. the growth of clover and sown grasses for three or more years in succession, alternately with corn crops and turnips. 797. Mr. Dawson urns thejirst to introduce to Scotland the practice of ploughing with tiro horses abreast without the aid 'fa driver. The first ploughman who effected this was James M'Dougal, who, after being 14 years overseer to Mr. Dawson, in 1778 took a farm of his own at West Linton, in Peeblesshire, where he died in ls22, aged 82 years. It was the desire of Mr Dawson that justice should be done to the memory of this able and worthy man, whose example, as the Rev. Charles Findlater observes, has had more effect in diffusing the improved system of husbandry than all the premiums ever given by landlords. (Douglas's Surv. of Roxb. ; Farm. Mag., vol. xiii. p. 512.) Mr. Dawson spent the last years of his life in Edinburgh, where he died in January, 1815, in his 81st year, leaving a numerous family in prosperous circumstances. 798. The character of Dawson is thus given by his biographer in the Fartner's Magazine, and may well be quoted here as a model for imitation " He was exceedingly regular in his habits, and most correct and systematical in all his agricultural operations, which were not only well conducted, but always executed at the proper season. His plans were the result of an enlightened" and sober calculation ; and were per- sisted in, in spite of every difficulty and discouragement, till they were reduced to practice. Every one who knows the obstacles that are thrown in the way of all innovations in agriculture, by the sneers of prejudice and the obstinacy of ignorance, and not unfrequently by the evil offices of jealousy and male, volence, must be aware, that none but men of very strong minds, and of unceasing activity, are able to surmount them. Such a man was Mr. Dawson ; and to this single individual may be justly ascribed the merit of producing a most favourable change in the sentiments, in regard to the trial of new experiments, as well as in the practice, of the farmers of Scotland. The labouring classes were not less indebted to this eminent person for opening up a source of employment, which has given bread to the young and feeble in almost the only branches of labour of which they are capable in merely rural districts. Most of his ser- vants continued with him for many years ; and such as had benefited by his instructions and advice were eagerly engaged to introduce their master's improvements in other places. This benevolence, which often sought for objects at a distance that were not personally known to him, was displayed, not only in pecu- niary donations, while the giver frequently remained unknown, but was strikingly evinced in the attention which he paid to the education of the children of his labourers, for whom he maintained teachers at his own expense. If fame were always the reward of great and useful talents, there are few men of any age or country that would live longer in the grateful remembrance of posterity than the subject of this memoir." (Farm. Mag., vol. xvi. p. 168.) 799. As the leading features of practical agricultural improvement in Britain during the eighteenth century, and to the present time, we may enumerate the following : — The gra- dual introduction of a better system of rotation since the publication of Tull's Horse- hoeing Husbandry, and other agricultural works, from 1700 to 1750; the improvement of livestock by Bakewell, about 1760; the raised drill system of growing turnips, the use of lime in agriculture, and the convertible husbandry, by Pringle, and more especially by Dawson, about 1765; the improved swing plough, by Small, about 1790; and the improved threshing machine, by Meikle, about 1795. As improvements of compara- tively limited application might be mentioned, the art of tapping springs, or what has been called Elkington's mode of draining, which seems to have been discovered by Dr. Anderson, from principle, and Mr. Elkington, by accident, about 1760, or later; and the revival of the art of irrigation, by Boswell, about 1780. The field culture of the potato, shortly after 1750 ; the introduction of the Swedish turnip, about 1790 ; of spring wheat, about 1795; of summer wheat, about 1800; and of mangold wurtzel more recently, have, with the introduction of other improved field plants, and improved breeds of animals, contributed to increase the products of agriculture ; as the enclosing of common field lands and wastes, and the improvements of mosses and marshes, have contributed to increase tlis produce and salubrity of the general surface of the country. K j30 HISTORY OF AGRICULTURE. Part I. »800. The j>rogress if the taste fir agriculture in Britain is shown by the great number of societies that have been lately formed ; one or more in almost every county, for the diffusion of knowledge, and the encouragement of correct operations and beneficial dis- coveries. Among these, the Bath and West '2. They are all compilations, but have been of very considerable service in spreading a knowledge of culture, and a taste for rural improvement. Stephen Switzer, a seedsman in London, in 1729 ; Dr. Black well, in 17-11 ; and Ilitt, a few wars afterwards, published tracts recommending the burning of clay as manure, in the maimer recently done by Governor Beatson, of Suffolk; Craig, of Cally in Kircudbrightshire, and some others. Lisle's useful Observations on Husbandry were published in 1757 ; Stillingfleet's Tracts, in which he shows the importance of a selection of grasses for laying down lands, in 1759 ; and the excellent Essays of Harte, canon of Windsor, in 1764. The celebrated Arthur Young's first publication on agriculture, entitled, The Farmer's Letters to the People of England, &c, appeared in 1767; and was followed by a great variety of excellent works, including the Tour in France, and the Annuls of Agriculture, till his pamphlet on the utility of the Board of Agriculture, in IS 10. Marshall's numerous and most superior agricultural works commenced with his Minutes of Agriculture, published in 1787, and ended with his Review of the Agricultural Reports, in 1816. Dr. R. W. Dickson's Practical Agriculture appeared in two quarto volumes, in 1806, and may be considered as giving a complete view of the present state of agriculture at the time. The last general work we shall mention is the Code of Agri- culture, by Sir John Sinclair, which may be considered as a comprehensive epitome of the art of farming. It has already been translated into several foreign languages, and passed through more than one edition in this country. In this sketch a great number of useful and ingenious authors are necessarily omitted ; but they will all be found in their places in the Literature of British Agriculture, given in the Fourth Part of this work. 802. The Scottish writers on agriculture confirm our view of the low state of the art in that country in the beginning of the eighteenth century. The first work, written by James Donaldson, was printed in 1697, under the title of Husbandry Anatomised; or, an Enquiry into tlte present Manner of Teiling and Manuring the Ground in Scotland. It appeals from this treatise that the state of the art was not more advanced at that time in North Britain, than it had been in England in the time of Fitzherbert. Farms were divided into in/idd and outfield ; corn crops followed one another, without the interven- tion of fallow, cultivated herbage, or turnips, though something is said about fallowing the outfield ; enclosures were very rare; the tenantry had not begun to emerge from a state of great poverty and depression ; and the wages of labour, compared with the price of corn, were much lower than at present; though that price, at least in ordinary years, must appear extremely moderate in our times. Leases for a term of years, however, were not uncommon ; but the want of capital rendered it impossible for the tenantry to attempt any spirited improvements. 803. The Countryman's Rudiments; or,nn Advice to the Farmers in East Lothian how to labour and improve their Grounds, said to have been written by Lord Belhaven, about the time of the union, ami reprinted in 1723, is the next work on the husbandry of Scotland In this we have a deplorable picture Of the state of agriculture, in what is now the most highly improved county in Scotland. His Lordship begins with a vcr\ high encomium on his own performance. " 1 dare be bold to say, there never was such a good, easy method of husbandry as this, so succinct, extensive, and methodical in all its parts, published before." And lie he-peaks the favour of those to whom he addresses himself, by adding, " neither shall I affright you with hedging, ditching, marling, chalking, paring and burning, draining, watering, and such like, which are all very good improvements indeed, ami very agreeable with the soil and situation 61 East Lothian; hut I know ye cannot bear as yet such a crowd of improvements, this being onlj intended to initiate you in the true method and principles of husbandry." The farm lands in East Lothian, as in other districts, were divided into infield and outfield, the Conner of which got all the dung. " 'II e infield, where wheat is sown, is generally divided by the tenant into four divisions or breaks, as they call them, viz. one of wheat, one of barley, one of peas, and one of oats; so that the wheat is sowed iter the peas, the barley after the wheat, and the oats after the barley. The outfield land is ordinarily made use of promiscuously lor feeding their cows, horses, sheep, ami oxen : it is also dunged by their sheep, who lav in earthen fold., ; and sometimes, when they have much of it, they fauch or fallow part of it yearly " under this management, the produce seems to have been three times the seed- " and yet,'' says His Lordship, " if in East I.othian they did not leave a higher stubble than in other places of the kingdom, their grounds would be in a much worse condition than at present they are, though bad enough. A good crop of corn makes a good stubble, and a good stubble is the equallest Book I. AGRICULTURE IN THE BRITISH ISLES. 131 mucking that is." Among the advantages of enclosures, he observes, " you will gain much more labour from your servants, a great part of whose time was taken up in gathering thistles, and other garbage, for their horses to feed upon in their stables; and thereby the great trampling and pulling up, and other destruction of the corns, while they are yet tender, will be prevented." Potatoes and turnips are recom- mended to be sown in the yard (kitchen-garden}. Clover does not seem to have been known Rents were paid in corn; and, for the largest farm, which he thinks should employ no more than two ploughs, the rent was " about six chalders of victual, when the ground is very good, and four in that which is not so good. Eut I am most fully convinced they should take long leases or tacks, that they may not be straitened with time in the improvement of their rooms /arms); and this is profitable both for master and tenant." 804 Maxwell's Select Transact/oils of the Society of Improvers of the Knowledge of Agricvlture in Scotland was published in 1743 (see 79A), and his Practical Husbandman, in 1757, including an Essay on the Husbandry of Scotland. In the latter he lay? it down as a rule, that it is bad husbandry to take two crops of grain successively, which marks a considerable progress in the knowledge of modern culture ; though he adds that, in Scotland, the best husbandmen after a fallow take a crop of wheat; after the wheat, peas, then barley, and then oats ; and after that they fallow again. The want of enclosures was still a matter of complaint. The ground continued to be cropped so long as it produced two seeds for one; the best farmers were contented with four seeds for one, which was more than the general produce. In 1765, A Treatise on Agriculture was published by the Rev. Adam Dickson, minister of Dunse, in Ber- wickshire, which was decidedly the best work on tillage which had then appeared in the English language, and is still held in esteem among the practical farmers of Scotland. In 1777, Lord Kaimes published The Gentleman Farmer, being an attempt to improve agriculture by subjecting it to the test of rational prin- ciples. His Lordship was a native of Berwickshire ; and had been accustomed to farm in that country for several years, and afterwards at Blair Drummond, near Stirling. This work was in part a compilation, and in part the result of his observation ; and was of essential service to the cause of agriculture in Scot- land. In 177S, appeared Wight's Present State of Husbandry in Scotland. This is a valuable work; but the volumes not appearing but at intervals of some years, it was of less benefit than might have been expected. In 1783, Dr. Anderson published his Essays relating to Agriculture and rural Ajfairs : a work of science and ingenuity, which did much good both in Scotland and England. In 1810, appeared The Husbandry of Scotland, and, in 1815, The General Report of the Agricultural State and Political Circum- stances of Scotland, both by Sir John Sinclair, and excellent works. The Code of Agriculture, by the same patriotic and indefatigable character, has been noticed as belonging to English publications on agriculture. (801.) 805. Agricultural Periodicals. — The Farmers Magazine ; a quarterly work, exclu- sively devoted to agriculture and rural affairs, was commenced in 1800, and has done more to enlighten both the proprietors and tenantry of Scotland than any other book which has appeared. It was at first conducted jointly by Robert Brown, farmer of Markle ; and Robert Somerville, M. D. of Haddington. Afterwards, on Dr. Somer- ville's death, by Brown alone ; and subsequently, on the latter gentleman's declining it, by James Cleghorn, one of the most scientific agriculturists of Scotland. The frequent recurrence that will be made to The Farmer's Magazine in the course of this work, will show the high value which we set on it. In November 1825, this work terminated with the 26th volume, and has since been succeeded by The Farmer s Register and Monthly Magazine, and The Quarterly Journal of Agriculture, in Scotland ; and by The British Farmer's Magazine in England. The Farmer's Journal is the first agricultural news- paper which appeared in Britain ; it was commenced in 180S, and is still continued. The Irish Farmer's Journal was commenced in 1812, but discontinued for want of patronage in 1827. The names and writings of all the British agricultural authors, with abridged biograpliies of all such as could be procured, will be found in chro- nological order in Chap. IV. of Book I. of Part IV. of this work. (See Contents or Index. ) 806. A professorship af 'agriculture was established in the university of Edinburgh, in 1 790, and the professor, Dr. Andrew Coventry, is well known as a man of superior qualifications for fulfilling its duties. Professorships of agriculture, and even of hor- ticulture, or rather of culture in general, are said to be partly provided for, and partly in contemplation, both in Oxford and Cambridge. The professor of botany in the London University, John Lindley, in the Prospectus of his Lectures, announces " the application of the laws of Vegetable Physiology to the arts of Agriculture and Horticulture." Sect. IV. Of the liise, Progress, and present State of Agriculture in Ireland. 807. Of the agriculture of Ireland very little is known up to a recent period. With a soil singularly prolific in pasture, and rather humid for the easy management of grain, it is probable that sheep and cattle would be the chief rural products for many cen- turies. In the twelfth century and earlier, various religious establishments were founded, and then it is most probable tillage on something like the Roman mode of culture would be introduced. The monks, says O'Connor, fixed their habitations in deserts, which they cultivated with their own hands, and rendered them the most delight- ful spots in the kingdom. 808. During the thirteenth, fourteenth, and fifteenth centuries, the English were obliged to suppress the numerous rebellions of their Irish subjects by war, and the forfeited estates of the rebels would in part be divided among the troops. This might end in introducing some agricultural improvements; but there is no evidence that such was effected before the time of Elizabeth, when the enormous demesnes of the Earl of Desmond were forfeited, and divided amongst a number of English undertakers, as they were called, who entered into a stipulation to plant a certain number of English families K 2 IS9 HISTORY OF AGRICULTURE. Past I. cm their states, in proportion to the number of acres. Among others who received portions wnv. Sir Walter Raleigh, and Spenser, the poet. The former is said to have then introduced the potato. so;*. 7V ■ James I- was one of comparative tranquillity for Ireland; the power of the judges, and of the English government, was extensively fixed; the Irish laws and customs were abolished, and the English laws were established in all cases without exception, through the whole island. NumeroU8 colonies were also sent from England and Scotland, especially the latter, to occupy the forfeited estates; and seven northern counties were "holly allotted to undertakers. This was called the "plantation of liter." and was attended by the introduction of an improved agriculture, and by the linen manufacture, which is still carried on by the descendants of the first colonists in the same counties. 310. The city of London participated in this distribution of land. The corporation having accepted of large grants in the county of Deny, they engaged to expend 20,000/, on the plantation ; to build the cities of Derry and Colerain, ami at the same time stipulated tor such privileges as might make their settlement convenient and re- spectable. Under a pretence <>t protecting this infant settlement, or perhaps with a view of raising money, the king instituted the order of Irish baronets, or knights of Ulster ; from each of whom, as was done in Scotland with respect to the knights of Nova Scotia, he exacted a certain sum, as the price of the dignity conferred. (Wakefield.) 811. Of the husbandry of Londonderry a curious account was published about a century ago, by the archbishop of Dublin. lie states that there was little wheat grown, and that of very inferior quality ; the soil being considered as unsuitable to its production. Potatoes remained three or four years in the ground, reproducing a crop, which at the best was a very deficient one. Lime was procured by burning sea shells. The appli- cation of them in an unburnt state arose from accident. A poor curate, destitute of the means for burning the sea shells which he had collected, more with a view to remove an evidence of his poverty, than in any hope of benefit, spread them on his ground. The success which attended the experiment occasioned surprise, and insured a rapid and general adoption of the practice. ( Wakefield.) The improvements made since the period of which the archbishop treats, Curwen remarks, are undoubtedly very considerable : and whilst we smile at the very subordinate state of agriculture at that time, may we not on reasonable ground expect that equal progress will at least be made in this century as in the last? {Letters on Ireland, vol. ii. p. 246.) 812. A considerable impulse teas given to the agriculture of Ireland after the rebellion of 1641, which was quelled by Cromwell, as commander of the parliamentary army in 1652. Most of the ofiicers of this army were yeomen, or the sons of English country gentlemen ; and they took pleasure in instructing the natives in the agricultural practices to which they were accustomed at home. Afterwards, when Cromwell assumed the protectorship, he made numerous grants to his soldiers, many of whom settled in Ireland ; and their descendants have become men of consideration in the country. Happily these grants were confirmed at the restoration. Some account of the state of culture in that country at this time, and of the improvements which it was deemed desirable to introduce, will be found in Hartlib's Legacy. 813. The establishment of the Dublin Society in 1749 gave the next stimulus to agri- culture and general industry in Ireland. The origin of the Dublin Society may be dated from 1781, when a number of gentlemen, at the head of whom was Prior of Itath- downey, Queen's county, associated themselves together for the purpose of improving the agriculture and husbandry of their country. In 17-19, Prior, through the interest of the then lord-lieutenant, procured a grant of 10,000/. per annum, for the better pro- motion of its views. Miss Plumtrce considers this the first association ever formed in the British dominions expressly for such purposes; but the Edinburgh Agricultural Society, as we have seen (793.), was founded in 1723. 814. Arthur Youngs Tour in Ireland was published in 1780, and probably did more good than even the Dublin Society. In this work he pointed out the folly of the bounty on the inland carriage of corn. His recommendation on this subject was adopted; and, according to Wakefield, " from that hour may be dated the commencement of extended tillage in Ireland." (WakejiehCs Statistical Account ; Curwen s Letters.) 815. The state of agriculture of Ireland, in the beginning of the present century, is given with great clearness and ability in the supplement to the Encyclopaedia Brilannica ; and from that source we have selected the following condensed account : — 816. The climate of Ireland is considerably more mild than that of England, and the southern and western part of the island greatly more so than the northern. The difference in this respect, indeed, is greater than can be explained by the difference of latitude ; and is probably owing to the immediate vicinity of the western ocean. On the mountains of Kerry, and in Bantry Bay, the arbutus and some other shrubs grow in great luxu- riance, which are not to be met with again till the traveller reaches the Alps of Italy. The Book I. AGRICULTURE IN THE BRITISH ISLES. 133 snow in these parts of the island seldom lies for any time, and frost hardly ever continues beyond a few days, and while it lasts it is by no means intense. The mildness and hu- midity of the atmosphere produce a luxuriance and rapidity of growth in vegetation, to which no other part of the empire can afford any parallel ; and this appears in the most remarkable manner in the ivy, and other evergreens, with which the kingdom abounds. These are not only much more plentiful, but far more luxuriant, and of much quicker growth, than in the most favoured parts of Great Britain. To those who are accustomed to the dry weather of this island, the continued rains of the south and west of Ireland are extremely disagreeable ; but it is to this peculiarity in their climate, that the Irish have to attribute the richness of their pasturage, an advantage which, coupled with the re- markable dryness and friability of the soil, points, in an unequivocal manner, to a rotation of crops, in which grazing should occupy a principal place. 817. The territorial surface of Ireland affords a pleasing variety, consisting in some parts of rich and fertile plains, in others of little hills and acclivities, which succeed one another in frequent succession. The most elevated ground is to be found in die bog of Allan. Its height above die sea does not exceed 270 feet, yet, from this ridge, the waters of the rivers run to the different seas. This elevated ground is connected with the principal mountains of Ireland, diverging in the north from the hills of Tyrone, and leading in the south to those of Sleeve Bloom and the Galtees. The chains of moun- tains are neither numerous nor considerable ; the most remarkable are, the Kerry mountains, those of Wicklow, the Sleeve Bloom chain between the King's and Queen's county, and die mountains of 3Iourne, in the south of the province of Ulster. 818. The soil of Ireland is, generally speaking, a fertile loam, with a rocky sub- stratum ; although there are many exceptions to this description, and many varieties. Generally speaking, it is rather shallow ; to which cause the frequent appearance of rocks near the surface, or at no considerable depth, is to be attributed. It possesses a much greater proportion of fertile land, in proportion to its extent, than either England or Scot- land. Not only is the island blessed with this extent of cultivable ground, but it is almost all of such a quality as to yield luxuriant crops, with little or no cultivation. Sand does not exist except on the sea shore. Tenacious clay is unknown, at least near the surface. Great part of the land of Ireland throws up a luxuriant herbage, widiout any depth of soil, or any skill on the part of the husbandman. The county of Meath, in particular, is distinguished by the richness and fertility of its soil : and, in Limerick and Tipperary, there is a dark, friable, sandy loam, which, if preserved in a clean state, will yield crops of corn several years in succession. It is equally well adapted for grazing as for arable crops, and seldom experiences either a winter too wet, or a summer too dry. The vales in many of the bleakest parts of the kingdom, as Donegal and Tyrone, are remarkable for their richness of soil and luxuriance of vegetation, which may be often accounted for by the deposition of the calcareous soil, washed down by the rains of winter, which spreads the richest manure over the soil below, without subjecting the farmer to any labour. {Wakefield, i. 79, 80.) 819. The bogs, or peat mosses, of Ireland, form a remarkable feature of the country, and have been proved by the parliamentary commissioners to be of great extent. They estimate the whole bogs of the kingdom at 2,330,000 acres, English. These bogs, for die most part, lie together. In form, they resemble a great broad belt, drawn across the centre of Ireland, with its narrowest end nearest to the capital, and gradually extending in breadth as it approaches the western ocean. The bog of Allan is not one contiguous morass, but this name is indiscriminately applied to a great number of bogs, detached from each other, and often divided by ridges of dry country. These bogs are not, in general, level, but most commonly of an uneven surface, swelling into hills, and di- vided by valleys, which afford the greatest facility to their being drained and improved. In many places, particularly in the district of Allan, the rivulets which these inequalities of surface produce have worn their channels through the substance of the bog, down to the clay or limestone gravel beneath ; dividing the bog into distinct masses, and pre- senting, in themselves, die most proper situations for the main drains, for which pur- pose, with the assistance of art, they may be rendered effectual. 820. The commissioners employed by government to report on the bogs of Ireland found three distinct growths of timber immersed below three distinct strata of bog. The timber was perfectly sound, though deprived of its bark, which has communicated its antiptitrescent quality to the water, and of course has preserved even' thing embedded in the mass; though, as Miss Plumtree remarks, without "anything like a processof tanning ever taking place." The bogs of Ireland are never on low ground, and ha\e therefore evidently originated from the decay of woody tracts. (Flumtree's Residence in Ireland.) 821. Landed properly in Ireland is more generally in large estates of some thousands of acres, tlian in small ones ; but in its occupation it is subdivided in a degree far beyond any thing which occurs in any other part of the empire. In some counties, as Mayo ior example, there are upwards of 15,000 freeholders on properties of not more than 40s- K 3 i.i HISTORY OF AGRICULTURE. Part L value, and who are perhaps nol worth [01. each, These are, for the most part, tenants of the greal proprietors, possessing a life interest in their little farm. S'j'j. in Ireland there are no manorial riglUt separable from the right to the soil, as in England, nor legal poor rates, which are circumstances materially in favour of the for- mer country. {Wakefield, i. 242.) 823. Leases are gem rally of long endurance ; and three lives, or thirty-one years, is a common rate. The price of land varies in different parts of Ireland. In the neighbour- hood of Belfast, and thence to Armagh, it brings thirty years' purchase; in the greatest part of the island it does not exceed twenty ; and, in the richest districts, it may often be bought for sixteen or eighteen. The exposure of landed estates tO public sale takes place very seldom, which is, perhaps, one cause of their not bringing so high a price as they would otherwise do. {Wakekeld-) 824. Farming in Ireland is, generally speaking, in a very backward state. With a few exceptions, such as the county of Aicath, and some other well cultivated dis- tricts, the fanners are destitute of capital, and labour small crofts, which they hold of middlemen interposed between them and the landlord. The fact that in Ireland the landlord never lays out any thing upon repairs or buildings, coupled with the general inability of the farmer to do either in a substantial manner, is very significant as to the state of agriculture. (Tidies Survey of Kilkenny, 412. ; Wakefield, i. 244.) Hut the worst features of the rural economy of this island are the entire want of capital in the farmers, and the complete indifference of the landlord to the character, wealth, or indus- try of his tenant. " Capital," says Wakefield, "is considered of so little importance in Ireland, that advertisements constantly appear in the newspapers, in which it is stated, thai the preference will certainly be given to the highest bidder. Bargains are con- stantly made with a beggar, as a new tenant, who, offering more rent, invariably turns out the old one, however industrious." S'j.'i. 1'hc rent of land in Ireland from these causes, coupled with the excessive com- petition of the peasantry for small farms, as their only means of subsistence, has risen to a great height. (Toivusend's Cork, 218. ; Wakefield, i. 582.) 826. Ire/and is divided, by Wakefield, into nine agricultural districts, in each of which the mode of culture is somewhat different from what it is in the others. 827. The first district comprehends the flat parts of Antrim ; the eastern side of Tyrone, Down, Armagh, Monaghan, and Cavan. Throughout this district, the farms are extremely smail, and the land is ge- nerally dug with a spade. Potatoes, flax, and oats are the crops usually cultivated, and these are grown till the land is exhausted, and suffered to " lie at rest," as they term it, till its strength is recruited by the cow, the goat, two or three sheep, and the poultry lying upon it for some years. The ploughs used in this district are of the rudest structure, and perform their work in the most slovenly manner. Three or four neighbours unite their strength to each plough, every one bringing his horse, his bullock, or his cow. All the other operations of agriculture are performed in an equally slovenly manner. The little wheat that is raised is " lashed," as they call it ; that is, the grain is knocked out by striking the sheaf across a I" mi placed above a cloth : it is, however, afterwards threshed with a flail. The operation of threshing usuall) takes place in the highway, and it is dressed by letting it fall from a kind of sieve, which, during a pretty strong wind, is held breast-high by a woman. Many cottiers in this district have a cabin with no land attached to it. They hire an acre or two, for grass or potato land, from some cottier in their vicinity. The custom el' hiring labourers is unknown. The neighbours all assist each other in their more con- siderable occupations, such as sowing and reaping. The dwellings here are miserably small ; often too small te contain the numerous families that issue from their doors. Land is every where divided into the most minute portions Wakefield, i. 363. ; Dubourdieu's Down, 39.) Under Hie second district may be comprised the northern part of Antrim, Londonderry, the north and west of Tyrone, and the whole of Donegal. Agriculture here is in a worse state than in the pre- ceding district, 'flu-re is no clover, and hardly any wheat. 829. 'I'lii //lint district comprehends the northern parts of Fermanagh. Here the farms are much larger than in the former, and the agricultural system pursued far superior. They plant potatoes on a lea, twice reversing the lands; ami llax, oats, and weeds constitute the course. Some wheat is grown, but oats st ill form the prevalent crop. In the neighbourhood of Enniskillen, the farmers are so rich as to be able to eat butcher's meat daily, and drink smuggled wine. {Wakefield, i. 379.) 830. The fourth district comprehends Sligo, Mayo, Galway, Clare, and parts of Roscommon, and Longford. In some parts of this district the spade culture is pursued; but, in general, the land is cultivated by a plough drawn by four horses abreast. In Roscommon, the old custom of yoking the hones by the tail is still continued ; although, as early as 1634, an act of parliament was passed against this absurd practice. {Life of the Duke of Ortnond, L 79.) Oats are chiefly raised in this district, and, along the cii.ist, barley is cultivated. A large portion of the rent depends on the illegal distilleries, and much of the district is let on lease to several persons jointly, according to the village system. (//,id., i. 381.) 831. In the fifth district, which comprehends Limerick, Kerry, the south side and northern part of Cork, and the county of Waterford, cultivation is in a very rude state ; little corn is grown here, with the exception of the southern part of Cork. Land is extremely divided, and the farms very small. The greater part is a grazing country. {Ibid., i. 387.) ' The sixth district includes the southern parts of Cork. The spade culture is here almost universal, and the farms unusually small. 'logs constitute the main support of the pour. ('I'oivnsend's Curl,-, 194.) ; The seventh district includes part of Tipperary, with Queen's county and King's county. The best [arming in Ireland is observable in this district ; a systematic course of husbandry being pursued, by which the land is kept in good heart Oxen and horses are used in the plough, and hedgerows and good Wheat fallows are to lie seen. Near Kosciea the cultivation of turnips is followed, and they succeed well. Ninety acres are considered a large firm. Leases are generally for three lives. {Wakefield, i. 398.) 83t. The eighth district comprises Wexford ami a part of Wicklow. Means are here sometimes intro- duce! into cultivation, but they are sown broadcast, and never hoed. The mode of ploughing is very awkward: one man holds the plough, another leads the horse, and a third sits on it to keep it down. Notwithstanding this rude culture, however, the rents are enormous, owing to the demand for land rreated bj an ■■ i ive population, who, if they had not a portion of land to grow potatoes (getting no employment), could not live, ',//«'y the Buchanan, Tungusian, Kirgusian, and other Tatar hordes ; and is a celebrated and interesting country, as being the probable seat of the most ancient Persian kingdoms, and as having given birth to Zoroaster and other men eminent in Oriental literature. Modern travellers represent the more civilised of this nation as indolent, but good- natured. They are easily recognised among Other varieties of man. >s7!>. The climate of this extensive country appears to be excellent, the heat even of the southern provinces being tempered by the high mountains capped with perpetual snow; and though situated in the parallel of Spain, Greece, and Asiatic Turkey, the proximity of the Siberian deserts and the lofty alps render the summer more temperate. 880. Tlie surface of die country presents a great variety; and there are numerous rivers, hills, and mountains. SSI. The soil near the rivers is very productive, so that the grass exceeds the height of a man. In any other hands but those of the Tatars, this country might rival any Euro- pean region. SSL'. All that is known of the tillage of the Tatars is, that rice and other grains are cul- tivated near the towns, but that the great dependence of the people is upon their (locks and herds. Bucharia is the richest country, both in corn and cattle. There they have horses, camels, oxen, sheep, and goats, which some individuals reckon by thousands, and make large sales, especially of horses, to the Persians and Turks. They have also dromedaries, which furnish "a considerable quantity of woolly hair, which they clip oil' periodically and sell to the Russians. The lambskins are celebrated, being damasked, as it were, by clothing the little animal in coarse linen ; but the wool of the sheep is coarse, and only used in domestic consumption for felts and thick cloths. The steppes, which are of immense extent, supply them with objects of the I 12 /^ /~" v chace, wolves, foxes, badgers, antelopes, ermines, wea- _,.-:,- ; -^ , .... v\-W,v sels, marmots, &c. In the southern and eastern / '.: ' ^',! - : '^^bi mountains are found wild sheep (0\is Jl/usimon), the ■• '^rSS® ox of Thibet (//6s grunniens, fig. 112.) which seems ' . M$i^ to delight in snowy alps, chamois, tigers, and wild ' • ,, /.."" asses. There seems throughout the whole of Tatary -ll^^^jk —. jgtf^.f%~"^^a. to be a deficiency of wood ; and the botany of this im- ^g* -^■^5^s=^rz >^ g 5s^- mense region is as little known as its agriculture. Suusect. 4. Of the present State of Agriculture in Arabia. 883. The extent of Arabia is somewhat greater than that of Independent Tatary. The climate is hot, but there is a regular rainy season, from the middle of June to the end of September, in some mountainous districts, and from November till February in others. The remaining months are perfectly dry ; so that the year in Arabia consists only of two seasons, the dry and the rainy. In the plains, rain is sometimes unknown for a whole year. It sometimes freezes in the mountains, while the thermometer is at 8G" in the "plains, and hence at a small distance are found fruits and animals which might indicate remote countries. 884. Th e general surface presents a central desert of great extent, with a few fertile oases or isles, and some ridges of mountains, chiefly barren and un wooded. The flou- rishing provinces are those situated on the shores of the Red and Persian Seas, the interior of the country being sterile foi want of rivers, lakes, and perennial streams. The soil is in general sandy, and in the deserts is blown about by the winds. 885. The agricultural products are wheat, maize, doura or millet, barley, beans, lentils, and rape, with the sugar cane, tobacco, and cotton. Rice seems unknown in Yemen, and oats throughout Arabia; the horses being fed with barley, and the asses with beans. They also cultivate •' uars," a plant which dyes yellow, and is exported in great quantities from Mocha to Oman ; and " fua," used in dyeing red ; likewise indigo. The wheat, in the environs of Maskat, yields li'.tle more than ten for one; and in the best cultivated districts of Yemen, fifty for one; but the doura sometimes much exceeds this ratio, yielding in 1 1 it- highlands 140, and in the Te- hama, or plain, from 200 to 400. By their mode of -owing and watering this grain, the inhabitants of Tehama reap three successive crops from the same field in the same year. The plough C //». 1 13.) is simple, and the pick is used instead of the spade. Book I AGRICULTURE IN ASIA. 143 114 886. The indigenous, or partially cultivated, plants and trees of Arabia are numerous, and several of them furnish important articles of commerce. The vegetables of the dry barr&r. districts, exposed to the vertical sun, and refreshed merely by nightly dews, belong lor the most part to the genera of A'loe, Mesembryanthemum, .Euphorbia, Stapelta, and Salsola. On the western side of the Arabian desert, numerous rivulets, descending into the Red Sea, diffuse verdure ; and on the mountains from which they run vegetation is more abundant. Hither many Indian and Persian plants, distinguished for their beauty or use, have been transported in former ages, and are now found in a truly indigenous state : such is the case probably with the tamarind, the cotton tree (inferior to the Indian), the pomegranate, the banyan tree or Indian fig, the sugar-cane, and many species of melons and gourds. Arabia Felix may peculiarly boast of two valuable trees, namely, the coffee (Coffea arabica), found botli cultivated and wild ; and the 'Amfns Opobalsamiim, which yields the balm of Mecca. Of the palms, Arabia possesses the date, the cocoa-nut, and the great fan-palm. It has also the sycamore fig, the plantain, the almond, the apricot, the peach, the papaw, the bead tree, the Mimosa nilotica and sensitiva, and the orange. Among its shrubs and herbaceous plants may be enumerated the ricinus, the liquorice, and the senna, used in medicine ; and the balsam, the globe amaranth, the white lily, and the greater pancratium, distinguished for their beauty and fragrance. 887. The lice stock of Arabia is what constitutes its principal riches, and the most valuable are those species of animals that require only succulent herbs for their nourish- ment. The cow here yields but little milk ; and the flesh of the ox is insipid and juice- less. The wool and mutton of the sheep are coarse. The bezoar goat is found in the mountains. The buffalo is unknown ; but the camel and dromedary (Jig. 114.) are both in use as beasts of burden. The civet cat, musk rat, and other mountain animals, are valuable in commerce. Pheasants,partridges,and common poultry abound in Yemen ; and there are numerous ferocious animals, birds of prey, and pestiferous insects. 888. But the horse is of all the animals of Arabia the most valuable. This animal is said to be found wild in the extensive deserts on the north of Hadramant : this might have been the case in ancient times, unless it should be thought more probable, that the wild horse of Tatary has passed through Persia, and has been only perfected in Arabia. The horses here are distributed into two classes, viz. the kadischi, or common kind, whose genealogy has not been preserved, and the koc/dani, or noble horses, whose breed lias been ascertained for 2000 years, proceeding, as their fables assert, from die stud of Solomon. They are reared by the Bedouins, in the northern deserts between Bassora, Merdin, and the frontiers of Syria ; and though they are neither large nor beautiful, their race and here- ditary qualities being the only objects of estimation, the preservation of their breed is carefully and authentically witnessed, and the offspring of a koch/ani stallion with an ignoble race is reputed kadischi. These will bear the greatest fatigues, and pass whole- days without food, living, according to the Arabian metaphor, on air. They are said to rush on a foe with impetuosity ; and it is asserted that some of them, when wounded in battle, will withdraw to a spot where their master may be secure ; and if he fall, they will neigh for assistance ; accordingly, their value is derived from their singular agility. extreme docility, and uncommon attachment to their master. The Arabian steeds are sometimes bought at excessive rates by the English at Mocha. The Duke of Newcastle asserts that theordinary price of an Arabian horse is 1000/., 2000/., or even 3000/. ; and that the Arabs are as careful in preserving the genealogy of their horses, as princes in re- cording that of their families. The grooms are very exact in registering the names of the c ires and dams of these animals ; and some of these pedigrees are of very ancient date. It is affirmed that Arabian colts are brought up with camels' milk. 889. Ufthe agricultural implements and operations of Arabia almost nothing is known. Their plough, as we have seen, is a poor implement, and instead of a spade they use the pick. The principal exertion of the husbandman's industry is to water the lands from the rivulets and wells, or by conducting the rains. Barley is reaped near Sana in the middle of July ; but the season depends on the situation. At Maskat, wheat and barley are sown in December, and reaped in March; but doura (the great millet) is sown in August, and reaped in the end of November. The Arabians pull up their ripe corn by the roots; but the green corn and grass, as forage for their cattle, are cut with the sickle. In threshing their corn, they lav the sheaves down in a certain order, and then lead over them two oxen dragging a large stone. 1-H HISTORY OF AGRICULTURE. 1 J AK7 I- Subsect. ~>. Of i In' present Slate if Agriculture in Hindustan. 890. Thr climate and seasons of this extensive region are considerably diversified by difference of latitude and Ideal situation ; nevertheless, throughout the wide regions or Hindustan there is some similarity of climate. Although in Thibet the winter nearly corresponds with thai of Switzerland and other parts of Europe, in die whole extent of Hindustan, except in Cashmere, there can hardly be said to he a vestige of winter, except the thick fogs similar to those of our November J and excessive rains, or excessive heats, form the chief varieties of the year. 891. T/ie surface of the country is much diversified; but there are no mountains of any very great height ; the ghauts not being estimated at above three thousand feet. The vast extent of Hindustan consists chiefly of large plains, fertilised by numerous rivers and streams, and interspersed with a few ranges of hills. The periodical rains and intense heats produce a luxuriance of vegetation almost unknown to any other country on the globe ; and the variety and richness of the vegetable creation delight the eye of every spec- tator. Bengal is a low, tlat country, like Lower Egypt, watered and fertilised by the Ganges, as the latter country is by the Nile ; and, like the Nile, the Ganges forms an immense delta before it falls into the sea. The interior of the country is so flat, that the water runs only at the rate of three miles an hour; and the ground rises from the sea towards the interior, at not more than four inches in a mile. 892. The soil varies, but is in most places light and rich : that of Bengal is a stratum of black vegetable mould, rich and loamy, extending to the depth of six feet, and in some places fourteen, and even twenty feet ; lying on a deep sand, and interspersed with shells and rotten wood, which indicate the land to have been overflowed, and to have been formed of materials deposited by the rivers. It is easily cultivated without manure, and had harvests seldom occur. In this country they have two harvests; one in April, called the " little harvest," which consists of the smaller grains, as millet ; and the second, called tlie " grand harvest," is only of rice. *893. Landed property in Hindustan, as in all the countries of Asia, is held to be the absolute right of the king. The Hindu laws declare the king to be the lord and pro- prietor of the soil. All proprietors, therefore, paid a quitrent or military services to the king or rajah, except some few, to whom it would appear absolute grants were made. In general, the tenure was military ; but some lands were appropriated to the church and to charitable purposes, and in many places commons were attached to villages as in Europe. Lands in Hindustan, and in Bengal more especially, are very much divided, and culti- vated in small portions by the ryots, or peasants, who pay rent to subordinate proprietors, who hold of others who hold of the rajah. The actual cultivators have hardly any secure leases; they are allowed a certain portion of the crop for the maintenance of their families and their cattle; but they are not entrusted with the seed, which is furnished by the proprietor or superior holder. The ryot, or cultivator, is universally poor ; his house, clothing, and implements of every kind, do not amount to the value of a pound sterling; and he is considered as a sort of appendage to the land, and sold along with it, like his tattle. So little attention is paid to any agreement made with him, that in a good season, Dr. Tennant informs us, the zemindar, or superior holder, raises his demands to a fourth more than the rent agreed on. Custom has rendered this evil so common, that the miserable ryot has no more idea of obtaining redress from it than from the ravages of the elements. Since Bengal was conquered by the British, the government is, properly speaking, the proprietor of all the lands ; and Tennant accordingly observes, that " nine tenths of all the rent of Bengal and the provinces constitute the revenue of the company, who are, in room of the Mogul emperor, the true proprietors of the soil." (liccr. ii. IS4.) 894. The agrictdtural products of Hindustan are very various. Rice, wheat, and maize are the common grains ; hut barley, peas, a species of tare or cytisus called dohl, and millet, are also cultivated. Next to them the cotton plant and the sugar-cane are most extensively grown. To these may he added, indigo, silk, hemp, poppy for opium, palma Christ!, sesamum, mustard ; the cocoa-nut, which supplies a manufacture of cordage, anil also a liquor called toddy; guavas, plantains, bananas, pompelos, limes, oranges, and a great variety of other fruits, besides what are cultivated in gardens, where the settlers have all the vegetables of Eu- ropean horticulture. The potato has been introduced, and though it does not attain the same size as in Europe, is yet of good quality. It is not disliked by the natives, but cannot be brought to market at so low a price as rice. 885. The sugar-cane {Saccharum ttfficinhrum] [fig 115.) is cultivated, in low grounds that may be flooded. The ground being cleaned and pulverised by one or two years' Book I. AGRICULTURE IN ASIA. H. 1 } *bfyt fallow is planted with cuttings of two or three buds, in rows four feet apart and eighteen inches wide in the row ; as they grow, each stool, consisting of three shoots or more, is tied to a bamboo reed eight or ten feet long, the lower leaves of each cane being first carefully wrapt round it, so as to cover every part, and prevent the sun from cracking it, or side shoots from breaking out. Watering and flooding in the dry season, and keeping open the surface drains during the periodical rains, are carefully attended to. Nine months from the time of planting, the canes are ten feet high, and ready to cut. The process of sugar-making, like all others in this country, is exceedingly simple. A stone mortar and wooden pestle turned by two small bullocks express the juice, which is boiled in pots of earthenware sunk in the ground, and heated by a Hue which passes beneath and around them, and by which no heat is lost. 896. The indigo (Indigo/era tinclhria, jig. 116.) is one of the most profitable articles of culture in Hindustan ; because an immense extent of land is required to produce but a moderate bulk of the dye ; because labour and land here are cheaper than any where else; and because the raising of the plant and its manufacture may be carried on without even the aid of a house. The first step in the culture of the plant is to render the ground, which should be friable and rich, perfectly free from weeds and dry, if naturally moist. The seeds are then sown in shallow drills about a foot apart. The rainy season must be chosen for sowing, otherwise, if the seed is deposited in dry soil, it heats, ^^0 t corrupts, and is lost. The crop being kept clear of weeds is ^^§ fit for cutting in two or three months, and this may be re- peated in rainy seasons every six weeks. The plants must not be allowed to come into flower, as the leaves in that case become dry and hard, and the indigo produced is of less value; nor must they be cut in dry weather, as they would not spring again. A crop generally lasts two years. Being cut, tlu herb is first steeped in a vat till it has become mace- rated, and has parted with its colouring matter; then the liquor is let off into another, in which it undergoes the peculiar process of beating, to cause the fecula to separate from the water. This fecula is let off into a third vat, where it remains some time, and is then strained through cloth bags, and evaporated in shallow wooden boxes placed in the shade. Before it is perfectly dry it is cut in small pieces of an inch square ; it is then packed in barrels, or sowed up in sacks, for sale. Indigo was not extensively cultivated in India before the British settlements were formed there ; its profits were at first so considerable, that, as in similar cases, its culture was carried too far, and the market glutted with the commodity. The indigo is one of the most precarious of Oriental crops ; being liable to be destroyed by hail storms, which do comparatively little injury to the sugar-cane and other plants. 897. The mulberry is cultivated in a different manner from what it is in Europe. It is raised from cut- tings, eight or ten of which are planted together in one pit, and the pits are distributed over the field at the distance of two or three feet every way. These cuttings being well firmed at the lower ends soon form stools about the height of a raspberry bush, and from these the leaves are gathered. The stools are cut over once a year to encourage the production of vigorous shoots from the roots. 898. Tlte poppy [Papaver somniferum) is cultivated on the best soil, well manured. The land sometimes receives as many as fifteen stirrings, and the seed is then dropped into shallow drills about two feet apart. During the growth of the plants the soil is stirred, well watered, and sometimes top-dressed. In two months from the time of sowing, the capsules are ready for incision, which process goes on for two or three weeks ; several horizontal cuts being made in the capsule on one day, on the next the milky juice which had oozed out, being congealed, is scraped off! This operation is generally repeated three times on each capsule, and then the capsules are collected for their seed. The raw juice is kneaded with water, evaporated in the sun, mixed with a little poppy oil, and, lastly, formed into cakes, which are covered with leaves of poppy, and packed in chests with poppy husks and leaves. 899. Tobacco in Hindustan is cultivated in the same manner as in Europe. The soil must be rich and well pulverised, the plants transplanted, and the earth stirred during their growth ; the main stems are broken off', and the leaves are dried by being suspended on beds of withered grass by means of ropes, and shaded from the sun and protected from nightly dews. The leaves afford a much weaker odour than those of the tobacco of Europe or America. 900. The mustard, Sesamum orientate, Jlax, palma Christi, and some other plants, are grown for their seeds, which are crushed for oil. The use of the flax, as a clothing plant, is not understood in India, hemp supplying its place. The mustard and sesamum are sown on the sand left by the overflowings of the rivers, without anv other preparation or culture than that of drawing a bush over the seeds to cover them. The palma Christi is sown in patches three or four feet apart, grows to the size of a little tree, and is cut down with an axe when the seeds are to be gathered. The mill for bruising the seeds of these plants is simply a thick trunk of a tree hollowed into a mortar, in which is placed the pestle, turned by oxen. 901. Palm trees of several species are in general cultivation in Hindustan. The most useful is the cocoa-nut tree (Cucos nucifera, Jig. 117.), which grows almost per- fectly straight to the height of forty or fifty feet, and is nearly one foot in diameter. It has no branches, but about a dozen leaves spring immediately from the top : these are about ten feet long, and nearly a yard in breadth towards the bottom. The leaves are employed to cover the houses of the natives ; and to make mats either for sitting oi 1-16 HISTORY OF AGRICULTURE. Part I. taste, and a slightly intoxicating quality. lying upon. The leaf when reduced to fine fibres is the material of which a beautiful and costly carpeting is fabricated for those in the higher ranks ; the coarser fibres are made into brooms. After these useful mate- rials are taken from the leaf, the stalk still remains, which is about the thickness of the ancle, and fur- nishes firewood. 902. The wood of /fits palm, when fresh cut, is spongy ; hut becomes hard, after being seasoned, and assumes a dark- brown colour. On the top of the tree a large shoot is pro- duced, which when boiled resembles broccoli, but is said to be of a more delicate taste; and, though much liked, is seldom used by the natives ; because on cutting it oft" the pith is exposed, and the tree dies. Between this cab- bage-like shoot and the leaves spring several buds, from which, on making an incision, di.-,tils a juice differing little from water, either in colour or consistence. It is the employment of a certain class of men to climb to the tops of the trees in the evening, with earthen pots tied to their waists, these they fix at the top to receive the juice, which is regularly carried away before the sun has any influence upon it. This liouor is sold at the bazaars by the natives, under the namt of toddy. It is used for yest, and forms an excellent substitute. In this state it is drank with avidity, both by the low Europeans and the natives; and it is reckoned a cooling and agreeable beverage. After being kept a few hours, it begins to ferment, acquires a sharp By boiling it, a coarse kind of sugar is obtained ; and by distil, lation it yields a strong ardent spirit, which being every where sold, and at a low price, constitutes one of the most destructive beverages to our soldiers. The name given to this pernicious drink by Europeans is pariah arrack, from the supposition that it is only drank by the pariahs, or outcasts that have no rank. 9u>. The trees. from which the toddy is drawn do not bear any fruit, on account of the destruction of the buds ; but if the buds be left entire, they produce clusters of the cocoa-nut. This nut, in the husk, is as large as a man's head ; and when ripe fails with the least wind. If gathered fresh, it is green on the outside ; the husk and the shell are tender. The shell, when divested of the husk, may be about the size of an ostrich's egg, and is lined with a white pulpy substance, which contains about a pint and a half of liquor like water ; and, though the taste be sweet" and agreeable, it is different from that of the toddy. 90+. In proportion as the fruit grows old, the shell hardens, and the liquor diminishes, till it is at last entirely absorbed by the white milky substance ; which gradually acquires the hardness of the kernel of the almond, and is almost as easily detached from the shell. The natives use this nut in their victuals; and from it they also express a considerable quantity of the purest and best lamp oil. The substance which remains after this operation supplies an excellent food for poultry and hogs. Cups and a variety of excellent utensils are made of the shell. 905. The husk of the cocoa-nut is nearly an inch thick, and is, perhaps, the most valuable part of the tree ; for it consists of a number of strong fibres, easily separable, which furnish the material for the greatest part of the Indian cordage; but is by no means the only substitute which the country affords for hemp. This the natives work up with much skill. 906. The palmyra, a species of Corypha, is taller than the cocoa tree ; and affords still greater supplies of toddy ; because its fruit is in little request, from the smallness of its size; the produce of the tree is therefore generally drawn off in the liquid state. This tree, like the cocoa, has no branches ; and, like it too, sends forth from the top a number of large leaves, which are employed in thatching houses, and in the manufacture of mats and umbrellas. The timber of the tree is much used in building. 907. The date tree (Yluznix dactylifera), being smaller, does not make so conspicuous a figure in the Indian forest as the two last described. Its fruit never arrives at maturity in India, owing to the heat : toddy is drawn from it, but not in such quantity, nor of so good a quality, as that which is produced by the other species of the same genus. 908. The bamboo (Bambusa su-undiiiacea) is, perhaps, one of the most universally useful trees in the world ; at all events it is so in the tropical regions. There are above fifty varieties, all of which are of the most rapid growth, rising from fifty to eighty feet the first year, and the second perfecting its timber in hardness and elasticity. It grows in stools, which are cut over every two years, and thus the quantity of timber furnished by an acre of bamboos is immense. Its uses are almost without end. In building it forms entire houses for the lower orders, and enters both into the construction and furniture of those of the higher classes. Bridges, boats, masts, rigging, agricultural and other implements, and machinery, carts, baskets, ropes, nets, sailcloth, cups, pitchers, troughs, pipes for conveying water, pumps, fences for gardens and fields, &c, are made of it. Macerated in water it forms paper ; the leaves are generally put round the tea sent to Europe ; the thick inspissated juice is a favourite medicine, is said to be indestructible by fire, to resist acids, and by fusion with alkali to form a transparent permanent glass. 909. The fruits of Hindustan may be said to include all those in cultivation ; since the hardier fruits of Europe, as the strawberry, gooseberry, apple, &c, are not only grown by the European settlers in cool situations, but even by the native shahs. The indigenous sorts include the mango, the mangostan, and the durion, the noblest of known fruits next to the pine-apple. 910. The natural pastures of Hindustan are every where bad, thin, and coarse, and mere is no such thing as artificial herbage plants. In Bengal, where the soil is loamy to the depth of nine and ten feet, a coarse bent, or species of Juncus, springs up both m Book I. AGRICULTURE IN ASIA. 147 the pastuie and arable lands, which greatly deteriorates the former as food for cattle, and unfits the latter for being ploughed. This Juncus, Tennant observes, pushes up a single seed stem, which is as hard as a reed, and is never touched by cattle so long as any other vegetable can be had. Other grasses of a better quality are sometimes inter- mixed with this unpalatable food ; but, during the rain, their growth is so rapid that their juices must be ill fitted for nutrition. In Upper Hindustan, during the dry season, and more particularly during the prevalence of the hot winds, every thing like verdure disap- pears ; so that on examining a herd of cattle, and their pasture, you are not so much sur- prised at their leanness as that they are alive. The grass-cutters, a class of servants kept by Europeans for procuring food for their horses, will bring provender from a field where grass is hardly visible. They use a sharp instrument, like a trowel, with which they cut the roots below the surface. These roots, when cleared of earth by washing, afford the only green food which it is here possible tc procure. 91 1. The live stock of Hindustan consists chiefly of beasts of labour, as the natives are by their religion prohibited the use of animal food. The horses are chiefly of Persian or Arabian extraction. The Bengal native horse is thin and ill- shaped, and never equals the 'Welch or Highland pony, either in figure or usefulness. The buffalo is common, both tame and wild, and generally jet black, with semicircular horns laid backwards upon the neck. They are preferred to the ox for carrying goods, and kept in herds for the sake of their milk, from wliich ghee, a universal article of Hindoo diet, is made. 912. The common ox of Hindustan is white, and distinguished by a protuberance on the shoulder, on which the yoke rests Those kept for travelling-coaches are capable of performing long journeys nearly in the same time as horses ; those kept by the poor ryots work patiently in the yoke, beneath the vertical sun, for many hours, and upon the most wretched food, chaff or dried straw. Cow's milk is used pretty generally in India ; but buffalo's milk, or goat's milk, is reckoned sweeter and finer than cow's milk, and preferred at the breakfast table even by the English. Goat's milk is decidedly the best for tea. 913. The sheep is small, lank, and thin; and the wool chiefly black or dark grey. The fleece is harsh, thin, and hairy, and only used for a kind of coarse wrappers or blanketing. A somewhat better breed is found in the province of Bengal. The mut- ton of India is generally good ; at Poona, and in the Mahratta country, and in Bengal, it is as fine as any in the world. 914. The goat is kept for its milk, which is commonly used at the breakfast table; and also for the flesh of the kids, which is by some preferred to the mutton. 915. Swine are pretty common except among Mohammedans. They might be reared in abundance ; but only Europeans and the low Hindoos eat pork. Wild hogs are abundant, and do so much injury to the rice fields that it is a material part of the ryot's business to watch them, which he does night and day, on a raised platform of bamboos. 916. The elephant is used as a beast of burden, but is also kept by a few European gentlemen, for hunting or show. He is taken by stratagem, and by feeding and gentle usage soon becomes tame, docile, and even attached to his keeper ; but does not breed freely in a domesticated state. The leaves and smaller branches of trees, and an allow- ance of grain, constitute his food. It is a singular deviation from general nature, that an old elephant is easier tamed than one taken young. 917. The camel is used chiefly as a beast of burden, and is valued for his uncommon power of abstinence from drink. He is also patient of fatigue, hunger, and watching, to an incredible degree. These qualities have recommended the camel, as an auxiliary to British officers for carrying their baggage ; and from time immemorial, he has been used by merchants for conveying goods over extensive tracts of country. 918. The predatory animals are numerous. Of these the jackal (jig. 1 18.) is the most remarkable. He enters at night every farmyard, village, and town, and traverses even the whole of Calcutta. His voracity is indiscriminate, and he acts as a sca- venger in the towns ; but, in the farmyards he is destructive to poultry, if he can get at their roosts ; and in the fields the hare and the wild pig some- times become his prey. The numerous village dogs, which in general are mangy, are almost as troublesome as the jackal. Apes of different kinds haunt houses, and pilfer food and fruits. The crow, kite, mino, and sparrow hop about the dwellings of man with a familiarity unknown in Europe, and pilfer from the dishes of meat, even as they are carried from the kitchen to the eating-room. The stork is common ; and toads, serpents, lizards, and other reptiles and insects, are greatly kept under by him and other birds. L 2 MS HISTORY OF AGRICULTURE. Part I. ili!). The implements and ojierations of Hindustance agriculture are as simple as can well l>6 imagined. The plough] of which General Beatson has given several forms (jig. 1 19.), is little better man a pointed stick, and is carried to the Held on the shoulder like the spade. It scratches (lie sandy uplands, or the mud left by the livers, in a to- lerable manner ; hut the strong lands of Bengal, that send up the ./uncus already mentioned, ap- pear as green after one ploughing as before; "only a few scratches are perceptible here and there, more resembling the digging of a mole than the work of the plough." To accomplish the work of pulverisation, the ploughman repeats the operation from five to fifteen times, and at last succeeds in raising mould enough to cover the seed : one plough and pair is allowed to five acres. From this mode of repeatedly going over the same surface and effecting a little each time, General Beatson has drawn some inge- nious arguments in favour of the use of the cultivator in this country, which will be afterwards noticed. 920. The cart, or hackery, has two wheels, and is drawn by two bullocks. The wheels are under three feet in diameter, and the body of the carriage consists of two bamboos, united by a few cross-bars, also of bamboo, and approaching each other the whole length of the machine, till they meet at a point between the necks of the cattle, where they are supported by a bar projecting sideways over the shoulders of both. By this the oxen or buffaloes are often galled in a shocking manner, and the suppuration which takes place in consequence is, perhaps, not perfectly cured during the whole life of the animal ; the evil being aggravated by the crows, which set upon him as soon as he is relieved from the yoke. 921. As no department of aration can be carried on without artificial watering, that operation becomes very expensive and troublesome in elevated districts. In the Mon- gheer district of Bengal, a deep well is dug in the highest part of the field. The fields, after being ploughed, are divided into little square plots, resembling the checkers of a backgammon table. Each square is surrounded with a shelving border, about four inches high, capable of containing water. Between the square checkers thus constructed small dykes are formed for conveying a rivulet over the whole field. As soon as the water has stood a sufficient time in one square for that portion to imbibe moisture, it is let off into the adjoining one, by opening a small outlet through the surrounding dyke. Thus one square after another is saturated, till the whole field, of whatever extent, is gone over. 922. The ivater is raised in large leathern bags, pulled up by two bullocks yoked to a rope. The cattle are not driven in a gin as ours, but retire away from the well, and re- turn to its mouth, accordingly as the bag is meant to be raised or to descend. When raising the filled skin they walk down hill away from the well, and they ascend back- wards as the emptied skin redescends into the water. The earth is artificially raised to suit this process. The rope is kept perpendicular in the pit, by a pulley, over which it runs. From the mouth of the well thus placed, the rivulets are formed to every part of a field 923. In the district of Palna the wells are not so deep. Here the leathern bags are raised by long bamboo levers, as buckets are in several parts of this country. In a few- places rice is transplanted, which is done with pointed sticks, and the crop is found to be better than what is sown broadcast. 924. In the hill;/ districts they neither plough nor sow ; what grain they raise is introduced into small holes, made with a peg and mallet, in a soil untouched by the plough. The oidy preparation given to it is the turning away of the jungle. Iu the vicinity of Rajamahl there are many tribes of peasants, who subsist partly by digging roots, and by killing birds and noisome reptiles. In these savage districts ninety villages have been taxed for two hundred rupees ; and yet this paltry sum could only be made up by fruits peculiar to the situation. The wretched state of these peasants, Dr. Tennant observes, outdoes every thing which a European can imagine. 925. Harvests are gathered in at different seasons of the year ; and as often as a particular crop is collected, the ryot sends for the brahmin, or parish priest, who burns ghee and says prayers over the collected heap, and receives one measure of grain for his trouble. 926- The selections we have now submitted will give some idea of the aboriginal agri- BOOK I. AGRICULTURE IN ASIA. Hi) culture of Hindustan ; not in its details, but as to its peculiar features. It is evidently wretched, and calculated for little more than the bare sustenance of an extensive popula- tion : for though the revenue of the state is in fact the land rent, that revenue, notwith- standing the immense tract of country from which it is collected, is known to be very small. The state of agriculture, however, both politically and professional! v, is capable of great improvement ; and it is believed that the present government has already effected material benefits, both for the natives and for itself. Wherever the British influence is preeminent, there Europeans settle and introduce improvements ; and even the more in- dustrious Asiatics find themselves in greater ^mmv security. The Chinese are known to be a /f^jt^^ remarkably industrious people, and many of .^pi^fe*": them have established themselves in British- '' ' a*? '% V - \~ Indian seaports. Wathen ( Voyage, Sc., 1 814) -^WJ>_ \-~ ■-, ' mentions a corn- mill, combining a bake- /M J-<~<^--k" - The shipping is the chief source of house, both on a large scale and driven by a powerful stream of water, as having been es- tablished at Penang, in the island of that name, ^M by Amee, a Chinese miller. The building is in the Chinese taste, and forms a very pic- turesque group in a romantic spot. (Jig. 120.) About sixty people are employed; though great part of the labour is done by machinery, and among other things the kneading of the dough, consumption. Subsect. 6. OJ the Agriculture of the Island of Ceylon. 927. The agriculture of Ceylon is noticed at some length by Dr. Davy, who savs the art is much respected by the Singalese. The climate of that country is without seasons, and differs little throughout the year in any thing but in the direction of the wind, or the presence or absence of rain. Sowing and reaping go on in even,* month. 928. The soil of Ceylon is generally silicious, seldom with more than from one to three per cent of vegetable matter. Dr. Davy (Account, $c.) found the cinnamon tree in a state of successful culture in quartz sand, as white as snow on the surface, somewhat grey below ; containing one part in one hundred of vegetable matter, five tenths of water, anil the remainder silicious sand. He supposes the growth of the trees may be owing in a considerable degree to the situation being low and moist. 929. The cultivation in the interior of Ceylon is almost exclusively of two kinds ; the dry and wet. The former consists of grubbing up woods on the sides of hills, and sow- ing a particular variety of rice and Indian corn ; the latter is carried on in low flat sur- faces, which may be flooded with water. Rice is the only grain sown. The ground is flooded previously to commencing the operation of ploughing, and is kept under water while two furrows are given ; the water is then let off, and the rice, being previously stieped in water till it begins to germinate, is sown broadcast. When the seed has taken L 3 150 HISTORY OF AGRICULTURE. I. root, and before the mud has had time to dry, the water is readmitted : when the plants are two or three inches high, the ground is 'weeded, and any thin parts made good by transplanting from such as arc too thick. The water remains on the field till the rice begins to ripen, wfaicU is commonly in seven months : it is then let off and the crop cut down with reaping hooks, and carried to the threshing floor, where it is trod out by buffaloes. . 930. The agricultural implements of the Singalcse are few and simple ; they consist ot jungle hooks ('/,'". 121, a), for cutting* down trees and underwood ; an axe (/;) ; a sort of French spade or biche (c) ; a plough of the lightest kind (rovement in China has, in all ages, been encouraged and honoured. The husbar.dman is considered an honourable, as well as a useful, member of society ; he ranks next to men of letters or officers of state, of whom he is frequently the progenitor. The soldier, in China, cultivates the ground. The priests also are agriculturists, whenever their convents are endowed with land. Notwithstanding all these advantages, however, the Chinese empire is by no means so generally cultivated as Du Halde and other early travellers asserted. Some districts are almost entirely under cultivation ; but in many there are extensive wastes. 961. Dr. Abel is of opinion that in that part of China passed through by Lord Am- herst's embassy, the land " very feebly productive in food for man fully equalled that which afforded it in abundant quantity." He never found extensive tracts of land in general cultivation, but often great industry and ingenuity on small spots ; and concludes that " as horticulturists the Chinese may perhaps be allowed a considerable share of merit ; but, on the great scale of agriculture, they are not to be mentioned with any Eu- ropean nation." {Narrative, 127.) 962. Livingstone, an intelligent resident in China, observes, " The statement in the Encyclopedia Britannica, that ' Chinese agriculture is distinguished and encouraged by the court beyond all other sciences,' is incorrect, since it is unquestionably subordinate to literature; and it may be well doubted whether it ought to be considered as holding among the Chinese the rank of a science; for, inde- pendently of that routine which has been followed, with little variation, from a very high antiquity, they seem to be entirely ignorant of all the principles by which it could have been placed on a scientific found- ation." {Hort. Trans., v. 49.) 963. The climate of China is in general reckoned moderate, though it extends from the 50th to the 21st degree of south latitude, and includes three climates. The northern parts are liable to all the rigours of a European winter. Even at Pekin, at fhat season, the average of the thermometer is under 20° during the night, and in the day consi- derably below the freezing point. The heat of those parts which lie under the tropics is moderated by the winds from the mountains of Tatary. In the southern parts there is neither frost nor snow, but storms are very frequent, especially about the time of the equinoxes ; all the rest of the year the sky is serene, and the earth covered with verdure. 964. The surface of the country, though in general flat, is much diversified by chains of granite mountains, hills, rivers, canals, and savage and uncultivated districts, towns innumerable, villages, and cottages covered with thatch, reed, or palm leaves, and in some places with their gardens, or fore-courts, fenced with rude pales, as in England. 15(i HISTORY OF AGRICULTURE. I. ( fi". 126.) China, Dr. Abel observes, from the great extent of latitude contained in its boundaries, and from its extensive plains and lofty mountains, partakes of the advan- tages and defects of many climates, and displays a country of features infinitely varied by nature. Every thing artificial, however, has nearly the same characters in every province. 965. The soil varies exceedingly : it is in many parts not naturally fertile ; but has almost every where been rendered so by the application of culture and manure for- suc- cessive ages. 966. The landed property of China is considered as the absolute right of the emperor: but the sub-proprietor, or first holder, is never turned out of possession as long as he continues to pay about the tenth part of what his farm is supposed capable of yielding ; and, though the holder of lands is only considered as a tenant at will, it is his own fault if he is dispossessed. If any one happens to hold more than his family can con- veniently cultivate, he lets it to another, on condition of receiving half the produce, out of which he pays the whole of the emperor's taxes. The greater part of the poor peasantry cultivate land on these terms. In China there are no immense estates, no fisheries are let out to farm. Every subject is equally entitled to the free and uninter- rupted enjoyment of the sea, of the coasts, of the estuaries, of the lakes and rivers. There are no manor lords with exclusive privileges, nor any game laws. 967. The agricultural products of China extend to every useful vegetable. There is scarcely a grain, a fruit, a tree, or a culinary vegetable of Europe, or the rest of the world, that they do not cultivate ; and they have a number peculiar to themselves. Fowl and fish are not extensively reared, as the chief articles of diet are vegetables. Rice is the common grain of the country ; a species of cabbage, the universal culinary vegetable ; swine, the most abundant live stock ; and tea, the chief plant of export. 968. The tea districts of China extend from the 27th to the 31st degree of latitude. According to the missionaries, it thrives in the more northern provinces ; and from Ksmpfer it appears to be cultivated in Japan as far north as lat. 45°. It seems, according to Dr. Abel's observation, to succeed best on the sides of mountains, where there can be but little accumulation of vegetable mould. The soils from which he collected the best specimens consisted chiefly of sandstone, schistus, or granite. The land forming the Cape of Good Hope consisting of the same rocks, and its geographical position corresponding to that of the tea districts of China, Dr. Abel considers it might be grown there, if desirable, to such an extent as to supersede the necessity of procuring it from China. It grows well in St. Helena and Rio Janeiro, and will grow any where in a meagre soil and moderate temperature. 969. The culture of the tea plant in China has been given by various authors. It is raised from seeds sown where the plants are lo remain. Three or more are dropped into a hole four or five inches deep; these come up without further trouble, and require little culture, except that of removing weeds, till the plants are three years old. The more careful stir the soil, and -some manure it ; but the latter practice is seldom adopted. The third year the leaves are gathered, at three successive gatherings, in February, April, and June, and so on till the bushes become stinted or tardy in their growth, whirh generally happens in from six to ten years. They are then cut-in to encourage the production of fresh shoots. Book I. AGRICULTURE IN ASIA. 157 970. The gathering of the leaves is performed with care and selection. The leave-; are plucked oil' one by one: at the first gathering only the unexpanded and tender are taken ; at the second, those that are full grown ; and at the third, the coarsest. The first forms what is called in Europe imperial tea ; but of this and other names by which tea is designated, the Chinese know nothing ; and the compounds and names are sup- posed to be made and given by the merchants at Canton, who, from the great number of varieties brought to them, have an ample opportunity of doing so. These varieties, though numerous, and some of them very different, are yet not more so than the dif- ferent varieties of the grape ; they are now generally considered as belonging to one species ; die Then Bohea, now Camellia Bohea (Jig. 127. a), of botanists. Formerly it was thought that green tea was gathered exclu- sively from Camellia viridis ; but that is now doubtful, though it is certain there is what is called the green tea district, and the black tea district ; and the varieties grown in the one district differ from those grown in the other. Dr. Abel could not satisfy him- self as to there being two species or one ; but thinks there are two species. He was told by competent persons that either of the two plants will afford the black or green tea Vm'-V;' of the shops, but that the broad thin- leaved {jv-ffl shops plant (C. viridis) is preferred for making the green tea. 971. The tea leaves being gathered are cured in houses which contain from five to ten or twenty small furnaces, about three feet high, each having at the top a large fiat iron pan. There is also a long low table covered with mats, on which the leaves are laid, and rolled by workmen, who sit round it : the iron pan being heated to a certain degree by a little fire made in the furnace underneath, a few pounds of the fresh-gathered leaves are put upon the pan ; the fresh and juicy leaves crack when they touch the pan, and it is the business of the operator to shift them as quickly as possible w ith his bare hands, till they become too hot to be easily endured. At this instant he takes off the leaves with a kind of shovel resembling a fan, and pours them on the mats before the rollers, who, taking small quantities at a time, roll them in the palms of their hands in one direction, while others are fanning them, that they may cool the more speedily and retain their curl the longer. This process is repeated two or three times or oftener, before the tea is put into the stores, in order that all the moisture of the leaves may be thoroughly dissipated, and their curl more com- pletely preserved. On every repetition the pan is less heated, and the operation performed more slowly and cautiously. The tea is then separated into the different kinds, and deposited in the store for domestic use or exportation. 972. The different sorts of black and green are not merely from soil, situation, and age of the leaf: but, after winnowing the tea, the leaves are taken up in succession as they fall ; those nearest the machine, being the heaviest, form the gunpowder tea ; the light dust the worst, being chiefly used by the lower classes. That which is brought down to Canton undergoes there a second roasting, winnowing, packing, &c, and many hundred women are employed for these purposes. 973. As more select sorts of tea, the blossoms of the Camell/a Sasanqua (fig. 127. b) appear to be collected ; since they are brought over land to Russia, and sold by Chinese and Armenians in Moscow at a great price. The buds also appear to be gathered in some cases. By far the strongest tea which Dr. Abel tasted in China, was that called Yu-tien, used on occasions of ceremony. It scarcely coloured the water, and on examination was found to consist of the half-expanded leaves of the plant 974 As substitutes for tea, used bv the Chinese, may be mentioned a species ot moss common to the mountains of Shan-tung ; an infusion of ferns of different sorts, and, Dr. Abel thinks, the leaves of the common camellia and oil camellia mav be added. Du Halde observes that all the plants called tea by the Chinese are not to be considered as the true tea plant ; and Kaempfer asserts that in Japan a species oi CamelhVi, as well as the O^lea fragrans, is used to give it a high flavour. 975. The oil-bearing tea plant (Camellia, oleifero) is cultivated for its seeds, from which an oil is expressed, in very general use in the domestic economy of China. It grows best in a red sandv soil ; attaining the height of six or eight feet, and producing a pro- fusion of white blossoms and seeds. These seeds are reduced to a coarse powder, either in a mortar by a pestle acted on by the cogs of a water-wheel (Jig. 128.), or by a horizontal wheel, having small perpendicular wheels, shod with iron, fixed to its circumference, and acting in a groove lined with the same metal. The seeds, when ground, are stewed or boiled in bags, and then pressed, when the oil is yielded. The press is a hollow cylinder, with a piston pressed i5a HISTORY OF AGRICULTURE. I. against one end, by driving wedges at the side; it is very simple and yet powerful. (Dr. AbeTsNar., I7<>'.) An oil used as a varnish is extracted from another variety of the Camellw, or tea plant (the Dryandra cordata of Thunb.), which is used as a varnish for their boats, and coarser articles of furniture. 976. The tallow tree (Cruton ttebiferum) resembles the oak in the height of its stem and the spread of its branches, and its foliage has the green and lustre of the laurel ; its flowers are small and yellow, and its seeds white. The latter are crushed either as the camellia seeds, or in a hollow trunk of a tree, lined with iron, by means of a wheel laden with a heavy weight (Jig. 1 '29.), and suspended from a beam. The bruised matter next undergoes nearly the same process as the camellia seeds, and the oily matter is found to have all the properties of animal tallow. It is mixed with vegetable oil and wax, to give it consistence, and then made into candles, which burn with great flame, emit much smoke, and quickly consume. 977. The wax tree, or Pe-la, is a term which is not applicable to any one species of tree, but to such as are attacked by a small worm, which runs up, and fastens to their leaves, covering them with combs. 'When these worms are once used to the trees of any district, they never leave them, unless something extraordinary drives them away. The wax pro- duced is hard, shining, and considerably dearer than that of bees. 978. The S&atnum orientate and the Uieinus communis, or castor-oil plant, are cultivated for the esculent oils extracted from their seeds. They appear to have some method of depriving the castor oil of its purgative qualities, but Dr. Abel thinks not completely. 979. The camphire tree Laurus Camphbra) grows to the size of our elms or oaks. The camphire is procured bv boiling the fresh-gathered branches of the tree, and stirring the whole with a stick, till the gum begins to adhere to it in the form of a white jelly. The fluid is then poured oil* into a glazed vessel, and left to concrete. " The crude camphire is then purified in the following manner. A quantity of the finely powdered materials of some old wall, built of earth, is put as a first layer at the bottom of a copper basiii ; on this is placed a layer of camphire, and then another of earth, and so on till the vessel is nearly filled ; the series being terminated with a layer of earth : over this is laid a covering of the leaves of the plant Po-tio, perhaps a species of Mentha. A second basin is now inverted over the first, and luted on. The whole thus prepared is put over a regulated fire, and submitted to its action for a certain length of time ; it is then removed and suffered to cool. The camphire is found to have sublimed, and to be attached to the upper basin, and is further refined by repetitions of the same process." (Narrative, $c, 179.) 980. The oak is as much prized in China as in other countries, and is styled the tree of inheritance. There are several species in general use for building, dyeing, and fuel ; and the acorns are ground into a paste, which mixed with the flour of corn is made into cakes. 981. The maidenhair tree [Salisbhria. adiantifolia) is grown for its fruit, which Dr. Abel saw exposed in quantities ; but whether as a table fruit, a culinary vegetable, or a medicine, he could not ascertain. Kaempfer says, the fruit assists digestion. 982. The cordage plant (S'tda tilitzfblia) is extensively cultivated for the manufacture of cordage from its fibres. The common hemp is used for the same purpose, but the Sida is preferred. A species of Musfl is also grown in some places, and its fibres used for rope and other purposes. 983. The common cotton, and also a variety bearing a yellow down, from which, without any dyeing process, the nankeen cloths are formed, are grown in different places. The mulberry is grown in a dwarf state, as in Hindustan. 984. The ground nut (A rachis lu/pogar'a^, the eatable arum (vTrum esculcntum), theTrapa bicornis, the Scirpus tuberosus, and Nelumbium, all producing edible tubers, are cultivated in lakes, tanks, or marshy places. 985. The Nelumbium, Dr. Abel observes, with its pink and yellow blossoms, and broad green leaves, gives a charm and productiveness to marshes, otherwise unsightly and barren. The leaves of the plant are watered in the summer, and cut down close to the roots on the approach of winter. The seeds, which are in size and form like a small acorn without its cup, are eaten green, or dried as nuts, and are often preserved in sweetmeats ; they have a nut-like flavour. Its roots are sometimes as thick as the arm, of a pale green without, and whitish within ; in a raw state they are eaten as fruit, being juicy and of a sweetish and refreshing flavour ; and when boiled are served as vegetables. 98G. The Seirpus tuhcrhsits, or water chestnut {fig. 130.), is a stoloniferous rush, almost without leaves, and the tubers are produced on the stolones. It grows in tanks, which are manured for its reception about the end of March. A tank being drained of its water, small pits are dug in its bottom; they are filled with human manure, and exposed to the sun for a fortnight ; their contents are next intimately blended with the slim; bottom of the tank, and slips of the plant inserted. The water is now returned to the tank, and t'le first crop of tubers comes to perfection in six months. (Hox. Coromandel.) 987. The millet Wo'eus) is grown on the banks of rivers, and attains the height of sixteen feet It is sown in rows, and after it conns up Panicum is sown between, which comes to perfection after the other is cut down. 9S8. Among the many esculent vegetables cul- tivated in China, the petsai, a species of white cabbage, is in most general uie. The Book I. AGRICULTURE IN ASIA. 159 quantity consumed of it over the whole empire is, according to all authors, immense; and, Dr. Abel thinks, it may be considered to the Chinese what the potato is to the Irish. It is cultivated with great care, and requires abundant manuring, like its congeners of the i?rassica tribe. Boiled, it has the flavour of asparagus ; and raw, it eats like lettuce and is not inferior. It often weighs from fifteen to twenty pounds, and reaches the height of two or tree feet. It is preserved fresh during winter by burying in the earth ; and it is pickled with salt and vinegar. 989. Almost every vegetable of use, as food, in the arts, or as medicine, known to the rest of the world, is cultivated in China, with, perhaps, a very few exceptions of equatorial plants. The bamboo and cocoa-nut tree, as in Hindustan, are in universal use : in- digo is extensively cultivated ; sugar also in the southern provinces, but it is rather a luxury than an article of common consumption. It is used mostly in a coarse granulated form ; but for exportation, and for the upper classes, it is reduced to its crystallised state. Tobacco is every where cultivated, and in universal use, by all ages, and both sexes. Fruits of every kind abound, but they are mostly bad, except the orange and the lee-tchee Dimocarpus Litchi), both of which are probably indigenous. The art of grafting is well known, having been introduced by the missionaries; but they do not appear to have taken advantage cf this knowledge for the improvement of their fruits. They have also an art which enables them to take off bearing branches of fruit, par- ticularly of the orange and peach, and transfer them, in a growing state, to pots, for their artificial rocks and grottos, and summer-houses. It is simply by removing a ring of the bark, plastering round it a ball of earth, and suspending a vessel of water to drop upon it, until the upper edge of the incision has thrown out roots into the earth. 990. The live stock of Chinese agriculture is neither abundant nor various. The greater part of their culture being on a small scale, and performed by manual operations, does not require many beasts of labour : their canals and boats supply the place of beasts of burden : and their general abstemiousness renders animals for the butcher less neces- sary. They rear, however, though in comparatively small number, all the domestic animals of Europe ; the horse, the ass, the ox, the buffalo, the dog, the cat, the pig; but their horses are small and ill-formed. The camels of China are often no larger than our horses; the other breeds are good, and particularly that of pigs. The kind of dog most common in the south, from Canton to Tong-chin-tcheu, is the spaniel with straight ears. More to the north, as far as Pekin, the dogs have generally hanging ears and slender tails. 991. The Chinese are exceedingly sparing in the use of animal food. The broad-tailed sheep are kept in the hilly parts of the country, and brought down to the plains ; but the two animals most esteemed, because they contribute most to their own subsistence and are kept at the cheapest rate, are the hog and the duck. "Whole swarms of the latter are bred in large barges, surrounded with projecting stages covered with coops for the reception of these birds, which are taught, by the sound of the whistle, to jump into the rivers and canals in search of food, and by another call to return to their lodg- ings. They are usually hatched by placing their eggs, as the ancient Egyptians were wont to do, in small ovens, or sandbaths, in order that the same female may continue to lay eggs throughout the year, which would not be the case if she had a young brood to attend. The ducks, when killed, are usually split open, salted, and dried in the sun ; in which state they afford an excellent relish to rice or other vegetables. 992. The wild animals are numerous. Elephants are common in the south of China, and extend as far as the thirtieth degree of north latitude in the province of Kiangnau and of Yun-nau. The unicorn rhinoceros lives on the sides of the marshes in the provinces of Yun-nau and Q.uan-si. The lion, according to Du Halde and Trigault, is a stranger to China ; but the animal figured by Neuhoft', under the name of the tiger, seems to be the manelcss lion known to the ancients, described by Oppian, and seen by M. Olivier on the Euphrates. Marco Polo saw lions in Fo-kien : there were some at the court of Kublai Khan. The true tiger probably shows himself in the most southerly provinces, where there are also various kinds of monkeys ; the long-armed gibbou or Simia longimanus; the Simia inrluens, or ugly baboon ; and the Simia Sylvanus. which mimics the gestures and even the laughter of men. The musk animal, which seems peculiar to the central plateau of Asia, sometimes goes down into the western provinces of China. The deer, the boar, the fox, and other animals, some of which are little known, are found in the forests. 993. Several of the birds of the country are distinguished for beauty of form and bril- liancy of colour ; such as the gold and silver pheasants, which we see often painted on the Chinese papers, and which have been brought to this country to adorn our aviaries ; also the Chinese teal, remarkable for its two beautiful orange crests. The insects and butterflies are equally distinguished for their uncommon beauty. Silkworms are common, and seem to be indigenous in the country. From drawings made in China, it appears to possess almost all the common fishes of Europe ; and M. Bloch, and M. de Lacepede have made us acquainted with several species peculiar to it. The Chinese gold-fish 100 HISTORY OF AGRICULTURE. (Cyprinus auratus), which, in that country, as with us, is kept in basins as an ornament, is a native of a lake at the Coot of the high mountain of Tein-king, near the city of Tchang-hoo, in the province of Tch^-kiang. From that place it has been taken to all the other provinces of the empire and to Japan. It was in lo'l 1 that it was first brought to England. 994. The fUheries of China, as already noticed, are free to all ; there are no restrictions on any of the great lakes, the rivers, or canals. The subject is not once mentioned in the Leu-lee ; but the heavy duties on salt render the use of salt-fish in China almost unknown. Resides the net, the line, and the spear, the Chinese have several ingenious methods of catching lish. In the middle parts of the empire, the fishing corvorant fPelicanus piscator) is almost universally in use; in other parts they catch them by torch- light ; and a very common practice is, to place a board painted white along the edge of the boat, which, reflecting the moon's rays into the water, induces the fish to spring towards it, supposing it to be a moving sheet of water, when they fall into the boat. 995. The implements of Chinese agriculture are few and simple. The plough has one handle, but no coulter; there are different forms: some may be drawn by women, (Jig. 131. «), others are for stirring the soil under water (»), and the largest is drawn by a single buffalo or ox (c). Horses are never employed for that purpose. The carts are low, narrow, and the wheels so diminutive as often to be made without spokes. A large cylinder is sometimes used to separate the grain from the ear, and they have a winnowing ma- chine similar to that winch was invented in Europe about a century ago. The most ingenious machines are those for raising water for the purposes of irrigation. A very ingenious wheel for this purpose has been figured by Sir George Staunton : but the most univer- sally used engine is the chain-pump, worked in various ways by oxen, by walking in a wheel, or by the hand ; and next to it buckets worked by long levers (Jig, 132.), as in the gardens round London, Paris, Constantinople, and most large cities of Europe. For pounding oleiferous seeds they have also very simple and economical machines, in which pestles on the ends of levers are worked by a horizontal shaft put in motion by a water-wheel. (fig- 133.) The chief thing to admire in the implements and machines of India and China is their simplicity, and the ease and little expense with which they may be constructed. 996. The operations of Chinese agriculture are numerous, and some of them curious. Two great objects to be pro- cured are water and manure. The former is raised from rivers or wells by the machines already mentioned, and dis- tributed over the cultivated surface in the usual manner, and the latter is obtained from every conceivable source. 997. The object of their tillage, Livingstone observes, " appears to be, in the first instance, to expose the soil as extensively as possible ; and this is bost effected by throwing it up in large masses, in which state it is allowed to remain till it is finally prepared for planting. When sufficient rain has fallen to allow the husbandman 133 132 to flood his fields, they arc laid under water, in which state they are commonlv ploughed again, in the same manner as for fallow, and then a rake, or rather a sort of harrow, about three feet deep and four Book I. AGRICULTURE IN ASIA. 161 feet wide, with a single row of teeth, is drawn, by the same animal that draw; their plough perpendicu- larly through the soil, to break the lumps, and to convert it into a kind of ooze; and as the teeth of this rake or harrow are not set more than from two to three inches apart, it serves, at the same time very effectually to remove roots and otherwise to clean the ground. For some purposes, the ground thus pre- pared is allowed to dry ; it is then formed into beds or trenches ; the beds are made of a convenient size for watering and laying on manure. The intermediate trenches are commonly about nine inches deep and of the necessary breadth to give to the beds the required elevation ; biit when the trenches are wanted for the cultivation of water plants, some part of the soil is removed, so that a trench may be formed of the proper dimensions. 998. For these operations they use a hoe, commonly ten inches deep, and five inches broad, made of iron, or of wood with an iron border, and for some purposes it is divided into four or five prongs. By constant practice the Chinese have acquired such dexterous use of this simple instrument, that they form their beds and trenches with astonishing neatness and regularity. With it they raise the ground which has not been ploughed, from the beds and trenches, by only changing it from a vertical to a horizontal direction, or employing its edge. It is also used for digging, planting, and in general for every purpose which a Chinese husbandman has to accomplish. 999. The collection of manure is an object of so much attention with the Chinese, that a prodigious number of old men, women, and children, incapable of much other labour, are constantly employed about the streets, public roads, and banks of canals and rivers, with baskets tied before them, and holding in their hands small wooden rakes, to pick up the dung of animals, and offals of any kind that may answer the purpose of manure : this is mixed sparingly with a portion of stiff loamy earth, and formed into cakes, dried afterwards in the sun. It sometimes becomes an object of commerce, and is sold to farmers who never employ it in a compact state. Their first care is to construct very large cisterns, for containing! besides those cakes and dung of every kind, all sorts of vegetable matter, as leaves, roots, or stems of plants^ with mud from the canals, and offals of animals, even to the shavings collected by barbers. With all these they mix as much animal water as can be procured, or common water sufficient to dilute the whole ; and, in this state, generally in the act of putrid fermentation, they apply it to the ploughed earth. In various parts of a farm, and near the paths and roads, large earthen vessels are buried to the edge in the ground, for the accommodation of the labourer or passenger who may have occasion to use them. In small retiring-houses, built also upon the brink of the roads, and in the neighbourhood of villages, reser- voirs are constructed of compact materials, to prevent the absorption of whatever they receive, and straw is carefully thrown over the surface from time to time, to prevent evaporation. Sue li a value is set upon the principal ingredient, called ta-feu, for manure, that the oldest and most helpless persons are not deemed wholly useless to the family by which they are supported. The quantity of manure collected by every means is still inadequate to the demand. 1000. Vegetable or wood ashes, according to Livingstone, are esteemed the very best manure by the Chinese. The weeds which were separated from the land by the harrow, with what they otherwise are able to collect, are carefully burnt, and the ashes spread. The part of the field where this has been done is easily perceived by the most careless observer. Indeed the vigour of the productions of those parts of their land where the ashes have been applied is evident, as long as the crop continues on the ground. The ashes of burnt vegetables are also mixed with a great variety of other matters in forming the compositions which are spread on the fields, or applied to individual plants. 1001. The plaster of old kitchens is much esteemed as a manure ; so that a farmer will replaster a cook- house for the old plaster, that he may employ it to fertilise his fields. 1002. Of night-soil (ta-feu), the Chinese have a high notion: and its collection and formation into cakes, by means of a little clay, clay and lime, or similar substances, give employment to a great number of indi- viduals They transport these cakes to a great distance. This manure in its recent state is applied to the roots of cauliflowers, cabbages, and similar plants, with the greatest advantage. 1003. The dung and urine of all animals are collected with great care ; they are used both mixed ami separately. The mixture is less valuable than the dung, and this for general purposes is the better the older it is. Horns and bones reduced to powder, the cakes left after expressing several oils, such as of the ground-nut, hemp.seed, and the like, rank also as manures. Small crabs, the feathers of fowls and ducks, soot, the sweepings of streets, and the stagnant contents of common sewers, are often thought sufficiently valuable to be taken to a great distance, especially when water carriage can be obtained. 1004. Lime is employed chiefly for the purpose of destroying insects ; but the Chinese are also aware of its fertilising properties. 1005. The Chinese often manure the plant rather than the soil. The nature of the climate in the southern part of the empire seems to justify fully this very laborious but economical practice. Rain commonly falls in such quantities and with such force as to wash away all the soluble part of the soil, and the manure on which its fertility is supposed to depend ; and this often appears to be so effectually done, that nothing meets the eye but sand and small stones. It is therefore proper that the Chinese husbandman should reserve the necessary nourishment of the plant to be applied at the proper time. For this purpose reservoirs of the requisite dimensions are constructed at the corner of every field, or other convenient places. 1006. Willi the seed or young plant its proper manure is invariably applied. It is then carefully watered in dry weather night and morning, very often with the black stagnant contents of the common sewer ; as the plants advance in growth the manure is changed, in some instances more than once, till their advance towards maturity makes any further application unnecessary. 1007. The public retiring-houses are described by Dr. Abel, as rather constructed for exposure than concealment, being merely open sheds with a rail or spar laid over the reservoir. 1008. The mixture of soils is said to be a common practice as a substitute for manure : " they are constantly changing earth from one piece of ground to another ; mixing sand with that which appears to be too adhesive, and loam where the soil appears to be too loose," &c. 1009. The terrace cultivation is mentioned by Du Halde and others, as carried to great perfection in China : but the observations of subsequent travellers seem to render this doubtful. Lord Amherst's embassy passed through a hilly and mountainous country for many weeks together: but Dr. Abel, who looked eagerly for examples of that system of cultivation, saw none that answered to the description given by authors. Du Halde's description, he says, may apply to some particular cases : but the instances which he M 162 HISTORY OF AGRICULTURE. Part I. observed load liim to conclude that terrace cultivation is in a great measure confined to their ravines, undulations, and gentlest declivities. 1010. Hows, or driilt, ore almost ttlmttft adopted in planting or sowing; and for this purpose the lands are laid flat, and not raised into ridges with intervening furrows. They are said to be particular in having the direction of their rows from north to south, which, other circumstances being suitable, is certainly a desirable practice. Before sowing, seeds are generally kept in liquid manure till they germinate. Barrow frequently saw in the province of Keang-see a woman drawing a light plough with a single handle (Jig. 131. a), through ground previously prepared; while a man held the plough with one hand, and with the other cast the seed into the drills. 101 I. Forests of immense extent exist on the mountains of the western districts of China, and abound in almost every species of tree known in Europe, and many others unknown. Besides timber and fuel, these forests supply many valuable products, as barks, gums, oils, and resins, used in the arts. Rose wood, ebony, sandal wood, iron wood, and a great variety of others are sent to Europe for cabinet work. The Chinese aloe has the height and figure of an olive tree. It contains within the bark three sorts of wood ; the first, black, compact, and heavy, is called eagle-wood ; it is scarce ; the second, called calambooc, is light like rotten wood ; the third, near the centre, is called calamba wood, and sells in India for its weight in gold ; its smell is exquisite, and it is an excellent cordial in cases of fainting or of palsy. 1012. The national agricultural fete of the Chinese deserves to be noticed. Every year on the fifteenth day of the first moon, which generally corresponds to some day in the beginning of our March, the emperor in person goes through the ceremony of opening the ground ; he repairs in great state to the field appointed for this ceremony. The princes of the imperial family, the presidents of the five great tribunals, and an immense number of mandarins attend him. Two sides of the field are lined with the officers of the emperor's house, the third is occupied by different mandarins ; the fourth is reserved for all the labourers of the province, who repair thither to see their art honoured and prac- tised by the head of the empire. The emperor enters the field alone, prostrates himself, and touches the ground nine times with his head in adoration of Tien, the God of heaven. He pronounces with a loud voice a prayer prepared by the court of ceremonies, in which he invokes the blessing of the Great Being on his labour, and on that of his whole people. Then, in the capacity of chief priest of the empire, he sacrifices an ox, in homage to heaven as the fountain of all good. While the victim is ofFered on the altar, a plough is brought to the emperor, to which is yoked a pair of oxen, ornamented in a most mag- nificent style. The prince lays aside his imperial robes, lays hold of the handle of the plough with the right hand, and opens several furrows in the direction of north and south ; then gives the plough into the hands of the chief mandarins, who, labouring in succession, display their comparative dexterity. The ceremony concludes with a distri- bution of money and pieces of cloth, as presents among the labourers ; the ablest of whom execute the rest of the work in presence of the emperor. After the field has received all the necessary work and manure, the emperor returns to commence the sowing with similar ceremony, and in presence of the labourers. These ceremonies are perfonned on the same day by the viceroys of all the provinces. Subsect. 9. Of the present State of Agriculture in Chinese Tatar)/, Thibet, and Jiootan. 1013. Chinese Tatnry is an extensive region, diversified with all the grand features of nature, and remarkable for its vast elevated plain, supported like a table by the moun- tains of Thibet in the south, and Allusian chain in the north. This prodigious plain is little known ; its climate is supposed to be colder than that of France ; its deserts to consist chiefly of a black sand ; and its agriculture to be very limited and imperfect. Wheat, however, is said to be grown among the southern Mandshurs. 1014. Thibet or Tibet is an immense tract of country little known. It consists of two divisions, Thibet and Bootan. The climate of Thibet is extremely cold and bleak to- wards the south, for though on the confines of the torrid zone it vies in this respect with that of the Alps of Italy. That of Bootan is more temperate ; and the seasons of both divisions are severe compared to those of Bengal. 1015. With respect to surface, Bootan and Thibet exhibit a very remarkable contrast. Bootan presents to the view nothing but the most misshapen irregularities ; mountains covered with eternal verdure, and rich with abundant forests of large and lofty trees. Almost every favourable aspect of them, coated with the smallest quantity of soil, is cleared and adapted to cultivation, by being shelved into horizontal beds : not a slope or narrow slip of land between the ridges lies unimproved. There is scarcely a mountain whose base is not washed by some rapid torrent, and many of the loftiest bear populous villages, amidst orchards and other plantations, on their summits and on their sides. It combines in its extent the most extravagant traits of rude nature and laborious art. Book I. AGRICULTURE IN ASIA. 163 101ft Thibet, on the other hand, strikes a traveller, at first sight, as one of the least favoured countries under heaven, and appears to be in a great measure incapable of culture. It exhibits only low rockv hills, without any visible vegetation, or extensive arid plains, both of the most stern and stubborn aspect promising full as little as they produce. ' 1017. The agriculture of Thibet has many obstacles to contend with. Its common products are wheat, peas, and barley. Rice grows only in the southern parts. Turnips, pumpkins, and cucumbers are abundant. The greater part of the plants which travellers have noticed are such as are met with also in Europe and in Bengal. At the foot of the mountains are forests of bamboos, bananas, aspens, birches, cypresses, and vew trees. The ash (OVnus floribunda) is remarkably large and beautiful, but the firs small and stunted. On the snow-clad mountains grows the Rheum undulatum, which the natives use for medicinal purposes. The country contains, both, in a wild and cultivated state, peaches and apricots, apples, pears, oranges, and pomegranates. The Cacalia saracenica serves for the manufacture of chong, a spirituous and slightly acid liquor. 1018. Thibet abounds in animals, partly in herds and Hocks ; but chiefly in a wild state. The tame horses are small, but full of spirit and restive. The cattle are only of middling height. There are numerous flocks of sheep, generally of small breed; their head and legs are black, their wool fine and soft, and their mutton excellent ; it is eaten in a raw state, after having been dried in the cold air, and seasoned with garlic and spices. The goats are numerous, and celebrated for their fine hair, which is used in the manu- facture of shawls ; this grows under the coarser hair. The yak, or grunting ox, fur- nished with long and thick hair, and a tail singular for its silky lustre and undulating form, furnishes an article of luxury common in all the countries of the East. The musk ox, the ounce, a species of tiger, the wild horse, and the lion, are among the animals of the country. 1019. That elegant specimens of civil archi- tecture, both in the construction of mansions (.Jig. 134.), or palaces, and in bridges and other public works, should be found in such a country is rather singular. In Turner's journey through this mountainous region, he found bridges of various descriptions gene- rally of timber. Over broad streams, a triple or quadruple depth of stretching timbers pro- ject one over the other, their ends inserted _Jf\ into the rock. Piers are almost totally ex- — ^.Vc_ cluded, on account of the extreme rapidity V - -- '^^^^ JJi T s t;%^^^^^^ i M^# of the rivers. The widest river has an iron *~Z — ~~ZS~ ■— s^^rw^^EizStt^^^^ bridge, consisting of a number of iron chains which support a matted platform, and two chains are stretched above parallel with the sides, to allow of a matted border for the safety of the passenger. Horses are permitted to go over this bridge, one at a time. There is another bridge of a more simple construction, formed of two parallel chains, round which creepers are loosely twisted, sinking very much in the middle, where suitable planks are placed for a path. Another mode of passing rivers is by two ropes of rattan or stout osier, stretched from one mountain to another, and encircled by a hoop of the same. The passenger places himself between them, sitting in the hoop, and seizing a rope in each hand, slides himself along w ith facility and speed over an abyss tremendous to behold. Chain and wire bridges, constructed like those of Thibet, are' now becoming common in Britain ; and it is singular, that one is described in Hutchinson's Durham (Newcast. 1785) as having been erected over the Tees. Subsect. 10. Of the present Slate of Agriculture in the Asiatic Islands. 1020. The islands of Asia form a considerable part of our globe ; and seem well adapted by nature for the support of civilised man, though at present they are mostly peopled by savages. We shall notice these islands in the order of Sumatra," Borneo, the Manillas, the Celebes, the Loochoo Isles, and the Moluccas. 1021. Sumatra is an island of great extent, with a climate more temperate than that of Bengal, a surface of mountains and plains, one third of which is covered with impervious forests, and a soil consisting of a stratum of red clay, covered with a layer of black mould. The most important agricultural product is rice, which is grown both for home consump- tion and export. Next may be mentioned the cocoa-nut, the areca palm, or betel- nut tree, and the pepper. Cotton and coffee are also cultivated ; and the native trees afford the resin benzoin, cassia or wild cinnamon, rattans or small canes (^rundo Rbtan°), canes for walkingsticks, turpentine, and gums ; besides ebony, pine, sandal, teak, manchineel, iron wood, banyan, aloe, and other woods. M 2 164 HISTORY OF AGRICULTURE. Part 1. 1022. The pepper plant ["Piper nigrum, jig 1 35. a) is a slender climbing shrub, which also roots at the joints. It is extensively cultivated at Sumatra, and the berries exported to every part of the world. According to Marsden {Hist, of Sumatra), the ground chosen by the Sumatrans for a peppei -garden is marked out into regular squares of six feet, the in- tended distance of the plants of which there are usually a thousand in each garden. The next business is to plant the chinkareens, which serve as props to the pepper-vines, and are cuttings of a tree of that name, which is of quick growth. When the chinkareen has been some months planted, the most promising perpendicular shoot is reserved for growth, and the others lopped off: this shoot, after it has acquired two fathoms in height, is deemed sufficiently high, and its top is cut off. Two pepper- vines are usually planted to one chinkareen, round which the vines twist for support ; and after being suffered to grow three years (by which time they acquire eight or twelve feet in height), they are cut off about three feet from the ground, and being loosened from the prop, are bent into the earth in such a manner that the upper end is returned to the root. This operation gives fresh vigour to the plants, and they bear fruit plentifully the ensuing season. The fruit, which is pro- duced in long spikes, is four or five months in coming to maturity : the berries are at first green, turn to a bright red when ripe and in perfection, and soon fall off if not gathered in proper time. As the whole cluster does not ripen at the same time, part of the berries would be lost in waiting for the latter ones ; the Sumatrans, therefore, pluck the bunches as soon as any of the berries ripen, and spread them to dry upon mats, or upon the ground ; by drying they become black, and more or less shrivelled, according to their degree of maturity. These are imported here under the name of black pepper. 1023. White pepper consists of the ripe and perfect berries of the same species stripped of their outer coats. For this purpose the berries are steeped for about a fortnight in water, till, by swelling, their outer coverings burst ; after which they are easily separated, and the pepper is carefully dried by exposure to the sun ; or the berries are freed from their outer coats by means of a preparation of lime and mustard-oil, called " chinam," applied before it is dried. Pepper, which has fallen to the ground over-ripe, loses its outer coat, and is sold as an inferior sort of white pepper. 1024. The betel leaf (V) per Betle,j?g. 135. b) is also cultivated to a considerable extent. It is a slender-stemmed climbing or trailing plant, like the black pepper, with smooth pointed leaves. These leaves serve to enclose a few slices of the nut of the areca palm erroneously called the betel nut. The areca being wrapped up in the leaf, the whole is covered with a little chunam or shell-lime to retain the flavour. The preparation has the name of betel, and is chewed by the better sort of southern Asiatics to sweeten the breath and strengthen the stomach ; and by the lower classes for the same reasons as ours do tobacco. The consumption is very extensive. 1025. The areca palm (Areca Catechu) grows to the height of forty or fifty feet with a straight trunk, and is cultivated in the margins of fields for its nut or fruit, which is sold to be prepared as betel. 1026. Three sorts of cotton are cultivated, including the silk cotton (B6mbax Ceiba), a handsome tree, which has been compared by some to a dumb waiter, from the regularity of its branches. 1027. The live stock of Sumatra consists of horses, cows, buffaloes, sheep, and swine. They are all diminutive. The horse is chiefly used for the saddle, and the buffalo for labour. The wild animals are numerous, and include the civet cat, monkey, argus pheasant, the jungle or wild fowl, and the small breed of poultry found also at Bantam on the west of Java, and well known in Britain by that name. 1028. Borneo is the largest island in the world next to New Holland. It is low and marshy towards the shore, and in this respect and in its climate, is similar to Java. The soil is naturally fertile ; but agriculture is neglected, the inhabitants occupying themselves in searching for gold, which they exchange with the Japanese for the neces- saries of life. 1029. The ava, or intoxicating pepper (Piper melhijsticuni), is cultivated here. It is a shrub with a forked stem and oblong leaves, bearing a spike of berries, and having thick roots. The root of this plant, bruised or chewed in the mouth, and mixed with the saliva, yields that nauseous, hot, intoxicating juice, which is so acceptable to the natives of the South Sea islands, and which is spoken of with so much just detestation by voyagers. A similar drink is made in Peru from the meal of the maize. They pour the liquor of the cocoa-nut, or a little water, on the bruised or masticated matter, and then a small quantity Book I. AGRICULTURE IN AUSTRALIA. K55 produces intoxication and sleep. After the use of it for some time, it produces inflam- mation, leprous ulcers, and consumption. It is cultivated in all the South Sea islands except the New Hebrides and New Caledonia. (Si>li-'s Travels.) 10:50. The Manillas, or PhUlipine Islands, are a numerous group, generally fruitful in rice, cotton, the sugar cane, and cocoa. The bread-fruit also begins to be cultivated here. 1031. The Celeltesian Islands are little known. They are said to abound in poisonous plants ; and the inhabitants cultivate great quantities of rice. 1032. The agriculture of the Loocli >o Isles, as far as it is known, resembles that df China. The climate and soil of the principal island seem to be among the most favourable for man on the face of the globe. The sea breezes, which, from its situation in the midst of an immense ocean, blow continually over it, preserve it from the extremes of heat and cold ; while its configuration, rising in the centre into considerable eminences, supplies it with rivers and streamlets of excellent water. The verdant lawns and romantic scenery of Tinian and Juan Fernandez are displayed here in higher perfection ; cultiva- tion being added to the beauties of nature. The fruits and vegetable productions are excellent, and those of distant regions are found flourishing together. The orano-e and the lime, the banyan of India and the Norwegian fir, all thrive in Loochoo. The chief object of cultivation is rice, the fields of which are kept extremely neat, and the furrows regularly arranged by a plough of a simple construction : irrigation is practised. They have also a very nourishing variety of sweet potato. The animal creation is generally of diminutive size, their bullocks seldom weighing more than 350 lbs., though plump and well conditioned, and the beef excellent ; their goats and hogs are also diminutive, but the poultry large and excellent. The bull is chiefly used in agriculture. These islands are not infested by any wild animals. The inhabitants seem to be gifted with a natural politeness, good-breeding, and kindness, analogous to their climate and the pro- ductions of their country. (Hall in Edin. Gaz.. vol. iv.) 1033. The Moluccas, or Spice Islands, are small, but fertile in agricultural products. In some the bread-fruit is cultivated, also the sago palm, with cloves and nutmegs. The nutmeg-tree (Myristica moschata) grows to the size of a pear tree, with laurel-like leaves ; it bears fruit from the age of ten to one hundred years. The fruit is about the size of an apricot, and when ripe nearly of a similar colour. It opens and discovers the mace of a deep red, growing over, and in part covering, the thin shell of the nutmeg, which is black. The tree yields three crops annually ; the first in April, which is the best; the second, in August; and the third, in December; yet the fruit requires nine months to ripen it. When it is gathered, the outer coriaceous covering is first stripped off, and then the inner carefully separated and dried in the sun. The nutmegs in the shell are exposed to heat and smoke for three months, then broken, and the kernels thrown into a strong mixture of lime and water, which is supposed to be necessary for their preservation, after which they are cleaned and packed up ; and with the same in- tention the mace is sprinkled with salt water. Sect. 1 1. Of the present State of Agriculture in the Australian Isles. 1034. The Islands of Australia form a most extensive part of the territorial surface of our globe, and the more interesting to Britons as they are likely one day to be over- spread by their descendants and language. The import-ant colonies of New Holland and Van Diemen's Land are increasing in a ratio which, if it continue, will at no very distent period spread civilisation over the whole of the islands composing this large di- vision of the earth. The immense population, territorial riches and beauty, commerce, naval power, intellect and refinement, which may then exist in these scarcely known regions are too vast and various for the grasp of the imagination. Their rapid progress to this state, however, is unquestionable ; being founded on those grand requisites, tem- perate climate, culturable soil, ample water intercommunication ; and, to take advan- tage of all these, an advanced state of civilisation in the settlers. 1035. The principal Australian Isles are New Holland, Van Diemen's Land, New Guinea, New Britain, and New Zealand. 1036. Keiv Holland and Van Diemen's Land axe not rich in mines, sugar canes, cochineal, or cottons ; but they are blessed with a climate which, though different in different places, is yet, on the whole, favourable to the health, comfort, and industry of Europeans ; they exhibit an almost endless extent of surface, various as to aspect and capability, but, taken together, suited in an extraordinary degree to the numerous purposes of rural economy, the plough and spade, the dairy and sheep-walk. The emigrant has not to wage hopeless and ruinous war with interminable forests and impregnable jungle, as he finds extensive plains prepared by the hand of nature, ready for the ploughshare, and capable of repaying manifold in the first season. He is not poisoned by pestiferous swamps, nor frightened from his purpose by beasts of prey and loathsome reptiles ; he is not chilled by hvperborean cold, nor scorched and enfeebled by 'M 3 16G HISTORY OF AGRICULTURE. Part I. tropical heat ; and he is not separated from his kind, nor hardened in his heart, by the debasing influence of open or concealed slavery. It is true, that he is surrounded by those who have the brand of crime and punishment upon them, and who are, therefore, to a certain extent infamous ; but he lias the satisfaction of knowing that it is his duty and interest to improve, not contribute to the farther degradation of, these fallen beings. (Widowaon't Present State of Van Diemen's Land. 1829.) *1037. New Holland, Xotasia, or what may be called the continent of Australia, is of a size nearly equal to the whole of Europe. So extended a surface naturally presents different characters of climate, elevation, and soil. But the climate is said to be every where temperate and salubrious ; to the north it may be considered semitropicaL to the south not materially different from that of England. The whole country being south of the equator, the seasons are like those of the southern parts of Africa and America, and consequently the reverse of those of Europe. The surface of the country is in general low and level ; far northward it is hilly, and a chain of mountains is said to run north and south, very lofty and irregular. Hills and mountains, however, form but a small part of this extensive country. Lakes and rivers are not very frequent ; but in the interior there are extensive marshes and savannas, covered with luxuriant grasses. In some places the country is highly beautiful. Mr. Evans, who made a journey of 300 miles into the interior, in 1818, states that " the farther he advanced the more beautiful the scenery became ; both hill and dale were clothed with fine grass, the whole appear- ing at a little distance as if laid out into fields divided by hedge-rows. Through every valley meandered trickling streams of fine water. Many of the hills are capped with forest trees, chiefly of the eucalyptus; and clumps of these, mixed with mimosas and the cassuarina, were interspersed along the declivities of the hills, and in the valleys, so as to wear the appearance of a succession of gentlemen's parks." *1038. The mineral productions include coal, limestone, slate, granite, quartz, sand- stone, freestone, and iron, the last in great abundance. The coal is of the best quality, often found in hills, and worked from the side like a stone quarry without expensive drainage. 1039. The soil towards the south is frequently sandy, and many of the lawns or savannas are rocky and barren. In general the soil towards the sea coast is naturally more fertile than in the interior; but almost every where it may be brought into cultiva- tion with little labour and abundant success. The colony of New South Wales possesses every variety of soil, from the sandy heath and the cold hungry clay, to the fertile loam, and the deep vegetable mould. The prevailing soil hitherto subjected to agriculture is a thin black earth resting on a stratum of yellow clay, which is again supported by a deep bed of schistus. "1040. The productions of nature in New Holland present a remarkable sameness among themselves, and a no less remarkable difference from those of the rest of the world. This applies more particularly to the animal and vegetable kingdoms. The rocks, mountains, and earths, resemble nearly the inorganic substances which are met with in other parts of the world ; but the animals and plants are decidedly peculiar. The natives are copper-coloured savages of the very lowest description. The quadru- peds are all of the kangaroo or opossum tribe, or resemble these, with one or two exceptions, among which is the Ornithorhynchus paradoxus, a quadruped with the beak of a bird. The fish are for the most part like sharks. Among the birds are black swans and white eagles, and the emu, supposed to be the tallest and loftiest bird that exists ; many of ihem standing full seven feet high. Every one acquainted in the slightest degree with the plants in our green-houses is aware of the very peculiar appearance of those of Australia, and there is scarcely a gardener who cannot tell their native country at first sight. Mr. Brown, who is better acquainted with these plants than any other botanist, observes that the Acacia and Eucalyptus, of each of which genera there are upwards of one hundred species, when taken together, and considered with respect to the mass of vegetable matter which they contain, calculated from the size as well as from the number of individuals, arc, perhaps, nearly equal to all the other plants of that country. {App. to Flinders' s Voyage. ) *1041. There is no indigenous agriculture in any part of ^Tew Holland ; but the colony of New South Wales, which was established in 1788, has appropriated extensive tracts of country in that quarter of the island, and subjected them to the field and garden cul- tivation of Europe. Every thing that can be cultivated in the open air in England can be cultivated in Xew South Wales ; the fruits of Italy and Spain come to greater per- fection there than here, with the single exception of the orange, which requires a slight protection in winter. Pine-apples will grow under glass without artificial heat; the apple and the gooseberry are the only fruits which are found somewhat inferior to those produced in Britain. But the great advantage of this colony to the agriculturist is, that it is particularly suited to maize and sheep : maize, it is well known, produces a greater return in proportion to the seed and labour than any other bread-corn ; and the wool of Book I. AGRICULTURE IN AUSTRALIA. 1(57 the sheep of New South Wales is equal to the best of that produced in Saxony, and can be sent to the British market for about the same expense of transport. This wool forms the grand article of agricultural export from New Holland. According to a calculation made by Mr. Kingdom in 1820 ' BritishColonies, p. 282.), "making the most liberal allowance for all kind of expenses, casualties, and deteriorations, money sunk in the rearing of sheep in tliis colony will, in the course of three years, double itself besides paying an interest of ~5 per cent." *1042. As a country for an agriculturist to emigrate to, New South Wales is perhaps one of the best in the world, and its advantages are yearly increasing by the great num- ber of independent settlers who arrive there from Britain. Settlers, on arrival at New South Wales and Van Diemen's Land, have a grant of land allotted to them pro- portionate to their powers of making proper use of it, with a certain number of convicts as labourers, who with their families are victualed from the public stores for six months. {kingdom, p. 311.) The country seems fully adequate to support itself with every necessary, and almost every luxury, requisite to the present state of human refinement ; in this respect it has the advantage over France, in being able to bring to perfection the cotton plant. < ; As a criterion of the luxuries enjoyed by the inhabitants in fruit, one garden, belonging to a gentleman a few miles from Sydney, contains the following extensive variety : — viz. oranges, citrons, lemons, pomegranates, loquatts, guavas, the olive, grapes of every variety, pine- apples, peaches, nectarines, apricots, apples, pears, plums, figs ; English, Cape, and China mulberries ; walnuts, Spanish chestnuts, almonds, medlars, raspberries, strawberries, melons, quinces and the caper, with others of minor value ; and such is the abundance of peaches, that the swine of the settlers are fed with them." {Kingdom, p. 308. ) In the Gardeners Magazine, vol. v. p. 280., Mr. Fraser, the Colonial botanist, has given a catalogue of upwards of ICO species and varieties of fruit under his care in the open garden at Sydney, including the pine-apple, the date, the plantain, the cocoa, and the mango. 1043. An Australian Agricultural Society was established, in the year 1823, for " the promotion both of field and garden cultivation ; " and, besides newspapers, there is a quarterly publication entitled the Australasian Magazine of Agricultural and Commercial Information. In June 1824, an Act of Parliament was passed creating an " Australian Agricultural Company, for the Cultivation and Improvement of waste Land, in the Colony of New South Wales." This company have an establishment in London, for the purpose of raising a capital of one million of pounds sterling, in shares of 100/. each. *1044. Van Diemen's Island is about as large as Ireland, and it enjoys a temperate climate resembling that of England, but less subject to violent changes. According to Evans, the deputy surveyor of the colony, the climate is more congenial to the European constitution than any other on the globe. That of New Holland has been commended for its salubrity, but the north-west winds which prevail there are unknown at Van Diemen's Land. Neither the summers nor winters are subject to any great extremes ot heat or cold ; for though the summits of the mountains are covered during the greater part of the year with snow, yet in the valleys it never remains on the ground more than a few hours. The mean difference of temperature between Van Diemen's Land and New South Wales is ten degrees, the mean temperature of the whole island may be reckoned at about 60°, and the extremes at from 36° to 80°. The spring commences early in September ; the summer in December ; the autumn in April ; and the winter, the severity of which continues about seven weeks, in June. 1045. The surface of the country is richly variegated, diversified by ranges of moderate hills and broad valleys, and towards the western part of the island there is a rano-e of mountains, in height .S500 feet ; on their summit is a large lake, the source of several rivers. But though there are hills in various other parts of the island, there are not above three or four of them that can be considered mountains. The hills, the ridges or sky outlines of which form irregular curves, are for the greater part wooded ; and from their summits are to be seen levels of good pasture land, thinly interspersed with trees, below which is a luxuriant grassy surface. These beautiful plains are generally of the extent of 8000 or 10,000 acres, and, Evans observes, are common throughout the whole island. 1046. The soil, as in New Holland, is greatly diversified ; but in proportion to the surface of the two countries, this one contains comparatively much less of an indifferent quality. Many fine tracts of land are found upon the very borders of the sea ; and the plains and valleys in the interior are composed of rich loamy clay and vegetable mould. 1047. The animal and vegetable kingdoms are the same as those of New Holland. The native dog, the agriculturist's great enemy in that country, is unknown here ; but there is an animal of the panther family in its stead, which commits as great havoc among the flocks, as the wolf did formerly in Britain. It is very cowardly, and by no means formidable to man. The native savages are, if possible, more uncivilised than those of New Holland ; they subsist entirely by hunting, and though the country has the finest rivers, they have no knowledge whatever of the art of fishing, lliev bear great animosity 31 4 166 HISTORY OF AGRICULTURE. Tart I. to the colonics, having been fired upon by them soon after their first, settlement, by which numbers were killed. Fortunately, however, the natives seldom act on the offensive, and two persons with muskets may traverse the island from one end to the other in perfect safety. 1013. The agricultural fnilitus of Van Dicmcns Land are still greater than those of New South Wales. Large tracts of land, perfectly free from timber or underwood, and covered with the most luxuriant herbage, are to be found in all directions, but more particularly in the environs of Tort Dalrymple. These tracts of land are invariably of the very best description, and millions of acres, which are capable of being instantly con- verted to all the purposes of husbandry, still remain unappropriated. Here the colonist has no expense to incur in clearing his farm : he is not compelled to a great preliminary outlay of capital, before he can expect a considerable return. He has only to set fire to the "rass to prepare his land for the immediate reception of the ploughshare ; insomuch that, if he but possesses a good team of horses or oxen, with a set of harness and a couple of substantial ploughs, he has the main requisites for commencing an agricultural estab- lishment, and for insuring a comfortable subsistence for himself and family. 10-19. To litis great superiority which these southern settlements may claim over the parent colony, may be superadded two advantages, which are perhaps of equal magnitude and importance. In the first place, the rivers here have a sufficient fall to prevent any excessive accumulation of water from violent or continued rains, and are, consequently, free from those awful and destructive inundations to which the rivers of New South Wales are perpetually subject. Here, therefore, the industrious colonist may settle on the b3nk of a navigable river, and enjoy all the advantages of sending his produce to market by water, without running the constant hazard of having the fruits of his labour, the golden promise of the year, swept away in an hour by a capricious and domineering element. Secondly, the seasons are more regular and defined, and those great droughts, which have been so frequent in Port Jackson, are altogether unknown. In the years 181:?, 1814, and 1815, when the whole face of the country was there literally burnt up, and vegetation completely at a stand still from the want of rain, an abundant supply of it fell here, and the harvests, in consequence, were never more productive. Indeed, since these settlements were first established, the crops have never sustained any serious detriment from an insufficiency of rain ; whereas, in the parent colony, there have been, since its foundation, I may venture to say, half a dozen dearths occasioned by droughts, and at least as many arising from floods. 1050. The system of farming in Van Diemens Land consists principally of growing one crop year after year. There are a few enterprising individuals who grow the various descriptions of grain ; but wheat is what the old settler grew first, and from that he can- not depart. It is not many years since, when the plough might be said to be unknown in the island, the ground was then broken up with a hoe, similar to those used in the West Indies, and the corn brushed in with thorns. This rude system is now abolished, a pair of bullocks and a plough being within the reach of the smallest landholder. New and old land are generally broken up at the same season of the year. Once ploughed, it is sown and harrowed, and never again interfered with until the crop is cut down. Wheat, barley, and oats may be sown at the same season, namely, about the beginning of August, although wheat is sometimes sown late in November, and a good crop reaped in the early part of March. There is no fear of injuring the grain by sowing early ; I have seen seed sown in the beginning of winter, and flourish surprisingly. From ten to fifteen crops of wheat have been taken in succession, until the land has been com- pletely exhausted. It is then abandoned, and a new piece broken up. The exhausted land generally becomes covered with young mimosas (acacias). (IVidowson.) 1051. As a country to emigrate to, the circumstance of Van Diemen's Land being exempt from those calamitous consequences which are so frequent in New Holland, from a superabundance of rain on the one hand, and a deficiency of it on the other, is a most important point of consideration for all such as hesitate in their choice between the two countries. In the system of agriculture pursued in the two colonies there is not any difference, save that the Indian corn, or maize, is not cultivated here, because the climate is too cold to bring that grain to maturity. Barley and oats, however, arrive at much greater perfection, and afford the inhabitants a substitute, although by no means an equivalent, for this highly valuable product. The wheat, also, which is raised here is of a much superior description to the wheat grown in any of the districts of Port Jack- son, and will always command, in the Sydney market, a difference of price sufficiently great to pay for die additional cost of transport. The average produce, also, of the land is greater, although it does not exceed, nor perhaps equal, that of the rich flooded lands on the banks of the Hawkcsbury and Nepean. The produce of both colonies, it is stated, would be double what it is, if the operations of agriculture were as well performed as in Britain. At present, however, this can only be the case when a settler is so fortunate as to get wliat are called country convicts, that is, Irishmen who have been employed as Book 1. AGRICULTURE IN POLYNESIA. 169 186 agricultural labourers at home. The system of rearing and fattening cattle is perfectly analogous to that which is pursued at Port Jackson. The natural grasses afford an abundance of pasturage at all seasons of the year, and no provision of winter provender, in the shape either of hay or artificial food, is made by the settler for his cattle ; yet, notwithstanding this palpable omission, and the greater length and severity of the winters, all descriptions of stock attain here a much larger size than at Port Jackson. Wool has every promise of becoming a staple commodity of Van Diemen's Land. It was at first thought that the climate was more favourable for the production of carcass than of fleece; but it has been found since the introduction of merinos, that wool can be produced in every respect as good as that of New South Wales. In 1822, upwards of 300,000 lbs. of wool were consigned to London, which sold there at prices equal to those given for the wool of New South Wales and Saxony. Those who are desirous of more ample information respecting this colony, which certainly ranks as the first in the world for a British emigrant, may consult Kingdoms British Colonies, 1820; Evans's Van Diemen's Land, 1824; Godwin's Emigrant's Guide to Van Siemens Land, 1823; Widowson's Van Siemens L.and, 1 829. 1052. New Britain, New Ireland, the Solomon Isles, New Caledonia, and the New Hebrides, are little known. They are mountainous and woody, with fertile vales and beautiful streams. The nutmeg, cocoa, yam, ginger, pepper, plantains (Jig. 136.), sugar canes, and other fruit and spice trees, abound. 1053. Papua, or New Guinea, partakes of the opulence of the Moluccas (1033.), and their singular varieties of plants and animals. The coasts are lofty, and abound with cocoa trees. In the interior, mountain rises above mountain, richly clothed with woods of great variety of species, and abounding in wild swine. Birds of paradise and elegant parrots abound : they are shot with blunt arrows, or caught with birdlime or nooses. The bowels and breast being extracted, they are dried with smoke and sulphur, and sold for nails or bits of iron to such navigators as touch at the island. *1054. New Zealand has scarcely any agriculture, except plantations of yam, cocoa, and sweet potato. There is only one shrub or tree in this country which produces fruit, and that is a kind of a berry almost tasteless ; but they have a plant (Phormium tenax) which answers all the uses of hemp and flax. There are two kinds of this plant, the leaves of one of which are yellow, those of the other deep red, and both resembling the leaves of flags. Of these leaves they make lines and cordage much stronger than any thing of the kind in Europe ; they likewise split them into breadths, and tying the slips together form their fishing-nets. Their common apparel, by a simple process, is made from these leaves ; and their finer, by another preparation, is made from the fibres. This plant is found both on high and low ground, in dry mould and deep bogs ; but as it grows largest in the latter, that seems to be its proper soil. It has lately been found to prosper in the south of Ireland, but not to such an extent as to determine its value. Sect. III. Of the present State of Agriculture in Polynesia. 1055. This sixth great division of the earth's surface consists of a number of islands in the northern and southern hemispheres, which, though at present chiefly inhabited by savages, are yet, from their climate and other circumstances, singularly adapted for cul- ture and civilisation. The principal are the Pellew Isles, the Ladrone Isles, the Sand- wich Isles, in the northern hemisphere ; and the Friendly Isles, the Navigator's Isles, the Society Isles, the Georgian Isles, and the Marquesas, in the southern hemisphere. 1056. The Pellew Isles are covered with wood, and encircled by a coral reef. None of these islands has any sort of grain or quadruped ; but they are rich in the most valuable fruit and spice trees, including the cabbage tree (Areca oleracea) (fig. 137.), cocoa, plantain, and orange; and abound with wild cocks and hens, and many other birds. The culture of the natives only extends to yams and cocoa-nuts. 1057. The Ladrones are a numerous collection of rocky fragments, little adapted to agriculture. The isles of Guam and Tinian are exceptions. The latter abounds in cattle and fruits, the bread-fruit, and orange, but is without agriculture. 1058. The Marquesas are in general rocky and mountainous, and include very few spots fit for cultivation. The inhabitants are savages, but rudely cultivate the yam in some places. They have, however, the ava, or intoxicating pepper (1029.) ; and procure also a strong liquor from the root of ginger, for the same general purpose of accumulating enjoyment, forgetting care, and sinking into profound sleep. 1059. The Sandwich Isles resemble those of the West Indies in climate, and the rest of the South Sea islands in vegetable productions. The bread-fruit tree attain* no HISTORY OF AGRICULTURE. I. great perfection. Sugar canes grow to an unusual size, one being brought to Captain Cook, eleven inches and a quarter in circumference, and having fourteen feet eatable. Dogs, hogs, and rats are the only native qua- drupeds of these islands, in common with all others that have been discovered in the South Sea. The king of these islands visited Eng- land in the time of Geo. II., and again in 1824. 1060. The Friendly Islands are in most respects similar toOtaheite (ioo'l.). Tongataboo appears to be a flat country, with a fine climate, and universally cultivated. The whole of this island is said to consist of enclosures, with reed fences about six feet high, intersected with innumer- able roads. The articles cultivated are bread- fruit, plantains, cocoa-nuts, and yams. In the other islands, plantains and yams engage most of their attention ; the cocoa-nut and bread- fruit trees are dispersed about in less order than the former, and seem to give them no trouble. Their implements of culture consist of pointed sticks of different lengths and degrees of strength. 1061. The island of Otaheile is the principal of the Georgian Islands. It is surrounded by a reef of coral rocks. The surface of the country, except that part of it which borders upon the sea, is very uneven ; it rises in ridges that run up into the middle of the island, and there form mountains which may be seen at the distance of sixty miles. Between the foot of these ridges and the sea is a border of low land, surrounding the whole island, except in a few places where the ridges rise directly from the sea. This border is of different breadths in different parts, but no where more than a mile and a half. 10G2. The soil of Otaheile, except on the very tops of the ridges, is extremely rich and fertile, watered by a great number of rivulets of excellent water, and covered with fruit trees of various kinds. The low land that lies between the foot of the ridges and the sea, and some of the valleys, are the only parts of the island that are inhabited, and here it is populous : the houses do not form villages or towns, but are ranged along the whole border, at the distance of about fifty yards from each other, with little plantations of plantains, the tree which furnishes them with cloth. 1063. The produce of Otaheile is the bread-fruit ( Artocarpus integrifolia), cocoa-nuts, bananas of thirteen sorts, plantains; a fruit not unlike an apple, which, when ripe, is very pleasant; sweet potatoes, yams, cocoas (J'rum Colocasia, and Caladium esculentum, both propagated by the leaves) ; a fruit known here by the name of jambu, and reckoned most delicious ; sugar cane, which the inhabitants eat raw ; a root of the saloop kind, which the inhabitants call pea ; a plant called ethee, of which the root only is eaten ; a fruit that grows in a pod, like that of a large kidneybean, which, when it is roasted, eats very much like a chestnut, by the natives called whee ; a tree here called wharra, but in the East Indies pandanus, which produces fruit something like the pine-apple ; a shrub called nono ; the morinda, which also produces fruit; a species of fern, of which the root is eaten, and sometimes the leaves ; and a plant called theve, of which the root also is eaten : but the fruits of the nono, the fern, and the theve, are eaten only by the inferior people, and in times of scarcity. All these, which serve the inhabitants for food, the earth produces spontaneously, or with little culture. They had no European fruit, garden stuff, pulse, or legumes, nor grain of any kind, till some seeds of melons and other vegetables were given them by Captain Cook. 1064. Of tame animals, the Otaheitans have only hogs, dogs, and poultry; neither is there a wild animal on the island, except ducks, pigeons, parroquets, with a few other birds, and rats, there being no other quadruped, nor any serpent. But the sea supplies them with great variety of most excellent fish, to eat which is their chief luxury, and to catch it their principal labour. 1065. The remaining Polynesian Islands of the southern hemisphere are, for the most pert, inhabited by savages, and are without agriculture. Book I. AGRICULTURE IN AFRICA. 171 Sect. IV. Of the present Slate of Agriculture in Africa. 1066. The continent of Africa, in point of agricultural as of political and ethical es- timation, is the meanest of the great divisions of the earth; though in one corner of it (Egypt) agriculture is supposed to have originated. The climate is every where hot, and intensely so in the northern parts. The central parts, as far as known, consist of ridges of mountains and immense deserts of red sand. There are very few rivers, inland lakes, or seas, and indeed fully one half of this continent may be considered as either desert or unknown. Some of the African islands are fertile and important, especially Madagascar, Bourbon, Mauritius, &c. We shall take the countries of Africa in the order of Abyssinia, Egypt, Mohammedan states of the north, western coast, Cape of Good Hope, eastern coast, Madagascar and other isles. Subsect. 1. Of the present State of Agriculture in Abyssinia. 1067. The climate of Abyssinia, though exceedingly various in different parts, is in general temperate and healthy. The surface of the country is generally rugged and mountainous ; it abounds with forests and morasses ; and it is also interspersed with many fertile valleys and plains adapted both to pasture and tillage. The rivers are numerous and large, and contribute much to general fertility. The soil is not natu- rally good, being in general thin and sandy ; but it is rendered fertile and productive by irrigation and the periodical rains. 106S. The agricultural products are wheat, barley, millet, and other grains. They cultivate the vine, peach, pomegranate, sugar cane, almonds, lemons, citrons, and oranges ; and they have many roots and herbs which grow spontaneously, and their soil, if properly managed, would produce many more. However, they make little wine, but content themselves with the liquor which they draw from the sugar cane, and their honey, which is excellent and abundant. They have the coffee tree, and a plant called ensete, which produces an eatable nourishing fruit. The country also produces many other plants and fruits adapted both for domestic and medicinal uses. Here is plenty of cotton, which grows on shrubs like that of India. The forests abound with trees of various descriptions, particularly the rock, baobob, cedar, sycamore, &c. 1069. The live stock of Abyssinia includes horses, some of which are of a very fine breed, mules, asses, camels, dromedaries, oxen of different kinds (fg. 138.), cows, sheep, and goats ; and these constitute the principal wealth of the inhabitants. Amongst the wild animals, we may reckon the ante- lope, the buffalo, the wild boar, the jackal, the elephant, the rhinoceros, the lion, the leopard, the hyaena, the lynx ; the ape and baboon which, as well as the common rat, are very destructive to the fields of millet ; the zecora, or wild mule, and the wild ass ; the jerboa, the fennic, ashkoko, hare, &c. The hare, as well as the wild boar, is deemed unclean, and not used as food. Bruce saw no sparrows, magpies, nor bats ; nor many water-fowl, nor any geese, except the golden goose, or goose of the Nile, which is com- mon in every part of Africa ; but there are snipes in the marshes. The locusts of this country are very destructive ; they have also species of ants that are injurious ; but from their bees they derive a rich supply. 1070. The agriculture of Abyssinia is of far less use to the inhabitants than it might be, for want of application and exertion. There are two, and often three, harvests in the year ; and where they have a supply of water, they may sow in all seasons ; many of their trees and plants retain their verdure, and yield fruit or flowers throughout the year ; the west side of the tree blossoms first and bears fruit, then the south side, next the north side, and last of all the east side goes through the same process towards the beginning of the rainy seasons. Their pastures are covered with flocks and herds. They have grass in abundance, but they neglect to make hay of it ; and therefore they are obliged to supply this defect by feeding their cattle with barley, or some other grain. Notwithstanding the plenty and frequent return of their crops, they are sometimes reduced almost to famine^ either by the devastations of the locusts or grasshoppers which infest the country, or by the more destructive ravages of their own armies, and those of their enemies. 172 HISTORY OF AGRICULTURE. Part I. Subsect. 2. Of the present Stole of Agriculture in Egypt. 107 1. The climate of Egypt has a peculiar character from the circumstance of rain being very uncommon. The heat is also extreme, particularly from March to November; while the cool season, or a kind of spring, extends through the other months. 1072. The surface of the country is varied in some regions, but is otherwise flat and uniform. Far the greater part presents a narrow fertile vale, pervaded by the Nile, and bounded on either side by barren rocks and mountains. The soil of Egypt has been variously described by different travellers, some representing it as barren sand, only rendered fertile by watering, and others as "a pure black mould, free from stones, of a very tenacious and unctuous nature, and so rich as to require no manure." The latter appears to prevail only in the Delta. 1073. The fertility of Egypt has been generally ascribed to the inundations of the Nile, but this is applicable in a strict sense only to parts of the Delta ; whereas, in other dis- tricts there are canals, and the adjacent lands are generally watered by machines. Gray's description of Egypt, as immersed under the influx of the Nile, though exquisitely poetical, is far from being just. In Upper Egypt the river is confined by high banks, which prevent any inundation into the adjacent country. This is also the case in Lower Egypt, except at the extremities of the Delta, where the Nile is never more than a few feet below the surface of the ground, and where of course inundation takes place. But the country, as we may imagine, is without habitations. The fertility of Egypt, ac- cording to Urowne, an intelligent traveller, arises from human art. The lands near the river are watered by machines ; and if they extend to any width, canals have been cut. The soil in general is so rich as to require no manure ; it is a pure black mould, free from stones, and of a very tenacious unctuous nature. When left uncultivated, fissures have been observed, arising from extreme heat, of such depth that a spear of six feet could not reach the bottom. 1074. The limits of cultivated Egypt are encroached upon annually, and barren sand is accumulating from all parts. In 1517, the era of the Turkish conquest, Lake Mareotis was at no distance from the walls of Alexandria, and the canal which conveyed the waters into the city was still navigable. At this day, the lake has disappeared, and the lands watered by it, which, according to historians, produced abundance of corn, wine, and various fruits, are changed into deserts, in which are found neither shrub, nor plant, nor verdure. The canal itself, the work of Alexander, necessary to the subsistence of the inhabitants of the city which he built, is nearly choked up, and preserves the waters only when the inundation is at its greatest height, and for a short time. About half a century ago, part of the mud deposited by the river was cleared out of it, and it retained the water three months longer. Schemes have lately been adopted for opening and per- fecting this canal. The Pelusiac branch, which discharges itself into the eastern part of the Lake of Tanais, or Menzale, is utterly destroyed. With it perished the beautiful province which it fertilised, and the famous canal begun by Necos, and finished by Ptolemy Philadelphus. The famous works, executed by kings who sought their glory and happiness in the prosperity of the people, have not been able to resist the ravages of conquerors, and that despotism which destroys every thing, till it buries itself under the wreck of the kingdoms whose foundations it has sapped. The last of the great works of Egypt, the canal of Amrou, which formed a communication between Fostat and Colzoum, reaches at present no farther than about four leagues beyond Cairo, and loses itself in the Lake of Pilgrims. Upon the whole, it may be confidently affirmed that upwards of one third of the lands formerly in cultivation is metamorphosed into dreary deserts. 1075. Landed property in Egypt is for the most part to be considered as divided between the government and the religious bodies who perform the service of the mosques, and have obtained possession of what they hold by the munificence of princes and rich men, or by the measures taken by individuals for the benefit of their posterity. Hence, a large proportion of the tenants and cultivators hold either of the government or the procurators of the mosques. But there is one circumstance common to both, viz. that their lands, when they become unoccupied, are never let but upon terms ruinous to the tenants. Besides the property and influence of the beys, of the Mamelukes, and of the professors of the law, are so extensive, and so absolute, as to enable them to engross into their own hands a very consi- derable part: the number of the other proprietors is extremely small, and their property liable to a thousand impositions. Every moment some contribution is to be paid, or some damage repaired ; there is no right of succession or inheritance for real property, except for that called " wakf," which is the property of the mosques ; every thing returns to government, from which every thing must be repurchased. According to Volney, the peasants are hired labourers, to whom no more is left than what is barely sufficient to Book T. AGRICULTURE IN AFRICA. 173 sustain life ; but Browne says, that these terms can be properly applied to very few of them. 1076. The occupier of the land, assisted by his family, is the cultivator ; and in the operations of husbandry scarcely requires any other aid. He commonly holds no more than he and they can cultivate, and gather the produce of. When, indeed, the Nile rises, those who are employed to water the fields are commonly hired labourers. The rice and corn they gather are carried to their masters, and nothing is reserved for them but dourra, or Indian millet, of which they make a coarse and taste- less bread without leaven ; this, with water and raw onions, is their only food through- out the year ; and they think themselves happy if they can sometimes procure a little honey, cheese, sour milk, and dates. Their whole clothing consists of a shirt of coarse blue linen and a black cloak. Their head-dress is a sort of cloth bonnet, over which they roll a long handkerchief of red woollen. Their arms, legs, and breasts are naked, and some of them do not even wear drawers. Their habitations {fig. 139. j are mud-walled huts, in which they are suffocated with heat and smoke, and in which, besides the experience of other inconveniences, they are perpetually distressed with the dread of the robberies of the Arabs, and the extortions of the Mamelukes, family feuds, and all the calamities of a perpetual civil war. *1077. The agricultural products of Egypt consist of grain of most sorts, and particularly rice. Barley is grown for the horses, but no oats are seen. In the Delta a crop of rice and a crop of barley are obtained within the year on the same ground. Sometimes, instead of barley, a fine variety of clover ( Trifdlium alexandrinum Forskahl) is sown without ploughing or harrowing. The seed sinks to a sufficient depth in the moist soil, and pro- duces three cuttings before the time for again sowing the rice. 1078. Rice is sown from the month of March to that of May ; and is generally six months in coming to maturity. In reaping, it is most commonly pulled up by the "roots. As the use of the flail is unknown in Egypt, the rice plants are spread in thick layers on floors formed of earth and pigeon's dung, which are well beaten and very clean : and then, in order to separate the grain from the straw, they make use of a sort of carts, constructed like our sledges with two pieces of wood joined together bv two cross bars. Between the longer sides of this sledge are fixed, transversely, three rows of small wheels, made of solid iron, and narrowed off towards their circumference ; and on the fore part is fixed a high seat, on which a man sits, for the purpose of driving two oxen that are harnessed to the machine, thus moving it in a circular direction over every part of the heap of rice, till the grain is completely separated from the straw ; the grain is then spread in the air to be dried. The dried rice is carried to the mill, where it is stripped of its chaff or husk. This mill consists of a wheel turned by oxen, which sets several levers in motion ; and at their extremity is an iron cylinder, about a foot long, and hollow underneath ; these cylinders turn in troughs which contain the grain ; and at the side of each trough there stands a man, whose bu- siness it is to place the rice under the cylinders. The next operation is to sift the rice in the open air, by filling a small sieve, which a man lilts over his head, and thus lets fall, with his face turned to the wind, which blows away the small chaff or dust This cleaned rice is put a second time into the mill, in order to bleach it ; it is afterwards mixed up in troughs with some salt, which contributes very much to its whiteness and also to its preservation, and in this state it is sold. Rice is furnished in great quantities in the Delta ; and that which is grown in the environs of Rosetta is more esteemed, on account of its pre- paration, than that which is produced in the vicinity of Damietta. The produce of the one and the other is equally wonderful. In a good season, that is, when the rise of the Nile occasions a great expansion of its waters, the profit of the proprietors of rice fields is estimated at fifty per cent, clear of all expenses. Savary says that it produces eighty bushels for one. 1079. li'heat is sown as soon as the waters of the Nile have retired from the lands appropriated to it ; the seed time varies with the latitude, and also the harvest, which is earlier in Upper than in Lower Egypt. Near to Syene they sow the barley and the corn in October, and reap it in January. Towards Girge they cut in February; and in the month of March, in the vicinity of Cairo. This is the usual pro- gress of the harvest in the Said. There is also a number of partial harvests, as the lands are nearer to, or at a greater distance from, the river, lower or more elevated. In Lower Egypt they are sowing and reaping all the year. Where the waters of the river can be procured the earth is never idle, and fur- nishes three crops annually. In descending from the cataracts in January, the corn is seen almost ripe ; lower down it is in ear; and, advancing further, the plains are covered with verdure. The cultivator, in general, merely casts the seed upon the moistened earth ; the corn soon springs up from the mud ; its vegetation is rapid, and four months after it is sown it is fit to be reaped. In performing this operation, the sickle not being used, the stalks are pulled up by the roots, and carried to large floors, like those which are used for treading out rice ; and by a similar operation the corn is separated from the ear. Unripe ears of corn are dried and slackly baked in an oven j and being afterwards bruised and boiled with meat, form a common dish in Lower Egypt, called " ferik." 1080. Flax has been cultivated in Egypt from the most remote period, and is still grown in considerable quantities. Indigo is also grown for dyeing it, the colour of the shirt in this country being universally blue. 1081. From the hemp, which is abundantly cultivated in this country, the inhabitants prepare intoxicating liquors ; and also by pounding the fruit into a paste, which when fermented answers a similar purpose ; and they mix the capsules with tobacco for smoking. 1082. The sugar cane is also one of the valuable productions of Egypt. The common people do not wait for the extraction of the sugar, but cut the canes green, which are sold in bundles in all the towns. They begin to ripen in October, but are not, in general, fit to be cut till November or December. The skill of the sugar-refiners is in a very imperfect state. 174 HISTORY OF AGRICULTURE. r A RT r. I ' •". ' 1083. Fruit trees of various species abound In this country Among these we may rerkon the olive tree, fig treea which yield tigs of an exquisite Savour, and the date tree which is to be round every where in the Thebaia ana in the Delta, in the -amis ai veil at in the cultivated districts, requiring little or no cul- ture, and fielding a very Considerable profit, on account of the immense consumption of its fruit. The Species of palm tree that furnishes dates produces also a hark which, together with its leaves and the rind of its fruit, affords filaments from which are manufactured ropes and sails for boats. The leaves are also used fiw making baskets and Other articles The very long rib of the branches is employed, on ac- count of its lightness and solidity, bj the Mamelukes, in their military exercises, as javelins, which they throw at each other from their horses when at full speed. A species of C'ypcrus, which produces a fruit re-embling the earth-nut, but of a much more agreeable flavour, is cultivated in the environs of Kosetta ; and the small tubercles arc sent to Constantinople and other towns of the Levant, where they are much valued. The Egyptians express from them a milky juice, which they deem pectoral and emollient ; and give them to nurses, in order to increase the quantity of their milk. The banana trees, though not na- tives of the soil of Egypt, are nevertheless cultivated in the northern parts of that country. The papaw, or custard-apple tree (Anima), is also transplanted into the gardens of Egypt, and yields a fruit equally gratifying to the taste and smell. In the shade of the orchards are cultivated various plants, the roots of which are refreshed by the water that is conveyed to them by little trenches ; each enclosure having its well or reservoir, from which the water is distributed by a wheel turned by oxen. The mallow (.l/.'ilva rotundifolia) grows here in abundance: it is dressed with meat, and is one of those herbs that are most generally consumed in the kitchens of Lower Egypt. Two other plants used as food, are the garden Jew's mallow, and the esculent //ibiscus. Another tree, which appears to be indigenous in this country, is the " atle," a species of larger tamarisk (Tamarix orientalis Forskahl). The wood of this tree serves for various purposes ; and, among others, for charcoal. It is the only wood that is common in Egypt, either for fuel or for manu- factures. "Fenu-greek is cultivated for fodder, though for this use a plant called barsim is preferred. The plant called " helbe " is cried about for sale, in November, in the streets of the towns: and it is purchased and eaten with incredible avidity, without any kind of seasoning. It is pre- tended that it is an excellent stomachic, a specific against worms and the dysentery, and, in short, a preservative against a great number ot disorders. Lentils form a considerable article of food to the inhabitants of Upper Egypt, who rarely enjoy the luxury of rice The Egyptian onions are remarkably mild, more so than the Spanish, but not so large. They are of the purest white, and the lamina? are of a softer and looser contexture than those of any other species. They deteriorate by trans- plantation ; so that much must depend on the soil and climate. They remain a favourite article of food with all classes ; and it is usual to put a layer or two of them, and of meat, on a spit or skewer, and thus roast them over a charcoal fire. We need not wonder at the desire of the Israelites for the onions of Egypt Leeks are also cultivated and eaten in this country ; and almost all the species of European vegetables abound in the gardens of Rosetta. Millet and Turkey corn, the vine, the henni* or Egyptian privet, and the water-melon are cultivated in Egypt ; and the country furnishes a variety of medicinal plants, as Cdrthamus tinctbrius (Jig. 140.), senna, coloquintida, &c. Of late years the cotton has been grown on an extensive scale under the care of European and American cultivators, and the raw produce in part manufactured by machinery sent from Britain, and in part exported to Europe. 1084. The live stock of Egyptian agriculture principally consists of the ox, buffalo, horse, ass, mule, and camel. The oxen of Egypt are employed in tillage, and in giving motion to a variety of hydraulic machines ; and as they are harnessed so as to draw from the pitch of the shoulder, their withers are higher than those of our country ; and, indeed, they have naturally some resemblance to the bison (.Bos ferus), or hunched ox. It has been said that the cows of Egypt bring forth two calves at a time ; an instance of fe- cundity which sometimes happens, but is not reckoned very common. Their calves are reared to maturity, veal, which is forbidden by the law of the Mohammedans, and from which the Copts also abstain, not being eaten in Egypt. 1085. The hu/falo is more abundant than the ox, and is equally domestic. It is easily distinguishable by the constantly uniform colour of the hair, and still more by a remnant of ferocity and intractability of disposition, and a wild lowering aspect, the characteristics of all half-tamed animals. The females are reared for the sake of the milk, and the males to be slaughtered and eaten. The flesh is somewhat red, hard, and dry ; and has also a musky smell, which is rather unpleasant. 1086. The horses of Egypt rank next to those of the Arabians, and are remarkable for their valuable qualities. Here, as in most countries of the East, they are not castrated either for domestic use or for the cavalry. 1087. The asses of Egypt have no less a claim to distinction than the horses; and these, as well as those of Arabia, are esteemed for vigour and beauty the finest in the world. They are sometimes sold for a higher price than even the horses, as they are more hardy, less difficult as to the quality and quantity of their food, and therefore preferred in traversing the deserts. The handsomest asses seen at Cairo are brought from Upper Egypt and Nubia. On ascending the Nile, the influence of climate is per- ceptible in these animals, which are most beautiful in the Said, but are in every respect inferior towards the Delta. With the most distinguished race of horses and asses, Egypt possesses also the finest mules ; some of which, at Cairo, exceed in price the most beautiful horses. 1088. The camel and dromedary, as every body knows, are the beasts of burden in Egypt, and not only answer all the purposes of our waggons and public conveyances, but bear the vehicles ( fig. 141.) in which the females of the higher classes pay their visits on extraordinary occasions. Book I, AGRICULTURE IN AFRICA. 175 141 A^io - 4 AW* ^fvM^ J H ■ 142 1089. T/ie agricultural implements of Egypt are simple ; but some of them, particularly the contrivances for raising water, very ingenious. The plough is of the rudest kind, as are the cart and spade. 1090. The operations of threshing and sowing have been already described (1078, 1079.) ; that of irrigation is performed as in other countries. At present there are eighty- canals in use for this purpose, some of them twenty, thirty, and forty leagues in length. The lands near the river, as the Delta, are watered directly from it : the water is raised by wheels in the dry season ; and, when the inundation takes place, it is retained on the fields for a certain time by small embankments made round them. 1091. Nubia, the Ethiopia of the ancients, isamiserable country or desert, thinly in- habited by a wretched peopl e, who live chiefly on millet, and dwell in groups of mud huts. (Jig. 142.) Scbsect. 3. Present State of Agriculture in the Mohammedan States of the North of Africa. 1092. These are Tripoli, Tunis, Algiers, and Morocco, territories chiefly on the southern shore of the Mediterranean ; rich and celebrated in the ages of antiquity, but at present depressed by the barbarism and fanaticism of their rulers, who are in general tributary to tiie Porte. 1093. Tripoli is generally distinguished into maritime and inland. In neither is there much agriculture ; for the inhabitants of countries on the coast live chiefly by commerce and piracy, and those of the inland parts on plunder and robbery. There are a few fields of grain, chiefly rice, round the capital, date palms, olives, and what is called the lotus tree (Zizyphus .Lotus), whose fruit is reckoned superior to the date, and makes excellent wine. 1094. The kingdom of Tunis was formerly the chief seat of Carthaginian power. The soil is in general impregnated with marine salt and nitre, and springs of fresh water are more rare than those of salt. But the Tunisians are much more agriculturists than their neighbours either of Tripoli or Algiers. The southern parts of the country are sandy, barren, and parched by a burning sun : the northern parts enjoy a better soil and tem- perature, and are more under cultivation : near the sea, the country is rich in olive trees : the western part abounds in mountains and hills, and is watered by numerous rivulets ; it is extremely fertile, and produces the finest and most abundant crops. The first rains commonly fall in September, and then the farmers break up the ground, sow their grain, and plant beans, lentils, and garvancos. By May following harvest com- mences ; and we may judge of its productiveness by what the Carthaginians experienced of old. The ox and the buffalo are the principal beasts of labour, and next the ass, mule, and horse. The zebu, or humped ox (fig. 143.), considered by many naturalists as a distinct species, is common both in this and other kingdoms of northern Africa. 1095. The territory of Algiers, in an agricultural point of view, is chiefly distinguished by the fertile plain of Mettijiah, a vast country which stretches fifty miles in length, and twenty in breadth, to the foot of one of the branches of Mount Atlas. This plain is watered by several streams, the soil is light and fertile, and it is better cultivated than any other district of the 143 176 HISTORY OF AGRICULTURE. Part 1. kingdom. The country-seats and masharcas, as the call the farms of the principal inha- lants of Algiers, arc found in this plain ; and it is chiefly from it that the metropolis is supplied with provisions. Flax, alhenna, roots, potherbs, rice, fruit, and grain of all kinds are produced here to such perfection, that the Mettijiah may be justly reckoned the garden of the whole kingdom. 1096. In the inland provinces are immense tracts of country wholly uninhabited and uncultivated. There are also extensive tracts of brushwood, and some timber forests. The fertility of the soil decreases in approaching Sahara or the Desert, although in its borders, and even in the desert itself there are some districts which are capable of culti- vation, and which produce corn, figs, and dates. These regions are inhabited by no- nradical tribes, who, valuing themselves on their independence, endure with fortitude and resignation the inconveniences attending their condition, and scarcely regret the want of those advantages and comforts that pertain to a civilised state of society. 1097. The seed-time here, as in Tunis, is during the months of October and November, when wheat, barley, rice, Indian corn, millet, and various kinds of pulse, are sown. In six months the crops are harvested, trodden out by oxen or horses, winnowed by throwing with a shovel against the wind, and then lodged in subterraneous magazines. •1098. The em/Are of Morocco is an extensive territory of mountains and plains, and chiefly an agricultural country. The mountains consist of limestone or clay, or a mix- ture of both, and no vestiges appear of granite, on which they are supposed to rest. The climate is temperate and salubrious, and not so hot as the situation would lead us to suppose. The rains are regular in November, though the atmosphere is not loaded with clouds : January is summer ; and in March barley harvest commences. The soil consists either of pure sand often passing into quicksand, or of pure clay ; and is often so abundantly mixed with iron ochre, that agricultural productions, such as wax, gum, wool, &c, are distinguished by a reddish tint, which, in the wool, cannot be removed by washing or bleaching. Cultivation, in this country, requires little labour, and, in general, no manure ; all weeds and herbaceous plants, not irrigated, are, at a certain season, burnt up by the sun, as in some parts of Spain (745.); the ground, being then perfectly clean and dry, is rendered friable and easily pulverised by the rains ; and one rude stirring suffices both for preparing the soil and covering the seed. The pro- duce in wheat, rice, millet, maize, barley, and chick-peas (Cicer arietinum), is often sixty fold ; thirty fold is held to be an indifferent harvest. 1099. In oeneral they make use of no manure except that which is left on the fields by their flocks 'and herds. But the people who inhabit places near forests and woods avail themselves of another method to render the soil productive. A month or two before the rains commence, the farmer sets fire to the underwood, and by this confla- gration clears as much land as he intends to cultivate. The soil, immediately after this treatment, if carefully ploughed, acquires considerable fertility, but is liable soon to be- come barren, unless annually assisted by proper manure. This system of burning down the woods for the sake of obtaining arable land, though not generally permitted in states differently regulated from this, is allowable in a country, the population of which bears so small a proportion to the fertility of the soil, and in which the most beautiful tracts are suffered to remain unproductive from want of hands to cultivate them. In this manner the nomadic Arab proceeds in his conflagrations, till the whole neighbourhood around him is exhausted ; he then packs up his tents and travels in search of another fertile place where to fix his abode, till hunger again obliges him to continue his migra- tion. Thus it is computed, that at one and the same time no more than a third part of the whole country is in a state of cultivation. 1100. The live stock of Morocco consists of numerous flocks and herds. Oxen of a small breed are plentiful, and also camels ; the latter animal being used in agriculture, for travelling, and for food, 'lrie horses are formed for fleetness and activity, and taught to endure fatigue, heat, cold, hunger, and thirst. Mules are much used, and the breed is encouraged. Poultry is abundant in Morocco ; pigeons are excellent ; par- tridges are plentiful ; woodcocks are scarce, but snipes are numerous in the season ; the ostrich is hunted both for sport and for profit, as its feathers are a considerable article of traffic ; hares are good, but rabbits are confined to the northern part of the empire, from Saracha to Tetuan. Fallow deer, the roebuck, the antelope, foxes, and other animals of Europe, are not very abundant in Morocco; lions and tigers are not uncommon in some parts of the empire ; of all the species of ferocious animals found in this empire, the wild boar is the most common : the sow has several litters in the year, and her young, which are numerous, serve as food for the lion. 1101. The nomadic auriculturists form themselves into encampments, called douhars ( fi". 144.), composed of numerous tents, which form a circle or crescent, and their flocks and herds returning from pasture occupy the centre. Each douhar has a chief, who is invested with authority for superintending and governing a number of these en- campments ; and many of the lesser subdivisions are again reunited under the govern- Cook I. AGRICULTURE IN AFRICA. 177 144 merit of a bashaw ; some of whom have 1000 douhars under their command. Their tents, of a conical form, about eight or ten feet high in the centre, and from twenty to twenty-five in length, are made of twine composed of goats' hair, camels' wool, and the leaves of the wild palm, so that they keep out water ; but, being black, their appear- ance at a distance is not agreeable. In camp the Moors live in the utmost simplicity, and present a faithful picture of the earth's inhabitants in the first ages. In the milk and wool of their flocks, they find every thing necessary for their food and clothing. It is their custom to have several wives, who are employed in all domestic affairs. Beneath their ill-secured tents they milk their cows and make butter; they sort and sift their wheat and barley ; prepare vegetables; and grind flour with a mill composed of two round stones, eighteen inches in diameter, in the upper one of which is fixed a handle by which it is made to turn upon an axle. They daily make bread, which they bake between two earthen plates, and very often on the ground heated by fire. 1 102. JVb alteration in the agriculture of Morocco seems to have taken place for several centuries, owing to the insecurity of its government ; every thing being despotic ; and property in land, as well as the person and life, being subject to the caprice of the sovereign, and to the laws of the moment. Subsect. 4. Of the present Slate of Agriculture on the U'eslern Coast of Africa. 1 103. Of the innumerable tribes which occupy the western coast of Africa, the principal are the Jalefs and Foulahs, and of the former little is known. The remaining part of the country consists of the territories of Benin, Loango, and Congo. llOt. The soil of the Foulah country is fertile. The inhabitants are said to be diligent as farmers and graziers, and to raise millet, rice, to- bacco, cotton, peas, carob beans (Ceratuiiia siliqua) {Jig. 145.1, roots, and fruits in abundance. Their live stock, however, constitutes their chief wealth, and, accordingly, pursuing a kind of wandering life, they roam, from field to field and from country to country, with large droves of cows, sheep, goats, and horses ; removing, as the wet and dry seasons require, from the low to the high lands, and continue no longer in one place than the pasture for their cattle will allow. The inconvenience and labour of this roving life are augmented by the defence they are obliged to provide against the depredations of the fierce animals with which the country abounds ; as they are molested by lions, tigers, and elephants, from the land, and crocodiles from the rivers. At night they collect their herds and flocks within a circle of huts and tents in which they live, and where they light fires in order to deter these animals from approaching them. During the day they often place their children on elevated platforms of reeds (Jig. 146.) for security from wild beasts, while they are hunting or pursuing other labours. The elephants are so nu- merous, that they appear in droves of 200 together, plucking up the small trees, and destroying whole fields of corn ; so that they have recourse to hunting, not merely as a pastime, but as the means of self- preservation. 1105. The English settlement of Sierra Leone is situated to the west of the country of the Foulahs, on the river Senegal. It was formed in 1787, for the benevolent purpose of promoting African civil- isation. A tract of land was purchased from the prince of the country, and a plantation established, in which are cultivated rice, cotton, sugar, pep- per, tobacco, and other products. Gum arabic (Mimosa nilotica) (fig. 147.) and other valuable articles are procured from the native woods. In these woods the pine-apple grows wild in the greatest abundance and luxuriance. The fruit is large and highly flavoured, and, when in season, may be pur- chased by strangers at less than a halfpenny each. A meal in common use by the natives is made from N 178 HISTORY OF AGRICULTURE. Part I. the pounded tools of the manioca (Jatropha Maniltot). Tliis meal, after being first ground from the root, is made into a pulp and pressed to get rid of a poisonous juice. It is then redried and constitutes a wholesome farina, which forms almost the entire food of the slaves. 1106. Benin is an extensive country, very productive cf fruits, trees, and plants, including the orange, cocoa, cotton, Sec; and abounding In animals, among which are enumerated civet cats, and a sort of hairy sheep. Agri- culture, however, is little attended to, the chief object being the commerce of slaves. Ilii7 The ii'li tbOanitqf l.oango, instead of cultivating the land, content themselves with bread and fish, and such fruits, greens, and pulse, as the soil naturally pro- duces. Cocoas, oranges, or lemons are not much cul- tivated; but sugar-canes, cassia, and tobacco, as well as the palm, banana, cotton, and pimento trees, grow n re plentifully. They have also a great variety of roots, herbs, fruits, grain, and other vegetables, of which they make bread, or which they use for food. They have few quadrupeds for domestic use, except goats and hogs ; but poultry and various sorts of game are abundant Among the wild beasts they have the zebra, and a great number of elephants, whose teeth they exchange with the Europeans for iron. 1108. Congo is an extensive and very fertile country ; but the inhabitants are indolent, and neglect its culture. The operations of digging, sowing, reaping, cutting wood, grinding corn, and fetching water, they leave to their wives and slaves. Under their management, several sorts of grain and pulse are culti- vate I, especially maize, of which they have two crops in a year : but such is the heat of the climate, that wheat will not produce plump seeds; 'it shoots rapidly up into the straw and ear, the former high enough to hide a man on horseback, and the latter uniilled. Grass grows to a great height, and affords sheltering places for a number of wild animals and noisome reptiles and insects. The Portuguese have introduced a variety of palm and other fruit trees, which are adapted for producing human food in such a climate. 1 109. The baobab (Adansbn'ta digitata) is a native of Congo. This tree, discovered by the celebrated French botanist, Adanson, is considered the largest in the world : several, measured by this gentleman, were from sixty-five to seventy-eight feet in circumference, but not extraordinarily high. The trunks, at the height of from twelve* to fifteen feet, divided into many horizontal branches, which touched the ground at their extremities ; these were from forty-five to fifty-five feet long, and were so large that each branch was equal to a monstrous tree ; and where the water of a neighbouring river had washed away the earth so as to leave the roots of one of these trees bare and open to the sight, they measured one hundred and ten feet long, without including those parts of the roots which remained covered. It yields a fruit which resembles a gourd, and which serves for vessels of various uses ; the bark furnishes them with a coarse thread which they form into ropes, and into a cloth with which the natives cover their middle from the girdle to the knees ; and the small leaves supply them j^g , with food in a time of scarcity, while the large ones are used for cover. /o^£"-- ing their houses, or are by burning manufactured into good soap. At Sierra Leone, this tree does not grow larger than an orchard apple- tree. 1110. Of the baric of the infanda tree, and also of the mulemba, re- sembling in many respects our laurel, they form a kind of stuff' or cloth, which is fine, and used for cloaks and girdles by persons of the highest rank. The butter tree (Jig. 148.) aflbrds an excellent substitute for that European luxury. With the moss that grows about the trunk, the rich commonly stuff their pillows ; and the Giagas apply it to their wounds with good effect: with the leaves the Moors cover their houses, and they draw from these trees, by incision, a pleasant liquor like wine, which, however, turns sour in five or six days. 1111. Among other fruits and roots, they have the vine, which was brought thither from Candia, and yields grapes twice a year. 1112. The live slock common to other agricultural countries are here much neglected ; but the Portuguese settlers have directed their atten- tion to cows, sheep, and goats, chiefly on account of their milk. Like most parts of Africa, this country swarms with wild animals. Among these, the zebra, buffalo, ami wild ass are hunted, and made useful as food or in commerce. The dantc, a kind of ox, the skin of which is sent into Germany to be tanned and made into targets .called dantes, abounds, and also the cameleon, a great variety of monkeys, and all the sorts of domestic poultry and game. SunsECT. 5. Of the present State of Agriculture at the Cape of Good Hope. 1113. The Dutch colonised the Cape of Good Hope in 1660, and the English obtained possession of it in 1795. 1114. The climate of this Cape is not unfriendly to vegetation; but it is so situated, within the influence of periodical winds, that the rains aix; very unequal, descending in torrents during the cold season, though hardly a shower falls to refresh the earth in the hot summer months, when the dry south-east winds prevail. These winds blast the foliage, blossom, and fruit, of all those trees that are not well sheltered ; nor is the human constitution secure against their injurious influence. As a protection from these winds, the colonists who inhabit the nearest side of the first chain of mountains, beyond which their effect does not very sensibly extend, divide that portion of their ground which is appropriated to fruit groves, vineyards, and gardens, by oak screens; but they leave their corn lands altogether open. The temperature of the climate at the Cape is re- markably affected by local circumstances. In summer the thermometer is generally Book I. AGRICULTURE IN AFRICA. 17y between 70° and 80°, and sometimes between SO 1 and 90°, but scarcely ever exceeds 95°. ] 115. The surface of the country consists of some mountains and extensive barren- looking plains. The upper regions of all the chains of mountains are naked masses of sand-stone ; the valleys beneath them are clothed with grass, with thickets, and in some cases with impenetrable forests. The inferior hills or knolls, whose surfaces are "-enerally composed of loose fragments of sandstone, as well as the wide sandy plains that connect them, are thinly strewed over with heaths and other shrubby plants, exhibiting to the eye a uniform and dreary appearance. In the lowest part of these plains, where the waters subside, and, filtering through the sand, break out in springs upon the surface, vegetation is somewhat more luxuriant. In such situations the farm-houses are generally placed ; and the patches of cultivated ground contiguous to them, like the oases in the sandy deserts, may be considered as so many verdant islands in the midst of a bound- less waste. 1116. Soils, in this tract of country, are generally either a stiff" clay, impenetrable by the plough till they are soaked by much rain ; or light and sandy, tinged with red, and abounding with small round quartzose pebbles. A black vegetable mould seldom ap- pears, except in patches of garden -ground, vineyards, and orchards, that surround the habitations, where, by long culture, manure, and the fertilising influence of springs or rills of water, the soil is so far mellowed as to admit the spade at all seasons of the year. The extensive plains, known in the colony by the Hottentot name of karroo, which are interspersed between the great chains of mountains, exhibit a more dismal appearance than the lower plains, which are chequered with patches of cultivated ground ; and their hard surfaces of clay, glistening with small crystals of quartz, and condemned to per- petual drought and aridity, are ill adapted to vegetation. The hills that break these barren plains are chiefly composed of fragments of blue slate, or masses of felspar, and argillaceous limestone. However, in those karroo plains that are tinged with iron, and are capable of being watered, the soil is extremely productive. In such situations, more especially in the vicinity of the Cape, they have the best grapes, and the best fruit of every sort. The great scarcity of water in summer is much more unfavourable to an extended cultivation than either the soil or the climate. 1117. 'Landed properly was held by the original Dutch from the government of the Cape on four different tenures. The first tenure was that of a yearly lease renewable for ever, on condition of payment of a certain rent, not in general exceeding eight tenths of a farthing per acre ; the second tenure, a sort of perpetual holding subject to a small rent ; the third, a holding on fifteen years' leases at a quit-rent, renewable ; and the last was that of real estate or freehold, the settler having purchased his farm at once for n certain sum. The second tenure is the most common in the colony. The lands were originally measured out and allotted in the following manner : a stake was stuck as near the centre of the future estate as could be guessed, and a man, starting thence, walked for half an hour in a straight line, to each of the four points of the compass; giving thus the radii of a circle that comprised a space of about 6000 acres. 1118. Of these extensive farms, the greater part is, of course, mere sheep and cattle walks. They break up for tillage, patches here and there, where the plough can be directed with the least difficulty, or the soil is most inviting for the purpose. A slight scattering of manure is sometimes used, but more frequently none at all ; and it is astonishing to see the crops this soil, and even the lightest sands, will produce with so little artificial stimulus. Seventeen successive crops of wheat without any manure have been taken. When the land is somewhat exhausted by a succession of crops, they break up fresh ground, and the old is suffered to lie fallow, as they term it, for many years ; that is, it is permitted to throw up plentiful crops of huge bushes and heath till its turn comes round again, which may be in about seven years, when there is the trouble of breaking it up anew. The sheep and cattle are permitted to stray at pleasure, or are, perhaps, intrusted to the care of a Hottentot. 1119. The agricultural products of the Cape fanners are chiefly wheat and other grains, pidse, wine, and brandy, wool, hides, and skins, dried fruits, aloes, and tobacco. The returns of grain and pulse are from ten to seventy, according to the nature of the soil and the supply of water. Barley, i. e. here or bigg, is very productive, and is used only for feeding horses. Rye and oats run much to straw, and are chiefly used as green fodder. Indian corn thrives well, and is very productive ; and various kinds of millet, kidneybeans, and other pulse, are extensively cultivated. The wheat is generally heavier, and yields a finer flour, than that of England. It is all spring wheat, being sown from the month of April to June. The returns are very various in the different soils; some farmers declare that they have reaped sixty and eighty for one; the average maybe from twenty to thirty ; but it is impossible to come to a true estimate upon this point, as no farmers can tell you the exact quantity sown upon a given quantity of acres. The crops seem to be remarkablv precarious, failing sometimes for three or four years in succession. N 2 180 HISTORY OF AGRICULTURE. Taut I. 11'20. The vine, howc-rer, is the most profitable, and what may be considered the staple article of culture. Better grapes arc Dot produced in any part of the world ; but the art of making wine and brandy from them admits of much improvement. '1'cn or twelve different kinds of wine are at present manufactured, having a distinct flavour and quality, according to the farms on which they are produced. 11-1. The celebrated Conitantia wine is made on two farms of that name, close under the mountains between Table Bay and False B«y. The white wine of that name is made on the farm called Little Con- stantia, and the other produce! the red. The grape is the muacadel, and the rich quality of the wine is owing partly to the situation and soil of the vineyards, ami partly to the care taken in manufacturing the wine. No stalks, nor any berries but such as are fully ripe, are suffered to go under the press ; precautions rarely taken by the other formers of the Cape. The muscadel grape grows on every farm; and on some farms in Drakenstein the wine pressed from it is as good as the Cnnstantia, if not superior to it, though sold, on account Ol the name of the latter, at one sixth part of the price. When they find that the wine is to be sent abroad, they adulterate it with some other wine- for, according to their own returns, the quantity exported and consumed in Cape Town, as in the case of Madeira wine, greatly exceeds the quantity manufactured. 1 122. The almond is a very productive tree at the Cape ; the tree thrives in the driest and worst soil, and the fruit, though small, is of excellent quality. Dried peaches, apricots, pears, and apples, are not only plentiful, but good of their kind ; dried grapes, or raisins, are not so well managed. Potash is pro- cured from a species of Sals, la which grows on the deserts; and with this and the fat of sheeps' tails the farmers make their soap. The berries of the candleberry myrtle (.Vyrlca cerifera) supply a vegetable wax sold at Cape Town in large green cakes, from which odoriferous candles are made. 1123. The A'toe toccotr'ina and perfblidta cover large tracts of ground, and these afford the inspissated juice or resin of the apothecaries. The leaves of the plant are cut off one by one, and, as they are cut, thrown into tubs. In a day or two after they are thrown in, the juice will have run out of itself, when the leaves are taken out and used .is manure. The juice is then either clarified in the .^n or by boiling, and when dry, cut into cakes and packed up for sale. 1124 The tobacco grown at the Cape is said to be as good as that of Virginia. Enough is gTOwn foi home consumption, which is considerable, but none for exportation. 1 1 25. The live stock of the Cape farmers chiefly consists of oxen, horses, sheep, swine, and poultry. There are only some districts adapted to grazing ; and the fanners who follow this department are in a much less civilised state than the others. The flocks and herds wander over immense tracts, for the use of which a rent or tax according to the numbei of beasts is paid. At night they are brought home to folds or kraals, which are close to the huts of the farmers, and are represented as places of intolerable filth and stench. 1126. The native cuttle of the Cape are hardy, long-legged, bony animals, more in the coach-horse line than fitted for the shambles. They are bad milkers, probably from the had quality and scanty supplies of forage. 1127. The sheep are wretched beasts, more resembling goats, with wool that might be taken for frizzly hair, and is in fact only used for stuffing chairs, or for like purposes; the other parts of the body seem drained to supply the accumulation of fat upon the tail which weighs from six to twelve pounds. 1128. The Merinos, of which there are a few flocks, do very well : they are much degenerated for w ant of changing, and a proper selection of rams. 1129. The Ryeland, or Southdown sheep, would be a great acquisition here; for the Cape mutton forms a detestable food. 1130. The Cape horse, which is not indigenous, but was introduced originally from Java, is a small, active, spirited animal ; a mixture of the Spanish and Arabian, capable of undergoing great fatigue ; and, as a saddle-horse, excellently adapted to the country. As a draught-horse for the farmer he is too small ; and the introduction of a few of the Suffolk punch breed would be a real benefit to the colony, as well as a source of profit to the importer. 1131. Pigs are scarce in the colony amongst the farmers ; it is difficult to say why, except that there is more trouble in feeding them, and they cannot be turned to graze like sheep. Poultry is, for the same reason, neglected. Indeed, bad mutton may be said to be the only food of the colonists. 1 132. The agricultural implements and operations of the Cape farmers are said to be performed in the rudest manner, and their crops are thought to depend principally on the goodness of the soil and climate. The plough of the Dutch farmers is a couple of heavy boards nailed together, and armed with a clumsy share, which it requires a dozen oxen to work. Their harrow, if they use any at all, is composed of a few brambles. Their waggons (which will carry about thirty Winchester bushels, or a ton-weight, and are generally drawn by sixteen and sometimes twenty oxen) are well constructed to go tilting up and down the precipitous passes of the kloofs with safety ; but they have no variety for the different roads. Burchell has given a portrait of one of these imposing machines. {Jig. 149.) Their method of beating out the corn is well known ; the sheaves are spread on a circular floor, surrounded by a low wall, with which every farm is supplied. The farmer's whole stock of !>rood mares and colts are then turned in, and a black man, standing in the centre, with a long whip to enforce his authority, the whole herd are compelled to frisk and canter round till the corn is trampled out of Book I. AGRICULTURE IN AFRICA. 181 the ear. This is termed tramping out. The winnowing is performed by tossing the trampled grain and dung in the air with shovels, or by exposing it to the wind in a sieve. *1133. The agriculture of the Cape appears capable of much improvement, were the farmers less indolent, and more ambitious of enjoying the comforts and luxuries of exist- ence. Barrow is of opinion that there might be produced an abundance of corn, cattle, and wine, for exportation ; but that, to effect this, " it will be necessary to procure a new race of inhabitants, or to change the nature of the old ones." At the suggestion of this writer, an attempt was recently made by government to settle a number of British families in the district of the Albany, an immense plain 60 or 70 miles long, by about 30 broad ; but after remaining there a year, the greater number of them were obliged to leave that district on account of its unsuitableness for arable culture. A considerable part returned to England, others remained and became servants in the colony, and a few who had some property left, took land in more favourable situations. Pringle, who has given an account of this settlement (1824), describes the deplorable situation of the greater number of 5000 individuals who had fixed themselves there, and ascribes their calamities more to the nature of their situation than to any other cause. Other districts, he contends, might have been chosen much better adapted for the plough and the spade, while the low and fertile region of Albany might have been usefully occupied as a sheep pasture. With all the deficiencies of the country and climate, he says, if things are properly managed, the Cape is not a worse land to live in than any other English colony. Comparing his own account, however, with the description of other colonies, especially Van Diemen's Land and New South Wales, we should be disposed to differ from him in opinion, and to prefer the latter settlements. (Pringle's Present State of Albany, South Africa, 12mo, 1824.) 1134. In the interior of the country are many tribes of whom little or nothing is known ; but some of which are every now and then brought into notice by modern travellers. Some have been visited, for the first time, by the missionary Campbell ; and the account he gives of their agriculture, manufactures, and customs is often very curious. It is astonishing how ingenious he found some tribes in cutlery and pottery; and the neatness and regularity of the houses of others are equally re- markable. In one place the houses were even tasteful ; they 3 were conical, and enclosed by r 333B8 large circular fences (fg.\50.) ; and he found them threshing out the corn on raised circular threshing-floors (a), with flails, much in the same manner as we do. 1 1 35. The unimproved Hotten- tots form their huts (Jig. 151.) of mats bound on a skeleton of poles or strong hoops, (jig. 152.) Their form is hemispherical ; they are entered by a low door, which has a mat shutter, and they are sur- rounded by a reed or mat fence to exclude wild animals and re- tain fuel and cattle. Attempts to introduce European forms of cottages have been made by the missionaries, which, witli a know- ledge of the more useful arts, will no doubt in time humanise and refine them. The missionary Kiishe conducted Burchell along the valley of Genadendal, t ^ff?' v '^T r ^T'^^ to exhibit the progress which the Hotten- tots, under his instruction, had made in horticulture and domestic order. The val- ley is a continued maze of gardens and fruit trees. " The huts (fg. 153.), un- like those of Hottentot construction, are a rude imitation of the quadrangular build- ings of the colonist. They are generally from ten to fifteen feet long, and from eight to ten wide, having an earthen floor and walls white-washed on their inside, composed of rough unhewn poles, filled up N 3 182 HISTORY OF AGRICULTURE. Part I. 153 between with reeds and rushes plastered with mud, and the whole covered with a roof of thatch. The caves being in ge- neral not higher Vom the ground than four or six feet, the doors could not be entered with- out stooping. A small unglazed win- dow admitted light, but there was nei- ther chimney nor any other opening in the roof by which the smoke might escape. (Burchell's Travels, i. 112.) 1 136. The cattle of all the Hottentot and other tribes are kept in circular folds during night ; and it is remarkable that these folds are the only burial places known to be in use among that people. " Corn is preserved in what may be termed large jars, of various dimensions, but most commonly between four and five feet high and three wide. The shape of these corn jars is nearly that of an egg shell, having its upper end cut off: sometimes their mouth is contracted in a manner which gives them a great resemblance to a European oil-jar. They are formed with stakes and branches fixed into the ground and interwoven with twigs ; this frame-work being afterwards plastered within and without with loam and cow-dung. Frequently, the bottoms of these jars are raised about six inches or a foot above the ground ; and the lower part of the stakes, being then uncovered, gives them the appearance of standing on short legs. Their contents are usually protected by a covering of skin or straw." This mode of keeping their corn and beans, Burchell observes, shows a degree of ingenuity equal to that which is dis- played in the construction of their houses, and is to be admired for its simplicity and perfect adequateness to the purpose. In the dwellings of the richer inhabitants, the back part of the houses is completely filled with jars of this kind. (Travels, ii. 520.) 1137. The natives of the South of Africa live much on bulbous roots, of which their country is naturally more productive than any other. Burchell has enumerated a considerable number which he saw them use. One of the most remarkable grows on the mountains of Graf- reynet, and is called Hottentot's bread ^2'amusele- phantipes i/en>.,Testudinaria elephantipes Burch-). (fg. 154.) Its bulb stands entirely above ground, and grows to an enormous size, frequently three feet -p in height and diameter. It is closely studded with angular ligneous protuberances, which give it some resemblance to the shell of a tortoise. The inside is a fleshy substance, which may be compared to a turnip, both in substance and colour. From the top of this bulb arise several annual stems, the branches of which have a disposition to twine round any shrub within reach. The taste of this bulb is thought to resemble that of the yam of the East Indies, the plant being closely allied to the genus Dioscoren. (Burchell's Travels, ii. 147.) 1 138. The Bachapins are a people of the interior of South Africa, who were visited by Burchell. Their agriculture, he says, is extremely simple and artless. It is performed entirely 155 ,] by women. To prepare the ground for sowing, they pick it up to the depth of about four inches, with a kind of hoe or mattock, which differs in nothing from a carpenter's adze but in being twice or thrice as large. The corn they sow is the Carrie corn or Guinea corn, a variety of millet (i/olcus Sorghum Caffiorum). They cultivate also a kind of kidneybean, and eat the ripe seeds ; they likewise raise water-melons, pumpkins, and the calabash gourd for the use of its shell as a domestic vessel for drinking and other purposes. They are in- ordinate smokers of tobacco, but they do not cultivate the plant. Burchell gave them some potatoes and peach stones to cultivate, which pleased them exceedingly, and for which they were very thankful. (Travels, ii. 518.) 1139. The Bttslimnn spade {ftp. 155.) is a pointed stick about three feet long, to which there is affixed, about the middle, a stone to increase its power in digging up bulbous routs. This stone is about live inches in diameter, and is cut or ground very regularly to a round form, and perforated with a hole large enough to receive the stick and a wedge by which it is fixed to its place. {Burchell's Travels, ii. 30,) Book I. AGRICULTURE IN AFRICA. 183 Subsect. 6. Of the present State of Agriculture on the Eastern Coast of Africa, and in the African Islands. 1140. Of the various countries on the eastern coast cf Africa the chief is Mocaranga, the agriculture of which may be considered as a specimen of that of the savage tribes of the other states The climate is temperate, though the mountains called Supata, or the spine of the world, forming a great chain from north to south, are perpetually covered with snow ; the air clear and salubrious ; and the soil fertile and well watered, so that its pastures feed a great number of cattle, more valued by the inhabitants than their gold. The inland parts of the country, however, are sandy, dry, and barren. The products of the country on the coast, are rice, millet, and maize, but no wheat ; sugar canes and cotton are found both wild and cultivated. They are without the ox and horse, but elephants, ostriches, and a great variety of wild animals abound in the forests. Accord- ing to the doubtful accounts of this country, the king, on days of ceremony, wears a little spade hanging by his side as an emblem of cultivation. 1141. The Island of Madagascar is celebrated for its fertility, and the variety of its productions. Its climate is mild and agreeable ; and the surface of the country is divided into the eastern and western provinces by a range of mountains. The summits of these mountains are crowned with lofty trees of long duration, and the low grounds are watered by torrents, rivers, and rivulets, which flow from them. The agricultural products are rice, cotton, indigo, sugar, pulse, the yam, banana, cocoa, pepper, ginger, turmeric, and a variety of other fruits and spices. There are a great number of rare fruits and esculent plants, and many curious woods. Oxen and flocks of sheep abound ; but there are no horses, elephants, lions, or tigers. The culture is very imperfect, the soil and the excellence of the seasons supplying the place of labour and skill. 1142. The Mauritius, or Isle of France, is a productive island, chiefly indebted to the industry of the French, who have introduced there most of the grains, roots, and fruits of other parts of the world, all of which seem to thrive. The climate is excellent, and similar to that of the Bourbon and Canary Islands. The surface is mountainous towards the sea coast, but within land there are many spots both level and fertile. The soil is, generally speaking, red and stony. The agricultural products are numerous. A crop of maize, succeeded by one of wheat, is procured in one season from the same field. The rice of Cochin China is extensively cultivated ; the manioc, or cassava (Jatropha Manilwt) of Brazil ; sugar, which is the chief product for export ; cinnamon, clove, and nutmeg trees, &c. Oranges, citrons, and guavas abound; and pine-apples are said to grow spontaneously. Many valuable kinds of woods are found in the forests ; and on the banks of the rivers are fed the flocks and herds of the country. 1 143. The Isle of Bourbon differs little in its natural and agricultural circumstances from tiiat of the Mauritius. 1 144. St. Helena is a rugged, but beautiful island, occupied by a few farmers, chiefly English. Their chief productions are cattle, hogs, and poultry ; and when the India ships arrive every house becomes a tavern. 1145. The Cape Verd Islands are, in general, hot and unhealthy as to climate, and stony and barren as to soil. Some, however, produce rice, maize, bananas, oranges, cotton, and sugar-canes, with abundance of poultry. 1 146. The Canary Islands having been subject to Spain for many centuries, the agri- culture of the parent country prevails throughout. The climate is temperate, and the soil generally rich. The stock of the farm belongs to the pro- prietor of the soil, who lends it to the cultivator, on condition of getting half of the produce. The products are, wheat, barley, rice, oats, flax, anise seeds, coriander, the mulberry, grape, cotton, sugar-cane, dragon's-blood tree ( Dracaena), and a variety of esculent plants and fruits. ^& The celebrated Canary wine is made chiefly in the islands \^ff of Tenerifte and Canary. Potatoes have been introduced within the last fifty years, and now constitute the chief food of the inhabitants. The archil (Roccella tinctoria) [fig. 156. a), a moss used in dyeing, grows wild on all the rocks ; and kali Salscla Kali) (fg.156. b), from which soda is extracted, is found wild on the sea-shore. The roots of the male fern (Pteris aquilina) are, in times of scarcity, ground into flour, and used as food. The live stock of the Canaries consists of cattle, sheep, horses, and asses ; and the well-known Canary birds, with a great variety of others, /d(£& abound in the woods. O-r^SSZ^ 1 147. The Island of Madeira is chiefly celebrated for its wine. It is the boast of the islanders, that their country produces the best wheat, the purest sugar, and the finest N 4 184 HISTORY OF AGRICULTURE. Taut T. wines in tlic world, besides being blest with the clearest water, the most salubrious air, and a freedom from all noxious reptiles. The lir^t view of the island is particularly magnificent ; the country rising in lofty hills from every part of the coast, so steep as to bring very distant objects into the foreground. The sides of these hills are clothed with vines as high as the temperature will admit; above this they are clothed with woods or verdure to their summits, as high as the sight can distinguish ; except those columnar peaks, the soil of which 1i;ls been washed away by the violent rains to which those lati- tudes, and especially such elevated parts, are liable. Deep ravines or valleys descend from the hills to the sea, and in the hollow of most of them flows a small river, which in general is rapid and shallow. The soil is clay on the surface ; and large masses of it, as hard as brick, are found underneath. The island, it is said, when discovered by the Portuguese, was covered with wood ; and the first step taken by the new settlers was to set fire to the wood. This conflagration is said to have lasted seven years, and to have been the chief cause of the fertility of the soil ; but whatever may have been the effect at first, this fertility could not have lasted for three centuries. 1148. The lands of Madeira are cultivated on the metayer system ; in entailed estates leases cannot be granted for a longer period than nine years ; but in no case can the tenant be dismissed till he is paid the full value of his improvements. 1 148. The !"'«-• is cultivated chiefly in the French, but partly in the Italian, manner. In the low grounds it is suffered to grow to a considerable height, and tied to trees, poles, or trellises ; on the sides of the hills the terrace culture is adopted, and there the plants are kept lower, and tied to single stakes or low trellises. The variety of grape cultivated is what in France is called the Rhenish, a sort of small black cluster ; but its character is greatly altered since its transplantation to Madeira. The grape from which the Malmsey Madeira wine is made is the C'iotat of the French, or parsley- leaved muscadine with a white berry. The quantity of genuine malmsey produced annually is very small ; and of that a good deal is supposed to be manufactured with refined sugar. The quality of the wine here, as every where else, depends more on the aspect and soil than on the kind of grape. The best is grown on the south side of the island, on the lower declivities which point towards the south-east ; the west being always cooled by the sea breeze. 1150. Wheat is grown on land* previously prepared by the culture of common broom. This is cut for fuel, and, after a time, grubbed up and burnt on the soil. By these means, a crop of wheat is insured for a succession of years, more or less, according to the soil ; after which the same process is again resorted to. For this purpose, the seeds of the broom are collected, and generally bear the same price by measure as wheat 1 1.51. The live stock are not numerous. Animals of all sorts, as in most mountainous countries, are small. The beef and mutton appear to a Briton lean and tasteless ; common poultry are small ; but ducks and turkeys equal those of England. Pork is rare, but excellent when well fed. 1152. The tropical fruits are not readily produced here. In the villages are found guavas, bananas, oranges, and shaddocks. Pine-apples are reared with great difficulty ; but neither the granadilla nor the alligator pear, though they grow vigorously, produces fruit. Sect. V. Of tlic present State qf Agriculture in North America. *1 1 53- The climate of this region, which extends from the vicinity of the equator to the arctic circle, is necessarily extremely various. In general, the heat of summer and the cold of winter are more intense than in most parts of the ancient continent. The middle provinces are remarkable for the unsteadiness of the weather. Snow falls plentifully in Virginia, but seldom lies above a day or two. Carolina and Florida are subject to in- sufferable heat, furious whirlwinds, hurricanes, tremendous thunder, and fatal lightnings. The climate of the western parts is least known ; that of California seems to be in general moderate and pleasant. 1 I 54. The surface of North America is nobly diversified with rivers, lakes, mountains, and extensive plains, covered in many places with forests. Its shores are, in general, low, irregular, with many bays and creeks ; and the central parts seem to present a vast fertile plain, watered by the Missouri and its auxiliary streams. New Mexico in surface is an alpine country, resembling Norway and Greenland ; Labrador, and the countries round the Hudson Sea, present irregular masses of mountain covered with eternal snow. In general, all the natural features of America are on a larger scale than those of the old world. (Darby's View of the United States, 1826.) 1155. The agriculture of North America is chiefly that of the north of Europe: but in the provinces near the equator the culture of the southern parts of Europe prevails; and in the West India Islands that of the wannest climates is followed ; there being no production of any part of the world which may not be there brought to perfection. —After this general outline of the agricultural circumstances of North America, we shall select some notices of the agriculture of the United States, the Spanish dominions in North America, British possessions, unconquered countries, and North American Islands or West Indies. Subsect. 1. Of the present State of Agriculture in tlic United States. 1 156. The climate of the United States must necessarily vary in its different parts. Jn the north-east the winters are very cold and the summers hot, changing as you proceed Book I. AGRICULTURE IN NORTH AMERICA. 185 southward. In the south-east, and along the Gulf of Mexico, the summers are very hot, and the winters mild and pleasant. Among the mountains it is cold towards the north, and temperate in the south. Beyond the mountains, in the rich valleys of Ohio, Mis- sissippi, and Missouri, the climate is temperate and delightful, till we approach the Rocky Mountains, when it is subject to extremes, the winters being very cold. The climate must be chilled among mountains constantly covered with snow. "West of these mountains, the climate changes, until we reach the shores of the Pacific Ocean, where it resembles that of the western parts of Europe. The prevailing winds are from the west, and, as they pass over a wide expanse of water, they cool the air in summer, and in win- ter deluge the country with frequent rain. 1 1 51. The seasons generally correspond with those in Europe, but not with the equality to be expected on a continent, as even during the summer heats single days will occur which require the warmth of a fire. The latitude of Labrador corresponds with that of Stockholm, and that of Canada with France, but the climates of those places are widely different. It would appear from Humboldt, that the difference of temperature between the old and new continents, in the same latitude, is between 4° and .5° in favour of the former. 1158. The surface of the country in the United States presents every variety. The north-eastern part of the coast is broken and hilly ; and is remarkably indented with numerous bays and inlets. Towards the south, and along the Gulf of Mexico, the land is level and sandy, interspersed with many swamps and numerous islands and inlets. At the outlets of many of the rivers, there is a large portion of alluvial land, which is par- ticularly the case along the Mississippi. Beyond the head of tide-waters, there is a tolerably rich and agreeably uneven country, which extends to the mountains. The mountainous district, on the Atlantic side of the country, is about 150 miles in breadth, and 1200 miles in length. It extends in large ridges, from north-east to south-west, and is known as the Alleghany Mountains. Beyond these the great valley of the Mis- sissippi presents a surface of the finest land in the world. To the westward of this val- ley are the mountains of Louisiana, and beyond these the bold shores of the Pacific Ocean. *1159. The soil of the United States, though of various descriptions, is generally fertile ; often, on the east of the Blue Mountains, in Virginia, a rich, brown, loamy earth ; some- times a yellowish clay, which becomes more and more sandy towards the sea. There are considerable marshes and salt-meadows, sandy barrens producing only a few pines, and sometimes entirely destitute of wood. On the west of the Apalachian Mountains the soil is also generally excellent; and in Kentucky some spots are deemed too rich for wheat, but the product may amount to sixty bushels per acre. About six feet below the surface there is commonly a bed of limestone. 1160. The landed property of the United States is almost universally freehold, having been purchased or conquered by the different states, or by the general government, from the native savages ; and either lotted out to the conquering army, or reserved and sold afterwards according to the demand. 1161. The mode of dividing and selling lands in the United States is thus described by Birkbeck. " The tract of country which is to be disposed of is surveyed, and laid out in sections of a mile square, contain- ing six hundred and forty acres, and these are subdivided into quarters, and, in particular situations, half quarters. The country is also laid out in counties of about twenty miles square, and townships of six miles square in some instances, and in others of eight. The townships are numbered in ranges, from north to south, and the ranges are numbered from west to east; and, lastly, the sections in each township are marked numerically. All these lines are well defined in the woods, by marks on the trees. This done, at a period of which public notice is given, the lands in question are put up to auction, except the six- teenth section, which is near the centre, in every township, which is reserved for the support of schools, and for the maintenance of the poor. There are also sundry reserves of entire townships, as funds for the support of seminaries on a more extensive scale, and sometimes for other purposes of general interest. No government lands are sold under two dollars per acre : and 1 believe they are put up at this price in quarter sections at the auction, and if there is no bidding they pass on. The best lands and most favourable situations are sometimes run up to ten or twelve dollars, and in some late instances much higher. The lots which remain unsold are from that time open to the public, at the price of two dollars per acre ; one fourth to be paid down, and the remaining three fourths to be paid by instalments in five years; at which time, if the payments are not completed, the lands revert to the state, and the prior advances are forfeited. When a purchaser has made his election of one, or any number, of the vacant quarters, he repairs to the land-office, pays eighty dollars, or as many times that sum as he purchases quarters, and receives a certificate, which is the basis of the complete title, which will be given him when he pays all ; this he may do immediately, and receive eight per cent interest for prompt payment. The sections thus sold are marked immediately on the general plan, which is always open at the land-office to public inspection, with the letters A. P., i. e. advance paid. There is a receiver and a register at each land-office, who are checks on each other, and are remunerated by a per centage on the receipts." 1 1 62. The price of land, though low when not cleared, rises rapidly in value after a very slight occupation and improvement. Instances are frequent of a rise of 1000 per cent, in about ten years. Cobbett, who resided in 1817 in Long Island, which may be con- sidered the middle climate of the United States, gives the price of a cultivated farm in that part of the country. " A farm, on this island," he says, " any where not nearer than thirty miles off", and not more distant than sixty miles from New York, with a good farm-house, barn, stables, sheds, and sties ; the land fenced into fields with posts and rails, the wood-land being in the proportion of one to ten of the arable land, and there 186 HISTORY OF AGRICULTURE. Pakt I being on the farm a pretty good orchard ; such a farm, if the land be in a good state, and of an average quality, is worth sixty dollars an acre, or thirteen pounds sterling; of course, a farm of a hundred acres would cost 1300/. The rich lands on the necks and buys, where there are meadows and surprisingly productive orchards, and where there is water carriage, are worth, in some cases, three times this price. But what I have said will be sufficient to enable the reader to form a pretty correct judgment on the subject. In New Jersey, in Pennsylvania, every where the price differs with the circumstances of water-carriage, quality of land, and distance from market When I say a good farm- house, I mean a house a great deal better than the general run of farm-houses in Eng- I and ; more neatly furnished on the inside ; more in a parlour sort of style ; though round about the house, things do not look so neat and tight as in England." 1163. Tlte agriculture of the United States may be considered as entirely European, and chiefly British. Not only is the climate better adapted for the British agriculture, but the great majority of the inhabitants are of British origin. To enter into details of the products and processes of North American agriculture would therefore be superfluous in a work principally devoted to British agriculture. All we shall attempt is, to notice some of the leading peculiarities of North American agriculture, as resulting from na- tional, political and civil circumstances. llo'l. The natural circumstances of lands not under culture chiefly affect the com- mencement of farming operations. In general, the lands purchased by settlers are underwood, which must be felled or burned, and the roots grubbed up ; a laborious operation, which, however, leaves the soil in so rich a state, that it will bear heavy crops of grain, potatoes, and tobacco, with very little culture and no manure, for several years. Sometimes they are under grass, or partially covered with brushwood, in which the operation of clearing is easier. In either case, the occupier has to drain where neces- sary ; to enclose with a ring fence, if he wishes to be compact ; to lay out and make the farm 157 road ; and to build a house and farmery. The latter he constructs of timber, sometimes plastered with neatness and taste, as in England (Jig. 157.), but generally with logs and mud, as in Poland and Russia I fig. 158.). With timber he generally forms also his fences, though thorn and other live hedges are planted in some of the earlier-cultivated districts. 158 1 165. The usual practice of settlers with capital may be very well exemplified in the case of ISirkhcck. This gentleman having purchased an estate of 1440 acres, in the Illinois, and fixed on that part of it which he intended as his future residence and farm, " the first act was building a cabin, about two hundred yards from the spot where the house was to stand. This cabin is built of round straight logs, about a foot in diameter, lying upon each other, and notched in at the corners, forming a room eighteen feet long, by sixteen; the intervals between "^ the logs ' chunked,' that is, tilled in with slips of wood; and ' mudded,' that is, daubed with a plaster of mud : a spacious chimney, built also of logs, stands like a bastion at one end : the roof is well covered with four hundred clap board?, of cleft oak, very much like the pales used in England for fencing parks. A hole is cut through the side, called, very properly, the 'door the through ,' for which there is a ' shutter,' made also of cleft oak, and hung on wooden hinges. All this has been executed by contract, and well executed, for twenty dollars. 1 have since added ten dollars to the cost, for the luxury of a floor and ceiling of sawn boards, and it is now a comfortable habitation." 1 bib. An example a/a settler who began with capital mil:/ sufficient to pay the first instalment of eighty dollars of the price of IGu acres of land is given by the same author, who had the information from the settler himself. Fourteen yean ago, he " unloaded bis family under a tree," on his present estate; where he has now two hundred acres of excellent land, cleared and in good cultivation, capable of pro- ducing from eighty to one hundred bushels of Indian corn per acre. The poor emigrant, having collected the eighty dollars, repaired to the land-office, and entered his quarter section, then worked his way, with- out another cent in Ins pocket, to the solitary spot which was to be his future abode, in a two-horse waggon, containing his family anil his little all, consisting of a few blankets, a skillet, his rifle, and his axe. Arrived in the spring, after putting up a little log cabin, he proceeded to clear, with intense labour, a plot of ground for Indian corn, "which was to be their next year's support ; but for the present, being without means of obtaining a supply of flour, he depended on his gun for subsistence. In pursuit of the game, he Book I. AGRICULTURE IN NORTH AMERICA. 1 87 was compelled, after his day's work, to wade through the evening dews, up to the waist in lonu erass or bushes ; and, returning, found nothing to lie on but a bear's skin on the cold ground, exposed to everv Wast through the sides, and every shower through the open roof of his wretched dwelling which he did not even attempt to close, till the approach of winter, and often not then. Under such distresses of extreme toil and exposure, debarred from every comfort, many valuable lives have sunk, which have been chareed to the climate. The individual whose case is here included had to carry the little grain he could procure twelve miles to be ground, and remembers once seeing at the mill a man who had brought his corn sixtv miles, and was compelled to wait three days for his turn. Such are the difficulties which these pioneers have to encounter ; but they diminish as settlements approach each other, and are only heard of bv their successors. 1 167. The political circumstances of the United States affect the agriculturist both as to the cost of production and the value of produce. It is evident that the want of popula- tion must render the price of labour high, and the produce of land low. In this Parkinson, Birkbeck, Cobbett, and all who have written on the agriculture of America, agree. " The simple produce of the soil," Birkbeck observes, " that is to say, grain, is cheap in America ; but every other article of necessity and convenience is dear in comparison. Every service performed for one man by another must be purchased at a high rate, much higher than in England." The cheapness of land affords the posses- sion of independence and comfort at so easy a rate, that strong inducements of profit are required to detain men in the condition of servitude. Hence the high price of all com- modities, not simply agricultural ; of the labour of mechanics of every description ; and hence also the want of local markets for grain, because where three fourths of the population raise their own grain (which is the calculation), the remaining fourth will use but a moderate proportion of the spare produce. The low rate of land and taxes and this want of home markets form the reason why the American farmer, notwith- standing the price of labour, affords his grain so cheap for exportation. Although the rate of produce is low, the profits of the American farmers are high, on account of the small capital required. With 2000/. Birkbeck calculates that a farm of 640 acres, in the Illinois, may be purchased, stocked, and cultivated, so as to return, after deducting all expenses, twenty-two per cent, besides the value of the improvements made on the land, that is, its increased value, which, as has already been stated (1164.), is incredible, in a very short time. 1168. The agricultural products of the United States include all those of Britain and France. The British grains, herbage, plants, and fruits are grown in every district. What appears at first sight very remarkable is, that in America the native pastures (except on the banks of the rivers) consist entirely of annuals ; and that is the reason why the country is generally bare and black in winter ; but perennial grasses, when sown in the uplands, are found to thrive in many situations. The greatest quantity of wheat is grown in Pennsylvania and New England. Maize ripens in all the districts, except some of the most northerly. Rice is cultivated in Virginia, and on the Ohio ; and the vine is indigenous in these and other provinces, though its culture has not yet been much attempted. Some French cultivators are of opinion that the American soil and climate are unfavourable ; this, however, is not likely to be the case, it being a native of the country. The government have established a Swiss colony for its culture, at Vevay, in Indiana ; and another in Louisiana, for the culture of the olive. The mul- berry, the cotton, and the sugar-cane are cultivated in Virginia, but not extensively. Sugar is procured plentifully in the woody districts, by tapping different species of A^cer, especially the saccharinum, in spring ; boiling the juice till it thickens ; and then granulat- ing it by letting it stand and drain in a tub, the bottom of which is pierced with small holes. The sugar obtained does little more than pay for the labour. 1 169. Of the live stock of the United States, the breed of horses of English extraction is, in general, good, as are the cows and hogs. In many cases there is no limit to the number of these that may be grazed in the unoccupied woods : all that the fanner has to do is, to protect them from bears and wolves at particular seasons, and to keep them tame, as in Russia and Switzerland, by giving them salt. Sheep are totally unfit for the climate and state of the country, though a number of proprietors have been at great pains in attempting to introduce the merinos. Mutton, Birkbeck observes, is almost as abhorrent from an American palate or fancy, as the flesh of swine from an Israelite ; and the state of the manufactures does not give great encouragement to the growth of wool of any kind, of merino wool less, perhaps, than any other. Mutton is sold in the markets of Philadelphia at about half the price of beef; and the Kentuckian, who would have given a thousand dollars for a merino ram, woidd dine upon dry bread rather than taste his own mutton. A few sheep on every farm, to supply coarse wool for domestic manufacture, seems to be all that ought at present to be attempted in any part of America that I have yet seen. Deep woods are not the proper abodes of sheep. When America shall have cleared away her forests, and opened her uplands to the breezes, they will soon be covered with fine turf, and flocks will be seen ranging over them here, as in other parts of the world. 1170. Agricultural operations in America are skilfully performed by the farmers of 188 HISTORY OF AGRICULTURE. Part I. capital, who have all the best implements of Europe; by the poorest settlers this is not the case, from want of stock ; and bj the native American farmers, from indolence, which, according to all accounts, i* their general defect An American labourer is most expert at the use of the axe and the scythe; the spade he handles in a very awkward maimer, ami has no idea of banking, hedging, clipping or cutting hedges, and many other oper- ations known to every labourer in a highly cultivated and enclosed country like Britain. Hut the versatility of talent of an American labourer amply compensates for his inex- perience in these operations, and is more useful in his circumstances. In handling the saw, the hammer, and even the trowel, the British labourer has no chance with him. Most of them can build a house, mend a plough or waggon and even the harness, and kill and dress sheep and pigs. 1171. Field labours in America require to be performed with much greater expedition than in England. The winter is long and severe, and the transition to spring is sudden; this season in many provinces only lasts a few weeks, when summer commences, and the ground becomes too hard and dry for the operations of tillage. The operations of seed- time must therefore be performed with the greatest rapidity. The climate of New York may be reckoned one of the best in North America. There the ground is covered with snow, or rendered black by frost, in the beginning of December, and continues without a speck of green till May. Ploughing generally begins in the last week of April ; oats are sown in that month ; and maize and potatoes about the middle of May. By the end of May the wheat and rye which has stood the winter, the spring-sown corn, the grass, and the fruit trees appear as forward as they are at the same period in England. There is very little rain during June, July, and August. Cherries ripen in the last week of June ; by the middle of July the harvest of wheat, rye, oats, and barley, is half over; pears ripen in the beginning of August ; maize {fin- 159.), rye, and wheat are sown during the whole of October ; corn is cut in the first week of September ; peaches and apples are ripe by the end of the month ; the general crop of potatoes is dug up in the beginning of November ; and also turnips and other roots taken up and housed ; a good deal of rain falls in September, October, and November, and severe frosts commence in the first week of December, and, as above stated, continue till the last week of April. Such is the agricultural year in the country of New York. Live stock require particular attention during the long winter ; and unless a good stock of Swedish turnip, carrot, or other roots, has been laid up for them, they will generally be found in a very wretched state in April and May. 117'J. The civil circumstances of the United States are unfavourable to the domestic enjoyments of a British fanner emigrating thither. Many privations must be suffered at first, and some, probably, for one or two generations to come. The want of society seems an obvious drawback ; but this Birkbeck has shown not to be so great as might be imagined. When an emigrant settles among American fanners, he will generally find them a lazy ignorant people, priding themselves in their freedom, and making little use of their privileges ; but, when he settles among other emigrants, he meets at least with people who have seen a good deal of the world and of life ; and who display often great energy of character. These cannot be considered as uninteresting, whatever may be their circum- stances as to fortune ; and, when there is something like a parity in this respect and in intellectual circumstances, the social bond will be complete. It must be considered that one powerfully operating circumstance must exist, whatever be the difference of circumstances or intellect ; and that is, an agreement in politics both as to the country left and that adopted. Eor the rest, the want of society may be, to a certain degree, supplied by the press ; there being a regular post in every part of the Uiuted States, and numerous American and European newspapers and periodical works circulated there. Birkbeck mentions that the Edinburgh and Quarterly Reviews, the Monthly and other Magazines, and the London newspapers are as regularly read by him at the prairie in Illinois, as they were at his farm of Wanborough in Suffolk ; and that all the difference is, that they arrive at the prairie three months later than they did at his British residence. We have seen sketches of the houses erected by this gentleman, and by some others who have settled around him, and we consider them as by no means deficient either in apparent commodiousness or effect. They remind us of some of the best houses of Switzerland and Norway. (Jig. 160.) Birkbeck and part of his family were drowned in crossing the Wabash in 1825, an event which must be deeply B< I. AGRICULTURE IN NORTH AMERICA. 189 lamented by all who knew any thing of this intelligent, enterprising, and benevolent character. 160 1 1 7:3. The want of domestic ser- vants is a considerable drawback in most parts of the United States ; but especially in the new settle- ments. Families who remove into Western America, Birkbeck ob- serves, should bring with them the power and the inclination to dis- pense, in a great degree, with ser- vants. To be easy and comfort- able there, a man should know how to wait upon himself, and practise it. In other respects, this gentle- man and his friends hope to live on their estates at the prairie, " much as they were accustomed to live in England.'' An interesting account of the house, garden, and domestic economy of Mr. Hall of Wanborough, a neighbour of Mr. Birkbeck's, will be found in the Gardener s Magazine, vol. i. p. 327. and vol. iv. p. ] 55. 1 174. As a country for a British farmer to emigrate to, we consider the United States as superior to every other, in two respects : — first, on account of its form of government ; by which property is secure, and personal liberty greater than any where else, consistently witli public safety, and both maintained at less expense than under any government in the world : secondly, on account of the stock of people being generally British, and speaking the English language. The only objection we have to America is the climate — the long and severe winter, and the rapid and hot spring and summer. Land equally good, and nearly as cheap, may be had in the south of Russia and in Poland ; but who that knows any tiling of the governments of these countries, would voluntarily put himself in their power while the Uiuted States were accessible ? Subsect. 2. Of the present State of Agriculture in Mexico. 117.5. The climate of this extensive and recently revolutionised country is singularly diversified, between the tropical seasons and rains, and the temperature of the southern and even middle countries of Europe. The maritime districts of Mexico are hot and unhealthy, so as to occasion much perspiration even in January ; the inland mountains, on the other hand, present snow and ice in the dog-days. In other inland regions, however, the climate is mild and benign, with some snow of short duration in winter ; but no artificial warmth is necessary, and animals sleep all the year under the open sky. From April to September there are plentiful rains, generally after noon ; hail storms are not unknown ; thunder is frequent ; and earthquakes and volcanoes occa- sionally occur. The climate of the capital, in lat. 19° 25', differs much frcm that of the parts of Asia and Africa under the same parallel ; which difference seems to arise chiefly from the superior height of the ground. Humboldt found that the vale f Mexico is about 6960 feet above the level of the sea, and that even the inland plains are generally as high as Mount Vesuvius, or about 3600 feet. This superior elevation tempers the climate with a greater degree of cold ; upon the whole, therefore, it cannot lie regarded as unhealthy. 1 1 76. The surface of the country is diversified by grand ridges of mountains, nume- rous volcanoes some of which are covered with perpetual snow, cataracts worthy of the pencil of Rosa, delicious vales, fertile plains, picturesque lakes and rivers, romantic cities and villages, and a union of the trees and vegetables of Europe and America. 1 177. The soil is often deep clay, surprisingly fertile and requiring no stimulus except irrigation. In some places it is boggy or composed of a soft black earth, and there are barren sands and stony soils in the elevated regions. 1178. Of the agriculture of Mexico some account is given by the Abbe" Clavigero and the Baron de Humboldt. According to the first author, agriculture was from time immemorial exercised by the Mexicans, and almost all the people of Anahuac. The Toltecan nation employed themselves diligently in it, and taught it to the Thechemecan hunters. With respect to the Mexicans, during the whole of their peregrination, from their native country Atzlan, unto the lake where they founded Mexico, they are said to have cultivated the earth in all the places where they made any considerable stop, and to have lived upon the produce of their labour. When they were brought under subjec- tion to the Colhuan and Tepanecan nations, and confined to the miserable little islands on the lake, they ceased for some years to cultivate the land, because they had none, until necessity and industry together taught them to form movable fields and gardens, which floated on the waters of the lake. 190 HISTORY OF AGRICULTURE. Part I. 1179. The method of forming floating fields, which they still practise, is extremely simple. They plait and twist together willows ami roots of marsh plants, or other materials which are light, but capable of supporting the earth of the field firmly united Upon this foundation they lay the light bu-lics which Boat on the lake, anil, over all, the iinul and dirt which they draw up from the bottom of the same lake. Their regular figure is quadrangular; their length and breadth various; but ill general, they are about eight perches long, and not more than three in breadth, and have less than a foot of elevation above the surface of the water. There were the first fields which the Mexicans owned after the foundation of Mexico; then- tiny first cultivated the maize, great pepper, and other plants, necessary for their support. In progress of time as those fields grew numerous from the industry of those people, there were among them gardens of flowers and odoriferous plants, which were employed in the worship of their gods, and served for the recreation of the nobles. At present they cultivate flowers, and every sort of garden herbs upon them. Every day of the year, at sun-rise, innumerable vessels loaded with various kin.lv of Bowers and herbs, Which are cultivated in those fields and gardens, are seen arriving by the canal, at the great market-place of that capital. All plants thrive there surprisingly; the mud of fie lake is an extremely fertile soil, and requires no water from the clouds. In the largest islands there is commonly a little tree, and even a little hut to shelter the cultivator, and defend him from rain or the sun. When the owner of an island, or the chinampa, as he is usually called, wishes to change his situa- tion, to remove from a disagreeable neighbour, or to come nearer to his own family, he gets into his little vessel, and bv his own strength alone, if the garden is small, or with the assistance of others, if it is large, he tows it after him, and conducts it wherever he pleases with the little tree and hut upon it. Tli.it part of the lake where those floating fields are is a place of infinite recreation, where the senses receive the highest possible gratification. These floating fields, Humboldt informs us, still exist : they are of two sorts ; the one mobile and blown here and there by the winds, and the others fixed and united to the shore. The former alone merit the appellation of floating, and they are diminishing day by day. He assigns to them the same origin as the Abbe Clavigero ; but thinks it probable that nature also may have suggested the first idea, and gives instances of small pieces of the surface, netted with roots and covered with plants, being detached from the marshy shores of other American lakes, and floating about in the water. The bean, pea, apple, artichoke, cauliflower, and a great variety of other culinary plants, are cultivated on them. 11 M I ./ flouting island, in a small lake in Haverhill, in New England, is mentioned by Dr. Dwight It has, he was informed, immemorially floated from one shore to another, whenever it was impelled by a violent wind. Lately it has adhered' for a considerable time to a single spot ; and may perhaps be so firmly fixed on the shelving bottom, as to move no more hereafter. Several trees and shrubs grow on its surface, and it is covered by a fresh verdure. {Travels, vol. i. p. 371.) 1181. Having neither ploughs nor oxen, nor any other animals proper to be employed in the culture of the earth, the Mexicans, when they had shaken off the Tepanecan yoke, supplied the want of them by labour, and other more simple instruments. To hoe and dig the ground they made use of the coatl, or coa, which is an instrument made of copper, with a wooden handle, but different from a spade or mattock. They made use of an axe to cut trees, which was also made of copper, and was of the same form with those of modern times, except that we put the handle in the eye of the axe, whereas they put the axe into an eye in the handle. They had several other instruments of agriculture ; but the negligence of ancient writers on this subject has not left in our power to attempt their description. 1182. They irrigated their fields with the water of rivers and small torrents which came from the moun- tains, raising dams to collect them, and forming canals to conduct them. Lands which were high, or on the declivity of mountains, were not sown every year, but allowed to lie fallow until they were over-run with bushes, which they burned, to repair by their ashes the salt which rains had washed away. They surrounded their fields with stone enclosures, or hedges made of the penguin, which makes an excellent fence ; and in the month Panquetzaliztli, which began on the third of December, they were repaired if necessary. 1183. In the sowing of maize, the method they observed, and which they still practise in some places, is this : the sower makes a small hole in the earth with a stick, or drill probably, the point of which is hardened by tire ; into this hole he drops one or two of the grains of maize from a basket which hangs from his shoulder, and covers them with a little earth by means of his foot; he then passes forward to a cer- tain distance, which is greater or less according to the quality of the soil, opens another hole, and con- tinues so in a straight line to the end of the field ; thence he returns, forming another line parallel to the first The rows of plants by these means are as straight as if a line were made use of, and at as equal distances from each other as if the spaces between were measured. This method of sowing, which is now used by a few of the Indians only, though more slow, is, however, of some advantage, as they can more exactly proportion the quantity of seed to the strength of the soil ; besides that there is almost none of the seed lost which is sown : in consequence of this, the crops of the fields which are thus cultivated are usually more plentiful. When the maize springs up to a certain height, they cover the foot of the plant round with earth, that it may be better nourished, and more able to withstand sudden gusts of wind. 1184. In the labours of the field men were assisted by the icomen. It was the business of the men to dig and hoe the ground, to sow, to heap the earth about the plants, and to reap ; to the women it belonged to strip off the leaves from the ears, and to clear the grain ; to weed and to shell it formed the employment of both. 1185. They had places like farm-yards, where they stripped off the leaves and shelled the ears, and granaries to preserve the grain. Their granaries were built in a square form, and generally of wood. They made use of the ojameth for this purpose, which is a very lofty tree, with but a few and slender branches, and a thin smooth bark ; the wood is extremely pliant, difficult to break and slow to rot. These granaries were formed by placing the round and equal trunks of the ojameth in a square, one upon the other, without any labour except that of making a small notch towards their extremities, to adjust and unite them so perfectly as not to allow any passage to the light. When the structure was raised to a sufficient height, they covered it with another set of cross-beams, and over these the roof was laid to defend the grain from rains. These granaries had no other door or outlet than two windows ; one below, which was small, and another above somewhat wider. Some of them were so large as to contain five or six thousand, or sometimes more, fanegas of maize. There arc some of this sort of granaries to be met with in a few places at a distance from the capital, and amongst them some so very ancient, that they appear to have been built before the conquest ; and, according to information had from persons of intelli- gence, they preserve the grain better than those which are constructed by the Europeans. 1186. A little tower of wood, branches, and mats, they commonly erected close to fields which were sown, in which a man, defended from the sun and rain, kept watch, and drove away the birds which came in tloeks to consume the young grain. These little towers are still made use of, even in the fields of the Spaniards, on account of the excessive number of birds. 1187. The woods which supplied them with fuel to burn, timber to build, and game for the diversion of the king, were carefully preserved. The woods of King Montezuma were extensive, and the laws of King Neaahualcojotl concerning the cutting of them particular and severe in their penalties. It would be ot advantage to that kingdom, says Clavigero, that those laws were still in force, or at least that there was not so much liberty granted in cutting without an obligation to plant a certain number of trees ; as many people, preferring their private interest and convenience to the public welfare, destroy the wood in order to enlarge their possessions. Book I. AGRICULTURE IN NORTH AMERICA. 1&1 11SS. The breeding of animals was not neglected by the Mexicans: though there were no sheep, they bred up innumerable species of animals unknown in Europe. Bullock ( Travels, 1824) informs us, that they are very curious in rearing and feeding swine ; and that an essential requisite in a Mexican swineherd is an agreeable voice ; in order that he may sing or charm the animals into peace when they quarrel and fight, and lull them to sleep at proper times to promote their fatting. Wind and sounds of every kind have been long known to have a powerful effect on this genus of animals. Private persons brought up techichis (quadrupeds similar to little dogs), turkeys, quails, geese, ducks and other kinds of fowl ; in the territories of the lords were bred fish, deer, rabbits, and a variety of birds ; and at the royal residences, almost all the species of quadrupeds and winged animals of those countries, and a prodigious number of water animals and reptiles. We may say that in this kind of magnificence Montezuma II. surpassed all the kings of the world, and that there never has been a nalion equal in skill to the Mexicans in the care of so many different species of animals, which had so much know- ledge of their dispositions, of the food which was most proper for each, and of all the means necessary for their preservation and increase. 1189. The Mexican cochineal, so greatly valued in Europe on account of its dyes of scarlet and crimson, demands a great deal more care from the breeder than is necessary for the silkworm. Rain, cold, and strong winds destroy it ; birds, mice, and worms persecute it furiously, and devour it : hence it is neces- sary to keep the rows of Opuntia, or nopal, where those insects are bred, always clean ; to attend constantly to drive away the birds, which are destructive to them; to make nests of hay for them among the Opuntia, by the juice of which thevare nourished; and when the season of rain approaches, to raise'them with a part of the plants, and guard them in houses. Before the females are delivered they cast their skin, to obtain which spoil, the breeders make use of the tail of the rabbit, brushing most gently with it that they may not detach the insects from the plants, or do them any hurt. On every lobe they make three nests, and in every nest they lay about fifteen cochineals. Every year they make three gatherings, reserv- ing, however, each time, a certain number for the future gehe'ration ; but the last gathering is least valued, the cochineals being smaller then, and mixed with the prickles of the Opuntia. They kill the cochineal most commonly with hot water. On the manner of drying it afterwards the quality of the colour which is obtained from it chiefly depends. The best is that which is dried in the sun. Some dry it in the comalli, or pan, in which they bake their bread of maize; and others in the temaxcalli, a sort of oven. [Ciarigcro, voL L p. 3oi. to 381.) 1 190. The fruits of Mexico are very numerous. The banana and granadilla are verv common ; the bread-fruit and cocoa are extensively cultivated ; and a number of sorts of anona, or custard apple, and especially the cherimoyer {A. Cherimolia), which is much esteemed. In short, all the fruits of Europe, and most of those of both Indies, are to be found in the gardens of the nobles and the priests. Subsect. 3. Present State of Agriculture in the British Possessions of North America. 1191. Tlie principal British proiinces in America are Canada, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Cape Breton, and the adjacent islands of Newfoundland and the Bermudas. *1192. Canada is an extensive country, and the only British province in which agri- culture is generally pursued. The climate of this country is extremely irregular ; in July and August, the heat is often 96°, while in winter the mercury freezes. The ground is covered with snow from November till May, when it thaws suddenlv, and vegetation is instantaneous. The surface of the country is generally mountainous and woody ; but there are savannas and plains of great beauty towards Upper Canada. 1 193. The soil consists principally of a loose dark-coloured earth, ten or twelve inches deep, lying on a bed of cold clay. This thin mould, however, is very fertile, and yields plentiful crops, although it is worked every year by the French Canadians, without being ever manured. The manures chiefly used, since the practice of manuring has been introduced, by those who are the best farmers, are marl and gypsum, the former is found in great quantities in many places along the shores of the river St. Lawrence. 1194. With respect to the jrroducts of Canada, the low country is peculiarly adapted to the growth of small grain. Tobacco also thrives well in it, but the culture is neglected, except for private use ; and more than half of what is used is imported. The snuff pro- duced from the Canadian tobacco is held in great estimation. Culinary vegetables arrive at great perfection in Canada, which is also the case with most of the' European fruits. The currants, gooseberries, and raspberries are very fine ; the latter are indigenous, and are found very abundantly in the woods. A kind of vine is also indigenous ; but the grapes produced by it in its uncultivated state are very poor and sour, and not much larger than fine currants. In the forest there is a great variety- of trees ; such as beech, oak, elm, ash, pine, sycamore, chestnut, and walnut ; and the sugar-maple tree is found in almost every part of the country. Of this tree there are two kinds : the one called the swamp maple, being generally found on low lands ; and the other, the mountain or curled maple, from its growing upon high dry ground, and from the grain of its wood being beautifully variegated with little stripes and curls. The former yields more sap than the latter, but its sap affords less sugar. A pound of sugar is frequently procured from two or three gallons of the sap of the curled maple, whereas no more than the same quantity can be had from six or seven gallons of that of the swamp tree. The maple 132 HISTORY OF AGRICULTURE. Part L sugar is the only sort of raw sugar used in the country parts of Canada, and it is also very generally used in the towns. •119."). New Brunnvick and Nova Scotia are intensely cold countries, and only partially civilised. The vale of St. John's river is the principal scene of cultivation in New Brunswick. The upland parts of the country are chiefly covered with forests of pines, hemlock and spruce fir, beech, birch, maple, and some oak. The pines of St. John's river are the largest in British America, and afford a considerable supply of masts for the nival navy. Nova Scotia produces little grain ; supplies being sent from England. The soil is thin and barren, except <>n the hanks of the river, where it produces grass, hemp, and flax. A great improvement, however, in the agriculture of Nova Scotia is said to have taken place, in consequence of certain letters written on the subject, which first appeared under the name of Agricola, in the Acadian Recorder, a Halifax news- paper. These letters are by John Young, secretary to the provincial agricultural board, and have since been collected and published in a separate volume. Some account of them, accompanied by extracts, will be found in the Farmers Magazine, vol. xxiv. p. 81. 1 1 96. In the island of Cape Breton the soil is mere moss, and has been found unfit for agriculture. Newfoundland seems to be rather hilly than mountainous, with woods of birch, [line, and fir, numerous ponds and morasses, and some dry barrens. The chief produce of these islands, as well as of the other British possessions in America, consists of furs and skins; and the same remark will apply to the Bermudas and the unconquered countries, which need not be further noticed. Subsect. 4. Of the present State of Agriculture in the West India Islands. *I 197. The principal West India Islands are Cuba, St. Domingo, Jamaica, and Porto Rico ; and, next, the Windward Islands, Trinidad, the Leeward Islands of the Spanish, and the Bahamas. 1198. Cuba is an extensive and naturally fertile island; but, from the indolence of the Spaniards, not above a hundredth part of it is cleared and cultivated. Like most islands in the West Indies it is subject to storms, but the climate is, upon the whole, healthy, and even teinperate ; for, though in this latitude there is no winter, the air is refreshed with rains and cooling breezes. The rainy months are July and August ; the rest of the year is hot. A chain of mountains extends the whole length of the island from east to west, and divides it into two parts ; but the land near the sea is in general level, and flooded in the rainy season. The soil is equal in fertility to any in America, producing ginger, long pepper, and other spices ; aloes, mastich, cassia fistula, manioc, . maize, cocoa, &c Tobacco is one of its principal productions, and it is supposed to have the most delicate flavour of any pro- duced in the new world. The cultivation of sugar has lately > been introduced ; but the indolence of the inhabitants renders it in every respect much less productive than it otherwise might be. The quantity of coffee is inconsiderable ; the chief plantations are in the plains, and are cultivated by about 25,000 slaves. Among the trees are oaks, firs, palms, cotton trees, ebony, and mahogany (Swietem'a Mahdgnni). (fig. 161.) In 17G3 bees were introduced by some emigrants from Florida, and they multiplied so much in the hollows of old trees, that they soon obtained honey enough for their annual consumption. In 1777 they exported honey to the ; amount of 715,000 pounds. The island abounds with "™ R mules, horses, sheep, wild boars, bogs, and fine black cattle. The horned cattle have increased so much that the forests are filled with droves of them, which run wild, and are hunted and killed for their hides and tallow. The chief birds are paroquets, turtle doves, and partridges ; water-fowl are numerous ; and on the coast turtles are abun- dant ; mullets and shads are the principal fish. 1 1 99. Jamaica has been in possession of the English since the middle of the seventeenth century. The climate is extremely hot throughout the year, though mitigated by various causes. The surface of the country is very irregular : a ridge of mountains from east to west divides it into two parts. At a small distance from the shore it rises into hills with gentle acclivity, which are separated from each other by spacious vales and romantic in- equalities. On the southern side of the island there are precipices and inaccessible cliffs, amidst which are vast plains covered with extensive cane fields. To the inequalities of surface that distinguish this island it is owing, that, although the soil in many parts of the island is deep and very fertile, yet the productive land is but of small extent in pro- portion to the whole. That which is actually cultivated is of a middling quality, and requires labour and manure to make it yield liberally. Book 1. AGRICULTURE IN NORTH AMERICA. men ; a e second tleman-hke appearance- keenin» / rl™ i g , r maniler s ; presenting a gen- Without profusion, not only Z hfmse 'an d he wh? PP ' ie< !' c ™*°™>£ tatle, the benefit of such sick and convalescent 1i» v« te Pe ° P ' e Under him > but fo r jng nourishment. His business hours w II tff.n reqU ' re salutarv and r estor- the estate, his leisure one! .hVZ' e - fu " y occ upied by the concerns of ment. He must be kmd a id co fr eous S SteS"* °'' S ° me domestic am ™°- or al owing them no opportunity o treat h.J ~>£ T" U " der him - but 8»'ing hospitable to respectable strands? 5SSJ£? J* *?!?¥* J a l tenti ^ and he suffers strollers Iiospitab e to r e ;, ecub 7tr,n y t0 treat hira witb disr «F to tempt his betevo ence H gerS; . CaUt,0US and war y how White &H>pfe(afi^^ sentiment or mea arises m hi m!n" U& s yo^^n'h ' "° C " vious or ^°«" or are caressed by their suDerinrl w«. ™ " * g men havc merit on their side work, yet not imposing o ™ un"ua" Xurf? the „ slaves strictly to thefr" every triflins- orient. h„ f "^-- " ■ J^]},^. r J ni \ lctl ng punishment for = IT every trifling offence j but, when punTshmen^ r I-ri. ,nmctln S Punishment for t with prudent mercy. He must be at ent ive Z ,h r ? cs,s , neccssar y, tempering them to tease him with their tr Mine comn L„ T real Wants > not «"«erinf arts, but promptly satisfying then hv °™ P lt^°l ta ™P er with him by their arts, but prom drying themTT^r ^'-"I ta !^ er with' him b beoutofre^if'fL^P^r erious consideration Dnnrinniiu £. =_"_ «"*?■?**> an " ls always under his charee he great gang is comprised ^2 t0 Carrj t i,Uo eff ^^'S^rrm 3 aelS"a„te ^^^^rlngTh'^Thich charact!r o f »n a " le . t,U man ! sound a,ld hard in consUtution^? '"etrievably. He should, in mmsmmmm J are ; indeed , to find this mass of perfection in a„ 1 ' J conversa tion or trifling puerile conduct these virtues^,, as to petty vices, always °nhere n ?ir.^ U L^.^. ob . t « in a combination of' most of be ■ -■■» *- "11UHIU ijf [ t. > )(_'l 1 1 U I ,t v C rr, iat r ° r triflin e Puerile conduct, and, as to petty vices, always inherent in ^ome!^ y - b . t3m a combination of most , be built ^ScSSST^ a comfortable and elegant build.ng. It should ^»3ES3 J™"*' V admit of * uitabI e stored undertath to it™*!??, *$ fr ° m the Nation, w" th tL ,; u be so P Iaced that all the works can hP £«m V P a " the P lanta tion stores and supplies shnniJ ?l mS Should be a " °n the same floor and rlntlv? fr ™V t '. and not far from the boiling-house should have a small bed-room to himself with a „ii y boarded with seasoned stuff: Each white man K*dro 0ni sho^ be eleven *5ffS£* ofS ^SZSSZ °" hingcs ' and a "»«"« Sit" The -Ute, ,eav,n g the overseer, ro/m ^ wh k^ ^^^^^^r^^^^ 191 HISTORY OF AG-KICULTUUE. Tart I. piazza, with comfortable ul:zf.l windows (to rise and fall occasionally), will answer all the purposes of a dining and breakfast hall, and lor walking in. Large centre halls in such houses are ol very Cttle use, take up a great deal of room, are very expensive, and make the house large, without any real convenience. \ small back piazza, made comfortable by moving blinds with stop., would be proper for the servants. j think every dwelling-house on a plantation should have a small tire-place in it, with a well-raised chimney, for 'lire to he made in occasionally in damp weather j it will be wholesome and preservative. The lire-place should be in an extreme angle of the dining piazza, and the overseer's cooking-room, washing, room, &C , should be apart from the house, though not far oil, conveniently fitted up, and ol moderate size. The little appendages of a hog-sty, fowl-house, M\, to raise small stock in, are easily built at a small expense Houghley, 18*, 186.) ., ... ... . . 1206 A lime-kiln is an essential building for a sugar estate, a considerable quantity of lime being wanted to neutralise the acid ol the expressed juice of the cane. A fixed kiln at the works is best, as what lime is wanted can then be burnt at any time ; but it often happens that temporary kilns, composed ot layers of stones and wood, with a tunnel in the centre, are made in the woods, lighted and burnt, and the pro. duce earned home. Surh a kiln, twenty feet in diameter, and ten or twelve feet high, will produce lime enough to make sixteen hogsheads of sugar. (lb., 314.) 1207. The house* of the Oaves are grouped together on some estates, and scattered in different places in others, generally on the outskirts ol' the estate. They are low cottages of one or two apartments, with open sheds, and pieces of garden ground of from one eighth to one quarter of an acre attached to each, and some of them are kept neat, and have a clean, not uncomfortable, appearance ; they are generally built with stone, and covered with shingles. 1208 Every building composing the works of a sugar estate should be formed of the most substantial materials durable, hard, well-seasoned timber, well put together, and supported by the best mason work. They should be shingled instead of being thatched, and kept tree from the hungry destructive who by his mighty though diminutive efforts, will level a substantial building to the ground ant, b diminutive efforts, will level a substantial building in a short time. Poisoning by arsenic is the most expedient mode of getting rid of them, as the living will feed on the dead, so that the whole nest (by devouring one another) are thus killed. (lb., 194) l.i i" The lire stack of a sugar estate consists chiefly of oxen, spayed heifers, and mules, as beasts of labour : the overseer generally keeps a riding horse, as does the resident agent or proprietor, if there are such ; and there are pigs and poultry, with some sheep foi consumption. The cattle and mules are kept on the savannas or open waste pastures, and on Guinea grass (.Panicum) and Scotch grass (Panicum hirtellum) ( fig. hi'.', a), on which they are folded, tethered, or soiled. Mares and Spanish or Maltese jackasses are kept for breeding the mules ; and the cattle are in general reared on the estate. A jack should be from ten to twelve hands high, and either stubbled or put into a close pasture, with high firm walls and gates to it. He should be regularly corned once a day at least; should have pure water to drink, and should not be suffered to cover more than one mare daily. The mares should be put to him in season, and attended by an experienced groom. A proper covering pit should be made for the mare to stand in, with a sur. mounting stage for the jack to stand on. They should be daily led out to exercise, kept well cleaned, and by no means allowed to stay out in bad weather, but be comfortably stabled, foddered, and littered. (lb., 141, 142.) 1210. The agricultural operations of Jamaica are for the most part performed by the manual labour of indigenous slaves ; but there are also free servants, and the period, it is to be hoped, is rapidly approaching when the whole population will be emancipated. The soil is seldom either ploughed or dug, but generally worked with the hoe-pick. The spade the negroes are awkward at using ; and they are not more expert at the plough. White ploughmen have been imported by some cultivators ; but the prejudices of the overseers, the awkwardness of the oxen and negro drivers, and the effects of the climate in wearing out the spirits of the ploughman, are said to have discouraged its use. Long, in 1774, Dr. Stokes {Youngs Annals of Agr., xviii. 148.), and others, have tried the plough, and strongly recommend it, as doing the work better and lessening the necessity of having so many slaves. Houghley, however, who was " nearly twenty years a sugar planter in Jamaica" {Jamaica Vlanlcrs Guide, 1823), is decidedly against it, whether drawn by negroes or cattle ; both because it does not do the work so well as the hoe, and because of the difficulty of getting ploughmen and properly trained beasts. It is probable, however, that necessity may ulti- mately lead to the use of the plough drawn by \ oxen, and that the operative man in the West In- dia Islands will in time assume the same attitude as in Europe. 1211. The agricultural productions of Jamaica of the greatest importance are sugar, indigo, coffee, and cotton. The several species of grain cultivated in this island are maize, or Guinea corn, yielding from thirty to sixty bushels an acre ; various kinds of calavances, a species of pea ; and rice, but in no great quantity. The island abounds also with different kinds of grass of excellent quality : the artificial grass, called " Scots grass" ( Panicum hirtellum) {fg. 163. a), grows spontaneously in most of the swamps and morasses of the West Indies ; and it is so productive, that a single acre of it will main- tain five horses for a whole year. The " Guinea- grass" (/'. polygamum) {fig. Kill, b) is next in importance to the sugar-cane, as the grazing and breedin farms are chiefly supported Book I. AGRICULTURE IN NORTH AMERICA. ; 95 by it. Hence arises the plenty of horned cattle, both for the butcher and planter ; which is such, that few markets in Europe furnish beef of better quality, and at a cheaper rate, than that of Jamaica. Mutton also is cheap and good. The seeds of the Guinea grass were brought from the coast of Guinea, as food for some birds which were pre- sented to Ellis, chief justice of the islands. The several kinds of kitchen-garden pro- ductions, that are known in Europe, thrive in the mountains of this island ; and the markets of Kingston and Spanish Town are supplied with cabbages, lettuces, carrots, turnips, parsneps, artichokes, kidneybeans, green peas, asparagus, and various sorts of European herbs, in the greatest abundance. Other indigenous productions, that may be classed among the esculent vegetables, are plantains, bananas, yams of several varieties, collaloo a species of ^Trum used as spinach), eddoes (^frum and Caladium), cassavi, and sweet potatoes. Among the more elegant fruits of the island we may reckon the ananas, or pine-apple, tamarind, papaw, guava, sweet sop, cashew apple, custard apple, Akee tree, cocoa nut, star apple, gienadilla, avocado pear, hog plum, naesberry, mammee sapota, Spanish gooseberry, prickly pear, anchovy pear, and some others, for which Jamaica is probably indebted to the bounty of nature. For the orange, the lemon, lime, shaddock, vine, melon, fig, and pomegranate, the West India Islands are perhaps obliged to their Spanish invaders. The cinnamon has been lately introduced, and the mango is become almost as common as the orange. The mountains are generally covered with extensive woods, containing excellent timber ; such as the lignum vitae, logwood, iron wood, pigeon wood, green-heart braziletto, and bully trees ; all of which are to a great degree heavy, as well as compact and impene- trable. Of softer kinds, for boards and shingles, the species are innumerable ; and there are many beautiful varieties for cabinet-work ; and among these we may enumerate the bread nut, the wild lemon, and the well-known mahogany. 1212. The culture of the sugar-cane in Jamaica in some respects resembles that of the hop in this country The ground being cleared and worked a foot or more in depth, the sets or cuttings of cane, which are the tops of the shoots cut off about a foot long, are planted in rows, generally five feet distant, and from two to five feet apart in the row, according to the quality of the soil ; more plants being allowed for poor soil than rich. The ground is kept clear of weeds, frequently stirred, and some earth drawn up to the plants. From each hill a number of shoots are produced : in six months or more these will generally be from seven to ten feet high ; the skin smooth, dry, and brittle, heavy with a grey or brown pith, and sweet glutir.ous juice. In this state the canes are cut, tied in bun- dles or sheaves, and taken to the mill to be divested of their leaves and decayed pans, and then passed through rollers to express their juice, &c. Cane plantations are made either in Mav and June, or in December and January, these being the rainy seasons. '1 he first cutting of the canes often does not take place till a year after planting ; but an established plantation is cut over every six months. In good soil the plants will last twenty years : in inferior soils not more than half the time. {Letter to a Young Planter, London, 17&3 ; Martin's Essay on Plantership, in Young's Annals, xviii. p. ii.36" : RouMcu's Jamaica Planter's Guide, 182-3.) 1213. The cotton plant cultivated in Jamaica is a different species from that grown in Italy, Malta, and the Levant It is the Gossypium barbadense Linn., a suff'ruticose biennial, growing from" six to fifteen feet in h.-ight, with lobed leaves and yellow flowers. It is propagated bv the seed, which is set in rows, about five feet asunder, at the end of September or beginning of October ; at first but slightly covered, but, after it is grown up, the root is well moulded. The seed is subject to decav, when it is set too deep, especially in wet weather. The soil should not be stiff nor shallow, as this p'lant has a tap-root. The ground is hoed frequently, and kept very clean about the young plants, until they rise to a moderate height ; otherwise they are apt to be destroyed by caterpillars. It grows from four to six feet high, and produces two crops annually; the first in eight months from the time of sowing the seed; the second within four months after the first ; and the produce of each plant is reckoned about one pound's weight. The branches are pruned and trimmed after the first gathering ; and if the growth is over-luxuriant, this should be done sooner. \\ Tien great part of the pods are expanded, the wool is picked, and atterwards cleared from the seeds bya machine called agin, composed of two or three smooth wooden rollers of about one inch in diameter, ranged horizontally, close and parallel to each other, in a frame ; at each extremity they are toothed or channelled longitudinally, corresponding one with the other; and the central roller, being moved with a treadle or foot-lathe, resembling that of a knife-grinder, makes the two others revolve in contrary directions. The cotton is laid, in small quantities at a time, upon these rollers, whilst they are in motion, and, readily passing between them, drops into a sack placed underneath to receive it, leav- ing the seeds, which are too large to pass with it, behind. The cotton thus discharged from the seeds, is afterwards hand-picked, and cleansed thoroughly from any little particles of the pods or other substances which may be adhering to it It is then stowed in large bags, in which it is well trod down, that it mav lie close and compact ; and the belter to answer this purpose, some water is every now and then sprinkled upon the outside of the bag, the marketable weight of which is usually three hundred pounds. An acre may be expected to produce from two hundred and forty pounds to that quantity, or two hundred and seventy pounds on an average. (Long's Jam., vol. iii. p. 686, et seq. ; and Broun,'. 1214. The indigo cultivated in the West Indies is the same species as that grown in the East Indies and other places (Indigufera tinctoria), though there are various species and varieties which afford a similar dye. Indigo thrives best in a free rich soil, and a warm situation, frequently refreshed with moisture. Having first chosen a proper piece of ground, and cleared it, hoe it into little trenches, not above two inches, or two inches and a half, in depth, nor more than fourteen or fifteen inches asunder. In the bottom of these, at any season of the year, strew the seeds pretty thick, and immediately cover them. As the plants shoot, they should be frequently weeded, and kept constantly clean, until they spread sufficiently to cover the ground Those who cultivate great quantities, only strew the seeds pretty thick in little shallow pits, hoed up irregularly, but generally within four, five, or six inches of one another, and covered as before. Plants raised in this manner are observed to answer as well as the others, or rather better; but they require more care in the weeding. They grow to full perfection in two or three months, and are observed to answer best when cut in full blossom. The plants are cut with reaping hooks, a few inches above the root, tied in loads, carried to the works, and laid by strata in the steeper. Seventeen negroes are sufficient to manage twenty acres of indigo ; and one acre of rich land, well planted, will, with good seasons and proper management, yield five hundred pounds of indigo in twelve months; for the plant ratoons (stools, stoles, or tillers, i. e. it sends out stolones, or new growths'), and gives four or five crops a year, but must be replanted afterwards. (Browne.) O 2 19G HISTORY OF AGRICULTURE. Pakt I. 1215 Tin- coffee tree fig. 164.) is loss cultivated in Jamaica than in Bar. bailors' Domingo, and someothet islands: the richness of the soil is Ibund to lessen the flavour of the berrv, when compared with those produced m the Bandy. dry. hot soil, and arid climate of Arabia. In a rich soil and cool situation' in Jamaica, Browne informs us that it produces' so great a quantity of fruit, that the branches Can hardly sustain the weight; the fruit large and succulent, and the berries lax and el immy. Some affirm, that by keening these, and other West India berries, f.ir ten or fourteen years they will become equal to the best now brought Iroin Turkey. Small-grained coffee, or that which is produced in a dry soil and warm situat will in about three years be as good as that in general use in London. . . .. . . ~__ 1216 In cultivating the cqffcc, the berries are sown immediately after being gathered, as they are found to retain their vegetative quality only a few weeks. In three months they are fit to transplant, either to a nursery or to a final plantation. In the low lands they are planted five feet apart, and in the mountains ten feet or more. In three years the plants will produce a crop, and continue bearing for a number of years. The berries arc gathered when they are just about to drop ; and are imme- diately carried to sheds, where thev are dried upon cloths or mats, till the husk shrivels They are then passed through between wooden rollers turned by a mule, which separates the husk, after which they are win- nowed sifted, cleaned, exposed to the sun for a few days, and then bar- relled up for sale. The produce of a good tree is from one pound and a half to two pounds' weight [Browne's Hist, of Jam., p. 161.) l r 17 The cocoa root or eddoe (A^rum escalentvm) and also.a species of Caludiinn produce a root some, thing like the Indian vam v Dioscurea safiva) {fig. 165.), but differ from thein in lasting for several years. ^ 6 j Both the cocoa-root, and yam are cultivated much in the f \^f same way as our potato. They have what they call Bourbon cocoas and country cocoas, and Negro and white yams ; the yams have a stake thriven in at eacli hill for the vines to twine on after the manner of hops. 1218. The plantain (Mt,sa paradis'iaca) is cultivated in rows ten feet apart, and the plants seven feet asunder in the row. The following account of the manner of planting and managing will give some idea of the mode in which agricul- tural operations are carried on by a slave population, and how they are described by a writer who has been " nearW twenty years " at the business. " The ground being all cleared from grass, bushes, and weeds, and lined out and pegged every seven feet, the great gang should be put in with hoes to dig the plantain holes at every peg, a Negro to each row. The holes should be dug deep, two feet long by sixteen inches broad, to give room for the large ponderous plantain sucker to be placed in them. The mould must be hauled up to the edge of the hole, and broken if too large. The plantain suckers being ready and trimmed, each negro should take some, and place one good sucker at every hole in the piece, and begin to plant them, by taking a sucker, and placing it with the but, or rooty end, in the bottom of the hole ; make the sucker lie in a leaning, reclining, or half- horizontal position in the hole, with the small, or sucker, end of the plant a little above the ground ; and when thus placed, draw the mould from the bank, and cover the plant well with it, leaving a little of the plant above the ground. In this manner the plantain walk should be formed. In a few weeks (if the weather is favourable) the young plantain shoot will be seen rearing its perpendicular head, perhaps three or four growing from the same stock. They should then be carefully moulded, and cleared of grass and weeds when they are a few inches high No cavities, or water-logging holes, should be near them. The banks must be levelled about them, the holes filled and properly closed up, and some fine mould given them to encourage their growth. There will be no occasion to give them more than two mouldings till they are established ; but they must be care- fully kept clear from weeds or grass ; and when any dry trash happens to be hanging about them, it should be gently cut off with a knife, and placed about their roots, to keep them free from either too much sun or chill A plantain walk well taken care of will be in bearing in twelve months after it is planted, amply repaying f .r the labour and trouble of planting it, and giving an almost inexhaustible supply of fine provisions, if the vicissitudes of hurricanes or storms (which this climate is unhappily subject to) do not destroy it, which no human foresight or care can prevent. When a plantain walk is made, there may be a row of cocoas (1217.) in the middle of the ten feet spaces, which will yield a crop bv the time the plantain walk bears fruit, but they must then be pulled up. A few banana (Musa sapii'iitum) suckers can be planted in the plantain row, instead of plantain suckers; sometimes they are much in request, as a luscious wholesome fruit, and for the strong hne- ■flavoured vinegar which is produced from them. After this piece of ground is thus planted, the whole of it may be sown with corn (maize), which will not injure the plantain suckers or trees, if it be not too close or thick. " {Raugkley,~p. 413, 416.) 1219 The Indian arrow-root [Maninta ariindinacea) is cultivated, and yields an annual supply ot roots, which, being washed, bruised, and compressed, yield a starch esteemed as a very light wholesome food for invalids. . . . _. 1220. Other plants, in great variety, are cultivated both for culinary and medicinal purposes, and in tne gardens of the overseers and agents almost everv fruit in the world may be raised 1221. Thepinguin (Bromel'va Pinguin) is grown on the tops of ditches, and forms an impenetrable fence. 1222! Maize is grown among the canes, and in fields by itself in rows four feet and a half apart, and the corn dibbled or set in patches of four seeds in a space of six inches square. 1223 Guinea grass (Yihiieum poh'igamum) (fig. 163. b) and Scotch grass (fig. 163. a) are the clovers or artificial herbage plants of Jamaica. Thev are perennial, and grow in small enclosures, which are either eaten down or mown. Cane tops, the leaves of maize, millet, and a variety of other herbage, are given to the mules and cattle. 1224. Rats, ants, and other vermin, greatly injure the canes; ticks (Icarus) of dif- ferent kinds and flics very much annoy the cattle j and a great variety of evil propensities and diseases assail the negroes and their children, among others Obea, and what Rough- ley calls " eating dirt," which lie thus characterises : — " Too much tenderness gives the child a fretful longing for the mother, and her scanty milk engendering disease, and, what is worse than all, often (though secretly) giving it a growing liking for the hateful Book I. AGRICULTURE IN SOUTH AMERICA. 19'/ fatal habit of eating dirt, than which nothing is more horribly disgusting, nothing more to be dreaded ; nothing exhibiting a more heart-rending ghastly spectacle, than a negro child possessed of this malady. Such is the craving appetite for tin's abominable cus- tom, that few, eldier children or adults, can be broken of it, when once they bef Cliile are the same imth those of Europe, and almost all the potherbs and fruits of our Continent flourish there. The northern provinces produce the sugar-cane, the sweet potato, and other tropical plants. Maize is common and abundant ; the magu is a kind of rice, and the tuca a species of barley, both of which were cultivated before the arrival of the Spaniards. Peas and potatoes were also well known to the Chilese. Of the latter thej have thirty different kinds: and it is even conjectured that this valuable root was first brought into Europe from this countrv. The large white strawberry of Chile is well known in English gardens. Many of its plants are valuable as dyes, and others as medicinal. The vira-vira expels the ague; the payco is excellent for indigestion. Wild tobacco abounds in Chile, and also the annotto (Kra Orellana). fig. The beautiful (lowers and shrubs are infinite. In- cense, not inferior to that of Arabia, is produced by a shrub, distilling tears of a whitish yellow, and of a bitter aromatic taste. The trunk of the puvi supplies excellent cork; the Salsbla Kali is plentiful on the shores ; and Chile produces seven kinds of beautiful myrtles, one of which yields an excellent stomachic wine, preferred by strangers to any muscatel. The crelon furnishes a tea, which is known as a vermifuge. An acacia of the province of Quillota yields a balsam, which is used in the cure of wounds ; and the palqui is esteemed, as a febrifuge, superior to the Peruvian bark. The Cassia Senna grows on the banks of the rivers Maypo and Salvia. Of ninety-seven kinds of trees that diversify the beautiful forests of Chile, only thirteen lose their leaves in winter. Cypresses, pines, and red and white cedars grow in the valleys of the Andes; the red cedars, particularly in the Isle of Chiloe, are of an enormous size, so that from 700 to 800 planks, twenty feet long, may be cut from one tree. The cinnamon tree, which yields what is called Winter's bark, is regarded as sacred by the Araucans, who pre. sent it as a token of peace. Beautiful woods of various colours are supplied by the Chilese forests. Vines, though none appear to be natives, flourish admirably well : they are found in the forests, arising from seeds deposited by the birds : on the confines of the river Mauli they are three or four feet high, and supported by stakes ; but further to the south they are left loose on the sides of the hills. The best wine is that which is obtained from the banks of the river Itati, and is commonly called wine of Conception; it is red, generous, of an excellent flavour, and equal to the best in Europe. Muscatel wines are also excellent. The vintage is in April and May. All the other European fruits attain the greatest perfection. Most of the European animals have improved in this delicious climate and fertile country. The cele- brated Spanish sheep have not lost any of their distinguished qualities : the horned cattle are larger than those of Spain ; and the breed of horses surpasses both in beauty and spirit the famous Andalusian race from which they spring. 1231. Paraguay is a fertile province, and singularly prolific in native vegetables. The climate is extremely hot : the surface of the country consists generally of extensive plains ; but some tracts are very mountainous. The soil is every where rich and deep ; and the native pastures so excellent, that the immense herds of wild oxen which feed on them are only valued for their skins ; the flesh being left to be consumed by ravenous beasts and birds. Among the agricultural products may be mentioned the potato, of which they have several sorts of a large size ; red, white, and yellow cotton ; maize, wheat, and the vine. The last is greatly injured by the ants ; but where that insect is kept under, the wine of Paraguay is excellent. The bean, pea, melon, cucumber, lettuce, turnip, mustard, cress, leek, onion, asparagus, and other European vegetables, are found wild in the plains. The forests abound in the most valuable trees, among which is the Cinchona, or Jesuits' bark, so called because the Society of Jesus settled there had originally the monopoly of this medicine ; the sarsaparilla, sassafras, guaiacum, dragon's blood, nux vomica, vanilla ; Theobroma, or chocolate plant (Jig* 167.) ; and several species of the feratonia, the seeds of which are ground and made into bread. Palms, tigs, peaches, pome- granates, lemons, and oranges are cultivated ; and the jujube, mul- berry, granadilla, banana, pine-apple, and a great variety of other fruits, are found in a wild state, most abundant are the ox and the camel ; but there are horses, asses, sheep, many wild swine (Jig. 168.), and poultry. The bear, elk, deer, ostrich, and others, are in a wild state. 1232. Brazil is the most extensive empire in South America, rivalling Europe in size, while its provinces may be compared to the territories of European sovereigns. It enjoys a climate but little inferior in salubrity to that of Chile, but less variable, as the interior is not traversed by chains of lofty mountains. The climate of the Sertoens (a general name for the inland country) is colder in winter, and warmer in summer, than that of the maritime parts. The first of these peculiarities is caused by its greater elevation ; and the second, by its sandy arid nature, and by the air not being cooled by Of the live stock, the 168 Book I. AGRICULTURE IN SOUTH AMERICA. 199 the delicious sea breezes of the coast. During the rainy season (which is the tropical winter) the nights are sometimes chilly ; and, although the thermometer is seldom lower than 68° or 65°, the warmth of a fire is found desirable. This coldness is principally felt in Minas Geraes (the most mountainous part in Brazil), and in the other provinces bevond Rio de Janeiro. In comparison of the extent of the country, the rivers are very few ; and nearly throughout the interior there is a general deficiency of water, even tor the purposes of life. During the dry or summer season the heat is excessive, yet it is neither unhealthy nor very oppressive, being mitigated by the sea breeze, which usually sets in about half past seven or eight o'clock in the morning, and continues until sunset. 1233. The vegetable productions of Brazil are numerous and important. The extensive cultivation of the sugar-cane and cotton plant has, of late years, given an importance to its commerce far greater than that of any other neighbouring state. The sugar plantations are confined to a short distance from the coast, on account of the superior quality of the soil (a red clayey loam), and the difficulty of conveyance in a country where regular carriage roads do not exist. Cotton thrives best on those poor, sandy, and dry lands, which are met with at a distance from the sea ; it is, there- fore, cultivated only in the interior, and is brought to the coast on the backs of mules and horses, frequently from a distance of 150 miles. Coffee has not yet been cultivated very extensively, although it thrives remarkably well, particularly near Rio de Janeiro ; wheat is only produced in the milder provinces of the South, and even there but spar- ingly. Indeed, the " staff' of life," throughout the greatest part of Brazil is the man- diocca, known in the West Indies by the name of cassava ; the root, being divested of its poisonous juices bv pressure, is rasped or ground so as to resemble sago ; and, being boiled, forms the principal sustenance of the great mass of the people. The cultivation of the plant is easy ; it will thrive both in the richest and poorest soil, and vast quantities are grown in the sandy (or tabulara) tracts of Paiaiba, Maranham, and Pernambuco. As we approach the southern provinces, the mandiocea in some measure gives place to the maize or Indian corn, which, although less nutritious, is much esteemed both by man and beast : its culture however is more confined, as it requires a good soil and frequent moisture. Rice is grown but sparingly, and not in sufficient quantities to make it an article of commerce. Besides these esculent vegetables, there are many others, either indigenous, or introduced by the Portuguese from their African posses- sions ; among these may be reckoned the ochro, the different species of Capsicum, yams, and love apples. I believe the potato is unknown in Brazil ; several attempts were made in 1817 by the English residents of Pernambuco and Bahia, to cultivate this root from the English stock ; but they were completely unsuccessful. The tobacco of Brazil is well known : very extensive tracts in the vicinity of Bahia are entirely covered with this plant, which flourishes best in a light sandy soil ; although great attention is paid to its cultivation, the leaves are dried in a careless way, and the subsequent operations conducted in a most slovenly manner. The fruits are in great variety : besides those common to the West India Islands, and other parts of tropical America, as the cocoa nut, pine-apple, plantain, banana, mango, jack, custard apple, orange, and citron, there are several others peculiar to this country, and only known by Indian names. Those above enumerated are only to be met with near the coast ; but the cashew tree, so valu- able for the astringent qualities of its fruit, covers extensive tracts in the interior of Pernambuco and Paraiba, where the soil is loose, sandy, and arid. In similar situations are also to be seen many kinds of guava. While the fruit of the larger species of passion flower (Passifldra) is much esteemed for the coolness and delicacy of its pulp, the European fruits, which thrive so well on the table land of Mexico, and on the sides of the Cordilleras of Chile, wither and die beneath the fervour of a Brazilian sun. The vine, indeed, is sometimes seen in the gardens of the rich ; and there is no doubt but that it might be cultivated with complete success in the southern provinces; but this has been hitherto prevented by that short-sighted policy of the mother country, which prohibited both the vine and the olive from being planted in any of the colonies. Agriculture and gardening, in short, are here in their infancy. There is, indeed, a botanical "■arden both at Rio de Janeiro and Pernambuco ; but the first is neglected, and the last, existing (in 1816) only in name, is a wilderness. The private gardens of the higher classes usually consist of orange, citron, and lime trees, planted in rows, intermixed with a few heavy earthen pots of China-asters, pinks, and other common plants of Europe, here esteemed because they are exotic ; while, as in other countries, the most lovely creepers and flowering shrubs grow in the thickets and fences, totally disregarded. The woods and forests abound with innumerable medicinal plants, as the castor, two species of contrayerva (Dorstenw rotundifolia and pernam- bucana of Arruda), the pinao, the angelim (Sko/emora pernambucensis Arm.), and many others, the names and qualities of which, the Brazilians, from some unaccountable fancy, studiously conceal from Europeans, although they willingly administer them as pre- pared medicaments when applied to. The most valuable dyeing wood is that bearing the O 4 200 HISTORY OF AGUICULTlKi:. Part I. n. iiue oi' the country : the monopoly which tin- crown assumed, of cutting and export- ing it, was so aiiiitrury and vexations, that it has been used as lire-wood by many of the planters, to conceal from the revenue officers that it was found on their lands. Its produce has long been gradually diminishing, and unless some judicious measures are adopted, this valuable wood will lie totally lost in a few years. There are many other beautiful woods fit for ornamental furniture, but none are so well known as the rose Wood Said to lie a species of JaCardnda)- which of late years has become so fashionable in this country. Numerous species of laurel and myrtle abound in the forests; the Mimosa sensiova, or sensitive plant, will sometimes form impenetrable thickets on the sides of the ponds and rivers ; while the various species of Amaryllis, as also the crimson passion (lower, are more particularly natives of the southern provinces. ISS4. The botanists of Europe have long been unacquainted with the plant which produces the true Ipecacuana ; and even th(Me who have recently travelled ill Brazil appear to have fallen into some mistakes On thU subject In fact, there air two plants essentially vcr\ ilillerent, but which, from possessing the same medicinal qualities, have long passed under the same name, even in Brazil The opinion of the accurate Ariuda, whose name a> ,i botanist may rank with the lirst in Europe, but who lived and died in Braill, maybe considered, on this question, as derisive. He considers the true ipecacuana, or Ipecacuanha preta of the natives, as belonging to a new genus. This plant he calls Ipecactn'ina officinalis Cent. Plant ; it grows in the southern provinces, and requires shade. The other, called by the Bra- zili ins the white sort / Branca , is the Pombkfla //« cacuanha of Vandel : this is found in considerable abundance in the sandy tracts of Pemambuco and Paraiba, and its root, when dried and pounded, is much used in these provinces as a gentle purgative; it likewise promotes perspiration, and possesses stimulant qualities. [Swainson's MSS i The p'lt /'•''' Ucythis ollhria) is one of the greatest ornaments of the woods ; its immense stem ia above a hundred reel high, and spreads into a majestic and vaulted crown, which is extremely beauti- lul in the spring win n the rose-coloured leaves shoot out, and in the flowering season from the large white blossoms. The nuts, which have a thick shell, are of the size of a child's head, with a lid which is loose all round, and which at length, when the weight of the fruit turns it downwards, separates, and lets the tall out. In a high wind it is dangerous to remain in the woods on account of these heavy nuts falling from so great a height. The seeds are collected in great quantities by the Indians, who are extremely fond of them, and either eat them raw, or preserve them roasted and pounded, in pots, and the shells themselves are used as drinking cups. (Spix, vol. ii p. SS2.) IS IS Dr. ./'■; nil, i lias ili sriibrd several of the most valuable of those indigenous plant* whose fibres are adopted for economic purposes. The most important of these are, — 1. The caroa (BromM/rt variegata Ar.), found in great abundance in the Sertoens of Paraiba and of the northern provinces : the fibres of the leaves are of two kinds ; from one, a very strong cordage is made, while the other is manufactured by the fishermen into nets, and sometimes into a coarse cloth, when care is taken in preparing the thread. 2. The Crauata de Rede (Bromelia sagenaria Ar.) is confined to the maritime parts of Pemambuco and Paraiba ; the leaves are from six to nine feet long, and the fibres so strong, and at the same time so fine, that cables made from them are much superior in strength to those of Europe, while they are equally well adapted for sail-cloth or stockings. The most delicate fibres, however, are those procured from the leaves of the ananas (Bromeb'o Ananas), as they are capable of being manufactured into cloth of a superior quality. Other plants possess the same qualities, though in an inferior degree. The Bra. zilian government has hitherto paid little attention to these matters. {Stcainson's MSS.) IS •" Hra~.il likewise produces a species of croton, the leaves of which are sometimes used as a substitute for the tea of China. Sonic years ago, the government evinced a great desire to introduce and cultivate the genuine tea plant, and actually induced several Chinese to settle near Rio de Janeiro, for the purpose of superintending its culture: the plan, however, from some jealousy or mismanagement, was abandoned before it had received a fair trial. A similar project was formed for introducing the cochineal insect, but which, from similar causes, proved equally abortive. There is every reason to believe, however, that both would have succeeded under proper management. {Swainson's MSS.) 1 '238. The live stock of Jirazil chiefly consists of horned cattle, which are pastured in great numbers in the interior of the southern provinces. The hides are sent to Europe : and the flesh, after being cut into long stripes and dried in the sun, becomes an article of considerable internal commerce. Paraiba and Rio Grande are particularly celebrated for this traffic. Fresh meat, even in maritime towns, cannot always be had, and is at all times dear. Swine are good, but sheep and goats are almost unknown. 1239. Caries of different species, porcujtines, awnadillos, and other wild animals, abound in some of the forests; most, if not all, are eaten by the native Indians and die Bra- zilians : the former do not even reject the monkeys. In some parts 169 of the interior are small ounces, but they seldom show themselves by day. Hammocks made of net- work are universally preferred to beds ; and from being of little va- lue, they are generally possessed by the poorest natives, who suspend them between beams in the house, or trees in the open air. ( Jig. 16!» (lb.) 1240. Cayenne or French Guiana- Is a fertile country, and has been long well cultivated by the colonists. The climate is salubrious; the surface of the country is not mountainous, but abounds in hills and forests ; the soil is in general uncommonly fertile, and the productions it yields are of excellent quality. The Cayenne pepper (Capsicum annuum, and other species) is a noted produce of this country, and, with sugar, cocoa, coffee, indigo, maize, cassia, and vanilla, forms the chief article of its Bt I. AGRICULTURE IN SOUTH AMERICA. 201 commerce. The interior parts, though much neglected, and remaining obstructed by thick forests and underwood, feed, nevertheless, a great number of horses, sheep, goats, and cattle, which roam at pleasure : the beef and mutton are reckoned excellent. (Maison Rustique de Cayenne, Paris, 1763.) 1241. Colombia is a fertile tract of country, with an irregular surface and warm climate. An association was formed in London some years ago to send emigrants thither. A million of acres were granted to it, besides several important exemptions, by the Colombian government. A hundred and ninety-one persons left Scotland to settle there in 182.5; but, according to the superintendent, they were such a set of people, with a very few exceptions, as could not have been procured in any country. They had every advantage, but acted as if resolved to avail themselves of none. Yet, by the surgeon's report, the most sickly months in the year were passed over by a population of drunken adults, and a large proportion of children, with a mortality of about one fifth less than that of the most healthy parts of Europe. Mr. Powles is perfectly justified in his declaration, that the defaulters in this transaction are the settlers them- selves. They are the parties who have not performed their agreement ; and who, by their own misconduct, have brought a very heavy loss upon the association ; and what is more to be regretted, have greatly retarded the progress of an undertaking calculated to produce the most extensive advantages both to Colombia and Great Britain. We trust the success of this wise and benevolent experiment is retarded only. The million of acres granted to this company present a very different prospect and security from those golden bubbles which the Reports of Messrs. Head, Andrews, and Beaumont have by this time blown away. (Ed. Rev., Jan. 1828.) 1242. Surinam is a low moist country, which has been in part studded with wooden houses (Jig. 170.), ,' * A and well cultivated by the Dutch. The climate is hot, and is the most un- healthy and pesti- lential in South America, although the heat in some measure is tem- pered by the sea breeze. The surface of the country is little varied by inequalities. 'Ihe uncultivated parts are covered with immense forests, rocks, and mountains, some of the latter enriched with a great variety of mineral substances ; and the whole country is intersected by very deep marshes or swamps, and by extensive heaths or savannas. The soil is, in general, very fertile ; and its fertility may be ascribed, not only to the rains and warmth of this climate, but also to the low and marshy situation of the country, which prevents the intense heats from destroying vegetation, and to the extreme richness of the soil, particularly in those parts that are cultivated by European industry. 1243. The principal products of Surinam are tobacco, sugar, coffee, cocoa, cotton, and indigo. The quassia tree, or bitter drug, used by the porter brewers, grows wild in the woods, and was first exposed for sale by a native called 171 Quassi, after whom the tree is named. The cabbage tree is abundant ; and under the rind of the palms is found the Curculio joalmarum Lin. (Jig. 171. a), the larva of which (6) is eaten by the natives as a luxury. A very interesting account of this colony is given by Captain Stedman (Journal, 2 vols. 4to, 1 794), who filled an important military situation there for several years. This gentleman, in the midst of the most arduous duties, contrived to make himself tolerably comfortable He built a country house there (Jiii. 172.); kept a wife, pigs, bees, sheep, and cattle, and had children and slaves. He lived by turns with his family in a house, and with strange women in the woods, where he slept in hammocks [Jig. 173.) and adopted many of the practices of the natives. He made many sketches, and kept a journal ; and after many years full of interesting adventures with the rebellious natives, and of endearing scenes with Joanna his local wife, he came home and wrote a very entertaining account of what he had seen and done. (See Stedmans Surinam, 2 vols. 4to, 1794.) 1244. Amazonia is an extensive, unconquered, or at least uncivilised, country. In so far as it is known, its climate is more temperate than might be expected from its geogra- phical position. The surface of the country is clothed, in most places, by inter- 202 Ilisiouv OF AGRICULTURE. Part I. rninable forest immense kill)" II. and its river is well The soil of a ' small Bettlemenl formed by tin - Portuguese ia very fertile) and pro- duces corn, grain, and all kinds of tropical fruits ; besides a variety of timber, as cedar, brazil Wood] oak, ebony, iron wood, logwood, and other dyeing » oods ; and also cocoa, tobacco, sugar canes, cotton, cassava root, potatoes, yams, sarsaparilla, gums, raisins, balsams of various sorts, pine-apples, guavas, bananas, &c. The forests abound with wild honey, •"X 174 ■ «nri'ii1i^j7. The agriculture of sun-burnt lands, including chalk, gravel, and sandy hills, where vegetation is annually more or less burned up during two or more of the summer months. 1268. Tin' agriculture of mountains, in which the farmery is placed on the farm, as distinguished from those cases in which the whole or a part of the mountain lands is ap- pended to lands on the plain. 1269. Common agriculture, or that of the plains, valleys, and hills of a country, in which all the crops and all the animals suitable to the climate may be profitably cultivated and reared. Chap. III. Agriculture as affected by Civil, Political, and Religious Circumstances. 1 270. 77/,- influence of the state of society ana government on agriculture must, as well as the climate and situation, obviously be very considerable ; for it will signify little what a country is capable of producing, if the inhabitants are too barbarous to desire, too igno- rant to know, or too much oppressed to attain, these products. Some of the finest lands in the world, capable of producing wheat, maize, rice, and the grape, are inhabited by savages, who live on game, wild fruits, or native roots ; or by half-civilised tribes who cultivate maize and yams, or some other local root. Even in Ireland, where the soil is better than in Britain, and with very moderate culture will produce excellent wheat and other corns, with beef, mutton, and wool, the greater part of the inhabitants, from igno- rance, oppression, and in part, as we have seen (852. ), religious slavery, content themselves with roots and rags, the latter often the cast off refuse of other countries. 1271. The state of civilisation and refinement of a people not only influences agriculture by the nature of the products such a state requires, but also by the means of production it affords ; by the superior ease with which information on every subject may be attained ; and by the existing state of knowledge, for example, in mechanics, chemistry, and physiology, by which the implements and machines are improved, the operations of soils and manures regidated, the influence of water, the atmosphere, and the functions of plants and animals understood. The difference in the means taken to effect the same end in a poor but yet ingenious country, and in one rich and enlightened, is exemplified in China and India, as compared with Britain. Wealth and ignorance, as contrasted with poverty and ingenuity, may also be exemplified in comparing the farmer of Hindustan with the English farmer. The latter, to stir the soil, employs an unwieldy implement drawn by several oxen or horses ; the former uses a small light implement drawn by one ox or buffalo, but effects his object by repeating the operation many times. The Englishman effects it at once, often in spite of the worst means, by main force. The processes of Chinese manufacture are exceedingly curious and ingenious, and form a remarkable contrast to the rapid and sci- entific processes of Britain. There are many curious practices in fiance and Germany the result of poverty and ingenuity. In Brittany the whin i~ used as horse provender: to bruise the spines one man operates on a simple but ingenious machine (fg. 177.), and effects his purpose completely. Here the same thing is done by a couple of iron rollers turned by a horse or by water : but the farmer of Brittany, who would purchase a pair of whin-bruising roller., must first sell the greater part of his stock and crop. Book II. AGRICULTURE UNDER VARIOUS CIRCUMSTANCES. 207 1272. The political stale of a country will powerfully aft'ect its agriculture. Where se- curity, the greatest object of government, is pro- cured at too high a rate, the taxes will depress the cultivator, and not only consume his profits, but infringe on his capital ; where security, either relatively to external circumstances or internal laws, is incomplete, there the farmer who has capital will be unwilling to risk it : in either case, few who have capital will engage in that profession ; and if any find it profitable, the fear of exposing himself to exactions from government or from his landlord, will prevent him from making a proper use of his profits either in the way of employment or of consump- tion. Many instances of this state of tilings are to be found in the foregoing history. Wherever the metayer system orthat of short leases prevails, whatever may be the nature or practice of the government, these remarks will apply. Security and liberty at a moderate price are essential to the prosperity of agriculture, even more so than to that of manufactures or commerce. 1273. lielinion may be thought to have very little influence on agriculture : but in a Catholic or Mohammedan country, where the religion enjoins a frequtnt abstinence from animal food, and long periodical fasts from even the produce of the cow, surely the rear- ing and feeding of stock for the shambles or the dairy cannot prosper to the same extent as in a country less enslaved by prejudice, or whose religious opinions do not interfere with their cookery. The number of holidays is also a great grievance. 1274. The natural character of a people may even have some influence on their agri- culture, independently of all the other circumstances mentioned. The essential character of a people is formed by the climate and country in which they live, and their factitious or accidental character by their government and religion for the time being. The latter may alter, but the original or native character remains. Thus the Ficnch appear to be the same gay people that they were in the time of Julius Ca?sar ; and, as far as history enables us to judge, the Greeks and Romans have only lost their accidental character. 1275. The agriculture of the world, in regard to the state of society, may perhaps admit of the following divisions : — 1276. The agriculture of science, or modern farming, in which the cultivator is secure in his property or possession, both with relation to the government and to the landlord he lives under, as generally in Britain and North America 1277. The agriculture of liabit, or feudal culture, in which the cultivator is a metayer, or a tenant at will, or on a short lease, or has covenanted to pursue a certain fixed system of culture. 1278. Barbarian agriculture, or that of a semi-barbarous people who cultivate at ran- dom, and on land to which they have no defined right of possession, roots or grain, without regard to rotation, order, or permanent advantage. 1279. The economy of savages, such as hunting, fishing, gathering fruits, or digging up roots. Chap. IV. Of the Agriculture of Britain. 1 280. To which of these geographical, physical, and social divisions of agriculture that of the British isles may be referred, is the next object to be determined, and we submit the following as its classification : — 1281. Geographically it is the agriculture of draining and manures. 12S2. Physically, those of water- fed and sun-burnt lands, mountains, and variable plains. 1283. Socially considered, it is the agriculture of science. 1284. The following Parts of this work, therefore, are to be considered as treating of a kind of agriculture so characterised ; that is, of the agriculture of our own country. Who- ever has paid a due attention to what has preceded, can scarcely fail to have formed an idea of the agriculture of every other part of the world. jus SCIENCE OF AGRICULTURE. Part I. PART II. AGRICULTURE CONSIDERED AS A SCIENCE. ■1285. All knowledge it /bunded on experience; in tlie infancy of any art, experience is confined and knowledge limited to a few particulars; but as arts arc improved and extended, a great number of facta become known, and the generalisation of these, or the arrangement of them according to some leading principle, constitutes the theory, science, or law of an art I 286. Agriculture, in common with oilier arts, may be practised without any knowledge of its theory ; thai is, established practices may be imitated : but in this case it must ever remain stationary. The mere routine practitioner cannot advance beyond the limits of his own particular experience, and can neither derive instruction from such accidents as are favourable to his object, nor guard against the recurrence of such as are unfavourable. He can have no resource for unforeseen events but ordinary expedients ; while the man of science resorts to general principles, refers events to their true causes, and adapts his measures to meet every case. 1287. The object of the art if agriculture is to increase the quantity and improve the quality of such vegetable and animal productions of the earth as are used by civilised man ; and the object of the agriculturist is to do this with the least expenditure of means, or, in other words, with profit. The result of the experience of mankind as to other objects may be conveyed to an enquiring mind in two ways : he may be instructed in the practical operations of the art, and their theory, or the reasons on which they are founded, laid down and explained to him as he goes along ; or he may be first instructed in general principles, and then in the practices which flow from them. The former mode is the natural and actual mode in which every art is acquired (in so far as acquire- ment is made) by such as have no recourse to books, and may be compared to the natural mode of acquiring a language without the study of its grammar. The latter mode is by much the more correct and effectual, and is calculated to enable an instructed agricul- turist to proceed with the same kind of confidence and satisfaction in his practice, that a grammarian does in the use of language. 1288. In adopting what we consider as the preferable mode of agricultural instruction, we shall, as its grammar or science, endeavour to convey a general idea of the nature of vegetables, animals, minerals, mixed bodies, and the atmosphere, as connected with agriculture ; of agricultural implements and other mechanical agents ; and of agricul- tural operations and processes. 1289. The study of the science of agriculture may be considered as implying a regular education in the student, who ought to be well acquainted with arithmetic and mensur- ation ; and to have acquired the art of sketching objects, whether animals, vegetables, or general scenery, of taking off and laying down geometrical plans . but especially he ought to have studied chemistry, hydraulics, and something of carpentry, smithery, and the other building arts ; and, as Professor Von Thaer observes, he ought to have some knowledge of all those manufactures to which his art furnishes the raw materials. BOOK I. OF THE STUDY OF THE VEC.F.TAHI.E KINGDOM WITH A VIEW TO \C. RICIT I.Tt'RE. 1290. The various objects with which we are surrounded are either organised, having several constituent parts which united form a whole capable of increase by nourishment ; or they are unorganised, and only increased by additions to their external parts. To the first division belong the animal and vegetable kingdoms, and their study is founded chiefly on observation : to the second belongs the mineral kingdom, the study of •which in masses, or geology and mineralogy, is also founded chiefly on observation ; and, with regard to composition and elements, on experiment or chemistry. I 291. Vegetables are distinguished from animals in not being endowed with sentiment, or a consciousness of existence. Their study has employed the attention of mankind from a very early period ; and has been carried to a high degree of perfection within the last Book I. THE STUDY OF SYSTEMATIC BOTANY. 209 century ; more especially by the exertions of Linnasus, and those of Jussieu, Mirbel, and some other French philosophers. This study comprehends systematic botany, vegetable anatomy, vegetable chemistry, physiology, pathology, the distribution of vegetables, and vegetable culture. The study of these branches is of the utmost importance to the agri- culturist, especially that of vegetable physiology ; and though the limits of this work do not permit us to enter into the subject at great length ; yet we shall direct his attention to the leading points, and refer him to the best books. Chap. I. Of the Study of Systematic Botany. 1292. Glossohgi/, or the study of the names of the parts of plants, is the first step in this department. 1 ( ' I All thr arts and sciences require to express with brevity and perspicuity a crowd of ideas unused in common language, and unknown to the greater part of men : whence that multitude of terms, or tech- nical turns, given to ordinary words, which the public often turn into ridicule, because they do not feel the use of them ; but which all are obliged to make use of, who apply themselves to any study what- ever. Botany having to describe an immense number of beings, and each of these beings having a great variety of organs, requires a great variety of terms. Nearly all botanists are agreed as to these terms, and in order that they may be universally understood and remain unchanged in meaning, they are taken from a dead or fixed language. 1-9-t. A plant in flower, surveyed externally, may be perceived to be composed of a variety of obvious parts, such as the root, the stem, the branch, the leaf, the flower, the fruit, and perhaps the seed ; and other parts less obvious, as buds, prickles, tendrils, hairs, glands, &c. These, with their modifications, and all the relative circumstances which enter into the botanical description of a plant, constitute the sul ject of glossology, or the study of the language of botany. The reader may consult Smith's Introduction to Botany, or almost any recent work on the elements of botanical science. 129.->. Phytographi/, or the naming and describing of plants, is the next part of the subject to be considered. Before botanv became a regular science, plants were named as individual beings, without regard to any relation which thev had to one another. But from the great number of names to be retained on the memory, and the obvious affinities existing among certain individuals or natural families, some method was soon found necessarv, and it was then deemed requisite to give such composite names as might recall to mind something of the individuals to which thev were applied. Thus we had Anagullis fibre carritleo, Mespilus aculehta pyrifdia, &c. In the end, however, the length of these phrases became inconvenient, and Linna?us, struck with this inconvenience, proposed that the names of plants should henceforth consist of two words onlv, the one the generic or family name, and the other the specific or individual name. 1296. The names of classes and orders were originally primitive or without meaning, as the Grasses of Tragus, Poppies of Bauhin, Sec. ; and afterwards so compounded as to be long and complex, as the Pol/opt istemonopitake, Elcutheromacrostemones, &c, of Wachendorf. Linnaeus decided that the names of classes and orders should consist of a single word, and that word not simple or primitive, but expressive of a certain character or characters found in all the plants which compose it. 1297. In applying names to plants, three rides are laid dozen by botanists: 1st, That the languages chosen should be fixed and universal, as the Greek and Latin. 2d, That these languages should be used accord- ing to the general laws of grammar, and compound words always composed from the same language, and not of entire words, &c. 3d, That the first who discovers a being, and enregisters it in the catalogue ol nature, has the right of giving it a name; and that that name ought to be received and admitted by naturalists, unless it belongs to a being already existing, or transgresses the rules of nomenclature. Every one who discovers a new plant may not be able to enregister it according to these laws, and in that case has no right to give it a name ; but the botanist who enregisters it, and who is in truth the discoverer, may give it the name proposed by the finder, if he chooses. 1298. The whole vegetable kingdom is divided into classes, orders, genera, species, and varieties. A class is distinguished bv some character which is common to many plants ; an order is distinguished by having some character limited to a few plants belonging to a class ; a still more limited coincidence constitutes a genus ; and each individual of a genus, which continues unchanged when raised from seed, is called a spe- cies. A variety is formed by an accidental deviation from the specific character, and easily returns by seed to the particular species from which it arose. 1299. For the purposes of recording and comtnunicating botanical knowledge plants are described ; and this is done either by the use of language alone, or by language and figures, models, or dried plants, con- joined. The description of plants may be either abridged or complete. The shortest mode of abridgement is that emploved in botanical catalogues, as in those of Donn or of Sweet The most exact descriptions are deficient w\thoutfigures or a herbarium. Hence the advantage of being able to see plants at pleasure, by forming dried collections of them. Most plants dry with facility between the leaves of books, or between sheets of paper, the smoother the better. If there is plenty of paper, they often dry best without shifting; but if the specimens are crowded, they must be taken out frequently, and the paper dried before they are replaced. 1300. The language of botany may be acquired by two methods, analogous to those by which common languages are acquired. The first is the natural method, which begins with the great and obvious classes of vegetables, and distinguishes trees, grasses, &c, next individuals among these, and afterwards their parts or organs : this knowledge is acquired insensibly, as we acquire our native tongue. The second is the artificial method, and begins with the parts of plants, as the leaves, roots, &c, ascending to nomenclature and classification, and is acquired by particular study, aided by books or instructors, as one acquires a dead or foreign language. This method is the fittest for such as wish to attain a thorough knowledge of plants, so as to be able to describe them ; the other mode is easier, and the best suited for cultivators, whose object does not go beyond that of understanding their descriptions, and studying their physiologv, history, and application. A very good method, for a person at a distance from botanists, is to form a collection of dried specimens of all the plants of which he wishes to know the names, and to send them to the curator of the nearest botanic garden, requesting him to write the name below each spe- cimen, and to refer to some work easilv procured, such as Lindley's Vasculares, or Withering or Gray's Arrangement of British Plants, in which are given its description, uses, history, &C, We know of no work in which an attempt has been made to comprehend so much, both of theoretical and practical botanv, as is comprised in our Encyclopaedia of Plants ; and to those therefore who cannot afford to have many'books, and especially to gardeners for whose convenience it is more especially intended, it may be confidentlv recommended. P Sio 8CIENCE OF AGRICULTURE. Part IT, 1301. Taxonomy, or Ike classification of plants, is the last pari of the study of techno- logical botany. It is very evident, that, without wme arrangement, the- mind of man would be unequal to the task of acquiring even an imperfect knowledge of the various objects of nature. Accordingly, in every science, attempts have lain made to classify the different object* thai it embraces, and these attempts have been founded on various principles : some have adopted artificial characters ; others have endeavoured to detect the natural relations of the beings to lie arranged, and tlius to ascertain a connection by which the whole may be associated. In the progress of zoology and botany, the fun- damental organs on which to found a systematic arrangement have been finally agreed on. In both, those which are essential, and which discover the greatest variety, form the basis of classification. Animals are found to differ most from each other in the organs of nu- trition, plants in the organs of reproduction. 1902 Tfoo method* of arranging vegetable* have been distinguished by botanists, the natural and (be artificial A natural method is that which, in its distribution, retains all the natural classes ; that is, groups Into which no plants enter which are not connected by numerous relations, or which can bo dis- joined without doing a manifest violence to nature. An artificial method is that whose classes are not natural, because they collect together several genera of plants which are not connected by numerous relations although they agree in the characteristic mark or marks assigned to that particular class or assemblage to which they belong. An artificial method is easier than the natural, as in the latter it is nature, in the former the writer, who prescribes to plants the rules and order to be observed in their dis- tribution. Hence, likewise, as nature is ever uniform, there can be only one natural method ; whereas artificial methods may be multiplied almost ad infinitum, according to the different relations under which bodies are viewed. ISO '>. The ohjeet of the natural method is to promote our knowledge of the vegetable kingdom by gene, ralising facts and ideas ; the object of the artificial method is to facilitate the knowledge of plants as indi vidua) objects. The merits of the former method consist in the perfection with which plants are grouped together in natural families or orders, and these families grouped among themselves ; the merits of the latter consist in the perfection with which they are arranged according to certain marks by which their nanus may be discovered. Plants arranged according to the natural method may be compared to words arranged according to their roots or derivations ; arranged according to an artificial method they may be compared to words in a dictionary. The success attending attempts at botanical arrangement, both natural and artificial, has been singularly striking. Linneus has given the most beautiful artificial system that has ever been bestowed bv genius on mankind ; and Jussieu has, with unrivalled ability, exhibited the natural affinities of the vegetable kingdom. For the study of this department we refer to the works of Smith, Lindley, Decandolle, and Gray, but especially to the Encijclopn-dia of Plants. Chap. II. Vegetable Anatomy, or the Structure and Organisation if Plants. 1 304. Vegetables may be classed for the study of their anatomy and physiology, accordingly as they are distinguished by a structure or organisation more complicated or more simple. The former will constitute what may be denominated perfect plants, and will form a class comprehending the principal mass of the vegetable kingdom ; the latter will constitute what may be denominated imperfect plants, and will form a class comprehending all such vegetables as are not included in the foregoing class. We shall first consider their external, and next their internal, organisation. Sect. I. Of the External Structure of Perfect Plants. 1305. The parts of perfect plants may be distributed into conservative and reproduc- tive, as corresponding to their respective functions in the economy of vegetation. 1306. The conservative organs are such as are absolutely necessary to the growth and preservation of the plant, and include the root, trunk, branch, leaf, and frond. 1307. The root is that part of the plant by which it attaches itself to the soil in which it grows, or to the substance on which it feeds, and is the principal organ of nutrition. 1308. The trunk is that part of the plant which, springing immediately from the root, ascends in a ver- tical position above the surface of the soil, and constitutes the principal bulk of the individual. 1309. The branches are the divisions of the trunk, originating generally in the upper extremity, but often also along the sides. 1 110, The leaf, which is a temporary part of the plant, is a thin and flat substance of a green colour, issuing generally from numerous points towards the extremities of the branches, but sometimes also imme- diately from the stem or root, and distinguishable by the sight or touch into an upper and under surface, a base and apex, with a midrib and lateral veins or nerves. 1311. The frond, which is to be regarded as a compound of several of the parts already described, con- of a union or incorporation of the leaf, leaf-stalk, and branch or stem, forming, as it were, but one organ, of which the constituent parts do not separate spontaneously from one another by means of the fracture of any natural joint, as in the case of plants in general, but adhere together even in their decy. It is found in palms and ferns. 1312. The conservative appendages are sucb accessory or supernumerary parts as are found to accompany the conservative organs occasionally, but not invariably. They are permanent in whatever species they are found to exist, some being peculiar to one species, and some to another ; but they are never found to be all united in the same species, and are not necessarily included in the general idea of the plant. They are de- nominated gems, glands, tendrils, stipula, ramenta, armature, pubescence, and anomalies. LioOK T. EXTERNAL STRUCTURE OF PLANTS. 211 1313. Gems or bulbs are organiser! substances issuing from the surface of the plant, and containing the rudiments of new and additional parts which they protrude ; or the rudiments of new individuals, which they constitute by detaching themselves ultimately from the parent plant, and fixing themselves in the soil. 1314. Glands are small and minute substances of various forms, found chiefly on the surface of the leaf and petiole, but often also on the other parts of the plant, and supposed to be the organs of secretion. 1315. The tendril is a thread-shaped and generally spiral process issuing from the stem, branch, or petiole, and sometimes even from the expansion of the leaf itself, being an organ by which plants of weak and climbing stems attach themselves to other plants or other substances for support ; for which purpose it seems to be well fitted by nature, the tendril being much stronger than a branch of the same size. 1316. The stipuLe are small foliaceous appendages accompanying the real leaves, and assuming the appearance of leaves in miniature. 1317. Ramenta are thin, oblong, and strap-shaped appendages, of a brownish colour, issuing from the sur- face of the plant, and somewhat resembling the stipula?, but not necessarily accompanying the leaves 1318. The armature consists of such accessory and auxiliary parts as seem to have been intended by nature to defend the plant against the attacks of animals. 1319. The pubescence is a general term, including under it all sorts of vegetable down or hairiness, with which the surface of the plant may be covered, finer or less formidable than the armature. 1320. Anoma/ies.'Vhere , - q are several other appen- dages proper to conser- vative organs, which are so totally different from all the foregoing, that they cannot be classed with any of them ; and so very circumscribed in their occurrence, that they do not yet seem to have been designated by any peculiar appellation. The fir- 1 anomaly, affect- ing the conservative ap- pendages, occurs in Dio- nse\t niuscipula, Venus's fly-trap. (fig. 178. a) A second is that which oc. curs in Sarracen/'« pur- purea or purple side-sad- dle-flower (b). A third, which is still more singular, occurs in iVepcnthes distiilatdna ^c). The last anomaly is a small globular and membranaceous bag, attached as an appendage to the roots and leaves of some of the aquatics. It is confined to a few genera, but it is to be seen in great abundance on the roots or leaves of the several species of Utricularia inhabiting the ponds and ditches of this country ; and on the leaves of Aldrovandu vesiculbsa, an inhabitant of the marshes of Italy. In Utricularia vulgaris this appendage is pear-shaped, compressed, with an open bolder at the small end, furnished with several slender fibres originating in the margin, and containing a transparent and watery fluid and a small bubble of air, by means of which it seems to acquire a buoyancy that suspends it in the water. 1321. The reproductive organs are such parts of the plant as are essential to its propaga- tion, whose object is the reproduction of the species, terminating the old individual, and beginning the new. It includes the flower, with its immediate accompaniments or peculiarities, the flower-stalk, receptacle, and inflorescence, together with the ovary or fruit. 1322. The flower, like the leaf, is a temporary part of the plant, issuing generally from the extremity of the branches, but sometimes also from the root, stem, and even leaf, being the apparatus destined by nature for the production of the fruit, and being also distinguishable, for the most part, by the brilliancy of its colouring or the sweetness of its smell. 1323. The flower-stalk is a partial trunk or stem, supporting one or more flowers, if the flowers are not sessile, and issuing from the root, stem, branch, or petiole, and sometimes even from the leaf. 1324. The receptacle is the seat of the flower, and point of union between the different parts of the flower, or between the flower and the plant, whether immediate and sessile, or mediate and supported upon a flower-stalk. 1325. The inflorescence, mode of flowering, is the peculiar mode of aggregation in which flowers are arranged or distributed upon the plant. 1326. The fruit is th£ ripened ovary, or seed-vessel which succeeds the flower. In popular language the term is confined chiefly to such fruits as are esculent, as the apple, the peach, and the cherry ; but with the botanist the matured ovary of every flower, with the parts contained, constitutes the fruit. 1327. Appendages. The reproductive organs, like the conservative organs, are often found to be furnished with various additional and supernumerary parts, not at all essential to their constitution, because not always present, and hence denominated appendages. Many of them are precisely of the same character with that of the conservative appen- dages, except that they are of a finer and more delicate texture ; such are the glands, down, pubescence, hairs, thorns, or prickles, with one or other of which the parts of the fructification are occasionally furnished : but others are altogether peculiar to the repro- ductive organs, and are to be regarded as constituting, in the strict acceptation of the term, true reproductive appendages. Some of them are found to be proper to the flower, as the involucre, spathe, bractea, &e. ; and others to the fruit, as the persisting calyx, exemplified in the pomegranate. Sect. II. Of the External Structure of Imperfect Plants. 1328. Plants apparently defective in one or other of the more conspicuous parts or organs, whether conservative or reproductive, are denominated imperfect. The most P 2 M2 SCIENCE OK AGRICTT.'ITKE. P.VKT II. generally adopted division of imperfect plants is thai by which they are distributed into filices, Equisetacese, Lycopodlnee, ftfusci, Hepatice, ./'lia-, Lichenes, and Fungi. 1389 The FiUeet, Eqittsetbcew, and Ljfcopodbiete are for the most i>f the legume are composed of an epidermis enclosing a firm but Beshy pulp lined for the most pari with s skinny membrane, and of bundles of longitudinal fibres forming the seam. 1353 The nutshell, whether hard and bony, or flexible and leathery, is composed of a pulp more or less highly indurated, Intersper se d with longitudinal fibres, and covered with an epidermis. ii /'// drupe is composed of an epidermis enclosing a Beshy pulp, which is sometimes so interwoven With a multiplied) of longitudinal fibres as to seem to consist wholly Of threads, as iii the cocoa-nut. I '"■. The hit ri/ is composed of a very tine epidermis enclosing .i soft and juicy pulp. 1356. The icaltt of tin Strobile are composed of a tough and leathery epidermis, enclosing a spongy hut often highly indurate 1 pulp interspersed with longitudinal fibres that pervade also the axis. 1357. The flower -t talk, or peduncle supporting the (lower, which is a prolongation of the stem or branch, or rather a partial stem attached to it, if carefully dissected with the assistance of a good glass, will he found to consist of the following parts: — 1st, An epidermis, or external envelope; Sdly, A paren- chyma, or suit and pulpy mass ; Idly, Bundles of longitudinal threads or fibres, originating in the stem or branch, and passing throughout the whole extent of the parenchyma. The several organs of the tlower are merely prolongations of the component parts of the flower-stalk, though each organ does not always Contain the whole of such component parts, or at least not under the same modifications. The epidermis, however, and parenchyma are common to them all ; but the longitudinal threads or fibres are seldom, if ever, to be found, except in the calyx or corolla. 1358. The leafstalk, or petiole supporting the leaf, which is a prolongation of the branch or stem, or rather a partial stem attached to it, exhibits upon dissection the same sort of structure as the peduncle, namely, an epidermis, a pulp or parenchyma, and bundles of longitudinal threads or fibres. 1359. Genu. There exist among the different tribes of vegetables four distinct species of gems, two peculiar to perfect plants, the bud and bulb, and two peculiar to imperfect plants, the propago and gongylus; the latter being denominated simple gems, because furnished with a single envelope only ; and the former being denominated compound gems, because furnished with more than a single envelope. 1360. Buils are composed externally of a number of spoon- shaped scales, overlapping one another and converging towards a point in the apex, and often cemented together by means of a glutinous or mucilaginous substance exuding from their sur- face. If these scales arestrippedotFand dissected under the mi- croscope, they will be found to consist, like the leave* or divi- sions of the calyx, of an epidermis enclosing a pulp Interspersed with a network of fibres, but unaccompanied with longitudinal threads. If the scales of a leaf-bud are taken and stripped off, and the remaining part carefully opened up, it will be found to consist of the rudiments of a young branch terminated by a hunch of incipient leaves embedded in a white and cottony down, being minute but complete in all their parts and pro- portions, and folded or rolled up in the bud in a peculiar and determinate manner. lofit. null's, which are either radical or caulinary, exhibit in their externa] structure, or in a part of their internal structure that is easily delected, several distinct varieties, some being solid, some coated, and some scaly ; but all protruding in the process of vegetation the stem, leaf, ami llower, peculiai to their species. 1362. The jtropii^o, which is a simple gem, peculiar to v. me genera of imjierfect plants, and exemplified by Ga?rtner in the lichens, consists of a small and pulpy mass forming a gra- nule of no regular shape, sometimes naked, and sometimes covered with an envelope, which is a fine epidermis. 13C3. The gongytut, which is also a simple gem peculiar to some genera of imperfect plants, and exemplified by Gjertner in the fuei, consists of a slightly indurated pulp moulded intoa small and globular granule of a firm and solid contexture, and invested with an epidermis. 1364. The caudex includes the whole mass or body both of the trunk and root; its internal structure, like its external aspect or habit, is materially dif- ferent in different tribes of plants. 1365. The first general moth- of the internal structure of the caudex is that in which an epidermis encloses merely a homogeneous mass of pulp or slender fibre. This is the simplest mode of internal structure existing among vege- tables ; it is exemplified in the lower orders of imperfect plants, particularly the /i'lg;e and Fungi. 1366. The .see, mil general mode of infernal structure of the eaitde.r is that in which an epidermis encloses two or more substances, or assemblages of sub- stances, totally heterogeneous in their character. A very common variety of this mode is that in which an epidermis or hark encloses a soft and pulpy mass, interspersed with a number of longitudinal nerves or fibres, or bundles of fibres, extending from the base to the apex, and disposed in a peculiarity of 1R3 irH manner characteristic of a tribe or genus. This mode prevails chiefly in herbaceous and annual or biennial plants, [fig. 183.) A second variety of this mode is that in which a strong and often thick bark encloses a circular layer' of longitudinal fibres, or Several such circular and concentric layers, interwoven with thin transverse and diver- gent layers of pulp, so as to form afirm and compact cylinder, in the centre of which is lodgetl a pulp or pith. This mode is best exemplified in trees and shrubs (fig. 184.), though it is also applicable to many plants whose texture is chiefly or almost' wholly herbaceous, forming as it were the connecting link between such piants as are purely herbaceous on the one hand, anil such as are purelv woody on the other In the latter case the wood is perfect; in the former case it is imperfect. The wood being imper- fect in the root ot the beet, the common bramble, and burdock ; and perfect in the oak or alder. 1 167 The appendages of the plant, whether conservative or reproductive, exhibit nothing in their internal structure that is at all essentially different from that of the organs that have been already described. Subsect. 2. Composite Organs. 1368. The composite organs are the epidermis, pulp, pith, cortical layers, ligneous layers, and vegetable fibre, which may be further analysed, as being still compound, with a view to read) the ultimate and elementary nivalis of the vegetable subject. 1369. Structure of the vegetable epidermis. The epidermis of the vegetable, which, from its resemblance to that of the animal, has been designated by the same name, is the external envelope or Integument of the plant, extending over the whole Surface, am! covering the root, stem, branches, leaves, tlower, and fruit, with their appendages ; the summit of the pistil only excepted. Rut although it is extended over the whole surface of the plant, it is not of equal consistence throughout. In the root and trunk it is n Book I. INTERNAL STRUCTURE OF PLANTS. 215 tou°h and leathery membrane, or it is a crust of considerable thickness, forming a notable portion ol the bark and assuming some peculiar shade of colour ; while in the leaves, flowers, and tender shoots, it is a fine/colourless, and transparent film, when detached ; and when adherent, it is always tinged with some peculiar shade, which it borrows from the parts immediately beneath it 1370 The pulp is a soft and juicv substance, constituting the principal mass of succulent plants, and a notabl" proportion of manv parts even of woodv plants. It constitutes the principal mass of many of the Kingi and .Fuci, and of herbaceous plants in general. Mirbel compares it to clusters of small hexagonal cells or bladders, containing for the most part a coloured juice, and formed apparently of the foldings and doublings of a fine and delicate membrane, in which no traces of organisation are to be distinguished. 1371 The pith is a soft and spongv, but often succulent, substance, occupying the ^ centre of the root, stem, and branches, and extending in the direction of their longitu- p_^g dinal axis, in which it is enclosed as in a tube. The structure of the pith is precisely similar to that of the pulp, being composed of an assemblage of hexagonal cells con- tainine a watery and colourless juice, or of cellular tissue and a parenchyma. 1372. The cortical layers, or interior and concentric layers, constituting the mass of the bark, are situated immediately under the cellular integument, where such integu. ment exists, and where not, immediately under the epidermis ; or they are themselves external. They are distinguishable chiefly in the bark of woody plants, but particularly iii that of the lime tree. They are composed of two elementary parts ; bundles of longitudinal fibres constituting a network [fig. 185.), and a mass of pulp more or less indurated rilling up the meshes. The innermost of the layers is denominated the liber and was used bv the ancients to write on before the invention of paper. It is the 'finest and most" delicate of them all, and often most beautifully reticulated ( fie 1S6 a) and varied by bundles of longitudinal fibre b\ But the liber of Daphne Lagetto is remarkable ' i sfi bevond that of all other plants for the beauty and delicacy of its network, which is not inferior to that of the finest lace, and at the same time so very- soft and flexible that, in countries of which the tree is a native, the lace of the liber is often made to supply the place of a neckcloth. If the cortical layers are injured or destroyed by accident, the part destroyed is again regenerated, and the wound healed up without a scar ; but if the wound penetrates beyond the liber, the part destroyed is no longer regenerated. Or if a tree is bent so as to break part of the cortical fibres, and then propped up in its former position, the fractured fibres will again unite. Or if a portion of the stem is entirely decorticated and covered with a piece of bark, even from auother tree, the two different barks will unite. Hence the practicability of asceitaining how far the liber extends ; and hence also the origin of grafting, which is always effected bv a union of the liber of the graft and stock. 1373 The ligneous layers, or layers constituting the wood, occupy the intermediate portion of the stem between the bark and pifli ; and are hable into two sorts, concentric layers and divergent layers. tl intermedia BX distinguish " TY13SS Of th The concentric layers, which constitute by far the greater part of the mass of the wood, are sufficiently conspicuous for the purpose of exemplifica- tion on the surface of a horizontal section of most trunks or branches, as on that of the oak and elm. But though thev are generally described as being concentiic, they are not always strictly so. For they are often found to extend more on the one side of the axis of the stem or branch, than on the other. Some authors say the excess is on the north side, but others say it is on the south side. The former account for it by telling us it is because the north side is sheltered from the sun ; and the latter by telling us it is because the south side is sheltered from the cold ; and thus from the operation of contrary causes alleging the same effect, which has been also thought to be sufficiently striking and uniform to serve as a sort of compass bv which the bewildered traveller might safelv steer his course, even in the recesses of the most extensive forest But Du Hamel has exposed the futility of this notion, by showing that the excess is sometimes on the one side of the axis, and sometimes on the other, according to the accidental situation of the great roots and branches ; a thick root or branch producing a proportionably thick layer of wood on the side of the stem from which it issues. The lavers are indeed sometimes more in number on the one side than on the other, as well as thicker ; but this is the exception, and not the rule. They are thickest, however on the side on which thev are fewest, though not of the same thickness throughout. Du Hamel after counting twentv lavers on the one side of the transverse section of the trunk ot an oak, found onlv fourteen on the other'; but the fourteen exceeded the twenty in thickness by one fourth part But the layers thus discoverable on the horizontal section of the trunk are not at all ot an equal consistence throughout, there being an evident diminution in their degree of solidity from the centre, where thev are hardest, to the circumference, where they are softest. The outermost layer, which is the softest of 'all is denominated the alburnum, perhaps from its being of a brighter white than any of the other lavers either of wood or bark ; by which character, as well as by its softer texture, it is also easilv distinguished. It does not acquire its utmost degree of solidity till after a number of years ; but if a tree is barked a year before it is cut down, then the alburnum is converted into wood in the course of that vear. , .. , 1375. The divergent layers, which intersect the concentric layers in a transverse direction, constitute also a considerable proportion of the wood, as may be seen in a horizontal section of the fir or birch, or of almost any woody plant, on the surface of which they present an appearance like that of the radii of a circle- 1376 The structure of the concentric layers will be found to consist of several smaller and component lavers which are themselves composed of layers smaller still, till at last they are incapable of farther division The concentric lavers are composed of longitudinal fibres, generally forming a network ; and the divergent lavers, of para'llel threads or fibres of cellular tissue, extending in a transverse direction, and filling up the interstices of the network. . 1377 The structure of the stem, in plants that are purely herbaceous, and in the herbaceous parts of woody plants is distinguished bv a number of notable and often insulated fibres passing longitudinally throughout its whole extent as in the stipe of Aspidium .Filix-mas or in the leaf-stalk of the alder. These fibres, when viewed superficially, appear to be merelv individuals, but when inspected minutely, and under the microscope thev prove to be groups or bundles of fibres smaller and minuter still, firmly cemented together, and forming in the aggregate a strong and elastic thread, but capable of being split into a number of component fibres, till at last you can divide them no longer. It the fibres ot the bark are separated bv the destruction of a part, the part is again regenerated, and the fibres are again united, without leaving behind them any traces of a wound : but, if the fibres of the wood are separated by the destruction of a part, the part is never regenerated, and the fibres are never united. Subsect. 3. Elementary, or Vascular, Organs. 1378. Fibre, cellular tissue with or without parenchyma, and reticulated membrane are the ultimate and elementary organs of which the whole mass of the plant is composed. P 4 *lfi SCIENCE OF AGRICULTURE. Part II. If ii be asked of what are the elemental} organs themselves composed, the reply is. they are composed, as it appears from the same analysis, of a fine, colourless, and transparent membrane, in which the eye, aided l>y the assistance even of the best glasses, can discover no traco> whatever of organisation ; which membrane we must also regard as constituting the ultimate and fundamental fabric of the elementary organs themselves, and, by conse- quence, of the whole of the vegetable body. It lias been asked by some phytologista whether <>r not plants are furnished with vessels analogous to the blood-vessels of the animal system. But if it be admitted thai plants contain fluids in motion, which cannot possibly be denied, it will follow, as an unavoidable consequence, (hat they are furnished with \essels conducting or containing such fluids. If the stem of'a plant of marigold is divided by means of a transverse section, the divided extremities of the longitudinal fibres, arranged in a circular row immediately within the hark, will he distinctly perceived, and their tubular structure demonstrated bymeansofthe orifices which they present, particu- larly when the stem has begun to wither. Regarding it, therefore, as certain, that plants are furnished with longitudinal tubes, as well as with cells or utricles for the purpose of conveying or containing their alimentary juices, we proceed to the specific illustration of both, together w ith their peculiarities and appendages. . . I 179 The utricle* are the One ami membranous vessels constituting the cellular tissue of the pith and pulp already described, whether Of the plant, flower, or fruit Individually they resemble oblong bladders inflated in the middie, as in the case of some plants ; or circular or hexagonal cells, as in the case ol othera Collectively they have been compared to an assemblage of threads ol contiguous bladders, or - ,.r to the bubbles that are found on the surface of liquor in a state of fermentation. 'The tube* are the vessels formed by the cavities of the longitudinal fibres, whether as occurring in the stem of herbaceous plants, or in the foot-stalk of the leaf and flower, or in the composition of the cortical and ligneous layers, or by longitudinal openings pervading the pulp itself, as in the case of the vine. ISM. n. Earn tub?, are tul.es distinguishable by by betas; twisted from right to left, or from left to Uieraperiorwidthofthediameterwhich they present 187 right, >>• die form of a corkscrew. Ihev occur in on the horizontal section of the several part, of die ^mtfyrr*. """' » , «maance tn herbaceous plants, particularly il hi e$crC£c£rSffl in aquaucs. 13S^>. Simple tuba { Ps- 1ST.) are the largest of all jftTirmiT ,3 * 5 " ' '"'"' ''"'"' '"*" "etobesappaiBntlj spiral large tubes, ami are formed of a thin and entire mem- on a slight inspection, but which, upon minute brine, without anv perceptible disruption of con- examination, are found to derive their appearance tinuilv. The, are found chiefly in the bark, though merely from their being cut transversely by parallel not confined to it. as they are to be met with also in Mi Hssures. ..... the alburnum and matured wood, as well as in the 1386. .Virol Rita are rubes combining in one m- libres of herbaceous plants. i ; j dividual two or more of the foregoing varieties. ._—.__ ' .... . . . < . .» . ■ ■ I i . i ll^l. ,1 ..11 > , ..- lliA.n ,■> » 1 ,»i .- -i ... . ,f t li . ■ Ulitiill'lis. lum ui iitiiMtuiin i 'mitt.-. -■- - -- " . , rin P tuba re-en.ble the simple tubes in their Elifl .Mirbcl exemplifies them in the case of the Hiitoiiius general aspect ; but differ from them in being pierced I II 111 umbellate, In which the porous tubes, spiral tubes, with small holes or pores, which are often distributed and false spiral tubes, are often to be met with united in regular and parallel rows. They are found in in one. most abundance in woody plants, and particularly in f ' l 38 '- "' "»"" luha ?, re tubes composed of a s ic- wood that is linn and compact, like that of the oak ; , I 1 cession of elongated cells united, like those of the but thev do not, like the simple tubes, seem destined I ' cellular tissue. Individually they may be compared to contain anv oily or resinous juice. EU ' Mil to the stem of the grasses, which is fornied of sevcal 1384. Si .• tine, transparent, and thread- ^i-Jjllil> r internodia, separated bv transverse diaphragms; and like substances ... , a,i illy interspersed with the -*-HM^ collectively to a united assemblage of parallel and other tubes of die plant, but distinguished from them collateral reeds. 1388. Pores are small and minute openings of various shapes and dimensions, that seem to be destined to the absorption, transmission, or exaltation of fluids. They are distinguishable into perceptible pores and imperceptible pores. . 1389. Gaps, according to Mirbel, are emptv, but often regular and symmetrical, spaces formed in the interior of the plant by means of a partial disruption of the membrane constituting the tubes or utricles. In the leave- of herbaceous plants the gaps are often interrupted by transverse diaphragms formed Of a portion of the cellular tissue which still remains entire, as may be seen in the transparent structure ot the leaves of 7ypha and many other plants. Transverse gaps are said to be observable also in the bark ot some plants, though verv rarely. There are varum* appendages connected with the elementary organs, such as internal glands, internal pubescence, oic. : the latter occurs in dissecting the leaf or flower-stalk of Nuphar lutea. Chap. III. Vegetable Chemistry, or Primary Principles of Plants. 1391. As plants are not merely organised beings, !>ut beings endowed with a species of life, absorbing nourishment from the soil in which they grow, and assimilating it to their own substance by means of the Functions and operations of their different organs, it is plain that no progress can be made in the explication of the phenomena of vegetable life, and no distinct conception formed of the rationale of vegetation, without some specific knowledge of the primary principles of vegetables, and of their mutual action upon one another. The latter requisite presupposes a competent acquaintance with the elements of chemistry ; and the former points out die necessity of a strict and scrupulous analysis of the several compound ingredients constituting the fabric of the plant, or contained within it. If the object of the experimenter is merely that of extracting such compound ingredients as may be known to exist in the plant, the necessary apparatus is simple, and the process ease : but if it be that of ascertaining the primary and radical principles of which the compound ingredients are themselves composed, the apparatus is then complicated, and the process extremely difficult, requiring much time and labour, and Book I. VEGETABLE CHEMISTRY 2J? much previous practice in analytical research. But whatever may be the object of analysis, or the particular view of the experimenter, the processes which he employs are either mechanical or chemical. 139" The mechanical processes are such as are effected bv the agency of mechanical powers, and are often indeed the operation of natural causes ; hence the origin of gums and other spontaneous exudations. But the substances thus obtained do not always How sufficiently fast to satisiy the wants or necessities of man ■ and men have consequently contrived to accelerate the operations of nature by means of artificial aid in the application of the wimble or axe, widening the passages which the extravasated fluid has forced, or opening up new ones. It more frequently happens, however, that the process employed is Wholly artificial, and altoeether effected without the operation of natural causes. When the juices are eii ...closed in vesicles lodgedin parts that are isolated or may easily be isolated, the vesicles may be opened by means of rasps or graters, and the juices expressed bv the hand, or by some other fit instrument. Thus the volatile oil may be obtained that is lodged in the rind of the lemon. W hen the substance to be extracted lies more deeply concealed in the plant, or in parts which cannot be easily detached trom the rest, it may then become necessary to pound or bruise the whole or a great part ot the plant, and to subject it, thus modified, to the action of the press. In this manner seeds are sometimes treated to express their essential oils. If, bv the action of bruising or pressing, heterogeneous ingredients have Ken mixed together, thev may generally be separated with considerable accuracy by means ot decant- ation, when the substances held in suspension have been precipitated. Thus the acid ot lemons, oranges, gooseberries, and other fruits, may be obtained in considerable purity, when the mucilage that was mixed with them has subsided. , . , . 1393. The chemical processes are such as are effected by the agency of chemical powers, and may be reduced to the following : distillation, combustion, ti.e action of water, the action ot acids and alkalies, the action of oils and alcohols, and lastly fermentation. They are much more intricate in their nature than the mechanical processes, as well as more difficult in their application, 1394. Of the products of vegetable analysis, as obtained by the foregoing processes, some consist of several heterogeneous substances, and are consequently compound, as being capable of farther decomposition; and some consist of one individual substance only, and are consequently simple, as being incapable of further decomposition. Sect. I. Compound Products. 1395. The compound products of analysis are very numerous in themselves, and much diversified in their qualities. They are gum, sugar, starch, gluten, albumen, fibrine, extract, tannin, colouring matter, "bitter principle, narcotic principle, acids, oils, wax, resins, gum resins, balsams, camphor, caoutchouc, cork, woody fibre, sap, proper juice, charcoal, ashes, alkalies, earths, and metallic oxides. 1396. Gum is an exudation that issues spontaneouslv from the surface of a variety of plants, in the state of a clear, viscid, and tasteless fluid, that gradually hardens upon being exposed to the action of the atmosphere, and condenses into a solid mass. It issues copiously from many fruit trees, but especially from such as produce stone-fruit, as plum and cherry trees. From plants or parts ot plants containing it, but not discharging it by spontaneous exudation, it may be obtained by the process ot maceration 111 water. ■«.«_■ j .• 1 t 1397 The uses o' gum are considerable. In all its varieties it is capable of being used as an article ot food, and is highly nutritive, though not very palatable. It is also employed in the arts, particularly in calico-printing, in which the printer makes choice of it to give consistence to his colours, and to prevent them from spreading. The botanist often uses it to fix his specimens upon paper, for which purpose it is very well adapted. It forms likewise an ingredient in ink ; and in medicine it torms the basis ot many mixtures, in which its influence is sedative and emollient. . 1J98. Sit'-ar is the produce of the Saccharum officinarum. The canes or stems of theplant, when ripe, are bruised between the rollers of a mill, and the expressed juice is collected and put into large boilers, in whicli it is mixed with a small quantity of quicklime, or strong ley of ashes, to neutralise its acid, and is then made to boil; the scum, which gathers on the top during the process of boiling, being caretullv cleared away. When the juice has been boiled down to the consistence of a syrup, it is drawn oft and allowed to cool in vessels which are placed above a cistern, and are perforated with small holes through which the impure and liquid part, known by the name of molasses, escapes ; while the remaining part is converted into a mass of small and hard granules of a brownish or whitish colour, known by the designation of raw sugar, which when imported into Europe is further purified by an additional process, and converted by filtration or crystallisation into what is called loaf sugar, refined sugar, or candied sugar. Ihe juice of the yTcer saccharinum, or American maple, yields sugar in such considerable abundance as to make it an object with the North American farmer to manufacture it for his own use. A hole is bored in the trunk of the vegetating tree early in the spring, for the purpose of extracting the sap ; of which a tree ot ordi- nary size, that is, of froni two to three feet in diameter, will yield from one hundred and fitly to two hundred pints and upwards, in a good season. The sap, when thus obtained and neutralised by lime, deposits, by evaporation, crystals of sugar in the proportion of about a pound of sugar to forty pints ot sap. It is not materially different in its properties from that of the sugar-cane. The juice ot the grape, rt-hen ripe, yields also a sugar by evaporation and the action of potashes, which is known by the appel- lation of the" sugar of grapes, and has lately been employed in France as a substitute for colonial sugar, though it is not so sweet or agreeable to the taste. The root of Beta vulgaris, or common beet, yields also, bv boiling and evaporation, a sugar which is distinguished by a peculiar and slightly bitter taste, owing perhaps to the presence of a bitter extractive matter which has been found to be one of the con- stituents of the beet. Sugar has been extracted from the following vegetables also, or from their produc- tions : from the sap of the birch, sycamore, bamboo, maize, parsnep, cow-parsnep, American aloe, dulse, walnut tree, and cocoa-nut tree ; from the fruit of the common arbutus, and other sweet-tasted fruits ; from the roots of the turnip, carrot, and parsley ; from the flower of the Euxine rhododendron ; and trom the nectary of most other flowers. . . 1399. The utility of sugar, as an aliment, is well known ; and it is as much relished by many animals as bv man. By bees it is sipped from the flowers of plants, under the modification of nectar, and con- verted into honey ; and also seems to be relished bv many insects, even in its concrete state ; as it is also by many birds. By man it is now regarded as being altogether indispensable, and though used chiefly to give a relish or seasoning to food, is itself highly nutritive. It is also of much utility in medicine, and celebrated for its anodyne and antiseptic qualities, as well as thought to be peculiarly efficacious in pre- venting diseases by worms. 1400. Starch. If a quantity of wheaten flour is made into a paste with water, and kneajleo. and market by washing and edulcorating it with water, and afterwards 4. Gluten is that part of the paste formed from the flour of wheat, which remains unaffected by the water, after all the starch contained in it has been washed ofF. It is a tough and elastic substance, of a dull white colour, without taste, but of a very peculiar smell. It is soluble in the acids and alkalies, but insoluble in water and in alcohol. Gluten has been detected, under one modification or other, in a very considerable number of vegetables or vegetable substances, as well as in the flour of wheat. 1405. Gluten is one of the most important of all vegetable substances, as being the principle that raiders the flour of wheat so fit for forming bread, by its occasioning the panary fermentation, and making the bread light and porous. It is used also as a cement, and is capable of being used as a varnish and a ground for paint. . 140ii. Albumen, which is a thick, glairy, and tasteless fluid, resembling the white of an unboiled egg, is a substance that has been but lately proved to exist in the vegetable kingdom. Its existence was first announced by Fourcroy, and finally demonstrated by the experiments of Vauquelin on the dried juice of the papaw tree. It is nearly related to animal gluten. 14b7. Fibrine is a peculiar substance which chemists extract from the blood and muscles of animals. This substance constitutes the fibrous parts of the muscles, and resembles giuten in its appearance and elasti- city. A substance possessing the same properties has been detected by Vauquelin in the juice of the papaw tree, which is called vegetable fibrine. 1408. Extract. When vegetable substances are macerated in water, a considerable portion of them is dissolved ; and if the water is again evaporated, the substance held in solution may be obtained in a sepa- rate state. This substance is denominated extract. But it is evident that extract thus obtained will not be precisely the same principle in everv different plant, but will vary in its character according to the species producing it, or the soil in which the plant has grown, or some other accidental cause. Its dis- tinguishing properties are the following : — It is soluble in water as it is obtained from the vegetable, but becomes afterwards insoluble in consequence of the absorption of oxygen from the atmosphere It is solu- ble in alcohol ; and it unites with alkalies, and forms compounds which are soluble in water. When distilled it yields an acid fluid impregnated with ammonia, and seems to be composed principally of hydro- gen, oxygen, carbon, and a little nitrogen. Extract, or the extractive principle, is found in a greater or less proportion in almost all plants whatever, and is very generally an ingredient of the sap and bark, particularly in barks of an astringent taste ; but still it is not exactly the same in all individual plants, even when' separated as much as possible from extraneous substances. It may therefore be regarded as constituting several species, of which the following are the most remarkable : — 1409. Extract of catrchu. This extract is obtained from an 1411. Extract nf quinquina. Tliis extract was obtained by infusion of the wood or powder of catechu in cold water. Its Fourcrov, hy evaporating a decoction of the bark of the ouin- rolouris p tic- brown ; and its taste -.lightly astringent. It is quina of St. Domingo in water, and again dissolving it in precipitated from its solution bj nitrate of lead, and yields hy alcohol, whic-h finally deposited by evaporation the peculiar distillation carbonic and carburetted hydrogen gas, leaving a extractive. It is insoluble in cold water, but very soluble in porous charcoal. boiling water; its co'our \i brown, and its taste bitter. It is 1 110. t'rtr.ut of senna. This extract is obtained from an in- precipitated from its solution by ime water, in the form of a fusion of the dried leaves ..t' ' i.si.i s „,„/ in alcohol. The co- red powder ; and when dry it is black and brittle, breaking lour of the infusion is lirnnni.li. the t.csic- slight!} bitter, and Willi a polished fracture. the smell aromatic. It is precipitated from its solution by the 1-11*2. Extract of siijl'rou. This extract is obtained in great muriatic and oxyrour! ilii acids ; and, when thrown on burning abundance from the summits of the pistils of Crocus sativus, coals, Consumes with a thick smoke and aromatic odour, leaving which are almost wholly soluble in water. behind a spongy charcoal. 141:!. Extracts were formerly much employed in medicine; though their efficacy seems to have been overrated. But a circumstance of much more importance to society is that of their utility in the art ot dyeing. I'y far the greater part of colours used in dyeing are obtained from vegetable extracts, which have a strong affinity to the lilacs of cotton or linen, with which they enter into a combination that is rendered still stronger by the intervention of mordants. 1414. Colouring mutter. The beauty and variety of the colouring ofvegctables, chemists have ascribed to the modifications of a peculiar substance which they denominate tin- colouring principle, and which they have accordingly endeavoured to isolate and extract ; first, by means of maceration or boiling in water, ami then by precipitating it from its solution. The chemical properties of colouring matter seem to be as vet but imperfectly known, though they have been considerably elucidated by the investigations of Berthollet, Chaptal, and Others. Its affinities to oxygen, alkalies, earths, metallic oxides, and cloths fabricated of animal or vegetable substances, such as wool or flax, seem to be among its most striking characteristics, liut its alliuitv to animal substances is stronger than its affinity to vegetable substances; Book I. VEGETABLE CHEMISTRY. 219* and hence wool and silk assume a deeper dye, and retain it longer, than cotton or linen. Colouring matter exhibits a great variety of tints, as it occurs in different species of plants ; and as it combines with oxygen, which it absorbs from the atmosphere, it assumes a deeper shade ; but it loses at the same time a portion of its hydrogen, and becomes insoluble in water; and thus it indicates its relation to ex- tract. Fourcroy reduced colours to the four following sorts ; extractive colours, oxygenated colours, carbo- nated colours, and hydrogenated colours ; the first being soluble in water, and requiring the aid of saline or metallic mordants to fix them upon cloth j the second being insoluble in water, as altered by the absorp- tion of oxygen, and requiring no mordant to fix them upon cloth ; the third containing in their compo- sition a great proportion of carbon, but soluble in alkalies ; and the fourth containing a great proportion of resin, but soluble in oils and alcohol. But the simplest mode of arrangement is that by which the dif- ferent species of colouring matter are classed according to their effect in the art of dyeing. The principal and fundamental colours in this art are the blue, the red, the yellow, and the brown. 1415. The finest of all vegetable blues is that which is known by by the action of the atmosphere. The blue colour of indigo, the name of indigo. It is the produce of the Indigofera tinctoria therefore, is owing to its combination with oxygen. Lin., a shrub which is cultivated in Mexico and the East 1416. The pHnapal red colours are such as are found to exist Indies for the sake of the dye it affords. The plant reaches in the root, stem, or flower, of the five following plants: Kubia maturity in about six months, when its leaves are gathered tmctdrum,/to«:e7/a tinctoria, Lecanora par^Ua,C', which is a colour of very frequent occurrence haling an odour like that of volatile alkali, and evolving bubbles among vegetables, and the most permanent among flowers, is of carbonic acid gas. When the fermentation has been con- extracted for the purpose of dyeing, from a variety of plants. tinued long enough, the liquid is decanted and put into other It is extracted from the/teseda Luteola Lht. t by the decoction Tessels, where it is ngitated till blue flakes begin to appear. of its dried stems. The colouring matter is precipitated by Water is now poured in, and flakes are precipitated in the means of alum, and is much used in dyeing wool, silk, and form of a blue powdery sediment, which is obtained by de- cotton. It is also obtained from the 3/0rus tinctoria, Bixa carnation ; and which, after being made up into small lumps Orcllana or amotta, Serratula tinctoria, Genista tinctoria, and dried in the shade, is the indigo of the shops. It is insolu- iihus Cotinus, Rhamnus mfectorius, and Quercus tinctoria, ble in water, though slightly soluble in alcohol ; but its true or quercitron, the bark of which last affords a rich and per- Folvent is sulphuric acid, with which it forms a fine blue dye, naanent yellow at present much in use. known by the name of liquid blue. It affords by distillation 1418. Thebrorvn a touring matter t>f vegetables is very abundant, carbonic "acid gas, water, ammonia, some oily and acid mat- particularly in astringent plants. It is obtained from the root tex, and much charcoal; whence its constituent principles of the walnut tree, and rind of the walnut ; and also from the are most probably carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, and nitrogen. sumach and alder, but chiefly from nut-galls, which are ex- Indigo may be procured also from several other plants besides crescences formed upon the leaves of a species of Quercus, Indigofera* tinctoria, and particularly from /satis tincturia or indigenous to the south of Europe, in consequence of thepunc- woad, a plant indigenous to Britain, and thought to be the ture of insects. The best in quality are brought from the plant with the juice of which the ancient Britons stained their Levant. They are sharp and bitter to the taste, and extremely naked bodies, to make them look terrible to their enemies. If astringent; and soluble in water by decoction when ground or this plant is digested in alcohol, and the solution evaporated, grated to a powder. The decoction strikes, with the solution white crystalline grains, somewhat resembling starch, will be of iron, a deep bl?ck, that forms the basis of ink, and of most left behind ; which grains are indigo, becoming gradually blue dark colours used in dyeing cloths. 141^ Tannin. If a quantity of pounded nut-galls, or bruised seeds of the grape, is taken and dissolved in cold water, and the solution evaporated to dryness, there will be left behind a brittle and yellowish sub- stance of a highly astringent taste, which substance is tannin, or the tanning principle. It is soluble both in water and alcohol, but insoluble in ether. With the salts of iron it strikes a black ; and when a so- lution of gelatine is mixed with an aqueous solution of tannin, the tannin and gelatine fall down in com- bination, and form an insoluble precipitate. When tannin is subjected to the process of distillation, it yields charcoal, carbonic acid, and inflammable gases, with a minute quantity of volatile alkali, and seems accordingly to consist of the same elements with extract, from which, however, it is distinguished by the peculiar property of its action upon gelatine. Tannin may be obtained from a great variety of other vege- tables also, as well as those already enumerated, but chiefly from their bark ; and of barks, chiefly from those that are astringent to the taste. The following table exhibits a general view of the relative value of different species of bark, as ascertained bv Sir Humphry Davy. It gives the average obtained from 4S0 1bs. of the entire bark of a middle-sized tree of the different species, taken in the spring, when the quantity of tannin is the largest ; — Oak Spanish chestnut Leicester willow (large) Elm Common willow (large) Ash lh. 23 Beech 21 Horsechestnut 33 Sycamore 13 Lombard? poplar 11 Birch 16 Hazel lh. 10 9 11 IS 8 14 lh. Blackthorn - - - 16 Coppice oak - - 32 Inner rind of oak bark - 72 Oak cut in autumn - - 21 Larch cut in autumn - 8 1420. Tannin is of the very first utility in its application to medicine and the arts ; being regarded by chemists as the general principle of astringencv. The medical virtues of Peruvian bark, so celebrated as a febrifuge and antiseptic, are supposed to depend upon the quantity and quality of its tannin. In conse- quence of its peculiar property of forming an insoluble compound with gelatine, the hides of animals are converted into leather, bv the important art of tanning. The bark of the oak tree, which contains tannin in great abundance, is that which is most generally used by the tanner. The hides to be tanned are pre- pared for the process by steeping them in lime water, and scraping off the hair and cuticle. They are then soaked, first in weaker'anri afterwards in stronger infusions of the bark, till at last they are completely im- pregnated, This process requires a period of from ten to eighteen months, if the hides are thick ; and four or five pounds of bark are necessarv on an average to form one pound of leather. 1421 Bitter principle. The taste of many vegetables, such as those employed in medicine, is extremely bitter. The quassia of the shops, the roots of the common gentian, the bark and wood of common broom, the calyx and floral leaves of the hop, and the leaves and flowers of chamomile, may be quoted as ex- amples. This bitter taste has been thought to be owing to the presence of a peculiar substance, different from everv other vegetable substance, and has been distinguished by the name of the bitter principle. When water ha.s been digested for some time over quassia, its colour becomes yellow, and its taste in- tensely bitter; and if it is evaporated to dryness, it leaves behind a substance of a brownish yellow, with a slight degree of transparency, that continues for a time ductile, but becomes afterwards brittle. This substance Dr. Thompson regards as the bitter principle in a state of purity. It is soluble in water and in alcohol ; but the solution isW much affected bv re-agents. Nitrate of silver and acetate of lead are the only two that occasion a precipitate. The bitter principle is of great importance, not only in the practice of medicine, but also in the art of brewing ; its influence being that of checking fermentation, preserving the fermented liquor, and when the bitter of the hop is used, communicating a peculiar and agreeab e flavour. The bitter principle appears to consist principally of carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen, with a little nitrogen. 1422. Narcotic principle. There is a species of medical preparations known by the name of narcotics, which have the property of inducing sleep ; and, if administered in large doses, of occasioning death. Thev are obtained from' the milky and proper juices of some vegetables, and from the infusion ot the leaves or stem of others, all which have been supposed to contain in their composition some common in- gredient, which chemists have agreed to designate by the name of the narcotic principle. It exists in great abundance in opium, which is the concrete juice of Papaver somniferum var. album, or the white poppv, from which it is obtained pure, in the form of white crystals. It is soluble in boilingwater and in alcohol, as well as in all acid menstrua ; and it appears that the action of opium on the anima subject depends on this principle. When distilled it emits white vapours, which are condensed into a yellow oil ; >.ome water and carbonate of ammonia pass into a receiver; and at last carbonic acid gas, ammonia, and earburctted hydrogen are disengaged, and a bulky charcoal left behind. Many other vegetable substances 22 > sci l.NC m: OF AGRICULTURE. II. besides opium possess narcotic qualities though they havenol yet been minutely analysed The following are theroosl remarkable :— The inspissated Juice <>i lettuce, which resembles opium much in its apgear ance, is obtained by the same means, and possesses the same medical virtues ; the leaves of A/tropa BelladOnna, oi deadlj nightshade, and indeed the whole plant; the leaves of Digitalis purpurea, or foxglove: ami lastly, the following plants, tfyosc^amua nager, Coniurn maculatum, Dathra Stramonium, &nd Ledum palfistre. with many others belonging t<> the Linnean natural order of Luridae. i | ! 1, idi Ar'nl- an- a class of substances that m.iv be distinguished by their exciting on the palate the Bensation of sourness. Theyexisl not only in the animal and mineral, but also in the vegetable, kingdom ; and such of them as are peculiar t<> vegetables have been denominated vegetable acids. Of acid, peculiar tO vegetables chemists enumerate the following: the oxalic, acetic, citric, malic, gallic, tartaric bensoic, and prussic, winch exist ready formed in the juices or organs of the plant, and are accordingly denominated native acids ; together with the mucous, pyromucous,pvrotartarou8,pyrolignous, camphoric, and BUberic, which «!o not exist ready Conned in the plant, ami are hence denominated unifi- ed*! iicids! They are consequently not within the scope of the object of the present work. \\ :\. Oxalic add. Ifthe expressed Juice of the(XxaIteAceto- efl to evaporate Jowly, ii (ii-]M^it^ small crystals <>t a yellowish colour and which an- known by the . i. l, ill it Is, .i salt with excess ot acid, from wldch the m Id mai be oht .md pure hy nrocesses well known to the chemist. Il is not vised in medicine or the arts, except In Its ;tate of addulum, in which it is cm- ployed to make ■ s..rt of le Ii - and to di i barge stains .if" mk". It has been round also In O'xalis conteulata, Pelargonium aViduin, in the several species of Kuuiex, and in the pubes- t arleUnum. M25. - The acetic acid, or vinegar, which is ge- ictured from wine in a certain stage of ferment- been (bund also ready formed In the sap of several i,., , ii bj Vauquelin; and also In the acid juice um, of which it forms a constituent part. obtained 1>\ Scheele from the sap of the Sambacus nigra; and U consequents to be regarded as a native vegetable acid. It is distinguished from other vegetable acids by its forming soluble salts with the alkalies and earths. 1 1 '.0. Citr. ••■!.•!,!. i itric acid is the acid which existsin thejuice of lemon. Its taste is very sour in a state of purity, but ex- ceedingly pleasant when diluted with water. By a red heat it ■field! carbonic acid gas and carbonated hydrogen gas, and is reduced to a charcoal; nitric acid converts it into oxalic and acetic ftcid, and with lime it forms a salt insoluble in water. It his been found unmixed with other acids in the following vegetable substances : in the juice of oranges and lemons, and :i the berries of Oxycdccus palustris, Paccmium Kit is ldce'a, Padus, Sblitnum Dulcamara, and rtosa can'tna. It has been found also in many other fruits, mixed with other acids. 1127. Malic acid. Malic acid is found chiefly in the juice of unripe apples, whence it derives its name; but it is found also in thejuice of barberries, alderberries, gooseberries, plums, and common house-leek. 1 1 ,'S. (,.(//;, acid* Gallic acid, as it is obtained in the greatest abundance, so it derives its name, from the nut-gall, from which it may be extracted by exposing a quantity of the powder of nut-galls to a moderate heat in a glass retort ; when the acid will sublime and form crystals of an octahedral figure. Its taste is austere and astringent. It strongly reddens vegetable blues. It Is soluble both in water and alcohol; and is distin- guished by its property of communicating to solutions of iron a deep pu**ple colour. When exposed to a gentle heat itsub- UmeS without alteration, but a Strong heal decomposes it. Nitric arid converts it into the malic mtl oxalic acids. It is of great utility in the art of dyeing, and forms the basis of all black colours, and The principal species of fat oils arc the following : — i :.*'.. Otivt oil, winch is expressed from the pulpy r art of the fruit of 0*le ' europata* Tin- fruit i- first broken in a mill, and reduced to a sort ot juste. It is thin subjected to the action of a press, and the oil, which is now easily separated, sv una on the top of the crater in the vessel beneath* Ii is manufactured chietly in France and in Italy, and is much used throughout Europe In t< id of i miter, and to give a seasoning to food. 1 137 Oil i?f almond* t which is extrai ted from the fruit of the y^niVgdalu- communis or common almond. The almonds are first well rubbed or shook in a coarse hat; or sack , to separate .\ hitter powder which coven their epidermis. They are then pounded in mortars of marble into a paste, which is afterwards sab ected to the action of the press; and the oil is now ob- tain' rin « 1 1 vegetables. It is Insoluble in water, I I .7. B abtmlnad flram the Junfperui communis, but soluble in sleohol. When treated sith oxymtuiellc acid, lation, n .isMiiii,-, th«- coUnu of a withered leaf, and exhibits the re- i i •->. Blemt Is extracted flram the Imyriaeli itinera, rinoui pnopertiei mure diatinctly, I i.vi. Tit.i>itt*i. Is the produce of the PajnWu octahdra and 1467* Copei It (he produce of the /thus copallinum, a tret Kpului bsliamnata, which i- bond in Nonh America* is-. n. LabdeMoRi la obtained flram the Gutns eiwtlaus, 1468, An im f t w obtained from the HymervtVj Courbarit, or l |ii I . i>i»jHjU,imni>t t vrbthm qfGik oil, which hai becnaomnch Kk-u^i live, a natlTe of North America, lamed for lta medical vlrtaea»b the produce of th Bi 1469, /„, la the prodnoa of {be Aleuzites lacclfera, a native dron cilead -mm', a ahrub wbicheTowa in Judoo and hi Arabia, of the K.vst [ndii s. hut it la ao much rained ei the Inrfcs that lta Importation is pro. 1470, Bloom. I 'pun the epidermis of the leaves and fruit of hil.ited. Thi> ll the li.iim of tiiV.ul so much celebrated in certain specie, of plants, there is to lie found a tine, soft, and Scripture. I'lim eftyi it WSJ tir.t drought to Koine DJ the glaucous powder. It la p.trti. ularh observable upon cabbage ganj nil of Verpawtn It ii obtained in a liquid late flram In- leaves, ana upon plums, to which it ■ oinmunicatei a peeu- ebaooa made In the bark, andiaeoi ehal bluer to the tastes llax shade. It is known to gardeners by the name of bloom. 1462. Co|i in -i, er Uilsi'ii ,j copm'M li obtained Aram the t'o- It is easily rubbed oil" by the finders ; and when viewed un- p hi r.i officinalis, der the microscope seems to he coml»osed of small opaque ltragan's blood U obtained from the Dractt'na draco, and unpolished granules, si.ine.ih.it sin. il.tr to the powder of Plerocarpus draco, and r'.tlainus /. star, h ; hut w ith ahigh magnifying powerit appears transparent. 1464. Oianae la the produce of the d male. When ruM.ed oil, it is again reproduced* though slowly. It 1165. /ti./i i ; /;ii/ raria, the produoeofthe i fptusrednf- raalabi the action of dews and tains, and is consequently inso- fera, a native of New Holland, and found in great abundance luble in water; but it is soluble in spirits of wine; from about llotanv It. is. which circumstance it has been suspected, with some pro- I li.ii. Bran ruin constitutes the colouring matter of the leaves bability, to be a resin. 1471. The use nf resins in the arts is very considerable ; but their medical virtues are not quite so great as has been generally supposed Thej are employed in the arts of painting, varnishing, embalming, and IK-rfumery ; and they furnish us with two of the most important of all materials to a naval power, pitch and tar. 1 174 Gum-resins. This term is employed to denote a class of vegetable substances, which have been regarded by chemists as consisting of gum and resin. They are generally contained in the proper vessels of the plant, whether in the root, stem, branches, leaves, flowers, or fruit. But there is this remarkable difference hctu een resins and gum-resins, that the latter have never been known, like the former, to ex- ude spontaneously from the plant. They are obtained by means of bruising the parts containing them, and expressing the juice, which is always in the state of an emulsion, generally white, but sometimes of a different colour ; or they are obtained by means of incisions from which the juice flows. This juice, which is the proper juice of the plant, is then exposed to the action of the sun, by which, in warm climates, it is condensed and inspissated, and converted into the gum-resin of commerce. Gum-resins, in their solid state, are brittle, and less transparent than resins. They have generally a strong smell, which is some- times alliaceous, and a bitter and nauseous taste. They are partially soluble both in water and in alcohol. When heated, they do not melt like the resins, nor are they so combustible ; but they swell and soften by heat, and at last burn away with a flame. By distillation they yield volatile oil, ammonia combined with an acid, and have a bulky charcoal. The principal species of gum-resins which have been hitherto applied to any useful purpose are : — 1473. Galbatwm, obtained from the stem of the ftubon gal- 1481. Myrrh, the plant yielding which grows in Abyssinia I. .nuiii. and Arabia. Kruce says it belongs to trie genus Mimosa ; 1474. ytmmi'iuVic, brought from Africa, in the form of smalt but however this may be, myrrh is the juice of the plant tears; the plant which yields it is thought to be a species of concreted in the form of tears. Its colour is yellow, its odour Ferula. strong but agreeable, and its taste bitter ; it is emp'oyed in 1 175. Scammom/, the produce of the Convolvulus Scammonia. medicine, ;.nd is esteemed an excellent stomachic. 1476. Opoponax, obtained from the Pastinaca opoponax. 1482. Asyojatula, a substance which is well known for its 1477- F.uphorbium, the produce of the Buphorbu officinalis. strong and fetid smell, is obtained from tl»e Ferula assafce'tida. Its taste is caustic ; it is considered as a poison, but is occa- At four years old the plant is dug up by the root. The root sionally employed in medicine. is then cleaned, and the extremity cut off; a milky juice 1478. Oltbanum is obtained from the Bosweah'u serriita, which exuo.es, which is collected; and when it ceases to flow an- frows in Arabia, particularly by the borders of the Red Sea. other portion is cut off, and more juice extricated. The pro- t is the frankincense of the ancients. It exudes from in- cess is continued till the root is exhausted. The juice which cisions made in the tree, and concretes into masses about the has been collected soon concretes, and constitutes assafectida. si /e of a chestnut. It is brought to Europe in small agglutinated grains of dif- 1 17'J. Sjgapenum is supposed to be obtained from the Feru^i ferent colours, white, red, yellow. It Ls hard, hut brittle. Its persica. taste is bitter, and its smell insufferably fetid ; the Indians I I si i. Gamboge, or gumgutt, the produce of the Garcinni use it as a seasoning for their food, and c II it the food of Cambodia. the gods. In Europe, it is used in medicine as an antispas- modic. 1483. Balsams. The substances known by the name of balsams are resins united to the benzoic acid. They are obtained by means of incisions made in the bark, from which a viscous juice exudes, which is afterwards inspissated by the action of the fire or air, or they are obtained by means of boiling the part that contains them. They are thick and viscid juices, but become readily concrete. Their colour is brown or red ; their smell aromatic when rubbed ; their taste acrid ; their specific gravity 1090. They are un- alterable in the air after becoming concrete. They are insoluble in water, but boiling water abstracts part of their acid ; they are soluble in the alkalies and nitric acid. When heated they melt and swell, evolv- ing a white and odorous smoke. The principal of the balsams are the following : benzoin, storax, styrax, balsam of tolu, and balsam of Peru. list. Bouofn is the produce of the Styrax Renzbin. 14S7. Balsam of tolu is obtained from the Tolutfera Eilsa- 1 Is.'.. Stora t is obtained from the Styrax officinale. mum. I486. Styrax i, a semi-fluid juice, the produce of a tree said 14SS. Balsam nf Peru is obtained from the Mvrospermum to he cultivates:! in Arabia. peruiferum. [489. Camphor. The substance known by the name of camphor is obtained from the root and stem of the /.at'irus Cumphora and Dryobalanops Camphora, by distillation. When pure it is a white brittle sub- stance, forming octagonal crystals or square plates, "its taste is hot and acrid ; its odour strong but aromatic ; its specific gravity 0DS87. AN hen broken into small fragments and put into water, on the surface of which it swims, a singular phenomenon ensues. The water surrounding the fragments is immediately put into commotion, advancing and retiring in little waves, and attacking the fragments with violence. The minuter fragments are driven backwards and forwards upon the surface as if impelled by contrary winds. If a drop of oil is let fall on the surface of the water it produces an immediate calm. This phenomenon has been attributed to electricity. 1'ourcroy thinks it is merely the effect of the affinities of the camphor, water, ami air, entering into combination. Though camphor is obtained chiefly from the /.afirus Camphora, yet it is known to exist in a great many other plants, particularly labiate plants, and has been extracted from the roots of zodoary, sassafras, thyme, rosemary, and lavender. 1490. Caoutchouc. The substance denominated caoutchouc was first introduced into Europe about the beginning nf the eighteenth century ; but, from a use to which it is very generally applied of rubbing out the marks made upon paper by a black-lead pencil, it is better known to most people in this country by the name of Indian rubber. It is obtained chiefly from Siphbnia Cuhuchu, a tree indigenous to South America; but it has been obtained also from several trees which grow in the East Indies, such as Ficus indica and el.istica, Artocarpus integriiolia, and I'rceola elastica. Il 'an incision is made into the bark of any of these plants a milky juice exudes, which, when exposed to the air, concretes and forms caoutchouc. As the object of the natives in collecting it had been originally to form it into vessels for their own use, it is generally made to concrete in the form of bags or bottles. This is done by applying the juice, when fluid, in thin layers to a mould of dry clay, and then leaving it to concrete in the sun or by the fire, A second layer is added to the first, and others in succession, till the vessel acquires the thickness that is wanted. The mould is then broken and the vessel fit for use, and in this state it is generally brought Book I. VEGETABLE CHEMISTRY. 223 into Europe. It has been brought, however, even in its milky state, by being confined from the action of the air. If the milky juice is exposed to the air, an elastic pellicle is formed on the surface. If it is con. fined in a vessel containing oxygen gas, the pellicle is formed sooner. If oxymuriatic acid is poured into the milky juice, the caoutchouc precipitates immediately. This renders it probable that the formation of the caoutchouc is owing to the absorption of oxygen. Caoutchouc, when pure, is of a white colour, with- out taste and without smell. The black colour of the caoutchouc of commerce is owing to the method ot drying the different layers upon the moulds on which they are spread. They are dried by being exposed to smoke. The black colour of the caoutchouc, therefore, is owing to the smoke or soot alternating with its different layers. It is sort and pliable like leather, and extremely elastic, so that it may be stretched to a very great length, and still recover its former size. Its specific gravity is 09335. Gough, of Man- chester, has made some curious and important experiments on the connection between the temperature of caoutchouc and its elasticity, from which it results that ductility as well as fluidity is owing to latent heat. Caoutchouc is not altered by exposure to the air. It is perfectly insoluble in water ; but if boiled in water for some time its edges become so soft that they will cement, if pressed and kept for a while close together. It is insoluble in alcohol, but soluble in ether. It is soluble also in volatile oils and in alka- lies. And from the action operated upon by acids it is thought to be composed of carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, and azote. It seems to exist in a great variety of plants combined with other ingredients. It may be separated from resins by alcohol. It may be separated from the berries of the mistletoe by means of water, and from other vegetable substances by other processes. It is said to be contained both in opium and in mastic; but from these substances it cannot be extracted in sufficient quantities to make it worth the labour. It is applied to a great many useful purposes both in medicine and the arts, to which, from its great pliability and elasticity, it is uncommonly well adapted. In the countries where it is produced the natives make boots and shoes of it, and often use it by way of candle. 1491. Cork. The substance known by the name of cork is the outer and exfoliated bark of the Quercus Suber or cork tree, a species of oak that grows in great abundance in France, Spain, and Italy: but to prevent its natural exfoliation, which is always irregular, and to disengage it in convenient portions, a longitudinal incision is made in the bark from the root to the top of the stem ; and a transverse and cir- cular incision at each extremity. The outer layer, which is cork, is then stripped off, and to flatten and reduce it to sheets it is put into water and loaded with weights. The tree continues to thrive, though it is thus stripped of its cork once in two or three years. Cork is a light, soft, and elastic substance, dis- tinguished by the following properties: — Its colour is a sort of light tan. It is very inflammable, and burns with a bright white flame, leaving a black and bulky charcoal behind. When distilled it yields a small quantity of ammonia. Nitric acid corrodes and dissolves it, changing its colour to yellow ; and finally decomposes it, converting it partly into an acid, and partly into a soft substance resembling wax or resin. The acid which is thus formed is denominated the suberic acid, and has been proved by the experiments of Lagrange to be an acid of a peculiar nature. It seems probable that cork exists in the bark of some ot'.er trees, as well as that of the Quercus Suber. The bark of the t/'lmus suberbsa assumes something of the external appearance of cork, which it resembles in its thickness, softness, and elasticity, and in its loose and porous texture, as well as also in its chemical properties. Foureroy seems, indeed, to regard the epidermis of all trees whatever to be a sort of cork, but does not say on what grounds his opinion is founded. 1492. Woody fibre. The principal body of the root, stem, and branches of trees, is designated by the appellation of wood ; but the term is too general for the purpose of analytical distinction, as the part designated by it often includes the greater part of the substances that have been already enumerated. It remains, therefore, to be ascertained whether there exists in the plant any individual substance different from those already described, and constituting more immediately the fabric of the wood. If a piece of wood is well dried and digested, first in water and then in alcohol, or such other solvent as shall produce no violent effects upon the insoluble parts ; and if the digestion is continued till the liquid is no longer coloured, and dissolves no more of the substance of the plant, there remains behind a sort of vegetable skeleton, which constitutes the basis of the wood, and which has been denominated woody fibre. It is composed of bundles of longitudinal threads, which are divisible into others still smaller. It is somewhat transparent. It is without taste and smell, and is not altered by exposure to the atmosphere. It is inso- luble in water and alcohol ; but the fixed alkalies decompose it with the assistance of heat. When heated in the open air it blackens without melting or frothing, and exhales a thick smoke and pungent odour, leaving a charcoal that retains the form of the original mass. When distilled in a retort it yields an em- pyreumatic oil, carburetted hydrogen gas, carbonic acid, and a portion of ammonia, according to Four- croy, indicating the presence of nitrogen as constituting one of its elementary principles ; and yet this ingredient does not appear in the result of the later analysis of Gay Lussac and Thenard, which is, car- bon, 52-53 ; oxygen, 41 "8 ; hydrogen, 569 ; total 100. 1493. Charcoal. When wood is burnt with a smothered flame, the volatile parts are driven off by the heat, and there remains behind a substance exhibiting the exact form, and even the several layers of the original mass. This process is denominated charring, and the substance obtained charcoal. As it is the woody fibre alone which resists the action of heat, while the other parts of the plants are dissipated, it is plain that charcoal must be the residuum of woody fibre, and that the quantity of the one must depend upon the quantity of the other, if they are not rather to be considered as thesame. Charcoal maybe ob- tained from almost all parts of the plants, whether solid or fluid. It often escapes, however, during com- bustion, under the form of carbonic acid, of which it constitutes one of the elements. From a variety of experiments made on different plants and on their different parts, it appears that the green parts contain a greater proportion of charcoal than the rest ; but this proportion is found to diminish in autumn, when the green parts begin to be deprived of their glutinous and extractive juice. The wood contains more charcoal than the alburnum, the bark more than both ; but this last result is not constant in all plants ; because the bark is not a homogeneous substance, the outer parts being affected by the air and the inner parts not. The wood of the Quercus Rbbux, separated from the alburnum, yielded from 100 parts of its dried substance 1975 of charcoal ; the alburnum, 17'5 ; the bark, 26 ; leaves gathered in May, 80 ; in September, 26. But the quantity of charcoal differs also in different plants, as well as in different parts of the same. According to the experiments of Mushet, 100 parts of the following trees afforded as follows : — Lignum vita? • 26-8 Walnut - 20-6 Norway fir M-thoRany - 25-4 Holly - 19-9 Sallow Jvabumum . 24-5 Beech - - 19-9 Ash Chestnut . 23-2 American maple - - 19-9 Birrh Oak - 22-6 Elin - - 19-5 Scotch pine American black birch - - 21-4 19-2 18 -4 17-9 17-1 16-4 1494. The properties of charcoal are insolubility in water, of which, however, it absorbs a portion when newly made, as also of atmospheric air. It is incapable of putrefaction. It is not altered by the most violent heat that can be applied, if all air and moisture are excluded ; but when heated to about 800 it bums in atmospheric air or oxygen gas, and if pure, without leaving any residuum. It is regarded by chemists as being a triple compound, of which the ingredients are carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen. Charcoal is of great utility both to the chemist and artist as a fuel for heating furnaces, as well as for a variety of other purposes. It is an excellent filter for purifying water. It is a very good tooth-powder; and is also an indispensable ingredient in the important manufacture of gunpowder. 1495. The sap. If the branch of a vine is cut asunder early in the spring, before the leaves have begun to expand, a clear and colourless fluid will issue from the wound, which gardeners denominate the tears of 924 SCIENCE OF AGRICULTURE. Part II. the vine. Il is merely, however, the ascending sap, and may be procured from almost any other plant by thesame or .similar means, ami at the lame season . I'Ot particularly from the maple, lurch, anil walnut tree, by means of boring a hole in the trunk. It issues chiefly from the porous and mixed tubes of the alburnum ; though sometimes it does not flow freely till the bore is carried to the centre. A small branch of a vine has been known to yield from twelve to sixteen ounces, in the space of twenty-four hours, a maple tree of moderate size welds a: its in a season, as has been already stated ; and a birch tree has been known to yield, in the course of the bleeding season, a quantity equal to its own weight In the sap of F.igus svlv.'.tica vauquelin found the follow ing ingredients : — Water, acetate of lime with ex. cess of acid, acetate of potass, gallic acid, tannin, mucous and extracts e matter, and acetate of alumina. In 10 ':> parts of the sap of the i ' Imuscampcstris he found 1027 parts of water and volatile matter, 9-240 of acetate of potaSS, 1*060 Of vegetable matter, 796 Of carbonate Of lime, besides some slight indications of the presence of sulphuric and muriatic acids ■ and at a later period of the season he found the vegetable matter increased, and the carbonate of lime and acetate of potass diminished. From the above cxperi. ments therefore, as well as from those of other chemists, it is plain that the sap consists of a great variety of ingredients, differing in different species of plants ; though there is too little known concerning it to warrant the deduction of any general conclusions, as the number of plants whose sap has been hitherto analysed is but very limited. It is the grand and principal source or vegetable aliment, and may be regarded as being somewhat analogous to th^ blood Of animals. It is not made use of by man, at least in its natural state: but there are trees, such as the birch, whose sap may be manufactured into a very pleasant wine ; and it is well known that the sap of the American maple tree yields a considerable quantity of sugar. 1 KJ6 ' The proper juice. When the sap has received its last degree of elaboration from the different or. pans through which it has to pass, it is converted into a peculiar fluid, called the proper juice. This fluid may be distinguished from the sap by means of its colour, which is generally green, as in periwinkle ; or red', as in logwood ; or white, as in spurge ; or yellow, as in celandine ; from the last two of which it may readily be obtained by breaking the stem asunder, as it will then exude from the fracture. Its principal seat is in the bark, where it occupies the simple tubes ; but sometimes it is situated between the bark and wood, as in the juniper tree; or in the leaf, as in the greater parts of herbs ; or it is diffused throughout the whole plant, as in the fir and hemlock ; in which case, either the proper juice mixes with the sap, or the vessels containing it have ramifications so fine as to be altogether imperceptible. It is not, however, the same in all plants, nor even in the different parts of the same plant. In the cherry tree it is mucila- ginous ; in the pine it is resinous ; in spurge and celandine it is caustic, though resembling in appearance an emulsion. In many plants tin 1 proper juice of the bark is different from that of the flower ; and the proper juice of the fruit different from both Its appearance under the microscope, according toSenebier, is that of an assemblage of small globules connected by small and prism-shaped substances placed between them. If this juice could be obtained in a state of purity, its analysis would throw a considerable degree of light upon the subject of vegetation; but it seems impracticable to extract it without a mixture of sap. Senebier analysed the milky juice of Euphorbia C'yparissias, of which, though its pungency was so great as to occasion an inflammation of the eyes to the person employed to procure it, he had obtained a small quantity considerably pure. It mixed readily with water, to which it communicated its colour. When left exposed to the air, a slight precipitation ensued ; and, when allowed to evaporate, a thin and opaque crust remained behind. Alcohol coagulated it into small globules. Ether dissolved it entirely, as did also oil of turpentine. .Sulphuric acid changed its colour to black ; nitric acid to green. The most accurate experiments on the subject are those of ChaptaL When oxymuriatic acid was poured into the peculiar juice of J?uph6rbfa, a very copious white precipitate fell down, which, when washed and dried, had the appearance of starch, and was not altered by keeping. Alcohol, aided by heat, dissolved two thirds of it, which the addition of water again precipitated. They had all the properties of resin. The remaining third part possessed the properties of woody fibre. The same experiment was tried on the juice of a variety of other plants, and the result uniformly was that oxymuriatic acid precipitated from them woodv fibre. 1497. The virtues of plants have generally been thought to reside in their proper juices, and the opinion seems indeed to be well founded. It is at least proved by experiment in the poppy, spurge, and fig. The juice of the first is narcotic, of the last two corrosive. The diuretic and balsamic virtues of the fir reside in its turpentine, and the purgative property of jalap in its resin. If sugar is obtained from the sap of the sugar-cane and maple, it is only because it has been mixed with a quantity of proper juice. The bark certainly contains it in greatest abundance, as may be exemplified in cinnamon and quinquina. But the peach tree furnishes an exception to this rule : its flowers are purgative, and the whole plant aromatic ; but its gum is without any distinguished virtues. Malpighi regarded the proper juice as the principle of nourishment, and compared it to the blood of animals ; but this analogy does not hold very closely. The sap is perhaps more analogous to the blood, from which the proper juice is rather a secretion. In one respect, however, the analogy holds good, that is, with regard to extravasated blood and peculiar juices. If the blood escapes from the vessels it forms neither flesh nor bones, but tumours ; and if the pro- per juices escape from the vessels containing them, they form neither wood nor bark, but a lump or deposit of inspissated fluid. To the sap or to the proper juice, or rather to a mixture of both, we must refer such substances as are obtained from plants under the name of expressed juices, because it is evident that they can come from no other source. In this state they are generally obtained in the first instance, whether with a view to their use in medicine or their application to the arts. It is the business of the chemist or artist to separate and purify them afterwards, according to the peculiar object he may happen to have in view, and the use to which he purposes to apply them. They contain, like the sap, acetate of potass or of lime, and assume a deeper shade of colour when exposed to the fire or air. The oxymuriatic acid precipitates from them a coloured and flaky substance as from the sap, and they yield by evaporation a quantity of extract ; but they differ from the sap in exhibiting no traces of tannin or gallic acid, and but rarely of the saccharine principle. 1 }!'s Ashes. When vegetables are burnt in the open air the greatest part of their substance is evapo- rated during the process of combustion ; but ultimately there remains a portion which is altogether incombustible, and incapable of being volatilised by the action of tire. This residuum is known by the name of ashes. Herbaceous plants, after being dried, yield more ashes than woody plants ; the leaves more than the branches ; and the branches more than the trunk. The alburnum yields also more ashes than the wood; and putrefied vegetables yield more ashes than the same vegetables in a fresh state, if the putrefaction has not taken place in a current of water. The result of Saussure's experiments on 1000 parts of different plants was as follows : — Gtdhered in May, dried leaves of the oak ----- 53 parts of asttej. green leaves of the oak - 13 dried leaves of the /thododendron - - 50 dried leaves of the yK'sculus Hipjmr.t. tanum - 72 trunk and branches of / culu HI oca* tanum .V» Gathered in Sevtcinlter, dried leaves of the jflCaculUB lli|>!'<" astanum 86 dried leaves of the oak - 55 green leaves of the oak - *M Qathtnd nhtninJUnvtr, leaves of Plsum sativum - - - 95 Gathered trhen in fruit, leaves of Pisum sativum - - - si leaves of Faba vulgaris - - 20 Qattund before corning intojloreer, the leaves of the F:\bn vulgaris 1G Oak, the dried bark 60, the alburnum 4, wood .... 2 Book L VEGETABLE CHEMISTRY. 225 149y. The analysis of the ashes of plants, with a view to the discovery of the ingredients of which they are composed, produces alkalies, earths, and metals, which must therefore be considered as ingredients ill the composition of the vegetable. But vegetable ashes contain also a variety of other principles, occur- ring, however, in such small proportions as generally to escape observation. Perhaps they contain also substances not capable of being volatilised by the action of fire. 1500. Alkalies. The alkalies are a peculiar class of substances, distinguished by a caustic taste and the property of changing vegetable blues to green. They are generally regarded as being three in num- ber, potass/soda, and ammonia, of which the two former only are found in the ashes of vegetables. Am- monia is, indeed, often obtained from vegetable substances by means of distillation, but then it is always formed during the process. If the ashes of land vegetables, burnt in the open air, are repeatedly washed in water, and the water filtered and evaporated to dryness, potass is left behind. The potass of commerce is manufactured in this manner, though it is not quite pure : but it may be purified by dissolving it in spirits of wine, and evaporating the solution to dryness in a silver vessel. When pure it is white and semi- transparent, and is extremely caustic and deliquescent. It dissolves all soft animal substances, and changes vegetable blues into green. It dissolves alumina, and also a small quantity ot silex, with which it fuses into glass by the aid of fire. It had been long suspected by chemists to be a compound substance : and according to the notable discovery by Sir H. Davy, its component parts are at last ascertained to be oxygen and a highly inflammable metal, which he denominates potassium, one proportion of each. Soda is found chiefly in marine plants, from the ashes of which it is obtained by means of lixiviation. It exists in great abundance in Salsola Soda, Zostera maritima, and various species of Fiici. It is generally obtained in the state of a carbonate, but is purified in the same manner as potass, to which it is similar in its properties; but from which it is easily distinguished by its forming a hard soap with oil, while potass forms a soft soap. It consists, according to' Sir H. Davy, of one proportion of a metal which he denominates sodium, and two proportions of oxygen. Such are the only vegetable alkalies, and the modes of obtaining them. They are found generally in the state of carbonates, sulphates, or muriates, salts which form, beyond all comparison, the most abundant ingreuient in the ashes of green herbaceous plants whose parts are in a state of vegetation. The ashes of the golden rod, growing in an uncultivated soil, and of the bean, turn- sole, and wheat, were found by Saussure to contain at least three fourths of their weight of alkaline salts. This was nearly the case also with the leaves of trees just bursting from the bud. But the proportion of alkaline salts is found to diminish, rather than to augment, as the parts of the plant are developed. The ashes of the leaves of the oak, gathered in May, yielded 47 parts in the 100 of alkaline salts ; and, in September, only 17. 1501. The utility of the alkalies, as obtained from vegetables, is of the utmost importance in the arts, particularly in the formation of glass and of soaps. If a mixture of soda, or potass, and silex, or sand, in certain proportions, is exposed to a violent heat, the ingredients are melted down into a fluid mass, which is glass in a state of fusion. In this state it may be moulded into almost any form, at the pleasure of the artist : and, accordingly, we find that it is manufactured into a great variety of utensils and instruments, under the heads of flint glass, crown glass, bottle glass. Bottle glass is the coarsest ; it is formed of soda and common sand, and is used in the manufacture of the coarser .sort of bottles. Crown glass is composed of soda and fine sand : it is moulded into large plates for the purpose of forming window-glasses and looking-glasses. Flint glass is the finest and most transparent of all : that which is of the best quality is composed of 120 parts of white silicious sand, 40 parts of pearl-ash, 35 of red oxide of lead, 13 of nitrate of potass, and 25 of black oxide of manganese. It is known also by the name of crystal, and may be cut and polished so as to serve for a variety of ornamental purposes, as well as lor the more important and more useful purpose of forming optical' instruments, of which the discoveries made with the telescope and the microscope are the curious or sublime results. If a quantity of oil is mixed with half its weight of a strong solution of soda or potass, a combination takes place which is rendered more complete by means of boiling. The new compound is soap. The union of oil with potass forms a soft soap, and with soda hard soap ; sub- stances of the greatest efficacy as detergents, and of the greatest utility in the washing and bleaching of linen. The alkalies are used also in medicine, and found to be peculiarly efficacious in the reduction of urinary calculi. 1502. Eartlis. The only earths which have hitheito been found in plants are the following: lime, silica, magnesia, and alumina. 1503. Lime is by far the most abundant earth. It is generally combined with a portion of phosphoric, carbonic, or sulphuric acid, forming phosphates, or carbonates, or sulphates of lime. The phosphate of lime is, next to the alkaline salt, the most abundant ingredient in the ashes of green herbaceous plants whose parts are all in a state of vegetation. The leaf of a tree, bursting from the bud, contains in its ashes a greater portion of earthy phosphate than at any other period : 100 parts of the ashes of the leaves of tile oak, gathered in Way, furnished 24 parts of earthy phosphate ; in September, only 18 25. In annual plants the proportion of earthy phosphate diminishes from the period of their germination to that of their flowering. Plants of the bean, before flowering, gave 145 parts of earthy phosphate ; in flower, only 135. Carbonate of lime is, next to phosphate of lime, the most abundant of the earthy salts that are found in vegetables. But if the leaves of plants are washed in water the proportion of carbonate is augmented. This is owing to the subtraction of their alkaline salts and phosphates in a greater proportion than their lime. In green herbaceous plants whose parts are in a state of increase, there is but little carbonate of lime ; but the ashes of the bark of trees contain an enormous quantity of carbonate of lime, and much more than the alburnum, as do also the ashes of the wood. The ashes of most seeds contain no carbonate of lime ; but they abound in phosphate of potass. Hence the ashes of plants, at the period of the maturity of the fruit, yields less carbonate of lime than at any previous period. 144. Silica is not found to exist in a great proportion in the ashes of vegetables, unless they have been previously deprived of their salts and phosphates by washing; but, when the plants are washed in water, the proportion of their silica augments. The ashes of the leaves of the hazel, gathered in May, yielded 2 5 parts of silica in 100. The same leaves, washed, yielded four parts in 100. Voting plants, and leaves bursting from the bud, contain but little of silica in their ashes ; but the proportion of silica augments as the parts are developed. Perhaps this is owing to the diminution of the alkaline salts. The ashes of some stalks of wheat gathered a month before the time of flowering, and having some of the radical leaves withered, contained 12 parts of silica and G5 of alkaline salts in 100. At the period of their flowering, anel when more of their leaves were withered, the ashes contained 32 parts of silica and 54 of alkaline salts. Seeds divested of their external covering, contain less silica than the stem furnished with its leaves ; and it is somewhat remarkable that there are trees of which the bark, alburnum, and wood contain scarcely any silica, and the leaves a great deal, particularly in autumn. This is a phenomenon that seems inexpli- cable. The greater part of the grasses contain a very considerable proportion of silica, as elo also the plants of the genus £quisetum. Sir H. Davy has discovered that it forms a part of the epidermis of these plantS; and in some of them the principal part From 100 parts of the epidermis of the following plants the pro. portions of silica were, in bonnet cane, 90 ; bamboo, 71'4 ; common reed, 481 ; stalks of corn, 66"5. Owil g to the silica contained in the epidermis, the plants in which it is t\ uiul are sometimes used to give a polish to thesurface of subtanccs where smoothness is required. The Dutch rush (jEquisetum hyemale), a plant of this kind, is used to polish even brass. 1505. Magnesia does not exist so abundantly in the vegetable kingdom, as the two preceding earths. It has been found, however, in several of the marine plants, particularly the Fuci ; but Salsola Soda contains Q 226 SCIENCE OF AGRICULTURE. Part II. more of magnesia than any other plant yet examined. According toVauqueUn, 100 parts (if it contain i. r Magnesia. i OR Alumina has been detected in several plants, but never except in very small quantities. 1507. Metallic oxides. Among the substances found in the ashes of vegetables, we must class also metals. The] occur, however, onlj In small quantities, and arc not to be detected except by the must delicate experiments. The metals hitherto discovered in plants arc iron, manganese, and perhaps gold. Of these iron is by far the mosti i' in pi i It occurs in the state of an oxide; and the ashes of hard and woody plants, SUCh as the oak, arc said to contain nearly one tWI llth Of their own weight of tins oxide. 1 lie ashes Of Sal oil contain also a considerable quantity. The oxide of manganese was first detected in the ashes of vegetables byScheele, and afterwards found by Proust in the ashes of the pine, calendula, vine, green oak, flg tree' Beccher, Kunckel, and Sage, together with some other chemists, contend also tor the existence of gold in the ashes of certain plants ; but tin 1 very minute portion which they found, seems more likely to have proceeded from the lead employed in the process, than from the ashes Of the plant. It has been observed by Saussure, that the proportion of the oxides of iron and of manganese augments in the ashes of plants as their vegetation advances. The leaves of trees furnish mure of these principles in autumn than in spring, as do those of annual plants Seeds contain metals in less abundance than the stem ; and if plants arc washed in water, the proportions of their metallic oxides arc augmented. l ' Such are the principal ingredients that enter into the vegetable composition. They arc indeed numerous, though some of them, .such as the metallic oxides, occur in such small proportions as to render it doubtful whether they arc in reality veget ible productions or not. The same thing in.iy be said of some oi the Other ingredients that have been found in the ashes of plants, which it is probable have been absorbed ready formed by the root, and deposited unaltered, so that they can scarcely be at all regarded as being (he genuine products of vegetation Other substances. Besides the substances above enumerated, there are also several others which have been supposed to constitute distinct and peculiar genera of vegetable productions, and whii h might have been introduced under such a character ; such as the mucus, jelly, sarcocol, asparagin, inulin, and ulmin. Of Dr. Thomson, as described in his well known System of Chemistry i but as there seems to be some difference Of opinion among chemists with regard to them, and a belief entertained that they are but varieties of one or other of the foregoing ingredients, it is sufficient for the purposes of this work to have merely mentioned their names. Several other sub-tanccs, of a distinct and peculiar character, have been suspected to exist in vegetable productions: such as the febrifuge principle of Seguin, as discovering itself ill Peruvian bark ; the principle of causticity or acridity of Senebier, as discovering itself in the roots of A'auf.nculus bulbouis, Villa maritima, /I'ryi.nia alba, and ./Vim macul Mum, in the leaves of Digitalis pur- purea, in the bark of Daphne .1/ez' n (in, and in the juice of the spurges : to which may be added the tluid exuded from the sting of the common nettle, the poisons inherent in some plants, and the medical virtues inherent in others; together with such peculiar principles as may be presumed to exist in such regions of the vegetable kingdom as remain yet unexplored. The important discoveries which have already resulted from the chemical analysis of vegetable substances encourage the hope that further discoveries will be the result of further experiment; and, from the zeal and ability of such chemists as are now directing their attention to the subject, every thing is to be expected. Sect. II. Simple Products. 1510. A very few constituent and uncompounded elements include all the compound ingredients of vegetables. The most essential of such compounds consist of carbon, oxygen, and hydrogen ; a small proportion of nitrogen is said to be found only in cruci- form plants. The remaining elementary principles which plants have been found to contain, although they may be necessary in the vegetable economy, yet they are by no means principles of the first importance, as occurring only in small proportions, and be- ing dependent in a great measure on soil and situation ; whereas the elements of carbon, oxygen, and hydrogen form as it were the very essence of the vegetable subject, and constitute by their modifications the peculiar character of the properties of the plant. This is conspicuously exemplified in the result of the investigations of Gay Lussac, and Thenard, who have deduced from a series of the most minute and delicate experiments the three following propositions, which they have dignified by the name of Laws of Ve- getable Nature (Tmile de Chem. Element., torn. iii. chap, iii.) : — 1st, Vegetable sub- stances are always acid, when the oxygen they contain is to the hydrogen in a greater proportion than in water ; 2dly, Vegetable substances are always resinous, or oily, or spirituous, when the oxygen they contain is to the hydrogen in a smaller proportion than in water; .'idly, Vegetable substances are neither acid nor resinous, but saccharine, or mucilaginous, or analogous to woody fibre or starch, when the oxygen and hydrogen they contain are in the same proportion as in water. (See Dr. Thomson's System of Chemistry.) Chap. IV. Functions of Vegetables. 1511. The life, growth, and propagation of plants necessarily involve the several following topics : germination, nutriment, digestion, growth and developement of parts, anomalies of vegetable developement, sexuality of vegetables, impregnation of the vegetable germen, changes consequent upon impregnation, propagation and dispersion of the species, causes limiting the dispersion of the species, evidence and character of vegetable vitality. Book I. GERMINATION OF THE SEED. 227 Sect. 1. Germination of the Seed. 1512. Germination is that act or operation of the vegetative principle, by wliich the embryo is extricated from its envelopes, and converted into a plant. This is univer- sally the first part of the process of vegetation ; for it may be regarded as an indu- bitable fact, that all plants spring originally from seed. The conditions necessary to germination relate either to the internal state of the seed itself, or to the circumstances in which it is placed with regard to surrounding substances. 1513. The first condition necessary to germination is, that the seed must have reached maturity. Un- ripe seeds seldom germinate, because their parts are not yet prepared to form the chemical combinations on which germination depends. Ihere are some seeds, however, whose germination is said to commence in the verv seed-vessel, even before the fruit is ripe, and while it is yet attached to the parent plant. Such are those of the Tangekoili of Adanson, and Agave viv : para of East Florida, as well as those of the Cyamus Nelvmbo of Sir J. E. Smith, or sacred bean of India ; to which may be added the seeds of the com- com garden radish, pea, lemon, &c. But these are examples of rare occurrence ; though it is sometimes necessary to sow or plant the seed almost as soon as it is fully ripe, as in the case ol the coffee-bean ; which will not germinate unless it is sown within five or six weeks after it has been gathered. Most seeds, however, if guarded from external injury, will retain their germinating faculty for a period of many vears. This has been proved bv the experiment of sowing seeds which have been long so kept ; as well as by the deep ploughing up of fields which have been long left without cultivation. A field which was thus ploughed up, near Dunkeld, in Scotland, after a period of forty years' rest, yielded a considerable blade of black oats without sowing. This could have only been by the plough's bringing up to the surface seeds which had been formerly too deeply lodged for germination. 1514. The second condition is, that the seeds sown must be defended from the action of the rays of light. This has no doubt been long known to be a necessary condition of germination, if we regard the practice of the harrowing or raking in of the grains or seeds sown by the farmer or gardener as being founded upon it 1515. A third condition necessary to germination is the access of heat. No seed has ever been known to germinate at or below the freezing point. Hence seeds do not germinate in winter, even though lodged in their proper soil : but the vital principle is not necessarily destroyed in consequence of this exposure ; for the seed will germinate still, on the return of spring, when the ground lias been again thawed, and the temperature raised to the proper degree. This degree varies considerably in dif- ferent species of seeds, as is obvious from observing the times of their germination, whether in the same climate or in different ones : for if seeds, which naturally sow themselves, germinate in different climates at the same period, or in the same climate at different periods, the temperature necessary to their germi- nation must of consequence be different. Now these cases are constantly occurring and presenting them- selves to our notice ; and have also been made the subject of particular observation. Adanson found that seeds which will germinate in the space of twelve hours in an ordinary degree of heat, may be made to germinate in the space of three hours by exposing them to a greater degree of heat ; and that seeds transported from the climate of Paris to that of Senegal, have their periods of germination accelerated from one to three days. {Families des Plaules, vol i. p. 84.1 Upon the same principle, seeds transported from a warmer to a colder climate, have their periods of germination protracted till the temperature of the latter is raised to that of the former. '1 his is well exemplified in the case of green-house and hot-house plants, from which it is also obvious that the temperature must not be raised beyond a certain degree, otherwise the vital principle is totally destroyed. 1516. A fourth condition necessary to germination is the access of moisture. Seeds will not germinate if they are kept perfectly dry. Water, therefore, or some liquid equivalent to it, is essential to germi- nation. Hence rain is always acceptable to the farmer or gardener, immediately after he has sown his seeds ; and, if no rain falls, recourse must be had, if possible, to artificial watering. But the quantity of water applied is not a matter of indifference. '1 here may be too little or there may be too much. If there be too little, the seed dies for want of moisture ; if there be too much, it then rots. The case is not the same, however, with all seeds. Some can bear but little moisture, though others will germinate even when partially immersed ; as was proved by an experiment of Du Hamel's, at least in the case of peas, which he placed merely upon a piece of wet sponge, so as to immerse them by nearly the one half, and which germinated as if placed in the soil. But this was found to be the most they could bear; for when totally immersed in the water they rotted. There are some seeds, however,which will germinate even when wholly submersed. The seeds of aquatics must of necessity germinate under water ; and peas have been known to do so under certain conditions. 1517. A fifth, condition necessary to germination is the access of atmospheric air. Seeds will not germi- nate if placed in a vacuum. Ray introduced some grains of lettuce-seed into the receiver of an air-pump, which he theu exhausted. The seeds did not germinate. But they germinated upon the readmission of the air, which is thus proved by consequence to be necessary to their germination. Achard proved that no seed will germinate in nitrogen gas, or carbonic acid gas, or hydrogen gas, except when mixed with a certain proportion of oxygen gas; and hence concluded that oxygen gas is necessary to the germination of all seeds, and the only constituent part of the atmospheric air which is absolutely necessary. Hum- boldt iound that the process of germination is accelerated by means of previously steeping the seed in water impregnated with oxymuriatic acid Cress seed treated in this manner germinated in the space of three hours, though its ordinary period of germination is not less than thirty-two hours. 1518. The period necessary to complete the process of •termination is not the same in all seeds, even when all the necessary conditions have been furnished. Some species require a shorter, and others a longer period. The grasses are among the number of those plants whose seeds are of the most rapid germination ; then perhaps cruciform plants ; then leguminous plants ; then labiate plants ; then umbelliferous plants ; and in the last order rosaceous plants, whose seeds germinate the slowest. The following table in- dicates the periods of the germination of a considerable variety of seeds, as observed by Adanson : — Wheat, Millet-seed Spinach, Beans, Mustard Lettuce, .Aniseed Melon, Cucumber, Cress 1 seed - - J Days. Davs 1 RadiJi, Beet-root 6" 5 Barley from 4 to 7 4 Orache 8 5 Purslane 9 Cabbage 10 Days. Hvs=o]> 30 Farley - - - 40 or SO Almond, Chestnut, Peach 1 year Rose, Hawthorn, Filbert 2 years. 1519. Physical phenomena. When a seed is committed to the soil under the conditions which have been just specified, the first infallible symptom of germination is to be deduced Q2 2'28 SCIENCE OK AC l!i CULTURE. Part II. from tlic prolongation of the radicle [Jig. 188. a), bursting through its proper integuments, and direct- ing it-- extremity downwards into the soil. The next sU'|> in the process of germination i-- the evolution of the cotyledon or cotyledons (c), unless the seed isal- together acotyledonous, or the cotyledons hypogean, as iii the oak (/)). The next step, in the case of seeds furnished with cotyledons, is that of the extrication of the plumelet (c), or first real leaf, from within the cotyledon or from between the cotyledons, and its expansion in the open air. The developement of the rudiments of a stem(d), if the species is furnished with one, is the last and concluding step, and the plant is complete. Whatever way the seed may be deposited, the invincible tendency of the radicle is to descend and fix itself in the earth ; and of the plumelet, to ascend into the air. Many conjectures have been offered to account for this. Knight accounts for it on the old hut revived principle of gravitation. Keith conjectures that it takes place from a power inherent in the vegetable subject, analogous to what we call instinct in the animal sub- ject, infallibly directing it to the situation best suited to the acquisition of nutriment and consequent developement of its parts. 1580. The chemical phenomena of germination consist chiefly in the changes which are effected in the nutriment destined for the support and developement of the embryo till it is converted into a plant This nutriment either passes through the cotyledons, or is contained in them; because the embryo il. B when they are prematurely cut off! But the farinaceous substance of tin- cotyledons, at least in exal- buminous seeds, is a proof that they themselves contain the nutriment. They are to be regarded, therefore, ,„ repositories of the food destined for the support of the embryo in its germinating state ; and, if the seed is furnished with a distinct and separate albumen, then is the albumen to be regarded as the repo- sitory of food, ami the cotyledon or cotyledons as its channel of conveyance. But the food thus contained in the albumen or cotyledons is not yet fitted for the immediate nourishment of the embryo: some previous preparation is necessary; some change must be effected in its properties. This change is effected by the intervention of chemical agency. The moisture imbibed by a seed placed in the earth is immediately absorbed by the cotyledons or albumen, which it readily penetrates, and on which it imme- diately begins to operate a chemical change, dissolving part of their farina, or mixing with their oily particles, and forming a sort of emulsive juice. The consequence of this change is a slight degree of fermentation, induced, perhaps, by the mixture of the starch and gluten of the cofyledor.s in the water which they have absorbed, and indicated by the extraction of a quantity of carbonic acid gas, as weli as by the smell and taste of the seed. This is the commencement of the process of germination, which takes place even though no oxygen gas is present. But if no oxygen gas is present, then the process stops; which shows that the agency of oxygen gas is indispensable to germination. Accordingly, when oxygen gas is present, it is gradually inhaled by the seed; and the farina of the cotyledons is found to hive changed its savour. Sometimes it becomes acid, but generally sweet, resembling the taste of sugar ; and is consequently converted into sugar or some substance analogous to it. This is a further proof that a degree of Fermentation has been induced ; because the result is precisely the same in the process of the fermentation of barley when converted into malt, as known by the name of the saccharine fermentation ; in which oxygen gas is absorbed, heat and carbonic acid evolved, and a tendency to germination indi- cated b\ the shooting of the radicle. The effect of oxygen, therefore, in the process, is that of converting the farina of the albumen or cotyledons into a mild and saccharine food, fit for the nourishment of the infant plant by diminishing the proportion of its carbon, and in augmenting, by consequence, that of its oxygen and hydrogen. The radicle gives the first indications of life, expanding and bursting its integu- ments, and at length fixing itself in the soil: the plumelet next unfolds its parts, developing the rudi- ments of leaf, branch, and trunk: and, finally, the seminal leaves decay and drop off"; and the embryo has been converted into a plant, capable of abstracting Immediately from the soil or atmosphere the nourishment necessary to its future growth. Sect. II. Food of the vegetating Plant. 1521. The substances which plants abstract from the soil or atmosphere, or the food of the vegetating plant, have long occupied the phylological enquirer. What then are the com- ponent principles of the soil and atmosphere? The investigations and discoveries of modern chemists have done much to elucidate this dark and intricate subject. Soil, in general, may he regarded as consisting of earths, water, vegetable mould, decayed animal substances, salts, ores, alkalies, gases, perhaps in a proportion corresponding to the order in which they are now enumerated ; which is at any rate the fact with regard to the first three, though their relative proportions are by no means uniform. The atmosphere has been also found to consist of at least four species of elastic matter, nitrogen, oxygen, carbonic acid gas, and vapour ; together with a multitude of minute particles detached from the solid bodies occupying the surface of the earth, and wafted upon the wind.. The two former ingredients exist in the proportion of about four to one ; carbonic acid gas in the proportion of about one part in 100; and vapour in proportion still less. Such then are the component principles of the soil and atmosphere, and the sources of vege- table nourishment But the whole of the ingredients of the soil and atmosphere are not taken up indiscriminately by the plant and converted into vegetable food, because plants do not thrive indiscriminately in all varieties of soil. Part only ot the ingredients are selected, and in certain proportions: as is evident from the analysis of the vegetable sub- stance oiven in the foregoing chapter, in which it was found that carbon, hydrogen, Book I. FOOD OF THE VEGETATING PLANT. 229 oxygen, and nitrogen, are the principal ingredients of plants ; while the other ingredients contained in them occur but in very small proportions. It does not however follow, that these ingredients enter the plant in an uncombined and insulated state, because they do not always so exist in the soil and atmosphere ; it follows only that they are inhaled or absorbed by the vegetating plant, under one modification or another. The plant then docs not select such principles as are the most abundant in the soil and atmosphere ; nor in the proportions in which they exist ; nor in an uncombined and insulated state. But what are the substances actually selected ; in what state are they taken up ; and in what proportions ? In order to give arrangement and elucidation to the subject, it shall be considered under the following heads : Water, Gases, Vegetable Extracts, Salts, Earths, Manures. 1522. Water. As water is necessary to the commencement of vegetation, so also is it necessary to its progress. Plants will not continue to vegetate unless their roots be supplied with water ; and if they be kept long without it, the leaves will droop and become flaccid, and assume a withered appearance. Now this is evidently owing to the loss of water ; for if the roots be again well supplied with water, the weight of the plant is increased, and its freshness restored. But many plants will grow, and thrive, and effect the developement of all their parts, if the root be merely immersed m water, though not fixed in the soil. Tulips, hyacinths, and a variety of plants with bulbous roots, may be so reared, and are often to be met with so vegetating ; and many plants will also vegetate though wholly immersed. Most of the marine plants are of this de- scription. It can scarcely be doubted, therefore, that water serves for the purpose of a vegetable aliment. But, if plants cannot be made to vegetate without water ; and if they will vegetate, some when partly immersed without the assistance of soil, and some even when totally immersed, so as that no other food seems to have access to them ; does it not follow that water is the sole food of plants, the soil being merely the basis on which they rest, and the receptacle of their food ? This opinion has had many advo- cates ; and the arguments and experiments adduced in support of it were, at one time, thought to have completely established its truth. It was indeed the prevailing opinion of the seventeenth century, and was embraced by several philosophers even of the eighteenth century ; but its ablest and most zealous advocates were Van Helmont, Boyle, Du Hamel, and Bonnet, who contended that water, by virtue of the vital energy of the plant, was sufficient to form all the different substances contained in vegetables. Du Hamel reared in the above manner plants of the horsechestnut and almond to some considerable size, and an oak till it was eight years old. But though he informs us that they died at last only from neglect of watering, yet it seems extremely doubtful whether they would have continued to vegetate much longer, even if they had been watered ever so regularly : for he admits, in the first place, that they made less and less progress every year ; and, in the second place, that their roots were found to be in a very bad state. The result of a great variety of experiments is, that water is not the sole food of plants, and is not convertible into the whole of the ingredients of the vege- table substance, even with the aid of the vital energy ; though plants vegetating merely in water do yet augment the quantity of their carbon. 1523. Gases. When water was found to be insufficient to constitute the sole food of plants, recourse was next had to the assistance of the atmospheric air ; and the vital energy of the plant was believed to be at least capable of furnishing all the dif- ferent ingredients of the vegetable substance, by means of decomposing and combining, in different ways, atmospheric air and water. But as this extravagant conjecture is founded on no proof, it is consequently of no value. It must be confessed, however, that atmospheric air is indispensably necessary to the health and vigour of the plant, as may be seen by looking at the different aspects of plants exposed to a free circulation of air, and plants deprived of it : the former are vigorous and luxuriant ; the latter weak and stunted. It may be seen also by means of experiment even upon a small scale. If a plant be placed under a glass to which no new supply of air has access, it soon begins to languish, and at length withers and dies : but particularly if it be placed under the exhausted receiver of an air-pump ■ as might indeed be expected from the failure of the germination of the seed in similar circumstances. The result of experiments on this subject is, that atmospheric air and water are not the only principles constituting the food of plants. But as in germination, so also in the progress of vegetation, it is part only of the component principles of the atmospheric air that are adapted to the purposes of vegetable nutrition, and selected by the plant as a food. Let us take them in the order of their reversed proportions. 1524. The effect of the application of carbonic acid gas was found to be altogether prejudicial in thepro- cess of the germination of the seed : but in the process of subsequent vegetation its application has been found, on the contrary, to be extremely beneficial. Plants will not indeed vegetate in an atmosphere of pure carbonic acid, as was first ascertained by Dr. Priestley, who found that sprigs of mint growing in water, and placed over wort in a state of fermentation, generally became dead in the space of a day, and did not even recover when put into an atmosphere of common air. Of a number of experiments the results are: 1st, That carbonic acid gas is of great utility to the growth of plants vegetating in the sun, a* Q 3 2:)0 SCIENCE OF AGRICULTURE. Part II. applied to the loaves and branches, and whatever increases tin proportion of tin- gas inhere at lead within a given degree, forward* vegetation ; 2d, That, as applied to t branches of plants, It ii prejudicial to vegetation in the shade, If administered in a pro in their atnio- the leaves and proportion beyond tl?at"n!'« in. h Uextsbi in atmospheric air ;"ld, Thai carbonic acid gas, as applied to the roots of plants, la also beneficial to their growth, at least in the 1 <■ advanced stages m vegetation. \ i isential to the commencemei t and progress of germination, so also it Is essential to the progress ol vegetation li Is obvious, thi n, tl .1 the experiment proves that it is beneficial to the KTOwthofthevcReUbli I totherool . necessary to the developement ol the leaves; and to the Sevelopemcnl ofthe flower and fruit. The Bower-bud will not expand if confined in an atmosphere deprived of oxygen, nor will the fruit ripen. Flower-buds confined ta an abnomhere of pure nitrogen faded without expat ding A bunch of unnpe grapes introduced into a globe of glass which was luted by its orifice to the bough, and exposed to the sun. ripened without effecting any material alteration in its atmosphere but when a bunch was placed in the same circumstances, with the addition ofa quantity of lime the atmosphere was contaminated, and the grapes did not ripen. Oxygen, therefore, is essential to the developement of the vegetating plant, and is inhaled during the night ,..-.. 1 . 1 Though nUroeen eat 1 stitutes by far the greater part ol the mass of atmospheric air, it does not seem capableof affbnfing nutriment to plants; for as -ecus will not germinate, so neither will plants vegetate in it but for avery limited time, with the exception of the Hnca minor, Lythram Salicaria, / ■mil 1 dvsenterica Bpilubium hirsatum, and Polygonum Persicaria, which seem to succeed equally well in an atmosphere of nitrogen gas as in an atmosphere of common air. Nitrogen is found in almost all vegetables, particularly in the wood, in extract, and in their green parts, derived, no doubt, from the extractive principle of vegetable mould. . „„•.„. p, 7 Harfr m tat A plant ofthe Epilobium hirsutum, which was confined by Priestley in a receiver rilled with Inflammable air or hvdrogen, consumed one third of its atmosphere and was still green. Hence Priestley inferred, that it 'serves as a vegetable food, and constitutes even the true and proper pabulum ofthe plant But the experiments of later phytologists do not at all countenance this opinion. gasf they'may at least acquire it In "the state of water, which is indisputably a vegetable food, and of which hydrogen constitutes one of the component parts. 1 528. Vegetable extract. When it was found that atmospheric air and water are not, even conjointly, capable of furnishing the whole of the aliment necessary- to the de- velopement of the plant, it was men alleged that, with the exception of water, all sub- stances constituting a vegetable food must at least be administered to the plant in a gaseous state. But this also is a conjecture unsupported by proof; for even with regard to such plants as grow upon a barren rock, or in pure sand, it cannot be said that they receive no nourishment whatever besides water, except in a gaseous state. Many of the particles of decayed animal and vegetable substances, which float on the atmosphere and attach themselves to the leaves, must be supposed to enter the plant in solution with the moisture which the leaves imbibe ; and so also similar substances contained in the soil must be supposed to enter it by the root : but these substances may certainly con- tain vegetable nourishment ; and they will perhaps be found to be taken up by the plant in proportion to their degree of solubility in water, and to the quantity in which they exist in the soil. Now one ofthe most important of these substances is vegetable extract. When plants have attained to the maturity of their species, the principles of decay begin gradually to operate upon them, till they at length die and are converted into dustTor vegetable mould, which, as might be expected, constitutes a considerable proportion of the soil. The chance then is, that it is again converted into vegetable nourishment, and again enters the plant. But it cannot wholly enter the plant, because it is not wholly soluble in water. Part of it, however, is soluble, and consequently capable of being absorbed by the root, and that is the substance which has been denomi nated extract. 15°9 Saiissiirc filled a large vessel with pure mould of turf, and moistened it with distilled or rain water till it was saturated. At the end of five davs, when it was subjected to the action of the press, 10,000 parts in weight of the expressed and filtered fluid yielded, by evaporation to dryness, 26 parts of extract. In a similar experiment upon the mould of a kitchen-garden which had been manured with dung, loooo parts of a fluid yielded 10 of extract; and, in a similar experiment upon mould taken from a well- cultivated corn field, 10,01 parts of fluid yielded 4 parts of extract. Such was the result in these par. tuular cases Hut the quantity of extract which may be separated from the common soil is not in general very considerable. After twelve decoctions, all that could be separated was about one eleventh of its weight; and vet this seems to be more than sufficient for the purposes of vegetation : for a soil containing this quantity was found by experiment to be less fertile, at least for peas and beans, than a soil containing only one half or two thirds of the quantity. Kut if the quantity of extract must not be too much, neither must it be too little. Plants that were put to vegetate in soil deprived of its extract, as far as repeated decoctions could deprive it, were found to be much less vigorous and luxuriant than plants vegetating in soil not deprived of its extract : and vet the only perceptible difference between them is, that the former can imbibe and retain a much greater quantity of water than the latter. From tins last experiment, as well as from the great proportion in which it exists in the living plant, it evidently follows that extract constitutes a vegetable food. But extract contains nitrogen ; for it yields by distillation a fluid impregnated with ammonia. The difficulty, therefore, of accounting for the introduction of nitrogen into the vegeta- ting plant as well as for its existence in the mature vi getable substance, is done away ; for, although the plant refuses it when presented in a gaseous state, it is plain that it must admit it along with the extract. It seems also probable that a small quantity of carbonic acid gas enters the plant along with theextractive principle, as it is known to contain this gas also. 1530. Salts, in a certain proportion, arc found in most plants, such as nitrate, muriate, and sulphate of potass or soda, as has been already shown. These salts are known to exist in the soil, and the root is supposed to absorb them in solution with the water by which the plant is nourished. It is at least certain that plants may be made to take up by the roots a considerable proportion of salts in a state of artificial solution. But if Book I. FOOD OF THE VEGETATING PLANT. 231 salts are thus taken up by the root of the vegetating plant, does it appear that they are t jken up as a food ? Some plants, it must be confessed, are injured by the application ol salts, as is evident from the experiments of Saussure ; but others are as evidently benefited by it. Trefoil and lucerne have their growth much accelerated by the application of sul p'hate of lime, though many other plants are not at all influenced by its action. The parietaria, nettle, and borage will not thrive, except in such soils as contain nitrate of lime, or nitrate of potass ; and plants inhabiting the sea-coast, as was observed by Du Hamel, will not thrive in a soil that does not contain muriate of soda. It has been thought, how ever, that the salts are not actually taken up by the root, though converted to purposes ol utility, by acting as astringents or corrosives in stopping up the orifices of the vessels of the plant, and preventing the admission of too much water : but it is to be recollected that the salts in question are found by analysis in the very substance of die plant, and must consequently have entered in solution It has been also thought that salts are favourable to vegetation, only in proportion as they hasten the putrefaction of vegetable substances contained in the soil, or attract the humidity of the atmosphere. But sulphate of lime ii not deliquescent ; and if its action consists merely in accelerating putrefaction, why is its beneficial effect confined but to a small number of plants ? Grisenthwaite (New Theory of Agriculture, 1819, p. 111.) answers this question by stating, that as in the principal grain crops which interest the agriculturist, there exists a particular saline substance peculiar to each, so, if we turn our attention to the clovers and turnips, we shall still find the same discrimination. Saintfoin, clover, and lucerne have long been known to con- tain a notable quantity of gypsum (sulphate of lime) ; but such knowledge, very strange to relate, never led to the adoption of gypsum as a manure for these crops, any more than that of phosphate of lime for wheat, or nitrate of soda or potassa for barley. It is true that gypsum has been long, and in various places, recommended as a manure, but its uses not being understood, it was recommended without any reference to crop, or indeed to the accomplishment of any fixed object. It is very well known that some particular ingre- dient may be essential to the composition of a body, and yet constitute but a very small proportion of its mass. Atmospheric air contains only about one part in the 100 of carbonic acid ; and yet no one will venture to affirm that carbonic acid gas is merely an adventitious and accidental element existing by chance in the air of the atmosphere, and not an essential ingredient in its composition. Phosphate of lime constitutes but a very small proportion of animal bodies, perhaps not one part in 500 ; and yet no one doubts that it is essential to the composition of the bones. But the same salt is found in the ashes of all vegetables ; and who will say that is not essential to their perfection. 15:51. Eurtlis. As most plants have been found by analysis to contain a portion of alkaline or earthy salts, so most plants have been found to contain also a portion of earths : and as the two substances are so nearly related, and so foreign in their character from vegetable substances in general, the same enquiry has consequently been made with regard to their origin. Whence are the earths derived that have been found to exist in plants? Chiefly from the soil. But in what peculiar state of combination do they enter the vessels of the plant? The state most likely to facilitate their absorption is that of their solution in water, in which all the earths hitherto found in plants are known to be in a slight degree soluble. If it be said that the proportion in which they are soluble is so very small that it scarcely deserves to be taken into the account, it is to be recollected that the quantity of water absorbed by the plant is great, while that of the earth necessary to its health is but little, so that it may easily be acquired in the progress of vegetation. Such is the manner in which their absorption seems practicable ; and Woodward's experiments aiibrd a presumption that they are actually absorbed by the root. 1532. The proportion of earths contained in the ashes of vegetables depends upon the nature of the soil in which they grow. '1 he ashes of the leaves of the .Rhododendron ferrugineum, growing on Mount Jura, a calcareous mountain, vielded 4325 parts of earthy carbonate, and only U'75 of silica : but the ashes of the leaves of a plant of the same species, growing on Mount Breven, a granitic mountain, yielded two parts of silica, and only W'j of earthy carbonate. It is probable, however, that plants are not indebted merely to the soil for the earthy particles which they may contain. They may acquire them partly trom the atmo- sphere. Margravhas shown that rain-water contains silica in the proportion of a grain to a pound ; which, if it should not rea'ch the root, may possibly be absorbed along with the water that adheres to the leaves. But although the earths are thus to'be regarded as constituting a small proportion of vegetable food, they are not of themselves sufficient to support the plant, even with the assistance of water. Giobert mixed together lime, alumine, silica, and magnesia, in such proportions as are generally to be met with in fertile soils, and moistened them with water. Several different grains were then sown in tins artificial soil, which germinated indeed, but did not thrive ; and perished when the nourishment of the cotyledons was exhausted. It is plain, therefore, that the earths, though beneficial to the growth of some vegetables, and perhaps necessary to the health of others, are by no means capable of affording any considerable de- gree of nourishment to the plant. 153:3. Supply of food by manures and culture. With regard to the food of plants derived from the atmosphere, the supply is pretty regular, at least, in as far as the gases are con- cerned ; for they are not found to vary materially in their proportions on any part of the surface of the globe : but the quantity of moisture contained in the atmosphere is con- tinuallv varying, so that in the same season vou have not always the same quantity, Q 4 ■ 2 , v , SCIENCE OF AGRICULTURE. Part II. though in the course of the year the deficiency is perhaps made up. From the atmo- sphere, therefore, there is a regular supply of vegetable food kept up by nature for the support of vegetable life, independ ml of the aid of man : and if human aid were even wanted, it dors not appear thai il could be of much avail. But this is by no means the case with regard to soils; for if soils are less regular in their composition, they are at least more within the reach of human management. The supply of food maybe in- creased bj altering the mechanical or chemical constitution of soils; and by the addi- tion of food in the form of manures. '1'he mechanical constitution of soils may be altered l.v pulverisation, consolidation, draining, and watering; their chemical properties by aeration and unification ; both mechanical and chemical properties, by the addition of earths or other substances; and manures, either liquid or solid, are supplied by the distribution of prepared fluids, dungs, and other nourishing matters, with or without their interment. (See HooK III.) 1534. Soils in a state of culture, though consisting originally of the due proportion of ingredii rUs, nay yet become • vhavsted of the principle if fertility by means of too frequent cropping; whether by repetition of the same, or rotation of different, crops. In this case, it should be the object of the phytologist, as well as of the practical cultivator, to ascertain by what means fertility is to be restored to an exhausted soil, or commu- nicated to a new one. In the breaking up of new soils, if the ground has been wet or marshy, as is frequently the case, it is often sufficient to prepare it merely by means of draining oil' the superfluous and stagnant water, and of paring and burning the turf upon the surface. J'' the soil has been exhausted by too frequent a repetition of the same crop, it often happens that a change of crop will answer the purpose of the cultivator; for, although a soil may be exhausted for one sort of grain, it does not necessarily follow that it is also exhausted for another. Accordingly, the practice of the fanner is to sow his crops in rotation, having in the same field a crop, perhaps, of wheat, barley, b( ans, and tares in succession ; each species selecting in its turn some peculiar nutriment, or requiring, perhaps, a smaller supply than the crop which has preceded it. But even upon the plan of rotation, the soil becomes at length exhausted, and the cultivator is obliged to have recourse to other means of restoring its fertility. In this case, an interval of re- pose is considerably efficacious, as may be seen from the increased fertility of fields that have not been ploughed up for many years, such as those used for pasture ; or even from that of the walks and paths in gardens when they are again broken up. Hence also the practice of fallowing, and of trenching, or deep ploughing which in some cases has nearly the same effect as trenching. 1535. The fertility of a soil is restored, in the case of draining, by means of its carrvin" oil' all such superfluous moisture as may be lodged in the soil, which is well known'to be prejudicial to plants not naturally aquatics, as well as by its rendering the soil more firm and compact. In the case of burning, the amelioration is effected by means of the decomposition of the vegetable substances contained in the turf, and sub- jected to the action of the fire, which disperses part also of the superfluous moisture, but leaves a residue of ashes favourable to future vegetation. In the case of the rotation of crops, the fertility is not so much restored, as more completely developed and brought into action; because the soil, though exhausted for one species of grain, is yet found to be sufficiently fertile for another, the food necessary to each being different, or required in less abundance. I n the case of the repose of the soil, the restored fertility may be owing to the decay of vegetable substances which are not now carried off in the annual crop, but leftto augment the proportion of vegetable mould ; or to the accumulation of fertilising particles conveyed to the soil by rains ; or to the continued abstraction of oxygen from the atmo- sphere. In the case of fallows, it is owing undoubtedly to the action of the atmospheric air upon the soil, whether in rendering it more friable, or in hastening the putrefaction of noxious plants; or it is owing to the abstraction and accumulation of oxygen. In the case of trenching, or deep ploughing, it is owing to the increased facility with which the roots can now penetrate to the proper depth, by which their sphere of nourishment is increased. But it often happens that the soil can no longer be ameliorated by any of the foregoing means, or not at least with sufficient rapidity for the purposes of the cultivator ; and in this case there must be a direct and actual application made to it of such sub- stances as are fitted to restore its fertility. Hence the indispensable necessity of manures, which consist chiefly of animal and vegetable remains that are buried and finally decom- posed in the soil, from which they are afterwards absorbed by the root of the plant, in a state of solution. 1536. But as rarhon U the principal ingredient furnished by manures, as contributing to the nourishment of the plant, and is not itself soluble in water, nor even disengaged by fermentation in a slate of purity ; under what state of chemical combination is its solu- tion effected? Is it effected in the state of charcoal? It has been thought, indeed, tha* carbon in the state of charcoal is soluble in water ; because water from a dunghill, when evaporated, constantly leaves a residuum of charcoal, as was first ascertained by the ex- » Book I. PROCESS OF VEGETABLE NUTRITION. ZS3 periments of Hassenfratz. But there seem to be reasons for doubting the legitimacy of the conclusion that has been drawn from it; for Senebier found that plants whose roots were immersed in water took up less of the fluid in proportion as it was mixed with water from a dunohill. Perhaps then the charcoal of water from a dunghill is held merely in sus- pension, and enters the plant under some other modification. But if carbon is not soluble in water in the slate of charcoal, in what other state is it soluble? It is soluble in the state of carbonic acid gas. But is this the state in which it actually enters the root ? On this subject phytologists have been somewhat divided in opinion. Senebier endeavours to prove that carbonic acid gas, dissolved in water, supplies the roots of plants with almost all their carbon, and founds his arguments upon the following facts : — In the first place, it is known that carbonic acid gas is soluble in water ; in the second place, it is known to be contained in the soil, and generated by the fermentation of the materials composing manures ; and, in the next place, it is known to be beneficial to vegetation when applied artificially to the roots, at least in a certain degree. This is evident from the following experiment of Ruckert, as well as from several experiments of Saussure's previously related. Ruckert planted two beans in pots of equal dimensions, filled with garden mould ; the one was moistened with distilled water, and the other with water im- pregnated with carbonic acid gas. But the latter appeared above ground nine days sooner than the former, and produced twenty-five beans ; while the former produced only fifteen. Now the result of this experiment, as well as the preceding facts, is evidently favourable to the presumption of Senebier, and shows that if carbonic acid is not the state in which carbon enters the plant, it is at least a state preparatory to it; and there are other circumstances tending to corroborate the opinion, resulting from the analysis of the ascending sap of plants. The tears of the vine, when analysed by Senebier, yielded a portion of carbonic acid and earth ; and as the ascending sap could not be supposed to have yet undergone much alteration, the carbonic acid, like the earth, was probably taken up from the soil. But this opinion, which seems to be so firmly established upon the basis of experiment, Hassenfratz strenuously controverts. According to experiments which he had instituted with an express view to the investigation of this subject, plants which were raised in water impregnated with carbonic acid differed in no respect from such as o-rew in pure water, and contained no carbon that did not previously exist in the seed. Now if this were the fact, it would be decisive of the point in question. But it is plain from the experiments of Saussure, as related in the preceding section, that Has- suifratz must have been mistaken, both with regard to the utility of carbonic acid gas as furnishing a vegetable aliment, and with regard to the augmentation of carbon in the plant. The opinion of Senebier, therefore, may still be correct. It must be acknow- ledged, however, that the subject is not yet altogether satisfactorily cleared up ; and that carbon may certainly enter the plant in some state different from that either of charcoal in solution, or of carbonic acid gas. Is not carbonic acid of the soil decomposed before entering the plant ? This is a conjecture of Dr. Thomson's, founded upon the fol- lowing facts : — The green oxide of iron is capable of decomposing carbonic acid ; and many soils contain that oxide. Most soils, indeed, contain iron, either in the state of the brown or green oxide, and it has been found that oils convert the brown oxide into green. But dung and rich soils contain a quantity of oily substance. One effect of manures, therefore, may be that of reducing the brown oxide of iron to the green, thus rendering it capable of decomposing carbonic acid gas, so as to prepare it for some new combination, in which it may serve as an aliment for plants. All this, however, is but a conjecture ; and it is more probable that the carbonic acid of the soil enters the root in combination with some other substance, and is afterwards decomposed within the plant itself. Sect. III. Process of Vegetable Nutrition. 1537. Plants are nourished in a manner in sutne degree analogous to that in which animals are sustained. The food of plants, whether lodged in the soil, or wafted through the atmo- sphere, is taken up by introsusception in the form of gases or other fluids ; it is then known as their sap : this sap ascends to the haves, where it is elaborated as the blood of animals is in the lungs ; it then enters into the general circulation of the plant, and promotes its growth. 1538. Introsusception. As plants have no organ analogous to the mouth of animals, they are enabled to take up the nourishment necessary to their support only by absorp- tion or inhalation, as the chyle into the animal lacteals, or the air into the lungs. The former term is applied to the introsusception of non-elastic fluids ; the latter to that of gaseous fluids. The absorption of non-elastic fluids by the epidermis of plants does not admit of a doubt. It is proved indisputably, that the leaves not only contain air, but do actually inhale it. It was the opinion of Priestley that they inhale it chiefly by the upper surface"; and it has been shown by Saussure that their inhaling power depends entirely upon their organisation. It has been a question, however, among phytologists, whether r 234 BCIENCE OF AGRICULTURE. Part II. it is not also effected by die epidermis of the other parts of the plank We can scarcely suppose it to be effected by the dry and indurate epidermis of the bark of aged trunks, of which die original organisation is obliterated ; nor by that of the larger and more aged branches. But it has been thought that there are even some of the soft and succulent parts of the plant by which it cannot be effected, because no pores are visible in their epidermis. Decandolle found no pons in the epidermis of fleshy fruits, such as pears, peaches, and gooseberries; nor in that >>t' roots, or scales of bulbs; nor in any part not exposed to the influence of air and light. It is known, however, that fruits will not ripen, and that roots will not thrive, if wholly deprived of air ; and hence it is probable that they inhale it by their epidermis, though the pores by which it enters should not he visible. In the root, indeed, it may possibly enter in combination with the moisture of the soil ; but in the Other parts of the plant it enters no doubt in the state of gas. Herbs, therefore, and the soft parts of woody plants, absorb moisture and inhale gases from the soil or atmo- Bpbere by means of the pores of their epidermis, and thus the plant effects the intro- susception of its food. 15M. Ascent of the sap. The means by which the plant effects the introsusception of its food, is chiefly that of absorption by the root. But the fluids existing in the soil when absorbed by the root, are designated by the appellation of sap or lymph ; which, Ik lore it can be rendered subservient to the purposes of vegetable nutrition, must either be intermediately conveyed to some viscus proper to give it elaboration, or immediately distributed throughout the whole body of the plant. Our present object, therefore, is that of tracing out the progress of its distribution or ascent. The sap is in motion in one direction or other, if not all the year, at least at occasional periods, as the bleeding of plants in spring and autumn sufficiently illustrates. The plant always bleeds most freely about the time of the opening of the bud ; for in proportion as the leaves expand the sap flows less copiously, and when they are fully expanded it entirely ceases. But this sus- pension is only temporary, for the plant may be made to bleed again in the end of the autumn, at least under certain conditions. If an incision is now made into the body of the tree, after the occurrence of a short but sharp frost, when the heat of the sun or mildness of the air begins to produce a thaw, the sap will again flow. It w ill flow even where the tree has been but partially thawed, which sometimes happens on the south side of a tree, when the heat of the sun is strong and the wind northerly. At the seasons now specified, therefore, the sap is evidently in motion ; but the plant will not bleed at any other season of the year. It has been the opinion of some phytologists, that the motion of the sap is wholly suspended during the winter. But though the great cold of winter, as well as the great heat of summer, is by no means so favourable to vegetation as the milder though more changeable temperature of spring and autumn, yet it does not wholly suspend the movement of the sap. Balms may be made to bleed at any season of the year ; and although this is not the case with plants in general, yet there is proof suf- ficient that the colds of winter do not, even in this climate, entirely prevent the sap from flowing. Buds exhibit a gradual developement of parts throughout the whole of the winter, as may be seen by dissecting them at different periods. So also do roots. Ever- greens retain their leaves; and many of them, such as the arbutus, laurustinus, and the beautiful tribe of the mosses, protrude also their blossoms, even in spite of the rigour of the season. But all this could not possibly be accomplished, if the motion of the sap were wholly suspended. 1540. Thus the sap is in perpetual motion, with a more accelerated or more diminished velocity, throughout the whole of the year ; but still there is no decided indication exhibited m the mere circumstance of the plant's bleeding, of the direction in which the sap is moving at the time ; for the result might be the same whether it was passing from the root to the branches, or from the branches to the root. But as the great influx of the sap is effected by means of the pores of the epidermis of the root, it follows that its mo- tion must, at least in the first place, be that of ascent ; and such is its direction at the season of the plant's bleeding, as may be proved by the following experiment : — If the bore or incision that has been made in the trunk is minutely inspected while the plant yet bleeds, the sap will be found to issue almost wholly from the inferior side. If several bores are made in the same trunk, one above another, the sap will begin to flow first from the lower bore, and then from those above it. If a branch of a vine be lopped, the sap will issue copiously from the section terminating the part that remains yet attached to the plant; but not from the section terminating the part that has been lopped off. This proves indubitably that the direction of the sap's motion, during the season of the plant's bleeding, is that of ascent. But if the sap flows so copiously during the season of bleed- ing, it follows that it must ascend w ith a very considerable force; which force has accord- ingly been made the subject of calculation. To the stem of a vine cut off about two feet and a half from the ground, Hales fixed a mercurial gauge which he luted with mastic ; the gauge was in the form of a siphon, so contrived that the mercury might be made to rise in proportion to the pressure of the ascending sap. The mercury rose accordingly, Book I. PROCESS OF VEGETABLE NUTRITION. 235 and reached, at its maximum, to a height of thirty-eight inches. But this was equivalent to a column of water to the height of forty-three feet three and one third inches ; demon- strating a force in the motion of the sap that, without the evidence of experiment, would have seemed altogether incredible. 1541. Thus the sap, in asce7iding from the lower to the upper extremity qf the plant, is propelled with a very considerable force, at least in the bleeding season. But is the as- cending sap propelled indiscriminately throughout the whole of the tubular apparatus, or is it confined in its course to any particular channel ? Before the anatomy of plants had been studied with much accuracy, there was a considerable diversity of opinion on the subject. Some thought it ascended by the bark ; others thought it ascended by the bark, wood, and pith, indiscriminately ; and others thought it ascended between the bark and wood. The first opinion was maintained and supported by Malpighi; and Grew considered that the sap ascends by the bark, wood, and pith, indiscriminately. Du Hamel stripped several trees of their bark entirely, which continued, notwithstanding, to live for many years, protruding new leaves and new branches as before. Knight stripped the trunks of a number of young crab trees of a ring of bark half an inch in breadth ; but the leaves were protruded, and the branches elongated, as if the operation had not been performed. Du Petit Thouars removed the central wood and pith from the stems of several young svcamore trees, leaving the upper part to be supported only by four pillars of bark : in others lie removed the bark, liber, and alburnum, leaving the upper part of the tree to be supported solely by the central wood. In each case the tree lived, so that he concludes that both the bark and wood are competent to act as conductors to the sap. (Hist, d'un Morceau de Boh, Hort. Tour, 481.) 1542. That the sap does not ascend exclusively by the bark is thus rendered sufficiently evident. But it is equally evident that it does not ascend by the pith, at least after the first year ; for then, even upon Grew's own supposition, it becomes either juiceless or wholly extinct : and even during the first year it is not absolutely necessary, if at all subservient to the ascent of the sap, as is proved by an experiment of Knight's. Having contrived to abstract from some annual shoots a portion of their pith, so as to interrupt its continuity, but not otherwise materially to injure the fabric of the shoot, Knight found that the growth of the shoots which had been made the subject of experiment was not at all affected by it. 1543. The sap ascends neither by the bark nor pith, but by the wood only. But the whole mass of the wood throughout is not equally well adapted for the purpose of con- veying it. The interior and central part, or that which has acquired its last degree of solidity, does not in general afford it a passage. This is proved by what is called the girdling of trees, which consists in making a circular gap or incision quite round the stem, and to the depth of two or three inches, so as to cut through both the bark and alburnum. An oak tree on which Knight had performed this operation, with a view to ascertain the channel of the sap's ascent, exhibited not the slightest mark of vegetation in the spring following. The sap then does not ascend through the channel of the matured wood. But if the sap ascends neither through the channel of the bark, nor pith, nor matured wood, through what other channel does it actually ascend ? The only remaining channel through which it can possibly ascend is that of the alburnum. In passing through the channel of the alburnum, does the sap ascend promiscuously by the whole of the tubes composing it, or is it confined in its passage to any peculiar set ? The earliest conjectures recorded on this subject are those of Grew and Alalpighi, who, though they maintained that the sap ascends chiefly by the bark, did not yet deny that it ascends also partly by the alburnum or wood. It occurred to succeeding phytologists that the progress of the sap, and the vessels through which it passes, might be traced or ascer- tained by means of making plants vegetate in coloured infusions. Du Hamel steeped the extremities of branches of the fig, elder, honeysuckle, and filbert in common ink. In examining the two former, after being steeped for several days, the part immersed was found to be black throughout, but the upper part was tinged only in the wood, which was coloured for the length of a foot, but more faintly and partially in proportion to the height. The pith, indeed, exhibited some traces of ink, but the bark and buds none. In some other examples the external layers of the wood only were tinged. In the honey- suckle the deepest shade was about the middle of the woody layers ; and in the filbert there was also observed a coloured circle surrounding the pith, but none in the pith itself, nor in the bark. 154-1. Thus it is proved that the sap ascends through the vessels of the longitudinal fbre composing the alburnit)n of woody plants, and through the vessels of the several bundles of longitudinal fibre constituting the ivoody part of herbaceous plants. But it has been already shown that the vessels composing the woody fibre are not all of the same species. There are simple tubes, porous tubes, spiral tubes, mixed tubes, and interrupted tubes. Through which of these, therefore, does the sap pass in its ascent ? The best reply to this enquiry has been furnished by Knight and Mirbel. Knight prepared some annual shoots of the SCIENCE OF AGRICULTURE. Par* II. apple and horsechestnut, by means of circular incisions, mi as to leave detached rings of bark with insulated leaves remaining on the stem. He then placed them in coloured infusions obtained b) macerating the skins of very black grapes in water; and, on examining the transverse section at the end of the experiment, it was found mat the infusion had ascended by the wood beyond his incisions, and also into the insulated leaves, but had no( coloured the pith nor bark, nor the sap between the bark and wood. From the above experiment, Knight concludes that the sap ascends through what are called the common tubes of the wood and alburnum, at least till it reaches the leaves. Thus the Bap is conveyed to the summit of the alburnum. Hut Knight's next ob- ject was to trace the vessels by which it is conveyed into the leaf. The apple tree and horsechestnut "ere still his subjects of experiment In the former the leaves are attached to tin- plants by three strong fibres, or rather bundles of tubes, one in the middle of the leaf-Stalk, and one on each side. In the latter they are attached by means of several such bundles. Now the coloured fluid was found in each case to have passed through the centre of the several bundles, and through the centre only, tinging the tubes throughout almost the whole length of the leaf-stalk. In tracing their direction from the leaf-stalk upwards, thej were found to extend to the extremity of the leaves ; and in tracing their direction from the leaf-stalk downwards, they were found to penetrate the bark anil alburnum, the tubes of which they join, descending obliquely till they reach the pith which they surround. From their position Knight calls them central tubes, thus distinguishing them from the common tubes of the wood and alburnum, and from the spiral tubes with which they were every where accompanied as appendages, as well as from a set of other tubes which surrounded them, but were not coloured, and which he designates by the appellation of external tubes. The experiment was now transferred to the flower-stalk, and fruit stalk, which was done by placing branches of die apple, pear, and vine, furnished with flowers not yet expanded, in a decoction of logwood. The central vessels were rendered apparent as in the leaf-stalk. When the fruit of the two former was fully formed, the experiment was then made upon the fruit-Stalk, in which the central vessels were detected as before ; but the colouring matter was found to have penetrated into the fruit also, diverging round the core, approaching again in the eye of the fruit, and terminating at last in the stamens. This was effected by means of a prolongation of the central vessels, which did not however appear to be accom- panied by the spiral tubes beyond the fruit-stalk. Such then are the parts of the plant through which the sap ascends, and the vessels by which it is conveyed. Entering by the pores of the epidermis, it is received into the longitudinal vessels of the root by which it is conducted to the collar. Thence it is conveyed by the longitudinal vessels of the albur- num, to the base of the leaf-stalk, and peduncle ; from which it is further transmitted to the extremity of the leaves, flower, and fruit. There remains a question to be asked intimately connected with the sap's ascent. Do the vessels conducting the sap communicate with one another by inosculation or otherwise, so as that a portion of their contents may be conveyed in a lateral direction, and, consequently, to any part of the plant ; or do they form distinct channels throujrhout the whole of their extent, having no sort of communication with any other set of tubes, or with one another ? Each of the two opinions implied in the question has had its advocates and defenders : but Du Hamcl and Knight have shown that a branch will still continue to live, though the tubes leading directly to it are cut in the trunk ; from which it follows that the sap, though flowing the most copiously in the direct line of ascent, is at the same time also diffused in a trans- verse direction. 1545. Causes of the sap's nscent. By what power is the sap propelled ? Grew states two hypotheses : its volatile nature and magnetic tendency, aided by the agency of ferment- ation. MalpigbJ was of opinion that the sap ascends by means of the contraction and dilatation of the air contained in the air-vessels. M. De la Hire attempted to account for the phenomenon by combining together the theories of Grew and Malpighi ; and Borelli, who endeavoured to render their theory more perfect, by bringing to its aid the influence of the condensation and rarefaction of the air and juices of the plant. 1546. Agency <>/ hint. Du Hamcl directed his efforts to the solution of the difficulty, by endeavouring to account for the phenomenon from the agency of beat, and chiefly on the following grounds : because the sap begins to flow more copiously as thf warmth of spring returns ; because the sap is sometimes found I.. Sow on the south side of a tree before it flows on the north side, that is, on the side exposed to the influence of the sun's heat Boonerthan on the side deprived of it; because plants may be made to vegetate, even in the winter, by means of forcing them in a hot house; and because plants raised in a hot-house produce their fruit earlier than such as vegetate in the open air. There can be no doubt of the great utility of heat in forwarding the progress of vegetation ; but it will not therefore follow that the motion and ascent "t the sap are to be attributed to its agency. On the contrary, it is very well known that if the temperature exceeds a certain degree, it becomes then prejudicial both to the ascent of the sap and also to the growth of the plant Hales found that the sap flows less rapidly at mid-day than in the morning ; and every body knows that vegetation is less luxuriant at midsummer than in the spring. So also, in the case of forcing, it happens hut too often that the produce of the hot-house is totally destroyed by the unskilful application of heat If heat is actually the cause of the sap's ascent, how comes it that the degree neccs-ary to produce the effect is so very variable, even in the same climate? For there are many plants, such as the arbutus, laurustinus, and the mosses, which will continue not only to vegetate, Book I. PROCESS OF VEGETABLE NUTRITION. 237 but to protrude their blossoms and mature their fruit, even in the midst of winter, when the temperature is ,:t the lowest; and, in the case of submarine plants, the temperature can never be very high : so that, although heat does no doubt facilitate the ascent of the sap by its tendency to make the vessels expand, yet it cannot be regarded as the efficient cause, since the sap is proved to be in motion even throughout the whole of the winter. I)u Hamel endeavours, however, to strengthen the operation of heat by means of the influence of humidity, as being also powerful in promoting the ascent of the >ap, whether as relative to the season of the year or time of the day. The influence of the humidity of the atmosphere cannot be conceived to operate as a propelling cause, though it may easily be conceived to operate as affording a facility to the ascent of the sap in one way or other; which under certain circum- stances is capable of most extraordinary acceleration, but particularly in that state of the atmosphere which forbodes or precedes a storm. In such a state a stalk of wheat was observed by Du Hamel to grow three inches in three days ; a stalk of barley six inches, and a shoot of a vine almost two feet ; but this is a state that occurs but seldom, and cannot be of much service in the general propulsion of the sap. On til is intricate but important subject Linnaeus appears to have embraced the opinion of Du Hamel, or an opinion very nearly allied to it ; but does not seem to have strengthened it by any new accession of argument ; so that none of the hitherto alleged causes can be regarded as adequate to the production of the effect 1547. Irritability. Perhaps the only adequate cause ever suggested, prior to the hypothesis of Dutrochet, is that alleged by Saussure. According to Saussure the cause of the sap's ascent is to be found in a peculiar species' of irritability inherent in the sap-vessels themselves, and dependent upon vegetable life ; in consequence of which they are rendered capable of a certain degree of contraction, according to the affection of the internal surface by the application of stimuli, as well as of subsequent dilatation according to the subsidence of the action of the stimulus ; thus admitting and propelling the sap by alternate dilatation and contraction. In order to give elucidation to the subject, let the tube be supposed to consist of an indefinite number of hollow cylinders united one to another, and let the sap be supposed to enter the first cylinder by capillary attraction, or by any other adequate means; then the first cylinder being excited by the stimulus of the sap, begins gradually to contract, and to propel the contained fluid into the cylinder immediately above it. But the cylinder immedi.itely above it, when acted on in the same manner, i's affected in the same manner ; and thus the fluid is propelled from cylinder to cylinder till it reaches the summit of the plant. So also when the first cylinder has discharged its contents into the second, and is no longer acted upon by the stimulus of the sap, it begins again to be dilated to its original capacity, and prepared for the introsusception of a new portion of fluid. Thus a supply is constantly kept up, and' the sap continues to flow. The above is by far the simplest as well as most satisfactory of all theories accounting for the ascent of the sap. 1548. Contraction and dilatation. Knight has presented us with a theory which, whatever may be its real value, merits at least our particular notice, as coming from an author who stands deservedly high in the list of phytological writers. This theory rests upon the principle of the contraction and dilatation, not of the sap-vessels themselves, as in the theory of Saussure, but of what Knight denominates the silver grain, assisted perhaps by heat and humidity expanding or condensing the fluids. {Phil. Tra?is , 1801.) Keith considers this theory of" Knight as beset with many difficulties, and the agency of the alleged cause as totally inadequate to the production of the effect to be accomplished. 1549. Necessity of an equilibrium in the plant. Du Petit Thouars attributes the motion of the sap to an inherent power, with which nature has been pleased to endow vegetables. But the cause of the renewal of its motion in the spring, after remaining in a quiescent state for several months, he ascribes to the necessity of maintaining a perfect equilibrium in the system of a plant. So that, if a consumption of sap is produced at any given point, the necessity of making good the space so occasioned consequently throws all the particles of sap into motion ; and the same effect will continue to operate as long as any consumption of sap takes place. The first cause of this consumption of sap he declares to be the deve- lopement of the buds, and already formed young leaves, by the stimulating action of light and heat, but particularly of the latter. As soon as this developement occurs, an assimilation and absorption of sap is occasioned for the support of the young leaves, a vacancy in the immediate vicinity of the leaves is produced, and a motion immediately takes place. {Londoti Eticyc, art. Bot.) 1550. Electricity. The most satisfactory hypothesis for the ascent of the sap is that of M. Dutrochet. This philosopher, by careful examination with a microscope, found that the minute conical termination of the radicle was furnished with other projecting bodies, like sponges, which perform the office of the piston of a syringe, and have the power of introducing into their cavity, and through their sides, the water which comes in contact with the exterior surface, and which spongioles oppose, at the same time, the exit of any fluid which they may imbibe. The motions of the sap and juice in plants take place, according to this author, in consequence of the operations of two distinct currents of electricity : the one negative, by which the vessels have the power of absorption, which M. Dutrochet calls endosmose, and by which the vessels become turgid ; and the other positive, by which the vessels exude or secrete, which" power M Dutrochet calls exosmose. {Gardener's Mag., vol. iii. p. 78. ; Dutrochet, Agent Immediat du mouveinent vital, Paris, 8vo, 182b'.) 1551. Elaboration of the sap. The moisture of the soil is no sooner absorbed into the plant than it begins to undergo a change. This is proved by the experiment of making a bore or incision in the trunk of a tree during the season of bleeding ; the sap that issues from the wound possesses properties very different from the mere moisture of the soil, as is indicated by means of chemical analysis and sometimes also by means of a peculiar taste or flavour, as in the case of the birch tree. Hence the sap has already undergone a certain degree of elaboration ; either in passing through the glands of the cellular tissue, which it reaches through the medium of a lateral communication, or in mingling with the juices contained in the cells, and thus earning oft' a portion of them ; in the same manner, we may suppose, that water, by filtering through a mineral vein, becomes im- pregnated with the mineral through which it passes. But this primary and incipient stage of the process of elaboration must always of necessity remain a mystery to the phytologist, as being wholly eftected in the interior of the plant, and consequently beyond the reach of observation. All he can do, therefore, is to trace out its future progress, and to watch its succeeding changes, in which the rationale of the process of elaboration may be more evident. 1552. The process of elaboration is chief y operated in the leaf: for the sap no sooner reaches flu leaf, than part of it is immediately carried off by means of perspiration, perceptible or imperceptible ; effecting a change in the proportion of its component parts, and by consequence a change in its properties. 1553. Hales reared a sun-flower in a pot of eartli till it grew to the height of three feet and a half; he then covered the mouth of the pot with a plate of lead, which he cemented so as to prevent all evaporation from the earth contained in it. In this pk»te he fixed two tubes, the one nine inches in length and of but small diameter, left open to serve as a medium of communication with the external air; the other two 2S8 8CIENCE OF AGRICULTURE. Part II. inches in length .in ! one in duui Introducing a suppl) of water, but kept always abut except at the time of watering, Tin- hole» al the bottom of the pot were also shut, and the pot and plant weighed lot fifteen successive days In the xnonths of Jul] and August : hence he ascertained not only the fact of trantplral 1>\ the leaves, from a comparison of the supply and waste ; but also the quantity of moisture transpired In ■ given time, by subtracting from the total waste the amount of evaporation from the pot The Dnal result proved that the absorbing power of the root is greater than the tram>piring power of the leaves, in the proportion ol five to two Similar experiments were also made upon some species o( cabbage, whose mean transpiration was found to be 1 lb 3 ox. pet M. The sap is further affected by means of the gases entering into the root along with the moisture of the soil, but certainly, by means of the gases inhaled into the leaf; the action and elaboration of which shall now be elucidated. 1558 Elaboration of carbonic acid. The utility of carbonic acid gas, as a vegetable food, has been al- ready shown ; plants being found not only to absorb it by the root along with the moisture of the soil, but also to inhale it by the leaves, at least when vegetating in the sun or during the day. But how is the ela- boration ofthi- gas 1 fleeted? Is it assimilated to the vegetable substance imme d iately upon entering the plant, or is its assimilation effected by means of intermediate steps ? The gas thus inhaled or absorbed is not assimilated immediately, or at least not wholly : for it is known that plants do also evolve carbonic acid gas w hen vegetating in the shade, or during the night. Priestley ascertained that plants vegetating in confined atmospheres evolve carbonic acid gas in the shade, or during the night, and that the vitiated state of their atmospheres after experiment is owing to that evolution ; and Saussure that the elaboration of carbonic acid gas is essential to vegetation in the sun ; and, finally, Si nebier and Saussure proved that the carbonic acid gas contained in water is abstracted and inhaled by the leaf, and immediately decom- posed ; the carbon being assimilated to the substance of the plant, and the oxygen in part evolved and in part also assimilated. The decomposition of carbonic acid gas takes place only during the light of day, though Saussure has made it also probable that plants decompose a part of the carbonic acid gas, which they form with the surrounding oxygen, even in the dark. But the effect is operated chiefly by means ol the leaves and other green parts of vegetables, that is, chiefly by the parenchyma ; the wood, roots, petals, and leaves that have lost their green colour, not being found to exhale oxygen gas. It may be observed, however, that the green colour is not an absolutely essentia] character of the parts decomposing carbonic acid ; because the leaves of a peculiar variety of the .1 'triplex horU'nsis, in which all the green parts change to red, do still exhale oxygen gas. 15 '& Flaboration iff oxygen. It has been already shown that the leaves of plants abstract oxygen from confined atmospheres, at least when placed in the shade, though they do not inhale all the oxygen that disappears , and it has been further proved, from experiment, that the leaves of plants do also evolve a gas in the sun. From a great variety of experiments relative to the action and influence of oxygen on the Book [. PROCESS OF VEGETABLE NUTRITION. 239 plant, and the contrary, the following is the sum of the results: — The green parts of plants, hut especially the leaves, when exposed in atmospheric air to the successive influence of light ami shade, inhale and evolve alternately a portion of oxygen gas mixed with carbonic acid. But the oxygen is not immediately assimilated to the vegetable substance ; it is first converted into carbonic acid by means of combining with the carbon of the plant, which withers if this process is prevented by the application of lime or potass. The leaves of aquatics, succulent plants, and evergreens consume, in equal circumstances, less oxygen than the leaves of other plants. The roots, wood, and petals, and in short all parts not green, with the exception of some coloured leaves, do not effect the successive and alternate inhalation and extrication of oxygen ; the inhale it indeed, though they do not again give it out, or assimilate it immediately, but con. vev it under the form of carbonic acid to the leaves, where it is decomposed. Oxygen is indeed assimilated to the plant but not directly, and only by means of the decomposition of carbonic acid ; when part of it, though in a very small proportion, is retained also and assimilated along with the carbon. Hence the most obvious influence of oxygen, as applied to the leaves, is that of forming carbonic acid gas, and thus pre- senting to the plants elements which it may assimilate ; and perhaps the carbon of the extractive juices absorbed even by the root, is not assimilated to the plant till it is converted by means of oxygen into car- bonic acid. But as an atmosphere composed of nitrogen and carbonic acid gas only is not favourable to vegetation, it is probable that oxygen performs also some other function beyond that of merely presenting to the plant, under the modification of carbonic acid, elements which it may assimilate. It may affect also the disengagement of calorie by its union with the carbon of the vegetable, which is the necessary result of such union. But oxygen is also beneficial to the plant from its action on the soil ; for when the ex- tractive juices contained in the soil have become exhausted, the oxygen of the atmosphere, by penetrating into the earth and abstracting from it a portion of its carbon, forms a new extract to replace the first. Hence we mav account for a number of facts observed by the earlier phytologists, but not well explained. Du Hamel remarked that the lateral roots of plants are always the more vigorous the nearer they are to the surface ; but it now appears that they are the most vigorous at the surface because they have there the easiest access to the oxygen of the atmosphere, or to the extract which it may form. It was observed, also, by the same phvtologist, that perpendicular roots do not thrive so well, other circumstances being the same, in a stiffand wet soil as in a friable and dry soil ; while plants with slender and divided roots thrive equally well in both : but this is, no doubt, owing to the obstacles that present themselves to the passage of the oxygen in the former case, on account of the greater depth and smaller surface of the root. It was further observed, that roots which penetrate into dung or into pipes conducting water, divide into immense numbers of fibres, and form what is called the fox-tail root ; but it is because they cannot continue to vegetate, except by increasing their points of contact, with the small quantity of oxygen found in such mediums. Lastly, it was observed that plants, whose roots are suddenly overflowed with water remaining afterwards stagnant, sutler sooner than if the accident had happened by means of a continued current. It is because in the former case the oxygen contained in the water is soon exhausted, while in the latter it is not exhausted at all. Hence also we may account for the phenomenon exhibited by plants vegetating in distilled water under a receiver filled with atmospheric air, which, having no proper soil to supply the root with nourishment, effect the developement of their parts only at the expense of their own prcper substance ; the interior of the stem, or a portion of the root, or the lower leaves, decaying and giving up their extractive juices to the other parts. — Thus it appears that oxygen gas, or that constituent part of the atmospheric air which has been found to be indispensable to the life of animals, is also indispensable to the life of vegetables. But, although the presence and action of oxygen are absolutely necessary to the process of vegetation, plants do not thrive so well in an atmosphere of pure oxygen, as in an atmosphere of pure or common air. This was proved by an experiment of Saussure's, who, having introduced some plants of Pisum sativum, that were but just issuing from the seed, into a receiver containing pure oxygen gas, found that in the space of six days they had acquired only half the weight of such as were introduced at the same time into a receiver containing common air. Whence it follows that oxygen, though the principal agent in the process of vegetation, is not yet the only agent necessary to the health and growth of the plant, and that the proportion of the constituent parts of the atmospheric air is well adapted for the purposes both of vegetable and animal life. 1560. Decomposition of water. Although the opinion was proved to be groundless, by which water had been'supposed to be convertible into all the different ingredients en- tering into the composition of the vegetable substance, by means of the action of the vital energy of the plant ; yet when water was ultimately proved to be a chemical compound, it was by no means absurd to suppose that plants may possess the power of decomposing part, at least, of what they absorb by the root, and thus acquire the hydrogen as well as a portion of the oxygen which, by analysis, they are found to contain. This opinion was, accordingly, pretty generally adopted, but was not yet proved by any direct experiment. Senebier pointed out several phenomena from which he thought it was to be inferred, but particularly that of the germination of some seeds moistened merely with water, and so situated as to have no apparent contact with oxygen. The decomposition of water was inferred also by Ingenhouz, from the amelioration of an atmosphere of common air inlo which he had introduced some succulent plants vegetating in pure water. Saussure having gathered a number of plants, of the same species, as nearly alike as possible in all circum- stances likely to be affected by the experiment, dried part of them to the temperature of the atmosphere, and ascertained their weight ; the rest he made to vegetate in pure water, and in an atmosphere of pure oxygen for a given period of time, at the end of which he dried them as before, and ascertained their weight also, which it was thus only necessary to compare with the weight of the former, in order to know whether the plants had in- creased in solid vegetable substance or not. But after many expeiiments on a variety of plants, the result always was, that plants when made to vegetate in pure water only, and in an atmosphere of pure oxygen, or of common air deprived of its carbonic acid, scarcely added any thing at all to their weight in a dried state ; or if they did, the quantity was too small to be appreciated. But from a similar experiment, in which carbonic acid gas was mixed with common air, the decomposition and fixation of water by the vegetating plant are legitimately inferred. It does not appear, however, that plants do in any case decompose water directly ; that is, by appropriating its hydrogen and at the same time disengaging its oxygen in the form of gas, which is extricated only by the decomposition of carbonic acid. 1561. Descent of the proper juice. When the sap has been duly elaborated in the leaf 240 SCIENCE OF AGRICULTURE. Pabt It l>y means of tlio severe] processes thai have just been described, it assumes the appel- lation of the cambium, or proper juice of the plant. In this ultimate state of elaboration it is found chiefly in die bark, <>r rather between the bark and wood, and may very often be distinguished l>y a peculiar colour, being sometimes white, as in the several species i>l' spurge, and sometimes yellow, as in celandine. It is said to be the principal seal of the medical virtues of plants ; and was regarded by Malpighi as being to the plant what the blood is in tlic animal body, the immediate principle of nourishment and grand support of life ; which opinions he endeavours to establish by the follow ing analogies : if the blood escapes fiom the vessels of the animal body, it forms neither flesh nor bom', but tumours; it' the proper juices of the plant are extravasated, they form neither hark nor wood, but a lump of gum, resin, or inspissated juice. The disruption of the blood-vessels, and conse- quent loss of blood, injure and often prove fatal to the animal; the extravasation of tin' proper juice injures and often proves fatal to vegetables, unless the evil is prevented by the skill and management of tin.- gardener. Whatever may be the value of these re- marks as tending to establish the analogy in question, it cannot be doubted that the cam- bium, or proper juice, constitutes at least the grand principle of vegetable organisation ; generating and developing in succession the several organs of the plant, or furnishing the vital principle with the immediate materials of assimilation. The proper Juice is convened to the several parts qf the plant by an appropriate set qf vessels. One of the earliest and innst satisfactory experiments on this subject, at least ;i- far as regards the return of the proper juice through the leaf and leaf-stalk, is that of Dr. Darwin, which was conducted as follows : Ik of the £uph6rbia helioscopia, furnished with its leaves and seed-vessels, was placed in a decoction of madder-root, bo j- that the lower portion of the stem and two of the inferior leaves were immersed in it. Alter remaining SO for several days the colour of the decoction was distinctly discerned passing along the midrib of each leaf On the upper side of the leaf many of the ramifications, going from the midrib towards the circumference, were observed to be tinged with red ; but on the under side there was ob- served a system of branching vessels, originating in the extremities of the leaf, and carrying not a red but a pale milky fluid, which, alter uniting in two sets, one on each side the midrib, descended along with it into the leaf-Stalk. These were the vessels returning the elaborated sap. The vessels observable on the upper surface Darwin calls arteries, and those on the under surface he calls veins. To this may be added the more recent discoveries of Knight, who, in his experiments instituted with a view to ascertain the course of the sap, detected in the leaf-stalk, not only the vessels which he calls central tubes, through which the coloured infusion ascended, together with their appendages, the spiral tubes ; but also another set of \ e-sels surrounding the central tubes, which lie distinguishes by the appellation of external tubes and which appeared to be conveying in one direction or other a fluid which was not coloured, but which proved, upon further investigation, to be the descending proper juice. In tracing them upwards they were found to extend to the summit of the leaf, and in tracing them downwards they were found to extend to the base of the leaf-stalk, and to penetrate even into the inner bark. According to Knight, then, there are three sets of vessels in leaves, the central tubes, the spiral tubes, and the external tubes. But by what means is the proper juice conducted from the base of the leaf-stalk to the extremity of the root ? This was the chief object of the enquiry of the earlier phytologists who had not vet begun to trace its progress in the leaf and leaf-stalk ; but who were acquainted with facts indicating at least the descent of a fluid in the trunk. Du Hamel stript sixty trees of their bark in the course of the Bpring, laving them bare from the upper extremity of the trunk and branches to the root ; the experiment proved indeed fatal to them, as they all died in the course of three or four years. But many of them had made new productions both of wood and bark from the buds downwards, extending in some cases to the length of a foot ; though very few of them had made any new productions from the root upwards. Hence it is that the proper juice liot only descends from the extremity of the leaf to the extremity of the root, but generates also in it- descent new and additional parts. The experiments of Knight on this sub- ject are, if possible, more convincing than even those of Du Hamel. From the trunks of a number of veiling crab trees he detached a ring of bark of half an inch in breadth. The sap rose in them, and the portion of the trunk above the ring augmented as in the other subjects that were not so treated, while the portion below the ring scarcely augmented at all. The upper lips of the wounds made considerable advances downwards, while the lower lips made scarcely any advances upwards; but if a bud were protruded under the ring, and the shoot arising from it allowed to remain, then the portion of the trunk below that bud began immediately to augment in size, while the portion between the bud and incision remained nearly as before. When two circular incisions were made in the trunk so as to leave a ring of bark be- tween them with a leaf growing from it, the portion above the leaf died, while the portion below the leaf In ed ] and when the upper part of a branch was stripped of its leaves the bark withered as far as it was stript. Whence it is evident that tile sap which has been elaborated in the leaves and converted into proper juice, descends through the channel of the bark, or rather between the bark and alburnum to the extremity of the root, effecting the developement of new and additional parts. Hut not only is the bark thus' ascertained to lie tile channel of the descent of the proper juice after entering the trunk ; the peculiar vessels through which it immediately passes have been ascertained also. In the language of Knight tiny are merely a continuation of the external tubes already noticed, which after quitting the base mi the foot-stalk he describes as not only penetrating the inner bark, but descending along with it and conducting the proper juice to the very extremity of the root In the language id' Mirbel they are the large or rather simple tubes so abundant in the bark of woody plants, though not altogether confined to it ; and so well adapted by the width of their diameter to afford a passage to the proper juice. 1 563. Causes of descent- The proper juice then, or sap elaborated in the leaf, de- scends by the returning vessels of the leaf stalk, and by the longitudinal vessels of the inner bark, the large tubes of Mirbel and external lubes of Knight, down to the extre- mity of the root. 1564 The descent of the proper juice was regarded by the earlier phytologists as resulting from the agency of gravitation, owing perhaps more to the readiness with which the conjecture suggest- itself than to the satisfaction which it gives. Hut the insufficiency of this cause was clearly pointed out by Du Hamel, who observed in his experiments with ligature- that the tumour was always formed on the side next to the leaves, even when the branch was bent down, w bother by nature or art, so as to point to the earth, in which case the power propelling the proper juice is acting not only in opposition to that of gravitation, but with such lone a- to overcome it. '1 hi- is an unanswerable argument ; and yet it seems to have been altogether overlooked, or at least undervalued in its importance, by Knight, who endeavours to it for the effect by ascribing it to the joint operation of gravitation, capillary attraction, the waving motion of the tree, and the structure of the conducting vessels ; but the greatest of these causes is gra- Book I. PROCESS OF VEGETABLE DEVELOPEMENT. 241 vitation. Certain it is that gravitation has considerable influence in preventing the descent of the sap in young shoots of trees which have grown upright ; these, when bent down after being fullv grown, form larger buds, and often blossom instead of leaf buds. This practice, with a view to the production of bios, som-buds, is frequently adopted by gardeners [Hort. Trans, i. 237.) in training fruit trees. — These causes are each, perhaps, of some efficacy ; and yet even when taken altogether they are not adequate to the pro- duction of the effect The greatest stress is laid upon gravitation ; but its agency is obviously over-rated, as is evident from the case of the pendent shoots of the weeping willow ; and if gravitation is so very efficacious in facilitating the descent of the proper juice, how comes its influence to be suspended in the case of the ascending sap ? The action of the silver grain will scarcely be sufficient to overcome it ; and if it shouid be said that the sap ascends through the tubes of the alburnum by means of the agency of the vital principle, why may not the same vital principle conduct also the proper juice througn the returning vessels of the bark '; In short, if, with Saussure, we admit the existence of a contracting power in the former case sufficient to propel the sap from ring to ring, it will be absolutely necessary to admit it also in the latter. Thus we assign a cause adequate to the production of the effect, and avoid at the same time the transgression of that most fundamental principle of all sound philosophy which forbids us to multiply causes without necessity. M. Dutrochet's hypothesis (1550.) for the ascent of the sap accounts equally for its descent Sect. IV. Process of Vegetable Developement. 1565. The production of the different jxirls and organs of plants is effected by the assi- milation of the proper juice. The next ohject of our enquiry, therefore, will be that of tracing out the order of the developement of the several parts, together with the peculiar mode of operation adopted by the vital principle. But this mode of operation is not exactly the same in herbaceous and annual plants as in woody and perennial plants. In the former, the process of developement comprises as it were but one act of the vital prin- ciple, the parts being all unfolded in immediate succession, and without any perceptible interruption till the plant is complete. In the latter, the process is carried on by gradual and definite stages easily cognisable to the senses, commencing with the approach of spring, and terminating with the approach of winter ; during which, the functions of the vital principle seem to be altogether suspended, till it is aroused again into action by the warmth of the succeeding spring. The illustration of the latter, however, involves also that of the former ; because the growth of the first year exemplifies at the same time the growth of annuals, while the growth of succeeding years exemplifies whatever is peculiar to perennials. 1566. Elementary organs. If the embryo, on its escape from the seed and conversion into a plant, is taken and minutely inspected, it will be found to consist of a root, plume- let, and incipient stem, which have been developed in consecutive order ; and if the plant is taken and dissected at this period of its growth, it will be found to be composed merely of an epidermis enveloping a soft and pulpy substance, that forms the mass of the individual ; or it may be furnished also with a central and longitudinal fibre ; or with bundles of longitudinal fibres giving tenacity to the whole. These parts have been de- veloped, no doubt, by means of the agency of the vital principle operating on the proper juice ; but what have been the several steps of operation ? 1567. No satisfactory explication of this phenomenon has yet been offered. It is likely, however, that the rudiments of ail the parts of the plant do already exist in the embryo in such specific order of arrange- ment as shall best fit them for future developement, by the introsusception of new and additional particles. The pellicle constituting the vegetable epidermis has generally been regarded as a membrane essentially distinct from the parts which it covers, and as generated with a view to the discharge of some particular function. Some phytologists, however, have viewed it in a light altogether different, and have regarded it as being merely the effect of accident, and nothing more than a scurf formed on the exterior and pulpy surface of the parenchyma indurated by the action of the air. It is more probably, however, formed by the agency of the vital principle, even while the plant is yet in embryo, for the very purpose of protecting it from injury when it shall have been exposed to the air in the process of vegetation. There are several respects in which an analogy between the animal and vegetable epidermis is sufficiently striking : they are both capable of great expansion in the growth of the subject ; they are both easily regenerated when injured (except in the case of induration), and seemingly in the same manner; they are both subject, in certain cases, to a constant decay and repair ; and they both protect from injury the parts enclosed. 1568. Composite organs. The elucidation of the developement of the composite organs involves the discussion of the two following topics : — the fotmation of the annual plant, and of the original shoot of the perennial ; and the formation of the subsequent layers that are annually added to the perennial. 1569. Annuals and annual shoots. If a perennial of a year's growth is taken up in the beginning of winter, when the leaves, which are only temporary organs, have fallen, it will be found to consist of a root and trunk, surmounted by one bud or more. The root is the radicle expanded into the form peculiar to the species, but the trunk and buds have be-'n generated in the process of vegetation. 1570. The root or trunk, if taken and cut into two by means of a transverse section, will be found to consist already of bark, wood, and pith. Here, then, is the termination of the growth of the annual, and of the first stage of the growth of the perennial : how have their several parts or organs been formed ? 1571. The pith seems only a modification of the original pulp, and the same hypothesis that accounts for the formation of the one will account also for the formation of the other ; but the pith and pulp, or parenchyma, are ultimately converted into organs essentially distinct from one another, though phytologists have been much puzzled to assign to each its respective functions. In the ages in which phytological opinions were formed without enquiry, one of the vulgar errors of the time seems to have been that the function of the pith was that of generating the stone of fruit, and that a tree deprived of its pith would produce fruit without a stone \Phys. des Arb., liv. i. chap. 3.) : but this opinion is by much too absurd to merit a serious refutation. Another early opinion, exhibiting, however, indications of legitiinatt R 2 i 2 SCIENCE OF AGRICULTURE. Part II. enquiry, was, tli.it the pith was analogous to the li-.irt and i»r:»in of animals, aa related by Malpighi; who did not hiraiclf adopt it, but belli ved the pith to be, like the cellular tissue, the visa ra In which the sap waa elaboi itod for the nourishment ol the plant, and for the protrusion of future buds. Magnol thought thai it produced the flower and fruit, bul not the wood. Do Hamel regarded it at being merely an exten- sion of the pulp or cellular tissue, without being destined to perform any important function in the] Ution Bul Linnaeus was of opinion thai II even the wood: regarding it not only as the ratable nourishment, but i I the vegetable what the brain and spinal marrow !tv to animal — the sour e il life In these opinions there ma] be someth as ol truth, but they have all the common fault ol : pith either too little or too much. Mr Land ■ i ,i new opinion on I rdingU as being the^seatol tin- irritability of the lea tin Mill been thought to be increased from the circumstance ol it- seeming to b ilj of a temporary use in the tation, bj it- disappearing in the aged trunk. Hut although it is thus only temporary M relative to I trunk, yet it is by no means temporary as relative to the process of tation, the central part of the aged trunk being now no longer in a vegetating state, and the pith being always present ii or other in the annual plant, or in the new additions that are annually made to perennials. The pltn, then, is essential to vegetation in all its stages: and from the analogy of its structure to that of the pulp, or parenchyma, which is known, as in the leaf, to he an organ of elalioratmn, the function of the pith is most probably that of giving some peculiar elaboration to the tip, „ , , , ■ ., 1578 The generation of the layer of wood in woody plants, or of the parts analogous to wood in the rase of herbaceous plants, has been hitherto but little attended to. If we suppose the rudiments of the different parts to exist already in the embryo, then we have only to account for their developemenl by means of the introsusception and assimilation of sap and proper juice: but il we suppose them to tie generated in the course of vegetal then the difficulty of the case is augmented ; and, at the best, we can on ij i ,,,. the resull ol operations that have been so long continued as to present an effect cognisable to the sense of sight, though the detail of the proce b is often so very minute as to escape even the nicest Observation All, then, thai can be said on the subject is merely, that the tubes, however formed, do, by virtu encj of the vital principle operating on the proper juice, always make their appearance at la-t in a uniform ami determinate manner, according to the tribe or species to which the plant belongs, uniting and coalescing so as to form either a circular layer investing the pith, as in woody plints; a number of divergent layers intersecting the pith, as in some herbaceous plants ; or bundles ot longitudinal and woody flbre interspersed throughout the pith, as in others. In the same manner we may account for the formation of the layer of bark. 1573. Perennials and their annual layer. If a perennial is taken at the end of Uie second year and dissected, as in the example of the first year, it will be found to have increased in height by the addition of a perpendicular shoot, consisting of hark, wood, and pith, as in the shoot of the former year; and in diameter b) the addition of a new layer of wood and of bark, generated between the wood and bark of the former year, and covering the original cone of wood, like the paper that covers a sugar-loaf: this is the fact of the mode of augmentation about which phytologists have not differed, though they have differed widely with regard to the origin of the additional layer by which the trunk is increased in diameter. Malpighi was of opinion that the new layer of wood is formed from the liber of the former year. 157 1. The new layer of wood Linnaeus considered as formed from the pith, which is absurd, because the opinion goes to the inversion of the very order in which the layer is formed, the new layer being always exterior to the old one. But, according to the most general opinion, the layer was thought to be formed from a substance oozing out of the wood or bark— first a limpid fluid, then a viscid pulp, and then a thin layer attaching itself to the former; the substance thus exuding from the wood or bark was generally regarded as being merely an extravasated mucilage, which was somehow or other converted into wood and bark : but l)u Ilainci regarded it as being already an organised substance, consisting of both cellular and tubular tissue, which he designated by the appellation of the cambium, or proper juice. 1575. Knight lias thrown the highest degree of elucidation on this, one of the most obscure and intri- cate processes of the vegetable economy, in having shown that the sap is elaborated, so as to render it fit for the formation of new parts, in the leaf only. If a leaf or branch of the vine is grafted even on the fruit-stalk or tendril, the graft will still succeed ; but if the upper part of a branch is stripped of its leaves, the bark will wither as far as it is stripped ; and if a portion of bark furnished with a leaf is insulated by means of del iching a ring of bark above and below it, the wood of the insulated portion that is above the leaf is not augmented : tins shows evidently that the leaf gives the elaboration necessary to the formation of new parts, and that without the agency of the leaf no new part is generated : —Such then is the mode Of the augment ition of the plant in the second year of its growth. It extends in width by a new layer of wood and of bark insinuated between the wood and bark of the former year; and in height by the addition of a perpendicular shoot or of branches, generated as in the shoot of the first year. But if the plant is taken and dissected at the end of the third year, it will be found to have augmented in the same manner ; and so also at the end of the succeeding year, as long as it shall continue to live ; so that the outermost layer of bark, and innermost layer of wood, must have been originally tangent in the lir-t year Of the plant's growth ; the second layer of bark, and second layer of wood, in the second year ; and so on in the order of succession till you come to the layer of the present year, which will in like man- ner divide into two portions, the outer "forming one layer or more of bark, and the inner forming one layer or more of wood. And hence the origin of the concentric layers of wood and of bark in the trunk. But how are we to account for the formation of the divergent layers, which Du Hamel erroneously sup- posed to proceed from the pith? The true solution of the difficulty has been furnished by Knight, who, in tracing the result of the operation of building, observed, that the wood formed under the bark of the inserted bud unites indeed confusedly with the stock, though still possessing the character and properties of the wood from which it was taken, and exhibiting divergent layers of new formation which originate evidently in the bark, and terminate at the line of union between the graft and stock. \o~C. But how is the formation of the wood that note occupies the place of the pith to be accounted for? It appears thai the tubes of which the medullary sheath is composed do, in the process of vegetation, deposit a cambium, which forms an interior layer that is afterwards converted into wood for the purpose of tilling up the medullary canal. 1577. Opinion Of Darwin and Du Petit Thouars. According to these philosophers, (and the hypothesis, we believe, was originally proposed by Dr. Darwin, 1 "the phenomena which took place at the period of germination are renewed by every leaf which successively unfolds itself. The cotyledons were the source ot the fibres which were seiit down into the earth through the root ; in like manner every leaf is enabled to maintain a communication between itself and the soil, by the means of tibres. Hence arises another kind of increase, of which no notice has yet been taken — the increase in thickness. A stem, which at the Book I. PROCESS OF VEGETABLE DEVELOPEMENT. 243 hour of its birth was no thicker than a pin, in a few months acquires the diameter of an inch, or more. This arises from the successive superposition of the bundles of fibres which are created upon the develope- ment of each leaf, and of everv leaf-bud. The latter makes its tirst appearance under the form of a green point, which originates from the inner layers of the ligneous body, which it traverses, and penetrates into the bark. A short time after its tirst appearance, it may be perceived that the bud is surrounded by a portion of woody fibre, which passes downwards, covers over the wood previously formed, and thus forms a new layer. The existence of this it is easy to demonstrate ; for the tibres of the haves separate easily from the' wood, but the leaf-buds, when broken off, evidently arise from the interior of the wood. All the new parts formed bv the leaf-bud soon become so completely identified with the old wood, that, after a short period, no marks of separation remain. " (London Encyclopedia, art. Botany.) 1578. Conversion of the alburnum into perfect wood. In consequence of the increase of the trunk by means of the regular and gradual addition of an annual layer, the layers, whether of wood or of bark, are necessarily of different degrees of solidity in proportion to their age, the inner layer of bark and the outer layer of wood being the softest; and the other layers increasing in their degree of solidity till you reach the centre on the one hand, and the circumference on the other, where they are respectively the hardest, forming perfect wood or highlv indurated bark, which bark sloughs or splits into chinks, and falls off in thick crusts, as in the plane tree," fir, and birch. What length of time, then, is requisite to convert the alburnum into perfect wood, or the liber into indurated bark ; and by what means are they so con- verted? There is no fixed and definite period of time that can be positively assigned as necessary to the complete induration of the wood or bark, though it seems to require a period of a good many years before any particular layer is converted from the state of alburnum to that of perfect wood ; and perhaps no layer has received its final degree of induration till such time as the tree has arrived at its full growth. The indu- ration of the alburnum, and its consequent durability, are attributed by many to the loss of sap which the layer sustains after the period of its complete developement, when the supply from the root diminishes, and the wa.-te by evaporation or otherwise is still kept up, inducing a contraction or condensation of its elementary principles which augments the solidity of the layer, in the first degree, and begins the process that future years finish. But Knight believes the induration of the alburnum, as distinguishable in the winter, to b'e owing rather to some substance deposited in it in the course of the preceding summer, which he regards as being the proper juice in a concrete or inspissated state, but which is tarried off again by the sap as it ascends in the spring. 1579. Circulation of vegetable juices. After the discovery of the circulation of the blood of animals, phytologists, who were fond of tracing analogies between the animal and vegetable kingdoms, began to think that there perhaps existed in plants also a circu- lation of fluids. The sap was supposed to be elaborated in the root. The vessels in which it was propelled to the summit of the plant were denominated arteries ; and the vessels in which it was again returned to the root were denominated veins. Du Hamel, while he admits the ascent of the sap, and descent of the proper juice, each in peculiar and appropriate vessels, does not, however, admit the doctrine of a circulation, which seems, about the middle of the last century, to have fallen into disrepute. For Hales, who contended for an alternate ascent and descent of fluids in the day and night, and in the same vessels, or for a sort of vibratory motion, as he also describes it, gave no countenance whatever to the doctrine of a circulation of juices. But the doctrine, as it appears, has been a • ii, i thai had been planted in ■ poor soil, Du Hamel found that the root had descended alma t, while the height of the trunk m nol more than -ix inches. It the root meet! with an icle n then takes ■ horiiontal direction, not by the bending of the original shoot, but by the sending ol lateral shoots The same eflfed also follows if the extremity of the root is cut off, but not always; for ii i- .1 common thing in nursery garden) t.. cul off the tap-roots of drills of seedling oaks, without removing them, bj a sharp spade, and these generally push out now tap-roots, though not so strong as the former ' When a root ceases of it- own accord to elongate, it sends out lateral fibres which become branches, and are always the more vigorous the nearer they arc to the trunk; but the lateral branches of borisontal root, are the less < igorous the nearer they are to the end next the trunk, in the former case, the increased luxuriance is perhaps owing to the easy access of oxygen in the upper divisions; but, in the latter c ice, the increosi d luxuriance of the more distent divisions is not so easily accounted tor, it it is not to l>o attributed to the more ample supply Of nutriment which the fibres meet with as they recede from the trunk, particularly if you suppose a number of them lying horizontally, and diverging like the radii of ■ circle Hut the direction of roots is so liable to be aflbctcd by accidental causes, that there is often but little uniformity even In root, nfthe same species. If plants were to be sown in a soilol the same density throughout, p rhap- there might be at least as much uniformity in the figure and direction of their root-, a, in those of their branches; but this will seldom happen. For if the root is injured by the attacks ol insects or interrupted by Stones, or earth of too dense a quality, it then sends out lateral branches, as in the , sometimes extending in length, by following the direction of the obstacle, and some. times ceasing to elongate, and forming a knot at the extremity. Hut where the soil has been loosened by digging or otherwise, the root generally extends itself to an unusual length ; and where it is both loosened and enriched, it divides into a multiplicity of tibres. This is also the case with the roots of plant- vegetating in pots, or near a river, but especially in water. Where roots have some considerable obstacle to overcome, they will often acquire a strength proportioned to the difficulty: sometimes they will penetrate through the hardest soil to get at a soil more nutritive; and sometimes they will insinuate their fibres into the crevices even of walls and rocks, which they will hurst or overturn. This of course requires much time, and .Iocs much injury to the plant. Hoot- consequent!) thrive best in a soil that is neither too loose nor too dense; but as the nourishment which the root absorbs is chiefly taken up by the extremity, so the soil is often more exhausted at some distance from the trunk than immediately around it Du Hamel regards the -m ill fibres of the root, which absorb the moisture of the soil, as being analogous to the lacteals of the animal system, which absorb the food digested by the stomach : but the root is rather to be regarded as the month of the plant, selecting what is useful to nourishment, and rejecting what is yet in a crude and indigestible state; the larger portions of it serving also to fix the plant in the soil, and to convey to the trunk the nourishment absorbed by the smaller tibres, which, ascending by the tubes of the alburnum, is thus conveyed to the leaves, the digestive organs ot plants. Du Hamel thinks that the roots of plants are furnished with pre-organised germs, by which they are enabled to semi out lateral branches when cut, though the existence of such germs is not proved ; and affirms, that the extremities of the fibres of the root die annually, like the leaves of the trunk and branches, and are again annually renewed ; which last peculiarity Professor Willdenow affirms also to be the fact, but without adducing any evidence by which it appears to be satisfactorily substantiated. On the contrary, Knight, who has also made some observations on this subject, says, it does not appear that the terminating fibres of the roots of woody plants die annually, though those ot bullions roots are found to do so : but the fibres of creeping plants,' as the common crowfoot and strawberry, certainly die annu- ally, as do those of the vine. 158 ! The slrm. The stem, like the root, or at least the stem of woody plants, is also augmented m width by the addition of an annual layer, and in length, by the addition of an annual shoot bursting from the terminating bud. Is the developement of the shoot issuing from the stem eflected in the same man- ner also- The developement of the shoot from the stem is not effected in the same manner as the developement of that from the root, by additions to the extremity only, but by the introsusception of additional particles throughout its whole extent, at least in its sort and succulent state : the longitudinal extension diminishing in proportion as the shoot acquires solidity, anu ceasing entirely when the wood is perfectly formed, though often continuing at the summit after it has ceased at the base. The exten- sion of the -hoot is inversely as its induration, rapid while it remains herbaceous, but slow in proportion as it is converted into wood.' Hence moisture and shade are the most favourable to its elongation, because thev prevent or ret ird its induration ; and hence the small cone of wood which is formed during the first year of the plant's growth increases no more after the approach of winter, either in height or thick. ness." Such is the mode of the growth and developement of the trunk of perennial and woody plants, to which there exists a striking exception in the growth of the trunk of palms. Their internal structure has been already taken notice of as possessing no concentric or divergent layers, and no medullary canal, but merely an assemblage of large and woody fibres, interspersed without order in a pulp or parenchyma, softer at the centre, and gradually becoming harder as it approaches the circumference When the seed of the palm tree germinates, it protrudes a circular row of leaves, or of fronds, which crowns the radicle and is succeeded in the following year by a similar row issuing from the centre or bosom of the former'leaves, which ultimately die down' to the base. This process is continued for four or five years successively, without exhibiting as yet any appearance of a stem, the remaining bases of the leaves or frond forming by their union merely a sort of knob or bulb. At last, however, they constitute by their union an incipient stem, as thick the first year as it ever is after ; which in the following year is aug- mented in height!] as before, and so in succession as long as the plant lives, the leaves always issuing from the summit and crowning the stem, which is a regular column, but decaying at the end of the year, and leaving circular marks at the points of insertion, which furrow the surface of the plant, and indicate the years of its growth. 158:3. The branches, in their mode of growth and developement, exhibit nearly the same appearances as the trunk from which thev issue They originate in a bud, and form also a c one which consists of pith, wood and bark ; or rather they form a double cone: for the insertion of the branch into the trunk resembles also a cone a hose base i- at the circumference, and whose apex is at the centre, at least if it is formed in the tir.-t \ear of the plant's growth, or on the shoot of the present year , but tailing -hurt of the centre in proportion to the lateness of Its formation, and number of intervening layers. Branches in their developement assume almost all varieties of position, from the reflected to the horizontal and upright; but the lower branches ol trees are found to be generally parallel to the surface of the soil on which they grow even though that surface should be the sloping side of a hill, owing, as some have thought, to the evolution of a greater number of buds on the side that forms the obtuse angle with the soil, in conse- Quence of it- being exposed to the action of a greater mass of air. 1584. The bud, which in the beginning of spring is so vary conspicuous on the trees of this country as to ihoot 'is produced, it is at the same time furnished with new buds, which are again extended into new Book I. ANOMALIES OF VEGETABLE DE VELOPEMENT. 215 shoots in the following spring ; and thus the bud is to be regarded as forming, not only the cradle, but also the winter quarters of the shoot, for which its coat of tiled and glutinous scales seems admirably adapted. It is found chiefly in the extremity, or on the surface of the young shoot or branch, and but rarely on the stem, except it be at the collar where it produces suckers. It is also generated for the most part in the axils of the leaves, as may be seen by inspecting the annual shoot of almost any tree at random: but it is not universally so ; for to this rule there exists a curious and singular exception in the bud of the 2>la- tanus, which is generated in the verv centre of the base of the foot-stalk, and is not discoverable till after the fall of the leaf. But how are the buds formed which are thus developed? Malpighi thought they were formed from the pith or cellular tissue, which Grew regarded as viscera destined for the elaboration of the sap and protrusion of future buds. Du Hamel thinks the exterior scales of the bud originate in the interior part of the bark, and Knight relates an experiment from which he thinks it follows that the buds are formed from the descending proper juice. But whatever may be the actual origin of the bud, it is evident that its developement does not take place except through the medium of the proper juice, which has been elaborated in the leaves of preceding buds, and originally in those of the plumelet, as the young bud does not make its appearance till the leaves of the preceding buds have expanded, and will not ultimately succeed if deprived of them too soon. 1585. The bark, it is probable, performs the same functions as the leaves in the early state of the buds, and occasionally in all states. Otherwise it would not be easy to account for the growth of cactuses, euphor- bias, some apocyneous plants, &c, which are all destitute of leaves. In fine, the bark may be compared to a universal leaf, with one surface only. ^London Ency. art. Bot.) 1586. Bulbs are so very similar to buds both in their origin and developement, as to require no specific investigation. 1587. The leaf. When the leaves burst from tl e expanding bud, and even long before that period, as may be seen by the dissection of the bud in the winter, they are complete in all their parts. Hence it is obvious that the leaf, like the voung shoot, effects its final developement by means of the introsusception of new particles throughout the whole of its dimensions ; and vet this law of developement is not common to all leaves whatever, lor the leaves of liliaceous plants extend chiefly at the point of their junction with the bulb. The effect, perhaps, of their peculiarity of structure, in being formed of parallel tubes which extend throughout their whole length, without those transverse and branching fibres that constitute what are called the nerves of the leaves of woody plants. 1588. Thrjimver and fruit. When the Mower bursts from the expanding bud, and even long before that period, it is already complete in all its parts, as may be seen also by the dissection of the bud in winter. Liniueus represents the pistil as originating' in the pith, the stamens in the wood, and the corolla and calvx in the inner and outer bark respectively : but this account of their origin, though ex- tremely plausible at first sight, will not bear the test of minute examination, being contradicted by the ana- tomy of the parts themselves; particularly in the case of compound flowers. Knight, in investigating the organisation of the apple and pear, endeavoured to ascertain the origin of the several parts by tracing the organs of the fruit-stalk to their termination In the fruit-stalk he thought he could discover thepith, the central tubes, spiral tubes, and tubes of the bark, together with its epidermis : and in tracing them to their termination, he thought the pith seemed to end in the pistils; the central vessels in the stamens, after diverging round the core and approaching again in the eye of the fruit; and the bark and epidermis in the two external skin*. Hence he infers that the flower is a prolongation of the pith, wood, and bark. A question of some considerable importance has arisen out of this subject : does the flower or fruit elaborate sap for its own developement, or is it supplied with nourishment from the leaf? By placing small branches of the apple, pear, and vine, with blossoms not expanded, in a decoction of logwood, Knight found that the central vessels were coloured by the decoction. By means of a similar experiment on the same subjects after the fruit was formed, the colouring matter was traced through the mass of the fruit to the base of the stamina. And hence it appears that the flower and fruit do possess the power of elaborating sap for their own developement. Knight infers from the foregoing data, that the blossom is nourished from the alburnum, by means of the mingling of the proper juice, which the alburnum may be supposed to contain, with the sap in its ascent. Sect. V. Anomalies of Vegetable Developement. 1589. A deviation from the general laivs of developement is occasioned by the interven- tion of some accidental cause ; or of some cause operating permanently in certain sub- jects. Hence the anomaly may regard the developement either of an individual or a species, and may occur either in the root, stem, branch, leaf, bud, flower, or fruit, ac- cording to the circumstances in which it is placed ; or it may affect the habit, duration, or physical virtues of the plant. 1590. The root. According to the general laws of vegetable developement, plants of the same species are furnished with the same species of root, not producing at one time a woody or fibrous root, and at another time a bulbous root : and yet it is found that there are cases in which changes of this kind do occur. If part of the root of a tree, planted by a pond or river, protrudes beyond the bank so as to be partially immersed, it divides at the extremity into innumerable ramifications, or sends out innumerable fibres from the surface, which become again subdivided into fibres still more minute, and give to the whole an appearance something resembling that of the tail of a fox ; and it has accordingly been denominated by Du Hamel the fox-tail root. (Jig. 189.) 1591. The root of the Yhlium pralt'nse, when growing in a moist soil, which it naturally affects, is uniformly fibrous ; but when growing in a dry soil, where it is also often to be found, it is furnished with a bulbous root. The same is the case with the y/lopecurus geniculatus ; which, when growing in its native marshes, protrudes a fibrous root, though, when growing in a very dry situation, as on the top of a dry wail, it is found to be furnished with an ovate and juicy bulb. This anomaly also seems to be merely the result of a provision of nature by which the plant is endowed with the capacity of collecting a supply of jf± moisture suited to existing circumstances, and hence of adapting itself to the soil in which it grows. 1592. The roots of Utricvlaria m'mor, which consist of a number of slender and hair-like filaments, exhibit the singular anomaly of being furnished with a multitude of small and membranous bladders, each containing a transparent and watery fluid, and a small bubble of air, by means of which the plant is kept floating in the water. li 3 246 m [ENCE OF AGUICULTURE Taut II. ' . in .1111.111 iK which attends tome perennials, ii at firattplndle-chaped and per. pendicular, sending out me lata ral Bbn -, but dies .it the lower extremity in the course of the succeed- ing winter, and protrudes new Bores from the remaining portion, and even from the lower portion of (he stem, in the courserol the following spring, which, by di icending into the soil, draw down the plant with them, so thai i*nt of what was formerly item is now converted into root This process is repeated every ind by consequence ■ portion of the item Is made to descend every year Into the earth. The anomaly ma] hi' exemplified in the roots of Valeriana dioii a, I - and O'xalis .\<-« tosi Ua ; and will also account tor tin' bitten and truncated appearance of Scabil -a mi i Isa, or devil's hit. 1594 lligrat ri/ roott depend on a principle limilai to the foregoing, if the stein of a descending root happens tone creeping or procumbent instead of heme erect, then the lateral shoots from above are carried forward in the direction of that prociiinbeiiiv. so that in the course of a lew \ears the plant has actually i i it. place by so much aa the stem has been converted into a root Thisia well exemplified in the genus /Vis, a plant of which, as it enlarges in circumference, dies in the centre, and presents a ring of plants instead of a will in one. In the case of some aquatics, which float ahout on the surface of the water M thej happen to be driven by the winds, the whole plant may be said to be migratory, as in the genus /..'lima, and tome marine plant-. Tin- beet-root, if dissected when about a year old, presents the singular anomaly of being already furnished with from five to eight distinct and concentric circles of longitudinal tubes or sap-vessels, im- bedded at regular intervals in it~ pulp; whereas other biennial roots form only an individual circle each nd are, consequently, at no time furnished with more than two. 1596. Boot* changed to branches ami branches to touts. If the stem of a young plum or cherry tree, but particularly of a willow, i- taken in the autumn, and bent so as that one half of the top maybe laid in the earth, one half ot the root being at the same time taken carefully out, but sheltered at first from the cold and then gradual!] exp Bed to it, and the remaining part of the top and root subjected to the same process in the following year, the branches of the top will become roots, and the ramifications of the rout will become branches, protruding leaves, flowers, and fruit in due season. 1597. The stem. If the stem of a tree planted by a pond or river is so bent in its growth a- to come near to the surface of the water and to be occasionally immersed in it, it will sometimes semi out from the under surface a multitude of shoots that will descend into tbe water, and develope themselves in the manner of the fox-tail root. Sometimes it happens that a stem, instead of assuming the cylindrical form common to the species, assumes a compressed and flattened form similar to the herbage of the Cactus, as in the lir tribe, ash, &c. 1596. The anomaly nf the flattened stem {Jig. 190.) is accounted for by Du Ilaiucl.liy supposing that an unnatural junction must have taken place in the leaf-hud ; and so uinled shoots that would otherwise have been distinct. Sometimes the stem i* disfigured by accidental tumours or bunches projecting from the surface, and forming ultimately what are called knots in the wood. They are very common in the oak and elm, and are produced, perhaps, by means of some obstruction in the channel of the sap's motion, by which the ^e>-els become convoluted and swell up into a bunch. I hit bunches are also to be met with on the stems of herbaceous plants, as on that of the Carduus pratensis; of which you will often find a portion near the top swollen out into an egg-shaped or egg-oblong hunch, extending from an inch to two inches in length, and about an inch across. If this bunch is cut open in the month of August, it will be found to contain several large and white maggots. It has consequently been occasioned by the puncture of the parent insect depositing its eggs. It does not seem to affect the general health of a vigorous plant, though it might prove seriously in- jurious to a weak one. 1(100. Bundled stem. Sometimes two or more contiguous stems, extending in the process of their growth till they meet and press against one another, become incorporated at length into one, and form a sort of bundle. This is what may be termed a natural graft, in opposition to an artificial graft, of which it is the model and prototype. The natural graft is always effected by means of the union of the liber of the respective stems composing it ; so that the perfection of the art of grafting consists in applying the liber of the graft and stock together, in such a manner as shall most facilitate their, incorporation. 1601. The branch. If the branch of a tree is situated, as in the foregoing case of the stem, so as to he partially or periodically immersed in water, it will send out also the same sort of brush-like shoots. 1602. Bunches or knots, exhibiting a plexus of young shoots (Jig. 191. a) issuing from nearly the same point, crossing in all directions, and finally incorporating together by means of a sort nf natural graft, frequently disfigurethe branch. These bunches are frequently to be met with on the branches of the birch tree, and are Book I. ANOMALIES OF VEGETABLE DEVELOPEMENT. 247 known among the peasantry of Scotland by the name of witches' knots. They are occasioned, like the bunches of the stem, by some obstruction in the channel of the sap or proper juice. A peculiar sort of knot or bunch is also formed" on the branches of the dog-rose. The nucleus, which is generally from an inch to an inch and a half in diameter, is covered with a long and winged shag, first of a green and then of a purple colour, presenting the appearance of a small bunch of moss. (fig. 192.) It has been occasioned, like that of the stem of the thistle, by the puncture of an insect depositing its eggs in the tender shoot; for if it is cut« open about the month of August, it contains maggots. \ These anomalies remind us always of that singular disease in the human species, the Plica poloiiica. 1603. The bud. The regular developement of the hud is also often prevented hy means of the puncture of insects, and converted into a large glohular tumour. 1604. The gall tumour is very often effected by a species of Cynips, which drives its piercer into the heart of the bud while vet tender, and penetrates with its saw into the very pith ; in. jecting at the same time a drop of the corroding liquor con- tained in its bag, and then laying its eggs. The bud being thus wounded, and the juices corrupted by the injected poison, the circulation is not only impeded, but a fermentation is induced which burns the contiguous parts and changes their colour. The extravasated juice flows round the egg, and is there accu- mulated and converted into a sort of spongy lump, which vegetates and augments till it forms what is called a gall. The gall thus formed affords both shelter and nourishment to the young maggot, which, after being converted into a fly, pierces its enclosure and launches into the open air. The most remark- able of such galls are those produced on the oak tree, and known in this country by the vulgar name of oak-apples, (fig. 191. b) The bud of the willow, particularly .Salix //elix, is apt to be punctured by insects and converted into a gall : but the conversion is not always complete ; and in this case the shoot remains dwarfish, and the leaves, which are now protruded from nearly the same point, assume something of the figure of a rose. Hence it has obtained the common name of the rose-willow. The galls of the Salvia pomifera, formed in the above manner, are said to be of a very pleasant flavour, and are esteemed a great delicacy in Eastern countries. 1605. The leaves. These, like the buds, are also frequently chosen for the nidus of insects, and disfigured with galls or excrescences. But the most remarkable gall produced on the leaf, and indeed the most remarkable and important of all galls, is that which is so extremely useful in the arts of dyeing and making ink, the nut-gall of the shops. 1606. The nut-gall is generated on the leaf of a species of oak that grows plentifully in the Levant, and is so well known in commerce as to require no particular description. It is occasioned by the puncture of the Cynips lyuercifblii, which deposits its egg in the substance of the leaf by making a small perforation on the under surface. Galls and tumours are to be found on t lie leaves of many plants ; and indeed almost all leaves are liable to deformities, giving them a blistered, wrinkled, or curled appearance, and often pro- ducing disease. 1607. The excess or deficiency of leaves protruded in a group sometimes constitutes the anomaly, as in the case of the trefoils. 1608. Sometimes it is found in the natural figure of the leaf itself, as in Asparagus officinalis, where they are bristle-shaped ; Salsola Kali, awl-shaped ; and W'llium Cepa, in which they are tubular, tapering to a point. But one of the most remarkable anomalies of figure is that which occurs in the genus Sar- racem'rt, the lower portion of the leaves of which is tubular, ascending, and approaching to funnel-shaped, or rather pitcher-shaped reversed, with a flattened and concave limb attached by the one side to the orifice of the tube, and constituting the upper portion of the leaf. Linnaeus, who was acquainted with this singularity of structure, accounted for it by supposing that it was an institution of Nature, meant for the purpose of furnishing the plant with a supply of water, which it could thus catch and retain in the leaf: but as some species of the genus do not readily admit water, notwithstanding their capacity to retain it, this hypothesis is regarded by Sir J. E. Smith as being extremely doubtful, who accordingly offers a different solution, founded upon the following facts. An insect, of the Sphex or /chneumon kind, had been observed by one of the gardeners of the botanic garden at Liverpool to drag several large flies toa leaf of Sarracenwj adunca, and to force them into the tubular part of it. On examination the leaf was found to be about half rilled with water, in which the flies were now struggling ; the other leaves were also examined, and were found crammed with dead or drowning flies. The leaves of Sarracem'a purpurea are said to exhibit also the same phenomena, and seem peculiarly well adapted to entrap and confine flies, by having the margin beset with inverted hairs, which render the escape of such insects as may have accidentally fallen into the watery tube, or are intentionally forced into it, impracticable ; so that the putrid exhalation from the de;.d insects contained in the leaf often offends the nostrils, even in passing near the plant. Hence Sir J. E. Smith infers, that the growth of the plant is perhaps benefited by means of the air evolved by the dead flies, which the water has been intended to tempt, and the leaves to entrap and retain. This ingenious conjecture is, no doubt, sufficiently plausible as far as the plant may be affected ; but cannot be regarded as quite satisfactory till such time as it shall have been shown that the health of the plant is injured when insects are prevented from approaching it. 1609. The Nepenthes distillatbria exhibits also an anomaly similar to that of Sarracem'a, in holding an ounce or two of a fluid which appears to be secreted from the leaf, and to be intended as a lure to insects, which gain admission either by the spontaneous opening of the lid, or by forcibly raising it them- selves. The consequence is that they "fall into the fluid and aredrowned, no insect being capable of living in it except a certain small squilla or shrimp, with a protuberant back, which, according to Rumphius, sometimes crawls into it and can live there. To this phenomenon Sir J. E. Smith applies the same expli- cation as above, which is of course liable to the same objection. 1610. The figure of the leaf, however singular, is generally the same throughout the same individual, ex- cept in the case of accidental deformity, and yet there are exceptions even to this rule ; for sometimes the lower leaves of a plant are entire while the upper leaves are divided, as occurs in a variety of moun- tainous plants, such as burnet, saxifrage, anise, coriander ; and sometimes the lower leaves ape divided while the upper leaves are entire, as in the case of a variety of aquatics, particularly Ranunculus aquati- cus, in which the lower leaves are capillary and immersed, and the upper leaves flat and circular, floating on the surface of the water. But sometimes the dissimilitude of the leaves is still more remarkable: the Chinese mulberry, a Botany Bay tree, has not two leaves alike in form on the whole plant. And, lastly, there are some plants, as in the case of the Fungi, that arc who'ly destitute of leaves, and hence called aphyllous; while there are others, as in the case of the .Fiici, that seem to be wholly leaf. 1611. The flower. The principal anomaly of the flower is that by which one of its parts is unduly augmented, to the exclusion or diminution of some of the rest. The It 4 •J is SCIENCE OF AGRTCULTTRF.. P..KT II. flower is then said to be luxuriant ; and comprises the three following varieties: the mul- tiplicate, the full, and the proliferous flower. I i - The multtplicntt flower is sometimes, though rarely, occasioned by an unusual multiplication of the diviiloniof the calyx, at In Dtantbus Caryophfllus, and some of the alpine grasses. Hut the anomaly nmst generally conslsti In ihe undue multiplication of the divisions of the corolla, by theconversion of part of the stamens into petals, which is occasionally to be metwlthboth in n petalous and polypetalous Bowers, it occun bul seldom, however, in Rowers growing In thuir natural state and habit, though now and then a double flower is met with even in such circumstances. The full flower i- generally described t<> !><■ that in which the divisions of the corrolla arc so mul- tiplied as to exclu nens and pistils wholly by means of their com ersion into petals ; which con- readily effected in polypetalous flowers, mch as the tulip, poppy, pink, and ranunculus ; mo- noiietalous Bowers seldom being found lull This complete metamorphosis is always either the effect of cultivation, or of s e concurrence of natural circumstances analogous to it, and is indeed one of the princip irt of the florist 5 the beauty of the flower, according to general estimation, being thus much augmented. In the full flower the stamens are almost always converted into petals, whence we should pi ilia;- infer their identity of origin. But the pistil is oil en converted into a leaf, as may be seen bj inspecting the flower of the double blossomed cherry, which generally protrudes from the centre a leaf In miniature. But a il"»cr in .v income- lull also by the multiplication of the parts of the nectary, ai is sometimes the case in the genus Aquilegia, which produces full Rowei i dm lit way- : by the multiplication of the petals to the exclusion of the nectaries; by the multiplication of the i ies to the exclusion of the petals : and by the multiplication of the in claries while the proper petals remain. There are also some peculiarities in the manner in which compound Mowers become lull Radiated llowers become lull sometimes by the multiplication of the floscules of the ray to the exclusion of the floscules oi the disk, as in Helianthus, .7'nlhcmis, and Cen- taurea: and sometimes by the multiplication of the floscules of the disk to the exclusion of those of the ray, as in Matricaria and 193 y/ciiis. 1614 The proliferous flower fig. 193.) is that out of which another flower or another shoot is produced It is seldom f d but in flowers already lull; from the centre of which, thai is, from the ovary or pistil, it sometimes happens that a new (lower and foot-stalk is produced, if the flower is simple, as in the ranunculus, anemone, and pink ; or several flowers and foot-stalks issuing from the common calyx, if the flower is com- pound, as in the daisy, hawkweed, and marigold ; or a new umbel issuing from the centre of the original umbel, if the flower is umbellate, as in Curnus. 1615. Various anomalies. Sometimes the proliferous issue of the full flower is not itself a flower, but a shoot furnished with leaves, as has been sometimes, though rarely, observed in thecaseof the anemone and rose. Such arc the several varieties of luxuriant flowers, constituting anomalies of excess : but it Bometimes happens that there is also in the flower an anomaly of defect in the absence of one of its parts. Examples of this sort arc occasionally to be met with m the flowers of Cheirauthus Chnri, Campanula pentagonia, and Tussilago anandria, in which the corolla is altogether wanting, though proper to the species ; and in this case the flower is said to be mutilated. Sometimes the anomaly consis:s in the situa- tion of the (lower, which is generally protruded from the extremity or sides of the branches ; but the flower of the A'liscus is protruded from the surface of the leaf. Or it may consist in the relative situation of the several parts of the flower. In simple llowers, the pistil is invariably central with regard t-> the stamens ; but in compound flowers the pist:ls are often situated in the circumference and the stamens in the centre. This seems to he the case, also, with some monoecious plants, having their flowers on the same peduncle, as in the example of the Cirex and .-Trum, in which the stamens are more central than the pistils. Some- time* the anomaly consists in the color of the corolla, wdiich will often deviate even in the same species. The general colour of the common cowslip i Primula vferis) is a bright yellow ; but an individual is occa- sionally to be met with, though very rarely, in which the limb or expansion of the corolla is purple with a line of yellow around the border. Sometimes the anomaly consists in the time of flowering. Ihe season proper 'for the flowering of the apple and pear tree is the month of May; but trees of that sort have been known to protrude both buds and hi s-oms even in the month of November. Some plains, however, blow only in the winter, as in the case of the laurustinus and .-('rbutus i/nedo; while others blow only in the night, and refuse to expand their petals to the light of the sun Such is the case of the Cactus grandirlbra, that produces one of the most magnificent of flowers, but blows only in the night ; and is hence known also by the a;'p illation of the night blowing cereus. Some plants, such as the .J'lgje, and Fungi, are altogether destitute of con- spicuous flowers; and are hence called Oryptogamous. The flower of the tig is perhaps one of the most singular in respect of i concealment. The flowers of perfect plants, which, in other cases, uniformly precede the fruit, are in this case concealed Within what is generally denominated the fruit ; as may be proved by cutting open a green tig fig. 10+.) by means of a lon- gitudinal section passing through its axis. Great numbers of Bowers are then discovered lining a sort of cavity in the axis of the fruit ; and hence what is called the fruit or fig, in common language, is rather the receptacle of the flower than any thing else. Host plants have their llowers furnished both with stamens and pistils, and are hence hermaphro- dites But there are also many genera that have the stamens in one flower and the pistils in another, both on ihe same individual : these are denominated Monoecious plants, and are exemplified in the oak and li IzeL Other genera have the flowers with stamens on one plant, and the flowers with pistils on another: these are denominated DiaiCiOUS, and arc exemplified in the hop and willow. Others have unisexual flowers of each kind on one and the same plant, as in Monoecia; on separate plants, as in Dioecia ; and on others mixed with those which are hermaphrodite : these are denominated Polygamous, and are ex- emplified in the genus .-/'triplex. In a spccii s of Euterpe, found on the island of Bourbon, the flowers are visible eight years before they are expanded. The summit is formed of twelve leaves, each supplied with a bunch of flowers m its axilla. Three leaves "illy expand each year, so that (our vers will have elapsed between the expansion of the first flowers and of" the last, although even the former were discoverable lour, and the latter eight, yean prcv iously. ( Londun EncyC, art. Botany.) 1610". The fruit. The anomalies of the fruit may affect either its number, figure, colour, or appenda 1617. The common hazel-nut produces in general but one kernel in one shell; but in the course ft opening a considerable number, von will now and then meet with one containing two or three kernels in a shell I hi is, pel hap-, bi i accounti d l"r by supposing, with Du Hamcl, fl at it is the result of an i.n- natural grail effected in the bad , though some think that the shell doei always contain the rudiments of Book I. SEXUALITY OF VEGETABLES. 249 two or more kernels, although it rarely happens that more than one is developed. But if two apples or pears are developed in an incorporated state, which is a case that now and !ieL then occurs, it is no doubt best accounted for bv the graft of Du HameL Sometimes the anomally consist in the figure of the fruit, which is de formed by tumours or excrescences, in consequence of the bite of insects or injuries of weather producing warts, moles, or specks. Sometimes it consists in the colour, producing green melons and white cucumbers Sometimes it consists in an appendage of leaves. (Jig. 195.) 1618. Habit. The anomalies of habit are principally oc- casioned by soil and cultivation. Ihl9. Some plants, which, when placed in a rich soil, grow to a great height, and affect the habit of a tree, are, when placed in a poor soil converted into dwarfish shrubs. This may be exemplified in the case of the box. tree ; it also occurs in the case of herbaceous plants ; as in that of Afyosotis, which in dry situations is but short and dwarfish, while in moist situations it grows to such a size as to seem to be altogether a differ- ent plant. The habit of the plant is sometimes totally altered by means of cultivation : the Pyrus safiva, when growing in a wild and unculti- vated state, is furnished with strong thorns ; but when transferred to a rich and cultivated soil the thorns disappear. This phenomenon, which was observed by Linnaeus, was regarded as being equivalent to the taming of animals : but this explica- tion is, like some others of the same great botanist, much more plausible than profound, in place of which Professor Willdenow substitutes the following; the thorns protruded in the uncultivated state of the plant are buds rendered abortive from want of nourishment, which when supplied with a sufficiency of nourish! ment are converted into leaves and branches. 1620. Physical virtues. When plants are removed from their native soil and taken into a state of culture, it alters not only their habit but their physical virtues. Thus the sour grape is rendered sweet ; the bitter pear, pleasant ; the dry apricot, pulpy ; the prickly lettuce, smooth ; and the acrid celery, wholesome. Potherbs also are rendered more tender by means of cultivation, and better fitted for the use of man ; and so are all our fine fruits. 1621. Duration. Plants are either annuals, biennials, or perennials, and the species is generally of the same duration in every climate. But it has been found that some plants, winch are annuals in a cold climate, such as that of Sweden, will become peren- nials in a hot climate, such as that of the West Indies ; this anomaly has been exemplified in Tropa-'olum, beet root and il/alva arbdrea: and, on the contrary, some plants, which are perennials in hot climates, are reduced to annuals when transplanted into a cold climate ; this has been exemplified in the climbing kidneybeans. Sect. VI. Of the Sexuality of Vegetables. 1622. The doctrine \ha.t plants are of different sexes, and which constitutes the found- ation of the Linnean system, though but lately established upon the basis of logical in- duction, is by no means a novel doctrine. It appears to have been entertained even among the original Greeks, from the antiquity of their mode of cultivating figs and palms. Aristotle and Theophrastus maintained the doctrine of the sexuality of vegetables • and Pliny, Dioscorides, and Galen adopted the division by which plants were then dis- tributed into male and female ; but chiefly upon the erroneous principle of habit or aspect, and without any reference to a distinction absolutely sexual. Plinv seems to admit the distinction of sex in all plants whatever, and quotes the case of a palm tree as exhibiting the most striking example. 1623. Linnceus, reviewing with his usual sagacity the evidence on which the doctrine rested, and per- ceiving that it was supported by a multiplicity of the most incontrovertible facts, resolved to devote his labours peculiarly to the investigation of the subject, and to prosecute his enquiries throughout the w hole extent of the vegetable kingdom ; which great and arduous enterprise he not only undertook, but accom- plished with a success equal to the unexampled industry with which he pursued it. So that by collecting into one body all the evidence of former discovery or experiment, and by adding much that was original of his own, he found himself at length authorised to draw the important conclusion, that no seed is perfected without the previous agency of the pollen, and that the doctrine of the sexes of plants is consequently founded in fact 1624. Proofs from the economy of the aquatics. Many plants of this class which vegetate for the most part wholly immersed in water, and often at a considerable depth, gradually begin to elevate their stems as the season of flowering advances, when they at last rear their heads above the surface of the water," and present their opening blossoms to the sun, till the petals have begun to fade, after which they again gradually sink down to the bottom to ripen and to sow their seeds. This very peculiar economy may be exemplified in the case of A'uppia maritima, and several species of /"otamogeton common in our ponds ami ditches. From this we may fairly infer, that the flowers rise thus to the surface merely to give the pollen an opportunity of reaching the stigma uninjured. But the most remarkable example of this kind is the Val. lisneria spiralis {Jig 196.), a plant which grows in the ditches of Italy. The plant is of the class DiceVia, pro- ducing its fertile flowers on the extremity of a long and slender stalk (a) twisted spirally like a corkscrew, which uncoiling of its own accord, about the time of the open- ing of the blossom, elevates the flowers to the surface of the water, and leaves them to expand in the open air. The barren flowers (6) are produced in great numbers upon short upright stalks issuing from a different root, from which they detach themselves about the tune of the 250 SCIENCE OF AGRICULTURE. Pak.-II. Si i r. VII. Impregnation of tlie Seed. 1 625. Tin- stamrns and pis/Us arc the male anil female organs of vegetable generation, and the pollen it the substance by which the impregnation <>f the seed it effected ; but how is the pollen conveyed ti> the ovary, and what is the amount of its action? 1626. ' fthepotlen. When tin- stamens and pistils are situated neareach other, the clastic spring with which the anther ilu-s open, will general!; be sufficient to disperse the pollen, so at that part of it must infallibl) reach the stigma, in such Mowers as do not perfect their stamens and pistils at the same time. The pollen is very general l\ I onveyed trova tin- anther to the stigma, through the instrumentality of ind other insects peculiar to a Species. The object of the insect is the discovery of honey, in ijiiest of which, whilst it roves from flower to flower, and rummages the recesses of the corolla, it unintentionally coi ers its bod] with pollen, which it conveys to the next flower it visits, and brushes off as it acquire., it by rummaging for honey ; so that part of it is almost unavoidably deposited on the stigma, and impregnation thus effected. Nor is this altogether so much a work of random as it at first appears: for it has been observed that even insects, which do not upon the whole confine themselves to one species of flower, will vet very often remain during the whole day upon the species they happen first to alight on in the morning. Hi nee the Impregnation of the females of Dioecious plants where no male is near ; hence also a sort of natural crossing of the breed of plants, which might probably otherwise degenerate. 1627. Fecundation of the ovary. Admitting that the pollen is conducted to the ovary through the tubes of the style, how after all is the ovary fecundated, or the seed ren- dered fertile? On this subject naturalists have been much divided; and, according to their several opinions, have been classed under the respective appellations of ovaii>t>, anininlculists, and epigenesists. OvariA According to the opinion of the Ovarist, the embryo preexists in the ovary, and is fecundated by the agency of the pollen, as transmitted to it through the style. I !29. itnimalculist. But the theory of the ovarists is not without its difficulties; for, as the embryo is never found to make its appearance till after fecundation, it has been thought that it must necessarily pre- exist in the pollen of the anther: from which it is conveyed to the ovary through the medium of the Style, and afterwards matured This theory was founded upon that of Leuwenhoeek, with regard to animal generation, which supposes the preexistence of animalcula in the seminal principle of the male ; the animalcula being conveyed in co'ilu to the ovary of the female, where alone they are capable of developement 1630. Epigenesist. The difficulties inseparable from both theories, together with the phenomenon of hybrid productions, have given rise also to a third ; this is the Theory of the Epigenesists, who maintain that the embryo preexists neither in the ovary nor pollen, but is generated by the union of the fecundat- ing principles of the male and female organs ; the former being the fluid issuing from the pollen when it explodes, and the latter the fluid that exudes from the surface of the stigma when mature. 16:31. Hybrids. Although the arguments of the epigenesists are by no means satis- factory, yet it cannot be denied, that hybrid productions partake of the properties both of the male and female from which they spring. This was long ago proved to be the fact by Bradley, and more recently confirmed by the experiments of Knight ; as well as hap- pily converted to the advantage of the cultivator. 16 - Vegetable crossing. Observing that farmers who rear cattle improve the progeny by means of crossing the breed, Knight argued from analogy, that the same improvement might be introduced into vegetables. His principal object was that of procuring new and improved varieties of the apple and pear, to supply the place of such as had become diseased and unproductive. But as the necessary siowness of all experiments of the kind, with regard to the fruit in question, did not keep pace with the ardour of his desire to obtain information on the subject, he was induced to institute some tentative experiments upon the common pea ; a plant well suited to his purpose, both from its quickness of growth, and from the many varieties in form, size, and colour which it afforded. In 17S7, a degenerate sort of pea was growing in his garden, which had not recovered its former vigour even when removed to a better soil. Being thus a good subject of ex- periment, the male organs of a dozen of its immature blossoms were destroyed, and the female organs left entiie. When the blossoms had attained their mature state, the pollen of a very large and luxuriant grey pea was introduced into the one half of them, but not into the other. The pods of both grew equally ; but the seeds of the half that wereunimpregnated withered away without having augmented beyond the size to which they had attained before the blossoms expanded. The seeds of the other half were augmented and matured, as in the ordinary process of impregnation ; and exhibited no perceptible difference from those of other plants of the same variety ; perhaps because the external covering of the seed was furnished entirely by the female. But when they were made to vegetate in the succeeding spring, the effect Of the experiment was obvious. The plants rose with great luxurance, indicating in their stem, leaves, and fruit, the influence of this artificial impregnation ; the seeds produced were of a dark grey. By im- pregnating the flowers of this variety with the pollen of others, the colour was again changed, and new varieties Obtained, superior in every respect to the original on which the experiment was first made, and attaining, in some cases, to a height of more than twelve feet (Phi/. Trans., 17SP.) Knight thinks his experiments on this subject afford examples of euperfcetation, a phenomenon, the existence of which appears doubtful amongst animals, and of which the proof amongst vegetables is not yet quite satisfactory. ()l .me speci I siipn lotation he has certainly produced examples; that is, when, by impregnating a white pea-blOSSom with the pollen both of a white and grey pea, white and grey seeds were obtained. ! the other species of superfoetaUon, in which one seed is supposed to be the joint issue of two nudes, the example is not quite satisfactory. Such a production is perhaps possible, and further experiments may probably ascertain the fact ; but it seems to be a matter of mere curiosity, and not apparently con- nected with any views of utility. 16 IS, The practicability of improving the sjycics is rendered strikingly obvious by these experiments ; and the ameliorating effect is the same, w hither by the male or female; as was ascertained by impreg- nating the largest and most luxuriant plants with the pollen of the most diminutive ami dwarfish, or the contrarj By such means any number of varieties ma; be obtained, according to the will of the experimenter, amongst which some will no doubt be suited to all soils and situations Knight's ex- periments of this kind were extended also to wheat ; but not with equal success : for though some very good varieties were obtained, yet they were found not to be permanent. But the success of his Book I. CHANGES FROM IMPREGNATION. 251 experiments on the apple tree were equal to his hopes. This was, indeed, his principal object, and no means of obtaining a successful issue were left untried. The plants which were obtained in this case were found to possess the good qualities of both of the varieties employed, uniting the greatest health and luxuriance with the finest and best- flavoured fruit. 1634. Improved varieties of every fruit and esculent plant may be obtained by means of artificial (mpreg. nation, or crossing, as they were obtained in the cases already stated. Whence Knight thinks, that tills promiscuous impregnation of species has been intended by nature to take place, and that it does in fact often take place, for the purpose of correcting such accidental varieties as arise from seed, and of con- fining them within narrower limits. All which is thought to be countenanced from the consideration of the variety of methods which nature employs to disperse the pollen, either by the elastic spring of the anthers, the aid of the winds, or the instrumentality of insects. But although he admits the existence of vegetable hybrids, that is, of varieties obtained from the intermixture of different species of the same genus, yet he does not admit the existence of vegetable mules, that is, of varieties obtained from the intermixture of the species of different genera ; in attempting to obtain which he could never succeed, in spite of all his efforts. Hence he suspects that where such varieties have been supposed to take place, the former must have been mistaken for the latter. It may be said, indeed, that if the case exists in the animal kingdom, why not in the vegetable kingdom ? to which it is, perhaps, difficult to give a satisfactory reply : but from the narrow limits within which this intercourse is in all cases circumscribed, it scarcely seems to have been the intention of nature that it should succeed even among animals. Salisbury is of a different opinion, and considers {Hort. Trans., i. 364.) that new species may be created both by bees and by the agency of man; and the recent experiments of Herbert, Sweet, and others, seem to confirm this opinion. Sweet's experience leads him to conclude that the plants of all orders strictly natural may be reciprocally impregnated with success, and he has already, in the nursery-gardens of Messrs. Colville, produced many new Gerania and 7?hodora.cea?. 1635. A singular or anomalous effect of crossing, or extraneous impregnation, is the change sometimes undergone by the seed or fruit which is produced by the blossom impregnated. These results are not uniform, but they are of frequent occurrence, and have attracted notice from a very early period. John Turner observes [Hort. Trans., v. 63.) that Theophrastus and Pliny (Thcophrast. Hist. Plant., 1. ii. c. 4. • Plinii Hist. Nat., 1. xvii. c. 25.) seem to allude to it, and that the notion was entertained by Bradley, who in his New Improvements in Planting and Gardening, after giving directions for fertilising the female flowers of the hazel with the pollen of the male, says, " By this knowledge we may alter the property and taste of any fruit, by impregnating the one with the farina of another of the same class, as, for example, a codlin with a pearmain, which will occasion the codlin so impregnated to last a longer time than usual, and be of a sharper taste ; or, if the winter fruit should be fecundated with the dust of the summer kinds th will decay before their usual time; and it is from this accidental coupling of the farina of one kind with the other, that in an orchard, where there is a variety of apples, even the fruit gathered from the same tree differs in its flavour and times of ripening; and, moreover, the seeds of those apples so generated, being changed by that means from their natural qualities, will produce different kinds of fruit, if they are sown." Turner, after quoting several instances, and, among others, one from the Philosophical Transactions " concerning the effect which the farina of the blossoms of different sorts of apples had on the fruit of a neighbouring tree," states upwards of six cases of hybridised apples, that had come within his own observation ; and concludes with the remark, that, if there does exist in fruits such a liability to change it will at once be evident to the intelligent cultivator how much care is requisite in growing melons' cucumbers, &c, to secure their true characters, even without reference to saving seed for a future crop. In the same volume of the Horticultural Transactions (p. 234.) an account is given of different-coloured peas being produced in the same pod, by crossing the parent blossom. All these facts seem to contradict the generally received opinion, that crossing only affects the next generation ; here it appears to affect the embryo offspring ; and a gardener, who had no keeping apples in his orchard, mightcommunicatethat quality in part to his summer fruit by borrowing the use of a neighbour's blossoms from a late variety It is probable, however, that such counter-impregnations do not take place readily; otherwise the produce of a common orchard would be an ever-varying round of monstrosities. Sect. VIII. Clianges consequent upon Impregnation. 1636. The peculiar changes consequent vpon impregnation, whether in the flowers or fruit, may be considered as external and internal. 1637. External changes. At the period of the impregnation of the ovary the flower has attained to its ultimate state of perfection, and displayed its utmost beauty of colouring and richness of perfume. But as it is now no longer wanted, so it is no longer provided for in the economy of vegetation. Its period of decline has commenced ; as is indicated, first by the decay of the stamens, then of the petals, and then of the calyx, which wither and shrink up, and finally detach themselves from the fruit altogether, except in some particular cases in which one or other of them becomes permanent and falls only with thefruit. The stigma exhibits also similar symptoms of decay, and the style itself often perishes. The parts contiguous to the flower, such as the bractes and floral leaves, are sometimes also affected ; and finally the whole plant, at least in the case of annuals, begins to exhibit indications of decay. But while the flower withers and falls, the ovary is advancing to perfection, swelling and augmenting in size, and receiving now all the nutriment by which the decayed parts were formerly supported. Its colour begins to assumea deeper and richer tinge ; its figure is also often altered, and new parts are even occasionally added, wings, crests, prickles, hooks, bloom, down. The common receptacle of the fruit undergoes also similar changes, becoming sometimes large and succulent, as in the fig and strawberry ; and sometimes juiceless and indurated, as in compound flowers. 1638. Internal changes. If the ovary is cut open as soon as it is first discoverable in the flower, it will be found to be divisible into several distinct parts, exhibiting an apparatus of cells, valves, and membranes, constituting the pericarp, and sometimes the external coats of the seed. Impregnation has no sooner taken place than its influence begins to be visible; the umbilical cord, which was formerly short and dis- tended, is in some cases converted into a long and slender thread Sometimes the position of the seed is altered. Before impregnation the seeds of Caryophjilus aromaticus and Metrosideros gummifera are horizontal ; after impregnation they become vertical. Before impregnation the Magnbl/o seeds are erect ; after impregnation they become inverted and pendulous. The figure of the seed is often also altered in passing from its young to its mature state ; changing from smooth to angular, from tapering to oval, from oval to round, and from round to kidney-shaped. But all the seeds are not brought to maturity, of which the rudiments may exist in the ovary. LagceVia and Hasselquist;7i produce uniformly the rudiments of two seeds, of which they mature but one. But the principal changes resulting from impregnation are operated in the seed itself, which, though previously a homogeneous and gelatinous mass, is now converted into an organised body, or embryo. Such are the phenomena, according to the description of Gaertner, accom- panying or following the impregnation of all flowers producing seeds: exceptions occur where the fecun- dation is spurious and incomplete; where the ovary swells, but exhibits no traces of perfect seed within, as often happens in the vine and Tamus ; or where barren and fertile seeds are intermingled together in the same ovary. This proceeds from some defect either in the quantity or quality of the pollen ; but ratl.rr in the quality, as it is not always plants having the most pollen that produce the most seeds. The two stamens of the Orchidea? fecundate 8000 seeds, and the five stamens of tobacco fecundate 100 : while 858 SCIENCE OF AGRICULTURE. Pa.it II. -tamens of Barringtunfa, the ! 10 of Thai, and the BO of the Caryophyllus fecundate only two or three ovule*. Sect. IX. The Propagation of the Species. infjf). As tlw Uf,- of the vegetable, Wee that of tin- animal, is limited to a definite period, and as a Continued supply of vegetables is always wanted for the support of animals, what we call ail, or nature operating by means of the animal man, has taken care to institute SUCh means as shall secure the multiplying and perpetuating of the species in all possible Cases. 1640 Equivocal generation. It «u long a vulgar error, countenanced even by the philosophy of the tines, thai vegetable! do often spring up from the accidental mixture of earth and putrid water, or other putt d lubstancet, in the manner of what was called the equivocal generation of animals ; or, at the very I,, ,-t, thai the i srti contalna the principle ol vegetable life in itself, which, in order to develope, it is only irj to expose to the action of the air. The former alternative of the error has been long ago rc- t,ii, ,i . the latter has lost it~ hold, having been refuted by Bfalpighi, who proved that the earth produces no pi on n ithoul th. intervention oi ,1 seed, or of some other species of vegetable germ deposited in it by Mature or bj art 1641. Propagation by seeds. When the seed has reached maturity in the due and regular course of the developement of its several parts, it detaches itself sooner or later t'ro:i) the parent plant, either singly or along with its pericarp, and drops into the soil, where it again germinates and takes root, and springs up into a new individual. Such is the grand means instituted by nature for the replenishing and perpetuating of the vegetable kingdom. 1642. Disprrti m qf teed. If seeds were to fall into the soil merely by dropping down from the plant, then the great mass of them, instead Of germinating and springing up into distinct plants, would grow up only to putrefy and decay; to prevent which consequence nature his adopted a variety of the most efficacious contri- vances, all tending to the dispersion of the seed. The first means to be mentioned Is that of the elasticity of the peri, carp of many fruits, by which it opens « Inn ripe, with a sort of sudden spring, ejecting the seed with violence, and throw- ing it some considerable distance from the plant. This may be exemplified in a variety of cases; the seeds of oats when ripe are projected from the calyx with such violence, that in a fine and dry day you may even hear them thrown out with a ■ and sudden snap, in passing through a field that is ripe. The pericarp of the dorsiferous ferns {fig. 197.) is furnished with a sort of peculiar elastic ring, intended, as it would appear, for the very purpose of projecting the seeds. The capsules oft he squirting cucumber, geranium, and Kraxinella, discharge their seeds also when ripe with an elastic jerk. But the pericarp of Impatiens, which consists of five cells with five valves, exh.oits perhaps one of the best examples of this mode of dispersion. If it be accidentally touched when ripe it will immediately burst open, while the valves, coiling themselves up in a spiral form, and springing from the stem, discharge the contained seeds, and scatter them all around. 'I'iie bursting of the pericarp of some species of pines is also worthy of notice. The pericarp, which is a cone, remains on the tree till the summer succeeding that on which it was produced, the scales being still closed : but when the hot weather has commenced and continued for some time, so as to dry the cone thoroughly, the scales open of their own accord with a sudden jerk, ejecting the contained seeds ; and if a number of them happen to burst together, which is often the case, the noise is such as to be heard at some considerable distance. The twisted awn of Av\ na fitua [fig. 198. or wild oat, as well as that of Erbdium cicutarium, and some others, seems to have been intended particularly for the purpose of aiding the further dispersion of the seed, after being discharged from the plant or pericarp. This spiral awn or spring, which is beset with a multitude of fine and minute hairs, possesses the property of contracting by means of drought, and of expanding by means of moisture. Hence it remains of necessity in a perpetual state of contraction or dilatation, dependent upon change of weather ; from which, as well as from the additional aid of the fine hairs, which act as so many fulcra, and cling to whatever object they meet, the seed to which it is attached is kept in continual motion till it either germinates or is destroyed. The awn of barley, which is beset with a multitude of little teeth all pointing to its upper extremity, presents also similar phenomena. For when the seed with its awn falls from the ear and lies flat upon the ground, it is necessarily extended in its dimensions by themoistureof the night, and contracted by thedrought of the day : but as the teeth prevent it from receding in the direction of the point, it is consequently made to ad. vance in the direction of the base of the seed, which is thus often carried to the distance of many feet from the stalk on which it grew. If any one is yet sceptical with regard to tin- travelling capacity of the awn, let him only introduce an awn of barley with the seed uppermost between his coat and shirt sleeve at the wrist, when he walks out in the morn, ing, anil by the time he returns to breakfast, if he has walked to any great distance, he will find it up at his arm- pit. This journey has been effected by means of the con- tinued motion of the arm, and consequently of the teeth of the awn acting as feet to carry it forward. 1643. Where distance qf dispersion is required, nature is a!?o furnished with a resource. One of the most common modes by which seeds are conveyed to a dis- tance from their place of growth is that of the instrumentality of animals. Many seeds are thus carried to Book I. PROPAGATION OF THE SPECIES. 25.1 a distance from their place of growth, merely by their attaching themselves to the bodies of such animals as may happen accidentally to come in contact with the plant, in their search alter food ; the hooks or hairs with which one part or other of the fructification is often furnished, serving as the medium of attachment, and the seed being thus carried about with the animal till it is again detached by some accidental cause, and at last committed to the soiL This may be exemplified in the case of the Bidens and Afyosbtis, in which the hooks or prickles are attached to the seed itself; or in the case of Galium Sparine and others, in which they are attached to the pericarp; or in the case of the thistle and the burdock, in which they are attached to the general calvx. Man; seeds are dispersed by animals in consequence of their pericarps being used as food. This is often the case w.th the seeds of the drupe, as cherries and sloes, and with the berries of the hawthorn, which birds often carry away till they meet with some convenient place for devouring the pulpv pericarp, and then drop the stone into the soil And so also fruit is dispersed that has been boarded for the winter, though even with the view of feeding on the seed itself, as in the case of nuts hoarded up by squirrels, which are often dispossessed by some other animal, which, not caring lor the board, scatters and disperses it. Sometimes the hoard is deposited in the ground itself, in which case part of it is generally found to take root and to spring up into plants ; though it has been observed that ihe ground squirrel often deprives the kernel of its germ before it deposits the fruit it collects. Rooks have been also observed to lay up acorns and other seeds in the holes of fence-posts, which being either forgot or accidentally thru>t out, fall ultimatelv into the earth and germinate. But sometimes the seed is even taken into the stomach of the animal, and afterwards deposited in the soil, having passed through it unhurt. This is often the case with the seed of manv species of berrv, such as the mistletoe, which the thrush swallows and afterwards deposits upon the" boughs of such trees as it may happen to alight upon. The seeds ot the Lo- ranthus americanus, another parasitical plant, are said to be deposited in like manner on the branches of the Cocc loba grandiflbra and other loftv trees ; as also the seeds of Phytolacca decandra, the berries of which are eaten bv the robin, thrush, arid wild pigeon. And so also the seeds of currants or roans are sometimes deposited, after having been swallowed bv blackbirds or other birds, as may be seen by ob- serving a currant bush or voung roan tree growing out of the cleft of another tree, where the seed has been left, and where there mav happen to have been a little dust collected by way of soil ; or where a natural graft mav have been effected bv the insinuation of the radicle into some chink or cleft. It seems indeed surprising that anv seeds should able to resist the heat and digestive action of the stomach ot animals ; but it is undoubtedly the fact. Some seeds seem even to require it The seeds ot Magmha glauca, which have been brought to this country, are said generally to have refused to vegetate till after undergoing this process, and it is known that some seeds will bear a still greater degree of heat without any injury. Spal. lanzani mentions some seeds that germinated after having been boiled in water : and Du Hamel gives an account of some others that germinated even after having been exposed to a degree of heat measuring 233° of Fahrenheit In addition to the instrumentality of brute animals in the dispersion of the seed might be added also that of man, who, for purposes of utility or of ornament, not only transfers to his native soil seeds indigenous to the most distant regions, but sows and cultivates them with care. " A farmer in the west of Scotland has been in the practice, for some years, of feeding his cows upon potato-apples, and using their dung, and raising seedling plants from it the seeds ; having passed through the stomach ot the cow, without having undergone such a change as to prevent them from vegetating." [Note of Mr. Lleghorn, Ed. of the Edinburgh Farm. Mag.) ...... j , c 1644 The agency of winds is one of the most effective modes of dispersion instituted by nature. Some seeds are fitted for this mode of dispersion from their extreme minuteness, such as those ot the mosses, lichens and Fungi, which float invisibly on the air, and vegetate wherever they happen to meet with a suitable soil Others are fitted for it bv means of an attached wing, as in the case of the hr tree and Liriodendron tulipifera, so that the seed,' in falling from the cone or capsule, is immediately caught by the wind and carried to a distance. Others are peculiarly fitted for it by means of their being furnished with an aigrette or down, as in the case of the dandelion, goat's-beard, and thistle, as well as most plants of the class Svngenesia ; the down of which is so large and light in proportion to the seed it supports, that it is wafted 'on the most gentle breeze, and often seen floating through the atmosphere in great abundance at the time the seed is ripe. Some have a tail, as in Clematis Vitalba. Others are fitted for this mode of dispersion bv means of the structure of the pericarp, which is also wafted along with them, as in the case of Staphvlea tr'ifMia, the inflated capsule of which seems as if obviously intended thus to aid the dispersion of the' contained seed, bv its exposing to the wind a large and distended surface with but little weight ; and so also in the case of the maple, elm, and ash, the capsules of which are furnished, like some seeds, with a membranous wing, which when they separate from the plant the wind immediately lays hold ot and ' 1645 VheVnstrumentality of streams, rivers, and currents of the ocean, is a further means adopted by nature for the dispersion of the seeds of vegetables. The mountain-stream or torrent washes down to the valley the seeds which mav accidentally fall into it, or which it may happen to sweep trom its banks when it suddenly overflows them. The broad and majestic river, winding along the extensive plain, and traversing the continents of the world, conveys to the distance of many hunoreds of miles the seeds that mav have vegetated at its source. Thus the southern shores of the Baltic are visited by seeds which grew in the interior of Germany, and the western shores of the Atlantic by seeds that have been generated in the interior of America. ' But fruits indigenous to America and the West Indies have sometimes been found to be swept along by the currents of the ocean to the western shores of Europe, and even on the coasts of Orkney and Shetland. Fruits of Mimosa scandens, Stizolobium pruriens, Guilandma fmduc, and Anacardium occidentale, or cashew nut, have been thus known to be driven across the Atlantic to a distance of upwards of 2000 miles ; and although the fruits now adduced as examples are not sucn as could vegetate on the coast on which they were thrown, owing to soil or climate, yet it i= ; to be believed that fruits may have been often thus transported to climates or countries favourable to thur ff> ltm. "propagation by gems. Though plants are for the most part propagated by means of seeds, yet many of them are propagated also by means of gems ; that is, bulbs and buds. II the umbel: Pbaalp'ina. As piai resource of nature, to secure the propagation of the species in situations where the seed may tail to ripen. 1648. The bud, though it does not spontaneously detach itself trom the plant and form a new i ndiwdual, will vet sometimes strike root and deveiope its parts if carefully separated by art and i planted in the earth . but this is to be understood of the leaf-bud only, for the flower-bud, accoruing to Mirbel, it »o treatea, always perishes. will grow up mio new plants, ui virtue, uu mmui, ui auuu. .........v e . — . „„u„n imnrpim iCns lichens, according to Gartner, are all gemmiferous, having no sexual organs amino £g™£gS"«£2£g a germ In the |enus Lvcoperdon, the gelatinous substance that pervades the ceUular tissue is «*™™ into a prc-literou! powder ; in Clavaria, the fluid contained in the cavities of the P*£*^T£££££ proliferous powder also;'and in the agarics, Hypuum, and .Boletus, ^^"^S^Sw^SST. granules are found within the lamella?, pores, or tubes. Hedwig, on the co . trarj a . *> to the tui gi^ sexual apparatus, and maintains that the pollen is lodged in the volva : but here it . S to be 'Collected, ,u in the cases of the scutelke of the bahens, that all Fungi are not turn.sned with a i ol v ^*^totoare not furnished with pollen. The Cbnfervi and f/lvs, together with the genera Blasu* and Uiccia are 254 SCIENCE OF AGRICULTURE. Tart II also, according to Gcrtner, propagated onlyby genu \ while Marchantfo, Anthoeeros, Jungermannsa, and Lycoperdon. are said to be propagated both by gems and seeds. 1650 Runner* arc young shoots iuuing from (In- . ottar or summit of the root, and creeping along the surface of the soil •. but producing a new root and leave- at the extremity, and forming a new individual, by the decay of the connecting link, as in the strawberry. i .1 SUm The process of raising perennials by slips is well known to gardeners, and should, perhaps, be regarded as an extension ot the old plant, rather than as the generation of a new one; though it serves thepurpos 'the cultivator equally well as a plant raised from seed, with the additional advantage of bearing fruit much sooner But how is the root generated which the slip thus produces? Ii the trunk of i tree is lopped and all its existing buds destroyed, then there will he protruded from between the wood and bark a sort of protuberant lip or ring formed from the proper juice, and from which there will spring a number of young shoots. The format f the root, in the ease of the slip, is effected in the sameman- i. >i the moisture of the soil encouraging the protrusion of buds at and near the section; and the bud that would have been i verted into a branch above ground is converted into a root below. 165 ' Layers The mode ofpropagation by layers is practised upon trees that are delicate, and which cannot readily be propagated bj means of slips i in which case the root is generated nearly asm the former case the soil stimulating the protrusion of buds which are converted into roots. In many plants, such as the currant and laurel, this is altogether a natural process, effected by the spontaneous bending down of a branch to the surface of the soil ..„.,„ e i I653L S t or offsets. Many plants protrude annually from the collar a number of young shoots, encircling the principal stem and' depriving it of a portion of its nourishment, as in the case ol most fruit trees Othei id <>ut a horizontal root from which thereat last issues a bud that ascends above the soil and is converted into a little stem, as in the case of the elm tree and Syringa. Others send out a hori- zon! d shoot from I lie collar or its neighbourhood; or a shoot that ultimately bends down by its own weight till it reaches the ground, in which it strikes root, and again sends up a stem as in the currant hush and 1 nirel The two former are called suckers or offsets, though the term offset should, perhaps.be restricted to the young bulbs that issue and detach themselves annually from bulbous roots. The latter is not desig- nated by any particular name, hut may he regarded as a sort of natural layer, resembling also, in some respects the runner: from which, however, it is distinguished in that it never detaches itselt spon- taneously from the parent plant, as is the case also with the two former : but if cither of them is arti. ficially detached, together with a portion of root or a slice of the collar adhering to it, the detached part will now hear transplanting, and will constitute a distinct plant. 1654 Grafting ami budding The species is also often propagated, or at least the variety is multiplied, bv means oTeraftmg ; which is an artificial application of a portion of the shoot or root of one tree or id int to the item shoot, branch, or root of another, so that the two shall coalesce together and form but one plant The shoot which is to form the summit of the new individual is called the scion ; the stem to which it is affixed is called the stock ; and the operation, when effected, thegraft. As the graft is merely an extension of the parent plant from which the scion came, and not properly speaking a new individual, so it is found to lie the best method of propagating approved varieties of fruit trees without any danger of altering the quality of the fruit, which is always apt to be incurred in propagation from seed, but never in propagating from the scion. The scion will also bear fruit much sooner than the tree that is raised from seed • and, if effected on a proper stock, will be much more hardy and vigorous than ,f left on tiie parent plant.' Hence the great utility of grafting in the practice of gardening. Till lately, grafting was confined to the ligneous plants, but it is now successfully practised on the roots and shoots ot her- baceous vegetables: and the dahlia is grafted by the root; the melon on the gourd ; the love-apple on the potato • the cauliflower on the cabbage, &C, bv the shoot. A very ingenious tract has been published on this subject, entitled, Essai sur la Greffi de I'Herbe des Plantes et des Arbres, par Monsr. U baron de Tschoudy, Bourgeois de (Jlaris. Paris, 1819. Sect. X. Causes limiting the Propagation of the Species. 1655. Though plants arc controlled chief y by animals, yet they also control one another. From the various sources of vegetable reproduction, but particularly from the fertility and dispersion of the seed, the earth would soon be overrun with plants of the most pro- lific species, and converted again into a desert, if it were not that nature has set bounds to their propagation by subjecting them to the control of man, and to the depredations of the great mass of animals ; as well as by confining the germination of their seeds to certain" and peculiar habitations arising from soil, climate, altitude, and other circum- stances. In order to form an idea of the manner in which the latter act upon vegeta- tion, imagine that every year an enormous quantity of seeds, produced by the existing vegetables, are spread over the surface of the globe, by the winds and other causes already mentioned; all of these seeds which fall in places suitable for their vegetation, and are not destroyed by animals, germinate and produce plants; and then among these plants, the strongest, and largest, and those to which the soil is best suited, develope themselves in number and magnitude so as to choke the others. Such is the general progress of nature, and among plants, as among animals, the strong flourish at the expense of the weak. These causes have operated for such a length of time, that the greater number of species are now fixed in, and considered as belonging to, certain soils, situations, and climates, beyond which they seldom propagate, otherwise than by the hands of man. Sect. XI. Evidence and Character of Vegetable Vitality. 1C>56. The power of counteracting the laws of chemical affinity is reckoned the best and most satisfactory evidence of the presence and agency of a vital principle, as inherent in any subject. This principle, which seems first to have been instituted by Humboldt, is Obviously applicable to the case of animals, as is proved by the process of the digestion of the food, and its conversion into chyle and blood ; as well as from the various secretions and excretions effected by the several organs, and causing the growth and developement of the individual, in direct opposition to the acknowledged laws of chemical affinity, which, as soon as the vital principle is extinct, begin immediately to give evidence of their action, in the incipient symptoms of the putrefaction of the dead body. Rut the rule is also applicable to the case of vegetables, as is proved by the Book T. EVIDENCE OF VEGETABLE VITALITY. 255 introsusception, digestion, and assimilation of the food necessary to their developement ; all indicating the agency of a principle capable of counteracting the laws of chemical affinity, which, at the period of what is usually called the death of the plant, beirjn also immediately to act, and to give evidence of their action in the incipient symptoms of the putrefaction of the vegetable. Vegetables are therefore obviously endowed with a species of vitality. But, admitting the presence and agency of a vital principle inherent in the vegetable subject, what are the peculiar properties by which this principle is cha- racterised ? 1657. Excitability. One of the most distinguishable properties of the vital principle of vegetables is that of its excitability, or capacity of being acted upon by the application of natural stimuli, impelling it to the exertion of its vegetative powers ; the natural stimuli thus impelling it being light and heat. 1658. The stimulating influence of light upon the vital principle of the plant is discoverable, whether in the stem, leaf, or flower. The direction of the stem is influenced by the action of light, as well as the colour of the leaves. Distance from direct rays of light or weak light produces etiolation, and its absence blanching. The luxuriance of branches depends on the presence and action of light, as is par- ticularly observable in the case of hot-house plants, the branches of which are not so conspicuously directed, either to the flue in quest of heat, or to the door or open sash in quest of air, as to the sun in quest of light Hence also the branches of plants are often more luxuriant on the south, than on the north, side ; or at least on the side that is best exposed to light. The position of the leaf is also strongly affected by the action of light, to which it uniformly turns its upper surface. This may be readily perceived in the case of trees trained to a wall, from which the upper surface of the leaf is by con- sequence always turned ; being on a south wall turned to the south, and on a north wall turned to the north : and if the upper surface of the leaf is forcibly turned towards the wall, and confined in that position for a length of time, it will soon resume its primitive position upon regaining its liberty, but particularly if the atmosphere be clear. The leaves of the mallow are said to exhibit but slight indi- cations of this susceptibility, as also sword-shaped leaves; and those of the mistletoe are equally susceptible on both sides. It had been conjectured that these effects are partly attributable to the agency of heat ; and to try the value of the conjecture, Bonnet placed some plants of the /f triplex in a stove heated to 25° of Reaumur. Yet the stems were not inclined to the side from which the greatest degree of heat came; but to a small opening in the stoves. Heat, then, does not seem to exert any perceptible influence in the production of the above effects. Does moisture ? Bonnet found that the leaves of the vine exhibited the same phenomenon when immersed in water, as when left in the open air. Whence it seems probable that light is the sole agent in the production of the effects in question. But as light produces such effects upon the leaves, so darkness or the absence of light produces an effect quite the contrary ; for it is known that the leaves of many plants assume a very different position in the night from what they have in the day. This is particularly the case with winged leaves, which, though fully expanded during the day, begin to droop and bend down about sunset and during the fall of the evening dew, till they meet together on the inferiorside of the leaf-stalk ; the terminal lobe, if the leaf is furnished with one, folding itself back till it reaches the first pair; or the two side lobes, if the leaf is trifoliate, as in the case of common clover. So, also, the leaflets of the false acacia and liquorice hang down during the night, and those of Mimbsa puciica fold themselves up along the common foot-stalk so as to overlap one another. Linnaeus has designated the above phenomenon by the appellation of The Sleep of Plants. The expansion of the flower is also effected by the action of light Many plants do not fully expand their petals except when the sun shines: and hence alternately open them during the day and shut them up during the night. This may be exemplified in the case of papilionaceous flowers in general, which spread out their wings in fine weather to admit the rays of the sun, and again fold them up as the night approaches. It may be exemplified also in the case of compound flowers, as the dandelion and hawkweed. But the most singular case of this kind is perhaps that of the lotus of the Euphrates, which is described by Theophrastus as rearing and expanding its blossoms by day, closing and sinking down beneath the surface of the water by night so as to be beyond the grasp of the hand, and again rising up in the morning to present its expanded blossom to the sun. The same phenomenon is related also by Pliny. But although many plants open their flowers in the morning and shut them again in the evening, yet all flowers do not open and shut at the same time. Plants of the same species are tolerably regular as to time, other circumstances being the same ; and hence the daily opening and shutting of the flower botanists have denominated The Horolbgium Flora. Flowers requiring but a slight application of stimulus open early in the morning, while others, requiring more, open somewhat later. Some do not open till noon, and some, whose extreme dehcacy cannot bear the action of light at all, onen onlv at night ; such as the Cactus granriifK.ra, or night-blowing cereus. But it seems somewhat doubtful whether or not light is the sole agent in the present case ; for it has been observed that equatorial flowers open always at the same hour, and that tropical flowers change their hour of opening according to the length of th'edav. It has been observed, also, that the flowers of plants which are removed from a warmer to a colder climate expand at a later hour in the latter. A flower that opens at six o'clock in the morning in Senegal, will not open in France or England till eight or nine, nor in Sweden tiil ten; a flower that opens at ten o'clock in Senegal, will not open in France or England till noon or later, and in Sweden it will not open at all ; and a flower that does not open till noon or later in Senegal, will not open at all in France or England. This seems as if heat or its absence were also an agent in the opening or shutting of flowers ; though the opening of such as blow only in the night cannot be attributed either to light or heat. But the opening or shutting of some flowers depends not so much on the action of the stimulus of light as on the existing state of the atmosphere, and hence their opening or shutting betokens change. If the Siberian sow-thistle shuts at night, the ensuing day will be fine; and if it opens, it will be cloudv and rainv. If the African marigold continues shut after seven o'clock in the morning, rain is near "at hand ; and if the Convolvulus arvensis, Calendula pluvialis, or Anagallis arvensis, is even already open, it will shut upon the approach of rain, the last of which, from its peculiar susceptibility, has obtained the name of the poor man's weatherglass. But some flowers, besides expanding during the light of dav, incline also towards the sun, and follow his course, looking towards the east in the morning, towards the south at noon, and towards the west in the evening ; and again returning in the night to their former position in the morning. Such flowers are designated by the appellation of Heliotropes, on account of their following the course of the sun ; and the movement they thus exhibit is denominated their nutation. This phenomenon had been observed by the ancients long before they made any con- siderable progress in botanv, and had even been interwoven into their mythology, having originated, according to the records of fabulous historv, in one of the metamorphoses of early times. I lytic, ini able for the loss of the affections of Sol, by whom she had been formerly beloved, and of whom she was still enamoured, is represented as brooding over her griefs in silence and solitude ; w here, refusing all sustenance, and seated upon the cold ground, with her eves invariably fixed on the sun during the day, and watching for his return during the night, she is at length transformed into a flower, retaining as much as a flower can retain it, the same unaltered attachment to the sun. This is the flower which is duiominated tfeliotn.pium bv the ancients, and described by Ovid as Flos qui adjourn vertitur. lint it is to be observed, that the 'flower alluded to bv Ovid cannot be the 7/ehotiopium of the moderns, because Ovid describes it as resembling the violet: much less can it be the sun-flower, which is a native of America, and could not consequently have been known to Ovid; so that the true //ehotro- 256 SCIENCE OF AGRICULTURE. Part T I. l>!»m of the tncicnti i- perhaps not ui ascertained. Bonnet baa further remarked that the rpe ears of com, which bend w Ith the weight of grain, scarcely evet incline to the north, but always less or wort to the south; of the accuracj of which remark any one may easily satisfy himself by looking it a Held of uiir.a ready n>r the tickle; he will Bnd the whole man "t ear* nodding, aa if with one consent, to the south I he • uise of the phenomenon hai been supposed to be a contraction of the tit re- of the stem or Hower-stalk on the side exposed to the sun ; and this contraction has been thought by De la Hire ami Dr. Hales to be occasioned by an excess of transpiration "ii the sunny side; which is probably the fart, though there teems upon the principle to i»- tome difficulty in accounting for its returning at night; because If you taj thai the contracted tide expands and relaxes by moisture, wnat is it that contracts the side thai w .1, relaxed m the day f The moisture, of which it is no doubt still full, would counteract the contraction ol its fibres, and prevent it from resuming its former |K>sition in the morning. 1659. Heal as well as lighl acta also as a powerful stimulus to the exertions of the vital principle. This has been already shown in treating of the process of germination ; but the same thing i- observable with regard to the developement and maturation of the leaves, (lower, and fruit ; for although all plants produce their leaves, flower, and fruit annually, yet they do not all produce them at the same period or season. This forms the foundation of what LinnSBUS has called the Calendarium Flora, including a view of the several periods of the frondescence and efflorescence of plants, together with those of the maturation of the fruit. Frondescence. It must be plain to every observer, that all plants do not protrude their leaves .it the same season , and that even of BUCh as do protrude them in the same season, some are earlier and some later. The honeysuckle protrudes them in the month of January; the gooseberry, currant, and elder, iu the end of February, or the beginning of March ; the willow, elm, ana lime tree, in April ; and the /'I it. mu-, oak, and ash, which are always the latest among trees, in the beginning or towards the middle of May Many annual- do not come up till after the summer solstice; and many mosses not till alter the commencement of winter. This gradual and successive unfolding of the leaves of different plants seen- to arise from the peculiar susceptibility of the species to the action of heat, as requiring a greater or less degree of it to give the proper stimulus to the vital principle. But a great many circumstances will always concur to render the time of the unfolding of the leaves somewhat irregular; because the mildness of the season is by no means uniform at the same period of advancement ; and because the ing of the plant depends upon the peculiar degree of temperature, and not upon the return of a particular daj of the year. Hence it has been thought that no rule could be so good for directing the husbandman in the sowing of his several sorts of grain, as the leafing of such species of trees as might be found by observation to correspond best to each sort of grain respectively, in the degree of temperature required. Linnseus (Stillingfleet informs us 1 instituted some observation's on the subject about the year 17o0, with a view chiefly to ascertain the time proper for the sowing of barley in Sweden ; he regarded the leafing of the birch tree as being the best indication for that grain, and recommended the institution of similar observations with regard to other sorts of grain, upon the grounds of its great importance to the husbandman, who may be said to attend to it in a manner instinctively; but as all the trees of the same species do not come into leaf precisely at the same time, and as the weather may alter even after the most promising indications, no guide, natural or artificial, can be absolutely depended on with a view to future results. 1661. Efflorescence. The flowering of the plant, like the leafing, seems to depend upon the degree of temperature induced by the returning spring, as the flowers are also protruded pretty regularly at the same successive periods of the season. The mezereon and snowdrop protrude their flowers in Februarv; the primrose in the month of March ; the cowslip in April; the great mass of plants in Mav and June ;' many in July, August, and September ; some not till the month of October, as the meadow saffron ; and some not till the approach or middle of winter, as the laurustinus and arbutus. Such at least is the period of their flowering in this country; but in warmer climates they are earlier, and in colder climates they are later. Between the tropics, where the degree of heat is always high, it often happens that plants will flower more than once in the year; because they do not there require to wait till the temperature is raised to a certain height, but merely till the deveiopement of their parts can be effected in the regular operation of nature, under a temperature already sufficient. For the greater part, however, they flower during our Bummer, though plants in opposite hemispheres flower in opposite seasons. But in all climates the time of flowering depends also much on the altitude of place, as well as on other causes affecting the degree of heat Hence plants occupying the polar regions, and plants occupying the tops of the high mountain- ol southern latitudes, are in flower at the same season ; and hence the same flowers are later in opening in North America than in the same latitudes in Europe, because the surface of the earth is higher, or the winters more severe. 1662 Maturation of the fruit. Plants exhibit as much diversity in the warmth and length of time necessary to mature their fruit, as in their frondescence and flowering; but the plant that flowers the t aluay- ripen its fruit the soonest. The hazel tree, which blows in Februarv, does not ripen its iru.t till autumn j while the cherry, which does not blow till Mav, ripens its fruit in June It may be regarded, however, as the general rule, that if a plant blows in spring, it ripens its fruit in sum- mer, as in the case 01 the currant and gooseberry ; if it blows in summer, it ripens iu fruit in autumn, as in the case ol the vine; audit it blows in autumn, it ripens its fruit in winter ; but the meadow-saffron, which blows in the autumn, does not ripen its fruit till the succeeding spring. 1663. Such are the primary facts on which a Calendarium Flora should he founded. They have not hitherto been minutely attended to by botanists; and perhaps their importance is uot quite so great as has been generally supposed ; but they are at any rate sufficiently striking to have attracted the notice even of savages. Some tribes of American Indians act upon the very principle suggested by Linnasus, and plant their corn when the wild plum blooms, or when the leaves of the oak are about as large as a squirrel's ears. The names of some of their months are also designated from the state of vegetation. One is called the budding month, and another the flowering month; one the strawberry month, and another the mulberry month ; and the autumn is desig- nated by a term signifying the fall of the Leaf. Thus the proposed nomenclature of the French for the months and seasons was founded in nature as well as in reason. 1664. Cold. As the elevation of temperature induced by the heat of summer is es- sential to the full exertion of the energies of the vital principle, so the depression of temperature consequent upon the colds of winter has been thought to suspend the ex- ertion of the vital energies alto-ether. But this opinion is evidently founded on a mistake, as is proved by the example of those plants which protrude their 'leaves and flowers in Book I. EVIDENCE OF VEGETABLE VITALITY. 257 the winter season only, such as many of the mosses; as well as by the dissection of the yet unfolded buds at different periods of the winter, even in the case of such plants as protrude their leaves and blossoms in the spring and summer, in which, it lias been already shown, there is a regular, gradual, and incipient developement of parts, from the time of the bud's first appearance till its ultimate opening in the spring. The sap it is true, flows much less freely, but is not wholly stopped. Du Ilamel planted some young trees in the autumn, cutting off all the smaller fibres of the root, with a view to watch the progress of the formation of new ones. At the end of every fortnight he had the plants taken up and examined with all possible care to prevent injuring them, and found that, when it did not actually freeze, new roots were uniformly developed. 1665. Energies of life in plants like the process of respiration in animals. Hence it fol- lows, that even during the period of winter, when vegetation seems totally at a stand, the tree being stripped of its foliage, and the herb apparently withering in the frozen blast, still the energies of vital life are exerted ; and still the vital principle is at work, carrying on in the interior of the plant, concealed from human view, and sheltered from the piercing frosts, operations necessary to the preservation of vegetable life, or protru- sion of future parts ; though it requires the returning warmth of spring to give that degree of velocity to the juices which shall render their motion cognizable to man, as well as that expression to the whole plant which is the most evident token of life : in the same manner as the processes of respiration, digestion, and the circulation of the blood are carried on in the animal subject even while asleep ; though the most obvious indications of animal life are the motions of the animal when awake. Heat then acts as a powerful stimulus to the operations of the vital principle, accelerating the mo- tion of the sap, and consequent developement of parts ; as is evident from the sap's beginning to flow much more copiously as the warmth of spring advances, as well as from the possibility of anticipating the natural period of their developement by forcing them in a hot-house. But it is known that excessive heat impedes the progress of vegetation as well as excessive cold ; both extremes being equally prejudicial. Hence the sap flows more copiously in the spring and autumn than in either the summer or winter; as may readily be seen by watching the progress of the growth of the annual shoot, which, after having been rapidly protruded in the spring, remains for a while stationary during the great heat of the summer, but is again elongated during the more moderate temper- ature of autumn. 1666. Artificial stimulants. There are also several substances which have been found to operate as stimulants to the agency of the vital principle, when artificially dissolved in water, and applied to the root or branch. Oxygenated muriatic acid has been already mentioned : and the vegetation of the bulbs of the hyacinth and narcissus is accelerated by means of the application of a solution of nitre. Dr. Barton of Philadelphia found that a decaying branch of Liriodendron tulipifera, and a faded flower of the yellow iris, recovered and continued long fresh when put into water impregnated with camphor ; though flowers and branches, in all respects similar, did not recover when put into com- mon water. 1667. Irritability. Plants are not only susceptible of the action of the natural stimuli of light and heat, exciting them gradually to the exercise of the functions of their dif- ferent organs in the regular progress of vegetation ; they are susceptible also of the action of a variety of accidental or artificial stimuli, from the application of which they are found to give indications of being endowed also with a property similar to what we call irritability in the animal system. This property is well exemplified in the genus Mimosa ; particularly in that species known by the name of the Sensitive Plant ; in the Dionae'a wiuscipula, and in the Drosera. But sometimes the irritability resides in the flower, and has its seat either in the stamens or style. The former case is exemplified in the flower of the berberry and Cactus Tuna, and the latter in Stylidium glandulosum. 1668. Sensation. From the facts adduced in the preceding sections, it is evident that plants are endowed with a capacity of being acted upon by the application of stimuli, whether natural or artificial, indicating the existence of a vital principle, and forming one of the most prominent features of its character. But besides this obvious and ac- knowledged property, it has been thought by some phytologists that plants are endowed also with a species of sensation. Sir J. E. Smith seems rather to hope that the doctrine may be true, than to think, it so. 1669. Instinct. There are also various phenomena exhibited throughout the extent of the vegetable kingdom, some of which are common to plants in general, and some peculiar to certain species, which have been thought by several botanical writers to exhibit indications, not merely of sensation, but of instinct. The tendency of plants to incline their stem and to turn the upper surface of their leaves to the light, the direction which the extreme fibres of the root will often take to reach the best nourishment, the folding up of the flower on the approach of rain, the rising and falling of the water lily, and the peculiar and invariable direction assumed by the twining stem in ascending its prop, S 253 SCIENCE OF AGRICULTLRE. Part II. are among the phenomena which have been attributed to instinct. Keith has endeavoured {J. in. Trans xi. p. II.) to establish the doctrine of the existence and agency of an instinctive principle in the plant, upon the ground of the direction invariably assumed by the radicle and plumelet respectively, in the germination of the seed. 1670. Definition of the j>lant. Bui if vegetables are living beings endowed with sensation and instinct, or any thing approaching to it, so as to give them a resemblance to animals, how are we certainly to distinguish the plant from the animal? At the extremes of the two kingdoms the distinction is easy • the more perfect animals can never be mistaken for plants, nor the more perfect plants for animals; but at the mean, where the two kingdoms may be supposed to unite, the shades of discrimination are so very faint or evanescent that of some individual productions it is almost impossible to say to which of the kingdoms they belong. Hence it is that substances which have at one time been classed among plants, have at another time been classed among animals ; and there are substances to be met with whose place has not yet been satisfactorily determined. Of these may be mentioned the genus Corallina (Jig. 199.), which Linnasus placed among 199 animals, but which Gairtner places among plants. Linnaeus, Bonnet, Hedwig, Mirbel, and Link, have each given particular definitions. According to Link, a plant is a com- pound organic body, deriving nourishment from the soil in which it grows. According to Keitli, a vegetable is an organised and living substance springing from a seed or gem, which it again produces ; and effecting the developement of its parts by means of the intro-susception and assimilation of unorganised substances which it derives from the atmosphere or the soil in which it grows. The definition of the animal is the counter- part : an animal is an organised and living being proceeding from an egg or embryo, which it again produces, and effecting the developement of its parts by means of the intro-susception of organised substances or their products. For all oraetical purposes, perhaps plants may be distinguished from animals with sufficient accuracy by means of the trial of burning ; as animal substances in a state of ignition exhale a strong and phosphoric odour, which vegetable substances do not. Chap. V. Vegetable Pathology, or the Diseases and Casualties of Vegetable Life. 1671. As plants are, like animals, organised and living beings, they are, like animals, also liable to such accidental injuries and disorders as may affect the health and vigour, or occasion the death, of the individual. These are wounds, accidents, diseases, and natural decay. Sect. I. Wounds and Accidents. 1672. A wound is a forcible separation of the solid parts of the plant effected by means of some external cause, intentional or accidental. 1673. Incisions are sometimes necessary to the health of the tree, in the same manner, perhaps, as bleeding is necessary to the health of the animal. The trunks of the plum and cherry tree seldom expand freely till a longitudinal incision has been made in the bark ; and hence this operation is often practised by gardeners. If the incision affects the epidermis only, it heals up without leaving any scar ; if it pene- trates into the interior of the bark, it heals up only by means of leaving a scar ; if it penetrates into the wood, the wound in the wood itself never heals up completely, but new wood and bark are formed above it as before. Ifi74. Boring is an operation by which trees are often wounded for the purpose of making them part with their sap in the season of their bleeding, particularly the birch tree and American maple. A horizontal, or rather slanting, hole is bored in them with a wimble, so as penetrate an inch or two into the wood , from this the sap flows copiously ; and though a number of holes are often bored in the same trunk, the health of the tree is not very materially affected. For trees will continue to thrive, though Book I. DISEASES OF VEGETABLES. 259 subjected to this operation for many successive years ; and the hole, if not very large, will close un amir, like the deep incision, not by the union of the broken fibres of the wood, but by the formation onXbart and wood projecting beyond the edge ot the orifice, and finally shutting it up altogether lb/5. Girdltng is an operation to winch trees in North America are often subjected, when the firmer Wishes to clear his land of timber It consists in making parallel and horizontal incisions with ainx'I the trunk of a tree and carrying them quite round the stem, so as to penetrate through the alburnum in then to scoop out the intervening portion. If this operation is performed earlv in the snrine and before the commencement of the bleeding season, the tree rarely survives it ; though" some trees that are ne •ii harly tenacious of lite, such as^Ver saccharinum and Nyssa integrifblia, have been known to survive it a considerable length of time. ""' 1676. Fracture. If a tree is bent so as to fracture part only of the cortical and woodv fibres and the stem or branch but small, the parts will again unite by being put back into their natural position and well propped up. Especially cure may be expected to succeed if the fracture happens in the spring • but it will not succeed if the fracture is accompanied with contusion, or if the stem or branch is large • and even where it succeeds the woody fibres do not contribute to the union, but the granular and herbaceous sub stance only, which exudes from between the wood and liber, insinuating itself into all interstices and finally becoming indurated into wood. 1677. Pruning. Wounds are necessarily inflicted by the gardener or forester in pruning or lopping off the superfluous branches; but this is seldom attended with anv bad effects to the health of the tree if done by a skilful practitioner : indeed, no further art is required, merely for the protection of the tree' beyond that of cutting the branch through in a sloping direction, so as to prevent the rain from lodging. ' In this case the wound soon closes up by the induration of the exposed surface of the section, and by trie protru- sion of a granular substance, forming a sort of circular lip between the wood and bark; and hence the branch is never elongated by the growth of the same vessels that have been cut, but by the protrusion of new buds near the point of section. 1678. Grafting. In the operation of grafting there is a wound both of the stock and graft, which are united, not by the immediate adhesion of the surfaces of the two sections, but by means of a granular and herbaceous substance exuding from between the wood and bark, and insinuating itself as a sort of cement into all open spaces : new wood is finally formed within it, and the union is complete. 1679. Felling is the operation of cutting down trees close to the ground, which certain species will sur- vive, if the stump be protected from the injuries of animals, and the root fresh and vigorous. In this case the fibres of the wood are never again regenerated, but a lip is formed as in the case of pruning ; and buds, which spring up into new shoots, are protruded near the section ; so that from the old shoot, ten, twelve! or even twenty, new stems may issue, according to its size and vigour. The stools of the oak and ash tree will furnish good examples; but there are some trees, such as the pine and fir tribe, which never send out any shoots after the operation of felling. The frankincense pine is said to be an exception ; but any specimens we have seen do not incline us to the belief of such an anomaly. 1680. If buds are destroyed in the course of the winter, or in the early part of the spring, many plants will again generate new buds, which will develope their parts as the others would have done, except that they never contain blossom or fruit. Du Hamel thought these buds sprang from preorganised germs, which he conceived to be dispersed throughout the whole of the plant; but Knight thinks he has disl covered the true source of the regeneration of buds, in the proper juice thai is lodged in the alburnum. Buds thus regenerated never contain or produce either flower or fruit; perhaps because the fruit-bud requires more time to develope its parts, or a peculiar and higher degree of elaboration ; and that this hasty production is only the effect of a great effort of the vital principle for the preservation of the indi- vidual, and one of those wonderful resources to which nature always knows how to resort when the vital principle is in danger. But though such buds do not produce flowers directly, as in the case of plants which bear their blossoms on last year's wood ; yet they often produce young shoots which produce blos- soms and fruit the same season, as in the case of cutting down an old vine or pruning the rose. 1681. Sometimes the leaves of a tree are destroyed partially or totally as soon as they are protruded from the bud, whether by the depredations of caterpillars or other insects, or by the browsing of cattle. But if the injury is done early in the spring, new leaves will be again protruded without subsequent shoots. Some trees will bear to be stripped even more than once in a season, as is the case with the mulberry tree, which is cultivated in the south of France and Italy for the purpose of feeding the silkworm ; but if it be stripped more than once in the season, it requires now and then a year's rest. 1682. The decortication of a tree, or the stripping it of its bark, may be either intentional or acci- dental, partial or total. If it is partial, and affects the epidermis only, then it is again regenerated, as in the case of slight incision, W'thout leaving any scar. But if the epidermis of the petal, leaf, or fruit is destroyed, it is not again regenerated, nor is the wound healed up, except by means of a scar. Such is the case also with all decortications that penetrate deeper than the epidermis, particularly if the wound is not protected from the action of the air. If the decortication reaches to the wood, then new bark issues from between the bark and wood, and spreads till it covers the wound. But the result is not the same when the wound is covered from the air. In the season of the flowing of the sap Du Hamcl detached a ring of bark of three or four inches in breadth, from the trunks of several young elm trees, taking care to defend the decorticated part from the action of the air, by surrounding it with a tube of glass cemented above and below to the trunk. After a few days the tubes became cloudy within, par. ticularly when it was hot ; but when the air became cool, the cloud condensed and fell in drops to the bottom. At last there began to appear, as if exuding from between the bark and wood of the upper part of the wound, a sort of rough scurfy substance ; and on the surface of the wood, as if exuding from be- tween the longitudinal fibres of the alburnum, a number of gelatinous drops. They were not connected with the scurfy substance at the top, but seemed to arise from small slips of the liber that had not been completely detached. Their first appearance was that of small reddish spots changing by degrees into white, and finally into a sort of grey, and extending in size till they at last united and formed longitudinal ridges, which constituted a new bark. 1683. Abortion or failure in the produce of flowers, fruits, or of perfect seeds, is generally the effect of accidental injuries, either directly to the flower or fruit, by which they are rubbed off or devoured by insects ; or to the leaves by insects; or to the roots by exposure to the air or cutting off so much of them as essentially to lessen their power of drawing up nourishment. Other causes will readily suggest them- selves ; and one of the commonest, as to seeds and fruits, is want of sufficient impregnation. 168+. Premature flowering or fruiting is sometimes brought on by insects, but more generally by checks produced by cold, or injuries from excessive heat, or long-continued drought. Fruit is often ripened prematurely by the puncture of insects ; and a pine-apple plant of almost any age may be thrown into fruit by an hour or two's exposure to a frosty atmosphere in winter, or by scorching the roots in an overhot tan-bed at any season. Sect. II. Diseases. 1685. Diseases are corrupt affections of the vegetable body, arising from a vitiated state of its juices, and tending to injure the habitual health either of the whole or part of the plant. The diseases which occur the most frequently among vegetables are the fol- lowing : — Blight, smut, mildew, honey-dew, dropsy, flux of juices, gangrene, etiolation, suffocation, contortion, consumption. S '2 260 SCIENCE OF AGRICULTURE Part II. ]fi86. Blight. Much has been written on the nature of blight ; and in proportion as words have been multiplied on the subject, the difficulties attending its elucidation have increased. 1687. The blight, or blast, was well known to the ancient Greeks, who were, however, totally ignorant of its cause, regarding it merely as a blast from heaven, indicating the wrath of their offended deities, and utterly incapable of prevention or cure. It was known also to the Romans under the denomination of rumgo, who regarded it in the same light as the Greeks, and even believed it to be under the direction of a particular deity, Rubigus, whom they Bolemnly invoked that blight might be kept from corn and trees. It is still weil known from its effects to every one having the least knowledge of husbandry or gar. dening; but it has been very differently accounted for: and, perhaps, there is no one cause that will account for all the different cases of blight, or disease going by the name of blight ; though they have been supposed to have all the same origin. If we take the term in its most general acceptation, it will include at least four distinct species, — blight originating in cold and frosty winds ; blight originating in a sort of sultry and pestilential vapour; blight originating from want of nourishment; and blight origi. Dating in tin- immoderate propagation of a sort of small and parasitical fungus. 1688. Blight originating in cold and frosty winds, is often occasioned by the cold and easterly winds of spring, which nip and destroy the tender shoots of the plant, by stopping the current of the juices. The leaves which are thus deprived of their due nourishment wither and fall, and the juices which are now stopped in their passage swell and hurst the vessels, and become the food of innumerable little insects which soon alter make their appearance. Hence they are often mistaken for the cause of the disease itself; the fanner supposing tiny are waited to him on the "jst wind, while they are only generated in the extravasated juices a- forming a proper nidus for theii eggs. Their multiplication will no doubt con- tribute to the spread of the disorder, as they always breed fast where they find plenty of food. But a similar disease is often occasioned by the early frost of spring. If the weather is prematurely mild, the blossom is prematurely protruded, which, though it is viewed by the unexperienced with delight, yet it is viewed by the judicious with fear. Tor it very often happens that this premature blossom is totally de- stroyed by subsequent frosts, as well as both the leaves and shoots, which consequently wither and fall, and injure if they do not actually kill the plant. This evil is also often augmented by the unskilful gardener, even in attempting to prevent it; that is, by matting up his trees too closely, or by keeping them covered in the course of the day, and thus rendering the shoots so tender that they can scarcely fail to be destroyed by the next frost 1689. Slight, originating in sultry and pestilential vapour, generally happens in the summer, when the grain has attained to its full growth, and when there are no cold winds or frosts to occasion it Such was the blight that used to damage the vineyards of ancient Italy, and which is yet found to damage our hop- plantations and wheat-crops. The Romans observed that it generally happened after short but heavy showers occurring about noon, and followed by clear sunshine, about the season of the ripening of the grapes, and that the middle of the vineyard suffered the most. This corresponds pretty nearly to what is in this country called the fire-blast among hops, which has been observed to take place most com- monlv about the end of July, when there has been rain with a hot gleam of sunshine immediately after; the middle of the hop-ground is also the most arfected, whether the blight is general or partial, and is almost always the point in which it originates. In a particular case which was minutely observed, the damage happened a little before noon, and the blight ran in a line forming a right angle with the sun- beams at that time of the day. There was but little wind, which was, however, in the line of the blight (Hale's Body of Husbandry.) Wheat is also affected with a similar sort of blight, and about the same season of the year, which totally destroys the crop. In the summer of 1SU9, a field of wheat, on rather a light and sandy soil, came up with every appearance of health, and also into ear with a fair prospect of ripening well. About the beginning of July it was considered as exceeding anything expected from such a soil. A week afterwards a portion of the crop on the east side of the field, to the extent of several acres, was totally destroyed ; being shrunk and shrivelled up to less than one half the size of what it had for- merly been, and so withered and blasted as not to appear to belong to the same field. The rest of the field produced a fair crop. Blight from want of nourishment may happen to all plants, wild or cultivated ; but it is most commonly met with in corn fields, in very dry seasons, in those thin gravelly surfaces which do not sufficiently retain the moisture. In such spots the plants are thrown prematurely into blossom, and the ear or seed-pod ripens before it is filled. In England the fanners call this the white blight 1691. Blight, originating in I'iingi, attacks the leaves or stems both of herbaceous and woody plants, 5uch as Euphorbia Cyparissias, A'eiberis vulgaris, and flliimnus catharticus ; but more generally grasses, and particularly our most useful grains, wheat, barley, and oats. It always appears in the least ventilated parts of a field, and has generally been preceded by cold, moist weather, which, happening in the warm month of July, suddenly chills and checks vegetation. It generally assumes the appearance of a rusty- looking powder, that soils the finger when touched. In March, 1807, some blades ot wheat attacked with this species of blight were examined by Keith ; the appearance was that of a number of rusty-look- ing spots or patches dispersed over the surface of the leaf, exactly like that of the seeds of dorsiferous ferns bursting their indusium. Upon more minute inspection, these patches were found to consist of thousands of small globules collected into groups beneath the epidermis, which they raised up in a sort of blister, and at last burst. Some of the globules seemed as if embedded even in the longitudinal vessels of the blade. They were of a yellowish or rusty brown, and somewhat transparent. But these groups of globules have been ascertained by Sir J. Banks to be patches of a minute fungus, the seeds of which, as they tloat in the air, enter the pores of the epidermis of the leaf, particularly if the plant is sickly ; or then exi>t in the manure or soil, and enter by the pores of the root {Sir J. Banks on Blight, 1805.) This fungus has been figured by Sowerby, and by F. Bauer and Grew. It is known among farmers by the name of red rust, and chiefly affects the stalks and leaves. But there is another species of fungus known to the farmer by the name of red gum, which attacks the ear only, and is extremely prejudicial. In the aggregate it consists of groups of minute globules interspersed with transparent fibres. The glo- bules are filled with a fine powiier, which explodes when they are put into water. It is very generally accompanied with a maggot of a yellow colour, which preys also upon the grain, and increases the amount of injury. lil" J. The only means of preventing or lessening the effect of any of the different varieties ot blight mentioned is proper culture. Palliatives are to be found in topical applications, such as flower of sul- phur, and where the disease proceeds from, or consists of, innumerable minute insects, it may occasionally be removed. Grisenthwaite conjectures that in many cases in which the blight and mildew attack corn- crops, it may be for want of the peculiar food requisite for perfecting the grain ; it being known that the fruit or seeds of many plants contain primitive principles not found in the rest of the plant Thus the grain of wheat contains gluten and phosphate of lime, and where these are wanting in the soil, that is, in the man ired earths in which the plant grows, it will be unable to perfect its fruit, which of conse, quence becomes more liable to disease. {New Theory of Agr.) 1093. Smut is a disease incidental to cultivated corn, by which the farina of the grain, together with its proper integuments and even part of the husk, is converted into a black soot-like powder. If the injured ear be struck with the finger, the powder will be dispersed like a cloud of black smoke ; and if a portion of the powder be wetted by a Book I. DISEASES OF VEGETABLES. 261 drop of water and put under the microscope, it will be found to consist of millions of minute and transparent globules, which seem to be composed of a clear and glairy fluid encompassed by a thin and skinny membrane. This disease does not affect the whole body of the crop, but the smutted ears are sometimes very numerously dispersed through- out it. Some have attributed it to the soil in which the grain is sown, and others have attributed it to the seed itself, alleging that smutted seed will produce a smutted crop : but in all this there seems to be a great deal of doubt. "Willdenow regards it as origin- ating in a small fungus, which multiplies and extends till it occupies the whole ear (Princip. of Bot. p. '656.) : but F. Bauer of Kew seems to have ascertained it to be merely a morbid swelling of the ear, and not at all connected with the growth of a fungus. (Smith's Introd. p. 282.) It is said to be prevented by steeping the grain, before sowing, in a weak solution of arsenic But, besides the disease called smut, there is also a disease analogous to it, or a different stage of the same disease, known to the farmer by the name of bags or smut balls, in which the nucleus of the seed only is converted into a black powder, whilst the ovary, as well as the husk, remains sound. The ear is not much altered in its external appearance, and the diseased grain contained in it will even bear the operation of threshing, and consequently mingle with the bulk : but it is always readily detected by the experienced buyer, and fatal to the character of the sample. It is said to be prevented as in the case of smut. 1694. Mildew is a thin and whitish coating with which the leaves of vegetables are sometimes covered, occasioning their decay and death, and injuring the health of the plant. It is frequently found on the leaves of Tussilago jFarfara, Humulus Lupulus, Corylus avellana, and the white and yellow dead-nettle. It is found also on wheat in the shape of a glutinous exudation, particularly when the days are hot and the nights without dew. J. Robertson (Hort. Trans, v. 178.) considers it as a minute fungus of which different species attack different plants. Sulphur he has found to be a specific cure. In cultivated crops mildew is said to be prevented by manuring with soot ; though by some this is denied, and soot, by rendering the crop more luxuriant, is said to be an encourager of mildew, the richest parts of a field being always most infected by it. As it is least common in airy situations, thinning and ventilation may be considered as preventives. 1695. Honey-dew is a sweet and clammy substance which coagulates on the surface of the leaves during hot weather, particularly on the leaves of the oak tree and beech, and is regarded by Curtis as being merely the dung of some species of aphides. This seems to be the opinion of Willdenow also, and it is no doubt possible that it may be the case in some instances or species of the disease : but Sir J. E. Smith contends that it is not always so, or that there are more species of honey-dew than one, regarding it particularly as being an exudation, at least in the case of the beech, whose leaves are, in consequence of an unfavourable wind, apt to become covered with a sweet sort of glutinous coating, similar in flavour to the fluid obtained from the trunk. 1696. It is certain, however, that saccharine exudations arc found on the leaves of many plants, though not alwavs distinguished by the name of honey-dew ; which should not perhaps be applied except when the exudation occasions disease. But it it is to be applied to all saccharine exudations whatever, then we must include under the appellation of honev-dew, the saccharine exudations observed on the orange tree by De la Hire, together with that of the lime tree which is more glutinous, and of the poplar which is more resinous ; as also that of the Cistus creticus, and of the manna which exudes from the ash tree of Italv and larch of France It is also possible that the exudation or excrement constituting honey-dew may occasionally occur without producing disease ; for if it should happen to be washed off soon after by rains or heavy d'ews, then the leaves will not suffer. Washing is therefore the palliative ; judicious cul- ture the preventive. 1 697. Dropsy. Plants are also liable to a disease which affects them in a manner similaj to that of the dropsy in animals, arising from long-continued rain or too abundant watering. Willdenow describes it as occasioning a preternatural swelling of particular parts, and inducing putrefaction. It is said to take place chiefly in bulbous and tuberous roots, which are often found much swelled after rain. It affects fruit also, which it renders watery and insipid. It prevents the ripening of seeds, and occasions an immoderate pro- duction of roots from the stem. 1698. In succulent plants this disease generally appears in consequence of excessive waterings, and is for the most part incurable. The leaves drop, even though plump and green ; and the fruit rots before reaching maturitv. In this case the absorption seems to be too great in proportion to the transpiration ; but the soil when' too much manured produces similar effects. Du Hamel planted some elms in a soil that was particularly well manured, and accordingly thev pushed with great vigour for some time ; but at the end of five or six vears thev all died suddenly. The bark was found to be detached from the wood, and the cavity filled up with a reddish -coloured water. The symptoms of this disease suggest the palli- atives ; and the preventive is ever the same — judicious culture. 1699. Flux of juices. Some trees, but particularly the oak and birch, are liable to a great loss of sap, which bursts out spontaneously, owing to its superabundance, or issues from accidental wounds : sometimes it is injurious to the health of the plant, and some- times not. 1700. There is a spontaneous extravasation of the sap of the vine, known by the naire of the tears of the vine, which is not always injurious. As it often happens that the root imbibes sap, wb'Ch the leaves are not vet prepared to throw off, because not vet sufficiently expanded, owing to an inclement season, the S 3 262 SCIENCE OF AGRICULTURE. Tart It. h.,p wbicti i- Brsl carried up, being propelled by that which follows, ultimately forces its way through all ructions and exudes from the bud. Hut this is observed only in cold climates; tor in hot climates, where the developemeut ol the leaves Is not obstructed li> cold, they arc ready to elaborate the sap as toon a* it reaches them There is also ■ spontaneous extravasation of proper juice m some trees, which not seem in general to be injurious to the Individual Thus the gum winch exudes from cherry, plum, peach, and all .1 trees Is seldom detrimental to their health, except when it insinuates itself into the other vessels of the plant and occasions obstructions. , 1701 lint the exudation «( gum i- sometimes a disease, and one for which there is seldom any remedy, it is renerallj the consequence of an unsuitable soil, situation, or climate. Cold raw summers will pro. dUCC it in thep.Mch.apiie.it. and more tender sorts of plum and cherry ; or crafting these fruits on diseased Stocks (lilting out the part and applying a covering of loam, or tar and charcoal, to exclude the air, are palliatives ; but the only efffet tual method, where it can be practised, is to take up the tree and place it in a suitable soil and situation. ,..•■,, I7n ! The extravasation and corruption of the ascending or descending juices, have been known to occa- sion a fissure ol the solid parts. Sometimes the fissure is occasioned by mean- ol frost, and forms what is called a double alburnum that is, tiist a layer that has been injured by the frost, and then a layer that passes into wood Sometimes a layei is partially affected, and that is generally owing to a sudden and partial thaw on the south side of the trunk, which maybe followed again by a sudden frost. In this case the alburnum Is split into chits or chinks, by means of the expansion of the frozen sap. 1703 Chilblain* Hut clefts thus occasioned often degenerate into chilblains which discharge a blackish and acrid fluid, to the «reat detriment of the plant, particularly if the sores are so situated that rain or snow Will readil] lodge in them and become putrid. The same injury may be occasioned by the bite or punc- ture of Insects while the shoot is yet tender; and as no vegetable ulcer heals up of its own accord, the sooner a cure is attempted the better, as it will, if left to itself, ultimately corrode and destroy the whole plant, hark, wood, and pith. The only palliative is the excision of the part affected, and the application Ol a coat of grafting wax. [H'tlldenow, p. 354.) 1704. Gangrene. Of this disorder there are two varieties, the dry and the wet. The former is occasioned by means of excessive heat or excessive cold. If by means of cold, it attacks the leaves of young shoots, and causes them to shrink up, converting them from green to black; as also the inner bark, which it blackens in the same manner, so that it Ts impossible to save the plant except by cutting it to the ground. If by means of heat, the effects are nearly similar, as may oftentimes be seen in gardens, or even in forests, where the foresters are allowed to clear away the moss and withered leaves from the roots. Sometimes the disease is occasioned by the too rapid growth of a particular branch, depriving the one that is next it of its due nourishment, and hence inducing its decay. Sometimes it is occasioned by means of parasitical plants, as in the case of the bulbs of the saffron, which a species of Lycoperdon often attaches itself to and totally corrupts. 1705. Dry gangrene. The harmattan winds of the coast of Africa kill many plants, by means of inducing a sort of" gangrene which withers and blackens the leaves, and finally destroys the whole plant. The nopal of Mexico is also subject to a sort of gangrene which begins with a black spot, and extends till the whole leaf or branch rots off, or the plant dies. But plants are sometimes affected with a gangrene bv which a part becomes first soft and moist, and then dissolves into foul ichor. This is confined Chiefly to the leaves, flowers, and fruit. Sometimes it attacks the roots also, but rarely the stem. It seems" to be owing, in many cases, to too wet or too rich a soil ; but it may originate in contusion, and may be caught by infection. But the nopal is subject also to a disease called by Thierry la dissolution, con- sidered"^ Sir J. E. Smith, as distinct from gangrene, and which appears to be Willdenow's dry gangrene. A joint of the nopal, or a whole branch, and sometimes an entire plant, changes in the space of a single hour from a state of apparent health to a state of putrefaction or dissolution. Now its surface is verdant and shining, and in an instant it changes to a yellow, and its brilliancy is gone. If the substance is cut into, the parts are found to have lost all cohesion, and are quite rotten. The attempt at a cure is by speedy amputation below the diseased part. Sometimes the vital principle, collecting and exerting all its energies, makes a stand as it were against the encroaching disease, and throws oft' the infected part. {Smith's In- troduction, p. 276., edit. 6.) 1706. Etiolation. Plants are sometimes affected by a disease which entirely destroys their verdure, and rentiers them pale and sickly. This is called etiolation, and may arise merely from want of the agency of light, by which the extrication of oxygen is effected, and the leaf rendered green. Hence it is that plants placed in dark rooms, or between great masses of stone, or in the clefts of rocks, or under the shade of other trees, look always peculiarly pale. But if they are removed from such situations, and exposed to the action of light, they will again recover their green colour. Etiolation may also ensue from the depredations of insects nestling in the radicle, and consuming the food of the plant, thus debilitating the vessels of the leaf so as to render them insusceptible of the action of light. This is said to be often the case with the radicles of Secale ccreale ; and the same result may also arise from poverty of soil. 1707. Suffocation. Sometimes it happens that the pores of the epidermis are closed up, anil transpiration consequently obstructed, by means of some extraneous substance which attaches itself to, and covers, the bark. 'Ibis obstruction induces disease, and the disease is called nijffoeation* 170S Sometimes it is occasioned by the immoderate growth of lichens upon the bark, covering the whole of the plant, as maybe often seen in fruit trees, which it is necessary to keep clean by means of scraping oil' the lichens, at least from the smaller branches. For if the young branches are thus coated, so as that the bark cannot perform its proper functions, the freewill soon begin to languish, and will finally become covered with fungi, inducing or resulting from decay, till it is at last wholly choked up. 171 1, Jiut a similar effect is also occasionally produced hy insects, in feeding upon the sap or shoot. This may be exemplified in the case of the aphides, which sometimes breed or settle upon the tender shoot in such multitudes as to cover it from the action of the external air altogether. It may be exemplified also in the case of Coccus Aesperidum and ./ cams t. In ius, insects which infest hot-house plants, the latter by spinning a fine and delicate web over the leaf, and thus preventing the access of atmospheric air. Insects are to be removed either bv the hand or other mechanical means, or destroyed by excess of some ol He- el. -incuts of (heir nutrition, as heat, cold, or moisture, where such e\i is, ,U not prove injurious to the plant ; oi by a composition, either fluid or otherwise, which shall have the same effects. Prevention is Hook T. NATURAL DECAY OF VEGETABLES. 'Mi to be attempted bv general culture, and particular attention to hinder the propagation of the insects or vermin, whether oviparous or otherwise, by destroying their embryo progeny. 1710 Sometimes the disease is occasioned by an extravasation of juices which coagulate on the surface of the stalk, so as to form a sort of crust, investing it as a sheath, and preventing its farther expansion. 1711. Sometimes the disease arises from want of an adequate supply of nourishment as derived from the soil, in which case the lower part of the plant is the best supplied, while the upper part of it is starved. Hence the top shoots decrease in size every succeeding year, because a sufficient supply of sap cannot be obtained to give them their proper developement This is analogous to the phenomena of animal life, when the action of the heart is too feeble to propel the blood through the whole of the system: for then the extremities are always the first to sutler. And perhaps it may account also for the fact, that in bad soils, and unfavourable seasons, when the ear of barley is not wholly perfected, yet a few of the lower grains are always completely developed. (Smith's Introduction, p. 279.) 1712. Contortion. The leaves of plants are often injured by means of the puncture of insects, so as to induce a sort of disease which discovers itself in the contortion or convo- lution of the margin, or wrinkled appearance of the surface. The leaves of the apricot, peach, and nectarine, are extremely liable to be thus affected in the months of June and July. The leaves of the apple are affected by the A'phis lanigera ; those of the larch by another woolly aphis (A. laricio) ; those of the hawthorn by a species of Tenthredo, &c. {See Majors Treatise on the Insects prevalent in Fruit Trees and Garden Produce.) 1713 The leaf which has been punctured soon begins to assume a rough and wrinkled figure, and a red- dish and scrofulous appearance, particularly on the upper surface. The margins roll inwards on the under side and enclose the eggs which are scattered irregularly on the surface, giving it a blackish and granular appearance, but without materially injuring its health. In the vine, the substance deposited on the leaf is whitish, giving the under surface a sort of a frosted appearance, but not occasioning the red and scrofu- lous aspect of the upper surface of the leaf of the nectarine. In the poplar, the eggs when first deposited resemble a number of small and hoary vesicles containing a sort of clear and colourless fluid. Ihe leaf then becomes reflected and conduplicated, enclosing the eggs, and exhibiting a few reddish protuberances on the upper surface. The embryo is nourished by this fluid ; and the hoariness is converted into a fine cottony down, which for some time envelopes the voting fly. The leaf of the lime tree in particular, when fully expanded, is liable to attacks from insects; and hence the gnawed appearance it so often displays. The injurv seems to be occasioned bv some species of puceron depositing its eggs in the parenchyma, generally about the angles that branch off from the midrib. A sort of down is produced, at first green, and afterwards hoary ; sometimes in patches, and sometimes pervading the whole leaf ; as in the case of the vine. Under this covering the egg is hatched ; and then the young insect gnaws and injures the leaf, leaving a hole or scar of a burnt or singed appearance. Sometimes the upper surface of the leat is covered with clusters of wart-like substances somewhat subulate and acute. They seem to be occasioned by means of punctures made in the under surface, on which a number of openings are discoverable, penetrating into the warts, which are hollow and villous within. The disease admits of palliation by watering frequently over the leaves ; and by removing such as are the most contorted and covered by larva;. 1714. Consumption. From barren or improper soil, unfavourable climes, careless planting, or exhaustion from too frequent flowering, it often happens that disease is induced which terminates in a gradual decline and wasting away of the plant, till at length it is wholly dried up. Sometimes it is also occasioned by excessive drought, or by dust lodging on the leaves, or by fumes issuing from neighbouring manufactories, or by the attacks of insects. 1715. There is a consumptive affection frequently attacking the pine tree ( Wffldenow, Trine. Bot. p. 351.), which affects the alburnum and inner bark chiefly, and seems to proceed from long-continued drought, or from frost suddenly succeeding mild or warm weather, or from heavy winds. The leaves assume a tinge of vellow, bordering 'upon red. A great number of small drops of resin, of a putrid odour, exude from the middle of the boughs. The bark exfoliates, and the alburnum presents a livid appearance : the tree swarms with insects (Dypterygia pinastri Step//.), and the disease is incurable, inducing inevitably the total decay and death of the individual. Ihe preventive is obviously good culture, so as to maintain vigorous health : palliatives may be employed, according to the apparent cause of the disease. Sect. III. Natural Decay. 1716. Although a plant should not suffer from the influence of accidental injury, or from disease, still there will come a time when its several organs will hegin to experience the approaches of a natural decline insensibly stealing upon it, and at last inducing death. The duration of vegetable existence is very different in different species. Yet in the vegetable, as well as in the animal kingdom, there is a term or limit set, beyond which the individual cannot pass. Some plants are annuals, and last for one season only, springing up suddenly from seed, attaining rapidly fo maturity, producing and sowing their seeds, and afterwards immediately perishing. Such is the character of the various species of corn, as exemplified in oats, wheat, and barley. Some plants continue to live for a period of two years, and are therefore called biennials, springing up the first year from seed, and producing roots and leaves, but no fruit ; and in the second year pro- ducing both flower and fruit, as exemplified in the carrot, parsnep, and caraway. Other plants are perennials, that is, lasting for many years ; of which some are called under- shrubs, and die down to the root every year ; others are called shrubs, and are perma- nent both by the root and stem, but do not attain to a great height or great age ; others are called trees, and are not only permanent by both root and stem, but attain to a great size, and live to a great age. But even of plants that are woody and perennial, there are parts which perish annually, or which are at least annually separated from the indi- vidual ; namely, the leaves, flowers, and fruit, leaving nothing behind but the bare caudex, which submits in its turn to the ravages of time, and ultimately to death. 1717. The decay of the temporary organs, which takes place annually, is a phenomenon S 4 264 SCIENCE OF IGUICULTURE. Past It familiar to every body, and comprehends the fall of the leaf, the fall of the flower, and the fall of the fruit 17 is. Thr full (if titt- leaf, nr annual defoliation of the plant, commence* for the most part with the cold* of autumn, and ii acceli rated by the frosts of winter, which strip the- forest of its foliage, and the landscape Of its verdure. Hut there arc some treat which retain their leaves throughout the whole of the winter, though changed to a dull and dusky brown, and may be called tver-clothed trees, as the beech : and there others which retain their verdure throughout the year, and are denominated evergreens, as the holly. The leaves of both sorts ultimately fall In the spring, 'sir J i: Smith considers that leaves are thrown off process limilar to that of the sloughing of diseased parts in the animal economy ; and Keith observes, that it it is necessary to illustrate the nil of the leaf by any analogous process in the animal economy, it may be comp ired to the shedding of the antlers of the >tag,*or of the hair of beasts or feathers of bird*, which being, like the leaves of plants, distinct and peculiar organs, fall Off, and are regenerated annually, but do not slough. According to Professor Vaucher every leaf consists of a distinct system of fibres. having onlj Btemporar] COntinuitj With the shoot, kept up by an adhesive substance, probably formed in .1 portion of the parenchyma interposed between the two systems of fibres. While this parenchyma is under tin luence ol vegetable action the adhesion is maintained ; when this action ceases the union is dissolved and the leaf falls. 1719, The flow ' r, which, like the leaves, are only temporary organs, are for the most part very short. lived; for as the object of their pro luction is merely to effect the impregnation of the germs, that object is Doner ittained than they begin to give indications of decay, and speedily fall from the plant ; so that the most beautiful part of the vegetable is also the most transient The fr bit, which begins to appear conspicuous when the flower falls, expands and increases in volume, and, assuming a peculiar hue as it ripens, ultimately detaches itself from the parent plant, and drops into the soil. Buf it does not in all cases detach itself in the same manner : thus, in the bean and pea the seed-vessel opens and lets the seeds fall out, while in the apple, pear, and cherry, the fruit falls entire, enclosing the Beed, which escapes when the pericarp decays. Most fruits fall soon after ripening, as the cherry and apriCO' , but some remain long attached to the parent plant after being fully ripe, as in the ease of the fruit of £uunymus and .l/Ospilus. But these, as well as all others, though tenacious of their hold, detach themselves at last, and burv themselves in the soil, to give birth to a new individual in the germination of the seed. The fall of the flower and fruit is accounted for in the same manner as that of the leaf. 1721. Decay of the permanent organs. Such, then, is the process and presumptive rationale of the decay and detachment of the temporary organs of the plant. But there is also a period beyond which even the permanent organs themselves can no longer carry on the process of vegetation. Plants are affected by the infirmities of old age as well as animals, and are found to exhibit also similar symptoms of approaching dissolution. The root refuses to imbibe the nourishment afforded by the soil, or if it does imbibe a portion, it is but feebly propelled, and partially distributed, through the tubes of the alburnum ; the elaboration of the sap is now effected with difficulty as well as the assimilation of the proper juice, the descent of which is almost totally obstructed ; the bark becomes thick and woody, and covered with moss or lichens ; the shoot becomes stunted and diminutive ; and the fruits palpably degenerate, both in quantity and quality. The smaller or ter- minal blanches fade and decay the first, and then the larger branches also, together with the trunk and root ; the vital principle gradually declines without any chance of recovery, and is at last totally extinguished. " When life is extinguished, nature hastens the decom- position ; the surface of the tree is overrun with lichens and mosses, which attract and retain the moisture; the empty pores imbibe it ; and putrefaction speedily follows. Then come the tribes of fungi, which flourish on decaying wood, and accelerate its corruption ; beetles and caterpillars take up their abode under the bark, and bore innumerable holes in the timber ; and woodpeckers in search of insects pierce it more deeply, and excavate large hollows, in which they place their nests. Frost, rain, and heat assist, and the whole mass crumbles away, and dissolves into a rich mould." (Dial, on Bol. p. 365.) Chap. VI. Vegetable Geography and History, or the Distribution of Vegetables relatively to the Earth and to Man. 1722. The science of the distribution of plants, Humboldt observes (Essai sur la Geo- grajihie des Plantes, 1807), considers vegetables in relation to their local associations in different climates. It points out the grand features of the immense extent which plants occupy, from the regions of perpetual snow to the bottom of the ocean, and to the inte- rior of the globe, where, in obscure grottoes, ervptogamous plants vegetate, as unknown as the insects which they nourish. The superior limits of vegetation are known, but not the inferior ; for every where in the bowels of the earth are germs which develope themselves when they find a space and nourishment suitable for vegetation. On taking a general view of the disposition of vegetables on the surface of the globe, independently of the influence of man, that disposition appears to be determined by two sorts of causes, geographical and physical. The influence of man, or of cultivation, has introduced a third cause, which may be called civil. The different aspects of plants, in different regions, have given rise to what may be called their characteristic or picturesque distribu- tion ; and the subject of distribution may be also considered relatively to the systematic dhisions of vegetables, their arithmetical proportions, and economical applications. Book I. DISTRIBUTION OF VEGETABLES. 2G5 Sect. I. Geographical Distribution of Vegetables. 1723. The territorial limits to vegetation are determined in general by three causes : — 1. By sandy deserts, which seeds cannot pass over either by means of winds or birds, as that of Sahara, in Africa ; 2. By seas too vast for the seeds of plants to be drifted from one shore to the other, as in the ocean ; while the Mediterranean sea, on the contrary, exhibits the same vegetation on both shores ; and, 3. By long and lofty chains of moun- tains. To these causes are to be attributed the fact that similar climates and soils do not always produce similar plants. Thus in certain parts of North America, which altogether resemble Europe in respect to soil, climate, and elevation, not a single Eu- ropean plant is to be found. The same remark will apply to New Holland, the Cape of Good Hope, Senegal, and other countries, as compared with countries in similar phy- sical circumstances, but geographically different. The separation of Africa and South America, Humboldt considers, must have taken place before the developement of organised beings, since scarcely a single plant of the one country is to be found in a wild state in the other. Sect. II. Physical Distribution of Vegetables. \T24:. The natural circumstances affecting the distribution of plants may be considered in respect to temperature, elevation, moisture, soil, and light. 1725. Temperature has the most obvious influence on vegetation. Everyone knows that the plants of hot countries cannot in general live in such as are cold, and the contrary. The wheat and barley of Europe will not grow within the tropics. The same remark applies to plants of still higher latitudes, such as those within the polar circles, which cannot be made to vegetate in more southern latitudes ; nor can the plants of more southern latitudes be made to vegetate there. In this respect, not only the medium temperature of a country ought to be studied, but the temperature of different seasons, and especially of winter. ' Countries where it never freezes, those where it never freezes so strongly as to stagnate the sap in the stems of plants, and those where it freezes with strength suffi- cient to penetrate into the cellular tissue, form three classes of regions in which vege- tation ought to differ. But this difference is somewhat modified by the effect of vegetable structure, which resists, in different degrees, the action of frost. Thus, in general, trees which lose their leaves during winter resist the cold better than such as retain them ; resinous trees, more easily than such as are not so; herbs of which the shoots are annual and the root perennial, better than those where the stems and leaves are persisting; annuals which flower early, and whose seeds drop and germinate before winter, resist cold less easily than such as flower late, and whose seeds lie dormant in the soil till spring. Monocotyledonous trees, which have generally persisting leaves and a trunk without bark, as 'in palms, are less adapted to resist cold than dicotyledonous trees, which are more favourably organised for this purpose, not only by the nature of their proper juice, but by the disposition of the cortical and alburnous layers, and the habitual carbonisation of the outer bark. Plants of a dry nature resist cold better than such as are watery ; all plants resist cold better in dry winters than in moist winters ; and an attack of frost always does most injury in a moist country, in a humid season, or when the plant is too copiously supplied with water. 1726. Some plants of firm texture, but ?inlwes of warm climates, ivW, endure a frost of a few hours continuance, as the orange at Genoa, {Humboldt, De Distribution* Planla- rum) ; and the same thing is said of the palm and pine-apple, facts most important for the gardener. Plants of delicate texture, and natives of warm climates, are destroyed by the slightest attack of frost, as the Phaseolus, JVasturtium, &c. 1727. The temperature of spring has a material influence on the life of vegetables ; the injurious effects of late frosts are known to every cultivator. In general, vegetation is favoured in cold countries by exposing plants to the direct influence of the sun ; but this excitement is injurious in a country subject to frosts late in the season ; in such cases, it is better to retard than to accelerate vegetation. 1728. The temperature of summer, as it varies only by the intensity of heat, is not pro- ductive of so many injurious accidents as that of spring. Very hot dry summers, how- ever, destroy many delicate plants, and especially those of cold climates. A very early summer is injurious to the germination and progress of seeds ; a short summer, to their ripening, and the contrary, 1729. Autumn is an important season for vegetation, as it respects the ripening of seeds ; hence where that season is cold and humid, annual plants, wliich naturally flower late, are never abundant, as in the polar regions ; the effect is less injurious to perennial plants, wliich generally flower earlier. Frosts early in autumn are as injurious as those which happen late in 'spring. The conclusion, from these considerations, obviously is, that temperate climates are more favourable to vegetation than such as are either extremely cold or extremely hot- but the warmer climates, as Keith observes, are more favourable, 266 SCIENCE OF AGRICULTURE. Part TI. upon the wlioli-, to vegetation than the colder, and that nearly in proportion to their distance from the equator. The same plants, however, will grow in the same degree of latitude, throughout all degrees >>f longitude, and also in correspondent latitudes on dif- ferent sides of the equator; the same Bpecies of plants, as some of the palms and others, being found in Japan, India, Arabia, the West Indies, and part of South America, which are all in nearly the same latitudes; and the same species being also found in Kamschatka, Germany, Great Britain, and the coast of Labrador, which are all also in nearly the same latitudes. ( WUldenow, p. 374.) 1 730. Holes /;"• determining the temperature »f a country. " The fact that a degree of latitude is equal to a degree of Fahrenheit, and that 400 feet of elevation is equal also to a degree of Fahrenheit, is original and curious, and will go far to assist us in determining the dime of any country." (Amcr. Quart, liev. March, 1829. p. 17-1.) 1 7:: I . The most remarkable circumstances respecting the temperature in the three zones are exhibited in the following Table by Humboldt. The temperature is taken according to die centigrade thermometer. The fathom is G French feet, or 6-39453 English feet. Torrid zone. Temperate zone. Frigid zone. Andes of Quito, Lat. 0°. Mountains of Mexico, Lat. 2U° Caucasus, Lat. 42"|. Pyrenees, Lat. 42±°. Alps, Lau 454° to 46° Lapland, Lat. 67° to 70°. Inferior limit of per- 1 petual snow - - f 24 GO fa. 2350 fa 1650 fa. 1400 fa. 1370 fa 550 fa. Mean annual heat at 1 that height - -J «i°. — — o r o J 2 . 4°. 6°. Mean heat of winter, do. H°- — — — 10°. OC\l° ^v 2 . Mean heat of Aug. do. i*°- — — 6°. qiO y 2 • Distance between ~) trees and snow -J 600 fa. 350 fa. 650 fa. 230 fa. 450 fa. 300 fa. Upper limit of trees 1800 fa. 2000 fa. 1000 fa. 1 1 70 fa. 920 fa. 250 fa. Last species of trees") towards the snow J Escalon;'« Alstonia. Pinus Occident. Petula alba yA)ies rubra A bies communis 2?£tula alba. Upper limit of the! JBricineae - -j Bejarup, 1600 fa. — 7ihodod. caucas. 1380 fa. — Jihodod. ferrug. 1 1 70 fa. flhodod. laponic. 480 fa. Distance between the 1 snow and corn - \ 800 fa. — 630 fa. — 700 fa. 450 fa. 1732. Elevation, or the height of the soil above the level of the sea, determines, in a very marked manner, the habitation of plants. The temperature lessens in regular gra- dation, in the same manner as it docs in receding from the equator, and 600 feet of elevation, Humboldt states, are deemed equal to one degree of latitude, and occasion a diminution of temperature equal to 23° of Fahrenheit; 300 feet being nearly equal to half a degree. Mountains 1000 fathoms in height, at 46° of latitude, have the mean temperature of Lapland ; mountains of the same height between the tropics enjoy the temperature of Sicily ; and the summits of the lofty mountains of the Andes, even where situated almost directly under the equator, are covered with snow as eternal as that of the north pole. The highest land in Scotland where corn has been found to attain maturity in favourable seasons is said to be at the mining ground on Lead Hills. (See General Reports of Scotland, chap. Climate.) 1733. Hence it is that plants of high latitudes lire on the mountains of such as are much lower, and thus the plants of Greenland and Lapland are found on the Alps and Pyrenees. At the foot of Mount Ararat, Tournefort met with plants peculiar to Armenia; above these he met with plants which are found also in France; at a still greater height he found himself surrounded with such as grow in Sweden; and at the summit with such as vegetate in the polar regions. This accounts for the great variety of plants which are Book I. DISTRIBUTION OF VEGETABLES. 2(77 often found in a Flora of no great extent ; and it may be laid down as a botanical axiom that die more diversified the surface of the country, the richer will its Flora be, at least in the same latitudes. It accounts, also, in some cases, for the want of correspondence 1 iet ween plants of different countries, though placed in the same latitudes; because the mountains or ridges of mountains, which may be found in the one and not in the other, \\ ill produce the greatest possible difference in the character of their Floras. To this cause may generally be ascribed the diversity which often actually exists between plants growing in the same latitudes, as between those of the north-west and north-east coasts of North America, and also between those of the south-west and south-east coasts; the former being more mountainous, the latter more flat. Sometimes the same sort of difference takes place between the plants of an island and those of the neighbouring continent ; that is, if die one is mountainous and the other flat ; but if they are alike in their geographical delineation, then they are generally alike in their vegetable pro ductions. 173-1. Cold and lofty situations are the favourite habitations of most cri/ptogamic plants of the terrestrial class, especially the fungi, alga?, and mosses ; as also of plants of the class Tetradynamia, and of the Umbelliferous and Syngenesious tribes ; whereas trees and shrubs, ferns, parasitic plants, lilies, and aromatic plants, are most abundant in warm climates : but this is not to be understood merely of geographical climates, because, as we have seen, the physical climate depends upon altitude ; in consequence of which, combined with the ridges and directions of the mountains, America and Asia are much colder in the same degrees of northern latitude than Europe. American plants, vege- tating at forty-two degrees of northern latitude, will vegetate very well at fifty- two degrees in Europe ; the same, or nearly so, may be said of Asia ; which, in the former case, is perhaps owing to the immense tracts of woods and marshes covering the surface, and in the latter, to the more elevated and mountainous situation of the country affecting the degree of temperature. So, also, Africa is much hotter under the tropics than America; because in the latter, the temperature is lowered by immense chains of mountains travers- ing the equatorial regions, while in the former it is increased by means of the hot and burning sands which cover the greater part of its surface. 1735. Elevation influences the habits of plants in various ways : hy exposing them to the wind ; by causing them to be watered by a very fresh and pure water from the melting of adjoining snow ; and to be covered in winter by a thick layer of snow, which pro- tects them from severe frosts. Hence many alpine plants become frozen during winter in the plains, and in gardens which are naturally warmer than their proper stations. In great elevations, the diminution of the density of the air may also have some influence on vegetation. The rarity of the atmosphere admits a more free passage for the rays of light, which, being in consequence more active, ought to produce a more active vege- tation. Experience seems to prove this on high mountains ; and the same effect is pro- duced in high latitudes by the length of the day. On the other hand, vegetables require to absorb a certain quantity of oxygen gas from the air during the night ; and as they find less of that in the rarefied air of the mountains, they ought to be proportionably feeble and languishing. According to experiments made by Theodore de Saussure, plants which grow best in the high Alps are those which require to absorb least oxygen during the night ; and, in this point of view, the shortness of the nights near the poles corresponds. These causes, however, are obviously very- weak, compared to the powerful action of temper- ature. 1736. Great anomalies are found in the comparative height at which the same plant will grow in different circumstances. In countries situated under the equator, the two sides of the mountain are of the same temperature, which is solely determined by ele- vation ; but in countries distant from it, the warmest side is that towards the south, and the zones of plants, instead of forming lines parallel to the horizon, incline towards the north. The reason, in both cases, is sufficiently obvious. In die temperate zone we find the same plants frequently on low and elevated situations, but this is never the case between the tropics. 1737. Altitude influences the habits of aquatics : thus some aquatics float always on the surface of the water, as Z.emna, while others are either partially or wholly immersed. Such aquatics as grow in the depths of the sea are not influenced by climate ; but such as are near the surface are influenced by climate, and have their habitations affected by it. 173S. The moisture, or mode of watering, natural to vegetables, is a circumstance which has a powerful influence on the facility with which plants grow in any given soil. The quantity of water absolutely necessary for the nourishment of plants, varies according to their tissue : some are immersed, others float on its surface ; some grow on the margin of waters, with their roots always moistened or soaked in it; others, again, live in soil slightly humid or ahnost dry. Vegetables which resist extreme drought most easily are, 1 Trees and herbs with deep roots; because they penetrate to, anil derive sufficient moisture from, some distance below the surface ; 2. Plants, which, being furnished with 268 SCIENCE OF AGRICULTURE. Part II. few pores on the epidermis, evaporate but little moisture from their surface, as the suc- culent tribe. 1739. Tlie qualities of water, or the nature of the substances dissolved in it, must neccs. sarily influence powerfully the possibility of certain plants growing in certain places. Hut the difference in this respect is much less than would be imagined, because the food of one species of plant differs very little from that of another. The most remarkable case is that of salt marshes, in which a great many vegetables "ill not live, whilst a number of Others thrive there better than any where else. Plants which grow in marine marshes, and those which grow in similar grounds situated in the interior of a country, are the same. Other substances naturally dissolved in water appear to have much less influence on vegetation, though the causes of the habitations of some plants, such as those which grow best on walls, as Pelt.iria, and in lime-rubbish, as 7'hlaspi, and other Cruciferse, may doubtless be traced to some salt (nitrate of lime, &C.) or other substance peculiar to such situations. 1 710. The nature of the earth's surface affects the habitations of vegetables in different points of view: 1. As consisting of primitive earths, or the debris of rocks or mineral botlies ; and, '2. As consisting of a mixture of mineral, animal, and vegetable matter. 17 11. I'rimilicc surfaces affect vegetables mechanically according to their different degrees of movability or tenacity. On coarse sandy surfaces plants spring up easily ; but many of them, which have large leaves or tall stems, are as easily blown about and destroyed. On fine, dry, sandy surfaces, plants with very delicate roots, as Protea and i?rica, prosper; a similar earth, but moist in the growing season, is suited to bulbs. On clayey surfaces plants are more difficult to establish, but when established are more permanent: they arc generally coarse, vigorous, and perennial in their duration. 17 12. With respect to the relative proportions of the primitive earths in these surfaces, it does not appear that their influence on the distribution of plants is so great as might at first sight be imagined. Doubtless different earths are endowed with different degrees of absorbing, retaining, and parting with moisture and heat ; and these circumstances have a material effect in a state of culture, where they are comminuted and exposed to the air ; but not much in a wild or natural state, where they remain hard, firm, and covered with vegetation. The difference, with a few exceptions, is never so great but that the seeds of a plant which has been found to prosper well in one description of earth, will germinate and thrive as well in another composed of totally different earths, provided they are in a nearly similar state of mechanical division and moisture. Thus, Decan- dolle observes, though the box is very common on calcareous surfaces, it is found in as great quantities in such as are schistous or granitic. The chestnut grows equally we'll in calcareous and clayey earths, in volcanic ashes, and in sand. The plants of Jura, a mountain entirely calcareous, grow equally well on the Vosges or the granitic Alps. But though the kind or mixture of earths seems of no great consequence, yet the presence of metallic oxides and salts, as sulphates of iron or copper, or sulphur alone, or alum, or other similar substances in a state to be soluble in water, are found to be injurious to all vegetation, of which some parts of Derbyshire and the maremmes of Tuscany {Chateau- vieux, let. 8. ) are striking proofs. But except in these rare cases, plants grow with nearly- equal indifference on all primitive surfaces, in the sense in which we here take these terms; the result of which is, that earths, strictly or chemically so termed, have much less inlluence on the distribution of plants than temperature, elevation, and moisture. Another result is, as Decandolle has well remarked, that it is often a very bad method of culture, to imitate too exactly the nature of the earth in which a plant grows in its wild state. 1 7 4 3 . Mixed or secondary soils include not only primitive earths, or the debris of rocks, but vegetable matters ; not only the medium through which perfect plants obtain their food, but that food itself. In this view of the subject the term soil is used in a very extensive acceptation, as signifying, not only the various sorts of earths which constitute the surface of the globe, but every substance whatever on which plants are found to vegetate, or from which they derive their nourishment. The obvious division of soils, in this acceptation of the term, is that of aquatic, terrestrial, and vegetable soils; corre- sponding to the division of aquatic, terrestrial, and parasitical plants. 17 11. Aquatic soils are such as are either wholly or partially inundated with water, and are lilted to produce such plants only as are denominated aquatics. Of aquatics there are several subdivisions according to the particular situations they affect, or the degree of immersion they require. 1745. One of the principal subdivisions of aquatics is that of marine plants, such as the Frici and many of the A Ig •!•, which arc \ ei y plentiful in the seas that wash the coasts of Great Britain, and are generally attache! io the stones and rocks near the shore. Some Of them arc always immersed ; and others, which are situate, I above low- water mark, are immersed and exposed to the action of the atmosphere alternately. But none of thrm can lie made to vegetate except in the waters of the sea. Another subdivision of aqua- tics is that of river plants, Buch as Chara, Potamogeton, and Nymphss^a, which occupy the beds of fresh- water rivers, and vegetate in the midst of the running stream ; being for the most part wholly immersed, is well a* found only in such situations. fo Book I. DISTRIBUTION OF VEGETABLES. 269 1746. A third subdivision of aquatics is that of paludal or fen plants, being such as are peculiar to lakes, marshes, and stagnant or nearly stagnant waters, but of which the bottom is often tolerably clear. In such situations vou find the Isoetes lacustris, flowering rush, water ranunculus, water violet, and a variety cf others, which uniformly affect such situations ; some of them being wholly immersed, and others immersed only in part. 1747. Earthy soils are such as emerge above the water, and constitute the surface of the habitable globe, which is every where covered with vegetable productions. Plants affecting such soils, which comprise by far the greater part of the vegetable kingdom, are denominated terrestrial, being such as vegetate upon the surface of the earth, without having any portion immersed in water, or requiring any further moisture for their support beyond that which they derive from the earth and atmosphere. This division is, like the aquatics, distributed into several subdivisions according to the peculiar situations which different tribes affect. 1748. Some of them are maritime, that is, growing only on the sea-coast, or at no great distance from it, such as Statice, Glaiix, Samolus, samphire, sea-pea. . 1749 Some are fiuviatic, that is, affecting the banks of rivers, such as Lythrum, Lyeopus, £upaton«w. 1750. Some are champaign, that is, affecting chiefly the plains, meadows, and cultivated fields, such as Cardamine, Tragopogon, Agrostemma. _ 1751. Some are dumose, that is, growing in hedges and thickets, such as the bramble. 1752. Some are rvderate, that is, growing on rubbish, such as Senecio viscosus. 1753. Some are sylvatic, that is, growing in woods or forests, such as Stactns sylvatica, Angelica syl- v* c s t r i s 1754! And, finally, some are alpine, that is, growing on the summits of mountains, such as Pua alpma, Epilubium alpinuni', and many of the mosses and lichens. 1755. Vegetable soils are such as are formed of vegetating or decayed plants themselves, to some of which the seeds of certain other plants are found to adhere, as being the only soil fitted to their germination and developement. The plants springing from them are denominated Parasitical, as being plants that will vegetate neither in the water nor earth, but on certain other plants, to which they attach themselves by means of roots, that pene- trate the bark, and from the juices of which they do often, though not always, derive their support. This last circumstance constitutes the ground of a subdivision of parasi- tical plants, into such as adhere to the dead or inert parts of other plants, and such as adhere to living plants, and feed on their juices. 1756 In the first subdivision we may place parasitical mosses, lichens, and fungi, which are found as often, and in as great perfection, on the stumps of rotten trees, and on rotten pales and stakes, as on trees which are vet vegetating ; whence it is also plain that they do not derive their nourishment from the juices of the plants on which tliev grow, but from their decayed parts, and the atmosphere by which they are surrounded: the plant to which tliev cling serving as a basis of support. 1757 In the second subdivision we may place all plants strictly parasitical, that is, all such as do actually abstract from the juices of the plant to which they cling the nourishment necessary to the developement of their parts : and of which the most common, at least as being indigenous to Britain, are the mistletoe, dodder, broom-rape, and a sort of tuber which grows on the root of saffron, and destroys it if allowed to SP 175S. The mistletoe (Viscvm Album) is found for the most part on the apple tree; but sometimes also on the oak. If its berry is made to adhere to the trunk or branch of either of the ioregoing trees which from its glutinous nature it mavreadilvbe made to do, it germinates by sending out a small globular body attached to a pedicle, which after it acquires a certain length bends towards the bark, whether above it or below it, into which it insinuates itself by means of a num- ber of small fibres which it now protrudes, and by which it abstracts from the plant the nourishment necessary to its future developement. When the root has thus fixed itself in the bark of the supporting tree, the stem of the para- site begins to ascend, at first smooth and tapering, aim of a pale green colour, but finally protruding a multiplicity of branches and leaves. It seems to have been thou lit by some botanists that the roots of the mistletoe penetrate even into the wood, as well as through the bark. But the observations of Du Hamel show that this opinion is not well founded. The roots are, indeed, often found within the wood, which they thus seem to have penetrated by their own vegetating power : but the fact is, that they are merely covered by the additional layers of wood which have been formed since the fibres first insinuated themselves into the bark. 1759. The Ci'iscuta europa^a, or dodder j?g.2C0.l, though it is to be accounted a truly parasitical plant in the issue, is yet not originally so. For the seed of this plant, when it has fallen to the ground, takes root originally by sending down its radicle into the soil and elevating its stem into the air. It is not yet, therefore, a parasitical plant. But the stem which is now elevated above the surface lays held Of the first plant it meets with, though it is particularly partial to hops and nettles, and twines itself around it, attaching itself by means of little parasitical roots, at the points of contact, and finally detaching itself from the soil altogether by the decay of the original root, and becoming a truly parasitical plant. Withering de s cribes the plant in his Arrangement as being originallv parasitical ; but this is certainly not the fact. 1760. The Orobdnche, or broom-rape, which attaches itself by the root to the roots of other plants, is also to be regarded as being trulv parasitical, though it sometimes sends out fibres which seem to draw nourishment from the earth, it is found most frequently on the roots of clover and common broom, but also in various other places. 1761. The Epidindrum flos ucris is regarded also bv botanists as a parasitical plant, because it is generally found growing on other trees. But as it is found to grow in old tan, it probably derives only support from tne bark of trees, and not nourishment. 1762. Light is a body which has very considerable influence on the structure of vege- 870 SCIENCE OF AGRICULTURE. Pakt II tables, and some, also, on their habitation. The Fungi do not require the usual inter* vention of day, in order to decompose carbonic acid gas, and can live and thrive with little or no li^ r ht. In green plains, which require the action of light, the intensity requisite is very different in different species; some require shady places, and hence the vegetable inhabitants of caves, and the plants which grow in the shades of forests ; others, and the greater number, require the direct action of the sun, and grow in exposed, elevated sites. Decandolle considers that the great difficulty of cultivating alpine plants in the gardens of plains, arises from the impossibility of giving them at once the fresh temperature and intense light which they find on high mountains. Sect. III. Ciril Causes affecting the Distribution of Plants. 1763. Tti/ the art of man plants mat/ be inured to circumstances foreign from tlicir usual habits. Though plants in general are limited to certain habitations destined for them by nature, yet some are, and probably the greater number may be, inured to climates, soils, and situations, of which they are not indigenous. The means used are acclimation and culture. 17C4. slcclimation seems to be most easily effected in going from a hot to a cold climate, particularly with herbaceous plants; because it often happens that the frosts of winter are accompanied with snow, which shelters the plant from the inclemency of the atmosphere till the return of spring. Trees and shrubs, on the contrary, are acclimated with more difficulty, because they cannot be so easily sheltered from the colds, owing to the greater length of their stems and branches. The acclimation, or naturalisation of vegetables has been attempted by two modes : by sowing the seeds of successive gener- ations, and by the difference of temperature produced by different aspects. But though the habits of individuals may be altered by what is called acclimation, that is, by dimi- nishing or increasing the supplies of nourishment and of heat, yet no art or device of man will alter the nature of the species. The potato, the kidneybean, the nasturtium, gcorgina, and many other plants which have been long in culture in Europe, and pro- pagated from seeds ripened there through innumerable generations, there is no reason to suppose are in the least degree more hardy than when first imported from Asia or South America. The same slight degree of autumnal frost blackens their leaves, and of spring cold destroys their germinating seeds. But as summer is nearly the same thing in all lands, the summer or annual plants of the tropics are made to grow in the summers of the temperate zones, and, indeed, in general, the summer plants of any one country will grow in the summer climate of any other. The cucumber is grown in the fields in Egypt, and near Petersburg. 17C5. Domesticated plants. " Some plants," Humboldt observes, "which constitute the object of gardening and of agriculture, have time out of mind accompanied man from one end of the globe to the other. In Europe the vine followed the Greeks ; the wheat, the Romans ; and the cotton, the Arabs. In America, the Tultiques carried with them the maize; and the potato and quinoa (Chenopodium Qui/nia, of which the seeds are used) are found wherever have migrated the ancient Condinamarea. The migration of these plants is evident ; but their first country is as little known as that of the different races of men, which have been found in all parts of the globe from the earliest traditions." (Ge'ographie des Plantes, p. 25.) 1766. The general effect of culture on plants is that of enlarging all their parts; but it often also alters the qualities, forms, and colours : it never, however, alters their pri- mitive structure. " The potato," as Humboldt observes, "cultivated in Chile, at nearly twelve thousand feet above the level of the sea, carries the same flower as in Siberia." 1767. The culinary vegetables of our gardens, compared with the same species in their wild state, afford striking proofs of the influence of culture on both the magnitude and qualities of plants. Nothing in regard to magnitude is more remarkable than in the case of the 7/rassica tribe ; and nothing, in respect to quality, exceeds the change effected on the celery, the carrot, and the lettuce. 1768. The influence (f culture on fruits is not less remarkable. The peach, in its wild state in Media, is poisonous ; but cultivated in the plains of Ispahan and Egypt, it becomes one of the most delicious of fruits. The effect of culture on the apple, pear, cherry, plum, and other fruits, is nearly as remarkable ; for not only the fruit and leaves, but the general habits of the tree, are altered in these and other species. The history of the migration of fruit trees has been commenced by Sickler, in a work (Geschichte, &c.) which Humboldt has praised as equally curious and philosophical. 1769. The infuencc of culture on plants of ornament is great in most species. The parts of all plants are enlarged ; some are numerically increased, as in the case of double llowers ; and, what is most remarkable, even the colours are frequently changed, in the leaf, flower, and fruit. 1770. The influence of civilisation and culture, in increasing the number of plants in a countrt/, is very considerable, and operates directly, by introducing new species for cul- Bcok I. DISTRIBUTION OF VEGETABLES. 271 ture in gardens, fields, or timber-plantations ; and indirectly by acclimation and final naturalisation of many species, by the influence of* winds and birds in scattering their seeds. The vine and the fig are not indigenous to France, but are now naturalised there by birds. In like manner the orange is naturalised in the south of Italy. Many plants of the Levant are naturalised both in France and Britain ; some, as the cabbage, cherry, and apple, were probably naturalised in England during its subjection to the Romans. The narrow-leaved elm was brought from the Holy Land during the crusades. Pha- seolus vulgaris and Impatiens Palsamina were brought originally from India; and, Datura Stramonium, which is now naturalised in Europe, was brought originally from India or Abyssinia. Buckwheat and most species of corn and peas came also from the East, and along with them several plants found among corn only, such as C'entaurea Cyanus, Agrostemma Githago, Pdphanus Raphanistrum, and Myagruni sativum. The country whence the most valuable grasses migrated is not known Bruce says he found the oat wild in Abyssinia, and wheat and millet have been found in a wild state in hilly- situations in the East Indies. Rye and the potato were not known to the Romans. The country of the former Humboldt declares to be totally unknown. 1771. The greatest refinement in culture consists in the successful formation of artificial climates, for the culture of tropical plants, in cold regions. Many vegetables, natives of the torrid zone, as the pine apple, the palm, &c, cannot be acclimated in temperate countries : but by means of hot-houses of different kinds, they are grown, even on the borders of the frozen zone, to the highest degree of perfection ; and, in Britain, some of the tropical fruits, as the pine and melon, are brought to a greater size and better flavour than in their native habitations. Casting our eyes on man, and the effects of his industry, we see him spread on the plains and sides of mountains, from the Frozen Ocean to the equator, and every where wishing to assemble around him whatever is useful and agreeable of his own country or those of others. The more difficulties to surmount, the more rapidly are developed the moral faculties ; and thus the civilisation of a people is almost always in an inverse ratio with the fertility of the soil which they inhabit. What is the reason of this ? Humboldt asks. Habit and the love of native land. Sect. IV. Characteristic or Picturesque Distribution of Vegetables. 1 772. The social and antisocial habits of plants are their most remarkable characteristics. Like animals, they live in two classes : the one class grows alone and scattered, as Sola- num Dulcamara, Lychnis dioica, Polygonum Bistorta, Antherieum Liliago, &c. ; the other class unites in society, like ants or bees, covers immense surfaces, and excludes other species, such as Fragaria vesca, Faccinium Myrtillus, Polygonum aviculare, y/ira canescens, Pinus sylvestris, &c. Barton states that the Mitchella repens is the plant most extensively spread in North America, occupying all the ground between the 28° and 69° of north latitude; that the y/'rbutus uva ursi extends from New Jersey to the 72° of north latitude ; while, on the contrary, Gordon '«, Franklinza, and Dionas'a muscipula are found isolated in small spots. Associated plants are more common in the temperate zones than in the tropics, where vegetation is less uniform and more picturesque. In the tem- perate zones, the frequency of social plants, and the culture of man, have rendered the aspect of the country comparatively monotonous. Under the tropics, on the contrary, all sorts of forms are united ; thus cypresses and pines are found in the forests of the Andes of Quindiu and of Mexico ; and bananas, palms, and bamboos in the valleys {Jig. 201.) . ****"*2 nvlft-6 i 7 *» but green meadows and the season of spring are wanting, for nature has reserved gifts for everv region. " The valleys of the Andes," Humboldt observes, "are ornamented *'itn bananas and palms ; on the mountains are found oaks, firs, barberries, alders, 873 SCIENCE OF AGRICULTURE. Pxn II. brambles, and a crowd of genera believed to belong only to countries of the north. Thus the inhabitant of the equinoctial regions view a all the vegetable forms which nature lias bestowed around him on the globe. Earth developes to liis eyes a spectacle as varied as the azure vault of heaven, which conceals none of her constellations." The people of Europe do not enjoy the same advantage. The languishing plants, which the love of science or luxury cultivates in our hot-houses, present only the shadow of the majesty of equinoctial vegetation ; but, by the richness of our language, we paint these countries to the imagination, and cultivated man feels a happiness peculiar to civilisation. 1 77:i. The fe.it un I of many plants are so obvious and characteristic, as to strike every general observer. The Scitamineae, tree-heaths, firs and pines, ."Mimosa-, climbers. Cacti, grasses, lichens, musses, palms, Fquisctaccc, ,l/al\ area-, slr'6\i\vx, Orchidc.T, J.iliaoa, &C, form remarkable groups distinguishable at first sight. Of these groups, the most beautiful are the palm , Scitamineae, and Liliaceae, which include the bamboos and plan- tains, the most splendid of umbrageous plants. 1774. The native countries of plants m/ often be discovered by their features, \n tha same manner as the national distinctions which are observable in the looks and colour of mankind, and which are effected chiefly by climate. Asiatic plants are remarkable for their superior beauty ; African plants for their thick and succulent leaves, as in the case of the Cacti ; and American plants for the length atid smoothness of their leaves, and for a sort of singularity in the shape of the flower and fruit. The flowers of European plants are but rarely beautiful, a great portion of them being amentaceous. Plants indigenous to polar and mountainous regions are generally low, with small compressed leaves; but with flowers large in proportion. Plants indigenous to New Holland are distinguishable by small and dry leaves, which have often a shrivelled appearance. In Arabia they are low and dwarfish ; in the Archipelago they are generally shrubby and furnished with prickles ; while, in the Canary Islands, many plants, which, in other countries, are merely herbs, assume the port of shrubs and trees. The shrubby plants of the Cape of Good Hope and New Holland exhibit a striking similarity. The shrubs and trees of the northern parts of Asia and America also are very much alike ; which may be exemplified in the Flatanus orientalis of the former, and in the 7 J latanus occidentals of the latter, as well as in Fagus sylvatica and Fagus latifolia, or sfcex cappadbcium and ^'cer saccharinum ; and yet the herbs and undershrubs of the two countries do not in the least correspond. " A tissue of fibres," Humboldt observes, " more or less loose, vegetable colours more or less vivid, according to the chemical mixture of their elements, and the force of the solar rays, are some of the causes which impress on the vegetables of each zone their characteristic features." 1 7 75. The influence of the general aspect of vegetation on the taste and imagination of a people; the difference in this respect between the monotonous oak and pine forests of the temperate zones, and the picturesque assemblages of palms, mimosas, plantains, and bamboos of the tropics ; the influence of the nourishment, more or less stimulant, peculiar to different zones, on the character and energy of the passions ; these, Humboldt observes, unite the history of plants with the moral and political history of man. Sect. V. Systematic Distribution of Vegetables. 1776. The distribution of plants, considered in respect to their systematic classifi catkins, is worthy of notice. The three grand systematic divisions of plants are Acotyledonea?, Dicotyleddnes, and Monocotyledonea?. A simplification of this division considers plants as agamous or phanerogamous, that is, without or with visible sexes. 1777. Plants (rf visible sexes. Taking the globe in zones, the temperate contain the greater part of all the phanerogamous or visible sexual species of plants. The equinoctial countries contain nearly }^ and Lapland only 3(1 part 1778. Plants with the sennit jiurts invisible or indistinct. Taking the whole surface of the globe, the agamous plants, that is. Musci, Fungi, Fiici, &c, are to the phane- rogamous or perfect plants, neatly as 1 to 7 ; in the equinoctial countries as 1 to 5 ; in the temperate zones, as 2 to 5 ; in New Holland, as '2 to 1 1 ; in France, as 1 to 2 ; in Lapland, Greenland, Iceland, and Scotland, they are as 1 to 1, or even more numerous than the phanerogamous plants. Within the tropics, agamous plants grow only on the summits of the highest mountains. In several of the islands of the Gulf of Carpentaria, having. a Flora of phanerogamous plants exceeding '200 species, H. Frown did not ob- serve a single moss. 1779. In the whole globe, the Mornocotyledimeee, including the Gramineaj, Lili&cea;, Scitamineae, &C, are to the whole of the perfect plants as 1 to (> ; in the temperate zones (between 36^' and 52°,) as one to 4 ; and in the polar regions as 1 to UO. In Germany, the Monocotylcdoneae are to the total number of species as 1 to 4\ ; in France as 1 to 43 ; in New Holland the three grand divisions of plants, beginning with the Acotyle- donea-, are nearly as 1, 2|, and 7 . 1780. JJicolyledbncte. In the "hole globe, the Monocotyledoneoe are estimated by Book I DISTRIBUTION' OF VEGETABLES. 273 R. Brown Gen. Kern on the Bot. of Terr. Avst., 1814.), from Persoon's Synoj>sis, to be- to the Dicotyleddneae as 2 to 11; or, with the addition of undescribed plants, as 2 to 9. From the equator to 30° of north latitude, they are as 1 to 5. In the higher latitudes a gradual diminution of Dicotyleddneae takes place, until in about 60° north latitude and 50° south latitude they scarcely equal half their intertropical proportions. The ferns in the temperate regions are to the whole number of species as 1, 2, and 5 ; that is, in the polar regions as 1, in the temperate countries as 2, and in the intertropical regions as 5. In France, ferns form 7 'j part of the phanerogamous plants ; in Germany, ; ' 5 ; in Lap- land ji- 1781. The natural orders of perfect, or phanerogamous, plants are variously dis- tributed in different countries. The following Table gives a general view of the relative proportions of several natural orders of perfect plants in France, Germany, and Lapland. r Names of Natural Orders. Number of Species in different Countries. Ratio of each Family to the whole of the Phanero- gamous plants ill these Countries. Fran. Germ. Lap 1 .. Fran. Germ. Lapl. l / to l 53 1 4 1 13 71 55 1 S3 53 1 13 33 I 53 1 17 1 S3 1 197 t\ Ib3 fyperoidere - Gramineae - Jiinceae - These three Families together Orchidea? - Labiatae - Rhinantheae et Scrophularineae Poragineae - Uriceae et .fthododendreae Compositae - Umbelliferae - Cruciferae .l/alvaceae - Caryophylleae - Leguminosa; - isuphorbwert? - Amentacea - Coni ferae - 134 284 42 102 143 20 55 49 20 1 57 T3 1 sa l 3 I B7 51 1 51 i n i T53 1 f 1 5i * T13 1 55 1 Ti> 1 n i 35 1 TD5 T3 1 13 §1 1 7 53 1 2g £ 1 75 1 5s,000 have been described. According to Humboldt and 11. Brown, they are thus distributed: — in Europe 7000; in temperate Asia 1500; in equinoctial Asia and the adjacent islands 45CO ; in Africa 3000 ; in temperate America, in both hemi- spheres, 4000; in equinoctial America 13,000; in New Holland and the islands of the Pacific Ocean 5000 ; — in all 38,000. In Spitsbergen there are 30 species of perfect plants; in Lapland 534; in Iceland 533 ; in Sweden 1299; in Scotland 900 ; in Bri- tain upwards of 1400; in Brandenburg 2000 ; in Piedmont 2800 ; in Jamaica, Mada- gascar, and the coast of Coromandel, from 4000 to 5000. It is now (anno 1829) believed that there may be from 100,000 to 200,000 species of plants. Such is the progress of discovery and of ideas. Sect. VIII. Distribution of the British Flora, indigenous and exotic. 1795. Nearly thirty thousand species are enumerated in Loudon's Hortus Britannic us, including all the indigenous species of il/usci, .Fungi, Fuci, A'\gse, and Fichcnes. 1796. The natives of Britain, flowering plants, which enter into this Jlortus are upwards of 1400 species; but the native British Flora contains in all above 3300 species. Of these there are about 1437 cotyledonous plants, and nearly 1893 imperfect, or what are termed, in the Jussieuean system, Acotyledoneae. 1797. Of the cotyledonous or perfect plants, 182 are trees or shrubs ; 855 are peren- nials; CO are biennials; and 3 10 annuals. Of the trees and shrubs, 47 are trees; 25 above 30 feet high, and the remainder under 30, but above 10 feet high. Of the peren- nials 83 are grasses ; the next greatest number belong to the first two orders of the class Pentandria ; the next to the Syngenesia ; and the third to MonceVia Triandria, or the Cyperaceas of Jussieu, comprehending chiefly the genus Carex. Most of the bien- nials belong to the first order of the 19th class, and the first two orders of Pentandria. There are 41 annual grasses ; 52 annuals belong to the first two orders of Pentandria; and the next greatest number of annuals to Diadelptiia Deeandria, which includes the trefoils and vetches. 1798. Of the acotykdonous, or imperfect plants, 800 are Fungi; 18 sl'lgx; 373 iichenes; 85 Hepatica? ; 460 jl/usci ; and 130 Filices ; according to a rude estimate formed in 1820. 1799. In regard to the distribution of the perfect plants as to elevation, little or nothing has been yet generalised on the subject. In regard to soils, 276 are found in bogs, and marshy or moist places ; 140 on the sea shores ; 128 in cultivated grounds; 121 in mea- dows and pastures ; 78 in sandy grounds ; 76 in hedges and on hedge banks ; 70 on chalky and other calcareous soils; 6 1 on heaths; 60 in woods; 30 on walls; 29 on rocks; and 19 on salt marshes ; reckoning from Galpine's British Flora, 1820. 1800. In the distribution of the imperfect plants, the Filices prevail in rocky places and wastes; most of the Musci, 7/epatica', and Lichenes, on rocks and trees; most of the Fuci and ^'lga3 in the sea ; and of the Fungi, on decaying vegetable bodies, especially trunks of trees, manures, inc. Book I. DISTRIBUTION" OF THE BRITISH FLORA. 1S01. Ill respect to geographical distribution, the mountainous and hilly districts of England and South Wales are most prolific ; the greatest number, according to extent of surface, are found in England and Wales, and the smallest number in Ireland. 1 802. The genera of the native British Flora enter into 23 classes and 7 1 orders of the former, and 8 classes and 121 orders of the latter system. 180.?. With respect to the uses or application of the native Flora, there are about 18 sorts of wild fruits which may be eaten, exclusive of the wild apple and pear ; but only the pear, apple, plum, currant, raspberry, strawberry, and cranberry, are gathered wild, or cultivated in gardens. There are about 20 boiling culinary plants natives, including the cabbage, sea-kale, asparagus, turnip, carrot, and parsnep. There are about the same number of spinaceous plants, salading, and pot and sweet herbs, which may be used, but of which a few only enter into the dietetics of modern cooks. There are 3 fungi, in general use, the mushroom, truffle, and morel ; and various others, as well as about 8 species of sea-weeds, are occasionally eaten. There are about 6 native plants cultivated as florist's flowers, including the Primula elatior, Crocus, JYarcissus, Dianthus, &c. Nearly 100 grasses, clovers, and leguminous plants are used in agriculture, or serve in their native places of growth as pasturage for cattle. Two native plants, the oat and the big or wild barlev, are cultivated as farinaceous grains. Most of the trees are used in the mechanical arts, for fuel, or for tanning : one plant, the flax, not aboriginal, but now naturalised, affords fibre for the manufacture of linen cloth. Various plants yield coloured juices which may be, and in part are, used in dyeing ; and some hundred species have been, and a few are still, used in medicine. About 20 cotyledonous plants, and above 50 acotyle- donous, chiefly fungi, are, or are reputed to be, poisonous, both to men and cattle. 1804. By the artificial Flora of Britain, we understand such of the native plants as admit of preservation or culture in gardens ; and such exotics as are grown there, whether in the open ground, or in different descriptions of plant habitations. The total number of species which compose this Flora, or Hortus Britannicus, as taken from Sweet's cata- logue of 1819, is about 13,000, including botanists' varieties, and excluding agamous plants. This Flora may be considered in regard to the countries whence the plants were introduced ; the periods of their introduction ; their obvious divisions ; their systematic classification ; their garden habitations ; their application ; and their native habitations. 1S05. With respect to the native countries of the artificial fora, or H6rtus Britannicus, of 970 species, they are unknown; the remaining 12,000 species were first introduced from the following : — El'KOPE. Asia. Africa. America. Con tin en t. Continent. Continent. S Continent. N. Conti?ient S. of Europe - 65? East Indies 826 Cape of Good 7 Hope - $ 228 Mexico - 102IUnited States 1222 Spain - - too Siberia - 361 Peru - 77; Carolina 129 Italy - - - 202 Levant - 213 Barbary 77 Brazil - - - 74 Virginia 49 Hungary - - 17-3 China 205 Egypt 6S Guinea - 33 Canada 28 Austria - - 171 Caucasus - 67 Morocco - - 13 Vera Cruz . 2S Missouri - 2t Germany - - 134 Persia 37 Sierra Leone - 12 Caraccas - - 21 [Louisiana IS Switzerland - 117 Japan Syria - 36 Guinea . 11 Chile - 29 Georgia 16 France - - 10.3 19 Abyssinia 8 Buenos Ayres 8 Florida Q Various other 7 , , c Parts - j U " Various other 7 Parts - 3 82 Algiers - 8 Various other 7 275 Other parts ") Various other 7 Parts - j 51 Places - s of British America and > 111 Islands. Islands. S. Islands. the United 1 Madeira 75 Xew So. Wales 239 Islands. Cayenne - - 9 States - J Candia 66 Xew Holland 152 Canaries - 82 Falkland } CT Other Islands - 352 Ceylon 31 I'eneriffe 21 Islands - ° N. Islands. Britain - - 1400 Van Dieman's 7 Land . j Other Islands 21 73 St. Helena 6 Terra del i , I West Indies - .Jamaica - - Bahamas - - 435 Cape Verde 7 Islands J 1 Fuego 248 9 lOther Islands 55 Asiatic . - - - 2365 African - - - - 2639 South America _ - - - 644 North America . - - - 2353 Native countries unknown - - 970 13,140 1806. With respect to the dates of the introduction of the exotics front those countries, not any are known before the time of Gerard, in Henry VIII. 's reign. From this author and Trew, it appears that 47 species were introduced in or before 1548, including the apricot, fig, pomegranate, &c. Those previously introduced, of which the dates are unknown, may be considered as left here by the Romans, or afterwards brought over from France, Italv, and Spain, by the ecclesiastics, and preserved in the gardens of the T 2 276 SCIEXCK OF AGRICULTURE. Part IT. religious houses* Henry died in 1547; but the plants introduced in die year after his death may be considered as properly belonging to his reign. /•: the British garden, < hiefly fan I 'i. Turnei , director of the Duke of Sometseft (then Lord l*rotector) garden at Sjon House. Mary, 1653 to 155K. No plants Introduced* Elisabeth. 1558 to 1603. 533 ipecSei were introduced during fills ratal* Of these, 288 are enumerated in the first edition of (ieranl's Hn/*if, published 1557. Drake's Toyage round the world, Rah igh\ discoveries, in North America, and the con- sequent introduction of the tobacco and potato, took place during this reign. Jaws I. 1603 to 1625. Only 20 plants introduced during tins period. Charles I. 1625 to 1619. 331 plants Introduced, which are chietly mentioned by Parkinson, the first edition of whose work was published in L6%9. Parkinson was the king's herbalist, and Tradescant his kitchen-gardener. A taste tor plants began to appear among the higher classes during this reign ; various private gentlemen had botanic gardens; and several London merchants piocured seeds and plants for I-obel, Johnston, and Parkinson, through their foreign correspondents. o. and R. Cr nmvatf. 1649 to 1658. 95 plants introduced by the tame means as before. Cromwell encouraged agriculture ; but the part he acted left no leisure for any description of elegant or refined enjoyment* Charles 11. 1660 to 1685. 158 plants introduced chiefly men ioned by Kay, Morrison, and ditierent writers in the ZVaatacnoiU 0/ the Huval Society, founded in 1663. The Oxford and Chelsea gardens were founded, or enlarged, during this reign. Sir Hans Sloane and Evelyn flourished. .Many native plants were now brought into notice by Kay and W'il- loughby. James II. 16S5 to 1GSS. 41 plants introduced. Wifliam awl Man/. 168S to 170'. 298 species introduced, chiefly from the West indies, and through Sir Hans Sloane and tne Chelsea garden. Plukenet succeeded Parkinson as royal herbalist during this reign; and botanists were sent from England, for the tirat time, to explore foreign countries. As in the two former reigns great additions were now made to the indigenous Flora, by Kay, Sibbald, Johnson, and others. Many of the 50 species annually presented to the Royal Society were natives. Anne. 1702 to 1714. 230 plants, in great part from the East and West Indies, and through the Chelsea garden. George I. 1711 to 1727. 182 plants, chiefly through iht Chelsea garden. II. 17i7 to 1760. 1770 plants, almost entirety through the Chelsea garden, now in its zenith of fame under .Miiler. 575 of these plants are stated as introduced in 1730 and 1731, the latter being the year in which the first foUo t litioii off the Garileners' and liutanists' Dictionary appeared. 239 in 1739, in which year the Ith edition of the same wo k appeared. 196 in 1752, and above 4*mj In 1758 and 1759, when mbsequent editions were published. In the last, bi 1763, the number of plants cultivated in England is stated to be more than double the number contained in the edition of 1731. George III. 1760 to 1817- 6756 plants introduced, or con- siderably above half the number of exotics now in the gardens of this country. This is to be accounted for from the general progress of civilisation, and the great extension of British power and influence in every quarter of the world; especially In the Bast Indies, at ths Cape of Good Hope, and New South Wales. The increasing liberality of intercourse which now obtained among the learned of all countries, must also be taken into account, b> which, notwithstanding the existence of political differences, peace reigned and commerce flourished in the world of science. George III. may al>o be said to have encouraged botany, aided by the advice, assistance, and unwearied elforis of that distinguished patron of science, Sir Joseph Banks; andthegirdenof Mew, and its late curator, Aiton, became the Chelsea garden and the Miller of this reign. Most of the new plants were sent there, and first described in the Horius Kewe'nsis, The next greatest numbers were pro- cured by the activity of the London nurserymen, espedally Lee, and Loddiges, and described in the Botanical Magazine} Andrew's Heuthery ; the Botanical Register ; Loddiges' Calnnet, and other works. The greatest number of plants introduced in any one year, during this period, is 336 in 1.SU0, chietly heaths and proteas from the Cape of Good Hop-, taken f-om the Dutch in 1795. The following are the numbers annually in- troduced since that period : — 1801. - 116 1805. 169 1809. - 48 1S13. - 4'2 1SIIJ. - 169 1S0G. - 224 1810. - 68 1814. 44 1803. - 267 1807. - 61 1811. - 149 1S15. - 192 1804. - '209 1808. - 52 1812. - 316 1816. - 301 Annual Average of 17 years, ending 1816, 156 species. 1807. With respect to the obvious character of the artificial Flora, 350 species are hardy trees or shrubs ; of these 270 are trees above 10, and 100 trees above 30 feet, high. Of these, the larch, spruce fir, silver fir, and Lombard}* poplar sometimes attain the height of 100 feet. Above 400 species are hardy grasses. Of the tender exotics, the majority are trees or shrubs, and the next in number annuals and bulbs. The colours of the blossoms are generally rich and vivid in proportion to the warmth of the climate of which the plants are natives. 1S08. Purchasable British Flora. The whole of the plants enumerated as forming the British Flora, are probably not at any one time all in existence in Britain. Many of them, especially the exotic species which were introduced at Kew, have been lost there through accidents or diseases, and are wanting for a time till new seeds or plants are obtained from abroad. Had they been distributed among the nurserymen, they would have been abundantly multiplied and spread over the country. Casualties happen even to hardy plants, and a species which at one time is to be found in moderate quantities in the nur- series is at another period comparatively scarce. Thus, if we reduce the actual number of species to be found in cultivation at one time to from 9000 to 10,000, it will be found nearer the truth. In the public nurseries, varieties are very much cultivated, in order, as it were, to place the beauties of esteemed species in different points of view ; or to produce in vegetables something analogous to what are called variations in musical com- positions. The following may be considered as a popular or horticultural distribution of the species and varieties obtainable from British nurseries. It is taken from a cata- logue entitled Prodromus, &c. ; or Forerunner of the collection in Page's Southampton nursery-garden, said to be drawn up by L. Kennedy (late of the Hammersmith nursery), and published in 1818. 1809. Hardy Plants. Trees above 30 fer-t hi?h Trees under 30 and above 10 1 feet high ... J Deciduous shrubs Ito^t-s, double and single Kverjrreen shrubs Sp.&Var. 100 200 500 330 400 Sp. J. Var. Hardy climbing shrubs 130 Herbaceous plants ... 2S00 (iri-M. intrinluced in botanic 1 collections - J 150 Bulbous-rooted plants 250 00 Marsh plants Biennials Sp.& Vai. 70 300 Total 4580 1810. Green-house arid Dry-stove plants. Trees and Shrubs Heatfu Geraniums Proteas Sp.Ai Var. - 1 150 41X1 ISO 120 Climtiers Succulents M< -vmbry anthem urns Bulbous-rooted plants Sp. & Var. 90 170 160 - 300 Sp.&Vaf. Herbaceous and stemles* plants 340 Total 3180 Book I. DISTRIBUTION OF THE BRITISH FLORA. 277 1811. Hot-house Plants. Trees and shrubs Climbers • - Succulent plants - Bulbous-rooted plants Herbaceous - 1812. Annuals, native and exotic. Sp. & Var. 850 150 130 SO 170 Hardy Half hardy Tender Esculent Sp. & Var. 300 140 100 200 Aquatics Reedy or scitamineous Used in agriculture exclusive of grasses Sp.&Viir. 2. r > Total 1463 Sp.& Var. SO Total S20 Total. Hardy, 4580; green-house and dry-stove, 3180; hot-house, 1463; annuals, 820 ; total, 10,043 ; of these, above 3000 may be considered as varieties, so that the actual Hortus procurable in British nurseries may be estimated, as to the British Hortus of books, as 7 to 12, or including the cryptogamous plants, as 8 to 12. 1813. With respect to the application of the purchasable Flora of Britain, including species and varieties, we submit the following as only a rude outline, the subject not admitting of perfect accuracy from the ever-changing number of varieties. 1814. Varieties of Fruit-trees, and Fruit-bearing Plants, for Sale in British Nurseries. Apples Pears Medlars Quuiees • Services Oranges and Lemons Peaches Nectarines Almonds Sp. & Var. 5U0 400 2 2 4 CO 100 so 6 Apricots Plums Cherries Grapes Figs Gooseberries Currants Raspberries Strawberries Sp. & Var. 30 150 100 150 30 200 4 10 40 Cranberry Mulberries Filberts Walnuts Chestnuts Melons Pine-apples Sp.& V.r. 2 6 9 3 15 20 Total in ordinary nursery catalogues 1 SO fi 1815. Esculent Herbaceous riants, annuals and perennials, used in Horticulture. Cabbage tribe leguminous plants Esculent roots Spinaceous plants Alliaceous plants Asparaginous plants AcetaCsOus plants Sp. Var. 1 35 3 59 10 45 6 10 7 18 11 18 25 40 Pot herbs and garnishings Sweet herbs Plants used in confectionary 1 and domestic medicine J Plants used as preserves and 1 pickles - J Sp. Var. !1 16 12 20 14 IS 12 26 Sp. Van Edible wild plants which! 3] -j may be used - J Edible fungi - 3 3 Edible fuci • 8 8 1816. Florists' Flowers, used in Floriculture. Sp.&Var. liulhoits-rooied Plants. Hvacinths Tulips ( 'recuses Narcissus Irises Fritillaries Crown-imperials Den£ canis Sp. & Var. Colchicums - - - 10 200 Other sorts - - 100 300 Fibrous-rooted Plants. 100 Auriculas - - - 200 200 Polyanthuses - - 100 60 Primroses ... 20 20 Cowslips ... 10 20 Pinks .... 200 6 Carnations - - 300 Total 154 337 tip & Var. Tuberous ■rooted Plants Dahlias . 400 Pteonies > 20 Ranunculuses . 300 Anemones - - 200 Total '2666 1817. Hardy Timber-trees and Shrubs, Lan dscape-gardeni ng. Trees planted for timber Trees planted for other useful purposes Trees planted for ornament Hedge-plants Sp.&Var. 100 20 ISO 10 used in Arboriculture, Floriculture, and Sp.&Var. Shrubs planted for various uses, as fuel, charcoal,! 20 bark, firewood, &c Total 330 1818. Agricultural Herbaceous Plants, grown for Food for Men and Cattle, and for use in various Arts. (trains for human food • Li guminous seeds » - Hoots - .... Herbage plants, not grasses - Herbage grasses, arid grasses for grains for the infe- rior animals - Plants used for furnishing oils and essences Sp. Var. 4 20 4 10 6 20 9 15 J20 25 5 5 Plants used for dyeing Plants used for the clothing arts Sea plants used • Mosses used in dyeing Mosses used for various purposes in the arts 1819. Miscellaneous applications of Hardy Perennials, native and exotic. Used for distillation and perfumery Sp. & Var. Border- flowers, or such as are used in flower-gar- 1 3 qq dens and shrubberies, in ordinary cases about J" Used in the modern pharmacopoeias - - 50 Sold by herbalists, and used by quacks and irregu-1 2 Q 2 6 1 6 \ T ar. 2 2 t> 1 6 Total 65 112 Sp. & Var. 20 Total S70 ]ar practitioners 1820. Application of curious hot-house exotics, or such plaiits of ornament as require the protection of glass. Of these there are in ordinary green-houses seldom more than 100 species and varieties, and not more than half that number in most of our plant-stoves. The remainder of this class are confined to the public and private botanic gardens, and to eminent public nurseries. Many of this division are of great importance in their na- tive countries, as the indigo, sugar-cane, tea-tree, cinnamon, &c. ; the mango, durion, and other excellent fruits ; the palms, bamboos, &c. Even some, here treated as entirely arnamental, afford useful products in their own countries; as the camellia, sun-flower, &c, from the seeds of which, oils are expressed in China and America. The cultivation T 3 l'78 SCIENCE OF AGRICULTURE Part II. or preservation of living spedmena of these plants, therefore, in our green-bouses and stoves, i^ an entertainment at unci' rational and useful ; as many species at length become acclimated, and some even naturalised ; and uses may in time be discovered for such as are now merely looked on as objects of curiosity. But that they contribute to elegant enjoyment, it is quite enough to justify much more than all the care that is taken to ob- tain and preserve them ; for what is life when it does not exceed mere obedience to the animal instincts? 1821. With respect to the native habitations of the erotic part of the British Hortus, little can be advanced with ceitainty. In general it would appear that moist and mo- derately warm climates, and irregular surfaces, are most prolific in species; and, judging of the whole world from Europe, we should venture to consider half the species of plants in existence as growing in soft and rather moist grounds, whether low or elevattd. The soil of surfaces constantly moist, or inclining to be moist, whether watered from the at- mosphere or from subterraneous sources, is generally found to be minutely divided, and of a black vegetable or peaty nature. Immense tracts in Russia and America are of t hi- description, and, even when dry, resist evaporation better than any other. In such soils, the roots of plants are generally small and finely divided, as those of the heaths, most bog plants, anil nearly all the American shrubs. The next sort of habitation most prolific in species, appears to us to be arenaceous soils in temperate climates, and in pro- portion to their moisture. Here the roots of plants are also small, but less so than in soils of die former description. On rocky and calcareous soils die roots of plants are generally strong and woody, or at least long and penetrating. In clayey habitations, exclusive of the alluvial deposits of rivers, few plants are found, and these generally grasses, strong fibrous-rooted herbaceous plants, or tap-rooted trees. Such at least is the amount of our generalisations ; but as our observation has been limited to Europe, and does not even extend to the whole of it, those who have visited Africa and Asia are much more capable of illustrating the subject. One conclusion, we think, the cultivator is fully entitled to draw, that the greater number of plants, native or foreign, will thrive best in light soil, such as a mixture of soft, black, vegetable mould or peat and fine sand kept moderately moist ; and that on receiving unknown plants or seeds, of the native sites of which he is ignorant, he will err on the safe side by placing them in such soils rather than in any other ; avoiding, most of all, clayey and highly manured soils, as only- fit for certain kinds of plants constitutionally robust, or suited to become monstrous by culture. 1822. The Hortus Britannicus of 1829 contains nearly 30,000 species and varieties, and the Purchasable Flora of Britain of the same year, contains at least 1000 species and varieties, more than it did in the year 1818 when the above estimate was formed; but the relative proportions of the distribution cannot be materially different now from what they were then, for which reason we have not deemed it requisite to go a second time through the labour of enumeration, for the sake of a result which is by no means essential to a work like the present. Chap. VII. Origin and Principles cf Culture, as derived from the Study of Vegetables. 1823. The final object of all the sciences is their application to purposes subservient to the wants and desires of men. The study of the vegetable kingdom is one of the most important in this point of view, as directly subservient to the arts which supply food, clothing, and medicine ; and indirectly to those which supply houses, machines for con- veying us by land or by water, and in short almost every comfort and luxury. Without the aid of the vegetable kingdom, few mineral bodies would be employed in the arts, and the great majority of animals, whether used by man as labourers, or as food, could not live. 182*1. Agriculture and gardening are the two arts which embrace the whole business of cultivating vegetables, to whatever purpose they are applied by civilised man. Their fundamental principles, as arts of culture, are the same; they are for the most part suggested by nature, and explained by vegetable chemistry and physiology (Chap. III. and IV.); and most of them have been put in practice by man for an unknown length of time, without much reference to principles. All that is neces- sary, therefore, for effecting this branch of culture, is to imitate the habitation, and to propagate. This is, or ought to be, the case, wherever plants are grown for medical or botanical purposes, as in herb and botanic gardens. Nature is here imitated as exactly as possible, and the results are productions resembling, as nearly as possible, those of nature. Boos I. ntlXCIPLES OF VEGETABLE CULTURE. 279 1825. To increase the number and improve the nutritive qualities of plants, it is neces- sary to facilitate their mode of nutrition, by removing all obstacles to the progress of the plant. These obstacles may either exist under or above the surface ; and hence the ori- gin of draining, clearing from surface incumbrances, and the various operations, as digging, ploughing, &c, for pulverising the soil. Nature suggests this in accidental ruptures of the surface, broken banks, the alluvial deposits from overflowing rivers, and the earth thrown up by underground animals. Many of the vegetables within the influence of such accidents are destroyed, but such as remain are ameliorated in quality, and the reason is, their food is increased, because their roots being enabled to take a more extensive range, more is brought within their reach. 1 826'. It is necessary, or at least advantageous, to supply food artificially ; and hence the origin of manuring. All organised matters are capable of being converted into the food of plants ; but the best manure for ameliorating the quality, and yet retaining the peculiar chemical properties of plants, must necessarily be decayed plants of their own species. It is true that plants do not differ greatly in their primary principles, and that a supply of any description of putrescent manure will cause all plants to thrive ; but some plants, as wheat, contain peculiar substances (as gluten and phosphate of lime), and some manures, as those of animals, or decayed wheat, containing the same substances, must necessarily be a better food or manure for such plants. Manuring is an obvious imitation of nature, every where observable in the decaying herbage of herbaceous plants, or the fallen leaves of trees, rotting into dust or vegetable mould about their roots ; and in the effect of the dung left by pasturing or other animals. 1827. Amelioration of climate by increasing or diminishing its temperature, according to the nature of the plant, is farther advantageous in improving the qualities of vegetables ; unless, indeed, the plant is situated in a climate which experience and observation show- to be exactly suited to its nature. Hence the origin of shelter and shade, by means of walls, hedges, or strips of plantation ; of sloping surfaces or banks, to receive more di- rectly or indirectly the rays of the sun ; of rows, drills, and ridges, placed north and south in preference to east and west, in order that the sun may shine on both sides of the row, drill, or ridge, or on the soil between rows and drills every day in the year ; of soils better calculated to absorb and retain heat ; of walls fully exposed to the south, or to the north ; of training or spreading out the branches of trees on these walls ; of hot- walls ; of hot-beds ; and, finally, of all the varieties of hot-houses. Nature suggests this part of culture, by presenting, in every country, different degrees of shelter, shade, and surface, and in every zone different climates. 1828. The regulation of moisture is the next point demanding attention. When the soil is pulverised, it is more easily penetrated both by air and water ; when an increase of food is supplied, the medium through which that food is taken up by the plant should be increased; and when the temperature is increased, evaporation becomes greater. Hence the origin of watering by surface or subterraneous irrigation, manual supplies to the root, showering over the leaves, steaming the surrounding atmosphere, &c. This is only to imitate the dews and showers, streams and floods of nature ; and it is to be regretted that the imitation is in most countries attended with so much labour, and re- quires so much nicety in the arrangement of the means, and judgment in the application of the water, that it is but very partially applied by man in every part of the world, except perhaps in a small district of Italy. But moisture may be excessive ; and on certain soils at certains seasons, and on certain productions at particular periods of their progress, it may be necessary to cany off a great part of the natural moisture, rather than let it sink into the earth, or to draw it off where it has sunk in and injuriously accumulated, or to prevent its falling on the crop at all. Hence the origin of surface- drainage by ridges, and of under-draining by covered conduits or gutters ; and of awn- ings and other coverings to keep off the rain or dews from ripe fruits, seeds, or rare flowers. 1829. The regulation of light is the remaining point. Light sometimes requires to be increased and sometimes to be excluded, in order to improve the qualities of vege- tables ; and hence the origin of thinning the leaves which overshadow fruits and flowers, the practice of shading cuttings, seeds, &c, and the practice of blanching. The latter practice is derived from accidents observable among vegetables in a wild state, and its influence on their quality is physiologically accounted for by the obstruction of per- spiration, and the prevention of the chemical changes effected by light on the epidermis. 1830. Increase in the magnitude of vegetables, without reference to their quality, is to be obtained by an increased supply of all the ingredients of food, distributed in such a body of well pulverised soil as the roots can reach to ; by additional heat and moisture ; and by a partial exclusion of the direct rays of the sun, so as to moderate perspiration, and of wind, so as to prevent sudden desiccation. But experience alone can determine what plants are best suited for this, and to what extent the practice can be carried. Nature gives the hint in the occasional luxuriance of plants accidentally placed in favourable T 4 880 SCIENCE OF AGRICULTURE. I'.ucr II. circumstances ; man adopts it, and, improving on it, produces cabbages and turnips of balf a cwt.. applos of one pound and a half, and cabbage-roses of four inches in diameter ; productions which may in some respects be considered as d i seased. is.}!. To increase the number, improve the quality, and increase the magnitude of par- ticular parts of vegetables. It is necessary, in this case, to remove such parts of the vegetable as arc not wanted, as the blooms of bulbous or tuberous-rooted plants, when the bulbs art' to be increased, and the contrary ; the water-shoots and leaf-buds of fruit- trees ; the (lower-stems of tobacco ; the male flowers and barren runners of the Cucumis tribe, StC. Hence the important operations of pruning, ringing, cutting off large roots, and other practices lor improving fruits and throwing trees into a bearing state. At first sight these practices do not appear to be copied from nature ; but, independently of accidents bv tire, already mentioned, which both prune and manure, and of fruit-bearing trees, s iv thorns or oaks, which, when partially blown out by the roots, or washed out of tile soil by torrents, always bear better afterwards, why may not the necessity that man was under, in a primitive state of society, of cutting or breaking off branches of trees, to form huts, fences, or fires, and the consequently vigorous shoots produced from the parts where the amputation took place, or the larger fruit on that part of the tree which re- mained, have given the first idea of pruning, cutting off roots, &c. ? It may be said that this is not nature but art; but man, though an improving animal, is still in a state of nature, and all his practices, in every stage of civilisation, are as natural to him as those of the other animals are to them. Cottages and palaces are as much natural objects as the nests of birds, or the burrows of quadrupeds ; and the laws and institutions by which social man is guided in his morals and politics, are not more artificial than the instinct which congregates sheep and cattle in flocks and herds, and guides them in their choice of pasturage and shelter. It is true that the usual acceptation of the words nature and art scarcely justifies this application of them ; but we are viewing the subject in its most extensive light. 1832. To form new varieties of vegetables, as well as of flowers and useful plants of every description, it is necessary to take advantage of their sexual differences, and to operate in a manner analogous to crossing the breed in animals. Hence the origin of new sorts of fruits, grains, legumes, and roots. Even this practice is but an imitation of what takes place in nature by the agency of bees and other insects, and of the wind ; all the difference is, that man operates with a particular end in view, and selects individuals possessing the particular properties which he wishes to perpetuate or improve. New varieties, or rather sub\ arieties, are formed by altering the habits of plants ; by dwarfing through vrant of nourishment ; variegating by arenaceous soils ; giving or rather con- tinuing peculiar habits when formed by nature, as in propagating from monstrosities, for instance, fasciculi of shoots, weeping shoots, shoots with peculiar leaves, flowers, fruit, &c. 1 8:53. To propagate and preserve from degeneracy approved varieties of vegetables, ; t is in general necessary to have recourse to the different modes of propagating by exten- sion. Thus choice apples and other tree fruits could not be perpetuated by sowing their seeds, which experience has shown would produce progeny more or less different from the parent, but they are preserved and multiplied by grafting ; pine-apples are propagated by cuttings or suckers, choice carnations by layers, potatoes by cuttings of the tubers, &c But approved varieties of annuals are in general multiplied and preserved by selecting seeds from the finest specimens and paying particular attention to supply suitable cul- ture. Approved varieties of corns and legumes, no less than of other annual plants, such as garden flowers, can only be with certainty preserved by propagating by cuttings or layers, which is an absolute prolongation of the individual ; but as this would be too tedious and laborious for the general purposes both of agriculture and gardening, all that can be done is to select seeds from the best specimens. This part of culture is the farthest removed from nature; yet there are, notwithstanding, examples of the fortuitous graft; of accidental layers ; and of natural cuttings, as when leaves, or detached por- tions, of plants (as of the lardamine birsuta) drop and take root. 1834. The preservation of vegetables for future use is effected by destroying or render- inn dormant the principle of life, and by warding off", a- far as practicable, the progress of chemical decomposition. When vegetables or fruits are gathered for use or pre- servation, the air of the atmosphere which surrounds them is continually depriving them of carbon, and forming the carbonic acid gas. The water they contain, by its softening qualities, weakens the affinity of their elements ; and heat produces the same effect by dilating their parts, and promoting the decomposing effect both of air and water. Hence, drying in the sun or in ovens, is one of the most obvious modes of preserving vegetables for food, or for other economic purposes ; but not for growth, if the drying processes are carried so far as to destroy the principle of life in seeds, roots, or sections of the shoots of ligneous plants. Potatoes, turnips, and other esculent roots, may be preserved from autumn till the following summer, by drying them in the sun, and burying them in perfectly dry soil, which shall be at the same time at a temperature but Book IT. STUDY OF THE ANIMAL KINGDOM. 2SI a few degrees above the freezing point. Corn may be preserved for many years, by first drying it thoroughly in the sun, and then burying it in dry cool pits, and "closing these so as effectually to exclude the atmospheric air. In a short time the air within is changed to carbonic acid gas, in which no animal will live, and in which, without an addition of oxygen or atmospheric air, no plant or seed will vegetate. The corn is thus preserved from decomposition, from insects, from vermin, and from vegetation, in a far more effectual manner than it could be in a granary. In this way the Romans preserved their corn in chambers hewn out of dry rock ; the Moors, in the sides of hills ; the Chi- nese, at the present time, in deep pits, in dry soil ; and the aboriginal nations of Africa, as we have seen (1136.), in earthen vessels hermetically sealed. {Lasteyrie des Fosses propres d la Conservation des Graines. Chaptal Cliimie applique a V Agriculture, torn. ii. ch. 10.) These practices are all obvious imitations of what accidentally takes place in nature, from the withered grassy tressock to the hedgehog's winter store ; and hence the origin of herb, seed, fruit, and root rooms and cellars, and of packing plants and seeds for sending to a distance. 1835. The whole art of vegetable culture is but a varied developement of the above fundamental practices, all founded in nature, and for the most part rationally and satis- factorily explained on chemical and physiological principles. Hence the great necessity of the study of botany to the cultivator, not in the limited sense in which the term is often taken, as including mere nomenclature and classification, but in that extended signification in which we have here endeavoured, proportionately to our limited space, to present the study of the vegetable kingdom. Those who would enter more minutely into the subject will have recourse to the excellent work of Keith, from whom we have quoted at such length ; to Sir J. E. Smith's Introduction ; and to the familiar introduc- tions to the Linnean and Jussieuean systems of botany in the Magazine of Natural History, vols. i. and ii. BOOK II. OF THE STUDY OF THE ANIMAL KINGDOM WITH REFERENCE TO AGRICULTURE. •1836. Organised matter is of two kinds, animal and vegetable. Yet however obvious the difference between them may appear, it is, in point of fact, extremely difficult to state in what this difference consists. The power of locomotion, enjoyed by the more perfect animals, would seem at first an admirable distinction ; but there are multitudes of others as completely destitute of this power as plants. If we descend in the scale of animal life, we find beings formed like vegetables, and externally distinguished from them only by their voluntary motion. Yet even this, as an exclusive distinction, will not avail us; because there are very many plants (as the DionaeVi muscipula, several species of Mimosa, and some few of C&ssia) which are well known to be highly irritable. Macleay, who has discussed this question with great ability, concludes by remarking " that animals are to be distinguished from vegetables by the existence of an absorbent intestinal cavity, and of a nervous system ; but that both these marks become indistinct in those animals, which, from the simplicity of their structure, approach nearest to the vegetable nature." (Hor. Ent.) 1837. A partial knowledge of animals is essential to the agriculturist ; as they have fre- quently a much greater influence over his operations than the most consummate skill, or the most prudent, management. This knowledge should be both scientific and practical. Without the first, he cannot communicate to others the established name of any known animal, or an accurate account of any that may be unknown. While, without the second, he will be ignorant of those habits and properties which render animals either hurtful or beneficial to man. In proof of the importance of this knowledge, the following anecdote deserves attention : — In 1 7»8, great alarm was excited in this country by the probability of importing in wheat from North America the insect called the Hessian fly, whose dreadful ravages had spread desolation and almost famine over that country during the two preceding years. The privy council sat day after day anxiously debating what measures should be adopted to ward off a danger, more to be dreaded, as they well knew, than the plague or pestilence. Expresses were sent off in all directions to the officers of the customs at the different out-ports respecting the examination of cargoes. Despatches were sent to the ambassadors in France, Austria, Prussia, and America, to gain that information which only a scientific knowledge of the insect could supply : and so important was the business deemed, that, according to Young, the minutes of 969 SCIENCE OF AGRICULTURE. Paht II. council] and the documents collected, fill upwards of two hundred octavo pages. For- tunately, England contained one illustrious naturalist, whose attention liad long been directed to all subjects which connects natural history with agriculture, and to whom the privy council liay Sir Joseph Banks's entomological knowledge, and through liis suggestions, that they were at length enabled to form some kind of judgment on the subject. This judgment was after all. however, very imperfect. Sir Joseph Banks had never seen the Hessian fly, nor was it described in any entomolo- gical system. lie called for facts respecting its nature, propagation, and economy, which could be had only in America. These were obtained as speedily as possible, and con- sisted of numerous letters from individuals; essays from magazines; the reports of the Uiitish minister there, &C One would have supposed that from these statements, many of them drawn up by farmers who had lost entire crops by the insect, which they pro- fessed to have examined in every stage, the requisite information might have been obtained. So far, however, was this from being the case, that many of the writers seem ignorant whether the insect be a moth, a fly, or what they term a bug! And though, from the concurrent testimony of several, its being a two-winged fly seemed pretty accu- rately ascertained, no intelligent description is given from which any naturalist can infer to what genus it belongs, or whether it is a known species. With regard to the history of its propagation and economy, the statements are so various and contradictory, that, though he had such a mass of materials before him, Sir Joseph Banks was unable to form any satisfactory conclusion. (Young's Ann. of Agriculture, xi. 406. Kirby and S pence, i. 51.) 1838. An acquaintance with the domesticated and indigenous animals alone of Britain is essentia! to the agriculturist, and even of the latter the terrestrial proportion only will come under his notice. A knowledge of the names by which the wild species are universally known is all that he need study in the classification of quadrupeds and birds, and these may be acquired from the British Zoology of Pennant ; the quadrupeds and birds of Bewick, or the British Fauna of Dr. Turton. A British Fauna has been published by Ur. Fleming, which supplies, in a great measure, the deficiencies of the before-mentioned works. A more perfect acquaintance, however, with insects is essen- tially necessary, because their influence, in one shape or other, is constantly apparent in the avocations of the husbandman. The cheapest and most comprehensive work on British insects is Samouelle's Entomologist's useful Compendium, in which the elements of the science are explained, and a large proportion of our native insects enumerated. But no work on zoology, as it affects agriculture or gardening, has yet appeared. Those who wish to enter deeper into this science, and understand the present state of the " Philosophy of Zoology," will find the discoveries of the celebrated Cuvier, and other modern naturalists, concentrated and digested with much ability by Dr. Fleming, in a work bearing the above title. From these sources we have extracted the principal part of the following chapters, which relate to Animal Anatomy, Chemistry, Physiology, Pathology, Uses, and Artificial Improvement. Chap. I. Systematic Zoology, $c. I 839. The technical terms in zoology are much more numerous than those in botany, because there are an infinitely greater variety of forms in animals than in plants. Those made use of in the veterinary art are most important to the agriculturist, and these terms are usually prefixed to treatises on that subject. 1840. In describing animals, naturalists select those characters for distinguishing the species which are external : but the sexes of the vertebrated animals can only be ascer- tained by an internal examination of the reproductive organs. The higher divisions, or those which constitute classes, orders, families, and (in some cases) genera, depend more or less on internal structure. 184 I. The best descriptions are often insufficient I accurate drawings or preserved spe- cimens should therefore lie kept to verify the first examination, or to perpetuate pecu- liarities that may have escaped previous notice. When the agriculturist requires information from others on any particular insect detrimental to his crops, a simple description of the object is not sufficient. This indeed may lead to a knowledge of the species, but not to the means by which the evil is to be checked. He should carefully note down the time, the manner, and the situation in which the insect first makes its appearance, the period which it remains in the larva or grub state, in what way it changes to the perfect insect, whether above or beneath the ground, and, lastly, in what situations the female deposits her eggs ; two or three specimens of the insect, in its various stages, Book II. ANIMAL ANATOMY. 283 should likewise be preserved in spirits ; and this, from the small size of these beings, can be done with facility, and will supersede the necessity of any laboured description of the objects themselves. With such materials, he will find a most important advantage in submitting his doubts and queries to some one of the societies in London, whose object is more particularly the investigation of such matters. The Zoological Club of the Lin- nsean Society is composed of the most eminent naturalists in the kingdom ; and their labours promise to effect much in this department of rural economy. Specimens, &c. may be sent to the secretary, N. A. Vigors, Esq., Soho Square, London ; or they may be sent to the same gentleman, as secretary of the Zoological Society, Bruton Street, London. 1842. The classification of animals, untd the discoveries of the French philosophers, was long regulated by their external characters alone; from this resulted all the artificial svstems of the last century. A more intimate acquaintance with nature has convinced naturalists of the present day, that it is only by considering the structure of animals, both internal and external, with reference to their modes of life, that the natural system can ever hope to be discovered. The brilliant anatomical and physiological discoveries of Cuvier, Lamark, Latreille, and others, in France, have laid the foundation of this system ; but it was reserved for our own countryman, Macleay, to generalise their details, and combine these valuable materials into a whole. By a new and most extraordinary mode of investigation, this gifted writer has proved the existence of five primary divisions in the animal world, corresponding to the same number in the vegetable : while, through the doctrine of affinity and analogy, the apparently contradictory opinions of Linnaeus, with those of others who succeeded him, are in many instances reconciled and explained. (Hor. Ent. Trans, of Linn. Society, 14, p. 46.) Chap. II. Animal Anatomy. 1843. The leading organs of animal structure may be conveniently arranged as external and internal. Sect. I. External Anatomy of Animals. 1S44. All animals agree in possessing an exterior covering, or skill, to modify their surface, regulate their form, and protectthem from the action of surrounding elements. In the more perfect animals, this organ consists of the following parts : the cuticle, the corpus mucosum, the corium, the panniculus, and the cellular web. 1S45. The cuticle is destitute of blood-vessels, nerves, and 6bres, and usually consists of a thin transparent membrane possessing little tenacitv. In those animals which live on the land, it is more rigid in its texture, and more scaly and drv o'n its surface, than in those which reside in the water. In aquatic animals, it is in general smooth, often pliable ; and, in many cases, its texture is so soft and delicate, that it appears like mucus. It assumes, likewise, other appearances, such as scales, nails, shells and plates, which deserve the attentive consideration of the naturalist, as furnishing him with important characters for the arrangement of animals. 1846 The mucous iceb occurs immediatelv underneath the cuticle, from which, in general, it may be easily disjoined ; but it is often so closely attached to the true skin below, as not to be separated even by maceration in water. 1847. The corium {ci,tis vera^, or true skin, lies immediately underneath the cuticle or mucous web. It is usually destitute of colour. It consists in some animals, as quadrupeds, of solid fibres, which cross one another "in every possible direction, and form a substance capable of considerable extensibility and elasti- city. It is more obviously organised than the two membranes by which it is covered. Blood-vessels and nerves penetrate its substance, and may be observed forming a very delicate network on its surface. 1848. The muscular treb varies greativ in its appearance according to the motions which the skin and its appendices are destined to perform. It consists of a layer of muscles, the extremities of whose fibres are inserted into the corium externallv, and adhere to the body internally in various directions. This layer is verv obvious in the hedgehog and the porcupine, to assist in rolling up the body and moving the spines ; and', in birds, to effect the erection of their feathers. In man it can scarcely be said to exist, except in the upper parts, where cutaneous muscles may be observed, destined for moving the skin of the face, cheeks, and head. In the skin of the frog, the oniv cutaneous muscles which can be observed are seated under the throat ; the skin on the other parts of the body being loose and unconnected with the parts beneath. The use of this layer of the integument is to corrugate the skin, and elevate the hairs, feathers or spines with which it is furnished. 184ft The cellular web forms the innermost layer of the common integuments, and rests immediately on the flesh of the bodv. It consists of plates crossing one another in different directions, and forming a cellular membrane, vafving in its thickness, tenacitv, and contents, according to the species. In frogs it does not exist The cells of this membrane are filled with various substances, according to the nature of the animal. In general thev contain fat, as in quadrupeds and birds. In some of these the layer is interrupted, as in the ruminating animals, while it is continuous in others, as the boar and the whale. In birds, while a part of this web is destined for the reception of fat, other portions are receptacles lor air In the moon-fish the contained matter resembles albumen in its chemical characters. 1850. The aj>pendkes of the skin are hairs, feathers, horns, scales, shells, and crusts. 1851. Hairs differ remarkablv not onlv in their structure, but likewise in their situation In some cases thev appear to be merely filamentous prolongations of the cuticle, and subject to all its changes. I his is obviously the case with "the hair which covers the bodies of many caterpillars, and which separates along with the cuticle, when the animal is said to cast its skin. In true hair the root is in the torm of a bulb, taking its rise in a cellular web. Each bulb consists of two parts, an external, which is vascular, and SCIENCE OF AGRICULTURE. Part II. in. in which the hail probably derives its nourishment ; and an internal, which is membranous, and forms .1 t ui r vhr.itii in the Hair during its passage through the other layers of the skin Prom this bulb, and enveloped by this membrane, the hair passes through the corium, mucous web, and cuticle. It usually raises u|> small scales of this last liver, which soon be come dry and fall off, but do not form the external covering of the hair, ,i> some have supposed, The liair itself consists of an external horny covering, and a central vascular part, termed medulla or pith. This horny covering consists of numerous filaments placed laterally, to winch different kinds of hair owe their striated appearance. These filaments appear of unequal lengths, those nearest the centre being longest; and, consequently, the hair assumes the form of an elongated Cone, With its base seated in the skin. This form gives to the hair that peculiar property on which the opcratii (felting depends. In consequence of this structure of the surface, if a hair is seized at I lie middle between two lingers, and rubbed by them, the root will gradually recede, while the point of the hair will approach the Angers: in other words, the hair will exhibit a progressive motion in the direction of thi' mot, the imbricated surface preventing all motion in the opposite direction. It is owing to this state of the surface of hairs, that woollen cloth, however soft and pliable, excites a disagreeable sensation of die akin in those not accustomed to wear it It likewise irritates sores by these asperities, and excites inflammation. The surface of linen cloth, on the other band, feels smooth, because the fibres of Which it consists possess none of those inequalities of surface by which hairs are characterised. If a quantity of wool bespread upon a table, covered with a woollen cloth, and pressed down in different directions, it is obvious that each hair will begin to move in the direction of its root, as if it had been rubbed between the fingers. The different hairs thus moving in every direction become interwoven with each other, and unite in a continuous mass. This is the felt with which hats are made. Curled hairs entwine themselves with one another more closely than those which are straight, though flexible, as I hey do not, like these, recede from the point of pressure in a straight line; and hence hatters employ various methods to produce curl in the short fur of rabbits, hares, and moles, which they employ. This is accomplished chiefly by applying the solution of certain metallic salts to the fur by a brush ; so that, when the hairs are dry, the surface which was moistened contracts more than the other, and produces the requisite curve. 1853, I' is owing t:S ffoqfs resemble horns in their manner of growth, and in containing a central Guppori, formed by the termination of the extreme bones of the feet. They grow from Book II. ANIMAL ANATOMY. o^ the inner surface and base, and are thus fitted to supply the place of those parts which are worn away by being exposed to friction against hard bodies. Hoofs are peculiar to certain herbivorous quadrupeds. 1864. Claws resemble hoofs in structure and situation, deriving their origin from the skin, having a bony centre, and occurring at the extremities of the fingers and toes. 1865. Nails differ from horns and claws, in the circumstance of not being tubular, but consisting of a plate generally convex on the outer surface, and concave beneath. 1866. Spurs occur chiefly on what is termed the leg {tarsus) of gallinaceous bird*. They are found, likewise, on the ornithorynchus. Like horns, they are supported in the centre by bone. 1867. Horns, hoofs, and similar parts, bear a close resemblance to one another in chemical composition. When heated they soften, and may be easily bent or squeezed into particular shapes. They consist of coagulated albumen, with a little gelatine ; and, when incinerated, yield a little phosphate of lime. 1868. Their use, in animal economy, is to protect the soft parts from being injured by pressure against hard bodies. They are in general wanting, where the parts are in no danger of suffering from the influence of such agents. When torn oli'from the base, they are seldom completely renewed, although very remarkable exertions are frequently made by the system to repair the loss. 1 869. Scales vary remarkably in their form, structure, mode of adhesion, and situation in different animals. In general they are flat plates, variously marked. In some cases each scale consists of several decreasing plates, the lowest of which is largest; so that the upper surface becomes somewhat imbricated. Some scales adhere by the whole of their central surface ; while others resemble the human nail, in having the outer extremitv free. 1870. Shells consist of layers of an earthy salt, with interposed membranes of animal matter, resembling coagulated albumen. They grow by the addition of layers of new matter to the edges and internal surface. When broken, the animal can cement the edges and fill up the crack, or supply the deficiency when a portion is abstracted. 1871. The earthy matter of shells is lime, in union with carbonic acid. Phosphate of lime has likewise been detected, but in small quantity. The colour is secreted from the animal, along with the matter of the shell. 1872. Crusts are, in general, more brittle in their texture than shells. They exhibit remarkable differences as to thickness and composition. They differ from shells chiefly in containing a considerable portion of phosphate of lime, and in a greater subdivision of parts. In some cases, however, as the crusts of the bodies of insects, the earthy matter is almost absent, and they may be regarded as formed of cuticle alone. When they contain much earthy matter, as in the crusts of lobsters, the epidermis may be detected as a cover, and the corium beneath may be perceived as a very thin film. In many cases, these crusts are renewed periodically ; and, in all, they are readily repaired. Crusts occur in insects, the Crustilcea, and the Echinodexmata, or sea-urchins, and star-fish. 1873. These different appendices of the shin pass, by insensible degrees, into one another, as hair into spines, horns into nails, scales into shells, and crusts into membranes. They have all one common origin, namely, the skin ; and independently of secondary purposes, they all serve for protection. 1874. The secretions of the skin are of three kinds ; one class performing the office of lubricating the skin, another of regulating the temperature of the body, and a third that of carrying off the superfluous carbon. 1875. Unctuous secretions are confined to animals which have warm blood, and the cells of the cellular web filled with fat, Mammalia and birds. 1876. Viscous secretions. In the animals with cold blood, secretions are produced, by the skin, of substances differing in quality from those of warm-blooded animals; but destined to serve the same purposes, namely, to protect the skin from the action of the surrounding element. 1877. Sweat, in ordinary cases, exudes from the skin in a state of vapour ; and when condensed consists of water with a small portion of acetic acid and common salt. This secretion is considered as intended to regulate the degree of animal heat, and prevent its accumulation beyond certain limits. 1878. Carbon is also emitted by the skin, and appears to be in effect a secondary kind of respiration, but the discovery is but recent. (See Ellis on the Germination of Seeds and Respiration of Animals, 1807 and loll.) 1879. Absor])tion. There are several circumstances which prove that the skin of the human body, in particular states, is capable of exerting an absorbing power. Whether the absorption takes place by peculiar vessels, or by the exhaling vessels having their motions reversed, or whether absorption ever takes place in the state of health, are questions to which no satisfactory answer has been given. Sect. II. Internal Anatomy of Animals. 1880. Animal anatomy admits of three divisions, the osseous, the muscular, and the nervous structure of animals. 280 SCIENCE OF AGRICULTURE. Taut II. Si i-siii. l. Osseous Structure of Animals* 1881. The organs of external anatomy are generally considered as destined for pro- tcction ; \\ bile those of i be interior of the animal, or the hones, give stability to the power, support the muscles, and afford Levers for the performance of locomotion. Bones may be consid sred with regard to their composition, articulations, and arrangement. All bones are composed of the periosteum, cartilaginous basis, earthy matter, and fat. '. The periosteum bears the same relation to the bone as the skin to the body, serving a a covering for its surface, and a sheath for the different cavities which enter it. It varies in thickness according to the nature of the bone. Its texture is obviously fibrous; and it possesses blood vessels. Its sensibility indicates the existence of nerves. 1883. The cartilaginous basis consists of gelatine and coagulated albumen, the earthy matter IS chiefly phosphate of lime, and the fat resembles that of the fixed oils. 1884. Bones increase in sisse, not as in shells, scales, or horns, by the addition of layers to the interna] surface, but by the expansion of the cartilaginous basis; which, when it becomes saturated with earthy matter, is incapable of farther enlargement. This is the reason why the bones of young animals are soft and flexible, while those of old animals are hard and brittle. 1SS.1. 'Hie proportion between the cartilaginous basis and the earthy matter differs, not only in every animal according to age, the earthy matter being smallest in youth, but, likewise, according to the nature of the bone itself, and the purposes which it is destined to serve. The teeth contain the largest portion of earthy matter. Remarkable differences are likewise observable, according to the class or species. 1886. Bone is readily reproduced, in small quantities, especially in youth. In the case of fracture, the periosteum inflames and swells, the crevice is filled up by a cartilaginous basis, abounding in vessels, and the earthy matter is at length deposited, giving to the fractured part, in many cases, a greater degree of strength than it originally possessed. In animals of the deer kind, the horns, which are true bone, are annually cast off; a natural joint forming at their base, between them and the bones of the cranium, With which they are connected. They are afterwards reproduced under a skin or periosteum, which the animal rubs off when the new horns have attained their proper size. In some cases of disease, the earthy matter is again absorbed into the system, the cartilaginous basis predominates, and the bones become soft and tender. This takes place in the disease of youth termed rickets, and in a similar complaint of advanced life, known under the name of ?>wlli/ies ussium. In other instances, bone is formed as a monstrous production, in organs which do not produce it in a state of health, as the brain, the heart, and the placenta. {Monro's Outlines of Anatomy, p. (13.) 1887. Curtilage can scarcely be said to differ in its nature, from the cartilaginous basis of the bone. It is of a fine fibrous structure, smooth on the surface, and re- markably elastic. It covers those parts of bones which are exposed to friction, as the joints, and is thickest at the point of greatest pressure. By its smoothness, it facilitates the motion of the joints, and its elasticity prevents the bad effects of any violent con- cussion. It is intimately united with the bone, and can scarcely be regarded as different from an elongation of the cartilaginous basis. Where it occurs at a joint with consider- able motion, it is termed articular or obducent cartilage. In other cases, it occurs as a connecting medium between bones which have no articular surfaces, but where a variable degree of motion is requisite. The ribs are united to the breast-bone in this manner. Between the different vertebra', there are interposed layers of cartilage, by which the motions of the spine are greatly facilitated. As these connecting cartilages are com- pressible and elastic, the spine is shortened when the body remains long in a vertical position, owing to the superincumbent pressure. Hence it is that the height of man is always less in the evening than in the morning. All these cartilages are more or less prone to ossification, in consequence of the deposition of earthy matter in the interstices. To this circumstance may be referred, in a great measure, the stiffness of age, the elasticity of the cartilages decreasing with the progress of ossification. 1888. The articulations of bones exhibit such remarkable differences, in respect to surface, connection, and motion, that anatomists have found it difficult to give to each manner of union an appropriate name and character. We shall only notice the most obvious kinds and motions, and these admit of two divisions, the true joints and the motionless ju?ictions. 1889. In the motionless junctions, the connecting surfaces come into close and per- manent contact, as in the serrated edges of the bones of the human skull, or the even edges of the bones of the heads of quadrupeds and birds. Sometimes a pit in one bone receives the extremity of another like a wedge, as in the case of the human teeth; in other cases, the one bone has a cavity with a protuberance at its centre, which receives another bone, as in the claws of cats, seals, &c. The human ribs are united with the breast- bone by the intervention of cartilage, as are the two sides of the lower jaw with each other in vertebral animals. 1890. In true joints the articular surfaces are enveloped with cartilage, remarkable for the smoothness of its free surface, and its intimate union with the bone, of which it form'; a protecting covering. The periosteum is not. continued over the surface of the cartilage, but is prolonged like a sheath over the joint, until it joins that of the Book II. MUSCULAR STRUCTURE OF ANIMALS. 2S7 opposite bone. It thus forms a close bag at the joint, in which nothing from without can enter, and from which nothing can escape. Into this bag the lubricating liquor termed synovia is conveyed. It is secreted by a mucous membrane on the interior ; on which account, as it in some cases appears like little bags, the term bursa mucosa has been bestowed upon it. 1891. Ligaments. Besides the sheath formed by the continuation of the periosteum, which is too slender to retain the bones in their proper place, the joints are furnished with ligaments. These are membranes of a dense fibrous texture, flexible, elastic, and possessed of great tenacity. They have their insertion in the periosteum and bone, with which they are intimately united. The motions which joints of this kind are capable of performing, may be reduced to three kinds, flexion, twisting, and sliding. In flexion, the free extremity of the bone which is moved, approaches the bone which is fixed, describing the segment of a circle, whose centre is in the joint In twisting, the bone which is moved turns round its own axis, passing through the articulation. In sliding, the free extremity of the bone moved, approaches the bone which is fixed, in a straight line. Subsect. 2. Muscular Structure of Animals. 1892. The muscles are the organs by which motion is executed: they unfold the most singular mechanism of parts, and an infinite variety of movements. The muscles appear in the form of large bundles, consisting of cords. These, again, are formed of smaller threads, which are capable of division into the primary filaments. Each muscle, and all its component cords and filaments, are enveloped by a covering of cellular mem- brane, liberally supplied with blood-vessels and nerves. — At the extremities of the muscular fibres, where they are attached to the more solid parts, there are usually threads of a substance, differing in its appearance from the muscle, and denominated tendon or sinew. The tendons are, in general, of a silvery white colour, a close, firm, fibrous texture, and possessed of great tenacity. The thread of which they consist, are attached on the one extremity to the surface of a bone, or ether hard part ; and, on the other, they are variously interspersed among the fibres or bundles of the muscle. — They are consi- dered as destitute of sensibility and irritability, and form a passive link between the muscle and the bone, or other point of support. 1893. Muscles are the most active members of the animal frame. They alone possess the power r.f irritability, and execute all the motions of the body. The causes which excite them to action may be reduced to two kinds. In the first the will, through the medium of the nerves, excites the irritability of the fibres; and, in the second, the action is produced by the application of external objects, either directly or by the medium of the nerves. The changes which take place in the tenacity of muscles after death are very remarkable. The same force which they could resist with ease in a living state is sufficient to tear them to pieces after the vital principle has departed. 1894. The functions of tlie muscles are either those of rest or motion. Many animals protect themselves against the disturbing movements of the air and water, by placing their bodies in a prone position. To give still greater efficacy to this protecting attitude, they retire to valleys, woods, or dens, on the earth, or to the deepest places in the waters ; and are thus able, by the weight of their own bodies, and the advantage of their position, to outlive the elemental war. — But there are other animals, which, while they are equally cautious to make choice of proper situations for their safety, employ in addition, peculiar organs with which they are provided, to connect themselves more securely with the basis on which they rest. 1S95. Grasping. The most simple of these expedients, grasping, is displayed by bats, birds, and insects, in the employment of their toes and claws in seizing the objects of their support In birds, the assumption and continuance of this attitude is accomplished by a mechanical process; so that there is no expenditure of muscular energy. In every case of this kind, the claws are so admirably adapted to the station of the animal, that the detention of the body in the same spot, during this state of rest, is accompanied with little exertion. 1896. Suction. The sucker by which animals fix themselves varies greatly in its form, and even struc- ture. In the limpet, and other gasteropodous Mollusca, its surface is smooth and uniform; and the adhesion appears to depend on its close application to every part of the opposing surface. In other animals, as the leech and the sea-urchin, the sucker is formed at the extremity of a tube; the muscular motions of which may serve to pump out any air which may remain, after the organ has been applied to the surface of the body. 1897. Cementation. ' The cementation which is employed by animals to preserve themselves stationary, consists in a part of their own bodies being cemented to the substance on which they rest. This takes place in the common muscle, by means of strong cartilaginous filaments, termed the bt/ssus, united in the body to a secreting gland, furnished with powerful muscles, and, at the other extremity, glued to the rock or other body to which it connects itself. In other cases, as in the oyster, the shell itself is cemented to the rock. 1S98. The muscular viotions of animals are standing, walking, leaping, flying, and swimming. 1899. In standing it is necessary that the parts of the body be so disposed, as that the centre of gravity of the whole body fall within the space which they occupy, and that ihe muscles have sufficient power to counteract those movements which might displace the body from that position. It is obvious that the more numerous the limbs, and the more equally they are distributed on the inferior side of the body, the more securelv will the centre of gravity be retained within the space which these feet include. 19(H). Waiting is defined by Cuvier to be a motion on a fixed surface, in which the centre of gravity is alternately moved by one part of the extremities, and sustained by the other, the body never being at any time completely suspended over the ground. It is produced by the alternate flexion and extension of the limbs, aided' by the motions of the trunk, advancing the portion of the centre of gravity in the intended direction. csa SCIENCE OF AGRICULTURE. Part II. ]<>oi. In animnlt with many fret, as the Myrifipoda, walking ia performed by so uniform a motion, that the- body may be said to glide along the surface. 190S hi animal* with four feet, " eacli rtep is executed by two leg* only; one belonging to the tore pair, .ui.i the other t.> the hind pair ; but Mmetiinea tbey are those ol the lame side, and sometime* those ol opp *ite vide*." Cuvii ■ 'i Comparative Anatomy, lect » li, a, I.) The latter is that kind of motion in horse*, which grooms term a /»nv. The right fore-leg is advanced so at to sustain the body, which is thrown upon it by the left hind-foot, and at the aame time, the bitter bends in order to its being moved forward While they are off the ground, the right hind-toot begin* to extend itself, and the moment they touch the ground, the lefl fore-foot move* forward to support the impulse of the right foot, which llkew k move* forward. The body is thus supported alternately by two legs placed in a diagonal manner. When the right fore-foot move*, In order to sustain the body, pushed forward by the right hind-foot, the moti s then called an amble. The body, being alternately supported by two leg the same sine, is obliged to balance itself to the right and left, in order to avoid falling; and it is this balancing movement winch renders the gait SO Soft and agreeable to women and persons in a weak state of body. (Cueier's Comp. AnaU, lect vii.) . 1903. The .-,,/>, nttne motion consists in bringing up the tail towards the head by bending the body into one or more curves, then resting upon the tail, and extending the body, thus moving forward, at each step, nearlj the whole length of the body, or one or more of the curves into which it was formed Among theMollGsca, and man) of the annulose animals, the same kind of motion is performed by alternate contractions and expansions, laterally and longitudinally of the whole body, or of those parts which are appropriated hi progressive motion 1904. ./ mode rf moving analogous to walking, is performed by animals who have suckers, and is exemplified in the leech, which at every step advances nearly the whole length of its body. 1905. In the action of leafing, the whole body rises from the ground, and for a short period is suspended in the air. It is produced by the sudden extension of the limbs, after they have undergone an unusual degree of flexion. The extent of the leap depends on the form and size of the body, and the length and strength of the limbs. The Myriopoda are not observed to leap. Many of the spiders and insects leap with ease forwards, backwards, and laterally. In those which are remarkable for this faculty, the thighs of the hind-legs are in general of uncommon size and strength. Among reptiles the leaping frog is well known, in opposition to the crawling toad. Among quadrupeds, those are observed to leap best, which have the hind legs longer and thicker than the fore-legs, as the kangaroo and the hare. These walk with difficulty, but leap with ease. 1906. Serpents are said to leap, by folding their bodies into several undulations, which they unbend ail at once, according to the velocity they wish to give to their motion. The jumping maggot, found in cheese, erects itself upon its anus, then forms its body into a circle, bringing its head to the tail ; and, having contracted every part as much as possible, unbends with a sudden jerk, and darts forward to a surprising distance. Many crabs and J'odura: bend their tail, or hairs which supply its place, under their belly, and then, suddenly unbending, give to the body a considerable degree ot progressive motion. 1907. Flying- Flying is the continued suspension and progress of the whole body in the air, by the action of the wings. In leaping, the body is equally suspended in the air, but the suspension is only momentary ; in flying, on the contrary, the body remains in the air, and acquires a progressive motion by repeated strokes of the wings on the surrounding fluid. The centre of gravity is always below the insertion of the wings in the bodies of flying animals to prevent them from falling on their backs, but near that point on which the body is, during flight, as it were suspended. The action of flying is performed by animals belonging to different classes. Among the Mammalia, bats dis- play this faculty, by means of wings, formed of a thin membrane extending between the toes, which are long and spreading, between the fore and hind legs, and between the hind legs and the tail. In birds, the wings, which occupy the place of the anterior extremities in the Mammalia, and are the organs of flight, consist of feathers, which are stronger than those on the body, and of greater length. Among reptiles, the flying lizard may be mentioned, whose membranaceous wings, projecting from each side of the body, without being connected with the legs, enable it to fly from one tree to another in search of food. A few fishes are likewise capable of sustaining themselves for a short time by means of their fins ; these are termed flying fish. Spiders are able to move in the air by means of their threads. 1908. Swimming is the same kind of action in water, as flying is in air. The organs which are employed for this purpose resemble the oars of a boat in their mode of action, and in general possess a considerable extent of surface and freedom of motion. Swim- ming, however, is not confined to those animals which are furnished with oars or swimmers. Many animals move with ease in the water by means of repeated undulations of the body, as serpents, eels, and leeches ; or by varying the form of the body by alternate contractile and expansive movements, as the Medusae. 1909. In these different displays of voluntary motion, the muscles are only able to continue in exercise" for a limited period, during which the irritability diminishes, and the further exertion of their powers becomes painful. When thus fatigued, animals endeavour to place themselves in a condition for resting, and fall into that state of temporary lethargy, denominated sleep. 1910. The positions assumed by animals during sleep are extremely various. In the horse, they even differ according to circumstances. In the field he lies down, in the Book II. ANIMAL CHEMISTRY 28y stable he stands. Dogs and cats form their bodies into a circle, while birds place their heads under their wings. 1911. The ordinary mode of sleep is likewise exceedingly various in different animals, and in the same animal is greatly influenced by habit. It in general depends on circumstances connected with food. It is probable, that all animals, however low in the scale, have their stated intervals of repose, although we are as yet unacquainted either with the position which many of them assume, or the periods during which they repose. Subsect. 3. Structure of the Nervous System. 1912. The nervous system, by containing the organs of sensation and volition, is that which distinguishes animal from vegetable beings. It consists, in the vertebrated animals, of the brain, the spinal marrow, and the nerves. 1913. The brain, exclusive of its integuments, appears in the form of a soft, compres- sible, slightly viscous mass. The spinal marrow originates with the brain, and consists of four cords united in one body. The nerves, also, originate in the brain or spinal mar- row. Some of them appear to have a simple origin ; but, in general, several filaments, from different parts of the brain or spinal marrow, unite to form the trunk of a nerve. This trunk again subdivides in various ways ; but the ramifications do not always ex- hibit a proportional decrease of size. It frequently happens that the branches of the same nerve, or of different ones, unite and separate repeatedly within a small space, forming a kind of network, to which the name plexus has been applied. Sometimes filaments pass from one nerve to another ; and, at the junction, there is usually an enlargement of medullary matter termed a ganglion. Numerous filaments, from dif- ferent nerves, often unite to form a ganglion, from which proceed trunks frequently of greater magnitude than the filaments which entered. Thus nerves, very different in their origin, form communications with one another ; so that the whole nervous system may be considered as a kind of network, between the different parts of which an intimate con- nection subsists. In consequence of this arrangement, it is often matter of very great difficulty to ascertain the origin of those filaments, which unite to constitute the trunk of a nerve. In some instances, they appear to arise from the surface of the brain or spinal marrow ; in other cases, from the more central parts. 1914. The brain, in the animals without vertebra, is destitute of the protecting bony covering, which forms the head and back bone in the vertebral animals. The brain itself is much more simple in its structure. Independently of very remarkable dif- ferences in the structure of the nervous system in the different genera of invertebral animals, there may still be perceived two models, according to which, the organs belong- ing to it are arranged. In the first, the brain is situated upon the oesophagus, and presents different forms according to the species, appearing more like a ganglion than like the brain of the vertebral animals. It sends off several nerves to the mouth, eyes, and feelers. Two, one on each side, pass round the oesophagus, and, uniting below, form a ganglion in some cases larger than what is considered the true brain. From this ganglion, nerves are likewise sent off to different parts of the body. The animals in which this nervous system prevails belong to the great division termed Mollusca. In the second, the brain is situ- ated as in the Mollusca, sending out nerves to the surrounding parts, and likewise one nerve on each side, which, by their union, form a ganglion, from which other nerves issue. This ganglion produces likewise a nervous cord, which proceeds towards the extremity of the body, forming throughout its length ganglia, from which small nerves proceed ; this cord, at its commencement, is, in some cases, double for a short distance. It has been compared to the medulla oblongata, and spinal marrow of the vertebral animals. This kind of nervous system is peculiar to the annulose animals. There are usually ganglia on the nervous cord, corresponding with the number of rings of which the body consists. 1915. The functions of the brain and nervous system; the organs of perception, as of touch, of heat, of light, of hearing, of smell, and of taste ; and also the faculties of the mind, we pass over as belonging chiefly to the anatomy and physiology of the human frame, and therefore less immediately connected with the animals used in agriculture. The reader will find these subjects ably treated by Dr. Fleming. Chap. III. Animal Chemistry; or the Substances which enter into the Composition of the Bodies of Animals. 1916. The elementary principles of the animal kingdom have been ascertained with considerable precision ; but the binary, ternary, or other compounds which they form, have not been investigated with so much success. As these various ingredients are 290 SCIENCE OF AGRICULTURE. Taut II. brought into union in the animal system by die agency <>f the vital principle, their state <>i' combination may be expected to differ widely from the ordinary results of electric attraction. When Buch compounds of organisation are submitted to analysis, the influ- ence of the vital principle having ceased, the products obtained may be regarded, in manj cases, a-, modifications of the elements of the substance, occasioned by the pro- cesses employed, rather than the display of the number or nature of the ingredients, as tiny existed previously to the analytical operations. Hence the great caution requisite in drawing conclusions regarding the composition of animal bodies. 1917. The elementary substances which ore considered us entering into the pens nfani- tnalt are, carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, azote, phosphorus, sulphur, fluoric acid, muriatic acid, iodine, potash, soda, ammonia, lime, magnesia, silica, iron, and manganese. 1918. Carbon exists in various states of combination in the fluids, as well as in the solids, of every animal ; and Das been detected in the form of charcoal in the lungs. When animal substances are exposed to a high temperature in closed vesseU, the charcoal which is produced differs considerably from that which is obtained by the same means from vegetables. It is more glossy in appearance, and is incinerated with much greater difficulty. 1919. Hydrogen is univeri illy distributed in the animal kingdom ; it occurs as a constituent ingredient of all the fluids, and of many of the solids. It is invariably in a state of combination with charcoal ; for, u fir as we know, it has never been detected in an uncombined or separate state. It has been found in tlu' human intestines, in the form of carburetted hydrogen. 1920. Oxyg a is as widely distributed as the preceding, in the fluids and solids of all animals. A constant supply Of it from the atmosphere is indispensably necessary to the continuation of animal life. It occurs, not only in combination with other bodies, but probably, likewise in a separate state, in the air-bag of fishes, iii which it is found, varying in quantity, according to the species, and the depth at which the fishes have been caught. It i> common, m union with charcoal, forming carbonic acid. 1921. Azotic gas is very widely distributed as a component part of animal substances. It occurs in almost all the fluids, and in those solid parts which have carbon as a base. The almost universal pre- valence of this principle in animal substances constitutes one of the most certain marks by which they may be distinguished from vegetables. Azote likewise occurs, in an uncombined state, in the air-bag of gome lishes. 1922. Phosphorus. This inflammable body exists, in union with oxygen, in the state of phosphoric acid, in many of the solids and fluids of animals. Its existence, however, in an uncombined state, has not been satisfactorily determined, although there appears a tendency to refer the lumirousness of several animals to the slow combustion of this substance. Even phosphoric acid can scarcely bt said to exist in a separate state, being found in combination with potash, soda, ammonia, lime, or magnesia. 1923. Sul/>/tnr, in combination, exists in considerable abundance in animal substances It can scarcely be said to occur in a separate state in animals ; at least, the experiments which may he quoted as encouraging such a supposition are by no means decisive. United with oxygen, in the form of sulphuric acid, it exists in combination with potash, soda, and lime. 1924. Fluoric acid has been detected in bones and urine, in a state of combination with lime. 1925. Muriatic acid exists in a great number of the animal fluids, in combination with an alkali, as in the ammonia and soda of urine. 1926. Iodine has been detected in sponge. 1927. Potash exists in combination with the sulphuric, muriatic, or phosphoric acids ; but it is far from abundant in animal fluids. 1928. Soda is present in all the fluids in various states of combination, and is more abundant than the preceding It gives to many of the secretions the alkaline property of changing vegetable blues into green. It is found in union with the carbonic, phosphoric, sulphuric, and muriatic acids. 1929. Ammonia exists in its elements in all the fluids, and many of the solids, of animals, and is fre- quently produced during putrefaction These elements are likewise found united in the system, and the alkali then appears in union with the various acids, as the phosphoric, muriatic, and lactic. 19'!0. Lime, of which the hard parts of animals, such as bones and shells, are principally composed, is of universal occurrence. It is always in a state of combination, and chiefly with the carbonic or phosphoiic acids. 1931. Magnesia occurs sparingly. It has been detected in the bones, blood, and some other substances, but always in small quantity, and chiefly in union with phosphoric acid. 19 ;2 Silica occurs more sparingly than the preceding. It is found in the hair, urine, and urinary calculi. 193.). Iron has hitherto only been detected in the colouring matter of the blood, in bile, and in milk. Its peculiar state of combination in the blood has given rise to various conjectures; but a satisfactory solution of the question has not yet been obtained. In milk, it appears to be in the state of phosphate. l!> 14. Manganese, in oxide, has been observed, along with iron, in the ashes of hair. 1935. Such are the simple substances which have been detected by chemists in the solids and fluids of animals ; but seldom in a free state, and often in such various proportions of combination to render it extremely difficult to determine their true condition. 1936. The compounds of organisation are gelatine, albumen, fibrin, mucus, urea, sugar, oils, and acids. 1937. Gelatine occurs in nearly a pure state in the air-bags of different kinds of fishes, as, for example, isinglass, which, if dissolved in hot water anil allowed to cool, forms jelly. When a solution of tannin is dropped into a solution of gelatine, a union takes place, and an insoluble precipitate of a whitish colour falls to the bottom. It is on the union of the tannin of the oak bark with the gelatine of the hides, that the process of tanning leather depends. Gelatine exists in abundance in different parts of animals, as bones, muscles, skin, ligaments, membranes, and blood. It is obtained from these substances by boiling them in warm water; removing the impurities, by skimming, as they rise to the surface, or by .subsequent straining and clarifying. It is then boiled to a proper consistence. It is the characteristic ingredient of the softest and most flexible parts of animals. i" 18. Gelatine is extensively used in the «/7s, under the names of glue and size, on account of its adhesive quality, and to give the requisite stiffness to certain articles of manufacture In domestic economy, it is likewise employed in the form of jelly, and in the formation of various kinds of soup. What is termed Portable Soup is merely jelly which has been dried, having been previously seasoned, according to the taste, with different spices. 1939. Albumen, the white of an egg, exists in great abundance, both in a coagulated and liquid state, in the different parts of animals. Hair, nails, and horn are composed Book II. ANIMAL CHEMISTRY. 29J of it. It appears likewise as a constituent of bone and shell ; and there are few of the fluid or soft parts of animals in which it does not exist in abundance. What has hitherto been termed the Resin of Bile is, according to Berzelius, analogous to albumen. 1910. Albumen is extensively used in the arts. 'When spread thin on any substance, it soon dries, and forms a coating of varnish. Its adhesive power is likewise considerable. When rubbed on leather, it increases its suppleness. But its chief use is in clarifying liquors. For this purpose, any substance abounding in albumen, as the white of eggs, or the serum of blood, is mixed with the liquid, and t!ie whole heated to near the boiling point The albumen coagulates, and falls to the bottom, carrying along with it the impurities which were suspended in the fluid, and which rendered it muddy. If the liquor contains alcohol, the application of heat is unnecessary. 1941. Fibrin exists in the blood, and was formerly called the fibrous part of the blood. It likewise exists in all muscles, forming the essential part, or basis, of these organs. It exhibits many remarkable varieties, as it appears in the flesh of quadrupeds, birds, and fishes ; but has not hitherto been turned to any particular use. 1942. Extractive exists in the muscles of animals, in the blood, and in the brain. It communicates the peculiar flavour of meat to soups. In the opinion of Fourcroy, the brown crust of roasted meat consists of it. 1943. The soft parts of anim&ls are constituted of these four substances, which also enter into the composition of the hard parts and of the fluids. They are readily distinguishable from one another. Extractive alone is soluble in alcohol ; gelatine is insoluble in cold, but soluble in hot, water ; albumen is soluble in cold, and insoluble in hot, water ; the fibrin is equally insoluble in hot and cold water. They are variously mixed or united ; and as they consist of some elementary principles, chiefly carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, and azote, it is probable that they are in many cases changed, the one into the other, by the living principle ; a transmutation which the chemist has succeeded in accomplishing, and which may soon be of advantage in the arts. The proportion of carbon appears to be least in gelatine and greatest in fibrin. 1944. Mucus occurs in a liquid state in the animal economy, as a protecting covering to different organs. It necessarily differs in its qualities, according to the purposes it is destined to serve. In the nose, it defends the organ of smell from the drying influence of the air ; in the bladder, it protects the interior from the contact of the acid of the urine ; while it preserves the gall-bladder from the action of alkaline bile. It does not contain any suspended particles like the blood, but is homogeneous. (Dr. Young, Annals of Phil., vol. ii. p. 117.) When inspissated, it constitutes, in the opinion of some, the basis of the epidermis, horns, nails, and feathers. But the difficulty of obtaining it in a pure state, and the discordant characters assigned to it by different chemists, prevent us from reposing confidence in the accuracy of the analysis of those substances, of which it is considered as forming an essential ingredient. 1945. ^Urea is a substance obtained by evaporation and trituration from the urine of the Mammalia when in a state of health. In the human subject it is less abundant after a meal, and nearly disappears in the disease called diabetes, and in affections of the liver. 19-16. Sugar exists in considerable abundance in milk, and in the urine of persons labouring under diabetes In the latter fluid, it is to be considered as a morbid secretion of the kidneys, occupying the natural situation of the urea. In milk, however, it exists as a constituent principle, and may readily be obtained by the following process : evapo- rate fresh whey to the consistence "of honey, dissolve it in water, clarify with the whites of eggs, and again evaporate to the consistence of syrup. On cooling, white cubical crystals will be obtained, but less sweet than vegetable sugar. 1947. Oils vary greatly as to colour, consistence, smell, and other characters. They possess, however, in common, the properties of the fixed oils, in being liquid, either naturally or when exposed to a gentle heat, insoluble in water and alcohol, leaving a greasy s'tain upon paper, and being highly combustible. They are distinguished as spermaceti, ambergris, fat, and common oils. 1918. Spermaceti constitutes the principal part of the brain of the whale, and is freed from the oil which accompanies it bv draining and squeezing, and afterwards by the employment of an alkaline lie, which saponifies the remainder. It is then washed in water, cut into thin pieces with a wooden kmte, and exposed to the air to drv. It is used in medicine and candlemaking. 1949. Ambergris is found in the intestines of the spermaceti whale, and in those only which are in a sicklv state. It appears to be the excrement, altered by a long retention in the intestines, and therefore scarcely merits a place among the natural ingredients of the animal system. Upon being voided by trie animal, it floats on the surface of the sea, and has been found in various quarters of the globe. It usually has the beaks of cuttle-fish adhering to it It is employed in small quantities by druggists and perfumers. 19S '. Fat consists of two substances, suet and oil. It is usually purified by separating the vessels and membranes which adhere to it, by repeatedly washing with cold water, and afterwards melting it, along with boiling water. , „ ., „ . „ ., . _ „„h„j 1931. Tallow is the fat of ruminating animals, and is hard and brittle ; while the fat of the hog, called lard, is soft and semifluid. Its uses, as an article of food, in the making ot candles, hard soap, and oint- ments, and to diminish friction, are well known. . . , „„„„_». _ „<. 195a The properties of oils depend in a great degree on the mode of preparation, with the exception of the odour, which arises from the kind of animal from which the oil has been derived. Spermaeai on is considered as the thinnest ot the animal oils, and the fittest for burning in lamps It is obtained trom the spermaceti, bv draining and pressure. Train oil is procured by melting the blubber, or external layer of fit, found underneath the skin of different kinds of whales and seals, from the process emplojed, it U 2 29a SCIENCE OF AGRICULTURE. Part II. contains, besides the oil, gelatine, albumen, and othei animal matters, which rendei it thick, Mark. coloured, and >ti^]i<>st-.i to become rancid. Fis/i oil la sometimes extracted from the entire fish (as the sprat, pilchard, and herring, when they occur in too greal quantities to be salted}, by boiling in water, and skimming off the oil, as it appears on the surface. In general, however, the oil is obtained from the livers offish, in which it is lodged In cells. 1958. The acids found in animals consist of various proportions of carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, and azote. Some of them are peculiar to the animal kingdom, and others exist in equal abundance in plants. 195 1. The uric or lit hie acid abounds in urine, and appears to be a production of the kidneys. The lactic acid is common In the animal rluids. The amniotic acid has been found in the uterus of a cow. The formic acid is procured by distilling ants. The benzoic, oxalic, acetic, and malic acids art common both "to plant- and animals, but seldom occur in the latter. 1955. These dements, by combining in different proportions, exhibit a great variety of separate substances. The earthy salts are likewise abundant ; and when they occur in a separate state, they strengthen the albuminous framework, and form the skeleton, giving stability to the body, and acting as levers to the muscles. The alkaline salts occur in the gieatest abundance in the secreted fluids. 19.16. The fluids consist of those juices which are obtained from our food and drink, such as the chyle, and are termed crude of the blood, or prepared from the crude fluids, and destined to communicate to every part of the body the nourishment which it requires ; and of those fluids which are separated from the blood, in the course of circulation, such as the bile, and termed secreted fluids. These are all contained in appropriate vessels, and are subject to motion and change. 1957. The solids are derived from the fluids, and are usually divided into the soft and hard. The soft solids consist chiefly of what is termed animal matter, of combinations of carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, and azote. They consist of fibres, which are usually grouped into faggots ; of plates, which, crossing one another in various directions, give rise to cellular structure, or of a uniform pulpy mass. 1958. The fibrous texture mav be observed in all the muscles, tendons, and ligaments, and in the bones Of many animals, especially before birth. These fibres, however minutely divided, do not appear to be hollow, like those of the vegetable kingdom. 1> form is regulated by its cellular envelope. 1161. These soft solids alone are capable of possessing the faculty of sensation. By their aid, the nervous energy is exerted on the different parts of the body ; and, through them, the impressions of external objects are received. 1962. The hard solids consist either of cartilage, which resembles, in its qualities, coagulated albumen ; or of bone, formed by various combinations of earthy salts. They are destitute of sensation, and are chiefly employed in defending the system from injury, giving it the requisite stability, and assisting the muscles in the execution of their movements. •1963. The proportion between the solids and fluids is not only remarkably different in different species, but in the same species, in the various stages of growth. Chap. IV. Animal Physiology ; the Digestive, Circulating, and Reproductive Functions of Animals. Sect. I. Of the Digestive System. 1964. The instinct of animals for food presides over the organs of the stomach. Hunger is felt when the stomach is empty ; it is promoted by exercise, cold air applied to the skin, and cold, acid, or astringent rluids introduced into the stomach. Inactivity, warm covering, the attention diverted, and warm fluids, have a tendency to allay the sensation. 196.5. Thirst is accompanied with a sensation of dryness in the mouth. This dryness may be occasioned by excessive expenditure of the fluids, in consequence of the dryness or saltness of the food which has been swallowed ; or to their deficiency, from the state of the organs. 1966. Both hunger and thirst, besides being greatly influenced by habit, exhibit very remarkable peculiarities, according to the species and tribes of animals. 1 967. Those which live on the spoils of the animal kingdom are said to be carnivorous, when they feed on flesh ; piscivorous, when they subsist on fishes ; and insectivorous, when they prey on insects. Again, those animals whicli are phytivorous, or subsist on the products of the vegetable kingdom, are either granivorous and feed on seeds ; graminivorous, pasturing on grass; or herbivorous, browsing on twigs and shrubs. Book II. ANIMAL PHYSIOLOGY. 293 1968. Besides those substances which animals wake rise of as food, voter is likewise employed as drink, and as the vehicle of nutritious matter. Salt is necessarily mixed with the drink of the inhabitants of the ocean, and is relished by man and many other animals. Other inorganic substances are likewise employed tor a variety of purposes. Many savages make use of steatite and clay along with their food. The common earthworm swallows the soil, from which, in its passage through the intestines, it extracts its nourishment. 196R In so?ne cases, substances are swallowed fur other purposes than nourishment. Stones are retained in the stomach of birds to assist in triturating the grain. The wolf is said to satisfy his hunger by filling his stomach with mud. Sect. II. Of the Circulating System. 1970. The food being reduced to a pultaceous mass, and mixed with a variety of secreted fluids, by means of the digestive organs, is in this state denominated chyme. This mix- ture exhibits a chemical constitution nearly approaching that of blood, into which it is destined to be converted, by the separation of the useless from the useful part. This is effected by certain vessels called lacteals, which absorb the nutritious part of the chyme, and convey it to a particular receptacle. Another set of absorbents, the lymphatics, take up all the substances which have been ejected from the circulation, and which are no longer necessary in the particular organs, and communicate their contents to the store already provided by the lacteals. The veins receive the altered blood from the extremities of the arteries or the glands, in which they terminate, and proceed with it towards the lungs, to be again aerated. In their progress they obtain the collected fluid of the other absorbents, and, in the lungs, again prepare the whole for the use of the system. Thus, during the continuance of life, the arteries supply the materials by which the system is invigorated and enlarged, and oppose that tendency to decay, produced by the influence of external objects. The process continues during the whole of life, new matter is daily added, while part of the old and useless is abstracted. The addition is greatest in early life, the abstraction is greatest in old age. 1971. This continued system of addition and subtraction has led some to conclude, that a change in th corporeal identity of the body takes place repeatedly during the continuance of life; that none of th.- particles of which it consisted in youth remain in its composition in old age. Some have considered the change effected everv three, others every seven, years. This opinion, however, is rendered doubtful by many well known facts. Letters marked on the skin by a variety of substances frequently last for life. There are some diseases, such as small-pox and measles, of which the constitution is only once susceptible; but it is observed to be liable to the attack of these diseases at every period of human life. Sect. III. Of the Reproductive System of Animals. 1972. Animals are reproduced in consequence of the functions of certain organs, with the exception of some of the very lowest in the scale. In those animals which possess pectdiar organs for .ne preparation of the germ or ovum, some are androgynous (man- woman), and either have the sexual organs incorporated, and capable of generating without assistance, or the sexual organs are distinct, and the union of two individuals is necessary for impregnation : others have the sexual organs separate, and on different individuals. The voting of such animals are either nourished at first by the store of food in the egg, or by the circulating juices of the mother. Those species in which the former arrangement prevails are termed oviparous, while the term viviparous is restricted to the latter. 1973. In all animals it is the business of the female to prepare the ovum or germ, and bring it to maturity. For this purpose, the germ is produced in the ovarium, farther perfected in the uterus or matrix, and finally expelled from the system through the vagina. The office of the male is to impregnate the germ by means of the spermatic fluid. This fluid is secreted in the testicles, transmitted by the spermatic ducts, and finally conveyed by the external organ to its ultimate destination. 1974. Among the viviparous animals, the reproductive organs present many points of resemblance, and appear to be constructed according to a common model. It is other- wise with the sexual organs of the oviparous tribes. These exhibit such remarkable differences in form and structure that it is impossible to collect them into natural groups, or assign to them characters which they have in common. 1975. The manner in which the eggs of birds are impregnated by the male has not been satisfactorily determined. With the exception of the cicatricula, a female bird, in the absence of the male, can produce an egg. The conjunction of the sexes, however, is necessary for the impregnation of the egg, and the effect is produced previous to the exclusion. 1976. In many kinds of fishes and reptiles, the yolks, after being furnished with their glair, are ejected from the body of the female, and the impregnating fluid from the male is afterwards poured over them. Impregnation can be effected readily in such cases, by the artificial application of the spermatic fluid. 1977. Impregnation in insects appears to take place while the eggs pass a reservoir containing the sperm, situated near the termination of the oviduct in the volva. 1978. The most siniple mode of hatching is effected by the situation in which the eggs are placed by the mother, after or during their exclusion. ' In this mode a place i* usually selected where tin- eggs will be U :! •m SCIENCE OF AGRICULTURE. P*et II. exposed to i luitable and uniform temperature, and where a convenient supply of food may be ca.sily obtained for the young animi la. Such arrangements prevail in the insect tribe. . I In the tecond mode, the mother, aided in some cases bj the sire, forms a nest, in which she deposits her eggs, and, sitting upon them, aids tin ir hatching by the heat of her body. Birds in general hatch their young in this manner. In the third mode, the eggs are ret. lined in the uterus, without any connection, however, hy circulating vessels, until the period when they .ire ready to be hatched, w hen egg and young are expelled at the same tune. This takes place in some sharks and Mollusca The animals which exercise this la-t kind of incubation arc termed ovoviviparous. in the fla,na pi pa, the eggs arc deposited in a bag on the back, where they arc hatched, and where the young animals reside for some tune after birth. Some animals, as the aphis, arc oviparous at one season, and ovmiparous at another. i NDi, The young, after being hatched, are, in many case-, independent of their parent, and do not stand in need of any assistance : they arc born ill the midst of plenty, and have organs adapted to the supply ol their wants. Thus, ni.inv insects arc hatched on, 01 within the very leaves which they are afterwards to devour. In other cases, the young are aide to follow their parents, and receive from them a supply ol appropriate food ; or, if unable to follow, their parents bring their food to the nests. 1988 The change* which the young of oviparous animals undergo in pasting from infancy i<> matta fty hat e long attracted the notice of the inquisitive observer. The egg of the firog is hatched in the water, and the young animal spends in that clement a part of its youth. While there it is furnished with a tail and external bronchia ; both Of which are ahsorhed, and disappear, when it hecomes an inhabitant of the land The infanCJ of tne butterfly is spent in the caterpillar state, with organs of mot inn and mastication which are peculiar to that period. ' It is destined to endure a second hatching, by becoming enveloped in a covering, and suffering a transformation of parts previously to appearing in its state of maturity. These metamorphoses of tn iparous animals present an almost infinite variety of degrees of change, differing in character according to the tribes or genera. 198 I In birds, it is well known that one sexual union suffices for the production of impregnated eggs during the period of laving. This is a Case somewhat analogous to those quadrupeds which produce several young at a birth 'with one impregnation, differing however, in the circumstance that the eggs are n,.t ail produced at the same time, although they are afterwards hatched hy the same incubation. In the Aphides, or plant-lice, as thev are called, one impregnation not only renders fertile the eggs of the individual, but the animals produced from these, and the eggs of those again, unto the ninth generation. ! 984. Androgynous animals are of two kinds ; those where impregnation takes place by the mutual application of the sexual organs of two individuals; and those where the hermaphroditism is complete. The Mollusca exhibit examples of both kinds. 1 985. Gemmiparous animals are exemplified in the .fYydra or fresh-water polypus, and other zoophytes. 1986. Hybridous animals. In the accomplishment of the important purpose of ge- neration, it is observed, that, in the season of desire, individuals of a particular species are drawn together by mutual sympathy, and excited to action by a common propensity. The produce of a conjunction between individuals of the same species partakes of the characters common to the species, and exhibits in due time the characteristic marks of puberty and fertility. In a natural state, the selective attribute of the procreative instinct unerringly guides the individuals of a species towards each other, and a preventive aversion turns them with disgust from those of another kind. In a domesticated state, where numerous instincts are suppressed, and where others are fostered to excess, in- dividuals belonging to different species are sometimes known to lay aside their natural aversion, and to unite in the business of propagation. Instances of this kind occur among quadrupeds, birds, and fishes, among viviparous and oviparous animals, where impregnation takes place within, as well as when it is effected without, the body. The product of such an unnatural union is termed a hybridous animal. The following cir- cumstances appear to be connected with hybridous productions: — 1987 The parents must belong to the same natural genus or family. There are no exceptions to this law Where the species differ greatly in manners and structure, no constraints or habits of domestication w ill force the unnatural union. On the other hand, sexual union sometimes takes place among indivi- duals of nearly related species. Thus, among quadrupeds, the mule is the produce of the union of the horse and the ass. The jackall and the wolf both breed with the dog. Among birds, the canary and goldfinch breed together, the Muscovv and common duck, and the pheasant and hen. Among fishes, the carp has been known to breed with the tench, the crusian, and even the trout {Phil. Trans., 1771, 1988. The parents must be in a confined or domesticated state. In all those hybridous productions which have yet been obtained, there is no example of individuals of one species giving a sexual preference to those of another. Among quadrupeds and birds, those individuals of different species which have united, have been confined and excluded from all intercourse with those of their own kind. In the case ol hybridous fishes, the ponds in which thev have been produced have been small and overstocked, and no natural proportion observed between the' males and females of the different kinds. As the impregnating fluid, in such situations, is spread over the eggs after exclusion, a portion of it belonging to one species may have come in contact with the uuimpregnated eggs of another species, by the accidental movements of the water, and not in consequence of anv unnatural effort III all cases of this unnatural union among birds or quadrupeds, a considerable degree of aversion is always exhibited, a circumstance which never occurs among individuals of the same species. 1989. The hybridous products are barren. The peculiar circumstances which are required to bring about a sexual union between individuals of different species sufficiently account for the total absence of hybridous productions in a wild state; and, as if to prevent even in a domesticated state the introduction and extension of spurious breeds, such hybridous animals, though in many cases disposed to sexual union, are incapable of breeding. There are, indeed, some statements which render it probable that hybrid animals have procreated with perfect ones; at the same time there are few which are above suspicion. B OOK 1L ANIMAL PATHOLOGY. 29F ' Chap. V. Aninud Pathology ; or the Duration, Diseases, and Casualties of Animal Life. 1990. Each species of animal is destined, in the absence of disease and accidents, to enjoy existence during a particular period. In no species, however, is this term absolutely limited, as we find some individuals outliving others, by a considerable fraction ot their whole lifetime. In order to find the ordinary duration of life of any species, therefore, we must take the average of the lives of a number of individuals, and rest satisfied with the approximation to truth which can thus be obtained. There is little resemblance in respect of longevity between the different classes, or even species, of animals. There is no peculiar structure ,' by which long-lived species may be distinguished from those that are short-lived. Many species whose structure is complicated live but for a few years, as the rabbit ; while some of the testaceous Mollusca, with more simple organisation, have a more extended existence. If longevity is not influenced by structure, neither is it modified by the size of the species. While die horse, greatly larger than the dog, fives to twice its age, man enjoys an existence three times longer than the former. 1991. The circumstances which regulate the term of existence in different species ex- hibit so many peculiarities, corresponding to each, that it is difficult to offer any general observations on the subject. Health is precarious, and the origin of diseases generally involved in obscurity. The condition of the organs of respiration and digestion, however, appears so intimately connected with the comfortable continuance of life, and the attainment of old age, that existence may be said to depend on the due exercise of the functions which thev perform. Whether animals have their blood aerated by means of lungs or gills, they require a regular supply of oxygen gas: but as this gas is exten- sively consumed in the process of combustion, putrefaction, vegetation, and respiration, there is occasionally a deficiency in particular places for the supply of animal life. In general, where there is a deficiency of oxygen, there is also a quantity of carbonic acid or earburetted hydrogen present. These gases not only injure the system by occupying the place of the oxygen which is required, but exercise on many sptcies a deleterious influ- ence. To these circumstances may be referred the difficulty of preserving many fishes and aquatic Mollusca in glass jars or small ponds ; as a great deal of the oxygen in the air contained in the water is necessarily consumed by the germination and growth of the aquatic Cryptogamia, and the respiration of the infusory Animaleula. In all cases, when the air of the atmosphere, or that which the water contains, is impregnated with noxious particles, many individuals of a particular species, living in the same district, suffer at the same time. The disease which is thus at first endemic or local, may, by being con- tagious, extend its ravages to other districts. 1902. The endemical and epidemical diseases which attack horses, sheep, and cows, obtain in this countrv the name of murrain, sometimes also that of the distemper. The general term, however, lortne pestilential diseases with which these and other animals are infected, is Epizboty {epi, amongst, zoon, an animal). . ... 1993. The ravages trhich have been committed amons the domesticated amma.s, at various times, in Europe, by epizootics, have been detailed bv a variety of authors. Horses, sheep, cows, swine, poultry, fish, have all been subject to such attacks ; and it has frequently happened, that the circumstances whicn have produced the disease in one species have likewise exercised a similar influence over others lh.it these diseases arise from the deranged functions of the respiratory organs, is rendered probable by tne circumstance that numerous individuals, and even species, are affected at the same time ; and this opinion is strengthened, when the rapiditv with which thev spread is taken into consideration. 1991 Many diseases, which greatly contribute to shorten life, take their rise from circumstances con- nected with the organs of digestion. Noxious food is frequently consumed by mistake, part.cularly uy domesticated animals. When cows, which have been confined to the house during the winter season, and fed with straw, are turned out to the pastures in the spring, they eat indiscriminately every plant presented to them, and frequently fall victims to their imprudence It is otherwise with animals in a wild state, whose instincts guard them from the common noxious substances ol their ordinary situation. The shortening of life, in consequence of the derangement of the digestive organs, is chiefly produced Dy a scarcity- of food. When the supplv is not sufficient to nourish the body, it becomes lean, the tat Demg absorbed' to supplv the deficiency- ; feebleness is speedily exhibited, the cutaneous and intestinal animals rapidly multiply, and, in conjunction, accelerate the downfal of the system. 1995. The power of fasting, or of surviving without food, possessed by some animals, is astonishingly great. An eagle has been known to live five weeks without food ; a badger a month ; a dog thirty -six days ; a toad fourteen months, and a beetle three years. This power of outliving scarcity for a time, is of signal use to many animals, whose lood cannot be readily obtained ; as' is the case with beasts of prey and rapacious birds. But this faculty does not belong to such exclusively : wild pigeons have survived twelve days, an antelope twenty days, and a land tortoise eighteen months. Such fasting, however, is detrimental to the system, and can only be considered as one of those sin- gular resources which may be employed in cases where, without it, life would speedily be extinguished. In situations where animals are deprived of their accustomed food, they frequently avoid the effects of starvation, bv devouring substances to which then U 4 e 896 SCIENCE OF AGRICULTURE. Part U digestive organs are not adapted. Pigeons can be brought to feed on flesh, and hawks 1,11 bread. Sheep, when accidentally overwhelmed with snow, have been known to eat the wool off each other's backs. 1996. The various disease* to which animals are subject tend greatly to shorten the period of their existence. With the method-, of cure employed by dirlerent species w are but little acquainted. Few accurate observations appear to have been made on the subject Dogs frequently effect a cure of their sores by licking them. Thej eat grass to excite vomiting, and probably to cleanse their intestines from obstructions or worms, by its mechanical effects. Many land animals promote their health by bathing, others by rolling themselves in the dust. By the last operation, they probably get rid oi' the parasitica] insects with which they are infested. li':»7. lint independently of scarcity, or disease, comparatively few animals live to the ordinary term of natural death. There is a wasteful war every where raging in the animal kingdom Tribe is divided against tribe, and species against species, and neu- trality is now luri' respected. Those which are preyed upon have certain means which they employ to avoid the foe; but the rapacious are likewise qualified for the pursuit. 1 he exercise of the feelings of benevolence may induce us to confine our attention to the former, and adore that goodness which gives shelter to the defenceless, and pro- tection to the weak, while we may be disposed to turn precipitately from viewing the latter, lest we discover marks of cruelty, where we wished to contemplate nothing but kindness. But we should recollect, that, to the lower animals, destitute as they are of the means of attending to the aged or diseased, sudden death is a merciful substitute for the lingering tortures of starvation. Chap. VI. On the Distribution of Animals. 1998. On a superficial view, vegetables seem more abundant than animals : so contrary, however, is this to fact, that the species of animals, when compared with those of plants, may be considered in the proportion of 10 to 1. Hence it follows that botany, when compared with zoology, is a very limited study: plants, when considered in relation to insects alone, bear no proportion in the number of the species. The phanerogamous plants of Britain have been estimated in round numbers at 1500, while the insects that have already been discovered in this country (and probably many hundreds still remain unknown) amount to 10,000, which is more than six insects to one plant, it is there- fore obvious that the knowledge acquired on the geographical distribution of animals, in comparison with what is known of plants, is slight and unsatisfactory: it is likewise attended with difficulties inseparable from the nature of beings so numerous and diver- sified, and which will always render it comparatively imperfect. It rarely happens that a single specimen of a plant is found isolated; the botanist can therefore immediately arrive at certain conclusions : if he is in a mountainous country, he is enabled to trace, without much difficulty, the lowest and the highest elevation at which a particular species is found ; and the nature of the soil, which may be considered the food of the plant, is at once known. Hut these advantages do not attend the zoologist: his business is with beings perpetually moving upon the earth, or hid in the depths of ocean, performing numerous functions in secret ; while of the marine tribes he can never hope to be acquainted with more than a very insignificant portion. The following observations must therefore be considered as merely an outline of those general laws which seem to regulate the geography of animals. 1!>!»9. The distribution of animals on the face of the globe must be considered under two heads, general and particular. The first relates to families or groups inhabiting par- ticular zones, and to others by which they are represented in another hemisphere. The second refers to the local distribution of the animals of any particular country, or to that of individual species. It is to the general distribution of groups, as a celebrated writer has well observed, that the philosophic zoologist should first direct his attention, rather than to the locality of species. By studying nature in her higher groups, we discover that certain functions are developed under different forms, and we begin to discern something of the great plan of providence in the creation of animals, and arrive at general results, which must be for ever hid from those who limit their views to the habitations of species, or to the local distribution of animals. !?0()0. Animals, like plants, are generally foumi to be distributed in zones. Fabricius, in speaking of insects, divides the globe into eight climates, which he denominates the Indian, Egyptian, southern, Mediterranean, northern, oriental, occidental, and alpine. In the first he includes the tropics; in the second, the northern region immediately adjacent ; in the third, the southern ; in the fourth, the countries bordering on tiie Medi- Book II. DISTRIBUTION OF ANIMALS. 297 terranean Sea, .including also Armenia and Media; in the fifth, the northern part of Europe, interjacent between Lapland and Paris; in the sixth, the northern part of Asia, where the cold in winter is intense; in the seventh, North America, Japan, and China ; and in the eighth, all those mountains whose summits are covered with eternal snow. It is, however, easy to perceive, that this, though a very ingenious, is a very artificial theory : the divisions are vague and arbitrary, and we know that animals of one country differ essentially from those of another, although both may enjoy the same degree of tempera- ture. M. Latreille has therefore attempted a more definite theory. His two primary divisions are the arctic and antarctic climates, according to their situation above or below the equinoctial line; and taking twelve degrees of latitude for each climate, he subdivides the whole into twelve. Beginning at 84° N.L., he has seven arctic climates : viz. the polar, subpolar, superior, intermediate, supratropical, tropical, and equatorial : but his antarctic climates, as no land has been discovered below CO S. L., amount only to five, beginning with the equatorial, and terminating with the superior. He proposes also a further division of subclimates, by means of certain meridian lines ; separating thus the old world from the new, and subdividing the former into two great portions ; an eastern, beginning with India; and a western, terminating with Persia. He proposes, further, that each climate should be considered as having 24° of longitude and 12° of latitude. This system certainly approximates more to what we see in nature than that proposed by Fabricius ; yet Mr. Kirby observes with truth, that the division of the globe into climates by equivalent parallels and meridians wears the appearance of an artificial and arbitrary system, rather than of one according to nature. 2001. Mr. Swainson considers that the geographic distribution of animals is intimately connected with the limits of those grand and obvious sections into which the globe is divided ; and that in proportion to the geographical proximity of one continent to another, so will be either the proportional identity or the analogy of their respective animals. He considers Europe, Asia, and Africa as agreeing more particularly in pos- sessing certain animals in common, which seem excluded altogether from America and Australia ; both of which are not only isolated in situation, but their animals have a decided difference of form and habit from those of the three continents of the old world. He considers that the animal geography of Asia is connected with that of Australia by the intervention of Borneo, New Guinea, and the neighbouring isles; while that of America unites with Europe towards the polar regions. These five great types or divisions will, of course, present certain affinities or analogies dependent upon other causes, arising from temperature, food, and locality. (Swainson s MSS.) 2002. Vertebrated animals have a wider range than invertebrated animals, thus resem- bling man, who is spread over the whole earth : the dog and the crow are found wild in almost every climate ; the swallow traverses, in a few days, from the temperate to the torrid zone ; and numerous other birds annually perform long migrations. Next to these, insects, above all the other Invertebratas, enjoy the widest range ; the house fly of America and of Europe are precisely the same ; and Mr. Swainson has observed in Brazi vast flocks of butterflies, which annually migrate from the interior towards the coast. 2003 Marine animals have, in general, a wider range than those strictly terrestrial. This may probably originate in their being more independent of the effects of tem- perature. It is remarkable, that, with the exception of the crow and two or three others, the land birds of America differ entirely from those of Europe, yet that nearly all our aquatic species are found both in the new world and in the southern coasts of Africa. 2004. Subordinate to the Jive geographic groups already noticed, temperature may be considered the princijial regidatur of the station of animals ; it has likewise a remarkable influence on their clothing. Many quadrupeds, inhabiting the colder regions, appear in their natural colours during summer, but become white in winter. The same change takes place in the plumage of several land birds ; but is not observable in insects, or the other invertebrate groups. Temperature has likewise a great influence on the size and colour of animals. The Sphinx convolvuli of Europe is found also in India, but of a much smaller size and more distinctly coloured : this is usually the effect of heat upon animals whose chief range is in temperate latitudes. On those which may be con- sidered intertropical, a greater degree of heat not only increases the brilliancy of their colours, but adds to their size. There are many birds and insects common both to central Brazil and Cayenne ; but from the greater heat of the latter country, the specimens are always larger and their plumage more beautiful. Temperature likewise affects the clothing of animals in respect both to quality and quantity. This is more par- ticularly observed in such domesticated animals as have been transplanted from their natural climates. The covering of swine in warm countries consists of bristles of the same form and texture, thinly dispersed ; while the same animals in colder climates have an additional coating of fine frizzled wool next the skin, over which the long bristly hairs project. This difference is very remarkable in the swine of northern Europe and thoac of tropical America, the latter appearing almost naked : it may be observed in a less SCIENCE OF AGHICULTURE Part II. degree in those of the south of England and the north of Scotland. Similar appearances present themselves among the sheep of warm and cold countries: the fleece of those of England consists entirely of wool, while the sheep of Shetland and [celand possess a fleece, containing, besides the wool, a number of long hairs, which give it an appearance of being very coarse. 2005. The particular or local distribution of animals is affected l>y various causes which have little influence on their geographic distribution. Tims the purely insectivorous birds of the family Sylviad.-c feed on all kinds of small insects, without regard to any particular species; yet the Sylviadx of America and those of Europe are each characterised by a peculiarity of structure which invariably designates the continent to which they belong. The wryneck is represented in America by die Oxyrhynchus cris- tatus Sir/tins. ('/.<>o!. III. i. p. 1 19.) ; yet neither of these birds are found to inhabit all parts of their respective continents : their range, on the contrary, is regulated by tem- perature, food, and other circumstances connected with local distribution. {SwaimotCt MSS.) 200fi. From temperature originate all the causes which effect local distribution, namely, food, situation, and migration. Were the climate of this country as unchanging as that of Brazil, the insects which now have only a single brood in the year might then produce several, and the swallow would no longer be obliged to quit us as now, for food in other climates, as soon as our insect season was at an end. Migration and torpidity are equally the effect of temperature ; the first depends upon the effect which the changes of the seasons produce in the abundance or scarcity of food, whether animal or vegetable; the latter is a state of inaction during which the necessity for daily nourishment is suspended. 2007. The migration of birds and offish is more extensive than that of quadrupeds. The birds of the Polar regions migrate to Britain during severe winters; while those of Africa come to us, in that season when the southern heats are most intense ; but the same species which is migratory in one country is in some cases stationary in another. It is stated that the linnet is migratory in Greenland, but that it is stationary in Britain 2008. The torpidity or hybernation of animals is evidently designed to suspend the necessity of taking food during the winter ; although in some cases a small stock of provisions is laid up, most probably to serve for nourishment previously to entire torpidity taking place. Several quadrupeds are subject to this partial suspension of life, as the dormouse, hedgehog, bat, marmot, &c. It is said that birds have sometimes been found in a similar state; but this is very questionable. Among insects, on the contrary, torpidity is very common, and a large proportion, when undergoing transformation, pass a considerable part of their lives in this state. 2009. Situation has an extensive influence on the local distribution of animals, although it has little on the geographical distribution of groups. Air, earth, and water have their distinct inhabitants, which are again restricted to certain situations in their respective elements. The higher regions of the air are frequented by the eagle and falcon tribes ; the middle by the air-feeding birds ; and the lower by insects which merely jump, or just fly above the ground. The different situations on land, as mountains, plains, woods, marshes, and even sandy deserts, are each peopled by distinct races of beings, whose subsistence is sought for and furnished in peculiar spots. Thus the range of any par- ticular species is seldom or never continuous, or uninterrupted to its confines; but is rather dependent upon local causes, quite unconnected with geographic division. Water is either the total or the partial residence of animals innumerable; but here situation has an equal influence; the deeps and the shallows of the ocean, its exposed or sheltered shores, its sandy, rocky, or muddy bottoms, are each the resort of different beings, widely distinct from those residing in the streams, lakes, rivers, and estuaries of fresh waters. It is principally among insects that we find the perfect animal inhabiting a situation different from that which was essential to its existence in an imperfect state. The larva? of the May-fly, known to the vulgar by the name of case-worm (Trichoptera Kirbi/), and of all the Libellula? live entirely in the water, preying upon other aquatic- insects ; but as soon as the period of transformation arrives, they crawl on the plants, just above the surface, and bursting the skin, become winged insects, which im- mediately commence an uninterrupted war upon others in their new element. The larva of the well known Ephemera is likewise aquatic, and spends nearly all its life in water; but the perfect insect is without jaws, mounts into the air, and seems born but to flutter and die. Many of the Coleoptera pass the first period of their existence entirely un- derground, others in the trunks of trees ; and others again in putrid substances ; situations very different from those which they frequent when arrived at maturity. Lepidopterous insects, after emerging from the eggs, undergo three changes, all of which ire in situations totally opposite. In the larva state they reach their full dimensions by feeding upon the leaves of vegetables; they next pass into pupa?, and become torpid Book II. ECONOMICAL (jSES OF ANIMALS. 099 rather above or beneath the surface of the ground ; from which they emerge, and again become inhabitants of earth and air as perfect winged insects. 2010. The rapacity of carnivorous animals has been considered by some writers to have had a considerable effect on the distribution and even on the extinction of others ; but no instance has yet been brought forward in support of this argument, nor does history furnish us with any proof of such having been the case. The fossil remains of those stupendous carnivorous animals which have been discovered of late years, and which existed in the antediluvian world, might have suggested this idea as probable, and that the destruction among a host of smaller animals which would alone have satisfied the hunger of a brood of lizards (like the Plesiosaurus) forty feet long and six feet high, would soon have extirpated whole tribes ; but it must not be forgotten that these gigantic animals belonged to a different creation from that which now covers the earth ; and that neither in Africa nor in India, where the present races of carnivorous animals are most abundant, has any change or sensible diminution taken place in the proportion of those upon which they principally feed. 201 1. Man alone has exercised, in various ways, a pmverful influence on animals, and on their distribution : these changes, however, are purely artificial ; they have caused the total or partial extinction of some species, and the extension and domestication of others. Against many, hostile to his interests, man carries on a war of extermination, which, as population spreads, is at length effected in particular countries. The wolf, once so abundant in Britain that their heads were received as tribute by our Saxon kings, has for centuries been extirpated from our forests; and a progressive decrease is continually going on among the wild animals, not only of Europe, but of North America. Others, inoffensive in their habits, but valued as food, have been driven from our island. The cyret and crane, as British birds, are no longer known ; while the great bustard, which may be called the ostrich of Europe, is now rarely seen ; and in all probability (unless its name should be inserted in the game laws), will be totally lost to us in a few years. in like manner that extraordinary bird the dodo (which was the ostrich of Asia) has not been seen for more than a century, and may possibly be no longer in existence. The benefits that have resulted, on the other hand, from the extension and domestication of useful animals are sufficiently known. All the various breeds of our domestic cock have originated from the forests of India, which have likewise furnished Europe with the pheasant and the peacock ; the pintado or guinea fowl is of African origin ; the horse and domestic ox were unknown in the new world before its discovery by the Spaniards ; and the vast island of Australia has been supplied with all its domestic animals from Europe. The turkey is of American origin; and, although nearly extinct in its native forests, is domesticated all over the world. There are doubtless many other animals that might be domesticated, either for use or pleasure ; but in a cDuntry like this, so variable in its climate, and where land is so valuable, it is much to be feared the necessary experiments will not be made. 2012. The local distribution if British animals, however interesting, ia too confined a subject to lead to any general or important conclusions regarding the geographic dis- tribution of animals. It is, however, an enquiry that merits attention ; and although no one has yet expressly written upon the subject, the observations of White, Montague, and several others will furnish a great deal of valuable information. In arranging the British fauna, all such birds as have been seen apparently as wanderers, and only at long intervals of time, should be excluded, or at least distinctly noticed as accidental visitors ; but to introduce the peacock, the domestic cock, and the turkey, into a natural history of British birds, as some have done, is a manifest absurdity ; for upon this principle we should include the canary, the gold and silver pheasant, and all other exotic birds which may have accidentally bred in our aviaries. Chap. VII. Of the Economical Uses of Animals. 2013. On the importance of animals in the arts, as labourers, and as furnishing food, clothing, medicine, and materials for various manufactures, it is needless to enlarge. 2014. As labourers the quadrupeds alone are employed; of these the most generally- useful in this country are the horse, the ox, and the ass. The excellent carriage roads through most parts of Europe have superseded the necessity, in a great measure, of beasts of burden, although in the mountainous parts of Spain and Italy, and nearly throughout the whole of Sicily, mules alone are employed to convey goods and produce. Such likewise is the case" throughout Mexico and Brazil. The camel in Northern Africa, and 300 SCIENCE OF AGRICULTURE. Part IT. the elephant in Asia, are no less essential to internal commerce. In the south of Italy, and in the European settlements in Africa, the ox alone is used in drawing carts and waggons, and in all other agricultural operations. 2015. At articles cfjbod man employs animals belonging to every class, from the quadruped to the Zoophyte. In some cases he makes choice of a part only of an animal, in other cases he devours the whole, lie kills and dresses some animals, while he swallows others in a live state. The taste of man exhibits still more remarkable differ- ences of a rational kind. The animals which are eagerly sought after by one tribe, are neglected or despised by another. Even those which are prized by the same tribe in one age, are rejected bv their descendants in another. Thus the seals and porpoises, which, a few centuries ago, were eaten in Britain, and were presented at the feasts of kings, are now rejected by the poorest of the people. B llfiL Those qitadru) edl and hints which feed on grass or grain are generally preferred by man to those which subsist (in flesh in' Bsh, Even in the same animal, the fli'sb is not always ot the same colour and flavour, when compelled to subsist on different kinds of food. The feeding of hlack cattle with barley straw has always the effect of giving to their fat a yellow colour. Ducks fed on grain have flesh very different in flavour from those which feed on fish. The particular odour of the fat of some animals seems to pass into the system unchanged, and, by its presence, furnishes us with an indication of the food which has been used. S T o animals have yet been discovered whose flesh is poisonous, although some few among tin' lishes and the molliisca are deleterious to the human constitution at particular seasons. '2017. The use if skins, as articles of dress, is nearly coeval with our race. With the progress of civilisation, the fur itself is used, or the feathers, after having been subjected to a variety of tedious and frequently complicated processes. Besides the hair of quad- rupeds, and the feathers of birds, used as clothing, a variety of products of the animal kingdom, as bone, shells, pearls, and corals, are employed as ornaments of dress, in all countries, however different in their degree of civilisation. 2018. Medicine. The more efficient products of the mineral kingdom have in the progress of the medical art in a great measure superseded the milder remedies furnished by animals and vegetables. The blister-fly, however, still remains without a rival ; and the leech is often resorted to, when the lancet can be of no avail. '2019. The arts. The increase of the wants of civilised life calls for fresh exertions to supply them, and the animal kingdom still continues to furnish a copious source of materials for the arts. Each class presents its own peculiar offering, and the stores which yet remain to be investigated appear inexhaustible. Chap. VIII. Principles of improving the Domestic Animals used in Agriculture. 2020. The animals in use in British agriculture are few, and chiefly the horse, ox, sheep, swine, goat, and domestic fowls. The first is used solely as a labouring animal, and the rest chiefly as furnishing food. In applying the general principles of physiology to these animals with a view to their improvement for the use of man, we shall consider in succession the principles of breeding, rearing, and feeding. Sect. I. Objects to be kept in View in the Improvenient of Breeds. 2021. The great object of the husbandman, in every case, is to obtain the most valuable returns from his raw produce ; to prefer that kind of live stock, and that breed of any kind, which will pay him best for the food the animal consumes. The value to which the animal itself may be ultimately brought, is quite a distinct and inferior consideration. [Gen. Hep. Scot., c. xiv.) 2022. To improve the e orm rather than to enlarge the size, in almost every case, ought to be the grand object of improvement. Size must ever be determined by the abundance or scarcity of food, and every attempt to enlarge it beyond that standard must prove un- successful, and, for a time, destructive to the thriving of the animals, and the interest of their owners. It is certain that animals, too large or too small, will alike approach to that profitable size which is best adapted to their pastures ; but the large animal becomes unhealthy, and degenerates in form, and in all its valuable properties ; whereas the small one, while it increases in size, improves in every respect. (Gen. Hep. Scot., c. xiv.) Sect. II. Of the Means of improving the Breed of Animals 2023. By improvement (fa breed is to be understood the producing such an alteration in shape or description, as shall render the animal better fitted for the labours he has to perform ; better fitted for becoming fat ; or for producing milk, wool, eggs, feathers, or particular qualities of these. The fundamental principle of this amelioration is the pro- Book II. IMPROVING THE BREED OF ANIMALS. SOI per selection of parents. Three theories have obtained notice on this subject ; the first in favour of breeding from individuals of the same parentage, called the in-and-in system : the second in favour of breeding from individuals of two different offsprings or varieties, called the system of cross breeding ; and the third in favour of breeding from animals of the same variety, but of different parentage, which may be called breeding in the line, or in the same race. As is usual in such cases, none of these theories is exclusively cor- rect, at least as far as respects agricultural improvement ; for, as it will afterwards appear, the principles on which a selection for breeding so as to improve the carcass of the animal depends, will lead occasionally to either mode. Breeding in the same line, however, is the system at present adopted by what are considered the best breeders. 2024. The size, form, and general properties of the inferior animals in a state of nature may be always traced to the influence of soil and climate. Abundance of food, though of a coarse quality, will produce an enlargement of size in an animal which has been compelled to travel much for a scanty supply. Early maturity is also promoted by the same abundance ; and if the food is of a better quality, and obtained without fatigue, a tendency to fatten at an early age will be gradually superinduced, and combined with a tameness and docility of temper, a general improvement of form, and a diminished proportion of offal ; but at the same time such animals will not be capable of enduring the fatigue and privations to which the less fortunate natives of the mountains of Scot- land and Wales are habituated from their earliest age. 2025. Hardiness of constitution is one of the most desirable properties of live stock, for districts producing only a very scanty supply of food for winter. 2026. A barren and mountainous surface and rigorous climate not only prohibit any considerable improvement in the quantity and quality of its produce, but at the same time prescribe to the husbandman the kind of stock which he must employ for consuming that produce. His cattle and sheep must be in a great measure the creatures of his own mountains and of his own climate. He cannot avail himself of the scientific principles which have so eminently improved the live stock of rich pastures. The most esteemed breeds of England, instead of returning a greater quantity of meat for their food, could not subsist at all upon the mountains of the north. The first object of the Highland farmer is to select animals that will live and thrive upon his pastures. Of two breeds nearly equally hardy, he will no doubt prefer the cattle that will give the most valuable carcass, and the sheep that will return the most money in wool and carcass. He has seldom anv considerable extent of land which would fatten any breed ; and, if he had, there is no market for it within his reach. With his live stock, as with his crops, he must be determined by his situation ; and he would judge very ill, if he should lay aside his oats and big (native barley) for the more valuable but precarious crops of wheat and barley. 2027. Early maturity is a most valuable property in all sorts of live stock. With regard to those animals which are fed for their carcasses, it is of peculiar importance that they should become fat at an early age, because they not only sooner return the price of their food with the profits of the feeder, but in general also a greater value for their consumption than slow-feeding animals. A propensity to fatten at an early age is a sure proof that an animal will fatten speedily at any after period of its life. 2028. Tameness, and docility of temper are desirable properties in most of the domesti- cated animals. These are also in some degree incompatible with the character of the live stock of mountainous districts, merely because they are necessarily subjected to a very slight degree of domestication, and must search for their food over a great extent of country. When they are reared in more favourable situations, plentifully supplied with food, and more frequently under the superintendence of man, their native wildness is in a great measure subdued. The same treatment which induces early maturity will gradually effect this change. 2029. The quality ofthefesh, the proportion which the fine and coarse parts bear to each other, and the weight of both to that of the offal, constitute the comparative value of two animals of equal weight, destined to be the food of man. The first of these properties seems to be determined by the breed and food ; the second by the form and proportions of the animal ; and the third by all these and its degree of fatness. The flesh of well- formed small animals, both of cattle and sheep, is well known to be finer grained, of a belter flavour, more intermixed with fat, and to afford a richer gravy than that of large animals, and it brings a higher price accordingly in all the principal markets of the island. 2030. The desirable properties of animals are different, according to the purposes to which they are applied. The principal productions of live stock are meat, milk, labour, and wool. A breed of cattle equally well adapted to the butcher, the dairy-maid, and the plough or cart, is nowhere to be found. So far as experience enables us to judge, these properties appear to be inconsistent with one another, and to belong to animals of different forms and proportions It must be evident, that a description of a well formed animal for fattening will not apply to any of the different varieties of horses. And witli regard to sheep, there is reason to suspect that very fine wool cannot be produced by such as have the greatest propensity to fatten, and will return the most meat for the food they consume. 2031. The chief object of most breeders of cattle and sheep is their carcass. If a demand for dairy produce, for the labour of oxen, or for fine wool, should hereafter make it his SOS SCIENCE OF AGRICULTURE. Taut II. interest to give a preference to uny of these commodities, the Ibrm and proportions which lie studies to obtain, with a view to the greatest produce of animal food, may probably require to be somewhat varied. In the mean time, it is only necessary in this plate to notice the shapes which indicate a propensity to fatten in the shortest time, and with the least consumption of food, and to lay the fat on the most valuable parts of the carcass. TUr head should be line, clean, and small. The collar lull at the breast ami shoulders, and tapering gradually to where the neck and head j.jin. £034. The breast broad, and well advanced before the legs. The shoulder! wide and lull, joining to the collar forward, and the chine backward, so as to leave n. j hollow in either place. 'Jii Ji The back, from the shoulders to the tail, broad, flat, and nearly level. 20 7. The chest full and deep ; the ribs rising from the back in a circular form. /'./,■ breadth of the //tic/,-, and circular form of a deep chest, are always considered as essential requisites. A flat-ribbed chest, however deep, and large bones, are invariably marks of a slow-feeding animal 2039. By a slight touch of the fingers, a good judge of cattle knows immediately whether an animal will readily make fat or not, and in which part it will be the fattest. The sensation is different from that of softness, being mellow and kindly. This skill, how- ever, is only to be acquired by practice, and the feeling can scarcely be expressed in words. There are several other indications of a propensity to fatten, which, though perhaps not strictly essential, are yet very generally found to accompany it ; such as thin ears, hides, and pelts, and small, fine, and straight bones in the legs. Horns are to be chiefly regarded as a criterion for distinguishing one breed from another. A variety of minor circumstances are attended to by skilful breeders, in selecting animals for propa- gating, to which an unexperienced spectator would attach no importance whatever. 2040. A breed mat) be said to be improved, when some desirable property, which it did not possess before, has been imparted to it, and also when its defects have been removed or diminished, and its valuable properties enhanced. Improvement, in its more extensive application to the live stock of a country, may also be said to be effected, when, by a total or partial change of live stock, the value of the natural produce of the soil is augmented, and a greater quantity of human food and other desirable commodities obtained from it. Whatever may be the merit of that skilful management which is necessary to the form- ation of a valuable breed, a considerable degree of the same kind of merit may be justly claimed by those, who have introduced and established it in situations where its advantages had never been contemplated, and in which, indeed, the obstacles to its success might have appeared almost insurmountable. The whole of the preceding part of this section is taken from the General Report n the vegetable kingdom, seems to Justify ua in concludii may become not only advantageous, but even necessary for the purpose of correcting defects Nevertheless, at the last mentioned writer and (hue observe, it can only be safely resorted to by skilful and experienced breeders. See the Rev. H. lierry, in Brit. Farm, flag, vol* ii. .\ iii.j Sect. III. Of the General Principles of rearing, managing, and feeding Domestic Animals. 2066. Immediately after the birth of every animal, even of such as are domesticated, the rudiments <>t" iti education, as well as its bodily nourishment, ore necessarily given by the mother. For this purpose the latter should, during her pregnancy, have been duly protected against all extremes of temperature, well provided with shade and shekel, and abundantly Supplied with food and water. When the period of gestation arrives, she should, in general, also be separated from the rest of the flock or herd, and by whatever means the case may demand, kept comfortable and tranquil. 2067. After the birth, the first interference on the part of man should be, that of supplying the mother with food of a light and delicate quality, compared with that which she had been in the habit of using, and also of administering the same description of food to the offspring, as far as it may by its nature be able to use it. The gentlest treatment should accompany these operations; and the opportunity taken of familiarising both parent and offspring with man, by gently caressing them, or at least by familiar treatment on the part of the attendant. •2068. As the animals increase in size and strength, they should have abundance of air, exercise, and food, according to their natures; and whatever is attempted by man in the way of taming or teaching should be conducted on mild and conciliating principles, rather than on those of harshness and compulsion. Caresses, or familiar treatment, should generally be accompanied by small supplies of food, at least at first, as an inducement to render the animal submissive to them ; afterwards habit will, even in the inferior creation, render the familiarities of man agreeable to them for their own sake; but even then, to keep up this feeling, small portions of select food should frequently be employed as a reward. By contrasting this method with that of taming or teaching animals by fear or compulsion, the advantages of the former mode will be evident. 2069. Interest is the grand mover of the lower animals as well as of man. In taming by fear all the interest which the animal has is the avoiding of an evil ; in taming by caresses and food it is the attain, mentof enjoyment. The most extraordinary results are recorded as having been obtained by the mild mode with almost everv species of animal on which it has been tried : to this may be advantageously joined in the more powerful animals, hunger and fatigue. " The breeder Bakewell, Surgeon Hunt informs us, at an advanced period of life, not onlv conquered a vicious restive horse, but, without tne assistance of either grooms or jockevs, taught this horse to obey his verbal orders with as great attention as the most accomplished animal that was ever educated at Astley's school. Bakewell was accustomed to sav that his horse could do everv thing but speak. The method which he took to conquer this vicious animal was never told, even to his own domestics. He ordered his own saddle and bridle to be put on this horse, which at that time was thought to be ungovernable, when he was prepared for a journey of two or three hundred miles ; and, that no one might be witness to the contest, he led the horse till he was bevond the reach of observation. How far he walked, or in what manner this great business was accomplished, was never known ; but, when he returned from his journey, the horse was as gentle as a lamb, and would obey his master's verbal orders on all occasions. When what are called irrational animals .ire taught such strict obedience to the command of a superior order, it is in general supposed to be the effect of fear ; but Bakewell never made use of either whip or spur. When on horseback he had a strong walking-stick in his hand, which he made the most use of when on foot; he always rode with a slack rein, which he frequently let lie upon the horse's neck, and so great was his objection to spurs, that he never wore them. It was iiis opinion that all such animals might be conquered by gentle means ; and, such was his knowledge of animal nature, that he seldom failed in his opinion, whether his attention was directed to the body or the mind." {Agr. Mem., p. 127.) '2070. The purposes fn which animals are fed or nourished are for promoting their enlargement or growth"; for fitting them for iabour; for the increase of certain animal products; or for fattening them for slaughter as human food. We shall confine our remarks to the last purpose as being the most important, and as necessarily including much of what belongs to the three others. In the fattening of cattle the following points require to be attended to : abundance of proper food, a proper degree of heat, protection against extremes of weather, good air and water, moderate exercise, tranquillity, clean- liness, comfort, and health. '2071. Food, though it must be supplied in abundance, ought not to be given to satiety. Intervals of resting ami exercise must be allowed according to circumstances. Even animals grazing on a rich pasture have been found to feed faster when removed from it once a day. and either folded or put in an inferior pasture for two or three hours. Stall fed cattle and swine will have their flesh improved in flavour by being turned out into a yard or held once a day ; and many find that they feed better, and produce better-flavoured meat, when kept loose under warm sheds or hammels, one or two in a division, a practice now very general in Berwickshire. (See Hammel.) Coarser food may be first given to feeding animals; and, as they acquire flesh, that which is of more "solid and "substantial quality. In general it may be observed, that if the digestive powers of the animal are in a sound state, the more food he eats the sooner will the desired result be obtained ; a very moderate quantity beyond sufficiency con- Book II. REARING, &c. DOMESTIC ANIMALS. 307 stitutes abundance ; but, by withholding this additional quantity, an animal, especially if young, may go on eating for several years, without ever attaining to fatness. Properly treated, a well fed ox, of moderate size, will fatten on a rich pasture in from four to six months ; and, in stalls or covered pens, with green or steamed food, in a shorter period. 2072. /;; young, growing animals the powers of digestion are so great that they require less rich food than such as are of mature age ; for the same reason, also, they require more exercise. If rich food is supplied in liberal quantities, and exercise withheld, diseases are generated, the first of which may be excessive fatness ; growth is impeded by very rich food, for experience shows that the coarsest-fed animals have uniformly the largest bones. Common sense will suggest the propriety of preferring a medium course between very rich and very poor nutriment. 2073. Mastication and cooking. Unless food be thoroughly deprived of its vegetative powers before it enters the stomach, the whole nourishment which it is capable of affording cannot be derived from it. In the case of the leaves and stalks of vegetables, this is in general effected by mastication ; but it requires some care to accomplish it in the case of grains. Hence the advantage of mixing corn given to horses or cattle with chaff or chopped straw; and hence it is supposed by some, that the instinct which fowls have to swallow small stones is intended by nature for the same object. But the most effectual mode of destroying the living principle is by the application of heat; and if vegetable food of every kind could be steamed or boiled before it was given to animals (at least in winter, and for fattening for the shambles, or feeding for milk), it is rendered probable, by analogy and experiment, that much more nourishment would be derived from it. 2074. Salt, it appears, from various experiments, may be advantageously given to most animals in very small quantities ; it acts as a whet to the appetite, promotes the secretion of bile, and, in general, is favourable to health and activity. In this way only can it be considered as preventing or curing diseases ; unless perhaps in the case of worms, to which all saline and bitter substances are known to be injurious. 2075. That degree of heat which is natural to animals in their original country, or has become so by habit and the breeding for successive generations in a cold climate, is necessary to their wellbeing ; and a somewhat increased degree in the cold months, or diminished degree in such as are oppressively warm, is advantageous in the fattening process. Where a sufficient degree of warmth to promote the ordinary circulation of the blood is not produced by the natural climate, or by exercise, it must be supplied by an artificial climate. Houses and sheds are the obvious resources both for this purpose, and for protection from extremes of weather. Cold rains and northerly winds are highly injurious, by depriving the external surface of the body of caloric, more rapidly than it can be supplied from within by respiration, and the action of the stomach ; and also by contracting the pores of the skin, so as to impede circulation. When an animal happens to shed its covering, whether of hair, wool, or feathers, at such inclement seasons, the effects on its general health are highly injurious. The excessive heats of summer, by expanding all the parts of the animal frame, occasion a degree of lassitude, and want of energy, even in the stomach and intestines ; and while the animal eats and digests less food than usual, a greater waste than usual takes place by perspiration. Nature has provided trees, rocks, caverns, hills, and waters, to moderate these extremes of heat and weather; and man imitates them by hovels, sheds, and other buildings, according to particular circumstances. 2076. Good air and water it may seem unnecessary to insist on ; but cattle and horses, and even poultry, pent up in close buildings, where there are no facilities for a change of the atmosphere, often suffer on this account. A slight degree of fever is produced at first, and, after a time, when the habit of the animal becomes reconciled to such a state, a retarded circulation, and general decay or diminution of the vital energies, take place. 2077. Water ought to be soft and pure, as being a better solvent than such as is hard and charged with earthy particles. It ought to be of a moderate temperature, under that of the open air in hot weather, and exceeding it in winter. Deep wells afford this ditlerence. In particular cases, as in those of animals in a suckling state or milked by man, warmed water has been founc 1 advantageous. Meals, or other light rich matters, are sometimes mixed with it ; but it does not clearlv appear, except in the last case, that liquid food is so generally advantageous for fattening animals, as that which being equally rich is solid. Some judgment is requisite as to the time most proper for giving water to animals. In general, it does not appeirr necessary to supply it immediately after eating, for animals in a natural state, or pasturing in a field, generally lie" down after filling themselves, and after the process of digestion seems to have gone on for some time, thev go in quest of water. Perhaps the immediate dilution of food, after being taken into the stomach, with water, may, at the same time, weaken the digestive powers, by diluting the gastric juice. At all events, the free use of water at any time, but especially during meals, is found to weaken digestion in the human species. As animals of every kind become reconciled to any habit, not ultimately injurious to health, perhaps for housed animals a stated quantity of water, given an hour, or an hour and a half after what may be called their meals, may be the be*t mode. 2078. Moderate exercise ought not to be dispensed with, where the flavour of animal produce is any object ; it is known to promote circulation, perspiration, and digestion, and by consequence to invigorate the appetite. Care must be taken, however, not to carry exercise to that point where it becomes a labour instead of a recreation. In some X 2 308 SCIENCE OF AGRICULTURE. Tart II. eases, as in feeding swine and poultry, Fatness is hastened by promoting Bleep, and preventing motion rather than encouraging it : but Buch animals cannot be considered healthy- fed ; in fact, their fatness is most commonly the result of disease. '-'079. Traiit/tiitlitt/ is an obvious requisite, for where the passions of brutes arc called into action, by whatever means, their influence on their bodies is often as great as in the human species. Ilenee the use of castration, complete or partial separation, shading from too much light, protection from insects, dogs, and other annoying animals, and from the too frequent intrusion of man. £080. c/canliiirss is favourable to health, by promoting perspiration and circulation. Animal-, in a wild state attend to this part of their economy themselves; but, in pro- portion as they are cultivated, or brought under the control of man, this becomes ou| of their power; and to insure their subserviency to his wishes, this part of culture, as well as others, must be supplied by art. Combing and brushing stall-fed cattle and cows are known to contribute materially to health; though washing sheep with a view to cleaning the wool often lias a contrary effect, from the length of time the wool requires to dry. This often brings on colds, and aggravates the liver complaint, so incident to these animals. Bathing or steeping the feet of stalled animals occasionally in warm water would no doubt contribute to their health. Bathing swine two or three times a week in hot water, as in that used for boiling or steaming food, has been found a real advantage. 2081. Comfort. An animal may be well fed, lodged, and cleaned, without being comfortable in every respect ; and in brutes, as well as men, want of comfort operates on the digestive powers. If the surface of a stall, in which an ox or a horse stands, deviates much from a level, he will be continually uneasy; and he will be uneasy during night, if its surface is rough, or if a proper bed of litter is not prepared every evening for him to repose on. The form of racks and mangers is often less commodious than it might be. A hay rack which projects forward is bad ; because the animal in drawing out the hay is teased with the hay seeds falling into its eyes or ears ; and this form, it may be added, is apt to cause the breath of the animal to ascend through its food, which must after a time render it nauseous. For this reason hay should lie as short a time as possible in lofts, but when practicable be given direct from the rick. Poultry of different kinds are often crowded together, without any regard to the comfort of the particular kinds by attending to their peculiarities, such as a smooth or soft floor for the web feet of the duck tribe, or the proper size of roosting sticks for the grasping-toed feet of the other tribes. Even the crowing of the cock must cause some degree of irritation, and consequently impede health and fattening by disturbing the repose of quiet fowls, such as the turkey or goose. Various other instances will occur to a reflecting mind ; and surely it must be a duty as agreeable as it is conducive to our own interest, to promote as much as possible the comfort of those animals whose lives are shortly to be sacrificed for ours. 2082. Health. A good state of health will, in general, be the result of the mode of feeding and treatment which we have described ; but in proportion as our treatment, either of ourselves or other animals, is refined and artificial, in the same proportion are the functions of nature liable to derangement or interruption from atmospherical changes, and various accidental causes. When this takes place, recourse must be had to art for relief. This is an obvious, natural, and reasonable practice ; though some contend that as every disease is only an effort of nature to relieve the being from some evil, it ought to be left to itself. To treat animals when in health artificially, and the moment when they become diseased to abandon them to nature, is a proposition so incon- gruous and absurd, that one would suppose it would be rejected by the common sense of mankind. There are, however, some solitary instances of medical men having adopted this opinion ; but the melancholy result of their acting on it in the human species, as well as its utter rejection by all rational professors, and men in general, has reduced it to its intrinsic value. There may be much of quackery in medicine ; and unquestionably there is a great deal in the art, as applied to the brute creation by common practitioners : but to reject the medical art altogether, becomes, on the other hand, a species of quackery just as despicable as the other, and not less dangerous ; for it cannot be much Utter for a patient to be left to die through neglect than to be killed by overmuch care. 2083. Farrier;/, m applied to cattle and sheep, is a department of medicine in which perhaps greater ignorance prevails than in any other. The subject, as applied to horses, has, since the establishment of veterinary schools in tliis country, and in France, become better understood ; but the pupils from these establishments are so thinly scattered, that as Laurence (veterinary surgeon, and author of a Treatise on Horses) observes, it were desirable that country surgeons should in their different localities give instructions to the empirical local practitioners in the country, and to intelligent, bailiff's ; and that gentle- men of property might have such a sense of their own interest as to call in a surgeon in ell cases of the least difficulty. All that we can here do is to repeat our advice of Book II. FEEDING FOR EXTRAORDINARY PURPOSES. 309 studying the art of prevention rather than of cure ; to suggest that, in general, an analogy subsists between the constitution and diseases of the human and brute creation ; to avoid recipes and specific cures, rarely to bleed animals, unless by regular advice; and to confine as much as possible the operations of cow-doctors and smiths to giving warm drinks, gentle purges, and clysters, which can seldom do any harm. Proprietors who can afford to employ intelligent bailiff's, or rather who give such men considerable salaries, should ascertain previously to hiring them, by means of general questions, or by reference to a professor, whether they know any thing of the subject. By thus creating a demand for this species of knowledge, it would soon be produced in abundance. Sect. IV. Of Feeding for Extraordinary Purposes. 2084. The extraordinary purjioses of feeding may comprehend, promoting the growth, maturity, or obesity of particular parts of the body ; promoting the produce of milk or eggs ; or, fitting an animal for hard labour or long journeys, fasting, and other pri- vations. 2085. Feeding fir extraordinary purposes, such as promoting the growth of the liver in geese ; the heart in turkeys ; producing excessively fat poultry, &c, seems to us utterly unjustifiable on principles of humanity, and unworthy of enlightened men. The practice of pulling out the animal's eyes, nailing it to the spot, and cramming or forcing the food down its throat, is surely as repugnant to good taste and feeling, as the food so produced must be tasteless and unwholesome. Putting out the eyes of certain singing birds to improve their voice, and some practices in the rearing of game cocks, and fancy pigeons (at least the first two) seem equally reprehensible. 2086. The fattening of fowls for the London market is a considerable branch of rural economy in some convenient situations. " Thev are put up in a dark place, and era mined with a paste made ot barky meal, mutton suet, and some treacle or coarse sugar, mixed with milk, and are found to be completely ripe in a fortnight. If kept longer, the fever that is induced by this continued state of repletion renders them red and unsaleable, and frequently kills them." (Agricultural Report of Berkshire, by William Manor, LL.D. 8va London. 1813.) But fowls brought to this state of artificial obesity are never so well flavoured in the flesh, and probably not so salubrious as those of the same species fattened in a more natural way. The great secret of having' fine pullets is cleanliness, and high keeping with the best corn. 20S7. The process followed in different parts of France to enlarge the liver is described at length by Sonnini. (Xoureau Dictionnaire d' Histoire Naturelle, art. Die.) The object is to cause the whole vital forces to be determined towards this part of the animal, by giving it a kind of hepatic cachexy. In Alsace, the individual buys a lean goose, which he shuts up in a small box, so tight that it cannot turn in it. The back part of the bottom is furnished with a wide grating of rods, for the passage of the dung. In the fore part there is a hole for the head, and below it a small trough is kept always full of water, in which some pieces of wood charcoal are left to steep. A bushel of maize is enough to feed it during a month, at the end of which time the goose is sufficiently fattened. A thirtieth part is soaked in water each night, and crammed down its throat next day, morning and evening. The rest of the time it drinks and guzzles in the water. Towards the 22d day, they mix with the maize some poppy oil, and, at the end of the month, it is known by a lump of fat under each wing, or rather by the difficulty of breathing, that it is time to kill it, otherwise it will die of fat. The liver is then found weighing one or two pounds, and, besides, the animal is excellent for the table, and furnishes, during its roasting, from three to five pounds of fat, which is used in the cooking of vegetables. Of six geese, there are commonly only four (and these are the youngest) which answer the expectation of the fattener. They are kept in a cellar, or cool place with little light. The temperature most favourable for fattening is between 30° and 40 c Fahrenheit, so that it is only practised during the latter part of the autumn, the winter, and the early part of spring. The process was examined in detail by us at Strasbourg in October 1828, and will be found noticed in the account of the tour which we made in that year, in the 5th volume of the Gardener's Magazine. 2088. The Roman epicures, who prized the livers of geese, had already observed, that darkness was favourable to this practice ; no doubt, because it prevents all distraction, and directs the whole powers towards the digestive organs. The want of motion, and the difficulty of respiration, may be also taken into consideration ; the first from its diminishing the waste of the system, and both from their retarding the circulation in the vena portarum, of which the blood ought to become hydrogenated, in proportion as its carbon unites itself to the oxygen which that liquid absorbs. This favours the formation of the oily juice, which, after having filled the cellular system of the body, enters into the biliary system and substance of the liver, and gives it that fatness and size which is so delightful to the palates of true gourmands. The liver thus only becomes enlarged Consecutively, and the difficulty of respiration does not appear till the end, when its size prevents the action of the lungs. Among a hundred fatteners, there are scarcely two who adopt the practice of putting out the eyes of the geese, and even these do not resort to this barbarous practice till a dav or two before they are killed ; and, therefore, the X 3 310 SCIENCE OF AC. Kit I LTUHE. Pari 11. geese of Alsace, which are Free from these cruel operations, acquire a prodigious fatness, which may be called an oleaginous dropsy, the effect of a general atony of the absorbents, caused by wan) "i' exercise, combined with succulent food crammed down their throats, and in an under-oxygenated atmosphere. | Encyc. Brit. Sup., art Food.) I, Early lamb. As an instance of both breeding and feeding for extraordinary purposes, we may mention the practice of those fanners who furni-.li the tables of the wealthy with lamb, at almost every season of the year, by selecting certain breeds of sheen. Such as the Dorsetshire, which lamb very early, or by treating them in such a way as to cause the female to come in heat at an unnatural time. In this way, lamb is pro- cured as an article of Luxury, as early as November and December ; and, on the contrary. by keeping the ewe on a cold and poor billy pasture, the lambing season is retarded, and lamb furnished in September and October. 2090. Feeding (<■>■ promoting the produce of milk or eggs. That which in plants or animals i-, produced for particular purposes in nature may, by certain modes of treat- ment, be rendered, for a time, a habit in the plant or animal, without reference to its natural end. Tims in many cases annual plants may be rendered perennial by continually pinching off their flowers as they appear; and animals which give milk or lay e<*gs may be made to produce both for a much longer time than is natural to them, by creating a demand in their constitutions for these articles, by frequent and regular milk- ings, and by taking away every egg as soon as produced; and then, by appropriate food, furnishing the constitution with the means of supplying this demand, by rich liquid food, in the case of milking animals, and by dry, stimulating, and nourishing food, in the case of poultry. 2091. Feeding to jit animals for hard labour or long journeys. It seems agreed on, that dry rich food is' the best for this purpose ; and that very much depends on rubbing, cleaning, and warmth, in the intervals between labour and rest, in order to maintain something of the increased circulation ; and, in short, to lessen the influence of the transition from the one to the other. The quantity of water given should never be con- siderable ; at least in cold countries and seasons. (See Horse, in Contents or Index.) Sect. V. Of the Modes of killing Animals. 2092. The mode of killing animals has considerable effect on the flesh of the animal. Most of those slaughtered for food are either bled to death, or are bled profusely imme- diately after being deprived of life in some other way. The common mode of killing cattle' in this kingdom is, by striking them on the forehead with a pole-axe, and then cutting their throats to bleed them. But this method is cruel, and not free from danger. The animal is not always brought down by the first blow, and the repetition is difficult and uncertain ; and, if the animal be not very well secured, accidents may happen. Lord Somerville {General Survey of the Agriculture of Shropshire, by Joseph Plymley, M.A., 8vo. London, 1803, p. 243.) therefore endeavoured to introduce tlie method of pithing or laying cattle, by dividing the spinal marrow above the origin of the phrenic nerves, as is" commonly practised in Barbary, Spain, Portugal, Jamaica, and in some parts of England ; and Jackson says, that the " best method of killing a bullock is by thrusting a sharp-pointed knife into the spinal marrow, when the bullock will immediately fall without any struggle, then cut the arteries about the heart." (Reflections oil the Commerce of the Mediterranean, by John Jackson, Esq. F.S.A., ^vo. London, 1804, p. 91.) Although the operation of pithing is not so difficult but that it may, with some practice, be performed with tolerable certainty; and although Lord Somerville took a man with him to Portugal to he instructed in the method, and made it a condition that the prize cattle at his exhibitions should be pithed instead of being knocked down, still pithing is not becoming general in Britain. This may be partly owing to prejudice ; but we have been told that the flesh of the cattle killed in this way in Portugal is very dark, and be- comes soon putrid, probably from the animal not bleeding well, in consequence of the action of the heart being interrupted before the vessels of the neck are divided. It there- fore seems preferable to bleed the animal to death directly, as is practised by the Jew butchers. 2093. J)u Card's observations mi pithing deserve attention. This gentleman, a surgeon of the Shrewsbury Infirmary, after mature consideration, is against the practice, as causing more pain than it is intended to avoid. He says, " Pain and action are so generally joined, that we measure the degree of pain by the loudness of the cries, and violence of the consequent exertion; and therefore conclude, on seeing two animals killed, that the one which makes scarcely a struggle, though it may continue to breathe, suffers less than that which is more violently convulsed, and struggles till life is exhausted. It appears, however, that there may lie acute pain without exertion, perhaps as certainly as there is action without pain ; even distortions that at the first glance would seem to pro- ceed from pain, are not always really accompanied with sensation. To constitute pain there must he a communication between the injured organ and the brain." Book III. MINERAL KINGDOM AND THE ATMOSPHERE. 311 °094 In the old method of slaughtering, a concussion of the brain takes place, and therefore the power of feelin" is destroyed The animal drops, and although convulsions take place generally longer and more violent than when the spinal marrow is divided, vet there is, 1 think, reason to believe that the animal suffers less pain. The immediate consequence of the blow is the dilatation ot the pupil ot tlie eye, without anv expression of consciousness or fear on the approach of the hand. 3( °5 From all these circumstances, Du Gard concludes that the new method of slaughtering cattle is mve painful than the old. The puncture of the medulla spinalis does not destroy feeling, though it renders the a £ both Uic forming the operation, which would answer completely, could we be sure ot having operators sufficiently skilful" but we may the less regret the difficulty of getting new modes established when we thus see the superiority of an old custom under very improbable circumstances ; and if well meaning reformers wanted anv additional motives to care and circumspection, a very forcible one is furnished in the instance or the time and trouble taken to introduce this operation, which, as it has been hitherto practised, is the very reverse of what was intended. 2096. Jewish modes. The Mosaic law so strictly prohibits the eating of blood, that the Talmud contains a body of regulations concerning the killing of animals ; and the Jews, as a point of religion, "will not eat the flesh of any animal not killed by a butcher of their own persuasion. Their method is to tie all the four feet of the animal together, bring it to the ground, and, turning its head back, to cut the throat at once down to the bone, with a long, very sharp, but not pointed knife, dividing all the large vessels of the neck. In this way the blood is discharged quickly and completely. The effect is indeed said to be so obvious, that some Christians will eat no meat but what has been killed by a Jew butcher. Calves, pigs, sheep, and lambs, are all killed by dividing at once the large vessels of the neck. 2097. Animals which are killed by accident, as by being drowned, hanged, or frozen, or by a fall, or ravenous animal, are not absolutely unwholesome. Indeed, they only differ from those killed methodically in not being bled, which is also the case with animals that are snared, and with those killed by hounds. Animals which die a natural death should never be eaten, as it is an undeniable instance of disease, and even death to the consumer being the consequence. 2098. Animals frequently undergo some preparation before they are killed. They are commonly kept without food for some time, as if killed with full stomachs their flesh is considered not to keep well. Oxen are commonly made to fast for two or three days, smaller animals for a day ; but it is evident that the practice must not be carried too far, as the opposite effect w'ill be produced by the animal falling off or getting feverish.^ Dr. Lister has stated that nothing contributes more to the whiteness and tenderness of the flesh of calves than often bleeding them, by which the colouring matter of the blood is exhausted, and nothing but colourless serum remains. A much more cruel method of preparation for slaughter used to be practised, though now much less frequently, in regard to the bull. By some ancient municipal laws, no butcher was allowed to expose any bull beef for sale unless it had been previously baited. The reason of this regulation probably was, that baiting had the effect of rendering the flesh or muscular fibre much more tender ; for it is a universal law of the animal economy that, when animals have undergone excessive fatigue immediately before death, or have suffered from a lingering death, their flesh, though it becomes sooner rigid, also becomes sooner tender than when suddenly deprived of life in a state of health. The flesh of hunted animals also is soon tender and soon spoils (Becherches de Physiologie et de Chimie Pathologique, par P. N. Xysten. 8vo. Paris, 1811) ; and it is upon this principle only, that the quality of pig's . flesh could be improved by the horrid cruelty, said to be practised by the Germans, of whipping the animal to death. BOOK III. OF THE STUDY OF THE MINERAL KINGDOM AND THE ATMOSPHERE, WITH REFERENCE TO AGRICULTURE. 2099. The nature of the vegetable and animal kingdom having undergone discussion, the next step in the study of the science of agriculture is to enquire into the composition and nature of material bodies, and the laws of their changes. The earthy matters winch compose the surface of the globe, the air and light of the atmosphere, tne water precipi- tated from it, the heat and cold produced by the alternation of day and night, and by chemical composition and resolution, include all the elements concerned in vegetation. These elements have all been casually brought into notice in the study ot the vegetable kingdom ; but we shall now examine more minutely their properties, in as far as they are connected with cultivation. To study them completely, reference must be had to systems of chemistry and natural philosophy, of which those of Dr. Thomson (System of Chemistry) and Dr. Young (Lectures on Natural Philosophy) may be especially recommended. X 4 31-2 SCIENCE OF AGRICULTURE. Part I L Chap. I. Of Earths and Suds. •2100. Earths are the productions of the rocks which are exposed on the surface of the globe, anil soils arc carl/is mired with more or less of the decomposed organised matter afforded by dead plants and animals. Earths and soils, therefore, must be as various as the rocks which produce them ; and hence to understand their nature and formation it is necessary to begin by considering the geological structure of the territorial surface, and the manner in which earths and soils are produced. We shall next consider in succession the Nomenclature, Quality, Use, and Improvement of Soils. Sect. I. Of the Geological Structure of the Globe a7id the Formation of Earths and Soils. 2101. The crust of our earth, when examined, will be found to be composed of various stony bodies, differing in their structure and composition. Some of these are arranged in strata of greater or less regularity, and more or less inclined to the horizon ; others show no marks of Stratification, but constitute large mountain masses, without any definite shape, or fill up fissures in other rocks, forming veins. Some rocks show an evident compound or aggregated structure ; others appear, to the naked eye, of a uniform texture : some stony bodies contain undoubted remains of animals and vegetables, which chiefly belong to species of organised beings no longer known to exist in a living state; other rocks are always destitute of every trace of organised remains. These peculiarities have given rise to different classifications of rocks. One sect of geologists divide rocks into simple and compound ; and again subdivide these classes according as the structure of the rock is compact, granular, slaty, porphyritic, or a?nygdaloidal- The greatest number of geologists, however, are not satisfied with that arrangement, but have ventured to speculate on the relative age or era of the formation of the different kinds of rock. The data on which they proceed are, chiefly, the presence or absence of organic remains, and the superposition of one kind of rocky bed on another. All geologists are agreed in con- sidering stratified rocks as arranged and deposited by the agency of water, and therefore the relative age of such rocks may be generally inferred from their relative position ; but philosophers differ both with regard to the origin and era of the unstratified rocks, and also of the minerals which occupy veins. It is not our business here to enter into this discussion, but we shall content ourselves by a slight sketch of the most generally received arrangement of rocks, which, though it involves theoretic considerations, is convenient to the student of mineralogy. The crust of our globe may be considered as composed of five series of rocks : primitive, transition, floetz, alluvial, and volcanic. 2102. Primitive rocks. These, from the absence of organic remains, are conceived to have been deposited, in their present situation, before the creation of animals, and, from most usually lying below other rocks, are supposed to be the most ancient. Of these the chief species are granite (including syenite), gneiss, mica slate (including talc slate), clay slate, primitive limestone, primitive trap, serpentine, quartz rock, and some kinds of porphyry. '2103. Rocks 8. The specific gravity of a soil, or the relation of its weight to that of water, may be ascertained by introducing into a phial, which will contain a known quantity of water, equal volumes of water and of soil, and this may be easily done by pouring in water till it is half full, and then adding the soil till the fluid rises to the mouth ; the difference between the weight of the soil and that of the water will give the result. Thus if the bottle contains four hundred grains of water, and gains two hundred grains when half filled with water and half with soil, the specific gravity of the soil will be 2, that is, it will be twice as heavy as water, and if it gained one hundred and sixty-five grains, its specific gravity would be 1825, water being 1000. 2139. The presence of clay and sand in any soil is known, the first by its tenacity, the oilier by its roughness to the touch, and by scratching glass when rubbed on it. 2140. Tlir presence of calcareous matter in soil may be ascertained by simply pouring any acid on it, and observing if it effervesces freely. Muriatic acid is the best for this purpose. Calcareous soils, magnesian soils, and clays, are, for the most part, softer to the touch than arenaceous soils. To ascertain the quantity of calcareous earth present, dry soil thoroughly, and weigh 100 grains of it, which gradually add to one drachm of muriatic acid diluted with two drachms of water in a phial poised in a balance : the loss of weight will indicate the escape of carbonic acid, which will be 44 per cent of the quantity of calcareous earth in the soil. 2141. The presence of organised matter in any soil may be ascertained very satisfactorily by weighing it after being thoroughly dried ; then subjecting it to a red heat and weighing it again, the weight last found will be the proportion of organic matter and carbonic acid gas, if there should have been any. The same object may also be attained by ascertaining the specific gravity of the soil, but with less accuracy. 2142. The presence of metallic oxides in a soil may generally be known by their colour. Ferrugineous soils are red or yellow ; cupreous soils, interspersed with greenish streaks, &c. Cupreous impregnations of soils are rare ; and the usual green matter in such soils as the green sand of English geologists, appears to be coloured by iron, which is almost the only metallic impregnation in considerable quantity in any soil. 2143. The presence of salt, sulphur, coal, &c, may be known by the absence or peculiarity of vegetation, as well as by colour, and the appearance of the water of such soils. Saline soils may be distinguished by the taste ; sulphureous soils by their smell when thrown on a hot iron ; and the presence of coal by its fragments, which will be left after the soluble matters are removed by water and muriatic acid. 2144. The capacity of a soil for retaining water may be thus ascertained. An equal portion of two soils, perfectly dry, may be introduced into two tall glass cylindrical vessels (Jig. 203.), in the middle of each of which a glass tube has been ^ 203 previously placed. The soils should be put into each in the same manner, not compressed very hard, but so as to receive a solidity approaching to that which they possessed when first ob- tained for trial. If, after this preparation, a quantity of water be poured into the glass tubes, it will subside ; and the capillaiy |||| attraction of the soils will conduct it up the cylinders towards *- the tops of the vessels. That which conducts it most rapidly, provided it does not risa from the weight of the incumbent column of water in the tube, may be pronounced to be the better soil. (Grisenlhivaite.) Sect. IV. Of the Uses of the Soil to Vegetables. 2145. Soils afford to plants a fixed abode and medium of nourishment. Earths, exclu- sively of organised matter and water, are allowed by most physiologists to be of no other use to plants than that of supporting them, or furnishing a medium by which they may fix themselves to the globe, lint earths and organic matter, that is, soils, afford at once support and food. 2140. The pure earths merely act as mechanical and indirect chemical agents in the soil The earths all appear to be metallic bases united to oxygen : these oxides have not been completely decomposed ; but there is no reason to suppose that their earthy bases are con- vertible into the elements of organised compounds, that is, into carbon, hydrogen, and azote, l'lants have been made to grow in given quantities of earth. They consume very small portions only ; and what is lost may be accounted for by the quantities found in their ashes ; that is to say, it has not been converted into any new products. The carbonic acid united to lime or magnesia, if any stronger acid happens to be formed in the soil during the fermentation of vegetable matter, which will disengage it from the earths, may be Book III. USES OF THE SOIL TO VEGETABLES. 319 decomposed ; but the earths themselves cannot be supposed convertible into other sub- stances, by any process taking place in the soil. In all cases the ashes of plants contain some of the earths of the soil in which they grow ; but these earths, as has been ascer- tained from the ashes afforded by different plants, never equal more than one fiftieth of the weight of the plant consumed. If they be considered as necessary to the vegetable, it is as giving hardness and firmness to its organisation. Thus, it has been mentioned that wheat, oats, and many of the hollow-stalked grasses, have an epidermis principally of silicious earth ; the use of which seems to be to strengthen them, and defend them from the attacks of insects and parasitical plant-. 2147. The true nourishment of plants is icatcr aud decomposing organic matter; both these exist only in soils, not in pure earths : but the earthy parts of the soils are useful in retaining water, so as to supply it in the proper proportions to the roots of the vegetables, and they are likewise efficacious in producing the proper distribution of the animal or vegetable matter. When equally mixed with it they prevent it from decomposing too rapidly ; and by their means the soluble parts are supplied in proper proportions. 2 1 18. The soil is necessary to the existence if plants, both as affording them nourishment, and enabling them to fix themselves in such a manner as to obey those laws by which their radicles are kept below the surface, and their leaves exposed to the free atmosphere. As the systems of roots, branches, and leaves are very different in different vegetables, so they flourish most in different soils : plants which have bulbous roots require a looser and a lighter soil than such as have fibrous roots ; plants possessing only short fibrous radicles demand a firmer soil than such as have tap-roots or extensive lateral roots. 2 1 -1 9. The constituent jiarts of the soil, which give tenacity and coherence, are the finely divided matters; and they possess the power of giving those qualities in the highest degree when they contain much alumina. A small quantity of finely divided matter is sufficient to fit a soil for the production of turnips and barley ; and a tolerable crop of turnips has been produced on a soil containing 11 parts out of 12 of sand. A much greater proportion of sand, however, always produces absolute sterility. The soil of Bagshot heath, which is entirely devoid of vegetable covering, contains less than one twen- tieth of finely divided matter : 400 parts of it, which had been heated red, afforded 380 parts of coarse silicious sand ; 9 parts of fine silicious sand, and 1 1 parts of impalpable matter, which was a mixture of ferruginous clay with carbonate of lime. Vegetable or animal matters, when finely divided, not only give coherence, but likewise softness and penetrability ; hut neither they nor any other part of the soil must be in too great propor- tion ; and a soil is unproductive if it consists entirely of impalpable matters. Pure alumina or silica, pure carbonate of lime or carbonate of magnesia, are incapable of supporting healthy vegetation ; and no soil is fertile that contains as much as 19 parts out of 20 of any of these constituents. 2150. A certain decree of friability or looseness of texture is also required in soils, in order that the operations of culture may be easily conducted ; that moisture may have free access to the fibres of the roots, that heat may be readily conveyed to them, and that evaporation may proceed without obstruction. These are commonly attained by the presence of sand. As alumina possesses all the properties of adhesiveness in an eminent degree, and silex those of friability, it is obvious that a mixture of these two earths, in suitable proportions, would furnish even,' thing wanted to form the most perfect soil, as to water and the operations of culture. In a soil so compounded, water will be presented to the roots bv capillary attraction. It will be suspended in it, in the same manner as it is suspended in a sponge, not in a state of aggregation, but of minute division, so that every part mav be said to be moist, but not wet. (Grisenthwaite.) 2151. The water chemically combined amongst the elements of soils, unless in the case of the decomposition of animal or vegetable substances, cannot be absorbed by the roots of plants ; but that adhering to the parts of the soil is in constant use in vegetation. Indeed, there are few mixtures of the earths found in soils which contain any chemically combined water; water is expelled from the earth by most substances which combine with them. Thus, if a combination of lime and water be exposed to carbonic acid, the carbonic acid takes the place of water ; and compounds of alumina and silica, or other compounds of the earths, do not chemically unite with water ; and soils, as it has been stated, are formed either bv earthy carbonates, or compounds of the pure earths and metallic oxides. When saline substances exist in soils, they may be united with water both chemically and me- chanically ; but they are always in too small a quantity to influence materially the rela- tions of the soil to water. 2152. The power of the soil to absorb water by capillary attraction depends in great mea- sure upon the state of' division of its parts ; the more divided they are, the greater is their absorbent power. The different constituent parts of soils likewise appear to act, even by cohesive attraction, with different degrees of energy. Thus vegetable substances seem to be more absorbent than animal substances ; animal substances more so than compounds of alumina and silica ; and compounds of alumina and silica more absorbent than car- S^o SCIENCE OF AGRICULTURE. Tart II. bonatcs of lime and magnesia : these differences may, however, possibly depend upon the differences in their state of division, and upon the surface exposed. 2153. The power of soil to absorb water from air is much connected with fertility. When this power is great, the plant is supplied with moisture in dry seasons; and the effect of evaporation in the day is counteracted by the absorption of aqueous vapour from the atmo- sphere, by the interior parts of the soil during the day, and by both the exterior and in- terior during the night. The stiff clays approaching to pipe-clays in their nature, which take up the greatest quantity of water when it is poured upon them in a fluid form, are not the soils which absorb most moisture from the atmosphere in dry weather. They cake, and present only a small surface to the air; and the vegetation on them is gene- rally burnt up almost as readily as on sands. The soils most efficient in supplying the plant with water by atmospheric absorption are those in which there is a due mixture of sand, finely divided clay, and carbonate of lime, with some animal or vegetable matter, and which are so loose and light as to be freely permeable by the atmosphere. With respect to this quality, carbonate of lime, and animal and vegetable matter, are of great use in soils ; they give absorbent power to the soil, without giving it likewise tenacity ; sand, which also destroys tenacity, on the contrary, gives little absorbent power. The absorbent power of soils, with respect to atmospheric moisture, is always greatest in the most fertile ; so that it affords one method of judging of the productive- ness of land. 21.54. Examples of the absorbent poivers of soils. 1000 parts of a celebrated soil from Ormiston, in East Lothian, which contained more than half its weight of finely divided matter, of which 1 1 parts were carbonate of lime, and 9 parts vegetable matter, when dried at 212°, gained in an hour, by exposure to air saturated with moisture, at a temperature of 62°, 18 grains. 1000 parts of a very fertile soil from the banks of the river Parret, in Somersetshire, under the same circumstances, gained 16 grains. 1000 parts of a soil from Mersea, in Essex, gained 13 grains. 1000 grains of a fine sand, from Essex, gained 11 grains. 1000 of a coarse sand gained only 8 grains. 1000 of a soil from Bagshot Heath gained only 3 grains. 2155. The absorbent powers of soils ought to vary with the climate in which they are situated. The absorption of moisture ought to be much greater in warm or dry countries, than in cold and moist ones; and the quantity of clay, or vegetable, or animal matter in soils greater. Soils also on declivities ought to be more absorbent than in plains or in the bottoms of valleys. Their productiveness likewise is influenced by the nature of the sub- soil, or the stratum on which they rest. When soils are immediately situated upon a bed of rock or stone, they are much sooner rendered dry by evaporation than where the sub- soil is of clay or marl ; and a prime cause of the great fertility of the land in the moist climate of Ireland, is the proximity of the rocky strata to the soil. A clayey sub-soil will sometimes be of material advantage to a sandy soil ; and in this case it will retain moisture in such a manner as to be capable of supplying that lost by the earth above, in consequence of evaporation or the consumption of it by plants. A sandy or gravelly sub-soil often corrects the imperfections of too great a degree of absorbent power in the true soil. In calcareous countries, where the surface is a species of marl, the soil is often found only a few inches above the limestone ; and its fertility is not impaired by the proximity of the rock ; though in a less absorbent soil, this situation would occasion barrenness ; and the sandstone and limestone hills in Derbyshire and North Wales may be easily distinguished at a distance, in summer, by the different tints of the vegetation. The grass on the sandstone hills usually appears brown and burnt up ; that on the lime- stone hills flourishing and green. There is a considerable difference between the sandy soils of the east and west coasts of Scotland. All along the west coast from the Solway Frith to the Clyde, such soils are more productive than soils of a similar quality on the east coast, under the same circumstances of management. The extensive culture of potatoes for instance, and the succession of corn crops in Dumfriesshire and Galloway, would soon reduce to a state of sterility much of the best sandy soils of Roxburghshire and the Lothians. 2156 In a moist climate where the quantity of rain which falls annually equals from 4(> to 60 inches, as in Lancashire, Cornwall, and some parts of Ireland, a silicious sandy soil is much more productive than in dry districts ; and in such situations wheat and beans will require a less coherent and absorbent soil than in drier situations; and plants having bulbous roots will flourish in a soil containing as much as 14 parts out of 15 of sand. Even the exhausting powers of crops will be influenced by like circumstances. In cases where plants cannot absorb sufficient moisture, they must take up more manure ; and in Ireland, Cornwall, and the western Highlands of Scotland, corn will exhaust less than in dry inland situations. Oats, particularly, in dry climates, are impoverishing in a much higher degree than in moist ones. 2157. Many soils are popularly distinguished as cold or hot ; and the distinction, though at first view it may appear to be founded on prejudice, is really just. Some soils are Book III. USES OF THE SOIL TO VEGETABLES. S2I much more heated by the rays of the sun, all other circumstances being equal, than others; and soils brought to the same degree of heat cool in different times, i. e. some cool much faster than others. This property has been very little attended to in a philosophical point of view ; yet it is of the highest importance in culture. In general, soils which consist principally of a stiff white clay are with difficulty heated ; and, being usually very moist, they retain their heat but for a short time. Chalks are similar in one respect, the difficulty with which they are heated ; but, being drier, they retain their heat longer, less being consumed in causing the evaporation of their moisture. A black soil, containing much soft vegetable matter, is most heated by the sun and air ; and the coloured soils, and the soils containing much carbonaceous or ferruginous matter, exposed under equal circum- stances to the sun, acquire a much higher temperature than pale soils. 21 58. When soils are perfectly dry, those which most readily become heated by the solar rays likewise cool most rapidly ,■ but the darkest-coloured dry soil (that which contains abund- ance of animal or vegetable matter, substances which most facilitate the diminution of temperature), when heated to the same degree, provided it be within the common limits of the effect of solar heat, will cool more slowly than a wet pale soil entirely composed of earthy matter. Sir H. Davy " found that a rich black mould, which contained nearly one fourth of vegetable matter, had its temperature increased in an hour from 65° to 88° by exposure to sunshine ; whilst a chalk soil was heated only to 69° under the same cir- cumstances : but the mould removed into the shade, where the temperature was 62°, lost, in half an hour, 15°; whereas the chalk, under the same circumstances, had lost only 4°. We may also refer to the influence of black earth in melting snow, as prac- tised empirically on the Alps, and tried philosophically by Franklin and Saussure. The latter placed on the top of the high Alpine mountain Cramont a box lined with black cloth, with the side next the sun closed by three panes of glass at a little distance apart the one from the other, and found the thermometer rise thirty degrees in two hours, from the concentration of the sun's rays, (slgriculture appliquee, §c. torn. i. 82.) A brown fertile soil and a cold barren clay were each artificially heated to SS°, having been previously dried, they were then exposed in a temperature of 57° ; in half an hour the dark soil was found to have lost 9° of heat, the clay had lost only 6°. An equal portion of the clay containing moisture, after being heated to 88°, was exposed in a temperature of 55° ; in less than a quarter of an hour it was found to have cooled to the temperature of the room. The soils in all these experiments were placed in small tin-plate trays, two inches square, and half an inch in depth ; and the temperature was ascertained by a delicate thermometer. Tims the temperature of the surface, when bare and exposed to the rays of the sun, affords at least one indication of the degree of its fertility ; and the ther- mometer may be sometimes a useful instrument to the purchaser or improver of lands." 2159. The moisture i?i the soil and subsoil materially affects their temperature, and pre- vents, as in the case of constantly saturated aquatic soils, their ever attaining to any great degree either of heat or cold. The same observation will apply to moist peaty soils, or peat-bogs. 2160. Chemical agency of soils. Besides these uses of soils, which may be considered mechanical, there is, Sir H. Davy observes, another agency between soils and organisable matters, which may be regarded as chemical in its nature. The earths, and even the earthy carbonates, have a certain degree of chemical attraction for many of the princi- ples of vegetable and animal substances. This is easily exemplified in the instance of alumina and oil ; if an acid solution of alumina be mixed with a solution of soap, which consists of oily matter and potassa, the oil and the alumina will unite and form a white powder, which will sink to the bottom of the fluid. 'Die extract from decomposing vegetable matter, when boiled with pipe-clay or chalk, forms a combination by which the vegetable matter is rendered more difficult of decomposition and of solution. Pure silica and silicious sands have little action of this kind ; and the soils which contain the most alumina and carbonate of lime are those which act with the greatest chemical energy in preserving manures. Such soils merit the appellation, which is commonly given to them, of rich soils ; for the vegetable nourishment is long preserved in them, unless taken up by the organs of plants. Silicious sands, on the contrary, deserve the term hungry, which is commonly applied to them ; for the vegetable and animal matters they contain, not being attracted by the earthy constituent parts of the soil, are more liable to be decomposed by the action of the atmosphere, or carried off from them by water. In most of the black and brown rich vegetable moulds, the earths seem to be in combination with a peculiar extractive matter, afforded during the decomposition of vegetables ; this is slowly taken up or attracted from the earths by water, and appears to constitute a prime cause of the fertility of the soil. 2161. Thus all soils are useful to plants, as affording them a fixed abode and a range for their roots to spread in search of food ; but some are much more so than others, as better adapted by their constituent parts, climate, inclination of surface, and sub-soil, for attracting and supplying food. Y <&2 SCIENCE OP AGRICULTURE. Part IT. Sect. V. Of the Improvement of Soils. '_'U;'_'. Soils may be rendered more jit for answering I lie jnirposes of vegetation by pul- verisation, by consolidation, by exposure to the atmosphere, by an alteration of their constituent parts, by changing their condition in respect to water, by changing their position in respect to atmospherical influence, and by a change in the kinds of plants cultivated. All these improvements are independent of the application of manures. Subsect. 1. Pulverisation. 'JK;,!. The mechanical division of the parts of soils is a very obvious improvement, and applicable to all in proportion to their adhesive texture. Even a free silicious soil will, if left untouched, become too compact for the proper admission of air, rain, and heat, and for the free growth of the fibres ; and strong upland clays, not submitted to the plough or the spade, will, in a few years, be found in the possession of fibrous-rooted perennial grasses, which form a clothing on their surface, or strong tap-rooted trees, as the oak, which force their way through the interior of the mass. Annuals and ramen- taceous-rooted herbaceous plants cannot penetrate into such soils. 2164. The first object of pulverisation is give scope to the i-oots of vegetables, for with- out abundance of roots no plant will become vigorous, whatever may be the richness of the soil in which it is placed. The fibres of the roots, as we have seen (1538.), take up the extract of the soil by intro-susception ; the quantity taken up, therefore, will not depend alone on the quantity in the soil, but on the number of absorbing fibres. The more the soil is pulverised, the more these fibres are increased, the more extract is ab- sorbed, and the more vigorous does the plant become. Pulverisation, therefore, is not only advantageous previously to planting or sowing, but also during the progress of vege- tation, when applied in the intervals between the plants. In the latter case it operates also in the way of pruning, and by cutting off or shortening the extending fibres, causes them to branch out numerous others, by which the mouths or pores of the plants are greatly increased, and such food as is in the soil has the better chance of being sought after, and taken up by them. Tull and Du Ilamel relate various experiments which decidedly prove that, cevteris paribus, the multiplication of the fibres is as the inter-pulverisation ; but the strength of the vegetable, in consequence of this multiplication of fibres, must depend a good deal on the quantity of food or of extract within their reach. The root of a willow tree, as we have seen ( 1590. ), has the fibres prodigiously increased by coming in contact with the water in a river, and so have various other aquatic plants, as alder, mint, Zysim&chia thyrsiflora, Calla palustris, ffinanthe fistulosa, &c. ; but their herbage is proportionally increased unless the water be impregnated with organised remains. '2165. Pulverisation increases the capillary attraction, or sponge-like property, of soils, by which their humidity is rendered more uniform. It is evident this capillary attraction must be greatest where the particles of the earth are finely divided; for gravels and sands hardly retain water at all, while clays, not opened by pulverisation or other means, either do not absorb water, or when, by long action, it is absorbed, they retain too much. Water is not only necessary as such to the growth of plants, but it is essential to the production of extract from the vegetable matters which they contain ; and unless the soil, by pulverisation or otherwise, is so constituted as to retain the quantity of water requisite to produce this extract, the addition of manures will be in vain. Manure is useless to vegetation till it becomes soluble in water, and it would remain useless in a state of solution, if it so abounded as wholly to exclude air, for then the fibres or mouths, unable to perform their functions, would soon decay and rot off. Pulverisation, in a warm season, is of great advantage in admitting the nightly dews to the roots of plants. Chaptal, in his Agriculture appluru.ee a Chimie, relates the great benefit he found from the practice, in this respect, to his corn crops ; and shows of what importance it is in the culture of vineyards in France. 2166. The temperature of a soil is greatly promoted by pulverisation. Earths, Grisen- thwaite observes, are also among the worst conductors of heat with which we are acquainted, and consequently it would be a considerable time before the gradually increasing temperature of spring could communicate its genial warmth to the roots of vegetables, if their lower strata were not heated by some other means. To remove this defect, which always belongs to a close compact soil, it is necessary to have the land open, that there may be a free ingress of the warm air and tepid rains of spring. '_'li)'7. Pulverisation contributes to the increase of vegetable food. Water is known to be a condenser and solvent of carbonic acid gas, which, when the land is open, can be immediately carried to the roots of vegetables, and contribute to their growth ; but if the land be close, and the water lie on or near its surface, then the carbonic acid gas, which always exists in the atmosphere and is carried down by rains, will soon be dissipated. An open soil is also most suitable for effecting those changes in the manure itself, which are equally necessary to the preparation of such food. Animal and vegetable substances, Book III. IMPROVEMENT OF SOILS. S2S exposed to the alternate action of heat, moisture, light, and air, undergo spontaneous decompositions, which would not otherwise take place. 210*8. By means of pulverisation a portion of atmospheric air is buried in the soil. This air, so confined, is decomposed by the moisture retained in the earthy matters. Ammonia is formed by the union of the hydrogen of the water with the nitrogen of the atmosphere ; and nitre, by the union of oxygen and nitrogen ; the oxygen may also unite with the carbon contained in the soil, and form carbonic acid gas, and carburetted hydrogen. Heat is given out during these processes, and " hence," as Dr. Darwin remarks (Phytologia, sect. xii. 1.), " the great propriety of cropping lands immediately after they have been comminuted and turned over ; and this the more especially, if manure has been added at the same time, as the process of fermentation will go on faster when the soil is loose, and the interstices filled with air, than afterwards, when it becomes com- pressed with its own gravity, the relaxing influence of rains, and the repletion of the partial vacuums formed by the decomposition of the enclosed air. The advantage of the heat thus obtained in exciting vegetation, whether in a seed or root, especially in spring, when the soil is cold, must be very considerable." 2169. The great advantages of pulverisation deceived Tull, who fancied that no other assistances were required in the well-management of the business of husbandry. A knowledge of chemistry, in its present improved state, would have enabled him to discover that the pulverisation of the soil was of no other benefit to the plants that grow in it than as it " increased the number of their fibrous roots or mouths by which they imbibe their food, facilitated the more speedy and perfect preparation of this food, and conducted the food so prepared more regularly to their roots." Of this food itself it did not produce one particle. 2170. The depth of pulverisation, Sir H. Davy observes, " must depend upon the nature of the soil, and of the subsoil. In rich clayey soils it can scarcely be too deep ; and even in sands, unless the subsoil contains some principles noxious to vegetables, deep comminution should be practised. When the roots are deep, they are less liable to be injured either by excessive rain or drought; the radicles are shot forth into every part of the soil ; and the space from which the nourishment is derived is more considerable than when the seed is superficially inserted in the soil." 2171. Pulverisation should, in all cases, be accompanied ivith the admixture of the parts of soils by turning them over. It is difficult, indeed, to pulverise without effecting this end, at least by the implements in common use ; but, if it could be effected, it would be injurious, because the difference of gravity between the organised matters and the earths has a constant tendency to separate them, and stirring a soil only with forks or pronged implements, such as cultivators, would, in a short time, leave the surface of the soil too light and spongy, and the lower part too compact and earthy. Subsect. 2. Of the Improvement of Soils by Compression. 2172. Mechanical consolidation will improve some soils, such as spongy peats and light dusty sands. It is but a limited source of improvement, but still it deserves to be noticed. 2173. The proper degree of adhesiveness is best given to loose soils by the addition of earthy matters ; but mere rolling and treading are not to be altogether rejected. To be benefited by rolling a soil must be dry, and the operation must not be carried too far. A peat-bog drained and rolled will sooner become covered with grasses than one equally well drained and left to itself. Drifting sands may be well rolled when wet, and by repeating the process after rains they will in time acquire a surface of grass or herbage. Every agriculturist knows the advantages of rolling light soils after sowing, or even treading them with sheep. Gardeners also tread in seeds on certain soils. Subsect, 3. Of the Improvement of Soils by Aeration or Fallowing. 2174. Soils are benefited by the free admission of the weather to their interior parts- This is generally considered as one of the advantages of fallowing, and its use in gardening is experienced in compost heaps, and in winter and summer ridging. The precise advantages, however, of exposure to the air, independently of the concurrent influence of water, heat, and the other effects mentioned as attendant on pulverisation, do not seem at present to be correctly ascertained. It is allowed that carbonic acid gas may be absorbed by calcareous earths, and Dr. Thomson considers that the earths alone may thus probably administer food to plants; but Sir H. Davy seems to consider mere exposure to the atmosphere of no benefit to soils whatever. " It has been supposed by some writers," he says, " that certain principles necessary to fertility are derived from the atmosphere, which are exhausted by a succession of crops, and that these are again supplied during the repose of the land, and the exposure of the pulverised soil to the influence of the air; but this in truth is not the case. The earths commonly found in soils cannot be combined Y 2 324 SCIENCE OF AGRICULTURE. Part II. with mOM oxygen ; none of them unite to azote ; and such of them as are capable of attracting carbonic acid, are always satnratier! with it in those soils on which the practice of following is adopted." •JiT."). deration and repose, or summer/allow. " Hie vague ancient opinion of the use of nitre, and of nitrous, salts in vegetation," Sir II. Davy says, " seems to have been one of the principal speculative reasons for the defence of summer fallows. Nitrous salts are produced during the exposure <>f sails containing vegetable and animal remains, and in g re ate st abundance in hot weather; but it is probably by the combination of the azote fioni these remains with oxygen in the atmosphere that the acid is formed ; and at the expense of an element which otherwise would have formed ammonia ; the compounds of which are much more efficacious than the nitrous compounds in assisting vegetation." It is proper to observe that this reason is more speculative than experimental, and seems influenced, in some degree, by the opinion adopted by the author, that fallows are of little use in husbandry. One obvious advantage of aeration in summer, or a summer fallow, is, that the soil may thus be heated by the sun to a degree which it never could be if partially covered with the foliage of even the widest drilled crops. For this purpose, if the soil is laid up in large lumps, it is evident it will receive more heat by exposing a greater surface to the atmosphere, and it will retain this heat for a period of unexpected duration, from the circumstance of the lumps reflecting back the rays of heat radiated by each other. A clayey soil, in this way, it is said [Farmer's Magazine, 1815), may be heated to 120", which may in some degree alter its absorbent powers as to water, and contribute materially to the destruction of vegetable fibre, insects, and their eggs. By the aeration of lands in vs inter, minute mechanical division is obtained by the freezing of the water in the soil; for, as water in the solid state occupies more space than when fluid, the particles of earthy matters and of decomposing stones are thus rent asunder, and crumble down in a fine mould. Rough stony soils will thus receive an accession to their finer soil every winter. Soils which have been soured, sodden, or baked by the tread of cattle, or by other means, in wet weather, are more speedily sweetened, as the expression is, by exposure to the sun during the hottest weather of summer, than by exposure to the frost of winter ; but in summer it is contended that the drying influence of the sun and air exhausts the soil of its vegetable matter to such an extent as to counteract the good effects of extreme heating by the sun. Those who maintain this doctrine contend that the only use of a summer fallow is to admit of freeing the soil of root-weeds. 2176. Agricultural experience has fully proved that fallows are the only means by which stiff" clays in moist climates can be effectually cleared of weeds. Supposing therefore that no other advantage whatever was obtained, that no nutritive matter was imbibed from the atmosphere, and the soil was neither chemically nor mechanically benefited by aeration, this benefit alone, the effectual eradication of weeds, is sufficient to justify the use of fallows on sucli soils. 2177. Many of the objections to fallows have arisen in consequence of the parties not previously agreeing as to what a summer fallow is. In England generally, or at least formerly, a fallow was a portion of land left a year without culture or cropping, unless being once or twice ploughed can be denominated the former, and an abundant growth of coarse grasses and weeds can constitute the latter. The jacket es of the French are the same thing. In Scotland, and in the best-cultivated districts, a summer fallow is a portion of land begun to be cultivated after the crop is removed in autumn, and is fre- quently, as need requires, ploughed, harrowed, and otherwise comminuted, and freed from stones, weeds, inequalities, &c, till the autumnal seed-time of the following year: it is thus for twelve months in a state of constant tillage and movement. The result is, that the land is thoroughly freed from roots of weeds ; from many seeds of weeds, which are thus made to germinate, and are then destroyed ; and from many eggs of insects which are thus hatched, but being without plants to nourish them in their larva state, speedily die. The land is also thoroughly pulverised, and the top, bottom, and middle mixed together ; stones are picked out, inequalities unfavourable to surface drainage removed or lessened, and various other useful objects attained. Such a fallow can no more be compared with what usually passes under that name, than the plough of Virgil (112.) with that of Small. 2178. That fallows of the common kind are much more univei-sal than is necessary, there can be little doubt ; but there can be as little doubt that fallows such as we have described are much less frequent than they should lie, and that wherever they are prac- tised, the agriculturist's produce and profits will be found far superior to where they are omitted : turnip soils are of course to be excepted, because the preparation for that crop, on light soils, effects the same purpose in eight months, that the fallow does in twelve. 2179 The origin of fallow!: is commonly traced to the idea, that land naturally requires rest as well as animals : but a want of hands first, and afterwards a want of manure, are much more likely causes. Men uiust very early have observed, from what took place in the spots they cultivated as gardens, that pul- Book HI. ALTERATION OF THE PARTS OF THE SOIL. 825 verisation and manure would insure perpetual- crops on the same soil ; but they must at the same time have felt, that they had neither the requisite labourers to bestow the cultivation, nor cattle to produce the manure. Hence they would find it easier to break up one piece of fresh ground after another, and aftei they had gone a round in this way, as extensive as their limits or other circumstances permitted, they would return to where they began. As their limits became circumscribed hy the increase of population, or other causes, they would return the oftener, till at last, when property became more rigidly defined, and more valuable, they would return at short intervals regularly. Then it was that the necessity and advantage of working fallows would be felt, and the practice become systematised as at the present day, and from the earliest records in civilised countries. The practice of fallowing in Italy, during the time of the Romans (128.), differed in nothing from that of the same country, and of the rest of Europe, at the present day : and if we trace field culture among savage and semibarbarous nations, and gradually through such as are more wealthy and refined, we shall find the fallow in all its gradations, from breaking up at random, to the triennial, quintennial, and septennial operations of the best British farmers. Subsect. 4. Alteration of the constituent Parts of Soils. 2180. The constituent parts of soils may be altered by the addition or subtraction of in- gredients in which they are deficient or superabound, and by the chemical change of some constituent part or parts by the action of fire. 218 I. In ascertaining the composition of 'faulty soils, with a view to their improvement by adding to their constituent parts, any particular ingredient which is the cause of their unproductiveness should be particularly attended to ; if possible, they should be com- pared with fertile soils in the same neighbourhood, and in similar situations, as the difference of the composition may, in many cases, indicate the most proper methods of improvement. If, on washing a sterile soil, it is found to contain the salts of iron, or any acid matter, it may be ameliorated by the application of quicklime. A soil of good apparent texture, containing sulphate of iron, will be sterile ; but the obvious remedy is a top-dressing with lime, which converts the sulphate into manure. If there be an excess of calcareous matter in the soil, it may be improved by the application of sand or clay. Soils too abundant in sand are benefited by the use of clay, or marl, or vegetable matter. Light sands are often benefited by a dressing of peat, and peats by a dressing of sand ; though the former is in its nature but a temporary improvement. When peats are acid, or contain ferruginous salts, calcareous matter is absolutely necessary in bringing thera into cultivation. The best natural soils are those of which the materials have been derived from different strata, which have been minutely divided by air and water, and are intimately blended together ; and in improving soils artificially, the cultivator cannot do better than imitate the processes of nature. The materials necessary for the purpose are seldom far distant ; coarse sand is often found immediately on chalk, and beds of sand and gravel are common below clay. The labour of improving the texture or constitution of the soil is repaid by great permanent advantages ; less manure is required, and its fertility insured ; and capital laid out in this way secures for ever the productiveness, and consequently the value, of the land. 2182. The removal of superabundant ingredients in soils may sometimes be one of the simplest and most effectual means of their improvement. It occasionally happens that the surface of a well proportioned soil is thickly covered with peat, with drifted sancL. with gravel, or with small stones. Extensive examples of the former occur in Stirling- shire, and of the latter in Noifolk. In such cases, a simple and effectual mode of im- provement consists in removing the superincumbent strata, and cultivating that below^ This can seldom' be put in practice on a large scale, with such heavy materials as gravel or stones ; but some hundreds of acres of rich alluvial soil, deeply covered by peat, have been bared and cultivated in Blair- Druramond moss in Stirlingshire; an operation com- menced by the celebrated Lord Kaimes Gen. Rep. of Scot., App. v. 5.), copied by his- neighbours, and continued by his and their successors. The moss is floated off by streams of w;.ter, which empty themselves in the Firth of Forth. In this river, by the winds and tides, it is cast on shore in the bays and recesses, impregnated with salt ; and here it engenders vegetation on the encroaching surfaces of sand and gravel. Coatings of sand or gravel can seldom be removed on a scale of sufficient extent for agriculture, but have, in some instances, for the purposes of gardening. Sometimes this improve- ment may be effected by trenching down the surface, and raising up a stratum of better earth. 2183. The moss of Kincardine or Blair-Drummond is situated in the parish of that name not far from Stirling, and contains upwards of 2C00 acres, 1500 of which belong to the estate of Blair-Drummond. It lies upon a bed of clay, which is a continuation of the rich alluvial soil which forms the flat vales called Carses of Stirling and Falkirk. This vale or plain had been covered with trees, wl. 'ch appear to have been felled by the Romans, and this, by stagnating the water, ended in producing the moss. This moss consists of three different strata : the first, black and heavy, appears to have been formed of bent grass and fallen trees ; the second is composed principally of Sphagnum palustre, and is brown and of an elastic texture ; the third is about a foot thick, and consists of heath and a little bent grass. In general these three strata occupy to the depth of seven feet. Lord Kaimes took possession of this moss in 17f>6, and, soon after, conceived the idea of floating oft' the moss into the Firth of Forth, and ex] ising the alluvial soil for corn culture. After various experiments, which, however interesting, it woulc occury too much room to detail, the following may be given as the result. 2184. Manner of floating off the moss. A stream of water sufficient to turn a common corn-mill will carry ofFas much moss as twenty men can throw into it, provided they be stationed at the distance of 1(10 yards from each other. The first step is to make in the clay, alongside of the moss, a drain to convey the Y 3 S26 SCIENCE ()!•' AOKICL'LTUIIE. Tart II. w.itrr ; Mid, i"i thii operation, the Cane clay below the mou is peculiarly favourable! being perfectly Ares from •tone* and .'II other extraneom substances ; and at the same time, when motet, as slippery as soap, mi that not only Is it easily dug, but its lubricity greatly facilitate! the progress of the water when loaded with mou. The dimensions proper for the drain are found to be, two feel for the breadth, and the same tor the depth. If smaller, it could not conveniently receive the spadefuls of moss; if larger, the water. would iscipi, leaving the moss behind, 7*he drain lias an inclination of one foot in a hundred yards : the more regularly this Inclination is observed throughout, the leas will the moss bo liable to obstructions in its progre ss with the water. The drain being formed, the operator marks off to a convenient extent, along. side of it, a section of moss ten feel broad ; the greatest distance from which he can heave his spadeful into the drain. This he repeatedly do. s, till the entire moss be removed down to tile clay. He then digs a new drain at the foot ol tile moss bank, turn* the Water into it, and proceeds as before, leaving the moss to pursue Its Course into the rivet Forth ; upon the fortunate situation of which, happily forming for several miles the southern boundary of the estate, without the interposition of any otiier property, depended ill some measure the very existence Of the whole operations. 2185. When the most it entirely removed, the clay is found to be incumbered with the roots of different sorts of trees, often very large, remaining ill it as they grew : their trunks also are frequently found lying beside them, as has been already Observed, A.U these the tenants remove, often with great labour. In the course Of theil operation- they purposely leave a lew inches of moss upon the clay. This, ill spring, when the season is favourable, they reduce to ashes, which in a great measure insures the first crop The ground thus cleared is turned over, where the dryness admits, with a plough ; anil, where too soft, with a spade. A month's exposure to the sun, wind, and frost, reduces the clay to such a state as lits it lor the seed in March and April. A crop of oats is the tirst produce, which seldom fails of being plentiful, yielding from eight to ten bolls alter one. Farm Mag., vol. xviii.) •J ISo To procure water for floating o/l'the most was found to be the greatest difficulty ; but it was readily overcome by Mr. Whitworth, an eminent engineer, and Mr. George Meikle, of Alloa, a skilful millwright, the son of the well known inventor of the thrashing-machine. 1'J'X) Mr. Meikle gave a model of a wheel of his own and his father's invention, of an entirely new construction. This wheel is so exceedingly simple, and acts in a manner so easy, natural, and uniform, that a common observer is apt to undervalue the invention ; but persons skilled in mechanics view machinery with a very different eye, for to them simplicity is the tirst recommendation a machine can possess. Accordingly, upon seeing the model set to work, Mr. Whitworth, with that candour and liberality of mind which generally accompany genius and knowledge, not only gave it the greatest praise, but declared that, for the purpose required, it was superior towhat had been recommended by himself, and advised it to be adopted without hesitation. litrm. Mag., vol. xviii. 1 2187. The water-wheel at Blair-Drummond is twenty-eight feet in diameter and ten feet broad. It is driven by water operating on the float-boards, in the same way as an ordinary mill-wheel. At the extremities Ol the radii, or arms, of the wheel, immediately within the float-boards and circumference, is fixed a double row of buckets, as they have been called, borrowing a word from the Persian wheel, to which this part of the present machine has no resemblance, which are more like a section of Louvre boards, or Venetian blinds, or a set of scales, opening upwards when at the bottom of the circumference, and downwards when at the top. These receive two streams of water, which are poured into them within the circumference, when below, which water they discharge when they ascend, and are inverted by the revolution of the wheel into a trough or cistern so placed as to receive it above. By this means a level is gained of 17 feet, which is sufficient to make the water run to the surface of the moss. The water is conveyed from the cistern of the wheel to the moss for ;>54 yards below ground, in wooden pipes hooped with iron, 18 inches in diameter within ; and afterwards rises from the pipes into an open aqueduct above 1400 yards in length, and elevated from eight to ten feet above the level of the adjacent grounds. 2188. The wheel makes nearly four revolutions in a minute, in which time it discharges into the cistern 4t invention. { Farm. Mag., vol xviii.) The wheel was completed and at work in October 1827, and the total expense exceeded 1000/. It has been twice rebuilt. The tenants voluntarily agreed to pay interest on whatever sum it might cost ; but their generous landlord relieved them at once from their engagement. iiiiJU. The details of the I&uir-Drummond wheel [Jig. 204 ) are thus given in the very copious and inter- esting account in the Farmer's Magazine, vol. xviii , from which the present is extracted Fie "04 a is a sluice through which is admitted the water that moves the wheel ; I, h, two sluices through which' is admitted the water raised by the wheel ; e c c, a part of one of two wooden troughs and an aperture m the Book III. ALTERATION OF THE PARTS OF THE SOIL. entirely on chemical doctrines, mitive earths and oxide of iron wall, through which the above water is conveyed into the buc- kets ; the other trough is hid by two stone walls that support the wheel : d d d, buckets, of which 80 are arranged on each side of tie arms of the wheel, in all 160; e -* e, a cistern, into which the wxter raised by the buckets is discharged ; ///, wooden barrel pipes, through which the water descends from the cistern under ground. 2190. The cistern of the Blair- Drummonri wheel, as seen from above (Jig. 2(ij.\ shows the two troughs into which the buckets empty themselves £g) ; the space through which the water flows to the barrel pipes (// in fig. 2W-] (A) ; the place where the arms of the wheel move (t), and where the float boards and buckets descend {k). The buckets are filled from two side troughs [fig.906. I), which communicate with the head of water which drives the wheel, as seen at e in fig. 2ul. (Farm. Mag., vol. xviii.) '2191. Incineration. The chemical changes which can be effected in soils by inciner- ation are considerable. This practice was known to the Romans, is more or less in use in most parts of Europe, is mentioned as an approved practice by our oldest agricultural writers, and has lately excited some degree of attention from the successful experiments of different cultivators. (Fanner s Magazine, 1810 to 1815, and Farmer's Journal, 1814 to 1821 ) 21 92. The theory of burning soils is thus given by Sir II. Davy. It rests, he says, The bases of all common soils are mixtures of the pri- and these earths have a certain degree of attraction for each other. To regard this attraction in its proper point of view, it is only necessary to consider the composition of any common silicious stone. Feldspar, for instance, contains silicious, aluminous, and calcareous earths, fixed alkali, and oxide of iron, which exist in one compound, in consequence of their chemical attractions for each other. Let this stone be ground into impalpable powder, it then becomes a substance like clay ; if the powder is heated very strongly, it fuses, and on cooling forms a coherent mass similar to the original stone ; the parts separated by mechanical division adhere again in conse- quence of chemical attraction. If the powder be heated less strongly, the particles only superficially combine with each other, and form a gritty mass, which, when broken into pieces, has the characters of sand. If the power of the powdered feldspar to absorb water from the atmosphere before and after the application of the heat is estimated, it is found much less in the latter case. The same effect takes place when the powder of other silicious or aluminous stones is; made the subject of experiment ; and two equal portions of basalt ground into impalpable powder, of which one half had been strongly ignited, and the other exposed only to a temperature equal to that of boiling water, gained very different weights in the same time when exposed to air. In four hours the one had gained only two grains, whilst the other had gained seven grains. When clay or tenacious soils are burnt, the effect is of the same kind ; they are brought nearer to a state analogous to that of sands. In the manufacture of bricks the general principle is well illustrated ; if a piece of dried brick earth be applied to the tongue, it will adhere to it very strongly, in consequence of its power to absorb water ; but after it has been burnt, there will be scarcely a sensible adhesion. 2193. The advantages of burning are, that it renders the soil less compact, less tenacious, and less retentive of moisture ; and when properly applied, may convert a matter which was stiff, damp, and, in consequence, cold, into one powdery, dry, and warm, and much more proper as a bed for vegetable life. 2194. The great objection made by speculative chemists to paring and burning is, that it destroys vegetable and animal matter, or the manure in soil : but in cases in which the texture of its earthy ingredients is permanently improved, there is more than a compen- sation for this temporary disadvantage ; and in some soils where there is an excess of inert vegetable matter, the destruction of it must be beneficial ; and the carbonaceous matter remaining in the ashes may be more useful to the crop than the vegetable fibre from which it was produced. 2195. Three specimens of ashes from different lands which had undergone paring and Y 4 328 SCIENCE OF AGRICULTURE. Pari it limning were examined by chemical analysis. The first was from a chalk soil, and 200 grains contained 80 of carbonate <>f lime, 11 gypsum, !» charcoal, 15 oxide of iron, :i saline matter, sulphate of potash, muriate of magnesia, with a minute quantity of vegetable alkali; the remainder alumina and silica. Suppose 2660 bushels to be the Common produce of an acre of ground, then, according to this calculation, they would give 172,900 lbs., containing carbonate of lime 69,160 lbs., gypsum 9509*5-, oxide of iron 12,967*5., saline matter 2593*5., charcoal 7780-5. In this instance there was un- doubtedly a very considerable quantity of matter capable of being active as manure produced in the operation of burning. The charcoal very finely divided, and exposed on ■ large surface, must be gradually converted into carbonic acid; and gypsum and oxide of iron seem to produce the very best effects when applied to lands containing an excess of carbonate of lime. The second specimen was from a soil near Coleorton, in Leicestershire, containing only 4 per cent of carbonate of lime, and consisting of three fourths light silicious sand, and about one fourth clay. This had been turf before burn- ing, and 100 parts of the ashes gave 6 parts charcoal, :! muriate of soda and sulphate of potash, with a trace of vegetable alkali, 9 oxide of iron, and the remainder the earths. In this instance, as in the other, finely divided charcoal was found, the solubility of which would be increased by the presence of the alkali. The third instance was that of a stiff day, from Mount's Bay, Cornwall. This land had been brought into cultivation from a heath, by burning, about ten years before : but having been neglected, furze was spring- ing up in different parts of it, which gave rise to the second paring and burning. 100 parts of the ashes contained 8 parts of charcoal, 2 of saline matter, principally common salt, with a little vegetable alkali, 7 oxide of iron, 2 carbonate of lime, the remainder alumina and silica. Here the quantity of charcoal was greater than in the other instances. The salt was probably owing to the vicinity of the sea, it being but two miles oft'. In this land there was certainly an excess of dead vegetable fibre, as well as unprofitable living vegetable matter. 2196". Causes of the effects of burning soil. Many obscure causes have been referred to for the purpose of explaining the effects of paring and burning; but they may be referred entirely to the diminution of the coherence and tenacity of clays, and to the destruction of inert and useless vegetable matter, and its conversion into a manure. Dr. Darwin, in his Pht/tologia, has supposed that clay, during torrefaction, may absorb some nutritive principles from the atmosphere which afterwards may be supplied to plants ; but the earths are pure metallic oxides, saturated with oxygen ; and the tendency of burning is to expel any other volatile principles which they may contain in combin- ation. If the oxide of iron in soils is not saturated with oxygen, torrefaction tends to produce its further union with this principle ; and hence, in burning, the colour of clay changes to red. The oxide of iron, containing its full proportion of oxygen, has less attraction for acids than any other oxide, and is consequently less likely to be dissolved by any fluid acids in the soil ; and it appears in this state to act in the same manner as the earths. A very ingenious author, Naismith {Elements of Agr.), supposes that the oxide of iron, when combined with carbonic acid, is poisonous to plants ; and that one use of torrefaction is to expel the carbonic acid from it; but the carbonate of iron is not soluble in water, and is a very inert substance ; and a luxuriant crop of cresses has been raised in a soil composed of one fifth carbonate of iron, and four fifths carbonate of lime. Carbonate of iron abounds in some of the most fertile soils in England, particularly the red hop soil ; and there is no theoretical ground for supposing that carbonic acid, which is an essential food of plants, should, in any of its combinations, be poisonous to them ; and it is known that lime and magnesia are both noxious to vegetation, unless combined n itli this principle. 2197. The soi/s improved b>/ burning are all such as contain too much dead vegetable fibre, and which consequently lose from one third to one half their weight by inciner- ation ; and all such as contain their earthy constituents in an impalpable state of division, i.e. the stiff clays and marls, are improved by burning: but in coarse sands, or rich soils containing a just mixture of the earths, and in all cases in which the texture is sufficiently loose, or the organisablc matter sufficiently soluble, the process of torrefaction cannot be useful. 2198. Alt poor silicious smuts are injured by burning. Young, in his Essay on Ma- nures, states " that he found burning injure sand ; and the operation is never performed by good cultivators upon silicious sandy soils, after they have once been brought into cultivation." Sobskct. 5. Changing the Condition of Lands in respect to Water. 2199. The water of the soil where Superabundant mat/ lie withdrawn, and when deficient tup}Hied : these operations with water are independent of its supply as a manure, or as affording the stimulus of heat or cold. 2200 Stagnant water maybe considered as injurious to all the useful classes of plants, Book III. CHANGING THE CONDITION OF LANDS. 329 by obstructing perspiration and intro-susception, and thus diseasing their roots and sub- merged parts. Where the surface-soil is properly constituted, and rests on a subsoil moderately porous, both will hold water by capillary attraction, and what is not so retained will sink into the interior strata by its gravity ; but where the subsoil is retentive, it will resist, or not admit with sufficient rapidity, the percolation of water to the strata below, which accumulating in the surface-soil till its proportion becomes excessive as a component part, not only carries oft* the extractive matter, but diseases the plants. Hence the origin of surface-draining, that is, laying land in ridges or beds, or intersecting it with small open gutters. 2201. Springs. Where the upper stratum is porous in some places, and retentive in others, and on a retentive base, the water, in its progress along the porous bed or layer, will be interrupted by the retentive places in a great variety of ways, and there accumu- lating will burst through the upper surface in the form of springs, which are more injurious than surface-water, as being colder, and generally permanent in their operation. Hence the origin of under-draining in all its varieties of collecting, extracting, and con- veying water. 2202. The water of rivers may become injurious to lands on their banks, by too frequently overflowing their surface. In this case the stream may be included by mounds of earth or other materials impervious to water : and thus aquatic soils rendered dry and fit for useful herbage and aration. The same may be said of lands occasionally overflown by the sea. Hence the origin of embanking, an art carried to a great extent in Holland and Italy. (See Smeaton's Posthumous Works; Sigismondi, Agr. Tosc. ; Bac- colta del Autori die trattano delV Aque ; and our article Embankment, in Supp. Encyc. Brit 1819.) 220:3. Irrigation. Plants cannot live without water, any more than they can prosper in soils where it is superabundant ; and it is therefore supplied by art on a large scale, either by surface or subterraneous irrigation. In both practices the important points are to imitate nature in producing motion, and in applying the water in the mornings or evenings, or under a clouded sky, and also at moderate intervals. The effects of water constantly employed would, in most cases, be such as attend stagnated water, aquatic soils, or land-springs ; and employed in hot sunshine, or after violent heats, it may check evaporation and destroy life, exactly as it happens to those who may have bathed in cold spring water after long and violent exercise in a hot day. (Phytologia, xv. 3. 5.) 2204. In surface irrigation the water is conveyed in a system of open channels, which require to be most numerous in such grounds as are under drilled annual crops, and least so in such as are sown in breadths, beds, or ridges, under perennial crops. This mode of watering has existed from time immemorial. The children of Israel are represented as sowing their seed and " watering it with their foot ;" that is, as Calmet explains it, raising the water from the Nile by a machine worked by the feet, from which it was conducted in such channels as we have been describing. It is general in the south of France and Italy ; but less required in Britain. 22Uo. The Persian wheel, or Noria, an oriental invention of great power and of the most remote antiquity, was introduced into Spain by the Moors, and is yet extensively used in the southern and eastern provinces of that kingdom. It consists of a series of earthen jars attached to an endless rope passing over a vertical drum put into motion by a trundle and cog horizontal wheel, which last is usually turned by one bullock or more. 2206. Subterraneous irrigation may be effected by a system of drains or covered gutters in the subsoil, which, proceeding from a main conduit or other supply, can be charged with water at pleasure. For grounds under the culture of annual plants, this mode would be more convenient, and for all others more economical, as to the use of water, than surface irrigation. Where the under-stratum is gravelly, and rests on a retentive stratum, this mode of watering may take place without drains, as it may also on perfectly flat lands, by filling to the brim, and keeping full for several days, surrounding trenches j but the beds or fields between the trenches must not be of great extent. This practice is used in Lombardy on the alluvial lands near the embouchures of the Po. In Lincoln- shire the same mode is practised by shutting up the flood gates of the mouths of the great drains in the dry seasons, and thus damming up the water through all the ramifications of the drainage from the sea to their source. This was first suggested by G. Kennie and Sir Joseph Banks, after the drainage round Boston, completed about 1810. A similar plan, on a smaller scale, had been practised in Scotland, where deep mosses had been drained and cultivated on the surface, but where, in summer, vegetation failed from deficiency of moisture. It was first adopted by J. Smith (See Essay on the Improvement of Peat-moss, 1795) on a farm in Ayrshire, and has subsequently been brought into notice by J. Johnston, the first delineator and professor of Elkington's system of draining. 2207. Flooding and warping are modes of irrigation, the former for manuring grass lands, and the latter for enriching the surface of arable lands ; while both at the iame time gradually raise up the surface of the soil. Irrigation with a view to conveying :ttO SCIENCE OF AGRICULTURE Part II. addition* to the soil has long l>een practised, and is an evident imitation of the overflowing of alluvial land-., whether in meadow or aration. [n the former case it is called irrigation or flooding, and in the latter warping. Warping is used chiefly as a mode of enriching the soil liy an increase of the alluvial depositions, or warp of rivers, during winter, where the surface i- not under crop, and is common on the hanks of the Ouse. - The Italian pr oc e ss called colmata fullness is nothing more than a variety of the British process called warping In the Val is soon repaid with great profit by the fertility of the newly deposited soil. Bo the gravel " Inch the rivers carry and deposit their bed i-. much raised above the level of the adjoining fields ; so that, ill order to carry off the rain water from the fields, drains are formed which pass in arched conduits under the embanked rivers, and go into larger drains which pass to the lowest part of the plain near Arezzo, and there enter the Chiana. 2211, The soil in the Val di Chiana is generally the same to the depth of six feet from the surface, and under that is gravel or sand. After the completion of the process of colmata, the expense of which is always repaid with profit, the ground is cultivated for five years on the proprietor's own account ; and the produce during these five years repays the expense of the process of colmata with profit. The first two years it is sown with Indian corn granturco , and sometimes hemp, the soil being then toe strong for wheat. The next three it is sown with wheat, without any manure. The produce of wheat in this highly fertile state of the soil is twenty from one, whilst in the usual state of the ground the return of wheat is from twelve to fourteen from one. After this the field is let out in the ordinary way to the farmers, the contailini. {Farm. Mag., vol. xxi.) *2'212. The rationale of irrigation is thus given by Sir H. Davy: — " In general, in nature, the operation of water is to bring earthy substances into an extreme state of division : but in the artificial watering of meadows, the beneficial effects depend upon many different causes, some chemical, some mechanical. Water is absolutely essential to vegetation ; and when land has been covered by water in the winter, or in the begin- ning of spring, the moisture which has penetrated dee]) into the soil, and even the subsoil, becomes a source of nourishment to the roots of the plants in the summer, and prevents those bad effects which often happen in lands in their natural state, from a long con- tinuance of dry weather. When the water used in irrigation has flowed over a calcareous country, it is generally found impregnated with carbonate of lime; and in this state it tends, in many instances, to ameliorate the soil. Common river water also generally contains a certain portion of organisable matter, which is much greater after rains than at other times; or which exists in the largest quantity when the stream rises in a cultivated country. Even in cases where the water used for flooding is pure, and free from animal or vegetable substances, it acts by causing a more equable diffusion of nutritive matter existing in the land ; and in very cold seasons it preserves the tender roots and leaves of the grass from being affected by frost. Water is of greater specific gravity at 4 '2° Fahrenheit, than at 32°, the freezing point ; and hence, in a meadow irrigated in winter, the water immediately in contact with the grass is rarely below 40°, a degree of temperature not at all prejudicial to the living organs of plants. In 1804, In the month of March, the temperature in a water meadow near Hungerford was examined by a very delicate thermometer. The temperature of the air at seven in the morning was '29°. The water was frozen above the grass. The temperature of the soil lielow the water in which the roots of the grass were fixed, was 4f! J ." Water may also operate usefully in warm seasons by moderating temperature, and thus retarding the over-rapid progress of vegetation. The consequence of this retardation will be greater magnitude and improved texture of the grosser parts o + * plants, a more perfect and ample developement of their finer parts, and, above all, an increase in the size of their fruits and seeds. We apprehend this to be one of the principal uses of flooding rice- grounds in the East ; for it is ascertained that the rice-plant will perfect its seeds in Europe, and even in this country, without any water beyond what is furnished by the weather, and the natural moisture of a well constituted soil. It may also be noticed that one variety of rice grows on the declivities of hills without artificial irrigation ; as in St. Domingo and in certain parts of India. " In general, those waters which breed the best fish are the best fitted for watering meadows ; but most of the benefits of irrigation may be derived from any kind of water. It is, however, a general principle, that waters con- taining ferruginous impregnation, though possessed of fertilising effects when applied to Book III. ROTATION OF CROPS. 3:!1 a calcareous soil, are injurious on soils which do not effervesce with acids ; and that cal- careous waters, which are known by the earthy deposit they afford when boiled, are of most use on silicious soils, or other soils containing no remarkable quantity of carbonate of lime." Subsect. 6. Changing the Condition of Lands, in resjxct to Atmospherical Influence. 2213. The influence of the weather on soils may be affected by changing the position of their surface and by sheltering or shading. 2214. Changing the condition of lands, as to solar influence, is but a limited means of improvement; but is capable of being turned to some account in gardening. It is effected by altering the position of their surface, so as that surface may be more or less at a right angle to the plane of the sun's rays, according as heat or cold is to be increased or diminished. The influence of the sun's rays upon any plane are demonstrated to be as their number and perpendicularity to that plane, the effects of the atmosphere being excepted. Hence one advantage of ridging lands, provided the ridges run north and south ; for on such surfaces the rays of the morning sun will take effect sooner on the east side, and those of the afternoon will remain longer in operation on the west side ; whilst at mid-day his elevation will compensate, in some degree, for the obliquity of his rays to both sides of the ridge. In culture, on a small scale, ridges or sloping beds for winter-crops may be made south-east and north-west, with their slope to the south, at an angle of forty degrees, and as steep on the north side as the mass can be got to stand ; and on the south slope of such ridge, cceteris paribus, it is evident much earlier crops may be produced than on level ground. The north side, however, will be lost during this early cropping ; but as early crops are soon gathered, the whole can be laid level in time for a main crop. Hence all the advantage of grounds sloping to the south south- east, or south-west, in point of precocity, and of those sloping to the north for lateness and diminished evaporation. Another advantage of such surfaces is, that they dry sooner after rains, whether by the operation of natural or artificial drainage ; or, in the case of sloping to the south, by evaporation. 2215. Shelter, whether by walls, hedges, strips of plantation, or trees scattered over the surface, may be considered, generally, as increasing or preserving heat, and lessening evaporation from the soil. But if the current of air should be of a higher temperature than the earth, screens against wind will prevent the earth from being so soon heated ; and from the increased evaporation arising from so great a multiplication of vegetable surface by the trees, more cold will be produced after rains, and the atmosphere kept in a more moist state, than in grounds perfectly naked. When the temperature of a current of air is lower than that of the earth, screens will prevent its carrying off' so much heat ; but more especially scattered trees, the tops of which will be chiefly cooled whilst the under surfaces of their lower branches reflect back the rays of heat as they radiate from the surface of the soil. Heat, in its transmission from one body to another, follows the same laws as light ; and, therefore, the temperature of the surface in a forest will, in winter, be considerably higher than that of a similarly constituted soil exposed to the full influence of the weather. The early flowering of plants, in woods and hedges, is a proof of this : but as such soils cannot be so easily heated in summer, and are cooled like others after the sinking in of rains, or the melting of snows, the effect of the reflec- tion as to the whole year is nearly neutralised, and the average temperature of the year of such soils and situations will probably be found not greater than that of open lands. 2216. Shading the ground, whether by umbrageous trees, spreading plants, or cover- ing it with tiles, slates, moss, litter, or other materials, has a tendency to exclude atmo- spherical heat and retain moisture. Shading dry loose soils, by covering them with litter, slates, or tiles, laid round the roots of plants, is found very beneficial. Subsect. 1. Notation of Crops. •2217. Growing different crops in succession is a practice which every cultivator knows to be highly advantageous, though its beneficial influence has not yet been fully accounted for by chemists. The most general theory is, that though all plants will live on the same food, as the chemical constituents of their roots and leaves are nearly the same, yet that many species require particular substances to bring their seeds or fruits to perfection, as the analysis of these seeds or fruits often afford substances different from those which constitute the body of the plant. A sort of rotation may be said to take place in nature, for perennial herbaceous plants have a tendency to extend their circumference, and rot and decay at their centre, where others of a different kind spring up and succeed them. This is more especially the case with travelling roots, as in mint, strawberry, creeping crowfoot, &c. 2218. The rationale of rotation is thus given by Sir H. Davy : — " It is a great advan- tage in the convertible system of cultivation, that the whole of the manure is employed ; and that those parts of it which are not fitted for one crop, remain as nourishment for another. Thus, if the turnip is the first in the order of succession, this crop, manured 332 SCIENCE OF AGRICULTURE. Part II. with recent dung, immediately finds sufficient soluble matter for its nourishment; and the heal produced in fermentation assists the germination of the seed and the growth of the plant. If, after turnips, barley with grass-seeds is sown, then the land, having been little exhausted by the turnip crop, affords the soluble parts of the decomposing manure to the grain. The grasses, rye-grass, and clover remain, which derive a small part only of their organised matter from the soil, and probably consume the gypsum in the manure which would be useless to other crops: these plants, likewise, by their large system* of leaves, absorb a considerable quantity of nourishment from the atmosphere, or probably retain the nutritive qualities in the soil, for a covering of slates or any other covering- would have nearly the same effect ; and when ploughed in at the end of two years, the decay of their roots and leaves affords manure for the wheat crop ; and at this period of the course, the woody fibre of the farm-yard manure, which contains the phosphate of lime, and the other difficultly soluble parts, is broken down : and as soon as the most exhausting crop is taken, recent manure is again applied. Peas and beans, in all instances, seem well adapted to prepare ground for wheat ; and in some rich lands they are raised in alternate crops for years together. Peas and beans contain a small quantity of a matter analagous to albumen ; but it seems that the azote, which forms a constituent part of this matter, is derived from the atmosphere. The dry bean-leaf, when burnt, yields a smell approaching to that of decomposing animal matter ; and in its de- cay in the soil, may furnish principles capable of becoming a part of the gluten in wheat. Though the general composition of plants is very analogous, yet the specific difference in the products of many of them, prove that they must derive different materials from the soil ; and though the vegetables having the smallest system of leaves will proportionably most exhaust the soil of common nutritive matter, yet particular vegetables, when their produce is carried off, will require peculiar principles to be supplied to the land in which they grow. Strawberries and potatoes at first produce luxuriantly in virgin mould, recently turned up from pasture ; but in a few years they degenerate, and require a fresh soil. Lands, in a course of years, often cease to afford good cultivated grasses ; they become (as it is popularly said) tired of them ; and one of the probable reasons for this is, the exhaustion of the gypsum contained in the soil." — " Experience," Mr. Main, the editor of the British Farmer's Magazine, observes, " has proved that land, whatever may be its quality, should not be sown with clover at shorter intervals than five years." 2219. The power of vegetables to exhaust tlie soil of the principles necessary to their growth, is remarkably exemplified in certain funguses. Mushrooms are said never to rise in two successive seasons on the same spot ; and the production of the phenomena called fairy rings has been ascribed by Dr. Wollaston to the power of the peculiar fungus which forms it, to exhaust the soil of the nutriment necessary for the growth of the species. The consequence is, that the ring annually extends ; for no seeds will grow where their parents grew before them, and the interior part of the circle has been ex- hausted by preceding crops; but where the fungus has died, nourishment is supplied for grass, which usually rises within the circle, coarse, and of a dark green colour. 2220. si rotation is unnecessary, according to Grisenthwaite ; and, in a strict chemical sense, what he asserts cannot be denied. His theory is a refinement on the common idea of the uses of a rotation stated above ; but by giving some details of the constituent parts of certain grains and certain manures, he has presented it in a more clear and striking point of view than has hitherto been done. To apply the theory in every case, the constituent parts of all manures and of all plants (1st, "their roots and leaves, and 2dly, their seeds, fruits, or grains) must be known. In respect to manures this is the case, and it may be said to be in a great degree the case as to the most useful agri- cultural plants : but the same cannot be said of garden productions in general, which are very numerous ; though no branch of culture can show the advantage of a rota- lion of crops more than horticulture, in the practice of which it is foundthat grounds >ecome tired of particular crops, notwithstanding that manures are applied at pleasure. It the precise effects of a rotation were ascertained, and the ingredients peculiarly neces- sary to every species pointed out, nothing could be more interesting than the results of experimental trials ; and whoever shall point out a simple and economical mode by which the potato may be grown successively in the same soil, and produce annually, the effects of climate being excepted, as dry and well flavoured tubers, or nearly so, as tliey generally produce the first and second years on a new soil, will confer a real benefit on society. That wheat may be grown many years on the same soil by the use of animal manures, or such as contain gluten, Grisenthwaite's theory would justify us in believing; and it ought to be fairly tried by such cultivators as Coke and Curwen. Till this Is done in the face of the whole agricultural world, and the produce of every crop, and all the par- ticulars of its culture, accurately reported on annually, the possibility of the thing may be assented to from the premises, but will not be acted on; and, in fact, even the best agricultural chemists do not consider that we are sufficiently advanced in that branch of the science to draw any conclusion, « priori, very much at variance with general opinion Book III. MANURES. 333 and experience. It should always be kept in mind, tliat it is one thing to produce a crop, and a different thing to grow crops with profit. 2221. The principles of rotations of crops are thus laid down by Yvart and Ch. Pit-tit (Cours co/npkl d' Agriculture, articles Assolement, and Succession de Culture ,• and Traile des Assolemens. Paris, 8vo) : — The first principle, or fundamental point, is, that every plant exhausts the soil. The second, that all plants do not exhaust the soil equally. The third, that plants of different kinds do not exhaust the soil in the same manner. The fourth, that all plants do not restore to the soil the same quantity, nor the same quality of manure. The fifth, that all plants are not equally favourable to the growth of weeds. 2222. The following consequences are drawn from these fundamental principles : — First. However well a soil may be prepared, it cannot long nourish crops of the same kind in succes- sion, without becoming exhausted. . Second. Every crop impoverishes a soil more or less, as more or less is restored to the soil by the plant cultivated. . Third. Perpendicular-rooting plants, and such as root horizontally, ought to succeed each other. Fourth. Plants of the same kind should not return too frequently in a rotation. Fifth. Two plants favourable to the growth of weeds, ought not to succeed each other. Sixth. Such plants as eminently exhaust the soil, as the grains and oil plants, should only be sown when the laud is in good heart. . .... Seventh. In proportion as a soil is found to exhaust itself by successive crops, plants which are least ex. hausting ought to be cultivated. 2223. Influence if rotations in destroying insects. Olivier, member of the Institute of France, has described all the insects, chiefly Tipulae and J/uscse, which live upon the collar or crown of the roots of the cereal grasses, and he has shown that they multiply themselves without end, when the same soil presents the same crop for several years in succession, or even crops of analogous species. But when a crop intervenes on which these insects cannot live, as beans or turnips after wheat or oats, then the whole race of these insects perish from the field, for want of proper nourishment for their larvae. {Mem. de la Societe Royale et Centrale d'Agr. de Paris, vol. vii.) Chap. II. Of Manures. •2224. Every species of matter capable of promoting the growth of vegetables may be con- sidered as manure. On examining the constituents of vegetables, we shall find that they are composed of oxygen, hydrogen, carbon, and nitrogen, or azote, with a small propor- tion of saline bodies. It is' evident, therefore, that the substances employed as manure should also be composed of these elements, for, unless they are, there will be a deficiency in some of the elements in the vegetable itself; and it is probable that such deficiency may prevent the formation of those substances within it, for which its peculiar organisa- tion is contrived, and upon which its healthy existence depends. The elementary bodies above enumerated are all contained in animal, and the first three in vegetable, matters. Sometimes, though very seldom, vegetables contain a small quantity of nitrogen. As certain salts are also constantly found to be present in healthy living vegetables, manures or vegetable food may, consequently, be distinguished into animal, vegetable, and saline. Kirwan, Dundonald," Darwin, and Davy, who produced the first chemical treatises on soils, were also the first to treat chemically of manures. Of these, the latest in the order of time is Sir H. Davy, from whose highly satisfactory work we shall extract the greater part of this chapter. Sect. I. Of Manures of Animal and Vegetable Origin. 2225. Decaying animal and vegetable substances constitute by far the most important class of manures, or vegetable food, and may be considered as to the theory of their operation, their specific kinds, and their preservation and application in practice. Subskct. I. The Theory of the Operation of Manures of Animal and Vegetable Origin. 2226. The rationale of organic manures is very satisfactorily given by Sir H. Davy, who, after having proved that no solid substances can enter in that state into the plant, explains the manner in which nourishment is derived from vegetable and animal sab- stances. . 2227. Vegetable and animal substances deposited in the soil, as it is shown by universal experience, are consumed during the process of vegetation ; and they can only nourish the plant bv affording solid matters capable of being dissolved by water, or gaseous sub- stances capable of being absorbed bv the fluids in the leaves of vegetables ; but such pai ts ot them as are rendered gaseous, and pass into the atmosphere, must produce a compara- ii SCIENCE OF AGRICULTURE. Pabt II. lively small effect, for gases soon become diffused through the mas-, of the surrounding air. The great object, therefore, in the application of manure should be to make it af- ford as much soluble matter as possible to the routs of tin- plant ; and that ill a slow and gradual manner, so that it inav ho entirely consumed in forming its sap and organised parts. 3*228. Mucilaginous, gelatinousi laccAarine, oil;/, and extractive fluids, carbonic acid, and Tnitrr, arc substances thai in their unchanged states contain almost all the principles ne- cessary for the life of plants ; but there are few cases in which they can be applied as manures in their pure Conns; and vegetable manures, in general, contain a great ex- cess of fibrous and insoluble matter, which must undergo chemical change, before it can become the food of plants. 222!'. The nature of the changes on these substances ; of the causes which occasion them, and which accelerate or retard them ; and of the products they afford, have been scienti- fic all y stated and explained by our great agricultural chemist. If any fresh vegetable matter which contains sugar, mucilage, starch, or other of the vegetable compounds soluble in water, be moistened, and exposed to air, at a temperature from 55° to 80°, oxygen will soon be absorbed, and carbonic acid formed; heat will be produced, and elastic fluids, principally carbonic acid, gaseous oxide of carbon, and hydro-carbonate will be evolved ; a dark-coloured liquid, of a slightly sour or bitter taste, will likewise be formed ; and if the process be suffered to continue for a time sufficiently long, nothing solid will remain, except earthy and saline matter, coloured black by charcoal. The dark-coloured fluid formed in the fermentation always contains acetic acid ; and when albumen or gluten exists in the vegetable substance, it likewise contains volatile alkali. In proportion as there is more gluten, albumen, or matters soluble in water, in the vegetable substances exposed to fermentation, so in proportion, all other circumstances being equal, will the process be more rapid. Pure woody fibre alone undergoes a change very slowly ; but its texture is broken down, and it is easily resolved into new aliments, when mixed witli substances more liable to change, containing more oxygen and hydrogen. Volatile and fixed oils, resins, and wax, are more susceptible of change than woody fibre, when exposed to air and water ; but much less liable than the other vegetable compounds ; and even the most inflammable substances, by the absorption of oxygen, become gradually soluble in water. Animal matters in general are more liable to decompose than vege- table substances ; oxygen is absorbed and carbonic acid and ammonia formed in the process of their putrefaction. They produce fetid, compound, elastic fluids, and like- wise azote : they afford dark-coloured acid and oily fluids, and leave a residuum of salts and earths mixed with carbonaceous matter. 22. >0. The principal animal substances which constitute their different parts, or which are found in their blood, their secretions, or their excrements, are gelatine, fibrinc, mucus, fatty or oily matter, albumen, urea, uric acid, and other acid, saline, and earthy matters. 2231. General treatment of organic manures. Whenever manures consist principally of matter soluble in water, it is evident that their fermentation or putrefaction should be prevented as much as possible ; and the only cases in which these processes can be useful, are when the manure consists principally of vegetable or animal fibre. The circum- stances necessary for the putrefaction of animal substances are similar to those required for the fermentation of vegetable substances ; a temperature above the freezing point, the presence of water, and the presence of oxygen, at least in the first stage of the process. To prevent manures from decomposing, they should be preserved dry, defended from the contact of air, and kept as cool as possible. Salt and alcohol appear to owe their powers of preserving animal and vegetable substances to their attraction for water, by which they prevent its decomposing action, and likewise to their excluding air. Subsect. 2. Of the different Species i beans, potatoes, or other crops sown or planted in spring, the farm or fold yard manure is carried out at different tunes, during the preceding summer and winter, and formed into "large dunghills in the fields where they arc to be used. These dunghills are turned once or twice, and moistened by watering, or covered by earth or moss, so as to accelerate <.r retard the fermentation, according to the period when the material may be wanted for use. The test of their fitness for this purpose is that degree of tenderness which admits of the easy separation of the littery parts when a dung fork is inserted and a forkful taken up. 2277. The doctrine of the proper application of manures from organised substances, offers an illustration of an important part of the economy of nature, and of the happy order in which it is arranged. The death and decay of animal substances tend to resolve organised forms into chemical constituents; and the pernicious effluvia disen- gaged in the process seem to point out the propriety of burying them in the soil, where they are fitted to become the food of vegetables. The fermentation and putrefaction of Book III. OPERATION OF MINERAL MANURES. 343 organised substances in the free atmosphere are noxious processes; beneath the surface of the ground, they are salutary operations. In this case the food of plants is prepared where it can be used ; and that which would offend the senses and injure the health, if exposed, is converted by gradual processes into forms of beauty and of usefulness ; the fetid gas is rendered a constituent of the aroma of the flower, and what might be poison becomes nourishment to animals and to man. 2278. To preserve dung for any time, the situation in which it is kept is of importance. It should, if possible, be defended from the sun. To preserve it under sheds would be of great use; or to make the site of a dunghill on the north side of a wall. The floor on which the dung is heaped should, if possible, be paved with flat stones; and there should be a little inclination from each side towards the centre, in which there should be drains connected with a small well, furnished with a pump, by which any fluid matter may be collected for the use of the land. It too often happens that a dense mucilaginous and extractive fluid is suffered to drain away from the dunghill, so as to be entirely lost to the farm. Sect. II. Of Manures of Mineral Origin* 2279. Earthy and saline manures are probably of more recent invention, and doubtless of more uncertain use, than those of animal and vegetable origin. The conversion into original forms of matter which has belonged to living structures, is a process that can be easily understood ; but it is more difficult to follow those operations by which earthy and saline matters are consolidated in the fibre of plants, and by which they are made subser- vient to their functions. These are capable of being materially elucidated by modern chemistry ; and shall here be considered as to the theory of their operation and as to their specific kinds. Subsect. 1. Theory of the Operation of Mineral Manures. 2280. Saline and calcareous substances form the principal fossil manures. Much has been written on lime and common salt, both in the way of speculation and reasoning from facts, which, from want of chemical knowledge, has turned to no useful account, and cultivators till very lately contented themselves with stating that these substances acted as stimuli to the soil, something like condiments to the digestive organs of animals. Even chemists themselves are not yet unanimous in all their opinions ; but still the result of their enquiries will be found of great benefit to the scientific cultivator. 2281. Various opinions exist as to the rationale of the operation of mineral manures. " Some enquirers," Sir H. Davy observes, " adopting that sublime generalisation of the ancient philosophers, that matter is the same in essence, and that the different substances, considered as elements by chemists, are merely different arrangements of the same inde- structible particles, have endeavoured to prove, that all the varieties of the principles found in plants, may be formed from the substances in the atmosphere ; and that vege- table life is a process in which bodies, that the analytical philosopher is unable to change or to form, are constantly composed and decomposed. But the general results of expe- riments are very much opposed to the idea of the composition of the earths, by plants, from any of the elements found in the atmosphere, or in water, and there are various facts contradictory to the idea." Jacquin states, that the ashes of glass- wort (Salsola Soda), when it grows in inland situations, afford the vegetable alkali; when it grows on the sea-shore, where compounds which afford the fossil or marine alkali are more abundant, it yields that substance. Du Hamel found that plants which usually grow on the sea-shore made small progress when planted in soils containing little com- mon salt. The sun-flower, when growing in lands containing no nitre, does not afford that substance ; though when watered by a solution of nitre it yields nitre abundantly. The tables of De Saussure show that the ashes of plants are similar in constitution to the soils in which they have vegetated. De Saussure made plants grow in solutions of dif- ferent salts ; and he ascertained that, in all cases, certain portions of the salts were absorbed by the plants, and found unaltered in their organs. Even animals do not appear to possess the power of forming the alkaline and earthy substances. Dr. Fordyce found that when canary birds, at the time they were laying eggs, were deprived of access to carbonate of lime, their eggs had soft shells ; and if there is any process for which nature may be conceived most likely to supply resources of this kind, it is that connected with the reproduction of the species. 2282. It seems a fair conclusion, as the evidence on the subject now stands, that the dif- ferent earths and saline substances found in the organs of plants, are supplied by the soils in which they grow ; and in no cases composed by new arrangements of the elements in air or water. What may be our ultimate view of the laws of chemistry, or how far our ideas of elementary principles may be simplified, it is impossible to say. We can only reason from facts. We cannot imitate the powers of composition belonging to vegetable structures ; but at least we can understand them ■ and as far as our researches have gone, nil SCIENCE OF AGRICULTURE. Part IT. ii appears thai in vegetation compound forms arc uniformly produced from simple ones; and the elements in the soil, the atmosphere, and the earth absorbed and made parts of beautiful and diversified structures. The views which have been just developed lead (<> correct ideas of the operation of those manures which are not necessarily the result of decayed organised bodies, and which are not composed of different proportions of carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, and azote. They must produce their effect, either by becoming a constituent part of the plant, or by acting upon its more essential food, so as to render it mora fitted for the purposes of vegetable life. St.nsKei-. '_'. Of the different Species of Mineral Manures. 228:3. AlkaUne earths, or aUtaliei and tlteir combinations, which are found unmixed with the remains of any organised beings, are the only substances which can with propriety be called fossil manures. The only alkaline earths which have been hitherto applied in this Way are lime and magnesia ; though potassa and soda, the two fixed alkalies, are both used to a limited extent in certain of their chemical compounds. *2284. The most commonform in which lime is found on the surface of the earth, is in a state of combination with carbonic acid or fixed air. If a piece of limestone or chalk be thrown into a fluid acid, there will be an effervescence. This is owing to the escape of the carbonic acid ^.'is. The lime becomes dissolved in the liquor. When limestone is strongly heated, the carbonic acid gas is expelled, and then nothing remains but the pure alkaline earth ; in this case there is a loss of weight ; and if the fire has been very high, it approaches to one half the weight of the stone ; but in common cases, limestones, if well dried before burning, do not lose much more than 35 to 40 per cent, or from seven to eight parts out of twenty. 2285. When burnt lime is exposed to the atmosphere, in a certain time it becomes mild, and is the same substance as that precipitated from lime-water ; it is combined with car- bonic acid gas. Quicklime, when first made, is caustic and burning to the tongue, renders vegetable blues green, and is soluble in water ; but when combined with carbonic acid, it loses all these properties, its solubility, and its taste : it regains its power of effer- vescing, and becomes the same chemical substance as chalk or limestone. Very few limestones or chalks consist entirely of lime and carbonic acid. The statuary marbles, or certain of the rhomboidal spars, are almost the only pure species ; and the different properties of limestones, both as manures and cements, depend upon the nature of the in- gredient mixed in the limestone ; for the true calcareous element, the carbonate of lime, is uniformly the same in nature, properties, and effects, and consists of one proportion of carbonic acid 41 '4, and one of lime 55. When a limestone does not copiously effervesce in acids, and is sufficiently hard to scratch glass, it contains silicious, and probably aluminous earth ; when it is deep brown or red, or strongly coloured of any of the shades of brown or yellow, it contains oxide of iron ; when it is not sufficiently hard to scratch glass, but effervesces slowly, and makes the acid in which it effervesces milky, it contains magnesia ; and when it is black, and emits a fetid smell if rubbed, it contains coaly or bituminous matter. Before any opinion can be formed of the manner in which the different ingredients in limestones modify their properties, it will be necessary to con- sider the operation of pure lime as a manure. 2286. Quicklime, in Us pure state, whether in powder or dissolved in water, is injurious to plants. In several instances grass has been killed by watering it with lime-water. But lime, in its state of combination with carbonic acid, is a useful ingredient in soils. Calcareous earth is found in the ashes of the greater number of plants ; and exposed to the air, lime cannot long continue caustic, for the reasons that were just now assigned, but soon becomes united to carbonic acid. When newly burnt lime is exposed to air, it soon falls into powder : in this case it is called slacked lime ; and the same effect is immediately produced by throwing water upon it, when it heats violently, and the water disappears. Slacked lime is merely a combination of lime, with about one third of its weight of water ; i. e. fifty-five parts of lime absorb seventeen parts of water ; and in this case it is composed of a definite proportion of water, and is called by chemists hydrate of lime ^ and when hydrate of lime becomes carbonate of lime by long exposure to ail-, the water is expelled, ami the carbonic acid gas takes its place When lime, whether freshly burnt or slacked, is mixed with any moist fibrous vegetable matter, there is a strong action between the lime and the vegetable matter, and they form a kind of compost together, of which a part is usually soluble in water. By this kind of oper- ation, lime renders matter which was before comparatively inert, nutritive; and as charcoal and oxygen abound in all vegetable matters, it becomes at the same time con- verted into carbonate of lime. 2287. Mild lime, powdered limestone, marls, or chalks, have no action of this kind upon vegetable matter ; they prevent the too rapid decomposition of substances already dissolved ; but they have no tendency to form soluble matters. It is obvious from these circumstances, that the operations of quicklime, and marl, or chalk, depend upon prin- Book III. SPECIES OF MINERAL MANURES. ;H5 ciples altogether different. Quicklime, in being applied to laud, tends to bring any hard vegetable matter that it contains into a state of more rapid decomposition and solution, so as to render it a proper food for plants. Chalk, marl, or carbonate of lime, will only improve the texture of the soil, or its relation to absorption ; it acts merely as one of its earthy ingredients. Chalk has been recommended as a substance calculated to correct the sourness of land. It would surely have been a wise practice to have previously ascertained the certainty of this existence of acid, and to have determined its nature, in order that it might be effectually removed. The fact really is, that no soil was ever yet found to contain any notable quantity of uncombined acid. The acetic and carbonic acids are the only two that are likely to be generated by any spontaneous decomposition of animal or vegetable bodies, and neither of these has any fixity when exposed to the air. Chalk having no power of acting on animal and vegetable sub- stances, can be no otherwise serviceable to laud than as it alters its texture. Quicklime, when it becomes mild, operates in the same manner as chalk; but in the act of becoming mild, it prepares soluble out of insoluble matter. Bouillon la Grange says that gelatine oxygenised becomes insoluble, and vegetable extract we know becomes so from the same cause ; now lime has the property of attracting oxygen, and, consequently, of restoring the property of solubility to those substances which have been deprived of it, from a com- bination with oxygen. Hence the uses of lime on peat lands, and on all soils containing an excess of vegetable insoluble matter. (Grisenthwaite.) 2288. Marl, and even shell sand, have been known to act chemically on peat bogs, and to produce astonishing benefits. True and genuine peat bogs contain a considerable quantity of an acid which has some affinity to gallic acid, and often yield phosphoric acid to analysis. It appears to be these acids which confer on peat earth its highly antiseptic qualities, and prevent the complete decay of woody fibre in such situations. When either true marl or shell sand is laid as a manure in such soils, a rapid decomposition of the vege- table matter takes place, owing to the calcareous matter uniting with the acid which before impregnated the woody fibre ; and such land soon becomes very productive, pro- bably also because the carbonic acid of the marl and shell sand is applied to the growth of living vegetables as it is gradually disengaged by the union of these acids with the lime. (T. S. T.) 2289. Effect of lime on rvheat crops. When lime is employed upon land where any quantity of animal matter is present, it occasions the evolution of a quantity of ammonia, which may, perhaps, be imbibed by the leaves of plants, and afterwards undergo some change so as to form gluten. It is upon this circumstance that the operation of lime in the preparation for wheat crops depends ; and its efficacy in fertilising peat, and in bringing into a state of cultivation all soils abounding in hard roots, dry fibres, or inert vegetable matter. 2290. General jsrinciples for ajypbjing lime. The solution of the question whether quicklime ought to be applied to a soil, depends upon the quantity of inert vegetable matter that it contains. The solution of the question, whether marl, mild lime, or powdered limestone ought to be applied, depends upon the quantity of calcareous matter already in the soil. All soils which do not effervesce with acids are improved by mild lime, and ultimately by quicklime ; and sands more than clays. When a soil, deficient in calcareous matter, contains much soluble vegetable manure, the application of quick- lime should always be avoided, as it either tends to decompose the soluble matters by uniting to their carbon and oxygen so as to become mild lime, or it combines with the soluble matters, and forms compounds having less attraction for water than the pure vegetable substance. The case is the same with respect to most animal manures ; but the operation of the lime is different in different cases, and depends upon the nature of the animal matter. Lime forms a kind of insoluble soap with oily matters, and then gradually decomposes them by separating from them oxygen and carbon. It combines likewise with the animal acids, and probably assists their decomposition by abstracting carbonaceous matter from them combined with oxygen ; and consequently it must render them less nutritive. It tends to diminish, likewise, the nutritive powers of albumen from the same causes ; and always destroys, to a certain extent, the efficacy of animal manures, either by combining with certain of their elements, or by giving to them new arrange- ments. Lime should never be applied with animal manures, unless they are too rich, or for the purpose of preventing noxious effluvia. It is injurious when mixed with any common dung, and tends to render the extractive matter insoluble. According to Chaptal (Cldiirie appliquee, §c- i. 153.), lime forms insoluble composts with almost all animal and vegetable substances that are soft, and thus destroys their fermentative pro- perties. Such compounds, however, exposed to the continued action of the air, alter in course of time ; the lime becomes carbonate ; the animal or vegetable matters decompose by degrees, and furnish new products as vegetable nourishment. In this view, lime presents two great advantages for the nutrition of plants ; the first, that of disposing certain insoluble bodies to form soluble compounds ; the second, that of prolonging the 846 SCIENCE OF AGRICULTURE. Part II. notion and nutritive qualities of substances, beyond the term during which they would be retained If these substances were not made to enter Into combination with lime. Tims the nutritive qualities of blood, as it exists in the compound of lime and blood known as Bugarbaker's scum, are moderated, prolonged, and given out by degrees; blood alone, applied directly to the roots of plants, will destroy them with few or no exceptions. 2291. Lime promotes fermentation- In those eases in which fermentation is useful to produce nutriment from vegetable substances, lime is always eflicaeious. Some moist spent tanners' bark was mixed with one fifth of its weight of quicklime, and suffered to remain in a close vessel for three months; the lime had become coloured, and was effervescent : when water was boiled upon the mixture, it gained a tint of fawn-colour, and by evaporation furnished a fawn-coloured powder, which must have consisted of lime united to vegetable matter, for it burnt when strongly heated, and left a residuum of mild lime. 229-'. Different kinds of limestones have different effects. The limestones containing alumina and silica are less fitted for the purposes of manure than pure limestones; but the lime formed from them has no noxious quality. Such stones are less efficacious, merely because they furnish a smaller quantity of quicklime. There is very seldom any considerable portion of coaly matter in bituminous limestones ; never as much as five parts in 100 ; but such limestones make very good lime. The carbonaceous matter can do no injury to the land, and may, under certain circumstances, become a food of the plant. 229:3. The subject of the application of the magnesian limestone is one of great interest. It had been long known to farmers in the neighbourhood of Doncaster, that lime made from a certain limestone, when applied to the land, often injured the crops considerably. Tennant, in making a series of experiments upon this peculiar calcareous substance, found that it contained magnesia; and on mixing some calcined magnesia with soil, in which he sowed different seeds, he found that they either died or vegetated in a very imperfect manner, and the plants were never healthy. 'With great justice and ingenuity he referred the bad effects of the peculiar limestone to the magnesian earth it contains. 2294. Magnesian limestone is used with good effect in some cases. Magnesia has a much weaker attraction for carbonic acid than lime, and will remain in the state of caustic or calcined magnesia for many months, though exposed to the air ; and, as long as any caustic lime remains, the magnesia cannot be combined with carbonic acid, for lime instantly attracts carbonic acid from magnesia. When a magnesian limestone is burnt, the magnesia is deprived of carbonic acid much sooner than the lime ; and, if there is not much vegetable or animal matter in the soil to supply by its decomposition carbonic acid, the magnesia will remain for a long while in the caustic state, in which state it acts as a poison to certain vegetables ; and that more magnesian lime may be used upon rich soils, seems to be owing to the circumstance, that the decomposition of the manure in them supplies carbonic acid. Magnesia in its mild state, i. e. fully combined with car- bonic acid, seems to be always a useful constituent of soils. Carbonate of magnesia (procured by boiling the solution of magnesia in supercarbonate of potassa) was thrown upon grass, and upon growing wheat and barley, so as to render the surface white, but the vegetation was not injured in the slightest degree ; and one of the most fertile parts of Cornwall, the Lizard, is a district in which the soil contains mild magnesian earth. It is obvious, from what has been said, that lime from the magnesian limestone may be applied in large quantities to peats; and that where lands have been injured by the application of loo large a quantity of magnesian lime, peat will be a proper and efficient remedy. '_"_'9.~. A simple test of magnesia in a limestone is its slight effervescence with acids, and its rendering diluted nitric acid, or aqua fortis, milky. From the analysis of Tennant, it appears to contain from 20-3 to 22-5 magnesia ; 29\5 to 31-7 lime ; 47-2 carbonic acid ; 0-8 clay and oxide of iron. Magnesian limestones are usually of a brown or pale yellow colour. They are found in Somersetshire, Leicestershire, Derbyshire, .Shropshire, Durham, and Yorkshire ; and in many parts of Ireland, particularly near Belfast. In general, when limestones are not magnesian, their purity will be indicated by their loss of weight in burning; the more they lose, the larger is the quantity of calcareous matter they contain. The niagne-ian limestones contain more carbonic acid than the common limestones; and I have found all of them lose more than half their weight by calcination. 'J'_'9<>'. Gypsum, Besides being used in the forms of lime and carbonate of lime, cal- careous matter is applied for the purposes of agriculture in other combinations. One of these bodies is gypsum or sulphate of lime. This substance consists of sulphuric acid (the same body that exists combined with water in oil of vitriol) and lime; and when dry it is composed of .").") parts of lime and 75 parts of sulphuric acid. Common gypsum or sclenite, such as that found at Shotover Hill, near Oxford, contains, besides sul- Book III. SPECIES OF MINERAL MANURES. S4? phuric acid and lime, a considerable quantity of wafer ; and its composition may be tbus expressed : sulphuric acid one proportion 15 ; lime one proportion 55 ; water two proportions 34. 2297. The nature of gi/psum is easily demonstrated : if oil of vitriol be added to quicklime, there is a violent heat produced ; when the mixture is ignited, water is given off, and gypsum alone is tbe result, if the acid has been used in sufficient quantity ; and gypsum mixed with quicklime, if the quantity has been deficient. Gypsum, free from water, is sometimes found in nature, wben it is called anhydrous selenite ; it is distin- guished from common gypsum by giving off no water when heated. When gypsum, free from water, or deprived of water by heat, is made into a paste with water, it rapidly sets by combining with that fluid. Plaster of Paris is powdered dry gypsum, and its pro- perty as a cement, and its use in making casts, depend upon its solidifying a certain quantity of water, and making with it a coherent mass. Gypsum is soluble in about 500 times its weight of cold water, and is more soluble in hot water ; so that when water has been boiled in contact with gypsum, crystals of this substance are deposited as the water cools. Gypsum is easily distinguished by its properties of affording precipitates to solutions of oxalates and of barytic salts. It has been much used in America, where it was first introduced by Franklin on his return from Paris, where he had been much struck with its effects. He sowed the words, This has been sown with gypsnm, on a field of lucern, near Washington ; the effects astonished even' passenger, and the use of the manure quickly became general, and signally efficacious. It has been advan- tageously used in Kent, but in most counties of England it has failed, though tried in various ways, and upon different crops. 2298. Very discordant notions have been formed as to the mode of operation of gypsum. It has been supposed by some persons to act by its power of attracting moisture from the air ; but this agency must be comparatively insignificant. When combined with water, it retains that fluid too powerfully to yield it to the roots of the plant, and its adhesive attraction for moisture is inconsiderable ; the small quantity in which it is used likewise is a circumstance hostile to this idea. It has been erroneously said, that gypsum assists the putrefaction of animal substances, and the decomposition of manure. 2299. The ashes of sainfoin, clover, and rye-grass, afford considerable quantities of cypsiim ; and the substance probably is intimately combined as a necessary part of their woody fibre. If this be allowed, it is easy to explain the reason why it operates in such small quantities ; for the whole of a clover crop, or saintfoin crop, on an acre, according to estimation, would afford by incineration only three or four bushels of gypsum. The reason why gypsum is not generally efficacious, is probably because most cultivated soils contain it in sufficient quantities for the use of the grasses. In the common course of cultivation, gypsum is furnished in the manure ; for it is contained in stable dung, and in the dung of all cattle fed on grass : and it is net taken up in corn crops, or crops of peas and beans, and in very small quantities in turnip crops ; but where lands are exclusively devoted to pasturage and hay, it will be continually consumed. Shouid these statements be confirmed by future enquiries, a practical inference of some value may be derived from them. It is possible, that lands which have ceased to bear good crops of clover or artificial grasses, may be restored by being manured with gypsum. This substance is found in Oxfordshire, Gloucestershire, Somersetshire, Derbyshire, Yorkshire, &c, and requires only pulverisation for its preparation. 2300. Upon the use of sulphate of iron, or green vitriol, which is a salt produced from peat in Bedfordshire, some very interesting documents have been produced by Dr. Pearson ; and there is little doubt that the peat salt and the vitriolic water acted chiefly by producing gypsum. The soils on which both are efficacious are calcareous ; and sulphate of iron is decomposed by the carbonate of lime in such soils. The sul- phate of iron consists of sulphuric acid and oxide of iron, and is an acid and a very soluble salt ; when a solution of it is mixed with carbonate of lime, the sulphuric acid quits the oxide of iron to unite to the lime, and the compounds produced are insipid and comparatively insoluble. 2301 . J'iliiolic imjyrcgnations in soils where there is no calcareous matter are injurious ; but it is probably in consequence of their supplying an excess of ferruginous matter to the sap. Oxide of iron, in small quantities, forms a useful part of soils ; it is found in the ashes of plants, and probably is hurtful only in its acid combinations. The ashes of all peats do not afford gypsum. In general, when a recent peat-ash emits a strong smell, resembling that of rotten eggs when acted upon by vinegar, it will furnish gypsum. There is a curious agency of iron in soils which may here be mentioned. Soils containing iron at a minimum of oxidation decompose carbonic acid : the oleaginous parts of manures, by converting the brown oxide, which occurs in every soil, into that with a minimum of oxvgen, form a substance capable of aiding the nutrition of plants, by affording them carbon from carbonic acid. (T. ) 2302. Phosphate of lime is a combination of phosphoric acid and lime, one proportion 348 SCIENCE OF AGRICULTURE. Part II. of each. It is a compound insoluble in pure water, but soluble in water containing any acid matter. It Forma the greatest pari of calcined bones. It exists in most excremeu- titious BUDStanceSj and is found both in the straw and grain of wheat) barley, oats, and rye, and likewise in beans, peas, and tares. It exists in some places in these islands native, but only in very small quantities. Phosphate of lime is generally conveyed to the land in the composition of other manure, and it is probably necessary to corn crops and other white crops. SS03. Bone-ashes calcined and ground to powder will probably be found useful on arable lands containing much vegetable matter, and may perhaps enable soft peats to produce wheat ; but the powdered bone in an uncalcined state is much to be preferred in all cases when it can be procured. 2304. The saline compounds of magnesia will require very little discussion with regard to their uses as manures. In combination with sulphuric acid, magnesia forms a soluble salt. This substance, il is stated by some enquirers, has been found of use as a manure; but it is not found in nature in sufficient abundance, nor is it capable of being made by art sufficiently cheap to be of useful application in the common course of husbandry. '_':!().■). Wood-ashes consist principally of the vegetable alkali united to carbonic acid ; and as this alkali is found in almost ail plants, it is not difficult to conceive that it may form an essential part of their organs. The general tendency of the alkalies is to give solubility to vegetable matters ; and in this way they may render carbonaceous and other substances capable of being taken up by the tubes in the radical fibres of plants. Vege- table alkali likewise has a strong attraction for water, and even in small quantities may tend to give a due degree of moisture to the soil, or to other manures ; though this operation, from the small quantities used or existing in the soil, can be onlv of a secondary kind. 2306. The mineral alkali or soda is found in the ashes of sea- weed, and may be pro- cured by certain chemical agencies from common salt. Common salt consists of the metal named sodium, combined with chlorine ; and pure soda consists of the same metal united to oxygen. When water is present, wliich can afford oxygen to the sodium, soda may be obtained in several modes from salt. The same reasoning will apply to the operation of the pure mineral alkali, or the carbonated alkali, as to that of the vegetable alkali ; and when common salt acts as a manure, it is probably by entering into the composition of the plant in the same manner as gypsum, phosphate of lime, and the alkalies. Sir John Pringle has stated, that salt in small quantities assists the decomposi- tion of animal and vegetable matter. This circumstance may render it useful in certain soils. Common salt, likewise, is offensive to insects. In small quantities it is sometimes a useful manure, and it is probable that its efficacy depends upon many combined causes. Some persons have argued against the employment of salt ; because, when used in large quantities, it either does no good, or renders the ground sterile; but this is a very unfair mode of reasoning. That salt in large quantities rendered land barren, was known long before any records of agricultural science existed. "We read in the Scriptures, that Abimelech took the city of Shechem, " and beat down the city, and sowed it with salt ;" that the soil might be for ever unfruitful. Virgil reprobates a salt soil ; and Pliny, though he recommends giving salt to cattle, yet affirms, that when strewed over land it renders it barren. Put these are not arguments against a proper application of it. Refuse salt in Cornwall, which, however, likewise contains some of the oil and exuvi.e of fish, has long been known as an admirable manure; and the Cheshire fanners contend for the benefit of the peculiar produce of their county. It is not unlikely, that the same causes as those which act in modifying the operation of gyp- sum influence the effects of salt. Most lands in th's island, particularly those near the sea, probably contain a sufficient quantity of salt for all the purposes of vegetation ; and in such cases the supply of it to the soil will not only be listless, but may be injurious. In great storms the spray of the sea has been carried more than fifty miles from the shore; so that from this source salt must be often supplied to the soil. Salt is found in almost all sandstone rocks, and it must exist in the soil derived from these rocks. It is a constituent likewise of almost every kind of animal and vegetable manure. A va- riety of curious and often contradictory experiments on this subject will be found in The Gardener's Magazine, vols. ii. and iii. *2307. Other compounds. Besides these compounds of the alkaline earths and alkalies, many others have been recommended for the purposes of increasing vegetation ; such are nitre, or the nitrous acid combined with potassa. Sir Kenelm Digby states that he made barley grow very luxuriantly by watering it with a very weak solution of nitre ; but he is too speculative a writer to awaken confidence in his results. This substance consists of one proportion of azote, six of oxygen, and one of potassium ; and it is not unlikely that it may furnish azote to form albumen or gluten in those plants wliich contain them ; but the nitrous salts arc too valuable for other purposes to be used as manures. Book III. HEAT AND LIGHT. 319 Dr. Home states that sulphate of potassa, which was just now mentioned as found in the ashes of some peats, is a useful manure : but Xaismith {Elements of Agriculture, p. 78.) questions his results ; and quotes experiments hostile to his opinions, and, as he conceives, unfavourable to the efficacy of any species of saline manure. Much of the discordance of the evidence relating to the efficacy of saline substances depends upon the circumstance of their having been used in different proportions, and, in general, in quantities much too large. 230S. Solutions of saline substances were used twice a week, in the quantity of two ounces, on spots of grass and corn, sufficiently remote from each other to prevent any interference of results. The substances tried were bi-carbonate, sulphate, acetate, nitrate, and muriate of potassa ; sulphate of soda ; and sulphate, nitrate, muriate, and carbonate of ammonia. It was found, that, in all cases when the quantity of the salt equalled one thirtieth part of the weight of the water, the effects were injurious ; but least so in the instance of the carbonate, sulphate, and muriate of ammonia. When the quantities of the salts were one three-hundredth part of the solution, the effects were different. The plants watered with the solutions of the sulphates grew just in the same manner as similar plants watered with rain-water. Those acted on by tiie solution of nitre, acetate, and carbonate of potass, and muriate of ammonia, grew rather better. Those treated with the solution of carbonate of ammonia grew most luxuriantly of all. This last result is what might be expected, for carbonate of ammonia consists of carbon, hydrogen, azote, and oxygen. There was, however, another result which was not anticipated ; the plants watered with solution of nitrate of ammonia did not grow better than those watered with rain-water. The solution reddened litmus paper ; and probably the free acid exerted a prejudicial eftlct, and interfered with the result. 2309. Soot doubtless owes part of its efficacy to the ammoniacal salts it contains. The liquor produced by the distillation of coal contains carbonate and acetate of ammonia, and is said to be a very good manure. 2310. Soapers' waste has been recommended as a manure, and it has been supposed that its efficacy depended upon die different saline matters it contains ; but their quantity is very minute indeed, and its principal ingredients are mild lime and quicklime. In the soapers' waste, from the best manufactories, there is scarcely a trace of alkali. Lime, moistened with sea-water, affords more of this substance, and is said to have been used in some cases with more benefit than common lime. 2311. The result of Sir H. Barfs discussion as to the extent of the ejects of saline sub- stances on vegetation is, that except the ammoniacal compounds, or the compounds con- taining nitric, acetic, and carbonic acid, none of them can afford by their decomposition any of the common principles of vegetation, viz. carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen. The alkaline sulphates and the earthy muriates are so seldom found in plants, or are found in such minute quantities, that it can never be an object to apply them to the soil. The earthy and alkaline substances seem never to be formed in vegetation ; and there is every reason to believe that they are never -decomposed ; for, after being absorbed, they are found in the ashes. The metallic bases of them cannot exist in contact with aqueous fluids; and these metallic bases, like other metals, have not as yet been resolved into any other forms of matter by artificial processes ; they combine readily with other elements, but they remain indestructible, and can be traced undiminished in quantity through their diversified combinations. Chap. III. Of the Agency of Heat, Light, Electricity, and Water, in Vegetable Culture. 2312. The particular agency of heat, light, and u-ater, in vegetation and culture, has been so frequently illustrated, that it only remains to give a general idea of their natures, and to offer some remarks on electricity. Sect. I. Of Heat and Light. 2313. The heat of the sun is the cause of growth, and Us light the cause of maturity, in the vegetable kingdom. This is universally acknowledged : animals will live without light or with very little ; but no plants whatever can exist for any time w ithout the pre- sence of this element. The agency of electricity in vegetation is less known. 2314. Two opinions are current' respecting the nature of heat. By some philosophers it is conceived to be a peculiar subtile fluid, of which the particles repel each other, but have a strong attraction for the particles of ether matter : by others it is considered as a motion or vibration of the particles of matter, which is supposed to differ in velocity in 3.10 SCIENCE OF AGRICULTURE. Part I J. different cases, and thus ti> produce the different degrees of temperature. Whatever division be ultimately made respecting these opinions, it is certain that there is matter moving in the space between us and the heavenly bodies capable of communicating heat ; the motions of which are rectilineal : thus the solar rays produce heat in acting on the surface of the earth. The beautiful experiments of Dr. Herschel have shown that there are rays transmitted from the sun which do not illuminate, and which yet produce mine heat than the visible rays ; and Kitter and Dr. Wollaston have shown that there are other invisible rays distinguished by their chemical effects. 2315. Heat it radiated by the sun to the earth, and if suffered to accumulate, Dr Wells observes, would quickly destroy the present constitution of our globe. This evil is prevented by the radiation of heat from the earth to the heavens, during the night, when it receives from them little or no heat in return. But through the wise economy of means, which is witnessed in all the operations of nature, the prevention of this evil is made the source of great positive good ; for the surface of the earth, having thus become colder than the neighbouring air, condenses a part of the watery vapour of the atmosphere into dew, the utility of which is too manifest to require elucidation. This fluid appears chiefly where it is most wanted, on herbage and low plants, avoiding, in great measure, rocks, bare earth, ami considerable masses of water. Its production, too, tends to prevent the injury that might arise from its own cause; since the precipitation of water, upon the tender parts of plants, must in them lessen the cold which occasions it. The prevention, either wholly or in part, of cold, from radiation, in substances on the ground, by the interposition of any solid body between them and the sky, arises in the following man- ner : the lower body radiates its heat upwards, as if no other intervened between it and the sky ; but the loss, which it hence suffers, is more or less compensated by what is radi- ated to it, from the body above, the under surface of which possesses always the same, or very nearly the same temperature as the air. The manner in which clouds prevent, or occasion to be small, the appearance of a cold at night, upon the surface of the earth, is by radiating heat to the earth, in return for that which they intercept in its progress from the earth towards the heavens. For although, upon the sky becoming suddenly cloudy during a calm night, a naked thermometer, suspended in the air, commonly rises 2 or !5 degrees, little of this rise is to be attributed to the heat evolved by the condensation of watery vapour in the atmosphere ; for the heat so extricated must soon be dissipated, whereas the effect of greatly lessening, or preventing altogether, the appearance of a superior cold on the earth to that of the air, will be produced by a cloudy sky, during the whole of a long niffht. '23 1 (>'. Dense clouds, near the earth, reflect back the heat they receive from it by radiation. Hut similar dense clouds, if very high, though they equally intercept the communication of the earth with the sky, yet being, from their elevated situation, colder than the earth, will radiate to it less heat than they receive from it, and may, consequently, admit of bodies on its surface becoming several degrees colder than the air. Islands, and parts of continents close to the sea, being, by their situations, subject to a cloudy sky, will, from the smaller quantity of heat lost by them through radiation to the heavens, at night, in addition to the reasons commonly assigned, be less cold in winter than countries con- siderably distant from any ocean. But the chief cause why islands, and the coasts of the ocean, are more temperate than continents and inland situations is, that the tem- perature of the ocean a little from the surface, and where not cooled by contact with ice, is very uniformly about 54° Tahr. in all latitudes. The ocean is the great equaliser of heat. (T.) 2317. Fogs, like clouds, will arrest heat, which is radiated upwards by the earth, and if they are very dense, and of considerable perpendicular extent, may remit to it as much as they receive. Fogs do not, in any instance, furnish a real exception to the general rule, that whatever exists in the atmosphere, capable of stopping or impeding the passage of radiant heat, will prevent or lessen the appearance at night of a cold on the surface of the earth, greater than that of the neighbouring air. The water deposited upon the earth, during a fog at night, may sometimes be derived from two different sources, one of which is a precipitation of moisture from a considerable part of the atmosphere, in consequence of its general cold ; the other, a real formation of dew, from the condens- ation, by means of the superficial cold of the ground, of the moisture of that portion of the air which comes in contact with it. In such a state of things, all bodies will become moist, but those especially which most readily attract dew in clear weather. '2:5 1 8. When bodies become cold by radiation, the degree of effect observed must depend, not only on their radiating power, but in part also on the greater or less ease with which they can derive heat, by conduction, from warmer substances in contact with them. Bodies, exposed in a clear night to the sky, must radiate as much heat to it during the prevalence of wind, as they would do if the air were altogether still. But in the former case, little or no cold will be observed upon them above that of the atmosphere, as the frequent application of warm air must quickly return a heat equal, or nearly so, to that Book III. HEAT AND LIGHT. 351 which tliey had lost by radiation. A slight agitation of the air is sufficient to produce some effect of this kind ; though, as has already been said, such an agitation, when the air is very pregnant with moisture, will render greater the quantity of dew ; one requisite for a considerable production of tliis fluid being more increased by it, than another is diminished. 2319. It has been remarked that the hurtful effects of cold occur chiefly in hollow places. If this be restricted to what happens on the serene and calm nights, two reasons from different sources are to be assigned for it. The first is, that the air being stiller in such a situation, than in any other, the cold, from radiation, in the bodies contained in it, will be less diminished by renewed applications of warmer air ; the second, that from the longer continuance of the same air in contact with die ground, in depressed places than in others, less dew will be deposited, and therefore less beat extricated during its formation. 2320. An observation closely connected with the preceding, namely, that, in clear and still nights, frosts are less severe upon the hills, than in the neighbouring plains, has excited more attention, chiefly from its contradicting what is commonly regarded an established fact, that the cold of the atmosphere always increases with the distance from the earth. But on the contrary the fact is certain, that, in very clear and still nights, the air near to the earth is colder "than that which is more distant from it, to the height of at least 220 feet, this being the greatest to which experiments relate. If then a hill be supposed to rise from a plain to the height of 220 feet, having upon its summit a small flat surface covered with grass ; and if the atmosphere, during a calm and serene night, be admitted to be 10° wanner there than it is near the surface of the low grounds, which is a less difference than what sometimes occurs in such circumstances, it is manifest that, should both the grass upon the hill, and that upon the plain, acquire a cold of 10° by radiation, the former will, notwithstanding, be 10° warmer than the latter. Hence also the tops of trees are sometimes found dry when the grass on the ground's surface has been found covered with dew. 2321. A very sliglit covering will exclude much cold. I had often, observes Dr. Wells, in the pride of half knowledge, smiled at the means frequently employed by gardeners, to protect tender plants from cold, as it appeared to me impossible that a thin mat, or any such flimsy substance, could prevent them from attaining the temperature of the atmosphere, by which alone I thought them liable to be injured. But, when I had learned that bodies on the surface of the earth become, during a still and serene night, colder than the atmosphere, by radiating their heat to the heavens, I perceived imme- diately a just reason for the practice, which I had before deemed useless. Being desirous, however, of acquiring some precise information on this subject, I fixed, perpendicularly, in the earth of a grass-plot, four small sticks, and over their upper extremities, which, were six inches above the grass, and formed the corners of a square, the sides of which were two feet long, drew tightly a very thin cambric handkerchief. In this dis- position of things, therefore, nothing existed to prevent the free passage of air from the exposed grass, to that which was sheltered, except the four small sticks, and there was no substance to radiate heat downwards to the latter grass, except the cambric handker- chief. The temperature of the grass, which was thus shielded from the sky, was, upon many nights afterwards, examined by me, and was always found higher than that of neighbouring grass, which was uncovered, if this was colder than the air. When the difference in temperature, between the air several feet above the ground and the un- sheltered grass did not exceed 5°, the sheltered grass was about as warm as the air. If that difference, however, exceeded 5°, the air was found to be somewhat warmer than the sheltered grass. Thus, upon one night, when fully exposed grass was 1 1° colder than the air, the latter was 3° wanner than the sheltered grass ; and the same difference existed on another nigh.t, when the air was 14° wanner than the exposed grass. One reason for this difference, no doubt, was that the air, which passed from the exposed grass, by which it had been very much cooled, to that under the handkerchief, had deprived the latter of part of its heat ; another, that the handkerchief, from being made colder than the atmosphere by the radiation of its upper surface to the heavens, would remit somewhat less heat to the grass beneath, than what it received from that substance. But still, as the sheltered grass, notwithstanding these drawbacks, was upon one night, as may be collected from the preceding relation, 8°, and upon another 11°, wanner than grass fully exposed to the sky, a sufficient reason was now obtained for the utility of a very slight shelter to plants, in averting or lessening injury from cold, on a still and serene night. 2322. The covering has most effect when placed at a little distance above the plants or objects to be sheltered. A difference in temperature, of some magnitude, was always observed on still and serene nights, between bodies sheltered from the sky by substances touching them, and similar bodies, which were sheltered by a substance a little above them. I found, for example, upon one night, that the warmth of grass, sheltered by a 352 SCIENCE OF AGRICULTURE. Past IK cambi ic handkerchief raised a few inches in the air, was 8° greater than that of a neigh- bouring piece of grass which was sheltered by a similar handkerchief actually in contact with it. On another night the difference between the temperatures of two portions of Lias,, shielded in the same manner as the two above mentioned from the influence of the sky, was 4 . Possibly, continues Dr. Wells, experience has long ago taught gar- deners the superior advantage of defending tender vegetables, from the cold of clear and calm nights, by means of substances not directly touching them; though I do not recollect ever having seen any contrivance for keeping mats, or such like bodies, at a distance from the plants which they were meant to protect. 2323. Beat Jtrodttced by walls. Walls, Dr. Wells observes, as far as warmth is con- cerned, are regarded as useful, during a cold night, to the plants which touch them, oi are near to them, only in two ways ; first, by the mechanical shelter which they afford against cold winds, and secondly, by giving out the heat which they had acquired during the day. It appearing to me, however, that, on clear and calm nights, those on which plants frequently receive much injury from cold, walls must be beneficial in a third way, namely, by preventing, in part, the loss of heat, which the plants would sustain from radiation, if they were fully exposed to the sky ; the following experiment was made for the purpose of determining the justness of this opinion. A cambric handkerchief having been placed, by means of two upright sticks, perpendicularly to a grass-plot, and at right angles to the course of the air, a thermometer was laid upon the grass close to the lower edge of the handkerchief, on its windward side. The thermometer thus situated was several nights compared with another lying on the same grass-plot, but on a part of it fully exposed to the sky. On two of these nights, the air being clear and calm, the grass close to the handkerchief was found to be 4° warmer than the fully exposed grass. On a third, the difference was 6°. An analogous fact is mentioned by Gcrsten, who says that a horizontal surface is more abundantly dewed than one which is perpendicular to the ground. 2324. Heat from a covering (if snow. 'Die covering of snow, the same author observes, which countries in high latitudes enjoy during the winter, has been very commonly thought to be beneficial to vegetable substances on the surface of the earth, as far as their temperature is concerned, solely by protecting them from the cold of the atmosphere. But were this supposition just, the advantage of the covering would be greatly circumscribed ; since the upper parts of trees and of tall shrubs are still exposed to the influence of the air. Another reason, however, is furnished for its usefulness, by what lias been said above ; which is, that it prevents the occurrence of the cold, which bodies on the earth acquire, in addition to that of the atmosphere, by the radiation of their heat to the heavens during still and clear nights. The cause, indeed, of this additional cold does not constantly operate ; but its presence, during only a few hours, might effectually destroy plants which now pass unhurt through the winter. Again, as things are, while low vegetable productions are prevented, by their covering of snow, from becoming colder than the atmosphere in consequence of their own radiation, the parts of trees and tall shrubs, which rise above the snow, are little affected by cold from this cause ; for their uttermost twigs, now that they are destitute of leaves, are much smaller than the thermometers suspended by me in the air, which in this situation very seldom became more than 2° colder than the atmosphere. The larger branches, too, which, if fully exposed to the sky, would become colder than the extreme parts, are, in a great degree, sheltered by them ; and, in the last place, the trunks are sheltered both by the smaller and larger parts, not to mention that the trunks must derive heat, by conduction through the roots, from the earth kept warm by the snow. In a similar way is partly to be explained the manner in which a layer of earth or straw preserves vege- table matters in our own fields from the injurious effects of cold in winter. [Essay on Dew- ) '2325. The nature of light is totally unknown : the light which proceeds from the sun seems to be composed of three distinct substances. Scheelc discovered that a glass mirror held before the fire reflected the rays of light, but not the rays of caloric ; but when a metallic mirror was placed in the same situation, both heat and light were reflected. The mirror of glass became hot in a short time, but no change of temperature took place on the metallic mirror. This experiment shows that the glass mirror absorbed the rays of caloric, and reflected those of light ; while the metallic mirror, suffering no change of temperature, reflected both. If a glass plate be held before a burning body, the rays of light are not sensibly interrupted, but the rays of caloric are intercepted ; for no sensible heat is observed on the opposite side of the glass ; but when the glass has reached a proper degree of temperature, the rays of caloric are transmitted with the same facility as those of light; and thus the rays of light and caloric may be separated. But the curious experiments of Dr. Herschel have clearly proved that the invisible rays which are emitted by the sun have the greatest heating power. In those experiments, the different coloured rays were thrown on the bulb of a very delicate ther- Book III. ELECTRICITY.— WATER. 353 mometer, and their heating power was observed. The heating power of the violet, green, and red rays were found to be to each other as the following numbers : — Violet, 16-Q • Green 22*4; Red, 55 -0. The heating power of the most refrangible rays was least, and this power increases as the refrangibility diminishes. The red ray, therefore, has the greatest heating power, and the violet, which is the most refrangible, the least. The illuminating power, it has been already observed, is greatest in the middle of the spectrum, and it diminishes towards both extremities ; but the heating power, which is least at the violet end, increases from that to the red extremity ; and when the thermo- meter was placed beyond the limit of the red ray, it rose still higher than in the red ray, which has the greatest heating power in the spectrum. The heating power of these invi- sible rays was greatest at the distance of half an inch beyond the red ray, but it was sen- sible at the distance of one inch and a half. 2326. The influence of the different solar rays on vegetation has not yet been studied ; but it is certain that the rays exercise an influence independent of the heat they produce. Thus plants kept in darkness, but supplied with heat, air, and moisture, grow for a short time, but they never gain their natural colours ; their leaves are white and pale, and their juices watery and peculiarly saccharine : according to Knight they merely expend the sap previously generated under the influence of light. (Notes to Sir H. Davy's Agr. Ckem. p. 402.) Sect. II. Of Electricity. 2327. Electrical changes are constantly taking place in nature, on the surface of the earth, and in the atmosphere ; but as yet the effects of this power on vegetation have not been correctly estimated. It has been shown by experiments made by means of the vol- taic battery, that compound bodies in general are capable of being decomposed by elec- trical powers ; and it is probable that the various electrical phenomena occurring in our system, must influence both the germination of seeds and the growth of plants. It has been found that corn sprouted much more rapidly in water positively electrified by the voltaic instrument, than in water negatively electrified ; and experiments made upon the atmosphere show that clouds are usually negative ; and, as when a cloud is in one state of electricity, the surface of the earth beneath is brought into the opposite state, it is probable that in common cases the surface of the earth is positive. A similar experi- ment is related by Dr. Darwin. ( P/iytologia, sect. xiii. 2, 3.) 2328. Respecting the nature of electricity different opinions are entertained amongst scientific men. By some, the phenomena are conceived to depend upon a single subtile fluid in excess in the bodies said to be positively electrified, and in deficiency in the bodies said to be negatively electrified ; a second class suppose the effects to be produced by two different fluids, called by them the vitreous fluid and the resinous fluid ; and others regard them as affections or motions of matter, or an exhibition of attractive powers similar to those which produce chemical combination and decomposition, but usually exerting their action on masses. 2329. A profitable application of electricity, Dr. Darwin observes, to promote the growth of plants is not yet discovered ; it is nevertheless probable, that, in dry seasons, the erection of numerous metallic points on the surface of the ground, but a few feet high, might in the night time contribute to precipitate the dew by facilitating the passage of electricity from the air into the earth ; and that an erection of such points higher in the air by means of wires wrapped round tall rods, like angling rods, or elevated on buildings, might frequently precipitate showers from the higher parts of the atmosphere. Such points erected in gardens might promote a quicker vegetation of the plants in their vicinity, by supplying them more abundantly with the electric ether. (Phytologia, xiii. 4.) J. Williams (Climate of Great Britain, 348 ), enlarging on this idea, proposes to erect large electrical machines, to be driven by wind, over the general face of the country, for the purpose of improving the climate, and especially for lessening that superabundant moisture which he contends is yearly increasing from the increased eva- porating surface, produced by the vegetation of improved culture, and especially from the increase of pastures, hedges, and ornamental plantations. Sect. III. Of Water. 2330. Water is a compound of oxygen and hydrogen gas, though primarily reckoned a simple or elementary substance. " If the metal called potassium be exposed in a glass tube to a small quantity of water, it will act upon it with great violence; elastic fluid will be disengaged, which, will be found to be hydrogen ; and the same effects will be produced upon the potassium, as if it had absorbed a small quantity of oxygen ; and the hydrogen disengaged, and the oxygen added to the potassium, are in weight as 2 to 15 ; and if two in volume of hydrogen, and one in volume of oxygen, which have the weights of 2 and 15, be introduced into a close vessel, and an electrical spark passed through them, they will inflame and condense into 17 parts of pure water." A a SCIENCE OF AGRICULTURE. P.;rtII. 239 1. '•''•!. r is absolutely necessary t« the economy of vegetation in its clastic and fluid states; and it is not d< void of use even in its solid form. Snow ami ice are bad con- ductors of heal ; and when the ground is covered with snow, or the surface of the soil or of water is frozen, the roots or bulbs of the plants beneath arc protected by the congealed water from the influence of the atmosphere, the temperature of which, in northern win- ters, is usually very much below the freezing point; and this water becomes the iirst nourishment of the plant in early spring. The expansion of water during its con- gelation, at which time its volume increases one twelfth, and its contraction of bulk during a thaw, tend to pulverise the soil, to separate its parts from each other, and to make it more permeable to the influence of the air. Chap. IV. Of the Agency of the Atmosphere in Vegetation. 2332. The arrial medium which envelopes the earth may be studied chemically and phy- sically : the Iirst study respects the elements of which the atmosphere is composed ; and the second their action in a state of combination, and as influenced by various causes, or those phenomena which constitute the weather. Sect. I. Of the Elements of the Atmosphere. 2333. Water, carbonic acid gas, oxygen, and azote, are the principal substances compos ing the atmosphere; but more minute enquiries respecting their nature and agencies are necessary to afford correct views of its uses in vegetation. 2334. That water exists in the atmosphere is easily proved. If some of the salt, called muriate of lime, which has been just heated red, be exposed to the air, even in the driest and coldest weather, it will increase in weight, and become moist ; and in a certain time will be converted into a fluid. If put into a retort and heated, it will yield pure water; will gradually recover its pristine state, and, if heated red, its former weight : so that it is evident that the water united to it was derived from the air. That it existed in the air in an invisible and elastic form, is proved by the circumstances, that if a given quantity of air be exposed to the salt, its volume and weight will diminish, provided the experiment be correctly made. 2335. The quantity of water which exists in air, as vapour, varies with the temperature. In proportion as the weather is hotter, the quantity is greater. At 50° of Fahrenheit, air contains about ^ of its volume of vapour ; and, as the specific gravity of vapour is to that of air nearly as 10 to 15, this is about ± of its weight. At 100°, supposing that there is a free communication with water, it contains about T ' 5 part in volume, or ^ in weight It is the condensation of vapour, by diminution of the temperature of the atmo- sphere, which is probably the principal cause of the formation of clouds, and of the deposition of dew, mist, snow, or hail. 233f>. T/ie power of different substances to absorb aqueous vapour from the atmosphere by cohesive attraction has been already referred to. The leaves of living plants appear to act upon this vapour in its elastic form, and to absorb it. Some vegetables increase in weight from this cause, when suspended in the atmosphere and unconnected with the soil ; such are the house-leek, and different species of the aloe. In very intense heats, and when the soil is dry, the life of plants seems to be preserved by the absorbent power of their leaves ; and it is a beautiful circumstance in the economy of nature, that aqueous vapour is most abundant in the atmosphere when it is most needed for the purposes of life ; and that when other sources of its supply are cut off, this is most copious. 2337. The existence of carbonic acid gas in the atmosphere is proved by the following process: if a solution of lime and water be exposed to the air, a pellicle will speedily form upon it, and a solid matter will gradually fall to the bottom of the water, and in a certain time the water will become tasteless ; this is owing to the combination of the lime which was dissolved in the water with carbonic acid gas, which existed in the atmosphere, as may be proved by collecting the film and the solid matter, and igniting them strongly in a little tube of platina or iron ; they will give out carbonic acid gas, and will become quicklime, which, added to the same water, will again bring it to the state of lime-water. 2338. The quantity of carbonic acid gas in the atmosphere is very small. It is not easy to determine it with precision, and it must differ in different situations ; but where there is a free circulation of air, it is probably never more than one 500th, nor less than one 800th, of tho volume of air. Carbonic acid gas is nearly one third heavier than the other elastic parts of the atmosphere in their mixed state ; hence, at first view, it might be supposed Book III. THE ATMOSPHERE. 355 that it would be most abundant in the lower regions of the atmosphere; but unless it lias been immediately produced at the surface of the earth in some chemical process, this does not seem to be the case ; elastic fluids of different specific gravities have a tendency to equable mixture by a species of attraction, and the different parts of the atmosphere are constantly agitated" and blended together by winds or other causes. De Saussure found lime-water precipitated on Mount Blanc, the highest point of land in Europe ; and car- bonic acid gas has been always found, apparently in due proportion, in the air brought down from great heights in the atmosphere by aeronautic adventurers. 2339. The principal consumption of the carbonic acid in the atmosphere seems to be in affording nourishment to plants ; and some of them appear to be supplied with carbon chiefly from this source. 2340 The formation of carbonic acid gas takes place during fermentation, combustion, putrefaction, respiration, and a number of operations taking place upon the surface of the earth ; and there is no other extensive operation known in nature, by which it can be destroyed but by vegetation. 2341. Oxygen and azote are the remaining constituents of the atmosphere. After a given portion of common air has been deprived of aqueous vapour and carbonic acid gas, it appears little altered in its properties ; it remains a compound of oxygen and azote, which supports combustion and animal life. There are many modes of separating these two gases from each other. A simple one is by burning phosphorus in a confined volume of air ; this absorbs the oxygen and leaves the azote ; and 100 parts in volume of air, in which phosphorus has been burnt, yield "9 parts of azote ; and by mixing this azote with 21 parts of fresh oxygen gas artificially procured, a substance having the original characters of air is produced. To procure pure oxygen from air, quicksilver may be kept heated in it, at about 600°, till it becomes a red powder ; tliis powder, when ignited, will be restored to the state of quicksilver by giving off oxygen. 2342. Oxygen is necessary to some functions of vegetables ; but its great importance in nature is its relation to the economy of animals It is absolutely necessary to their life. Atmospheric air taken into the lungs of animals, or passed in solution in water through the gills of fishes, loses oxygen ; and for the oxygen lost, about an equal volume of car- bonic acid appears. 2343. The effects of azote in vegetation are not distinctly known. As it is found in some of the products of vegetation, it may be absorbed by certain plants from the atmosphere. It prevents the action of oxygen from being too energetic, and serves as a medium in w hich the more essential parts of the air act ; nor is this circumstance unconformable to the analogy of nature ; for the elements most abundant on the solid surface of the globe are not 'those which are the most essential to the existence of the living beings belonging to it. _ . 2344. The action of the atmosphere on plants differs at different periods of their growth, and varies with the various stages of the developement and decay of their organs.^ If a healthy seed be moistened and exposed to air at a temperature not below^ 45°, it soon •Terminates, and shoots forth a plume, which rises upwards, and a radicle which descends. If the air be confined, it is found that in the process of germination the oxygen, or a part of it, is absorbed. The azote remains unaltered ; no carbonic acid is taken away from the air ; on the contrary, some is added. Seeds are incapable of germinating, except when oxygen is present. In the exhausted receiver of the air-pump, in pure azote, or in pure carbonic acid, when moistened they swell, but do not vegetate ; and if kept in these gases, lose their living powers, and undergo putrefaction. If a seed be examined before germination, it will be found more or less insipid, at least not sweet; but after germination it is always sweet. Its coagulated mucilage, or starch, is converted into sugar in the process ; a substance difficult of solution is changed into one easily soluble ;^ and the sugar carried through the cells or vessels of the cotyledons is the nourishment of the infant plant. The absorption of oxygen by the seed in germination has been com- pared to its absorption in producing the evolution of foetal life in the egg ; but this analogy is only remote. All animals, from the most to the least perfect classes, require a supply of oxygen. From the moment the heart begins to pulsate till it ceases to beat, the aeration of' the blood is constant, and the function of respiration invariable : carbonic acid is given off in the process; but the chemical change produced in the blood is unknown ; nor is there any reason to suppose the formation of any substance similar to sugar. It is evident, that in all cases of semination, the seeds should be sown so as to be fully exposed to the influence of the air ; and one cause of the unproductiveness of cold clayey adhesive soils is, that the seed is coated with matter impermeable to air. In sandy soils "the earth is always sufficiently penetrable by the atmosphere; but in clayey soils there can scarcely be too great a mechanical division of parts. Any seed not fully supplied with air, alwavs produces a weak and diseased plant. We have already seen that carbon is added to 'plants from the air by the process of vegetation in sunshine ; and oxvgen is added to the atmosphere at the same time. It is worthy of remark that the A a 2 356 SCIKNCK OK AGRILTI.TUHE. Part II. 1 Latitude. Places* Range of the Barometer. Greatest. Annual. 0" or Peru - - - HO 2i V3 Calcutta - - 77 — 33 55 Cape Town - 89 40 55 Naples ... l no — 51 a Dover - - . 2 -17 1 80 53 13 M uldlewich - 3 00 1 94 53 83 Liverpool - - 2 S9 1 96 59 56 1 Petanbuigb • 3 45 abtenct of light is nrccrwaiy to the Formation of sugar in the germination of seeds ; and itB pretence to the production of sugar in fruits. The following is the late Dr. Murray's ingenious explanation of these remarkable facts. The seed consists chiefly of farinaceous matter, which requires oxygen to convert it into sugar. Now living vegetables appear to absorb oxygen in the dark : unripe fruits usually contain an acid, that is, have an excess ofoKygen ; and light is favourable to the evolution of oxygen from living plants. (7'.) 2345. Those changes in the atmosphere which constitute the most important meteorological phenomena may be classed under five distinct heads ; the alterations that occur in the weight of the atmosphere ; those that take place in its temperature; the changes produced in its quantity by evaporation and rain ; the excessive agitation to which it is frequently Bubject; and the phenomena arising from electric and other causes, which at particular times occasion or attend the precipitations and agitations alluded to. All the above phenomena prove to demonstration that constant changes take place, the consequences of new combinations and decompositions rapidly following each other. 234G. With respect to the changes in the iceight of the atmosphere, it is generally known that the instrument called the barometer shows the weight of a body of air immediately above it, extending to the extreme boundary of the atmosphere, and the base of which is equal to that of the mercury contained within it. As the level of the sea is the lowest point of observation, the column of air over a barometer placed at that level is the longest that can be obhiined. 2347. The variations of the barometer between the tropics are very trifling; they increase gradually as the latitude advances towards the poles, till in the end it amounts to two or three inches. The following Table will explain this gradual increase: — 2348. The range of the barometer is considerably less in Worth America than in the Corresponding latitudes (if Europe, particularly in Virginia, where it never exceeds 11. The range is more considerable at the level of the sea than on mountains; ami in the same degree of latitude it is in the inverse ratio of the height of the place above the level of the sea. Cotte composed a t ible, which has been published in the Journal de Physique, from which it appears extremely probable, that the barometer has an in- variable tendency to rise between the morning and the evening, and that this impulse is most con- siderable from two in the afternoon till nine at night, when the greatest elevation is accomplished ; but the elevation at nine differs from that at two by four twelfths, while that of two varies from the elevation of the morning only by one twelfth, and that in particular climates the greatest elevation is at two o'clock. The observations of Cotte confirm those of Luke Howard; and from them it is concluded, that the barometer is influenced by some depressing cause at new and foil moon, and that some other makes it rise at the quarters. This coincidence is most considerable in fair and calm weather ; the depression in the interval between the quarters and conjunctions amounts to one tenth of an inch, and the rise from the conjunctions to the quarters is to the same amount. The range of this instrument is found to be greater in winter than in summer ; for instance, the mean at York, during the months from October to March inclusive, in the year 1774, was 1 4 l J, and in the six summer months 11)16. 2349. The more serene and settled the weather, the higher the barometer ranges : calm weather, with a tendency to rain, depresses it ; high winds have a similar effect on it ; and the greatest elevation occurs with easterly and northerly winds ; but the south produces a directly contrary effect. 2350. The variations in the temperature of the air in any particular place, exclusive of the differences of seasons and climates, are very considerable. These changes cannot be produced by heat derived from the sun, as its rays concentrated have no kind of effect on air; these, however, beat the surface of our globe, from which heat is communicated to the immediate atmosphere; it is through this fact that the temperature is highest where the place is so situated as to receive with most effect the rays of the sun, and that it varies in each region with the season ; it is also the cause why it decreases in proportion to the height of the air above the surface of the earth. The most perpendicular rays falling on the globe at the equator, there its heat is the greatest, and that heat decreases gradually to the poles, of course the temperature of the air is in exact unison ; from this it appears that the air acquires the greatest degree of warmth at the equator, whence it becomes insensibly cooler till we arrive at the poles; in the same manner the air immediately above the equator cools gradually. Though the temperature sinks as it approaches the pole, and is highest at the equator, yet as it varies continually with the seasons, it is impossible to form an accurate idea of the progression without forming a mean temperature for a year, from that of the temperature of every degree of latitude tor every day of the year, which may be accomplished by adding together the whole of the observations and dividing by their number, when the quotient will be the mean tem- perature for the year. The " diminution," says Dr. Thomson, " from the pole to the equator takes place in arithmetical progression ; or to speak more properly, the annual temperature of all the latitudes are arithmetical means between the mean annual tem- perature of the equator and the pole ; and, as far as heat depends on the action of solar rays, that of each month is as the mean altitude of the sun, or rather as the sine of the sun's altitude. Later observations, however, '.lave shown that all the formula for cal- culating the mean temperatures of different latitudes, which are founded on Mayer's Book III. THE ATMOSPHERE. 357 Empirical Equation, though tolerably accurate in the Northern Atlantic Ocean, to latitude 60°, are totally irreconcileable with observations in very high latitudes ; and on the meridians, from 70° to 90° W. and E. of London. The results of late arctic voyages, and of Russian travels, have been satisfactorily shewn, by Dr. Brewster (Edin Phil. Tr.), to prove the existence of two meridians of greatest cold in the northern hemisphere ; and the mean temperature of particular countries varies, not only according to the parallels of latitude, but also according to their proximity to these two cold meridians. (T.) 2351. Inconsiderable seas, in temperate and cold climates, are colder in winter and warmer in summer than the main ocean, as they are necessarily under the influence of natural operations from the land. Thus the Gulf of Bothnia is generally frozen in winter, but the water is sometimes heated in the summer to 70°, a state which the opposite part of the Atlantic never acquires ; the German Sea is five degrees warmer in summer than the Atlantic, and more than three colder in winter ; the Mediterranean is almost throughout warmer both in winter and summer, which therefore causes the Atlantic to flow into it; and the Black Sea, being colder than the Mediterranean, flows into the latter. 2352. The eastern parts of North America, as it appears from meteorological tables, have a much colder air than the opposite European coast, and fall short of the standard by about ten or twelve degrees. There are several causes which produce this considerable difference. The greatest elevation in North America is between the -Kith and .50th degree of north latitude, and the 100th and 110th of longitude west from London ; and there the most considerable rivers have their origin. The height alone will partly explain why this tract is colder than it would otherwise be ; but there are other causes, and those are most extensive forests, and large swamps and morasses, all of which exclude heat from the earth, and consequently prevent it from ameliorating the rigour of winter. Many extensive lakes lie to the east, and Hudson's Bay more to the north ; a chain of mountains extends on the south of the latter, and those equally prevent the accumulation of heat ; besides, this bay is bounded on the east by the mountainous country of Labrador, and has many islands ; from all which circumstances arise the lowness of the temperature, and the piercing cold of the north-west winds. The annual decrease of the forests for the purpose of clearing the ground, and the consumption for building and fuel, is supposed to have occasioned a considerable decrease of cold in the winter; and if this should be the result, much will yet be done towards bringing the temperature of the European and American continents to something like a level. 2353. Continents have a colder atmosphere than islands- situated in the same degree of latitude ; and countries lying to the windward of the superior classes of mountains, or forests, are warmer than those which are to the leeward. Earth always possessing a certain degree of moisture, has a greater capacity to receive and retain heat than sand or stones, the latter therefore are heated and cooled with more rapidity : it is from tnis circumstance that the intense heats of Africa and Arabia, and the cold of Terra del Fuego, are derived. The temperature of growing vegetables changes very gradually; but there is a considerable evaporation from them : if those exist in great numbers, and congregated, or in forests, their foliage preventing the rays of the sun from reaching the earth, it is perfectly natural that the immediate atmosphere must be greatly affected by the ascent of chilled vapours. 2354. Our next object is the ascent and descent qfivater: the principal appearances of this element are vapour, clouds, dew, rain, frost, hail, snow, and ice. 2355. Vapour is water rarefied by heat, in consequence of which, becoming lighter than the atmosphere, it is raised considerably above the surface of the earth, and afterwards by a partial condensation forms clouds. It differs from exhalation, which is properly a dispersion of dry particles from a body. When water is heated to 212° it boils, and is rapidly converted into steam ; and the same change takes place in much lower temperatures ; but in that case the evaporation is slower, and the elasticity of the steam, is smaller. As a very considerable proportion of the earth's surface is covered with water, and as this water is constantly evaporating and mixing with the atmosphere in the state of vapour, a precise determination of the rate of evaporation must be of very great im- portance in meteorology. Evaporation is confined entirely to the surface of the water ; hence it is, in all cases, proportional to the surface of the water exposed to the atmosphere. Much more vapour of course rises in maritime countries or those interspersed with lakes, than in inland countries. Much more vapour rises during hot weather than during cold : hence the quantity evaporated depends in some measure upon temperature. The quantity of vapour which rises from water, even when the temperature is the same, varies according to circumstances. It is least of all in calm weather, greater when a breeze blows, and greatest of all with a strong wind. From experiments, it appears, that the quantity of vapour raised annually at Manchester is equal to about 25 inches of rain. If to this we add five inches for the dew, with Dalton, it will make the annual evaporation 30 inches. Now, if we consider the situation of England, and the greater quantity of vapour raised from water, it will not surely be considered as too great an allowance, if we estimate the mean annual evaporation over the whole surface of the globe at 35 inches. 2356. A cloud is a mass of vapour, more or less opaque, formed and sustained at considerable height in the atmosphere, probably by the joint agencies of heat and A a 3 SCIENCE OF AGRICULTURE Pari II electricity. The firsl successful attempt to arrange the diversified forms of clouds, under a few general modifications! was made by Luke Howard, Esq. We shall give here a brief account of his ingenious classification. 2357. The simple modification! are thus named and defined: — 1. Cirrus, parallel, rlcxuous, or diverging fibres, extensible in any or in all directions (jig. 207. a. J; 207 8 2. Cumulus, convex or conical heaps, increasing upwards from a horizontal base (6) ; 3. Stratus, a widely-extended, continuous, horizontal sheet, increasing from below (c). 2358. 7V intermediate modifications which require to be noticed are, 4. Cirro-cumulus, small, well defined, roundish masses, in close horizontal arrangement (d) ; 5. Cirro- stratus, horizontal, or slightly inclined masses, attenuated towards a part or the whole of their circumference, bent downward or undulated, separate, or in groups consisting of small clouds having these characters e). '_':i5P. The compound modifications are, 6. Cumulo-stratus, or twain cloud ; the cirro- stratus blended with the cumulus, and either appearing intermixed with the heaps of the latter, or superadding a wide-spread structure to its base ( f) ; 7. Cumulo-cirro-stratus, in Nimbus ; the rain-cloud, a cloud or system of clouds from which rain is falling. It is a horizontal sheet, above which the cirrus spreads, while the cumulus enters it laterally and from beneath (gig)] 8. The Fall Cloud, resting apparently on the surface of She ground (/j). Book III. THE ATMOSPHERE. 359 2360. The cirrus appears to have the least density, the greatest elevation, the greatest variety of extent ami direction, and to appear earliest in serene weather, being indicated by a few threads pencilled on the sky. Before storms they appear lower and denser, and usually in the quarter opposite to that from which the storm arises. Steady nigh winds are also preceded and attended by cirrous streaks, running quite across the sky in the direction they blow in. 2361. The cumulus has the densest structure, is formed in the lower atmosphere, and moves along with the current next the earth. A small irregular spot first appears, and is, as it were, the nucleus on which they increase. The lower surface continues irregularly plane, while the upper rises into conical or hemi- spherical heaps ; which may afterwards continue long nearly of the same bulk, or rapidly rise into moun- tains. They will begin, in fair weather, to form some hours alter sunrise, arrive at their maximum in the hottest part of the afternoon, then go on diminishing, and totally disperse about sunset Previously to rain the cumulus increases rapidly, appears lower in the atmosphere, and with its surface full of loose fleeces or protuberances. The formation of large cumuli to leeward in a strong wind, indicates the ap- proach of a calm with rain. When they do not disappear or subside about sunset, but continue to rise, thunder is to be expected in the night. '2362. The stratus has a mean degree of density, and is the lowest of clouds, its inferior surface commonly resting on the earth in water. This is properly the cloud of night, appearing about sunset. It compre- hends all those creeping mists which in calm weather ascend in spreading sheets (like an inundation of water) from the bottoms of valleys, and the surfaces of lakes and rivers. On the return of the sun, the level surface of this cloud begins'to put on the appearance of cumulus, the whole at the same time separat- ing from the ground. The continuity is next destroyed, and the cloud ascends and evaporates, or passes oil with the appearance of the nascent cumulus. This has long been experienced as a prognostic of fair weather. 2363. Transition of forms. The cirrus having continued for some time increasing or stationary, usually passes either to the cirro-cumulus or the cirro-stratus, at the same time descending to a lower station in the atmosphere. This modification forms a very beautiful sky, and is frequently in summer an attendant on warm and drv weather. The cirro-stratus, when seen in the distance, frequently gives the idea of shoals of fish. It precedes wind and rain ; is seen in the intervals of storms ; and sometimes alternates with the cirro-cumulus in the same cloud, when the different evolutions form a curious spectacle. A judgment mav be formed of the weather likely to ensue by observing which modification prevails at last. The solar and'lunar haloes, as well as the parhelion and paraselene (mock sun and mock moon), prognostics of foul weather, are occasioned by this cloud. The cumulo-stratus precedes, and the nimbus accom- panies rain. 2364. Dew is the moisture insensibly deposited from the atmosphere on the surface of the earth. This moisture is precipitated by the cold of the body on which it appears, and will be more or less abundant, not in proportion to the coldness of that body, but in pro- portion to the existing state of the air in regard to moisture. It is commonly supposed that the formation of dew produces cold, but like every other precipitation of water from the atmosphere, it must eventually produce heat. 2365. Phenomena of dew. Aristotle justly remarked, that dew appears only on calm and cleat nights. Dr. Wells shows, that very little is ever deposited in opposite circumstances ; and that little only when the clouds are very high. It is never seen on nights both cloudy and windy ; and if in the course of the night the weather, from being serene, should become dark and stormy, dew which has been deposited will disap- pear. In calm weather, if the sky be partially covered with clouds, more dew will appear than if it were entirely uncovered. Dew probably begins in the country to appear upon grass in places shaded from the sun, during clear and calm weather, soon after the heat of the atmosphere has declined, and continues to be deposited through the whole night, and for a little after sunrise. Its quantity will depend in some measure on the proportion of moisture in the atmosphere, and is consequently greater after rain than after a long tract of dry weather ; and in Europe, with southerly and westerly winds, than with those which blow from the north and the east. The direction of the sea determines this relation of the winds to <\cv; ; for in Egypt, dew is scarcely ever observed except while the northerly or Etesian winds prevail. Hence also dew is generally more abundant in spring and autumn "than in summer. It is always very copious on those clear nights which are followed by misty mornings, which show the air to be loaded with moisture ; and a clear morning following a cloudy night determines a plentiful deposition of the retained vapour. When warmth of atmosphere is compatible with clearness, as is the case in southern latitudes, though seldom in our country, the dew becomes much more copious, because the air then contains more moisture. Dew continues to form with increased copiousness as the night advances, from the increased refrigeration of the ground. 2366. Cause of dew. Dew, according to Aristotle, is a species of rain, formed in the lower atmosphere, in consequence of its moisture being condensed by the cold of the night into minute drops. Opinions of this kind, savs Dr. Wells, are still entertained by many persons, among whom is the very ingenious Pro- fessor Leslie.' (Eelat. of Heat and Moisture, p. 37. and" 132.) A fact, however, first taken notice of by Garstin, who published his Treatise on Dew in 1773, proves them to be erroneous ; for he found that bodies a little elevated in the air often become moist with dew, while similar bodies, lying on the ground, remain drv, though necessarily, from their position, as liable to be wetted, by whatever falls from the heavens, as the former. The above notion is perfectly refuted by the fact, that metallic surfaces exposed to the air in a horizontal position remain dry, while every thing around them is covered with dew. After a long period of drought, when the air was very still and the sky serene, Or. Wells exposed to the sky, 28 minutes before sunset, previously weighed parcels of wool and swandown, upon a smooth, unpaintedj and perfectly dry fir table, 5 feet long, 3 broad, and nearly 3 in height, which had been placed, an hour before, in the sunshine, in a large level grassfield. The wool, 12 minutes after sunset, was found to be 14° colder than the air, and to have acquired no weight. The swandown, the quantity of which was much greater than that of the wool, was at the same time 13° colder than the air, and was also without any ad- ditional weight. In 20 minutes more the swandown was li±° colder than the neighbouring air, and was still without anv increase of its weight. At the same time the grass was 15° colder than the air four feet above the ground. Or. Wells, bv a copious induction of facts derived from observation and experiment, establishes the proposition, that bodies become colder than the neighbouring air before they are dewed. The cold therefore, which Dr. Wilson and M. Six conjectured to be the effect of dew, now appears to be its cause. But what makes the terrestrial surface colder than the atmosphere ? The radiation or projection of heat into free space. Now the researches of Professor Leslie and Count Rumford have de- monstrated that different bodies project heat with very different degrees of force. In the operation of this principle therefore, conjoined with the power of a concave mirror of cloud, or any other awning, to reflect or throw down again those caloric emanations which would be dissipated in a clear sky, we shall find a solution of the most mysterious phenomena of dew. 2367. Rain, Luke Howard, who may be considered as our most accurate scientific meteorologist, is inclined to think that rain is in almost every instance the result of the electrical action of clouds upon each other. A a 4 3(,0 SCIENCE OF AGRICULTURE. Part IE Phenomena qfrafn Rain never descend* till the transparency of the air ceases, and the invisible vapours become vesicular, when olouda form, and at length the drops (all: clouds, instead of forming gradually at e throughout all parts of the horizon, generate in a particular spot, and imperceptibly in- crease till the whole expanse i> obscured. 2369. The cause of rain is thus accounted for by Ilutton and Dalton. If two masses of air of unequal temperatures are, when saturated with vapour, intermixed by the ordinary currents of the winds, a precipitation ensues. If the masses are under satu- ration, then less precipitation takes place, or none at all, according to the degree. Also the wanner the air, the greater is the quantity of vapour precipitated in like circumstances. 1 [ence the reason why rains are heavier in summer than in winter, and in warm countries than in cold. 2370. The quantity of rain, taken at an annual mean, is the greatest at the equator, and it lessens gradually to the poles ; at which there are fewer days of rain, the number in- creasing iii proportion to the distance from them. From north latitude 1 2 ■ > to 43° the mean number of rainy days is 78 ; from 43° to 46° the mean number is 103 ; from 46° to .'JO , 13 1; and From .)1° to 60°, 161. Winter often produces a greater number of rainy days than summer, though the quantity of rain is more considerable in the latter than in the former season ; at Petersburgh rain and snow fall on an average 84 days of the winter, and the quantity amounts to about five inches ; on the contrary, the summer produces eleven inches in about the same number of days. Mountainous distriets are subject to great falls of rain ; among the Andes particularly, it rains almost incessantly, while the Hat country of Egypt is consumed by endless drought. Dalton estimates the quantity of rain falling in England at 31 inches. The mean annual quantity of rain for the whole globe is 34 inches. 2371. The cause why less rainfalls in the first six months of the year than in the last sis months is thus explained. The whole quantity of water in the atmosphere in January is usually about three inches, as appears from the dew point, which is then about 32° ; now the force of vapours of that temperature is 0-2 of an inch of mercury, which is equal to 2*8 or three inches of water. The dew point in July is usually about 58° or 59°, cor- responding to 0-5 of an inch of mercury, which is equal to seven inches of water. Thus it is evident that, in the latter month, the atmosphere contains four inches of water more than in the former month. Hence, supposing the usual intermixture of currents of air in botli the intervening periods to be the same, the rain ought to be four inches less in the former period of the year than the average, and four inches more in the latter period, making a difference of eight inches between the two periods, which nearly accords with the preceding observations. 2372. The mean monthly and annual quantities of rain at various places, deduced from the average for many years, by Dalton, is given in the following Table; — g -i O >s Jn ii £ . Is ? ■ O Lancaster, IS Dumfries, 16 years. H o s .£ a C >» PS 1 *> > Inch. Inch. Inch. Inch. Inch. Inch. Inch. Inch. Ft. In. Fr. In. Inch. January - 2-310 2-177 2-196 3-461 5 2"9 3095 1 595 1-464 1-228 2 477 2 530 February - 1-847 1-652 2 995 5-126 2-837 1 741 1 -250 1-232 1-700 2-295 March - - i . : 1 S2S 1-753 3-151 2 164 1-184 1172 1-190 1 -927 1748 April - . 2OI0 2-104 2-078 •J lsi) 2-986 2017 (Mi:: 1 1 279 1-185 2-686 1-950 May - . 2-895 2-573 2118 2-4t>J 3-480 2-568 1-641 1-636 1-767 2-931 2407 June - - 2T>02 2816 2286 2-512 £722 S 974 1-343 1-738 1 697 2-562 2315 Julv - - 3(X)G 4-140 4-959 2-418 1-800 1-882 3-115 August 3 665 3-311 2-435 4-581 5-089 3199 2746 1-807 1-900 2-347 3-103 September 3281 2289 3*751 4-874 4-350 1-617 1-842 I' 50 4140 3135 October .; 922 3724 i-079 4-151 1-43S 4143 2-297 2-092 1780 4 741 3 537 November :;;,,>> 3'4I1 2 i i 3775 4785 3174 1-904 2-828 1720 4-187 3120 December - 3*32 3288 .; 955 6-084 3142 1-981 1736 1-600 2-397 3 058 '.6-I40 -.4 11 27-664 39-714 1 53-944 56-919 21-331 20-686 18-619 33-977 " 1 2373. Frost, being derived from the atmosphere, naturally proceeds from the upper parts of bodies downwards ; so the longer a frost is continued, the thicker the ice becomes upon the water in ponds, and the deeper into the earth the ground is frozen. In about 16 or 17 days' frost, Boyle found it had penetrated 14 inches into the ground. At Moscow, in a hard season, the frost will penetrate two feet deep into the ground ; and Captain James found it penetrated 10 feet deep in Charlton Island, and the water in the same island was frozen to the depth of six feet. Scheffer assures us, that in Sweden the frost pierces two cubits (a Swedish ell) into the earth, turning what moisture is found there into a whitish substance like ice ; and into standing water three ells or more. The same author also mentions sudden cracks or rifts in the ice of the lakes of Sweden, nine or ten feet deep, and many leagues long ; the rupture being made with a noise not less Book III. OF THE ATMOSPHERE. 361 loud than if many guns were discharged together. By such means, however, the fishes are furnished with air, so that they are rarely found dead. 2574. The history of frosts furnishes very extraordinary facts. The trees are often scorched and burnt up, as with the most excessive heat, in consequence of the separation of water from the air, which is therefore very drying. In the great frost in 1683, the trunks of oak, ash, walnut, and other trees, were miserably split and cleft, so that they might be seen through, and the cracks often attended with dreadful noises like the explosion of fire-arms. 2375. Huil is generally defined as frozen rain ; it differs from it in that the hailstones for the most part are not formed of single pieces of ice, but of many little spherules agglutinated together ; neither are those spherules all of the same consistence ; some of them being hard and solid, like perfect ice ; others soft, and mostly like snow hardened by a severe frost. Hailstone has sometimes a kind of core of this soft matter ; but more frequently the core is solid and hard, while the outside is formed of a softer matter. Hailstones assume various figures, being sometimes round, at other times pyramidal, crenated, angular, thin or flat, and sometimes stellated with six radii, like the small crystals of snow. Natural historians furnish us with various accounts of surprising showers of hail, in which the hailstones were of extraordinary magnitude. 2376. Snow is formed by the freezing of the vapours in the atmosphere. It differs from hail and hoar frost, in being as it were crystallised, while they are not. As the flakes fall down through the atmosphere, they are continually joined by more of these radiated spicula, and they increase in bulk like the drops of rain or hailstones. The lightness of snow, although it is firm ice, is owing to the excess of its surface in comparison with the matter contained under it : as gold itself may be extended in surface till it will ride upon the least breath of air. The whiteness of snow is owing to the small particles into which it is divided ; for ice when pounded will become equally white. 2377. Snow is of great use to the vegetable kingdom. Were we to judge from appearance only, we might imagine, that, so far from being useful to the earth, the cold humidity of snow would be detrimental to vegetation : but the experience of all ages asserts the con- trary. Snow, particularly in those northern regions where the ground is covered with it for several months, fructifies the earth, by guarding the corn or other vegetables from the intenser cold of the air, and especially from the cold piercing winds. It has been a vulgar opinion, very generally received, that snow fertilises the land on which it falls more than rain, in consequence of the nitrous salts which it is supposed to acquire by freezing: but it appears from the experiments of Margraaf, in the year 1731, that the chemical difference between rain and snow-water is exceedingly small; that the latter contains a somewhat less proportion of earth than the former; but neither o e them contains either earth, or any kind of salt, in any quantity which can be sensibly efficacious in promoting vegetation. The peculiar agency of snow as a fertiliser, in preference to rain, may he ascribed to its furnishing a covering to the roots of vegetables, by which they are guarded from the influence of the atmospherical cold, and the internal heat of the earth is prevented from escaping. Different vegetables are able to preserve life under different degrees of cold, but all of them perish when the cold which reaches their roots is extreme. Providence has, therefore, in the coldest climates, pro- vided a covering of snow for the roots of vegetables, by which they are protected from the influence of the atmospherical cold. The snow keeps in the internal heat of the earth, which surrounds the roots of vegetables, and defends them from the cold of the atmosphere. 2378. Ice is water in the solid state, during which the temperature remains constant, being 32 degrees of the scale of Fahrenheit. Ice is considerably lighter than water, namely, about one eighth part ; and this increase of dimensions is acquired with prodi- gious force, sufficient to burst the strongest iron vessels, and even pieces of artillery. Congelation takes place much more suddenly than the opposite process of liquefaction ; and of course, the same quantity of heat must be more rapidly extricated in freezing than it is absorbed in thawing ; the heat thus extricated being disposed to fly off in all direc- tions, and little of it being retained by the neighbouring bodies, more heat is lost than is gained by the alternation : so that where ice has once been formed, its production is in this manner redoubled. 2379. The northern ice extends during summer about 9° from the pole ; the southern 1S° or 20" ; in some parts even 30°; and floating ice has occasionally been found in both hemispheres as far as 40° from the poles, and sometimes, as it has been said, even in latitude 41° or 42°. Between 54° and 60° south latitude, the snow lies on the ground, at the sea-side, throughout the summer. The line of perpetual congelation is three miles above the surface at the equator, where the mean heat is 84° ; at Teneriffe, in latitude 28°, two miles ; in the latitude of London, a little more than a mile ; and in latitude 80° north, only 1 250 feet. At the pole, according to the analogy deduced by Kirwan, from Mayer's Formula, and which is not however found to agree very exactly with what takes place, from a comparison of various observations, the mean temperature should be 31°. SCIENCE OF AGRICULTURE. P II. In London the mean temperature is 50° 5 at Rome and al Montpellier, a little more than : iii the island of Madeira, 70 ; and iii Jamaica, 80°. 0. Wind- Were it not for this agitation of the air, putrid effluvia arising from the habitations of man, and from vegetable substances, besides the exhalations from water, would soon render it unfit for respiration, and a general mortality would be the conse- quence. The prevailing winds of our own country, which were ascertained by order of the Royal Society of London, at London, are, Winds. Dm/.i. Winds. Dai/s. Winds. Dmjs. South-west 112 Wert 53 Smith 18 v rth-east 68 South-east 52 North 16 North-west 50 liast 26 The westerly winds blow more upon an average in each month of the year than anv other, particularly in July and August ; the north-east wind prevails during January, March, April, .May, and June, and is most unfrequcnt in February, July, September, and December; the north-west occurring more frequently from November to March, and less so in September and October than in any other months. 2381. Near Glasgow, the average is stated as follows : — Winds. Days. Winds. Days South-west 174 North-east K4 North-west 40 South-east 47 23S2. Tn Ireland, the prevailing winds are the west and south-west. I. The different degrees of motion of wind next excite our attention ; and it seems almost superfluous to observe, that it varies in gradation from the mildest zephyr, which plays upon the leaves of plants, gently undulating them, to the furious tempest, calcu- lated to inspire horror in the breast of the most callous. It is also a remarkable fact, that violent currents of air pass along, as it were, within a line, without sensibly agitating that beyond them. An instance of the fury of the win I being bounded " by a line" occurs in the hurricane of America; where its devastating course is often accurately marked in the forests for a great extent in one direction. 2384. Causes of wind. There are many circumstances attending the operations of the air, which we term wind, which serve for a basis for well-founded conjectures, and those, united to the result of daily observation, render the explanation of its phenomena tolerably satisfactory. It must he clear to the most common capacity, that as the rays of the sun descend perpendicularly on the surface of the earth under the torrid zone, tliat part of it must receive a greater proportion of heat than those parts where they fall obliquely; the heat thus acquired communicates to the air, which it rarefies, and causes to ascend, and the vacuum occasioned by this operation is immediately filled by the chill air from the north and south. The diurnal motion of the earth gradually lessens to the poles from the equator, at which point it moves at the rate of fifteen geographical miles in a minute, and this motion is communicated to the atmosphere in the same degree; but if part of the atmosphere were conveyed instantaneously to the equator from latitude 30°, it would not directly acquire the equatorial velocity; consequently, the ridges of the earth must meet it, and give it the appearance of an east wind. The effect is similar upon the cold air proceeding from the north and south, and this similarity must be admitted to extend to each place particularly heated by the beams of the sun. The moon, being a large body situated comparatively near the earth, is know n to affect the atmosphere ; and this, and the continual shifting of the point of the earth's surface over which the sun is vertical, to the west, are given as the causes of the tides and of the trade winds. The moon's revolutions, by pressing the atmosphere upon the sea, cause the flux and reflux which we call tides ; it cannot, therefore, be doubted, that some of the winds we experience are caused by the moon's motion. 2 I8& The regular motion of /he atmosphere, known by the name of land and sea breezes, may be explained by t fie effects of rarefaction : the air heated over the land rises up, because rarefied, and its place i- supplied by the cooler air which Hows in from the sea ; this produces the sea breeze ; at sunset, the equilibrium is first restored; but as the earth cools faster by radiation than the water, the air over it becomes cooler thin that over the sea, especially if there be mountains in the vicinity ; the air over the land then displaces the light air from the sea, and thus the land breeze is formed. Granting that the attraction of the moon and the diurnal movement of the sun affect our atmosphere, there cannot be a doubt but a westward motion of the air must prevail within the boundaries of the trade-winds, the con- sequence of which is an easterly current on each side: from this, then, it proceeds that south-west winds are so frequent in the western parts of Europe, and over the Atlantic Ocean. Kirwan attributes our constant south-west winds, particularly during winter, to an opposite current prevailing between the coast of Malabar and the Moluccas at the same period : this, he adds, must be supplied from regions close to the pole, which must be recruited in its turn from the countries to the south of it, in the western parts of our hemisphere, The variable winds cannot be so readily accounted for; yet it is evident, that though they seem the effect of capricious causes, they depend upon a regular system, arranged by the great Author of nature. That accurate and successful Observer of part of his works, the celebrated Franklin, discovered in 174", that winds originate at the precise points towards which they blow. This philosopher had hoped to observe an eclipse of the moon at Philadelphia, but was prevented by a north-east storm, that commenced at seven in the evening. This lie afterwards found did not occur at Boston till eleven ; and upon enquiry, he had reason to suppose, it passed to the north-east at the rate of about 100 miles an hour. The manner in which he accounts for this retrograde proceeding is so satisfactory, that we shall give it in his own words, particularly as his assertion, are supported by recent observations, both in America and Scotland. He argued thus ; — '■ I -oppose a long canal of water, stopped at the end by a gate. The water is at rest till the gate i- opened ; then it begins to move out through the gate, and the water next the gate is put ill motion and ui" es on towards the gate ■, and so on successively, till the water at the head of the canal is in motion, which it is last of all. In this case all the water moves indeed towards the gate; but the suc- r if times of beginning the motion are in the contrary way, viz. from the gate back to the head of the canal. Thus to produce a north east storm, I suppose some great rarefaction of the air in or near the Gulf of Mexico, tin' air rising thence has its place supplied by the next more northern, cooler, and therefore denser and heavier air; a successive current is formed, to which our coast and inland mountains Book III. OF THE ATMOSPHERE. S63 give a north-east direction." According to the observations made by Captain Cook, the north-east winds prevail in the Northern Pacific Ocean during the same spring months they do with us, from which tacts it appears the cold air from America and the north of Europe flows at that season into the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans. &38S. Other descriptioyis of winds may arise from a variety of causes The atmosphere has been ascer- tained to be composed of air, vapour, and carbonic acid and water ; and as it is well known that these fre- quently change their aerial form, and combine with different substances, and the reverse, consequently partial winds and accumulations must continually occur, which occasion winds of different degrees of violence, continuance, and direction. 2389. The principal electrical phenomena of the atmosphere are thunder and lightning. 2390. Thunder is the noise occasioned by the explosion of a Hash of lightning passing through the air : or it is that noise which is excited by a sudden explosion of electrical clouds, which are therefore called thunder-clouds. 23P1. The rattling, in the noise of thunder, which makes it seem as if it passed through arches, is pro- bably owing to the sound being excited among clouds hanging over one another, between which the agitated air passes irregularly. 2392. 714c explosion, if high in the air and remote from us, will do no mischief, but when near, it may ; and it has, in a thousand instances, destroyed trees, animals, &c. This proximity, or small distance, may be estimated nearly by the interval of time between seeing the flash of lightning and hearing the report of the thunder, reckoning the distance after the rate of 1142 feet to a second of time, or 5| seconds to the mile. Dr. Wallis observes, that commonly the difference between the two is about seven seconds, which, at the rate above-mentioned, gives the distance almost two miles : but sometimes it comes in a second or two, which argues the explosion very near to us, and even among us; and in such cases, the doctor assures us, he has sometimes foretold the mischiefs that happened. 2o!'o. Season of thunder. Although in this country thunder may happen at any time of the year, yet the months of July and August are those in which it may almost certainly be expected. Its devastations are of very uncertain continuance ; sometimes only a few peals will be heard at any particular place during the whole season ; at other times the storm will return, at intervals of three or four days, for a month, six weeks, or even longer ; not that we have violent thunder in this country directly vertical in any one place so frequently in any year, but in many seasons it will be perceptible that thunder-clouds are formed in the neighbourhood, even at these short intervals. Hence it appears, that during this particular period, there must be some natural cause operating for the production of this phenomenon, which does not take place at other times. This cannot be the mere heat ol the weather, for we have often a long tract of hot weather without any thunder; and besides, though not common, thunder is sometimes heard in the winter also. As therefore the heat of the weather is common to the whole summer, whether there is thunder or not, we must look for the causes of it in those phenomena, whatever they are, which are peculiar to the months of July, August, and the beginning of September. Now it is generally observed, that from the month of April, an east or south-east wind generally takes place, and continues witli little interruption till towards the end of June. At that time, sometimes sooner and sometimes later, a westerly wind takes place ; but as the causes producing the east wind are not removed, the latter opposes the west wind with its whole force At the place of meeting, there are naturally a most vehement pressure of the atmosphere, and fric- tion of its parts against one another ; a calm ensues, and the vapours brought by both winds begin to collect and form dark clouds, which can have little motion either way, because they are pressed almost equally on all sides. For the most part, however, the west wind prevails, and what little motion the clouds have is towards the east : whence, the common remark in this country, that " thunder-clouds move against the wind." But this is by no means universally true : for if the west wind happens to be excited by any temporary cause before the natural period when it should take place, the east wind will very frequently get the better of it ; and the clouds, even although thunder is produced, will move westward. Yet in eitiiercase, the motion is so slow, that the most superficial observers cannot help taking notice of a con- siderable resistance in the atmosphere. 2394. Thunderbolts. When lightning acts with extraordinary violence, and breaks or shatters any thing, it is called a thunderbolt, which the vulgar, to fit it for such effects, suppose to be a hard body, and even a stone. But that we need not have recourse to a hard solid body to account for the erf'ci ts commonly attributed to the thunderbolt, will be evident to any one who considers those of gunpowder, and the several chemical fulminating powders, but more especially the astonishing powers of electricity, when only collected and employed by human art, and much more when directed and exercised in the course of nature. When we consider the known effects of electrical explosions, and those produced by lightning, we shall be at no loss to account for the extraordinary operations vulgarly ascribed to thunderbolts. As stones and bricks struck by lightning are often found in a vitrified state, we may reasonably suppose, with Beccaria, that some stones in the earth, having been struck in this manner, gave occasion to the vulgar opinion of the thunderbolt. 2S95. Th?aider-c/ouds are those clouds which are in a state fit for producing lightning and thunder. The first appearance of a thunder-storm, which usually happens when there is little or no wind, is one dense cloud, or more, increasing very fast in size, and rising into the higher regions of the air. The lower sur- face is black, and nearly level ;' but the upper finely arched, and well defined. Many of these clouds often seem piled upon one another, all arched in thesanie manner; but they are continually uniting, swelling, and extending their arches. At the time of the rising of this cloud, the atmosphere is commonly full of a great many separate clouds, which are motionless, and of odd whimsical shapes ; all these, upon the appearance of the thunder-cloud, draw towards it, and become more uniform in their shapes as they approach ; till, coming verv near the thunder-cloud, their limbs mutually stretch towards one another, and they immediately coalesce into one uniform mass. Sometimes the thunder-cloud will swell, and increase very fast, without the conjunction of any adscititious clouds ; the vapours in the atmosphere forming themselves into clouds whenever it passes. Some of the adscititious clouds appear like white fringes, at the skirts of the thunder-cloud, or under the body of it ; but they keep continually growing darker and darker, as they approach to unite with it. When the thunder-cloud is grown to a great, size, its lower surface is often ragged, particular parts being detached towards the earth, but still connected with the rest. Sometimes the* lower surface swells into various large protuberances, bending uniformly downward; and sometimes one whole side of the cloud will have an inclination to the earth, and the extremitv of it will nearly touch the ground. When the eye is under the thunder-cloud, after it is grown large and well formed, it is seen to sink lower, and to darken prodigiously ; at the same time that a number of small adscititious clouds the origin of which can never be perceived) are seen in a rapid motion, driving about in verv uncertain directions under it. While these clouds are agitated with the most rapid motions, the rain commonly falls in the greatest plenty ; and if the agitation be exceedingly great, it commonly hails. 2396. Lightning. While the thunder-cloud is swelling, and extending its branches over a large tract of country, the lightning is seen to dart from one part of it to another, and often to illuminate its whole mass. When the cloud has acquired a sufficient extent, the lightning strikes between the cloud and the earth, in two opposite places ; the path of the lightning lying through the whole body of the cloud and its branches. The S64 SCIENCE OF AGRICULTURE. Part II. longer this lightning continues, the less dense does the cloud become, and the less dark its appearance j till at length it breaks in different places, and shows a clear sky. Those thunder-clouds are said to be sometimes in a positive as well as a negative state of electricity. The electricity continues longer of the same kind, in proportion as the thunder cloud is simple and uniform in its direction ; hut when the lightning changes its place, there commonly happens a change in the electricity of the atmosphere over which the clouds passed. It changes suddenly after a very violent Hash of lightning; hut gradually when the lightning is moderate, and the progress of the thunder-cloud slow. £397 Lightning is nn electrical expiation or 'phenomenon. Flashes of lightning arc usually seen in broad ami undefined masses; when their path appears angular or zigzag, they are reckoned most dangerous, They strike the highest and most pointed objects in preference to others, as hills, trees, spires, masts id ships, ,\c. ; so all pointed conductors receive and throw oil' the electric fluid more readily than those that an- term n Ited by flat surfaces. Lightning is observed to take and follow the readiest and best Conductor ; and the same is the case with electricity in the discharge of the Leyden phial ; whence it is inferred, th.it in a thunder-storm it would be safer to have one's clothe' wet than dry. Lightning burns, dissolves metals, rends some bodies, sometimes strikes persons blind, destroys animal life, deprives magnets of their virtue, or reverses their poles ; and all these are well known properties of electricity. With regard In plttiet of safety in times of thunder and lightning. Dr. Franklin's advice is to sit in the middle of a room, provided it be not under a metal lustre suspended by a chain, sitting on one chair, and laying the feet on another. It is still better, he says, to bring two or three mattresses or beds into the middle of the room, and folding them double, to place the chairs upon them; for as they are not so good Conductors as the walls, the lightning will hot be so likely to pass through them. But the safest place of all is in a hammock hung by silken cords, at an equal distance from all the sides of the room. Dr. Priestley ob s erv es, that the place Of most perfect safety must be the cellar, and especially the middle of it ; for when a person is lower than the surface of the earth, the lightning must strike it before it can possibly reach him. In the fields, the place of safety is within a few yards of a tree, but not quite near it. Beccaria cautions persons not always to trust too much to the neighbourhood of a higher or better conductor than their own body, Mine he has repeatedly found that the lightning by no means descends in one undivided track, but that bodies of various kinds conduct their share of it at the same time, in proportion to their quantity and conducting power. Sect. II. Of the ~\reans of Prognosticating the Weather. 2399. The study of atmospherical changes lias, in all ages, been more or less attended to by men engaged in the culture of vegetables, or the pasturage of animals ; and we, in this country, are surprised at the degree of perfection to which the ancients attained in this knowledge : but it ought to he recollected, that the study of the weather in the countries occupied by the ancients, as Egypt, Greece, Italy, and the continent of Europe, is a very different thing from its study in an island situated like ours. It is easy to foretell weather in countries where months pass away without rain or clouds, and where some weeks together, at stated periods, are as certainly seasons of rain or snow. It may be asserted with truth, that there is a greater variety of weather in London in one week, than in Rome, Moscow, or Petersburg!) in three months. It is not, there- fore, entirely a proof of our degeneracy, or the influence of our artificial mode of living, that we cannot predict the weather with such certainty as the ancients ; but a cir- cumstance rather to be accounted for from the peculiarities of our situation. 2400. A variable climate, such as ours, admits of being studied, both generally and lo- cally ; but it is a study which requires habits of observation and reflection like all other studies ; and to be brought to any useful degree of perfection must be attended to, not as it commonly is, as a thing by chance, and which every body knows, or is fit for, but as a serious undertaking. The weather may be foretold from natural data, artificial data, and from precedent. 2401. The 7iatttral data for this study are, I. The vegetable kingdom ; many plants shutting or opening their flowers, contracting or expanding their parts, &c. on ap- proaching changes in the humidity or temperature of the atmosphere : 2. The animal kingdom ; most of those familiar to us exhibiting signs on approaching changes, of which those by cattle and sheep are more especially remarkable ; and hence shepherds are gene- rally, of all others, the most correct in their estimate of weather : 3. The mineral king- dom ; stones, earths, metals, salts, and water of particular sorts, often showing indications of approaching changes: 4. Appearances of the atmosphere, the moon, the general cha- racter of seasons, &c. The characters of clouds, the prevalence of particular winds, and other signs are very commonly attended, to. 2402. The influence of the moon on the weather has, in all ages, been believed by the generality of mankind : the same opinion was embraced by the ancient philosophers; and several eminent philosophers of later times have thought the opinion not unworthy of notice. Although the moon only acts (as far at least as we can ascertain) on the waters of the ocean by producing tides, it is nevertheless highly probable, according to the ob- servations of Lambert, Toaldo, and Cotte, that in consequence of the lunar influence, great variations do take place in the atmosphere, and consequently in the weather. The following principles will show the grounds and reasons for their embracing the received notions on this interesting topic : — 840& There arc ten situations in the moon's orbit when she must particularly exert her influence on the atmosphere ; and when, consequently, change's of the weather most readily take place. These are, — 1st, The neir, and 2d, The Jull moon, when she exerts her influence in conjunction with, or in opposition to, the sun. Book III. OF THE ATMOSPHERE. 365 3d and 4th, The quadratures, or those aspects of the moon when she is P0° distant from the sun; or when she is in the middle poict of her orbit, between the points of conjunction and opposition, namely, in the first and third quarters. 5th, The perigee, and 6th, The apogee, or those points of the moon's orbit, in which she is at the least and greatest distance from the earth. 7th and 8th, The two passages of the moon over the equator, oneof which Toaldocalls themoon'soscenrf- ing, and the other the moon's descending, equinox ; or the two lunisticcs, as I)e la Lande terms them. 9th, The boreal lunistice, when the moon approaches as near as she can in each lunation or period between one new moon and another} to our zenith s that point in the horizon which is directly over our heads 1 . 10th, The austral lunistice, when she is at the greatest distance from our zenith, for the action of the moon varies greatly according to her obliquity. With these ten points Toakio compared a table of forty- eight years' observations; the result is, that the probabilities, that the weather will change at a certain period of the moon, are in the following proportions : New moon, 6 to 1. First quarter, 5 to 2. Full moon, 5 to 2. Last quarter, 5 to 4. Perigee, 7 to 1. Apogee, 4 to 1. Ascending equinox, 13 to 4. Northern lunistice, 11 to 4. Descending equinox, 11 to 4. Southern lunistice, 3 to 1. 2404 That the neiv moon trill bring with it a change of weather is in the doctrine of chances as 6 to 1. Each situation of the moon alters that state of the atmosphere which has been occasioned by thepreeeding one : and it seldom happens that any change in the weather takes place without a change in the lunar situations These situations are combined, on account of the inequality of their revolutions, and the greatest effect is produced by the union of the syzigies, or the conjunction and opposition of a planet with the sun, with the apsides, or points in the orbits of planets, in which they are at the greatest and least distance from the sun or earth. The proportions of their powers to produce variations are as follows : — New moon coinciding with the perigee, S3 to 1. Ditto, with the apogee, 7 to 1. Full moon coinciding with the perigee, 10 to 1. Ditto, with the apogee, S to 1. The combination of these situations generally occasions storms and tempests : and this perturbing power will always have the greater effect, the nearer these com- bined situations are to the moon's passage over the equator, particularly in the months of" March and September. At the new and full moons, in the months of March and September, and even at the solstices, especially the winter solstice, the atmosphere assumes a certain character, by which it is distinguished for three and sometimes six months. The new moons which produce no change in the weather are those that happen at a distance from the apsides. As it is perfectly true that each situation of the moon alters that state of the atmosphere which has been produced by another, it is also observed, that many situations of the moon are favourable to good and others to bad weather. 2405. The situations of the moon favourable to bad weather are the perigee, new and full moon, passage of the equator, and the northern lunistice. Those belonging to the former are, the apogee, quadratures, and the southern lunistice. Changes of the weather seldom take place on the very days of the moon's situations, but either precede or follow them. It has been found by observation, that the changes affected by the lunar situations in the six winter months precede, and in the six summer months follow them. 2406. The octants. Besides the lunar situations to which the above observations refer, attention must be paid also to the fourth day before new and full moon, which days are called the octants. At these times the weather is inclined to changes ; and it may be easily seen, that these will follow at the next lunar situation. Virgil calls this fourth day a very sure prophet. If on that day the horns of the moon are clear and well defined, good weather may be expected ; but if they are dull, and not clearly marked on the edges, it is a sign that bad weather will ensue. When the weather remains unchanged on the fourth, fifth, and sixth day of the moon, we may conjecture that it will continue so till full moon, even sometimes till the next new moon ; and in that case the lunar situations have only a very weak effect. Many observers of nature have also remarked, that the approach of the lunar situations is somewhat critical for the sick. According to Dr. Herschel, the nearer the time of the moon's entrance at lull, change, or quarters, is to midnight (that is within two hours before and after midnight!, the more fair the weather is in summer, but the nearer to noon the less fair. Also, the moon's entrance, at full, change, or quarters, during six of the afternoon hours, viz. from four to ten, may be followed by fair weather; but this is mostly dependent on the wind. The same entrance during all the hours after midnight, except the first two, is unfavourable to fair weather ; the like, nearly, may be observed in winter. 2407. The artificial data are the barometer, hygrometer, rain-gauge, and ther- mometer. '2408. By means of the barometer, Taylor observes, we are enabled to regain, in sotne degree at least, that foreknowledge of the weather, which the ancients unquestionably did possess ; though we know not the data on which they founded their conclusions. Chaptal considers that the value of the barometer, as an indicator of the approaching weather, is greater than that of the lunar knowledge of the most experienced countryman, and indeed of all other means put together. (Agriculture appliquee a Chimic, <$v. ) We shall therefore annex such rules as have hitherto been found most useful in ascertaining the changes of the weather by means of the barometer. 2409. The rising if the mercury presages, in general, fair weather; and its falling foul weather, as rain, snow, high winds, and storms. 2410 The sudden falling of the mercury foretells thunder, in very hot weather, especially if the wind is south. 2411. The rising in winter indicates frost: and in frosty weather, if the mercury falls three or four divisions, there will follow a thaw : but if it rises in a continued frost, snow may be expected. 2412. \\ hen foul weather happens soon after the falling of the mercury it will not be of long duration ; nor are we to expect a continuance of fair weather, when it soon succeeds the rising of the quick- silver. 2413. If, in foul weather, the mercury rises considerably, and continues rising for two or three days before the foul weather is over, a continuance of fair weather may be expected to follow. 2414. In fair weather, when the mercury falls much and low, and continues falling for two or three days before rain comes, much wet must be expected, and probably high winds. 2415. The unsettled motion of the mercury indicates changeable weather. 2416. Respecting the ieords engraved on the register plate of the barometer, it may be observed, that their exact correspondence with the state of the weather cannot be strictly relied upon, though they will in general agree with it as to the mercury rising and falling. The engraved words are to be regarded only as indicating probable consequences of the varying pressure of the atmosphere. The barometer, in fact, only shows the pressure of the aerial column ; and the precipitation of rain, or the agitations of the atmosphere are merely events which experience has shown usually to accompany the sinking of the mer- •Jfi'i SCIENCE OF AGRICULTURE. Part II. curia) column, but arc not necessarily connected with fluctuations of pressure. The words deserve to be particularly noticed when the mercury removes from " changeable" upwards; as those on the lower part should be adverted to, when the mercury falls from "changeable" downwards. In other cases, they are of no use: for, as its rising in any pari forebodes a tendency to fair, and its falling to foul, weather, it fol- lows that, though it descend in the tube from settled to fair, it may nevertheless he attended with a little rain, and when it rises from the words " much rain" to " rain " it shows only an inclination to become fair, though the wet weather may still continue in a less considerable degree than it was when the mercury began to rise. But if the mer- cury, after having fallen to "much rain," should ascend to " changeable," it foretells fair weather, though «'f a shorter continuance than if the mercury had risen still higher; and so, on the contrary, if the mercury stood at "fair" and descends to "change- able," it announces foul weather, though not of so long continuance as if it had fallen lower. 2417. Concavity if the surface of the mercury. Persons who have occasion to travel much in the winter, and who are doubtful whether it will rain or not, may easily ascer- tain this point by the following observation: — A few hours before he departs, let the traveller notice the mercury in the upper part of the tube of the barometer; if rain is about to fall, it will be indented, or concave; if otherwise, convex or protuberant. 2418. Jlarometcr in spring. Towards the end of 3Iarch, or more generally in the beginning of April, the barometer sinks very low with bad weather; after which it seldom falls lower than 29 degrees 5 minutes till the latter end of September or October, when the quicksilver falls again low with stormy winds, for then the winter constitution of the air tikes place. From October to April, the great falls of the barometer are from 29 degrees 5 minutes to 28 degrees 5 minutes, and sometimes lower ; whereas, during the summer constitution of the air, the quicksilver seldom falls lower than 29 degrees 5 minutes. It therefore follows that a fall of one tenth of an inch, during the summer, is as sure an indication of rain, as a fall of between two and three tenths is in the winter. 2419. The hygrometer is of various sorts, but cord, fiddle-string, and most of the sub- stances commonly used, become sensibly less and less accurate, so as at length not to undergo any visible alteration from the different states of the air, in regard to dryness or moisture. The most common of all barometers is that formed of the beard of the wild oat, ^4vena fatua. 2420. A sponge makes a good hygrometer on this account, as being less liable to be changed by use than cord. To prepare the sponge, first wash it in water, and when dry wash it again in water wherein s.tl ammoniac or salt of tartar has been dissolved ; and let it dry again. Now, if the air becomes moist, the gponge will grow heavier; and if dry, it will become lighter. 2481. Oil of vitriol is found to grow sensibly lighter or heavier in proportion to the less or greater quantity of moisture it imbibes from the air. The alteration is so great, that it has been known to change it* weight from three drachms to nine. The other acid oils, or, as they are usually called, spirits, or oil ar per deliquium, may be substituted for the oil of vitriol. Ste l-yard hygrometer. In order to make a hygrometer with those bodies which acquire or lose weight in the air, place such a substance in a scale on the end of a steel-yard, with a counterpoise which shall keep it in equilibrio in fair weather; the other end of the steel-yard, rising or falling, and pointing to a graduate,! index, will show the changes. 2423. Line and plummet. If a line be made of good well dried whipcord, and a plummet be fixed to the end of it, and the whole be hung against a wainscot, and a line be drawn under it, exactly where the plummet reaches, in very moderate weather it will be found to rise above such line, and to sink below it u hen the weather is likely to become fair. 2424, The hair hygrometer of Saussure, and the whalebone hygrometer, originally invented by De Lac, arc esteemed two of the best now in use. The best and, indeed, only perfect hygrometer is that of professor Leslie. It con- sists of a siphon tube, with a ball blown at each end {Jig. £08.), and filled with air. A coloured liquid tills one leg of the siphon; the ball on the opposite limb, smoothly coated with tissue paper, is the evaporating surface; this is kept perpetually moist by means of a thread passing from a jar with water as high as the instrument to the covered ball. The cold produced by evaporation causes the air in that ball to contract, and the coloured liquid is forced into that stem by the elasticity of the air included in the naked ball. This rise is exactly proportional to the dryness of the air. (T.) 208 1 2426. The rain-gauge, pluviometer, or hectometer, is a machine fcr measuring the quantity of rain that falls. 2427. A hollow cylinder forms one of the best-constructed rain-gauges ; it has within it a cork ball attached to a wooden stem (Jig. 209.), which passes through a small opening at the top, on which is placed a large funnel. When this instrument is placed in the open air in a free place, the rain that falls within the circumference of the funnel will run down into the tube and cause the cork to float ; and the quantity of water in the tube may be seen by the height to which the stem of the float is raised. The stem of the float is so graduated as to show by its divisions the number of perpendicular inches of water which fell on the surface of the earth since the last observation. After every observation the 209 cylinder must be emptied. Book III. OF THE ATMOSPHERE. SP7 2428. A copper funnel forms another very simple rain-gauge : the area of the opening must be exactly ten square inches. Let this funnel be fixed in a bottle, and the quantity of rain caught is ascertained by multiplying the weight in ounces by 173, which gives the. depth in inches and parts of an inch. 2429. In fixing these gauges, care must be taken that the rain may have free access to them ; hence the tops of buildings are usually the best places, though some conceive that the nearer the rain-gauge is placed to the ground the more rain it will collect. 24S0. In order to compare the quantities of rain, collected in pluviometers at different places, the instruments should be fixed at the same heights above the ground in all such places ; because, at different heights, the quantities are always different, even at the same place. 2431. Thermometer. As the weight of the atmosphere is measured by the barometer so the thermometer shows the variations in the temperature of the weather ; for every change of the weather is attended with a change in the temperature of the air, which a thermometer placed in the open air will point out, sometimes before any alteration is perceived in the barometer. 2432. The scales of different thermometers are as follows: — In Fahrenheit's the freezing point is 32 degrees, and the boiling point 2i2 degrees. In Reaumur's the freezing point is 0, and the boiling point 80 degrees. In the centigrade thermometer, which is generally used in France, and is the same as that of Celsius, which is the thermometer of Sweden, the freezing point is 0, and the boiling point 100 degrees. As a rule for comparing or reducing these scales, it may be stated, that 1 degree of Reaumur's scale con- tains2J degrees of Fahrenheit, and to convert thedegrees of the one to the other, the rule is to multiply bv 9, divide by 84, and add 32. One degree of the centigrade scale is equal to one degree and eight tenths of Fahrenheit; and the rule here is to multiply by 9, divide by 5, and add 32. Any of these thermometers mav be proved by immersing it in pounded ice for the freezing point, and in boiling water for the boiling point, and if the space between these points is equally divided, the thermometer is correct. 2433. The study of the weather from precedent, affords useful hints as to the character of approaching seasons. From observing the general character of seasons for a long period, certain general results may be deduced. On this principle, Kirwan, on com- paring a number of observations taken in England from 1677 (Trans. Ir. Acad. v. 20.) to 1789, a period of 1 12 years, found : That when there has been no storm before or after the vernal equinox, the ensuing summer is generally dry, at least five times in six. That when a storm happens from an easterly point, either on the 19th, 20th, or 21st of May, the succeed- ing summer is generally dry, at least four times in five. That when a storm arises on the 25th, 26th, or 21th of March, and not before, in any point, the succeed- ing summer is generally dry, four times in five. If there be a storm at S.'ll'. or W. S. W. on the 19th, 20th, 21st, or 22d of March, the succeeding sum- mer is generally met, five times in six. In this country winters and springs, if dry, are most commonly cold ; if moist, warm : on the contrary, dry summers anil autumns are usually hot, and moist summers cold ; so that, if we know the moistness or'drvness of a season, we can form a tolerably accurate judgment of its temperature. In this country also, it generally rains less in March than in November, in the proportion at a medium of" to 12. It generally rains less in April than October, in the proportion of 1 to 2 nearly at a medium. It generally rains less in Mav than September; the chances that it does so are at lea6t 4 to 3 ; but, when it rains plentifully in May, as 18 inches or more, it generally rains but little in September; and when it rains one inch, or less, in May, it rains plentifully in September. 2434. Thepi-obabilities of particular seasons being followed by others have been calculated by Kirwan ; and although his rules chiefly relate to the climate of Ireland, yet as there exists but little difference between that island and Great Britain, in the general appear- ance of the seasons, we shall mention some of his conclusions. In forty-one years there were fi wet springs, 22 dry, and 13 variable; 20 wet summers, 16 dry, and 5 variable; 11 wet autumns, 11 dry, and 19 variable. 2435. A scaso7i is accounted wet, when it contains two wet months. In general, the quantity of rain, which fall in dry seasons, is less than five inches, in wet seasons more ; variable seasons are those, in which there fall between 30 lbs. and 36 lbs., a pound being equal to -157639 of an inch. 2436. January is the coldest month in every latitude ; and July is the warmest month in all latitudes above 48 degrees : in lower latitudes, August is generally the warmest. The difference between the hottest and coldest months increases in proportion to the distance from the equator. Every habitable latitude enjoys a mean heat of 60 degrees for at least two months ; which heat is necessary for the production of corn. Sect. III. Of the Climate of Britain. 2437. The climate of the British isles, relatively to others in the same latitude, is tem- perate, humid, and variable. The moderation of its temperature and its humidity are owing to our being surrounded by water, which being less affected by the sun than the earth, imbibes less heat in summer, and, from its fluidity, is less easily cooled in winter. As the sea on our coast never freezes, its temperature must always be above 33° or 34 ? ; and hence, when air from the polar regions at a much lower temperature passes over it, that air must be in some degree heated by the radiation from the water. On the other hand, in summer, the warm currents of air from the south necessarily give out SKS SCIENCE OF AGRICULTURE. Part II. pari of tlicir heat in punning over a surface mi much lower in temperature, The van- ■hie nature of our climate is chiefly owing to the unequal breadths of watery surface which surround us; on one ride, a channel of a few leagues in breadth; on the other, the Atlantic Ocean. The temperature of the British seas rarely descends below 5:5'- or 54°. '_'4!S. The liritish climate varia materially within itself: some districts are dry, as the east ; others moist, as the «est coast ; in the northern extremity, dry, cold, and windy ; in the south, warm and moist. Even in moist districts some spots are excessively di v, as part of Wigtonshire, from the influence of the Isle of Man in warding off the watery clouds of the Atlantic; and, in dry districts, some spots are moist, from the influence of high mountains in attracting and condensing clouds charged with watery vapour. The mean temperature of London equals 50° '36 ; that of Edinburgh equals 47° 84'; and the probable mean temperature of all Britain will equal 48°. The usual range of the barometer is within three inches. The mean annual rain is probably about :5'_' inches. The climate is variable, and subject to sudden alternations of heat and cold, which are supposed to render pulmonary complaints common with us : but on the whole it i-- healthy, and the moisture of our clouded atmosphere clothes our fields with a lasting verdure unknown to the more favoured regions of Southern Europe. (T.) 24 19. The deterioration of the British climate is an idea entertained by some; but whether in regard to general regularity, temperature, moisture, or wind, the alleged changes are unsupported by satisfactory proofs. It is not improbable but the humidity of our climate, as Williams alleges (Climate of Britain, &c. 1816), has of late years been increased by the increase of evaporating surface, produced by the multiplicity of hedges and plantations ; a surface covered with leaves being found to evaporate con- siderably more than a naked surface. If the humidity of the climate were greater before the drainage of morasses and the eradication of forests for agricultural purposes, a comparative return to the same state, by artificial planting and irrigation, must have a tendency to produce the same results. However, it will be long before the irrigation of lands is carried to such a degree as to produce the insalubrious effects of undrained morasses; and as to our woods and hedges, we must console ourselves with the beauty and die shelter which they produce, for the increase of vapour supposed to proceed from them. BOOK IV. Or THE MECHANICAL AGENTS EMPLOYED IN AGRICULTURE. 2440. Having taken a view of the vegetable and animal kingdoms, as supplying the subjects of agricultural improvement, and of the mineral kingdom, manures, and the weather, as the natural agents of their growth and culture ; our next course is to examine the mechanical agents, or implements, machines, and buildings employed in agricultural operations' In a rude state of husbandry few implements are required besides the plough and the cart, and few buildings besides the stable and the barn. The ground is ploughed and the seed thrown in and covered with a bush ; at harvest it is cut down and carted to the barn ; and the three grand operations of the farmer are sowing, reaping, and thresh- ing : but in our improved state of society, where all the science of mechanics as well as of chemistry is made to bear on agriculture, the implements, machines, and buildings become numerous, and equally so the operations. So numerous are the former, indeed, that the theoretical enquirer is often puzzled in making a selection. The whole of the most improved agriculture, however, may be, and in fact is, carried on widi a very limited variety both of implements and buildings Intricate and complicated machines are not adapted for a rustic art like agriculture, and a great variety are not required for one, the operations of which are so simple as almost to be universally understood and practised. In our enumeration we shall include a number that we do not consider of much consequence; but we shall always distinguish between the essential, and such as are comparatively objects of superfluous ingenuity and expense. We shall adopt the order of Implements of Manual Labour, Implements or Machines impelled by Quadrupeds or other Powers, Structures, and Buildings. We shall give a considerable variety, not altogether on account of their individual excellence, but to assist the mechanical reader in inventing for himself. Book IV. IMPLEMENTS OF AG UICULTURE. 369 Of the Implements of Manual Labour used in Agriculture. 2441. Though the most important implements of agriculture are drawn or put in action by beasts of labour, yet a few, which cannot be dispensed with, are used by man alone. These may be arranged as tools, or simple implements for performing operations on the soil ; instruments for performing operations on plants or animals, or for other more delicate operations ; utensils for the deportation of materials ; and hand machines for various purposes. Sect. I. Tools used in Agriculture. 2442. The lever is an inflexible straight bar of iron or wood, employed in connection with a prop or fulcrum, on which it is supported. There are three kinds, but the most common is that in which the fulcrum is between the power and the weight. Its use in the removal of large stones or other heavy bodies is well known, and the advantage of its application depends on the distance of the power from the fulcrum, and the proximity of the weight. 2443. The pick or mattock consists of two parts: the handle, which ought to be formed of sound ash timber or oak, such as is obtained from the root or butt end of a middle-aged tree ; and the head, which should be formed of the best iron and pointed with steel. The handle ought to be perfectly cylindrical, as in using it one hand slides along it from the end next the operator towards the head. There are several varieties : the first the pick, with the ends of the head pointed, used for loosening hard ground, gravel, &c. ; the second, the pick-axe, with the ends weage-shaped in reverse positions, used in digging up trees ; the third, the grubber, for grubbing up heath or small brush- wood ; and there are also the road pick, and some others. *2444. The spade consists of two parts, the handle of ash, generally about two feet nine inches long, and the blade of plate iron. The blade consists of two parts, the plate which cuts and carries the soil, and the tread, which is a piece of strong iron fixed on the upper edge of the blade, to receive the impulse of the foot of the operator. There are several varieties: 1. with a curved outline to the extremity of the blade, by which it may be made to enter a stiff soil with less exertion on the part of the digger ; 2. with a perfor- ated blade, which in adhesive soils frees itself better from earth in the using ; 3. with a sub-semicylindrical blade, which enters a stiff soil easier than the common form, is much stronger as a lever, and also frees itself well from the spitful of earth : this variety is what canal diggers chiefly use, and is called by them a grafting tool. There are other varie- ties and subvarieties used in draining, and for particular purposes ; which will be noticed at the proper place. Elwell's spades, from the manner in which they are manufactured, for which Mr. E. has a patent, are said to be much stronger than any others. 244o. The Flemish spaile (fig. 210.) has a long handle, in some cases fi or 8 feet, hut no tread for the foot of the operator. The long handle forming a very powerful lever, when the soil is easily penetrated it may be dug with greater ease with this spade than with any of the forms in common use, and carts may be 210 filled with earth, and earth thrown to a greater distance by this implement for the same reason. Add to this, that in no manner of using the Flemish spade, is the operator required to stoop as much as with the English one. (Gard. Mag. vol. ii.) 2446. The shovel differs from the spade in being made with a broader and thinner blade ; its use being to lift, rather than to cut and separate. There are several varieties, differing in the form and magnitude of the blade. One variety, the barn shovel, has the blade generally of wood, sometimes edged with iron. 2447. The turf-spade consists of a cordate or scutiform blade, joined to a handle by a kneed or bent iron shank. It is used for cutting turf from pastures, and in removing ant-hills and other inequalities. A thin section is first removed, then the protuberance of earth is taken out and the section replaced, which, cut thin, and especially on the edges, readily refits ; and the operation is finished with gentle pressure by the foot, back of the spade, or roller. One variety, (fig. 211.) has one edge turned up, and is preferable where the turfs are to be cut square-edged and somewhat thick. 244S. The fork is of several kinds ; the dung-fork for working in littery dung, con- sisting of a handle like that of the shovel, and three or more prongs instead of a blade ; the hay or pitch-fork, for working with sheaves of corn or straw or hay, consisting of a B b 370 SCIENCE of ackk ri.ruitr. Part II. long handle and two prongs; and the wooden fork, consisting of a shoot of willow, ash, nr other young tree or sapling, forked at the extremity, harked and formed into a rude fork, BOmetimeS used in hay-making and similar operations. Tin- prongs of forks to take np loose materials should be made square ; those for sheaves or more compact mat- ters or very littery dung will work easiest when the prongs are round. 2449 The rake used in agriculture is of two kinds, the hay-rake and the corn-rake. Both consist of a handle and head set with teeth; in the corn-rake these are generally of iron. The garden-rake is sometimes used for covering small seeds. 2450. The hay-rake is Usually made of willow, that it may he light and easy to work ; and the teeth should he short, otherwise they are apt to pull up the Stubble or roots of the grass in raking. Sometimes the teeth are made to screw into the head, and fasten with nuts, which prevents their dropping out in dry seasons. *2451. The corn-rake {Jig. 212.) is of different dimensions and constructions in differentcounties. In general the length of the rake is about four feet; and the teeth of iron about four inches long, and set from one to two inches apart. Young (R eport of Norfolk) mentions one of these dimensions which had two wheels of nine inches' diameter for tiie purpose of rendering it easier to draw: the wheels were so fixed that the teeth might be kept in any posture at the will of the holder. It was used both for hay and corn, and answered the purpose well. 2+52. In East Lothian a corn-rake lias been tried, which, according to Somerville {Survey, Ste.\ has been •bund to answer much better than the common corn-rake. In this, the length of the head is from ten to fifteen feet, and the handle about seven feet, with a piece of wood across the end of it, by which it is drawn by two men. The teeth are of wood or iron ; the last are the host, as well as the most durable, and are a little bent forward at the point, which gives them the power of retaining and carrying the ears along with them much better than they would otherwise do. To make clean work, especially if the ridges are rounded, the field is raked across ; in that way every thing is taken up ; but when it is preferred to draw the rake iii the direction of the ridges, it may be consider, ably improved by cutting the head into two or three lengths (Jig. 213.), and joining them with hinges, which will allow it to bend and accommodate itself to the curvature of the ridges. The advantage of this kind of rake has been found considerable, even in cases where every possible attention has been paid to the cutting of the crop. 2453. The stubble, or dew, rake, is merely a coarser sort of corn rake. 214 2454. The daisy-rake (fig. 214.) has teeth sharpened on both edges like lancets, and is used for raking or tearing oil' the flower heads or buds of daisies and other plants in grass lawns. 2455. The drill rake is a large-headed rake, in which the teeth are triangular in section, like small coulters ; and they are set at six or twelve inches' distance, according to circumstances. The implement is used to draw drills across beds or ridges, for sowing field crops of small seeds or roots, such as onions, early turnips, carrots, &c , or for planting saffron or Indian corn. 2456. The dung-drag, or dung-hack, is a two or three-pronged implement, w ith a long handle, for drawing the dung out of carts in different portions. The form of the prongs should be flat. 2 157. The earth hack resembles a large hoc, and is used for emptying loads of earth or lime, or other pulverulent matters, in the same maimer as the dung-drag is used for emptying dung ; it is sometimes also used as a hoc, anil for scraping and cleaning. 2458. The hand-hoe commonly used in agriculture is of two kinds: that with an entire, and that with a perforated, blade. The latter variety is preferable for thinning crops or destroying weeds, as it does not collect the soil and the weeds together in heaps ; but where earthing up is the object, the common square blade is the best. The breadth of the blade may vary from two to twelve inches, according to the adhesiveness or looseness of the soil, or the distance to which the plants are to be thinned. An improvement for hoes to be used in stirring stiff soils, consists in forming the blade with a prong or prongs on the opposite side of the broad blade {fig. 215.), which can he used in very stiff places to loosen the earth, by the operator's merely altering the position of the handle. The blades of all hoes enter the soil easier when curved than when straight, the wedge in the former case being narrower, y i'Ji. Various ii/ipi arcmcuts in hoes have been attempted by agriculturists. One with a triangular blade 215 Book IV. IMPLEMENTS OF AGRICULTURE. 371 -lit, 218 has been recommended as adapted to thin either at a greater or less distance, according to the depth it is thrust into the soil. Lord Somerville recommends the forked tool {fig. 215. a.) or heavy hoe, used in the vineyards on the Continent ; but it is an implement more oppressive to the cultivator than a spade, as it requires him to stoop very low. Ducket, jun. recommends a treble hoe b for thinning ; another of a different description [c for making drills by drawing; one for making them by striking in a line, in order to form a trench for dung and potatoes (/) ; one for forming a drill in the common way [e] ; and, lastly, one for hoeing both sides of a drill at once (rf). It is said that by this List tool two acres of barley may be hoed in a day, and that it makes good work among oats or wheat : but such hoeing, even on the slightest soils, can be little more than a mere scraping of the surface ; and though the weeds may be cut, yet this is only one object of hoeing. 2460. The Dutch hue is more frequently used in gardening than in agriculture ; but, as it may sometimes be found preferable to the spade or dew-hoe, in cutting the weeds at the roots of young hedges and trees, where it is not desirable to stir the soil more than an inch deep, we shall introduce a figure of the most improved form (Jig. 217.) 2461. The thrust hoe (Jig. 218.) is an improvement on the Dutch hoe. (Gard. Mag. vol. i. p. 343.) 2462. The Spanish hoe (Jig. 219.) may be usefully employed on some occasions in storing the soil among potatoes, where roots and weeds are abundant. To render stooping unnecessary, it should have a long handle. (Gard. Mag. vol. ii. p. 65.) t-H. u 2463. The hoe-fork may be used as the \ \\ i ■■ Spanish hoe, and is most valuable where the roots of couch- grass abound. (Gard. Mag. vol. ii. ) 2464. The scraper may be described as a broad hoe, of treble the usual size and strength, used in cleaning roads or court-yards, and sometimes in cleaning grassy surfaces. One with the ends of the blade turned inwards an inch or two is found more effective in scraping the mud or dust from roads. 2465. Of weeding-tools used in agriculture there are three or-four kinds ; one with a long handle and fulcrum to the blade, for digging docks and other tap-rooted plants from pastures ; a common spud or spadclet for cutting smaller weeds in hedges or standing corn ; a thistle-spud for cutting and rooting out thistles in pastures ; besides short-handled weeders of different kinds, to be used in hand-weeding young and delicate broad-cast crops, as onions, &c. in stiff soils. 2466. Baker s thistle extirpator (Jig. 220.) is an effective implement where that weed 220 b 219 \/ n a cy' abounds. It consists of a handle about four feet six inches long (a), claws between which the thistle is received ib). a fulcrum over which the purchase is obtained for extracting the root (c), and an iron rod or bar upon which the foot is placed to thrust the claws into the ground (d). In case the root of the thistle breaks while the operator is endeavouring to extract it, there is a curved blade, which has a sharp end like a chisel (e), which is thrust into the ground, in order to cut off the underground stem, some inches below the surface, and thus prevent or retard the re- appearance of the weed. 2467. Weediug-pincers, or thistle- draivers (Jig. 221. a, b) are sometimes used for pulling thistles out of hedges and from among standing corn : the handles are about two feet six inches long, and the blades faced with plate iron made rough by cross channels or indentations. There is a variety of this implement called the Havre pincers b), which is used in France both for pulling thistles and other weeds, and for taking tench and eels from the ponds. (Thouin. 2468. The besoms used in fanning are commonly small faggots with handles, formed of birch spray, for the stables and cattle-houses, and of broom, heath, straw, &c. for the barns. 2469. The strau'-rope-tu-ister, or tn-isting-crook (Jig. 222.) is used for twisting straw ropes, and consists of a stick or rod from two to three feet long, and from one inch to B b 2 S72 SCIENCE OF AGRICULTURE. Part II. 222 I ^ 22:i - two inches in diameter, either naturally or artificially crooked. At one end is a ring, through which a cord is passed, and the implement tied to the waist; at the other is a notch, on which the commencement of the rope is made. An improved tool of this sort (jig. '.'2:3. ) is now used by the best farmers ; it is held under the left arm, and turned with tin' right hand. 2170. The potato-dibber is exclusively Used in planting potatoes in line moulds; hut drilling is a mode generally to be preferred, as providing a better bed and a closer covering to the sets. 2171. The common dibber used in agriculture has several teeth or dibbles proceeding from a head, which, having a handle, is pressed into the ground, and forms several holes at once, according to the number of dibbles, and these are regulated by the hardness of the soil. In strong clays the common garden dibber, shod with iron, is often used. 2472. The double-dibber (Jig. 224.) is chiefly used in Norfolk and Suffolk, for dibblin" 1 wheat ; but the more enlightened agriculturists of the present day consider that the pressing plough effects the same object, that of making a firm bed for the seed, more effectually and at less expense. 217:$. Coggins dibbling machine consists of a box fixed on wheels, to which are attached two conical dibbling irons, and the whole is to be moved forward by the foot of the operator. [Newton's Journal, vol. ii. p. 88. - It appears to us much too intricate ever to come into use ; nor do we see the necessity of dibbling by manual labour at all, since we have the pressing plough, 224 V which is allowed to be preferable for wheat, and various drill machines, which are at least as good as the hand dibble, for beans. 2474. The fail is a well known implement for beating out corn, now happily going out of use in the most improved districts, as it would go every where, were the value of the hand- threshing machine generally known. 2475. The essential agricultural tools are the pick, spade, shovel, dung and hay-fork, hay-rake, common hand-hoe, rope-twister, and besom. « Sect. II. Instruments. 2476. The instruments used in agriculture may be classed as the executive and the scientific ; the former are used in executing, the latter chiefly in designing and laying out, operations. Subsect. 1. Instruments of Labour. 2477. The instruments of labour peculiar to agriculture are few, and chiefly the scythe, reaping-hook, and hay-knife ; but there are some others common to agriculture and gardening, which are occasionally used, and they also shall be enumerated. 2478. The set/the is of three kinds : one for cutting grass or herbage crops for hay, which consists of a thin steel blade attached at right angles to a handle of six or eight feet long ; the second for cutting corn, to which what is called a cradle is attached ; the third is of smaller dimensions, and is exclusively used for cutting corn; it is called the Ilaiiiault scythe. enn. The Hainautt sa/lhc {fig. 22.5.) lias a wooden handle an inch and a quarter in diameter, and is held in the mower's right hand by the bent part (a,b) about five inches long. The u Straight part of the handle [e) is from Id to 22 inches long, according to the height of the mower. There is a leathern loop (/>) through which the fore finger is passed, and there is a knob (a) at the extremity, which would pre- vent the hand slipping off, if the loop should break, or the finger slip out of it. The blade foj is about 2 feet long, and 2J inches broad at the middle. The handle is attached to the blade in such a manner as that its plane makes an angle with that of the latter, by which means the mower is able to cut a little upwards, but almost close to' the ground, without stooping, while the handle inclines to the horizon about fid or 70 degrees. The line of the crooked part of the handle fa, b), if produced, would nearly pass through the point of the blade, which thus gives the means of controlling that point ; whilst the fore finger in the loop commands the heel (e). Along with the scythe a light stall'!/, f;), terminating in an iron hook (A), is used by the mower. With the scythe in his right hand, beholds the hook in his left by the middle, the curved part of it over the scythe in a similar position to its blade, and above it, their points being exactly over each other. In working, the mower moves both together, making the hook to pass behind the straw fit at about the middle of its height, to separate and press it slightly down towards the hit hand, while the blade follows with a motion from right to left to cut off the straw at from two to four inches above the ground. A great advantage of this implement is, that the operator is not required to stoop by which his strength is less exhausted, and he is said to cut double the quantity of corn which can he cut in the same time with the reaping- hook, and with less loss of straw. The Highland Society of Scotland ma.ie extraordinary exertions to introduce this instrument among the farmers of that country, in 182j, and. through the assistance of the Chevalier Mast let, then the French consul at Edinburgh, and two young Flemings brought over by the Highland Society, which accompanied this excellent man in a tour through the country, i* "succeeded in making a great many trials. The general result, as communicated in the Book IV IMPLEMENTS OF AGRICULTURE. 373 Society's Report of December, 1825, is, that by the use of this instrument, as compared with the sickle, in the cutting of wheat, there is a saving, at an average of the different statements given, of 26 per cent. Notwithstanding this circumstance, however, the Hainault scythe has been very little used since in Scotland, partly, no doubt, owing to the difficulty of overcoming established prejudices ; partly, also, because anv workman whose frame has been accustomed to use one description of instrument, must begin bv undergoing a good deal of bodilv suffering and loss of labour before he can so far master another, so very different as the Hainault scythe is from the sickle, as to do the same quantity of work with the one as with the other; but principally, we suspect, because the instrument has, if any, no great advantage over the scythe hook. Young persons alone are to be expected to learn the use of difficult instru- ments, and bring them finallv into general reputation. The editor of the Highland Society's Transactions, in speaking of this Report (vol. vii. p. 249.), says that, considering its favourable nature, " a somewhat different result might have been anticipated than has really occurred. But, although three vears have elapsed since these experiments with the Hainault scythe were made, the instrument itself has nowhere come into general use. That it is an important and useful mode of reaping cannot be reasonably disputed ; but we ought not, perhaps, to anticipate any important change in harvest-work until that great era (we hope not very remote) when the acquisition of a horse-machine, applicable to all ordinary circumstances, shall secure our crops, and sweep every prejudice before it." Still, as there will always be small farmers and cottagers who cannot afford to have reaping machines, we think it highly desirable that the Hainault scythe should have further trials, and we earnestly recommend it to our friends in America and Australia. 2480. The cradle-scythe is variously constructed : sometimes the cradle or receptacle into which the corn is gathered is of net- work (Jig. 226.). and at other times it consists of woven laths or wicker-work. (See § 405.) *2481. The reaping-hook is a curved blade of steel, fixed in a short wooden handle ; it is of two kinds ; one serrated like a fine saw, which is used in cutting corn by handfuls, and is called a sickle hook ; the other smooth and sharp like a scythe, which is used to hack the corn over in the peculiar manner called bagging, and is called a cutting hook. The most improved form (Jig. 227.) has a kneed handle. (/ 2482. The smooth reaping-hook, or, as it is called in East Lothian, the scythehook, was first introduced into the West and South-west of Scotland, probably from Ireland, and has now spread over most of the Ijowlands. It is considered much preferable to the common reaping-hook in our best corn counties. (See Farm. Mag., vol. xxiii. p. 55.) Where the crop is very thin and short, it requires some attention to make clean work, and in such cases the teethed hook, or Hutton's improved reaping-hook, may do it better ; but, upon all ordinary good and strong crops, the scythe hook is by far the better implement, the reaper, with equal ease to himself, cutting down a third or fourth more than with the old teethed hook. The impression of some of the best Scotch farmers is, that a labourer will do as much work with it as with the Hainault scythe, and cut the straw almost if not altogether as close to the ground. 24S>. Hutton's improved reaping-hook is serrated from the point through half its length like a sickle, and the remainder is smooth and sharp. The advantage is, that the straws are not cut in entering the hook, as is the case where the point is of the cutting kind, by which means fewer drop and are lost. With sickles reapers invariably make cleaner work than with the hooks for the above reason ; with hooks the straws are cut with less labour. {Trans. Sue. Arts, vol. xxviii.) 2484. The hay-knife consists of a straight blade, set at right angles to a short wooden handle ; both of considerable strength. It is used for cutting hay or straw when con- solidated in the rick or stack. An improvement of this instrument has been proposed, which consists in forming the blade like that of a common spade, sharp at the edges, by which the operator will cut downwards instead of obliquely, and not being obliged to stoop, will effect the same work witli far less trouble. 2485. The wool-shears are formed wholly of iron or steel, and worked with one hand. 2486. The hedge-shears are of different kinds ; that called the averruncator is to be preferred for cutting off' large shoots, as it makes a clean draw-cut like a knife. Shears, however, are not used in dressing hedges by the best agriculturists. 2487. The thatching-knife consists of a blade similar to that of a scythe, inserted in a wooden handle like that of a reaping-hook. For thatching with reeds, heath, or any rough and rigid thatch, the blade has a handle affixed to each end to enable the operator to work it with both hands. 2488. The stack-borer consists of two parts, a cut- ting screw or blade (Jig. 228. a), and a drawing screw (6). Both are worked by cross handles in the usual manner (c). In using this instrument, which is of great importance where hay has acquired a dan- gerous degree of heat, first cut away the loose hay where the borer is intended to be applied, therein insert the point of the borer, and by means of the cross handle turn it round till the stack is pierced either quite through, or to a sufficient depth ; then withdraw the cutter, and, by means of the B b 3 3*4 SCIENCE OF AGRICULTURE. 1'aki 11. drawing screw repeatedly applied, take out the plug <>!' hay which has been detached. If, however, the hay be in a moist, heating state, it will occasionally coil round the cutter in proportion as it is pierced, and impede its action. In such casts, the drawing screw must be slipped over the rod of the cutter, and must be applied from time to time, to draw out the hay, in proportion as it is detached from the mass. (Newton's Journal, »oL v. p. 308.) •2489. The hedge-bill is of various kinds. The scimitar (Jig. 229. a) has a handle four O'l'ii ^ i feet long, bent a little out of the direction of the blade in order to admit the free action of the operator's arm while standing by the side of a hedge and cutting upwards. The axe (6) is used for cutting strong boughs or small trees; the bill-hook (c) for fag- goting, and stopping gaps in hedges ; the dress-hook (d) for cutting the twigs in very young hedges, and for dressing faggots ; and the bill-hook (e) for lopping branches close at hand. A chisel with a handle eisrht or ten feet long is used for cutting off branches eighteen or twenty feet from the operator, and is of considerable use in pruning forest trees in plantations or hedges, and also fruit trees in orchards. 2490. The axe, saie, wedges and hammers, of different kinds and sizes, are used in agriculture, in felling trees, cutting them up, preparing fuel, driving nails, &c. ; but these and other instruments common to various arts need not be described. 2491. The scorer (Jig. 230.) is a well known instru- ment used by woodmen in marking numbers on timber trees. 2492. The line and reel is occasionally wanted for the manual operations of agriculture, and should be pro- cured rather stronger and with a longer line than those used in gardens. 2493. The potato set scoop is of two kinds ; one a hollow semiglobe, (fig. 231. a), and the other (6) a section of that figure. They are only used when potatoes are very scarce, as in ordinary cases the larger the set the more strength and rapidity of growth in the young plant. •IV.'i. The Edinburgh patato.scoop [fig. 232.) is by far the best, and indeed the only one deserving of use. The handle {a) has a round stem which passes through a piece of metal (d), and has there a semicircular . knife or cutter (c) fixed to it. This cut- 2:52 r^. — -_ c . o ter is sharp on both edges, and turns on a pivot fitted in a piece of brass formed out of a piece of plate (A, c). This plate forms a shield to hold the instrument firm upon the potato, by \\ JCJNiT>»-~-i--7 J / ' -' placing the thumb of the left hand /." 'l^ \ l. t ,/ \_.' y/\^ upon it, and pressing the point in which the cutter is fixed into the tuber. Then by turning the handle half round with the ripht hand, the semicircular knife cuts out a set, which is a segment of a small sphere (e,f,g). The only attention necessary in the use of this instrument is, to place it upon the potato, with the eye or bud in the centre of the diameter of the semicircle of the knife when laid flat on the tuber The advantages of this scoop, besides that it is very quick in its operation, is that the pieces being all exactly of one size, that is about an inch in diameter, may be planted by a bean-harrow or drill machine, with much less labour and more accuracy than by the hand. 2495. The essential instruments of labour are the scythe, reaping-hook, hay-knife, wool- shears, hedge-bill, axe, saw, hammer, and line and reel. Book IV IMPLEMENTS OF AGRICULTURE. 375 Subsect. 2. Instruments of Science. 2496. Scientific instruments are not much required in agriculture ; the principal are for levelling, boring, and measuring. _ . . 2497. The level is frequently required in agriculture, for arranging surfaces tor irri- gation, tracing strata in order to cut off springs, well-making, and a variety of other purposes. The simplest form is the common road or mason's level, and the most com- plete the spirit level, with a telescope and compass, such as is used by land-surveyors ; but when operations of only moderate extent are to be performed, very convenient and economical substitutes, and if used with care, equally accurate instruments, may be found in Parker's level, the road or common level, water level, the triangular and the square level. 2498. Parker's level {jig. 2S3.) consists of two g> 233 ^ cylindrical receivers of about five eighths of an inch in interior diameter, and full three inches high each, for holding quicksilver, fixed at right angles upon a wooden stand, and about eighteen inches asunder. A small groove is cut lengthwise f ~— ■■ — ; 7j — : ~ " " [L. in the stand, and closely covered over, through which channel a communication is effected between the two cylinders ; and consequently the surfaces of the quicksilver in the cylinders must be on a level with each other. The two floats are equal to each other as to weight and length, and the surfaces (about five eighths of an inch in diameter) which rest on the quicksilver in each cylinder ; and consequently the tops of the floats must also be on a level with each other. The different parts of the level are closely fitted, and the whole rendered portable by screwing up the floats into the caps of then- respective cylinders. About three minute grooves are cut in the lower, or hemispherical ends of the floats, through which the quicksilver rises upon a slight pressure of the floats, and falls back again under the floats as soon as the pressure is taken off. The tops of the cylinders are a little concave, for saving any particles of quicksilver which may lodge in the screws, when the instrument has been shaken in the carriage. Constructed and sold by Mr. Appleton of Drury Lane, London, turner: price 14s. each; staff" with cords and pulleys, 8s., and three legs five feet high, 4s. 2499. The common level {Jig 234.) is in general use among masons and bricklayers, 234 and for the purposes of road-making and irrigation it is furnished with plates of iron with adjusting screws, for the purpose of determining the slopes of surfaces. 2500. The ivater-level is that which shows the horizontal line by means of a surface of water or other fluid ; founded on this principle, that water always places itself level or horizontal. The most simple level of this kind is made of a long wooden trough or canal, which being equally filled with water, its surface shows the line of level. It is also made with two cups, fitted to the two ends of a straight tube, about an inch in diameter, and three or four feet long, by means of which the water communicates from the one cup to the other, and this pipe being movable on its stand by means of a ball and socket, when the two cups shew equally full of water, their two surfaces mark the line of level. It may also be made with two short cylinders of glass, three or four inches long, fastened at each extremity of the pipe with wax or mastic. The pipe is filled with common oi coloured water, which shows itself through the cylinders, by means of which the line of level is determined; the height of the water with respect to the centre of the earth being always the same in both cylinders. This level is very simple and commodious for level- ling small distances. the whole in the form of the letter A. The manner of using it is simply thus : At the ^JJj"{™*LH? level is to be take,., drive a wooden peg into the ground, dose in to the top, upon which one ^"he legs of the frame or A may rest ; then bringing round the other leg till it touch the ground, there dm e in a second peg, turning round'the other leg as before : and where it touches the ground again, drive in another peg, andso on along the whole line to be levelled Thu finest spirit-level, may the course of a draii: on along the whole line to be levelled Thus, with very little trouble and with as much ac xuracy a s with th e spirit-level, may the course of a drain he easily ascertained. But as it is necessary ti hat a dr. m ihould have sufficient declivity to allow the water to run freely, it will be requisite, in taking the level, K b 4 37= SCIENCE OK AGRICULTURE. Part II. I * /iS\ t e L tl to regulate the direetiou of the line accordingly. Half an inch fall, in the length of the frame, will be sufficient. For this purpose, it will be expedient to have, besides a number of wooden pens, one iron pin with inchei and halves marked regularly upon the (idea of it from the top downwards After having driven in the tirst wooden peg at the point whence you mean to conduct the drain, and having retted the one leu of the frame upon it, turn round the other till it be level with the tirst peg ; there put in the iron pin, 10 that this leg of the frame may rest on the top of it, when level ; then drive in a wooden peg so fir as that the top of il may l>e half an inch lower than that of the iron pin. Place the leg of the frame again upon tins second peg, turn it round to a level, putting in the iron pin till the top of it be equal with the foot of the frame ; then drive in another wooden peg close by the side of it, till the top of the wooden one be half an inch lower than that of the iron pin Proceed in this manner as far as you mean to carry the drain, which will have the I line degree of declivity all the way along. When made on a smaller scale, it is useful in ascertaining the proper descent along the liottom of a drain, while the workmen are laying it ; but when made for this purpose, the cross-bar must be fixed to the bottom of the legs, so that the A become! a a, or delta. 250'i. The. si/uare level (Jig- 235. b), is made of several pieces ; the usual length generally five feet and a halt', and the height lour feet, or four feet ami a half. \ ° \ It may be either used like the water level, or the American level. According to Marshal, it has been found " preferable to any level now in use, as being equally accurate in ascertaining the relative heights of distant objects, as in minutely tracing step by step the required line of communication, so as to give every part of it an equal and uniform descent." 2503. The object staff (fig- 235. c) is used with the water or square level : for either it should be exactly of the same height as the level ; the cross piece at top should be a foot or more in length, and three inches broad, painted white on one side for opposing to dark objects, and black on the other for opposing to such as are white. 2504. The levelling si'iff is composed of two pieces (Jig. 235. d, h, and e, e), which slide on each other : they are each of about five feet in length, so as to form, when fully extended, a rod of ten feet. They have a line of feet graduated into hundredth parts. The index (f) slides firmly on them ; and is moved up or down (by signal) by the attendant who carries the staff, till the observer finds it coincide with the intersecting wires of his telescope. Its height on the staff, of course, marks the difference of the level. It has two horizontal and parallel black stripes, which at considerable distances are of use to direct the eye more readily to the fiducial edge (g). •2505. The meiisuring-chain, mensuring-rod, pocket-rule, poles for setting out straight lines, stakes for driving in at fixed points, and a variety of other instruments, and their appendages, are occasionally required by the agriculturist who lays out estates, or effects territorial improvements : but these, not being strictly agricultural implements, do not require to be described. 2506. The odometer (odos, a way, and melreb, to measure) is a very ingenious instrument, invented in 1821 by Mr. Hunter.ot Thurston in Scotland, who has given the following description of it to the Highland Society. The wheel a {Jig. 2:36.) is made of light iron, and measures two yards in circumference, being divided by six spokes into feet. One spoke must be painted white. The handle is divided at c, like —^-~ a fork, and embraces each end of the axis by its elasticity. Through the axis is a hole into which the end h of the way-wiser fits, and is held fast by a nut >s 6 feet, or 600 feet, or 1 revolution ; and / 101 times BOO feet, or 60,600 feet, equal to nearly II' English miles, the range of the instrument : 88 turns of this wheel make a mile. It is advisable always to commence with the way-wiser set at or zero ; to do this, take out the screw in the centre, when the brass wheels /■■ and / can both be set at zero, and the screw replaced. Set the wheel a upon the ground with the white spoke undermost, and fix the way- wiser into tne wheel by means of the nut d, always observing to put it on the left side, as shown in the plate at e. At any period of measuring you can tell exactly how far you have gone, and proceed without again setting the way-wiser at 0. Suppose, as in the figure, the spoke No. 2 at the ground, the index m pointing at 26 of k, and the index of k pointing at 78 of / ; then the distance measured is 7826 turns of a and two feet ; and as a measures two yards, 7826 x 2 = 151659 yards, to which add the two feet. In reading off, particular care must be taken always to read the large figures viz those on the wheel /) tirst, and afterwards to add thesmall figures(viz. tho*e on the wheel k^ ; and, if the figures on k amount to JJOOK IV. INSTRUMENTS OF SCIENCE. 377 loss than 10, a must be prefixed, so that k shall always show two figures ; for instance, / being at 46 and k at 4, the sum is 46U4. The easiest way to guard against error is to read 46 and add the word hun- dred : thus, forty-six hundred and four, and not four thousand six hundred and four. It is hardly necessary to point out the advantage of having such an instrument. No country gentleman, who takes the smallest charge of his own affairs, should be without one ; as, by merely walking from one end to the other of any road, hedge, wall, ditch, &c. with the odometer (which is not more troublesome than a walking stick), he can tell the length of it much more correctly than by a measuring chain, which, to say the least of it, requires two honest men, one at each end, and who must be both paid for their trouble ; whereas the gentleman himself, whose honesty cannot be doubted, as he is not likely to cheat himself, can, at no expense, measure with this instrument at least four times as quickly as those with the chain, who have it also in their power to mismeasure, if I may use the expression, six inches every time a peg is put into the ground ; but its principal uses are to check measurements already made, and to measure off the size of any proposed improvements, such as plantations, gardens, &c. {Trans. H. Soc, vol. vi. p. 603.) 2507. Good's improved instruments for boring the earth for water, draining, and other purposes, may now be considered as having superseded all others, and we shall shortly describe them. 2508. The auger {Jig. 238. a) is to be connected by the screw-head to the length of rods by which the boring is carried on. This auger is for boring in soft clay or sand ; it is cylindrical, and has a slit or opening from end to end, and a bit or cutting- piece at bottom. When the earth is loose, or wet, an auger of the same form is to be employed, but with the slit or opening reduced in width, or even without a slit or opening. A similar auger is used for cutting through chalk, but the point or bit at bottom should then project lower, and for that pur- pose some of these cylindrical augers are made with moveable bits, to be attached by screws, which is extremely desirable in grinding them to cutting edges. 2509. The holluw conical auger (6), for boring loose sandy soils, has a spiral cutting edge coiled round it, which, as it turns, causes the loose soil to ascend up the inclined plane and deposit itself in the hollow within. 2510. The hollow cylinder or tube (e), with a foot valve, and a bucket to be raised by a rod or cord attached at top, is a pumping tool for the purpose of getting up waterand sand that would not rise by the auger. When this cylinder is lowered to the bottom of the bore, the bucket is lifted up by the rod and cord, and descends again by its own gravity, having a valve in the bucket, opening upwardslike other lift pumps, which at every stroke raises a quantity of water and sand in the cylinder equal to the stroke, the ascent and descent of the bucket being limited by a guide-piece at the top of 1 th e cylinder, and two small nobs upon the rod, which stop L_l II against the cross-guide. 2511. The tool for getting up broken rods (d) consists of a rod with a small cylindrical piece at bottom, which the broken rod slips through when it is lowered, and a small catch with a knife-edge, acted upon by a back-spring. In rising, the tool takes hold of the broken rod, and thereby enables the workmen at top to draw it up. 2512. Another tool for the same purpose {fig. 239. e) is like a pair of tongs ; it is intended to be slidden down the bore, in order that the broken rod may pass between f he two catches, which, pressed bv back springs, will, when drawn up, take fast hold of the broken rod. 2513. The tool for widening the hole (/) is to be connected, like all the others, to the end of the length of rods passed down the bore ; this tool has two cutting pieces'extending on the sides at bottom, by which, as the tool is turned round in the bore, the earth is pulled away. 2514. The chisel or punch-pipe {g) has a projecting piece to be used for penetrating through stone. This chisel is by rising and falling made to peck the stone and pulverise it, the small middle part breaking it away first, and afterwards the broad part coming into action. A nother ch isel, or punch ing-tool (A), is twisted on its cutting edge, and is used for breaking away a greater portion of the stone. 2515. A lifting tool {>') is used when it happens that an auger breaks in the hole. On one side of this tool a curved piece is attached, for the purpose of a guide to conduct it past the cylindrical auger ; 37* SCIENCE or AOUICLLTUUF.. II. mi. i at the end of the other side is a hook, which taking hohi of the bottom edge of the auger enables it to be drawn up, The triangular claw Is used when loose stones Ue at the bottom of the hole, which are too large to be brought up by the cylindrical auger, and cannot be con- venientlj broken. The Internal notches of tin> instrument take hold "i the stone, and a- the tool I Ises it iiiin.-s them up. For raising broken rods a tool / Is sometimes employed, which has an angular claw that dips under the shoulder Ol the rod, and holds it fast while drawing up. {Scwtoii's Join mil, voL viiL p. i! 17.) 241 240 2517. Oilur tools connected with the subject of boring for water, also invented by Mr. Good, will be described when the operation of boring is treated of, in Part III. Book III. Chap. III. (See Contents.) '_'.■) IS. ]hishi/'s borer for quicksand (Jig- 241.1 consists of a tube called a sludger, from five to six feet in length, made of plate iron, with a valve at its lower extremity, made partly of iron and partly of leather, which works upon an ail iron hinge, and a hole at the top (a) through which it is emptied. In boring through quicksands a metal pipe is inserted into the borehole, and the sand is withdrawn from it by the sludger, which, by means of the valve at its lower end, acts as a pump. A second metal pipe is added to the first, and so on to any depth. (Trans. High. Soc. vol. vi. p. 611.) 242 2519. The peat-borer (Jig. 242.) is a larger sort of borer, employed in peaty soils that are boggy, for the purpose of removing wetness. It has been used with advantage in some peat-mosses in Lancashire, by Eccleston, 2520. The blasting auger, timber measure, and other scientific instru- ments, not in general use in agriculture, will be best described in treating of the departments in which they are applied. 2521. The only essential scientific instrument is the common level, which may be wanted to level drains and water furrows, adjust the sur- face of roads, &c. Sect. III. Utensils used in Agriculture. 2522. The principal agricultural utensils are sieves, baskets, corn-measures, and sacks. *2523. Sieves are textures of basketwork, wire, gut, or hair, stretched on a broad wooden hoop. Sometimes, also, they are formed of skins or plate iron pierced with holes, and so stretched. They are used for separating corn, or other seed, from dust or other extraneous matters. There are different varieties for wheat, beans, oats, rape-seed, &c. 2524. The corn-screen (Jig. 248.) consists of a hopper (a), with a sliding board (6) for giving more or less feed ; slips of wood (c c) fixed on pivots to prevent the grain from passing too quickly down ; and the screen, which is composed of parallel wires (d). •2525. Baskets are made of wickerwork, of different shapes, but generally forming some section of a globose figure : they vary much in size ; those in most general " << 244 use in agriculture are from twenty inches to two feet in diameter, and are used for carrying roots, chaff", cut straw, &c, from one place to another in the farmery. A very good substitute for a basket for filling sacks (fig. 244.), formed of iron, is in use in Nottingham- shire, Lincolnshire, and other counties. (Gard. Mag. vol. v. p. 674.) 2526. The seed-carrier or seed-basket (fig. 245.) is sometimes made 245 of thin veneers of wood, bent into an irregular oval, with a hollow to fit the seedsman's side, and a strap to pass over his head, and rest on his shoulder. In some places, a linen bag of a shape adapted to be borne by the right shoulder, and to suspend the seed under the left arm, is used for the same purpose. 2527. The feeding tub or trough may be of any shape and size ; it is used for giving short or liquid food to swine, sheep, and other live stock. 2528. The pail is used for carrying water, or other liquid food. 2529. The turnip tray is a shallow movable trough or box, used to prevent waste when sheep are fed upon turnips. 2530. The corn bin, or com chest, for containing oats or other grain for horses, may be an oblong box of any convenient size. Sometimes it is placed in the loft over the stable, and the corn is drawn out by a hopper below ; but for a farm stable this is needless Book IV HAND MACHINES. 379 trouble : there it is commonly placed in the broad passage behind the horses, or in any spare corner. It should be stout, and have good hinges, and a safe lock and key. 2531. The flexible tube, for relieving cattle that are hoven or choked, consists of a strong leathern tube about four feet long and about half an inch in diameter, with a leaden nozzle pierced with holes at the insertion end It should be kept in every farmery. There is a similar one, on a smaller scale, for sheep, which should be kept by all shepherds. Both will be found figured and described in Part III. Book VII. 2532. Jones's kiln-drying apparatus (Jig- 246. section) consists of two concentric cylinders about six feet in dia- meter, and is from the bottom to the top of its cones twelve feet high. The outer cylinder may either be perforated with small holes, or made of wire gauze. In the centre of the inner cylinder are a fire-place and chimney. The grain to be dried is admitted between the cylinders through a hopper at top, and distributing itself round the internal cone, it is discharged through a spout into a sack or receiver. In passing the grain becomes heated, and the moisture eva- porates, and passes off through the perforations of the ex- terior cylinder. (Newton s Journal, vol. vii. p. 214.) 2533. Com measures consist of the lippie, peck, and bushel, with the strike or rolling pin to pass over the surface, and determine their fulness. The local measures of every country are numerous ; the imperial bushel is now the standard corn-measure of the three kingdoms. 2534. Com sack or bags are strong hempen bags, calcu- lated to hold four bushels ; and in Scotland four firlots. 2535. Other utensils, as those of the dairy, poultry, and cider-house, will be described in their appropriate places. 2536. The essential agricultural utensils are the sieve, basket, seed-carrier, tub, pail, corn chest, flexible tube, corn measure, and corn sack. Sect. IV. Hand Machines used in Agriculture. 2537. Agricultural hand machines are generally portable ; some are exclusively put in action by man, as the wheel-barrow; and others, as the straw-cutter, sometimes by horses, water, or other powers. 2538. The common ladder is the simplest of manual machines, and is in constant use for forming and thatching ricks, and for other purposes; with or without the use of trestles and scaffolding. 2539. The ii'heel-barrow is of three kinds : — the new ground work barrow [Jig. 247. i used in moving earth or stones; the dung barrow (Jig. 248.) for the farmyard; and the corn barrow (Jig. 249.)Jfor conveying corn from the stackyard to the barn. The body of the latter (b) may 249 be made to separate \S? from the frame and wheel, and by means of levers a) to be carried like the hand-barrow. 2540. Harrows Jor hay and straw may be variously constructed, and near towns (figs. 250, 251. J may be used for wheeling light package-.. 2541. The sack-barrow is a two-handed lever of the first kind, the fulcrum of which SMO science of AGiurri/rriiK. Pakt II. i^a pair of low wheels: it is a convenient machine for moving Bocks in a granary or bam floor, from one point to another. 2542. The Normandy wheelbarrow ( Jig. 252.) is said to be exceedingly useful on a farm. The handles or trams (na) art" nearly tifu'i'ii feet in length] by which, when loaded, nearly all the weight is thrown on die axle, so that the man has almost nothing to carry, and has only to push. IK' is thus saved from being bent down while at work, and consequently from acquiring a habit of stoop- ing. A shoulder strap (b) is commonly used by the operator. (Morel I'iude, a?id Gard. Mag. vol. vi.) The truck (Jig. 253.) is a machine of the barrow kind for conveying compact heavy weights, such as stones, metals, &c. 2544. The hand-harrow is of different kinds (Jigs. 254, 255, '-'56.), and is in fre- quent use in various departments of agricul- ture, where the soil is soft, or the surface uneven. Its bottom should be close and strong for carrying stones; but may be light and open for dung or corn. 2545. The winnowing machine, originally introduced from Holland to East Lothian by Mr. James Meikle of Saltoun, father to Mr. Andrew Meikle, the inventor of the 254 255 256 7!i threshing machine (799.), is in use for cleaning corn in most of the improved districts. There are different forms, but the best are those founded on the Meikle or Berwickshire winnower, which, instead of one screen, has a set of sieves put in motion by the machine, by which means the com comes out, in most cases, ready- to be meted up in sacks. A highly- improved form of this machine, and the most perfect, we believe, at present in use (Jig. 257.) is manufactured by Weir and Co. of London. 2546. The hand threshing-machine (Jig. 258.) is worked by two men and one woman, and is sometimes used for threshing the com of a small farm, or lor threshing clover or other small seeds. The advantage consists chiefly in the completeness in which the grain is separated from the straw; there is no saving of human labour, unless the power of horses or water is applied. 258 2547. The potato cleaner is a hollow or per- forated cylinder or barrel, with a wooden axle through its long diameter, and a handle at one end, by which it is turned like a barrel churn. A hinged board forms an opening for putting in and taking out the potatoes, which fastens with an iron hasp and staple. It is filled one third with potatoes or other roots, and then placed in a cistern of water, by means of a crane or other- wise. In this state, being two thirds immersed in the water, and one third full of potatoes, it is turned round a few times, when the latter are found cleaned, and the barrel is lifted out by the crane, emptied, filled, and replaced. 254K. A locomotive steam threshing-machine, capable of propelling itself and a man. has been constructed in the count) of Northumberland. It is intended for the small farmers, as it can be moved from one farm to another, and thus enable them to thresh Book IV. HAND MACHINES. 3S1 out their corn expeditiously and perfectly clean. The steam engine is not intended to be confined to threshing, as, by particular arrange- ments, it may be applied to the drawing of waggons, pumping of water, breaking of stones, &c. 2549. The maizes/teller (Jig. 259.) is composed of a thin vertical wheel covered with iron on one side, made rough by punctures ; which wheel works in a trough, and separates the grains from the stalks by rubbing. The ears or spikes of corn are thrown in by hand one at a time ; and while the separated grains pass through a funnel beiow, the naked stalk is brought up at the end of the wheel opposite to that at which it was put in. The wheel may either be made rough on both sides, or on one side, according to the quantity of work required to be done, and the force to be applied. 2550. Marwtt's improved maize separator (fig. 260.) is the most perfect machine of this kind at present in use; it has not hitherto been much used in England, but a good many have been exported to America and the colonies. A machine for the same purpose, by Cobbett, will be figured and described in Part III. Book VI. 262 T^,',,i| ..iiniMin'ilmnuir, 'MIIIIIIIHIt 25.51. A hand jlour-mill (Jig. 261.), for grinding Indian com, consists of one wheel and pinion, a fixed French burstone, and a similar stone in motion over it. The corn passes through a hopper in the usual manner, and comes out from the stones fit for the bolting machine. The hand flour-mill is chiefly used for Indian corn ; but it will also grind wheat and other corns into meals of tole- rable fineness. It re- quires two men to work it, and the price in Lon- don is from ten to six- teen guineas. 2552. A hand bolting- machine (Jig. 262. ), con- sists of a half cylinder of wire with cross brushes (a), enclosed in a box (b) about four feet long by twenty inches on thesides. It may be considered a necessary appendage to the hand flour-mill, and costs in London from three to five guineas. & 382 SCIENCE OF AGRICULTURE. Part II. 8553. The fwia - b ndter [Jig. 2G3.) is an in- genious and most useful machine where furze is either grown or found naturally. The shoots are bruised and cut into short lengths by hammers which operate like those in the mills for hammering iron. When the material is not suflieicntly bruised, it is afterwards passed between rollers. 2554. The bane-breaking machine {jig. 264. I consists of two rollers grooved and indented, and with pinions on their ends, by which they may be moved cither by animals, water, or steam power. The surfaces of the rollers are filled with indent- ations and strong teeth, which penetrate and break the bones to pieces. This is accomplished by employing separate cast-iron wheels placed side by side upon an axis, to compose the rollers; the wheels have coarse teeth similar to those of a saw or ratchet wheel; each wheel of the lower roller is an inch thick ; and they are placed at distances of an inch and a half asunder, having circles of hard wood or iron placed between them, which are two inches less in diameter. The bones should be supplied rather gradually to the machine at first, to avoid choking it, and the rollers should then be adjusted to a considerable distance asunder ; but when the bones have once passed through in this way, the rollers are screwed closer by screws placed for that pur- pose, and the fragments ground a second time. The pinions (a a) must have deep cogs to enable them to take deep hold of each other, when the rollers are set only half an inch distant to grind fine, and without the cogs being liable to slip when the centres are separated so far as to leave a space of one inch or one inch and a quarter between the rollers, for the passage of the large bones the first time. The rollers will act most effectually, if the different wheels are fixed upon their axles in such a position that the teeth will not correspond or form lines parallel to the axes, and then no piece of bone can escape without being broken by some of the teeth. The bones which have passed through the rollers slide down an inclined board, and collect at the bottom in a large heap. When all the stock of bones are thus coarsely broken, a labourer takes them up in a shovel and throws them again to the hopper to be ground a second time. (S>i/:j>. In Encyc. Brit. Art. Agr.) In a modification of this machine to be impelled by horse power, manufactured by Weir of London (fig. 265.), the bones, after passing through the rollers, are conducted by the hopper (a) into a revolving screen (ft), which is driven by a bevel wheel !c) working into a pinion on the screen shaft (el, e). 2555. The oil-cake bruiser is composed of two rollers ground and toothed like the rollers of the bone-mill, but it is on a smaller scale so as to be worked by one man. The object is to bruise the oil-cake to a dust or powder. Below the rollers is a screen for separating the grosser pieces which are set apart for feeding cattle, and B IV. HAND MACHINES. 383 the finer material or dust is reserved for sheep or for manure. Price in London from 8 to 1 1 guineas. 2556. A stone-breaking machine impelled by steam may be constructed of two fluted rollers, placed side by side, about an inch apart, and turning different ways. The stones are put into a kind of hopper above, and pushed down with a rake, affording a regular supply to the roller. It is worked by one of Kay and Koutledge's rotatory engines, of one-horse power, and will completely break a ton of hard pebbles in about six or eight minutes. (Newton s Journal, vol. vi. p. 152.) 2557. The root-breaker or bruiser fig. 266.) is composed of two widely fluted rollers, placed under a hopper, turned by two men. It is used for breaking or bruising potatoes, turnips, carrots, or other raw roots, into small or moderate sized pieces, before giving them to cattle or horses. The same implement may be set so close by means of two screws, as to serve for a whin-bruiser, or for breaking beans or com of any kind. 266 ^ 2558. The com-bruising machine (Jig. 267.) is contrived for the purpose of bruising or kibbling different sorts of grain, pulse, &c. as well as grinding malt. It is a simple implement, constructed with two iron rollers of different diameters, turned true on their axles or spindles, each roller having a cog or tooth wheel. A roller with grooves is fixed under the hopper, to receive the grain from the hopper, and lay it on the two rollers. To one of the rollers is fixed a fly-wheel. The machine is made to be worked by hand, or any other power. The upper wood frame is made to slide, and is regulated by a screw, according to the size of the grain, and will bruise it more or less as may be required. 2559. The potato four-mill (fg. 268.) consists of a cylinder (a) covered with tin- plates pierced with holes, so as to leave a rough surface, in the same manner as the graters used for nutmegs, &c, but the holes in this are larger. This cylinder is situate beneath a hopper (b), into which the potatoes are thrown, and thence admitted into a kind of trough (c), when they are forced against the cylinder, which, as it revolves, grinds the potatoes to a pulp. Motion is given to the machine by a handle fixed upon the end of the axis of the grating cylinder (a), and on the opposite extremity of this axis is a fly- wheel d) to regulate and equalise the movement. The potatoes, when put into the hopper, press by their weight upon the too of the cylinder, and, as it revolves, they are in part grated away. On one side of the lower part of the hopper is an opening, closed or opened more or less, at pleasure, by a slider (e) ; and the degree of opening which this has, regulates the passage of the potatoes from the hopper into the trough (c). This is as wide as the length of the cylinder, and lias a concave board (/) fitted into it, 268 :)si SCIENCE OF AG KICULTUItr:. Part IF. which -.lules backwards and forwards by the action of levers (g), fixed to an axis extended across the frame of the machine: ■ lever (/d is fixed upon this axis, causing a weight which acts upon the hoard f) by means of the levers, to force or press foiward the potatoes contained in the trough (r against the cylinder, and com- 269 plctc the grating of them into a pulp. The tin-plate covering the Cylinder is of course pierced from the inside outwards, and the bur or rough edge, left round each hole, forma an excellent rasping surface. •'2560. The chaff-cutter is used for cutting hay or straw into frag- ments not larger than chaff, to facilitate its consumption by cattle. There are numerous forms ; one of the best is that of Weir ( Jig. 269.), which is so formed, that in case of its being accidentally broken, it may be repaired by any common mechanic The pressure of the straw is also capable of being regulated with great facility. 2561. The hay-binding machine is an invention by Beckway for weighing and binding straw or hay. (Jig. 272.) It is a very ingenious apparatus, and may be useful to retail farmers in the neighbourhood of large towns. The apparatus, with every implement necessary to be used in cutting, weighing, and binding, may be packed together so as to form a wheel- barrow. (Jig. 270.) When un- packed (Jig. 272.), the wheel is taken out, and the bottom of the barrow (a) turned upside down upon the ground as a platform. (Jig. 271.) The standard (6), is then set up in the sockets of the underside of the barrow. The frame (c) is then unfolded, and the axis of the steelyard or scalebeam d], placed upon the standard as a fulcrum, supporting the frame (c) at the short end, and at the long end the coun- terpoising weight is suspended by a chain, and adjusted to the graduations upon the steelyard agreeably to the quan- tity of hay to be weighed. The bed of the frame (c is then fastened down to the platform by means of the lever which held the wheel in the barrow. Two haybands are then placed between the hooks (e e), and extended along the bed of the frame (c). The truss of hay is then laid upon the bed of the frame (c), as shown by dotted lines, and the lever or latch underneath withdrawn, so as to allow the scale-beam to oscillate. The proper quantity or weight of hay being adjusted, the truss is bound round with the haybands, which were placed under it. This truss being removed, the same process is followed in weighing and binding every other truss, which is done without the smallest delay or inconvenience ; when the whole quantity required is bound up, the apparatus is dismounted and packed toge- ther in five minutes, asjig. 270. The re- spective implements, such as the knife, fork, pin, and every part of the machine, fitting together upon the barrow so as to secure the whole, are hound round by the chain and (2?ewton't Journal, vol. i. p. 13b'.) Weight, a,u ^ tightly packed for conveyance Book IV. HAND MACHINES. 385 2562. The rope-twisting machine (Jig- 273.), is a small wheel, the prolonged axle or spindle of which terminates in a hook, on which the rope is commenced. It is commonly fixed to a portable stand ; but is sometimes attached to a threshing-machine. It is used for twisting ropes of straw, hay, or rushes, for tying on the thatch of ricks, and other similar purposes. It is also used to form very thick ropes for forming straw drains. 2563. The draught-machine, or dynamometer, is a contri- vance invented for the purpose of ascertaining the force or power of draught, in drawing ploughs, &c. Finlayson's (fig. 274.) is reckoned one of the best varieties for agricultural purposes. 2564. More's draught-machine is a spring coiled within a cylindrical case, having a dial-plate marked with numbers like that of a clock, and so contrived that a hand moves 274 In using 275 with the motion of the spring, and points to the numbers in proportion as the force is exerted : for instance, when the draught equals one cwt. over a pulley, the hand points to figure 1 ; when the draught is equal to two cwt. it points to figure 2, and so on. Till this very useful machine was invented, it was exceedingly difficult to compare the draught of different ploughs, as there was no rule to judge by, but the exertions of the horses as apparent to the eye ; a very undecisive mode of ascertaining their force. 2565._ Braby's draught-machine (Jig. 275.), consists of two strong steel plates, joined at the ends, and forming a spheroidal opening between them, it, one end {a) is hooked on the muzzle of the plough or other implement, and to the other (6) the draught trees are at- tached. An indicator (c) points out the power applied, in cwts. It is evident that Braby's machine and Finlay- son's act on the same principle, and that the latter, being more simple in the construction, must be a more accurate indicator, and less liable to go out of order. 2566. The weighing-cage (fig. 276.) is a contri- vance made in the form of a sort of open box or cage, by which any small animal, as a pig, sheep, calf, &c. may be very easily and expeditiously weighed, and with sufficient accuracy for the farmer's purpose. It is constructed on the principle of the common steelyard, with a strong wooden frame and steel centres, in which the pivots of the lever are hung ; and upon the short side of the lever is suspended a coop, surrounded by strong network, in which the animal intended to be weighed is placed. The point 277 rrw^. °^ suspension is connected with the coop by means of two curved iron rods, which at the same time form the head of it ; a common scale being hung on the longer side of the lever. 2567. The cattle - weighing machine is a contrivance of the steelyard kind, for the purpose of weighing cattle and other animals alive. A machine of this sort is of importance in the grazing and fattening systems, where they are carried to any con- siderable extent, — in ascertaining the progress made by and showing how they pay for the use of any par- ^< the animals. ticularkind of food, or what power it has in promoting the fattening process. Weir's variety (fig. 277.) is by far the simplest and most economical of these machines. *2568. The weighing-machine Jor saclcs (fig. 278. ) is a convenient piece of barn-furniture on the steelyard principle, and so com- mon as to require no description. C o 278 386 SCIENCE OF AGRICULTURE. Taut II. 2569. A potato-wdtfling machine (fig. 270.), of a very complete description, lias been invented l>y Mr. John Smith, of Edinburgh, and is figured in the Highland Society' t Transactions, vol. vii. pi. iii. It is on the principle of the stcclyaid, and chiefly intended for weighing grain, flour, potatoes, or any other commodity usually put into a bag for carriage or keep. The machine is portable, of easy use, and not liable to go out of order. 2570. Ruthven's farmer's steelyard (fig. 280.) is well adapted for weighing and readily discharging bulky commodities. It consists of a longer and shorter beam, with a moveable weight, to be shifted along the former, and a scale suspended to the latter. The longer arm, from its extremity, being confined within a limited range, obviates the inconvenience of jerks and long vibra- tions, while an index upon it points out the required weight, by a counterpoise being slid backwards and forwards, till the point has been found when it acts as an equiva- lent. By turning a keeper fixed to the scale, one end of it is opened, turning on 3 2 f *a a cylindrical hinge at the top, and the con- tents speedily discharged. These balances may be made of any size required, either to suit the purposes of the farm, or the Fl household. Their simplicity secures them -f 280 £T. 281 ■X \j / equally against expense of manufacture, and the risk of going wrong when in use. One weight only is required, the value of which, as a counterpoise, depends on its distance from the centre of motion ; and it is so confined upon the long arm, that, though it has a perfectly free motion over all its length, it cannot escape at either extremity, and consequently can never be lost, which is a great recommendation to the instrument. The simple manner in which one of the ends of the tin-plate scale opens up round a wire hinge is also very ingenious, and no less calculated to render the steelyard useful when weighing flour, grain, seeds, and such commodities. (High. S. Trans.) *2571. The turnip-slicer is of different forms; the old machine works by hand, like a straw-cutter of the original construction ; but a better one consists of a hopper and knives, fixed upon a fly wheel, (fig. 281.) The turnips press against the knife by their own weight, and a man turning the wheel will cut a bushel in a minute. Gardener's turnip-slicer is a highly improved form of this machine. 2572. The turnip-chopper (fig. 282.) is perhaps a more useful implement than the turnip-slicer. It is first made like the common nine-inch garden hoe, forming an oblong square, with an eye to receive the handle, and from the centre of the first hoe, another hoe crosses it at right angles. On the reverse is a two-pronged fork, for the purpose of pulling up the turnips. The turnip being pulled out of the ground by the prongs, or the angles of the hoe, is immediately struck with it about the centre, which divides it into four ; and if these four pieces are not small enough, the stroke is repeated upon each of the pieces until they are sufficiently reduced. The two stoutish prongs on the back or reverse part of the hoe, proceeding from the neck of the eye, besides their use in pulling up the turnips 2fjr> with expedition, increase the weight of the hoe, which is in its favour, by lessening the force necessary to split the roots. 2573. Of hand-drilling and dibbling machines, and especially of the former, there are a great many kinds, of various degrees of merit. The sort to be re- Book IV, HAND MACHINES 38"; commended in any particular case will depend on the texture of the soil ; one which would answer well in a soft soil or sand might not succeed in a stony or loamy soil, As the fashions of drills are continually changing, we advise intending purchasers to describe their soil and kind of culture, as whether raised or flat drilling, &c, to j. respectable implement-maker, and try the kind he recommends. In the mean time we submit a few of the established forms. 2574. The bean or potato dibbling machine 'Jig. 283.) consists of a single wheel, set with dibber points, which may be placed wider or closer at pleasure. It is pushed along by one man, and succeeds on friable soils, but cannot be depended on when the sur- face is rough or tenacious. Potato sets to be planted after this machine should be cut with the improved scoop (2494.) 2575. The common hand drill-barrow (Jig 284.) consists of a frame and wheel somewhat similar to that of a common barrow, with a hopper attached to con- tain the seed. It is used for the pur- pose of sowing horse-beans, turnips, and similar seeds, upon small ridges. In using it, the labourer for the most part wheels it before him, the seed being afterwards covered by means of a slight harrow, or sometimes by a shallow furrow. 2576. Tlie broadcast hand-drill (Jig. 285.^ is chiefly used for sowing clover or other small seeds, with or without grass seeds. The operation, however, is much more fre- quently performed by hand. Broadcast sowing by machinery drawn by horses or cattle, however, may be advantageously adopted on farms of the largest size, and where the soil is uniform in surface, in moisture, and in richness. 2577. Coggings dibbling-machine (Jig. 286.) was invented in 1827, and appears very ingeniously contrived. The Me- chanism is to be worked by the foot of the operator. The machine runs on wheels, and there are two conical dibbling irons, one larger than the other. These are ranged in a line with the delivering funnel of the drill, and at such distances apart as may be considered proper for dis- charging the seeds. A hopper (a) contains the seed, and such earthy materials as bone dust, or other manure in powder, as may be found necessary to deposit with the seed. There is a funnel (b) through which the seeds and manure are passed ; and the conical dibbling iron (c) is worked by a handle (d). This dib- bling iron and its handle are con- nected by two levers, of which the ^T3 lower (e) hangs to the axle of the principal running wheel, and has at its front extremity a small cone (/), intended as a marker. There is an upper lever (g) which works the axle (h) of the cylinder, within C c 2 36S SCIENCE OF AGRICULTURE. Part II. the hopper which delivers the seed. The foot of the operator is strapped to the lever, and by its pressure forces the dibbling iron into the ground. The inventor says that two machines may be used at the same time by the same man, one foot being strapped to each. (Xeivton's Journal, vol. ii. new series, p. 89.) •8578. The turnip barrow-drill sows a single row at a time ; but is of difficult manage- ment on the tops of ridges : for this purpose, it is desirable to have two v\ heels, one to go on each side of the ridge. An im- proved variety of this machine (Jig- 287.) has a barrel of water (a) attached, which, by means of a tube, is dropped among the seed in the tract made by the coulter. This very useful appendage may be added to any drill-machine, whether worked by manual or animal labour. 2579. The hand turnip-roller (Jig. 288.) is used for rolling raised drills or ridges previously to and after sowing turnip-seed by a hand- drill. The use of such a roller leaves the ridges in a much better form for receiving the seed than a com- mon cylindrical roller ; and after the seed is sown, when this roller is again used, the surface is left in the fittest state for retaining moisture, and for com- mencing the hoeing and thinning operations. 2580. DoxaCs machine for assisting human power (Jig. 289.) consists in a certain arrangement of levers and pulleys, by means of which the weight as well as muscular strength of the labourer is intended to be brought into action, and hence to render his necessary exertions less laborious and fatiguing. Supposing the apparatus as applied to a pump ; then (a) and (b) will represent two 289 levers, their ful- crums or pivots being in the standard (c c). These levers are connected together by a cord or chain (d d) passing over a pulley (e). To the lever (a) the cord (/) is attached, which is also connected to the upper lever (g) ; this upper lever moving upon a fulcrum in the standard (c), works the pump rod (h). In order to put this apparatus in action, a man is to be seated on a transverse bar or rail (;'), shown by dots near the end of the lever (a). The feet of this man are to rest upon the bottom lever (A), and by his alternately sitting upon the lever (a), and standing upon the lever (b), they are by the chain or cord (d) brought into the situation shown by the dotted lines ; and hence the "lever (g) is raised and lowered for the purpose of working the pump. A weight is placed upon the lever (a), and made to slide, for the purpose of regulating the machinery and balancing the weight of the water or other matter raised. By these means it is evident, that a man can exert a greater power, in proportion to the fatigue occasioned, than would be effected by the usual methods, such as turning a winch or moving a lever with the arms, &c. (Xewtons Journal, vol. iii. p. 77.) *2581. Other machines for particular departments, will be noticed in their proper places; f*^ and some will be wanted which are not peculiar to agriculture, such as rat-traps (fgs. 290. and 291.), mouse and mole-traps (Jig. 292.), a fowling piece for shooting birds, scares for deterring birds, and similar contrivances. 2582. The grindstone (fg. 293.) is a hand-machine that cannot be dispensed with in a farmery. The most improved sort has a cast-iron frame, which any 291 h 292 y a person wishing to grind an instrument on may turn for himself, by operating with his foot Book IV. SWING PLOUGHS. 389 on a treadle (a). This frame can be adjusted to a small or a large grindstone, or altered as the stone wears out, by the construction of the support for the gudgeon (6) ; a loose shield of sheet- iron (c) is used to protect the operator from the water thrown off by the wheel when in motion. (Gard. Mag. vol. v.) 2583. The essential hand-machines are the ladder, wheel and hand-barrows, winnowing machine, chaff-cutter, and turnip barrow-drill. Chap. II. Of Agricultural Implements and Machines drawn by Beasts of Labour. 2584. The fundamental implements of agriculture are the plough, the harrow, and the cart : these are common to every country in the slightest degree civilised ; sufficiently rude in construction in most countries, and only very lately brought to a high degree of perfection in Britain. Dr. Anderson (Recreations in Agriculture, Sec), writing in 1802, observes, " that there are no sorts of implements that admit of greater improvement than those of husbandry, on the principle of diminishing weight without in any degree abating their strength." Since that very recent period, great improvements have taken place in almost every agricultural implement, from the plough to the threshing-machine; and though these have not yet found their way into general use, especially in England, they may be procured at the public manufactories of the capitals of the three kingdoms with no trouble. It is incredible what benefits would result to agriculture if proper ploughs and threshing-machines were generally adopted ; and if the scuffler or cultivator, of which Wilkie's seems to be the most improved form, were applied in suitable soils, and under proper circumstances ; not to mention one and two horse carts, improved harrows, and the best winnowing machines. But the ignorance and antipathy to innovation of the majority of farmers in almost every country, the backwardness of labourers to learn new practices, and the expense of the implements, are drawbacks which necessarily require time to overcome. It may also be observed, that, in the progress of improvement, many innovations which have been made have turned out of no account, or even worse than useless ; and this being observed by the sagacious countryman confirms him in his rooted aversion from novelty and change. — In our selection, we shall pass over a great variety of forms, the knowledge of which we consider of no use, unless it were to guard against them, and shall chiefly confine ourselves to such as are in use at the present time by the best farmers of the best cultivated districts. These we shall arrange as tillage imple- ments, sowing and planting implements, reaping machines, threshing machines, and machines of deportation. Sect. I. Tillage Implements and Machines. 2585. The tillage implements of agriculture comprise ploughs with and without wheels, and pronged implements of various descriptions, as grubbers, cultivators, harrows, rollers, &c. We shall take them in the order of swing ploughs, wheel ploughs, pronged implements, harrows, rollers, &c. Subsect. 1. Suing Ploughs, or such as are constructed without Wheels. 2586. The plough, being the fundamental implement of agriculture, is common to all an-es and countries, and its primitive form is almost every where the same. The forms used by the Greeks and Romans (see Part I. Book I. Chap. 1 and 2.) seem to have spread over Europe, and undergone no change till probably about the 16th century, when they began to be improved by the Dutch and Flemish. In the 17th century the plough underwent further improvement in England ; and it was greatly improved in that following, in Scotland. There are now a great variety of excellent forms, the best of which, for general purposes, is universally allowed to be what is called in England the Scotch plough, and in Scotland the improved Scotch plough. In speaking of the Cc 3 390 SCIENCE OF AGRICULTURE. Part II. implement we shall adopt the latter term, because the unimproved Scotch plough differs little from some old forms of the implement common to Europe from the time of the Romans. As the operation of ploughing, like many other operations in practical husbandry, must often vary in the manner of its being performed, it is evident that no one particular sort of plough can be superior to all others, in every season, and under every variety of soil or inclination of surface. The Scotch plough, however, and the variations of which it is susceptible, render it by far the most universal tillage imple- ment hitherto invented or used. 2587. Ploughs are of two kinds : those fitted up with wheels, and called wheel ploughs ; and those without wheels, called swing ploughs. The latter are the lightest of draught, but require an experienced and attentive ploughman to use them ; the former work with greater steadiness, and require much less skill in the manager: some sorts, indeed, do not require holdin"- at all, excepting at entering in, and turning on and off the work at the ends of the ridges. On the whole, taking ploughmen as they are, and ploughs as they are gene- rally constructed, it will be found, that a district ploughed with wheel ploughs will show greater neatness of work than one ploughed with swing ploughs : but, on the other hand, taking a district where the improved form of swing ploughs is generally adopted, the ploughmen will be found superior workmen, and the work performed in a better manner, and with less expense of labour, than in the case of wheel ploughs. Northumberland in this respect may be compared with Warw ickshire. 2588. In the construction of ploughs, whatever be the sort used, there are a few gene- ral principles that ought invariably to be attended to ; such as the giving the throat and breast, or that part which enters, perforates, and breaks up the ground, that sort of long, narrow, clean, tapering, sharpened form that affords the least resistance in passing through the land ; and to the mould-board, that kind of hollowed-out and twisted form, which not only tends to lessen friction, but also to contribute greatly to the perfect turn- ing over of the furrow-slice. The beam and muzzle should likewise be so contrived, as that the moving power, or team, may be attached in the most advantageous line of draught. This is particularly necessary where a number of animals are employed together, in order that the draught of the whole may coincide. 2589. The construction of an improved Scotch suing plough is thus given mathemati- cally by Bailey of Chillingham, in his Essay on the Construction of the Plough on Ma- thematical Principles, 1795. It had been previously aimed at by Small of Berwickshire, and subsequently by Vetch of Inchbonney, near Jedburgh, {Highland Soc. Trans, vol. iv. p. 243.), and more recently and completely in the Quarterly Journal of Agriculture for February, 1829. Whoever wishes thoroughly to understand the construction of the plough, and the principles of its operation, are recommended to the last-mentioned very excellent paper, which is too long to be given here, and which would lose half its value by being abridged. 2590. Land, when properly ploughed, Bailey observes, must be removed from a hori- zontal position, and twisted over to a certain angle, so that it may be left in that inclining state, one furrow leaning upon another, till the whole field be completely ploughed. The depth and width of the furrows which is most approved of by farmers, and commonly to be met with in the best-ploughed fields, are in the proportion of two to three ; or, if the furrow be two deep, it must be three wide, and left at an angle of 45 to 46 degrees. 2591. Various forms have been given to the different parts of the plough, by ingenious persons, according to their different fancies, in order to diminish the weight of the draught, and to turn over the furrow, and leave it in its proper position, without tearing or breaking it. 2592. To have the line of draught at right angles to the horses' shoulders is of great iinportance in the formation of a plough ; a circumstance of which the greatest part of the plough-makers are totally ignorant, although it is well known to every one that has the least knowledge of mechanics. If we take the angle that the horses' shoulders make with a perpendicular from the horizon, and continue another line at right angles to it, or parallel to the draught chain ; the length of this line from the horse's shoulders to where it meets or crosses the coulter, at half the depth of the furrow, will be thirteen feet two inches for ordinary sized horses. 2593. Length of beam. If the plough be properly made, the line of draught should pass through the middle hole of the plough bridle at the point of the beam. This requires the beam to be seven feet long, to give it a proper height at the bridle. 2594. Left side plane. That part of the plough next the solid land should be made a perfect plane, and, run parallel to the line of draught ; whereas some of the common ploughs are completely twisted in that part, and deviate more than two inches from the line of draught ; this throws the plough to the left, and causes the hinder part of the mould-board to press hard against the furrow, and crush and break it, besides increasing the labour of the cattle. 2595. The position of the coulter must not deviate much from an angle of 45 degrees: Book IV. SWING PLOUGHS. 391 for, if we make it more oblique, it causes the plough to choke up with stubble and grass roots, by throwing them up against the beam ; and, if less oblique, it is apt to drive the stones or other obstacles before it, and make it heavier to draw. 2596. The mould-board, for all free soils, and for working fallows, is generally most effective when it has a considerable concavity ; but for breaking up clover leys, pasture, or any firm surface, and also for clayey soils, it is found to clean itself better and make neater work when it approaches nearer to a plane, and in very stiff clays, is formed with a concave surface. The lower edge of the mould-board, on the most improved forms, is in a separate piece, which, when it wears, can be taken off and renewed. The tech- nical name of this slip of iron is the wealing piece. 2597. The materials with which ploughs are constructed is, generally, wood for the beam and handles, cast-iron for the head, side-plates, mould-board, and sole, and wrought iron for the share, coulter, and muzzle. But of late years, in consequence of the dear- ness of timber, and the cheapness of iron, they have been constructed wholly of the latter material, and with considerable advantage in point of strength and durability, and some also in point of convenience. Among the conveniences may be mentioned, the facility which they afford of bending the left handle to the right of the straight line' (see Jig. 293. a), first introduced by Mr. Wilkie of Uddingston, (who, if not the inventor, may certainly be considered the greatest improver of iron ploughs,) by which means the ploughman is permitted to walk with ease in the bottom of the furrow. The stilts or handles may also be joined to the body of the plough, in such a way as to admit of taking off and packing for a foreign country, or raising or lowering the points of the handles according to the size of the ploughman, as in Weatherley's plough. *2598. Of silting ploughs, by far the best is the implement known in England as the Scotch plough. It is almost the only plough used in Scotland, and throughout a con- siderable part of England ; it is drawn with less power than wheel ploughs, at least, those of the old construction, the friction not being so great ; and it probably admits of greater variations in regard to the breadth and depth of the furrow-slice. It is usually drawn by two horses abreast in common tillage ; but for ploughing between the rows of the drill culture, a smaller one drawn by one horse is commonly employed. A plough of the swing kind, having a mould-board on each side, is also used both in forming narrow ridges for turnips and potatoes, and in laying up the earth to the roots of the plants, after the intervals have been cleaned and pulverised by the horse and hand-hoe. This plough is sometimes made in such a manner, that the mould-board may be shifted from one side to the other when working on hilly grounds ; by which means the fur- rows are all laid in the same direction. This will be found described as the turn-wrest plough. 2599. String jtioughs, similar to the Scotch plough, have been long known in England. In Blythe's Improver Improved (edit. 1652), we have engravings of several ploughs; and what he calls the " plain plough" does not seem to differ much in its principal parts from the one now in use. Amos, in an Essay on Agricultural Machines, says, that a person named Lummis (whom he is mistaken in calling a Scotchman, see Maxwell's Practical Husbandman, p. 191.) " first attempted its construction upon mathematical principles, which he learned in Holland ; but having obtained a patent for the making and vending of this plough, he withheld the knowledge of these principles from the public. However, one Pashley, plough-wright to Sir Charles Turner of Kirkleathem, having a knowledge of those principles, constructed upon them a vast number of ploughs. After- wards his son established a manufactory for the making of them at Rotherham. Hence they obtained the name of the Rotherham plough ; but in Scotland they were called the Dutch or patent plough." "At length the Americans, having obtained a knowledge of those principles, either from Britain or Holland, claimed the priority of the invention ; in consequence of which, President Jefferson, of the United States, presented the prin- ciples for the construction of a mould-board, first to the Institute of France, and next to the Board of Agriculture in England, as a wonderful discovery in mathematics." (Com- munications to the Board of Agriculture, vol. vi. p. 437.) According to another writer, the Rotherham plough was first constructed in Yorkshire, in 1720, about ten years before Lummis's improvements. (Survey of the West Riding of Yorkshire. Sup. Encyc. Brit. art. Agr) We have seen it stated somewhere, that one of the first valuable alterations on the swing plough, of the variety formerly used in Scotland, was made by Lady Stewart of Goodtrees, near Edinburgh, grandmother to the Earl of Buchan. She invented what is called the Rutherglen plough, at one time much used in the west of Scotland. 2600. The Scotch plough was little known in Scotland till about the year 1764, when Small's method of constructing it began to excite attention. (Small's Treatise on Ploughs and Wheel Carriages, 1784; and Lord Kaimes's Gentleman Farmer). This inge- nious mechanic formed the mould-board upon distinct and intelligible principles, and afterwards made it of cast-iron. His appendage of a chain has been since laid aside. It has been disputed, whether he took the Rotherham, or the old Scotch plough, for the Cc 4 392 SCIENCE OF AGRICULTURE. Tart II. basis of his improvements. The swing plough has been since varied a little, in some parts of Scotland, from Small's form, for the purpose of adapting it more completely to particular situations and circumstances. Since 1810, this plough has been very generally made entirely of iron. In Northumberland the mould-board is made less concave than in Berwickshire, and in Berwickshire it is even less concave than in Small's plough. Dif- ferent degrees of concavity in the mould-board suit different soils: soft and sandy soil requires most, and a loamy or clayey soil least, concavity. The following are the prin- cipal varieties of the improved Scotch plough at present in use in the most improved districts of the north, and among scientific farmers in all countries. 2601. Small's plough. The mould-board is more concave than in most other varieties, and this may be considered its characteristic as compared with these varieties. It is sometimes drawn by a chain proceeding from the muzzle to the head, in order to lessen the strain on the draught-beam, and in that case it is called Small's chain plough. It is commonly made of wood and iron {Jig. 294. a, as seen from the right side, 6 from above), but also entirely of iron. 294 2602. The Northumberland plough, and the Berwickshire plough, are very nearly the same implement ; differing from Small's plough in having the mould-board less concave. 2603. WWae's siving plough, the best iron 295 swing plough in Scot- land, (Jig. 295. a, as seen from above, b the left side) is formed en- tirely of iron except the points of the handles. Its characteristic, in point of form, is a longer mould-board with a greater twist in it, the object of which is, to reverse the fur- row more completely in light or highly pul- verised soils. 2604. Finlay son's iron ploughs {Jigs. 296 to 299.) are, as he informs us {British Farnier, p. 9.), constructed in imitation of those of Wilkie, but with improvements and modifications adapted for particular circumstances. 2605. The heath or self-cleaning plough, or rid plough, (Jigs.296, 297.), is formed with the beam so curved vertically ( fig. 296.), or divided and curved horizontally (Jig. 297.), as to leave no resting place for stubble, heath, or other vegetable matter, at the top of the coulter, where in rough grounds, with ploughs of the ordinary construction, it gets entangled and stops the work. 2606. Finlayson's Kentish skeleton self-cleaning plough (Jig. 298.) is intended as a sub- stitute for the common Kentish turn-wrest plough. " The soil, in great part of Kent, is of a peculiarly adhesive clay. When this soil is between the wet and dry, it adheres Book IV. SWING PLOUGHS. 393 to the body of the plough like glue, by which the draught is increased probably double or treble." By substituting tliree or four iron rods for the mould-board, the soil is pre- vented from adhering, while the operation of ploughing is at the same time performed in an equally perfect manner with two horses as with four. This is accounted for " by the whole surface of this plough not being more than one third or one fourth the surface of other ploughs." In like manner, when it is necessary to dig or trench very strong clayey soil between the wet and the dry, the operation is performed with much greater ease by a two-pronged fork. It is important to agriculturists to know the opinion and experience of a man of so much science and extensive practice as the late Mr. Finlayson, who says, " from my own experience I have no hesitation in saying that the most adhe- sive land may, with ease, be ploughed by the skeleton plough, and one pair of good horses." (British Farmer, p. 165.) 2607. Finlayson s line plough [jig. 299.) is characterised by a rod (a), which proceeds 299 from the sheath of the plough to the muzzle, which is put on when the plough is drawn by horses in a line — a very disadvantageous manner, but yet common in many parts of England. 394 SCIENCE OF AGRICULTURE. 1'akt II. 2(708. The SomerviUe tiring plough is known by its mould-board, a part of which is rendered moveable by binges; the advantage of this is, that the furrow can be laid more or less flat at pleasure. " Mould-hoards," Lord SomerviUe observes, " formed to lay furrows in ley, so as to (jive the most soil to harrows, cannot be of that form best calculated to make good work in stirring earths; more especially the last, which ought to be thrown up in small seams, as it were, that the seed may be duly buried. It has hitherto held necessary to rip off the plate for this purpose, and drive in wedges, by which the mould-plate must be injured. From the trouble attending this operation, it has generally been omitted, and the land, of course, imperfectly worked. But this inconvenience may he remedied, and the mould-board be adjusted with great facility and expedition, by the following means: — When the mould-board is formed, and its plate fitted as usual, let the hind part be cut oft", and again connected with the fixed part of mould-board by means of fiat hinges, or of thin flexible plates of tempered steel, or of hard hammered iron, so as to admit of that part being set to have different inclinations with the fixed part of the mould-board: by means of a screw passing from the inside through the lower parts of the handle of the plough, opposite the back of this moveable piece, the screw may be made to keep it at any desired degree of inclination, according to the nature of the work to be performed." — This plough, however, has been but little used, and does not seem to meet the approbation of the best cultivators. •2609. Turn-ivrest swing ploughs are such as admit of removing the mould-board from one side to another at the end of each furrow, for the purpose of throwing the earth removed always to one side. Their principal use is in ploughing across steep declivities, in order that the furrow slice may always be thrown down. Wherever it is practicable, however, it is best to plough obliquely up and down such declivities ; because the other practice soon renders the soil too rich and deep at bottom, and too thin and poor at top. 2610. Gray s turn-wrest swing plough (Jig. 300.) is one of the most scientific imple- ments of the kind. The beam, head, and sheath, must always be placed in the di- rection of a line passing along their middle ; and the two handles must be placed equi- distant on each side of that line. There are two mould- boards and two coulters, and a mould-board is produced on either side, at pleasure, by moving the lever (a) between the plough handles from the one side to the other. The line of draught can be shifted with equal ease and expedition, and at the same time one of the coulters raised up clear of the land, and placed along the side of the beam, whilst the other is put down, and . placed in a proper position for cutting off" the furrow-slice from the furrow ground. All this is performed at once, without the ploughman's changing his position, by means of two levers (b, c, and d, a). We have already noticed (2597.) the mode in which the double-moulding or eartliing-up swing plough may be rendered a turn-wrest plough, of a less perfect kind. 2611. Weatherley s moveable stilt plough (Jig. 301.) is characterised by certain joints in the stilts (a a), which admit of raising or lowering the handles at pleasure, so as to ~s^ a suit the height of the plough- ^--~ " — ^-^S^^^s^-^ ^J^~^^^ == ~~~~ == ~-^^ man. They also admit of *~ ;: ^^?^^^^Os>, & taking off' the stilts for the convenience of packing. These joints are the invention of Weatherley, a Northumbrian agriculturist in the service of Prince Esterhazy. The plough is manufactured by Weir of London, who commonly adds to it the improved draught tackle (6). 2612. The ribbing plough is any of the above implements on a smaller scale, to be used for the operation of ribbing, or laying leys or stubbles in small ridges. 2613. Ducket's skim-coulter plough (Jig. 302.) is said to be a valuable implement, though not much in use. By it the ground may be opened to any depth in separate horizontal portions of earth ; and, as the weeds or grassy surface are turned down in the first operation, and covered by fresh earth or mould from beneath, a larger proportion of nourishment is supposed to be provided for the crop, while at the same 301 Book IV. SWING PLOUGHS. 395 time it is rendered more clean, and the inconvenience of the roots of the grasses or other plants wholly got rid of. It requires a strong team in the heavier sorts of soils, but this is in some degree counterbalanced by the circumstance of one such ploughing being mostly sufficient for the crop. It is, says a late theorist, consequently evident that, con- sidering the number of ploughings generally given in the ordinary way of preparing lands for a crop of barley or turnips, and under the fallowing system for wheat, and the labour and expense in the latter case, in raking, picking, and burning weeds, the advan- tages of this plough are probably greater than is generally supposed. It has also ad- vantages in another point of view, which is, that the soil is increased in depth, and the parts of it so loosened and broken down that the fibrous roots of the crops strike and extend themselves more readily in it, and of course are better fed and supported. In thin and sandy soils it is more particularly useful, because it cuts off all which is on the surface, at the depth of an inch or an inch and a half, in order to its being laid in a state of decay, for a future crop ; by which an increased depth of soil is given to every subsequent course of crops, which often acts as a support, to keep up manures near the surface, as their running through such soils too quickly is a disadvantage. It is also capable of being made use of without a skim- coulter as a common plough. 2614. A skinucoulter may be added to any other plough, and may be useful in turning down green crops and long dung, as well as in trench ploughing. But in most instances it is thought a preferable plan, where the soil is to be stirred to an unusual depth, to make two common swing-ploughs follow each other in the same track ; the one before taking a shallow furrow, and the other going deeper, and throwing up a new furrow upon the former. 2615. The double share plough is distinguished by having one share fixed directly over the other. It is made use of in some of the southern districts, with advantage, in putting in one crop immediately after ploughing down another ; as by it a narrow shallow furrow is removed from the surface, and another from below placed upon it, to such depth as may be thought most proper, — it being capable of acting to ten inches or more. In this manner many sorts of crops, such as rye and other green crops that have much height of stem, may be turned down without the inconvenience of any of the parts sticking out through the seams of the furrow slices, by which the farmer has a clean surface of mould for the reception of the grain. *2616. The mining plough, or trenching plough, is sometimes employed for the purpose of loosening the soil to a great depth, without bringing it up to the surface ; a mode of operation which is particularly useful for various sorts of tap-rooted plants, as well as for extirpating the roots of such weeds as strike deep into the ground. For these purposes it may be employed in the bottom of the furrow after the common plough. It is con- structed in a very strong manner, having a share but no mould-board. The share raises the earth in the bottom of the furrow, and, passing on under what it has raised, leaves the soil where it was found, but in a loosened state. 2617. So7nerville y s double-furrow plough (Jig- 303.) is obviously advantageous in per- 303 forming more labour in a given time, with a certain strength of team, than other sorts of ploughs, as producing two furrows at a time. It has been found useful on the lighter sorts of land where the ridges are straight and wide, though some think it more confined in its work than those of the single kind. The saving of the labour of one person, and doing nearly double the work with but little more strength in the team, in the same time recommend it for those districts where four-horse teams are in use. This plough has been brought to its present degree of perfection by Lord Somerville, especially by the introduction of the moveable plates already mentioned (2607.), at the extremities of the mould-board, as in His Lordship's single plough. But, as observed by an excellent authority, " with all the improvements made by Lord Somerville, it can never come into competition, for general purposes, with the present single-furrow ploughs." Lord S. admits, that it would be no object to invade the system already established in well cultivated counties ; though, where large teams are employed, with a driver besides the ploughman, it would certainly be a matter of importance to use this plough, at least, on light friable soils. " Their horses," he says, " will not feel the difference between their 396 SCIENCE OF AGRICULTURE. Part II. own single furrow, working one acre, and the well constructed two-furrow plough, with two acres per day ; here is no system deranged, and double work done." (Comm. B. A. vol. ii.) This plough is also of particular value for ploughing up and down steeps. (See 2627.) 2618. The Argyleshire jdoudt differs from Small's, or any single swing plough, in having no coulter fixed in the beam, but, in lieu of this, a fin or knife rising from the left side of the share, which serves the purpose of slicing off the furrow as well as the coulter. This fin or feather must be placed at the same angle as the coulter, and should terminate in a lance-like shape, in order to furnish the least obstruction to stubble, weeds, or stones. This plough is not liable to be choked by stubble, or thrown out by catching small stones between the points of the coulter and sock. It is found particularly useful in taking the earth away from the sides of a drill crop ; as its broad upright feather, which operates as a coulter, completely shields the plants from all risk of earth falling on them from the left side of the plough, while, at the same time, the ploughman ascertains to a certainty, that the part of the plough below ground approaches no nearer to the roots of the plants than the upper part does to their leaves ; so that he can bring the plough to slice off the earth close in upon their sides, if necessary, In point of draught it is pre- cisely the same as the common plough. 2619. The double mould-boarded plough is a kind of plough often used with advantage in clearing out furrows, in setting potatoes, cabbages, and other similar crops, and in earthing up such as are planted in wide rows. Those whose mould-boards move on hinges, and may be set wide or narrow at pleasure, are the most convenient. A variety of this plough, made by Weir of London, admits of removing the mould-boards, and fixino- in curved coulters and hoes, for cleaning between drilled turnips and similar crops. 2620. The binot is almost the same thing as the double mould-boarded plough, and the one is commonly sold for the other, with no loss to the purchaser. It has two mould-boards, one on each side of the beam. It is used in some soils in forming a ribbed or ridged bed for wheat or other grains ; by which means, when the grain is sown over the ribs or ridgelets in the broadcast manner, as it falls for the most part into the fur- rows, or is harrowed into them, it comes up in rows. It is also used in earthing up crops ; and sometimes, in Flanders, but never by the best cultivators in England, in giving the first furrow to stubbles. 2621. The marking plough is used in straightening and regulating the distance of ridges where the drill system is practised. Any plough with a rod fixed at right angles to the beam, and a short piece depending from this rod, will trace a line parallel to the furrow drawn by the plough, which line will serve for a guide as to the width of ridges, &c. 2622. Clymers plough (Jig. 304.) is a recent modification of the implement, formed entirely of iron, and chiefly re- markable for the absence of the coulter, or rather its attachment to the breast, and for the share, mould board, and other parts which move under ground, being com- posed of distinct pieces of cast-iron. This is considered as cheaper to commence with and easier to repair, because any one part may be renewed of the same material without deranging the rest; whereas renewing or repairing wrought-iron shares, mould- boards, or coulters, is found in many districts both difficult and expensive. It has never come into use. 2623. StotharcCs plough is characterised by a perforated mould-board. The holes may be in any form or dimensions ; and their object is to allow the air to pass through, and thereby prevent the adhesion of wet earth, which it is contended adheres in ordinary ploughs with such a degree of tenacity as greatly to increase the friction, and diminish the speed of the horses. (Neu-tons Journal, vol. ii. p. 335.) 2624. Mortons trenching j>lough (Jig. 305.) has two bodies (ab), the one working four 305 304 Be IV. WHEEL PLOUGHS. S97 or six inches deeper than the other. The first (a) cuts or pares off the surface to the required depth, say five inches, and turns it over into the furrow, ten or twelve inches deep, made by the main body. The second body generally works from ten to twelve inches deep, but might be made to work to the depth of thirteen or fifteen inches ; upon its mould-board is formed an inclined plane, extending from the back part of the feather of the sock or share (c) to the back part of the mould-board (d), where it terminates about six inches above the level of the sole (e). This inclined plane raises the soil from the bottom of the furrow, and turns it over on the top of that which has been laid in the bottom of the previous furrow by the body (a) going before. 2625. Gladstone s water- furrowing plough ( figs. 306. and 307. ) is used for cleaning out the furrows of anew-sown field, when the nature of the soil, or the inclination of the surface, requires extraordinary at- tention to leading off the rain water. The beam (a), handles (6), and sole (c), of this plough are form- ed in the usual manner of double mould-board ploughs. The forming a square bottom to the furrow, d\%pHld 307 sole is five inches square, for the purpose of The two mould-boards (d) are loose, so as to rise and fall with the depth or shallowness of the furrow, being fastened only by the centre pin {e) to the upright (/). The mould-boards, or wings, as they are called, are kept extended by a piece of iron (g) ; and this piece of iron has a number of holes in it, so that, by means of a pin (A) it may be raised or lowered at pleasure, according to the depth of the water furrow. The mould-boards are made of wood. Any old plough may be converted into one of this description for a few shillings. 2626. Draining ploughs are of various kinds, but none of them are of much use ; the work can always be done better, and generally cheaper, by manual labour. As most of these ploughs have wheels, we have included the whole of them in next subsection. Subsect. 2. Wheel Ploughs. 2627. Wheel ploughs are of two kinds : those, and which are by far the most common, where the wheel or wheels are introduced for the purpose of regulating the depth of the furrow, and rendering the implement more steady to hold ; and those where the wheel is introduced for the purpose of lessening the friction of the sole or share. This last description of wheel plough is scarcely known, but it promises great advantages. The former is of unknown antiquity, having been used by the Romans. ^ 2628. Ploughs with wheels for regulation and steadiness vary considerably in their con- struction in different places, according to the nature of soils and other circumstances ; but in every form, and in all situations, they probably require less skill in the plough- man. Wheels seem, indeed, to have formed an addition to ploughs, in consequence of the want of experience in ploughmen ; and in all sorts of soil, but more particularly in those which are of a stony and stubborn quality, they afford great assistance to such ploughmen, enabling them to perform their work with greater regularity in respect to depth, and with much more neatness in regard to equality of surface. From the friction caused by the wheels, they are generally considered as giving much greater resistance, and consequently demand more strength in the team that is employed ; and, besides, are more expensive in their construction, and more liable to be put out of order, as well as more apt to be disturbed in their progress by clods, stones, and other inequalities that, mav be on the surface of the ground, than those of the swing kind. It is also observed, " that with wheel ploughs workmen are apt to set the points of their shares too low, so as by their inclined direction to occasion a heavy pressure on the wheel, which must pro- ceed horizontally :" the effect of this struggle is an increased weight of draught, infinitely beyond what could be supposed : for which reason, the wheel is to be considered as of no importance in setting a plough for work ; but passing lightly over the surface, it will be of material aid in breaking up old leys, or ground where flints, rocks, or roots of trees occur, and in correcting the depression of the share from any sudden obstruction, as well as in bringing it quickly into work again, when thrown out towards the surface. {Com- munications to the Board of Agriculture, vol. ii. p. 419.) 398 SCIENCE OF AGRICULTURE. Part II. 2629. The improved Scotch plough, with one or sometimes two wheels (fig- 308.), fixed near to the end of the beam, without any carriage, goes very light, and is very useful ; such alterations as are necessary requiring very little time or trouble. Where two wheels are employed, the plough does very well without a holder on a good tilth or light sward, where there are few stones, except at the setting in and turning out. Wheel ploughs should, however, probably be seldom had recourse to by the experienced ploughman, though they may be more convenient and more manageable for those who are not per- fectly informed in that important and useful art. 2630. The Beverston plough (Jig. 309.) was once considered a good wheel plough. It has its principle of draught given it in a very effective manner by an in- genious contrivance of iron work, in which, according to Lord Somerville, " the point of draught is perpendi- cularly above the point of traction, or the throat or breast where the share fits on." 2631. The Kentish and Herefordshire wheel ploughs are extraordinary clumsy imple- ments of very heavy draught, and making, especially the former, very indifferent work. They were figured by Blythe in the beginning of the seventeenth century, and seem to have received no improvement since. The Kentish plough is generally made with a turn-wrest, in order always to turn land downwards in ploughing a hill ; but this, as Lord Somerville remarks, soon renders the summit of the hill or the upper side of the field, where such a practice is persisted in, destitute of soil. A much better mode is to plough up and down the steep, or diagonally across it. In either case the double mould- board plough, invented by His Lordship, is of singular use, as one furrow only need be taken in going up and two in coming down. 2632. The Norfolk wheel plough (fg. 310.) has a clumsy appearance, from the great bulk of its wheels and their carriage ; but in light friable soils it does its work with neatness, and requires only a small power of draught. 2633. Ploughs ivilh wheels for diminishing friction are of compara- tively recent date. Morton, of Leith walk, in 1813, conceived the idea of introducing into thebody of the plough a wheel about 15 inches in diameter, to act as the sole, and made several exhibitions of a plough so constructed before the Dalkeith Fanning Society. (Card. Mag. vol. v.) Wilkie, of Uddingston, brought forward a rimilar plough in 1814, and Plenty, of London, in 1815. Liston, of Edinburgh, a few years afterwards, brought forward a plough on the same principle ; but it never came into use. Plenty's friction wheel plough has been occasionally used in England. It has two wheels under the beam, and one behind the sole ; and, while the same plough with two wheels requires a power of 4 cwt., those with a third or friction wheel, as Mr. Plenty informs us, require only a draught of 3f 5 cwt. _ 2634. WUkie's single horse wheel plough (fig. 311.) was invented by tne late Mr. -Wil- kie, and described by him in the Farmers Magazine for November, 1814. It has the Book IV. WHEEL PLOUGHS 399 wheel (d) placed behind the sole, which, besides considerably reducing the weight of draught, is found to give a degree of" " steadiness seldom ex- ceeded in the use of the common plough, except when quite new, or recently re- paired with a new sock and sole-shoe. At that period, when the back end of the sole is quite full and square, the common plough (when well constructed) goes as well as can be wished for ; but, by the great friction of the sole, the back end of it soon becomes convex, and, consequently, the plough loses the steady support of the extremity of the heel ; or, in other words, in proportion as the sole becomes more convex, the fulcrum of the lever is extended considerably forward, so as to be too near the centre of gravity. When that is the case, the least obstruction at the point of the share hrows the plough out of the ground. In order to remedy or counteract that tendency, the ploughman is obliged to raise the point of draught at the end of the beam ; but this expedient, although it gives the plough more hold by the point of the share, is attended with another inconvenience fully as bad as the former ; for, when the point of the share meets with an obstruction as before noticed, the heel of the plough is raised, on account of the point of draught being fixed above the direct line of traction. Thus, the common plough, when the sole becomes convex, is made to go very unsteadily, and often requires the utmost attention and exertions of the ploughman to direct it. What is stated above, however, can only apply to the common plough when out of order by the sole becoming convex. 2635. Placing the wheel. In order to understand in what manner the wheel ought to be placed so as to reduce the friction, it may be necessary to remark that one of the first properties of a plough is to be constructed in such a manner as to swim fair on the sole. This depends principally on the form oi the sole, and position or inclination of the point of the sock, together with the point of draught at the end of the beam (a). If these are properly adjusted, the pressure or friction of the sole will be uniform from the point of the share (6) to the back end of the heel (d) ; or, in other words, the friction will be balanced between these two points by means of the beam (a) acting as a lever, the heel [d) being the fulcrum, and a point over the share (c) the centre of gravity. 2fi3fi. The centre of gravity or of resistance will be extended nearer to the point of the share (S), in proportion as the soil has acquired a greater degree of cohesion ; as in old pasture ground, or strong clays. But, wherever the point of resistance meets, it is evident that the point of draught at the end of the beam must be placed so as to balance the friction of the sole between its extreme points (6 and "'1. In estimating the value of pronged tillage implements, General Beatson ( New System of Cultivation, 1820) applies the principle of lessening"power and employing time. He says, if we applv the principle of petty operations to any stiff land, by taking that depth of furrow which can easily be ploughed with two horses, and repeat the operation (or plough the land a second time), we shall arrive at the end proposed, that is, the same depth of ploughing, with absolutely less exertion of animal strength than if we were to plough the same depth with four horses at one operation. 2652 This may be illustrated by supposing the resistances to the plough to be in proportion to the squares of the depth of the land. If so, and we are to plough at once witli four horses, six inches deep, the resistance at that depth would be 6 x 6 = 36 : but if with the same four horses, using two at a time, we plough the same depth of six inches at two operations, taking only three inches at' each, then the square of the first depth is 9, and the square of the second, 9 ; making 18 for the total resistance, or the power expended by the two horses, in ploughing six inches deep, at two operations. 'JiijJ. A farther illustration may be made by supposing the same four horses, which had ploughed at once six inches deep, and had overcome the resistance of 6' x 6 = 3fi, applied, separately, to four light ploughs, or other implements, and to plough only 1| inch deep at a time, and to go over 'the same land four times. In this case the sum of all the resistances to be overcome, or the animal force expended, in these repeated ploughings, would be no more than 9 instead of 36 ; because the square of I± = 2£, which, multiplied by the four ploughings, gives 9, or only one fourth of the power expended in ploughing at once six inches deep. Hence it appears, that in ploughing six inches deep, with four horses, each horse exerts a force = 9 ; whereas in taking only ]| inch deep, the force he exerts is not more than 2j. 2654. Farther, supposing that a horse exerts, in drawing a plough, a force of 160 pounds, it is evident, if four horses are ploughing six inches deep, the total force exerted will be o40 pounds, or 160 pounds by each ; but if they be required to plough one inch and a half deep at a time, then the total force expended by the four horses will be only 160 pounds, or 40 pounds by each horse. 2635. Application. This leads General 8. to the principle on which his small scarifiers are constructed. '* They have," he says, " four hoe-tines in the hind bar, and I will suppose that there are four harrow- lines ^instead of three) in the front liar, so that each scarifier may be considered as four small ploughs, with four shares and four coulters. If we suppose one horse attached to this implement, and that the force he exerts is 160 pounds, it is obvious that in scarifying to the depth of one inch and a half, he will exert these ItiO pounds upon the four pairs of tines, or a force of 40 pounds upon each pair. But, in fact, the force required to draw the scarifier will be considerably less than to draw any form of plough, because the hoe, or share-tines, being much thinner and sharper than a ploughshare and mould-board, will of course meet with much less resistance in stirring the sou." General B. goes on to relate some experiments by winch he considers he has " clearly proved that the least expensive method of preparing the land for wheat, after tares, beans, peas, or clover, is simply by using the scarifiers." This we conceive is carrying Book IV. SCARIFIERS AND GRUBBERS. 403 the use of the scarifier much too far. We think it is a sufficient illustration of its value that it may bo Agr. and Far?>i. Mag.) 2656. Wilkie's parallel adjusting brake, or cultivator (Jig. 322.), appears to us decidedly the most perfect implement of this description. The prongs of such implements, mechanically considered, are bent levers (Jig. 323.), of which the fulcrum is at a, the power at b, and the weight . ,■ 323 dy^^ & b or resistance at c. The im- provement of IUr. Wilde consists in adopting a curve (d b), for the resisting part of the lever, and thus bringing into action the principle of tension, instead of mere resistance to fracture in the resisting part of the lever. (Gard. Mug. vol. v. p. 655.) The parallel movement has the advantage of instantaneously adjusting the implement to any depth that may be required. Besides the ordinary purposes of a cultivator, this brake or harrow may serve the other tillage purposes following : — 1. By attaching tines with triangular feet, it makes a scarifier ; or, in place of tines, one large triangular blade suspended from each of its extremities or angles. 2. By substituting cutting wheels in place of tines, it is converted into a sward cutter. 5. From its extreme accuracy of adjustment it will make an excellent drill, or ribbing machine, and may be made to sow at the same time. And 4. and finally, if steam is destined ever to supersede the labour of horses in drawing the plough, this machine, from its peculiar formation and mode of management, will afford the greatest facility for trying the experiment, as it may be made to take a number of furrows at once. 2657. Finlai/sons self-cleaning cxdtivator, or harrow (Jig. 324.), is formed of iron, and, according to the inventor, has the following advantages: — 1. From the position in which the tines are fixed, their points (a a a a a) hanging nearly on a parallel to the surface of the land, it follows, that this implement is drawn with the least possible waste of power. 2. From the curved form of the tines, all stubble, couch, &c. that the tines may encounter in their progress through the soil, is brought to the surface, and rolled up to the face of the tines; when it loses its hold, and is thrown off (at b b b b b), always relieving itself from being choked, however wet or foul the land. 3. The mode by which this harrow can be so easily adjusted to work at any depth required, renders it of great value ; this is done as quick as thought by moving the regulator (c) upwards or downwards between the lateral spring (de) ; and by each movement upwards into the openings (fg h i k), the fore tines (till) will be allowed to enter the soil about an inch and a half deeper by each movement into the different spaces, until the regulator is thrown up to (e), when the harrow is given its greatest power, and will then be working at the depth of eight or nine inches. Also the axletree of the hind wheels is moved betwixt o and p, a space of Dd 2 401 SCIENCE OF AGRICULTURE. Tart IL seven or eight inches, l>y a screw through the axletree, which is turned by a small handle (^')> so tnat the bind pail of the barrow, by this simple mode, is also regulated to the depth at which it is found necessary to work. -J. When the harrow is drawn to the head or foot lands, the regulator is pressed down to d, and the fore wheel (m) is then allowed to pass under the fore bar (/»), by which the nose of the harrow is lifted, and the points of the fore tines [till) will then he taken two or three inches out of the soil, which affords the means of turning the harrow with the greatest facility. 5. Being made of malleable iron, its durability may he said to he endless; whereas, if made of wood, the prime cost would he entirely lost at the end of every live or six years. Lastly, the mode of working is so easy, that any boj of ten or twelve years of age is perfectly qualified to manage it. Next to Wilkic's brake, we consider this the most valuable of pronged implements, and think that, like Wilkie's implement, it might be substituted for the plough, after drilled green or root crops, on light soils generally. Some account of the astonishing powers of the implement, as exemplified in breaking up Hyde Park, London, in 1826, will be found in the Gardener's Magazine, vol. ii. p. '-'50. 2658. H'cir's improved cultivator (Jig. 325.) is a very cficctive implement of this kind, 9 k «' — - — Wfirt 1 1 ! p= — 1 - ^ are fixed to four pieces of ash wood, three inches square, and two feet four inches long. These scythes are three feet long from point to point, four inches broad at the widest part, and made of cast steel. The agriculture, where such a machine as this is wanted, must surely be of a very rude and imperfect kind ; for even supposing the machine to cut over the thistles, that operation cannot be so eilectual as cutting them under the collar by hand with the spade or spud. -677. The only essential implements of this class are those of Wilkie and Finlayson. Sect. II. Machines for Sowing and Planting. 2678. Machines for sowing or planting in rows are very various, and often too compli- cated. Ilarte says, the first drill machine was invented by a German, and presented to the court of Spain in 1647 ; but it appears, from a communication to the Board of Agriculture, that a sort of rude drill or drill plough has been in use in India from time immemorial. Their use is to deposit the seed in equidistant rows, on a flat surface ; on the top of a narrow ridge ; in the interval between two ridges ; or in the bottom of a common furrow. Corn, when drilled, is usually sown in the first of these ways ; turnips in the second ; and peas and beans in the third and fourth. The practice of drilling corn does not, however, seem to be gaining ground ; and even where it is found of advantage to have the plants rise in parallel rows, this is sometimes done by means of what is called ribbing, a process more convenient in many cases than sowing with a drilling machine. 267'J. Of corn drills, Cooke's improved drill and horse hoe (Jig. 338.), though not the most fashionable, is one of the most useful implements of this kind on light dry soils, on even surfaces, and in dry climates. It has been much used in Norfolk and Suffolk, and many other parts of England. The advantages of this machine are said to consist, — 1. In the wheels being so large that the machine can travel on any road without trouble or danger of breaking; also from the farm to the field, &c. without taking to pieces. 2. In the coulter-beam (a), with all the coulters moving with great ease, on the principle of the pentagraph, to the right or left, so as to counteract the irregularity of the horses' draught, by which means the drills may be made straight ; and, where lands or ridges are made four and a half, or nine and a half feet wide, the horse may always go in the furrow, without setting a foot on the land, either in drilling or horse hoeing. 3. In the seed supplying itself regularly, without any attention, from the upper to the lower boxes, ;is it is distributed. 4. In lifting the pin on the coulter-beam to a hook on the axis of the wheels, by wbieh means the coulters are kept out of the ground, at the end of the land, without the least labour or fatigue to the person who attends the machine. 5. In <^oing up or down steep hills, in the seed-box being elevated or depressed accordingly, so as to render the distribution of the seed regular; and the seed being Book IV. DRILL MACHINES. 409 covered by a lid, transformed into and thus screened from wind or rain. The same machine is easily a cultivator, horse hoe (fig. 339. ), scarifier, or grubber, all which operations it performs exceedingly well ; and by substituting a corn-rake, stubble- rake, or quitch-rake, for the beam of coulters, or hoes (a), it will rake corn-stub- bles, or clean lands of root weeds. When corn is to be sown in rows, and the intervals hoed or stirred, we scarcely know a machine superior to this one ; and from being long in a course of manufacture, few can be made so cheap. But these advantages, though considerable in the process of drilling, are nothing, when compared with those which arise from the use of the horse hoe ; with which from eight to ten acres of land may be hoed in one day, with one man, a boy, ilti7 DUD EiD U& \J& an d one horse, at a trifling expense, in a style far superior to, and more effectual than, any hand-hoeing whatever ; also at times and seasons when it is impossible for the hand-hoe to be used at all. 2680. The Norfolk drill, or improved lever drill (fg. 340.), is a corn drill on a larger scale than Cooke's, as it sows a breadth of nine feet at once : it is chiefly used in the light soils of Norfolk and Suffolk as being more expeditious than Cooke's, but it also costs about double the sum. 2G81. Cooke s three-row corn drill is the large machine in a diminutive form, and is exceedingly convenient for small demesne farms where great neatness is attended to. It can be used as a cultivator, hoe, rake, &c, like the other. 2C82. Morton's improved grain drill-machine [Jig. 341.) is decidedly the simplest and best of corn drills. In this machine three hoppers are included in one box, the seed escaping out of all the three by the revolution of three seed cylin- ders upon one axle ; and drills of different breadths are produced simply by the shifting of a nut, that fixes a screw moving in a groove in the under-frame, by which the distance between the two outside conductors and 410 SCIENCE OF AGRICULTURE. Tart II. (he central one (which is fixed) can be varied from nine to ten or eleven inches; and that the two small wheels may always be at the same distances respectively as the conductors, there are two washers (hollow cylinders), an inch in breadth, on the axle-arms of each, which may he transferred either to the outside or inside of the wheels, so as to make their distances from the outside conductors nine, ten, or eleven inches respectively also. The small wheels may he raised or depressed, so as to alter the depth at which the seed shall he deposited, by the action of a wedge, which retains the upright part of the axle in any one of a number of notches, which are made similarly in both, and which are caught by an iron plate on the upper side of the arms which carry the axles. This machine may he still farther improved by increasing the number of conductors to five instead of three ; the latter number giving too light work to the horses. (Highland Sue. Trans, vol. vii.) 2683. Of bean drills, there are three kinds, all equally good : one for sowing in prepared drills or after the plough, which is pushed by manual labour, and has been already described ('2574. ) : one attached to a light plough, which draws a furrow in prepared soil, and sows a row at the same time (fig- 342.); and one which can be fixed between the handles of any common plough for the same purpose. The former has a wheel (a) to re- gulate the depth of the furrow, and a lever (b; to throw the drill out of gear on turning at the ends of the ridges. It is a useful and very effective im- plement ; though a skilful plough- man will effect the same object by a drill placed between the handles of a common swing plough. 2684. Weir's expanding bran drill to sow four rouo\ethe point, is a square or a parallelogram (fg. 349.) are best adapted for the attrition to which they are subject in being moved forward in a direction parallel to their 3-19 4H SCIENCE OF AGRICULTURE. Part II. diagonals, and for resisting the lateral or shaking motion occasioned by encountering obstacles. (Quart Jour. Agr. vol. ii. p. 555.) The principal parts of harrows are generally made of wood ; but they are frequently also constructed entirely of iron. 2697. The Berwickshire harrow (Ji^ 350 350.) is the most perfect implement of the kind in general use. It consists of two parts joined to- gether by iron rods, having hasps and hooks. Each part consists of four bars of wood technically termed bulls, and connected together by an equal number of cross bars of smaller dimensions mor- tised through them. The former of these bars may be 2^ inches in width by 3 inches in depth, and the latter 2 inches in width by 1 inch in depth. The longer bars areinclined at a certain angle to the smaller, so as to form the figure of a rhomboid, and they have inserted into them the teeth at equal dis- tances from each other. This inclination of the longer bars is made to be such, that perpendicu- !AiJ _^i^_^_^^_^_^_ __ [ ars f [om each of . t j je teetn) f a ii] n g U p 0U a ij ne drawn at right angles to the line of the harrow's motion, shall divide the space between each bar into equal parts; so that the various teeth, when the instrument is moved forward, shall equally indent the surface of the ground over which they pass. ( Quart. Jour. Jgr.) 2698. The angular-sided hinged hairoiv {Jig. 351.) is one of the best implements of 351 , "f- the kind, as it both operates on the ground with great regularity, and is less liable to ride or be deranged in turning, than the common, or the rhomboidal harrow. 2699. The grass seed rhomboidal harrow (Jig.352.), is nothing more than the Ber- wickshire harrow on a smaller scale. It is used chiefly for harrowing in clover and grass seeds when sown among corn crops, or even alone. 352 -£- 353 i: Liib !!i lliiiiiiiii!'!! iiill i ! i : ' : ' 1 1 i : 1 1 ! i : 1 1 1 ■ ■ i . ■ ! I ! ! ; • • i ■ ' \ • ; ■ • ' 2700. The common brake (Jig. 353.) is merely a harrow of the common kind, of Book IV. HARROWS. 415 greater weight and dimensions than necessary for ordinary soils. Its use is to reduce the stronger clays, at a time when they are too obdurate to be impressed with the teeth of the common harrow. The levelling brake, or grubber, is generally considered the preferable implement for this purpose. 2701. The brake, grubber, or levelling harrow (fig- 354.), is a valuable implement on strong clayey soils. It consists of two frames, the one triangular and the other oblong. I3y means of the handles, the oblong part of this brake can either be raised up or depressed ; so that when the ground is cut in small pieces by the teeth of the triangular harrow, then the oblong harrow following, its teeth, being pressed down into the high parts, carry or drag part of the soil oft' from the heights ; and, when they are raised up by the handles, leave that soil in the hollow or low parts. By this means, the •round is brought nearly to one plain surface, whether that surface be horizontal or sloping. Sometimes it may be found necessary to place a greater number of teeth in the oblong part of the brake, so that they may be nearer to one another, and perform the operation more effectually. The teeth are made sharp or thin on the fore edge, for cutting ; broad and thick on the back, for strength ; and tapering, from a little below the bulls to their joints. 2702. Morton' s revolving brake harrow (Jig. 355.) is a very powerful implement in strong clayey soils infested with couch. When the implement is to be moved from one field to another, the large wheels may be brought forward (a), to support the tines from the "-round, while the hind axle and the rake are supported by a castor or truck- wheel (b). In most soils, four horses and a driver and holder are necessary to work this instrument ; which, however, no good farmer will ever require the aid of, unless it be when entering upon land which has been allowed to run wild, or clay of an extraor- dinary degree of tenacity. We have seen it extensively and advantageously used, on the latter description of soil, by Mr. Dickson of Kidbrook farm, Blackheath, Surrey. (Gard. Mag. vol. iv. p. 186.) 2703. As substitutes for the last two implements, may be mentioned tinlaysons harrow (2657.), Wilkie's brake (2656.), and Kirkwood's improved grubber, which will be afterwards figured and described, the invention being only made public while the present sheet is passing through the press (February 15.). Bartlttt's cultivator, Brown s cross-cutting machine/the Sythney scarifier, and the spiky roller, noticed in next section, are used for a part of the purposes of the last two implements. ■116 SCIENCE OE AGRICULTURE. Part IE 2704. Gray's teed-fiarrow for wet weather [Jig. 356".) promises to be useful in certain situations, as in a tenacious re- tentive soil and moist climate. The sowing of wheat, under existing circumstances, is one of the most important brandies of the corn farmer's labour. In some backward seasons, it is almost impossible to get wheat land harrowed according to the common method, especially land that has been reduced by 3 summer fallow, without sub- jecting it to poaching from the horses, which is not only un- favourable to the soil, but also occasions a great waste of seed. Hence it often happens, that a less quantity of grain is got sown than was intended, or is requisite for the supply of the market. The beam (a) to which the harrows are attached admits of being made shorter or longer as the width of the ridge requires ; the shafts have freedom to turn round either to the right hand or to the left, and the teeth of the (harrows are placed square in the bulls, so that they can be drawn from either end at plea- sure. The wheels {Jig. 357.) may be from three to four feet in diameter if made on purpose ; but for the professional farmer it will be sufficient to borrow a pair from a one- horse cart. 2705. The bush harrow (Jig. 358.) is used for harrowing grass lands to disperse roughnesses and decaying matter ; and it is also sometimes used for covering grass or clover seeds. Small rigid branches of spray are interwoven in a frame, consisting of 358 'H Ml' three or more cross bars, fixed into two end-pieces in such a manner as to be very rough and bushy underneath. To the extremities of the frame before are some- times attached two wheels, about twelve inches in diameter, upon which it moves ; sometimes, however, wheels are not employed, but the whole rough surface is applied to, and dragged on, the ground. 2706. The only essential implement of the harrow kind is the Berwickshire harrow. (Jig. 350.) Sect. IV. Hollers. 2707. The roller is constructed of wood, stone, or cast iron, according to convenience or the purposes for which it is to be used. For tillage lands, the roller is used to break the lumps of earth, and in some cases to press in and firm the ground about newly sown seed ; on grass lands it is used to compress and smooth the surface, and render it better adapted for mowing. It has been matter of dispute whether rollers with large or small diameters have the advantage in point of effect upon the land. In constructing heavy rollers, they should not have too great a diameter, whatever the material be of which they are formed, as the pressure is diminished where the implement is of very large size, by its resting on too much surface at once, except an addition of weight in proportion be made. By having the roller made small, when loaded to the same weight, a much greater effect will be produced, and a considerable saving of expense be made in the construction of the implement. The common length of tollers is five or six feet, and the ordinary diameter from fifteen to thirty inches ; but those employed for flattening Book IV. ROLLERS. 417 one-bout ridges, in order to prepare them for drilling turnips upon, are commonly shorter, and of much less diameter. Large rollers should have double shafts, in order that they may be drawn by two horses abreast ; and such as are employed for arable lands should have a scraper attached to them. Strong frames are also necessary for rollers, so that 359 I 1| proper weights may be put upon them ; and open -"■ Q y i boxes or carts (Jig. 359.) placed upon them may — ' sometimes be requisite, in order to contain any addi- tional weight that may be thought proper, as well as to receive stones or other matters that may be picked up from the ground. Pieces of wood or stone, as heavy as a man can lift, are the most suitable substances for loading these implements with, where they have not the advantage of boxes for receiving loads. 2708. The parted cast-iron roller was invented to remedy the inconvenience expe- rienced in the use of the common implement, in turning at the ends of ridges or other places, where, from the roller not moving upon its axis, but being drawn along the sur- face of the ground, it is liable to bear it up, and make depressions before the cylinder comes again into the direct line of draught ; and at the same time it is not brought round without great exertion in the teams. The cylinder, in two pieces (Jig. 362. a a), obviates this inconvenience, by enabling the two parts to turn round on their own axis, the one forward, and the other in a retrograde direction. *2709. The spiky or compound roller is occasionally employed in working fallows, or preparing stiff' bean-land for wheat. In stiff clay-ground, when ploughed dry, or which has been much trod upon, the furrow-slice will rise in large lumps, or hard clods, which the harrow cannot break so as to cover the seed in a proper manner. In this state of the ground, the rollers commonly used have little effect in breaking these hard clods. Indeed, the seed is often buried in the ground, by the clods being pressed down upon it by the weight of the roller. To remedy this, the spike-roller has been employed, and found very useful ; but a roller can be made, which, perhaps, may answer the pur- pose better than the spike one. This roller is formed from a piece of hard wood, of a cylindrical form, on which are placed several rows of sharp-pointed darts, made either of forged iron, or cast metal. These darts, by striking the hard clods in a sloping direction, cut or split them into small pieces ; and, by this means, they must be more easily pulverised by the harrow. 2710. BartleWs cultivator (Jigs. 360. and 361.) is an implement of the roller kind, said to be useful in preparing wet land for tillage in Cornwall. It consists of a roller composed of 13 thin iron plates, each fastened to a circular block of wood of four 361 inches in thickness, and nine inches in diameter, and bound round with iron. Both blocks (a) and plates (b) are movable on an iron axle ; and though Mr. Bartlet, the inventor, has adopted a diameter of nine inches for the blocks, and fifteen inches for the plates, yet these dimensions may be increased or diminished at pleasure. The frame in which the roller is inserted has a bar, on which are fixed scrapers of iron, which keep the roller continually clean. (Card- Mag. vol. v.) *27 1 1 . The roller and water box (Jig- 362.) is sometimes used for watering spring Ee 418 SCIENCE OF AGRICULTURE. Past II. crops, or clovers, with liquid manure, previously rolling them. It has the advantage of 362 a more perfect machine, in the holes being easily cleaned when choked up with the thickened water. 2712. The furrow-roller {fig. 363.) is con- trived for the purpose of rolling the furrows in steep hilly situations, and other places where the common roller cannot be employed. 2713. The Norfolk drill-roller, and the ridge and furrow concave or scalloped roller attached to certain turnip-drills, have already been depicted. (2680. and 2688.) 2714. The pressing plough is a term erroneously applied to a machine of the roller kind (fg. 364.) It generally consists of two cast-iron wheels, for the purpose of impressing two small seed gutters or drills on the furrow slices turned over by the common plough, and a third wheel for running in the bottom of the furrow for the purpose of keeping the machine steady. The wheels are kept clean by scrapers. (fg. 365.) This implement is used in breaking up clover leys for wheat, two ploughs follow each other ; and after them one horse, walking in the fur- row, drags the pressing plough. The advantages are said to be a firm bed for the seed, by which it is not liable to be thrown v^ out in the winter season, and not so liable to be attacked by the \x^N^ g ru b ar, d wire worm ; and the rising of the plants in rows, by ^v_^ which means they may be hoed or harrowed between. 2715. Brown's cross-cutting machine (fg. 366.) is used for cross-cutting the furrows of rough, mossy, and heathy land, in order to reduce the soil to a state fit for receiving the seed. It consists of a series of parallel iron plates, or blades as they may be termed, fixed in a frame-work of wood, by the weight of which, and the pressure on the shafts by the driver, they are forced into the ground. The frame consists of oak ; and the main beams are 4 feet long, 6 inches deep, and 5 inches broad, with cross bars of proportional strength. The handles 365 are 6§ feet long. The blades are ^^ of good foreign iron, 4 feet 3 inches Book IV. LEVELLING MACHINES. 419 long, 3i inches broad, and five eighths of an inch thick at the back. The curves of the blades are formed to a circle of 40 inches diameter. (High. Soc. Trans, vol. vii.) 2716. The Sithney scarifier, or hash, consists of a cylinder with many circular cutters, or a number of circular cutters connected together upon one axis, which is intended to pass over the ground, for the purpose of scarifying or cutting the surface of grass land, perpendicularly, to the depth of a few inches, and to any required degree of fineness. By means of this scarifier, or hash, the roots of old grass may be effectually destroyed without the labour of ploughing, which is calculated to enable the farmer to graze the land much longer, previously to breaking it up for wheat or turnip tillage. The apparatus is proposed to be connected to the hinder part of an ordinary cart; or the axis of the cylinder, or circular cutters, may be supported by two iron arms, attached to the axletree with a pair of common carriage wheels. When this machine is used for renewing lawns or grass land, it will then be necessary to fix above the cutters a box containing grass seed ; which box must be perforated with small holes, one hole being exactly over every cutter, so that the seed may fall immediately into the furrow produced by the cutter. (Neivtoris Journal, vol. i. p. 250.) 27 '17. The only essential roller for general purposes is the parted cast-iron roller, with a scraper and box over (Jig. 359.). Sect. V. Machines for laying Land even, and other occasional or anomalous Tillage Machines. 2718. Various machines for agricultural purposes are occasionally brought into notice by amateur cultivators, and some even by the professional fanner. It forms, indeed, the privilege and the characteristic of wealth and intelligence, to procure to be made what- ever particular circumstances may require, in every department of the mechanical agents of culture. We shall only notice a few, and that chiefly for the purpose of showing the resources of the present age. 2719. Of machines for laying land level two may be noticed: in the first and best ( Jig. 367.), the horses are harnessed to a pole (a), which is joined to an axle having a pair of low wheels (6 c). Into this axletree are mortised two long side-pieces (d), terminating in handles (e e). Some- what inclined to these long or upper side pieces, shorter lower ones are joined by cross pieces, and connected by strong m °\^ a / / <* side-boards. The machine has no bot- tom ; its back part (/) is strongly attached to an axle {Jig. 368. g), and to the bottom of this the scraper part (Ji) is firmly screwed. The front ends of the slide irons ( fg. 367. to), turning up, pass easily through mortises in the upper side-pieces (d), where, by means of pins, the in- clination of the slide irons and of the back board can be adjusted within narrow limits, according to the nature of the soil to be levelled and the mass of earth previously loosened by ploughing. This earth the back board is intended to collect and force before it, until the machine arrives at the place where it is intended to be deposited. Here, by lifting up the hinder part of the machine by its handles (e e), the contents are left on the ground, and the machine proceeds to a fresh hillock. (Supp. Encycl. Brit. i. 25.) 2720. The Flemish levelling machine (fg. 369.) may be considered as a shovel, on a large scale, to be drawn by a pair of horses ; it collects earth at the pleasure of the holder, who contrives to make the horses turn over the shovel and empty the contents by merely letting go the handle (a), and recovering it by means of a cord (b), when emptied, as already described. (508.) 2721. The levelling harrow (2701.) is adequate to all ordinary purposes. E e 2 42C SCIENCE OE AGRICULTURE. Pari II. Sect. VI. Macldnei for reaping and gathering the Crop. 2722. The horse machines of baytime and harvest arc chiefly the horse rakes, the hay tedder, and the reaping machine. Subsect. 1. Horse Rakes and Haymaking Machines. 'J7'_':'.. Raking machines are not in very general use; but, where corn is mown, they are successfully employed in drawing together the scattered stalks, and are also of great use in haymaking. The saving in both cases consists in the substitution of animal lor manual labour. 2724. The common or Norfolk horse rake (Jig. 370.) is employed for barley and oat crops, and also for hay. One man, and a horse driven by means of a line or rein, are capable of clearing from twenty to thirty acres in a moderate day's work ; the grain being deposited in regular rows or lines across the held, by simply lifting up the tool and dropping it from the teeth, without the horse being stopped. 2725. The horse stubble-rake is a large heavy kind of horse rake, having strong iron teeth, fourteen or fifteen inches in length, placed at five or six inches from each other, and a beam four inches square, and eight or ten feet in length. In drawing it two horses are sometimes made use of, by which it is capable of clearing a considerable quantity of stubble in a short time. In general, however, it is much better economy to cut the stubble as a part of the straw. 2726. The couch-grass rake differs little from the last, and is employed in fallowing very foul lands, to collect the couch-grass or other root weeds. It may be observed, however, that where a good system of cultivation is followed, no root weeds will cur obtain such an ascendency in the soil as to render an implement of this kind requisite. 2727. Weiri improved hay or corn rake {Jig. 371.) is adjusted by wheels, and is readily 371 put in and out of gear by means of the handles (a a) and bent iron stays (b b). It ss drawn by one horse in shafts (c), and is a very effective implement. 2728. The hay-tedding machine (Jig. 372.), invented about 1800, by Salmon of Woburn, has been found a very useful implement, especially in making natural or meadow hay, which requires to be much more frequently turned, and more thinly spread out, than hay from clover and rye grass. It consists of an axle and pair of wheels, the axle forming the shaft of an open cylindrical frame, formed by arms proceeding from it. from the extremities of which bars are stretched, set with iron prongs, pointing outwards, and about six inches long, and curved. There is a crank by which this cylinder of prongs is raised from the ground, when the machine is going to, and returning from, the field ; Hook IV. RAKES AND REAPING MACHINES. 421 or when it is not wanted to operate. It is drawn by one horse, and, on the whole, answers as a tedding machine perfectly. In the neighbourhood of London, where 374 meadow hay is so extensively made, it is found to produce a great saving of labour, and is now coming into very general use. 2729. The hay swoop or sweep (Jig. 373.) is an implement for drawing or sweeping accumulations of hay to the cart or rick, or to any larger accumulations. Sometimes a rope is merely put round the heap, especially if it has been a few days in the cock, or piled up ; but the most general hay swoop consists of two curved pieces of wood, six or eight feet long, joined by upright pieces, so as to form something like the back of a chair. To the four coiners of this, ropes are attached, which meet in the hook of a one-horse whipple-tree (a). "ZTSoTSnowden's leaf-collecting machine is for the purpose of collecting dead leaves from lawns, parks, and pleasure-grounds, and has been employed in the King's grounds at Hampton Court. The apparatus consists of a large cylindrical tub, about five feet in diameter, and seven feet long, which swings upon an axle, and is open at top, in order to receive the leaves as they are collected. The collectors are hollow iron scoops, or scrapers, attached to bars, extending across the machine from two iron hoops, which work round the cylindrical receiver, and, as they revolve, scrape the ground, collect the leaves together, lift them up, and turn them over into the tub. The collectors or scoops ( fi". 374.) are made of many distinct pieces, set in rows, with springs behind each, by which any part of the scraper is enabled to give way, should it come in contact with a stone, in a manner similar to the rake bars of a haymaking machine. The hoops carrying the scrapers are lowered and adjusted to meet the ground, by having their pivots supported in a lever attached to the carriage, upon which it is adjusted by means of a circular rack and pinion. The scrapers are carried round as the carriage moves forward, by means of a spur-wheel, upon the nave of one of the carriage wheels, which works into a cog wheel upon the axis of the scraper-frame. This apparatus is designed, beside cleaning parks and lawns of dead leaves, to remove snow from the walks, to scrape and clean roads, and for several other useful purposes. (Neivton's Journal, vol. i. p. 203.) Subsect. 2. Heaping Machines. *2731. Though reaping machines, as we have seen (133.), are as old as the time of the Romans, one of an effective description is yet a desideratum in agriculture ; unless the recent invention of the Rev. Patrick Bell can be considered as supplying that desideratum. The high price of manual labour during harvest, and the universal desire in civilised society of abridging every description of labour, will doubtless call forth such a reaping machine as may be employed in all ordinary situations ; and this is, perhaps, all that can be desired or expected. Corn laid down, or twisted and matted by wind and rain, or growing among trees, or on very irregular surfaces, or steep sides of hills, will probably ever require to be reaped by hand. But independently of the high price of labour, despatch, as an able author observes (Supp. Encyc. Brit. i. 118.), is a matter of great importance in such a climate as that of Britain. In reaping corn at the precise period of its maturity, the advantages of despatch are incalculable, especially in those districts where the difficulty of procuring hands, even at enormous wages, aggravates the danger from the instability of the season, It cannot, therefore, fail to be interesting, and we hope it may be also useful, to record some of the more remarkable attempts that have been made towards an invention so eminently calculated to forward this most important operation. E e 3 ■122 SCIENCE OF AGRICULTURE. Part II. ,7 •-' The first attempt at a reaping machine, so far as we have learned, was made by Boyce, who obtained a patent tor ■ reaping machine early In the present century. This machine was placed in a two- wheeled carriage, somewhat resembling a common cart, hut the wheels were fixed upon the axle, so that It revolved along with them. A cog-wheel, within the carriage, turned a smaller one at the upper end of an inclined axis, and at the lower end of this was a larger wheel, which gave a rapid motion to a pinion Axed upon a vertical axis in the forepart of the carriage, and rather on one side, so that it went before one of the wheels of the carriage. The vertical spindle descended to within a few inches of the surface of the ground, and bad there a number of scythes fixed upon it horizontally. This machine, when wheeled along, would, by the rapid revolution of its scythes, cut down a portion of the corn growing upon the ground over which it poised , but having no provision for gathering up the corn in parcels and laying it in proper heaps, it was wholly unsuited to the purpose. Z7SS, An improvement i»i this attempt was mule by Plucknet, an agricultural impiement-makcr of London, tome rears afterwards. The principal alteration he made was in substituting for the scythes a circular Steel plate, made very sharp at the edge, and notched at the upper side like a sickle. This plate acted in the same manner as a very fine toothed saw, and was found to cut the corn much better than the scythes of the original machine ■_7 Ji A machine, invented by (Hailstone of Castle Douglas, in the stewartry of Kircudbright, operated upon nearly the same principles with Plucknet's ; but (Gladstone made his work much better by introducing a circular table, with strong wooden teeth notched below, all around, which was fixed immediately over the cutter and parallel to it. The use of these teeth was to collect the corn, and retain it till it was operated on by the circular cutter. The corn, when cut, was received upon this table ; and, when a sufficient quantity was collected, taken away by a rake or sweeper, and laid upon the ground beneath the machine, in separate parcels. To this machine was added a small circular wheel of wood, covered with emery, which, being always kept in contact with the great cutter at the back part, or opposite side to that where the cutting was performed, kept it constantly ground to a sharp edge. '.'7 •>.">. Salmon if Wdburn made the next attempt ; and his invention, it is said, promised better than those we have mentioned. It was constructed upon a totally different principle, as it cut the corn by means of shears ; and it was provided with a very complete apparatus for laying it down in parcels as it was cut. 2736. The next machine {Jig. 375.), and one of great ingenuity and promise, is that constructed by Smith, of the Dcanston Cotton Works, Perthshire. Smith's perseverance, his successive improvements, and ingenious yet simple contrivances for remedying defects, afforded strong grounds to hope that he would ultimately succeed in rendering his machine a most valuable acquisition to agriculturists; but various circumstances have prevented Mr. Smith from perfecting his invention. He made the first trial of his machine upon a small scale, during the harvest of 1811. It was then wrought by two men. In 1812 he constructed one upon a larger scale, to be wrought by a horse ; but, though he cut down several acres of oats and barley with considerable ease, it was found that when met by an acclivity the horse could not move the machine with proper effect. In 1813 he made a more successful attempt, with an improved machine, worked by one man and two horses ; and (1814) it was still farther improved by an additional apparatus, tending to regulate the application of the cutter when working on an uneven surface. This ingenious machine has been again tried, in September 1815, and with much success. A Scotch acre (1J acre English) of beans was cut down with ease in an hour and a quarter. The trials made with it on wheat, though not extensive, were satisfactory; and in reaping oats, the corn was laid down in the most regular manner. The cutter of this machine is circular, and operates horizontally ; it is appended to a drum connected with the forepart of the machine, its blade projecting some inches beyond the peri- phery of the lower end of the drum ; and the machine is so constructed as to communicate, in moving forward, a rapid rotatory motion to this drum and cutter, by which the stalks are cut, and, falling upon the drum, are carried round and thrown oft' in regular rows. This most ingenious piece of machinery will cut about an English acre per hour, during which time the cutter requires to be four times sharpened with a common scythe stone. The expense of this machine is estimated at from thirty to thirty-five pounds. If properly managed it may last for many years; only requiring a new cutter every two or three years, a repair which cannot cost much. This promising invention, which attracted a good deal of notice a few years ago, remains, it is believed, as it was then, in a state not calculated for extensive use. Mr. Smith's large concerns in the cotton manufacture may have prevented him from continuing his experiments ; and it is understood that the time he has already devoted to it has been without sufficient remuneration or encouragement 2737. BeWi reaping machine Jigs S76 and 377.) is the most recent as well as the most perfect inven- tion of this description. The frame-work of this machine (a a) may be made lighter or stronger accord- ing to circumstances ; b d and c c are four wheels upon which it is mounted, of whatever form it is made ; B B have their spokes at right angles to their naves, and are 3£ feet diameter. For neatness' sake the naves are made of cast-iron ; the wheels are from five to six inches broad at the rims, and are surrounded with a slight hoop of iron. Were they made narrower in the rims, when the ground was soft they would both cut it, and drag, without giving motion to the connected parts of the ma- chinery. The small wheels (cr;, which support the front of the frame, are (like the large ones b b) made of wood : they arc fourteen inches in diameter, and six inches broad at the rims, with a very slight hoop of iron round them. Their axles, which are of iron, are screwed to the frame, and are about 1J Rook IV REAPING MACHINES. -1i.'3 to The Rev. Patrick llel! invcnit ; the liev. M. Cruirkshnnlrs del F. o A ■I'M SCIENCE" OF AGRICULTURE. Part IE inches m diameter. The wheels are placed as near the front of the frame as possible, the reason for which will appeu wlun the general description of tin- machine is given. The wheels uu are connected with the main axle D , in JUCb a manner at that tiny may turn upon it, similarly to a carriage-wheel, without moving the axle with them; or they can he fixed to it at pleasure, so as to turn it round with them as occasion require*. For this purpose, the holes in the naves are circular ; and of course so much of the axle as pafltintl through them is round. There are cross flenses, cast upon the nave, which catch hold "t the Coupling l>"\ I When the machinery is to be moved, and are disengaged from it by the handle K, when the machine is going, without moving the machinery. In the engraving, this part of the apparatus is entirely concealed at one of the wheels, except a small portion of the handle at H. The other coupling box is but faintly represented it I The handle f has a joint in it, which is fixed to the other half of it, which passes through the frame of the machine, and terminates with the handle u; so that both coupling boxes can be managed by the driver, standing at u, although they are on opposite sides of the frame The main axle (i>) is .;j feet long between the shoulders, and eight inches from the shoulders to the coupling box : the frame of the machine is four feet broad, by seven feet long. Fixed upon the main axle (o) is the beveled wheel (i) of sixty teeth, part of which is seen in the engraving. This beveled wheel moves two pinions of ten teeth each. These pinions are concealed in the plate by the frame of the machine : one of them turns the crank. rod (k), and the other gives motion to the coupling wheels (l l) upon the top of the frame. The crank-rod (k) being thus put in motion as the machine moves forward, the crank M, which gives motion to the cutters, revolves with a uniform and steady motion. N is a coupling strap of iron, which connects the crank f«j) and the movable bar (o o) together, which is kept in its place by means of the sliding hooks (p p) working in the brass sockets (oy) which are screwed upon the strong iron supports (r R.' It is obvious that as the crank (m) revolves, it will, by pulling the connecting rod (n), give a perpetual motion backwards and forwards to the movable bar (o o). In order that there may be as little friction as possible to the movable bar (o o) there are two friction pulleys fixed to the iron supports (r r), upon which the movable bar ,o o] rests. These are not seen in the plate, as they are placed immediately below the bar ; but to any person who considers the thing attentively, they must be readily understood. They are ol the greatest consequence, as the back parts of the cutters wholly rest upon the movable bar (o o) ; and from the spring which each cutter must necessarily have, the pressure upon it is very considerable. With respect to the cutters, it may here be remarked that the greater body of them is made of iron, edged with the best steel, hardened as much as they will bear, without breaking out into chips when the machine is in operation. The cutter-bar (that is, the bar upon which the cutters are screwed) is strongly screwed U|k>ii the extremities of the supports (it r), and is six feet long, by three inches broad, and three fourths of an inch thick. The lower or tixed cutters (sssl are made triangular, of solid iron, edged with steel, as before mentioned : they are fifteen inches long from the point to the extremity, four inches broad at the base, and nearly one fourth of an inch thick : they are steeled only to the front of the bar, thus leaving a steeled edge of about one foot. In the middle of the base of the cutter there is a hole pierced, half an inch in diameter, and a corresponding one in the bar where it is to be placed. The hole in the bar is screwed ; and, in fixing a cutter, a bolt is passed through the hole in the base, and screwed tightly down into the bar. To prevent a cutter from shifting its place, there are other two small holes pierced, one on each side of the half-inch hole in the base, and corresponding ones in the centre of the bar : these holes are one fourth of an inch in diameter. Into he holes in the bar there are two iron pins firmly riveted below, and left one eighth of an inch above the bar, made to fit neatly into the holes in the cutters, although with a sufficiency of looseness to allow the cutter to betaken easily off when the bolt in the middle is screwed out. By this means, when the bolt in the middle is screwed down, a firm and unalterable position is insured to the under cutter. The upper cutters (u u,) &c, like the under ones, are made of good iron, edged with steel as far back as the hole where the bolts upon which they turn pass through. They are three inches broad where the hole is pierced ; and, behind the cutter-bar, as is seen in the plate, they are bent down about two inches, to allow the rollers and canvass to operate, as shall be afterwards described. After being continued horizontally about three inches, they are again bent up, and their extremities placed above the movable bar. They are made about 13| inches long from the point to the hole, and about 7i inches from the hole to the extremity backwards. Both upper and undei cutters are sharpened on both sides, similarly to a pair of scissors ; the under ones, of course, upon the upper side, and the upper ones upon the lower side ; thus forming, when the cutters are screwed to their places, a perpetual cutter upon that principle. The bolts upon which the upper or movable cutters work are half an inch in diameter, and are screwed to the bar through a hole of corresponding breadth : they are made to go through the bar about half an inch, upon which a nut is screwed, to prevent the bolts from unscrewing, which they would otherwise do, from the moving of the cutters ; which would allow the edges of the cutters to separate, and of course the machine would get deranged, and would not operate. The points of the under or fixed cutters are six inches separate ; of course the holes in the bar, by which they arc fixed, are six inches apart. The bolts of the upper or movable cutters are intermediatej that is, three inches from the others ; so that the cutter-bar is bored from end to end with holes half an inch in diameter, and three inches distant. The small holes, with the pins which prevent the fixed cutters from shifting their places, are each 1J inch from the large holes; so that the bar, before the cutters arc screwed upon it, is pierced first with a small hole, then a large one, then two small ones, then a large one, then two small ones, &c, as may be understood from the plate ; each hole 1§ inch apart. The back parts of the movable cutters, as was already mentioned, rest upon the movable bar ; and on each side of every cutter there is an iron pin, of one fourth of an inch in diameter, riveted into the movable bar. By means of these pins, it is easily seen, from the consideration of the plate, that, as the movable bar is pushed backwards and forwards by the crank (>i) upon the friction pulleys below it, the movable cutters will have a perpetual motion backwards and forwards. Under the heads of the bolts, which fasten the movable cutters, and the cutters themselves, there is placed a washer of brass, to diminish the friction as much as possible; and, for the admission of oil, there are two small holes pierced in the head of each bolt. There are twelve movable cutters, and thirteen fixed ones, with intervals of six inches between the points of the latter; so that the breadth of the machine is exactly six feet: but this breadth, from the principle of the machine, may be either increased or diminished, according to the nature of the farm upon which the machine is intended to operate. Upon a perfectly level farm the machine might be made broader ; but upon a farm of sloping or uneven surface, one of six feet in breadth will be found lo be work enough for two horses. As it was before stated, the beveled wheel (i) gives motion to the coupling wheels (l l) of 18 teeth each ; these move the horizontal shall v, and the wheel w, which is fixed to the end of it. The whee \v has 36 teeth ; and pinion x, which it turns, and which is tixed upon the gudgeon of the roller v, has 18 teeth. This part, however, is misrepresented in the drawing, which was taken from a model which had the rollers turned by coupling wheels, as shown in the plate. The one roller (v) turns the othei ;z),by the pitch-chains (nn), the chief use of which is to keep the sheet of canvass from changing its place by the revolu- tion of the rollers. The canvass, from its gravity, would slip down upon the rollers as the machine moved forward ; and it would twist upon them, by the unequal pressure to which it is exposed by the cut corn pressing unequally upon it : to prevent these derangements, there are loops fixed to the canvass, which are made fast to the links of the chain, about six inches apart; and there being an equal number of links in both the upper and lower chains, and an equal number of teeth in the four pulleys upon which they work, the canvass revolves uniformly, without being in the least deranged by the many casualties to which it is exposed, b is the pole to which the horses are yoked: it is made of wood, and is firmly fixed to the cross rails upon the top of the frame : its length is ten feet from its extremity to the frame of the machine, cc are the swingletrees by which the horses are yoked : they are yoked similarly to horses in a carriage, so as both to draw forward, or push backward, at pleasure. Their heads, of course, are towards Book IV, HEAPING MACHINES. ■i'25 "»>9 The Rev. Patrick Bellinvenit ; the Rev. James Crtiiclrshanfcs del 426 SCIENCE OF AGRICULTURE. Part II the machine ; and, in appearance, they push the machine before them, hut, in reality, they are drawing the same as in the plough. it d a small rod of wood, or helm, which the driver holds in his right hand, by the pulling Of Which to him, or pushing it from him, he conducts the machine straight forward. The dotted lines in the plate are a continuation of the pole with the swingletrees and helm attached. The machine is turned, at the end of the ridge, hy the following contrivance: — The two wheels re, in the hotly of the machine, are joined to the lever / by an upright movable axle. These wheels are similar to the two (cc) on the front of the frame: they have a strong iron axle, which is made so long as to let the wheels conveniently turn between the crank-rod (k) and the frame of the machine. In order that this piece of the apparatus may be used with advantage, the beveled wheel I is not placed upon the middle of the main axle (i>), but about one foot from the end of it, as is seen in the engraving. This throws the crank-rod (k) nearer the side of the machine, thus leaving plenty of space for the turning apparatus. In the middle of the horizontal axle of the wheels ee there is an upright standard of iron, sufficiently strong, and firmly joined to the horizontal axle. This upright standard or axle passes through the middle of the lever / (which is of wood, and, at this part, about five inches square 1 , about twenty inches from the end of it. Upon the top of the upright standard there is placed a segment of a wheel («'),with the teeth on the lower side, which is worked by a small pinion of six teeth upon the end of the rodg. This pinion is not seen in the engraving, as it is completely concealed by the segment i. The rod g, and the small pinion upon it, are turned round by the handle h ■ the pinion moves the segment ?', which, being firmly fixed to the upright standard, turns the small wheels ee either way. When the machine is cutting, the wheels ee are put parallel to the cutters j and in this position they assist the machine in passing a furrow, without allowing the cutters to come in contact with the opposite side of it. But when the machine is to be turned round, they are turned, with an angle to the path of the machine, by the handle h ; and the rod g being fixed in that position by a screw near the handle, the lever is then pressed down, and fixed with a catch to the frame of the machine. In pressing down the lever /, the small wheels ee, which before were about two inches from the ground, are pressed to the earth, about two or three inches below the natural level of the machine. Of course, the two front wheels (c c) are lifted two or three inches from the ground, and the cutters considerably more, thus insuring them from accident while turning round. The machine now rests upon the two large wheels b b, and the two small ones ee of the lever; and the two front wheels (c c) go for nothing, as they do not touch the ground. But the axle of the small wheels e e being placed with an angle to the main axle (n) of the large wheels bb, the machine will naturally turn round upon the horses being moved slowly forward : of course, the greater the angle formed by the two axles, the less space will the machine require to turn upon. In turning the machine, however, attention must always be given to disengage the large wheels B B from the main axle (d) : this is done by shifting the coupling boxes ee by means of the handles n a. The apparatus //, or collector, is placed exactly above the cutters: it is 2| feet in diameter, made of wood, as slight as may be. The supports k k, in the original machine, were made of iron ; but now the two side-beams of the machine are made of a piece of wood, with a natural cast upon it, similar to the beam of a plough, but rising with a much greater angle, as near the form of the iron supports in the plate as possible, and continued horizontally till their points are exactly above the movable bar oo. The points p p are made of iron, bent as in the plate, to allow the collector (/ 1) to turn round. At qqqq are strong iron screws, working in nuts placed in the wooden part of the supports, which serve the double purpose of uniting the iron part to the wood, and allowing it to be drawn forward, or pushed backward, as occasion may be, by either shifting to another hole, or, which is better, by long slips in the middle of the bar. Long corn requires the collector to be placed forward, and short corn requires it to be taken back. At oo are two perpendicular rods, which slip in holes in the points of the supports ; by the moving of which, upwards or downwards, the collector (/ /,) which turns in sockets in the lower ends of these rods, is lowered, or heightened, according to the length of the corn to ue cut The rods are fixed in their places by screws in the end of the supports. The collector is turned by a cross belt, or chain, passing over the two pulleys m n. A piece of slight canvass is put round the rollers Y z, fixed to the chains a a, as before described. The lower ends of the rollers have a shield of plate iron round their gudgeons, to prevent the cut corn from warping, which it does effectually. The bushes of the roller z are made to shift by screws, to tighten the chains a little, to prevent them from slipping the pulleys, as they lengthen a little by using, especially when new. Fig. 376. is a representation of the machine in full operation. About six or eight yards of the field require to be cut at the ends to allow the machine to turn without injuring the corn, which may be done by the machine itself. If the corn is standing nearly upright, a convenient number of ridges may be taken in and cut by going round them ; but if the corn is standing, and the field free from deep furrows, it may be cut by going round and round it till it is finished in the middle. One man, as seen in the plate, is sufficient to manage the whole operation. The cutting, collecting, and laying are the three principal parts of this machine, which have been all, more or less, explained in the general description given above. But as they are particular, a few words on each of these heads may still be necessary, that the machine may be completely understood in all its bearings. First, then, with regard to the cutting : it is desirable that the machine should do her work, and nothing more. If the motion of the cutters were too slow, she would not clear the ground ; and if it were too quick, there would be a useless expenditure of power and machinery. Let it be remembered that the large outer wheels B b are 3J feet in diameter ; that the beveled wheel i has sixty teeth ; and that the crank-rod pinion has ten ; and that the cutters have twelve inches of a cutting edge. The diameter of the wheels B B being 3| feet or forty-two inches, their circumferences are 13194678 inches; every revolution of them will pass over nearly 132 inches of the ground's surface ; but there being ten teeth in the crank-rod pinion, and sixty in the beveled wheel I, every revolution of the wheels bb will turn the crank-pinion six times, and, of course, the crank as often. But every turn of the crank-pinion gives two cuts, and each stroke of the cutters clears twelve inches of the ground, because they have twelve inches of a cutting edge: therefore, one revolution of the wheels bb gives twelve strokes of the cutters, and clears twelve times twelve, or 144 inches of the surface of the ground. But one revolution of B b passes only over 132 inches of surface ; therefore, the cutters are calculated to cut, in one revolution of b b, twelve inches more than enough, that is, one inch each stroke. This, however, is perhaps nothing more than is advisable to calculate upon, making allowances for the operation of the machinery, the partial dragging of the wheels, &c. &c. Secondly, the collector (//) must not move too slowly, lest it should retard the corn from falling upon the canvass ; and it must not move too quickly, lest it should shake ripe grain. As before stated, it is 2| feet in diameter, that is, 1)4 2477 inches in circumference. But one revolution of B B passes over 132 inches of surface; therefore, that the collector (//) may just touch the corn, without bringing it back, or retarding it from naturally falling back, it must make 14 revolution for every one that bb makes. Since there are six arms in //, every arm will touch the standing corn at equal distances of 157 inches. The pulley tn makes six revolutions for one that b u makes : it is six inches in diameter, and the pulley n, upon the axle of//, is nine inches ; therefore m revolves 15 times for once that n turns round, and the collector (//) re- volves four times for once that the large wheels n b revolve. But 4 x 94"2477 = 37699 inches, the space passed through by the circumference of the collector, while the machine moves forward only 132; the difference of which is 24499, the space that the collector passes over more than the machine, during one revolution of bb. Therefore, every inch of the corn is brought back 154 inch nearly, by the collector, which is sufficient to insure its falling backwards upon the canvass ; and yet it touches the corn so gently, that it is impossible that it can injure it in the smallest degree. A quicker and a slower motion, however, is advisable; which is easily given, by having two or three sheaves upon the pulleys m and n ; and then, by shifting the belt, a different motion is produced. With regard to the canvass, it is necessary that it should revolve as much as the ground passed over by the machine ; that is, while the wheels B B make one revolution, or pass over 132 inches of the surface, 132 inches at least of canvass should pass over the rollers. w, as before stated, has thirty-six teeth, and x eighteen, so that the roller v will give two revolutions for Rook IV. REAPING MACHINES. 427 one of w. But w revolves six times for one revolution of the wheels n n : hence the roller v will revolve twelve times for every revolution of 11 b. The diameter of the rollers is four inches ; their circumferences, therefore, are nearly'1256 inches, twelve revolutions of which will give 15072 inches. As before stated, one revolution of b b gives only 132 inches, wherefore there is a preponderance of motion, on the side 01 the canvass, of 1872 inches for every revolution of b b. This velocity is necessary to insure the canvass of clearing itself in all cases ; and, with a smart velocity, the cut corn is laid down with a greater angle to the path of the machine. It may here be observed, that it is often found convenient to have the canvass to lay down the corn on either side of the machine, according to the direction from which the wind is blowing. This may be done with a double wheel at x, with a handle in the usual method employed for reversing the motion of the rollers of the threshing machine. It were desirable, too, if possible, to have the canvass besmeared with a drying oil or gum, or some other substance which would prevent it from contracting with moisture ; as the slightest shower, or dew of a morning, contracts it so much, as to ren. der the implement useless until the corn is perfectly dry. 27.18. An estimate of the probable value of Bell's reaping machine may be formed from the reports signed by numerous practical farmers, who were spectators to different trials made in 1S28 and 1829. In Sep- tember, 1828, the machine was tried at Powrie, in the county of Forfar, before between forty and fifty landed proprietors and practical agriculturists, who signed a declaration, stating " that the machine cut down a breadth of five feet at once, was moved by a single horse, and attended by from six to eight persons to tie up the corn ; and that the field was reaped by this force at the rate of an imperial acre per hour." (Gard. Mag. vol. v. p. 600.) In September, 1829, the machine was tried at Monckic in Forfar- shire, in the presence of a still greater number of persons, who attest that it cut, in half an hour, nearly half an English acre of a very heavy crop of oats, which were lodged, thrown about by the wind, and exceedingly difficult to harvest. It was tried in a number of other places in Forfarshire, Perthshire, and Fifeshire, and the general conviction appears to be, that it will soon come into as general use among farmers as the threshing machine. (Gard. Mag. vol. vi.) The price is, at present, between 30/. and 35/. ; but if it were once in general use, probably the cost might be lowered ; but even that price would be saved out of the usual sum paid for manual labour, during only one harvest , by an extensive farmer. Few men deserve better of his country, and indeed, of every civilised country where agriculture is practised, than Mr. Bell ; for surely that invention must ultimately be of great benefit to men and women, which enables them to do by horses, oxen, or steam, that which they have hitherto done by a most severe description of manual labour, rendered doubly oppressive by the season of the year in which it must necessarily be performed. 2739. A machine for reaping, and at the same time sheaving corn, was invented in the year 1S22, by Mr. Henry Ogle, school-master at Bennington, near Alnwick, Northumberland. In 1823, Messrs. Brown, iron founders in Alnwick, advertised that they would furnish machines of this sort complete for sheaving corn at the beginning of harvest. No farmer however could be found who would go to the expense. The operation of the machine was satisfactory, and it was estimated to cut fourteen acres per day. An engraving and description of it will be found in the Mechanic's Magazine, vol. v. p. 50. In the same work (vol. i. p. 145.) will be found an engraving of a mowing machine invented by Jeremiah Baily, of Chester County, United States, about 1821, and said to answer well, and to have been exten. sively used. Whoever contemplates further improvements in this description of machinery, would do well to begin by making himself master of all the foregoing inventions. 2740. Gladstone's mad due for reaping beans (Jig.' 378.) has been used in several parts of Scotland with complete success. The framework of this machine is the same as that of a com- mon plough. To this is added the knife (a), which is a plate of steel, screwed to a piece of wood, to keep it from bending up and down ; this wood being screwed to the framework. There is a wheel (b) to keep the knife when in motion in a horizontal position. The cutting edge of the knife (c) has teeth, or serratures, on the upper side (d) ; the under side (e) is flat. One horse and a man will cut with this machine from four to five acres a day, with ease, and perform the work as perfectly as by manual labour. 2741. A machine for reaping the heads or seed-pods of clover ( fig- 379.), where the second growth of that crop is left to stand for seed, has been used in some parts of Norfolk and Suffolk. It consists of a comb, the teeth of which are lance-shaped, very sharp, and set close. This comb is affixed horizon- tally to the fore part of the bottom of an open box or barrow, which is drawn by one horse and guided by a man, who empties the barrow in regular lines across the field by means of an implement (a), which serves also to clean the teeth. 2742. A machine for mowing clover hay has frequently been attempted, but not yet perfected. One by Plucknet, of the Blackfriars Road, London, succeeded tolerably, but never came into use: it consisted of circular knives put into rapid motion, and the cut stalks guided to one side by a revolving cradle, like that attached to corn scythes. (2480.) It never came into use. 428 SCIENCE OF AGRICULTURE. Pari U. Sect. VII. Macfiines of Deportation. 2743. The carriage or conveyance machines of agriculture are chiefly carts and waggons, and their several varieties. Subsect. I. Carts. 2744. Carts, like other implements, vary in their forms and modes of construction, according to the nature and situation of the roads, and many other local circumstances ; but, for the purposes of farming, those of the single-horse kind are in general the most advantageous and useful. The advantages of single-horse carts, Lord It. Seymour observes [Ann. Ag. xxvii.), are universally admitted, wherever they have been attentively compared with carriages of' any other description. A horse, when he acts singly, will do half as much more work as when be acts in conjunction with another; that is to say, that two horses will, separately, do as much work as three conjunctively : this arises, in the first place, from the single horse being so near the load he draws ; and, in the next place, from the point or line of draught being so much below his breast, it being usual to make the wheels of single-horse carts low. A horse harnessed singly has nothing but his load to contend with ; whereas, when he draws in conjunction with another, he is generally embarrassed by some difference of rate, the horse behind or before him moving quicker or slower than himself; he is likewise frequently inconvenienced by the greater or less height of his neighbour : these considerations give a decided advantage to the siivde-horse cart. The very great ease with which a low cart is filled may be added; as a man may load it, with the help of a long-handled shovel or fork, by means of his hands only ; whereas, in order to fill a higher cart, not only the man's back, but his arms and whole person must be exerted. To the use of single horses in draught there can be no objection, unless it be the supposed necessity of additional drivers created by it : the fact however is, that it has no such effect; for horses once in the habit of going singly, will follow each other as uniformly and as steadily as they do when harnessed together ; and accordingly we see, on the most frequented roads in Ireland, men conducting three, four, or five, single-horse carts each, without any inconvenience to the passengers : such, likewise, is the case where lime and coal are generally carried upon pack-horses. In some of the northern counties of Britain also, one man manages two or three, and sometimes more, one-horse carts. 2745. Carts drawn by one horse, or by two horses, says a writer whose authority is unquestionable Supp. Ency. Brit.), are the only farm carriages of some of the best cultivated counties, and no other are ever used in Scotland. Their load depends upon the strength of the horses, and nature of the roads ; but, in every case, it is asserted that i given number of horses will draw a great deal more, according to some one third more, in single-horse carts than in waggons. Two-horse carts are still the most common among farmers in Scotland ; but those drawn by one horse, two of which are always driven by one man, are unquestionably preferable for most purposes. The carriers of the west of Scotland usually load from a ton to a ton and a half, on a single-horse cart, and no where does it carry less than 12 cwt. if the roads are tolerable. 2746. Wheels, such as are broad, with conical or convex rims, are common in England ; in Scotland the wheels are generally narrow, though broader ones are beginning to be introduced. Those used for the common, or two-horse, carts, are usually about 4i feet high, and mounted on iron axles. The advantages of broad cylindrical wheels have been illustrated with much force and ingenuity in several late publications. (Communications to the Board of Agriculture, vol. ii. and vol. vii. part i.) 2747. Large wheels to carts, drays, fyc. will, besides greatly increasing the facility of draught, tend to lessen the number of accidents to which all two-wheeled carriages are liable, from the shaft-horse falling down. To render this more evident, let us first examine Jig. 380., which is a rude sketch of a cart constructed in the usual manner, and supposed to be loaded with bricks, stone, sand, or other heavy material. While thus loaded, and the horse is in an erect position, the centre of gravity (g) is almost directly over the axletrec, in which state the body of the cart is nearly balanced, or only pressed upon the back of the horse with a force equal to a few pounds' weight. But the horse is supposed to have fallen : the consequence is, that the centre of gravity is thrown much more forward ; the body of the cart and its load becomes divided by the line a b, perpendicular to the axletree, into two very unequal parts, c and d ; the whole of the increased portion (c) in front of the line acting as a weight upon the horse, and only partly counterbalanced by the diminished portion (d) behind the line. It frequently happens that this increased weight, so suddenly thrown upon the shafts, snaps them short off; and, at all times, tends to prevent the horse from rising until part of the load is removed. By adopting the larger wheels, and the bent ii r.ooK iv. CAItTS. 429 axle ( fig. 381.) the cart, &e. becomes much less liable to such accidents, because the centre of gravity (g) and the centre of suspension (the axle) are brought much nearer together ; the former being placed nearly over the latter, at a small 381 > a 555Ib SCIENCE OF AGRICULTURE. Part II. 277x. The machine, in Us then imperfect state, was teen by the late sir Francis Kinloch, Hart, of Gilmerton, a gentleman well acquainted with mechanics, and who had paid much attention to country affairs : it incurred to him thai the machine might he rendered more perfect by enclosing the drum in a fluted cover, and fixing on the outside Of it four fluted pieces of wood, capahle of being raised a little from the circumference l.v springs, in such a way as to press against the fluted cover, and to rub out the grain as the sheaves passed between them ; hut, after repeated trials, it was found to hruise the grain nearly as much as the model from which it was copied. In that state it remained for some time, and was afterwards sent hy Sir Francis to a very worthy and ingenious character, Mcikle of Know Mill, in his neighbourhood, a millwright by profession, who had for a very considerable time employed his thoughts upon the same subject After much consideration, and several trials, it appeared to Meikle that the purpose of separating the grain from the straw might be accomplished upon a principle different from any that had hitherto been attempted, namely, by skutches acting upon the shecves by their velocity, and beating out the grain, in place of pressing or rubbing it out ; accordingly a model was constructed at Know Mill, in which the grain was beat out by the drum, to which it was presented through two plain feeding-rollers, which were afterwards altered for fluted ones. The first machine on a large scale, executed upon this principle, was done by a son of Meikle's, for Stein of Kilbagie, in the year 1786, which, when finished, performed the work to the satisfaction of all parties, and established Meikle's principle of beating out the corn as superior to all others. This superiority it still maintains, and is likely ever to do so. 2779. Mum/ improvements have been made on these machines since their introduction. One of the most useful of these, perhaps, is the method of delivering the straw, after it has been separated from the corn by the circular rake, to what is called a travelling-shaker, which carries it to the straw-barn. This shaker, w'hich revolves like the endless web used in cotton and other machinery, is composed of small rods, placed so near as to prevent the straw from falling through, while any thrashed corn that may not have been formerly separated, drops from it in its progress, instead of falling along with it, where it would be trodden down and lost 2780. Improved mode of yoking the horses. It is well known that the work of horses in threshing-mills is unusually severe, if continued for any length of time; that they sometimes draw unequally; that they, as well as the machine itself, are much injured by sudden jerks and strains, which are almost unavoidable ; and that, from this irregularity in the impelling power, it requires much care in the man who presents the corn to the rollers, to prevent bad threshing. It is therefore highly desirable that the labour should be equalised among the horses, and the movements of the machine rendered as steady as possible. A method of yoking the horses in such a manner.as compels each of them to take his proper share of the labour has accordingly been lately introduced, and the necessary apparatus, which is neither complicated nor expensive, can be added to any machine worked by animal power. (Far?ner's Magazine, vol. xiii. p. 279. ; <5 275+. and 2786. and Jigs. 386. 399. and 4 boiler, and wooden chest or box placed over or near it. The box may be of any size, and so placed as to be supplied and emptied by means of wheel or hand barrows in the easiest manner, either by the end or top, or both, being made to open. If the box is made eight feet by five, and three deep, it will hold, as many potatoes as will feed fifty cows for twenty-tour hours, and these may be steamed in an hour. (F. Mag. vol. xviii. p. 74.) 2806. Boilers or boiling machines are only had recourse to in the case of very small establishments. By means of fixed boilers, or boilers suspended by cranes, on the Lodi dairy principles (270.), roots may be boiled, and chaff, weak corn, and other barn refuse, rendered more palatable and nutritive to cattle. Hay tea also may be made, which is a salutary and nutritive drink for horses or cattle when unwell, or for calving cows. Food for swine and poultry may also be prepared in this way : or water boiled and salted to half prepare chaff and culmiferous plants for animals. 2807. A baking or roasting oven has been recommended for preparing the potato by Picrrepoint (Comm. Board of Agr. vol. iv.), which he states to be attended with superior advantages; but as, independently of other considerations, the use of such an oven must be limited to potatoes, a steaming-machine, which will prepare any sort of food, is un- doubtedly preferable for general purposes. Many speculative plans of this sort, however ingenious, chiefly deserve notice as beacons to be avoided, or to prevent their being invented and described a second time. 2808. A machine for pounding limestone (.fig. 408.) is in use in some parts of the country where unbumt chalk, limestone, or limestone gravel, is used as a manure. 1 his machine may be worked by steam, wind, water, or the power of horses. It consists of a beam (a) working on a wheel (b), and raising and lowering a cone of cast iron (c). I he base of this cone, which may be a circle of from two to six feet in diameter, according to the power of the machinery, and the size and hardness of the material to be broken, should be studded with knobs or protuberances about two inches long, of a diamond shape, terminating in a blunt point, and about five inches in circumference at the 407 6 -$£_ 4 1.' SCIENCE OF AGRICULTURE. Part II. bottom. The stones to be broken arc laid on a circular basement, rounded at some •408 depth below the surface, the foundation of which is prepared in the following manner : — "A stratum is formed of clay, well tempered, and mixed with a proportion of burnt limestone, powdered without being slacked] and forge ashes beat very small. When this is properly dried, a bed of sand, about eighteen inches in thickness, should be laid above it, and pared with common paving stones of the kind used for streets : this, after being well beat down, should be covered with another bed of sand of the same thickness, which should be paved in the same manner, and afterwards well beat down. The foundation of the building should be, at least, six feet below the common surface ; which will allow eighteen inches for the clay, thirty-six inches for the two beds of sand, and eighteen inches for the two courses' of pavement. The circumference should consist entirely of hewn stone, at least the uppermost three feet of it ; the stones of which should be strongly batted together with iron, and secured on the outside with numerous wooden posts driven into the earth, and different courses of pavement, extending at least six feet all round, carefully laid, and well beat down. A floor prepared in this manner, if it is not used too soon, will resist any force that can be let fall upon it. The limestone laid into it should not be too small, and should have a light bedding of sand in the soil to give it stability." (Farm. Mag. vol. iii.) 2809. A stone-hewing machine to be impelled by steam has lately been invented by Mr. James Milne of Edinburgh. It is said to save an immensity of manual labour, and to be competent to the execution of the finest mouldings. (Scotsman, Oct. 28. 1829.) 2810. Low's Machine fur raising large stones (Jig. 409.) is a powerful engine. An iron plug is driven into the stone, and 409 retained there by its elasticity. The machine " is placed over the stone to be raised, by extending the posts on each side, and then the windlass is attached. Of the stone to be thus raised, however large it be, it is enough to see the smallest part appear above the surface of the ground. At this part, let a workman, with a mallet, and the common steel- boring chisel of masons, make a small ty circular hole, about two inches deep, and as peipendicular as possible. This chisel should be of such a size as to make the hole about a sixteenth part of an inch less in diameter than the plug itself, so that a stroke or two of a hammer may be necessary to drive the iron home. When the latter is thus driven an inch, more or less, into the stone, it is attached to the block, and the ropes are tightened by turning the winch. Nothing more is now requisite than to set as many persons as may be required to work the windlass ; and, strange as it will seem, with no other fastening than this simple plug, the heaviest mass will be torn up through every opposing obstacle." (Quar. Jour. Agr. vol. i. p. 208.) Chap. III. Edifices m use in Agriculture. *2811. A \anclij of buildings are necessary for carrying on the business of field cul- ture ; the nature and construction of which must obviously be different, according to the kind'of farm for which they are intended. Suitable buildings, the editor of The Farmer $ Magazine observes, are scarcely less necessary to the husbandman than implements and machinery ; and might, without much impropriety, be classed along with them, and considered 'as one great stationary machine, operating more or less on every branch of labour and produce. There is nothing which marks more decidedly the state of agricul- ture in any district, than the plan and execution of these buildings. Book IV. BUILDINGS FOR LIVE STOCK 443 2812. In erecting a farmery, the first thing that deserves notice is its situation, both in regard to the other parts of the farm, and the convenience of the buildings them- selves. In general, it must be of importance on arable farms, that the buildings should be set down at nearly an equal distance from the extremities ; or so situate, that the access from all the different fields should be easy, and the distance from those most remote, no greater than the size of the farm renders unavoidable. The advantages of such a posi- tion in saving labour are too obvious to require illustration ; and yet this matter is not near so much attended to as its importance deserves. In some cases, however, it is advisable to depart from this general rule; of which one of the most obvious is, where the command of water for a threshing-mill, or other purposes, can be better secured in another quarter of the farm. 2813. The form most generally approved for a set of offices is a square, or rather a rectangular parallelogram ; the houses being arranged on the north, east, and west sides, and the south side fenced by a stone wall, to which low buildings, for calves, pigs, poultry, &c. are sometimes attached. The space thus enclosed is usually allotted to young cattle : these have access to the sheds on one or two sides, and are kept separate, according to their size or age, by one partition-wall or more. The farmer's dwelling-house stands at a short distance from the offices, and frequently commands a view of the inside of the square ; and cottages for servants and labourers are placed on some convenient spot, not far from the other buildings. 28 14. The different buildings required for the occupation of land are chiefly those devoted to live stock, as the stable, cow-house, cattle sheds, &c. ; those used as repositories or for conducting operations, as the cart-shed, barn, &c. ; and human habitations, or cottages and farm-houses. After noticing the separate construction of these edifices, we shall exemplify their combination in different descriptions of farmeries. Sect. I. Buildings for Live Stock. 2815. Buildings for agricultural live stock are the stable, cow-house, cattle-houses and cattle-sheds, sheep-houses, pigsties, poultry-houses, rabbitry, pigeonry, and bee-house. *2816. The stable is an important building in most farmeries; it is in general placed in the west side of the square, with its doors and windows opening to the east. Nothing conduces more to the health of horses than good and wholesome air. The situation of the stable should always be on firm, dry, and hard ground, that in winter the horse may go out and come in clean ; and, where possible, be built rather on an ascent, that the urine and other liquid matters may be easily conveyed away by means of drains for the purpose. As there is no animal that delights more in cleanliness than the horse, or that more dislikes bad smells, care should be taken that there be no hen-roost, hogsties, or necessary houses near the place where the stable is to built. The swallowing of feathers, which is very apt to happen, when hen-roosts are near, often proves injurious to horses. The walls of a stable ought to be of brick rather than stone, and should be made of a moderate thickness, two bricks or a brick and a half at least, or the walls may be built hollow, not only for economy, but for the sake of warmth in the winter, and to keep out the heat in the summer. The windows should be proportioned in number to the extent, and made on the east or north side of the building, that the north wind may be let in to cool the stables in the summer, and the rising sun all the year round, especially in winter. They should either be sashed or have large casements for the sake of letting in air enough ; and there should always be close wooden shutters, turning on bolts, that the light may be shut out at pleasure. Many pave the whole stable with stone, but that part which the horse is to lie on is often boarded with oak planks, which should be laid as even as possible, and cross-wise rather than length-wise ; and there should be several holes bored through them to receive the urine and carry it off underneath the floor by gutters into one common receptacle. The ground behind should be raised to a level with the planks, and be paved with small pebbles. There are mostly two rings placed on each side of the manger, or stall, for the reins of the horse's halter to run through, and a logger is to be fixed to the ends of these, sufficient to poise them perpendicularly, but not so heavy as to tire the horse, or to hinder him from eating ; the best place for him to eat his corn in, is a drawer or locker, which need not be large, so that it may be taken out at pleasure to clean it, by which means the common dirtiness of a fixed manger may be avoided. Many people are against having a rack in their- stables ; they give the horse his hay in a trough bin, formed of boards with an open bottom. 2817. A lofty stable is recommended by White (Treatise on Veter. Med. p. 1.), fifteen or twenty but never less than twelve feet high, with an opening in the ceiling for venti- lation. The floor he prefers is brick or limestone, inclining not more from the manger to the gutter than an inch in a yard. Some litter, he says, should always be allowed for a horse to stale upon, which should be swept away as often as is necessary. This, with a pail or two of water thrown upon the floor, and swept off while the horse is at exercise, will keep the stable perfectly clean, and free from offensive smells. •M4 SCIENCE OF AGRICULTURE. Part II. S818. The depth of a stable Bhould never be less than twenty feet, nor the height less than twelve. The width of B stall .should m it In' leu than six feet clear. Hut when there is sufficient room, it is a much better plan to allow each horse a space of ten or twelve feet, where he may be loose and exercise himself a hitle. Tlii> will be an effectual means of preventing swollen heels, a nd a great relief to horses that are worked hard. With respect to the rack and manger, White prefers the former on the ground, rising three feet high, eighteen inches deep from front to hack, and four feet long. The manger, eighteen inches deep, eighteen inches from trout to hack, and live feet in length. The rack he prefers being closed in front, though some farmers prefer it open, alleging that horses when lying down will thus be enabled to eat it' tliej choose. A closo. fronted rack, however, is better adapted for saving hay. The back part of the rack should be an inclined plane made of wood ; should be gradually sloped towards the front ; and should terminate about two feet down. Such a rack will hold more hay than ever ought to be put before one horse. The advantages of this rack are numerous : in the first place, the hay is easily put into it, and it renders a hay loft over the stable unnecessary ; which ought to be an inducement to the builder to make the stable as lofty as it ought to be, to obtain proper ventilation. All the hay that is put into this manger will be eaten; but in the common rack it is well known that a large portion of the hay is often pulled down upon the litter, and trodden upon, whereby a considerable quantity is often wasted. It prevents the hay. seeds or dust from falling upon the horse, or into his eyes ; and what is of considerable importance, though seldom attended to, there will be an inducement to the horse-keeper to give the horse hay in small quantities at a time, and frequently, from the little trouble which attends putting it into the rack. The saving in hay that may be effected by the use of this rack is so apparent, that it need riot be dwelt upon. A great saving also may be made in oats, by so fastening the horse's head during the time of feeding, that he cannot throw any of them out of the manger. This kind of rack and manger, from being boarded up in front, will effectually prevent the litter from being kept constantly under the horse's head and eyes, by which he is compelled to breathe the vapours which arise from it. It will also prevent him from getting his head under the manger, as sometimes happens, by which means, not unfrequcntly, the poll evil is produced. The length of the halter should be only four feet from the head, stall to the ring through which it passes : this will admit of his lying down with ease, and that is all which is required. The ring should be placed close to that side where the manger is, and not in the centre of the stalL The side of the stall should be sufficiently high and deep to prevent horses from biting and kicking each other. When the common rack and manger are preferred, the rack-staves should be perpendicular, and brought nearly down to the manger, and this may easily be done without the necessity of a hay-loft, and the manger may be made deep and wide as described. *2S19. The window of the stable should be at the south-east end, and the door at the opposite end. The window should be as high as the ceiling will admit of, and in size proportioned to that of the stable. In one of twelve feet high, it need not come down more than four feet, and it will then be eight feet from the ground, and out of the way of being broken. The frame of the window should be moveable upon a pivot in the centre, and opened by means of a cord running over a pulley in the ceiling, and fastened by means of another cord. With a window of this kind, in a stable of three or four horses, no other ventilation will be required : a person never need be solicitous about finding openings for the air to enter, where there is sufficient room above, and means for it to escape. A stable thus constructed will be found conducive to the health and comfort of horses, and will afford an inducement to the horse-keeper to attend to every little circumstance which may contribute to cleanliness. He will not allow the smallest bit of dung to remain swept up at one end of the stable, as it commonly is. The pails should be kept outside, and not standing about the stable as they usually are. If it is necessary to take off' the chill from water, it is much better, and more easily done, by the addition of a little hot water, than by suffering it to stand in the stable; and while the horses are at exercise, the litter should be all turned out to dry, and the brick floor well washed or swept out. A little fresh straw may then be placed for the horses to stale upon. Litter thus dried during the day will serve again as well as fresh straw for the bottom of the bed, and be perfectly free from smell The litter necessary to be kept under a horse that he may stale with comfort, and without splashing himself, is not considerable, and may be changed once a day. A great saving may be made in litter by turning it out, and drying it as described ; and a shed built adjoining a stable would afford a place for doing this at all times, and might serve also to exercise and clean a horse in during wet weather. 2820. Keitker dogs, foiv/s, nor goats, should ever be permitted to enter a stable j and dung should be kept at a distance from it. A good contrivance in cleaning horses is, to have two straps, one on each side of the stall, about one yard from the head of it. By these the horse may be fastened during the time he is cleaned, by which he will be effectually prevented from biting the manger or the horse-keeper; and being kept back in the stall, the man will be better able to clean the front of his fore legs, chest, and neck, and be able to move round him. This is better than strapping him to the rack. 2821. Farm stables in Scotland, the editor of The Farmer's Magazine observes, are constructed in inch a manner, that all the horses stand in a line with their heads towards the same side-wall, instead of standing in two lines, fronting opposite walls, as formerly. Those lately erected are at least sixteen feet wide within walls, and sometimes eighteen, and the width of each stall upon the length of the stable is commonly five feet. To save a little room, stalls of nine feet are sometimes made to hold two horses ; and in that case, the manger and the width of the stall are divided into equal parts by what is called a half tre- vice, or a partition about half the depth of that which separates one stall from another. By this contrivance, each horse indeed eats his food by himself; but the expense of single stalls is more than com. pensated by the greater ease, security, and comfort of the horses. The trevices or partitions which divide the stalls, are of deals two inches thick, and about five feet high ; but, at the heads of the horses, the partition rises to the height of seven feet (Jig. 410. a), and the length of the stall is usually from seven to eight feet. In many cases the end stall has a door or frame of boards to fit in between it and the back wall (b), in order to epclose food of any kind, a sick horse, a foal, or 3iare and foal, ^e. 2822. The manger (c) is generally continued the whole length of the stable. It is about nine inches deep, twelve inches wide at the top, and nine at the bottom, all inside measure, and is placed about two feet four inches from the ground. Staples or rings are fixed on the breast of the manger, to which the horses are tied. 2823. The rack for holding their hay or straw, is also commonly continued the whole length of the stable. It is formed of upright spars ( nJ?SS?tadtogHJiota for lifting them up, and the dung at once dropped into it, and carted away. Th* ar«r> n« g ^ ^ th It was ft with the dung, to render it of a fit consistence for being carted away. 1 he "„.. , . Ut'-i .„ ~f A.tK.nincr, darkness and auiet being consid one end was drawn along the grooves i found.necessaryto mix ashes witn^^ In the tnird division, roots were effectually preserved from frost. At oi second division favourable circumstance: 44G SCIENCE OF AGRICULTURE. V, II. of trie cow house a tank was formed, fifty foot long, sixteen foot wide, and six deep, with its surface on a level with the bottom Ol the cellar ; it was arched over, ami had a man-hole for cleaning out the sediment, 412 tfife four feet in diameter : into this tank the whole of the urine was conducted, after being filtered through the urine gutters into spouts beneath it reaching the whole length of the house. Each filter consisted of a vessel covered with a plate of cast iron, pierced with small holes, the sur- face of the plate being on a level with the sur- face of the gutter : the use of the vessel under it is to receive the sediment, for which purpose it is made four inches wider than the cover, and m this extra width the water runs over into the cast-iron spout by which it is conducted to the tank : it enters the tank by a division surrounded by boards pierced with holes, so as to filter it a second time, in order that the water may be pumped up with greater ease. This water was sold to the gardeners and others, at from 1*, to Is. orf. per hundred gallons. The roof was sup- ported in the middle by cast iron pillars (i) ; there were no ceilings, but the slates were hung to the quartering* of the rafters on pins, with a good lap ; this being found warm enough in the coldest weather, and favourable for ventilation in the hottest : there were also windows in the roof, both for light and ventilation. The heat was generally kept to 60° or 64°. The passages (c) were paved, and five feet wide, and two inches and a half higher in the middle than at the side 2833. The floor on tuhich the cows stood in Barley's cote-house " was raised six inches above the pas- sages ; this not only showed the cows to greater advantage, but kept them dry and clean : and two and a half feet of the floor next to the trough were made of composition, similar to what is commonly used in making barn Hours ; because the principal weight of the cows being upon their fore feet, and as in lying down the whole weight is upon their knees, it was obviously desirable to have that part of the stall as smooth and soft as possible ; indeed, it is conceived that joints and flooring would be the best for that purpose, were it not for the expense. The back part of the stall was of hewn stone, and for about eighteen inches towards the groove there was an inclination of about half an inch, to let the water go off; and these eighteen inches were of stript ashlar transversed, the strips being about an inch separate ; this pre- vented the feet of the cows from slipping. In all cow-houses, perhaps, the front part of the stall should be rather lower than the back part, since it would enable the cattle to lie easier; and, besides this, they would not be apt to slip their calf. Cows which put out their calf bed, or have a tendency to slip their calf, should have a straw mat laid below their hind quarters. The bottom of the feeding troughs was on a level with the floor of the stalls ; both edges were of hewn stone, the outer one next the passage was three inches above the bottom of the trough, and the other six inches higher : they were four inches and a half thick, and rounded to a semicircle ; the trough was one foot three inches wide, and six feet four inches long." (Harleian Dairy System, p. 24.) 2834. The standing roomfcrr the coivs in the Harleian dairy, that is, the space between the feeding trough (rf) and gutter (a), was from six to seven feet; the latter dimension being for the larger cows. The breadth allowed for a cow was from three feet to three feet six inches; two cows standing together be- tween wooden partitions as in stables (c). Each cow is fixed to a stake nine inches from the partitions, and six inches from the feeding trough ; the stakes are two and inches a half in diameter, and the cows are fixed to them by chains and swivels fixed to rings. " The chains were three feet seven inches long, consisting of twenty-one links, viz., three on one side of the swivel, and eighteen on the other; the short end of the chain had a hook for joining the chain, with a broad point of an oval shape, which was more easily hooked and unhooked, and answered the purpose better than the common mode used in dogs' chains." The hecks, or racks for the hay, are three feet two inches long, by one foot ten inches deep, framed with deal, and filled up with one horizontal and ten perpendicular iron rods a quarter of an inch in diameter. These hecks are hung with window cord, which passes over pulleys, so that they can be raised by a wheel and pinion at pleasure, so as to be above the heads of the cows, when they are eating green food from the feeding gutter. Mr. Harley considers it of importance that each cow should not only be kept clean by combing and brushing, but, bv the chain system of fastening, should have the liberty of licking its own skin and that of its fellow. {Harleian Dairy System, p. 28.) 2835. Calf-pens, or calf-stages, are common additions to cow-houses, where the feeding of calves for the butcher is an object of pursuit. The principal tiling to be observed in __ the construction of calf-pens is the laying of the floor, which should be made of laths or spars about two inches broad, laid at the distance of an inch from each other, upon joists, so as to make the floor about ten or twelve inches from the ground, as the situation will admit (Jig. 413.) This not only keeps them quite dry, by allowing all the moisture to pass immediately away, but has the advantage of admitting fresh air below the bedding, and thereby preventing that mi wholesome disagreeable smell too often found among calves ; for it is to be understood, that this place below the floor a) should frequently be cleaned, as well as the floor itself whenever it becomes wet or dirty ; but it is not right to allow the litter to increase to a great thickness, otherwise the moisture will not so easily pass through. Calf-pens are, however, too often made without this sparred floor, and the fresh litter always laid on the old till the calves are removed, which is a slovenly practice, and not by any means to be recommended. Stalls, or divisions, are too often neglected in calf-pens. Partitions, about three feet high, of thin deal nailed on small posts, might be so contrived as to be movable at pleasure, to increase or diminish the stall, if necessary, according to the age and size of the calf. If it be thought unnecessary to make the partitions movable, there might be a small round trough, in a circular frame, fixed in the corner of each pen, for holding the milk, and a door in the next adjoining corner. A small slight rack for hold- ing a little hay, placed at the upper part of the pen, might also be useful. The troughs should be round, that the calves may not hurt themselves upon them, which they might probably do on the angles if they were square. The advantages of this kind of calf-pens Book IV. BUILDINGS FOR LIVE STOCK. 447 are, that the calves are all kept separate in a small compass, and cannot hurt each other, as the stronger ones sometimes do the weaker when confined promiscuously, and their food may be much more easily and equally distributed. 2836 The calf-pens in Gloucestershire, Marshal observes, are of an admirable construction ; extremely simple, yet singularly well adapted to the object. Young calves, fattening calves more especially, require to be kept narrowly confined : quietness is, in a degree, essential to their thriving A loose pen, or a Ion" halter gives freedom to their natural fears, and a loose to their playfulness Cleanliness, and a due degree of warmth, are likewise requisite in the right management of calves. A pen which holds seven, or occasionally eight, calves, is of the following description : — The house, or roomstead, in which it is placed, measures twelve feet by eight : four feet of its width are occupied by the stage, and one foot by a trough placed on its front ; leaving three feet as a gangway, into the middle ot which the door opens The floor of the stage is formed of laths, about two inches square, lying the long way of the stage and one inch asunder. The front fence is of staves, an inch and a half in diameter, nine inches from middle to middle, and three feet high ; entered at the bottom into the front bearer of the floor (from which cross-joists pass into the back wall), and steadied at the top by a rail ; which, as well as the bottom piece, is entered at each end into the end wall. The holes in the upper rail are wide enough to permit the staves to be lifted up and taken out, to give admission to the calves ; one ot which is fastened to every second stave, by means of two rings of iron joined by a swivel; one ring playing upon the stave, the other receiving a broad leathern collar buckled round the neck of the calf. The trough is for barley-meal chalk, &c. and to rest the pails on. Two calves drink out of one pail, putting their heads through between the staves. The height of the floor of the stage from the floor ot the room is about one foot It is thought to be wrong to hang it higher, lest, by the wind drawing under it, the calves should be too cold in severe weather : this, however, might be easily prevented by litter or long strawy dung thrust beneath it. It is observable, that these stages are fit only for calves which are fed with the pail, not lor calves which suck the cow. .... 2837. Hogslies, for the breeding or fattening of swine, are mostly built in a simple manner, requiring only warm dry places for the swine to lie in, with small areas before, and troughs to hold their food. They are generally constructed with shed-roofs, and seldom above six or seven feet wide, with height in proportion. In order that they may be convenient, they should be at no great distance from the house ; and the less they are connected with the other farm-buildings the better. In some cases, it might be of utility to have them connected with the scullery, in such a way as that all sorts of refuse articles might be readily conveyed to them by pipes or other contrivances. When at a distance, they should be so placed as that the servants need not enter the farm-yard in feeding them. It is a circumstance of vast advantage in the economy of labour, as well as of food, to have them conveniently situated and built. Though swine are generally, perhaps from a too partial view of their habits, considered as filthy animals, there are no animals which delight more in a clean and comfortable place to lie down in, and none that cleanliness has a better effect upon with respect to their thriving and feeding. In order to keep them dry, a sufficient slope must be given, not only to the inside places where they are to lie, but to the outside areas, with proper drains to carry oft" all moisture. The outsides should also be a little elevated, and have steps up from the areas of at least five or six inches in height. Hogsties should likewise have several divisions, to keep the different sorts of swine separate ; nor should a great many ever be allowed to go together ; for it is found that they feed better in small numbers and of equal size, than when many of unequal sizes are put together. Proper divisions must, therefore, be made : some for swine when with the boar ; others for brood swine, and for them to farrow in ; for weaning the pigs, for keeping the store pigs, for fattening, &c. When convenient, the areas should be pretty large ; and where it can be had, it is of great use to have water conveyed to them, as it serves many useful purposes. 2838. Every sty should have a ruhbing-pnst. " Having occasion," says Marshal, " to shift two hogs out of a sty without one, into another with a post, accidentally put up to support the roof, he had a lull opportunity of observing its use. The animals, when tliev went in, were dirty, with broken ragged coats, and with dull heavy countenances. In a few days, they cleared away their coats, cleaned their skins, and became sleeky haired ; the enjoyments of the post were discernible even in their looks, in their live- liness, and apparent contentment. It is not probable, that any animal should thrive while afflicted with pain or uneasiness. Graziers suffer singletrees to grow, or put up dead posts in the ground, for their cattle to rub themselves against ; vet it is probable that a rubbing-post has never been placed intentionally in a sty • though, perhaps, for a two-fold reason, rubbing is most requisite to swine." In farm-yards the piggeries and poultrv-houses generally occupy the south side of the area, in low buildings, which may be overlooked from the' farmer's dwelling-house. They should open behind into the straw-yards or dung- heap, to allow the hogs and fowls to pick up the corn left on the straw, or what turnips, clover, or other matters are refused by the cattle. They should have openings outwards, that the pigs may be let out to range round the farmery at convenient times ; and that the poultry may have ingress and egress from that side as well as the other. 2839. The pig-hovsc at Barley's dairy establishment (Jig. 411. > consisted of a number of sties separated from each other by a nine-inch wall : each sty consisted of two apartments ; one for exercise, which was open above (a), and the other for feeding in which was covered (It) ; and a third, also covered, for sleeping in'(c). The threshold of the opening to the sleeping apartment was formed bv a cast-iron trough kept full of water (rf), through which the pigs being obliged to pass when they went to sleep, it is said their feet were washed, and their litter kept clean. The water in these troughs was supplied by a pipe at one end, and each separate tank had a waste pipe. The floor of the sleeping ) lace was a few inches higher than that of the feeding apartment; nod the floor of the latter, and also of the open area, were inclined 414 .—I: 's^ ported with posts or pillars. Sometimes they are open on all sides (jig. 421.) ; but this admits too much wind, which carries moisture with it in the cold seasons of the year, and dries up and shrinks wooden articles in sum- mer. Their situation in the square should be apart ---. from the buildings for live stock, and also from the *" barn, straw, and root houses : generally the first part of the east or west side on entering is devoted to the purpose of cart-sheds and tool-houses. 2866. The tool-house is used for keeping the smaller implements used in manual labour iti the fields, as spades, rakes, forks, &c. It is essential that this apartment be dry and free from damps ; and, when convenient, it should have a loft for the better pre- servation of sacks, cordage, sowing sheets, baskets, spare harness, &c. 2867. Some other buildings, besides those of this and the preceding section, will be wanted in most farm-yards of any extent, as stables for young horses, riding-horses, an hospital stable, &C. Particular descriptions of farms also require appropriate buildings, as dairies, cheese-rooms, hop-kilns, and wood-lofts, which will be considered in treating of dairy farms, hop culture, the management of sheep, &c. 2868. Sleeping-rooms for single men should be made over the stable, and for the feeder or cow-keeper over the cattle-sheds, that they may hear any accident which takes place among the horses or cattle during the night, and be at hand to remedy it. 2869. A smithy, and carjxnters work-room, sometimes form part of the buildings on a large farm. Instead of going to a distance to the residence of these necessary mechanics, arrangements are made with them to attend at stated periods, or when sent for, by which a saving both of time and money is effected. Sometimes these buildings are set down at a little distance from the square, to prevent danger from fire, and lessen the expense of Book IV. FARM-HOLSES. 453 insurance. The fixtures, as the anvil, bellows, bench, vice, lathe, &c. anil some of the larger tools, belong to the farmer, but the others the mechanics bring with them. A small stock, of iron, steel, and timber is kept, to be in readiness ; and also the cast-iron work of ploughs, carts, &c, and sometimes the smaller pinions, and other parts of the threshing machines. Sect. III. The Farmer s Dwelling-house. 2870. The dwelling-house of the farmer is generally detached from the farmery on the south side, and separated from it by a road, grass-plat, garden, or pond, or all of these, according to circumstances. In size and accommodations it ought to be proportioned to the capital requisite for the farm ; that is, it ought to be on a par with the houses of other members of society of similar property and income. In design it ought to be simple and unostentatious, utility and convenience being its recommendatory beauties. At the same time, as observed in the Code of Agriculture, " every landlord of taste, in fixing on the site and plan of a new farm-house and offices, ought certainly not to overlook the embellishment of the country." How much of the beauty of a country, and of the ideas of the comfort and happiness of its inhabitants, depends on the appearance of its farm- houses and cottages, every traveller is aware ; and every agriculturist who has travelled through the British Isles can recognise at once a well cultivated district by the forms of the farm-yards, and the position of the fanner's dwelling-house. The difference between the best and worst cultivated English counties in this respect is sufficiently striking ; and the ideas of wealth, comfort, order, and scientific agriculture, which the farmeries and cottages of Northumberland and Berwickshire excite in the mind, are totally unfelt in passing through even Hertfordshire and Essex ; where the scattered straggling hovels of all sizes and shapes, the monstrous barns, and ricketty shapeless farm-houses, indicate a low state of culture, and an ignorant tasteless set of occupiers. Even in Norfolk and Suffolk the want of symmetry in the farmeries of opulent farmers is every where conspicuous ; and the want of taste and decorum in setting the dwelling-houses among dung heaps and urine ponds no less so. 2871. In selecting a few examples of firm-houses, the first we shall notice is that of the smallest size, where the farmer keeps no servant and cultivates only a few acres. The ground plan of such a house (fig. 422.) should contain an entry (a); kitchen (b) ; dairy and pantry (c) ; parlour (d) ; light closet off the parlour as a store-room, or for a bed (e) ; tool-house (/) ; stair, and cellar under (g) ; water-closet, and poultry-house over (A) ; there are three bed-rooms in the . roof, and one garret. The dimensions may be varied at pleasure ; but twelve feet square is the least dimension that can be given to the kitchen and parlours. 2872. A farm-house of the smallest size (.fig- 423.), where the poultry and tool houses are in the farm-yard, but where the farmer keeps only one servant, and works and lives with him, may contain an entrance and stair (o) ; kitchen, closet, and oven b) ; back- kitchen (c) ; dairy (rf) ; parlour (e) ; bedroom (/) ; with three bedrooms and a G 51 3 45 l SCIENCE OK AGRICULTURE. 1'aki II. garret up-stalrs, and ■ cellar under. The arrangement of this ground plan is excellent, with the single e x ce p t i on of the situation of tin- fireplaces, which in no cottage or small dwelling-house ought to be in the outside wall. A few of such farm-houses and tenants should l>c found in all parts of the country] if for no other reason than to preserve the grada- tion from the labourer to the professional farmer, and from the cottage to the farm-house. i'st:'.. ./ farm-hmue larger than the preceding [Jig- 424 ), and for a fanner and his family rather in a better Style, may contain a principal entrance and lobby (a) ; parlour (i) ; closets (<•) ; store-room for meal, cheese, .Ivc yd) ; lumber room for small imple- ments (<■) ; beer cellar ( f ) ; pantry [g) ; dairy (h) ; staircase (i) ; kitchen, with an oven under the stairs, and a boiler on the other side of the fireplace (A) ; coals or wood, and hack entry (/ ; pigsty, with a small opening towards the kitchen for throwing in dish- water, offal, 4c. (in) ; and poultry-house (n) ; with two garret bedrooms over the wings; two good bedrooms and a closet up stairs, and a garret in the roof. 2874. J form-house of the second lower scale (fig. 425.), executed at Burleigh in Rutlandshire, contains a principal entry (a) ; parlour (b) ; kitchen (c) ; stair (d) ; dairy (e) ; pantry (/) ; cellar (g) ; and cheese-room (h). The three latter are attached to the back part of the house by a continuation downwards of the same roof. By making their ceilings only seven and a half or eight feet high, some small bedrooms may be got above them, having a few steps down from the floor of the front rooms, or a few steps up from the first landing-place. The back door of the kitchen enters into a brewhouse and washhouse, the fireplace and copper being behind the kitchen vent. Beyond this brewhouse is a place for holding fire-wood, &C., in the back wall of which are openings to feed ihe swine. In the kitchen is an oven ; and below the grate a very good con- trivance for baking occasionally, but principally used for keeping the servants' meat warm ; it consists of a cast-iron plate, and door like an oven. The chamber-floor is divided into two rooms forwards, and two small ones backwards. 2875. Formers dwelling-homes, containing more accommodation and comfort, and displaying appropriate taste and expression of design, will be found in a succeeding section, where farmeries are treated of, and also where we treat of laying out farms. (Part III.) Sect. IV. Cottages for Farm Serva7its. •2876. Cottages for labourers are necessary appendages to every farm or landed estate, and no improvement is found to answer the purpose better than building these on a comfortable and commodious plan. In the southern counties of the island, where the farmer's labourer is supposed to change his master once a year, or oftener, the whole business of cottages is commonly left to accident; but in the north a certain number of married servants arc kept on every farm, and a fixed place near the farmery is appointed Book IV. FARM-COTTAGES. 455 for their situation. Tliese habitations are in the tenure of the farmer, in common with the other buildings of the farm ; and whenever a married servant changes his master he changes his habitation. 2877. The accommodation formerly considered suitable for farm labourers consisted of two rcoms. That on the ground floor not being less than twelve feet square, with a sleeping-room, of the same size over, and sometimes on the same floor. But this is justly deemed too small for an ordinary labourer's family. " Humanity," Beatson observes, " shudders at the idea of an industrious labourer, with a wife atid perhaps five or six children, being obliged to live, or rather exist, in a wretched, damp, gloomy room, of ten or twelve feet square, and that room without a floor; but common decency must revolt at considering, that over this wretched apartment there is only one chamber to hold all the miserable beds of this miserable familv. And yet instances of this kind, to our shame be it spoken, occur in every country village. How can we expect our labourers or their families to be healthy ; or that their daughters, from whom we are to take our future female domestics, should be cleanly, modest, or even decent, in such wretched habitations ?" 2878. The accommodation which the smallest cottage ought to have, according to Waistell, is a kitchen, washhouse, and closet, or pantry, with two bed-rooms. A parlour is almost useless. The kitchen, being freed from the business of washing and baking, may always be kept decent for the family to live in ; and a decent kitchen is greatly preferable to a disorderly parlour ; and a parlour that is not used oftener, perhaps, than two or three times a year, will seldom be kept in order. Every cottager who has a family of children at home, ought, for decency's sake, to have two bedrooms ; and if the children are of both sexes he ought to have three. For the purpose of thoroughly airing and sweetening the bedrooms there ought to be windows to all the rooms. [WaisteWs Designs, &c. p. 81.) " If the rooms of a cottage be built too low, or in any other respect upon a bad plan, the inconveniences arising from these circumstances will, in all probability," have to be endured by its successive occupants as long as the materials of which it is composed will last If, therefore, the welfare of the inhabitants of such dwellings be considered, it is highly important that any circumstances which would thus entail the want of comfcrt should be avoided ; and it must be gratifving to those who erect durable and efficient cottages, in healthy situations, with gardens attached, to contemplate on what industry, what cleanliness, what happiness, and, in short, what great and lasting improvement in the condition and habits of this class of their fellow-beings, they may. as thev have it in their power, by a little attention, so easily and so beneficially to themselves effect. " {lb. p.' 84.) 2879. Cottages for farm servants, it is observed by the able author of the article Agriculture, in the Supplement to the Encyc. Britannica, " are usually set down in a line, at not an inconvenient distance from the farm-yard. Each of them contains two apartments with fireplaces, and garret sleeping-rooms over. Adjoining is commonly a cow-house, hogsty, shed for fuel, necessary, a small garden, and some- times other appendages of comfort and enjoyment. As an example of the minimum of modern accom- modation, we may refer to g two cottages on a farm iu 5 Berwickshire, as described hi the report of that county. They contain each a kitchen {fig. 426. a), small parlour and store-room fi), with two good bedrooms over, and a dairy under the staircase. — There is a garden behind c , a place for a calf or pigs, or for fuel {d , water-closet {e}, and dung-heap (/I. The labourer's cows, in this case, are kept at the farmery, along with those of the far- mer. It is proper to observe, however, that this is more the beau ideal of the cottage of a farm servant in Scotland than the reality. With the exception of some cottages that have been recently built by Englishmen who have become possessed of property in Scotland, such as the Marquess of Stafford, Earl ijwydir, &c. the dwellings of the labouring classes are a disgrace to the country. It is any thing but creditable, both to the landed proprietors and the farmers, that while the houses of both have been greatly improved in comfort and appearance within the last thirty years, scarcely any improvement has taken place in the dwellings of their servants. Even in East Lothian, Berwickshire, and other counties, generally considered the most improved in Scotland, scarcely any alteration has taken place for the better within our remembrance. One cause, no doubt, of this want of comfort, and the appearance of enjoyment in Scottish cottages, is owing to the ignorance of the cottager of many of the comforts which are enjoyed by the same class in other countries, and more particularly in England, Holland, and the South of Germany. This applies particularly to tradesmen cottagers, or what may be called independent occupiers ; but with respect to all those cottagers who are the hired servants of owners or occupiers of land, the blame belongs wholly to the owners and occupiers, and may be traced to their want of sympathy for their fellow-men, as well as a want of an enlightened view of their own interests. " Could the rich," Waistell remarks, " but consider themselves interested in the ap- ■i- 9 d 411 * J g i 1 '-' d - 1 r a i_ \s d / ^ ^■^\ *— ■Id IM - pearance of their tenants and labourers, and hold the improve- ment of the cottage and cottage garden, and its inhabitants, as an essential part of the improvement of their grounds ; they would thus make their seats appear the growth of plenty diffused, and not the solitary instance of wealth in the midst of wretchedness, at once its neighbour and its reproach." {IVaisteU's Designs, &c. p. P.) 2880. A double ploughman's cottage and cow-house {fig. 427.) may be thus arranged. Both may contain a kitchen {a) with an oven, and there may be a small parlour or store-room (6), a dairy and pantry (c), with two bedrooms over. Detached may be a pigsty d , water-closet (c), place for fuel (/), and cow-house ( g ), with gardens adjoining, dung-heap, porch, step-up, ivc. as in the, other place. 4.16 SCIENCE OF AGRICULTURE. 1\\HT II B881. WatttelPs ut in exposed or cold situations, and espe* ■ ii. illy where fuel i- dear, a porch should be cither taken otl'the inside of the kitchen or added to the outside ; or a temporary screen or curtain might be used in cold weather. On one side of the kitchen tire there is a Cupboard. Thi' washhouse and pantry floor may lie made two steps lower than the kitchen, and the floor over them ahotit two feet lower than the floor over the kitchen; thus there will In? room for small beds within the lean. to. The kitchen! are seven feet six inches high, and the bedrooms over may be made eight feet high by putting the ceiling joists two feet above the wall-plate. The ceiling-joists may be so many collar-beams to the rafters, which will greatly strengthen the roof. The fireplaces and flues are in the division walls, in this position the greatest advantage is derived from the heat, and thus, in small cottages, the chambers would not require, except in sicknesses, any tires. Two cottages, having the same accommodations, P, I ^ cannot, perhaps, be built at less expense upon any other plan, u 2882. W'aisteWs design for a dotihle cottage with offices {fig. 42°. ) contains "porches ("«), kitchens {lib) twelve feet by thirteen feet; and the back kite hen, or washhouse (c), which may be on the same level, is six feet by seven feet. The pantry [d), which may be sunk one step, is partly under the stairs (<*). In the porch is a cupboard to contain the labourer's tools, and beyond the porch is a small room for fuel(/). At each end of the building are three doors : the first opens into the vault (g), the second into the place for ashes, or dust [h\ and the third into the hogsty {>"), over which is a roost for |wniltry. The hollow or cavity in the wall between the stairs, &C. and pigsty (A) is to prevent any soakings or disagreeable smell being perceptible in the house. The chamber-floors being of equal dimensions with the ground-floors, each cottager will have two bedrooms One room may be made somewhat larger than the other ; the larger for the parents and the smaller for the chil- dren. The bedrooms being partly within the roof, a higher elevation would improve the appearance, and render it more wholesome, and will be preferred by those with whom the additional expense is of less con- sideration than the health and improvement of their cottagers. Lofty bedrooms are highly conducive to health." (ll'nis fell's Designs, &c. p. 82.) 2883. WaisteU's double cottage with coir-house (fig. 430.) contains " kitchens («1 fourteen feet by twelve feet ; the back kitchens (4) are eleven feet by seven feet ; and at one end there may be a closet under the stairs for a pantry (r). There are also boilers and ovens, projecting from the back of the house ; but where the cottagers do not make their own bread, or where they eat oat-bread, ovens will not be required. The entrances are through porches (rf) in the low buildings, beyond which, as in the jg last example, is a place for fuel (c), and at the back of this last is the dairy (/I, with the door from the kitchen. The situation of some conveniences on a plan may sometimes appear too conspicuous ; but, as at least a garden, however small, is supposed to be attached to every labourer's cottage, the judicious planting of a few evergreen shrubs will give all the privacy required. The doors to the cow-house (g) are at the back ; and convenient places for collecting manure (A) may be made in the corners against the sides of the hogsties (, i I, Every thing convertible into manure ought to be gathered into these yards. By collecting manures, and pre- paring them with judgment, ground of an inferior quality may be continued in a profitable and pro- gressive state of im- provement, until it has acquired a high degree of fertility. Small tenants should not only be provided with convenient yards for compost dunghills, but should also have pointed out to them, by the proprietors or agents of estates, the various fertilising sub- stances which lie within their reach ; and also lie informed •A'hich of them will make the most valuable dressings for grounds of the nature of those which they respectively occupy ; and such attention to their interests must be gratifying to them. The chamber-floor over the kitchens may be divided : sin all rooms, about six feet wide, with windows above the low buildings, would serve for bedrooms for daughters ; the larger rooms for the parents, and the rooms over the back- kitchens for the sons. Should these conveniences not be sufficient, small bedrooms may be added at each end, over the cut ranee, dairy, &c ; or, with a lit lie addition in the elevation of the walls above the ceiling of the chambers, tolerable rooms ma\ be formed in the roof. Cottages for manufacturers will require larger rooms, as for looms, &C If the Occupiers of adjoining tenements kee| i horses, they may unite their teams When a stronger draught than two horses is required for ploughing, or any other work." (Il'uistel/'s Designs, &c p. S3.) 430 Book IV. FARM- COTTAGES. 4.57 *2884. In regard to the construction of cottages much information may be obtained from a work entitled A Series of Plans for Cottages, by J. Wood of Hath. This author lays down the following seven principles as the means of obviating the inconveniences to which cottages, as usually built, are liable. 2885 The cottage should be dry and healthy. This is effected by keeping the floor sixteen or eighteen inches above the natural ground ; by building it clear of banks, on an open spot of ground, that has a declivity or fall from the building; by having the rooms not less than eight feet high,— a height that will keep them airv and healthv ; and by avoiding having chambers in the roof. 28Si> They should be warm, cheerful, and comfortable. In order to attain these points, the walls should bo of a sufficient thickness (if of stone, not less than sixteen inches; if of brick, at least a brick and a hall ) to keep out the cold of the winter, or the excessive heat of the summer. The entrance should be screened, that the room, on opening the door, may not be exposed to the open air. The rooms should receive their light from the east, or the south, or from any point betwixt the east and the south : for, if they receive their light from the north, they will be cold and cheerless ; if from the west, they will be so heated by the summer's afternoon sun, as to become comfortless to the poor labourer, after a hard day's work : whereas, on the contrary, receiving the light from the east or the south, they will be always warm and cheertul. So like the feelings of men in a higher sphere are those of the poor cottager, that if his habitation be warm, cheerful, and comfortable, he will return to it with gladness, and abide in it with pleasure. 2887. They should be rendered convenient, by having a porch or shed, to screen the entrance, and to hold the labourer's tools ; bv having a shed to serve as a pantry, and store-place for fuel ; by having a privy for cleanliness and decency's sake ; by a proper disposition of the windows, doors, and chimneys ; by having the stairs, where there is an upper floor, not less than three feet wide, the rise or height not more than eight inches, and the tread or breadth not less than nine inches ; and, lastly, by proportioning the size of the cottage to the family that is to inhabit it : there should be one lodging-room for the parents, another for the female, and a third for the male children. It is melancholy, he says, to see a man and his wife, and sometimes half a dozen children, crowded together in the same room, nay, often in the same bed; the horror is still heightened, and the inconveniencv increased, at the time the woman is in child-bed, or in case of illness, or of death ; indeed, whilst the children are young, under nine years of age, there is not that offence to decency if they sleep in the same room with their parents, or if the boys and girls sleep together, but after that age they should be kept apart . 2888 Cottages should not be more than twelve feet wide in the clear, that being the greatest width that it would be prudent to venture the rafters of the roof, with the collar-pieces only, without danger of spreading the walls; and, by using collar-pieces, there can be fifteen inches in height of the root thrown into the upper chambers, which will render dormar. windows useless. 28*9. Cottages should be always built in pairs, either at a little distance from one another, or close adjoining, so as to appear one building, that the inhabitants may be of assistance to each other, in case of sickness, or any other accident. 2890. For cconomi/, cottages should be built strong, and with the best of materials, and these materials well put together ; the mortar must be well tempered and mixed, and lime not spared ; hollow walls bring on decay, and harbour vermin ; and bad sappv timber soon reduces the cottage to a ruinous state. Although cottages need not be fine, yet they should be regular; regularity will render them ornaments to the country, intea.l of their being, as at present, disagreeable objects. 28!>1. A piece of ground should be allotted to every cottage, proportionable to its size ; the cottage should be built in the vicinity of a spring of water —a circumstance to be attended to; and if there be no spring, let there be a well. 2892. On the foregoing seven jmnciples he recommends all cottages to be built. They may be divided' into four classes or degrees: first, cottages with one room; secondly, cottages with two rooms; thirdly, cottages with three rooms; and, fourthly, cottages with "four rooms: plans of each of which, having great merit in their distribution, may be seen in his very able work. 2893. An economical mode of constructing the walls of brick-built cottages is described by Dearn, in a Tract on Hollow Walls (London, 1821). These walls are only nine inches wide, and built hollow, by laying the courses alternately lengthwise on edge, and crosswise on the broad face. Another description of hollow walls has been invented by Silverlock of Chichester, and used by him in building garden walls (See Enci/c. of Gar- dening), in which all the bricks are laid on edge, but alternately along and across the wall ; or, in bricklayers' language, header and stretcher. Either of these modes suits very well for cottages of one story ; and if well plastered inside the house, they will be warmer and drier than solid walls even of fourteen inches' thickness. Hollow walls of any height may be built by laying the bricks flatwise, and joining the outer and inner four-inch, or single brick, walls, by cross bricks at moderate distances. 2894. Mud walls, built in the French manner, or en jnse, are recommended by Beatson, Crocker, and others, and also "walls composed of soft mire and straw ;" but these last we consider, with Wood, as the reverse of economical in the end, and totally unfit for our climate and degree of civilisation. 2895. An economical mode of forming staircases to cottages, is de- scribed by Beatson, and has been adopted in a few places. Its merit consists in occupying exactly half the room which is required for stairs on the ordinary plan. This is effected by dividing every step into two parts {fig. 431 a and b), and making one part double the height of another. In ascending such a stair the left foot is set on the left step (o), and the right foot on the right step [b], alternately to the top of the stair. It is therefore clear, that as the steps for the right and for the left foot are in the same line, and although neither foot rises each x time higher than seven inches and a half above the other, yet every time that one foot is moved, it rises fifteen inches higher than it was before. Suppose in a stair of this kind, that each tread or breadth for the foot is nine inches, and that each rise of the one foot above the other is seven inches T 4.58 SCIENCE OF AC. HI (TI. TURK. Part II. and ■ half ; consequently, as each foot rises the height of two steps, or fifteen inches, every tinu' it is moved, it is plain that six steps of tliis kind \\ill rise as high as twelve in the common way, .mil will require only one half the size of a hatch or opening in the floor above, that would he required tor those twelve steps as usually constructed. This will be of considerable advantage! where much is required to be made of little room, and will of course irive more space to the chambers above ; but it has the disad- vantage of being disagreeable, and even dangerous to descend, especially for pregnant women and young children. 2896. Of what are called ornamental cottages for labourers, we shall say little. Utility is a beautv of itself, but there are higher degrees of that sentiment excited by the appear- ance of convenience and abundance ; by the evidence of design or intelligence in the contriver as displayed in the elevation and general effect, and by classical, imitative, or picturesque forms in the masses and details. The great evil, however, is, that these ornamental coitages, as generally constructed, are felt by the occupiers to be very uncom- fortable habitations; every thing being sacrificed by the designer to external appearance. This is in the very worst taste, and has, in most parts of the country, brought ornamental cottages into ridicule. Utility, therefore, is the main consideration, and nothing ought to be considered as ornamental that is at all at variance with this property. 432 2897. As an example of a cottage ornamented in the least degree {Jig. +.'32.) we submit a specimen in the gothic style, by Holland. It contains an entrance lobby, and stair (a), kitchen (b), small parlour and store-room (c), cowhouse (rf), pigsty (e), poultry- house (/), and water-closet (g). Over the kitchen is a bedroom with a fireplace, and another communi- cating with.it over the cowhouse. 2898. A cottage ornamented in the seconddegree [fig. 433.) contains an entrance and lobby (a), kitchen (b), stair (c), parlour, or store-room (rf), back kitchen (e), cowhouse (/), and water-closet (g), with two good bedrooms over the centre of the building, and two garrets over the wings. 2S99. A double ornamental cottage, erected by Lord Penrhyn, in Wales (Jig. 4.34.), contains a porch, lobby, and stair a), kitchen and living room {b), parlour (c), with cellars and pantry under, and to each house two bedrooms over. It must be confessed, however, that this cottage is more ornamental than convenient 2900. A double ornamental cottage, with lat. tieed windows (/?£. 435.), built in Hertfordshire, on a very dry soil, contains, on the ground floor, the kitchen and living room (a), pantry (4), and small light closets (c), with a stair up to two good bedrooms above, and down to a dairy, cellar, fuel-room, and other conveniences beneath. It is placed in a neat garden, with piggery, bee-house, poultry, dung-pit, water-closet, covered seat or bower, pump-well, and other appendages to each cottage. 2901. A variety of other plans of 'cottages will be found connected with the plans of farmeries, and in our Topography of Agricullvxe. (Part I\ .) Book IV. STACK-YARD, DUNG-YARD, &c. 459 Sect. V. Stack-yard, Dung-yard, and other Enclosures immediately connected with Farm Buildings. 2902. The different appendages which are common to farm buildings are the dung-yards, pits and reservoirs, the rick-yard, the straw-yard, the poultry-yard, drying-yard, garden, orchard, and cottage-yards. These necessarily vary much, according to situation and other circumstances, but all of them are more or less essential to a complete farmery. 2903. The dung-yard and pit is placed in almost every case in the centre of the main yard. A pavement, or causeway, ought to be carried round the yard, next to the houses, of nine or fifteen feet in width, according to the scale of the whole : the remaining part of the yard should either be enclosed with a wall with various doors to admit cattle, carts, and wheel-barrows, or, on a small scale, it may be entirely open. From tlus space the earth should be excavated so as to form a hollow deepest at the centre, or at the lower end if the original surface was not level ; and from the lowest part of this hollow should be conducted a drain to a reservoir for liquid manure. The bottom of this excavation, or dung basin, ought to be rendered hard, to resist the impression of cart wheels in removing the dung, and impervious to moisture, to prevent absorption. 2904. For these purposes, it may be either paved, the stones being set on a layer of clay ; or what will generally answer equally well, it may be covered with a thick coat of gravel or chalk, if it can be got, and then well rolled ; mixing some loam with the gravel, if it is found not to consolidate readily. To prevent, as much as possible, a superfluity of rain-water from mixing with the dung and diluting its drainings, all external surface-water should be prevented from entering the farm-yard by means of drains, open or covered ; and that which collects on the inner slopes of the roofs, should, in every case, be carried off by gutters. Such is the opinion of most, agriculturists as to the situation of the farm-yard, dung-hill, and reservoir ; but, in addition to these requisites, it is now very properly considered as equally important that there be urine-pits, either open or covered. 2905. The urinarium, or urine-pit, is constructed in or near to the stables and cattle- sheds, for the immediate reception of the drainage of these buildings unmixed with rain- water. It is found from experience that a very considerable addition of the richest kind of manure is thus obtained on every arable farm. At the same time it is proper to observe, that no benefit, but a loss, will arise, if the urine is so completely drained from the straw as to leave it too dry for fermentation. Where there are no stall-fed cattle, an able author (Supp. Enc. Brit. i. 121.) is of opinion there will be no more urine than what will be required for converting the straw into manure. Where cattle are fed at the stake, however, he considers a reservoir as essential. Allan, of Craigcrook near Edin- burgh, recommends that there should be two, in order that as soon as one is full, it should remain in that state till the urine becomes putrid before it is taken away. The urine is either applied to the land in its liquid state, or mixed with peat, earth, &c. The reservoirs may be either vaults of masonry, or wells : in either case, the hole for the pump should be sufficiently large to admit a man to clean out the sediment when it accumulates. A very desirable plan seems to be, to have these vaults, or wells, chiefly within the cattle-house, as in Flanders, but partly also without, to admit room for the pump-hole, close by the wall on the inside of the surrounding paved road. It is need- less to add, that such constructions ought to be made water-tight by the use of some cement, or by puddling with clay outside of the masonry. 2906. The stack-yard, or enclosure within which corn, hay, &c, are stacked, is placed exterior to that side of the building which contains the barn. Stack-yards should always be sufficiently spacious and airy, having a firm dry bottom ; and some advise them to be ridged up, to prevent the accumulation of surface-water ; as by raising the ridges pretty well in the middle, and covering the places where the stacks are to be built, either with rough stones, with a mixture of gravel, or with pavement in the same manner as streets, much advantage would be gained at little expense : but a much better method is to have them raised considerably above the surface, and placed upon pillars of wood or stone, with a covering of wood round the circumference, and beams laid across. The enclosing of stack-yards should be well performed, either by means of walls or palings, or better with a sunk fence ; as in this way the stacks will have the full benefit of the air from top to bottom, — a circumstance of no small moment, since it is often found, especially in wet seasons, where the fence of the stack-yards is only a low wall, that the whole of the stacks are damaged or spoiled as high up as the wall reaches, while the upper part is perfectly safe. Should any addition be required to the sunk fence, a railing upon the top may be quite sufficient. This fully shows the vast advantage of having stack-yards sufficiently airy. The proper arrangement of the stands, for their being removed to the threshing-mill, is also a matter of much consequence, in the economy of the work that is to be performed in them. 2P07. A stack-yard, arranged on principles peculiarly well planned and judicious, has been formed by Mitchell, of Balquharn near Alloa. His stacks are divided into regular rows, and there is a road on each side of every double row, besides a road round the whole yard. This plan is attended with the following advantages: 1st, by these parallel roads, there is a greater degree of ventilation ; 2dly, he can remove any stack he pleases, as necessity or markets may require; 3dly, in the hurry of harvest there is no confusion or loss of time, whatever may be the number of men or horses employed ; and 4thly, by having the rows and the stacks regularly numbered, there is no difficulty in ascertaining what each field of the farm produces. -J 60 SCIENCE OF AGRICULTURE. Part II. jm 2908. Coni-sidiuls arc requisite fixtures of the stack-yard; they are basements of timber or masonry, or sometimes of iron, on which to build the stack, and their object is to keep the lower part of the stack dry, and exclude vermin. The usual mode of con- structing stands is to place a stout frame of timber on upright stones, two feet high, and having projecting caps of flat stones. They are also constructed wholly of stone, with circular or polygonal walls (Jig. 436 a, b), built to the same height as in the former cast', in a rather slanting manner outwards, and covered on the tops with copings of oak- planking or flat stones, which project over the edges several inches, and in that way prevent the ascent of rats and mice to the stacks. In both these modes, pieces of timber are placed as a frame in the middle to support the grain upon, and generally a cone of spars in the centre, to form a column of air in the heart of the corn. Some suppose the first of these sorts of corn-stands to be the best for general purposes, as being more easily as well as more cheaply constructed, and at the same time permitting the air to enter and circulate with more freedom underneath, in the bottom of the stand, which is of much advantage. It is obvious that the form of these stands or basements must vary according to that in which the stacks are to be made, which is different in different districts. But wherever the threshing machine is introduced, the circular base, as producing a stack of a moderate size, with other advantages, is generally preferred. But cast-iron stands {Jig- 4:57.) with or without funnels, are now found preferable in point of economy, and admit of stacking the corn somewhat earlier. The pillars of these stands are three feet high, and weigh half a cwt. each. A stack requires seven pillars, besides the framing, which may either be made of poles or young trees. In the wet climate of Clackmannanshire, wheat has been stacked i-^.,™^— .--».. =^ j u fl ve (j a y S) beans in eight, and barley and oats in ten days, and sometimes earlier. No vermin can find their way into these stacks to consume the grain, and the straw is better preserved. The cone or triangle keeps up a circulation of air, and prevents heating or other damage. (Gen. Rep. of Scotland, vol. iv. App. p. 379.) 2009. WaitteW* circular rick-stand [fig. 428.) is twelve feet eight inches in diameter. Tt consists of two concentric circular walls, the outer twenty and the inner eighteen inches thick ; the outer wall covered with flagstones, which project four inches over it, to prevent rats and mice from getting up into the rick. The space between the two walls is twenty inches wide; across this space are laid hedgestakes, which are sufficiently long to support the rick, so that no large bearers aie wanted, nor other strong and expensive bearers of any kind The outer wall is twenty inches high, to the top of the projecting flags; at about half its height, four grates of cast iron, about six inches square and half an inch thick, are placed in openings left through the external walls, at equal distances from each other to admit air. The bars of the grates are a quarter of an inch broad, and a quarter of an inch dis- tant from each other, which is sufficiently close to prevent the entrance of mice. Stands thus constructed are considered, by those who have tried them, to be less expensive and more effective than on any other plan that has been yet invented, 'the air that passes through these four grates, and through the openings in the internal walls, will circulate freely under the rick; and if a chimney be carried up the middle of the rick to its top, the current of air that will pass up through it will carry oil' the heat and moisture, which might otherwise injure, and even spoil, such corn as was rather too moist when carried. {Il'aistcl/'s Designs, &c. p. 101.) 2910. Hen/stands, according to some, may be formed in the same manner as those for corn, only it is seldom necessary to have them made of such expensive materials. A simple frame of wood is mostly sufficient, with proper bearers laid across for the support of the stack ; and these stands are much better than loose pieces of wood laid across at the bottom, and filled in with brush or faggot wood, on which ricks are com- monly built. Earthy floors or foundations should never be thought of for this purpose, as the dampness must injure a considerable part of the hay at the bottom; but where faggots are not scarce, and the ground on which the hay-stack is built is rather elevated, no stand can ever become necessary. 2911. The stack-funnel fausse or boss (fig. 439. a.) as it is called in the north, whether the stand be of wood, iron, or stone, may be formed of a few poles placed on a 4 38 Book IV. FARMERIES. 461 circular, square, or angular base, having a few . short spars nailed across, or a straw rope wrap- ped round. 2912. The stack-cover is a cloth or canvass covering, for suspending over stacks during the time of their being built to protect them from rain. A simple implement of this sort has long been in use in Kent ; but it has been improved on by Sir Joseph Banks, so as to become more manageable, though somewhat more costly. It consists of two long upright poles fixed into two cart wheels : a rope, managed by blocks and tackle, connects the poles at top, and supports, raises, or lowers the canvass roof in the usual manner of mana :~. nth Class. The cart-shed or waggon-hare/, plough ami ha now place, and wool-room. The height should be at least seven feet, and the granary may frequently be built over. 2938. 7th Class. Hogstics, hen-roosts, boiling-house, duck-house, goose-house, hogs 1 food-house, hogs'food- tank, pigeon -house, poultry-yard, and turkey-house. The hogsties should be so placed as to be of easy access from the kitchen, and' at the same time not to prove offensive to either the house or the stables by their smell. The height mav be three or four feet, and the hen-roosts may be placed over them; the boiler for preparing their food, the food-tank, the duck-house, and the goose-house near them. The pigeon-house may be placed over any building; but if the water collected from the roofs be used for Culinary purposes, pigeons ought not to be kept. 2939. 8th (lass. Brining-room for wheat, and slaughter-house. One building will serve both these purposes, and it should be paved with Hat paving-stones. 2940. 9th (lass. Sheep-house. A square of twenty feet on the side will contain thirty sheep; the walls should be ten feet high ; this gives 13', feet surface to each sheep. The doors ought to be always open, and there ought to be a fold-yard, so that the sheep may go out and in at pleasure. 2941. 10th Class. Forge, tool house, workshop, privy, &C. The forge ought to be apart on account of the danger of tire; the carpenter's workshop ought to have folding doors to admit a cart or waggon. In large farmeries then ought to be a small yard distinct and apart from the fold-yards and rick-yards, for the purpose of the forge, workshop, implements requiring repair, and stock of timber and other materials. In all farmeries there ought to be two privies ; one for the women-servants near tJie house, and one for the men near the stables : there ought also to be two water-closets, one in the dwelling-house for the mistress and her female children and friends; and the other within the house, or adjoining it, for the master and his friends. 2942. 11th Class. Men's lodge, meal-chest, and potato house. Where single men are kept, they are sometimes lodged in the farmery, and supplied with meal, milk, and potatoes. They should have a large, light, and well ventilated room for cooking and living in, with bedchambers over, and iron bedsteads. The practice of sleeping in lofts over horses is highly injurious to health. 2943. The materials and construction of agricultural buildings are next treated of by Waistcll, in a manner at once highly scientific and practical. 2944. Mortar. Bad mortar is the mair. cause of the decay of all our modem buildings, from the cottage to the palace. Roman cement should be used in foundations, in exterior jointing, and frequently even in plastering in the interior, in different proportions, according to circumstances which it is unnecessary to suggest to the builder. Avoid salt or brackish water and sea sand ; slack the lime while it is yet hot from the kiln, make it into mortar immediately, and use it if possible the same day. This applies to all kinds of lime to be used in building. All lime or mortar to be mixed with Roman cement, ought to be used instantly afterwards ; if not used in five minutes it will set and become useless. Mortar to be used with hair as plaster may be kept some time ; but no advantage is gained from this in point of strength, but the contrary. 294">. Halls Foundations should vary in thickness according to the compressibility of the ground, the height to which they are to be built, and the weight they may have to support Under wide doors or windows, inverted arches springing from the adjoining piers are found useful, by equalising compression. Walls should diminish in thickness as they rise. Windows and doorframes in external walls should always be placed in reveals, and every window should have a sill Where anything is to be fixed to walls, a piece of wood in size and shape like a brick or stone should be built in, having the end even with the surface of the wall. In walls built of brick or small stones, templets, or [dates of timber, stone, or cast iron, should be laid under the ends of all timber bearings on the walls to spread the load. In topping all walls exposed to the weather, set the last course in Roman cement 2941). Thither. Stiff woods, as the oak and fir, are better for floors than stronger and more elastic timbers, like the ash, which bends with less weight than these woods. The Strength and stiffness of S joiit depend more on its depth than its breadth ; a fact loo little attended to by many country carpenters. Book IV. FARMERIES. 4G5 2947. Hoofs. High roofs are necessary for tempestuous climates, the better to shoot off the rains anil snows ; but a high roof, having a larger surface than a smaller one, requires timber of a greater scantling to make it equally able to resist high winds ; roofs, therefore, should be made sufficiently hiyh lor the climate and kind of covering, and no higher. " A roof whose height is one half the span, will have one fourth more surface than if it were made one fourth the span. In general one third of the span or width of a rcof, is the lowest extremity that is advisable where tile;, either plain or pan-tiles, are to be used. Plain tiles should be laid dry, and afterwards plast< red wholly over, tiles and laths together, with coarse- hair mortar. This is considered a great improvemc nt over the commoner modes, of laying tiles in plaster or in straw. Roofs for pan-tiles in exposed situaions should be somewhat higher in pitch than in shel- tered places. Roofs for gray or strne slates shoi Id be strong in proportion to the great weight of these materials. Roofs for straw, ling, chips, reeds, Sec. should ris_' half their width. Roofs of these materials have many disadvantages, and among others, that of rendering the water which falls on them unfit for culinary purposes." [Waistett's Den'gni for Agrh ultural Buildings, p. 78 ) 2°48. For a grazing farm in a mi untainous conn, ry, the following plan (fig. 4-13.) is given by Waistell. " The interior consists of a fold yard tor the cattle, anu a court-yard, to keep the cattle, pigs, &c. from the house, which is placed on the east side. On the ground plan of the house are the kitchen, back kitchen, parlour, dairy, and pantry. Roth the kitchen and back kitchen overlook the yards, kc. The other window to the kitchen, and also the parlour window, are supposed to overlook the farm. In the back kitchen are shown the situation of the copper or boiler, pump, and sink. The dairy is sunk five steps, for the sake of coolness in summer, and warmth in winter ; and the way the benches or shelves may be placed, is shown. The pantry, which is down the same steps leading from the back kitchen to the dairy, is under the stairs to the chamber-floor. Under the parlour is the cellar. A part of the cellar may be partitioned off for a store-room for potatoes, &c. There are, on the first floor, four chambers, and over them two garrets in the roof, lighted from the ends of the house. The chamber over the dairy may be used for the men-servants' bedroom ; or, should that not be required, as it will' be lofty, it may be used as a store-room. Next the house, on the north, is a stable for four horses. A saddle closet might be conveniently formed in the corner of the stable, at the back of the kitchen fire, place, where the saddles, &c, would always be kept dry. At the other end of the stable, a recess is formed for the corn-bin, near the window. The horses, in passing to and from the stable, through the court-yard, do not mix with or disturb the cattle in the fold-yard. The gate to the court- yard is placed as far as possible from the house ; and posts and rails, or chains, may be placed, as shown by the single line, to keep the horses from, and to protect children at, the door. A tank for the hogwash may be made in the corner formed by the house and stable. The situation for it is shown by the dotted circle. Arranged along the north sides of the yards are the chafl-room next the stable, various offices, open shed, and calf-house. The shed is open to the south, and may be used for cattle, and a part of it for a cart. The space within the roof of either the shed or stable, may be appropriated as repositories for such tools and implements as are only occasionally in use, as hay-rakes, ladders, &c. To a part of the space in the roof of the shed (which may be enclosed), an opening, or door, may be left from the place for fuel. The hen-roost may be in the roof, over the place for ashes, &c. On the west side of the fold-yard are the barn and cow-house; and, as on the farm for which this design is proposed, little corn is grown, the barn may occasionally be used as a store-room for turnips ; for this reason, there is a door from it to the foddering-bay. The cow- house contains standings for sixteen head of cattle, eight on each side of the gangway ; a feeding-house for the like number of cattle arranged in a single row, with a foddering-bay at their heads, would require one sixth more area, and one fourth more wafl. Over the cow-house is a straw-room, which may occasionally be filled with unthreshed grain. The ridges of the roofs of the barn and cow-house are of the same height, but the side walls of the cow-house are about three feet lower than the side walls of the barn. On the wall, between the fold-yard and court- yard, is placed a large water-trough for the cattle in the yard, and for the stable horses. The hogsty is in the corner next the cow-house; and in the opposite corner, a court for the store pigs is formed by the post and rail to keep off the cattle ; and there the trough for the pigs is placed. The wide door to the barn is made next the fold-yard; but, in some situations, it may be more convenient on the outside ; for, when the fold-yard is filled with manure, access with a loaded cart to the barn, that way, may be difficult." {IVaistells Designs, &c. p. 86.) The following is a recapitulation : a, kitchen ; A, parlour: c, back kitchen ; rf, dairy ; e, pantry; /, court-yard; g, tank for the hogwash; h, four, horse stable; i, chaff-room ; k, ashes ; /, fuel ; m, shed ; n, fold-yard ; o, calf-house ; p, bam j q, house for 16 cattle ; r, hogsty and hog-yard ; s, water-cistern ; /, hogs'-court ; u, enclosed area in front of the house: v, hog-troughs. Hh 4CG SCIENCE OF AGRICULTURE. Paht il 2949. For a small arable ami grazing farm, Waistell's farm-house and outbuildinga .(_fe. 111.) arc as follows: — The house is on the west side, with a porch in front. Ill m m m 1HI Over the pantry may be a convenient store-room. " The barn is forty feet long and eighteen feet wide. The cow-house will contain twelve cattle, and there is a loft over it, which may be used for a store of straw, or unthreshed grain. The approach is sup- posed to be from the east, and the cart-lodge, which is additional, is so placed that it must always be passed as the horses go to the stable ; and the granary over it is conve- niently near the barn. A roost for hens may be made over the pigsty adjoining the cart-lodge; and under the steps to the granary, and at the inner part behind the carts, the ploughs and harrows may be placed." The following is an enumeration of the details : a, parlour ; /), kitchen ; c, back kitchen ; d, dairy ; e, pantry ; f, open shed ; g, coals ; ft, kitchen-court ; i, tools ; k, ashes ; I, harness room ; m, five-horse stable ; 71, hay and chaff house ; o, calf-house ; p, stable-court ; q, cattle-sheds ; r, fold-yards ; $, hogs'-court ; t, barn ; v, stalls for twelve cattle or cows, witli foddering-bay in the centre ; v, cart-lodge witli granary over ; x, hogsty ; y, hog-yard ; z, cisterns and hogs' troughs. 2950. The particular requisites of a farm-stead, Marshall observes, " are as various as the intentions of farms. A sheep-farm, a grazing-farm, a hay-farm, a dairy-farm, and one under mixed cultivation, may require different situations, and different arrange- ments of yards and buildings. On a farm of the last species, which may be considered as the ordinary farm of this kingdom, the principal requisites are, shelter, water, an aria or site sufficiently flat for yards and buildings ; with meadow land below it, to receive the washings of the yards ; as well as sound pasturage grounds above it for a grass-yard and paddocks ; with private roads nearly on a level, to the principal amble lands ; and with suitable outlets to the nearest or best markets." The first of which, when wanting in the desired situation, may in time be supplied by plantations and mound-fences ; and where there is not a natural supply of water, a well, water-cellar, or artificial rill may, he says, furnish it. '2951. For a farm under mixed husbandry, the particulars to be arranged, according to Marshall, may be thus enumerated: — 1. A suite of buildings, adapted to the intended plan of management, as a dwelling-house, barns, stables, cattle-sheds, cart- shed. '2 A spacious yard, common to the buildings, and containing a receptacle of stall-manure, whether arising from stables, cattle-sheds, hogsties, or other buildings; together with separate folds, or straw-yards, furnished with appropriate sheds, for par- Book IV. FARMERIES. 4(,7 tieular stock, in places where sucli are required. 3. A reservoir, or catchpool, situated on the lower side of the buildings and yards, to receive their washings, and collect them in a body for the purpose of irrigating the lands below them. 4. A corn-yard, conve- nient to the barns ; and a hay-yard contiguous to the cow or fatting-sheds. 5. A gar- den and fruit-ground near the house. 6. A spacious grass-yard or green, embracing the whole or principal part of the conveniences ; as an occasional receptacle for stock of every kind ; as a common pasture for sw ine, and a range for poultry ; as a security to the fields from stock straying out of the inner yards ; and as an ante-field or lobby, out of which the home-grounds and driftways may be conveniently entered. In respect to the distribution or management of these different objects, he remarks, that in order to make it with good effect, great caution, study, and patience are required, that the most may be made of given circumstances. " An accurate delineation of the site which is fixed on, requires," says he, " to be drawn out on a scale ; the plannist studying the subject alternately upon the paper and on the ground to be laid out ; continuing to sketch and correct his plan, until he has not a doubt left upon his mind ; and then to mark out the whole upon the ground, in a conspicuous and permanent manner, before the foundation of any particular building be attempted to be laid. It may," he thinks, " be naturally conceived by a person who has not turned his attention to this subject, that there must be some simple, obvious, and fixed plan to proceed upon. But seeing the endless variety in the mere dwelling-places of men, it is not to be wondered at, if a still greater variety of plans should take place where so many appurtenances are required, and these on sites so infinitely various ; nor that men's opinions and practices should differ so much on the subject, that on a given site, no two practical men, it is more than probable, would make the same arrangement." There are, however, he says, " certain principles which no artist ought to lose sight of in laying out " such buildings and con- veniences. " The barns, the stables, and the granary, should be under the eye, — should be readily seen from the dwelling-house ;" and " the prevailing idea, at present, is, that the several buildings ought to form a regular figure, and enclose an area or farm-yard, either as a fold for loose cattle, or, where the stalling of cattle is practised, as a receptacle for dung, and the most prevailing figure is the square. But this form is, he thinks, more defective than the oval or circle, the angles being too sharp, and the corners too deep. Besides, the roadway, necessary to be carried round a farm-yard in order to have a free and easy passage between the different buildings, is inconveniently lengthened or made at greater expense. The view of the whole yard and buildings Irom the house on one side of it, is likewise more confined." He had formerly sug- gested the plan of a polygon, or many- sided figure, or an irregular semi-octagon, with the dwelling-house and stables on the largest side, having ranges of cattle-stalls opposite : but he has since formed one on the complete octagon (Jig. 445.), the dwelling-house (a) being on one side, and the entrance gateway and granary oppo- site, the remaining six sides being occu- pied by stables and cattle-sheds (c, d), and other outbuildings (e), a barn and thresh- ing machine (/), with a broad-way (g) dipping gently from the buildings, and surrounding a wide shallow dung-basin (/;), which occupy the rest of the area of the yard. Externally is a basin (/) for the drainings of the yard ; and grass enclosures for calves, poultry, and fruit-trees, and rick-yard. This is given as a hint to those engaged in laying out and directing buildings of this sort, which they may adapt to the particular nature of the site of such erections. 2952. An example of the arrangement of a small farm-house and offices {fig. 446.) is given by Beatson, which he considers as very convenient. At the north-west corner is the barn (a), with a water threshing-mill ; and a straw-house {h), being a continuation of the barn above, for holding a quantity of straw after it is threshed, or hay, that it may be at hand to give to the cattle in the feeding-house below. The upper part of this straw-house may consist of pillars to support the roof, with a space of about eight feet between them, whereby a good deal of building will be saved. In the floor should be hatches, at convenient distances, to put down the straw to the cattle below. A court for the dunghill (c) has a door to it from the feeding-house, and a large entry at the other end to admit carts to take away the dung : on the outside of this should be a urine-pit, in the most convenient place, according to the form ni the ground. A cow-house (d) has a door also to the dung-court ; and a calf-pen [e), with a rail across to keep in the calves, even though the doors are all open, adjoins. '1 litre H h 2 K>fl SCIENCE OF AGRICULTURE. Pari II. an ■ Stable, with ,i harness-room, and a place for keeping com (f) ; a root-house (g), over which, or o\er the b;irn, may lie a granary; a shed for carts (/,) ; a place for keeping large implements, as ploughs and harrows (/) ; for keeping smaller imple- ments, as spades, shovels, rakes, forks, &c, and for the reception of old iron and H many other useful things that might otherwise be lost or thrown away (/.) ; a pond for washing the horses' feet (/), which slopes down from each extremity towards the middle, where it is deepest, that the horses may easily go in at one end, and come out at the other, with a rail at each end, to prevent their going in (luring frost, or when not wanted to go in ; a pump, with a trough for the horses or cattle to drink out of, especially while other water is frozen, or when the water , I, ?,i) ; tools and sundries (/) ; smith's shop (j) ; carpenter's (k) ; yard for pigs and sties («) ; place for straw and turnips (o) ; open yards with sheds for wintering cattle (y), and exterior passage (y). The different elevations of this design here given are on too small a scale to be adequately judged of by a general observer; but whoever has paid a moderate degree of attention to architectural lines and forms will foresee the good effect of the ranges of arcades and pillars, the far-projecting roofs, and the general symmetry and regularity, as far as the requisite attention to fitness for the end in view will admit. We regret we cannot render justice to the author of this design by mentioning his name, and we have even forgotten whether we copied it from the General Report of the Agricultural Stale of Scotland* The Husbandry of Scotland ; Luck's Improvements of' the Marquess of Stafford; or one of the County Reports. Book IT. FARMERIES. 4~l 2957 An example of a very complete farmery, with a threshing-machine driven by steam, to be farmed by a bailiff' for the proprietor, we give that of the Dayhouse in Staffordshire. (fig. 450.) The lands contain nearly 500 acres of mixed soil, and the buildings, besides 450 . n el' an m ii IS El M 3 10 IS 31 3D n c n .. Ijjh 2| f Spiral.? s TO E3 B a El c \ r -J - ^ f il el ' „ i- r " II Miyl mm 4 n_n J il J3 il Jffl 1 a #<* the bailiff's house, which consists of a parlour («), family room (5), brewhonse (c) kitchen (rf), pantry (e), milk-house (/), bedrooms (g), attics (/;). 2958. The farmery contains the following accommodations. Men-servants' day- rooms (a) ; sleeping ditto, above (b) ; hackney stable (c) ; shed for implements (,l) ; cart-horse stables (e) ; hay-loft (/) ; tool-house (g) ; barn and steam-uigine (/;) ; feeding and cow-tyings (i) ; turnip-house (j) ; great granary and hay-room (A), which room is used for the annual agricultural dinner given by Lord Stafford ; small granary (/) ; corn- loft (m) ; striw-lofts in, <>) ; pigsties, and lien-houses over ( ;;). II h 4 472 SCIENCE OF AGRICULTURE. II. 2959. It'aistrll's Jhrm-house ik' that is naturally rich; and in the consumption of the green crops, as well as in the allowance of manure, the poor land may be gradually brought nearer, in the quantity and quality of its produce, to the rich, without any injury to the latter. Thus a field under turnips may be so fertile that it would be destructive to the succeeding corn crops to consume the whole or the greater part on the ground ; while another may be naturally so poor, or so deficient in tenacity, as to make it inexpedient to spare any part for consumption elsewhere. l>y connecting these two under the same crop, by carrying from the one what turnips are wanted for the feeding-houses and straw- yards, and eating the whole crop of the other on the ground with sheep, the ensuing crop of corn will not be over-luxuriant in growth on the former, while the latter "ill seldom fail to yield abundantly. The same plan will also be advantageous in the case of other crops. Hay or green clover may be taken from the richer field, and the pooler one depastured; and on the one wheat may succeed both tin nips and clover, while the more gentle crops of barley and oats are appropriated to the less fertile field. These observations are particularly applicable to turnip soils, of such a quality as not to require more than one year's pasturage, and which are therefore cultivated with corn and green crops alternately ; but the same principle may be extended to day lauds, and such as require to be depastured two or more years in succession. 2963. Where hedges are employed as fences, it is of importance that the ditches be drawn in such a direction as to serve the purposes of drains, and also that they may receive the water from the covered drains that may be required in the fields contiguous. According to the greater or less convenience of the line of the fence in this respect, the expense of draining may be considerably diminished or increased. Sect. II. Different Kinds of Fences. 2964. Fences, in regard to kind, may be arranged as live fences, dead fences, and mixed kinds ; but there are four elementary species which are the foundation of all the others ; the hedge, the ditch, the wall, and the paling. The hedge, when formed of the whitethorn or blackthorn, of the plum or crab, or of the holly, is the cheapest, most dura- ble, and the handsomest of all fences on a good deep soil: the ditch is the best on low, flat, wet lands requiring much drainage ; the wall is the best for farming purposes in almost all cases whatever ; and the paling, whether fixed or temporary (as of hurdles), is the most convenient as a nurse-fence to hedges for immediate or temporary use, and for fencing in parks and scenery where an air of lightness and freedom is a desirable object. From these simple or fundamental fences, a variety of compound ones maybe formed. We shall consider them in the order of ditch or drain fences, hedge fences, compound hedge fences, paling fences, and wall fences. Subsect. 1. Ditch or Drain Fences. 2965. Ditch fences, in their simple and original state, were considered rather in the light of open drains than as fences. In a variety of instances, ditches are made for this purpose only, where there is no intention whatever to enclose the field. They are, how- ever, sometimes meant as a fence, but, in such cases, they arc made very deep and wide ; anil the earth taken out of them is sometimes formed into a bank, the height of which, when added to the depth of the ditch, forms a tolerable barrier. In general, however, the ditch is of greatest value when used in conjunction with other fences. "Oft? The form of ditches is various : some of them being of a uniform width both at top and bottom ; Others are wide above, and have a gradual slope downwards ; a third kind have one side sloping and the other perpendicular, For whatever purpose the ditch is meant, the sloping form is by much the best ; as it not only costs less money in the digging, but is at the same time much more durable, and has a neater appearance Where open ditches are indispensably necessary for the drainage of the held, the sloping d tch is preferable to every Other, as the sides are not liable to tumble in, or be undermined or excavated by the current of water, when properly executed. The slope should be considerable : perhaps never less t| M n three, nor more than six, tunes the width at top that it is at bottom 2967 The simple ditch, with n hunk of earth, consists merely of a ditch sloping gradually towards the bottom • the earth taken ...it of it being formed into a bank on one side, leaving a scarcement, or projecting space, n'fsix or eight inches, <„i the side where the bank is formed, to prevent the earth from tumbling in '"'•'V's'"'/^.''/!.!/'/.' of earth, will, an upright facing of turves, awl a dope behind, is a very common sort of Knee and in some situations extremely useful; in making folds, for instance for the confinement of sheen' or cattle It is also valuable on tlic sides of highways, for defending the adjoining grounds, and for 1 "vine olf clumps or belts of planting in the middle or comers of arable fields, for enclosing stack-yards, »ajin b u v cottages gardens &c The front of the bank is made of a very steep slope with 453 tin- turf 'pared oil' from the surface of the sloping ditch, and the mound at the back with the earth taken out of it. 2969 The ha-ha, or sunk lean; is calculated chiefly for fields that require no shelter and where a uniform unbroken prospect is an object, as is the case in eardens and extensive lawns ; but in all situations where shelter is wanted, the sunk fence ought to In' avoided, unless a hedge is planted upon the top of it. Sometimes a medium between the sunk and raised fence [Jig. 453.) is adopted, winch makes both a durable and unobtrusive barrier. Look IV. HEDGE 1-EXCES. 475 termed cold lands 455 2970. The double ditch, with a bank between {Jig. 454 ), is not often used, unless in cases where it is meant either to plant hedges or trees on the bank between the ditches. Considered as a fence, either with or without a hedge, it has an advantage over the single ditch, as the earth taken out of the two ditches, when properly laid up, will form a bank of a somewhat formidable appearance, which cattle will not very readilv attempt to break over. For the purposes of open drainage it is well adapted, especially by the sides of highways, where the lands have a considerable declivity towards the road ; the ditch next the field, by receiving the water on that side, prevents it from overflowing and washing the road, — a circumstance which very frequently happens in such situations ; while the ditch on the side next the road, by receiving and carrying oft' the moisture that falls upon it, and which would otherwise lodge there and destroy it, keeps it constantly dry and in good repair. Where double ditches are made in the immediate vicinity ot high grounds, or on the sides of highways, care should be taken to prevent the water from the furrows or side drains from running into the main ditch at right angles. Where this is neglected, much trouble and inconvenience arise ; as when the water comes from a height, during heavy rains, in a straight line into the ditch, it presses with accelerated force against the sides of it; and if the soil is of a loose incoherent nature, the bank will be undermined and washed away in many places, To prevent this, nothing more is requisite than to alter the direction of the furrows, or small side ditches, at a few yards' distance from their opening into the main ditch. \2ff11. The double ditch and hedge is now general in many parts of Britain, especially upon what are from an idea, that a single row of plants would not grow sufficiently strong or thick to form a proper fence. The advocates for this fence farther allege, that in addition to the two rows of plants forming a more sufficient fence, an opportunity is afforded of planting a row or rows of trees on the mid- dle of the bank. (Jig. 455.) This fence is liable to many objections : the expense of forming the ditches, the hedge-plants made use of, and the ground occupied thereby being double what is requisite in a single ditch and hedge. From twelve to eighteen or twenty feet is the least that is required for a double ditch and hedge : this space, in the circumference of a large field, is so considerable, that upon a farm of 500 acres, divided into fifteen enclosures, the fences alone would occupy above forty acres. By throwing up a bank in the middle, the whole of the nourishment, not only of both hedges, but also of the row of trees, is confined* solely to that space, which, from its being ,nsulated by the ditches, and elevated so much above the common surface, not only curtails the nourishment of the hedges and row of trees, but exposes them to all the injuries arising from drought, frost, Sec. The idea of two rows of plants making a better fence than one is certainly no good reason for such an unnecessary waste of land and money ; as, in almost even' instance, where the plants are properlv adapted to the soil and climate, one row will be found quite sufficient; but, it it should be preferred to have two rows, the purpose will be answered equally weU with a single ditch, or even without a ditch at all. Subsect. 2. Hedge Fences. 2972. Hedge fences are of two kinds ; either such as are made up of dead materials, or such as are formed of living plants of some sort or other. 2973. Dead hedges (fig. 456.) are made with the prunings of trees, or the tops of old thorn or other hedges'that have been cut down ; and are principally intended for temporary purposes, such as the pro- tection of young hedges till they have acquired a suf- ficient degree of strength to render them fencible without any other assistance. For this purpose the dead hedge is well adapted, and lasts so long as to enable the live fence to grow up and complete the enclosure. In many cases, "however, dead hedges are had recourse to as the sole fence, and where there is no intention of planting .picks, or any other hedge. From their very perishable, nature, however, they are found to be exceedingly expensive ; so much so, indeed, that, after the first or second year, they cannot be kept in repair at a less expense than from a fifth to a tenth part of the value of the land, and sometimes more. When dead hedges are meant for the protection of young live fences, if the quick fence is planted upon the common surface, the dead hedge is made in a trench or furrow immediate y behind it, in such a way as to prevent the sheep or cattle grazing in the enclosed he Id from injuring it. "Where the quick fence, however, is planted upon the side of a ditch, the dead hedge is for the most part made on the top of the mound formed by the earth taken out of the ditch : these are called plain dead hedges, being made by cutting the thorns or brush-wood, of which thev consist, into certain lengths, and putting them into the earth. We call them plain, in opposition to other descriptions of dead hedges where more art is used ; such as the dead hedge with upright stakes wattled, and the common plaited hedge bound together at the top with willows. 2974. A dead hedge is made in the. following manner :—" A hedgerand an assistant are necessary for this business. The man cuts the stems of the thorns about three feet long, with the cutting-bill or axe, as their strength mav require, and he lavs one cut piece above another, to form a bundle, taking care to add some of the small twigs to each bundle to thicken their appearance ; and he then compresses the whole with his foot, so that the bundle may stick together. He thus makes and prepares several bundles in readiness. The hedger takes his spade, and, fixing on the part which the line of dead hedge is to occupy, he turns up a spadeful of the earth, as whole as possible, as if he were digging a piece of ground of the breadth ol the spade. After he has laid this spadeful of earth, so as a bundle of thorns may lean against it in an inclining position, the man hands him one of the bundles over the breasted hedge with a fork. The butt-end ot the bundle goes into the spade-furrow, and leans from him against the spadeful which he has placed. The 456 476 SCIENCE OF AGRICULTURE. Par* II. hedger then lift* another ipadl ful, and placet it upon the root of the bundle, and prcsso.s it firmly down with his Coot, which should be fortified with :i clog; He .-nits the inclination ol the dead fence to the quarter whence the heavies) windi prevail, .is is invariant) done in choosing the position of the stake and ri-e. in tin- in. inner they proceed to form the whole line of dead hedge. As the fence proceeds, the hedger cuts all tu igi thai have ■ straggling appearance, with the bill, towards the fence, to give a neatness and finish to the work. Tin- tort of dead hedge maybe placed behind the thorns of a newly planted hedge, much nearer than a paling, as from the breadth of it- top, and the sharpness of its spines, no beast can with impunity reach over it, to bite the twigs of the young hedge." (Quar. Jour. Agr. vol i. p. 61 In rrtpect to lite hedget, they arc made either entirely with one kind of plants, or a mixture of different kinds ; and for that purpose almost every tree or shrub known in Britain is either wholly or ill part employed. The lUCCesa Ol every attempt made to rear good fences will be found ultimately to depend on the plant- being suited to the soil and climate, the preparation of the soil, the time and mode of plant- ing, the age of the plants, their size, the dressing or pruning of the tops and roots before planting, weed- ing, hoeing, pruning, and after-management. *'_'97f>. The proper cfioice of hedge plants is of the first importance. Many failures in this part of the business might be enumerated; especially in the more elevated situations, "here great labour and expense have been employed to raise hedges of hawthorn, which, after many year--' care and attention, were found totally unfit for such inclement regions. In such situations, experience lias now sufficiently proved that good fences can be reared in B short time with beech, birch, larch, and the Huntingdon willow : hedges of these kinds ought, therefore, to be the only ones used in hilly countries, or upon cold wet soils; the first three upon the dry soils, and the last, with the addition of poplars, upon such as are wet or marshy. In the low country, however, and in the less elevated parts of the uplands, the whitethorn will be found the best upon all the dry, or mode- rately dry, parts of the soil ; especially the different kinds of loamy, sandy, or gravelly lands : upon cold wet-bottomed soils, however, beech, crab, birch, poplar, willow, and alder, may be used with advantage. The birch, poplar, alder, and Huntingdon willow, are peculiarly calculated for the coldest, wettest, and most marshy parts ; while beech, crab, &c. will be found to answer best upon the stiff clays. Hazel, sweet-briar, moun- tain-ash, and indeed all the kinds of forest-trees that are at present known to delight in dry soils, may also be successfully employed for making hedges in the low lands; but whichever of these is used, it should, if possible, be without mixture. It is seldom that any soil, however good', will be found equally favourable to the growth of plants opposite in their natures ; this circumstance alone will render their growth unequal, and of course make the fence faulty and defective. These defects in the fence, and inequalities in the growth of the plants, will increase with time, become every day more apparent, and be every day more sensibly felt ; as the plants which have thus acquired the ascendancy will continue to keep it, and not only shade the weaker ones, and prevent them from enjoying the influence of the sun and air, but also deprive them of nourishment. Inde- pendently of these considerations, there is another, it is observed, of equal, perhap greater, moment, that requires to be mentioned ; allowing the soil to be equally favour, able to the growth of the whole plants of which the mixture consists, there are certain plants which are highly inimical to the growth of others, when planted in their immediate vicinity ; ivy and honeysuckle, for instance, when mixed with thorns, or other plants in a hedge, never fail to destroy such of the hedge-plants as they fasten upon ; indeed moss, which is known to be one of the worst enemies to all hedges, is not more dangerous nor more certainly ruinous : even the different kinds of sweet-briar, virgin's bower, brambles, briony, cleavers, &C. have the same effect ; and in the end never fail to produce a gap in that part of the hedge where they grow, by smothering the other plants. In general the common hawthorn (Crataegus Oxyacantha) is the best British, and we might even say European, hedge plant. The black or sloe thorn (Prunus spi- n6sa) is perhaps next in excellence, as far as the strength and durability of the fence is concerned ; but unfortunately it throws up suckers in such abundance, as to encroach rapidly on the adjoining surface. The common hawthorn, like all plants raised from seed, produces innumerable varieties: some of these are much more abundantly furnished with prickles, and some grow much faster than others; and it might be desirable to save the seeds of fast-growing prickly individuals in preference to those of such as are less prickly or of slower growth. The smoothest, however, may be considered prickly enough for all ordinary purposes. Tike all the ligneous plants of the natural order to which it belongs (Rosacea;), the thorn grows readily from cuttings of the roots. '_'!>77. The preparation of the soil for hedget is one of those points intimately connected with, and, indeed, essential to their success. Except in a very few instances, however poor the soil may be, or however strung the cohesion of its parts, no attempt is made either to break that cohesion by tillage, or improve its quality by enriching or alterative manures : the young plants being for the most part laid upon the old surface, which lias perhaps never been opened by the labour of man, and their roots covered with the earth taken out of the ditch, consisting very often of the poorest and coldest clay, or of earths loaded with iron or other metallic impregnations. To those who have considered the matter with (he smallest attention, the fate of such a hedge will not appear doubtful: the surface upon which (he plants are laid will be so hard and impervious to the loots, as Book IV. HEDGE FENCES. 477 to preclude the possibility of tlieir penetrating it ; of course, their only chance of either extending themselves, or procuring nourishment, is by spreading out between the surface and the mound made by the earth taken out of the ditch, or by striking up into the mound, where, though the soil will be sufficiently open to admit of this, the roots, in place of finding an establishment in a situation friendly to their growth, will very often be either starved or poisoned. 2978. With respect to the age at which hedge plants ought to be used, it is very common, especially where young hedges are made with thorns, to plant them of one, two, or three years old, seldom exceeding this last age. Plants of this description, when put into the earth at a proper season of the year, upon land well prepared, if they are afterwards carefully kept clean, and the earth soft and loose, by regular weeding and digging, seldom fail to make good fences ; such young plants, however, are, it is observed, long in a state of infancy, and require great nursing and the most complete protection to bring them to perfection, and are liable to be either much hurt or totally destroyed by many accidents that would produce little or no effect upon older and stronger plants. Much time might be saved in the rearing of hedges, and the fences be much more perfect and useful, if older plants were employed for that purpose. Three years old is certainly the youngest that should be planted, and if they are even six or seven years old, so much the better : the prevailing idea that plants of that age will not thrive if transplanted, is totally unfounded. Thorns of six or seven years old, in place of being no thicker than a common straw, will be at a medium more than an inch in circumference : we leave those who are judges to determine how far a plant of this last description will be superior to one of two years old, and how much sooner it will answer the purposes of a fence. 2979. Tn respect to the size of thorns or other hedge plants, it may be necessary to observe, that, when the plants are once obtained, they should be separated into sorts, according to their size and apparent strength, picking out the largest first, and so on downwards. This will be attended with several very material advantages, which those who have made observations on the subject will very readily under, stand. Plants of the same size and strength, when planted together, keep pace with each other ; no one of them takes from the earth more than its own share of nourishment, of course the growth of the whole is regular and uniform ; and the hedge, when arrived at a certain age, becomes a substantial efficient fence, of an equal height throughout, and free from gaps : whereas, when no paini have been taken in assorting the plants, and they are planted promiscuously, great and small, strong aim weak, the consequence is, that the strongest plants very soon outgrow such as are weaker, and not only overtop them, but also deprive them of that nourishment which they so much require ; as the hedge advances in age, the evil becomes greater, innumerable gaps appearing throughout the whole line of the fence, and small stunted plants interspersed with others remarkable for their strength and luxuriance. 298U. This assorting of hedge plants has a farther advantage ; namely, that of putting it in the power of the person who plants the hedge to put down the large, strong, healthy plants upon the poorest part of the line of the fence, and to set such as are smaller and weaker upon the richer and more fertile parts. He has it also in his power, by a more careful preparation of the soil, and bestowing a greater proportion of manure upon the spaces where the small plants are set, to give them that nourishment and assistance which they require, and which would very soon enable them to form a fence equal to the part occupied by the strongest plants. 2981. In regard to the dressing end pruning of hedge plants before they are put into the earth, there is perhaps no part of the system of managing them, or forest trees, more hurtful and defective than that now pursued in the common nurseries. It is a very common practice with nurserymen, in the spring, when they wish to clear their ground for other purposes, to take up great quantities of thorns and other hedge plants, and after pruning the tops, and cutting off nearly the whole of the roots, to tie them up in bundles, and lay these bundles in heaps till they are called for. In this mutilated state they often remain for many weeks, with the mangled roots naked and unprotected, exposed to every inclemency of the weather, before they are sold. In place of this treatment, the defects of which are so obvious, and the consequences resulting from it so hurtful, no hedge plants should be lifted out of the nursery-ground till the day, or at most a few days, before that on which they are to be replanted ; and in place of the severe pruning and dressing already mentioned, every root, even to the smallest fibre, should be carefully preserved, and the use of the knife confined entirely to the necessary curtailing of the tops. Where this care is taken, and the plants are put into the ground at a pro- per season, they will suffer no kind of check, and when the spring arrives will grow luxuriantly and with vigour. 2982. In the after-management of the hedge, complete weeding, loosening, and laying new earth to the roots, for the first three or four years, are indispensable requisites : for what- ever pains may have been previously taken in dunging and summer-fallowing the soil, unless it be properly attended to and kept clean afterwards, this dunging and summer- fallow, in place of being useful, will prove hurtful to the fence ; as the manure and tillage, by enriching and opening the soil, will encourage and promote the growth of weeds ; which, under such peculiarly fortunate circumstances, will become so luxuriant as either to destroy the hedge, or materially injure its growth, unless they be kept down by frequent and complete cleanings. In loosening the earth about the roots of hedges, whether old or young, it will be of advantage, if there is soil enough to lay up a few inches of it to the roots ; this frequently done, encourages them to push out branches near •i:- SClENt I' OF AGRICULTURE, Part II. the bottom, which prevent them from growing thin s.;. On ike pruning and afler-managemeni of hedges will depend a very considerable part of their beauty and future value. There is, perhaps, no part of the subject upon which a gre a te r contrariety of opinion at present prevails, than the age at which the prun. ing of hedges ought to commence, the manner of that pruning, or the season of the year at which it may l>e given with the greatest possible advantage and the least risk. : the prac- tice with some i-., to prune, from the lirst year, not only the lateral branches, hut the tops aKo ; they give as a reason, that cutting off the extremities of the shout-, contributes to the thickening of the hedge, by making them push out a great number of new ones. The fallacy of this argument, and the mischief with which the practice is attended, we shall afterwards have occasion to notice. As to the manner of pruning, and. the form of the hedge, these seem, with many, to he matters of indifference ; no attention being paid to dressing them in such a way a, to have them broad at bottom, and, tapering gradually towards the top : many of them being of one width from top to bottom, and not a few much heavier and broader above than they are below, it is obvious that such hedges can neither look well nor he useful. S984 The teuton at which the// ore trimmed is in many instances an improper one; for, in place of choosing the time- when the plants are least in danger of suffering from an effusion of their juices, which is cither at a late period in the autumn, very early in the spring, or about midsummer, the pruning is given lite in the spring season, when the sap is flowing: the check and injury they must receive from having the whole of their extremities cut off at this period may easily be conceived. In speaking of the treatment of hedge plants before they arc put into the ground, notice has been taken of the necessity of preserving the roots as much as possible, and at the same time shortening the tops : the ■ latter operation has two good effects ; by curtailing the top and branches, the root- have less to nourish ; and bv leaving only two or three inches of the top above ground, in place of growing up with a single stem, it sen. is nut two or three; and as tlu>e strike out from the plant so near the earth, each of them has the tame effect, and strengthens the hedge as much as the original stem would have done by itself, with this addition, that, in place of one prop or support, the hedge will have three or four. 2985. After this first pruning, however, no hedge should be touched, or at least very gently, for some years: from inattention to this circumstance, and from the injudicious application of the knife or shears at an early period, many young hedges are rendered useless, which, under different treat- ment would have made excellent fences, with half the trouble required to destroy them. The practice of cutting over the tops yearly, which is done with a view to render the hedge thicker and more perfect, is one of those mistakes which we would naturally have supposed common sense and observ- ation would have sooner corrected ; the effect produced being, in almost every instance, the very reverse of" what was intended. Shortening the main stem of a thorn or any other plant makes it throw out a number of small stems immediately at the place where it has been cut ; and it" this operation is repeated once or twice a year, every one of these is again subdivided, as it were, by sending out more branches: thus in a course of years, during which the hedge makes very small progre.-s upwards, if it be examined, instead of being found to consist of strong vigorous plants, with a good main trunk, each reaching from top to bottom of the hedge, and a sufficient number of lateral b ranc hes throughout the whole length of it, it will be found, by such repeated cuttings, in the same stunted Situation as certain young trees and shrubs that are frequently cropped by sheep or cattle. From the repeated crops of young shoots which the tops send out after every clipping, and the great quantity of nourishment necessary to support such additional numbers, the lateral shoots at the bottom, upon the strength and number of which the value of the hedge in a great measure depends, are stinted in their growth, and soon die ; the hedge, of course, becomes open and naked at the bottom, and consequently useless as a fence. 2986. From the first year of planting, till the hedge has risen to the hcighth of five or six feel, the main stems ought to be left untouched, and the pruning confined solely to the side branches, leaving those next the root pretty long, and gradually tapering towards the top : this pruning of the side branches will make them send out many new shoots from their extremities, which, by repeated trimmings, will become so thick as to fill up every interstice from top to bottom of the hedge ; while the main stems, by being left untouched, continue their growth upward, till they arrive at the necessary height, when they may have their extremities cut off with perfect safety. When a hedge has attained the wished-for height, all that is requisite afterwards is cutting the sides regular with a hedge-bill, preserving it pretty broad at bottom, and drawing it gradu- ally to a point at top ; this form of a hedge is pleasant to the eye, is well calculated to stand the weather, and becomes every year stronger and thicker. A hedge of this sort in full leaf has the appearance of a solid wall ; and, when viewed after the leaves are shed, presents to the eye a set of massy growing piles, so strong and formidable as to hid defiance to any attempts that may be made to break through them. 2987. In the management of oil hedges, the above directions and observations ap- ply, with strict propriety, only to such as have been regularly attended to from the time of their being planted ; as there are, however, innumerable hedges in the king- dom, which, by being neglected, have grown up to a great height, have become open and naked below, and bushy and unmanageable at top, it is of consequence to point out the means of reducing such hedges to a moderate scale, and rendering them use- ful. This purpose can only be effected by cutting them down, and procuring from their stumps a growth of new shoots, which, with proper management, "ill soon make a perfect fence. If' the fields enclosed by such hedges are alternately in pasture and tiiiage, the period most proper for cutting them down is when the field is to be Book IV. HEDGE FENCES. 479 ploughed. Under a corn-crop, the confinement of the stock is no longer nn object ; and by the time the field is again brought under pasture, the hedge, if properly treated, will have acquired strength enough to become a good fence. This operation is performed in several ways. 2988. In the first method of cutting over old hedges, the plants are cut over about a yard above the surface (Jig. 457.), aiul the hedge is left in that state without any other pains being taken with it ; if it has a-- originally been good, and the plants thick enough at bottom, this kind of cutting will answer the purpose perfectly well, and in a few 11 iL&lluiJL- impossible to fill up. It has also this farther disadvantage, that if either horses or cattle attempt to leap into, or out of, the enclosure, the sharp points of the stakes are apt to run into their bellies ; this accordingly often happens, and many valuable horses and cattle are killed or greatly injured by such means. 2989. A preferable mode if cutting down old hedges is, to cut a fourth part of the plants over, to the . , height which the fence is intended to be made; another fourth about six inches high ; and to bend down and warp the remainder with the upright stems , ■.'. 458.) This method very effectually cures the gaps and openness below, and with slight attention soon makes a good fence. 2990. A third way of cutting over old hedges is that of cutting them close by the surface : this practice, when the plants are numerous, and there are no gaps in the hedge, answers very well ; but when there is a deficiency of plants in any part of the hedge, the want will be very apparent. This last mode, though much inferior to the one immediately preceding, is nevertheless greatly preferable to that first described, as the young shoots sent out from the stumps, by being so near the ground, will in some measure remedy the defects occasioned by the want of original plants ; whereas, when the old plants are cut at the distance of about a yard or four* feet above the surface, the young shoots produced by the cutting will be so high, as to leave the hedge open at the bottom. 2991. The last method of cutting down old hedges, and which is yet but very little practised, is first to cut them down even with the surface, and afterwards to cover the stumps completely over, with the earth taken out of the ditch, or from the road-side. When this is carefully done, it is asserted that every single stump sends out a great number of young vigorous shoots, each of which, by branching out from below the surface, sends out roots, and acquires an establishment for itself ; by this means the bottom of the hedge becomes so thick, that neither sheep, cattle, nor indeed any animal, can break through it 2992. In ivhichever of these ways the liedge is cut down, the directions formerly given for the management of young hedges should be strictly attended to. As soon as the young shoots have made some progress, the side branches should be trimmed, and the hedge put into a proper shape, preserving it broad and full at bottom, and tapering gradually towards the top. The same caution is also to be observed with regard to the upright shoots, none of which should be shortened till the hedge has attained the wished- for height. It is surprising what close beautiful fences are raised in this way in a few years, from the stumps of some overgrown useless hedges ; which, at the same time with their being naked below, and of course faulty as fences, occupied four times the space they ought to have done, to the great loss both of the proprietor and farmer. 2993. Filling up gaps in hedges. When young hedges are planted, if the plants made use of are of a nature suited to the soil, the hedge may be kept free from gaps with very little trouble ; for that purpose it is, however, necessary, about the end of the first autumn after the hedge has been planted, to examine it carefully throughout its whole extent, take out such plants as are either in a decaying sickly state or those that are actually dead, and fill up the spaces they occupied with the strongest and most vigorous ones that can be found : where this care is taken for the first two or three years, there will be no defects in the hedge, which will be uniformlv thick and strong throughout. Tims far of young hedges ; but when old hedges are meant to be cut down, that have many gaps or open spaces in them, so wide as to prevent the possibility of the young shoots filling them up, some expedient must be had recourse to, in order to render the fence complete. This purpose may be answered in different ways ; the easiest and indeed the most common method is, for the hedger, when he comes to a place where any of the plants are wanting, to take one of the strongest plants next to it, and after giving it a gentle stroke with the hedge-bill, to bend it across the opening, and entwine it with the thorns on the opposite side ; indeed, as has been already stated, some have a custom of cutting down only a fourth part of the stems, and warping the remainder with these. which appear like stakes driven into the earth. Where the hedge is shortened to within three or four feet of the ground, both of these methods answer pretty well, and the openings, which would otherwise have been left, are in some degree filled up ; but when the old hedge is cut close to the earth, other methods of supplying the defects become necessary. One very simple, and at the same time very effectual mode is, first to dig the ground pretty deep with a spade, and afterwards to take two of the strongest plants pur- posely left uncut, one from each side of the opening, and removing the earth from their roots so as to loosen them and admit of their being bent down, to lay them close to the ear! !i in the opening ; they should then be fastened down witli wooden hooks or pins, and 4S0 SCIENCE OP AGRICULTURE. Part II'. entirely covered throughout the whole of their length with earth. Where this is pro- perly executed] the plants so laid down Bend up a great number of young shoots, which very soon till up the vacancj : where it i-> practised upon a hedge that is cut over close by the Burface, no other care is requisite; but when it is done with hedges that are cut at three or lour feel above it, there will be a necessity for placing a temporary paling in the gap, to protect the young shoots from injury till they acquire a sufficient degree of strength. In cases of emergency the stronger roots of thorns and crabs will, it' their extremities are brought up to the surface and then cut over an inch above it, throw up vigorous shoots and till up gaps. 2994. To mend the defects of an old hedge with success, two things are absolutely necessary: the first is, thai the whole of the roots of the old plants, which extend them- selves into the opening, be entirely cut off; the next, that the hedge shall be cut down close to the earth, for at hast a yard or more on each side of it. By Cutting away the roots which extend themselves into the opening, the young plants are prevented from being robbed of their nourishment; and cutting down the old ones, for a little distance on each side, keeps them from being shaded, and allows them to enjoy the full benefit of the light and air : cutting down so much of the old hedge, no doubt, renders the opening larger, and of course requires more paling to supply the defect ; but this extra expense will be more than compensated by the success with which it will be attended. In many instances, these vacancies are filled up with dead wood ; indeed it is a common practice, alter a hedge is drissed, to cram the greatest part of the primings into these spaces, and under the bottom of the hedge, where it is any way open or naked. The most perverse imagination could hardly suppose any thing more absurd ; for, if it is the wish of the owner that the plants on eacli side should send out new branches to fill up the openings, the purpose is completely defeated by cramming them full of dead brush-wood, which not only excludes light and air, and prevents the extension of the branches, but, from the violence and injury that is committed in thrusting in dead thorns, the plants are often materially hurt ; and when this brush-wood decays, the opening, in place of being diminished, is considerably enlarged : the mischief is the same where they are thrust under the hedge, — a practice which, when continued, never fails to render it naked at bottom. The use of stones for mending hedges is equally absurd and pernicious. 2995. In every operation of this kind, where old hedges are either cut over or bent down, the ground on each side, as soon as circumstances will admit of it, should be completely dug, cleared of weeds, and the earth laid up to the roots of the plants. It is surprising what numerous and luxuriant shoots the stumps send out, when managed in this way : while, on the coutrary, when these necessary operations are neglected, fewer shoots proceed from the old trunks; and, of these few, a considerable proportion are choked and destroyed by the weeds and other rubbish in the bottom of the hedge. Subsect. 3. Compound Hedge Fences. 299G. The single hedge and ditch, with or without paling, differs a little in different situ- ations : the ditch varies in depth and width ; the thorns are for tiie most part placed upon the common surface, upon what is termed a scarcement, or projection of six or seven inches, on which they lean, and which serves as a kind of bed when they are cleaned, ano prevents the earth from the part of the bank above from sliding down into the ditch. Some object to this scarcement, alleging that it increases the difficulty of cleaning the Hedge, and increases the growth of weeds ; both of which statements are correct : but to counterbalance them, it is alleged, and with truth as far as we have been able to observe, that the scarcement mode retains the soil better about the roots of the plants. It is a practice in some parts of Norfolk, in planting hedges in this way, to coat the face of the bank and the projection with loamy earth from the bottom of the ditch made into puddle. This acts for a year or two like a coat of plaster, and prevents the seeds of weeds, which may be in the soil under it, from germinating. It also retains moisture ; but the difficulty is to meet with a clay or loam that, when puddled and thus applied, will not crack with the summer's drought and winter's frost Some have applied common lime plaster for the same purpose; others road stuff'; and some plant in the face of a wall of stones, or bricks, or between tiles. '2997. Stephens's mode of forming and planting the single hedge and ditch differs some- what from the general practice: it is given at length in the Quarter/// Journal of Agriculture ; and as it is most valuable from the minutiae of its details, and their suitable- ness to all countries where thorn hedges are grown, we shall here transcribe all its important features. OTIS. Implements. " Let three polos, made of dry (ir to prevent their warping, be provided, of about an inch and a half in diameter, and from eight to ten feet in length. I,ct one end of them be shod with iron; and let them be painted at top with white and scarlet colours, as these colours are best dis- criminated by their brightness and contrast in a dull day. Three poles will serve to run any line straight Upon a level piece of ground ; but as irregularities in the ground will often occur, it will be necessary, in order to surmount them, to have two or three poles more. A strong nail of iron at one end of a stout Book IV. COMPOUND HEDGE FENCES. 481 459 line at least seventy yards long, and a strong iron pin at the other end of it. will be necessary. A rule of wood six feet long, divided into feet atid inches, to measure the breadth of the ditch ; and a piece of wood fastened at right angles to one end of it, to serve, when measuring the breaoth of the ditch, to mark it off square from the line. A plane-table, by which to set off the lines of hedges parallel to each other, where that is required; and an iron measuring-chain, with which to mark equal lengths on the parallel lines a ross the fields by which the parallelism of the lines of hedge is determined, and to measure the v. hi le work when executed, will be found very useful. A few painted pins of wood, with hooked heads, to direct the line of the hedge in a curve, must also be provided. Three men equally matched carry on the work to most advantage; and each must be proiiried with a spade, a hand pick to pick the sides, and a ditcher's shovel {Jig. 459.), to shovel the bottom of the ditch, and beat the face of the hedge-bank ; a foot- pick {fig. 460.), to raise the boulder stones that may appear in the sub- soil, will complete the whole implements necessary for the work. 'J lie shovel is one foot broad and one foot long, tapering to a point, with a shaft twenty-eight inches long. The foot-pick stands three feet nine inches high. The tramp (fig. +60. a), which is movable, and can be placed to suit the foot of the workman, is placed about sixteen inches from the point, which tapers, and is inclined forward. The iron is three fourths of an inch at the eye through which the handle passes, and is an inch and a quarter at the tramp where it is stoutest and thickest. The plane-table is useful for squaring the land, when it is to be ridged up. The poles are always used for marking offthe breadth of the ridges, and the line and chain will be of service in marking off and measuring drains. 2999. Plants. The plant that is universally used for thorn-hedges is the whitethorn, hawthorn, or maythorn (Crataegus Oxyacantha). Thorns ought never to be planted in a hedge, till they have been transplanted at least two years from the seed-bed, when they will have generally acquired a girth of one inch, and about fifteen inche? of length, the stem from root to branch being about six inches. As thorns are always planted too thick in nursery beds, in order to save room and draw them up quicker, I would advise their being got from tha nursery at that age, the year before they are intended to be planted as a fence, and planted out in lines of ample space in any garden or spare piece of ground where the soil is deep and free. By this process the stems will acquire a cleaner bark and greater strength, and the roots will be covered with an additional number of fibres ; the constant effect of transplanting being to cause the production of numerous short fibrous roots. The freedom and celerity with which the plants will grow after this preparatory process, will amply repav the additional trouble and expense. But whether they be kept another year in the ground before they are planted or not, they should be immediately loosened out of the bundles of 200, in which they are sent from the nursery, and laid out in rows on the earth, in a convenient dry part of the field, and the earth well heaped about them to prevent the fibres being injured by the frost. 3000. Preparation of the ground. It were unreasonable to suppose that hedges will grow luxuriantly, and soon become fences, if the ground on which they are to grow be not previously prepared for their reception. If they are to be planted on land that has been under the usual rotation of cropping on the farm, no further preparation is necessary as to fallowing and cleaning it. If the line of hedge runs along or parallel to the ridges, the best period to commence planting in the rotation, is when the lea-ground is to be broken up for oats, as lea-ground makes the firmest hedge-bank, and no protecting fence will be required on that side till the field is again laid down to grass. But should the line of hedge run across the ridges, at whatever angle to them, the furrows will have to be made up to the level of the crown of the ridges, and the unequal shrinking of the earth in them wiil cause the beautifully continued line of hedge to be unequally depressed at the furrows ; and much trouble, and, of course, expense, will be thereby in- curred, in making drains to let off the water in each furrow through the hedge-bank, should the ground slope to the back of it. In such circumstances, I would advise the delay of planting at that time, and to wait till the land is fallowed and laid down again to grass, when the sp; ce for the line of hedge can be raised up longitudinally to the breadth required ; theground on each side of this hedge-ridge then forming the head-ridges of their respective fields. The delay thus advised on this particular line of hedge, need not cause any delay in the period of fencing the whole farm ; for a line in another field, which is to be broken up from lea, and along the line of which the hedge is to be run, may be taken in the mean time, as it is certainly not essential to the well-being of the hedges, that the fencing of a farm be begun on one side of it, and carried successively through every adjoining field. It is much better to fence a farm by fields which are ready for the work, taken promiscuously, than to run the risk of crossing furrows with a hedge- bank, which, from the nature of ridges, will inevitably intercept surface-water, the injurious effects of which will soon appear upon the growth of the young hedge, in the shape of mildew and fog. Should an old turf-wall, or the site of one, cross a line of hedge, every particle of the old turf must be removed, and fresh earth from the field, or elsewhere, brought in its place; for no kind of treatment will render, for a great length of time, the soil of an old turf- wall congenial to the growth of thorn plants. Indeed, so im- pressed am I with the truth of this opinion, from sheer experience, that, should the line of hedge coincide with the line of an old turf-wall, I would advise that the line of hedge be bent so much as to avoid it, or, what is better, and better looking, that the whole line of hedge be put so much in advance or arrear of the originally intended line, as to avoid the turf wall altogether. 'Whether the sterility of the soil from old turf-walls arises from its excessive dryness and pulverisation, I do not know; but such soil is no sooner manured or limed, than the moles immediately commence their operations, and turn the whole of it inside out It is known that manure will not combine intimately with soil in such a state, and perhaps its confined heat in the dusty soil may encourage the hatching of the larvae of insects, in quest of which, as food, the moles, — " that mining race," as Cowper calls them, — set so earnestly to work. 3001. Division of the line of hedge. Lines of hedge passing through cultivated land, in a north and south direction, should run in straight lines, and parallel to each other, by which means all short ridges unequal in length, and the ploughing of which consumes much time, will be avoided in every field of the farm, except those which are at its extreme end ; and lines of hedge, which are drawn east and west, on the crest of undulating ground, on which situations hedges form the most effective shelter, should also run straight : and, where these two lines intersect each other, and where, of course, the corners of four fields will meet, a space should be rounded off, and planted for ornament and additional shelter, at little sacrifice of ground, (fig. +61.) Some may object to the formality of such things, but they look well, and, as a shelter, they are invaluable in exposed situations, where only they should be made. Formality, however, can never be out of keeping any where, in so artificial a thing as a cultivated farm. Lines of hedges which lie in an east and west direction need not necessarily be made straight or parallel to one another, at least the same strong reason, to save time in work, does not apply to them, as to those which are parallel to the ridges, which are invariably made to run north and south, for reasons well known to farmers. Indeed, in case of a hollow piece of ground, parallelism in fencing is impracticable, as the hedge- ditch must follow the "devious course" of the hollowed line of declivity. Should a hedge be desired to fence round a rough, moory, or rocky part in a field, or along the edge of moor or plantation, let it be planted on the cultivated ground only ; the yielding up of the good I i 461 482 SCIENCE OF AGRICULTURE. Pakt II. piece of ground will be .«oon repaid in value, by the quick growth of the hedge into a fence ami shelter. on tlic other hand. U it be necessary t.. run a line of hedge through a moor, or waste piece of ground, let the ground be, In the lir-t place, pitted in tin- line of hedge; and if it is discovered that the sward grows Upon a loamf soil, of Whatever tenacitv, to the depth of a spit of the spade, thorns may safely he planted upon it, with a prospect of their becoming a fence should the soil be very thin and ferruginous, but the subsoil, to the depth of two feet, of a fully better quality than the soil, then a space, comprehending the breadth of hedge, bank, and ditch, must he trenched over to about eighteen inches deep, and the soil fallowed next season with potatoes, well manured an. i cleaned. The crop of potatoes will, most probably, repay the expense of the trenching and dung. If the dung be not sufficiently rotted by the potato crop, owing to the state Of the weather, rather take a crop of oats after it, than run the risk of pl anti ng the thorns among Undecomposed manure. 3009 Planting the hedge. If a line offence is to be straight, let the poles be in as straight a line as possible from one end of the line to the other. Should the ground be ijuite plain, this can be done with great accuracy ; hut, should an elevation or a hollow, however small it ma) lie, intervene, great care is necessary to preserve the straightness of the line, as, without it, the fence may be made to advance upon the true line in the hollow, and recede from it on the elevation. There is an instrument used by surveyors, which guides them in these difficulties; but without it, poles thickly set will perfectly well preserve the proper direction. In case any evil-disposed persons should shift the poles during the night, it is a good precautionary measure to drive stout short pins into the ground at the side ol the poles, to serve as marks. Hiving set the poles so as to please the eye, take then the reel and cord, and, fastening its pin firmly into the ground at that end of the line of fence where you wish to begin, run out the cord to its lull length, except a small piece, which should be twisted round the shank of the reel. Be sure you guide the cord exactly along the bottoms of the poles, and, should any obstacle be in the way ol it, such as twigs, tufts of grass, stems of plants, stones, &c. remove it with the spade, then draw the' cord with considerable force till it has stretched out as far as it can, and then fasten the reel firmly into the ground. As the least obstruction on the ground will cause the coru to deviate from the right line, lift it up about three feet high in the middle, keeping it close by the sides of the poles, and let it fall down suddenly to the ground, when, it is probable, it may lie as straight as practicable. Place a rather heavy stone here and there upon the cord, to prevent it changing its position, and then take a spade, and cut, or, as it is technically said, " rut," the line of hedge-bed behind the cord, with your face toward the ditch, taking care not to cut the cord with the spade. Take Mien the rule, and, with its cross-head, set off the breadth of the ditch at right angles from the rutted line four and a half feet, first at both ends, and then here and there, and mark the intermediate places with pins, which will serve to check any remarkable deviation at either end; and stretch the cord along this line in the same manner as on the other, and rut it also with your face to the ditch. Remove any intermediate poles along the lines in question, and the ditch is thus marked out ready for the forming of the thorn. bed. When about to form the bed for the thorns, that end of the line must be chosen for commencing the work, which best suits the hand of the workman. The rule is, that with whichever foot he tramps, or with whichever hand he grasps the shank of the spade, it is that which is farthest from the thorn-bed. If he tramps with the left foot, his right hand will hold the eye of the spade, and will of course be next the hedge, and vice versa. Raise now a sod along the marked line of the thorns, five or six inches thick, and broader than the spade, and lay it over on its back, grass to grass, along the edge of the marked line; beat it down with the back of the spade; pare its nearest edge, as if it were a continuation of the inclination of the side of theditih, and beat it also, and smooth it ; then pare away the upper face of the inverted sod, keeping its edge next you (which should be cut sharp with the spade) the highest, and sloping the back of the sod down towards the back of the hedge. Place another similar sod quite close to the end of that now placed ; use it in the same manner ; and continue so with the rest, going backwards, so as to see your finished work before you, and taking care to connect all the sods together as neatly as if they were only one. While the principal labourer, or hedger, as we shall call him, is doing this part of the work, the other two should be stripping the sods from the surface of the whole ditch, and throwing them immediately behind the inverted sod, or thorn-bed, as it is called. The sod first raised and inverted, and which is meant for the bed of the ■ib'2 thorns, should be taken up as entire as possible ; but the more comminuted the others are, the better for vegetation. This con- ducts us to the end of the first part of the work, a vertical section of which {Jig. 462.) represents the surface of the ditch with the sod removed (a), the sod in its new position inverted (6), and the turfy mould thrown off the surface of the ditch (c). 3003. Preparing of the thorns to plant. The thorn-plants (jig. 463.), as they are taken out of the layer, with their top and root and fibres on, must be prepared for planting by cutting off the tops (Jig. 464.). To accomplish this, take the plant, and, grasping it firmly in the left hand, immediately above the root, cut C^SflfcSv-^ II 4fi 4 t,le stem through above your hand with a sharp knife, giving the cut an inclination upwards, towards the top of the plant, and the cut thus made will be about five inches from the root Cut away the long part of the tap root, and any of the diseased or injured parts of the roots and fibres. Rury or burn the tops which are cut off, as they are very troublesome in sheep's wool ; but if they are not completely covered up with earth, they will vegetate. Take great care in a frosty day to cover up the prepared roots in earth, as frosted roots will not vegetate In such a day, take but a few at a time out of the layer, and as soon as these are cut ready for planting, relay them immediately in the earth. In frosty weather, avoid planting in the afternoon, as you will probably not have time to cover the plants with a sufficient quantity of earth on the thorn-bed, to resist the effects of frost. Indeed, in such weather, when the ground is becoming hard, leave off the work altogether, not only on account of the unfitness of the earth for work under such circumstances, but of the chilliness of the frosted earth probably injuring the fibres. On the other hand, in dry weather in spring, when the hedge is to be planted on dry land, put the roots of the prepared plants in a puddle of earth and water, in a shady place, for some hours before laying thera on the thorn-bed, and their vegetative powers will be much accelerated. All the men assist at the pre- paring ot the plants, as it is rather a cold and tedious work. When the plants are quite ready, lay them firmly, by giving them a squeeze on the thorn-bed, the stem inclining upwards, and projecting about a quarter of an inch at farthest beyond the face of the bed, and the root lying toward the heap of mould behind ; and place them from one another, at a distance varying from four to eight inches ; the former distance being adapted to weak land, and the latter to a soil in good heart. While the two men are lay- ing the plants, let the hedger, with his spade, shovel up, from the surface of the ditch next the thorn-bed, all the fine mould earth which had been left after the ditch had been divested of its turf; and inverting his spade dexterously, place this earth on the bed above the stems of the plants, which will then be kept firmly in their places. The two men having accomplished laying the thorns, which should never exceed by one span a distance which all the men can have time to cover with earth thickly before the usual time of quitting work, let them take their spades, and dig and shovel up all the black mould which remains in the ditch, and throw it upon the roots and stems, till a sort of level bank of earth is formed over the laid plants. As the hedger will have finished his ].art of the work first, and while the other two are employed at clearing the ditch of the mould earth, let him step upon this bank of earth with his face to the ditch, and compress it firmly and equally with his feet, as far as the plants extend. By the time this process is finished, all the mould will have been taken ofi'the ditch. When this quantity of earth is laid Book IV. COMPOUND HEDGE FENCES. 483 upon the thorns, they are in safety from the frost : but it is not safe at any time in frosty weather to leave them, for even one night, with less earth; for the plants may not only be frosted in that time, but the earth may be put in such a state by the frost as to be unfit for working the next day ; and should the frost afterwards continue so hard as to prevent working altogether, the plant thus left exposed will inevitably perish. The plants may be laid another length or two of the cord, if the weather appear favourable, and the plants be quite safe, before any more of the ditch be removed, as the last operation on the ditch and bank will be more uniform, and look better when a considerable length of it is finished at the same time, than when joinings are visible at short intervals ; but in frosty or very wet weather, the sooner a piece of it is finished, the better it is for the labourers and the work itself. This concludes the second part of our work, and its effects are represented by the annexed figure ( 465.), exhibiting the laid plant («) and the trodden part of the earth (6). When the work has proceeded to this length, the other implements come unto use. If the sub- stratum of the ditch be a tenacious or ductile clay, without any admixture of small stones, the spade should be used for remov- ing it, as no picking is generally necessary in such circumstances ; especially if there be any water in the ditch : but if it consists of hard clay, ramified with small veins of sand, and intermixed with numberless small stones, — which composition forms a very common subsoil, — picking is absolutely necessary, and in such matter the spade alone cannot be made to work with effect Let, then, one of the men with the foot-pick loosen the substratum, as deep as he can reach for the tramp, going backwards, and leaving the loosened material before him. Let another take his spade, and dig up what has been loosened, and throw it upon the top of the mould above the thorns, taking care to place the soil so thrown up continuous with the face of the bank, and hav- ing at the same time regard to its inclination backwards. Throw some also to the back part of the bank, so as to cover the whole black mould, and endeavour to make the shape of the bank quite uniform all along, the right management of which devolves upon this labourer, and upon which much of the beauty of the work depends. He must go backwards upon the loosened soil, and pare down the side of the ditch next his right hand, which in this case will be the opposite one from the hedge. If there is more earth at one place of the ditch than another, which will happen where there are inequalities in the ground, the surplus soil should rather be thrown to the back of the bank, than the top of the latter be made higher at one place than another; or it could be wheeled away to a spot on which a deficiency of the soil is apprehended. Let the hedger follow with the ditcher's shovel, and throw up all the mould soil which has been left by the men before him, going forward upon his work, face to face with the other man, and leaving the ditch behind him completely finished He will take care to throw the soil rather full on the face of the bank, even though some of it should trickle down again into the ditch ; rejecting all the larger stones that may come in his way, and beating with the back of the shovel the whole face of the bank, and smoothing it downwards from its top, to as far as the black mould is seen down the side of the ditch, giving the whole of it a uniform inclination up- wards and backwards, as if the side of the ditch were produced. If going over the ditch once in this manner finishes the work, the soil will have been in a friable and easily worked state, but in hard sub- strata this cannot be the case. The hand-pick is almost always required to raise four or five inches more of the bottom of the ditch, in the accomplishment of which, the same process as to the arrange- ment of the men, and the kind of work to each, will have to be gone through as described above, in this case, when the picking is proceeding, the hedger must again tread down the top of the bank, before throwing up more soil. This description proves the necessity of projecting the thorn-plants but a very short way out of the bank, as the necessary beating process on its face would otherwise wound them. The beating is absolutely necessary, too, in order to produce a skin, as it were, on the face of the hank, which will prevent the frost from abrading and trickling down all the fine mould-soil with which its whole face is covered, down to the firm earth of the substratum in the ditch. This covering of clay, and the poorer it is the better for the purpose, is, fortunately, extremely inimical to the vegetation of small seeds, which would otherwise take root upon the mould, grow up, and either create great trouble to eradicate them, or injure the vegetation of the young hedge. Instead of permitting the plants to project too far out, 1 would prefer their being nearly buried in the bank, so that the young sprouts had to be relieved in the manner afterwards described, but, in most cases, the force of vegetation itself would easily accomplish this. The state of the work will appear thus in the annexed figure ;466.). While the two men are preparing the rut and cord, &c. to begin another sketch of it, let the hedger take theshovel, and push back from the top of the bank three or four inches of its crest, or more or less if necessary, in order to make the intended top parallel along with the line of thorns, and let him beat the top gently in a rounded form, as in figure 467. ; which last touch finishes the whole process of planting thorns. 3004. Dimensions of the ditch. The rule observed for the depth of ditch is half its breadth, and the breadth of bottom about one sixth of it ; so that when the breadth is four and one half feet, as we have supposed, the depth will be two feet three inches below the surface of the original ground. The hedge-bank is always broader than the ditch, and, in this case, will be five feet ; and, of course, the perpendicular height of the hedge-bank, especially after the crest has been rounded and beaten down, will be something less than the depth of the ditch. These are, in general, very desirable dimensions for a hedge ditch and bank, when no constant run of water has to be accommodated ; but should a stream of water run along the ditch, though in winter only, the ditch should be made proportionally capacious ; for, if not so made at first, the force of water will soon make it so for itself, and probably endanger the thorn-bed. Should the quantity of earth thrown out to accommodate the water make the hedge-bank too high, part of it should be shovelled back, as it is not desirable to load the young thorns too heavily with a superincum- bent load of earth, so as to exclude the action of the air from the roots. 3005. Averting obstacles. Hitherto all our work has been quite smooth ; no obstacles have presented themselves to frustrate our designs : but these will be met with sometimes, and we must, therefore, be prepared to avert their injurious effects. These obstacles generally consist of large stones, unequal ground, and surface-water. Landfast stones are often found in such substrata as we have been describing, and when they can, they ought to be removed, and the foot-pick will be found a most efficient lever for that purpose. Some stones are so large and amorphous, that it is impossible to remove them without the assistance of gunpowder ; but blasting isolated masses of rock, whose structure is unknown to ignorant men, is a dangerous business. If they lie across the ditch, it must be taken round them, and its sides so sloped and pared as to permit water to flow round them without obstruction. If they lie under the thorn. bed, and there is plenty of mould over them, they will do no harm to the thorns ; but should the mould be thin over them, an additional thickness of sod must be placed, to form the thorn. bed above them, though this should cause an elevation there above the general line of hedge. With regard to inequality of surface, where the general dip of the ground is in one continued direction in the line of hedge, and yet the undulations on its surface are so deep as that water could not run in the bottom of the ditch in the general dip of the ground, but would collect in the hollows, were its bottom made parallel to these undu- lations, the elevated part of these inequalities must be cut deeper, and the hollows less deep, than usual, so that a common level may be obtained by the bottom of the ditch, to give egress to the water. A sort I i 2 466 •181 SCIENCE OF AGRICULTURE. II. of compromise must thtu be made between the heights and hollows in the bottom of the ditch, though tin' line of thorn-bed must still be pi iced on the natural surface of the undulations, ami will therefore partake of their Inequalities. When such a compromise is necessary, the superabundant earth thrown out of the deep parts must be wheeled away to the .-hallow parts, to equalise the dimensions of the hedge-bank. Should any hollow part be so deep as that the heights next it cannot possibly be cut down so as to let the water Bow away on either side, a drain must be made from the hollowesl p tint in the bottom of the ditch, down an inclining hollow or plain ground in the adjoining field, to some ditch or drain already existing in it at a lower level, 'these undulations will cause another evil, that is, the collection in their hollows of Stagnant Burface-water behind the hedge-banks. The only effectual method of getting quit of tins evd, and it is fortunately a simple one, is the building of drains under the hedge-bed, opening into the ditch ; and whatever number of hollows there are, and almost however small, there must be the same number of drains. As these drains must be formed completely under the black mould, and at only a little elevation above the level of the bottom of the ditch, they can be conveniently built only after the ditch has been entirely dug out ; and for this purpose, that part of the hedge-bed which lies over these drains must be left undone till the drains are built, and finished afterwards. A little taste and dexterity in the hedger, who should, of course, be a good spademan, will till up these gaps in the hedge-bank with neatness. If the hedge is to be planted along the side of a road, especially of an ornamental road, and where a hollow in the road has been filled up to make the whole a continuous level, the hedge-bed should also be brought up to the same level, with earth or turf, as may be most expedient; but still the thorn-plants, here as elsewhere, must be laid among mould. The annexed figure (4 clean ■ hedge, but the safe rule is always to clean it before the weeds In the least envelop it 1 be most common weeds which infest hedges in loamy ground are, the tussilago, waj thistle, com sow-thistle, common docks, sorreL ribwort, groundsel, hedge vetch [a trailing plant verj like the vetch, but with a bright yellow pea-bloss , bindweed, sticking. grass, cow-clover, wild mustard, chickweed, dead-nettle, rest-harrow, great white ox-eye, com poppy, white lychnis, Mae- wort, and several ol thegrassei The tussilago, rest-harrow, ox-eye, ami docks, are most difficult to eradicate; the bindweed, sticking-grass, vetcli, and the yellow-flowering trailing plant, interlace the branches "i the thorns, and are exceedingly difficult to eradicate j and it' there be but a single fibre ot the wild mustard attaching the plant to the ground, it will grow again with vigour. Pruning. A hedge will hardly require pruning in the fir-t year of Its growth ; but should it v \er\ luxuriantly, it i- very propi r to cut off the upper part of the tops of all overgrown plant.-, .1- it i- verj desirable for the well-being of a hedge that all the plants grow alike, and that no plant i>y it- overgrowth overshadow it- neighbours. On examining those luxuriant plants, they will be found t.> be of that variety to which I have given the preference Any branch that may be straggling much ill In. nt, may also lie curbed. The use ot the bill at this period of growth ari-is more from a precautionary feeling Of preventing injury from weight of snow, than from any necessity that exists to check the growth of the plant. In the second winter, however, the lateral branches which have shot over the ditch should be twitched oil', leaviug those behind toward the bank untouched, and the tops should be so cut oil' as to make them all of the same height. The stroke of the switching-bill should be made upwards, and QOt aero-- the top of the hedge. If switching is neglected this winter, the least load of snow, which will easily lie upon the straggling branches, will inevitably crush the tops and lateral branches down ; and, instead of being cut oil, they will be forcibly broken oil, — a kind of pruning which Cannot be too much deprecated One season, in the second year of a hedge, a piece of it was left unswitched l"r want of tunc, and not for experiment; and that part was so completely crushed down by the snow, that in the spring it was obliged to be cut down to the ground by the pruning-knife; whereas that part which had been switched sustained very little injury, the sharp verticil points piercing through the snow when it was subsiding, which is the time it does the damage. Now, however, (which is live \cars after the accident), that part which was cut down by the pruning-knife is by far the strongest part, both in girth of stem and height of fence. This fact tends to countenance the free use of the knife on hedges, though few would perhaps have the courage to cut down a tine thriving young hedge. It is certainly undeniable that a thorn plant is very tenacious of life; and this tenacity is exhibited in no way more remarkably, than in the hedge conforming its shape to the will of the hedger. In this manner, let him continue to cut away part of the tender shoots on the top, and switch the lateral branches upwards in a sloping direction towards the top, so that the former shall present a uniform row of pointed spikes, till the hedge is six feet high, beyond which height he cannot use the bill to advantage. There is nothing done to the hedge behind. Alter it has acquired this height, the top should get leave to grow upwards, till the whole hedge shall be ten or twelve feet high, the lateral wood being still cut away to prevent the top overshadowing and baring the root of the hedge. The object of thus allowing the top to grow up, is to increase the girth, and consequently the strength of the stem below, otherwise it will con. tinue puny for a long time. Indeed, if a hedge is not allowed to grow up at all, it will shoot out determinately in a lateral direction to a great extent, and then occupy a greater breadth of ground than will be convenient or profitable. The annexed figure (470.) will illustrate the appearance of the hedge when the top should be allowed to grow up. 3014. Water. tabling. When the grass below the thorn-bed, and the weeds on the face of thebank, have been cleaned away, at least once, if not twice, in a season, and if the ground is loamy, it is probable that, during the course of four or five years of such work, the soil may have mouldered away, and left part of the root that was embedded in the ban!', exposed. Such will undoubtedly be the state of things in any kind of soil, in the course of time ; and its effects on the root of the hedge thus exposed, will be the same as pointed out before, in regard to the effect* produced by leaving the young plants projecting from the face Of the bank ; but if such an evil be concomitant with the necessary process of cleaning, how much more must it be aggravated in the case, when the plants are left, at first, projecting from the face of the bank ? Hut, happily, there is a remedy for this evil, which, if allowed to remain any length of time, would injure the hedge materially ; and that is, by the simple process of water-tabling. The annexed figure (471) will show the effects which weeding has upon the roots of thorns, in which the dotted line shows the state in which the bank and ditch came from the hands of the workman. The following figure ( 47'2.) will show the process of water-tabling. One man could do this work, but two men will carry it on more expe- ditiously, in proportion to the number. L«t the hedger take a spade, and make a notch three inches deep in the side of the ditch, about a foot below the thorns (o\ and then pare away all the loose earth from that notch up to the thorn root. In the mean time the other man raises sods from the bottom of the ditch, choosing the best parts of it for them, nine inches broad and four inches thick, and of a convenient length. The hedger takes these sods and puts them on their edge upon the notch (a), with the gra-s side outwards, and beats them to the bank with the back ot the spade, making the upper edge of them level with the spade by paring and beating. The reason that the grass side is put out- wards is, that these sods may adhere to the bank ; whereas, if they were put with the grass side inwards, the frost of tie en- suing winter, getting between them and the bank, would cause them to slide down ; and there need be no apprehension of the gra-s, though placed outwards, growing up so as to injure the hedge; for by that time the latter will have acquired such a thicket of branches and foliage as to smother all weeds. This sod is called the " set-sod." The other man must also raise other sods, about six inches broad and four inches deep, and of a con- venient length. The hedger then takes them and inverts them, with the grass side downwards, upon the upper edge of the sod {/> , and beats them even with it, and pushes them quite in contact, and below the roots (c) This sod is called the" table." The reason for inverting its grass side downwards is obvious, as its grass would spring up immediately among the roots of the thorns. The other man, at intervals of leisure if he have any, or both together, may then shovel up all the fine mouldery earth they can get, and throw it between 'the stems, and form the sloping bank (3) on the upper side of the roots. It more earth has been worn away than of the thickness the sods can be raised, the space mast be filled up with earth before inserting the Bod a- between the dotted linen c ,1, and the sod /,). Water-tabling thorns, whin the earth has been worn away by weeding from their roots, renovate- their growth, so that the process of engrossing the stems proceeds after it with great rapidity, re-establishes their hold on tne bank, 471 472 Book IV. COMPOUND HEDGE FENCES. 487 473 so that no wind can shake the plant to injure its roots ; and the growth of the numerous twigs from the branches is so encouraged, that weeds ever afterwards can do little injury to the plants themselves. When thorns are planted on a scarcement, no water-tabling is required, because it prevents the mouldering away of the earth ; but such scarcements are nurseries for weeds, and it is impossible to clean a hedge thoroughly where they exist, — to " deracinate such savagery." Earth, to be sure, from the bottom ol the ditch, can be thrown upon the scarcement, to smother the weeds upon them; but the accumulation of earth there must be limited to the height of the thorn roots, and upon this earth weeds can, of course, grow as luxuriantly as upon the scarcement itself. In short, in such a situation, weeds cannot be eradicated. They can be cut over like mown grass, but their roots will ever be ready to spring up afresh in favourable weather. A figure of a thorn hedge, planted on a scarcement, will at once show the incon. veniencv of such a construction for the eradicating of weeds {Jig. 473.). S>15. 'Protecting fence. Lord Karnes savs, " The hedge is fenced from cattle on the one side by the ditch ; but it is necessary that it be fenced on both sides. The ordinary method of a paling is no sufficient fence against cattle ; the most gentle make it a rubbing-post, and the vicious break it uown wantonly with their horns. The only effectual remedy is expensive ; but better no fence than one that is imper- fect The remedy is two ditches and two hedges, with a high mound of earth between them." We are left to infer from'this, that a paling is no protection to a hedge ; two ditches and a mound of earth are. Other writers nearly hold the same opinion. It is astonishing to see persons who pretend to know the practice of husbandry, assert that hedge-ditches, or a mound, or a ditch of almost any dimensions, will protect a young hedge from the depredation of cattle and sheep. If such notions at all prevail among proprietors and farmers, it is no wonder that those hedges are so often seen in a ruinous state. If a good paling is not a sufficient fence against cattle and sheep, it is not a ditch or two, nor a mound, that will prevent them committing depredations. If " two ditches" are to be fenced, they will require as much paling as a single hedge before and behind, besides the additional quantity of ground occupied by fencing. If gaps cannot be prevented in hedges but by double rows of thorns, their owners must be negligent hedgers indeed. As to making a rubbing-post of a paling, rubbing-posts ought to be erected in everv pasture field, and then neither the " gentle " nor the " vicious " cattle will ever have occasion to use a" paling, which is at least a verv inconvenient " rubbing-post." The truth is, a fence, of whatever nature it may be, is absolutely necessary on both sides of a young thorn hedge, if that hedge separates fields that are to be pastured;' and what that fence may be made of depends, of course, on the nature of the materials which are most easily obtained for the purpose. 3016. Protecting by a paling. If tall-grown Scots pine of eight inches diameter, or weedings of larch plantations, can be procured at no great distance, or grow upon the property that is to be inclosed, better materials for temporary fencings need not be wished. The Scots pine of the above size will cut up into six deals besides the outside slabs, and divide again up the middle lor rails of perhaps twenty-four feet long ; or twice up the middle, at right angles, for stakes, which should be sawn across, and pointed, four and a half feet in length. These stakes should be driven at least one foot from the edge of the ditch, by a mallet, into holes formed by the foot-pick, at a distance from one another not exceeding five or six feet, fifteen inches into the ground, and which will make the fence stand three feet three inches high. Two of the rails are sufficient for fencing cattle, but three are necessary to keep in sheep. To give additional strength to the fence, the rails should be placed on the face of the stakes next the field, and made to pass 474 - .-- ^9 ™ hH r i i 1! n r a each other's ends, so that all the ends of the three rails should not be nailed on the same stake; nor should the root or thick end of the rails be nailed together, even after being thinned by the adze, but top and bottom ends nailed together alternately ; as this plan equalises the weight of the rails upon the stakes. The upper rail should be at the height of the stakes : the upper edge of the lowest one nine inches, and that of the middle one twenty-two inches, from the ground, as the best arrangement as a fence for sheep {Jig. 474.). The best nails for such a purpose are called " stout paling-nails," three to three and a half inches long, made in Scotland ; for it seems the nails manufactured in A similar fence may be erected on the sides of the bank the sister king.'om are not in good repute here. behind the hedge ; but it is necessary to keep in remembrance, that it should be placed clear of the hedge- mound altogether. There is a temptation to place it upon the hedge-mound, as more space is given to the plough, and shorter stakes will there make an equally high fence; but when a fence is placed so near a young hedge as on any part of the mound, cattle, and particularly horses, after they have eaten their fill of grass, and on Sunday, when they are idle, will reach over, and bite off the tops of it, as if delighting in mischief, to the serious injury of the young hedge. 3017. Protecting by stoke and rice {Jig. 475.). When trees are felled, or bought by a proprietor for the *~ - construction of paling to fence young ' -• «-> hedges, the top stems and branches may be made available to the same purpose, in "stake and rice." The branches should all be cut off the tops of the trees, and their stems, if large enough, converted into stakes of the above di- mensions ; but as these will not suffice altogether, other stakes must be sawn from the bole of the tree. These stakes should be driven into the ground in the same manner, and at the same distance, as recommended for paling. Take then the branches, and place their butt-end on the ground, and warp the upper parts backwards and forwards round the alternate stakes, and give them an inclining position upwards, towards the tops of the stakes. Ibis inclination must he away in the direction in which the heaviest winds will blow; for instance, if the fence runs north and south, the inclination must be to the south, as the north winds are the most severe ; and for the same reason, an inclination to the east will avoid the heavy south-west winds. A strong wind acting against the tops, is apt to rufHe and bend them back. A single rail nailed at the top of the stakes, completes this mode of fencing. I may remark, that any brushwood, provided it is so long as to reach from stake to stake, will serve this purpose as well as the tops of trees ; at least a mixture of them is excellent. Such a fence requires fewer nails, and less good wood, than a regular paling, and is therefore cheaper, and it will stand an equal length of time; and, indeed, the stakes have less strain upon them, in this mode, than the other, as thev have not the weight of the materials to bear, and the warping of the branches around them protects them from many accidents to which paling is liable; such as people trespassing over them, swingle-trees of ploughs rubbing Upon them and catching hold of them, and the like. This is an excellent fence for sheep, affording them shelter from the sweeping blast behind its matted texture ; and, tor this purpose, it is generally placed on the north and west sides of fields — the quarters from which the greatest winds prevail. There is one, and only one, greater objection to it than paling — that being close in its cun- I i 4 «»» SCIENCE OP AGRICULTURE. Paw II. itnirtlon, it is liable to lodge more snow about a hedge than a paling, through the rails of which the drift i in roue iti way. 018 Protecting by a turf.trall and tingle rail (Jig. 4176.) There is another mode of fencing young thorn. hedges, which 1 shall mention, ami it is adapted to situations where there is plenty of turf and little .|- ( ; w3od It i- to huild a turf- wall, that will stand three and a hall' li-it high, after the sods have consolidated, to support the hedge-bank behind the thorns. This wall is built like masonry, with heavy soda, with the grass sides downward, .'i 1 1 . i Untitled at top With one tod nine inches broad, with its gr.i i] surface uppermost The face of the wall should be built with an inclination backwards towards the top, in order that the grass may grow so luxuriantly upon it, as to protect it from injury, and Strengthen the sods. A short stake, with a single rail of paling at top, is all the fencing the hedge requires from this side, till it can protect itself. Such a stjle offence i> well adapted to large ticlds of perpetual pasture, in exposed situations, and forms an excellent shelter to cattle and sheep, tattle, however, will box with their heads against such a wall, sometimes only in sport, after they are satisfied with grass ; but more likely in hot weather, when insert, sting ami startle them. The two former kinds of fences should be put up, only when the adjoining fields to the hedges are to be pastured with stock, and on whichever side the hedge may first require them. If the hedge has been planted when the lea ground was broken up, the fourth year is the soonest that will see the return of grass in the rotation of cropping j but, should the grass be cut for hay or Boiling, and the Held be intended to lie only one year in grass, it will be unnecessary to incur the expense of a regular paling for the eat inn down ol the aftermath, as hurdles for cattle, and nets for sheep, will serve the purpose of a fence for so short a time. The turf-wall, however, must be built at the time the hedge is planted When the fields are pastured in the second rotation, and if the paling has been erected in the first, which will always be the case when the grass is to lie more than one year, it will be advisable to drive here and there, at the weakest parts, stakes in an inclined position, into the side of the ditch next the paling, and to nail their heads against the upright stakes of the paling, to act as spurs to support the stakes against any violence. The rails will yel be quite fresh, though the stakes are apt to break over at the ground, in' consequence of their being exposed, at that part, to the alternate effects of wet and drought, — effects which are injurious to every kind of wood. If this precaution be adopted, the same palm,' will last to the commencement of a rotation, in which the hedge will be able to defend itself. The paling will stand, with this assistance, which is not expensive, from the fourth to the twelfth year of the age ot the hedge, that is, eight years. Hut should the paling be completely useless before the hedge can defend itself, ami if the latter has been planted in sonie very unfavourable situation this may be the case, a few stakes driven on the top of the hank behind the hedge, with a single rail nailed at the top, will secure the hedge from all danger. Cattle will not attempt to pass through the hedge on the ditch side, on account of this rail above their heads; and, from the other side they will be deterred, by the depth of the ditch, from leaping over it ; nor will horses browse readily on so old a hedge. As to sheep, tluy will not attempt it on either side ; and, if they are the only kind of stock that is pastured in the fields, even such a rail is not absolutely necessary for them 3H19. Gates and gate-posts in hedges. Gate-posts, which are to support the gates through which an entrance is cflected into any fields, should be placed in the line of the quick hedge, and not in that of the paling, which is only a temporary tlnev. Charring, by tire, the part of these gate-posts which is to be sunk in the ground, and about a'foot above it, will be found a preservative against rot for a long time ; and even the common stakes of the paling might be treated in the same manner, by those who do not grudge a little more expense to insure greater security. In passing over a hedge-ditch to a gateway in a field, it will be necessary to build a small square drain in the bottom of the ditch, in length equal to the breadth of the gateway, that is, ten feet ; and the stones of the drain should be covered with other stones, broken small, like road metal, in order to form a firm road in and out of the field, at a place which is, in general, dreadfully cut up in winter, especially to a turnip field, to the great grievance of men, horses, tackle, and gates ; and also to allow the water in the ditch to flow away without interruption. o. The management of hedges, after they have arrived at maturity, is often as difficult a task, as the training of the young hedge to maturity. If we judge of its difficulty, by the woful manner in which we sec old hedges managed throughout the country, we might conclude that a thorn is so obdurate a plant, that it is almost impossible to make it subservient to the purposes of a field fence, and that that man would confer a signal benefit on his country, who could discover another kind of plant more susceptible of the fostering care of man . and yet we would a-k, and as we have already stated, What hardy plant is so obedient to our will as thorns ? The very miserably contorted state in which we daily see thorn-hedges is strong evidence of their pliancy, and of the obduracy of their proprietors in keeping them in such a state, u such effects are the offspring of ignorance, how is it that occupiers of land will permit ignorance to mismanage that which is so essential to the comfort and well-being of their stock, and, through them, their own profit ? And how is it, that if they, or their servants, are ignorant of so necessary an operation, they do not apparently use the requisite means of acquiring a better knowledge of it? It is not that experience has yet to teach such knowledge; for I believe that, in certain districts of Scotland, the management of thorn-hedges is as well understood, and as successfully practised an operation, as any other in husbandry, in which fanners and their servants take pride to excel. It is not, that it is so abstruse a subject, as that the difficulty of acquiring it cannot be overcome, or that it can only be acquired by the learned ; for even a hedger, a common peasant, can understand the principles of hedge planting and management as clearly as any learned man. These principles are exceedingly simple ; for what is the main purpose of planting a hedge ? Surely to confine stock within the boundaries of a field, and to save the trouble and expense of keeping a person to herd them constantly. If they can he confined, that trouble may, of course, be dispensed with. How, then, can they he best confined? Not by large bur- headed, bare-stemmed thorns, between which sheep and young cattle could easily creep, and snow crush down ; but by plants, the management of which has encouraged nature to envelop their stems with matted branches, and twigs, and leaves, all forming so close a thicket of a pyramidal shape, as to obstruct the transmission Ol the solar ray, or even to avert the insinuating intrusion of the zephyr. The mystery is here disclosed ; for, to get a good fence, all that is necessary is to cut the thorns so as they may be kept thick near the ground ; for grow they will just as you please! and grow they will whenever they are cut But will cutting them over three feet above the ground, encourage the growth of small branches and twigs below that height? Will cutting branches, and plashing them two feet above the ground, fill up gaps below the plashes ? Will permitting them to grow up as trees with heavy heads, the invariable tendency of which in other trees which are deciduous is, bj their shade, to prune off the small branches on the trunks, and kill or curb the growth of weaker neighbouring trees, be the most proper method to encourage the growth of twigs around their base, where alone they can be used as a fence? Impossible. Indeed the very terms of these questions, and they are borrowed from the practice of those around us, show the absurdity of such a practice. I5ut not only are old hedges thus abused ; young ones, which would thrive much better, and become a fence much sooner, if let alone altogether, are often hacked and cut over about i ighteeu inches from the ground, at which height a bush of Weak stems grows up, the shade of which destroys the young twigs, and strips the stems quite hare. Nay, the cutting process is performed with th • ■ i ••"■■. one would suppose, to destroy the plant, which it would inevitably do, were the thorn not pliant in its growth, and very tenacious of life; for, instead of the strokes of the bill being made Boo:v IV. COMPOUND HEDGE FENCES. 489 upwards, which would leave the standing and growing stem clean cut, they are made downwards, by which the part of the stem which is taken away is cut clean, but the part which is left growing is hacked and split into many rents. As to weeding, it is seldom thought of till the hedge is almost choked to death; but, indeed, the common practice which so much prevails, of leaving a broad scarce- ment before the thorn-bed, renders weeding so irksome, laborious, and frequent a task, that one may cease to wonder hat farmers will not incur the expense of it, though proprietors ought, rather than ruin their fences. It is easier, however, to train up a hedge from infancy, in the proper manner (a truth which many parents, as well as hedge planters, have bitterly experienced 1 , than to renovate it into a superlatively good fence after it has been mismanaged ; but even that difficulty is not insur- mountable to tho?e who will observe with common eyes, and be guided by common sense 3021. Cutting down or breasting over an old top-heavy hedge, (fig. ill.) When the hedge, which we left to grow some time ago, gets heavy in the top, and begins to affect the density of the foliage at the roots, and by which period the stems be- 477 I, //: ,^Z low will have acquired considerable strength, it should be cut down with the breasting-bill, in a sloping direction upwards, from the root in the face of the bank, to the back of the hedge on its top. This figure will illustrate the effect of this operation The hedger stands on the face of the ditch, at the root of the hedge, with his right hand to it. He carries the bill in his "right hand, and his left is covered with a glove of stout leather. After he has cleared away all the small twigs about the main stem, that the cutting process may not be in the least obstruct- ed, he holds the bill with its edge inclined up. wards, and gives the stem a cut upwards with the whole length and swing of his right arm, a stroke in a direction not unlike cut four in sword exercise, but much stronger His left hand, the left arm being half stretched out, is readv to receive the back of the bill, in order to steady it for a repeated stroke; and as the main stems are the thickest, they may require repeated blows before they are cut through ; and even it mav be necessarv to give a cut downwards on the end of the stem that is cutting away, that a wedge-shaped piece of wood mav be removed, in order to allow the upward blows to take more effect. If the main stems are strong, the cutting-bill should be used for them, and the breasting one for the lighter stems. If the man is left-handed, he, of course, goes in an opposite direction to that mentioned above. It is absolutely necessary to make the blows cut upwards, and not downwards, as parti- cularlv and properlv insisted on by Mr. Blaikie, in his little work On Hedges, whose sentiments on that subject, I shall here transcribe : — " A moment's reflection," he says, " will show that it is impossib e tor an edgetool to pass through a piece of timber, without causing a severe pressure against one or both or the sides of the wood, because the tool occupies space. The teeth of a saw drag the chips out of the cut, and give the space requisite for the tool to pass, but an edgetool can only pass by pressure. . . . In cutting the stem of a bush or voung tree which is growing upright, if the blow is struck down nearly the whole pressure falls on the stub (the growing stem , which is thereby shattered to pieces, while the stem cut off is left sound ; but when the blow is struck up (as it always should be 1 , the effect is reversed the slab is then left sound and smooth (cut cleanl, and the stem cut off is shattered ;" and when this practice obtains "the wet does not penetrate through the stub into the crown of the roots, canker is not encouraged, and the young shoots grow up strong and healthy, and able to contend against the vicissitudes of the weather. The branches which grow out of the stem, many of them, not being thick, will be cut through by a dexterous cutter at one stroke. These cuts across the stems are not made in the plane ot the line ot the hedge, but at so considerable an angle with it, that thev will not be seen, if viewed from the direction in which the hedger proceeds, but they will almost face the spectator in the opposite direction. \% hen tins operation is performed bv a man who is dexterous in the use of the bill, there is nothing in hedging that looks liker a nice piece of art, than this way of cutting down a hedge, not even that of its original plant- ing. As the branches of a hedge interlace, the stems, as they are cut off; do not fall down ike a tree. The hedger has to pull the end of the stem, that has been cut off, towards him with the bill, in order to seize it by the left hand, which having done, he pulls asunder the tops with the assistance ot the bill, and lets the whole branch fall gently out of his hand, on the opposite side ot the ditch to that on which he stands. . 3022. Season of performing the operation. It should be kept in remembrance that this operation must not be performed during a hard frost I once saw a verv fine hedge breasted over, and that part, which had been cut down during a hard frost, did not send out a stem next summer exceeding tour inches in length, whereas the parts of the hedge cut bv the same hedger in fresh weather, pushed up strong and healthv stems three feet high. It was remarked at the time the hedge was being cut Sown, in trosty of voung hedge is switched and trained in the same manner as described above lor newly planted hedges, till' it comes to maturity-. The hedge should be cut down when the field next the ditch is to be broken up out of lea, as the voung hedge will be a fence by the time the field is again in grass. As the field behind the hedge will not likelv be in the same part of the rotation as the other, it will be necessary to employ the cut thorns as a dead hedge on the mound. If the hedge cut down was strong, the dead tence will not require all the thorns, a part of which may be taken away for other purposes, or a similar purpose in another place. A dead hedge is made in the manner described. 3023. After-managenunt of a breasted over hedge. If, in the course of years, when this hedge has arrived at maturity, it is found that the stems arc so gross that feyv twigs grow from them, and that the bottom of it is too open as a fence for sheep, it will be necessary to cut the whole doyvn within a few inches of the ground, yvith the axe or cutting-bill, according to the strength of the stem. If the cutting- bill is used, it is managed like the breasting-bill, and at times with both hands ; but it the axe, then the hedger stands with his face in an opposite direction to the bent cutting one ; that is, he keeps his lett hand next the hedge, and using the long-handled but light axe, with both hands, he cuts the thick stems in a sloping direction upwards. It mav, in the first instance, be necessary to cut ayvay the small branches with the bill, which mav interfere with the action of the axe, or injure his hands ; tor, in this process, which requires strength" and dexterity, gloves are not convenient pieces ot dress He pulls the thorns asunder, after they are cut, and deposits them on the same side of the ditch as yvhen they were breasted over; and it is just as absolutely necessarv noyv as before, to leave the groyving stem clean cut. Cutting with the axe is a very laborious operation at all times, but particularly when cutting down old thick-stemmed thorn hedges. Old thorns are sometimes so bulky and heavy, that it is necessary to rirag them awav yvith horses, instead of attempting to put them on carts. Both alter this and the other process of cutting, the ground around all the roots should be thoroughly cleared ot all weeds ana it would even be advisable to water-table the hedge, and to throw the shovellings of the ditch upon the race of the mound. But should water-tabling not be necessarv, there can be no doubt that the ditch will require scouring; and there cannot be a more favourable opportunity for the yvork beingdone, tnan when the hedge is cut down, amongst the stems of which the shovellings of the ditch can be deposited. 490 8CIENCE OP AGRICULTURE. Past II, . n,Tt(0/ing Ike old ape of a th«rti hedge improperly healed in its youth. In this operation much care and Judgment arc required. It is found that In ordfnary-slied gaps, which exist between the old stems of a then n, young planta will not eastlv take root and thrive, This effect u produced, parti) l>> the shadowing of the stem- which grow quick); out of the oil! item and overtop the young plant, and partly by the want of nourishment from the earth, the Juices of which have been extracted already by the older tenants. To remedy auch defect*, plashing has been retorted to, and when that has been Judiciously done, by laying the plashes mar the ground, a small gap may ho tilled up tor some time. But I agree tlj with the following observations of Lord Kama on the nature of plashing in general : — •• PlatMng on nil! Hedge," says his Lordship, " an ordinary practice in England, makes indeed a good Interim Fence, but at the long run li destructive to the plants; and accordingly there ii scarce to he met with a complete good hedge where plashing has been long practised. A cat is said among the vulgar t.i have nine Uvea Is it their opinion that a thorn, like a cat, may be cut and slashed at without suffering by it f A thorn is a tree "t long life. If, instead of being massacred by plashing, it were raised and dressed in the way lure described, it would continue a firm hedge, perhaps, for live hundred years." This merits attention.' If plashing really lie practised, and such an old practice cannot be easily forsaken, it may be necessary to remind the operator to cut the stem no deeper in than necessary to bend it down with considerable difficulty, aa near the ground as possible; for plashing at a great height above the ground defeats Its own object, namely, that of rilling up gaps below. Keep the end of the plash down, either by inserting it under a hooked branch of a neighbouring thorn, or by a hooked stick driven into the ground ; and push a bit of wedge-shaped stick into the cut, to assist in preventing the plash from starting up. Stuff then some worked up clay into the cut, and thus close it up from the effects of wet and drought 30SS Laying an old hedge. It will be a much better practice to renew the earth in the gaps with fresh sml, mixed' with dung and lime, in the first year after the hedge has been cut down, and then in the second year to take a stem from each side of 'the gap which has shot up from the old stem, and lay them in the soil so prepared, as gardeners lay carnations and roses, by fastening them down to the earth with pins. These layers will strike root, and grow up as voung plants; and when they have acquired sufficient strength, tin v then can of course be cut away from 'the parent stem. When the gaps extend many yards between the old stems, and when of course it would not be practicable to fill up all the space with such layers, the old earth between them must be completely taken out, and new and fresh soil, prepared as above, substituted in its place, and young plants must be laid on a thorn-bed, and the whole work of repair carried on and finished in the same manner as described in the original planting. In training these renewed plants, it will be necessary to check the growth of the old stems, and encourage that of the young plants, till both have acquired the same length, when both may be treated alike. An old gateway may be beat up in this manner; but if still to be used on emergencies, a dead fence of thorns will protect the gap for a great length of time. In repairing hedges, of whatever age, it ought to be kept in remembrance, that a hedge ought never to be planted on the top of a mound thrown up from the ditch. It has, indeed, the advantage of an imposing situation ; but being planted in bad soil, and destitute of moisture, it cannot thrive : it is at best dwarfish, and frequently decays and dies. {Stephens of Balmadies in Quar. Jour. Agr., voL ii. p. 621.) 3027. The hedge and bank consists of a hedge planted upon the plain surface, with a bank or mound of earth raised behind it by way of protection. 3028. The hedge in the face of a bank differs from the former, principally in having the hedge in the "front of the bank considerably above the common surface, in place of having it at the bottom. 3029. The Devonshire fence is a sort of hedge and bank, as it consists of an earthen mound, seven feet wide a't bottom, five feet in height, and four feet broad at top, upon the middle of which a row of quicks is planted ; and on each side, at two feet distant, a row of willow-stakes, of about an inch in diameter each, and from eighteen inches to two feet Idng, is stuck in, sloping a little outwards : these stakes soon take root, and form a kind of live fence for the preservation of the quicks in the middle. This fence nearly resembles the hedge on the top of a bank, and is equally expensive in the erection : the formation of the bank deprives the adjoining surface of its best soil, and the plants made use of are liable to every injury that can possibly arise from drought, frost, and gradual decay or crumbling down of the mound. The addition of the willows to this fence is certainly a disadvantage ; if the quicks require pro- t. , lion, dead wood is equal to every purpose that could be wished or expected, and at the same time possesses the additional advantage of requiring no nourishment, and having no foliage to shade the thorns or other plants. 3030. In the hedge with posts and rails, the railings are employed for the protection of hedges, as well those that are planted upon the plain surface, as for the hedge and ditch united. The addition of a paling is, however, more immediately necessary in cases where the hedge is planted upon the plain surface, especially when the fields so enclosed are in pasture. 3031. The hedge and dea/l hedge is a fence that consists of a row of quicks or other hedge-plants, set either upon the plain surface, or in the face of a ditch or bank. The dead hedge answers a double purpose, namely, that of protecting the young plants from the injuries they may receive from cattle or the inclemency of the weather, and at the same time forming a temporary enclosure which lasts till the hedge is grown up. S032. The hedge and wall fence is of two kinds, namely, a coarse open wall, built of loose stones, on the top of the bank formed by the earth taken out of the ditch; and when hedges are planted upon the plain surface, a thin and low wall regularly built alongside answers the double purpose of sheltering and encouraging the growth of the plants while they are in a weak tender state, and afterwards prevents the pos- sibility of the hedge becoming open below. Where gardens are entirely, or in part, surrounded by hedges, and in the enclosing of fields by the sides of highways, espe- cially in the vicinity of great towns, where dogs and other destructive vermin are apt Book IV. COMPOUND HEDGE FENCES. 491 to creep into the enclosures, and annoy the stock, the law wall forms a valuable addi- tion to the fence. 3033. The hedge in the middle or in the face of a wall is executed in the following manner: — The face of the bank is first cut down with a spade, not quite perpendicularly, but nearly so ; a facing of stone is then begun at the bottom, and carried up regularly, in the manner that stone-walls are generally built: when it is raised about eighteen inches, or two feet high, according to circumstances, the space between the wall and the bank is filled up with good earth, well broken and mixed with lime or compost: the thorns are laid upon this earth in such a manner, as that at least four inches of the root and stem shall rest upon the earth, and the extremity of the top shall project beyond the wall. When the plants are thus regularly laid, the roots are covered with earth, and the building of the wall continued upwards, filling up the space between the wall and the bank gradually, as the wall advances upwards : when completed the wall is finished with a coping of sod, or stone and lime. When the plants begin to vegetate, the young shoots appear in the face of the wall, rising in a perpendicular manner. This sort of fence is much in use in some of the western counties of Scotland, and wherever there is plenty of stones ; it is a good and cheap method, especially where wood for rails or paling cannot be got readily. (C.) 3034. The hedge and ditch, with row of trees, differs from those which have been described only in having a row of trees planted in the line of the fence along with the hedge. The advocates for this practice say, that, by planting rows of trees in the direc- tion of the fence, the country is at once sheltered, beautified, and improved ; and that the interest of the proprietor is ultimately promoted by the increasing value of the timber raised in these hedgerows. It is also said, that such trees produce more branches for stack-wood, knees for ship-builders, and bark for the tanners, and they sell at a higher price per load, than trees grown in woods and groves. Besides, close pruning hedgerow trees to the height of twelve or fifteen feet, prevents their damaging the hedge ; the shelter which they afford is favourable to the vegetation both of grass and corn ; it also tends to produce an equable temperature in the climate, which is favourable both to the production of, and greater perfection and beauty in, animals, and of longevity to man. Though the practice of planting hedgerows of trees is very common, though its advo- cates are numerous, and though these arguments are urged in its favour, yet the objections are also entitled to very serious consideration. When trees are planted in the line of a fence, if that fence is a hedge, the plants of which it consists will not only be deprived of a great part of their nourishment by the trees, but will also be greatly injured by the shade they occasion, and the drop that falls from them during wet weather : upon this point little reasoning is necessary ; for, if we appeal to facts, we shall find that no good hedge is to be met with where there is a row of trees planted along with it. The mischief is not, however, confined solely to hedges ; the effects are equally bad, perhaps worse, where the fence is a stone- wall ; for though in this case the shade or drop of the trees is hardly if at all felt, yet, when they have attained a certain height, the working and straining of the roots during high winds is such, that the foundations of the wall are shaken and destroyed ; accordingly, wherever large trees are found growing near stone walls, the fence is cracked and shaken by every gale of wind, is perpetually falling into large gaps, and costs ten times the expense to keep it in repair that would otherwise be required if no trees were near it. Admitting, however, that the trees in hedgerows were no way prejudicial to the fence, which we have already shown is by no means the case, another argument may be successfully used against the practice. It is seldom, indeed, that trees planted in hedgerows arrive at any great size; on the contrary, they are generally low and stunted : and while they occasion a visible loss by the mischief they do the fence, their utmost worth, when they come to be sold, will seldom be found ade- quate to the loss and inconvenience they have occasioned. 3035. Stephens is decidedly inimical to planting trees in hedges. It is quite impossible, he says, even with the greatest care imaginable, to rear thorns to a good fence under forest-trees ; even trees growing on the top of the mound of a double hedge, abstract the moisture from the earth and injure the foliage of both the hedges ; and though it mav be probable that the two hedges may not be gapped by the trees in places exactly opposite, the injury the individual hedge suffers cannot be remedied under the over- shadowing poison. Lord Karnes makes the following judicious remarks on planting hedgerow trees :— " To plant trees in the line of the hedge, or within a few feet of it, ought to be absolutely prohibited as a per- nicious practice j it is amazing that people should fall into this error, when they ought to know that there never was a good thorn hedge with trees in it : and how should it be otherwise ? An oak, a beech, oi an elm, grows faster than a thorn; when suffered to grow in the midst of a thorn hedge, it spreads its roots every where, and robs the thorns of their nourishment Nor is this all : the tree overshadowing the thorns keeps the sun and air from them ; at the same time, no tree takes worse with being overshadowed than a thorn. Hedgerow trees certainlv give a closely fenced appearance to a country, and at a distance look not unlike trees in an orchard : but they are at best formal ; the trees in them, though they may be very hardy, and yield strong, tough timber, never attain to great size, and are often distorted in shape by the force of the winds, which bend them to their will ; and when their baneful effects on the hedges and crops are considered, it is astonishing to see their cultivation so prevalent. It may be ungracious treat- ment, now that they are planted and growing, to root out every one of them without delay; but they may be treated as annuitants whose consummation mav be devoutly wished for, and whose places will not be replenished by similar occupants. Plantations, and clumps, and belts of trees, afford better shelter than single rows ; and when they can be judiciously planted, in situations where little use can be made ot Uw 492 SCIENCE OF AGRICULTURE. Tart II. j •■■'ukI for culture — and there ii no property without main nich situations upon it — and in other situa. UV>us where they would icreen Aelda n the prevailing winds, they not only become useful timber, but ornamental objects In the landscape, — objects which nil the eye, rivet the attention, and are vastly more tasteful than .m> single row ol stunted trees can i><- " Qttar. Jour. J^r. vol. i. p. iU:).) 3036. The hedge and ditch, or hedge ami wall, with /><■/! of planting, in exposed situations, is strikingly useful and ornamental, while upon low grounds it is not only unnecessary, but in some instances absolutely hurtful. For instance, in dee]) and broad valleys surrounded by hills, ami sheltered from severe blasts, belts of planting are not only unnecessary, but even hurtful and ruinous by the ground they occupy, which could Certainly be employed to greater advantage, and the original expense of enclosing and planting saved. 30:S7. The hedge ami ditch, or wall, with the corners planted, is employed upon some estates instead of the belt of planting. According to some, it lias a good effect upon the scenery of the country, and answers the purpose of general shelter extremely well : it is, however, greatly inferior to the belt of planting, for the purpose of sheltering particular fields; but as in every Held there is a space in each angle that cannot be ploughed, by planting these spaces, which would otherwise be left waste, many valuable trees are raised with little expense, and with scarce any waste of land. 3038. The furze fence may be had recourse to with advantage whenever such plants are found to grow vigorously in a soil. Fences of this sort are mostly made upon mounds or banks of earth, by sowing the seed of the plant. Sometimes the bank is only sloped on one side, but at others on both ; in the former case the front is perpendicular, and faced with turf or stone. From these fences being raised so considerably above the common surface, they are very liable to injury from frosts and other causes in severe winters. In all cases where they are clipped or cut once a year, or once in every two years, the clippings may be bruised and given to horses or cattle, who are fond of them, and are found to thrive and fatten on this food. Subsect. 4. Paling Fences. 3039. Paling fences are only to be considered in a secondary light; for, of whatever wood they are made, however substantially they may be executed, or in whatever situation they are placed, their decay commences the instant they are erected. Where permanent use therefore is required, palings ought never to be adopted ; but for ornament in pleasure- grounds, or for the protection of young thorns, they are highly valuable. In all cases where either dead hedges or palings are used, the decay and ultimate loss of the fence is owing to that part of it which is let into the ground being rotted by the moisture. Where dead hedges arc planted, it is no easy matter to provide a remedy against this evil ; as the stems are so numerous, that, to give each of them a preparation that would completely defend it from the effects of moisture would be attended with an expense equal to, if not greater than, the value of the fence. Where palings, however, are used, especially the most expensive and substantial kind of them, and such as are meant both for duration and ornament, it is desirable to prepare the standards, or upright parts that are placed in the earth, in such a manner as will enable them to resist the moisture for many years. In the south of England, the post is always more bulky at the lower end than the upper, and is fixed in the ground by digging a hole, placing it therein, shovelling the soil in, and ramming it round the post till it be firmly fixed. It has been a practice from time immemorial, to bum or char that part of the standards or palings intended to be set or driven into the earth : the reason assigned for this practice was, that the fire hardened the parts thus subjected to it, and, by rendering them impervious to moisture, made them more durable than they would have been without such operation. But the best defence at present known against the effects of the weather is the bark of the tree. This covering it has from nature, and is possessed of every requisite, being impregnated with oil, resin, and other matters, which secure it completely, not only against moisture, but other injuries arising from the operation of air, light, heat, &c. ; of this we have strong proofs by observing what happens where, by cutting off' a branch or otherwise, the bark of any tree is destroyed. If the surface laid bare by the wound is considerable, that part of the body exposed by it begins immediately to decay, and continues to waste, unless some covering be made use of to supply the place of the bark ; for that purpose nothing has yet been found so effectual as a coat either of boiled oil, or of oil-paint, which, by completely excluding both air and moist tire, not only preserves the tree from rotting, but also prevents it from bleeding and wasting itself by an effusion of juices from the wound. When trees are cut down and sawn into planks, whether for palings or any other purpose, and are afterwards exposed to the weather, the same tiling happens that we have mentioned as taking place with the growing tree when deprived of its bark, but in a much greater decree, as the whole surface is then without a covering. To prevent this decay, the same remedy should be applied, oix. painting the whole of the wood, or otherwise filling the pores with oil, in such a manner as to prevent the entrance of moisture. There are now coarse oil-paints sold of all colours, so cheap as to enable persons erecting palings, or Book IV. PALING FENCES. 4W other works of wood, to paint them at a small expense. Other very good remedies are to be had at a moderate price, as the pyrolignous acid from gasworks, which, if the points of the standards that are to be driven into the earth are dipped into it while the liquor is boilin"- hot, will preserve them from the bad effects of moisture for a very long time. Previously to the dipping, they should be properly sharpened, and that part which is to enter the ground, or even the entire post if convenient, moderately charred or burnt. Common tar, melted pitch, or gas liquor, may also be successfully employed for the purpose of defending the extremities of the upright parts of paling from moisture ; linseed and train oils may also be used with success ; the great object being to fill the pores completely with some unctuous or greasy matter, or contract them by partial charring, so as to prevent the admission of moisture. The posts should be completely dry before they are dipped in any of these preparations : for if they are either made of green wood, or have imbibed much moisture, or after being dipped are exposed either to the heat of the sun or to a severe frost, the moisture will become so much expanded thereby, as to burst through, and bring off the paint or other coating ; whereas, when they are made of well seasoned wood, and are at the same time perfectly dry, and the pitch, oil, or varnish boiling hot, it readily enters the pores, and, by filling them completely, prevents the access of moisture, and consequently the injurious effects produced by it. 3040. The simple nailed paling consists of upright posts, driven or set into the earth at certain distances, and crossed in three, four, or more places, with pieces of wood in a horizontal direction. This paling is for the most part made of coarse sawn wood, with- out any dressing. 3041. The jointed horizontal paling consists of massy square poles, driven or set into the earth at regular distances, through which mortices or openings are cut for the reception of the extremities of the horizontal pieces which traverse them. 3042. The upright lath paling is made by driving or setting a number of strong piles into the earth at regular distances, and crossing these at top and bottom with horizontal pieces of equal strength ; upon these last are nailed, at from six to twelve inches' distance, a number of square pieces of sawn wood, of the shape and size of the laths used for the roofs of tiled houses. This sort of paling, when properly executed, looks very well, and, notwithstanding its apparent slightness, if well supported by props or rests at regular intervals, lasts a long time. Where there are plantations of young firs in the neighbour- hood, laths may be had at a trifling expense. 3043. The horizontal paling of young jirs, or the weedings of other young trees, may be had recourse to with advantage upon estates with extensive woods, or surrounded with belts of thriving plants; the thinnings of such woods or belts being highly valuable for making palings, especially when the plantation consists chiefly of firs. The palings of young firs are of two kinds, either horizontal or upright. The horizontal resembles the jointed dressed paling already described, and the upright is similar to the lath paling. 3044. The chain horizontal fence is made by fixing a number of strong square piles into the earth at regular distances, in the direction in which the fence is to run ; each of these piles has three strong staples or iron hooks driven into it on each side, one near the top, one within eighteen inches of the bottom, and one in the middle ; to these staples or hooks chains are fastened and stretched horizontally, in the same manner as the pieces of wood are in a common horizontal wooden fence. When it is meant that the fence should be laid open for any temporary purpose, hooks are driven into the posts in place of staples, and the chains hung upon them ; but where this is not wanted, the staples will be found the most secure method. In some cases the upright part of this fence, in place of wooden piles, such as have been described, consists of neat pillars of mason-work or cast iron. 3045. The rope fence is nearly the same as the former, that is, it consists of upright posts, driven into the earth at regular distances, with holes bored through them for the passage of the ropes ; in general there are three, and in some cases four, courses of ropes. This can only be used for confining cattle or horses; for sheep it will be found quite incompetent ; for stretching across rivers, or pieces of water, like the chain fence, the rope fence will be useful. 3046. The movable wooden fence, flake, or hurdle. This has hitherto been principally employed in cases where sheep or cattle are fed with turnips in the field, to separate a certain portion of their food at a time ; in that way hurdles are extremely useful, as the sheep or cattle, by having a given quantity of food allotted them at once, eat it clean up without any loss, which they would not do if allowed to ranged at large over the whole field. There are, however, many other purposes to which hurdles may be applied with equal advantage. In the subdivision of gentlemen's parks, in order to subject them to a course of aration, no fence is so suitable as the hurdle, which may be taken up and set down at pleasure, and in a short time. This circumstance being generally known, these fences never convey the idea of impassable barriers ; and, not being very common, they are never considered vulgar. Were it not for their expense, they would be far preferable 491 SCIENCE OF AGRICULTURE. FaKT II. to common fences, in districts tli.it do not require shelter ; because they occupy less space than hedgee or walls, and do not, by attracting cattle, cause their manure to be unequally distributed; nor do they harbour birds or insects. n a ri — L i J J (1— 478 J, ri ll . n_ i i . -.1 -jr. 479 !X3 < safes! ten 1 ?- ii— _\ y/ 1 _\ X\! x _V . \S n j /x v v\ 1 0M1. Ornamental wooden hurdles {fig. 478. and 479.1 mav sometimes be formed at less expense of material than the common sort, because they admit of being made strong by working up short pieces of wood. Those which are highest (.fig. 478. a b) may be made of oak, and six feet high, so as to be a fence for cattle; others (fig. 479.) may be made of the common prunings and thinnings of young plantations. In general it is an improvement in the con. BtTUCtion of hurdles to make the two sides so as to answer either as bottom or top (fig. 480 ) ; by which means, if a leg is broken off, it is only necessary to turn the hurdle upside down, and we have still a perfect hurdle. For this purpose make the heads eighteen inches or two feet longer than usual, and sharpen both ends (fig. 480.) ; then the side pieces should be always double, one on each side of the rails, and should shut in at their ends on the heads and the centre piece, that their bearings may be equally strong and firm whichever end is even uppermost. {Gard, Mag. vol iv.) 3048. Iron hurdles ( fig. 481.) are found a very elegant and durable fence, though more ft- — p i f| than double the expense of wood. For park o lawn fences they are admirably adapted ; but occupy rather too much capital for a commer- cial fanner. 3049. The willow, or wattled, fence is made by driving a number of piles of any of the kinds of willow or poplar, about half the thick- ness of a man's wrist, into the earth, in the direction of the fence, and at the distance of about eighteen inches from each other. They are then twisted, or bound together along the top with small twigs of willow or poplar (Jig. ,482.). This kind of fence has some ad- vantages peculiar to itself; it not only forms a cheap and neat paling, but if it is done either about the end of autumn or early in the spring, with willows or poplars recently cut down, the upright parts or stakes will take root, grow, and send out a number of lateral branches ; and, if pains are taken in the following autumn to twist and interweave these branches properly, a perma- nent and almost impenetrable fence may be formed in two or three years. For the enclosing of 4 *\\^ tWi? inserting the pales or stakes in the ground in different di- rections (fig. 485.), and by using forked or hooked stakes. They are chiefly desirable in forest or park scenery for maintaining a particular cha- racter, and for separating horses, deer, &c. Such fences sometimes occur in Poland, Hungary, &c. ; but in a civilised country they are to be considered more in the light of effect than of practical utility. 3055. Park fences of iron are the most efficient and elegant, (fig. 486. and 487.) Light cast-iron posts, with rails or round iron rods, five eighths of an inch in diameter, to the height of four feet, and, a foot higher, on the bent extremity of the posts, a chain nstead of a rod (fig. 486.), are found to form a barrier against any description of the 486 .arger quadrupeds kept in British parks, as horses, wild cattle, buffaloes, deer, &c. Painted green, or even with the paint called blue anticorrosion (ground glass and oil chiefly), or coated over with the pyrolignous liquor from the gasworks, such fences are not obtrusive, and less liale to suggest ideas of limitation, confinement, restraint, &o, than walls or pales. Silarly characterised fences may be composed of connected hurdles (fig. 487), which are valuable, and probably the cheapest of all fences in I Of? SCIENCE OF AGRICULTURE. P.UIT II. dividing rich and extensive pastures, such as a park let oul to a fanner for several year* grazing. Tor poultry, or for excluding hares, rabbits, &c. the lower part of such fences ia covered with a wire netting. (Jig. 488.) j «.i v 1 1 1 1 « « »y» » < i < 1 1 i.i.v i Subsect. 5. Wall Fences. 3056. Wall fences are constructed of* different sorts of materials, and are of various kinds. They are for the most part good fences, though some of them, as those of the earthy kinds, are not by any means durable, and therefore should not be formed where better sorts can be used. In the construction of walls, it is essential that the stones be either taken from a quarry, or consist of the largest land-stones broken in such a manner as to have a good flat surface, in order that they may bind well ; that they be built by masons, and well pinned; that they have as dry and deep a foundation as possible, in order to guard against frosts, &c. ; that they be made wide at the bottom, and tapering upwards to about the breadth of ten inches, when the coping is to be applied ; that the coping consist of materials that cannot be readily overturned or removed, as, upon the manner in which it is finished, much of the future value and durability of the wall will be found to depend. 3057. Dry stone ivalls are of three kinds: those constructed of round stones gathered from the fields, and coped with turves ; of quarried stones, upon which some pains have been bestowed to put them into proper shape ; and the Galloway dike, so denominated from its being originally used in that country. 3058. The irall or dike made with round or land-stones, by labourers, and covered with a coping of turf, is a very indifferent fence. In most instances, it is not only very ill constructed as to shape, being of one uniform thickness from top to bottom, but the stones, from their round figure, do not present a .sufficient surface to each other to bind and give stability to the building. This fence has long been known, and is still very common in the remote parts of the country, upon estates where the first rude essay is made in the way of improvement, and where masons cannot readily be had. In such situations it has a two-fold benefit ; the surface is cleared of many stones that would otherwise have presented a considerable ob-tacle to its cultivation, and the field is at the same time enclosed : but, though these objects are accom- plished for a time, their benefit is not permanent, as the wall is perpetually tumbling down ; even the cattle rubbing against it make considerable gaps in many places; and in that way, great trouble and expense are annually required to keep it in repair. 489 305a The wa/t in w/tie/i the stones are quarried fip. 489.), and put together by skilful masons, broad at bottom, tapering gra- dually upwards, and finished at top with a substantial coping, has a very neat appearance, and has been known to last thirty and even forty years without repairs. A good foundation is highly essential ill the construction of this fence ; from nine to twelve inches is the smallest depth that it should be below the jjlgs;. common surface, especially if the soil is open and porous; and the largest and heaviest stones should always belaid undermost. The best dikes of this kind are now built solid from bottom to top, and coped with stones resting upon others projecting beyond the width of the dike. (' ' 490 3001). The Galloway dike or ir.it! [fig. 490} is principally employed for enclosing high groun Is that are depastured with sheep, for the confining of which it seems well calculated. Krom two feet to two and a half, at the bottom, it is built in a regular compact manner with dry stones, in every respect the same as a dry stone wall with a broad base, tapering gradually upwards: the building is then levelled with a course of flat stones, resembling a coping, in such a in, er as that these flags or flat stones shall project two or three inches over the wall on i ach side. Above these flat stones is laid a course of rugged round ones, placed upon each other in a way secure enough to give stability to the building, but at the same time so open as to leave a considerable vacuitj between each j l»y which means a free passage is afforded circumstance, together With the ease with which the stones are procured, in most of the situations where Die Galloway dike is used, renders it a valuable fence. Book IV. WALL FENCES. 497 306!. Stone and lime walls, in order to be durable, should have a good foundation, deep enough to prevent them from being hurt by frosts, with a broad base, taperino- gradually upwards. Tliis fence, when properly executed, is, next to hedges, the most durable : it is, however, very expensive ; and its superiority over the dry stone-wall is so trifling in point of durability, as to render the latter the more eligible, being much cheaper, and answering every purpose of a fence equally well. For the building of this wall, stones taken from the quarry are to be preferred to the common land-stones ; for though a mason may be able to remedy, in some measure, the inequality of surface in land-stones, by mixing plenty of lime with them, yet experience proves that walls made with such stones, notwithstanding every care on the part of the builder, are much less perfect, and last a much shorter time, than where quarried stones are employed. This, like every other stone fence, should be secured at the top with a substantial coping. Stone fences of every description not only form complete enclosures at once, and by that means allow the proprietor to enter into immediate possession of every advantage that can arise from the enclosing of his fields, but, by the little room they occupy, a considerable portion of land is saved. 3062. In the construction of walls of stones and clay, the clay is used like lime, and is meant to answer the same purpose. It requires slender observation to convince intelligent persons, that a wall made with such materials in the ordinary way cannot be a durable one; for if the clay made use of in building the fence has been very moist, the summer's heat will dry it so much as to leave considerable chasms in the building ; these chasms must necessarily deprive many of the stones of that support which they require, and in that way endanger the building. This, however, is not the only inconvenience with which this ki id of wall is attended ; the effect of the summer's sun upon the clay parches it so completely, that when the wet weather commences about the end of autumn, it absorbs the moisture like a sponge, and if it is overtaken by frost while in that state, the fabric swells, bursts, and tumbles down. 'Woj. Walls of stone and clay, dashed with lime, differ in no respect from that described, except in the harling or dashing that is given them. Where that operation is well performed, and at a proper season of the year, the coating of lime, by preventing the entrance of moisture, will add greatly to the durability as well as beauty of the wall ; so much so, indeed, that some fences made in this way, where the clay was properly tempered, and did not contain too much moisture, and where a harling or dashing of lime was afterwards given, have been known to last nearly as long as walls made entirely with stone and lime. 3064. The dry stone wall, lipped with lime, differs from the ordinary dry stone wall, in having about two or three inches of it on each side lipped with lime, which gives it the appearance of being built entirely with stone and lime. Where the external appearance of a fence is an object, something is gained by this practice; in point of real duration, however, it seems to possess very little advantage over the common dry stone-wall, which, when properly executed, lasts equally long. 3065. Dry stone walls, lipped and harled, are much the same, nothing more being added than a harling or dashing of lime after the other work is finished : this addition is to be censidered merely as an improve, ment upon their appearance, and not as contributing to increase their utility, or render them more durable as fences. 3066. Dry stone ivalls, jrinned and harled, are much the same : the mason only carefully pins or fills up all the interstices of the building with small stones, after they have been built in the ordinary way, and afterwards dashes or harls them over with lime. The pinning, by filling up every vacant space, and affording complete support to the stones in every part of the surface, adds considerably to the durability of the building, and the harling afterwards gives the whole a finished substantial appearance, which renders them at once agreeable to the eye, and lasting as fences. 3067. The dry stone wall, icitk a light paling upon the lop, is sometimes made, and for particular purposes answers well, and has a handsome appearance when well executed. 3068. Brick malls are seldom had recourse to for ordinary enclosures, excepfin situations where stones are extremely scarce (as is the case in some counties), and for pleasure-grounds, and for park or garden walls. In Nottinghamshire, we have observed brick walls of open work, in the manner of the walls of Mac- Phail's dungpits ; but the zigzag brick wall we should think preferable as afield walL (See Enc. of Card. and Card. Mag. vol v. p. 678.) 3069. Frame ivalls are constructed in the following manner : — A frame of deal boards, of a width and height proportioned to that of the intended fence, is placed upon the line in which it is intended to be made, a proper foundation having been previously dug ; the frame is then filled with stones of all sorts, gathered principally from the adjoining fields : when the frame is filled to the top with such stones, a quantity of liquid mortar is poured in amongst them, sufficient to fill up every interstice ; the whole is suffered to remain in that state till it is supposed that the mortar has acquired a suitable degree of finnness to give stability to the building, which in summer, when the weather is warm and dry, will not require above a day or two. The frame is then removed, and placed a little farther on in the same line, in such a manner as that one end of it shall join immediately with that part of the work from which it had been removed. In this way the line of fence is gradually completed, which, when the lime is of good quality and well mixed with sharp sand, and the proper pains taken to incorporate it with the stones, presents a smooth uniform surface, and will doubtless form a substantial and durable fence. 3070. Turf u-alls are met with in almost every upland or hilly district throughout Britain, and for temporary purposes are found very useful. In a variety of instances this sort of fence is used for enclosing fields, and is practised for that purpose to a very considerable extent ; in others, however, it is used for the formation of folds, pens, or other places of confinement for cattle during the night. In general, the fence is made with turf only, pared oft' from the adjoining surface, and used without any mixture of earth; in other cases, the wall consists of a facing of turf on each side, while the space between is filled up with loose earth. For a fold, this fence answers extremely well ; but for enclosing a field, or indeed any other purpose where durability is required, it Kk SCIENCE OF AGRICULTURE. Pari II. should never be used, as from the moment it is finished its decay commences, and no paini or attention will be able to keep it in repair after it has stood two or three years. 8071. Stone mil turf walls are also very common in many situations, where better and more durable ones could l>e made at equal, perhaps less, expense. In many instances, however, they are employed from necessity, where lime is either very dear, or not obtainable at any price. Mud iral/s, villi n miiturr of straw, were formerly frequent in many places, not only for surround- ing small • and stack-yard*, but also f<>r the walls of farm-houses and office*, and for subdividing houses into different apartments. When either the outside walls, or the inside divisions of a house, arc to be nude of these mat. rials, the custom Is, to take a small quantity of straw, and incorporate it with a sufficient proportion of day; the straw in this case answers the same purpose as hair in lime. plaster. When a sufficient number of small masses are made, the work is begun by laying a stratum at the bottom of the intended wall : this being done, and the different pieces firmly kneaded or worked therwith the hand, a Sal deal board i< applied on each side, which, being properly pressed and rubbed oat the building in a horizontal direction, not only serves to consolidate the work, but gives it a degree Ofin ii,l uniformity ; successive strata are added, till the wall is raised to the intended height, care being taken to taper it gradually upwards. Walls made in this way, if properly constructed, will last for many yean; and, if dashed or harled with lime at a proper season of the year, will have an appearance DO way inferior to such as are made with stone and lime ; along with this addition to their appearance, the barling or dashing with lime, if properly done, will, by preventing the access of moisture, render them much more durable. 3073. Hummed earth, or en pise, walls arc very common in France, both as fences and walls for buildings. They have been described at great length in the Communications to the Board of Agriculture, and in other works, and tried in various parts of this country with tolerable success, though they are by no means suited either to our moist climate, or degree of ch ilisation. In constructing them the earth is previously pounded, in order to crumble any stones therein ; clay is added in a small quantity, about one eighth part. It is all beaten and mixed up together by repeated blows with a mallet about ten inches broad, ten or fifteen inches long, and two inches thick. The earth being thus pre- pared, and slightly wetted, the foundation of the wall is dug. This is laid with stone; and, when it is about one foot high above the surface of the ground, planks are arranged on each side, and the space between filled with the earth intended for the wall, which is strongly beaten. This method is continued successively, till the wall is completed. 3074. Stamped earth watts are the invention of Francois Cointeraux. Earth prepared in the same manner as for rammed walls, is put into a mould or box of any size, generally that of the proposed wall's thickness in width, one or two feet long, and about one foot high. (Jig. 491. a ) The mould is a strong oaken or iron box, and the earth being placed in it, is compressed either by the action of a press acted on by a lever or screw, or a stamping-engine similar to the pile-driver or great forge-hammer. The stone, or solid body of earth (h), thus acquired, is then used in the same way as common hewn stone, and either bedded or merely jointed with lime-mortar ; it is then washed or harled, both for effect and duration. Various machines for forming bricks and stones for the ordinary purposes of building fence walls, and sheds, and other buildings of one story high, may be found in the eighth and ninth volumes of the Mechanic's Magazine. Chap. V. Gates and Bridges appropriate to Agriculture. *307o. The "ale may be considered as a movable part of a fence, or as a frame of timber, or iron, readily moved, and calculated to give a convenient inlet and outlet to enclosures. Gates may be considered in regard to the principles of their construction and fixing; the materials of which they are made ; and their different kinds. 3076". With respect to construction, the great object is to combine strength with light- ness. The absolute strength of materials depends on their hardness and tenacity. A gate, therefore, consisting of one solid plate of wood or iron, would seem to require most force to break or tear it in pieces: but this would not be consistent with lightness and economy, and in the use of such a gate it would be found to open and shut with more difficulty than one less strong. The skeleton of a plate of wood or iron is, therefore, resorted to by the employment of slips or bars, disposed and joined together on mechanical principles. These principles, applied to carpentry, direct the use of what are called ties and struttSj in the judicious composition of which, as far as construction is concerned, consists the whole art of carpentry. A tie (Jig. 492. a) is a bar, or piece of timber, so placed in a structure as to resist a drawing or twisting power ; a ttrutt (h) is one so placed as to resist w eight, or whatever has a tendency to press or crush. The horizontal bars of Book IV GATES APPROPRIATE TO AGRICULTURE. 499 492 a gate are all ties; the diagonal and perpendicular ones strutts. On the judicious combination of these ties and strutts depends the absolute strength of the "ate • and on their lightness, and on the general form of the gate, depends its adaptation for opening and shutting by means of hinges. 3077. The construction of a gate best adaj'ted for opening and shutting is next to be considered. All gates, after being hung, have from their gravitation a tendency to deviate from their original position, to sink at the head or falling post, and thus no longer to open and shut freely. If the construction and hanging of the gate were perfect, this could not possibly take place; but as the least degree of laxity in truss- ing the gate, or want of firmness in fixing the post in the ground, will occasion, after frequent use, a sensible depression at the head, it becomes requisite either to guard against it as much as possible in the first construction, or to have a provision in the design of the upper hinge (Jig. 493.) for rectifying the deviations as thev take place. 3078. In order to understand the construction best calculated to resist depression, suppose a gate hung, and resting on its heel [fig. 492.C) acting as a strutt, and maintained thereby its upper hinge [d) acting as a tie, then the bottom rail of the gate considered as representing the whole, becomes a lever of the second kind, in which the prop is at one end (c), the power at the other g\ and the weight placed between them in the line of the centre of gravity of the gate (i). Now, as two equal forces, to hold each other in equilibrium, must act in the same direction, it follows that the power acting at the end of the lever (g) will have most influence when exerted at right angles to it in the line (g e) ; but as this cannot be accomplished in a gate where the power must be applied obliquely, it follows, that a large angle becomes requisite; that the greater the angle, the greater the power, or, in other words, tiie less the strain on the construction of the gate, or the less the tendency to sink at the head. The half of the right angle (c e g) seems a reasonable limit, by which, if the power requisite to hold the weight in equilibrium, when acting at a right angle, be as the side of a square of the length of the lower bar of the gate (g c), then the power requisite to effect the same end, when acting at an angle of 45 degrees, is as the diagonal to this square (g h). By changing the square to a parallelogram, the rela- tive proportions will still be the same, and the advantages and disadvantages will be rendered more obvious. 3079. Waistell and Parker have paid great attention to the construction of gates for many years. More than fifty years ago, Waistell circulated among his friends plans for ornamental gates with semi, oval and semicircular braces, and such gates {Jig. 496.) have now become general. Parker has directed his principal attention to the hangings and fastenings of gates ; and his forms of latches, hinges, ice, aa well as his turnpike-gates (Jig. 495. >, are also very general. 3080. The construction oj the gate is thus given by Waistell. The head (Jig. 493. a) and heel (b) are to - a ~^d be formed of oak, and the bars and braces of foreign fir. " If inferior materials are used, they may be made a little thicker, but the breadth should remain the same. - Si by B 9M. H 6 H H inches The heel of the gate to be about The head of ditto ... The top rail, or bar, vertical piece Ditto horizontal piece - - - - ij The bottom bar ...... ..31 The other four bars, and the four braces - - ~i : under B are taken in the direction of its thickness. Narrow and thick b.irs, when braced as in this design, are stronger thanbrottd and thin ones, containing the same quantity of timber, and they also oppose a less surface to the K k 2 5no SCIENCE OF AGRICULTURE. Part II wind. The two points in the heel of the gate, tr fixed point*, From these points, via. I and . fig. HH two braces proceed to 4 and Sin the middle of the bottom and top ban, and being there secured, these become Hxed points, and from these two points, viz. 4 and 3. twn braces proceed to ."> and 6, fixing those points. The gate is thus doubly braced, viz. from the top of the heel to the top ol the head, by means of the braces I, i, and 1, S ; and from the bottom of the heel to thrbcittoinoi the head, b] means of the braces, 2, 3, and 3, & On each side of the gate are two . ind those parallel to each other. The brace proceeding from the bottom of the heel of the gate, ,ni,l thai which is parallel to it, as also the bottom bar, an- all strained in the way ol compression ; and tl,,' brace proceeding from the top ol the heel, and the other brace which is parallel to it, and also the tO» liar, are all strained in the way of extension. The strains in this gate being none of them transverse, bul all longitudinal, it would support a vast weigh! at its bead, without having its form altered. All the braces serve the double purpose of keeping the gate in its due form, and of shortening the bearings of the bars and strengthening them. Few gates have less timber in their braces, and, perhaps, in no other way can a gate be so lirmh braced with SO small a quantity of timber. At .', 4, 7, and S, two braces and a bar Of the gate are final] screwed together, by means of iron pins and screw-nuts. At the other points, where only one brace cro«-i * a bar, common gate nails arc used. To resist the pressure of heavy cattle, a bar, or board, about six inches broad and one inch and a quarter thick, should belaid with its broad side upon the top bar see section at (' I, and fixed thereto by means of the ends of the braces in the middle, and by the bead and heel of the gate at the two ends of it This board will, in this position, resist about the same hori tontal pressure as a thick top bar three inches and a half square, although it contains little more than half the timber. It is necessary that the lower bars of a Held or fold gate should be sufficiently close to prevent pigs, lambs, ,\c. from getting through , but the distances between the upper bars should be greater, that it maybe constructed without either unnecessary wood or weight. In order, therefore, to arrange the bars so that the increase of their distances may be uniform, the following rule may be serviceable : — "The height between the bottom bar and the top bar being given, the position of the other four bars, or for any other number of bars, may be found ; thus, suppose a b the given height, to which the width of an inter. mediate bar is added, one half on the top bar, and the other half on thebot. j torn bar. One bar must always be J exactly in the middle between these two, as at c, to which the braces, at their crossing, are to be bolted. In this design another bar is required 3 between a and c, and two bars be- tween c and b ; that is, the whole distance, a b, is to be divided into five j parts, in a regular progression to each other. Draw any line, a d, and from a, set of}*, of any length, five equal divisions; from the second division ^.~v draw a line through c, in the direc- .;"">".-, tion e, and from the fifth division r.^r.yiSaSpSfc^ draw a line through b, also in the direction e, where the two lines will cross; then from the division 1, 3, and 4, draw other lines to e, the point last found, and where these lines cross, the line a b will be the position of the centres of the breadth of the other bars. From the centre of each bar, thus found, mark off half the length of each mortice, and whether the rails be of the same width as the mortices, or tenoned with an equal shoulder on their upper and lower edges, they will be all in a regular progression ; or, in numbers, if the distance a b be divided into 110 equal parts ; The First distance from B will be lfi of those parts "1 Second - - - - 18 - - . { 55 / Third 21 - - - - ) J- 110 Fourth - - - . 25 -.-■)„ \ Fifth 30 - - - - j J The progressive differences between the distances being 2, 3, 4, and 5, the three first being equal to the two last, and the whole equal to one hundred and ten. But if adjusted in the proportion of the following numbers, the whole height A B, being divided into thirty equal parts, the bars at the bottom of the gate will be a little closer: ■I'M a- <£.. As:'. - h~ sa..^"- The First distance - - - . . - *1 Second - - - - . - -5(15 Third fij Fifth - - 8J Fourth } 15 J These numbers have one as a common difference. If these rails have shoulders, and are pinned so as to draw them close to the head and heel, they will be better than without shoulders. The pins should not be exactly in the middle of the breadth of the head and heel, but nearer the inner edge, that the piece of wood between the pin-hole and the end of the rails may not be so liable to split out 3081, "On the hanging of gates. When gates are hung to open one way only, their heels and heads generally rest against the hanging and falling post, and are about six inches longer than the opening ; but when they are hung according to this design, gates may be made one foot shorter, or six inches less than the opening ; and, consequently, they are lighter, stronger, and less expensive. The heel may be three inches and a half from the hanging-post, and the bead two inches and a half from the falling post When the two hooks in the hanging-post are placed in the same perpendicular line, a gate, like a door, will rest in any position to which it may be opened ; but in order that a gate may shut itself when thrown open, the hook must not be in the same perpendicular line, and the farther they are out of it, the greater will be the force with which the gate will close. The following is a method of fixing the hooks and eyes, or thimbles, to answer this purpose : — Supposing the hanging-post to be set perpendicular, and that one side or face oftbe gate is intended to be in a line with one side of the posts, as shown in the engraving, t'ie centre of the upper hook may be two inches and a half from the inside, and one inch from the face of the post The centre of the eye, or thimble, for the upper hook, may be one inch from the heel, and one inch from the lace ol the gate. The centre of the lower book may lie an inch and a half from the inside, and half an inch from the face oftbe post. The eye for the lower hook may be two inches from the heel, and half an inch from the face, of the gate. The best way of fixing the hooks to wooden posts, is to have shoulders to keep them at the proper distance, and a screw and nut on the end which is to go into the post, to which thej should be tightly screwed. The eyes should have straps to go on each side of the heel, and along the bottom and top rails of the gate. The straps for the bottom eye may be about six inches long, with two holes for bolts ; one of the bolts to go through the middle of the heel, and the other through the bottom rail and brace. The straps to the top eye may be nine inches long, with three holes for bolts. Blocks being fitted in between the straps and the bars, the nuts are then screwed on the bolts. Eyes of this desci iption, which answered very well, have been made of cast iron ; the pins and screws of the hooks wereot wrought iron, the other part cast The position of a plane passing through the centre of each hook, is shown in the engraving (fig 494), by the dotted line A B on the plan. If the gate was opened to B, it Book IV. GATES APPROPRIATE TO AGRICULTURE. 501 would be at its highest elevation, and would have a tendency to fall either way until it arrives at A, when the head will be at its lowest descent If the gate be shut, the spur and catch prevent the head from fall- ing to its lowest position ; but the tendency it has to fall to A, is designed to assist in keeping the gate closed. The iron. work of the gate ought at least to be painted. If the whole of the gate be painted, the appearance is greatly improved ; and if, when painted, the wnod be quite dry, it will be likely to last longer. Gates, in close situations under trees, although painted, will sooner decay than gates not painted, in open and more exposed grounds ; and this circumstance has, perhaps, induced some persons to conclude that the paint, instead of the situation under trees, was injurious to the gates." 3082. Parker's co7>ipe7isation hinge for gates which are much in use {Jig. 495.) is an excellent corrective to their falling ; /°y all that is neces- sary, when the gate sinks at the head, is to screw it up by the nut («) till it regains its original posi- tion. For road and farm - yard gates the hinges are valuable parts of the construc- tion. 3083. A gate should be so hung as to have two falls ; one to the hanging-post, to make it catch, and the other to a point at right angle with the gateway, so as to keep it fully open. To effect this pur- pose, having set the post perpendicular, let a plumb-line be drawn upon it : on this line, at a proper height, place the hook, so that it may project three inches and a half from the face of the post ; and at a con. venient distance below this place the lower hook an inch ind a half to one side of the perpendicular line, and projecting two inches from the face of the post ; then place the top loop or eye two inches from the face of the hanging style, and the bottom loop three in' ties and a half: thus hung, the gate will have a tendency to shut in every position. A gate so hungwll have a tendency to shut in every position: because if the weight of the gate be represented by a diagonal line from the heel to the head, this, by the resolution of forces, is resolvable into other two li'nes, oi e perpendicular, and the other horizontal ; the former representing that part of the weight which presses in a perpendicular position, and the latter that part of the weight which presses in a horizontal direction, and gives the gate a tendency to shut. (Xurthumb. Rep. 63.) 3084. Gates are generally constructed of timber, and whatever kind may be used it is essential that it be well seasoned, as, without attention in this respect, they are soon de- ranged in their structure by the heat of the sun : they should also be well and correctly put together. Oak is undoubtedly the best sort of wood for the purpose, where dura- bility is the object ; though some of the lighter kinds of woods, as deal, willow, &c. will often last a great length of time, as, from their lightness, they are not so apt to destroy themselves. The lighter gates are made towards the head or opening part the better, provided they are sufficiently strong for the purpose they are to serve ; and on this account the top bars may, in many cases, as where horses are to be kept, be left con- siderably stronger than the others. If this is not done, they are liable to be broken by the animals rubbing their necks upon them, except where they are made very high. Gates are generally made eight and a half or nine feet in width, and from five to six feet in height ; the bars being three or four feet broad, and five or six in number. In particular instances a smaller bar is introduced between the two lower ones, in order to prevent small animals getting through. 3085. Iron, both hammered and cast metal, has long been in use for ornamental gates (Jig. 496. ), and has lately come into use in some districts for field gates. Their eligibility must depend on their price and durability witli relation to wood. At the ordinary prices of wrought iron and oak, they will be found of doubtful economy ; cast-iron gates are too heavy, and too liable to be broken, for agricultural purposes. 3086. The posts or pillars to which gates are attached should, in all convenient cases, be formed of stone ; as this material, when hewn and properly constructed, will last for ages. When formed of wood, oak and larch are the best sorts. The latter, where suit- K k 3 509 SCIENCE OP AGRICULTURE. II able, should be used without mooring the bark, "Inch lias been found to add greatly to their durability. In some places it is customary to plant trees for gate-posts, and aftu they have attained ■ certain size and thickness, to cut them over about ten feel above the surface: where the trees thrive, they form the most durable of all gate-posts ; in many instances, however, they fail, and much trouble is necessary to repair the defect. ' Where the DOStS are made of dead timber, they should always be strong, and the wood well prepared -. th.it part which is let into the earth should also be defended, by dipping it in coarse oil, or giving it a coat of pyrolignous liquor; and all that is above ground exposed to the action of the weather, should be well covered with one or two good coats of oil-paint. The expense of this preparation is but trifling, while the benefit ia very great 3087 The substance cf a gate-post, according to Parker, should be from eight toten inches smiare, or for v , . . ,,t iquare would not be too large. If made of still larger size.it is better, the iteadineas of a gate-post, he says, depends in a great measure upon the depth to winch it is set in the ground whirl, ought to lie nearly equal to its height. Five or six feet are, in general, fully sufficient : * ut the ,„ • kept in their places by a strong frame- work placed under the ground, extending between the po^s. 3088. The fastenings of gates, it is observed by Parker (Essay, &c. 1816.), are as various as the blacksmiths who construct them. The subject occupied his attention in connection with the hanging of gates, and he has introduced various improved forms. One of the most secure (fig. 497.) is a spring-latch (a), opened by a lever (6) which works in a groove in the upper bar of the gate, and therefore cannot be rubbed open by cattle, while, by means of a knob at the end of the lever, and rising up against the top of the upright bar (c), so that cattle cannot touch it, it is very easily opened by persons on horseback with or without a stick or whip. SOS!) A simple, economical, and effective spring-latch consists of a bolt (Jig. 498 a.), which is loose, and plays freely in two morticed openings in the ,Cl 497 b i 9\ ) ( 498 3091. upright bars, and is kept in place by a spring (6). The gate may be shut from either side, when the bar, striking against the projection (c) on the falling-post, is pushed back, till, arriving at the mortice (e), the spring (/)) forces it in, and the gate is shut securely. Such a gate is easily opened by a rider. This is a good latch for the common field gates of a tana. 3090. For gates of an ornamentalkind, Par- ker says, he does not know a better latch than the crooked lever [Jig. 499.) now in com- mon use. The reversed latch ( fig. 5C0.) is one of the latest improvements in this department, and is par- ticularly suitable tor the gates in a gentleman's park. On the edge of Kn _ the head of the gate a pin t,a) is j0(J screwed ; and on the falling post a plate containing two latches (b c) turn- ing on pivots. Whichever way the gate is opened, if left to shut itself, or if shut by force, it easily passes within the one latch, and is retained between that and the other. Taking it alto- gether, this is one of the cheapest and best field-gate latches. Where a gate opens only on one side, the latch plate mav be made of one half the size, and with only one of the latches, according to the side on which the gate opens. A contrivance of this sort is in use at some of the pleasure-ground gates at Bretton Hall, near Barnsley, Yorkshire, and is found very cfhcacious and satis- fartnrv There are also some very handsome iron gates at i.t residence, which, with the latch stopper alluded to, will be found figured and described in the Gardener s Maga- zine, vols. vi. and vii. .. , tr \ Kni and ^O" \ according to the particular 3092. Gate* of Afferent hnds (Jigs. 501. and ^.Jjccc m jg ^^i _ ^ ^ principal sorts made use of are, the swing gate, the fold- ing gate, the slip-bar gate, and the wicket and turn-about rises nine inches., a diagonal bar through which gate. The improved siring gate 4 of tiie northern counties is well - adapted for agricultural purposes. There is a projection on the tore- Dart of the hanging style, which k, on which.thelowerendof thc_diag ? naM«r, c Pass,, ; ^ the three middle horizontal bars pass. durable pate, and its construction, hanging, and principle of operation, are country carpenters and hedgen of those parts. well understood" among the Book IV. GATES APPROPRIATE TO AGRICULTURE. 303 *{ (^ n n n " Jl 1— — 1 j i ^^ ■ • ^--^ J^ " ^ """ _^z * • p — «j J 1 1 1 • Li * o U 3094. /« Parker's improved siring gate, the diagonal bar rising from the lower part of the heel of the gate meets the middle of the rail, and the two upright bars are placed at proper distances between the middle and the head of the gate : 503 [— -j these cross bars must, he thinks, assist very much in keeping the gate together ; but what is most to be guarded against is its sink- ing at the head, to prevent winch this gate is, he says, well con- trived. 3095. Menteatlfsfield-gatr {fig. 503.) is a very light and strong form, and at the same time no' expensive. When the head sinks, it is raised by the simple opera- tion of applying a larger washer between the key-wedge, which retains the hook of the upper part of the heel (a), and the hang. — ing-post. The fastening latch is protected from the rubbing of cattle by a recess in the falling-post (b). Gates of this description are generally made in Scotland of pine or fir timber, or what is called foreign plank or deal. Mr. Menteath has the good fortune to possess on his own estates extensive plantations of pine planted by himself, and already affording an ample supply for gates and other purposes. We have already adverted to his mode of rendering this timber more durable by steeping it in lime-water ; the same process will also render it less liable to warp when applied to the construction of gates. In England, when gates are to be painted or tarred, they are generally made of pine or fir; when ?.- not to be painted, of oak. 3096. Hunter of Thurston's economienl field-gate (fix- 504.) is said to be very light and durable. The hanging-post is held in its place by one or two coarse props of wood («), and when it can be got, by a large stone (b). The inventor gives the following Description and " With theexceptionof a small spar for lambs, all parts of the above gate taper regularly from four inches to three inches in breadth, and from one and a quarter to three quarters in thickness, but any other proportions may be adopted. "It is not placed between the posts, but on the face of the hanging-post. " The hinges are not near any joinings of the wood. " Each part of the under hinge is one inch and a half longer than the upper ; and the upper shortens by means of a screw and nut. "The gate is divided into four parts, of which the diagonal embraces two." 505 Advantages. " This makes the gate as light as possible, with- out diminishing its strength ; and, by bending, it will save the risk of breaking, like the reed in the fable. " This causes it to fall back on the hedge when open, so that a cart cannot strike it. " This gate will not rot at the hinges. " It will either open or shut of itself, except when three quarters open ; and, if the point should droop, the upper hinge will take it up ; and it pre- vents the joining of the upper bar at the head of the heel (c) from separating. " The gate being ten feet by four, this is probably the best angle for a diagonal ; and it hardly requires a nail to keep it in its place." {Quart. Journ. Agr. vol. ii.) 3097. The improved park-gate {fig. 505.) deserves to be more generally adopted, particularly in the fields near gentlemen's houses, where there is much inter- course. Much of the excellence of this gate depends on the manner in which it is hung, and the following improved mode of hanging is given in the Quarter!!) Journal of Agriculture. " The upper hinge {a a), fixed on the topmost bar of the gate, is formed with a band or crook in the common manner, and is re- ceived into the socket of the hinge (6), which may either be fixed in the post by lead, or continued through it, and fixed with a screw-nut. The advantages of forming the upper hinge to move in a socket are, 1. That, while space is given it to play, it is firmly sup- ported in its place ; '-'. That the means are afforded of causing it to move smoothly at all times, by pouring a little oil into the socket. The lower hinge is formed on the principle of affording two pivots, or points of support, to the lower part of the gate. It consists of two iron plates, placed horizontally at the distance from each other of three eighths of an inch, the upper of which {d) is fixed to the post, and the lower (c) to the gate. From the underside of the upper plate project two cylindrical knobs of iron, placed perpendicularly. These are received into the upper plate c, so that the gate rests upon the two upright pieces of iron as pivots. The gate when shut, has thus three distinct points , of support, namely, the socket of the upper hinge, and the two ower pivots, the*™ °* ?>»< f ' , * ' the base of an isosceles triangle. From this construction, il 501 SCIENCE OF AGUICUI/lUrtK. II. tend to regain ili.it perpendicular position in which alone it is In a state of equilibrium. The upper hinge should, therefore, be placed on the highest bar of tin- gate The distance between the centra ofthe two cylindrical knobs of iron on d ma) in- 5 inches, which will be found sufficient to give a strong impetus to the gate to (hut Itself. The power of ■ rate to .-.hut itself, in all cases, is a certain advantage, even where held- aie in a COUIM Of constant Cultivation, and a very obvious advantage where they arc kept chiefly in gr.i>s There is no providing, in nrdin.irv ca.-os, against the carelessness of persons, who will rather Ua\c a gate open than undergo the little labour required to shut it. There is an apparent ob- jection. Indeed, to this species ol gate, » hich Is, thai each time a cart or waggon passes, the gate must not only hi' opened, but held open until the carriage has passed. The Inconvenience, however, from tins ot so groat in |'ii' ticc a- might lie supposed. It >- very rare that farm horses will not ohey the voice of the driver, and pass N bile he hold- the gate open with his hand. Where the gate must he kept constantly open, as when there i- a leading of corn or hay from the field, or of manure te 't. it can either he prnpjwd back b] a si >ne, or removed from the hinges, and laid aside till wanted; or ill inconvenience of this nature may he obviated effectually, by sinking a stone in the ground, and nxing to it a simple hook or latch, to which the gate ni.iv he attached when opened, " Tin- Intel* of a tint,- qj lAji/Wnd mustbemadeto open with as little force as possible To this end, the spring e' , two feet in length, is fixed nearly at right angles to the piece of iron /), which passes through the head of the gate, and is attached to the handle by a joint or hinge fixed to the handle g , while the handle itsell is attached t" the hack of the head by a similar joint. The notch in the hori- zontal plate, lor the reception of the spring, must be in the plane of a perpendicular from the upper binge" 3099. The dimension* of this gate are as follow: — "There arc five horizontal, one diagonal, and four upright b.irs The hindmost of the latter, or, as it is generally called, the heel, is 4 inches by 3, and the foremost, or head, 3 inches square. Into these are mortised the extremities of the hori- zontal bars. The uprights, or braces, consist of pieces of plank nailed to one side of the gate, 3 inches hy ]}. The diagonal, from the lower end of the head to the upper end ofthe heel, is of thesame dimensions, and is nailed to the opposite side of the gate. The heel rises a font above the upper bar, the other uprights fi inches above it, and all of them project about 4 inches below the lower bar, which again is 6 inches from the ground. The horizontal bars taper from the heel to the head, being 2% inches square at their junction with the former, and 2J inches at their junction with the latter. They may be bevelled a little at top. The length ofthe gate, including the breadth of the head and heel, is |i feet ; the height over the hars .; feel 9 inches ; the distance between the heel and the pillar 5 inches; ami between the head and the pillar 3 inches. The plate for receiving the spring ofthe latch is 11 inches in horizontal breadth." 3100. The best species of post or pillar" is a single stone of granite, greenstone, or any ofthe harder rocks. In this case, instead of fixing the bands of the hinges into the stone, by running them in with lead, they should he carried through to the opposite side, and fixed hy a holt or screw-nut When wood is used for posts, any coarse kind, whether fir or hard wood, which is unfit for other useful purposes, may be employed. For the gate itself, the best Memel timber only should be used. Spruce is liable to break, and larch to warp ; and Scotch pine, it is well known, when exposed to the weather, is one of the least durable of the pine tribe. All the mortises of the gate, and the parts at which the uprights and diagonal cross the bars, should be carefully coated with white lead ; and when the parts of the gate are joined together, the whole should afterwards receive two coats of paint Gates of Memel wood, constructed on these principles, and with these precautions, have been known to last for thirty years, without repair, or tending to trail upon the ground. Expense in all 21. 7s." (Quar. Jour. Agr. vol i. p. 727.) 3101. The tresscl-bar gate (Jig. 506.) consists ot two liars, one hung by a few links to each gate-post, and in the middle of the opening, where the bars meet, they are supported by two legs, like a tressel, and may be padlocked, or fastened by a pin and a few links, &c. In the promenade at Florence such gates are made use of to close the larger car- riage openings. 3102. The slip-bar gate is, perhaps, the most durable of any, especially where the gate-posts are of stone, with proper openings left for the reception of the bars. The only objection that can possibly be made to the slip-bar gate is the trouble of open- ing and shutting, which, when servants or others are passing through it in a hurry, occasions its being frequently left open. In other respects, it is preferable to every other description of gate, both in the Original cost, and greater durability. It is to be noticed, however, that upon the verge of a farm or estate, especially where it is hounded by a high road, the slip-bar gate will not answer, as it does not admit of being locked or secured m the same way as other gates ; but in the interior of a farm or estate, it will he found the cheapest sort of gate. 310 i. The chained slip-bar gate, though more expensive, is not liable to the same objections as the last Here the bars arc connected by a chain down the middle ofthe gate, and therefore, if one bar is padlocked to the post, none of them can lie moved till that one is unlocked. •3104. The turn-about, or wicket-gate, is only used in cases where there is a necessity for leaving an entry for the people employed to pass backwards and forwards. This purpose it answers very well, and at the same time keeps the field completely enclosed, as it requires no trouble to shut it in the time of passing. 3105, The double, or folding gate (jfig. . r >ii7.\ is considered hy some to be much more durable than those ofthe swing kind; because the hars, from being only half the length, render the joints of the gate not so liable to be broken, or the hinges to be hurt hy straining. On the other hand, such gates require more time and attention in the opening and shutting, and the latter operation is troublesome to perform, when both halves have fallen at the head. These gates are not, therefore, in such general use in agriculture as the swing kind; but they are common as gates to parks, and other scenes of dignity and ornament fl. Clarke's window-tosh gate Jig. 508. ia a recent invention, which may be of use in some cases, hilly in farm-yards. It is suspended by two weights, and opens aud shuts exactly on the principle ofthe window-sash. The weights may he of stone or cast iron, and the pulleys are of iron and nine inches in diameter. It was applied in the first instance to a cattle-court ; but has since been erected in different situations. Its advantages the inventor considers to be the following: — It is easy to open (b), or shut (a) ; remains in whatever situation it is placed : is not liable to be beaten to pieces hy the action ofthe wind ; shuts always perfectly close, whatever be the height of the straw or dung in the court or gateway ; a cart may be driven quite close on either side before opening; is perfectly out of the way when fully open, and not liable to shut on what is passing; the gate bottom not liable to decay by being immersed in the dung, as is commonly the case with cattle-court gates; not liable to go out of order; may be erected in a hollow place, where a swinging gate could not open either outwardly or inwardly ; and is likely to be more durable than ordinary gates. A small gate of this description (Jig. 509.) is said, by I.asteyric (Col. dc Machines, 8[C.) to have been long in use hy the Dutch. 3106. espec Book IV. GATES, STILES, AND BRIDGES. 505 509 3107. Parker's sympathetic park-gate {Jig. 510.) is an ingenious contrivance, by which, on the approach of a carriage, the gate opens apparently by its own volition, and closes again after the carriage has passed through, without any apparent cause. The manner in which this extraordinary effect is intended tobe pro- duced L by small plates let into the ground at short distances from the gate, and when the carriage wheels roll over them, they are made to descend like a weighing machine, and to act upon certain levers concealed in a trunk under the road, by means of which a toothed wheel is made to revolve, and to turn a toothed pinion affixed to the swinging-post or axle of the gate, and hence to throw it open or close it (Newton's Journal, vol. xiv. p. 225.) In an agricultural point of view, this gate is of no use ; but as a curiosity it is worth noticing, and perhaps in the drives or ridings in somt pleasure-grounds and parks it might be worth executing. In England it might save the tax on a groom, and in America and Australia it might be as good as a helper, which, for such aids as opening gates are not very easy to be found. 3108. Stiles are contrivances for man to pass over or through fences, without the risk of even permitting the larger quadrupeds to accompany or follow lum. There are many forms perfectly well known every where: as by steps over a wall ; by a zig-zag passage, formed by stakes, through a hedge or paling ; a turning-bar or turnstile, &c. 31C9. The stile of falling bars (fig. 511.) is chiefly used in pleasure-grounds, or between paddocks ; 511 it consists of bars, light at one end (a) and heavy at the other (ft), with concealed joints or pivots, in an upright post (c) placed nearer one end of the bars than the other. Then, while the weight of the short ends of the bars keeps them in a fencible position, a slight pressure on the other end will form a passage ( become crooked byirregular advances in the digging, it is th us increased in length, and necessarily diminished in capacity, unless, indeed, the dug ground is allowed to assume an uneven surface, which is an equally great fault. Digging for pulverisation, and itiixing in manures, is last performed in dry weather; but for the purposes of aeration, a degree Of moisture and tenacity in the soil is more favourable for laying it up in lumps or entire pieces. The usual length of the blade of the spade is from ten inches to a foot ; but as it is always inserted somewhat obliquely, the depth of pulverisation attained by simple digging seldom exceeds nine inches, and in breaking up linn grounds it is seldom so much. 3124. Shovelling is merely the lifting part of digging, and the shovel, being broader than the spade, is used to lift up fragments separated by that implement or the pick. 3125. Marking with the line is an operation preparatory to some others, and consists ir. stretching and fixing the line or cord along the surface, by means of its attached pins or stakes, in the direction or position desired, and cutting a slight continuous notch, mark, or slit, in the ground, along its edge, with the spade. 3126. Trenching is a mode of pulverising and mixing the soil, or of pulverising and changing its surface, to any greater depth than can be done by the spade alone. For trenching with a view to pulverising and changing the surface, a trench is formed like the furrow in digging, but twice or three times as wide and deep ; the plot or piece to be trenched is next marked off with the line into parallel strips of this width; and, begin- ning at one of these, the operator digs or picks the surface stratum, and throws it in the bottom of the trench. Having completed with the shovel the removal of the surface stratum, a second, and a third, or fourth, according to the depth of the soil and other circumstances, are removed in the same way ; and thus, when the operation is completed, the position of the different strata is exactly the reverse of what it was before. In trenching with a view to mixture and pulverisation {fig. 512.), all that is necessary is to open, at one corner of the plot, a trench or excavation of the desired depth, three or four feet broad, and six or eight feet long. Then proceed to fill this excavation from one end by working out a similar one. In this way proceed across the piece to be trenched, and then return, and so on in parallel courses to the end of the plot, observing that the face or position of the moved soil in the trench must always be that of a slope, in order that whatever is thrown there may be mixed, and not deposited in regular layers as in the other case. To effect this most completely, the operator should always stand in the bottom of the trench, and first picking down and mixing the materials, from the solid side (a), should next take them up with a shovel, or throw them on the slope or face of the moved soil v 6), keeping a distinct space of two or three feet between the sides. For want of attention to this, in trenching new soils for plantations, or other purposes, it may be truly said that half the benefit derivable from the operation is lost. In general in trenching, those points which were mentioned under digging, such as turning, break- ing, dunging, &c. required to be attended to, and sometimes an additional object — that of producing a level from an irregular surface — is desired. In this case double care is requisite, to avoid forming subterraneous basins or hollows, which might retain water in the substratum, at the bottom of the moved soil, and also to mix inferior with better soil, &c. where it becomes requisite to penetrate into depositions of inferior earthy matters. The removal of large stones, rocks, or roots, from ground trenched for the first time, will be treated of under Improvement of Lands lying waste. (Book III. Chap. IV.) 3127. Ridging is a mode of finishing the surface, applicable either to dug or trenched grounds, which, when so finished, are called ridge-dug or ridge-trenched. Instead of being formed with an even surface, ridged grounds are finished in ridges or close ranges of parallel elevations, whose sections are nearly equilateral triangles. Hence, supposing the triangles to touch at their bases, two thirds more surface will be exposed to the influence of the atmosphere and the weather, than in even surfaces. 3128. Forking. The fork is composed of two or three separate, parallel, and uniform wedges, joined so as to form one general blade, which is acted on like the spade, by means of a shoulder or hilt for thrusting it into th? matters to be forked, and a lever or handle Book V. LABOURS OF THE SIMPLEST KIND. 509 for separating and lifting them. Forking is used for two purposes ; for pulverising the soil among growing crops, and for moving vegetable substances, such as faggots of wood, sheaves of corn, hay, manure, &c. In the first case the operation is similar to diggin", the only difference being that pulverisation is more attended to than reversing the surface • in the other, the fork separates chiefly by drawing and lifting ; hence, for this purpose, a round-pronged or (dung) fork produces least friction during the discharge of the forkful and reinsertion, and a broad-pronged fork separates and lifts the soil more readily. Dry weather is essentially requisite in forking soils, and most desirable for spreading manures, but dunghills may be turned during rain with no great injury. 3129. Dragging out dung or earth is performed by the dung-drag, and is adopted in the case of distributing dung from a cart in regular portions or little heaps over a field. When lime in a state of pulverisation, earth, or sand, is to be distributed in the same way, a scraper or large hoe is used; and sometimes, for want of these, the dung-drag, aided by the spade or common hoe. 3130. Hand-hoeing is performed by drawing or thrusting the wedge or blade of the draw or thrust hoe along the surface of the soil, so as to cut weeds at or under the surface, and slightly to pulverise the soil. It is used for four purposes, sometimes together, but in general separately : first, to loosen weeds or thin out plants, so that those hoed up may die for want of nourishment, or be gathered or raked off, for which pur- pose either the thrust or draw hoe may be used ; the second, to stir the soil, and for this purpose, when no weeds require killing, the pronged hoe is preferable, as being thrust deeper with less force, and as less likely to cut the roots of plants ; the third is to draw up or accumulate soil about the stems of plants, for which purpose a hoe with a large blade or shovel will produce most effect ; and the fourth is to form a hollow gutter or drill in which to sow or insert the seeds of plants, for which a large or small draw-hoe may be used, according to the size of the seeds to be ^13 buried. The use of the hoe for any of the above pur- poses requires dry weather. 3131. Hoeing between rows of crops is somtimes performed by what is called a hoe-plough, which is a small plough having a share with double tins, drawn by one man, and pushed by another. It is in use in India, and is sold in London under the name of the Indian hoe-plough, but it is more for the exercise of amateurs on free soils than for useful culture. In this way a master may exercise both himself and his valet, and clear his potatoes or turnip crop at the same time. The Dutch have a hoe (fig. 513.) which is drawn and pushed at the same time, for the purpose of cleaning walks, or scraping turf or mud from roads or court-yards. 3132. Hand-raking is performed by drawing through the surface of the soil, or over it, a series of small equidistant wedges or teeth, either with a view to minute pul- verisation, or to collecting herbage, straw, leaves, stones, or such other matters as do not pass through the interstices of the teeth of the rake. The teeth of the rake being placed nearly at right angles to the handle, it follows that the lower the handle is held in performing the operation, the deeper will be the pulverisation, when that is the object ; and, on the contrary, that the higher it is held, the interstices being lessened, the fewer extraneous matters will pass through the teeth. The angle at which the handle of the rake is held must therefore depend on the object in view ; the medium is forty-five degrees. For all raking, dry weather is essentially requisite ; and, for raking hay, the angle which the handle of the rake makes with the ground's surface ought to be fifty degrees. 3133. Scraping may be described as the drawing of a large broad blunt hoe along the surface, for the pin-pose of collecting loose excrementitious or other useless or in- jurious matters from roads, yards, or from grassy surfaces to be rolled or mown. The Dutch hoe (Jig. 513.) is a good road and lawn scraper. 3134. Sweeping is a mode of scraping with a bundle of flexible rods, twigs, or wires, which enters better into the hollows of irregular surfaces, and performs the operation of cleaning more effectually. In agriculture it is used in barns and in stables, though shovelling is generally sufficient for the common stable and ox-house. 3135. Screening, or sifting, earth or gravel, is an operation performed with the gravel- sieve or earth screen, for separating the coarser from the finer particles. The materials require to be dry, well broken, and then thrown loosely on the upper part of the screen, which, being a grated inclined plane, in sliding down it, the smaller matters drop through while the large ones pass on and accumulate at the bottom. In sifting, the same effect is more completely, but more laboriously, produced, by giving the sieve a circular motion with the arms. 3136. Gathering is a very simple operation, generally performed by women and children, as in taking up potatoes or other roots, or picking up stones, weeds, or other matters considered injurious to the surface on which they lie or grow. 3137. Cleaning roots or other matters is generally performed by washing, and, on 510 SCIENCE OF AGRICULTURE. Part IE •i large scale, by the root-washing macbiue, which has already been described, together with the mode of using it. 3138. Various manual labours and operations might be added ; such as slicing turnips; chopping them with the chopping-hoe (2572.) in the fields; cutting straw or hay into chaff; bruising beans nr other grain, or whins, or thistles, between rollers; pushing a drill-harrow, \c. ; all which require only bodily exertion, with very little skill, being performed by the aid of machines, which, in describing, we have also indicated the mode of working. (3537. to 2583.) Sect. III. Agricultural Operations with Plants, SIS9. Agricultural operations with the vegetable kingdom rank higher than those with the soil or machines, as requiring not only strength, but some of them a considerable degree of skill. 3140. Weeding, however simple an operation, requires a certain degree of botanical skill to know what to weed or extract. These are such plants as it is not desired to cul- tivate. The operation is performed in various ways ; by the hand simply ; by the hand, aided by a broad-pointed knife, 01 a bit of iron hoop ; by the hand, aided by gloves tipped with iron; by pincers, as in weeding tall weeds from growing corn, or close- hedges, or out of water; and by the aid of forks, spuds, or other weeding-tools. In weeding, it is essential that the weeder know at sight the plants to be left from such as arc to be removed, which in agriculture is generally a matter of no difficulty, as, how- ever numerous the weeds, the cultivated plants are but few. In weeding ferns, thistles, nettles, &c. from pasture lands, it has been found that breaking or bruising them over renders the roots much less liable to spring again the same season, than cutting or even pulling them up. For this sort of weeding the pincers seem well adapted. 3141. Thinning or reducing the number of plants on any surface is sometimes per- formed by hand, but most generally with the hoe. Thinning, to be perfectly performed, ought to leave the plants at regular distances ; but as this can seldom be done, owing to the irregularity with which seeds come up, whether sown in drills or broadcast, an attempt to compensate the irregularity is made by a similar irregularity in the distances allowed between the plants at such places. Thus, if turnips in rows are to be thinned out to nine inches' distance in the row, and a blank of eighteen inches or two feet occurs, the last two plants on each side of the blank may be left at half the usual distance, or less, by which means each plant having ample room on one side, they will grow nearly as large as if left at the usual distance. The same principle is to be attended to in thinning broadcast crops, or trees in a plantation. Thinning may be performed in moist weather ; rut dryness is greatly to be preferred, especially where the hoe is used. 3142. Planting is the operation of inserting plants in the soil with a view to their growth, and the term is also applied to the insertion of seeds, roots, or bulbs, when these are inserted singly. 3143. Ptaiitiiifr, as applied to seeds and tubers, as beans, potatoes, &c. is most frequently performed in drills, but sometimes also by making separate holes with the dibber. In either case, the seeds or sets are deposited singly at regular distances, and covered by raking or harrowing, with or without pressure, according to the greater or less looseness of the soil, and to its dryness or moisture. In general, planting seeds or tubers in drills, or in single openings made by a draw-hoe or spade, is greatly preferable to planting with the dibber; because, in the latter case, the earth can seldom be placed in close and somewhat firm contact with the seed or set, — a circumstance essential to its speedy germination and vigorous future growth. 3144. Planting, as applied to plants already originated, is commonly termed trans- planting. Transplanting may be considered as involving four things: first, the pre- paration of the soil to which the plant is to be removed; secondly, the removal of the plant; thirdly, its preparation; and, fourthly, its insertion in the prepared soil. Pre- paration of the soil implies, in all cases, stirring, comminution, and mixing; and some- times the addition of manure or compost, according to the nature of the soil and plants to be inserted The removal of the plant is generally effected by loosening the earth around it, and then drawing it out of the soil with the hand; in all cases avoiding, as much as possible, to break or bruise, or otherwise injure, the roots. In the case of small seedling plants, merely inserting the spade, and raising the portion of earth in which they grow, will suffice ; but, in removing large plants, it is necessary to dig a trench round, or on one side of, the plant. In some cases, the plant may be lit ted with a ball or mass of earth, containing all or great part of its roots; and in others, as in the case of large shrubs or trees, it may be necessary to open the soil around them a year previously to their removal, and cut the larger roots at a certain distance from the plant, in order that they may throw out fibres to enable them to support the operation of transplantation. By two years' previous preparation, and the use of a machine to be afterwards described, very large trees of such kinds as stole may be removed ; but resinous trees seldom succeed. Book V. OPERATIONS WITH PLANTS. 511 3145. The preparation of the plant consists in pruning its roots and top, or shoots. In the smallest seedlings, such as cahbage-plants and thorns, all that is necessary is to shorten a little the tap or main root ; but in seedlings of trees two or three years old or in transplanted or large trees, several of the side shoots will require to be shortened, and also the roots, always proportioning what is taken off the top or shoots, to what has been taken from the root, that the latter may be duly fitted to support the former. 3146. The insertion of the removed plant in the prepared soil is performed bv makin" an excavation suitable to the size of the plant's root, inserting it therein, filling up the interstices with fine earth, and then compressing the whole by the hand, dibber, foot, or, what is best, by abundant watering. Plants should not be inserted deeper in the soil than they were before removal ; they should be placed upright, and the same side should be turned towards the sun as before ; the fibrous roots should be distributed equally round the stem among the mould or finer soil ; and the most difficult and important part of the whole is to compress the earth about the roots without crowding them or injuring them by bruises. The only effectual way of attaining this end is, after carefully spreading the fibres, and distributing them as equally as possible among the mould, to give abundant waterings, holding the vessel from which the water is poured as high as pos- sible, so as to consolidate the earth by that means, rather than by compression with the foot. On an extensive scale, however, this cannot be done, and in planting seed- lings or cuttings it is not required, as these have few and short fibres, and may be firmed sufficiently by the planting instrument or the foot. It should never be for- gotten that, in all planting, it is an essential point to have the earth firmly compressed to the roots, and especially to the lower parts or extremities. Any one may be con- vinced of this, by planting one cabbage loosely, and compressing the root of another well with the dibber at the lower part ; or, instead of a cabbage, try a cutting, say of gooseberry, elder, or vine : both no doubt will grow, but the growth of the plant or cutting compressed at the lower extremity will be incomparably more vigorous than that of the other. 3147. Watering becomes requisite for various purposes: as aliment to plants in a growing state ; as support to newly transplanted plants ; for keeping under insects ; and keeping clean the leaves of vegetables. One general rule must be ever kept in mind during the employment of water ; that is, never to water the top or leaves of a plant when the sun shines. A moment's reflection will convince any one that this rule is agreeable to the laws of nature, for during rain the sun's rays are intercepted by a screen of fog or clouds. All artificial watering, therefore, should be carried on in the evening, or early in the morning, unless it be confined to watering the roots ; in which case, transplanted plants, and others in a growing state, may be watered at any time ; and, if they are shaded from the sun, they may also be watered over their tops. 3148. Sou-ing is the operation of dispersing seeds over the surface of the soil, with a view to their future vegetation and growth. "Where seeds are deposited singly, they are said to be planted, as in the case of dibbling wheat or beans ; where they are dropped in numbers together, they are said to be sown. When dropped in numbers together in a line, they are said to be drilled or sown in a row ; and when scattered over the general surface by the hand, they are said to be sown broadcast. 3149. In broadcast-soicing, the operator being furnished with a basket (fig- 525.), or sneerful of seed hanging on his left side, takes out a handful with his right hand, and disperses it by a horizontal and rather rising movement of the arm to the extent of a semicircle, gradually opening his hand at the same time. The most usual practice, when land is laid up in ridges of equal breadth, and not too wide, as five or six yards, is that of dispersing the seed regularly over each land or ridge, in once walking round ; the seedsman, by different casts of the hand, sowing one half in going, and the other in returning. In doing this, it is the custom of some seedsmen to fill the hand from the basket or bag, which they carry along with them, as they make one step forward, and disperse the seed in the time of performing the next ; while others scatter the seed, or make their casts, as they are termed by farmers, in advancing each step. It is evident, therefore, that, in accomplishing this business with regularity and exactness, there is con- siderable difficulty, the proper knowledge and habit of which can only be acquired by experience. It is consequently of importance for the cultivator to perform the opera- tion himself, or to be careful in selecting such persons as are conversant with the business, as he may otherwise incur much unnecessary expense in the waste of seed, and run con- siderable risk in respect of his crops. 3150. Sawing. The saw is a conjoined series of uniform wedges, which, when drawn or thrust in succession across a branch or trunk, gradually wear it through. In perform- ing the operation, the regularity of the pressure and motion are chiefly to be attended to. In green or li\e shoots, the double-toothed saw lessens the friction on the sides of the plate, by opening a large channel for its motion. Where parts are detached from living trees, the living section ought generally to be smoothed over with a knife, chisel, 5)'2 SCIENCE OF AGIUCri.TURE. Part II. or file; and a previous precaution in large bees is to cut a notch in the lower part Hi' the branch immediately under ami in the line of the section, in order to prevent ant accident to the bark) when the amputated part tails oil'. Sawing is a coarser mode of cutting, mowing, or Bhaving; or a finer mode of raking, in which the teeth follow all in one line. 3151. Cutting is performed by means of a very sharp wedge, and either hv drawing this through obliquely or across the body to he cut, as in using the knife; or by pressing or striking the axe or hedge-bill obliquely into the body, first on one side of an imaginar y line of section, and then on the other, so as to work out a trench across the branch or trunk, and so effect its separation. The axe, in gardening, is chiefly used in felling trees, and for separating their trunks, hranehes, and roots, into parts. The knife is extensively used for small trees, and the hedge-hill and chisel for those of larger sue. In amputating with the knife, one operation or draiv-cut ought generally to be sutlieient to separate the parts; and this ought to be made with the knife suf- ficiently sharp, and the motion so quick as to produce a clean smooth section, with the bark uninjured. 3152. Every draw-cut produces a smooth section, and a fractured or bruised section ; and one essential put of cutting living vegetables, is to take care that the fractured section be on the part amputated. Another desirable object is, that the section of the living or remaining part should be so inclined (Jig. M4. a), as not to lodge water or overflowing sap, and so far turned to the ground (u».c- of w I. 3205. Hedging and ditching, the operation of making and mending fences and open water-courses of the different kinds already enumerated, consists of the combined application <>t" digging, shovelling, cutting, clipping, and faggoting, described in this section and the two foregoing. 3206. Faggoting i> a term applied to the dressing or binding of the primings or superfluous branches and spray of hedges. The bundles are made of different sizes in different parts «>(' the country, and in the same place according to the purpose to which they are to be applied. They are tied with willow, hazel, or some other pliable wood, twisted before application. 7. Stacking wood for fuel occurs in the practice of common agriculture when hedges and pollard trees or tree-roots are stoeked or dug up. The wood, whether roots or trunk, is cut into lengths of from eighteen inches to two feet with a saw, then split with iron wedges into pieces of not more than an inch and a half, or two inches in diameter, and built into an oblong stack generally three feet broad and higb, and six feet long. 3'208. Stacking wood for burning, stewing far tar or pyrolignous acid, charring, and similar purposes, are peculiar to forest culture, and will be treated of in the proper place. See Tart 111. or Index.) i. Paring and burning is the process of paring off the surface of lands in a state of grass, in order to prepare them for arable culture by means of fire. In the method of performing the process there is some slight difference in different districts, and an attention to the nature of the lands is as necessary as in other husbandry oper- ations. It would seem that some soils, as those of the more clayey and heavy kinds, would be most benefited by having the lire as much as possible in contact with the whole of their superficial parts, without being carried too far, as by that means they may be rendered more proper for the reception of the roots of vegetables after being slightly ploughed, as well as more suitable for supplying nourishment to them ; while in others, as those of the more light and thin description, it might be most advantageous merely to consume the thin paring of sward after being piled up for the purpose, without per- mitting the fire to exert its influence upon the mould or soil immediately below, as in this way there would not probably be so much danger of injuring the staple by destroy- ing the vegetable matters contained in such soils. Of course, in the first of these modes of burning the sward, the sods or parings should be piled up as little as possible into heaps, the advantage of a suitable season being taken to apply the fire to them in the state in which they lie or are set at first after being cut up, or after a few only have In, n placed together, as in some instances where they are, immediately after being cut, set on edge to dry. and placed in serpentine directions in order to prevent them from falling over. In the latter cases they should be formed or built up into little circular heaps or piles, somewhat in the form and size of the little cocks made in hay-fields, the sods being placed the grass-side downwards, in order to admit air ; but the openings both at the bottoms and tops, after they have been fully set on fire by some combustible substance, such as straw, &c, are to be closed up, and those in other parts covered by an addition of sods, so that the combustion may proceed in a slow smothering manner, as practised in the making of charcoal. When the whole of the earth in each of the piles has been acted upon by the fire, the heaps may be suffered to extinguish themselves by slowly burning out. .'5210. A variety of this operation, called skirting or peat-burning, is practised In Devonshire and Corn- wall, for breaking up and preparing grass lands tor the reception of fallow crops. A part of the sward or surface is alternately left unturned, upon which the next thin furrow slice is constantly turned, so that tii.' sward* of each come in contact, by which means the putrefactive fermentation is speedily excited, and the greatest part of the grassy vegetable matter converted into manure. What ultimately remains undestroyed being, after repeated cross-cuttings with the plough and harrowings, collected into small be tps and burnt, the ashes are then spread evenly over the land. 3811. With respect to the implement* user/ in paring, different kinds are made use of in different parts of the island : that winch was the most employed in llic infancy Of the art, was a kind of curved mattock or adze, about seven or eight inches ill length, and five or six" in breadth ; and which, from its shape, would appear to have been better adapted for cutting up the roots of brushwood, furze, broom, or other ■ i.ar-e shrubs, than for paring oil' the surface nl a Geld free from such incumbrances. Where the sod ij pared oil by manna! labour, thi' ordinary breast-spade, in some places called the breast-plough, and in Scotland the flaughtcr-spade, is mostly employed, in working the tool, the labourer generally cuts the sods at about an inch or an inch and a half thick, and from 'en to twelve inches broad; and when the spade has run under the Bod to the length of about three feet, he throws it nil', by turning the instrument to one side; and proceeds in the same way, cutting and throw ing over the sods, the whole length of the ridge. In this way of performing the operation, the labourers, bj following each other with a slice of the sward or surface of the land, accomplish the business with much ease, and in an expeditious manner. 3212. In the fenny districts, on the eastern coasts, where paring and burning is practised on a large scale, the horse paring-plough is used, made of different constructions, according to the circumstances of the ground tn clayey soils. Aiton (Farmer's Mag, vul. xxii. p. 423 ) compares tliis rage for burning clay, which existed in 1815, to the. fiorin mania of a few years' prior date. In 1822, he found few of the advocates for these improvements disposed to say much on the subject, and saw very few clay-kilns smoking. '• To give my ultimatum upon this subject," he says, " I regret that the discoverers of fiorin grass, and of the effects of burnt clay, have so far overrated their value. Both are useful and proper to lie attended to; — Uie grass to be raised on patches of marshy round, and used as green loud to cattle in winter; and the burnt earth as a corrector of the mechanical arrangement of a stubborn clay soil; and I have no doubt, but if they had been only recommended for those valuable purposes, they would have been brought into more general use than they yet are, or will be, till the prejudices against them, arising from the disappointment of expectations raised high by too flattering descriptions, are removed." ■ i. The action of burnt clay on the soil is thus described by the same author : — *' It must be obvious to evei y person who has paid attention to the subject, that when clay or other earth is burnt into ashes like brick-dust, it will Dot unless acids are applied to it) return again to its former state of clay, but will remain in the granulated state of ashes or friable mould, to which it was reduced by the operation of burning, An admixture of that kind with a strong adhesive clay must evidently operate as a powerful manure, by changing the mechanical arrangement of the latter, and rendering it more friable; giving greater facility to the percolation of redundant moisture, and to the spreading or the roots of vegetables in quest of food. The application of as much water, sand, or any similar substance, would have exactly the same effect, in opening and keeping open the pores of an adhesive clay soil, and converting it into the quality of loam, Besides this, which would be a permanent improvement upon the staple or texture of every clay soil burnt day or torrefied earth may sometimes acquire, in that operation, a small quantity of soot or carbonic matter, that may, in favourable circumstances, operate for one season as a manure, or as a stimulus, to a small extent, to the growth of vegetables. This at least may be the case, if the clay or earth burnt shall ahound with vegetable matter, and if the burning is conducted in such a smothered way, as to prevent the smoke or vegetable matter from escaping. But as it is the subsoil that is recommended, and seems to be generally used for burning, it is impossible any considerable quantity of vegetable matter can be found in it. 3221. The calcareous matter in the soil.it is said, will be calcined and formed into lime by the operation of burning; but I am disposed to consider this argument as far more plausible than solid. Calcareous matter is no doubt found, on chemical analysis, to a certain extent in some soils ; perhaps some per- ceptible portion of it may be found in every soil : but it is seldom or never found in any soil, to such an extent as to be of much use as a manure to other land. Even where the soil is impregnated with a large portion of calcareous matter, if it is not in the form of limestone, but minutely mixed with it, the burn- ing cannot either increase or much alter the lime. If it is in the form of stones, however small, or in what is called limestone gravel, there is little chance of its being calcined in the operation of burning the clay ; it would go through that ordeal unaltered. Any change, therefore, that can be made upon the small portion of calcareous matter in the soil by burning in the manner directed, can scarcely have any perceptible effect, when that matter is applied as manure to other soils. And though it is possible that some qualities in particular soils, unfavourable to vegetation, may be corrected by burning, and that in some other instances the fire may render the clay more nutritive to plants .though I have not been able to trace this, or even to conjecture how it can happen), yet I am much disposed to believe, that its effect as a mechanical mixture in opening the pores of the soil, is the chief improvement that can be derived from the application of burnt clay as a manure. If it has any other effect, it must be from the soot oj carbonic matter collected during the operation of burning ; or perhaps it may acquire, by the torrefaction, something of a stimulating quality, that may for a short time promote the growth of particular plants : but these qualities can only be to a small extent, and continue to act for a verv limited period." {Far. Man. xxii. 482.) 822. The action of burnt clay, according to a writer in The Farmer's Journal, is at least three-fold, and may be manifold. It opens the texture of stubborn clays, gives a drain to tie water, spiracles to the air, and affords to the roots facility of penetrating. Clay ashes burnt from turves, containing an admixture of vegetable matter, consist, in some small proportion, of vegetable alkali or potass, a salt which is known to be a good manure. It also, in most cases, happens that a stiff cold clay is impregnated with pyrites, a compound of sulphuric acid and iron. Although the chemical attraction between these two bodies is so strong, that it is one of the most dillicult operations in the ark totally t< tree iron from sulphur, vet a very moderate heat sublime., a large portion of the sulphur. The iron is then left at liberty to re-absorb .i portion of the redundant sulphuric acid, which too generally is found in these soils, and (hereby sweetens the land ; and it is probable that the bright red or crimson ealx of iron, which gives colouring to the ashes when over-burnt, i- beneficial to vegetation in the present case, insomuch as it is, of itself, one of the happiest aids to fertility, as exemplified in the red marl strata and red sand strata throughout the I. :n (lorn. The evolution and recombination of different gases, no doubt, materially affect the question ; but it is reserved for accurate chemical observers to give us an account of the processes which take place in ibis respect Curwen notices that clay ashes do no benefit as a top-dressing on grass, which is in part to !>'• explained by reason that the ashes, when spread on the surface of the grass, cannot exert mechanical action on the soil in the ways enumerated. Neither can the calx of iron come .so immediately in contact with the parti) les of the soil, for the production of any chemical effect, as it would do if the ashes were ploughed in. In short, like many other manures which are laid on the surface, unless it contains some- thing soluble which maybe washed into the ground by rains, it does very little good; and the feeble proportion of vegetable alkali is probably the only soluble matter the ashes 'contain. However sanguine may be the admirers of burnt clay, all experience confirms that the most beneficial clay ashes are those which are burnt from the greatest proportion of rich old turf, ancient banks, roots of bushes, and other I .table matters ; and, I conceive, the value of mere powdered pottery {for such it is) may easily be overrated. (Far. Journ. 1819.) 3223. The common method (if burning clay is to make an oblong enclosure, of the dimensions of a small house (say 1.0' feet by 10) of green turf sods, raised to the height «il':;', or 1 feet. In the inside of this enclosure, air-pipes are drawn diagonally, which communicate with holes left at each corner of the exterior wall. These pipes are formed of sods put on edge, and the space between these as wide only as another sod can easily cover. In each of the four spaces left between the air-pipes and the outer wall, a fire is kindled with wood and dry turf, and then the whole of the inside of the enclosure or kiln filled with dry turf, which is very soon on fire; and on the top of that, when well kindled, is thrown the clay, in small quantities at a time, and repeated as often as neces- Book V. MIXED OPERATIONS BY MANUAL LABOUR. 523 sary, which must be regulated by the intensity of the burning. The air-pipes are of use only at first, because, if the fire burn with tolerable keenness, the sods forming the pipes will soon be reduced to ashes. The pipe on the weather side of the kiln only is left open, the mouths of the other three being stopped up, and not opened except the wind should veer about. As the inside of the enclosure or kiln begins to be filled up witli clay, the outer wall must be raised in height, always taking care to have it at least fifteen inches higher than the top of the clay, for the purpose of keeping the wind from acting on the fire. When the fire burns through the outer wall, which it often does, and particularly when the top is overloaded with clay, the breach must be stopped up immediately, which can only be effectually done by building another sod wall from the foundation, opposite to it, and the sods that formed that part of the first wall are soon reduced to ashes. The wall can be raised as high as may be convenient to throw on the clay, and the kiln may be increased to any size, by forming a new wall when the previous one is burnt through. 3224. The principal art in burning consists in having the outer wall made quite close and impervious to the external air, and taking care to have the top always lightly, but completely, covered with clay ; because if the external air should come in contact with the fire, either on the top of the kiln, or by means of its bursting through the sides, the lire will be very soon extinguished. In short, the kilns require to be attended nearly as closely as charcoal pits. Clay is much more easily burnt than either moss or loam ; — it does not undergo any alteration in its shape, and on that account allows the fire and smoke to get up easily between the lumps ; whereas moss and loam, by crumbling down, are very apt to smother the tire, unless carefully attended to. No rule can be laid down for regulating the size of the lumps of clay thrown on the kiln, as that must depend on the state of the fire; but every lump has been found completely burnt on opening the kiln, when some of them were thrown on larger than my head. Clay, no doubt, burns more readTly if it be dug up and dried for a day or two before it be thrown on the kiln ; but this operation is not necessary, as it will burn though thrown on quite wet. After a kiln is fairly set a going, no coal or wood, or any sort of combustible, is necessary, the wet clay burning of itself ; and it can only be extinguished by intention, or the carelessness of the operator, — the vicissitudes of the weather having hardly any effect on the fire, if properly attended to. It may, perhaps, be necessary to mention, that when the kiln is burning with great keenness, a stranger to the operation may be apt to think that the fire is extinguished. If, therefore, any person, either through impatience, or too great curiosity, should insist on looking into the interior of the kiln, he will certainly retard, and may possibly extinguish the fire ; for, as before men- tioned, the chief art consists in keeping out the external air from the fire. Where there is abundance of clay, and no great quantity of green turf, it would, perhaps, be best to burn the clay in draw-kilns, the same as lime. 3225. An improved method of burning clay has been adopted by Colonel Dickson, at Hexham, and by other gentlemen in Northumberland Instead of building a kiln, gratings or arches of cast iron are used to form a vault or funnel for the fuel, and over this funnel the clay is built. The grated arches are made about two feet and a half long, two feet diameter, and about fourteen inches high. One grating is to be filled with brushwood, stubble, or any other cheap fuel, and the clay, as it is dug, built upon it to a convenient height, leaving small vacancies, or boring holes, to allow the heat to penetrate to the middle and outer parts of the clay. When a sufficient quantity is built upon the first grating, another is added at either end, or at both, filled with similar fuel, and the clay built upon them as before. This process is continued until 10, 12, or a greater number, of the gratings have been used, when one end is built up or covered with clay, and at the other, under the last grating, a fire is made of coals or faggol wood. The end at which the fire is made should face the wind if possible, and if the process has been properly conducted the clay will be effectually burnt. By- commencing with a centre grating in the form of a cross {fig. 517.), the workman may build from four ends in the place of two; this contrivance will afford a facility in the work, and have a draft of wind at two entrances. 3226. The advantage of this mode of burning clay is the saving of cartage, as the clay raa» be always burned where it is dug. •52-->7 Burning clan and surface soil by lime, wilAoutfuel, has been practised by Curwen {Farm. Mag. vol "xVi p H 12 'inYhe fo^wmg manner : - Mounds of seven yards in length, and three and a half n, hr oid h are kindle w th seven 'two Winchester bushels of lime. First, a layer of dry sods or parings, %i?S^k«i nuxing sods with if, then a covering of eight inches of sods, on whtehAeothefhatfoffteh^is^read, and covered a foot thick; the height of the mound being In twenty four hours it will take fire. The lime should be immediately from the kite. lr ?- Vv__ ... . [■„„. ;. i... ,i ra «™ „f m t.r When the lire is fairly about a vard It is better to suffer it to ignite itself, than to effect it by the operation rf*^J^Jtete™2 kindled fre-h sods must be applied Mr. Curwen recommends obtaining a sufficient body of ashes before a V ctav is put i on The mounts The fire naturally rises to the top. It takes less time, and does more work to draw down the ashes from the top, and not to suffer it to rise above six feet I he former practice of burning nikllns was more ex P enshe, did much less work, and, in many instances, calcined the ashes, "Sfe^ ™ luZn* day. A writer in The Farmer's Journal (Dec. 1821), asserts that « the great! r part of many be* ; of cofd clay contain in them a substance, or ingredient, which is in, .tself, to a great degree, combustible, as known to every brick-burner, of the pyrites contained in the clay ; but be it what it may, it quantity of fuel is sufficient to burn a very large body of clay. It is only requisite to have sufficient fuel to set fire to the heap at first, so as to raise a body of heat ; and, for the rest, the relay w.l 1 nearly burn of .tself, being judiciously arranged round and upon the burning centre. The ashes are in the best state when they have been exposed only to a moderate heat ; - This probably is, in most cases, the sulphur prevails to such a degree that a verv small It: and, for the rest, the clay will nearly burn of _ ling centre. The ashes are in the best state namely, to a heat not only far below what will produce vitrification, but even so low as not to produce a permanent red colour : the black ashes or dirty red and brownish red, being made superior in value to bright red ashes, that is, to well-burnt bricks The heat is moderated chiefly b, the Judicious application of the crumbs and mouldering frjments of clay or soil, so as to prevent the draft of the air through the apertures between the large clods or tufts from being too free. A very small admixture of vegetable fuel suffices to keep up the lire. 3229. The application of burnt clay as a manure is the same as that of lime : it is spread over fallows or lands in preparation for turnips, at the rate of from thirty to fifty loads or upwards per acre. A few years ago this practice made considerable noise, but at present it has fallen into disrepute. 594 SCIENCE OF AGRICULTURE. Part II. 3230. The general manual operation! common to British agriculture being now de- scribed] ;i variety of operations peculiar to particular departments] such as boring lor water, puddling to retain water, building drains, it, it would require no holding, but would maintain its position « ben draw n along by the cattle ; lint as the least inequality of surface or tenacity, or the additional resistance of a root or stone, destroys the equili- brium of the forces acting against the wedge, the presence of the bolder or ploughman becomes necessary to adjust its position. In two-wheeled ploughs, however, this is done in a great measure by the wheels, but not so rapidly as by the instantaneous movement of the holder on the ends of the handles acting as levers. The manual operation of hold- ing the plough in a proper position, and directing the horses or cattle which draw it at the same time, is only to he acquired by experience : when once attained, it is perhaps the most agreeable and healthy of agricultural exercises; the body being kept upright, the arms and legs brought into action, and also the eye and the mind, to keep the furrow straight and of regular width and depth, and the voice to speak to the horses. It is almost needless to mention that the art of drawing a straight furrow with a plough in which the horses are yoked in pairs, consists in keeping each of the horses a small distance apart, so as to see forward between them ; and next to fix the eye on two or more objects beyond the land to be ploughed, and keep these objects and the coulter or muzzle of the plough always in one line. By far the best practical directions for ploughing have been given by the author of the article Agriculture in the Supplement to the Encycloptvdvi Brit. which we shall quote at length. *3240. Three different mints require particular attention in ploughing : 1. The breadth of the slice to lie rut ; 'J. its depth ; ami 3. the degree in which it is to be turned over ; — which last circumstance depends both upon the construction of the plough, particularly the mould-board, and the care of the ploughman. 3241. Tin- breadth and depth of the furrow-slice are regulated by judiciously placing the draught on the nozzle or bridle of the plough ; setting it so as to go more or less deep, and to take more or less land or breadth of slice, according as may be desired. In general the plough is SO regulated that, if left to itself, and merely kept from falling over, it would cut a little broader and a little deeper than is required. The coulter is also placed with some inclination towards the left or land side, and the point of the sock or share has 8 slight tendency downwards. 3242. The degree to which I he furrow-slice turns over is in a great measure determined by the proportion between its breadth and depth, which for general purposes is usually as three is to two; or when the furrow is nine inches broad, it ought to be six inches in depth. When the slice is cut in this proportion, it will be nearly half turned over, or recline at an angle of forty or forty-live degrees ; and a field so ploughed will have its ridges longitudinally ribbed into angular drills or ridgelets. But if the slice is much broader in proportion to its depth, it will be almost completely overturned, or left nearly flat, with its original surface downwards, and each successive slice will be somewhat overlapped by that which was turned over immediately before it And finally, when the depth materially exceeds the width, each furrow-slice will fall over on its side, leaving all the original surface bare, and only laid somewhat ob liquelv to the horizon. I Ploughing with the breadth and depth nearly in the proportion "/three to two is best adapted tor laving up stubble land after harvest, when it is to remain during winter exposed to the mellowing influ- ence of frost, preparatory to fallow or turnips. 3244. The shallow furrow of considerable width, as five inches in depth by eight or nine wide, is under- stood to answer best for breaking up old leys ; because it covers up the grass turf, and does not bury the manured soil. 3245. Ploughing with the depth of the furrow considerably exceeding the width is a most unprofitable and uselessly slow operation, which ought seldom or never to be adopted. The most generally useful breadth of a furrow-slice is from eight to ten inches, and the depth, which ought to be seldom less' than four inches, cannot often exceed mx or eight inches, except in soils uncommonly thick and fertile. When it is necessary to go deeper, as for carrots and some other deep- rooted plants, a trench-ploughing may be given by means of a second plough following in the same furrow. 3247. Shallow ploughing ought always to be adopted after turnips are eaten on the ground, that the manure may not be buried too deep ; and also in covering lime, especially if the ground has been pul- verised by fallowing, because it naturally tends to sink in the soil. In ploughing down farm-yard dung, it is commonly necessary to go rather deep, that no part of the manure may be left exposed to the atmosphere. I n the first ploughing for fallows or green crops, it is advisable to work as deep as possible ; and no great danger is to be apprehended, though a small portion of the subsoil be at that time brought to the surface 3248. Thefurrow-sHces are generally distributed into beds varying in breadth according to circumstances; these are called ridges or lands, and are divided from one another by gutters or open furrows. These last serve as guides to the hand and eye of the sower, to the reapers, and also for the application of manures in a regular manner. In soils of a strong or retentive nature, or which have wet close subsoils, these funou s serve likewise as drains for carrying off the surface water; and being cleared out, after the land is sown and harrowed, have the name of mater farrows. In wet lands, furrows are sometimes drawn or dug across the ridges, for the purpose of cam Lag oil' the surface water from hollows ; these are called cross waler-funoirs. 384ft 'Ridges are not onlj different in breadth, but are raised more or less in the middle, on differ* nt soils. On clayey retentive' BOils, the great point to be attended to is the discharge of superfluous water. Hut narrow ridges or stitches, of from three to five feet, are not approved of in some of the best cultivated counties. In these a breadth of fifteen or eighteen feet, the land raised by two gatherings of the plough, is most commonly adopted for such soils ; such ridges being thought more convenient for manuring, sow- ing, harrowing, a'nd reaping, than narrower ones ; and the water is drained off quite as effectually. Ridge*, on dei/ porous turnip soils, may be tunned much broader ; and, were it not for their use in directing the labourers, mav be, and sometimes are, dispensed with altogether. They are often thirty or thirty-six feet broad, which in Scotland are called hand-win ridges, because reaped by a band of shearers, commonly six, served bv one binder If it be wished to obliterate the intermediate furrows, this may be done by casting lip a narrow ridgelet or single bout-drill between the broad ridges, which is afterwards levelled bv the harrows. 3251. The made of forming ridges straight and of uniform breadth is as follows : — Let us suppose a field perfectly level, that is intended to be laid offinto ridges of any determinable breadth. The best ploughman belonging to the farm conducts the operation, with the aid of three or more poles shod with iron, in the following manner : The first thing is to mark ofT the head ridges, on which the horses turn in plough- ing, which should in general be of an equal breadth from the bounding lines ofthe field, if these lines are not very crooked or irregular. The next operation, assuming one straight side of the field, or a line that has been made straight, as the propel direction ofthe ridges, is to measure off from it, with one of the poles fall of them of a certain length, or expressing specific measures , half the intended breadth ot the ridge if it is to be gathered, or one breadth and a lull it to be ploughed Hat; and there the ploughman Bets up a pole as a direction for the plough to enter. On a line with this, and at some distance, he plants a second pole and then in the same manner a third, fourth, \c, as the irregularity of the surface may Book V. LABOURS WITH CATTLE ON THE SOIL. 627 render necessary, though three must always be employed, — the last of them at the end of the intended ridge, ami the whole in one straight line. He then enters the plough at the first pole, keeping tire line of poles exactly between his horses', andploughs down all the poles successively ; halting his horses at each, and replacing it at so many feet distant as the ridges are to be broad ; so that when he readies the end of the ridge, alf his poles are again set up in a new line parallel to the first. He returns, however, along his former track, correcting any deviations, and throwing a shallow furrow on the side opposite to his former one. These furrows, when reversed, form the crown of the ridge, and direct the ploughmen who are lo follow. The same operations are carried on until the w hole field is marked out. This is called faring in Scotland, and striking or drawing out the furrows in England. It is surprising with what accuracy these lines are drawn bv skilful ploughmen. 3252. Another method has been adopted for the same purpose, which promises to be useful with less experienced workmen. A stout lath or pole, exactly equal in length to the breadth of the intended ridge, is fixed to the plough, at right angles to the line of the draught, one end of which is placed across tin- handles exactly opposite the coulter, while the other end projects towards the left hand of the plough. man, and is preserved in its place by a rope passing from it to the collar of the near side horse. At the outer end of the lath, a coulter or harrow tine is fixed perpendicularly, which makes a trace or mark on the ground as the plough moves onwards, exactly parallel to the line of draught. By this device, when the plough is feiring the crown of one ridge, the marker traces the line on which the next ridge is to be feired. [General Report of Scotland, vol. i. p. 354.) 3253. The direction and length of ridges are points which must evidently be regulated by the nature of the surface and the size of the field. Short angular ridges, called butts or short work, which are often necessary in a field with irregular boundaries, are always attended with a considerable loss of time, and ought to be avoided as much as possible. 3254. In ploughing steep land it is advisable to give the ridges an inclination towards the right hand at the top, by which, in going up the acclivity, the furrow falls more readily from the plough, and with less fatigue to the horses. Another advantage of forming ridges in a slanting direction on such land is, that the soil is not so apt to be washed down from the higher ground, as if the ridges were laid at right angles. Wherever circumstances will permit, the best direction, however, is due north and south, by which the grain on both sides of the ridge enjoys nearlv equal advantages from the influence of the sun. 3255. RUibing, a kind of imperfect ploughing, was formerly common on land intended for barley, and was executed soon after harvest, as a preparation for the spring ploughings. A similar operation is still m use in some places, after land has been pulverised by clean ploughings, and is ready for receiving the seed. By this method only half the land is stirred, the furrow being laid over quite flat, and covering an equal space of the level surface. But, except in the latter instance, where corn is meant to grown in parallel lines, and where it is used as a substitute for a drill-machine, ribbing is highly objectionable, and has become almost obsolete. 3256. Land thus formed into ridges is afterwards cultivated without marking out the ridges anew, until the inter-furrows have been obliterated by a fallow or fallow crop. This is done by one or other of the following modes of ploughing : — 1. If the soil be dry, and the land has been ploughed fiat, the ridges are split out in such a way, that the space which the crown of the old ridge occupied is now allotted to the open furrow between the new ones. This is technically called crown and furrow ploughing. 2. When the soil is naturally rather wet, or if the ridges have been raised a little by former ploughings, the form of "the old ridges, and the situation of the inter-furrows, are presetted by what is called casting, that is, the furrows of each ridge are all laid in one direction, while those of the next adjoining ridges are turned the contrary way ; two ridges being always ploughed together. 3. It is commonly necessary to raise the ridges on soils very tena- cious of moisture, by what is called gathering, which is done by the plough going round the ridge, beginning at the crown and raising all the furrow-slices inwards. 4. This last operation, when it is wished to give the land a level surface, as in fallowing, is reversed by turning all the furrow slices outwards; beginning at the inter-furrows, and leaving an open furrow on the crown of each ridge. In order to bring the land into as level a state as possible, the same mode of ploughing or casting, as it is called, may be repeated as often as necessary. 3257. With respect to ploughing relatively to time, in the strongest lands, a pair of good horses ought to plough three quarters of an acre in nine hours ; but upon the same land, after the first ploughing, on friable soils, one acre, or an acre and a quarter, is a common day's work. Throughout the year, an acre a day may be considered as a full average, on soils of a medium consistency. The whole series of furrows on an English statute acre, supposing each to be nine inches broad, would extend to 19,360 yards ; and adding 1 2 yards to every 220 for the ground travelled over in turning, the whole work of an°acre may be estimated at 20,416 yards, or 11 miles and nearly 5 furlongs. 3258. In ploughing relatively to season, it is well known that clayey or tenacious soils should never be ploughed when wet ; and that it is almost equally improper to allow them to become too dry, especially if a crop is to be sown without a second ploughing. The state in which such lands should be ploughed is that which is commonly indicated by the phrase, " between the wet and the dry," — while the ground is slightly moist, mellow, and the least cohesive. 3259. The season best for ploughing the first time, for fallow or green crops, is imme- diately after harvest, or after wheat-sowing is finished ; and when this land has been gone over, the old tough swards, if there be any, are next turned up. The reasons for ploughing so early are sufficiently obvious ; as the frosts of winter render the soil more friable for the spring operations, and assist in destroying the weed roots. In some places, however, the first ploughing for fallow is still delayed till after the spring seed-time. On extraordinary occasions land may be ploughed in the night as well as in the day, by hanging lanterns to the horses' collars. This, it is said, is sometimes done in East Lothian, during a hurried seed-time. {Farm. Mag. vol. ix. p. 55.) y2H SCIENCE OF AGRICULTURE. Taut II. 3260. The cultivator, grubber, tcuffler, tcarifien, and such lik<.- implements {-2(150.), are used to Lessen the number of ploughings in fallows or Light Free soils. Their operation differs from thai of the plough in nol reversing the surface, and therefore they can never, as some have proposed, become a substitute for thai implement in all cases. Still the grubber is a valuable implement William Lester, Late of Northampton, who is said first to have invented an implement of this kind, declares himself confident that one man. n boy, and six horses, "ill move as much land in a day, and as effectually, as six ploughs; m fining land in a fallow state, that has been previously ploughed. We have elsewhere pointed out the mode of using this description of tillage implements (2650.), one great advantage of which is, thai they may be used by the unskilful, and even by operators who cannot guide B plough. As soon as steam shall be employed as a moving power in this department of agriculture, implements of this kind, and especially Finlayson's harrow (2657.) and Wilkie's brake (l'o'56.), will come into very general use. 3261. The toleration of harrowing is intended both to drag out weeds and to cover the seeds when sown. It is obvious thai implements of different sizes are not only necessary, but even that these implements should be worked in different ways, according to the strength and condition of the soil on which they are employed, and the nature of the work, to be executed. When employed to reduce a strong obdurate soil, not more than two of the old or common sort should be yoked together, because they are apt to ride and tumble upon each other, and thus impede the work, and execute it imperfectly. It may also be remarked, that on rough soils harrows ought to be driven as fast as the horses can walk ; because their effect is in direct proportion to the degree of velocity with which they are driven. In ordinary cases, and in every case where harrowing is meant for covering the seeds, and the common implement in use, three harrows are the best yoke, because they fill up the ground more effectually, and leave fewer vacancies, _ than when a smaller number is 518 T — ^\ — g — 7 employed : the improved forms, calculated to cover the breadth of two or more of the old harrows by one frame (/'A'- 518.), are only calculated for flat ridges, or for working dry lands in which ridging is not requisite. 3262. The harrow-man's at- tention, at the seed process, should be constantly directed to prevent these implements from riding upon each other, and to keep them clear of every impediment, from stones, lumps of earth, or clods, and quickens or grass roots; for any of these prevent the implement from working with perfection, and causes a mark or trail upon the surface, always unpleasing to the eye, and generally detrimental to the vegetation of the seed. 3263. Harrowing is usually given in different directions ; first in length, then across, and finally in length, as at first. Careful agricultors study, in the finishing part of the process, to have the harrows drawn in a straight line, without suffering the horses to go in a zigzag manner, and are also attentive that the horses enter fairly upon the ridge, without making a curve at the outset. In some instances, an excess of harrowing has been found very prejudicial to the succeeding crop ; but it is always necessary to give so much as to break the furrow, and level the surface, otherwise the operation is imperfectly performed. 3264. Horse-hoeing is the operation of stirring the ground between rows of vegetables, by means of implements of the hoe, coulter, or pronged kind, drawn by horses. Who- ever can guide a plough, will find no difficulty in managing any implement used for stirring ground. The easiest kinds are those which have few hoes, or coulters, or shares, and a wheel in front; and the easiest circumstances, wide intervals between the rows, and a loose friable soil. Wherever soil is hard, rough, and rounded, as in the case of high- raised ridges, there should not be more than three prongs or shares in the implement, because more than three points can never touch a curved surface, and he in one plane; and if not in one plane, they will never work steadily, equally, and agreeably. 3265. Turnip hoeing of every kind is accordingly exceedingly easy ; but stirring the earth between rows of beans on a strong clay soil in a time of drought, is proportionally difficult, and sometimes, when the ground rises in large lumps, dangerous for the plants. In stirring the soil between rows of beans, cabbages, or other plants, on strong or loamy Book V. LABOURS WITH CATTLE OX TFIE SOIL. 529 soils, a small plough often answers better than any of the pronged or conltered imple- ments, at least for the first and last operations of bean culture. Dr. Anderson, indeed, affirms with great truth, that nearly all the various operations of horse-hoeing may be executed by the common swing-plough, in an equally effectual manner as by any of the hoe-ploughs usually made use of. 3266. Drilling, or the deposition of seed in rows by means of a drill machine, is an operation that requires considerable care in the performance. The points that require particular attention are keeping the rows straight and at equal distances throughout then- length, depositing the seed at a proper depth, and delivering the seed in proper quantity according to its kind and the nature of the soil. For these purposes the ground must have been previously well prepared by ploughings and harrouings, except in the parti- cular case of drilling beans with one furrow. This operation is generally performed in the course of ploughing, either by a person pushing forward a bean-drill barrow, or by attaching a hopper and wheel, with the necessary apparatus, to the plough itself. The mode of regulating the depth of the drill, and the quantity of seed delivered, must depend on the kind of drill used, and only requires attention in the holder. In drilling turnips the land is most generally made up into ridgelets twenty-seven or thirty inches centre from centre, by a single bout (go about), or return, of the common plough. The North- umberland machine, which sows two rows at once, is then drawn over them by one horse walking between the ridges without a driver, the holder at once performing that operation and keeping the machine steady on the tops of the drills. One of the two rollers of this machine smooths the tops of the ridges before the seed is deposited, and the other follows and compresses the soil and covers the seed. 3267. In drilling corn several rows are sown at once, and great care is requisite to keep the machine steady and in a straight line : for most soils two horses and a driver are required for this purpose ; the driver aiding in filling the hopper with seed, &c. 3268. In all cases of drilling it must be recollected that the principal intention of the operation is to admit of horse-hoeing the crop afterwards ; hence the necessity of straight rows and uniform distances ; and hence also the advantage of burying the manure under the drill or row, that it may not be exposed to the air in after-working. 3269. Rolling is the operation of drawing a roller over the surface of the ground witli the view of breaking down the clods, rendering it more compact, and bringing it even and level ; or it may be limited to smoothing and consolidating the surface. It is prac- tised both upon the tillage and grass lands, and is of much utility in both sorts of husbandry. In the former case it is made use of for the purpose of breaking down and reducing the cloddy and lumpy parts of the soil in preparing it for the reception of crops, and in rendering light soils more firm, even, and solid, after the seed is put in. It is likewise found beneficial to the young crops in the early spring, in various instances. In order to perform this operation in the most complete and effectual manner a roller of considerable weight is necessary; and in order as much as possible to prevent the ground from being injured by the feet of the animals that draw it, as may frequently be the case where they follow each other in the same track, it is the best practice to have them yoked double, as by that means there will be less treading on the same portion of surface. Where two horses are sufficient to execute the work, more should never be made use of; but if a third should be found necessary, it may be attached as a leader in the middle before the other two : a greater number of horses can seldom or never be of any material advantage in this sort of work. It is necessary to see that every part of the surface receives the due impression of the implement, and that the head lands are not injured by the turnings. < >n lands where the work is regularly performed, it will seldom be requisite to pass more than once in a place, but in other cases it may often be done more frequently with benefit, and in particular cases a more frequent repetition of the operation is abso- lutely requisite, in order to bring the ground into a proper state. 3270. In rolling grass lands it is necessary to attend in a particular manner to the season, as it cannot be performed with advantage either when the surface is in too dry or too moist a condition. In these cases the work of rolling may be advantageously per- formed at different seasons, as in the beginning of the autumn, and in the commence- ment of the year, or very early spring months ; but the latter is the most common period. In the drier descriptions of land it may frequently be performed, in the most beneficial manner, after the land has been rendered a little soft by a moderate fall of rain ; but in those of the contrary sort it may be necessary to wait till the superabundant moisture be so much dried up, as to admit the animals employed in drawing the machine without subjecting the surface of the ground to poaching or other injury, while the process is going on. The rolling of watered meadows, it has been remarked by Boswell, should be executed towards the latter end of February or beginning of the following month, after the land has been left in a dry state for a week or ten days. The work should be performed along the panes, going up one side of the trenches and down the other; and in t'ne case of rolling the common hay lands, it is a good mode to proceed up one side of M in 530 SCIENCE OF AGRICULTURE. Tart II. the field and down the other, somewhat in ■ similar manner, as by that mean-, the work may be the most completely executed. •rating, or the collecting of the scattered straws of corn or hay crops by the rake, is an operation of little art or trouble in the execution. The proper imple- ment being employed, it is generally drawn by one horse, conducted by a man, who walks behind, and, when the rake fills, lifts it up without stopping the horse, and always at the same place, so as to deposit the takings in regular rows across the field. The same mode is followed whether in raking hay, corn, stubble, or weeds from fallow ground-.. 3272. Driving carts and waggons, though the easiest of all operations, is very fre- quently shamefully performed by servants. Almost i:\i:r\ body knows this ; and it is humiliating to consider that we are considered the most inhuman nation in Europe in our treatment of horses. In most other countries these animals, and even oxen, are taught to obey the word of the driver; but in Britain he requires both halter or rein, and a whip ; and in most parts of England the slightest movement from right to left is indicated to the animal by the latter implement. Driving is more especially neglected, or wretchedly performed, near large towns, and especially round London, where little or no attention is paid to avoiding the ruts ; choosing the best part of the road ; going in a direct line ; altering the position of the load (by means of the back chain or the construc- tion of the cart where that admits of it) in going up or down hill ; or seeing whether both horses (where two are used) draw equally. The reverse of this conduct ought to be that of a careful and humane driver, who, being first certain that his cattle are pro- perly yoked, and his load fairly adjusted so as to be neither too heavy nor too light for the wheel or shaft horse, will see that they proceed along the best part of the road in a straight line, avoiding the ruts when deep or unequal; that all the horses draw equally as far as practicable; that proper care and timely precautions be taken to a\oid other machines meeting or passing ; and that no sudden motion or jerk of the horses be required on any occasion. In dividing the road where it is steep or in a bad state, the horses ought to be drawn aside gradually, and gradually led on again ; it being easier to descend or ascend either a good or bad convex road obliquely, than at an acute angle. L ast b'> servants ought on no account to be allowed to ride on laden carts or waggons, especially ; he former ; or to walk at a distance from them either before or behind. There are many other points which require attending to in this department of agriculture ; such as not striking animals on the head or legs, nor kicking them, nor using a pole or handle of any implement that may be at hand, in administering chastisement ; but these must be left to the care and discretion of masters, whose interest it is to be most vigilant in watching those who are engaged in tliis department. One mode of lessening the evils if cureless driving and inhumanity to animals consists in employing chiefly married servants, and, as is generally the case, letting each have the exclusive care and working of one pair of horses. Such men are steadier, and remain much longer in their situations, than single men, are therefore more likely to feel an interest in the welfare and good condition of their horses, as well as in the good opinion of their employer. 3274. Driving cattle in a threshing-machine required particular care before the ingenious invention, described § '2155., to equalise the draught of the different animals ; where this invention is applied, it requires little more than calling to such of the cattle as have a tendency to relax in their exertions. Sect. III. Labours and Operations with the Crop, performed with the .lid of Cattle. 3275. Labours with the crop chiefly comprise stacking and housing. 327G. Stacking is the operation of building or piling up unthreshed corn, hay, straw, or other dried crops, in convenient forms, and so as to admit of their being thatched as a defence from the weather. Stacks are of various forms and dimensions, according to circumstances ; in some districts they are formed square or oblong, both for hay and corn ; but where threshing-machines are in use, the circular base with cylindrical body, diverging a little at the eaves, and a conical top, is decidedly preferred, as being more convenient in size and form, and better adapted for early stacking in wet seasons than any other. For hay the form of the stack is a matter of less consequence; the long square or oblong shapes are perhaps the most safe and convenient, especially when not too broad, as they are the most suitable to cut from in trussing hay for sale. 3277. In respect to the sizes of corn-stacks of the square sort, they of course vary greatlv according to circumstances ; but they should never be made too large, as there is a great deal more risk in securing and getting in the grain from them; and from their being built at different times, they do not settle altogether in so perfect a manner, or resist the effects of the weather and keep the grain so well, as those of Jess dimensions that can be com- pleted at once: and, in addition, they are less convenient in the threshing out, especially where the flail is employed. The chief advantages they possess, are tho»e of taking some- thing less in thatch and labour in covering them. Book V. LABOURS WITH THE CROP. 531 3278. The proper size of the hay-stack should probably be different in some decree according to the state and nature of the hay ; but a middling size is perhaps the best, say from twenty to thirty loads of about one ton each, as there are inconveniences in both small and large stacks, the former having too much outside, while the latter are liable to take on too much heat, and at the same time permit less moisture to be preserved in the hay. In small stacks the bellying forms with very narrow bottoms have often much ad- vantage, and are in some districts termed sheep-stacks, probably from the slovenly prac- tice of sheep having been permitted to feed at them. 3279. In building every description of slack, the stem or body should be so formed as to swell gradually outwards, quite up to the part termed the eaves ; as by this method it is more perfectly secured against the entrance of moisture, and at the same time requires a less space of stand to rest upon ; and, when the building of them is well performed, they have equal solidity, and stand in as firm a manner. 3280. The stem should contain about two thirds, and the root' one third, of the whole stack. If it he built on a frame, the stem should contain less and the roof more ; if on a bottom, the reverse. The corners of the stein should not be built too sharp, but should be carried up rather roundish ; by which the sides will look fuller, and the swell given by the pressure will be more perceptible. 3281. The ends of the roof should have a gentle projection, answerable to the stem ; and the sides should be carried up rather convex, than Hat or concave. Perhaps a roof gently convex shoots off the rains better than any other. 3282. Where com is stacked that has not been sheaved, and in building hay-stacks, it is the usual practice to have a number of persons upon the stack, the corn or hay being forked up and deposited on the different sides all round in a similar method ; after this, other parcels are laid all round on the inside of these, so as to bind them in a secure manner from slipping outwards ; the operator proceeding in the same manner till the whole of the middle space is perfectly filled up : when he begins another course in the same method, and goes on in this mode, with course after course, till he has raised the whole of the stem ; when he begins to take in for the roof, in a very gradual manner, in every succeeding course, until the whole is brought to a ridge or point according to (lie manner in which the stack is formed. But for the purpose that the roofs may throw off the water in a more perfect and effectual manner, they should be made so as to have a slight degree of fulness or swell about the middle of them, and not be made flat, as is too frequently the practice with indifferent builders of stacks. 3283. In stacking where the com is bound into sheaves, there is seldom more than one person employed in managing the work of building the stack, except in cases where the dimensions are very considerable ; in wliich cases it is found necessary to have a boy to receive the sheaves from the pitcher, and hand them to the man who builds the stack. In executing the work, it is of the utmost importance that the centre of the stack be con- stantly kept in a somewhat raised state above the sides, as the sheaves have thus a sloping direction outwards, by which the entrance of moisture is more effectually guarded against and prevented. To accomplish this in the most perfect manner, the workman begins in the middle of the stand or staddle, setting the sheaves together so that they may incline a little against each other, placing the rest in successive rows against them till he comes to the outside, when he carries a course of sheaves quite round, in a more .loping manner than in the preceding courses. The bottom of the stack, being formed n tliis way, it is afterwards usual to begin at the outside, and advance with different ;ourses round the whole, placing each course a little within the other, so as to bind hem in an exact and careful manner, till the stacker comes to the middle. All the different courses are to be laid on in a similar manner until the whole of the stem is raised and completed ; when the last outside row of sheaves is, in most cases, placed a very little more out than the others, in order to form a sort of projection for the eaves, that the water may be thrown off' more effectually. But in cases where the stems of the stacks are formed so as to project outwards in the manner already noticed, this may be omitted without any bad consequences, as the water will be thrown oft' easily without touching the waste of the stack. The roof is to be formed by placing the sheaves gra- dually a little more in and in, in every course, until it comes to a ridge or point, according to the form of the stack, as has been already observed. But in forming and constructing this part of the stack, great care should constantly be taken to give the ear-ends of the sheaves a sufficiently sloping direction upwards, in order that they may be the better secured from wetness ; and to the outside should be given a rounded form, in the manner that has been already noticed. 3284. A funnel or chimney is frequently formed or left in circular stacks, especially in wet districts, in order to prevent their taking on too much heat : where these funnels are not formed with the basement of timber, iron, or masonry, as already shown (2908.), they are produced by tying a sheaf up in a very tight manner, and placing it in the middle on the foundation of the stack, pulling it up occasionally as the building of the stack proceeds all round it. In setting up ricks in bad harvests, it is a practice in some places, particularly with barley crops, to have three or four pretty large poles tied together, by winding straw ropes round them, set up in the middle, round which the stacks ai e then M m 2 5:5'.' M IENCE Ol AGRICULTURE. Part II. built. But except the stacks are large, or the grain when put into them in an imperfect condition, Bucfa opening! are quite unnecessary. 3S85. The ttackmg of hay requires much care and attention in the person employed for the purpose, though less than that of building corn-stacks. There should constantly be a proper stand or foundation, somewhat raised by wood or other materials, prepared for placing the stacks upon; but nothing of the coping kind is here necessary. In the business of stacking hay, the work should be constantly performed, as much as possible, while the sun is upon the bay, as considerable advantage is thus gained in its quality: and it is necessary to have a stacker that has been accustomed to the business, and a proper number of persons to help upon the stack, in order that it may be well spread out and trodden down. 3286. The building of hay-slacks should be conducted much in the same way as the building of stacks of loose grain (3282.) ; the middle of the stack being always well kept up a little higher than the sides, and the sides and ends well bound in by the proper ap- plication of the successive portions of hay as tile work advances; and during which it is a good way. where there are plenty of hands, to have the sides and ends properly pulled into form, as by this means much after-labour is prevented. It is likewise of advantage, that the hay should be well shaken and broken from the lumps, during the operation of stacking. The form in which the stacks are built is not of much consequence ; but, if large, and made in the square form, it is better not to have them too broad, or of too great width, as by this means they are less apt to heat. With the intention of preventing too much heat, sometimes in building hay-stacks, as well as those of the grain kind, holes, pipes, and chimneys, are left in the middle, that the excessive heat may be dis- charged ; but there is often injury sustained by thera, from their attracting too much moisture. 3287. The hay-stacks of Middlesex, it is observed by Middleton, are more neatly formed and better secured than any where else. At every vacant time, while the stack is carry- ing up, the men are employed in pulling it with their hands into a proper shape ; and about a week after it is finished the whole roof is properly thatched, and then secured from receiving any damage from the wind, by means of a straw rope extending along the eaves, up the ends, and near the ridge. The ends of the thatch are afterwards cut evenly below the eaves of the stack, just of sufficient length for the rain water to drip quite clear off* the hay. When the stack happens to be placed in a situation which may be suspected of being too damp in the winter, a trench of about six or eight inches deep is dug round, and nearly close to it, which serves to convey all the water from the spot, and renders it perfectly dry and secure. 3288. The stack guard (fig. 519.), or covering of canvass, is employed in some dis- tricts to protect the stack while building in a wet season. In Kent and Surrey, the half a On 519 worn sails of ships are made use of for this purpose, though in most parts of the north a covering of loose straw or hay is found sufficient in ordinary cases ; but where, from a continued rain, the stack is penetrated some way down, a part is removed on recom- mencing, and dried before being replaced. It is observed by Marshal, that a sail-cloth thrown over and immediately upon the hay of a stack in full heat, is liable to do more injury by increasing the heat, and at the same time checking the ascent of the steam, than service in shooting off rain water. The improved method of spreading the cloth he de- scribes as follows : two tall poles (a, a) are inserted firmly in two cart wheels (l>,b), which are laid flat upon the ground at each end of the stack, and loaded with stones to increase their stability. Another pole of the same kind, and somewhat longer than the stack, is furnished at each end with an iron ring or hoop, large enough to admit the up- right poles and to pass freely upon them. Near the head of each of the standards is a Book V. SCIENTIFIC OPERATIONS. 533 pulley (c, c), over which a rope is passed from the ring or end of the horizontal pole, by which it is easily raised or lowered to suit the given height of the stack. A cloth being now thrown over the horizontal pole, and its lower margins loaded with weights, a com- plete roof is formed and neatly fitted to the stack, whether it be high or low, wide or narrow ; the eaves being always adjusted to the wall plate, or upper part of the stem of the stack ; thus effectually shooting oft' rain water, while the internal moisture or steam escapes freely at either end as the wind may happen to blow. This contrivance is readily put up or taken away ; the poles being light, are easily moved from stack to stack, or laid up for another season, and the wheels are readily removed or returned to their axles. On the whole, it answers as a good substitute for the improved construction brought into use by Sir Joseph Banks, and is much less expensive. This construction, instead of the ring running on the poles, has blocks and tackle (c, c), and instead of weights to dis- tend the cloth, ropes ( direct the reader's attention to the most important points of the art of surveying, and lay down the leading principles of valuing agricultural property. Si bsei r. l. Measuring relatively to Agriculture' 3295. The measuring of land, or other objects, comprises three distinct operations , viz. t iking the dimensions of any tract or piece of ground, delineating or laying down the same in a map <>r draught, and calculating the area or superficial contents. The dimen- sions on a small Bcale are best taken by rods of wood, but in all ordinary and extensive i iM". by a chain of iron, being less likely to contract or expand by changes of temper- ature than cord lines or tapes. In measuring a simple figure, such as a square field, nothing more is necessary than to take the length and breadth, which multiplied together give the superficial area ; but as few fields are square, or even right angled, it becomes necessary to adopt some guiding line or form within the field, and from that line or form to measure to the different angles, so a-, to bo able, from the dimensions taken, either to calculate the contents at once, or to lay down the form of the field OB paper, according to a certain scale, or proportion to its real size, and from that to take dimensions and calculate the contents. The simplest and most accurate mode of ascertaining the contents of all irregular figures is by throwing them into triangles; and this also is the most accu- rate mode of measuring and protracting a whole landed estate, however large. In short, a triangle is the form universally adopted, whether in surveying a single field, or a whole kingdom. To find the contents of a triangle, every body knows that it is only necessary to multiply half the perpendicular into the base. These two principles, properly under- stood, form the foundation of measuring, protracting, and estimating the contents of territorial and all other surfaces. In surveying hilly lands, an allowance is made both in protracting them, and calculating their contents, well known to surveyors, and not necessary to be entered into here. 3296. In measuring solid bodies, the rule is to " find the area of one end, and multiply that by the length." This rule is of universal application, whether to land, as in ex- cavating or removing protuberances ; to ricks of corn ; heaps of dung ; timber ; or water. The area of one end, or of one surface, whether the end, side, top, or bottom, is found exactly on the same principles as in ascertaining the superficial contents of land ; and if the figure diminishes in the course of its length, as the top of a rick, or the trunk of a tree, the mean length or half is taken as a multiplier. 3297. Measuring objects by the eye, though a mode that can never be depended on as the foundation for any important calculation or transaction, yet should be constantly practised by young men, for the sake of gaining habits of attention, and acquiring ideas as to number and quantity at first sight. The principle on which this sort of eye measure- ment is acquired, is that of ascertaining the actual dimension of some near object, and applying it as a measure to all the others seen beyond it. Thus, if a man is seen standing by a post or a tree at a distance, taking the height of the man at five and a half or six feet ; apply the figure of the man to the tree, and find how many applications will reach its top ; that number multiplied by the ordinary height of a man, will of course be a near approximation to its height. Again, supposing this tree one in a row or avenue, then to estimate the length of the avenue, measure the third or fourth tree by the man, and measure by the same means the distance of that tree from the first, then state the question thus : As the difference between the height of the first and fourth tree is to the horizontal distance between them ; so is the difference between the first and last tree of the avenue, to the length of the avenue. In this way, the length and breadth of a field maybe e timated by observing the height of the hedge at the nearest side, and the apparent height at the farthest points. The breadth of ridges and their number, teams at work, or cattle grazing, or accidental passengers, are all objects of known dimensions, which may be made use of in this way of estimating the contents of lands. In regard to houses, the doors, and windows, and size of bricks, stones, boards, tiles, &c. are obvious and certain guides. 3298. The recollection of surfaces and of country is a matter of considerable interest to every one, but especially to the agriculturist. The most effectual mode of impressing scenery on the memory is by the study and practice of sketching landscape. In addition to this, it will be useful to pay attention to the natural surface and productions, as kind of tree or crop, hills, valleys, fiats, lakes, rills. &c. ; also to the distant scenery, as whether flat, hilly, cultivated, waste, woody, or watery ; what processes are going on; what the style of houses, dress, &c. Having attended to these details, the next and the most im- portant aid to the memory is to recollect what portion of country already known to us it most resembles. 3299. In endeavouring to recollect the surface and olyects composing an entire estate, some leading central object, as the house, should be fixed on, and the bearings of other objects relative to it ascertained in idea. Then, either by going over the estate, or by a favourable position on the house-top or some other eminence, the outline of the fields, or other B .OK V. TAKING THE LEVELS OF SURFACES. 535 scenery nearest the house, may be taken down or remembered, and also the distant scenery, or that exterior to the estate. In riding through a country which it is desired to recollect, a sketch should be made in imagination of the road and the leading objects adjoining ; another of what may be called the objects in the middle distance ; and, finally, one of the farthest distance. If, instead of the imagination, a memorandum book were used, and the sketches accompanied with notes, the country examined would be firmly impressed on the memory. In this way temporary military maps are formed by the engineers of the army in a few hours, and with astonishing accuracy. Subsect. 2. Taking the Levels of Surfaces. 3300. Levelling, or the operation of taking the levels of surfaces, is of essential use in agriculture, for ascertaining the practicability of bringing water to particular points in order to drive machinery ; for irrigation ; for roads led along the sides of hills ; for drainages, and various other purposes. There are few works on the earth's surface more useful, grand, and agreeable, than a road ascending, passing over, and descending a range of steep irregular mountains, but every where of the same and of a convenient slope ; next to this is a canal passing through an irregular country, yet every where on the same level. 3301. Two or more places are said to be on a true level, when they are equally distant from the centre of the earth. Also, one place is higher than another, or out of level with it, when it is farther from the centre of the earth : and a line equally distant from that centre in all its points, is called the line of true level. Hence, because the earth is round, that line must be a curve, and make a part of the earth's circumference, or at least be parallel to it, or concentrical with it. 3302. The line of sight given by the operation of levelling is a tangent, or a right line perpendicular to the semidiameter of the earth at the point of contact, rising always higher above the true line of level, the farther the distance is, which is called the apparent line of level, the difference of which is always equal to the excess of the secant of the arch of distance above the radius of the earth. 3303. The common methods of levelling are sufficient for conveying water to small dis- tances, &c. ; but in more extensive operations, as in levelling for canals, which are to con- vey water to the distance of many miles, and such like, the difference between the true and the apparent level must be taken into the account, which is equal to the square of the distance between the places, divided by the diameter of the earth, and consequently it is always proportional to the square of the distance ; or from calculation almost eight inches, for the height of the apparent above the true level at a distance of one mile. Thus, by proportioning the excesses in altitude according to the squares of the distances, tables showing the height of the apparent above the true level for every hundred yards of distance on the one hand, and for every mile on the other, have been constructed. (See Dr. Huttoris Mathematical Dictionary, art. Level.) 3304. The operation of levelling is performed by placing poles or staves at different parts or points from which the levels are to be taken, with persons to raise or lower them, according to circumstances, when the levelling instrument is properly applied and adjusted. In describing the more common levels used in agriculture (2497.), we have also given some account of the mode of using them for common purposes. Their use, as well as that of the different kinds of spirit levels, will be better acquired by a few hours' practice with a surveyor than by any number of words : and indeed in practice, whenever any very important point or series of levels is to be taken, it will commonly be found better to call in the aid of a land surveyor than to be at the expense of implements to be seldom used, and with which errors might easily be made by a very skilful person not accustomed to their frequent use. 3305. Levelling to produce an even line (Jig. 521.), as in road-making, whether that line be straight or curved in direction, can only be determined on an irregular surface by measuring down from an elevated level line (a), or from level lines in parallel directions, M m 4 SCIENCE Or ACRICULTl RE. Part II. ami bo transferring the points by horizontal levels to the proper line. Straight rods arc the ready means of measuring down, and tin- points must be marked by h i ll oc ks or hol- lows (/>)• or by smooth-headed Btakes driven into the surface, and protruding above, or Mink under it, according to the obstructions. .. Lines of uniform declivity or acclivity {Jig. 521. e, c, e)are readily formed on the same principle. ' In tliU and the former ease, the common level ami the horning pieces (d and d), with measuring-rods and stakes, are all the instruments required. Suusect. 3. Division and hying out of Lands. 8307. Tin' division ■>/' lands is one of the most important and not the least difficult parts of the land surveyor's art. In intricate cases, as in the Subdivision of large estates or commons, the professional surveyor will generally be resorted to ; but it is essen- tial for the land-steward and proprietor, and even for the farmer, or professional cultivator, to know the general principles on which this business is founded. We shall therefore shortly develope these principles from Dr. Hutton's valuable Dictionary, and next offer some general rules of our own for ordinary cases of dividing and laying out lines. 3308. In the division of commons, after the whole is surveyed and cast up, and the proper quantities to be allowed for roads, &c. deducted, divide the net quantity remain- ing among the several proprietors, by the rule of fellowship, in proportion to the real value of their estates, and you will thereby obtain their proportional quantities of the land. But as this division supposes the land, which is to be divided, to be all of an equal goodness, you must observe, that if the part in which any one's share is to be marked off be better or worse than the general mean quality of the land, then you must diminish or augment the quantity of his share in the same proportion. 3309. Or divide the ground among the claimants in the direct ratio of the value of their claims, and the inverse ratio of the quality of the ground allotted to each: that is, in proportion to the quotients arising from the division of the value of each person's estate, by the number which expresses the quality of the ground in his share. 3310. But these regular methods cannot always be put in practice ; so that, in the division of commons, the usual way is to measure separately all the land that is of different values, and add into two sums the contents and the values; then the value of every claimant's share is found by dividing the whole value among them in pro- portion to their estates ; and lastly, a quantity is laid out for each person, that shall be of the value of his share before found. 3311. It is required to divide any given quantity of ground, or its value, into any given number of parts, and in proportum to any given number. — Hide. Divide the given piece, orits value, as in the rule of fellowship, by dividing the whole content or value by the sum of the numbers expressing the proportions of the several shares, and mul- tiplying the quotient severally by the said proportional numbers for the respective shares required, when the land is all of the same quality. But if the shares be of different qualities, then divide the numbers expressing the proportions or values of the shares, by the numbers which express the qualities of the land in each share; and use the quotients instead of the former proportional numbers. Ex. I, If the total value of a common be 2500/. it is required to deter- mine the values of the shares of the three claimants A, B, C, whose estates are of these values, 10,000/., 1:5,000/., and 25,000/. The estates being in proportion as the numbers 2, 3, 5, whose sum is 10, we shall have 2,500 -*■ 10=250 ; which being severally multiplied by 2, 3, 5, the products 500, 750, 1250, are the values of the shares required. Ex. 2. It is required to divide 300 acres of land among A, B, C, D, E, F, G, and H, whose claims upon it are respectively in proportion as the numbers 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 10, 15, 20. The sum of these proportional numbers is 64 ; by which dividing 300, the quotient is 4 ac. 2 r. 30 p. ; which being multiplied by each of the numbers, 1, 2, 3, 5, &c. we obtain for the several shares as annexed. It is required to divide 780 acres among A, B, and C, whose estates are 1,000/., 3,000/., and 502 4,iiiii/. a year; the ground in their shares being worth 5, 8, and 10 shillings the acre respectively. Here their claims are as 1, 3, 4: and the qualities of their land are as 5, 8, 10; therefore their quantities must be as one fifth, three eighths, two fifths; or by reduction, as 8, 15, 16. Now the sum of these numbers is 39 ; by which dividing the 780 acres, the quotient is 20 ; which being multiplied severally by the time numbers 8, 15, lii, the three products are 160, 300, 320, for the shares of A, B, C, respectively. 3312. To cut off from a plan a given number of acres, §c. by a line drawn from any point in the side of it. — Rule. Let a (Jig. 522.) be the given point in the plan, from which a line is to be drawn cutting off suppose 5 ac. 2 r. 14 p. Draw a b cutting off the part a b c as near as can be judged equal to the quantity proposed; and let the true quantity of a h c, when calculated, be only 4 ac. Ac. H. P. A = 4 2 :;n B = 9 1 20 t' = 14 10 I) = 23 1 so E = 37 2 00 F = 46 3 90 = 70 1 10 H = Sum = 93 3 00 300 00 Em. 3. Book V. DIVIDING AND LAYING OUT LANDS. 537 3 r. 20 p. which is less than 5 ac. 2 r. 14 p. the true quantity, by ac. 2 r. 34 p. or 71,250 square links. Then measure a b, which suppose = 1,234 links, and divide 71,250 by 617, the half of it ; and the quotient, 115 links, will be the altitude of the triangle to be added, and whose base is a, b. Therefore, if upon the centre b, with the radius 115, an arc be described> and a line be drawn parallel to a, b, touching the arc, and cutting b, d in d; and if a, d be drawn, it will be the line cutting oft" the required quantity a, d, c, a. On the other hand, if the first piece had been too much, then d must have been set below b. In this manner, the several shares of commons to be divided, may be laid down upon the plan, and transferred thence to the ground itself. 3313. The simplest mode of dividing lands, and that by which the agriculturist will make fewest errors, is by trial and correction. Thus, supposing a piece of unenclosed land of irregular shape to contain thirty-eight acres and a half, and it is desired to lay it out in three fields, each of the same extent. Take a plan of the field, and lay it down on paper ; divide it into three parts as near as possible by the eye : then ascertain the contents of one of the outside divisions, wliich will be either somewhat too little or too much. Sup- pose it too little by half a rood ; then, as the length of the straight line of the division is 1000 links, and 1000 links in length and 100 in breadth make an acre, and as half a rood is the eighth of an acre, it follows that by extending the line the eighth part of 100 links, or 12*4 links at both ends, or 24-8 links at one end, the requisite quantity will be added. Then go through the same operation with the projected field on the other extreme of the plot ; and this being corrected, the middle field must necessarily be of the exact contents of each of the two others : but to prove the whole, this field also may be tried in the same manner. 3314. In dividing a field with a view to sowing different crops in certain proportions : say, for example, one acre and a half of common turnips, one acre of Swedish turnips, three quarters of an acre of potatoes, and five acres of peas. Suppose the field a parallelogram or nearly so; then first ascertain the length of the ridges, and next state the question thus: — Such a length being given, required the breadth to give a fourth of an acre — that being the smallest fraction in the proportions to be laid out ; then, if the length of the ridges be ten chains, the breadth requisite to give a quarter of an acre will be 25 links; consequently, a breadth of five times that space will be required for the common turnips ; four times for the Swedish turnips ; three times for the potatoes ; and twenty times for the peas. 3315. In all more intricate cases, first lay down the plan of the space to be divided on paper, to a large scale, say a chain to an inch ; then cover the paper with lines, drawn so as to form squares, each square containing a certain number of feet and yards, or say a pole each ; then on these squares adjust the figure, whatever it may be : thus, sup- posing it desired to lay out a thicket of trees on the face of a hill, the outline of which shall resemble the outline of the profile of a horse, dog, or say a human head, and yet shall contain only one acre : lay down the outline of the horse or head on a large scale, and divide it into squares ; then by trial and correction ascertain what each square must necessarily contain. Say that there are 130 entire squares and 40 parts of squares, making up in all 160 squares ; each of these squares must of course contain exactly one pole, or 625 links, and their sides the square root of that number, or 25 links. From these data it is easy to lay down the figure with perfect accuracy. 3316. The layiiig out lines on lands, for the purposes of roads, fences, &c. requires to be well understood by the agriculturist. On a plain surface, the business of tracing straight lines is effected by a series of poles, so placed that the one nearest the eye con- ceals all the rest. Where a straight line is to be indicated among objects or inequalities not more than fifteen or twenty feet high, its plan or track on the earth («, b,fig. 523.) 523 £9 " SCIENCE OF AGRICULTURE. Part II. may be found by the usu of poles ■ few feet higher than the elevation of the obstruc- tions, the director being placed on a step-ladder, or other elevation, at one end. Where this method cannot be adopted on account of the height of the inequalities, the line must either he formed along the summits of these inequalities, which may be done if they are houses, hills, or trees; or parallel lines ( ( -, d, <•) formed where practicable, and the main line found by off-sets ( f a, h) from those collateral lines at such places as are suitable. A third method, bul one nol always perfectly accurate, is to take a plan of the field or scene of operations and on this to set out the proposed line ; then, by ascertaining ils bearings and distances relatively to the obstructions, it may he transferred from the paper to the ground. In carrying straight lines through woods, lanterns have been used; but a much more Correct method is to elevate poles above the surface of the wood. 3317. Continuous Una may always be made perfectly straight, however irregular the surface, by following the same parallel as indicated by points of the compass, or by the shadow of the operator during sunshine. If the needle does not move, or the shadow of the spectator be always projected at the same angle to his course, the direction in which he walks, in either ease, must be straight. The mode of forming right lines in such circumstances being understood, the formation of right-lined figures is merely a repetition of the process, uniting each side by the required angle. 3318. Curved Hues on irregular surfaces are in general only to be laid down by the previous establishment of straight lines ; first, leading straight lines, and next secondary straight lines, which shall form skeletons to the curves. A second mode, and, on a large stale, by much the most certain, is to find the leading points of the curves, by trian- gles from a known base or known bases ; but as both modes are rare, they need not be enlarged on. Subsect. 4. Estimating Weight, Power, and Quantities 3319. Ascertaining the tveight of objects is a part of agricultural knowledge, no less necessary than that of measuring their superficial or solid contents. In all ordinary cases, as of grain, roots, bundles of straw, bushels of lime, &c, this is best done by a common steelyard, suspended from a beam or a triangle of three posts. Cart or waggon loads are weighed on those well-known platforms sunk in the ground at toll gates ; or sometimes by steelyards on a very large scale. Cattle are weighed by machines of a particular kind, which have been already described (2566. to 2568.). The weigh- ing of cattle and grain chiefly concerns the farmer ; and is of consequence, in the first case, to ascertain the progress of fattening animals, or the weight of those ready for the butcher ; and, in the second, to determine the quantity of flour that may be produced from a given quantity of grain. 3320. Estimating the quantity of power requisite to draw any implement or machine is performed by the intervention of the draught machine already described (2563.), between the power and the implement. It would not be difficult to construct all agricultural implements with a fixed draught-machine and index, which would at all times, when they were at work, shew the amount of power employed in moving them; but such an arrangement woidd be of little use. 3321. Estimating the quantity of work which servants and cattle ought to perform in a given time, is an art that ought to be familiar to every agriculturist. In general no absolute rule can be laid down, because so much depends on soils, roads, cattle, and other circumstances ; but in every particular case, the rate or market price of labour per day being given, and the quantity of work ascertained which a man can fairly perform in a certain time, a rate per yard, pole, or acre, or per solid quantity if materials are to be moved, can easily be determined on. A farmer should know by memory the number ot ridges or of single furrows, or bouts, which it requires to make an acre on every field of his farm. This will aid him in every operation that requires to be performed on these fields, the quantity of manure, seed, ploughings, harrowings, hoeings, mowing, reaping, raking, &c ; as well as in estimating the produce, whether corn, hay, roots, or the num- ber of cattle or sheep that may be grazed there for any given time. 3322. Road work, ditching, hedging, draining, trenching, c^c. ought to be subjected to similar calculations, so as if possible to let out all work, not performed with the master's own men and cattle, by contract or quantity, instead of by time. As spade work is nearly the same in most parts of the country, certain general rules have been laid down by canal contractors and others, which, though seldom strictly followed up, it may be useful to know. Thus in moving ground, as in digging a drain or the found- ations of a building, if the soil is soft, and no other tool than the spade is necessary, a man will throw up a cubic yard of 27 solid feet in an hour, or 10 cubic yards in a day. But if picking or hacking be necessary, an additional man will be required ; and very strong gravel will require two. The rates of a cubic yard, depending thus upon each circumstance, will be in the ratio of the arithmetical numbers 1, 2, 3. If, there- fore, the wages of a labourer be 2s. t>i .11 - .mil Hirer quarters' purch i»e of the clear annual rent. -» _o £ o 3 O a s c C > o c/3 o B &. 3 u u o e c w J3 2 cc CO 00 CO LI 00 8384. In commercial dealing* the agriculturist requires to be parti- cularly vigilant, because the nature of his occu- pation anil pursuits have not that tendency to sharpen his bargaining faculties which is given by a life of trade or manufacture. The pur- chase of an estate is so weighty a transaction, that few men trust to their own judgment as to value, and legal advice is always taken as to the validity of the title,&c. ; but stewards, in dealing with timber merchants, workers of quarries, gra- vel dealers, brick-makers, and others, require to be ever on their guard. The farmer and bailiff require particular caution as to marketing, which is an important business, and not to be excelled in but after long experience in attending fairs and mar- kets; learningthevarious devices of sellers to de- ceive the purchaser, or enhance theprice of their goods ; and of buyers to depreciate what is ex- posed to sale. To far- mers who deal chiefly in live stock, marketing is by far the most difficult and important part of their business. There are salesmen or brokers, indeed, for transacting business in behalf of far- mers, as there are agents for effecting transfers of landed property; but in neither case is it safe to trust entirely to their judgment and probity. Personal experience in this, as in every depart- ment of his art, is what ought to be aimed at by every agriculturist. Be- sides the professional ad- vantages to the fanner of marketing for him- self, the intercourse with society which this ine- vitably produces contri- butes to his general im- provement as a man and a citizen. Par* III. Book I. PRACTICE OF AGRICULTURE. 55I PART III. AGRICULTURE AS PRACTISED IN BRITAIN. 3385. In the first Part of this work we have endeavoured to give a concise view of the actual state of agriculture in every country, with a view to interest the reader in the subject, and prepare him for entering in detail on the elementary principles of the art. In the second Part, these principles and elementary departments of agricultural knowledge have been developed in successive views of the nature of vegetables, animals, and soils, and the mechanism and science of agricultural implements and operations. As far as these elementary principles go, they are applicable to the agriculture of every part of the world, with the modifications required by different physical and geographical circum- stances ; but as such an application is not required, in a work designed principally for this country, we limit this part of our work to the agriculture of Britain, in its most im- proved mode of practice. In the extensive sense in which we have applied the term Agriculture, this will include, 1st, the valuation, purchase, and transfer of landed pro- perty; 2d, its laying out, or arrangement; 3d, its improvement; and 4th, its manage- ment; 5th, the hiring and stocking of farms ; 6th, the culture of farm lands; and 7th, the economy of live stock and the dairy. BOOK I. OF THE VALUATION, PURCHASE, AND TRANSFER OF LANDED PROPERTY. 3386. On the existence of property depends all human improvement. Personal property is the first acquirement of man ; but scarcely any progress is made in civilization till property in land is established and rendered secure. Landed property, indeed, is the basis on which every other material property is founded, and the origin from which it has sprung. The landed estates of Britain, as a species of property, may be considered in regard to tenure, valuation, and transfer. Chap. I. The different Kinds and Tenures of Landed Propierty in the British Isles. 3387. As landed property is somewhat different as to tenure in the three kingdoms, we shall notice the leading features in each separately. Sect. I. The Kinds of Landed Property, and its different Tenures, in England. 3388. Territorial property in England, Marshal observes, aptly separates into two principal divisions; — namely, into possessory property, or the actual possession of the lands and their appurtenances ; and into abstract rights arising out of them. 3389. Possessory property comprises the soil or land itself; the minerals and fossils it covers ; the waters annexed to it ; the wood and herbage it produces ; and the build- ings, fences, &c. thereon erected. 3390. Abstract rights are, seigniorial, as chief rents, &c. ; manorial, as quit-rents, fines, &c. ; prescriptive, as common rights ; predial, as tithes ; parochial, as taxes. 3391. Advoicson and parliamentary interest might be added, as they are not unfre- quently attached to landed property. 3392. Possessory projierty is further liable to analysis, and to more particular distinc- tions. 3393. Freehold. If lands are held unconditionally, and in full possession, without any other superior than the constitution and laws of the country, they are termed freehold; a term which admits of still further distinctions. 3394. Feefarmhold. If they are liable to regular and fixed annual payments, beneath their rental value, and without being liable to fine, heriot, or forfeiture, they nrvfnfarm- h'j/d, or other inferior holding. N n 4 PRACTICE OF AGRICULTURE. Part III. .,/. If they are held of a superior, as part of a royalty, honour, or manor, mill are liable to fines, or other outgoings, on account of deaths, transfers, or other cir- cumstances, the) are copyhold i and are also subject to the ancient customs of the royalty, honour, or manor, of which they are respectively a part. 3396. / wld. If they are held by special agreement for a definite term, whether of lives or years, they arc leasehold; which admits of various distinctions ; namely, lorn: leasehold, at tor a thousand rear*. Life leasehold, with a Sne certain, <>r under certain limitations, on renewal. /.;/.- leasehold, with an uncertain Bne, payable to a proprietor or other superior, who has merely reserved a convi ntional rent ; tile tenant having paid down a sum of money to obtain the lease and the right of alienation, agreeably to the practice of the west of England. Life leasehold, with an uncertain tine, payable to a proprietor, who receives the full rent of the land, at the time of granting the lease] the lessor having a power of alienation, according to the practice of Wilis and some |> irt> of England. Leasehold for ••,! ordinary term v as fur less than a hundred years', with the power of alienation. 7. Tenure is the genera] term for these several holds, or rights of possession. Even the lowest of them gives a sort of temporary property in the land, which is thereby rendered liable to bargain and sale as property. That species of holding which is given by a lease, without the power of alienation or transfer, being merely the right of occupancy, will be classed among other holdings of a similar nature, in treating of leases and tenancy. (See Book II.) 3398. Legal possession of landed property is gained, by grant, as from the crown ; by prescription, or long usage ; by descent, as from an ancestor ; by deed of gift, or settlement ; by the testament of the deceased owner ; by forfeiture, as to a mortgagee; by purchase, either entered on a court roll, or ratified by a deed of conveyance. 3309. The title. Through whatever legal channel possession is obtained, the tradition, n cord, or deed, that witnesses the fact, gives the title of the possessor ; by which he is enabled to hold his lands, and legally to convey them to another. Such is the tenure of lands in England. Sect. II. The Kinds and Tenures of Landed Property in Scotland. 3400. The kind.* if landed property in Scotland are the same as in England, except that manorial rights apart from the right to the soil are unknown. 3401. Tlie tenure of lands in Scotland (litters very little from the English tenures. All lands are either held allodialti/, that is, independently of any superior ; or they are held by feudal tenures, by which all lands are considered theoretically as belonging to the crown. The different descriptions of these are termed feu-holding, blanch-holding, burgage, and mortmain. There are also some local tenures, as that of Udal, Loeh- maben, &c. 3402. Feu-holding. The most ancient feudal tenure in Scotland was by military service; for all vassals were at first obliged, by the nature of their grant, to serve the superior in war, in such manner, and as often, as his occasions called for it. This species of holding, which was known under the name of ward-holding, is now abolished (by 20 Geo. 3. c. 50.), and requires no farther explanation. 3403. Blanch-holding. Where the vassal, in place of feu-duties and personal services as above described, only pays a small duty to the superior, in full of all demands, and merely as an acknowledgment of his right, whether in money, as a penny Scotch, or in some other article, as a pair of gilt spurs, a pound of wax, &c, it is called blanch-holding. This tenure deviates, more than any other, from the original nature of feus ; but next tofeu, it has now become the most general species of holding. The payments are entirely illusory, being never demanded. 3404. Burgage-holding is a tenure by which royal burghs hold of the sovereign the houses and lands that lie within the limits described in their several charters of erection. The proprietor of the burgage lands is liable to pay the municipal taxes ; but all the political rights are vested in the magistracy, or town-council of the burgh. It is very limited in its extent. 3405. Mortmain is described by Erskine as the tenure by which any feudal subjects are held, which have been granted in donation to churches, monasteries, or other cor- porations, forreligious, charitable, or public uses. Strictly speaking, the only lands now held in mortmain, are a few bursaries belonging to the universities, the tenure having been declared superstitious, ami the other lands held by it given to the crown. Lands now destined for charitable purposes are vested in trustees, and held by feu or blanch. Sect. III. The Kinds and Tenures of Landed Property in Ireland. MOS. The kinds of landed property in Ireland are limited to freehold and leasehold ; there are no manorial rights apart from the soil as in England, nor feudal rights or hold- ings as in Scotland. 3107. The tenure of lands in Ire/and is very simple. It is in general derived from firants made by the crown on the payment of a certain quit-rent received by the excise Book I. VALUATION OF LANDED PROPERTY. 553 collector of the district. This is the fundamental tenure, and the only other is leases granted by such proprietors ; some of these leases are for ever, or on lives renewable for ever on payment of a certain fine for the insertion of a new life when one drops, or for leases of 999 years, and almost every variety of term with and without lives between that and twenty-one years. There are no feudal tenures in Ireland ; the only abstract right being that of tithes and parochial or other taxes. (See Wqkefiekfs Account of Ireland.) Chap. II. Valuation of Landed Property. 3408. When lands are valued with a view to sale or purchase, the tenure is the first sub- ject of attention. The nature of the tenure often occasions some difficulty in ascertaining its value ; but by ascertaining the value of the fee-simple, or freehold tenure, the value of inferior holdings may be found by known rules of calculation, the principal of which we have already noticed. (3340. ) 3409. The fee-simple value of lands is liable to fluctuation from general causes ; and is likewise affected, and in much higher degree, by local circumstances. Lands of the selfsame quality are of fivefold value, in one situation, comparatively with what they are worth in another: not merely, though principally, on account of the rental value, or the current price they will let for, to tenants, in different situations ; but through other less permanent causes ; — as the quantity of land at market, and the number and value of purchasers, in a given district ; as well as the temporary spirit which prevails in it, with respect to the possession of landed property, at the period of sale ; — circumstances that are worthy of attention, from a purchaser whose views are not confined to any particular spot. 3410. The vsual method of coming at the fee-simple value of land is to ascertain its fair rental value, or price by the year, and to 'multiply this by the number of years' pur- chase which the existing demand for land will bear, in the given situation, at the time of sale. 3411. The number of years purchase, or the ratio between the rent and the sale value of lands, varies greatly, as from twenty to forty, twenty-five to thirty being the more ordinary numbers. Thus, a parcel of land, whose fair rental value is one hundred pounds, is, in common cases, worth from two thousand five hundred to three thousand pounds. 3412. But the real rental value, which is the only firm groundwork to proceed upon, whether in the purchase or the management of landed property, cannot easily be ob- tained. Speaking generally of the lands of England, it is what very few men are able to set down. It is true, that, in every district, and almost every township, there are men who tolerably well know the rate at which the lands of their respective neighbourhoods are usually let. But interchange them, reciprocally, into each other's districts, and their errors would be egregious, for reasons already suggested. Nor can a mere provincialist, especially in a district which is unenlightened by modern improvements, be aware of the value, even of his own farm, under the best course of management of which it may be capable : nor can he see, through the double veil of ignorance and prejudice, the more permanent improvements that may be made upon it, so evidently as one who has a more general knowledge of rural subjects, and is in the habit of detecting and pro- secuting such improvements. Yet it very materially concerns an intending purchaser, in these improving times, to know, before he make his last offer for an estate, whether it is or is not capable of being improved beyond its existing value ; and what, if any, is the probable amount of improvement : for he is else liable to lose a valuable purchase, through his being out-bidden by a better-informed candidate. These facts being evident, it follows, that before an offer be made, especially for a large purchase, it is no more than common prudence, in a man who is not himself a judge, to call in twofold assistance: a provincial valuer, to estimate its fair market price to the tenants of the neighbourhood in which it lies ; and a man of more general knowledge, to check his valuation, and to estimate the improvements of which the lands are evidently capable. 3413. The leading, particulars which affect the value of an estate, and which require to be considered in its estimation, are quantity, quality, situation, state, outgoings, and ab- stract rights. 3414. The quantity of the land is the groundwork of the estimate ; though it has little weight in the scale of valuation. The fee-simple value of an acre of land may be less than twenty shillings, or it may be more than a hundred pounds. Nevertheless, it is on the quantity the rental value is calculated; and it is usual for the seller to exhibit a 654 PRACTICE OF AGRICULTURE. Part III. " particular n of the estate on sale; showing, or which ought to show, not only the aggregate quantity, but the number of acres thai each piece or parcel contains; and ought, most particularly, to specify the distinct quantities of the lands of different quali- ties, in order tli.it their several rental values may, with greater accuracy and ease, be ascertained. 3415. The intrinsic quality of the land is another essential basis of calculation. But even this, in a general view of the value of lands throughout the kingdom, is often of secondary consideration; for, in many cases, their values are given by situation, rather than by soil and substrata. In some cases, as lias been already said, the value of the situation may be fivefold that of the intrinsic value of the land. This excessive influence . I "situation, however, is limited in its effects, and is chiefly confined to the environs of towns, and other extraordinary markets for produce : a great majority of the lands of England owe their values less to situation than to intrinsic quality ; and to come at this, with sufficient accuracy, is the most requisite, and, at the same time, the most difficult part of valuation, as it (Upends almost wholly on extemporary judgment, exercised on the frequently few data which rise to the eye in passing over the field of estimation. It is almost needless, therefore, to observe, that, to acquire the degree of judgment necessary to this critical task, it is requisite to know the productiveness of lands of different appear- ances : a species of knowledge which scarcely any thing but mature practice, in the cultivation of lands of different qualities, can sufficiently teach ; though long habit may do much, in ordinary cases, towards hitting off the value of lands, without an extensive knowledge of the practice of agriculture. There are, however, cases in which we find both of these qualifications insufficient to give an accuracy of judgment, even among provincial valuers ; and a man who ventures to step forward as a universal valuist, should either have an extraordinary talent for his line of profession, or should, after a suitable initiation, have had great experience in rural concerns in various parts of the kingdom. 3416. On situation, the value of lands, aggregately considered, depends less, than on intrinsic quality ; though, without doubt, situation has great influence. Thus, land whose intrinsic quality renders it, in an ordinary situation, worth twenty shillings an acre, would not, in some districts, be worth more than fifteen shillings; while in others it would bear to be estimated at twenty-five shillings, or a higher rent, to a farmer on a large scale, and away from the immediate environs of a town, or any populous district of manufacture ; for reasons that will appear in examining the different particulars of situation. 3417. In the temperature of situation, whether it is given by elevation, aspect, or exposure, we find a powerful influence, which is capable of altering exceedingly the value of lands. The same soil and sub. soil, which we not unfrequently see on exposed mountains, and hanging to the north, and which in that situation are not worth more than five shillings an acre, would, if situated in a sheltered vale district, and lying well to the sun, be worth twenty shillings, or a greater rent. Even on climate, something consider- able depends. In the south of England, harvest is generally a month earlier than in the northern pro- vmces; though it is not regulated exactly by the climate or latitude of places, a circumstance that requires to be attended to by those who estimate the value of estates ; for an early harvest is not only advan- tageous in itself, but it gives time to till the ground, or to take an autumnal crop, which are advantages that a late harvest will not so well admit of. And another kind of temperature of situation has still more influence on the value of lands; namely, the moistness of the atmospnere. A moist situation not only gives an uncertain and often a late harvest, but renders it difficult and hazardous, as too frequently ex- perienced on the western coasts of this island. 3418. Even in the turn of surface we find exercise for the judgment. Lands lying with too steep or too flat surfaces, especially retentive arable lands, are of less value than those which are gently shelving, so as to give a sufficient current to surface water, without their being difficult to cultivate. Steep-lying lands are not only troublesome and expensive, under the operations of tillage, but in carrying on manures and getting oft the produce. Lands lying with an easy descent, or on a gently billowy surface, may be worth more by many pounds an acre, purchase money, than others of the same intrinsic quality, hanging on a steep. t419. A supply of voter for domestic purposes, for the uses of live stock, and for the purpose of irrigation, is another consideration of some weight in valuing an estate. There are situations in which a copious stream of calcareous water would enhance the fee-simple value of a large estate some thousand pounds. 3420. A svfficicnt supply of manure, whether dung, lime, marl, or other melioration, at a moderate price, and within a moderate distance of land carriage, materially adds to the intrinsic value of lands. 3421. The established practice of the country in which an estate lies, is callable of enhancing or depressing the value of it exceedingly. Even the single point of practice of ploughing light and loamy lands with two oxen, or two active horses, instead of four heavy ones, is capable of making a difference on good land, which is kept alternately in herbage and corn crops, of five to ten shillings an acre a year ; or ten pounds an acre purchase money. 3422. The price if labour is another regulator of the marketable price of land in a given district. It is always right, however, to compare this with the habits of exertion and industry which prevail among farm workmen, before the net amount <>i labour can be safely set down. The price of living, oi expense of housekeeping prevalent among farmers, has its share of influence on the value of lands, iii the more recluse parts of the north of England, tanners and their servants are fed, clothed, and accommodated, at nearly half the expense of those of a similar degree in many parts of the more central and southern provinces. It is not here intended to intimate how husbandmen, their servants, and labourers, ought to live. As they are the most valuable members of the community, they arc well entitled to such enjoyments as are compatible with care and labour. All that is meant, in stating this fact, is to convey a hint to the purchasers of estates. For, in a country where frugality prevails, lands of a given quality will ever bear a higher rent than they will where a more profuse style of living has gained a footing. Kent is higher, in proportion to the gross produce, on the small farms in Ireland, and the west of Scotland, than in other parts of the united kingdom ; and yet the landlord is seldom a gainer, Book T. VALUATION OF LANDED PROPERTY. 555 as such rents arc not so regularly paid, ami the tenant, having no reserve of capital, is in bad seasons often unable to pay any rent at all. 3424. The spirit of improvement, or the prejudice against it, which prevails in a district of sale, is a cir. cumstance of some value to a purchaser : for if the former is in a progressive state, especially if it is still in the earlier stages of its progress, a rapid increase of rent may, with a degree of certainty, be expected • whereas, under the leaden influence of the latter, half a century may pass away, before the golden chariot of improvement can be profitably put in motion. 3425. In markets, more than in any other circumtances, we are to look for the existing value of lands. Their influence is not confined to towns and populous places of manufacture : for in ports, and on quays whether of inlets, estuaries, rivers, or canals, markets are met half way ; even by good road's, their distance from the farm-yard may be said to be shortened. 3426. In this detail of the particulars of situation, with respect to the value of landed property, we perceive the attentions requisite to be employed by a valuer who is called upon to act in a country that is new to him. A provincialist, or even a professional valuer, who acts in a district, the existing value of whose lands he is sufficiently ac- quainted with, determines, at sight and according to the best of his judgment, on their respective values : for he knows, or ought to know, their current prices ; what such and such lands let for in that neighbourhood ; what he and his neighbours give, or would give, for lands of the same quality and state, without adverting to the particular circumstances of situation (they being given, in the established current prices which have arisen out of these circumstances) ; resting his judgment solely on the intrinsic quality and existing state of each field or parcel as it passes under his eye. But let his skill be what it may, in a country in which he has acquired a habit of valuing lands, he will, in a distant district, the current market prices of whose lands may be ten, twenty, or fifty per cent, above or below those which he has been accustomed to put upon lands of the same intrinsic qualities and existing states, find himself at a loss, until he has learnt the current prices of the country, or has well weighed the cir- cumstances of situation ; to which, in every case, he must necessarily attend, before he can determine their value under an improved practice, or venture to lay down general rules for their improvement. 3427. The existing state of lands, or the manner in which they lie, at the time of sale, is the next class of circumstances which influences their marketable value. 3428. Their state with respect to enclosure is a matter of great consideration. Open lands, though wholly appropriated, and lying well together, are of much less value, except for a sheep walk or a rabbit warren, than the same land would be in a state of suitable enclosure. If they are disjointed and intermixed in a state of common field, or common meadow, their value may be reduced one third. If the common fields or meadows are what is termed Lammas land, and become common as soon as the crops are off, the depression of value may be set down at one half of what they would be worth, in well fenced enclosures, and unen- cumbered with that ancient custom. Again, the difference in value between lands which lie in a detached state, and those of the same quality that lie in a compact form, is considerable. The disadvantages of a scattered estate are similar to those of a scattered farm. Even the single point of a want of convenient access to detached fields and parcels is, on a farm, a serious evil. And it is on the value of farms that the value of an estate is to be calculated. 3429. The state of the roads, whether public or private, within an estate, and from it to the neighbouring markets, or places of delivery of produce, is an object of consideration to a purchaser. 3430. The state of the ivatercourses, or shores and ditches, within and below an estate, requires to be ex- amined into ; as the expense of improvement or reparation will be more or less, according to their existing state at the time of purchase; or, perhaps, by reason of natural causes, or through the obstinacy of a neighbour, and the defectiveness of the present laws of the country in this respect, the requisite improve- ment cannot be effected at any expense. 3431. The state of drainage of lands that lie out of the way of floods or collected water requires to be taken into consideration ; for although the art of draining is now pretty well understood, it cannot be practised, on a large scale, without much cost 3432. The state of the lands, as to tillage and manure, is entitled to more regard than is generally paid to it, in valuing them. Eut even to a purchaser, and still more to a tenant for a term, their state, in these respects, demands a share of attention. Lands that are in a high state of tillage and condition, so as to be able to throw out a succession of full crops, may be worth five pounds of purchase money an acre more than those of the same properties, which are exhausted by repeated crops, and lie in a useless state of foulness, from which they cannot be raised, but at a great expense of manure and tillage. 3433. The state, as to grass or arable, is better understood, and generally more attended to. Lands in a state of profitable herbage, and which have lain long so, are not only valuable, as bearing a high rent while they remain in that state; but after the herbage has begun to decline, will seldom fail to throw out a valuable succession of corn crops. Hence, the length of time which lands, under valuation, have lain in a state of herbage, especially if they have been kept in pasturage, is a matter of enquiry and estimation. 3434. Lastly, the state of farm buildings and fences is a thing of serious consideration. Buildings, yards, and enclosures, that are much let down, and gone to decay for want of timely reparation, incur a very great expense to raise them again to their proper state. And, when great accuracy of valuation is called for, as when the purchase value of an estate is left to reference, and when the tenants are not bound, or if bound are not able, to put them in the required state, it becomes requisite to estimate the expense which each farm, in that predicament, will require to put it in sufficier.t repair, so as to bring the whole into a suitable state of occupation. And the same principle of valuation holds good in ordinary purchases. 3435. Deductions, encuvibrances, and outgoings, are leases, tithes, taxes, fixed payments, repairs, and risks. 3436. Leases. In considering the nature of leasehold tenures, it appears that, by a long lease, the fee-simple value of an estate may be, in effect, annihilated. Even a lease for lives, with a mere conventional rent, may reduce it to nearly one third of its fee- simple value; and every other kind of lease, if the rent payable be not equal to the 556 PRACTICE OF AGRICULTURE. Tart III. t'.iir rental value at the time of sale, is an encumbrance, even to a purchaser who lias no other objeel in view than that of securing Ins property on land, and receiving interest, in rent, for the money laid out It' persona] convenience he immediately wanted, or im- provements requited to be made, a lease, though the tenant pay a full rent, becomes an obstacle to the purchase. 3 137. Tithes. If in valuing lands they are considered as tithe free, the tithe, or modus, it' any, requires to be deducted as an encumbrance ; and seeing the great variation in the values of tithes and moduses, according to customs and plans of occupation, it is the plainest »a\ of proceeding, to value all lands as free of tithe, and afterward to make an allowance for whatever they may be estimated to be worth : an allowance which, in some cases, as on corn-land estates, forms a considerable portion of the fee-simple value of the lands; while on grass-hmd estates, especially such as are pastured by cattle, this encumbrance, so galling to the corn grower, is in great part avoided. 3438. '/ ,.,■ ,. Although it may be called the custom of England for proprietors to pay the land tas, and the occupier 'all other taxes, yet this is not the universal practice. Nor is it, in valuing an estate on sale, and to be let at will, a matter to be enquired into. The annual amount of the payable taxes and other outgoings is the fact to be ascertained : for whosoever discharges them, they come as a burthen upon the gross value of the lands, out of which they are payable ; for if a tenant pays them, his rent is, or ought to be, estimated and fixed accordingly. If, however, an estate on sale is already let under lease for a term to come, it is highly requisite to ascertain what parts of the annual outgoings and repairs are discharged by the tenants, and what the pro- prietor will be liable to, during the term to run. The land tax, where it still exists, is extremely uncertain as to its value, and the poor tax is equally variable in different situations. The church, highway, and county rates are, taking them on a par of years, less liable to local uncertainty, and are consequently less entitled to enquiry from a valuist. 3439. Fised payments, or rent charges, such as chief rents, quit rents, annuities, en- dowments, schoolmasters' salaries, charitable donations, &c. to which an estate is liable ; also 3440. Repairs of public works, buildings, roads, &c. incumbent on the estate on sale, are subjects of enquiry and estimation ; as well as the ordinary repairs above noticed. And, moreover, 3441. The hazard, or risk, which naturally or fortuitously attends the lands under valuation, as that of their being liable to be inundated in summer, or to be torn away by floods at any season, is entitled to mature consideration : for, although these evils may generally be remedied by river breaks and embankments, the erecting of these is mostly attended with great expense ; and the estimated value of this becomes, of course, a fair deduction. :; 142. Appurtenant to an espensive estate, there are generally other valuable considerations, besides the purchase value of the lands. These are, 3443. Minerals and fossils, whether metals, fuels, calcareosities, or grosser earths. 34 11. Waters, whether they are valuable for fisheries, decoys, mills, domestic purposes, or the irrigation of lands. 3445. Timber, of woods and hedgerows. 3 146. Buildings that are not let with the farms, but which bear rent, independent of the lands ; yet which, when scattered over an estate, may well be considered as belonging to landed property. 34 17. The estimated value of evident improvements. 3448. The abstract rights which arise out of appropriated lands, or their appurte- nances ; as 3449 The rieht of commonage, which is generally of some value even when commons lie open, and may be of more when they shall be enclosed ; provided the cost of enclosure do not turn out to be more than the extra value of the appropriated lands, above that of the common right in their open state. The right of teignkn >"/ to fee-farm rents, or other chief rents, payable to the possessor of the lands on «ale "out of the lands of other proprietors. These rents, though small, are ot certain value in themselves- and the idea of superiority which they convey to some men's minds may be worth more than the pecuniary value ; « hich, indeed, where trie sums are very small (as is often the easel, is much lowered by the expense of collecting them : besides the trouble, vexation, private quarrels, and lawsuits they are liable to excite, when, through neglect, they are half forgotten, and the vassal is willing to catch at the circumst ince to trj {o get rid ofthe teazing and humiliating encumbrance. This, however, may mtv,. to account for their having been handed down with reverential care, through a succession of ages; until in many instances, even their origin, and much more the circumstances attending it, are difficult or impossible to trace Hot, Burely, a man of a liberal turn of mind, who has no interest in legal contests, and who prefers solid "old to a trinket, would not hesitate to collect these scattered wrecks of property, ami to convert them to a more civilised, rational, and profitable purpose. On the other hand, any man of an independent spiril would pay more than a fair price — would pay liberally— to be exonerated from so base a burthen If however, a vassal's chains sit easy upon him, let him wear them. \\ hat is here meant to be intimated is, that he ought to have, in liberality, if not in law, a fair opportunity of throwing ";r!l° The riehts of feudality, or manorial rights, are at present, if not in their origin, very different from those last mentioned. In the day oftheir establishment, they appear to havebeen founded in wisdom and a degree of political necessity ; and, by the collecting hand of time, they arrived at a high degree ot Book I. PURCHASE OF LANDED ritOPERTY. 557 political perfection. The simple and easy mode of transferring property, which the feudal system esta- blished, was well adapted to the illiterate age in which it had its rise. Even in these lettered days, and among the ruins of feudal rights, the copy of a court-roll is considered as theclearest title a man can have to his possession I what a hint is this to modern legislators ! The value of feudal rights is to be estimated by the quit rents, fines, heriots, escheats, and amerciaments, which long custom and a train of circum- stances have attached to the given court ; and besides what relates to the appropriated lands of the manor, the lord has a profit arising from the commonable lands (if any lie within it), as lord of the soil, which cannot be broken without his permission. Hence the fossils and minerals, which it covers, belong to him ; as well as the timber which grows upon the waste, and the waters that are annexed to it. He is moreover, in ordinary cases, lord of the game which inhabits or strays upon this manor. This, however, being a right of pleasure, rather than of profit, has no fixed standard of estimation. 3452. The right of tithe, when attached to an estate, is the most desirable of abstract rights arising out of landed property : for, as far as the right extends (whether to a lay rectory, or a vicarial improprietorship), the lands which it covers become, in effect, tithe free ; as every judicious proprietor incorporates the rents of the tithe with those of the lands out of which it is payable, thus (if the right, as it generally is, be rectorial) freeing them wholly from the encumbrance of tithes, as a tax on improvements, and as an obstacle to the growth of corn. The value of tithes, as has been intimated, is so various, that nothing but local information can enable a valuist to estimate them with sufficient truth. 3453. The right of advowson, or the privilege of appointing a pastor to propagate religion and morality upon an estate, properly enough belongs to its possessor ; as no other individual is so intimately concerned in the moral conduct of its inhabitants. 3454. The right of representation or election, or the appointment (in whole or in part) of a legislator to assist in promoting good order in the nation at large, equally belongs to the owner of territorial surface. Chap. III. Purchase or Transfer of Landed Property. 3455. In bargaining for an estate there are two methods in use ; the one by public bid- dings, and the other by private treaty. In either a certain degree of caution is requisite ; and in both an accurate valuation is the best safeguard. 3456. Among the preliminaries of purchase by private contract, the particulars which may be required to be furnished by a seller are first to be enumerated. These are ; the quantities of the several pieces of the lands on sale, together with the maps, or rough drafts, of the same : the tenure under which they are holden : some assurance as to the title of the seller, and his right of alienation : the tenancy under which the several farms are let ; and, if on lives, the ages of the nominees ; if for a term of years, the number unexpired ; if at will, the notices (if any) winch the tenants have had. 3457. An abstract of the covenants tinder which they are let ; particularly of those which relate to taxes and repairs, to the expenditure of produce, to the ploughing of grass lands, &c. 3458. The existing rents and profits receivable ; whether for tenanted lands, appurte- nances, or abstract rights ; with the estimated value of the demesne, and the woodlands in hand; together with the estimated value of the timber growing upon the estate on sale, as well as of the minerals and fossils which it may contain : the outgoings to which the estate is liable : the proposed time of the delivery of possession : the price, and the mode of payment expected. 3459. The particulars of instruction to be given to a surveyor, or other valuer, of an estate to be purchased, may next be particularised ; it will be right, however, to premise, that much, in this respect, depends on the probability of purchasing, and on the time allowed for making the estimate. 3460. In cases of sale by public auction, where there can be no certainty as to purchase, and where the time for valuation is limited, a rough estimate of each farm, and a general idea of the value of the timber and other appurtenances, may be all that can be prudently ascertained. 3461. But, in a sale by private contract, where the refusal of an estate is granted, and time allowed for deliberate survey, a more minute investigation may be proper, especially when there is every reason to believe that a bargain will take place. For the same report will not only serve as a guide to the purchase, but will become a valuable foundation on w hich to ground the future management of the estate. For these, and other reasons, a purchase by private contract is most to be desired, by a gentleman who is not in the habit of personally attending public sales, and is unacquainted with the business ot auction rooms. 3462. The particulars to be required from a surveyor, or surveyors, are principally these : the rental value of each field or parcel of land, with the state in which it lies, as to arable, meadow, pasture, or woodland ; the value of the timber and other appur- 558 PRACTICE OF AGRICULTURE. teuances; the characteristic, and the state of management, of eadh farm or tenement, with the eligibility of its occupier, together with the state ol repair of buildings, gates, fence--, watercourses, anil roads ; tile amount of the encumbrances and Outgoings J and, lastly, the probable value of the improvements of which the estate may appear to be capable, whether by ordinary or extraordinary means. 3 163. The tulyccti of treaty after these particulars of information are procured are few. The two statements having been duly compared, so that DO misunderstanding can take place between the parties, the price, with the times and mode of payment, are the prin- cipal matters of agreement A clear understanding respecting the custody of title deeds, and the expenses of conveyance, require, however, to be enumerated among the preli- minaries of purchase. 3464. The business of negotiation is best carried on by letters, which become vouchers of facts. Whatever is done by interview requires to be reduced to writing, and to be read by, or to, the parties, before they separate, that no possibility of misconception may arise; and, added to these precautions, it is proper, in large purchases, and when abstracts of intricate title deeds are to be made out and examined, that a legal contract, or memorandum of agreement, should be entered into, for the mutual satisfaction and surety of the parties. 3465. This contract, and the deed of conwyance (namely, the instrument which is legally to transfer the property from the seller to the purchaser), may be said to conclude and ratify the business of purchase ; and in this part of it legal assistance is essentially necessary, to examine existing deeds, and see that the seller has a legal right and clear title to the land, and a legal power to dispose of it, as well as to draw up or examine the fresh deed of conveyance, and see that it is sufficient to transfer the property, legally and adequately, to the purchaser. 3466. The preservation of titles may be adverted to before dismissing this subject. in Scotland, deeds of conveyance and other deeds are registered in one magnificent build- ing, whose internal economy is as admirably adapted to its design, as its outward form is beautiful : and, in England, there are two counties (Yorkshire and Middlesex) which are termed register counties ; in which abstracts of deeds are preserved, and so arranged as to be readily referred to. Hence, in cases where the original deeds are destroyed or lost, these registered abstracts are sufficient evidences of their having existed, and capable of securing the titles of estates to their rightful owners ; and are moreover valuable, in preventing fraudulent practices, particularly respecting mortgages. Never- theless, the other counties of England remain, from reign to reign, destitute of these advantages. BOOK II. OF THE LAYING OUT, OR GENERAL ARRANGEMENT, OF LANDED ESTATES. 3467. The lai/ing out of an extensive landed estate embraces a variety of subjects, and requires extensive information and enlarged views of political, agricultural, and even of moral improvement. In new countries, such as America, where an estate is laid out from a state of nature, this is more particularly the case ; but the observation will also apply to many parts of the British Isles, where estates, long since appropriated, require re-arrangement and improvement. 3468. Among the different objects of attention in laying out or re-arranging a landed estate, one of the first is its consolidation, or the rounding off or simplifying the outline so that the whole may be brought into a compact form. This envie de sarrondir seems to have existed, and the proximity and intermixture of property to have been felt as an evil by landed proprietors, in all ages. Ahab desired the field of Naboth, because it was near to his house ; and Marvel, the attorney (Massingers New Way to pay Old Debts, ijc) advised his client to " hedge in the manor of Master Frugal," because says he, " his land, lying in the midst of yours, is a foul blemish." 3469. In consolidating property in Britain, an equally desirable object is the appro- priation of commonable lands; which, in England, can only be effected under the autho- rity of a special act of the legislature, but is accomplished with less difficulty in Scot- land, and is rarely necessary in Ireland. It is believed, indeed, that there are now no commons in Scotland, unless, perhaps, one or two belonging to the crown or the church, which cannot be divided by the general law, but must be done either by consent of parties or a special act of parliament. (C.) 3470. The arrangement of the interior of an estate naturally follows the determination of the ring-fence, and the complete possession of all that is within. Here the first tiling Book II. CONSOLIDATING PROPERTY. 559 will probably be to determine the demesne lands, or site of the proprietor's residence, and the extent of territory he means to attach to it and retain in his own occupation. Then follows the intersection of the estate with roads, and probably a canal ; the choice or determination of the sites for towns, villages, manufactories, and mines, mineral quarries, or fisheries, if such exist naturally. Lastly, the grounds to be planted being determined on, the remaining part of the property will consist of the lands to be let out for cultivation by farmers, or other tenants of the soil. In conformity with this view of the subject, we shall consider, in succession, the consolidating of estates, the appropriating of commonable lands, the choice of demesne, road-making, canal-making, the establish- ment of villages and manufactories, the working of mines and quarries, the establish- ment of fisheries, the formation of plantations, the planting of orchards, and the laying out of farms and farm-lands. Chap. I. Consolidating detached Property. 3471. The advantages of a compact estate over one whose lands lie scattered and inter- mixed with other men's properties are evident. The management, whether of detached farms as parts of an estate, or scattered fields as parts of a farm, is conducted with inconveniency : beside the unpleasant altercations to which intermixed lands are liable to give rise. The different methods of compressing landed property into the required state are by exchange, by purchase, and by sale. 3472. Where the lands of two proprietors lie intermixed with each other, an amicable exchange is the most eligible ; and were it not for the childish piques and petty jealousies which so frequently take root between neighbouring proprietors (and are cherished perhaps by their officious friends), lands of this description could not long exist ; the evil, in almost any case, being easily removed. Each party having chosen one, or, in extensive concerns, two referees ; and the two or four so chosen, having named a third or fifth, the required commission is formed ; and bonds of arbitration being signed, the commissioners proceed, as under an act of appropriation of common- able lands, to assign each proprietor his rightful share, in the most profitable situation which the given circumstances will permit. This mode of proceeding might be adopted by the most distant parties, or the most inveterate enemies ; and, doubtlessly, with advantage to the property and peace of mind of each. 3473. Where an estate or a farm is disjointed by the intermediate lands of others, it is not only pleasurable to be possessed of them, but profitable to purchase them, even at a higher price than they are intrinsically worth ; consequently at much more than their value, as detached lands, to their proprietor. Yet such is often the waywardness and ill-judged policy of the holders of lands so situated, that they will rather continue to hold them with disadvantage, than sell them at a fair price. An equitable way of deter- mining a matter of this sort is, to ascertain the value of the lands to the holder as detached lands, and likewise their value to the candidate as intermixed lands ; and to let the mean between the two values be the selling price. By this method, both parties become actual and equal gainers. If the possessor of such lands should lie in wait for an exorbitant offer, the most efficient mode of proceeding is to offer a high number of years' purchase on their fair rental value, indifferently considered, in the situation in which they lie, and to propose to settle such rental value by arbitration. This is a sort of offer which every honest man can readily understand ; and, if the holder has any character to lose in his neighbourhood, he cannot refuse it; if he has not, a calculation of the difference between the rent he is receiving and the interest of the money offered, consequently of the annual loss which he is sustaining by not accepting the offer, will, sooner or later, bring him to a sense, if not of his duty as a member of society, at least of his own interest. 3474. h is, in general, right management to dispose of the detached parts of an estate, and to add to the main body. The whole is then more easily superintended, and ma- naged at less expense ; while small properties, if suitable steps be taken, and proper seasons of disposal caught, will generally fetch more than larger parcels, of equal rental value, timely and judiciously purchased. 3475. In selling, as in purchasing, estates, two methods present themselves. _ They may be sold by auction or by private contract. To raise a sum of money expeditiously, the former may be the most eligible, though attended w ith more expense and more notoriety than the latter, which, for the purpose under view, and when expedition is not neces- sary, will generally, if properly conducted, be found preferable. To conduct a sale of detached lands with judgment and reputation, the first step is to have them deliberately 560 PRACTICE OF AGRICULTURE. PaktIII. valued by at least two men of character and ability, and to divide them into parcels or lots, according to situation, and mi as to render theni of superior value to adjacent pro- prietors. Then fix upon each parcel such value as it is fairly worth to the owner of the lands with which it is naturally united ; and give him the refusal of it. Such parcels as are not disposed of in this way, may either lie open to private contract, or be sold by public auction, the motive for selling being, in every case, openly declared. It is to be remarked, however, that for a sale by auction, a fresh arrangement of lots will be required, the principle of allotment being iii this case the reverse of the former. At an auction, a certain degree of competition is requisite to raise the article on sale to its full value ; and it is no more than common prudence in the seller to make up his lots in such a manner as will bring together the greatest number of competitors. Chap. II. Appropriating Commonable Lands. fM76\ Commonable lands, or such as lie intermixed, or are occupied in common by the inhabitants according to certain laws and customs, maybe considered in regard to their origin and kinds, and their appropriation or division. Sect. I. Origin and different Kinds of Commonable Lands. 3477. A very few centuries ago, nearly the whole of the lands of Britain lay in an open, and ?nore or less in a commonable, state. (See Fitzherbert on the Statute Ertenta Manorii.) Each parish, or township (at least in the more central and northern districts), comprised different descriptions of lands ; having been subjected, during successive ages, to specified modes of occupancy, under ancient and strict regulations, which time had converted to law. These parochial arrangements, however, varied somewhat in different districts ; but, in the more central and greater part of the kingdom, not widely; and the following statement may serve to convey a general idea of the whole of what may be termed com- mon-field townships, throughout England : — 3478. Each parish, or township, teas considered as one common farm ; though the tenantry were numerous. (See also Blackstone's Commentaries, art. 'Tithing of Townsh.) Round the village in which the tenants resided lay a few small enclosures, or grass yards, for rearing calves, and as baiting and nursery grounds for other farm stock. This was the common farmstead, or homestall, which was generally placed as near the centre of the more culturable lands of the parish or township as water and shelter would permit. 3479. Hound the homestall lay a suite of arable Jields, including the deepest and soundest of the lower grounds, situated out of water's way, for raising corn and pulse, as well as to produce fodder and litter for cattle and horses in the winter season; and, in the lowest situation, as in the water-formed base of a rivered valley, or in swampy dips, shooting up among the arable lands, lay an extent of meadow grounds, or ings, to afford a supply of hay, for cows and working stock, in the winter and spring months. 3480. On the outskirts of the arable lands, where the soil was adapted to the pasturage of cattle ; or on the springy slope of hills less adapted to cultivation ; or in the fenny bases of valleys which were too wet, or gravelly lands thrown up by water which were too dry, to produce an annual supply of hay with sufficient certainty; one or more stinted pastures, or hams, were laid out for milking cows, working cattle, or other stock which required superior pasturage in summer. 3481. The bleakest, iro?-st-soiled, and most distant lands of the township, were left in their native wild state, for timber and fuel, and for a common pasture, or suite of pastures, for the more ordinary stock of the township, whether horses, rearing cattle, sheep, or swine, without any other stint or restriction than what the arable and meadow lands indirectly gave ; every joint tenant or occupier of the township having the nominal privilege of keeping as much live stock on these common pastures, in summer, as the appropriated lands he occupied would maintain in winter. 3482. The appropriated lands of each township were laid out with equal good sense and propriety. That each occupier might have his proportionate share of lands of different qualities, and lying in different situations, the arable lands, more particularly, were divided into numerous parcels of sizes, doubtless, according to the size of the given township, and the number and rank of the occupiers. 3483. The whole icas svlyeclcd to the same plan of management, and conducted as one common farm ; for which purpose the arable lands were divided into compartments, or " fields," of nearly equal size, and generally three in number, to receive, in constant Book II. APPROPRIATING LANDS. 561 rotation, the triennial succession of fallow, wheat (or rye), and spring crops (as barlev, oats, beans, and peas : thus adopting and promoting a system of husbandry, which, howsoever improper it has become in these more enlightened days, was well adapted to the state of ignorance and vassalage of feudal times. When each parish or township had its sole proprietor, the occupiers being at once his tenants and his soldiers, or meaner vassals, the lands were, of course, liable to be more or less deserted by their occupiers, and left to the feebleness of the young, the aged, and the weaker sex : but the whole township being, in this manner, thrown into one system, the care and management of the live stock, at least, would be easier and better than they would have been under any other arrange- ment ; and, at all times, the manager of the estate was better enabled to detect bad hus- bandry, and enforce that which was more profitable to the tenants and the estate, by hav- ing the whole spread under the eye at once, than he would have been had the lands been distributed in detached unenclosed farmlets, besides avoiding the expense of enclosure. Another advantage arose from this more social arrangement, in barbarous times ; — the tenants, by being concentrated in villages, were not only best situated to defend each other from predatory attacks, but were called out by their lord, with greater readiness, in cases of emergency. Therefore, absurd as the common-field system is, in almost every particular, at this day, it was admirably suited to the circumstances of the times in which it originated ; the plan having been conceived in wisdom, and executed with extraordinary accuracy, as appears in numberless instances, even at this distance of time. 3484. Uninhabited tracts or forests. In different parts of Britain there were, and still are, extensive tracts of land, some of them of a valuable quality, lying nearly in a state of wild nature, which were never inhabited unless by freebooters and homebred savages. These uninhabited tracts are styled forests ; and, heretofore, many or most of them have been attached to the crown ; and some of them are still under royal patronage. Whether they were originally set out for royal pastime merely ; or whether the timber which stood on them was of peculiar value ; or whether, at the time of laying out town- ships, those tracts were impenetrable woods inhabited by wild beasts, and, when these had been destroyed, or sufficiently overcome to render them objects of diversion, were taken under the protection of the crown; is not, perhaps, well iscertained. There were also tracts of that description in different parts of England, but which appear, evidently, to have been enclosed from a state of woodland or common pasture ; though it is pos- sible they may have been nominally attached to neighbouring parishes. Of this descrip- tion, principally, are the Wealds of Kent and Sussex, and many other old enclosed lands, in different parts of the kingdom, whose fields or enclosures 3re of irregular shapes, and their fences crooked. These woodland districts are, like the forest lands, divided into manors, which have not an intimate connection or correspondence with parishes or town- ships ; — a further evidence that they were in a wild state when the feudal organisation took place. 3485. In the western extreme of the island, the common-jield system has never, per- haps, be r n adopted; it has certainly never been prevalent, as in the more central parts of England. There, a very different usage would seem to have been early established, and to have continued to the present time, when lords of manors have the privilege of letting off the lands of common pastures to be broken up for corn, the tenant being restricted to two crops, after which the land is thrown open again to pasturage ; and it is at least probable, that the lands of that country have been cleared from wood, and brought into a state of cultivation, through similar means. At present, they are judiciously laid out, in farms of different sizes, with square straight-lined enclosures, and with detached farm- steads situated within their areas ; the villages being generally small and mean — the mere residences of labourers. Circumstances these are, which strongly evince that the com- mon-field system never took place in this part of the island, as it did in the more central parts of England. Ireland, also, has been enclosed (though not fenced) from time immemorial. 3486. The feudal organisation, having lost its original basis, has itself been mouldering away, more particularly during the last century. A great majority of the appropriated common-field lands and commons have been partially or wholly enclosed ; either by piecemeal, each proprietor enclosing his own slip, — a very inconvenient mode of enclosure ; or by general consent, the whole of the proprietors agreeing to commit their lands to the care and judgment of arbiters, or commissioners, who, restoring the fields to their original entirety, reparcelled them out in a manner more convenient to the several proprietors, and laid each man's portion, which had consisted of numberless narrow slips, in one or more well shaped grounds. 3487. In England this requires to be effected by a separate act of parliament for each enclosure. In these acts commissioners are named, or directed to be chosen by the proprietors, who, according to certain instructions in the actor law, and the general principles of equity, divide the township among all who have an interest in it It appears by the statute books, that from the year 177+ to the year 1813, no fewer than two thousand six hundred and thirty-two acts of enclosure have been passed ; the average in the first twenty years being thirty-seven, and in the last twenty years ninety-four. Oo PRACTICE OF AGRICULTURE. P**r III. l<> Scotland ■ general bill ol enclosure was pawed by the parliament in 1095, and in consequence of it the whole country has i<>r nearlj ■ century past been in distinct poatestiona. In Ireland, as we nave already remarked, no eneloture act became necessary, and the country is considered as suffering from the long continued minute division hi' 1. m. led property. i 9. .Is a contrast to the general earerneu/or enduring, it may be useful to present the moderate, and in our opinion judicious, observation or Loch, to whom it appears very doubtful how far the indi.sciiiniii.ite enclosure of comninii-, arising out of the high nominal prices of grain, has been in every instance of ad- vantage to the nation. Many of them, be -ays, certainly, could never jiay the expense of obtaining thcact, of the commissioners' (eea, Of the construction of the fences, and of bringing the land into cultivation. In tins reaped there has been a dead loss of capital to the country. It is conceived that it is not carrying this reeling in" far, to re :ri-t the destruction of some of those beautiful and picturesque forests and chases which once surrounded London, and t<> hope that this may go no further. It may even be permitted, perhaps, to include within this regret as a national loss, the destruction ol Windsor forest, the most appro. jiri.ite accompaniment of the noblest royal residence in Europe. The preservation of some oftbese chases is as essential to the poorer classes of the metropolis as to the rich. To the former they aflbru health, exercise, and amusement ; In the latter they produce and cherish that love of the country, and of rural sports, so important in a constitutional point of view. They nourish that feeling for, and knowledge of, the beauties of nature freed from the love of gain as connected with the productions of the soil), which enlarge our understandings, and exalt every better sentiment of the heart — encouraging the practice of the social virtues, and checking those more selfish habits which the general distribution of great wealth is too apt to engender. There cannot be a doubt, that not only for these reasons would the abstaining from some of these enclosures have been beneficial, but, in an economical point of view, it would have been most advantageous to the nation. In how many ways could not the capital, thus lost, have been beneficially applied both for the individual and the country ! How much a richer man would the land-owner have been, if he had saved much of this expense, and permitted a more liberal importation of foreign corn! How much better would it have been for the country! In this, as in every other instance, it might be demonstrated, that that which would have been best for one, would have been so for all, and that the same system must always benefit equally the English landlord, tenant, merchant, manu- facturer, and artisan. , Marquess of Stafford's Improvements, SjC.) Sect. II. General Principles of appropriating and dividing Commonable Lands. 3490. There are few lands in Britain unappropriated, except in England, and these may be classed as forest lands, and other extensive wastes, on which several manors, or adjacent townships, have a right of common pasturage; commonable lands of distinct townships or manors, whose appropriated lands are wholly enclosed, and in a state of mixed cultivation ; commonable lands of townships, whose arable fields, &c. are partially enclosed ; and commonable lands of townships, whose arable fields remain wholly open. 3491 The principles on which the appropriation of those lands requires to be conducted are thus laid down by Marshal. By an established principle of the general law or con- stitution of the country, immemorial custom establishes right. Hence the original rights and regulations respecting the lands under view are not now the proper subjects of investigation; nor are the changes that may have taken place during a succession of centuries, from the origin of forests and townships to the latest time which is no longer within memory, objects of enquiry; but, solely, the acquired rights which exist in a given case at the time of appropriation, and which would continue to exist were it not to take place. The possessor of a cottage which has enjoyed, from time immemorial and without interruption, the liberty of pasturage, though such cottage were originally an encroach- ment of a freebooter or an outlaw, has indisputably as legal a claim to a proportionate share of the commonable lands, as the possessor of the demesne lands of the manor has, merely as such, although they may have descended from father to son from the time of their severalty ; for it is evidently on the estimated values of the respective rights which exist, and which can be rightfully exercised in time to come, and on these alone, that a just and equitable distribution can be effected. 3492. But before the distribution of commonable lands among the owners of common pasturage can take place, the more abstract rights which belong to commons require to be estimated, and the just claims of their possessors to be satisfied. These are principally manorial rights, and the rights of tithes. 3493. Manorial claims are to be regulated by the particular advantages which the lord of a given manor enjoys, and which he will continue to enjoy while the commons remain open and unappropriated ; whether they arise from mines, quarries, water, timber, alien tenants, fuel, estover, pannage, or game. His claim as guardian of the soil that is pro- ductive of pasturage only is, in most cases, merely honorary ; and it remains with par- liament to fix the proportional share of the lands to be appropriated, which he shall be entitled to as an equivalent for such honorary claim. 3494. But in the case of thriving timber standing on the property, the claim of the lord of the manor in right of the soil is more substantial ; for out of this he has in effect a real yearly income, equal to the annually increasing value of the timber ; — a species of advan- tage which, it' the commons remain open and unappropriated, he will of course continue to enjoy so long as the timber continues to increase in value. His claim, therefore, in this respect, depends on the quantity of timber and its state of growth, taken jointly. Young thriving timber not only affords an annual increase of value at present, but will continue its benefits for many years to come, if it be suffered to remain undisturbed on the soil ; and its owner, doubtless, lias a prospective claim on the soil which supports it during the estimated period of its future increase ; whereas dotards and stunted trees, Book II. DIVIDING COMMONABLE LANDS. 563 which afford no increase of value, do not entitle their owner to any share of the soil they stand upon. All that the lord has a right to claim appears to be limited to the trees themselves or their intrinsic value. 3495. The claims of tithe owners, aggregately considered, are more complex and obscure. In cases where the great and small tithes are united, and in which the tithe of wool and lambs, and that of grain, roots, and herbage, belong to the same owner, it may seem to be reasonable that he should have the option of receiving land of equal value to the existing value of the tithes, or of taking the chance of their value, in the state of culti- vation. But seeing the evil tendency of corn tithes, and the impropriety of laying on so harmful a burthen, as they are now become, upon lands that have never borne it, there can be little risk in saying that it would be at least politic in parliament to prevent it. Besides, it stands part of the statute law, that lands which have never been under tillage shall not pay tithes during the first seven years of their cultivation ; during which time the incumbent's income might, by leaving the tithe to take its course, be materially abridged, and his circumstances thereby be rendered distressful. On the whole, there- fore, it appears to be proper in this case, that the law to be enacted should instruct com- missioners to set out lands equal to the existing value of the tithes at the time of appro- priation ; and where much corn land shall be appropriated, to set out a farther quantity equal to the estimated reversion of their extra value (if any arise in the estimate), seven years after the appropriation shall have taken place. 3496. Again, in cases in which the tithe of lambs and ivool, and the tithe of corn, §c. belong to separate owners, the line of rectitude and strict justice to all parties appears to be still more difficult to be drawn. The former is clearly entitled to land, or a money payment equal to his loss of tithe ; but the right of the latter is less obvious. To cut him off entirely from any share of the lands, and likewise from any share of tithes to arise from them after they shall have been appropriated, may seem unjust ; he may be a lay rector, and may have lately purchased the tithes, or a clerical rector who has recently bought the advowson, under the expectation of an enclosure. On the other hand, it appears to be hard, that the proprietors of the parish should first give up land for the tithe of wool and lambs which will no longer exist, and then be liable to a corn tithe on the same lands, after they shall have bestowed on them great expense in clearing and cultivation. In- deed, the injustice of such a measure is evident. A middle way, therefore, requires to be sought ; and it will be difficult, perhaps, to find one which has more justice in it than that which is proposed for the first case. Thus, after the value of the lamb and wool tithe, &c. has been ascertained, and land set out as a satisfaction for it, estimate the value of the corn tithe, &c. seven years after the time of appropriation ; and set out a further quantity for the reversion of the extra value (if any) of the latter over the former, and thus free the lands entirely from this obstacle to their improvement. 3497. If any other abstract claim on the lands to be appropriated be fairly made out, or any alien right (as that of a non-parishioner, or extra-manorial occupier, who has acquired, by ancient grant or by prescription, the privilege of depasturing them) be fully proved, its value requires to be accurately estimated, and land to be assigned in its stead. 3498. The remainder of the unstinted commons of a given township or manor belong to the owners of its common-right lands and houses ; but in what proportion, it may be difficult to determine with mathematical precision. Nevertheless, by adhering strictly to the general principle, on which alone an equitable appropriation can be conducted, — namely, that of determining each man's share by the benefit which he has a right to receive at the time of appropriation, and which he might continue to receive were it not to take place, — truth and justice may be sufficiently approached. 3499. One of the first steps toward an equitable distribution of unstinted commons is to ascertain the common-right houses, and to distinguish them from those which have no right of commonage ; and which, therefore, can have no claim to any share of the lands of the unstinted commons, further than in the right of the lands they stand upon. By an ancient and pretty generally received, though somewhat vague, idea respecting the rights of commonage, the occupier of every common-right house has the privilege of depasturing as many cattle, sheep, or other live stock, on the common in summer (provided, it must be understood, that it is large enough to permit every occupiei to exercise this right), as the grounds he occupies within the township or manor can properly maintain in winter ; and no one can exceed that proportion ; for the surplus of the pasturage, if any, belongs to the lord of the soil. (See Filzherberl and Black- stone. ) 3500. Under this regulation, the appropriated lands of a common-field township, which are not occupied jointly with a common-right house, may be said to be deprived, during the time they are so occupied, of their right of commonage ; and in some of the private bills of enclosure, which have been suffered to pass through parliament, the lands which happened to be in this state of occupancy, at the time of passing the bills, were deprived O o 2 56* PRACTICE OF AGRICULTURE. Part III. of their interest in the* common lands for ever; notwithstanding, perhaps, they had a few years preceding this accidental circumstance an undoubted right to their portion of them, — a right \\ hieli, a few weeks or a ten days afterward, might have reverted to them, without the smallest taint by the temporary alienation. If any of the appropriated lands of a township or manor have been estranged from its commons, during time immemorial ; have never been occupied jointly with a common-light house, or in any way enjoyed, of right, the 'Common pasturage within memory; they may with some reason be said to have lot their right, and be excluded from a participation. 3501. By i/iis ancient and in a decree essential usage, common^right homes have a clear right t» Ilii- lands "/' the commons, superior to that of the ground they stand upon ; especially if they rightfully enjoy a privilege of partaking of the fuel and pannage (as acorns, masts, &c ) they afford, for these properly belong to the houses, not to the lands: and still more especially, if they are conveniently situated for enjoying the several benefits which the commons afford in their wild state. And whatever a common-right house is worth, merely as such ; that is to say, whatever it will let or sell for, over and above a nonconnuon-right house of the same intrinsic value ; it certainly ought to participate in the distribution, according to such extra value. 3502. The true proportionate shares of the common-right lands are to be ascertained on the same principle ; for although the ancient regulation respecting common-rights may continue in force, while the commons remain open and unappropriated, it would be found troublesome or unmanageable as a rule to their just appropriation. There are few, if any, commons (of common-field townships at least) that now afford pasturage in summer for all the stock which the appropriated lands are capable of maintaining in winter ; so that their several proportions only coidd be used : and these proportions may be calculated with much greater certainty and despatch on the respective rental values of the lands, than on the more vague and troublesome estimation of the quantities of stock they would winter, which, indeed, would be best calculated by the rental value of the land. Consequently, in adopting this as the basis of calculation, the ancient rule is, in effect, complied with. {Blackstone, book iii. c. xvi. sect. 2.) 3503. But although each common-right occupier has a right to stock in proportion to the productiveness or rental value of his appropriated lands, every one could not do this with equal profit, and of course could not receive equal benefit. Lands situated on the side of a common are much more beneficial in this respect, than lands which lie a mile or two from it, with bad roads between them ; and it is the real advantage which an occupier can fairly receive, that is the true guide in the partition, which consequently ought to be conducted, not on the rental value of the land, abstractly considered, but on this and its situation with respect to the commonable lands jointly. In other words, it is the rental values of the common-right lands while the commons remain open, not what they will become after the commons are enclosed, which I conceive to be the proper groundwork of appropriation. 3504. In cases where commonable lands arc wholly attached to manors, and not common to the parish or township in which they are situated, as in forests and woodland districts, the selfsame principle of distribution is applicable. The remainder of the commons (after the owners of abstract rights have been satisfied) belong to the common-right lands and houses ; no matter whether such lands and houses belong to copyhold tenants exclusively, or to copyholders and freeholders jointly, provided the immemorial custom of the manor make no distinction in their respective rights ; the well established customs of manors being in all cases rules of conduct, and unerring guides to commissioners. Here may be said to end the greater difficulties is to the principles of appropriation : the rest is merely technical ; the works of admeasurement, estimate, and calculation, — operations that are familiar to professional men in every district, and want nothing but application and integrity to render them sufficiently complete. 3505. The technical routine of the business of conducting an enclosure is as follows : — The act being passed, and two or more commissioners named, these commissioners meet on a certain day at a certain place within the township or parish, having previously given public notice of their intention. The chief business of that day is the fixing of a land surveyor and an attorney to the commission. At a second meeting the commissioners, surveyor, attorney, and some of the principal proprietors or their agents, attend and make a general perambulation of the township, in order to point out to the surveyor the different properties, with their limits, &c. The surveyor now proceeds to make a correct map of the whole. This done, the commissioners, attended by the surveyor, proceed to value each separate lot or piece; and having done this, they next advertise different meetings for the pui-poses of hearing the rights of townsmen, &c. Next they set about dividing the lands according to these rights, reserving proper roads for footpaths, quarries, gravel-pits, wells, springs, &c. for public purposes. When this is done, and set out on the ground, contractors are next employed to carry the whole into execution, the expense of which and also of the commission is generally paid by the sale o. a pait of the lands. Book II. CHOICE OF DEMESNE LANDS. 563 Chap. III. Choice of the Demesne or Site for the Proprietors Residence. 3506. The most desirable situation/or the mansion of the owner of a landed estate will, in almost every case, be somewhere near its centre. The advantage of being at an equal distance from every part of the boundaries ; of having as much as possible on every side that which we can call our own ; of not being overlooked by near neighbours ; and of reposing as it were in the bosom of our own tenantry, cottagers, cattle, and woods ; are obvious, and felt by every one. There may be instances where, from a public road passing through the centre of an estate, or of a town or village there situated, or mining works carried on, and similar circumstances, it may not be desirable to form a central residence ; but such cases are not common, and, in laying out an estate newly appro- priated, or re-arranging an old one, may always or very generally be avoided. It may happen, however, that an estate may be so extensive, or its surface so hilly or mountainous, that a central situation may be dispensed with for other advantages. When an estate is situated near an extensive lake, at the foot of high mountains, or includes an extent of sea-shore, it will generally be found preferable, in point of effect and enjoyment, to place the mansion near these interesting features. Proximity to the sea, though it be on the margin of our estate, can never be offensive ; for if the ocean does not belong to us, neither does it belong to any one else : nearly the same thing may be said of an im- mense lake, which at least is for the greatest part devoid of visible appropriation, and the same thing may often be observed of rivers and mountains, especially if the latter are of a savage, or wooded character. 3507. Various other circumstances must also be taken into view, in fixing on the situ- ation of a mansion and demesne ; such as its healthfulness, prospects, exposure, water, the nature of the soil, and the extent of territory. 3508. To be healthy, a situation should in almost all cases be somewhat elevated above the adjoining surface ; and though this cannot be the case with respect to the whole of the demesne lands, it should at least apply to the spot intended for the dwelling-house. Even a level situation is objectionable in point of health, because, when the usual plantations have grown up round the house, they tend to stagnate the air and generate moisture, and thus deteroriate the atmosphere to their own height, which generally equals or exceeds that of the house. Besides, a flat situation can never have views of much beauty, and can only be interesting from the plants or other objects immediately under the eye, and the elevated grounds or hills, if any, in the extreme distance. On an ele- vated situation, even though surrounded by trees higher than the house, the frequent and varying winds will always prevent the stagnation of the air, and sweep away the moisture at cumulated from the evaporation of so many leaves. 3509. The nature of the soil requires to be attended to, even with a view to health. On a level, a gravelly or sandy soil is generally more apt to generate damp in the lower parts of a house, than a clayey soil ; but on an eminence gravel has not this objection : in the former case, the water lodged in the stratum of gravel finds its way from all sides to the excavation made for the foundations of the house ; in the latter, the declivity on every side carries it away. Clay not too adhesive, chalk, and rock, are the best surfaces to build on in a flat : on an elevated situation any soil will do ; but chalk, rock, or gravel, is to be preferred. 3510. The prospects from the immediate site of the mansion, and from those parts ef the adjoining grounds which will be laid out as pleasure-ground, or recreative walks, demand some consideration. Such prospects should consist of what painters call middle and third distances, bold, distinct, and interesting ; the fore-ground, or first distance, being formed by the artificial scenery of the pleasure-ground. Noble features in prospects are, rivers, lakes, or mountains : interesting ones are, churches or their spires, bridges, aqueducts, ruins of ancient castles or abbeys, water-mills, distant towns or cities, distant canals, and sometimes roads, &c. : pleasing rural objects are, picturesque cottages, neat farmeries, field barns, and sometimes distant windmills; for objects offensive, when near, often become valuable features at a distance. Something depends on the state of civilisation of the country, and its general character ; the sight of a road, sea-port, canal, or even a neighbouring mansion, would be preferred to most others in many parts of Ireland, Russia, or America. 3511. The exposure with regard to the sun and the prevailing winds of a country, also requires attention. It was the custom of former times, in the choice of domestic situations, to let comfort and convenience prevail over every other consideration. Thus the ancient baronial castles were built on the summits of hills, in times when defence and security suggested the necessity of placing them there, and difficulty of access was a recommendation: but when this necessity no longer existed , as mankind are always apt to fly from one extreme to the other"), houses were universally erected in the lowest situ- O o 3 5G6 PRACTICE OF AGRICULTURE. Part III ations, with a prol)al>li' design to avoid those inconveniences to which lofty positions had been subject ; hence the frequent sites of many large mansions, and particularly abbeys and monasteries) the residence of persons who were billing to sacrifice the beauty of prospect tor tlie more solid and permanent advantages of habitable convenience ; amongst which, shelter from wind, and a supply of water for store fishponds, were predominant considerations. [Enquiry, <.\r. /•:/ Repton, p. 83.) In hilly countries, or in any country where the surface is varied, the choice is neither made in the bottoms (jig. 532. a) nor on „ L____i , TTi ml X the summits of hills (c), but generally on knolls, or on the south or south-east side of considerable eminences (b , upon an elevated platform, either natural or raised by art from the earth of the foundations ; and the rising grounds behind (d) are planted both for effect and shelter. 3512. The proximity of ivater is essential to the comfort of every country residence. Where there are none in springs or surface streams, it may, indeed, be collected from the roofs of buildings and otherwise, and filtered, and preserved sweet and cool in tanks underground ; but supplies obtained in this way are precarious and expensive, and the water is inferior to that obtained from the soil by contiguous wells, or from a distance by pipes or drains. Water is also extensively required in country residences for the use of gardeners, sometimes for fishponds ; at a moderate distance, and on a lower level, it is always desirable in considerable quantity for the purpose of forming artificial lakes, or river-like reservoirs. Few home features are finer dian where the house is situated on a knoll which slopes down on two or more sides to one encircling piece of water. (Jig. 533.) 533 3513. The nature of the soil is a consideration inferior to the others, because all bad soils are susceptible of great improvement ; but, still, it should be taken into consider- ation along with other objects. A soil retentive of surface water, such as some clayey and soft peaty soils, is the worst, as it is always unpleasant to walk on after rains, and easily poached by cattle and horses. Such soils also require more expense in drainage and roads, and are much less suitable for garden and farm culture, than firmer soils, and such as are naturally friable or dry. 3514. The subsoil is sometimes of more importance than the soil ; for the former in general can only be improved by draining, and subsoils differ materially in their sus- ceptibility of this improvement. A bad subsoil is an effectual barrier to the thriving of timber trees • and as these constitute the finest ornament of every country seat, the im- portance of choosing a subsoil either naturally congenial to them, or capable of being rendered so by art, is sufficiently obvious. Book II. FORMATION OF ROADS. .567 3515. Where the surface-soil is dry and poor, but on a dry subsoil, and all other cir- cumstances are favourable, it may often be desirable for a proprietor to fix on such a situation for his demesne; because such a surface is probably among the least valuable as farm lands, because land to be laid out as a park is not required to be rich, and because it will not be difhcult to ameliorate all that part wanted as farm and garden ground. 3516. The extent that should be kept as a demesne is more easily determined than any of the foregoing points. The general wealth of the proprietor, and his style of living, are here the leading guides. The extent of the demesne may bear very different relations to the extent of the estate ; because the proprietor may have other estates and other sources of wealth. He may have chosen a small estate, on which to fix his residence, from its local advantages ; or he may prefer a small demesne on a large estate, from his style of life and the habits of his establishment. 3517. The park, in general, occupies much the largest part of the demesne lands. In a civilised and populous closely cultivated country, like Britain, nothing can be more noble than a large forest-like park surrounding the mansion. In partially cultivated countries, or open field countries, it is less imposing ; and in countries scarcely appro- priated and but thinly distributed with spots of culture, the park becomes a less noble feature, and less a mark of wealth and distinction than a well-hedged and regularly cropped farm. 35 1 8. The apparent extent of a park depends much less on its contents in acres, than on the inequalities of its surface, the disposition of its woods and waters, and the conceal- ment or unobtrusiveness of its boundaries. An extensive flat, surrounded by a belt, and interspersed with clumps, may be great, but can hardly be felt as grand or interesting by any but the owner : the acres it occupies will be guessed at by hundreds, and the estimate will generally be found to fall short of the reality. On the other hand, a hilly park, ingeniously wooded, with a piece or pieces of water, and probably rocks, bridges, and other objects, will appear to a stranger of much greater extent than it really is, and sets rational estimate at defiance : such a park is certainly much more grand and picturesque than one of mere " bulk without spirit vast." 3519. The home or demesne farm and farmery will be regulated in extent and style of cultivation by the wants and wishes of the proprietor. It is sometimes a determinate space in the least picturesque part of the demesne ; and sometimes, the greater part of the park is brought in succession under the plough and the sickle. 3520. The kitchen- garden is the next and only remaining large feature in the demesne : it is generally placed near the house and stable offices, so as to have a convenient and unobtrusive communication with the kitchen court, and the livery-stable dung heap. 3521. The pleasure-ground, or lawn and shrubbery, often surrounds the house, offices, and kitchen-garden ; and sometimes embraces them only on two or three sides. 3522. The details of all these and other parts of the demesne belong to landscape- gardening and architecture, and require no further notice in this work. (See Encyc. d horses "* ^-r-7f^^ltF*^^TO»--^f' jW (fig- 534. a) ; another of common f d5S^A^/^mm\ -~~^J \n earth or so ;i > as a border to the metalled part (6), or for the use of pedestrians ; and probably a footpath for the latter (c). Several kinds of roads are distin- guished by the relative proportions of these two parts; but some also are characterised by other circumstances. 3530. National roads, or highways, are such as communicate between the capital cities and sea-ports of a country, and are those of the greatest magnitude. In Britain, the metalled part of such roads, where they are most frequented, as witliin a few miles of large towns, is from 30 to 50 and even to 60 feet wide, with footways on each side of 12 feet wide or upwards, and in no case is the metalled part of the road narrower than 20 feet ; that width being requisite to admit of one loaded waggon passing another. Many or most of these narrower national roads are without footpaths, and often want a sufficient bordering of earth road, or footpath. 3531. Parochial roads may be considered as secondary highways, deriving their name from the circumstance of being made and supported by the parish in which they are situated ; whereas the others are the work of government, or of the counties in which they are situated, and are supported by tolls levied on carriages and animals passing over them. 3532. Lanes are parish or private roads, generally narrow, and often either not me- talled at all, or very imperfectly so ; sometimes they are called drift-ways, but that term is more properly applied to the green or unmetalled space which runs parallel to any made road, for the passage of flocks and herds. 3533. Estate roads are such as are made by landed proprietors on their own territory, for the purpose of intercommunication and connection with public roads. 3534. A farm-road is either one which leads to a farmery, from a public road, or which leads from the farmery to different parts of the farm. Such roads are never narrower than 16 feet, to admit of two carriages passing each other; but they are often only half metalled, presenting a turf road for summer, dry weather, and for empty carriages and foot passengers, and a metalled or winter road for winter and loaded carriages. In a road from a highway to a tannery, it may often be advisable to place the metalled road in the middle, and keep the earth road at each side, on account of admitting the sun and air more readily to the metalled road; but in roads within a farm, it is found a great convenience in carting out manure or bringing home produce, for the loaded carts to have Book II. KINDS OF ROADS. 569 2£1 Jt>- uninterrupted possession of the metalled road, and the others of the earth road. In many cases, farm roads of this description are only metalled in the horse tracks (Jig. 535. a) and wheel ruts (b c), which, on dry firm- bottomed land, and with care- ful preservation, is found to answer very well. 3535. Open farm roads, Beatson observes, should be, as much as possible, placed on the headlands of the fields ; that is, the portion of land adjacent to the hedge, on which the plough is turned ; and every opportunity should be taken of placing gates, so that either 536 side of a hedge may be used as a road ( fig. 536. ), to avoid driving over a field in tillage. This may be .easily effected by a few gates being placed in the line ~ of the headland or nearly so, and not too near each -hedge or to each other, so that a waggon may easily '_ drive through them on the right or left, as the crops -may require; a few hurdles (a) may guard each . field in grain alternately, and will furnish a useful ^fold or enclosure to detain sheep, colts, &c. 3536. Horse roads are paths for the transit of ; single horses with a rider, or a back load : they are commonly of earth, and from six to ten feet wide : the statute width is eight feet. 3537. Footpaths are tracks for pedestrians ; some- times metalled to the width of three or four feet ; but often of the natural surface. 3538. Paved roads are of three kinds : those with small stones, or causeways, which are most common ; those with large blocks of stone, or what is called ashlar pavement ; and those with sections of timber trees. The first, though almost peculiar to towns, yet form the whole of the metalled road in some cases of country roads ; and in others a space of ten or twelve feet in the middle, or at each side, is causewayed for the use of the heavier carriages. Broad stones are sometimes used for covering part of a road, destined for the greatest part of the traf- fic, or for forming wheel tracks. In the latter case they are always squared or regularly jointed, but in the former the most irregular forms may be used. Timber causewaying is only used in entrance courts to town mansions, for the sake of avoiding the noise made by the wheels of carriages and horses' feet on stone ; or on suspension bridges, for the sake of lightness. For these purposes timber paving is excellent, and lasts for a very long time. On the Continent, fir timber is used for this sort of paving ; but oak or larch would, no doubt, last longer. 3539. Street roads with stone tracks (Jig. 537.) have been proposed by Mr. Stevenson, a distinguished engineer. These tracks may either be laid in connection with common 537 '^O^r ' l = 1 1111 1 i in I 1 or rubble causeway (a), or with common road metal (6). Mr. Stevenson proposes to lay these stone tracks upon a firm foundation, if not throughout the whole extent to 570 PRACTICE OF AGRICULTURE. Part III. our principal mads, at least upon all their acclivities which exceed a greater rise than at the rate of I perpendicular to '-'<> horizontal feet ; — an undulating line of road which obliges the carrierj in most instances, to modify his load to one halt" of what his horse can take along the more level parts. It is likewise proposed, that the leading streets of all towns and villages situate upon the principal highways should he laid with these Stone tracks. The traveller would then glide smoothly along, instead of being accom- panied with a thundering noise and jolting motion most unpleasant to himself and the inhabitants of the respective places through which he passes. 3644X Thr advantage* qf stone (rucks in roads " cannot be better exemplified than by noticing an experi. ment made in presence of some of the Directors of the Forth and Clyde Canal Company, upon a set of cast-iron tracks, laid Upon in acclivity rising at the rate of about 1 in 15 to Port Dundas, near Glasgow. Here One horM actually drew up ;i load Of three tons on a cart weighing nineewt. In this case, the horse proceeded up hill without much apparent difficulty till he reached the top, and was about to enter on the Common causeway, when he could proceed no further, although the road had now become level. The carters frequenting this road agree that their horses had formerly greater difficulty in taking up twenty- four rwL on the causeway, than was now experienced with three tons. How great, therefore, must be the beneficial effects of such an immense acquisition of power, as even the partial introduction of wheel-tracks is calculated to afford to the traffic of the country!" ;.">U. Mr. Stuart Menteath of Ooseburn " has had single-horse waggons with four wheels applied to the ordinary purposes of his estate. These waggons are constructed upon the principle of those of Switzerland; they are ten cwt. on which a horse, weighing about eleven cwt., takes a load of thirty cwt. between Edin- burgh and Ooseburn, a distance of sixty-six miles. This gentleman, whose knowledge in such matters is extensive, estimates, that If wheel-tracks were laid upon the principal acclivities of the road, as above recommended, his horses could work with a load of about two tons." {Stevenson's Planfor Track Roads. Edin. 4to. 18'Jd, p. 4.) 3542. Planked roads are formed over morasses; or in particular cases by laying down a flooring of flanks, on which carriages pass for temporary purposes. A permanent kind of road of this description has been made by weaving (or wattling) an endless hurdle of the breadth of the road, and covering it with a coating of gravel or broken stones. The advantage of this mode is, that the road may be made on a bog before the substratum dries, and even if it is so soft as not to bear a man. By the time the hurdle rots, the base will be consolidated and fit to bear any thing. 3543. Rail roads are roads exclusively for the use of carriages, and are characterised by a rail, commonly of iron, but sometimes of wood or stone, laid along the track of each wheel, in order to produce the effect of a perfectly even surface. There is also a recent invention of this kind, named a suspension railway, which, under particular circumstances, promises very considerable advantages. In general the carriages for such roads have their wheels low, and of a particular construction to fit the rails ; but in some cases the rails have grooves for the use of common narrow wheels. Such roads are almost ex- clusively in use at coal and other great mineral works; but it has lately been proposed to introduce them as side roads to the more public highways, for the purpose of loco- motive steam-engines, and it seems highly probable that this may be done before long on several of our main roads. (See Sect. V.) Sect. II. Line of Direction, or laying out of Roads- 3544. Before carriages of burthen were in use, little more was required than a path upon bard ground, that would bear horses. All marshy grounds were therefore shunned ; the fords of rivers were resorted to, and the inequality or circuit of the road was of much less consequence, that when carriages, instead of pack-horses, began to be employed. When carriages were first employed, they probably were light and narrow, and did not require to have roads of any considerable breadth or firmness ; and when roads had once been thus traced, indolence and habit prevented any great exertions to lay them out in better lines, or to repair them in any manner beyond what present convenience absolutely required. When heavier carriages and greater traffic made wider and stronger roads necessary, the ancient track was pursued : ignorance and want of concert in the proprietors of the ground, and, above all, the want of some general effective superintending power, conti- nued this wretched practice. (Edgeworth on Roads, p. 3.) At length turnpikes were es- tablished, and laws passed investing magistrates with authority to alter established lines, so that now the chief obstacle to the improvement of the lines of public roads is the expense. 3545. In laying out roads, a variety of circumstances require to be taken into consi- deration ; but the principal are evidently their line or direction, and its inclination to the horizon. 3546. The most perfect line, according to Marshal, is that which is straight and level. But this is to be drawn in a country only which is perfectly flat, and where no obstruc- tions lie in the way ; — joint circumstances that rarely happen. Where the face of the country, between two points or places to be connected by a road, is nearly but not quite level, by reason of gentle swells which rise between them, a straight line may be perfect, — may be the most eligible under these circumstances: but where the intervening country is broken into hill and dale, or if one ridge of hill only intervenes, a straight line of carriage road is seldom compatible with perfection. In this case, which is nearly general, the best skill of the surveyor lies in tracing the midway between the Book II. DIRECTION OF ROADS. 571 straight and the level line. The line of perfection, for agricultural purposes, is to be calculated by the time and exertion, jointly considered, which are required to convey a given burthen, with a given power of draught, from station to station. On great public roads, where expedition is a principal object, time alone may be taken as a good criterion. 3547. According to Stevenson, " although in road-making the line of direction must always be subordinate to the line of draught, yet the former is notwithstanding of importance, botli as it regards the safety of the traveller, and the trackage of the load. Independently of the numerous accidents which occur from the sudden collision of carriages travelling at speed upon a tortuous line of road, it were even better to go up a moderate acclivity, than to introduce numerous turns, which, to a certain extent, are not less detrimental to the effective power of the horse, than the uphill draught. Every turn in the road, which ultimately amounts to a right angle, does, in effect, suppose the carriage to have been brought from a state of motion to a state of rest, and from rest to motion again. Turns in a road, where they are unavoidable, ought to be formed on curves of as large a radius as the situation will admit. There ought, in laying out a road, to be a kind of compensating balance between the lines of direction and draught ; and wherever weighty reasons occur for varying the direct line, such as an acclivity to be avoided, more proper soil to be obtained, the avoiding of valuable property, or the including of a village or town, — where such motives present themselves, the judgment of the engineer will, of course, be exercised in varying the line of direction." (Ed. Enc. art. Roads.) 3548. A regular method o/Jinding out the true line of road between two stations, where a blank is given, and where there is no other obstruction than what the surface of the ground to be got over presents, is to ascertain, and mark at proper distances, the straight line, which is the only certain guide to the surveyor. If the straight line be found to be ineligible, each mark becomes a rallying point, in searching on either side of it for a better. If two lines of equal facility, and nearly of equal distance from the straight line, present themselves, a ;curate measurements are to determine the choice. If one of the best two lines which the intervening country affords is found to be easier, the other shorter, the ascent and the distance are to be jointly considered ; the exertion and the time required are to be duly weighed. 3549. The nature of tlie ground, the source of materials, and the comparative expense of forming the road, by two doubtful lines, as well as their comparative exposure, are also to be taken into consideration. Although, in some places, Paterson observes, it maybe of little consequence, either to the traveller or to the public in general, which way the bendings are turned, provided the level is nearly obtained, yet a great deal may depend upon those turns or bendings for the real benefit and advantage of the road. In bend- ing it one way, you may have no metals that will stand any fatigue, unless at a great distance and expense ; while, in turning it the other way, you may have metals of the very best quality in the immediate vicinity. In the one way, too, you may be led over ground of a wet bottom, where, even with twelve or fourteen inches deep of metals, there would be difficulty in keeping a good road ; while, in the other, you may have such a dry bottom, that the road would be much easier upheld with seven or eight inches of metals. So that the track that may appear most eligible to the eye, at first sight, may not always be the one that should be adopted. " A combination of all the requisites I have already mentioned should be studied, as far as possible; and where these cannot be found all to unite, the one possessing the most of these advantages, and subject to no other material objection, should, of course, be adopted." (Treatise on Roads, p. 19.) 3550. Roads, Edgeworth observes, shotdd be laid ozit as nearly as may be in a straight line; but, to follow with this view the mathematical axiom, that a straight line is the shortest that can be drawn between two points, will not succeed in making the most commodious roads : hills must be avoided, towns must be resorted to, and the sudden bends of rivers must be shunned. All these circumstances must be attended to ; there- fore a perfectly straight road cannot often be found of any great length. It may, perhaps, appear surprising, that there is but little difference in the length between a road that has a gentle bend, and one that is in a perfectly straight line. A road ten miles long, and perfectly straight, can scarcely be found any where ; but if such a road could be found, and if it were curved, so as to prevent the eye from seeing further than a quarter of a mile of it, in any one place, the whole road would not be lengthened more than one hundred and fifty yards. It is not proposed to make serpentine roads merely for the entertain- ment of travellers ; but it is intended to point out, that a strict adherence to a straight line is of much less consequence than is usually supposed ; and that it will be frequently advantageous to deviate from the direct line, to avoid inequalities of ground. It is obvious, that, where the arc described by a road going over a hill, is greater than that which is described by going round it, the circuit is preferable ; but it is not known to every overseer, that within certain limits it will be less laborious to go round the hill. 572 PRACTICE OF AGRICULTURE. Part III. though the circuit should be much greater than that which would be made in crossing the hill. Where a hill has an ascent of no more than one foot in thirty, the thirtieth part of the whole weight of the Carriage, of the load, and of the horses, must be lifted up, whilst they advance thirty feet. In doing this, one thirtieth part of the whole load con- tinually resists the horses' draught ; and in drawing a waggon of six tons' weight, a resistance equal to the usual force of two horses must be exerted. 3551. A perfectly level road is 7iat always the best for every secies of draught. Slight and short alternations of rising and falling ground are Serviceable to horses moving swiftly; the horses have time to rest their lungs, and different muscles: and of this experienced drivers know well how to take advantage. Marshal concurs in this opinion, and aKo Walker, Telford, and most engineers ; and Paterson considers that it would not be proper to line a road upon a perfect level, even to the length of one mile together, although it could he quite easily obtained. It is a fact, he says, well known to most people, at least every driver of loaded carriages knows by experience, that where a horse, dragging a load over a long stretch of road, quite level, will be exhausted with fatigue, the same length of a road, having here a gentle acclivity, and there a declivity, will not fatigue the animal so much. This is easily accounted for. On a road quite level, the draught is always the same, without any relaxation : but on a gentle ascent, one of his powers is called into exercise ; on the descent, another of his powers is called into action, and he rests from the exercise of the former. Thus are his different mus- cular powers moderately exercised, one after another ; and this variety has not the same tendency to fatigue. A perfectly level road, both with respect to its direction and its breadth, is always dirty in wet weather ; because the rain water can neither run off to the side of the road, nor along the ruts. Such roads, therefore, as are level in their line of direction, should always have a fall from the middle to the sides, and should be kept as much as possible free from ruts. 3552. According to Stevenson, and we believe to all the most scientific road engineers, a level straight road is decidedly the best He says, " in an uphill draught, a carriage may be conceived as in the state of being continually lifted by increments proportional to its rise or progress upon the road. Every one knows that on a stage of twelve miles the post-boy generally saves, as it is termed, at least half an hour upon the level road, because on it he never requires to slacken his pace as in going uphill. Now, if he, or his com- pany, would agree to take the same time to the level road that they are obliged to do upon the undulating one, the post-master would find no difficulty in determining which side of the argument was in favour of his cattle. With regard to the fatigues or ease of the horse, Mr. Stevenson upon one occasion submitted the subject to the consideration of a medical friend (Dr. John Barclay of Edinburgh, no less eminent for his knowledge, than successful as a teacher of the science of comparative anatomy , when the Doctor made the following answer : — ' My acquaintance with the muscles by no means enables me to explain how a horse should be more fatigued by travelling on a road uniformly level, than by travelling over a like space upon one that crosses heights arid hollows ; but it is demonstrably a false idea, that muscles can alternately rest and come into motion in cases of this kind. The daily practice of ascending heights, it has been said, gives the animal wind, and enlarges his chest. It may also, with equal truth, be affirmed, that many horses lose their wind under this sort of training, and irrecoverably suffer from imprudent attempts to induce such a habit.' In short, the Doctor ascribes ' much to prejudice originating with the man, continually in quest of variety, rather than the horse, who, consulting only his own ease, seems quite unconscious of Hogarth's Line of Beauty.' " {llejmrt on the Edinburgh Railway.) 3553. A dry foundation, and clearing the road from water, are two important objects which, according to Walker (Minutes of Evidence before a Committee of the House of Commons, 1819.), ought to be kept in view in lining out roads. " For obtaining the first of these objects, it is essential that the line for the road be taken so that the foundation can be kept dry, either by avoiding low ground, by raising the surface of the road above the level of the ground on each side of it, or by drawing off the water by means of side drains. The other object, viz. that of clearing the road of water, is best secured by selecting a course for the road which is not horizontally level, so that the surface of the road may, in its longitudinal section, form in some degree an inclined plane ; and when this cannot be obtained, owing to the extreme flatness of the country, an artificial incli- nation may generally be made. When a road is so formed, every wheel-track that is made, being in the line of the inclination, becomes a channel for carrying off the water much more effectually than can be done by a curvature in the cross section or rise in the middle of the road, without the danger or other disadvantages which necessarily attend the rounding of a road much in the middle. I consider a fall of about one inch and a half in ten feet to be a minimum in this case, if it is attainable without a great deal of extra expense. 3554. The ascent of hills, it is observed by Marshal, is the most difficult part of laying out roads. According to theory, he says, an inclined plane of easy ascent is proper ; but as the moving powei on this plane is " neither purely mechanical, nor in a sufficient degree rational, but an irregular compound of these two qualities, the nature and habits of this power " require a varied inclined plane, or one not a uniform descent, but with levels or other proper places for rests. According to the road act, the ascent or descent should not exceed the rate or proportion of one foot in height to thirty-five feet of the length thereof, if the same be practicable, without causing a great increase of distance. Book II. DIRECTION OF ROADS. 573 3555. As precedents for mads through hilly countries, Telford {Minutes before the Committee of the Huuse of Commons, #c 1819.), refers to those which he has lately made through the most difficult and pre- cipitous districts of North Wales. " The longitudinal inclinations are in general less than one in thirty ; in one instance for a considerable distance there was no avoiding one in twentv-two, and in another, for about two hundred yards, one in seventeen; but in these two cases, the surface of the road- way being made peculiarly smooth and hard, no inconvenience is experienced by wheeled carriages. On flat ground the breadth of the road-way is thirty-two feet ; where there is side cutting not exceeding three feet, the breadth is twenty-eight ; and along any steep ground and precipices it is twenty-two ; all clear within the fences : the sides are protected by stone walls, breast and retaining walls and parapets ; great pains have been bestowed on the cross drains, also the draining of the ground, and likewise in constructing firm and substantial foundations for the metalled part of the roadway." 355d. The road between Capel Cerig and Lord Penrhyn's slate quarries mav also be adduced as an example of a very perfect enclosed plane in which the ascent is accurately divided on the whole space. 3557. Cutting through low hills to obtain a level is recommended by some, who, as Paterson observes, will argue, " that where the hill of ascent is not very long, it is better/in (hat case, to cut through it in a straight line, and embank over the hollow ground on each side, than to wind along the foot of it. This, however, should only be done where the cutting is very little indeed, and an embankment absolutely necessary. Few people, except those who are well acquainted with the subject, are aware of the great expense of cutting and embanking; and the more any one becomes acquainted with road-making, the more, it may be presumed, will he endeavour to avoid those levels on the straight line that are obtained only by cutting and embanking, and will either follow the level on the curved line round the hill, or, where this is impracticable, will ascend the hill, and go over it by various windings, avoiding always abrupt or sudden turnings." {Treatise, §c. p. 15.) 3558. All crossings, intersections, and abutting* of roads, should be made at right angles, for the obvious purpose of facilitating the turning from one road to the other, or the more speedily crossing. Where roads cross each other obliquely, or where one road abuts on another at an acute angle, turning in or crossing can only be conveniently performed in one direction. 3559. In laying out a road over a hUl or mountain of angular figure and considerable height, much practical skill, as well as science, is requisite. In order to preserve a moderate inclination, or such a one as will admit of the descent of carriages withcut locking their wheels, a much longer line will be required than the arc of the mountain. In reaching the summit or highest part to be passed over, the line must be extended by winding or zig-zagging it along the sides, so as never to exceed the maximum degree of steepness. This may occasion a very awkward appearance in a ground plan, but it is unavoidable in immense works. If a hill, 50 feet in perpendicular height (Jig. 5:58.), has an arc (a, b, c), or would require ] 50 feet of road (a, b, c) to go over its summit in a straight line ; then to pass over the same hill, on a road rising at the rate of two inches in six feet (the slope of the Simplon road), would require a length of 600 feet. If this length were extended in a straight line (d, b, e) on each side, it would require an enormous mound, and an immense expense ; but by being conducted in a winding direction (6), up the hill on one side, and down the other, the same end is gained at a moderate cost. Such works show the wonderful power and ingenuity of man ; and perhaps no example exists where this power is so strikingly displayed in road-making as in the case of the Simplon. 3560. In laying out a road towards a river, stream, ravine, or any place requiring a bridge or embankment, an obvious advantage results from approaching them at right angles ; and the same will apply in regard to any part requiring tunnelling or crossing by an aqueduct, &c. 3561. In tracing out winding railroads, or stick carriage roads as are only to be metalled in the horse track and paths of the wheels, some management is necessary in the case of quick bends. Where the line is straight, the horse path ought to be exactly in the middle between the wheel tracks ; but, where the road winds, and most especially at a quick bend, the horse track ought ever to incline toward the outer side of the curve, by which the wheels will be uniformly kept on the middles of the supports prepared for them. Hence, it is advisable to dig the trench for the horse path (fig. 535. a) first ; and to draw a carriage for which the road is intended, with the horses walking in this middle trench : thus marking out, by the impressions of the wheels, the precise middle lines of the outer trenches, in every part of the road, from end to end. 3562. The directions of roads through an extensive estate cannot be determined on without having in contemplation the other fundamental improvements, such as the situations of villages, farmeries, mills, or other objects ; and these artificial improvements must be taken in connection with the natural surface, soil, materials, waters, &c, the probable system of agriculture that will be pursued, and the external intercourse. A hilly country under aration, will evidently require more roads than if chiefly under 571 PRACTICE OF AGRICULTURE. Part III. pasture; and, indeed, other circumstances the same, a country abounding in hills and valleys requires many more roads than one of a more even surface. The roads in such a country are also moiv expensive, on account of the bridges, and extra work at their abutments. On an estate composed of gentle hills chiefly intended for arable or con- vertible husbandry, the best situation for the roads will generally be found about half way between die bottoms and highest surfaces. By this means the labour of carting up the produce from the fields below the road, and carting up the dung to the fields above it, is evidently much less than if the road were either entirely on the highest ground or the lowest. Bridges over die brooks or open ditches necessary for drainage in valleys, are also rendered less frequent. :;."<;.!. Accurate sections of the rises and falls of the natural surface on which a road is to be formed should always be taken before the line is finally determined on. As the figure of on exact section of this sort, on any ordinary scale, would convey no data sufficiently accurate for execution, it is usual to adopt one scale for the length, and another for the rises and falls of the road, and to mark the latter with the dimensions as taken on the survey. Sect. III. Form ami Materials of Roads. 3564. On the structure and composition of roads, men of science and practical road makers are much more divided than on their laying out. The subject is of itself of greater importance in old countries, because it more frequently occurs that a road is to be enlarged or renewed, than that a new line is to be devised. We shall first lay down the fundamental principles of the formation, and wear of roads ; and next treat of forming them, and of the different kinds of road materials. Subsect. 1. Formation of Roads, and of their Wear or Injury. 3565. A road may be defined a path of transit on the earth's surface, for men, animals, and machines ; of sufficient width for the given traffic ; of sufficient strength and solidity for the given weight ; of sufficient smoothness to offer no impediment ; and of as great durability as possible. 3566. The width is obviously determinable by the nature and extent of the traffic : every road should be made sufficiently broad to admit two of the largest sized carriages which are in use in the country or district to pass each other ; and highways, and roads near towns, should be made wider in proportion to their use. The maximum and minimum can only be determined by experience : sixty feet is the common and legal width of a turnpike-road in Britain, and this includes the footpath. 3567. The strength of a road depends on the nature of the material of which it is formed, and of the basis on which it is placed. A plate of iron or stone of the road's width placed on a compact dry soil would comprise every thing in [joint of strength ; but as it is impracticable to employ plates of iron or stone of such a size to any extent, recourse is had to a stratum of small stones or gravel. The great art, therefore, is so to prepare this stratum, and place it on the basis of the road, as that the effect may come as near as possible to a solid plate of material. To accomplish this, the stones or gravel should be broken into small angular fragments, and after being laid down of such a thickness as experience has determined to be of sufficient strength and durability, the whole should be so powerfully compressed by a roller as to render it one compact body, capable of re- sisting the impression of the feet of animals and the wheels of carriages in a great degree, and impermeable by surface water. But the base of the road may not always be firm and compact ; in this case it is to be rendered so by drainage, artificial pressure, and per- haps in some cases by other means. a r >68. In cases of a wet or soft foundation, where from the nature of the soil and the pressure of the springs lying on a higher level, as on the groat north road, near Highgate, draining has been found ineffectual in drving the foundation of the road ; the same object has been attained by laying down, and joining by cement, blocks composed of course gravel and Roman cement The water is thus prevented from oozing up, and a foundation formed, at once firm, durable, and dry. This invention, with many others in modern road-making, belongs to Mr. Telford. {Newton's Journal, vol ii, p. ~28.) 3569. The durability of a road, as far as it depends on the original formation, will be in proportion to the solidity of its basis, the hardness of the material of which the surface- stratum is formed, its thickness, and the size and form of the stones which compose it. The form and size of the stones which compose the surface-stratum have a powerful influence on a road's durability. If their form is roundish, it is evident they will not bind into a compact stratum ; if they are large, whether the form be round or angular, the stratum cannot be solid ; and if they are of mixed sizes and shapes, though a very strong and solid stratum may be formed at first, yet the wheels of carriages and the feet of animals operating with unequal effect on the small and large stones would soon derange the solidity of the stratum to a certain depth, and, consequently, by admitting rain and frost to penetrate into it, accelerate its decay. A constant state of moisture, even without any derangement of surface, contributes to the wearing of roads by friction : hence Bgck II. WEAR OF ROADS. 575 one requisite to durability is a free exposure to the sun and air, by keeping low the side fences ; and another is keeping a road clear of mud and dust — the first of which acts as a spunge in retaining water, and the second increases the draught of animals, and of course their action on the road. Both the strength and the durability of a road will be greater ■when the plate or surface-stratum of metals is flat or nearly so, than when it is rounded on the upper surface : first, because no animal can stand upright on such a road with a regular bearing on the soles of its feet ; and, secondly, because no w heeled carriage can have a regular bearing, except on the middle or crown of the road. The consequence of both these states is the breaking of the surface of the plate into holes from the edges of horses' feet, or ruts from the plough-like effect of wheels on the lower side of the road, or the reiterated operation of those which pass along the centre. 3570. The smootlmess of a road depends on the size of the stones, and on their com- pression either by original rolling or the continued pressure of wheels. The continued smoothness of a road during its wear depends on small stones being used in every part of the stratum ; for if the lower part of it, as is generally the case in the old style ■ of forming roads, consists of larger stones, as soon as it is penetrated by wheels or water from above, these stones will work up and produce a road full of holes and covered with loose stones. 3571. The wear or decay of roads takes place in consequence of the friction, leverage, pressure, grinding, and incision of animals and machines, and the various effects of water and the weather. 3572. Friction will in time wear down the most durable and smooth material. Its effects are more rapid when aided by wafer, which insinuates itself among the particles of the surfaces of earthy bodies, and, being then compressed by the weight of feet or wheels, ruptures or wears them. Even when not compressed by wheels or other weights, the action of frost, by expanding water, produces the same effect. This any one mav prove, by soaking a soft brick in water and exposing it to a severe frost. A road in a state of perfect dryness is, under the action of wheels, as liable to be injured in its soliditv, as when too wet ; because it loses its elastic tenacity under the pressure, and becomes broken into a loose superstratum. This is the greatest advantage of watering roads, as proved by the experience of trustees, and shown in their annual accounts of expenses ; besides the comfort to travellers, of laying the dust, for which alone watering was first thought necessary. S573. The leverage of the feet of animals has a tendency to depress one part of the sur- face and raise up another. The line which forms the sole of every animal's foot may be considered as a lever of the second kind, in which the fulcrum is at the one extremity (fg. 539. a), the power at the other (b), and the weight between them (c). Hence the injury done to the road, even if formed on the best construction, will be as the pressure • on the fulcrum : this amounts to from the half to ''''' the whole of the weight of bipeds and their loads, and from a fourth to a half of that of quadrupeds. But if the stones of the road are large, that is, if they are more than two inches in breadth, the horse's foot acts as a com- pound lever, and, by depressing one end of the stones and raising the other, deranges the surface of the stratum, and renders it a receptacle for water, mud, or dust. 3574. The leverage of wheels is of a nature to be less injurious to roads than that of the feet of animals, because the 540 fulcrum (fg. 540. a), is continually changing its position : but if the stones of the road are large, then the wheel acts as a compound lever, raising up the one end (b), and depressing the other (a), of every stone it passes over ; and in this case becomes more injurious on a bad road than the feet of loaded animals. The reiterated ~! operation of this effect, by wheels fol- ^ 1 lowing in the same track, soon destroys badly constructed roads. 3575. Such being the effect of leverage, and especially of compound leverage, in wearing roads, it becomes of the "first importance to ascertain that size and shape of stone on which its effects will be least; that is to say, how short a compound lever may be made use of consistently with other advantages. This must in general be a matter of experience, and chiefly depends on the hardness of the stone. The size must always be sufficiently large, and the shape sufficiently angular, to form, when embedded, a compact, hard, and 539 576 PRACTICE OF AGRICULTURE. Pam III. immovable stratum j and the smaller the size the better, provided that object be obtained. One inch in diameter may be considered tile medium size. 3576. The nurepretmre of bodies on a smooth road does little mischief; and hence the advantage of perfectly cylindrical wheels, and a road as nearly level as practicable. But if the surface of the road is rough, the pressure both of cylindrical wheels and the feet of animals may do mischief, by forcing down a loose stone among others of dif- ferent suses, and thus loosening the latter and raising the largest to the surface. Where a road, however, is composed of materials of small size, and the surface is clean and dry, the advantage derived from the pressure of cylindrical wheels acting as rollers will, it is probable, always be greater than the injury sustained from their friction. 3577, Grinding is produced by the twisting motion of the feet of horses or other animals u lien pulling hard or carrying a heavy weight, and by the twisting, dragging, or sliding of wheels from whatever cause. The grinding of wheels, Fry observes, " may in every case be defined to be the effect produced on any substance interposed between two bodies, one of which has a sliding motion, yet so firmly confined or pressed between them, that the moving body cannot slide over the interposed substance; but, in conse- quence of the pressure, the interposed substance, adhering firmly both to the fixed and to the moving body, is necessarily lacerated or torn asunder, and reduced to atoms. This is the process in corn-mills, in drug-mills, and in every other mill, properly so called. 1 remember," he adds, " frequently when a boy, to have trodden with one heel on a piece of soft brick, or of dry old mortar, which was firm enough to bear the weight of my body, uninjured ; but, on giving my body a swing round with my other foot, 1 have instantly reduced it to powder. The action in this case is very obvious : the weight of my body confined the piece of brick firmly to the ground ; my heel was also pressed by the same weight firmly upon the brick ; one part of the brick therefore re- maining confined to the ground, and the other part being carried round by my heel, the brick of course was torn asunder and reduced to powder. This I conceive is a simple elucidation of the difference between pressing and grinding ; and this is the difference of the effects on the materials of our roads, produced by the use of upright cylindrical wheels, which act only by pressure; by the use of conical wheels, which, by their constant twist, act also by grinding ; and by very convex roads, by which means the wheels of all carriages, except such as occupy the crown of the road, whether cylindrical or other- wise, act in the same twisting, sliding, and grinding manner." (Obs. on Roads, Src. 1819.) 3578. By the incision of objects passing alongroads, we allude to the dividing operation of wheels, which, independently of their effect as moving levers, act also as moving wedges, or perhaps, more properly, as endless saws, in forming ruts or deepening such as are already made. Flat roads, so as to produce less temptation to follow in the middle track, watchful repair, and broad wheels, are the mitigators of this description of wear. 3579. Water is one of the most serious causes of the wear of roads. As we have already observed (3572.), it acts, aided by pressure, like gunpowder, in rending the sur- face of bodies. Frozen, it acts exactly in the same manner ; and when it has penetrated deeply into a stratum of materials, a thaw produces their entire derangement. Mud is formed in consequence of the presence of water and dust or earth, and acts as a sponge to retain it, and perpetuate its bad effects. A well composed and thoroughly com- pressed substratum will not imbibe water, unless it rests in ruts or other hollows. To form such a stratum, therefore, and obliterate all hollows as soon as they appear, and to remove mud and dust, are the palliatives of this mode of wear. On such a road heavy showers may do good, by washing away the earthy particles, dung, and other injurious earthy or vegetable matters. 3580. Wind is mostly a favourable agent to roads, by drying them and blowing off the lighter dust ; but in some cases, in very exposed situations, it has been known to blow the dust into heaps, and sometimes to carry off larger particles than could be spared. The last evil is fortunately rare ; the other only requires the removal of the accumulated heaps of dust. Subsect. 2. M'Adams Theory and Practice of Road-maldng. 3581. M'Adam agrees with other engineers, that a good road may be t-onsidered as an artificial flooring, forming a strong, solid, smooth-surfaced stratum, sufficiently flat to admit of carriages standing upright on any part of it, capable of carrying a great weight, and presenting no impediment to the animals or machines which pass along it. In forming this flooring, M' Adam has gone one step beyond his predecessors, in breaking the stone to a smaller size than was before practised, and in forming the entire stratum of this small-sized stone. By the former practice a basement of large stones is first laid ; then stones a degree smaller ; and, lastly, the least size on the surface. It is in this point of making use of one small size of stones throughout the stratum, that the origin- ality of M'Adam's plan consists, unless we add also his assertion, " that all the roads in Book II. M' A DAM'S ROADS. 577 the kingdom may be made smooth and solid in an equal degree, and to continue so at all seasons of the year." It is doubted by some, whether this would be the case in the northern districts at the breaking up of frosts, and especially in the case of roads not much in use, and consequently consisting of a stratum less consolidated, and more pene- trable by water. M'Adam, probably, has much frequented public roads in view. " The durability of these," he says, " will, of course, depend on the strength of the materials of which they may be composed ; but they will all be good while they last, and the only question that can arise respecting the kind of materials is one of duration and expense, but never of the immediate condition of the roads." (Remarks on livads, <$c p. II.) The following observation of Marshal is worthy of remark, as tending to confirm, to a certain extent, the doctrine of M'Adam : — " It may seem needless to repeat, that the surface of a road which is formed of well broken stones, binding gravel, or other firmly cohesive materials, and which is much used, presently becomes repellant of the water which falls upon it ; no matter as to the basis on which they are deposited, provided it is sound and firm enough to support them." 3582. M' Adams theory of road-making may be comprised in the following quotation from his Report to the Board of Agriculture (vol. vi. p. 46.) : — " Roads can never be rendered perfectly secure until the following principles be fully understood, admitted, and acted upon : namely, that it is the native soil which really supports the weight of traffic ; that while it is preserved in a dry state it will carry any weight without sinking, and that it does, in fact, carry the road and the carriages also ; that this native soil must previouslv be made quite dry, and a covering impenetrable to rain must then be placed over it to preserve it in that dry state ; that the thickness of a road should only be regu- lated by the quantity of material necessary to form such impervious covering, and never by any reference to its own power of carrying weight. There are some exceptions to this rule ; a road of good naturally binding gravel may be laid on a sub-bed of bog earth, which, from its tenacity, will carry all kinds of carriages for many years." 3583. The erroneous opinion so long acted upon, and so tenaciously adhered to, that by placing a large quantity of stone under the roads, a remedy will be found for the sinking into wet clav or other soft soils ; or, in other words, that a road may be made sufficiently strong, artif daily, to carry heavy carriages, though the subsoil be in a wet state, and by such means to avert the inconveniences of the natural soil receiving water from rain oi other causes ; has produced most of the defects of the roads of Great Britain. At one time M'Adam had formed the opinion that this practice was only a useless expense ; but experience has convinced him that it is likewise positively injurious. 3584. If strata of stone of various sizes be placed as a road, it is well known to every skilful and observant road-maker, that the largest stones will constantly work up by the shaking and pressure of the traffic ; and that the only mode of keeping the stones of a road from motion is, to use materials of a uniform size from the bottom. In roads made upon large stones as a foundation, the perpetual motion, or change of the position of the materials, keeps open many apertures, through which the water passes. 3585. Roads placed upon a hard bottom, it has also been found, wear away more quickly than those which are placed upon a soft soil. This has been apparent upon roads where motives of economy or other causes have prevented the road being lifted to the bottom at once ; the wear has always been found to diminish, as soon as it was pos- sible to remove the hard foundation. It is a known fact, that a road lasts much longer over a morass than when made over rock. The evidence produced before the committee of the House of Commons showed the comparison on the road between Bristol and Bridge- water to be as five to seven in favour of the wearing on the morass, where the road is laid on the naked surface of the soil, against a part of the same road made over rocky ground. 3586. The common practice, on the formation of a new road, is, to dig a trench below the surface of the ground adjoining, and in this trench to deposit a quantity of large stones ; after this, a second quantity of stone, broken smaller, generally to about seven or eight pounds' weight : these previous beds of stone are called the bottoming of the road, and are of various thickness, according to the caprice of the maker, and generally in proportion to the sum of money placed at his disposal. On some new roads, made in Scotland in the summer of 1819, the thickness exceeded three feet. That which is properly called the road is then placed on the bottoming, by putting large quantities of broken stone or gravel, generally a foot or eighteen inches thick, at once upon it. Were the materials of which the road itself is composed properly selected, prepared, and laid, some of the inconveniences of this system might be avoided ; but in the careless way in which this service is generally performed, the road is as open as a sieve to receive water, which, penetrating through the whole mass, is received and retained in the trench, w hence the road is liable to give way in all changes of weather. A road formed on such prin- ciples has never effectually answered the purpose which the road-maker should con- stantly have in view ; namely, to make a secure level flooring, over which carriages may pass with safftv and equal expedition at all seasons of the year. Pp 578 PRACTICE OP AGRICULTURE. Pam III. 3587. An artificial road in Britain is only required to obviate the inconvenience of a very unsettled climate. Water, with alternate frost and thaw, are the evils to be guarded against ; consequently, nothing can he more erroneous than providing a reservoir for water under the road, and giving facility to the water to pass through the road into this trench, where it is acted upon by frost to the destruction of the road. As no artificial road can ever he made so good and so useful as the natural soil in a dry state, it is only necessary to procure and preserve this dry state of so much ground as is intended to be occupied by a road. 3588. The first operation in making a road should be the reverse of digging a trench. The road should not be sunk below, but rather raised above, the ordinary level of the adjacent ground ; care should at any rale be taken, that there be a sufficient fall to take off the water, so that it should always be some inches below the level of the ground upon which the road is intended to be placed: this must be done, either by making drains to lower ground ; or if that be not practicable, from the nature of the country, then the soil upon which the road is proposed to be laid must be raised by addition, so as to be some inches above the level of the water. 3589. Having secured the soil from binder-water, the road-maker is next to secure it from rain water, by a solid road made of clean dry stone or flint, so selected, prepared, and laid, as to be perfectly impervious to water ; and this cannot be effected unless the greatest care be taken that no earth, clay, chalk, or other matter, that will hold or conduct water, be mixed with the broken stone ; which must be so prepared and laid, as to unite with its own angles into a firm, compact, impenetrable body. 3590. The thickness of such road is immaterial, as to its strength for carrying weight; this object is already obtained by providing a dry surface, over which the road is to be placed as a covering or roof, to preserve it in that state ; experience having shown, that if water passes through a road, and fills the native soil, the road, whatever may be its thickness, loses its support, and goes to pieces. In consequence of an alteration in the line of the turnpike road, near Rownham Ferry, in the parish of Ashton, near Bristol, it has been necessary to remove the old road. This road was lifted and re-laid very skilfully in 1806; since which time it has been in contemplation to change the line, and conse- quently it has been suffered to wear very thin. At present it is not above three inches thick in most places, and in none more than four: yet on removing the road, it was found that no water had penetrated, nor had the frost affected it during the winter pre- ceding, and the natural earth beneath the road was found perfectly dry. 3591. Several new roads have been constructed on this principle within the last three years. Part of the great north road from London, by Hoddesdon, in Hertfordshire; two pieces of road on Durdham Down, and at Kownham Ferry, near Bristol ; with several private roads in the eastern part of Sussex. None of these roads exceed six inches in thickness; and although that on the great north road is subjected to a very heavy traffic (being only fifteen miles distant from London), it has not given way, nor was it affected by the late severe winter (1819-20), when the roads between that and London became impassable, by breaking up to the bottom, and the mail and other coaches ■were obliged to reach London by circuitous routes, it is worthy of observation, that these bad roads cost more money per mile for their annual repair, than the original making of this useful new road. 3592. Improvement of roads, continues M'Adam, " upon the principle I have endeavoured to explain, has been rapidly extended during the last four years. It has been carried into effect on various roads, and with every variety of material, in seventeen different counties. These roads being so constructed as to exclude water, consequently none of them broke up during the late severe winter (1819-20); there was no interruption to travelling, nor any additional expense by the post-office in conveying the mails over them, to the extent of upwards of one thousand miles of road." 3593. On M' Adam's theory the only practical road-maker who has published his opi- nion is Paterson of Montrose. He says (Letters and Communications, §c. 1822.), " These certainly ought to be considered as the grand first principles of road-making." He commends M'Adam's reasoning on these principles ; but objects, as we think with reason, to his drainage of three or four inches, as being insufficient. He adds, however, that though he considers M'Adam's system as erroneous and defective in draining and preparing the road for the materials, yet, in regard to the materials themselves, the method of preparing and putting them on, and keeping the road free from ruts by constant at- tention, has his entire approbation. These principles, however, he adds, " are not neu> ; but have been acted upon before. In regard to small breaking, he certainly has had the merit of carrying that mode to greater extent than any other individual that I have heard of; and the beneficial effects arising from it have consequently been more extensively seen and experienced." (Letters on Road-making, p. 49.) Book II. ROADS OF VARIOUS ENGINEERS. .579 Subsect. 3. Road-making, as treated of and practised by various eminent Engineers and Surveyors. 3594. The subject of forming a road may be considered as to breadth, drainage, fences, base of the hard materials or artificial stratum, upper line of the stratum, composition of the stratum, size of the materials, laying, ami compressing. 3595. With respect to breadth, the site of every public road, according to Marshal, ought to be sufficiently ample to admit of its division into three travelable lines : namely, 1. A middle road of hard materials, for carriages and horses in winter and wet seasons ; 2. A soft road, formed with the natural materials of the site, to be used in dry weather, to save the unnecessary wear of the hard road, and to favour the feet of travelling animals, as well as for the safety, ease, and pleasantness of travelling in the summer season ; and 3. A commodious path, for the use of foot passengers, at all seasons. There are few roads, even in the environs of populous towns, so public as to require a hard road of more than two statute poles (thirty-three feet) in breadth ; and every public road ought, under ordinary circumstances, to have a line which is travelable at any season, and of ample width to permit two carriages to pass each other with freedom and safety. This ample width let us set down at one statute pole. In deep clayey districts, where hard materials are difficult to be procured, a single road, of half a pole in breadth, with dila- tions at proper distances, to let carnages pass each other, may, in many recluse situations, be advisable. 3596. Seventy feet in width seems to be considered by Farey, Walker, Telford, and most engineers, as sufficient near the largest towns ; and in the case of the metropolis and some others, they consider that ten or twenty feet in width may be paved. The London Commercial road, executed under the direction of Walker, is seventy feet wide ; ten feet on each side are occupied as footpaths, twenty feet in the centre are paved for heavy carriages, and there are fifteen feet of gravel road at each side for light carriages and saddle horses. This road has been executed for sixteen years, and has given the greatest satisfaction ; but Walker thinks that considerable improvement would be found from paving the sides of a road, upon which the heavy traffic is great in both directions, and leaving the middle for light carriages. The carmen or drivers, walking upon the foot- paths or sides of the road, would then be close to their horses, without interrupting or being in danger of accidents from light carriages, which is the case when they are driving upon the middle of the road ; and the unpaved part being in the middle or highest part of the road, would be more easily kept in good repair. But unless the heavy traffic in both directions is great, one width, say ten or twelve feet, if very well paved, will be found sufficient ; and in this case, the paving ought to be in the middle of the road. The width of many of the present roads is, besides, such, that ten or twelve feet can be spared for paving, while twice that width would leave too little for the gravelled part. Although the first cost of paving is so great, he does not think that any other plan can be adopted so good and so cheap in those places where the materials got in the neigh- bourhood are not sufficient for supporting the roads. A coating of whinstone is, for instance, more durable than the gravel with which the roads round London are made and repaired, but much less so than paving ; although the freight and carriage of the whinstone, and of the paving stones, which form the principal items of the expense, are nearly the same. 3597. Roads ought to be wide and strong, Edgeworth observes, in proportion to their vicinity to great towns, mines, or manufactories. As they approach the capital, they should be wider and stronger than elsewhere. When a number of roads leading to a great city combine and fall into one, the road from that junction should be proportion- ably solid and capacious. Near the capital, the width of roads is however often restricted by buildings, that cannot with propriety be suddenly removed ; but every opportunity for removing these buildings, and for widening the road, should be attended to, and no future buildings or encroachments should be allowed. And, though in some cases it appears reasonable to permit the erection of new buildings, and the making new plant- ations, nearer than thirty feet from the centre of a road, upon condition that security should be given to the public for the constant preservation of the road that is thus injured ; it is, however, far safer to prohibit what is injurious to public convenience, than to compromise with individuals : cases of private hardship may and must occur, but it is part of the true glory of Britain that there exists no exemption in our laws in favour of the rich. 3598. Proportioning the breadth of roads to the traffic for which they may be employed is not sufficiently attended to. In remote places, where there is but little traffic, the waste of ground, occasioned by superfluous width of roads, is an error of considerable magnitude. There are many places where roads of twenty feet in breadth would suit the public convenience, as well as if they were twice as broad. Now it is clear, that if a road is one pole or perch wider than is necessary, there is a waste of 320 perches in a Pp 2 580 PRACTICE OF AGRICULTURE. Part III. mile, equal to two acres of ground, which, at the rate of three pouuds per acre, would, if the road had been once well made, keep half a mile of such read as is here alluded to in good repair. 3599. The breadth of the road and the width of the metals, according to Paterson, should depend on circumstances different from the former. For a few miles in the vicinity of such cities as London or Edinburgh, the most proper breadth at which a road should he formed, is properly from sixty to seventy feet, and the metals from twenty-five to thirty-five feet. While in the neighbourhood of such towns as Newcastle or Perth, it will be sufficient that it be formed forty feet broad, and that the width of the metals be about eighteen or twenty feet. These are the breadths presumed to be the most eligible in such situations. But rules cannot be given to suit every situation: the breadth ought to be regulated according to the extent of the run of commerce, or traffic, upon the road. As a general rule, however, for public roads over the different counties of Great Britain, he " should suppose the following might, in most cases, be adopted. Take, for instance, the road betwixt Edinburgh and Glasgow, or betwixt Edinburgh and Aber- deen by the way of Dundee. These roads are formed in general from thirty-five to forty' feet wide ; and the breadth of the metals is from fourteen to sixteen feet, for the most part. Such roads as these would be found to answer very well, in general, over the kingdom." A breadth sufficient for the general purposes of country travelling, according to M'Adam, is sixteen feet of solid materials, with six feet on each side formed of slighter materials. The Bristol roads, he says, are made with stone about the width of sixteen feet. 3600. The increased breadth which is now given to our public roads, according to Stevenson, independently of the safety and convenience of the traffic, is favourable to the more speedy drying of the road by evaporation, and is calculated to render less injurious the rising growth of the hedgerows, and the ultimate erection of buildings along the line. " The highways or great lines of road should, in no instance, be formed of a less breadth than forty feet, and the metal bed not less than eighteen feet broad, with at least one footpath of five feet in breadth along the side ; especially within a few miles of all towns and villages. It would be difficult to give any scale of breadths for public roads, the local circumstances of which vary so much. But, without presuming to be fastidious, we notice, that, within six or eight miles of all large cities or towns, the approaches should not be formed at less than sixty feet between the fences. In such situations the whole breadth should be metalled, or laid with broken stones. In the vicinity of towns of about 50,000 inhabitants, the breadth should be at least fifty feet between the fences, and be in like manner metalled from side to side. Where the population does not exceed 30,000, the statutory breadth of forty feet may be adopted, the metalling being still continued of the whole breadth, with paved side-drains. At intermediate distances, where it is not thought advisable to have the metal of a greater breadth than eighteen feet, the compartments between the metal bed and the side-drains may be laid with gravel or chips of stone to the depth of not less than half the thickness of the central part of the road. In the vicinity of London, and the capitals of Dublin and Edinburgh, and other great towns, as Glasgow, Manchester, Liverpool, &c. it would be desirable that the principal approaches were at least seventy feet in breadth, fully metalled between the side-drains, which ought to be neatly formed, and paved, and the roads provided with a footpath on each side." {Ed. Encyc art. Roads.) 3601. Narrow roads, it is judiciously observed by Fry, are almost always in bad con- dition, which is to be accounted for from the circumstance of every carriage being obliged to go in the same ruts ; and as each rut is generally only six inches wide, one foot of the road only is worn by the wheels instead of the whole breadth of it; which would be the case if the road were of a proper width, and if it were well constructed. If a road be laid out, from twenty to thirty feet wide, so flat as that a carriage may stand nearly upright on every part of it, and if moderate care be taken by the surveyor to prevent the first formation of ruts, such a road will be worn by the wheels nearly alike on every part of it : provided also that the ground on each side, for at least four or five feet, be mode- rately flat, so as not to excite fear in the drivers of carriages ; but if there be deep ditches close to the sides of the road, or if the circumjacent land fall off very abruptly to the depth of two or three feet, whereby fear of approaching the edges would operate on the minds of the drivers, every driver will instinctively avoid the danger on either hand • and a road so circumstanced will, in spite of any care of the surveyor, inevitably be worn into ruts in the middle. There is a remarkable instance of this kind in a piece of road on Durdham Down, near Bristol. This road is a causeway over a piece of soft ground ; and although it is from twenty to twenty-five feet wide, yet, as the ground falls away abruptly on both sides of it, it has been found impossible, for more than twenty years past, to his knowledge, to prevent deep ruts being formed along the middle of it ; notwithstanding the Down itself consists of hard limestone, and the other roads upon Book II. ROADS OF VARIOUS ENGINEERS. 581 consolidated as to form a solid body, and to be impervious to water. Bushes, however, the Down are as fine and even as any roads in England. Were this piece of road widened out on each side, in an easy slope of about five feet, by rubbish of any kind, and by the scrapings of the road itself, whereby the instinctive operation of fear of approaching the sides of the present road would be obviated, that piece of road would be found to wear as fairly as the other roads on the same Down. 3602. In regard to the drainage of roads, Marshal directs to examine the site in every part, to ascertain whether offensive waters lodge beneath it, or quicksands, and land springs, which b^eak out in a wet season. If defects of this kind be found, effectual drains are to be run up to them, from the ditches or outer side drains of the site. 3603. When roads run through marshy ground, Edgeworth observes, "the substratum must be laid dry by proper drainage ; and where the road is liable, from the flatness of the country, to be at times under water, the expense of raiding it above the water must be submitted to in the first instance. All drains for carrying off water should be under the ri^ad, or at the field-s'de of the fences, and these drains should be kept open by con- stant attention, and should be made wide at the outlet." 3604. The method of draining which Pnterson has found the most effective is thus described : — " Before the materials are put on, run a drain along the middle of the road, all the way, from two to three feet deep ; then fill it with stones up to the surface, mak- ing those at bottom of a pretty good size, and those at the top fully as small as the road materials. And, in order that the quantity of stones used for the said drain may be as little as possible, and every way to save expense, it may be made as narrow as it can possiblv be dug. From this leading drain make a branch here and there, to convey off the water to the canals on the sides of the road." This mode of draining he has found, from experience, to be so beneficial, that a road so drained would be better and more durable with eight inches, than it would otherwise be with twelve inches of materials; and not only so, but that on such a road there would be a saving on the incidental repairs, ever afterwards, of about one half of the labour, and at least one tliird of the material. 3605. All moisture from under the road materials must be carried off by such drains. Then, if the materials are properly broken, they will become so firm and solid that little or no water will get through them ; and if it should, this drain would carry it away. So that, under any view of it, the utility of these drains must be very apparent ; but when we consider that, to have the ground under the road materials perfectly dry is to insure a good road, these drains become indispensably necessary, and the expense is a mere trifle. There are two miles of road, which were made on this plan under Paterson's directions, which have stood all the winter rains without injury, and which promise to make one of the finest roads in the kingdom. There is another road of ten miles, that he has lately planned, for the greater part of which he has specified two such drains, running parallel to each other, and five feet apart ; and he would even recommend three or four parallel drains where there is a great breadth of metals, except where the road is formed over dry sand or open gravel. Although the effect of such drains will be at all times beneficial to the road ; in time of a thaw, after there have been a few weeks of frost, it will be peculiarly so. In frost, the surface of the road, though wet before, becomes dry, the water being absorbed by the road, or otherwise condensed by the frost ; but no sooner is this succeeded by a thaw, than the absorbed or condensed water again makes its appearance all over the surface of the road. This is the time that these drains are so peculiarly beneficial. 3606. Where such drains are wanting, the road, on the return of a thaw, throws up to the surface all the water it had imbibed ; and in many places, the materials, swelling up, become quite loose and open. This is a natural consequence, where the material is not thick, and where the soil under the road is not perfectly dry ; but where a road is dried in the way described, it will be uniformly seen, that the water, instead of spewing out on the return of a thaw, is sucked in by the drains, so leaving the surface of the road quite dry. It may be observed, that at such times, the places of the road where a few roods of such drain had been introduced, presented to the eye, at a quarter of a mile distant, quite a contrast to the other parts of the road : the one opaque and dry, from the moisture being sucked in ; the other all wet and glistering, from its being thrown out to the surface. {Paterson's Letters, $c. 44. 48 84.) 3607. Thorough drainaae, Stevenson observes, " should pervade the whole system of the formation of roads. The smaller drains, connected immediately with the road, must vary in their number, direction, and description, according to the judgment of the engineer. They consist of what are technically termed box and rumbling drains ; the former of which are built, and the latter consist of a stratum of rubble stones, simply thrown into an excavation made for their reception, through which the moisture is allowed to percolate. Where the road is to be made through a boggy or marshy soil, which is generally pretty level, the opportunities for drainage are less obvious; nor Pp 3 .582 PRACTICE OF AGRICULTURE. Part III. is (his so material, as ground of this description is capable of containing a great quantity of water without endangering the flooding of the road. In such situations it also fortunately happens that land is seldom of much value, and therefore, in making a road through a morass, a much greater breadth should be included between the lateral drains than where the ground lias an undulating surface. Attention should also be paid to cut the ditches of a moderate depth, as the tenacity of such soils depends upon their being kept in a somewhat ninist state. If a section of such ground be exposed to the sun and air, by deep side cutting, it soon pulverises, and loses its elasticity, when the level of the road falls, and its surface gets into disorder. The drainage of a road should rather be made across than in a lateral direction, as being less apt to be injured by the traffic upon it." (Erf. En eye. art. Roads.) 3608. The side drains Telford and Walker recommend to be, in every instance, on the field side of the fence. In cases, Telford observes, where a road is made upon ground where there are many springs, it is absolutely necessary to make a number of under and cross drains to collect the water and conduct it into the side drains, which should always be made on the field side of the fences. The orifices of these cross drains should be neatly and substantially finished in masonry. 3609. The surface-drains, or water-tables, should be made a few inches lower than the side of the road, and of the common width of a spade at the bottom, and they should have frequent cross drains under the path and fence, back into the outer side drain. 3610. IFater-tables across the road become requisite in some cases, as in flat roads on a steep slope. These should always be made at right angles to the road, with their sides gently sloping, to occasion as little obstruction to carriages as possible. In some few cases, where roads are liable to floods, or are deficient in drainage, these surface-tables may require to be made of a considerable breadth, and paved ; in this case Greig {App. to Strictures on Road Police, p. 219.) directs to lay six feet at the bottom of it flat, and twelve feet on each side to rise at the rate of one inch in the foot, which will make the depth one foot ; and from the size, no carriage will feel any jerk or shake in passing it. The pavement should be made of hammered stones, of nearly equal depth, each stone from nine to twelve inches long on the surface, and four to eight inches broad, and nine inches to a foot deep ; the under-side to be flat in the under-face, and not of an irregular or ancrular under-surface, as in that case it would not be solid. 3611 . Bridges and embankments, of different degrees of magnitude, are required in all lines of road of any length or variety of surface. The subject of large bridges we leave to the engineers, no department of their art having attained higher perfection ; of which the wonderful erections by Telford, in almost every mountainous district in Britain, may be referred to as proofs. We confine ourselves entirely to such stone arches as may be designed by road-surveyors, and built by country masons. In many cases, cast-iron might be substituted for stone with economy and advantage as to waterway ; but though the principle of constructing both cast and wrought iron bridges is perfectly simple, the execution, and especially the putting up, requires more skill, and are attended with much more risk than the erection of either stone or timber bridges. 3612. One low arch is in general the most desirable description of common road- bridge. But most of the country bridges, as Clarke observes, consist of several small, high, semicircular arches : where there is a single arch, the stream passes without inter- ruption ; if there are two or three in the same situation, the space through which the water is to pass is necessarily contracted by the width of the piers. Ice, and large bodies carried down by floods, frequently stop up the small arches, and the accumulated water carries away the bridge ; but if such accidents should not happen, the constant currents rushing against those piers wash out the mortar, loosen the stones, and very soon under- mine the work, if not extremely well put together, which is seldom the case. Unless the river or stream is narrow, or the banks very high, a semicircle is an inconvenient shape for an arch ; it has been adopted on account of the insufficiency of the abut- ments, and because the pressure is more perpendicular ; but scientific engineers, in all countries, now construct their bridges with wide openings, and make the arches either semi-ellipses, or segments of large circles — so that the space above the highest floods is comparatively little, and the ascent over the bridge inconsiderable. In country 7 bridges in Ireland, Clarke continues, the foundations are invariably, and often intentionally, defective : the mason considers himself an honest man, if his bridge lasts seven years; whereas, from the durability of materials in that country, it ought to endure for ages. Whatever is under water is out of sight, and is generally composed of loose stones, thrown promiscuously together, on which the masonry is erected, and all the pains and expense are bestowed on the cut-icaters and wings, when the heaviest stones, and those accurately jointed, ought to be laid in the foundations. The greatest attention should be paid to the quality of the materials : the stones should be large, and laid in level courses, in the best mortar, composed of sharp sand, free from loam, and quick- lime, accurately mixed together; the coping of the parapet is generally so slight, that it is Book II. ROADS OF VARIOUS ENGINEERS. 583 broken down as soon as built, and the entire parapet quickly follows; — it ought to be of large heavy stones, roughly hammered, and there should be substantial quoins at the ends of the parapets with an immovable stone over them. 3613. Arches not exceeding eight feet span may be semicircular; tunnels not exceeding eighteen inches wide may be covered with strong flags, and either flagged or paved under, and there ought to be across either end a deep long stone, sunk below the surface of the current, and under the walls, to prevent the water from undermining the work ; if the stones are square and heavy, those small conduits may be built without mortar, except at the ends. 3614. In building tunnels or arches across a road in a flow-bog, great pains must be taken with the foundation, or the whole structure will inevitably sink : the building of those should be deferred as long as possible, till the peat has subsided, and has obtained a tolerable consistence ; then make an opening equal to the whole work, and sink it eigh- teen inches below the intended bottom of the arch or gullet ; collect a quantity of black- thorn bushes, and tie them in faggots of the same size ; place these in regular courses in the direction of the road, and lay across them a platform of strong plank three inches thick, the whole length and width of the intended mason work; on this build your arch, and make an allowance in the height of the abutments for sinking. Wherever walls are necessary to support banks, and prevent their crumbling down upon the road, if large even stones can be procured, they will not require any mortar ; when mortar is used, there ought to be a great many apertures in the work to give vent to the water, otherwise the pent-up moisture from behind will push out the wall. In many cases, where embank- ments can be made of earth and sods, they are to be preferred to masonry, which is ex- tremely expensive at the commencement, and very perishable ; for mortar soon loses its cementing quality, when exposed alternately to frost and damp. 3615. Draining the site of a road on ajlow-bog, according to Clarke, is a tedious oper- ation, and often requires some years. A single drain at each side will not be sufficient, as the water from the adjacent moss would fill it up as fast as it was made. Lay out the road here sixty feet wide, which will allow for the banks when the whole shall be finished ; make a drain at each side six feet wide, and at a distance of fifteen or twenty feet more, parallel drains of the same width. If the interval between the parallel drains be after- wards cut away regularly for fuel, it will tend still to the condensation of the moss. 361 6. Open, drains, in the case of ground liable to sink or to moulder down by frost, ought to be made very much sloped on the sides, especially the side next the road, otherwise, after repeated scouring out, the road will be found to have sunk at the sides; — a very common case, and highly injurious in the case of narrow roads. Whenever this tendency to sink is observed, it should be made up by the scrapings of the road, or by other mate- rials. Roads made over bogs and artificial mounds are particularly liable to sink at the sides, which should be immediately counteracted to prevent the bad consequences. 3617. Fences along the sides of roads are essential in all enclosed countries; and all engineers and road-makers agree that they should never be allowed to rise of a greater height than what is necessary for a fence. To give free admission to the sun and air by keeping the fences low, Marshal considers as providing an unexpensive, yet most accurate, method of cleaning roads — incomparably more so than washing or scraping. The legis- lature, Edgeworth observes, has limited, in several instances, the height of hedges to five feet ; but this limitation is neglected or evaded. Even were it strictly adhered to, it would not be sufficient for narrow roads : the hedges would be still too high ; for it is the sweeping power of the wind which carries off dust in dry weather, and which takes up moisture in wet. In fact, roads become dry by evaporation ; and when they are ex- posed to the sun and wind, the effect of heat and ventilation is more powerful than any surface drainage that could be accomplished. 3618. Walker observes, that the advantage of having the hedge next the road consists in its greater safety to the traveller, particularly if a ditch of any considerable depth is necessary, and in the hedge being supported in its growth from the ground under the road, without drawing upon the farmer's side of the ditch. 3619. The fences, Telford observes, form a very material and important subject, with regard to the perfection of roads; they should in no instance be more than five feet in height above the centre of the road, and all trees which stand within twenty yards from the centre of it ought to be removed. I am sure that twenty per cent, of the expense of improving and repairing roads is incurred by the improper state of the fences and trees along the sides of it, on the sunny side more particularly : this must be evident to any person who will notice the state of a road which is much shaded by high fences and trees, compared to the other parts of the road which are exposed to the sun and air. My observations with regard to fences and trees apply when the road is on the same level as the adjacent fields: but in many cases, on the most frequented roads of England, more stuff has been removed from time to time than was put on ; the surface of the road is consequently sunk into a trough or channel from three to six feet below the surface of Pp 4 584 PRACTICE OF AGRICULTURE. Part III. the fields on each aide : hen all attempts at drainage, or even common repairs, seem to l>e quite OUt of the question, and by much the most judicious and economical mode will be to remove the whole road into the field which is on the sunny side of it. (Exam, before the Haute of Commons, <$-c.) 3620. //( the junction of roads, whether of a by-road with a principal road, or of two by or principal roads their respective levels ought, if possible, to be the same, and the materials ought to be rather broader than usual at the point of turning. In like manner the communication of fields by gates ought to be carefully managed, so as not to injure the public road, the footpath, the water-table, or the inner drain. All gates should open inwards to the fields, and not to the road. 362 I . That plantations if trees should not be made close to roads, all are agreed. What the distance ought to be must depend on the elevation of the country, the soil and sub- soil, the breadth of the road, its direction, whether the plantation is to be made on the north or south side of the road, its thickness, kind of tree, &c. An elevated situation is alwavs more exposed to the wind than a level or hollow ; and a dry soil and subsoil will always, other circumstances being the same, have a favourable effect on the roads which pass over them. A broad road, and a road winding in its direction, have chances of the direct influence of the sun and wind, according to the width of the former and obliquity of the latter ; a road running north and south, though planted closely on both sides, will enjoy the sun during a part of every day in the year; one running east and west, planted on the south side with trees forty feet high, will enjoy no sun but through the interstices of the branches during the three winter months. Supposing the average height of the sun from ten to two o'clock during these three months to be 20 degrees, then a tree forty feet hi<*h will throw a shadow every day during that period, upwards of 100 feet long, which may show that no plantation should be made nearer the south sides of roads than 80 or 100 feet. On the north-east and north-west sides, they may be nearer, accord- inc to the elevation and natural tendency to dryness of the site, and also taking into consideration whether the trees are evergreens, and with or without underwood. The least injurious trees are single rows trained to high stems, properly pruned in, or foreshortened. 3622. The preparation of Ike base of a road, for the reception of the metals or hard materials, is a matter of primary importance. Marshal, Edgeworth, and some other writers, with almost all practical men, seem to have entertained much less enlightened notions on this subject than M'Adam. 3623. Marshal's preparation consists in striking off the protuberances, and filling up the hollow parts ; the footpath and the higher side of the soft road being raised with the earth which is required to be taken off the bed of the hard road, whose base or founda- tion ought to be formed with peculiar care. Every part is required to be firm and sound, dry earth, or hard materials, being rammed into every hollow and yielding part. In a dry situation, as across a gravelly or stony height, little more, he says, is required, than to remove the surface mould, and lay bare the rock or bed of gravel beneath it ; and then to give the indurate base a round or a shelving form, as the lying of the ground may require. In this way, a travelable road may be made, and kept up, at one tenth of the expense incurred by the ordinary practice in this case ; which is to gather up the surface-soil into a ridge, and, on this soft spongy bed, to lay, coat after coat, some hard materials, fetched perhaps from a distance. 3624. A soft bed is now found by far the best; and M'Adam has proved, in the case of part of the road between Bridgewater and Cross, that a stratum of hard materials covering a morass will last longer than a similar stratum laid on rock : indeed, it may be questioned whether a properly made road on a bog, which yields by its elasticity, will not last longer than one on a firm surface. We have been told by a gentleman of some experience in road-making, that in Ireland this is actually found to be the case. " Precisely," as Fry observes, " for the same cause that a stcne placed upon awoolpack would bear a greater pressure before it would be broken, than it would if placed on an anvil." (Essay on Wheel Carriages, §c. App. 129.) 3625. Covering the base of an unsound road with faggots, branches, furze, or heath, is recommended by Edgeworth. Flat stones, he adds, if they can be had, should then be laid over the faggots, and upon them stones of six or seven pounds' weight, and, lastly, a coat of ei7o;t. The sue of the stows uted in road pavements is commonly from five to seven inches long, from four to six inches broad, and from six to eight inches deep. Walker prefers stones nine indies deep; and Telford is of opinion that the general shape of the stones at present used for paving, and the mode of distributing them, are very imperfect ; the lower part of the stones being of a triangular wedge-like shape, which, instead of enabling them to resist the weights which come upon them, easily penetrate into the substratum : the stones are also broken of an unequal size. The remedies for these defects are obvious : they should be as nearly as possible of a cubical form, the lower bed having an equal surface with the upper face; they should be selected as nearly as possible of an equal si7.e, and they should never be of unequal length on the face. In quarrying and preparing the stones there would certainly be an additional expense in the prepara- tion, because there would be more work required in the dressing, and many stones must be rejected which are now used ; but the additional expense would be very well bestowed. 3710. In laying down the stones, each stone, according to Edgeworth, should bear broadly and firmly on its base ; and the whole should be rammed repeatedly, to make the joints close ; the upper and lower sides of the stones should be as near each other as pos- sible, but they should not touch each other laterally, except near the top and bottom, leaving a hollow in the middle of their depth, to receive gravel, which will serve to hold them together. This method of paving may be easily executed by common workmen, who may throw in gravel between the stones as they are laid down. It may be easily conceived, that if a grain of gravel inserts into holes that are in stones opposite to each other, it will doivel them together. It will be useful to cover a newly made pavement with gravel, which will preserve the fresh pavement for some time from the irregular pressure of wheels, till the whole is consolidated. The stones should be of equal hard- ness, or the soft ones will be worn down into hollows. In every species of paving, no stones should be left higher or lower than the rest; for awheel descending from a higher stone will, by repeated blows, sink or break the lower stone upon which it falls. 3711. The requisites for laying doivn the sto?ies and forming a good pavement are, according to Walker, to have the stones properly squared and shaped, not as wedges, but merely as rectangular prisms; to sort them into classes according to their sizes, so as to prevent unequal sinking, which is always the effect of stones, or rows of stones, of unequal sizes being mixed together ; to have a foundation properly consolidated before the road is begun to be paved ; to have the stones laid with a close joint, the courses being kept at right angles from the direction of the sides, and in perfectly straight lines ; the joints carefully broken, that is, so that the joint between two stones in any one course shall not be in a line with or opposite to a joint in any of the two courses adjoining. After the stones are laid they are to be well rammed, and such of the stones as ap- pear to be rammed loose should be taken out and replaced by others ; after this the joints are to be filled with fine gravel, and, if it can be done conveniently, the stability of the work will be increased by well watering at night the part that has been done during the day, and ramming it over again next morning. The surface of the pavement is then to be covered with an inch or so of fine gravel, that the joints may be always kept full, and that the wheels may not come in contact with the stones while they are at all loose in their places. Attention to these points will very much increase both the smoothness and the durability of the paving. He has found great advantage from filling up, or, as it is called, grouting the joints with lime water, which finds its way into the gravel between and under the stones, and forms the whole into a solid concreted mass. The purpose served by the lime might also be effectually answered by mixing a little of the borings or chippings of iron, or small scraps of iron hoop, with the gravel used in filling up the joints of the paving. The water would very soon create an oxide of iron, and form the gravel into a species of rock. He has seen a piece of rusty hoop taken from under water, to which the gravel had so connected itself, for four or five inches round the hoop, as not to be separated without a smart below of a hammer ; and the cast-iron pipes which are laid in moist gravel soon exhibit the same tendency. 8712. As substitutes for paving stones, plates of cast iron moulded into the form of the surface of a pavement of different sizes (fg. 558. c, d, e) have been tried ; but on the whole they are not considered as likely to succeed. They are very hot in summer, and more slippery than stone in winter; but what is most against them is, that the water finds its way beneath them and softens the substratum. This, at any time of the year, tends directly to produce holes by the leverage of wheels and the feet of animals (3573.) ; but after a severe frost the effects are ruinous. At all events, this description of pavement does not appear so well adapted for the sides or middle of public roads as that of granite stones prepared in Telfoid's manner (3709.). Book II. PAVED ROADS. 601 3713. Various improvements in laying pavements have recently been devised, such as laying the stones dry on clay ; using square stones, or stones equally wide at bottom as at top ; using stones alternately wider at bottom and top, and joining them with cement (Jig. 556.); paving on plates of iron, wood, or stone, or on a mass of masonry, &c. If pavements in towns did not require to be frequently lifted on account of sewers, and water and gas pipes, paving in this manner on a solid foundation would certainly be the best mode; but as things are, and even probably if pavements did not require to be frequently lifted, M' A dam's roads are found greatly preferable for all broad streets, and where care is taken to keep them clean and in complete repair. In Britain, at least, they will probably soon supersede all common pavements, and all other descriptions of common roads. 3714. Large blocks of granite (Jig. 557.) have been substituted for common-sized paving 557 / ^ stones ; each block is two or more feet square, nine inches deep, and channelled on the surface in imitation of common-sized paving stones. These are found to answer much better than the cast-iron plates ; but they are liable to the same objection as to leverage ; are difficult to replace properly ; and as the raised pannels between the grooves will in time wear down to the level of the grooves, they cannot be considered so durable as common square stones, which, after all, appear the best for general purposes, and, at all events, for paving the middle or sides of highways. 3715. Blocks of stone, and also of timber, have been proposed to be laid in iron boxes ; but the effect of the granite blocks laid down in Fleet-street does not warrant the ex- pectation of any advantage from either of these modes. Where nothing but light car- riages pass over a road, no material is more agreeable than blocks of wood set endways, as is done in many parts of Russia and Germany ; and this mode of paving may, there- fore, be considered very suitable for private court-yards, or stable-yards in country resi- dences. (Newton's Journal, vol. vii. p. 197.) 3716. The defects of common pavement, and the theory of its wear, are thus given by Edgeworth. " Stones, in a common pavement, are usually somewhat oval, from five to seven inches long, and from four to six inches broad. They are laid in parallel rows on the road (fg. 558. c, d), or alter- nately (a, b), as bricks are laid in a wall. On the first sort of pavement, wheels slip from the round tops of the stones into the joints between, and soon wear away the edges of the stones, and their own iron tire. By degrees, channels are thus formed between some of the stones, and in time the pavement is ruined. 3717. On the second sort of pavement (a), b, where the stones are placed alternately, to prevent the injury to which the former method is liable, the wheel (f) sliding sideways, makes a channel between two stones, and is then obliged to mount from the groove which it has made, to the top of the stone opposite to it ; when it has attained this situation, the wheel may slide sideways, or may go forwards over the top of the stone, till it drops into the interstice between the two next stones. By con- tinual wearing, these ruts become so wide and deep, that the wheel does not touch the stones on either side, nor does it reach the ground between them, bi't it bounds from one stone to the other, thus jolting the carriage in every direction. This method is not at present in use. 3718. In the pavements last described, the stones are but of a small size; but if flat stones of twelve or fourteen inches long (e) are well laid, wheels are not liable to slide into the joints ; and if such stones are laid with their longest sides crossing the road, they are less liable to injury ; but still narrow wheels sometimes fall into the joints between the largest stones, and having in time worn away their own edges, and those of the stones, they will act like wedges, and will displace the stones. No pavement, of the best stone that could be procured, can long resist this action of a narrow wheel. And the only effectual means of preserving pavements is, to increase the breadth of all wheels to at least three inches. Were no wheels narrower, a cheap and durable pavement might be made of flat stones, not more than three inches square, provided they were eight or nine inches deep, to give them reciprocally lateral support ; for the tire of such broad wheels could never sink between the joints of the stones." (Edgeworth.) 3719. Various improved methods of paving have been lately brought into notice. About 1811 or 1812, we suggested the idea of placing the stones on a foundation QLJI I 558 /£> I" am c agqy G02 PRACTICE OF AGItlCULTl/IlK. I'aht III. 559 ""- ), channelled on the surface to prevent horses from slipping. Access to the pipes might be hail by simply lifting these stones, without disturbing any other part of the pavement (Card. Ma«. vol. v. p. ~y.) 3120. George Knight has suggested the idea of placing the paving stones with the broadest surface undermost, on a Macadamized foundation ; and some streets in the metropolis have been so paved. Tlie improvement has been found considerable; but as the rain- water sinks to the .Macadamized stratum, and cannot run off through it for want of drains, the mud still works up to the surface. With adequate under-drainage, or with the stones so compact as that the surface-water would run off instead of running through, this plan would be one of the most perfect which has been suggested. 372 1 . Colonel Madrons recommends pressure, " which may be applied in three different stages of the work : first, to harden the ground previously to laying the stones ; secondly, to fix and depress them when laid; thirdly, to equalise and perfect a pavement after it has been some time in use, by applying the pressure only on the protuberant parts. The machine he proposes for the above purpose is similar to a pile-driver of the smaller kind ; the weight being drawn up by a rope passing over a single pulley-wheel at the top of the slide shafts, and terminating on the other side in a cluster of smaller ropes or cords, one for each of the six, eight, or ten men employed to work the machine." (Hints to Pamours, 8vo. 18'26.) 3722. Lieutenant Brown suggests " that, after the foundation has been formed in the necessary shape, and the surface rolled or rammed hard, the paving stones, dressed so as to fit close together, should be laid or set in a thick coat of good mortar, and the joints grouted with cement ; the rvho/e mass would thus become a solid body, and the rain would be effectually prevented from penetrating to the foundation, which would remain dry and firm in the position in which it was originally placed. By bedding the stone in mortar, properly placed in the situation in which it is to remain, then grouting the joint, and allowing it to set hard, without afterwards ramming or disturbing it, the pavement will remain immovable and water-tight, until fairly worn out, and save all the expense of an artificial foundation of Macadamized stones or other matter. A grand objection to a Macadamized pavement, in this and every cold climate is, that a severe frost setting in after wet, does incalculable injury, owing to its porous state ; now, as no water can penetrate beneath the surface of this pavement, if properly made, this serious fault is ob • viated." (Quar. Jour. Science, Jan. 18S0. ). Sect. V. Milestones, Guide-posts, and Toll-gates. 3723. Milestones of the most improved kind are generally formed of durable stone, or cast iron. They ought to have two faces (Jig. 560.) ; one to contain the distance from the metropolis of the country to the stone, and the distance from that stone to the next market town, and village or place; and the other the distance from the extremity of the road to the stone, and from the stone to the next market town, and village or place, in proceeding to the metropolis. On a face on the apex of the stone may be the name of the county and hundred, and on the base, the name of the township, parish, and hamlet or village. In some countries of the Continent, as in Wirtemburg and Bava- ria, a small open area of 10 or 12 feet in diameter is preserved round the milestones; a bench of stone or turf forms a semicircle, in the radius of which is the milestone, and immediately beyond the bench a row of ornamental trees or shrubs. In several places, every milestone is formed in three steps, the lowest 2 feet 6 inches, the next 3 feet 6 inches, and the last or top of the milestone 4 feet 6 inches. The use of these steps is, to enable people of different heights, travelling alone, and carrying burthens on their backs or heads, to set down these burthens, rest themselves on the benches, and resume the burthens without assistance. In England such an arrangement is unnecessary ; but various plans have been suggested for rendering milestones interesting : names of benefactors to mankind who lived near ; dates of remarkable events ; monuments, tombs, statues, small burial places, cottages, alehouses, &c. &c. (See Gard. Mag. vol. v.) We should prefer a cottage or a burial place at every milestone, because, as the majority of travellers are on horses or in carriages, they can have little time to peruse milestones ; b'it the cottage might afford protection to the foot traveller, and a glance at. the burial Book II. MILESTONES, GUIDE-POSTS, AND TOLL-GATES. 603 place would afford matter of reflec- tion to all. " It has been sug- gested to us that milestones might be made larger, in the form of an obelisk or sarco- phagus, on the model of an an- cient classical or other building, or in other forms ; and that there might be in- scribed on them the names and dates of events which took place, or of great men who lived, in the neighbourhood ; and that, in ad- dition to these, there might be inscribed on each milestone, or structure serving the same end, maxims of con- duct, or funda- mental principles of science. Thus, on some roads, the milestones might exhibit sculptured reliefs, re- presenting a historical series, either of events in the history of that part of the country, in the life of some eminent character who had lived there, in the progress of discovery in some art or science of tm human mind generally, or in general history. If all the proprietors on a line of road were agreed, a group of exotic trees and shrubs might be planted as a back ground to a small area, which might con- tain the milestone ; and by limiting every group to one genus of timber tree, and one or two fruit trees, considerable variety would be produced, and the botanical interest of the road kept up for many miles. Small burial-grounds round milestones would, we think, be unobjec- tionable ; and, indeed, we do not think they could be better placed : and tombstones there, or any where along the road-side, would attain their end more effectually than in churchyards, and, at any rate, would be what is called classical ; which is an excel- lence to be aimed at, and which is beneficial in a certain stage of progress, but too often, in architecture and in sculpture for example, an impediment to improvement, by being considered the highest degree of excellence. Some one has proposed to build cottages as milestones, and to that plan and to various others we have no objection, to a certain extent ; the danger being the production of sameness, by adopting the same plan every where." (Gard. Mag. vol. v. p. 117.) 3724. Guide-posts. Wherever one road branches from another there ought to be a guide-post ; and it is not a little remarkable that in this improving age, when every street and lane in towns is so carefully named, that so little has been done in the streets and lanes of the country. The posts which bear the names ought, where the expense is not an insuperable object, to be of iron, on account of its durability. Swaine proposes to have the posts hollow cylinders of cast iron, and the letters to be also of iron, with the space between them open, " so that the light may be seen through them ; by which means the characters of this hand-post will be legible at night, by viewing them against the sky, unless it should be exceedingly dark. The direction of the road is denoted by the manner of disposing the letters : thus, in a guide-post between London and Windsor (fig. 561. a), the letters of the word London are reversed, to denote that the direction of London is to the left hand ; the word Windsor in the line beneath is not reversed, G04 PRACTICE OV AGRICULTURE. Paht III. as that town must be understood to lie to the- right hand: the number of miles to each place is shown by figures placed beneath each word. The same object may also be effected in the more obvious manner in general use { Jig. 561. 6). 561 ^- k W\B 3725. Toll-gates and gate-houses have also partaken of the improvement of the age. The form and hanging of the gates have been scientifically treated of by Parker, who may be considered as having arrived at a high degree of practical excellence. For lus general principles, and the details of his compensation hinge for turnpike-gates, see ^ 3081, 3082.), and his valuable Essay on Hanging Gates, &c, ed. 3., 1826. 3726. Gate or toll-houses have been materially improved, both in point of internal comfort, and as objects of taste. Some of those in the neighbourhood of London are elegant objects. As an example we shall select that at Edgeware. (fig. 562.) On the summit of the cupola of this house there was originally a lamp with three burners and three separate reflectors. Two of the reflectors directed the light along the road in opposite directions, to show what might be coming or departing on either hand ; the third reflector threw the light directly across the road, and down on the gate, for the purposes Book II. PRESERVATION AND REPAIR OF ROADS. 605 of the gate-keeper and those passing through. After this light had remained between two and three years, it was taken down, as being too brilliant and as having frightened some horses ; but it might surely have been softened, so as to be retained. Where there are two gates, as in various examples, a lamp post is very properly placed between them, which thus answers all the purposes of the cupola and triple lamp at Edgeware. Sect. VI. Preservation and Repair of Roads. 3727. The preservation of a road depends in a great measure on the description of ma- chines and animals which pass over it, and on keeping it dry and free from dust and mud. The repair of a road should commence immediately after it is finished, and consists in obliterating ruts the moment they appear, filling up any hollows, breaking any loose stones, and correcting any other defect. After cleaning and this sort of repair have gone on hand in hand for a longer or shorter period, according to the nature of the materials and traffic on the road, a thorough repair or surface-renewal, by a coating of metal of three or more inches in thickness over the whole of the road, may be required. 3728. To preserve a road, by improving the wheel carriages which pass over it, all agree that the wheels should be made broader than they usually are, and cylindrical ; that carts with two horses abreast are less injurious than such as are drawn by two horses in a line ; and that it would be an advantage to have the axletrees of different lengths. 3729. Edgeu-orth, upon a careful examination, concludes that the system of rolling roads by very broad wheels should be abandoned ; and that such a breadth only should be insisted upon, and such restrictions made as to loading, as will prevent the materials of the road from being ground to powder, or from being cut into ruts. With this view the wheels of carriages of burthen should have felloes six inches broad, and no more than one ton should be carried upon each wheel. 3730. Farey is of opinion, that six-inch cylindrical wheels, or under, are the most practicable and useful, provided the projecting nails are most rigidly prohibited, which can never be done but by a penalty per nail upon the wheelers who put in those nails, and upon the drivers of the carriages who use such roughly-nailed wheels. 3731. Telford thinks that no waggon or cart wheel ought to be of less breadth than four inches, and that in general no carriage ought to be allowed to carry more than at the rate of one ton per wheel : " when it exceeds that weight," he says, " the best materials for road-making must be deranged and ground to pieces." 3732. Paterson is a warm advocate for broad wheels. " If the wheels were used double the breadth that they are at present," he says, " they would act as rollers upon the materials, binding them together ; and consequently the surface would remain always smooth and free from ruts, and the waste or decay would, of course, be exceedingly little." All broad wheels, however, should be constructed differently from those that are in 563 f"^\ common use (fig. 563. a). Those in common use, whether broad or narrow, are generally dished (as it is called) on the outside, and the ends of the axle- tree bent a little downwards. This causes the wheels to run wider above than below ; and the reason, I believe, for adopting this plan was to allow people to increase the breadth of their car- riages, and yet the wheels to run in the same track. Upon this plan, the edges of the wheel, to run flat upon the road, must be of a conical shape, the outer edge being of a less diameter than the inner one. Any bad effect arising from this is, indeed, very little felt from the narrow wheels ; but as they increase in breadth, the evil increases in the same proportion. " A conical wheel," says Edgeworth, " if moved forwards by the axletree, must partly roll and partly slide on the ground, for the smaller circumference could not advance in one revolution as far as the larger. Suppose," says he, " the larger revolution sixteen feet, and the smaller thirteen feet, the outer part must slide three feet, while the carriage advances sixteen, i. e. it must slide nearly one fifth of the space through which the car- riage advances, — thus, if loaded with ten tons, the horses would have two tons to drag, as if that part of the weight were placed on a sledge." The same thing has been ably and beautifully demonstrated by Gumming (Essay on the Principles of Wheels and Wheel Carriages, &c), and is very easily illustrated : take, for instance, the frvstrum of a cone, or a sugar loaf from which you have broken off a little bit at the point ; then set this a rolling upon a table, and instead of going straight forwards it will describe a circle ; and if you will put a pin or axletree right through the centre of it, and upon that axle cause it to move straight forwards, the smaller diameter must slide instead of rolling. It is evident, therefore, that the rims of the wheels ought to be of a cylindrical form (b). Edgeworth states, in relation to this, that, from the testimony given to the committee of parliament, cylindrical wheels and straight axletrees have been unequivocally pre- ferred by every person of science and judgment. 606 PRACTICE OF AGRICULTURE. Past III. 37:1:5. Farei/ finds the Wllitechapel road more injured by broad wheels than any other, owing to these wheels being barrelled and conical, and not running Hat, and the middle tier projecting above the others, with rough nails. 3734. Gumming lias proved experimentally before the committee of 1808, that when the rim of a wheel is made truly cylindrical, so as to have an equal bearing on its whole breadth, the resistance to its progress on a smooth road is not increased by increasing its breadth. With regard to the immense saving that would accrue to the nation, Jessop, in his report, says, " I may venture to assert, that by the exclusive adoption of cylin- drical broad wheels and flat roads, there would be a saving of one horse in four, of seventy-live per cent, in repairs of roads, fifty per cent, in the wear of tire; and that the wheels with spokes alternately inclined would be equally strong with conical ones, and wear twice as long as wheels do now on the present roads." But, over and above the preference due to such wheels, in respect of public roads, they are no less preferable when applied to purposes of husbandry. Besides the great resistance to the draught occasioned by the sinking of the narrow wheels on soft land, every farmer knows what injury is fre- quently done to subsequent crops by such poaching and cutting up of the land. But this is not all. Many a field of beautiful pasture, when subjected to the destroying operation of the narrow wheels, is very much injured, both in respect of the appearance and of the crop, which would be entirely prevented by using broad wheels. Thus it has been stated, with regard to the introduction of the use of broad wheels, that the saving on the incidental repairs of the road would be immense ; that the roads would uniformly retain a smooth and even surface, which would greatly contribute to the comfort of the traveller and the ease of the draught ; that in husbandry also the advantages would be great ; in short, that, in every point of view, the benefits which would be derived in consequence would be paramount to every thing that could be urged in favour of the narrow wheels. 37:55. M'Adam thinks a waggon wheel of six inches in breadth, if standing fairly on the road with any weight whatever, would do very little material injury to a road well made, and perfectly smooth. The injury done to roads is by these immense weights striking against materials ; and, in the present mode of shaping the wheels, they drive the materials before them, instead of passing over them. If a carriage passes fairly over a smooth surface, he says, it cannot hurt the road, but must rather be an advantage to it, upon the principle of the roller. On being asked, " Are you not of opinion that the immense weights carried by the broad-wheeled waggons, even by their perpendicular pressure, do injury by crushing the materials?" he answered, " On a new-made road the crush would do mischief, but on a consolidated old road the mere perpendicular pressure does not do any. But there is a great deal of injury done by the conical form of the broad wheels, which operate like sledging instead of turning fairly. There is a sixteen- inch wheel waggon, which comes out of Bristol, that does more injury to our roads, than all the travelling of the day besides." 3736. With regard to regulating the weight to be carried on ivheels, Farcy judiciously observes, that though it is not easy to state any one scale which would be generally appli- cable for each breadth of wheels below six inches, there should be a rate fixed, which would apply to ordinary or gate tolls ; and at the weighing machines additional or what may be called machine tolls should be levied upon all carriages which exceeded the weight, to be regulated in an increasing scale for each breadth of wheel, so as very greatly to discourage, but not ruinously to prohibit the occasional carrying of large weights upon any wheels. 3737. Axletrees of different lengths have been proposed by some engineers with a view to preserving the roads. On this subject Paterson observes, " At present the axles of all kinds of carriages are made to one length, so that their wheels all run at the same width, and in the same track, than which nothing could be more fitly devised for the destruction of the roads. I would, therefore, propose, that the length of the axletrees should be so varied, that the wheels of the lighter description of carriages should run two inches narrower than the present track ; and that the axles for the more weighty carriages should be increased in length, so that their wheels should run from one to four inches beyond the present track. I would also propose, that mails, and other heavy coaches, should be so constructed, that the hind wheels should follow, either two inches within, or two inches outside, the track of the fore wheels, as might be considered most proper. Were the axletrees of all kinds of carriages to be of various lengths, as here proposed, we should have no rutted roads. The stones now displaced by the wheels of one carriage, would be replaced again by the next carriage that came up, having its axle of a different length ; and in the same manner woidd the hind wheels repair the injury done by the fore wheels of a carriage. If this plan were to be acted upon all over the kingdom, it is evident that it would have a very beneficial effect on the roads ; and if it should be found thus to contribute to keeping the roads smooth and even, it is also evident that it must contribute, in the same proportion, to the comfort of travellers of every description, and also to the ease of the beast of draught." Book II. PRESERVATION AND REPAIR OF ROADS. 607 3738. J. Farey is of opinion that varying the length of axles, so as to prevent their running in the same track, would be very beneficial. This he particularly stated to the Board of Agriculture, with an example of the tolls over a new road in Derbyshire, which are regulated according to the length of the axle. 3739. The division of weight has been proposed by Fry as a means of preserving roads : that is to say, the division of the power, which any carriage may possess, to crush or destroy the materials of the roads ; and the division of the power, which any carriage may possess, to resist the power of the horses drawing such carriage. " A man can break an ordinary stick, an inch in diameter, across his knee ; but if he tied ten of these sticks together, he could not break them if he tried ten times, nor if he tried a thousand times ; although, by these thousand efforts, he might have broken a thousand such sticks sepa- rately. A stone might be of such a size and texture that a strong man with a large hammer might break it into pieces at one blow ; while a boy with a small hammer, striking it with one tenth part of the force, might strike it a thousand times, applying in the whole one hundred times the power upon it that the man would have done, without producing the same effect. So it is with the pressure of wheels on the materials of the roads. Suppose a stone, the size of a man's fist, to be detached on a firm part of the road, and a waggon-wheel, pressing with the weight of two tons, were to pass over it, the consequence would be that it would crush it to powder. But suppose these two tons to be distributed into forty wheelbarrows, of one hundred weight each, and they were to pass over over it succession, the only effect likely to be produced would be a trirling rounding of its corners ; nor would probably five hundred such wheelbarrows, of twenty-five tons, crush the stone so completely as the single waggon-wheel. Nor do I think that five hundred gig or one-horse chaise wheels, of four hundred weight each, in all one hundred tons, would so completely destroy the cohesion of the stone, as the single crush of the heavy wheel. Conceiving, therefore, that the destructive effect of pressure on the roads increases, from the lowest weights to the highest, in a very rapidly increasing ratio, I think that all reasonable ingenuity should be exercised, so to construct our car- riages, as for each wheel to press the road with the least possible weight that the public convenience will allow." 3740. A great weight in one rolling mass (Jig. 564.), Fry continues, "has a tendency to disturb the entire bed of the road, whether it be on a six-inch wheel or on one cf sixteen inches, and whether on conical (fig. 563. a) or on cylindrical wheels (fig. 563. b). Under all these considerations, I am satisfied that the only grand desideratum, on behalf both of the roads and the horses, is light pressure; and therefore any dependence on breadth of wheels, as a security against the destructive effects of pressure, is in my opinion fallacious. I wish here to be understood as applying these remarks upon a supposition that wheels were made upon the most philosophical construction ; that is to say, perfectly cylindrical (jig. 563. b) ; and that they stood perfectly upright or vertical. The present system of broad wheels I consider a system of mere mockery. " 3741. Fry proposes to attain his principle of the division of power by the adoption of light one-horse waggons with six or eight wheels ; which in our opinion are of very questionable advantage, all things considered, compared to one-horse carts, to carrv one ton, and four-wheel waggons to carry four tons. " One-horse waggons," he savs, " fully embrace the principle ; and the labour of the horses would be much more efficiently applied than at present. If light one-horse waggons were constructed, to weigh eight hundred weight' each, and these were charged with a load of sixteen hundred weight each, a good ordinary cart-horse would travel England over with such a load ; drawing just as much net weight as the ten horses in a heavy waggon take each in gross weight ; and the roads would never have a pressure, on one point, exceeding six hundred weight. The onlv objection to such carriages that I see is, that each must be attended bv a man. [There is no reason for this ; in Scotland one man always drives two single- horse carts] But,' were thev adopted, roads would last, I will not say ten times as long, I think they would last a hundred times as long, as thev now do. Carriages so constructed ought therefore to pass at the lowest possible rate of toll. The next mode is by the use of carriages with six or eight wheels. About twenty vears ago there were several stage-coaches constructed in this manner. Two eight-wheel coaches plied some vears between P,ath and Bristol ; and they were so constructed that each wheel supported its share of the load, carrying its proportion, and no more, over every obstruction : the consequence was, that when a wheel passed over a stone two inches high, the middle part of the p^*!^™ 1 ™!^™^^ eighth part of two inches, or one that ever were sat in. They had. hinder axles being fixed, whenever <... of wheels must have been dragged sideways. How the six-wheel coaches were circumstanced in itn respect, I had no opportunity of observing." 60S PRACTICE OF AGRICULTURE. Paiit III. 37-12. Double shafts have been proposed by Edgeworth, Morton, and some others, as likely to divide the traction of draught cattle. 15. Farcy considers single shafts in waggODJ very injurious; the horses follow in one track, in the centre of the carriage ; and the wheels also follow each other in their tracks, and cut ruts. If there were double shafts, they would naturally avoid former wheel tracks, which would be less injurious to the road. 3743. J. Fairy concurs in opinion with his brother, and thinks that some abatement of tolls might be made to those carriage! whicn now generally use single shafts, like the fanners' carts and waggons, on their adopting double shafts, so that all their horses may draw in pairs ; this being applicable even tothrec- hoi -c carts, as far as the two foremost are concerned. Stage-coaches, for the reasons here alluded to, as they all draw in pairs, and very seldom follow in any previous and deep rut, do far less damage to the roads than otherwise would happen'; their springs also, and swiftness of motion, contributing, very materially, to lessening their wear of the road. 3741. Boada are generally repaired by manual labour; but various machines have been contrived for this purpose. The snow-plough is a well known implement, consisting simply of two boards placed on edge in the form of two sides of a triangle, and drawn by a hook attached to the apex. The common harrow, followed by the common roller, lias been used for levelling roads broken up by ruts, and a studded roller has also been lately invented for this purpose. 565 ^^p 3745. Harriott's road harrow ( fig. 5G5.1 has r^r- been used in some places, -—___, ^j^j^^*^^ *° r dragging over roads ' ■r-& ^J£——s //\s^ when much out of repair, "~~ -~7— , ( /-^ /^ to replace the stones or ~^Z-Z~-=- r the wheels, the Whitechapel-road is often, in a Bhort time, dreadfully torn and loosened up; *nd it i-. for remedying this evil that I have, for more than eight years past, occasionally watered the road in winter. As soon as the sticking and tearing up of the materials is observed to have commenced, several water-carts arc employed upon these parts of the road, to wel the loamy and glutinous matters so much, that they will no longer adhere to the tire <>f the wheels, and to allow the wheels and feet of the horses force down and again fasten the gravel-stones: the traffic, in the course of four to twenty-four hours alter watering, forms such a sludge on the surface, as can be easily raked off by wooden scrapers, which is performed as quickly as possible; after which the road is hard and smooth. The advantages of this practice of occasional winter watering have been great ; and it might, I am of opinion, be adopted with like advantages on the other entrances into London, or wherever else the traffic is great, and the gravel-stones are at times observed to be torn up by the sticking of the wheels. S753. One of the best constructed watering barrels (fig. 569.) is that used on the Uxbridge-road, in which the water is delivered with the greatest regularity from a cast. iron trough (a), so as to cover a space of nine feet in width. The water is turned off and on by a lever at the fore-end of the barrel (b) in the usual manner. 3754. Washing or flooding roads, with a view to cleaning them, has been proposed by Jessop and some other engineers ; hut it is evidently a mode that can only be adopted in particular situations, and the advantages which it would have over clean scraping does not appear. 3755. Rolling, as a mode of preserving roads, is recommended by various writers on the subject; and appears to be useful on some roads after being loosened by frost. In general, however, it is chiefly applicable after repairs, such as filling in ruts or laying on a coat of new materials. Rolling has also been employed to consolidate snow on roads : it is said to indurate the snow so much, that it becomes a smooth hard body on which the wheels of carriages make but little impression, and the materials of the road are pre- served. When a thaw happens, the whole of the snow is scraped off by snow-ploughs or scrapers, and not being allowed to melt on the metals, they are said to remain un- loosened. This plan is said to lie general in America, and appears to have been tried, in one instance, in the north of Scotland, with success. 3156. A road roller should be of large diameter, perhaps not less than five feet: to facilitate its turning, it may be made in three lengths; and the only material is cast iron, with a large wooden box over. S"'i~. Biddlc's machine for repairing roads 'fig. 570.) consists of three cylindrical rollers, mounted upon axles, in a frame, to be drawn by one or more horses. The rollers are placed obliquely, side by side, but running in parallel positions; their axis receding a little behind each other: these rollers are intended to pass over the surface of the road, for the purpose of pressing the broken stones, gravel, and other materials, close together, so as to produce a solid or compact road with a smooth surface. In the front of the rollers a long scraper is placed, crossing the frame obliquely, for the purpose of collecting up Mid conducting away the mud, and the slush, to the side of the road ; and at the back part of the apparatus, there is a perforated cylinder, intended to take up the softer, or muddy parts of the road, and deposit Book II. PRESERVATION AND REPAIR OF ROADS. en it in a swinging box within. Fig. 570. is a view of the machine, or apparatus, as seen on the top; a a n are the three cylin- ders for pressing the loose stones of the road together. As the apparatus is drawn along, these cylinders revolve upon their axles, which are mounted in the frame bbb. There is a small guide roller, or wheel in front of the frame to which the shafts are at- tached, and by which the appara- tus may be turned round, or guided in a curved course; li d is a thin plate of iron placed ob- liquely across the machine, in front of the rollers ; it is attached to the framing by rods and screws, and is thereby made adjustable to any height, so as to scrape the surface of the road evenly. The foremost end of the scraper is curved, for the purpose of preventing the escape of the mud, which, being collected as the machine advances, runs along the inclined surface of the scraper, and is conducted to the side of the road. Thus the mud is proposed to be scraped off the surface as the apparatus advances ; and the materials of the road compressed and hardened by the traversing of the rollers. It may be added, that in order to increase the pressure of the rollers, a box, to be affixed to the framework, is proposed to be placed over the rollers, which may carry stones, or other heavy materials, that might be used in making or repairing of the road. Under some circumstances, the patentee proposes to adapt to the apparatus the auxiliary cylinder c, which is made to revolve upon its axle as it rolls along the road, and is attached to the former by a frame //: this cylinder (e) is perforated all over its surface with holes, or slots; and when it passes along the road, the mud, which is conducted to it by the scraper /»•£, presses through these holes, or slots, to the interior. Fig. 571. is a side view of this cylindrical roller (e) attached to the frame//; within this cylindrical roller the box // is suspended, swinging upon pivots ; and as the roller goes round, the brush i removes the mud from the cylinder, and causes it to fall into the box below. When the box is filled with mud, it may be discharged through the door k. (Newton's Journal, vol. xiii. p. 27.) 3758. Marshal, on the subject of repairing roads, observes, that the best service of the surveyor is to keep their surfaces smooth and even, so that rain-water may find a free and ready passage to its proper drain. Ruts and hollow parts are to be filled up, level or even with the general surface, as often as they are formed. This attention is more especially requisite to a new-made road, whose bed and foundation are not yet fully con- firmed. But in every case, and at all times, a solicitous regard is due to this most im- portant, yet most neglected, part of road-surveying. Much expense of materials and labour may thereby be saved, and the great end of road-making be fully obtained ; namely, that of rendering the road, in all seasons, easy, safe, and pleasant to the traveller. •3759. To keep a road in repair, Edgeworth observes, it will for some time require the attention of the maker: ruts will be continually formed in the loose materials; these must be sedulously filled up, and a small sprinkling of river gravel should be added. All stones larger than the rest should be removed and broken smaller, and no pains should be spared to render the whole as compact and smooth as possible. At a moderate dis- tance from the capital, if no wheels of a smaller breadth than six inches, and if no greater load than one ton on each wheel, be permitted to pass on it, a road will last a long time, and may be kept in constant repair at a moderate yearly expense. 3760. The repair of a road which has been well made, or after it has been put into a good state of repair, Paterson observes, requires attention more than expense. " No more metals ought to be used for the incidental repair of that road ever afterwards, than are just equivalent to the decay of the road. And in order that the decay of the old, and of course the supply of new, metals may be as little as possible, it is of the greatest consequence that the road never be allowed to get rutted ; for, besides the unpleasant- ness of such a road to the traveller, it is a fact not generally thought upon, that the lateral rubbing of the wheels into the ruts will wear and grind down more than double the metals that would be destroyed on a smooth road, where the only friction of the wheels is that of rolling orer the metals. Besides, when a road is much rutted, it not only retains the water, and consumes a greater quantity of metals (as has been noticed) ; but the rubbing and jolting of the wheels into the ruts wears down the iron of the wheels, fatigues the beast of draught, and also wears harness, &c, much sooner than when the road is smooth. All these, and much more, are the bad effects of a rutted road. Having premised thus much, I shall next advert to the method to be adopted in order to keep the road free from ruts, at as little expense and labour, and with as few metals, as possible." R r 2 6151 PRACTICE OF AGRICULTURE. Part 111. ,1 In order to prevent arm ra • Ifi m getting rutted, it ii Indispensable that it be kept free from water by under-dninage. No road, Paterton continues, " that hi mcy to rut, should be, for many nays ther, from under the • "i one who has a general charge, and who is ready to withdraw a workman to tiiis or that part, as need may require 78SL S i i ""i at "■ ■■' / i nt on metal* begin to thifl by the wheel*, «r form into ruts, they should lit' imme- diately replaced, everj little ridge broken down, and everj rut, hole, or inequality, rilled up: and the road kept In proper shape until the metals become bound and consolidated together. When the road is attended to in tins manner, it lias the effl ct, too, of subjecting the w Ih.1l- of the metals to an equal fatigue. Ever) tunc that a little new metals are put on to till up any hollow parts of the road, those parts being then,' from the new metals, s little rougher than the rest of the ro id, the horses naturally avoid travelling on them for a while at flrst, until they have become . little smoother, or until the other parts begin to get rutted. This shifting upon the road wears down the metals equally, and prevents those regular tracks of the horse and Of the wheels winch would otherwise be the consequence l!y adopting this method, it Will be found that le-^ labour and fewer metals will be required in the Course ol the year, and the road will always be in good ordei. Hut, on the other hand, to allow the road to get rutted, and then to fill these ruts with new metal s even tune they get into this state, as is frequently done, raises the track of the wheels, leaving hollow the track of the horse, and so gives the road a concave, instead of a convex, shape in the middle : this retai.is the water, and injures the road very much. The same thing occurs again, and the Same pn cess is repeated ; and in this way the most extravagant quantity of metals may be put on, and yet the road never be in good order." 3763. For the repair of an old road, the following directions arc given by M'Adam, in his Report of the Committee, cj-c. of 1811, corrected however to 1819 : — 376k " Kb addition of materials is to be brought upon a road, unless in any part it be found that there is not a quantity of clean stone equal to ten inches in thickness. jToj. The stone already on the road is to be loosened up and broken, so as no piece shall exceed six ounces in weight The road is then to be laid as flat as possible; a rise of three inches from the centre to the side is sufficient for a road thirty feet wide. The stones, when loosened in the road, arc to be gathered off by means of a strong heavy rake, with teeth two and a half inches in length, to the side of the road, and there broken ; and on no account are stones to be broken on the road. 3766. When the great stones have been removed, and none left in the road exceeding six ounces, the road is to be put in shape, and a rake employed to smooth the surface, which will at the same time bring to the surface the remaining stone, and will allow the dirt to go down. 37ti7. When the road is so prepared, the stone that has been broken by the side of the road is then to be carefully spread on it : this is rather a nice operation, and the future quality of the road will greatly de- pend on the manner in which it is performed. The stone must not be laid on in shovelfuls, but scattered over the surface, one shovelful following another, and spreading over a considerable space. 37 '38 Qnlfi a small space of road should be lifted at once ; five men in a gang should be set to lift it all across ■ two men should continue to pick up and rake off the large stones, and to form the road for receiving the broken stone ; the other three should break stones ; the broken stone to be laid on as soon as the piece of road is prepared to receive it, and another piece to be broken up ; two or three yards at one lift are enough. The proportioning of the work among the five men must of course be regulated by the nature of the road ; when there are many very large stones, the three breakers may not be able to keep pace with the two men employed in lifting and forming, and when there are few large stones the contrary may be the case ; of all this the surveyor must judge and direct. But to lift and relay a road, even if the materials should have been originally too large, would in many cases be highly unprofitable. The road between Cirencester and Bath is made of stone too large in size, but it is of so friable a nature that in lifting it becomes sand ; in this case I recommended cutting down the high places, keeping the surface smooth, and gradually wearing out the materials now in the road, and then replacing them with some stone of a better quality properly prepared. A par' of the road in the Bath district is in like manner made of free- stone, which it would be unprofitable to lift. 3769. At Egham in Surrey it was necessary to remove the whole road, to separate the small portion of valuable materials from the mass of soft matter of which it was principally composed, which was removed at considerable expense, before a road could be again made upon the site. 377(». Other cases of several kinds have occurred, wnere a different method must be adopted, but which it is impossible to specify, and which must be met by the practical skill of the officer whose duty it may be to superintend the repair of a road, and who must constantly recur to general principles. These principles are uniform, however much circumstances may differ, and they must form the guide by which his judg- ment must be always directed. When additional stone is wanted on a road that has consolidated by use, the old hardened surface of the road is to be loosened with a pick, in order to make the fresh materials unite with the old. 377 1. Huts. Carriages, whatever be the construction of their wheels, will make ruts in a new-made road until it consolidates, however well the materials may be prepared, or however judiciously applied ; there- fore a careful person must attend for some time after the road is opened for use, to rake in the tracks made by wheels. 3772. The tools to be used are, strong picks, but short from the handle to the point, for lifting the road ; small hammers of about one pound weight in the head, the face the size of a new shilling, well steeled, with a short handle; rakes with wooden heads, ten inches in length, and iron teeth about two inches and a hajf in length, very strong, for raking out the large stones where the road is broken up, and for keeping the road smooth after being relaid, and while it is consolidating; very light broad. mouthed shovels, to spread the broken stone and to form the road 3773. Everi/ road is to be made of broken stone, without mixture of earth, clay, chalk, or any other matter that will imbibe water and be afrected with frost : nothing is to be laid on the clean stone on pretence of binding; broken stone will combine by its acute angles into a smooth solid surface that cannot be affected by vicissitudes of weather, or displaced by the action of wheels, w Inch will pass over it without a jolt, and consequently without injury." 3774. 7'elfonfs directions for repairing roads dill'er little from his instructions for forming roads, already quoted. 3775. Where a road has no solid and dry foundation, he breaks it up, lays bare the soil, drains it, and bottoms with soft stones or cinders, — the former set by hand with the broailest end down, in the form of a neat pavement (Jig. 572.) ; over this foundation he, as usual, lays on six inches of stones broken so as r to pass through a ring two inches and a half in diame £7* ter, &c. 7 n 7 \ 3776. Where a road has svmc foundation, but an im- \ / y / perfect one, or is hollow in the middle, all the large stones appearing on the surface of it must be raised and broken ; the eighteen centre feet of it must be so treated, and then covered with a coating of broken stones, suf- ficient to give it a proper shape, and to make it solid and hard. 37r7. Where a road already has a good foundation, and also a good shape, no materials should be laid upon it, but for the purpose of filling ruts and hollow places, in thin layers, as soon as they appear. Stones Rook II. RAILROADS. 61:5 broken small, as above described, being angular, will fasten together. In this way a road, when once well made may be preserved in constant repair at a small expense. 3778. Partial metalling. Where the breadth of that part of a road, which alone has been formed of hard materials, and over which the carriages commonly pass, is less than eighteen feet, it must be widened with layers of broken stones to that breadth, first digging away the earth, and forming a bed for them with pavement and broken stones at least ten inches deep. Near large towns the whole breadth of the road- way should be covered with broken stones. 3779. All labour by day wages ought, as far as possible, to be discontinued in repairing roads. The surveyors should make out specifications of the work of every kind that is to be performed in a given time. ' This should be let to contractors; and the surveyors should take care to see it completed according to the specifications, before it is paid for. Attention to this rule is most essential, as in many cases not less than two thirds of the money usually expended in day labour is wasted. 3780. The best seasons for repairing roads are generally considered to be autumn and spring, when the weather is moist rather than otherwise. 3781. B. Farey prefers laying on gravel when the road is in a moist state, immediately after the road has had a scraping, in consequence of there being upon the surface of the road a small quantity of dirty matter and broken gravel, which then form a sort of cement for the gravel to fix in 3782. Walker considers the best season/or repairing roads to be the spring or very early in the summer, when the weather is likely neither to be'very wet nor dry ; for both of these extremes prevent the mate- rials from consolidating, and therefore cause waste, and at the same time either a heavy or a dusty road : but if done at the time he has recommended, the roads are left in good state for the summer, and become consolidated and hard to resist the work of the ensuing winter. 3783 The seasons for repairing preferred by Paterson are also spring and autumn. " Although it is proper," he savs, " at all times of the year, to put on a little metals whenever any hole makes its appear- ance, yet in the drought of summer this will seldom be necessary. In summer, the roads are less liable to cut"; but if, at some places, a little fresh metals may be necessary, no more should be put on than are barely sufficient to bring those holes to the level of the" rest of the road. Jletals that are put on in the drought of summer do not soon bind together. Until such time as there is rain sufficient to cause them to bind, they will keep shifting and rolling about, and make a very unpleasant road to travel on. The most proper times of the year to put on any quantity of metals are about the months of October and April, as they alwavs bind best when the road is neither too wet nor too dry. When they are put on about the month of October, thev become firm before winter ; and with a little constant attention, the road will be easily kept in good order until the spring : and if it has been the case that the road has not been sufficiently attended to during the winter, and that it has got into a bad state towards the spring, by putting on fresh metals about the month of April, sufficient to bring it into smooth surface order, it will be very easily kept in this good state throughout the summer." 3784. il'Adam, on being asked, " Would you prefer repairing old roads in dry weather or in wet weather?" answers: " In wet weather always; I always prefer mending a road in weather not very dry." Sect. VII. Railroads. 3785. Railways or Iramroads are not intended to be considered here as connected with mines, canals, or other works which come directly under the province of the higher branches of engineering ; but merely as substitutes for the whole or a part of the metalled surface of common roads. The necessity of an expeditious and cheap mode of conveying coals from the pits to the ships had, as early as the year 1676, intro- duced the use of wooden railways for the waggons to move upon between the Tyne river and some of the principal pits ; and these by degrees became extended to a great number of other coal-works. They were first solely employed for transporting coals to a moderate distance from the pits, to the places where they could be shipped, being universally made of wood. By degrees they were, however, carried to a farther extent ; the scarcity of wood, and the expense of their repairs, suggested the idea of employing iron for the purposes of improving these roads. At the first, flat roads of bar iron were nailed upon the original wooden rails, or, as they were technically called, sleepers ; and this, though an expensive process, was found to be a great improvement. Rut the wood on which these rested being liable to rot and give way, some imperfect attempts were made to make them of cast iron ; but these were found to be liable to many objections, until the business was taken in hand by Outram, an engineer at Rutterly Hall, Derby- shire, who contrived, at the same time, so far to diminish the expense, and improve the strength of the road, as to bring them to a degree of perfection that no one who has not seen them can easily conceive could have been done. This having been carried into execution in a few cases, and found to answer, has been improved upon and sim- plified by practice, till it is now brought to such a state of perfection as to have given proofs that it admits of being carried much beyond the limits of what was for many vears conceived to be possible, and to afford demonstrative evidence that it may be in future employed to a wider extent still, to which no limits can be at present assigned oi foreseen. 3786. Railwa'/s are of three kinds ; flat, edged, and suspension railways. _ The flat railway is composed of pieces of timber, four or five inches square, called rails ; or of pieces of cast iron, of about four inches in breadth, and one or more inches in thickness, according to the weight they are to carry. The edge rail is formed of pieces of cast or wrought iron (the latter is now generally preferred), with a ledge or flanch rising at right angles in the inner side of the rail. The flat rails are generally laid on pieces of timber called sleepers, and the edge rails on solid blocks of stone, from nine to twelve inches in thickness. The suspension rail consists of a line of vertical edge, elevated on posts ; across this line the load is placed, like the panniers on the back of a horse, by i suitable contrivance for diminishing friction, and adjusting the weight so as it may be R I' 3 en PRACTICE OF AGRICULTURE. PmitIIT equally balanced on both sides. As we have before observed, this subject belongs more properly to engineering than to agriculture, and therefore we shall confine ourselves to railroads, as substitutes for, or as connected with, common country roads. (Trans. Highl Soc. vol. \i.) 3787. In countrtet, the surfaces of which urc ruggedt or where it is difficult to obtain water for lockage, where the weight of the articles of the produce is great in comparison with their hulk, and where they are mostly to be conveyed from a higher to a lower level — in these eases, Telford observes, iron railways are, in general, preferable to canal navigation. 3788. On a railway well constructed, and laid with a declivity of fifty-five feet in a mile, it is supposed that one horse will readily take down waggons containing from twelve to fifteen tons, and bring back the same waggons with four tons in them. This declivity, therefore, suits well, when the imports are only one fourth part of what is to be exported. If the empty waggons only are to be brought back, the declivity may be made greater; or an additional horse applied on the returning journey will balance the increase of de- cli\ it v. If the length of the railway were to be considered, it may, it is supposed, with- out much inconvenience, be varied from being level to a declivity of one inch in a yard ; and by dividing the whole distance into separate stages, and providing the number of horses suitable for each portion of railway, according to the distance and degree of de- clivity, the whole operation may be carried on with regularity and despatch. :57S9. Railways may be laid out so as to suit the surface of very irregular countries, at a comparatively moderate expense. A railway may be constructed in a much more ex- peditious manner than a navigable canal ; it may be introduced into many districts where e. uuils are wholly inapplicable ; and in case of any change in the working of mines, pits, or manufactories, the rails may be taken up, and laid down again in new situations, at no very great expense or trouble. :5790. The whole load to be drawn by one horse upon railways was at first put into one waggon ; but now, when the load is so much augmented, it has been found eligible to divide it into many parts, so that no one waggon shall carry more than one or two tons ; by this method the weight is so divided, that the pressure is never so great upon one point as to be in danger of too much -- 5 r . ^°~i\ i "7~]° S ^77^ crushing the road; the carriages can be made much more limber and light in all their parts (Jig. 573. ), and they are much more easily moved, and more manageable in all respects, than they otherwise would have been. And another advantage of this arrangement, which deserves to be particularly adverted to, is, that it admits of shifting the carriages, so as to leave a load, as it were, in parcels at different places where they may be required, without trouble or expense. This, when it comes to be fully understood and carried into practice, will be a convenience of inestimable value; a thing that has been always wanted, and never yet has been found, though it has been diligently sought for. 3791. Of the advantage of railways a striking proof is given by Anderson (Recre- ations, 'S'c), m the case of one formed by Wilkes near Loughborough. Its extent was about five miles, and it led from a coal-mine to a market. He found it so fully to answer his expectations after it was finished, that he communicated to the Society of Arts an account of some trials he had made of it, requesting that such of the members of that respectable institution as were desirous of information on that head would do him the honour to witness some experiments that he wished to make upon it for the in- formation of the public. A committee of the members was accordingly deputed for that purpose, and before them he showed that a moderate-sized horse, of about twenty pounds value, could (haw upon it with ease down hill (the descent being one foot in a hundred) thirty-two tons, and without much difficulty forty-three, and seven tons up hill, inde- pendent of the carriages. The doctor concludes from these facts, that upon a perfect level a horse could draw with ease from ten to twenty tons. It is observed that Wilkes's railway, on which the experiments were made, was, from local circumstances, Laid upon wooden sleepers, and is not so perfect as those done upon stone. But it is added, that twenty tons constitute the load which such a horse could draw with ease, travelling at the usual waggon rate, in boats upon a canal ; so that the number of horses required in this way will not be much, if at all, greater than on a canal. Certain advantages attach to this mode of conveyance, which do not so well apply to a canal, and vice versa; but it is not his intention to draw a parallel between these two modes of conveyance. Nobody can entertain any doubt, he thinks, about the utility of canals where they are easily practicable. He only wishes to point out this as an eligible mode of conveyance, where canals cannot be conveniently adopted. 0^- _L^ Lt-' Bock 1 1. RAILROADS. 615 3792. hi forming and constructing railways, the best line the country affords should be traced out, having regard to the direction of the carriage of articles, or trade to be expected; and if such trade be both ways in nearly equal quantities, a line as nearly horizontally level as possible should be chosen. If the trade is all in one direction, as is generally the case between mines and navigation, then the most desirable line is one with a gentle gradual descent, such as shall make it not greater labour for the horses emploved to draw the loaded waggons down, than the empty ones back ; and this will be found to be the case on a railway descending about one foot vertical in one hundred feet horizontal : or, if the railway and carriages are of the very best construction, the descent vertical may be to the length horizontal as 1 to 50, where there is little or no upgate loading. In cases between mines and navigations, the descents will often be found greater than could be wished. On a railway on the improved plan, where the descent is more than as 1 to 50, six or eight waggons, loaded with thirty or forty hundred weight each, will have such a tendency to run downwards, as would require great labour of one horse to check and regulate, unless that tendency were checked by sledging some of the wheels. On such, and steeper roads, iron slippers are applied, ont or more to a gang of waggons, as occa- sion may require. Each slipper being chained to the side of one of the waggons, and, being put under the wheel, forms a sledge. Where the descent is very great, steep inclined planes, with machinery, may be adopted so as to render the other parts of the railway easy. On such inclined planes the descending loaded waggons being applied to raise the ascending empty, or partly loaded ones, the necessity of sledging the wheels is avoided, and the labour of the horse greatly reduced and lessened. {Fulton.) 3793. In order to obtain the desired levels, gentle descents, or steep inclined planes, and to avoid sharp turns and circuitous tracks, it will often be found prudent to cross vallevs by bridges and embankments, and to cut through ridges of land; and, in very rugged countries, short tunnels may sometimes be necessary. The line of railway being fixed, and the plans and sections by which the same is to be executed being settled, the ground for the whole must be formed and effectually drained. The breadth of the bed for a single railway should be, in general, four yards ; and for a double one six yards, exclu- sive of the fences, side drains, and ramparts. 3794. The bed of mad being thus formed to the proper inclination, and the embankments and works thereof made firm, the surface must be covered with a bed of stones broken small, or good gravel, six inches in thickness or depth. On this bed must be laid the sleepers, or blocks to fasten the rails upon. These should be of stone, in all places where it can be obtained in blocks of sufficient size. They should be not less than eight, nor more than twelve, inches in thickness ; and of such breadth (circular, square, or trian- gular) as shall make them 150 lbs. or 200 lbs. weight each. Their shape is not material, so as they have a flat bottom to rest upon, and a small portion of their upper surface level, to form a firm bed for the end of the rails. In the centre of each block should be drilled a hole, an inch and a half in diameter, and six inches in depth, to receive an octagonal plug of dry oak five inches in length : for it should not reach the bottom of the hole ; nor should it be larger than so as to put in easily, and without much driving; for if too tight fitted, it might, when wet, burst the stone. These plugs are each to receive an iron spike, or large nail, with a flat point and long head, adapted to fit the counter-sunk notches in the ends of two rails, and thereby to fasten them down in the proper position or situation in which they are to lie. 3795. With regard to the rails, they should be of the stoutest cast-iron, one yard in length each, formed with a flanch on the inner edge, about two inches and a half high at the ends, and three and a half in the centre ; and shaped in the best manner to give strength to the rails, and keep the wheels in their track. The soles of the rails, for general purposes, should not, he thinks, be less than four inches broad ; and the thickness proportioned to the work they are intended for. On railways for heavy burthens, great use, and long duration, the rails should be very stout, weighing 40 lbs., or in some cases nearly half a hundred weight, each. For railways of less consequence, less weight of metal will do ; but it will not be prudent to use them of less than 30 lbs. weight each, in any situation exposed to breakage above ground. But it is observed that in mines, and other works under ground, where very small carriages only can be employed, very light rails are used, forming what are called tramroads, on a system introduced by Carr; and these kinds of light railways have been much used above ground in Shropshire, and other counties where coals and other minerals are obtained. 3796. Infixing the blocks and rails, great attention is required to make them firm. Xo earth or soft materials should be used between the blocks and the bed of small stones or gravel, on which the rails must all be fixed by an iron gauge, to keep the sides at a regular distance, or parallel to each other. The best width of road, for general purposes, is four feet two inches between the flanches of the rails; the wheels of the carriages running in tracks about four feet six inches asunder. Rails of particular forms are necessary, where roads branch out from or intersect each other, and where R r 4 616 PRACTICE OF AGRICULTURE. Paut III. carriage roads cross the railways; and, at turnings of the railways, great care is required to make them perfectly easy. The rails of the side forming the inner part of the curve should be fixed a little lower than the other; and the rails should be set a little under the gauge, so as to bring the sides nearer together than in the straight parts: these deviations in level and width to be in proportion to the sharpness of the curve. The blocks and rails being fixed and spiked last, nothing more remains to he done than to fill the horse-path, or Bpace between the blocks, with good gravel, or other proper materials; a little of which must also lie put on the outside of the blocks, to keep them in their proper places. Tiiis gravel should always be kept below the surface of the rails on which the wheels are to run, to keep the tracks of the wheels free from dirt and obstructions. The form of the tails must be such as will free them from dirt if the gravelling is kept below their level. S797. Thejbrmation of edge railways, on the middle or sides of public roads, has been re- commended h\ Dr. Anderson, Fulton, Edgeworth, Middleton, Stevenson, Mathews, Baird, and others. A flat railway, with the rail ten or twelve inches broad, we conceive, might be laid down along the sides of a road with advantage. It would require a rib below of sufficient strength to bear waggons of any weight. This strength would be communicated partly by the mass of material, but chiefly by the rib (/(';,'. 574. a, a), resting on a bed of bricks or masonry below t b). Such a railroad might be used by any description of carriage, 574 '" . . .. / . light or heavy. But the best description of railroad for the sides of a highway is pro- bably some of those formed of blocks of stone, already described. Stone railways of this sort appear to have been suggested by Le Large (Machines Approuvies, vol. iii.) in France ; and afterwards by Mathews (Committee Examinations, May 1808.) in England, but they have never been fairly tried. The best specimen we have seen is in a street in Milan, where it is not so necessary, the whole breadth being very well paved. Chap. V. Formation of Canals* 3798. Though the subject of canals is not included in that of agriculture, yet it is so intimately connected with territorial improvement, that it would be improper in a work of this description to pass it over. Canals of any extent are never the work of an indi- vidual; they are always formed by public bodies, constituted and empowered by public acts : but it is of importance to individuals to know the sort of effect which a canal passing through their property may have, both on its appearance and value ; not merely as a medium of conveyance, but as a source of population, of water for irrigation or mills, or the use of stock, and even as an object of ornament. For this purpose we shall submit some remarks on the utility of canals, the choice of lines, the powers granted to canal companies, and the mode of execution. Sect. I. Utility and Rise of Navigable Canals. 3799. Good roads, canals, and navigable rivers, Dr. Smith observes (Wealth of Nations, i. 229.), by diminishing the expense of carriage, put the remote parts of the country more nearly upon a level with those in the neighbourhood of large towns; and on that account they are the greatest of all improvements. They encourage the cultivation of the remote parts, which must always be the most extensive circle of the country. They are advantageous to towns, by breaking down the monopoly of the country in its neighbour- hood ; and they are advantageous to all parts of the country, for though they introduce some rival commodities into the old markets, they open many new markets to its produce. " All canals," says an intelligent writer on this subject (See Phillips's General History cf Inland Navigation, Introd. ), " may be considered as so many roads of a certain kind, on which one horse will draw as much as thirty horses on ordinary turnpike roads, or on which one man alone will transport as many goods as three men and eighteen horses usually do on common roads The public would be great gainers were they to lay out upon the making of every mile of a canal twenty times as much as they expend upon a mile of turnpike road ; but a mile of canal is often made at a less expense than Book II. CANALS. 617 the mile of turnpike ; consequently there is a great inducement to multiply the number of canals." 3800. General arguments in favour of canals are superseded by the rapidly improving and thriving state of the several cities, towns, and villages, and of the agriculture also, near to most of the canals of the kingdom • the immense number of mines of coal, iron, limestone, &c, and great works of every kind, to which thev have been conducted, and to which a large portion of them owe their rise, are their best recommendation. In short, it may be concluded, that no canal can be completed and brought into use, but the inhabitants and the agriculture of the district will shortly feel great benefit from it, whatever may be the result to the proprietors. . . 3S01. The great advantages of canals as means if transport result from the weight which may be moved alon" bv a small power. The velocity with which boats can be drawn along a canal is confined within very narrow limits, owing, as Edgeworth has observed, to the nature of the resistance to which they are exposed; this resistance increasing in a geometrical proportion, as the squares of the velocity with which the moving body is impelled : whereas, on roads or railways, an increase of velocity requires only an arithmetical increase of power. Or, in other words, to draw a boat with ten times a given velocity, would require a hundred times as much power as was requisite to draw it with that given velocity ; whereas, to draw a carriage on a road or railway with ten times a given velocity, would require only ten time's the given power. For this reason, however advantageous canals may have been found, for transporting heavy loads, they will be found upon trial inferior to roads in promoting expedition. 3802. Canals appear to have been first made in Egypt. Though less attended to by the Romans titan roads, yet they formed some in this country near Lincoln and Peterborough. 3803. China is remarkable for its canals, and there are said to be many in Hindostan, though we believe of France, under Louis XIV. Some attempts have been made to form canals in the hilly country of Spain ; 'and a great manv excellent ones are executed in America. 38o4 Navigable canals in Britain took their rise between 1755 and 1760, by the Sankey Brook Com- pany in Lancashire ; but the great impulse was given by the duke of Bridgewater about 1757, when he first commenced, under the direction of Brindley, the canal between his coal-works at Worsley and Salford. The duke of Bridgewater has, in consequence, not improperly been called the father of canals in England ; while his engineer, Brindley, by his masterly performances on the duke of Bridgewater's canal, altered and extended as the scheme thereof was by the three subsequent acts of parliament, has secured to himself, and will, it should seem, v from a comparison of the great features and minutia? of execution in this the first canal, with most others in this country, even of the latest construction,) long continue to hold that rank among the English engineers, to which Riquet seems entitled among 3805. Since the duke of Bridgewater' 1 s time, the extension of canals in the British Isles has been rapid. A number of scientific engineers have arisen, of whom we need only mention Smeaton, Rennie, and Tel- ford, and point to the Caledonian canal. Sect. II. Of discovering the most eligible Route for a Line of Canal. 3806. The first object, when the idea of a canal is determined on by a few landed pro- prietors, is the choice of a skilful and experienced engineer. Such an artist should undoubtedly possess a considerable degree of mathematical knowledge. Calculations, of which some are of the most abstruse and laborious kind, will frequently occur; and he should, therefore, be well acquainted with the principles on which all calculations are founded, and by which they are to be rightly applied in practice. An engineer should also have studied the elements of most or all of the sciences immediately connected with his profession ; and he should particularly excel in an acquaintance with the various branches of mechanics, both theoretical and practical. His knowledge should compre- hend whatever has been written or done by other engineers ; and he should have inform- ation in every department of his business, from an accurate examination of the most considerable works that have been executed, under all the various circumstances that are likely to occur. It is necessary that he should be a ready and correct, if not a finished, draughtsman. He should also be conversant with the general principles of trade and commerce ; with the various operations and improvements in agriculture ; with the interests and connection of the different owners and occupiers of land, houses, mills. &C. ; and with all the general laws and decisions of courts pertaining to the objects connected with his profession. By an extensive acquaintance with the disposition, inclination, and thickness of the various' strata which compose the soil or land of the British Islands, he will be able to avoid many errors incident to those who are destitute of this knowledge. As the last, though not the least, of these qualifications of an engineer, which we shall enumerate, he should be a man of strict integrity. 3807. A proper engineer being fixed upon, the adventurers should not tie him down too closely by restrictions as to time; but allow him leisure to consider, digest, and revise, again and again, the different projects and ways, which will, in most instances, naturally present themselves to him in an extensive and thorough investigation. The engineer should be allowed to choose and employ the most competent assistants, and to call in and occasionally to consult the opinions of eminent or practical men, as land- surveyors, agents of the neighbouring landed property, the principal and most expert commercial men of the district who are best acquainted with its trade and wants, any eminent miners, &c. &c. ; and such men the engineer should be authorised liberally, and at once, to remunerate for their services and intelli- gence. Previously to the beginning of any minute survey or system of levelling, the engineer ought to visit all the objects within the district under consideration, and endeavour to make a just estimate and preserve memorandums of them; as of the trade and importance of all the towns likely to be affected by the undertaking; of all mines of coal, iron, &c, quarries of limestone, freestone, slate, &c, or the situation where such can be found ; of all the manufactories of heavy and cumbrous goods, and other extensive works ; and generallv of everv thing likely to furnish tonnage for a canal. The most eligible route for a canal being settled in the engineer's mind, he will then proceed to make a rough calculation of the quan- tity of goods of each kind which may be expected to pass upon the line in a given time; he will also CIS PRACTICE OF AGRICULTURE. Part III. examine all the canals .mil riven with which the proposed canal is to connect, and ascertain the widths ami depths thereof, the sises of their locks, and of the vessels usually navigating them, S80H. '/'A, tUmautons, number, and kind of locks or inclined planes, length of levels, Sec, may now be determined on, and how far railways or branch canals ox mails ma) be connected with the main line. Many engineers, and especially Fulton, have warmly advocated the formation of small canals On this subject i bapman, a t judicious artist, observes, "thai the system of small canals is particularly eligible in all countries win-re limestone, coal, iron ore, lead, and other ponderous articles, not liable to damage from being wet, or not likely to be stolen, arc the objects chiefly to be attended to ; and where the declivity lit the country runs transversely to the course of the Canal, which will generally be the case along the sides ot mountains, at an elevation above the regular ground at their feet In those situations, the great falls or inclined planes may he made at the forks of rivers, so that the upper levels may branch up both the vales, and thus give the most extended communication, A situation suited for those canals will often be found in countries that are not absolutely mountainous, but where the ground regularly declines to. wards thi' vales or large rivers." 38091 A rough lection of the proposed line will enable the engineer to see the places of the heights, and breadths of the various summits, or ranges of high land, that are to be passed, and whether any two or more adjacent ones can be connected by a long summit level, without deserting any considerable town or point of trade, which will diminish thedillicultiesof supplying the canal with water ; as every such junction of summits preserves the water of two lockages, besides presenting so many more points at which the canal can be supplied with water from springs and rivulets above its level, or where, in less favourable situations, the same can be collected in a lower level, to be pumped up. From one end of the proposed summit level it will be right now to proceed with the survey, tracing the level accurately, and marking the same by pegs or stakes, that will last for some time, and be known by the surveyor, who is to follow and make a plan of the line ; the levels being frequently transferred to what are called bench marks, upon the trunk of a tree, a large post, or a building, the same being noted so particularly in the field or survey book, that they may be readily found for years afterwards. We suppose the engineers, by this time, to have settled the rise that each lock should have, according to the dimensions adopted for the canal, the probable supply of water on the summit, and other circumstances ; the summit level will be traced as above, till the proper place occurs for making a fall of two or more locks, at about 100 yards, or a little more from each other ; and the places of these falls being marked, the level is again to be pursued and traced from the bottom ol them, and marked out as before, till the opportunity occurs for another pair or more of locks, or till some obstacle, as a gentleman's park, houses, gardens, orchards, mills, roads, &c. present themselves at a distance; when it will be proper, after transferring the level arrived at to a proper and permanent mark, to proceed forwards, and to examine and well consider the different ways and levels, if more than one present themselves, by which the obstacle can be passed. From the most confined part of the course for the canal, owing to the obstacle, it will be right to level back, till the former work is met, and to determine the most eligible mode of bringing the two levels together, upon the principles before stated; if they ran be applied, either by adding another lock, or taking one from any of the sets which had been before marked out, as occasion may require, and marking out the new levels thereby occasioned : the line be- tween the summit and the first obstacle, or confined part of the course, being thus adjusted, a new point of departure is to be taken from such obstacle, and the level pursued as before, till the tall for a pair or more locks can be gained, at the proper distance from each other. In this way, the patience, perseverance, and abilities of the engineer must be exercised, until a practicable line of some length is obtained, and staked out ; when the assistant land-surveyor must follow, and make a correct and particular plan of the line of the several proposed locks, embankments, tunnels, &c. upon the same, and of the several fields, or pieces of land through which it passes, or that come within 100 or 150 yards of it in any part : it will likewise be the business of the surveyor to ascertain, with the utmost care, the boundary of every parish and town- ship; what county each is in ; the proper names of the owners and occupiers of every piece of land in each, however small, upon or within that distance of the line, with reference to the same upon his plan ; and to describe correctly all public and private roads and paths that cross or intersect the line, and to and from what places thev lead ; the course of all brooks or streams of water, and particularly such as lead to, and contribute to the supply of, anv mill : the situation of the houses and towns upon the line, or within some miles of it, should also be determined ; the nearer they are the greater accuracy will be necessary. A complete plan of the line, and all the projected collateral cuts, feeders, reservoirs, &c. being finished, the engineer will enter on a most careful revisal of the whole scheme, with this plan in his hand; on which all the places where culverts or drains will be required are to be marked, as also the proper places for the bridges, and the necessary alterations of the roads and paths, which will be cut off by the canal, so that the public may not be inconvenienced and turned long distances round about, and still, that as few bridges as possible, and those in the least expensive places, may be erected. In some instances new channels will require to be cut for brooks and water-courses, to a considerable extent, in order to save culverts, or bring them to the most desirable spots. For proper security against accidental errors, the whole of the levelling should now be gone over again, and the several bench marks compared, and renewed with the utmost care by the engineer's assistants, while he is proceeding with the necessary enquiries and calculations for an estimate of the whole expense of the undertaking. 3810. The supplying of a canal villi water, in a great number of instances, occasions no inconsiderable shareof the whole expense, either in the first cost of mills or streams of water ; in land for, and labour in constructing, reservoirs, engines to pump water, &c. ; or annually, ever alterwards, in the fuel for, and repairing of, engines ; hire of water from mills in dry seasons, &c. : this subject should, therefore, employ the most sedulous attention of the engineer, to make the most economical use of what streams he finds, to procure other supplies of water at the least expense, and above all, to secure abundance. The dimensions and heights of the locks, and breadth of the canal, being settled, an accurate calculation should be made of the quantity of water required to fill a lock : and, with the largest probable number of boats that will pass in a" day, of the quantity required daily in every part of the canal : this, with a due allowance for the evaporation, from the surface of the whole canal and its reservoirs, and for the soakage that will take place into the banks, how ever wed they are constructed, will show the number of locks full of water that will be required, from the different sources. 3811. In estimating the expense of all such works, it will be necessary to have the lengths and solid contents of the several embankments, and the distance from which the stuff or soil must lie fetched for the same; the lengths and dimensions of all the deep cuttings, and the distance to which the stuff must be removed ; the lengths of the tun- nels, and number and depths of the several shafts or tunnel pits ; the lengths or head- ings of soughs that will be wanted to drain the tunnelling work : these, and all the great variety of other works, some of which we have already mentioned and others we shall have occasion to mention in the sequel, being particularly stated, and prices affixed to each species of work and kind of material (which juices ought not to he below the current prices of the best articles at the time, and due allowance should also be made for the advance of prices which will take place during the progress of the work) ; the total probable expense, with a due allowance for contingencies, will be thus obtained, on which Book I I. CANALS. 619 the engineer will prepare his general report and estimate, to be laid, with the plan, before a meeting of the adventurers or proposed proprietors. Sect. III. Powers granted to Canal Companies by Government. 3812. As a canal must pass through a great variety of private property, and necessarily affect different individuals in very opposite ways, considerable powers are requisite to carry it into execution. The first steps to attain these are the appointment of a solicitor, and an application to parliament for an act of incorporation and regulation. 3813. A canal bill contains numerous clauses ; but the following may be considered the most general heads : — Regulations as to raising money by shares or other. Removing the surface-soil, and clamping it, for wise. the purpose of being again laid on the surface of the Election of committees, and general meetings of exterior banks of the canal ; or fur other pur- proprietors, poses. Enactments relative to purchasing lands, &c. Forming watering places for cattle or irrigation. Powers for erecting wharfs, and enforcing certain Regulations as to mills, , the height of tin- canal should be to contrived, that in any cross section the Sum of the areas of the made banks ,/, I, should just equal that of the area of the section of excavation /). In side-lying ground lfig.S15. <-, and.//- 676L/), the same object mav be attained with a litt'e extra calculation ; and in all other cases oj, A), tlie engineer will allow the perfection of his skill in so conducting 576 ~a=ls\ the line, that rverv embankment shall have deep cutting at both, or at least at one of its ends, to furnish the extra stuff with least expense in moving it; in liKe manner, every deep cutting (rf, e) should have embankments at one or both of its ends, to receive the extra stuff'. :'S'J:5. Before cutting out the lock-spit, or small trench between the several slope holes, as a guide t<> the men who are to dig, the engineer ought to cause holes to be dug in the line of the canal, near every second or third level peg, or oftener, if the soil be variable, in order to prove the soil to a greater depth, by two or three feet, than the cutting of the canal is to extend ; and each of these the engineer ought carefully to inspect, in order to determine what puddling or lining will be necessary; and what will be the diffi- culties of digging, owing to the hardness of the stuff, or to water that must be pumped out, &c. ; all which circumstances, as well as the extra distance that any part of the stuff may require to be moved, must be well considered before the work can be let to the contractors. 3S24. The puddling or lining nf the cannl, to make it hold water, is a matter of the greatest importance, and we shall consider five cases that are likely to occur or present themselves in the search into the soil that is to be dug, by sinking holes as above mentioned. The first case we suppose to be that in which the whole is clay, loam, or other water-tight stuff; all soils that will hold water, and not let it soak or percolate freely through them, are called water-tight. Our second case is that in which the whole cutting will be in sand, gravel, loose or open rock, or any other matters that will let water easily through them, and such are called porous soils or stuffs. The third case, we suppose to have a thin stratum of water-tight stuff on the surface, and to have porous stuff for a considerable depth below. The fourth case may have porous stuff near the surface, and water-tight stuff* at the bottom of the canal. The fifth case is that where water-tight stuff' appears on the surface ; and below this a stratum of porous stuff", but having again water-tight stuff at no great distance below the intended bottom of the canal. The new-raised banks are always to be considered as porous stuff, as, indeed, they will always prove at first, and in a great portion of soils they would ever remain so, unless either puddling or lining were applied ; all ground that has been dug or disturbed, must also be considered as porous. It should also be remarked, that any kind of soil which is perforated much by worms or other insects, should, in canal-digging, be consi • dered as porous stuff. 3825. Puddle is not, as some have attempted to describe it, a kind of thin earth mortar, spread on places intended to be secured, and suffered to be quite dry before another coat of it is applied ; but it is a mass of earth reduced to a semifluid state by working and chopping it about with a spade, while water, just in the proper quantity, is applied until the mass is rendered homogeneous, and so much condensed that water afterwards cannot pass through it, or but very slowly. 382R The best puddling xftj/fis rather a lightish loam, with a mixture of course sand or fine gravel in it ; very strong clay is unfit for it, on account of the great quantity of water which it will hold, and its disposition to shrink and crack as this escapes ; vegetable mould, or top soil, is very improper, on account of the roots and other matters liable to decay, and leave cavities in it ; but more on account of the tempt- ation that these afford to worms and moles to work into it, in search of their food. Where puddling stuff is not to be met with, containing a due mixture of sharp sand, or rough small gravel stones.it is not Unusual to procure such to mix with the loam, to prevent moles and rats from working in it; but no stones larger than about the size of musket bullets ought to be admitted. 3837. That the principal operation of puddling consists in consolidating the mass, is evident from the great condensation that takes place ; it is not an uncommon case, where a ditch is dug, apparentlj in firm soil, that though great quantities of water are added during the operation, yet the soil which has been dug out will not, when properly worked as puddle, fill up more than two thirds of the ditch. It should seem, also, that puddle is rendered by that operation capable of holding a certain proportion of water with great obstinacy, and that it is more fit to hold than transmit water. It is so far from true, that puddle ought to be suffered to get quite dry, that it entirely spoils when by exposure to the air it is too much dried ; and many canals which have remained unfilled with water during a summer, after their puddling or lining has been done, have thereby become very leaky, owing to the cracks in the puddle-ditches or lining. One of the first cares of an engineer, when beginning to cut a canal, is to discover whether good puddling stuff is plentiful ; and, if it is not, it must be diligently sought for, and carefully wheeled out or reserved wherever any is found in the digging ; or, perhaps, it must be procured at considerable distances from the line, and brought to it in carts It has happened m some stone brash or loose rocky soils, that all puddling stuff for several miles of the line required to lie brought to it; but even this expense, serious as it may be, ought not to induce the imitating of those, who have left miles of such banks without puddling, and have made a winter canal, but one which no stream of water that is to be procured can keep full in the summer months. It is usual in canal acts to insert a clause, for the security of the landowners, to require the companv to cause all the banks that need it to be secured by puddling, to prevent damage to the land below by leakage ] and it would have been well for all parties, in many instances, if this clause had been enforced. Book [I. CANALS. 6S1 S8'28. Ifve compare our first, fourth, and fifth cases >-4 , we shall find in all of them a water-tight stratum,'as the basis ; and the practice in these cases is to make a wall of puddle, called a puddle-ditch, or puddle-gutter, within the bank of the canal : these puddle-gutters are usually about three feet wide, and should enter about a foot into the water-tight stuff, on which they are always to be begun ; and they should be carried up as the work proceeds, to the height of the top water-line, or a few inches higher. Our second and third cases (5S24) evidently will not admit of the above mode, because we have no water, tight stratum on which to begin a puddle-gutter, as a bottom : in these cases, therefore, it is usual to apply a lining of puddle to the sides and bottom of the canaL 3829. History of puddling. It appears that the Dutch have been in the habit of making mud ditches to secure the banks of their canals and embankments, from time immemorial ; and that operations similar to our puddling have been long known on the Continent, but it is not clear at what period it was introduced into this country. We think that the fens in Cambridgeshire and Lincolnshire, in which so many works have at different times been executed by Dutchmen, are the most likely places in which to search for early evidence of its use. We cannot think that Brindley was the first who ever used it in this country, although we might admit that the Bridgewater canal was the first in which it was systematically employed as at the present day. 3830. Adjustment if materials. Canals set out with the care that we have recom- mended, will always have the proper quantity of stuff to allow for the settlement of the banks; since the united sections of the loose banks will always equal the section of excavation in the same settled or consolidated state in which it was before the digging commenced. The slopes of made banks, it is to be observed, on account of their settling, should be steeper in the first instance than they are ultimately required to be. 3831. The kiting of the cutting of certain lengths of the canal to contractors, who will employ a number of navigators under them, in digging and puddling the canal, is the next business. 3832. It is usual to let the work at a certain price per cubic yard of digging, and to pay for the puddling or lining either at a certain price per cubic vard or per yard run of the canal. The engineer ought to inform himself thoroughly of the difficulties' and facilities which attend the work he is about to let, and to draw up a short but explicit contract to be signed by the contractor. The prices allowed ought to be fair and liberal, according to the circumstances, so that the contractor may have no pretence, on account of low prices, to slight his work, particularly the puddling ; and they ought in every instance to be strictly looked after, and made to undo and renew immediately any work th2t may be found improperly per- formed. We recommend it to the engineer to keep a strict account, by means of his overseers or counters, of the time of all the men emploved upon the works ; distinguishing particularly the number upon each work, and whether emploved under the company bv the day, or upon the work let to contractors. These particulars are most essential towards knowing what money ought to be advanced to the contractor during the progress of his job, and towards informing and maturing the judgment of the engineer, with regard to the length of time that a certain number of men will be in performing any future work he may have to direct A calculation should also be made of the day-work in every instance, and compared with the con- tract price, bv which alone a correct judgment can be formed of the proper prices at which work ought afterwards to' be let, so that the labourers mav receive wages proportionate to their exertions, and the contractor be amply paid for his time, skill, and superintendence; and yet economy, and the interest of the company, be duly consulted. ... „ , , . . 3833 Barrows and wheeling plants, horsing-blocks, and other implements, are generally found by the company • r.nd it is usual to consider twenty to twenty-five yards a stage of wheeling, and to fix a price per cubic yard according to the number ot stages that the soil is to moved. Where this distance exceeds 100 yards it will rarely be eligible to perform it by wheel-barrows ; therefore runs of plank with an easy descent, if the same is practicable, should be laid, for large two- wheeled barrows or trucks to be used 3834 Where the line of a canal is to cross an extensive stratum of valuable brick earth, or one of good gravel for making roads, it will often be advisable, especially if the line can be thereby rendered more direct when setting out the canal, to cut pretty deep into such materials, and even quite through the gravel' if the same is practicable ; for although considerable expense will in the first instance be incurred in digging and in damage done for spoil banks, yet such materials as good brick earth and gravel will, in almost every instance, find a market as soon as the canal is opened. Such a situation may prove of essen- tial service to the trade of the canal, by enabling the adjoining proprietors to work the whole thickness of their brick earth gravel, or other useful matters, with but little detriment to the surface of the ground, and without being annoyed by water ; this the canal, instead of losing water by preserving a high level through porous stuff, would, it is probable, catch in very considerable quantities. In districts where stone and gravel for making and repairing roads are scarce, it will be proper to pay the labourers certain rates per cubic vard for all the stones or gravel that mav be collected by them during the work, and stacked in proper place* These wiU form resources for making the towing-path, and for making good the landing or ascent to the several bridges, and the several pieces of new road that the engineer will have to form near to the canal bridges. The lock banks, and all wharfs and landing places, should also be covered with good gravel, to render them safe and convenient for use. If good gravel can in places be intersected in deep cuttings, much of the above expense, as well as that of cartage, may be saved, by an early use of dirt boats in the bottom of the canal. 3835. How important and various the duties of the resident engineers are, must have struck every reader ; but it would be much more apparent, could we enter into the sub- ject of reservoirs, feeders, aqueducts, embankments, culverts, safety gates, weirs, tunnels, deep cuttings, locks, substitutes for locks, inclined planes, railways, bridges, towing- paths, fences, drains, boats, towing or moving boats and trams, cranes and implements ; but these, as less important for our purpose, we must leave the reader to study in the works of Philips. Fulton, Chapman, Plymley, Badeslade, Kindersly, Anderson, Telford, and from the article Canal, in the three principal Encyclopaedias. 629 PRACTICE OF AGRICULTURE. Part III (HAP. VI. Improvement of Estates bij the Establishment of Mills, Manufactories, Villages, Markets, tj|c. 3836. Connected with the laying out of roads and canals, is the establishment if (liferent scenes of manufactorial industry. The forced introduction of these will be attended with little benefit ; but where the natural and political circumstances arc favourable, the im- provement is of the greatest consequence, by retaining on the same estate, as it were, the profits of the grower, the manufacturer, and to a certain extent of the consumer. S837. The establishment of mills and manufactories to be impelled by water, neces- sarily depends on the abundance and situation of that material; and it should be well considered beforehand, whether the water might not be as well employed in irrigation, or how far irrigation will be hindered by the establishment of a mill. In the state of society in which water corn-mills were first erected, they were doubtlessly considered as blessings to the country. There were then no flour manufactories: and it was more convenient for the inhabitants to carry their corn to a neighbouring mill, than to grind it less effectually, by hand, at home. Hence, the privileges and immunities of manorial mills. To secure so great a comfort, every tenant of a manor would willingly agree to send his corn to be ground at the lord's mill ; and, perhaps, was further obliged to stipu- late to pay toll for the whole of his growth ; though it were sent out of the manor unground. 38)8. In Scotland, this impolitic, and now absurd, custom was only lately given up : till when no farmer dared to send his com to market, until he had delivered a proportional quantity to the proprietor or the occupier of the mill to which he was thirled, or had previously stipulated to pay him thirlage for what he might send away j this arbitrary regulation operating, like tithes, to decrease the growth of corn. ysJ9 In England and Ireland, however, no restriction of this sort at present exists: but, in the remote parts of the north of England, there are mills which claim (or lately claimed) the exclusive right of grind- ing the whole of the corn which the inhabitants of the respective parishes or manors required to be ground for their own use, suffering none to be sent out of the parish for the purpose of grinding. In the more western counties, where grist mills are still the schools of parochial scandal, somethingof this sort remains, and is piously preserved in modem leases, but, in the kingdom at large, grist mills are now going fast into disuse. Even working people purchase flour, instead of corn ; and, whether in a private or a public light, this is an eligible practice. They can purchase a sort which is suited to their Circumstancea, and they know the quality and the quantity of what they carry home ; whereas, in the proverbial rascality of grist millers, they'have no certainty as to either: besides, in a flour mill there is no waste ; every particle mav be said to be converted to its proper use. 3840. A valuable property belonging to modern flour manufactories, is their not requiring every brook and rivulet of the kingdom to work them. In Norfolk, a great share of the wheat grown in that corn county is manufactured into flour by the means of windmills : and such are modern inventions, that neither wind nor water is any longer necessary to the due manufacture of flour; the steam engine affording, if not the most eligible, at least the most constant and equable power. 3S41. The most eligible kinds of water-mills are, the tide-mill anil the current mill : the former placed in creeks, inlets, bays, estuaries, or tide rivers; and the latter in the current of a river. There are many situations, Marshal observes, in which these species of mills may be erected with profit to proprietors, and the community ; and without anv injurv to the landed property, or the agricultural produce of the country. He is of opinion that numerous river mills existing in different parts of the country are unnecessary to the present state of society. 3842. Grist mills may be still required in some remote situations: but, seeing the number of flour mills which are now dispersed over almost every part of the kingdom, seeing also the present facility of carriage by land and water, and seeing, at the same time, the serious injuries which river mills entail on agricul- ture, Marshal recommends land proprietors to reduce their number, as fast as local circumstances will allow. 3843. The inducement to establish manufactories depends on a variety of circum- stances, as well as on a supply of water. Among these may be mentioned the price of labour, convenience for carriage, export or import, existence of the raw material at or near the spot, as in the case of iron works, potteries, &c. In England, while the poor laws exist, the establishment of any concern that brings together a large mass of population will always be attended with a considerable risk to land-owners ; though it is a certain mode, in the first instance, of raising the price of land, and giving a general stimulus to every description of industry. 384-4. A populous manufactory, even while it flourishes, according to Marshal, operates mischievously in an agricultural district bv propagating habits of extravagance and immorality among the lower order of tenantry, as well as by rendering farm labourers and servants dissatisfied with their condition in life; and the more it flourishes, and the higher wages it pays, the more mischievous it becomes in this respect. Lands bear a rental value in proportion to the rate Of living in the district in which they lie; so that while a temporary advantage is reaped, by an increased price of market produce, the foundation of a permanent disadvantage is laid; and, whenever the manufactory declines, the lands of its neighbourhood have not only its vices and extravagances entailed upon them, but have the vicious, extravagant, helpless manu- fai turers themselves to maintain. This accumulation of evils, however, belongs particularly to that description of manufacture which draws numbers together in one place ; where diseases of the body and the mind are jointly propagated ; and where no other means of support is taught than that of some parti- cular branch or branchlet of manufacture. Hut all these evils, belonging to the first introduction of manufactures on a great scale, will be cured with the progress of education and refinement among the operative manufacturers : it is already improved in comparison with what it was in Marshal's time. 384.5. Cottages. Wherever cottages for any class of men are built, whether singly or congregated, they ought never to be without an eighth or a fourth of an acre of garden ground. It is observed in the The Code of Agriculture, that " where a labourer or country tradesman has only a cottage to protect him from the inclemency of the weather, he can- not have the same attachment to his dwelling, as if he had some land annexed to it; nor is such a state of* the labourer so beneficial to the community. When a labourer has a garden, his children learn to dig and weed, and in that manner some of their Book II. MILLS, COTTAGES, VILLAGES, &c. 623 time is employed in useful industry. If lie is possessed of a cow, they are taught early in life the necessity of taking care of cattle, and acquire some knowledge of their treatment. But where there is neither a garden to cultivate, nor any cows kept, they are not likely to acquire either industrious or honest habits. So strongly were these ideas formerly prevalent, that, by the 43d of Elizabeth, no cottage could be built on any waste without having four acres attached to it. This is in general too much. If the quantity were reduced to half an acre for a garden, and if no person could gain a set- tlement who was not a native, or, if a stranger, who did not fairly rent in the same parish a house and land worth twenty, instead of ten pounds per annum, both the poor and the public would thence derive very essential benefit." S846 The most advantageous system for keeping a cottage cow is that adopted in grazing districts, where a cottager has a sufficient quantity of enclosed land in grass, to enable him to keep one or two cows both summer and winter, grazing the one halt", and mowing the other, alternately. Nothing tends more materially to teach the poor honestv, than allowing them to have property. Feeling how intensely they would deprecate all infringement upon it, they are less likely to make depredations upon that of others ; and this will produce more honestv among them than the best delivered precepts can instil. By the culti- vation of a small spot of land, a" cottager not only acquires ideas of property, but is enabled to supply himself with that variety of food, as fresh vegetables in summer and roots in winter, which comfort and health require. If he should fortunately be able to keep bees in his garden, and if its surplus produce should also enable him to rear, and still more to fatten, a hog, his situation would be much ameliorated. But if in addition to all these advantages, he can keep a cow, the industrious cottager cannot be placed in a more comfortable situation. Goats have recently been recommended {British Farmer's Magazine, vol. lii ) as a substitute for a cow, as being more easilv kept, costing less at first, and producing milk the greater part of the year. The chief difficulty of introducing them is the want of sufficient enclosures, as no animal is more inimical to shrubby vegetation of any kind. Some useful hints on the subject ot cottagers, and the means by which they may be enabled to keep a cow, will be found in Cobbett's Cottage Economy, though his statements are in many cases highly exaggerated. 3847 Cottages and villages necessarily result from manufactories, as well as from extensive mines, quarries, or harbours. A few cottages will necessarily be scattered over every estate, to supply day labourers and some description of countrv tradesmen. Villages are seldom, in modern times, created by an agricultural population ; it being found so much more convenient for every tarm to have a certain number of cottages attached to it. 3848. A village may be created any where, by giving extraordinary encouragement to the first settlers ; but unless there be a local demand for their labour, or they can engage in some manufacture, the want of comfortable subsistence will soon throw the whole into a state of decay. Fishing villages, and such as are established at coal and lime works, are perhaps the most thriving and permanent in the kingdom. Some fine example of fishing villages, recently established, occur on the Marquess of Stafford's estates in Sutherland. 3849 Informing the plan of a town or village, the first thing, if there is a river or other means of com- munication by water, is to fix on a proper situation for a quay or harbour ; and next, at no great distance from it on an" open space as a market. Round the latter ought to be arranged the public buildings as the post-office excise or custom-house, police-office, the principal inn and the principal shops. Near the har- bour ought to be placed the warehouses and other depositaries for goods; in a retired part of the town the school- and out of town on an eminence (if convenient) the church and the cemetery of garden of burial. There ought to be a field or open space, as a public recreation ground for children, volunteers or troops exercising races, washing and drving clothes on certain days, &c. Public shambles ought to be formed in a retired and concealed spot, so should public necessaries. Proper pipes, wells, or other sources of good water, with the requisite sewers and drainage should also be provided. Buckets, to be used in case of fire, ought to be kept at the market-house. 577 r>:M PRACTICE OF AGRICULTURE. Paht III. 38M. The village of Bridekirh on the Annan, In nunifYieshirc {fig.5Tl.\ wasbegun In I800, by Gen. Dirom, and is thus described Ijv him in the survey of the county : — " It is situated ;.t a part of the river which affords falls and power capable of turning any weight ol machinery ; and I liave had it In view to give encouragement to manufacturers, to whom lucn a situation la an important object. A woollen manu- factory [a) upon ■ large scale, and the most approved plan, has been established there for ten years, and is gradually increasing its machinery. In this village there are already, in the course of that time, about two hundred and liltv industrious inhabitant-, and it has every appearance of a further rapid increase. On the opposite side of the river a situation is fixed on for corn-mills (6), where a complete set has been built upon the best construction, including wheat anil barley mills. Half Of the water then' is reserved lor airy other works, and is likely to be let lor a mill for dressing and for spinning llax, and tor machinery required in bleaching, there being at the loot of the mill-race a holme of six acres (c), well calculated for a bleach Held: and l propose to let part of it for such a manufactory. il " The lots for omitting and gardens in the village, each consisting of from nine to ten falls of ground, air granted in perpetuity at the rate of six pounds the English acre, either upon leases for 999 years, or feu-rights, as the settlers choose; the former being generally preferred, as being the holding or title attended with least expense. This rent would of itself be no object when the waste of ground in streets and enclosures is considered ; but the great advantage to be derived from such an establishment is, the increased value that lands acquire from having a number of industrious people settled in the heart of an estate. Each person who feus a house-stead is obliged to build with stone and lime, according to a regular plan ; ami a common entry is left between every two lots for access to their offices, which are built imme- diately behind their houses; and the whole of the buildings are covered with slate. The feuers are also bound to make a common sewer through their property when required; to pave ten feet in front of their houses, between them and the street ; and to pay at the rate of a penny per fall yearly, according to the extent Of their lots, to form a fund for keeping the streets and roads in repair, and for making small im- provements. No person is allowed to sell liquor of any kind without my permission ; nor can any shop or chandlery, tannery, or other work, that might be considered as a nuisance, be set up or built, unless in places allotted for these purposes ; and to prevent all interference on the part of the feuers, I reserve to myself full liberty to make such alterations as may appear to me or my successors to be proper in the plan of the village. These regulations are the best security against having vagabonds in such a place, as none but industrious people can afford to build or rent such houses." 5852. A new village sea-port in Devonshire was formed by Sir Lawrence Palk, in the northernmost part of Torbay. A new pier, projected south-westwardly from the eastern cliff, affords complete protection to shipping from the south-east winds. The regularity of the buildings lately raised for the accommodation of company resorting hither for the convenience of sea-bathing, adds neatness and beauty to the wild and picturesque scenery of its natural situation ; and, from the size of the vessels the harbour is now capable of protecting whilst they receive and discharge their cargoes, there are well-grounded expectations that this place will become of some maritime consequence on a future day. A plan of this sea-port (fig. 578.) 578 is given in the Devon Survey, and is described as containing a pier (I), quay (2), harbour (3), ware- houses (4), inn atd garden (5), stables (6), strand (7), cove for building ships and timber yard (8\ beacon (9), cove for batliing aachines (10), new carriage-way to the park (ll), terrace (12), the park (13), plant- ation (14), road toTcsrvood (15), road from Newton, &c. (16), meadows (17), circus in the park (18). Chap. VII. Of Mines, Quarries, Pits, and Metalliferous Bodies. 3853. Against mines, as a species of property, considerable prejudice has long existed, from the variation of their produce, and the uncertainty of their extent and duration. Modern discoveries in geology, however, have thrown great light on the subject of mining, und introduced into the art a degree of certainty not before contemplated. In proof of Byoie II. MINKS, QUARK IKS, TITS, &c. (>'2S this, we may instance coal and limestone: of these minerals, tradition asserts the existence in various parts of the island, where from the strata on the surface the modern geologist well knows it is impossible. 3854. Among the various mineral substances found in quantity in Britain, the chief are coal, lime, building and other stone, gravel, clay, fuller's earth, marl, &c. among the earths ; salt, among saline substances ; and lead, copper, and tin, among the metals. Cobalt, manganese, and some other metals and earths, are found in some places, but in small quantities. No saline or metalliferous bodies ought to be sought for, or attempted to be worked, but with the advice and assistance of an experienced and skilful mineral surveyor; nothing being more common than for proprietors to be induced by local re- ports or traditions to fancy their lands contain coal, lead, or some other valuable subter- raneous product, and to incur great expense in making abortive trials. To ascertain the Dature and value of the minerals of an estate of any magnitude, or of one of small size but of peculiar exterior organisation, it will always be worth while for the proprietor to have a mineral survey, map, and description, made out by a professional man. 3855. Coal is at present perhaps the most valuable British mineral ; because, among other reasons, it does not appear to be worked in any other country in such quantity as to lessen by importation the home produce. There are three species of coal, the brown, the black, "and the uninflammable. To the first belongs the Bovey coal or bitumenised wood, found chiefly at Bovey, near Exeter; to the second the slate coal, which includes the pit and sea-coal, and ail the kinds in common use, and also the canal coal, which occurs only occasionally in the coal pits of Newcastle, Ayrshire, and Wigan in Lanca- shire; to the third belong the Kilkenny coal, and Welsh culm, or stone coal, which burn to ashes without flaming. 3856. The indications of coal are different in different coal districts In general the surface is argilla- ceous or slaty, and limestone commonly forms an accompanying stratum. In some collieries near New- castle, however, limestone is wanting; but whinstone, sandstone, and others of secondary formation, are present in a great variety of forms. 8857. The discovery of coal is made by boring, and that operation is generally performed in coal districts as a guide for sinking new shafts. Bv this means the owners procure most essential data on which to proceed, being informed beforehand of The nature of the earth, minerals, and waters, through which they have to pass ; and knowing, to an inch or so, how deep the coal lies, as well as the quality and thickness of the stratum bored. It is confessedly of the first importance, either to the inhabitants of a district in general, or to the owners of the soil in particular, to be able to detect and work such veins of coal as may exist under their soil; and hence we find, on enquiry in the neighbourhood, that almost every common, moor, heath, or piece of bad land, in parts where coa'ls are scarce, have at one time or other been reported bv ignorant coal-finders to contain coal. How many times, for instance, have our grandmothers, and nurses, repeating their stories, told us, that plenty of coal's might be dug at such and such a place, if government had not prohibited their being dug, for encouraging the nursery for seamen, &c. ? Farey's enquiries, and those of Smith, have brought to light hundreds of instances, where borings and sinkings for coals have been undertaken on advice in situations in the southern and eastern parts of England; attended with heavy and sometimes almost ruinous expenses to the parties, though a source of profit to the pretended coal-finders. These attempts a very sliyht degree of geological knowledge would have shown to be vain. 3858. The coalfields of Britain will be found scientifically described in Outlines of Geology, by Conybeare and Philips, and also in Bakeu-eWs Geology. 3859. Limestone, chalk, and building or other stone, are found in strata either on or near the surface. At a great depth it is seldom found worth while to work them. When stones of any kind are procured by uncovering the earth and then working them out, they are said to' be quarried ; but when a pit or shaft is sunk, and the materials are procured by working under ground, they are said to be mined. 3860 Gravel chalk, clay, marl, and other loose matters, when worked from the surface, are said to be worked from a pit, and hence the terms stone, quarry, gravel, clay, or marl pit. Little knowledge of geology is in general required for the discovery of gravel or marl; but, still, even a little would be found of the greatest advantage. 3861 The working of quarries is a simple operation, and one depending more on strength than skill. In quarrying sandstone, consisting of regular layers, the work is performed chiefly by means of the pick, the wedge the hammer, and the pinch or lever; recourse being seldom had to the more violent and irregular e'rtects of gunpowder. But for many kinds of limestone, and for greenstone and basalt, blasting with gunpowder is always resorted to ; and some of the rocks called primitive, such as granite, gneiss, and sienite, could scarcely be torn asunder by any other means. 386° The burning of lime may be considered as belonging to the subject of quarrying. This operation is performed in what are called draw kilns, or perpetual kilns. These should always be close to or near the quarry, and either situated at a bank, or furnished with a ramp or inclined plane ot earth tor carting up the c6al and lime to the top of the kiln. Lime-kilns may be built either of stone or brick ; but the latter as being better adapted to stand excessive degrees of heat, is considered preferable 1 he external form of such kilns is sometimes cylindrical, but more generally square. The inside should be formed in the shape of a hogshead, or of an egg opened a little at both ends and set on the smallest ; being small in circumference at the bottom, gradually wider towards the middle, and then contracting again towards the top In kilns constructed in this way, it is observed, fewer coals are necessary in consequence of the great decree of reverberation which is created, above that which takes place in kilns lormed in the shape of a sugar-loaf reversed. Near the bottom, in large kilns, two or more apertures are marie; there are small at the inside of the kiln, but are sloped wider, both at the sides and the top, as they extend towards the outside of the building. The uses of these apertures are for admitting the ^^/W 1 * the fire, and also for permitting the labourers to approach with a drag and shovel to draw out the ca c led lime. 'rom the bottom of the kiln within, in some cases, a small building called a horse is raised Iw JUm form of a wedge, and so constructed as to accel, rate the operation of drawing out the burned me»tone, bv forcing it to fall into the apertures which have been mentione I above. 1 n other k to of this kind, in place of this building there is an iron gate near the bottom, which comes c ose to the inside wall ex^rtat the apertures where the lime is uraw,. cut. When the kiln is to he filled, a parcel oltuize or faggots is laid at the bottom, ever this a layer of coals, then a layer of limestone .which is previously broken into pieces, about the s.ste of a man's fist;, and so on alternately, ending with a layer oi coals, which is some S 8 626 PRACTICE OF AGRICULTURE. III. times, though leMom, covered with s "d* or lurf, in order to keep the heat as intense as possible. The fire is then lighted in the aperture* , and when the limestone towards the hot torn is completely calcined, the fuel being considerably exhausted, the limestone at the top subsides. The labourers then put in an addi- tion of limestone and coal al the lop, and draw out at bottom as much as they And thoroughly burned; ami thus go on, till any quantity required be calcined. When limestone is burned with coals, from two butheU and a half to three anil a hall of calcined I mestone are produced for every bushel of coal used. Lime will, in all cases, be most economically burned d 579 by fuel which produces little or no smoke; because the necessary mixture of the fuel With the broken limestone renders it impossible to bring it in Contact with a red heat, which may ignite the smoke. Dry fuel must also, in all cases, be more advantageous than moist fuel, because in the latter case a certain quantity of heat is lost in expelling the moisture in the form of vapour or smoke. 3863 Booker's lime-kiln (Jte 579.' is the best of all forms that have hitherto been brought into notice for burning lime with coke or other dry smokeless fuel The kiln of this description at Closeburn is built on the side of a bank ; it is circular within, thirty, two feet high from the furnace, three feet in diameter at top and bottom, and seven feet in diameter at eighteen feet from the bottom ; it has cast-iron doors to the fuel-chamber [Jig. 580. a) and rgQ S7 ^ h^l|/ V ^""£r <^ v £***H^"tf tf 3 — L .' ) ash-pit (b), and a cast-iron cap or cover 386+. Mcnteuth or Closeburn coal lime-ki/n 581 584 [fig- 579. c,rf.\ which turns on a pivot, and rests on a curb-ring fixed on the top of the masonry of the kiln (d). The use of this cover is to prevent the escape of more heat than is necessary to keep the fuel burning, for which last purpose the cover has only an opening at top (rf\ twelve inches in diameter. The principal advantage of this construction is, that very little heat is lost, and that lime may be burned with almost as little fuel in winter as in summer. Another advantage, and one of considerable importance in a country sale, where a kiln is not worked sometimes for two or three days together, is, that by closing the orifice (rf) at top", and the furnace doors (Jig. 5S0. a b) below, the fire may be kept alive for four or rive days. In the ordinary descriptions of kilns without covers, the fire is usually extinguished in twenty-four hours, especially in the winter season. In Booker's kiln, one measure of coke will burn four measures of limestone. The fuel for the lime-kilns at Close- burn is brought from a distance of twenty-five miles, and it is found that one third of the expense of car- riage is saved by coking it at the coal-pits. A mea- sure of this coke burns as much lime as the same measure of coal ; as when coal is used in the lime- kiln it may be said to be coked before it has much effect on the limestone. One of Booker's kilns, when coke is used, yields nearly three fourths of its contents of well burned lime every day. When lime is to be burned with coal or smoky fuel, a form invented by me has been adopted at Closeburn, which, from a very extensive experience, I have proved to be much superior to those in com- mon use. This kiln, which may be designated the Closeburn coal lime- kiln (Jig. 581.), is built in a similar situation to the other. It is oval in ground plan, both at top (Jig. 582.), ron coo and bottom (Jig. 583.), with doors to the fuel- chamber and ash-pit (Jig. 581. ej), and an arched cover to the top ( Jig- 584. g), which moves on .mall wheels, is drawn off and on by windlasses (A h) and has two small openings serving as chim- neys for the exit of the smoke (it). The height of the kiln is thirty-five feet : the short diameter at the fuel- chamber is twenty two inches (Jig. 583. ; at the height of twenty feet the short diameter has gradually ex- tended to five feet (fig. 581.), and this dimension is continued to the top, where the oval is nine feet by five feet (Jig. 582.). As the fuel- Chambex to this kiln is very broad in proportion to its depth, three separate doors or openings become V. r?\ }\tO I Uy' Book II. LIME-KILNS. 627 585 (CZ 7> - i i I r— t : ii i i' I i i i i i 1 i ^ \\JJ tn\- '■ , '■, necessary (yS&.585.) as well as advantageous, for more speedily and easily drawing out the lime. In some cases, instead of a movable cover, a permanent root' of masonry Jig. 586.) may he adopted. This roof should have proper openings to admit' the supply of lime and fuel, and those may be closed by sliding shut ters or hinged doors; while, in the roof, there should be a chim- ney for the escape of the smoke. It will readily be understood, that the use of a cover, whether fixed or movable, is chief); to retain the heat; but where the cover is a fixed structure, and sufficiently large, something will be gained by placing the fuel and limestones there, to be dried and heated before they are thrown into the kiln. Three fifths of the contents of the Close- burn oval kiln may be drawn out everyday, and when it is closed at top and bottom, the fire will not go out for five or six days. 38 55. Subsequent improvements by Mr. Mententh are thus detailed in a fetter to us from that gentleman, dated Feb. 28. 183*1. — I now employ kilns of an egg shape, and also oval ; the oval-shaped kilns are divided by arches across the kiln, descend- ing four feet from the top ; the object of the arches across the kilns is to prevent the sides of the kiln falling in or contracting, and also to enable you to form circular openings for feeding in the stone and coal at the mouth of the kiln. Upon this plan, a kiln of any length might be constructed with numerous round mouths. In the model of the kiln lately sent to the Highland Society, Booker's conical cover may be seen revolving upon an iron ring placed upon the circular mouth, and having placed a lid to the cover, 1 am enabled to prevent the escape of heat at the top, and by cast-iron doors at the bottom the air is pre- vented from passing through the kiln ; so that by these precau- tions the lime-burner can regulate the heat and prevent its escape for several days, when the fire would be extinguished at this season in the course of 24 hours. This is an object of great im- portance, as it enables you to burn lime as well, and with as small a quantity of fuel, in the winter as the summer season, and to supply the farmer with as well burned lime, at any time of the yearj which cannot be done in the common construction of kilns, open both at top and bottom. When coke is employed for burning lime during the day, small coal should be used in the evening, in order to prevent as much as possible the escape or waste of heat during the night, from the rapid circulation of air through the limestone in the kiln where coke is the fuel made use of for its calcination : a kiln in which coke is the fuel employed will yield near a third more burnt lime in a given time than when coai is the fuel, so that coke maybe used occasionally, when a greater quantity of lime is required in a certain time, than usual, as it is well known to lime- burners that the process of burning is done most economically when the kiln is in full action, so as almost constantly to have a column of fire from the bottom to the top of the kiln, with as short intervals as possible in working the kiln. Having found that limestone is apt to be vitrified during the process of calcination, during stormy weather, from the increased circulation of air through the kiln, which adds much to the heat derived from the fuel employed, and which experi- enced lime-burners would have diminished, could they be aware at all times of an occurrence of this kind. From having experi- ence of the bad effects of too great a circulation without properly pro- viding against it, I have reason to believe, that having a power to throw in at pleasure an additional quantity of air into the bottom of a iime-kiln, that a considerable saving of fuel necessary for the cal- ould take place, and another object would be gained, that of cooling the limestone in iiln, which frequently retards the drawing out of the burnt limestone tor some hours, „>one is so cold as not to burn the wooden structure of carts 866. In working,, kiln with narrow circular mouths, the stone and coal should be carefully measured that the workmen can proportion the fuel employed to the quantity of stones ; and * »^ous,Jtbat so that the workmen can proportio.. _..^ ...... *....,..-., — -, ., the quantity of coal to be used must depend upon its relative quality, and the hardness of the stone to be burnt. If this measure were adopted in kilns of any construction, the lime shells would be lound better burnt 3867. Tivo furnace < the burnt shells [or : and facilitates the dr870. Ilurning lime in heaps. Where fuel is abundant, lime may be burned in heaps, as in charring wood, or in clumps like bricks. The fuel is intermixed, and the whole covered with turf or mud, in which a lew holes are pierced to admit the passage of the smoke. 3871. Machines for pounding limestone have been erected, but the effect of the powder so obtained, both as a manure and for cement, is so much inferior to that of burnt lime, that they have long since been generally laid aside. 3872. Salt is procured from rocks, springs, and from the sea. In Chester, parti- cularly in the neighbourhood of Northwich, the salt works are very extensive. Great quantities are got in the solid form, but not sufficiently pure for use. In this state it is conveyed from the mines to the Cheshire side of the river, nearly opposite to Liverpool. It is at this place dissolved in the sea-water, from which it is afterwards separated by evaporation and crystallisation. There are also in the same district salt works, at which the salt called Cheshire salt is extracted from brine. These works are described very intelligibly by Dr. Holland, in The Report of Agriculture for the County of Cheshire. Book II. MARINE FISHERIES. f29 Considerable salt-works are carried on in Scotland, and in the northern counties of England on the sea-coast, by the evaporation of sea ivater. At Lymington, in Hampshire, the sea-water is evaporated to one sixth of the whole by the action of the sun and air. The works in which the sea water is heightened into brine are called sun-works, or out- works. These are constructed on a flat down or oozy beach, within a mole, which is raised, if necessary, to keep out the sea ; there is a large reservoir, or feeding pond, communicating with the sea by a sluice, and adjoining to this reservoir a long trench, parallel to which there are several square ponds, called brine pots, in which the water is evaporated to a strong brine, and afterwards it undergoes an artificial evaporation and purification in boilers. 3873. The metalliferous ores or stones should never be sought after, but in consequence of the best advice and most mature consideration. " Few," Marshal observes, " have made fortunes by mines, and many have been ruined by them." Should a man of large landed property discover a productive mine on his estate, he offers him " two words of advice. The first is, not to work it himself. A gentleman among miners is a pigeon to be plucked. Rather let the man who finds himself involved in such a predicament adopt the Cornish practice, and stipulate to take a proportional part of the ore which may be raised : according to the productiveness of the mine, and the expense of working it, jointly calculated. The other is, not to break in upon the principal, or gross sum, which arises from a mine. If the estate is encumbered, remove the encumbrance : if not, increase its size, or, in any other prudent way, secure the interest of the gross produce of the mine, and thus defy the evil effects of its failure ; for no mine is inexhaustible." Chap. VIII. Establishment of Fisheries. 3874. Fisheries may be arranged as marine, river, lake, and pond fisheries ; the first being of the greatest importance to this and every country. Sect. I. Marine Fisheries. 3875. The importance of improving the marine fisheries to an insular country, like Britain, is sufficiently obvious. By their augmenting the quantity of food, there would necessarily result a reduction in the prices of all the necessaries of life ; the condition of the labouring poor, the artificers, and tradespeople, would as necessarily be improved : they would not only be the means of rearing and supporting a bold and hardy race of men for the defence of the sea-coast, but also of creating a nursery of excellent seamen for the navy in time of war, and of giving them employment when peace may render their further services unnecessary. If the fisheries flourished to that extent of which they appear to be capable, every seaport town and little village on the coasts, or on the banks of the creeks and inlets, would become a nursery of seamen. It was thus in Holland, where the national and natural advantages were very inferior to those of Great Britain ; for it is well observed, in the report of the Downs Society, that Holland does not produce timber, iron, or salt, all of which are essential to fisheries, and all the natural produce of Great Britain ; that Holland has no herrings on her own coast, while the coasts of our island abound with them and other fish, at different and at all seasons of the year, so that there are few, if any, months in which shoals of this fi>h in particular are not found on some part of our shores ; and that her population is under 3,000,000, while ours amounts to about 18,000,000, giving to our fishermen six times the consump- tion of a home market that the Dutch have. With all the impediments to an extended use of fish in the home inarket, and notwithstanding the established character which the Dutch fish have always borne among foreign nations, it is consoling to find that the British fisheries are generally in a progressive state of improvement, and more particularly that most important of all their branches, the herring fishery. 3876. The rapid progress of the herring fishery shows that there is no art or mystery in the catching and curing of herrings that the English cannot accomplish as well as the Dutch, which is further proved by the successful experiment made by the Downs Society of fishermen ; in the report of whose proceed- ings it is stated, that herrings had been taken within the Cinque Ports of a quality so nearly resembling the deep sea fish, that they were cured and sold as the best Dutch herrings. The progressive increase of the herring fishery is confined to Scotland ; the quantity brought under the inspection of the officers in England amounts not to one twenty-second part of the whole, while the flourishing little town of Wick alone furnishes nearly one fifth. But the most extraordinary increase is that which has taken place in the neighbouring county of Sutherland. Till a few vcars past, the people of this county were contented to hire themselves as fishermen to the adventurers" of Wick. In 1814, they attempted, with the aid and encouragement of the Marquis of Stafford, a fishery on their own account, and the mouth of the Helmsdale was fixed upon as the station. A storehouse and curinghouse were here erected ; the boats were manned by the people brought from the mountains and the interior of the country Ever) thing S s 3 f90 PRACTICE OF AGRICULTURE. Part III was ncu t(j tin in iii the employment In which they were about to engage, The Ashing commenced on the S th of July, .mil ended on the 3rd ol September, 181 I , end the four boats won respectively 10V. 3f., 8SZ 8s., // Bj . and 11 I * i hey were manned by (bur men each, m that they made, on an average, rather more than 27/. a man. In 1815, the number of boats employed amounted to fifty, almost entirely manned bj Sutherland men ; and the number of barrels caught and repacked exceeded *,' 00, chiefly gutted. In 18 7, thi> Ashen Rave employment to about 3,000 tenants, 17 coopers, and 130 women. In 1818, 70 omen, 700 men, 140 boats; and, in the pre s e nt year 1819], the quantity caught and cured at Helmsdale amounts to no leu than 22J876 barrels, besides upwards of 100,000 »< hi and ling While the herring fisher] i* making these rapid strides in the Highlands of Scotland, the ancient town of North Yarmouth, which owes Its existence to the herring fishery, and in the time of Edward III. had an act usually called " The Statute of herrings," paased in its favour, lor the regulation of its herring fair, now exhibits only the small number i>l lOSS) barrels. — See an Essay on the Migration and Food of the M. rring, by J. F. Denovan, Esq., in the Fanner's Magazine (voL xxvi. p. 135.) See also art. Salmon, in Pari in. Book VII. The ■ manner, that they are lifted from the ground by the current of the tide in flowing mm. mi : to tint the Bsb tin. I mi dltBculty iii passing beneath them into the lake i but, on the tale's turn- lug, their lower edges fall dini'ii close to the sand, and effectually prevent the salmon from retreat- Ing. Thej are, In consequence, left dry, 01 In shallow water, and are easily to be taken, by hundreds, per- haps, .it once, ....„„■ • , , , i, 3897 The other remarkable method, which is practised in the Inth of Sol way, is founded on a well- known habit of salmon, when they iir-t make the land, and enter into narrow seas and estuaries, to keep much along the shore: no matter whether to hit, with greater certainty, their native rivers ; to rub on the vermin with which, in general, they are more or less infested, when they return from the ocean ; ur to seek for food. This method of taking salmon, if not a modern invention, has recently been raised to its present degree of perfection, by an enterprising salmon fisher and fanner in the neighbourhood of Annan who has turned it to great profit At a short distance below the mouth of the river Annan, he li u run'oul along lineol tall net-fence, several hundred yards in length, and somewhat obliquely from the line of the shore, with which it makes an acute angle, and closes in with it, at the upperend i thus torin. ins in effect, an artificial lake : one side of which is the beach, the other the net fence. The lower end Anuandale. sos Hit ■>■ fishing for salmon is chieflv done with the seine, or long draught net, the construction and „se of winch are universally known. In rivers liable to frequent and great changes of depth and strength of current by reason of tides ami floods, it is desirable to have nets of different textures, as well as of different depths : as, one of the construction best adapted to the ordinary state ot the water, and to the lite of the fish that frequent it salmon peels, trouts, mullets, and other small-sized tisli are, in some rivers, commonly t iken with salmon) j and another with more depth, and wider meshes, to be used during high w iter and -Iron- currents, when the larger salmon do not fail to hasten upward : and the same strength of hands which is able to draw a close net on it, can work a deeper one with wider meshes. In wide rivers, with flat shores, a variety of nets are required of different lengths as well as depths, to suit every height and width of the water. . . s o //, rivers traps ore set for salmon. The most common device of this kind is the weir, or salmon leap • nanulv a tall dam run across the river, with a sluice at one end of it, through which the principal part,' or the whole, of the river at low water, is suffered to pass with a strong current; and in this sluice 3900 The construction of salmon weirs. Marshal conceives to be, in all cases, dangerous, and in many highly 'injurious to the propagation of salmon : and although it would be altogether improper to demolish those which long custom has sanctioned, yet he is of opinion that it would be equally improper to suiter more to be erected; at least, until some judicious regulations are made respecting them j regulations which cannot be delayed without injury to the public. 3901. It now only remains to speak of poaching, or the illegal taking of grown salmon. There are already severe penalties inflicted for this crime ; which, compared with that of destroying young salmon, might, in a public light, be deemed venial, the latter deserving tenfold punishment: for the grown salmon taken in season by poachers becomes so much wholesome food ; there is no waste of human sustenance by the practice. _ Never- theless, as theft, the crime is great, and ought to be punishable as such. As an improve- ment of the present law, Marshal proposes to make the receiver, in this as in other cases of theft, equally punishable with the thief. If poachers were not encouraged by pur- chasers of stolen salmon, the practice would not be followed. 3902. Lake fisheries are of small extent, and are chiefly confined to one or two moun- tainous district's; and, even there, unless where char or trout abound, as in Keswick and Lochlomond, their value is small, and their improvements few. The Lochfine fishery is to be considered as marine, it being in fact an inlet of the sea. 3903. Pool-fishing is, in most parts, peculiar to the seats of men of fortune, and the country residences of minor gentlemen. Surrey and Berkshire are, perhaps, the only districts in which fish-pools are viewed as an object of rural economy. On every side of the metropolis, something of this kind is observable. But it is on the south side, in adjoining parts of Surrey and Sussex, where the practice offish-breeding may be said to be' established. There fish-pools have been, and still are, formed with the view of letting them to dealers in carp and other pond fish ; or of stocking them and disposing of the produce as an article of farm stock. In a general view of the kingdom, fish-pools can scarcely be considered as an object worthy of consideration, in the improvement of landed estates: yet there are situations in which they may be formed with profit; as in the dips and hollows of extremely bad ground ; especially if waters which are genial to any of the species of pond-fish happen to pass through them, or can be profitably led to them. Even where the water which can be commanded is of an inferior quality, a profitable breeding-pool may be formed to stock ponds of a more fattening nature. Feeding and fattening tisli for market is commonly practised in China, and no doubt might be prac- tised in England, with the same ease'as fattening pigs. In China, boiled rice, mixed up with the blood of animals, kitchen wash, or any greasy rich fluid of animal offal, is the food with which they are fed once or twice a day : they fatten quickly and profitably. 3904. The craufish, though most delicious eating, and a native of England, neither abounds in sufficient quantities to be brought to market nor is reared by individuals. It requires warm rich marshy lands, and a calcareous soil. 3935. The leech is an amphibious animal of the Molluscs order, common about some of the lakes in the north of England, as Keswick. Formerly considerable quantities used to be packed up and sent to London, and other places ; but the market is now chiefly supplied from the Continent. Uook II. SOILS FOR TREES. 633 Chap. IX. Plantations and Woodlands. 3906. Without trees, a landed estate may be very profitable, on account of its mines, waters, and farm lands ; but it will be without the noblest characteristic of territorial surface. It may possess the beauty of utility in a high degree, and especially to the owner ; but it will not be much admired by the public, nor contribute greatly to the ornament of the country — for what is a landscape without wood? It is not meant, however, that plantations of trees should be made on estates for the sake of ornament ; on the contrary, none need ever be made which shall not be at the same time useful, either from the products of the trees individually, or their collective influence on surrounding objects. 3907. Trees have been planted and cherished in all countties, and from the earliest ages ; but the formation of artificial plantations chiefly with a view to profit appears to have been first practised in Britain, about the end of the sixteenth century, when the insufficiency of the natural forests, which had hitherto supplied civilised society in Eng- land with timber and fuel, rendered planting a matter of necessity and profit. In the century succeeding, the improved practice of agriculture created a demand for hedges, and strips for shelter ; and the fashion of removing from castles in towns and villages to isolated dwellings surrounded by verdant scenery, led to the extensive employment of trees both as objects of distinction and value. For these combined purposes, planting is now universally practised on most descriptions of territorial surface, for objects principally relating to utility ; and, in all parks and grounds surrounding country residences, for the joint purposes of utility and beauty. It has often been suggested, that an agreement might be made between landlord and tenant, under which it would be the tenant's interest to plant trees upon suitable parts of his farm, of little value for other purposes, and to protect them when planted. This would not only promote the interests of both, but add much to the ornament of the country. We cannot but regret that some such plan is not devised and generally adopted. 3908. Woodlands are lands covered with wood by nature, and exist more or less on most extensive estates. Sometimes it is found desirable partially or wholly to remove them, and employ the soil in the growth of grass or corn ; at other times, their character is changed by art, from coppice or fuel woods, consisting of growths cut down periodically, to trees left to attain maturity for timber. 3909. In our view of the subject of trees, we shall include some remarks on improving and managing woodlands, which might have been referred to the two following books ; but, for the sake of unity, we prefer treating of every part of the subject together. The ornamental part of planting we consider as wholly belonging to gardening, and indeed the subject of timber trees may be considered as equally one of gardening and of agricul- ture, being the link by which they are inseparably connected. For a more extended view of the subject, therefore, we refer to our Encyclopedia of Gardening, and Encyclopaedia of Plants : in the former will be found all that relates to the culture of trees collectively ; in the latter, all that relates to their botanical character, history, uses, height, native country, and other subjects, with their individual propagation, soil, and culture. We shall here confine ourselves to the soils and situations proper for planting, the trees suitable for particular soils and situations, the operations of forming and managing artificial plant- ations, and the management of natural woods. Sect. I. Soils and Situations which may be most profitably employed in Timber Plantation. 3910. As a general principle of guidance in planting, it maybe laid down, that lands fit for the purposes of aration should not be covered with wood. Where particular pur- poses are to be obtained, as shelter, fencing, connection, concealment, or some other object, portions of such lands may require to be wooded ; but, in regard to profit, these portions will generally be less productive than if they were kept under grass or corn. The profits of planting do not depend on the absolute quantity of timber produced, but on that quantity relatively to the value of the soil for agricultural purposes. Suppose a piece of ground to let at '20s- per acre, for pasture or aration, to be planted at an expense of only 10/. per acre ; then, in order to return the rent, and 51. percent, for the money expended, it ought to yield 30s. a year ; but as the returns are not yearly, but say at the end of every fifteen years, when the whole may be cut down as a copse, then, the amount of 30s. per annum, at 51. per cent, compound interest, being 321. 8s., every fall of copse made at the interval of fifteen years ought to produce that sum per acre clear of all ex- penses. Hence, with a view to profit from the fall of timber, or copse wood, no situation capable of much agricultural improvement should be planted. SS4 PRACTICE OF AGRICULTURE. Part III. 391 1. The fittest tUnations for planting extensively are hilly, mountainous, and rocky surfaces; where both climate and surface preclude the hope of ever introducing the plough ; and where the shelter afforded by a hreadlh of wood will improve the adjoining farm lands, and the appearance of the country. Extensive moors and gravelly or sandy soils may often also he more profitably occupied by timber trees than hy any other crop, especially near a seaport, collieries, mines, or any other source of local demand. 3912. On all hilly and irregular surfacet various situations will be indicated by the lines of fences, roads, the situations of buildings, ponds, streams, &C, where a few trees, or a strip, or mass, or row, may be put in with advantage. We would not, however, advise the uniform mode of planting recommended by Pitt in his Survey of Staffordshire, and in The Code of Agricultures that of always having a round clump in the point of intersection of the fences of fields. This we conceive to be one of the most certain modes ever suggested of deforming the surface of a country by planting ; the natural character of the surface would be counteracted by it, and neither variety nor grandeur substituted; but a mono- tony of appearance almost as dull and appalling as a total want of wood. 3913. AVnr all buildings* few trees may in general be introduced ; carefully however avoiding gardens and rick-yards, or shading low buildings. In general fewest trees should be planted on the south-east side of cottages ; and most on their north-west side ; farms and farm buildings in very exposed situations (Jig. 588.), and also lines of cottages, may be surrounded or planted on the exposed side by considerable masses. 588 3914. Wherever shelter or shade is required, plantations are of the first consequence, whether as masses, strips, rows, groups, or scattered trees ; all these modes may occa- sionally be resorted to with advantage even in farm lands. 391 5. Wherever a soil cannot by any ordinary process be rendered fit for corn or grass, and will bear trees, it may be planted, as the only, or perhaps the best, mode of turning it to profit There are some tracts of thin stony or gravelly surfaces covered with moss, or very scantily with heath, and a few coarse grasses, which will pay for no improvement whatever, except sowing with the seeds of trees and bushes. These growing up will, after a series of years, form a vegetable soil on the surface. The larch, Scotch pine, birch, and a species of rough moorland willow (Salix) are the only woody plants fit for such soils. Those who have subjected to the plough old woodland, Sir Henry Steuart remarks, well know how " inconceivably even the poorest soils are meliorated by the droppings of trees, and particularly of the larch, for any considerable length of time, and the rich coat of vegetable mould which is thereby accumulated on the original surface." It would ap- pear indeed, that on certain surfaces the growth and decay of forests are the means adopted by nature for preparing the soil for the culture of corn ; as on certain other soils, a stock of nutritive matter is created by peat moss, or marsh, as on the barest rocks, the rudiments of a soil are formed by the growth and decay of lichens. 391fi. Wherever trees will pay better than any other crop, they will of course be planted. This does not occur often, but occasionally in the case of willows for baskets and hoops, which are often the most profitable crop on moist deep rich lands ; and ash for hoops and crate ware, on drier, but at the same time deep and good, soils. Sect. II. Trees suitable for different Soils, Situations, and Climates. 391 7. Every species of tree will grow in any soil, provided it be rendered sufficiently dry; but every tree, to bring its timber to the highest degree of perfection, requires to be planted in a particular description of soil, situation, and climate. The effects of soils on trees are very different, according to the kind of tree and the situation. A rich soil and low situation will cause some trees, as the larch and common pine, to grow so fast that their timber will be fit for little else than fuel ; and the oak, elm, &c., planted in a very elevated situation, whatever be the nature of the soil, will never attain a timber size. In general, as to soils, it may be observed that such as promote rapid growth, render the timber produced less durable, and the contrary; that such soils as are of the same quality for a considerable depth are best adapted, other circumstances being alike, for ramose-rooted trees, as the oak, chestnut, elm, ash, and most hard-wooded trees ; and that such soils as are thin, are only fit for spreading or horizontal-rooted trees, as the pine and fir tribe. Book II. FORMING PLANTATIONS. 635 3918. A natural succession in the kind of tree has been found to take place where natural forests have been destroyed. Evelyn noticed that, at Wooton, where goodly caks grew and were cut down by his grandfather 100 years before, beech succeeded, and that, when his brother had extirpated the beech, birch rose up. (Gard. Mag. vol. ill. p. 351.) In Dwight's Travels in Neiv England, a number of instances are given, in some of which the pine and fir tribe were succeeded by deciduous trees, and in others the reverse. Soulange-Bodin also, and some other French and German writers, have « bserved the same thing to take place on the continent of Europe, and use the fact as an argument for the introduction of exotic trees to succeed the natives. 3919. A table of soils and the trees suitable to them, which may be of some use, is given in The Agricultural Survey of Kent. It indicates the trees which grow naturally en a variety of soils and subsoils ; and, next, the sorts which yield most profit on such soils. Surface Soil. Subsoil. Common Growth. Planted Growth. Uses of. Heavy and gravel- Heavy loam with Birch, hornbeam, Oak, ash, chestnut, Timber, hop poles, ly loams. chalk. oak, ash, hazel, willow, lime, wal- cord wood, hurdles, beech, &c. nut. bavins for bakers, and lime-works. Sandy foams. Heavy loam. Ditto. Elm, beech, Wey- mouth pine, com- mon spruce. Ditto. Flinty strong loam. Heavy loam. Ditto. Willow and chest- nut. Timber, fencing, poles, and as above. Gravelly and sandy Gravelly loam. Ash, beech, oak, Chestnut, ash. Hop- poles, fencing- loams. hazel, &c. poles, and all as above. Gravelly, sandy, Heavy, gravelly, Ash, beech, horn- Ash, beech, larch, Timber, fencing, and flinty loams. flinty loam. beam, and oak. &c. hop-poles, cord- wood for charcoal, bavins, &c. Flinty, dry, poor Chalk at two feet Beech, oak, &c. Beech, larch, &c. Cordwood, bavins, gravelly loams. depth with gra- velly loam. and hop-poles. Flinty and gravelly Chalk 4 feet with Ash, oak, hazel, Ash, larch, &c. Cordwood, hop- loams. deep gravelly loam. &c. poles, bavins, stakes, ethers, &c. Ditto. With a few flints, Oak, hazel, beech, Chestnut, ash, and Hop-poles, fencing but nearly as and ash willow. poles, stakes, cord- above. wood, &C. Lightish black Dry sandy gravel Birch, elm, ash. Ash, elm, &c. Various uses in loam. husbandry. Flinty gravelly Strong loam with Oak, ash, beech, Ash, &c. Poles, bavins, cord- loams. flints. &c. wood, &c. Chalky, flinty, gra- Chalk, with some Ditto. Ditto. Ditto. velly loam. gravelly loam. Gravelly loam. Heavy flinty and Oak, ash, hazel, Ash, oak, &c. Common produce poor loam. and beech. a few poles, cord- wood, bavins, &C plantation many poles, and the above. Gravelly and Gravellv loam with Oak, ash, &c. Ash and chestnut. Poles, cordwood, chalky loams. chalk.' &c. Gravelly loam. Ditto. Ash, oak, & beech. Oak, larch. Ditto. Ditto. Gravelly loam and heavy loam. Ditto. Scotch pine. The same. .Sandy gravel. Gravelly and sandy Ditto, Scotch pine. Larch, chestnut, Poles, stakes, loam. &c. ethers, &c. &c. Stone, shatter, and Strong loam with Oak, hazel, birch, Birch, oak, &c. Oaken tillers, gravelly loam. ragstone. &c. small timber poles, &C. Fencing-poles, hop- Stone, shatter, and Gravelly loam with Oak, birch, aspen, Ash, chestnut, and gravelly loam. some stone. hazel, and ash. willow. poles, cordwood, &c. Hop poles, fence Gravelly loam. Gravelly loam with Oak. Chestnut some stones. poles, &c. Sandy loam. Gravelly loam. Birch, oak, horn- beam, &c. Chestnut, &c. Fence poles, hop- poles, &c. Sandy loam and Gravelly loam with Oak, beech, birch, Ditto. Ditto. stone shatter. ragstone hazel, ash. Gravelly loam and Deep loam, heavy Ditto. Ditto. Ditto. stone shatter. clay and gravel. Ditto. Gravelly loam. Ditto. Ditto. Ditto. Gravelly and sandy Strong clay and Oak, and ditto. Ash, larch, &c. Poles, fire-wood, loam. loam. &c as above. Gravelly loam Gravel with clay Scrubby oak, hazel, Oak, ash. Timber and ditto. flinty. and some flint. &c. Wet spongy land. Moist and boggy Alder, willow. Alder, osier, wil- Hurdles, hop-poles, earth. low, &c. &c. Drier ditto. Ditto more dry. Poplar. White poplar, wil- low. Scotch pine, silver fir. Sycamore. Hop-poles, &c. Light sandy loam. Dry gravelly earth. Mountain ash, ash. Hop- poles. Light gravelly With dry gravel. Ash. Timber-turnery, | loam. &c. g:)G PRACTICE OP A GIU CULTURE. Part III. S920. With reaped to climate, the trees which grow nearest the regions of perpetual snow are the birch, common pine, white beam, larch, mountain ash, and elder. A wanner zone is required for the sycamore and hornbeam; and still more for the beech, ash, elm, and maple. The exotic pines and lirs prefer dry sheltered dingles and ravines, not far up the sides of hills ; and the oak, chestnut, lime, poplars, tree willows, and a variety of American tries, will not thrive at any great elevation above the sea. The hardiest shore trees are the sycamore, beech, and elder ; but on sheltered shores, or such as are little subject to the sea-breeze, pines, firs, and most sorts of trees will thrive. The sort of product desired f mm planting, as whether shelter, effect, or timber, copse, bark, fuel, ,\r. :incl what kind- ol each, mual lie, to] moat cases, more attended to than the soil, and in many cases even than the 1'ituation. J he thriving ol trees and plants of every kind, indeed, depends much more on the quantit] ol available BOil, and its state in respect to water and climate, than on its constituent princi- ples. Moderately sheltered and on a dry subsoil, it signifies little, as far as growth is concerned, whether the Surface strata be a clayey, sandy, or calcareous lo.mi : all the principal trees will thrive nearly equally well in any ol these, SO circumstanced ; but no tree whatever in these or in any soil saturated with water, and in a bleak exposed site. The durability of the timber of different trees, produced under such circumstances, will also be very different. Kor durability, as already observed, it seems essential that every species of tree should be planted in its natural soil, situation, and climate. For hedge-row timber, those kinds which grow with lofty slcins, which draw their nourishment from the subsoil, and do least injury by their shade, are to be preferred. These, according to Blaikie, are oaks, narrow-leaved elm, and black Italian poplar ; beech, ash, pines, and firs, he says, are ruinous to fences, and otherwise injurious to farmers. {On Hedges and Hedgerow Timber, p. 10.) Sect. III. Forming Plantations. 3922. The formation of plantations includes the enclosing, the preparation of the soil, and the mode of planting or sow ing. 3923. The enclosing of plantations is too essential a part of their formation to require enlarging on. In all those of small extent, as hedges and strips, it is the principal part of the expense ; but to plant in these forms, or in any other, without enclosing, would be merely a waste of labour and property. The sole object of fencing being to exclude the domestic quadrupeds, it is obvious, that whatever in the given situation is calculated to effect this at the least expense, the first cost and future repairs or management being taken into consideration, must be the best. "Where stones abound on the spot, a wall is the best and cheapest of all fences as such ; but, in the great majority of cases, recourse is obliged to be had to a verdant fence of some sort, and generally to one of hawthorn. This being itself a plantation,, requires to be defended by some temporary barrier, till it arrives at maturity ; and here the remark just made will again apply, that whatever tempo- rary barrier is found cheapest in the given situation will be the best. Hedge fences are in general accompanied by an open drain, which, besides acting in its proper capacity, furnishes at its formation a quantity of soil to increase the nutriment of the hedge plants ; „ ... an excavation Wgi, (fg. 589. a), ,\ ■ is* e and an eleva- tion (f), to aid in the form- ation of a tem- porary fence. A hedge enclosing a plantation requires only to be guarded on the exterior side ; and of the various ways in which this is done, the following may be reckoned among the best and most generally applicable: — an open drain and paling, or line of posts and rails; the plants inserted in a facing of stone, backed by the earth of the drain (6), an excellent mode, as the plants generally thrive, and almost never require cleaning from weeds ; an open drain and paling, and the hedge on the top of the elevation (c) ; no open drain, but, the soil being a loam, the surface-turves formed into a narrow ridge, to serve as a paling, a temporary hedge of furze sown on its summit, and the permanent hedge of thorn or holly within (d); and an open drain, but on the inside, the exterior being protected by a steep bank sown with furze (c). The first of these modes is the most general, the second the best, and the fourth the cheapest, where timber is not abundant. Separation fences are commonly formed in the first, second, or third manner, but with a paling on both sides. (See Fences, Part II. Book IV.) 3924. In the preparation of tin- soil for planting, draining is the first operation. What- ever may be the nature of the soil, if the plants are intended to thrive, the subsoil ought to be rendered dry. Large open drains may be used, where the ground is not to undergo much preparation ; but where it is to be fallowed or trenched, under-drains become re- quisite. It is true they will in time be choaked up by the roots of the trees ; but by that period, as no more culture will be required, they may be opened and left open. Many situations, as steep sides of hills and rocky irregular surfaces, do not admit of preparing the soil by comminution previously to planting ; but wherever that can be done, either by trenching, digging, or a year's subjection to the plough, it will be found amply to repay Book II. FORMING PLANTATIONS. 637 the trouble. This is more especially requisite for strips for shelter, or hedge-rows, as the quick growth of the plants in these cases is a matter of the utmost consequence. The general mode of planting hedges by the side of an open drain renders preparation for them, in many cases, less necessary; but for strips of trees, wherever it is practicable, and there is at the same time no danger of the soil being washed away by rains or thaws, as in some chalky hilly districts, or blown about by the wind, as in some parts of Norfolk and other sandy tracts, preparation by a year's fallow, or by trenching two spits deep, cannot be omitted without real loss, by retarding the attainment of the object desired. Mr. Withers of Norfolk not only prepares poor light land by paring, and burning, and trenching, but even spreads on it marl and farmyard dung, as for a common agri- cultural crop ; and at the same time keeps the surface perfectly free from weeds by hoeing till the young trees have completely covered the ground. The progress that they make under this treatment is so extremely rapid, as apparently to justify, in an economical point of view, the extraordinary expenses that attend it. In three years, even oaks and other usually slow-growing forest trees have covered the land, making shoots of three feet in a season, and throwing out roots well qualified, by their number and length, to derive from the subsoil abundant nourishment, in proportion as the surface becomes exhausted. (Trans. Soc. for Encour. Arts, vol. xlv.) Cobbett (The Woodlands, 8vo. 1825.) recom- mends trenching the ground two feet deep at the least, keeping the old soil still at the top, unless there is plenty of manure, when, he says, the top soil may be laid in the bottom of the trench. There are instances stated, of promising oak plantations, from acorns dibbed into soil altogether unimproved, and of plantations of Scotch pine raised by merely scattering the seeds, without covering, on a heath or common, and excluding cattle (General Report of Scotland, ii. 269.) ; but these are rare cases, and the time required, and the instances of failure, are not mentioned. The practice is obviously too rude to be recommended as one of art. The best situations for planting, without any other culture but inserting the seeds or plants, are surfaces partially covered with low woody growths, as broom, furze, &c " The ground which is covered, or rather half covered, with juniper and heath," says Buftbn, " is already a wood half made." Gordon, Emmerich, Hayes, Speechly, Marshall, Cruikshank, and others, have shown that the most effectual method of raising oak plantations is by sowing patches of 3 or 4 acorns on dug spots, as far distant from one another as is to be the distance of the trees when half grown. The intermediate spaces, if not covered with furze, broom, or native copse, are to be planted with birch, larch, spruce, or Scotch pine. (See § 3923.) 3925. A controversy on the subject of the jyreparalion of the soil previously to planting, has lately arisen between Sir Henry Steuart, Sir Walter Scott, Mr. Withers, Mr. Bil- lington, and others, which it might be deemed improper to pass over here without notice. Scott contends, that preparing the soil accelerates the growth of the tree for a few years only, and, in as far as it has that effect, renders the timber of a less durable quality. Stuart admits the rapidity of the growth of timber on* soils which have been prepared, but seems to allow, with Scott, that the timber will be less durable. Withers and Bil- lington assert, that the preparation of the soil accelerates the growth of timber without impairing its durability ; and the former has cited some experiments to show that oak, which has grown on good soils and rapidly, has proved stronger than oak which had grown on worse soils slowly. The result of general experience, or what may be called the common sense of gardeners and foresters on this subject, seems to be this : — Pre- paration of the soil greatly increases the rapidity of the growth of trees, and it has not been found to lessen the strength of the timber produced ; on the contrary, oak, ash, willow, and poplar, when freely, or rapidly rather than slowly grown, seem to produce stronger timber, than when slowly and stintedly grown on poor soils. But strength and durability are properties that depend on different qualities of organisation, and it is gene- rally considered that slowly-grown timber is the most durable. We have, ourselves, no doubt of the fact, and more especially in the case of the resinous timbers. We have seen both larch and Scotch pine of a timber size, which had been rapidly grown in rich soil, and which, when cut down, had begun to decay in the heart. We would not, however, on that account cease to prepare the soil for resinous trees, as much as for the other kinds, where practicable ; but we would take care to plant resinous trees only on poor soils. We have reason to believe that these opinions on the preparation of the soil for trees, and the durability and strength of timber, are those of the practical men of the present day of greatest science and experience ; such, for example, as Sang, Gorrie, Main, Bil- lington, and Cruikshank; and therefore we consider them as more especially entitled to attention in a work like the present. 3926. Whether extensive plantations should be sown or planted is a question about which planters are at variance. Miller says, transplanted oaks will never arrive at the size of those raised where they are to remain from the acorn. (Diet- Quercus.) Marshal pre- fers sowing where the ground can be cultivated with the plough. (Plant and liar. Urn. i. 123.) Evelyn, Emmerich, and Speechly, are of the same opinion ; Pontey and Nicol 633 PRACTICE OF AGRICULTURE. Part III. practise planting, but offer no arguments against rowing where circumstances are suit- able. Sang says, " It is an opinion very generally entertained, that planted timber can never, in any case, be equal in durability and value to that which is sown. We certainly feel ourselves inclined to support this opinion, although we readily admit thai the matter has not been so fully established, from experiment, as to amount to positive proof. But although we have not met with decided evidence, to enable us to determine on the com- parative excellence of timber raised from seeds, without being replanted, over such as has been raised from replanted trees, we arc left in no doubt as to the preference, in re- spect of growth, of those tiees which are sown, over such as are planted." (Plaid. A'al. 43.) He particularly prefers this mode for raising extensive tracts of the Scotch pine and larch p. 430.), and is decidedly of opinion, " that every kind of forest tree will suc- ceed better by being reared from seeds in the place where it is to grow to maturity, than by being raised in any nursery whatever, and thence transplanted into the forest." (p. 344.) Dr. Yule (CaleiL Hort. Mem. ii.), in a long paper on trees, strongly recom- mends sowing where the trees are finally to remain. " It is," says he, " a well ascer- tained fact, that seedlings allowed to remain in their original station, will, in a few seasons, far overtop the common nursed plants several years older." 89K7. The a>inion «f Dr. Yule seems to be founded on the idea that the tap-root is of great importance to grown up trees, and that when this is once cut Off by transplanting, the plant has not a power of re- newing it. That the tap-root is of the utmost consequence for the first three or four yeirs, perhaps for a longer period, is obvious, from the economy of nature at that age of the plant ; but that it can be of no great consequence to full-grown trees, appears highly probable from the fact, that when such trees are cut down, the tap-root is seldom to be distinguished from the others. The opinion that young plants have not the power of renewing their tap root, will, we believe, be found inconsistent with fact ; and we may appeal to nurserymen, who raise the oak and horse-chestnut from seed. It is customary when these are sown in drills, to cut off their tap-roots without removing the plants at the end of the second year's growth, and when, at the end of the third or fourth year, they are taken up, they will be found to have acquired other tap-roots, not indeed so strong as the first would have been had they remained, but suf- ficient to establish the fact of the power of renewal. We may also refer to the experiment recorded by Forsyth, which at once proves that trees have a power of renewing their tap-roots, and the great ad- vantages from rutting down trees after two or three years' planting. Forsyth " transplanted a bed of oak. plants, cutting the taproots near to some of the side-roots or fibres springing from them. In the second year after, he headed one half of the plants down, and left the other half to nature. In the first season, those headed down made shoots six feet long and upwards, and completely covered the head of the old stem, leaving onlv a faint cicatrix, and produced new tap-roots upwards of two feet and a half long. That half of the plants that were not headed, were not one fourth the size of the others. One of the former is now eighteen feet high, and fifteen inches in circumference, at six inches from the ground : one of the largest of the latter measures only five feet and a half in height, and three inches and three quarters in circumference, at six inches from the ground." (TV. on Fruit Trees, 4to. edit. 144.) The pine and fir tribes receive most check by transplanting ; and when removed at the age of four or five years, they seldom arrive at trees afterwards ; those we should, on most occasions, prefer to sow, especially upon mountainous tracts. But for all trees which stole, and in tolerable soils and situations, planting strong plants, and cutting them down two or three years afterwards, will, we think, all circumstances considered, be found preferable to sowing. If we made an exception, it would be for the oak in poor soils, which we would raise from the acorn in Cruikshank's manner. Sir Henry Steuart (Planter's Guide, 2d edit, p 423 ) concurs in this opinion, with respect to deciduous trees, and considers that as the pine and fir tribes receive " the greatest check from transplanting ; and as, when planted at four and five years old, they do not readily grow to timber, it is clear that they should always be sowed, or at least planted, very young, in high and cold regions." 3928. On the subject of disposing the plants in plantations, there are different opinions ; some advising rows, others quincunx, but the greater number planting irregularly. According to Marshal, " the preference to be given to the row, or the random culture, rests in some measure upon the nature and situation of the land to be stocked with plants. Against steep hangs, where the plough cannot be conveniently used in cleaning and cultivating the interspaces, during the infancy of the wood, either method may be adopted ; and if plants are to be put in, the quincunx manner will be found preferable to any. But in more level situations, we cannot allow any liberty of choice : die drill or row manner is undoubtedly the most eligible." (Plant, and Ru>: Orn. p. 123.) Pontey considers it of much less consequence than most people imagine, whether trees are planted regularly or irregularly, as in either case the whole of the soil will be occupied by the roots and the surface by the shoots. Sang and Nicol only plant in rows where culture with the horse-hoe is to be adopted. In sowing for woods and copses, the former places the patches six feet asunder and in the quincunx order. " It has been demon- strated (Farmer's Mas,, vol. vii. p. 409.), that the closest order in which it is possible to place a number of points upon a plain surface, not nearer than a given distance from each other, is in the angles of hexagons with a plant in the centre of each hexagon." Hence it is argued, that this order of trees is the most economical ; as the same quantity of ground will contain a greater quantity of trees, by 15 percent, when planted in this form than in any other. (Gen. Rep. ii. 287.) It is almost needless to observe, that hedge plants should be placed at regular distances in the lines, and also the trees, when those are introduced in hedges. Osier plantations, and all such as like them require the soil to be dii" every year, or every two years, during their existence, should also be planted in regular rows. 3929. The distances at which the plants are placed must depend on different circum- stances, but chiefly on the situation and soil. Hook II. FORMING PLANTATIONS. 639 3930. Planting thick, according to Nicol, is the safer side to err on, because a number of plants will fail, and the superfluous ones can be easily removed by thinning. For bleak situations, he observes, from thirty to forty inches is a good medium, varying the distance according to circumstances. For less exposed situations, and where the soil is above six inches in depth, he recommends a distance of from four to five feet For belts, clumps, and strips of a diameter of about one hundred feet ; the margin to be planted about the distance of two feet, and the interior at three feet. In sheltered situations of a deep good soil, he recommends a distance of six feet and no more. [PracL Plant.) 3931. According to Sang, " the distances at which hard-timber trees ought to be planted are from six to ten feet, according to the quality of the soil, and the exposed or sheltered situation. When the first four oaks are planted, supposing them at right angles, and at nine feet apart, the interstices will fall to be filled up with five nurses, the whole standing at four feet and a half asunder. When sixteen oaks are planted, there will necessarily be thirty-three nurses planted ; and when thirty-six oaks are planted, eighty-five nurses; but when a hundred principal trees are planted in this manner, in a square of ten on the side, there will be two hundred and sixty-one nurse-plants required. The English acre would require five hun- dred and thirty-six oaks, and one thousand six hundred and ten nurses." {Plant. Kal. 163.) Pontey says, " in general cases, a distance of four feet is certainly close enough ; as at that space the trees may all remain till they become saleable as rails, spars," &c. 3932. The number of plants which may be planted on a statute acre =160 rods, or poles, = 4840 yards = 43560 feet, is as follows : — Feet apart. No. of Plants. 1 43,560 If 19,360 2 10,890 Oi -» 3 34 4 f 6,969 9 4,8+0 10 S,556 11 2,722 12 2,151 13 1,742 14 Feet apart No. of Plants. 6 1,210 7 8S9 8 680 537 435 360 30-2 257 ooo Feet apart No. of Plants. 15 193 16 170 17 150 18 134 19 120 20 log 25 69 30 48 3933. The size of the plants depends jointly on the site and the kind of tree ; it is universally allowed that none of the resinous tribe succeed well when removed at more than two years' growth ; but if the soil is of tolerable quality, prepared by digging or sum - mer pitting, and the site not bleak, plants of such hard woods as stole may be used whose stems are an inch or more in diameter. 3934. Nicol is of opinion, " That, generally, trees three, or at most four, years old from the seed, and which are from twelve to twenty-four inches high, will, in any situation or soil, outgrow those of any size under eight or ten feet, within the seventh year." (Pract. Plant. 130.) 3935. Sang observes, " the size of plants for exclusive plantations must, in some measure, depend on their kinds ; but it may be said, generally, that the plants being transplanted, they should be from a foot to eighteen inches in height, stiff in the stem and well rooted. Plants for this purpose should seldom be more than three years from the seed ; indeed never, if they have been raised in good soil. Many of them may be sufficiently large at two years from the seed ; and, if so, are to be preferred to those of a greater age, as they will consequently be more vigorous and healthy. The larch, if properly treated, will be very fit for planting out at two years of age A healthy seedling being removed from the seed-bed at the end of the first year, into good ground, will, by the end of the second, be a fitter plant for the forest, than one nursed a second year. The next best plant for the purpose is that which has stood two years in the seed, bed, and has been transplanted for one season. This is supposing it to have risen a weakly plant ; for, if the larch rise strong from the seed the first season, it should never stand a second in the seed-bed. The ash, the elm, and the sycamore, one year from the seed, nursed in good soil for a second season, will often prove sufficiently strong plants. If they be weakly, they may stand two years in the seed-bed ; and then, being nursed one season in good soil, will be very fit for planting out in the forest. The oak, the beech, and the chestnut, if raised in rich soil, and well furnished with roots at the end of the first year, and having been nursed in rows for two years, will be very fit to be planted out : but if they be allowed to stand two years in the seed-bed, and be planted one year in good ground, they will be still better, and the roots will be found well feathered with fine small fibres. The silver fir and common spruce should stand two years in the seed-bed. If transplanted into very good soil, they may be fit for being planted out at the end of the first year ; but, more generally, they require two years in the lines. The Scots pine should also stand for two years in the seed. bed, and should be nursed in good ground for one year; at the end of which they will be much fitter for being planted, than if they were allowed to stand a second year in the lines. They are very generally taken at once from the seed-bed ; and, in land bare of heath or herbage, they succeed pretty well ; nevertheless, we would prefer them one year nursed. The above are the hardy and most useful forest trees ; and from the observations made, whatever respects the age or size of other kinds may easily be inferred." (Plant. Kal. 158.) 3936. According to Pontey, " the best general rule is, to proportion the size of the plants to the good- ness of the soil ; the best of the latter requiring the largest of the former. Still, on bleak exposures, this rule will not hold good, as there the plants should never be large, for otherwise the greater part would fail from the circumstance of wind-waving, and, of those that succeeded, few, if any, would make much pro- gress for several years ; pines and firs of a foot, and deciduous trees of eighteen inches, are large enough for such places. As in extensive planting, soils which are good and well sheltered but seldom occur, the most useful sizes of plants, for general purposes, will be pines and firs of a foot, and deciduous trees of eighteen inches, both transplanted. None but good-rooted plants will succeed on a bad soil, while on a good one, sheltered, none but very bad-rooted plants will fail. A large plant never has so good a root, in proportion to its size, as a small one ; and hence we see the propriety of using such on good soils only. Small plants lose but few of their roots in removal ; therefore, though planted in very moderate-sized holes of pulverised earth, they soon find the means of making roots, in proportion to their heads. It should never be forgotten, that, in being removed, a plant of two feet loses a greater proportion of its roots than a tree of one, and one of three feet a greater proportion than one of two, and so on, in proportion to its former strength and height ; and thus, the larger the plants, so much greater is the degree of languor or weakness into which they are thrown by the operation of transplanting." {Prof. Plant. 161.) 3937. The seasons for 2}lanting are autumn and spring : the former, when the soil and situation are moderately good, and the plants large ; and the latter, for bleak situations. Necessity, however, is more frequently the guide here than choice, and in extensive designs the operation is generally performed in all moderately dry open weather from October to April inclusive. " In an extensive plantation," Sang observes, " it will hardly happen but there will be a variety of soil, some parts moist and heavy, and others dry and light. The lightest parts may be planted in December or January ; and the 840 PRACTICE OF AGRICULTURE. Part lit more moist, or damp part-., in February or March. Jt must be observed, however, that if the ground be not in a proper case lor planting, the operation lia advisable only in few cases, while spring planting may properly apply to all." 59 •'.'. According to Sang, the proper time for planting the pine and fir tribes, and all evergreens, is April, or even the tirst fortnight in May. " Attention should he paid, that no greater number of plants be lilted from the nursery than can be conveniently planted on the same day. Damp weather is the best. When very dry, and the plants rise destitute of earth at their roots, their roots should be dipped in mud (puddle) so as to be coated over by it. In all cases, care should be taken not to shake off any adhering earth from plants at the time of planting." (Plant. Kal. 341.) A puddle for trees is made by mixing water with any soil rather tenacious, so intimately as to form a complete puddle, so thick that when the plants are dipped into it, enough may remain upon the roots to cover them. The process of puddling is certainly simple, and its expense too trifling to deserve notice: its effects, however, in retaining, if not attracting, moisture are such that, by means of it, late planting is rendered abundantly more safe than it otherwise would be. It is an old invention, and hence it is truly astonishing that it is not more frequently practised. If people were to adopt it generally in spring planting, I'ontey believes the prejudice in favour of autumn practice would soon be done away. (Prof. Plant. 167.) 39U. Cobbett prefers spring planting. " It is a great error," he says, " to suppose that you gain time hy autumnal or winter planting. You do, indeed, see the buds come out a little more eany in the spring; but it is the effect at the end, and not at the beginning, of the summer, at which you ought to look. If you plant in the autumn or winter, the plants get blown about for several months, and, in very wet weather, their stems work a sort of hole round themselves; and thus the root itself is shaken ; and if left thus, they will, by March, be generaUy leaning on one side, with the hole open on the other side ; and when the harsh winds of March come u|x)n the long-time battered ground, it will present a surface nearly as hard as a road. In such a case, the ground ought to be dug or spaded up between the trees in March or in April ; for nothing can thrive well in ground thus baked, however good the ground may be in its nature." (The Woodlands, 44.) 3P42. Pruning previously to planting. If the plants have been brought from a distance, and the fibrous roots are dried up, they should all be cut off, because, like the leaves of a tree which has been taken up in the growing state and become withered, they have lost their vitality. The larger fibres, which are only dead at the points, should be shortened. The tap-root, also, should be shortened, perhaps in most cases two thirds of its length. Cobbett observes, and with truth, as far as our experience goes, that if the longest tap-roots " were put into the ground at full length with an iron bar, they would be sure to die all the way nearly up to the top." (Woodlands, 68.) Many trees, however, have no tap-roots, and these only require attention to the fibres. When the plants are newly taken up from the seed-bed, or nursery lines, they may be planted without cutting off the fibres ; because these will retain their vitality uninjured. 3943. The operation of inserting the plants in the soil is performed in various ways ; the most general mode, and that recommended hy Marshal and Nicol, is pitting ; in which two persons are employed, one to operate on the soil with the spade, and the other to insert the plant and hold it till the earth is put round it, and then press down the soil with the foot. Where the plants are three feet high or upwards, this is the hest mode ; hut for smaller plants modes have been adopted in which one person performs the whole operation. This method of planting by pitting is what Withers calls the Scotch system, but which Sir Henry Steuart lias shown (Planter s Guide, 'id edit. p. 468.) is not peculiar to Scotland, but is common in every country where trees are cultivated. 3944. Sang describes five kinds of manual operation employed by him in planting, and in part in sowing trees : by pitting ; by slitting simply, or by cross or T slitting ; by the dia- mond dibber ; by the planting-mattock ; and by the planter or ground adze. In filling an area with plants, he first plants those intended as the final trees, and afterwards the nurses ; or one set of operators plant the former, while another follow with the latter, unless the time for removing the nurses, as in the case of evergreen pines and firs, should be later than that for planting the principals. " The plants, if brought from a distance, should be shanghai, i. e. earthed in ; or they may be supplied daily from the nursery, as circumstances direct. All the people employed ought to be provided with thick aprons, in which to lap up the plants, the spadesmen, as well as the boys or girls; the latter being supplied by the former as occasion may require. All of them should regularly fill their aprons at one time, to prevent any of the plants being too long retained in any of the planters' aprons. One man cannot possibly set a plant so well with the spade, unless in the case of lai/ing, as two people can ; nor, supposing him to do it as well, can he plant half as many in the same space of time as two can. A boy ten years of age is equal, as a holder, to the best man on the field, and can be generally had for less than half the money. Hence this method is not only the best, but the least expensive." (Plant. /Cut. 167.) Ik II. FORMING PLANTATIONS. (M! 3945. By pitting. "The pit having been dug for several mouths, the surface will therefore he en. crusted by the rains, or probably covered with weeds. The man first strikes the spade downwards to the bottom, two or three times, in order to loosen the soil ; then poaches it as if mixing mortar for tr-e builder ; he next lifts out a spadeful of the earth, or, if necessary, two spadefuls, so as to make' room tor all the fibres, without their being anywise crowded together ; he then chops the rotten turf remaining m the bottom, and levels the whole. The boy now places the plant perfectly upright, an inch deeper than when it stood in the nursery, and holds it firm in that position. The man trinities in the mould gently ■ the boy gently moves the plant, not from side to side, but upwards and downwards, until the fibres be covered. The man then fills in all the remaining mould ; and immediately proceeds to chop and poach the next pit, leaving the boy to set the plant upright, and to tread the mould about it. This in stiff wet soil he does lightly ; but in sandy or gravelly soil he continues to tread until the soil no longer retains the impression of his foot. The man has by this time got the pit ready for the next plant, the boy is also ready with it in his hand, and in this manner the operation goes on. On very steep hangs which have been pitted, the following rule ought to be observed in planting : — To place the plant in the angle formed by the acclivity and surface of the pit ; and in finishing, to raise the outer margin of the pit highest, whereby the plant will be made to stand as if on level ground, and the moisture be retained in the hollow of the angle, evidently to its advantage." (Plant. Kal. 167.) 3946. Sir Henry Steuart states that the pitting system, as already practised bv most nations, though by some ignorantly and erroneously designated the Scotch method, if duly regulated by science, must be the best method for the planting of waste lands, or, in general, for large designs of wood, where the quality of timber is the main object ; although particular spots, in all extensive woodlands, might be advantageously trenched and manured under peculiar circumstances. (Planter's Guide, 2d edit. p. 479.) *3947. The slit method, either simply or by the T method, is not recommended by Sang ; but necessity may justify its adoption occasionally. " We would not recommend planting by the slit, unless where there is no more soil than is absolutely occupied by the fibres of the herbage which grows on the place. Except on turf, it cannot be performed; nor should it be practised, if the turf be found three or four inches thick. By pitting in summer, turf is capable of being converted into a proper mould in the space of a few months ; and the expense of pitting, especially in small plantations, can never counterbalance the risk of success in the eyes of an ardent planter. The most proper time to perform the operation of slitting in the plants is when the surface is in a moist state. On all steeps the plant should be placed towards the declivity, that the moisture may fall to its roots; that is to say, in planting, the spadesman should stand highest, and the boy lowest on the bank, by which arrangement the plant will be inserted at the lower angle of the slit." (Plant. Kal. 170.) 3948. Planting with the diamond dibber, he says, " is the cheapest and most expeditious planting of any we yet know, in cases where the soil is a sand or gravel, and the surface bare of herbage. The plate of the dibber (fig.590. a) is made of good steel, and is four inches and a half broad where the iron handle is welded to it ; each of the other two sides of the triangle is five inches long ; the thickness of the plate is one fifth part of an inch, made thinner from the middle to the sides, till the edges become sharp. The length of the iron handle is seven inches, and so strong as not to bend in working, which will require six eighths of an inch square. The iron handle is furnished with a turned hilt, like the handle of a large gimlet, both in its form and manner of being fixed on. The planter is furnished with a planting-bag, tied round his waist, in which he carries the plants. A stroke is given with the dibber, a little aslant' the point lying inwards; the handle of the dibber is then drawn towards the person, while its plate remains within the ground : by this means a vacuity is formed between the back of the dibber and the ground, into which the planter, with his other hand, introduces the loots of the seedling plants, being careful to put them fully to the bottom of the opening : he then pulls out the dibber, so as not to displace them, and gives the eased turf a smart stroke with the heel ; and thus is the plant completely firmed. The greatest error the planter with this instrument can run into, is the imperfect introduction of the roots. Green or unpractised hands are apt to double the roots, or sometimes to lay them across the opening, instead of putting them straight down, as above directed. A careful man, however, will become, if not a speedy, at least a good planter in one day ; and it is of more importance that he be sure than quick. A careless or slovenly person should never be allowed to handle a dibber of this kind." 3949. Planting with the planting-mattock (fig. 590. b) is resorted to in rocky or other spots where pitting is impracticable. " The helve or handle 5yO j s three feet six inches long ; the moulh is five inches broad, and is made sharp ; the length from it to the eye, or helve, is sixteen inches ; and it is used to pare otf'the sward, heath, or other brush that may happen to be in the way, previously to easing the soil with the other end'. The small end tapers from the eye, ami terminates in a point, and is seventeen inches long." By this instrument the surface is skimmed off" for s;x or eight inches in diameter, and with the pick- end dug down six or eight inches deep, bringing up any loose stones to the sur- face ; by which means a place will be prepared for the reception of the plant, little inferior to a pit. Tins instrument may be used in many cases, when the plants to be planted are of small size, such as one-year larch seed, lings, one year nursed ; or two-year Scots pines, one year nursed ; and the expense is much less than bv the spade." (Plant. Kal. 385.) *.i9.">0. Planting with the forest-planter or ground adze (fig. 590. c). " The helve is sixteen inches long, the mouth is four inches and a half broad, and the length of the head is fourteen inches. The instrument is used in planting hilly ground, previously prepared bv the hand-mattock. The person who performs the work carries the plants in a close apron ; digs out the earth sufficiently to hold the roots of the plant ; and sets and firms it without help from another : it is only useful when small plants are used, and in hilly or rocky situations." (Plant. Kal. pref. xxiv.) 3951. Pontey prefers planting by pilling, in general cases, the holes being made during the preceding summer or winter, sufficiently large, but not so deep into a reten- tive subsoil as to render them a receptacle for water. When the plants have been brought from a distance, he strongly recommends puddling them previously to planting ; if they seem very much dried, it would be still better to lay them in the ground for eight or ten days, giving them a good soaking of water every second or third day, in order to restore their vegetable powers; for it well deserves notice, that a degree of moisture in soil sufficient to support a plant recently or immediately taken from the nursery, would, in the case of dry ones, prove so far insufficient, that most of them would die in it. Thc- Tt PRACTICE OF AGRICULTURE. Part III. puddling here recommended may also be of great service in all cases <>t' late planting where small plants are used : Pontey's method is [after puddling) to tic them in bundles of two or three hundreds each; and thus send them, by a cart-load at once, to their destination ; where, being set upright close to each other, and a little straw carefully applied to their out-ides, such bundles may remain without damage in a sheltered situa- tion for any reasonable time necessary to plant them. Where loose soil happens to be convenient, that should be Substituted in the place of straw. 8952, Pontey's methods of planting are in general the same as those of Sang: lie uses a mattock and planter of similar shape; and also a two or three pronged instrument, which we have elsewhere denominated the planter's hack. (Enq/c. of G aril. $ 1305.) " This in- strument," he says, " has been introduced of late years as an improvement on the mattock and planter, being better adapted to soils full of roots, stones, &c. ; it is likewise easier to work, as it penetrates to an equal depth with a stroke less violent than the for- mer : it is also less subject to be clogged up by a wet or tenacious soil. The length of tlie prongs should be about eight inches, and the distances between them, when with three prongs, one and a half, and with two prongs, about two inches: the two-pronged hack should be made somewhat stronger than the other, it being chiefly intended for very stony lands, or where the soil wants breaking, in order to separate it from the herbage, &c. These tools are chiefly applicable to plants of any size up to about two feet, or such as are generally used for great designs, and they are used as substitutes for the spade, in the following manner : — The planter being provided with a basket holding the plants re- quired (the holes being supposed prepared, and the earth left in them), he takes a tree in one hand, and the tool in the other, which he strikes into the hole, and then pulls the earth towards him, so as to make a hole large enough to hold all its roots; he then puts in the plant with the other, and pushes the earth to its roots with the back of the planter; after which, he fixes the plant, and levels the soil at the same instant with his foot, so that the operation is performed by one person, with a degree of neatness and expedition which no one can attain to who uses the spade. It is known to all planters, that but few labourers ever learn to plant well and expeditiously in the common method, without an assistant ; this method, however, requires neither help nor dexterity, as any labourer of common sagacity, or boy of fifteen, or even a woman, may learn to perform it well in less than half an hour. The facility with which these tools will break clods, clear the holes of stones, or separate the soil from herbage, the roots of heath, &c. (the former being previously mellowed by the frost), may be easily imagined." {Prof. Plant. 173.) The adoption of a small mattock for inserting plants, we recollect to have seen recommended in a tract on planting in the Highlands, by M'Laurin, a nurseryman, published at Edinburgh upwards of twenty years ago. 3953. Jin expeditious mode, of slit-planting is described in the General Report of Scot- land, as having been practised for many years on the duke of Montrose's estate. It is as follows: " The operator, with his spade, makes three cuts, twelve or fifteen inches long, crossing each other in the centre, at an angle of sixty degrees, the whole 591 having the form of a star, (fg- 591.) He inserts his spade across one of the rays (a), a few inches from the centre, and on the side next himself; then bending the handle towards himself, and almost to the ground, the earth opening in fissures from the centre in the direction of the cuts which had been made, he, at the same instant, inserts his plant at the point where the spade intersected the ray (a), pushing it forward to the centre, and assisting the roots in rambling through the fissures. He then lets down the earth by removing his spade, having pressed it into a compact state with his heel ; the operation is finished by adding a little earth, with the grass side down, completely covering the fissures, for the purpose of retaining the moisture at the root and likewise as a top-dressing, which greatly encourages the plant to push fresh roots between the swards.'' (Vol. ii. p. 283.) 3954. The transplantation of large trees is a subject more properly belonging to landscape-gardening than to agriculture ; but it may not he improper shortly to notice the principles of the practice in this place. As the stability of a large tree depends in a great measure on its ramose roots extending themselves on every side, as a base to the super- structure, so, in preparing the tree for removal, these roots should be cut at as great a distance from the stem as can conveniently be accomplished. As the nourishment drawn up by a tree depends on the number of its fibrous roots, it is desirable, a year or two before removal, to concentrate these fibres, by limiting their production to such ramose roots as can be removed with the tree. Cut a circular trench, therefore, round the tree to be removed, at a greater or less distance, according to the size of the tree, and the exposnire in which it, is to be planted. Remove the earth from this trench, and also a good part of that which covers the roots which remain between the trench and the trunk. Substitute well pulverised rich soil ; or mix the better part of what was taken out of the trench and off the surface with rich soil ; replace it, and press the Book II. FORMING PLANTATIONS. <;<•* whole firmly down. Let the tree remain two years, or three it' very remove it, and carefully plant it where it is finally to remain. 3955. SirHenrySteuart, who has had much experi- ence in removing large trees, and who thinks that he has discovered a new theory or principle for doing so, recommends that no branches should be pruned from the head; and that to prevent the tree from being blown over by the wind, its position rela- tively to the prevailing wind of the locality should be reversed. The principle of not reducing the head in the same proportion as the roots may be reduced, was hinted at by Miller, but has been first systematically defended by Sir Henry Steuart. Experienced planters agree, that nothing ought to be cut from the head of a beech tree when it is removed; but they do not seem willing to con- cede to Sir Henry's theory, so far as it respects most other ramose trees. We are inclined to think that he may be right with respect to resinous trees, the beech, and perhaps one or two others ; but that, as a general principle, whether in young trees or old, the top must be lightened more or less in proportion to the roots. When the tree has made a stock of fresh roots, and become firmly established in the soil, if an extraordinary exertion in its growth be then wanted, it may either be cut in or pruned severely, or cut down lo the ground ; and in either case, if it be a tree that stools, it will throw out vigorous shoots. 395G. The principle of reversing the position of the tree relatively to the wind, appears to be good ; since, the broader the base of the head of the tree relatively to its height, the more obliquely will it receive the impulse of the wind. Those trees are fittest for being transplanted, which have grown in free open situations j because in them the bark is thick and coarse to resist the cold; the stems stout and short, and the head extensive with the lower branches spreading, to resist the wind. 3957. The machine for transplanting large trees adopted by Sir Henry Steuart, is an improvement of one which has been very long in general use. It consists of a pole {fig. 592. a a) 15 feet long, attached to an axle and a pair of wheels, on which is placed a block (6), which may be of any convenient height, with a pillow (c), and two rings for attaching the draught chains (d). It is easy to conceive the application of this pole, axle, and wheels, to a large tree, and its removal by men or horses to its intended desti- nation (fig. 595). {Planter's Guide, sect. viii. SM edit.) , and then 592 Tt 2 i. ii PRACTICE OF AGRICULTURE. Part III. Sect. IV. Mixture of Trees in Plantations, fiO.^s. The otgeci of mixing irc-s in plantations is threefold : thai of sheltering the «cakcr but ultimately more valuable kinds by the stronger and hardier; that of drawing as much profit from the soil as possible; and that of producing variety of appearance. S959. With respect to shelter, many situations are so exposed, thai it is extremely diffi- cult to rear trees without some mode of protecting them from the cold winds of spring during their early growth. This is sometimes done by walls, the extent of whose influ- ence, however, is hut very limited; by thick planting; or by planting the more hardy and rapid-growing species, to nurse up and protect such as are more tender, but ultimately more valuable. The proportion of nurses to principals is increased according to the bleakness of the site: Pontey says, " Both authors and planters are in the habit of err- ing egregiously, in regard to the proportion of principals and nurses, as they generally use as many or more of the former than the latter, though it is very easy to show, that they ought to use three times as many of the latter as the former. For instance, when trees are planted at four feet apart, each occupies a surface of sixteen feet; of course, four of them will occupy sixty-four, or a square of eight feet; and, therefore, if we plant three nurses to one principal tree, all the former might be displaced gradually, and the latter would still stand only eight feet apart." 3960. Nurse plants should, in every possible rase, be such as are most valued at an early period of growth. The larch and spruce fir should be used liberally, in every case where they will grow freely; still it is not intended the\ should exclude all others, more particularly the birch, which has most of the properties of a good nurse, such as numerous branches and quick growth, on any tolerable soil or situation. It is not, however, like the others, a wood of general application. (Profitable Planter, p. 113.) Sang also adopts the proportion of three nurses to one principal, and employs chiefly the resinous tribe, and looks to them for reimbursement till the hard timber has attained to a foot in diameter, under which size hard timber is seldom of much value Hie principals are planted at from six to ten feet apart, according to the soil and situation. (Plant. Kal. p. 166 3961. //' procuring shelter, muck depends on the mode of commencing anil continuing plantations on bleak sites. Sang, who has had extensive experience in this part of planting, observes, that " i rerj plain, and most fields and situations for planting in this country, have what may be called a windward side, which is more exposed to the destructive blast than any other. It is of great importance to be apprised of this circumstance, and to be able to fix upon the most exposed side of the proposed forest plantation. l'"ix, then, upon the windward side of the space which is to be converted into a forest, mark off a horizontal stripe or belt, at least a hundred yards in breadth. Let this portion of ground lie planted thick, say at the distance of thirty inches, or at the most three feet, with a mixture of larch, sycamore, and elder, in equal quantities or nearly so, if the soil be adapted for rearing these ; but if ii lie better adapted for Scots pines, then let it be planted with them at the distances prescribed for the above mixture We have no other kinds that will thrive better, or rise more quickly in bleak situations, than those just mentioned. When the trees in this belt or zone have risen to the height oi two feet, such hard-wood trees as are intended ultimately to fill the ground should be introduced, at the distance of eight or ten feet from each other, as circumstances may admit. At this period or perhaps a year or two afterwards, according to the bleak or exposed situation of the grounds, let another parallel belt or zone, of nearly equal breadth, be added to the one already so far grown up, and so on, till the whole grounds be covered. It is not easy here to determine on the exact breadth of the subsequent belt or zones; this matter must be regulated by the degree of exposure ot the grounds, bv the shelter afforded by the zone previously planted, and by such like circumstances." Plant, Kal. p '-! 1 In situations exposed to the sea breeze a similar plan may be successfully followed, and aided in effect by beginning with a wall; the first zone having reached the height of the wall, plant a si cond, a third, and fourth, and so on till you cover the whole tract to be wooded. In this way the plantations on tiie east coast of Mid Lothian, round Gosford House, were reared ; in Sang's manner, the mountains of Blair and Dunkeld were clothed ; and examples, we are informed, might be drawn from the Orkney anil Shetland Islands. 3963. The practice of 7nlmig trees, with a view to drawing as much nourishment from the soil as possible, and giving, as it used to be said, more chances of success, was till very lately <*enerally approved of. Marshal advises mixing the ash with the oak; be- cause the latter draws its nourishment chiefly from the subsoil, and the former from the surface. Nicol is an advocate for indiscriminate mixture (Practical Planter, p. 77.), and Pontey says, " Both reason and experience will fully warrant the conclusion, that the greatest possible quantity of timber is to be obtained by planting mixtures." {Prof. Planter, p. 119.) " We are clearly of opinion," says Sang, "that the best method is to plant each sort in distinct masses or groups, provided the situation and quality of the soil be properly kept in view. There has hitherto been too much random work carried on with respect to the mixture of different kinds. A longer practice, and more ex- perience, will discover better methods in any science. That of planting is now widely- extended, and improvements in all its branches are introduced. We, therefore, having abetter knowledge of soils, perhaps, than our forefathers had, can with greater certainty assign to each tree its proper station. We can, perhaps, at sight, decide that here the oak will grow to perfection, there the ash, and here again the beech ; and the same with respect to the others. If, however, there happen to be a piece of land of such a quality, that it may be said to be equally adapted for the oak, the walnut, or the Spanish chestnut, it will be proper tO place SUCfa in it, in a mixed way, as the principals ; because each sort will extract its own proper nourishment, and will have an enlarged range of pastur- age for its roots, and consequently may make better timber trees. " Book II. INFLUENCE OF CULTURE ON TREES. 645 396+. Cobbetl, who, though bv no means a scientific cultivator, has in general very sound practical views is decidedly in favour of planting in masses ; and would have all the trees not only of one and the same sort, but of the same size and height. (Woodlands, \ 85.) 3965. By indiscriminately mixing different kinds of hard wood plants in a plantation, there is hardly a doubt that the ground will be fully cropped with one kind or other; yet it very often happens, in cases when the soil is evidently well adapted to the most valuable sorts, as the oak perhaps, that there is hardly one oak in the ground for a hundred that ought to have been planted. We have known this imperfection in several instances severely felt. It not unfrequently happens, too, that even what oaks or other hard- wood trees are to be met with, are overtopped by less valuable kinds, or perhaps such, all things considered, as hardly deserve a place. Such evils may be prevented by planting with attention to the soil, and in distinct masses. In these masses are insured a full crop, by being properly nursed for a time with kinds more hardy, or which afford more shelter than such hard-wood plants. There is no rule by which to fix the size or extent of anv of these masses. Indeed, the more various they are made in size, the better will they, when grown up, please the eye of a person of taste. They may be extended from one acre to fifty or a hundred acres, according to the circumstances of soil and situation : their shapes will accordingly be as various as their dimensions. In the same manner ought all the resinous kinds to be planted, which are intended for timber trees ; nor should these be intermixed with any other sort, but be in distinct masses by themselves. The massing of larch, the pine, and the fir of all sorts, is the least laborious and surest means of growing good, straight, and clean timber. It is by planting or rather by sowing them in masses, by placing them thick, bv a timely pruning and gradual thinning, that we can with certainty at'ain this object. (Plant. Kal. 162 and 166.) Our opinion is in perfect consonance with that of Sang, and for the same reasons ; and we may add, as an additional one, that in the most vigorous natural forests one species of tree will generally be found occupying almost exclusively one soil and situation, while, in forests less vigorous, on inferior and watery soils, mixtures of sorts are more prevalent. This may be observed by comparing New Forest with the natural woods round Lochlomond, and it is very strikingly exemplified in the great forests of Poland and Russia. 3966. With respect to the appearance of variety., supposed to be produced by mixing a number of species of trees together in the same plantation, we deny that variety is pro- duced. Wherever there is variety, there must be some marked feature in one place, to distinguish it from another ; but in a mixed plantation the appearance is every where the same ; and ten square yards at any one part of it will give nearly the same number and kinds of trees as ten square yards at any other part. " There is more variety," Repton observes, " in passing from a grove of oaks to a grove of firs, than in passing through a wood composed of a hundred different species, as they are usually mixed together. By this indiscriminate mixture of every kind of tree in planting, all variety is destroyed by the excess of variety, whether it is adopted in belts, clumps, or more extensive masses. For example, if ten clumps be composed of ten different sorts of trees in each, they become so many things exactly similar ; but if each clump consists of the same sort of tree, they become ten different things, of which one may hereafter furnish a group of oaks, another of elms, another of chestnuts or of thorns, &c. In like manner, in the modern belt, the recurrence and monotony of the same mixture of trees of all the different kinds, through a long drive, make it the more tedious, in proportion as it is long. In part of the drive at Woburn, evergreens alone prevail, which is a cir- cumstance of grandeur, of variety, of novelty, and, I may add, of winter comfort, that 1 never saw adopted in any other place, on so magnificent a scale. The contrast of passing from a wood of deciduous trees to a wood of evergreens must be felt by the most heed- less observer ; and the same sort of pleasure, though in a weaker degree, would be felt, in the course of a drive, if the trees of different kinds were collected in small groups or masses by themselves, instead of being blended indiscriminately." {Enquiry into Changes of Taste, %c. p. 23.) 3967 Sir William Chambers and Price agree in recommending the imitation of natural forests in the arrangement of the species. In these, Nature disseminates her plants by scattering their seeds, and the offspring rise round the parent in masses or breadths, depending on a variety or circumstances, but chiefly on the facility which these seeds afford for being carried to a distance by the wind, the rain, and by birds or other animals. At last that species which had enjoyed a maximum of natural advantages is found to prevail as far as this maximum extended, stretching along in masses and irregular portions of surface, till circumstances changing in favour of some other species, that takes the precedence in its turn. In this way it will be generally found, that the number of species, and the extent and style ot the masses in which they prevail, bear a strict analogy to the changes of soil and surface; and this holds good, not only with respect to trees and shrubs, but to'plants, grasses, and even mosses. Sect. V. Culture of Plantations. 3968. A tree, when once planted, most men consider to be done with ; though, as every one knows, the progress and products of trees, like those of other plants, may be greatly increased or modified by cultivating the soil, by pruning, and by thinning. Before pro- ceeding to these subjects, we shall submit some remarks on the influence of culture on the progress of the growth of trees, and on the strength and durability of timber. Subsect. 1. General Influence of Culture on Trees. 3969. The effect of cidture on herbaceous vegetables is so great, as always to change their appearance, and often, in a considerable degree, to alter their nature. 'I he common culinary vegetables, and cultivated grasses, assume so different an appearance in our fields and gardens, from what they do in a state of wild nature, that even a botanist might easily be deceived in regard to the species. The same general laws operate upon the whole kingdom of vegetables ; and thence it is plain, that the effects of culture on trees, though different in degree, must be analogous in their nature. (Treatise on Country T t 3 646 PRACTICE OF AGRICULTURE. Part III. Raid. v.>l ii.) In the same manner, the absence o£ culture, or the removing of the resetable to a colder climate and ■ worse soil, tends to contract or consolidate the parts of the plant. (Planter t Guide.) >. The effect of culture on woody plants is similar to that on culinary vegetables and cultivated grasses; but the law operates of course less rapidly, owing to the less rapid growth of trees, from the lowest hush to the oak of the forest. In all of these, the cul- ture Of the soil tends to accelerate vegetation, and, by consequence, to expand the fibre of the wood. It necessarily renders it softer, less solid, and more liahle to sutler by the action of the elements. 397 1 . The effect of culture on the ligneous plants in common use in planting and gar- d rung is readily exemplified. Every forester is aware how much easier it is to cut over thorns or furze trained in hedges, than such as grow naturally wild, and are exempt from culture. Gardeners experience the same thing in pruning or cutting over fruit trees, or shrubs; and the difference in the texture of the raspberry, in its wild and in its cultivated state, is as remarkable; for, although the stem, in the latter case, is nearly double the thickness to which it attains in the former, it is much more easily cut. On comparing the common crab, the father of our orchards, with the cultivated apple, the greater softness of the wood of the latter will be found not less striking to every arbori- culturist. The common oak in Italy and Spain, where it grows faster than in Britain, is ascertained to be of shorter duration in those countries. In the same way, the oak in the highland mountains of Scotland or Wales is of a much harder and closer grain, and therefore more durable, than what is found in England; though on such mountains it seldom rises to the fifth part or less of the English tree. Every carpenter in Scotland knows the extraordinary difference between the durability of Highland oak, and oak usually imported from England, for the spokes of w heels. Every extensive timber dealer is aware of the superior hardness of oak raised in Cumberland and Yorkshire, over that of Monmouthshire and Herefordshire ; and such a dealer, in selecting trees in the same woods in any district, will always give the preference to oak of slow growth, and found on cold and clayey soils, and to ash on rocky cliffs, which he knows to be the soils and climates natural to both. If he take a cubic foot of park-oak, and another of forest- oak, and weigh the one against the other, (or if he do the like with ash and elm of the same descriptions,) the latter will uniformly turn out the heavier of the two. The Scotch pine does not stand longer than forty or fifty years on the rich and fertile land in both England and Scotland, where it is often planted, and where it rushes up with extraordi- nary rapidity. In the northern districts of Scotland, on the other hand, the difference between park pine and Highland pine is universally known and admitted, and the supe- riority of the latter is proved by its existence in buildings of great antiquity, where it is still found in a sound state; a difference which can be ascribed to no other cause than the mountainous situations (that is, the natural state) in which the former timber is pro- duced, and where, the trees being of slower growth, the wood is consequently of a harder texture. A friend of Sir Henry Steuart's felled some larch trees, which had grown nearly fifty years in a deep rich loam, close to some cottages and cabbage gardens. The wood was soft and porous, and of no duration ; it was even found to burn as tolerable fire- wood, which larch of superior quality is never known to do. (TV. on Coun. Bes., and Planters Guide.) .... , 3972. The general effect of pruning is to increase the quantity of timber produce. The particular^manner in which it does this is by directing the greater part of the sap, which generally spreads itself in side-branches, into the principal stem. This must consequently enlarge that stem in a more than ordinary degree, by increasing the annual circles of the wood. Now, if the tree be in a worse soil and climate than those which are natural to it, this will be of some advantage, as the extra increase of timber will still be of a quality not inferior to what would take place in its natural state ; or, in other words, it will'correspond with that degree of quality and quantity of timber, which the nature and species of the tree admit of being produced. If the tree be in its natural state, the annual increase of timber, occasioned by pruning, must necessanly injure its quality, in a degree corresponding with the increased quantity. If the tree be in a better climate and soil than that which is natural to it, and, at the same time, the annual increase of wood be promoted by pruning, it is evident that such wood must be of a very different quality from that produced in its natural state (that is, very inferior). "Whatever, there- fore, tends to increase the wood in a greater degree than what is natural to the species, when in its natural state, must injure the quality of the timber. Pruning tends to increase this in a considerable degree, and, therefore, it must be a pernicious practice, in as far as it is used in these cases. Pruning is not here considered in regard to eradicating dis- eases, preventing injuries, or increasing the natural character and tendency of trees : for those purposes it is of great advantage. Mr. Knight has shown, in a very striking manner, that timber is produced, or rather, that the alburnum or sapwood is rendered ligneous, by the motion of the tree, during the descent of the true (or proper) sap. It Book II. CULTURE OF THE SOIL AMONG TREES. 647 is also sufficiently known to all who have attended to the physiology of vegetables, and is o-reatly confirmed by some experiments laid before the Royal Society {Pkil. Trans. 1803, 1804), that the solid texture of the wood greatly depends upon the quantity of sap which must necessarily descend, and also on the slowness of its descent. Now, both these requisites are materially increased by side branches, which retain a large quantity of sap, and by their junction with the stem occasion a contraction, and twisted direction of the vessels," which obstructs the progress of the (proper) juice. That this is true, in fact, is well known to those accustomed to make wine from maple and birch trees ; for in this business it is found, that those trees which have fewest side branches bleed more freely than the others, but during a much shorter space of time. These lunts, therefore, afford additional evidence against pruning, and particularly against pruning fir-trees ; which, as Mr. Knight justly observes, have larger vessels than the others, and, therefore, when in an improved soil and climate, side branches, for the purposes above mentioned, are essentially necessary to them, if solid, resinous, and durable timber be the object in view. (Sir Henri/ Steuart's Planters Guide, p. 444.) 3973. Sir Henri/ Steuart, concurring in these facts and observations, deduces the fol- low ing practical conclusions respecting the influence of culture : — 397+ First ■ that all timber trees thrive best, and produce wood of the best quality, when growing in soils and climates most natural to the species. It should, therefore, be the anxious study ot the planter, to ascertain and become well acquainted with these, and to raise trees, as much as possible, in such soils and climates. , , - . . 3975. Secondly ; that trees mav be said to be in their natural state, when they have sprung up fortui- tously, and propagated themselves without aid from man, whether it be in aboriginal forests, ancient woodlands, commons, or the like. '1 hat in such trees, whatever tends to increase the wood, in a greater degree than accords with the species when in its natural state, must injure the quality ot the timber. 3976. Thirdly; that whatever tends to increase the growth of trees, tends to expand their vegetable fibre. That when that takes place, or when the annual circles of the wood are soft, and longer than the general annual increase of the tree should warrant, then the timber must be less hard and dense, and more liable to suffer from the action of the elements. 3977. Fourthly; that a certain slowness of growth is essentially necessary to the closeness of texture and durability of all timber, but especially of the oak ; and that, whenever the growth of that wood is unduly accelerated bv culture of the soil (such as by trenching and manuring , or by undue superiority of climate, it will be injured in quality in the precise ratio in which those agents have been employed 3978 Fifthly ■ that, as it is extremely important for the success of trees, to possess a certain degree of vigour in the outset, or to be what is technically called, " well set off," the aid of culture is not in every case to be precluded, by a consideration of the general rule. That if trees be in a soil and climate worse than those that are natural to them, then culture will be of some advantage ; as the extra increase of wood will be of a quality not inferior to what, in its natural state, it would obtain ; or, in other words^, it will correspond with that degree of quality and quantity of timber, which the nature of the species admits of being obtained : but culture in this case must be applied with cautious discrimination, and a sound judgment. That, on the other hand, if trees be in a better soil and climate than are natural to them, and, at the same time, that the annual increase of wood be promoted by culture as already said), it will be a decided disadvantage, and deteriorate the wood, in the same way, if trees be in their natural state, the annual increase of timber, obtained by culture, will injure its quality, in a degree corresponding with the increased quantity. 3979. Sixthly; that such appears to be a correct, though a condensed view of the operation of those general laws respecting growth, which govern the whole vegetable kingdom, and especially of their effects on woodv plants, and of the salutary restraints, which science dictates to be laid on artificial culture, of which pruning, as well as manuring, forms a constituent part, as has been explained above, at so much length. That it is bv a diligent study of the peculiar habits of trees, and the characters of soils, illustrated and regulated by facts drawn from general experience, that rash or ignorant systems of arboriculture are to be best corrected, and science brought most beneficially to bear on general practice." (Planter's Guide, i'd edit. p. 478.) Subsect. 2. Culture of the Soil among Trees. 3980. With respect to the culture of the soil, it is evident, that young plantations should be kept clear of such weeds as have a tendency to smother the plants ; and though this is not likely to take place on heaths and barren sites, yet even these should be looked over once or twice during summer, and at least those weeds removed which are con- spicuously injurious. In grounds which have been prepared previously to planting, weeding, hoeing by hand or by the horse hoe, and digging or ploughing (the two latter rarely)," become necessary according to circumstances. The hoeings are performed in summer to destroy weeds, and render the soil pervious to the weather; the ploughing and diggings in winter are for the same purpose, and sometimes to prepare the soil for spring crops. These, both Pontey and Sang allow, may be occasionally introduced among newly planted trees; though it must not be forgotten that, relatively to the trees, the plants composing such crops are weeds, and some of them, as the potato, weeds of the most exhausting kind. Sang uses a hoe of larger size than usual. (Jig. 590. d.) In preparing lands for sowing woods, Sang ploughs in manure, sows in rows six feet apart, by which lie is enabled to crop the ground" between with low-grow ing early potatoes, turnips, and lettuce ; but not with young trees as a sort of nursery, as they prove more scourging crops than esculent vegetables ; nor with grain, as not admitting of culture, and being too exhausting for the soil. Marshal, and some other authors, however, approve of sowing the tree seeds with a crop of grain, and hoeing up the stubble am! weeds when the crop is removed. 3981. Ponlei/ observes, " that wherever preparing ihe soil for planting is though necessary, that' of cultivating it for some years afterwards will generally be thought the T t 4 PRACTICE OF AGRICULTURE. PaAi III. tame; slight crops of potatoes with short lops, or turnips, may be admitted into such plantations with advantage for two or three years, as they create a necessity for annually digging or Btirring the surface, and tend very materially to accelerate the growth of the plants. It may be objected, thai Buch crops must impoverish the soil, and no doubt such is the fact, so far as common vegetables are concerned: but as to the production of wood, its support depends, in a gnat measure, on a different species of nutriment; and hence, 1 could never observe, that such cropping damaged it materially." {Profit. Plant, p. 153.) 3982. Oner plantations, for baskets, willows, and hoops, require digging and cleaning during the whole course of their existence; and so do hedgerows to a certain extent, and some ornamental plantations. Suusect. 3. Filling up of Wanks, or Failures in Plantations. 3983. The jilling up of blanks is one of the first operations that occurs on the culture of plantations, next to the general culture of the soil, and the care of the external fences. According to Sang, " a forest plantation, either in the mass form or ordinary mix- ture, should remain several years after planting, before filling up the vacancies, by the death of the hard-wood plants, takes place. Hard-wood plants, in the first year, and even sometimes in the second year, after planting, die down quite to the surface of the ground, and are apparently dead, while their roots, and the wood immediately above them, are quite fresh, and capable of producing very vigorous shoots, which they frequently do produce, if allowed to stand in their places. If a tree, such as that above alluded to, be taken out the first or second year after planting, and the place filled up with a fresh plant of the same kind, what happened to the former may probably happen to the latter; and so the period of raising a plant on the spot may be protracted to a great length of time; or it is possible this object may never be gained. S984. The filling up of the hard-wood kinds in a plantation which has been planted after trenching or summer fallow, and which has been kept clean by the hoe, may be done with safety at an earlier period than under the foregoing circumstances; because the trees, in the present case, have greater encouragement to grow vigorously after planting, and may be more easily ascertained to be entirely dead, than where the natural herbage is allowed to grow among them. :59S5. But the filing tip of larches and pines may take place the first spring after the plantation has been made; because such of these trees as have died are more easily distinguished. In many cases where a larch or pine loses its top, either by dying down, or the°biting of hares or rabbits, the most vigorous lateral branch is elected by nature to supply the deficiency, which by degrees assumes the character of an original top. Pines, and larches, therefore, which have fresh lateral branches, are not to be displaced, although they have lost their tops. Indeed, no tree in the forest, or other plantation, ought to be removed until there be no hope of its recovery. :5<)!Su\ //' the filling up (f plantations be left undone till the trees have risen to fifteen or twenty feet in Light, their roots are spread far abroad, and their tops occupy a con- siderable space. The introduction of two or three plants, from a foot to three feet in height, at a particular deficient place, can never, in the above circumstances, be attended with any advantage. Such plants may, indeed, become bushes, and may answer well enough 'in the character of underwood, but they will for ever remain unfit for any other purpose. It is highly improper then, to commence filling up hard-wood plantations before the third year after planting ; or to protract it beyond the fifth or the sixth. March is the proper season for this operation. (Plant. Kal. c 295.) Subsect. 4. Pruning and Heading down Trees in Plantations. *J987. Trunin" is the most important operation of tree culture, since on it, in almost every case, depends the ultimate value, and in most cases the actual bulk, of timber pro- duced. For pruning, as for most other practical purposes, the division of trees into resinous or frondose-branched trees, and into non-resinous or branchy-headed sorts, is of use The main object in pruning frondose-branched trees is to produce a trunk with clean bark and sound timber ; that in pruning branchy-stemmed trees is principally to direct the ligneous matter of the tree into the main stem or trunk, and also to produce a clem stem and sound timber, as in the other case. The branches of frondose trees, unless in extraordinary cases, never acquire a timber size, but rot off from the bottom upwards, as the tree advances in height and age; and, therefore, whether pruned or not, the quantity of timber in the form of trunk is the same. The branches of the other division Of trees however, when left to spread out on every side, often acquire a timber-like size • and as the ligneous matter they contain is in general far from being so valuable as' when produced in the form of a straight stem, the loss by not pruning off their side branches or preventing them from acquiring a timber-like size is evident. On the other hand when they are broken oil' by accident, or rot off by being crowded together, the Book II. PRUNING TREES. 6i9 timber of the trunk, though in these cases increased in quantity, is rendered knotty and 1 otten in quality. 3988. Pruning frondose or resinous trees is one of the greatest errors in the modern system of forest management. The branches of the different species of pines, and of the cedar of Lebanon, never attain a timber size, if growing in a moderately thick plant- ation ; those of the fir tribe never under any circumstances. Provided pines and cedars, therefore, are planted moderately thick, no loss in point of timber can ever be sustained by omitting altogether to prune them ; and in this respect the fir tribe, whether thick or thin 'on the ground, may be left to themselves. The important question is, how does the rotting off* of the branches affect the timber in the trunk of the tree ? Certainly no pine or fir timber can be sounder or better than that which is brought from the native forests of the north of Europe, and from America, where no pruning is ever given. The rotting off* of the frondose branches, therefore, cannot be injurious in these countries. The next question is, can it be proved to be injurious in this country ? We are not aware that it has, and do not believe that it can. The rotting off* of the branch of a resinous tree is a very different process from the rotting off* of a branch of a ramose-headed tree. This fact may be verified by observing what takes place in pine or fir woods, and by inspecting the interior of foreign pine or fir, cut up into planks. In the rotting off' of side branches of deciduous trees, we find, that the principal part where decay operates, at least in all the soft woods, and even in the oak when it is young, is the heart; but in the rotting off* of the side branches of resinous trees, we shall find them decaying chiefly on the outside, and wearing down the stump of the fallen branch in the form of a cone. On examining the sections of sound foreign deal, we shall find that the knots of the side branches always terminate in cones when the section is made vertically. This is a fact well known to every carpenter ; and it is also known to a great many, that British pine and fir timber that has been pruned, has invariably a rotten space at every knot. The same thing is observable to a certain extent in the natural decay of the side branches of all trees. When the decay is natural, it commences at the circumference, and wears down the stump, till it ends in a small hard cone, which is buried in the increasing circumference of the tree, and is never found injurious to the timber : when the decay is artificial, or in consequence of excessive pruning, that is, suddenly exposing a large section to the action of the atmosphere, the bark protects the circumference, and the decay goes on in the centre, so as to end in forming an inverted cone of rotten matter, which serves as a funnel to conduct moisture to the trunk, and thereby render it rotten also. The conclusion which we draw from these facts is, that the pine and fir tribe should scarcely be pruned at all, and that no branches of ramose trees should be cut off close to the stem of a larger size than what may be healed over in one or at most two seasons. We agree with Cruickshank, therefore, when he says, " It would appear that the pruning of firs [the pine and fir tribe], supposing it harmless, can yet be pro- ductive of no positive good." 3989. Cruickshank, Pauley, and Sang, agree that the great object of pruning is to protect the leader or main stem or shoot from the rivalship of the side branches, in order that as much of the nourishment drawn from the soil may be employed in the formation of straight timber, and as little in the formation of branches and spray, as is consistent with the economy of vegetation. Without the agency of the leaves, the moisture absorbed from the soil could no more nourish a plant than the food taken into the stomach would nourish an animal without the process of digestion. The branches bearing the leaves are therefore just as necessary to the welfare of the tree as the roots. By taking away too many of the branches, only a small part of the fluid imbibed will be elaborated ; by leaving the branches too thick and crowded, the leaves may be less perfect, and less fit for performing their office, than they otherwise would be. Exposure of a part of the branches to the light and air may therefore be a sufficient reason for thinning them, independently of increasing the trunk. " How," asks Cruickshank, " are we to know the exact number of branches that may be removed with safety in any given circumstances ? Never, it is answered, displace any which have not already got, or seem in immediate danger of getting, the upper hand of the leader. These will be known by their equalling or approaching the leader in size ; or, to speak less ambiguously, by their being of the same, or nearly of the same, girth at the place where they spring from the stem, as the stem itself is at their length from its top." In proceeding according to Jhis plan, the pruner is not to regard, in the smallest degree, the part of the stem on which a shoot is situated. If it is too large, it must be displaced, should it be in the highest part of the tree : if it is not too large, it must remain, though it be close to the ground. " But how will this method, the reader maybe ready to ask, ever produce a clean stem ? By repeating the pruning, it is answered, as often as the growth of the branches may make the operation' necessary. Suppose, the tirst time a tree undergoes the process, that the branches removed are a considerable distance from the ground, and that there are several smaller ones left growing farther dow n the stem : these last will gradually increase in size, till they, too, must be lopped oft', and thus the stem will be in the end as effectually cleared, though more gradually, and consistently with the health ot the tree, as by the absurd method represented above. " If any branches that were left at a former pruning low on the stem, appear at the next repetition of the process not to have increased in size, we may safely conclude that they ha\ e had no influence on the tree either good or bad ; and as it would be in vain to leave them with the hope that they will any longer assist in the elaboration of the sup, they should be removed, as unsightly objects which it is no longer useful to preserve." (Practical Planter, p. 168.) 3990. Billington considers the leaves and branches of trees as of the greatest importance : he thinks every timber tree ought to have the trunk clothed with branches throughout; but these branches he would shorten in such a way that they should never engross any material part of the timber of the trie. To accomplish this, it is necessary to commence pruning when the tree? are young, by which means the great bulk of the timber produced will be deposited in the main stem or trunk. This is what he calif . entive pruning. {Gard. Hag. vol. vi. A similar system had been recommended by Mr. Bla.kic of 650 PRACTICE OF AGRICULTURE. P III. Holkham under the name of foreshortening, and ia advocated by Sir Henry Steuart, under that offer- initial prun 3991. Most erroneous oj 'mums on ih subject of pruning resinous trees have been pro- pagated by Salmon, the experienci d manager of the late Duke of Bedford, Pontey, forest- pruner to the same duke, and others of less note. Sang, on the other hand, argues against excessive pruning of the resinous tribe of trees as injurious to the health of the tree and the soundness of its timber. Elles, also, a gardener of scientific acquirements, and extensive experience in England, his native country, and in Scotland and Ireland, would never prune the pine and fir tribe at all, unless when very young, and when the side shoots could he pinched oil' with the linger and the thumb. At a more advanced age, if com- pi lied by circumstances to prune, lie would only shorten'the extremities of the fronds. Of two trees, pines, firs, cedars, or larches, the one primed and the Other unpinned, there will he found, he says, most timber in the trunk of the unpruned one, while the branches are so much in addition to the value of the tree. He excepts, of course, those cases in which frondose branches take a ramose character, in consequence of the tree standing alone, as is frequently the case with the cedar of Lebanon, and sometimes with the Scotch pine. 3992. Ihn- own opinion with respect to pruning the resinous trees is in accord with that of Elles and Cruickshank ; and as to hard and soft wooded leaf trees, we think Cruickshank's practice and rule unexceptionable. We would prune the last description of trees much less than is generally done, and leave the pine and fir tribe in a great measure to nature, taking care, however, to thin betimes and occasionally from infancy till the maturity of the trees. We have no doubt of this, that when the larch and Scotch pine trees planted in the end of the last century, and severely pruned for the first twenty or twenty-live years of the present, shall come to be cut down and sawn up, their timber will be found full of faults, and of very little value, compared with timber of the same sorts from natural and unpruned woods, foreign and domestic. 3993. Willi respect to the manner if pruning, Sang observes, " Where straight timbci is the object, both classes in their infancy should be feathered from the bottom upwards, keeping the tops light and spiral, something resembling a young larch (Jig. 594. a). The proportion of their tops should be gradually diminished, year by year, till about their twentieth year, when they should occupy about a third part of the height of the plant ; that is, if the tree be thirty feet high, the top should be ten feet (6). In all cases in prun- ing oft' the branches, the utmost care must lie \^ ', a YL taken not to leave any stumps sticking out, ^ if c Dut cut tuem mto tne quick. It fs only by this means that clean timber can be procured N^K ^t" for the joiner ; or slightly stemmed trees to \^ 1 1 please the eye. It is a very general practice r _Ms-£t— to leave snags or stumps (c) : before the bole can be enlarged sufficiently to cover these, many years must elapse ; the stumps in the mean time become rotten ; and the conse- quence is, timber which, when sawn up (ut of plantations, Sang observes, "is a matter of the first importance in their culture. However much attention be paid to the article of pruning, if the plantation be left too thick, it will be inevitably ruined. A circulation id' air, neither too great nor too small, is essential to the welfare of the whole. This should not be wanting at any period of the growth of the plantation ; but in cases where it has been prevented by neglect, it should not be admitted all at once, or suddenly. Opening a plantation too much at once, is a sure way to destroy its health and vigour. In thinning, the consideration which should, in all cases predominate, is to cut for the good of the timber left, disregarding the value of the thinnings. For, if we have it in our choice to leave a good, and take away a bad plant or kind, and if it be necessary that one of the two should fall, the only question should be, by leaving which of them shall we do most justice to the laudable intention of raising excellent and full-sized timber for the benefit of ourselves and of posterity ? The worst tree should never be left, but with the view of filling up an accidental vacancy." 44110. Salmon, from observations on the most orderly and thriving plantations at Woburn, deduces the following rule for thinning : — " Keep the distance of the trees from each other equal to one-fifth of their height. In the application of this rule for thinning, it is evident that each individual tree can never be made to comply;' for the original distance (even if planted in the most regular order; will allow only of Book II. THINNING YOUNG PLANTATIONS. 653 certain modifications, by taking out every other tree, and so on ; but even if the obtaining of such equal distance were practicable, experience would show that another way should be preferred, of which the eye must be the judge, by taking out such trees as are least thriving, stand nearest another good tree, &c. &c. ; at the same time keeping in view the rule prescribed. By measuring a chain square, or any quantity of land, and counting the trees thereon ; then trying the height of two or three trees in that quarter, and taking one fifth of such for the distance, it would be readily seen how many trees should be contained in the piece measured : or the practice may more simply be regulated by taking the distance of eight or ten trees added together, the average of which should be equal to a fifth of the height of the trees." [Smith's Mechanics, vol. ii. p. 358.) 4011. In thinning mixed plantations, the removing of the nurses is the first ohject ■which generally claims attention. This, however, should be cautiously performed ; other- wise the intention of nursing might, after all, be thwarted. If the situation be much exposed, it will be prudent to retain more nurses, although the plantation itself be rather crowded, than where the situation is sheltered. In no cases, however, should the nurses be suffered to overtop or whip the plants intended for a timber crop ; and for this reason, in bleak situations, and when perhaps particular nurse plants can hardly be spared, it may be sometimes necessary to prune off the branches from one side entirely. At subsequent thinnings, such pruned or disfigured plants are first to be removed ; and then those which, from their situation, may best be dispensed with. 4012. At ivhat period of the age of the plantation the nurses are to be removed, cannot easily be deter- mined ; and, indeed, if the nurses chiefly consist of larches, it may with propriety be said, that they should never be totally removed, while any of the other kinds remain. For, besides that this plant is admirably calculated to compose part of a beautiful mixture, it is excelled by few kinds, perhaps by none, as a timber tree. But when the nurses consist of inferior kinds, such as the mountain ash or Scots pine, they should generally be all moved by the time the plantation arrives at the height of fifteen or twenty feet, in order that the timber trees may not, by their means, be drawn up too weak and slender. 4013. Before this time it may probably be necessary to thin out a part of the other kinds. The least valuable, and the least thriving plants, should first be condemned, provided their removal occasion no blank or chasm ; but where this would happen, they should be allowed to stand till the next or other subsequent revision. 4()14. At what distance of time this revision should take place cannot easily be determined ; as the mat- ter must very much depend on the circumstances of soil, shelter, and the state of health the plants may be in. In general the third season after will be soon enough ; and if the plantation be from thirty to forty years old, and in a thriving state, it will require to be revised again, in most cases within seven veafs. But one invariable rule ought to prevail in all cases, and in all situations, to allow no plant to overtop or whip another. Respect should be had to the distance of the tops, not to the distance of the roots, of the trees : for some kinds require more head room than others ; and all trees do not rise per. pendicular to their roots, even on the most level or sheltered ground. 4015. With respect to the final distance to which trees, standing in a mixed plantation, should be thinned, it is hardly possible to prescribe fixed rules ; circumstances of health, vigour, the spreading nature of the tree, and the like, must determine. Whether the trees are to be suffered to stand till full grown, which of the kinds the soil seems best fitted for; whether the ground be flat or elevated ; and whether the situation is exposed or sheltered, are all circumstances which must influence the determination of the ultimate distance at which the trees are to stand. It may, however, be said, in general, that if trees be allowed a certain distance, of from twenty-five to thirty feet, according to their kinds and manner of growth, they will have room to become larger timber. 4016. Pontey shows, that fortv feet distances are necessary (or only about twenty-seven to the acre) to the unassisted growth of large oak trees, owing to the flat, spreading, and close form of their heads ; but that the properly trained, open, high, and conical heads of such trees will admit of their standing at twenty-five feet distances, or about seventy trees on the acre, and of the most profitable kind. What an inducement to pruning and management ! (Farcy's Derbyshire, vol i. p. 28;>.) 4017. Plantations of Scots pine, if the plants have been put in at three, or three and a half, feet apart, will require little care until the trees be ten or twelve feet high. It is necessary to keep such plantations thick in the early part of their growth, in order that the trees may tower the faster, and push fewer and weaker side branches. Indeed, a pine and a soft wood plantation should be kept thicker at any period of its growth, than plantations consisting of hard wood and nurses already mentioned ; and it may sometimes be proper to prune up certain nurse plants, as hinted at above (4011.), for nurses in a mixed plantation. Those pruned-up trees are of course to be reckoned temporary plants, and are afterwards to be the first thinned out; next to these, all plants which have lost their leaders by acci- dent, should be condemned ; because such will never regain them so far as afterwards to become stately timber; provided that the removal of these mutilated trees cause no ma- terial blank in the plantation. Care should be taken to prevent whipping ; nor should the plantation be thinned too much at one time, lest havock be made by prevailing winds ; an evil which many, through inadvertency, have thus incurred. This precaution seems the more necessary, inasmuch as Scots pines, intended for useful large timber, are presumed never to be planted except in exposed situations and thin soils. At forty years of age, a good medium distance for the trees may be about fifteen feet every way. It may be worthy of remark, that after a certain period, perhaps by the time that the plantation arrives at the age of fifty or sixty years, it will be proper to thin more freely, in order to harden the timber ; and that then this may done with less risk of danger, from the strength the trees will have acquired, than at an earlier period ; but still it should be done gradually. 4018. Plantations of spruce and silver firs, intended for large useful timber, should be kept much in the manner above stated, both in their infancy and middle age. As already remarked, planting and keeping them as thick as is consistent with their health are the best means of producing tall, straight, clean stems, and valuable timber. When planted for screens or for ornament, they require a different treatment. " To larch 654 PRACTICE OF AGRICULTURE. Part III. plantations, the above observations will also apply, and indeed they are applicable to plantations of all kinds of resinous trees. 4019. The exposed margin of all young plantations should be kepi thicker than the in- terior. The extent to which this rule should be carried must be regulated according to the degree or' exposure of the situation, the age of the plants, the tenderness of the kinds, ami other circumstances." 4020. The proper season fur thinning is autumn, or very early in the spring, where the trees are to be taken up by the root and replanted elsewhere; winter for thinning for timber and fuel : but such trees as are valuable for their barks should be left un- touched till the sap rises in April or May. 402 1 . ( 'opse-woods require thinning when young, like other plantations, and when once established the stools require to be gone over the second year after cutting, and all superfluous suckers and shoots removed. This operation should be repeated annually, or every two or three years, in connection with pruning, till within three or four years of the general fall of the crop. Sect. VI. Improvement of Neglected Plantations. 4022. Neglected and mismanaged plantations will include the greater number in Bri- tain. The artificial strips and masses have generally never been thinned or pruned ; and the natural woods, or copse- woods, have for the most part been improperly thinned or cut over. It is often a difficult matter to know what to make of such cases, and always a work of considerable time. " Trees," Sang observes, "however hardy their natures may be, which have been reared in a thick plantation, and consequently have been very much sheltered, have their natures so far changed, that, if they be suddenly exposed to a circulation of air, which, under different circumstances, would have been salubrious and useful to them, they will become sickly and die. Hence the necessity of admitting the air to circulate freely among trees in a thick plantation, only gradually, and with great caution." This precaution is particularly necessary in thinning plant- ations of Scotch pine. Trees which have been screened by each other for forty or fifty years, cannot bear the loss of their near neighbours. 4023. A plantation which has become close and crowded, having been neglected from the time of planting till perhaps its twentieth year, should only have some of the smallest and most unsightly plants removed ; one, perhaps in every six or eight, in the first season ; in the following season, a like number may be removed ; and in two or three years afterwards, it should be gone over again ; and so on till it be sufficiently thinned. It will be proper to commence the thinning at the interior of the plantations, leaving the skirts thicker till the last ; indeed, the thinning of the skirts of such a plantation should be protracted to a great length of time. With thinning, pruning to a certain extent should also be carried on. " If the plantation," Sang observes, " consists of pines and firs, all the rotten stumps, decayed branches, and the like, must be cut off' close by the bole. It will be needful, however, to be cautious not to inflict too many wounds upon the tree in one season ; the removing of these, therefore, should be the work of two or three years, rather than endanger the health of the plantation. After the removal of these from the boles of the firs and larches, proceed every two or three years, but with a sparing hand, to displace one or perhaps two tiers of the lowermost live branches, as circumstances may direct, being careful to cut close by th-a trunk, as above noticed. In a plantation of hard wood, under the above circumstances, the trees left for the ultimate crop are not to be pruned so much at first as might otherwise be required ; only one or two of their competing branches are to be taken away, and even these with caution. If it be judged too much for the first operation to remove them entirely, they may be shortened, to prevent the progress of the competition ; and the remaining parts may be removed in the following season ; at which time, as before observed, they must be cut close by the bole. ( Plant. Kal. 467. ) We cannot agree to that part of these directions which respects the removal of " perhaps two tiers of the lowermost live branches ;" but, paying great deference to the opinion of Mr. Sang, we have judged it right, in a work of this nature, to lay it before our readers, and allow them to judge for themselves. 4024. The operation of thinning and priming, thickening or filling up, or renewing portions that cannot be profitably recovered, should tnus go on, year after year, as appearances may direct, on the general principles of tree culture ; and for this purpose, the attentive observation and reflection of a judicious manager will be worth more than directions which must be given with so much latitude. 4025. Ponlev has noticed various errors in Kennedy's Treatise on Planting, and even in Sang's Kalen- ilar on the Simple subject Of distances, which have originated ill their giving directions for anticipated case's which had never come within their experience. " Most people," he says, " take it for granted, that if trees stand three feet apart, they have only to take out the half to make the distances six feet, though to do that, they must take down three times as many as they leave. By the same rule, mast people would suppose that twelve feet distance was only the double of six ; but the square of the latter is only thirty-six, while that of the former is one hundred and forty-four, or four times the latter ; so that, to bring six feet distances to twelve, three trees must be removed for every one left." {Projitable Planter, 2. r )fi ; and Forest Primer, 21.) B>i:< II. TREATMENT OF INJURED TREKS. 65.5 4026. Copse-woods are sometimes improved by turning them into ivoods, which requires nothing more than a judicious selection and reservation of the strongest of those shoots which proceed from the stook, and which spring more immediately from the collar. But a greater improvement of copse-woods consists in cutting o\xr the overgrown and protuberant stools by the surface of the soil (Jig. 595. a, b, c, d), which has been found by Mon- teith completely to regenerate them. The operation is performed with a saw, in a slanting direction, and the young shoots, being properly thinned and pruned, soon establish themselves securely on the circumference of large and perhaps rotten-hearted roots. (Forester's Guide, 60.) 4027. Neglected hedge-row timber may be improved by pruning according to its age. Rlaikie recommends what he calls foreshortening, or cutting-in, as the best method both for young and old hedge -row cl^X 5 596 ~*>_ ^ « mm O^ timber. " Tins operation is per- formed by shortening the overlux- uriant side-branches (fig. 596. a), but not to cut them to a stump, as in snag-pruning ; on the con- jSrV^J3 ^T \, ) '• trar y> tnc extremity only of the 1^^!^ M Dranch should be cut off, and the m V N '"' '.!' amputation effected immediately above where an auxiliary side- shoot springs from the branch on which the operation is to be per- formed (/>) ; this may be at the distance of two, four, or any other number of feet from the stem of the tree ; and suppose the auxiliary branch which is left (when the top of the branch is cut off) is also over-luxuriant, or looks unsightly, it should also be shortened at its sub-auxiliary branch, in the same manner as before described. The branches of trees, pruned in this manner, are always kept within due bounds ; they do not extend over the adjoining land, to the injury of the occupier, at least not until the stem of the tree rises to a height (out of the reach of pruning', when the top branches can do compara- tively little injury to the land. By adopting this system of pruning, the bad effects of close pruning on old trees, and snag-pruning on young ones, will be avoided, the country will be ornamented, and the community at large, as well as individuals, benefited." Sect. VII. Treatment of Injured and Diseased Trees. 4028. With respect to wounds, bruises, casualties, and defects of trees, such small wounds as are required to be made by judicious pruning, easily heal up of themselves; large wounds, by amputation of branches above six inches in diameter, should, if possible, never be made. Even wounds of six inches diameter or under will heal more quickly by the application of any material that excludes the air and preserves the wood from corruption ; and we agree with Sang in recommending coal-tar, or the liquor produced from coals in manufacturing gas. It is, however, less favourable to the progress of the bark over the wound than a coating of clay or cow-dung covered with moss to keep it moist. Pontey recommends putty and two coats of paint over it. In case the wood, at a bruised or amputated place, has by neglect become already corrupted, the rotten or dead wood is to be pared out quite into the quick, and the wound is then to be dressed with tar or clay, covered with a piece of mat, sacking, or moss. A wound, hollowed out as above, may at first appear an unsightly blemish ; but, in subsequent years, nature will lay the coats of wood under the new-formed bark thicker at that place ; and pro- bably may, in time, fill it up to be even with the general surface of the tree. 4029. All fractures, by whatever means produced, are to be managed as the circum- stances of the case require. If a large branch be broken over at the middle of its length, it should be sawn clear off close by the lateral which is nearest to the bole of the tree : but if there is no lateral, or branch capable to cany forward the growth, cut the main or fractured branch in quite to the bole. In both cases, treat the wound as above recommended. 4030. Interior rotting, arising from the dampness of the soil, cannot, by the art of man, be cured ; though it might have been prevented by timely draining. The hearts of trees frequently rot, where there is no excess of moisture, and especially of such as have been produced from old roots left in the ground by a previous felling. Such roots, when in good ground, send up very great shoots, with few leaves in proportion to their size ; from 6S6 PRACTICE OF AGRICULTURE. Par* III. the absence of a profusion <>f these, properly to concoct the juices so abundantly sup- plied by the roots, the fibre of the wood is loose and imperfect; the next season will produce more leaves in proportion to the supply of juices, yet not a sufficient number for making timber; BeveraJ years may pass before this event uill arrive: this crude and ill-digested timber, dispo ;ed to premature decay, is the foundation over which subsequent Coatings of wood are laid : vet, however perfect these may he, they do not prevent the progress of decomposition going on in the interior. Nature thus teaches how necessary numerous leaves are to the preparation of the solid wood: the cotyledons and subsequent leaves of a one-year old tree are a thousand times greater, compared with its solid con- tents, than are the leaves to the solid contents of the first year's shoots from roots like the above. Sang. 4031. Shakes often arise from the weight and multiplicity of top branches, and might have been prevented by timely priming. Shakes or rents in the holes of trees, however, often happen where there is no excess of tops. Sometimes the rain, running down from the branches, wets one part of the bole, while the rest is comparatively dry. If this cir- cumstance is succeeded by an intense frost, before the wetted side becomes dry, the bole may be rent for a length, and perhaps to the depth of the core. Shakes or rents, like the above, are difficult to cure. The best method of helping them is to trace out their upper extremity, caulk it up with oakum, and pitch it over, to prevent the rain descend- ing that way in future. (Sang.) 4032. In cases of hollowness, Pontey recommends probing to the bottom, letting out the water, if any, with an auger, drying the cavity with a cloth, filling it with dry sand, plugging it with wood and oakum, and then painting it over. 4033. Stems or branches decorticated by lightning or otherwise, if the soft wood is not much injured, will heal over and become covered with bark ; and this the more certainly and rapidly if the air be excluded by a coating of adhesive matter, as cow-dung and quick- lime, or by tying on moss or bandages of mat or cloth. Pontey gives an instance in which such treatment was successful in the case of an apple tree. (I'runer, 2:50.) We have witnessed it on an extensive scale on the trunk of a pear tree ; and we are informed, on the best authority, of other cases now under progress, in the government garden of the Luxembourg, at Paris. 40:54. Withered or decayed tops may arise from age and incipient decay ; but also, as Pontey states, from improper pruning, or the want of it. We often see it from the im- proper pruning of elms, which, after having been close pruned to their summits for many years, are left entirely to nature ; in that case they branch out luxuriantly below, and the top withers. By neglecting to thin out the branches on the stems of non-resinous trees the same effect may be produced. 403.5. Stunted bushy tops, on very tall naked stems, show a deficiency of nourishment, from these circumstances; and those on short stems from defects of the soil. Obliquely placed misshapen heads, in detached trees, commonly proceed from the same causes and from want of shelter. Stinted growth, both in tops and stems, is also produced by ivy, and by lichens, mosses, mistletoe, and other parasites. Ivy compresses the bark, and precludes its expansion, as well as excludes air and moisture, by which the outer bark becomes rigid and corky. — Happily, both men and trees will live a long time under the influence both of deformity and disease. 4036. Excessive exudations of gum and resins are peculiar to resinous and some other trees when over-pruned, or pruned at improper times. Mildew, honeydew, and blight, three popular names applied to the effects of certain insects of the A^phis kind, attack the oak, beech, poplar, and many trees : all that can be said is, if proper regimen has been regularly attended to, trees will overcome these and all other enemies. 4037. Insects and vermin- Almost every tree has its particular insect of the Hemipte- rous and Dipterous families, and many of the Colcoptera are common to all. The foliage of the small-leaved elm of hedges is often almost entirely destroyed in the early part of the season by 2'enthredinida; ; and those of the larch and Scotch pine have suffered ma- terially in some seasons from aphides. The A 'phis laricea L. (Eriosoma of Leach) in- creased to an alarming extent, from 1800 to 1802, on the larch, on account of three dry seasons following each other; but, though it retarded their growth, it ultimately de- stroyed very few trees. Sang says, he has known it since 1785 ; that it dirties more than injures the tree, and is now (181!)) thought little of. Indeed, almost every species of tree has been known to have suffered in some one season or more, and in particular dis- tricts, from insects ; for which, on so large a scale, there seems to be no applicable remedy, but patiently waiting till their excess, or the increase of other vermin their natural enemies, or a change of seasons, causes them to disappear. Trees properly cultivated and managed generally overcome such enemies. The hare is well known to be injurious to young trees, and especially to laburnums, by gnawing off their bark. Coating their stems with dung and urine, fresh from the cow-house, is said to be an effectual remedy. It maybe put on with a brush to the height of two feet; a barrow-load will suffice for a hundred Book II. PRODUCTS OF TREKS. p/>7 trees, with stems of three or four inches in diameter; an r °ducts of trees made use of in the arts are leaves, primings or r.pray, thinnings, seeds, flexible shoots, bark, branches, roots, and trunks. Trees also afford sap for wine and sugar, and extract for dyeing ; but these products are of too accidental or refined a nature for our present purpose. 4039. The brush-uf a few, such as the elm, poplar, willow, and one OT two others, wliicll ripen their seeds in May anil June. 4042. fit osier grounds, willows produce flexible shoots, and, whether intended for the basket maker or cooper, Bhould not be cut till the second season after planting, in order to strengthen the Btools: but by the third autumn the crop will be fit for the basket- maker ; and in the fourth, plantations intended for the cooper (hoops requiring the growth of two years) will lie ready. The seasons for cutting are November and March; after the former period the wounds are apt to he injured by frost, and after the latter the sap is too far advanced ; some is lost by bleeding, and the buds are developed too suddenly to admit of proper strength in the shoots. The cut should be made within three buds of the point whence the shoot issued, in a sloping direction, and the section on the under- side. In cutting hoop-willows, the swell at the bottom of the shoot only should be left, that being furnished with abundance of buds for future growth. After being cut, the hoops are trimmed from any side-shoots, and tied up in bundles of a hundred, of six scores each, which, in 1820, sold lor from four shillings to five shillings a bundle. The willows are sorted into three sizes and tied in bundles two feet in circumference, within a foot of the lower ends. When to be peeled, they are immediately after cutting set on their thick ends in standing water, a few inches deep, and there they remain till the sap ascends freely, which is commonly by the end of the succeeding May. " The apparatus for peeling is simply two round rods of iron, nearly half an inch thick, sixteen inches long, anil tapering a little upwards, welded together at the one end which is sharpened, so as that it may be easily thrust down into the ground. When thus placed in a piece of firm ground, the peeler sits down opposite to it, and takes the willow in the right hand by the small end, and puts a foot or more of the great end into the instrument, the prongs of which he presses together with the left hand, and with the right draws the willow towards him ; by which operation the bark will at once be separated from the wood : the small end is then treated in the same manner, and the peeling is completed. Good willows, peeled in the above manner, have been sold, for some seasons past, at from six shillings and sixpence to seven shillings the bundle of four feet in circumference. After being peeled, they will keep in good condition for a long time, till a proper market be found." 4043. Copse-ivoods are generally cut over when the shoots of the stools have attained from three to five inches' diameter at their bases ; some grown chiefly for hop-poles, and ware or stuff for crates, hampers, or wattled hurdles, are cut over earlier ; and others, where small timber for fencing and other country purposes is wanted, are left later. In some parts of Herefordshire, where the oak grows with great rapidity, copse-woods are cut over every twelve years ; in the highlands of Scotland, where it grows much more slowly, the time varies from twenty to twenty-five or thirty years. " The bark is there considered as having arrived at its utmost perfection and at its highest value, at the age of between twenty and thirty years: under that age, its virtues are weak ; above it, the bark becomes coarse, and loses its sap. Another important reason for cutting down oak coppice-wood about the above period is suggested in the Stirlingshire Report, p. 218. ; namely, 'that it is a fact established by experience, that it will not renew itself, if it remains uncut beyond the space of about forty years.' ' (Gen. Rep. of Scotland, 218.) Where there is a considerable tract of copse-wood, it is common to divide it into portions, in number according to the period of cutting. These are to be cut in rotation, so that, when the last portion is cut over, the first is again ready for cutting. *)14. The seasons for cultins the kinds of trees whose barks are not made use ofarc winter and early in spring ; bat the oak and other trees which are peeled, are left till the middle of Apr. or May. BlH ami larch woods wdl peel nearly a month earlier than the oak. Should there be no trust, birch and larch may be peeled about the beginning of April; but the birch is commonly allowed to stand till July, and the peeling of it is commenced after that of the oak has been completed. The reason is, there is an outer ska. upon birch-bark which requires to be taken off, as it is of no use to the tanner, and renders that part which is of use more difficult to be ground; the month of July is the only time at which the two barks can be separated with ease, as at this time the juice or sap has made its circu- lation through the tree and hark, and this circumstance renders the separation more easy, from the beginning of May to the mi, Idle of Julv is the usual time for barking the oak. 1 he earlier in the spring this operation is performed on the oak, both for the growth if a natural wood, and for the bark, the better. When the sap has begun to rise, the bark will easily be detached from the wood, and it ought then to be taken oil' without loss of time ; and, if the whole could be taken oft betore the leaf is completely developed, the bark would be better. After the sap has arisen to the le.it and new growth the bark becomes more dry, and requires more beating to separate it from the wood: ami when what is called the black Ban is' descending the tree, the bark taken off is black, and loses its original colour; at this time also the bark begins to throw off a scurf, more especially young bark without much cork on it; this outer skin having less of the proper sap or juice, and being much drier when taken off, wdl weigh less, and consequently will not he so valuable. It possible, oaks should be barked l>v the middle of June, as every ton of bark taken off after the first ot July will be deficient two cwt. per' ton, compared with the same quantity taken off in May or early in June 4045 The termination of cutting is generally fixed for the fifteenth day ot July, and after tins date there should not be a single stool of Oak wood cut that is intended for the growth; and as soon as possible after the fifteenth the whole of the wood ami bark should be carried away, that the young growths may not be disturbed or injured, as at this time they will have made considerable progress ; a any rate, there should neither be wood nor bark remaining within the new cut hag alter the first of August , Book TT. PRODUCTS OF TREES. Cw nor should either horse or carl be permitted to enter it after that period: for, after Hie beginning of August, oaks make what is tern ed a Lammas growth, and the future prosperity and health of the coppice in a great measure depend on the first year's growth, as far as regards form and vigour of the shoots. {Funster's Guide, 69.) 4046. The best mode of cutting is evidently that of using a saw, and cutting the shoots over in a slanting direction close by the surface When the stool, after having been cut several times, has acquired con. tiderable diameter, it is customary in the midland counties, Marshal states, to hollow it out in the centre, from a notion that, by retting away the central roots, the circumferential stems will grow more vij r. ously, and become as it were separate plants. This is in fact the case in very old copses. For several cuttings, however, it must evidently be the safer policy to keep the stool highest in the middle to throw off the rain, and preserve it sound. 4047. Monteith says, " It will be found, upon experiment, perfectly evident, that stools dressed down to the surface of the ground (taking care always not to loosen the bark from the root, or allow it to be peeled off in the smallest degree below the earth, hut rounded down level to it" will send forth the most vigorous shoots, and stand the weather, and be the stoutest and best throughout the age of the coppice." Forester's Guide, 61.) From the late season at which the trees to be barked are generally cut, they often receive considerable injury, both from that circumstance, and the manner in which the operation is performed. Monteith appears to us to have furnished the best directions for executing the work in a safe manner. He first sends a person furnished with an instrument with a sharp cutting- edge 'Jig. 598. «'' through the copse, whose business is, " to trample down the long grass or foggage all round the root, and then to make a circular incision into the bark so deep as to reach the wood, at about an inch above the surface of the earth : thus the bark when taken off, will injure no part of that which is below the circular incision." 4048. The root of the tree being thus prepared, the cutters ought to proceed to their part of the work, not with an axe, however, as is mo>t generally recommended, but with a saw ; because, in cutting with the axe, unless the root of the tree be so small in diameter as to be severed in one or two strokes at most, the axe loosens the root to such a degree, that it not only loses the present year's growth, but often fails alto- gether to grow. Therefore, if the diameter of the root be six inches, or upwards, it should always be cut with a cross-cut saw, entering the saw about half an inch above where the circular incision has been made into the bark, if a small tree ; but if the tree be ten or twelve, or more inches in diameter, the saw ought to be entered two inches above it. 4049 There are two advantages to be derived from cutting irith the sail' : it has no tendency to loosen the root of the tree, but leaves it in such a condition as to be more easily and properly dressed ; it also saves a portion of the wood that would otherwise be destroyed by the axe. On no pretence should oaks of six inches' diameter be cut with an axe, but always with a saw. Having cut through the tree with a saw, take a sharp adze, and round the edges of the stool or root, going close down to the surface of the earth, taking with the adze both bark and wood, sloping it up towards the centre of the stool, taking particular care always that the bark and wood both slope alike, as if they formed one solid body, being sure always that the bark be not detached frcm the rci t. An objection has been made to this mode of cutting with the saw, as taking up too much time; but I have found that two men with a cross-cut saw, kept in good order, will cut as much as two men will with an axe. (Forester's Guide, 58.) In the operation of barking trees, " the barkers are each furnished with light short-ha ided mallets, made of hard wood, about eight or nine inches long, three inches square at the face, and the other end sharpened like a wedge, in order the more easily to make an incision in the bark, which is done all along the side of the tree which happens to be uppermost, in a straight line : and as two barkers are generally employed at one tree, it is proper, that whilst the one is employed in making an incision with the mallet, as above, the other being furnished with the barking-bill (Jig. 598. a), cuts the bark ?^^^ ^-^ across the tree, in cqa (\ i lengths of from two ov \ %, I \ feet six inches to three feet. Having thus made the in- cision in the bark, both ways, the bark- ers being also each . furnished with peel- . ing irons of different sorts (b, c, d, e) ; if the tree or piece of timber to be barked is such as the two barkers can easily lift one end of it, his is placed on two pieces of wood three feet long, and called horses ; these are about the thickness of a paling-stake, and have a forked end on each about six inches long, the other end being sharpened to go into the ground ; two of these horses are placed in a triangular form against one another, one end of the piece to be peeled being raised on the horses, the two barkers standing opposite to each other, and enter- ing the peeling-irons into the incision made by the mallet, and pressing the iron downwards between the bark and the timber. In this .vay it will be found very easy to take the bark off in one w hole piece round the tree ; and, if possible, let these pieces be as long as the incisions made in the bark. In some cases, where there is not much sap, the bark may require a little beating with the square end of the mallet, to cause it to separate easily from the wood ; but the less beating with the mallet the better, as it has a tendency to blacken the bark in the inside or fleshy part of it, so that, when the tanner sees it, he sup. [>oses it to be damaged, and undervalues it. Thebranches of the tree being previously all lopped off with the axe, the persons, in number according to the extent of the work, with the bill smooth all thebranches, rutting them in lengths of from two feet six inches to three feet, down as small as one inch in circum- ference. The barkers, principally women, are each provided with a smooth hard stone of about six or eight pounds' weight, beside which they sit down, and having collected a quantity of saplings, branches, or twigs, they hold the piece on the stone with one hand, and with the mallet in the other, they beat it till the bark be split from the wood, from the one end to the other, and taking it off all the length of the piece, if possible, then lay it regularly aside, till a bundle of considerable size is formed." 405i. Drying the bark. The point most particularly to be observed in this art is, putting the bark up to dry ; which is done by setting it upon what are called the lofts or ranges. These are erected by taking forked pieces of the loppings, called horses, the one three feet long, the other two feet six inches, and driving them about four inches into the ground, opposite one another, about two feet asunder in the breadth, and as much betwixt them lengthwavs as will admit long small pieces of wood to be put upon them, and as many of these must be put together as will hold the bark of every day's peeling. '1 hese ought to be erected in as dry and elevated a spot as can be found in the margin of the wood, or better on its outside. The bark being carried and laid on this loft, w ith the thick ends of it all laid to the high side of the range, and the small bark laid on to the thickness of about six inches ; and the bark taken off the largest of the wood laid regularlv on the top, which serves for a covering, and the lofts or ranges having a declivity of about six inches, the rain will run off them readily, and if properly put up in this manner, they will keep out a great deal of rain After it has lain in this state for three days, if the weather is good I it 2 PRACTICE OF AGKICUL1 UltE. r. i III. »nd ht to be all turned over, and the >tn.iii bark "pre id out, Boat nol to allow it to fil together, winch, il much prctM d, il ii apt to do , and II it dens io with the natural sap in it, it baa .1 chance of moulding, winch is extreme!) hurtful to the bark, and both lessens it in weight and in value After the hark baa -t<»«i on the ranges about eight or ten days, if the weather be good, it may either be put ■ .1 bouse or a tied, or il intended to be put up into a stack it may now be done A stack ol 1 ought never to exceed eighl feel in width, and twelve or fifteen feet in height, raised in the middle like a haystack. Ii it is to stand an) length ol time in the stack, it ought to be thatched, and in that state may remain all winter. . taken to preserve the colour of the inner parts ol ti.e hark, because the colour ol it is generally looked to as a principal criterion of its value re hi in;: put into the stack, the natural sap ought to he dried nut el it. in eider to prevent its fermentin . il a fermentation take- place in one part ol the Btack, it gem rally gov- through and .spoils tin' whole The same mode Of treatment will do for all kinds ol bark a- w.ll as the oak : I nt the birch lias an outer or shreddy .skin upon it, that i- rejected by the tanner, and, as already observed, mutt he pech d oil; Chopping the hark. " When the bark is ready for the tanner, it has to undergo the work of pping, which i- done by driving in two or more stakes into the ground, with a fork on the upper en. I of each, leaving them about two feet six inches from the ground, and laying a long small piece of wood across between the two, where a number ol people stand, and the bark is carried and laid down bel them, which they take up in their hands and lay on the cross tree, and then, with a sharp whittle or bill in the ether hand, they cut it into small piece-, about three inches in length : when this is none, it is trampled into bags, which hold a. out two hundred weight each, and in these bags it is weighed when sold bj the ten, in tons, hunched weights, quarters, and pounds, and in the above manner delivered to the merchant or tanner." [Forester's Guide, l! The disbarlted timber is prepared lor sale by being sorted into straight poles of the largest size, stakes and other pieces tit for palings, faggots, fuel, &c. The unbarked wood is sin.il . r 1 \ sorted, and affords, where there is much hazel or ash, cord wood or bundles "f clean shoots tor making packing crates, hampers. ,\c , poles for hops, larger poles lor fences, rails, paling-stakes, stake- and sheet- tor hurdles, besom stuff, spray tor distillation, and a variety of other objects, according to the local demand, or the opportunity ol supplying a distant market by land-carriage, fhe brush or spray of non-resinous trees is called in some places ton-wood, and is used lor distilling the pyrolignous acid used in blcachfiekls and calico print-works. " When wood of this description is .-cut to Glasgow, where there are extensive work- lor the purpose of distilling it, it sells readily at from 1/. St. to 1/. 10*. per ton; but when tin re are large cuttings, particularly of young woods, it is worth while to erect boilers near the wood to distil it, as tliese boilers can be erected at no great expense, and in this case the liquid is easily carried in casks to where it is consumed, at less expense than the rough timber could be; of course it will pay much better. Small wood oft- ■ used for charcoal : but in distilling it, there is part of it made into charcoal, which will supply the demand of that article, so that it is by tar the 1 profitable Way, win n there is any great quantity to dispose of, to erect boilers and distil it ; unless where the local situation of the wood will admit of its being shipped at a small expense, and carried to where the works mentioned are carried on. All kinds of non-resinous weeds « ill give the extract in question ; but oak, ash, Spanish chestnut, and birch, are the best." {Fori ster'a Guide, 155.) Where the oak grows slowly, as in the Highlands, the but-ends of the poles are used tor spokes for chaise, wheels. " I.. spokes are from thirty to thirty-two inches long by three inches and a half broad, and one inch and a half thick, and the short ones for the same purpose, from twenty-two to twenty-four inches long, and tie same sizes otherwise. Cart-wheel spokes, from twenty-six to twenty-eight inches long, four inches broad by two inches thick. These are the sizes they require to stand when rough blocked from the axe. Small wood, when sold for this purpose, brought, in 1S2U, Sis', a cubic foot, measured down to three inches square." [Monteith.) 4054. In same cases copsc-ivrods are sown with grass-seeds, and pastured by sheep, horses, and cattle. Some admit the animals the fifth year after the last cutting; others, not till the eighth : but Monteith thinks this should never be done till the fifteenth year. If the ground is properly covered with trees, it can seldom be advantageous to admit any species of stock, unless during a month or two in winter. 4055. rollard-trces, which may be considered in most cases as injurious deformities, are lopped at stated periods like copse-woods ; and the lop, whether to be barked or other- wise, is to be treated in all respects like that of copse. 4056. The period at which trees are felled, for the sake of their timber, is determined by various causes. By maturity of growth, or where the annual increase is so trifling as to render their standing no longer worth wliile in point of profit; when wanted for pri- vate use or sale; or when defects in the tree, or new arrangements in its situation, point out the necessity of its removal. " A timbered estate," -Marshal observes, " should fre- quently be gone over by some person of judgment ; who, let the price and demand for timber be what they may, ought to mark every tree which wears the appearance of decay. If the demand be brisk, and the price high, he ought to go two steps farther, and mark Dot only such as are full-grown, but such also as are near perfection." In trees, as in the human species, there are three stages, youth, manhood, and old age. In the period of youth, the growth is rapid ; in manhood, that growth is matured ; and in old age, it begins to decay. 4057. Tlie most / :ason for felling timber is at what may thus be termed the beginning of man- hood. After that time, though the tree may appear sound and healthy, its annual increase is so little, that it would be more profitable to cut it down and replant The number of years that a tree may stand, before it arrives at this period, must vary in different soils and situations; but the period itself may easily be ascertained by the annual shoots, the state of the bark, and by taking the circumference of the tree at the same place for two or three successive seasons, anil comparing the difference In the view of profiting from timber produce, it is of great consequence to cut down plantations at maturity. Many trees will stand half, others a whole century, after they are full-grown, appear quite healthy, and at the same tune make little or no increase of timber. Hut there are particular cases, arising from the nature and state of the markets, where it may even be more profitable to cut timber before it is arrived at a full growth. (Treat, on Count): lies. ii. .077.) 4058. Preparations for felling. It has hern strongly recommended to disbark trees a year or more before they are taken down, in consequence of the result of certain experiments commenced by fiuflbn in 1737, In May of that year, he disbarked thr( e oak tree-, forty feet in height, where they stood. In the course of three years they died, and, on cutting them down, the enter wood was found hard and dry, and the internal wood moist and sorter. Alter trying its strength, &c, he concludes that " timber which has been disbarked and dried wliile standing, will weigh heavier, and prove stronger, than timber cut 111 its bark." Bosc and other French authoi Compl, d'Agr, &c ait Aubier, Inns, Quercus, &c) strongly recommend this practice, which 1.- followed in some places on the Continent, and in this country Took II. PRODUCTS OF TREES. i i with the oak and larch ; but not, as far as we have learned, with any other tree. MonteiUi finds it by far the most efficient way of seasoning larch tinber. He barked some trees in spring, ami did not cut them down till autumn, and others stood in the peeled state for two years. Alter various and extensive trials, he is "decidedly of opinion, that the larch treated in this way at thirty years oi age will be found equally durable with a tree cut down at the age of fifty years, and treated in the ordinary way." [Forester's Guide, 152.) 4059. As the dry rot (Merulius lachrymans Schum.) is found to arise in a great measure from want of seasoning, or at least to proceed with the greatest rapidity in timber not well seasoned, this practice Been - to deserve adoption in that point of view. [Encyc. Brit. Suppl. art. Dry lint.) In some parts of the north of Europe, the trees are divested of their bark for a foot or two feet in height Irom the ground a year or more previous to that on which they are to be felled. We saw this done in Poland ami Lithuania ; but, though we made diligent enquiry there and in Sweden, we could not learn distinctly the extent to which it was practised in the latter country and Norway. It is occasionally practised in Poland, lor the ostensible purpose of hardening the soft wood : but also accompanied by a deep incision made for the purpose of extracting tar ; a practice evidently injurious to the timber, and therefore generally, in these count i iei , kept out of view. When trees staiid close together, a very obvious preparation for felling is lightening the tops of such branches as would, in falling, do injury to the trees that are to be left, or to other ad- joining objects. 4060. The season qf felling is commonly winter, for timber not to be disbarked ; but some, for the re. sinous tribe, recommend summer, as being the season in which it is generally felled in the north of Europe and in the Alps. But the summer season is there adopted from necessity, as in winter the woods are so filled up with snow that felling is hardly practicable. As the timber of these countries isgerierallj squared for the market, the soft wood is chiefly removed; so that the season of felling does not seem to them to be of much consequence. Besides, the timber is never so full of sap in summer as it is in spring .nil autumn, and therefore, next to midwinter, midsummer may be the best time for felling all kinds of timber tiro. Where the trees are disbarked at the base a year or more before felling, the soft wood will be partially hardened ; but this practice is by no means general in the North. 4061. Knowles, in a recent work on preserving the British navy, and on dry rot, &&, after collecting t he opinions of all the ancient and modern authors who have written on felling timber, concludes that the common notion that trees felled in winter contain less of sap or of the vegetable juices, than those cut down at any other season of the year, is not true ; and that the method of barking standing trees in spring, and not felling them till the succeeding winter, has not in anyway realised the expectations formed of the plan. After describing all the modes that have been adopted for seasoning timber, he concludes that the best is to " keep it in air, neither very dry nor very moist ; and to protect it from the sun and rain by a roof raised sufficiently high over it, so as to prevent, by this and other means, a rapid rush of air." [In- quiry into the Means of preserving the British Navy from Dry Rot, 8jc. by Knoivles, Sec. to the Com. of Surveyors, chap, iii.) *406i The operation of felling is performed either by digging an excavation round the stem, and cutting the roots at two or three feet in distance from it, or by cutting over the stem at the surface. By the former mode the root is obtained for use, and the ground more effectually cleared and prepared for the roots of adjoining trees, or whatever crop is to follow. Where the tree is intended to stole, which can very seldom be advisable in the case of cutting full-grown timber, or where there is some nicety requisite in taking it down, so as not to injure other trees or adjoining objects, it is cut or sawn over, and the root, if to be re- moved, dug out afterwards. " In cutting large trees, in order to make the tree fall the way required, enter the cross-cut saw on that side of the tree "it is intended to fall, and cut it about a third part through ; then enter the saw at the other side, and when it is cut so far as to admit a wedge, place the wedge exactly opposite the way you want the tree to fall, and keep driving it slowly till the tree is nearly cut through." [Monteith.) The 'tree, being felled, is next divested of its branches, which are sorted into fence wood, fuel, ton-wood, &c, according to the kind of tree; and the trunk is generally preserved as entire as pos- sible for the purchaser. Sometimes it is cut in two, and the root-cut, orbut-end, being the most valuable, sold for one class of purposes at a higher price, and the top-cuts lor others somewhat lower. 4063. The seasoning of timber consists in evaporating the fluid matter or sap by the natural warmth of the atmosphere, with the precaution of screening the timber both from the direct action of the sun and wind, otherwise it cracks, and receives much injury. As this process proceeds slowly and irregularly when conducted in the ordinary way, Mr. Langton has discovered a new method of seasoning timber, consisting in the removal of the greater part of the atmospheric pressure, and the application of artificial heat, by which the time necessary to season green timber, and render it fit for use, is only about twice as many weeks as the ordinary process requires years. In this process the power of an air-pump is added to draw the sap out of the interior of the wood ; and the tendency of the fluid to the outside being thus increased, a higher temperature than that of the atmosphere can be applied, with less risk of causing the timber to split ; consequently the process may be completed in less time, and a few trials will show the best relation between the time and heat for the different kinds of wood. The late Mr. Tredgold's opinion being asked, he gave it as decidedly in favour of Mr. Langton's process; and timber is now completely seasoned by Mr. Langton in eight or ten weeks after the tree is cut down. [Newton's Journal, vol. i. 2d series, p 144.) 4064. Seasoning timber by steeping. " Some remarkable facts respecting the durability that may be given to timber by artificial means have been observed at Closeburn. The proprietor of that estate has, for thirty years, been in the constant practice of soaking all fir and larch timber, after it is sawed into planks, in a pond or cistern of water strongly impregnated with lime. In consequence of this soaking, the saccharine matter in the wood, on which the worm is believed to live, is either altogether changed, or completely destroyed. Scotch fir-wood, employed in roofing houses, and other indoor work, treated in this manner, has stood in such situations for thirty years, sound, and without the vestige of a worm. In a very few years fir-timber so employed, without such preparation, would be eaten through by that insect." [Menteith of Closeburn, in Edin. New Phil. Jouru. June, 1828.) 4065. The roots of trees are the last product we shall mention. These should, in almost every case, be effectually eradicated; to aid in which, in the case of very large roots, splitting by wedges, rifting by gunpowder, tearing up by the hydrostatic press, or by a common lever, may be resorted to. Some compact ash or oak roots are occasion- ally in demand by smiths, leather-cutters, and others ; but, in general, roots should be reduced to pieces not exceeding three feet long, and six inches in diameter, and put up in stacks not less than three feet every way, but commonly containing two cubic yards. These, when dry, are sold for fuel, or reduced to charcoal on the spot. In eradicating and stacking up coppice-woods, it is common to allow a certain sum per stack, ami something for every acre of ground cleared; if there are no trees to bark, allowances are also made for the poles, faggots, &c, so that no part of the operation is performed by day work. ' 4066. The usual method of charring wood is as follows : —The wood being collect! d near the place intended for the operation, and cut into billets, generally about three fc( I Uu:i Chi PRACTICE OF AGRICULTURE. Part III. in length, the pita or stacks ore usually formed in this manner : —A spot adapted to the purpose, of from about fifteen or twenty feet in diameter, of a conical Conn, is selected, and after being properlj levelled, a large billet of wood, split across at one end, and pointed at the other, is fixed in the centre of the area, with its pointed extremity in the earth, and two piece-, of wood, inserted through the clefts of t lie other end, forming four righl angles; against these cross-pieces, four other billets of wood are placed, one end on the -round, and the other leaning against the angles. A number of large and straight billets are afterwards laid on the ground, to form a floor, each being, as it were, the radius of the circular area; on this lloor, a proper quantity of brush or small wood is strewed, to till up the interstices, when the floor "ill be complete: and in order to keep the billets in the same position in which they were first arranged, pegs or stumps are driven into the ground, in the circumference of the circle, about a foot distant from one another; upon this floor a stage is built, with billets set upon one end, somewhat in- clining towards the central billet, and on the tops of these another floor is laid, in a horizontal direction, but of shorter billets, as the whole is intended, when finished, to form a cone. The pile is then coated over with turf, and the surface generally plastered with a mixture of earth and charcoal dust. 4067. Previously to the operation of setting Jire to the pile, the central billet in the upper sta^e is drawn out, and pieces of dry combustible wood substituted in its place, to which the lire is applied. Great attention is necessary during the process, in the proper management of the fire, and in immediately covering up the apertures through which the flame obtrudes itself, until the operation be concluded, which is generally effected in the space of two or three days, according to circumstances. vT hen the char- coal is thought to be sufficiently burnt, which is easily known from the appearance of the smoke, and the flames no longer issuing with impetuosity through the vents, all the apertures are to be closed up very carefully, with a mixture of earth and charcoal dust, which, by excluding all access of the external air, prevents the coal from being any further consumed, and the fire goes out of itself. In this condition it is suffered to remain, till the whole is sufficiently cooled ; when the cover is removed, and the charcoal is taken away. If the whole process is skilfully managed, the coals will exactly retain the figure of the pieces of wood : some are said to have been so dexterous as to char an arrow without altering even the figure of the feather. (Encyc. Brit. vol. v. art. Charcoal.) 4068. The method of charring wood, for the making of gunpowder, according to an improved system, adopted not many years ago, is however a much more costly operation, though the expense attending it is amply compensated by the superior excellence of the article when manufactured. It is done in iron cylinders, and in so complete a manner, that every particle of the wood is charred. The oily or tarry nutter is also preserved, and may, so far as the quantity goes, be made use of instead of foreign tar or pitch. This mode of charring wood for making gunpowder is carried to the greatest perfection near Petworth in Sussex, and there is a manufacture of a similar nature near Chester. [Gen. Hep. for Scot- land, vol ii. p. 342.) Sect. IX. Estimating the Value of Plantations and their Products, and exposing them to Sale. 4069. The vahiation of timber forms a distinct profession, and can only be acquired by continued observation and experience: like other valuations of property, it depends on a great variety of considerations, some of a general, but the greater part of a local nature. We have already ottered some remarks on valuing young plantations, as a part of what may be called the inherent value of landed estates (3380.;, and shall here confine ourselves to the valuation of saleable trees. 4070. /" valuing saleable trees of any kind, their number per acre or their total number by enumeration being ascertained, and the kinds and sizes classed, then each class is to be estimated according to its worth as timber, fence-wood, fuel, bark, &C 4071. In a coppice wood which cannot readily he measured, " the readiest method of counting the stools is, to cause two men to take a line, say about a hundred feet long or more, and pass it round as many of the Stools as it will enclose, the one man standing while the other moves round a new number of stools : then count always the stools betwixt the two lines, causing the one man to move while the other stands si ill. and so on alternately. The valuator at the same time taking care to average every twenty stools as they go on, before losing sight of the counted stools. This way, too, is a very speedy and sure method of counting the number of trees in any plantation." IfflS. <'r !!„■ stools of a coppice ivofd map In- counted and avoaged "by two men going parallel to each other, and the person valuing going betwixt them ; the two men putting up marks with moss, or pieces of while paper, on a branch of the Stools j the one man always going back by the last laid marks, and the valuator always counting and averaging the stools betwixt the newly laid and the late made marks; ((Hinting and averaging the stools always as the men go on, taking only twenty, or even ten stools at a time. To those who have been in the practice of doing this frequently, it will be round very easy, ami will be done very speedily, and with a \ er\ considerable degree of accuracy. The proper method Of learning to do this correctly is, when a person cuts an oak wood for the first time or. even were the work repeated several times ; he should then, in order to make himself perfectly acquainted with ascertaining the Quantity of bark that a stool, or even the stump of a stool, will produce, go before . ° . .^ . . ... ,. i :i I.. 1 ... , — . :* *■« ....... 1>t. >n ■> from a natural stool, suppose it to measure in girth two inches, by seven feet long, will contain two solid inches, and one third of an inch, according to the measurement of Hoppus. Tins stem or shoot will pro- duce I wo pounds two ounces of bark. Again, a stem or shoot of natural oak, measuring lour inches in Book II. VALUING PLANTATIONS. 663 girth, by nine feet in length, will be found to contain one solid foot of wood, and will produce thirteen pounds and a half of bark." {Forester's Guide, 170.) 4073. When growing trees are valued, an allowance is made from their cubic contents for the bark. The rule given by Monteith is, " When the girth or circumference is any thine from twelve inches up to twenty-four inches, then deduct two inches ; from twenty-four to thirty-six, three inches ; from thirty-six to forty-eight, four inches ; from forty-eight to seventy-two, five inches; and above seventy-two, six inches. These deductions," he says, " will be found to answer in almost all trees ; unless in such as are very old, and have rough and corky barks, or barks covered with moss, when an extra allowance is to be made." i Forester's Guide, 180.) 4074. Tn valuing measurable oak-trees, many persons proceed on the data that every cubic foot of timber will produce a stone (sixteen pounds) of bark. " This," Monteith says, " is not always correct ;" and he states the following facts from his own expe- rience, with a view to assist beginners in ascertaining the quantity of bark from different trees. " An oak-tree, about forty years old, measured down to four inches and a half as the side of the square, and weighing only the bark peeled off the timber that is measured, without including the bark of the spray, &c, every foot of measured timber will produce from nine to eleven pounds of bark. An oak-tree of eighty years old, weighing only the bark peeled off the measurable timber, as above, every foot will produce from ten to thirteen pounds of bark. Every foot of large birch timber, peeled as above, will produce fourteen pounds of bark. Every foot of mountain-ash, as above, will produce eleven pounds and a half of bark. Every foot of the willow, unless a very old one, will produce from nine to eleven pounds of bark. Every foot of larch fir, not exceeding thirty years old, will produce from seven to nine pounds of bark. The bark of trees, particularly the oak, is peeled off, every branch and shoot, down as small as an inch in circumference." {Foresters Guide, 189.) 4075. To facilitate the measuring of standing timber, various ingenious instruments and machines have been invented, by Monteith, Gorrie, Rogers, and others. Perhaps the most generally useful is Broad's callipers (Jig. 599). This instrument is composed of two thin pieces of deal about thirteen feet long, with a brass limb or index (a), on which are engraven figures denoting the quarter girth in feet and inches. Raising the instrument, the index end (a) is taken hold of, and the other applied to that part of the trunk where the girth is to be taken, opening it so wide as just to touch at the same time both sides of it, keeping the graduated index uppermost, on which the quarter girth will be shown, allowing one inch in thirteen gQO for the bark. For taking the height of a tree, rods of deal or bamboo, seven feet long, made so as to fit into ferules at the end of each other, tapering as in a fishing-rod, may be used. Fiveof them with feet marked on them would enable a man quickly to measure the height of a trunk of more than forty feet as he would reach above seven feet. Mon- teith's machine being described in the Em-i/clu/KTdia of Gardening (2d edit. 5 6970), and Gorrie's in the Gard. Mag. (voL ii. p. 9.), we shall here confine our- selves to the invention of Mr. Rogers. 4076. Rogers's dendrometer (Jig. 600) consists of a tripod stand, and a machine for taking angles horizontally as well as vertically. An upright stem arises from the top plate, at the end of which is a ball, with a hole perforated through it, to receive the horizontal stem of the in- strument ; b c may be called the base limb of the instrument, which is to be placed in a truly horizontal position, and adjusted by the suspended level (rf). The limb (e) rises on a joint at r, and slides upon a vertical arch (J) which is graduated. At the joint (c) there is an eye-piece, through which the surveyor looks along the side of the bar (6) to a small point, or rising edge, at the end of the bar ; the part of the tree cut by this line of observation will, if the instru- ment is properly adjusted, be perfectly horizontal with the eye-piece. An ej e- piece is also placed at c, on the upper PRACTICE OF AGRICULTURE. Part III. ■Ids of tin' rising linii), for tin' purpose of looking along tin. iiniii to .1 poinl or rising edge (e) in its extremity. The surveyor elevate* this limb, until that part of the trie intended t<> be noticed ia exactly rut by the line • I ion, and the angle subtended between thai and the horizontal is shown upon the vertical arch [f] It i- here to be remarked, that the graduations upon the arch ^ /') are not angles ol altitude, bul marks or graduations answering to feel and inches of a tangent line, extending from the horizontal point upwards, taken at a given dl I mi from the tree; consequently, then' are two or more of divisions, answering to the sev< ral distances at which the instrument may be planted. Twenty- four feet and fortj i ighl feel are proposed distances, and the graduations upon the arch (/) are made ., i mi ion \ in . er distance is to be u ed; but for shorter trees, the distance of twenty. i >ur feet will be sufficient. The horizontal angli - « bich are to determine the diameter of the trunk, lit everal points Of Observatio rt. -lined by the limli ■■ . which slides laterally 11)1011 an arch or graduated plate (A) divided upon the same principles as the arch /). The limbs 6) or e being fixed, to coincide with one tide of the trunk, the hint) ,{•) is then mined until it coincides with the other side of t lie trunk, and the angle subtended between the two shows, by the graduated plate [A), the diameter in feet and inches 01 the trunk at the points of observation. The length ot the trunk, and its diameter in the era! parts, being thus ascertained by the improved instrument, recourse must then be had to tables, cal. 1 illation^, or the ordinary sliding rule, for the purpose of obtaining from these admeasurements, the solid content of timber in each portion of the tree. There are adjusting screw-, and circular racks and pinions lor moving the limbs of the instrument, and altering their position, as circumstances may require; and When crooked aims, or bent parts of the trunk present themselves, the instrument may he turned upon its pin, in the ball at the top of the stem (a), ami used in an inclined position. [Newton's Jour, vol. i\. p 360.) 4077. Tlic price of timber, like that of every other article in general use, varies with the supply ami demand, and is easily ascertained from the timber-merchants at the different sea-ports ; as i.s that of bark, charcoal, and lire-wood, from the tanners and coal-merchants, •loTH. The usual modes of disposing of timber trees are, selling the trees standing, by auction, by receiving written proposals, or by bargain and sale; 2(\, cutting down the trees, and selling them in the rough, by either of these methods; 3d, con- verting the fallen trees; that is, cutting them tip into the planks or pieces to which they are best adapted, or which tire most eligible in the given situation. The first method seems the best, especially on a large scale, and also for the disposal of copse-wood or osier crops. -US5- Chap. X. Formation and Management of Orchards. 4079. The formation of orchards is to be considered among the permanent improve- ments of an estate ; and should be kept in view in its first arrangement or laying out. No temporary occupier could afford to plant an orchard without extraordinary encouragement from his landlord. Orchards in this respect may be ranked with timber plantations, and both subjects together agree in belonging equally to agriculture and gardening. Orchards have doubtless existed in Britain for many ages as appendages to wealthy religious establishments; but, as objects of farming or field culture, they do not appear to have been adopted till about the beginning of the seventeenth century. (Lawson.) They were then introduced by Lord Scudamorc in Herefordshire, in which county, and in such parts of those adjoining as exhibit a red marly soil, are the best farm orchards in England. The chief produce of these orchards is cider and perry; but as these liquors ate not in very general demand in this country, and are confessedly less wholesome and nourishing than malt liquors, their formation cannot be carried to any great extent. It seems desirable, however, that orchards of moderate size should be as generally intro- duced as possible ; as the use of the fruit in pies, tarts, and sauces would add considerably to the comforts of the lower classes. Besides, there are some situations, as steep sheltered banks of good soil, which cannot be so profitably employed in any other branch of hus- bandry. The subject of orchards maybe considered in regard to soil and situation, sorts of trees, planting, culture, and the manufacture or disposal of the produce. Sect. I. Soils and Situations most suitable for Orchards. 4080. The sites of all the best apple orchards, and all the chief cider districts, have been discovered by W. Smith to be on the same stratum of red marl which stretches across the island from Dorsetshire to Yorkshire. Fruit of no kind, indeed, can be raised with much success on a soil that does not contain in its composition a portion of calcareous matter: though apple trees will thrive well on any description of clay which has a dry bottom, and pears and plums on any dry-bottomed soil whatever. 4081. The most desirable aspect is unquestionably a somewhat elflvated and naturally sheltered declivity, open to tin' south and south-east ; but, as the author of The Hereford- shire Survey remarks, orchards are now found " in every aspect, and on soil of every quality, and under every culture." The most approved site, he say;:, is that which is open to the south-east, and sheltered in other points, but particularly in that opposite. Book II. SORTS OF TREES, AND MANNER OF PLANTING. 6C5 Much however depends on the character of the winds of a country; for in some parts of the island, the west, and in others the east or north wind, is the most injurious to vegetation. 4082. The soil which in Herefordshire is considered best adapted to most kinds of apples is a deep and rich loam when under the culture of the plough ; on this, the trees grow with the greatest luxuriance, and produce the richest fruit. Some trees however, the stire and the golden pippins in particular, form exceptions to this general rule, and flourish most in hot shallow soils on a lime or sandstone. The best sorts of pear-trees also prefer the rich loam, but inferior kinds will even flourish where the soil will scarcely produce herbage. An orchard is generally raised with most success and at least expense in a hop-yard, the ground under this culture being always well tilled and manured, as well as fenced against every kind of enemy. 4083. The soils and situations devoted to farm, orchards in Scotland are steep clayey banks sheltered from the more violent and injurious winds; and in whatever part of that country such situations occur, they can scarcely be more profitably employed. Fruit trees of the apple, pear, and cherry kind, especially of the hardier and tall vigorous- growing varieties, might be introduced in the hedge-rows of dry and moderately sheltered grass-lands in most parts of the British Isles. By thus rendering these fruits universal, there would be a considerable accession of enjoyment to the lower classes, and less tempt- ation to break into gardens and orchards. 4084. The commercial situation most desirable for an orchard is, of course, near a market town, or near a ready conveyance to one ; because though the making of cider affords a profit, yet the fruit sold for culinary or table use yields a much more consi- derable one. In The Gloucestershire Report it is stated that the fruit, which would fetch 8/. 16s. unground, would only bring in cider 3/. 15s. Sect. II. Sorts of Trees, and Manner of Planting. 4085. The most generally useful fruit that can be grown in farm orchards is the apple ; next the pear ; then the plum for tarts or wine ; and to these may be added the cherry, filbert, walnut, chestnut, and elder. In the cider countries, where the climate is more certain than in some others, it is customary to plant but a few good sorts ; and not to mix above one or two sorts together in making cider : in the northern districts, on the contrary, it is a maxim to plant a considerable number of different sorts, both of those which blossom early and late ; because, should the blossom of one variety be destroyed by a frosty wind, that of another may escape. In cold districts, it is advisable to plant orchards in sheltered hollows, exposed to the sun, and to plant thick : but in the warmer southern counties, many descriptions of cider and perry fruits may be grown to perfection in the hedge-rows, or as cultured trees in permanent pastures. The fittest trees for such purposes are those which grow tall, with upright shoots, and which bear fruit of a small size ; such as the Siberian pippin apple, and squash teinton pear : such trees shade the hedges or pastures less than the spreading kinds, and their fruit, being small, is less likely to be blown down by high winds. 4086. The ?nost approved sorts of cider apples we have enumerated and partial 1 y described in the accompanying table 4089). It will be particularly observed that some of the sorts form much more handsome trees than others, and should therefore be preferred for hedge-rows, and indeed in all cases where the quality of the fruit is not objectionable. Some also have smaller-sized fruit than others, and these are to be preferred for situations exposed to much wind. 4087. The colours of good cider fruit are red and yellow ; the colour to be avoided is green, as affording a liquor of the harshest and generally of the poorest quality. The pulp should be yellow, and the taste rich and somewhat astringent. Apples of a small size are always, if equal in quality, to be preferred to those of a larger, in order that the rind and kernel, which contain the aromatic part, may be the more easily crushed with the pulp. 4088. The sorts of baking apples most suitable for orchards are the calvilles, of which there are several varieties, including the Hawthornden for early use ; the reinettes, pearmains, and Northern greening for autumn use, and the russets and Padley's pippin fof winter and spring. Many other sorts might be named, but an inspection of the fruit markets will prove that these are the best ; and further details belong to books on gardening. Whoever intends to plant an orchard will do well to describe the soil, situation, climate, and object in view, to the nearest resident gardener or nurseryman of science and great experience; because the nomenclature of fruits is at present too uncertain to justify any one in trusting entirely to a selection of names taken from books. Ronalds of Brentford, Gibbs of Ampthill and Old Brompton, and Pearson of Chilwell. near Nottingham, are very extensive growers of apple trees for sale, and have paid great attention to the merits of the different sorts. M riCE OF AGRICULTURE. l',I.T III Book II. PLANTING ORCHARDS. 667 4090. The dessert apples Jit for orchards are the rathripes or Margarets for earliest use; the juneating, pomeroy, summer pearmain, and Kentish codling for summer use ; the golden, Downton, and other pippins, especially the ribston pippin, with the nonpareil and other small russets, for autumn, winter, and spring use. The following list is given by Nicol as including a fit collection both of kitchen and dessert apples for a private orchard ; those marked thus * being preferable : — Ribston pippin, * oslin ditto, * gogar ditto, * Kentish ditto, * royal codling, * Kentish ditto, * Carlisle ditto, * royal russet, Wheeler's ditto, * royal pearmain,* Loan's ditto (good),*golden reinette, * Kentish ditto (good), * grey Leadington, scarlet ditto, summer greening, winter ditto, * Yorkshire greening, * margil (very good), Margaret apple (good;, * whit. 1 Haw. thomden, * Norfolk beaunn (good), strawberry, * purse- mouth (very good). 4091. The /nost approved sorts qf cider pears are the following: Barland, Pom. Her. t. 27., Forsyth, p. 143., fruit very austere, hardy upright tree. Hoimore, Pom. Her. t. 20., For- syth, p. 144., upriglit tree. HufFcap, Pom. Her. t. 24., For.vth, p. 144., fruit austere Jarge, hardy trees. Oldrield, Pom. Her. 1. 11., Forsyth, p. 144., large tree. Rough cap, Forsyth, p. 111., very austere, hardy free-growing tree. Squash teuton, Pom. Her. t. 13., Forsyth, p. 144., fruit very austere, upright tree, and great bearer. 4092. In choosing pears for planting in orchards, the description of the plant is a matter of very considerable importance, as pear trees attain a much greater age and size than apples. In our opinion the planting of pears in hedge-rows ought to be more encouraged than the planting of apples, as they are calculated, when dried, to be used in soups; or, when stewed green, to afford a light and agreeable nourishment; and perry is at least a more wholesome and exhilarating liquor to most constitutions than cider. 4093. The baking and dessert pears fit for orchards, according to Nicol, are the following : — *.Targonelle, Crawford or lammas, * camock or Drummond, * grey achan, swan's egg, *moorfowl's egg, *yair, * golden knap (good), Longueville, * summer bergamot, * autumn ditto, * Scot's ditto, musk robin (good), saffron, * hanging leaf (very good), the pound pear, cadillac, warden (for baking). 4094. Gorrie (Gard. Mag. voL iv. p. 11.) recommends the Benvie (Jig. 601. a), Golden Knap (6), 601 5gg SIS a b c Elcho (c), Busked Lady (tf), and Pow Meg (e), as handsome trees. But where high-flavoured fruit is the object, and the climate is not unfavourable, the Beurres, the Bergamots, and other new French and Flemish sorts, should be preferred. The following sorts will succeed as standards in the neigh- bourhood of London. Their time of ripening is indicated, and also their qualities : very good (v. g.) ; good (g ) ; and moderate (m.). July. * Muscat Robert (mO, gros muscat, (g.} Au'%. Epine verte d'e"te (g.), * jargonelle- (v. g.) Autumn. *Bergamote silvange (g.), *beurre' rouge (g.), bturre vert, (g.) Sept. *Berganiote paysanne (v.g.), rousselet de Rheims. (v.g.( Sept. and Oct. Fondante d'Havay (v. g.), * bon chr^tien d'e'tg. (g.) Oct. Fondante de Brest (v.g.), e*pine dTiiver. (g.) Oct. and Nov, * Beurre" Spence (v. g.), * Marie Chris- tine, (v.g.) Nov. Bern-re" Capiaumont (v. g.), beurre" crapaud (v. g.), beurre - d'Afilighem {v. g.), Marie Louise (v.g.), * Napoleon (v.g.), *Urbaniste. (v.g.) Dec. Beurre" diel (v.g.), ines. (v.g. pastorale (g.), * present de Ma- Winter. Josephine (v. g.), poire Canning, (v. g.) Dee. and Jan. *(iIoux. morceaux (v.g.), Roide Rome, (g.) Jan. Bezi Vaat [v. g.), * Louise Bonne- (g.) Jan. and Feb. * Passe Colmar (v.g.), * Passe Colmar gris, dit Frecel. (v.g.) Feb. ami March. Orange d'hiver (m.), l'incommunicable. (m.) March. Duchesse de Mars, (g.) March and April. Gros Remain (m.), *bergamote de Paques (m), *lieurr£ ranee, (v.g.) April. Fondante Batave (g-)» la favorite, (g.) April and May. Muscat Allemand (m.j, bezi de Calssor. fg.) May and June. *Bergamote de Peutecote (g.), Rame- lier. (m.) 4095. The best sorts of baking plums are the following : — Damson, bullace, muscle, winesour, and magnum bonum. Of these the damson is by tar the best, and next the winesour, ■which thrives onlv on a calcareous soil, and grows wild in abundance in he VVest Riding of Yorkshire. 4096. The following are excellent dessert plums for an orchard : — * Green gage, Orleans, * damask (black, good), white perdri- gon, *blue ditto, blue gage, * white magnum bonum, red 4097. Gibbs of Brompton gives the following select list of orchard fruits from his own experience : — ditto, or imperial, *drap d*or (yellow, good). Of these the green gage, Orleans, and damask are much the best. Summer Table Apples. Early Margaret, red Astrachan, oslin, Mason's ear' y, Kerry, yellow Ingestrie, Carter's seedling, Thorle, red fjuarenden, early Ampthill pippin. Summer Kitchen Apples. Keswick codlin, Maulden endlin Carte's monsiCT, French codlin, yellow liarv- st, Hullandbury Autumn T< bic 4ppU». Ribston, MaTgall, court rendu, DowntODj Ne»town Spilzenburg, English peach apple, Fearne's pippin, Wyken, Gravenstein, Ross nonpareil, pomme de neige. m Kitchen Apples. Alexander, How bury l >ppin, Hawthornden, Ducht^ of (Hdenburgh, Nelson, dominie, BUn • iro orange, Dutch and French codlins (good for autumn as w -II as summer use). W.ntcr and Spring Tabic Apple*. Scarlet nonpareil, oid PRACTICE OF AGRICULTUn I P m ITT. ' JOCU ' '-• '* .1 on, , Mire I ..u. .-, Vi|«i!m>i1, lieurre Spenr.-, V.U1-- pippin, '. I 11 >!•'. plpp i I in-i. --.I quality, I kehouse r ■ .. Chaumoi r. gulden II41 til-. Scotch Comuck, black . Vstanvtotm. Winter ami ' Pren h crab, Norfolk Winter mi, I Sprintt Table Peare. St. Germain, licurre . paywell, irl winter dlitver, | 'biTsr, poire d'Auch, boa clm-tim :' Kent, d*hlver, beigamole dlilver, Vcntu tl'tn • ■ ■ . beurn ffooa/i apple, '■<■ n ■" pippin, skinless winter verte ion,' present in.irm.iii.il- pippin, wmt. deMaHni . ! len. pippin, in.irin.ii i.li pippin, ii ■ Ma nn--, bon IViallnoUe, DIUen, i I. lit- white P . Dufflin, wood ■ •■.. ' ■ ' St. Germain, mange /■ Pw r. Aston-town, achan red, achan green, swarfs b. Wind r, grey beurrd, orange bei i. i. Downton, S Kingston black, Sm mtar bon Chretien, earrj bcrgamoi, Jullcn archiduc d'ete*, I Couronne, black hearty bloc! ; ton, M^e- reau, white heart. /■ . (Vindsor, BdelcrantZj /'/»,/«. Orleans, green gage, wineiour, Coopert large red, bonuin magnum, Coe's golden drop. Autumn Titbit Peart, G one, brown : ^. Ronalds of Brentford, who is perhaps better acquainted with English apples than any other individual, recommends the following sorts : — i i!i. Vs\ t.mrv, i: i.t,n-d rdmrta, brandy amde* Robiiison'srippin, new scarlet nonpareil, Quarend Pl'le, lafameuse, snmmer oslin, summer rernspippin, redley'i pippin, Cronon pippin, nutmeg golden pippin, Duchi of Oldenburgh, Kerry pippin. pippin, Wykin pippin, russet pearraain, Parry'i At. Nonesuch, Spring grove, Manas new green nonpareil, neu golden pippin, tulip apple, couit codlin, HawthoiTtden, fine strip) ; General Arabln, Wormsley pendu plat rubra, golden \\ orcester. Dredge's golden pippin. iplceapple. Winter baking Applet. Large russet, transj Autumn Tabt Apple*. Margil, Downton pippin, Keddle- russet, French crab, Minimi! crab, Nori stone pip] I i.inkiiii' golden pippin, Delaware, aromatic pippin, London pippin, new scarlet pearmain, Kirk' Duke of Wellington, Yorkshire greening, Kymer, Deeping Autumn t;u>in^ Appb t. Hollandoury, beauty of Kent, Sa- pippin, pound apple I American). lop] un apple, u>.ii!cn burr, Russian apple. Emperor Alexander, Cider Apples. Bitter sweet, Siberian ETervey, Foxley apple, codlin, (iratenstein, jello« bow [Amei coccageej Fyrus (uniaue, Tartarian crab), Siberian I .■ * t- r ti, t, . /,. | nparcil, Morris's russet, Bringwood I crab, transparent crab, Beeping pippin, Downton pipp n, pippin, King I leorge, Sykehouse, Court Wyke pippin, Christie's Brentford crab, (jirdWr*b targe striped. 4099. Pearson «f Chilwell recommends the following apples as very select: — / in tarty Dettert, the Beglestone summering, Waterloo Manks codlin, American summering^ and Hawthi pippin, ana PerfecCsJuneating. / won, the Bur- /'.■' middle Season, Gi ppin, malster, and Bail d Km, i/ird Lennox, Pike's pearmain, and Blenheim orange, free-bearer. Furlong Keeping/ Caldwell, Normanton wonder, For lah Keeping, rVollaton pippin, Bess Pool, Keddlestona and northern greening. A u the foregoing will dov.il; as dwarfs pippin, and Hartford'.s russet. For KittAen I >e, early, the on Paradise stocks. [Gard. M »f a languishing tree, if not too old, will be further promoted by taking it up at the same time, and pruning the roots; for as, on the one hand, the depriving too luxuriant a tree of part even of its sound healthy roots will moderate its vigour ; so, on the other, to relieve a stunted or sickly tree of cankered or decayed roots, to prune the extremities of sound roots, and especially to shorten the dangling tap-roots of a plant affected by a bad sub- soil, are, in connection with heading down, or very short pruning, the renovation of the soil, and draining, the most availing remedies that can be tried. 4116. A tree often becomes stunted from an accumulation of mass, which, affects the functions of the bark, and renders the tree unfruitful. This evil is to be removed by scraping the stems and branches of an old tree; and on a young tree a hard brush will effect the purpose. Wherever the bark is decayed or cracked, Abercrombie and Forsyth direct its removal. Lyon, of Edinburgh, has lately carried this practice to so great a length as even to recommend the removal of part of the bark of young trees. Practical men, in general, however, confine the operation to cracked bark, which nature seems to attempt throwing off; and the effect in rendering the tree more fruitful and luxuriant is acknowledged by Neill in his Account of Scottish Gardening and Orchards, and by different writers in The London and Caledonian Horticultural Transactions. 4117. The other diseases to which orchard trees are subject are chiefly the canker, gum, mildew, and blight, which, as we have already observed, are rather to be prevented by such culture as will induce a healthy state, than to be remedied by topical applications. Too much lime, Sir II. Davy thinks, may bring on the canker, and if so, the replacing a part of such soil with alluvial or vegetable earth would be of service. The gum, it is said, may be constitutional, arising from offensive matter in the soil ; or local, arising from external injury. In the former case, improve the soil ; in the latter, apply the knife. The mildew, it is observed by T. A. Knight and Abercrombie, " may be easily subdued at its appearance, by scattering flour of sulphur upon the infected parts." As this disease is now generally considered the growth of parasitical fungi, the above remedy is likely to succeed. For caterpitJars and other insects in spring, Forsyth recommends burning rotten vvocd, weeds, potato-hulm, wet straw, &c, on the windward side of the trees when they are in blossom. He also recommends washing the stems and branches of all orchard trees with a mixture of "fresh cow-dung with urine and soap-suds, as a whitewasher would wash the ceiling or walls of a room." The promised advantages are, destruction of insects and " line bark ;" more especially, he adds, " when you see it necessary to take all the outer bark off." 4118. With the Herefordshire orchardists pruning is not in genera/ use ; the most ap- proved method is that of rendering thin and pervious to the light the points of the external blanches, so that the internal branches of the tree may not be wholly shaded by the external parts. Large branched should rarely or never be amputated. The instrument generally used for the purpose of pruning is a strong flat chisel, fixed to a handle six feet or more in length, having a sharp edge on one of its sides and a hook on the other. (A'nighl's Treatise on the Apple and Pear. ) 4119. The culture of the soil among orchard trees is always attended with advantage; though it can so seldom be properly conducted in farm orchards, that in most cases it is better to lay them down with grass seeds for pasture. To plough between the trees and take corn crops, even if manure is regularly given, cannot be any great advantage, unless Book II. GATHERING AND KEEPING ORCHARD FRUITS. 671 a radius of six or eight feet is left round each tree. If such a space is left, and yearly dug but not cropped, the trees will thrive well ; and a ridge between each two rows may be sown with corn. The greater number of orchards in Herefordshire and Gloucester- shire are under pasture ; but the most productive are those trees grown in hop grounds. In Kent, in some instances, the interspaces of young orchards are occupied by hops, in others by filberts, and in grown orchards the latter are sometimes seen. Some old orchards are likewise in permanent sward, others under arable or garden crops, and some in saintfoin, while others are in lucern. In all cases where the subsoil is moist, or other- wise unfavourable, the ground of an orchard should neither be dug nor ploughed, in order not to prevent the roots from spreading themselves immediately under the surface. The effect of repeatedly stirring the surface to six or eight inches or more in depth is to cause the roots to descend. In all soils, this descent, by furnishing them more abundantly with moisture, tends to prolong the growth, and prevent the ripening of the wood and the formation of blossom buds ; but, in the case of noxious subsoils, it brings on canker and other diseases. This is the reason why standard fruit-trees in kitchen gardens are gene- rally less productive than in grass orchards : the productive trees in certain hop-grounds in Kent and other counties may seem an exception ; but they are not so, the subsoil in these cases being good and dry. Sect. IV. Gathering and Keeping of Orchard Fruit. 4120. Tlie gathering of orchard fruit, and especially apples, should be performed in such a manner as not to damage the branches, or break off the fruit spurs or buds. Too frequently the fruit is allowed to drop, or it is beat and bruised by shaking the tree and using long poles, &c. Nicol directs that it should never be allowed to drop of itself, nor should it be shaken down, but should be pulled by the hand. This may be thought too troublesome a method ; but every body knows that bruised fruit will not keep, nor will it bring a full price. The expense of gathering, therefore, may be more than defrayed, if carefully done, by saving the fruit from blemish. 4121. With regard to the keeping of kernel fruits, the old practice, which is recommended by Marshal and Forsyth, commences with sweating, though Nicol and other modern gardeners omit this process. It is evident from the general practice of both commercial and private gardeners, that sweating fruit is not essential to its keeping, though some persons continue to allege that, in consequence of that operation, it keeps better. Marshal, the author of An Introduction to Gardening, observes, that those fruits which con- tinue long for use should be suffered to hang late, even to November, if the frost will permit; for they must be well ripened or they will shrink. Lay them in heaps till they have sweated a few days, when they must be wiped dry. Let them then lie singly, or at least thinly, for about a fortnight, and be again wiped, and immediately packed in boxes and hampers, lined with double or treble sheets of paper. Place them gently in, and cover them close, so as to keep air out as much as possible. Preserve them from frost through the winter : never use hay for the purpose. Kernel fruits and nuts keep no where better than when mixed and covered with sand in a dry cool cellar, in the manner of potatoes. Buried in pits well protected from moisture, russets have been found to keep perfectly fresh a year from the time of their being gathered. The keeping of cider fruits is not approved of, it being found best to crush them after they have been thinly spread for a few days on a dry boarded floor. Many of the Herefordshire growers carry them direct from the tree to the crushing-mill. Sect. V. Manufacture of Cider and Perry. 4122. Cider is commonly manufactured by the grower of the fruit, though it would cer- tainly be better for the public if it were made a distinct branch of business like brewing or distilling. " The true way to have excellent cider," Marshal observes, " is to dispose of the fruit to professional cider makers. The principal part of the prime cider sold in London and elsewhere is manufactured by professional men ; by men who make a business of manufacturing and rectifying cider, even as distillers, rectifiers of spirit, and brewers follow their businesses or professions, and like them too conduct their operations, more or less, on scientific principles." (Rev. of Agr. Rep. vol. ii. p. 294.) It is allowed on all hands that the operation is performed in a most slovenly manner by the farmer, and that it is very difficult to procure this liquor in good quality. The operation of cider-making is as simple as that of wine-making or brewing, and will be perfectly un- derstood from the following directions, chiefly drawn from the treatises of Crocker and Knight ; so that any person possessing an orchard, or a few hedge-row fruit trees, may make a supply for his own use. The first business consists of gathering and preparing the fruit ; the" second, of grinding and pressing ; and the last, of fermenting and bottling. 4123. In gathering cider apples, care should be taken that they are thoroughly ripe before they are taken from the tree ; otherwise the cider will be of a rough, harsh taste, in spite of all the endeavours of the operator. It is observed by Crocker, in his tract PRACTICE OF AGRICULTURE. Part III. on The .In if Making mid Man ter, that the most certain indications of the ripe- ness of apples are the fragrance of their smell, and their spontaneously dropping from the trees. When they are in lliis state of maturity, ill a dry day, the limbs may, lie says, be slightly shaken, ami partly disburdened of their golden store; thus taking such apples only as are ripe, and li aving the unripe longer on the trees, that they may also acquire a t\\w degree of matin its. It may not, he thinks, be ami^s to make three gather- ings of the crop, keeping each by itself. The latter gathering, as well as wind-falls, Can, however, only be employed in making inferior cider : the prime eider must be drawn from the former gatherings. 4124. (hi the proper win arc of fruits, or rather on their proper separation, the merit of eider will always greatly depend. Those whose rinds and pulp are tinned with green, or red without any mixture of yellow, as that colour will disappear in the first Stages of fermentation, should be carefully kept apart from such as are yellow, or yellow intermixed with red. The latter kinds, which should remain on the trees till ripe enough to fall without being much shaken, are alone capable of making line cider. Bach kind should be collected separately, as noticed above, and kept till it becomes perfectly mellow. For this purpose, in the common practice of the country, they are placed in heaps often inches or a foot thick, and exposed to the sun, air, and rain, not being ever covered, except in very severe frosts. The strength and flavour of the future liquor are increased by keeping the fruit under cover some time before it is ground ; but unless a situation can be afforded it, in which it is exposed to a free current of air, and where it can be spread very thin, it is apt to contract an unpleasant smell, which will much affect the cider produced from it. Few farms are provided with proper buildings for this purpose on a large scale, and the improvement of the liquor will not nearly pay the expense of erecting them. It may reasonably be supposed, that much water is absorbed by the fruit in a rainy season ; but the quantity of juice yielded by any given quantity of fruit will be found to diminish as it becomes more mellow, even in very wet weather, provided it be ground when thoroughly dry. The advantages there- fore, of covering the fruit will probably be much less than may at first sight be expected. No criterion appears to be known, by which the most proper point of maturity in the fruit can be ascertained with accuracy ; but it improves as long as it continues to ac- quire a deeper shade of yellow. Each heap should be examined prior to its being ground, and any decayed or green fruit carefully taken away. The expense of this will be very small, and will be amply repaid by the excellence of the liquor, and the ease with which too great a degree of fermentation maybe prevented. (Crocker.) In Ireland a mixture of every sort of apple is considered as producing the best cider. A propor- tion of crabs is always admitted. " The taste, in consequence, is very sour, and less sweet than English cider : but this is matter of fancy ; and, a relish for rough cider once acquired, the sweet kind loses much of its attractions. Owing to a considerable admixture of crabs, the Irish cider is always more sour than the English, and this is a quality, when not too predominant, for which it is valued by the natives." (Lard iter's Cyc. Dtwi. Econ.) 4125. /// grinding, the fruit should be so reduced that the rind and kernel should be scarcely discernible. In such a complete mixture it seems probable that new elective attractions will be exerted, and compounds formed which did not exist previously to the fruit being placed under the roller. The process of slow grinding, with free access of air, gives the cider good qualities it did not possess before, probably by the absorption of oxygen. To procure very fine cider, the fruit should be ground and pressed im- perfectly, and the pulp spread as thin as possible, exposed to the air, and frequently turned during twenty-four hours, to obtain as large an absorption of air as possible. The pulp should be ground again, and the liquor formerly expressed added, by which the liquor will acquire an increase of strength and richness. (Lardners Cyclo. Bom. Econ.) 41 26. Whetlier the pommage should, immediately after grinding, be conveyed to the press, there to be formed into a kind of cake, or what is called the cheese ; or whether it should remain some time in that state before pressing, ciderists have not agreed. Some say it should be pressed immediately after grinding ; others conceive it best to suffer it to remain in the grinding trough, or in vats employed for the purpose, for twenty-four hours, or even two days, that it may acquire not only a redness of colour, but also that it may form an extract with the rind and kernels. Both extremes arc, Crocker thinks, wrong. There is an analogy, he says, between the making of cider from apples, and wine from grapes ; and the method which the wine-maker pursues ought to be followed by the cider-maker. When the pulp of the grapes has lain some time in the vats, the vintager thrusts his hand into the pulp, and takes some from the middle of the mass ; and when he perceives, by the smell, that the luscious sweetness is gone oil*, and that his nose is affected with a slight piquancy, he immediately carries it to the press, and by a light pressure expresses his prime juice. In like manner should the ciderist determine Book II. MANUFACTURE OF CIDER AND FERRY. 673 the time when his pulp should be carried to the press. If he carried it immediately from the mill to the press, he might lose some small advantage which may be expected from the rind and kernels, and his liquor might be of lower colour than he may wish. If he suffer it to remain too long unpressed, he will find to his cost that the acetous ferment- ation will come on before the vinous is perfected, especially in the early part of the cider- making season. He will generally find that his pulp is in a fit state for pressing in about twelve or sixteen hours. If he must of necessity keep it in that state longer, he will find a sensible heat therein, which will engender a premature fermentation ; and he must not delay turning it over, thereby to expose the middle of the mass to the in- fluence of the atmosphere. Knight's opinion is, however, that it should remain twenty- four hours before it is taken to the press ; and in this opinion the author of the Art of Cider Making, in Lardners Cyclopedia, Domestic Economy, vol. i. also concurs. 4127. The pommage being carried to the press, and a square cake or cheese made of it, by placing very clean sweet straw or reed between the various layers of pommage ; or by putting the same into the hair-cloths, and placing them one on another. It is of importance that the straw or weed be sweet, and perfectly free from any fustiness, lest the cider be impregnated therewith. Particular care ought also to be taken to keep hair-cloths sweet, by frequently washing and drying, or the ill effects of their acidity will be communicated to the cider. To this cake or cheese, after standing awhile, a slight pressure is at first to be given, which must be gradually increased until all the must or juice is expressed ; after which, this juice must be strained through a coarse hair sieve, to keep back its gross feculences, and be put into proper vessels. These vessels may be either open vats or close casks ; but as, in the time of a plentiful crop of apples, a number of open vats, may by the ciderist be considered an incumbrance in his cider-rooms, they should be generally carried immediately from the press to the cask. Thus far, says Crocker, cider-making is a mere manual operation, performed with very little skill in the operator; but here it is that the great art of making good cider commences ; nature soon begins to work a wonderful change in this foul-looking, turbid, fulsome, and unwholesome fluid ; and, by the process of fermentation alone, converts it into a wholesome, vinous, salubrious, heart-cheering beverage. 4128. Fermentation is an internal motion of the parts of a fermentable body. This motion, in the present case, is always accompanied with an evident ebullition, the bub- bles rising to the surface, and there forming a scum, or soft and spongy crust, over the whole liquor. This crust is frequently raised and broken by the air as it disengages itself from the liquor, and forces its way through it. This effect continues whilst the fermentation is brisk, but at last gradually ceases. The liquor now appears tolerably clear to the eye, and has a piquant vinous sharpness upon the tongue. If in this state the least hissing noise be heard in the fermenting liquor, the room is too warm, and atmospheric air must be let in at the doors and at the windows. Now, continues Crocker, is the critical moment which the ciderist must not lose sight of; for, if he would have a strong, generous, and pleasant liquor, all further sensible fermentation must be stopped. This is best done by racking off the pure part into open vessels, which must be placed in a more cool situation for a day or two ; after which it may again be barrelled, and placed in some moderately cool situation for the winter. The Herefordshire cider-farmers, after the eider has perfected its vinous fermentation, place their casks of cider in open sheds throughout the winter ; and, when the spring advances, give the last racking, and then cellar it. In racking, it is advisable that the stream from the racking-cock be small, and that the receiving-tub be but a small depth below the cock, lest, by exciting a violent motion of the parts of the liquor, another fermentation be brought up. The feculence of the cider maybe strained through a filtering-bag, and placed among the second-rate ciders ; but by no means should it be returned to the prime cider. In this situation the cider will, in course of time, by a sort of insensible fermentation, not only drop the remainder of its gross lees, but will become transparent, highly vinous, and fragrant. 4129. According to Knight, after the fermentation has ceased, and the liquor is become clear and bright, it should instantly be drawn off, and not suffered on any account again to mingle with its lees; for these possess much the same properties as yeast, and would inevitably bring on a second fermentation. The best criterion to judge of the proper moment to rack off will be the brightness of the liquor ; and this is always attended with external marks, which serve as guides to the cider-maiier. The discharge of fixed air, which always attends the progress of fermentation, has entirely ceased ; and a thick crust, formed of fragments of the reduced pulp, raised by the buoyant air it contains, is col- lected on the surface. The clear liquor being drawn off into another cask, the lees are put into small bags, similar to those used for jellies: through these whatever liquor the lees contain gradually filtrates, becoming perfectly blight; and it is then returned to that in the cask, in which it has the effect, in some measure, of preventing a second ferment- ation. It appears to have undergone a considerable change in the process of filtratie>n. X x 674 PRACTICE OF AGRICULTURE. Part III. lis colour is remarkably deep, its taste harsh ;mtone match is sufficient ; but if it be required to give any additional flavour to the cider, some powdered ginger, cloves, cinnamon, &c. may be strewed on the match when it is made. The burning of these ingredients with the sulphur will convey somewhat of their fragrance to the whole cask of cider; but to do it to the best advantage, it must be performed as soon as the vinous fermentation is fully perfected. 4 133. Cider is generally in the best state to be put into the bottle at two years old, where it will soon become brisk and sparkling ; and if it possesses much richness, it will remain with scarcely any sensible change during twenty or thirty years, or as long as the cork duly performs its office. 4134. In making cider for the. common use of the form-house, few of the foregoing rules are attended to. The flavour of the liquor is here a secondary consideration with the farmer, whose first object must be to obtain a large quantity at a small expense. The apples are usually ground as soon as they become moderately ripe : and the juice is cither racked off at once as soon as it becomes bright, or more frequently conveyed from the press immediately to the cellar. A violent fermentation soon commences, and continues until nearly the whole of the saccharine part is decomposed. The casks are filled up and stopped early in the succeeding spring, and no further attention is either paid or re- quired. The liquor thus prepared may be kept from two to five or six years in the cask, according to its strength. It is generally harsh . and rough, but rarely acetous ; and iti this state, it is usually supposed to be preferred by the fanners and peasantry. When it has become extremely thin and harsh by excess of fermentation, the addition of a small quantity of bruised wheat, or slices of toasted bread, or any other farinaceous substance, will much diminish its disposition to become sour. 41 55. Madeira titter. Take new cider from the press, mix it with honey till it bears an egg, boil it gently tor a quarter ill' an hour, but not in an iron pot j take off" the scum as it rises, let it cool, then barrel it, without filling thi • essi 1 quite full : bottle it off in March. In six weeks afterwards, it will be ripe for use, and as strong as Madeira. The longer it is afterwards kept, the better. [Meek. Mag.) Book II. MACHINERY I-'OH CIDER MAKING. 6 75 4136. Perry is manufactured on exactly the same principles as cider. The pears should not be quite ripe, and the admixture of some wildings will add much to the spnghtliness of the taste. " It is thought by some to resemble champagne more than gooseberry wine does; and it is said, when of the best quality, to have been at times sold instead of champagne." {Lardners Cyc. Bom. Econ.) 4137. 1 he jiroduce of cider or perry by the acre can only be guessed at, by first ascer- taining the number of trees. From an orchard of trees in full bearing, half a hogshead of cider may, in seasons ordinarily favourable, be expected from the fruit of each tree. As the number of trees on the acre varies from ten to forty, the quantity of cider must vary in the same proportion, that is, from five to twenty hogsheads. Pear-trees, in equally good bearing, yield fully one third more liquor ; therefore, although the liquor extracted from pears sells at a lower price than that produced from apples, yet the value by the acre, when the number of trees is the same, is nearly on a par. Sect. VI. Machinery and Utensi/s necessary for Cider-making. 4138. The machinery of the common ciderist includes the mill-house, mill, press, cloth, vat, and cask, with their appurtenances. 4139. Marshal, in The Rural Economy of Gloucestershire, remarks, that a mill-house, on an orchard-farm, is as necessary as a barn. It is generally one end of an out-builu- mg, or perhaps an open shed, under which straw or small implements are occasionally laid up. The smallest dimensions, to render it any way convenient, are twenty-four feet by twenty ; a floor thrown over it, at seven feet high ; a door in the middle of the front, and a window opposite ; with the mill on one side, the press on the other side, of the window, as much room being left in front, towards the door, for fruit and utensils, as the nature of the mill and the press will allow. The utensils belonging to a mill-house are few -. the fruit is brought in carts or baskets, and the liquor carried out in pails. 4140. Of the common cider-mill there are several varieties, formed on the principles of the bark, mills of tanners. The circle enclosed by the trough is in Devonshire generally in one division {Jig. 602.), and is sometimes divided into compartments for containing different varieties of the same fruit. {Jig. fiU.3.) The size of the runner varies from two and a half to four and a half feet in diameter, and from nine to twelve inches in thickness ; which in general is equal, like that of a grindstone, not varying, like that of amill- stone : the weight one or two tons. The bottom of the chace is somewhat wider than the runner, that this may run freely. The inner side rises perpen- dicularly, but the outer side spreads, so as to make the top of the trough some six or eight inches wider than the bottom, to give freedom to the runner, and room to scatter in the fruit, stir it up while grinding, and take out the ground matter. The depth is nine or ten inches. The outer rim of the trough is three or four inches wide; and the diameter of the inner circle, which the trough circumscribes, from four and a half to five feet, according to the size of the mill. This is sometimes raised by a table of thick plank fixed upon the stone, with a curb of wood, lessening to an angle, fixed upon the circumference of the trough, making the whole depth of the trough about equal to its width at the bottom This lessens the quantity of the stone; and the plank upon the centre answers other purposes. The entire bed of a middle-sized mill is about nine feet ; some are ten, and some few twelve, in diameter ; the whole being composed of two, three, or four stones, cramped together as one ; and worked, or at least finished, alter they are cramped together. The best stones are raised in the Forest of Dean : they are mostly a dark- reddish gritstone non-calcareous), working with sufficient freedom, yet sufficiently hard lor this intention. The bed of the mill is formed, and the trough partly hollowed, at the quarry, leaving a few inches at the edge of each stone uncut out, as a bond to prevent its breaking in carriage. Much depends on the quality of the stone. It ought not to be calcareous, in whole or in part, as the acid of the liquor would corrode it. Some of the Herefordshire stones have calcareous pebbles in them, which being of course dissolved leave holes in the stone. Nor should it be such as will communicate a disagreeable tinge to the liquor. A clean-grained grindstone grit is the fittest for the purpose. 4141. The runner, as it has been seen {Jig. 602.), is moved by means of an axle passing through the centre, with a long arm, reaching without the bed of the mill, for a horse to draw by ; and with a short one passing to an upright swivel, turning upon a pivot, in the centre of the stone, and steadied at the top, by entering a bearing of the floor above. An iron bolt, with a large head, passes through an eye in the lower part of the swivel, into the end of the inner arm of the axis. Thus the requisite double motion is obtained, and the stone kept perfectlv upright (which it ought to be) with great simplicity, and without stress to any part of the machine. This is the ordinary method of hanging the runner. I here is a more complex way of doing it, but Marshal savs he sees no advantage arising from it. 1 here are some mills, it seems, with two runners, one opposite the other. On the inner arm of the axis, about a loot lroin the X x 2 076 PRACTICE OF AGRICULTURE. Tart III. runner, is fixed (or ought to be, though it is frequently wanting) a cogged wheei working in a circle of COgf, Sxed ii|ion the bo.i of the mill 414i The diameter qf the wheel is determined by the height of the axis above the bed of the mill ; the diameter of the ring of cogs, by the distance of the wheel from the centre of motion. The use of COg wheels is to prevent the runner from sliding, to which it is liable when the mill is full ; the matter, when nearly ground, rising up in a body before tl.e stone Betides, by assisting the rotatory motion of the stone, it renders the work more easy to the hone These wheels require to be made with great exact, ness; and in a country where carpenters are unaccustomed to them, a millwright should be employed in fixing them. The mill is placed so as to leave a horse-path, about three feet wide, between the bed and the walls ; so that a moderately sized mill, with its horse-path, takes up a space of fourteen or fifteen feet every way. 414i A cidcr-t/iul i-i use in the suiitli of France (yf». 604.) is worked on a circular platform of boards, and instead of stone the wheel or conical roller (a) is of cast-iron. The fruit is spread thinly over the platform, and the roller moved round by one man or a woman. From the roller's covering more breadth than the narrow bark wheels in use in England, more fruit is crushed in a short time by this sort of mill than would at lirst sight be supposed 4144. An eligible description of mill, where cider is only made for private use, consists of a pair of fluted rollers working into each other. These rollers are of cast-iron, hollow, about nine inches in diameter, with flutes or teeth, ahout an inch wide, and nearly as much deep. In general they are worked by hand, two men working against each other. Between these the fruit passes twice; the rollers being first set wide to break it into fragments, and afterwards closer to reduce the fragments and the seeds, the bruising of the latter being of essential use in making high- flavoured cider. 4l4o. The apple-mill is an iron machine. Where iron-mills have been tried, this metal has been found to be soluble in the acid of apples, to which it communicates a brown colour and an unpleasant taste. No combination has been ascertained to take place between this acid and lead ; but as the calx of this metal readily dissolves in, and communicates an extremely poisonous quality to, the acetous juice of the apple, it should never be suffered to come into contact with the fruit or liquor. (Ktiight on the Apple mid Pear.) In Ireland the cider-mill is composed of two horizontal wooden cylinders, covered with studs of iron like an organ barrel. These work into each other and crush the apples, which are afterwards beat in a vessel with wooden pestles. 4146. The cider-press in Herefordshire is a modification of the common screw-press. In Ireland the press bears a considerable resemblance to the common wine-presses of France, that being effected by a long lever which in England is effected by a screw. It will save some subsequent trouble if, in pressing out the juice, the action of the press be applied gradually, and very slowly increased. In this way the juices, at first running muddy, will at length come off perfectly transparent {Lardncr's Cyclo. Dom. Econ.) 4147. Cider cloths are used for containing the pommage in order to its being pressed. They are usually made of common hair-cloth ; but such as is rather close in its texture is the best. The size is generally about four feet square ; and they hold about two or three bushels, or as mud) as the mill can grind at once : and these are heaped over each other till the press is full. The larger presses will hold from eight to fifteen bags, which yield from one to two hundred gallons of liquor, according to the largeness of what is termed the cheese. To perform the work neatly, it is necessary to have two sets of these bags : for they clog and fur in pressing, and consequently become unfit for use till they have been washed and dried ; so that, while this is doing, either the press must stand still or another set be ready to employ it. But some, instead of hair bags, lay long straw under the pommage, the ends of which they turn up over it ; then cover the pommage entirely with fresh clean straw, upon which they spread another layer of pommage, and so on alternately, till the press is full. Either of the methods will do ; but those who are desirous of doing the work in the neatest and best manner generally use bags. 4148. The cider-vat is a vessel made for the purpose of receiving the pommage, or the cider before it is racked off into the cask. Vessels of this kind should be made of wood, as where lead is employed it is liable to be corroded by the malic acid. 4149. Cider casks, when new, though the wood be ever so well seasoned, are apt to give a disagreeable relish, unless due caution be used before-hand. Frequent scalding witli hot water, into which some handfuls of salt have been first thrown, or with water in which some of the pommage has been boiled, and washing afterwards with cider, are the usual remedies against this evil, and seldom fail of removing it effectually. Of old casks, beer-vessels are the worst, as they always spoil cider ; and, in return, cider-casks infallibly spoil beer. Wine and brandy casks do very well, provided the tartar adhering to their sides be carefully scraped off, and they are well scalded. Chap. XI. Laying out of Farm and other Citlturable Lands. 4150. The farming lands of an estate are in general the grand source of its annual rental. The demesne lands are chiefly fur enjoyment ; the roads afford no direct in- come ; the villages, manufactories, commonly the mines and fisheries, and often also Book II. SIZE OF FARMS 677 the woods, yield no income of consequence; but there remain the lands to be let out to the professional farmer, market-gardener, nurseryman, and cottagers : from these the landlord generally derives his principal return for the capital laid out on the estate. Having therefore disposed of all the other parts of the territory, it remains only to arrange the farming or culturable lands in farms of different characters and sizes, in cottage lands, gardens, or orchard grounds : these may be considered in regard to their extent and arrangement. Sect. I. Extent or Size of Farm and Cottage Lauds. 4151. The proper size of farms, or of land to be let in any way, must necessarily be that which best suits the markets : not altogether the market of the moment, for there may be a run for large or for small farms ; but the market on an average of years, times, and circumstances. 415'2. The enlargement or diminution off arms can proceed only for a time, and to a limited extent. The interest of the landlord, which gave the first impulse, is ever vigilant to check its progress, when it is attempted to carry the measure beyond due bounds. It is in this that the security of the public consists, if it were ever possible that the public interest should be endangered by the enlargement of farms. Accordingly, in most of our coun- ties, a few tenants, of superior knowledge and capital, have been seen to hold consider- able tracts of land, which, after a few years, were divided into a number of separate farms. The practice of these men is a lesson to their neighbours ; and their success never fails to bring forward, at the expiration of their leases, a number of competitors. When- ever skill and capital come to be generally diffused, there can be few instances of very large farms, if a fair competition be permitted. No individual, whatever may be his fortune and abilities, can then pay so high a rent for several farms, each of them of such a size as to give full room for the use of machinery, and other economical arrangements, as can be got from separate tenants. The impossibility of exercising that vigilant super- intendence, which is so indispensable in agricultural concerns, cannot long be compen- sated by any advantages which a great farmer may possess. His operations cannot be brought together to one spot, like those of the manufacturer ; the materials on which he works are seldom in the same state for a few days, and his instruments, animated anil mechanical, are exposed to a great many accidents, which his judgment and experience must be called forth instantly to repair. 4153. If ice examine the various sizes of farms in those districts icliere the most perfect freedom exists, and the best management prevails, we shall find them determined, with few exceptions, by the degree of superintendence which they require. Hence, pastoral farms are the largest ; next, such as are composed both of grazing and tillage lands ; then such rich soils as carry cultivated crops every year; and, finally, the farms near large towns, where the grower of corn gradually gives way to the market gardener, cul- tivating his little spot by manual labour. The hills of the south of Scotland are distri- buted into farms of the first class ; the counties of Berwick and Roxburgh into those of the second ; and the smaller farms of the Lothians and of the Carse of Gowrie, where there seems to be no want of capital for the management of large farms, are a sufficient proof of the general principle which determines the size of farms. (Sup. Encyc. Brit. art. Agr.) Sect. II. Laying out Farms and Farmeries. 4154. The arrangement of farms naturally divides itself into whatever relates to the farmery or home-stall, and what relates to the arrangement of the fields, roads, fences, and water-courses. In a country like Britain, long under cultivation, it is but seldom that these can be brought completely under the control of the improver; but cases occur where this may be done without restraint, as in the enclosure of large commons ; and in Ireland and the highlands of Scotland the opportunities are frequent. Subsect. 1. Situation and Arrangement of the Farmery. 4155. The general principles of designing farmeries and cottages having been already tieated of: we have in this place chiefly to apply them to particular cases. Though the majority of farms may be described as of mixed culture, yet there are a number which are almost exclusively devoted to pasture, as mountain farms ; to meadow culture, as irrigated or overflown lands, lands in particular situations, as in fenny districts, and those situated on the borders of some description of rivers : there are others in which peculiar crops are chiefly raised, as in the case of the hop and seed farms of Kent, Essex, and Surrey. All these require a somewhat different kind and extent of accommodation in the farm buildings. 4156. The requisites for a farmery common to most characters of farms are. a central situation, neither too high nor too low. shelter, water, exposure to the south or south- X x 3 678 PRACTICE OF AGRICULTURE. Part III. < ist. iii preference to other points ; a level or flat area of sufficient extent for the build' ings, yards, and gardens; grass-land sufficient for one small enclosure or more; and suitable outlets to the different parts of the farm, and to public roads and markets. •I LIT. Some of these requisitet may be supplied by art, as shelter, by plantations ; water, by wells and ponds; a flat, by levelling; and grass-lands, by culture: the direction of the roads depends entirely on the designer. But in some cases the situation of the farmery cannot be rendered central, as it frequently happens in the fenny districts of Cambridgeshire, where danger might be incurred from extraordinary floods; and in the case of mountainous sheep farms, where a central situation might be so elevated as to be deprived of most of the other requisites. Still, even in these cases, the general re- quisites ought to be attained as far as practicable; and there are degrees of attainment, as to a central situation, to be arrived at even among fens and mountains. 4158. Excellent examples of different descriptions of farmeries are to be found in Ber- wickshire, Northumberland, East Lothian, and on the Marquis of Stafford's estates in Shropshire, Staffordshire, and Sutherland. Besides a great number of cottages and farmeries of different descriptions, thirty-seven new farmeries have been erected by the Marquis of Stafford in Shropshire alone. Loch, Lord Stafford's agent, in describing these ( Account of Improvements on the M. of 'Stafford' 's Estates, Ac. )■ states, that " much attention and consideration have been given to the plans of these buildings, with the view of com- bining as many advantages as possible, and of arranging the different parts in such a way as to save the time of the tenant and his people, and in order that their extent might be reduced to the least size practicable, securing at the same time the accommo- dation required. The most approved plans in both ends of the island were consulted, and a gradual improvement has been made on them. The latter ones combine the ad- vantages of the English and Scotch buildings, avoiding, it is hoped, their respective defects. To almost every one of these homesteads is attached a threshing machine, constructed on the best principles: wherever water could be obtained, that has been made use of as the impelling power ; and, of late, some of the more extensive farms have been provided with steam-engines for that purpose." 4159. In selecting a few of these examples, the first we shall mention is that of Sidera, or Cider Hall, in Sutherland, erected in 1818. The soil of this farm is of a light and excellent quality, particularly suited to the Norfolk rotation of husbandry, which is followed by Rule, the new tenant, a native of the county of Roxburgh. The house and homestead cost 2200/. It is built, in the most sufficient manner, of stone and lime, and covered with Easdale slate, from the west coast of Scotland. In the garden, which is an old one, there are some of the finest holly trees to be met with any where, with several apple, pear, and gean, or small black cherry, trees, of so considerable a size as to show that there is nothing in the climate to prevent the growth of even the more delicate kinds of timber, if not exposed to the sea breeze. 4160. The accommodations of the house are, on the ground floor, a parlour, lobby, and staircase, family room, pantry, and kitchen ; behind may be an open yard, and in front a flower-garden ; the chamber story, a bedroom and bedcloset, two bedrooms, maid servant's room, and bedroom. The offices contain a cart-house, stable, tool-house, threshing- mill, and straw-house, horse-course, cattle-sheds, dairy, calf-pen, cow-byre, feeding-byre, boothy (i. e. booth or lodge) for ploughmen ; pigsties, and poultry above ; paved way, and cattle-yards. 4161. As an example of a Xorth u mberland farmery for a farm of from 400 to 500 acres, we have recourse to The General lieport of Scotland- The accommodations are as follows : — In the dwelling-house are the entrance, stairs to chambers and cellars, and lobby, dining-room, pantry, coal-closet, parlour, business-room, kitchen, back-kitchen, dairy, store-room, poultry, farm-servants' kitchen, boiling-house, root-house, riding-horse stable. In the economical buildings are a cart. shed, straw-barn, and granary over ; corn-barns, hinds, byre for three cows, byre for ten cows, with feeding passage in the centre ; calf-house, loose-horse place, stable, feeding sheds for cattle, with feeding passage along the centre; pigs, dung-places, straw-yards, cart-shed, and open court. The aspect of the house is south, and the garden and orchard are in front of it. 4162. As an example of a very complete farmer;! fir a turnip and barley soil, we give that of Pearu (jig. 605.)*, erected by the Marquis of Stafford in the parish of Escall Magna, in Shropshire, in 1820. The farm contains 460 acres of turnip soil; and the farmery the following accommodations, including a threshing machine driven by steam. In the house are two parlours (a, a), family-room (6), brew-house, two stories (c) ; pantry (d\ milk-house (<>), kitchen (f), bedrooms (g), menscrvants' bedroom (h). In the eourt offices a hackney-stable (/,), stair under cover (£), waggon-shed and granary over 'J), tool-house (m), cow-house (n), places for turnips and straw (o, p), steam-engine (q), parn (r), straw or other cattle-food (.?), stall-fed cattle (/), stables (?/), turnip-houses (v), biggerics, poultry, tools, and necessary (»•), cattle-sheds to each yard (r). Book II. ARRANGEMENT OF FARMERIES. (i7-" rfeV^ ■y fj= a □ -E3I /^ J- V 1=1 a « L - ti -r- tda « CB: LLULl M II M ^w ,r J Rj ^1 *>t tt^H to I ■=(nr- ^^ □ D ~E~LT fU LJT 4163. ^ ), parlour (c), sit- ting-room (//>, pantry ( c arts or odd articles («), water-closet (o), poultry (/>), litter for the stable (q), stable for twelve horses (r), chaft'-rocm (s), litter (I), room for cutting hay into chaff («), places for horse food, or straw, hay, &c. (v), cattle-sheds (w), open colonade for loaded hay-carts (j), straw end of barn (y), corn-floor (z), unthreshed corn and corn-floor (<£), machine (1), mill course (2), cows (3), cow-food (4), calves (5), bailiff's house (6), implements (7), wood-house, coals, &c. (8), kitchen-court to master's house (9), garden (10), poultry-yard (11), bailiff's garden (12), lawn, shrubbery, and sheep-walk (13), pond (14), rickyard (15), stack-stands (16), urinarium (17). 4171. In the elevations of this farmery {fig. 608.), some attention has been paid to effect, by intermingling trees, chiefly oaks, with thorns and honeysuckles. 608 6H2 PRACTICE OF AGRICULTURE. Tart II!. ■117'J. An anomalous design of a farmery fir « hay-farm {Jig- 609.), calculated for effect and for inspection from the sitting-room (a, o), contains the following economical buildings: — A poultry-house with granary over (a), a chaise-house with men's room over (b), rabbits (c), tools (rf), carts (e), open sheds for carts or other implements (/), sick horse or cow, &c. (g), pigs (/<), stable It), calves (k), cows (/), open passage lighted from above and pump (m), saddle-horse, &c. (n), straw (o), chaft'-cutting room (p), hand-threshing-machine {q), unthrcshed corn (r), loaded carts of hay (s, t), hay-ricks with roof movable on wheels to protect the hay while binding («), ponds (i>), lawn (w), yard (jt). Sitting in the circular room (a, a), the master may look down the light passage which has a wire door, and along the oblique front of the buildings, and see every door that is opened. He may also, as appears by the elevation {Jig. 610.) see the men binding hay under the movable covers. 610 Book IT. ARRANGE M ENT O I ' F A R M E R I E S. 611 ess 4173. An anomalous design for a corn and stall-feeding farm {fg. 611.), in which the stacks are built on the tops of the stables, cattle, and cart-sheds (a), may be noticed, as pleasing in effect, but 612 not likely to be so use- Wty/WW'/y//^ ^ a3 tne more simple plans. The hay, roots, and straw, are stacked in the central circle (6), and very readily sup- plied to the stable (c), cow-stalls (d), or feed- ing - yards (e). The threshing-machine [f] is driven by water, which is supplied by a circuit- ous route (g), from the A pond near the house (It). The elevation (fig. 6 1 2. ) has a good effect when i,«M TIIACTICE OF AGRICULTURE. Book II. all the stacks are in their places, and untouched ; but as they are removed to the barn the appearance of the flat-roofed sheds will not be so consonant to established notions of beauty ami neatness. 4174. A farmer 11 for a meadow-jhrm of 250 acres near London (jig. 613.), maybe ai i an'ed as follows : The house may contain a porch, lobby, and stair to chambers and cellars (a), parlour (b), bedroom or study (c), pantry (rf), kitchen (e), lumber-room (/), business-room (£),back kitchen (h), coal cellar and maid's room over (;'), wood-house (jfr), yard and pump (/), pifjs (m), chaise (n), poultry (o), tools and roots, &e. (p), two si ails, and a saddle and harness place (q), harrows and large implements, &c. (r), bailiff's house or men's lodge (s), cows (t), chaff-cutting room, and granary over (u), straw-barn (<•), corn-floor (w), unthrcshed corn (x), stable and stall for litter ( y), loaded or empty carts and implements (z), watering-trough ($•), rick-stands (1), bailiff's garden (J), master's garden (3), lawn (4), paddock of old grass (5). 41 7 j. An anomalous design for a turnip-farm of 500 acres ( fig. 615 ) contains a dwelling-house (a), on an eminence commanding not only the farmery (/>), but great part of the farm. It is surrounded by the ricks for shelter (c), and by a pond (d), which drives the threshing-machine (e), and forms a foreground to the distant scenery. There are a large feeding-shed (/), a bailiff's house and garden (g), and the other usual ac- commodations. The elevation of the feeding-sheds and end of the barn looking towards the house is simple and not inelegant, (fig. 614.) Farmeries of this sort are not sub- mitted as examples for general imitation, but merely as sources of ideas to such as have the designingof this- species of rural buildings, for employers who have a taste for design and for originality, and who can afford to gratify that taste. It is a poor business, and one which never can procure much applause, when a proprietor of wealth and cultivated mind erects for his own use the same sort of farmery, or, indeed, of any other buildings, as the tenants who support him. In East Lothian, Berwickshire, Northumberland, and on the Marquis of Stafford's estates both in England and Scotland, are some noble examples of substantial, commodious, and even elegant farmeries. (See Gen. Rep. <rove the means of rendering the grounds below wet and swampy ; for the general moisture of the atmosphere being condensed in much greater quantities in such elevated situations, the water thus formed, as well as that which falls in rain and sinks through the superficial porous materials, readily insinuates itself, and thus passes along between the first and second or still more inferior strata which compose the sides of such elevations, until its descent is retarded or totally obstructed by some impenetrable substance, such as clay : it there becomes dammed up, and ultimately forced to filtrate slowly over it, or to rise to some part of the surface, and constitute, according to the particular circumstances of the case, different watery appear- ances in the grounds below. These appearances are, oozing springs, bogs, swamps, or morasses, weeping rocks from the water slowly issuing in various places, or a large spring or rivulet from the union of small currents beneath the ground. This is obvious from the sudden disappearance of moisture on some parts of lands, while it stagnates, or remains till removed by the effects of evaporation, on others ; as well as from the force of springs being stronger in wet than in dry weather, breaking out frequently after the land has been impregnated with much moisture in higher situations, and as the season becomes drier ceasing to flow, except at the lowest outlets. The force of springs, or proportion of water which they send forth, depends likewise, in a great measure, on the extent of the high ground on which the moisture is received and detained, furnishing extensive reservoirs or collections of water, by which they become more amply and regularly supplied. On this account, what are termed bog-springs, or such as rise in valleys and low grounds, are considerably stronger and more regular in their discharge, than such as burst forth on the more elevated situations or the sides of eminences. (Johnston s Account of Ellingtons Mode of Draining Land, p. 15.) 4216. The waters condensed on elevated regions are sometimes found to descend, for a very considerable distance, among the porous substances between the different conducting layers of clayey or other materials, before they break out or show themselves in the grounds below ; but they are more frequently found to proceed from the contiguous elevations into the low grounds that immediately surround them. 4217. The naiure of the stratum of materials on which the ivater descending from liills has to proceed must considerably influence its course, as well as the effects which it may produce on such lands as lie below, and into which it must pass. Where the stratum is of the clayey, stiff marly, or impervious rocky kind, and not interrupted or broken by any other materials of a more porous quality, the water may pass on to a much greater distance, than where the stratum has been frequently broken and filled up with loose porous materials, in which it will be detained, and of course rise up to the surface. 4218. These sorts of strata extend to very different depths in different situations and districts, as it has been frequently noticed in the digging of pits, and the sinking of deep wells, and other subterraneous cavities. The clayey strata are, however, in general found to be more superficial than those of the compact, tenacious, marly kind, or even those of a firm, uninterrupted, rocky nature, and seldom of such a great thickness ; they have, nevertheless, been observed to vary greatly in this respect, being met with in some places of a considerable thickness, while in others they scarcely exceed a few inches. 4219. The intervening porous substances, or strata, where clay prevails, are found : for the most part, to be of either a gravelly or loose rocky nature. Stiff marly strata, which approach much to the quality of clay, though in some instances they may present them- selves near the surface, in general lie concealed at considerable depths under the true clayey strata, and other layers of earthy or other materials ; they have been discovered of "various thicknesses, from eight or ten feet to considerably more than a hundred. (Daruin's Phytologia, p. 259.) The intervening materials, where strata of this nature predominate, are most commonly of the more sandy kinds ; possessing various degrees Yy 2 592 PRACTICE OF AGRICULTURE. of induration, so as in some cases to become perfectly hard and rocky, but with frequent breaks ot fissures passing through them. The loose, friable, marly strata are capable of absorbing water, and of admitting it to filtrate and pass through them. 4220. Thus the valleys "nd more lend grounds must constantly be liable to be overcharged with moisturti and to become, in eon tequence, spouty, boggy, or of the nature of a morass, accordingly as they may be circumstanced in respect to their situation, the nature of their .soils, or the nial. lids by which the water is obstructed and detained in or upon them. 4221. Wliere lands have a sufficient degree of elevation to admit of any over-proportion of moisture readily passing away, and where the soils of them are of such a uniform aandy or gravelly and uninterrupted texture, as to allow water to percolate and pass through them with facility, they can be little inconvenienced by water coming upon or into them, as it must of necessity be quickly conveyed away into the adjacent rivers or small runlets in their vicinity. 4222. lint where grounds are in a great measure fat, and without such degrees of ele- ction as may be sufficient to permit those over-proportions of moisture that may have come upon them from the higher and more elevated grounds to pass readily away and be carried off, and where the soils of the lands are composed or constituted of such materials as are liable to admit and retain the excesses of moisture ; they must be exposed to much injury and inconvenience from the retention and stagnation of such quantities of water. Such lands consequently require artificial means to drain and render them capable of affording good crops, whether of grain or grass. 4223. Lands of valleys and other low places, as well as, in some cases, the level tracts on the sides or borders of large rivers and of the sea, must also frequently be subject to great injury and inconvenience from their imbibing and retaining the water that may be thus forced to flow up into or upon them, either through the different conducting strata from the hills and mountainous elevations in the neighbourhood, or the porous materials of the soils. In these ways they may be rendered swampy, and have bogs or morasses produced in them in proportion to the predominancy of the materials by which the water is absorbed and dammed up, and the peculiarity of the situation of the lands in respect to the means of conveying it away. 4224. To perform properly the business of draining, attention should not only be paid to the discrimination of the differences in regard to the situation of the lands, or what is commonly denominated drainage level ; but also to the nature, distribution, and depth of the materials that constitute the soils or more superficial parts of them, as upon each of these some variety, in respect to the effects arising from water retained in them, may depend. 4225. The general origin of that wetness of land which it is the object of wider-draining to remove, " will be found to be the existence of water in substrata of sand, gravel, open rock, or other porous substances, which either lead to the surface, or, having no natural outlet, become filled or saturated, while the pressure of more water coming from a higher source, forces that which is in the lower part of the stratum upwards through the superior strata to the surface ; thus occasioning either bursts and springs, or a general oozing through the soil. The object in under-darning, therefore, is not to catch the surface- water, but that which flows through their inferior strata ; and, for this purpose, it is necessary to make a sufficient channel, either at the lower parts of the porous stratum, or in such part of it as may most conveniently carry off the water, so as the pressure referred to may be relieved, or the water intercepted before it reaches the surface. It must always be kept in mind, then, that under-draining and surface-draining are oper- ations essentially distinct ; and every care must be used in practice not to blend them in the execution. If surface-water be allowed to get into covered drains, the sand and mud which it will carry into these subterraneous channels will soon choke them up, and occa- sion bursts, creating, as may be conceived, new swamps; while the expense of taking up and relaying the under-drains will be very great, and the execution imperfect, the sides being found never to stand a second time so well as when first formed." (Highland Society s Trans, vol. vii. p. 218.) 4226. Wetness of land, so far as it respects agriculture, and is an object of draining, may generally depend on the two following causes: first, on the water which is formed and collected on or in the hills or higher grounds, filtrating and sliding down among some of the different beds of porous materials that lie immediately upon the impervious strata, forming springs below and flowing over the surface, or stagnating underneath it ; and, secondly, on rain or other water becoming stagnant on the surface, from the retentive nature of the soil or surface materials, and the particular nature of the situation of the ground. The particular wetness which shows itself in different situations, in the forms of bogs, swamps, and morasses, for the most part proceeds from the first of these causes ; but that superficial wetness which takes place in the stiff, tenacious, clayey soils, with little inclination of surface, generally originates from the latter. 4227. The most certain and expeditious method of draining, in such cases, is that of Book III DRAINING BOCS. 60S intercepting the descent of the water or spring, and thereby totally removing the cause of wetness, 'fin's may be done where the depth of the superficial strata, and conse- quently of the spring, is not great; by making horizontal drains (fig. 624. a) of consi- 624 constantly kepi in BUCh states of wetness as are highly im- proper for the purpose of producing advantageous crops of any kind. They are, there- fore, on this account, as will as from their occupying very extensive tracts in many districts, ami being, when properly reclaimed, of considerable value, objects of great interest and importance to the attentive agricultor. Wet grounds of these kinds may be arranged under three distinct heads : hist, such as maybe readily known by the springs rising out of the adjacent more elevated ground, in an exact or regular line along the higher side of the wet surface ; secondly, those in which the numerous springs that show themselves are not kept to an exact or regular line of direction along the higher or more elevated parts of the land, but break forth promiscuously throughout the whole surface, and par- ticularly towards the inferior parts (Jig. 625. a), constituting shaking quags in every direction, that have an elastic feel under the feet, on which the lightest animals can scarcely tread without danger, and which, for the most part, show themselves by the luxuriance and verdure of the grass about them ; and, thirdly, that sort of wet land, from the oozing of springs, which is neither of such great extent, nor in the nature of the soil so peaty as the other two, and to which the term bog cannot be strictly applied, but which in respect to the modes of draining is the same. (Johnston's Account of Ellington' s Mode of JJrtiini/ig J. mid, p. 19.) •4235. In order to direct the proper mode cf cutting the drains or trenches in draining lands of this sort, it will be necessary for the draining engineer to make himself perfectly acquainted with the nature and disposition of the strata composing the higher grounds, and the connection which they have with that which is to be rendered dry. This may in general be accomplished by means of levelling and carefully attending to what has been already observed respecting the formation of hills and elevated grounds, and by in- „ -ff '■"..'., '/• i specting the beds of rivers, the edges of banks that have been wrought through, and such pits and quarries as may have been dug near to the land. Rushes, alder-bushes, and other coarse aquatic plants, may also, in some instances, serve as guides in this business ; but they should not be too implicitly depended on, as they may be caused by the stagnation of rain-water upon the surface, without any spring being present. The line of springs being ascertained, and also some knowledge of the substrata being acquired, a line of drain (Jig. 625. b, b) should be marked out above or below them, according to the nature of the strata, and excavated to such a depth as will intercept the water in the porous strata before it rises to the surface. The effect of such drains will often be greatly heightened by boring holes (c) in their bottom with the auger. Where the impervious stratum (Jig. 626. a), that lies immediately beneath the porous (b), has a slanting direction 626 :^B^m^^^^§ through a hill or rising bank, the surface of the low lands will, in general, be spongy, wet, and covered with rushes on every side (c). In this case, which is not unfrequent, a ditch or drain (d), properly cut on one side of the hill or rising ground, may remove B.okIII. DRAINING BOGS. 69.i the wetness from both. But where the impervious stratum dips or declines more to one side of the hill or elevation than the other, the water will he directed to the more de- pressed side of that stratum; the effect of which will be, that one side of sucli rising ground will be wet and spongy, while the other is quite free from wetness. 4236. Where ualer issues forth on the surface at more places than one, it is necessary to determine which is the real or principal spring, and that from which the other outlets are fed; as by removing the source, the others must of course be rendered dry. When on the declivity or slanting surface of the elevated ground from which the springs break forth, they are observed to burst out at different levels according to the difference of the wetness of the season, and where those that are the lowest down continue to run, while the higher ones are dry, it is, in general, a certain indication that the whole are connected, and proceed from the same source ; and consequently that the line of the drain should be made along the level of the lowermost one, which, if properly executed, must keep all the others dry. But if the drain were made along the line of the highest of the outlets, or places where the water breaks forth, without being sufficiently deep to reach the level of those below, the overflowings of the spring would merely be carried away, and the wetness proceeding from that cause be removed ; while the main spring, still continuing to run, would render the land below the level of the bottom of the drain still preju- dicially wet, from its discharging itself lower down over the surface of the ground. This, Johnston states, was the custom, until Elkington showed the absurdity of the practice of drainers beginning to cut their trenches wherever the highest springs showed themselves between the wet and the dry ground, which not being of a depth sufficient to arrest and take away the whole of the water, others of a similar kind were under the necessity of being formed at different distances, to the very bottom of the declivity : these being afterwards in a great measure filled with loose stones, merely conveyed a\\ay portions of surface water, without touching the spring, the great or principal cause of the wetness. The effects of drains formed in this manner he asserts to be that of ren- dering the surface of the land in some degree drier, so long as they continue to run with freedom ; but as they are liable soon to be obstructed and filled up by sand or other materials, the water is often forced out in different places and directions, and thus renders the land as wet as before, if not wetter. In addition to this, it is a more diffi- cult task to drain the ground a second time in a proper method, from the natural appear- ance of the ground being so much changed, and the bursts of the old drains, as well as the greater difficulty of ascertaining the real situation of the springs. 4237. It may sometimes happen, however, that where the highest are the strongest outlets, they may be the main or leading springs ; those which show themselves lower down in the land being merely formed by the water of the main spring overflowing, and finding itself a passage into the earth through an opening in the surface, or through the porous materials of the soil near to the surface, and being obstructed somewhat further down in the ground by some impervious stratum. This circumstance must, therefore, it is observed, be fully ascertained before the lines for the ditches or drains are marked out. 4238. In cases where the banks or rising grounds are formed in an irregular manner (Jig. 627.), and, from the nature of the situation, or the force of the water underneath, 627 springs abound round the bases of the protuberances, the ditches made for the purpose of draining should always be carried up to a much higher level in the side of the ele- vated ground than that in which the water or wetness appears ; as far even as to the firm unchanged land. By this means the water of the spring may be cut oft', and the ground completely drained ; which would not be the case if the trench or drain were formed on the line of the loose materials lower down, where the water oozes out, which is liable to mislead the operator in forming the conducting trench, or that which is to convey the waten from the cross-drain on the level of the spring to the outlet or opening by which it is discharged. But where the main or principal spring comes out of a perpendicular or very steep bank, at a great height above the level of the outlet into which it may discharge itself by means of a dram, it will neither be necessary nor of any utility to form a deep trench, or make a covered drain, all the wav from such outlet up to it; as from the steepness of the descent the water Y y 4 696 PRACTICE OF ACKICULTURE. Pa&tIIT. would be liable, when the drain was thus cut, from the thin strata of sand and other loose materials, always found in such casus, to insinuate itself under the bricks, stones, or other substances of which the drain was formed ; to undermine and force them up by the strength of the current, or probably, in some instances, block the drain up by the loose sand or other matters, which may be forced away and carried down by it. In situations of this kind, Johnston observes, it is always the best way to begin just so far down the bank or declivity as, by cutting in a level, the drain may be six or seven feet below the level of the spring ; or of such a depth as may be requisite to bring down the water to a level suitable to convey it away without its rising to the surface, and injuring the lands around it. The rest of the drain, whether it be made in a straight or oblique direction, need not be deep, and may, in many instances, be left quite open ; it should, however, be carefully secured from the treading of cattle, and, where the land is under an arable system of cultivation, also from the plough. Where it is covered, the depth of about two feet may be sufficient. There will not, in such drains, be any necessity for the use of the auger in any part of them. 4239. Where there is a difficulty in ascertaining the line of the spring, and consequently that of the cross-drain, either from its not showing itself on the surface, or from there not being any apparent outlet, it may, generally, be met with in carrying up the con- ducting drain for conveying away the water. As soon as the operator discovers the spring, he need not proceed any further, but form the cross-drain on the level thus discovered to such a distance on each side of the tail, or terminating part, of the strata, of whatever sort, that contains the water, as the nature of the land, in regard to situation or other circum- stances, may demand. Where, in forming a cross-drain, the line indicated by the spirit or other level is found to be in some places below that of the spring, and where, in boring in this direction, water is not found to follow, it will be necessary to make short drains or cuts of the same depth with the cross-drain, from it quite up to the source of the spring ; for, if the drain be cut below the line of the spring, the possibility of reaching it by means of an auger is lost, as where the under stratum is clay, and there is no under water, the use of the auger cannot be effectual ; and if it be made above the line of the spring, it will be requisite to cut and bore much deeper, in order to reach it, the ground being in general higher in that part : besides, the portion of porous stratum below the drain may contain a sufficient quantity of water to render the land wet, and that may readily get down underneath the trench, between the holes formed by boring, and break out lower down. 4240. In situations where the extent of bog in the valley betivcen two banks or eminences is so narrow and limited as that the stratum of rock, sand, or other materials, that contains the water, may unite below the clay at such a depth as to be readily reached by the auger (fig. 628. o), it will seldom be necessary to have more than one trench up the middle, 628 i§tte% 40£ lHf^^p^W^ : well perforated with holes (i) by means of the auger, cross or branching drains being unnecessary in such cases. For notwithstanding the springs, that render the land in- juriously wet in these cases, burst out of the banks or eminences on every side, for the most part nearly on the same level, the reservoir from which they proceed may be dis- covered in the middle of the valley, by penetrating with the auger through the layer of clay that confines and forces the water to rise up and ooze out round the superior edge of it, where it forms a union with the high porous ground. From the drain being made in the hollowest part of the land, and the porous stratum containing the water being then bored into, it is obvious that, the ditch or drain thus formed being so much lower than the ordinary outlet of the springs, the pressure of water above that level, which is the bottom of the drain, must be such as to force that which is under the drain or trench through the holes made by the auger, and in many instances, until a considerable quantity of the Book III. DRAINING BOGS. 697 water is evacuated, make it rise to a greater height than the level of its natural outlet. The effect of which must be, that the water forming the spring, having found by these means a fresh and more easy passage, will quickly relinquish its former openings, and thus be prevented from running over and injuring the ground that previously lay lower down than it. 4241. But in su-amps or bogs that are extensive and very ivet, other drains or cuts than such as convey off the springs must be made ; as, notwithstanding the higher springs which chiefly cause the wetness may be intercepted, there may be lower veins of sand, gravel, or other porous materials, from which the water must likewise be drawn off. In cases of this nature, where the land is to be divided into enclosures, the ditches may be formed in such directions as to pass through and carry off collections of water of this kind, as well as those that may be retained in the hollows and depressions on the surface of the land. There are in many places very extensive tracts of ground that are rendered wet, and become full of rushes and other coarse plants, from causes of such a nature as cannot be obviated by the making of either open or covered drains, however numerous they may be. Lands in this situation are frequently termed holms, and mostly lie on the sides of such rivers and brooks as, from the frequency of their changing and altering their courses between their opposite banks, leave depositions of sand, gravel, and other porous materials, by which land is formed, that readily admits the water to filtrate and pass through it to the level of the last-formed channels, and which preserves it constantly in such a state of moisture and wetness, as to render it productive of nothing but rushes and other aquatic plants ; and if a pit or ditch be made in lands under these circumstances, it quickly fills with water to the same level as that in the watercourse. This effect is, however, more liable to be produced, as well as more complete, where the current of the water is slow, and its surface nearly equal with that of the land, than where its descent is rapid. Under such circumstances, while the river or brook remains at the ordinary height, no advantage can be gained, whatever number of drains be formed, or in what- ever direction they may be made. The chief or only means of removing the wetness of land proceeding from this cause is, that of enlarging and sinking the bed of the stream, where it can be effected at a reasonable expense : where there is only one stream, and it is very winding or serpentine in its course, much may however be effected by cutting through the different points of land, and rendering the course more straight, and thereby less liable to obstruct the passage of the water. But in cases where there are more than one, that should always be made the channel of conveyance for draining the neighbour, ing land, which is the' lowest in respect to situation, and the most open and straight in its course. It may likewise, in particular instances, be advantageous to stop up and divert the waters of the others into such main channels, as by such means alone they may often be rendered deeper, and more free from obstruction : the materials removed from them may serve to embank and raise up the sides to a greater height, as while the water can rise higher than the outlets of the drains, and flow backwards into them, it must render the land as wet as it was before they were formed, and the expense of cutting them to be thrown awav. 4242. The collected rain-water, becoming stagnant on a retentive body of clay, or some other impervious material, as it can have no outlet of the natural kind, causes such lands to become soft and spongy, thus forming bogs of a very confined kind. As such bogs are often situated verv trroatly below the ground that surrounds them, the opening of a main drain, or conductor, to convey off the water collected by smaller drains, would be attended, in manv instances, with an expense greater than could be compensated by the land after it had been drained. The thickness of the impervious stratum that retains and keeps up the water in such cases is often so great, that though the stratum below be of a porous and open nature, such as sand, rock, or gravel, the water cannot of itself penetrate or find a passage from the one into the other ; consequently, by its continued stagnation above, all the different coarse vegetable productions that have for a great length of time been produced on its surface, and probably the upper part of the soil itself, are formed into a mass or body of peat earth, equal in softness to that of any bog originating from water confined below, and less productive, and which is only capable of sustaining the weight of cattle in verv dry seasons, when the wind and sun have exhaled and dried up a great part of its surface moisture ; but even then it is incapable of admitting the plough upon it. »d 3 «ion of which must W related by the extent of the bog They shoul Mj .cut «rougo «. peat, or moist spongv upper soil, to the surface of the clay, or other reten £»e strat ir m . .atu a^, n c 11ms then be perforated or bored through in order to let the water ^^^SXeuS»S by which it maybe absorbed and taken up. The same effect ^ighr be produ ^ ^^ conI1 4. Web, or pit, in the middle or lowest part of the *^#"OTfflta5 the drains would ing the other drains with it, as by such amethod ihe trouble and expen.e 01 uui.i 6 698 PRACTICE OF AGRICULTURE. III. be saved. In these cases, when drains are made, they should always be cut as narrow as it is possible to make them, and, alter the holes have been formed 6-jy •;•'*; 6:iO I in them by boring, filled up with loose stones to within about a loot and a half of the surface, which space may be made up by a portion of the earth that had been taken out, putting in turf with the green side to the stones before the earth is thrown in By this means the water and prejudicial moisture of the peat, or upper soil, may be taken away by the drains, and pass off through the holes that have been formed in their bottoms. But where pits are employed, these should only be filled with small stones to the level of the bottom of the drain, the filling being performed as soon as possible after they are formed. (Ander- son's Treatite on Draining, p. 8s.) Where there is a chalky stratum below, alter taking it out, the flints contained in it may be made use of in this way with much advantage ; and where the drains can be carried into quarries, where the stone is much fissured no- thing more will be necessary. Where land of this sort is afterwards to be ploughed, great attention should be given to the forming of the ridges and giving them a regular descent towards the main drain, which will contribute greatly to the assistance of the others in conveying off heavy falls of rain, water when they occur. 4244. But a necessary precaution previously to any attempt to drain lands of this kind in the way that has been described, is to ascertain whether the porous stratum under the clay be dry, and capable of receiving the water when let down into it ; or already so loaded with moisture itself, as, instead of receiving more from above, to force up a large quantity to the surface, and thus increase the evil it was intended to remove. This may be the case in many instances, and the substratum contain water which affords no appear- ances of wetness on the surface, at the place, on account of the compact body of clay that is placed over it, but which, from its being connected with some spring that is higher, may flow up when an opening oi passage is given it, either by means of a pit or the auger. In this way a greater quantity of water might be brought to the surface, which, from its being con- fined by the surrounding banks, would render the ground much more wet than before, and in particular situations produce very great degrees of wetness. When the surrounding high ground declines lower than the bog, though it may be at a considerable dis- tance, by the aid of the level, and the appearance of the surface, the nature of the stratum underneath may, in some degree, be ascertained ; and, notwith- standing it may already contain water, a drain may be „ formed into it to carry off that water, and what may 3 a|i§8 likewise be let down into it from the retentive stratum that lies above it. It must be confessed, however, that cases where surface water can be let down through a retentive stratum to a porous one that will actually carry it off, are very rare. When these occur, it is chiefly in limestone or coal districts, where the surface is hilly or rugged (Jig. 630.), and more calculated for the pursuits of the mineralogist than those of the agricultor. Sect. III. Braining Hill'/ Lands. 4245. Braining hilly lands is not in general attended with great expense, as the chains need seldom be covered or filled up, only in such places as maybe sufficient for passages for the animals to cross by : and though, where the depth of the trench does not come to the water confined below, it may be necessary to perforate lower, there need not be any fear that the holes will fill up, even where the drain is left open ; as the impetuosity of the water itself will remove any sand or mud that may fall into them, where much flood or surface water does not get in. Small openings may, however, be made along the upper side of the trench, in order the more effectually to secure them against any obstructions ; and in these the perforations may be made, leaving the mouth of the holes about six inches higher than the bottom of the drain, which will be without the reach of the water that may be collected during the time of heavy rains. 4246. One of the greatest improvements of the hilly sheep-pastures of Holland has been effected by drainage, while the expense is comparatively small. The depth and width of the small ones are only those of the spade. They are usually carried across the face of the hills in a slightly inclined direction, so as to avoid the injury "of too rapid' a descent after heavy rains; and these small cuts open into a lew larger, formed with due regard to the same principle ; the whole at last, for an extent of several hundred acres, being led into one still larger, which discharges itself into the nearest rivulet. Improvements of this kind arc, perhaps, of greater benefit to the individual proprietors of land who undertake them than any other. 4247. The sides or declivities of man;/ hills, from the irregularity of the disposition of the strata that compose them, are often covered with alternate portions or patches of wet and dry ground. By the general appearance of the surface and the vegetable products that are grown upon it, the nature and direction of the internal strata may frequently be ascertained with so much certainty as to determine the line or direction of a drain without tlie necessity of examining below the surface of the land. As the ease or difficulty Book III. DRAINING MIXED SOILS. 699 of draining such grounds depends solely on the position of the different strata of which the hill or elevation may be formed, and upon the erect or slanting direction of the rock, or other retentive body in which the water is contained ; where the rock has a slanting or horizontal inclination, the whole of the different springs or outlets, that show themselves on the surface, may originate from or be connected with the same collection or body of water, and may be all drained and dried up by cutting off", or letting out, the main body of water, by which they are supplied, at the inferior part of the reservoir, or that part where the water would of its own accord readily run off" if it were not confined beneath an impervious covering of clay or some other material. 4248. But in cases where the rock lies in an erect or perpendicular form, and contains only partial collections of water, in some of the more open cracks or fissures of the stone, which discharge themselves at various openings or outlets that have not the least connec- tion with each other, it would be an idle and fruitless endeavour to attempt the cutting of them off" by means of one drain [Jig. 631. a), or by boring into any one of them in ^H^VT 631 particular, without cutting a felP^ afo drain into each (a, b, c). In M";. : ; v'-^f{^^^| M tfl i s case ^ i s more advisable %"■;?■:-&'£:&£*■ ■v//"^ ,- to make the main drain wholly in the clay, with small cuts made up to each outlet, than along the place where the springs burst out ; as in that line of direction it would be too much in the rock, and consequently be extremely difficult to cut, on account of the nature and disposition of the stone. When the water passing out on the line of the springs can be found by the auger in the main drain, at the point of junction, it will be the more completely cut oft'; but where this is not practicable, the depth of the small cuts may reduce it to such a level as will prevent its flowing over and injuring the surface of the land below it. 4249. In such hills as are constituted of alternate strata of rock, sand, and clay, the surface of the last may frequently be wet and swamp, while that of the sand is dry, and capable of producing good crops of grass ; in all such cases, in order to drain the land completely, as many cuts will be necessary as there may happen to be divisions of wet and dry soil. The summit, or most elevated part of such hills, being mostly formed of loose porous materials, the rain and other water descends through it till its passage becomes obstructed by some impervious bed or stratum, such as clay, when it is forced up to the surface, and runs or oozes over the obstructing stratum ; after having overflowed the upper clay surface, it is immediately absorbed and taken up by the suc- ceeding porous one, and, sinking into it in the same way as before, passes out again at the lower side, rendering the surface of the next clayey bed prejudicially wet, as it had done that of the first. In this way the same spring may affect all the other strata of the same kind, from the highest part down the whole of the declivity, and produce in the bason, or hollow at the bottom, a lake or bog, should there not happen to be a passage ©r opening to take away the water. In order effectually to drain hills of this kind, it will be most advisable to begin by forming a trench along the upper side of the upper- most rushy soil, by which means the highest spring may be cut off'; but as the rain and other water that may come upon the next portion of porous soil may sink down through it to the lowest part, and produce another spring, a second cut must be made in that part, to prevent the water from affecting the surface of the succeeding clayey bed. Similar cuts must be formed so far down the declivity as the same springs continue in the same way to injure the land, and in some cases a sufficiency of water may probably be obtained to irrigate the land below, or for some other useful purpose. Sect. IV. Methods of draining Mixed Soils. 4250. Where the soil is of a mired and varied nature, but the most prevailing parts of the clayey kind, the business of draining is considerably more tedious and difficult than where the superficial and internal parts have greater regularity. In such lands, as the collections of water are completely separated by the intervening beds of clay, each becomes so much increased in the time of heavy rains, as to rise to the level of the sur- rounding surface ; when the water, finding a free passage, as it would over the edges of a bowl, overflows and saturates the surface of that bed of clay, rendering it so wet and sour that its produce becomes annually more scanty, and the soil itself more sterile and unproductive. 4251. From the sand-beds (fg. 632. a, a, a) in such cases having no communication with each other, it must evidently require as many drains (b, b, b) as there are beds of this kind, in order fully to draw off the water from each of them. A drain or trench is therefore recommended to be cut from the nearest and lowest part of the field intended 700 PRACTICE OF AGRICULTURE. Part III. to be drained (c), up to the highest ami most distant sand- bank (r/), in such a line of direction as, it' possible, to pass through some of the in- [0 ••■' I termediate Band-beds, and pre- J .i5 vent the labour and expense of making longer cuts on the sides, which would otherwise be requisite. 4252. Where the different beds if sand and clay are of less extent, and lie together with greater regularity, they can be drained in a more easy manner with less cutting, and of course at less expense. Below the layers or beds of sand and clay that lie, in this manner, alternately together, and nearly parallel to each other, is generally a body of impervious clay, which keeps up the water contained in the sand, which sand being constantly full, the adjacent clay is thereby rendered moist, and in wet seasons the water runs or trickles over it. As in these cases, the principal under-stratum of clay is rarely more than four or five feet below the surface, it is advisable to cut a drain (Jig. 633. a) 634 $fl to that depth through the middle of the field, if it have a descent from both sides ; but if it decline all to one side, the drain must be made on that side (6), as the water will more readily discharge itself into it ; and, unless the field be of great extent, and have more than one depression or hollow in it, one drain may be quite sufficient for the pur- pose, as by crossing the different beds that retain the water, it must take it off from each. 4253. A principal difficulty in draining ground of this nature, and which renders it impracticable by one drain, is when the direc- tion of the alternate layers, or beds of clay and sand, lies across the declivity of the land {fig. 63-1. a, a), so that one drain can be of no other service than that of conveying away the water after it has passed over the different strata, and would naturally stagnate in the lowest part of the field, if there were no other passage for it. Where the land lies in this way, which is fre- quently the case, it will therefore be necessary, besides the drain in the lowest part (6), to have others cut up from it in a slanting direction across the declivity (c, c), which, by crossing the different veins, or narrow strata of sand (d, d, d), may be capable of drawing the water from each of them. 4254. Informing the drains in these cases, it is recommended that, after laving the bottom in the manner of a sough, or in the way of a triangle, it be filled some way up with small stones, tough sods with the green side downwards being placed upon them before the mould is filled in. But where stones cannot be readily procured, faggots may be employed, the under part of the drain being laid, or coupled, with stones, so as to form a channel for the conveyance of the water that may sink through the faggots, and for the purpose of rendering them more durable ; as, where the water cannot get freely off, which is generally the case where there is not an open passage made of some solid material, it must, by its stagnation, soon destroy the faggots, and choke up the drain. 425-;. The estate of Spottiswonde in Berwickshire affords an interesting example of successful drainage of mixeii soil and strata. It was begun in 1815, under the direction of Mr. Stephens, an eminent draining engineer, and author of a us. ful'work on the subject {The Practical Irrtgator^&c, Edin. 8vo. 18-9); and eighteen miles and a half of drains, some parts of which were thirteen feet deep, but the medium depth of which was from live to .-even feet, had, in 1820, rendered between five and six hundred acres ot land most valuable, which had been before of little value, 425B V/„- grounds to be drained at Spottiswoode " consisted of a soil of various depth, under which commonlv lay a stratum of clay from two to three feet deep, then a thin bed of sandy or gravelly substance, of a foot deep, or more, containing water ; after that another bed of clay, of two or more feet deep ; and lastW, a bed of sand, gravel, or slaty rock, containing the larger quantity ol water. Upon reaching thi Book III. DRAINING MIXED SOILS. 701 lower of these porous strata, the water disappeared in the upper one : and hence generally the expediency of not stopping at the first, but of working down till the main stratum was reached. Several instances occurred where the strata lay too deep to be reached by a drain ; in which cases it was deemed necessary to sink wells or pits at certain distances along the line of the drain, from ten to eighteen feet deep, or more, in order to reach the open strata, so that the water, rising through the wells to the bottom of the drains, might be conveyed away without reaching the surface. It was never thought sufficient to have reached the first seam containing water, unless it were at the depth of four feet or more, and evidently appeared to be that containing the main body of water which occasioned the wetness of the surface." trans. Highl. Sue.) 4257. The first operation in the process of draining " was to ascertain the depth and nature of the 6trata in which the water was contained, and the overflowing of which, where no outlet existed, produced, as was before remarked, either springs or bursts of water, or a general oozing. Along the line of these springs, or in the upper part of the wet ground, pits were sunk in various places. The place of each being marked out, a man was sent to dig each pit, breaking the ground nearly in the direction of the intended drain, six feet long and three feet wide, which is sufficient space to allow a man, or sometimes two, to work freely. The earth was then thrown to the lowest side, and well off from the pit, to prevent the sides from breaking in : these pits were made to the depth of five or six feet, or to a greater depth if necessary, according to the nature of the ground, or until the bed of sand, gravel, or rock, which contained the water, was reached. Sometimes it became necessary, after having gone as deep as a man could work, and when no water appeared, to bore down with boring-rods, in order to ascertain at what depth the stra- tum containing the water lay. In some instances, where the surface was wet from a general oozing, and no regular spring appeared, it became necessary to go down to the depth of thirteen feet, when, in break- ing through a thin cake of freestone, not above an inch in thickness, the water burst up, and filled the pit to the brim in the following morning. This species of examination prevents the working at random in laying out the lines of drains, affords data forjudging of the depth and dimensions to which they should be formed ; and, by giving a knowledge of the substances to be dug through, enables one to enter into con- tracts with the workmen with greater certainty." (Trans. Highl. Soc.) 4258. A general idea being thus obtained of the ground to be drained, and men employed to sink the pits, the next operation is to m:jrk out these lines on the ground. In doing this, a hand sketch (fig. 6 . indicating the direction of the drains and their depth will be found useful. " On the ground, the lines may be marked in various ways. When the land is in grass, a plough may be made to follow the di- rector, as he walks deliberately along his intended line, a man leading the horses by the head, if necessary, and walking be- tween them. If it is inconvenient to use a plough, the lines may be marked by pins, or small pits, a spade's breadth square, made at convenient distances, by cutting out a turf clean by four cuts of a spade, and laying it upside down at the side of the hole, in the line of the drain." The drains were next dug out, and' formed; some of them three feet wide at the top, six feet deep, and two feet wide at bottom, and others of different widths and depths, but generally in the same proportion. The following are Mr. Stephens's directions for building : — 4259. the side walls of the drain, supposing it to be six feet deep, and two feet wide at bottom, " must be well built with dry stone, all laid on the proper bed and not set up edgeways), nine inches thick by six inches high, forming an aperture of six inches square, the covers for which must be sufficiently strong to sustain the pressure of the incumbent weight of stone and earth ; and should project, at least, three Inches over the inside of each side wall, — two feet of stone must be well packed above the cover of the aperture. The first foot of stone above the cover of the aperture may be put into the drains from three to four pounds weight, the upper part must be broken as small as common road-metal, and should be made quite smooth or level, so that every part of the drains may have an equal depth or thickness of stone. A thin covering of straw should be laid on the top of the broken stones, to prevent the loose earth from falling through the aperture of the drains. The drains may be then filled with earth, nine inches above the natural level of the surface of the ground. Wells must be sunk along the lowest side of the lines of drains, in every place where the above mentioned depth of six feet does not reach the porous bed that contains water. These wells may be made from five to six feet square, or sufficiently wide to allow a person to work with freedom ; and must be sunk through the impervious strata into the pervious stratum of sand, gravel, or rock, where the water flows freely. The wells may then be filled with small clean stones, thrown in promiscuously, till the stones in the wells come in contact with the stones in the drains. The upper part of the wells above the level of the stones in the drains may be filled with earth." (fig. 636.) (Trans. High/. Soc. voL vii. p. 222.) 4°60 The stones of which the drains at the bottom of the conduit are to be built, and with which the drain is afterwards to be filled to the depth of two feet or more, as is shown above should be laid down on the upper side of the line, as near to it as possible, that they may be the more easily handed in J hey are laid on the upper side, for the convenience of throwing out the earth on the lower side. It is very desirable that the stones should be, if possible, laid down before the drain is begun to be dug, as it is often neces- sary to build and fill it as fast as it is dug, to prevent the sides from falling in, which, when it occurs, occasions a very great deal of extra work, and the drains themselves are never so well constructed. 1 nig most frequently happens in ground under tillage, the sides being more tender than when in grass, where the turf is the means of preserving the sides from the pressure of the earth thrown out and of the stones laid down When the sides are evidently likely to fall in before the drain can be built, they may be kept up for a time by a board laid flat to each side of the drain near the top, and cross sticks put in to keep the boards asunder. Circumstances frequently occur, which prevent the stones trom being laid down belore- hand and thev are then brought forward as the work of cutting the drain is goingon. Under t ne eye ol an intelligent and attentive director, this mav be done without danger : but, even then, unforeseen occurrences sometimes prevent the possibility of getting the materials forward for several days ; and if any rainy wea- ther intervene, and the drains are in a clayey soil, there is a certainty of slips and falls, occasioning much extra labour, and requiring, in consequence of the additional breadth of the drain, a much larger quantity of stones to fill the opening. Where a piece of drain seems likely to fall in, it should always, it possible be built and filled before night, or the sides kept asunder by means of boards, as before mentioned. - (Trans. Eighl. Soc. vol. vii.) 4261. Drains may be dug, and, when built, the earth may be filled in by contract work ; but in general day work is to be preferred. " The conduit is built in the bottom of the drain bv a" confidential person, either a mason, or any other workman 636 70S PRACTICE OF AGRICULTURE. Part III. who, by practice, is equally competent ; this person always working at daily wages, to prevent him from having any interest in hurrying over tliis most important part of the operation." 4262. The drains men/ be cut only " two feet wide, with the sides perfectly perpen- dicular, provided that, from the tenacity or hardness of the substances dug through, the sides will stand till the stones are [nit in. It is usual, however, to break the ground somewhat wider at the top, and so to give it a slight slope to the bottom. The work of cutting is always done by contract at so much per rood or yard, and se- veral labourers generally join in making one drain, and arrange the work among themselves. The casting or cutting, it is scarcely necessary to observe, is always commenced by the workmen at the lower end, and worked upwards to the higher ground, and never downwards. They usually begin by working about two feet deep in the first instance, several roods in length, then going over the ground again, deepening it to four or five feet, and afterwards going over it the last time, and finishing the bottom, by making it perfectly level and ready for the mason to build the conduit in the bottom. The bottom must, for this purpose, be completely two feet wide, though, when free-stone is employed, the width may be less." (Trans. Eigkl. Soc) 4263. In building the drain, " the mason has an assistant, generally a female, at the top, who hands him the stones he requires. He begins with small fiat stones to build the wall on each side of the bottom of the drain, nine inches broad, and six inches high, so as to leave six inches for the conduit in the middle. This lie does roughly, but in such a manner that the stones shall be laid solidly on one another. When the ground at the bottom is solid, either dry gravel, or clay, or rock, the mason's foot, with his ordinary clog or shoe, standing in the centre, is the measure of the width of the conduit. When the land is inclined to be wet and soft, a plank six inches broad is used for him to stand upon. When the bot- tom is a wet spongy clay, or sand of the nature of a quicksand, or very soft, it is often necessary to flag the bottom of the conduit with very thin stones or slates." (Trans. Highl. Soc. vol. vii.) 4264. When a perfect quagmire has been met with, " which has happened chiefly in red clay, the faster the wet clay has been thrown out, the faster it has boiled up from below. In these cases, it has been found necessary to lay planks on the bottom of the drain, and build upon them. But this will very seldom be necessary where proper pre- cautions are used. On first meeting with quagmires of this kind, attempts were made to dig them out ; for which purpose a strong wooden frame was made, large enough for four men to work in with freedom, composed of different pieces, so that the workmen might add to the sides of the frame as they worked downwards. Notwithstanding the frame's being made very strong, the pressure became so great, that the sides came together, and stopped the operation. The consequence was, that, after great labour and active exertion in taking out large quantities of wet clay, which thus continued to boil up (but the very taking out of which undermined the banks from beneath), the sides of the drain fell in masses, and made great gaps, which increased the longer the work was carried on. In these circumstances, it became necessary to use planks to build the con- duit, and to fill in the stones as fast as possible, by employing a great number of persons at once. The weight of these superincumbent stones then kept the planks and conduit at their proper place, so much so that the worst of these parts never exhibited any svinptom of imperfection, though made ten years ago. On all occasions afterwards, however, when any of these quagmires were found, the process of taking out the bottom of the drain was followed, yard by yard, by flagging the bottom, building the conduit, covering it, and filling the stones over it; and in this way the quagmire was prevented, by the immediate pressure from above, from boiling up. It never failed to be seen that the longer these operations were delayed, the softer and more intractable the interior of the drain became. After building the side walls for a yard or two in length, the mason, according to circumstances, cleans out the conduit with a narrow hoe, and then covers it with such large broad stones as he can procure, from fifteen inches in length to two feet, being the utmost width of the drain itself. These are handed down carefully to him by his attendant ; and, after he has laid three or four of them, he takes smaller flat stones, as the larger are always uneven at the edges, and covers every interstice ; and afterwards, with similar stones, packs carefully the ends of the covers, before finishing anv particular portion of the work so as to prevent them from shifting ; and still further to cover every hole through which any thing might be carried into the conduit, he has a rolled up wisp of straw which he puts in the mouth of the conduit, which allows the water to pass out, but prevents mud and sand from getting in. His attendant then throws the remainder of the stones in promiscuously to the depth of two feet, or some- times more, if the materials are plentiful, and particularly where there are two reams con- Book III. DRAINING RETENTIVE SOILS. 703 637 taining water; for in this case it is gene- rally desirable to raise the stones above the level of the bottom of the upper seam, so as to convey away any water which may remain in it, to the conduit beneath (Jig. 637. a, sand or gravel ; b, clay) ; ard it was a circumstance very generally observed in the course of operations, that where the upper stratum containing water was only a few feet in depth or thickness, another open stratum was generally found a few feet deeper. 4265. Stones. When the stones to be used are only brought forward at the time of cutting the drain, the carts are often run back to the edge of it, and the stones, after the conduit is built, tumbled straight out of the cart into the drain ; but, in this case, it is necessary to take care that the sides of the drain be not injured by the cart-wheels or otherwise, lest the earth should fall into the drains, and so through the intervals of the stones. A part of the stones for filling were recommended by Mr. Stephens to be broken like large road metal. This, however, is very expensive, and was found by experience not to be necessary, though usually large stones should be broken. When the stones are small, that is, ten or twelve ounces, it is as well ; but no inconvenience has been found from the constant use of stones of a much larger and very unequal size. When a sufficient quantity of stones has been thrown in, the mason levels them at the top, filling up the intervals of larger stones with smaller ones, so as to make the top of them level. If the sod which has been cut off the surface of the drain is sufficiently solid, it should be laid carefully by itself on the upper edge of the drain at the side of the stones. It should again be laid with its grassy side undermost, on the top of the stones, as a covering, to prevent the earth from getting down amongst them. If the sods are not sufficiently coherent or plentiful to cover the whole completely, old coarse hay, or straw, or heath, may be used as a substitute. When all this is completely done, the earth is shovelled in upon the top, until the drain is full. It is then heaped up, somewhat after the manner of a grave, to allow for the earth's subsiding to the level of the surface. It is a circumstance deserving of notice, that, in digging the trial-pits, the earth taken out is in most cases insufficient to fill them again, if allowed to lie open for any time ; so that, in fact, contrary to what would be naturally inferred, the earth must become more compact by being removed. 4266. Repairs. When the drain is thus completed, it is still necessary, and parti- cularly when the land is under tillage, carefully to inspect it from time to time, and to see that no surface-water finds its way into it. If any hole is found, it ought to be im- mediately stopped up, as a channel of this kind will sometimes very speedily carry enough of mud into a conduit to choke it entirely, and spoil the drain. Under- draining, it will be kept in mind, will not supersede the necessity of surface-drains, where these are necessary to carry off water stagnant upon the ground. Besides the danger to drains by the flowing in of surface-water, there are other sources of injury which must be guarded against by a vigilant care. Animals, by burrowing in the earth, or finding their way from any course in the conduit, are sometimes apt to injure it, and cause the earth to crumble in ; but a more frequent source of injury is from vegetable substances, as roots of trees, and particularly of the ash. As an instance of this, there happened, on this property, to be an ash tree growing near a chain, the fibres of which took possession of the conduit, and so obstructed the passage of the water, as to produce a new swamp, in consequence of which it became necessary to lift the ma- terials of the drain, and form it anew. It is often very difficult to eradicate certain plants, whose long and creeping roots get intervened in the interstices of the conduit. The advance of those larger animals which enter the conduits for safety, or in pursuit of prey, may be prevented by an iron grating at the outlet. (Trans. Highl. Soc. vol. vii.) Sect. V. Methods of draining Retentive Soils. *i267. The mode of draining retentive soils is materially different from that which has been described above. Many tracts of level land are injured by the stagnation of a superabundant quantity of water in the upper parts of the surface materials, which does not rise up into them from any reservoirs or springs below. The removal of the wetness in these cases may, for the most part, be effected without any very heavy expense. From the upper or surface soil, in such cases, being constituted of a loose porous stratum of materials, to the depth of from two to four or five feet, and having a stiff retentive body of clay underneath it, any water that may come upon the surface, from heavy rams, ov other causes, readily filtrates and sinks down through it, until it reaches the obstruct- 704 PR ICT1CE OF AGRICULTURE. Tart III. ing body of clay; the consequence of which is. that the porous open soil above is so filled and saturated with water, as to be of little utility for producing crops of cither grain or grass. Laud thus situated is frequently said by fanners to be wet-bottomed. In order to remove 1 1 > i — kind of wetness, it seldom requires more than a few drains, made according to the situation and • stent of the field, of such a depth as to pass a few inches into the clay, between which and the under surface of the porous earth above there will obviously be the greatest stagnation, and consequently the largest collection of water, especially where it does not bi come much visible on the surface. In these cases there is no necessity tor having recourse to the boring instrument, as there is no water to be dis- charged from below. 4268. When the .field to be drained has only a slight declination, or si >pe, fr vet, it may some. times be drained by boring into . the latter (b). In this way dif- ferent chalk pits and lime quar- ries have been drained in Kent and Hertfordshire. (See the Reports of these Counties.) In marl-pits also, which, from the nature of their situation, mostly require much cutting through some part of their sides, in order to remove the water that prevents their being wrought] the mode of letting the water down by means of pits dug through the upholding stratum below the bed of marl into the porous materials underneath, might be economically practised. In such cases, the number of the pits must be proportioned to the space occupied by the marl ; and when they are required to be of such depths as to be liable to give way, they should be built up, or nearly filled with loose stones, so as to admit the water to pass off, such lateral drains as are necessary communicating with them. In some situations of the pits, as where the bank slopes lower on the contrary side than the level of the water, an easier mode may be practised ; such as by forming a drain in it, and then perforating with a horizontal boring-instrument into the terminating part of the stratum that holds the water; thereby removing and keeping it below the level of the marl. In addition to these, in some cases, as where the water of such pits proceeds from springs in the high grounds above them, it may be useful to intercept and convey it away before it reaches the marl-pits. 4275. The drainage or drying vp of lakes or ponds comes occasionally within the practice of the drainer, especially in countries with an irregular surface. There are, perhaps, few natural lakes indeed, the surface of the water of which might not be very considerably lowered, by deepening their natural outlets, the consequence of which would be, in many cases, a very considerable accession of generally rich land round their mar- gins, a better drainage for the surrounding country, and an improved climate. Much, it is said, might be done in this way in Ireland ; but there can be no doubt that in every country in the world a great deal may be done. In flat countries nearly on a level with the sea, like Holland and parts of the counties of Cambridge and Huntingdon, the water will in general require to be raised by machinery ; but in by far the greater number of cases, deepening the natural outlet will be found amply sufficient. 4276. Bar I.och, in the county of Renfrew, was reduced in size bv drainage and embanking, in 1S14, at ar expense of nearly 10,0001, which has since returned 13 per cent per annum ; 280 acres have been laid dry upwards of 200 of which have been since under crop. A very interesting account of this drainage will be found in the Highland Society's Transactions, vol. vii. p. .'>7.>. 4277. SUam-engintt have lately been employed, both in Cambridgeshire and Lincolnshire, as substitutes for the very uncertain power of wind, to raise the water from the low lands, and deliver it into the drains and rivers by means of scoop wheels working like a grinding.stone in its trough. Wheat and other corns have thus been sown on lands never before ploughed. The improvement indeed is one of the greatest that has taken place in fenny countries, since they were first attempted to be drained and embanked. ( Mech. Mag. vol v. p. 179. and Gard. Mag. vols. jv. and v.) Sect. VII. Formation of Drains, and Materials vsed in filing them. 4278. Drains should be firmed with as much truth and exactness as possible : such labourers as are not dexterous in using their tools seldom make them well. The most general method of performing this sort of work is by admeasurement, at so much a rod, or a score of rods, which necessarily induces the workmen to do as much as they possibly can : they should, therefore, be frequently inspected, to see that they keep to the proper and required depth, that the earth taken out be laid in such a manner as not to fall down again into the drains in time of filling them, and that the surface mould be kept on one side free from the clayey or other material of the inferior stratum. 4279. When there is any declivity in the ground, drains should be made in a slanting direction across it, instead of the old method of conducting them according to the nature or inclination of the slope. By attending to the former mode of cutting the drains, the wetness is not only more effectually removed, but, by allowing the water to pass away in an easy current, they are rendered less liable to be choked, or, as it is frequently termed, blown up, by which artificial oozings of water are sometimes formed in such places. But where grounds are either quite or nearly level, it has long been a general practice to cut the drains at the different distances of about sixteen, twenty-four, and Be III. FORMATION OF DRAINS. 707 thirty-two feet from each other, across the fields from the different ditches, according to the circumstances of the lands ; or, indeed, where the drains, either from some slig'it unevenness of the surface, or other causes, can only be made to flow at one end, to avoid cutting them further on one side than where the ditch is capable of taking away the wetness. In cases where the declivities of a piece of ground are various, and have different inclinations, the drainer should constantly attend to them, and direct the lines of his drains in such a manner as that they may cross the higher sides of the different declivities in a slanting direction. 4280. The depth of drains must depend upon the nature of the soils, the positions of the land, and a great variety of other more trifling circumstances. It was formerly the custom to make them three or four feet in depth, but by modern drainers the most general depth is two and a half to three feet. As the main drains have more water to convey away, and are generally of greater length than the lateral ones, they should always be cut somewhat deeper ; and where the materials of the soils are porous, the deeper they are cut, the more extensively they act in lowering the wetness of the land : when, however, the operator reaches any material through which the moisture cannot pass, it will be useless to dig the trench to a greater depth. If it be clay, by going a few inches into it, a more safe passage for the moisture may however be secured. It must notwith- standing be invariably attended to, that the depth of the drains be such as that the treading of heavy cattle may not displace, or in any way injure, the materials employed in constructing or filling them. It may be noticed too, where the horses in ploughing tread in the bottom of the furrow, at the depth of four inches or more below the surface, that, if eight or ten be allowed for the materials with which the drains are filled, when the depth of the trenches does not exceed twenty-four inches, there will only be nine or ten inches of earth for the support of the horses when ploughing. Where the earth has been stirred, such a depth must undoubtedly be too little, and this in some measure proves that drains of such a depth are not sufficient. By cutting them down to the depth of two feet and a half in the stiffer soils, they will seldom be penetrated to, or have too great a depth ; and in the pervious ones a still greater depth is highly useful, and constantly to be practised. 4281. Cutting the drains as narrow as possible, which lias of late been much practised, is of importance, as it causes a considerable saving of the matters employed in filling them up, whether wood or straw ; but in cases where bricks or stones are used, this cannot be so much attended to ; however, a greater width than about a foot is seldom necessary, provided the stones be coupled at the bottom, or thrown in in a mixed way ; nor more than sixteen inches where laid in the manner of a sough or channel. But of whatever depth the materials may be, the earth or mould by which they are covered up should not be less in depth than a foot ; in arable lands it should be more. 4282. The different sorts of drains in use may be classed in two divisions ; drains of conveyance ( fig. 643. a, b,) alone, and drains of conveyance and collection jointly. (Jig. 648. c,d.) In the former, all that is neces- sary is a channel or passage for the water, of sufficient dimensions, which may be formed by pipes of different kinds, arched or barrel iX drains (b), and box or walled drains («). The . construction of the latter requires not only an opening for conveying the water, but a superincumbent or surrounding stratum (e,f, ) of sufficient porosity to permit and induce all latent water to find its way to the channel of conveyance. The most complete drain of conveyance is a large pipe of metal, masonry, or brick-work ; and the most complete col- lecting drain, one formed of a channel built on the sides, and covered with flat stones, with a superstratum of round stones or splinters, diminishing to the size of gravel as they rise 645 644 M ( \ . ■ 1 i . !' 1 to the surface, and there covered with the common soil. As the best constructions, however, are not always practicable, the fol- lowing are a few of the leading sorts adapted for different situations. 4283 For drains of conveyance, there are the walled or box drain (fig. 643. a), the barrel drain (A the walled or the triangular drain (c), and arched dram. 4°S4 bruins of collection are formed of stone, brick eraveLcinders.wood.spray.straw, tujt and learth alone, 4 J85 The boxed and rubble drain {fig. 644) hasbeen already described as a dram of conveyance and eel- ros PRACTICE OF AGRICULTURE. Part III. -*. _ SOOU1M UC l.UU. Ull U1V ^ — -v : layer of straw nr haul \ I lilleii up with the su \ P^^ 4-J«i i. The brick dr — of ways, either wi lection. The common rubble drain \a formed of rough land. stones of any sort, broken so as not to exceed two or three inches in diameter. No good drainer uses stonee six or eight inches in diameter in any part of a rubble drain, lead of all at the bottom, The point kept in view is to use such small stones at the hot. torn as may allow the water a great many channels ; so that, if a few should become impermeable, there should be many others remaining. The nearer the bottom ofa drain of this kind approaches to the cha- racter of a natural bed of gravel, the more certain will be the free passage of the water. Gravel or ashes should be laid on the top of the stones, on these a thin layer of straw or haulm of any kind, and the remainder rface soil. ain is formed in a great variety th common bricks and bats in imitation of the boxed and rubble, or rubble drain ; or with bricks made on purpose, of which there is great variety. (Jig. 646. a to k.) Draining tiles, to be used with effect as collecting drains, should generally be covered a foot in depth or more with stones or gravel. Hut if the land to be drained be in grass, laying the sod over the tile is sufficient : if the land be not in grass, and be loose in texture, a little straw may be profitably laid over the tile, to prevent the soil from running in. The pantile (d) is the best for general purposes, but ought not to have holes at top ; but sometimes such holes are made. In very loose soils, plain tiles are wanted to place the draining tiles on : in other soils, old broken pieces of plain tiles are sufficient for the ends to rest on. Sometimes, even at depths of six feet, these tiles, though of five inches in the clear, will be entirely blocked up by the fibrous roots of trees, especially of the black poplar. A variety of this tile, of a more ample capacity, has lately been brought into use in Lincolnshire. (Jig. 647.) The best draining tiles in England are manu- factured at the Staffordshire potteries ; and Peake, of Tunstall, may be named as eminent in this line. (Gard. Mag. vols. v. and vi.) 4287. On the Marquis of Stafford's estate, " an allowance of draining tiles is made, wherever the exertions of the tenants seem to merit such a reward. In order to secure the drains being properly filled up with stones above the tiles, the tenant is obliged to drive a sufficient quantity of stones or cinders from the furnaces, and lay them on the ground, previously to an order being made for the delivery of the tiles. Without attending' to this important circumstance, much draining would be thrown away. The park at Trentham is a complete illustration of this remark. The draining of this spot was conducted under the direction of Klkington. The wetness with which these lands are affected does not arise from any line of springs bursting out from the upper grounds, to which that gentleman's system of deep drains could be applied ; but is occasioned almost entirely bv the retentive nature of the subsoil, and by its being in- termixed with small basins of sand, which lie detached and unconnected with each other, in the bed of clay. To cure this species of wetness, a number of small drains, well filled up, with one cut into each of these beds of sand, is necessary. In pursuance of this plan, a great part of the park at Trentham has been lately drained over again, by making a number of small shallow drains, about fifteen feet asunder, in some instances above the old ones, taking particular care to fill them up as well as possible, and not to permit any -lay to be laid over the stones. This has proved effectual." (Loch.) 4288. The gravel or cinder drain is seldom made deep, though, if the materials be large, thev may be made of any size. In general they are used in grass lands ; the section of the drain being an acute-angled triangle, and the materials being filled in, the smallest uppermost, nearly to the ground's surface. 4289. The wood drain is of various kinds. A very sufficient and durable construction consists of poles (748 or young fir-trees stripped of their branches and laid in the bottom of the drain length wavs. Thev are then covered with the branches and spray. Another form is that of filling the drain with faggot- wood with some straw over. A variety of this mode (Jig. 648.) is formed by first setting in cross stakes to prevent the faggots from sinking ; but they are of no great use, and often occasion such drains to fail sooner than common faggot drains, by the greater vacuity they leave after the wood is rotten. In some varieties of this drain the brushwood is first laid down alongside the drain, and formed by willow or other ties into an endless cable of ten or twelve inches in diameter, and then rolled in ; which is said to form an excellent drain with the least quantity of materials, and to last a longer time than any of the modes above men- tioned Some cut the brushwood into lengths of three or four feet, and place them in a sloping direction with the root end of the branch in the bottom of the drain ; others throw in the branches at random, with little preparation, and cover them with sprav, straw, or rushes, and finally the surface soil. 4290. The sprav drain is generally, like the gravel drain, of small size, and formed, like it, with an acute-angled bottom. In general, the spray is trod firmly in ; though in some cases it is previously formed into a cable, as in the brush-wood drain. Drains of this sort are much in use in grass lands, and when the spray of larch wood, heath, or ling can be got, they are of great durability. 4'29l. The straw drain, when reeds, rushes, and bean straw are used, is sometimes made like the spray 0"1<) drain, by pressing the loose material down, or forming a cable; but in general the straw is twisted into ropes as big as a man's leg, by theaid of a machine (2562.), and three or more of these ( Jig. 649. a) laid in the bottom of a triangular drain, with or with- out the protection of three turves (h). Where some sorts of moss, as .Sphagnum or Lycopodium, can be got, these drains are of unknown durability. Drains formed in this manner, through tough and reten- tive clays, will be found, in a short time after the work is finished, to have formed over the straw with which the drain was filled, an arch of sufficient strength to sup- port the incumbent weight of the soil and the casual traffic of the field. In twelve or eighteen months it may be observed that the straw, being of one uniform substance, is all rotted and carried away, leaving a clear p'ipe through the land in every drain. The passage of the water into these drains Book III. FORMATION OF DRAINS. 709 653 may be much facilitated by a clue attention to filling them with the most friable and porous parts of the surface the field may affbri 4292. The turf drain {Jigs. 650. and 651.), may be made of any convenient depth, but it must be at least •V7/777X i ,,, ^, •- , i t ii\ c^i B the breadth of a turf at bottom. The drain being 651 if 'ilj' 1 " dug out as if it were to be filled with stones or any ordinary material ; the operator next, with a spade three inches wide, digs a narrow channel along its centre («), clearing it out with the draining scoop ; and over this the turves (b) are laid without any other preparation, or any thing put over them but the earth that was excavated. This is found to be a very cheap, and, considering the materials, a surprisingly durable method of draining ; answer, ing, in pasture-fields especially, all the purposes that the farmer can expect to derive from drains constructed with more labour, and at a much greater expense. They are said to last frequently twenty years and upwards : but the period which it can be supposed they will continue to prove effectual, must depend on the nature of the soil and the current of water. 4293. The wedge or triangular sod drain (Jig. 652.) is thus made : — When the line of drain is marked out, a sod is cut in the form of a wedge, the grass side being the narrowest, and the sods being from twelve to eighteen inches in length. The drain is then cut to the depth required, but is contracted to a very narrow bottom. The sods are then set in with the grass side downwards, and pressed as far as they will go. As the figure of the drain does not suffer them to go to the bottom, a cavity is left which serves as a watercourse; and the space above is filled with the earth thrown out The work is performed by means of three spades of different sizes. The first may be a common spade of moderate breadth, with which the surface clay may be taken off to the depth of eight or ten inches, or not quite so much, if the clay be very strong. The breadth of the drain, at top, may be from a foot to fifteen inches ; but it never should be less than a foot, as it is an advantage that the sides should have a considerable slope; and the two sides should slope as equally as possible. Another workman follows the first, with a spade six inches broad at the top, and becoming narrower towards the point, where it should not exceed four inches. (Jig. 633.a.) The length of the plate of this second spade should be fourteen inches, and with it a foot or four, teen inches in depth can easily be gained. A third workman, and he should be the most expert, succeeds the second, and his spade should be four inches broad at top, only two inches broad at the point, and fourteen or fifteen inches in length [b). With this spade a good workman can take out at least fifteen inches of clay. A sort of hoe or scoop, mads of a plate of iron, formed nearly into the shape of a half cylinder of two inches diameter, and a foot or fourteen inches long, and fastened, at an acute angle of perhaps 70°, to a long wooden handle (c), is now employed to scrape out the bottom of the drain, and remove any small pieces of clay that may have fallen into it The grassy side of the turf being turned undermost, they are put down into the drain, the workman standing upon them after they are put in, and pressing them down with his whole weight till they are firmly wedged between the sloping sides of the drain. The ends of the turfs being cut somewhat obliquely, they overlap each other a little; and by this means, although there is sufficient opening for the surface water to get down, nothing else can. The open space, below the turf, ought to be five or six inches in depth, three inches wide at top, and an inch and a half or two inches at bottom. (Ttans. Highl. Soc. vol. vi. p. 571.) 4294. The hollow furrow dram is only used in sheep-pastures. Wherever the water is apt to stagnate, a deep furrow is turned up with a stout plough (Jig. 654.c). After this, a man with a spade pares off the loose soil from the inverted sod, and scatters it over the field, or casU it into hollow places. The sod, thus pared, and brought to the thickness of about three inches, is restored to its original situation, with the grassy side uppermost, as if no furrow had been made (b). A pipe or opening two or three inches deep is thus formed beneath it, in the bottom of the furrow, sufficient to discharge a considerable quantity of surface water, which readily sinks into it. These furrows, indeed, are easily choaked up by any pressure, or by the growth of the roots of the grass ; but they are also easily restored, and no surface is lost by means of them. 4295. The earth drain, called also the clay-pipe drain, is better calculated for the purpose of an aqueduct, or conveyance of water, than for drying the soil. A drain is dug to the necessary depth, narrow at bottom, in which is laid a smooth tree or cylindrical piece of wood, ten or twelve feet long, six inches in diameter at the one end, and five at the other, having a ring fastened in the thickest end. After strewing a little sand upon the upper side of the tree, the clay or toughest part of the contents of the trench is first thrown in upon it, and then the remainder, which is trod firmly down. By means of the ring and a rope through it, the tree is drawn out to within a foot or two of the small or hinder end, and the same operation repeated. A gentleman who has tried this experiment says, this clay pipe has conducted a small rill of water a considerable way under ground for more than twenty years, without any sign of failing. . ■I(» PRACTICE or AGRICULTURE. Part JIT. ■«*".. rim drix mi of turf arc lometiinci formed where the surface turves from such 055 soil is a strong clay, as it is only a surface thai arc sufficiently durable. A semicylindrical «pade [fig. 655. a) is used to dig the turves, the ground-plan of which (6) presents a series of semicircles <>r half pipes. The drain [c) being dug out to the proper depth, one turf is laid in tfae bottom it , and another being placed over it (<■), completes the pipe. The fame sort of pipe drain has been formed out of solid beds of clay, and has served for a time to convey water. As col- lecting drains, of course, they can be of little or no use. Ilannay, an ingenious farmer in Wigtonshire, adopted this mode for the purpose of conveying water through running sand, in which only a pipe drain will last for a moderate time. After a number of years the clay turves were found effective in con- veying away the water, and preventing the running away of the sandy sides of the drain. 42:i7. Pearson's method of pipe-draining will be found described at length in the Transactions oj the Society of Arts, vol. xlvii. for 182!). The ground is first opened by a plough, with what is called a \_ \— (& &.')— | horn-share. (Jig. 658.) With four horses and the horn-share (a), a furrow nine or ten inches deep by ten inches is taken out. The horns are then removed, the coulters (ft ft) added, and eight horses attached. This cuts the soil to an additional depth ol ten inches (cj, and it is immediately removed with narrow spades, and larger and smaller draining \^jfi scoops, [figs. 65.i. e, and 661. a, b.) A second pair of coulters cuts the soil to the depth required, which is also taken out by the scoops. The total depth is now about twenty-six inches, the width at top ten inches, and at bottom about one inch. A slide (fig. 657.a) is then dropped to the bottom of the drain, 657 commencing at its lowest level, so as to work up hill. A windlass (b) is next placed at the full length of the rope, which is attached to the slide. Clay is next rammed firmly down on the slide with a heavy rammer to the depth of three or four inches, and the slide is next pulled forward, leaving a Cylindrical drain of three or four inches in diameter, according to the diameter of the slide. (Tra?is Sue 'Arts vol xlvii. p. SO.] ' ' 4298. A mode of turf-draining in use in Cheshire is as follows : —The surface of the ground where the drain is Intended to he cut, is marked out in parallelograms about the size of bricks on one side (Jig. 658. a), and that opposite is left of the width of a common sod; i.e. nine inches wide. These sods are taken out at a spade's depth, and laid carefully bv the side of the drain for covers The sods '".resembling bricks in their size and shape, are then dug, and laid carefullj on the same side as the sods intended for covers. The drain is then sunk to its proper depth, and the stuff taken out is thrown to the other side. The bottom is levelled w ith proper draught tor the water, and set with the sods like bricks (a), two in height on each side (e) ; these are covered with the larger sods set ob- liquely (ft), the grass side of each sod being turned downwards. (Agr. Rep. of Cheshire, 214.) 4299. The mole drain (Jig. 659.) is formed by the draining-plough of that name already described (2643.) with the manner of using it It is chiefly useful in pasture-lands, and especially in such as have some declivity, or are formed into ridges 1300. The wheel drain is a very ingenious invention, described in The Agricultural Report of the Count'/ qf Essex. It consists ofa draining-wheel of cast-iron, that weighs about tewt. It is lour feet in diameter; the cutting-edge or extremity of the circumference of the wheel is half an inch thick, and increase; in i Br III. FORMATION OF DRAINS. 'II thickness towards the centre. At fifteen inches deep it will cut a drain half an inch wide at the bottom, and four inches wide at the top The wheel is so placed in a frame, that it may be loaded at pleasure, and made to operate to a greater or less depth, according to the resistance made by the ground. It is used in winter when the soil is so*"t; and ihe wheel tracks are either immediately filled with straw ropes, and lightly covered over with earth, or they are left to crack wider and deeper till the ensuing summer ; after which the fissures are filled with ropes* of straw or of twisted twigs, and lightly covered with the most porous earth that is at hand. Thus, upon grass or ley lands, hollow drains, which answer extremely well, are formed at a trifling expense. It is said that twelve acres may be fully gone over with this draining- wheel in one day, so as to make cuts at all necessary distances. 658 _j 1 j _, 1 1 1 ! ■ I 1 11 1 1 t I 6CO ccxxxxxx x _L i 4301. Surface-gutters made by cart-wheels have been used by Middleton, on meadows in Surrey. To the felly of a common cart-wheel [Jig. fiiX). a), is added a piece of wood, the section of which is a truncated triangle ;*;, and on this is fixed a piece of iron completing the triangle [c). The cart is loaded and driven so . j the prepared wheel may run in the furrow ; or, if there are no furrows, both wheels maybe prepared, and the loaded cart drawn by two horses, may be led over the whole field, forming parallel gutters, four or five feet distant. The advantage of this mode of surface draining is, that the herbage is only pressed down, not destroyed, and rises up again in spring. The operation, for that reason, requires to be renewed every winter. It certainly seems a barbarous mode, but it may have answered better than one who has never seen it practised might lie led to imagine. 430 L 2. In forming small drains, chiefly for retentive soils, the common plough has been used in many places, and with some advantage. The method practised by Young, as described in The Annals, of Agri- culture, is this : — When he has marked the drains in a field usually a rod asunder, he draws two furrows w ith a common plough, leaving a baulk betwixt them about fifteen inches wide ; then with a strong double-breasted plough, made on purpose, he splits that baulk, and leaves a clean furrow fourteen or fifteen inches below the surface ; but where the depth of soil requires it, by a second ploughing he sinks it to eighteen or twentv inches : it is then ready for the land-ditching spade, with which he digs, fifteen inches deep, a drain as narrow as possible. But the method followed by some farmers, who do not possess ploughs made on purpose for the work, is this — With their common plough, drawn by four or five horses, and usually stirring about four or five inches deep, they turn a double furrow, throwing the earth on each side, and leaving a baulk in the middle. This baulk they raise by a second bout, in the same manner : then thev go in the open furrow twice, with their common double-breast plough, getting what depth they can. After this they shovel out all the loose mould and inequalities to the breadth of about a foot ; and thus having gained a clear open furrow, the depth varying according to the soil and ploughs, but usuallv about eight or nine inches, they dig one spit with a draining spade sixteen inches deep, thus gain- ing in the whole twenty-four or twenty-six inches. But as this depth is seldom sufficient, when necessary they throw out another, or even two other spits, which makes the whole depth from thirty to forty inches. 4303. The best season for marking out and forming drains is the spring or beginning summer ; because then the land springs, being still in rigour, are more easily of discovered and traced than at a later period. When the ground is soft on the surface, it is a useful precaution, after the line is indicated, to cart on the materials for filling before digging the drain, as the weight of the carriages and horses is apt to press in the sides. In the case of straw, turf, or earth drains, where the ground is of a firm texture, this precaution does not apply. In filling drains, the earth should always be raised some- what above the general surface, to make allowance for sinking. 4304. The duration of drains must necessarily depend on the nature of the materials with which they are filled, and in some measure on the quality of the soil, as certain species of land have the power of preserving wood or other perishable materials much longer than others. Stones last till accidental causes impede the flowing of the water, and may last for ever. Wood perishes in certain periods, but it does not follow that the drains should stop ; if the earth arches, the water will necessarily continue to flow, which is found to be the case when wood, straw, and stubble are rotten and gone. Drains that have been filled with bushes and straw, both which were rotten, have been observed to run well forty years after making. 4305. The expense of drains will of course vary with the soil, depth, price of labour, &c. ; and these circumstances are so different in different districts, and even in different parishes, that it accounts for the various reports of writers on the subject. Those farmers who are most solicitous to have the work well performed, contract with men only for digging and leaving clean, in order that the filling may be done by men paid by the day, Z z 4 712 PRACTICE OF AGRICULTURE. Part III. as ■ greatarsecurity thai it should be executed with all possible care. Whatever may l>e the expense and trouble incurred in draining, it may be safely asserted that, if the work is judiciously contrived and properly executed, no kind of outlay will prove so beneficial to the cultivator. . ■i K)6\ The enemies of drams, according to Marshal, are moles, field mice, and the roots of trees: the first two may be kepi under by traps or other devices; but the last enemy is not easily guarded against, except in the laying out of the drain, which should always, if possible, be kept distant from trees or woody plants of any description. Sect. VIII. Of the Implements peculiar to Draining. 4307. The tools peculiar to draining are chiefly of the spade kind : there are also boring instruments of different kinds. 4308 Tkedraming-Mcoop ' fi». 661. A 6, e.) is a crooked kind of tool made use of in some cases for Clearing out tte kx£ materials from the bottoms of drains. It is formed of d.fferent sizes and bread hs according to the drains, and in working is drawn or pushed along the bottom. . 4309. The draining shovel [d] is another sort of implement employed for the same purpose as the above. It is made with a crooked handle, and the edge of the shovel part is turned up, in order to prevent the materials from falling off. 4 10. The draining tod knife {e) is an implement made use of with great benefit in scoring or cutting out the sward in forming drains. 4311. Draining spa ilcs '/, g, A,) are made of different breadths, so as to follow each other, and cut the drains narrow at the bottoms. An upper and pointed draining spade .g) is in general use, and a wooden one ;//) is employed in peat soils. 4312. The draining straw-twisting engine is a ma- chine of very simple construction, already described (2562.), and capable of being readily removed, con- trived for the purpose of twisting straw into ropes for the filling of drains. 4313. A variety of boring implements, including Good's and the peat-borer, have been already described. (2507. to 2519.) 4314. The common draining auger {fig. 662.) consists of four parts, the shell or wimble, the chisel the " rod, and the handle I he auger shell, or g62 wimble [e), as it is variously called, for exca- . f A vating the earth or strata through which it i^y f I passes, is generally from two and a half to three and a half inches in diameter ; the - hollow part of it one foot four inches in length, and constructed nearly in the shape of the wimble used by carpenters, only the sides of the shell come closer to one another. The rods (a) are made in separate pieces of four feet long each, that screw into each other to anv assignable length, one after another, as the depth of the hole requires. The size above the auger is about an inch square, unless at the joints, where, for the re is also a chisel and punch (6), adapted for sake of strength, thev are a quarter of an inch more. There i screwing on in going through hard gravel, or other stony substances, to accelerate the passage of the auger which could not otherwise perforate such bodies. The punch is often used, when the auger is not applied, to prick or open the sand or gravel, and give a more easy issue to the water. 1 he chisel is an inch and a half or two inches broad at the point, and made very sharp for cutting stone ; and the punch an inch square like the other part of the rods, with the point sharpened also. There is a shifting handle of wood ri fastened by means of two iron wedges affixed to it, for the purpose ot turning round the rods in boring : and also two iron kevs (/, c), for screwing and unscrewing the rods, and for assisting the handle whin the soil is very stiff, and more than two men required to turn it. i 15 To judge when lu make use of the Inner is a difficult part of the business of draining. Some have been led into a mistaken notion, both as to the manner of using it and the purpose for which it is applied. They think that if, bv boring indiscriminately through the ground to be drained, water is found near enough the surface to'be reached by the depth of the drain, the proper direction for it is along these holes where water has been found ; and thus they make it the first implement to be used. The contrary is the ; and the auger should never be used till after the drain is cut ; and then for the purpose of per- forating any retentive or impervious stratum, King between the bottom of the drain and the reservoir or strata containing the spring. Thus does it greatly lessen the trouble and expense that would other- wise be requisite in cutting the trench to a depth which, in many instances, the level of the outlet will pot admit, 4316, The manner of using it is simply thus : — In working it, two, or rather three men are necessary. Two, standing above, one on each side of the drain, turn the auger round by means of the wooden handles, and when it is full thev draw it out ; and the man in the bottom of the trench clears out the earth, assists in pulling it out. and directing it into the hole, and he can also assist in turning with the iron handle or key, when the depth and length of rods require additional force to perform the operation. The workmen should be cautious, in boring, not to go deeper at a time, without drawing, than the exact length of the shell ; otherwise the earth, clay, or sand through which it is boring, after the shell is full, makes it very difficult to pull out. For this purpose the exact length of the shell should be regularly marked on the rods, triun the bottom upwards. Two flat boards, with a hole cut into the side of one of them, and laid fide by side across the drain, are very useful for directing the rods perpendicularly in going down, for 1. eping them steady in boring, and for the men to stand on when performing the operation. 4 ;J7. T/ie horizontal auger (.fig. 663.) is another boring instrument employed in particular cases. It Was invented bv Halford, of Hathern, in Leicestershire, but is little used. The advantages of it are, in tome cases, considerable, bv lessening the expense of cutting, and performing the work in a much shorter tune Where a drain or water-course Ii.i.n to pass under i bank, road, hedge, wall, rivulet of water, or for Book III. EMBANKING. 7)3 drying marl-pits, &c, it may be used to advantage in excavating a sufficient passage for the water, without opening a trench. In laying leaden pipes lor the conveyance of water, it is also useful in making a hole ga ■■"-■■■! ihiiiii in which the pipe may be laid, without opening a cut on purpose. For tapping springs, or finding water at the bottom of a hill, either for the supply of a house, or for draining the ground, it may likewise be used with success ; as the water of the spring, when hit on, will flow more easily and in greater abundance through a horizontal or level, than through a perpendicular outlet 4318. The manner of using it is this : — Suppose a lake or pond of water, surrounded with high banks, to be emptied, if the ground declines lower on the opposite side, find the level of the bank where the per- foration is to be made. There smooth the surface of the ground so as to place the frame nearly level with the auger, pointing a little upwards. It requires two men to turn the handles at top («), in order to work it ; and when the auger or shell is full, the rods are drawn back by reversing the lower handle (4). Other rods are added at the joint when the distance requires them. In boring through a bank of the hardest clav, two men will work through from thirty to forty feet in a day, provided there is no interruption from hard stones, which will require the chisel to be fixed on in place of the shell, and longer time to work through. If the length to be bored through is considerable, or longer than the whole length of the rods, a pit must be sunk upon the line, down to the hole, for placing the frame when removed, and the operation carried on as before. Chap. II. Embanking and otherwise protecting, Lands from the Overflowing or Encroachment of Rivers or the Sea. 4319. Lands adjoining rivers or the sea are frequently liable to be overflowed or washed away, or to be injured by the courses of rivers being changed during great floods. These evils are guarded against by embankments and piers ; or by these constructions joined to deepening or straightening the courses of rivers, and we shall therefore treat in succession of embankments and of improving the courses of rivers. Sect. I. Embanking Lands from Rivers or the Sea. 4320. The great value of alluvial soil to the agriculturist no doubt gave rise to the invention of banks, or other barriers, to protect soils from the overflowing of their accom- panying rivers. The civilised nations of the highest antiquity were chiefly inhabitants of valleys and alluvial plains ; the soil, moisture, and warmth of which, by enlarging the com- ponent parts and ameliorating the fruits of the vegetable kingdom, afforded to man better nourishment at less labour than could be obtained in hilly districts. The country of Para- dise and around Babylon was flat, and the soil saponaceous clay, occasionally overflowed by the Euphrates. The inhabited part of Egypt was also entirely of this description. His- torians inform us that embankments were first used by the Babylonians and Egyptians, very little by the Greeks, and a good deal by the Romans, who embanked the Tiber near Rome, and the Po for many stadia from its embouchure. The latter is perhaps one of the most singular cases of embankment in the world. 4321. The oldest embankment in England is that of Romney Marsh ; as to the origin of which, Dugdale remarks, " there is no testimony left to us from any record or historian." (History of Embanking and Draining.) It is conjectured to have been the work of the Romans, as well as the banks on each side of the Thames, for several miles above London, which protect from floods and spring tides several thousand acres of the richest garden ground in the neighbourhood of the metropolis. The commencement of modern embankments in England took place about the middle of the seventeenth century, under Cromwell. In the space of a few years previous to 1651, 425,000 acres of fens, mo- rasses, or overflowed muddy lands, were recovered in Lincolnshire, Cambridgeshire. Hampshire, and Kent; and let at from 2s. 6d. to 30s. an acre. (Harte's Essays, p. 54., 2d edit.) Yermuyden, a Fleming by birth, and a colonel of horse under Cromwell, who had served in Germany during the thirty years' war, was the principal undertaker of these works. Some farther details of the history of embanking will be found in the "14 PRACTICE OF AGRICULTURE. Pipt III. Repertory of Patent Inventions, for January, 1826, and in the I) ulletin ie of floods or spring-tides, in order to remove every object, except sand or mud, which may be left by the water. Such objects, put in motion by the water, in a short time wear out large holes. These holes, presenting abrupt points to the stream, act as obstructions, soo n become much larg er, and if not immediately filled up, turfed over, and the turfs _,,,_ y ! A S. pinned down, or the new turfs ren. / N. deredbysomeothermeansnoteasily softened and raised up by the water, will end in a breach of the bank. A similar effect is produced by a surface formed of unequal degrees of hardness and durability. The banks of this description in Holland, at (uxhaven, and along the coast of I, incolnsb ire, are regularly watched throughout the year ; the surface protection is repaired whenever it goes out of repair ; as is the body of the bank ir. the summer season. 4346. The mound with pvd- a die watl. ! Jig. 661 .) It gene- ■ rally happens that the earth of such banks is alluvial, and their foundation of the same description ; but there are some Book III. EMBANKMENTS. 717 cases where the basis is sand, silt, or gravel ; or a mud or black earth, as in some parts of Cambridgeshire and Lincolnshire, which does not easily become so compact. Here it is common, before beginning the bank, to bring up from the solid substratum (-"-;-V;"*'--.':'".;'" : -'--. : -; . - ' -, : zontallv to another puddle wall in the bodv of W//Mmf/////////W//7///7/////M t he bank. {fig. 668.) 4547- Puddling is often found defective, owing to the imperfect working of the materials. Many think that when clay is used, if it be worked into the consistence of dough, it is sufficient ; but this is a mistake : it should be slaked and so decomposed by the labour of proper tools and treading, and so completely satu- rated with water, that the whole mass becomes one uniform and homogeneous body, and almost fluid. 4348. Mounds with reversed slopes. In some cases of embanking rivers, as where they pass through parks, it is desirable to conceal, as much as possible, the appearance of a bank from the protected grounds. Hence the mound is simply reversed, the steepest side being placed next the water. It is proper to observe, that such banks are not so strong, by the difference of the weight of the triangle of water which would rest on the prolonged slope, were it placed next the river, and are more liable to be deranged in surface in proportion to the difference of the slopes, the water acting for a longer period on every part of the slope. 4349. Mound faced with stones. This is the same species of mound, with a slope next the water of forty-five or fifty degrees, paved or causewayed with stones or timber. In Holland this pavement or causeway is often formed of planking or bricks ; but in England generally with stones, and the mortar used is either some cement which will set under water, or, what is better, plants of moss firmly rammed between them. The objections to such banks are their expense, and their liability to be undermined invisibly by the admission of the water through crevices, &c. They are, therefore, chiefly used where there is little room, or where it is desirable to narrow and deepen the course of a river. 4350. The bank formed with piles, brushwood, and stones, is occasionally used for pro- tecting moving sands, or directing the course of streams flowing through a sandy shore. A dike or bank for the latter purpose {fig. 669.) has been erected on theriver Don in Aberdeen- g69 shire. It consists of piles or poles, being the thinnings of plantation jl of Scotch pine and larch, driven six feet into the sand (a a a) : the spaces between these piles (b b) are tilled in with furze or other spray ' or small branches ; and on the top of them, are wedged in stones to keep them down. On the side of this row of piles next the river, stones (c) from 50lbs. to half a ton weight each, are precipitated from a punt, until they form a bank of an angle of nearly 45°. On the outside of this bank and piles, the sand (d) gradually drifts up, and forms a bank, which, being planted with ^rundo arenaria and other grasses, gradually becomes covered with verdure. (High/and Soc. Trans, vol. vii. p. 91.) 4351. Mound protected by a icicker hedge. This is a Dutch practice, and, where appearance is no object, has the advantage of not requiring watching. \\ icker-work, however, subjected to the strain of waves, will be obviously less durable, than where it lies flat on the ground, and can only decay chemically. This wicker hedge is some- times a series of hurdles supported by posts and studs ; but generally in Britain it is a dead hedge or row of stakes, wattled or wrought with bushes presenting their spray to the sea or river. Besides placing such a hedge before a bank, others are sometimes placed in parallel rows on its surface ; the object of which is to entrap sand, shells, and sea weeds, to increase the mass of mound, or to collect shells for the purpose of carrying away as manure. ,; A Y 71* PRACTICE OF AGRICULTURE. P*at III. 2< The sea wall (fig. 670. I ii an embankment formed to protect abrupt ami earthy shores or hanks of rivers, and consists of a wall, vary- ing in thickness, and in the inclination of its surface, according to the required height, ami other circum- stances. Belidor, in his Traite de Hydraulifite, lias given the exact curve which the section of* such a wall ought to have (.;, 6), in order to resist loose earth, and which is somewhat greater than where the earth behind the wall is supposed to he chiefly linn. Some line exam- ples of such walls, for other purposes, occur in the Caledonian Canal ; and perhaps the finest in the world are the granite walls which embank the Neva art Petersburgh, the construction of which may serve as an example of a river cased with stone on a foundation of soft bog earth. '■. Embankments for fixing drifting-sands, shells, or mud. In several tracts of coast, the sea at ordinary tides barely covers a surface of sand ; and these sands, in dry weather, during high winds, are drifted and blown about in all directions. Great part of the north shares of the Solway Frith, of Lancaster Bay, and of the coast of Norfolk, is of this description. Young, in his Farmers Letters, informs us, that a considerable part of the county of Norfolk was drift sand, and even as far inland as Brandon in Suffolk, before the introduction of the turnip culture ; and Harte (Essay I.) states that some of what is now the richest land in Holland, was, about the middle of the sixteenth century, of this description. The suggestion of any mode, therefore, by which, at a moderate expense, such tracts could be fixed, and covered with vegetation, must be deemed worthy of notice. The mode which nature herself employs is as follows: After the tides and wind have raised a marginal steep of land as high as high water-mark, it becomes by degrees covered with vegetation, and chiefly by the is'lymusarenarius, Triticumjunceum, various species of Juncus, and sometimes by the Galium verum. With the exception of the first of these plants (the leaves and stalks of which are manufactured into mats and ropes in Anglesea, and the grain of which is sometimes ground and used as meal in Ireland), they are of no other use than for fixing the sands, which, being composed in great part of the debris of shells, expand as they decay, and contribute to raising the surface still higher, when the fibrous roots of good grasses soon destroy the others. The ^rundo armaria is planted in Holland for the purpose of binding sands, and was extensively introduced into the Highlands of Scotland for the same purpose, by Macleod of Harris, in 1819. {Trans. Hig/d. Soc. vol. vi. p. 265.) 4 '.">+. To assist nature infixing drift-sands, it is only necessary to transplant the Alymus, which is to be had in abundance on almost every sandy coast in Britain ; and as it would be liable to be blown away with the sands, if merely inserted in the common way, it seems advisable to tie the plants to the upper ends of willow or elder rods, of two or three feet in length, and to insert these in the sand, by which means there is the double chance of the grass growing, and the truncheon taking root The elder will grow ex- posed to the sea breeze, and no plant throws out so many and such vigorous roots in proportion to its shoots. •txj.">. The mode by trhich such sands were fixed in Holland was by the formation of wicker-work embank- ments, and by sticking in the sands branches of trees, bushes, furze, &c. in all directions. These obstructed the motion of the sands, and collected masses of sand, shells, or mud, and sea-weeds around them, which were immediately planted with some description of creeping grass; or, what was more frequent, covered with a thin coating of clay, or alluvial earth, and sown with clover. Though the most certain and least expensive mode of gaining such lands is undoubtedly that of seconding the efforts of nature, by inserting bushes and planting the £'lymus in this way ; yet it may sometimes be desirable to make a grand effort to protect an extensive surface, by forming a bank of branches, which might, in a single or several tides, be filled with sand and shells, it is evident, that such a bank might be constructed in various ways; but that which would be most certain of remaining firm, and effecting the purpose, would be one regu- larly constructed of framed timber, the section of which would resemble a trussed roof ; each truss being joined in the direction of the bank by rafters, and the whole inside and surface stuck full of branches. To retain it firm, piles would require to be driven into the sand, to the upper parts of which would be attached the trusses. The height of such a barrier would require to be several feet above that of the highot spring-tides ; and the more its width at base exceeded the proportion of that of an equilateral triangle the better. 43.~>t>. A mode tutted to a less extensive scale of operation, is to intersect a sandy shore in all directions, with common dead or wicker-work hedges, formed by first driving a row of stakes six or eight feet into the ground, leaving their tops three or four feet above it, and then weaving among these stakes, branches of trees, or the tops of hedges The Dutch are said to weave straw ropes in this way, and thereby to collect mud in the manner of warping. This mode, being little expensive, seems to deserve a trial in favourable situations; and in so doing, it must not be forgotten, that much depends on the immediate management of the surface, after it is in some degree fixed. In an extensive trial of this sort at present in progress on the west coast of Scotland, under an English gentleman, seeds and roots are baked in a mixture of loam, dung, and gravel, and then formed into masses, and scattered over a sandy surface. These, from their weight, will not, it is thought, be moved by the water or the wind ; but, becoming more or less covered with sand, the mass will be kept moist, and the seeds and roots will grow, and, fixing themselves in the soil, will in time cover the surface with verdure. The experiment is in- genious, and we hope will be crowned with success. 4357. Embankments of cast iron have been proposed to be constructed by Deeble, a civil engineer of London. He proposes to combine a series of caissons, made of cast iron, iu ranges, agreeable to the required form of the intended embankment. The caissons are to be fastened together by dovetails, and, being hollow, are, when fixed in their intended situations, to be filled with stones and other materials, making them up solid. {Newton's Journal, vol. ii. p. 202.) Book Til. GUARDING RIVER BANKS. 719 Skct. II. Guarding the Banks and otherwise improving the Courses of Rivers and Strea7ns. 4.358. The subject of guarding the banks of rivers is of considerable interest to the proprietors of lands situated in hilly districts, where, in the valleys and on the hill sides the streams often produce ravages on the banks, and sometimes change their courses. 4359. The natural licence of rivers, Marshal observes, is not only destructive of landed property, frequently of lands of the first quality ; but is often the cause of dis- putes, and not unfrequently of legal contentions, between neighbouring proprietors. A river is the most unfortunate boundary line of an estate. Even as a fence, unless where the water is unfordable, a river, or rapid brook, which is liable to high floods, is the most tormenting and inefficient. Proprietors have therefore a double interest in ac- commodating each other, as circumstances may require, with the lands of river banks, so as to be able to fix permanent boundary lines between theii properties. When the owners of estates cannot, by reason of entails or settlements, or will not for less cogent reasons accommodate each other, they have a line to tread which they cannot deviate from with prudence, much less with rectitude; namely, that of cautiously guarding their own lands, without injuring those of their neighbours ; for a lawsuit may cost ten times the value of the sand banks and islets of gravel to be gained by dexterity of management. 4360. The operations for improving rivers have for their object that of preventing them from injuring their banks, of accelerating their motion, and of lessening the space of ground which they occupy, or altering their site. These purposes are effected by piers or guerdes for altering the direction of the current ; works for protecting the banks ; and by changing or deepening the river's course. 4361. The principles on which these operations are founded are chiefly two ; first, that water, like every other body when it impinges on any surface, is reflected from it at a similar angle to that at which it approached it ; and, secondly, that the current of water, other circumstances alike, is as the slope of the surface on which it runs. On the first of these principles is founded the application of piers for reflecting currents ; and on the second, that of straightening rivers, by which more slope is obtained in a given length of stream, and of course greater rapidity of motion obtained. Subsect. 1. Guarding River Banks. 4362. A common cause of injury to the banks of rivers is produced during floods. A tree or branch carried down by a stream, and deposited, or accidentally fixed or retained, in its banks, will repel that part of the stream which strikes against it, and the impulse (counteracted more or less by the general currentj will direct a substream against the opposite bank. The effect of this continual action against one point of the opposite bank is, to wear out a hole or breach ; and immediately above this breach it is customary to place a protecting pier to receive the impulse of the substream, and reverberate it to the middle of the general stream. But if this pier is not placed very obliquely to the substream, as well as to the general stream, it will prove injurious to the opposite bank by di) ecting a subcurrent there as great as the first ; and, indeed, it is next to impossible to avoid this ; so much so, that Smeaton, in almost every instance in which he was con- sulted in cases of this sort, recommended removing the obstacle where that could be done, and then throwing loose stones into the breach. 4363. Injuries by foods, according to Marshal, are to be remedied in two ways ; the one is to sheath the injured banks of the bays (Jig. 671. a, b, c) with such materials as will resist the circuitous current ; and let the river remain in its crooked state. The other, to erect piers (rf), to parry off the force of the current from the bank, and direct it forward ; with the twofold intention of preventing further mischief, and of bringing back the course of the river to its former state of straightness. It is to be observed, that the operation of guarding the immediate bank of a sharp river bend, against a heavy current meeting with great resistance, by sheathing it with stones, is generally a work of much 720 PRACTICE OF AGItlCULTlKK. Part III. difficulty and expense, even where materials can be easily procured : while that of divert- ing the current by a pier may frequently be accomplished at a comparatively small cost; and its effect be rendered infinitely more salutary and permanent. For it is plain that, if the accidental obstruction mentioned had been timely removed, no bad effect would have ensued: and the river would have continued its direct course. Or if, through neglect, it bad been Buffered to remain awhile, until its mischief was discoverable ; even then, if it had been moved from its station to the opposite side of the river, and placed in the part alfected, this small counterpoise might have recovered the balance of the cur- rent, and directed it into its wonted channel; and, in almost any case, by judiciously placing, in a similar manner, a pier or other obstruction proportioned to the magnitude of the power to be counteracted, the like effect may be produced. 4S64. In the use of piers great caution is requisite, for a very little reflection will show that they are more likely to increase than to remedy the evil they are intended to cure. We have seen the injurious effects of such piers on the Tay and the Dee ; and on a part of the Jed near Crailing they are so numerous, that the stream is, to use a familiar phrase, bandied about like a foot-ball, from one shore to the other ; behind every pier an eddy is formed, and if the stream does not strike the pier exactly, a breach in the bank takes place. Many of these piers have, in consequence, been taken down. The use of such piers am only be justified where the obstruction, from ill-neighbourhood or some such cause, cannot be removed from the opposite bank ; or where, as is sometimes the case, it arises from an island of sand or gravel thrown out by the river near its middle, which, however absurd it may appear, the interested parties cannot agree as to who may remove. The case of buildings also being in danger may justify such a pier for immediate protection ; but if such breaches are taken in time, a few loads of loose stones dropped in the breach, as recommended by Smeaton, will effect a remedy without the risk of incurring or occasioning a greater evil. 4365. In the construction of piers, attention is required to secure the foundation, either by first throwing in a quantity of loose stones, which the water will in a great measure dispose of so as to form a flat surface ; or by the use of piles either under, or in single or double rows around, those parts of its base in contact with the river, (fig. 672. «.) The elevation (b), where the current is not required to act with great violence on the opposite shore, ought to be bevelled back on all sides exposed to the water, towards the middle of the structure (c). In the most important cases stones are the only tit materials, and these -*=— U-: LiUll' should he regularly jointed and laid in cement according to the best practice of masonry. But, in general, a case of wicker work, of the proper shape, may be filled in with loose stones, some earth, together with the roots of such plants as 7'ussil'igo /'etas'ites, /Jlymus aren:mus, Galium, &c. These will form a birrier of considerable durability for some years, and probably till the evil is so far subdued that, when the wicker case decays, its contents will have sufficiently consolidated to effect the object without further care. If not, the wicker case may be renewed. In ordinary cases,- a mere wicker hedge projecting into the water will effect tht object without further trouble. 436fi. The sheath, or land-guard of loose stones, which Marshal recommends, and which, in effect, is the mode already mentioned (43(72.) as preferred by Smeaton, is applicable to the following cases : — First, where the river, in the part required to be bent, is confined, by rocks or otherwise, to an unalterable channel, as it frequently is in subalpine situations ; and, secondly, where a deep pool occurs in that part, at low Book 111. CHANGING THE COURSES OF RIVERS. 721 water, so as to render it difficult to get a proper foundation for a pier. Where the foot of the injured bank is covered with a pool at low water, shelve oil' the brink of the bank, and shoot down loose stones from the top of it ; suffering them to form their own slope, in the action of falling, and by the operation of succeeding Hoods . continuing to pour them down, until the bank be secured, at least from minor floods, and then slope back the upper part, to give freedom to floods of greater magnitude. 4367. Jf'/icn the channel of a rapid river is narrow, and the banks undermined and washed awav bv the ton ents, what Marshal terms the land.guard is to be used. 4368. Informing a land-guard for this purpose, lie says, the foundation should be laid pretty deep to guard against any accidental scoopings from the floods. The wall ought to be carried up dry, or with. out mortar, the stones being laid with their ends outward, their inner ends pointing to the same centre like those of an arch, and to be backed with gravel, or earth, rammed in firmly behind, as the facing is carried up. The coping or uppermost course of the stones is to be securely bound, with thick tough sods (8 or 10 inches deep', whose surfaces, when beaten down, ought to lie even with that of the stone- work ; and similar sods require to be laid, with a gently rising slope, until thev unite smoothly with the natural turf of the land to be defended ; so that the waters of floods, when they rise above the stonework may have no abruptness to lay hold of, but may pass awav smoothly over the surface of the land, as they commonly do over smooth greensward, without injury. Finally, the stones are to be beaten forcibly into the bank, with a rammer, a mallet, or a small battering-ram, adapted to the purpose ; thus rendering the whole compact and firm, to resist the current. Where vacancies or fissures still appear, long splinters of stone are to be driven in, as wedges, to increase the firmness, and prevent the current from tearing out an unguarded stone. It follows, of course, that the largest and longest of the stones ought to be used where the greatest resistance is known to be required. 4369. The repairs of a bulwark of this sort, like every other species of river fence, require to be attended to from time to time, especially after great floods. If the foundation be laid bare, it requires to be re-covered with rough gravel, or with stones thrown loosely against it If any of the facing stones be displaced or loosened, they are to be wedged in afresh, or their place supplied by others. Or, if the turf which binds them at the top be disturbed, the torn part should be cut out square, and be firmly and completely filled up with fresh turves. Subsect. 2. Changing the Courses of Hirers, deepening their Beds, or raising their Waters to a higher Level. 4370. A river whose course is in a straight line, or nearly so, hardly ever makes any en- croachment on its banks, except perhaps very large rivers, when they rise above their usual level, either by an increase in their own waters, or from their flow being in some degree interrupted by the tides. Hence, whenever a river is narrow in its channel and winds considerably, any mischief it commonly occasions may be prevented by deepening and straightening the course of the stream. (Code of Agr. p. 319.) 4371. The alteration of the course of a river or brook is attended with difficulty and expense, according to the particular circumstances. In a simple case, in which one straight cut only is required, the principal difficulty, and that which requires the best skill of the artist, lies in directing the current of the first flood, out of the old into the new channel : but if a bend of the old channel can be made use of, this difficulty may be said to vanish. The mouth of the new cut receives the current with a straight course ; con- sequently, if it be made of sufficient capacity, the river, in a flood, can have no propensity left towards its old channel : and the loose materials which rise in forming the mouth of the new cut, will generally be sufficient to turn the stream at low water into it. But if a suitable bend cannot be approached by the new cut, a directing pier will be required to bend the flood current, and give it a straightforward course into the new channel : a watertight dam being formed between the point of the pier and the firm bank of the new channel to prevent the water from regaining its wonted course. sM&xi worn 673 4372. An entirely new bed or channel} however, is much to be preferred where it can be obtained : for in an altered course, when the stream passes alternately through new soil and through a part of its old bed, its action on surfaces which are so different in re- gard to induration ends, if great care is not taken, in holes and gulleys in the new bank, which require to be con- stantly filled up with loose stones thrown in, and left to be fixed by the pressure and motion of the water. In the case of a river passing near a bouse (fg. 673. ) this is sometimes of great importance. 4373. Cutting the new channel is merely a work of manual labour ; being attended with no other diffi- culty than what may arise from the expense, which will depend on the size of the river, the nature of the ground to be cut through, and the value of labour in the given district. It is mostly to be ascertained with sufficient accuracy by previous calculations. (See 3323.) 4374. The size of the new cut, on account of its greater depth, may be small, compared with that of the 3 A 7'22 PRACTICE OF AGRICULTURE. 111. old channel. For the current of Hood*, bj carrying off the earthy particles with which the\ come in • ,,t, will v.,.,, , nlai i .1 It >s nevertheless right to give ample room in the new channel, tebt the first flood should prove high; and, by bursting iti bounds, force its way back to ita former course. 4 new rivet course requires to be carefully attended t", during a few years alter it is opened, to ■ • iiiurl preserve) it* straightness, and that no ore iches are made i>r threatened in its banks. ii ..i cxtraordinar) ■■ innol be said to be out i f danger in less than three years: hence it becomes prudent, when a work of this nature ii contracted for, or undertaken to be done by measurement at an estimated price or prices previously agreed upon (as it generally ought), tint the undertaker should the straightness of the channel, and uphold its banks dun up that or some Other time fixed upon ; anil to deliver them up, at the end of the term, in the state and condition specified in the contract. __„...,., .,.• Sterling the course of a river is given in The Cvile of Agriculture. 1 lie waters, which in their 'crooked course were formerly almost stagnated, now run at the ordinary rate of the declivity given them. Thej never overflow their banks. Cattle can now pasture upon those grounds in winch they would formerly have been swamped. The surface of the water being now in general four, and sometimes six feet below that of the adjacent fields, this cut serves as a general drain to the whole valley ; so that three hundred acres of meadow may be converted into arable land ; sixty acres of nio-s maybe improved into meadow; and five hundred acres of arable land are rendered of double their former value, (p. 319.) 11. Raising riven to a higher level. As 674 9 rivers and streams may require to be deepened for the purpose of drainage, so may their waters require to be raised for the purpose of irrigation, impelling machinery, or producing cascades or waterfalls for the purpose of ornament. Dams or wears for this purpose should be constructed so as to form a segment of a circle across the bed of the stream, with the convex side pointing up the stream, and the ends abutting against a na- tural or artificial bank (Jig- 674. ) By this construction, the force of the water, however great, will be effectually resisted, and the structure remains secure. The greater the slope towards the upper side, the better, but the lower side should be nearly perpendicular, that the water may fall over it without coming in contact with the face of the building. (Jig. 675.) 675 The wall (a) should be built of regularly hewn stone, as should the abut- ments (6); next the wall there should be a mass of s55^ag^= ' clay as a puddle (c), and above that gravel or earthy matter of any kind to a considerable slope (d). Beneath the dam a considerable por- tion ought to be paved (e). {Gen. Rep- Scot. vol. ii. p. 669.) 4378. Heads, or banks of earth, for the confinement of water in artificial lakes or ponds, are often constructed at great expense, and, not being properly formed, often break out, and occasion considerable damage. The error in their construction is commonly owing to the want of breadtli at the base in proportion to their height, and their not having a sufficient slope towards the water, nor a proper section of puddle in the centre. (Ibid.) 4379- Heads of loose stones of a large size (fig. 676.) may be had recourse to in slow running rivers not subject to high floods, and where there is such a superabundance of water that no loss is sustained by the quantity which flows through the stones. Where it is re- quired to retain the whole of the water, a puddle bank should be carried up the middle of the dam. (Ibid.; Chap. III. Irrigation, or the Improvement ofCulliirable Lands and Farmeries by the means of Water. 4380. The improvement of lauds /»/ water is of three kinds : — irrigation, or the appli- cation of water to the surface of the soil, and especially of grass lands, as a species of culture; warping, or the covering of the soil with water to receive a deposition of earthy matter ; and the procuring or preserving of water by wells, reservoirs, and other means, for the use of farmeries, live stock in the fields, or the domestic purposes of the farmer or cottager. Book III. IRRIGATION. 723 Sect. I. Irrigation, or the Preparation of the Surface of Lands for the profitable Application of Water. 4381. Irrigation in its different forms may be considered an operation of culture as well as of permanent improvement. It is accordingly in many cases effected by tenants, but always, as in the case of improving wastes, in consequence of extraordinary encou- ragement from the landlord, by long leases, money advanced, or other advantages. 4382. The application of water to the surface of lands for the purpose of promoting vegetation has been practised, as we have seen 1 1 4 I .), from the earliest ages in warm coun- tries. Solomon made him gardens, and orchards, and pools of water to water therewith the wood that bringeth forth the trees. (Ecclesiastes.) The art was taught by nature in the overflowing of the Nile and other rivers. Water is an essential article for the cul- ture both of the cereal and pasture grasses, and indeed of most herbaceous crops, in all the tropical climates, and even in a great degree in the South of Europe. In the greater part of Italy and Spain, few crops are raised without being irrigated ; and even in the south of France, potatoes, maize, madder, and sometimes vines, and orange trees, (as at Hieres,) have water applied to their roots, by furrows and other gutters and trenches formed on the surface. The system of watering grass lands was revived in Italy in the ninth century, and seems to have been practised in a few places in Britain from the time of the Romans : there being meadows near Salisbury which have been irrigated from time immemorial. In 1610, the public attention was called to it by Rowland Vaughan, in a work entitled, " Most improved and long experienced Water Works ; con- taining the manner of summer and winter drowning of meadow and pasture, by the advantage of the least river, brook, fount, or water mill adjacent ; thereby to make those grounds (especially if they be dry! more fertile ten for one." 4383. Irrigation informer times, and in all countries, however imperfect, was probably much more frequent than it is now. In light and gravelly tracts of country, the greatest difficulty in farming was to procure a sufficient supply of fodder for their cattle in winter. Meadows were therefore indispensable, and to increase the crop of hay, watering in a dry spring, and immediately (in dry summers) after the first crop was off, was constantly followed. Since the practice of sowing artificial grasses, and the introduction of the turnip husbandry, the custom of watering has been in such situations given up ; not only because it has become less necessary than it was heretofore, but because ivatered meadow hay is of inferior quality as well as "value in the market. It is nevertheless true that the herbage of very coarse boggy meadows is improved, and that of cold meagre soils is accelerated and increased by it. 4384. But the principal scientific efforts in icatering lands have been made during the latter end of the last and beginning of the present century, in consequence of a treatise on the subject by George Boswell, published in 1780, and various others by the Rev. Thomas Wright, of Auld, in Northamptonshire, which appeared from 1789 to 1810. The practice, however, has been chiefly confined to England, there being a sort of national prejudice, as Loch has observed (Improvements on the Stafford Estates, <$c), against the practice in Scotland, though its beneficial effects may be seen as far north as Sutherland, where rills on the sides of brown heathy mountains never fail to destroy the heath plants within their reach, and these are succeeded by a verdant surface of grasses. A valuable treatise on the subject of irrigation in Scotland, by Dr. Singer, will be found in The General lieport of Scotland, vol. ii. p. 610. In England the best examples of watering are to be found in Gloucestershire and Wiltshire. In our view of this subject, we shall first consider the soils and situations suitable for irrigation, and next the different modes of effecting it, known as flooding, irrigating, warping, irrigation on arable lands, and subterraneous irrigation. Subsect. 1. Soils and Situations suitable for Watering. 4385. The theory of the operation of water on lands we have already developed. It appears to act as a medium of conveying food, as a stimulus, as a consohdater ot mossy soils, as a destroyer of some descriptions of weeds or useless plants, and as the cause ot warmth at one season, and of a refreshing coolness at another. From these circum- stances, and also from what we observe in nature, there appears to be no soil or situation nor any climate, in which watering grass-lands may not be of service ; since the DMiKs 01 streams between mountains of every description of rock, and in every temperatuic t lorn that of Lapland to the equator, are found to produce the richest grass. One circum- stance alone seems common to all situations, which is, that the lands must be cir.unecl either naturally or by art. The flat surfaces on every brook or river, aft er be ing co a with water during floods, are speedily dried when they subside, by the retamg ot waters to their channel. . ... c „ _,„,,,!„ r,r 4386. The most proper soils for being watered are all those which arc- ot a a ml) r or gravelly friable nature/as the improvement is not only immediate, but the ettects more $ A 2 7-.M PRACTICE OF AGRICULTURE Part III. powerful than on other descriptions of land. There are also some strong adhesive sour mi lands, such as are common in the vicinity of large rivers, which are also capable of being improved by watering ; but the beneficial effects are not in such casts so soon pro- duced as on the first sorts, nor is the process so advantageous to the farmer, on account of the very great expense to which he must, in many cases, l>e put l>y previous draining. There are some Other lands, as those which contain coarse vegetable productions, as heath, ling, rushes, &c. which may likewise be much improved by watering. It must be kept Constantly in mind, in attempting this sort of improvement, that, the more tena- cious the soil is, the greater should he the command of water for effecting the purpose ; as a stream, capable of watering fifteen or twenty acres of light dry land, would he found to he beneficial in hut a small degree when applied to watering halt' the same quantity of cold clayey ground such as in its natural state abounds with coarse plants. On all soils of the latter kind a considerable body of water for the purpose of floating them is required to produce much benefit, and where a sufficient quantity cannot be procured, this mode of improvement will seldom answer the fanner's intention or be advantageous in the result. 1 B7. Smith, nn experienced irrigator, supposes that "there are only a few soils to which irrigation may not be advantageously applied: his experience, he says, has determined, that the wettest land may he greatly Improved by it, and also that it is equally beneficial to that which is dry." {Obi. tm Irrigation, ,\v. lint, as many persons unacquainted with the nature of irrigation maybe more inclined to the latter supposition than the tenner, he explains tin- reason of wet land being as capable of improvement from flooding as that which is completely dry. It is, that, in the construction of all water meadows, particular care must be taken to render them perfectly dry when the business of floating shall terminate ; and that the season for floating is in the winter and not in the summer, which those who are unacquainted with the process have ton generally supposed. All peat bogs are certainly of vegetable origin, and those vege- tables are all aquatic. It follows that the same water which has produced the vegetables of the bog would, under due management upon the surface, produce such grasses, or other vegetables, as are usually grown by the farmer ; and he has hitherto hail reason to think that this may be considered as a general rule for determining the situation of any experiments with water. The lands that permit of this sort of improve- ment with the most success are SUCH as lie in low situations on the borders of brooks, streams, or rivers, or in sloping directions on the sides of hills. 4388. The purity of the water to he used in irrigation is supposed by some to be a matter of the first importance ; but it is now fully proved, by the accurate experi- ments of an able chemist, and by the extraordinary growth of grasses in Pristley meadow, in Bedfordshire, that ferruginous waters are friendly to vegetation, when properly applied. ( Smith's Observations on Irrigation, p. '28. ) Lead or copper never does good, and it is wel 1 known, that waters of that description, after they have been brought into fields, by levels cut at a considerable expense, have again been diverted, and suffered to flow in their original channels. Waters impregnated with the juices that flow from peat-mosses, are consi- sidered by many not worth applying to the soil. It is objected to them, that they are soon frozen, that they convey no material nutriment, and that they are commonly loaded with such antiseptic substances as, instead of promoting, will retard vegetation. (Dr. Singers Treatise, p. 579.) It is urged, on the other hand, that a want of sufficient dope in the meadow, or of proper management in regard to the water, may have occasioned the disappointments experienced in some cases, when bog-waters have been applied. (Derbyshire "Report, vol. ii. p. 463.) 9. The advantages of watering lands must, in a material degree, depend on the climate. It is evident that the benefit to be derived from this process in Sweden, for example, where the summers are short, must be greatly inferior to what it is in Lom- bards', where grass grows all the year ; and that in Perthshire, where grass ceases to grow for at least three and often four months in the year, it must be much less than in Glouces- tershire or Ireland, where its growth is not interrupted above a month or six weeks, and sometimes not at all : most grasses vegetating in a temperature of 3:3 or 34 degrees. Still, however, as the most luxuriant pastures are found on lands naturally watered, both in Sweden and Perthshire, it would appear worth while to imitate nature in cold as well as in warm countries. According to many writers on the subject, the benefits attending watering in England are immense. In Davis's Surrey of Wiltshire, it is calculated that 2000 acus of water meadow will, on a moderate estimate, produce, in four or five years, 10,000 tons of manure, anil will keep in permanent fertility 400 acres per annum of arable laud. I 190 Watering poor land, especially if of a gravelly nature, is stated in The Code of Agriculture to be by far the easiest, cheapest, and most certain mode of improving it. " Land, when once improved by irrigation, is put in a state of perpetual fertility, without any occasion for manure, or trouble of weeding, or any other material expense. It becomes mi productive, as to yield the largest bulk < f hay, besides abundance of the very best I ipport for ewes and lambs in the spring, and for cows and other cattle in the autumn of e cry year. In favourable situations, it produces very early grass in the spring, when it is doubly valuable ; and not only is the land thus rendered fertile, without having any occasion for manure, but it produces food for animals, which is converted into manure, to be used on other lands, thus augment- ing, in a compound proportion, that great source of fertility." Were these advantages more generally known, or more fully appreciated, a large proportion of the kingdom might become like South Cerney, in Gloucestershire, where every spring, or rivulet, however insignificant, is made subservient to the purpose of irri.'ati fertilising, in proportion to its size, either a small quantity or a large tract of land. (O/uuces- tershire Report, p. 280.1 4391. Irrigation hi/ lit/aid manure may occasionally be practised in the neighbourhood of towns and cities to the greatest advantage. In the neighbourhood of Edinburgh, we Book III. IMPLEMENTS OF IRRIGATION. 72.5 are informed by Stephens, upwards of 200 acres are so Irrigated from the principal com- mon sewer, and that, although the formation of these meadows is irregular, and the management very imperfect, the effects of the water are astonishing : they produce crops of grass not to be equalled, being cut from four to six times a year, and the crass given green to milch cows. Sitbsect. 2. Implements made Use of i?i Watering Lands; and the Terms of Art peculiar to such Operations. 4392. The principal instruments made use of in the preparation of lands for watering are the following : — 4393 The level, of which different descriptions have already been given, is necessarily employed to take the level of the land at a distance, compared with the part of the river, &c. whence it is intended to bring the water, to know whether it can or cannot be made to float the part intended to be watered. Bringing the water after them to work by is found very useful in undertakings of this nature, especially when on a large scale, though the workmen' too frequently dispense with it. In drawing a main, ffo they begin at the head, and work deep enough to have the water to follow them ; and in drawing a tail drain, they begin at the lower end of it, and work upwards, to let the water come after them. The level should, however, be made use of, as being more certain and correct Brown, an experienced irriga- tor in the west of England, re- commends a level (Jig. 677. a), which when not in use may be closed ;6) like a walking-stick. There is also a compass level (y?^*. 678.), which may be used in the same way. 4394. A line and reel, and a breast-plough, or turf spade fj^g-. 211.), are likewise absolutely necessary. The use of the two former are well known ; but as the line is mostly used in the wet, it should for this purpose be larger and stronger than those employed in gardening. The turf spade should be of the best description, being principally employed in cutting turfs for the sides of the channels. 4395. The spades made tise of in this sort of work (Jig. 679. ) should have the stems considerably more crooked than those of any other kind; the bit being of iron, about a foot wide in the middle, terminating in a point ; a thick ridge running perpendicularly down the middle, from thestem almost to the point ; the edges on both sides should be drawn very thin, and as they are obliged to be kept very sharp, they should be often ground and whetted. This necessarily wears them away, and they soon become nar- row; they are then used for the narrow trenches and drains, whilst new ones are used for the wider. From the stems being made crooked, the workmen, standing in the working position in the bottom of the trench or drain, are en- abled to make it quite smooth and even. Shovels of different forms [Jig. 680. a, b), and a scoop for lifting water (c), are also requisite. 4396\ The crescent (Jig. 679. b) is a tool made like the gardener's edging iron, only much larger, having the form of a crescent, being very thin and well steeled, with a stem about three feet long, and a cross handle to bear upon. It is used for tracing out the sides of the mains, trenches, drains. &c. 4397. The turf knife (fig.fSl.) has a cimeter-like blade, with a tread for the foot [a) and a bent handle [b; : it is used for the same purpose as the crescent, and by some preferred. 4S98. Wheelbarrows also become necessary to remove the clods to flat places : they may be open, without sides or hinder parts. 4399. Handbarrows are likewise sometimes made use of where the ground is too soft to admit of wheelbarrows, and where clods require to be removed during the time the meadow is under water. 4400. Three-u-heeled carts, §c. are necessary, when large quantities of earth are to be removed, particularly when it is carried to some distance. 4401. Scythes, of different sorts (Jig. 682. a, b), are required to mow the weeds and grass, when the water is running in the trenches, drains, &c The crooks (b) should be made light, and have long stems, to reach wherever the water is so deep that the work- men cannot work in it. 4402. Besides these, forks (c), and long four or Jive fined hacks, are requisite to pull out the roots of the sedge, rushes, reeds, &c. which grow in the large mains and drains. 682 a I h 3 A 3 726 PRACTICE or AGRICULTURE. P*rt III. 4iu» stout targe waterproof boot*, having tops m as t.> draw up half the length of the thigh, are indispensable; they must be large enough to admit a quantity of hay to be stuffed down all round the legs, and be kept "ill tallowed, to resist the rum hm^ water for a length oi tune 4404. The terms made UK of an various; — 1405. .1 wear ii an erection across ■ river, brook, rivulet, main, ftc., made often of timber only, some. times of bricks, or rtoni - and timber, with from two to eight or ten thorough* [openings to let the water through, according to the breadth oi the stream Its height is always equal to the depth of the stream c pared w ith the adjacent land. In use is, w Men the hatches are ail in their proper places, to stop the whole current, that the water may ri-e high enough to overflow the banks, and spread over the adjoining land; <>r, by -tupping the water in its natural course, to turn it through mains cut for conveying it another way, to w.iti i some distant lands. •U ii. ./ thrice [fig. <>■:, a, u is made exactly as a wear, only it has but one thorough ; for if there arc more than one, it becomes a wear. 1_ J 6'83 - ^ r r i 3 rpt 4\ b ~W 4407. A trunk is a covered sluice, being a necessary construction in all cases where two streams of water are to cross each other, to serve as a bridge for that stream which is to pass over or under the other. Mux. A carriage is a sort of small wooden or brick aqueduct, built open, for the purpose of carrying one stream over another, and is the most expensive conveyance belonging to the business of watering. 44< 9. A drain sluice, ur drain trunk, signifies such as are placed in the lowest part of a main, as near to the head as a drain can be formed, and situated low enough to drain the main, &c It is placed with the mouth at the bottom of the main, being let down into the bank ; and from its other end a drain is cut to communicate with the nearest trench-drain. It is a contrivance to carry oft' the leakage through the hatches when they are shut down, to convey the water to other grounds, or to repair the main, &c. 4H(t. Hatches Jin. . Inclined planes are absolutely necessary for the purpose of irrigation. To form these between straight and parallel lines, it is necessary to dig away land where it is too high, and move it to those places where it is too low, to make such a uniformity of surface. The new-made ground will of course settle in hollows propoitioned to the depth of loose matter which has been recently put together, but this settlement will not take place until the new soil has been completely soaked and dried again ; therefore these defects cannot be remedied before the second or third year of watering : it will there- fore require more skill to manage a water meadow for the first three or four years, than afterwards. 4437. Properly to construct a water meadow is much more difficult than is commonly imagined. It is no easy task to give an irregular surface that regular yet various figure which shall be fit for the overflowing of water. It is very necessary for the operator to have just ideas of levels, lines, and angles ; a knowledge of superficial forms will not be sufficient; accurate notions of solid geometry (obtained from theory or practice) are absolutely necessary to put such a surface into the form proper for the reception of water, without the trouble and expense of doing much of the work twice over. (Obs. on Irrigation, §c. ) 4438. As an example of irrigating a meadow from both sides of a rii) for carrying off the whole of the water by means of the drain trenches [d, d). The water, having thus passed over the field, is returned to the river by the tail drain already mentioned. When it is desired to withhold the water, t lie wear of the head main [a) is shut, and that of the river {e) opened. It will be observed, that in this design there are branch trenches (/, /), and vari- ous gutters //, h , taken out of the ends of some of the trenches, to carry the water to the longest corner of the panes, and sometimes taken out of different parts of the trenches, to water some little irregularities in the panes, which, without such assistance, would not have any water upon them There is a sluice (0 erected at the end of one of tin adjoining (/), that being the highest ground. small mains, to force the water into the branch trench : 1 1 PRACTICE OF AGRICULTURE. Pakt III. U40 / viy complete piece qf irrigation Jlg.Q&S.) was formed for the Duke of Bedford, by Smith, at PrUtlcy. The water is supplied from a brook a , to a main feeder, with various ramifications (ft, b) ; the 6i6 surface is formed into ridges (c, c), over which the water flows, and is carried off by the drains in their furrows [d, 7. The expense of this mode of improving lands must differ much in different enses, according as the circumstances of situation and distance vary; but it can seldom exceed Book III. IRRIGATION OF ARABLE LANDS. 733 121. or 15t. the acre, according to Young, and in most instances it must be greatly below such estimates. 4+58. That no estimate ean be made without viewing the situation of the lands to be warped, and the course and distance it will be necessary to carry the warp to such lands, is remarked by Day, in the Agri. cultural Survey of the same district. 1st, The situation of the lands must be considered ; L'd, The quantity of land the same drains and doughs will be sufficient to warp ; 3d, The expense of building the doughs, cutting the drains, embanking the lands, &c. An estimate of these expenses being made, it will then be necessary to know the number of acres sucli doughs and drains will warp, before any estimate can be made ; as the greater the quantity of land the same doughs and drains will warp, the lighter the expense will be per acre. In Day's opinion, there is a great deal of land in the country capable of being warped at so small an expense as from 4/. to 81. per acre, which is nothing in comparison to the advantages which •arise from it. He has known land raised in value by warping, from 51. to upwards of 40/. and M)l. per acre. The greatest advantages arise upon the worst land, and the more porous the soil the better, as the wet filters through, and it sooner becomes fit for use. The advantages of warping are very great ; as, after lands have been properly warped, they are so enriched thereby that they will bring very large crops for several years afterwards without any manure; and, when it is necessary, the lands might be warped again, at a very trifling expense, by opening the old drains, and would bring crops ip succession for many years, with very little or no tillage at all, if the lands were kept free from quick grass and other weeds, which must be the case in all properly managed lands ; besides, the drains which are made for the pur. pose of warping are the best drains that can be constructed for draining the lands at the time they are not used for warping, which is another very great advantage in low lands. 4459. The best mode of cultivating new-warped land must depend principally on the nature of the warp and of the subsoil. In the Code of Agriculture it is recommended to sow it with clover, and to let it lie under that crop for two years, in order that it may be brought into a state fit for corn. Even though fallowed, it does not answer to sow land with wheat immediately after it is warped ; but after white or red clover for two years, a good crop of wheat may generally be relied on. Nor is it proper, when land is warped, to plant it with potatoes, or to sow it with flax, being at first of too cold a nature ; though, if the land be not too strong for potatoes, these crops may answer, after it has been for two or three years in cultivation. In the quality of warped land, there are most essential differences ; some will be very strong, and in the same field some will be very friable. The land nearest the drain is in general the lightest, owing to the quantity of sand that is deposited as soon as the water enters the field : the land farthest from the drain is in general the best. The produce of warped land varies much, but in general it may be stated as abundant. {Code, 315) Subsect. 1. Irrigation of Arable Lands, and Subterraneous Irrigation. 4460. The irrigation of arable lands is universal in warm countries, and even in the south of France and Italy. The land is laid into narrow beds, between which the water is introduced in furrows during the growth of the crop, and absorbed by the soil. In other cases the crop is grown in drills, and the water introduced in the furrow be- tween each row. In this mode of irrigation no collecting drains are required, as the whole of the water laid on is absorbed by the soil. The principal expense of the opera- tion is that of preparing the lands by throwing the surface into a proper level or levels. The main or carrier is conducted to the higher part of the field, and the rest is easy. A particular description of the practice, as carried on in Tuscany, is given by Sigismondi. (Agr. de la Toscane-} Some account also of the practice in Italy and the East Indies will be found in our outline of the agriculture of these countries. (267 and 921.) In the General Report of Scotland, vol. iii. p. 361. it is stated, that a field of waste land, which had been flooded during winter with stagnant water, was thus, without manure, rendered capable of yielding a good crop of oats; but this is more of the nature of warping than of that description of irrigation which is practised in warm countries on arable lands, during the growth of the crop. 4461. Subterraneous irrigation appears to have been first practised in Lombardy, and first treated of by Professor Thouin. {Annates du Musee, &c.) It consists in saturating a soil with water from below, instead of from the surface, and is effected by surround- ing a piece of ground by an open drain or main, and intersecting it by covered drains communicating with this main. If the field is on a level, as in most cases where the practice is adopted in Lombardy, nothing is more necessary than to fill the main, and keep it full till the lands have been sufficiently soaked ; but if it lies on a slope, then the lower ends of the drains must be closely stopped, and the water admitted only into the main on the upper side: this main must be kept full till the land is soaked, when the mouths of the lower drains may be opened to carry off the superfluous water. The practice is applicable either to pasture or arable lands. 4462. In Britain, subterraneous irrigation has been applied in a very simple manner to drained bogs and morasses, and to fen lands. All that is necessary is to build a sluice in the lower part of the main drain where it quits the drained grounds, ami in dry weather to shut down this sluice, so as to dam up the water and throw it back into all the minor open drains, and also into the covered drains. This plan has been adopted with success, first, as we believe, by Smith, of Swineridge Muir, in Ayrshire, and subse- quently by Johnston, in the case of several bog drainages executed by him in Scotland. 754 PR \( riCE OF AGRICULTURE. 111. It is aiso practised in Lincolnshire, where it was introduced by the advice of the laic engineer Rennie, aftei the completion of a public drainage at Boston. Sbct. 1 1 1. Jrhji, ial Meant of Procurin > Water for the Use of Live Stock. •I l<; .;. Water is supplied by nature in most parts of the British isles, and retained with little art both at farmeries and in fields. There are exceptions, however, in different districts, and especially in chalk) Boils, gravels, and some upland clays. In these cases water is procured for cattle l«> Bome of tlie following means-. — By conducting a stream from a distant source, as in a work of irrigation ; by collecting rain-water from roads, ditches, or sloping surfaces, in artificial ponds, or reservoirs; by collecting it from the roofs of buildings, and preserving it in covered cisterns; by sinking a well, or a pipe, either in the field or the farm-yard ; and by artificial springs. 4464. An artificial stream wiM in most cases be found too expensive an operation to be undertaken for the supply of drinking-water for live stock j but this purpose may frequently be combined with that of watering lands or driving machinery. In the North Hiding of Yorkshire, there is a tract extending for many miles entirely destitute of water, except what flows along the bottoms of the deep valleys by which it is in- tersected ; and little relief could consequently be afforded, by streams thus distantly and inconveniently situated, to the inhabitants of the uplands, or their cattle. About the year 17TO, a person of the' name of Ford devised the means of watering this district, by means of rills brought from the springs that break out at the foot of the still loftier moorland hills that run parallel to. and to the north of, this tract, in some instances at the distance of about ten miles. The springs he collected into one channel, which he carried, in a winding direction, about the intervening space, according to its level, and along the sides of the valleys, until he gained the summit of the arid country which he wished to supply with water; and when this was accomplished, the water was easily conveyed to the places desired, and also to the ponds in all the fields, over a considerable tract of ground. 4465. Collecting rain-wetter from roads, %c. in ponds or drinking pools.- Formerly, it is probable, something of this art was practised throughout the kingdom : most villages, and many old farmsteads, have drinking pools for stock, which appear to have been formed or assisted by art. In strong-land grazing districts, pits have evidently been dug, to catch the rain-water fortuitously collected by furrows and ditches, or by land- springs. On the chalk hills of the southern counties, the art has been long esta- blished, and continued down to the present time. 44f>d An improver! practice was introduced on the wolds or chalk hills of Yorkshire by Robert Gardner, of Kilham, which gained an establishment towards the end of the last century, and lias spread rapidly over the adjacent heights, with great profit to the country. In every dry-land situation, it may be practised with high advantage to an estate, and is well entitled to attention. +bi~ The mode of constructing these collecting ponds is described in The Annals of Agriculture (vol. vi.), and illustrated bv a section. {Jig 688.) The ground plan is circular, and generally forty or fifty feet m diameter, and the excavation is not made 688 deeper in the centre than five feet This excavation being cleared out, a layer of clay {a, l>, c) sufficiently moistened, is to be carefully beaten and trod down into a compact and solid body of about the thickness of a foot. Upon this a layer of quicklime, of one inch or upwards in thickness is finely and uniformly spread. Next is another layer of clay of about one foot in thickness £rf), which is n, be trodden and rammed down as the former. Upon this are spread stones or coarse gravel fe of such thick.,,- as may prei ent the pond receiving any injury from the treading of cattle, which would otherwise break through the body of the clay and lime, and by so doing let out the water. After this the pond will remain five feet dee,, and forty-five feet in diameter ; the size they are usually made. l!,;s Srick-clav is bu no meant required for the ponds; any earth sufficiently tenacious to bear be ting into a sold compact body, though not approaching to a pure clay, will answer the purpose very * 4469 The preferable situation to make the pond is a little valley, or at the bottom of a declivity, or near a high road, in which situation a Btream of water may be brought into it alter sudden showers or thaws the object being to get it filled as soon as possible alter it is made, that the sun and winds may not crack the clav If it is not likely to be filled soon, some straw or litter must be spread over it ; but in general after it is once filled, the rains that fall in the course of the year will keep it full, no water being [ost otherwise than by evaporation and the consumption of cattle. 4 L70 The whole excellence of the pond depends upon the tone : care must be taken to spread it regularly and uniformly over the surface of the lower bed of clay it is well known that ponds made of clay alone however good its quality, and whatever care may be bestowed in the execution, will frequently not hold water • these with the above precautions, rarely fail. By w hat means the lime prevents the loss of water is not 'exactly known : one of these two is probably the cause : either the lime sets like terrace into a body Impervious to water; or its causticity prevents the worms in dry weather from penetrating through the clav in search of the water : certain, however, it is, that, with lime thus applied, ponds may be made in sand' however porous, or on rocks, however open, in neither of which situations are they to be depended upon when made with clav alone. On this mode of making ponds for the use of live stock, there arc several circumstances of the process more fully detailed in / he h unit Economy o Yorkshire. 4471 In constructing ponds in loamy toils, all that .s ne. essary is to coat the bottom over with clay or loam to the depth of eighteen inches or two feet, and then to puddle or work this well with water till it becomes a homogeneous layer impenetrable to that element It day or loamy earth cannot be obtained, auv earth not very much inclined to sand may be substituted, but it will require more labour in puddling. Ho™ m. WATER FOR LIVE STOCK. 705 689 c ""tzzg On clayey soils very little more is necessary than smoothing the surface of Hie excavation and ncrhans watering it and beating it to a smooth surface with rammers, 'the pond being now formed the next operation is to coat it over with coarse gravel to the depth of at least eighteen inches ; or, what is pre ferable, chalk and flints with gravel; or, best of all, to causeway or pave it. It is also very desirable to pave or gravel the sur- face for the breadth of .it least two yards round the pond, in order to prevent the cattle from poaching it when they come to drink. 4+72. On clayey soil.< an economical mode of form- ing ponds is often adopted, where gravel or stone for paving is scarce. It consists in employing the horse-shoe form as the ground plan of the excavation, and cutting all the sides steep, or at an angle of 45 or 50 degrees, except the part answering to the heel of the shoe fig 6S9 a), which is well gravel- led or paved, as the only en. trance forthecattle. The ex- cavated earth serves to raise the high side of the pond (6), which is generally guarded by a fence, or a few trees. The disadvantage of such ponds is, that one is re- quired for every field, or at least for every two fields ; whereas a pond sloped on all sides may supply four fields, or even a greater number, (fig. 690.) 4473. The Gloucestershire ponds are made either of a square or a circular shape, and generally so situ- ated as to furnish a supply to four fields, (fig. 690.) Three layers of clay, free from the smallest stone or gravel, are so worked in as to form an impenetrable cement. The whole is afterwards covered with sand, and finished with pavement. [Gloucestershire Report, p. 31.) 4474. The Derbyshire artificial mecrs, or cattle ponds, are made in their dry rocky pastures, with great success. Having selected a low situation for the purpose, they form an excavation ten or twenty yards across, and spread over the whole a layer, about five inches thick, of refuse slaked lime and coal cinders; then they spread, trample, and ram down a stratum of well tempered clay, about four inches thick ; and upon this they spread a second bed of clay, in a similar manner, of the same thickness; the whole of the' bottom and edges of the meer is then paved with rubble stones ; and small rubble stones, several inches thick, are spread upon the pavement. [Derbyshire Report, vol. i. p. 494.) 4475. The situation of field ponds, where practicable, should he at the intersection of fences, so that one may serve as many fields possible. This, however, cannot be the best situation in every case, because it may happen that water inot there be collected. At the same time a low situation is not always desirable, because it may be so circumstanced that too much dirtv water may run into it during rains. 4476. Trees are frequently planted round ponds, and with seeming propriety, as their effect is beautiful, and they shade the water from the direct influence of the sun during summer ; but in autumn their leaves certainly tend to render the water impure for a time. As most leaves are of an astringent quality, perhaps there may be no injury sustained by cattle from drinking such water at first ; but after some time the leaves begin to decay, and occasion a sort of fermentation, which, till it subsides in the beginning of frosty weather, renders the water somewhat unhealthy and very unsightly. Leaves therefore ought to be drawn off with long open rakes as they fall from the trees. 4477. Wells, where no better method of procuring water can be devised, may be re- sorted to, both for fields and farmeries ; but the great objection to them is the labour required to pump up or otherwise raise the water, and the consequent risk of neglect. Before proceeding to dig a well, it ought first to be determined on whether a mere reservoir for the water which oozes out of the surface soil is desired or obtainable, or a perpetual spring. If the former is the object in view, a depth of fifteen or twenty feet may probably suffice, though this cannot be expected to afford a constant supply, unless a watery vein or spring is hit on : if the latter, the depth may be very various, there being instances of 300 and 500 feet having been cut through before a permanent supply of water was found. {Middlesex, Surrey, and Hampshire Reports-) 4478. The art that department eight feet in diameter : the digger ti implement of the pick-axe kind ; the earthy materials being drawn up in buckets by the hand or aw incl- lass, fixed over the opening for the purpose. Where persons conversant with this sort of business are employed, they usually manage the whole of the work, bricking round the sides with great Mi and readiness; but in other cases it will be necessary to have a bricklayer to execute thispart ot the 1 ,. , ess. ■ two methods of building the stone or brick within the well, as can into the earth, and as fast as the earth is removed it sinks deeper, ^ t ^Sk^vS^SaSSu or raised at top as fast as it sinks down ; but when it gets very deep, it will sink no longer, particularly it 736 PRACTICE OF AGRICULTURE. Part 111. it passes through soft str.it.> ; iii ttii- ind kirii or a smaller sirr is sometimes begun within the Bret When ■ k.ri. will not sink from the ioftnesa ofthe strata, or when it in required to stop out water, the bricks or stones mutl be laid one by one .t the bottom ol the work, taking rare that the work is not left unsupported in such ■ no inner aa to li t the bricks fall as they are laid : tins is called i er-pinning. 448U Noxious tir. Well di rgers experience sometimes great difficult) from a noxious air which fills the well, and suffocates them II thej breathe it The usual mode of clearing wells of noxious sir is, by means of a large pair ol bellows, and a long leathern pipe, which i» hung down Into the- well to the bottom a i i.l fresh air forced down by working the 'bellows. 1481 The use qfthe auger is common In well-digging, both in ascertaining before commencement the nature of the strata to be dug into, ami also In course of digging for the same ■purposes and because, by lioriu;. iii the bottom of a well to a considerable depth, the spring is sometimes liit upon, and digging ren- dered no longer necessary. M--'. The »-.• ofthe borer alone may procure an adequate supply of water in particular situations. This mode appears to have i n long resorted to in this and other countries. From what wo bave already stated as to the disposition of strata, the c litions requisite lor its success will be readily conceived : \i/. water] strata connected with others on a higher level: the pressure of the water contained in the higher i irts ol Buch strata on that in the loner will readily force up the latter through any orifice, how. i thai i- necessary, therefore, is to bore down to the stratum containing the water, am), having completed the boi e, to insert a pipe, which may either be left to overflow into a cistern, or it may terminate in a pump. In many cases, water may be found in this way, and yet not in sufficient quantity and force to rise to the surface , in such cases a well may be sunk to a certain depth, and the auger.hole made, and the pipe inserted in it in the bottom of tlie well. From the bottom it may be pumped up to the surface by any of the usu d modes. 11. As 'it example of well-digging combined with boring, we give that of a well dug at a brewery at Chelsea, Middlesex, in 1793b The situation was within SO or 30 feet ofthe edge of the Thames, and the depth 391 feet, mostly through a blue clay or marl. At the depth of nearly fifty feet a quantity of loose coal, twelve inches in thickness, was discoi ered : and a little sand and gravel was found about the same depth. The well-digger usually bored about ten, fifteen, or twenty feet at a time lower than his work as he went on ; and On the last boring, when the rod was about fifteen feet below the bottom of the well, the man felt, as the first signal of water, a rolling motion, something like the gentle motion of a coach passing over pavement : upon his continuing to bore, the water presently pushed its way by the side ofthe auger with great force, scarcely all IV. ing Inn tune to withdraw the borer, put that and his other tools into the bucket, and be drawn up to the top of the well. The water soon rose to the height of two hundred feet. (484. In a case which occurred in Jigging a well at Dr. Darwin's, near Derby, the water rose so much higher than the surface of the ground, that, by confining it in a tube, be raised it to the upper part of Ihe house. [Beet's Cyclopaedia, art Well, and Derbyshire Hep.) *4485 The process of boring the earth for spring tenter lias of late been practised, with great success, in various parts of England, chiefly by a person named Goode, of Hunt- ingdon. In the neighbourhood of London, many fountains of pure spring-water bave lately been obtained by these means. We may particularly name those at Tottenham, Middlesex, and Mitcham, Surrey, both of which afford a continuous and abundant How of water, at one time equal to about eight gallons per minute, but now reduced to a much smaller quantity, in consequence of the great number of holes that have been bored into the supplying strata. 44SG. The operation of boring for water {fig. b'91.) is thus performed : — The situation of the intended well being determined on, a circular hole is generally dug in the ground, about six or eight feet deep, and five or six feet wide. In the centre of this hole, the boring is carried on by two workmen, assisted by a labourer abo\ e fig. 891.) The implements used may either lie those of Goode, already described (5 2507.1 as the best, or any other in- struments in repute. For variety's sake, we shall here describe the pro- cess by the instruments formerly in most general use about London. The handle [fie. 691. a) having a fe- male screw in the bottom of its iron shank, a wooden bar or rail passing through the socket ofthe shank, and a ring at top, is the general agent, to which all the boring implements are to be attached. A chisel (b) is first employed, and connected to this handle by its screw at top. If the ground is tolerably soft, the weight of the two workmen, bearing upon the cross bar and occasionally i'oi cing it round, will soon cause the chisel to penetrate; but if the ground is hard or strong, the workmen strike the chisel down with repeated blows, so as to pick their way, often changing their situation by walking round, which breaks the stone, or other hard substances, that may happen to obstruct its progress. 4487. The labour is very con- siderably reduced by means of an elastic wooden pole placed horizontally over the well, from which a chain is brought down, and attached to the ring of the handle. This pole is usually made fast at one end as a fulcrum, by being set into a heap of heavy loose stones; at the other end the labourer gives it a slight up and down vibrating motion, corresDonding to the beating motion ofthe workmen below, Book III WATER FOR LIVE STOCK. 737 by which means the elasticity of the pole in rising lifts the handle and picker and thereby very considerably diminishes the labour of the workmen. 4488. When the hole has been thus opened by a chisel, as far as its length would permit, the chisel is withdrawn, and a sort of cylindrical auger (c) attached to the handle (a), for the pur- pose of drawing up the dirt or broken stones, which have been disturbed by the chisel. A section of this auger (d) shows the internal valve. The auger being introduced into the hole, and turned round by the workmen, the dirt or broken stones will pass through the aperture at bottom (shown at e), and fill the cylinder, which is then drawn up, and dis- charged at the top of the auger, the valve prevent- ing its escape at bottom. 4489. In order to pene- trate deeper into the ground, an iron rod (f) is now to be attached to the chisel (6), by screwing on to its upper end, and the rod is also fastened to the han- dle (a), by screwing into its socket. The chisel, having thus become lengthened by the addition of the rod, i? again introduced into the hole, and the operation of picking or forcing it down is car- ried on by the workmen as before. When the ground has been thus perforated, as far as the chisel and its rod will reach, they must be withdrawn, in order again to introduce the auger (c), to collect and bring up the rubbish, which is done by attaching it to the iron rod, in place of the chisel. Thus, as the hole becomes deepened, other lengths of iron rods are added, by connecting them together (/and g when joined form h). The necessity of frequently withdrawing the rods from the hole, in order to collect the mud, stones, or rubbish, and the great friction produced by the rubbing of the tools against its sides, as well as the lengths of rods augmenting in the progress of the operation, sometimes to the extent of several hundred feet, render it extremely inconvenient, if not impossible, to raise them by hand. A tripedal standard is therefore generally constructed, by three scaffolding poles tied together, over the hole {Jig. 691.), from the centre of which a wheel and axle, or a pair of pulley blocks, are suspended, for the purpose of hauling up the rods, and from which hangs a forked hook (i). This forked hook is to be brought down under the shoulder, near the top of each rod, and made fast to it by passing a pin through two little holes in the claws. The rods are thus drawn up, about seven feet at a time, which is the usual distance between each joint, and at every haul a fork (A-) is laid horizontally over the hole, with the shoulders of the lower rod resting between its claws, by which means the rods are prevented from sinking down into the hole again, while the upper length is unscrewed and removed. In attaching and de- taching these lengths of rod, a wrench (I) is employed, by which they are turned round, and the screws forced up to their firm bearing. 4490. The boring is sometimes performed for the first sixty or a hundred feet, by a chisel of two and a half inches wide, and cleared out by a gouge of two and a quarter diameter, and then the hole is widened by another tool (m). This is merely a chisel, four inches wide, but with a guide (n) put on at its lower part, for the purpose of keep- ing it in a perpendicular direction ; the lower part is not intended to pick, but to pass down the hole previously made, while the sides of the chisel operate in enlarging the hole to four inches. The process, however, is generally performed at one operation, by a chisel four inches wide (6), and a gouge of three inches and three quarters (c). 4491. riacing and displacing the lengths of rod is done every time that the auger is required to be introduced or withdrawn ; and it is obvious that this must of itseli be ex- tremely troublesome, independently of the labour of boring ; but yet the operation pro- ceeds, when no unpropitious circumstances attend it, with a facility almost incredible. Sometimes, however, rocks intercept the way, which require great labour to penetrate, but this is always effected by picking, which slowly pulverises the stone. lhe most 3 B 73S PRACTICE OF AGRICULTURE. Pa jit III. unpleasant circumstance attendant upon this business is, the occasional breaking of a rod in the hole, which sometimes creates a delay of many days, and an incalculable labour in drawing up the lower portion. •I 192. When the water it obtained in such quantities and of such quality as may be required, the bole is dressed or finished by passing down it the diamond chisel (o) : this is to make the side smooth previously to putting in the pipe. This chisel is attached to rods, and to the handle, as before described ; and in its descent the workmen continually walk round, by which the hole is made smooth and cylindrical. In the progress of the boring, frequent veins of water are passed through ; but as these are small streams, and perhaps impregnated with mineral substances, the operation is carried on until an aperture is made into a main spring, which will flow up to the surface of the earth. This must, of course, depend upon the level of its source, which, it in a neighbouring hill, will frequently cause the water to rise up and produce a continued fountain. Rut if the altitude of the distant spring happens to be below the level of the surface of the ground where the boring is effected, it sometimes happens that a well of considerable- capacity is obliged to be dug down to that level, in order to form a reservoir, into which the water may flow, and from which it must be raised by a pump: while, in the former instance, a continued fountain may be obtained. Hence, it will always be a matter of doubt, in level countries, whether water can be procured which would flow near to or over the surface : if this cannot be effected, the process of boring will be of little or no advantage, except as an experiment to ascertain the fact. 4 19:J. In order to keep the strata pure and vnconlaminaled with mineral springs, the hole is cased for a considerable depth with a metallic pipe, about a quarter of an inch smaller than the bore. This is generally made of tin (though sometimes of copper or lead), in convenient lengths ; and as each length is let down, it is held by a shoulder resting in a fork, while another length is soldered to it, by which means a continued pipe is carried through the bore as far as may be found necessary, to exclude land-springs, and to prevent loose earth or sand from falling in and choking the aperture. (Newton's Journal, vol. vi. p. 146.) 4494. The manner of forcing down lengths of cast-iron pipe, after the bore is formed, is this : — The pipe {fig- 693. a) has a socket in its upper end, in which a 693 block of wood (ft) is inserted. From this block a rod (c) extends up- 694 wards, upon which a weight (d) slides. To the weight (d) cords are attached, reaching to the top of the bore, where the workman al- ternately raises the weight and lets it fall, which, by striking upon the block (ft), beats down the pipe by a succession of strokes; and when one length of pipe has by these means been forced down, another length is introduced into the socket of the former. Another tool for the same purpose (fg. 694.) is formed like an acorn, the point of the acorn strikes against the edge of the pipe, and by that means it is forced down the bore. 4495. Wrought-iron, copper, tin, and lead pipes, are occasionally used for lining the bore ; and as these are subject to bends and bruises, it is necessary to introduce tools for the purpose of straightening their sides. One of these tools (fig. 695. a) is a bow, and is to be passed down the inside of the pipe, in order to press out any dents. Another tool for the same purpose (ft) is a double bow, and may be turned round in the pipe for the purpose of straightening it all the way down. A pair of clams (c) is used for turning the pipe round in the hole while driving. 4496. In raising pipes, it is necessary to introduce a tool to the inside of the pipe, by which it will be held fast. The pine-apple stool for this pur- pose ((/) has its surface cut like a rasp, which passes easily down into the pipe, but catches as it is drawn up, and by that means brings the pipe with it. There is a spear for the same purpose (fig. 696) which easily enters the pipe by springing; at the ends of its prongs there are forks which stick into the metal as it is drawn up, and thereby raise it. 4497. Mr. Goode suggests the employment of long baskets with valves opening upward in their bottoms, for the purpose of drawing water from these wells when the water will not flow over the surface ; also lift-pumps, with a succession of buckets, for the same pur- pose. (Newton's Journal, vol. viii. p. 249.) 695 696 Book III. WATER FOR LIVE STOCK. no 4498. Mommon has invented a new apparatus for guiding the operation of boring which seems very ingenious ; but we are not aware that it has yet been adopted in practice Engravings, accompanied by a copious description, will' be found in the Mechanic? Magazine, vol. iv. ; in which work are also various other articles on the same subject. 4499. Of the various modes of raising waterfront deep welts, the pump is the most convenient and thu lever and bucket the most simple. When a constant supply is wanted from a very deep well machinrrv fig. 69/.) may be erected over it, and driven by an old horse or ass. While one bucket is filling the other is emptying. In order to effect the filling of the bucket, the handle (6), which is of iron, is attached by iron swivel rivets, on which it readily turns, below the centre of gravity of the bucket fc). In order that it may empty itself, a horizontal handle (rf) is attached, which, when the filled bucket attains a certain height, is caught by a hook (e) fixed in the trough which conveys away the water raised (/). The horse or ass may be made to work in this machine without the attendance of a man, by the following training: — Attach a bell to the lever of draught (A) ; use eye-blinders to prevent the animal from seeing whether or not any one is in attendance, and from becoming giddy by going constantly round. Put the animal in motion, and the bell will not stop ringing till he stops. The moment he stops", and the bell ceases to ring, apply the whip severely. Continue to do this every time the animal stops, till the two hours' labour are completed ; then unyoke and feed. After one or two hours, or whatever period may be deemed necessarv for rest and refreshment, yoke again, and proceed as before. Go on in this way for two days, and the terror of receiving chastisement when the bell ceases to ring, will have frightened the animal into a habit of working two hours at a time without attendance. This mode is practised successfully in France, Italy, and Spain. (Qiurs, &c Art. Putt a Roue.) 4500. Pumps are of various kinds, as the lifting-pump; the forcing-pump, for verv deep wells; the suction pump ; and the rotatory pump, a recent invention for such as do not exceed thirty-three feet in depth, and of which there are several varieties, but by far the best is that bv Siebe. A good pump for urine pits or reservoirs, where the water is not to be raised above twenty-eight or thirty feet, is that of Robertson Buchanan, author of A Treatise on Heating by Steam, &c. ; because this pump will raise drainings of dunghills, the contents of cesspools, privies, &c., or even water thickened by mud, sand, or gravel. *' The points in which it differs from the common pump, and by which it excels it, are, that it discharges the water below the piston, and has its valves lying near each other. The advantages of this arrangement are : — that the sand or other matter which may be in the water is discharged without in- juring the barrel or the piston-leathers ; so that, besides avoiding unnecessary tear and wear, the power of the pump is preserved, and it is not apt to be diminished or destroyed in moments of extraordinary exertion, as is often the case with the common and chain pumps : that the valves are not confined to any particular dimensions, but may be made capable of discharging every thing that can rise in the suction-piece without danger of being choked; and that if, upon any occasion, there should happen to be an obstruction in the valves, they are both within the reach of a person's hand, and may be cleared at once, without the disjunc- tion of any part of the pump. It is a simple and durable pump, and may be made either of metal or wood, at a moderate expense." Where clear water only is to be raised, Aust's (of noxlon^ curvilinear pump is pre- ferable to the common sort The advantages depend on the curvilinear form of the barrel, which allows, and indeed obliges, the rod, the handle, and the lever on which it works, to be all in one piece. Hence simplicity, cheapness, precision of action, more water discharged in propor- tion to the diameter of the barrel, and less frequent repairs. {Repertory of Arts, Jan. 18i!l.) Perkins' square-barrelled pump is a powerful engine (London Journal, &c.) ; but this and other contrivances for raising water, though promising advantages, cannot olten be made available by the improver, from their not having come into general use. 45ol. Siebe's rotatory pump {fig. 698.) ap- pears to us by far the best of modern improve- ments on this machine. It is used for drawing, raising, and forcing all fluids and liquids, and maybeworkedbymanual labour, steam, or any other power. By the rotation of a roller (a) having paddles or pistons (4) a vacuum is pro- ducedwithin the barrel (c), and in consequence the water flows up the rising trunk id) through the space into the barrel, and as the paddles go round they force the water through an opening, which conducts it wherever it may be wanted, and by that means produces a con. tinual stream without an air vessel. It is evi- dent that this pump may, by an ascending tube (e), and a cock on the horizontal spout (/), be used as a common pump, or a forcing pump at pleasure. (Xctvton's Journal, vol ii. 2d series, p. 90.) •IO PRACTICE OF AGRICULTURE. Part 111. In old hut tngeniOUl mode of raising water from a veil to the upper part of a house (fig. (&).) is lometimea adopted i>n the Continent. A post is fixed clow to the well ; this is connected with the opening in the upper part of the house, where the water i> to be Introduced, by a fixed cord ^a) (lii tins cord a w letl Collar Jr is placed, and slides freely from one end to the other : the bucket rope is put through a hole in the collar, and over a pulle\ in the window in the upper part nt the bouse, and thus the bucket i- tir-t raised perpendicularly from the water in the well till it comes in con. tract with the collar, when, the power being con. tinned, the collar slide- along the fixed rope till it reaches the operator at the window. (Last. Col. de Machine/, &c) 4503. Artificial springs. Marshal seeing the formation of natural springs, and ob- serving the effect of subsoil drains, and being, at the same time, aware of an ob- jection to roof water, which, though more wholesome, is seldom so well tasted as spring water ; was led to the idea of form- ing artificial land springs, to supply farm- steads with water, in dry situations. He proposes arresting the rain- water that has filtered through the soil of a grass ground situated on the upper side of the buildings, in covered drains, clayed and dished at the bottom, and partially filled with peb- bles or other open materials : thus con- veying it into a well or cistern, in the manner of roof water : and by this means uniting, it is probable, the palatableness of spring water with the w holesomeness of that which is collected immediately from the atmosphere. 4504. Water for common farm-yard anil domestic purposes may be obtained in most situations, by collecting that which falls on the roofs of the farmery and dwelling-house. This is done by a system of gutters and pipes, which, for the farmery, may lead to a cistern or tank under ground; and for the family, that from the roof of the dwelling- house may be conducted to a tub. According to Waistell, a sufficient supply of water has been collected from the roof of a cottage to answer every purpose of the family during the dryest season, by preserving the water so collected in a tank. The quantity of water that falls annually upon every hundred superficial feet, or square of build- ing, is about 1400 gallons. Before using the water so collected, it should be filtered ; and it seems very desirable that it should undergo this operation before it enters the tank. 4505. The operation of filtering may be performed in various ways : — 4506. A very simple mode is by having two casks two or three feet high, and of any convenient width (Jig. 71/0.) One of these casks (a^ may receive the water from the roof, or from any other supply ; the other (6) should have a false bottom (c) perforated with holes and covered with flannel ; on this flat bottomed equal quantities of sand and charcoal may be laid to the depth of twelve or fourteen inches, and covered with another false bottom similar to the first [ with blocks ten inches in dia. 705 /?ji meter, and a roller seven inches in diame- ter turned by two long iron levers. A hole is made in the stone to be raised by means of the tool well known to masons as a jumper; in this hole a simple plug may be driven tightly ; or a compound plug (Jig. 706.) may be introduced ; or, what is sim- plest, the hole may be made obliquely. Smith's Compendium of Practical Inven- tions.) *4524. The mode of bursting or rending rocks or stones by gunpowder is a simple though dangerous operation. When a hole is to be made in a rock for the purpose of blasting with gunpowder, the prudent work man considers the nature of the rock, and the inclination or dip of the strata, if it is not a detached fragment, and from these determides the calibre, and the depth and direction of the bore or recipient for the gunpowder. According to circumstances, the diameter of the hole varies from half an inch to two inches and a half, the depth from a few inches to many feet, and the direction varies to all the angles from the perpendicular to the horizontal The im- plements for the performance of this ope- ration are rude, and so extremely simple and familiar as hardly to require description ; and the whole operation of boring and blasting rocks is so easily performed, that, in the space of a few weeks, an intelligent labourer may become an expert quarrier. A writer in the Mechanics'' Magazi?ie has proposed to increase the effect of the gunpowder, by widening the lower extremity of the bore, and this lie thinks may be effected, after the bore is made of the proper length, by introducing an instrument with a jointed extremity which would work obliquely. 4525. The operation of ramming frequently gives rise to accidents ; but a recent improvement, that of using a wadding of loose sand, or of any earthy matter in a dry state, answers all the purposes of the firmest ramming or wadding. It has been used for upwards of ten years at I.ord Elgin's extensive mining operations at Charlestown in Fifeshire, and also in removing immense bodies of rock from the Calton hill at Edinburgh, by Stevenson,an eminent engineer.whose article on the subject of blasting, in the Sup. to the Encyc. Brit, deserves the attention of such as use the pro- cess in working quarries or clearing rocky or stony grounds. 4526. Dr. Dyce of Aberdeen has communicated to Dr. Brewster's Journal an account of a cheap and effectual method of blasting granite rock, which deserves the particular attention of the owners and workers of quarries. It is beautifully scien- tific, and may be summed up under the three following head: : viz. 1. To ignite the gunpowder at the bottom of the charge, by means of sulphuric acid, charcoal, and sulphur. 2. To take advantage of the propelling power 744 ritACTICE OF AGUICl'LTUKE. Paht III of gunpowder, as is done with I CSnnon lull, only, Instead Of a spherical ball, to employ one of a conical form (jig. 707.), by winch the full ein ct of tin- wedge la given in every direction at the lower part of the charge, but particularly downward! .'>. And, in the but place, to add to the effect of the whole, to insure a fourth part of the depth of the hore .it the bo! ton i b to be free trnm the gunpowder ; so that, when mil. unction ensues, a red heal may be communicated to the air in the lower chamber, whereby it will be expanded to auch a di i have the power of at least one hundred times the atmospheric pressure, and therebj give tins aiiuuion.il momentum to the explosive power of the gunpowder. (Dr. Brewster'* Edm. Journ. tin. 1826 p. i : , and Gard. Mag. vol ii. p. 467.) (587. /'//,- Assamese close the mouth ol the hole by driving in with a mallet a stout wooden plug some inches in length, through whnh a touch-hole is bored. Between the powder and the lower part of the pluc,', an interval of several inches is left The communication is perfected by means of a tin tube filled with powder, and passing through the centre of the plug. {Mont/i/i/ Magazine ) Sect. III. Improving Woody Wastes or Wealds. 4528. With surfaces partially covered with bushes and stamps of trees, ferns, &c, the obvious improvement is to grub them up, and subject the land to cultivation according to its nature. 43'_'0. The growth »f large trees is a sign that the soil is naturally fertile. It must also have been enriched by the quantity of leaves which in the course of ages have fallen ami rotted upon the surface. Such are the beneficial effects of this process, that after the trees have been cut down, the soil has often been kept under crops of grain for a number of years without interruption or any addition of manure: but land thus treated ulti- mately becomes so much reduced by great exhaustion, that it will not bear a crop worth the expense of seed and labour. {('main, to the Board of slgr., vol. ii. p. 257.) It is evident, however, that this deterioration entirely proceeds from the improvident manage- ment previously adopted. In reclaiming such wastes, the branches of the felled trees, are generally collected and burnt; and the ashes, either in whole or in part, are spread on the ground, by which the fertility of the soil is excited. Indeed, where there is no demand for timber on the spot, nor the means of conveyance to any advantageous market, the whole wood is burnt, and the ashes applied as manure. 4550. Much coppice lanrl has been grubbed up in various parts of England, and brought into tillage. Sometimes woods are grubbed for pasture merely. In that ease the ground should be as little broken as possible, because the surface of the land, owing to the dead wood and leaves rotting time out of mind upon it, is much better than the mould below. It soon gets into good pasture as grass land, without the sowing of any seed. {Comm. tu the Board of Agr. vol. iv. p. 42.) But by far the most eligible mode of converting woodland into arable is merely to cut down the trees, and to leave the land in a state of grass until the roots have decayed, cutting down with the scythe from time to time any young shoots that may arise. The roots in this way, instead of being a cause of anxiety and expense, as they generally are, become a source of improvement; and a grassy surface is prepared for the operation of sod burning. [Marshal's Yorkshire, vol. i. p. 316.) 4531. Natural woods and plantations have been successfully grubbed up in Scotland. In the lower Torwood in Stirlingshire, many acres of natural coppice were cleared ; and the land is now become as valuable as any in the neighbourhood. {Stirlingshire Report, p. 21j.) On the banks of the Clyde and the Avon, coppices have been cut down, and the land, after being drained, cultivated, and manured, has been converted into productive orchards. In Perthshire, also, several thousand acres of plantations have been rooted out, the soil, subjected to the plough, converted into good arable land, and protitably employed in tillage. [Perthshire Report, p. 829.) 4532. For pulling up or lending asunder the roots of targe trees, various machines and contrivances have been invented. Clearing away the earth and splitting with wedges constitute the usual mode; but blasting is also, as in the case of rocks and stones, occasionally resorted to. For this purpose a new instrument, called the blasting-screw (fig. 708.), has been lately applied with considerable success to the • rending or splitting of large trees and logs of timber. It consists of a screw (a), an auger (b, c), and charging-piece [d). The screw is wrought into an auger-hole, bored in the centre of the timber : here the charge of powder is inserted, and the orifice of the hide in the log is then shut up or closed with the screw, when a match or piece of cord, pre- pared with saltpetre, is introduced into a small hole (a), left in the screw for this purpose, by which the powder is ignited. The application of this screw to the purposes of blasting is not very obviously necessary ; because, from what we have seen (4525.), it would appear that the auger-hole, being charged with powder and sand, would answer every purpose. One great objection to the process of blasting applied to the rending of timber is, the irregular and uncertain direction of the fracture, by which great waste is sometimes occasioned. It may, however, be necessary to resort to this mode of breaking up large trees, when cut down and left in inaccessible situa- tions, where a great force of men and implements cannot easily be procured or applied; and certainly it is one of the most effectual modes of tearing their stools or roots in pieces. (Sup, l.ncyc. Brit. art. Blasting.) 4533. Land covered With furze, broom, and other shrubs, is generally well adapted for cultivation. The furze, or whin U lex europsea , will grow in a dense clay soil ; and where found in a thriving state, every species of grain, roots, and grasses, may be cul- tivated with advantage. The broom, on the other hand, prefers a dry, gravelly, or sandy soil, such as is adapted for the culture of turnips. A large proportion of the arable land, in the richest districts of England and Scotland, was originally covered by these two plants ; and vast tracts still remain in that state, which might be profitably brought Book II. IMPROVEMENT OF MOORS. 745 under cultivation. For this purpose, the shrubs ought to be cut down, the "round trenched, or the plants rooted out by a strong plough, drawn by four or six horses, and the roots and shrubs (if not wanted for other purposes), burnt in heaps, and the ashes spread equally over the surface. (Com. to the Board of Agr. vol. ii. p. 260.) In many places, shrubs and brushwood may be sold for more than the expense of rooting them out. When coal is not abundant, and limestone or chalk can be had, the furze should be em- ployed in burning the lime used in carrying on the improvement. (Ofordshire Report, p. 232.) It requires constant attention, however, to prevent such plants from a^ain getting possession of the ground, when restored to pasture. This can best be effected, by ploughing up the land occasionally, taking a few crops of potatoes, turnips, or tares in rows, and restoring it to be depastured by sheep. In moist weather, also, the younongy mosses, abound in various parts of the British Isles. Such mosses are sometimes from ten to twenty feet deep, and even more, but the average may be stated at from four to eight. In high situations, their improvement is attended with so much expense, and the returns are so scanty, that it is advisable to leave them in their original state; but where advantageously situated, it is now proved that they maybe profitably converted into arable land, or valuable meadow. If they are not too high above the level of the sea, arable crops may be successfully cultivated. Potatoes, and other green crops, where manure can be obtained, may likewise be raised on them with advantage. 4">44 Peat is certainlv a production ra| ll.le of administering to the support of many valuable kinds of plants ■ but to effect this purpose, it must be reduced to such a state, either by the application of fire, or the influence of putrefaction, as may prepare it for their nourishment In either of these ways, peat may be changed into a soil fit for the production of grass, of herbs, or of roots. The application of a proper quantity of lime, chalk, or marl, prepares it equally well for the production of corn. (Code.) 4545. ' The fundamental improvement of all peat soils is drainage, which alone will in a few years change abo«gy to a grassy surface. After being drained, the surface may be covered with earthy materials, pared and burned, fallowed, dug, trenched, or rolled. The celebrated Duke of Bridgewater covered a part of Chatmoss with the refuse of coal-pits, a mixture of earths and stones of different qualities and sizes which were brought in barges out of the interior of a mountain ; and, by compressing the surface, ahied it to bear pasturing stock. Its fertility was promoted by the vegetable mould of the morass, which esenUy rose and mixed with the heavier materials which were spread upon it {Marshal on Landed en pre Property, p. 4ii.l . . .... 4.4.; The fiiun/ e 'onnrts of Huntingdonshire are in some cases improved by applying marl to the sur- face Where that substance is mixed with the fen soil, the finer grasses flourish beyond what they do on the fen soil unmixed ; and when the mixed soil is ploughed, and sown with any sort of grain, the calca- reous earth renders the crops less apt to fall down, the produce is greater, and the grain of better quality than on anv other part of the land. {Huntingdonshire Report, p. 301.) 4.547. Covering the surface cf peat bops with earth has been practised in several parts of Scotland, t lay, sand, gravel, shells, and sea ooze, two or three inches thick, or more, have been used : and land, originally of no value, has thus been rendered worth from 2/. to 3/. and even it. per acre. The horses upon this land must either be equipped with wooden clogs, or the work performed in frosty weather, when the surface of the moss is hard. Coarse obdurate clay (provincially till) is peculiarly calculated for this pro- cess ; as when it is blended with peat and some calcareous matter, it contains all the properties of a fertile soil. Ciydetdale Report, p. ISO, note.) This is certainly an expensive method of improving land, unless the substance to be laid upon it is within 500 yards' distance ; but where it can properly be done, the moss thus obtains solidity, and after it has been supplied with calcareous earth, it may be cultivated, like other soils, in a rotation of white and green crops. In the neighbourhood of populous towns, where the nut of land is high, the covering substance may be conveyed from a greater distance than 500 yards. 1548. Railing peaty surfaces has been found to improve them. The greatest defect of soft soils is, that the drought easilj penetrates them, and they become too open. The roller is an antidote to that evil, and the expense is the only thing that ought to set bounds to the practice of this operation. It also tends to destroy those worms, grubs, and insects, with which light and fenny land is apt to be infested. The roller for such soils ought not to be heavy, nor of a narrow diameter. If it is weighty, and the diameter small, it sinks too much where the pressure falls, which causes the soft moss to rise before and behind the roller, and thus, instead of consolidating, it rends the soil. <09 I A gentle pressure consolidates moss, but too much weight has a contrary effect. A roller for moss ought therefore to be formed of wood, the cylinder about four feet diameter, and mounted to be drawn by two or three men. Three small rollers working in one frame, {Jig. 709 , have sometimes been so drawn. When horses are employed, they ought to have clogs or pattens, if likely to sink. The oftener the rolling is performed, on spongy soils as long as the crops of corn or "V-55 ^> grass will admit of it, the better, and the more certain is the result. Book III. IMPROVING MARSHES. 7-17 4549. An extensive tract of moss in Ihe canty of Lancaster strfcta, and other plants, whose matted roots are almost im- has teen recently improved by the celebrated Roscoe of Liver- perishable. The moss being thus brought to a toleral.lv dr. pool, in a very spirited and skilful manner. Ohatmoss in that and level surface, I then plough it in a regular furrow sii county is well known ; its length is about six miles, its greatest inches deep- and as soon as possible after it is thus turned u , I breadth about three miles, and its depth may I* estimated set upon it the necessary quantity of marl, not less than two rrom ten to upwards of thirty feet. It is entirely composed of hundred cubic vards to the acre. As the marl begins to crum tne substance well known by the name of peat, being an aggre- ble and fall with the sun or frost, it is spread over ihe land pte of vegetable matter, disorganised and inert, but preserved with considerable exactness, after which I put in a crop as by certain causes from putrefaction. On the surface it is light early as possible, sometimes by the plough, and at others wih and fibrous, but becomes more dense below. On cutting to a the horse-scuffle or scarifier, according to the nature of the considerable depth, it is found to be black, compact, and crop, adding, for the first crop, a quantity of manure, which I heavy, and in many respects resembling coal. There is not bringdown the navigable river Irwell, to the borders of the throughout the whole moss the least intermixture of sand, moss, setting on about twentv tons to the acre. Moss land thus gravel, or other material, the entire substance being a pure treated mav not only be advantageouslv cropped the first tieur vegetable. About 1796 or 1797, Roscoe began to improve with green crops, as potatoes, turnips, &c. but with'anv kbd rrafford moss, a tract of three hundred icres, lying two miles of grain ; and as wheat has, of late, paid better to the farmer east of Chatmoss; and his operations on it seem to have been than any other, I have hitherto chiefly relied upon it, as my so successful as to encourage him to proceed with Chatmoss. first crop, for reimbursing the expense." In the improvement of the latter, he found it unnecessary to 455!2. The expense of the several ploughings, with the bum- incur so heavy an expense for drainage as he had done in the ing, sowing, and harrowing, and of the marl and manure, but former. From observing that where the moss had been dug exclusive of the seed, and also of the previous drainage and for peat, the water had drawn towards it from a distance of general charges, amounts to IS/. 5». per acre ; and in lJSl'^, on fifty to a hundred yards, he conceived that if each drain had to one piece of land thus improved, Roscoe had twenty bushels of draw the water only twenty-five yards, they would, within a wheat, then worth a guinea per bushel, and on another piece reasonable time, undoubtedly answer the purpose. The whole eighteen bushels ; but these were the best crops upon the moss, of the moss was therefore laid out on the following plan : — " Both lime and marl are generally to be found wlthm a n a- 4550. A main road, Roscoe states, " was first carried near'y sonable distance ; and the preference given to either of them from east to west, through the whole extent of my portion o'f will much depend upon the facilitv of obtaining it. The the moss. This road is about three miles long and thirty -six quantity of lime necessary for the purpose is so small, in pro- feet wide; it is bounded on each side by a main drain, seven portion to that of marl, that, where the distance is great, and feet wide and six feet deep, from which the water is conveyed, the carriage high, it is more advisable to make use of it ; but by a considerable fall, to the river. From these two main where marl is upon the spot, or can be obtained in sufficient drains, oth-r drains diverge, at fifty yards' distance from each quantity at a reasonable expense, it appears to be preferable." other, and extend from each side of the road to the utmost Roscoe is thoroughly convinced, after a great many different hmits of the moss. Thus, each field contains liftv yards in trials, that all temporizing expedients arefallacious; and " that front to the road, and is of an indefinite length, according as the the best method of improving moss land is by the application ei-i- manures, sucii as the course of cultivation, and the nature of ence hitherto goes, I believe they will sufficiently drain the the cro|>s, may be f.»und to require. moss, without having recourse to underdraining, which I have 4553. Roscve's contrivance for conveying on the marl seems never mad* 1 use of at Chatmoss, except in a very few instances, peculiar. It would not be practicable, he observes, to effect when, froii, the lowness of the surface, the water could not the marling at so cheap a rate, (10/. per acre,) were it not fur readily be gotten off without open channels, which might ob- the assistance of an iron road or railwav, laid upon boards or struct the plough." _ sleepers, and moveable at pleasure. Along Ibis road the marl 4551. The cultivation of the moss then proceeds in the following is conveyed in waggons with small iron wheels, each drawn by manner: — *' After setting fire to the heath and herbage on one man. These waggons, by taking out a pin, turn their the moss, and burning it down as far as practicable, I plough a lading out on either side ; they carry about 15 cv.t. each, being thin sod or furrow, with a very sharp horse-plough, which I as much as could heretofore be conveyed over the moss by a bum in small heaps and dissipate: considering if of little use cart with a driver and two horses. but to destroy the tough sods of the Eriophorum, A'ardus 4554. An anomalous mode of treating peat bogs was invented and practised by the late Lord Kaimes, which may be applicable in a tew cases. This singular mode can be adopted only where there is a com. mand of water, and where the subjacent clay is of a most fertile quality, or consists of alluvial soil. A stream of water is brought into the moss, into which the spongy upper stratum is first thrown, and after, wards the heavier moss, in small quantities at a time ; the whole is then conveyed by the stream into the neighbouring river, and thence to the sea. The moss thus got rid of, in the instance of Blair Drummond, in Perthshire, was, on an average, about seven feet deep. Much ingenuity was displayed in constructing the machinery, to supply water for removing the moss, previously to the improvement of the rich soil below. It required both the genius and the perseverance of Lord Kaimes to complete this scheme ; but by this singular mode of improvement, about 1000 English acres have been already cleared, a population of above 900 inhabitants furnished with the means of subsistence, and an extensive district, where only snipes and moorfowl were formerly maintained, is now converted, as if by magic, into a rich and fertile carse,or tract of alluvial soil. (.Code.) In The General Report of Scot/and, Appendix, vol. ii. p. 38., and at p. 3£6 of this work, will be found a detailed account of this improvement. 4555. Moss has been converted into manure by fermentation with stable dung, and with this article joined with whale oil. In the Highland Soc. Trans., vol vii., an account is given p. 147.) of several ex- periments of this kind by W. Bell, Esq. : — A layer of moss a foot thick was formed after the material was tolerably dry, in the month of June ; above thisa layer of stable dung was placed, at least twice the thick- ness of that of moss ; next followed another layer of moss thicker than the first ; on this last layer a ton of coarse whale oil was poured, and the whole was completely covered up with moss. In ten days the whole mass came freely into heat ; in about eight weeks it was turned, and continued to ferment freely ; in a few weeks afterwards the whole mass resembled black garden mould. Out of twenty-five cubic yards of stable dung, and one ton of oil, two hundred and sixty cubic yards of compost were pro- duced. 4556. Peat may be charred and rendered fit to be used like charcoal in cookery and other domestic pur. poses, in the same way as wood or coal is charred, and in much less time. For ordinary purposes, it is charred by some families on the kitchen fire, thus : — Take a dozen or fifteen peats, and put them upon the top of the kitchen fire, upon edge : they will soon draw up the coal fire, and become red in a short time : after being turned about once or twice, and done with smoking, they are charred, and may be removed to the stoves: if more char is wanted, put on another supply of peat, as before mentioned. By following this plan, you keep up the kitchen fire, and have at the sanie time, with very little trouble, a supply of the best charred peat, perfectly free of smoke; and the vapour is by no means so noxious as charcoal made from wood. Peats charred in this way maybe used in a chafer, in any room, or even in a nursery, with, out any danger arising from the vapour, it would also be found very fit for the warming of beds; and much better than live coals, w hich are in general used full of sulphur, and smell all over the house. [Farm. Mag. vol. xvii.) Sect. VI. Marshes and their Improvement. 4557. A tract of land on the borders of the sea or of a lar±e river is called a marsh : it differs from the fen, bog, and morass, in consisting of a firmer and better soil, and in being occasionally flooded. Marches are generally divided into fresh-water marshes and salt-water marshes ; the latter sometimes called saltings or ings : fresh- water marshes differ from meadows, in being generally soaked with water from the sub- soils or springs. 4558. Fresh-water mai-shes are often found interspersed with arable land, where springs rise, and redundant water has not been carried off; and may be improved by a course ot ditching, draining, and ploughing. Where large inland marshes are almost constantly 713 PRACTICE OF AGRICULTURE. Part III. covered with water, or the soil is extremely wet, they may be drained, as large districts in the fens of Lincolnshire bave been, and made highly valuable. The object, in that ease, i--, by embankments, draining, and other means of improvement, to convert these marshes into pasture or meadow, or even arable lands ; and where such improvements cannot be accomplished, the most useful woody aquatics, as willows, osiers, &c, may be grown with advantage. 4559. Romney marsh is one of the most extensive and fertile fresh-water marshes in Britain. It contains nearly 24,000 acres; besides which Walland mush and Dinge marsh, which are comprised within the walls, contain, the former 12,000, and the latter 8, (XXI acres. Hoys informs us that " the internal regulations of these marshes are com- mitted to the superintendence of ezpenditors. These are appointed by the Commissioners of Sewers, and are to take care that the repairs of the walls are maintained in due order, and that the costs attending the same be levied on each tenant according to the number of acres occupied by him ; for which purpose they are to cause assessments to be made Out, with the names of the occupiers, and the rateable proportions to be borne by them respectively ; and these rates, which must be confirmed by the commissioners, are termed scots ; and that when any occupier refuses to pay his scot, the expenditors can obtain a warrant from the commissioners, empowering them to distrain for the same, as for any other tax." These marshes are both appropriated to the purposes of breeding and feeding. 4560. Salt water marshes arc subject to be overflowed at every spring tide, and at other times, when, from the violence of the wind or the impetuosity of the tide, the water Hows beyond its usual limits. Their goodness is in a great measure analogous to the fertility of the adjoining marshes; and their extent differs according to the situation. Embank- ments, as it is remarked in The Code of Agriculture, are perhaps the only means by which they can be effectually improved, especially when they are deficient in pasture. How- ever, where pasture abounds, they are in some cases more valuable than arable lands, the pasture operating as a medicine upon diseased cattle. 4561. Marshes on the Thames. In The Agricultural Survey of Kent it is asserted, that great profit is made by the renters of marshes bordering on the Thames, in the neigh- bourhood of London, from the grazing of horses, the pasture being deservedly accounted salubrious to that useful animal. Such horses as have been worn down by hard travel, or long afflicted with the farcy, lameness, &c, have frequently been restored to their pristine health and vigour, by a few months' run in the marshes, especially on the salt- ings ; but as every piece of marsh land in some measure participates of tin's saline dis- position, so do they all of them possess, in a comparative degree, the virtues above mentioned, and for this reason the Londoners are happy to procure a run for their horses, at 4s. or 5s. per week. Another method practised by the graziers in the vicinity of London is, to purchase sheep or bullocks in Smithfield at a hanging market, which, being turned into the marshes, in the lapse of a few weeks are not only much improved in flesh, but go off at a time when the markets, being less crowded, have considerably advanced in price; and thus a twofold gain is made from this traffic. Many of the wealthy butchers of the metropolis are possessed of a tract of this marsh land, and, having from their constant attendance at Smithfield, a perfect knowledge of the rise and fall in the markets, they are consequently enabled to judge with certainty when will be the proper time to buy in their stock, and at what period to dispose of them. 4562. In various districts of the island situated on the borders of the sea, or near the mouths of large rivers, there are many very extensive tracts of this description of land, which by proper drainage and enclosure maybe rendered highly valuable and productive. This is particularly the case in Somersetshire and Lincolnshire. In the former of these counties, vast improvements have, according to Billingsley, as stated in his able Survey, been effected by the cutting of ditches, for the purpose of dividing the property, and the deepening of the general outlets to discharge the superfluous water. Many thousand acres which were formerly overflowed for months together, and consequently of little or no value, are now become fine grazing and dairy lands. Sect. VII. Doions and otlier Shore Lands. 4563. Downs are those undulating smooth surfaces covered with close and fine turf met with in some districts on the sea-shore ; the soil is sometimes sandy, and at other times clay or loam. In inland situations there are also down lands, as in Wiltshire, Lincolnshire, and Yorkshire; in the latter two counties they are called wolds. 4564. Sand;/ downs on the sea-shore are often more valuable in their natural state than after cultivation. In a state of nature they frequently afford good pasture for sheep and rabbits, and at other times produce grasses that may be used as food for cattle, or as litter. But the great object should be to rai>>e plants which contribute to fix these soils, and to prevent them from being drifted by the winds, which often occasion incalculable Book III. IMPROVING FARMERIES. 749 710 mischief. Tlie most suitable plants for the purpose are, the U'lyinus arenarius, Juncus arenarius, Brando Z>6nax, Ononis spindsa, Galium verum, Tussilago Petashes, and a variety of other creeping-rooted plants and grasses. Of woody plants, the elder is one of the best for resisting the sea breeze, and requires only to be inserted in the sand in large truncheons. Where the sands on sea-shores are mixed with shells, and not very liable to drift, if they can be sheltered by fences or an embankment, and sown with white clover, it will be found both an economical and profitable improvement. 45C5. The drift-sands of Vic outer Hebrides have in some places been consolidated and covered with verd- ure by " square pieces of turf, cut from solid sward, and laid upon the drifting surface, in steep places nearer to each other, and in less inclined places at a greater distance : on very rapid declivities the turfs are placed in contiguity. These turfs, although separated by intervals of a foot or so of sand, are not liable to be buried, except in very ex- posed places." (Quar. Jour. Agr. vol. i. p 715.) N. Macleod, Esq. of Harris, has reclaimed and brought into useful permanent pasture above 120 acres of useless drifting sand, by planting it with .^riindo arenaria {fig. 710.) in 1819. The operation is performed in September, by cutting the plants " about two inches below the surface with a small thin-edged spade, with a short handle, which a man can use in his right hand, at the same time taking hold of the grass with his left; other persons carrying it to the blowing-sand to be planted in a hole, or rather a cut, made in the sand, about eight or nine inches deep, (and deeper where the sand is very open and much exposed,) by a large narrow-pointed spade. A handful of .-/riindo arenaria, or bent grass, was put into each of these cuts, which were about twelve inches dis- tant, more or less, according to the exposure of the situation. When properly fixed in the blowing-sand, the roots begin to grow and spread under the surface, in the course of a month after planting. This grass is relished by cattle in summer, but it is of greater value, by preserv- ing it on the ground for wintering cattle : it would be injudicious to cut it, because it will stand the winter better than any other grass, and is seldom covered with snow. Neither wind, rain, nor frost will destroy it; but the old grass naturally decays towards the latter end of spring and the beginning of summer, as the new crop grows. White and red clover will grow spontaneously among this grass in the course of a few years, provided it is well secured. ( Trans. Highl. Soc. vol vi. p. 265.) 4566. Poor sandy soils in inland districts are not unfre- quentlv stocked with rabbits. When the productions of ara- ble lands are high, it is found worth while to break up these warrens and cultivate corn and turnips ; but it frequently happens that, taking the requi- site outlay of capital, and the expenses and risk into consideration, they do not pay so well as when stocked with rabbits. Such lands are generally well adapted for plant- ing ; but in this, as in every other case where there is a choice, circumstances must direct what line of improvement is to be adopted. 4567. Shores and sea leaches of gravel and shingle, without either soil or vegetation, are perhaps the mostunimproveable spots of any; but something may be done with them by burying the roots of the arenarious grasses along with a little clay or loamy earth. Of these, the best is the Arundo arenaria and ZJ'lymus arenarius (Jig- 711. a), already mentioned ; and E. geniculatus (b) and sibiricus (c) would probably succeed equally well. The last grows on the sandy wastes of Siberia, and the preceding is found on the shores of Britain. Chap. V. Improvement of Lands already in a Stale of Culture. 4568. A profitable application of many of the practices recommended in the chapters of this and the foregoing Book may be made to many estates which have been long under cultivation. It is certain, indeed, that the majority of those who study our work will have that object more in view than the laying out or improvement of estates ab origine. Few are the estates in Britain in which the farm lands do not admit of increased value, 750 PRACTICE OF AGRICULTURE. Part III by rectifying the shape of fields, adjusting tluir size, improving the fences, draining the soil, or adding to the shelter ; and few are the farmeries that may not be rendered more commodious. Of this, we shall give a few examples, after we Have stated the general principles and modes of proceeding. Skct. I. General Principle* and Mode* vious and indisputable advantages to the fanner, yet, as justly o! .served by Loch, irain is not every thing. " The fences on the Marquess of Stafford's estates," he says, " were liable to the same objec- tion which is applicable to a* great proportion of the counties of England. They are not composed of quick, at least but in a scanty degree; they for the most part consist of bushes, growing from the stump of.every sort or forest-tree, intermixed with hazel, birch, hornbeam, maple, alder, willow, &c. They are planted on high and dry mounds, and thus are subject to con- stant decay. They occupy too much ground, provided agricul- ture alone were the occupation of life. But as they give great protection, when they thrive, to the game, they become an im- Iiortant object of preservation, inasmuch as every thing must >e of consequence which contributes to the sport, and has the etfect of retaining the gentry of England much upon their esta'es. For this reason, it may occasionally he proper to con- sider of the best way to preserve these hedges at the least expense, in place of substituting more perfect ones in their stead ; nor should one object exclusively he attended to in the agricultural improvements of so great and so wealthy a country." Such are Mr. Loch's ideas on game and hedges. 4584. When farm-lands are exposed to high winds, insterspersing them with strips or masses of plantation is attended with obviously important advantages. Not only are such lands rendered more congenial to the growth of grass, and corn, and the health of pasturing animals, but the local climate is improved. The fact, that the climate may be thus improved, has, in very many instances, been sufficiently established. It is, indeed, astonishing how much better cattle thrive in fields even but moderately sheltered than they do in an open exposed country. In the breeding of cattle, a sheltered farm, or a sheltered corner in a farm, is a thing much prized ; and, in instances where fields are taken by the season for the purpose of fattening, those most sheltered never fail to bring the highest rents, provided the soil is equal to that of the neighbouring fields which are not sheltered by trees. If we enquire into the cause, we shall find, that it does not alto- gether depend on an early rise of grass, on account of the shelter afforded to the lands by the plantations ; but likewise that cattle, which have it in their power, in cold seasons, to indulge in the kindly shelter afforded them by the trees, feed better ; because their bodies are not pierced by the keen winds of spring and autumn, neither is the tender grass destroyed by the frosty blasts of March and April. (Plant- Kal. p. 121.) 4585. The operation of skreen plantations, in exposed situations, Marshal observes, is not merely that of giving shelter to the animals lodging immediately beneath them ; but likewise that of breaking the uniform current of the wind, — shattering the cutting blasts, and throwing them into eddies; thus meliorating the air to some distance from them. Living trees communicate a degree of actual warmth to the air which envelopes them. Where there is lift there is warmth, not only in animal but in vegetable nature. The severest frost rarely affects the sap of trees. Hence it appears, that trees and shrubs properly disposed, in a bleak situation, tend to improve the lands so situated, in a threefold way, for the purposes of agriculture ; namely, by giving shelter to stock ; by breaking the currents of winds ; and by communicating a degree of warmth or softness to the air, in calmer weather. 4586. The proper disposal of skreen plantations for this purpose is in lines across the most offensive winds, and in situations best calculated to break their force. Placed across valleys, dtps, or more open plains, in bleak exposures, they may be of singular use; also on the ridges, as well as on the points and hangs, of hills. 3 C 754 PRACTICE OF AGRICULTURE. Part III. k>> ■8 1507. 7*evlMtf*rem pUntotkm* ought generally lobe regulated by Ui« s value of the fajjlftr ricStural uses, and the advantages of the situation for the sale and ddWay ot Umber. In ordinary cases from two to four itatute polea mar be considered as an eligible width, .^.j //„ ,,„■„, w pfentodYmi for shelter, however, » ,11 not In every case be that of a stripe or bel ol uniform width. In i.llv. rocky, and other situations, different tan .will suggest themselves sccordnig to the situation and the objects w view. In rocky abrupt sites L/fc.717.) the plantation will consist oi a 717 number of masses (a, b, c), of forms determined bv the rocks and precipices, among which some of the most valuable pasture mav be left as glades (9 1. The mrtluul of farming frnctl of this kind is to carry up a stratum of earth, between two sod ibcingi, " battering," or leaning v.mifuti.it inward, to the required height ; and to plant on the top the roott and lower ■torn of coppice plants, ni- tlicnd in wo, .d. or on warte grounds ; orrranerj plants adapted to the given situation. If the mound be canted to a full hemht, as five or six feet, and about tliat widlh at the ton, and this lie planted with Itiong plants, with stems rut off about two feet above the roots (In the usual practice of Devonshire), a suf- • << - ?V^b& _ ficienl Once is thus Immediately formed against ordinary stock. Itut If the bulk be lowei*j ->r If nursery plants be put in, a slight guard run along the outer brink on either side, and leaning outward over the bee of the mound, is required (especially against sheep) until the plants get up. If a hedge of this kind be raised as a plantation finee (especially on the lower side of a slope), the outer side only requires to be fact d with sods ; the hedge plants being set in a rough shelving bank, on the inner side. Book III. SHELTERING FARM LANDS. 755 4595. The $pcciei of hedge woods, prot>er for mound fences, and the oik are the ordinary plants of hedire mounds. The depends entirely on the soil and situation. On mounds of bad willow tribe have a quality which recommends them, in situ- soil, in a bleak situation, the furze alone affords much shelter, ations where they will flourish ; thevgrow freely from 'cuttings and a good fence. The sides being kept pruned, so as to show or truncheons set in the ground ; whereas, tosecure the growth a close firm face rising above the top of the bank, it is a secure of ordinary coppice woods, rooted plants are required. The barrier, even against the wilder breeds of Welsh sheep. The rock-willow li'alix caprea) will grow in high and dry situ- beech is commonly planted in high exposed situations ; and in ations. places more genial to the growth of wood, the hazel, the ash, 4596. On thin-soiled stony surfaces, tall mounds are difficult to raise ; and there stone walls are not only built at a small expense, but are convenient receptacles for the stones with which the soil is encumbered. But a stone wall, unless it be carried up to an inordinate height, at a great expense, is useless as a skreen • and may be said to be dangerous as such, in a bleak exposed situation, for as soon as the drifting snow has reached the top of the wall, on the windward side, it pours over it, and inevitably buries the sheep which may be seeking for shelter on the leeward side. Hence, in a situation where shelter is required, it is necessary that a stone fence should be backed with a skreen plantation. 4597. To plant trees for shade may in some cases be requisite for agricultural purposes. Where this is the case, close plantations are seldom desirable, a free circulation of air being necessary to coolness : therefore trees with lofty stems, and large heads pruned to single stems, are preferable : the oak, elm, chestnut, and beech, for thick shade; the plane, acacia, and poplar, for shade of a lighter degree. 4598. An example of sheltering a hill farm by plantation, and at the same time improving the shape and size of fields, shall next be given. No farming subject aftbrds better opportunities of introducing hedge- rows, and strips of planting, than hill-farms. The one under consideration (fig. 719.) is a small estate farmed by its owner : it consists of nearly 370 acres ; and is situated in an elevated, picturesque part of a central English county. The soil is partly a flinty loam or chalk, and partly a strong rich soil, incum- bent on clay. The fields are very irregular, bounded by strips of timber and copse. By the alterations and additions proposed (fig. 720.), "all the most hilly and distant spots will be kept in permanent pasture; and the exposed and abrupt places, angles, &c. planted chiefly with oaks for copse, and beech for timber and shelter. 4599. On lull farms in Scotlayid, where shelter cannot be given to gra.'s and stock bv plantation', small circular inclosures have been adopted for that purpose. The diameter of these circles is from 10 to 30 3 C 2 756 PRACTICE OF AGRICULTURE. Part III. Art, the height of the wall six or eight foot, ami .1 conical roof is placed on them, and covered with ttirf ; but many incloMira "I this kind are formed without roofs. They are called in Selkirkshire stells, and were brought iuto notice, in 1822. I>\ ( aptain, now Lord Napier, in his Treatise on Store Farming, a work to which we shall have recount In a subsequent section. Chap. VI. Execution ii. With respect to improving farmers by books, — agricultural newspapers, magazines, and county surveys, are probably what would be read with most eagerness ; and as such works abound in statements of what actually has takeii place in different situations, by farmers like themselves, perhaps they are the most likely to stimulate to exertion. Historical relations of the agriculture of other countries are also generally interesting to agriculturists; and though no great professional benefit is to be derived from them, yet they tend to enlarge and liberalise the mind, and promote a taste for knowledge. Under these circumstances, it may be worthy of consideration whether an agricultural library might not be established in the steward's office, on very extensive estates, for the use of tenants and all other persons belonging to the estate who chose to read from it Itinerating libraries for the use both of farmers and their servants, or, indeed, of whoever chooses to use them, have for some time been established, and extensively used in East Lothian, and they are gradually being adopted in other counties both in Scotland and England. (Uartl. Mag. vol ii. p. ;>76.) 4<;o7. The establishment of tefiools for the children of the lower class of tenants, and of cottagers of every description, is an obvious and important source of moral and intellectual improvement ; and con- sidering it as decided by experience and the most competent judges, that the education of the lower classes will tend great I v to their amelioration and the benefit of society at large, we are of opinion that, wherever they are not already established, they should be introduced. Working schools, somewhat in the German manner, lioth for boys and girls, would also be a material improvement in such districts .is are behind in a taste for cleanliness, fireside comforts, cookery, and dress. Book III. EXECUTION OF IMPROVEMENTS. 757 4608. Examples as stimuli to improvement may be exhibited in various ways: by etting a farm to a tenant of superior energy, or from a more improved district; by exhibiting improved implements and operations on one particular farm ; by an itinerant ploughman of abilities, accompanied by a smith and carpenter, and with some implements, to go round the estate and instruct each tenant on his own farm • and finally, and perhaps preferably, by inducing every farmer to make a tour into some other district once a year. 4609. In addition to these modes, appropriate as we consider for two different classes of tenants, Marshal suggests the following as calculated to insure a spirit of improvement among all farmers not of sufficient energy and intelligence. They are to be adopted in various ways, by a proprietor, or by the manager of an estate, who has a knowledge of rural affairs, and who possesses the good will and confidence of its tenantry. 4610 By personal attention alone much is to be done. By reviewing an estate, once or twice a year • by conversing with each tenant in looking over bis farm ; and by duly noticing the instances of good management which rise to the eye, and condemning those which are bad ; vanity and fear, two powerful stimulants of the human mind, will be roused, and an emulation be created among superior managers - while shame will scarcely fail to bring up the more deserving of the inferior ranks. If, after repeated exhortations, an irreclaimable sloven be discharged as such, and his farm given to another, professedly for his superior qualifications as a husbandman, an alarm will presently be spread over the estate, and none, but those who deserve to be discharged, will long remain in the field of bad management. 4611. Even by conversation, well directed, something may be done. If, instead of, on the one hand collecting tenants to the audit, as sheep to the shearing, and sending them away, as sheep that are shorn • or, on the other, providing for them a sumptuous entertainment, and committing them to their fate in a state of intoxication ; a repast suited to their conditions and habits of life were set before them; and after this, the conversation bent towards agriculture, by distributing presents to superior managers, and specifying the particulars of excellence for which the rewards or acknowledgments were severally be- stowed ; a spirit of emulation could not fad to arise among the higher classes ; while the minds of the lower order of tenants, and of the whole, would be stimulated and improved by the conversation. 4612. By encouraging leading men in different parts of a large estate, men who are looked up to by ordinary tenants ; by holding out these as patterns to the rest ; by furnishing them with the means of improving their breeds of stock; by supplying them with superior varieties of crops, and with imple- ments of improved constructions : and, in recluse and backward districts, much mav be done by tempting good husbandmen, and expert workmen, from districts of a kindred nature, but under a belter system o'f cultivation, to settle upon an estate. 4613. By an experimental farm, to try new breeds of stock, new crops, new implements, new operations and new plans of management; such as ordinary tenants ought not to attempt, before they have seen them tried. To this important end, let the demesne lands of a large estate, or a sufficient portion of them, be appropriated to a nursery of improvements, for the use of the estate ; to be professedly held out as such, and be constantly open to the tenants ; more particularly to the exemplary practitioners the leading men of the estate, just mentioned ; who, alone, can introduce improvements among the lower classes of an ignorant and prejudiced tenantry: it is in vain for a proprietor to attempt it. On the contrary, the attempt seldom fails to alarm, disgust, and prevent the growth of spontaneous improve- ments. 4614. Under the present plan of de?/iesne farming, the tenants see expensive works going forward, which they know they cannot copy, and hear of extraordinary profits, by particular articles, which they a're cer- tain cannot be obtained by any regular course of business. They therefore conclude that the whole is mere deception, to gain a pretext for raising the rents of their farms above their value. Whereas, if the demesne lands were held out, as trial grounds, for their immediate benefit, and conducted, as such, in a manner intelligible to them, they would not fail to visit them. Instead of large proprietors attempting to rival the meanest of their tenants, in farming for pecuniary profit, which, on a fair calculation, they rarely, if ever, obtain ; let their views in agriculture be professedly and effectually directed toward the pecuniary advantages of their tenants ; for from these alone can their own arise, in any degree that is entitled to the attentions of men of fortune. Instead of boasting of the price of a bullock, or the produce of a field, let it be the pride of him who possesses an extent of landed property, to speak of the flourish- ing condition of his estates at large, the number of superior managers that he can count upon them and the value of the improvements which he has been the happy means of diffusing among them. Leave' it to professional men, to yeomanry and the higher class of tenants, to carry on the improvements, and incor- porate them with established practices ; to prosecute pecuniary agriculture in a superior manner, and set examples to inferior tenantry. This is strictly their province; and their highest and best view in life. It has been through this order of men, chiefly or wholly, that valuable improvements in agriculture have been brought into practice, and rendered of general use. 4615. The possessor of an extent of territory has higher objects in view, and a more elevated station to fill. As a superior member of society, it may be said, he has still higher views than those of aggrandising his own income. But how can a man of fortune fill what may well be termed his legitimate station in life with higher advantage to his country, than by promoting the prosperity of bis share of its territory ; by tendering not one field, or one farm, but every farm upon it productive ? This is, indeed, being faithfully at his post : and it is a good office in society, which is the more incumbent upon him, as no other man on earth can of right perform it, valuable as it is to the public. Sect. II. General Cautions on the Subject of executing Improvements. 4616. No work can be prudently commenced until the plan be fully matured, not in idea only, but in diagrams, and in models, if the subject requires them ; in order that every bearing and every hinge may be sufficiently foreknown : the site of improvement being reverted to, again and again, with the draught or the model in hand, until the judg- ment be satisfied and the mind he inspired with confidence. If a proprietor have not yet acquired sufficient judgment within himself, let him consult some one man, or one council of men, in w hose knowledge and judgment he can confide ; and thus fix a rally- ing point. Having brought his plan to a degree of maturity, in this private manner, he may then venture to publish it ; and endeavour to improve it, by the advice of its friends, and the animadversions of its enemies. 4617. If a jyroprietor wants judgment himself, and a fiend to supply it, let him not attempt the more difficult works of improvement. Yet how often we see, both in public and private life, men engaged in arduous undertakings, embarked on the wide ocean of business, without rudder or compass to guide them, depending on casual information, to help them on their way ! They are consequently ever of opinion with the last persons they converse with. Such men's decisions and operations are always wrong: and foi 3 C 3 758 PRACTICE OF AGRICULTURE. Part III. an obvious reason. They consult tliosc who aro best able to inform them, first ; and re- ceive their last impressions from those who are least capable to give them. Men who have neither judgment in themselves, nor any standard of practice to rally at, are liable to be led astray by the plausible Bchemes of theorists, the greater part of whom know nothing of the practical part of business, and who, by their calculations, both of expense in the outlay and of profit in the return, deceive both themselves and their friends or em- ployers : some also may have sinister designs in view; though we believe the errors of speculative nun are in most cases owing to their being endowed with more imagination than judgment. 4618. The execution of the different improvements of which an estate has been found susceptible being determined on, it is always advisable to begin with one which is ob- vious ; which may be effected with the greatest certainty ; which will repay most amply the expenses of carrying it into effect; or which leads to other improvements, as em- bankment, drainage, &.C. To attempt a doubtful project, while plans which are obvious and certain remain unexecuted; to try experiments before the list of known improve- ments lias been gone through ; is seldom to be recommended, though it might sometimes turn out to be right. 40* 1 !). All rural operations are more or less public, and as it were performed on a stage ; and spectators fail not to criticise. If an experiment should prove abortive, or a pro- posed improvement turn out to be false, the ardour of the improver will be liable to be damped, his people to be discontented (as partaking in the discredit), and the expecting public around him to be disappointed. A few miscarriages, in the outset, might frustrate the best intentions and the most profitable schemes. But if, by prosecuting plain and certain improvements, a man once gain his own confidence, as well as that of the people about him, he may then venture to explore less beaten paths ; and this he will be able to do with greater caution, and more probability of success, by the experience already gained; this being a further motive for pursuing the line of conduct here suggested. 4620. All works of improvement should be executed with vigour. Many falter in the midst of well-planned works, either, through the want of foresight or of business-like exertion ; in consequence, the money already expended lies dead, and the works are in- jured by the delay. Some works, as embankments and drainages, may be ruined by the slightest neglect or relaxation ; and, indeed, as Marshal observes, we see, in every depart- ment of the kingdom, these and other works deserted, and left to moulder into nuisances or disreputable eyesores. 4621. In carrying on a work, execute every thing substantially, and in a workman-like manner. Too often a false economy leads to the subversion of this principle. To save a few pounds in the first cost, materials of an inferior quality are laid in, or a quantity used insufficient to give the required substance and strength to the work. By either of these imprudences, its duration is abridged ; and the eventual loss, by repairs and re- newal, may be ten times greater than the sum injudiciously saved in the original erection. Nevertheless, to increase the evil of these ill-judged savings, inferior workmen are em- ployed ; or sufficient workmen at inferior prices, at which they cannot afford to make good work, nor can a superintendent urge them to make it under such circumstances. Consequently the work is ill performed, its duration is still more abridged, and a further loss is incurred by injudicious saving. 4622. There are cases in which temporary rvnrks only are required. A lease-tenant, for instance, wants to make an improvement which will last as long as his lease, without caring about its further duration. In such a case, it may be well-judged frugality and admissible " cleverness in business," to work up cheap materials in a cheap way : but it seldom can be right in the proprietor of a hereditary estate, whose interest in it may be sairt to be perpetual, to proceed in the same manner. His best policy is to take favour- able opportunities of laying in good materials at moderate prices; to use them when duly seasoned ; and to employ good workmen at such prices as cannot furnish an excuse for bad workmanship, and will warrant him to enforce good. 4623. Accomplish one work before another is commenced. A work may be considered as accomplished when the chief difficulties are surmounted, and the chief cost expended ; and, till this is the case, it cannot be prudent to embark in another. By avoiding em- barrassments, the execution of improvements becomes a present pleasure, as well as a source of future profit ; no half-finished works are left as monuments of disgrace to an estate and its owner ; no time nor interest of money is lost ; every work is brought into action and profit as it is finished ; and if, as it frequently will happen with the most prudent calculators, the estimated sum has been exceeded, due time may be taken to let the fund of improvement accumulate, so as to enable it to discharge the arrear, and to fur- nish, as wanted, the estimated sums requisite for the succeeding work. Book IV. MANAGEMENT OF LANDED PROPERTY. 759 BOOK IV. MANAGEMENT OF LANDED PROPERTY. 4624. The management of an extensive landed estate, like that of even' other great pro- perty, is a business both of talent and integrity. In former times, when every proprietor may be said to have cultivated the whole of his agricultural territory, it constituted his whole occupation, when not engaged in war ; or required a host of managers, if he was a man of the first rank. On the continent, and especially in Russia and Hungary, where estates are of enormous extent, and wholly fanned by the proprietor, the largest estates, as we have seen (621.), are managed by a court of directors, and an executive department, with a numerous body of superintendent officers, artists, and artisans. A better system is now adopted in this country, in consequence of the creation of profes- sional farmers, who, taking large portions of territory from the owner for a certain num- ber of years at a fixed rent, and on certain stipulations for mutual security, occasion little more trouble to the proprietor, during that period, than receiving payments. Hence it is that the management of estates in Britain, though important, is a more simple busi- ness than in any other country. 4625. Where there are only tenanted holdings, the business of management is very simple ; where there are woodlands, it requires a person to look after that department ; and where there are waters, quarries, and mines, a greater number of subordinate officers are requisite. But what often occasions most expense, and at the same time is attended with the least profit, is the management of the abstract rights belonging to an estate ; such as manorial rights, quit-rents, and other feudal or antiquated trifles or absurdities, which require courts to be holden, and lawyers and other officers to be called in to assist. The only British author who has digested the business of managing estates into a regular system is Marshal, and we shall follow him in considering this subject : — 1st, as to the superintendents on the executive establishment of an estate; and, 2dly 3 as to the general business of management. Chap. I. Superintendents, or Executive Estublisliment of an Estate. 4626. Though every mail who cannot 7nanage his oivn estate in all important matters, deserves to lose it, yet, as extensive proprietors generally have their properties situated in different parts of the country, and have, besides, public duties to attend to, certain sub- ordinate managers become necessary. In The Code of Agricidture it is stated, that no individual having a large estate is equal to the task of managing it, unless he is in the prime of life, dedicates his whole time to the business, and gives up every other occupa- tion. It is there stated to have been found expedient, by the proprietor of an estate of great extent, to nominate two or three commissioners to assist him in its management. Under the superintendence of such commissioners, it is said, the affairs of a great pro- perty would be as well conducted as on the best managed small or moderate-sized estates ; while the duties of the proprietor would principally be to cam - the exercise of true benevolence into effect, which would consist in softening severe decisions ; or in granting those marks of approbation and reward which, when bestowed by the proprietor himself, are the most likely to produce beneficial consequences. {Code, cfc. App. 58.) Such may be the case on a few estates in the British isles not yet brought into a regular system of improvement, and about to be remodelled, of which a grand example occurs in the immense property of the Marquess of Stafford ; but, in the great majority of cases, to each estate a manager of qualifications suited to its extent and duties, and a general receiver and controller in the capital or metropolis (if the proprietor and his banker can- not effect these duties between them) are all that is requisite. We shall first offer a few remarks on the qualifications and duties of managers, and next on the place of busi- ness and its requisites. Sect. I. Steward or Manager of an Estate, and his Assistants. 4627. The head manager of an estate ought unquestionably to be the proprietor him- self, or his representative, if a minor or otherwise incompetent. Next to the proprietor is his acting man of business, with proper assistants ; together with sucli professional men as advisers as the circumstances of business may render necessary. A tenanted estate differs widely from other species of property ; as giving power and authority over persons as well as things. It has, therefore, a dignity and a set of duties attached to it, 3 C 4 760 PRACTICE OF AGRICULTURE. Past III. which are peculiar to itself. A man who receives ten thousand pounds a year from the public funds. For instance, is u insulated being, compared with him who receives the same income from landed property, and who is one of society's best members, provided iiis affairs are judiciously conducted. On the contrary, if, regardless of the dignity and the duties of bit station, he lives but to dissipate his income, leaving the government of his estates and tlnir inhabitants to those whose interest and honour are unconcerned in their welfare, or to those whose- best interests lie in their derangement, he becomes at once an enemy to himself, to Ins family, and to the community. As unpardonable it would be in the possessor of a kingdom to be ignorant of state affairs, and unmindful of the ministers who reside about his court ; or in the commanding officer of a regiment to be a stranger to his men. a priest to his parishioners, or a shepherd to his flock ; as for the possessor of a tenanted estate to be ignorant of territorial concerns, and a stranger to his lands and their occupiers. 462$. Though it be an essential part of the duty of a man of fortune to be intimately acquainted with /at own affair*, it does not 'follow that he should be absorbed in them, and neglect his duties as a superior member of society. In all matters of government and command, subordination is essential to good order and success. A commander in chief does not act as pioneer, nor does a naval commander reef his sails, or heave his anchor. Each has his subordinate officers to convey his commands, and men to execute them. Rut it is essentially necessary that the former should be well acquainted with military, the latter with naval, affairs. Every heir apparent, therefore, to a large landed property, should be regularly, or at least more or less, bred up in the knowledge of rural affairs, so as to fill with honour and profit the high station he has in view. Rut if the possessor of an estate has not been fortunately initiated in the knowledge which belongs to his station, the task of acquiring it is far from great. 4629. On a large estate we generally find a resident manager, aland steward, a man who has some knowledge of what is termed country business, and who acts under the control of his employer, or of a confidential friend, who is more conversant in rural concerns ; or perhaps of a law agent, who knows less of them ; or such residing steward, espe- cially of a detached estate which lies at some distance from the residence of its proprietor, acts without control. In the last case, if he is a man of judgment, it is fortunate both for the landlord and tenant : but, on the contrary, if such possessory manager wants those requisite qualifications, the consequence becomes mischievous to the lands, their occupiers, their proprietors, and the community. 4630. The requisite acquirements of an acting manager, according to Marshal, are, a knowledge of agriculture, surveying, planting, some knowledge of mechanics, natural history, and skill in accounts. Agriculture is the only firm foundation on which the other required attainments can be securely reposed. It is not more essentially valuable in the superintendence than in the improvement of an estate. It is difficult to become an accurate judge of the value of lands without a practical knowledge of their uses ; nor can any man without it properly appreciate the management of occupiers, much less assist them in correcting their errors, and improving their practice. 4631. Land-surveying is a requisite qualification. Not so much, however, for the purpose of measuring and mapping an estate at large, as for checking and correcting the works of professional men, as well as to assist in laving out its lands to advantage. 4632. Planting, and the management of woodlands, are acquirements that cannot be dispensed with. Nor should his knowledge and attention be confined to the surface of the estate entrusted to his care ; he ought to have some acquaintance with natural history, chemistry, and experimental philosophy, to enable him to form just notions on the subject of the subterrene productions which it may contain. 46 '..'3. Some knowledge of mechanics, and other sciences that are requisite to the business of an engineer, may be highlv useful in prosecuting the improvements incident to landed property. 4i">>4. A competent knowledge of rural architecture, the doctrine of the strength of materials, and the superintendence of artificers, may be said to be of daily use. 46 >5. A thorough knowledge of accounts is essentially requisite to the manager of a landed estate. 4636. He should be a man of good character, of upright principles, and conciliatory manners ; to set an example of good conduct to the tenants, and to become their common counsellor and peacemaker, in those trilling disputes which never fail to arise among the occupiers of adjoining land ; and which too frequently bring on serious quarrels and lawsuits, that end in the ruin, not only of themselves, but of the tenements they occupy. A proprietor has, therefore, an interest in checking such disputes in the bud ; and no man can do this with so much effect as a manager in whom they have a proper confidence, and who possesses a due share of popularity on the estate. 4637. The acting manager requires certain assistants on a large estate; especially if it lies in detached and scattered parts. Those in general use are a ground officer and clerk. 4638. A land-reeve, woodward, or ground officer, is required on each district or depart- ment of a large estate ; to attend not only to the woods and hedge-timber, but to the state of the fences, gates, buildings, private roads, driftways, and watercourses; also to the stocking of commons (if any), and encroachments of every kind ; as well as to pre- vent or detect waste and spoil in general, whether by the tenants of the estate, or others ; and to report the same to the manager. 4639. The qjjice-clerk, book-keeper, or under steward, is employed to form registers, Book IV. LAND STEWARD'S OFFICE. 761 make out rentals, &c. and keep the accounts of the estate ; as well as to assist the man- ager in his more active employments ; also to act as his substitute in case of sickness, or absence ; and to become his successor in the event of his death, or other termination of his stewardship. 4640. A law assistant, solicitor, or attorney, may next be considered as requisite to the good management of a landed estate. For although much is to be done by judicious regulations, and the timely interposition and advice of a resident manager, such are the frailties of human nature, that, in a state of civilised society, and of property, legal assistance will sometimes be necessary. The error of country gentlemen consists, not in employing lawyers, but in committing the management of their landed estates to them. The employment of law agents as land stewards, however, is not without some reason. Farmers are not for the most part sufficiently skilled in accounts for taking the charge of a large estate ; and such of them as are capable, are commonly men of capital, and would not exchange their situation for the less independent one of a land steward. The division of labour, in the case of large estates, is not without its use, and is recognised in practice. A law agent collects the rents and keeps the accounts, often on a very small salary; and in questions of a practical nature, such as the valuation of new leases, the modes of cropping, &c. he advises with a surveyor or land valuer. After all, however, a well chosen land-steward to reside upon the estate, and to consult, when necessary, with a lawyer, must be the best plan, even though his salary be higher than that of the law agent, who commonly acts for several proprietors, does not reside on any of their estates, and very likely, as we think, cannot do them justice. 464 1 . In the feudal system, under which every manor court was a court of law, we may perceive the origin of law land-stewards. It is allowed by the best agricultural writers in Europe (Chateauvieux, Thaer, Thouin, Mathieu de Dombasle, Sigismondi, Jovellanos, Young, Marshal, Brown, Coventry, &c), that these men by their rigid ad- herence to precedent in the clauses of leases, have contributed most materially to retard the progress of agricultural improvement. 4642. The land-surveyor is another professional man, whom the superintendent of an estate may want to call in occasionally. Not merely to measure and map the whole or parts of the estate, but to assist in matters of arbitration, and the amicable settlement of disputes j or to act himself, as valuer or referee. Sect. 1 1. Land Sleivard's Place of Business, and what belongs to it. 4643. A managers place of business may be considered in regard to its situation, accommodations, and appropriate professional furniture. 4644. The situation of the place of business should be under the roof of the proprietor's principal residence ; round which, and in its neighbourhood, some considerable parts of his estates may be supposed (as they ever ought) to lie. If a large bulk of his property lie at too great a distance for tenants to attend at the principal office, and if on this he has a secondary residence, an inferior office is there required for such detached part. And it may be laid down as a ride, in the management of landed property, Marshal ob- serves, that every distant part of an estate ought to have a place upon it (be it ever so humble) in which its possessor may spend a few days comfortably ; to diffuse over it a spirit of good order and emulation. He has known the most neglected and almost savage spot, such as are many landed estates in Ireland, reclaimed and put in a train of improvement by this easy method. 4645. The accommodations requisite for a principal office are, a commodious business room, a small ante-room ; and a safe-keep, or strong room, fire proof, for the more valu- able documents. 4646. The professional furniture with which an office of this description requires to be supplied are maps, rental-books, books of valuation, register, legal papers, and some others. 4647. A general map of the whole estate on a large scale is an obvious requisite ; and portable separate maps, with accompanying registers and other descriptive particulars, are useful in proportion as improve- ments may be in contemplation. 4648. Books of valuation are essential, especially where there are numerous small holdings on short terms. In these registers are contained the number, name, admeasurement, and estimated value of each field, and of every parcel of land, as well as of each cottage or other building not being part of a farm- stead, on the several distinct parts or districts of the estate. The.valuations being inserted in columns, as thev arise, whether by general surveys, or incidentally, headed with the names of their respective valuers, so that whenever a farm is to be "relet, these columns may be consulted, and its real value fixed in a resurvey with the greater exactness. 4649. A general register of timber trees, copsewood, and young plantations is particularly wanted where there is much hedgerow timber. Marshal directs to specify in this register the number ol timber trees in each wood, grove, hedgerow, and area, with the species, number, and admeasurement of each tree. He also recommends separate pocketbooks, containing the particulars of each division, or of a number of contiguous divisions, for the occasional use of the manager and woodreeve. 4650. Contracts, agreements, accounts, letters on business, and other documents, should be intelligibly endorsed, dated or numbered, and arranged so as to be easily referred to. A book of abstracts, or heads of papers of greater importance, should be made out to be referred to on ordinary occasions, and likewise 762 PRACTICE OF AGRICULTURE. Part III. to terra U an Index to Uie originals, which require a more secure repository than a common business, room. 4651. Legal documents, such as title deeds, legal decisions, awards of arbitration, counterpart* of leases, securities, cash, bills, nasi il accounts, m., as being the most important objects, should be carefully depo- sited in the safety-chest or strong room. 4<'>.VJ. Portable re g isters Of the tenanted lands, in convenient pocket volumes, with maps on a small scale heading even fturm, are, tccarding to M urslud,who seems to have looked upon tenants as placed in a state Of continual hostility with their landlord*, a most invaluable description o I books both tor the manager and bis employer. Two opposite pages being appropriated tu each (arm with its map, the following information should be given : — Name of the farm and its number of acres. The eligibility of the plan and circumstances of The name of the tenant ami the existing rent the farm. Tbetenanc] : ifon lease, the term of expiring; Hie eligibility of the occupier. Any extraordinary co\ enant of the lease The eligibility of the present rent. The Dumber of cottages let with the farm. The state of the buildings, fences, and gates, The number of timber trees growing on it. roads, and watercoui The number oi orchard trees growing on it The state of cultivation, and condition of the live stock. 1653 Add, among other things, the following, viz. : — The repairs more immediately wanted. With any other incident or occurrence respect. The improvements of which the whole is suscep- ing the farm or its occupier, that requires to be tilil,. remembered: and with references to the books The agreements entered into with the tenant and papers which may pertain to the several parti. The permissions granted him. culars; thus having atone view a complete abstract The injunctions delivered to him. of the history and present state of every farm, to- With a hint as to his personal character, and the gether with the particulars of attention which each number and general character of his family. will require. 4o">4. The trouble qfjbrming an abstract of this kind, or of renewing it when filled, or in order to adapt it to the varying circumstances of the several farms, is inconsiderable, compared with its uses, which are not only obvious in theory, but are fully established in practice. On returning to an estate, after twelve months' absence, Marshal has generally found, that, by consulting a register of this sort, and, through its means, making systematic enquiries respecting the incidents that have occurred on the several farms during his absence; he, in this summary way, and before he entered upon a fresh view, became better acquainted not only with the general interests, but with the more ordinary business, of the estate, than the acting manager, who had constantly resided upon it, without such a remembrancer. This abstract or remembrancer, he says, ought not to comprehend tenanted farms only ; but should comprise woodlands, quarries, the demesne, &c. in hand ; as well as the more important improvements going on : each of which ought to have its separate folio assigned it To a proprietor, or his confidential friend, who only goes over his estate occasionally, such an intelligent companion is essentially serviceable. He cannot profit- ably direct, nor safely advise with, an acting manager, or other agent or officer of the estate, until he has consulted so infallible an oracle. The utility of such a register, while a proprietor is absent from his estate, if he can be said to be so, with such a faithful mirror in his possession, is too obvious to require explanation. 465.5. Anions' the instruments necessary for a manager's office, may be included those requisite for sur- veying, mapping, levelling, measuring timber, and every description of country work, together with boring machines, draught measurers, weighing scales, some chemical tests, models, and such other articles as may be required or rendered useful by particular circumstances. 4656. An agricultural library may be considered an essential requisite ; including works on rural archi- tecture, the prices and measuring of work, and other fluctuating matters ; and one of the best encyclo- pedias of universal knowledge. We have already suggested an important use to which such a library might be applied. 4651. Such an establishment and place of business as has been described, we agree with Marshal in thinking, many will consider as in some degree superfluous or extravagant. In many cases we admit it would be so ; but it is impossible to determine what things can be done without, unless a particular case were given. Such a minute register of farms, for example, would be quite ridiculous on an estate in East Lothian, where tenants are of sufficient wealth and respectability of manners to be treated as men ; and not watched and schooled like those which Marshal seems generally to have in view. As tenants of land become enlightened, they will be very differently treated from what in many places they are at present. As a proof of this, we have only to compare one dis- trict of country with another. In East Lothian, Berwickshire, and some other parts of Scotland, the farmers are as intelligent as their landlords; and the transactions which take place between them resemble the transactions which take place between one mer- cantile man and another. In districts where the tenant has little capital, and where he is sunk in ignorance, he ranks with the labourer, and occupies liis farm by a sort of suf- ferance. It is a pity that the ignorance and seclusion of such men do not admit of their comparing their state with that of others possessing no greater capital, but more know- ledge and skill ; it is a pity, we say, for the sake of their children, whom they might thus be induced to educate. Chap. II. Duties of Managers of Estates. 4658. The various duties of the manager, or the proprietor, of a landed estate, may be nsidered under the heads of general business, business with tenants, and auditing considered un accounts, Book IV. LAND STEWARDSHIP. 7C3 Sect. I. General Principles of Business considered relatively to Land-Stewardship. 4659. The Jirst and most general principle, in this and every other department of business, is to embrace readily the several matters as they occur ; and not to put them off from time to time, until they accumulate, and render the task difficult and irksome. The only artifice, it may be said, which a man of character can well employ in business is that of endeavouring to render it pleasurable ; and, by meeting it cheerfully, as it rises, or as it becomes ripe for despatch, this desirable end will generally be attained : for, in that state a man not only enters upon it with pleasure himself, but he will gene- rally find his opponent in the same temper of mind. Whereas, through delay, misun- derstandings, idle tales, and groundless surmises are liable to intervene ; the minds of both to be soured ; a distant coolness to take place between them ; and a barrier to be raised, which, though altogether imaginary, nothing but the mystic wand of the law may be able to remove. 4660. There are three distinct methods of conducting business. The first is that in which the parties meet, with fair intentions, to find out the point of equity, and there to close. In the second, they enter upon business, guarded with cunning, and armed with trick and artifice, as gamblers draw round a table, to take every advantage, fair or other- wise, which they can effect with impunity. The last method lies in the courts of law and equity. 4661. A business founded on honourable intentions is the only one in which a man of honour can volun- tarily appear. Here honest men come, as indifferent persons, to arbitrate the matter in reference. In every settlement between man and man, there is a point of equity and right, which all good men are desirous to find ; and when men of liberal minds fortunately meet and join in the search, it is seldom difficult to be discovered. Should some little difference of opinion arise, let them call in an umpire to decide between them ; or leave the whole to the decision of three capable and disinterested men. 4662. A man of strict integrity may become entangled in business with a man qf looser principles. In this case, it behoves him to be upon his guard ; but still to enter into the negotiation with temper and civility. There is even a politeness in affairs of business which cannot be departed from on any occasion. Interruptions and schisms frequently arise, especially between men who are of keen sensibility, and who (though passably honest) are tenacious of their own interests, from mere matter of punctilio. The mind of either being once soured by neglect, or ruffled by disrespectful behaviour, the smooth path of peaceful negotiation is broken up, a spirit of warfare is roused, and advantages are taken, or attempted, which calm reason would not have suggested. Hence, when men of unequal degree are brought together in business, it is incumbent on the superior to set the example of liberality and civility of demeanour. 4663. In extreme cases there is no resource but the law ; and here the most that an honest man can do is to procure, without loss of time, the best advice ; and to spare no exertion or useful expense in bringing the dangerous and tormenting business to a speedy conclusion. Not only is a man's property endangered, while it is tossed on the troubled sea of the law; but his time and attention are led astray, and his peace of mind is liable to be broken in upon, thus deranging his ordinary concerns, and disturbing the stream of life. How much legal disputation might be prevented by a timely attention to business! 4664. In forming connections in business, select the man who has a character to lose. This principle should be invariably acted on : for if a man of established good cha- racter be properly treated, and determinately closed in with in case he demur or swerve from the right line of conduct, he will not forfeit his good name by doing a disreputable action ; and must therefore come forward to the point of equity and justice. Sect. II. Management of Tenants. 4665. The general treatment of tenants and cottagers may be considered as the most important part of every land-steward's occupation : it includes the mode and conditions of letting lands, and the time and manner of receiving rents. The idea of a landlord or his agents managing his tenants does certainly on the face of it appear an absurdity. The tenant is not more obliged to the landlord than the landlord is to the tenant ; and therefore both parties being on an equality in point of obligation, the one ought not to require or have the power to manage the other. This power is given, however, by the ignorance of one of the parties, and the existing monopoly in favour of the other ; and till these are done away with, by education and political changes, the ignorant part of farmers will always be managed by their landlords. Subsect. 1. Proper Treatment of Tenants. 4666. On every large hereditary estate, there are established customs and usages, to which the proprietor and the occupiers consider themselves mutually amenable, though no legal contracts may subsist between them. Even where imperfect leases, or other legal agreements exist, still there is generally much left for custom and usage to determine. Though some of these may be improper, yet they ought to be strictly observed by its superintendent, until better can be placed in their stead ; not merely on the score of moral justice, but, in the same observance, to set an example of integrity and good faith to the tenants. If a superintendent imprudently break through a custom or a covenant, what can he say to a tenant who follows his example ? 4667. A manager ought to set an example to the tenants under his care of liberality and kindness. This is more especially applicable to the case of cottagers and others who rent small holdings. There are numberless small favours which he can bestow upon them without loss, and many with eventual advantage to the estate. A spirited improv- 764 PRACTICE OF AGRICULTURE. Tart III. ing tenant should be refused nothing that he can reasonably ask ; should have favours voluntarily conferred upon him, not merely as a reward for the services which he indivi- dually is rendering the estate, but to induce its other tenants to follow his example, and to make known to the whole that their conduct is observed, and distinctions made between good and bad managers. 4668. Estates, Hks men, have their good and bad characters. No skilful fanner who has a capital to lose, will take up his residence on an estate of known had character. On the contrary, when once an estate has acquired the character of good faith and proper treatment of it.' tenantry, men of money and spirit will ever he anxious to gain a fooling there. Besides, the character of an estate will ever involve that of its possessor : and, setting income at naught, it surely behoves a man of property to pay some attention to the character of his estates ; for what can well add more to the permanent respectability of a family of rank or fortune, than having its estates occupied by a wealthy and respect- able tenantry ? 4669. In a stale of civilised society and property, one of the great arts cf life is to teach character and interest logo hand in hand, and on ordinary occasions to endeavour to turn every incident, as it Fortuitously occurs, to their mutual advantage. If a tenant of capital and an improving spirit be found upon an estate, give him due encouragement, for the purposes already explained. On the contrary, if another is found to possess re fractory habits, to swerve from his engagements, or to injure the lands in his occupation, it is but common prudence to take the first legal and fair opportunity of dismissing him, and supplying his place with another who is better qualified to fill it; not more with a view of rescuing his particular farm from further injury, and of making an example of him in terror to others of similar habits, than to preserve and heighten the character of the estate. 4670. These remarks ma;/ be considered as applicable chiefly to s?nall tenaiits, or such as from ignorance and want of leases may he considered in a state of bondage. It ought never to he in the power of a landlord to make " an example of a tenant in terror to others ;" it is enough if this power be left to the laws. A tenant who rents a farm on certain conditions, and fulfils them, is, in point of obligation, on an equality with his landlord ; neither is obliged to the other : and while the one does not require those acts of kindness and liberality which Marshal inculcates, the other is not entitled to that submission and slavish deference so common among tenants at will, and indeed most others in England. It is justly observed by Brown [Treat, on Bur. Aff. | that the moral excitement, or degree of encouragement, given to the tenant for improving the ground put under his occupation, is regulated entirely by the terms or conditions of the lease under which he holds possession. If the conditions be liberal and judicious, and accom- modated to the soil and situation of the land thereby demised to the tenant, all that is obligatory upon the proprietor is faithfully discharged. But when matters are otherwise, when the tenant possesses under a short lease, when the covenants or obligations are severe in the first instance and ultimately of little avail towards forwarding improve- ment, it may reasonably be inferred that the connection is improperly constituted, and that little benefit will thence follow either to the public or to the parties concerned. The proper view of a lease k, that it is merely a mercantile transaction reduced to writing, in which both parties are on an equal footing. Subsect. 2. Business of letting Farms. 4671. There are three methods of letting a farm : putting it up to public auction, and taking the highest bidder for a tenant ; receiving written proposals, and accepting the highest offer; and asking more rent for it than it is worth, haggling with different chap- men, and closing with him who promises to give the most money, without regard to his eligibility as a tenant. After a variety of obvious remarks, Marshal concludes, that " seeing in every situation, there is at all times a fair rental value, or market price of lands, as of their products, there appears to be only one rational, and eventually pro- fitahle, method of letting a farm ; and this is, to fix the rent, and choose the tenant. In the choice of a tenant every body knows the requisite qualifications to be, capital, skill, industry, and character. The respective advantages of these qualities are amply developed in The Treatise on Landed Property. Subsect. 3. Different Species of Tenancy. 4672. The different holdings in use in Britain are at will, from year to year, for a term of years, or for a life or lives. 4673. The tenant holding at will, or until the customary notice be given by either party to the other, is without anv legal contract, or written agreement ; the only tie between the owner and the occupier being the custom of the estate or of the country in which it lies, and the common law of the land. This may be considered as the simple holding which succeeded the feudal or copyhold tenure; but which is now fast going into disuse. 4674. Holding from year to year, under a written agreement, with specified covenants, is a more modern Book IV. SPECIES OF TENANCY. 765 usage, and becoming more and more prevalent in some parts of England, and among small tenants, even where leases for a term of years were formerly granted. 4675. Lenses fur a term of years, as seven, fourteen, twenty-one, or a greater number of years certain • but without the power of assignment, unless with the consent of the lessor. 4676. Leases for lives ; as, one, two, three, or more, without the power of assignment In Britain, life leases of this description are now rarely granted. In Wales and Ireland they are still prevalent : the'rent being there settled according to the value of the land at the time of letting ; as on granting a lease for a term. In the western extreme of England, what are termed life leases are still common: but they are rather pledges for money taken up, or deeds of sale for lives, than leases ; for nearly the whole of the esti. mated sale value of the land, during the life term, is paid down at the time of purchase, the seller reserving only a quit rent, or annual acknowledgment. 4677. A lease for a term of years, or for two or more lives, can alone be favourable for the progress of agriculture. A farmer holding at will, or from year to year, may plough, sow, and reap ; but he will, if a prudent man, be very careful not to make improvements, well knowing that the first effect would be a rise of rent or a notice to quit. Leases for a single life have the great disadvantage of uncertainty in duration, both as to landlord and tenant ; and though the latter may insure a certain sum on his life for the benefit of his family, yet it were better that he should lay out that money in improving the farm. Leases on lives, renewable, are for all purposes of culture as good as freehold ; but they have this disadvantage to a tenant, that they require a considerable part of his capital paid down, and a further draught on his capital on the falling in of any of the lives. Even the first of these payments would embarrass the great majority of professional farmers, and disable them from bestowing proper cultivation on the soil ; but to a farmer with a surplus capital no description of lease can be better, as he lays out his surplus capital at the market rate of interest, and is, as it were, his own annuitant. To the landlord such leases cannot be advantageous ; because, there being fewer who can compete for them, lands let on these conditions do not fetch their full price. 4678. The fundamental principle on which both the duration and conditions of leases are established is evidently this : — A agrees to lend to B a certain article for his use for an equivalent in money ; but such is the nature of this article, that, in order to use it with advantage, B must possess it during a considerable time : he, therefore, requires a security from A to that effect ; and A on his part requires a security from B that he will return the article at least in as good condition as when it was lent to him. The term of years for which the article is to be lent, and the precautions taken to insure its return without deterioration, are founded on experience, and vary according to the peculiar cir- cumstances of lender and borrower. In general, however, this is obvious, that where the period of lending is not sufficient for profitable use, or the conditions required for ensuring the lender an undeteriorated return of the article unreasonable, the value of the loan or rent will be proportionably diminished. {Sup. Enc. Brit. art. Agr.) 4679. In recurring to what actually exists in the best cultivated districts, we shall quote the excellent observations of an experienced fanner and approved public writer: — " The general principle which should regulate the connection between landlord and tenant seems to be, that while the farm ought to be restored to the owner at the expiration of the tenant's interest, at least without deterioration, the tenant should be encouraged to render it as productive as possible during his possession. In both of these views, a lease for a term of years is scarcely less necessary for the landlord than for the tenant ; and so much is the public interested in this measure, that it has been proposed by intelligent men, to impose a penal tax on the rent of lands held by tenants at will. 4680. That the value of the property is enhanced by the security which such a lease confers on the tenant will be put beyond all doubt, if the rents of two estates for half a century back are compared ; the one occupied bv tenants at will, and the other by tenants on leases for a moderate term, and where the soil and situation are nearly alike in every respect. If the comparison be made between two tracts originally very different in point of value, the advantages of leases will be still more striking; while that which is held by tenants at will remains nearly stationary, the other is gradually, yet effectually, improved, under the security of leases, bv the tenants' capital ; and, in no long period, the latter takes the lead of the former, both in the amount of the revenue which it yields to the proprietor, and in the quantity of pro- duce which it furnishes for the general consumption. The higher rents and greater produce of some parts of Scotland than of many of the English counties, where the soil, climate, and markets are much more favourable, must be ascribed to the almost universal practice of holding on leases in the former country, in a much greater degree than to any of the causes which have been frequently assigned. Less than a 'century ago, what are now the best cultivated districts of Scotland were very far behind the greater part of England ; and, indeed, had made very little progress from the time of the feudal system. It is not fifty years since the farmers of Scotland were in the practice of going to learn of their southern neighbours an art, which was then very imperfectly known in their own country. But in several parts of England there has been little or no improvement since, while the southern counties of Scotland have uniformly advanced ; and at present exhibit very generally, a happy contrast to their condition in the middle of the last century. . 46S1. Ln respect to farmers themselves, it cannot be necessary to point out the advantages ot leases, it maybe true, that, under the security of the honour of an English landlord, tenants at will have been con- tinued in possession from generation to generation, and acquired wealth which he has never, like tn< landholders of some other countries, attempted to wrest from them. But there are few individuals in any rank of life, who continue for a length of time to sacrifice their just claims on the altar ot pure generosity. Something is almost always expected in return. A portion of revenue in this case is exenangeel tor power, and that power is displayed not only in the habitual degradation of the tenantry, but m the contro over them, which the landlord never fails to exert at the election of members of parliament and on all other political emergencies. No prudent man will ever invest his fortune in the improvement ot another person's property, unless, from the length of his lease, he has a reasonable prospect of being reimbursed e 7»6 PRACTICE OF AGRICULTURE. Part III. with profit ; nml tbe servility which bedding atwill necessarily exacts is altogether incompatible with that spirit hi enterprise which belongs to an enlightened and Independent mind. 1682. Every measure which hat u tendency to fetter the productive powers (if the toll, must deeply affect the public .it large, as well as depress one of the largest and must valuable rlnimrn it is clearly their interest, that euni and Other provisions should he supplied in abundance, and the people Of England ma] justly complain Of the want of leases, as one of the principal Causes which check the improvement hi their own territory. II hat ought to be the term if a /ease can only he determined by a reference to the circumstances of each particular case. Lands naturally rich, or such as have already been hrought to a high degree of fertility, requiring no great investment of capital, ami returning all or nearly all the necessary outlay within the year, may be advantageously held upon short leases, such as perhaps give time lor two, or at most three of the rotations or courses Of crops to which the quality ol the soil is best adapted. The practice ol' England in this respect is extremely various, almost every term, from twenty years down. wards, being Ion ml in different parts of it. In Scotland, hy far the most common period is nineteen years, to which it was formerly the practice, in some plans, to ailil the life of the tenant. In that country, even when it is thought expedient to agree for a much longer term, this is still expressed in periods of nineteen years, a smt ol mysterious cycle, which seems to he no less a favourite with the courts of law than with landholders and fanners. Vet this term is somewhat inconvenient, as it can never correspond with any number of the recognised rotations of arable land. 4ikS+ .f leatefor twenty years, it has been maintained hy several writers, is not sufficient to reimburse a tenant for any considerable improvements, and landholders have often been urged to agree to a much longer term, which, it is alleged, would be not less for their own interest than for that of the tenant. This is a question winch our limits do not permit us to discuss ; but, after viewing it in different lights, assisted by the experience of long leases in different parts of Scotland, we cannot help expressing some doubts of their utility, even in so far only as it regards the parties themselves ; and we are decidedly of opinion, that a greater produce will he brought to market, from any given extent of land held on successive leases of twenty years, lor half a century, than if held on one lease of that duration, whether the term be specified, or indefinite as is the case of a lease for life. As a general mode of tenure, leases for lives seem to US particularly objectionable 4685. 'I'lie great advantages of a lease are so well known in Scotland, that one of her best agricultural writers, himself a landed proprietor, has suggested a method of conferring on it the character of perpetuity, to such an extent as, he thinks, would give ample security to the tenant for every profitable improve- ment, without preventing the landlord from resuming possession upon equitable terms, at the expiration of every specified period. But the author of this plan [Lord Kaimcs), in his ardent wishes for the advance- ment of agriculture, at that time in a very backward state in his native country, seems to have overlooked the difficulties that stood in the way of its adoption ; and the great advance in the price of produce, and consequently in the rate of rents, since his lordship wrote, have long since put an end to the discussion which his proposal excited. For a form of a lease on his plan, the reader may cousult Bell's Treatise on Leases ; and the objections to the plan itself are shortly stated in the supplement to the sixth edition of The (lent/email Fanner, recently published. 4686. Long leases granted upon condition of receiving an advance of rent at the end of a certain number of years have been granted : but covenants of this kind, meant to apply to the circumstances of a distant period, cannot possibly be framed in such a manner as to do equal justice to both parties ; and it ought not to be concealed, that, in every case of a very long lease, the chances are rather more unfavourable to the land- holder than to the farmer. If the price of produce shall continue to rise as it has done, till very lately, for the last forty years, no improvements which a tenant can be expected to execute will compensate the landlord's loss ; and if, on the other hand, prices shall decline, the capital of most tenants must be exhausted in a few years, and the lands will necessarily revert to the proprietor, as has been the case of late in many instances. Hence a landholder, In agreeing to a long lease, can hardly ever assure himself that the obligations on the part of the tenant will he fully discharged throughout its whole term, while the obligations he incurs himself may always be easily enforced. He runs the risk of great loss from a depreciation of money, but can look forward to very little benefit from a depreciation of produce, except for a few years at most. Of this advantage a generous man would seldom avail himself ; and, indeed, in most instances, the advantage must be only imaginary, for it would be over-balanced by the de- terioration of his property." (Sup. Encyc. Brit, art Agr.) 4687. There are various objections made to leases of nineteen or twenty-one years. Some of these are of a feudal and aristocratical nature ; such as the independence it gives the tenants, who may become purse-proud and saucy under the nose of their landlord, &c. A greater objection has arisen from the depreciation of British currency during the last ten years of the eighteenth, and first ten of the nineteenth centuries. Various schemes have been suggested to counteract this evil; but the whole of them are liable to objections, and it may be doubted if it admits of any remedy, except a compromise between the parties. Subsect. 4. Rent and Coveyiants of a Lease. 4688. To avert the evils of fixed money rents, and long leases, both to landlords and tenants, the best mode known at present is the old plan of corn rents. This plan was first revived in 1811, by a pamphlet published in Cupar, which attracted considerable attention, and has led to the adoption in various parts of Scotland, of a mixed mode of paying rents, partly in corn or the price of com, and partly in money. In hilly districts, wool, or the price of wool for an average of years, is sometimes fixed on instead of corn. We shall quote from the same intelligent writer on the duration of leases, his sentiments on corn rents, and subjoin his observations on covenants. 4689. Though the most equitable mode of determining the rent of lands on lease, would be to make it rise and fail with the price of corn; yet a rent paid in corn is liable to serious objections, and can seldom he advisable in a commercial country. It necessarily bears hardest on a tenant when he least able to discharge it. In very bad seasons, his crop may he so scanty, as scarcely to return seed andtheexpenscs of cultivation, and the share which he ought to receive himself, as the profits of his capital, as well as the quantity allotted to the landlord, may not exist at all. Though, in this case, if he pays a money rent, his loss may be considerable, it may be twice or three times greater if the rent is to be paid in corn, or according to the high price of such seasons In less favourable years, which often occur in the variable climate of Britain, a corn rent would, in numerous instances, absorb nearly the whole free or disposable produce, as it is by no means uncommon to find the gross produce of even good land reduced from twenty to litty percent below an average ill particular seasons. And it ought to be considered, in regard to the landlord himself, that his income would thus be doubled or trebled, at a time when all other classes were suffering from scarcity and consequent dearth ; while, in times of plenty and cheapness, he might find it difficult to make his expenses correspond with the great diminution of his receipts. It is of much im. portance to both parties, that the amount of the rent should vary as little as possible from any unforeseen causes, though tenants in general would be perhaps the most injured by such fluctuations. Book IV. RENTS AND COVENANTS OF LEASES. 767 4690. To obviate these and other objections to a corn rent, and to do equal justice at all times to both landlord and tenant, a plan has been lately suggested for converting the corn into money, adopting for its price, not the price of the year for which the rent is payable, but the average price of a certain number of years. The rent, according to this plan, may be calculated every year, by omitting the first year of the series, and adding a new one ; or, it may continue the same for a certain number of years, and then be fixed according to a new average. Let us suppose the lease to be for twenty-one years, the average agreed on being seven years, and the first year's rent, that is, the price of so many quarters of corn, will be calculated from the average price of the crop of that year, and of the six years preceding. If it be meant to take a new average for the second and every succeeding year's rent, all that is necessary is, to strike ofFthe first of these seven years, adding the year for which the rent is payable, and so on during all the years of the lease. But this labour, slight as it is, may be dispensed with, by continuing the rent without variation for the first seven years of the lease according to the average price of the seven years immediately preceding its commencement, and, at the end of this period, fixing a new rent, according to the average price of the seven years just expired, to continue for the next seven years. Thus, in the course of twenty-one years, the rent would be calculated only three times ; and for whatever quantity of corn the parties had agreed, the money payments would be equal to the average price of four- teen years of the lease itself, and of the seven years preceding it ; and the price of the last seven years of the old lease would determine the rent during the first seven years of the new one. 4691. The landlord and tenant could not suffer, it has been thought, either from bad seasons, or any change in the value of the currency, should such a lease as this be extended to several periods of twenty- one years. The quantity of corn to be taken as rent, is the only point that would require to be settled at the commencement of each of those periods ; and though this would no doubt be greater or less, according to the state of the lands at the time, yet it may be expected, that in the twenty-one years preceding, all the tenant's judicious expenditure had been fully replaced. Instead of the twofold difficulty in fixing a rent fcr a long lease, arising from uncertainty as to the quantity of produce, which must depend on the state of improvement, and still more, perhaps, from the variations in the price of that produce; the latter objection is entirely removed by this plan ; and in all cases where land is already brought to a high degree of fertility, the question about the quantity of produce may likewise be dispensed with. 469-2. If the corn-rent plan be applied to leases of nineteen or twenty-one years, the inconvenience result- ing from uncertainty as to the amount of rent, as well as other difficulties which must necessarily attend it, would be as great, perhaps, as any advantages which it holds out to either of the parties. If it be said that a rent, determined by a seven years' average, could not suddenly nor materially alter, this is at once to admit the inutility of the contrivance. The first thing which must strike every practical man is, that corn is not the only produce of a farm, and in most parts of Britain, perhaps not the principal source from which rent is paid ; and there is no authentic record of the prices of butcher meat, wool, cheese, butter, and other articles in everv county to refer to, as there is of corn. This is not the place to enquire whether the price of corn regulates the price of all the other products of land, in a country whose statute books are full of duties, bounties, drawbacks, &c., to say nothing of its internal regulations ; but it is sufficiently evident that, if corn does possess this power, its price operates too slowly on that of other products to serve as a j ust criterion for determining rent on a lease of th is duration. Besides, in the progress of agriculture, new species or varieties of the cerealia themselves are established even in so short a period as twenty-one years, the prices of which may be very different from that of the corn specified in the lease. What security for a full rent, for instance, would it give to a landlord, to make the rent payable according to the price of barley, when the tenant might find it more for his interest to cultivate some of the varieties of summer wheat, lately brought from the Continent ? or, according to the price of a particular variety of oats, when, within a few years, we have seen all the old varieties superseded, throughout extensive dis- tricts, by the introduction of a new one, the potato-oat, which may not be more permanent than those that preceded it ? There can be no impropriety, indeed, in adopting this plan, for ascertaining the rent of land kept always in tillage ; but it would be idle to expect any important benefits from it, during such a lease as we have mentioned. 4693. The corn-rent plan, in the case of much longer leases, will no doubt diminish the evils which we think are inseparable from them, but it cannot possibly reach some of the most considerable. Its utmost effect is to secure to the landholder a rent which shall in all time to come be an adequate rent, according to the state of the lands and the mode of cultivation known at the date of the lease. But it can make no provision that will apply to the enlargement of the gross produce from the future improvement of the lands themselves, or of the disposable produce from the invention of machinery and other plans for econo- mising labour. And the objections just stated, in reference to a lease of twenty-one years, evidently applv much more forcibly to one of two or three times that length. Old corn-rents, though much higher at present than old money-rents, are seldom or never so high as the rents that could now be paid on a lease of twentv-one years. But, independently of these considerations, which more immediately bear upon the interests of the parties themselves ; one insuperable objection to all such leases is, that they pirtake too much of the nature of entails, and depart too far from that commercial character which is most favourable to the investment of capital, and consequently to the greatest increase of land pro. duce. 4694. The most recent opinions on this subject are in favour of a money rent, or of a rent formed partly from the average prices of produce, and partly of money, but somewhat complicated in its arrangement, and therefore not likely to come into general use. There seems, indeed, no essential reason why rents in agriculture should not be regulated on the same general principle as rents in commerce ; and were it not for the extraordinary fluctuation that has taken place in the currency of the country within the last forty years, it is more tha'n probable no such alteration of principle would ever have been thought of. The reader who wishes to enter more at length into this subject, may consult the most recent works on poli- tical economy, and especially iPCulloeh's Principles. He will also find a paper on the subject, of some practical value, in the Quarterly Journal of Agriculture, vol. i. p. 8U9. and vol. ii. p. 126. 4695. Mr. M'Culloch, in the second edition of his Principles of Political Economy, with reference to corn rents, observes, that the disturbing effects of changes in the value of money are averted, at the same time that the effect of those which occur in the cost of producing corn are mitigated. This plan, he adds, is, however, defective, inasmuch as it obliges the tenant to pay more than the fair value of his farm in scarce years ; while, on the other hand, it has the effect of improperly reducing the landlord's rents in years of unusual plenty. A simple device has, however, been fallen upon, which has gone far to reduce these defects : this consists in fixing a maximum and a minimum price, it being declared in the lease that the produce to be paid to the landlord shall be converted into money, according to the current prices of the year j but that, to whatever extent prices may rise above the maximum price fixed in the lease, the landlord shall have no claim for such excess of price. By means of this check, the tenant is prevented from paying any great excess of rent in scarce years. And to prevent, on the other hand, the rent from being improperly reduced in very plentiful years, a minimum price is agreed on by the parties; and it is stipulated that, to whatever extent prices may sink below this limit, the landlord shall be entitled to re- ceive this minimum price for the fixed quantity of produce payable to him. This plan has been intro- duced into some of the best cultivated districts in'the empire, particularly East Lothian and Berwickshire ; and the experience of the estates in which it has been adopted shows that it is as effectual as can well be desired, for the protection of the just rights of both parties, and for securing the progress ot agri- culture. . . c , , 4696. The terms of payment of rent differ a little in different districts and countries Rents, in bcotlnnrt are paid either previously to the first crop being reaped, when they are cMedJorc-renls ; or they are paid 7KS PRACTICE OF AGRICULTURE. Part III. subsequently to the reaping, when they arc termed hack-rents. In England, it is believed that, with a few exceptions in the border counties, bacK-rents are not In use Theeflffect of these rents is, to afford a long credit t<> the tenant ; it is assumed that his means of paying any year's yent are chiefly derived from the sale of thcrrop of that year, and hence he is allowed to reap and sell the Crop, in order to pay the rent : thus, if he enters at V\ hitsunday, 1V">, and at separation of crop lH°!t from the ground, his tir-t year's crop is thai Ol 1830, and his lir-t year's payment is usually made at Martinmas 1830, and Whitsunday I83f. Were be to |>i\ what is termed fore-rent, his first term's payment would he at Martinmas 1829, and his second at Whitsunday 1830; thus completing his fir.st year's rent before his crop had been reaped. Wherever custom his established the system of back-rents, it should not be disturbed; by means of the credit afforded, tenants are enabled to take land with a smaller capital, and to expend those funds in the Impr ov ement Of the farm, Of which they must otherwise have been deprived. It must be thus attended with one or other of two ail vantages to the landlord ; first, by bringing farms more within the reach of the funds nf takers, it excites greater competition; or, secondly, it leaves a fund in hand to the lessee, for the Immediate cultivation of his land. In Scotland this system is attended with no hazard, since landlords have always, in that coimlrv, a security, by means of their legal rights of hypothec, on the crop of the tenant. In the Case Of farms merely pastoral, indeed, the landlord's claims will not be well secured, because a tenant removing at Whitsunday will have left no crop behind to answer for the rent : in farms of this nature, accordingly, rents are stipulated to be paid in advance. {. Even the nature qf the articles raised depends upon the climate. Thus, in many elevated parts, both of England and Scotland, wheat cannot be grown to advantage, and in some of the high-lying dis- tricts of the latter, it has never been attempted. In several of the northern counties, it has been found necessary to sow, instead of the two-rowed bailey, the inferior sort called hear or big ; and oats, from the hardv quality of the grain, are found to be a more certain and more profitable species of corn than any other; while in humid districts peas or beans cannot be safely cultivated, from the periodical wetness of the autumn. On the whole, without great attention to the nature of the climate, no profitable system can be laid down by any occupier of land. 4740. An inferior climate greatly augments the expenses of cultivation ; because a number of horses are required for labour during the short period of the year, when the weather will admit of it, which, at other seasons, area useless burden upon the farm. When to this are joined an uneven surface and an inferior qualitv of soil, arable land is of little value, and yields but a trifling rent. 4741. Exotic plants or animals can only be naturalised in climates with success by paying attention to that whence they were brought, and by endeavouring either to render the one as similar to the other as circumstances will admit of. or to counteract, by judicious management, the deficiencies of the new one 474.. In order to ascertain the nature qf a climate, the farmer, in modern times, has many advantages which his predecessors wished for in vain. The progress of science has given rise to many new instru- ments, which ascertain natural phenomena with a considerable degree of accuracy. It may still be proper to study the appearance of the heavens, and not to despise old proverbs, which often contain much local truth ;"but the vane now points out the quarters whence the winds blow, with all their variations ; the barometer often enables us to foretel the state of the weather that may be expected ; the thermometer ascertains the degree of heat; the hygrometer, the degree of moisture ; the pluviometer, or rain-gauge, the quantity of rain that has fallen during any given period ; and, by keeping exact registers of all these particulars, much useful information may be derived. 'J he influence of different degrees of temperature and humidity, occurring at different times, may likewise be observed, by comparing the leafing, flower- ing, and after-progress of the most common sorts of trees and plants, in different seasons, with the period when the several crops of grain are sown and reaped each year. Sect. II. Soil in respect to farming Lands. 4743. The necessity qf paying attention to the nature and quality of the soil need not be dwelt upon. By ascertaining the qualities it possesses, or by removing its defects, the profits of a fanner may be greatly increased. He must, in general, regulate his measures accordingly, in regard to the rent he is to offer; the capital he is to lay out; the stock he is to keep ; the crops he is to raise ; and the improvements he is to execute. Indeed, such is the importance of the soil, and the necessity of adapting his system to its peculiar properties, that no general system of cultivation can be laid down, unless all the circumstances regarding the nature and situation of the soil and subsoil be knewn ; and such is the force of habit, that it rarely happens that a farmer who has been long accus- tomed to one species of soil will be equally successful in the management of another. From inattention to the nature of soils, many foolish, fruitless, and expensive attempts have been made to introduce different kinds of plants, not at all suited to them ; and manures have often been improperly applied. This ignorance has likewise prevented many from employing the means of improvement, though the expense was trifling, and within their reach. From ignorance also of the means calculated for the proper culti- vation of the different soils, many unsuccessful and pernicious practices have been adopted. Soils may be considered under the following general heads : — Sandy ; gra- velly ; clayey; stoney ; chalky; peaty; alluvial; and loamy, or that species of arti- ficial soil into which the others are generally brought by the effects of manure, and of earthy applications, in the course of long cultivation. 4744. Though sandy soils are not naturally valuable, yet being easily cultivated, and well calculated for sheep, that most profitable species of stock, they are often farmed with considerable advantage; and when of a good quality, and under a regular course of husbandry, they are invaluable. They are easily worked, and at all seasons ; they are cultivated .-t a moderate expense ; are not so liable to injury from the vicis- situdes of the weather; and in general they are deep and retentive of moisture, which secures excellent crops even in the driest summers. 'I he crops raised on sandy soils are numerous, such as turnips, potatoes, carrots, barley, rye, buck-wheat, peas, clover, saintfoin, and other grasses. This species of soil, in genera), has not strength enough for the production of Swedish turnips, beans, wheat, flax, or hemp, in any degree of perfection, without much improvement in its texture, the addition of great quantities of enriching ma- nure, and the nest skilful management. In Norfolk and Suffolk it is found, that poor sandy soils, unfit for any other purpose, will, under saintfoin, produce, alter the first year, about two tons per acre of excellent hay, for several years ; with an after-grass, extremely valuable for weaning and keeping lambs. How much more beneficial than any crops of grain that such soils usually yield ! (Young's Kalend. 123.) 474:). The fertility qf sandy soils is in proportion to the quantity of rain that falls, combined with the frequency of its recurrence. As a proof of this, in the rainy climate of Turin, the most prolific soil has from seventy -seven to eighty per cent, of siliceous earth, and from nine to fourteen of calcareous; whereas in the neighbourhood of Paris, where there is much less rain, the silex is only in the proportion of in :i twenty-six to fifty per cent, in the most fertile parts. 4746. Gravelly sin/s differ materially from sandy, both in their texture and modes of management. They are frequently composed of small soft stones, sometimes of flinty ones; but they often contain granite, limestone, and olher rocky substances, partially, but rot very minutely decomposed. Gravel, being more porous than even sand, is generally a poor, and what is called, a hungry soil, more especially when Ihe parts of which it consists are hard in substance, and rounded in form. Gravelly soils arc easil) exhausted; for the animal and vegetable matters they contain, not being thoroughly i»eor| < rated with the earthy constituent parts of the soil (which are seldom sufficiently abundant for that pur] ose), are more liable to be decomposed by the action of the atmosphere, and carried off by water. 3 U 3 ::i PRACTICE OF AGRICULTURE. Part III. 1717. A gravelly toil, free f i stagnant wati ucfa an additional warmth to the climate, that vegetation it nearly a fortnight earUei tlian where other soils predominate. About Dartford and Black, heath, in Kent, sin li soils produce early green pea*, winter tares, rye, autumnal peas, and occasionally wheat, in great pel lection. 4748. Oravt Uy toil*, ». a wet climate, answer well Ibr potatoes ; in Cornwall, in a sheltered situation, with a command of sea-sand, and of lea-weed, they raise two crops of potatoes in the same year, 47 f. Poor gravelly toUajiui ciftpringi, and those sulphureous, are very unfriendly to vegetation; and are better calculated for wood than foi arable culture. 47. >n. The ttony, thaiey, or tUmeJtrcsh soils of Gloucestershire, and the midland counties of England, are much mixed with small stones, but have more frequently sand, or clay, or calcareous loam, in their composition than gravell) soils, and are therefore generally preferable. 1751. A clayey toil la often of so adhesive ■ nature thai it will hold water like a dish. In a dry summer, Die plough turns it up in greal clods, scarcely to be broken or separated bj the heaviest roller. It requires, therefore, much labour to pui it in a state fit for producing either coi n or grass, and it can only be culti- vated when in a particular state, and in favourable weather. Though it will yield great crops under a proper system of management, yet, being cultivated at a heavy expense, requiring stronger instruments and stouter horses, it is seldom that much profit is obtained, unless when occupied by a judicious and attentive farmer. The best management of clay soils is that of the Lothians. There they are found well calculated for growing crops Of leans wheat, oats, clover, and w inter tares : but are not adapted for barley, unless immediately after a fallow; nor for potatoes, unless under very peculiar management In regard to turnips, they do not usually thrive BO well in clays, as in soils which are more free and open : but it is now ascertained, that the Swedish, and above all the yellow, turnip may be raised in them with advantage ; that the quality is superior ; that if they are taken up early, the sod is not injured ; and that there is no difficulty in preserving them. Clays become good meadow-lands, and answer well for hay, or soiling, when in grass; but from their aptitude to be poached, they are, in general, unfit to be fed by heavy cattle in wet weather. In dry seasons the after-grass may be used to feed neat cattle till October, and sheep till March. A stiff clay, when not cold or wet, with a strong marl under it, is preferred in Cheshire and Derbyshire for the dairy. 47."i.'. On reclaimed peat-bogs, oats, rye, beans, potatoes, turnips, carrots, cole-seed, and white and red clover, maybe cultivated. Wheat and barley have succeeded on such lands, after they have been supplied with abundance of calcareous earth ; and the tiorin grass (jfgrostis stolonifera) seems likewise to be well adapted to that description of soil in a warm climate. In Leicestershire, and other counties, they have great tracts of meadow-land ; these are, in many instances, the sites of lakes filled up, and the soil is com- posed of peat and sediment; the peat originally formed by aquatic vegetation, and the sediment brought down by rains and streams from the upland. This soil is admirably calculated lor grass. 4753. The fens in Cambridgeshire, Lincolnshire, and several other districts in England, consist of peat and sediment. 4754. Chalky soils principally consist of calcareous matter mixed with various substances, in greater or less proportions. When' clayey or earthy substances are to be found in such soils in considerable quanti- ties, the composition is heavy and productive; where sand or gravel abounds, it is slight, and rather unfertile. The crops chiefly cultivated on chalky soils are peas, turnips, barley, clover, and wheat ; and, however much the soil is exhausted, it will produce saintfoin. 475.». Chalky soils arc in general fitter far tillage than for grazing ; for, without the plough, the pecu- liar advantages derived from this soil by saintfoin could not be obtained. The plough, however, ought not to extend to those fine chalky downs (called ewe leases in Dorsetshire^, which, by a very attentive man- agement during a number of years, have been brought to a considerable degree of fertility as grazing land, and which are so useful to sheep in the winter season. A chalky soil that has been in tillage permits water to pass through it so freely in winter, and is so pervious to the sun's rays in summer, that it is the work of an age to make it a good pasture of natural grasses, more especially when the chalk lies near the surface. Hence, in the western counties of England, several thousands of acres of this soil, though not ploughed for thirty years, have scarcely any grass of tolerable quality upon them, and are literally worth nothing. Such soils ought to be laid down with saintfoin. 47;'iii. Alluvial soils are of two sorts ; one derived from the sediment of fresh, and the other from that of salt water. Along the sides of rivers, and other considerable streams, water. formed soils are to be met with, consisting of the decomposed matter of decayed vegetables, with the sediment of streams. They are in genera! deep and fertile, and not apt to be injured by rain, as they usually lie on a bed of open gravel. They are commonly employed as meadows, from the hazard of crops of grain being injured or carried off by Hoods. 4737. Alluvial soils, arising from the opera/ions of sail water, called salt marshes in England, carses in Scotland, and polders in Holland and Flanders, are composed of the finest parts of natural clay, washed off by running water, and deposited on flat giound, on the shores of estuaries, where they are formed by the reflux of the tide, and enriched with marine productions. They generally have a rich level surface, and being deep in the staple, they are well adapted for the culture of the most valuable crops. Hence wheat, barley, oats, and clover are all of them productive on this species of soil ; which is likewise pecu- liarly well calculated for beans, as the tap-root pushes vigorously through it, and finds its nourishment at a great depth. From the great mass of excellent soil, the fertility of these tracts is nearly inexhaustible; but, from their low and damp situations, they are not easily managed. Lime, in considerable quantities, is found to answer well upon this species of soil. 4758. The lam loamy soil is applied to such as are moderately cohesive, less tenacious than clay, and more so than sand. Loams are the most desirable of all soils to occupy. They are friable ; can in general be cultivated at almost any season of the year ; are ploughed with greater facility, and less strength than clay ; bear better the vicissitudes of the seasons ; and seldom require any change in the rotation adopted. Above all, they are peculiarly well adapted for the convertible husbandry ; for they can be changed, not only without injury, but generally with benefit, from grass to tillage, and from tillage to grass. 4759. As to the comparative value of soil, it lias been justly remarked, that too much can hardly be paid for a good soil, and that even a low rent will not make a poor one profitable. The labour of cultivating a rich and a poor soil is nearly the same; while the latter requires more manure, and consequently is more expensive. Poor soils, at the same time, may have such a command of lasting manures, as lime or marl, or even of temporary sorts, like sea-weed, or the refuse of fish, as may render them profitable to cultivate. It is a wise maxim in husbandry, that the soil, like the cattle by which it is cultivated, should always be kept up in good condition, and never suffered to fall below the work it may be expected to perform. Sect. III. Subsoil relatively to the Choice 'fa Farm. 47t)0. On the nature of the under stratum depends much of the value of the surface soil. On various accounts its properties merit particular attention. By examining the Book V. ELEVATION OF FARM LANDS. 77S subsoil, information may be obtained in regard to tlie soil itself; for the materials of the latter are often similar to those which enter largely into the composition of the former, though the substances in the soil are necessarily altered, by various mixtures, in the course of cultivation. The subsoil may be of use to the soil, by supplying its defi- ciencies and correcting its defects. The hazard and expense of cultivating the surface are often considerably augmented by defects in the under-stratum, but which, in some cases, may be remedied. Disorders in the roots of plants are generally owing to a wet or noxious subsoil. Subsoils are retentive or porous. 4761. Retentive subsoils consist of clay, or marl, or of stone beds of various kinds. A retentive clayey subsoil is in general found to be highly injurious. The surface soil is soaked with water, is ploughed with difficulty, and is usually in a bad condition for the exertion of its vegetative powers, until the cold slug- gish moisture of the winter be exhaled. By the water being retained in the upper soil, the putrefactive process is interrupted, and manures are restrained from operating, consequently the plants make but little progress. Hence, its grain is of inferior quality, and when in grass its herbage is coarse. 4762. A stony subsoil, when in a position approaching to the horizontal, is in general prejudicial, and, if the surface-soil be thin, usually occasions barrenness, unless the rock should be limestone; and then the soil, though thin, can easily be converted into healthy pastures, and, in favourable seasons, will feed a heavy stock. They will also produce good crops of corn, though subject to the wire-worm. also produce good crops of corn, though subject to the wire- worm. 4763. A porous subsoil is uniformly attended with this advantage, that by its means all superfluous moisture may be absorbed. Below clay, and all the variety of loams, an open subsoil is particularly desirable. It is favourable to all the operations of husbandry; it tends to correct the imperfections of too great a degree of absorbent power in the soil above ; it promotes the beneficial effects of manures ; it contributes to the preservation and growth of the seeds ; and ensures the future prosperity of the plants. Hence it is, that a thinner soil, with a favourable subsoil, will produce better crops than a more fertile one incumbent on wet clay, or on cold and non-absorbent rock. Lands whose substratum consists of clean gravel or sand can bear little sun, owing to their not having the capacity of retaining moisture, and their generally possessing only a shallow surface of vegetable mould. In England this soil was formerly called rye-land, being more generally cropped with that species of grain than any other. When such soils are cultivated for barley, they should be sown early and thick, with seed soaked forty-eight hours in water or in the exudation from a dung-heap. Thus its simultaneous germination and its simultaneous ripening may be secured. Sect. IV. Elevation of Lands relatively to Farjning. 4764. The elevation of lands above the level of the sea has a material influence on the kind and quality of their produce. Land in the same parallel of latitude, other circum- stance being nearly similar, is always more valuable in proportion to the comparative lowness of its situation. 4765. In the higher districts the herbage is less succulent and nourishing, and the reproduction slower when the land is in grass; while the grain is less plump, runs more to straw, is less perfectly ripened, and the harvest is also later when the produce is corn. It has been calculated that in Great Britain sixty yards of elevation in the land are equal to a degree of latitude ; or, in other words, that sixty yards perpendicularly higher, are, in respect of climate, equal to a degree more to the north. In considering the crops to be raised in any particular farm, attention ought therefore to be paid to its height above the level of the sea, as well as to its latitude. In latitude 54° and 55°, an elevation of 500 feet above that level is the greatest height at which wheat can be cul- tivated with any probable chance of profit ; and even there the grain will prove very light, and will often be a month later in ripening than if sown at the foot of the hills. 4766. The usual maximum of elevation may be reckoned between 600 and 800 feet for the more common sorts of grain ; and in backward seasons the produce will be of small value, and sometimes will yield nothing but straw. It is proper, at the same time, to remark, that in the second class of mountains in the county of Wicklow, in Ireland, where no other grain is considered to be a safe crop, rye is cultivated with success. 'Where the soil is calcareous, however, as on the Gloucestershire and Yorkshire wolds, from the superior warmth of that species of soil, compared to cold clays or peat, barley grows in great perfection at an elevation of SCO feet above the level of the sea. Some experiments have been made to raise corn crops, at even a higher elevation, on the celebrated mountain Skiddaw, in Cumberland, but unsuccessfully. 4767. The greatest height t:t which corn trill grow, in the more remote parts of Scotland, so as to yield any profit to the husbandman, is stated to be at 500 feet above the level of the sea. At the same time corn has been produced, in other districts of that country, at still higher elevations, in particular at the following places : — Fat ahem the ha d Feet above the Level cjthe Sea. rfL'ie Sea. Parish of Hume, in Roxburghshire - 600 Doubruch, in Braemar, Aberdeenshire 1294 Upper Ward of Lanarkshire - - 760 Lead-hills, in Lanarkshire - 1564 4768. These and other instances of land being cultivated on high elevations, however, are merely small spots, richly manured, and, after all, producing nothing but crops of inferior barley and oats, and seldom fully ripe or successfully harvested. It is chiefly where the soil is sandy or gravelly, that corn will answer in Scotland on such elevated situations ; and even then, only when the seasons are propitious, and when there are local advantages, favourable to warmth and shelter, in the situation of the lands. Sf.ct. V. Character of Sin face in regard to farming Lands. 47Gf>. A hiily irregular surface, whether at a high or low elevation above the sea, is unfavourable to fanning. The labour of ploughing, carrying home produce, and carrying out manure, is greatly increased; while the soil on the summit of steep hills, mounts, or declivities, is unavoidably deteriorated. On the sides of slopes the finer parts of the clay and mould are washed away, while the sand and gravel remain. Hence the soil in such :; D 4 " 77i, PRACTICE OF AGRICULTURE. Pa a* III. districts often wants a propei degree of tenacity for supporting corn crops. A great part of the manure thai Is applied in such situations is Likewise soon lost. From various causes, also, they are colder than the plains. 4770. Many extensive countries have no perceptible rise. These have their advantages from uniformity of soil, where it is rich. In other districts, the surface is of a waving description, an inequality which Contributes much to the ornament of the country, by the agreeable relief which the eye constantly meets with in the change of objects ; while the universal declivity which prevails more or less iu every held is favourable to the cul- ture of the land, by allowing a ready descent to any water with which the surface may be encumbered. Sect. VI. slspect in regard to farming Lands. 4771. Aspect, in hilly or mountainous districts, is an important subject of attention to the farmer ; more especially where the climate is unfavourable. It is proved in a variety of instances, both in the central highlands of Scotland, and in other parts of the king- dom, that where the aspect of a hill is towards the north, the soil is more fertile than when it lies with a southern exposure. This is attributed to the variations from frost to thaw in the spring months, which are greater in a southern than in a northern aspect. Hence, while the soil to the north remains locked fast, and secured from waste, the Other is loosened by the sun, and carried off by showers falling in the intervals of thaw. 4772. Soils which face the south are more liable to have their substance carried away by heavy rains, which are generally impelled from the south and south-west. But though the soil to the north often produces the heaviest crops of grass and hay, yet from pos- sessing a more genial climate, and from the earlier and more powerful action of the sun, both corn and grass are harvested earlier on land which has a southern than on that which has a northern aspect ; and superiority of quality thus compensates for any inferiority in the quantity of the produce. Sect. VII. Situation of Farm Lands in regard to Markets. 4773. No farming can go on without markets. The system of farming to be adopted on any particular farm, and the expense attending it, must materially depend on its situ- ation in regard to markets ; to the facility with which its produce can be conveyed, where a contiguous market is wanting ; to vicinity to manure, to fuel, and to water. 4774. The advantages resulting from vicinity to a market, or to a large town, by which that is insured, are very great. Some crops, as those of potatoes, turnips, anil clover, are frequently sold on the ground, without any farther trouble or expense to the farmer ; and great quantities of manure may be purchased at a moderate expense. In such situations also there is a ready sale for every article the farm can produce ; and the articles sold are not only brought to market at a small expense, but the payment is im- mediate. For all these reasons, it is contended, and apparently with justice, that the neighbourhood of a capital is the most profitable spot to farm in, notwithstanding the high rent of land, and the great expense of labour. 4775. Where markets are not at hand, the farmer ought to take into consideration what articles will best suit those :it a distance to which bis produce must be sent. In such a situation, unless there are facilities for the conveyance of so bulky an article as corn by good roads, or by water-carriage, it is ad- visable, instead of cultivating grain, to attend either to the dairy husbandry, or to the breeding of stock which can be fattened in other districts where good markets are more numerous. This plan, by which the dairv, the breeding, and the fattening of stock, are made distinct professions, is highly beneficial to the country at large. Stock can be reared cheaper in remote districts than where land is dear and labour high. On the other hand, the purchaser of lean stock avoids the expense and risk of breeding great numbers of animals. His attention is not distracted by a multiplicity of objects ; he can alter his system from cattle to sheep, or from sheep to cattle, as is likely to be most profitable ; his business is simplified, and the capital lie lays out is speedily returned. The division of professions between breeding and feeding (though they may be united in circumstances peculiarly favourable), is on the whole a most im- portant link in the progress of agricultural prosperity. 4776. In regard to facility of conveyance, the state of public roads, bridges, iron rail-ways, canals, rivers rendered navigable, and harbours, deserves the consideration of the farmer, and will most materially influence the value of produce. 4777. The situation of the farm in regard to manures, for an easy access to lime, chalk, marl, sea-weed, ,s;c. is of essential advantage to cultivation. The price at which these articles can be purchased, their quality, th ir distance, and expense of conveyance, are likewise of importance. Farms, for example, possessing the advantage of sea weed contiguous and in abundance, can pay from fifteen to twenty per cent, more rent per acre than otherwise could be afforded. ■177 B, Vicinity to fuel in the cold and moist regions of Europe are important considerations to the farmer. In the same county, even in England, the difference of expense is often material. In the Hebrides, from the moistness of the climate, the expense of fuel is reckoned equal to a third part of the rent of the iand ; and farmers who pay. in some cases, ISO/, per annum, would give 2007. if the landlord would supply them and their servants with fuel. 477''. Where a farmer is under the necessity of using neat, from the labour attending the cutting, spreading, drying, and conveying it from a distance, several weeks uf his horses and servants are devoted to that <.r>lc purpnse: and much valuable time is lost, which ought to have been employed in the culti- vation of his farm. It has been well remarked, that many tanners, to save five guineas on coal, often expend twenty, iu thus misapplying the labour of their horses. 4780. Where wood is used, it occupies a great deal of ground that might often be cultivated to advan- tage, and it is not of a lasting quality. Coal is preferable, for general purposes, to every other species of fuel; and besides Its domesl c application, its superiority lor burning lime, that important source of fertility, or calcareous clay, also i>l much value to the farmer, is an object of great moment. The tenant, therefore, who resides in the neighbourhood of coal, more especially if limestone or calcareous substances are at no great distance, farms at less expense, c in afford to pay a higher rent, and may derive more profit from the land he cultivates, than if in these respects he were differently circumstanced. Book V. EXTENT, TENURE, AND RENT OF FARM LANDS. 777 Sect. VIII. Extent of Land suitable fur a Farm. 4781. Theertcnt of ground which a farmer proposes to occupy demands due consideration. If it be beyond liis capital to cultivate or improve, he can derive no profit by takin" it. On the other hand, a small occupation may not be worthy of his attention. 4782. Farms as to size may be divided into three sorts : small farms under 100 acres • moderate-sized farms, from 100 to 200 acres ; large farms, from 200 to 1000 acres, and upwards, of land fit for cultivation. The expense of labour is now so great, and the rent of laud so high, that the profits of a small farm are not sufficient, with the utmost frugality, or even parsimony, to maintain a family with comfort. 4783. Moderate-sized farms are well calculated for the dairv svstem, for the neighbourhood of large towns, and where capital is not abundant There are few trades in which a small capital can be employed to a greater advantage than in a dairy farm, yet there is no branch of agriculture where such constant and unremitting attention is required. That is not to be expected from hired servants ; but it is in the power ot the wile and daughters of the farmer to perform, or at any rate to superintend, the whole business and without their aid it cannot be rendered productive. 4784. Moderate-sized farms are general in the neighbourhood of towns. This necessarily results from the high rents paid in such situations ; the shortness of the leases usually granted of land' near towns ■ and the necessity the farmer is under of selling, in small quantities, the articles produced on his farm! On this subject it has been remarked, that farmers in the vicinity of large towns resemble retail shop^ keepers, whose attention must be directed to small objects, by w"hich a great deal of monev is got, the greater part of which would be lost, without the most unremitting attention. The farmer at a distance from markets, who cultivates on a great scale, may be compared, on the other hand, to a wholesale trader, who, as his profits are less, requires a greater extent of land, for the purpose both of engaging his attenl tion, and of enabling him to support that station of life in which he is placed. There is this difference also between farmers in the neighbourhood of towns, and those who reside at a distance from them, that the former rind it more profitable to sell their produce, even such bulkv articles as turnips, potatoes clover, hay, and straw, than to fatten cattle for the butcher ; and they are enabled to do so, without injury to their tarms, as they can procure dung in return. 4785. Farms of the largest size differ in respect to the capital required. A mountain breeding farm of acres will not require more to stock it than an arable farm of 500 acres, and much less expense of labour to carry it on. In all cases the safe side for the farmer to lean to, is to prefer a farm rather under than exceeding his capital : and let him consider well beforehand whether he is going to commence a retail farmer for daily markets, or a manufacturer of produce on a large and ample scale ; for the spirit attention, and style of living of the one differs materially from that of the other. —The subiect of this' section and the two following having been treated in a general way as between landlord and tenant in the preceding chapter, will be here only briefly noticed as on the part of the tenant Sect. IX. Tenure on which Lands are held for Farming. 478*7. Perpetual tenures, or absolute property in land, can never come into considera- tion with a farmer looking out for a farm. A proprietor cultivating his own property cannot, in correct language, be said to be a farmer ; for to constitute the latter an essential requisite is the payment of rent. 47s7. The lenses on which lands are let for farming are for various terms, and with very different cove- nants. The shortest lease is from year to year, which, unless in the case of grass lands in the highest order, and of the richest quality, or under some other very peculiar circumstances, no prudent man, w hose oliji-ct was to make the most of his skill and capital, would accept of. Even leases for seven or ten years are too short for general purposes ; a period of fourteen or fifteen years seems to be the shortest for arable lands, so as to admit of the tenant paying a full rent; but fouiteenyears, when the lands to be entered on are in bad condition, are too few, and twenty-one years much better for the true interests of both parties. In farming, however, as in every other occupation where there are more skill and capital in want of em. ployment than can find subjects to work on, farms will be taken under circumstances, both in regard to leases and rent, that are highly unfavourable to the farmer ; and if they do not end in his ruin will keep him always poor, and probably not only pay less interest for his capital than any other way in which he could have employed it, but aiso infringe on its amount. The rapid depreciation of currency which took place in Britain during the wars against the French deceived many farmers, and flattered them for a time with the gradual rise of markets year after year. However high land might be taken at the commence- ment of a lease, it was always considered a consolation that it would be a bargain by the time it was half done ; and that the farmer's fortune would be made during the last few years of its endurance. When the currency of Britain was permitted to find its level w ith that of other countries, the delusion ceased, and the majority of farmers were partially or wholly ruined. 47SS. In regard to the covenants of a lease, it is necessary that there should be such in everyone as shall protect both landlord and tenant Certain general covenants in regard to repairs, renewals if necessary, timber, minerals, entry and exit crops, are common to all leases. Regulations as to manure are required where hay and straw, and other crops, are sold not to be consumed on the farm. Water meadows, rich old grass lands, copse woods, hop grounds, orchards, &c. require special covenants. Fewest covenants are required for a mountain breeding farm; and in all cases there should be a clause entitling the tenant to an appeal, \c, and a hearing from the landlord, and perhaps a jury of landlords or agents and farmers, against covenants as to cropping, repair, or renewals, which may, from extraordinary circumstances, press particularly heavy on the tenant. 47S9. The power of the landlord to grant a tease, with liberal conditions, mav in some cases be required to be ascertained by the tenant ; and in Scotland, where it is illegal to sublet a farm unless a clause to that effect has been inserted in the original lease, a farmer may cease to be the master of his own property, unless he has taken care to see that clause inserted. In England, for the most part, subletting a farm ;s no more prohibited than subletting a dwelling-house or a shop. When the laws of countries shall come to be founded on equity, this will be the case every where. At present they almost every where lean to the side of the powerful party, the landlord. In the progress of things it could not be otherwise. Sect. X. Rent. 4790. The rent of land, in a general point of view, must always depend on a variety of circumstances ; as the wealth of the country ; its population ; the price of produce ; the amount of public and other burdens ; the distance from markets ; the means of con- veyance ; the competition among farmers ; and other less important considerations : but the rent of any particular farm must be regulated by the nature of the soil ; the duration 773 PRACTICE OF AGRICULTURE. Taut Til. of the tenure, and the covenants contained in the lease ; tl>e capital to be invested by the fanner in its culture ; and the expenses to which he is liable. 1791 The rent <•> pom land cannol possibly be the ume as In the case of fertile lands. The labour of ploughing, harrowing, towing, &c , when the land i- in cultivation, is nearly * I » « ■ same, and yet tin- inn. luce i, [reatly inferior, not onlj In quantity, bul in quality. Indeed, where the produce la Inconsiderable, or thi quality much inferior, the whole. or nearly the whole, maj be swallowed up by the expense of labour, ami no rent whatever can be afforded, more especially In advi rse seasons. •17''.'. The duration of the tenure most have a considerable effect in fixing the rent. No farmer can afTonl to pay the same ium for land on a ihort u if he held it on a long lea.se. The covenants, also, winch are m fact a ipeciei "i rent, must influence tin- money payments. 4793 Rent mutt alto depend on the capital invested in the cultivation of the farm. Thus, if a farmer ran lav out only 1/. of capital per acre, ne may not be able to afford for it a higher rent than ins. per acre ; If lie lays out ',/. lie may pay 14* ; ami with a capital of lb/, per acre, he may be enabled to pay 18s. or 2UI. of rent. 1791 The proportion of product which should he paid as rent, is a question that has long been Considered a- abstruse, mysterious, ami very difficult to resolve Some have suppose,! that one fifth w.is a reasonable proportion, while others contend for a fourth, or even a third part ..I' the produce of arable land Hut all former calculations on this subject are rendered fallacious by the effects of modern Improvements. The rent ought certainly to depend upon the amount of the disposable produce; ami that produce m grain is greatly augmented, 'both by a diminution of the consumption on the farm, effected by Improved implements, and a more correct arrangement of labour, and likewise a better culti- vation of the land in tillage. Hence, while the price of wheat has greatly advanced during the last twenty years, above the average pi ice of the preceding twenty, the rent of land lias not only risen, but in a higher proportion. More grain, and that of a better quality, has been produced on the same extent of land, and a greater amount of disposable surplus ha- gone to market. Out of this surplus disposable pro- duce, it is evident that the rent must be paid. Hut it is difficult to divide its amount between the landlord and tenant, as so much depends upon the seasons, and on the prices of the different articles which the farm produces. In bad seasons also, every deficiency of produce, in the acres set apart for supporting home population, inn -t be made up from the disposable surplus ; nor is it possible to apply the same rules to all situations, snds, and climates, in all the various districts of an extensive country. It may be proper, however, to give some general idea of the proportion of produce paid as rent in Scotland and in England. 4795. In Scotland, the following table states what is considered to he a fair proportion, wdiere the land is cultivated. One of the must scientific agricultural writers, and, at the same time, one who has had much experience in farming, informs us that " this table is a statement of Sir John Sinclair, who wishes to subject every thing to petty regulation ; and that there is no such proportion recognised in Scotland:" — Per acre. Where land produces 10/. 10s. per acre per annum, one third, or - - -£3 11 Where land produces (>/. 12s. per acre per annum, one fourth, or - - - 1 IS Where land produces only 4/. 5*. per acre per annum, one fifth, or - - - 17 4796. in regard to grazing farms, they are let on principles totally different from the arable; namely, according to the quantity of stock they can maintain ; and as they are not liable to the same expense of management, both the landlord and the tenant receive larger shares of the produce than in the case of arable farms. 4797. In England, the tenant is allowed, on arable land, what is considered to be one moiety of the surplus, after defraying the expenses of cultivation, the taxes to which he is liable, and every other out- going. Hay land requires much less of his attention ; and for this he only obtains one third of the surplus. Hut the profits of grazing depending much on superior judgment in buying and selling stock, as well as skill in preventing or curing their diseases, the grazier is entitled to a share of the surplus, fully equal to that of his landlord. It has been contended, as a general principle, that as both the expense of cultivating land, and the value of its produce, are infinitely various, a farmer ought to calculate what profit he can make on his whole farm, without entering into details ; it being of little consequence to him whether he pays at the rate of 1(1/. or 10*. per acre, provided he makes an adequate interest on the capital invested. That is certainly a fair criterion on which a tenant may calculate what he ought to offer; but a landlord, in estimating the rent he ought to insist on, will necessarily take into his consideration the produce that his land is capable of yielding, and what proportion of it, or of its value, at a fair average, he has reason to expect, under all the circumstances of the case. 1798. Tithe. In Scotland (here is no tithe. In England, compositions for tithes are computed as six is to twenty-two ; so is the composition for tithe to the rent : so that land averaging 10/. 10s. per acre would, according to Sir John Sinclair's calculation, he charged for Kent .. . - . . £2 11 7J Composition for tithe - - - - 19 4$ £3 11 4799. What the profits are to which a farmer is entitled, is a question much disputed. The proper answer is simply tiiis : — The common profits of capital invested in other commercial undertakings. As the subject, however, will bear talking about, let us hear what is said in the Code on this subject. On the one hand it is contended, that the produce of land is of such universal and absolute necessity to the existence of mankind, that it is not reasonable it should yield to him who raises it more than a fair profit. On the other hand it is urged, that a fanner is entitled to he fully recompensed for the application of a considerable capital, exposed to the uncertainty of the seasons, when it is managed with economy, and conducted with industry and skill ; and it has also been observed, that it is seldom more money is got by farming thin an adequate interest for the capital invested. This is owing to competition, the articles produced being in numberless hands, who must bring them to market ; and necessity, the goods of the fanner being in general of a p vi-liable nature, on the sale of which he depends for the payments he has to make, and the subsistence of Ins family. To prove how moderate the profits of farming in general are, it appears from the most careful enquiries, that on arable farms they rarely exceed from ten to fifteen per cent, on the capital invested, which is little enough, considering that few employments are more subject to casualties than farming, or require more uniform attention. Some arable farmers, possessed of supe rior skill and energy, and who hai e got leases on reasonable terms, may clear from fifteen to twenty per cent.; while other-, who are deficient in these qualities, or pay too high rents, frequently become in. solvent. Certain it is, that the gri it majority Of farmers merely contrive to live and bring up their families j adding little or nothing to their capital, but that nominal addition winch takes place in conse- quence of the depreciation oi thecurrencj /;/ graang farms the case is different ; as they are attended with less expense of labour, and pro. duce articles of a more luxurious description, for which a higher price will he given. Hence, in such farms, fifteen per cent, and upwards is not unusual. Besides, the grazier is more of a trader than the mere arable farmer ; is frequently buying as well as selling stock ; and sometimes makes money by judi- cious speculations, though occasionally, from a sudden fall of stock, his losses are considerable. The grazier who breeds superior stock, ami thence incurs great expense, is certainly well entitled to more than corns an profit for his skill and attention. Book V. TAXES, ETC., AFFECTING THE FARMER. 779 4801. Fur the mode in which rent should be paid, and iite terms of payment, we refer to the succeeding B>ok. Sect. XI. Taxes and other Burdens which affect the Farmer. 4802. Farmers are subjected to the payment of various taxes besides the rent paid to the landlord; some of them imposed for local purposes, and others for the general expenses of the state. The real amount of such burdens every careful tenant ought accurately to know before he bargains for his lease. They may be classed under the following heads : parochial, national, and miscellaneous. 4803. Parochial tares are for the support of the clergyman, for the maintenance of the poor, and, in Scotland, for providing a parochial schoolmaster. The mode of supporting the clergy in England, by paying them a tenth part of the produce of the land in kind, is highly injurious to agriculture, and a bar to improvement. It is a great bar to improvement, because an improving farmer, one more enlightened or more spirited than his neighbours, would pay more tithe by means of bis outlay and his exertions, but it is not certain that he would likewise receive more profit. The produce would be more, but the expense would be greater. Nothing can be more obnoxious than a law by which, when a person expends a large sum, either in reclaiming wastes, or augmenting the fertility of laud already cultivated, he should be under the necessity of yielding up one tenth of its produce to a person who has been liable to no share of the expense, who has run none of the risk, and who has sustained none of the labour attending the improvement. A commutation of tithe, therefore, instead of its being exacted in kind, would be one of the greatest benefits that could be conferred on agriculture ; and there is not the lea-t difficulty in effect- ing it, by giving to the tithe-owner either a proportion of the land, or by converting the tithe into a perpetual corn rent. Both these plans have been adopted in a variety of cases, by local acts in England, and they ought now to be enforced as a general system. 4S04. An assessment for the maintenance of the poor is another parochial burden, which is annually increasing, and which, if not speedily regulated upon proper principles, will inevitably absorb a very large proportion of rent in England. Indeed, there are instances where, between the years ]81:> and 1822, it has absorbed the whole. This tax is the most dangerous of all for the farmer, on account of its fluctu- ation ; and, indeed, it may be said that it never falls, but continually rises. During infancy, in sickness, and in old age, assistance may be necessary; but, as Malthus justly observes, the poor-laws hold out support to the vicious and idle, at the expense of the prudent and the industrious. These payments also destroy the spirit of independence, and those ideas of honest pride which stimulate a man to use his utmost exertions in support of himself and his family ; and, on its present footing, the boon is administered by the parish officers with caution and reluctance, and received by the poor with dissatisfaction and ingratitude. 4805. The tithes and the poor-rates are charges upon the land, and in fact come from the landlord's pocket rather than from the tenant's ; but in their operation are often oppressive to the tenant, by rising in the course of the lease much higher than they were at the commencement ; and as a farmer's rent is always considered by the overseer to be his income, he is charged on that ; while the tradesman, who realises three times the amount, is only charged to the poor on the amount of rent of his house. 480t3 In Scotland, the pour are in general maintained by voluntary contributions ; but when these are not found to be sufficient, the proprietors of the parish, with the clergyman and vestry, or kirk-session, are directed to make a list of the indigent persons in the parish, and then to impose an assessment for their relief, one half to be paid by the proprietors, and the other half by the tenantry. 4807. The national burdens in general, as the duties on houses and windows, and other assessed taxes, or assessments for the support of militiamen's wives and families, for the conveyance of vagrants, or the prosecution of felons, fall no heavier upon the farmer than upon other classes of the community. 4808. There are various miscellaneous burdens affecting the farmer, as statute assessments lor bridges, which are of such public utility, that moderate rates for their maintenance, properly applied, cannot be objected to: statute labour on the highways; constable dues, which are seldom of much moment; charges of the churchwardens, including the repairs of the church ; and in some populous parishes, there is sometimes a burial-ground tax. All these are paid by the occupiers. In some places, also, there is a sewer tax, chargeable on the landlords, where it is not otherwise settled by express contract. 4809. The vexations to which farmers in England are subjected, from various uncertain burdens, operate as a premium to Scottish agriculture. It is ingeniously and justly remarked, that physical circumstances are much more favourable to agriculture in England than in her sister country ; but these advantages are counteracted by the accumulation of moral evils, which might be removed if the legislature were to bestow on matters connected with the internal improvement of the country, and the means for promoting it, a portion of that attention which it so frequently gives to the amelioration or improvement of our foreign possessions. It ought to have been the business of the late Board of Agriculture to endeavour to prevail on the legislature to relieve agriculture from its moral and political evils ; but, instead of this, they set about procuring and distributing statistical and professional information, comparatively of very interior utility ; and after receiving from government nearly50,0u(V , or, for any thing we know, more, left agricul- ture where they found it. Even in the particular line which the Board adopted, Marshall was a much more effectual instrument of agricultural improvement. Sect. XII. Other Particulars requiring a Farmers Attention, with a View to the Renting erf Land. 4S10. A variety of 'miscellaneous pat liculars require consideration before a prudent farmer will finally resolve to undertake the cultivation of a farm; as, the nature of the property on which the farm is situated ; in particular, whether the estate is entailed, and to what extent the possessor of the estate is authorised to grant a lease ; the character of the landlord, and, in case of his decease, that of his family, and of those whom they are likely to consult ; the real condition of the farm in regard to the enclosures, drainage, build- ings, &c. ; the crops it has usually produced, and the manner in which it has been managed for some years preceding ; the general state of the district, in regard to the price of labour, and the expense of living ; the character of its inhabitants, in particular of the neighbouring fanners and labourers, and whether they are likely to promote or to dis- courage a spirit of improvement ; the probability of subletting to advantage in case of not liking the situation, of finding a better bargain, or of death. The chances of settling one's family ; as of marrying daughters, or of sons' making good marriages. The social state of the" farmers, cr those that would be considered one's neighbours ; the number and 780 PRACTICE OF AGRICULTURE. Paet III. tone of clergy, and lawyers; the game, and the chances of disputes concerning it; the morals of the serving cla i ; schools, places of worship, &c. li is evident, that in ha idly any one instance can all the circumstances above enumerated he favourably combined. But the active and intelligent fanner will not be discouraged by the obstacles he may have to surmount ; but will strenuously endeavour, by exertion, industry, and persever- ance, to overcome the difficulties he must unavoidably encounter. These are vague generalities, and may be thought too commonplace for a work of this description; but the \ oung tanner on the look-out for a farm may not be the worse for having his memory refreshed by them. Chap. II. Cc7isidcratiuns respecting Himself, which a Farmer ought to keep in view in selecting and Iti/ing a Farm. 4811. Whoever intend* to embrace farming as a profession, will be less likely to meet with disappointment, if he previously examines a little into his own disposition and talents; and weighs his expectations against ordinary results. Nor is it less essential that he should estimate justly the extent to which his capital may be adequate, and keep regular accounts. Sect. I. Personal Character and Expectations of a professional Farmer. 4812. Every one who proposes to farm with success, Professor Thaer observes, ought to unite energy and activity, to reflection, to experience, and to all necessary knowledge. It is true, he says, farming lias long been considered as an occupation fit for a young man incapable for any other, and such have sometimes succeeded ; hut this has always been chiefly owing to a fortunate concurrence of circumstances, which it is not now very easy to meet with. 4813. The practice of agriculture consists of an infinite number of particular operations, each of which appears easy in itself, but is often for that very reason the more difficult to execute to the precise extent required ; one operation so often interferes with another. To regulate them according to the given time and strength, and in such a way that none is neglected, or causes the neglect of others, requires at oncea great deal of attention and activity, without inquietude; of promptitude without precipitation; of general views, and yet with an extreme attention to details. 4814. To casualties and accidents no business is so much exposed as farming; and therefore, to enjoy an ordinary degree of happiness, Professor Thaer considers it essential that the farmer possess a certain tranquillity of mind. This, be says, may either be the result of a naturally phlegmatic habit of body, or of elevated views in religion or philosophy. These will enable him to bear with every misfortune arising from adverse seasons, or the death of live stock ; and only permit him to regret accidents which result from his own neglect. 4815. The expectations Of profit and happiness which a young farmer has formed ought to be well weighed against the profits and happiness of farmers in general. However superior a farmer may con- sider bis own talents and abilities, be may rest assured there are a number as skilful and adroit as himself, and just as likely to realist extraordinary advantages. Let none therefore engage in farming, thinking to make more money than other farmers similarly circumstanced with himself. If from a happy concurrence of circumstances he is more than usually successful, so much the better, and let him consider it as partly owing to good fortune as well as good farming ; but never let him set out on the supposition of gaining extraordinary advantages with only ordinary means, 4816. The profits of farming are much exaggerated by people in general ; but it maybe asserted as an unquestionable' fact,' that no capital affords less profit than that employed in farming, except that sunk in landed property. 'I'll is is the natural result both of the universality of the business and of its nature. Farming is every where practised, and every one thinks he ni.iy easily become a fanner ; hence high rents, which necessarily lessen the profits on capital. From the nature of farming, the capital employed is re- turned seldom. 'A tradesman may lay out and return his capital several times a year; but a fanner can never, generally speaking, grow more than one crop per annum. Suppose he succeeds in raising the best possible crops in his given circumstances, still his profits have an absolute limit : for if an ordinary crop be as five, and the best that can be grown lie as seven, all that the most fortunate concurrence of circum- stances will give is not great, and is easily foreseen. It is hardly possible for a farmer, paying the market price for his land, to make much more than a living for himself and family. Those few who have ex- ceeded this, will be found to have had leases at low rents; indulgent landlords; to have profited by accidental rises in the market, or depreciation of currency ; or to have become dealers in corn and cattle; and ran Ij indeed to have realised any thing considerable by mere good culture of a farm at the market price. Very di Afferent is the case of a tradesman, who, with the properties which we have mentioned as requisite for a good farmer, seldom fails of realising an independency. 4-17. Many persons, chagrined with a city l(fe, or tired of their profession, fancy they will find profit and happiness by retiring to the country and commencing farming. Independently of the pecuniary losses attending such a change, none is more certain of being attended with disappointment to the generality of nun. The activity required, and the privations that must lie endured, are too painful to be submitted to . whilst Ihe dull uniformity of a farmer's lite to one accustomed to the bustle of cities, be- comes intolerable to such as do not find resources in their lire-sides, their own minds, or, as Professor Thaer observes, in the stud} of nature. 4818. The most like!;/ persons t<< engage informing with success are the sons of farmers, or such others as have been regularly brought up to the practice of every part of agri- culture. They must also have an inclination for the profession, as well as a competent understanding of its theory or principles. Books are to be found every where, from which the science of the art is to be obtained ; and there are eminent farmers in the improved districts who take apprentices as pupils. 481P. In The Husbandly of Scotland, the ca.se is mentioned of Walker, of Mclicndcan, an eminent Book V. CAPITAL OF THE FARMER. 781 farmer of Roxburghshire, renting about 2866 acres of arable land, and distinguished for his skill in agri. culture, who takes young men under him as apprentices, and these, instead of receiving wages, have uniformly paid him ten pounds each. Some of them remain with him two years, hut the greater number only one. They eat in his kitchen, where they have always plenty of plain wholesome food. He takes none who are above living in that way, or who will not put their hands lo every thing going forward on the farm. He has sometimes been ottered ten times the above sum, to take in young gentlemen to eat and associate with his own family ; but that he has uniformly declined. These young men have an opportunity of attending to every operation of husbandry, as practised on Walker's farm ; and are taught to hold the plough, to sow, to build stacks, &c. Sect. 1 1. Capital required by the Farmer. 4820. The importance of capital in ever)' branch of industry is universally acknow- ledged, and in none is it more requisite than in farming. When there is any deficiency in that important particular, the farmer cannot derive an adequate profit from his exer- tions, as he would necessarily be frequently obliged to dispose of his crops for less than their value, to procure ready money ; and it would restrain him from making advan- tageous purchases, when even the most favourable opportunities occurred. An indus- trious, frugal, and intelligent farmer, who is punctual in his payments, and hence in good credit, will strive with many difficulties, and get on with less money than a man of a different character. But if he has not sufficient live stock to work his lands in the best manner, as well as to raise a sufficient quantity of manure ; nor money to purchase the articles required for the farm; he must, under ordinary circumstances, live in a state of penury and hard labour ; and the first unfavourable season, or other incidental misfortune, will probably sink him under the weight of his accumulated burdens. Farmers are too generally disposed to engage in larger farms than they have capital to stock and cultivate. This is a great error ; for it makes many a person poor upon a large farm, who might live in comfort and acquire property upon one of less extent. No tenant can be secure without a surplus at command, not only for defraying the common expenses of labour, but those which, may happen from any un- expected circumstance. When a farmer farms within his capital, he is enabled to em- brace every favourable opportunity of buying when prices are low, and of selling when they are high. 4821. The amount of capital required must depend upon a variety of circumstances ; as whether it is necessary for the farmer to expend any sum in the erection, or in the repair, of his farm-house and offices ; what sum an in-coming tenant has to pay to his predecessor, for the straw of the crop, the dung left upon the farm, and other articles of similar nature ; the condition of the farm at the commencement of the lease, and whether any sums must be laid out in drainage, enclosure, irrigation, levelling ridges, &c. ; whether it is necessary to purchase lime, or other extraneous manures, and to what extent ; on the period of entry, and the time at which the rent becomes payable, as this is sometimes exacted before there is any return from the lands, out of the actual produce of which it ought to be paid ; and, lastly, on its being a grazing or an arable farm, or a mixture of both. 4822. In pasture districts, the common mode of estimating the amount of capital necessary is according to the amount of the rent ; and it is calculated that, in ordinary pastures, every farmer ought to have at his command from three to five times the rent he has agreed to pay. But in the more fertile grazing districts, carrying stock worth from 20/. to SO/, and even upwards, per acre (as is the case in many parts of England , five rents are evidently insufficient. When prices are high, ten rents will frequently be required by those who breed superior stock, and enter with spirit into that new field of speculation and enterprise. 4823. The capital required by an ara ok farmer varies, according to circumstances, from 5/. to 10/. oreven VI. per acre. An ignorant, timid, and penurious farmer lays out the least sum he can possibly contrive ; and consequently he obtains the smallest produce or profit from his farm. The profit, however, will always increase, when accompanied by spirit and industry, in proportion to the capital employed, if judiciously expended. At the same time, attention and economy cannot be dispensed with. It is ill-judged to purchase a horse at forty guineas, if one worth thirty can execute the labour of the farm ; or to lay out sums unnecessarily upon expensive harness, loaded with useless ornaments. Prudent far- mers also, who have not a large capital at command, when they commence business, often purchase some horses still fit for labour, though past their prime, and some breeding mares, or colts ; and in five or six years, they are fully supplied with good stock, and can sometimes sell their old horses without much loss. In every case, such shifts must be resorted to, where there is any deficiency of capital. 4^4. A mixture of 'arable and grass farming is, on the whole, the most profitable method of farming. Independently of the advantages to be derived from the alternate husbandry ( which are always consi- derable , the chances of profit are much more numerous from a varied system than where one object is exclusively followed. Where this mixed mode of fanning is practised, the farmer will frequently rely on the ; urchase of lean stock, instead of breeding his own ; and derives great advantage from the quickness with which capital thus employed is returned. But, in that case, much must depend upon judicious selection. In general it may be said, that to stock a turnip-land arable farm, will require, at this time [1830), 5/. or tV. and a clay-land farm from ~l. or 8/. per acre, according to circumstances. 4825. ills capital is necessarily divided into two parts. The one is partly expended on implements, or stock of a rrore or less perishable nature, and partly vested in the soil ; for this the farmer is entitled to a certain annual gain, adequate to replace, within a given number of years, the sum thus .iaid out The other is era. oved in defraving the charges of labour, &c. as they occur throughout the year; the whole of which, with the interest, 'should be replaced by the yearly produce. These two branches of expense on a farm are the lirst to be attended to, both in order of time, and in magnitude of amount. 789 PRACTICE OF AGRICULTURE. Part III. Chap. III. Choice of Stock fur a Farm. 4826. The stocking of a farm may be considered as including lire stock, implements, servants, and seed. A con iiderable portion of a fanner's capital is employed in manures, tillages, labour, &c. ; but a farm being once engaged, the above are the only descriptions of stock which admit of a choice. Sect. I. Choice of Live Stock. 4827. The animals required by a farmer are of two kinds ; such as are employed to assist in labour; and such as are used to convert the produce of the farm into food, or other disposable commodities. Subsect. 1. Live Stock for the Purposes of Labour. •ls_'S. The animals of labour used in British farming are exclusively the horse and the ox. Much difference of opinion formerly prevailed, as to which of these two animals should be preferred ; and t ho preference has generally been given by speculative writers to the ox, and by practical farmers to the horse. Lord Kaimes in the last century, and Lord Somerville in the present, may be considered the principal advocates for the ox. To their arguments, and to all others, the following objections have been stated by the able author of the supplement to the 6th edition of The Gentleman Farmer j and they may be considered as conveying the sentiments, and according with the practice, of all the best informed and most extensive British farmers. 18391 The Hist objection to oxen is, that they are unfit for the various labours of modem husbandry,— for travelling on hard mads in particular,— for all distant carriages, — and generally for every kind of work which requires despatch : and what sort nf" work often does not in this variable climate ? A great part of a farmer's work is indeed carried on at home ; and it may still be thought that this may be done by oxen, while one or more horse teams are employed in carrying the produce to market, and bringing home manure and fuel. ISut it is unnecessary to appeal to the author of The Wealth of Nations, to prove the impracticability of this division of labour, unless upon very large farms ; and even on these the advantages of such an arrangement are at best extremely problematical. The different kinds of farm. work do not proceed at the same time ; but every season, and even every change of weather, demands the farmer's attention to some particular employment, rather than to others. When his teams are capable of performing every sort of work, he brings them all to boar for a time upon the most important labours of everv season ; and when that is despatched, or interrupted by unfavourable weather, the less urgent branches are speedily executed by the same means, ibis is one cause, more important perhaps than any other, why oxen have ceased to be employed; for even ploughing, which they can perform better than any other kind of work, is scarcely ever going forward all the year ; and for some months in winter, the weather often prevents it altogether. 4830. Another objection is. that an ox team capable of performing the work of two horses, even such kind of work as they can perform, consumes the produce of considerably more land than the horses. If this be the case, it is of no great importance, either to the farmer or the community, whether the land be under oats, or under herbage and roots. The only circumstance to be attended to here is, the carcase of the ox: the value of this, in stating the consumption of produce, must be added to the value of his labour. He consumes, from his birth till he goes to the shambles, the produce of a certain number of acres of land ; the return he makes for this is so much beef, and so many years' labour. The consumption of produce must therefore be divided between these two articles. To find the share that should be allotted to each, the first thing is to ascertain how many acres of grass and roots would produce the same weight of beef from an ox, bred and reared for beef alone, and slaughtered at three or four years old. What remains has b?en consumed in producing labour. The next thing is to compare this consumption with that of the hone, which produces nothing but labour. By this simple test, the question, viewing it upon a broad national ground, must evidently be determined. Every one may easily make such a calculation suited to the circumstances of his farm'; none that could be offered would apply to every situation. But it will be found, that if even three oxen were able to do the work of two horses, the advantages in this point of view would still be on the side of the horses ; and the first objection applies with undiminished force besides. 4831. The money-pnee nf the horse and ox, it is evident, is merely a temporary and incidental circum- stance, which depends upon the demand. A work ox may be got tor less than hall the price of a horse, because there is little or no demand for working oxen; while the demand for horses by manufactures, commerce, pleasure, and war, enhances the price of farm-horses, as well as of the food they consume. Those who wish to see horses banished from all sorts of agricultural labour, would do well to consider where thev are to be reared for the numerous wants of the other classes of society. Besides, if two oxen must be kept for doing tin- work of one horse, it ought to be foreseen, that though beet may be more abundant than at present, there will be a corresponding deficiency in the production of mutton and wool. A greater portion of the arable land of the country must be withdrawn from yielding the food of man directly, and kept under cattle crops, which, however necessary to a certain extent for preserving the fertility of the soil, do not return human food, on a comparison with corn crops, in so great a proportion as that of one to six from any given extent of land of the same quality. 48:3'J. The demand for oxen is confined almost every where to the shambles ,• and by the improvements of modern husbandry, they are brought to a state of profitable maturity at an early age. No difference in price at setting to work, — no increase of weight while working, — no saving on the value of the food consumed, can ever make it the interest of tillage farmers generally to keep oxen as formerly, till they are eight or ten years old. Thev judiciously obtain the two products from different kinds of animals, each of them from the kind which is best fitted by nature to afford it, — the labour from the horse, and the beef alone from the ox. And though the price of the horse is almost wholly sunk at last, during the period of his labour he has been paying a part of it every year to a fund, which, before his usual term expires, Incomes sufficiently large to indemnify his owner. The ox, on the other hand, is changed three or four times during the same Book V. CHOICE OF LIVE STOCK. 788 period ; anil each of them gives nearly as large a carcase Cor the food of man as if his days had been unprofitably prolonged in executing labour, from which he has been n-ra- dually exempted in Britain, in France, and in other countries, very nearly in proportion to the progress of correct systems of husbandry. 4833. The description of horse which a farmer ought to choose will depend chiefly on the soil of the farm, and partly also on the quantity of road-work. Stiff lands require obviously a heavier and more powerful breed than such as are light and hilly. In the latter case, two of the best breeds are the Clevelands and Clydesdale, or some local cross with these breeds. In general, it is not advisable to procure horses from a climate ma- terially different from that where they are to remain; and therefore, for various reasons, a prudent farmer will look out for the best in his neighbourhood. Often, how ever, he is obliged to take the stock of his predecessor ; and this he can only get rid of or improve to liis mind by degrees. The farm-horses in most parts of England are much too cum- brous and heavy, and are more fitted for drawing heavy drays or waggons in towns than for the quick step required in the operations of agriculture. 4834. The ohjcctions of Davis of Longleat to the rising of large heavy-heeled horses, in preference to the smart, the active, and the really useful breeds, merit particular attention. In some situations, the steep, ness of the hills and the heaviness of the soil require more than ordinary strength ; but, in such cases, he maintains that it would be better to add to the number of horses than to increase their size. Great horses not only cost proportionably more at first than small ones, but require much more food, and of a better quality, to keep up their flesh. The Wiltshire carter also takes a pr.de in keeping them as fat as possible ; and their food (which is generally barley) is given without stint. In many instances, indeed, the expense of keeping a fine team of horses amounts nearly to the rent of the farm on which they are worked. They are purchased young when two years' old colts, and sold at five or six years of age for the London drays and waggons. The expense of their maintenance is very seldom counterbalanced bv the difference of price, more especially as such horses are gently worked when young, that they may attain their full size and beauty. In ploughing light soils, the strength of a dray-horse is not wanted ; and in heavy soils, the weight of the animal does injury to the land. Subsect. 2. Choice of Live Stock for the Purposes of breeding or feeding. 4S35. The most desirable jwopertics of live stock destined for food are considered in The Code of Agriculture, in respect to size, form, a tendency to grow, early maturity, hardi- ness of constitution, prolific properties, quality of flesh, a disposition to fatten, and light- ness of offal. 483d. The bulk of an animal was the sole criterion of its value before the improvements introduced by Bake well; and if a great size could be obtained, more regard was paid to the price the animal ultimately fetched than to the cost of its food. Of late, since breeders began to calculate with more precision, small or moderate-sized animals have been generally preferred, for the following reasons : — 4837. Small-sized animals are more easily kept, they thrive on shorter herbage, they collect food where a large animal could hardly exist, and thence are more profitable. Their meat is finer grained, produces richer gravy, has often a superior flavour, and is commonly more nicely marbled, or veined with fat, especially when they have been fed for two years. Large animals are not so well calculated for general consumption as the moderate.sized, particularly in hot weather ; large animals poach pastures more than small ones ; they are not so active, require more rest, collect their food with more labour, and will only consume the nicer and more delicate sorts of plants. Small cows of the true dairy breeds give propor- tionably more milk than large ones. Small cattle may be fattened solely on grass of even moderate quality ; whereas the large require the richest pastures,' or to be stall-fed, the expense of which exhausts the profit of the farmer. It is much easier to procure well-shaped and kindly-feeding stock of a small size than of a large one. Small-sized cattle may be kept by many persons who cannot afford either to purchase or to maintain large ones, and their loss, if any accident should happen to them, can be more easily borne. The small-sized sell better ; for a butcher, from a conviction that, in proportion to their respective dimensions, there is a greater superficies of valuable parts in a small than a large animal, will give more money for two oxen of twelve stone each per quarter than for one of twenty-four stone. 4838. In fa nour of the large-sized it is, on the other hand, contended, that without debating whether from their birth till they are slaughtered the large or the small one eats most for its size, yet on the whole the large one will pay the grazier or the farmer who fattens him as well for his food ; that though some large oxen are coarse-grained, yet where attention is paid to the breed (as is the case with the Herefordshire), the large ox is as delicate food as the small one ; that if the small-sized are better calculated for the con- sumption of private families, of villages, or of small towns, yet that large cattle are fitter for the markets of great towns, and in particular of the metropolis ; that were the flesh of the small-sized ox better when fresh, yet the meat of the large-sized is unquestionably more calculated for salting, a most essential object in a maritime and commercial country, — for the thicker the beef, the better it will retain its juices when salted, and the fitter it is for long voyages ; that the hide of the large ox is of very great consequence in various manufactures ; that large stock are in general distinguished by a greater quietness of disposition ; that where the pastures are good, cattle and sheep will increase in size, without any particular attention on the part of the breeder ; large animals are therefore naturally the proper stock for such pastures ; that the art of fattening cattle, and even sheep, with oil-cake, being much improved and extended, the advan- tage of that practice would be of less consequence, unless large oxen were bred, as small oxen can be fattened with grass and turnips as well as oil-cake ; and, lastly, that large oxen are better calculated for working than small ones, two large oxen being equal to four small ones in the plough or the cart. 4839. Such arc the arguments generally mare use of on both sides of the question ; from which it appears that much must depend upon pastures, taste, mode of consumption, markets, &c. and that both sides have their advantages. The intelligent breeder, however, (unless his pastures are of a nature peculiarly forc- ing,) will naturally prefer a moderate size in the stock he rears. Davis of Longleat, one of the ablest agriculturists England has produced, has given some useful observations on the subject of size. He laments that the attempts which have been made to improve the breeds of cows, horses, and sheep, have proceeded too much upon the principle of enlarging the size of the animal ; whereas, in general, the only real improvement has been made in the pig, and that was by reducing its size, and introducing a kind that will live hardier, and come to greater perfection at an earlier age. 4840. Though it is extremely desirable to bring the shape of cattle to as much perfection as possible, yet profit and utility ought not to be sacrificed for mere beautv which may please the eye, but will not fill the pocket ; and which, depending much upon caprice, must be often changing. In regard to form, the most experienced breeders seem to concur in the following particulars ; — That the form or shape should be compact, so that no part of the animal should be disproportioned to the other parts, and the whole should W4 PRACTICE OF AGRICULTURE. Part HE be distinguished by ■ genci • ! fulness and rotundity of shape; tliat the chest should be broad, for no animal whose chesl Is nan ■ ■•-. can easily be made (at j that the carcase should be deep and strai^lit ; that the belly should be of a moderate site; for when it is more capacious than common in young animals, it shows a diseased state, and in older ones il is considered a proof thai tin- animal will not ret urn in Bi sh, in milk, or in labour, the i iln ■ ol Ihc extra quantity of food which il consumes ; that the legs should be short, for the long-limbed race are found to be the least hardy, and the most difficult to r<-.ir nr to i itten . anil that the head, the bones, and other p crtsot inferior value. Bhould be as .small as i- consistent w itli strength, and with the other properties which the animal ought to possess, In animals bred for the shambles, the form must likewise be such ;i< to contain the greatest possible pro- portion of the finer, compared » ith the coarser and less valuable p arts of the animal. This, by selection, may lie attained, and thus the wishes of the consumer may be gratified. As to the broad loins, and Cull hips, which are considered as .1 p lirtl of excellence In particular breeds, it is evident that the old n and thin make required improvement; but the alteration is now carried to a faulty excess, and often real difficulty and danger in calving, 4841, The firm qf animal* \\\- fortunately attracted the attention of an eminent surgeon, Henry Cline, Km| of London, whose doctrines we have already laid down at length, and the substance of which is : — That the external form is only an indication of the internal structure; that the limps of an animal form the first object to be attended to, for "'1 their size and soundness the health and Strength of an animal principally depend; that the external indications of the size of the lungs are the form and size of the chest, and iti breadth In particular; that the head should he small, as by this the birth is faeilit.it it affords other advantages in feeding, &c, and as it generally indicates that the animal is of a good breed ; that the length of the neck should be in proportion to the size of the animal, that it may collect its food With ease ; and that the muscles and tendons should be large, by which an animal is enabled to travel with greater facility. It was formerly the practice to estimate the value of animals by the size of their bones. A large bone was considered to be a great merit ; and a tine-boned animal always implied great size. It is now known that this doctrine was carried too far. The strength of the animal does not di ti|H>u the bones, but on the muscles; and when the bones are disproportionably large, it indicates, in (line's opinion, an imperfection in the organs of nutrition. Bakewell strongly insisted on the advantage of small bones ; and the celebrated John Hunter declared, that small bones were generally attended with corpulence in all the subjects he had an opportunity of examining A small bone, however, being heavier and more substantial, requires as much nourishment as a hollow one with a larger circumfen VU&. Among the qualities for which thorough-bred cattle and sheep are distinguished, that of being good growers, and having a good length of frame, is not the least essential. The meaning of which is, that the animal should not only be of a strong and healthy constitution, but speedily should grow to a proper size. A.s specimens of rapid growth, a steer of three years old, when well led, will weigh from 80 to 90 or 100 stone, 141b. to the stone; and a two-year old Leicester wedder, from 2a to 281b. per quarter, immediately alter his second fleece is taken from him. Animals having the property of growing, are usually straight in their back and belly ; their shoulders well thrown back, and their belly rather light than otherwise. At the same time, a gauntness and paucity of intestines should be guarded against, as a most material defect, indicating a very unthriving animal. Being too light of bone, as it is termed, is also a great fault. A good grower, or hardy animal, has always a middling-sized bone. A bull distinguished for getting good growers is inestimable; but one whose progeny takes an unnatural or gigantic size ought to be avoided. 1843. Arriving soon at perfection, not only in point of growth or size, but in respect of fatness, is a mate- rial object for the farmer, as his profit must in a great measure depend upon it. Where animals, bred for the carcase merely, become fat at an early age, they not only return sooner the price of their food, with profit to the feeder, but in general, also, a greater value for their consumption, than slow-feeding animals. This desirable property greatly depends on a mild and docile disposition ; and as this docility of temper is much owing to the manner in which the animal is brought up, attention to inure them early to be familiar cannot be too much recommended. A tamed breed also has other advantages. It is not so apt to injure fences, or to break into adjacent fields ; consequently it is less liable to accidents, and can be reared, sup. ported, and fattened at less expense. The property of early maturity, in a populous country, where the consumption of meat is great, is extremely beneficial to the public, as it evidently tends to furnish greater supplies to the market ; and this propensity to fatten at an early age is a sure proof that an animal will fatten speedily at a later period of his life. 4S4t. The possession of a hardy ami healthy constitution, is, in the wilder and bleaker parts of a country, a most valuable property in stock. Where the surface is barren, and the climate rigorous, it is essential that the stock bred and' maintained there should be able to endure the severities and vicissitudes of the weather, as well as scarcity of food, hard work, or any other circumstance in its treatment that might subject a more delicate breed to injury. In this respect, different kinds of stock greatly vary ; and it is a matter of much consequence to select, for different situations, cattle with constitutions suitable to the place where they are to be kept. It is a popular belief, that dark colours are indications of hardiness. In moun- tain breeds of cattle, a rough pile is reckoned a desirable property, more especially when they are to be kept out all winter: it enables them to face the storm, instead of shrinking from it. Hardy breeds are exempted from various diseases, such as having yellow fat, and being blackfleshed, defects so injurious to stock. 4S45. The prolific quality of a hreetl is a matter deserving attention. The females of some breeds both bear more frequently than' usual, and also have frequently more than one at a birth. This property runs more strikingly in s'ub-varieties, or individual families; and though partly owing to something in the habits of animals, and partly to their previous good or bad treatment, yet in some degree seems to depend upon the seasons, some years being more distinguished lor twins than others. In breeding, not only the number, but the sex of the offspring, in some cases, -1 ems to depend upon the female parent. Two co*'s produced fourteen females each in fifteen years, though the bull was changed every year: it is singular, that when they produced a bull calf, it was in the same year. Under similar eirc. instances, a great number of males have been produced by the same cow in succession, but not to the same extent. |s (.',. /;,/ the quality of their flesh, breeds are likewise distinguished. In some kinds it is coarse, hard, and fibrous; in others of a finer grain or texture. In some breeds, also, the flavour of the meat is supe- rior; the gravy thev produce, instead of being white and insipid, is high colonic d, well flavoured, and rich ; and the fat is intermixed among the fibres of the muscles, giving the meat a streaked, or marbled appearance Breeds whose flesh have these properties are peculiarly valuable. Hence two animals of nearly the same degree offline-, and weight, and who could be fed at nearly the same expense to the hus- bandman, will sell at very different prices, merely from the Known character of their meat. 4847. A disposition to fatten is a great object in animals destined for the shambles. Some animals pos- ms. this property during the whole progress of their lives, while in others it only takes place at a more advani ed period, when they have attained their full growth, and are furnished at the same time with a suitable supply of food. There are in this respect other distinctions : mo.st sorts of cattle and sheep, which have been bred in hilly countries, will become fat on lowland pastures, on which the more refined breeds would barely live ; some animals take on fat very quickly, when the proper food has been supplied, and some individuals have been found, even in the same breed, which have, in a given time, consumed theleist proportional weight of the same kind of food, yet have become fat at the quickest rate. Even in the human race, with little food, some will grow immoderately corpulent. It is probably from internal conformation that this property of rapid fattening is derived. 1848. The advantages and disadvantages qf fattening cattle and sheep, at least to the extent frequently practised at present, are points that have of late attracted much public attention. But any controversy Book V. CHOICE OF IMPLEMENTS. 785 on that subject can only arise from want of proper discrimination. Fat meat is unquestionably more nourishing than lean, though to digest this oily matter there are required, on account of its difficult solubility, a good bile, much saliva, and a strong stomach ; consequently none, except those who are in the most vigorous state of health, or who are employed in hard labour, can properly digest it. Though fat meat, however, is unfit for general consumption, yet experiments in the art of fattening animals are likely to promote useful discoveries ; and though, in the course of trying a number of experiments, errors and excesses may be committed, yet on the whole advantage may be derived from the knowledge thus to be obtained. As the bone also gains but little in the fatting animal, and the other offal becomes propor- tionably less, as the animal becomes more fat, the public has not sustained much loss by over-fatted ani- mals To kill even hogs till they are thoroughly fat, is exceeding bad economy. An ox or cow, though the little flesh it has may be of good quality, yet presents, when lean, little but skin and bone ; and if slaughtered in that state, would neither indemnify the owner for the expense of breeding and maintaining it, nor benefit the public. A coarse and heavy-fleshed ox, which would require a very long time and much good food to fatten, may be slaughtered with most advantage while rather lean. It is not, however, so much the extent of fat, as the want of a sufficient quantity of lean flesh, of which the consumer com- plains ; for it cannot be doubted, that the lean flesh of a fat animal is better in quality, and contains more nourishment, than the flesh of a lean animal. 4849. Handling well. The graziers and butchers in various parts of the kingdom have recourse to feeling the skin, or cellular membrane, for ascertaining a disposition to fatten ; and since Bakewoll directed the public attention so much to breeding, that practice has become more generally known. Handling cannot easily be defined, and can only be learned by experience. The skin and flesh of cattle, when handled, should feel soft to the touch, somewhat resembling that of a mole, but with a little more resistance to the finger. A soft and mellow skin must be more pliable, and more easily stretched out, to receive any extraordinary quantity of fat and muscle, than a thick or tough one. The rigid-skinned animal must, therefore, always be the most difficult to fatten. In a good sheep, the skin is not only soft and mellow, but in some degree elastic. Neither cattle nor sheep can be reckoned good, whatever their shapes may be, unless they are first-rate handlers. The improved short-horned breed, besides their mel- lowness of skin, are likewise distinguished by softness and silkiness of hair. 4850. Lightness of offal. An animal solely bred for the shambles should have as little offal, or parts of inferior value, as possible (consistently with "the health of the animal', and consequently a greater propor- tion of meat applicable as food for man. This, therefore, the skilful farmer will also keep in view in selecting his species of stock. {Code, Sjc.) 4851. The Rev. Henry Berry, who has paid much attention to the subject of breeding and feeding cattle, and written several valuable papers on the subject in the British Farmers Magazme, seems to prefer for general purposes the improved short-horns. " TIiL-se cattle," he says, " at three years old, are equal to Hereford cattle at four years old ; and they are bred from cows which prove much more profitable for the dairy than the Herefords." At the same time, he admits that the Hereford cattle are excellent to purchase with a view to fattening, because in a lean state at four years old they will of course not bear an increased price in proportion to the increased time required to render one of them equal to a short-horn of three years. For breeders, therefore, he decidedly recommends the short-horns ; and he has given an interesting history of this breed of cattle for the last eighty years, the period which has elapsed since it attracted attention. It was imported from Holland to the banks of the Tecs ; or, at least, it is the result of a cross between the breed so imported and the native breed of that district. {Improved Short-Horns, &c. By the Rev. Henry Berry. 2d edit. 1830.) Sect. II. Choice of Agricultural Implements, Seeds, and Plants. 4852. The variety and excellence of agricultural implements is so great, that the prudent farmer, in regard to these, as well as in every other branch of his art, must study economy. He should not incur an unnecessary expense in buying them, or in purchasing more than are essentially requisite, and can be profitably used. This maxim ought to be more especially attended to by young improvers, who are often tempted, under the specious idea of diminishing labour and saving expense, to buy a superfluous quantity of imple- ments, which they afterwards find are of little use. {Coventry 's Disc. p. 47.) It is remarked by an intelligent author on matters of husbandry, that a great diversity of implements, as they are more rarely used, prove in general a source of vexation and dis- appointment, rather than of satisfaction, to the farmer. 4S53. The different implements required by the farmer are: those of tillage; for drilling or sowing corn ; for reaping com ; for harvesting corn ; for threshing and cleaning corn ; for mowing and harvest- ing hay ; of conveyance ; for draining ; for harnessing stock ; for rolling land ; for the dairy ; and, for miscellaneous purposes. 4854. In purchasing implements, the following rules are to be observed : they should be simple in their construction, both that their uses may be more easily understood, and that any common workman may be able to repair them when they get out of order ; the materials should be of a durable nature, that the labour may be less liable to interruption from their accidental failure ; their form should be firm and compact, that thev may not be injured by jolts and shaking; and that they may be more safely worked by country labourers, who are but little accustomed to the use of delicate tools. "In the larger machines, symmetry and lightness of shape ought to be particularly attended to: for a heavy carriage, like a grea> horse, is "worn out by its own weight, nearly as much as by what he carries. The wood should be cut up and placed in a position the best calculated to resist pressure ; and mortises, so likely to weaken the wood, should, as much as possible, be avoided ; at the same time, implements should be made as light s.- is consistent with the strength that is necessary. Their price should be such, that farmers in moderate circumstances can afford to buv them ; yet for the sake of a low price, the judicious farmer will not pur- chase articles either of a flimsv" fabric or a faulty form ; and implements ought to be suited to the nature of the country, whether hilly 6r level, and more especially to the quality of the soil ; for those which are calculated for light land will not answer equally well in soils that are heavy and adhesive. (Code.) 4855. In the choice of seed com, regard must be had to procure it from a suitable soil and climate, and of a suitable variety. A chance from one soil to another of a different 3 E 7«b PRACTICE OF AGRICULTURE. Part III. quality, is generally found advantageous ; but this is not always the case as to climate. Thus, some of the varieties of oats, as the Angus oat, which answers well in most parts of Scotland, is found not to fill in the car, hut to shrivel up after blossoming, in the south of England. In like manner, the woolly-chaffed white wheats of Essex and Kent rot in the ear when grown iii the moist climate of Lancashire. In settling on a farm in a country with which the fanner is little acquainted, he will often find it advisable to select the best teed he can find in the neighbourhood, and probably to resift it and free it from the seeds of weeds and imperfect grains. Particular care is requisite ill selecting the seed of the bean and pea, as no crop depends more on the variety being suited to the soil and climate. Thus, on hot gravelly soils in the south, the late grey pea would produce little haulm and no pulse ; but the early varieties, or the pearl pea, will produce a fair proportion of both. 4S56. The onl;/ small seeds the fanner has to sow on a large scale, are the clovers, grasses, the different varieties of turnip, and probably the mangold wurzel and carrot. No expense or trouble should be spared to procure the best turnip seed ; as if that is either mixed by impregnation with other varieties of the Z?r;!ssica tribe, or has been raised from a degenerate sinall-rooted parentage, the progeny will never come to any size. The same may be said of carrot or mangold seed, raised from small misshapen roots. Even rape seed should be raised from the strongest and largest rooted plants, as these always produce a stronger progeny. 4857. The selection and propagation of improved agricultural seeds has till lately been very little attended to. But the subject lias been taken up by Mr. Sinclair of New Cross, Mr. Shirred' of Mungos Wells, Mr. Gorrie of Rait, and others ; and we have little doubt some greatly improved varieties of our more useful field plants will be the result Mr. Shirred' mentions (Qnar. Jour. Ag. vol. i. p. 366.), that the variety of the Swedish turnip cultivated in East Lothian had, by judicious selection of the roots from which seed was saved, been improved in nutritious value upwards of 300 per cent "Potatoes and Swedish turnip," Mr. ShirrefTsays, " appear to be susceptible of farther improvement by judicious selec- tion, as well as the different grains so long cultivated in this country, and which, in almost every instance, have become spurious. Hut whatever may be the degree of improvement of which the agricultural pro- duce of the country is susceptible, by the propagation of genuine seeds of the best varieties of plants, one remarkable feature of such an improvement is, that it could be carried into effect without any additional investment of capital, or destruction of that already employed. It would require, in the first instance, only a slight degree of observation amongst practical farmers to select the best varieties, and afterwards a small exercise of patience in their propagation. The whole increase of produce obtained by such means would go to support the unagricultural part of the population ; it would, in the first instance, be clear gain to the occupiers, and ultimately to the owners of land. The difference of produce, arising from sowing the seed of a good and a bad variety of a plant, is so great, that it does not seem inconsistent with probability to state, that the gross agricultural produce of the country might be augmented, in the course of a few years, through the agency of improved seeds, to the amount of seven per cent. ; and as the farmer's home consumption of produce, by such means, would be increased nearly ten per cent, what an enormous fund this forms for maintaining the unagricultural part of the population, and augmenting the income of landholders! 4858. The. facility of propagating genuine seeds, will become manifest from a statement of my practice. In the spring of 1823, a vigorous wheat-plant, near the centre of a field, was marked out, which produced 65 ears, that yielded 2473 grains. These were dibbled in the autumn of the same year ; the produce of the second and third seasons sown broadcast in the ordinary way ; and the fourth harvest put me in pos- session of nearly forty quarters of sound grain. In the spring of this year, I planted a fine purple-top Swedish turnip, that yielded (exclusively of the seeds picked by birds, and those lost in threshing and cleaning the produce,') 100,296 grains, a number capable of furnishing plants for upwards of five imperial acres. One-tenth of an acre was sown with the produce, in the end of July, for a seed crop, part of which it is in contemplation to sow for the same purpose in July 18-9. In short, if the produce of the turnip in question had been carefully cultivated to the utmost extent, the third year's produce of seed would have more than supplied the demand of Great Britain for a season. 4859. Plants and animals are both organic bodies, from the germs of whose fecundating organs proceed new races, which yield crops ; and thus an extensive view of improving agriculture through the agency of genuine seeds embraces the propagation of live stock. Now, however important the propagation of live stock may be, when considered by itself, yet, when viewed in connection with our agricultural system, embracing the cultivation and' improvement of the herbage which support animals, as well as those plants, parts of which form the ingredients of human sustenance, it becomes less imposing. The analogy subsisting between animal and vegetable life is known and acknowledged ; and it may be stated, that the union of the male and female organs of different varieties of a plant, under favourable circum- stances, produces a new race, which partakes of the qualities of both parents, and which is termed a hybrid. Now, hybrid varieties of agricultural plants, when suffered to intermingle with the original kind, disseminate their influence around them like cross-bred animals, unrestrained in their intercourse with the general herd, till the character of the stock becomes changed, and consequently deteriorated or improved. In either case, propagation from the best variety alone would be attended with good effects. The principles of propagating vegetable and animal life are nearly the same; but the propagation of vegetables must exceed that of animals in importance, as much as the vegetable produce of the country surpasses that of animals. Indeed animals may justly be considered mere machines for converting our inferior herbage into nutriment of a different description ; grasses and roots are the raw materials, butcher's meat the manufactured commodity." 4860. The importance of attending to varieties of cultivated plants has been ably pointed out by Mr. Bishop, at once a scientific botanist and an experienced practical gardener. " By means of varieties," he says, " the produce of our gardens and fields are not only increased in a tenfold degree, but the quality of the produce is improved in a still greater proportion. In them we perceive the labour and assiduity or man triumphing over the sterility of unassisted nature, and succeeding in giving birth to a race of beings calculated to supply his wants in a manner that original species never could have done. The difference between varieties that have sprung from the same species fits them for different purposes, and for different soils, situations, and climates. Some, by reason of their robust natures, are winter vegetables; and others, by being early, are spring vegetables; while some are in perfection in summer, and others in autumn. The fruit produced by some is fit to eat when pulled oil' the tree ; while the fruit of others is valuable by rea.-on of its keeping till that season, When Nature rests to recruit her strength. Thus, in edible plants and fruits, we are supplied with an agreeable change throughout the year, from a difference in varieties that have sprung from the same species. In die earlier ages of the world, no idea could have been entertained of the Book V. CHOICE OF SEEDS AND PLANTS. 787 excellence some varieties have attained over their originals. Who, upon viewing the wild cabbage that grows along our sea-coast, would ever imagine that cauliflower or broccoli would have been produced by the same i Or who would expect the well-formed apple of a pound's weight from the verjuice plant In our hedges? Many instances might be noticed of original species that are scarcely fit to be eaten by the beasts ot the field, the varieties of which afford a nutr.tious and wholesome food for man. Upon com paring the original variety of the .Caucus Carbta, the Pastinaca satlva, and some others indigenous to our climate, with their varieties produced by culture, we are struck with their great inferiority, anu cannot help reflecting on the hapless condition of that hungry savage who first taught us their 'ise"; for nothing short of the greatest privation could ever have led to that discovery. Indeed, nothing is more obvious upon comparing original species with their varieties produced bv culture, than that we, by means of the latter, enjoy a vegetable food far preferable to that of our forefathers ; a circumstance from which it may be inferred that posterity is destined to enjoy a better than that which we do now. For although it is reasonable to believe that there exists a degree of excellence attainable bv varieties over the species whence they have sprung, yet as that degree is unknown, and as it is probably beyond the power of man, of cultivation, or of time, to determine the same, we are justified in regarding it as progressive, and in con. sidering the production of a good variety as the sign or harbinger of a better. 48KL The power of distinguishing varieties, and of forming some idea of their worth at sight, is an attainment much to be desired, because valuable varieties may sometimes appear to those who have it not in their power to prove them by trial ; and if thev have, the probabilitv is, that the means to be em- ployed require more care, time, and attention than thev are disposed to bestow on plants the merits of which are doubtful : whereas, were such persons capable of forming an estimate of the worth of varieties from their appearance, then would they use means for their preservation, whenever their appearance was found to indicate superiority. That this is an attainment of considerable importance, will be readily allowed; yet, that it, in some cases, requires the most strict attention, appears from the circumstance of varieties being oftentimes valuable, though not conspicuously so. Let us suppose, for instance, that in a field of wheat there exists a plant, a new variety, having two more fertile joints in its spike, and equal to the surrounding wheat in every other respect : a man accustomed to make the most minute observations, would scarcely observe such a variety, unless otherwise distinguished by some peculiar badge ; nor would any but a person versed in plants know that it was of superior value if placed before him. How many varieties answering this description may have existed and escaped observation, which, had thev been observed, and carefully treated, would have proved an invaluable acquisition to the community'! The number of fertile joints in the spike of the wheat generally cultivated, varies from eighteen to twenty- two; and the inhabitants of Great Britain and Ireland amount to nearly the same number of millions : therefore, as the wheat produced in those islands has been of late vears sufiicient, or nearlv sufficient, to supply the inhabitants thereof with bread, it is evident that a variety with two additional' fertile joints, and equal in other respects to the varieties at present in cultivation, 'would, when it became an object of general culture, afford a supply of bread to at least two millions of souls, without even another acre being brought into cultivation, or one additional drop of sweat from the brow of the husbandman. 48b"2. The same varieties are not repeatedly produced by culture ; if they were, there would not exist that necessity for strict observation and skill on the part of observers ; because, if a variety were lost or destroyed, we might look forward to its re-appearance : or did we possess the power of producing varieties, and of producing them late or early, tall or dwarf, sweet or sour, or just as we might wish to have them, then might we plead an excuse for inattention. But experience shows, that when a variety is lost, it is for ever lost; and the slightest reflection cannot fail of convincing us, that our power of producing them is most limited. Indeed, our knowledge only enables us to produce those of the intermediate kind ; while varieties that confer extension or excellence are as likelv to be produced from the seed sown and treated by the humble labourer as from that sown and treated by the ablest horticulturist, the most skilful botanist, or most profound philosopher of the age. From these remarks it is obvious, that the benefits mankind derive from the varieties produced bv culture are numercus and important, and that the discovery of those of merit is au object highly deserving of our attentioa" (.Bishop's Causal Botany. ) 48tw. The varieties of ivheat arid barley in general cultivation, Mr. Gorrie observes, are " not nu- merous ; but were a part of that attention paid to the production of new and improved varieties of field-beans, peas, oats, barley, and wheat, which is now almost wasted on live stock, the same success might follow, and varieties of each of these useful species of grain might be found as far surpassing those now in cultivation as the modern breeds of horses and cattle surpass those of former days. To effect this, a simple process only is necessary. AVhen any two varieties are intended to be used in ' crossing,' it is necessary that they should be sown at such periods as may render them likely to flower at the same time; and we would recommend that such plants should be sown or transplanted into flower-pots, par- ticularly the variety to be used as Ihe female breeder. The parts of fructification of all the Cerealia tribe are composed of a stigma, or fringed substance, which crowns the embryo grain ; three anthers or male parts, which have either a purple or yellow colour; and firm, small, round, or rather longish cylindrical knobs, with a hollow line longitudinally along the middle, on the side farthest from the filament which supports these anthers. Allowing that there are six plants, say of wheat, in a pot to be impregnated, let the variety possessing the greatest proportion of de.-irable qualities be selected for the male, from a field or otherwise, and, before the anthers appear outside the glume, let the chaffbe opened by a slight touch of the forefinger; cut off the anthers of all the ears growing on the plants in the pot, and then take the male parts of the variety ivished to be improved, which have been newly out of the chaff, and, before the farina is all dissipated, touch the stigma of all the embryo grains whence the anthers have been previously removed, gently, with newly burst anthers, till the stigma is partially covered with the dust or pollen ; keep the plants at a distance from the fields where grain of the same sort is coming in the flower, till the flowering season is fairly over, then, to prevent sparrows or other birds from picking the impregnated grains, plunge the pots to the brims in a field of the same kind of grain. Save every seed, and sow them carefully next season ; if the process has been properly performed, there may be many varieties even from one ear ; the best should be marked, and the produce of each stalk worthy of notice kept, and propagated distinctly by itself. If all the farmers in a district were tc submit five or six plants only to such process, we might soon have hundreds of new varieties, and it is certainly within the limits of probability to expect a few varieties superior to any now in cultivation." (Perth Miscellany, voL L p. 17.) 4864. Grain, seeds, and roots intended for reproduction are not required to have come to the same degree of maturity on the plant, as when intended for meal or other products to be consumed as food. The cause of this has never been satisfactorily explained ; all that is alleged being the conjecture, that the cotyledons of the seed are better fitted for entering the vessels of the minute plant, when they are not of such a farinaceous nature, as when these cotyledons are more mature. " That.grain not perfectly matured is fully qualified for seed, is evident from places situated near rivers or lakes, where the grain in some seasons is subject to be what the people who cultivate such situations term blasted or mildewed. 1 his happens in autumn, before the grain is matured, and is probably caused by fogs or damps which arise from the water. This blast discolours the straw, and renders it so friable that it will hardly bind itself; the grain never receives any more nourishment, is shrivelled and light, and soon assumes a ripe appearance, and so small a quantity of farinaceous matter will be contained in the grains, that a sheaf, after being reaped, will feel as light in the hand as if it had been previously threshed ; and yet, for as bad as it appears, it is commonly taken for seed, and never fails to give a luxuriant crop, provided it escape the following autumn." (Ibid.) S E 2 788 PRACTICE OF AGRICULTURE. Part lit 4865. Of the )>! mits which the farmer has to choose ('<>>■ stock, the chief is the potato; and every one knows that no circumstances in the soil, climate, or culture will compen- sate for planting B bad sort The potato requires a climate rather humid than otherwise, and rather moderate and equable in temperature than hot: hence the best crops arc found in Lancashire, Dumfriesshire, and Ayrshire in Britain, and in Ireland, where the climate is every where moist. Excellently flavoured potatoes are also grown on mossy lands in most parts of the country. The prudent fanner will be particularly careful in choosing this description of plant stock, and aKo in changing it frequently, so as to en- sure prolificacy and flavour. The general result <>( experience is decidedly in favour of umipe tubers for the purpose of propagation. A number of important papers on this subject will be found in the first and second volumes of the Gardener's Magazine, all coufirujatory of the advantages of selecting tubers which are immature. Sect. III. Choice of Servants. 4866. On the moral and professional character of his servants much of the comfort of the farmer depends ; and every one who has farmed near large towns, and at a distance from them, knows how great the difference is in every description of labourers. The servants required in farmeries are, the bailiff or head ploughman, common ploughmen, shepherds, labourers of all-work, herdsmen, and women. Sometimes apprentices and pupils are taken ; but their labour is not often to be much depended on. 4867. A bailiff" 19 required only in the largest description of farms, occupied by a pro- fessional farmer ; and is not often required to act as market-man. In general young men are preferred, who look forward to higher situations, as gentlemen's bailiffs or land stewards. Most farmers require only a head ploughman, who works the best pair of horses, and takes the lead of, and sets the example to, the other ploughmen in every description of work. 4868. Ploughmen should, if possible, be yearly servants, and reside upon the farm ; if married, cottages should be provided for them. Weekly or occasional ploughmen are found comparatively unsteady; they arc continually wandering from one master to an- other, and are very precarious supports of a tillage farm : for they may quit their service at the most inconvenient time, unless bribed by higher wages ; and the farmer may thus lose the benefit of the finest part of the season. Where ploughmen and day labourers, however, are married, they are more to be depended upon than unmarried domestic servants, more especially when the labourer has a family, which ties him down to regular industry'. 4869. The mode of hiring servants at what are called public statutes, so general in many parts of England, is justly reprobated as having a tendency to vitiate their minds, enabling them to get places without reference to character, exposing good servants to be corrupted by the bad, promoting dissipation, and causing a cessation of country business for some days, and an awkwardness in it for some time afterwards. When hiring ser- vants, it would be extremely important, if possible, to get rid of any injurious perquisites, which are often prejudicial to the interests of the master, without being of any advantage to the servant. for instance, in Yorkshire and in other districts it is a custom to give farm servants liquor both morning and evening, whatever is the nature and urgency of the work. Nothing can be more absurd than permitting a ploughman to stop for half an hour in a winter day to drink ale, while his horses are neglected and shivering with cold. 4870. The following plan of maintaining the hinds or ploughmen in the best cultivated districts in Scotland, is found by experience to be greatly superior to any other mode hitherto adopted. 4871. Proper /muses are built for the firm servants contiguous to every farmstead. This gives them an opportunity of settling in life, and greatly tends to promote their future welfare. Thus also the fanner has his people at all times within reach for earning on his business. 487!2. The form servants, when married, receive the greater part of their wages in the produce of the soil, which gives them an interest in the prosperity of the concern in which they are employed, and in a manner obliges them to eat and drink comfortably ; while young men often starve themselves in order to save money for drinking or clothes, in either of which cases they are deficient in the requisite animal strength. At least under this mode of payment they are certain of being supplied with the necessaries of life, and a rise of prices does not affect them ; whereas, when their wages are paid in money, they are exposed to many temptations of spending it which their circumstances can ill afford, and during a rise of prices they are sum times reduced to considerable difficulties. From the adoption of an opposite system, habits of sobriety ami economy, so conspicuous among the farm servants of Scotland, and the advantages of which cannot be too highly appreciated, have arisen and still prevail in these districts. 4.S73. A most important branch of this system is, that almost every married man has a cow of a mode- rate size kept for him by the farmer all the year round. This is a boon of great utility to his family. The prospect of enjoying this advantage has an excellent effect upon the morals of voting unmarried servants, who in general make it a point to lay up as much of their yearly wages as will enable them to purchase a cow and furniture for a house when they enter into the married state. These savings, under different cir- cumstances, would most probably have been spent in dissipation. ■1S7+. They have also see, nil other perquisites, as a piece of ground for potatoes and flax (about one- eighth part of an acre for each); liberty to keep a pig, half a dozen hens, and bees ; their fuel is carried home to them ; they receive a small allowance in money per journey when suit from home with com, or for coals or lime; ami during the harvest they are maintained by the farmer, that they may be always at hand. Book V. KEEPING ACCOUNTS. 789 4#75. There are nowhere to he met with more retire, respectable, and conscientious servants than /hose who are Kept according to this system. Then- is haruly an instance of their solicit ng relief from tl.e public. They rear numerous families, who are trained to industry snd knowledge in ihe operations of agriculture, and whose assistance in weeding the crops, &c. is of considerable service to the farmer. They become attached to the farm, take an interest in its prosperity, and seldom think of removing from it. Under this system every great (arm is a species of little colony, of which the farmer is the resilient governor. Nor, "on the whole, can there be a more gratifying spectacle than to see a large estate under t In- direction of an intelligent landlord, or of an agent competent to the task of managing it to advantage ; where the farms are of a proper size; where they are occupied by industrious and skilful tenants, anxious to promote, in consequence of the leases they enjoy, the improvement of the land in their possession ; and where the cultivation is carried on by a number of married servants enjoying a fair competence and rear- ing large families, sufficient not only to replace themselves, but also, from their surplus population, to supply the demand and even the waste of the other industrious classes of the community. Such a system, there is reason to believe, is brought to a higher degree of perfection and carried to a greater extent in the more improved districts of Scotland than perhaps in any other country in Europe. (Code, S;c.) 4876. A shepherd is of course only requisite on sheep farms ; and no description of farm servant is required to be so steady and attentive. At the lambing season much of the farmer's property is in his hands, and depends on his unwearied exertions early and late. Such servants should be well paid and comfortably treated. 4877. The labourers required on a farm are few ; in general, one for field operations, as hedge and ditch work, roads, the garden, cleaning out furrows, &c. ; and another for attending to the cattle, pigs, and straw-yard, killing sheep and pigs when required, &c. will be sufficient. Both will assist in harvest, hay-time, threshing, filling dung, &e. These men are much better servants when married and hired by the year, than when, accidental day labourers. 4878. The female servants required in a farmery are casual, as haymakers, turnip hoers, &c. ; or yearly, as house, dairy, and poultry maids. Much depends on the steadi- ness of the first class; and it is in general better to select them from the families of the married servants, by which means their conduct and conversation is observable by their parents and relations. A skilful dairy-maid is a most valuable servant, and it is well when the cattle-keeper is her husband ; both may live in the farmer"s house (provided they have no children , and the man may act as groom to the master's horse and chaise. and assist in brewing, butchery, &c. In the cheese districts, men often milk the cows, and manage the whole process of the dairy ; but females are surely much better calcu- lated for a business of so domestic a nature, and where so much depends on cleanliness. 4S79. Farmers apprentices are not common, but parish boys are so disposed of in some parts of the west of England, and might be so generally. They are said to make the best and steadiest servants ; and indeed the remaining in one situation, and under one good master for a fixed period, say not less than three years, must have a great tendency to fix the character and morals of youth in every line or condition of life. 4SS0. Appi entices intended for farmers are generally young men who have received a tolerable education beforehand, and have attained to manhood or nearly so. These pay a premium, and are regularly in- structed in the operations of fanning. We have already alluded to the example of Walker, who considers such apprentices, notwithstanding the care required to instruct them, rather useful than otherwise. (Husb. of Scot. vol. ii. p. 106.) 4881. To train ploughmen to habits of activity and diligence is of great importance. In some districts they are proverbial for the slowness of their step, which they teach their horses ; whereas these animals, if accustomed to it, would move with as much ease to themselves in a quick as in a slow pace. Hence their ploughs seldom go above two miles in an hour, and sometimes even less ; whereas, where the soil is light and sandy, they might go at the rate of three miles and a half. Farmers are greater sufferers than they imagine by this habitual indolence of their workmen, which extends from the plough to all their other employments, for it makes a very important difference in the expense of labour. (Code.) Chap. IV. General Management of a Farm. 4882. The importance of an orderly systematic mode of managing every concern is suf- ficiently obvious. The points which chiefly demand a farmer's attention are the accounts of money transactions, the management of servants, and the regulation of labours. Sect. I. Keeping Accounts. 4883. It is a maxim of the Dutch, that " no one is ever ruined who keeps good ac- covnts." which are said in The Code of Agriculture to be not so common among farmers as they ought to be; persons employed in other professions being generally much more attentive and correct. Among gentlemen farmers there is often a systematic regularity in all their proceedings, and their pages of debtor and creditor, of expense and profit, are as strictly kept as those of any banking-house in the metropolis. Hut with the gene- rality of farmers the case is widelv different. It rarely happens that books are kept by 3 E 3 7'Ci 1MJACTICH OF AGRICULTURE. V.XKT III. litem in a minute and regular manner; and the accounts of a farmer, occupying even a large estate, and consequently employing a great capital, are seldom deemed of sufficient importance to merit a share of attention equal to that bestowed bya tradesman on a con- cern of not one-twentieth part of the value. There is certainly some difficulty in keeping accurate accounts respecting the profit and lo-s of so uncertain and complicated a busi- ness as the one carried on by the former, which depends so much on the weather, the state of the markets, and other circumstances not under his control ; hut the great bulk of farming transactions is settled at the moment ; that is to say, the article is delivered and the money instantly (laid; so that little more is necessary than to record these properly. In regard to the expenses laid out on the farm, an accurate account of them is perfectly practicable, and ought to be regularly attended to by every prudent and in- dustrious occupier. 4S84. To record pecuniary transactions is not the only object to be attended to in the accounts of a Burner. It is necea «rj to liave an annual account of the live stock, and of their value at the time; of the quantity of hay unconsumed: of the grain in store or in the stack-yard ; and ofthe implements and other articles in which the capital is invested An account, detailing the expense and return of each field, according to it- productive contents, i> likewise wanted, without which it i> impossible to calculate the advantage of different rotations, the most beneficial mode of managing the farm, or the improvements of which it is iusci ptible Besides the obvious advantages of enabling a man to understand his own affairs, and to avoid bi;>:„' cheated, it has a moral eflect upon the farmer of the greatest consequence, however small his dealings mav be. Experience shows that men situated like small farmers ^who are their own masters, and yet have very little capital to manage or lose,) are very apt to contract habits of irregularity, procrastination, and indolence. They persuade themselves that a thing may be as well done to-morrow as to-day, and the result is, that the thing is not done till it is too late, and then hastily and imperfectly. Now nothing can be conceived better adapted to check this disposition than a determination to keep re- gular accounts. The very consciousness that a man has to make entries in his books of every thing that lie does, keeps his attention alive to what he is to do ; and the act of making those entries is the best possible training to produce active and pains-taking habits. 4885. Trotter's method of farm book-keeping. A very original, concise, and accurate mode of keeping farm accounts has been invented bv Alexander Trotter, Esq of Dreghorn. Though the merits of this mode seem to be acknowledged by all who understand it, yet they do not appear to be of that nature to bring it into general use. This, however, mav depend partly, or even wholly, on the ignorance or preju- dices of those for whom it is intended, and on the unfitness of farm managers for such regular and mul- tiplied entries of all their transactions as this system requires. We regret that Mr. Trotter's method has not attracted more notice from scientific fanners. We would recommend to them his " Method of Farm Book-keeping. &C, exemplified by the Forms and Accounts actually practised by the Author in the ma- nagement of his Farm at Colinton, near Edinburgh. Edin Svo. 1825." The books and forms of Mr. Trotter's Method may be got by applying at Messrs. Bartons', stationers, No. 1. Portland-street, London; or at Mr. Abraham Thomson's, bookbinder, Old Eishmarket, Edinburgh. 4886. The accounts of gentlemen farmers, or of the bailiffs they employ, it is said in The Code, cannot be too minute ; but in regard to rent-paying farmers the great objects are to have them short and distinct. For this purpose a journal for business transactions, such as purchases, sales, agreements, lnrings, and other real or prospective arrangements, a cash-book and a ledger will, in our opinion, be sufficient, with the aid of memorandum books. lint for greater accuracy, or rather for more curious farmers, the fol- lowing models are given in The Code of Agriculture. The gentleman farmer and bailiff will find various descriptions of " Farmer's account books " among the booksellers. One in very general use is Harding's Farmer's Account Book. 4887. Weekly Journal of Transactions, from to • Monday. State of Weather. Bar. Ther. Wind. Kain. Tuesday. Wednes. Thursday. Friday. Saturday. Sunday. 4888. Weekly Stale of Labour, from to • Names of If en and I torses. Moii. 1 Tn> a. Wed. Thurs. Frid. Satur. No. of Days. Rale per Day. Total. Daily I-abourers - | L. s. ■ ■ d. Farm Servants - | Horses - i | Task Work - | Work by Tradesmen 1 i | Book V. 4889. FOIUIS OF ACCOUNT. Cash Account. 791 Dr. Cash received. Cash faid. Cr. When received. Of whom received. On what account received. Amount. When paid. To whom paLi. On what account paid. Amount. Total received. L. s. d. L. s. (1. Articles from the Farm consumed {Amount of). When. By whom. What Articles. U t. a. Total paid . 4890. Management of Arable Land. £ o c ■- - > c u a < PREPARING. When begun. Ploughing, Harroivingy Rolling. Manure. Sowing Seed, a s o 6 2 e g. Amount. < I. Iz d Amount. o c CI o Amount. X. s. rf. /.. 5. rf. i. s. d. 4S91. Management of Pasture Land. c Z d i7on> mam) Head of Cattle fed. Produce of Bay, Jf-c. c V M c GC OS c - — - — < Amount. When be^un. o d 2 Amount paid. £ •a a o 3 d 2 At per Load. A mount . Posted to Folio. L. S. rf. S. d. Z,. 5. rf. L. 5. tf. 3 E 4 798 4892. PRACTICE OF AGRICULTURE. Management of Woodland- Part III d c S. 8 1 g (Judntitij of Hark. Underwood* Timber Sold, - ■ 1 < Amount. i 1 9 □ A in mum. 1 i down. -i a ■ <5 Amount. J. S P 2 Amount. 2V ■ 8 3g 1 £ D •a c s L. s. J. t. «. i/. t. *. d. L. M. H. L. J. d. 4893. Account of Crops- Sort. Threshed. Bought. Sold. Sown. Consumed. "Where, and by whom consumed. MTiere sown. Ground. L.t.d. m L. $. d. 3 3 ow £.«.<*. ■&■:. si 3 = c« Z,. a. d. C ■} l- : id >-. 3 a OW L. ft d z I. z z 3 L. *. d. o 6 si L.t.d. a o 5£ /.. .. rf. Wheat . Barley . Oats - - - Hay - . - Potatoes .. . 4894. Dairy Account of Mill , Butter, and Cheese Sunday. Moo. Tues. 1 Wed. Thurs. Frid. Sat. Total Price. Amount. Qts. Pts Qts. Pis. Qts. Pts. Qts. Pts. Qts. rts. Qts. Pts. Qts. Pts. s. a. L. s. - Sows Barrows Pigs - . . i \ A] ' K , >> 1 Oil Horses Mares - - M Colts - - Turkeys . . Poults - - Fowls . - :r. Chickens Geese - - cS Goslings - . g Ducks . c Ducklings - . m Pigeons - - Eggs - - 4896. These forms may be useful, by directing the attention of farmers to the parti- culars of which they should keep an accurate record ; but as to any particular system of accounts applicable to farmers a good deal of delusion seems to prevail, as if the established modes in general use among mercantile men would not answer. In fact, there is no correct mode of keeping accounts but by the principles of double entry. 4897. The account books for a common farmer may be, a cash-book for all receipts and payments, specifying each ; a ledger for accounts with dealers and tradesmen ; and a stock book for taking, once a year, an inventory and valuation of stock, crop, manures, tillages, and every thing that a tenant could dispose of or be paid for on quitting his farm. Farming may be carried on with the greatest accuracy and safety, as to money matters, by means of the above books, and a few pocket memorandum books for labourers' time, jobs, &c. With the exception of a time-book, such as we have before described (3383), we should never require more, even from a proprietor's bailiff; many of whom the nine forms just given (4887) would only puzzle, and some we have known them lead to the greatest errors and confusion. Munro's Guide to Farm Book-keeping (Edin. 12mo. 1821) may be recommended to the practical farmer; but no form of books, or mode of procedure will enable a farmer to know whether he is losing or gaining but that of taking stock. 4898. A form for a cattle stock account has been recommended by Sir Patrick Murray, of which it may be useful to present a specimen. This form, Sir Patrick observes, has been kept at his estate of Ochtertyre, in Perthshire, for twenty-two years, and found per- fectly adapted to the purpose in view ; being sufficiently simple in form to be under- stood by every farm manager, and sufficiently comprehensive in particulars to embrace all the requisite details. They may lie either made up quarterly, half-yearly, or yearly. Sir Patrick adopts the half-yearly mode. 701 PRACTICE OF AGHICUI/rUUE. Part III. Tr- ee tc R c 00 to R 6 R 3 o u u o <3 o 00 1 a 5 o £ ■r. (3 ■a 6 u 8 5 § i * -5 •a 4 6 T3 s c 3 B C o U § £ 3 ~3 4 5 . sj i late year* this rule has been departed from in favour ol the labourer! : thus, when bread is at Is lid. the half, peck, then wages are Is. liw. ; and when at St., the wages are St. i. Rotation/or sandy toils. These, when properly manured, are well adapted to turnips, though it rarely happens that wheat can be cultivated on them with advantage, unless they are dressed with alluvial compost, in nl, clay, or some such substances as will give a body or strength to them, which they do not naturally possess. Barley, o its, and rye, the latter especially, are, however, sure crops on sands, and in favourable seasons will return greater profit than can be obtained from wheat. 1. Turnips well manured consumed on the ground. 3. Clover and rye-grass. j. Barley sown with clover and rye-grass. 4. Wheat, rye, or oats. By keeping the land three years in grass, the rotation would be extended to six years, a measure highly advisable." 4941. These examples are sufficient to illustrate the subject of improved rotations; hut as the best general schemes may he sometimes momentarily deviated from with ad- vantage, the same able author adds, that " cross cropping, in some cases, may perhaps be justifiable in practice; as, for instance, we have seen wheat taken after oats with great success, when these oats had followed a clover crop on rich soil ; but, after all, as a ge- neral measure, that mode of cropping cannot be recommended. We have heard of another rotation, which comes almost under the like predicament, though, as the test of experience has not yet been applied, a decisive opinion cannot be pronounced upon its merits. This rotation begins with a bare fallow, and is carried on with wheat, grass for one year or more, oats, and wheat, where it ends. Its supporters maintain that beans are an uncertain crop, and cultivated at great expense ; and that in no other way will corn, in equal quantity and of equal value, be cultivated at so little expense as according to the plan mentioned. That the expense of cultivation is much lessened, we acknow- ledge, because no more than seven ploughings are given through the whole rotation ; but whether the crops will be of equal value, and whether the ground will be preserved in equally good condition, are points which remain to be ascertained by experience." {Brown on Rural Affairs.) 4942. As a general guide to devising rotations on clay soils, it may be observed, that winter or autumn sown crops are to be preferred to such as are put in in spring. Spring ploughing on such soils is a hazardous business, and not to be practised where it can possibly be avoided. Except in the case of drilled beans, there is not the slightest necessity for ploughing clays in the spring months ; but as land intended to carry beans ought to be early ploughed, so that the benefit of frost may be obtained, and as the seed furrow is an ebb one, rarely exceeding four inches in deepness, the hazard of spring ploughing for this article is not of much consequence. Ploughing with a view to clean soils of the description under consideration has little effect, unless gfven in the summer months. This renders summer fallow indispensably necessary; and without this radical process, none of the heavy and wet soils can be suitably managed, or preserved in a good condition. 494:5. To adopt a judicious rotation of cropping for every soil, requires a degree ot judgment in the farmer, which can only be gathered from observation and experience. The old rotations were calculated to wear out the soil, and to render it unproductive. To take wheat, barley, and oats in succession, a practice very common thirty years ago, was sufficient to impoverish the best of laud, while it put little into the pockets of the farmer; but the modern rotations, such as those which we have describee!, are founded on principles which ensure a full return from the soil, without lessening its value, or im- poverishing its condition. Much depends, however, upon the manner in which the different processes are executed ; for the best arranged rotation may be of no avail, if the processes belonging to it are imperfectly and unseasonably executed. i See 2221.) The best farmers in the northern counties now avoid over-cropping or treating land in any way so as to exhaust its powers, as the greatest of all evils. Sect. II. The working of Fallows. 4944. The practice of fallowing, as wc have seen in our historical view of Greek and Roman agriculture, has existed from the earliest ages ; and the theory of its beneficial Book VI. FALLOWING. 801 effects we have endeavoured to explain. (2175.) The Romans with their agriculture in- troduced fallows in every part of Europe; and two crops, succeeded either by a year's fallow, or by leaving the land to rest for two or more years, became the rotation on all soils and under all circumstances. This mode of cultivating arable land is still the most universal in Europe, and was prevalent in Britain till the middle of the last century ; but as a crop was lost every year they occurred, a powerful aversion from naked fallows arose about that time, and called forth numerous attempts to show that they were unnecessarv, and consequently an immense public loss. This anti- fallowing mania, as it has been called, was chiefly supported by Arthur Young, Nathaniel Kent, and others, members or cor- respondents of the Board of Agriculture : it was at its greatest height about the beginning of the present century, but has now spent its force ; and after exhausting all the argu- ments on both sides, as an able author has observed, " the practice does not appear to give way, but rather to extend." 4945. The expediency or inexpediency of pulverising and cleaning the soil by a bare fallow, is a question that can be determined only by experience, and not by argument. No rea- sons, however ingenious, for the omission of this practice, can bring conviction to the mind of a farmer, who, in spite of all his exertions, finds, at the end of six or eight years, that his land is full of weeds, sour, and comparatively unproductive. Drilled and horse- hoed green crops, though cultivated with advantage on almost every soil are probably in general unprofitable as a substitute for fallow, and after a time altogether inefficient. It is not because turnips, cabbages, &c. will not grow in such soils, that a fallow is re- sorted to, but because, taking a course of years, the value of the successive crops is found to be so much greater, even though an unproductive year is interposed, as to induce a preference to fallowing. Horse-hoed crops, of beans in particular, postpone the recur- rence of fallow, but in few situations can ever exclude it altogether. On the other hand, the instances that have been adduced, of a profitable succession of crops on soils of this description, without the intervention of a fallow, are so well authenticated, that it would be extremely rash to assert that it can in no case be dispensed with on clay soils. In- stances of this kind are to be found in several parts of Young's Annals of Agricul- ture ; and a very notable one, on Greg's farm of Coles, in Hertfordshire, is accurately detailed in the sixth volume of The Communicatiotis to the Hoard of Agriculture. 4946. The principal causes of this extraordinary difference among men of great experience, may probably be found in the quality of the soil, or in the nature of the climate, or in both. Nothing is more vague than the names by which soils are known in different districts. Greg's farm, in particular, though the soil is denominated " heavy arable land," and " very heavy land," is found so suitable to turnips, that a sixth part of it is always under that crop, and these are consumed on the ground by sheep; a system of management which every farmer must know to be altogether impracticable on the wet tenacious clays of other districts. It may indeed be laid down as a criterion for determining the question, that wherever this management can be profitably adopted, fallow, as a regular branch of the course, must be not less absurd than it is injurious, both to the cultivator and to the public. It is probable, therefore, that, in debating this point, the opposite parties are not agreed about the quality of the soil; and, in particular, about its property of absorbing and retaining moisture, so different in soils that in common language have the same denomination. 4947. Another cause of difference must be found in the climate. It is well known that a great deal more rain falls on the west than on the east coast of Britain; and that between the northern and southern counties there is at least a month or six weeks' difference in the maturation of the crops. Though the soil, therefore, be as nearly as possible similar in quality and surface, the period in which it is accessible to agricultural operations must vary accordingly. Thus, in the south-eastern counties of the island, where the crops may be all cut down, and almost all carried home by (he end of August, much may be done in cleansing and pulverising the soil, during the months of September and October, while the farmers of the north are exclusively employed in harvest work, which is frequently not finished by the beginning of November. In some districts in the south of England, wheat is rarely sown before December ; w herea* in the north, and still more in Scotland, if it cannot be got completed by the end of October, it must com- monly be delayed till spring, or oats or barley be taken in place of wheat. It does not then seem of any utility to enter farther into this controversy, which every skilful cultivator must determine for himself All tlie crops, and all the modes of management which have been proposed as substitutes for fallow, are well known to such men, and would unquestionably have been generally adopted long ago, if, upon a careful consideration of the advantages and disadvantages on both sides, a bare fallow was found to be un- profitable in a course of years. The reader who wishes to examine the question fully may consult, among many others, the following: — Young's Annals of Agriculture, and his writings generally; Hunter's Georgical Essays ; Dickson's Practical Agriculture ; Sir H. Davy's Agricultural Chemistry ; The Agricultural Chemistry of Chaptal ; Brown's Treatise on Jlural Affairs ; The Comity Reports ; The Ge- neral Report of Scotland, and the Quarterly Journal of Agriculture, vol. ii. p. 90. 4948. The importance of naked fallows has been ably pointed out by a writer in the work last referred to. " In order," he says, " to show more forcibly the difficulty of cleaning heavy lands for green crops, let us take a review of the time of the year in which these crops should be sown. In clay lands, beans must be sown in March at latest, and before that period of the year no one can pretend to clean land at all. Finding it impossible to use them as a fallow crop, they are sown without dung on that part of the rotation which is penultimate to bare fallow. On light lands, beans will not carry much straw without manure, and their utility as a crop in the rotation is, of course, thereby much decreased on such soils; and if they are to be sown as a fallow crop with dung on the land that is to be appropriated to fallow, they give much less time for the preparatory cleaning of the land than turnips, as thev must be sown at latest in April. On all kinds of soil potatoes must be planted by April ; and the'same observations will, therefore, apply to them as to beans as a cleaner of the land. It is onlv from their great value as human food, and from their inability to grow without dung, that they are planted as a fallow crop ; because it is impracticable to keep land clean, and much more so to make it clean, under a potato fallow. Thus there is difficulty in cleaning land, without summer fallow, with beans and potatoes on every kind of soil in any spring, however favourable ; and it is quite impossible to do ^o in a wet one. There is also difficulty in cleaning strong clay land even by turnip-time in May ; and 3 F PRACTICE OF AGRICULTURE. Part III. the greatest Facility which a farmer possesses of cleaning his land 01 keeping it clean, under a green crop, i? oj a turnip one, on ali : iting on an open bottom, in a dry season. This last instance amounts, in fact, to all the boasted possibility of keeping land clean by green crops, without the assistance of bare Tallow, lint even this substitution U only an approximation to cleanliness; for every one knows, who has ed light soils tor a -ei ies Of rotations, whatever hi- practice may be, that even the turnip crop cannot be raised on them for an indefinite period without the land getting foul with root-weeds, such as quicks and knot grass ; and no better mode of extirpating these formidable robbers of the artificial nourishment of the cultivated crop-, than by hare fallowing, has vet been discovered. They are the rooks of the soil. Indeed, the practice' of the best fanners of light land, however great their desire to curtail the extent of bare fallow may be, is to have a portion of the land under fallow, though the extent of it may no doubt be limited by the want of manure, from a desire to keep their land clean; and this is accomplished by summer fallowing that portion of it winch had carried potatoes in the preceding rotation, and raising the potatoes ami turnip- on that part which had been previously thoroughly cleaned by summer fallowing. I hi- is a good practice, not only as a means of keeping land clean, but as following out that system of alternate llusbandrj of white and green crops, which has, by abolishing a succession of white crops with their scourging effects, tended more than any other to render the soil of these islands all alike fertile. Hut will summer fallow keep land clean? Undoubtedly it will, if properly performed. It gives the op- portunity of working land in dune and July, when every crop should be in the ground, and when the sun i- -o powerful, and the atmosphere so warm and dry, as to kill every plant that has not a hold of the ground. lite process already described, of ploughing, harrowing, and rolling, according to the state of the ground, is admirably adapted for cutting the matted land in pieces, for shaking the detached lumps of earth asunder, and for bruising to powder every hardened ball of earth into which the fibres or roots of weens might penetrate ; and the hand-picking carries off" every bit of weed which might possess any latent \ egetative power. Land that cannot be cleaned under such favourable circumstances as to season, must be v foul, the season <■ ery wet and cold, or the fallowing process conducted with great slovenliness. It mu-t be confessed, that fallowing is too often worked very negligently. It is thought by some, that the land can he cleaned at anv time before seed-time in autumn ; and other things of less importance too often attract the attention from the more important fallow; that weeds, though they do grow, can be d down, and that the ploughing of them down assists to manure the land. Such thoughts too often prevail over better knowledge ; and thev furnish a strong argument in favour of increasing, rather than of diminishing, the means of cleanliness Hut such thoughts display, in their effects, great negligence and ignorance: negligence, in permitting any weeds to cover the land, particularly the root- grow in..' ones, by which the strength of the soil is exhausted, and in losing the most favourable part of the season to accomplish their destruction ; and ignorance, in thinking that weeds ploughed down afford nourishment to the soil, when that soil has been exhausting itself in bearing the crop of weeds. These are facts which are known to every practical farmer, and the nature of which presses upon him a conviction of the necessity of summer fallowing more strongly than all the arguments that can be most speciously drawn, by analogy, from the practice of other arts. Reasoning from analogy is feeble when opposed to experience. Gardeners, no doubt, raise crops every year from the same piece of ground ; but their practice is not quite analogous to that of the husbandman. ' They apply a great quantity of manure to the soil, and they permit few or no plants to run to seed, the bringing of which to perfection, in the cereal crops, constitute- t he great exhaustion to the soil. Gardeners, however, do something like fal- lowing their ground at stated periods, as everv three or four years they dig the ground a double spit of the spade in depth, and lav it up in winter to the frost ; and they reserve alternate pieces of ground for the support of late crops ; all which practices approach nearly to our ideas of summer fallowing." \,Quar. Jour. Ag. vol ii. p.l(J5.) 4949. Falloivs unnecessary on friable soils. However necessary the periodical recurrence of fallow may be on retentive clays, its warmest advocates do not recommend it on turnip soils, or on any friable loams incumbent on a porous subsoil ; nor is it in any case necessary every third year, according to the practice of some districts. On the best cultivated lands it seldom returns oftener than once in six or eight years ; and in favourable situations for obtaining an extra supply of manure, it may be advantageously dispensed with for a still longer period. (Suppl. to Encyc. Brit. art. Agr.) 4950. The operation of fallowing, as commonly practised in England, is, in usefulness and effect, very different from what it ought to be. In most places the first furrow is not given till the spring, or even till the month of May or June ; or, if it is given earlier, the second is not given till after midsummer, and on the third the wheat is sown. Land may rest under this system of management ; but to clean it from weeds, to pulverise it, or to give it the benefits of aeration and heat, is impossible. The farmer in some cases pur- posely delays ploughing his fallows, for the sake of the scanty bite the couch and weeds afford to his sheep ; and for the same reason, having ploughed once, he delays the second ploughing. It is not to be wondered at, that under such a system, the theoretical agri- culturist should have taken a rooted aversion from what are thus erroneously termed fallows. The practice of the best farmers of the northern counties is very different, and that practice we shall here detail. ! A proper fallav invariably commences after harvest ; the land intended to he fallowed getting one ploughing, which ought to be as deep as the soil will admit, e» en though a little of the till or subsoil is brought up. "This both tends to deepen the cultivated, or manured, soil, as the fresh accession of hitherto uncultivated earth becomes afterwards incorporated with the former manured soil, and greatly facilitates the separation of the roots of weeds during the ensuing fallow process, by detaching them completely from anv connection with the fast subsoil. This autumnal ploughing, usually called the winter furrow, promotes the rotting of stubble and weeds ; and, if not accomplished towards the end of harvest, must be given in the winter months, or as carlv in the spring as possible. In giving this first ploughing, the old ridge- should be gathered up, if practicable, as in that state they are kept dry during the winter months ; but it is not uncommon to split them out or divide them, especially if the land had been previously highly gathered, so that each original ridge of land is divided into two half ridges. Sometimes, when the land is ea-ilv laid dry, the furrows of the old ridges are made the crowns of the new ones, or the land is ploughed in the way technically called cr wm-and-furrow. In other instances, two ridges are ploughed together, by what is called casting, which has been already described. After the field is ploughed, all the inter- furrows, and those of the headlands, are carefully opened up by the plough, and are afterwards gone over effectually bv a labourer with a spade, to remove all obstructions, and to open up the water furrows into the fence ditches, wherever that seems necessary, that all moisture may have a ready exit. In everyplace where water is expected to lodge, such as dishes, or hollow places in the field, cross or oblique furrows are drawn by the plough, and their intersections carefully opened into each other by the spade. Where- ever it appears necessary, cross cuts are also made through the head ridges into the ditches with a spade, and every possible attention is exerted, that no water may stagnate in any part of the field. 49.62. As soon as the spring seed-time is over, the fallow land is again ploughed end-long. If formerly split, it is now ridged up ; if formerly laid up in gathered ridges, it is split or cloven down. It is then Hook VI. MANAGEMENT OF M ANT RES. 80 I cross-ploughed ; and after lying till sufficiently dry to admit the harrows, it is harrowed and rolled re- peatedly, and every particle of the vivacious roofs of weeds brought up to view, carefully gathered by hai d into heaps, and either burnt on the field, or carted off to the compost heap. The fallow* is then ridged up, which places it in a safe condition in the event of bad weather, and exposes a new surface to the harrows and roller ; after which the weeds are again gathered by hand, but a previous harrowing is necessary. It is afterwards ploughed, harrowed, rolled, and gathered as often as it may be necessary to reuuce it into fine tilth, and completely to eradicate all root-weeds. Between these successive operations, repeated crops of seedling weeds are brought into vegetation, and destroyed. The larva; likewise of various insects, together with an infinite variety of the seeds of weeds, are exposed to be devoured by birds, which are then the farmer's best friends, though often proscribed as his bitterest enemies. 4953. The use of the harrow and roller in the fallow process, has been condemned by some writers on husbandry, who allege that freduent ploughing is all that is necessary to destroy root- weeds, by the bating or drying of the clods in the sun and wind; but experience has ascertained, that frequently tumir.^ over the ground, though absolutely necessary while the fallow process is going on, can never eradicate couch-grass or other root-weeds. In all clay soils, the ground lurns up in lumps or clods, which the severest drought will not penetrate so suffi- ciently as to kill the included roots. When the land is again ploughed, these lumps are turned over and no more, and the action of the plough serves in no degrea to reduce them, or at least very imperceptibly. It may be added, that these lumps likewise enclose innumerable seeds of weeds, which cannot vegetate unless brought under the influence of the sun and air near the surface. Trie diligent use, therefore, of the harrow and roller, followed by careful hand-picking, is indispensably necessary to the perfection of a fallow process. {General Re- port of Scotland, vol. iv. p. 419.) 49o4. T/te working affiliates by the grubber, fc an important modern improvement. We have already described several of these implements, and shall here introduce one which has been made public since the first fi we hundred pages of this work were printed. 4955. Kirkwood's improved grubber (./(£-. 721.) has this pecu- liar advantage, that " thewhole of the body of the instrument, and of course all the teeth, can be raiseii out of the ground at pleasure, and even while the machine is in motion; which is extreme!; convenient, not only in turning at the head ridge>, but whenever an obstruction is met with in the ground, arising from rocky, retentive, or otlu-r impenetrable soils In such of these as would completely interrupt the progress »;f the ordinary instrument, this proceeds with ease, by merely being lifted more or less over them. The operation is performed bv the driver bearing with his weight on the guiding handles of the grubb'jr ; and this )>r -sur- 1 is made to raise the whole machine by a very skilful application of mechanical power. The pres- sure on the guiding handles \tt), it will be observed, turns ihe whole handle round the axle of the bind wheels {b b), as round a fulcrum, so that the handle then becomes a lever, on the shorter extremity of which the frame of the teeth rests. It is evident, therefore, that by bearing on the handle which forms the lon^ end of 'he ie-vt r, tl, shorter end must be raised, and along with it the hinder part of the teeth-frame, and, of course, the teeth also. But there is still another contrivance, by which the force is made to act at the same time on the forepart of the frame, and to raise it likewise. This is done by a long rod (d e), which is attached at the extremitv to a fulcrum (rf), raised on the handle frame, and at the other to the one end of a bent lever (cfg), which turns on the axle of the fore wheel as a centre, and at an intermediate point carrits the fore end of the teeth frame. While the handle, therefore, is depressed, and raises the hinder part of this frame, it at ih ■ same time pulls the rod, turns the front lever round the axle of the fore wheel, a>d \i\ this means elevates the teeth before as well as hell The whole operation is simple, ingenious, and efficient." [HigM. Soc. Trans, vol. viij. p. 132.) 721 v. 4856. When effectually reduced to fine tilth, and thoroughly cleaned from roots and weeds, the fallow is ploughed end-long into gathered ridges or lands, usually fifteen or eighteen feet broad. If the seed is to lie drilled, the lands or ridges are made of such widths as may suit the construction of the particular drill. machine to be employed. If the seed is to be sown by hand, the lands or ridges are commonly formed into what are called single or double cast ridges; the first of four paces or steps, and the latter of eight steps in width. These widths are found the most convenient for a one-handed sower. An expert sower can, however, measure his handful to almost any width ; but the above long experience has made the standard. After the land has been once gathered by a deep furrow, proportioned to the depth of the culti- vated soil, the manure is laid on, and evenly spread over the surface, whether muck, lime, marl, or com- post. A second gathering is now given by the plough ; and this being generally the furrow upon which the seed is sown, great care is used to plough as equally as possible. After the seed is sown and the land thoroughly harrowed, all the inter-furrows, furrows of the headlands, and oblique or gaw furrows, are carefully opened up by the plough, and cleared out by the spade, as already mentioned, respecting the first or winter ploughing. 4957. The expense of fallowing, may appear, from what has been said, to be very con- siderable, when land lias been allowed to become stocked with weeds; but if it be kept under regular management, corn alternating with drilled pulse or green crops, the sub- sequent returns of fallow will not require near so much labour. In common cases, from four to six ploughings are generally given, with harrowing and rolling between, as may be found necessary; and, as we have already noticed, the cultivator may be employed to diminish this heavy expense. But it must be considered, that upon the manner in which the fallow operations are conducted, depend not only the ensuing wheat crop, but in a great measure all the crops of the rotation. (Supp. to Encyc. Brit. art. Agr. 128.) Sect. III. General Management of Manures. 4958. The manures of animal, vegetable, or mineral origin have been already described, and their operation explained. (2224.) But a very few of these substances can be ob- tained by farmers in general ; whose standard resources are farm-yard dung and lime, and composts of these with earth. It is on the management of these that we propose to deliver the practice of the best British farmers. 3 F 2 4 PRACTICE OF AGRICULTURE. Part III. .Si B8K1 i'. I. Management of Farm-yard Dung- 1959. TV basis of form-yard dung is straw, to which is added, in its progress through the farm-yard, the excrementitious substances of live stock. Prom every ton of dry straw, about three tons of farm-yard dung may be obtained, if the after-management he properly conducted ; and, as the weigh! of straw per aire runs from one ton to one and a half, about four tons of dung, on an average of the different crops, may he produced from the straw of every acre under corn. (Husbandry of Scotland, vol. ii. Hence (it maybe noticed ' the great importance of cutting corn as low as possible; a few inches at the root ofthest.dk weighing more than double the same length at the ear. w'i >;/ t)f straw into/arm yard thing in the farmery, is thus effected : — The straw is served nut to cattle ami horses in the houses and fold-yards, either as provender or litter, and commonly for both purposes ; turnips in winter, and green clover in summer, are given to the stock both in the houses and varas; <>n tin* food the animals pass a great deal of urine, and afford tlie means of converting the straw Into a richer manure than if it were eaten alone. All the dung from the houses, as they are cleaned out, is regularly spread over the yards in which young cattle are left loose, where litter is usually allowed in great abundance; or over the dunghill itself, if there is one at hand. This renders the quality of the n bole in iss more uniform ; and the horse-dung, which is of a hot nature, promotes the decomposition ofthe woody Bores of the straw. 1861. The preparation of the contents nf the farm-yard for laying on the land, is by turning it over ; or, v. hat is preferable, carting it out to a dunghill. The operation of carting out is usually performed during the frosts "I winter : it is then taken to the Held in which it is to he employed, and neatly built in dunghills Of a square form, three or four feet high, and of such a length and breadth as circumstances may require. What is laid up in this manner early in winter, is commonly sufficiently prepared for turnips in June; but if n it carried from the straw-yards till spring, it is necessary to turn it onceor oftener, for the purpose el accelerating the decomposition ofthe strawy part ofthe mass. When dung is applied to fallows in July or August, preparatively to autumn-sown wheat, a much less degree of putrefaction will suffice than for turnips: a clay soil, on which alone fallows should ever be resorted to, not requiring dung so much rotted as a finely pulverised turnip soil ; and besides, as the wheat does not need all the benefit of the dung for some time, the woody fibre is gradually broken down in the course ofthe winter, and the nourishment of the plants continued till spring, or later, when its effects are most beneficial Management of Stable dung. There is a most valuable paper on this subject by Lord Meadow- bank, in the second volume ofthe Com. to the Board of Agr. " His lordship has ever found, that, instead of dung being the richest manure when completely fermented, it should, if possible, be laid on when very imperfectly fermented, but nevertheless when the process is going on at such a rate as that it must con- tinue after mixture with the soil till it is completed. Kvery gardener knows, that the dung used in hot- beds has little effect in comparison of fresh dung; and every farmer knows, that a dunghill, which has by any accident been kept for years, is of little more value than so much very rich earth. Kvery person of attention, too, must have remarked the great effects which ensue from turning over a dunghill recently before using it, and that composts operate most powerfully, if used when sensibly hot, from the activity of the fermentation which the recent mixture of the ingredients has occasioned, and when, consequently, that process is very far from being completed." As farm dunghills are formed by degrees, it is desirable to retard the fermentation of that which is first made, or to retain it in a state of fermentation, " so slow or imperfect, that it may suffer little till after being turned over with the later made dung, it forms one powerfully fermenting mass ; and that then it should be put into the soil, when the process is so far ad- vanced that it will be completed, when, at the same time, little loss of substance has yet been suffered, and when what volatile matter is afterwards extricated will diffuse itself through the soil. In these circum- stances, every thing is lodged in the soil that the dung can yield, either in point of mass or activity ; and at the same time it is in a state when most likely to act as a powerful ferment, for promoting the putre- faction of the decayed vegetables lying inert in the soil. I certainly, therefore, approve of the preserva- tion of dunghills from much sun and much wind, as well as from that redundancy of moisture which is apt to overflow and wash away the manure: but 1 think the pressure which the feet of animals give them, especially of the lighter sort, does good, and prevents that violent fermentation which wastes the substance, and, in my opinion, exhausts the fertilising powers of dung. This pressure contributes to pre- serve it fresh till the time of employing it as a manure calls for putting it altogether, and at once, into that highly active state of putrefaction, which, though no doubt checked by its distribution in the soil, is suffi- cient to ensure a gradual and complete dissolution and diffusion of its substance. Unless, therefore, dung is to be used for composts, it appears to me clearly advantageous to get the dung into the soil as early as possible; it is always wasting somewhat, when kept out of it: but when put into the soil ill a proper state, there is the utmost reason to think that what is extricated goes all to fertilise. Give me leave to add, that 1 do not believe much is lost by dissolution in rain water. I could never discovei any thing of the kind in the water of the furrows of a field properly manured and ploughed. The case, every person knows, is quite different in fields recently limed or dressed with ashes ; but I am apt to think, that the volatile anil soluble parts of common dunghills Have some attraction with the substance of soils, that prevents their escape. We know that common loam extracts the noisome smell of the woollen cloths ti^rtl for intercepting the coarser nils that accompany spirits distilled from the sugar-cane, which scarce any detergent besides can obtain from it; and garden loam, impregnated as it must be with fermented dung, is certainly not easily deprived of its fertility by the washing of rain. 1 must also observe, that I take one of the great advantages derived from using dung with composts to be, the arresting and preserv- ing the fertilising matter which escapes in the putrefactive fermentation; and another to be, that dung there operate^ as a ferment, to putrefy substances not sufficiently disposed to putrefy with activity of themselves. Jfbu will observe, that this coincides exactly with the effects 1 have attributed to it upon soil, and affords a very useful corollary with respect to the substances to be used in top-dressings, which arc not to be covered with soil ; viz. that if fermenting or putrefying substances are used, the process should have been completed, or nearly so, in a combination that has received the full benefit of it : that it is a great waste to spread common dung on grass, without having first mixed it with sand, loam, or other matter in which it has been dissolved and fixed; so that when spread on the ground, the loss, which would otherwise arise from fermentation and evaporation, is avoided ; and that, if such a compost is used at the tune when the plants are in a glowing state, and in a way to cover it soon, it is by far the most advantageous method of laying it on." [Comm, Ii. Agr. vol. ii. p. 387.) V> , ; The husbandman of Brabant is careful that his manure should never become parched and dried up, by which means all the volatile salts would evaporate Tie lays his dung, as often as possible, close to :.i , Btables and cow-houses, ami sheltered from the sun. If this cannot be avoided, hi' contrives to lay it under Some large tree, to partake of the shade of its boughs. As a receptacle for their dung, they generally dig a pit, live or si\ feet deep, with sufficient dimensions for the necessary deposit, from the month of March till harve-t is over. The more opulent farmers are not satisfied with merely digging such a pit : they further pave and line it with bricks, that the earth should not absorb any of its parts; but that the thick matter should remain plunged in a mass of stale, increased further by rain. The stables and COW-houses are paved and .sloped in such a manner as to communicate with a drain, which conveys all Hoes. VI. MANAGEMENT OF LIME AS A MANURE. .805 the stale of their cattle towards the dung pit, which, by this contrivance, it keeps constantly supplying. M {Cumin. B. Agr. vol. ii.) 4964. In the application of farm-yard dung to land under tillage, particular attention is paid to the cleanness of the soil ; and to use it at a time when, from the pulverisation of the ground, it may be most intimately mixed with it. The most common time of manuring with farm-yard dung is, therefore, either towards the conclusion of the fallowing operations, or immediately before the sowing of fallow crops. If no dung can be procured but what is made from the produce of the farm, it will seldom be possible to allow more than ten or twelve tons to every acre, when the land is managed under a regular course of white and green crops ; and it is thought more advantageous to repeat this dose at short intervals, than to give a larger quantity at once, and at a more distant period in proportion. {General Report of Scotland, vol. ii. p. 517.) Farm-yard dung, it is well known, is greatly reduced in value by being exposed to the atmosphere in small heaps, previously to being spread, and still more after being spread. Its rich juices are exhaled by the sun, or washed away by the rains, and the residuum is com- paratively worthless. This is in an especial manner the case with long fresh dung, the far greater part of which consists of wet straw in an entire state. All careful farmers, accordingly, spread and cover in their dung with the plough, as soon as possible after it is brought on the land. 4965. The use of fresh dung is decidedly opposite to the practice of the best farmers of turnip soils ; its inutility, or rather injurious effects, from its opening the soil too much, is a matter of experience with every one who cultivates drilled turnips on a large scale. As the whole farm-yard dung, on such land, is applied to the turnip crop, it must necessarily happen that it should be laid on "in different stages of putre- faction ; and what is made very late in spring, often after a very slight fermentation, or none at all. The experience of the effect of recent dung is accordingly very general, and the result, in almost every case, is, that the growth of the young plants is slow ; that they remain long in a feeble and doubtful state ; and that they seldom, in ordinary seasons, become a full crop, even though twice the quantity that is given of short muck has been allowed. On the other hand, when the manure is considerably decomposed, the effects are immediate, the plants rise vigorously, and soon put forth their rough leaf, after which the beetle or fly does not seize on them ; and in a few weeks, the leaves become so large, that the plants pro- bably draw the greatest part of their nourishment from the atmosphere. Though it were true, therefore, that more nutritive matter is given out by a certain quantity of dung, applied in a recent state, and allowed to decompose gradually in the soil, than if applied after undergoing fermentation and putrefac- tion, the objection arising from the slowness of its operation would, in many instances, be an insuperable one with farmers. But there seems reason to doubt if fresh strawy manure would ferment much in the soil, after being spread out in so small a quantity as has been already mentioned ; and also if, in the warm dry weather of summer, the shallow covering of earth given by the plough would not permit the gaseous matters to escape to a much greater amount than if fermentation had been completed in a well- built covered dunghill. 4966. Another great objection to the use of fresh farm-yard dung is, that the seeds and roots of those plants with which it commonly abounds spring up luxuriantly on the land ; and this evil nothing but a considerable degree of fermentation can obviate. The mass of materials consists of the straw of various crops, some of the grains of which, after all the care that can be taken, will adhere to the straw ; of the dung of different animals voided, as is often the case with horses fed on oats, with the grain in an entire state ; and of the roots, stems, and seeds of the weeds that had grown among the straw, clover, and hay, and such as had been brought to the houses and fold-yards with the turnips and other roots given to live stock. 4967. The degree of decomposition to which farm-yard dung should arrive, before it can be deemed a pro- fitable manure, must depend on the texture of the soil, the nature of the plants, and the time of its application. In general, clayey soils, as more tenacious of moisture, and more benefited by being ren- dered incohesive and porous, may receive manure less decomposed than well pulverised turnip soils require. Some plants, too, seem to thrive better with fresh dung than others, potatoes in particular; but all the small-seeded plants, such as turnips, clover, carrots, Sec. which are extremely tender in the early stage of their growth, require to be pushed forward into luxuriant vegetation with the least possible delay, by means of short dung. 4968. The season when manure is applied,\s also a material circumstance. In spring and summer, whether used for corn or green crops, the object is to produce an imme- diate effect, and it should therefore be more completely decomposed than may be neces- sary when laid on in autumn for a crop whose condition will be almost stationary for many months. (Sup. Ency. Brit. art. Agr.) 4969. The quantity of putrescent manure requisite for each acre of land during each year is estimated, by Professor Coventry, at five tons per acre annually. That quantity being supplied, not annually, but in quantities of twenty tons per acre every four years, or twenty-five tons per acre every five years. (Quar. Jour. Agr. vol. ii. p. 335.) Subsect. 2. Lime, and its Management as a Manure. 4970. Lime is by far the most important of the fossil manures; and, indeed, it may be asserted, that no soil will ever be fit for much which does not contain a proportion of this earth, either naturally or by artificial application. Next to farm-yard dung, lime is in most general use as a manure, though it is one of a quite different character ; and when judiciously applied, and the land laid to pasture, or cultivated for white and green crops alternately, with an adequate allowance of putrescent manure, its effects are much more lasting, and, in many instances, still more beneficial, than those of farm-yard dung. Fossil manures, Sir H. Davy observes, must produce their effect, either by becoming a constituent part of the plant, or by acting upon its more essential food, so as to render it more fitted for the purposes of vegetable" life. It is. perhaps, in the former of these 3 F 3 PRACTH I. OF \(.!M( I I. I I "UK. P.-ht III. that wheal mil boom other plant are brought i<> perfection, after lime lias been applied, upon land that would nut bring them to maturity by the most liberal use of dung ie. This lain,' .in established fact maj be considered one of the greatest importance to all cultivators. 171. With regard '•• the quantity of time that ought to be apjiliedto different soil*, it is much to be regretted that Sir Humphry Davy lias not thought proper to enter fully into the subject (las-, it is well known, require a larger quantity than sands or dry loams. It has been applied accordingly in almost every quantity from loo to 500 bushels in- upwards per acre. About Win bushels air generally considered a full drcss- in,' for lighter soils, anil BO or 100 bushels more for heavy cohesive soils. One of the greatest advantages arising from the use of lime on gravelly or sandy soils, is its power absorbing moisture from the air, which is in the highest degree useful to the crops in dry summers. . In the application of lime to arable land, there are some general rules commonly attended to by diligent fanners, which we shall give nearly in the words of a recent publication. 1. Al tin' effects of lime greatly depend en its intimate admixture with the surface soil, it is essential t.i nave it in ,i powdery state at the time it is applied. I line having a tendency to sink in the soil, it should be ploughed in with a shallow furrow. I. mi.' ma; rather he applied to grass land, or to land in preparation for green erops or summer fallow, dmosl equal advantage ; but, in general, the latter mode of application is to be preferred. I I. one ought not to lie applied a second time to moory soils, unless mixed up as a compost, after which the land should be immediately laid down to grass. 5. I j.oii fresh land, the effect of lime is much superior to that of dung. The ground, likewise, more especially where it is of a strong nature, is more easily wrought ; in some instances, it is said, the saving of labour would be sufficient to induce a farmer to lime his land, were no greater benefit derived from the application than the opportunity thereby gained of working it in a more perfect manner. [General Report qf Scotland, vol. ii. p. . '•. In limine: for improving hilly lam!, with a vieio to pasture, a much smaller quan- tity has been found to produce permanent and highly beneficial effects, when kept as much as possible near the surface, by being merely harrowed in with the seeds, after a fallow or green crop, instead of being buried by the plough. I'd. Tin- successful practice of one qf the most eminent farmers in Britain cannot be too generally known in a matter of so great importance to farmers of such land, especially when lime must be brought from a great distance, as was the ease in the instance to which we are about to allude. " A few years after 17."-+," - .1. Dawson, " having a considerable extent of outfield land in fallow, which I wished to lime previously being laid down to pasture, and finding that 1 could not obtain a sufficient quantity of lime for the v. hole in proper time, 1 was induced, from observing the effects of line loam upon the surface of similar .. mi. even when covered with bent, to try a small quantity of lime on the surface of this fallow, instead larger quantity ploughed down in the usual manner. Accordingly, in the autumn, about twenty ol it were well harrowed, and then about fifty-six Winchester bushels only of unslacked lime were, alter being slacked, carefully spread upon each English acre, and immediately well harrowed in. As many pieces of the lime, which had not been fully slacked at first, were gradually reduced to powder by the dews and moisture of the earth, to mix these with the soil, the land was again well harrowed in three or four days thereafter. This land was sown in the spring with oats, with white and red clover and rye- gTass seeds, and well harrowed, without being ploughed again. The crop of oats was good ; the plants ol' grass sufficiently numerous and healthy ; and they formed a very fine pasture, which continued good until ploughed some years after for corn. About twelve years afterwards, I took a lease of the hilly farm Ol Grubbet; many parts of which, though of an earthy mould tolerably deep, were too steep and elevated to be kept in tillage. As these lands had been much exhausted by cropping, and were full of couch-grass, to destroy that and procure a cover of tine grass, I fatlowed them, and laid on the same quantity of lime per acre, then harrowed, and sowed oats and grass seeds in the spring exactly as in the last-mentioned experiment, The oats were a full crop, and the plants of grass abundant. Several of these fields have been now above thirty years in pasture, and are still producing white clover, and other tine grasses ; no bent or fog has yet appeared upon them. It deserves particular notice, that more than treble the quantity ol lime was laid upon fields adjoining, of a similar soil, but which being fitter for occasional tillage, upon them the lime was ploughed in. These fields were also sown with oats and grass seeds. The latter throve well, and gave a tine pasture the first year ; but afterwards the bent spread so fast, that, in three years, was more of it than of the finer grasses." \'M.~>. The conclusions which Dawson draws from his extensive practice in the use of lime anil dung, deserve the attention of all cultivators of similar land. 1 That animal dung dropped upon coarse benty pastures, produces little or no improvement upon them ; and that, even when .sheep or cattle are confined to a small space, as in the case of folding, their produce any beneficial effect, after a few years, whether the land is continued in pasture, or brought under the plough. i i i en when land of this description is well fallowed and dunged, but not limed, though the dung -.1. ni- the produce of the subsequent crop of grain, and of grass also for two or three years, that there- alter its effects are n le either upon the one or the other. en Ibis l.md is limed, if the linie is kepi upon the sin lace of the soil, or well mixed with it, and then laid down to pasture, the liner glasses continue in possession of the soil, even in elevated and i posed situations, for a great many ye.irs, to the exclusion of bent and moss. In the case of Grubbet . it was observed, that more than thirty years have now elapsed. Besides this, the dung of the ani- mal, pa-lured upon such land adds every year to the luxuriance, improves the quality of the pasture, and augments the productive powers Of the soil When afterwards ploughed for grain ; thus producing, upon a benty outfield soil, effects similar to what are experienced when rich infield lands have been long in P isture, and thereby more ami more enriched. i That when a large quantity of lime is laid on such land, and ploughed down deep, the same effects will not be product d. whether in respect to the permanent fineness of the pasture, its gradual ameliora- ■ tion by the dung of the animals Pastured on it, or its fertility when alter wards in tillage. On the con- trary, unless the surface is fully mixed with lime, tl las.scs will in a few years regain possession Of the snil, and the dung thereafter deposited by cattle will not enrich the land for subsequent tillage. i- It also appears from what has been stated, that the four-shilt husbandry is only proper for very rich land, or in situations w here there is a full command of dung. That by far the greatest part of the land ol this country n quires to be continued in grass two, three, four, or more years, according to it. Book VI. COMPOSTS AND OTHER MANURES. 807 natural poverty ; that the objection made to this, viz that the coarse grasses in a few years usurp pos- session of the soil, must be owing to the surface soil not being sufficiently mixed with lime, the lime having been covered too deep by the plough. (Farmer's Magazine, vol. xiii. p. 69.) Sect. IV. Composts and other Manures- 4976. Mixing farm-yard dung, in a state of fermentation, with earth, in which there is much inert vegetable matter, — as the hanks of old ditches, or what is collected from the sides of lanes, &c, — will bring this inert, dead matter, consisting of the roots of decayed glasses and other plants, into a state of putridity and solubility, and prepare it for nourishing the crops or plants it may be applied to, in the very manner it acts on peat. Dung, however, mixed with earth, taken from rich arable fields which have been long cultivated and manured, can have no effect as manure to other land that the same earth and dung would not produce applied separately ; because there is generally no inert matter in this description of earth to be rendered soluble. 4977. Mixing dang, earth, and quick-lime together, can never be advisable ; because quick-lime will render some of the most valuable parts of the dung insoluble. (See 2290.) It will depend on the nature of soil or earth, whether even quick-lime only should be mixed with it to form compost. If there be much inert vegetable matter in the earth, the quick-lime will prepare it for becoming food for the plants it may be applied to ; but if rich earth be taken from arable fields, the bottoms of dung-pits, or, in fact, if any soil full of soluble matter be used, the quick-lime will decompose parts of this soluble matter, combine with other parts, and render the whole mass less nourishing as manure to plants or crops than before the quick lime was applied to it. Making composts, then, of rich soil of this description, with dung or lime, mixed or separate, is evidently, to say no more of it, a waste of time and labour. The mixture of earths of this description with dung produces no alteration in the component parts of the earth, where there is no inert vegetable substances to be acted on ; and the mixture of earth full of soluble matter with dung and quick-lime, in a mass together, has the worst effects, the quick-lime decom- posing and uniting with the soluble matter of the earth, as well as that of the dung ; thus rendering both, in every case, less efficient as manures, than if applied separately from the quick-lime, and even the quick-lime itself inferior as manure for certain soils, than if it had never been mixed with the dung and earth at all. {Farmer s Magazine, vol. xv. p. 351.) 4978. Mixing dung in a stale of fermentation with peat, or forming what in Scotland are called Meadowbank middens (2241.), is a successful mode of increasing the quantity of putrescent manure. The peat, being dug and partially dried, may either be carted into the farm-yard and spread over the cattle court, there to remain till the whole is carted out and laid upon a dunghill to ferment; or it may be mixed up with the farm- yard dung as carted out. If care be taken to watch the fermenting process, as the fire of a clay-kiln is watched, a few loads of dung may be made to rot many loads of peat. Adding lime to such composts does not in the least promote fermentation;, while it renders the most valuable parts of the mass insoluble. Adding sand, ashes, or earth, will, by tending to consolidate the mass, considerably impede the progress of fermentation. 4979. Bone manure. Crushed bones were first introduced to Lincolnshire and York- shire, about 1800, by a bone merchant at Hull; and the effect has been, according to a writer in the British Farmers Magazine, vol. iii. p. 207., to raise wild unenclosed sheep- walks from 2s. 6d. or Ss. to 10s. 6d or 20s. an acre. The quantity at present laid on is 12 bushels per acre drilled in, in the form of dust, with turnip seed. The turnips are fed off with sheep, and succeeded by a corn crop, and by two crops of grass. It seems to be generally admitted, that bone dust is not beneficial on wet retentive soils, as con- tinued moisture prevents decomposition ; but in all descriptions of dry soils it never fails of success. On the poor soil, or chalk or lime-stone of the woolds of Lincolnshire and Yorkshire, the turnip crops are said to equal those of any part of England ; and the barley, though coarse, to produce a greater quantity of saccharine matter than even the brightest Norfolk samples. (Brit. Farm. Mag. vol. iii. p. 208.) 4880. The Doncaiter Agricultural Association appointed a committee, in 1828, to make enquiries, and report the result of them, on the use and advantages of bones as a manure. The report is full of interest, and highly satisfactory as to the great value of this species. The following is a summary of deductions from the details collected : — 1. That on dry sands, lime-stone, chalk, light loams, and peat, bones form a very highly valuable ma- nure; they may be laid on grass with great good effect ; and, on arable lands, they may be laid on fallow for turnips, or used for any of the subsequent crops. i. That the best method of using them, when broad-cast, is previously to mix them up with earth, dung, or other manures, and let them lie to ferment. o. That if used alone, they may either be drilled with the seed or sown broad. cast. 4. That bones which have undergone the process of fermentation are decidedly superior to those which have not done so. 5. That the quantity should be about 25 bushels of dust, or 40 bushels of large, increasing the quantity if the land be impoverished. li. Thai upon clays and heavy loams, it does not yet appeal th it bones « ill an: wcr. 3 !•' 4 ' PRACTH I OF AG RICULTURE. Part III. 4981. Salt, nitre, and other manure* have been already treated of in Tart II. at sufficient length. It is clear thai both salt and nitre maj be advantageously used in many cases. Nitre continues to be a good deal used in Hertfoidsbire, on which it is sown at the rate of l '. cwt per acre. It baa been tried at tbia rate in Scotland to wheat and to grass, and the effect is said to have been wonderful Salt hat been extensively used with almost every crop at different rates, from 80 to 40 bushels per acre ; ami it appears in many, if not in most, eas,s to have proved useful, (Quar. Jour. Agr. vol i. p. '-'08., and Highl. Soc Trans. \ol. i. p. 1 17.) Chap. II. Culture of the Cereal Grasses. '4982. The corn cmjis cultivated in Britain are, wheat, rye, barley, and oats. Other rulmiferous plants, as the maize, millet, and rice, have been tried with partial success in warm districts, hut they have no chance of ever becoming general in our climate. The beat description of the different species and varieties of Cerealia cultivated in Europe will he found in Metzger's Europeeische Cerea/ien in Botaniscker und Landwirthschaftlnher Ilinsicht, *C. Heidelberg, 1824. Folio, 20 plates. The plates are exceedingly well exe- cuted ; and there are popular as well as scientific descriptions, with synonyms in all the European languages. 4983. On the culture of culmiferous plants, a few general remarks may be of use to the voung farmer. Culmiferous plants, particularly wheat and rye, like most others, have two Lets of roots. The first originate with the germination of the grain, are always under the soil, and are called the seminal roots ; the second spring from the first joint which is formed near the surface of the soil, and from that joint strike down into the soil; these are called the coronal roots. The coronal roots appear chiefly intended for drawing nourishment from the soil; and, as Professor Martyn has observed, are judiciously placed for this purpose, the richest part of all soils being on or near the surface. These fibres are of larger diameter, more succulent, and never so long as the seminal. From these facts, as to the roots of culmiferous plants, some important hints may be derived regarding their culture. The use of stirring the surface in spring to facilitate the extension of the coronal roots, is obvious ; the immediate effect of a top-dressing is also apparent, and also that manures may be ploughed in too deep to give the full amount of their bene- ficial effects to corn crops or grasses. Sageret, a scientific French agriculturist, proved experimentally, that where any of the grains or grasses are etiolated immediately after germination, by growing too rapidly, or by being sown too thick or in too warm a sea- son, the first joint from which the coronal or nourishing roots spring is raised above the ground, and in consequence either throws out no roots at all, or so few as to nourish it imperfectly; in which case it either dies before it conies into flower, or before the seed is matured. {Menu de la Soc. Ag. de Seine, torn, ii.) 4984. Whether corn ought to be sown broadcast or in drills, is a question which has given rise to considerable discussion. The cultivation in rows of such plants as admit of intertillage during the summer months, is known to supersede the use of a summer fallow on lighter soils. " In truth, the row culture of certain green crops is one of the greatest improvements of modern agriculture, and should be extended by every effort of instruction and example. By no other means yet known to us can so large a produce be raised from land under constant tillage, so beneficial a rotation of crops be adopted, or so great an economy be practised in the application of manures. But, while the advantages are thus apparent with regard to the application of this species of culture to our preparatory green crops, it does in no degree follow that advantages equally great will result from its application to our crops of white corn. The analogy, as it regards the nature of the plants which form the subject of cultivation, does not hold. The cereal grains send forth numerous shoots or suckers, and the goodness of the crop mainly depends on the vigour and number of the shoots which they send forth. The other kind of crops do not, generally speaking, tiller like wheat, barley, or oats, but rise from one stem. Reasoning from these principles, we should infer that the former class of plants should he cultiv kted in that manner in which they are best suited to summer tillage ; that is, in rows : the latter in that manner in which the seed is most equally de- posited in the upper stratum of the soil, which is in broadcast. The opinions, however, of intelligent agriculturists are not agreed as to the superiority in practice of the broad- cast over the row system, even as it relates to the cereal grains. The farmer of Nor- folk, or of the light soils of Sussex, will contend as strenuously for the superiority of the row system as the farmer of East Lothian for the broadcast system ; and each may be right as it regards the application of the principle to the circumstances of his own situation. The question u hich is to be settled, however, is, — Which of the two systems Book VI. CULTURE OF THE CEREAL GRASSES. S09 is to be regarded as the rule in husbandry, and which the exception ? Now, independ- ently of the circumstances just adverted to, and judging only from the greater extent to which the broad-cast system is carried on in the country ; from the fact of the row system having declined in favour in districts where it had once been most extensively practised ; and from its having recently ceased to make progress in general practice, — we should be inclined to hold that, with respect to the cereal grains, the rule of agriculture is the broad-cast system, and the exception the row system. The cases falling under the exception may be, and doubtless are, very numerous and important. There are many light soils in which the seeds require to be deposited at a considerable and equal depth, and this the drill-machine effects better than sowing on the surface ; and there are many thin cold clays which tend to throw out the plants, the best remedy for which is thought to be deep sowing." 4985. The sowing of corn from the hand, " however, is known to be attended with some uncertainty ; being dependent for the accuracy of the execution upon the skill and attention of the sowers. The regu- larity of the work is also affected by winds; and, unfortunately, the means rarely exist of detecting the degree of inaccuracy in the work until too late to correct it." As a remedy for these inconveniences, we have already described a broad-cast hand drill (2576.), and shall here introduce a horse machine for the rjnQ same purpose (Jig.l22a. h.), that has been ' ^- for some years employed in " the agricul- ture of Northumberland, North Durham, and some of the southern counties of Scot- land, for sowing broad-cast. As it regards economy alone, little perhaps is effected by the employment of this machine: its recom- mendations are the regularity and certainty with which it performs the work, and the rendering of the execution independent of unskilfulness or want of care in the ope- lator." {Quar. Jour. Agr. vol. ii. p. 25U) = |HHHHHr=HHHHHHHr= ' A man and a horse with this machine will sow between 25 and 30 acres in a day. The regular manner in which the seed is disseminated renders less seed necessary than in the common method of sowing by the hand. Besides the advantages arising from a saving of seed, the greater regularity, as it regards their distance from each other, with which the plants spring up, generally renders the crop superior to that sown in the other way. The machine has been described as adapted to the sowing of the common sorts of grain, but it is equally well calculated for sowing the cultivated grasses. " {Quar. Jour. Agr. vol. ii. p. 254.) 4986. The preservation of com after it is threshed and cleaned is generally effected in granaries, where the grain is kept well ventilated by passing it frequently from one floor to another, or through winnowing machines. 4D87. // has been proposed and attempted in Fiance to preserve it in pits or dry cells at an equal tem- perature, and included from the atmosphere , but the experiments now going on for this purpose, more 810 l'K.W HOE OF A'.liK Till RE. I'akt III. Ily i.v M [ernaux al St Ouen, . are no! yel luffli lently matured to enable us to lay .my result before the public. That corn hat been to preserved in former ages, and that to a considerable . i- beyond ■ doubl ; and it it equally ■■.•nam thai in the Infa rioi ol Africa, among the CafTret and other nations, as well as in the south ol Russia, hi - it, the practice is still employed on i i ail Male. It may be doubted, we think, whether, with the present population of Europe, it could ever ! lerally adopted. /■, .->. vathn ql i t fn tfltk i Borne account of the opening of a siloe was lately road to tho \ i he place consisted of an icehouse, and the grain when put in was of the finest appearance, perfei • id in excellent condition Hie door had been hermetically sealed ; and yet, when opened, ible thicknest ol the no ist of corn was found destroyed by weevils, the latter being in tuch quantit] as to occasion an elei xature. As part of the same corn bad been perfectly well preserved in other siloes, the cause of this deterioration was sought for, and a hole was (bund in the lower part which had been made by mice, and which, by admitting air in sufficient quantity, had allowed the weevils originallj in the corn to live, and increase their numbers to the degree mentioned. . upon experiments which snowed that insects could live tor a very long time in ,,ir, a committee was named to ascertain the requisite state of the air, and the circumstances connected in the enquiry with the preservation of grain in these repositories. At another meeting of the M. Hachette described the method proposed by M. Clement to prevent the destruction of corn by weei ils. It i» founded upon a fact obsen ed bj him, that these insects cannot live in an atmosphere which rontainf i than a » > tain proportion of moisture. He therefore proposes that the corn should be subject ntilal fair dried by passing over quick-lime or chloride of calcium. All the weevils originally in the corn would thus be quickly destroyed." Jlecueil Imtustriel, vol. xii. p. 208.) vation qfcorn in the north qf Russia may deserve notice more as matter of curiosity, and for supplying ideas on the subject, than for imitation. The corn is dried in small ovens or chambers, which communic ite with a larger chamber or oven by small tubes that enter the smaller chambers at the top. The oven is then filled with straw closely pressed, which is lighted and left to consume during the \e\t morning the corn is taken from the smaller chambers, the smoke from the ovens having a and perfectly dried it. This practice has several advantages : the corn is lighter to move, and is kept much easier, without requiring to be constantly turned, being preserved from vermin by the taste communicated to it by the straw, which does not quit it until it has passed through the mill. im intended to be kept for any length of time is put into pits, in shape like a bottle, sufficiently high for ■ m. in to >tand erect in, which are dug in elevated places with a clayey soil. When they are dug a fire is lighted for four and twenty hours, which forms a bard crust round the pit. The interior is lined with the bark of the birch tree, fastened with wooden nails. Some straw is then put at the bottom, upon which the corn is placed, and more straw at the top, the mouth of the pit being then closed with a wisp of straw in the form of a cone. Each pit contains from twenty-live to one hundred tchetverts, and the gram in them will keep for twenty years without being injured. [Riblioth. Univer. de Geneve.) 4990. The uses to which the straw of corn may he applied are various. Besides food for cattle, litter for animals, thatch, &c, it is bleached and plaited into ribands for forming hats, and bleached, dyed of different colours, split, and glued to flat surfaces, so as to form various works useful and ornamental. Paper is also made from straw; and the same pulp which forms the paper may be moulded into all the forms given to papier mache, medallion portraits, embossed works, &c. Whoever wishes to enter into the de- tails of the great variety of articles that may be manufactured from straw, should consult the Dictionnaire Technologique, art. Faille ; or an abridged translation of a part of the article in Gill's Technological Repository, vol. vi. new series, p. 228. *4991. The diseases jieculiar to the cereal grasses have been included in the diseases common to vegetables in general. (1671.) They are chiefly the smut, the rust, the mildew, and the ergot ; and we shall notice them more at length under the different spe- cies of corn which are most subject to suffer from them. •4992. The practice of ?-eaping corn before it is perfectly ripe originated in France, and has lately been recommended by M. Cadet de Vaux. 4993. Corn reaped eight days before the usual time, this author says, has the grain fuller, larger, finer, and better calculated to resist the attacks of the weevil. An equal quantity of tiie corn thus reaped, with corn reaped at the period of maturity, gave more bread, and of a better quality. The proper time for : is that when the grain, on being pressed between the fingers, has a doughy appearance like the crumb of bread just hot from the oven, when pressed in the same manner. This does not seem to agree altogether with the experience of some agriculturists in the Carse of Gowrie, Perthshire, where oats in- tended to lie made into meal are always found to yield most when allowed to stand as long as possible. Com for seed, however, it is acknowledged by the same agriculturists, will answer the purpose perfectly a out before fully matured. [Perth Miscellany, vol. i. p. 41.) If the doctrine of Cadet de Vaux be Confined to wheat, it may be perhaps considered as confirmed by the following passage from Waistell : — '* II i- well known," he observes, " that wheat produces the most flour and the sweetest bread when threshed out before it has been stacked ; and as all corn is more or less injured in both these respects, ac- cordingly as it is more or less heated in the rick, it would be highly desirable totally to prevent its heating I inng in ii sty, in the ricks. In wet harvests it is sometimes impossible to get corn sufficiently dried ; and we see that even in hot and dry harvests, such as that of IS 19, a great deal of com is sometimes spoiled in the ricks: we should, then fore, li i extremely cautious to have corn well dried in the field, the inks of a moderate size, and raised oft' the ground, to admit the air to circulate under them, with chim- . allow a current of air to pass upwards through them, to carry oil' the hot and niustv air from the centre of the rick, which, without such a chimney, has its tendency to heat four-fold greater than one with a chimney. Chimneys being easily made, and so beneficial, it were to be wished that they were in general use." [Waist ell's Designs/or Agr. Buildings, p. 101.) I ( \ For seed corn, it not only appears that unripe grain is preferable, but even that mildewed wheat and oats answer perfectly. Mr. s. Taylor, the editor of the Country Times, ami formerij an extensive farmer, has been in the practice Of sowing from [00 to 1,0 acres of wheat annually for SO years and up- wards. " I"he seed was invariably chosen, not from the best and plumpest, but the thinnest and most ved seed." He has seen the most beautiful samples of wheat produced from seed of the most ordinary description. [Country Turns, March 22. 1830.) In Perthshire, the same is stated with respect to oat-. [Perth Miscellany, vol. i p. 41.) •4995i The methods of reaping corn are various. The most general mode is by the sickle, already described ('-'182. and 2483.) ; the scythe is also used, more especially for barley and oats; and a reaping machine 27:57.) is beginning to be used in some parts of .Scotland ; in which country nn effectual bean-reaping machine (2710.) was Book VL WHEAT. 811 in use many years ago. A method of mowing corn much practised in the county of Durham, and possibly Yorkshire, has lately been introduced into Northumberland, but does not appear to make much progress, the low priced Irish reapers doing the work so much more neatly and with less waste, though it costs more money to the owner. The scythe has a cradle similar to that described (405.) ; it is handled and used differ- ently from the bow and grass scythes, and has only one short handle or " nib " on the " sued," or long handle, for the right hand ; the left grasps the " sned " with the palm upwards: this enables the mower, who generally mows " from the corn," to bring the back of the scythe and cradle to the ground, and leave the cut corn in a beautiful state for being put into sheaves. A good workman can do two, and some three acres a day : they charge about 5s. per acre for mowing, binding, and stooking (shocking) : this prac- tice may be advantageously followed wherever the crop is not stricken down by rains, particularly barley crops. (C. near Alnwick, in Gard. Mag. vol. vi.) 4996. Frosted corn, like frosted seeds of any sort, may be detected by dissection and comparison with unfrosted corn. By frosted corn is to be understood corn that has been frozen on the plant before it was perfectly ripe, in consequence of which the germ ot the future plant or vital part of the seed is deprived of its vitality by the expansion produced by the freezing of its watery parts. 4997. Frosted oats. The oat being one of the latest corns, and a corn of cold rather than of warm countries, is more liable to be frozen than any other ; but fortunately, also, frozen oats are more easily detected than either frozen wheat or barley. The Rev. James Farquhar.-on, who has paid much attention to this subject, and written an elaborate article on it in the Farmer's Magazine (vol. xU.), observes, that every kernel, when stripped of the husk, will be found to exhibit the appearance of a groove on one side. If the bottom of the groove has a smooth clear translucent appearance from end to end ; if it is not much shrunk into the substance of the kernel; and if the kernel splits with difficulty in its direction, then we may pronounce the vital part of the seed to be free from injury by frost. If, on the contrary, there is a black speck seen in the groove at the root end of the kernel ; if the groove cuts deep into the kernel, so that it may be split in that direction; and if, when the kernel is so split, the blackness, accom- panied with a rotten scaly appearance, is seen extending from end to end at the bottom of the groove, then, the t ital p.rt or future plant may be pronounced entirely unfit for being used as seed. 4998. Frosted barley. The nature of the injury that ripening barley suffers from fro»t is similar to that suffered by oats. The husk of barley, like that of oats, consists of two unequal parts; the small part covering the groove of the kernel. In sound grain, when dry, the hull is firmly attached to the kernel ; but in frosted grain the small part of the hull becomes loose, and feels soft on being pressed ; and if, in such grain, this part of the hull is stripped away, a blackness and rottenness, resembling that in frosted oats, will be seen in the bottom of the groove. In frosted barley the husk becomes loose all round the root end ; but, as this is a circumstance that is occasionally observed likewise in barley that was never exposed to frost, it certainly sometimes arises from other causes, — perhaps from wet ; and this, unless the grain has germinated, does not render it unfit for seed or malting. The only sure mark of damage from frost is the blackness and rottenness in the bottom of the groove. 4999. Frosted wheat. Upon an attentive inspection of wheat that has been exposed to the frost, it will be observed that in a large proportion of grains there is a rotten scaly appearance where the embryo of the plant is attached to the cotyledon or mealy part of the grain ; that the groove is much deeper than in wheat that was saved before the frost; and that the grains are easily split in its direction. From this it is inferred that wheat, in its ripening stage, suffers from frost an injury of the same nature with that sus- tained by oats and barley. (Farm. Hag. vol xix.) 5000. The nutritive products of the plants to be treated of in tliis section, are thus given by Sir H. Davy. Systematic Names. English Names. The quantity analysed, of each sort 1000 WTiole quantity of soluble or nutri- Mucilaee or starch. Saccha- rine mat- ter or Gluten or album. n. Extract, or matter rendered insoluble during paru. tive mat- ter. sugar. the opera- tion. Triticum hybernum Middlesex wheat, average crop 955 765 __ igo aestlvum Spring wheat ... 940 700 — 240 Mildewed wheat of 1^06 210 178 32 Blighted wheat of 1S04 650 5-20 — 130 Thick-skinned Sicilian wheat of 1810 955 725 — 230 Thin-skinned Sicilian wheat of 1810 961 722 — 239 Wheat from Poland - - 950 750 — 200 North American wheat 95ri : io — 225 /Mrdeum vulgs re Norfolk barley - 920 790 70 60 Avena. sativa Oats from Scotland . 74.3 641 15 87 Secale cereale Rye from Yorkshire . 792 645 38 109 Sect. I. WIteat. — Trilicu/n L. ; Tridndria Digynial^., and Grannncce J. Froment, Fr. ; Jf'eitzen, Ger. ; Grano, Ital. ; and Trigo, Span. 5001. Wheat is by far the most important of the cereal grasses, the flour made from its grains or seeds, from the quantity of gluten they contain, making the best bread in the world. A greater proportion of mankind are nourished by rice than by wheat, but there is no grain which comes near wheat in its qualities for bread-making. Rice and maize are comparatively unfit for it, and oats, barley, and rye but imperfectly adapted. Rye, however, comes nearer to wheat in its bread-making qualities than any other grain. *5002. Of what country wheat is a native, is totally unknown; it has been supposed indigenous to Asia and Africa, and unquestionably it is more likely to belong to these 81; I'lt.W riCE OF ACIMCCI.TrRK. III. parts <>f the world than .my other; bul all thai can be advanced on this subject is con- jecture. Wheat, «ith tin' exception it is said of some parts of the southern coast of Africa, is cultivated in every part of the temperate and torrid zones, and in some places as high as 2000 fed above the level of the sea. It has been grown from fame imme- morial in Britain, but in few places at a greater elevation than 600 feet Of course the elevation to which any plant can be cultivated always depends on the latitude of the situation. •5003. Species and varieties. (Jtg.723.) Botanists reckon seven species of TYiticum, which are or may l>e cultivated for their grains, besides many varieties and subvarieties of those in common culture. The species or suhspecies are, I. rnCiruin ii-ii.iiiii, Suinmrr wheal or Spiing Wheat (a). ?. hjl >l"> . ' »i"in II U llrlt /')■ .V. it tc). 4. (uranium, Turgid w liL-.tt (.0 5 rrfticuin jiolonicum, Polish wheat (<)• C. Sp/tla, Spelt wheat (/). 7. nmnococcunlj One-ffrained whc.1t 'g). The first, second, fourth, and fifth sorts are by many botanists considered as only varieties, and it it is doubtful whether the third and sixth may not be the same ; the seventh has all the marks of a distinct species, but it is very questionable whether, if much cultivated, it would always continue to produce one row of grains. 5004. The spring or summer wheat [a], Ble dc Mars, Fr., is distinguished from that generally sown, by Its narrower ears, longer beards, smaller grains, and shorter and more slender straw, and also by its inability to endure our winters. It is commonly sown in April, or even so late as May. It was known to Parkinson in 1666, but has never been much cultivated, except in Lincolnshire. It was tried and given up in Northumberland and Mid Lothian, and also in some counties near London. Many varieties of summer wheat were transmitted a few years ago to the president of the Board of Agriculture from the Agricultural Society of Paris, for the purpose of experiment, and v/ere divided among several distinguished agriculturist*, [Comtn. to the Board qfAgr.. vol. vii. p. 1!.); but there has not yet been time for establishing their comparative merits, or their adaptation to the climate of Britain. Summer, or, as it is often called, spring, wheat has however been long and extensively cultivated in some parts of England, particularly in Lincolnshire; and it is probable may be found a valuable crop in the southern counties; but the trials that have been made in the north, do not seem to entitle it to a preference over winter wheat sown in spring, or even oats or barley, in that climate. 5005. Qf the vititer or eommon wheat (b), Froment blanc, Fr., there are a great number of varieties. Professor Martyn, in Miller's Dictionary, has described forty-nine sorts, and Professor Thaer speaks of a hundred, but affirms that those who describe them know nothing about them, and in all probability include one sort under different names. All the varieties maybe reduced to two, the white, and the brown or red grained. As subvarieties, there are the bearded and beardless, the woolly-chaffed, and thin or hairy chaffed, both of the reds and whites. To these some add another variety, which is the spring. sowing common wheat. It is stated by those who maintain that this variety exists, that through long sowing the progeny, after a number of generations, acquires a habit of coming earlier into blossom than seed from winter-sown grain. This we think very likely, but are not aware that the variety is distinctly known by any recognisable marks in the plants. The red or brown wheats are universally considered more hardy than t lie white, lint as yielding an inferior flour : the woolly-white is supposed to yield the In -t flour ; but woolly-chaffed win its are considered more liable to the mildew than any other. S00& The Egyptian, or manyupiked wheat (r), lili de miracle ou de Hmyrne, Fr., the turgid grey pollard or duck-bill wheat (<«)7. Spelt wheat [/), the Epautre of the French, is known by its stout straw, which is almost solid, and by its strong pikes, with chaff partially awned, the awns long ami still! The chaff adheres so closely to the grain as not to he separated without great difficulty. This grain, as we have seen, is a good deal sown in the south of Europe. In France it is sown in spring, on land too coarse lor common wheat, and tt ripens in July and August It is the principal wheat sown in Suabia and the north of Switzerland; and is a good deal sown in Spain. The grain is light, and yields but little Hour ; but it is said to contain a larger portion of gluten than common wheat, and lor that reason is recommended as superior to any oilier in pastry and confectionary. It i- not cultivated in Britain. The one-grained wheat g), Petit ipautre, Fr . is known by its small thin spike, and single row of grams; the leaves and straw .ire remarkably small, hut very hard ; and the plants tiller very much. It is chiefly cultivated in the mount a nun is puis ol Switzerland, where its straw, like that of the former species, i. much used lor thatching, The grain makes a brown light bread; but its great excellence, according to VUlan, ia for gruel. Book VI. WHEAT. 813 5009. To procure new varieties of wheats, the ordinary mode is to select from a field a spike or spikes from the same stalk, which has the qualities sought for ; such as larger grains, thinner chaff, stiffer straw, a tendency to earliness or lateness, &c. ; and picking out the best grains from this ear or ears, to sow them in suitable soil in an open airy part of a garden. When the produce is ripe, select the best ears, and from these the best grains, and sow these, and so on till a bushel or more is obtained, which may then be sown in a field apart from any other wheat. In this way, many of the varieties of our common winter wheat have been obtained ; as the hedge-wheat which was reared from the produce of a stalk found growing in a hedge in Sussex, by one Wood, about 1790. Other varieties have assumed their distinctive marks from having been long cultivated on the same soil and climate, and take local names, as the Hertfordshire red, Essex white, &c. 5010. Marshall, (Yorkshire) mentions a case in which a man of accurate observation, having in a piece of wheat perceived a plant of uncommon strength and luxuriance, diffusing its blanches on every side, and setting its closely-surrounding neighbours at defiance, marked it ; and at harvest removed it sepa- rately. The produce was 15 ears, yielding 604 grains of a strong-bodied liver-coloured wheat, differing, in general appearance, from everv other variety he had seen. The chaff was smooth, without awns, and of the colour of the grain ; the straws stout and reedy. These 60-1 grains were planted singly, nine inches asunder, tilling about 40 square yards of ground, on a clover stubble, the remainder of the ground being sown with wheat in the ordinary way; by which means extraordinary trouble and destruction by birds were avoided. The produce was two gallons and a half, weighing 20|lbs. of prime grain for seed, besides some pounds for seconds. One grain produced So ears, yielding 1235 grains ; so that the second year's pro- duce was sufficient to plant an acre of ground. What deters farmers from improvements of this nature is probably the mischievousness of birds; from which at harvest it is scarcely possible to preserve a small patch of corn, especially in a garden or other ground situated near a habitation ; but by carrying on the improvement in a field' of corn of the same nature, that inconvenience is got rid of. In this situation, however, the botanist will be apprehensive of danger from the floral farina of the surrounding crop. But from what observations Marshall has made he is of opinion his fears will be groundless. No evil of this kind occurred, though the cultivation of the above variety was carried on among white wheat. 5011. But the most systematic mode of procuring new varieties, is by crossing two sorts, as in breeding; that is, bv impregnating the female organs of the blossoms of one ear with the fecundating matter or pollen of the male organs of the blossom of another variety of a different quality. Thus, supposing a farmer was in the habit of cultivating a very good variety, which he wished to render somewhat earlier, let him procure in the blossoming season, from a verv earlv soil, some spikes of an early sort just coming into blossom ; and let him put the ends of these in water, and set them in the shade so as to retard their fullv blossoming till the plants he has destined to become the females come into flower. Then let him cut out'all the male organs of the latter, before they have advanced so far as to impregnate the stigma; and, having done this, let him dust the stigma with the blossoming ears of the early or male parent. The impregnated stalks must then be kept apart from other wheats that the progeny may be true. When the grains ripen, let him sow the best; and from the produce, when ripe, select the earliest and finest spikes for seed. Let him sow these, and repeat the choice till he procures a bushel or two of seed. This oper- ation has been successfully performed bv T. A. Knight (1633) ; and though it may be reckoned too delicate for farmers in general, it will be looked'on by the philosophical agriculturist as not improbably leading to results as important as those which have attended the practice in the case of garden fruits and flowers. The scientific farmer may consult on this subject Bishop's Causal Botany already referred to, the Gardener's Magazine, and Saggio Botanico Georgico intorno I'liibridismo dclle Piante, by Billardi. Pavia, 1809. 5012. The propagation of wheat by transplanting may be employed to expedite the progress of cultivat- ing a new variety of ascertained excellence. To show what may be gained in time by this mode, we shall quote from The Philosophical Transactions an account of an experiment made by C. Miller, son of the celebrated gardener of that name, in 1766. On the 2d of June, Miller sowed some grains of the common red wheat; and on the 8th of August, a single plant was taken up and separated into 18 parts, and each part planted separately. These plants having pushed out several side shoots, by about the middle of September, some of them were then taken up and divided, and the rest of them between that time and the middle of October. This second division produced 67 plants. The e plants remained through the winter, and another division of them, made about the middle of March and the 12th of April, produced 500 plants. Thev were then divided no further, but permitted to remain. The plants were, in general, stronger than any of the wheat in the fields. Some of them produced upwards of 100 ears from a single root Many of the ears measured seven inches in length, and contained between 6(1 and 70 grains. The whole number of ears which, bv the process above mentioned, were produced from one gram of wheat, wa6 31,109, which yielded three' pecks and three quarters of clean corn, the weight of which was 471bs. 7 ounces ; and, from a calculation made bv counting the number of grains in an ounce, the whole number of grains was about 38d,840. By this account we find, that there was only one general division of the plants made in the spring. Had a second been made, Miller thinks the number ot plants would have amounted to 2< 00 instead of 500, and the produce thereby much enlarged. *50I3. In making a choice from all the species and varieties which we have named, the thin-skinned white wheats are preferred by all the best British farmers whose soil and climate are suitable for this grain, and for sowing in autumn. In late situations, and less favourable soils and climates, the red varieties are generally made choice of; and these are also generally preferred for sowing in spring. Red wheats, however, are con- sidered as at least fifteen per cent, less valuable than the white varieties. No subvaricty ever continues very long in vogue ; nor is it fitting that it should, as degeneracy soon takes place, and another and better is sought for as a successor. Hence the only re- commendation we can give, as to the choice of subvarieties, is, to select the best trom among those in use by the best farmers in the given situation, or nearest well-cultivated district. .5014. The soils best adapted for the culture of wheat, are rich clays and heavy loams ; but these are not bv any means the only description of soils on which it is cultivated. Before the introduction of turnips and clover, all soils but little cohesive were thought unfit for wheat ; but, even on sandy soils, it is now grown extensively, and with much advantage, after either of these crops. The greater part of the wheat crop throughout 8M PRACTICE OF AGRICULTURE. Pam HI. Britain, however, is probably -till lowti upon fallow «.-r soiling, it is commonly sown after one ploughing. In Scotland, when wheal is n> be sown after clover upon heavier soils, or aftergrass of two or more years, the land is ploughed twice <>r thrice, or receives what is called a rag (allow. In Norfolk and Suffolk, wheat is seldom sown after fellow or turnips; l>nt the former there minks himself almost sure of a good wheat crop after a good clover crop. One ploughing only is required, and the seed is dibbled in the flag, ^ they call it ; that is, on the turned-over surface or furrow slice. On rich clai/i, wluit may be cultivated almost every second year, provided due care is taken to ondition. A summer fallow once in four, six, or eight years, according however, necessary ; and manure should either Lie applied on that (allow for tin- tir-t cropol wheat, or, what some people think preferable, Bhould be laid on the wheat-stubble for •i .too ..i drilled beans, which ensures the succeeding crop of wheat. If the first crop ol beans ha completely cleaned there is no difficulty in repeating, and even in extending the course; and the crops WI U |„. , those gained at the beginning of the rotation, provided manure has been bestowed In this way, when the ground is fallowed even fourth year, two crops of wheat and one ol beans are gained from manuring once; when fallowed every sixth year, three crops ol ;iM ,l ,„, (regained from manuring twice ; and, when fallowed every eighth year, four crops of wheat and three - B <>m manuring thrice. In the first-mentioned shirt, less manure is bestowed than ni either Ol the others; and, if the soil is of good quality, it will support itself: whereas, in the shifts of six and eight, unless foreign manure be procure.!, it rarely happens that thej can go on success- fully for any length of time, without abstracting dung from other parts of the farm on which they are practised (Brown's Tr. on Rural .jjfnirs.) _ . In cultivating wheat on thin clays, the rotations just mentioned are n applicable. A six-course shift of a different kind has, however, been successfully followed by many people ; but it requires every branch of the work to be well executed. 1st, a summer fallow, dunged at the rate of twelve or fourteen double loads per acre ; 2d, wheat; 3d, grass; 4th, oats; 5th, peas and beans drilled; 6th, wheat. If manure can be given in the middle of the shift, every one of the crops may be expected good ; but if that i< withheld, there will necessarily be a proportionable falling oil" in the two la>t crops. Husbandmen must, however, regulate their practice according to their mean-, though it deserves to be remarked, that, if greater attention were paid to the collecting of materials which ultimately are converted into manure, many deficiencies in the article would be fully supplied. {Brown. 5oi7. Excellent wheat may be grown on light sossible to raise wheat as extensively upon light soils, even where they are of the richest quality, as is practicable upon clays ; nor will a crop of equal bulk upon the one, return so much produce in grain as may be got from the' other. To enlarge upon this point would only serve to prove what few husbandmen will dispute, though it may be added, that, on thin sands, wheat ought not to be ventured, unless they are either com- pletely clayed or marled ; as it is only with the help of these auxiliaries that such a soil can gain stamina capable of producing wheat with any degree of success. \Broien.) 5018. The culture of the soil intended for wheat varies according to its nature, and tlie preceding and following crops. 5019. On soils realli/ calculated for wheat, though in different degrees, summer fallow is the first and leading step to gain a good crop or crops of that grain. The first furrow should be given before winter, or so earlv as other operations upon the farm will admit ; and every attention should be used to go in as deep as possible ; for it rarely happens that any of the succeeding furrows exceed the first one in that respect. The number of after-ploughings must be regulated by the condition of the ground and the state of the weather ; but, in general, it may be observed, that ploughing in length and across, alternately, is toe way by which the ground will be most Ci mpletely cut, and the intention of fallowing accomplished. It has been argued, that harrowing clay soils, when summer-fallowed, is prejudicial to the wheat crop; •hout discussing this point (such a discussion being unnecessary), it may merely be stated, that, in a p and a green crop, may be grown alternately for an indefinite time. {Farm. Mag. vol. xxiii. p. 298.) It is alleged by others, that this doctrine is not supported by experience. Constant tillage, they say, wears out the best soils, and the grain degenerates in quality, if not in quantity too. Instances, however, are given in The Communications to the Board of Agriculture of potatoes and wheat having been grown alternately on the same soil for a number of years, and very good crops produced. It may be useful to know that the thing is not impossible. *5024. The climate required to bring wheat to perfection must be such as affords a dry and warm season for the blossoming of the ear, and the ripening of the grain. Wheat will endure a great deal of cold during winter, if sown in a dry or well drained soil ; and if it be covered with snow. Hence it is that wheat is sown as far north as Petersburgh and in Sweden. Moderately moist weather before the flowering season, and after the grain is set or formed, is favourable to wheat ; but continued heavy rains after the flowering season produce the smut. The dry frosty winds of February and March, and even of April in some districts, are more injurious to the wheats of Britain than any other description of weather. Hoar frosts, when the plant is in the ear, produce blights ; and mildews often result from or follow sultry winds and fogs. Cold, in the blossoming and ripening season in July, even unaccompanied by wind or rain, produces an inferior grain, greatly deficient in gluten ; and neat the contrary. The most valuable wheat of Europe, in this respect, is that of Sicily ; which Sir H. Davy found to contain much more gluten than the best wheat of Britain. 50-5. The season for solving wheat on clays is generally the latter end of autumn ; on early turnip soils it is sown after clover or turnips, at almost every period from the beginning of September till the middle of March ; but the far greater part is sown in September and October. For summer wheat, in the southern districts, May is suf- ficiently earl}', but in the north, the last fortnight of April is thought a more eligible seed-time. In the cultivation of spring-sown winter wheat, it is of importance to use the produce of spring-sown grain as seed, as the crop of such grain ripens about a fortnight earlier than when the produce of the same wheat winter-sown is employed as spring seed. (Encyc- Brit. art. Agr.) 5026. Seed wheat is prepared for sowing by the process called pickling. According to Brown (Treatise on Rural Affairs, art. Wheat), this process is indispensably necessary on every soil ; otherwise smut, to a greater or less extent, will, in nine cases out of ten, assuredly follow. 5027. Though almost all practical fanners are agreed as to the necessity of pickling, yet they are not so unanimous as to the modus operandi of the process, and the article which is best calculated to answer the intended purpose. Stale urine may be considered the safest and surest pickle ; and where it can be obtained in a sufficient quantity, it is commonly resorted to. The mode of using it does not, however, seem to be agreed upon ; for, while one party contends that the grain ought to be steeped in the urine, another party considers it sufficient to sprinkle the urine upon it. Some, again, are advocates for thoroughly steeping the grain in a pickle made of salt and water, sufficiently strong to buoy up a fresh egg. But whatever difference of opinion there may be as to the kind of pickle that ought to be used, and the mode of using it, all admit the utility of mixing the wetted seed with hot lime, fresh slaked; and this, in one point of view, is absolutely necessary, so that the seed may be equally distributed. It may be remarked, that experience justifies the utility of all these modes, provided they are attentively carried into execution. There is some danger from the first; for if the seed steeped in urine is not immediately sown, it will infallibly lose its vegetative power. The second, viz. sprinkling the urine on the seed, seems to be the safest, if performed by an attentive hand ; whilst the last may do equally well, if such a quantity of salt be incorporated with the water as to render it of sufficient strength. It may also be remarked, that this last mode is oftener accompanied with smut, owing no doubt to a deficiency of strength in the pickle; whereas a single head with smut is rarely discovered when urine has been used. 5028. An improved mode of preparing ivheatfor sou'inghas recently been adopted in the south of Scot- land, and followed with great success. It is thus described : — " Take four vessels, two of them smaller than the other two, the former with wire bottoms, and of a size to contain about a bushel of wheat, the lattei large enough to hold the smaller within them. Fill one of the large tubs with water, and putting flic wheat in the small one, immerse it in the water, and stir and skim off the grains that float above, and renew the water as often as is necessary, till it comes off almost quite clean i lien raise the small vessel in which the wheat is contained, and repeat the process with it in the other large tub, which is to be filled with stale urine ; and in the mean time wash more wheat in the water tub. \\ hen abundance of water is at hand, this operation is by no means tedious; and the wheat is much more effectually cleansed from all impurities, and freed more completely from weak and unhealthy grainsand seeds of weeds, than can t>e *lfi PRACTICE OF AGRICULTURE. Part III. done by the winnowing machine When thoroughly washed end skimmed, let it drain a little, then empty it on .1 clean floor or in the earl thai i- to take it to r f i » - Held, and Bid quick-lime upon it, turning it over and mixing it with ,i shovel till it be sufficiently dry for sowing ." (.Supp, E, Brit, art Agr.) . r >()'_ , !t. The communicate with it. In the best cultivated counties the use of targe barns for holding the crop is disapproved of, not only on account of the ex- pense) but because coin keeps better, or is less exposed to damage of any kind, in a well- built stack. 5D11. The thrtthing of wheat, before machines for that purpose were introduced, was an arduous and difficult task. The expense was very considerable; whilst the severity of the labour almost exceeded the power of the strongest man, especially in unfavourable seasons, when the grain adhered pertinaciously to the ear, and could not, without diffi- culty, be completely loosened and removed. In such seasons, expense was the smallest consideration which influenced the husbandman ; it was the quantity of grain unavoid- ably lost which occupied liis attention ; and, as it appeared difficult to find out a remedy, most people considered it as an evil which could scarcely be avoided. Jn short, the loss was great in almost every case, but greater with wheat than any other grain. Every tiling of this nature, however, may be prevented, .now that threshing machines are introduced, provided the feeder is careful, and proportions the quantity on the board to the strength of the impelling power. Wheat, in fact, is now the cleanest threshed grain ; because the length of the straw allows it to be properly beat out before it passes the machine, which sometimes is not the case with short oats and barley. If horses are used as the impelling power, thin feeding is necessary, otherwise the animals may be injured; but where wind or water is employed, the business of threshing is executed speedily, completely, and economically. (Brown.) 5045. In performing the operation, one man feeds the grain in the straw into the machine, and is assisted by two halt-grown lads, or young women, one of whom pitches or carries thesheaves from the bav close to the threshing-stage, while the other opens the bands of every sheaf, and lays the sheaves successively on a small table close by the feeder, who spreads them evenly on the feeding stage, that they may be drawn in successively by the fluted rollers, to undergo the operation of threshing. In the opposite end of the barn or straw-house, into which the rakes or shakers deliver the clean-threshed straw, one man forks up the straw from the floor to the straw-mow, and two lads, or young women, build it and tread it down. In a threshing-machine, worked by water or wind, this is the whole expense of hand labour in the threshing part of the operation, and, as a powerful machine can easily thresh from two to three hundred bushels of grain in a working day of nine hours, the expense is exceedingly small indeed. Assuming two hundred ami fifty bushels as an average of the work of these people for one day, and their wages to be nine shillings, the expense does not amount to one halfpenny for each bushel of grain. Even reducing the quantity of grain threshed to one hundred and fifty bushels, the easy work of a good machine of inferior size and power, the expense does not exceed three farthings the bushel. But the whole of this must not be charged against the threshing only, the grain being half-dressed at the same time, by passing through one winnowing-machinc, which is always attached to a complete threshing-mill ; and where a second can be conveniently connected with it, as is commonly the case if the mill is of considerable power, the corn comes down nearly ready for market : so that the threshing, dressing, and building of the straw, with the use of a powerful water-mill, will scarcely cost more than dressing alone when the flail is employed ; after every reasonable allowance for the interest of money, and the tear and wear of the machine. 5046. When groin is threshed with a machine worked b'/ horses, the expense is necessarily and consider- ably enhanced. One capable of effecting the larger quantity of work, already calculated on, will require eight good horses, and a man to drive them, who may perhaps require the aid of a boy. The value of the work of eight horses for a day cannot be less than forty shillings, and the wages of the driver may be called two shillings and sixpence. Hence the total expense of threshing two hundred and fifty bushels will amount to 91. 2s. 6d. ; or about two-pence per bushel, when the wages of the attendants are added ; still leaving a considerable difference in favour of threshing by the machine, in preference to the flail. Wire it even ascertained that the expense of threshing by horses and by the flail is nearly the same, horse nulls arc to be recommended on other accounts; such as better threshing, expedition, little risk of pilfering, &c. 5047. The produce of wheal must of course vary, according to the soil, climate, cul- ture, and kind grown. Professor Thaer says, that in general it gives double the weight of straw that it docs of grain ; on elevated grounds something less ; and on low grounds something more. The yield of grain in some seasons has been under twenty, while in Others it is upwards of thirty bushels the acre, the soil and culture being in every respect the same. The average produce of Britain has been estimated at three, three and a half, and four quarters; and one of the largest crops ever heard of, at ten quarters, and the least at one quarter and a half. The proportion which the corn bears to the straw, in Middlesex, is eleven and a half bushels to a load of thirty-six trusses of thirty-six pounds each, or eleven and a half cwfc ; no great deviation from Professor Thaer's general esti- mate, a bushel of wheat weighing about 60 or 61 pounds. 5048. To judge (fa sample of wheat, examine by the eye if the grain is perfectly fed or full, plump and bright, and if there is any adulteration proceeding from sprouted grains, smut, or the seeds of weeds ; and by the smell, if there is any improper impreg- nation, and if it has been too much heated in the mow or upon the kiln ; and finally, by the feil, to decide if the grain is sufficiently dry, as when much loaded with moisture it is improper for the uses of the miller and baker. In cases where a sample handles coarse, rough, and does not slip readily in the hand, it may be concluded not to be in a condition either for grinding or laying up for keeping. When melilot and wild chamo- mile abound among the wheat crop, are reaped with it, and undergo fermentation in the rick, the grain will have the flavour of these strong smelling plants. To detect this in the sample, hold the grain close in the hand, moisten it with the breath, and then smell or taste it. This is the practice at Ampthill and other markets in Bedfordshire. BookVT. WHEAT. 819 5049. The yield of wheat inflow is, on an average, thirteen pounds of flour to fourteen pounds of grain. In the chemical analysis of wheat, Sir Humphrey Davy found that one hundred parts of good full-grained wheat, sown in autumn, yield of starch seventy- seven, and of gluten nineteen ; one hundred parts of wheat, sown in spring, seventy of starch, and twenty-four of gluten. American wheats he found to contain more gluten than the British ; and, in general, the wheat of warm climates to abound more in gluten and in insoluble parts, and to be of greater specific gravity, harder, and more difficult to grind. 5050. The uses of wheat in the baking, culinary, and confectionary arts are well known. It is also used for making starch, by steeping the grain and then beating it in hempen bags. The mucilage is thus mixed with the water, produces the acetous fermentation, and the weak acid thus formed renders the mucilage white. After settling, the precipi- tate is repeatedly washed, and then moulded into square cakes and kiln-dried. In drying, the cakes separate into flakes, as in the starch of the shops. Starch is soluble in hot water, but not in cold; and hence, when ground down, it makes an excellent hair powder. Its constituents are: carbon, 43*55 ; oxygen, 49*68 ; and hydrogen, 6-11 = 100. 5051. The uses of wheat straw are various and well known. As fodder it is, according to Professor Thaer, the most nourishing of any; and it makes the best thatch: it is generally preferred for litter, though rye and barley straw are softer : it is used for making bee-hives, horse collars, mattresses, huts, boxes, baskets, and all kinds of what is called Dunstable work ; for the cider press ; and, among other things, for burning, to procure potash from the ashes. The straw of wheat from dry chalky lands is manufac- tured into hats for both men and women. For this purpose, the middle part of the tube, above the last joint, is taken ; and, being cut into a length of eight or ten inches, is split in two. These splits are then plaited, by females and children, into various kinds of plait or ribands, from half an inch to an inch broad: these, when sewed together according to fancy or fashion, form different descriptions of ladies' bonnets, and the commoner plait and coarser straw of men's hats. The hats are whitened by being placed in the vapour of sulphur. Leghorn hats are made from the straw of a bearded variety of wheat, which some have confounded with rye. It is cultivated on the poorest sandy soils in the neighbourhood of the Arno, between Leghorn and Florence, expressly for this manu- facture. It is of humble growth, and not above eighteen inches high ; is pulled up when green, and bleached white by spreading and watering on the gravelly banks of the Arno. The straws are not split ; but in other respects the manufacture into ribands is the same as at Dunstable in England and in the Orkney Islands. 5052. The Leghorn manufacture of wheat straw into the well-known hats has lately been enquired into, and detailed in several publications. The variety of wheat cultivated in Tuscany for this purpose is known as the grano marxvolo, or marzolano, a variety of summer wheat with long bearded ears. It is cultivated on the sandy hills on both sides of the valley of the Arno. The seed is sown in March, very thick, and pulled when the ear is fully shot, but before the grain is formed. It is then 18 inches high, if the crop is good ; it is bleached as we do flax, and afterwards tied up in bundles in the same manner, and carried home, to have the part between the ear and the first fruit in the stalk selected, that being the only part used. {Gard. Mag. vol. v. p. 70.) 5053. To obtain the whiteness so much prized, the straw is smoked with sulphur previously to being worked ; the plait is also smoked ; and, lastly, the hat. About Sienna the process is simply a little sul- phur set on fire in the bottom of a large cliest, bunches of the straw being placed on long hazel rods across, and the lid shut down. Elsewhere the articles are described as being placed in a small close room, in which a chafing dish of sulphur is placed, and set fire to. Sometimes the operation requires to be done twice before it succeeds. 5054. The strain for use is classed or stapled like our wool. Children or inferior hands work the coarse thick straw, while good hands work the fine only. Whether fine or coarse, it is oni.y the part on which the spike grows that is made use of; and it is always the same plait, consisting of thirteen straws, which is worked. In the fine plait there is a very great waste of straw, as they reject all that is in the least too thick, and they cut off a considerable part of the straw when it comes* near the flower-spike. Fine plait is not accounted good unless very much drawn together ; for which end it is worked very wet. The bunches of straw are always put into a small jar, filled with cold water, which stands beside the worker. After being smoked and pressed, the plait is made up into hats by women, who do nothing else ; it is not put together by edges, nor overlapped. On the operation of pressing, a great deal depends : there are only two good machines for that purpose in the country. Such is the practice for procuring the hat straw : what they sow for seed is in other ground : not one fourth of the seed is used, and the grain is allowed to come to maturity in the usual way. It is said to be a capital wheat for vermicelli, macaroni, Sec, and also for making into bread. (Gard. Mag. vol. v. p. 71.) 5055. The introduction of the grano marzuolo into Britain has been tried, hut not attended with success. Messrs. J. and A. Muir, after various trials, found the straw of rye preferable. I. The mode of plaiting is asfolloms : — The straws being picked, and put into separate bundles, ac- cording to their quality, let thirteen of them be taken and tied firmly together by the seed ends; attach them to any thing, such as the back of a chair, to keep them steady ; then take hold of the loose end of the bundle, putting six straws into the one hand, and seven into the other. Take the outermost, and with it cross over two ; then carrv it behind the next two ; and lastly, before the remaining two ; after which lay the straw into the other parcel of six. The first parcel of six being now made seven, take the outer- most straw of it, and carry it across the bundle, bv two, as in the former case, laying at last this seventh straw into the outer parcel as before. It will be understood by this, that the outermost straw of each parcel is always made the acting straw, and that, in the progress of the operation, each of the straws of V>th parcels is thus emploved in its turn. 5057. As the work goes' on, it will be necessary now and then to join in new straws. Seeing any one needing to be renewed, watch until it becomes the acting straw ; and, when it is to be laid into the other parcel, after performing its round, lay it up over the piece of plait, instead of putting it into the 3G 2 PRACTICE OF AGRICULTURE Part I IT. parcel .k formerly, ami In place "i it la] In ■ new straw, which i^ Hun to be used exactly ai if ;t the old one. Ij hi/ chance, in working, any of the ttrnwi thould break, a thing which ran scarcely happen with wuili -li'i. - to an\ Dill the Outermost straw, and t.i it only through want of attention, it may be reme- died without any more trouble than putting in a new one In it- place: and though the outside of the plait with the old and new ttraw should exhibit the appearance of a broken loop, yet, in the knitting up of the w i > ■ k , it cm easily be so managed that the defect shall be entirely concealed. Theknittin ■ noi d no( be begun till a- much of the plait is made as may be supposed sufficient to form a bat, a- an entire hat of any desired shape may be made up of a single piece of plait. About 70 or 80 yards will be sufficient t'> make a lady's hat 5060. Outtlde and inside of the hat In Joining in new straws during the plaiting, the end* of the new and old ii.u ing been kept on ihe upper side of the plait, this will therefore be made the inside of the hat. Alter twisting and turning the plait a little, to make it form the round piece for the top, the plait will be id to lie with tin one side to the other, like the teeth of two saws turned to each other; and then so in unite these two opposite sides that they may present the appearance of one piece, begin to sew by nutting the needle in through the sort m stitch or loop on the outside of the plait, inserting the needle from below. Take the stitch of the opposite piece in exactly the same way, and, after four or rive stitches h side are taken on the thread, draw it up tightly, so that the stitches of both may be brought firmly the one betide the other. In this manner, in the course of the operation, it will soon be seen that the place where the seam is can scarcely be discovered from the rest of the plait. / teui the crown at the hat so that it may be quite plain, every stitch of the one side must not be taken with every one of the other, but every second or third only of one of tile sides, till the work get on a little. 5062 The blocking of a hat may be done with any round piece of smooth stick that will fill it. After the hat is well steeped, and put on the block, it may be made quite smooth by beating it gently with a hammer. (Quar. Jour. Ag. vol. i. p. 294.) 5063. The diseases of wheat are the rust, smut, or black mildew, the latter including what is vulgarly called blight. These have been already treated of in our view of the vegetable economy, and we shall merely offer a few practical observations on the smut and mildew. The proximate cause of smut, in whatever manner the smut may be transmitted from the seed pickle in the ground to the ear, it seems certain, is in general the infection of the seed by the dust of the smut-ball, which B. de Jussieu first conjectured to bcLycoperdon globbsum, and which M. Frevost ascer- tained to be a microscopic vegetable of some sort; and that though the most careful washing, even with the application of caustics, may not in every case insure against smut, yet if the seed be prepared in the way already mentioned, the disease will never prevail to such a degree as to affect materially the value of the crop. This is all that cultivators need to know, and all, perhaps, in the present state of science, that can be known, of the cause and prevention of smut. See an article at length on this subject in the Juilish Former's Magazine, vol. iii. p. 176. 5065. Mildew is a much more destructive distemper than smut; and, as it is probably occasioned by a peculiar state of the atmosphere during the periods of flowering and ripening, It is likely to baffle all attempts at prevention. The prevalence of heavy fogs or mist, drizzling rains, and sudden changes in the temperature, have been assigned as the causes of mildew ; and as it has been found that open airy exposures are much less affected than low sheltered lands, in years when mildew prevails most generally, the disorder may perhaps be somewhat diminished by drilling, which admits a freer circulation of air. Spring or summer wheat is less liable to mildew than the winter species, though it does not always escape. Minute parasitical /'Vingi, Puccinia Graminis {Enc. of Plants), are commonly detected on the straw of mildewed wheat ; and there cannot be the least doubt that the barberry bush, and probably several other shrubs on which these Fungi abound, have a powerful influence in communicating the disease to a certain distance. (Sir Joseph Bankes on Mildew, and Com. to the B. of Agr. vol. vii.) The wheat fly has, of late years, been one of the greatest enemies to the wheat crop in Scotland. In North America this insect, or one of the same family, has been known for many years, more espe- cially in New England ; and its alarming ravages are depicted from time to time in the newspapers, under the name of the Hessian fly. In the modern nomenclature, the Rev. W. Kirby informs us that the wheat fly, formerly the 7'ipula tritici Lin., is now the Cecidomyia tritici (fig. 7-4. a), and the Hessian fly the C. destructor (b). The wheat fly generally makes its appearance about the end of June; and, according to the observations of Mr. ShiirefT, they exist throughout a period of thirty-nine days. The hue of the fly is orange, the wings transparent, and changing colour according to the light in which they are viewed. It lays its eggs within the glumes of the florets, in clusters varying in number from two to ten, or even fifteen ; and the larva; feed upon the grain. " They are produced from the eggs in the course of eight or ten days: they are at first perfectly transparent, and assume a yellow colour in a few days afterwards. They travel not from one floret to another, and forty-seven have been numbered in one. Occasionally there are found in the same floret lame and a grain, which is generally shrivelled, as if de- prived of nourishment ; and although the pollen may furnish the larva; with food in the first instance, they soon crowd around the lower part of the germen, and there, in all probability, subsist on the matter destined to form the grain." (Mag. Xat. Hist. vol. ii. p. 450.) The larva; are preyed on by the Ceraphroh destructor, an ichneumon By, which deposits its eggs in the body of the larva; of the wheat fly; and this is the only cheek hitherto discovered for preventing the total tion of the whe.it crops attacked by the Cecidomyia. Mr. Shirreff, speaking of this ichneumon, I could not determine if it actually deposits its eggs in the maggot's body ; but there can be no doubt, however, of the ichneumon piercing the maggots with a sting ; and, from stinging the same maggot I dly, it i- probable the By delights to destroy the maggots, as well as to deposit eggs in their bodies. i 1 irwig, also, devours the maggots as food. [Brit. Farm. Mag. voL iii. p. 493.) Mr. Gorrie estimates sustained by the farming interest in the Carse of Gowrie district alone, by the wheat fly, at 20,1 00/. in 1828, and at 36,000V. in 1829. [Perth Miscellany, vol i. p. 42.). The same writer, in May 1830, thus depicts the prospect of the wheat crop in the Carse of Cowrie : — "The Cecidomyia are still alive in formidable legions. That the flies will this season lie in as great plenty as ever, is now (]U i te certain; that i] ej will lay their eggs on no other plant than those of the wheat genus, is also true; the only chance of I time the pupa? appear the fly state. Should this sunny weather bring them forward within a fortnight or three weeks from this date, the greater part will have perished before the wheat is Book VI. RYE. 821 in the ear ; or should the earing take place before the flies appear, then only the late or spring-sown wheats will suffer : but these appear slender chances. We know the history and habits of the insect too well to believe that either mist, or rain, or dew, or drought, will either forward or retard their opera, tions, if the main body appear about the time the wheat comes in the ear. In addition to that vile gnat, our neighbours in the Lothians are threatened with a no less formidable invader in the A'scius pumil'i- nus, which, as we are informed on respectable authority, have already commenced their depredations, and are thinning the wheat plants rather liberally in that quarter. It, like the Hessian tiv in America, attacks th; under joints, which become habitations for the young larvae. As far as our observation extends, this pest has not yet reached us in noticeable numbers." {Country Times, May 17. 1830.) 5067. The culture of summer wheat differs from that of winter or spring-sown winter wheat, in its requiring a more minutely pulverised and rather richer soil. It need not be sown sooner than April, and it advances so rapidly to maturity that it hardly affords time for hoeing (if sown in rows), or harrowing and rolling. When grass or clover seeds are sown on the same ground, they are sown immediately after the wheat, and harrowed in with a light harrow or rolled in. In this respect, and indeed in all others, the prepa- ration of the soil and sowing of this grain are the same as for barley. 5068. The produce of summer wheat, both in grain and straw, is considerably less than that of winter wheat : the straw is only fit for litter or inferior fodder ; the flour produced by the grain is rather coarser and darker than that of common wheat. Of course this sort of wheat cannot, as already observed, be recommended for general culture. 725 . w I Sect. II. Bye. — Secdle ceredle L. ; Triandria Digynia L., and Gram'inea J. Seigle, Fr. ; Rogon, Ger. ; Segale, Ital. ; and Centeno, Span, (Jig. 725.) 5069. Rye, according to some, is a native of Crete ; but it is very doubtful whether any country can be now ascertained to be its native soil. It has been cultivated from time immemorial, and is considered as coming nearer in its properties to wheat than any other grain. It is more common than wheat on most parts of the continent, being a more certain crop, and one which requires less culture and manure. It is the bread corn of Germany and Russia. In Britain it is now very little grown, being no longer a bread corn, and therefore of less value to the farmer than barley, oats, or peas. Many consider it the most impoverishing of all corn crops. 5070. The varieties of rye are not above two, known as winter and spring rye : but there is so little difference between them that spring rye sown along with winter rye can hardly be distinguished from it. 5071. The soil for rye may be inferior to that chosen for wheat: it will grow in dry sandy soils, and produce a tolerable crop ; and, on the whole, it may be considered as preferring sands to clays. The preparation of the soil should be the same as for wheat. According to Professor Thaer, rye abstracts 30 parts in 100 of the nutriment contained in the soil on which it is grown. The climate for rye may be colder than for wheat ; but it is rather more injured by rains during winter, and equally injured by moist weather during the flowering season. 5073. Bye is sown either in autumn or spring, and either broad-cast or in drills : two bushels and a half is the usual allowance when it is sown broad-cast. As it vegetates more slowly than wheat, it should be sown when the soil is dry ; a wet soil being apt to rot the grain before it has completely germinated. No pickling or other preparation is given. 5074. The after culture, harvesting, and threshing are the same as for wheat ; and the produce in grain is, under similar circumstances, equal in bulk ; but in straw it is greater in rye than in any other grain. Sir H. Davy found, in 1000 parts of rye, 61 parts of starch and five parts of gluten. Professor Thaer says rye is the most nourishing grain next to wheat. It contains an aromatic substance, which appears to adhere more par- ticularly to the husk, since the agreeable taste and smell peculiar to rye bread are not found in that which is made from rye flour that has passed through a very fine bolting- cloth ; while the fragrance may be restored by a decoction of rye bran in the warm water used to make the dough. This substance, Thaer says, seems to facilitate digestion, and has an action particularly refreshing and fortifying on the animal frame. *5075. The use of rye is chiefly for bread, especially for gingerbread. It is also used in the distilleries ; and the straw is used for the same purposes as that of wheat, except that it is useless as fodder. Some prefer it for thatching and litter, and also for collar- making •. it is also employed in Dunstable work. Tanners are said to use it in some tli>tricts. 5076. Eye is sometimes sown as a green crop, with a view of affording some keep for sheep early in the spring, and also for being ploughed in as manure; but that husbandly 3 G 3 MS PRACTICE OF AGRICULTURE. Part III. must be l>;ul or unfortunate which requires recourse to either mode. In some districts it is customary to sow the bead lands of wheat fields with rye, which is said to keep poultry from penetrating t<» the wheat 5077. The manufacture <■/ n/e ttrem into plait far hats is a new application, for which the public are indebted to Mean .' and \ Muirof Greenock, manufacturers of straw bat.- in imitation of those of Leghorn Mesm Mull bad prei iously tried r>e gra-s, crested dog's-tail grass, sweeUscented vernal grass, and the -traw of wheat, raised both from British and foreign seed, without success. At last the idea of employing rye Straw WSI suggested to them j and they now send annually to their establishment in the Orkney Islands founded by an English gentleman about 1820 " from 40 to 45 bolls, which an- sown on about twelve English acre* ol sandy sod, manured with sea-weed Several acres of heath for bleaching the straw, and water for steeping it, are required in the neighbourhood of tin- rve fields. The rye is cut w hen the seed i- beginning to firm ; and it i- necessary to attend to the precise time, for ten days too early or too late produce a considerable difference in the look of the straw. Winn the rye i- cut, women are employed to tie it at tin- lower extremity in handfuls ; it is then put into boxes, and covered w ith boiling water, in which it remains loi half an hour. Alter this it is spread out upon the heath in a fan form, and turned twice duly, until the bleaching, which takes about ten days, is completed. It exposed to much rain while bleaching, the straw is injured in colour, and rendered rerj liable to take mildew. It is of great importance to have the crop well housed." — " The seed of the rye is sown in April, in mossy ground, recently rendered ar tl '< the season is at all favourable, it comes into Bower in July, when it is cut down. The whole item in then immersed in boiling water, in a trough made for the purpose, and re- mains in this state tor two hours. When taken out, it is spread upon a grass field, and exposed to the sun till it i- properly bleached, which requires from two to four days, according to the weather. When bleached, the -talk is divided into separate parts at each joint, and put up into bundles by the lengths. In this manner, the bundles lie in a proper place till wanted by the plaiters. This last process is done chiefly by old people, who are unable for the finer work, or by those pupils who have only lately joined the manufactory. [Trans. Bight. Soc. vol. vii. pp. 286. and 289.) The mode of plaiting has* been 'already described. () MM.) 5078. Bye is less snhject to disease than most other grain, and is even sown among wheat and round wheat fields from an idea that it will keep oil' blight and mildew as well as poultry. M~9. The spur or ergot of rye is by some considered as a fungus, a species of Sclerrtium, somewhat analogous to that which produces the smut. It is not peculiar to rye, but it is very seldom found on any other gramineous plant. " It is a production of the seeds; is long, horny, and cartilaginous; and is sometimes straight, at others curved ; sometimes it is found more than two inches in length. The re- semblance of this substance to cocks' spurs has given it the name by which it is distinguished. On breaking a spurred seed, you find within it a substance of a dull white colour adhering to the violet skin that surrounds it. Rye thus attacked cannot germinate. M. Tessier remarked that the most rainy years were the most productive of this disease ; that the soils on which most spurred rye grew were most moist ; that high grounds were nearly free from them, unless when the furrows prevented the water from running freely off, while the lower parts of the same field produced more than the upper parts." {Brit. Farm. Mag. vol.' iii. p. 302.) In France a disease, called the chronic or dry gangrene, has been produced by eating er"Otl This disease is also known in Switzerland, where it was observed that most animals refused to eat lied rye, or rve affected with the cockspur, as it is called. The Royal Society of Medicine at Paris employed M. Tessier, a distinguished agricultural writer and man of science, to go into the countries where the dry gangrene prevailed, and collect a sufficient quantity of the ergot or cockspur rye for expe- riments. The result confirmed the opinion of those who attributed the disease to the cause assigned. " France afforded, also, a simple explanation of the fact that persons might live for a considerable time upon rye affected with the cockspur, without suffering any sensible injury from its use; since, in all the animal's upon which it was tried experimentally, a given quantity was required to produce the specific effect ; and they suggested the only measure, that of separating the diseased from the sound rye, which could prevent so great a national calamity as that which has been so often produced by its use." The spurred rye occasionally occurs in this country, but there are no instances recorded of its producing any such effects as it is said' to do in France ; but in the Philosophical Transactions Dr. Wollaston has nar- rated several cases in which dry gangrene was produced in one family by partaking of damaged wheat ; and nearly the same effects were produced in a family in Wiltshire by the /..'.Hum temulentum entering largely into the composition of bread. {Stephenson and Churchill's Med. Bot. art. Secale.) M. Lagasca states that the ergot is covered with a thin pellicle and filled with a grey powder. It is collected in Spain b\ women and children, who wade in the fields of standing rye for the purpose, and with their utmost vigilance can obtain it but in very small quantities, in consequence of which it sells high as an article of the materia medica. {Brit. Farm. Mag. voL iii. p. 158.) Medicinally it is used in uterine diseases. Skit. III. Barley. — Horde it m ~L. ; Triandria Digynia L., and Graminecc J. L'Orge, Fr. ; Gersle, Ger. ; Urzo, Ital. ; Byg, Dan. and Swed. ; and Cebada, Span. 5080. Barley, though less calculated for a bread corn than rye, may be considered as next in value to wheat in Britain. Of what country it is a native is unknown. Some assign it to Tartary, others to Siberia, and even Scotland has been mentioned. It has been cultivated from the earliest antiquity, and was much in use among the Romans, Imtli as food fur soldiers and horses. In Sweden and Lapland it is more cultivated than any other grain, on account of its requiring to be so short a period in the soil; some- times not longer than six weeks, and seldom more than seven or seven and a half. In Spain atul Sicily they have two crops a year on the same soil: one is sown in autumn and ripens in May, and the other is sown in May and reaped in autumn. In Britain barley is a tender grain, and easily hurt in any of the stages of its growth, particularly at seed time: a heavy shower of rain will then almost ruin a crop on the best prepared land- and in all the after processes greater pains and attention are required to insure success than in the case of other grains. The harvest process is difficult, and often attended witli danger; even the threshing of it is not easily executed with machines, because the corn generally adheres to the grain, and lenders separation from the straw a troublesome task. Book VI. BARLEY. S23 *5081. Species and varieties. (Jig. 726.) There are six species and subspecies of this irrain in cultivation besides varieties. These are, — 1 . //tirdeum vulL'are, Sprint; barley (a). 2. ccelest-', Siberian barley. 5. hexastichon, Winter barley (/»). 4. //ordeum dfstichon, Common or long-eared barley (c). 5. dfstichon nudum, Naked barley. 6. Zeocriton, Sprat or battledore (*rf). The second and fifth sorts are allowed to be subspecies or varieties of the first and fourth, and indeed there can be little doubt that the whole do not constitute more than one species. 726 5082. The springbarley or early barley [a), Orgecarrie, Sucrion de printemps, Fr., is distinguished by its double row of beards or awns standing erect, and its thin husk, which renders it favourable for malting. This is the sort principally cultivated in the southern and eastern districts of both England and Scotland, and of which the farmers make two sorts, viz. ffle common, and the rath-ripe barley : but these two sorts are in reality the same; for the rath-ripe is only an alteration of the common barley, occasioned by being long cultivated upon warm gravelly soils. The seed of this, when sown on cold or strong land, will, the first year, ripen near a fortnight earlier than the seed taken from strong land, and therefore the farmers in the vales generally purchase their seed-barlev from the warm or gravelly lands ; for, when preserved in the vales two or three years, it becomes full as late in ripening as the common barley of their own product : on the other hand, the farmers on warm lands are also obliged to procure their seed-barley from the strong lands, otherwise their grain would degenerate in bulk or fulness, which by this change is pre- vented. 5083. The Siberian barley, Orge celeste, Fr., and Himmel gerste, Ger., is a variety of early barley with broader leaves, and reckoned more productive than the other. It is much grown in the north of Europe, and was introduced to this country in 1768, but is believed to be now lost or merged in the parent species 5081. Winter barley, lute barley, or square barley {b), Orge Carrie d'hiver, Escourgeun, Fr., has the grains disposed in four or in six rows, large and thick skinned. It is chiefly cultivated in the north of England and in Scotland, on account of its hardiness ; but from the thickness of its rind it is ill adapted for malting, and is going out of use. 5085. Bigg, byg, or barley big, is a variety of winter barley known by always having six rows of grains, by the grains being smaller and the rind thicker, and by its being earlier than the parent variety. Pro- fessor Martyr) says, he has frequently counted forty-two grains on one ear of bigg, when common or long- eared barley had only twenty-two. 5086. Common or long-eared barley (c), is known by its very long spike or ear, flatted transversely, greater in breadth than thickness, with chaff" ending in an awn sixteen times the length of the grain. This sort is cultivated in many parts of England and Scotland ; though some object to it because the ears being long and heavy they think it apt to lodge. 5087. Naked barley, or wheat barley, Orge nue a deux rangs, Fr., is known by thegrain separating easily from the chaff", and is by some considered as nothing else than spelt wheat, which it greatly resembles. 1 1 does not appear to be cultivated at present in any part of Britain. 5088. Sprat, or battledore barley (d), Orge eventail, Orge-rix, Fr., is known by its low stature, coarse straw, short broad ears, and long awns. The long awns and closeness of the ears protect it better from birds than most other sorts, but as the straw is scanty and of little use it is not much cultivated. 5089. Besides these sorts there are some local varieties, as Thanet barley, Putney barley, &c. which are merely names given to the varieties common in those places. The Thanet is the winter, and the Putney the sprat barley. 5090. (5009.) 5091. climate. New varieties may be procured by selection or crossing, as in the case of wheat. In choosing a sort of barley for cultivation, regard must be had to the soil and The hardiest may be considered the winter barley, and the earliest, and perhaps the best, is the spring barley. The long-eared is also a much esteemed variety. 5092. In choosing from any particular variety, the best grain for sowing is that which is free from blackness at the tail, and is of a pale lively yellow colour, intermixed with a bright whitish cast ; and it the rind be a little shrivelled, it is so much the better, as it shows that it has sweated in the mow, and is a sure indication that its coat is thin. The husk of thick-rinded barley being too stiff' to shrink, will lie smooth and hollow, even when the flour has shrunk from it within. The necessity of a change of seed from time to time, bv sowing that of the growth of a different soil, as it has been observed, is in no instance more evident than in the culture of this grain, which otherwise becomes coarser and coarser every year. But in this, as well in all other grain, the utmost care should be taken that the seed is full bodied. 5093. The best soil for barley is a light rich loam, finely pulverised. It will neither grow well on a sandy or soft soil, nor on strong clays, such as are suitable for wheat. 5094. The preparation of the soil is sometimes by a naked fallow, but generally by a turnip fallow ; sometimes it is taken after peas and beans, but rarely by good farmers either after wheat or oats, unless under special circumstances. 3 G 4 B24 PRACTICE OP AGRICULTURE. Paet III. 15. When town after turnips it Is generallj ».ik.n with one furrow, which is given as fast as the turnips arc consumed, the ground thui receiving much benefit from r-pri 1114 frosts. But often two 01 more furrows are necessary for the Beldi last consumed 1 because, when a spring drought sets in, the surface, from being poached bj the removal or consumption of 1 1»«- crop, gets 10 hardened as to render a greater quantity of ploughing, bai rowing, and rolling necessary than would otherwise be called tor. When sown after beans and peas, one winter and one spring ploughing arc- usually bestowed ; but, when after wheat or oats, three plougbings are necessary, so that the ground may be put In proper condition. These operations are very ticklish in a wet and backward season, and rarely in that case is the grower paid lor the expense Of hil labour. Where land U in lUCh a Situation as to require three plougbings before it can l.c seeded with barley, it is better to summer fallow it at once, than to run the risks which seldom tail to accompany a quantity of spring labour lithe weather bed) v, moisture is lost during the different processes, and an imperfect germination necessaril) follows: if it be wet, the benefit of ploughing is lost, and all the evils ufa wet seed time are ausl lined by the future crop. I Brown.) To whatever crop barley succeeds, the harrow and roller, when the plough alone is insufficient, siiouM be employed in reducing the soil to a considerable degree of fineness. In most eases more than earth ii given; though, alter a winter furrow, the grubber may be used in spring instead of the plough, Attn- turnips, eaten on tite ground by sheep, the land, being consolidated by their treading, sometimes ri C( ives two ploughing* ; but, if only one, it should be well harrowed and rolled ; and it is often finished by harrowing alter the roller, especially if grass-seeds be sown, which are covered by this last harrowing Barley is sometimes sown on the first ploughing, and covered by a second shallow ploughing. As it is found of great importance, with a view to speedy and equal vegetation, that the ground should be Iresh and moist, bailey is generally sown upon what is termed hut-fur, that is, as soon as possible after it is turned up by the plough 5097. Manure can seldom be given with advantage to a crop that occupies the soil so short a period as barley, and therefore it generally is sown on land which has been en- riched for a preceding crop. 5098. The climate in which bailey delights is warm and dry. There are instances of a crop being sown and ripened without having enjoyed a single shower of rain ; but gentle showers from the time it is sown till it begins to shoot into the ear, are favourable; while heavy rains at any period, and especially immediately after sowing, or during the blossoming, ripening, and reaping seasons, are highly injurious. 5099. The best season for sowing barley is considered to be from the beginning of April to the middle of May ; but bigg may be so**n either in autumn to stand the winter, or as late as the first week of June. In England, the winter or four-rowed barley is frequently sown in autumn, and stands the most severe winters. With respect to the lateness at which bigg and summer barley may be sown, much depends on the sort of weather which occurs during the first three weeks after sowing. 5100. When hurley is sown late it is sometimes steeped in common water to promote its germination ; but it is seldom pickled or otherwise prepared. The advantages of steeping are, procuring an equal germination, and consequently ripening, and getting the start of weeds. The following directions are given tor per- forming the operation : — First, take out about one-third of the contents of the sacks of seed barley or bear to allow for the swelling of the grain ; lay the sacks with the grain to steep in clean water ; let it be covered with it for at least twenty- four hours; when the ground is very dry, and no likelihood ot rain tor two or three days, it is better to lie thirty-six hours. Sow the grain wet from steeping without any addition. The seed will scatter well as clean water has no tenacity ; only the sower must put in a fourth or a third more seed in bulk than is usual of dry grain, as the grain is swelled in that proportion. Harrow it in as quickly as possible after it is sown ; and, though not necessary, give it the benefit ot a fresh furrow if convenient. You may expect it up in a fortnight at farthest. {Brown.) 5101. The quantity of seed is different in different cases, according to the quality of the soil and other circumstances. Upon very rich lands, eight pecks per acre are sometimes sown ; twelve is very common ; and upon poor land, more is sometimes given. 5102. Whether the practice of giving so small a quantity of seed to the best lands is advantageous or the reverse, seems a disputed point amongthe best farmers. That there is a saving of grain there can be no doubt ; and that the bulk may be as great as if more seed had been sown, there can be as little question. Iattle argument, however, is necessary to prove that thin sowing of barley must be attended with considerable disadvantage ; for if the early part of theseason be drv, the plants will not only be stinted in their growth, but will not send out ott'sets ; and if rain afterwards fall, an occurrence that must take place some time during the summer, often at a later period of it, the plants begin to stool, and send out a number of young shoots These voting shoots, unless under verv favourable circumstances, cannot be expected to arrive at maturity ; or if their ripening be waited for. 'there will be a great risk of losing the early part of the crop, a circumstance that frequently happens. In almost every instance an unequal sample is pro- duced, and the grain i- for the most part of an inferior quality. By good judges, it is thought preferable to sow a quantity of seed sufficient to ensure a full crop, without depending on its sending out offsets: indeed, w here that is done, few offsets are produced, the crop grows and ripens equally, and the grain is uniformly good. {Brown on Rural Aj/hirs.) 510:J. The modes if sowing barley are either broad-cast, or in rows by the drill or ribbing. The broad-cast mode is almost universally adopted; unless in lands much infested with annual weeds, where chilling and hand-hoeing, and in particular cases horse-hoeing, may be employed with advantage. 5104. Tlie 011/1/ culture which barley requires while in a growing state, is hoeing and weeding if in rows, and weeding alone if broad-cast. Sometimes barley is rolled to com- press a soft soil and exclude the drought, and when very thick it may be first harrowed and then rolled. Grass seeds and clover are sown with the grain before the last harrowing, when the broad-cast mode is adopted ; and immediately before hoeing, when the barley is in rows. The forivwr is much the best mode for insuring a strong plant of clover. 5105. Latin:: down barley, which from winter or very early sowing is over-luxuriant, is practised in some districts, but it is alleged that mowing is much better than feeding it ; because the scythe takes off only the rank tops, but the sheep feed upon all indifferently ; nor should they even, in any case, be lelt Boon VI. BARLEY. 825 upon it too long, because, being particularly fond of the sweet end of the stalk next the root, they bite so close as to injure the future growth of the plant. 5106. Barley is ripe when the red roan, as the fanners term it, meaning a reddish colour on the ear, is gone off; or when the ears droop, and fall, as it were, double against the straw, and the stalks have lost their verdure ; but in the latter case it is too ripe. 5107. In the harvesting of barley more care is requisite than in taking any of the other white crops, even in the best of seasons ; and in bad years it is often found very difficult to save it. Owing to the brittleness of the straw, after it has reached a certain period it must be cut down ; as, when it is suffered to stand longer, much loss is sustained by the breaking of the heads. On that account it is cut at a time when the grain is soft, and the straw retains a great pioportion of its natural juices, consequently requires a long time in the field before either the grain is hardened or the straw sufficiently dry. When put into the stack sooner it is apt to heat, and much loss is frequently sustained. 5108. Barley is generally rut doivn in England with the cradle scythe, and either tied up or carted home loose after lying in the swath some days to dry It is not apt to shed ; but in wet weather it will be likely to spout or grow musty ; and therefore every fair day after rain it should be shaken up and turned: and when it is tolerably dry, let it be made up into shocks ; but be careful never to house it till thoroughly drv, lest it mow-bum, which will make it malt worse than if it had spired in the field. It is remarked by Lisle, that poor thin barley should be cut a little sooner than if the same plants were strong and vigorous ; as the straw, when the plants are full ripe, in such cases will not stand against the scythe. In this situation, barley in particular should lie in swath till it is thoroughly dry. Some of his barley, which lay out in swath five or six days in very fine weather, though both blighted and edge-grown, grew plump, and ac- quired very near as good a colour as the best. He reckons short scythes the best for mowing lodged or crumpled corn, because they miss the fewest plants; and observes, that a bow upon the scythe, which carries away the swath before it, is preferable to a cradle, the fingers of which would be pulled to pieces by the entangled corn, in drawing back the scythe. In Scotland and Ireland it is generally reaped with the sickle, bound in sheaves, and set up in shocks. 5109. In stacking barley many farmers make an opening in the stack from top to bottom. This opening is generally made by placing a large bundle of straw in the centre of the stack, when the building commences, and in proportion as it rises the straw is drawn upwards, leaving a hollow behind ; which, if one or two openings are left in the side of the stack near the bottom, insures so complete a circulation of air, as not only- to prevent heating, but to preserve the grain from becoming musty. 5110. The threshing and dressing of barley require more labour than those of any other grain, on account of the difficulty of separating the awns from the ears. For this pur- pose some threshing machines are furnished with what is called a hummelling machine, already described (2799.) : and where this is wanting, it is customary to put the grain, accompanied with a portion of threshed straw, a second time through the machine. Where barley has been mown, the whole of the straw requires to be twice threshed, in- dependently of the necessity of getting rid of the awns. 5111. The produce of barley, taking the average of England and the south of Scotland, Donaldson considers, might be rated at thirty-two bushels ; but when Wales and the north of Scotland are included, where, owing to the imperfect modes of culture still prac- tised, the crops are very indifferent, the general average over the whole will not probably exceed twenty-eight bushels the acre. Middleton states it as varying in England from fifteen to seventy-five bushels per acre. The average produce of the county of Middle- sex, he says, is about four quarters of corn and two loads of straw per acre. 5112. The uses of barley are various. In Wales, Westmorland, Cumberland, and in the north, as well as in several parts of the west of Scotland, the bread used by the great body of the inhabitants is made chiefly from barley. Large quantities of the barley cul- tivated in England are converted into beer, ale, porter, and what is called British spirits, as English gin, English brandy, &c. The remainder, beyond what is necessary for seed, is made into meal, and partly consumed in bread by the inhabitants of the above-men- tioned districts, and partly employed for the purpose of fattening black cattle, hogs, and poultry. There is a much greater share of the Scotch barley consumed in distillation, in proportion to the quantity cultivated, than of the English. Exclusive of what is used for seed, the Scotch barley is either converted into beer or ale ; or made into pot- barley, or into meal, for the use of the inhabitants in the more remote and less cultivated parts of the kingdom ; or, lastly, into whisky. In The Report of Middlesex it is stated, that much of the most ordinary barley is given to poultry : the rest is sold to the malt- sters, except so much as is reserved for seed. BUS. But malt is the great purpose to which barley is applied in Britain. To understand the process of malting, it may be necessary to observe that the cotyledons of a seed, before a voung plant is produced, are changed by the heat and moisture of the earth into sugar and mucilage. Malting grain is only an artificial mode of effecting this by steeping the grain in water and fermenting it in heaps, and the arresting of its progress towards forming a plant by kiln drying, in order to take advantage of the sugar in distillation for spirit or fermentation for beer. Trie grain of barley contains starch and sugar ; and the chemical consti- tuents of both these ingredients are very nearly alike. In the process of malting, a portion of the starch is converted into sugar, so that the total quantity" of sugar, and consequently the source of spirit, is increased by the transformation. '.M14. To choose a proper sample of barley for malting, observe the directions given for choosing seed barley. (5091.) 826 I'ractici: of \(;Ricri/rrHK. in. 5115. Of)><>/-h,ir/.t, there an two aorta, pearl ami Scotch; both are produced by grinding off the husk, and the pearl barlej i- produced bj carrying the operation so Far as to produce roundness Ln the kernel. it i> need in -"up-, gruels, and medicinal drinks .'.llii. Barley m.ni is ground like oatmeal or flour; tin- coarser sort, with the bran, is used for fattening live stock, especial!] pigs and poultry . but fine bolted barlej flour, made into a thin pottage or pudding, and spread oul In thick cakes, and toasted on a hot plate of metal, tonus a light breakfast bread, much esteemed In some parts of Scotland It is served in a recent Itate, hot, and spread with butter and honey, and eaten in several folds. Two parts of barley flour, one of wheat flour, and one of rye, are said to make a light and very agreeable loafofbread, 51 17. The produce of barley inflow is I2lbs. to 14lbs. of grain. Sir H. Davy found 1000 part.-, of barley meal to afford 920 parts of soluble or nutritious matter ; viz. 790 of mucilage or Btarch, 70 of sugar, and 60 of gluten. 5118. Barley ttraw is chiefly used for litter and packing ; it is unfit for thatch or rope- making, and of little value as fodder. 5119. The diseases of barley are few, and chiefly smut, but of quite a different species from that which affects the wheat, and one which it is found cannot be prevented by pickling and liming. Si r. IV. The <>«t. — Arena saliva L. ; Tricindria Digt'/nia L., and Gramineec J. JJAvoine, Pr. ; Haber, Ger. ; Vena, Ital. ; and Avena, Span. 51 '20. The »at is a very useful grain, and more peculiarly adapted for northern climates than cither wheat, rye, or barley. Its native country is unknown, unless the wild oat be considered as the parent species, which is highly probable. The culture of the oat in France is chiefly confined to latitudes north of Paris. It is scarcely known in the south of France, Spain, or Italy ; and in tropical countries its culture is not attended to. In Britain it has long been very generally cultivated, formerly as a bread corn, but now chiefly as horse-food. Of all the grain this is the easiest of culture, growing in any soil that admits of ploughing and harrowing. *5121. The varieties of oats are more numerous than those of the other grains, ai.d some of them are very distinctly marked. The principal are as follows : — 5122. The while oat or common oat [Jig. 727. a), Avoine blanche, Fr., in most general cultivation both in England and Scotland, and known by its white husk anil kernel. 5123. The black oat, Avoine a grappe noir, Fr., known by its black husk ; cultivated on poor soils, in the north of England and Scotland. 5124. The red oat, known by its brownish red husk, thinner and more flexible stem, and firmly attached grains. It is early, suffers little from winds, meals well, and suits windy situations and late climates. It is understood to have originated in Peebleshire, on the estate of Magbie-hill, by which name it is sometimes known. 5125. The Poland oat, known by its thick white husk, awnless chaff, solitary grains, short white kernel, and short stiff straw. It requires a dry warm soil, but is very prolific. The black Poland oat is one of the best varieties ; it some. r! ')«er \f\V' ?^lh\ P/^'ffvfC times weighs 501bs. per bushel. It is, however, very liable to fs \jfp\i ^- 1\ V\\ 'jnuiiWLv be shed bv the wind after it begins to ripen ; it requires a r ] r \*^\ \Vi--\l'lll> fine dry tilth. 5126. The F/iez/and or Dutch oat, hasplump, thin-skinned, white grains, mostly double, and the large one sometimes awned. It has longer straw than the Poland, but in other respects resembles it Vt Y ft X:^^ W / l/ ; fi' * 5127 - Tl,e 7>" tal ° oat nas lar S c > plump, rather thick. / / V * ^ / Vf li* skinned, white grains, double and treble, with longer straw Y \ than either of the last two sorts. It is almost the only oat now raised on land in a good state of cultivation in the north of England and south of Scotland, and usually brings a higher price in the London market than any other variety. It was discovered growing in a field of potatoes in Cumberland, in 1788; and from the produce of the single stalk which there sprung up by accident, probably from the manure, has been produced the stock now in general cultivation. 5128. Thr Georgian oat, is a large, grained, remarkably prolific variety introduced from Georgia, by R. Barclay, Esq. of Bury Hill, to Britain and the north of Europe. On rich soil in good tilth, Mr. Barclay timl- it yield more grain per acre than the potato oat or any variety whatever. 5129. The Siberian or Tatarian oat [4 , is considered by some as a distinct species. The grains are black or brown, thin and small, and turned mostly to one side of the panicle; and the straw is coarse and reedy. It is little cultivated in England, but found very suitable for the poor soils and exposed situations on the sides of the Dublin and Wicklow hills. ">l 10. A variety called the winter out, Amine d'hivcr, Fr., has lately come into notice in some parts of England, but we have not been able to ascertain its origin. Mr. Bennett of Chaxhill, near Gloucester, sous two bushels per acre in October ; Amis the plants very luxuriant at Christmas, tillering like wheat : he ili pastures them with ewes ami lambs all the spring, and then shuts them up, and reaps an ample crop early in August. The grain is rather longer than that of the white oat, and the colour rather lighter than that of the black oat; Mr Bennett received the seed from a friend in Monmouthshire, who he conjectures received it from Bristol, 50 that it is probably a recent importation. (Country Times, Feb. 8th, and Cor. with Mr. Bennett) 5131. There arc other varieties, as Church's oat, the Angus oat, the dun oat, &C, but they are either too local or obsolete to require particular notice. In the oat, as in other plants extensively cultivated, new varieties will always be taking the place of old ones. 51.*52. To procure new varieties adopt the mode by selection, by which, as it appears above, the potato and red oat wire brought forward; or proceed systematically by cross impregnation, as directed for raising new varieties of wheat. Degeneracy, Brown ^ Book VI. OATS. 827 observes, has taken place to a certain extent in the potato oat; but it is presumed that the consequences might be removed with ease, were first principles returned to. To make a selection of the strongest ears, which carried the purest grain, is not a difficult business ; and were this selection attended to by half a dozen farmers in a district, it is obvious, that the breed, or variety, might be preserved pure and uncontaminated. If slovenly farmers were not provided with good seed, it would be their own fault ; since, if they would not take the trouble to select and breed for their own use, they might always be provided by those who were either better qualified for making the selection, or were more attentive to the interests of agriculture. (Brown.) Some of the Northum- berland farmers have been at the pains to select the grains, instead of the ears, after being threshed. The best seeds are picked out by hand by women. 5133. In choosing a sort from among the varieties described, the potato and Poland are the best for lowlands, and the red oat for uplands and late climates in a state of good cultivation. For inferior soils the white or common oat, and for the poorest of all the black oat, may be adopted. 5134. The soil for oats may be any kind whatever, from the stifFest clays to moss or bog, provided it be laid sufficiently dry. The most tenacious clays, and meagre gravels and sands, where scarcely any useful seed-bearing plant, except buck-wheat, could be grown, will produce a crop of oats if ploughed at a proper season, and the seed judi- ciously sown and covered. 513a. The preparation of the soil for oats is less than for any other grain. It is almost always the first crop on newly broke-up lands ; and as it prospers best on a soil not too finely pulverised, it is commonly sown on one earth. In regular rotations, oats are chiefly sown after grass ; sometimes upon land not rich enough for wheat, that had been previously summer-fallowed, or had carried turnips ; after barley, and rarely after wheat, unless cross-cropping, from particular circumstances, becomes a necessary evil. One ploughing is generally given to the grass-lands, usually in the month of January, so that the benefit of frost may be gained, and the land sufficiently mellowed for receiving the harrow. In some cases a spring furrow is given when oats succeed wheat or barley, especially when grass-seeds are to accompany the crop. The best oats, both in quantity and quality, are always those which succeed grass ; indeed, no kind of grain seems better qualified by nature for foraging upon grass-land than oats ; as a full crop is usually obtained in the first instance, and the land left in good order for succeeding ones. ( Tr on Rural Affairs.) 5136. The climate for oats should be cool and moist ; when dry and warm, the panicles are so dried and contracted that they cease to convey sufficient nourishment to the ears, winch thus never become plump, but thick husked, long awned, and unproductive in meal. This is very often the case with the oats in Scotland in a very dry year, and very common in the south of England in most years. 5137. The season of sowing oats is from the last week in February to the end of April. About the middle of March is preferred by the best farmers. No preparation is ever given to the seed ; but it should be plump, fresh, and free from the seeds of weeds. Common oats sown in autumn are generally killed during winter, the plant being in this respect more tender than wheat, rye, or barley bigg. In some parts of Ireland, and especially in the county of Dublin, the Friezland oat is sown in autumn ; and the advantage is they ripen nearly a month sooner than those sown in spring, an important object in a moist climate. 5138. The quantity of seed, where oats are sown broad-cast, is usually from four to six bushels to the acre. Land sown with potato oats requires less seed, in point of measure, than when any of the other sorts is used : first, because this variety tillers better than any other ; and next, because having no awn, a greater number of grains are contained in a bushel. 5139. The mode of sowing oats is almost universally broad-cast; but where they are sown after turnips, or on other well pulverised soils, some adopt the row culture. 5140. The after-culture depends on the mode of sowing, but seldom consists of more than weeding before the flower-stalks begin to shoot up. 5141. In harvesting oats in England, they are generally cut down with the scythe, and carried loose to the barn or stack ; but in the northern districts, and where threshing machines are used, whether mown, or, what is most usual, reaped with the sickle, they are tied in sheaves to facilitate the process of threshing. Oats are ready tor the scythe or sickle when the grain becomes hard, and the straw yellowish. They should generally be cut before they are dead ripe, to prevent the shedding of the grain, and to increase the value of the straw as fodder. They rarely get much damage when under the harvest process, except from high winds, or from shedding, when opened out after being thoroughly wetted. The early varieties are much more liable to these losses than the late ones ; because the grain parts more easily from the straw, — an evil to which the best of grain is at all times subject. Early oats, however, may be cut a little before 823 PRACTICE OF AGRICULTURE. Part III. (Kail ripe, which, toa certain extent, lessens the danger to which tlicy are exposed from high winds ; and it* the sheaves arc made small, the danger from shedding after rains is con- siderably lessened, because they are thus sooner ready for the staek. Under every manage- ment, however, a greater quantity of early oats will be lost during the harvest process than of the late ones ; because the latter adhere tirmly to the straw, and consequently do not drop so easily as the former. (Brown.) In harvesting oats in wet seasons, the practice of gaiting the sheaves (3176.) ' s generally adopted. In Sweden, in most seasons, the oat crop is dried on frames or poles (704.); and in Russia, not only oats, but barley and rye, are kiln-dried in the straw. 5149 Kiln-drying oat* anil other corns in ///,• stmt/' lias been found necessary, and is very generally practised through the north of Russia, Livonia, (.'norland, and Lithuania, being the last operation of harvest for preserving all kinds of corns, peas, beans, ami buck-wheat The; are dried in the fields as much as can be ; but, « Inn brought home, they are kiln-dried, and are then ready to be either threshed uut immediately, or put up in barns, without any danger of either corn or straw becoming musty or r.xtii g The common practice of the boors is, during winter, to thresh out by degrees, as in this country, their oats and barley, in order to have straw fresh for their cattle, such straw being their only provender The process of kiln-drying by no means prevents the germination of the grain when used for seed, while it not only preserves tin- grain and straw hut improves their taste and salubrity. It enables Russia to export large quantities of rye and wheat, with less risk of damage to the grain than is incurred by other nations of the north of Europe. 5143. The lain (fg. 728.) in general and established use throughout Rus- sia, for the purpose of drying corn in the straw, is heated commonly by fires of wood. It is a simple and cheaply erected structure, the walls eight feet high, and fifteen feet square within. At this height there are two strong cross-beams (a), tosupport the small timbers, laid over them as ribs. The corn stands in sheaves above these ribs (6\ closely set up, the band ends of the sheaves down, and the corn or grain ends up : the walls then rise above the ribs about five or six feet more, the kiln being closed by a simple ceiling of cross joists at this height, covered with thin turf. Any cheap and ordinary roof answers to cover the whole. The fire-place is constructed so as to throw back the ascending spark ; a small porch (r), directly opposite to the fire-place, prevents violent blasts of wind, and covers from rain the fuel and the attendant. About 800 sheaves (twenty-five stooks) of corn are dried at one time. It is put on in the evening, and left on the kiln through the night, after the wood has been burned into char- coal, and the door above the fire-place closed. At one end of the kiln there is frequently an open shed or barn (d), for convenience in bringing corn to, or taking it from, the kiln. 5144. The produce of oats is generally considered greater and of better quality in the northern than in the southern counties ; and the reasons are obviously that, in the former, more attention is paid to their culture, and the climate is more favourable for the matur- ation of the grain. Ten quarters an acre is reckoned a good crop in the north, but 'the produce is often twelve and thirteen quarters, and the straw from two to three and a half loads per acre. 5145. The produce of oats in meal amounts to 8 lbs. for 14 lbs. of corn. Sir H. Davy found 100 parts of oats afford 59 parts of starch, six of gluten, and two of saccharine matter. 5146. The use of oats in the north, in Ireland, and in some parts of Yorkshire and Derbyshire, is partly for meal and partly for horse-food. In the south it is almost en- tirely for horse-food, poultry, and groats for gruel. It is occasionally malted and used in distillation. The fine powder which is produced by husking the corn, or making grist, forms the sowens of the Scotch (the flummery of the Irish), an agreeable light and whole- some supper dish. 5147. The diseases of the oat are few. Sometimes it is found attacked by the smut; but the more common injury sustained by oats is from wire-worms, or larva; of insects which generally abound in lands newly broken-up from turf. One of the most certain modes of avoiding these is, by not ploughing the ground, especially if old turf, till immediately before sowing. By this means the insect is turned down, and before it can work its way to the surface (if ever it does) the corn is beyond its reach. In this way gardeners destroy and retard the progress of the gooseberry caterpillar by digging under the bushes ; for it is found that the eggs and larva; of insects, like seeds and bulbs, when buried too deep in the ground, have their progress retarded, or their vital principle destroyed. In late harvests, more especially in the northern parts of the island, the oat is liable to be frosted and rendered unfit for seed before being harvested. There is no remedy for such an accident ; but we have shown ,4997.) how it may be detected, so as not to disappoint the sower of such grain. (Encyc. of Gard. 460:3.) Sect. V. Cereal Grasses cultivated in Europe, some of which might be tried in Jlrilain. SI 48. The coral grasses which the climate of Britain does not readily admit of culticat- itlgi are the maize, Canary com, millet, and lice. Book VI. MAIZE, OR INDIAN COP.N. S2J Subsect. 1. Maize, or Indian Corn Zea Mays L. ; Mona-cia Triandria L., and Grammets J. Le Mais, or Bie de Turquic, Fr. ; tier Mays, Germ. ; Gran turco, Ital. ; and Mais, Span. 5149. The maize is the noblest looking of the cereal grasses. It is considered to be a native of South America, to have been cultivated in Mexico and Peru from time im- memorial, to have been introduced to Europe about the beginning of the 16th century, and to England in 1562. It is at present cultivated in almost every part of the universe where the summer temperature equals or exceeds that common to latitude 45°, and even to 48°. In France, in Arthur Young's time (1787), the principal country of the maize was to the south of a line drawn from Bordeaux to Strasbourg, in lat. 48° 35' ; but it is at present cultivated as far north as Nancy, which is in latitude 49°, — a fact which shows that this grain is taking a wider range of temperature. " It nourishes on the western continent from about the 40th degree of southern to higher than the 45th degree of northern latitude. It is extensively produced in Africa and in Asia ; on all the shores of the Mediterranean, in Spain, Italy, part of France, and the countries of the Levant, it is the food in most common use. Of the cultivated Cerealia. indeed, it is that which, next to the rice, supplies food to the greatest number of the human race ; and it rnay be held to be the most valuable gift of the new world to the old." (Qnar. Jour. Ag. i. 485.) In England it has been cultivated for upwards of a century, in nursery gardens in the neighbourhood of the metropolis, for the curious purpose of supplying seedsmen in all parts of the island with ears of the corn to ornament their shop windows : it has also been grown in the kitchen gardens of some individuals who have lived in America, for the purpose of using the ears in a green state : it has been tried also in the fields, and more especially in 1828 and 1829, in consequence of the public attention being called to the subject by Mr. Cobbett. 5150. As a bread corn it cannot be greatly commended ; the ear is highly productive of flour, but that flour is deficient in gluten, and cannot be made into bread without a large admixture of the flour of wheat. For fattening cattle and poultry of every description it is found excellent, and its culture in Europe can onlv be recommended with a view to this object. . . . 5151. Varieties. Like other plants which have been long in cultivation in various countries, there are numerous varie- 730 ties of the maize. According to La- gasca,therearel30 varietiesknownin Spain. That grown in the warmer parts of America is called the large yellow, Mais jaune. gra?id, Fr. {fig. ~m.) There is a large red, which differs from the other only in the colour of the skin of the grain : both have very large and hand- some ears {fig. 7300 There is the large yellow flint, the large white flint, the sweet corn, the pearl corn, the maize quarantine, ripen- ing in forty days, and the Egyptian or chicken corn, Mais a poulet, le - plus petit etle plus prtcoce, of Yil- morin's catalogue. There is also what is called Cobbett's corn {fig. 731.), which seems to be nothingmorethan the Mais quaran- taine. The two last varieties have small handsome cars {figs. 73C. and 733.), and can hardly be distinguished from each other. All these sorts have been tried together in the same field, and the Egyptian or chicken corn found decidedlv the most early, and the Maize quarantaine, forty davs'corn, or Cobbett's com, next 'these two sorts, therefore, alone deserve culture in this country. The Zea Curagiia, the Valparaiso corn, is a distinct species, to which a sort of religious reputation is attached, on account of the grains, when roasted, splitting regularly into the form of a cross. BSO PRACTICE ov AGuicui/rrui:. Pam III. 732 733 6152 Sail and climate. A rirh loamy soil, which "ill grow good wheat, tobacco, or potatoes, will grow the strongest plants ; but the corn on men plants will be much los likely to ri|ien than that pro- duced on a dry, warm, sandy, or calcareous soil " It must be ob- vious, from what has been before advanced, that there are few, it any, parts of Britain north of York where the climate will be at all suitable to this grain. 5153. Culture. This grain is almost every where sown or planted in rows, placed at such a width as to admit of horse-hoeing the in- tervals. When this is practised, as the grain contains very little gluten, the crop may be considered as a good preparation for wheat in very rich soils ; it accordingly precedes that grain in the best cultivated parts of North Ame- rica ; but we question if it would be advisable to follow this practice in old cultivated coun- tries, notwithstanding that maize and wheat differ so much in re- gard to gluten. 5154. The preparation of the sni! may be the same as for a crop of barley, according to Cobbett; but we should say, the same as for a crap of turnips on the raised ridglet or Northumberland system. 5155. Sowing. The quantity of seed required is from one bushel tothree bushels per acre. In Long Island, near New York, the time of sowinc is from the 10th to the 20th of May; in France, from the 15th of April to the 15th of May ; in Kngiand, from the 15th of April to the 20th of the same month, according to Cobbett ; but we have no doubt that, in situations where the earliest varieties will succeed at all, they will succeed if sown a week or ten days later. The grain will retain its vegetative powers for at least six years. {Gard. Mag. vol. vi. p. +44.) 5156. The mode qf planting the corn in America is by drawing shallow drills, commonly three or four feet distant from each other, and dropping the seeds by hand, at eight inches apart, in the row. This distance is evidently too great for the early dwarf varieties; and we think three furrows, or twenty-seven inches, the ordinary width between rows of potatoes and turnips, much more suitable. We should decidedly prefer dibbling, either by hand or by a machine, to opening a drill and depositing the seeds. In several places in France the seeds are sown broad-cast and harrowed in, and the after-culture consists in hand-hoeing between them. By -owing on raised drills the horse-hoeing system may be applied as effectually as in the culture of turnips or beans. Cobbett recommends intervals between the rows of five feet, and 'the plants at six inches' distance in the row, with a view to admit a superior degree of tillage between, with a view to the wheat crop. He also describes the mode of planting in hills. The situations of these hills having been marked out by a light plough, or even by trailing a log of wood, first in lines five feet apart in one direction, and next in lines in the opposite direction at right angles to the former, so as to leave the sur- face in squares, the planter takes a hoe, and at every intersection of the lines makes a little hole about an inch and a half deep, and about six inches in diameter, and in this hole five or six seeds are regularly dis- tributed, and covered over with fine earth to the depth of an inch and a half. It is evident that bv this Mode of planting the ground may be very thoroughly worked during the growth of the crop ; but" it is e ident also that it could only be adopted in this country on dry soils, that would admit of being kept during spring and autumn without water furrows. 5157. Transplanting maize may be adopted on a small scale, the advantages of which are that the ground may be better prepared before planting, and that the crop may be made to come in in succession « Ith one which has stood in the ground during winter. The plants may be raised in a hotbed, and pro- tected by mats; or they may be raised in a warm border of dry rich soil, covered with straw or straw mats during nights till the common ash, the mulberry, or the walnut are in leaf: they may then be care- fully raised and transferred to the field, with a small portion of earth attached to each/planted with a spade or trowel, and watered unless it should happen to rain. 515& The after culture, according to Cobbett, commences with scaring away birds and destroying slugs, and afterwards in removing weeds and stirring the soil. The plants will be one foot and a half high in July; and no one at that season, t obbett says, need be afraid of tearing about the roots with the plough as much as he will. One thing is certain, he says, that if the ground between the rows be not ploughed at all, there will be no crop at all. The last process with the plough is earthing up, which is said to be useful for two purposes : first, to keep the plants steady, in case of very rough winds ; and second to give it a fresh stock of roots. " Leave a corn-plant with nothing but fiat hoeing, and without earthing up and you will see all around its roots coming out just above the ground, and going immediately down'into the ground." 5159. Topping the plants. The male and female blossoms being on different parts of the plant, have given rise to this operation. The male lowers are always situated on the top or summit of the stem, and the female flowers below, near the bottoir. " The flowers at the top having performed their function, and deposited the pollen on the stigma beneath, become no longer necessary to the plant ; and they, accord- ingly, with all the elevated part of the stem which supports them, may be wholly removed. This process It termed topping by the Americans, and is delayed until the blades or leaves may be also stripped off Book VI. MAIZE, OR INDIAN CORN. 831 without injury. The period for performing this is denoted by the state of forwardness of the vegetation. * The time for topping is, when you, upon stripping the husks, open a little at the tops of the ears, find the grains of the corn to be hard, — not hard enough to grind, nor dry, — but hard enough to resist the strong pressure of the thumb nail. A second criterion is, all the farina having completely quitted the tassel, and the tassel being completely dead and dry. A third is, the perfect deadness of the ends of the silk ; where, instead of the bright green that appeared before, hanging gracefully down, like the beard of an extra, ordinarily cunning and blaspheming Jew, you will perceive it to be a little contemptible bunch of withered . up and brown-looking stuff When all these signs appear, the top and the blades have performed their office, and the sooner they are taken away the better ; because, after this, they do no good, and only serve to retard the ripening of the ears by the exclusion which they cause to the sun and the wind.' The tops and leaves being removed, they are laid in bunches in the intervals, suffered to dry, and then carried away and stacked. This part of the produce, we are told, is now a precious deposit for the winter : ' it is liable to no inconvenience to which hav is not liable; and weight for weight, and weather for weather, an acre of corn tops and blades will give more nutriment to cattle.' They are reserved by the American farmers as food for their horses and oxen in spring; they are given to race horses and other delicate and highly prized animals. They are cut into chaff, and then mixed with barley and rye. Mr. Cobbett has stated this part of the produce to be more valuable than a crop of hay ; but he has not given us data, either as regards the weight of the crop, or the quantity of the animals it will feed, to enable us to judge of the correctness of his opinion. In France and southern Europe, these parts of the plant are, in like manner, used for fodder ; but we are not aware that they are held in any thing like such high estimation as a crop of hay is with us." {Treatise on Cobbctt's Corn, and Quar. Journ. Agr. vol. i. p. 502.) 5160. Harvesting. The season of harvesting is generally October and November. In America, the ears are slipped or broken from the stem by the hand, and are carried directly to the barn-floor to undergo the process of husking. The buskers, who are generally women and children, are seated around or along- side of a large heap of ears ; they have baskets placed before them ; they strip off' the husks, fling them behind them, and throw the ears into a basket. These baskets as filled, are carried to the granary, or corn-crib, as it is called in America. It may be two feet wide at the bottom, five feet high up the sides to the eaves, and five feet across at the top. It is open or grated at the bottom, with spars at the sides, has a weather-tight roof, and is raised from the ground by posts surrounded with tin as a protection against rats and mice. The husks form an excellent material for stuffing mattresses, anil are used for this purpose in America and on the continent of Europe. The now almost leafless stalks which remain in the fields in America are frequently burnt, but on the continent are used as litter for cattle running loose in the farmyard. The ears remain in the granary till they are wanted for shelling, or separating the grains from the receptacle. On the continent the ears are cut or broken from the stems as in America, and on a large scale are preserved in small open granaries, such as have been described ; but more frequently they are hung up unhusked under the projecting eaves of all manner of buildings, and remain there till wanted for husking and shelling. 5161. Shelling or threshing. This, Cobbett tells us, is done in America by scraping or rasping the ears (34 upon a piece of iron, fixed across a tub, into which the grains fall. The iron is commonly a bayonet In this country there are machines of different kinds (fig. 7o4. and \ 2550.), which perform the operation of shelling with great rapidity; but whoever has a threshing machine might, by setting the rollers and drum some- what wider than usual, dispense with manual labour, both in the operations of husking and shelling ; and indeed we see no reason why the crop should not be harvested like a crop of driiled beans, with Gladstone's bean reaper (2740.'), and sheaved, shocked, stacked, and threshed, like any other grain. 51fi2. Produce. In America and Australia, the produce in corn is from fifty to seventy bushels to the acre ; on the continent it is gene- rally between fifty and sixty ; and the produce in this country, as it appears by some experiments recorded in the Gard. Hag. vol. vi. p. 60 to 67., would probably be similar, notwithstanding the circumstance of Mr. Cobbett, Mr. Moore of Sandy, in Bedfordshire, and some others, having raised on small spots at the rate of 100 bushels per acre and upwards. The produce in straw in America and warm countries, where the tallest sorts can be grown, is considerable ; but in this country, where only the dwarfest sorts could be cultivated with success, it would not equal that of a crop of oats or barley. 5163. The abdication of this crop, according to Cobbett, is various and important : " pig-feeding, sheep- feeding, oxen and cow-feeding, poultry-feeding, horse-feeding, and man-feeding ;" to which we may add fish, carp being fed with maize in France. For " man-feeding" it is only made use of in America till the farmer can afford to grow wheat; and on the continent it is only u.-ed as a bread corn by the poorest of the people. The wretched inhabitants of the southern part of the Neapolitan territory live chiefly on maize ; as those of some mountainous districts in the north of Italy live on bread made from chestnuts, or buck-wheat. The most important purpose to which the corn uncrushed can be applied in Europe, appears to us to be the feeding of poultry. All the fat geese noted for their large livers in the noith. west of France and south-east of Germany are fed with maize, the grains unbroken; and the smaller poultry in these countries are also chiefly fed with this corn, broken or ground into meal. 5164 Turkey feeding, according to Cobbett, is one of the in order to have n fut turkey, or even a really fat fowl, we are many purposes to which the corn may be applied in this cotin- compelled to resort to_ cramming. . f the farmer's wife have try : — *' VVe killed, last spring, one single pullet, not of a large breed, out of which we took loose fat weighing three quarters of a pound. We fatti ned most perfectly and finely ten turkeys in the same manner ; and as to geese and ducks, which fat still easier than either of the former, they will get fat in this manner in a short space of time. If you wish to have fresh eggs in winter, you need resort to no steeping of barley in b' er or in wine, or to giving the hens hempseed, or Ihe seed of nettles, as the French do; nor to make such a fuss about keeping the hens warm: give them plenty of corn, whole, and you will have fresh eggs all the winter long. To the very little chit k. ns, or very young turkeys, you must give some in a craeked stall ; but they very soorr take it down whole; and, large as it is, the sparrows will eat it as fast as the fowls; and, if you be much infested with them, and do not wish to have a numerous and early breed of them next spring, you must feed the poultry close to the door, or stand by th> irr during the meal, which, however, is conveniently short ; for the grain is so large that their craws are filled in'atninute. It is very well known that, dozen of these, there she siis (for she can trust nobody else lo do it), with a leathern apron before her, or rather upon her, with balls of barley-meal rolled into an oblong form, and will' a bowl of warm milk, or w.th some greasy water, taking one turkey out of the coop at a time upon her lap, forcing its mouth open with her left hand, putting in the balls with her right, and stroking with her fingers the outside of the neck In make tu in di -ceud into the craw, every now and then pourinftdown a spoonful o! the warm liquid, upon the principle thai g victuals deseive good crink. There she sils, rf she has run dozen of these animals to cram, two good hours al least. Sometimes thev reject the food, and flutter about, and spl ".li the woman with the contents of Ihe bowl. It is always a dis- agreeable, troublesome, aird nasty job ; it takes up a great deal of time; and yet these things cannot be made sufficiently tit without this operation, in which, I dare say, 20,000 womer. are at this very moment (eight o'clock in the morning) en- gaped, in the counties of Norfolk and Suffolk. If all thc>.c women could be brought together, and were to hear me xaj 892 PRACTICE OF AG HI CULT I' HE. Part II i. nnd pro».\ ihnt I r.rfilil v.lvc tliein .til this troiil.lo, thej miwiM t.11, ■ God bleat yon t Star; you in tha ba*t nlsia] th< Ini t. i mid btijnv excvptal) u, .it erer ndmlnifttcnd tolhi und.' u . !i. r 1 . n, thli 1 dofbr them wn ; Id ihdi husband . the leathern aprona may be BonTerted Into ■pattHdashai Ibr iIh-th, the w.irni milk Wtad i)«tD a pafrit1J( rf.tr .lit". IgBOOl of, the ooops, «m 11 bnkan op to the pofe of the axe, may go to light tin- iitc. and tin- four bounaaved morning and evening mag red i" antnn ng and preparing tin- slur!" to make dirt's nnd '(nit., and ihee *, or, whli li makea lea noise, in knitting Ibl tin- whole family." {yiuir. Jviir. Af*r. vol. i. .Uir in.u Ik- given to lotirii; pta*j |hj bowl in t\ bo p, ■'<:■! 5165. In co mmo n with other grain, maize may 1"' fermented, w as to produce beer ; or distilled from, so as to produce spirits ; the straw containing a good deal of saccharine matter that also might be ex- tracted. "iltiti The preen ems of maize are applied to various purposes. In the neighbourhood of Paris, before Hie in. ill- 1 >ii « — mii hai ei panded. the female is gathered and pickled, in the manner of cucumbers ; and this i> pr ac ti s e d to some extent by the French ami Germans. When the grain has arrived at its milky state, tho rar~ are then gathered fur Hie purpose ni boiling or roasting. In America tiny are roasted on or be- fbre but embers, and eaten with te, and fried with fat batini, is the ordinary food of the peasants of great part of the Brabant It serves them likewise for fatten- ing their fowl, of which they feed great quantities for the markets of the rest of Brabant and of Holland. {Cumin. Board of Agr.) 5168. Diseases and enemies. The Phala;*na forficalis Lin is said to deposit its eggs in the stems of the plant, and the larva? which these produce eat out its interior, so as to weaken the strength of the spikes. There are also three species of smut, {/redo Pers., which are parasitic on the maize, and destroy the grain by reducing it to a black powder. One species is peculiar to the rlower, attacks it before it arrives at maturity, and finishes by leaving it in a state of black powder. The Trench writers recommend washing and pickling in the same manner as for wheat. The stalks and leaves, being very sweet, are greedily sought for by field rats, mice, and other enemies. In the granary, the maize, like other grains, is attackt il by different species of weevil, this insect produces serious injury in America, but is not very likely to be troublesome in this country. Subsect. 2. Canary Corn. — Vhalaris canariinsis L. ; Trh'indria Digi/nia L., and Gra- minere J. Alphtc de Canaire, Fr. ; Kanariengras, Ger. ; Faluri, Ital. ; and Aljiistc, Span, (fg.735.) 5169. The Canary grass is an annual, with a culm from a foot to eighteen inches in height, and lively green leaves almost half an inch in width. The seeds are thickly- set in a subovate panicle or spike. It is a native of the Canary Islands ; but now naturalised in several parts of England, and on the Continent. It flowers from June to August, and ripens its seeds from September to October. It lias long been cultivated in the Isle of Thanet, and a few other places in Kent and Essex : it is there considered an uncertain crop, both on account of the seasons, it being the latest of all the grasses in ripening its seeds, and of the fluctuation of prices. ^\$Af v/( 'y J ' J 5170. The culture of the Canary grass consists in pulverising a V'lWl^' loamy soil in good heart, or manuring it if worn out; though every judicious farmer tries to avoid giving manure to a corn crop utdess after a naked fallow. The seeds are sown in rows at about a foot apart, generally by the ribbing process : the season the month of February, and the quantity of seed four or five gallons per acre. The after-culture consists in repeated hoeings and wecdings. 5171. 7'he reaping process seldom commences before the end of September. The culm being leafy, and the seed difficult to separate from the chalf, it requires to lie in handfuls for a week or more, and to remain more than that time in the field after being tied up in sheaves. In the Isle of Thanet it is cut with a hook, provincially called a twibil and a kink; by which it is laid in lumps, or wads, of about a sheaf each. The seed clings remarkably to the husk ; and, in order to detach it, the crop is left a long time on the ground, to receive moisture sufficient to loosen the enveloping chaff, otherwise it would be hardly possible to thresh out the seetl. The wads are turned from time to time, to have the ftdl benefit of the rains and sun. 5172. The common produce of Canary grass is from thirty to thirty-four bushels per acre ; but under the best management in the Isle of Thanet it is often fifty bushels per acre. The use of the seed is chiefly as food for Canary and other cage and aviary birds. The chalf is superior to that of every other eulmifcrous plant for horse-food, and the straw, though short, is also very nutritive. Subsect. 3. The Millets- — Vanicttm and Sorghum L. ; Tridndria Di^'/nia and Poly- ganiia Monre~cia L. and Graminree 3. Panis and Sorgho, Fr. ; Panick and Hirse, Gcr. ; Panico and Sageno or Sorgo, Ital. ; and Alcandia, Span. 5174. Of the millet there are three distinct genera : the Folish millet (Digitaria), culti- vated in Poland ; the common millet (Panicum), or panic grass, cultivated in Germany, 517:5. Book VI. MILLET. 633 and sometimes in this country; and the great or Indian millet (7/olcus), cultivated in India, Italy, and America. 5175. Of the common millet there are three species : Setaria germanica {fig. 736. a), a native of the south of Europe; the P. miliaceum (A), a native of the East Indies; and the Setaria itilica (c), also of Indian origin. 5176. The German millet (Mohade Hongrie, Er. ; S. germanica, «) rises with a jointed reed-like stalk, about three feet high, and about the size of the com. mon reed, with a leaf at each joint a toot and a half long, and about an inch broad at the base where broadest, ending in an acute point, rough to the touch, embracing the stalk at the base, and turning downwards about half the length. The stalks are terminated by compact spikes, about the thickness of a man's finger at bottom, growing taper towards the top, eight or nine inches long, and closely set with small roundish grain. It is annual, and perishes soon after the seeds are ripe. There are three va- rieties of it, the yellow, white, and purple grained. It was formerly cultivated for bread in some of the northern countries. 5177. The common or cultivated millet (Millet coin- mim, Fr. ; Pauicum miliaceum, b) rises with a reed- hke channelled stalk, from three to four feet high ; at every joint there is one reed-like leaf, joined on the top of the sheath, which embraces and covers that joint of the stalk below the leaf, and is clothed with soft hairs; the leaf has none, but has several small longitudinal furrows running parallel to the midrib. The stalk is terminated by a large loose panicle hanging on one side. Of this species there are two varieties, the brown and the yellow ; the latter of which was formerly in cultivation, and is now some- 738 times sown for feeding poultry, and as a sub- stitute for rice. 5178. The Italian millet (Panted' Italie ; Millet a gra/tpe, Fr. ; Setaria italica, c) rises with a reed-like stalk, nearly four feet high, and much thicker than that of the preceding; the leaves are also broader. The spikes are a foot long, and twice the thickness of those of the common millet, but not so compact, being composed of several roundish clustered spikes ; the grain is also larger. There are two or three varieties of this, differing only in the colour of the grain. It is frequently cultivated in Italy (whence its tri- vial name), and other warm countries. It is a native of both Indies, and of Cochin China. / 5179. The Polish millet, or manna grass of the Germans (Digitaria sanguinalis, formerly Pi'inicuin sanguinalis,,/^. 737), is a low decum- bent, annual plant, seldom rising above nine inches or a foot high, with hairy leaves and slender panicles. It tillers much, and forms a close tuft, spreading and rooting at the joints. It is a native of England but not common. It grows in abundance in Poland, and is some- times cultivated, the seeds being used like those of the other millets as a substitute for rice or sago. 5 ISO. The great or Indian millet (7/olcus Sorghum L., Sorghum vulgare, W. en. fig. 738. Sorgho, gros millet d'lta/ie, Fr. ; Sorgsamen, Ger. , Sagina, Ital. ; and Melcea, Span.) has astern which rises five or six feet high, is strong, reedy, and like those of the maize, but smaller. The leaves are long and broad, having a deep furrow through the centre, where the midrib is depressed in the upper surface, and is very prominent below. The leaves are two feet and a half long, and two inches broad in the middle, embracing the stalks with their base. The flowers come out in large panicles at the top of the stalks, resembling, at first appear- ance, the male spikes of the Turkey wheat ; these are succeeded by large roundish seeds, which are wrapped round with the chaff This grain is a native of India, where it is much used to feed poultrv, and is frequently sent to Europe for the same purpose. It is much cultivated in Arabia, and most parts of Asia Minor ; and has been introduced into Italy, Spain, Switzerland, and some parts of Germany, also into China, Cochin China, and the West Indies, where it grows commonly five or six feet high, or more, and being esteemed a hearty fo'xi for labourers, is called negro Guinea corn. Its long awns or bristles defend it from the birds. In England, the autumns are seldom dry and warm enough to ripen the seed well in the field. In Arabia it is called dora or durra ; the flour is very white, and they make good bread of it, or rather cakes, about two inches in thickness. The bread which they make of it in some parts of Italy is dark and coarse. In Tuscany it is used chiefly for feeding poultry and pigeons ; sometimes for swine, kine, and horses. Caisalpinus says, that cattle fed on the green herb are apt to swell and die, but thrive on it when dried. They make brushes and brooms of its stalks in Italy, which Ray observed in the shops at Venice, and which are sent to this country. Of this species there are two distinct varieties; one distinguished by black, and the other by red, husked seeds, besides subvarieties. 5181. The only sorts of millet which can be cultivated with success in this country are the German, cultivated, and the Polish sorts. According to Professor Thaer, the cultivated is to be preferred, as having the largest grain. 5182. The soil for the millet should be warm, sandy, rich, and well pulverised to a good depth. The seed is sown in May, very thin, and not deeply covered. In the course of its growth no plant, Professor Thaer observes, is more improved by stirring the soil, after which it grows astonishingly fast, and smothers all weeds. 518S. In hanesting the millet, great care is requisite not to shed the seed ; and as it. ripens rather unequally, it would be an advantage to cut ofi" the spikes as they ripen, as 3 H 8:14 PRACTICE OF AGRICULTURE. Pakt III. in reaping maize. No pain is easier to thresh, or to free from its husk by the mill. It is used instead of rice, and in Germany bears about the same price. It produces a great hulk of straw, which is much esteemed as fodder. 5184. The great Indian millet "ill grow in this country to the height of five or six Feet ; but will not ripen its seeds, or even Bower, if the season is not dry and warm. It' lis culture is attempted, it should be raised in a hotbed and transplanted. Subski i'. 1. Rice, and some other Cereal Gramma, 5185. Thence (Ory/a sativ.i, jig- 739.) has been tried in this country, and, if sown very early, would probably ripen its seeds. The hill variety, which does not require watering, would probably succeed best. Rut there is no inducement to cultivate this and other grains or seeds when they can be imported at so low a rate. We merely introduce them to record the resources of British agriculture in case of necessity. 5186. The Zizdnia aqudtica [fig- 740.) might he cultivated on the margin of ponds for its seeds, which much resemble those of Polish millet. It is exceedingly prolific, grows in great luxuriance, and produces abundance of bland farinaceous seeds, in all the shallow streams of the dreary wilderness in north- west America, between theCanadian lakes and the hilly range which divides Canada from the country on the Northern Pacific Ocean. Its seeds contribute essentially to the support of the wandering tribes of Indians, and feed immense flocks of wild swans, geese, and other water fowl, which resort there for the purpose of breeding. Productive as is this excellent plant, and habituated to an ungenial climate, and to situations which refuse all culture, it is surprising, says Pinkerton (Geog. vol. iii. p. 330.), that the European settlers in the more northern parts of America hive as yet taken no pains to cultivate and improve a vegetable production which seems intended by nature to become, at some future period, the bread corn of the north. 5187. The Glyceria fiuilans resembles the Zizania, and the seeds are used in Germany like those of Polish millet. Various species of .Pdnicum, //ordeum, and jfromus afford tolerable supplies of edible seeds. 5188. The buck-wheat (Polygonum Fagopyrum ; liix, Fr. ; Reiss, Ger. ; Riso, Ital. ; Artvz, Span.) is vulgarly considered as a grain; but not being a bread-corn grass, we have classed it among manufactorial plants. (Chap. VIII. Sect. IV.) Chap. III. Culture of Leguminous Field- Plants, the Seeds of which are used as Food for Man Cattle. or 5189. The seeds of the cultivated legumes are considered to be the most nutritive of vegetable substances grown in temperate climates. They contain a large proportion of matter analogous to animal substances, having when dry the appearance of glue, and being as nourishing as gluten. To the healthy workman this substance supplies the place of animal food ; and Von Thaer states, that in Germany neither sailors nor land labourers arc content unless they receive a meal of legumes at least twice a week. The straw or haulm, he says, cut before it is dead ripe, is more nourishing than that of any of the cereal grasses. But leguminous plants are not only more than all others nourishing to man and animals, but even to vegetables they may be said to supply food ; since they are not only known to be less exhausting to the soil than most other plants, but some of them, and more especially the lupine, have been ploughed in green as manure from the earliest times. Many scientific agriculturists consider a luxuriant crop of peas or tares as nourishing the soil by stagnating carbonic acid gas on its surface; which corresponds with the universal opinion of their being equal to a fallow, and with the value set on them in rotation, as already explained. (4939.) Two reasons may be given for the cir- cumstance of peas and tares not exhausting the land so much as other crops : first, because they form a complete shade for the ground ; and next, because they drop so many of the Book VI. THE PEA. 835 leaves upon the surface. The legumes cultivated in British farming are, the pea, bean, tare, and vetch, to which might be added the lentil, kidneybean, and chick pea. 5190. The nutritive products of these plants are thus given by Sir II. Davy, Einhoff, aud Thaer : — Systematic Name. English Name. In 100 Parts. Whole quan- tity of soluble or nutritive matter. Mucilage cr starch. Saccharine matter, or sugar. (iluten or albumen. Exiract, or matter rend) rtd insoluble during evaporation. Pisum sativum J 'icia Fkba sativa E'rvum Zens - P hastolus vulgaris - Dry peas Common bean Tares Lentils . . Kidneybean . 574 570 65 71 89 501 426 36 39 67 22 35 103 29 32 2 J 16 41 Sect. I. The Pea. — Visum sativum L. ; Diadelphia Decandria L., and LeguniinbsceJ. Les Puis, Fr. ; Erbse, Ger. ; Piscello, Ital. ; and Pesoles, Span. {jig. 741.) 741 5191. The pea is the most esteemed legume in field culti- vation, both for its seed and haulm. It is supposed to be a native of the south of Europe, and was cultivated by the Greeks and Romans. In this country it has been grown from time immemorial : but its culture appears to have 't\ t diminished since the more general introduction of herbage, plants, and roots ; and tlie pea, except near large towns for ;f? gathering green, and in a few places for boiling, has given -) way to the bean, or to a mixture of peas and beans. There are various inducements, however, to the cultiva- tion of peas in dry warm soils near large towns. When the crop is good and gathered green, few pay better : the payment is always in cash, and comes into the pocket of the tanner in time to meet the exigencies of the hay, and sometimes even of the corn, harvest. The ground, after the peas have been removed, is readily prepared for turnips, which also pay well as a retail crop near towns ; and the haulm is good fodder. 51.'»2. The varieties of the pea are numerous; but they may be divided into two classes : those grown for the ripened seed, and those grown for gathering in a green state. The culture of the latter is chiefly near large towns, arid may be considered as in part belonging to gardening rather than agriculture. There has lately a new sort of pea been brought into notice about Banbury in Oxfordshire. It is called the " nimble hog pea." It appears to be a grey variety of the early frame, as it has single flowers, and is fit to cut about the end of June, notwithstanding it must not be sown earlier than the middle of April. On the excellent land about Banbury the pro- duce is four quarters to the acre, and turnips sowed on the stubble are up and sometimes hoed out before the regular turnip crop ! 5193. The grey varieties (Poisgris, Pois-agnean, Bisaille, Fr.) are, the early grey, the late grey, and the purple grey ; to which some add the Marlborough grey, and horn grey. 5194. The white varieties {Pois blanc, Fr.) grown in fields are the pearl, early Charlton, golden hotspur, the common white or Suffolk, and other Suffolk varieties. 5195. Xew ve.rielies of the pea are readily procured by selection or impregnation, of which a striking example given by Knight has been already referred to. (1632.) 51 96. hi the choice of sorts, where it is desired to grow grey peas for the sake of the seeds or corn, the early variety is to be preferred in late situations, and the late variety in early ones ; but when it is intended to grow- them chiefly for covering the ground and for the haulm, then the late varieties claim the preference, and especially the purple grey. Of white peas, to be grown for gathering green, the Charlton is the earliest, and the pearl or common Suffolk the most prolific. When white peas are grown for boilers, that is for splitting, the pearl and Suffolk are also the best sorts. 5197. To have recourse to earty sorts is supposed by some to be of considerable importance in the economy of a farm, when the nature of the soil is suitable, as by such means the crops may in many cases be cut and secured while there is leisure, before the commencement of the wheat harvest ; and that where the nature of the soil is dry and warm, and the pea crop of a sufficiently forward kind.it maybe easy to obtain a crop of turnips from the same land in the same year, as has been suggested above. Put in this view it is the best practice to put in the crops in the row method, and keep them perfectly clean by means of atten- tive hand and horse hoeing ; as in that way the land will be in such a state of preparation tor the turnips, as only to require a slight ploughing, which may be done as fast as the pea crop is removed, and the turnip seed may be drilled in as quickly as possible upon the newly turned up earth. In some particular districts a third crop is even put into the same land, the turnips being sold oli'in the autumn, and coleworts sub. stituted for the purpose of greens in the following spring. This, according to Middleton, is the practice in 3 H 2 836 PRACTICE OF AGRICULTURE. Part III. some place* in Middlesex, lua II Is obviously ■ method of cull iv.it Ion that can (inly be attempted on the Warn) and fertile kinds of tUIDip Mil, anil where the pee Crop* are early; on the cold heavy and wet description* of land it is obvloualj impracticable, and wholly Improper. 5198. The soil beat iiuited fur peas is a dry calcareous sand ; it should be in good tilth, not too rich nor dunged along with the crop. In Norfolk and Suffolk peas are often sou 11 on clover Ions alter one furrow, or after corn crops on two furrows, one given in autumn, and the other early in spring. 5199. The climate required by the pea is dry and not over warm, for which reason, as the seasons in this country are very often moist and sometimes exceedingly dry and hot in June and July, the pea is one of the mo-.t uncertain of field crops. 5200. The teason of sowing must differ considerably according to the intentions of the cultivator. I /•;<; podding early to be solil green, they should be sown at different times, from January to the end of March, beginning with the driest and most reduced sorts of land ; and with this intention in some RHIthern countie* they are *own In the autumn. For the general crops from February to April, as soon a- the land* can be brought into proper order, is the proper season ; tne grey sorts being employed in the earl] SOW inga, and the white sorts in the later. Young says, that where these crops cannot be sown in February, tney should always be completed in the following month. It is observed by the same writer, that, iii ion ing after a single furrow, the white boiling pea, of many sorts and under various names, is more tinder than the greys and various kinds of hog peas ; but he has many times put them into the ground in February, and, though very smart frosts followed, they received no injury. He has uniformly found, that the earlier they were sown the better. There is also a particular motive for being as early as possible ; that is, to get them off in time for turnips. This is most profitable husbandry, and should never be neglected in dry and warm sods and situations. If they are sown in this month, and a right sort chosen, they will be off the land in June, so that turnips may follow at the common time of sowing that crop. 5202. Steeping the seed in water is sometimes practised in late sowings. 5203. The quantity of seed must be different in different cases and circumstances, and according to the time and manner in which the crop is put into the ground ; but, in general, it may be from two and a half to three bushels, the early sowings having the largest proportion of seed. In planting every furrow slice, Young says, two bushels and a half constitute the usual proportion ; but, when drilled at greater distances, six or seven pecks will answer. 5204. The ?nost common mode of sowing peas is broad-cast ; but the advantages of the row culture in the case of a crop so early committed to the soil must be obvious. 5205. The best far?nrrs always sow peas in drills either after the plough, the seed being deposited com. monly in every second or third furrow ; or, if the land is in a pulverised state, by drawing drills with a machine or by ribbing. In Norfolk and Suffolk peas are generally dibbled on the back of the furrow, sometimes one and sometimes two rows on each ; but dibbling in no manner appears to us so well suited for a farmer's purpose as the drill. In Kent, where immense quantities of peas are grown, both for gathering green and for selling ripe to the seedsmen, they are generally sown in rows from eighteen inches to three feet asunder, according to the kind, and well cultivated between. Teas laid a foot below the sur- face will vegetate ; but the most approved depth is six inches in light soil, and lour inches in clay soil, for which reason they ought to be sown under furrow when the ploughing is delayed till spring. Of all grain, beans excepted, they are the least in danger of being buried. 5206. The after culture given to peas is that of hoeing, either by hand or horse. Where the method of hand-culture prevails, it is the general custom to have recourse to two hoeings ; the first when the plants are about two or three inches in height, and again just before the period in which they come into blossom. In this way the vigorous vegetation of the young crop is secured, and a fresh supply of nourishment afforded for the setting of the pods and the filling of the peas. At the latter of these operations the rows should be laid down, and the earth well placed up to them, the weeds being pre- viously extirpated by hand labour. It has been stated, that in some parts of Kent, where this sort of crop is much grown, it is the practice, when the distance of the rows will permit, to prevent the vegetation of weeds, and forward the growth of pea crops, by occasionally horse-hoeing, and the use of the brake-harrow, the mould being laid up to the roots of the plants at the last operation by fixing a piece of wood to the harrow. 'I his should, however, only be laid up on one side, the peas being always placed up to that which is the most fully exposed to the effects of the sun. 5207. In harvesting the ripened pea considerable care is requisite, both on account of the seed and haulm. When pea crops become ripe they wither and turn brown in the haulm or straw, and the pod* begin to open. In this state they should be cut immediately, in order that the loss sustained by their shedding may be as little as possible It is observed that in the late or general crops, after tiny are rca|x-d or rather cut up by means of a hook, it is the usual practice to put them up into small heaps, termed wads, which are formed by setting small parcels against each other, in order that they may be more perfectly dried both in the seed and stem, and be kept from being injured by the moisture of the ground. Hut, in the' early crops, the haulm is hooked up into loose open heaps, which, as soon as they are perfectly dry, are removed from the ground and put into stacks for the feeding of animals, which are said to thrive 1 nearly as well on it a- on hay. When intended for horses, the best method would seem to be that of having them cut into chaff and mixed with their other food. Young says, that forward white peas will be tit to cut early in July j if the crop is very great they must be hooked ; but if small, or only middling, mowing will be sufficient. The stalks and leaves of peas being very succulent, they should be taken good care of in wet weather : the tufts, called wads or heaps, should be turned, or they will receive damage'. White peas should always be perfectly dry before they are housed, or they will sell but in. differently ; as the brightness and plumpness of the grain are considered more in them than in hog peas at mark t. The straw also, if well harvested, I* vi rv good fodder for all sorts of cattle and for sheep ; but if it receives much wet, or it the heaps are not turned, it can be used only to litter the farmyard with. It is the practice in some districts to remove the haulm, as soon as it has been cut up by hooks constructed Book VI. THE PEA. 837 with sharp edges for the purpose, to every fifth ricige, or even into an adjoining grass field, in order that it may be the better cured for use as cattle-food, and at the same time allow of the land being immediately prepared for the succeeding crop. When wet weather happens whilst the peas lie in wads, it occasions a considerable loss, many of them being shed in the field, and of those that remain a great part wdl be so considerably injured as to render the sample of little value. This inability in peas to resist a wet harvest together with the great uncertainty throughout their growth, and the frequently inadequate return in proportion to the length of haulm, has discouraged many farmers from sowing so large a portion of this pulse as of other grain ; though on light lands which are in tolerable heart, the profit, in a good year, is far from inconsiderable. 5209. In gathering green peas for the market, it is frequently a practice with the large cultivators of early green-pea crops in the neighbourhood of London to dispose of them, by the acre, to inferior persons, who procure the podders ; but the smaller farmers, for the most part, provide this description of people themselves, who generally apply at the proper season. 5510. The business of picking or podding the peas is usually performed by the labourers at a fixed price for the sack of four heaped bushels. The number of these labourers is generally in the proportion of about four to the acre, the labour proceeding on the Sundays as well as other days. It is sometimes the custom to pick the crops over twice, after which the rest are suffered to stand till they become ripe, for the purpose of seed. This, however, mostly arises from the want of pickers, as it is considered a loss, from the peas being less profitable in their ripe state than when green. Besides, they are often improper for the purpose of seed, as being the worst part of the crop. It is therefore better to have them clear picked when hands can be procured. After this they are loaded into carts, and sent oft' at suitable times, according to the distance of the situation, so as to be delivered to the salesmen in the different markets from about three to five o'clock in the morning. In many cases in other parts, the early gatherings are, however, sent to the markets in halfbushel sieves, and are frequently disposed of at the high price of five shillings the sieve ; but at the after periods they are usually conveyed in sacks of a narrow form, made for the purpose, which contain about three bushels each, which, in the more early parts of the season, often fetch twelve or fourteen shillings the sack, but afterwards mostly decline considerably; in some seasons so much as scarcely to repay the expenses. This sort of crop affords the most profit in such pea seasons as are inclined to be cool, as under such circumstances the peas are most retarded in their maturation or ripening, and of course the markets kept from being overabundantly supplied. 5211. The threshing of peas requires less labour than that of any other crop. 'Where the haulm is to be preserved entire it is best done by hand ; as the threshing machine is apt to reduce it to chaff. But where the fodder of peas is to be given immediately to horses on the spot, the breaking of it is no disadvantage. 5212. The produce of the pea in ripened seeds is supposed by some to be from three and a half to four quarters the acre ; others, however, as Donaldson, imagine the average of any two crops together not more than about twelve bushels ; and that on the whole, if the value of the produce be merely attended to, it may be considered as a less profitable crop than most others. But as a means of ameliorating and improving the soil at the same time, it is esteemed of great value. 5213. With respect to the produce in green peas in the husk, the average of the early crops in Middlesex is supposed to be from about twenty-five to thirty sacks the acre, which, selling at from eight to eighteen shillings the sack, afford about eighteen pounds the acre. The author of The Si/nopsis of Husbandry, however, states the produce about Dartford, in the county of Kent, at about forty sacks the acre, though, he says, fifty have sometimes been gathered from that space of land. 5214. The produce of peas in straw is very uncertain, depending so much on the sort and the season : in general it is much more bulky than that of the cereal grasses ; but may be compressed into very little room. 5215. The produce of peas in flour is as 5 to 2 of the bulk in grain, and husked and split for soups as 4 to 2. A thousand parts of pea flour afforded Sir H. Davy 574 parts of nutritive or soluble matter; viz. 501 of mucilage or vegetable animal matter, 22 of sugar, 35 of gluten, and 16 of extract or matter rendered insoluble during the operation. 5216. The rise of peas for soups, puddings, and other culinary purposes, is well known. 5217. In some places porridge, brose, and bread are made of pea-flour, and reckoned very wholesome and substantial. In Stirlingshire it is customary to give pea or bean biscuits to horses, as a refreshment, while in the yoke. The portion of peas not consumed as human food is mostly appropriated to the fatten- ing of hogs and other domestic animals ; and, in particular instances, supplies the place of beans, as tl.e provender of labouring horses ; but care should be taken, when used in this way, that they are sufficiently drv, as, when given in the green state, they are said to produce the gripes, and other bowel complaints, in those animals. Bannister, after observing that the haulm is a very wholesome food for cattle of every kind, says, there is generally a considerable demand for peas of every denomination in the market, the uses to w'hich they may be applied being so many and so various. The boilers, or yellow peas, always go off briskly ; and the hog-peas usually sell for fid. or Is. per quarter more than beans. For feeding swine the pea is much better adapted than the bean, it having been demonstrated by experience, that hogs fat more kindly when fed with this grain than with beans ; and, what is not easy to be accounted for, the flesh of swine which have been fed on peas, it is said, will swell in boiling, and be well tasted ; whilst the flesh of the bean-fed hog will shrink in the pot, the fat will boil out, and the meat be less delicate in flavour. It has, therefore, now become a practice with those farmers who are curious in their pork, to feed their hogs on peas and barley-meal ; and if they have no peas of their own growth, they rather choose to be at the expense of buying them, than suffer their hogs to eat beans. Nay, so far, says he, do some of them carry their prejudice in this particular, as to reject the grey peas for this use, as bearing too near an affinity to the bean, and therefore reserve their growths of white peas solely for hog-fatting. 5-218. In boiling split peas, some samples, without reference to variety, fall or moulder down freely into pulp, while others continue to maintain their form. The former are called boilers. This property of boiling depends on the soil ; stiff' land, or sandy land, that has been limed or marled, or to which gypsum has been applied, produces peas that will not melt in boiling, no matter what the variety may be. The same effect is produced on beans, on kidneybeans in the pod, and indeed on the seeds and pods of all leguminous plants ; this familv having a great tendency to absorb gypsum from the soil. To counteract this fault in the boiling, it is only necessary to throw into the water a small quantity of subcarbonate of soda. (Bull, de Sci. Agr. Feb. 18280 5219. Pea straw cut green and dried is reckoned as nourishing as hay, and is con- sidered excellent for sheep. 3 H 3 S58 PRACTICE OF AGRICULTURE. Part III. .•"'_"_'(\ In the taring of any particular sorts of peas f*r seed, they should be carefully looked over while in flowerj in order to draw out all such plants as arc not of the right kind ; as there "ill always hi-, in every sort, some roguish plants, which, if left to mix, will cause degeneration. As many rows as may be thought sufficient to furnish the desired quantity of seed should then be marked out, and left till their pods turn brown, and begin to split, when they should immediately he gathered up, with the haulm ; and if the farmer has not room to stack them till winter, they may be threshed out as soon as they are dry, and put up in sacks for use : but particular care should he taken not to let them remain too long abroad alter they are ripe ; as wet would rot them ; and heat, after a shower of rain, makes their pods burst in such a maimer that the greater part of their seeds would he lost. 5221. The diseases of peas are few, and chiefly the worm in the pod and the fly on the leaves and (lower. They arc also liable to be mildewed or blighted. None of these evils, however, are very common ; and there is no known way of preventing them but by judicious culture. Late sown peas are particularly liable to be injured by the mildew and .Vphis; and should either of these attack the plant before the pods are filled, they invariably fail. In 1826 almost all the crops of peas were destroyed by the A'phides, so that they were mown for the haulm only. Skct. II. The Bean. — Yicia Faba L. ; Diaddlphia Decandria L., and Legumiiwsee J. Feverole, Fr. ; Bohn, Ger. ; Fava, Ital. ; and Alverjanas, Span. 5222. The bean is a valuable field plant, as affording food for live stock, and in part for man. It is said to be a native of Egypt ; but, like other long domesticated plants, its origin is very uncertain. It has been cultivated in Europe and Asia time out of mind. Beans have been long known in Britain ; but it is only of late years that they were extensively cultivated upon general soils, being formerly considered as adapted only to rich and moist clays. At that time they were all sown according to the broad-cast system ; in which way, instead of benefiting the ground, they were of incalculable detri- ment. Weeds got away at the outset, and in dry seasons often ruined the crop ; whilst in every season the grass or perennial weeds which happened to be in the ground in- creased in strength and in quantity, the openness of the bean crop at bottom allowing them to thrive without interruption. 5223. The drilling of beans with a small mixture of peas is now become a general practice in every well cultivated district of the north, more particularly in those where soil and climate permit the practice to be successfully executed. In this way not only heavy crops are raised, but, what is of great importance, the ground is kept constantly in good order, provided suitable attention is bestowed upon the cleaning process. This is generally carried on by horse-hoeing the crop at different times, so long as the hoe can be used without doing damage; and in this way an able auxiliary is brought forward to the assistance of summer fallow, whereby less stress need be laid upon that radical process than otherwise would be indispensably necessary. (Broint.) 5224. The varieties of the bean may be included under two general heads, — the white or garden beans, and the grey or field beans. 5225. Of I he white or garden beans (FUve de marais, Fr.) sown in thp fields, the mazagan and long-pod are almost the only sorts. Of the grey beans, that known as the horse bean, the small or ticks, and t lie prolific or Heligoland, are the chief sorts. New varieties are procured in the same manner as in other plants. A variety is in use in some parts of Lincolnshire, called the winter bean (Feverulc d'hiver, Fr.). It is planted in October in the usual manner, and is ready to harvest in the last week in July or the first week in August, They are said to have been introduced from the Continent in 1825. We have lately seen a Meld of this bean at the Oaks Farm, near Woking, in Surrey, which was planted in October 1829, and in full bloom May 12th following. 'Ibis circumstance, after so severe a winter, is a proof to us that this is a most valuable variety. (Card. Mag. vol. vi.) 5226. In the choice of sorts, tick beans are supposed by some farmers to be more pro- ductive than horse-beans ; but the latter grow higher in the stem, and produce a more stagnated state of the air, or smother the land more, consequently are the most suitable for the stronger sorts of soil ; and Young remarks, that " the common little horse-bean has the advantage of all others in being more generally marketable; for in certain situations it is not always easy to dispose of ticks, Windsors, long-pods, and various other large sorts. They also grow higher, shade the ground in summer more from the sun, and yield a larger quantity of straw, which makes excellent manure. But some of the other sorts are generally supposed to yield larger products. In purchasing beans for seed, care should he taken to choose such as are hard and bright, without being shrivelled in their appearance." 5227. The best soils for beans are clays and strong loams. On such soils they generally succeed wheat or oats, but sometimes also clover leys. Turnip soils or sands are by no means proper for them. .1928. In the preparation of the SOU much depends on the nature of the land and the state of the weather; for as beans must be sown early in the spring, il is sometimes impossible to give it all the labour which a careful farmer would wish to bestow. It must also be regulated in some measure by the manner el Book VI. THE BEAN. 839 sowing. In all cases it ought to be ploughed with a deep furrow after harvest or early in winter ; and as two ploughings in spring are highly advantageous, the winter furrow may he given in the direction of the former ridges, in which way the land is sooner dry in spring than if it had been ploughed across. The second ploughing is to be given across the ridges, as early in spring as the ground is sufficiently dry; and the third furrow either forms the drills or receives the seed. Supp. E. Brit, art Agr.) 5229. Brown, one of the best bean-growers in Britain, gives the following directions: — The furrow ought to be given early in winter, and as deep as possible, that the earth may be sufficiently loosened and room afforded for the* roots of the plant to search for the requisite nourishment. This first furrow is usually given across the field, which is the best method when only one spring furrow is intended ; but as it is now ascertained that two spring furrows are highly advantageous, perhaps the one in winter ought to be given in length, which lays the ground in a better situation for resisting the rains, and renders it sooner dry in spring, than can be the case when ploughed across. On the supposition that three furrows are to be given, one in winter and two in spring, the following is the most eligible preparation : — The land being ploughed in length as early in winter as is practicable, and the cross gutter and headland furrows sufficiently dug out, take the second furrow across the first as soon as the ground is dry enough in spring to undergo the operation ; water.furrow it immediately, and dig again the cross gutter and headland furrows, otherwise the benefit of the second furrow may be lost This being done, leave the field for some davs till it is sufficiently dry, when a cast of the harrows becomes necessary, so that the surface may be levelled ; then enter with the ploughs and form the drills. {Treatise an Rural .\ffairs.) 5230. Manure is frequently applied to the bean crap, especially if it succeeds wheat. By some, dung is spread on the stubble previously to the winter ploughing; but this cannot always be done in a satisfactory manner, at least in the northern parts of the island, unless during frost, when it may lie long exposed to the weather before it can be turned down by the plough. The most desirable mode, therefore, is to lay the manure into drills immediately before the beans are sown. ,f>upp. $c.) 5231. The best way, according to Brown, is to apply the dung on the stubble before the winter furrow is given, which greatly facilitates the after process. Used in this way, a fore stock must be in hand ; but where the farmer is not so well provided, spring dunging becomes necessary, though evidently of less advantage At that season it may either be put into the drills before the seed is sown, or spread upon the surface and ploughed down, according to the nature of the drilling process which is meant to be adopted. Land dunged to beans, if duly hoed, is always in high order for carrying a crop of wheat in succession. Perhaps better wheat, both in respect of quantity and quality, may be cultivated in this way than in any other mode of sowing. 5232. The climate most favourable to the beau is one neither very dry nor very moist ; the first brings on the fly, and the last prevents the setting of the blossoms. In general, however, a dry summer is most favourable to the production of seed, and moist weather to the growth of the haulm. 5233. The time of sowing beans is as early as possible after the severity of winter is over; in the south, sometimes in January, but never later than the end of "March, as the ripening of the crop and its safe harvesting would otherwise be very precarious in this climate. Bannister thinks that the proper time for planting beans in Kent is towards the latter end of January or early in the following month; though this business may be continued with advantage till the middle or latter end of March, if the weather should prevent their being got in at an earlier season : but in general it is best to embrace the first opportunity of sowing them after Candlemas, as they often miscarry when the season is procrastinated beyond that time, especially if a dry summer should succeed. 5234. The mode of sowing is almost always in rows. Though still sown broad-cast in several places, and sometimes dibbled, they are for the most part drilled by judicious cultivators, or deposited after the plough in every furrow, or only in every second or third furrow. In the latter method the crop rises in rows, at regular intervals of nine, eighteen, or twenty-seven inches, and the hand-hoe ought invariably to be employed ; but it is only where the widest interval is adopted that the horse-hoe can be used with much effect in their subsequent culture. 52-55. There are two modes of drilling beans. In one of these the lands or ridges are divided by the plough into ridgelets or one bout stitches, at intervals of about twenty-seven inches. If dung is to be applied, the seed ought to be first deposited, as it is found inconvenient to run the drill-machine after- wards. The dung mav then be drawn out from the carts in small heaps, one row of heaps serving for three or five ridgelets,' and it is evenly spread and equally divided among them in a nay that will he more minutelv described when treating of the culture of turnips. The ridgelets are next split out or rever>ed, either by means of the common plough or one with two mould-boards, by which means both the seed and the manure are perfectly covered. When beans are sown by the other method, in the bottom of a com- mon furrow, the dung 'must be previously spread o\er the surface of the winter or spring ploughing. Three ploughs then start in succession, one immediately behind another; and a drill harrow either follows the third plough or is attached to it, by which the beans'are sown in every third furrow, or at from twenty- four to twenty-seven inches asunder, according to the breadth of the furrow-slice. 52o6. Another approved way of sowing beam, when dung is applied at seed-time, is to spread the dung and to plough it down with a strong furrow ; after this fallow furrows are drawn, into which the seed is deposited bv the drill-machine. Whichever of these modes of sowing is followed, the whole field must be carefully laid drv, bv means of channels formed by the plough, and when necessary by the shovel ; for neither then nor at any former period should water be allowed to stagnate on the laud. 5237. The dibbling of beans is considered by Arthur Young as an excellent method when well performed ; but the grand objection to it is the difficulty of getting it w ell done. 5238. are to be i a verv niinu.v holes" so shallow that the first peck of a rook's bdl takes the seed, and acres may be destroyed it the breed of those birds be encouraged. Bovs are employed for weeks together to keep the fields, but all works that depend on bovs are horriblv neglected, and thus the farmer suffers materially ; however, if the seed is deposited two "and a half or '(better^ three inches deep, it is not so easily eradicated. In some distr.cts, as Middlesex, Surrey, &c, the method is to plant this pulsejn jowsstruck rot^jL_jjne, £5" which a great the extraordi method of pl„.. The economy of this agricultural process is thus explained : —The rows are marked out one foot asunder, 8 II 4 I, as Middlesex, Surrev, &c, the method is to plant this pulse in rows strucK out uy a line, oy i great saving is made'm the article of seed, a circumstance which is thought to compensate for raordinary charge of this mode of husbandry ; and thus far it may be fairly acknowledged that the of planting beans bv the dibber is greatlv to be preferred to that of sowing the seed at random. 840 PRACTICE' OF AGRICULTURE. Paw Ut ■ Mid the Mi'l planted in holes made two inches apart : the lines are itretched across the lands, which are formed about sis feet over ; w thai when one row i^ planted, the -ticks to which the Dne it fastened are moved bj a regular measurement to the distance required, and the same method pursued till the Held is completed The usual price for this work Is ninepence per peck, and the allowance two bushels per acre. Great confidence must necessarily be reposed In the people who transact the business of planting beans by the dibber : tor, If Inclined to Iran. I, thej have it in their power to deceive their employer, by throwing at part of the seel into the hedge ; bj which means their daily profits are considerably enhanced, their own labour spared, and every discovery effectuall) precluded till the appearance of the crop. Then, in. deed, the frequent chasms In the rows will give sufficient indications of the fraud ; but by this time perhaps the villainous authors of tin- mischief may have escaped all possibility of detection, by having conveyed themselves from the scene of their Iniquity. 5239. The quantity of teed allowed is very different in the southern and northern parts of Britain: in the former, even when the rows are narrow, only two bushels or two bushels and a half; hut in Scotland, seldom less than four hushels to the English statute acre, even when sown in ridgelets twenty-seven inches distant, and a bushel more when sown broad-coat- When beans are sown or planted thick, the top pods only fill to the number of three, and four, and half a dozen; when thin, the plants will pod and fill to the bottom. Both in the broad-cast and drill husbandry, it is common to mix a small quantity of peas along with beans. This mixture improves both the quantity and quality of the straw for fodder, and the pea straw is useful for binding up the sheaves in harve-.t. 5240. The after culture of the bean crop commences with harrowing just before the young plants reach the surface. When sown in rows, in either of the modes already mentioned, the harrows are employed about ten or twelve days after ; and, being driven across the ridgelets, the land is laid completely level for the subsequent operations, and the annual weeds destroyed. ASM. After the beans have made some growth, sooner or later, according to the state of the soil with regard to weeds, the horse-hoe is employed in the intervals between the rows ; and followed by the hand, hoe for the purpose of cutting down such weeds as the horse-hoe cannot reach ; all the weeds, that grow among the beans beyond the reach of either hoe, should be pulled up with the hand. The same operations are repeated as often as the condition of the land, in regard to cleanness, may require. 5J4J. Before the introduction of the horse-hoe, which merely stirs the soil, and cuts up the weeds, a com- mon small plough, drawn by one horse, was used in working between the rows, and is still necessary where root-weeds abound. This plough goes one bout, or up and down in each interval, turning the earth from the beans, and forming a ridgclet in the middle; then hand-hoes are immediately employed; and, alter some time, a second hand-hoeing succeeds, to destroy any fresh growth of weeds. The same plough, with an additional mould board, finally splits open the intermediate ridgelet, and lays up the earth to the roots of the beans on each side. The benefit ol laying up the earth in this manner, however, is alleged to lie counterbalanced by the trouble which it occasions in harvest, when it is difficult to get the reapers to cut low enough ; and it may be properly dispensed with, unless the soil is very wet and level. . r >2i:>. In moist warm seasons, this grain hardly ever ripens effectually ; and it is exceedingly difficult to get the straw into a proper condition for the stack. In such eases, it has been found of advantage to switch off the succulent tops with an old scythe blade set in a wooden handle, with which one man can easily top dress two acres a day. This operation, it is said, will occasion the crop to be ready for reap- ing a fortnight earlier, and also, perhaps, a week sooner ready for the stack-yard after being reaped. 5244. Before reaping beans the grain ought to be tolerably well ripened, otherwise the quality is impaired, whilst a long time is required to put the straw in such a condition as to be preserved in the stack. In an early harvest, or where the crop is not weighty, it is an easy matter to get beans sufficiently ripened ; but, in a late harvest, and in every one whore the crop takes on a second growth, it is scarcely practicable to get them thoroughly ripened for the sickle. Under these circumstances, it is unnecessary to let beans stand uncut after the end of September, or the first of October ; because any benefit that can be gained afterwards, is not to be compared with the disadvantages that accompany a late wheat seed-time. 5245. Beans are usual!)/ rut with the sickle, and tied in sheaves, either with straw ropes, or with ropes made from peas sown along with them. It is proper to let the sheaves lie untied several days, so that the winning process may be hastened, and, when tied, to set them up on end, in order that full benefit from the air may be obtained, and the grain kept off the ground. {Brown.} 5vM6. Beans are sometimes mown, and, in a few instances, even pulled up by the roots. They should in every case be cut as near the ground as possible, for the sake of the straw, which is of considerable value as fodder, and because the best pods are often placed on the stems near the roots. They are then left for a few davs to wither, and afterwards bound and set up in shocks to dry, but without any head sheaves. {Supp. SfC.) 5247. Jieans are stacked either in the round or oblong manner; and it is always proper, in the northern counties at least, if the stack is large, to construct one funnel or more to allow a free circulation of air. 5248. The threshing of beans is nearly as easy as that of peas. Threshing them by a machine may be considered advantageous as breaking the coarser ends of the straw, and separating the earth from their root-ends, or roots, if they have been reaped by pulling. 5249a The produce of beam, when proper management is exercised, and where diseases have not occurred, is generally from twenty-five to thirty-five bushels per acre. Donaldson says, that a crop of beans, taking the island at large, may be supposed to vary from six- teen to forty bushels, but that a good average crop cannot be reckoned to exceed twenty. In Middlesex, Middleton tells us, that bean-crops vary from ten to eighty bushels per acre. They are rendered a very precarious crop by the ravages of myriads of small black insects of the .Vphis kind. The lady-birds (Coccinella) are supposed to feed on them, as they are observed to be much among them. Foot says, the average produce is from Book VI. THE TARE. 841 three and a half to four quarters per acre. In Kent, A. Young thinks, they probably exceed four quarters; but in Suffolk, he should not estimate them at more than three'; yet five or six are not uncommon. 5250. The produce in haulm, in moist seasons, is very bulky. 5251. In the application of beam, the grain in Scotland is sometimes made into meal, the finer for bread, and the coarser for swine; but beans are for the most part applied to the purpose of feeding horses, hogs, and other domestic animals. In the county of Middlesex, all are given to horses, except what are preserved for seed, and such as are podded while green, and sent to the London markets. When pigs are fed with beans, it is observed that the meat becomes so hard as to make very ordinary pork, but good bacon. It is also supposed that the mealmen grind many horse-beans among wheat to be manufactured into bread. 5252. The flour of beans is more nutritive than that of oats, as it appears in the fattening of hogs ; whence, according to the respective prices of these two articles, Dr. Darwin suspects that peas and beans generally supply a cheaper provender for horses than oats, as well as for other domestic animals. But as the flour of peas and beans is more oily, he believes, than that of oats, it may in general be somewhat more difficult of digestion ; hence, when a horse has taken a stomachful of peas and beans alone, he may be less active for an hour or two, as his strength will be more employed in the digestion of them than when he has taken a stomachful of oats. A German physician gave to two dogs, which had been kept a day fasting, a large quantity of flesh food ; and then taking one of them into the fields, hunted him with great activity for three or four hours, and left the other by the fire. An emetic was then given to each of them ; and the food of the sleeping dog was found perfectly digested, whilst that of the hunted one had undergone but little alteration. Hence it may, he says, be found advisable to mix bran of wheat with the peas and beans, a food of less nutriment, but of easier digestion ; or to let the horses eat before or after them the coarse tussocks of sour grass, which remain in moist pastures in the winter ; or, lastly, to mix finely cut straw with them. It is observed in the fifth volume of The Bath Papers, that it has been found by repeated experience, that beans are a much more hearty and profitable food for horses than oats. Being out of old oats the two last springs, the writer substituted horse-beans in their stead. In the room of a sack of oats with chaff, he ordered them a bushel of beans with chaff, to serve the same time. It very soon appeared the beans were superior to the oats, from the life, spirit, and sleekness of the horses. 5253. Bean straw, when mixed with peas, Brown considers as affording almost as much nourishment when properly harvested as is gained from hay of ordinary quality ; when it is well got the horses are fonder of it than of pea straw. It should either be given "when newly threshed, or else stacked up and compressed by treading or coverings, as the air is found materially to affect both its flavour and nutritive quality. 5254. The produce of beans in meal is, like that of peas, more in proportion to the grain than in any of the cereal grasses. A bushel of beans is supposed to yield fourteen pounds more of flour than a bushel of oats, and a bushel of peas eighteen pounds more, or, according to some, twenty pounds. A thousand parts of bean flour were found, by Sir H. Davy, to yield 570 parts of nutritive matter, of which 426 were mucilage or starch, 103 gluten, and 41 extract, or matter rendered insoluble during the process. 5255. The diseases of beans are, the rust, mildew, black fly or A'phides, and in conse- quence the honey dews. 5256. A'phides, when they live on beans, are of a dirty bluish-black colour, similar to those on the elder and cherry. The larva? of the Coccinella septempunct'ita, as well as the perfect insects, devour the A^phis. Several of the small summer birds, viz. largest willow-wren, middle, and smallest wren, white, throat, lesser white-throat, black-cap, and Dartford warbler, also live on them. The A'phides of beans are brought on by very dry weather: they are most prevalent on the summits of the plants; and some have attempted to mitigate the evil by cutting off the tops. In general, however, the disease is without remedy, either preventive or positive. In extreme cases they destroy the leaves, stalks, and fruit; and when this is foreseen, the best thing the farmer can do is to mow the crop or plough it down, and prepare the land for wheat or otherwise, according to the rotation. Sect. III. The Tare. — Yicia sat}va L. ; Diadelphia Decandria L., and Leguminosa? J. Vexce commun de printemps et dliiver, Fr. ; Wkke, Ger. ; Loglio, Ital. ; and Arveja, Sp. 5257. The tare, vetch, orftch ( Ficia sativa, fig. 742.), has been cultivated for its stem 742 and leaves from time immemorial. It is considered as a r -<3C^ ^ (P ■%) native plant, and is found wild also in China and Japan. <^ <£& , W/fet£ /0t\ Ray, in 1686, informs us, that the common tare or vetch ~/^jtl ^j^f^^lll? iL. w as then sown almost all over Europe ; that it was chiefly Ji "f». used in England, mixed with peas and oats, to feed horses : but that it was sometimes sown separately for soiling cattle, and was reputed to cause milch cows to yield much milk. The tare, Brown observes, is of hardy growth, and, when sown upon rich land, will return a large supply of green fodder for the consumption of horses, or for fattening cattle. 5258. The varieties of tares are chiefly two, the winter and spring tare ; both have local names, as gore vetch, rath ripe vetch, &c. Some consider them as distinct species, but this is doubtful. 5259. As the result nf an experiment tried for two years at Bury, in Suffolk, Professor Martvn observes, that there appears a material difference in the constitution, if we may so call it, of the two tares in question. Not to say anv thing of a trifling difference in the colour and size of their seeds, the only visible mark of distinction seems to be a disparity in the first leaves ot the upright stalks, which in the spring 812 PRACTICE OF AGRICULTURE. Tart III. • • • are elliptic, Mid rounded or notched at the end, but i" the winter tare linear anil drawn to a point. The leaveaonthe branches which afterwan low, and In tune form the bulk of the plants, are the ■ante in both vetches But, whatever the differ) nee ma) be, it li <\ ident that the seeds of the two sorts ought to be kepi separate ; tin :e 1 1 h lown oul ol it- proper waaon is found not to prosper. 5260 New oarietie* 0/ tare mat be obtained bj the utual means; and it it thought that some of the numeroui species of tins plant, which are natives of Europe, might be cultivated with advantage. The French cultivate • variety which thej call Vetce blanche.ot LentiUedu Canada, Ptcia satlva alba. They include also among tlx-ir' forage vetches Plcla angustifblia, Cricca, Pseiido-Crrfcco, biennis, lepium, and latea The Plcla narboncnsii and aerratifblia are cultivated in Germany. Dr. Anderson has recom- mended tin' F. septum ; and a writer In The Bath Agricultural Transaction*, the V. Crdcca. Some species o! I , and Brvum might probably also be tried with success. hi choosing between the spring and winter tare, every thing must depend on the intention of the , n ,|, i|t is to have early feed, the winter variety is undoubtedly to be preferred ; but where the land i- foul and requires to be two or three times ploughed in spring, or where a late crop is desired, or a crop for seed, then the spring variety will generall) deserve the preference. '. The soil preferred by the tare is a clay, but they will grow in any rich soil not over dry. In a moist climate, the haulm grows so luxuriant as to rot at bottom ; and in one over dry it is deficient in length. A dry season, however, is on the whole more favourable than a moist one, as tins crop soon covers the surface. The preparation of the soil seldom consists of more than one ploughing, if for autumn sowing ; and of a winter and spring ploughing, when to be sown in spring. If in the latter case the land is very foul, several ploughings are given, or one ploughing and several stirrings with the cultivator In general, tares succeed some of the corn crops. In England manure is sometimes given either with a view to eating them olf early, and following with a crop of turnips, or to enriching the soil for a crop of wheat 5264. The time of sowing depends on the kind of tare, and the purpose in view. 265. The winter variety is sown in September and October ; and the first sowing in spring ought to be as early as the season will permit If they are to be cut green for soiling throughout the summer and autumn, which is the most advantageous method of consuming them, successive sowings should follow t.ll the end of May. Summer tares, when meant for seed, Hrown observes, ought to be sown early, " otherwise the return will be imperfect ; but when for green food, any time betwixt the first of April and the latter end of May will answer well, provided crops in succession, from the first to the last-men. tioned period, he regularly cultivated. Instances are not wanting of a full crop being obtained even when the seed was sown so late as the middle of June, though sowing so late is a practice not to be recommended. In Middlesex, the winter sowings are commenced about the beginning of August: in the northern counties no winter. sowings are made, as the tare there will not endure the severity of that season. 5266. The mode of sowing tares is mostly broad-cast, which should be performed as evenly as possible over the surface of well-prepared land ; the seeds being afterwards covered in by proper harrowing, in order to prevent their being picked up by birds, and ensure their perfect vegetation and growth. It has been suggested, however, that, in rich clean soil, it is probable the row-method would succeed well with this sort of crop, which, as Marshal states, is the practice in some of the southern districts of the island. After the seed is sown, and the land carefully harrowed, a light roller ought to be drawn across, so that the surface may be smoothed, and the scythe permitted to work without interruption. It is proper also to guard the field for several days against the depreda- tions of pigeons, who are remarkably fond of tares, and will pick up a great part of the seed, unless constantly watched. 5267. The quantity of seed to an acre is from two and a half to three and a half bushels, according to the time of sowing, and to whether they are to be consumed green or left to stand for a crop. 52fi8. When tares are intended for seed, less seed is required than when they are grown for soiling or for drying the haulm. A writer in The Farmei \s Magazine (vol. i.) has suggested, that the most pro- ductive method of sowing this crop, when intended for seed, is to mix them amongst beans when drilled, at the rate of one firlot of tares to one boll of beans. From trials made it is ascertained, it is said, that the quality of the tares is vastly improved by being blended with beans, as, by clinging to the latter, they are kept from the ground, and enjoy the full benefit of the sun for ripening them in a perfect manner ; and they are in this way much easier harvested than when sown by themselves. They answer, at the 1 time, lor ban. Is to tie the principal crop ; and the produce may, on an average of seasons, be con- sidered as at least double. A little rye sown with winter tares, and a few oats with the spring sort, not only -ei vi to support the weak creeping stems of the tares, but add to the bulk of the crop by growing up through the interstices la tin- choice if the seed it is hardly possible to distinguish the grain of the winter from that of the spring variety : the former is alleged to be rather -mailer and lighter coloured; but the only reliance mutt be on the honesty of the vendor. Plump seed, and a sample free from the seeds of weeds, will of • be selected, whatever be the variety. 5270. The after culture given to tares consists merely in pulling out the larger weeds, unless they are in rows, in which c:ise the horse or hand hoe is applied; or intended for seed, in which case weeding must be more particularly executed. 5271. In reaping tares for soiling they ought always to be cut witli the scythe, as the sickle, by breaking asunder the stalks, and tearing up a number by the roots, renders the second crop of little value. When mow n early, they u ill in a moist season produce three mowing-,, but generally two. In reaping tares for seed, they may he eithermown or taken with the sickle, and treated like peas in diving, stacking, and threshing. 5272. Tares are eaten off the ground in some places by different kinds of live stock, particularly by sheep ; and as the winter-sown variety comes early in spring, the value of tliis ricli food is then very considerable. The waste, however, in this way, even j?ook VI. VARIOUS LEGUMES. 843 though the slieep are confined in hurdles, must be great; and still greater when consumed by horses or cattle. 5273. Tare crops are sometimes made into hay, in which case more attention is found necessary than in those of most of the artificial grasses, as wet is more injurious to then', and they require more sun and air; but in other respects they demand the same cautious management, in order to preserve the foliage from being lost. The time for cutting for this purpose is, according to the author of The Synopsis of Husbandry, when the blossoms have declined and they begin to fall and lie flat. When well made, the hay is of the best and most nutritious quality. 5274. The produce of tares cut green is, according to Middleton, ten or twelve tons per acre, which is a large crop ; and when made into hay about three tons per acre, which shows the disadvantage of making these crops into hay. It is found that the spring tare- crops are lighter, and most liable to be injured by a dry season. 5475. The produce in seed is likewise found to be considerable, being by some stated at from three to six sacks ; but in other instances forty bushels, or more, have been obtained from the acre. 5276. In the application (flares they are found to be a hearty and most nourishing food for all sorts of cattle. 5:577. Cores give more butter when fed with this plant than with any other food whatsoever. Horses thrive better upon tares than thev do upon clover and rve-grass ; and the same remark is applicable to the fattening of cattle, which feed faster upon this article of green fodder than upon any kind of grass or esculent with which we are acquainted. Danger often arises from their eating too much, especially when podded ■ as colics, and other stomach disorders, are apt to be produced by the excessive loads which they devour' Perhaps a great quantitv of fixed air is contained in this vegetable; and as heavy crops are rarely dry at the root when cut, it is not' to be wondered that accidents often happen, when the animal is indulged with the unrestrained consumption of them. Were oat straw mixed with the tares in the racks or stalls in which they are deposited, it is probable that fewer accidents would follow, though this assistant is only required when the tares are wet, foul, or over succulent. If the plants are cut green, and given to live stock, either on the field or in the fold.vards, there is, perhaps, no green crop of greater value, nor any better calculated to give a succession of herbage from May to November, 'the winter-sown tare, in a favourable climate, is readv for cutting before clover. The first spring-crop comes in after the clover must be all consumed or made ii.to hav ; and the successive spring sowings give a produce more nourishing lor the larger animals than the aftermath of clover, and may afford green food at least a month longer. In the county of Sussex, Young observes, " tare crops are of such use and importance that not one tenth of the stock'could be maintained without them; horses, cows, sheep, hogs, all feed upon them; hogs are soiled upon them wit.iout anv other food. This plant maintains more stock than any other plant whatso- ever. Upon one acre Davis' maintained four horses in much better condition than upon five acres of grass Upon eie who undertake long journey's. The lentil is considered a native of France, but has been known in England from the earliest agricultural records. In Gerarde's time thev were sown like tares, their haulm given to cattle, and the seed 'to pigeons, and used in meagre soups. 5282. There are three varieties of lentils cultivated in France and Germany : the small brown, which is the lightest-flavoured, and the best for haricots and soups ; the yellowish, which is a little larger, and the next best; and the lentil of Provence, which is almost as large as a pea. with luxuriant straw, and more fit to be cultivated as a tare than as food for man. The French have also a winter lentil, Lentillon d hirer j and thev cultivate the E'rvum Erviha, hen Erse ou Ervillier, and the E. monanthos, hen a une fleur, Jar< sse rf- luuerene The Spanish lentil,— Gesse cultivie, I.enti/le r middle of March, it is there the custom t" make ha> of them, or seed them for cutting into chaff for trough-meat for sheep and horses, and thej soa them on both heavy and hove them. They are asserted to be cultivated lor the same purpose in Oxfordshire, and probablj in other districts, III, product "l l >■ lentil in grain is about ■ fourth less than that of the tare; and in straw it is not a tlnnl as much, the plants seldom growing above cme foot and a hall' high. The straw is, however, very delicate and nourishing, and p re fe r r ed for lambs and calves; and the grain on the Continent sells at nearly double the price of peas. Km. hod' obtained from j840 parts Of lentils, I860 parts of starch, and 1+ IS of a matter analogous to animal matter. 5'28"». The use of the lentil on the Continent is very general, both in soups and dressed with abutter sauceas haricot They are imported from Hamburgh, and sold in London for the same purpose. 528o\ The chick pea (Pais- chiclie (Juuanee, Fr. ; Cicer arietlnun., Jig. 52.), grows naturally in the south of ' Europe, and is cultivated there for the same purposes as the lentil, but it is too delicate for field culture in this coun- try. 5287. The kidnci/bcan (Phaseolus vulgaris L. ; Haricot, Fr. ; Schminkbohnc, Ger. ; and Fagiuolo, Tlal.l is a native of India, but ripens readily in dry summers in most parts of Britain. Its culture has been hitherto confined to gardens; but it might be grown equally well in dry, warm, rich, and sheltered soils, being grown in the fields of Germany, Switzerland, and in similar climates. The sort generally used lor tins purpose is the small dwarf white ; the ground is prepared by several stirrings, and the seed is dibbled in rows eighteen inches or two feet asunder in the beginning of May. The ground is hoed and weeded during the summer, and the crop is ripe in August. It is usually harvested by pulling up the plants, which, being dried, arc stacked or threshed. The haulm is of little bulk or use, but the seed is used in making the esteemed French dish called haricot, which it is desirable the cottagers of this country should be made acquainted with. There is, perhaps, no other vegetable dish so cheap and easily cooked, and at the same time so agreeable and nourishing. The beans are boiled and then mixed with a little salt butter or other fat, and a little milk or water and Hour. I-'rom S840 parts of kidneybean, Einhoft' obtained 1805 parts of matter analogous to starch, 851 of vegeto-animal matter, and 799 parts of mucilage. Haricots and lentils are much used in all Catholic countries during Lent and maigre days, as they, from their peculiar constituents, form so excellent a substitute for animal fond. During the prevalence of the Roman religion in this country, they were probably much more generally used than at present ; as reformations are often carried farther than is necessary, possibly lentils may have been left off by Protestants, lest the use of them should be considered a symptom of popery. »*■»«» 5288 The white lupine {Lupin hlanc, Fr. ; Lupmus albus L.,Jtg. iW.) was cultivated by the Romans as a legume, and is still occasionally grown in Italy and France. The seeds were formerly, and are sometimes now used as food ; but more generally the whole plant is mown and given as herbage to cattle, and sometimes the crop is ploughed down as manure. Chap. IV. Plants cultivated for their Hoots or Leaves in a recent State as Food for Man or Cattle. 5289. Plants cultivated for their roots or leaves are various, and most of them are adapted both for human food and that of domestic animals ; but some are chiefly or entirely grown for the nurture of live stock. The plants which we include under this bead, are the potato, turnip, carrot, parsnep, beet, cabbage tribe, lettuce, and chiccory. The culture (if roots may be considered a branch of farming almost entirely of modern origin, and more peculiarly British than any other department. Turnips were culti- vated by the Romans, and in modern times brought into notice as objects of field cul- ture in the last century; but they were most imperfectly managed, and of very little utility in agriculture till their culture was undertaken by the British farmer. The potato, carrot, and parsnep "ere also first cultivated in the fields of this country. Fri- able or light soil, superior pulverisation and manuring, the row-method, and careful atkr-culture, are essential to the maturation of the plants to be treated of in this Chapter; and hence the importance of such crops as preparations for those of the bread corns. Book VI. THE POTATO. 845 *5290. The nutritive products of these plants are thus giver, by Sir H. Davy : — Systematic Name. English Name. In 1000 Parts. Whole quantity of soluble or nutritive matter. Mucilage or starch. Saccharine matter or sugar. Gluten or albumen. Extract, or matter ren- dered inso- luble during evaporation. Solatium tuberosum - Potato - • \ Z?eta vulgaris - - Red beet clcla - • Mangold wurtzel .grassica ifapa . . Common turnip - var. rutabaga Swedish turnip . Dai'icus Car.'.ta - - Carrot Pastinaca saliva - - IParsnep .Brassica oleracea - - Cabbage . From 260 to 200. 148 136 42 64 98 99 73 From 500 to 155. 14 13 7 9 3 9 41 From 20 to 15. 121 119 34 51 95 90 24 From 40 to 30. 13 4 1 8 O Sect. I. The Potato. — Soldnum tuberosum L. ; Pentdndria Monogynia L., and Solaneee J. Pom me de Terre, Ft. ; Cart»ffel, Ger. ; Tartirfflo or Porno di Terra, Ital. ; and Batata, Span. 5291. The potato is ascertained to he a native of South America, having been found wild both in Buenos Ayres and in Chili ; though Humboldt was very doubtful if that could be proved : he admits, however, that it is naturalised there in some situations. Sir J. Banks {Hort. Traits, vol. i. p. 8.) considers that the potato was first brought into Europe from the mountainous parts of South America, in the neighbourhood of Quito, where they were called ]>apas, to Spain, in the early part of the sixteenth century. From Spain, where they were called batlatas, they appear to have found their way first to Italy, where they received the same name with the truffle, taratoujli. The potato was received by Clusius, at Vienna, in 1588, from the governor of Moris, in Hainault, who had pro- cured it the year before from one of the attendants of the Pope's legate, under the name of taratoujlo, and learned from him that it was then in use in Italy. In Germany it received the name of cartqffel, and spread rapidly even in Clusius's time. 5292. To England the potato was brought from Virginia by the colonists sent out by Sir Walter Raleigh in 1584, who returned in July 1586, and " probably," according to Sir Joseph Banks, " brought with them the potato." Thomas Herribt, in a report on the country, published in De Bry's Collection of Voyages, (vol." i. p. 17.), describes a plant called openank (not openawk, as in the Hort. Trans.), with " roots as large as a walnut, and others much larger; they grow in damp soil, many hanging together, as if fixed on ropes ; thev are good food, either boiled or roasted." Gerarde, in his Herbal, published in 1597, gives a figure of the potato, under the name of the jwtato of Virginia, whence, he says, he received the roots ; and this appellation it appears to have retained, in order to distinguish it from the battatas, or sweet potato (Convolvulus Batiitas\ till the vear 1640, if not longer. " The sweet potato," Sir Joseph Banks observes, " was used in England as a delicacy long before the introduction of our potatoes : it was imported in con- siderable quantities from Spain and the Canaries, and was supposed to possess the power of restoring decayed vigour. The kissing comfits of Falstaff, and other confections of similar imaginary qualities, with which our ancestors were duped, were principally made of these and of eringo roots." 5293. The potato was first planted by Sir Halter Ba/eiah, on his estate of Youghall, near Cork, and, Gough says, was " cherished and cultivated for food" in that country before its value was known in England ; for, though thev were soon carried over from Ireland into Lancashire, Gerarde, who had this plant in his garden in 15"7, under the name of Balthta virginiana, recommends the roots to be eaten as a delicate dish, not as common food. Parkinson mentions, that the tubers were sometimes roasted, and steeped in sack and sugar, or baked with marrow and spices, and even preserved and candied by the comfit-makers. There is a tradition among the peasantry in the county of Galway, that the potato was introduced there previous to its being known in any other part of Ireland, owing to a vessel with some of the roots on board having been wrecked on their coast, and a few of the roots having been roa.-ted by children who found them, thev were so much approved of, as to induce the planting of the remainder. 52"4. For encouraging the ciiltivation of potatoes, with the view of preventing famine, the Royal Society took some measures in 1633. Still, however, although their utility as an article of food was better known, no high character was bestowed on them. In books of gardening, published towards the end of the seven- teenth century, a hundred years after their introduction, they are spoken of rather slightingly. " They are much u*ed in Ireland and America as bread," savs one author, " and may be propagated with advan- tage to poor people." — " I do not hear that it hath been essayed," are the words of another, " whether thev mav not he propagated in great quantities, for food for swine or other cattle." Even the enlightened Evelyn seems to have entertained a prejudice againt them : " Plant potatoes," he says, writing in 1699, " in vour worst ground. Take them up in November for winter spending ; there will enough remain tor a stock though ever so exactly gathered." But the use of potatoes gradually spread, as their excellent qualities became better understood. It was near the middle of the eighteenth century, however, before thev were generally known over the country : since that time they have been most extensively cultivated. In 1796 it was found that, in the county of Essex alone, about 17(0 acres were planted with potatoes for the supply of the London market. This must form, no doubt, the principal supply ; but many fields of potatoes are to be seen in the other counties bordering on the capital, and many ship-loads are annually imported from a distance. In every county in England, it is now more or less an object ot held culture. 5295. Potatoes, as an article of human food, are, next to wheat, of the greatest im- portance in the eye of the political economist. 5296. From no other crop that can be cultivated will the public derive so much food as from this valu- able esculent : and it admits of demonstration, that an acre of potatoes will feed double the number or people that can be fed from an acre of wheat. Potatoes are also a nourishing and healthy lood, reli>tied by almost everv palate; and it is believed there is hardly a dinner served up for six months in the year without them, 'in any part of the kingdom. Notwithstanding all these things, and they .are of gteat im- portance in one point of view, we are doubtful whether potatoes can be placed so high in the scale as 846 PRACTICE OP AGRICULTURE. Part III. TTiey require i great deal of manure, while, generally speaking, little is returned by themj they ate a bulky unhandy article, troublesome In the lifting and carrying processes, and Interfering with the seed icaaon of wheat, the moat Important one to hlmj and, from particular circumstances, thej cannot i>e vended unleM when raised in the vicinity of large towni : ii * they are in most respects an unprofitable article To the fanner, the real criterion i« the profit which potatoea will return in I ists: and here, we apprehend, the result will altogether be In favour of turnip*, and rutabaga, as the most profitable articles for thai purpose, What it coded the yam, or Surinam potato, was formerly considered of importance to the farmer, at .in assistanl tn bi- turnip crop, or rather ■ succedaneura, which la of material benefit when turnips are timed ; but ai this variety cannot be used as human food, the extension of its culture cannot be recommended. By cultivating any ofthe good eating sorts tor the use of cattle, a succedaneum may be bad iv>r the human species in years of scarcity. 5298. The value of potatoea as a fallow rm/i, and as an article of* food for cattle com- pared with turnips and cabbages for the same purposes, Marshal observes, may be con- sidi red llms : — Potato** are wore nutritious ; and, in the opinion of those who have used them, fatten cattle much quicker than •• ther turnips or cabbages. Potatoes, too, being secured from the severities of winter, are a more certain article of fatting than turnips or cabbages ; both of which are liable to perish under an alternation of frost and thaw ; and the turnip, more particularly, is locked up, or rendered more diffi- cult tn be come at, during a continuance of snow or frost. Turnips and cabbages, if they out-weather the severities of winter, occupy the soil in the spring when it should be prepared for the succeeding crop j while potatoes, if properly laid up, are a food which may be continued without inconvenjency until the cattle be finished, or the grass has acquired the requisite bite for finishing them in the field. On the other hand, potatoes are a disagreeable cmi> to cultivate: the planting is a tedious dirty business ; and taking them uii may be called the filthiest work of husbandry, especially in a wet autumn. A powerful argu- ment for the extensive culture of potatoes as food for live stock is, that in seasons of scarcity they can be adopted as human food. Here, as in many other points, the opinion of Marshal and other English agricul- turists is rsther at variance with that ofthe Northumberland and Berwickshire cultivators. In Berwick- shire and Roxburghshire, a crop of potatoes is often taken before turnips, by means of which the land is restored to a fertile state. •5300. The varieties ofthe potato are innumerable : they differ in theii leaves and hulk of haulm; in the colour of the skin of the tubers; in the colour of the interior com- pared with that of the skin ; in the time of ripening ; in being farinaceous, glutinous, or watery; in tasting agreeably or disagreeably; in cooking readily or tediously; in the length of the subterraneous stolones to which the tubers are attached ; in blossoming or not blossoming ; and, finally, in the soil which they prefer. 5.301. The earliest varieties nf the potato are chiefly cultivated in gardens, and therefore we shall only notice such early sorts as are grown in the fields. These are — The earl J kidney, The nonsuch, The early shaw, and The early champion. The last is the most generally cultivated round London ; it is very prolific, hardy, and mealy. Early varieties, with local names, are cultivated near most large towns, especially Manchester, Liverpool, Glas- gow, Edinburgh, and the metropolis. 5302. The late field varieties in most repute are — The red-nosed kidney. Black skin, white interior, and pood. Larffe kidn.-y. Purple, very mca'i , producti* , and k<-eps well. Bread fruit, raised in 1S10, from seed, and este< med one of Red apple, mealy, keeps the longest of an j. tie- best field potatoes, being white, mealy, well tasted, Tartan, or purp e and white skinned, an esteemed Fcolch and prolific. pot-uo, prolific, mealy, exceedingly well ta.-tt.d, aad kieps Lancashire pink eye, good. well. 5303. The varieties groten exclusively as food for live stock are — The yam or Surinam potato ; large, red and white skinned, The ox noble ; large, ytllow without and within, very prolific, anil the interior veinet with red ; flavour disajrroeal le, and not lit to e it. Hot such as to admit of its lii-ine. ustd as human food. It The late champion; large and prolific, white skinned, and may su cceds best on heavy lands. be used as human food. flew varieties of potatoes are procured with the greatest ease. The following directions are given in a useful work on this plant : — Pluck off the apples when the stalk lias ceased to vegetate and is drying up. The seed being then fully ripe, break the apple in a hair sieve, wash the pulp clean from the seeds, and dry them in the sun ; then sow the seed in beds in March, and take the potatoes up in October. They will attain the size of nutmegs, or at most be no larger than walnuts. Select the fairest and best, and keep them secure from frost by thoroughly drying, and intermixing;, and covering them with sifted wood or coal-ashes. Plant them in April following, at the distance of fifteen inches asunder; ami when the plant is two inches high, hill them with fresh earth. This may be done several times, constantly taking care to keep them clean from weeds. Obsei ve when the stalks decay ; some will be found decaying much sooner than others ; these are the early kinds, but those that decay last are the sorts which come late. Take them up in rotation as they ripen, and let the produce of each potato be kept separate till the next year. Such as come early may be tried as soon as they are taken up, by dressing one or two : should they be approved, the remainder may be preserved ; but those which are late should not be tried before January or February, for it will be found that the late kind of potatoes, newly raised, are very sort, and cut like soap, until they have been In aided a certain time, when they become mealy. Under each stalk you may expect to find a gallon of potatoes; those planted the third year may, perhaps, produce two sacks; and their increase afterwards will be very considerably greater. Thus it takes full three years to form an ade- quate judgment oi potatoes raised from seed ; and, after all, if one in ten succeed so as to be worth pre- serving, it is as much as can be reasonably expected, In general, the produce of the seed will resemble the parent stock ; but red varieties will give both white and red offspring, and among the offspring of kidneys will be found round shape 1 tubers One great advantage of raising varieties from seed is alleged to be the iuvigoration ofthe vegetative principle. 5305. Some iff the earlier sorts of potatoes do not blossom, and consequently do not, under ordinary management, produce seeds. To procure blossoms and seeds from these.it is necessary, from time to time, during the early part of the summer, to remove the earth from the roots of the plants, and pick off the tubers or potatoe- as they begin to form. By thus preventing the strength of the plant from being employed in forming tubers at the root, it will flow into the leaves and herbage, and produce blossoms and apples. Knight, the president of the Horticultural Society, by adopting this practice, succeeded in pro- curing seeds from some sorts of potatoes which had never before produced blossoms; and from these da he raised excellent varieties, some hardy and less early, others small and very early. He farther impregnated the blossoms produced by these early potatoes with other sorts, some early and some late (in the way in which graziers cross the breeds of cattle to improve the offspring), ami he succeeded in producing varieties, more early than late sorts, and more hardy and prolific than any early potatoes he had seen. Book VI. THE POTATO. 817 T'.iese he cultivated in his fields, deeming them preferable to all other sorts as admitting of later plant- ing and earlier removal; and this practice he justly considered as highly favourable to the succeeding crop of wheat 5306. In choosing a sort or sorts of potatoes from the numerous varieties which are to be found every where, perhaps the best way is, for the selector to procure samples and taste them, and to fix on what best pleases his palate. The shaw is one of the best early potatoes for general field culture; and the kidney and breadfruit are good sorts to come in in succession. The Lancashire pink is also an excellent potato; and we have never in any part of the British Isles tasted a potato equal in mealiness and flavour to this varietv, as cultivated round Prescot, near Liverpool. The red apple and tartan are of undoubted pre- ference as late or long keeping potatoes. The yam is decidedly the best potato tor stock, and will produce from twelve to fifteen tons per acre. *5307. The soil in which the potato thrives best is a light loam, neither too dry nor toe moist, but if rich, it is so much the better. They may, however, be grown well on many other sorts of lands, especially those of the mossy, moory, and similar kinds, where they are free from stagnant moisture, and have had their parts well broken down by culture, and a reasonable portion of manure added. The best-flavoured table potatoes are almost always produced from a newly broken up pasture ground not manured ; or from any new soil, as the site of a grubbed up copse or hedge, or the site of old buildings or roads. Repeated on the same soil they very generally lose their flavour. The yam produces the largest crops on a loamy and rather strong soil, though it will grow well on any that is deeply ploughed and well manured. 5308. In preparing the soil for potatoes, it is of much importance to free it as completely as possible from root weeds, which cannot be so well extirpated afterwards, as in the culture of turnips, and some other drilled crops, both because the horse-hoe must be excluded altogether at a time when vegetation is still vigorous, and because at no period of their growth is it safe to work so near the plants, especially after they have made some progress in growth. It is the earlier time of planting, and of finishing the after- culture, that renders potatoes a very indifferent substitute for fallow, and in this respect in no degree com- parable to turnips. For this reason, as well as on account of the great quantity of manure required, their small value at a distance from large towns, and the great expense of transporting so bulky a commodity, the culture of potatoes is by no means extensive in the best managed districts. Unless in the immediate vicinity of such towns, or in very populous manufacturing counties, potatoes do not constitute a regular rotation crop, though they are raised almost every where to the extent required for the consumption of the farmer and his servants, and, in some cases, for occasionally feeding horses and cattle, particularly late in spring. The first ploughing is given soon after harvest, and a second, and commonly a third, early in spring; the land is then laid up into ridgelets, from twenty-seven to thirty inches broad, as for turnips, and manured in the same manner. 5309. The best manure for the potato appears to be littery farmyard dung ; and the best mode of apply- ing it, immediately under" the potato sets. Any manure, however, may be applied, and no plant will bear a larger dose of it, or thrive in coarser or less prepared manure : even dry straw, rushes, or spray of trees, maybe made use of with success. It is alleged, however, that recent horse manure, salt, and soapcrs' ashes, have a tendency to give potatoes a rank taste, and to render them scabby. 5310. The best clinutte for the potato is one rather moist than dry, and temperate or cool, rather than hot. Hence the excellence of the Irish potatoes, which grow in a dry, loamy, calcareous soil, and moist and temperate climate : and hence, also, the inferiority of the potatoes of France, Spain, and Italy, and even Germany. In short, the potato is grown nowhere in the world to the same degree of perfection as in Ireland and Lanca- shire, and not even in the south of England so well as in Scotland, and the north and western counties : all which is, in our opinion, clearly attributable to the climate. 5311. The season for planting potatoes in the fields, depends much on the soil and climate. Where these are very dry, as they always ought to be for an early crop, the sets are usually put in the ground in March or earlier; but for a full crop of potatoes, April is the best time for planting. Potatoes, indeed, are often planted in the end of May, and iometimes even in June ; but the crops, although often as abundant, are neither so mellow nor mature as when the sets are planted in April, or in the first eight or ten days of May. For seed, however, they are preferable. *5312. In preparing the sets of potatoes, some cultivators recommend large sets, others small potatoes entire, and some large potatoes entire. Others, on the ground of experi- ence, are equally strenuous in support of small cuttings, sprouts, shoots, or even only the eyes or buds. With all these different sorts of sets, good crops are stated to have been raised, though tolerable-sized cuttings of pretty large potatoes, with two or three good eyes or buds in each, are probably to be preferred. 5313. Independent!!/ of the increased expense of the seed, it is never a good practice to make use of whole potatoes as sets. The best cultivators in Ireland and Scotland invariably cut the largest and best potatoes into sets, rejecting, in the case of kidnev potatoes, the root or mealy end as having no bud, and the top or watery end as having too many. No objection is made to twe or even three buds on each set, though one is considered sufficient. A very slight exercise of common sense might have saved the advocates for shoots, scooped out eyes, &c, their experiments and arguments ; it being evident, as Brow n has observed, to every one with any practical knowledge of the nature of vegetables, that the strength of the stem at the outset depends in direct proportion upon the vigour and power of the set. The set, therefore, ought to be large, rarely smaller than the fourth part of the potato; and if the potato is of small size, one halt of it may be profitablv used : at all events, rather err in giving over-large sets, than in making them too small ; because bv"the first error no great "loss can be sustained ; whereas, by the other, a feeble and late crop mav be the consequence. It is ascertained beyond doubt in Lancashire, Cheshire, and other counties in the north and west of England, that sets taken from the top or watery end of the potato, planted at the same time with sets taken at the root or mealy end, will ripen their tubers a fortnight sooner. It is ascer- tained also, and accounted for on the same general principle, that the plants raised from unripe tubers are both vigorous and moreearly than such as are raised from tubers perfectly ripe. v See Gard.Mttg.vm.il.) 53I+. Setsshou/d ahvai/s be cut some days before planting, that the wounds may dry up; but no harm will result from performing this operation several weeks or months beforehand, provided the sets are not exposed too much to the drought so as to deprive them of their natural moisture. air PRACTICE OF AGRICULTURE. Par. III. 5315. The quantity of srts depend! on the size of the |xitatoes ; in general, where the sets are sufficiently large, from eight totenewt will be required (bran acre: mure than ten for yams, and fewer than eight cwt lor theearly nonsuch and alb -leaved. *53 16. The modei of planting the potato arc various. 6317. Where note emltmt is employed, they .ire very frequently planted on IhhIs (provincial ly lazy-beds), ol four or six led wide, with .1 trench or gutter of B foot or eighteen inchei in width between, which supplies Mil for earthing up the potatoes, This la the rudest mode of planting and cultivating potatoes, and unworthy Ol being imitated either on a farm or in a garden. The next mode is planting on a plain surface, cither with or without manure, according to the state of the soil. Here the sets are pi iced in rows, with a distance of from eighteen inches to two feet and a half between the rows according to the kind of potato, and from four to nine inches in the rows. In planting, a hole for each set is made by a man with a spade, while a woman or boy drops the sot, and the earth la replaced ; or the potato dibber is used, and the ground afterwards slightly harrowed. Another mode of planting on a plain surface, when the soil is inclined to be dry, is in Mime cases practised, which is, alter the land has been brought into a proper condition by ploughing over twice or oftener and well harrowed, to spread the manure regularly over die whole surface, the seta being planted in every third furrow, and the dung with the fine earth turned upon them by the next furrow of the plough. In this way the manure is however placed upon the Mis, which has on experiment been fully shown to be injurious to the produce. Besides, from the whole of the surface of the ground being covered with dung, a considerably larger proportion must be requisite than when deposited only in the drills, and of course the crop cannot be cultivated to advantage in that respect 5 ;is. In planting the potato on ward land, after it has been prepared by the use of a plough that just p ares off the surface and deposits it in the furrow, it is advised by Somerville to place the sets upon the inverted Bod, and cover them witli the loose mould from below by means of a common plough ; or the trench plough maybe used with perhaps more advantage; but a better method is that of paring and li irning. In some cases the practice is, however, to turn down the turf with or without manure, and then to put in the sets by a dibble ; though the former is probably the better practice, as the turfy mate- rial on which the sets arc put soon begins to decay, and the purpose of a manure is in some measure answered hv it. It is a plan that may be adopted with advantage where manure is scarce, as in bringing waste and other coarse grass lands into the state of preparation for grain crops. 5319. A mode of planting potatoes and at the same time trenching the land, is practised in I^ncashire, and in some districts in the north-east of Scotland. The farmer having carried the dung, and laid it on the field 111 heaps, at proper distances, the operation is performed by the manufacturers and people who rent the field, and in the following manner: — Across the end of the ridge a trench is formed, about three feet wide, and from ten to fourteen inches deep, according to the depth and quality of the subsoil. That being done, a second trench of the same breadth is marked off, and the surface-soil, to the depth of six or eight inches, is thrown into the bottom of the former trench, over which a sufficient quantity of dung being laid, the potatoes are planted at the distance of eight or ten inches from each other, and then as much earth is taken from the bottom of the second trench as is necessary for covering the potato sets, and making up the first trench to its former level Thus the field being completely trenched, well manured, and kept thoroughly clean by repeated hand-hoeings, must not only produce an abundant crop of potatoes, but must also be in high condition for receiving whatever kind of seed may be after- wards sown. •5320. The mode of planting potatoes practised by the best farmers of the northern districts, is in drills formed bv the plough in the same manner as in preparing the land for turnips. The soil is laid up into ridgelets from twenty-seven to thirty inches broad, the manure is distributed between them, and on this manure the sets are placed from lour to eight inches asunder : they are then covered by reversing the ridgelets. 82] The planting of early potatoes is carried to a very high degree of perfection in Lancashire. It is stated in The Lancashire Agricultural Report, in respect to the raising of seed potatoes, that upon the same ground from which a crop has already been taken, the early seed-potatoes are in some places after- wards planted; which, after being got up about November, are immediately cut up into sets, and pre- served in oat husks or saw-dust, where they remain till March, when they are planted, after having had one sprout taken off, which is also planted. The sprouts are of a length sufficient to appear above ground in the space of a week. Hut the most approved method is, to cut the sets, and put them on a room-floor, where a strong current of air can be introduced at pleasure, the sets laid thinner, as about two layers in depth, and covered with the like materials .chaff or saw-dust) about two inches thick : this screens them from the winter frosts, and keeps them moderately warm, causing them to vegetate; but at the same time admits air to strengthen them, and harden their shoots, which the cultivators improve by opening the doors and windows on every opportunity afforded by mild soft weather. They frequently examine them ; and when the shoots are sprung an inch and a half, or two inches, they carefully remove one half of their covering, with a wooden rake, or with the hands, taking care not to disturb or break the shoots. Light is requisite, as well as air, to strengthen and establish the shoots; on which account a green-house has the advantage of a room, but a room answers very well with a good window or two in it, and if to the sun still better. In this manner they suffer them to remain till the planting season, giving them all the air possible by the doors and windows, when it can be done with safety from frost: by this method the shoots at the top become green, leaves are sprung, and are moderately hardy. They then plant them in rows, in the usual method, with a setting-stick ; and carefully fill up the cavities made by the setting-stick; by this method they are enabled to bear a little frost without injury. The earliest potato is the superfine white kidney ; from this sort, upon the same ground, have been raised four crops, having sets from the repo- sitory ready to put in as soon as the others were taken up ; and a fifth crop is sometimes raised from the same lands, the same year, of transplanted winter lettuce. The first crop had the advantage of a covering in frosty nights It is remarked that this useful information was communicated by J. Ulundell, Urmskirk, and has hitherto been known only among a very few farmers In the western parts of Lancashire the early potato is cultivated in the fields in warm situations, and brought to market in the end of May and during June. The chief sorts there grown for this purpose are, the lady's linger, or early Ruffbrd kidney, and the early round potato. The cultivators, aware that the buds from the root and top end of the tuber germinate at different periods, assort their sets in the following manner: — The sets near the top end {Jin. 747. a) are found to come to maturity a fortnight earlier than those at the root end (rf) ; and these, therefore, form two classes of sets 74 I if for an earlier and a later crop. The sets from the middle {/>, c,) are put together for an intermediate crop. The sets are planted in the month of March or beginning of April, in drills of twenty-four drills in twenty yards, in the following manner: — After the drills are formed {fig. 748. a), loose earth is brushed with a spade or harroweil down, to the depth of six inches, in the interval between them (A) ; dung is then placed over this loose earth, to the depth of four or five inches {c) ; the potato sets of the earliest degree Jig. 74-7. a) are then laid on the manure, at four or five inches apart, for the early crop ; and sets of the second degree {Jig- 747. &), at from six to eight inches apart, for later crops ; and so on. The sets for the early crop are then covered with a spade, to the depth of two inches, and subsequently covered, at two or three different times, to the depth of about five inches. The second and third crops are usually covered with the plough. Book VI. THE POTATO. 819 '48 Some lay the potatoes intended for plants early in the year, befmr they are wanted to be cut, loose and separate in straw, or on warm boarded Moors ; and others put them on flakes or frames, in warm situations near the fire, for the same purpose, in order that they may sprout; and when so sprouted to the length of half an inch or an inch, they are then carefully cut as described, assorted, and planted. (Gard. Mag. vol. i. p. -107.) 5323. In the north of Lancashire the potatoes are removed from their winter quarters in the last week of January, and spread out on a floor or placed on shelves in a room where a fire is kept, or in an upper room of a warm house. On the 2d of February they are covered with a blanket or woollen cloth for about four weeks, which is then taken off in order to harden the sprouts. Towards the latter end of March the sprouts will be found about two inches long, and, if they are carefully set, the potatoes will be ready in seven or eight weeks afterwards. Some bring the sets forward by spreading them out and slightly cover- ing them with light mould under the stage or on the shelves of a greenhouse, or in a cucumber frame, or in a loft over a stable or cow-house. (Gain'. Mag. vol. it p. 48.) 5324. In Denbighshire the earlv potatoes cultivated are the Foxley, the Nelson, and the Rufford kidney. Potatoes intended for sets the following vear are taken up before they are ripe, just when the outer skin peels off, and before the stalk or stem begins to wither ; they are then laid upon a gravel walk, or any dry surface fullv exposed to the sun : they remain in that situation for a month or six weeks, when they become quite green and soft, as if roasted, and often much shrivelled ; they are then put away in a cellar or pit, where thev will remain drv, and neither invaded by frost nor much heat. In February they are examined, and everv eve being then generallv found full of long sprouts, they are fit to be planted. The tubers are therefore cut", seldom into more than two sets, viz the eye or top part, which is planted by itself, and found to come a fortnight earlier ; and the root or bottom part, which succeed them. {Gard. Mag. vol. ii. p. 172.) 5325. In gardens in the south of England potatoes are planted in a warm border from the first week of October, till the latter end of November. They are placed nine or ten inches under the surface, and well covered with dung. About the latter end of March they begin to appear above the surface, when the ground is deeplv hacked with a mattock, and made very loose about the plants ; then in a fortnight or three weeks move the surface again, but the plants need not be earthed up unless they are very much exposed to the wind, when a little may be drawn about them to keep them steady. By this method fine ash-leaved kidnev potatoes may be gathered by the 12th or 15th of May, even in situations not very favourable for eaflv crops, and nearly three weeks earlier than they can be gathered from sets planted in the same situation* in the latter end of Februarv ; and if ordinary care is taken in planting, no danger need be apprehended from the frost. (Gard. Mag. vol. vi. p. 590 Every farmer knows that, among the corn raised after a crop of potatoes, potato plants will be found which can only have sprung from tubers preserved there all the winter, in consequence of having been buried by the plough deeper than the frost could reach. It is evident, therefore, that this garden mode of raising a crop of early potatoes might be adopted in the field, more especially where the soil was dry ; but the success would depend entirely on the deep pronging or grubbing of the soil between the rows early in spring. This might be done to the same degree of perfection as in the garden by the excellent implements of \\ ilkie or Kirkwood. (2656. and 4955.1 5326. In Cornwall earlv potatoes are planted in October, spring up a few weeks afterwards, are ready before the autumnal frost' stops their growth, and the soil being covered with litter to exclude the frost, thev are begun to be used about the end of December, and continue in use till May, when they are suc- ceeded by the spring planted crops. Of late years Covent Garden market has received supplies of early potatoes from Cornwall, treated in the above manner. {Gard. Mag. vols. ii. v. vi.) Early potatoes, when thev first come through the ground, are liable to be injured by spring frosts ; but there is an easy and effectual remedy to every cultivator who will take the trouble — and that is to water them, so as to thaw off the frost before sunrise. In Ayrshire, where even late potatoes are liable to this injury, acres are sometimes so watered on a single farm; all the hands being called to business by the break of day, and the water being sprinkled on the young sprouts, from vessels of any sort, by means of a handful of straw. A garden-pot and rose would of course answer better. *5327. The after culture of potatoes consists in harrowing, hoeing, weeding, and earthing up. *5328. All potatoes require to he earthed up, that is, to have at least one inch in depth of earth heaped on their roots, and extending six or eight inches round their stem. The reason of this is, that the tubers do not, properly speaking, grow under the soil, but rather on, or just partially bedded in, its surface. A coating of earth, therefore, is found, by preserving a congenial moisture, greatly to promote their growth and magnitude, as well as to improve their quality, by preventing the potatoes from becoming green on the side next the light. The earth may be thrown up from the trenches between the beds by the spade; or, where the potatoes are planted in rows, the operation may be performed with a small plough, drawn bv one horse, or by the hoe. In Scotland, where the potato is extensively cultivated by the farmer, as food for cattle as "well as man, the plough is universally used. In Ireland, where the bed, or lazy-bed, manner is adopted, the earth is thrown up from the intervening trenches. The hoe is generally used by market-gardeners. 5329. The after-culture, ichcre potatoes arc planted in ridgehts, as above described (5319.'', commences when the plants begin to rise above the surface. They are then harrowed across, and afterwards the horse hoe, or small hoeing plough, and the hand-hoe are repeatedly employed in the intervals, and be- tween the plants, as long as the progress of the crop will permit, or the state of the soil may require. The earth is then gathered once, or oftener, from the middle of the intervals towards the roots of the plants, after which any weeds that may be left must be drawn out by hand ; for when the radicles have extended far in search of food, and the young roots begin to form, neither the horse nor hand-hoe can be admitted without injury. 5330. The after-culture adopted in some parts of Devonshire is somewhat singular, and deserves to be noticed. The sets are there generally cut with three eyes, and deposited at the depth of three inches with the spade or dibber : when the first shoot is three inches high, prepare a harrow with thorns inter, woven between the tines, and harrow the ground over till all the weeds are destroyed, and not a shoot of the potatoes left It mav seem strange that such an apparent destruction of a crop should cause an increase ; but it may be affirmed as an incontestable fact, that by this means the produce becomes more abundant. The reason appears to be this : although three eyes are left to a piece of potato, one always vegetates before the others, and the first shoot is always single : that being broken off, there is for the present a cessation of vegetation. The other eyes then begin to vegetate, and there appear fresh shoots from the broken eye ; so that the vegetation is trebled, the earth made loose, and the lateral shoots more freely expanded. If these hints are observed, the produce of potatoes, it is said, will exceed a fifth of the crop obtained bv the usual mode of cultivation. 3 I 8.W PRACTICE OF AGRICULTURE r IIT. H, The culture of potatoet hi Hi Transactions of the Highland Society dlttrtct of Kuihin- » thus given bj an Intelligent writer in the 5338 The land is generalltj Ploughed at earli/ in taring at possible, and that at least twice In cases where the two ploughing* do nol sufficiently |>ulverlse the ground, it re eives a third and after every ploughing is well harrowed The greatest attention ought always to be given to these preparatory !';""r/.,- arimmi being row prepared, and the season for planting arrived, drills are made for receiving the seed with the common i igh j these are drawn about two feet asunder, and three inches in depth. The first - ven ol them are all drawn from one end of the Held, the plough returning outof work from the other end in order to afford time and room for the operation ol putting in the seed, and also the dung, where th.'- last operation is rendered necessary. By toe time the ploughman has drawn three ol these shallow drill, or turmws, the persons in charge of the seed [begin to plant the Brat of them, laying each olant at a distance of from nine tote ches; these are followed by others who put the .lung on the top of it in the case ilready mentioned, where the manure is to be put into the drill, rhe ploughman, having completed seve ' these drills, may now proceed to return, by ploughing to the depth ol seven inches between the Brsl and second dn in. «• -- to cover the seed in the fust. He then opens another of the Shallow drills Of three inches, at the distance of two feet, as before mentioned, from the last which he had made heni" the seventh ; and returning hack, he makes another of the seven inch deep furrows between the second ami third rows of seed, winch covers the second; returning, he opens another seed-drill; and 1) ick ag .in a deep one between the third and fourth rows of seed, which covers the third row ; and so on from 'each end ol the Held. In this manner the drilling and planting will proceed, without any interrup- tion or Interference the one with the other, the plough having at first attained a sufficient distance from the planters to have always a drill open before they can overtake it The great advantage of placing the seed so much nearer the' surface than the deeper furrow alongside of it is, that it is more effectually pre- served from the had effects of wot or damp, consequently less liable to he injured by trost, and it springs " "•!';' \\ In this state the/leld is allowed to remain firoma fortnight to three weeks, when it is cross harrowed to a perfect level Afterwards, as soon as the drills can be distinguished by the potatoes shooting above the ground the plough is again applied, and the drills are formed as before ; but in doing so, the plough is taken as close a> possible to the plant upon both sides; on one side the plough is lightly put in, but on the other it is inserted a- deep as possible, throwing the soil over on its neighbouring row ot seed, filling up the vacuum winch the plough had previously left at it, and forming at the same time a ridge, as it was originally on the top of the plant. What is thus ploughed in the forenoon is cross harrowed com- pletely level during the same afternoon. The great advantage which I apprehend to he derived trom this process is the loosening of the soil, destroying the weeds, and the saving of hand-hoeing. I am satisfied, from my own particular experience and observation, that this mode of treating the young growth ol the potato is far preferable to anv other I have seen practised, either here or elsewhere, however forbid- ding the rough usage thus given to the young plant may appear to one inexperienced in this particular mode of cultivating it. ... . . . , . , . . .u • >• „ „<• 5335 As sam as the weeds begin to appear, the plough is again introduced, which, in the idiom ol this country, is called " taking from the potatoes," which is done by running pretty close to the plant on both sides so that a slight ridge is thrown up between the line of plants; and in this situation they remain for eight days, when the plant is " put to" by again applying the plough between the rows, and separating the earth composing the middle ridge above mentioned, towards the plant on each side, but without cover- ing it Alter this, the process of " putting to" of earth is continued as the plant grows, and takes place at least twice, until the stems are so high that a single horse going among them may seriously injure them The " putting to" will now be understood as a deeper insertion of the plough in the middle of the drill. The whole of the labour of ploughing, drilling, "taking from," and "putting to" the potatoes, as above described, is performed with the common plough." {Highl. Soc. Trans, vol. viii. p. 68.) 5oiii The Jield culture of the potato in Argyleshire is thus given by an experienced cultivator in the Gardener's Magazine. The manure is sometimes applied to the field during winter and ploughed in, or it is hv the better economists reserved till the field is drilled for planting. When the first plan is adopted, another ploughing is given across the field, which is then planted, the plough going one bout along the fur- row of which the set is placed, and then covered by the return of the plough. The best way is to prepare the field in the same way as for turnips, and place the dung in the drill, and the set on it {Jig. 749. a), and then cover them up by clearing down the ridgelet, and forming others (6) : a fortnight or so afterwards, the whole field is harrowed across (c). As soon as the plants have so far sprouted as that the drill can safely he traced from end to end (rfl, then the whole field is drilled again, as at first, with a very strong furrow 0), and then the harrows are set immediately to work after the plough has finished drilling, and the field is levelled again (/). Any one that is unacquainted with the system would suppose the crop ruined, but it is far otherwise. The after-culture is no way different from the common practice of paring away the earth, drill harrowing, and earthing up, as in other countries. It- is advisable only to pare or earth, as the case may lie, one side of the drill at each turn; as, by this means, the operations are sooner performed at the time, the earth can be more frequently stirred, and at the same expense. The charm of this system consists in the additional drilling up and harrowing down ; by this harrowing, all the larger clods are thrown to the fur- row, where they are fully pulverised by the drill harrow and after culture, and all the weeds are so effectually drawn from between the plants that there is no use of hand-hoeing The expense may be cal- culated at less than a third of hand-hoeing, from the effect and expedition ; of course, dry weather is the time for the second drilling and cross harrowing to be performed. {Gard. Mag. vol. ii. p. 316.) •5SS7 Pinching of the whi le »t the p.-toto hlossoms is a part of after-culture not unworthy the attention of the farmer This may at first sight appear too minute a matter to enter into the economy of farm management Hut when it is considered that the seed is the essential part of every plant, and that to which the ultimate efforts of nature are always directed, it will be allowed that an important part ot the nourishment of every vegetable must he devoted to this purpose. In the case of the potato, every person knows that the weight of the potato-apples, grown by a single plant, is very considerable. Now we have Been 5 KX I that apples may be produced instead of tubers in early potatoes ; whence it may justly be in- ferred that more tubers miiv be produced in late ones by preventing the growth of the apples. Such was the reasoning of Knight ; and, bv repeatedly making the experiment, he came to this conclusion, that m ordinary cases of field culture, by pinching off the blossoms of late crops ot potatoes, more than one ton 749 Book VI. THE POTATO. 851 per acre of additional tubers will he produced. The experiments are related in the second volume of The Horticultural Transactions, and the practice is similar to one common among the growers of bulbous roots in Holland, as alluded to by Dr. Darwin, who also recommends its application to the potato. A woman or boy will crop the blossoms from an acre of potatoes in a day, or even in less time, when the crop is not excessively luxuriant. 5338. The taking of the crop of potatoes on a small scale is generally performed with the spade or three-pronged fork ; but under judicious farm management, and the row culture, by the common plough. 5339. The coulter is removed and the plough goes first along one side of all the ridgelets of a ridge, or any convenient breadth, and then, when the potatoes so brought to view are gathered by women placed at proper distances, it returns and goes along the other side. When the land is somewhat moist, or of a tenacious quality, the furrow-slice does not give out the roots freely, and a harrow which follows the plough is commonly employed to break it and separate them from the mould. Various contrivances have been resorted to for this purpose. A circular harrow or break, of very recent invention, to be attached to the plough, has been found to answer the purpose well, and to effect a considerable saving of labour. A machine for taking up and collecting potatoes is said to have been invented by Mr. Michael Barry of Swords near Dublin ; but though we have written to that gentleman, we have been unable to procure a description or drawing of his invention. 5340. A 7>iode of taking part of a crop suited to cottagers and others, especially in years of scarcity, deserves to be mentioned. Having ascertained that some of the tubers have attained an eatable size, go along the rows and loosen the eartn about each plant with a blunt stick, taking two or three of the largest tubers from each and returning the earth carefully. By keeping the edge of the blunt spatula or spade perpendicular to the main stem of the plant, the flat side will be parallel to the radiating roots, by which means they will be comparatively little injured. By this means both an early supply, and the advantage of two crops, may be obtained ; for the tubers which remain will increase in size, having now the nourish- ment destined to complete the growth of those removed. 5341. Potatoes intended for seed should be taken up a fortnight or three weeks before being fully ripe, for reasons that have been given in treating of early potatoes, and will be recurred to in treating of the diseases of this plant. The ill shaped, small, bruised, or diseased tubers should be laid aside, and the fairest and best dried in the sun, spread on a cellar or loft floor, and covered with ashes, or chaff of suf- ficient thickness to keep out the frost. In this state they may remain till wanted for cutting. Some persons in Ireland plant potatoes from which they intend to procure sets extremely late, namely, the first week in July. The produce consequently never attains the same degree of size or ripeness as that of an earlier planted crop. *5342. Potatoes are stored and preserved in houses, cellars, pits, pies, and camps. What- ever mode is adopted, it is essential that the tubers be perfectly dry, otherwise they are certain of rotting, and a few rotten potatoes will contaminate a whole mass. 5343. The most effectual mode, and that which is generally adopted, consists in putting them into close houses, and covering them well up with dry straw. In some parts of Scotland it is a common practice to dig pits in the potato-field, when the soil is dry and light, and, putting in potatoes to the depth of three or four feet, to lay a little dry straw over them, and then cover them up with earth, so deep that no frosts can affect them. Another method, which is practised in England as well as Scotland, is to put them together in heaps, and cover them up with straw, in the manner of preserving turnips, with this addition, that the heaps are afterwards well covered with earth, and so closely packed together as to exclude frost. The farmers in Lancashire in the course of taking them up sort and separate their potatoes according to their sizes, and are particularly careful to throw aside all those that are spoiled before raising, or that are cut in the taking up. This is a very necessary and proper precaution although by no means generally attended to), as the crop must have a much better chance for keeping, than when diseased or cut potatoes are stored up with it. It is also of great advantage to have the work performed in a dry season, as the potatoes seldom keep well when taken up wet, or when placed in any sort of repository for keeping while in that state. 5344. Potato pies, as they are called, are recommended by Young as the best mode in which potatoes can be stored. A trench, one foot deep and six wide, is dug, and the earth cleanly shovelled out, and laid on one .-ide, and on the bottom of the trench is laid over them a bedding of straw. One-horse carts shoot down the potatoes into the trench ; and women pile them up about three feet high, in the shape of a house roof. Straw is then carefully laid over them six or eight inches thick, and covered with earth a foot thick, neatly smoothed by flat strokes of the spade. In this method he never lost any by the severest frosts ; but in cases of its freezing with uncommon severity, another coat of straw o l er all gives absolute security. These pies when opened should each be quite cleared, or they are liable to depredation. To receive one at a time, besides also being at first filled for immediate use, he has a house that holds about 700 bushels, lormed of posts from fir plantations with wattled sides, against which is laid a layer of straw, and against the sides exteriorly earth six feet thick at the bottom and eighteen inches at top; the roof flat, with a stack of beans upon it. This he has found frost-tight. The beans keep out the weather, he says, and yet admit any steam which rises from the roots, which, if it did not escape, would rot them. 5345. Several other modes of preserving potatoes are in use in different places. In Rutlandshire, Marshal says, the method of laying up potatoes is universally that of camping them ; a method somewhat similar to the above, but which requires to be described. Camps are shallow pits, filled and ridged up as a roof with potatoes ; which are covered up with the excavated mould of the pit. This is a happy mean, lie thinks, between burying them in deep pits and laying them upon the surface. Camps are of various sizes ; being too frequently made in a long square form like a corn-rick, and of a size proportioned to the quantity to be laid up. It has, however, been found by experience, that when the quantity is large, they are liable to heat and spoil ; much damage having sometimes been sustained by this imprudence. Ex- perienced campers hold that a camp should not be more than three feet wide; four feet are perhaps as wide as it can be made with propriety, proportioning the length to the quantity ; or, if this is very large, forming a range of short ones by the side of each other. The usual depth is a foot. The bottom of the trench being bedded with dry straw, the potatoes are deposited, ridging them up as in measuring them with a bushel. On each side of the roof long wheat straw is laid, neatly and evenly, as thatch ; and over this the mould raised out of the trench is evenly spread ; making the surface firm and smooth with the back of the spade. A coat of coal ashes is sometimes spread over the mould, as a still better guard against frost. It is needless to observe that a camp should have a dry situation ; and that the roots ought to be deposited in as dry a state as possible. These camps are tapped at the end, some bavins, or a quantity of loose straw, being thrust close in the open end, as a bung or safeguard. As it is a matter of the highest importance to preserve this root without spoiling during the whole year, it has been suggested, that the best method yet discovered for keeping potatoes sound for the longest period, is to spread them on a dry floor early in the spring, and to rub off the eyes occasionally, as they appear to have a tendency to push out; by using these precautions, Donaldson has frequently seen potatoes kept in good condition till the month of June 5346 In Canada a7id Russia the potato is preserved in boxes in houses or cellars, heated when necessary to a temperature one or two degrees above the freezing point by stoves. {Farm Mag. vol. xx. p. 449.) 3 I 2 852 PRACTICE OF AGRICULTURE. Pari III. Tb keep potatoes oaf length ol thru, the mod effectual way is to place them In thin layen on a platfbrm suspended in an Ice cellar. There the temperature being always below that of active vegetation, the* will not sprout; while nol being above one or two degrees below the freezing point, the tubers will not be (roil bitten Another mode li to icoop oul the eyes with a verj small scoop, and keep the roots buried Inearth. \ iiiir.i mode is to destroy the vital principle by kiln-drying, steaming, or scalding A fourth mode Is to bury them so deep Indn soil thai no change "t temperature will reach them, ami consequently, being without air, they will remain upwards of a year without vegetating. 18. The produce of the potato varies from five to eight, and sometimes ten or twelve tons per aire ; the greatest produce is from the yam, which lias been known to produce twelve tons, or ISO bushels per acre. The liaulm is of no use but as manure, and is sometimes burned for thai purpose, being slow of rotting. 5349. The mast important application of the potato crop is as human food ; on this it is unnecessary to enlarge. Ein/i(ttrfi»iinl mealy potatoes to contain twenty-four per cent, of their weight of nutritive matter, and rye seventy parts : consequently, sixty-four and a half measures of potatoes atlbrd the same nourish. ment as twenty-four measures of rye. A thousand parts of potato yielded to Sir II. Davy from 200 to L'fJl parts Of nutritive matter, of which from 155 to 200 were mucilage or starch, fifteen to twenty sugar, and thirty to forty gluten. Now, supposing an acre of potatoes to weigh nine tons, and one of wheat one ton, which is about the usual proportion; then as 1000 parts of wheat afford 850 nutritive parts, and I00U of potato M») - ". the quantity of nutritive matter afforded by an acre of wheat and potatoes will be nearly as nine to four | so that all acre of potatoes will supply more than double the quantity of human food afforded In an acre of wheat The potato is perhaps the only root grown in Britain which may be eaten every day in the year without satiating the palate, and the same thing can only be said of the West India yam and bread fruit They are, therefore, the only substitute that can be used for bread with any degree of success ; and indeed they oi'ten enter largely into the composition of the best loaf bread without at all injuring either its nutritive qualities or Savour. {Edin. Encyc art. Baking.) In the answer by Dr. Tissot to M. Lanquet, the former objects to the constant use of potatoes as food, not because they are pernicious to the body, but because they hurt the faculties of the mind. He owns that those who eat maize, potatoes, or even millet, in. iv grow tall and acquire a large size ; but doubts if any such ever produced a literary work of merit. It dues not, however, by any means appear that the very general use of potatoes in our own country has at all impaired' either the health of body or vigour of mind of its inhabitants. 5351, The manufacture of potato flour is carried on to a considerable extent in the neighbourhood of Paris, and the Hour is sold at a price considerably higher than that of wheat, for the use of confectioners aiid for bakers who prepare the finer sorts of bread. The potatoes are washed and grated, and the starch separated from the pulp so obtained by filtration; it is dried on shelves in a mom heated by a Hue. and afterwards broken on a floor by passing a cast iron roller over it. It is then passed through a bolting machine and put up in sacks for sale. The most complete manufactory in the neighbourhood of Paris in ls.'i was that of M. Delisle at Hondy. {Gard. Mag. vol. vi.) Most of the operations there are performed by a steam engine attended by children. It is reported by the fount de Chabrol, in his Statistical Account of Paris, that +o,000 tons of potatoes are annually manufactured into flour within a circle of eight leagues around that lit v. . , ,. , i 3 ,:. The quantify of farina which potatoes produce varies not only according to the species, but accord ing to the period when the extraction takes place. The variations produced by this last cause are nearly as follows : Two hundred and forty pounds of potatoes produce of farina, or potato flour, in August, from 23 to 2.") pounds. March from 4.5 to 38 pounds. Sept 32 ... 38 April 38 ... 28 Oct 32 ... 40 May 28 ... 20 Nov 38 ...45 The extraction of the farina should be discontinued at the period when the potatoes begin to grow, the farina being destroyed by germination. Red potatoes produce a smaller quantity of farina. Those which are blue on the outside give little, but it is of good quality ; the white, which is often tinged with red in the interior, is the least proper for this extraction. The best of all is that which has a yellow tint, as its farina is of very good quality, and abundant. [Hygie de Ilru.ielles.) 5 153 Potato flour is made into bread in a very simple manner. Its adhesive tendency does not admit of baking or kneading unmixed with meal or wheaten Hour ; but it may be made into cakes in the following manner:— A small wooden frame nearly square is laid on a flat pan like a frying-pan; this frame is grooved, and so constructed, that, by means of a prcsser or lid introduced into the groove, the cake is at once fashioned according to the dimensions of the mould The frame containing the farina may be almost immediately withdrawn alter the mould is formed upon the pan ; because, from the consistency imparted to the incipient cake by the heat, it will speedily admit of being safely handled. It must not, however, be fired too hastily, otherwise it is apt to become unpleasantly hard and unfit for mastication. This pre- cautionary measure being observed, it will be found, that, where thoroughly ready, the bread of potato flour even unaided by anv foreign ingredient, will eat very palatably. It might thus, from time to time, be snaked for puddings, fike the tapioca ; or it might be used like the cassada-cake, which in appearance and quality it so much resembles; that is, when well buttered and toasted, it will make an excellent breakfast appendage. [Quar. Journ. Apr. vol ii. p. 69.) •5354 The meal of potatoes mavbe preserved for years closely packed in barrels, or unground in the form of slices ; these slices having been previously cooked or dried by steam, as originally suggested by Forsyth, nf Edinburgh. (JEncyc. Brit.) Some German philosophers have also proposed to freeze the potato, by which the feculent matter is separated from the starch, and the latter being then dried and compressed, may be preserved for any length of time, or exported with ease to any distance. {Annalcn des Aclarbaues, vol hi. s.389.) , . ' . The manufacture of tapioca from potatoes is thus given in the Quarterly Journal Of Agriculture. The potatoes selected are thoroughly washed, after which they are grated in a machine constructed for the purpose. The parts thus reduced or grated fall into a vessel placed underneath. From this vessel they are removed, and strained into a tub. On the juice being well expressed for the first time, the fibrous matter is set apart, and cold clean water is thrown over them. These fibres are again put through the same strainer, till the whole of the substance is collected, when they are finally cast aside. On this being done the contents of the tub, now in a state of mucilage or starch, are allowed to settle. A reasonable interval being .suffered to elapse, the old water is poured gently oil', and fresh water supplied. After this process of fining and washing, the blanched matter is passed through a smaller strainer. 55.56 The offals are separated. The starch becomes now much whiter ; still fresh water is abundantly dashed over it. When by frequent ablution the surface of this vegetable mass is rendered quite smooth and clean, it is filtrated a third and last time. ...... The strainer now used is of very fine texture, so that no improper or accidental admixture may interfere As soon as the starch, thus purified, has firmly subsided, it is spread on a board, and exposed to the open air. The damp speedily evaporates, on u Inch it is, as a security tor cleanliness, put through a sieve. Book VI. THE POTATO. 8.5 3 5358. A large circular pan is now procured, and set upon the tire. The farina is gradually put into the pan, till what is conceived to be sufficient tor one cooking be supplied. As the natural tendency of the farina, in a warm state, is to adhere to the pan, great care is requisite in constantly turning and stirring it. This is effectually done with a broad flat piece of wood, having a long handle to prevent inconvenience from the heat. A temperature of 150 Fahrenheit suits best for perfecting the tapioca. When the larina becomes quite hard, dry, and gritty, it is then ready, and may be taken off the fire. {Quar. Journ. Agr. vol. ii. p 68.) 5359. The ordinary economical applications of the potato, next to those of the culinary and baking arts, are in starch-making and the distillery. Starch is readily made from the scraped and washed tubers cut into small pieces and steeped in water ; and a spirit is distilled from mashed potatoes, fermented so as to change a portion of the starch into sugar. In general it is found that three and a half bushels of potatoes afford the same quantity of spirit as one of malt. *5360. Potash may be extracted from potato leaves and stalks by the following process : — Cut off the stalks when the flowers begin to fall, as that is the period of their greatest vigour ; leave them on the ground eight or ten days to dry, cart them to a hole dug in the earth about five feet square and two feet deep, and then burn them, keeping the ashes red-hot as long as possible. Afterwards take out the ashes, pour boiling water on them, and then evaporate the water " There remains after the evaporation a dry saline reddish substance, known in commerce under the name of satin ; the more the ashes are boiled, the greyer, and the more valuable the satin becomes. The satin must be calcined in a very hot oven, until the whole mass presents a uniform reddish brown. In cooling it remains dry, and in fragments bluish within, and white on the surface; in which state it takes the name of potash." {Smith's Mechanic, vol. ii. p. 381.) 5361. Among extraordinary aj>plicatio7is of the potato, may be mentioned cleaning woollens, and making wine and ardent spirit. 5362. Cleaning icoollens. The refuse of potatoes used in making starch when taken from the sieve, possesses the property of cleansing woollen cloths, without hurting their colour ; and the water decanted from the starch powder is excellent for cleansing silks, without the smallest injury to the colour. *5363. nine, of a good quality, may be made from frosted potatoes, if not so much frosted as to have become soft and watery. The potatoes must be crushed or bruised with a mallet, or put into a cider press. A bushel must have ten gallons of water, prepared by boiling it, mixed with half a pound of hops, and half a pound of common white ginger. This water, after having boiled for about half an hour, must be poured upon the bruised potatoes, into a tub or vessel suited to the quantity to be made. After stand- ing in this mixed state for three days, yest must be added to ferment the liquor. When the fermentation has subsided, the liquor must be drawn off, as fine as possible, into a cask, adding half a pound of raw sugar for every gallon. After it has remained in the cask for three months, it will be ready for use. *5364 Ardent spirit. Potatoes that have been injured by the frost produce a much greater quantity of spirit, and of a much finer quality, than those that are fresh ; they require a proportion of malt- wash to promote the fermentation. About one fourth part of malt-worts, or wash, ought to be fermented at least six hours before the potato- wash is joined to it ; otherwise the potato- wash, having an aptitude to ferment, will be ripe for the still before the malt-wash is ready ; hence the effect will be, to generate an acid which renders the spirit coarse, and, when diluted with water, of a milky or bluish colour. When the spirit is strong, the acid is held in solution ; but appears as above, when diluted with water. {Farmer's Mag. vol. xvii. p. 325.) *5365. In the application of potatoes as food fir live slock, they are often joined with hay, straw, chaff, and other similar matters, and have been found useful in many cases, espe- cially in the later winter months, as food for horses, cows, and other sorts of live stock. With these substances, and in combination with others, as bean or barley-meal and pol- lard, they are used in the fattening of neat cattle, sheep, and hogs. 5366. Potatoes are much more nutritive when boiled ; they were formerly cooked in this way, but are now very generally steamed, especially in the north. The practice has been carried to the greatest extent by Curwen in feeding horses. He gives to each horse, daily, a stone and a half of potatoes mixed with a tenth of cut straw. One hundred and twenty stones of potatoes require two and a quarter bushels of coals to steam them. An acre of potatoes, he considers, goes as far in this way as four of hav. Von Thaer found them, when given to live stock, produce more manure than any other food : 100 lbs. of potatoes producing 66 lbs. of manure of the very best description. The baking of potatoes in an oven has also been tried with success. {Com?n. Board of Agriculture, vol. iv.); but the process seems too expensive. Pota- toes should not be given raw to animals of any description, except, perhaps, when hogs are let in to root and pick up what may have escaped notice in the field. Washing was formerly a disagreeable and tedious business, but is now rendered an easy matter, whether on a large or small scale, by the use of the washing machine. 5367. Machines for trashing potatoes are numerous, and in addition to that already described, we shall here notice two other forms. One of the simplest is a trough {fig. 750. a, b) containing a hollow cylinder (c) with a handle (d,, which is made fast to the axis which passes through the cylinder. " A number of the spars which run longi. tudinally) are so constructed as to form a kind of door, which is made fast by two linch-pins at each end of the cylinder.' The vessel being charged with potatoes, and the trough filled with water, all that is necessary for the purpose of cleaning is only to turn the handle of the machine." A machine for washing potatoes by Mr. John Lawson, of Elgin, consists of a wooden or iron trough, with a movable bottom above the fixed one, composed of spars three quarters of an inch apart The potatoes are laid over the mov- able ribbed bottom, and water being admitted at one end by a cock, they are are moved backwards and forwards by a wooden hoe, till they are clean, when the dirty water which has collected between the two bottoms is let off by another cock at the opposite end. {Brit. Farm. Mag. vol. ii.) 5368. The boiling of potatoes, though a simple operation, is in many districts not performed in the best manner. The following is the Lancashire method : — Set them on the fire in cold water ; when boiled, pour off the water completely, add a little salt, and dry them well on the fire. Another method : — Choose your potatoes of equal size, and put them into a saucepan, or pot without a lid, with no more water than is sufficient to cover them ; more would only spoil them, as the potatoes themselves, on being boiled, yield a considerable portion of water. Bv being boiled in a vessel without a lid, they do not crack, and all waste 3 I 3 R54 PRACTICE OF AGRICULTURE. Par* III. is prevented After the rata Is come nearly to boH, pom .1 off wad replace the hot by cold water into which throw a good portion of tail The cold rater tends the heat from the surface to the heart of the ",',!„,', a,»i maka It mealy. Like all other vegetables, they arc bnprored by being boiled with salt, which ought not, therefore, to be •pared Meek. Hag. L IS.) 169. Frosted potatoes may be applied to various useful purposes, for food by thawing in cold water, or being pared, then thawed, and boiled with a little salt. Salt, or salt- petre chaff, or bruised oats, boiled with them, will render them (it food for cattle, swine, poultry ftc. Starch, and paste for weavers, bookbinders, and shoemakers, may be made from then when too sweet to be rendered palatable, and also an ardent spirit, from hydrometer proof to 10 per cent over proof. ' 5370. The disease* 0/ the potato are chiefly the scab, the worm, and curl. made'bv the farmers near Edinburgh, who observed that seed potato..- procured from the moors, or elevated cold ground, in the internal parts of the country, never suffered from the curl and * conse- quently became a practice, every three or four years, to procure a change ol seed from these districts. vented by using unripe seed ; therefore the farmer ought to select his seed stock a fortnight or three weeks before he takes up the general crop, as already recommended. It is also a safe practice frequently to change the seed, and also to change the variety. .«...*.»«.• , 5172 Shirreff, an ingenious speculator and practical agriculturist, is of opinion that there are only two causes for the curled disorder in potatoes. The lirst is excessive seed-bearing, that is, carrying great quantities of plums or apples j from the effects of which, if the plant be not too far advanced in lite, it in iy recover for a time, by removing it to a shadv or upland situation. The s cond cause is time or old age which never fads ultimately to bring the curled or shrivelled disorder, followed by death, on the whole animal and vegetable kingdoms. An old decaying oak is an instance ot the curled or shrivelled state of trees Horn age, as is " the lean and slippered pantaloon " of the curled disorder Irom old age in the human species. An apple tree, again, that has carried extraordinary crops of Iruit within a few years, is often in the state of a potato curled from excessive apple-bearing; so is a hart, or a buck, immediately iltcr the rutting season. Both the tree and animals will recover their health and vigour tor a time, unless they are too old or have gone to the very greatest and last extremity in seed-bearing and venery, in which cases the effect? will be the same as those of time, viz death. It is not then to over- ripening the tubers that the curled disorder in potatoes is to be attributed, but to time and seed-bearing ; that is, carrying great quantities of plums or apples. Sect. II. The Turnip. — Brdssica Rdpa, L. ; Tetradynamia Siliqubsa L., and Cruci- ferce J. Rave, Fr. ; Riibe, Ger. ; Rapa, Ital. ; and Xabo, Span. 5:373. The turnip is a native of Britain, but in its wild state it is not to be recognised by ordinary observers from wild mustard. It was cultivated as food for cattle by the Romans ; and has been sown for the same purpose in the fields of Germany and the Low Countries from time immemorial. 1 When they were introduced in this country, as afield plant, is unknown : but it is probable turnips would be found in some gardens of convents from the time of the Romans; and it is certain that they were in field culture before the middle of the seventeenth century, though then, and for a long time after- wards in a very inferior and ineffectual manner. It has been stated that turnips were introduced from Hanover in George I.'s time; but so far from this having been the case, George II. caused an abstract of the Norfolk system of turnip husbandry to be drawn up for the use of his subjects in Hanover {Campbell's Polit. Survey, &C vol. iii. p. 80.) The introduction of improved turnip culture into the husbandry of Britain, Brown observes, " occasioned one of those revolutions in rural art which are constantly occurring among husbandmen ; and, though the revolution came on with slow and gradual steps, yet it may now he viewed as completely and thoroughly established. Before the introduction of this root, it was impossible to cultivate light so'ils successfully, or to devise suitable rotations for cropping them with advantage. It was likewise a difficult task to support live-stock through the winter and spring months ; and as for feed- ing and preparing cattle and sheep for market during these inclement seasons, the practice was hardly thought of, and still more rarely attempted, unless where a full stock of hay was provided, which only happened in very few instances. The benefits derived from turnip husbandry are, therefore, ol gnat magnitude. Light soils are now cultivated with profit and facility j abundance of food is provided for man and beast ; the earth is turned to the uses for which it is physically calculated ; and, by being suitably cleaned with this preparatory crop, a bed is provided for grass seeds, wherein they flourish and prosper with greater vigour than alter any Other preparation." {Treatise on Rural Affairs.) 5375. Turnips and clover, it is elsewhere observed, " are the two main pillars of the best courses of British husbandry; they have contributed more to preserve and augment the fertility of the soil for producing grain, to enlarge and improve our breeds of cattle and sheep, and to afford a regular supply of butcher's meat all the year, than any other crops; and they "ill probably be long found vastly superior, for extensive cultivation, to any of the rivals which have often been opposed to them in particular situations. Though turnips were long cultivated in Norfolk before they were known in the northern counties, yet it is an undoubted fact that their culture was first brought to perfection in Roxburghshire, Berwickshire, and Northumberland, and chiefly through the exertions of Dawson, of Frogden, in the first named county, and of Culley, in the latter. 5S7& Drilling turnips, as well as other crops, evidently originated with Toll, whose first work, Specimen of a Work on Horseshoeing Husbandry, appeared in 1731. it appears that Craig, of Arbigland, in Dum. 11 es hire, began to drill turnips about 1746 ; and next we find Philip Howard, of Corby, drilling in 1755; and Pringle, drilling" from hints taken from Tub's book," in 1756 or 1757. William Dawson, who was well acquainted with the turnip culture in England, having been purposely .sent to reside in those districts Book VI. THE TURNIP. 855 for six or seven years, where the best cultivation was pursued, with an intention not only of seeing, but of making himself master of, the manual operations, and of the minutia? in the practice, was convinced of the superiority of Pringle's mode over every other he had seen, either in Norfolk or elsewhere ; and in 1762 "hen he entered on Frogmore Farm', near Kelso, in Roxburghire, he immediately adopted the practice upon a large scale, to the amount of 100 acres yearly. Though none of Pringle's neighbours followed the example, vet no sooner did Dawson, an actual or rent-paying farmer, adopt the same system, than it was immediately followed, not only bv several farmers in his vicinity, but by those very farmers adjoining Pringle, whose crops thev had seen, for ten or twelve years, so much superior to their own : the practice in a few years became general Drilling turnips was first introduced to the county of Northum- berland, about the year 1780. *5S77. The varieties of turnip grown by farmers may be arranged as whites ami yellows. 5378 Of white turnips, by far the best and most generally cultivated is the globe ; but there are also the green-topped having the bulb tinged greenish ; and purple-topped, with the bulb reddish : which, though th"V do not produce so large a crop as the globe or oval, stand the winter better, and the red-topped, it is said' will keep till February. The pudding, or tankard turnip, has a white bulb which rises from eight to twelve inches high, standing almost wholly afceve ground. It is less prolific than any of the others, and more liable to be attacked by frost. . 5379 Of yellow turnips, there are the field or Aberdeen vellow, which is more hardy than the globe, and answers well for succeeding that variety in spring; and the rutabaga, or Swedish turnip, which mav be preserved for consumption till June. The Siberian turnip has a bulb and a branchy top, but both of inferior quality. It is a hybrid between a white rutabaga and field cabbage, or between rape and 5380 New varieties are obtained bv selection and by counter impregnation ; but in either case the greatest care is requisite to keep the plants at least a furlong from any others ot the brassica tribe likely to flower at the same time, otherwise the progeny will certainly be hybridised. .__.,.,. ,• 5381 The choice of sorts may be considered as limited to the white, globe, yellow, and Swedish, according as early, middling, or late supplies are wanted. No other varieties are grown by the best farmers. 5382. In the choice of seed the farmer must rely on the integrity of the seed-dealer, as it is impossible to discover from the grains whether they will turn out true to their kinds. 5383 Turnip-seed requires to he frequently changed ; and the best is generally procured from Norfolk and Northumberland. The Norfolk seed, Forsyth observes, is sent to most parts of the kingdom, and even to Ireland: but after two years it degenerates; so that those who wish to have turnips in perfection should procure it fresh every year from Norwich, and thev will find their account in so doing: for, from its known reputation, many of the London seedsmen sell, under that character, seed raised in the vicinity of the metropolis, which is much inferior in quality. fir drought o. fly is perhaps a question which cannot be easily determined, even by experiments ; for concomitant cir- cumstances are frequently so much more operative and powerful as to render the difference between them, if there be am, imperceptible. It is, however, known to every practical man, that new seed vegetates several days before the old, and more vigorously ; and it is equally well known that the healthy and vigor- ous plants escape the fly, when the stinted and sickly seldom or never escape it. Hence it would seem, that new seed, ceteris paribus, is more secure from the fly than old. 5385. The soil for turnips should always be of a light description. In favourable seasons very good crops may be raised on any soil ; but from the difficulty of removing them, and the injury which the soil must sustain either in that operation, or in eating them on the spot with sheep, they never on such soils can be considered as beneficial to the farmer. Turnips cannot be advantageously cultivated on wet tenacious soils, but are grown on all comparatively dry soils under all the variations of our climate. On dry loams, and all soils of a looser texture, managed according to the best courses of cropping, they enter into the rotation to the extent of a fourth, a sixth, or an eighth part of the land in tillage ; and even on clayey soils they are frequently cultivated, though on a smaller scale, to be eaten by cattle, for the purpose of augmenting and enriching the manure, into which the straw of corn is converted. 5386. The climate most desirable for the turnip is cool and temperate. This was long ago noticed by Pliny, and it is so obvious on the Continent that it admits of no dispute. Von Thaer observes" that the turnips grown on the fields of Germany seldom exceed half a pound in weight, and that all his care could not raise one beyond fourteen pounds. In France and Italy they are still less. A rapid climate is equally disadvantageous to the turnip; and they are" accordingly found of no size in Russia, Sweden, and many parts of North America. Even turnips grown in the southern counties of England, in the same excellent manner as in Northumberland, never equal the size of those grown in the latter county, or further north, or in Ireland. 5387. The field culture of turnips is effected either by sowing the seed of the plant from the hand on a flat surface, or by depositing it on the tops of little ridges. In the best cultivated districts, the latter 'method is universally practised and approved of, chiefly for these reasons: — 1. By this method the land may be more easily and perfectly cleaned during the growth of the plants ; the width of the rows affording the means of better tilling the intervals. 2. The plants can be more cheaply and quickly hand-hoed, the process being so simple as to be taught to young persons in a few hours , whereas when the plants are not regularly disposed in rows, a considerable degree of ex- perience and time are requisite. 3. The manure may be more perfectly covered, and bv being applied in a more effectual manner to the roots of the plants, a smaller quantity will suffice. And lastly, the turnips mav lie kept drier, and crops of them in consc- 3 I -i 8.-->fi PRACTICE OF AGRICULTURE. III. quence raised on land so wel as otherwise i<> be incapable of yielding a return of any value. We shall give their culture from an excellent paper in the Quarterly Journal if Agriculture, vol. i., from which also tin's paragraph is c|uotod. 5388. Preparation qf the land. The land intended for the turnip crop is ploughed in autumn, after the preceding crop of grain has been reaped If the soil be not of a very dry nature, the land is formed into ridges 0? fifteen (Set or more, and care is taken that no water shall stagnate on the ground. In this condition the land remaina during the winter ; and it ii ploughed again in spring as Boon as the ground is sufficiently dry for thai purpose, and u i as the other labour of the farm will allow: this second ploughing is generally made in a direction to cross the previous one. The land is then repeatedly grubbed and harrowed in various directions, for the purpose of pulverising it, anil of dragging to the surface, and disengaging all weed- and roots, to assist in which process the aid of the roller is frequently requisite; the loots and weeds dl th gathered with care, and either burnt in little heaps on the ground, or removed away to « larger heap, to he mixed with quick-lime and other substances, to form a compost for the succeeding year; al the same time such stones as impede the tillage may be removed: after this the land is again ploughed, and generally, as before, in a direction crossing the last furrows; and the same process <•< harrowing, rolling, and collecting the disengaged weeds, is repeated The earth is once more ploughed, and again the same operations are resorted to ; after which the land is usually in a fit state to be formed into ridgea or drills. Should this not be so, the operations of ploughing, harrowing, and gather- ing of weeds must be repeated, and that until the land is cleared of all injurious roots, and reduced to a loose or friable state. The perfect preparation of the ground in this stage of its culture, is of very great import .nee to the future crop. a 189. Forming the ridges. After the preparation described, the land is formed into little ridges or ridgelets, either by the common plough, or by a plough with two mould-boards, formed for that purpose. The tirst of these is to be preferred when the method of performing the work is once pointed out in the fii Ms. The ridges are formed with a sharp top, as a transverse section (fig. 751.) will show. The distance 751 of these ridgelets may be from twenty-seven to thirty inches, measuring from top to top. This interval is necessary to allow of the horse. hoe tilling the intervals, in the manner to be afterwards described, and to admit a sufficient circulation of air between the rows of the plants. 90, Manner of applying the manure. The chief manure applied to this crop is farmyard dung, or that which is produced by the consumption of the straw and other produce of the farm. This manure ought to be well rotted, and to that end either turned over in the court-yard some weeks previously to its being used, or carried out in winter to the fields intended for the turnips, and there laid in one or more large heaps. If the carts are not suffered to go upon these heaps, the putrefactive process will proceed with greater quickness. When the ridgelets are formed in the manner described, the dung is filled into carts drawn by one horse, and transported quickly to the land. The manner of applying it is this : — The horse with the loaded cart walks in the interval of the ridges, so that a wheel of the cart shall go in each of the 752 hollows of the two ridges adjoining. The person who directs the horse follows the cart, which is open behind, and with a crooked two pronged fork or dung.hack, (fig. 752.) drags out the dung, as the horse moves along, into little heaps in the hollow of every third ridge, at the distance from each other of from eight to ten feet Be- hind follow three young persons, with each a two-pronged or three-pronged fork (fig. 753.), each walking in the interval of a ridge, and spreading out the dung in as regular a manner as possible ; as a cross section of the ridgelets with the dung deposited in the intervals would show (fig. 754.) 53P1. Covering the dung. The dung is no sooner spread in this manner than it is covered by the plough. To this end is employed either the common plough, or that with the double mould board already mentioned : these passing down the middle of each ndgelet split it into two, so that a new ridgelet is formed, whose top is immediately above the former hollow of the old ridgelet, (fig.~5v.) The dung is now completely covered, and a new ridge for the reception of the seed is at once formed. The double mould-board plough performs this 754 ■T operation at once, the common plough by going and returning up the middle of each ridge. 755 5392. Broad-cast dunging. Instead of depositing the manure in the manner described, it is sometimes laid upon the stubble alter harvest, and then ploughed in. This is only practicable where there is a supply of manure remaining from the preceding year, or where it can be elsewhere procured ; and is only ad- visable when the land is so clean as to require little preparation in the succeeding spring. As liberal an expenditure as can be afforded of manure is always expedient in the case of this crop, the goodness of which will much depend upon the fertility we are able to communicate to the soil. Ten or twelve tons per acre may be considered the regular manuring on a turnip-farm, where a proper rotation of crops is followed 5393. Lime, sea-weed, ashes. Sometimes lime is applied to the turnip crop, together with dung. This may be done by laying the lime upon the stubble after harvest, or better still, by spreading it upon the ground, and harrowing it well immediately, before the forming of the ridgelets for the reception of the dung. Putrescent manures, however, are considered superior to the calcareous for the production of this plant; and all of the former kind may be used with effect Street dung is an exceedingly good manure ; sea-weed will also be useful : this last, however, is not applied in the manner of the farmyard dung, but is carried off as it is cast on shore, laid on the surface, and suffered to remain so till the land is Book VI. THE TURNIP. 857 ploughed Ashes generally produce a good effect in causing the seeds to vegetate quickly, but the fer- tilising powers of some of these do not appear to be of a permanent nature Bruised bones and various other substances have been used with much benefit ; but it is to be observed, that putrescent ma- nures form the main support of the turnip cultivator, and that the others are only to be regarded as subsidiary. 5394. Solving the turnips. The land being formed into ridgelets in the manner described, is ready for the reception of the seed. This is sown on the tops of the ridgelets bv machines of various forms. 5395. The most simple of these consists of a hollow cylinder of tin, fixed upon an axle, and moving round with two light wheels, distant from each other twenty-seven or thirty inches, which are made to run in the hollows of the ridges. (2o88.! The seed is put into the cylinder through an aperture which opens and shuts for that purpose : this cylinder turning round with the axle, the seed drops, through small equidistant holes made in it, into a tin tube, by which it is conveyed to the ground. Immediately before this tube is a hollow coulter of iron, sharp before, which incloses the forepart of the tin tube, and makes a track in the ground from one to two inches deep, into which the seed drops. This simple apparatus is mounted upon a light wooden frame- work, having two shafts behind, by which the workman holds and keeps it steadv in its course. It is then attached by a rope to a light wooden roller, in the shafts of which the animal of draught is yoked. More perfect machines, however, may be employed where turnips are cul- tivated upon a large scale, and we may refer to that of French (26S8.) as one of the best. 5396. The preparation of turnip-seed for sowing, by steeping in the drainings of dung- hills and other similar matters, has been recommended as a likely mode to prevent the fly ; but it is not found to have this effect, and is never followed. 5 S97 The following mode of preparation is sometimes adopted : — Half new and half old seed are mixed together; then half is taken and steeped in water for three or four hours; afterwards both steeped and unsteeped seed are mixed and immediately sown. The object of this preparation is to obtain four different brairds or risings of the seed, which are supposed to give four chances of escaping the fly that attacks the infant plants, instead of one. Another mode is to join radish-seed to the above, new and old, steeped in the foregoing manner, it being found that the fly prefers the radish to the turnip. Some recommend the mixing of an equal quantity of rape-seed with the turnip-seed, alleging, that if a fly cuts oft' the tur- nips, the rape may be left for a crop ; and that if the turnips escape, the rape may be treated as weeds. The most common precaution, however, as to the fly, is to sow thick, or to mix the seed with soot, lime, or ashes. 5398. The quantity of seed used may be from two pounds to two and a half pounds avoirdupoise per acre. It is necessary to give a sufficient quantity of seed, to pro- vide against the loss of plants from the ravages of insects, and other contingencies. But the quantity should not be excessive ; because the plants, when too thick, get interwoven together, and thence become difficult to be thinned in a proper manner. 5399. The sowing process being completed, the ridgelets remain flattened and com- pressed. [Jig' 756.) 756 5400. The several operations of forming the ridgelets, spreading the dung, covering it by the plough, and sowing the seed, ought to be carried on in close succession. The dung must be immediately covered, that none of its powers may be lost by evaporation ; and the seed, to ensure its early vegetation, ought to be sown as soon as possible upon the moist earth turned up. The various works of the turnip culture, thus carried on at the same time, furnish the best specimen which the culture of the fields affords of the bene- ficial effects of a proper division of labour. The process has all the appearance and effects of garden culture, with the difference of its being conducted with incomparably greater economy and despatch. 5401. The period of solving in the north of England and Scotland is from the 1st to the end of June, though it is often continued to the middle of July. The turnips, how- ever, sown after the latter of these periods seldom attain to a proper size ; and, when sown earlier than the 1st of June, they are apt to shoot forth the seed-stem before winter, by which not only the soil is deteriorated, but the nutritive juices of the root exhausted. In the south of England they may be sown somewhat later than in the north. 5402. The time of sowing in other countries must be varied by the nature of the climate and soil. It is to be inferred, that in warmer countries, where vegetation is more rapid, the sowing should be deferred till a later period. At Roville, in the north of France, M. de Dombasle sometimes sows in August, and yet obtains a medium crop. 5403. Hoeing. When the plants are an inch or more in height, or when weeds appear amongst them, the process of hoeing commences. This is done either by a small plough drawn by one horse, going and returning along the hollow of each ridgelet, and cutting of a slice of earth from the sides, as near to the turnips as possible (fig- 757.) 757 or by the horse-hoe, of which there are various kinds. The most simple of these consists of a flat triangular share (fg. 758. a), with two lateral arms (6, b , formed to set wider or narrower, and fixed to a beam and handles by three upright coulters of iron ; or, which is better, the lateral arms are omitted, the triangular share fixed to the beam, and two moveable upright coulters attached by a cross bar. 85S PRACTICE OF AGRICULTURE. 1'akt III. 5404. One ij the best turnip korteJuet is formed from the skeleton of a common plough {fig. 759.), by 759 (wo coulter* of iron curved inwards [a, b), and fixed to wooden bars (c, /, and c, d), which last again are hooked to the beam of the implement, and made, by means of a cross iron bar g, h), to be set at a greater or small. -r distance from each other as it may be required. A broad iron share ii) moves in the middle <>f the hollow of the ridges, while the two coulters on each side go as near to the rows of turnips as can be done with safety ; and ill this manner the intervals of the ridges are tilled, and the weeds within them, and as near to the plants as the coulters can go, cut up and destroyed. By removing the wooden bar and coulters of this machine, and hooking to it, on each side, a smail cast-iron mould- board, it is converted to the double mould-board plough also, as we have seen. AOd, The liral.es nr horse-hoes of Wilkic (2666.), Finlayson (i!667.), or of Kirkwood (4955.), may easily be s.t and arranged for this or any other description of culture ; so that it requires no new implements. 5406. The hand-hoers go to work, each having a little iron hoe, fixed upon a wooden handle about three — . . _ , feet in length {fig. 760.). The breadth of the blade la) of this ~ hoe is eight inches ; and the workers, standing in the hollow ___ r iW"jj with their faces to the ridges, hoe the turnip plants, leaving ' fi0 ' '- " them standing singly, at the distance from each other of from ten to twelve inches. By this operation the rows of the turnips are cleaned of all weeds; the superfluous plants cut up and pushed into the intervals, where they die; and the plants to be preserved left standing singly at the distance required. A transverse section of the ridges will then appear thus {fig. 761.), and 761 a longitudinal section thus : {fig. 762.) The plants should not be nearer to each other than ten inches, that they may increase to a proper size. 762 . 5407. Second horse-hoeing. Soon after the operation in question, weeds will again sprout up in the intervals of the ridges and amongst the plants. In the course, therefore, of twelve days or more the horse-hoe again passes through the intervals of the ridges, cutting up all the weeds that may have sprung up; and soon after the hand-hoers again go to work with the same instrument as before, cutting up all weeds which may have grown amongst the turnips, and carefully singling any plants that may by chance have been omitted in the first hoeing. After this process, a section of the ridges will appear thus : {fig. 763.) 763 5408. Third horse-hoeing. Sometimes the horse-hoe passes once more down the intervals after a short period ; but more generally the previous hand-hoeing concludes the process upon all the drier lands, the weeds being now kept down by the rapid growth of the plant, and the overshadowing of the intervals by its leaves. Very commonly, however, at an interval of eight or ten days after the last hand or horse- hoeing, the earth which had been taken from the roots of the plants by these several hoeings is again laid back, either bv the little one-horse plough already mentioned, or by the double mould-board plough, passing down the intervals of the rows and ridging up the earth thus : {fig. 764.) The design in this ope- 764 ration is, that any weeds remaining in the intervals after the former hoeings may be destroyed, and that the land ami turnips may be kept more dry during wet weather and the months of winter. This concludes the culture of the turnip, which now grows rapidly without further care; and by the beginning of Sep. tember the leaves of a good crop will have covered the entire surface, making a transverse section of the ridget appear thus : fig. 765.) 765 5409. The Swedish turnip is cultivated, used, and stored precisely in the same manner as the common turnip ; but it is generally sown several weeks earlier. It does not attain to the same weight by the acre ; and, as it is more difficult to raise, it ought to receive a greater quantity of* manure, and to lie always upon good land. The Swedish has a property which the common turnip has not, that of bearing to be transplanted Book VI. THE TCRNIP. 859 when young ; so that, where blanks appear in a field, the spaces may be filled up by transplanting. Analogous to the Swedish turnip, in hardiness and nutritive qualities, is the large yellow or Aberdeen turnip. This root is perhaps superior to the Swedish turnip, in so far as it may be raised with less difficulty. It serves the same purpose of a succedaneum to the common turnip in spring. *5410. Consumption of the turnips. By the end of October or beginning of November, when the pastures have decayed, the turnips begin to be used for food. 5411. When sheep are to be fed, the turnips are either pulled up by the hand, and carried away, as wanted, into the fields, in which the sheep are kept, and there spread regularly upon the ground ; or more frequently and economically the sheep are at once driven into the fields of turnips, and suffered to con. sume theroots as they stand. In this case the animals are not suffered to range over the whole field at first, but are confined to a space of* an acre or more, by means of nets, or a series of moveable rails or hurdles. When the sheep have eaten the roots very nearly, the remnant in the ground may be picked up by a little hoe (Jig. 766.) or by the turnip chopper already described (2572.) ; and when the whole are _ _ consumed, the nets or rails, or hurdles, are moved to another '"" division, and so on throughout the field, leaving the spaces before cleared open to the sheep to move upon. This manner of con- suming the turnips affords an admirable manure to the land, and prepares it well for the subsequent crops of grain and herbage. In feeding in this manner, it is frequent to place in the field a little rack with a cover, containing a small quantity of hay, which seems to be relished by the animals amid their moister food. 5412. In the feeding of oxen, the turnips mav be laid down on a dry field, as in the case first mentioned ; but the proper and regular manner of feeding these animals is to supply them with the turnip in the house or open vard, littering them at the same time plentifully and regularly with straw, and giving them what thev choose to consume of it as provender, with their turnip-food. Cattle are fed either by being tied to upright posts in the house, or thev are suffered to go at large in the straw-yard. This last is greatly the better mode of feeding, the turnips being supplied from troughs or otherwise, and a shed for shelter being always at hand and open to the cattle to repose in. It is well, however, that too many animals, of different strength and size, be not put together, lest they disturb each other in feeding. Sometimes courts are made and divided into separate compartments, holding only two cattle in each, and this is found to be an exceedingly good practice. When cattle are of value, and put up for quick fattening, it is common to cut off" the leaves and tails of the turnip, giving the leaves to the younger and less valuable stock, and the hulb only to that which is to be fed. *541o. Young cattle, not intended to be immediately fattened, receive only a limited portion of turnips, their principal provender being straw. By receiving a portion of turnips with their drier provender, these animals are kept in a much more healthv condition than if confined to the latter food, and continue to gro.v throughout the whole season, instead of pining away at the time when green herbage can no longer be found for them. With the design, too, of keeping them in a good condition, turnips are supplied in a limited quantity to milch cows, and in particular at the time of calving. The turnip, however, though it adds to the quantity of milk, gives it a strong and disagreeable flavour. 5414. linen both sheep and cattle are fed upon a farm, it is usual to pull up every alternate four or five rows of turnips for the cattle, leaving the remainder on the ground for the sheep, so that the land on which the turnips had grown may receive its proportion of the manure produced. {Quar. Jour. Ag. vol. i. p. 286.) 5415. The advantages of eating turnips on the place of their growth by sheep, both in manuring and consolidating the ground, are sufficiently well known to every farmer. One great defect of the inferior sort of turnip soil is the want of tenacity- ; and it is found that valuable crops of wheat may be obtained upon verv light porous soils, after turnips so consumed. It is not uncommon to let turnips at an agreed price, for each sheep or beast, weekly. This varies according to age and size, and the state of the demand, from four-pence or less, to eight-pence or more, for each sheep weekly, and from two shillings to five for each beast. An acre of good turnips, sav thirtv tons, with straw, will fatten an ox of sixty stone, or ten Leicester sheep. Supposing the turnips worth six guineas, this may bring the weekly keep of the ox to six shillings and three-pence halfpenny, and of the sheep to about seven-pence halfpenny a week. In this way of letting, however, disputes may arise, as the taker may not be careful to have them eaten up clean. The person who lets the turnips has to maintain a herd for the taker ; and when let for cattle, and conse- quently to be carried off", the taker finds a man and horse, and the letter maintains both. The taker has to provide hurdles or nets for fencing the allotments to sheep ; but the letter must fence his own hedges if necessary. The period at which the taker is to consume the whole is usually fixed in the agreement, that the seller may be enabled to plough and sow his land in proper season. {Suppl. to Encyc. Brit. \ The rule for selling turnips in Norfolk is calculated from the fact, that one acre of good turnips is sufficient for 100 sheep for one week. Then, whether turnips be dear or cheap, the price per week may be easily found — at 51. per acre, Is. per week per head, and so of all other prices. This is under the suppo- sition that the crop is to be eaten off" on the ground. 5416. The Swedish and yellow turnips are eaten greedily by horses ; and afford a very nutritive and salutarv food along with hay or straw for working stock. The best mode is to steam them after pre- viously" passing them through the slicing machine, as no root requires so much cooking as the Swedish turnip". Horses will aHso eat the white turnip, but not freely, unless they have been early accustomed to them, as in some parts of Norfolk. 5417. Cattle fatten much faster with clean turnips than with such as are dirty, and therefore Waistell recommends that thev should never be given without being previously washed. " The earth upon unwashed turnips," he says, " scours the cattle, and keeps their bodies too loose and open; their dung being thin and almost liquid, carries off' with it a white mucous matter from the bowels, which is frequently seen among the dung, the loss of which must necessarily retard the fattening of the cattle ; but with washed turnips their dung is wax-like, and figured similarly to the dung of cattle fed on rich meadow hay. Cisterns are also found very useful in frosty weather ; for when frozen turnips are thrown into spring water, it speedily draws out of them all the icy particles, which, when retained, must undoubtedly render them much less nourishing and improving to the cattle that eat them." [Waistell's Designs, $c. p. 40.) 5418. Near large towns the most profitable mode of disposing of turnips is to the cow-keepers and green-grocers. 5419. The application of turnips in domestic economy is well known. They may also be used in the distillery ; and a wine is said to be made from them by the London manu- facturers of imitations of foreign wine. *5420. The storing of turnips is attended with too much labour and risk to be of much advantage in the greater part of the kingdom. Common turnips are never stored in any great quantity, though sometimes a portion is drawn and formed into heaps, like PRACTICE OF AGRICULTURE. Paht UI. potato camps, and lightly covered with straw, or preserved for some time under a shed. On these Occasions, before Storing up, the shaws or leaves and the tap-roots must be cut off and removed, to prevent beating and rotting. The heaps must not he covered with earth-like potatoes, for in this esse their complete destruction is inevitable. This root contains too much water to lie preserved tor any length of time in a fresh and palatable state, alter being removed from the ground; and though the loss in seasons unusually severe, particularly in the white globe variety, is commonly very great, it is probable that a regular system of Storing the whole, or the greater part, ot" the crop every season would, upon an average of years, he attended with still greater loss; besides the labour and expense, where turnips are cultivated extensively, would be intolerable. (Supp. $-c.) Taking up <""i replacing Is a mode by which turnips have been preserved, by lilaikie of Hoik. i, and some others. 1 be mode is to cart the turnips from the field where they grow, to a piece of ground near the farm-offices, before the winter rains set in, when, the tap-root being cut off, the plants arc set On the surface of the ground, in an upright position, as close to each other as they can stand, where they keep much better than in a Btore during the whole season. The advantages of having them quite to (he homestead, in place of bringing them most probably from a distant part of the farm in wet or Stormy weather, are so obvious, as fully to justify a recommendation of the practice. Replacing and earthing have also been tried with success, especially with the Swedish turnip. Being pulled and freed from their roots and leaves, they are carted to a piece of well worked dry soil near the tannery, and there deposited in rows, so close as nearly to touch each other in the bottom of shallow furrows, the plough covering one row as another furrow is opened. In this way many tons are quickly earthed in, and on a very small space, and they can be turned out when wanted with equal facility. [Farmer's Magazine, vol. xxiii. p. '282.) .", 12S. The jiroduce of turnips cultivated in the broad-cast manner in England varies from five to fifteen tons per acre : the latter is reckoned a very heavy crop. In Northum- berland and Berwickshire, a good crop of white globe turnips drilled usually weighs from twenty-five to thirty tons per acre, the yellow and Swedish commonly a few tons less. Of late there have been instances of much heavier crops, and in Ayrshire it would appear that above sixty tons have been raised on an English acre, the leaves not included. Fanner s Magazine, vols. xv. and xvi.) But such an extraordinary produce must have been ob- tained by the application of more manure than can be provided, without injustice to other crops, from the home resources of a farm; and where turnips form a regular crop in the rotation, no such produce is to be expected under any mode of culture. 5424. The produce of the turnip in nutritive matter, as proved by Sir II. Davy, was forty-two parts in a thousand ; of which seven were mucilage, thirty-four sugar, and one gluten. Swedish turnips afforded sixty-four parts in a thousand of nutritive matter, of which nine were starch, fifty-one sugar, two gluten, and two extract. According to Von Thaer, 100 lbs. of turnips are equal to twenty-two of hay ; and an ox to get fat on turnips ought to have one third of its weight daily. £425. To raise turnip seed, the usual mode is to select the most approved specimens of the variety to be raised at the season when they are full grown; and either to remove all others from the field and leave them to shoot into flower stems next year, or to trans- plant them to a place by themselves, where they will be secure from the farina of other plants of their genus. In either case they must be protected by earthing up from the winter's frost and rains, and in the ripening season from the birds. 54S6V The true sort of Swedish turnip ran very easily be kept by only attending to the plants when in flower. All the degenerated ones bear bright yellow flowers, which should be pulled out before the seed ripens. The true sort have a brownish yellow flower. This saves the expense of transplanting if a corner or one ridge of a field can be found convenient for saving. 54'27. The Norfolk seed-growers have a sort of theory on the subject of transplanting turnips for seed which it may be worth while to attend to. According to that theory, where turnip seed is collected from such turnips as have been sown three or four years in succession, the roots are liable to be numerous and long, and the necks or parts between the bulbs and leaves coarse and thick : ami when taken from such as have been transplanted every vear, these parts are liable to become too fine, and the tap-roots to be dimi. Dished in too great a proportion Of course the most certain plan i.- to procure seed from turnips that are transplanted one year and sown the next ; or, if they be transplanted once in three years, it is supposed, that the stock may be preserved in a proper state of perfection. It is stated, that the method of perform- ing this business in the best way, is to select such turnips as are of the best kinds and of the most perfect firms from the field crops, and after cutting their tops off, to transplant them, about the month of November, or following month, into a piece of ground that has been put into a line state of tillage by repeated ploughing or digging over, ami which should be situated as near the house as it can be, in order that the birds may be bitter kept from it. The seed will mostly be ready for gathering in the end of Julv, or in the following month. s Others cultivator*, however, advise that the seed collected from a few turnips thus transplanted should be preserved and -own in drills, in order to raise plants for seed for the general crop, drawing out all such as are weak and improper, leaving only those that are strong and which tike the lead ; and that when these have formed bulb-, such a- do not appear good and perfect should be taken out, as bv this means turnip teed maj be procured, not only of a more vigorous nature, but capable of vegetating with less moisture, and of producing stronger and more hardy plant*. The practice of transplanting the whole of the turnips for seed lor the mam crops, they contend, is not only highly expensive, but injurious, by diminishing the strength of the plants from the destruction of their tap-roots. Very good seed may, how. ever, be raised in either of the methods that have been here described. 5M9, I'tir best Norfolk tvrntp-seed growers are of opinion that unless the seed be always saved from transplanted roots, the stock Will infallibly degenerate in the manner here described. The statement that transplanting once in three years is sufficient, was a mere pretence with some of the growers to enable tliein to save two thirds of the heavy expense which attends transplanting turnips, and to get the same price for their seed as if it had been properly saved. The only exception to this is in what the Norfolk farmers calls the "pudding" ot '"long pudding" turnip, which is too tender to bear the winter. For a stock, a l\:v. sorts are taken up and protected from cold like mangold wurzel ; and for a general crop the Book VI. THE TURNIP. 861 seed is sown broadcast and not hoed, but suffered to grow like rape. So treated the plants form very small woody sorts, which are capable of enduring frosts. [J. L.) 5430. After the seed has become fully ripened, it is mostly reaped by cutting off part of the stems, and afterwards tying them up into sheaves, which, when sufficiently dry, are put into long stacks, and kept through the winter, in order to be threshed out about the time when it is wanted. Hut as in this way much seed is liable to be lost, by its readiness to escape from the pods in which it is contained, it is advised, as a much better practice, to have it immediately threshed out, either upon a cloth in the field where it grew, or in some other convenient place, being then put into bags proper for the purpose and placed in a situation which is perfectly dry. From seed crops of this sort being subject to much injury, and loss in different ways, the quantity of produce must be very different under different circumstances; but it may in general he stated at not less than from twenty to twenty-four bushels the acre. The price of turnip seed being seldom less than seven or eight shillings the bushel, on account of the great demand for it, it may at first appear to be a very advantageous sort of culture ; but from the exhausting nature of the crop, the loss sustained in grain, and the quantity ot manure afterwards necessary, it is probable that turnip seed can only be grown to advantage in particular circumstances of soil and situation. In most cases it is, however, well for the farmer to raise his own seed, as that of the shops is seldom to be fully depended upon. 5431. The diseases and injuries to ivhich turnips are liable are various. At their first appearance their leaves are liable to the attacks of the fly (A v phisand Haltica, the cater- pillar, the slug, and the mildew. Their bulbs and roots are attacked by worms of different kinds ; by a singular tendency to monstrosity, known provincially by the name of fingers and toes ; by the anbury ; by canker, and by wasting or gangrene from water or frost. Of all or most of these injurious diseases it may be observed, that they neither admit of prevention or cure by art. Under favourable circumstances of soil, climate, culture, and weather, they seldom occur ; therefore all that the cultivator can do is to prepare and manure his land properly, and in the sowing season supply water when the weather is deficient in showers or the soil in humidity. *5t32. The fly attacks the turnip when in the seed-leaf, and either totally devours it, or partially eats the leaves and centre-bud, so as to impede the progress of the plants to the second or rough leaves. Whether the eggs of these flies are deposited on the plants or in the soil, does not appear to be ascertained ; in all probability they are attached to the former, as in the gooseberry caterpillar, and most cases of flies and insects which feed on plants. Preparations and mixtures of the seed, as already treated of, are all that have yet been done in the way of preventive to this evil. 5433. The caterpillar makes its appearance after the plants have produced three or more rough leaves; these they eat through, and either destroy or greatly impede the progress of the plants. There can be little doubt that the eggs of these caterpillars are deposited on the leaves of the plants by a species of moth, as the caterpillar may be detected when not larger in diameter than a hair. As preventives to the moths from fixing on the turnips for a depository for their eggs, it has been proposed to place vessels with tar in different parts of the field, the smell of which is known to be very offensive to moths and all insects ; or to cause a thick offensive smoke from straw or weeds to pass over the ground at the time when it is supposed the moths or parent flies were about to commence their operations. To destroy the caterpillar itself, watering with tobacco water, lime water, strong brine, and laying on ashes, barley awns, &c. have been proposed. 5+34. The slug and snail attack the plants both above and under ground, and eat both the leaves and roots. Rolling, soot, quicklime, awns, ice. have been proposed to annoy them ; but the only effectual niude is, immediately after the turnips are sown, to strew the ground with cabbage leaves, or leaves of any of the Brassica tribe. On these, especially if sweet from incipient decay, the slugs will pasture, and may be gathered off' by women or children every morning. If as many cabbage leaves, or handfuls of decaying pea haulm, or any similar vegetable be procured, as will go over a ridge or two, say at the rate of a leaf to every square yard, a whole field may soon be cleared by picking oft' the slugs and removing the leaves once in twenty-four hours. This mode we have found most effectual, and it is extensively practised by market and other gardeners. (Encyc. of Gard. 2275.) 5435. The mildew and blight attack the turnip in different stages of its progress, and always retard its growth, its effects may be palliated by watering and strewing the leaves with sulphur; but this will hardly be considered applicable to whole fields. 5436 The worms attach the roots ; and, when they commence their ravages at an early period, impede their growth, and ruin or greatly injure the crop. Tiiey admit of no remedy or prevention. 5437. The forked excrescences, known as fingers and toes in some places, and as the anbury in of ers, are considered an alarming disease, and hitherto it can neither be guarded against nor cured. The following account of it is given by William Spence, president of the Holderness Agricultural Society in 1S11 : — 5438. In some plants, the bulb itself is split into several finger like-diverging lobes. More frequently the bulb is externally tolerably perfect, and the tap-root is the part principally diseased ; being either wholly metamorphosed into a sort of misshapen secondary bulb, often larger than the real bulb, and closely attached to it, or having excrescences of various shapes, frequently not unlike human toes (whence the name of the disease', either springing immediately from its sides, or from the fibrous roots that issue from it. In tins last case, each fibre often swells into several knobs, so as distantly to resemble the runners and accom- panying tubers of a potato; and not seldom one turnip will exhibit a combination of all these difli rent forms of the disease. These distortions manifest themselves at a very early stage of the turnip's growth ; and plants, scarcely in the rough leaf, will exhibit excrescences, which differ in nothing else than size from those of the full-grown root. 5439. The leaves discover no unusual appearance, except that in hot weather they become flaccid and droop ; from which symptom the presence of the disease may be surmised without examining the roots. These continue to grow for some months, but without attaining any considerable size, the excrescences enlarging at the same time. If divided at this period with a knife, both the bulb and the excrescences are found to be perfectly solid, and internally to differ little in appearance from a healthy root, except that they are of a more mealy and less compact consistency, and are interspersed with mote numerous and larger sap-vessels. The taste, too, is more acrid ; and, on this account, sheep neglect the diseased plants. Towards the approach of autumn, the roots, in proportion as they are more or less diseased, be- come gangrenous and rot, and are either broken (as frequently happens by high winds, or gradual); dis- solved by the rain. Some, which have been partially diseased, survive the winter; but of the rest, ;:t this period, no other vestige remains than the vacant patches which they occupied at their first appearance. There is no longer any doubt about the cause of this disease ; it is the effect of the deposition ot the eggs of a small fly (probably a Scarabae'His) into the pithy parts of the roots, and the alburnous parts of the bulb, which soon changing to a maggot, and ultimately to a perfect insect, eat their way out. 544D. For the prevention qt' this disease, marl has been recommended by Sir Joseph Banks and others ; and where marl cannot be procured, it has been thought that an addition of mouui of any kind, that has not borne turnips, will be advantageous; such as a dressing taken from banks, woodlands, ditches, &c, ard mixed up with a good dose of lime. But lime alone has been tried in vain ; and no great dependence B63 PRACTICE OF AGRICULTURE. Paht III. c.iii be placed upon fresh mould, u t ins dise ise hu been known to prevail upon lands thai had scarcely ever before borne .1 crop ol turnips Fm m 1 '1 tfqgoznte, vol aiii.). The only effectual preventive would be t< hinder the Inject mm laj Ing its egg*. 5441 The canker attacks the root*, ana partly the bulbs, of turnips, and i~ known 1>> the ulcerated ap- pearance it produces. Some consider 11 owing to the pretence of too much Iron In the soil, and recommend liming .is a preventive. .Ml.' II atttmg owl putrefaction, from excess of water or frost, are to be prevented by earthing up the bulbs, or taking up and storing. Sect. III. The Carrot. — Daticus Carbta L. ; Pent&ndria Digtfnia L., and Umhelli- ftraZ. Carotte, Ft. ; Gelbe Riibe, Ger. ; Carota, Ital. ; and Chirivia, Span. "H:i. The carrot is a biennial plant, a native of Britain ; bul though long known as a garden plant, it is comparatively but of recent introduction in agriculture. It appears to have been cultivated from an early period in Germany and Flanders, and introduced from the latter country to Kent and Suffolk early in the KJtli century. As the carrot requires a deep soil, inclining to sand, it can never enter so generally into cultivation as tfae potato or turnip; but, as observed by a judicious writer, it has been too much neglected on lands where it would have yielded a more valuable product, perhaps, than any bulbous or tap-rooted plant whatever. Several contradictory experiments in its Culture have been detailed in a number of publications, from which the practical hus- bandman will be at a loss to draw any definite conclusion : but, in a recent communication to the Board of Agriculture, from Robert Burrows, an intelligent Norfolk farmer, who has cultivated carrots on a large scale, and with great success, for several years, so accurate an account is presented of the culture, application, and extraordinary value of this root, that carrots will probably soon enter more largely into the rotation of crops on suitable soils. (Supp. r snow that may happen in the winter months . tin- re-t oi the crop I leave in the ground, preferring them fresh out of the earth for both horses and bullocks. The carrots keep best in the ground, nor can the severest frosts do them any material injury ; the BrsI week in March it i> necessary to have the remain. big part hi the crop taken up, and the land cleared for barley. The carrots can either he laid in a heap with a small quantity of straw over them, or they may he bud into some empty outhouse or barn, in heaps of many hundred bushels, provided I hey are put together dry. This latter circumstance it is indispensably --ary to at lend to; tor ii laid together in large neaps when wet, they will certainly sustain much injury. When selecting such as I want to keep for the use of my horses until the months of May and June, in drawing over the heaps which should Ih- done in the latter end of April, when the carrots begin to .sprout at the crown very fas! 1 throw aside the healthy and most perfect mots, and have their crowns out com. pletely off and laid by themselves ; by this means, carrots may be kept the month of June out in a high stite of perfection." {Communications to the Board oj Agriculture, vol. vii. p 5463. Storing a whole crop of carrots may be a desirable practice when winter wheat is to follow them, in which case the same mode may be adopted as for turnips or potatoes, but with fewer precautions against the frost, as the carrot, if perfectly dry, is very little injured by that description of weather. 5 164. The produce of an acre of carrots in Suffolk, according to Arthur Young, is at an average 350 bushels; but Burrows's crops averaged upwards of 800 bushels per acre, which considerably exceeds the largest crop of potatoes. 5465. The uses to which the carrot is applied in Suffolk are various. Large quanti- ties are sent to the London markets, and also given as food to different kinds of live stock. Horses are remarkably fond of carrots; and it is even said, that when oats and carrots are given together, the horses leave the oats and eat the carrots. The ordinary allowance is about forty or fifty pounds a day to each horse. Carrots when mixed with chaff, that is, cut straw, and a little hay, without corn, keep horses in excellent condition for performing all kinds of ordinary labour. The farmers begin to feed their horses with carrots in December, and continue to give them chiefly that kind of provender till the beginning or middle of May ; to which period, with proper care, carrots may be pre- served. As many of the fanners in that country are of opinion that carrots are not so good for horses in winter as in spring, they give only half the above allowance of carrots at first, and add a little corn for a few weeks after they begin to use carrots. 5+66. The application of the carrot to the feeding of working cattle and hogs is thus detailed by Har- rows: — " 1 begin to take up the carrot crop in the last week of October, as at that time I generally finish soiling my horses with lucern, and now solely depend upon my carrots, with a proper allowance of hay, as winter food for my horses, until about the first week of June following, when the lucern is again ready tor soiling. By reducing this practice to a system, I have been enabled to feed ten cart-horses throughout the winter months for these last six years, without giving them any corn whatever, and have at the same time effected a considerable saving of hay, from what 1 found necessary to give to the same number of horses, when,arcording to the usual custom of the country, I fed my horses with corn and hay. 1 give them to my cart-horses in the proportion of seventy pounds' weight of carrots a horse per day, upon an average ; not allowing them quite so many in the very short days, and sometimes more than that quantity in the spring months, or to the amount of what I withheld in the short winter days. The men who tend the horses slice some of the carrots in the cut chaff or hay, and barn-door refuse ; the rest of the carrots they give whole to the horses at night, with a small quantity of hay in their racks ; and with this food my horses generally enjoy uninterrupted health. 1 mention this, as I believe that some persons think that carrots only, given as food to horses, are injurious to their constitutions ; but most of the prejudices of mankind have no better foundation, and are taken up at random, or inherited from their grandfathers. So successful have I been with carrots, as a winter food for horses, that w it h the assistance of lucern for soiling in summer, I have been enabled to prove by experiments conducted under my own personal in- spection, that an able Norfolk team-horse, fully worked two journeys a day, winter and summer, may be kept the entire year round upon the produce of only one statute acre of land. I have likewise applied carrots with great profit to the feeding of hogs in winter, and by that means have made my straw into a most excellent manure, without the aid of neat cattle ; the hogs so fed are sold on Norwich hill to the London dealers as porkers." The profit of carrots so applied he shows in a subsequent statement, together with an experiment of feeding four Galloway bullocks with carrots, against four others fed in the common way with turnips and hay. [Communications, &c.) 5+67. In comparing the carrot with the potato, an additional circumstance greatly in favour of the former is. that it does not require to be steamed or boiled, ami it is not more difficult to wash than the potato. These and other circumstances considered, it appears to be the most valuable of all roots for working horses. 5+68. The use of the carrot in domestic economy is well known. Their produce of nutritive matter, as ascertained by Sir II. Davy, amounts to ninety eight pruts in one thousand, of which three are starch, and ninety-five sugar. They are used in the dairy in winter and spring to give colour and flavour to but- ter. In the distillery, owing to the great proportion of sugar in their composition, they yield more spirit than the potato the usual quantity i> twelve gallons per ton. They are excellent in soups, stews, and haricots, and boiled whole with salt beef. 54G9. To save carrot seed, select annually some of the most perfect and best-shaped roots in the taking-up season, and either preserve them in sand in a cellar till spring, or plant them immediately in an open airy part of the garden, protecting them with litter during severe frosts, or earthing them over, and uncoverh.g them in March follow- ing. The seed is in no danger of being contaminated by any other plant, as the wild carrot, even should it happen to grow in the neighbourhood, flowers later. In August it will be fit to gather, and is best preserved on the stalks till wanted. This is the most Book VI. THE PARSNEP. 865 certain mode of procuring genuine and new seed, but still it will be found advisable to change it occasionally. 5470. The diseases of carrots are only those which are common to most plants, such as mildew, insects, &c. The mildew and worms at the root frequently injure crops, and are to be guarded against as far as practicable by a proper choice of soil, season of sowing, and after-culture. Sect. IV. The Parsnep. — Vastindca satlva L. ; Pentdndria Digynia L., and Umbel- liferte J. I.e Panais, Fr. ; Pastinake, Ger. ; Pastinaca, Ital. ; and Zanahoria, Span. *5471. The parsnep is a biennial plant with a fusiform root like the carrot, and nearly equal in its products of nutritive and saccharine matter. It is a native of most parts of Europe and generally cultivated in gardens, but is only of late and very partial intro- duction as a field plant. Its culture has been chiefly confined to the Island of Jersey, where it attains a large size, and is much esteemed for fattening cattle and pigs. It is considered rather more hardy than the carrot, and its produce is said to be greater. It may be sown either in autumn or spring, and its seed admits of drilling by machinery. The plants when they come up are more easily recognised than carrots, and consequently their culture is on the whole more simple, less dependent on manual labour, and, therefore, more suited to farming. For the rest, their culture is the same as that of the carrot. 5472. The variety best suited for the field is the large Jersey, the seed of which should be procured from the island, as that of the garden parsnep sold by the seedsmen never attains the same size. 5473. The soil, preparation, and manure for this plant are the same as for the carrot. 5474. The quantity of seed for sowing in drills is from four to five pounds per acre, and for broad-cast six or eight pounds. It must always be new, as two years' seed does not come up freely. It may or may not be prepared by steeping ; but it re- quires no earth or sand, or rubbing, like carrot seed, as it passes freely through the same drill that will sow tares or peas. 5475. The time of sowing is generally about the middle of February; but some sow in September, in which case the seed does not vegetate till early in spring. The latter method, however, is obviously against the culture of the soil, which must thus remain a year in a consolidated state. 5476. The manner of soiling is generally in drills at fifteen or eighteen inches' distance ; but some sow broad-cast, and harrow in the seed ; and in Jersey parsneps and beans are generally cultivated together. The beans are first dibbled in, and afterwards the parsnep seed scattered over the surface and harrowed. It is acknowledged that a good crop of both plants is never obtained ; and therefore, though this mode may be found to answer in the mild climate of Jersey, it is not to be imitated in other places. Drills and broad- cast without any intermixture of plants are the only advisable modes. 5477. The after-culture and taking up are the same as for the carrot, with this difference, that the parsnep when sown broad-cast is generally thinned out to twelve inches, at an average, plant from plant ; and, when in rows eighteen inches apart, to nine inches in the row. •5478. The produce is said to be greater than that of carrots ; and the economical ap- plication the same. In the fattening of cattle it is found equal if not superior, perform- ing the business with as much expedition, and affording meat of exquisite flavour and a highly juicy quality. The animals eat it with much greediness. It is reckoned that thirty perches, where the crop is good, will be sufficient to fatten a perfectly lean ox of three or four years old, in the course of three months. They are given in the proportion of about thirty pounds' weight morning, noon, and night ; the large ones being split in three or four pieces, and a little hay supplied in the intervals of those periods. Indeed, the result of experiment has shown that not only neat cattle, but hogs and poultry, be- come fat much sooner, and are more bulky, than when fed with any other root or vege- table ; and that the meat is more sweet and delicate. The parsnep is excellent food for cows ; and, with hay during winter, the cows of Jersey and Guernsey yield butter of a fine yellow hue, of a saffron tinge, as excellent as if they had been in the most luxuriant pasture. In these islands beans are cultivated along with parsneps, in double rows, twelve feet asunder, and the beans eighteen inches apart every way. The beans are planted first, and the ground afterwards harrowed, and the parsneps sown broad-cast. (Com. to B. of Agr. vol. i. p. 215.) 5479. Parsnep leaves, being more bulky than those of carrots, may be mown off before taking up the roots, and given to cows, oxen, or horses, by which they will be greedily eaten. 5480. The use of the parsnep in domestic economy is nearly the same as that of the carrot. 'Iliey are much esteemed to salt fish, and are sometimes roasted for that purpose. ? K 866 PRACTICE OF AGRICULTURE, i art III. Their produce in nutritive nutter it 99 parte in looo, of which 9 are mucilage and 90 sugar. Oerarde says, thai a w rj % r I bread was made from them in his time. Tiny afford as much spirit as the carrot, and make an excellent wine. 5481. To $me parsnep aeed, proceed as with the carrot The parsnep, being more hard] and luxuriant than the carrot, is less liable to the mildew and worms, but equally so to become Forked it' the soil be not deep and well pulverised, and the manure minutely divided and equally distributed. Sect. V. The Field Beet- — BeVa L. ; Pentdndria Digynia L., and Chenopbdeee J. Bet- t.r.uY Champitre, Fr. ; Mangokt-wiinel, Ger. ; Biettola, Ital. ; and Betarraga, Span. '. The field-beet, commonly called the mangold-wiirzel, and sometimes erroneously tlie root of scarcity [in German mangel wiirzel), is supposed by Professoi Thaer to be a mongrel between the red and white beet. It has a much larger bulb than either, and that bulb, in some varieties, grows in great part above ground. It has been a good deal Cultivated in Germany and Switzerland, both for its leaves and roots; the leaves are either used as spinach or given to cattle ; and the roots are either given to cattle, used in distillation, or in the manufacture of sugar. The culture of the field-beet in Britain is very recent, and it may be questioned whether it has any advantages over the turnip for general agricultural purposes. It admits, however, of being cultivated on ridgelets and with as little manual labour as the turnip, while it will prosper on a stronger soil, and near large towns it is not liable to the depredations usually committed on turnips or car- rots, as the root is unpalatable either raw or boiled. 5483. The variety preferred in Germany is one slightly tinged with red for cattle, and the pale yellow variety for the distillery and sugar manufacture. The seed must not exceed a year old, and great care should be taken that the seed of the common red and white beet are not mixed with it. The seed of every variety of beet is very apt to dege- nerate. 5484. Any soil will suit this plant provided it is rich : immense crops have been raised on strong clays ; but such soils are not easily prepared for this sort of crop, and are also ill adapted for after-culture. 5485. The preparation should be exactly the same as for turnips; and the seed should be sown on the ridgelets in the same manner. Some, however, dibble in the seed in order to save the expense of thinning. The season of sowing is the same as for the parsnep, and should not be deferred later than the middle of April. The afterculture consists in horse-hoeing, hand-hoeing, and weeding, as in the culture of (he turnip, and the plants are thinned out to about the same distance in the rows. Blanks may be tilled up by transplanting, or, as in the case of the Swedish turnip, whole crops may be reared in this way ; but the produce is never so large. As the transplanting, however, takes place in May, more time is afforded, and drier weather obtained for cleaning tin; soil. The plants are set by the dibbler along the centre of the ridgelets, which are previously consolidated by rolling. 548C. The produce is, ceteris paribus, about the same as that of the Swedish turnip , but the nutritive matter afforded by the beet is 136 parts in 1000, of which 1:? are mucilage, 1 19 sugar, and 4 gluten. According to Von Thaer, they afford ten per cent. of nutritive matter, and are in that respect to hay as 10 to 46, and to potatoes as 20 to 46. An acre would thus appear to afford more nourishment than turnips, carrots, or parsneps. 5487. Practical men are not agreed as to the value of this root, compared with the Swedish turnip ; but the majority seem to think, that as a food for milk cows, the mangold is to be preferred, more especially as it gives no unpleasant ta>te to the milk and butter. It has this advantage over turnips, that it thrives better than they do in a dry warm season, being a plant that naturally requires more light and heat than the turnip. *5488. The application of the field-beet is almost confined to the fattening of stock, and feeding of milch cows. Near London they are in repute for the latter purpose ; and, according to Von Thaer, they cause a great increase of milk, as well as improve its flavour. The tops are first taken off, and given by themselves ; and then the roots are taken up, washed, and given raw. The roots are much more easily injured by frost than the turnip, carrot, or parsnep, and are stored with difficulty. The leaves make a very good spinach, but the roots cannot be used in cooking like those of the red beet. In the distillery it is nearly half as productive as the potato; but, according to Von Thaer, it is not likely to yield much profit in the manufacture of sugar. The manufacture of sugar from mangold wtirxel is still, however, carried on in France, and, although we think it can never ultimately compete with that from the cane, it seems of late years to be on the increase. We shall therefore give a short account of the process, premising that the greatest quan- tity of sugar is not obtained from the greatest bulk of root, but rather from small roots produced from dry calcareous soils, at the rate of from fifteen to twenty live tons an acre. One cwt of sugar is the general produce obtained by the most perfect apparatus from one ton of root. As soon as the leaves begin to turn yellow, the root maybe said to have arrived at maturity ; and it is time to take up the crop, and to begin the process of sugar-making, an operation which continues from October to February in the larger manu- factories. Take the roots up dry, and keep them so ; the smaller the heap the better, because the least fermentation will effectually prevent the formation of sugar. The difference in amount and quality of sugar is always in favour Of that made at the beginning of the season. The root, in keeping, undergoes a chemical change, often amounting to a total loss of its saccharine matter ; although its outward appear- ance indicates no such change. 5491), Process of sugar-making. The roots should first be washed, and then rasped, to reduce them to a state of pulp Of course, in large manufactories, they are provided with rasping machines; and it is Book VI. THE CABBAGE. R67 somewhat difficult to find a substitute on a small scale. I should imagine, though, that a stout iron plate, punched with triangular holes, the rough edges of which are left standing, somewhat alter the manner of a nutmeg-grater, might answer the purpose, only that I would have it somewhat concave instead of convex. Upon the rough side of this plate I would rub the roots by hand. If there should he a cider-mill and press within a reasonable distance, it might answer to take the roots thither, slice them, and pass them through the mill. When by these or any other means they are reduced to pulp, the juice should be pressed from the pulp, which is thus done: — It is put into canvass bags, not too fine, so as to impede the running of the juice, nor yet so coarse as to let the pulp through the meshes. The bags should be so fitted as, when pressed, to occupy about an inch in depth. Most manu- factories use about twenty-five of these bags at one pressing, hut this depends on the power of the press. Between every bag of pulp is laid a sort of osier hurdle, to allow the juice to percolate freely from the press into the juice-cistern below. The operation of pressing should immediately follow that of rasping. This point should be particularly attended to. 5491. Defecation. The juice being expressed from the pulp, the next process is the defecation of the juice, and here, too, no time should be lost. This is effected by boiling : a copper boiler should be used. Get up the (ire till the thermometer indicates 170° or 178°. Then add sifted lime (quick) previously mixed with water, at the rate of five or six pounds for every 100 gallons of juice. Stir it well up, and skim the liquor. Heat it till the thermometer reaches 200°. Add sulphuric acid in small portions, diluted with six times its bulk of water, to neutralise the effect of the lime, stirring it briskly each time. The proper quantity is ascertained by carefully examining the juice every time the acid is added, with a drop of syrup of violets in a spoon, which ought to turn of a green colour. About thirty ounces of the acid to every 100 gallons of juice will be necessary. This done, the fire is quenched, and the boiler left to settle for half an hour ; at the end of which time, the liquor is drawn off: by some, bullock's blood is added when the temperature of the juice reaches 190° in the proportion of two pints and a half to every twenty gallons of juice. Some, too, apply the sulphuric acid to the juice when cold, instead of hot, viz. before the boiler-tire is lighted ; and one recommends its being applied to the pulp before it goes into the boiler : but all this practice will decide. 5492. Concentration. The next process is concentration of the juice, which means nothing more than evaporating from it the water therein contained. This is effected by flat pans, over a brisk fire, but not so as to burn the syrup, which is the great danger in this operation. When reduced in pan 1 from 4 to 2 inches or so in depth, it is put into a smaller pan (2), and reduced to the same depth, and after- wards into a third pan. These three removals are the work of an hour and a half If the syrup rises, and threatens to overflow the pan, put in a small lump of butter, which will make it subside. 5493. Clarification. This the next operation, and may be carried on in one of the pans used for con- centration. Animal charcoal (some have even used wood charcoal) is now applied, at the rate of half a pound for every gallon of syrup, which renders it perfectly black and muddy. In this state, add blood mixed with water stirred up well with the syrup), in the proportion of about a pint and a half of blood to every twenty gallons of syrup. 5494. Boil it a sliorttime, after which it is filtered, and then boiled again, care being taken not to burn the pan. Great care is necessary in examining the state of the syrup from time to time The thermometer ought to stand as high as 234 c ; on attaining which, the pan should be emptied : eighteen gallons of syrup will be reduced, by boiling, to eleven gallons. The syrup is next cooled in a suitable vessel to 182° or 19o", and then run into moulds ; but the cooling is very gradual. The pan is covered, and the heat kept in by closing the edges with flannel. The syrup is then poured into large earthen moulds cone-shaped, and with a hole at bottom, through which the molasses drains. This hole is temporarily stopped till the mould is full A mould contains ten or twelve gallons, and requires a month to purge itself. As it cools, it crystalises. The syrup,. whilst filling, is at 67° to 77° ; but, in the course of purging, it is raised to 120° and even 145°, which expedites the flow of the molasses. Our next process is turning the 7>wu/ds, i. e. setting the cones on their bases, and taking them out of the moulds. The point of the cone is moist and syrupy : this is cut off, and boiled over again with the molasses. Thus far the process of making brown sugar : refining is a different business, anct one which there is no occasion to particularise here. It is to be observed, that copper utensils are preferred to those of iron, the latter having a chemical effect on the sugar. {GartL Hag. vol. vi. pp. 150, 151.) 5495. To save seed, select the finest specimens, preserve them in sand during winter and plant them in an airy part of the garden in March. The rest is easy. 5496. To diseases no plant is less liable than the beet. Sect. VI. The Cabbage Tribe. — Brassica L. ; Tetradynamia Siliquosa L., and Cm- ciferce J. Chou, Fr. ; Kohl, Ger. ; Cavolo, Ital. ; and Col, Span. 5497. The cabbage tribe is of the greatest antiquity in gardens, and most of the species may be cultivated in the fields with success. For the common purposes of farming, however, there can be little doubt that they will afford less profit than any of the plants hitherto treated of in this chapter ; but near large towns or sea-ports they may answer the purpose of the farm-gardener. Cabbage culture, Brown observes, is much more hazardous, far less profitable, and attended with infinitely more trouble, than that of turnips ; while the advantages to be derived are not, in our opinion, of a description to compensate the extra hazard and trouble thereby incurred. 5498. The culture of cabbage has been strongly recommended by several speculative agriculturists, and examples adduced of extraordinary produce and profits ; but any plant treated in an extraordinary manner will give extraordinary results ; and thus an inferior production may be made to appear more valuable than it really is. One reason why so much has been said in their favour, by Arthur Young and other southern farmers, is, that they compare them with the produce of turnips, which, in the south of England, is averaged at only fifteen tons per acre. 5499. The variety of cabbage, cultivated in the fields for cattle, is almost exclusively the large field cabbage, called also the Scotch, Strasburg, drumhead, &c. For the pur- poses of domestic economy, other varieties of early and late cabbage, as the York, Bat- tersea, sugar-loaf, imperial, &c. are grown ; and also German greens, Savoy cabbage, and even Brussels sprouts and broccoli. 5500. The cow cabbage, Cesarean cole, or tree cabbage (.Brassica oleracea L. var. acephala Dec. ,- Chou cavalier, Chou u vaches, Chou branchu, Chou en arbre, Chou mille teles, Fr. ; Caulct, Flem.), is much cul. 3 K 2 8,i8 PRACTICE OF AGRICULTIRK. Part III. i anted (be milch cows In French Flanders, the Netherlands, and In Jersey and Guernsey; and it has been Introduced, at diflfcrenl periods Into this country, without having ever come into general cult.. ration The CMou ctndetde FUmdre differ, from the French variety In ha ving re d leaves; ami the Cham ,,', tbraneku, the Choumillc titetdu Poiteau, diflfers from the flrsl In not gwring quite eo high, and In ^mUiTaMraewhat tufted head. No variety among these, and the ■many that might be named, appear, bo suitable for Held culture In the climate of Britain as the Scotch or drumhead cabbage . V- I In Jeritw the coto cabbage ii sown from about the Kfth ol August to the 1st o September, .n a nod soil and planted out from November to January and February ... succession, at from twenty to S^yinSies'dUtance, in a good, substantial, well manured soil; as no plantu more exhausbng, or reauires I better ; bul perhaps no.....' plant produces so large a quantity ol nutriment during its period Ofveaetotion tbOUt the monti! Of April they begin Iron, the first crop* to >tr,p the under leaves .cut the... ... small pieces: mi* them with sour milk and bran, or other fannac. ous substances; and give them a. nod to due's, gees.-, hogs, *c. During the whole nummer they continue stripping the plant as above ,,,,, lin ,,i „ .ttains the height of from six to twelve feet ; and it a scarcity ol herbage prevails, the green l.-ivf.'h.r.n excellent food for .ous and oxen, with alternate fowH of hay and straw. I'h? tops and side shoot, are excellent at table .luring winter and spring. The longest of the stalks are frequently used to .ui.i~.rt scarlet runners and other French beans, and as cross rafters tor farm buildings, under thatch and have been known to but more than half a century, when kept dry, for the latter purpose. {Card. Mag. vol. V. ) 5502. Arm soil that is ricli w ill suit the cabbage, but a strong loam is preferred. The best mode of preparation for field cabbage is that for potatoes or turnips, the plants being dibbled along the centre of each ridgelet For early cabbage no ridgelets are required, as the plants are inserted in rows, by B line, at much narrower distances. 5503. The season for planting, for a full crop of field cabbages, is usually March ; but cabbages may be planted as late as June, and produce a tolerable crop by November'; and in this way they may sometimes be made to succeed an unsuc- cessful sowing of turnips. The plants used in March should be the produce of seed sown, in an open loamy part of the garden, in the preceding August; but those planted in .May or June may be the produce of seed sown in the February or March of the same year. 5504 The preparation given to the plants consists in pinching off the extremity of their tap-root, and anv tubercles which appear on the root or stem, and in immersing the root and stem in a puddle or mix- ture of earth and water, to protect the fibres and pores of the root and stem from the drought. 1 he plants mav then be inserted bv the dibber, taking care not to plant them too deep, and to press the earth firmly to the lower extremity of the root. If this last point is not attended to in planting by the dibber the .lants will either die, or, if kept alive by the moisture of the soil or rain, their progress will be very slow. A'hen the distance between the ridgelets is twenty-seven inches, the plants are set about two teet asunder in the rows • and the quantity required for an acre is about 6000 plants. Some recommend sowing as for turnips • but by this mode, one of the advantages of a green crop is infringed on, viz. the time given to clean' the land Where cabbages are sown, that operation must be performed at least a month sooner than if they were planted ; consequently, the best month of the cleaning season is lost To plant or sow a green crop on land in good heart, that does not require cleaning, will seldom be found good husbandry. It may succeed near large towns, where roots and other green produce sell high, but it can never enter into any general system of farming. 5505. The after-culture consists in horse and hand-hoeing and weeding ; and the crop is taken by chopping off the heads with a spade, leaving an inch or two of stalk to each. Thev may be preserved by housing, but only for a short time. The produce is said to be from thirty-five to forty tons per acre. Sir II. Davy found that 1000 parts of cab- bage gave seventy-three of nutritive matter, of which forty-one are mucilage, twenty-four saccharine matter, and eight gluten. 5506. The application of the field cabbage is generally to the feeding of milch cows, and sometimes to the fattening of oxen and sheep. For the former purpose, great care must be taken to remove the outside decaying leaves ; otherwise they are apt to give an un- pleasant flavour to the milk and butter. Cabbages are also eaten by swine and horses, and are reckoned excellent food for sheep that have newly dropped their lambs, and for calves. A cow will eat from 100 to 150lbs. of cabbage per day, and a sheep ten or twelve pounds, besides a moderate allowance of hay. Some farmers consider that ewes fatten faster on cabbages than on turnips, and that ewes having lambs are much more prolific in milk when so fed. (Country Times, Feb. 8. p. 47.) Early or garden cabbages are sold to green-grocers, or to the consumers, or to ships' victuallers for the purpose of being pickled or made into sour crout. 5507 Salted cabbage, or sauerkraut, is thus prepared in Germany : — Any sort of cabbage or kail, or even turnips and kidneyteana, may be prepared in this way ; but white, compact-headed, large cabbages arc preferred, and next compact-headed red cabbages. The first process of preparing them is to scoop out the interior part of the stalk, with an iron instrument or scoop ; they are then cut into small shreds by a wooden machine, composed of a flat board or tray, which has a ledge on two sides, to steady a box or frame into which the cabbages are put In the middle of the board are four flat pieces of steel, similar to the steel part of a spokeshave, placed in an oblique direction ; and the near edge of each being a little raised up, with small spaces between each, to let the shreds fall down into a tub placed underneath to receive them. The cabbages are then put into the box before described, which is pushed backwards and forwards when the cabbages, being cut by the steel, fall in small shreds into a tub placed below. A barrel stands byready to receive then, when cut,' the sides of which are first washed with vinegar. A man stands on a chair by the barrel, with clean wooden shoes on, whose business it is to salt and prepare them, which is done in the following manner : the man first takes as much of the cut cabbage as covers about four inches above the bottom : he next strews upon it two handfuls of salt, one handful of unground pepper, and a small quantity of salad oil ; he then gets into the barrel, and treads it down with his wooden shoes till it is well mixed and compact. He next takes another layer of cabbage, and puts salt and pepper on it as before and treads it again, and so goes on till the barrel is filled. A board is then placed on it, and upon the'board some very heavy weights are put; and it remains so ten or fifteen days, when it partially ferments and a great deal of water swims on Uie surface : it is then put into the cellar for use. The men Book VI. THE CABBAGE &c. 869 who prepare sauerkraut are Tyrolcse, and carry their machine (fig. 767.), which has not been invented more than ten or twelve years, on thdr backs from house to house. This machine contains a cuttine trav («), box into which the cabbages are placed (b), scoop (c), and tub into which the shreds (all U) u;,, r l Mag. vol. in. p. 343.) ; ' lu "" i 5508. Neivton's machine for chopping cabbage or other vegetables, roots, or meat (fig. 768 1, consists of five knives let into an iron plate, and the latter is screwed to the working bar. The knives are fastened, by bolts passing through them, close under and above the iron plate. The sliding plate is for the purpose of preventing the meat from being scattered; and to this plate are added scrapers, which are screwed underneath, for the purpose of cleaning the knives at every stroke. A spring raises the knives, and enables any person to chop at least twenty times as much meat, in the same time, a* can be done by the common mode. The length of the knives being equal to the breadth of the trough, no meat can possibly escape the knives; nor will the meat require so much turning as is usually wanted. When it does require turning, it is easilv done by alter. nately pressing the knives at either end of the trough, sliding them towards the middle. The machine is also applicable for cutting fat, suet, &-c. previously to rendering them into tallow ; likewise to chopping madder and other roots for calico printers, or as used in their recent state for dyers ; and for dividing potatoes, carrots, and other esculent roots, cabbage for sauer kraut, and roots used in feeding cattle. (Smith's Mechanic, vol. ii. p. £60.) 5509. To save cabbage seed, select a few fine specimens, and plant them by themselves where they will be in no clanger of being contaminated by others of the TJrassica tribe when in flower. The seed will keep many years. 5510. The diseases of cabbages are the same as those of the turnip, with the cxcej)tion of tlie forked excrescence. On the roots of the plants are frequently found knobs, which, in the preparation for transplanting, should, as we have already observed, be carefully removed. Sect. VII. Other Plants which might be cultivated in the Fields for their Roots or Leaves, as Food for Man or Cattle, in a recent State- 5511. Every hardy garden plant may be cultivated in the fields, and with very little manual labour. Accordingly we find onions, spinach, cress, radishes, and even cucum- bers, grown by farmers, or farm gardeners in the neighbourhood of the metropolis, and also in other places. None of these plants, however, can be considered as belonging to agriculture; nor should we notice those which follow, but because they have been tried and recommended by zealous cultivators, and are treated of in some works on farming. No plant can be considered as belonging to agriculture that is not in sufficient demand, or of sufficient general use in feeding stock, as to admit of its frequent occurrence in rotations ; and such certainly cannot be said to be the case with the Jerusalem artichoke and lettuce, now about to be noticed. 5512. The Jerusalem artichoke (7/elianthus tuberbsus L. ; Topinambonr, Fr.) is a tuberous-rooted plant, with leafy stems from four to six feet high. It thrives well on soft moist soils, and even, it is said, on moist peat soils ; and it is alleged that its tops will afford as much fodder per acre as a crop of oats, or more, and its roots half as many tubers as an ordinary crop of potatoes (Agricultural Magazine, IS07-8.) The soil may be cultivated in all respects like the potato, 'i he tubers, being abundant in the market gardens, are to be had at little more than the price of potatoes. The fibres of the stems may be separated by maceration, and manufactured into cordage or cloth ; and this is said to tie done in some parts of I lie north and west of France, as about Hagenau, where this plant, on the poor sandy >oils, is an object of field culture. a K :j 870 PB \( TICK ()!•• AGRICULTURE. III. /'//<• commtm Cat lettuce Lactuca -itiva /, ha ■ been grown te R edidg pin, ami other purposes. Aitiuir Young inform* us, In his Calendar of Hutoandry, that be li r-t observed the towing or lettuces for i. ad, I'll .1 pretty regular system, on tin- farm of a very intelligent cultivator (not at alia v. himsical man in Sussex. IK- bad everj year an acre or two, which afforded a great quantity of very valuable food for In- tows and pigs, 1 le adds, thai it > lelds milk amply, and all sorts of swine are very ton. I of it ; and lie think- thai the « lineal t. inner who keeps many hogs should take care to have a ■UCCession Of Cropt t"r these animals, thai his carts may not he tor ever mi the road for purchased grains, or his granar; opened lor cum oltcncr than i- necessary, To raise this sort ofemp, the land should have been ploughed before the winter frosts, turning in by that earth twenty loads of rich dung per acre, and making the ridges of the right breadth to suit the drill-machine ami horse-hoes, so that in the month of March nothing more maj be ne cessa ry than to scarify the land, and to drill the seed at one foot equi- distant, at the rate of lour pounds 01 seed per acre. Where the stock of -wine is large, it is proper to drill hall an acre or an acre of lettuce in April, the land having been well manured and ploughed as directed above, being also SCuffl d in February ami March, and well harrowed, repeating it before drilling : and at tl u , period, the crop which was drilled in March a succession being essentially necessary < should be thinned In the row - hi hand, to about nine or ten inches asunder. If this necessary attention Ik' neglected, the plant-. In- -ays, draw themselves up weak and poor, and will not recover it Women do this business as well a- men. When about six inches high, they should be horse- hoed with a scarifier or scutller, having the hoe about lour inches, or at most five inches ill width. With this sort of green food, some kind of meal or other dry meat should be combined, as without it it is apt to prove very laxative, &c. This Sussex cultivator i- not likely to be followed by any rent-paying farmer who can grow any of the clovers, turnips, or potatoes. The quotation affords a good specimen of Arthur Young's mode of writing on agricultural subjects. .V)14. The chiccory, wild endive, or succory (Cichbrium /'ntybus /.. ; Chicorie sauvagc, Fr. Jig. 769.) has long, thick, perpendicular roots, a tuft of endive or lettuce-looking leaves ; and, when it shoots into flower, its stems rise from one to three feet high, rigid, rough, branched, and clothed with leaves and blue flowers. It is found wild in dry calcareous soils in England, and in most parts of Europe of similar or greater temperature. It is culti- vated in France as an herbage and pasturage plant, and in Germany and Flanders for its roots, from which a substitute for coffee is pre- pared. It was first cultivated in this country, about 1780, by Arthur Young, who holds it in very high estimation. It is of such conse- quence, he says, for different purposes of the farm, that on various sorts of soil the farmer cannot, without its use, make the greatest possible profit. Where it is intended to lay a field to grass for three, four, or six years, in order to rest the land, or to increase the quan- tity of sheep food, there cannot, he thinks, be any hesitation in using iL There is no plant to rival it. Tucern, he says, demands a rich soil, and will always be kept as long as it is productive; but upon inferior land it is not an equal object. Upon blowing sand-, or upon any soil that is weak and poor, and wants rest, there is no plant, he supposes, that equals this. On such sort of blowing poor sandy lands as many districts abound with, especially in Norfolk and Suffolk, it will yield a greater quantity of sheep food than any other plant at pre- sent in cultivation. On fen and hog lands, and peat .-oil-, it al-o thrives to much profit. On all land where clover, from having been too often repeated, is apt to fail, chiccory may be substituted to great advantage. It does very well for soiling cattle, both lean and fatten- ing. It is of excellent use for those who keep a larje stock of swine ; and it does exceedingly well in an alternate system of grass and tillage, as it will last lour, five, six, ami even more years ; but it should not lie sown with any view of making hay in this climate, though it forms a considerable proportion of many of the best meadows in the south of France, and in Lombard y. It has, however, he adds, been objected to, on the ground of its rising and becoming a vivacious weed in succeeding crops : and if this circumstance be not guarded against, it will, he says, happen; but not more than with luceru, nor so much. Hut who, he asks, ventures to forbid chiccory culture on account of this quality, which is really founded on its merit ? When the land is ploughed, says he, only use a broad sharp share, and harrow in tares lor feeding or soiling, or break it up for turnips, and there is an end of the objection. 5515. The culture of chiccory is the same as of clover. As the plant is grown in gardens for culinary purposes, the seed may be procured in the seed-shops, gathered in many places from wild plants, or saved by the grower. It is small, flat, black, and resembling that of lettuce ; it should be procured fresh ; and from eight to twelve pounds an acre are usually sown. The culture of this plant for its roots has been noticed in giving the outline of the agriculture oi Flanders, and will be adverted to in a succeeding Chapter. •5516. The rough comjrey, (Symphytum asperrimum L. jig. 770.), a perennial from Siberia, has been brought into notice by D. Grant, a nurseryman at Lewisham, ami tried by a number of cultivators. Cat- tle of every kind are said to be fond of this plant ; and so great is its produce on good soil, that Mr Grant thinks an acre might lie made to pro- duce thirty tons of green fodder in one year. He has grown it to the height of seven feet as thick as it could stand on the ground. The [t plant is of easy propagation by seed or division of the * roots ; the better way would probably be to sow in a gar- den, and transplant when Hie plants were a year old. All the symphytums are plants of • , so thai this species, if once established, would pro- bably continue to produce crops for many years ; and, in that point of view, it would seem to be a valuable plant for the cottager who keeps a cow. Gard. Mag. vol. v. and Country Timet, M ij 10th, 1- .' •5517. The day lily (tfemeroc&llis fulva /. .jig. 771. was brought into notice by Mr. l.lles, late of Longleat In the yean 1886 7, heobserved, accidentally, how extremely fond < .it lie were of this plant, even eating it down to the roots when an opportunity occurred ; and as he knew, from long experience, thai it would, even in dry ground, produce herbage in the middle ami latter end of 770 . Book VI. CLOVER FAMILY. 871 April, equal in quantity to any water meadow, the extreme facility with which it may be propagated and grnwn in almost any soil and situation, and also its apparently nutritious nature, he was induced to give it a trial in a plot of ground of about twenty rods, attached to the cottage in which he lived. He did so, and after two years' trial found the day lily produce a supply of green food in April and towards the middle of Mav,' when there is little or iio pasture grass, and never could detect any unpleasant flavour in the milk or butter, though given in considerable quantities. The day lily, of which there are two species, differing very little in appearance, H. flava and fulva, is a perennial of great duration, rapid increase, and of easy propagation bv division. It certainly well deserves trial as a permanent herbage plant, especially for the cottager and small farmer. {Uard. Mag. vol. v. p. 441.) Chap. V. Culture of Herbage Plants. 5518. The cultivation of clovers and other herbage pUtnts, used exclusively as food for live stock, is comparatively a modern improvement. They were known, as we have seen, to the Greeks and Romans, and cultivated from a very early period in the low countries ; but do not appear to have attracted much notice in Britain till the sixteenth century, when our frequent intercourse with Holland led to the introduction of some of our best field plants and agricultural practices. At present clovers enter largely into the succes- sion of crops, on all soils, and in every productive course of management. Before they were introduced into cultivation, it was necessary, when land was exhausted by grain crops, to leave it in a state of comparative sterility for several years, before it became either valuable as pasture or again fit for carrying corn : but at present clovers are not only indispensable in the cultivation of white and green crops alternately, upon very rich soil's, but are the foundation of convertible husbandry on land that is not so rich as to permit of a constant aration, and which therefore requires two or more years' pasturage at certain intervals. Lucern and saintfoin, though of much less value as general crops, are valuable plants in particular situations; more especially the latter, which will produce good crops on dry chalky and limestone soils, where most other agricultural plants, and even grasses, would barely maintain their existence. 55 1 9. The charactei-islic points of culture of this class of plants are broad-cast sowing, mowing, soiling, and hay-making • and that when cut for the two last purposes, two or more crops may be had in a season from the same roots. 55'20. The nutritive products of the principal herbage plants are thus given by Sir H. Daw : — Systematic Name. English Name. In 1000 Parts. Whole quan- tity of soluble or nutritive matter. Mucilaee, or starch. Saccharine matter, or sugar. Gluten, or albumen. Extract, or matter rendered insoluble durirp evaporation. ZYifblium pratense medium - ripens - JTedysarum Onobrychis Medicago sativa - Red clover - Cow clover . ^'hite clover Saintfoin Lucern - - 39 39 32 39 23 31 SO 29 28 18 3 4 1 1 2 3 3 3 3 2 5 6 4 Sect. I. The Clover Family Trifblium L. ; Diadclphia Decandria L., and Legumi- nostB J. Trefle, Fr. ; Klee, Ger. ; Trifoglio, Ital. ; and Trebol, Span. 5521. The clovers (Jig. 772.) are a numerous family, chiefly natives of Europe : those selected by the agriculturist are natives of Britain ; and one species, the white or creeping clover, is often found in great luxuriance in native pastures. As rye-grass is very generally sown with clovers, it will be necessary to treat of its culture in connec- tion with these plants, reserving, however, the more particular consideration of rye-grass till we treat of the hay grasses. (Chap. VI.) Many intelligent cultivators consider rye- grass as a very severe crop for the soil ; and it is alleged that wheat does not succeed well after the'herbage with which rye- grass is intermixed in any considerable quantity. Other plants hsve accordingly been recommended as a substitute for rye-grass, and cock's-foot (Z>actvlis glomerata) has been tried, apparently with great success, by Coke of Holkham in Norfolk, and others ; but this is a very coarse grass when allowed to rise to any height, and the use of it for hay has not yet been ascertained. Donaldson considers 'the general introduction of clovers, and the cultivated grasses, as one of the o-reatest improvements in modern husbandry. The commencement of improvements in The different species of live-stock, in the modes of cultivation, and in the superior quality, as well as quantity, of the crops of grain, may all, he thinks, be dated from the period when the sowing of clovers and grass-seeds was first introduced into the different tustricts cf the kingdom. 3 K 4 ST'-' 1'HACTICE OF A OKI CULTURE Part III. •5522. The tpeaet ofctover in cultivation are: — 5SS3 The red clover rrirbUum pratenae. to. 772. a), a biennial, and sometimes, especially on chalky Mils, a triennial plant, known (tan the other species by its broad leaves, luxuriant growth, and reddish purple Bowera. In kta wild itate ■■ perennial 1 773 774 5534. The while, or creeping, or Dutch clover {T. repens, b >), a perennial plant, known by its creeping items ami white flowers. 5525. The yellow clover, hop-trefoil, or shamrock clover, the black nonsuch of the Norfolk farmers (T. procumbens, c), an annual, known by its procumbent shoots and yellow flowers. This species is seldom cultivated ; the yel- low ilover of the seed shops being the Medicago lupiilina, the lupuline, or minette done of the French. (Jig. 773.) ■(SjilTi ) 3, m. flNH&Bh 5526. The meadow clover, cow-clover, cow-grass, or marl. ~ TftteWe) j2fe> (MH M 7 $S grass, the first the best name {T. medium, rf), a perennial, re- sembling the red clover, hut of a paler hue, dwarfer habit, with pale red or whitish flowers, and long roots very sweet to the taste. This species is but partially cultivated, and it is ex- tremely difficult to procure the seeds genuine. It comes into flower from twelve to fifteen days later than the common red clover, has a solid stalk, a narrower leaf, and both leaves and i^iA t ^ / \M flowers have a paler hue. A poor sandy soil, it is said, will pro. d^/Kpfc^ir cluce a 8 00tl cro P of cow-clover that would not produce half a U \\ '-'IS \ crop of the common red clover ; it is also as good the second year as the first. Some farmers sow it because the crop comes in between the first and second cutting of the red clover as green food. *5527. The flesh-coloured clover (Trifdlium incarnatum Lin.; Farouche or Treflc de Roussillon, Fr. Jig. 774.) has long been cultivated in some of the southern departments of France, and, though an annual, is found very advantageous on dry sandy soils. The Agricultural Society of Nancy have lately recommended it for culture in the province of Lorraine; and a writer in the Journal des Pays-Bas, as suitable to many parts of the Netherlands. M. de Dombasle, a theoretical and practical agriculturist in great estimation, sows it, after harvest, in the stubbles, with no other culture than harrowing in. It grows all the winter, and early in spring affords abundant food for sheep ; or, if left till May, it presents a heavy crop for the scythe, and may be used for soiling, or making into hay. (Gard. Mag. vol. iv. p. 392. and vol. v. p. 734.) It was introduced into England about the year 1824, by Mr. John Ellman, jun. of Southover, near Lewis, who gives directions for sowing it in March without a corn crop, and states that it will be in full bloom and fit to cut by June. He says it is very produc- tive ; but should not be sown with corns like other clovers, because it grows so fast as to choke them. (Farm. Jour. March 17. 1828.) 5528. Trifblium Molinerxfiliforme (with yellow flowers'!, campestre (also with yellow Bowers), andfragiferwm, are cultivated in France ; but we believe chiefly on the poorer soils. Seeds of them and of all the other species may be correctly obtained from VUmorin.Andrieuz and Co., seed merchants in l'aris. 5529. In tile choice of sorts the red or broad clover is the kind most generally cultivated on land that carries com and herbage crops alternately, as it yields the largest produce for one crop of all the sorts. White ami yellow clover are seldom sown with it, unless when several years' pasturage is intended. The soil best adapted for clover is a dee]) sandy loam, which is favourable to its 5530. be dry So congenial is cal- long tap-roots; but it will grow in any SOU, provided it he dry. careous matters to clovers, that the mere strewing of lime on some soils will call into action clover-seeds, which it would appear have lain dormant for ages. At least this appears the most obvious way of accounting for the well known appearance of white clover in such cases. 55SI. Tlo' climate most suitable for the clovers is one neither very hot nor very dry and cold. Most leguminous plants delight botli in a dry soil and climate, and warm Book VI. CLOVER FAMILY. 873 temperature, and the clover will be found to produce most seed under such circum- stances ; but as the production of seed is only in some situations an object of the farmer's attention, a season rather moist, provided it be warm, is always attended by the most bulky crops of clover herbage. 5531. The preparation of the soil and the manures, which clover receives in ordinary farm culture, are those destined also for another crop ; clover mixed with a certain pro- portion of rye-grass being generally sown along with or among corn crops, and especially with spring-sown wheat, barley, and the early varieties of oats. Unless, however, the soils on which these crops are sown are well pulverised, and have been some years under tillage, clovers will not succeed in them, it being ascertained that newly broken-up leys or pasture grounds cannot be sown down or restored to clover and grasses till the soil is thoroughly comminuted, and the roots of the former grasses and herbage plants com- pletely destroyed. 5533. The time of soiling clover-seeds is generally the spring, during the corn seed time, or from February to May ; but they may also be sown from August to October, and when they are sown by themselves, that is, unaccompanied by any corn crop, this will be found the best season, as the young plants are less liable to be dried up and im- peded in their progress by the sun, than when sown alone in spring and remaining tender and unshaded during the hot and dry weather of July. 5534. Some prepare the seed for sowing by steeping in water or in oil as in Switzerland, and then mixing it with powdered gypsum, as a preventive from the attacks of insects. 5535. The manner of souring is almost always broad-cast. When sown with spring corn, clover and grass seeds are usually put in immediately after the land has been pulverised by harrowing in the corn- seed, and are themselves covered by one course more of the harrows ; or, if the corn is drilled, the small seeds are sown immediately before or after hand. hoeing; and the land is then finished by a course of the harrows. Clover is generally sown by hand, though of late years the broad-cast drill {fig. 722.) has been used, both in the case of the clovers and the grasses. A lighter harrow is generally employed in covering such seeds, than that used for corn. When the land is under an autumn-sown crop of wheat or other grain, though the clovers and rye-grass are still sown in spring, the proper period must depend both upon the state of the land and the progress of the crops; and it may be often advisable to break the crust formed on the surface of tenacious soils, by using the harrow before the clovers are sown, as well as after- wards to cover them. Sometimes the roller only is employed at this time, and there are instances of clover and rye-grass succeeding when sown, without either harrowing or rolling. But it is commonly of advan. tage to the wheat crop itself, to use the harrows in spring, and the roller alone cannot be depended on, unless the season be verv favourable. In some cases grass-seeds are sown by themselves, either in autumn or spring, but rarely on tillage land. Nature has not determined any precise depth for the seed of red clover more than other seed. It will grow vigorously from two inches deep, and it will grow when barely covered. Half an inch may be reckoned the most advantageous position in clay soil ; a whole inch in what is light or loose. It is a vulgar error, that small seed ought to be sparingly covered. Misled by that error, farmers commonly cover their clover seed with a bushy branch of thorn ; which not only covers it unequallv, but leaves part on the surface to wither in the air. 553(5. In the operation of sou-ing some consider it best to sow the clover and rye-grass separately, alleging that the weight of the one seed, and lightness of the other, are unfavourable to an equal distri- bution of both. 5537. The quantity of seed sown on an acre is exceedingly various ; not only when more or less white or yellow clover is sown along with grass-seeds and red clover, or when pasturage is intended ; but, even when they are the onlv kinds sown, the quantity is varied by the quality of the soils, and the different purposes of hay, soiling, or one vear's pasture, to which the crop is to be applied. When pasture is the object, more seed' ought to be allowed than is necessary when the crop is to be cut green for soiling; and for hay, less may suffice than for either of the former.' Finely pulverised soils do not require so much seed as clays, on which clover and rve-grass are very frequently sown among autumn or winter-sown wheat, when there is more danger of a part of it perishing from being imperfectly covered. In general, eight or ten pounds may be taken as the minimum quantity, though there have been instances of good crops from less; and from that to fourteen pounds or more per English statute acre. Rye-grass, commonly at the rate of a bushel per acre, but in many cases only half, or two thirds of a bushel, is mixed with this weight of clover, and both are sown at the same time. The rye-grass may be either of the perennial or annual variety, as it is understood that the herbage is to be continued for only one year; and the annual is sometimes sown in preference, as producing a bulkier crop than the perennial. 5538. When it is intended to retain the land in pasture for several years, the quantity of red clover il diminished, and several kinds of more permanent herbage are added, the most common of which are white and yellow clover, and ribwort. No general rule can be laid down as to the proper quantity of each of these' kinds ; in some cases red and white clover are sown in equal proportions, and in others the latter is made greatly to predominate. The yellow clover and ribwort are not often sown at the rate of more than two or three pounds per acre. It is scarcely necessary to add, that, in this case, the rye-grass should always be of the perennial sort 5539. In the selection of clover and rye-grass seeds particular attention should be paid to their quality and cleanness ; the purple colour of the clover seed denotes that it has been ripe and well saved ; and the seeds of needs may be detected in it by narrow inspection, if there are any; but various noxious weeds are frequently mixed up with the seeds of the rye-grass, which it is difficult either to discover or to separate from' them. Between the seeds of the annual and perennial rye-grass the difference is hardly discernible ; and therefore, unless it is of his own growth, the cultivator must depend in a great measure on the character of the person from whom he purchases it. Red clover from Holland or France has been found to die out in the season immediately after it has been cut or pastured ; while the English seed produces plants which stand over the second, many of them the third, year General Report of Scotland, voL i. p. 537.; ; thus remaining in the latter case four summers in the ground from the time of sowing. 5540. The after-culture of clover and rye-grass consists chiefly of picking off any stones or other hard bodies which may appear on the surface in the spring succeeding that in which it was sown, and cutting out by the roots any thistles, docks, or other large grown weeds. After this the surface should be rolled once to smooth it for the scythe. This operation is best performed in the first dry weather of March. Some give a top- dressing ot soot, gypsum, common lime, peat, or wood-allies, at this time or earlier; H74 PRACTICE OF ACJUKTI.TTRE. Part III. gypsum has been particularly recommended as a top-dressing for clovers, and the other herbage legumes; because as their ashes afford that substance in considerable quantities, it appears to be a necessary ingredient of their food. Dutch ashes (4'J7.) have been strongly recommended as a top-dressing for red clover, and they also contain gypsum; DUl (There the soil is in good heart, and contains calcareous matter, any description of top- dressing, though it may l>e of advantage when it does not interfere with the general economy of the farm, cannot be considered necessary. (Supp. E. Brit. art. Agr.) 5541. Tin- taking of the clover, or clover and rye-grass crop, is either by cutting green for soiling, by making into hay, or by pasturing. It is observed in The Code of Ag,ri- eulture, that it is a most important point to ascertain in what cases cutting, or feeding, is more beneficial. If fed, the land has the advantage of the dung and urine of the pastur- in-r stock ; hut the dung being dropped in irregular quantities, and in the heat of summer, when it is devoured by insects, loses much of its utility. If the dung arising from the herbage, whether consumed in soiling, or as hay, were applied to the land, in one body, and at the proper season, the operation would be more effectual. The smother of a thick crop, continued for any time upon the ground, greatly tends to promote its fertility ; and it has been pretty uniformly found, after repeated trials, upon soils of almost every de- scription, that oats or any other crop taken after clover that has been cut, either for soiling or hay, is superior to the crop taken after clover pastured by sheep. 5542 Soi/in" is a term applied to the practice of cutting herbage crops green for feeding or fattening live stock" On alf farms, under correct management, a part of this crop is cut green, for the working horses, often fin milch cows, and, in some instances, both for growing and fattening cattle. There can be no doubt of the advantages of this practice, in regard to horses and cows; but for young and for fattening beasts a sufficient number of experiments are not known to have been yet made with any great degree of accuracy Young animals require exercise in the open air, and, probably, will not be found to thrive so well in houses or fold-yards, during summer, as on pastures; and though in every case there is a great saving of food, the long, woody, and comparatively naked stems of the plants, with leaves always more or iess withered, are perhaps not so valuable in the production of beef on fattening stock as a much smaller weight of herbage taken in by pasturage. Milch cows, however, are so impatient of heat and insects, that this way of feeding them, at least for a part of the day, in warm weather, ought to be more generally adopted- and the convenience of having working horses always at hand, besides that they till their stomachs speedily, is of not less importance than economy. See Communications to the Board of Agriculture, voL vii. Brown's Treatise on Rural Affairs, voL ii. General Report of Scotland, vols. ii. and iii.) . .... „• u 11 5548. In feeding cattle with green clover, attention must be paid to prevent swelling, or hoving, which is very apt to take place when they are first put on this food, especially if it is wet with rain or dew ; and cattle'are exposed to this danger, whether thev are sent to depasture the clover, or haveit cut and brought home to them • though, if the plants are somewhat luxuriant, the danger is greater in the former case. After being accustomed to this rich food for a few days, during which it should be given rather sparingly, the danger is much diminished; but it is never safe to allow milch cows, in particular, to eat large quan- tities of wet clover. , ,. . , r,44 77(i? making herbage plants into hay is a process somewhat different from that of making hay from natural grasses. All the herbage tribe ought to be mown before the seed is formed, and indeed betcre the plants have fully blossomed, that the full juice and nourishment of the herb may be retained in the hay. By the adoption' of this system, the hay is cut in a better season, it can be more easily secured, and it is much more valuable. Nor is the strength of the plant lodged in the seed, which is often lost. The great advantage of converting under-ripe herbage and grass into hay is now beginning to be known. There is much more saccharine matter in it, and it is consequently greatly more nutritious. A crop of clover or saintfoin, when cut in the early part of the season, may be ten per cent, lighter than when it is tully ripe; but the loss is amply counterbalanced, by obtaining a'n earlier, a more valuable, and more nutritious article- while the next crop will be proportionablv more heavy. The hay made from old herbage which has ripened its seed will carry on stock, but it is only hav from herb age cut when young, and soon after it has come into ilowcr, that will fatten them. When the stems of clover become bird and sapless, by being allowed to bring their seeds towards maturity, they are of little more value as provender than an equal quantity of the liner sort of straw of corn. _ 5545. The mode ot making clover-hay, and that of all herbage plants, as practised by the best (arm- ors is as follows : —Tin- herbage is cut as close to the ground and 111 as uniform and perfect a manner as possible with a sharp sc\tho. Che surface having been in the preceding spring freed from stones and Well rolled, the stubble alter the mower ought to be as short and smooth as a well shaven grass-lawn. The part of the' stems left by the scythe is not only lost, but the alter-growth is neither so vigorous nor so weighty, as when the tirit cutting is taken as low as possible. 5546. At toon at the tvoath or rote of cut herbage it thoroughly dry above, it is gently turned over (not tedded or scattered without breaking it. Sometimes this is done with the hand, or with a small fork; and some fanners arc mi anxious to prevent the swath from being broken, that they only permit the use of the rake shaft The grass, when turned over, in the morning of a dry day, is put into cocks in the afternoon. The mode of performing this is very simple and expeditious ; and none but women, boys, and girls, under the eye of a confidential servant, a're usually employed. If the crop is heavy, a row of cocks is placed in the middle ridge of three, and if light of five ridges. A distinct company of carriers and rakers is allotted to every such number of ridges ; and the separate companies proceed each on its own ground, and in thesame manner as in reaping grain, which occasions a degree of competition among them for despatch, clean raking, and neat well-built cocks. The carriers gather the hay, and carry it to the ridge where the cock is to be built by one of the most experienced hands. A raker follows the carrier, taking up and bringing to the cocks the remains of the swath. There may be, in general, about five people employed about each row of cocks; a carrier and raker on each side of the ridge on which the cocks are placed, and a person on the ridge, who builds them. 15ut when the crop is not weighty, more rakers are required, as a greater space must be gone over. 55*7 At the cocks are thus placed m a line, it is easy to put two or more into one afterwards ; and the larger cocks may be speedily drawn together, to be put into tramp-ricks, by means of ropes thrown round their bottoms, and dragged along by a hoisc. It is impossible to lav down any rules for the management of hay after it is put into cocks ; oiie thing is, however, always attended to, not to shake out, scatter, or expose the hay oftencr than is necessary tor its preservation. Sometimes the COCKS have been put up so large that they never require to go to a tramp-rick, but are carted to the stack-yard, without ever being' broken, and put up in alternate lasers with old hay. Hut where this is attempted, there must not be much clover. The practice of mixing the new with the old hay is, however, a good one, and saves a great deal of time and labour, at the same time that the old hay is much improved by the mixture. Book VI. CLOVER FAMILY. „t THe M paters f^^Z^^^^^^^^^^'^^^ ^eVunS^'thehayTs |reener', amT the ™« & ant Lancashirej foulul 5549 Snorter «»* tf *«* »'" A '"»' of th? west of Sco Hand this is called tippling or rippling; and to answer well in the moist ^ moi P here rl 0t a th ^ ,f a s it is mo vn. " In making a tipple, a person with his if the grass is drv, the operation begins as J^fJjif^Se. the n the same is done by the left, until the tinnle tapor to a point, and give it as muui a . row After >tandin aicw row of tipples placed on each swath ; ,f light tw » the=,e a r P them through . and hen hours thflv become so smooth on the outside, that ttetaam Mwn . nto the sl r _ nck or , wet, thev are soon dried again m S°fj^ aTe ^l^ ^Tok o/tedded, to make them to, ^as the, if verv drv even into the winter stack, but are nevei _u n as a , eaf dne d in a ever reau re it. By this method, not a blade ,s '°» t ' f'^''!^? and a woman will rake to two t.pplers, book I?. a moderate crop, one woman ^jW^SJSSftw women to keep pace with two mowers Ttwo swathers. But -here the crop ,= strong, rt ^W^*^ secure, though it may continue wet %1s50 7%* m«W«g tf Ctorer Afl ? , as P^^f'"^ b "tter and more nourishing. The hay is prepared WmmmmmMsmm much more expedit.ou=yvv mi tnecio^e fennent ed clover remains goo d,< s.er » u j tnc kind of "hay to become heated in any considerable uegiee, 876 PRACTICE OK AGRICULTURE. Tart III. very gentle warmth, is usually perceptible, both In the BeW-rlclu and In the stacks, for a few days aft >t they arc limit. Hut this ii ■ quite different thing from that intentional heating, carried BO far, in many Instances, ai i" terminate In conflagration, The after-growth or tecondcrop of clover is vigorous or weak, according to the proportion of clover plants to rye-grass, to the time- a ben the iir>t crop was cut, and to the moisture and warmth of the season. When the inst cutting has been made early for soiling, there will sometimes be three cuttings in one season. The Brat of these after-cuttings maj be made Into hay, and sometimes the second ; but in general both are consumed by soiling or pasturing, unless in some dry warm districts, as Norfolk, and parts of Sutl'olk, Kent, ,\c , where the second growth is left to ripen its seed. In till' northern counties the second crop Ii seldom made Into hay, owing to the difficulty of getting it thoroughly dried at a late period oi summer, when other more urgent operations usually employ all the labourers of a farm, if it is cut for this purpose, the best method of saving it is to mix it up with straw, which will absorb a part of its Juices. It i> often cut green, as a part of the soiling system ; or, where a sheep stock is kept, pastures by the old ewes, or other sorts, that are to be fattened the ensuing winter on turnips. In consuming clover and other herbage plants by pasturing, or eating down on the spot, three methods have been adopted : tethering, hurdling, and free pasturage. 5560, Tethering may be considered a rude practice, and is chiefly confined to the north of Scotland and Ireland. In The Agricultural Report Of Aberdeenshire it is stated, that there are some cases where the plan ol tethering can be practised with more profit than even soiling. In the neighbourhood of Peter- head, for instance, they tether milch cows on their grass fields, in a regular and systematic method ; nio\ ing each tether forward In a straight line, not above one foot at a time, so as to prevent the cows from treading on the glass that is to be eaten; care being always taken to move the tether forward, like a prison cutting clover with a scythe, from one end of the field to the other. In this way, a greater num- ber of cows can be kept, on the same quantity of grass, than by any other plan; except where it grows high enough to be cut, and given them green in houses. In one instance, the system was carried to great perfection, by a gentleman who kept a few sheep upon longer tethers, following the cows. Sometimes, also, he tethered horses afterwards upon, the same field, which prevented any possible waste ; for the tufts ol grass produced by the dung of one species of animal will be eaten by those of another kind without reluctance. This system was peculiarly calculated for the cow-feeders in Peterhead ; as, from the small- ii< s. ,>, their holdings, they could not afford to keep servants to cut, or horses to carry home, the grass to their houses, to be consumed in a green state. {Code.) 55ut not cultivated any when' except in some lolli in France and Switzerland. Medicfigo maculata and muricata are cultivated in France, but to a mtv limited extent on poor •-oils. M. lupulina (lupuline, or Mitietu dorie, l'r. resemble* our well known hop trefoil, black from , it. lonsuch, or yellow clover; but it is seldom cultivated in D .lain. 5579. The soil for lucern must lie dry. Friable, inclining to sand, anil with a subsoil equal to it in goodness. Unless tin.' subsoil be good and deep, it is in vain to attempt to f \ ■£', cultivate lucern. According to Young, the soils that suit -• : ^ '~~1*\. lucem are all those that are at once dry and rich. If, says ';.- " lie, they possess these two criteria, there is no tear but they ikT^! JP^^igb^^^. w '" P roculce l-'irge crops of lucern. A friable dee]) sandy ** J jyv > ' -; ", 'm loam on a chalk or white dry marly bottom is excellent for jfe^./: . it. Deep putrid sand warp on a dry basis, good sandy loam // v<4T^r on cna lk> dry marl or gravel, all do well; and in a word, / // l/SS all soils that are good enough for wheat, and dry enough I/ vi- for turnips to be fed on the land, do well for lucern. If // deficient in fertility, they may be made up by manuring, but he never yet met with any land too rich for it. 5580. The preparation of the soil consists in deep ploughing and minute pulverisation ; and, in our opinion, the shortest way to effect this, is to trench it over by the spade to two or three feet in depth, burying a good coat of manure in the middle or at least one foot from the surface. This is the practice in Guernsey, where lucern is highly prized. 5581. 7Vie climate for lucern, as we have already hinted, must be warm and dry; it has been grown in Scotland and Ireland, and might probably do well in the southern counties of the latter country, but in the former it has not been found to answ er the commendations of its admirers. 5582. The season most proper for sowing lucern is as early as practicable in the spring months, as in this way the plants may be fully established before the season be- comes too hot. The latter end of March, for the more southern districts, may be the most proper period ; and the beginning of the following month for those of the north. When sown late, there is more danger of the plants being destroyed by the fly, as it has been observed by Tull. If the plants are intended to be transplanted out in the garden method, it will also be the best practice to sow the seed-bed as early in the spring as the fronts will admit, in order that they may be strong, and lit to set out about the beginning of August. 5583. The manner of sowing lucern is either broad-cast or in drills, and either with or without an ac- companying crop of corn for the first vear. Broad-cast, with a very thin crop of barley or other spring com, is gcncrallv, and in our opinion verv properlv, preferred. A rthur 'i oung, who has treated largely on this plant, observes, that " the greatest success by far that has been known is by the broad-cast method, which is nearly universal among the best lucern rarmers, even among men who practise and admire the drill husbandry in many other articles. But as they mostly (not all) depend on severe harrowing for keep. ins their crop's clean, which is a troublesome and expensive operation, he still ventures to recommend drilling ; but verv different drilling from that which has been almost universally practised, viz. at distances of eighteen inches or two feet Objections to these wide intervals are numerous. If kept clean hoed, the lucern licks up so much dirt, being beaten to the earth by rain, &C, that it is unwholesome, and the plants spread so into these spaces, that it must be reaped with a hook, which is a great and useless expense. For these reasons, as well as for superiority of crop, he recommends drilling at nine inches, which in point of produce, mowing, and freedom from dirt, is the same as broad cast ; and another advantage is, that it admits scarifying once a vear, which is much more powerful and effective than any harrowing. These farts are sufficient to weigh BO much with anv reasonable man, as to induce him to adopt this mode oi drilling, as nearer to broad-cast by far than it is'to drills at eighteen to twenty-four inches, which open to a quite different s\ stem, and a set of verv different evils K ine-inch rows might practically, but not literally, be considered as' broad-east, but with the power of scarifying. And in regard to the material point, of with or without corn, two considerations, he says, present themselves. One is the extreme liability of lucern to be eaten by the fly, which does great mischief to many crops when very young, and against which the growing of corn is some protection. The value of the bailey or oats is another object not to be forgotten. It is also gained in the first year's growth of the lucern, which is very poorly productive even if no corn l drilled barley, at a foot, if perhaps the latter is the best method, as there is less probability of the crop being laid to the damage of the lucern. The quantity of seed-corn should also be small, proportioned to tin richness of the land, from one bushel to a bushel and a half, according to the fertility of the soil ; another security against the mischief of lodging. If these precautions are taken, it would be presumptuous to say that success must follow, that being always, and in all things, in other hands than ours ; seed mav prove bail, the fly may eat and drought prevent vegetation ; but barring such circumstances, the farmer 'may re-t satisfied that he has done what can be done, and if he do succeed, the advantage will be unquestionable." 5584. The quantity of seed, when the broad-cast method is adopted, is said to be from fifteen to twenty pounds per acre, and from eight to twelve if drilled. The seed is paler, larger, and dearer than that of clover: it is generally imported from Holland, and great care should be had to procure it plump and perfectly new, as two-years- Book VI. LUCERN. 871 old seed docs not come up freely. The same depth of covering as for clover will answer. 5585. Litcern may be transplanted, and when the soil is very rich and deep, it is said to produce very large plants ; but such plants, from the bulk of their stools, are not likely to be so durable as those of a less size ; and on the whole, for this reason and others relative to expense, the plan of transplanting does not seem advisable unless for filling up blanks. 5586. The after-culture of lucern, sown broad-cast, consists in harrowing to destroy grass and other weeds ; rolling, after the harrowing, to smooth the soil for the scythe ; and such occasional top-dressings of manure as the state of the plants may seem to require. 5587. When lucern is drilled, horse-hoeing may be substituted for harrowing, which, as already observed, is the only advantage of that mode of sowing. The harrowing may commence the second year, and the weeds collected should always be carefully removed : light harrows may be used at first, and in two or three years such as are heavier. In succeeding years two harrowings may be required, one early in the spring, and the other at the close of the summer. For these, and especially the last, Arthur Young recommends the use of a harrow of weight sufficient for four horses, and which does not cover a breadth of more than four feet. The mode of hoeing, either by the hand or horse-hoe, or of stirring by the drill harrow, requires no description. 5588. The top-dressings given to lucern may be either of the saline or mixed manures. Ashes are greatly esteemed, and also gypsum and liquid manure of any kind. Arthur Young advises to apply dung, in the quantity of about twenty tons to the acre, every five or six years. Kent, however, thinks it a better practice to put a slight coat on annually in the spring season. Some recommend a slight top-dressing sown by hand every spring. The farmer will in this, as in every case, exercise his own judgment, and be guided by the wants of the plants, the return they yield for the expense bestowed on them, and the equable distribution of manure among his other crops. 5589. The taking of lucern by mowing for soiling, or hay, or by tethering, hurdling, or pasturing, may be considered the same as for clover. Lucern frequently attains a sufficient growth for the scythe, towards the end of April, or beginning of the following month ; and, in soils that are favourable for its culture, will be in a state of readiness for a second cutting in the course of a month or six weeks longer, being capable of under- going the same operation, at nearly similar distances of time, during the whole of the summer season. In this last sort of soil, with proper management, in the drill method, it has been found to rise to the height of a foot and a half in about thirty or forty days, affording five full cuttings in the summer. But in the broad-cast crops, in the opinion of some, there are seldom so many cuttings afforded in the season, three or four being more common, as the growth is supposed to be less rapid than by either of the other modes. 5590. The application of lucern is also the same as that of clover. The principal and most advantageous practice is that of soiling horses, neat cattle, and hogs : but as a dry fodder, it is also capable of affording much assistance ; and, as an early food for ewes and lambs, may be of great value in particular cases. All agree in extolling it as food for cows, whether in a green or dried state. It is said to be much superior to clover, both in increasing the milk and butter, and improving its flavour. In its use in a green state, care is necessary not to give the animals too much at a time, especially when it is moist, as they may be hoven or blown with it, in the same way as with clover, and other green food of luxuriant growth. 5591. The produce of lucern, cut three times in a season, has been stated at from three to five and even eight tons per acre. In soiling, one acre is sufficient for three or four cows during the soiling season ; and a quarter of an acre, if the soil be good, or half an acre on a moderate soil, for all sorts of large stock, for the same period. Say, however, that the produce is equal in bulk and value to a full crop of red clover, then, if continued yearly for nine or ten years (its ordinary duration in a productive state), at an annual expense of harrowing and rolling, - and a triennial expense of top-dressing, it will he of sufficient value to induce fanners, who have suitable soils and climates, to lay down a few- acres under this crop near their homestalls. 5592. The nutritive product of lucern, according to Sir H. Davy, is 2-^ per cent., and is to that of the clovers and saintfoin as 23 to 39. This result does not very well agree with the superior nutritive powers attributed to lucern. 5593. To save seed, the lucern may be treated precisely as the red clover, and it is much more easily threshed, the grains being contained in small pods, which easily sepa- rate under the flail, or a threshing machine, or clover mill. 5594. The diseases of lucern appear to be the same as those of clover. In Kent, blight and the slug are its greatest enemies. PRO PRACTICE OF AGIIK II. II RE. l'AKT HI. 777 ; Sect. III. 8amifoin. — lledi/.wrum Onobtychit L. ; Diaditpliia Decandria I-.., and I.e- gumtndtaJ. Boufgngne, Of Esparcette, Fr. ; Esjiaruttc, Cier. ; Cedrangola, Ital. ; ar.d Etparsita, Spaa. {Jig. 777.) 5595. Saintfoin is a deep-rooting perennial with branching spreading stems, compound leaves, and showy red flowers. It is a native of England and many parts of Europe, lint never found except on dry, warm, chalky soils, where it is of great duration. It baa been long cultivated in France and other parts of the Continent, and as an agricultural plant was introduced from France to England about the middle of the se- / / veiitecnth century. It has since been a good deal cul- y li.ited in the chalky districts; and its peculiar value is, ^£^'^&(\*HZ~_ = that it may be grown on soils unfit for being constantly i \^ V (U- 'under tillage, and which would yield little under grass. This is owing to the long and descending roots of the saint- foin, which will penetrate and thrive in the fissures of rocky and chalky understrata. Its herbage is said to be equally suited for pasturage and for hay, and that eaten green it is not apt to swell or hove cattle like the clovers or lucern. Arthur Young says, that upon soils proper for this grass no farmer can sow too much of it ; and in The Code of Agricul- ture it is said to be " one of the most valuable herbage plants we owe to the bounty of Providence." 5596. There are tw varieties of the saintfoin in England, but many other species of the same numerous family might be cultivated, such, for example, as the French honey- suckle, a biennial that might be substituted for red clover on rich soils. The French have a variety which they call Sainfoin a deux coupes, and they also cultivated the Sain- foin d'Espagne or Sulla. 5597. Tlie best soil for this plant is that which is dry. deep, and calcareous ; but it will grow on any soil that has a dry subsoil. Kent thinks that the soils most suited to the culture of this sort of grass are of the chalky loam, and light sandy or gravelly kinds, or almost any of those of a mixed quality, provided they are sufficiently dry, and have a rocky or hard calcareous bottom to check the roots at the depth of a foot or fifteen inches below the surface, which he conceives necessary, as the plants are apt to exhaust themselves in running down ; and for this reason he considers it improper for being sown where there is great depth of mould or soil. It is a plant that is asserted by Marshal to afford a large produce even on those soils which are of the poorest quality, and on such as are of a more rich and friable nature to frequently produce abundant crops. Still, he conceives, that it is only in the calcareous soils, as the dry chalk and limestone, or such as have been well impregnated with that sort of matter, that it suc- ceeds in a perfect manner or becomes durable. The advantages resulting from growing this plant on sandy soils in Norfolk have been already stated. (4744.) 5598. The best preparation which any soil fit for this plant can undergo is, unquestionably, trenching ; and we have little doubt that in most cases, all things considered, it would be found the cheapest. The usual preparatory culture, however, is the same as for clover, ploughing more deeply than ordinary, either by means of the trench plough, or, what is better because more simple, by the common plough going twice in the same track. Boys {Communications to the Board of Agriculture, vol. iii. 1 recommends as a pre. paration for saintfoin : 1st year, pare and burn for turnips, to be eaten on the land by sheep, with the aid of some fodder; 2d, barley, to be sown very earlv with clover seed; 3d, clover eaten off by sheep: 4th, wheat; 5th, turnips with manure; and, 6th, barley with saintfoin. The corn crops must be carefully weeded, and in particular cleaied of charlock. Under this system, the produce has been great, and the ground has been laid down in the highest order with saintfoin, or any other grass calculated for this species of soil 5599. With respect to the season ofsoieing saintfoin, it may be observed, that the earlier it can be put into the soil in the spring the better, as from the greater moisture of such soils there will be a greater probability of its vegetating in a perfect manner. Where the sowing is executed at a late period, and dry weather succeeds. Bannister thinks that much of the seed is prevented from growing, and that the young plants are more ex- posed to destruction from the fly ; therefore, according to this writer, the sowing of saintfoin seed ought never to be deferred longer than the beginning of March, and it is still better to complete this work in February. Some, however, suppose it may be de- ferred to the middle of March without injury, and this is soon enough if it is to be sown with barley. 5600. The manner ofsorring is generally broad-cast ; but it maybe sown in drills and even transplanted, though neither of these modes can be recommended. Some advise its being sown with about half the quan- tity of barley usually sown for a full crop, which may shade and keep it moist during the first summer, and at the same time not injure it from the crop being lighter, which is sometimes the case. Where the barley is drilled, the saintfoin may afterwards be put in, in the same manner, but in a contrary direction. If sown over the wheat, it should be harrowed in, and afterwards rolled. In whatever method it is sown, as the needs are larger than those of many other herbage plants, they should be covered in with more care, and to a somewhat greater depth, liv some the ploughing of the seed in with a very thin or shallow Book VI. SAINTFOIN. 881 furrow is recommended. In most cases, especially in all the more light sorts of land in which this sort of crop is grown, the use of the roller may be necessary immediately after the seed is put into the ground. It is the practice in some districts to sow a small portion of clover seed with saintfoin, with the idea ot increasing the first year's produce ; but as plants of different kinds seldom answer well when grown together, from there being a continual contest in their growth for an ascendancy, it is perhaps a better method to increase the proportion of the seed, without mixing it with that of other sorts. It is, however, supposed by Marshal that such a practice is beneficial in ultimately procuring a tine clean crop of saintfoin upon the land. It is a sort of crop that grows in so perfect a manner in the broad.cast method, that there can seldom be any necessity for having recourse to the drill. It may, however, be cultivated in the latter mode with much success ; and, in Norfolk, it is the practice with some cultivators to have it drilled at nine inches across the barley crops which have been sown in the same way. 5601. The quantity of seed in the broad-cast method, which is that mostly employed, is about four bushels the acre, though less is frequently given ; but on such soils as are proper for this plant it is always necessary to have a full proportion of seed. By some, however, a much smaller quantity is made use of; and where the drill system is had recourse to, a still smaller proportion is used, as from two to two and a half or three bushels. It has been observed, that in Lincolnshire, where this plant is much grown, " the common allowance of seed is five bushels to an acre, and that a gentleman south of Lincoln advises the sowing a small quantity of trefoil with it (about four pounds on an acre)." The reason for this is, that in that exposed country, the young plants sutler more by the sun in summer than by the frost in winter. Of course the trefoil coming to perfection the first year, and living only three, will he a shelter for the young plants during the first year or two, and die off when the saintfoin wants its room. 5602. In the choice of the seed the safest practice for the cultivator is to select it from the best and most abiding plants in this particular soil, as that purchased from the seed-shops can rarely be depended upon. A certain method of knowing thegoodness of the seed is, by sowing a number of the seeds, and seeing how manv plants are produced by them. But the external signs of the seeds being good are, that the husk is of a bright colour, and the kernel plump, of a light grey or blue colour, and sometimes of a shining black. The seed may be good, though the husk be black, as that is owing sometimes to letting it receive wet in the field, and not to its being half-rotted in the heap. If the kernel on being cut across appears greenish and fresh, it is a certain sign that it is good : but if it is of a yellowish colour, and friable, and looks thin and pitted, it is a bad sign. Others observe that the best seed is plump, heavy, bright, and of a yellowish red colour, and that it should always be sown while quite fresh, as old seed, or seed that has been long kept, never vegetates in a perfect manner ; seed of this sort is in general from about three to five shillings the bushel. 5603. The after-culture and management of saintfoin consists in occasional dressings with manure, and, in the judicious intervention of mowing and pasturing. 5604. Some farmers do not mow in the first year, while others do ; but in the second year, and in the succeeding summers, a crop of hay may be taken, and the after-grass fed down with any sorts of stock but sheep, till towarus December. These should not be permitted to eat it too close, as, from the largeness of the roots, they might bv so doing injure the crowns of the plants. . In the following autumn there will, however, he less risk in this respect, and sheep as well as cattle stock may be turned in and kept upon the pastures till they are well eaten down, being always careful to shut them up as early as possible in the beginning of the "vear. This is the opinion of Kent. As this sort of herbage is thought to be improved in its taste by being nipped by the frost, it mav be a proper practice not to turn stock upon these leys too early in the autumnal season ; perhaps not before the latter end of September, when this sort of rouen or after-grass will be found to have much effect in promoting the flow of milk in cows, as well as in forwarding the con- dition of fattening beasts ; great store of feed being still left for sheep. But with this sort of stock they should not be too closely fed down, nor should the sheep remain too long upon them. It has been suggested that all sorts of cattle stock should be removed by the beginning of the year from these rouens, as much harm might be done bv their continuing longer. 5605. In top-dressing saintfoin peat ashes are the best material that can be made use of where they can be procured in sufficient quantity ; and other sorts of ashes are likewise found beneficial where these cannot be bad. They should be applied so as to form a thin, even, regular dressing over the whole surface of the crop. In this view soot has also been found of great utility when spread evenly over such leys about the beginning of Januarv, in the proportion of about twenty-five or thirty bushels to the statute acre; and malt-dust has been employed ill the same way with great success and advantage, as shown by Bannister in his Synopsis of Husbandry. It is supposed that where those sorts of top-dressings can be applied every third or fourth vear, the saintfoin crops, when well established in the soils, may be preserved in a state of vigorous growth 'for ten or fifteen years, or more, and the land be considerably improved by the roots striking so deeply into it. 5606. In taking and iisi?ig the saintfoin crop, the same practices may be followed as in taking clover : it may be mown for soiling, hay, or seed ; and eaten on the spot by tethering, hurdling, or common pasturing. 5607. In making it into hay, it is cut immediately on its coming into full blossom, and as it remains but a short time in this state, as much expedition as possible should be employed both in mowing and making the produce into hay. It is remarked by the author of The Synopsis of Husbandry, who resides in a district where the culture of saintfoin is frequent, that of all other hay plants, it requires the least pains in maKing. When the season is favourable, the hay-makers may follow the scythe, and having turned over the swaths, throw them into wind-rows the succeeding day after the crop is mown, when it may be imme. diately formed into cocks, and the whole crop be fit for carting in a week, sometimes in three days after it is mown. Though it may appear very green, and the stack when made take on or acquire a considerable degree of heat, there is no -danger to be apprehended, provided the weather has been fair during the hay- making; as it is so far from taking harm by heating in the stack, that the contrary state is the most to be feared. For this reason great care is necessary not to suffer the fodder to continue long either in the swath or in cocks, lest the sun and wind should dry it up too fast, and by exhaling its juices prevent the heating in the stack, and thereby render it of little value. In order to preserve its succulence, in some places they put a number of these cocks together, so as to form large cocks of a size to contain a load in each, and they finish the stacks out of the cocks It is likewise a practice with many farmers, where the crop is slight, to turn the swaths, and then run them into cocks with a three pronged barley fork, following with a wooden dew-rake, the head of which is of sufficient width to cover the ground occupied by three or four swaths, in this manner proceeding with the utmost despatch, and saving a deal of labour and expense in the business. 5608. In regard to the frequency of cutting saintfoin, it is probable that on the thinner sorts of soils i it can seldom be done more than once ; but on those of the deeper sorts two crops may sometimes be taken, in the same manner as with clover, care being taken in these cases that the future growth of the plants be not injured by this means. 5609. The vsnal duration of saintfoin, in a profitable state, is from eight to ten years. It attains its perfect growth in about three years, and begins to decline towards the eighth 3 L 888 PRACTICE OF AGRICULTURE. Part III or tenth ob calcareous soils, and about the seventh and eighth on gravels. There are instances, however, of fields of saintfoin, which had been neglected and left to run into pasture, in which plants have been found upwards of fifty years from the time of sowing. It has been cultivated upwards of a century on the Cotswold Hills, and there roots of it have been traced down into stone quarries from ten to twenty feet in length, and in Ger- many Von Thaer found them attain the length of sixteen feet. In general the great enemy to the endurance of saintfoin is the grass, which accumulates and forms a close turf on the surface, and thus chokes up the plant. 5G10. The quantity of produce in the state of hay, on a medium of soils and cultivation, may probably lie estimated at from about one and a half to two tons the acre ; and on the poorer and thinner staple sort . of land it will, perhaps, seldom afford less than from a ton to a ton and a half on the acre. 5611. The nutritive products of saintfoin are the same as clover; viz. 3 T 3 5 , being l T 6 per cent more than those of lucern. 5612. In saving seed from saintfoin, it should remain on the land till the husks become of a somewhat brownish colour, and the seeds are perfectly plump and firm ; as by these means they will not only be better in their quality, but be in less danger of being injured in the field, from the very short time that it will be necessary for them to remain, and also less in danger of being hurt by heating when laid up for future use. It has been stated, that it requires some experience to know of what degree of ripeness it is best to cut the seeded saintfoin, because all its seeds do not ripen at the same time. Some ears blossom before others ; and every ear begins to blossom at its lower part, and continues to blow gradually upwards for many days ; so that before the flower is gone off at the top, the seeds are almost mature at the bottom. From this cause, if the cutting be deferred till the top-seeds are quite ripe, the lower, which are the best, would shed and be lost. 5fil3. The best time to cut it is when the greater part of the seed is well filled, the first blown ripe, and the last blown beginning to be full. The unripe seeds will ripen after cutting, and be in all respects as good as those that were ripe before. Some, for want of observing this, have suffered their saintfoin seed to stand till all of it has shed, and been lost in cutting. Saintfoin should never be cut in the heat of the day, while the sun shines out ; for then much, even of the unripe seed, will shed in mowing.^ The right time for this work is the morning or evening, when the dew has rendered the plants supple. When the weather is fine and clear, the saintfoin will soon drv sufficiently in the swaths, without turning them ; but if any rain has fallen, and there is a necessity for turning them, it should be done very gently while they are moist, and not with two swaths together, as in hay made of saintfoin before it has seeded. It the swaths are turned with the handle of the rake, it is best to raise up the ear-sides first, and let the stub-side rest on the ground in turning ; but if it is done with the teeth of the rake, let the stub-side be lifted up, and the ears rested on the earth. If it be cocked at all, the sooner it is done the better ; because, if the swaths are drv, much of the seed will be lost in separating them, the ears being entangled together. When moist, the seeds stick fast in the ear ; but when drv, they drop out with the least touch or shaking. It is, however, the best practice, as soon as the proper degree of maturity has been attained by the crop, to mow it in as short a time as possible, and let it remain exposed in the swath until the upper surface is fully dried, when it must be wholly turned over, but in a very careful manner, so as to prevent the seeds from shedding and being lost. When this side has been rendered perfectly drv and crisp in the same way as the other, the crop should either De threshed out upon cloths in the field' where it is grown, or laid up in stacks to be afterwards threshed when the farmer has more leisure and convenience for the work. 5614. Tlie work of threshing out the seeds in this kind of crop is much less troublesome and expensive than in the clover kind. In cases where threshing-machines are in use, the business may be executed by them with great ease and facility. It has, however, l>een observed by a late writer, that " when the season is favourable, the practice of threshing it out in the field is probably the most beneficial, as the stems or haulm may- be laid up for the purpose of fodder in the stack." 5G15. As the threshing in the field cannot be done but in very fine weather, and while the sun shines in the middle of the day, the best manner of performing it is to have a large sheet pegged down to the ground, for two men to thresh on with their flails, while two others bring them fresh supplies in a smaller sheet, and two more clear away the hay that has been threshed. The seed is emptied out of the larger sheet, and riddled through a large sieve, to separate it from the chaff and broken stalks ; after which it is put into sacks, and carried into the barn to be winnowed. Care should be taken not to let the hay get wet, as in that case it would be spoiled. It is a very important, but difficult matter, to keep the seed that has been threshed in the field from becoming wet. If it be winnowed immediately, and laid in a heap or put into a sack, it will ferment to such a degree in a few days that the greater part of it will lose its vegetative quality. During that fermentation it will be very hot, and smell sour. Spreading it upon a barn-floor, though but seven or eight inches thick, will answer no end, unless it be frequently and regu- larly turned until the heating is over : but even this will not make its colour keep so bright as if it were well housed, well dried, and threshed in the winter. Laid up unthreshed it will keep without any danger of spoiling, because it does not lie close enough to heat The best way to preserve the seed threshed in the field is to place a layer of straw upon a barn-floor, and upon that a thin layer of seed ; then another layer of straw, and another layer of seed; and so on. liy this means the seed, mixing with the straw, will be kept well, and come out in the spring in as fresh colour as when it was put in. 5616. In respect to the produce in seed, it is said to be usually " from about four to five sacks in some districts, but in others it will probably be much less, especially on the shallower sorts of saintfoin soils." But this must obviously be liable to great variation from seasons, &c. 5617. The diseases of saintfoin are few, there being little danger of failure after it has escaped the fly, which attacks the clover tribe in germinating. Book VI. BURNET, RIBWORT, &c. 883 Sect. IV. Various Plants (not Graminecr) winch are or may be cultivated as Herbage and for Hay. *5618. Among the inferior herbage plants which are occasionally cultivated, are burnet, ribwort, furze, and spurry. Those which might be cultivated are very numerous, and in- cludes several species of Ficia, iathyrus, Galega, Lotus, Trifdlium, Medicago, and others of the native Leguminbsa?, or pea-like flowering plants ; and Achillea, Alchemilla Cheiranthus, Spartium, A\>'ium, and a variety of others of different families. With the exception of the chiccory and furze, there are none of these plants that deserve the atten- tion of the professional farmer ; ribwort and burnet are occasionally sown ; but they are of little value as hay plants, and in most pastures their place might be more advan- tafeouslv occupied by one or other of the natural grasses. With respect to the other plants enumerated, they have never been tried but by way of experiment, and are only mentioned as resources under peculiar circumstances, and as a field of enquiry and exer- tion for the amateur cultivator. 5fil9. The burnet [Pimprenelle grande, Fr. ; Poterium Sanguisorba L. fig. 778.) is a native plant, a hardy perennial with compound leaves, blood coloured flowers, and a long tap-root. It was originally brought into notice by Roque, a commer- cial gardener, at Walliam green, near London, who found means to procure the patronage of the Dublin and other societies to this plant, which, being a novelty, attracted the attention and called forth the eulogies of Arthur Young, and other leading agriculturists of the day. Miller, however, at the time observed, that whoever will give them- selves the trouble to examine the grounds where it naturally grows, will find the plants left uneaten by the cattle, when the grass about them has been cropped to the roots ; besides, in wet winters and on '^P, strong land, the plants are of short duration, and therefore very unfit for the purpose of pasture or hay, nor is the produce sufficient to tempt any persons of skill to engage in its culture. 5620. Curtis says of burnet, that it is one of those plants wnich it has for some years past been attempted to introduce into agriculture ; but not answering the farmer's expectation, it is now in a great degree laid aside. Cattle are said not to be fond of it; nor is its produce suffi- cient to answer the expense attending its culture. It is to be lamented that persons do not pay a little attention to the nature of plants before they so warmly recommend them. A small plant, scarcely ever met wiiii but on hilly and chalky ground, and to which cattle in such situ- ations do not show any particular attachment, is not likely to afford better or more copious nourishment than the clovers and other plants already in use. 5621. According to Boys, in TJie Agricultural Survey of Kent, it affords herbage in the winter and spring months, but is not much liked either by cattle or sheep. 5622. Dr. Anderson reports, that burnet retains its verdure pretty well during the winter months, but affords such scanty crops as hardly to be worth the attention of the farmer. 5623 A correspondent in the Museum Rusticum, a work very favourable to burnet, confesses with reluctance that it is not deserving of any exalted character, but rather the contrary; and that it is in no- degree to be compared to the common clover, which is cultivated at half the expense. It appears from some accounts there that horses will not eat it at all, and that kine frequently will not take it without great reluctance. Its slow growth is also made a great objection : being only about five inches high, and having scarcely one head in flower ; whilst lucem, on the same soil, sown the same day and much thicker, was eighteen or twenty inches in height. It is not meant by this, however, to discourage that laudable spirit of improvement which so happily prevails at present ; but to caution such as introduce any new plant to make themselves well acquainted with its natural history. 5624. Those teho wish to cultivate burnet, as an herbage and hay plant, may treat it exactly as directed for saintfoin : as a pasture plant it is sown among the grasses in the same way as w hite or yellow clover. A bushel of seed is commonly sown to an acre. 5625. The ribwort plantain [Plantain des Pres, Fr. ; Planthgo lanceolata L., fig. 779.) is a hardy native with a tuft of long ribbed leaves springing from the crown of the root, long naked flower-stems, and a long moniliform tap-root It abounds in dry soils, as do several other species of plantain, especially the P. media. On dry soils it affords little herbage, and is often left un- touched by cattle. Curtis, Withering, and other British botanists, speak unfavourably of the ribwort as a pasture herb ; but Haller attributes the richness of the milk in the Swiss dairies to the flavour of this plant, and that of the Alchemilla, in the mountain pastures. In rich moist or watered lands its herbage is more abundant, and its flavour altered, — a circumstance not uncommon in the vegetable king- dom, but from which it does not always follow that the plant so altered is deserving of culture. In conformity with this observation, though the ribwort is a scanty and rejected herbage, on poor dry soils, it is said by Zappa of Milan to grow spontaneously in every meadow of Lom- bardy, especially in those which are irrigated. It vegetates early, flowers at the beginning of May, ripens in five weeks, and is cut with the P6a trivialis; the height of the leaves is about one foot, and of the stalk a foot and a half; it multiplies itself much by the seed, and a little by the roots, which it continues for some time to reproduce. Ribwort, more especially in a cultivated state, is eaten heartily by every sort of cattle, and in particular by cows, who like it most in May, when it has great influence on the milk, as the hay has on the flesh. In Scotland it is a useful addition to the proper grasses on lands to be pastured by sheep, at the rate of two or three head to the acre. Where kept well fed down by stock, there can be no doubt of its being a very good and nourishing pasturage plant for both cattle and sheep; but it is by no means adapted for hay or soiling. 56*6. Younr savs, that he had long before recommended this plant for laying land to grass, and sowed it on hi* own farm. At the same time, he thinks it extravagant to propose dandelion and sorrel as plants 3L 2 8S-J PllACTICE OF AGRICULTURE. Tart III. propel fot ■ row pasture, and conjectures that those plants, being found among good ones, have qualities gl* en them which do not properly belong to them : lie is likewise inclined to make the same conjecture in respect to narrow-leaved plantain, ribwort, or rib-gran, and should even have preferred dandelion and sorrel to it ; but he is cMiHotu ol opposing theory to practice. 5627. Dr. Anderson itates, that narrow-leaved plantain or rib-gran is well liked by horses and cattle, and yields a very good crop upon rich ground tending to dampness, if it is at the same time soft ami spongy ; but lh.it upon any sod which has a tendency to bind, or upon dry ground, it furnishes a very scanty crop. It has been made use of in some parts of Yorkshire as a summer grass. As an article of pasturage lor cattle and sheep, it is there in high esteem : it is not, however, well eaten by horses. As an article of bay, it is held to be detrimental to the crop; retaining its sap an unusual length of time, and when fully dry falling into a small compass, or being broken into fragments and left behind in the field. 5698. The rulture of the plantain is the same as that of clover; its seed is about the same size, and con- sequently the s nne proportion of it will sow an acre. •662ft The whin, furze, or nurxe [Ajone, Jonc marin, Gou'/ ,'pincux, Fr. ; ITlex europ.-vAa L.,ftg. 780. \ is a well known shrub, found wild on dry light soils, and in rather hilly situations, in the warmer and more temperate parts of Europe ; but not in Sweden, or in Russia or Poland, north of Cracow and Casan. It has been known as a nourishing food for cattle from a very early period, and has been sown in some parts of England for that purpose and for fuel. Dr. Anderson knows few plants that deserve the atten- tion of the farmer more than the whin. Horses are peculiarly fond of it ; so much so, that some persons think they may be made to per- form hard work upon it, without any feeding of grain : but he thinks it tends more to fatten a horse than to fit him for hard labour, and that therefore some grain should be given with it where the work is ■*> \ 'i^tJ- severe. Cattle, he says, eat it perfectly well when thoroughly bruised, IrL Ip^ii tT^r^tiliS aiu ' K row as f' 1 ' u P on 't as upon turnips; but unless it be very well ^?~—»/i • / /\\ M i.affl/W bruised for them, they will not eat it freely, and the farmer will be disappointed in his expectations. It has lately been found excellent food for horses in the Highlands of Scotland. [High. Sue. Trans, vol. v.) Cows fed upon it yield nearly as much milk as while upon grass, and it is free from any bad taste. The best winter-made butter he ever saw was obtained from the milk of a cow fed upon this plant. This food should be made use of soon after being prepared. Two bushels, with a proper allowance of hay, have been found to be sufficient for a day for three horses performing the same labour as with corn. It also seemed useful to horses labouring under broken wind and grease. Poor hungry gravelly soils, which would not have let for five shillings an acre, have been rendered worth twenty shillings by sowing them with furze-seed, in places where fuel has been scarce ; the furze being frequently used for heating ovens, burning lime and bricks, and also for drying malt : but it is not worth cultivating in countries where fuel of any kind is cheap, or upon such lands as will produce good grass, corn, or other crops employed as the food of animals. 5630. The culture of the whin is thus given by the same author : — A field of a good dry loamy land, being well prepared, he sowed, along with a crop of barley, the seeds of the whin in the same way as clover is usually sown, all nving at the rate of from fifteen to thirty pounds of seed to the acre. The seeds, if harrowed in and rolled with the barlev, quickly spring up, and advance under the shelter of the barley during the summer, and keep alive during the winter. Next season, if the field has not a great tendency to run to grass so as to choke them, thev advance rapidly after midsummer, so as to produce a pretty full crop before winter. This you may begin to cut with a scythe immediately after your clover fails, and continue to cut it as wanted during the whole of the winter ; but it is supposed that, after the month of February, the taste of this plant alters, as it is in general believed that after that time horses and cattle are no longer fond of it. He, however, observes, that never having had a sufficiency of whins to serve longer than towards the middle of February or beginning of March, he cannot assert the fact from his own experience. He has frequently seen horses beating the whins with their hoofs, so as to bruise the prickles, and then eating them, even in the months of April and May ; and he says, that sheep which nave been used to this food certainly pick off the blossoms and the young pods at that season, and probably the prickles also ; so that it is possible the opinion may only be a vulgar error. This is, he thinks, the best way of rearing whins as a crop for a winter food for cattle or horses. But for sheep, who take to this food very kindly when they have once been accustomed to it, less nicety is required ; for if the seeds be simply sown broad-cast, very thin (about a pound of seed per acre) upon the poorest soils, after they come up the sheep of themselves" will crop the plants, and soon bring them into round close bushes, as this animal nibbles oft' the prickles one by one very quickly, so as not to be hurt by them. Sheep, however, who have not been used to this mode of browsing do not know how to proceed, and often will not taste them ; but a few that have been used to the food will, he observes, soon teach all the rest how to use it. 5R.'ll. Another very economical way of rearing whins, but which he has seen practised rather than experienced himself, is this : — Let a farm be enclosed by means of a ditch all round, with a bank thrown up on one side, and if stones can be had, let the face of that bank be lined with the stones, from bottom to near the top, this lining to slope backwards with an angle of about sixty or seventy degrees from the horizon. Any kind of stones, even round ones gathered from the land, will answer the purpose very well ; upon the top of the bank sow whin-seeds pretty thick, and throw a few of them along the face of the bank. Young plants will quickly appear. Let them grow for two years, and then cut them down by means of a hedge-bill, sloping down by the face of the bank. This mode of cutting is very easy, and as the seeds soon insinuate themselves among the crannies of the stones, the whole face of the bank becomes a close hedge, whose shoots spring up with great luxuriance. If another ditch be made on the other side of the bank, and if this he managed in the same way, and the hedge cut down only once every second year (and in this way it affords very good food for beasts), the inside and outside being cut down alternately, the fence will at all times continue good, as the hedge at the top will at all times be complete. This mode of rearing whins is, he remarks, botn convenient and economical. But where stones cannot be obtained for making the facing, the bank very soon moulders down, and becomes unfit for the purposes of a fence. Circumstances hive prevented him from ascertaining what is the weight of the crop that may be thus attained, but he thinks he may safely venture to say, that it is at least equal to that of a crop of green clover; and if it be considered, that this affords a green succulent food during winter, on which cattle can be fatted as well as on cut grass in summer, it will, he thinks, be admitted, that it must be accounted even a more valuable crop than clover. After being cut, he also remarks, that it springs up the following season with greater vigour than before, and in this situation acquires a degree of health and succulence very different from what it is ever observed to possess in its natural state. He has seen shoots of one season near four feet in length. The prickles too are so soft, and the stems so tender, that very little bruising is necessary ; indeed horses, that have been accustomed to this food, would eat it without any bruising at all ; but horned cattle, whose mouths seem to be more tender, always require it to be well bruised. How long crops of this sort may continue to be annually cut over without wearing out, he cannot say, but he believes a long while in favourable circumstances. One thing, however, it is necessary to attend to in Book VI. SPURRY, BROOM, PARSLEY, &c. S*5 cumstance, or f the field be in good heart, he wil order to guard against its being destroyed : as, during the beginning of the season, nature seems to be soiely employed about the great work of fructification, and it is not till near Midsummer that the whin begins to push forth its wood-bearing branches, which advance with great luxuriance during the latter part of the season only, it may happen, that if care be not taken to have the grass that springs up on the held, before the whin begins to send out its shoo's, eaten close down, that grass will acquire such a luxuriance before the young branches of the whin begin to advance, as to overtop them, and choke them W hoever, therefore, has a field under this particular crop, must be careful to advert to this cir- infallibly lose it The field therefore should be kept as a pasture, bare as possible during the beginning of the season, and the cattle should only be taken from it when the shoots of the whin begin to advance with vigour. Under this management, he presumes^ it may be kept for many years, and yield full crops ; but, unless the mowers be particularly attentive at the beginning, to cut it as low as possible, it will very soon become impossible to cut the field with a scythe, as the stumps will acquire so much strength as to break the scythe when it happens to touch them. 56 32. The spurry (Spergule, Fr. ; Speigula arvensis L., fig. 781.) is a diminutive annual weed, on dry sandy corn-lands, in most parts of Europe. In Germany and the Netherlands, it is sown on the corn stubbles, and in the intervals of time that occur between some crops is fed with sheep. It may be sown and reaped in eight weeks, either in autumn or spring. It is said to enrich the milk of cows, so as to make it afford excellent butter ; and the mutton fed on it is preferable to that fed on turnips. Hens eat spurry greedily, and it is supposed to make them lay a great number of eggs. Whether in hay, or cut green, or in pasture, Von Thaer observes, it is the most nourishing, in pro- portion to its bulk, of all forage, and gives the best flavoured milk aHd butter. It has been recommended to be cultivated in England ; but it is not likely that such a plant can ever pay the expense of seed and labour in this country, even on the poorest soil, or at all events, as Pro essor Martyn observes, we have manv better plants for such soils. 5633. The common broom [Genii commun, Fr. ; Spartium scoparium'.L, fig. 782.) is cultivated in the southern parts of France, on the poorer sorts of soil, in the same way as hemp, fur the purpose of stripping the bark from it, and converting it into a kind of thread. It is likewise cultivated in these places as a winter-food for sheep, and it is said they eat it with great avidity, preferring it to many other plants. It is, however, liable to pro- duce diseases of the urinary passages, by its diuretic qualities. It has been recommended by Young to be culti- vated in England as food for sheep nd horses, who are said to eat it after they get accustomed to it ; also for thatch, ropes, besoms, food for bees, fuel, and burning on the spot to improve the soil. Its culture is the same as that of the whin ; but very peculiar, indeed, must be that situ- ation, where its culture is attempted for any of the above purposes. It is a useful protection of game in plant- ations, from which source abundance may be had for besoms. The Spanish broom S. ./unceum L.,fig. 783.} might 1 e grown perhaps still more advantageously than the common species. 5ri3±. 'J he parsley (Persil commun, Fr. ; yfpium Petrosellnum L.,fig <" -,- ,*--Wr>. with a large sweet tap-root. It is a native of Sicilv, but endures the - 4b*' ' ' ' ■'■-'j* «-'£^V r ?&- Brltlsh "'"iter hke a native plant. It is sown along with clover and -.', '-.' fX~- :' ~ ^-V^'f^'i S rass seeds in so ™e places, and especially in Lincolnshire, as a pre- «SS&ivifrT« fHXfrjZ ventive of the rot in sheep. Fleet, of Hampshire, famous for curing the rot in sheep, cultivates it largely with success: he sows half a bushel to the acre, with a bushel of rye-grass with spring corn ; and he finds that it lasts in the ground till it'is permitted to seed. He feeds it constantly ; it being excellent for sheep, and, when suffered to get a-head, wonderfully fed upon by pigs in the autumn. After September, it will not, he says, run to seed. When it was ploughed up he ob- tained good oats. The land was poor, and in the next round of the course, the clover was much the better for the parsley having been sown or the clover omitted j for in a field half parsley, half clover, when the clover came again to be sown, it was excellent on the parslev half, 'mt bad on the clover part In laying down land to grass, Hovte, in ■he fourth volume of Communications to the Hoard of Agricultui e, advises the sowing with twelve pounds of white clover, two pounds of red clover, two pecks of rye- grass, and two pounds of parsley to the acre, as the parsley stands two years, and bv its diuretic dualities pre- vents the sheep from dying of the red-water, which too luxuriant clovers are apt to produce. In Scotland, al:o, it has been sown with success, and greedily eaten by horses, cows, and hogs. The seed requires a longer period to germinate than that of any other agri- cultural plant, and might probably be advantageously prepared by steeping and turning. It must be fresh, as two-year-old seed will not grow. It is easily procured bv the pound or bushel, from the seedsman, ; nd as easily raised by letting a few drills in a garden shoot into .../wer-stems. 56.35. The Spiraea Ulmaria L. ; queen of the meadows, Heine des Pris Fr. ; the Scabnsa arvensis; the .ffesperis matronalis ; the Centauria J&cea, are sown in France along with the perennial grasses, and their seeds may be had in the French seed shops, but they cannot be recommended in soils and climates where any of the clovers or true grasses will thrive so as to form an abundant herbage. 5fi36. The wallflower (Cheiranthus Cheiri L.) is a well known garden flower, and at the same time a native, and very hardy on dry soils Like the parsley it is an antiseptic, and has been rec»mmended to b« cultivated for the same purposes, and in the same manner. 3 L 3 784) is a well known biennial U8t> PRACTICE OF AGRICULTURE. Part III. 5037. The hint's foot trefoil (I.otier, Fr. ; /.Mus corniculatus I.., .fig. 785.) has been tried as a substitute for white clover 0D moist lands, and 786 seems to succeed very well, but to have n<> particular advantage) over the clover. /. tns major has been found by Mr. Sinclair to afford triple the weigh) of green (bod and hay afforded by /...tns comiculatut ; its nutritive powers compared with that I plant are as nine to eight ; but on the whole, be says, both species are greatly inferior to white clover. [Gram. Wob. 2d ed. p. :ill.) 7,6tus villbsus and tetragonolobus, the hotter cvltivi of the French Jig. 786.), are a good deal cultivated in France on light soils The latter is an annual sown in our : gardens. 5638. The fenugreek (Scnncgrain, Fr. ; 7'rigonella FuNium-graAum /.., fill. 787.), Greek hay, was formerly cultivated in Italy, and still holds a prominent place in the agriculture of Egypt. In France it is cultivated to a limited extent near Paris for its seeds, which are used in medicine. 5639. The serradilla (Ornithopus satlvus of Persoon's Synopsis) was introduced for purposes of field culture about the year 1818, from Portugal, and sown upon the light barren downs of Thetford in Norfolk, and Ampthill and other places in Bedfordshire, It is said to have produced abundant cropi, two feet high, of excellent fodder, 787 where scarcely any thing else would grow. Its culture, 788 however, is no longer in use in England, and it does not enter into the agriculture of France. 56-10. Galiga officinalis ;IA- v3 1- M thyTUS Cicera, latifblius, syl- vestris,pratensis,hirsutus,he- terophyllus, and tingitanus ; E'rvum .Ervilia, and monan. thos; Z.6tus villbsus, and te. tragon61obus ; Ficia angusti- fblia, Cracca, Pseiido- Cracca, biennis, sepium, and lutea ; Anthyllis vulneiaria ; and Astragalus glyciphylios and galegiiormis, are all used as herbage plants in the agricul. ture of France. 5641. The oriental bunias (ifunias orientalis I,., Jig. 788. a) is a perennial plant, with leaves, branches, and its ge- neral habit of herbage, not It is a native of the Levant, and has been cultivated by way of experiment in the grass garden at Woburn. it is less productive than chiccory, bears mowing well, and affords the same nutriment, in proportion to its bulk, as red clover. (Agricultural Chem. p. 374.) 5642. The yarrow (Millejew'lle, Fr. ; Ach'Mka Afillefblium I.. Jig. 788. b), the common, and alpine ladies mantle {Alchcmilln vulgaris and alplna /,.), and others, have been tried among perennial grasses, sown in parks, with a view to give flavour to milk, butter, mutton, and venison. Sinclair considers yarrow as an essential ingredient of the most fattening anil healthy pastures. In all the pastures most celebrated for fattening or dairy produce, which he examined in Devonshire, Lincolnshire, and in the vale of Aylesbury, yarrow was present more or less in every part of the surface. I Holt- Gram. Wob. 2d edit. p. 412.) unlike the wild chiccory. Cm VI. Cultivated Grasses- *5643. The forage or ho;/ and pasture grasses, of which we are now about to treat, are found clothing the surface of the earth in every zone, attaining generally a greater height, with less closeness at the root in the warm climates ; and producing a low, close, thick, dark green nutritive herbage, in the cooler latitudes. The best grass pastures, those which are most productive and nutritive, are such as are found in countries that have least cold in winter, and no excess of heat in summer. Ireland, Britain, and part of Holland and Denmark, may equal or surpass any countries of the world in this respect; but in every zone where there are high mountains, there are certain positions between the base and summit, where, from the equability of the temperature, turf may be found equal to that in marine islands. It is a singular circumstance with regard to grasses, Book VI. HAY GRASSES. 88? that in the greater part of North America, the sorts that grow naturally on the plains are almost all annuals, and consequently with the first frost they die, and the ground remains naked till a fresh crop rises from the self-sown seeds next spring. Nearly the same thing may be said of Poland and Russia, with the exception of the banks of rivers and the mountains. 5644. The universal presence of the forage grasses, and the rapidity with which all soils become covered with them when left uncultivated, are the obvious reasons why their systematic selection and culture are but of recent date. Though the Romans cultivated clovers, and were careful of their meadows, it does not appear that the seeds of the proper grasses were collected and sown by them. None of the agricultural writers, from Peter of Bologna to Parkinson in J64U, say a word about sowing grasses, though they all mention clover and lucern. This branch of culture appears to have originated in England about the middle of the seventeenth century, and the grass made choice of was the rye-grass. The first mention made of it for cultivation is in Dr. Plot's OTfordsltire, printed in 1677. " They have lately sown," says he, " ray grass, or the Grhmen /oliaceum, by which they improve any cold, sour, clay- weeping ground, for which it is best, but good also for drier upland grounds, especially light stony or sandy land, which is unfit for saintfoin. It was first sown in the Chiltern parts of Oxfordshire, and since brought nearer Oxford by one Eustace, an ingenious husbandman of Islip, who, though at first laughed at, has since been followed even by those very persons that scorned his experiment." The first grass tried alter rye-grass appears to have been the Phleum pratense, by Rocque of Walham Green, about 1760. Soon afterwards the seed of cock's-foot grass was introduced from Virginia, under the name of orchard-grass, by the Society of Arts. ( Ann. Reg. 1765. 141.) ; fox-tail was tried at a later period, on the suggestions of Stillingfleet and Curtis. 5645. Stillingfleet, about 175?, drew the attention of the reading agriculturist to the selection of different species of grasses ; as did Dr. Anderson about the same time, and Swayne {Gramina Pdseua) and Curtis (Observations on British Grasses) soon afterwards. The origin of this attention to grasses and native plants may be traced to the practice of forming local floras by botanists, and especially to the Flora Sue'cica of Linnaeus; and the British Floras of Hudson, Withering, Lightfoot, Smith, &c. in which the medical and economical properties of the plants were mentioned ; and, in imitation of Linnaeus, particular notice taken of the animals which fed upon them. 5646. John Duke of Bedford made the latest and most laborious efforts towards attaining a knowledge of the comparative value of all the British and some foreign grasses worth cultivating. The result is given in an appendix to Sir H. Davy's Agricultural Chemist))/, and more at large in Sinclair's llortus Gramineus Woburnensis, 8vo. 2d edit 1825, a work which may truly be said to form an epoch in this department of agriculture, and which will probably long continue to be the ground-work of all that shall continue to be done in this branch of the subject, *5647. With respect to the general culture of grasses, though no department of agricul- ture is more simple in the execution, yet, from their nature, considerable judgment is required in the design. Though grasses abound in every soil and situation, yet, all the species do not abound in every soil and situation indifferently. On the contrary, no class of perfect plants is so absolute and unalterable in its choice in this respect. The creeping-rooted and stoloniferous grasses will grow readily on most soils ; but the fibrous-rooted species, and especially the more delicate upland grasses, require particular attention as to the soil in which they are sown ; for in many soils they will either not come up at all, or die away in a few years, and give way to the grasses which would naturally spring up in such a soil when left to a state of nature. Hence, in sowing down lands for permanent pasture, it is a good method to make choice of those grasses which thrive best in adjoining and similarly-circumstanced pastures for a part of the seed ; and to mix with these what are considered the very best kinds. 5648. The most important feature in the culture of pasture grasses is mixture of sorts. The husband- man, observes one of the most scientific agriculturists in Scotland, who clothes his fields only with r>e- grass and clover, employs a limited machinery, the former being unproductive in summer, the latter moderately so in spring ; but when he, for this purpose, uses a variety of plants differing in their habits of growth, and periods of luxuriance, a numerous and powerful machinery is kept successively in full operation. (Quar. Jour. Ag. vol. ii. p. 247.) 5649. The effect of a mixture of grasses maybe accounted for from some species putting forth their foliage, and reaching a maximum of produce at different periods from other kinds. From some being gregarious or social, and others solitary and never producing a close turf; by sowing seeds of several species together, which are dissimilar in their habits of growth, and arrive at a maximum of produce at different periods of summer and autumn, there is secured throughout the season a succession of fresh herbage, rendered, by the erect and creeping foliage of the different species, so dense and abundant as greatly to surpass in quantity that obtained from the cultivation of two or three kinds only. {Ibid. p. 246.) 5650. New and excellent varieties of many of the grasses, especially those used or fit to be used in the convertible husbandry, might no doubt be obtained by selection and cross-breeding, and it is much to be wished that this were attempted by cultivators. 5651. The grasses to be here treated of may be classed as tall sorts, or those best fitted for hay ; and dwarf grasses, or those fit only for pasturage : those experimented on at Woburn will next be noticed. Sect. 1. Tall-growing or Hoy Grasses. 5652. The hay grasses for the purposes of agriculture may be advantageously divided into those of temporary, and those of permanent duration. Subsect. 1. Tall or Hay Grasses of temporary Duration. *5C53. The most valuable of this division are the biennial, or, as it is commonly but enonecusly called, the annual, perennial, and subperennial rye-grass 'fg. 769. a), the 3 L 4 SSK PRACTICE OF AGRICULTURE. Pari III, cock's-foot grass(o), and woolly soft grass(c). Where a crop ot" liay is desired within the "fy& year, it is necessary to resort to such grasses 'r'tty as are annuals in the strict sense of the word ; »jw? and none can he hetter for this purpose than the common oat f^vena sativa), cut and made into hay when it comes into flower. Next in order may be mentioned the other cereal grasses and the annual varieties of //roinus : the latter, however, are very coarse grasses, though prolific in culm. 5654. The biennial rye-grass (Zolium per^nne var. bienne L.) is well known, as being universally sown, either with or with- out clover, among corn crops, with a view to one crop of hay in the succeeding season. It attains a greater height, and produces a longer broader spike of flowers, than the perennial rye-grass, and the produce in hay is considered greater than that of any other annual grass, equally palatable to cattle. It prefers a rich loamy soil, but will grow on any surface whatever, not rock or undecayed bog. *565o. The perennial ri/e-grass (Lolium per^nne L. Ivraie vivace, Fr. ; Daurende Lolche, Ger. ; and Loglio vivace, Ital.) differs from the other in being of somewhat smaller growth, and in abiding for several years, according to the variety and the soil and culture. •5656. Matty consider this grass coarse, benty, and very exhausting to the soil ; but, after all the experi- merits that have been made on the other grasses, none have been found to equal it for a course of mowing and pasturing for two, three, or seven years. It is sown in Italy, and especially in Lombardy, and also in France and Germany, along with clover, for the same purposes as in this country; and, as v n Thaer has remarked, though some have tried other species, both in these countries and in England, they have in the end returned to rye-grass. When intended as a pasture-grass, if stocked hard, and when for hay, if mown early, the objections to it are removed. {Code of Agriculture.) G. Sinclair says the circumstance of its producing abundance of seed, which is easily collected, and vegetates freely on any soil, its early perfection and abundant herbage the first year, which is much relished by cattle, are the merits which have upheld it to the present day, and will probably for some time to come continue it a favourite grass among farmers. But the lattermath'is inconsiderable, the plant impo' wishes the soil in a high degree if not cut before the seed ripens. When this is neglected, the field after midsummer exhibits only a brown surface of withered straws. Let the produce and nutritive powers of rye-grass be compared with those of the cock's-foot grass, and it will be found inferior nearly in the proportion of 5 to 18 ; to meadow fox-tail of j to 12 ; and to meadow fescue of 5 to 17. (Horf. Gram. Wob. 2d edit 215. and see \ Stirf-'.) In a subsequent page he observes, " The new varieties, however, of this species of grass, which have been discovered of late years, remove in a considerable degree the serious objections which applied to the common rye-grass." {lb. 412.) The varieties alluded to are all perennial, and as under : of Acre House, Lincolnshire, an eminent cultivator of the pasture grasses, who, in 18y3, had GO varieties of Solium perenne under experiment. Stickney't rye-g rnss, introdrcerl by Stickney of rToldemess. Russell's rye grass, first cult valed bv the late B. Holditt h, Esq., editor'of The Farmer's Journal, from seed obtained of a plant in a rich fen pasture, pointed out to Holditch by the Duke of Bedford. Church Itcunet, or Church bent-grass, an excellent variety of ryegrass, cultivated in some parts of Berkshire. Pacev's and Russell's are considered Steruter rt/e grass, common in dry impoverish d pasture land. Comj outul ur broad spiked rye-grass, found in rich soils, long Under trrass, and chiefly in beaten parts, as cart-wavs, &c. It hi- i li.irl Itroad spik", crowded with spikelets at the top. * ryegrass, found in rich meadow lands, and intro- dnced by Pacey, a cultivator in the uplands o* Staffordshire: spike nearly upright, spikelets shorter than in the compound r\i-grass, the stem furnished with long leaves, and the root leaves large and numerous. Sinclair considers this the most raluable variety of the rye grass. Whitwortk's rye. grass, introduced by G. Whitworth, Esq., All the above, except the first two, are excellent varieties, the best. 5657. The proportional value which the grass at the time of flowering bears to the grass at the time the sicd is ripe, is as 10 to 11. The proportional value which the grass of the lattermath bears to the grass at the time of flowering, is as 4 to 10 ; and to grass at the time the seed is ripe, as 4 to 11. 5658. The seed of perennial rye-grass is not to be distinguished from that of the annual variety. It may be collected by hand, in most parts of Britain, from old pastures, and a considerable quantity is annually so procured in Kent anil Sussex. It is also grown purposely for seed in England and Scotland. Formerly it was the practice for fanners to collect the seed which dropped from the hay used by their horses ; but rye-grass, grown for hay, is now cut, by all judicious farmers, when it is just coming into flower ; and there- fore to collect the glumes or empty husks can be of no use as seed. It has also been a common practice, in regard to rye grass, to let the mixed crop of that and clover stand till the seeds of the former have attained a considerable degree of ripeness, when it is cut down and made into hay, in the usual manner; ami the seeds of the rye-grass are separated by the use of the flail, commonly before the hay is put inti the field. ricks. Sometimes, when but a small quantity is wanted, the hay is merely shaken well upon a cloth, when it is building in the stack-yard; or afterwards in the stable. loft, before it is put into the horse's racks. But in all of these methods, in order to obtain good seed, the clover must remain uncut beyond the proper season ; and it is thus materially injured in quality, while the value of the rye-grass seed, in such a crop, is merely a secondary consideration. 5659. When seed is the principal object of the culture of ryegrass, it ought not to be mixed with clover at all, though it may be sown along with any of the kinds of corn, and treated the year alter in every respect as a crop of corn ; bound up in sheaves, built in stacks, threshed with the Hail, and dressed by the win- nowing-machine in the same manner. The difficulty of distinguishing between the annual and perennial varieties qf rye-grass has led to the practice, in some places, of cutting or pasturing the first year's crop, and taking a crop for seed the second year. If the growth of the rye-grass plants be close anil vigorous the second year, there is reason to be satisfied that the seed is of the perennial variety ; and though retl clover was sown with tt e rye-grass, a great part of it disappears by that time, and I'm ma but a small portion of the second year's cutting. {Sup. Eneyc. Brit. art. Agr.) Boos VI. HAY GRASSES. «89 5661. The cock's-foot grass (D&etyUs glomerata L.,fig.7S8. b) is an imperfect perennial, and grows naturally on dry sandy soils. This grass may be known by its coarse appear- ance, both of the leaf and spike, and also by its whitish green hue. 56fi2. One writer says, he has cultivated it largely, and to his satisfaction, on wet loams on a clav marl bottom, upon which the finer grasses are apt to give way in a few years to the indigenous produce. If suffered to rise high, it is very coarse; but, led close, is a very valuable sheep pasture. He has sown two bushels an acre, and lOIbs. common red clover ; and when the clover wears out, the grass fills the lands and abides well in it. It grows well in winter. It has been found highly useful as an early sheep feed. It is early, hardy, and productive, but is a coarser plant than rye-grass, and requires even greater attention in regard to being cut soon, or fed close. It does best by itself, and the time of its ripening being different from that of clover, it does not suit well to be mixed with that plant. The pasturage it affords is luxuriant, and particularly agreeable to sheep It is cultivated to a great extent, and with astonishing success, at Holkham. The quantity of sheep kept upon it, summer and winter, is quite surprising; and the land be- comes renovated by lying two or three years under this grass, and enriched by the manure derived from the sheep. A field, in the park at Woburn, was laid down in two equal parts, one part with rye-grass and white clover, and the other part with cock's-foot and red clover : from the spring till midsummer, the sheep kept almost constantly on the rye-grass ; but after that time they left it, and adhered with equal constancy to the cock's-foot during the remainder of the season. In The Code of Agriculture (p. 497. 3d edit) it is stated, that Sinclair of Woburn considers " no grass so well suited for all purposes as cock's-foot; " and in the second edition of the Hortus Gramineus IVoburnensis , it is observed, that if one species only is thought preferable to another in the alternate husbandry, that species is the 2>actylis glo- merata, from its more numerous merits. But a certain supply of the most nutritious herbage throughout the season will be in vain looked for from any one species of grass, and can only be found where nature has provided it in a combination of many. None appear better fitted for mixing with Dactylis than Festiica duriuscula and prat^nsis, Pba. trivialis, //ulcus nvenaceus, Phleum pratense, Zulium perenne, and white clover. " A combination thus formed, of three parts cock's-foot, and one part of these species iu*t mentioned, will secure the most productive and nutritive pasture in alternation with grain crops, on soils of the best quality ; and even on soils of an inferior nature, under the circumstances of unfavourable seasons, will afford nutritive herbage, when otherwise the land would have been comparatively devoid of it, if one species of grass only had been employed." (Hort. Gram. H'ob. 2d edit. 414.) 56t>3. The proportional value which the grass at the time of flowering bears to the gTass at the time the seed is ripe, is as 5 to 7 nearly. The proportional value which the grass of the lattermath bears to the grass at the time of flowering, is as 6 to 10 ; and to the grass at the time the seed is ripe, as 6 to 14. Sixty-four drachms of the straws at the time of flowering afford of nutritive matter 12 dr. The leaves or lattermath, and the straws simply, are therefore of equal proportional value; a circumstance which will point out this grass to be more valuable for permanent pasture than for hay. The above details prove, that a loss of nearly one third of the value of the crop is sustained, if left to the period when the seed is ripe, though the proportional value of the grass at that time is greater, i. e. as 7 to 5. The produce does not increase if the grass is left growing after the period of flowering, but uniformly decreases ; and the loss of lattermath (from the rapid growth of the foliage after the grass is cropped) is very considerable. These circumstances point out the necessity of keeping this grass closely cropped, either with the scythe or cattle, to reap the full benefit of its merits. 5664. The woolly soft grass (i/61cus lanutus L.,fig. 580. c) is an imperfect perennial, and rather late flowering grass, of a short unsubstantial appearance, and found chiefly in poor dry soils. It is, however, a very common grass, and grows on all soils, from the richest to the poorest. It affords abundance of seed, which is light, and easily dispersed by the wind. 5665. It ivas cultivated at Woburn on a strong clayey loam, and the proportional value which the grass at the time the seed is ripe, bears to the grass at the time of flowering, is as 11 to 12. Young of Essex observes of this grass, that it flourishes well on any moist soil, and should be sown chiefly with a view to sheep, for it is not so good for other stock : many acres of it have been cultivated on his farm for sheep, and it has answered well when kept close fed. Marshal, in his Midland Counties, mentions it as a good grass for cows and other cattle, but bad for horses. In his Rural Economy of Yorkshire, he, however, condemns it altogether. 5666. According to Sinclair; of Woburn, " it appears to be generally disliked by all sorts of cattle. The produce is not so great as a view of it in the fields would indicate ; but being left almost entirely untouched by cattle, it appears the most productive part of the herbage. The hay which is made of it, from the number of downy hairs which cover the surface of the leaves, is soft and spongy, and disliked by cattle in general." The Woburn experiments lead to the conclusion that the 7/olcus mollis is a better hay plant than the species here noticed ; but as that is a more durable perennial it is less fitted for the temporary purposes of this section. 5667. The culture of these grasses may be considered the same as that of rye-grass, which was discussed when treating of clover and rye-grass. (5540.) The seeds of all of them are sold by the principal seedsmen, or may be gathered on grass-fields, or hedge wastes, by women or children at an easy rate. Subsect. 2. Tailor Hay Grasses of permanent Duration. 5668. No permanent grass has been found equal to the rye-grass for the purposes of convertible husbandry, but others have been selected which are considered superior for hay meadows. The principal of these are the fescue, fox-tail, and meadow-grass. Agri- culturists, indeed, are not all agreed on the comparative merits of these grasses with rye- grass ; but there are none who do not consider it advisable to introduce a portion of each, or most of these species along with rye-grass, in laying down lands to permanent pasture. The nutritive products of these grasses, of perennial rye-grass, and of that singular grass fiorin, are thus given by Sir II. Davy : — 890 rKACTICE OF AGRICULTURE. III. Sjstema:ic Nunc KiiRli»h Name. ] n inn Parte. Whole inantitj of soluble oi nutritive matter. Mucilage or starch. Saocba- rine mat- ter or sugar. fjlutfn or .illmmeii. Extract or matter rendered insolutilf during eva- poration. l'r\l!,ra /oliiVca (Jig.~90. c) //Vilcusoiloratus Anthnxanthum vi'rnum i41opecttrui pratensis d /'..a fertilia e trivialis (/) Cynosorua criatatus /..•Mum pcn'rine ./grostis stolonil'cra Spiked fescue grass Sweet-scented soft grass Sweet-scented vernal grass Meadow foxtail grass Fertile meadow grass Roughish meadow grass Crested dog's-tail grass Perennial ryegrass Florin Florin cut in winter 19 82 50 33 78 39 35 39 . r >4 76 IS 72 4:5 24 65 29 28 26 46 64 4 4 .! ti 5 3 4 5 8 i i O fi 3 6 7 fi 4 5 o r? 5669. Of the fescue grass there are three species in the highest estimation as meadow hay grasses, viz. the meadow, tall, and spiked fescue, (fg- 790. a, b, c.) 5670. The Y. pratensis (a), or the meadow or fertile fescue grass, is found in most rich meadows and pastures in England, and is highly grateful to every description of stock. It is more in demand for laying down meadows than any other species except the rye-grass. By the Woburn experiments, the value of this grass at the time the seed is ripe, is to that of the grass at the time of flowering, as (i to 18. The loss which is sustained by leaving the crop of this grass till the seed be ripe is very great. That it loses more of its weight in drying at this stage of growth, than at the time of flowering, perfectly agrees with the deficiency of nutritive matter in the seed crop, in proportion to that in the flowering crop: the straws being succulent in the former, they constitute the greatest part of the weight; but in the latter they are comparatively withered and dry, consequently the leaves constitute the greatest part of the weight It may be observed here, that there is a great difference between straws or leaves that have been dried after they were cut in a succulent state, and those which are dried by nature while growing. The former re- tain all their nutritive powers ; but the latter, if completely dry, very little, if any. 5671. The (nil or infertile fescue grass {Festitca elatiorJK. B. b) is closely allied to the Festitca pratensis, from which it differs in little, except that it is larger in every respect. The produce is nearly three times that of the F. pratensis, ami the nutritive powers of the grass are superior, in direct proportion, as 6 to 8. The proportional value which the grass at the time the seed is ripe, bears to the grass at the time of flower- ing, is as 12 to 20. The proportional value which the grass of the lattcrmath bears to that of the crop, is as 16 to 20; and to the grass at the time the seed is ripe, as 12 to 16 inverse. Curtis observes, that as the seeds of this plant, when cultivated, are not fertile, it can only be introduced by parting its roots and planting them out ; in this there would, says he, be no great difficulty, provided it were likely to answer the ex- pense, which he is strongly of opinion it would in certain cases ; indeed he has often thought that meadows would be best formed by planting out the roots of grasses, and other plants, in a regular manner ; and that, however singular such a practice may appear at present, it will probably be adopted at some future period : this great advantage would, he says, attend it, noxious weeds might be more easily kept down, until the grasses and other plants had established themselves in the soiL .5672. The spiked fescue grass, or darnel fescue grass (Festitca /oli'icea L. c), resembles the rye-grass in appearance, and the tall fescue grass in the infertility of its seeds. It is considered superior to rye-grass cither for hay or permanent pasture, and improves in proportion to its age, which is the reverse of what takes place with the rye-grass. .7<>'7:>. The meadow fix-tail grass (./lopecurns pratensis, d) is found in most mea- dows ; and when the soil is neither very moist nor very dry, but in good heart, it is very productive. It also docs well on water meadows. Sheep and horses seem to have a greater relish than oxen for this grass. 5ti74. In the Woburn e xp er ime nts, it was tried both on a sandy loam and a clayey loam, and the result gave nearly three fourths of produce greater from a clayey loam than from a sandy soil, and the grass from the latter is comparatively of less value, in proportion as 4 to 6. The straws produced by the sandy soil are deficient in number, and in every respect less than those from the clayey loam; which will account for the unequal quantities of the nutritive matter afforded by them ; but the proportional value in which the grass of the lattcrmath exceeds that of the crop at the time of flowering, is as 4 to 3 : a difference which appears extraordinary, when the quantity of flower. stalks which are in the grass at the time of flowering is considered. In the AnthoxanthumndorMum the proportional difference between the grass of these crops is still greater, nearly as 4 to 9 ; In the Poa pratensis they are equal ; but in all the Book VI. II AY GRASSES. 891 latter flowering grasses experimented upon, the flowering straws of which resemble those of the ^lopeourus pratensis, or Anthoxanthum odoratum, the greater proportional value is always, on the contrary found in the grass of the flowering crop. Whatever the cause may be, it is evident that the loss sustained bv taking the crops of these grasses at the time of flowering is considerable. The proportional value which the grass at the time of flowering bears to that at the time the seed is ripe, is as 6 to 9 The proportional value which the whole of the lattermath crop bears to that at the time the seed is ripe, is as 5 to 9 • and to that at the time of flowering, proportionably as 13 to2+. Next to the fescue, this grass is in the greatest reputation for laying down mowing grounds ; but it is unfortunately subject to the rust in som» situations. 5675. Of the meadow grass there are two species in esteem as hay plants, the smooth-stalked, and roughish These plants compose the greater part of the celebrated Orchestra meadows near Salisbury, and also of the meadows near Edinburgh. 5676. The great or smooth stalked meadow grass, the spear grass of America (Poa pratensis, e), is dis. tinguished by its height, smooth stem, and creeping roots. According to Sole it is the best of all the grasses : its foliage begins to shoot and put on a fine verdure early in the spring, but not so soon as some other grasses. Every animal that eats grass is fond of it; while it makes the best hay, and affords the richest pasture. It abounds in the best meadows about Laycock and Chippenham, and has the valuable property of abiding in the same land, while most other grasses are continually changing. According to some it delights in rather a dry than a moist soil and situation, on which account it keeps its verd'ure better than most others in dry seasons ; but it thrives most luxuriantly in rich meadows. 5677. By the If'oburn experiments, the proportional value in which the grass of the lattermath exceeds that of the flowering crop, is as 6 to 7. The grass of the seed-crop, and that of the lattermath, are of equal value. This grass is, therefore, of least value at the time the seed is ripe; a loss of more than one fourth of the value of the whole crop is sustained if it is not cut till that period ; the straws are then drv and the root-leaves in a sickly decaying state : those of the lattermath, on the contrary, are luxuriant and healthy. This species sends forth flower-stalks but once in a season, and those being the most valu. able part of the plant for the purpose of hay, it will, from this circumstance, and the superior value of the grass of the lattermath, compared to that of the seed-crop, appear well adapted for permanent pasture. It was of this grass that the American prize bonnet, in imitation of Leghorn, was manufactured by Miss Woodhouse. 5o78. Thf roughish meadow grass {Poa trivialis L., f) delights in moist, rich, and sheltered situations, when it grows two feet high, and is very productive. By the Woburn experiments it appears that the proportional value in which the grass of the seed crop exceeds that at the time of flowering, is as 8 to 11. The proportional value by which the grass of the lattermath exceeds that of the flowering crop, is as 8 to 12 ; and that of the seed crop, as 11 to 12. Here, then, is a satisfactory proof of the superior value of the crop at the time the seed is ripe, and of the consequent loss sustained by taking it when in flower ; the produce of each crop being nearly equal. The deficiency of hay in the flowering crop, in proportion to that of the seed crop, is very striking. Its superior produce, the highly nutritive powers which the grass seems to possess, and the season in which it arrives at perfection, are merits which distinguish it as one of the most valuable of those grasses which affect moist rich soils and sheltered situations : but on dry exposed situations, it is altogether inconsiderable ; it yearly diminishes, and ultimately dies off, not unfre- quently in the space of four or five years. 5679. The above are six of the best British grasses, for either dry or watered meadows. The seeds of the meadow fescue, fox-tail, and smooth and rough meadow grasses may be had from the seedsmen, and they are sown in various proportions with the clovers and rye-grass. The seeds of the two sorts of meadow grass are apt to stick together, and require to be well mixed with the others before being sown. The tall and spiked fescue grasses, having a number of barren flowers, are not prolific in seeds, and they are therefore seldom to be got at the seed-shops j though they may occasionally be had there gathered from plants in a wild state. 5680. As hay grasses, adapted for particular soils and situations, the cat's tail or Timothy, floating fescue, and florin grass, have been recommended ; but it cannot be said that the opinions of cultivators are unanimous in their favour. Timothy has certainly been found to answer well on moist, peaty soils, and in several cases florin also. 5681. The cat's tail or Timothy grass (Phleumpratense L.,fig. 791. a) is a native plant, and found both in dry and moist soils. It was first brought into notice by Timothy Hudson, about 1780, who introduced it from Carolina, where it was in great repute. On moist rich soils it is a prolific grass, but late ; on dry soils it is good for little, and for cultivation in any way is disapproved of by Withering, Swaine, Curtis, and others, as having no properties in which it is not greatly surpassed by the v/lopecurus pratensis. 5682. The Woburn experiments, however, present this grass as one of the most prolific for hay Sixty- four drachms of the straws afforded seven drachms of nutritive matter lhe nutritive powers of trie 892 PRACTICE OF AGRICULTURE. Part III; straws simply, therefore, cxreed those of the leaves, in the proportion of 28 to 8 ; the nutritive powers ol the grass, at the time of (lowering, exceed those of the grass at the time the seed is ripe, in the proportion of 10 to 23 ; and the nutritive powers of the lattermath, .those of the grass of the flowering crop, in the proportion of .S to 10. The comparative merits of this grass will, from the above particulars, appear to be very great ; to which may be added the abundance of fine foliage that it produces early in the spring. In this respect it is inferior to /'6a IVrtilis and /'6a angustifulia only. The value of the straws at the time the seed is ripe, exceeds that of the grass at the time of flowering, in the proportion of 28 to 10, a circum- stance which raises it above many Others ; for from this property its valuable early foliage may be depas- tured to an advanced period Of the season, without injury to the crop of hay, treatment which in grasses that send forth their flowering straws early in the season would cause a loss of nearly one half in the value of the crop, as clearly proved by former examples; and this property of the straws makes the plant peculiarly desirable for hay. In moist and peaty soils it has in various instances been found highly productive. 568:5. Tlie floating fescue grass, Festilca fluitans !b), is found in rich swamps, especially in Cambridgeshire! where it is said to give the peculiar flavour to Cottenham and Cheddar cheese. It is also found in ditches and ponds in most parts of the country. 5684. It is greedily devoured by every description of stock, not excepting hogs and ducks, and geese ( igei ly devour the seeds, which are small, but very sweet and nourishing. They are collected in several put- of Germany and Poland, under the name of manna-seeds (schwaden), and are esteemed a delicacy in soups and gruels. When ground to meal, they make bread very little inferior to that from wheat. The bran is given to horses that have the worms ; but they must be kept from water for some hours afterwards, (ieese, and other water-fowl, are very fond of the seeds. So also are fish ; trout, in particular, thrive in those rivers where this grass grows in plenty. It has been recommended to be sowed on meadows that admit flooding; but Curtis justly remarks, that the flote-fescue will not flourish except in land that is constantly under water, or converted into a bog or swamp. 5685. The water vieadow grass (Poa aquatica, c) is found chiefly in marshes, but will grow on strong clays, and yield, as the Woburn experiments prove, a prodigious produce, flowering from June to September. It is one of the largest of our grasses. 5686. In the fens of Cambridgeshire, Lincolnshire, &c, immense tracts, that used to be overflowed and to produce useless aquatic plants, and which, though drained by mills, still retain much moisture, are covered with this grass, which not only affords rich pasturage in summer, but forms the chief part of the winter fodder. It has a powerfully creeping root; and bears frequent mowing well. It is sometimes cut thrice in one season near the Thames. It grows not only in very moist ground, but in the water itself; and with cat's-tail, burr-reed, &c, soon fills up ditches, and occasions them to require frequent cleansing. In this respect it is a formidable plant, even in slow rivers. In the Isle of Ely they cleanse these by an instrument called a bear, which is an iron roller, with a number of pieces of iron, like small spades, fixed to it; this is drawn up and down the river by horses walking along the bank, and tears up the plants by the roots, which float, and are carried down the stream. The grass was, however, cultivated at Woburn on a strong tenacious clay, and yielded considerable produce. 5687. The florin grass (^grostis stolonifera, d) is a very common grass both in wet and dry, rich and poor situations. Few plants appear to be more under the influence of local circumstances than this grass. On dry soils it is worth nothing ; but on rich marl soils, and in a moist soil, if we may put confidence in the accounts given of its produce in Ireland, it is the most valuable of all herbage plants. 5688. It teas first brought into notice by Dr. Richardson in 1809, and subsequently extolled, and its culture detailed in various pamphlets by the same gentleman. It appears to be exclusively adapted for moist peat soils or bogs. In The Code of Agriculture it is said, "On mere bogs, the florin yields a great weight of herbage, and is, perhaps, the most useful plant that bogs can produce." According to Sir H. Davy, the florin grass, to be in perfection, requires a moist climate or a wet soil ; and it grows luxuriantly in cold clays unfitted for other grasses. In light sands, and in dry situations, its produce is much inferior as to quantity and quality. He saw four square yardsof fiorin grass cut in the end of January, in a meadow exclusively appropriated to the cultivation of fiorin by the Countess of Hardwicke, the soil of which is a damp stiff clay. They afforded twenty-eight pounds of fodder, of which one thousand parts afforded sixty- four parts of nutritive matter, consisting nearly of one sixth of sugar, and five sixths of mucilage, with a little extractive matter. In another experiment, four square yards gave twenty.seven pounds of grass. Lady Hardwicke has given an account of a trial of this grass; wherein twenty-three milch cows, and one young horse, besides a number of pigs, were kept a fortnight on the produce of one acre. On the Dukeof Bedford's farm, at Maulden, florin hay was placed in the racks before horses, in small distinct quantities, alternately with common hay ; but no decided preference for either was manifested by the horses in this trial. Fiorin has been tried in the highlands of Scotland, and a premium awarded in 1821 for a field of three acres planted on land previously worth very little, at Appin, in Argyleshire. (Highl. Soc. Trans. vol. vi. p. 229.) Hay-tea has also been made from tiorin, and found useful in rearing calves, being mixed with oatmeal and skimmed milk. (Ibid. p. 233.) 5689. There are other species of Agrdstis, as the A. palustris and repens, and some varieties of the A. stolonifera, that on common soils are little different in their appearance and properties from fiorin. On one of these, the narrow-leaved creeping-bent (A. stolonifera var. angustifolia), the following remarks are made in the account of the Woburn experiments. " From a careful examination of the creeping-bent with narrow leaves, it will doubtless appear to possess merits well worthy of attention, though perhaps not so great as they have been .supposed, if the natural place of its growth and habits be impartially taken into the account. From the couchant nature of this grass, it is denominated couch-grass, by practical men ; and from the length of time that it retains the vital power, after being taken out of the soil, it is called squitch, quick, full of life," ,\r, 56 the culture of fiorin is different from that of other grasses. Though the plant will ripen its seeds on a dry soil, and these seeds being very small, a few pounds would be sufficient for an acre, yet it is gene- rally propagated by etolones or root-shoots. The ground being well pulverised, freed from weeds, and laid into BUch beds or ridges as the cultivator may think advisable ; small drills an inch or two deep, and six or nine inches asunder, are to be drawn along its surface, with a hand or horse-hoe, or on soft iands with the hoe-rake. In the bottom of these drills, the fiorin shoots (whether long or short is of no consequence) are laid lengthways, so that their ends may touch each other, and then lightly covered with a rake, and the surface rolled to render it fit for the scythe. In six months the whole surface will be covered with verdure, and if the planting be performed early in spring, a large crop may be had in the following autumn. Any season will answer for planting, but one likely to be followed by showers and heat is to be preferred. Those who wish to cultivate this grass will consult Dr. Richardson's Nino Essay on Fiorin Grass (1813), and also The Farmer's Magazine for 1810-14. Our opinion is, that neither florin, Timothy, nor floating fescue, is ever likely to be cultivated in Britain ; though the latter two may perhaps succeed well on the bogs and moist rich soils of Ireland, where, to second the influence oftho sod, there is a moist warm climate. Book VI. PASTURE GRASSES. 893 5691. A number of other species of tall grasses, well adapted for meadows and hay- making, might be here enumerated; but we have deemed it better to treat oidy of the most popular sorts, of which seeds may be purchased ; all the others of any consequence will be found in a tabular view (Sect. III.), accompanied by a summary statement of their products in hay and aftermath, nutritive matter, and general character. 5692. The preparation of the soil, and the sowing of the usual meadow grasses, differ in nothing from those of clover and rye-grass already given. The after-treatment of dry meadows, including the making of natural hay, will be found in the succeeding Chapter on the management of grass-lands ; that of watered meadows was naturally given when treating of their formation. (443 1. - ) Sect. II. Grasses chief y adapted for Pasturage. *5693. In treating of pasturage grasses we shall make a selection of such as have been tried to some extent, and of which the seeds are in the course of commerce. On soils in good condition, and naturally well constituted, no better grasses can be sown for pasturage than those we have described as tall grasses for hay-meadows ; but for early and late pasturage, and secondary soils, there are others much more suitable. 5694. The pasture grasses for early pasturage on all soils are the Anthoxinthum odoratum, //ulcus odoratus, Avhna pubescens, and Pba annua. 5ti95. The pasture grasses for late herbage on all soils are chiefly the different species of ^grostis and Phleum. 569o. The pasture grasses for poor or secondary soils are the Cynosilrus cristatus, Festuca duriuscula and ovina, Pua compre.ssa, cristata, and angustifblia. 5697. The grasses that afford most nutritive matter in early spring, are the fox-tail grass and the vernal grass ; the former has been already mentioned as one of the best hay-grasses. 5698. The sweet-scented vernal grass (Anthoxar.thum odoratum, fig. 792. a) is common in almost all pastures, and is that which gives the fragrance to natural or meadow-hay. It is chiefly valuable as an early grass ; for, though it is eaten by stock, it does not appear to be much relished by them. From the Woburn experiments, it appears that the smallness of the produce of this grass renders it improper for the purpose of hay ; but its early growth, and the superior quantity of nutritive matter which the lattermath affords, compared with the quantity afforded by the grass at the time of flowering, cause it to rank high as a pasture-grass, on such soils as are well titted for its growth ; such are peat-bogs, and lands that are deep and moist. 5699. The downy oat grass (yfvfena pubtiscens, 6 1 , according to the Woburn experiments, possesses several good qualities, which recommend it to particular notice ; it is hardy, early, and moreproductivethan manv others which affect similar soils and situations. Its growth after being cropped is tolerably rapid, although it does net attain to a great length if left growing ; like the Poa pratensis it sends forth flower- stalks but once in a season, and it appears well calculated for permanent pasture on rich light soils. 5700. The annual meadow g-ass \ft>a annua, c) is the most common of all grasses, and the least absolute in its habits. It is almost the only grass that will grow in towns and near works where the smoke of coal abounds. Though an annual grass, it is found in most meadows and pastures perpetually flowering, and affording an early sn eet herbage, relished by all stock, and of as great importance to birds as wheat is to man. It hardly requires to be sown, as it springs up every where of itself. However, it may not be amiss to sow a few pounds of it per acre wherever perpetual pasture [not hay) is the object. 5701. The fine bent grass (Agrost'is vulgaris, d' is one of the most common grasses, and, according to the Woburn experiments, one of the earliest. The A. paKistris is nearly as early in producing its foliage, though both flower late, and neither is very prolific either in bulk d nutritive matter. 5702. The narrow -leaved meadoiv grass (P&a angustifblia, e\ though it flowers late, yet is remarkable for the earlv growth of the leaves. According to the Woburn experiments the leaves attain to the length of more than twelve inches before the middle of April, and are soft and succulent ; in May, however, when the flower-stalks make their appearance, it is subject to the disease termed rust, which affects the whole plant ; the consequence of which is manifest in the great deficiency cf produce in the crop at the time the seed is ripe, being then one half less than at the time of the flowering of the grass. Though this disease begins in the straws, the leaves suffer most from its effects, being at the time the seed is ripe com- pletely dried up : the straws, therefore, constitute the principal part of the crop for mowing, and they contain more nutritive matter, in proportion, than the leaves. This grass is evidently most valuable for permanent pasture, for which, in consequence of its superior, rapid, and early growth, and the disease beginning at the straws, nature seems to have designed it The grasses which approach nearest to this in respect of early produce of leaves, are the Pba. fertilis, Dactylis glomerata, fhlfeum prattnse, /(lopeciuus pratensis, Avkna elatior, and -En mus litttreus, all grasses of a coarser kind. 894 PRACTICE OF AGRICULTURE. Par. III. 5703. The Ins/ natural pnstureiqf England, examined carefully during various period* of the season, were found by Sinclair ol Unburn to consist Of the following plants : — -llojMviinis pr.iti'nsit. nun Ml lft H fc l'i. i l m pium. P&a annua. Mctylls i;!"iii.m.im- Anihr.uaniii,! ,, ,*ioratum. L6Unni perSnnft A\^nn pra^mis. /■Vj/ium pr.ui M-i.. // Icuiavan Bidmus arrtealB (frequent). These afford the principal grass in the spring, and also a great i art of the summer produce : — I it !\. .-IK. #/<>lilruin pi Cyno uriiH crlctatui' /.alhyrus prattfasis. Trflicum ripens. /iiimex A.rii.'i. and the other is of little value if i rlurloscula. IFdlcai 1. m. 1111V. /'..i tnvi.ili,. TYifftlium |>rattfnse. /'...i pi.iiiii^is. Trifiiliuin leptns. These yield produce principally in summer and autumn : — ifdiUUa .VillcfMium. Agrtitlii stolonffera and palustris. These vegetate With most vigour in autumn : — /lamim-uhi Planta^o lancealatSa The liri-t ami last of these plants are to be considered injurious; herbage. // ;/. Oram. Huh. 2d edit 138.) ;"i"n+ The above mixture sown at the rate of four or five bushels to the acre, on well prepared soil with, out corn hi other crop Ol any kind, could hardly fail of producing excellent pasture in the following year, and for an indefinite period. The best time for sowing is July or August, as spring-sown seeds are apt to suffer with the droughts of June and July. Fifteen of the above sorts are to be had from the seed-shops ; and all of them may he gathered from natural pastures, or bespoke from collectors. Sinclair of Wobum, having entered into the seed and nursery business, and having expressed his intention to devote his par- ticular attention to supplying the public with grass and other agricultural seeds, will probably render such seeds more common in commerce. {Advt. by Cormack, Son, and Sinclair.) 570.». Of late pasture grasses the different species of cat's-tail (Phleum) and bent-grass f^grostis) are the chief, and especially the Timothy and florin grass. The grasses, Sir II. Davy observes, that propagate themselves by stolones, the different species of .^grostis, supply pasture throughout the year; and the concrete sap, stored up in their joints, ren- ders them a good food even in winter. 570(7. Of pasture grasses for inferior soils one of the most durable is the dog's-tail grasa (Cynosurus cristatus, Jig. 793. a). This is a very common grass on dry, clayey, or firm surfaces. It is one of the best grasses for parks, being highly relished by the South Down sheep and deer. .07H7. The hard fescue grass {Festuca duriuscula, b) is one of the best of the dwarf sorts of grasses. It is grateful to all kinds of cattle ; hares are very fond of it ; at Wobum they crop it close to the roots, and neglect the Fettiica ovlna and Festuca rubra, which grow contiguous to it. It is present in most good meadows and pastures, and, with F. ovlna, is the best for lawns. 5708. The Festuca gldbra (r), and hordeiformis (d), greatly resemble the hard fescue, and may be con- sidered equally desirable as pasture and lawn grasses. 5709. The yellow oat grass v//vena flavt'scens) is very generally cultivated, and appears, from the Wobum experiments, to be a very valuable grass for pasture on a clayey soil. 5710. Of pasture grasses for inferior soils and upland situations, one of the principal is the Festuca ovina, or sheep's fescue grass (Jig.liH. a). This \'9 §\ ritSETl 1 &\ -»S grass is peculiarly '«T I ^ V 5 !^ I V%&. adapted for hilly sheep \'SW I TzPJB.m odofA ill \Ar%J r*i p.stures. It is a low &^4 / %'~>> II £SAS 'rMC Ml ^(M^T 3 ^ dwarf grass, but re- li-hed by all kinds of ^a cattle. According to **- Sinclair's experience, " on dry soils that are incapable of producing the larger sorts, this should form the prin- cipal crop, or rather the whole ; for it is seldom or never, in its natural state, found intimately mixed with others, but bv itself. 5711. The Vba alp'ma (b), Alopeciirus a/p'i- nus, and Aira ctvspi- tbsa (c), Briza media (rf , and minima, and Agrn'stis hiimilii and vulgaris, arc all dwarf mountain grasses, well adapted for hilly pai l.s 01 lawns. Book VI. WOBUfiN GRASSES. 8 i. :.v>. 5736. 5737. 5711. 5661. 573S. S739. 5740 5741 5742. 5713. 5711. 5655. 5745. 5748. 5706. 5/46. .'.717. 5750. Anthovinthum odotfc. I turn i- 1 //ulcus odontitis llott I O. A. j Cyneauroscsenueus /■". it. f /llopecunis alpin. /■.'. 0. IFbaalplna B. u. . Ilupecurus pratensis E. II. Poa prate*nsis E. B. | P6a CSSrulea Tar. pra- ( Mnsta B. /*■ J Arena pubescens E. B. r/v«ftu-a /lordeiformis, or |,P6a tardeifdrmis //.C. / J 6a trivial is E. B. Festuca glauca Curtis Fettuca glabra H'if/irr. Fettuca rubra Wither* Fettuca ovhia £• B. Brixa media /■-'. //. ZMctylis glomerata i?. fi.| Bromustecturum Wi** 1 G. A. S Fettuca ctfmblica Hvds. Br6mas dUndrua /•-'■ B. P6a angustifolia With* tiia elatior Curtis ~i Lcusovenaceus Wi/. > frlvei -J fftfu I /\.a I AH F.nglbh Name and Native Country. 5751. 575*2. 5671. 5753. 5664- 5760. 5755. 5761. 5681. 5756. 56W 5711. 5757. 5758. 575'J. 5760. 576*2. .'■'.ST. 5689. ',762 Vlv.l. 'oa e'atior Cwrrt* ena e;atior, var. Fettuca duriilscula E. B, Brumus erectus E. B. Vilium effusum £. B. Fcttuca pratensis J?. B. Lolium per^nne E. B. /'6a maritima E. B. Fettuca /oliacea £. B. .rlhra cristata E. B. Cynosurus cristatus E. B. /tvena pratensis E.B. /Irumu> multill6rus E.B. Festucn Mvurus £'. B. /Iiraflesuosa £. B. //drdeum bulbdsum 1 //or/. K. J Festitca calamaria /?. B. Brbmus littoreus Host ^ G.A. S Fcttuca elatior E. B. Fettuca tkutans E. B. //"kih lanatus W. Fettuca dumeturum W. P6« fertilis Host G. M. . lr Lind-j colorata Hort. K. \ 1 vernal 1 grastj J '■ it. S Sweet-scented soft graasj | Oar. J Blue moo* grastj Brit. Alpine foxtail grass, Soot. Alpine llHM'loU L'l l- ■«>< "I Meadow foxtail grass, Brit. Smooth-stalked meadow "^ grass, Brit. Short blueish meadow grass, Brit. J Downy oat irrass Brit. Barley-like fescue grass,") Hungary j Roughish mead. gr. Brit. Glaucous fescue gr. Brit. Smootli fescue gr- Scot. Purple fescue grass, Brit. Sheep's fescue gr. Brit. i oiuinon quaking gr. Brit. Rough-head cockVfoot \ grass, Brit. _J N'oddingpencilled brome \ grass, Eur. J ( 'ambridge fescue gr. Brit. Upright brome grass, Brit. E.B Narrow -lea. mea. gr. Brit. Tall oat grass or 1 Knot grass, Brit. J Tall meadow grass, Scot. When figured or described. E.B. 647 Host,N-A E.B. 1613 E.B- 1126 E.B. 1003 E.B. 848 E.B. 1073 E. B. 1004 E.B. 1072 E. B. 585 E.B. 310 E. B. 335 E.B. 813 Hard fescue grass, Brit. Upright peren. br. gr Brit. Common millet grass, Brit .Meadow fescue grass, Brit Perennial rye grass, Brit. Sea meadow grass, Brit. Spiked fescue grass, Brit Crested hair grass, Brit. Crested dog's-tail gr- Brit. Meadow oat grass, Brit. Many fl. g. brome gr. Brit. Wall fescue grass, Brit. Waved moun. hair gr. Brit Bulbous barley gr. Italy Reed-like fescue gr. Brit Sea-side brome grass, Ger. Tall fescue grass, Brit. Floating fescue grass, Brit Meadow soft grass, Brit. Pubescent fescue gr. Brit. II.]). 7j»a E. B. I'im aquatica E. B. .-lira aquiiica E.B. ,-l (ra csespitosa E- B. .4 vena tlav^scens E. B. la Linus strniis E. B. //ulcus mollis Curtis Poa fertilis var. B. Host \ G.A. J ^IgrO S t Jl vulgaris E. B. tterdstis palustris B. B. /*anicum ddctylon E. B. MgriJstis stolonifera E. B. v4grostis stolonffera var."l angustifitlla J Fesiucn pennata r .^'^Tostis canina E. B- \ ^griisti.s itricta Curtis < ^griistis nivea J Agrfatn Euciciuarls 7 C_ var. canina CurtU j Par.icum viride Curtis AgtOatU lobata Curtis ^gristis repens With, -j rrrticum repens E. B. \ ^lonecurus agrt-stis Br6mus dsper E. B. A. mexirana Hort. K. Stiui pennata E. B. jMc'iacaerulea Curtis \ I'h Claris canaridnsis E. B. i' D&ctylfa cynosuriildes \ Lin. j Natural I una- tlon. Perer . Peren. Peren. Peren. Peren. Peren. Peren. Peren. Peren. Peren. Peren. Peren. Peren. Peren. Annual Annual Peren. Peren. E. B. 470 E. B. 471 E.B. 1106 E.B. 1592 E.B. 315 E. B. 1140 E.B. 1821 E.B. 648 E. B. 316 E.B. 1204 Peren E.B. 1S81 Annual E. B. 1412 Annual E.B. 15191 Peren. 1 9 Time of flowering at Woburn. Peren . Peren. Peren. Peren . Peren. Peren. Peren. Peren. Peren. — Peren. E. B. 1005 Peren. — Peren. E.B. 1503 IVrcn. E.B. 15*) Peren. E.B. 1169 Peren. Peren. Peren. Striped-lea. reed gr. Brit. E. B. 402 Bulbous-stalked cat's- 1 __ tail grass, Brit. J Rfeadov cat's tail gr. Brit.| — Meadow barley grass, Brit. E. B. 400 Flat-stalked mea. gr. Brit. E.B. 565 Reed meadow grass t Brit. Water hair grass, Brit. Turfy hair eras-, Brit. Yellow oat grass, Brit. Barren brome grass, Brit. Greeping soft grass, Brit. Fertile meadow gr. Ger. Fine bent grass, Brit. Manfa bent grass, Brit. hog panic grass, Brit. Florin of Dr. Richardson Brit. Narrow- leaved, creep- ing bent, Brit. Spiked fescue, Brit. Bi.twn bent, Brit. Uprighl benl ut-iss. Brit Snowy bent gnat, Brit. Tufted-lea. bent gr. Brit Gn-vn panic grass, Brit. I obed bent ens-, Brit. Black or creeping rooted 1 bent, bl. couch, Brit. J Creeping rooted wheat 1 gr. or couch gr. Brit. ' Slender foxtail grass, Brit. B. B. 117^ Annual Hairystalkedbr.gr. Brit. K. B. 1310 Annual Mexican bent gr. a. Amer. K. li. 1356 Peren Peren. Peren. Peren. Peren. Annual Peren. B. B. 131 K. B. 1557 Peren E.B. 1453 Peren. K. B. 052 i Peren. E.B. 1030 Annual — I Peren. — Peren. E.B. 1671 1 E.B. llsy E. B- 850 E. B. 1532 K. B. 730 E. B. 185G Peren. Peren. Peren. Peren. Peren. E. B. 875 Annual E.B. 84S Peren. Peren. liong awned fea.gr. lint. Purple melic grass, Brit. Com. Canary grass Brit. Amcr. cock's foot gr. N.A. E. B. 9O0 E. b7750 Peren. Peren. Annual Aprd '20. April 20. 20 April r.n. 6 May MO. 6 May 30. May 50. May 30. May 30. June 13. June 13. June 13. June 13. June 16. June SO. June 24. June 24. June 24. Time of ri]" mug the Seed at Woburn. Soil at Woburn. 12 June 21. June 28. June 28. June 28. 50 June 28. June 28. July 1. Julv 1. July 1. July 1. July 1. Julv 4. Julv «. July 6. Julv 6. July 6. July 6 July 10. July 10. July 12. Julv 12. Julv 14. July 14. Jul'v II. Jufv 14. July 16. July 16. Julv In. Julv •>!). Julv 20. July 20. Julv 24. Julj 24. July 24. July 24. Julv 24. Juh 28. July 28. Julv 28. 24 July 28. 21 Julv 28. 9 Jul'v 28. 'I Jul'v 28. Aug. 10. Aug. 10. Aug. 2. Aug. 6. Aug. 8. June21. Brown sandy loam Aug. 10. Aug. 10. Aug. lo. \ug. 1 5. Aug. 15. Aug. 29. Aug. 30. Aug. 30. June 25. June 20. June 24. June 30. June 24. July 14. July 14. July 8. July 10. Julv 10. Jul'v 10. Julv 10. Jul'v 10. Julv 10. July 10. July 14. July 16. Julv 16. Jul'v 16. July 16. July 16. July 16. July 20. Julv 20. Julv 20. July 20. July 28. July 28. July 28. July 20. Julj -jv Juh 28. July 28. July 28. July 28. Aug. 6. Aug. 6. Aug. 12. Juh 26. Julv 20. Julv 28. July ^. July 50. Julv 30. Aug. 8. Aug. 8. Aug. 8. Aug. 10. Aug. 15. Aug. 20. Aug. 20. Aug. 20. Aug. 28. Aug. 28. Aug. 28. Aug. 28. Aug. 30. Aug. 28. Aug. 50. Aug. 50. Aug. 30. Aug. 15. Aug. 20. Aug. 25. Aug. 30. Sept. 8. Sept. 10. Sept. 25. Sept. *5, Sept. 30. Sept. 30. Oct. 20. Natural Sr.il and Situation St in Smith's Flora Brit. Rlcb :?audy loam Light nmdj soil Sandy loam Light sandy loam 1 i Layej loam \ Sandy loam Bog earth and clay Bog earth and clay Rich sandy soil Manured sandy soil Man. light br. loam Brown loam ( l.iyi-v loam Light sandy soil Rich brown loam Rich sandy loam Light sandy soil Light sandy soil Rich brown loam Brown loam Rich clay loam Light sandy loam Rich sandy soil Light sandy soil Bog soil & coal ashes Rich brown loam Light brown loam Rich brown loam Sandy loam Manured br. loam Rich sandy loam Clayey loam Light sandy soil Heath soil Man. clayey loam Clayey loam Clayey loam Black rich loam Str. tenacious clay Strong clayey loam Black sandy loam Clayey loam Black sandy loam Clayey loam Clayey loam Man. brown loam Man. gravelly soil Str. tenacious clay Water Str. tenacious clay Clayey loam Sandy soil Sandy soil Brown sandy loam Sandy soil Bog earth Man- sandy loam Bog soil Bog soil Man. lii;ht san.soil Brown sandy loam Bog soil Sandy soil Light sandy soil Light sandy soil Sandy soil Clayey loam Light clayey loam Light sandy loam Light sandv soil Black sandy soil Heath soil Light sandy soil Clayey loam Clayey loam Meadows Woods,moist mea. Pastures Scotch mountain* Scotch Alps Meadows Mead. & pastures .Meadows Chalky pastures Corn fields Meadows Chalky pastures Mountains Mead. & pastured Mry pastures Pastures Soft moist soils Hedges Dry pastures i Urn fields Meadows Arable lands Meadows Pastures Chalky pastures Woods Meadows Loamy pastures Salt marshes Moist pastures Sandy pastures Pastures Pastures Poor past., hedge Walls Dry soils & heath: Loamy pastures Hedges Sea shores Meadows Ponds Moist raeadowi Woods Meadows Moist loams Dry pastures Mead. & pasti Meadows Walls Ditches Clayey pastures Pastures Rubbish Sandy pastures Meadows Mead. & pastures ; Marshy places Arable lands Moist places Moist places Meadows Clayey pastures Clayey pastures Clayey pastures Clayey pastures Sandy- Sandy pastures Arable lands Arable lands Road -sides Moist san. places Rich pastures Peat bogs Sandv pastures Cultivated fields Loamy pastures Book VI. WOBURN GRASSES bd7 Woburn, arranged in the Order of their Flowering. 5728. 6729 6730 5711. 5673. 5676 5731 5754 5678. 5754 6711. 5738. 5759. 5740. 5742. 5743. Produce, at the Time of flowering, pet Acre in lbs 5655., .''7 45. 574S. 5706. 5746 5747. 5750. 5751. 6752. 6671. 57 55. 5664. 5760 5755, 5761. 5681. 5756. 5685. 57 1 1 . 5757. 575S. 5759. 5760, 5762. 56S7. 56S9 5762. 5689. Kind of Hoots. Fibrous Fibrous I Fi:r. (.Fibr. Creep. -J Creeping Creeping Fibrous Fibrous Fibrous Fibrous Fibrous Fibrous Fibrous Fibrous Fibrous Fibrous Fibrous reep. 1 & Knot J Creep. 1 & Knot j' Fibrous Fib ous Fibrous Creeping Fibrous Fibrous Fibrous Fibrous Fibrous Fibrous Creeping Creeping Creeping Creeping Creeping Fibrous Creeping Creeping Creeping Creeping Creeping Creeping Fibrous Fibrous Fibrous Hay. 7827 952S 5445 5 115 20418 8507 10209 7186 15651 13672 7486 96'28 14'. 10209 9528 27905 7486 6806 20418 1S37(, 12261 18376 12951 12251 13612 7827 12251 16535 10S9O 6126 6866 22460 9528 8167 23S21 54450 4151S 51046 13612 1905' 10S90 149 27225 12251 408' S167 5403 126596 10S90 10209 8167 29947 34031 15654 9528 10209 31 SOS 17696 163 20418 6126 74S6 5415 CS06 6125 12251 8167 13612 19057 9528 74S6 54450 2103 2441 6125 2652 2S71 2246 5870 40S3 2216 is 11 5717 355 3096 11859 3930 2S92 86' 7S1U 5723 7087 3993 1429: 733i 5240 97S3 9528 5240 571 8576 6651 6431 16045 3556 391 11740 10561 42S7 8269 5819 474' 646. 3322 490(1 7146 4900 1S37 1S71 12353 2858 3164 9826 19057 21278 17866 4083 6661 5445 7SI.1 12251 5S19 17355 526 1446 75957 3267 5318 2S58 I lis 15 15612 6653 4764 4594 14088 7742 7350 8167 26SS 2713 2178 3403 2679 4900 3164 4083 6670 3451 2807 17697 Grass. 122 610 8. 12' 478 132 27V 366 478 23." 441 446 23' 409 10S9 239 95' 1450 I'n duce, when the ^Led ,s ripe, per Acre in lbs. 1 ay. 6125 27225 6806 12931 8507 6S06 7827 952S 9528 10890 544 9526 6544 95 2 S 16335 3617 10106 7112 7504 7146 4491 7350 91SN 59S9 42S7 4934 101O7 6670 5002 13994 35392 20540 33 ISO 9528 12395 5415 7111 6431 23481 4900 1956 Mis-S 7623 6S91 5308 13102 20418 9000 4764 6615 17219 9732 8984 12251 3437 4772 2041 5267 3013 7350 5003 9528 12387 6074 4679 36752 19075 1905 14973 12251 9528 1046 38115 51046 1905; 18 9528 5819 3403 136 3522 3811 5.S 1 i 4900 13272 42S7 17696 7111 5104 5445 4304 5717 571 5989 61S3 13272 3811 5717 5717 10617 669 1004 555 551 957 505 861 765 311 406 23! 17151 223 191 1302 3828 973 39SS 372 1191 170 1032 1701 478 1595 40S37 478 265 494 382 519 47S 2339 2392 89423 41654 12251 21099 14973 733 251 438 13612 9783 967 765 39S 239 1 12 319 2S7 I 382 223 425 595 409 172 1S76 27769, 1898 1905: 4764 7623 4492 4900 2858 12123 15246 17S66 3811 1939; 11454 104S1 7356 6670 3S29. 22869 331S0 15246 21439 311 223 39S Loss or J Loss or a Gam, by J Gain, by I Cutting \ Cutting I Produce of when in I when in ; the Latter- Flower, in Seed, in I math, per Nu'ritive. Nutritive [Acre, in lbs. Matter, t Matter, I in lbs. I in lbs. lss 1600 461 199 212 336 22/ 186 340 12 4 S3 1451 701 255 Hi 645 553 478 IIS 2592 2084 239' sis 5668 260 101 74 562 4900 7350 12659 673S 8439 8235 5445 8575 1310 337 71 260 79 260 8167 10181 3454 1155 1169 5S4 1042 Us 436 146 74 649 558 510 212 1435 1111 1595 649 558 5*10 212 1455 1111 1595 Grass. ISSj 6S06 1600 17015 302 37 2j 372 2073 207 471 1238 1 13% 3 M 816 40S3 4764 6125 3403 3405 8167 11910 13612 3403 12251 5403 1565 1 436 146 4764 General Character. 382S An early pasture-grass. 1129 The most nutritive of eai I> tlow . gr. Not deserving culture. Not worth culture. A good grass for lawns. ' J [ One of the best meadow grasses. L 1 Good early hay grass. A good pasture-grass on a rich soil. 223 A most valual.legr. in moist rich soiU A good hay grass. A tolerably good pasture-grass. Good lawn grass. Good lawn grass. 4 79 66 255 281 26c 53 191 66 978 111 A most productive grass, but coarse. Of little value. A good lawn grass. Excellent hay grass. A vile weed in arable lands. A vile weed in arable lands. A good grass for h;iy or pasture. Not wonh culture. Of little value. Excellent early hay grass. A well known and esteemed grass. One of the most valu. gr. for hay & pas. A good lawn-grass. A good lawn- grass. UnHt for culture. A very inferior grass. Fit for lawns. Of little use. Early and prolific. Early, prolific, and coarse. An excellent meadow grass. An aqua, or amphib. gr. of good qual Early and productive. An early grass Productive. An excellent hay grass. Early and nutritive. Most prolific, but coarse. An excellent lawn grass. A valuable grass. Of little value. A valuable grass. A valuable grass. An early grass. Useful. Useful on bogs. Of no value. A vile weed on poor arable landjfc A vile weed in arable land*. Unfit for culture. I>i -ei ve- trial. Not worth culture. A good lav. n grass. Grown for its se^tis. 8!)H PRACTICE OF AGRICULTURE. Part III. 5722. On the nutritive products, Sir II. Davy has the following valuable remarks, some of which, concerning the mode in which the animal economy is operated on by the different substances composing the nutritive .natter, the agriculturist will find useful, as applied to the tables before given (.5000. 5190. &c.) of the nutritive products of the corns, legumes, and roots. The only sub-.tances which Sir II. Davy detected in the soluble matters procured from the grasses, are mucilage, sugar, bitter extract, a substance analogous to albumen, and different saline matters. Some of the products from the aftermath crops gave feeble indications of the tanning principle. In the experiments made on the quantity of nutritive matter in the grasses, cut at the time the seed %vas ripe, the seeds were always separated; and the calculations of nutritive matter made from grass and not hay. 5723 The order in which these tubstaneet are nutritive is thus given : — " The albumen, sugar, and mu. cilageTprobably when cattle tee,! on grass or hay, arc for the most part retained in thebodyo theannnal; andlne bitter principle, extract, saline matter, and tanmn, when any exist, probably for the «<**£«* are voided in the excrement, with the woodv fibre. The extractive matter obtained by boiling the fresh dune of cows is extremely similar In chemical characters to that existing in the soluble products from the n ,sses And -onir extract, obtained bv Sinclair from the dung of sheep and of deer, which had been feeding upon the /.Mium perenne, Dactylis glomerata, and ZWfolium repens, had qualities so analogous to those of the extractive matters obtained from the leaves of the grasses, that they might be mistaken ,,r each other The extract of the dung, after being kept for some weeks, had stdl the- odour of hay Suspecting that some undigested grass might have remained in the dung, which might have furnished mu dee and sugar, as well as bitter extract, I examined the soluble matter very carefully tor these sub- stances It tUdnot yield an atom of sugar, and scarcely a sensible quantity of mucilage.' Sinclair, in comparing the quantities of soluble matter afforded by the mixed leaves of the £ohum perenne, ^actylis glomerata, and Wfulium repens, and that obtained from the dung of cattle fed upon them, found then rf ^ol e ^ r °cmth°K * facts it appears probable that the bitter extract, though soluble in a large quantity Of water, is very little nutritive ; but probably it serves the purpose of preventing, to a certain extent, the fermentation of the other vegetable matters, or in modifying or assisting the function ot digestion, and may thus be of considerable u»e in forming a constituent part of the food ot animals. A small quantity ot bitter extract and saline matter is probably all that is needed ; and beyond this quantity the soluble mat- ters must be more nutritive in proportion as they contain more albumen, sugar, and mucilage, and less nutritive in proportion as they contain other substances 57''-, la com* arm- the composition of the soluble products afforded by dtfferent crops from the same grass Sir H Daw found, in all the trials, the largest quantity of truly nutritive matter in the crop cut when' the seed was ripe, and least bitter extract and saline matter; most extract and sa hue matter in the autumnal crop ; and most saccharine matter, in proportion to the other ingredients, in the crop cut at the 5726 Th^ereater proportion of leaves in the spring, and particularly in thelate autumnal crop accounts for the difference in the quantity of extract ; and the inferiority of the comparative quantity of sugar in the summer crop probably depends upon the agency of light, which tends always in plants to convert sac. cbarine matter into mucilage or starch. Amongst the soluble matters afforded by the different grasses, that of the Elvmus arenarius (Jig. 711. a) was remarkable for the quantity of saccharine matter it con. tained amounting to more than one third of its weight. The soluble matters trom the different species of FesAca in general, afforded more bitter extractive matter, than those from the different species ot /\.a. afforded bitter extract, and a peculiar substance having an acrid taste, more soluble in alcohol than in water Ml the soluble extracts of those grasses, that are most liked by cattle, have either a saline or Bubacid taste • that of the //ulcus lanatus is similar in taste to gum arabic. Probably the Holcus lanatus, which is so common a grass in meadows, might be made palatable to cattle by being sprinkled over with salt 5727 No difference was found in the nutritive produce of the crops of the different grasses cut at the same teuton which would render it possible to establish a scale of their nutritive powers; but probably the soluble matters of the aftermath crop are always from one sixth to one third less nutritive, than those from the flower or seed crop. In the aftermath the extractive and saline matters are certainly usually in excess • but the aftermath hay mixed with summer hay, particularly that in which the fox-tail and soft grassos'are abundant, would produce an excellent food. 57"s Anthroxunthum odordtum K. H. — The proportional value which the grass, at the time of flowering, bears to that al the tune the seed is ripe, is as + to 13. The proportional value which the grass of the lattermath bears to that at the tune the seed is ripe, is nearly as 9 to 13. 5729 HoVctM odoratua Host, G. A. — The proportional value which the grass, at the time of flowering, bears to that at the time the seed is ripe, is as 17 to 21. The grass of the lattermath crop, and that of the crop at the time' of flowering, taking the whole quantity, and their relative proportions of nutritive matter, are in value nearly as 6 to 10: the value of the grass, at the time the seed is ripe, exceeds that of the lattermath in proportion as 21 to 17. Though this is one of the earliest of the Bo&ering grasses, it is tender, and the produce in the spring is inconsiderable. If, however, the quantity of nutritive matter which it affords be compared with that of any of those species which flower nearly at the Bame time, it will be found greatly superior. It sends forth but a small number of flower- stalks' which are of a slender structure compared to the size of the leaves. This will account, in a great measure, lor the equal quantities of nutritive matter afforded by the grass at the time of flowering, and the lattermath. , ... Cuiiosi-rus c , ri-lcits E. I!. NcvAVia cu-rllca E. of P. 1070.1 — 1 he produce of this grass is greater than its appearance would denote; the leaves seldom attain to more than four or five inches ill length, and the Bower-Stalks seldom arise to more. Its growth is not rapid after being cropped, nor does it seem to withstand the effects of frost, which, if it happens to be severe and early In the spring, checks it so much as to prevent it from flowering for that season ; otherwise, the quantity of nutritive matter which the grass affords (for the straws are very inconsiderable) would rank it as a valuable grass for permanent 5731. Avina pvbiieent E. B. (Trislium pub&cens E. of P. 1052.) — The proportional value which the grass at the time of flowering bears to that at the time the seed is ripe, is as ti to H. The proportional value which the grass at the time of flowering bears to that of the lattermath, is as 6 to 8. The grass of the seed-crop, and that of the lattermath, are of equal value. The downy hairs which cover the surface ot the leaves of this grass, when growing on poor light soils, almost entirely disappear when it is cultivated j7J2. Pdfl aeridea var. prttt&nsis'E.B —If the produce of this variety be compared with that of Book VI. WOBURN GRASSES. 899 /Via pratensis, it will be found less ; nor does it seem to possess any superior excellence. The superior nutritive power does not make up for the deficiency of produce by SO lbs. of nutritive matter per acre. 5733. Festuca hordetfornus H. Cant. — This is rather an early grass, though later than any of the pre- ceding species : its foliage is very fine, resembling the P. duriuscula, to which it seems nearly allied, differ- ing only in the length of the awns, and the glaucous colour of the whole plant. The considerable produce it affords, and the nutritive powers it appears to possess, joined to its early growth, are qualities which strongly recommend it to further trial 5734. Festuca glaiica Curtis. — The proportional value by which the grass at the time of flowering exceeds that at the time the seed is ripe is as 6 to 12. The proportional difference in the value of the flowering and seed crops of this grass is directly the reverse of that of the preceding species, and affords another strong proof of the value of the straws in grass which is intended for hay. The straws at the time of flowering are of a very succulent nature ; but, from that period till the seed be perfected, they gradually become dry and wiry. Nor do the root-leaves sensibly increase in number or in size, but a total suspension of increase appears in every part of the plant, the roots and seed-vessels excepted. The straws of the Poa trivialis are, on the contrary, at the time of flowering, weak and tender; but as they advance towards the period of ripening the seed, they become firm and succulent ; after that period, however, they rapidly drv up, and appear little better than a mere dead substance, 5735. Festuca glabra Wither. B. — The proportional value which the grass at the time the seed is ripe bears to that of the crop at the time of flowering is as 5 to 8. The proportional value which the grass of the lattermath bears to that of the crop at the time of flowering, is as 2 to 8 ; and to that of the crop, at the lime the seed is ripe, is as 2 to 5. The general appearance of this grass is very similar to that of the Festuca duriuscula : it is, however, specifically different, and inferior in many respects, which will be manifest on comparing their several produce with each other ; but if it be compared with some others, now under general cultivation, the re.-ult is much in its favour, the soil which it affects being duly attended to. 5736. Festuca rubra Wither. B. — The proportional value which the grass at the time of flowering bears to that at the time the seed is ripe is as 6 to 8. This species is smaller in every respect than the preceding. The leaves are seldom more than from three to four inches in length ; it affects a soil simitar to that favourable to the growth of the Festuca ovlna, for which it would be a profitable substitute, as it will clearly aopear on a comparison of their produce with each other. The proportional value which the grass of the lattermath bears to that at the time the seed is ripe is as 6 to 8, and is of equal value with the grass at the time of flowering. 5737. Festuca ovum E. B. — The dry weight of this species was not ascertained, because the smallness of the produce renders it entirely unfit for hay. 5738 Festuca c/imbrica Hud. — This species is nearly allied to the Festuca ovlna, from which it differs little, except that it is larger in every respect The produce, and the nutritive matter which it affords, will bp lound superior to those given by the F. ovina, if they are brought into comparison. 5739. Brbmus diundms Curt. Loud. (B. madritensis E. of P. 1140.; — This species, like the Festuca cdmbrica, is strictly annual ; the above is therefore the produce for one year ; which, if compared with that of the least productive of the perennial grasses, wiU be found inferior, and it must consequently be regarded as unworthv of culture. 5740. Port angustifolia With. 2.— In the early growth of the leaves of this species of Poa, there is a striking proof that earlv flowering in grasses is not always connected with the most abundant early pro- duce of leaves. In this respect, all the species which have already come under examination are greatly inferior to that now spoken of. The culms are most valuable for the manufacture of the finest straw P 5741. Arena elatior Cult (Hb/rns avenaceus E. of P. 14227.} —This grass sends forth flower-straws during the whole season ; and the lattermath contains nearly an equal number with the flowering crop. It is subject to the rust, but the disease does not make its appearance till after the period of flowering; it affects the whole plant, and at the time the seed is ripe the leaves and straws are withered and dry. This accounts for the superior value of the lattermath over the seed crop, and points out the propriety of taking the crop when the grass is in flower. S742 Port elatior Curt. — The botanical characters of this grass are almost the same as those of the /(vena elatior, differing in the want of the awns only. It has the essential character of the Hold (.florets, male and hermaphrodite; calyx husks two-valved, with two florets) ; and since the /Ivena elatior is now referred to that genus, this may with certainty be considered a variety of it .">T4; Festuca durivscula E. B. — The proportional value which the grass at the time the seed is ripe bears to that at the time of flowering, is as ti to 14 nearly. The proportional value which the grass of the lattermath bears to that at the time of flowering, is as 5 to 14 ; and to that at the time the seed is ripe as 5 to 6 The above particulars will confirm the favourable opinion which was given of this grass when speaking of the F. Aordeifurmis, and F.glabra. 5733. and 5735. ) Its produce in the spring is not very great, but of the finest quality, and at the time of flowering is considerable. If it be compared with those affect- ing similar soils, such as Pt>.\ pratensis, Festuca ovlna, &c. either considered as a grass for hay or pernia- 116*111 pasture, it will be found of greater value. «...,„ , 5744 TAUium ejflistan. — Thxs species in its natural state seems confined to woods as its place of growth j but the trial that is here mentioned confirms the opinion that it will grow and thrive m open exposed situations. It is remarkable for the lightness of the produce in proportion to its bulk. It produces foliage earlv in the spring in considerable abundance; but its nutritive powers appear comparatively little. 5745. Via maritima E. B. — The proportional value which the grass of the lattermath bears to that at the time of flowering, is as 4 to 18. " . . 5746. Avhia pratensis E. B. — The proportional value which the crop, at the time the seed is ripe, bears to that at the time of flowering, is as 4 to 9. 5747 Brbmus mulliflbrus E. B This species is annual, and no valuable properties have as yet been discovered in the seed. It is onlv noticed on account of its being frequently found in poor grass lands, and sometimes in meadows. It appears, from the above particulars, to possess nutritive powers equal to some of the best perennial kinds, if taken when in flower ; but if left till the seed be ripe ovhich, from its early growth, is frequently the case), the crop is comparatively of no value, the leaves and straws being then completely drv. , , . , , . ... .• , a 5748 Festuca \oliacea Curt. Lond. — The proportional value which the grass, at the time of flowering bears to that at the time the seed is ripe, is as 12 to 13 ; and the value of the lattermath stands in propor- tne reverse of the i.Mium pereiine. 574« Pu« crislata Host, G. A. —The produce of this species, and the nutritive matter that it arforc s, are equal to those of the Festuca ovlna, at the time the seed is ripe : they equally delight in dry soils. 1 he greater bulk of grass, in proportion to the weight, with the comparative coarseness ot the foliage, renders the Poa cristata inferior to the Festuca ovlna. 5750. Festuca Mykrus E B. [Mt/galurus caudatus E. of P. 1118.) -This species is strictly annual ; it is likewise subject to the rust ; and, the produce being but little, it ranks as a very inferior gra=s. 5751. Festuca calamaria E. B. — The proportional value which the grass, at the time the seed is npe, bears to that at the time of flowering, is as 12 to IS. This gra*s, as has already been remarked, produces 3 M 2 «)(K) PRACTICE OF AGRICULTURE. Part 1 IT. ■ lino oarlv foliage in the raring, The produce is very greet, and its nutritive powers are considerable. it appears, from tlu- above particulars, to be best adapted for hay. A very singular disease attack-, and sometimes nearly destroys, the seed ofthis grass : the cause of this disease seems to be unknown ; it is denominated ciaout by some , it appears by the seed swi lling to three times its u-ua! size, in length and thickness and tin- want ofthecorcfe. Dr. vVilldenow describes two distinct species ol it: first, the simple clavus which is meal] and of a, lark colour, without any smell or taste j secondly, the malignant rtavus, which i- violel blue, or blackish, and internally too hasabluish clour, with a tetid smell, and a sharp pungent t ate Bn id m ide from grain affected with this last species, is ol a bluish colour; and when eaten, produces cramps and giddiness. . Brbtnu* littbreui l!"-t &> of straw plait Chap. VII. Management if Lands permanently under Grass. 5767. In evert/ country by far the greater proportion of perennial grass lands is the work of nature : and it is not till an advanced period in the progress of agriculture that much attention is paid to their management. But as the extension of tillage, planting, and the formation of parks and gardens, limit the range of the domestic animals, their focd becomes more valuable ; and it then becomes an object to increase it by the culture of roots and artificial herbage on some lands, and by the improved management of the spon- taneous productions of others. In a highly cultivated country like Britain, therefore, those lands retained in grass either are, or ought to be, such as are more valuable to the owners in that state than they would be in any other. Such lands naturally divide them- selves into two classes : those which are fit either for mowing or pasture; and those which are fit for pasture only. Sect. I. Perennial Grass Lands fit for mowing, or Meadow Lands. *5~68. Under the term meadow, we include all such land as is kept under grass chiefly for the sake of a hay crop, though occasionally, and at particular seasons of the year, it may be depastured by the domestic animals ; and we usually include under this term the notion of a greater degree of moisture in the soil, than would be thought desirable either for permanent pasture or lands in tillage. Where hay is in great demand, as near large towns, and especially if a good system of cropping is but little understood, a great deal of arable land may be seen appropriated to hay-crops ; but the most valuable meadows are such as are either naturally rather moist, or are rendered so by means of irrigation. There are three descriptions of these meadows : those on the banks of streams and rivers ; those on the uplands, or more elevated grounds ; and bog-meadows ; and each of these kinds may be stocked with grasses, either naturally or by art, and may be irrigated by one or other of the different watering processes already described. 5769. Eiver-meadows, or those which are situated in the bottoms of valleys, are in general by far the most valuable. They are the most productive of grass and hay, yielding sustenance for cattle through the summer and the winter, and producing an everlasting source of manure for the improvement of the adjoining lands. 5770. The soil is deep, and commonly alluvial, having been deposited by water, or washed down from the adjoining eminences ; the surface is even, from the same cause; and, what is of considerable importance, it has a gradual declivity or surface-drainage to the river or stream which almost invariably flows in the lowest part of every valley, and which is essential to this description of meadow. The principal defects to which such lands are liable are, the oozing out of springs towards their junction with the rising lands, and the inundations of the river or stream. The former e\ il is to be remedied by under-draining, and the latter by embanking. Such meadows are generally stocked with the best grasses; and their culture con- sists of little more than forming and keeping open a sufficient number of surface-gutters or furrows to carry oft' the rain-water ; rooting out such tufts oi rushes, or bad grasses and herbage, as may occasionally appear; destroying moles, and spreading the earth they throw up; removing heavy stock whenever 'heir feet poach the surface ; shutting up, bush-harrowing, and rolling at the commencement of the growing season ; and finally so adjusting the mowing and pasturing as to keep the land in good heart without laying on manure. 5771. The most suitable meadows for irrigation are of this description ; the necessary drains and other ■works are executed with greater care, and « ith less expense ; and the management, as we have seen (4^80.), is also comparatively easier than in watering sloping surfaces. 5772. Upland meadows, or mowing lands, are next in value to those of valleys. 5773. The soil is either naturally good, and well adapted for grass, or, if inferior by nature, it is so situated as to admit of enrichment by ample supplies of manure. Of this last description are the upland meadows or hay lands of Middlesex ; which, though on the most tenacious, and often stony clays, are yet, by the abundance of manure obtained from the metropolis, rendered as productive as the best upland soils employed as hay lands. The roots of perennial grasses, whether fibrous or creeping, never strike deep into the soil ; and thus, deriving their nourishment chiefly from the surface, top-dressings, of well-rotted manure, repeated on the same field for centuries, form at last a thin black stratum among the roots of the grass, which produces the most luxuriant crops. t7i4. The culture of upland meadows requires more attention and expense than that of valleys; being more difficult to drain, and requiring regular supplies of manure. The irregular surface of uplands is apt either to contain springs or to stagnate the surface water ; the first produce marsh plants and coarse herbage, and the latter destroys or weakens whatever is growing on the surface, and encourages the growth of moss. Both evils are to be remedied by the obvious resources of drainage. Moss is a very com- mon enemy to grass lands, and is only to be' effectually destroyed by rich dressings of manure. Rolling, and top-dressings of lime and salt, have been recommended tor destroying it; but there is no mode by 3 -M 3 902 PRACTICE OF AGRICULTURE. Part III. h imh it can be subdued and kept under, bul i>v adding strength to the grass plants, and thereby enabling them to suffocate their enemy Mom I* never found on rich lands unless they are completely shaded l>y trees Besides mole-hills, upland meadows, when neglected, are frequently troubled with ants, which form heaps or hillocks ol grass and earth, more injurious and more difficult to gel quit ol than those of moles The mode of taking moles is a simple operation, and wiD be described in the proper place; that of destroying ants is more complicated and tedious, and, being peculiar to grass lauds, shall here 5775 tnt-hUls.or habitations, are injurious to meadow lands, by depriving the farmer ofa crop in pro. portion to the surface Ihey occupy, and by interfering with the operations of rolling and mowing. They consist ol little ei en es, composed of small particles ofsaud or earth, lightly and artfully laid together, which ma] often be computed .it a troth part, or more, of old grass-lands. In some places, where negll- ,,,.,,,,. I, , [bred them to multiply, almost hall' the land has been rendered useless ; the hills standing as thick togethl t as grass-cocks in a hay-field : and what is very surprising, this indolence is defended by mine who affirm, thai the area or superficies of their land is thereby increased ; whereas it is well known that verj little or no grass ever grows thereon, and, therefore, if the surface is increased, the produce is proportion. ,hl\ decreased. .... , , ., , l„ order to remove ant-hills, and destroy the insects, it has been a custom in some places, at the be rlnnins of » inter, and often when the weather was not very cold, to dig up the ant-hills three or four inches below the 9Urface Of the ground, and then to cut them in pieces, and scatter the fragments about ; but tins practice only disseminates the ants, instead of destroying them, as they hide themselves among the roots of the grass for i little time, and then collect themselves together again upon any little eminence, oi which there are great numbers ready for their purpose, such as the circular ridges round the hollows where the hills stood before. It is, therefore, a much belter method to cut the hilN entirely Off, rather lower til in the surface of the land, and to let them lie whole at a little distance, with their bottom up- wards ; by this means the ants, which are known to be very tenacious of their abodes, continue in their h ilut liious until the rains, by running into their holes of communication, and stagnating in the hollows formed by the removal of the lulls, and the frosts, which now readily penetrate, destroy them If a little soot were thrown on the pi. ices, and washed in with the rains, it would probably contribute greatly to the intended effect The lulls, when rendered mellow by the frosts, may be broken and dispersed about the land. Ii> this method of cutting the hills, one other advantage Is gained; the land soon becomes even ami tit fiir mowing, and the little eminences being removed, the insects are exposed to the wet, which is very disagreeable and destructive to them. It would, perhaps, be a better practice than that of suffering the hills to remain on the ground, to collect the parts of them which have been pared off into a heap, in soui." convenient place, and then form them into a compost, by mixing a portion of quick lime with them. In wet weather these insects are apt to accumulate heaps of sandy particles among the grass, called by labourers sprout-hills, which quickly take off the edge of the sc>the. These hills, which are very light and compressible, may be conveniently removed by frequent heavy rolling. 5777. In the Norfolk mode of cutting and burning ant-hills, the process is, to cut them up with a heart- shaped sharp spade or shovel, in irregular lumps of from ten to fifteen inches in diameter, and from two to live or six inches thick. These are to be turned the grass-side downwards, until the mould-side is thoroughly dry, and then to be set the grass-side outwards, until they are dry enough to bum The lire may be kindled with brushwood, and kept smothering, by laying the sods or lumps on gradually, as the lire breaks out, until ten or fifteen loads of ashes are raised in one heap, which the workmen formerly com- pleted for a shilling or eightoen-pence each load of ashes. The places from which the lulls have been re- moved may be sown with grass-seeds. Besides the destruction of the ants, this is a ready, though by no means an economical, way of raising manure, and in some cases ought not be neglected, on grounds where such a process is required. 577S. fVhat is called " priding " ant-hills is thus described : — With a turfmg-iron make two cuts across the hill at right angles to each other ; then turn back the four quarters thus obtained from off the hill, leaving it bare ; next cut out and throw to a distance the interior earth of the hill with all the ants; turn- ing their winter's hoard of provision, as well as all their excavated abode, to the very bottom. Now return the quarters of turf to their former place, treading them down to form a basin to hold the winter's rain, which will prevent the settlement of any new colony of the ants, and they, being thrown on the surface, will perish by the frost. 5779. Win'),- grass lands arc sufficiently rolled with a heavy roller once or oftener every year, no ant- hills will ever be formed greater than the roller can compress, and consequently no injury will be sustained. In this, as in most other cases of disease, proper regimen is the best cure. In domestic economy, various directions are given for destroying bugs, lice, and other vermin ; but who ever had any to destroy, who attended properly to cleanliness ? 578ft The surface of some grass lands thai hare hern long rolled is apt to get into that tenacious state denominated hidebound. When this is the case, scarifying the turf with a plough, consisting only of coulters, or harrow teeth, or, in preference to all other implements, with Wilkic or Kirkwood's brakes, so that the whole surface may be cut or torn, is to be recommended. That tenacious state, rolling tends to increase ; whereas, by scarifying, the surface is loosened, and the roots acquire new means of improved vegetation. This operation seems particularly useful, when it precedes the manuring. When hay land of a retentive qualitv is depastured by cattle or horses in wet seasons, it receives much injury from their feet, and becomes what is technically called poached. Every step they take leaves an impression, which tills with rain water, and then the hole stands full like a cup. This wetness destroys the herbage, not only in the hole, but that also which surrounds it, while at the same time the roots ofthe grasses, as well as the ground, are chilled ami injured. No good farmer, therefore, will permit any cattle to seta foot on such land in wet weather, and few during the winter months, on any consideration. Sheep are generally allowed to pasture on young grasses in dry weather, from the end of autumn to the beginning of .March ; they are then removed', ami it rarely happens that any animal is admitted till the weather b • dry, and the suriai e so linn as to bear their pressure without being poached or injured. /// manuring upland meadows, the season, the sort, the quantity, and the frequency of application are to be considered n , i / ,/ to t/ii- season at ir/iich manure should he applied, a great difference of opinion prevails among the farmers of England. In the county of Middlesex, where almost all the grass lands are (ire- served for hay, the manure is invariably laid on in October [Middlesex Report, p. '-'-+. , while the land is sufficiently dry to hear the driving of loaded carts without injury, and when the heat of the day is so moderated as not to exhale the volatile parts of the dung. Others prefer applying it immediately after the hay-time, from about the middle of July to the end of August, which is«aid to be the " good old time " [Com. to Board of Agriculture, voL iv p. 138.); and if that season is inconvenient, any time from the beginning of February to the beginning of April. {Dickson's Practical Agriculture, vol. ii. p. 915.) It is, however, too common a practice to cany out the manure during frosty weather, when, though the ground is not cut up by the carts, the fertilising parts of the dung are dissipated, anil washed away by the snow and rams before they an penetrate tin- suit 57S,i. There is scared// an// sort 0) manure that irill not be useful when laid on the surface of grass grounds ; but, 111 general, those of the more rich dung kinds are the most suitable for the older sort of sward lands ; and dung, in composition with fresh vegetable earthy substances, the roost useful in the new leys Or grass lands. In Middlesex it is the practice ofthe best fanners to prefer the richest dung they can procure, and seldom to mix il with any sort of earthy material, as they find It to answer the best with regard to the quantity of produce, which is the principal object in view ; the cultivators depending chiefly lor the Book VI. MEADOW LANDS. 903 sale of their hav in the London markets. It is the practice to turn over the dung that is brought from London in a tolerable state of rottenness, once chopping it well down in the operation, so as to be in a middling state of fineness when put upon the land. It is necessary, however, that it should be in a more rotten and reduced state when applied in the spring, than when the autumn is chosen for that purpose. {Dickson's Practical Agriculture, vol. ii. p. 91.5.) 5784. Some interesting experiments have been made with different kinds of manure, for the purpose of ascertaining their effects, with regard to the quantity and quality of the produceon different kinds of land. Fourteen lots, of half an acre each, were thus manured, and the grass was made into hay, all as nearly alike as possible. The greatest weight of hay was taken from the lot manured with horse, cow, and slaughterhouse dung, all mixed together, of each about an equal quantity. It lay in that state about two months; and was then turned over, and allowed to lie eight or ten days more, after which it was put on the land before it had done fermenting, and spread immediately. To ascertain the quality of the produce of the different li its a small handful from each was laid down on a dry clean place, where there was little or no grass, and six horses were turned out to them one after another. In selecting the lots, there seems to have been little difference of taste among the horses ; and all of them agreed in rejecting two lots, one of which had been manured with blubber mixed with soil, and the other with soot, in both instances laid on in the month of April preceding. ( Lancashire Report, p. 130. et seq.) 57S5. The proportion of manure that is necessary must, in a great measure, depend upon the circum- stances of the land, and the facility of procuring it. In the district of London, where the manure is of a verv good anil enriching quality, from its being produced in stables and other places where animals are highly fed, the quantity is usually from four or rive to six or seven loads on the acre, such as are drawn by th'ree or four horses, in their return from taking up the hay to town. (Dickson's Pract. Agr. vol. ii p. 916. 5786. Manure is laid on at intervals of time more or less distant, according to the same circumstances that determine the quantity of )t Though there are some instances of hay grounds bearing fair crops every year during a length of years, without any manure or any advantage from pasturage, except what the after-grass has afforded [Marshal's Review of Reports to the Board of Agriculture, p. 183 Weston Department) ; yet, in general, manure must either be allowed every third or fourth year, in the land depastured one year, and mown the other; " or, what is better, depasture two years, and mow the third." [Northumberland Report, p. 1)1.) A succession of hay crops without manure, or pasturage, on meadows not irrigated, is justly condemned by all judicious farmers, as a sure means of impoverishing the soil. 5787. Bog meadows are the least valuable of any : they are of two kinds ; peat bogs, and earthy bogs. 5788. Peat bogs are situated in hollows or basins, which, from having no natural outlet for water, and not being so deep or so plentifully supplied with that element as to constitute lakes, becomes filled up with aquatic plants and mosses. By the decay of these after a certain time, and the drainage and culture of art, a surface of mossy soil is formed on which some of the inferior grasses may be sown or will spring up naturally. In warm moist climates, and where the mould of the bog is rich, fiorin or Timothy grass may be found to answer ; but in general the woolly soft grass and cock's-foot are resorted to, unless indeed lime be applied, or a coating of sand or earth, in which cases the clovers and better grasses will sometimes answer. These bogs are in general too soft for pasturing any other animals than sheep. .0789. Earthy bug meadows are situated either in hollows or on slopes. They are formed by an accumu- lation of water in the subsoil, which not finding a free passage in any one point, spreads under and filtrates upwards through a considerable extent of surface. The grasses on such meadows before they are drained are chieflv of the sprot or Jiincus kind ; but by draining the quality of these is improved, and better kinds appear. Such meadows yield a considerable produce of coarse hay; they abound chiefly in cold hilly districts devoted to breeding. 3790. The culture and management of bog meadows differ in nothing essential from those of the river kinds. A lighter roller is used in spring, the greatest care is taken in eating down the latter grass, whether with small cattle or sheep; and in some cases, in very dry weather in summer, the main drains are dammed up for a few weeks in order to stagnate the water, and supply the soil with moisture. No manure is ever given unless in the case of some cultivated peat bogs, which are dressed with earthy or saline mixtures. 5791. As branches of culture common to evert/ description of hay lands may be men- tioned, the hay-making, the application of the after-grass, and pasturage. 5792. The making of natural or meadow hay has been carried to greater perfection in the neighbourhood of London than any where else ; and it may therefore, with great propriety, be recommended as an example to the rest of the kingdom. The following account of it is drawn from Middletoris Agricultural Survey of Middlesex : 5793. When the grass is nearly fit for mowing, the Middlesex farmer endeavours to select the best mowers, in number proportioned to the quantity of his grass and the length of time it would be advisable to have it in hand ; which having done, he lets it out, either as piece-work, or to be mown by the acre. In the latter way, each man mows from one acre and a half to an acre and three quarters per day ; some there are who do two acres per day during the whole season. About the same time he provides five hay- makers men and women, including loaders, pitchers, stackers, and all others) to each mower. These last are paid by the day, the men attending from six till six, but the women only from eight till six. For an extra hour or two in the evening, when the business requires despatch, they receive a proportionate allowance. 579+. The mowers usually begin their work at threej'our, or five o'clock in the morning, and continue to labour till seven or eight at night ; resting an hour or two in the middle of the day. Every hay-maker is expected to come provided with a fork anil a rake of his own ; nevertheless, when the grass is ready, and labourers scarce, the farmer is frequently obliged to provide both, but for the most part only the rake. Every part of the operation is carried on with forks, except clearing the ground, which is done with rakes'; and loading the carts, which is done by hand. 5705. First day. All the grass mown before nine o'clock in into what are called sing'e wind rows; and the last operation the morning is tedded, in which great care is taken thoroughly of this day i . to put it into grass ra ks. to loosen every lump, and to strew it evenlvover.il! the ground. 5796. Seamdday. The bus ness of this day commences with By this regular method of tedding grass tor hav, the hay will tedding all the grass that was mown the tirst day after nine be of a more valuable quality, heat more equally in the stack, o'clock, and all that was mown this day before nine o'clock. and will consequently not be so liable to damage or fire ; will Next, the grass cocks are to be well shaken out into stadit . . ,, be of greater quantity when cut into trusses, and wdl sell at a separate plots) of five or six yards' diamtter. If the crop belter price ; for when the grass is suffered to lie a day or two should be so thin and light as to leave the spares between the-e before it is tedded out of the swath, the upper surface is dried staddle. ra'her large, such spaces must be immediate ly raked bv the sun and winds, and the interior part is not dried, but clean, and the raking-, mixed with the other hay, in order to its Withered, so that the herbs lose much, both as lo quality and all drying of a uniform colour. The next business is to turn quantity, which are very material circumstances. Soon afier the staddles, and after that, to turn the gra-s lhat was tedded the tedding is finished, the hav is turned with the same degree in the first part of the morning, once or twice, in the manner of care and attention; and if, 'f'om the number of hands, thev described for the first day. This should ail be done In tore are able to turn the whole again, they do so, or at least as twelve or one o'c ock, so that the whole ma. he to dr. while much of it as they can, till tw. lve or one o'clock, at which time the work-people are at dinner, After dinner, the first thing to they dine. The tirst thing to be done after dinner is to rake it he done is to rake the staddles into double windrows ; next, to 3 M 4 'mi PRACTICE OF AGRICULTURE. Pau III. mke rh Ingle wlnd-ro* ; then the doiil I and clouds, no part of IturobaMy wilt bent to carry. In i Brst thing set llnner, Is (o raw thai • lit Into grati-eockft. This completes the mik wl cocks last nUhl Into doable wind-rows; ' iy. rh.-n the gnus wb mine spread from the swaths . _l |- rltir.l tl.iii 'I'll.- ■ ■ ■ — in.. . ., K...1 . ..r.. ..I .... O... t .In vi ii. 'i. .1 i till, rill, ... A ft If I 1 1 1 - . 1 I' ll.lV M'llil'll WJU List Ilil'M (•lit illy. [tie g-aas mown and not spread on the I d-rows. After this, tliehay which was last night second da - wn ntheearly part of this day, Is i" bastard-cocks, t- made up Into fuU-«ixed cocks, and care Am t.i Ik- t.-iM .1 mi the mi., nine, and then tin- ' - ' dtc th ■ n ij ";• d> an, and ata to put the raklogs i .i tin- !..]. ..i N'ext, tin- t! hi ile wind-rows are .11,1,1,-. ■ i , i-ii- mm, • bastnrd cocks, and tin- tingle wind-rows Into l turn d, th*n inn ■ beprect ding il ivs. orone 57118. Fourth day. On this day tin- great cocks, Just men- ., isusual. Ifthcwenthei I - carried hi or dinner The other opcr- . the li.i which wa ' '■'■■ an men, and in the same ore bastard describrd, and an continued dally until Hie hay harvest Is t Mltcr should, ,ut tlu- conn n < pleted. I neral rule*, the grass should, as much as possible, !»• protected both day and night, against rain and dew, by cockin I n hould also be taken to proportion the number of hay-makers to that ol tin- mow TS, so lit it there may n >t lie more grass in hand at any one time than can he managed according to the ■ ocess. This proportion is about twenty hay-makers (of which number twelve may lie nowersj the latter are sometimes taken half a day to assist the former. But in hot, windy, - ither, a greater proportion of hay makers will be required than when the weather is Ii i particularly necessary to guard against spreading more hay than the number of ,m gel into cocks the same day, or before rain. In showery and uncertain weather, the grass may u tiered to lie three, lour, or even five days in swath. But before it Ii is lain long enough lor the under side ol the swath to bt come yellow which, if suffered to lie long, would be the case , particular care be taken to turn the swaths with the heads of the rakes. In this state, it will cure so much in about ... a- onlj to require being tedded a few hours when the weather is tine, previously to its being put together and carried. In this manner hay may be made and put into the stack at a small expense, and of a moderately good colour; but the tops and bottoms of the grass are insufficiently separated by it 5800. Tlw hay-tedding machine has been invented since Middleton described the hand process as above. This machine [Jig. ■'■'-. is found to be a most important saving of manual labour. It is computed that a DO) and horse with the machine will ted as much in an hour as twelve or fifteen women. The hay-rake, which may he added to the same axle when the tedder is removed, is also an equal saving, and a requisite accompaniment to it; as where few or no women are kept for tedding, there must necessarily be a defi- ciency of r.tkers. These machines are coming into general use near London, where the price of manual labour is high and hands sometimes scarce. They are also finding their way among the proprietors of extensive parks in all parts of the country, as saving much labour in making hay from natural pasture. 5801. Thereare no hag-stacks more neatly formed, nor better secured, than those made in Middlesex. At every vacant time, while the stack is carrying up, the men are employed in pulling it. with their hands, into a proper shape; and, about a week after it is finished, the whole roof is properly thatched, and then secured from receiving any damage from the wind, by means of a straw rope, extended along the eaves, up the ends, and on each side of the ridge. The ends of the thatch are afterwards cut evenly below the eaves of the stack, just of sufficient length for the rain-water to drip quite clear of the hay. When the stack happens to be placed in a situation which may be suspected of being too damp in the winter, a trench, of about six or eight inches deep, is dug round and nearly close to it, which serves to convey all the water from the spot, and renders it perfectly dry and secure. 5802. Dm inn the hay liar vest it is of great advantage to the farmer, to give constant personal attendance on every party, directing each operation as it goes on. The man who would cure his hay in the best manner, and at a moderate expense, must not only urge the persons who make the hay, the men who load the waggons, and those who make the stack, hilt he should be on the alert, to contrive and point out the manner in which every person may tlo his labour to the most advantage. Unless he does this, one moiety of the people in his hay-field will he of no material use to him ; and if he should be absent for an hour or more, during that time little or nothing will be done. The farmers of Middlesex engage many h ty-makers . some of them have been known to employ two or three hundred ; such men find it neces- sary to he on horseback, and the work-people find them sufficient employment. A man of energy will make the most of every hour, and secure ilis hay while the sun shines ; one of an opposite description lounges his time away, and suffers his hay to be caught in the rain, by which it is frequently half spoiled. Or if the latter should have the good fortune of a continuance of dry weather, his hay will be a week longer in the field than his neighbour's, and the sap of it dried up by the sun. The waste of grass, on being dried into liny, is supposed to be three parts in four by the time it is laid on the stack; it is then further reduced, by heat and evaporation; in about a month, perhaps one twentieth more; or 6001b, of grass are reduced to 95 lb. of hay, and between that and 90 it continues through the winter. From the middle of March till September, the operations of trussing and markenng expose it so much to the sun and wind, as to render it considerably lighter, prohab'y 80 ; that is, hay which would weigh 90 tin- instant it is separated from the stack, would waste to So (in trussing, exposure on the road, anil at market for about '24 hours), by the time it is usually delivered to a purchaser. During the following winter, the waste will be little or nothing. It is nearly' obvious, that the same hay will weigh on delivery mi in summer, and 90 in winter. From this circumstance, and others which relate to price, a I. inner may determine what season of the year is the most advisable for him to sell his hay. 58 I. In innl, ing Hi,- hay of hog meadows, considerable care is requisite both from the inferiority of the climates where such hugs abound, ami from the nature of the grasses they produce. In some cases, the |l i- - i- of SO -nit a quality, that it is difficult to convert it into hay. To prevent its being consolidated in ks, it must he frequently opened up, and when the weather permits, completely exposed to the sun wind -. this -nrt of grass being only capable of sustaining a very moderate degree of fermentation. i, When the natural herbage is ol a coarser description, it may he put into small cocks, in rather a I ur damp state, miii, to go through the progress of " a sweating." or slight fermentation. The woody fibres in coarse hay are thus rendered more palatable antl nutritious, while its condition for becoming fodder is considerably improved : but when any warmth becomes perceptible, if the weather will permit, hay should In- spread nut, and put into large cocks, the moment it is in a dried state. - In tin- moister pastoral districts, in the north-west parts of Scotland, hay-barns, it is thought by would he advantageous; the construction should be as open as possible, for the purpose of drying, as well as of preserving tie- hay. In some of these districts, a curious device has been fallen upon, of making the dried hay into ropes of two fathoms in length, and then twisted twofold. Being thus com- pressed, less room i- required in the barn ; and in this shape it is carried, with greater facility, to distant for the use el cattle during stormy -leather. In making florin Inn/ (if hay it may be called, which is never dried) it is merely cut and put into small cocks, from winch it is commonly taken as wanted. When it is to he put into larger cocks, it must be proportionally better dried. I lie Btolones of this grass being remarkably vivacious, cannot easily he so died a- In admit ol -lacking in large bodies. The sailing q/ hay, at the tune ol stacking, has been practised in Derbyshire and in the North Riiiing of Yorkshire. The salt, particularly when applied to the crop of rouen, or when the first crop has received much run, checks the fermentation, and prevents moulding. If straw is mixed with the hay ; the heating of the stack is still further prevented, by the straw imbibing the moisture. Cattle will eat not only such salttd hav hut even the itxaw mixed with it, more eagerly than better hay not salted, and Book VI. PERMANENT PASTURES. 905 will also thrive as well upon it. The quantity recommended is, a peck of salt to a ton of hay. By this application, hay that had been flooded was preferred by cattle to the best hay that had not been salted. 5809. To make hay-tea. Boil at the rate of a handful of hay to three gallons of water, or, if the water be poured boiling hot on the hay, it will answer nearly as well. Give it to the cattle and horses to drink when cold ; or if the cattle and horses are anywiseill, and under cover, give it to them blood-warm. This drink is so extremely nutritive, that it nourishes the cattle astonishingly, replenishes the udders of the cow with a prodigious quantity of milk, makes the horse stale plentifully, and keeps him healthy and strong ; and by this method one truss or hundred of hay will go as far as eight or ten would otherwise do. The cattle and horses do not seem to like it at rirst: but if they are kept till very thirsty, they will drink freely of it ever afterwards. The hay, after lning used as before mentioned and dried, may be used as litter for horses and cattle; it will make very good manure, and save straw, which is a considerable advantage, especially where there is a scarcity ot that article. {Davis's Rep. of Wilts.) 5810. The after-giass on all meadows is generally fed off; on firm lands, and in the dry season, by either sheep or heavy cattle ; but in the winter only by sheep, unless the soil is so dry as not to be injured by the feet of cows or hordes. The feet of the latter are much less injurious than those of the former ; but their bite being closer is more apt to tear up the plants, than the bite of the horned tribe. 5811. Cattle are generally removed from meadow-lands in Middlesex in November ; horses in the month following, and sheep allowed to remain till February. In Lincolnshire, Leicestershire, and on many river-meadows, every description of stock is allowed to remain til! April, and sheep till May. In some districts, the whole of the after-growth is preserved from every species of stock till the following May, vhen it is fed off with sheep : but this greatly retards the hay crop for that year. It is evident that a good deal must depend on the farmer's other resources for keep for his stock. 5812. The after-grass, where tnanure is very abundant, is sometimes mown and made into hay or rouen, a sort and not very nutritive food, given to cows or sheep; but this is reckoned a bad practice, even in the neighbourhood of London, where manure may be had in abundance. It is also the usage of some to leave the after-grass on the ground without being eaten till spring, when it is said to be preferable, for ewes and lambs, to turnips, cabbages, or any other species whatever of what is termed spring-feed. This mode of management, which is strongly recommended by Young, and in some cases by Marshal also, is unknown in the north ; where, though it is, in many instances, found beneficial, with a view to an early spring growth, not to eat the pasture too close before winter, it would be attended with a much greater loss of herbage, than any advantage in spring could compensate, to leave the after-growth of mown grounds untouched till that season. 5813. A system of alternate mowing and feeding is practised on some hay lauds, partly to save labour and manure, and partly to subdue mosses and coarse grasses. On some soils even rich grass lands, when annually mown, become subject to weeds ; for it tends to encourage moss, and gives advantage to the stronger-rooted grasses, which gradually change, and deteriorate the nature and quality of the herbage. The bottom becomes thin, the white clover disappears, and coarser plants occupy the ground. When this takes place, the pasture should be fed, instead of being mown, for the space of two or three years, until the weeds have been subdued, and the finer grasses re-appear. 5SH. By adopting the plan of moving and feeding alternately, a farmer, it is said, may go on longer without the application of manure, but his fields, in the end, will be ruined by it. It is contended, that to maintain a proper quantitv of stock, the land must be accustomed to keep it, particularly in the case of sheep : that where land has been used to the sycthe, if manured for pastures, it will often produce more grass ; but that grass will not [aeteris paribus) support so much stock, nor fatten them nearly so well : and that old pasture will not produce so much hay as land that has been constantly mowed; for each will grow best as it has been accustomeu to grow, and wili not readily alter its former habits. On the other hand, it is asserted, that many experienced farmers prefer the system of feeding and mowing alternately, as they find that, under that system, the quality and quantity of the hay have been improved; and the pasturage, in the alternate year, has been equally sweet and productive. Sect. II. Per/nanent Pastures- SSI 5. Permanent pastures may be divided into two kinds : rich or feeding lands ; and hilly or rearing pastures. Under the former, we may comprehend all old rich, pastures capable of fattening cattle ; and under the second, such as are only adapted to rearing them, or are more advantageously depastured with sheep. Subsect. 1 . Rich or feeding Pastures. 5816. Feeding pastures may include such as are equally fit for hay-lands, or for being converted to arable husbandry ; their characteristic being, that they are used for feeding stock, and keeping working animals and milch cows in good condition. \\ e mentioned in a former chapter, that pasturage for one year, or for two, or more, is frequently in- terposed in the course of cropping arable land, to prevent that exhaustion of the sod which is commonly the consequence of incessant tillage crops. The same culture and manage- ment recommended here for rich grass lands are equally applicable to them ; there being no difference, except that the latter are generally considered less suitable than rich old turf for fatting heavy stock, such as large oxen. 5817. The culture and management 6. ) In Lin- colnshire, where grazing is followed to a great extent, and with uncommon success, as well as in most other districts, the practice seems to be almost invariably, to keep a mixed stock of sheep and cattle on the same pasture (Lincolnshire Report, p. 174), in proportion varying with the nature of the soil and the quality of the herbage. 5831. To estimate the number of animals that may be depastured on any given extent of ground is obviously impossible, without reference to the particular spot in question ; and the same difference exists with regard to the propriety of feeding close, or leaving the pastures rough, that prevails in most other parts of this subject. Though there is loss in stocking too sparingly, the more common and dangerous error is in overstocking, bv which the summer's grass is not unfrequently entirely lost. On rich pasture lands in the neighbourhood of Banbury, in Oxfordshire, one ox and two sheep are calculated as stock sufficient for one acre. 5832. With respect to the size of enclosures, small fields are much to be preferred to large ones, for heavy stock. 5833. Besides the advantages of shelter, both to the animals and the herbage, small fields enable the grazier either to separate his stock into small parcels, by which means they feed more at their ease, or to give the best pastures to that portion of them which he wishes to come earliest to market. The ad- vantages of moderate-sized enclosures are well known in the best grazing counties ; but the subdivisions are in some instances much more minute than is consistent with the value of the ground occupied with fences, or necessary to the improvement of the stock. In all cases, says Marshal, where fatting cattle or dairy cows make a part of the stock, and where situation, soil, and water will permit, ever)' suit of graz'ing grounds ought, in mv idea, to consist of three compartments: one for head stock, as cows or tatting cattle ; one for followers, as rearing and other lean stock ; and the third to be shut up to freshen for the leading stock. (Marshal's Yorkshire, vol. ii. p. 158.) . 583+. Large enclosures are in general best adapted for sheep. These animals are not only impatient ot heat and liable to be much injured by Hies, in small pastures often surrounded by trees and high hedges, but they are naturally, with the exception perhaps of the Leicester variety, much more restless and easily disturbed than the other species of live stock. " Sheep," says Lord Kaimes, " love a wider ra.nge, and ought to have it ; because thev delight in short grass : give them eighty or ninety acres, and any fence will keep them in ; confine them to a field of seven or eight acres, and it must be a very strong fence that Keeps them in." [Gentleman Farmer, p. 203.) Though fields so large as eighty or ninety acres can be advisable only in hilly districts, yet the general rule is nevertheless consistent with experience, in regard to an our least domesticated varieties. 5835. With respect to the propriety of eating the herbage close, or leaving it rather in an abundant state, an eminent agriculturist observes, that there seems to be a season, some time during the year, when grass lands, particularly old turf, should lie eaten very close. PRACTICE OF AGRICULTURE. P in. not mere!] for the sake of preventing waste, but also For the purpose of keeping down the coarser kinds of plants, an. I giving to the pastures as equal and line a sward as possible. 7'//,- in,, st proper pert >./ must partly depend upon the convenience of the grazier; but it can hardly be either Immediatel) before the drought ol summer or ti>. frost of winter. Some tunc in autumn, when the ardent heal ol the si at u is over, and when there it still time for a nea growth before winter, maj !"• most Mnt.ii.K- tor the land itself, and generally also foi the grazier, hi> fat stock being then mostly disposed of, <>r carried to the after-gi is* of mown grounds. I he sweeping of pastures with the scythe ubstitutc I'm tin- close feeding ; the waste and labour of which, however, though inn' mill,, >. n' does not seem necessary to incur on rich grazing lands, under correct management ri ; m_' pasture land* is a practice which is sometimes adopted in districts where there is a scarcity ofwintei i Vi erthal system, fields in pasture are shut up early in May, and continued in that state till November or December, when the farmer's stock is turned in, and continue to pasture till the May succeeding. Such management, however, can only be advisable on a soil of the driest nature, which will not be injured by poaching in the wettest seasons. It is practised in a lew places in Cardiganshire ; but is consi. dered by the lateThos. Johnes, Esq., of Hafod, as the result of necessity, the farmers not being able to bring sufficient stock to eat it down in season, when its nutritive powers are in their best state. 5838. Water should be provided for every field under pasture ; and also shelter and shade, either by a few trees, or by a portable shed, which may be moved with the stock from one enclosure to another. Where there are no trees, rubbing posts are also found a desirable addition. In Germany they have portable sheds which are employed both in summer and winter, and generally with a piece of rock-salt fixed to a post for the cattle to suck at. (Jig. 796.) Subsect. 2. Hilly and Mountainous Pastures. 5839. Hilli/ pastures include such low hills as produce fine short herbage, and are with much advantage kept constantly in pasture, though they are not altogether inacces- sible to the plough ; as well as such tracts as, from their acclivity and elevation, must necessarily be exclusively appropriated to live stock. The former description of grass lands, though different from the feeding pastures, of which we have just treated, in respect to their being less convenient for tillage management, are nevertheless in other circumstances so nearly similar, as not to require any separate discussion. These low hills are for the most part occupied with sheep, a very few cattle being sometimes pastured towards their bases ; and they frequently comprise herbage sufficiently rich for fattening sheep, together with coarser pastures for breeding and rearing them. 5840. In regard to the management of upland pastures, of the rules which judicious farmers practise, the following deserve to be selected: — 58il. To enclose those pastures, as the same extent of land, when sheltered, and properly treated, will teed a greater quantitv of sto k, and to better purpose, than when in an open and exposed state. Not to overstock upland pastures; for when this is none, the cattle are not only starved, and the quantity of herbage diminished, but the soil is impoverished When the pasture ground is enclosed and subdivided, so as to admit of it, the stock ought to be shitted from one enclosure to another, at proper intervals; giving the first of the grass to the fattening, in preference to the rearing, stock. This practice tends to increase the quantitv of grass, which has thus time to get up; and the ground being fresh and untainted, when the stock returns to it, more especially if rain has fallen, they will feed with greater appetite and relish. The dung dropped by the stock, while feeding, should be spread about, instead of being suffered to remain where it was deposited, in a solid body. Where the larger and the smaller kinds of stock are to be t'et\ on the same pastures, the larger species should have the first bite ; and it is not thought by some ad i isable to depasture land with a mixed collection of different species of live stock, unless the field is ex- tru.-ive, or unless the herbage vanes in different parts of the field. It is generally found, that the grass produced by the dung ol cattle or horses is injurious to sheep, producing grass of too rich a quality for that species of stork. ' There is no mode by which such pastures are more effectually improved, than by the application of lime, either spread upon the surface or mixed with the soil In the latter case, it is essential that the lime should be mixed with the surface soil only ; as lime is apt to sink, if covered deeply by the plough. The coarse grasses would, in that case, regain possession of the soil, and the dung i wards deposited by the cattle will not enrich the land in the same manner as if the lime had been incorporated with the surface only. (( ode.] 58-1*-'. Mountainous pastures, from which the plough is altogether excluded, have been Commonly classed among waste lands; even such of them as bear herbage by no means of inconsiderable value ; as well as heaths and moors with patches of which the green pastures are often chequered The general term wastes is therefore a very indefinite ex- pression ; and, indeed, is not unfrequently made to comprehend all that extensive division ol* our territory that neither produces corn nor rich herbage. Yet it is on such tracts that by far the greater part of our butcher's meat and wool is grown, and not a little of the former fully prepared for the market. Foreigners and superficial readers at home must accordingly be greatly mistaken, it' they imagine that what are called wastes by the Board of Agriculture, and other writers on rural economy, are really altogether un- productive ; and it would be a still grosser error to believe that all those wastes owe their continuance to neglect or mismanagement ; and that any exertions of human industry can ever render the greater part of them, including all the mountainous tract of Great Britain, more valuable than they are at present, without a much greater Book VI. IMPROVEMENT OF GRASS LANDS. 909 expenditure of capital than, under almost any circumstances, they coulil possibly returo- {Sup. art. slgr.) 5843. Mentealh of Closeburn, in Dumfriesshire, has regenerated old pasture by paring up the turf with a paring plough or spade, laying it to one side for a week or two, and again replacing it where it was before alter the subsoil had been stirred by ploughing and harrowing, and a little lime, ashes, or other manure added. A field so treated was found, in four years, to keep fifteen head of cattle fully better than it did ten in its former state. The improvement is considered to give of annual profit one third of the prime cost, so that in little more than four years it will clear itself. [Gard. Mag. vol vi.) 5844. Improving pasture without taking a crop of corn. The same gentleman having had a considerable extent of the poorest moorland in Scotland in his estate of Closeburn, Dumfriesshire, entertained the opinion that it might pay for improving the pasture without taking a crop of corn from this poor soil which in general was a peat earth upon a gravel or sand or red freestone, and which he considered too poor to produce a remunerating crop of corn. He accordingly set to work to improve about a thousand acri e i this poor soil from four hundred to eight hundred feet above the sea, and sometimes pared and burnt d nearly two hundred acres in one summer, which he ploughed in the autumn and allowed to lie in that state till the next spring, when he laid on about one hundred and seventy bushels of quicklime, or lime shells, as they are there called from their shelling or falling to pieces when watered, per English acre, and in the month of July harrowed in between five and six bushels of //ulcus lanatus grass seed. The greatest part of this land has now been improved about twenty years, and is continuing to yield abundance of grass, and is worth from 12s. to 14s. per acre, while in its natural state it was scarcely worth 2s. ; and Mr. M. is convinced it would pay amply for another dressing of lime, which a Scotch farmer he says, would not think of, as the plough is upon all occasions the implement in most active operation with him. In the improvement of moor ground, Mr. M. thinks it highly important to state that the verv worst effects result from pulverising or bringing the peaty or vegetable soil to a complete state of putrefaction or pulverisation, before being laid down to pasture ; and that this must certainly take place when two or three corn crops are taken before sowing out. Moory peaty soil after this treatment is liable to be poached in wet weather, and in dry weather is almost equally incoherent, and is difficult to be again restored without dung or great quantities of earth. (C. G. Stuart Menteath, March 18o0, in Gard. Mag. vol. vi.) i^5. The chief improvements of which mountainous pastures are susceptible are, draining and sheltering by plantations. Some parts might probably be enclosed by strips of plantation between stone walls or by stone walls alone ; but as the stock on mountain pastures are generally under the care of a herdsman the advantages of change of pasture and alternate eating down and saving or sparing the grass, by keeping out the cattle, are obtainable without the use of fields. Sect. III. Improvement of Grass Lands, by a temporary Conversion to Tillage. 5846. The practice of breaking vp grass lands, either with a view to their being soon after restored, or to their permanent retentioti in aralion, has occasioned much discus- sion, and even attracted the attention of the Legislature, and the Board of Agriculture. Iti The Code of Agriculture it is stated, that a " much larger proportion of the united kingdom, than is at present so cultivated, might be subjected to the alternate system of husbandry, or transferred from grass to tillage, and then restored to grass." Much of the middling sorts of grass lands, from 200 to 400 feet above the level of the sea, is of this description ; and many husbandmen, and most indiscriminate friends of the corn laws and the landed monopoly, regret that such lands are left in a state of unproductive pastur- age, and excluded from tillage. Were the trade in corn free, the idea of tilling such lands would be at least problematical. 5847. A vert/ extensive enquiry was made, in consequence of a requisition from the House of Lords to the Board of Agriculture, in December 1800, " into the best means of converting certain portions of grass lands into tillage, without exhausting the soil, and of returning the same to grass, after a certain period, in an improved state, or at least without injury ;" and the information collected by the Board, upon that subject, is in the highest degree satisfactory and important. 5y+S. On this subject the opinion of one of our first writers is, " that though it is impossible to deny that much grass land in England would be more productive, both to the proprietor and occupier, under a good course of cropping, than under pasture ; yet it is no less certain, that there are large tracts of rich grazing land, which, in the present state of the demand for the produce of grass lands, and of the law of England, with regard to tithes, cannot be employed more profitably for the parties concerned, than in pasture. The interest which the Hoard of Agriculture has taken in this question, with a view to an abundant supply of corn for the wants of a rapidly increasing population, seems, therefore, not to have been well directed. 'Instead of devoting a large portion cf their volumes to the instruction of farmers, regarding the best method of bringing grass lands into tillage, and restoring them again to meadow or pasture, without deterioration ; the first thing required was, to attempt removing the almost insuperable obstruction of tithes, by proposing to the legislature an equitable plan of commutation. If some beneficial arrangement were adopted on this head, there is no reason to doubt, that individual interest would soon operate the wished-for change ; and that ail grass lands capable of yielding more rent and profit under tillage than under pasture would be subjected to the plough, as fast as the demands of the population might require, (Sup. E. B. art. Agr.) 5849. In giving the essence of the information collected by the Board, we shall first state the opinions as to such grass lands as should not be broken up, and next the directions for breaking up and laying down the others. Subsect 1. Grass Lands that ovght not to be broken vp by the Plough. 5850. There are various sorts of grass lands that ovght not to be broken vp ; as water meadows ; salt marshes ; lands apt to be overflowed ; lands near large populous towns, where the produce of grass land is always in demand, and consequently dear ; and low- lying tracts, in the valleys of mountainous countries, particularly in chalky districts, where old meadow land is scarce, and where a portion of it, to raise early and late food for stock, gives a great additional value to the adjoining upland. But whether rich lands, which have long remained in grass, and continue productive, should ever be converted into tillage, is a question respecting which a great diversity of opinion has been entertained. 910 PRACTICE OF AGRICULTURE; Part III. 5851. The lands considered at best adapted for / ernument pasture are of three kinds ■ Strong tenacious days, unfit for turnips or barley, which are said to improve the more the Longer they are kept under a judicious system in grass; soft clayey loams, with a clayey or marly bottom or substratum ; and rich, sound, deep-soiled land, or vale land, enriched by nature at the expense of the higher grounds, generally lying in a situation favourable with respect to climate. 58 8. The advantagfl of tuch pasture! are represented in the strongest light. It is affirmed, that they feed cattle to .i greater weight : that they arc not so easily scorched by the summer's drought; that the grasses arc inure nutritive, I). .ill lor sheep and cattle; that milch cows fed upon them give richer milk, and more butter and cheese ; that the hoot's of all animals pastured on them are much better preserved ; that they produce a greater variety of grasses ; that, when properly laid down, they yield a succession of pasture throughout Die whole season; that the herbage is sweeter, and more easily digested ; and that they return an immense produce at a trifling expense. ;. To break "/' land* possessing these advantages, it is said, can only be justified by the most urgent public necessity, and to prevent the horrors of famine. The real value of such lands will appear by con- sidering their rent and produce. The grass lands in Lincolnshire are accounted the richest in the kingdom. The rents are various ; from 1/. IS*, to ol. per acre ; and the value of the produce from 31. per acre to 10/. This produce arises from beef, mutton, and wool ; and is obtained subject to little variation from the nature of the seasons, and at a trifling expense. The stock maintained per acre on the best grazing lands surpasses what could be fed by any arable produce. It is not at all uncommon to feed at the rate of from six to seven sheep in summer, and about two sheep in winter. The sheep, when put on the grass, may weigh from is lbs. to 20 lbs. per quarter, and the increase of weight would be at the rate of i lbs. per quarter, or hi lbs. per sheep. But suppose in all only loo lbs. at 8>i/>r,>crtl system of laying down lauds to grass, land ought to be previously made as clean and Fertile as possible. 'With that view, all the green crops raised ought to be consumed upon the ground ; fallow or fallow crops ought not to he neglected ; and the whole straw of the corn crops should be converted into manure, and applied to oil that produced it. Above all, the mixing of calcareous matter with the soil, either previously to, or during the course of, cropping, is essential. Nothing generally improves meadows or pastures more than lime or marl : they sweeten the herbage, render it more palatable to stock, and give it more nourishing properties. 587 1 When turnips are raised upon light land, sheep should be folded on them ; whereas, if the land is or wet, the crop should be drawn, and fed in some adjoining grass-field, or in sheds. If the land is in nigh condition, it is customary to cart oil' half the turnips, and eat the other on the ground. But this is not a plan to be recommended on poor soils. 5875. It has been disputed whether grass-seeds should be soivn with or without corn. Tn favour of the first practice, th it of uniting the two crops, it is maintained, that where equal pains are taken, the future crop of grass will succeed as well as if they had been sown separately, while the same tilth answers for both. On the other hand, it is observed, that as the land must, in that ease, be put into the best possible order, there is a risk that the corn-crop will grow so luxuriantly as to overpower the grass-seeds, and, at any rate, will exclude them from the benefit of the air and the dews. If the season also be wet, a corn crop is apt to lodge, and the grass will, in a great measure, be destroyed. On soils moderately fertile, the grasses have a better chance of succeeding ; but then, it is said, that the land is so much exhausted by producing the corn-crops, that it seldom proves good grass land afterwards. In answer to these objections, it has been urged, that where, from the richness ol the soil, there is any risk of sowing a full crop of corn, less seed is used, even as low as one third of the usual quantity; and that a moderate crop of grain nurses the young plants of grass, and protects them from the rays of a hot sun, without producing any materia] injury. Where the two crops are united, barley is the preferable grain, except on peat Barley has a tendency to loosen the texture of the ground in which it grows, which is favourable to the vegetation of grass-seeds. In the choice of barley, that sort should be preferred which runs least to straw, and which is the soonest ripe. On peat, a crop of oats is to be preferred. The most recent practice of the best farmers is in favour of' sowing the grass-seeds without the addition of corn, or any other temporary plant. 5876. The manner of saving the grass-seeds also requires to be particularly attended to. Machines have been invented for that purpose, which answer well, but they are unfortunately too expensive for the generality of farmers. It is a bad system, to mix seeds of different plants before sowing them, in oriler to have the fewer casts. It is better, to sow each sort separately ; for the expense of going several times over the ground is nothing, compared to the benefit of having each sort equally distributed. The seeds of grasses being so light, ought never to be sown in a windy day, except by machinery, an equal delivery being a point of great consequence. Wet weather ought likewise to be avoided, as the least degree of poaching is injurious. Grass seeds ought to be well harrow ed, according to the nature of the soil. .OsTV. When the corn is carried ajff] the young crop of grass should he but little fed during autumn, and that only in dry weather; but heavily rolled in the following spring, in oriler to press the soil home to the roots, it is then to be treated as permanent pasture. By attention to these particulars, the far greater proportion of the meadows and pastures in the kingdom, of an inferior, or even medium quality, may be broken up, not only with safety, but with great profit to all concerned. Chap. VIII. riants cultivated on a limited Scale for various Arts and Manufactures. 5878. The plants used as food for men and animals are by far the most generally cultivated in every country ; and, next, those if clothing, building, and other arts of conve- nience or hiruri/. The former are often called agricultural, and the latter commercial or manufactorial plants. Of manufactorial plants, only a few are at present cultivated in Britain ; the national policy rendering it preferable to import them, or substi- tutes, from other countries. Some, however, are still grown in nearly sufficient quan- tities for home consumption, as the hop, mustard, rape, and a considerable quantity of flax, anise, and carraway ; some hemp, teazle, and woad are also raised. These and other plants may be classed as grown for the clothing, distilling, brewing, oil-making, and domestic and medical arts. Sect. I. riants grown cliicfi/ for the Clothing Arts. 5879. The clothing plants are flax, hemp, teazle, madder, woad, and weld ; the first three are used by the manufacturer of the fabric, and the others by the dyer. Book VI. FLAX. 91 :i Suhsect. 1. Flax. — hinum usitalissimum L. ; Penlandria Pentagu 'ma L., and Unete Dee. ifn, Fr. ; Flacks, Ger. ; and Lino, Ital. and Span. (/i^. 797. «.) 58S0. The fax has been cultivated from the earliest ages, and for an unknown length of time in Britain, of which it is now considered a naturalised inhabitant. It is cultivated both for its fibre for making thread, and its seed for being crushed for oil ; but never has been grown in suf- ficient quantity for either purpose. The legisla- ture of the country, as Brown observes, has paid more attention to framing laws regarding the husbandry of Max than to any other branch of rural economy ; but it need not excite surprise that these laws, even though accompanied by pre- miums, have failed to induce men to act in a manner contrary to their own interest. The fact is, the culture of flax is found on the whole less profitable than the culture of corn. It is one of the most severe crops when allowed to ripen its seed; but by no means so when pulled green. 5881. The varieties of the common Jinx are few, and scarcely deserving of notice. Marshal mentions the blue or lead-coloured flax as being cultivated in Yorkshire, and Professor Thaer mentions a finer and coarser variety ; he also, as well as some other agriculturists, has tried the Zinum perenne (6), but though it affords a strong fibre, it is coarse and difficult to separate from the woody matter. 5882. The soils most proper for flax, besides the alluvial kinds, are deep and friable loams, and such as contain a large proportion of vegetable matter in their composition. Strong clays do not answer well, nor soils of a gravelly or dry sandy nature. But whatever is the kind of soil, it ought neither to be in too poor nor in too rich a condition : because, in the latter case, the flax is apt to grow too luxuriantly, and to produce a coarse sort ; and, in the former case, the plant, from growing weakly, affords only a small produce. (Tr. on Rural Affairs} 5883. If there is water at a small depth below the surface of the ground, it is thought by some still better; as in Zealand, which is remaikable for the fineness of its flax, and where the soil is deep and rather stiff, with water almost everv where, at the depth of a foot and a half or two feet. It is said to be owing to the want of this advantage, that the other provinces of Holland do not succeed equally well in the culture of this useful plant; not but that tine flax is also raised on high lands, it they have been well tilled and manured, and if the seasons are not very dry. It is remarked, in the letters of the Dublin Agricultural Society, that moist stiff soils yield much larger quantities of flax, and far better seed, than can be obtained from light lands ; and that the seed secured from the former may, with proper care, be rendered full as good as any that is imported from Riga or Zealand M. Du Hamel, however, thinks that strong land can hardly yield such fine flax as lighter ground. 5884. The place of fax in a rotation of crops is various, but in general it is considered as a corn or exhausting crop, when the seed is allowed to ripen ; and as a green, or pea, or bean crop, when the plant is pulled green. 588.5. Flax, Donaldson observes, is sown after all sorts of crops, but is found to succeed best on lands latelv broken up from grass. In Scotland, the most skilful cultivator, of flax generally prefer lands from which one crop of grain onlv has been taken, after having been several years in pasture. When such lands have been limed or marled, immediatelv before being laid down to grass, the crop ot flax seldom or never misgives, unless the season prove remarkably adverse. In the north ot Ireland flax is generally sown bv the small farmers after potatoes. In Belgium, it is supposed not to do well after peas or beans ; nor to succeed if sown oftener on the same soil than twice in nine years. (J on Thaer.) 58S6. The preparation of the soil, when grass land is intended for flax, consists in breaking it up as early in the season as possible, so that the soil may be duly mellowed by the winter frosts, and in good order for being reduced by the harrows, when the seed process is attempted. If flax is to succeed a corn crop, the like care is required.to pro- cure the aid of frost, without which the surface cannot be rendered fine enough for receiving the seed. Less frost, however, will do in the latter than in the former case, therefore, the grass land ought always to be earliest ploughed. At seed-time, harrow the land well before the seed is distributed, then cover the seed to a sufficient depth, by giving a close double harrowing with the harrows. Water-furrow the land, and remove hii y stones and roots that may remain on the surface, which finishes the seed process. 5887. The ordinary season of sowing fax-seed is from the middle of March to the middle or end of April, but the last week of March and the first ten days ot April are esteemed the best time ; and accordingly within these periods the greatest quantity of flax-seed is sown in this country. In France and Italy it is often sown in the autumn, by which a larger crop is produced, especiallv when seed is desired. 5888. The quantity of seed depends on the intention of the crop. V\ hen a crop of seed is intended to be taken, thin sowing is preferable, in order that the plants may have room to throw out lateral shoots, and to obtain air in the blossoming and filling seasons. 3 N 9H PRACTICE OF AGRICULTURE. Part III. But it is a mistake to sow thin when (lax is intended to betaken; for the crop then becomes coarse, and often unproductive. From eight to ten pecks per acre is the proper quantity in the last case, but when Beed is the object, six pecks will do very well. (Brovm.) Thick-sown Hal runs up in height, and produces fine soft flax ; if sown thin, it does not rise so high, but spreads more and puts forth many side branches, which produce abun- dance of seed, and such seed is much better filled, plumper and heavier, than the seed produced from thick-sown flax. {Donaldson.) 5889. In the choice of wed, that winch is of a bright brownish colour, oily to the feel, anil at the same time weighty, is considered the best. 5890, Linked, importedjrom various c^nMes,Hemp\oy^_ ^»^*^^Ji£3E5 coarse sort of flax, but a greater quantity of seeds than any other. It is common in some parts ot Scot- land to sow seeds saved from the crop of the preceding year, especially when that crop was raised from seed imported from Holland The success of this practice is found to depend greatly on changing the seed from one sort of soil to another of an opposite nature; but the saving in the expense ot purchasing that sort of seel in place of what is newlv imported from Holland, is so inconsiderable, and the risk of the crop misgiving so much greater in the one case than in the other, that those only who are ignorant of the consequences, or who are compelled from necessity, are chargeable with this act ot ill-judged par. simony Max seed is by some farmers changed every three years, but many have sown the same seed ten ve'ars in succession without perceiving any degeneracy. When any degeneracy takes place the seed of flax grown on a different soil, as moss, moor, sand, &c without any view to the produce in fibre, will, it is said, answer as well as foreign seed. 5891. The manner of sowing is almost always the same; but when seed is the main object, drilling may be adopted, by which seed will be saved in sowing, cleaning con- ducted at less expense, and the plants rendered more vigorous and branchy by the stir- ring of the soil and the admission of air between the rows. The fibres of flax grown in this way, however, will be shorter, and less equal in thickness throughout their length, than flax grown by the broad-cast mode, and tolerably thick. 5892 The after-culture of f cur consists chiefly in weeding, but sometimes it com- mences with rolling the surface, which is a very proper operation when the soil is very dry, the season advanced, or the earth very porous. By this process the earth is pressed firmly to the seeds, and they are thereby stimulated to vegetate sooner, and the drought is kept out. On some soils, and in wet or stormy seasons, flax is apt to be laid, to guard against which some cultivators run across their flax field slender poles fixed to stakes : but a better method is to run small ropes across the field, both lengthwise and breadth- wise, where necessary ; for these being fastened where they intersect one another, and supported by stakes at due distances, form a kind of network, which is proof against almost every accident that can happen from tempestuous weather. 58".". In Scotland a crop of flax, it is said, has been sometimes weeded by turning a flock of sheep at large into the field. They will not taste the young flax plants, but they carefully search for the weeds, which they devour. 5894. The fax crop is taken by pulling, on which there is a considerable difference of opinion. None, however, think of pulling it before it comes into flower, when fibre is the sole object ; or before the seed in the capsules acquires a brownish colour, when fibre and seed jointly are required, or when seed alone is the object. 58"5. Some argue for it pulling white green, in order that its fibres may be softer and finer ; others, with the same view, pull it up before its seeds are quite formed ; and others again think that it should not be pulled till some of the capsules which contain the seeds have begun to open, being of opinion that the fibres of green flax are too tender, and that they fall into tow. On the other hand, it is certain the fibres of flax which has stood till it is very ripe are always stiff and harsh, that they are not easily separated from the reed, and that they do not bleach well. Here, therefore, as in most other cases, both extremes should be avoided ; and it consequently seems most reasonable to think that the properest time for pulling flax, is when its stalks begin to turn from a green to a yellow, when its leaves begin to fall, and when its seeds begin to be brown. Donaldson observes, that a crop of flax frequently grows short, and runs out a great number of seed-bearing branches. When that is the case, the seeds, not the flax, ought to be the farmer's chief object, ami the crop should be allowed to stand till the seeds are in a great measure per. fected. Hut that when the crop thrives, and is likely to become more valuable for the flax than the seeds, it shouldabe pulled soon after the bloom drops off, aiid before the pods turn hard and sharp in the points. When fl.ix is grown for its fibre, Brown considers it the safest course to take it a little early, any thing wanting in quantity being, in this way, made up by the superiority of quality. 5896 The operation of pulling flax differs according to the intention of the crop. When it is grown for the fibre it is pulled and tied into sheaves like corn, and carried off immediately to be watered. But when the seed is to be taken from the plant, it is pulled and laid in handfuls. 5S n 7. In pulling. tt'ir, it is usual, when it is intended to save neither lie quite in a line with each other, nor directly across, the seeds, to lav it in handfuls, parti] across each other; the hut a ittle slanting upwards, so that the air may easily pass reason for which is, 'that the husiness of rippling is thereby through them. Some, instead of this method, tie the handfuls facilitated, as the ripplers, in place of having to separate each of flax loosely at the top, then spread out thi ir roots, and thus handful from the bundle, find it tvs this simple precaution set several or them together upright upon their roots. Ineither already done to their hand. Although it Is of much import- of these ways, the flax is gtnt rally left twelve or fourteen days ance, yet it very seldom happens that much atten'ion is in the field to dry it. This drying is certainly not necessary bestowed to separate the different sorts of flai from each other, for the rippling, because the ripple will si naratc the capsules in pulling the crop. In most lields, th'-re are varieties of from the flax as effectually before it has been dried as it v. ill soils; of course some parts of a fi Id will produce tine flax. afterwards; and if it is done with a view to ri|»en the seed, it others coarse ; some long, and some short : in a word, crops of should be considered, that the flax will be more hurt by the different lengths and qualities. It cannot be supposed that all longer lime of steeping, which will become necessary in conse- these sorts of tlax a ill undergo an equal degree of watt ring, qnencenf this drying, than th~ seed can bebeni titid ; because, grassing, breaking, and heckling, without sustaining great the more the membrane which connects the nbres to the reed injur*. is dri d, the gre iter must be the degree of putrefaction neces- 'tS'is. |; tht ,/blJC II joilft',1, it is laid together by handfuls, sary to loosen and destroy the cohesion of this connecting with the seed end turned to the south. Tht.se handfuls should membrane; the liner parts of the flax itself must necessarily be Book VI. FLAX. 915 destroved by this 'V?»ree of putrefaction ; and if the putref ic- equal'v detrimental to the (lax. The practice adopted in some tion does not arise to such a decree as to destroy the cohesion parts of Britanv seems therefore mm h more rational, which of this membrane, the fibres of the flnx will adhere so strongly is, to ripple the flax after it has lain in the air two or three to the reed, that the force necessary in scutching will prove days; buteven one day will be sufficient, if the weather is dry. 5899. In tlie process of rippling, which is the next operation, a large cloth should be spread on a convenient spot of ground, with the ripple placed in -.he middle of it. 5900. In performing this business, the pods containing the seeds are forced from the stalks by means of the iron comb called a ripple, fixed on a beam of wood, on the ends of which two persons sit, who, by pulling the seed end of the flax repeatedly through this comb, execute the operation in a very complete manner. It is remarked by the author of The Present Stale of Husbandry in Great Britain, that " those who bestow much attention on the cultivation of flax in Scotland generally ripple off the seed, even when there is no intention of saving it; as it is found, when flax is put into water without taking off the pods, the water soon becomes putrid, in consequence of which the flax is greatly injured." 5901. The management of the capsules, and the separation of the seed, form the next operation. 5902. The capsules obtained should be spread in the sun to dry, and those which separate from the pods of their own accord, being the fullest and ripest, should be set apart for sowing, in case the precaution of raising some flax purposely for seed has not been attended to. The capsules are then broken, either by treading or by threshing, in order to get out the remaining seeds, the whole of which, as well as the others, should be carefully sifted, winnowed, and cleaned. When the seed is laid up, it must be frequently stirred, or ventilated, to prevent its heating. Even this second seed affords a considerable profit, by the oil which it yields, and also by being used when broken for fattening of cattle. 5903. To facilitate the separation of the fibre from the bark, it is necessary to accelerate the process of decay or putrefaction. This may be done in different ways; but the chief are bleaching alone, and steeping and bleaching. 5904. Bleaching is a tedious and laborious operation when it is intended as a substitute for steeping, but it is less likely to injure the fibre, and may be adopted on a small scale when steeping places are not at hand. In Dorsetshire, and some other places, flax, instead of being steeped, is what is called dew- retted ; that is, the stalks are allowed to arrive at that state in which the harl or woody parts separate most easily from the boon, reed, or fibre, by a more gradual process, that of ripening by the action and influence of the dew. This is nothing more than exposing the flax to the influence of the weather for a longer period than is necessary, when the operation of watering has been previously performed. Steep- ing^ however, is the most universal practice both in Britain and on the Continent. 5905 Sleeping or watering, however, is and will be the general practice till flax-dressing machines come into universal use. In performing this operation, the flax, whether it has been dried and rippled, or pulled green, is loosely tied into small bundles, the smaller the better, because it is then most equally watered; and these bund'les are built in the pool in a reclining upright posture, so that the weight placed above may keep the whole firmly down. The weights made use of are commonly stones placed on planks, or directly on the flax. ,..,., 5906. The Flemish mode of steeping flax, as described by Radcliff, is said to improve the quality of the flax ; and greatlv increase its whiteness. This mode differs from the common practice, in placing the bundles in the steep verticallv, instead of horizontally ; in immersing the flax by means of transverse sticks, with that degree of weight annexed which shall not push it down to the bottom, but leave it the power to descend spontaneously towards the conclusion of the steepage ; and in leaving at first a space of at least half a foot between the'bottom and the roots of the flax. The spontaneous descent of the flax is an indication of its being sufficiently steeped ; and the strength and quality of the fibre are said to be much better preserved by this mode, in which the temperature of the atmosphere acts with most force on the upper part of the plant, which needs it most 5907. The ivater most proper for steeping flax should be clear, soft, and in standing pools. Compared with running water, pools occasion the flax to have a better colour, to be sooner ready for the grass, and even to be of superior quality in every respect When soft, clear, stagnating water cannot be obtained without art, a pit or canal is commonly formed, adjoining to a river or stream, whence water can be easily brought This pit or canal is filled with water for some time (a week or two; before it is proposed to pull the flax ; by this means the water acquires a greater degree of warmth than river-water possesses, which contributes greatly to facilitate the object farmers have in view in immersing green flax in water, namely, to make the harl or flaxv substance part easilv and completely from the boon or reed. 5908. The period that flax ought to remain in the water, depends on various circumstances ; as the state of ripeness in which it was pulled, the qualitv and temperature of the water, Sec The most certain rule by which to judge when flax is sufficientlv watered is, when the boon becomes brittle, and the harl separates easilv from it In warm weather, ten days of the watering process are sufficient ; but it is proper to examine the pools regularlv after the seventh day, lest the flax should putrefy or rot, which sometimes happens in very warm weather. Twelve days will answer in any sort of weather ; though it may be re- marked, that it is better to give too little of the water, than too much, as any deficiency may be easily made up by suffering it to lie longer on the grass, whereas an excess of water admits of no remedy. {Brown.) 5909. Grassing or bleaching flax is the next operation, the intention of which is to rectify any defect in the watering process, and carry on the putrefactive process to that point when the fibre will separate from the bark, boon, reed, or harl fa's the woody part of the stein is called), with the greatest ease. In perform- ing this operation, the flax is spread very thin on the ground, and in regular rows ; the one being made to overlap the other a few inches, with a view of preventing, as much as possible, its being torn up and scat- tered by gales of wind. Old grass.ground, where the herbage does not grow to any great height, is the best for the purpose ; as when the flax is covered by the grass or weeds, it is frequently rotted, or at least greatly injured thereby. 5910. The time allowed for grassing is regulated by the state of the flax, and seldom exceeds ten or twelve davs. During this time it is repeatedly examined ; and w hen it is found that the boon has become very brittle so that, on being broken, and rubbed between the hands, it easily and freely parts from the harl, it is taken up, a drv dav being chosen for the purpose, and, being bound in sheaves, is either sent directly to the mill, which is the usual practice in the northern districts, or broken and scutched by a machine or implement for the purpose. 5911. Steeping flax in hot water and soft soap >aid to be the invention of Lee, and for which he was granted bv parliament a secret or unenrolled patent; is said to separate the fibre from the woody matter better than steeping in water simply ; and this in the short space of two or three hours, anil either with green flax, or such as has been dried and stacked for months or years. When flax is to be separated by this new mode, the cultivator has only to pull it in handful*;, dry it, bind it into sheaves or faggots, and put it up in stacks like corn, till wanted by the manufacturer. 5912. The dressing of Ha± consists of various operations, such as scutching, tracking, 3 S '1 916 PU.W TICK. <)!■' \(iKI( l 1. ["URE. Paiit III. or breaking, by which the woody | >: t rt is broken ; and heckling or combing, by which the fibre is separated from the woody part, ami sorted into lengths. These operations are often all performed by the cottager, <>r small farmer, who grows flax for (he purpose of spinning the fibre in his nun family. Bui there are also public tla\ mills, impelled by water or other powers, I > \ which flax is scutched, and it is then heckled by professed hecklers. I method qf preparing Jinx in such n manner as to resemble cotton in whiteness u>ti equal p:;rt- of birch-ashes and quicklime strewed upon it ; a small bundle of flax i- to lie opened ami spread upon Lhe surface, and covered with more of the mixture, and the stratification continued till the vessel is suffi- ciently Bill (I. lhe whole is thin to lie boiled with .-c.i-w.der lor ten hours, fresh quantities of Water being occasional!) supplied in proportion to the evaporation, that the matter may never become dry. 'I'he boiled flax is to be immediately washed in the sea by a little at a tune, in a basket, With a smooth 'stick at lir-t, while hot ; and when grown cold enough to be borne by the hands, it must be well rubbed, washed will) ■0 p. laid to bleach, and turned and watered every day. Repetitions of the washing with soap expedite the bleaching ; alter which the flax is to be beat, and again well washed ; when dry, it is to be worked and carded in the same manner as cour.n n cot- ton, and pressed betwixt two boards for forty- eight hours. It is now fully prepared and tit for use. It loses in this process nearly half its weight, which, however, is abundantly compensated by the improvement made in its quality. 5914. Li r'.s' method of breaking fiax and hemp, without dew-retting, was invented in 1810, and was the first step towards a groat improvement, brought nearer perfection by the new patent machines of Messrs. Hill and Bundy. 5915. Hill and RhihIi/'s machines fig are portable, and may be worked in barns or any kind of out-liouse; they are also well calculated tor parish workhouses and chari- table institutions; a great part of the work being so light that it may be done by chil- dren and infirm persons; and such is the construction and simplicity of the machines, that no previous instruction or practice is required ; their introduction, therefore, into those asylums would be the means of effect ing a considerable reduction of the poor's rate. The woody part is removed by a very simple machine , and, by parsing through a machine equally simple, the flax may be brought to any degree of fineness, equal to the best used in 1' ranee and the Nether- lands, for the finest lace and cambric. 'lhe original length of the fibre, as well as its strength, remains unimpaired; and the difference of the produce is immense, being nearly two thirds; one ton of tlax being produced from four tons of stem, lhe expense of working each ton obtained by this method is only live pounds. The glutinous matter may be removed by soap and water only, which will bring the flax to such perfect whiteness, that no further bleaching is necessary, even after the linen is woven ; and the whole process of preparing flax may be completed in six days. 591(7. The produce ofjlax in seed is generally from six to eight, sometimes as high as (en or twelve, bushels per acre ; and the price depends in a great measure on that of foreign seed imported ; as, when sold to oil-makers, it is generally about one half of thai of Dutch seed sold for the purpose of sowing. 5917. The price qf home-cultivated Unseed is considerably advanced of late in some of the southern and western counties of the kingdom, in proportion to what it is in the northern, owing to the circumstance Of its being much used as food for fattening cattle, 'lhe average price of the linseed cultivated in the kingdom at large cannot, it is supposed, be rated higher than from three to four shillings the bushel The sen! is separated into three qualities ; the best for sowing, the second best for crushing for oil, and th? inferior for boiling or steaming for cattle. 5918. The j/rod ucc ofjlax in fibre varies exceedingly. Before being sorted, the gross product of fibre varies from three cut. to half a ton per acre. 591 9. The use ofjlax in the linen manufacture is well known. The seed is crushed for oil, which is that in common use by painters ; the cake or husk, which remains after the expression of the oil, is sold for fattening caltle, and in some places as a manure ; and the inferior seed, not lit to crush, is boiled and made into flax-seed jelly, which is esteemed excellent nutriment for stock. 5920. As lhe making qf flax-seed jelly is an agricultural operation, we shall here describe it. The pro- portion of water to nn\ is about seven to one. 'lhe seed having been stec) ed in part o:' the water for eight-and-forty hours previous!; to tic boiling, the remainder of the water is added cold, and the whole boiled gently about two hours, being kept in motion during the operation, to prevent its burning to the boiler Thus the whole is reduced to a jelly like, or rather a gluey or ropy, consistence. After being cooled in tubs, it is given, with a mixture of barley. meal, bran, and cut chaff; a bullock being allowed about two quarts of the jelly per day, or somewhat more than one quart of seed in four days : that is, about one sixteenth of the medium allowance ol oil. cake. 5921. The diseases ofjlax are feu, and are chiefly the fly, which sometimes attacks the plants when young, the midew, and the rust. Book VI. HE. Ml'. 917 Subsect. 2. Hemp. — Cannabis satha L. ; Diu'cia Pentandria L., and JJrticeee J. Chanvre, Fr. ; Hanf, Ger.; Cauapa, Ital. ; and Canomo, Span. 5922. 77mp is a plant of equal antiquity with the flax. It is supposed to be a native of India, or of some other Asiatic country, being too tender to be even naturalised in Europe. It is one of the few plants employed in British agriculture in which the male and female flowers are in different plants, a circumstance which has some influence on its culture and management. It grows to a great height on good soils; sometimes to six or seven feet in this country, but in Italy generally higher ; and Crud states, that in the Bolognese territory he has seen it fifteen feet eight inches high, and a friend of his eighteen feet six inches": in both cases the fibre being of remarkable beauty. This luxuriance of the hemp in warm countries may be one reason why it has never been much cultivated in England. In the Isle of Axholme, in Lincolnshire, it has been cultivated from time immemorial, and also for some centuries in Suffolk, but chiefly for local manufacture. The culture, management, and uses of hemp are nearly the same as those of flax. When grown for seed, it is a very exhausting crop ; but when pulled green, it is considered a cleaner of the ground, and is said to have the property of pre- serving from insects any crop which it may surround. The objections to this crop are, that its coming in the midst of harvest is embarrassing ; and that the attention it demands in every state of its progress is too great, w here it is only a secondary consideration. 5923. The soils most suitable for hemp are those of the deep black putrid vegetable kind, which have a situation low and somewhat inclined to moisture, as well as the deep mellow loamy or sandy sorts. But the quantity of produce is in general much greater on the former than the" latter ; though, according to some, of an inferior quality. Mellow- rich clayey loams do well ; and nothing better than old meadow land. 5924. The preparation of the soil, and the place in the rotation, are the same as for flax. 5925. The season of sowing is towards the end of April, when there is no longer any danger of frost injuring the rising plants. The quantity of seed is from two to three bushels, according to the quality of the land. In quality the seed must be fresh, heavy, and bright in colour. Broad-cast is the universal mode of sowing ; and the only after- culture consists in keeping off birds when it is coming up ; in weeding ; and sometimes in supporting the crop by cress rods or lines, as in the case of flax. 5926. In taking the hemp crop, two methods are in use, according to the object in view. When the crop is grown entirely for the fibre, it is pulled when in flower, and no dis- tinction made between the male and female plants. But as it is most commonly grown both with a view to fibre and seed, the usual practice is to pull the male plants as soon as the setting of the seed in the females shows that they have effected their purpose. As the female plants require four or five weeks to ripen their seeds, the males are thus pulled so long before them. 5927. In the operation of pulling the mates, the pullers walk in the furrows between the ridges, and reach across to the crown ot the ridge, pulling one or two stalks at a time, and carefully avoiding to tread down the female plants. The male stalks are easily known by their yellowish hue and laded flowers. They are tied in small bundles, and immediately carried to the watering pool, in the manner of flax. 5928. The operation qf pulling the females commences when the seed is ripe, which is known by the brownish or greyish hue of the capsules and the fading of the leaves. The stalks are then pulled and bound up into bundles, being set up in the same manner as grain, until the seed becomes so dry and firm as to shed freely ; great care should be taken in pulling not to shake the stalks rashly, otherwise much of the seed may be lost. It is advised that, after pulling the seed, hemp may be set to stand in shocks of five sheaves, to dry the seed ; but, in order to prevent any delay in watering, the seed-pods may be cut off with a chopping-knife, and dried on canvass exposed to tlie air under some shed or cover. This last method of drying the seed will prove of great advantage to the hemp, as the seed and pods, when green, arc of such a gummy nature that the stems might suffer much by sun-burning or rain, which will disi olour and injure the hemp before the seed can be sufficiently dried upon the stalks. Besides, the threshing out ihe seed would damage the hemp in a considerable degree. 5929. Hemp is watered (provin. water-retted), bleached fprovin. dew-retted), and grassed in the same manner as flax. Grassing is omitted in some places, and drying substituted ; and in other districts watering is omitted with the female crop, which is dried and stacked, and dewed or bleached the following spring. On the Continent hot water and green soap have been tried ; and here, as in the case of flax, it is found that steeping for two hours in this mixture is as effectual in separating the fibre from the woody matter, as watering and grassing for weeks. 5930. Although hemp, in the process of manufacturing, passes through the hands of the breaker, heckler, spinner, whitester, weaver, and bleacher, vet tnanv of these operations are frequently carried on by the same person. Some weavers bleach their own yarn and cloth ; others their cloth only : some heckle their tow, and put it out to spinning; others buy the tow, and put it out ; and some carry on the whole ot the trade themselves. 5931. The produce of hemp in fibre varies from three to six cwt. per acre ; in seed from eleven to twelve bushels. 5932. The uses of hemp are well known, as well as its great importance to the navy for sails and cordage. 5933 Exceedingly good huckaback is made from it, for towels and common table cloths. The low priced hempen cloths are a general wear for husbandmen, servants, and labouring manufacturers ; the I elter sort, for working farmers and tradesmen in the country; and the finer one-, seven-eighths wide, are ptc 3 N :! 91 S PRACTICE OTF AGRICULTURE. r in i, --(-.I In Mime gentlemen (be strength and warmth I hej po s ses s this advantage over Irish and other linens, that tluir colour Iraprovi wearing, while thai of linen decline*. English hemp, properly manufactured, stands unrivalled In IU strength, and i> superior In t li i» respect to the Russian. Consider, able quantities ofrlotli are Imported Orom Russia h.r sheeting, merely on account ol it* strength ; tor it is culver .it tin' price than linen: <>ur hempen cloth, however, is preferable; being stronger, from the superior quality of the thread, and al the same tune lighter In washing. The hemp raised in England is not of so dry and *i gy ■ nature as what we have from Russia and India, and therefore it requires a sm tiler proportion ol tar t anufacture it Into cordage Tar being cheaper than hemp, the rope-makers prefer foreign hemp to ours; because they can make a greater profit in workingit: but cordage must certain!) be stronger in proportion as there is more hemp and less tar in it, provided there is a sufficient quantity Of the latter to mute the fibres. An Oil extracted from the seeds of hemp is used in cookery in Russia "and by painters in tins country. The seeds themselves are reckoned a good food for poultry, and are supposed to invasion hens to lay a greater quantity of eggs. Small birds in general are very fond oi them but they should be given to caged birds with caution, and mixed with other seeds. A very singular ell'ect'is recorded, on very good authority, to have been sometimes produced by feeding bullfinches and goldfinches on hempseed alone, or in too great quantity, — that of changing the red and yellow on those birds to a total blackness. 5934. The hemp lias few or no diseases. Subsf.ct. •:>. The Fuller's Thistle, or Teasel Dipsacusfullonwn L. ; Tetrandria Ma- nogynia L., and DipsdcetB J. Chardon a foullon, Fr. ; Kardendistel, Ger. ; JJissaco, Itai. ; and Cardencha, Span. (fig. 799.) 5935. The fuller's thistle is an herbaceous biennial, growing from four to six feet high ; prickly or rough in the stem and leaves, and terminated by rough burr-like heads of flowers. It is a native of Britain, flowers in July, and ripens its seed in September. It is cultivated in Hssex and the west of England, for raising the nap upon woollen cloths bv means of the crooked awns or chaffs upon the heads ; which, in the wild sort, are said to be less hooked. For this purpose they are fixed round the circumference of a cylinder, which is made to turn round, and the cloth is held against them. In the Journal of a Naturalist we are informed, that the teasel forms an article of culture in cottage gardens in the clothing districts of Gloucestershire. 5936. There are no varieties of the cultivated teasel, and the wild species is not mate- rially different from it, and may be used in its stead, though its chaff is not quite so rigid. 5937. The soils on which the teasel grows strongest are deep loamy clays, not over-rich. The situation should be rather elevated, airy, and exposed to the south. In a rotation it may occupy the place of a green and corn crop, as in the first year the plants are treated like turnips, and in the second the crop is ripened. The soil should be ploughed deep, and well comminuted by cross-ploughings, or stirrings with pronged implements, as the cultivator. 5938. The soiling season is the beginning of April : the quantity of seed is from one peck to two pecks per acre, and in quality it should lie fresh and plump. 5939. The mode of sowing is almost always broad-cast, but no crop is better adapted for being grown in drills, as the plants require hoeing and thinning. The drills may be either sown on ridgelets or a flat surface, in the manner of turnips, or by ribbing. The distance between the rows may be from eighteen inches to two feet. In Essex, caraway is commonly sown with the teasel-crop; but this is reckoned a bad plan. 5910. The after-culture of this crop consists the first year in hoeing and stirring the soil, and in thinning out the plants to the distance of one foot every way, if sown broad-cast, or to the distance of six inches if sown in rows. Vacancies may be filled up by transplanting; and a separate plantation may be made with the thinnings, but these never attain the same vigour as the seedlings. The culture in the second year consists also of hoeing, stirring, and weeding, till the plants begin to shoot. 59U When the teasel is grown broad-cast, the intervals between the plants are dug by means of spades which have long narrow blades, not more than about four inches in breadth, having the length of sixteen or eighteen inches. With these the land is usually worked over in the intervals of the plants three or tour times during the summer months ; and in the course of the following winter, as about the latter end of February the land between the plants is to be again worked over by the narrow spades, care being taken that none of the mould falls into the hearts of the plants. Again about the middle of May, when they begin to spindle, another digging over is given, the earth being raised round the root-stems ot the plants, in order to support and prevent them from being blown down by the wind. Some cultivators perform more frequent diggings, that the ground may be rendered cleaner and more mellow ; consequently the growth of the plants will be the more effectually promoted. This business, in Kssex, has usually the name of spaddling, and is executed with great despatch by labourers accustomed to perforin it. 5942. The taking of the teasel crop, when no regard is had for seed, commences about the middle of July" when the blossoms begin to fall from the top, or terminating heads of flowers. 5043 // i« the bc»H. As soon as they are completely dried, they should be laid up in a dry room, in a close manner, till they become tough and of a bright colour, and ready for use. They should then be sorted or separated into three kinds, by opening each of the small bundles. These are distinguished into kings, middlings, and scrubs, according to their different qualities. They are afterwards, the author of The Somerset licport says, made into packs, which, of the first sort, contain nine thousand heads, but when of the second, twenty thousand ; the third is a sort of very inferior value. By some, before forming them into packs, they are done up into what are termed staves, by means of split sticks, when they are ready for sale. 5945. The produce of teasel varies from ten to fifteen packs on the acre ; nine packs of kings, nineteen of middlings, and two of scrubs, are reckoned a large crop, with a great bulk of haulm. Often, however, the crop fails. 5946. The use of the heads of the teasel has been already mentioned. The haulm is of no use but for burning as manure. Parkinson observes, that this is a sort of crop that may be grown to advantage on many lands, in a rotation, as a fallow to prepare for wheat ; and by burning the straw and refuse stuff after the crop is reaped, it will be found not to impoverish, but rather to improve the land. In their young state, the teasel plants stand the winter without danger ; and are a good crop for clearing land of all weeds, from their lateness in the process of hoeing, their being few weeds that vegetate at so advanced a season. On all these accounts they become an advantageous crop for the farmer. 5947. To save seed, leave a few of the very best plants uncropped, and then, when the seed is ripe, cut oft' only the largest and terminating heads, from which the seed is easily separated by beating with flails, and cleaned by the winnowing machine, or a sieve. 5948. The chiif injuries to which the teasel is liable are those inflicted on it while young, by the fly and slug. Subsfct. 4. Madder. — Rubin linctbrum L. ; Tetrandria Monogyn'ui L., and Kubiucea: J. Garance, Fr. ; F'drberrothe, Ger. ; Robin, Ital. ; and Rubia, Span. (Jig. 800.) 5949. The dyers madder has a perennial root, and an annual stalk. The root is com- posed of many long, thick, succulent fibres, almost as large as a man's little finger ; these are joined at the top in a head, like the roots of asparagus, and strike very deep into the ground, being sometimes more than three feet in length. lyy From the upper part (or head of the root) come out many "\v<-^^&^ side roots, which extend just under the surface of the ground JF^l^NvJS' t0 a great distance, whereby it propagates very fast ; for these send up a great number of shoots, which, if carefully taken oft' in the spring soon after they are above ground, become so many plants. It is a native of the south of Europe, flowers in June, and seeds soon afterwards ; but by them it is never propagated. Madder is mentioned by the Greeks as a medical plant, but when it was first used in dyeing is uncertain. It has been cultivated in Holland and Flanders, and other parts of the Continent, for the latter purpose for many centuries, and has been tried in this country ; but unless the importation of the root from the Continent be entirely prevented, it will not answer. Its culture has been attempted at different times when our commerce with the Dutch was interrupted, or when they raised the price of the article exorbitantly high. At present it may be imported not only from Holland, but from France, Italy, and Turkey. 5950. The soils most suited to the cultivation of madder are deep, fertile, sandy loams, not retentive of moisture, and having a considerable portion of vegetable matter in their composition. It may also be grown on the more light descriptions of soil, of sufficient depth, and in a proper state of fertility. 5951. The preparation of the soil may either consist in trench ploughings, lengthwise and across, with pronged stirrings, so as to bring it to a fine tilth ; or, what will otten be found preferable, by one trenching two feet deep by manual labour. 5952. The sets or plants are best obtained from the runners, or surface-roots of the old plants. These being taken up, are to be cut into lengths of from six to twelve inches, according to the scarcity or abundance of runners. Sets of one inch will grow it tliey have an eye or bud, and some fibres ; but their progress will be injuriously slow tor want of maternal nourishment. Sets may also be procured by sowing the seeds in ime light earth a vear before they are wanted, and then transplanting them ; or sets ot an inch may be planted one year in a garden, and then removed to the field plantation. ii N 4 920 I'lc \< TICK OF AGRICULTURE. III. 5953. The mason of planting i- commonly May or June, ami the manner is generally in rows nine or ten inches asunder, :unl five or six inches apart in the rows. Some plant promiscuously in beds with intervals between, out of which earth is thrown in the lazy- bed manner of growing potatoes; hut this is unnecessary, as it is not the surface, but the descending, roots which are used by the dyer. i. The operation of planting is generally performed by the dibber, but some ley- plant them by the aid of the plough. By this mode the ground is ploughed over with a -hallow furrow, ami in the course of the Operation the sets are deposited in each furrow, leaning on and pressed against the fin row-slice. This, however, is a had mode, as there is mi opportunity of firming the plants at the roots, and as some of the sets are apt to be buried, and others not sufficiently covered. 5955. The afier-culture consists in hoeing and weeding with stirring by pronged hoes, either of the horse or hand kind. Some earth up, but this is unnecessary, and even in- jurious, as tearing the surface-roots, 5956. The madder-crop is taken at the end of the third autumn after planting, and generally in the month of October. By far the best mode is that of trenching over the ground, which not only clears it effectually, but fits it at once for another crop. Where madder, however, has been grown on land prepared by the plough, that implement may be used in removing it. Previously to trenching, the haulm may be cleared off with an old scythe, and carted to the farmery to be- used as litter to spread in the straw-yards. j9<7. Drying the roots is the next process, and, in very fine seasons, may sometimes be effected on the soil, by simply spreading the plants as they are taken up; but in most seasons they require to be dried on a kiln, like that used for malt or hops. They are dried till they become brittle, and then packed up in bags for sale to the dyer. 5958. The produce from the root of this plant is different according to the difference of the soil, but mostly from ten to fifteen or twenty hundred weight where they are suit- able to its cultivation. • 59.59. In judging of the quality »f madder-roots, the best is that which, on being broken in two, has a brightish red or purplish appearance, without any yellow cast being exhibited. 5960. The use of madder-roots is chiefly in dyeing and calico-printing. The haulm which accumulates on the surface of the field, in the course of three years, may be carted to the farm-yard, and fermented along with horse-dung. It has the singular property of dyeing the horns of the animals who eat it of a red colour. 5961. Madder-seed in abundance may be collected from the plants in the September of the second and third years; but it is never so propagated. 5962. Madder is sometimes blighted ; but in general it has few diseases. Subsect. 5. Woad, — I&atis tinctbria L. ; Tetr adynamia SUiquosa L., and Cruciferee J. Pastel or Guide, Fr. ; ll'uid, Ger. ; Gitade, Ital. ; and Gualda, Span. (Jig. 801.) 5963. The common woad is a biennial plant with a fusiform fibrous root, and smooth branchy stem rising from three to five feet in height. It is a native, or naturalised in England, flowers from May to July, and its seeds are ripe from July to September. It has been cultivated in France for an unknown length of time, and was introduced to England in 1582, and grown with success. It is now chiefly cultivated in Lincolnshire, where it is a common practice to take rich flat tracts near rivers, at a high price, for the purpose of growing it for two or four years. Those who engage in this sort of culture form a sort of colony, and move from place to place as they complete their engagements. It is sometimes, however, grown by stationary farmers. The leaves are the parts of the plant \Ati r v used, and it is considered a severe crop. \ '. II V\Vl j\' ! 5964. There is a variety of woad called the Dalmatian, described by Miller, and also a wild sort; but only the common is cultivated in this country. 5965. The soil for woad should be deep and perfectly fresh, such as those of the rich, mellow, loamy, and deep, vegetable kind. Where this culture is carried to a consi- derable degree of perfection, as in Lincolnshire, the deep, rich, putrid, alluvial soils on the Hat tracts extending upon the borders of the large rivers, are chiefly employed for the growth of this sort of crop; and it has been shown by re- peated trials that it answers mo-' perfectly when they are broken up for it immediately from a state of sward. M66. The preparation of the soil, when woad is to be grown on grass land, may either be effected by deep ploughings, with the aid of the winter's frost, cross ploughing and M Boo;. VI. WELD, OR DYER'S WEED. 921 harrowing in spring ; by deep ploughing and harrowing in spring ; by paring and burn- ing; or by trench-ploughing, or spade trenching. 5967. The first mode appears the worst, as it is next to impossible to reduce old turf in one year, and, even if this is done, the danger from the grub and wire-worm is a sufficient argument against it. ]5y ploughing deep in February, and soon afterwards sowing, the plants may germinate before the grub is able to rise to the surface ; bv trench-ploughing, the same purpose will be better attained ; and, best of all, by spade trenching. But a method equally effectual with the first, nu-re expeditious, and more destructive to grubs, insects, and other vermin, which are apt to feed on the pl.ints in their early growth, is that of paring and burning. This is, however, chiefly practised where the sward is rough and abounds with rushes, sedge, and other plants of the coarse kind,' but it might be had recourse to on others, with benefit. 5968. The lime of smiling may be extended from February to July. Early sowing, however, is to be preferred, as in that case the plants come up stronger and afford more produce the first season. 5969. The mode of sowing is generally broad-cast, but the plant might be most advan- tageously grown in" rows and cultivated with the horse-hoe. The rows may be nine inches or a foot apart, and the seed deposited two inches deep. The quantity of seed for the broad-cast method is five or six pounds to the acre ; for the drill mode, two pounds are more than sufficient, the seed being smaller than that of the turnip. New seed, where it can be procured, should always be sown in preference to old ; but, when of the latter kind, it should be steeped for some time before it is put into the ground. 5970. The after-culture of the woad consists in hoeing, thinning, prong-stirring, and weeding, which operations may be practised by hand or horse tools, -<« in the culture of teazle. 597 1 . Gathering the crops. The leaves of the spring-sown plants will generally be ready towards the latter end of June or beginning of July, according to the nature of the soil, season, and climate ; the leaves of those put in at a later period in the summer are often fit to be gathered earlier. This business should, however, constantly be executed as soon ai the leaves are fully grown, while they retain their perfect green colour and are highly succulent ; as when they are let remain till they begin to turn pale, much of their good- ness is said to be expended, and they become less in quantity, and of an inferior quality for the purposes of the dyer. 5972 In the execution of this sort of business, a number of baskets are usually provided in proportion to the extent of the crop, and into these the leaves are thrown as they are taken from the plants. The leaves are detached from the plants, bv grasping them firmly with the hand, and giving them a sort of a sudden twist In favourable seasons, where the soils are rich, the plants will often rise to the height of eight or ten inches ; but in other circumstances, thev seldom attain more than four or five: and where the lands are well managed they will often afford two or three gatherings, but the best cultivators seldom take more than two, which are sometimes mixed together in the manufacturing. It is necessary that the after-croppings, when they are taken, should be constantly kept separate from the others, as they would injure the whole if blended, and considerably diminish the value of the produce. It is said that the best method, where a third cropping is either wholly or partially made, is to keep it separate, forming it into an inferior kind of woad. 5973. The produce is mostly from about a ton to a ton and a half of green leaves. The price varies considerably ; but for woad of the prime quality, it is often from twenty- five to thirty pounds the ton, and for that of an inferior quality six or seven, and some- times much more. 5974. To prej>are it for the dyer, it is bruised by machinery to express the watery part ; it is afterwards formed into balls and fermented, re-ground, and fermented in vats, where it is evaporated into cakes in the manner of indigo. The haulm is burned for manure or spread over the straw-yard, to be fermented along with straw-dung. 5975. The use of woad in dyeing is as a basis for the black and other colours, 5976. To save seed, leave some of the plants undenuded of their leaves the second year, and when it is ripe, in July or August, treat it like turnip-seed. 5977. The only diseases to which the woad is liable are the mildew and rust. When young it is often attacked by the fly, and the ground obliged to be re-sown, and this more than once even on winter-ploughed grass lands. Subsect. 6. Weld, or Dyers Weed. — Reseda I.uteola L. ; Dodccandria Trigynia E., and Resedaceee Lindl. Gaude, Fr. ; Waud, Ger. {Jig. 802.) 5978. Weld is an imperfect biennial, with small fusiform roots, and a leafy stem from one to three feet in height. It is a native of Britain, flowers in June and July, and ripens its seeds in August and September. It is cultivated in a few places in England, and chiefly in Essex, for its spike of flowers, and sometimes also for its leaves, both of which are used in dyeing. Its culture may be considered the same as that of woad, only being a smaller' plant it is not thinned out to so great a distance. It has tins advantage for the farmer over all other colouring plants, that it only requires to be taken up and dried, when it is fit for the dyer. It is, however, an exhausting crop. 5979. Weld will grow on any foil, but fertile loams produce the best crops. In Essex, it is grown on a stiff loam, moderately moi^t. 902 PRACTICE OF ACRICULTUUK. III. MNO. The soil being brought to a fine tilth, the teed la town in April or the beginning of May, generally broad-cast The quantity ol seed li from two quarts to a gallon per acre, and It should either be fresh, or, If two or three years old, steeped a lew days in water previously to being sown. Being a biennial, and no advantage obtained from it the first year, it is sometimes sown with corn crops in the manner of clover, which, when the soil is in a very rich state, may answer, provided that hoeing, weeding, and stirring take place as soon the corn crop is cut. The best crops, however, will obviously be the result of drilling and cultivating the crop alone. The drills may be a foot asunder, and the plants thinned to six inches in the row. In the broad-cast mode, it is usual to thin them to six or eight inches 1 distance every way: often, when weld succeeds corn crops, it is never either thinned, weeded, or hoed, but left to itself till the plants are in lull blossom. 5981. The crop is taken by pulling up the entire plant: and the proper period for this purpose is when the bloom has been produced the whole length of the steins, and the plants are just beginning to turn of a light or yellowish colour; as in the beginning or middle of July in the second year. The plants are usually from one foot to two feet and a half in height. It is thought by some advantageous to pull it rather early, without waiting for the ripening of the seeds ; as by this means there will not only be the greatest proportion of dye, but the land will be left at liberty for the reception of a crop of wheat or turnips ; in this case, a small part must be left solely for the purpose of seed. 5982. In the execution of the work, the plants are drawn up by the roots in small handfuls ; and, after each handful had been tied up with one of the stalks, they are set up in fours in an erect position, and left to dry. Sometimes, however, they become sufficiently dry by turning without being set up. Alter they have remained till fully dry, which is mostly effected in the course of a week or two, they are bound up into larger bundles, each containing sixty handfuls, and weighing fifty. six pounds Sixty of these bundles constitute a load, and, in places where this kind of crop is much grown, are tied up by a string made for the purpose, which is sold under the title of weld cord. 5983. The produce of weld depends much on the nature of the season ; but from half a load to a load and a half per acre is the quantity most commonly afforded. It is usually sold to the dyers at from five or six to ten or twelve pounds the load, and sometimes at con- siderably more. It is mostly bought by persons who afterwards dispose of it to the dyers. The demand for it is sometimes very little, while at others it is so great as to raise the price to a high degree. It is sometimes gathered green and treated like woad or indigo ; but in general the dried herb is used by the dyers in a state of decoction. 5984. The use of weld in dyeing is for giving a yellow colour to cotton, woollen, mohair, silk, and linen. Blue cloths are dipped in a decoction of it, which renders them green; and the yellow colour of the paint called Dutch pink is obtained from weld. 5985. To save seed, select a few of the largest and healthiest plants, and leave them to ripen. The seed is easily separated. 5986. The chit-f disease of weld is the mildew, to which it is very liable when young, and this is one reason that it is often sown with other crops. Subsect. 7. Bastard Saffron. — Carthamus tinctbrius L. ; Syngenesia Polygamic jE(judUs\j., and Cynarocephala J. Carthame, Fr. ; Wilder Saf ran, Ger. (Jig. 140. p. 174.) 5987. The bastard saffron is an annual plant, which rises with a stiff ligneous stalk, two feet and a half or three feet high, dividing upwards into many branches, with ovate pointed sessile leaves. The flowers grow singly at the extremity of each branch ; the heads are large, enclosed in a scaly calyx ; each scale is broad at the base, flat, and formed like a leaf of the plant, terminating in a sharp spine. The lower part of the calyx spreads open, but the scales above closely embrace the florets, which stand out nearly an inch above the calyx ; these are of a fine saffron colour, and this is the part which is gathered for the use of the dyer. 5988. It grows naturally in Egypt and some of the warm parts of Asia ; but, being an annual, our summers admit of its going through a course of existence in this country. Sown in April, it flowers in July and August, and the seeds ripen in autumn ; but if the season proves cold and moist, when the plants are in flower, there will be no good seeds produced ; so that there are few seasons wherein the seeds of this plant come to perfec- tion in England. 5989. It it cultivated in great plenty in Oermany, and was formerly grown in England. In Houghton's Collections, it is related by a gentleman, in 168!, that twenty, five acres in the Vale of Evesham, in Glouces- tershire, were sown with this seed ; the soil a mixed sand of about fifteen shillings an acre in value ; it bore a crop of wheat the year before, was dressed for barley, and had a harrowing extraordinary. This piece of ground was taken for two years by an adventurer in this seed, at the rate of twenty-five pounds per acre, in consideration that this plant is said to be a great impoverisher of land. He sold the flowers in London for 1(1/. per pound ; a price, he said, much below his expectation. He gained above thirty shillings an acre clear profit, except the price of the seed ; but ofthis there was a plentiful return (about one hundred and forty bushels), which, had it been well managed, would have amounted to a considerable value. Like Book VI. SUBSTITUTES FOR DYEING PLANTS. 923 most other manufactorial plants it is considered an impovcrisher of the ground; both by exhausting it, and by affording but httle haulm as manure. 5990. The soil it requires is light, and the preparation and culture, according to Von Thaer, equal to that of the garden. The seed is sown in rows, or deposited in patches two feet apart every way, and when the plants come up, they are thinned out, so as to leave only two or three together. The soil is stirred and weeded during summer. In August the flowers begin to expand : the petals of the florets are then to be cut off with a blunt knife, and dried in the shade, or on a kiln, like the true saffron. This operation is performed in the early part of the day, and continued daily till October. The plants are then pulled up, sheaved and shocked, and threshed for their seed. 5991. The use of the flower of bastard saffron is chiefly in dyeing. It is also put in soups, pies, and puddings, like the leaves of the marigold or the common saffron. The oil produced from the seed is used both in medicine and painting. The stalks of the plants are commonly burnt for manure. Subsect. 8. Various Plants which have been proposed as Substitutes for the Thread and dyeing Plants groivn in Britain. *5992. Though few of these are likely to come into cultivation, yet it may be useful to notice them, with a view to indicating our resources for extraordinary occasions ; to lead- ing the voting cultivator to reflect on the richness of that immense store-house, the vegetable kingdom ; and to pointing out sources of experiment and research for the amateur agriculturist. Every kind of limitation has a tendency to degrade the mind, and lessen enterprise. The plants to be here enumerated, naturally arrange themselves as thread plants and colouring plants. 5993. The thread plants that have been tried are the v^sclepias syrlaca, f/rtlca dioiea (or nettle), I't. t*ca canadense (or Canadian nettle), the Spartium ./imccum, and Cytisus scoparius .brooms), EpiK bium angustifMium, Eri.'phorum polvsta'chvon, &c. The Wsclepia* syriaca, Syrian swallow. wort, or Virginian silk, is a creeping rooted perennial, with strong erect stems from four to six feet high. It is a native of Virginia, and flowers in Julv. The flowers are succeeded by pods, containing a down or cotton, which the poor people in Virginia collect and fill their beds with. In Germany, and especially at Leignitz, attempts were made, in 1790 and 1800, Von Thaer informs us, to cultivate the plant as a substitute lor cotton. It was found to grow readilv on a poor soil ; but the growers could not undersell the importers, nor produce so good an article. The Er'iophorum polvstachvon, or cotton grass, grows abundantly in our bogs, and its seeds are furnished with a cottonv substance', gathered by the country people to stuff pillows, &c. This substance has been spun and woven into very good cloth. The common nettle aftbrds a fibre which has also been spun and manufactured. The fibre of the Spartium ./unceum, rush-like, or Spanish broom, a native of the south of Europe, but quite hardy in Britain, is made into very good cloth both in the south of France and in Spain. The fibre of the common broom makes an inferior description of cordage in the former country. The Epilbbium angustifulium, and other species of willow herb, common by the sides of brooks, afford "a very good fibre, as do a great variety of plants : and in Sweden a strong cloth is made trom the stems of the wild hop Hiimulus Lupulus 1 , and the same thing has been done in England. {Trans. Soc. Arts.V19l.) Indeed there are few ulants the fibres of which might not be separated and rendered available for the purpose of spinning threads for weaving into cloth, or of mashing for making paper The fibres of all nettles and square-stalked herbaceous plarts answer for the former purpose ; and both the fibres and bark of several plants, for the latter. The fibres of all the herbaceous mallows are uncommonly white, and finer than camel's hair ; and in Germany they are used in making an imitation of India paper for engravers. The filaments of the common field-bean are among the strongest yet discovered : these, with a little beating, rubbing, and shaking, are easily separated from the strawy part, when the plant has been steeped ten or twelve davs in water ; or is damp, and in a state approaching to fermentation, or what is commonly called retting. \Vashing or pulling it through heckles, or iron combs, first coarse, and then finer, is necessarv to the dressing of bean hemp ; and is perhaps the easiest mode of separating the fila- ments from the thin membrane that surrounds them. The fibre of the common nettle is very similar to that of hemp or flax, inclining to either according to the soil and different situations in which it grows; and it has been shown bv experiment, that they may be used for the same purposes as hemp or flax, from cloth of the finest texture down to the coarsest quality, such as sail-cloth, sacking, cordage, &c. {Smith t Mechanic, vol. ii.) It might be worth the attention of any one who had leisure to collect a tew, say only two, stalks, of a great number of species from a botanic garden, to immerse them a sufficient time in soft soap and warm water, and prove their absolute and comparative value as fibre plants. 5994. Broom Jlax is prepared by steeping the twigs or most flax, and steeped for some time in boiling -water, the twig, or vigorous shoots of the former tear, for two or three weeks, more wood, becomes tough and beautifully white, and is worth, at a or less, according to the heat'of the season, in stagnant water, medium, from a shilling to ughuen-pence per pound tor or bv boiling them for about an hour in water. Thss done, the making carpet brooms, &c. \\ hen stripped from the twigs, flaxcomes treelv from the twigs ; and, where there is not ma- the ilax requires only to be well washed in cold water, thin chinerv for the purpose, mav be easily peeled or stripped off, bv wrung and shaken well, and hung out to dry, previously to its children or others, at any time when not quite dry, in the same being sent off to the paper manufacturers. [Strath l Me- way as hemp is peeled from the stalks. Being cleared of the clmmc, vol.il.) 5995. Of colouring plants, the number that may be, and even are employed, is almost endless. The reader has only to look into anv botanical catalogue, and observe the number of plants whose specific names are forriied from the adjective tinctbrius ; and these, though numerous, are still only a small part On looking into the Flora Britdnnica, 01 Flora Siucica, he will there find a number of plants, trees, and even mosses and ferns used for dyeing. A number have been tried in this country and given up ; as an instance, we mention Galium verum, which, in 1789, when the price of madder was high, was tried under the authority of the privy council for trade. The t'r.Mon tincti.rium, Genista tinctona, Ahamnus cathar- ticus and infectbrius, and Plantago Psyllium, are cultivated in France as dyeing plants. Sect. II. Plants cultivated for the Brewery and Distillery. 5996. Of plants groivn erpressly for their use in the brewery, the only one of conse- quence is the hop ; the anise and caraway are grown on a very limited scale for th" distillery. PRACTICE OF AGRICULTURE. Part III. Subsf.lt. 1. The Hop. — Ilumulxu Liljtulta L. ; Dicta Penldndria L. t and UrticetB J. Jl, mlil, in, l'i. ; Hojtpen, Ger. ; Lupolo, Ital. ; and Lujmlo, S/hiu. (Jig. 803.) 5997. W /«t.!ii!e dung; others, compost* of earth and dung: and .1 few, litter) dung, 1" laying it on, many prefer the autumn to the spring, and heap it on the hills without putting any between the rows. Others put it all between the rows, alleging that laying it on the hills encourages inst eta, exposes the dung to evaporation and lose, and sometimes, when mixed with earth, hinders the plant* from coming up A great deal will be found in favour of, and against each of these modes, In the- numerous works on the culture of the hop, which have been written during the last tlm-.- centuries ; but it must beobt mu- to an) person generally conversant with vegetable culture, that well rotted stable dun« must be the- best kind lor use , and early in spring the 1 1 -t season for laying it on \ that little benefit can be derived by the roots when it 1- laid on the bills, and, consequently, that it mi^-iit to be tamed into the soil between the rows by the plough. rlftj cart-loads ol dung and earth, or tblrt) ol dung, once in three years, is reckoned a good dressing; but some give ten or twelve loads ever) year. Too much dung renders the hops what is called mouldy, and too little causes the Crop to be |xxpr and more liable to be eaten by insects. 6030 EartkmaJup commences the first Mav after planting, whether thatoperation be perlormed 111 spring or autumn. By the end of the spring season, the young shoots have made some progress, and the earth is then drawn up to their root, ft the surroiindiug intervals, in order to strengthen them The next earthing.up 1- 111 autumn, when the hills are by some covered with compost or manure; but by such as prefer ploughing in the manure between the row-, tins earthing-up is not given. Some give an earthing- Up of tin- km. I in Spring, and generally in February, ehietly to retard the plants, as that is found to render them less liable to disease, and the attacks of insects; for the shoots not beginning to grow till the weather i- warm, the) then ihool more rapidly. In April and May, their progress is slow ; but in June and July, when the nights are warm, they will grow nearly an inch in the hour. The only essential earthings un, however, are those given the first year in May, and those given annually after the operation of dressing, whether in autumn or spring, which indeed may be called replacings of earth, rather than eaithings-up. a In drating (he hup plants, the operations of the first year are confined to twisting and removing the haulm, to which some and coping or earthing-up in autumn. , ,.f tntiting is confined to such plant, a- rally commenced on the return of good weather, in March have been planted in spring, IM BK DO* expected to produce an. crop that pernon, It It performed In the end of June or in July* end co nsi s ts in twi t t in g the young vines into a bum h or knot; so that, b\ thus dw-oungmg their growth, the roots are enabled to spread out more vigorously, and in acquire strength previously ti> the enntuech of the a inter - 6023. Removing -he haulm takes place soon after Michaelmas, and consists simply in cutting it ov. r with a sickle, and carry- in- it off the field for litter or burning. After this operation, tome add cupingf OX covering the hill with a cominst ; but this iW* not appear necessary, and is in many cases left undone. 6024. The first yrjir's' dressing of hup expei ted to produce flowers, such as those planted from bedded sets in the preceding autumn, oonsists In supplying three or four half poles, that is, : lour or Jive feet in length to each hill j and on removing the haulm in autumn, as in the other case. * qfettabtished hop plantations consists i .-. .i.;.._ 'in.;.- „..„-->»;,.« ;_ .—— _ when the hills are spread out, In order to give opiwrtunity to prune and dress the slocks. The earth being then c eared away from the principal roots by an iron instrument called a picker, the remains of the former year's vines are cut off, together <* ith the shoots which were not allowed to attach themselves to the poles in the former season, and also any young suckers that maj have sprung up about the edges of the bills; so that nothing is allowed to remain that is likely to injure the prin- cipal roots, or impede their shooting out strong vigorous vines al the proper season. After the roots have been proj erly cleaned and pruned, the hills are again formed, with an addition, if not ev> rv >ear, at least every second or third year, of a proper quantity of compost manure, that had been previously laid in small heaps on the hop-ground in the course of the winter, or in the early part of spring. At this season bui h sets are procured as may be wanted lor the nursery, or for new plant- ations. 6025. The yearly dressini of what is pro ir.cially called" picking. This operation L> gene- 6) 12ft The yearly operation of stacking or setting the poles commences towards the end of April, or at whatever period, earlier or later, the shoots may have risen two or three inches. C027. The poles are straight slender shoots of muUrrrood, ash, poled vine reclining its head against the velvet l»ark of the maple, while others held theirs aloof, from chilly smooth- barkid poles. This is probably more fanciful than i since w e tind the hop twining with equal luxuriance round the smooth -barked ash and the rough-barked larch or acacia ; and with respect to chilly smooth poles, the hup is known to twine with as much rigour round iron or copper wire as round any wood whatever. [Gar d. Mag. vol. vii.) G050. In regard to the size of the pole, hops, likewise, it i^ well kn.-wn, have their instinctive choice or approbation, with respect to the thickness of their support; embracing, with greater readiness, a pole that is moderately small, than one which is thick at ed in between the pa nts or horns of the triangles, receives the required stay ; and a block is placed convenient situation below to work upon. This sort of work, whetlier on new or on old poles, is sometimes den I the] are stacked, or set up In piles; sometimes immediately before they are used. In pointing poles that have been us d", the part which stood in the ground the preceding year ESj it" much tainted, s-rui k uti", and a fresh point given to the sound part : but, if the ttottom part remains firm, it is sharpened again for another ftrennn -■■ been tried as substitutes for wooden poles in the north of Prance; but, having seen a plan- tation treated In this way, we do not think it any improvi The wires are stretched hori/ontal'y in the direction of the row of plants, the first wire five feel from the ground, the second one fool above that, and so on, say to the height of fifteen fe t. The plants are b d to the low< st * ire by short sticks, ^jid left to twine up or along the other:- at pleasure. oak, chestnut, or willow, from sixteen to twenty feet high. Thee poles are set two, but more frequently three, to a hill ; and are so placed as to teave an opening to* ards the south, to admit the sunU-ams. The manner of fixing ihera is by making deep holes or openings in the ground with an iron crow. Into these holes the root -ends are put, when the earth is rammed so hard about them, that thev very seldom alter from the position in which they were placed, except on occ tslon of very' violent gates of wind. Great care is necessary in placing ihe poles, and no less iudginent and experience in determining what outfht to be the proper height. When very long poles are s t in a hop-ground, where the stocks are too old or too voung, or where the BOil i^ of inditterent quality, the stocks are not only greatly exhausted, but the crop always turns out unproductive; as, till the vines reach the top, or rather till they overtop the poles, which de| tends on the strength of the stocks and the quality of the soil, the lateral branches on which the hops grow never begin to shoot out, or make any progress. mi .s. Planters "" " in h dt\ idi I in their tentiments as to the number of poles to t< so'ewjtn some exertion of si I that being well sharpened it may fix itse t" firml] al the bottom ; tfa rdly, thai the torn of the poles may stand in such a 'hie don as to lean OQtwardJ rronti the hill, to pr event, at um.ii as pa Ibli , thi hiring af the vine; and la-tiy, to tread the earth close to the pole with the foot. For want of regard to these particulars in the labourer, a moderate hi i^t of wind will loosen the poles, so as not only to o ca-ion a doable expense, but the hazard of injuring the future ciop fan tearing asunder the vine, which, from Its great luxuriancy,will becotiit twis-ed together, o", as it is termed, housed at the ex- treme parts of the potes< it , t r, tpt e/ to Oie species of woods proper for poles, it is suggested that the hop appears to prefer a rough sof) h rk, to one which is more smooth and polisned. An experie cedgrowee particularises the maple, whose hark is peculiarlj soft and warm; adding, thai ne has frequently observed, when the morning has been cold, the sensitive leader of a tender trv h Book VI. THE HOP. 927 f>()34. Tying the shoots or vines to the pules is the last operation in the after or summer culture of the hop. This requires the labour of a number of persons, generally women, who tie them in several different plaees with withered rushes, but so loosely as not to prevent the vines from advancing in their progress towards the tops of the poles. When the vines have got out of reach from the ground, proper persons go round, with standing ladders, and tie all such as appear inclined to stray. 6035. The seatan for this operation varies from the middle of bring the long-winged fly. In such a season it wou'd be well Ma> to the end of June, and one important part of the oper- woith while to eradicate all the vine which tirst appears and ation consists in selecting the shoots. The forwardest vine trust to a later shoot, so as to protract the tying till the last 'week should always be extirpa'ed, as it is well known that the in .May. This hint was taken from the observations made in branches arising from these early shoots will produce little, if such blasting years on the poor and thin lands where the vine any, fruit. The s cond shoots, where the hills are not overloaded is uatura'ly backward, and seldom becomes lit for the tvers till with pi nits, and where the ground is not of a nature to send towards the latter end of May, when that on the forward ground forth a very luxuriant vine, may with safety be tied up: but will have advanced nearly to the tops of the poles, and to an in- wh-re the land is apt to push forward a great redundancy of attentive observer seems to promise fair for a crop ; whereas, to shoots, where the vine is always strong and vigorous, and where those who have been conversant in these matters, the lossof the the failure in the crop chiefly arises from this cause, the greatest crop, tho 'gh the vine at that time be green and nourishing, prudence is necessary, at the season for tying, to make choice may be easily foreseen ; whilst on the poorer soils there is gen'e- of a proj>er vine ; especially in years which may be supposed to rally a saving crop even in years when the blast is most preva- be attended with a blast; such as those wherein an easterly lent. These considerations have suggested the protracting of wind ha* prevailed throughout the month of March, whence the growth of the vine in the manner above mentioned, which one may fairly conclude that the same weather will happen seems conformable to reason and experience. during the course of the month of May, which never fails to 6036- leaking the crop is a most important operation in the hop economy 6087. Hops are known to be ready for pulling when they acquire a strong scent, and the seeds become firm and of a brown colour, which, in ordinary seasons, happens in the first or second week of September. When the pulling season arrives, the utmost assiduity is requisite on the part of the planter, in order that the different operations may be carried on with regularity and despatch ; as the least neglect, in any de- partment of the business, proves in a great degree ruinous to the most abundant crop, especially in pre- carious seasons. Gales of wind at that season, by breaking the lateral branches, and bruising the hops, prove nearly as injurious as a long continuance of rainy weather, which never fails to spoil the colour of the crop, and thereby render it less saleable. fi038. Asa preparation for pulling the hops, frames of wood, in be unsupplied with hops ; and if it is found that the hops ri*e number proportioned to the size of the ground, and the pickers faster than could have been expected, and that there are more to be employed, are placed in that part of the Held which, by gathered in a day than can be conveniently dried oil, some of having be n most exposed to the influence of the sun, is soonest the worst pickers m.iy be discharged ; it being v< rv prejudicial ready. These frames, which are called bins or cribs, are very for the green hops to continue long in the sacks before they are simple in the construction, being only four pieces of boards put on the oast, as they will in a few hours begin to heati and nailed to four posts, or legs, and, when finished, are about acquire an unsightly colour, which will not be taken off in the seven or eight feet long, three feet broad, and about the same drying, especially if the season be very moist ; though, in a wet height. A man always attends the pickers, whose business it is hopping, it is no easy matter to prevent the kilns from being to cut over the vines near the ground, and to lay the poles on overrun, supposing that there were pickers enough to supply the frames to be picked. Common'y two, but seldom more them if the weather h id been dry, because in a wet cold time than three, poles are laid on at a time. Six, seven, or eight the hops require to lie a considerable while longer on the kiln, pickers, women, girls, and boys, are employed at the same in order that the superabundant moisture may be dried up. It frame, three or four being ranged on each side. These, with is therefore expedient in this ca*e that each measuring be (li- the man who sorts the poles, are called a set. The hops, after vided into a number of green pockets or pokes. The number being carefully separated from the leaves and branches, or of bushels in a poke ought never to exceed eleven ; but when stalks, are dropped by the pickers into a large cloth, hung all the hops are wet, or likely to continue together some time liefore round within side the frame on tenter-books. When the cloth they go on the kiln, the better way is to put only eight bushels is full, the hops are emptied into a large sack, which is carried in a sack, pocket, or poke- home, and the hops laid on a kiln to be dried. This is always 6040. DoiuilJson asserts that diligent hop-pickers, when the done as soon as possible after they are picked, as they are apt to crop is tolerably abundant, will pick from e ght to ten bushels sustain considerable damage, both in colour and flavour, if ea< h in the day, which, when dry, will weigh al»out one hun- allowed to remain long in sacks in the green state in which they dred weight ; and that it is common to let the picking of hop- are pulled. In very warm weather, and when they are pulled grounds by the bushel. The price is extremely variable, in a moist state, they will often heat in five or six hours : for depending no less on the goodness of the crop than on the this reason the kilns are kept constantly at work, both night abundance or scarcity of labourers. The greatest part of the and day, from the commencement to the conclusion of the hops cultivated in Eng'and is picked by people who make a hop-picking season. prac'ice of coming annually from the remote part of Wales 6059. To set on a sufficient number of hands is a matter of pru- for that purpose, dence, in the picking season, that the oasts or kilns may never 604 1. The operation of drying hops is not materially different from that of drying malt ; and the kilns, or oasts, are of the same construction. 60*2. The hops are spread on a hair-cloth, and from eight to ten, sometimes twelve, inches deep, accord- ing to the dryness or wetness of the season and the ripeness of the hops. A thorough knowledge of the best method of drying hops can only be acquired by long practice. The general rules are, to begin with a slow fire, and to increase it gradually, till, by the heat on the kiln, and the warmth of the hops, it is known to have arrived at a proper height An even steady fire is then continued for eight or ten hours, according to the state or circumstances of the hops, by which time the ends of the hop-stalks become quite shrivelled and dry, which is the chief sign by which to ascertain that the hops are properly and sufficiently dried. They are then taken offthe kiln, and laid in a large room or loft till they become quitecool. They are now in condition to be put into bags, which is the last operation the planter has to perform previously to sending his crop to market. 6043. When hops are dried on a cockle-oast, sea-coal is the usual fuel, and a chaldron is generally esteemed the proper allowance to a load of hops. On the hair kilns, charcoal is commonly used for this purpose. Fifty sacks of charcoal are termed a load, which usually sells for about fit ty shillings. The price for burning is three shillings per load, or twelve shillings for each cord of wood. The process of drying having been completed, the hops are to be taken offthe kiln, and shovelled into an adjoining chamber called the stowage-room ; and in this place they are continually to be laid as they are taken off the kiln, till it may be thought convenient to put them into bags, which is rarely done till they have lain some time in the heap ; for the hops, when first taken off the kiln, being very dry, would (if put into the bags at that time) break to pieces, and not draw so good a sample as when they have lain some time in the heap ; whereby they acquire a considerable portion of toughness, and an increase of weight. 6044. The bagging of hops is thus performed : — 60+5. In the floor of the room, if here the hops arc laid to cool, there is a round hole or trap, equal in size to the mouth of a hop bag. After tying a handful of hops in each of the lower corners of a large bag, which serve afterwards for handles, the mouth of the bag is fixed securely to a strong hoop, which is made to rest on the edges of the hole or trap; and the bag itself being then dropped through the trap, the packer goes into it, when a person who attends for the purpose puts in the hops in small quantities, in order to give the packer an opportunity of packing and trampling them as hard as possible Whin the bag is filled, and the hops trampled in so hard as that it will hold no more, it is drawn up, unloosed from the hoop, and the end sewed up, other two handles having been previously formed in the corners in the manner mentioned above. The brightest and finest coloured hops are put into pockets or tine bagging, and the brown into coarse or heavv bagging. The firmer are chiefly used lor brewing fine ales, and the latter by the porter brewers. But it is to be observed, that where hops are intended to he kept for any length of time, it is most proper to put them into coarse cloth. The proper length Of a bag is two ells and a quarter, and of a pocket nearly the same, being one ell in width The former, if the hops are good in quality, well cured, and tight trodden, will weigh about two hundred and a half; and the latter, if of the Canterbury pocketing, about one hundred and a half. If the weight either exceeds or falls much 93» PRACTICE OF AGRICULTURE. Tart III. short of this medium, it in. luce-. ■ itirmUe, thai the hopi we e ther in themselves of an inferior quality, or have been injudicious!) manufactured in some respect or other. , ■;. Fallance't apparahufor packing and preserving h ids, is an hexagonal case ol wood, eighteen feet long ami two feet in diameter, with a piston or rammer, to be worked by a si rew or other means so as to compress the hop, more closel) than has hitherto been dene. When the case i- full, a lid is fastened down in iron plates and nails, and any crack or joint that may appear i- filled w ith cement, so as to exclude the air. With 'in- precaution, Mr. Fallance states, hops ma) be kept perfect!) good lor half a century. »*j Jammed, vol mi. p 60 IT. The stripping awl Slacking of the poles succeed to the operation of picking. It is of some consequence that this business l>e executed as soon as possible after the crop is removed ; not only because the poles are. » ben set up in stacks, much safer from thieves, but because they are far less damaged by the weather than when dispersed about the ground with the vine on them. The usual price for stripping and stacking is five shillings per acre. At this time, such poles as may be deemed unfit for further service should be tiling by, that the planter may have an early knowledge of the number of new poles which "ill be wanted ; and thus the business of bringing on the poles may be completed in the winter time, when the horses are not required about other labour; and these new- poles may be drawn from the wood on the ground, and adjusted to the separate stacks, as the state of the different parts of the ground may require, ami the whole business finished before the poling season: whereas, when this method of flinging out the old poles is neglected at the stacking, the planter, being ignorant of the number of new poles that will be required for the ensuing year, often finds at the poling season that he ha-, not laid in a sufficient stock. 6048. In performing the operation of stacking the poles are set up in somewhat conical piles, or congeries of from two hundred to live hundred each. The method of proceeding is this : — Three stout poles of equal length are hound together, a few feet from their tops, and their feet spread out. as those already mentioned for pointing the poles. These ser\e as a stay to the embryo pile; Hie poles being dropped in on each side, between the points of the first three, cautiously keeping an equal weight on every Mile; for on this even balance the stability of the stack depends. The degree of inclination or slope, and the diameter of the base of the pile, vary with the length and the number of poles set up together. A stack of three or four hundred of the long poles of the environs of Maidstone, occupy a circle of near twenty feet in diameter. It is observable, however, that the feet of the poles do not form one entire ring ; but are collected in bun- dles or distinct divisions, generally from three to six or eight in number; each fasciculus being bound tightly together, a few feet from the ground, with a large rough rope made of twisted vines, to prevent the wind from tearing away the poles. The openings between the divisions give passage to violent blasts, and tend to prevent the piles from being thrown doivn in a body : a circumstance which does not often take place in screened grounds ; but, on the high exposure of Cox Heath, where great quantities of new poles brought out of the Weald are piled for sale among the Maidstone planters, it is not uncommon for the piles to be blown down, and to crush in their fall the sheep or other animals that may have taken shelter under them. A caution this to the inexperienced in the business of stacking; and an apology, if one is wanted, for the minuteness of the detail. 6049. The operation of stripping is generally performed by women : beine nothing more than tearing off the bind or vines. Many people burn it on the ground ; others sutler it to be carried oft' by their work. men for firing ; and there are some who tie it up into small bundles, which they bring home and form into a stack, to answer the purpose of bavins in heating their ovens or coppers. 60.30. The produce of the hop crop is liable to very considerable variation, according to soil and season, from two or three to so much as twenty hundred-weight ; but from nine to ten, on middling soils, in tolerable seasons, are considered as average crops, and twelve or fourteen as good ones. Bannister asserts that sixty bushels of fresh-gathered hops, if fully ripe, and not injured by the fly or other accident, will, when dried and ba^'a-d, produce a hundred-weight. Where the hops are much eaten by the flea, a disaster which often befalls them, the sample is not only reduced in value, but the weight diminished ; so that, when this misfortune occurs, the planter experiences a two-fold loss. 60.51. To judge of the quality of hops, as the chief virtue resides in the yellow powder contained in them, which is termed the condition, and is of an unctuous and clammy nature, the more or less clammy the sample appears to be, the value will be increased or diminished in the opinion of the buyer. To this may be added the colour, which it is of verv material consequence for the planter to preserve as bright as possible, since the pur- chaser will always insist much on this article; though, perhaps, the brightest-coloured hops are not always the strongest flavoured. 605'2. The duration of the hop plantation on good soil may be from fifteen to thirty years ; but in general they begin to decline about the tenth year. Some advise that the plantation should then be destroyed, and afresh one made elsewhere; others consider it the best plan to break up and plant a portion of new ground every two years, letting an equal quantity of the old be destroyed, as in this way a regular succession of good plant- ation will be kept up at a trifling charge. li!.";. The expense of forming new Imp-plantations is in general very great, being estimated, in many di-triets, at from not less than seventy to a hundred pounds the acre. The produce is very uncertain ; often very considerable; but in some seasons nothing, after all the labour of culture, except picking, has been incurred. Where the lands are of proper sort for them, and there are hop-poles on the farm, and the farmer has a sufficient capital, it is probably a sort of husbandry that may be had recourse to with ad- vantage; but under the contrary circumstances, hops will seldom answer. In growing them in connection with a farm, regard should be had to the extent that can be manured without detriment to the other tillage lands'. On the whole, the hop is an expensive and precarious crop, the culture of which should be well considered before it is entered upon. Book VI. THE HOP. 929 6054. The vse of the hop in brewing is to prevent the beer from becoming sour. 6055. In domestic economy the young shoots are eaten early in the spring as asparagus, and are sold under the name of hop-tops. They are said to be diuretic ; and taken in an infusion, to be good against the scurvy. The herb will dye wool yellow. From the stalks a strong cloth is made in Sweden : for this pur. pose they must be gathered in autumn, soaked in water all winter; and in March, after being dried in a stove, they are dressed like flax. They require a longer time to rot than flax, and, if not completely macerated, the woody part will not separate, nor the cloth prove white or fine. Hence a farmer who has a hop plantation need neither grow asparagus nor flax, and may, when the flowers fail from disease separate the fibre from the vine, and employ the poor, or machinery, in spinning and weaving it. A decoction of the roots of hops is considered as good a sudorific as sarsaparilla ; and the smell of the flowers is found to be soporific. A pillow filled with hops was prescribed for the use of George III. in his illness of 1787. 6056. The hop is peculiarly liable to diseases. There is scarcely any sort of plant cultivated as a field-crop that is more liable to become diseased than the hop. It is apt, in the very early stage of its growth, to be devoured, as it rises above the surface of the ground, by the ravages of an insect of the flea kind. At a more advanced stage, it is subject to the still more injurious effects of the green or long-winged fly, red spider, and otter moth : the first, by the depositing of their ova, afford the means of producing lice in great abundance, by which the plants are often very greatly, if not wholly, destroyed; and the larva? of the last prey upon the roots, and thus render the plants weak and subject to disease. The honey-dew is another disease to which the hop is exposed about the same time, and by which it is often much in- jured. The mould occurs in general at a somewhat later period, and is equally injurious. Hop-crops are also exposed to other injuries, as the blight and fire-blast; but which take place at different times, though mostly towards the latter periods of the growth of the plants. 6057. The flea, which is said to be an insect of the same kind as that which is so prejudicial to the young turnip, is observed to make the greatest havoc in seasons when the nights are cold and frosty, and the days hot and inclined to be dry ; eating off' the sweet tender tops of the young plants, which, though not wholly destroyed, shoot forth afterwards in a far less vigorous manner, and of course become more exposed to diseases. It has been found to commit its depredations most frequently on the plants in grounds that have been dunged the same year: on which account it has been suggested that the manure employed for the purpose of covering the hills should be previously well mixed and incorporated, as directed above (6019.) ; and that it should be applied either over the whole of the land, or only the hills, as soon as possible after the plants have been cut over ; but the former practice is probably the best. It makes its greatest depredations in the more early, cold, spring months, as the latter end of April and beginning of the succeeding month, disappearing as the season becomes more mild and warm. In these cases, the principal remedy is that of having the land in a sufficient state of fertility, to enable the young plants to shoot up with such vigour and rapidity as to become quickly incapable of being fed upon and devoured by the insect. The frequent stirring of the mould about the roots of the plants with the hoe may be of utility in the same view. 60.^8. The green or long-winged fly is highly destructive to the young leaves of the plants, and mostly makes its appearance about the latter end of May, and in the two succeeding months ; being ignorantly supposed to be produced by the prevalence of north-easterly winds about that period. Under such a state of the wind, they are said to scarcely ever fail of covering the leaves ; and by dropping their ova, of producing abundance of lice, which often much injure the crops ; as when they have once obtained complete possession of the plants, they seldom or never leave them before they have wholly destroyed them. Insects of this sort generally attack the forwardest and most luxuriant hop-vines. Their removal chiefly depends upon the wind's changing more to the south, and the setting in of more mild, warm, and temperate weather. 6059. The otter moth, by depositing its eggs upon the roots of the plants, renders them liable to be at. tacked by the larva?, and the healthy growth of the hops is thereby greatly impaired, the crops being of course much injured in their produce. Stirring the earth well about the roots of the plants may probably sometimes be serviceable in cases of this kind. 6060. The honey-dew mostly occurs after the crops have been attacked by some of these kinds of insects, and when the weather is close, moist, and foggy. In these cases, a sweet clammy substance, which has the taste of honey, is produced upon the leaves of the plants, and they have at first a shining appearance, but soon afterwards become black. It is a disease that mostly happens in the more forward crops; and the chief dependence of the planter for its removal, according to Bannister, is that of heavy thunder showers taking place ; as by this means, when the destruction of the hops has not proceeded too far, they are often much restored, the insects that devour the leaves and vines being greatly destroyed, the growth of fresh shoots promoted, and a favourable bloom brought on the plants. 6061. The fen, mould, or mildew, is a disease to which the crop is exposed at a later period of its growth, and which chiefly attacks the part where the hop is attached to the stem. It is said that its production is greatly promoted by moist damp weather, and a low situation ; those crops that grow on low, close, rich grounds being most liable to be attacked by it : and it is found to soon spread itself over the whole crop, alter it has once seized upon any part of it. The nature of this vegetable disease has not been yet sufficiently investigated It has been suggested by Darwin and Willdenow to be a plant of the fungus kind, capable of growing without light or change of air, attaching itself to plants already in a morbid condition, and by its roots penetrating their vessels : and on this supposition, the best remedy is believed to be thinning the plants, in order to afford a more free circulation of air, and admit the light more extensively, by which the vigour of the hop-plants may be restored, and the disease be of course removed. In this view, it is probable, by planting the hills more thinly, and making them at gi eater distances from each other, the disease might in some measure be prevented from taking place. (See 169+.) 6062. Diseases termed blights are frequently met with in hop-crops, at different periods of the growth of the plants, but mostly in the more early stages of their rising from the hills, while the nights are cold and frosty in the spring months, and the days have much sun and heat ; by which the living powers of the plants are greatly exhausted in the daytime by the stimulus of heat, and of course much injured or wholly destroyed in the nights, from being exposed to a freezing air, which is incapable of exciting the actions necessary for the preservation of vegetable life. As the presence of this disease is supposed to be greatly connected with the prevalence of winds from the northern or easterly quarters, there is often a flea produced of a similar kind to that which attacks the shoots in their early growth. (6057.) It is highly in- jurious, by preying upon the nutriment of the blossoms, and thereby diminishing their weight and chang- ing them to a brown colour, which is very prejudicial in their sale at the market. 6063. The fire-blast is a disease that hop-crops are exposed to in the later periods of their growth, and is generally supposed to proceed from the particular state of the air or weather. Others consider this disease as nothing more than the result of the attacks of the red spider. It has been conjectured to be the effect of lightning, as it takes place, for the most part, at those seasons when lightning is the most prevalent] 3 O p:to PRACTICE OF AGRICULTURE. Paet III to 8 804 . ! £S Aft ami in a very Hidden manna : Mid besides the most forward and luxuriant \ i n- ■• arc tin I X to be affected. It ha- been suggested, thai In exposures where the crops are partii Lilarly Liable to injury, it may be advisable to plan) thinner, to keep back the growth of the plants at much as possible, by extirpating all the most forward shoots, and to employ a ten proportion of the earthy compost in their culture. 6064. In respect to the duty on haps, it is best for the planter to have the acts before him. Unt every grow e r of hops in Britain is legally obliged to give notice to the excise, on or before the first day of September) of the number of acres he has in cultivation, the situation and number of his Oasts, and the place or places of bagging, which, with the store-rooms, or warehouses, in w hich the packages are intended to be lodged, are entered by the revenue officer. No hops can be removed from the rooms thus entered, before they have been weighed and marked by a revenue officer; who marks, or ought to mark, not only the weight, but the name and residence of the grower, upon each package. Subsect. 2. Culture of the Coriander and Caraway. (_fig. 804. a, b.) 6066. The coriander (Conundrum satirum I-.., Jig. 804. a^ is a small-rooted annual, with branchy stems rising from one foot to one- foot and a half in height. It is a native of the south of Europe, and appears to be naturalised in some parts of Essex, where it has been long cultivated. It flowers in June and July, antl the seeds ripen in July and August. 6066. The culture and management of coriander consist in sowing it on a light rich soil in September, with seeds ripened the same year. Twenty pounds of seed will sow an acre When the plants come up, thin them to six or eight inches' distance every way, and, next spring, stir the soil with a pronged hoe. In August the seed will be ripe, and if great care be not used, the largest and best part of it A ill be lost To prevent this, women and children are em- ployed to cut plant by plant, and to put them immediately into cloths, in which they are carried to some convenient part of the field, and there threshed upon a sail-cloth. A few strokes of the flail get the seeds clean out, and the threshers are ready for another bundle in a few minutes. In Essex it is sometimes cultivated with caraway and teazle (See Caraway.) 6067. The produce of coriander is from ten to fourteen cwt. on an acre. It is used by the distillers for Savouring spirits, by the confectioners for encrusting with sugar, and by the druggists for various purposes ; for all of which it is said to have a ready sale. 6068. The caraway (Cdrum Cdrui, b) is a biennial plant with a taper root, like a parsnep, but much smaller, running deep into the ground. The stems rise from eighteen inches to two feet, with spreading branches and finely cut deep green leaves. It is a native of England, in rich meadows in Lincolnshire and other places, and has been long cultivated in Essex. It flowers in May and June, and the seeds ripen in autumn. The culture and management are the same as those of coriander. In all probability both plants would answer if sown iike clover among a crop of corn ; and hoed and thinned when the crop was removed, and again in the following spring. The method of culture in Essex is, about the beginning of March to plough some old pasture land : if it has been pasture for a century the better ; and the soil should be a very strong clayey loam. Twelve pounds of caraway seed are mixed with ten pounds of coriander, and twelve pounds of teasel seed : this is sufficient for one acre ; and is sowed directly after the plough, harrowing the land well. When the plants appear of sufficient strength tobearthe hoe, which will not be until about ten weeks alter sowing, it must not be omitted ; and in the course of the summer, the crop will require three boeings, besides one at Michaelmas. The coriander being annual, will be fit to cut about the beginning of July. It is left in the field after cutting, and threshed on a cloth in the same manner as ra| e seed. About April following the caraway and teasel will want a good hoeing done deep and well; and another about the beginning of June. The caraway will be fit to cut in the beginning of July, and must be threshed in the same manner as the coriander. This compound crop is mostly sown on land, so strong as to require being a little exhausted to make it lit for corn. Caraway and coriander are ollener sown with, out teasel : the latter being a troublesome anil uncertain crop, and the produce of caraway much greater without it. 6070. The product of caraimy, on the very rich old leys in the hundreds or low lands of Essex, has often amounted to twenty cwt. an acre. There is always a demand for the seed in the London market. 6071 The tue* of the caraway axe the same as those of coriander, and its oil and other preparation? are more used in medicine. Dr. Anderson says, both the roots and tops may be given to cattle in spring. SoBSKCT. 15. Plants which may be substituted for Bretvery and Distillery Tlarits. 6072. As substitutes for hops, we may mention the common box (7/uxussempervirens), the leaves and twigs of which are said to be extensively used in all the beer brewed in Paris. The marsh trefoil (Mcnyanthes trifoliata) is much employed in Germany, and on the Continent generally ; and, it is said, was formerly used in this country. One ounce of the dried leaves is considered equivalent to half a pound of hops. The plant is of easy culture in moist soil : all the plants of the same natural order, Gentnineee, and especially the different species of <;. ntiana, might be used in the same manner, more particularly the G. ltitea, rubra, and purpurea. In Switzerland, a spirit is distilled from the roots of (7. lutea. The dried mots of (,'emu urbanum, common in hedges, are sliced, Book VI. OIL PLANTS. 931 enclosed in a thin linen bag, and suspended in the beer cask, by the brewers of Germany, to prevent, it is said, the beer from turning sour, and to give it the odour of cloves. (Gard. Mag. vol. vi. p. 148.) In Sweden, Norway, and the north of Scotland, the heath (2Jrica L.) and common broom were, and still are, occasionally used as substitutes for the hop. In some parts of France and Germany nothing else is used but broom tops. In Guernsey the Teucrium iScorodonia is used, and found to answer perfectly. In England, the different species of mugwort and wormwood have been used for that purpose ; and the foreign bitter, quassia, a tree of Guiana, is still used by the porter brewers. Whoever has good malt, therefore, or roots, or sugar, and understands how to make them into beer, need be at no loss for bitters to make it keep. 6073. Carminative seeds, equal in strength to those of the caraway and coriander, are furnished by a very considerable number of native or hardy plants, and of flavours to which the drinkers of cordials and liqueurs are attached. Such are the fennels (.Foeniculum) cultivated in Germany, parsley, myrrh, angelica, celery, carrot, parsnep, cow parsnep, and many other umbelliferous plants ; avoiding, however, the hemlock, fool's parsley, a?thusa, and some others which are poisonous. In Dantzic, where perhaps more seeds are used for flavouring spirits than any where else, several of the above and other plants are employed. Kiimmel, their favourite flavour, is that of the cumin (Cuminum Cyminum), an annual plant, a native of Egypt, and cultivated in the south of Europe ; but too tender for field culture in this country. But caraway or fen- nel seeds are very generally mixed witli cumin, or even substituted for it in distilling kiimmel-wasser. Sect. III. 0(7 Plants. 6074. In Britain there are few plants grown solely for the production of oil ; though oil is expressed from the seeds of several plants, grown for other purposes, as the flax, hemp, &c. Our chief oil plant is the rape. 6075. Rape is the Urassica Napus L. ; Navette, Fr. ; Iiiibsamen, Ger. ; Rapa sil- vatica, Ital. ; and Naba silvestre, Span. It is a biennial plant of the turnip kind, but with a caulescent or woody fusiform root scarcely fit to be eaten. Von Thaer considers the French and Flemish colza (Kohkaat, Ger.) a different plant from our rape : colza is more of the cabbage kind, and distinguished by its cylindrical root, cut leaves, and greater hardiness. Decandolle seems to be of the same opinion. 6076. Brdssica eampestris olelfera, according to these writers, is the colsat or colza, or rape of the Con- tinent, the most valuable plant to cultivate for oil ; its produce being to that of the .firassica A'apus, or l!riti.-h colsat or rape, as S55 to 700. It is distinguished from the B. A'apus by the hispidity of its leaves. It would be desirable for agriculture, Decandolle observes, that, in all countries, cultivators would examine whether the plant they rear is the B. eampestris oleffera or the B. A'apus oleifera, which can easdy be ascertained by observing whether the voung plant is rough or smooth ; if hispid, it is the B. eampestris ; if glabrous, the B. A'apus. Experiments made by Gaujuc show the produce of the first, compared with that of the second, to be as 955 to 700. {Hort. Trans, v. S3.) 6077. For its leaves as food for sheep, and Us seed for the oil-manufacturer, rape, or coleseed, has been cultivated from time immemorial. It is considered a native, flowers in May, and ripens its seeds in July. It may be sown broad- cast, or in rows, like the common turnip, or it may be transplanted like the Swedish turnip. The culture of rape for seed has been much objected to by some, on account of its supposed great exhaustion of the land ; but where the soil and preparation are suitable, the after-culture properly attended to, and the straw and offal, instead of being burnt, as is the common practice, converted to the purposes of feeding and littering cattle, it may, in many instances, be the most proper and advantageous crop, that can be employed by the farmer. 6078. The Culleys in Northumberland used to cultivate rape on thin clays, as a preparation for wheat, of which they had valuable crops afterwards. The land, in the early part of the season, was prepared as for fallow, and the rape sown in June or July, and eaten off by sheep in September or October ; after which the soil was once ploughed for wheat The rape may also be sown among a crop of drilled winter beans in May. 6079. The soils best suited for rape are the deep, rich, dry, and kindly sorts ; but, with plenty of manure and deep ploughing, it may be grown in others. 6080. Young says, that upon fen and peat soils and bogs, and black peaty low grounds, it thrives greatly, and especially on pared and burnt land, which is best suited to it; but it may be grown with perfect suc- cess on fenny, marshy, and other coarse waste lands, that have been long under grass, when broken up and properly prepared. As a first crop on such descriptions of land, it is often the best that can be em- ployed. The author of The New Farmer's Calendar thinks that this plant is not perhaps worth attention on any but rich and deep soils ; for instance, those luxuriant slips that are found by the sea-side, fens, or newly broken up grounds, where vast crops of it may be raised. 6081. The preparation of old grass lands, if not pared and burned, need be nothing more than a deep ploughing and sufficient harrowing to bring the surface to a fine mould ; and this operation should not lie commenced in winter, because the grub and wire-worm would have time to rise to the surface ; but in February or March, immediately before sowing, or in July, or after the hay crop is removed, if the sowing is deferred till that season. When sown on old tillage lands, the preparation is pretty much the same as that usually given for the common turnip : the land being ploughed over four or five times, according to its condition, as a fine state of pulverisation or tilth is requisite for the perfect growth ot the crop. In this view, the first ploughing is mostly given in the autumn, that the soil may be exposed to the influence of the atmosphere till the earlv part of the spring, when it should be again turned over twice at proper intervals of time ; and towards the beginning and middle of June one or two additional plough rigs should be performed upon it, in order that it may be in a tine mellow condition lor the reception ot the seed. 3 O 2 9^2 PRACTICE OF AGRICULTURE. Part III. 6088. In a rotation «>/'. mjs, the place which rape occupies is Commonly between two of the cuhniferoua kind'. On rich soili it may be succeeded to the greatest advantage by wheat, as it is found to be an excellent preparation for that sort of grain; and by its being taken off early, there is sufficient time allowed for getting the land in order for sowing wheat. 6083. The teuton for towing rape is the same as that for the common turnip, and the manner, whether in broad-cast or rows, the same. BOM The row method on the flat surface seems the best for newly broken up lands ; and the rows on ridgtetS With or without manure, the best for lands that havebeen under the plough. Where the object i» the keep of iheep in autumn or winter by eating it down, the broad-east method and thick sowing are evidently the best, and are generally retorted to in Lincolnshire and the fenny districts. The quantity of -it-d whin sown thick in BJ be a peck an acre; but when drilled or sown thin, two or three pounds will suffice The seed should be fresh, black, and plump. Vacancies may always be tilled up by transplanting. 6085. The season of transplanting begins as soon after the corn harvest as possible, being generally performed on the stubble of some description of corn crop. ,,,,.., (),,:■ ,/, , ,, /,/ ■uphill", and a degree ol harrowing sufficient to pulverise the Surface, are given; and the plants ma] be dibbled in in rows a foot apart, and six inches in the row or narrower, according to the lateness of the season of planting, and the quality of the soil ; for it must be considered that plants trans- planted so late as September or October will be far from being so strong in the succeeding spring, as those sown in June and left where they are to run. The seed-bed from which the plants are obtained should have l>ecn sown in the June or July preceding the transplanting season, and may be merely a ridge or two in the same or in an adjoining field. We have already noticed (464.) the Flemish mode of transplanting, by laying the plants in the furrow in the course of ploughing ; but as the plants cannot be properly firmed at the lower part Of the root, we cannot recommend it. 6087. The after-culture of rape is the same as that of the turnip, and consists in hoeing and thinning. 6088. The plants on the poorer soi/s may be left at six or eight inches apart or narrower, but on the rich they may be thinned to twelve or fifteen inches with advantage to the seed. Few are likely to grow the plant on ridglets with manure ; but, if this were done, the same distance as for turnips will ensure a better crop of seed than if the plants were closer together. In close crops the seed is only found on the summits of the plants ; in wide ones on rich soils, it also covers their sides. When rape seed is grown purposely for sheep keep, no hoeing, thinning, or weeding, are necessary. Rape grown for seed will not be much injured by a very slight cropping from sheep early in the autumn, but considerably so by being eaten down in winter, or in the succeeding spring. The seed begins to ripen in the last week in June, and must then be protected as much as possible from birds. 6089. In harvesting rape great care is requisite not to lose the seed by shaking, chaff- ing, or exposure to high winds or rains. 0090. It is reaped with the hook, and the principal point is to make good use of fine wea! cer ; for, as it must be threshed as fast as reaped, or at least without being housed or stacked like other crops, it requires a greater number of hands in proportion to the land, than any other plant The reaping is very delicate work ; for if the men are not careful, they will shed much of the seed. Moving it to the threshing-floor is another work requiring attention. One way is to make little waggons on four wheels with poles, and cloths mi lined over them ; the diameter of the wheels being about two feet, and the cloth body five feet wide, six long, and two deep; these are drawn by one horse, and the whole expense is not more than 30s. or 40s. In large farms, several of these may be seen at work at a time in one field. The rape is lifted from the ground gently, dropped at once into these machines without any loss, and carried to the threshers, who keep hard at work, being supplied from the waggons as fast as they come, by one set of men, and their straw moved off the floor by another set. Many hands of all sorts being employed, a great breadth of land is finished in a day. Some use sledges prepared in the same way. All is liable to be stopped by rain, and the crop much damaged ; it is, therefore, of very great consequence to employ as many people as possible, men, women, and boys, to make the greatest use of fine weather. The seed is likewise sometimes cleaned in the field, and put into sacks for the market But when large quantities of seed are brought quickly together, as they are liable to heat and become mouldy, it may be a better method to spread them out thinly over a barn, granary, or other floor, and turn them as often as may be necessary. 6091. 1'he produce where the plant succeeds well, and the season is favourable for secur- ing the seed, amounts to forty or fifty bushels or more on the acre. Marshal thinks, indeed, that on the whole it may be considered as one of the most profitable crops in husbandry. There have been, says he, instances, on cold, unproductive, old pasture- lands, in which the produce of the rape crop has been equal to the purchase value of the land. The seed is sold by the last of ten quarters, for the purpose of having oil expressed from it in mills constructed for that purpose. The price, like that of all crops of uncertain and irregular demand, is continually varying. 6092. The uses to which the rape is applied are the following : — fi093. The use of the seed for crushing for oil is well known ; it is also employed as food for tame birds, and sometimes it is sown by gardeners, in the same way as mustard and cress, for early salading. The tiiju.etike and rope-dust, the former adhering masses of seed husks, alter the oil has been expressed, and the latter loose dry husks, are used as a top-dressing for crops of different kinds. They are reduced to powder by a malt mill or other grinding machine, and sometimes sown broad-cast over young clovers, wheats, tec, and at other times drilled along with turnip seed. Four hundred weight of powder sown with turnip seed will go over one acre in drills, but three times the quantity is required for an acre sown broad-cast. Experience lias proved, that the success of this manure depends in a great measure on the following season If rain happens to fall soon after the rape-dust is applied, the crop is generally abundant ; but if no rain falls for a considerable period the effects of this manure are little dis- cernible, either on the Immediate crop or on those which succeed it There are turnip drills contrived so as to deposit the manure along with the seed. I the haulm to cattle in winter is very considerable. The stover (pods and points broken off in threshing) is as acceptable as hay, and the tops are eaten nearly as greedily as cut straw, and are at least better than wheat straw. When well got, the smaller stalks will be eaten up clean. The offal makes t litter tor the farm-yard, and is useful for the bottoms of mows, stacks, &c. The haulm of this tisfi ntly burned ; and, in some places, the ashes, which are equal to potash, are sold ; by which instituted, the soil must bj greatly deteriorated. It is a custom in Lincolnshire, Book VI. PLANTS USED IN DOMESTIC ECONOMY. 933 sometimes to lay lands down with cole, under which the grass seeds are found to grow well But thij sort of crop, as already observed, is most suited to freshly broken-up or burned lands, or to succeed early peas, or such other green crops as are mowed for soiling cattle. 6096. The leaves as a green food for sheep are scarcely surpassed by any other vegetable, in nutritious properties, and in being agreeable to the taste of the animals ; but in quantity of produce, it is inferior to both turnips and cabbages. The crops are fed off occasionally from the beginning of November to the middle of April : being found of great value, in the first period, for fattening dry ewes, and all sorts of old sheep; and, in the latter, for supporting ewes and lambs. The sheep are folded upon them in the manner practised for turnips, in which way they are found to pay frcm 50s. to 60s. the acre ; that quantity being sufficient for the support of ten sheep, for ten or twelve weeks, or longer, according to circum- stances. Rape has been found, by experience, to be superior to turnips in fattening sheep, and in some cases, even to be apt to destroy them by its fattening quality. In The Corrected Report of Lincolnshire it is likewise observed, that rape grown on fresh land has the stem as brittle as glass, and is superior to every other kind of food in fattening sheep; while that produced on old tillage land has the stem tough and wiry, and containing comparatively little nourishment. 6097. The Sesamum orientate {Sesame, Fr. ; Sesamo, Ital.), TSignonidcecp, is cultivated in Italy for its seeds, which are eaten roasted like those of maize, boiled like those of the millet, made into a coarse flour like those of the beech or buck wheat, but principally bruised for an oil used as a substitute for butter. 6098. Among other plants which may be cultivated by the British farmer as oil plants, may be mentioned all the species of the ifrassica family, the Sinapis or mustard family, and the JMphanus or radish family, with many others of the natural order of Cruciferse. The seeds of these plants, when they remain too long on the seedsman's hands for growing, are sold either for crushing for oil, or grinding with mustard seed. This includes a good deal of wild charlock and wild mustard seed, which is separated in the process of clean- ing grain by the farmers among whose corn these plants abound, and sold to the seed agents, who dispose of it to the oil or mustard millers. Various other Cruciferas, as the jl/yagrum sativum, ifaphanus chinensis var. oleifer, both cultivated in Germany, the .Erysimum, Sisymbrium ofticinale,Turritis, &c, might also be cultivated for both purposes. 6099. The small or field poppy (Papdver Rho^as ; Odette, Fr. ), and also the Maw seed (P. somniferum, var. Pavot, .Fr.), a variety of the garden poppy, are, as we have seen (467.), cultivated on the Continent as oil plants ; the oil being esteemed in domestic economy next to that of the olive. Other species might be grown for the same purpose. All of them being annual plants require only to be sown on fine rich land in April ; thinned out to six or eight inches' distance when they come up, according to the species ; kept clear of weeds till they begin to run ; and to have their capsules as they ripen gathered by hand and dried in the sun. 6100. The sunfower (Helidnthus animus ; Turnesol, Fr. ; and Girasole, Ital.) has been cultivated in Germany for its seeds, which are found to yield a good table oil ; its husks are nourishing food for cattle. 6101. The A'rachis hypogce^a, ^ilyagrum- sativum, Hesperis matrundlis, TcXaphanus sativum oleifer, and lUcinus communis are cultivated in France as oil plants. Sect. IV. Plants used in Domestic Economy. 6102. Among agricultural plants used in domestic economy, we include the Mustard, Buck-wheat or Beech-wheat, Cress, Tobacco, Chiccory, and a few others; with the exception of the first, they are grown to a very small extent in Britain, and therefore our account of them shall be proportionately concise. Subsect. 1. Mustard. — Sindpis L. ; Tetradyndmia Siliqubsa L., and Cruciferce J. Moutarde or Seneve, Fr. ; Senf, Ger. ; Senapa, Ital. ; and Mostaza, Span. 6103. There are two species of mustard in cultivation in the fields, the white mustard (5inapis alba, fig.805. a), and the black or common (Sinapis nigra, b). Both are annuals, natives of Britain and most parts of Europe, and cultivated there and in China, for an unknown period. White mustard flowers in June, and ripens its seeds in July. Black mustard is rather earlier. Mustard is an exhausting crop, but profitable when the soil answers, and especially in breaking up rich loamy lands, as it comes off earlier, and allows time for preparing the soil for wheat. In breaking up very rich grass lands, three or four crops are sometimes taken in succession. It cannot, however, be considered as a good general crop for the farmer, even if there were a demand for it, as, like most of the commercial plants, it yields little or no manure. The culture of black or common mustard is by far the most extensive, and is chiefly carried on in the county of Dur- ham. The seed of the black mustard, like that of the wild sort and also of the wild radish, if below the depth of three or four inches, will remain in the ground for ages without germinating ; hence, when once introduced it is 3 3' 934 PR kCTICE OF AGRICULTURE. III. difficult to extirpate. Whenever they throw the earth out of their ditches in the Isle <>f Ely, the bank comes up thick with mustard; and the seed, tailing into the water and sinking to the bottom, will remain embalmed in the mud for ages without vegetation. 610* No tucA luxury as mustard, In ita present form, was known at our tablet previously to 1730, At that time the leed was onlj coarst Ij pounded in a mortar, as coarsely separated from the integuments, and in that rough state prepared lor use lii the vear l have mentioned, it occurred to an old woman of the name ol I lements, residi nt at Durham, to grind the seed in a mill, and to pass the meal through the several processes whlcn are i ted to In making Hour from wheat. The secret ihe kept for many years to herself', and, in the pei led ol hei exclusivepossession of it, supplied the principal parts of the kingdom, and in particular the metropolis, with tins article ; and George 1. stamped it with fashion by his approval. Mrs Clements as regularly twice a year travelled to London, and to the principal towns throughout England, for orders, as an) tradesman's riiler of the present day , and the Old lady contrived to pick up not Only a decent pittance, hut what was then thought a tolerable competence. From this woman's resid- ing at Durham, it acquired the name of Durham mustard. [Mech. Mux. wL iv - P- 87.) 6105. Any rich loamy suit will raise a crop of mustard, and no Other preparation is required than that <>f a good deep ploughing and harrowing sufficient to raise a mould on the surface. The seeds may be sown broad-east at the rate of one lippie per acre; harrowed in and guarded from birds till it comes up, and hoed and weeded before it begins to shoot. In Kent, according to the survey of Boys, white mustard is cultivated for the use of the seedsmen in London. In the tillage for it, the ploughed land is, he says, harrowed over, and then furrows are stricken about eleven or twelve inches apart, sowing the seed in the proportion of two or three gallons per acre in March. The crop is after- wards hoed and kept free from weeds. 610f,". Mustard is reaped in the beginning of September, being tied in sheaves, and left three or lour days on the stubble. It is then stacked in the field. It is remarked that rain damages it. A good crop is three or four quarters an acre; the price from 7*. to 20s. a bushel. Three or four crops are sometimes taken running, but this must in most eases be bad husbandry. G107. The use of the white mustard is or should be chiefly for medical and horticul- tural purposes, though it is often ground into flour, and mixed with the black, which is much stronger, and tar more difficult to free from its black husks. The black or com- mon mustard is exclusively used for grinding into flour of mustard, and the black husk is separated by very delicate machinery. 6108. The French either do not attempt to separate the husk, or do not succeed in it, as their mustard when brought to table is always black. It is, however, more pungent than ours, because that quality rr-ides chiefly in the husk. The constituents of mustard seed appear to be chiefly starch, mucus, a bland fixed oil, an acrid volatile oil, and an ammoniacal salt. The fresh powder, Or. Cullen observes, shows little pungency ; but when it has been moistened with" vinegar and kept for a day, the essential oil is evolved, and it is then much more acrid. 6109. The leaves of the mustard family, like those of all the radish and i?rftssica tribe, are eaten green by cattle and sheep," and may be used as pot-herbs. The haulm is commonly burned; but is better em- ployed as litter for the straw- yard, or for covering underdrains, if any happen to be forming at the time. 6110. As substitutes for either the black or common mustard, most of the Crucifers enumerated when treating of oil plants (609S.) may be used, especially the Sinapis arvensis,or charlock,,?, orientalis, chinensis, and Jrassicata, the latter commonly cultivated in China. The iiaphanus Raphanistrum, common in corn fields, and known as the wild mustard, is so complete a substitute, that it is often separated from the refuse corn and sold as Durham mustard seed. Subsect. 2. Buck-wheat. — Polygonum Fagopyrum L. ; Octamlria Trigynia L., and Polygbneee J. Bli noir or Ble Sitrraxm, Fr. (corrupted from Had-razin, i. e. red corn, Celtic); Buchweitzen, Ger. ; Miglio, Ital. ; and Trigo negro, Span. (Jig. 806.) *6111. The buck-wheat, or more properly beech-wheat (from the resemblance of the seeds to beech mast, as its Latin and German names import), is an annual fibrous-rooted plant, with upright flexuous leafy stems, generally tinged with red, and rising from a foot to three feet in height. The flowers are either white or tinged with red, and make a handsome appearance in July, and the seeds ripen in August and September. Its native country is unknown ; though it is attributed to Asia. It is cultivated in China and other countries of the East as a bread corn, and has been grown from time immemorial in Britain, and most parts of Europe, as food for poultry and horses, and also to be ground into meal for domestic purposes. The universality of its culture is evidently owing to the little labour it requires: it will grow on the poorest soil, and produce a crop in the course of three or four months. It was cultivated as early as Gerard's time (1597), to be ploughed in as manure: but at present, from its inferior value as a grain, and its yielding very little haulm for fodder or manure, it is seldom grown but by gentlemen in their plantations to encourage game. Arthur Young, however, " recom- mends fanners in general to try this crop. Nineteen parishes out of twenty, through the kingdom, know it only by name. It has SOG^SftS) .°i Book VI. BUCK-WHEAT. 935 numerous excellencies, perhaps as many to good farmers, as any other grain or pulse in use. It is of an enriching nature, having the quality of preparing for wheat, or any other crop. One bushel sows an acre of land well, which is but a fourth of the expense of seed-barley." Its principal value is not so much in the crop as in the great good it does the land by shading it from the heat of the sun. When the wheat fallow can be perfectly cleaned before the middle of June, it is far better to sow the ground with buck- wheat than let it be bare ; the wheat crop, whether the dung be laid on before or after the buck-wheat, will be one tliird better than without it. (J. M. ) 6112. There are different species in cultivation, and P. tataricum (Jig. 807. a.) is said by some to be nearly as productive as P. Fagopyrum. Von Thaer, however, is of a different opinion. In Nipal P. emarginatum (6) is cultivated. According to M. Decandolle, the farmers of Piedmont, especially in the valley of Lucerne, chiefly employ the P. tataricum ; because it ripens more quickly, and is therefore less likely to suffer from cold summers, or from being sown on the sides of the mountains. The Pied- montese distinguish the P. Fagopyrum by the name of " Formentine rie Savoie," and the P. tataricum by that of " granette," and " Formentine de Luzerne." The principal objection to the latter is, that its flowers ex- pand irregularly and unequally, and that the flour is blackish and rather bitter. The P. Fagopyrum is, however, cultivated in the richest parts of Europe as a food for domestic fowls or other birds, rather than for the use of man. Cakes made of the flour of this spe- cies, we are told by Thunberg, round, coloured, and baked, are sold in every inn in Japan. Loureiro states, that P. odoratum is cul- tivated throughout the kingdom of Cochin China, as an excellent vegetable for eating with broiled meat and fish. [Sot. Reg.) 6113. In the culture of the buck- wheat the soil may be prepared in dif- ferent ways, according to the intention of the future crop ; and for this there is time till the end of May, if seed is the object, and till June if it is to be ploughed in. It will grow on any soil, but will only produce a good crop on one that is tolerably rich. It is considered one of the best crops to sow alon°- with grass seed ; and yet (however inconsistent) Arthur Young endeavours to prove that buck-wheat, from the closeness of its growth at the top, smothers and destroys weeds, whilst clover and grass-seeds receive considerable benefit by the shade it affords them from the piercing heat of the sun ! ! 6114. The seascn of sowing cannot be considered earlier than the last week of April or first of May, as the young plants are very apt to be destroyed by frost. The mode is always broad-cast, and the quantity of seed a bushel per acre ; it is harrowed in, and requires no other culture than pulling out the larger weeds, and guarding from birds till the reaping season. 6115. Buck-wheat is harvested by mowing in the manner of barley. After it is mown, it must lie several days, till the stalks are withered, before it is housed. It is in no danger of the seeds falling, nor does it suffer much by wet. From its great suc- culency it is liable to heat, on which account it is better to put it in small stacks of five or six loads each, than in either a large one or a barn. 6116. The produce of the grain of this plant, though it has been known to yield seven quarters an acre, may be stated upon the average at between three and four ; it would be considerably more did all the grains ripen together, but that never appears to be the case, as some parts of the same plant will be in flower, whilst others have perfected their seed. 6117. The use of the grain of buck-wheat in this country is almost entirely for feeding poultry, pigeons, and swine. It may also be given to horses, which are said to thrive well on it ; but the author of The New Farmers Calendar says, he thinks he has seen it produce a stupefying effect. 6118. It has been used in the distillery in England ; and it is a good deal used in that way, and also as horse-corn, on the Continent. Young says, a bushel goes farther than two bushels of oats ; and mixed with at least four times as much bran, will be full feed for any horse for a week. Four bushels of the meal, put up at 4 cut. will fatten a hog of sixteen or twenty stone in three weeks, giving him afterwards three bushels of Indian corn or hog-peas broken in a mill, with plenty of water. Eight bushels of buck-wheat meal will go as far as twelve bushels of barley meal. b'119. The meal of buck wheal is made into thin cakes called crumpits in Italy, and even in some parts of England ; and it is supposed to be nutritious, and not apt to turn acid upon the stomach. [Withering.) tUSU. The blossoms of this plant aflbrd a rich repast to bees, both from the quantity of honey they con- tain, and from their long duration. On this account it is much prized in France and Germany, and Du Hamel advises bee fanners to carry their hives to fields of this crop in the autumn, as well as to heath lands. 3 () 1 PRACTICE OF AGRICULTURE. Part III. 6121. The haulm ..I burk.uhc.it i> nld to he more nourishing than clover when eut while in flower. Banister says, il has a peculiar Inebriating quality. He bai teen 1 1 ■ - k ~ . after having led heartily on it, cone home in luch ■ -t.it.- of intoxication ai to be unable to walk without reeling. The dried haulm is I10| eaten rc.ulilv In an\ ile.c npt ion ol animal, and affords but very little manure. On the whole, the Crop is of most value when ploughed in gKen for the latter purpose. til •_'•_'. At (i seed crop, the author of The New Farmer's Calendar seems justified in saying, it is only valuable on land that will grow nothing else. Si i:-.KT. .'.. Tobacco. — TVicoriana L. ; Penl&ndria Monogynia L., and SoBtnete J. I.e Tabac, Fr. ; der Tabak, Ger. ; Tobacco, Ital. ; Tabaco, Span. ; and Petum or Petume, Brasil. 612S. The specie* cultivated are annuals, natives of Mexico, or other parts of America, and. according to some, of both hemispheres. It was brought to Europe early in the sixteenth century, after the discovery of America by Columbus, probably about 1519; from Portugal to France about l.lfiO, by John Nicot, after whom the plant is named; and to England, according to Lobel, about 1570; according to Hume by Ralph Lane, in 1586, from the island of Tobacco in the Gulf of Mexico, whence the popular name. 6124 The custom qf smoking is of unknown antiquity in Asia, Persia, and other eastern countries; but whether the plant used was tobacco is very doubtful. The natives of Mexico, in the present day, not onlj use it as an artit le Of luxury, but as a remedy for all diseases, and, when provisions fail then), for allaying the pains of hunger and t h\r-t. The use of smoking was introduced to England by Capt Lane, who had learned the custom in Virginia, in 1586. He brought home with him several pipes and taught the custom to Sir Walter Ralegh, who soon acquired a taste for it, and began to teach it to his friends. He gave, we arc told, " smoking parties" at Ins house at Islington, when the guests were treated with nothing but a pipe and a mug of ale and nutmeg. [Biog. Brit. Down to the time of Elizabeth, it was not uncommon for ladies to smoke. During the reign of James her successor, most of the princes of Europe violently opposed its use James of England wrote a book against it ; the Grand Duke of Moscow forbade its entrance into his territory under pain of the knout tor the first offence, and death for the next. The emperor of the Turks, the king of Persia, and pope Urban VI II , issued similar prohibitions, all of which were as ridiculous as those which attended the introduction of cotlee, or Jesuit's bark. At present, all the sovereigns of Europe, and most of those of other parts of the world, derive a considerable part of their rc\ enue from tobacco. 6125. The cultivation of tobacco on the Continent was not attempted, except in gardens, till the beginning of the seventeenth century Under Louis XIII. and XIV., its cultivation was allowed in certain pro- \ lines of France ; and about the s .me time it was introduced as an article of cottage or spade culture, in Holland, Germany, and part of Sweden. It also spread into Switzerland and Italy, and to various coun- tries of the East. It is at present cultivated in almost every country of the world, but for commercial purposes chiefly on the Continent and islands of North America, and more especially in Virginia, Cuba, and St. Domingo. In no other parts of the world is it so well manufactured for the purpose of smoking as in Havanna. 6126 In England the practice of planting and growing tobacco began to creep in in the time of Charles II. ; and an act was passed fixing a penalty of in/, for every rood of land so cultivated, but making it lawful, however, to grow small quantities, not exceeding half a pole, " in a physic or university garden, or in any private garden for physic or chirurgery." This act and others were confirmed by different acts during the reign of Geo. III. Notwithstanding this act, however, tobacco was much cultivated a few > ears prior to 1782, in the vales of York and Kyedale. In the latter district it did not excite the notice of regal authority ; and was cured and manufactured by a man who had formerly been employed upon the tobacco plantations in America ; who not only cured it properly, but gave it the proper cut, and finally prepared it for the pipe. But in the vale of York the cultivators of it met with less favourable circum- stances. Their tobacco was publicly burnt, and themselves severely fined and imprisoned. Penalties.it was said, were paid to the amount of 30,0001. This was enough to put a stop to the illegal cultivation of tobacco. But. perhaps rather unfortunately, it has likewise put a stop to the cultivation of that limited quantity of half a rood, which the law allows to be planted for the purpose of physic and chirurgery, or destroying insects. 6127. /" Scotland, about the same time, tobacco was cultivated in various parts, more especially in the neighbourhood of Kelso and Jedburgh. Its produce was so great, that thirteen acres at Crailing fetched , at the low rate of 4opulation of that country ; and we should w ish also to see every cottager in the three kingdoms growing lis half rood, which the law permits, and which, at a moderate calculation, ought to produce 4 lbs. of tobacco for his own smoking or snuff, or for selling to his neighbours. For this purpose we shall enter into the culture of tobacco at greater length than might otherwise be advisable. Book VI. TOBACCO. 937 6130. The annual species of tobacco, like the annual species of almost all dicotyledonous plants, may be grown in every country and climate ; because every country has a sum- mer, and that is the season of life for annual plants. In hot, dry, and short summers, like those of the north of Russia and Sweden, to- bacco plants will not attain a large size, but the tobacco produced will be of delicate quality and good flavour : in long, moist, and not very warm summers, such as those of Ireland, the plants will attain a very large size, per- haps as much so as in Virginia, but the to- bacco produced will not have that superior flavour, which can only be given by abundance of clear sunshine, and free dry air. By a skilful manufacture, and probably by mixing the to- bacco of cold countries with that of hot coun- tries, by using different species, and perhaps by selecting particular varieties of the Virginian species, the defects in flavour arising from cli- mate may, it is likely, be greatly remedied. 6131. Species and varieties. The species almost every where cultivated in America is the N. Tabiicum {Jig. 80S.), or Virginian tobacco, of which there is a variety or sub-species known as N. macroph\lla, but of which we have never seen any plants. N. nistica {Jig. 809.), the common green tobacco {Jausse tabac of the French, and Bauern Tubac of the Germans), is very generally cultivated almost to the exclusion of the other species in the north of Germany, Russia, and Sweden, where almost every cottager grows his own tobacco for smoking. It also seems to be the principal sort grown in Ireland. There is a variety of it cultivated in Wexford, erroneously denominated Oronooko, and another commonly called negro-head. Both are very hardy and very pro- ductive, but the produce is not of a very good flavour. There are other species grown in America; the best Ha. vannah cigars are said to be made from the leaves of N. re- panda (Jig.HlO. a), a species introduced to this country from Havannah so late as 18-23. The Indians of the Rocky Moun- tains of North America are said to prepare their tobacco from N. quadrivalvis (Jig. 810. b), introduced in 1811, and X. mana (Jig. 810. c) introduced in 1823. These species are all annuals, and the last requires the protection of a green-house to make it ripen its seeds. There are several very distinct varieties, if not species, cultivated in the Caraccas, of which some account by Mr. Fanning, proprietor of the Botanic- Garden of the Caraccas, will be found in the Gardener's Magazine, voL vi. p. 327. There are also some other annual species, and some species of the genus Petunia which is nearly allied to the Sicotiana, the leaves of which might be manufactured into very good tobacco. There can be little doubt that the N. Tabacum, the seeds of which may be purchased in every seed-shop, is a'.one de- serving the attention of the British cultivator, as a first experiment 6132. Soil. In a strict sense, the native soil of the tobacco is unknown in tliis country ; by which we mean the primitive earths or rocks to which it belongs. We are inclined to attribute it to alluvium and sand-stone rather than to clay or lime. In 938 PRACTICE OP AGRICULTURE. Part III. Virg inia the- host tobacco i grown ill a rich loamy, but rather light soil, which has been newly taken into cultivation, la Alsace, where we have seen stronger tobacco of the Virginian kind than in any other part of France or in Germany, the soil is a brown loam, rather light than heavy, such as would grow excellent potatoes and turnips, and which has been for an unknown period under the plough. Wherever potatoes or turnips may be cultivated, there we think tobacco may be grown. 6133. Climate. As it is beyond a doubt that the best tobacco is produced in countries within the tropics, it is evident that it cannot be worth culture in Britain in situations not naturally mild or warm. Tobacco can never be worth growing in situations much above the IcmI of the sea, nor on wet springy soils or northern exposures. 6134. Culture> We shall notice in succession the practice in the West Indies, Vir- ginia, and Maryland, in Alsatia, in Holland, in the South of France, and in Ireland, as lately practised bv Mr. Brodigan, and suggest what we think the best mode. We shall draw our information chiefly from a valuable article in the Nouveau Cours Comptct ,l>j . edition L 823, and from the treatise of T. Brodigan, Esq., 1830; looking into Carver's Treatise on \ the Tobacco Plant, 1779; Tatham's Historical and Practical Essay, 1800; Jennings's Practical Treatise, 1830; and our own notes of 1813-15, 18, 19, and 1828, on Sweden, Germany, and France. 6135 Culture in the West Indies. In the island of Tortuga, the tobacco seeds are sown in beds twelve feet square, and transplanted into the fields when about the size of young lettuces, in rows three feet apart, and the plants three feet distant in the row. The soil is hoed and kept clear of weeds, and the plant Stopped when about a foot and a half high. The buds which push from the axilla- of the leaves are taken out with the finger and thumb, in order to throw the whole force of the plant into the leaves. When the edges ami points of the leaves begin to get a little yellow, the stalks are cut over by the surface when the leaves are wholly freed from dew ; they are then carried into a close house, so close as to shut out all air, and hung upon lines tied across for the purpose of drying. When the stalks begin to turn brownish, they are taken off the lines and put into a large bin or chest, and heavy weights laid on them for twelve days. They are then taken out, and the leaves stripped from the stalks, again put into the bin, and again well pressed, and completely excluded from air for a month. They are now taken out and tied into bundles, of about sixty leaves in each, which bundles are kept completely excluded from the air in a box or chest till wanted for disposal to the manufacturer. (Dr. Bar/tarn, a contemporary of Sir Hans Sloan, in Jamaica, as quoted by Brodigan, p. 121J The species to which the above account refers, is, in all proba- bility, the N. repanda. 6136. Culture in Virginia and Man/land. New soil of a medium quality is preferrea : the seeds are mixed with six times their bulk of w'ond-ashes or sand, sown on beds of finely prepared earth, as early in spring as possible, and covered with straw, branches, or boards at nights when any danger is apprehended from frosts ; they are of course kept clear of weeds. The field intended for the plants is in the mean time well laboured with the plough ; it is laid into ridglets three feet wide, and along the centre of each a row of plants is placed by means of a line marked with knots, at three feet apart ; the plants ot the one row alternating with the intervals of the other; so that when the field is completed, the whole stand in quincunx. The plants are taken from the seed-bed to the field when they have five or six leaves exclu- sive of the seed leaf; but they maybe transplanted with fewer or more leaves in moist or cloudy weather. They are taken up carefully, raising the earth under them with a spade, and carrying them to the field in a basket, and they are planted with dibbers an inch in diameter and fifteen inches long. They are inserted as deep as the seed leaf, but no deeper. In a month afterwards they will have grown a foot in height, and will require to be hoed and weeded. When they have attained the height of two tect, the summit of each plant is pinched out, and the lower small leaves, and any others dirtied or injured by insects, picked oft: From eight to twelve good leaves may now remain on each plant The remaining part of the culture consists chiefly in removing weeds or insects, and in pinching out the buds which appear in the joints or axillae of the leaves. From the time that the tops of the plants are pinched oft, till that when the crop is fit to be gathered, is generally about five or six weeks. During this time the plants are looked over two or three times every week, for the purpose of pinching off the lateral buds, so as to confine the entire effort of vegetation to the nourishing of the eight or twelve leaves. When the leaves begin to change colour, droop at the extremities, begin to smell rather more strongly, to become furrowed, rougher to the touch, and easily broken when bent, the plants are cut over by the surface when the dew i, rompletcly removed from them. Some cut them an inch under the surface, and others an inch above it. Each plant is left on the spot where it is cut for one day, and turned in thecourse of that day three or four times, to expose everv part equally to get dried by the heat of the sun. Sometimes the plants are g ithcrcd into heaps, and remain on the field during the night in order to be spread out again the next day • but more generally they are collected together before the dew begins to fall, and put into a bin covered with boards on which stones are laid, and left in that situation, excluded from the air, for three or tour days to ferment. Afterwards they are taken out, two and two tied together at the root end of the stem, or the same effi ct produce. 1 bv running a peg through them, then hung across lines or cross-beams, and thus dried in open Bheds. Alter the plants have been completely dried, they are taken down from the cords, poles, or beams, to which they have been attached, in a moist "day ; because if they were to be handled in a very dry day, the leaves would' fall to pieces, or crumble into powder. They are now spread on hurdles in heaps, and covered with mat- for a week or two to sweat : during this time the heap is frequently examined and turned, in order that every part may be equally heated and fermented, and no part burnt. This is said to be the most difficult pari of the preparation, as it unquestionably is of the art of making hay; experience alone can teach its attainment The fermentation being completed, the leaves are separated from the stems, the latter thrown away, and the former separated into three classes, bottom leaves, top leaves, and middle leaves Th< te leaves are now dried under cover, and tied together in bundles often or twelve, which are called manoques or hands ; these are packed in regular layers into casks or boxes, and compressed so as to exclude all air by means of a round board of the same diameter as the interior of the cask, and which is every now and then put in and pressed down by means of a lever, which communicates a pressure of be- tween 1000 and 4000 pounds. This manner of close packing is essential for the preservation of the tobacco. The operation is always performed when the air is humid, because, as before observed, dried tobacco is extremely brittle. Good tobacco thus prepared no longer ferments, except very slightly in the succeeding spring or summer, and which is found to be an advantage. The finest tobacco is grown in the west of Virginia and Marj land, near the Alleghany .Mountains, where the temperature, during its growing season, is between 60 and 70°. [N. dans Complet d'Agr. $C.) The species in this case is unquestionably N. Tahueum. 6137. Culture of the tobacco in Holland. The Species 18 chiefly N. Tahueum, but sometimes N. rusti.a. The culture is carried to a considerable extent, especially in the provinces of Guelders and Utrecht. The seed is sown in hotbeds, ten feet broad, and of any convenient length ; the depth of the dung of the bed is two feet, and the frame which is placed on it is sometimes covered with sashes, but more commonly with mats only durin | nights. The plants are transplanted into fields which receive a sort of garden culture. Book VI. TOBACCO. 939 The surface is laid out into beds or ridglets two feet and a half wide, with alleys between of nine inches or a foot. The beds are raised two feet above the alleys, and are composed of alternate layers of rich soil and dung rotten almost to mould. The direction of the bed is north and south, and on each two rows of plants are inserted at eighteen inches' distance between the rows, and at the same between plant and plant ■ the plants of one row alternating with the interstices of the others. The summer culture is the same as in Virginia, but the gathering of the crop is differently performed. When the leaves have shown the usual symptoms of maturity, the lowest, or those of the third quality, and the middle leaves, or those of the second quality, are stripped oft' and kept separate, and from four to six at top left on for some time longer. The leaves stripped off are separately dried, and in the mean time the plants watched, and every sucker or bud which makes its appearance pinched ofK The top leaves, or those of the first quality, are gathered when ready ; and all the remaining parts of the process with the three qualities is exactly the same as in Virginia. {Ibid.) 6138. Culture in Alsatia, and generally in the north and west of France and south of Germany. The seed, chiefly of N. Tabncum, is sown in March, or even earlier, in beds of fine mould in a garden, covered at night, and till it comes up, during day also, with straw mats. When it begins to come up, these are removed by nine o'clock in the morning, and put on again when the sun goes down. After the plants have produced their seed leaves, the straw mats are supported by hoops or rods, so as not to injure the plants. About the end of April, the plants will be found to have attained from two to four leaves, ex- clusive of their seed leaves; and from this time to the middle of June is considered the season for trans- planting them into the fields. The best crops, other circumstances the same, are obtained from plants transplanted before the middle of May. Both in Holland and Alsatia, sheep's dung is found the best manure for the tobacco. The ground is made as fine as possible, not laid into ridges unless wet, and the plants are planted in rows, generally two feet and a half apart, and the plants alternating at the same dis- tance in the row. Much of the value of the crop depends on the dryness and warmth of the summer, a good wine year being invariably a good tobacco year. In cold wet seasons many of the lower leaves be- come rusty or spotted ; and though these do not always appear before the second fermentation, yet they ultimately become obvious by changing into holes after the last drying; their inferiority then becomes obvious to the purchaser. The top leaves alone are those used for manufacturing into snuff', and they bring much the highest price. These leaves generally remain on the plant till the twentieth of August; but the lower leaves are commonly gathered by the fifteenth of July. The tops of the plants are not generally pinched off till about the beginning of August, and they continue gathering leaves from that time till they are interrupted by white frost. Every eight days after the operation of topping, the side buds are pinched off! After the leaves are gathered, they are tied on the spot in bundles according to their qualities ; and when they are taken to the drying' shed, they are again separated and picked, and all those of one quality threaded together on lines, leaving a space about the width of a finger between each leaf. The lines thus charged with leaves are stretched from one side to the other of the drying shed, or lengthwise under the eaves of cottage roofs, which are made to project from one foot to three feet for the purpose of drying tobacco and maize. The more extensive growers have large sheds or barns on purpose, and these are always constructed with openings on all sides, so as to admit of the most perfect ventilation. When the air does not circulate freely among the leaves, instead of drying yellow they dry green or black, lose their grateful odour, and the midribs become rotten, and the whole leaf falls to pieces. Leaves which on the plant were most exposed to the sun and dews, such as the top leaves, always dry to the finest yellows. The leaves remain in the drying sheds till the weather has become decidedly cold in November or December, though some of the leaves of inferior qualities are frequently purchased for the manufacture of smoking tobacco in the month of October. But these must be immediately manufactured, otherwise when lying together they contract a bad smell. The threads of leaves being ready to take down, the leaves are not taken off the threads, but they are laid down in a humid mild day on a dry airy floor, one above another to the depth of from fourteen inches to half a foot Here they lie for some time, being examined occasionally to see that they are not heating ; if they heat, they are immediately hung up again ; if they do not, they remain in that position till wanted by the manufacturer. Often, indeed, they are manufactured as soon as properly dried on the strings. {Ibid.) 6139. The culture of tobacco in the south of France is not materially different from what it is on the south banks of the Rhine. The tobacco of the south of France is naturally of a better quality ; but the care taken of it by the cultivators, especially in the drying and fermenting, being less than in less favour- able climates, the quality becomes reduced, so that the tobacco of Alsace is preferred to that of Garonne. The plants are cut over with all their leaves on as in Virginia, and they are hung up to dry in pairs across strings or beams. Being thoroughly dried, the leaves are separated, tied up in hands, and laid in heaps to ferment. These heaps are placed on boarded floors raised three or four inches above the surface of the soil; they are made two feet broad and two feet high, the width requiring exactly two hands, half of the one hand overlapping half of the other, and the ends or footstalks of the leaves of both being outwards. This operation is commonly performed between the fifteenth of November and the fifteenth of January, and the tobacco remains in that state till it is purchased by the manufacturer. The manufacturer having agreed for the price, makes up the hands into round balls of three or four hundred pounds weight ; takes these home, unrolls them, separates the leaves, classes them according to their qualities, and finally puts them in hogsheads, packing them closely by means of presses. In these hogsheads the tobacco remains till taken out to be made into snuff, cigars, or common smoking tobacco. 6140. The culture of tobacco in Ireland, as practised by Brodigan in Meath, is thus given. Hotbeds like those made for cucumbers are to be prepared in March, and the seeds, Mr. Brodigan does not seem to have known what species he cultivated, sown any time from the fifteenth of that mouth to the first of April. In the beginning of May the plants may be hardened by exposure to the air, and by the fifteenth or twen- tieth of that month they may be transplanted into the open field without injury. Forty thousand plants fit for transplanting may be raised on an area of one hundred square feet According to Carver, a square yard will rear about five hundred plants, and allow proper space for their nurture till they are fit for transplanting. The field was prepared in every respect the same as for turnips; the drills or ridglets were eighteen inches apart, and the manure, of which a good supply was given, buried in the centre of each ridglet The plants were put in with spades, at eighteen inches apart, along the centre of the ridglet, and afterwards watered. " The planters were followed by women, with their aprons full of long grass, with which they covered each plant, and confined it by placing a stone or lump of earth at both ends ; this covering is indispensable, unless the weather prove wet and cloudy. Such is the extreme deli- cacy of the plant, that it will not bear the heat of the sun, until it has so far set in the soil as to be able to supply the loss by evaporation. This will not be for some days, during which time the cover cannot be safely removed, and watering, to the extent of a pint a plant, may be daily used. Some of the respectable planters in the county of Wexford have used pots as a covering for the plants, of which some thousands will be necessary. Others have used large oyster shells, cabbage, or dock leaves. I tried all these methods, and experience has satisfied me that the mode 1 practised has decided advantages. It protects the plant sufficiently against the sun, and the water passes freely through it : whereas where pots or leaves are used, they must be removed to admit water, and in case of rain the plants receive little or no benefit from it The operation of planting may be continued until the twentieth of June, but the earlier the better after the frosts have passed away. In America and France, I found, that four months were generally considered as necessary for the nutrition of the plants ; and that time in this climate cannot be allowed, unless they are put down early." (p. 16C.) 6141. The summer management of tobacco, by Mr. Brodigan, consisted in loosening the soil about the plants, removing the weeds, watering " for weeks together," taking off the decayed leaves at bottom, top. ping when the plant has from nine to fourteen good leaves, and removing the side buds as they appear. 940 PRACTICE OF AGRICULTURE. Part II r. 614& The curing proct*$, by Mr Brodi'gan, Isai follow*: — About the middle of August, the plants having gttained their full size, four or Ave "i the bottom leaves of each plant are taken off, " suffered to lie on the around for tome time ; and when thej loae their briCUeneaa, ami ran be safely handled, they are carried home to ■ barn, and there put in a heap f<>r fermentation. The heap is turned, placing that in the centre Which waa before in the bottom or exterior, and the temperature is not allowed to exceed 1(10° or 1 ll)°. After remaining two or three dayi In tin* heap, the leaves are spread out and cooled, and strung by the midrib on lines of packthread; the) are then hung up in an airy shady place, roofed in. When the leavei thus impended have acquired an auburn colour, they are fit for a second fermentation. " A quantity of hay must be placed between the tobacco and the ground, and the heap may be made of an oblong i>r conic figure, the end of the Item! being placed Inwards. The heap being made, it is to be sur- rounded with hay, blankets, or other close covering. The period for this fermentation Will depend upon the state of the weather, and the dryness and size of the leaves. In four or five days 1 generally found the heat sufficient!) high to penetrate and reduce the stems, and when that is accomplished the heap is to be cooled bj spreading it out to dry. In reclining very strong tobacco, I found it necessary to permit the licit to ascend to 126 In 60 hours I found the heat had attained 1 iO°, and in 7'.' hours, 126°; but the general range of the second fermentation was from 120° to I'AV Fahrenheit In some cases I had to report to a thud fermentation of the same tobacco, but the heat did not rise beyond 90°. Upon this important point ol fermentation, or sweating the tobacco, I have given the result of my practice. For greater accu- racy, ami the benefit of the inexperienced, I have given it from a thermometer; but, at the same time, the hand and feeling of a practised overseer can direct the process. As soon as the tobacco has been perfectly dried, bj exposure to the sun and the weather, it is still necessary to dry any remaining moisture in the midribs, for which purpose they must be packed so as to be outside, that the air may have its influence Upon them When they are perfectly dry and hard, the tobacco may be considered as fit for use, although it will possess more or less of cnideness until the month of March following. To correct this crudity, or an> acrimony that may exist, different preparations are used in different countries. In Brazil the leaves ar. Iteeped in a decoction of tobacco and gum copal. In Virginia, I understood, they sprinkle the tobacco, in the packing process, w ith diluted rum and molasses ; and in Ireland they sprinkle, in the packing pro- cess, with a decoction of the green tobacco stems, or a decoction of hay, with a small portion of molasses : the effect of this innocent application is to soften and improve the flavour, darken the colour of the to- iiid render it, in appearance, a more merchantable commodity. The next and last operation is to tie the leaves in hands, and pack them in bales or portable packages." (p. 166.) 61 ISL Improvements in the curing process. Some of Mr. Brodigan's tobacco, he informs us, only wanted age to be as good as Virginia. Tobacco improves by a sea voyage, as it undergoes a certain degrie of fer- mentation in the hogsheads in the spring or summer months.' Drying houses heated by flues or steam, as now erected in America, he thinks would be an improvement in Ireland. Captain Basil Hall visited a tobacco plantation on James River, and found the house in which the hands were hung up with fires of wood made upon the earthen floor. The flavour of the wood burnt in this way, Mr. Brodigan states, is now strongly perceptible in the tobacco of late years imported from America. 6144. As suggestions derived from considering what we have read and observed on the subject of cultivating and curing tobacco, we submit the following. 6145. Where a farmer, who thoroughly understands and successfully practises the Northumberland mode of cultivating turnips, intends growing tobacco as a field crop, we would recommend him to prepare the soil exactly as for Swedish turnips, give a double dose of well rotted manure, mix the seed with titty times its bulk of sand or bone dust, and sow with Common's turnip drill, usually called French's, about the middle of May. When the plants come up, they may be thinned out as turnips are, to sixteen or eighteen inches apart, and topped in the beginning of August The rest of the process may be conducted as in Alsace, drying, however, in a barn or house heated by an iron stove. A cottager, or spade cultivator, may find it worth his while to sow in a hotbed or in a flower pot, and transplant : he may dry his leaves the first time under the eaves of his cottage, and the second time in his garret ; or if the quantity is small for home use, in his kitchen. For his tobacco liquor, or sauce, he may grow a score or two of poppy plants, collect the opium from them, and mix this with whisky or spirit of any kind, in which abundance of jieach leaves, or a few leaves of Z.aiirus nubilis, or one or two of the common laurel, have been infused, adding water and salt as directed above. A gardener, where there are hothouses and hothouse sheds, may dry and ferment in them ; and indeed with such opportunities, and seeds of N. repandum, he ought to grow better tobacco than any person whatever not in \ irginia or the West Indies. 6146. Produce. According to IMorse (American Geography), " An industrious person in Maryland can manage 6000 plants, which, at a yard to each plant, cover considerably more than an English acre of ground: — the produce of these 6000 plants is 1000 lbs. of tobacco. * A hogshead,' says Warden, ' weighing 1350 lbs., is considered a good crop, and sufficient employment for one labourer. In general four plants will yield a pound, though very rich land will yield double the quantity. On the fresh, rich landsof Kentucky, from 1000 to 1500 lbs. are raised per acre.' " (Brodigan, p. 189.) The leaves of four plants in Virginia make one pound of tobacco. According to Brodigan, the average produce in the county of Wexford is 1200 lbs. per English acre. In Meath, he has had 1 680 lbs. per English acre. The money cost of production he estimates at 1 8/. where the land is prepared by horse labour, and SOL where it is prepared by manual labour, per English acre. The produce, at 16/. $s. per hogshead of 1350 lbs., barely pays the expense. 6147. To save seed. Allow a few of the strongest plants to produce their flowers ; they will have a fine appearance in July and August, and in a favourable season each plant will ripen as much seed in September as will sow a quarter of an acre by the drill system of culture, or stock half a dozen acres by transplanting. 6148. The value It g m it an agreeable scent, and hence its numerous varieties. The three principal kinds are rappees, Scotch, or Spanish, and thirds. The first is only granulated, the second is reduced t„ a vc> y fie no vdtr and t. c third consists of the sittings of the second sort. The Scotch and Irish snuffs arc lor terno^ part, made from the midribs ; the Strasburgh, French, and Russian snuffs from the soft paits of the leaves. 6156. The process of forming cigars is it would be of little use to offer a descr know on the culture of tobacco in different pa s very simple ; but, as it cannot be done well without much practice, ription Whoever wishes to make himself master of all that is ■rent parts of the world, ami all the different modes of its manuluu- 942 PRACTICE OF AGRICULTURE. ture, may consult Court d 1 Agriculture Complet, Parti, Svo, edit \*2>, art. Tabac: Cai London, 8vo, 1 77:> ; Tatham'i Essay, London, 8vo, 1800; tl"' Experienced Bremen Cigar I • ._ I ..I .. ...1...1 ... i... • ■ 1 ..... !....«.. I. . .. ba«4i ■ .(' I'iiiirc -i i'i 'i ■ i'i I i I ■ ■ r t*i t Part III. ■vert Trtati e, iin- 1. 1 /hi n m t h nit/inn ii-n/ Maker, or iun- damental and practical instructions for making twenty-five sorts of cigars according to the latest expe- ii mi', Chemnitz, Kretsflhmar, 1824, 8voj Schmidt's Tobacco Culture <;/ the french and Dutch combined, with tlu' Mode m preparing the Plant ior Use. Dresden, ovo, 1824 Armid. The two latter works art in Qennan. Subskcx. 4. Other Plants used in Domestic Economy, which are or may be cultivated in the Fields. 615". Many garden plants might be cultivated in the fields, especially near large towns, where manure is easily procured, and a demand for the produce exists. Among such plants may be mentioned the cress, parsley, onion, leek, lettuce, radish, &c. There are also some "plants that enter into the agriculture of foreign countries where the climate is not dissimilar to our own, which might be very effectually cultivated in this country were it desirable. Anion;; these is the chiccory, the roots of which are used as a substitute for coffee. The lettuce might be grown for its milky juice, as a substitute for, or rather a variety of opium. Of dwarf fruits, .is the Strawberry, currant, gooseberry, raspberry, &c, we add nothing here, having already alluded to them in treating of orchards. 615& The agriculturist who attempts to grow am/ of the above plants can hardly expect to succeed unless his knowledge extends beyond the mere routine of country husbandry, either by reading and the study nt' the nature of vegetables, or bj some experience in the practice of gardening. No farmer on a moderately extensive scale will liud it worth while to attempt such productions, whatever may be his knowledge or resources; and for the garden-farmer, or the curious or speculative amateur, we would recommend observation and enquiry round the metropolis, and the reading of books on horticulture. Al that we shall do here, will be to give some explanation of the culture and management ot cress and chiccory. 6159. The garden cress (Xepidium sativum 7,.), too well known to require any description, is grown in the fields in Essex, the seed being in some demand in the London market. 6160. It is sotrn on any sort of soil, but strong loam is the most productive. After being well pulverised on the surface, the seed is sown broad-cast and lightlv harrowed in. The season of sowing tor the largest produce is March, but it will ripen if sown the lirst week in May. The quantity of seed to an acre varies from two to lour pecks, according to the richness of the land ; the seed will not grow the second year. No after-culture is required but weeding. The crop is reaped and left in handfuls to dry for a few days, and then threshed out like rapeseed or mustard in the field. ' 6161. The use of the cress seed is chieflv for sowing to cut for young turkeys ; and (or forcing salads by the London cooks on hot moist flannels and porous earthenware vessels. A very considerable quantity is also used in horticulture, it being one of the chief early salads, and cut when in the seed leaf. The haulm is of very little use as litter, aud, on the whole, the crop is exhausting. 6162. The culture of the chiccory as an herbage plant has already been given (5514.) ; w hen grown for the root to be used as a substitute for coffee, it may be sown on the same soil as the carrot, and thinned out to the same distance as that plant. 6163. These roots are taken up in the first autumn after sowing in the same manner as those of the carrot. When they are to be manufactured on a large scale, they are partially dried, and in that state .-old to the manufacturers of the article, who wash them, cut them in pieces, roast them on a kiln, and grind them between fluted rollers into a powder, which is packed up in papers, containing from two ounces to three or four pounds. In that state it is sold either as a substitute for coffee, or for mixing with it. But when a private family cultivates this plant for home manufacture, the roots are laid in a cellar among sand, and a few taken out as wanted, washed, cut into slices, roasted in the coffee roaster till they become ol a brown colour, and then passed as wanted through the coffee mill. 61r54. The value of the chiccory as a cqffie plant, Von Thaer observes in 1810, is proved by its having been cultivated lor tli.it purpose for thirty years. Dr Howison has written some curious papers on the subject in The Caledonian Horticultural Memoirs (vol iv.l, and both that gentleman and Dr. Duncan approve ol its dietetic qualities. 'Hie former indeed savs, he thinks it preferable to coffee, which may be a matter of ; iste. a- some prefer the flavour of the powdered roots of dandelion to that of either coffee or chiccory. Dr Duncan is ol' opinion that chiccory might be cultivated with great national advantages as a substitute for the exotic berry. (Disco, to Cat,;/. ll»rt. Sue. 18200 Bose says the decoction of chiccory roots is whole- son, e, but that it hiis nothing more belonging to it of coffee than the colour. He sees no objection to its use a.~ a substitute, but deprecates .is fraudulent its mixture with the powder of real coffee. 6166. The value of the chiccory as a salad plant appears to us not to be suifioiently appreciated in this country, (ireat quantities of the blanched leaves of chiccory are sold in the markets ot the Netherlands very early in the spring, and supply a grateful salad long before lettuces are to be had. t he roots are taki'ii upon the approach of winter, and packed in cellars in alternate layers of sand, so as to form ridges with the crowns of the plants on the surface of the ridge. Here, if the irost be excluded, they soon send 811 out leaves in such abundance as to afford a supply of salad during winter. If light is excluded, the leaves are per- K% , fectly blanched, and in this state are >' 812 known under the name of Barbe de Capucin. On ship-board it is customary 'e&jMj to use a barrel of sand with numerous ^-*V holes (fig. 811.), or a hamper, for the same purpose. (Gard. Mag. vol. ii. and Envy, of Gard.) 6166. The Astragalus boc'ticus (fig. 8 1'2. , an annual distin- guished by its triangular pods, a native of the south of Europe, is cultivated in Hungary (§ 630.), anil in some parts of Germany, for the seeds as a substitute for coffee. The culture is the same as that of the common pea or tare. Book VI. PLANTS FOR MEDTCINAL PURPOSES. 913 6167. In a farmer section (6055.) we have hinted that no farmer who cultivates the hop need be without a vegetable equal to asparagus, or fibre similar to that of flax to employ his servants in spinning ; and from the foregoing observations it would seem that whoever has a garden may grow his own coffee and tobacco. Sect. V. Plants which are or may be groiim in the Fields for Medicinal Purposes. 6168. A number of medicinal plants were formerly grown in the fields ; but vegetable drugs are now much less the fashion ; a few powerful sorts are retained, which are either collected wild or are natives of other countries, and the rest of the pharmacopoeia is chiefly made up of minerals. It may safely be affirmed that there are no plants belonging to this section which deserve the notice of the general farmer ; but we have thought it desirable to notice a few sometimes grown by farming gardeners, and which may be considered as belonging almost equally to horticulture and agriculture, or as points of connection between the two arts. These are the saffron, liquorice, rhubarb, lavender, mints, chamomile, and thyme. 6169. The saffron, or autumn crocus (Crocus sativus ~L.,fig. 813. a), is a bulbous-rooted I .1 1RIE 117/ perennial, which has been long cultivated in the south of Europe, and since Edward III.'s time in England, and chiefly at Saffron Walden in Essex. It was abundantly cultivated there, and in Cambridgeshire, Suffolk, and Herefordshire, in the beginning of the seven- teenth century ; but the quantity of land under this crop has been gradually lessening for the last century, and especially within the last fifty years, so that its culture is now almost entirely confined to a few parishes round Saffron Walden. (Young's Essex.) This is owing partly to the material being less in use than formerly, and partly to the large im- portations from the East, often, as Professor Martyn observes, adulterated with bastard saffron (Cdrthamus tinctdrius) and marigolds (Calendula officinalis). 6170. The bulbs of the saffron are planted on a prepared soil, not poor nor a very stiff clay, but, if possible, a hazel mould on chalk. They are planted in July, in rows six inches apart across the ridges, and at three inches' distance in the rows. 6171. The flowers, which are purple, and appear in September, are gathered, carried home, and the stigmas picked out, together with a portion of the style ; these are dried on a kiln between layers of paper, and under the pressure of a thick board, to form the mass into cakes. 6172. The crop of an acre averages two pounds of dried cake after the first planting, and twenty-four pounds for the next two years. After the tiiird crop the roots are taken up, divided, and replanted. 6173. The uses of saffron in medicine, domestic economy, and the arts, are various. It is detersive, re- solvent, anodvne, cephalic, ophthalmic. &c. ; but its use is not without danger : in large doses it promotes drowsiness, lethargy, vomiting, and delirium ; even its smell is injurious, and has been known to produce syncope. It is used in sauces by the Spaniards and Poles ; here and in France it enters into creams, bis- cuits, conserves, liquors, &c, and is used for colouring butter and cheese, and also by painters and dyers. 6174. The liquorice (Glycyrrhiza glabra h.,Jig. 813. b.; Liquoritia officinalis H.H. 10493. ) is a deep-rooting perennial, of the Leguminosae, with herbaceous stems rising four or five feet high. It has long been much cultivated in Spain ; and since Elizabeth's time has been grown in different parts of England. 6175. The soil for the liquorice should be a deep sandy loam, trenched by the spade or plough, or the aid of both, to two and a half or three feet in depth, and manured if necessary. The plants are procured from old plantations, and consist of the side roots, which have eyes or buds. In autumn, when a crop of liquorice is taken up for use, these may be taken off and laid in earth tiU spring, or they may be taken from a growing plantation as wanted for planting. The planting season rnav be either October or February and March. In general the latter months are preferred. The plants are dibbled in rows three feet apart, anil from eighteen inches ti> two feet in the row, according to the richness of the soil. The after-culture con- sists in horse-hoeing and deep stirring, in weeding, and in cutting over and carrying away the haulm every autumn after it is completely withered. As the plants do not rise above a foot the first season, a crop of unions or beans is sometimes taken in the intervals. The plants must have three summers' growth, at the end of which the roots may be taken up by trenching over the ground. These are either immediately sold to the brewers' druggists, or to common druggists, or preserved in sand, like carrots or potatoes, tiu wanted for use. They are used in medicine and porter-brewing. D4 i PRACTICE OF AGRICULTURE. l ,\ KT 111. 814 6176. The rhuburh (/I'licum palmatum I. .Jig. 81:5. c) is B perennial, with thick oval roots which strike deep into the ground, large palmate leaves, anil rluwer-stems six or eight feet high. Its haves are the best of all the kinds of rhubarb for tarts. The Society Of Arts exerted itself tor many years to promote the culture of this plant, as did Dr. Hope of Edinburgh. It has accordingly been cultivated with success both in England and Scotland; though the quality of the root produced is considered by the faculty inferior to that of the Russia or Turkey rhubarb, as Professor Martyn thinks, an inferiority pro- bably owing to the moisture of our climate, and the imperfect mode of drying. 11177. In tin- culture Ofthll plant, If bulk of produce be the Object, then a deep, rich, loamy sand should tic choten; but ii flavour, then a dry, warm, somewhat calcareous sand. Prepare as (or liquorice, and K>« in' patch. * of two or three seeds, In rows four feet apart, and the same distance in the rows. Transplanting trom seed-beds may l>c adopted ; but the roots are never so handsome and entire. As soon ;„ the plants appear, leave only one in a place. The plants will now stand in the angles of squares of lour feel to the side. The after-culture consists in horse-hoeing and deep stirring, both lengthwise and acro>s; in ploughing in the same directions; in never letting the flower-stems rise higher than two feet, or show (lowers or seed unless some is wanted for propagation; and in removing the decayed haulm every autumn. The plants, having stood three or four summers may he taken up, and their main roots dried in a verv slow manner by any of the following modes : — The common British mode of curing or drying the rhubarb, alter cleaning the roots, is to cut them into sections, an inch or more in thickness, string them, and dry them in airy lofts, laundries, or kitchens, in a gradual manner. This has long been the practice of private gardeners who grow the root for their own use, and has also been adopted by cul- tivators for the druggists. The rhubarb is cured in Tartary by being thoroughly cleaned, the smaller branches cut oil', and then cut transversely into pieces of ? moderate size ; these are placed on long tables or boards, and turned three or four times a day, that the yellow viscid juice may incorporate with the substance of the root. If this juice be suffered to run out, the roots become light and unserviceable ; and if they be not cut within five or six days after they are dug up, they become soft and decay very speedily. Four or five days after they are cut, holes are made through them, and they are hung up to dry exposed to the air and wind, but sheltered from the sun. Thus, in about two months, the roots are completely dried, and arrive at their full perfection. The loss of weight in drying is very considerable; seven loads of green roots yielding only one small horse-load of perfectly dry rhubarb. (il7.S. The Chinese in curing rhuburh, after having cleaned the roots, by scraping off the outer bark, as well as the thin yellow membrane underneath, cut them in slices, an inch or two in thickness, and dry them on stone slabs, under which large fires are kindled They keep continually turning these slices on the warm slabs; but as this operation is not sufficient to dry them thoroughly, they make a hole through them, and suspend them on lines, in a place exposed to the greatest heat of the sun, till they are in a condition to be pre- served without danger of spoiling. A copious account of all the experiments made in Britain for the culture and curing of the rhubarb up to ls,(f>, is given by Pro- fessor Martyn, in his edition of Miller's Dictionary, art. Rheum; and of the Turkey, Russian, and Chinese rhubarb, in Thomson's Dispensatory, 2d edit. 1822, p. 469. It has been alleged of late, that the true medicinal rhubarb is not the /theum palmatum as hitherto supposed, but the 11. australe {Jig. 8i+.) This species appears to be peculiar to the great table lands of central Asia, between the lati- tudes of 31° and 4W , where it is found to flourish at an elevation of 11,000 feet above the level of the sea. Large quantities of the roots are annually collected for export- ation in the Chinese provinces, within the lofty range of the Himalaya. The best is that which comes by way of Russia, as greater care is taken in the selection ; and on its arrival at Kiachta, within the Russian frontiers, the roots are carefully examined, and the damaged pieces re- moved. Mr. Sweet has been informed that the stems of the leaves have the same effect as the root ; only, of course, a greater portion of them will require to be used. They may be made up in a small tart, like the stems of the common rhubarb. (Gard. Mag. vol. v. p. 161.) 6179. The lavender (Lavandula Spica L. Jig. 813. d) is a dwarf odoriferous shrub of three or four years' duration, grown in the fields in a few places round London, and chiefly in Surrey, for the sj)ikes of flowers used by the druggists, perfumers, and dis- tillers. The soil snould be a poor dry calcareous gravel. The seeds should be sown in a garden in spring, and the plants may be transplanted in September or March fol- lowing, in rows two feet apart, and kept free from weeds. The second season they will yield a few llowers, and a full crop the fourth, after which the plants will continue productive for five or six years. The spikes are gathered in June, dried in the shade, and sold in bundles to the herbalists, druggists, &C. 6180. Thyme, wormwood, marjoram, savory, and some other aromatics, are cultivated in the same manner, and for similar purposes. Being usually smaller plants, they should be planted closer ; but to have much flavour the soil must be dry and calcareous. 6181. Chamomile ( A nthemis nobilis) is a creeping perennial, grown for its flowers. It only requires to be planted on a poor soil, in rows a foot apart, and hoed between. It will produce abundance of (lowers annually from June to September, which are gathered, and dried in the shade. They are sold by weight to the druggists and apothe- caries. The double-flowered variety is, from its beauty, that commonly cultivated ; but the single possesses more of the virtues of the plant according to its weight. 618°. The mints (Jtfe'ntha), and especially the peppermint (.Mentha piperita), are creeping-rooted perennials, cultivated on rich marshy or soft black moist soils for dis- tilling. The plants are grown in beds with trenches of a foot or more in width and Book VI. MARINE PLANTS. 915 depth between, so as to admit of irrigation. The sets are obtained from old plantations, and planted in rows across the beds at six inches' distance every way, in March or April. No produce worth notice is obtained in the first year, but a full crop in the third, and the shoots will continue to produce for five or six years. The spikes of flowers, and in some cases the entire herbage, are cut over in June, as soon as the flowers expand, and carried immediately to the druggist's still. Some growers distil it themselves. 61S3. The common valerian (Vc.lerihna officinalis L.) is sometimes cultivated for its roots for the druggists. It is a native plant, and prefers a loamy soil. In Derbyshire the plants, which are either procured from the offsets of former plantations, or from wild plants found in wet places in the neighbouring woods, are planted six inches asunder, in rows twelve inches apart. Soon after it comes up in the spring the tops are cut off, to prevent its running to seed, which would spoil it. At Michaelmas, the leaves are pulled and given to cattle, and the roots dug up carefully, and clean washed ; the remaining top is then cut close off, and the thickest part slit down to facilitate their drying, which is effected on a kiln, after which they must be packed tight, and kept very dry, or they will spoil. The usual produce is about 18 cwt. per acre. This crop receives manure in the winter, and requires a great deal. 6184. The orchis or salep plant (Orchis maseula I..) is a tuberous perennial, which grows plentifully in moist meadows in Gloucestershire, and other parts of the country. It flowers in May and ripens seeds in July. It has been proposed to cultivate it for its tubers to be used as salep ; but the plant is very difficult of propagation from seed, and can hardly be multiplied at all by the root ; and, though it may answer to collect the tubers and' prepare them, it is not likely their culture will ever pay. As the plant is very abundant in some situations, it may be useful to know its preparation, which is thus described in Phil. Trans, vol. lix. 61&5 The bulh is to be trashed in water, and the fine brown skin which covers it is to be separated by means of a small brush, or bv dipping the root in hot water, and rubbing it with a coarse linen cloth. When a sufficient number of bulbs are thus cleansed, thev are to be spread on a tin plate, and placed in an oven heated to the usual degree, where thev are to remain six or ten minutes, m which time they w ill have lost their milky whiteness, and acquired a transparency like horn, without any diminution of bulk being arrived at this state, they are to be removed, in order to dry and harden in the air, which it will require several days to effect ; or, bv using a gentle heat, they may be finished in a few hours. By another process, the bulb is boiled in water, freed from the skin, and afterwards suspended in the air to dry ; it thus gains the same appearance as the foreign salep, and does not grow moist or mouldy in wet weather, which those that have been barely dried bv heat are liable to do. Reduced into powder, they soften and dissolve in boiling water into a kind of mucilage, which mav be diluted for use with a large quantity of water or milk Thus prepared, they possess verv nutritious qualities ; and if not of the very same species as those brought from Turkev and used for making salep, thev so nearly resemble them as to be little inferior. In Turkev the different species of the O'rchis are said to be taken indifferently ; but in England, the O rchis niAscu'la is the most common. {Gloucestershire Report, 377.) Chap. IX. Mantle Plants used in Agriculture. 6186. All marine plants may be used as manure with great advantage, either in a recent state or mixed with earth. It is used in this way more or less in all agricultural coun- tries bordering on the sea, and in Britain in all those friths and estuaries, where, from the water not being at the maximum of saltness, the plants which grow in it are not suffi- ciently charged with soda to render it worth while to burn them for the sake of the salt. 6187. The use of sea-treed, as an article from which kelp might be manufactured, seems to have been practically recognised in Scotland about the beginning of the eighteenth century. The great demand (or kelp in the manufacture of glass and soap at Newcastle, and of alum at \\ hitby, seems to have intro- duced the making of this commodity upon the shores of the Forth, so early as about the year 1,-0. It began to be manufactured in the Orkney Islands in the year 1723, but in the western shires of Scotland the making of kelp was not known for many years after this date. The great progress of the bleaching of linen cloth in Ireland, first gave rise to the manufacture of kelp in that kingdom ; and from Ireland it was transferred to the Hebrides about the middle of the eighteenth century. On the shores of i-ngland the kelp plants are not abundant. 6188. All marine plants may be used for the manufacture of kelp, but the principal species in use on the British shores belong to the Linnean genus .Fucus. Fiicus vesiculous (Jig. 815. a) is considered by kelp-makers as the most productive ; and the kelp obtained is, in general, supposed to be of the best quality. .Fucus nodosus (b) is considered to afford a kelp of equal value to that of the above species, though perhaps it is not quite so productive. Jticus serratus c , or black- weed, as it is commonly called, is neither so productive as the preceding, nor is the kelp procured from it so va- luable. This weed is seldom employed "alone for the manufacture of kelp; it is in general mixed with some of the other kinds. Fucus digitatus (Laminaria rh'gitata II. B. 15, 343.) (d) is said to afford a kelp inferior in quality to that obtained from any of the others ; it forms the principal part of the drift-weed. 6189. The plants are cut in May, June, and July, an.l exposed to the air on the ground till nearly dried, care being taken to prevent them, as much as possible, from being exposed to the rain. I hey are then 3 P 946 PRACTICE OF AGRICULTURE. Part III. burned in a rude sort of kiln, formed by digging a pil in the sand, or by enclosing a portion of the surface with loose stones. On the bottom of this kiln a peat tire is kindled, and the weed is gradually added, till the fire extends over the whole floor ; the weed is then spread lightly on the top, and added in successive portions. As it burns it leaves ashes, which accumulating towards evening, become semifused, and are then well stirred. Ancther day's burning increases the mass; and this is continued till the kiln is nearly rilled. On some occasions the kiln consists of a cavity in the ground, over which bars of iron are placed ; and on this the ware is burned, the ashes falling into the cavity, where they are well worked by the proper instruments. 6190. Kc/p is getteral/9 divided into tiro kinds ; the cut- weed kelp, and the drift- weed kelp ; the former made from the weed which has been recently cut from the rocks, the latter from that which has been drifted ashore. The latter is supposed to yield a kelp of inferior quality. Some specimens of kelp, how- ever, made from sea-weed which had been drifted ashore, tend to prove that this is not always the case. Weed which has been exposed to rain during the process of drying, affords a kelp of inferior quality. It is of the utmost importance to the manufacturer of kelp, to keep his weed as much as possible free from rain. For this purpose many employ sheds ; when these are not at hand, the weed which has been laid out to dry should be collected into one heap during the rain ; when this ceases, it should again be imme- diately spread out. It has often been matter of dispute, how old the plants should be before they are cut. In general, three years is considered sufficient: this, however, from some trials which have been made to ascertain this point, seeins to be too long. From experiments, it appears, that the produce of kelp, from one ton of three years' old weed, is only eight pounds more than that from the same quantity of two years' old ; from this we would conclude, that the weed ought to be cut every two years. Though perhaps less weed may be procured from the same extent of ground occupied by weed of two, than of three years' growth, yet the difference may not be so great as to render it worth while to allow the weed to remain for three years. 6191. In order to increase the quantity of kelp, it has been suggested to the Highland Society, that the seed of the Salsola Siidn might be imported and cultivated at a small distance from the shore, with the design of mixing the plant with the sea-ware, for the improvement of the kelp. It was formerly imagined, lh.it the barilla plant would not produce any quantity ot alkali, worth its cultivation, if planted in France; but m the year 17S2, some spirited individuals procured a quantity of barilla seed, and made a plantation ol it near the coast of the Mediterranean, in the province of Langucdoc, and had the satisfaction for several vears to find, that the barilla which they produced from these plants was of a quality equal to that which they usually procured from Alicant. Why, then, may not a similar attempt in our own country be equally successful '? 61 92. Other plants- If the growers of kelp could contrive to make some considerable plantations of the most productive of the kali, or of fumitory, wormwood, and other inland plants, which yield large quantities of potash, and collect the crop to burn with the other materials, the carbonate of potash resulting from their incineration would decompose the sea salt, and a great accumulation of carbonate of soda would be produced. 1 1 was proved long ago by Du Hamel, that the marine plants produced soda merely in con- sequence of their situation, for when they have been cultivated for some years in an inland spot they yield only potash. 6193. There are immense tracts of shore on the mainland and islands of Scotland which may be easily cultivated for the production of kelp, from which at present not one penny is derived. All the cultivation requisite is, to place whin or other hard stones, not under the size of the crown of a hat, upon such vacant spaces. Contracts have been made to plant shore lands in the Highlands with such stones, at the rate of Si 7 per Scots acre. Such stones are generally to be found at high-water mark, on all the shores of the lochs of the Highlands. They are put into a boat at high water, then carried to the ground to be planted, and thrown overboard ; on the ebb of the tide they are distributed regularly over the shore, preserving a clear space of one foot round every stone, which distance, after very minute examination, appears to be the most eligible for producing the greatest crop of ware. It it evident these stones should be of a round shape ; as the more surface that is exposed to the alternate action of the air and water, so much more kelp ware will be produced from a given space of ground. In four years the first crop may be cut, which, on the above data will yield about four per cent on the original expense. But the crop may be manufac- tured into kelp in every third year thereafter, which, on the same data, is equal to about five percent. In this improvement there is no hazard of bad crops ; and if the manufacture is begun early enough in the season, there is little danger to be apprehended from bad weather, it being understood that the operation of kelp-making can be carried on, should there be no more than two dry days in eight. (Highland Society's Trans, vols. v. and vi.) 6194. The cultivation of barilla (Salsola Soda, Chenopbdeae, a native of Spain), on a small scale, was tried in the gardens of Tynningham, the seat of the Earl of Haddington, in 1789, but without success, although planted under a south wall, in a most sheltered part of the garden. (J. M. in Gard. Mas.) The culture of this and other species is practised to some extent in the neighbourhood of Alicant in Spain, and the details given Hook VI. PLANTS INJURIOUS TO AGRICULTURE. 9-i 7 in the Cours Complet, $c. art. Sonde. The ground is brought into good tilth, and manured ; and the seed sown broadcast in October or November : in the following spring the plants will be found an inch high, and must be kept clear of weeds till the month of August, when, being at its full growth, it may be mown or pulled up (for it has scarcely any roots), dried, and afterwards burnt in holes in the ground like kelp. 6195. The sea-wrack grass (Zostera marina; Fluviales) is found in abundance on different parts of our own shores, as at Yarmouth, the bays of the Orkney Islands, and other bays not exposed to the immediate fury of the ocean. 6196. It groivs in banks of sand and mud, which banks appear to be held togetherprincipally by the roots of this plant, which are strong and succulent, and throw out numerous lateral fibres. It grows at such depths as to be left nearly dry by the ebbing of spring tides. During the autumn and beginning of winter these leaves are thrown on shore in large quantities. They are of a very imperishable nature, and may be kept for any length of time in fresh or salt water, without any apparent decay. In the Orkney Islands this grass is thrown ashore during winter in large quantities, and collected by the inhabitants with other marine plants into heaps, for manure. In these heaps it is allowed to ferment, and sometimes, before being applied, it is mixed with earth or other matters. It is also used as thatch, and forms a more durable defence against the violent winds and heavy rains of that climate than straw. A few years ago, in con. sequence of premiums offered by the Highland Society, this grass was applied as a substitute for horse, hair, and stuffing mattresses and furniture : for this purpose it is carefully washed twice in fresh water, then dried quickly ; and afterwards, any sea-weed that had got mixed with it picked out. In the Orkneys it is steeped in fresh-water lakes for a week, then taken out and spread wet on the ground, and picked, while in this state, from extraneous matters. Exposure to drought for one day will make it sufficiently dry for packing. When dry, care must be taken, if the weather is windy, to gather it into heaps or cocks, otherwise it may be blown away, being then extremely light. It is sent to market in large bags of sack- ing, or twisted into ropes of the thickness of a man's waist, and then compactly made up in nets, formed of ropes made of bent grass. It is sold at the Asylum for the Industrious Blind at Edinburgh, who em- ploy it in stuffing mattresses. (Hig/U. Soc. Trans, vol. vi. p. 592.) Chap. X. Weeds or Plants injurious to those cultivated in Agriculture. 6197. Every plant n'hich appears where it is not wanted may be considered injurious, though some are much more so than others. A stalk of barley in a field of oats is a weed, relatively to the latter crop, but a thistle is a weed in any crop ; weeds, therefore, may be classed as relative and absolute. 6198. Relative weeds, or such cultivated plants as spring up where they are not wanted, give compara- tively little trouble in extirpating them. The most numerous are the grasses when they spring up in fields of saintfoin or lucem, or among corn crops in newly broken up grass lands. The roots of chiccory, in fields that have been broken up after bearing that crop for some years, those of madder, liquorice, Sec, nre of difficult extirpation. When the potato crop has not been carefully gathered, or mustard has been allowed to shed its seed, they also occasion trouble. Other cases will readily occur to the practical man, and need not be mentioned. *6199. Absolute weeds, or such native plants as are considered injurious to all crops, are very numerous, and may be variously arranged. Some affect in a more peculiar manner corn-fields and tillage lands, and these are chieflv annuals, as wild mustard, wild radish, poppy, blue-bottle, cockle, darnel, &c. ; or biennials, as the thistle; or perennials, as couch-grass, knot-grass, black-couch, polygonum, &c ; on lands laid down to grass for a few years, dock, ox-eye daisy, ragweed, Sec. Others infest grass lands, and these are chiefly perennials, such as crowfoot, one of the most difficult of weeds to extirpate ; thistles, docks, rushes, sedges, moss, and an endless variety of others. Some are more particularly abundant in hedges; of which the reedv and coarse grasses, as couch-grass, brome-grass ; the climbing and twining plants, as goose-grass (Galium Sparine) ; and the twiners, asbind-weed (Convolvulus), are the most injurious. 6200. With regard to the destruction of weeds, they may be classed first according to their duration. 6201. Alt annuals and biennials, as sand-wort {_fig.S16. a), and sorrel (6), are effectually destroyed by cutting over the plant at any point below that whence the seed leaves originated, as this prevents them from ever springing again from the roots. Perennials of the fibrous-rooted kind may be destroyed in the same manner, as the crowfoot, rag- weed, the fibrous. rooted grasses, and many others. Some fusiform-rooted perennials may also be destroyed by similar means ; but almost all the thick-rooted perennials require to be wholly eradicated. 6803. The perennial treed--, which require their roots to be wholly eradicated, may be classed according to the kind of roots. The first we shall mention are the scoloniferous roots or surface shoots of plants, by which they propagate themselves. Of this kind are the creeping crowfoot, goosefoot or wild tansy, potentillas, mints, strawberries, black couch-grass, and most of the ^grostidea? and other grasses. The next are the under-ground creeping roots, as the couch-grass. Convolvulus arvensis, and other species of bind-weed, coltsfoot [fig. 816. r), sowthistle, several tetrauvnamous plants, as toadflax. Scrophu- laria, nettle, hedge. nettle (Stachys), Lamium, 7>alK .ta, &c. Some of these, as the bindweed and corn-mint, are extremely difficult to eradicate : a single inch of stolone, if left in the ground, sending up a shoot and becoming a plant. The creep- ing and descending vivacious roots are the most difficult of all to eradicate. Of this class are the .Polygonum amphibium (Jig. 817. a), the reed (/frundo Phragmltes), the horse-tail (£quisetum,^g.817. b), and some others. These plants abound in deep clays, which have been deposited by water, as in the carses and clav-vales of Scotland. In the Carse of Falkirk for example, the roots of the Polygonum amphfbium arc found 3 P -2 948 ntACTICE OF AGRICULTURE. III. every where in the subsoil alive and vigorous. Tliey send up a few leaves every year in the furrows and on the side* of drains; and when any field is neglected or left a year or two in grass, they are found all over its surface. Were this tract left to nature for a few years, it would soon br as completely cover^l with the Polygonum as it must have been at a former age, when it was one entire mar>h partially covered by the Frith of Forth. The horse-tail is equally abundant in many soils, even of a drier desceiption ; and the corn-thistle (Scrratula arvensis,^. 817. c) even in dry rocky grounds. Lightfoot {Flora Sculica) men- tions plants of this species dug out of a quarry, the roots of which were nineteen feet in length : it would be useless to attempt eradicating the roots of such plants. The only means of keeping them under, is to cut off their tops or shoots as soon as they appear ; for which purpose, lands subject to them are best kept in tillage. In grass lands, though they may be kept from rising high, yet they will, after being repeatedly mown, form a stool or stock of leaves on the surface, which will suffice to strengthen their roots, and greatly to injure the useful herbage plants and grasses. 6203. Tuberous and bulbous-rooted ivceds, are not very numerous ; wild garlic, arum, and bryony are examples ; and these are only to be destroyed by complete eradication. 6204. Ramose, fusiform, and similarly rooted perennials, of which rest-harrow, fern, and scabious are examples, may in general be destroyed by cutting over below the collar or point whence the seed-leaves have issued. Below that point the great majority of plants, ligneous as well as herbaceous, have no power of sending up shoots ; though there are many exceptions, such as the dock, burdock, &c, among herbs, and the thorn, elm, poplar, cherry, crab, &c, among trees. G205. Holdich has taken a different view of the subject of weeds, and classed them, not according to the modes by which they may be destroyed, but according to the injuries which they do to the soil or the crop. He has divided them into two classes, weeds of agriculture, or arable lands, and pasture weeds. 6206. Arable veeds are arranged as, 1. those which infest samples of corn ; 2. root or fallow weeds, and such others as are hard to destroy ; 3. those which are principally objectionable as they incumber the soil ; 4. underling weeds, such as never rise with the crop, nor come into the sickle. Under these heads, each weed in its respective division is treated of as to its deteriorating qualities and mode of destruction. RhoB'as) ; o. Blue-bottle (Centaurea Cyanusi : 4. Mavweed (/!' nthemis CNStula) ; and 5. Com marigold (Chrysanthemum s^getum. 6209. The treeds called underlings, or such as never rise in the crops, are, 1. Groundsel (Senecio vulgaris) ; 2. Annual meadow grass (Pba annua) ; 3. Chickweed (Stellaria media) ; 4. Shep- herd's purse (Thlapsi bursa pasl6ris and erecta) ; 5. Spurry (SpArgula arv^nsis) ; 6. Chamomile (.Matricaria Chamomflla) ; 7.Tat-hen (Chenon&dium dlbum) ; 8. Common com salad {Fedia. olitoria) , 9. Flix-weed (.Sisymbrium Sophia) ; 10. Com- mon fumitory (Fumaria officinalis) ; 11. Sand mustard (A'ina- pis muralis). 620". The weeds tvhich infest the sample are, 1 . Darnel (/Milium temulenrum) ; 2. Cockle (Agroslemm i Githkgo) ; 5. Tares (fiYvum tetraspermum ; 4. Melilot (Trife-lium .Uelilotus offi- cinalis); 5. Wild oats (.4vena fatua) ; 6 llariff (GUium ^pa- nne) ; 7. Crow needles (ScandU P^cten) ; 8. Black bindweed (Polygonum Convolvulus) ; 9. Snake-weed (Polygonum /apa- thifolium; ; 10. Charlock seeds, (Sinapis, /taphanus, and Bras- ■Jca) in barley sometimes. 6208. Weeds which are principally olijectiemahle as they encum- ber the soil are, 1. Charlock, a name which is applied to four species of CrucllVr e ^ i *en-i> and nigra, Aaphanus Kaphanlstram, and Bra— i. a A :pus; ; 2. Com poppy (Papaver 6210. Pasture tueeds are, 1. Dwarf-thistle (Carduusacaulis') ; 2. Common chamomile (A nthemis nobilis) ; 3. Star-thistle 'Ccntaurfca Calcitrapa ; 4. Ox-eyedaisy [Chrysanthemum leuranthemum' ; 5. Great fleabane (Con^za squarrosa) ; 6. Cheese-rennet (Galium veruirO ; 7. I.ong-rooted hawkweed (Jpargia autumnalis) ■ 8. Wild thyme I Thfmut .S'erpvllum' ; 9. Sheep's sorrel (/.iimex Acetogella) ; 10. Knot-grass (Polygonum aviculare) ; 11. Yellow tattle Khinanthus Crista galli) ; 12. Common carline thistle {Curiina vulgaris). 6211. Pasture needs tvhich generally prevail in toamv s-ils, and neb also as are prevalent in clave* and damp soil-, .ire principally as follows : — 1 . Yellow (man-beard (Tragopogon pr.itenMSi ; ?. Marsh thistle (Cdrduus paliistris) ; 3. Melan- « i . > ttustle ;Carduus heierophyllus) ; -1. Meadow thistle (Car* 't 1 L* pratensis,. , 6. Common butter-hur (Tussilago Petasites) ; 6. Common ragwort (Senecio JacobaAt) ; 7. Common daisy (Mliis perennis); 8. Common black knapweed (Centaurea niera) : 9. Broad-leaved dock (Riimex obtusifblius) ; 10 Orchb fCrrcbis mascula. macutata, latifoiia, m6rlo, and ryramidaiis) ; II. Common cow-parsmp (iferacleum Sphondylium) ; 12. Sedge (Carex), various species. «212. A calnlnzne <]f weed* could be of little use to the agriculturist, as the meiv names could never instruct him as to their qualities as weeds, even if he knew them by Book VII. ECONOMY OF LIFE STOCK. 949 their proper names. Besides, weeds which abound most, and are most injurious in one district, are often rare in another. Thus, the poppy abounds in gravelly districts, the charlocks on clays, the chickweed, groundsel, nettle, &c, only on rich soils. A local Flora, or any of the national Floras, as Lightfoot's Flora Scotica, and Smith's British Flora, and, we may be allowed to add, our own Encyclopcedia of Plants and Hortus Britannicus, by pointing out the habits of indigenous plants, may be of considerable use to the agriculturist who has acquired a slight degree of the science of botany. BOOK VII. THE ECONOMY OF LIVE STOCK AND THE DAIRY. 6213. The grand characteristic of modem British farming, and that which constitutes its greatest excellence, is the union of the cultivation of live stock with that of vegetables. Formerly in this country, and in most other countries, the growing of corn and the rearing of cattle and sheep constituted two distinct branches of farming ; and it was a question among writers, as, according to Von Tliaer, it still is in Germany, which was the most desirable branch to follow. The culture of roots and herbage crops at last led gradually to the soiling or stall-feeding husbandry, in imitation of the Flemings ; and afterwards, about the middle of the last century, to the alternate husbandry, which is entirely of British invention, and has been more effectually than any thing else the means of improving the agriculture of the districts where it is practised. 6214. It is observed by Brown, that " though horses, neat cattle, sheep, and swine are of equal importance to the British farmer with corn crops, yet we have few treatises concerning the animals, compared with the immense number that have been written on the management of arable land, or the crops produced upon it But though so little has been written, the improvement of those animals has not been neglected ; on the contrary, it has been studied like a science, and carried into execution with the most sedulous attention and dexterity. We wish it could be stated, that one half of the care had been applied to the selecting and breeding of wheat and other grains, which has been displayed in selecting and breeding the best propor- tioned and most kindly feeding sheep. A comparison cannot, however, be made with the slightest degree of success; the exertions of the sheep-farmers having, in every point of view, far exceeded what has been done by the renters of arable land. Even with cattle considerable improvement has taken place. With horses, those of the racing and hunting kinds excepted, there has not been correspondent improvement ; and as to swine, an animal of great benefit to the farmer, in consuming offal which would otherwise be of no value, it is to be regretted that very much remains to be done." 6215. The first important effort in the improvement of live stock was made by Robert BaVewell, who was born on his father's estate of Dishley, in 1726. Mr. Bakewell wrote nothing himself; so the first scientific work on the subject was written by George Culley, in 1782, who had formed himself on Bakewell's model. The systematic improvements of Mr. Bakewell were developed in various agricultural reports, and con- sisted in attempts to lessen such parts of the animal frame of cattle and sheep as were least useful to man, as bone, cellular substance, and appendages ; at the same time increasing such other parts, as flesh or muscle, and fat, as become more important in the furnishing man with food. These ends he endeavoured to accomplish by a judicious selection of individuals, possessing the wished-for form and qualities in the greatest degree; which being perpetuated in their progeny in various proportions, and the selection being continued from the most approved specimens among these, enabled him at length to establish breeds with the desired properties. Later improvements have been grafted on these, and we find excellent observations on the subject from the pens of Cline, Dr. Coventry, Sir J. Sebright, Hunt of Leicester, and the Rev. H. Berry ; and we have witnessed the strenuous and successful efforts of a Russell, a Coke, an Elhnan, and others. The improvement in the sciences of comparative anatomy and physiology has also led to an amended practice both in breeding and in pathology. The example of various opulent proprietors and farmers in all parts of the empire tended to spread this improvement, by which the pursuit became fashionable. Add to these the accounts of the management of live stock in almost every county of the British Isles, as contained in Marshal's Works and the County Reports. From these sources we shall draw the information we are about to submit, and shall adopt the arrangement of the horse, the ass, the mule and hinny, the bull family and the dairy, the sheep, the swine, minoi stock, and injurious animals or vermin. Chap. I. The cultivated Horse. — E\uus Cabdllus L. ; Mammalia Bellu which is meant the result of confining to particular r, 3 P 4 9v: PRACTICE OF AGRICULTURE. P III. ft u . I:.. >^^^k^s^v!*\ nu. ins ol continuing their species, it observed with equal care and jealous] by the breeden of 820 'he English race, as by the Arabians ; ami turf jockeys assert they can discover a taint or departure from this purity to the sixteenth remove. 6232. The hunter [fig BSD.) is derived from horses of entire blood, or such as are hut little removed from it, uniting with mares of substance, correct form, ami rood action. In some instances hunters are derived from large mares of the pure breed, propagating with powerful stallions of the old English road horse. This favourite and valuable breed is a happy com- bination of the speed of the Arabian, with the dura, bility of the native horse. More extended in form, but framed on the same principles, he is able to carry a considerable weight through heavy grounds, with a" swiftness equalled only by the animal he pursues, and with a perseverance astonishing to the natives of every other country. Hence the extreme demand for this breed of horses in every European country ; our racing stallions being now sent to propagate in the eastern climes, whence they were some of them origi- nally brought. 1x333. The improved hackney [Jig. B21.) is derived, like the former, from a judicious mixture of the blood breed with the native horse, but exhibiting a greater proportion of the latter. Hackneys are now, however, mostly bred from stallions possessing nearly the same proportion of blood with the hunter ; but with a form and qualities somewhat different In the hack- ney, as safety is as requisite as speed, we look particu- larly to the fore parts to see that they are high and well placed; that the head is not heavy, nor the neck dis- proportionately longor short ; that the legs stand straight that is, that a perpendicular line drawn from the point of the shoulder should meet the toe] ; and that the elbows turn out: and although a perfect conformation in the hinder parts is necessary to the hackney, it is in some measure subordinate to the same perfection in the fore parts ; whereas in the racer and hunter, but par- ticularly in the former, the form of the hinder is even of more consequence than that of the fore parts. 6234. The old English road horse. This most useful breed is now nearly extinct, although some northern agriculturists appear to be making efforts to revive the race. It has so long been known in this country that it might almost oe reckoned among its indigent : although it is probable that it originally sprang from a judicious culture from horses of Norman, German, or Flemish extraction, which horses were very early im- ported to enlarge our small breeds, and to render goo them equal to the heavy loads they were accus- tomed to carry as pack-horses ; and of which kind the old English road horse unquestionably is. (,/tg.822.) Neither is it at all impossible, that.in the more fertile parts of the island, an original breed existed of considerable power and bulk. Athel- stati expressly prohibited the exportation of En- glish horses, and the " scythed chariots drawn by fiery steeds" of the ancient Britons struck terror even into Ca?sar's legions. These accounts of the antiquity of the English horse, receive additional strength from the notices we obtain of the fossil bones of horses having been found, according to Parkinson, in various parts of the island. The old English road horse possessed great power, with short joints, a moderate shoulder, elevated crest, with legs and feet almost invariably good. The heights varied from fifteen hands to fifteen hands two inches; and the colours were fre- floi- it, i.- ■ quentlv mixed. owf- y "f objection, Lou eve,, io English /torses, both of the original and of the more early improved meeds, and which is even still seen among them, is, that they want grace or expression in their figure and oamage ; that they are somewhat obstinate and sullen ; and that a certain stillness in their shoulders, and and elasticity in their limbs, render them unfit for the manege. As this is an im- .'"^•Tu b /f' e !l* °[ nn sometimes, but always \ cr\ straight, sides flat, shoulders too far forward, hind. quarters middling, but rather high about the hips, ' °- J legs round and short in the pa-terns, deep-bellied] and full In the Hank. Here, perhaps, lies much of the merit of these hones ; for we know, from ob- servation and experience, that all deep-bellied horses carry their food long, and consequently are enabled to stand longer and harder days' works. However, certain it is, that these horsed do perform surprising davs' works, it is well known, thai the Suffolk and Norfolk farmers plough more land in a day than any other people in the island ; and these are the kind of horses every when' used in those districts." [Culley mi Lire Stock, p -7. Since Culley's time much pains have been taken to im- prove this useful breed, and to render them, by cul- tivation, fitted not only for heavy hut for light work. It is no uncommon thing for a Suffolk stallion to fetch from '20(1/. to SOW. The best show of these stallions in England is at Woodbridge Lady-day fair, where Suffolk cart mares have brought from ion/, to 1504. , and one mare and her offspring a few years ago at this fair brought lObOZ The figure (Sii.) hardly docs justice to the animal. [M ) The Clydesdale liurse \Jig. S'Jti.) has been long in high repute in Scotland and the north of England ; and, tor the purposes of the farmer, is probably equal to any other breed in Britain. Of the origin of this race, various accounts have been given, but none of them so clear, or so well authenticated, as to merit any notice. They have got this name, not because they are bred only in Clydesdale or Lanarkshire, for the same description of horses are reared in the other western counties of Scotland, and over all that tract which lies between the Clyde and the Forth, but be- cause the principal markets at which they are sold, Lanark, Carnwalh, Rutherglen, and Glasgow, are situated in that district, where they are also preserved in a state of greater purity than in most other parts. They are rather larger than the Suffolk punches, and the neck is somewhat longer; their colour is black, brown, or grey, and a white spot on the face is esteemed a mark of beauty. The breast is broad ; the shoulder thick, with the reaching cartilaginous portion of the blade-bone nearly as high as the withers, and not so much thrown backwards as in road horses ; the hoof round, and usually black, with wide heels: the hack straight and broad, but not too long; the hucks visible, hut not prominent, and the space between them and the ribs short; the tail heavy, and well haired , the thighs meeting each other so near as to leave only a small groove for the tail'to rest on. One most valuable property of this breed is, that they are remarkably true pullers, a restive horse being rarely found among them. 6244. The Welsh horse {Jig. 827. a) bears a near resemblance, in point of size and hardiness, to the best of the native breed of the highlands of Scotland, and other hilly countries in the north of Europe. It is too small for the present two-horse ploughs ; but few horses are equal to them for enduring fatigue on the road. " 1 well remember," says Culley, " one that I rode lor many years, which, to the last, would have gone upon a pavement by choice, in preference to a softer road." {Observations on Live SI ■,■/,, p. .'35.) 6 -IV The galloway (/<), properly so called as being found chiefly in that province of Scotland, has now become very rare, the breed having been neglected from its unfitness for agricultural purposes. Galloway is, however, used as a term tor any horse between the pony size and the hack ; and in this point of view is sufficiently numerous, anil very commonlv bred bv small' farmers on commons and wastes. The true galloway is somewhat larger than the Welsh horse] and is said to resemble the Spanish horses; there is also a tradition, that some of the latter, that had escaped from one of the vessels of the Armada, wrecked on the coast of Galloway, were allowed to intermix with the native race. Such of this breed as have been preserved in any degree of purity are of a light bay or brown colour, with black legs, and are easily dis- lished by the smallnoss of their head and neck, and the cleanness of their bone. 6246. The siill smaller horses <»/ the Highlands and isles of Scotland, (c) are distinguished from larger breeds by the several appellations of potu\ s, thelites, ami in Gaelic of garrons or gearrons. They are reared in great numbers ill the Hebrides, or western isles, where they are found in the greatest purity. Different varieties of the same race are spread over all the Highland districts, and the northern isles. This ancient breed is supposed to have been introduced into Scotland from Scandinavia, when the Norwegians and Danes first obtained a footing in these parts. " It is precisely the same breed that subsists at present in Norway, the I'eroe Isles, and Iceland, and is totally distinct from every thing of horse kind on the continent of Europe, south of the Baltic. In confirmation of this, there is one peculiar variety of the horse in the Highlands, that deserves to be noticed: it is there called the eeUbackcd horse. lb' is of different colours, light bay, dun, and sometimes cream-coloured; but has always a blackish list that runs along the ridge of the back, from the shoulder to the rump, which has a Book VIX ORGANOLOGY OF THE HORSE. 955 resemblance to an eel stretched out. This very singular character subsists also in many cf the horses of Norway, and is nowhere else known." {Walker's Hebrides, vol. ii. p. 158.) " The Highland horse is sometimes only nine, and seldom twelve hands high, except in some of the southern of the Hebrides, where the size has been raised to thirteen or fourteen hands by selection and better feeding. Thebest of this breed are handsomelv shaped, have small legs, large manes, little neat heads, and are extremely active and hardy. The common colours are grey, bay, and black ; the last is the favourite one." (General Report of Scotland, vol. iii. p. 17o.) Sect. II. Organology or exterior Anatomy of the Horse. 6247. A just knowledge of the exterior conformation of the horse, to be able to form a correct judgment on the relative qualities of the animal, forms the ne plus ultra of a scientific horseman's aim ; but it is a branch of knowledge not to be obtained without much studv and experience. In considering a horse exteriorly, his age, his condition, and other circumstances should be taken into the account ; without which attention it is not possible to determine, with precision, the present or future state of a horse when he is seen under various peculiarities. A horse of five years old, though considered as full grown, yet experiences very considerable alterations of form after that period. He then becomes what is termed furnished; and all his points (i. e. his adult form), before hidden in the plumpness of youth, or disguised by extreme obesity, now show themselves. From the effects of muscular exertion promoting absorption, he becomes more angular, and to the painter's eye, would prove more picturesque, but less beautiful. A horse like- wise low in flesh and condition, is hardly the same animal as one in full flesh and condition ; and again, the sleekness acquired from relaxed labour, w ith full and gross feeding, is very unlike the robust form acquired from generous diet with correspondent exertion. 6248. The examination of the subject of organology is conveniently pursued by dividing it into head, neck, trunk, or body, and extremities or legs. The greater number of well proportioned horses, with the exception of the head and neck, come within a quadrangle ; not one strictly equilateral as depicted by Lawrence (Richard) and Clark, but one whose horizontal dimensions are usually between a twenty-fourth and twenty-eighth greater than their perpendiculars. It must, however, be kept in mind, that with some considerable deviations from this quadrangular form, many horses have proved superiorly gifted in their powers ; and that a deviation from these proportions appears in some instances, as in that of the race horse, not only favourable, but necessary also to his exertions. Nature will not be limited, and the perfection of her operations is not alone dependent on the arbitrary arrangement of parts, but on a harmony and accordance of the whole, internal as well as external. To the artist, however, such admeasurement is useful, inasmuch as it prevents any singular departure from a symmetrical appearance, which is but too common among our animal draughtsmen. To the amateur it also offers a convenient, though not an unerring guide. Our exemplification of the organ- ology appears by placing a blood and a cart horse within the same square (Jig. 828.), by which the differences between the various parts of the one and the other are readily contrasted. 6249. The organs of the head. The head of the horse is remarkable for its dimensions, formed by an elongation of the jaws ; yet in him, as in most of the grazing tribes, its bulk is in an inverse proportion to the length of the neck, otherwise the muscles would not be able to lift it. It is an important part considered as relative to beauty alone, it being in the inferior heavy breeds but little marked by grace or expression ; but in the improved varieties it presents lines worthy the painter's pencil and the poet's fancy. Neither is it too much to say, that in no part of the body is this amelioration of breed so soon detected as in the head. Can any thing be conceived more dissimilar than the small inexpressive features of the cart horse, and the bold striking ones that grace the head of the blood horse? The quick succession of movements in his pointed ears, the dilatations of his expanded nostrils, or his retroverted eyes, which give fire and animation to the character of his head when under the influence of any excitement. This is the more worthy of remark, when it is considered that some of the principal aids to expres- sion in the human countenance are wanting in the horse. Man borrows much of his facial expression from his eyebrows, and when to these the varied action of the mouth is added, it amounts to more than a half of the total expression. A great accession of beauty is gained in the improved breeds by the increase of the facial angle, which in them is about 25°, but in the heavy breeds is usually only 23° (a a a a). 6250. The ears (b b) in the improved breeds are small and pointed ; in the heavy they are not only large and ill shaped, but thev frequently separate from each other : these defects gave rise to the barbarous cus- tom of cropping, now liappilv in a great measure abolished. The ears are criteria of the spirit, as well as of the temper : we have seldom seen a horse which carried one ear forward and the other backward during his work that was not hardy and lasting. Being not subject to early fatigue, he is attentive to every thing around him, and directs his ears different wavs to collect sound from every quarter lne ears are also indications of temper, and a horse is seldom either playful or vicious tint his ears are laid flat on the neck. It is fortunate that we are provided with such a warning, by an animal that docs not want craft to surprise us, nor strength to render his resentment terrible. 95b PRACTICE OF AGR1CULTU1.K. III. G25L Thefortkemd next presents itself (cc), straight, mod of a proper width in the improved breeis, adorned liy nature with an elegant portion of hair, which, detaching itself from the rest of the mane, flows down the face I" protect 1> ith that and the ears from the attacks of insects. 8'28 R252. The eyes [dcT deserve particular attention, not only for their utility, but as objects of beauty and ex- pression. In the blood horse the orbitary fossa?, or eye-sockets, are more prominent and more inclined, by which the axes of his eyes diverge more from each other than those of the heavy breed; by which not only he is enabled to see further behind him, but the prominence of his eyes gives great beauty and expression to the blood head. The further consideration of the eyes, and their criteria of soundness, will be postponed to the anatomical detail. In old horses most of the fat of the body, which is more superficially placed in the young, becomes absorbed ; in this way the eye, which is usually embedded in avast quantity of this matter, losing its assistance, sinks within its orbits, and thus the cavities above, called eye-pits, shows themselves deeply in an aged horse. 6253. From the ears to the angle of the jaws (e e\ large vessels and extensive glands are situated. Within these branches of the posterior jaw is lodged the throat, and it will be observed how necessary it is that these branches should expand sufficiently to admit of the motions of the head, particularly of those in- fluenced by the reining-in of the bridle ; otherwise the blood-vessels and other parts must be injuriously pressed upon. The hollow between the jaws is called the channel, and at the under part of it (/) a considerable branch of an artery proceeds from the inner side over and around the outer, which branch forms the most convenient situation for feeling the pulse of the horse. 6255. The face (g) of the improved breed of horses presents either a straight line, or one slightly curved inward towards the lower part ; whereas, in the heavy breeds, it is very commonly found to be curved outward. This part comprises, as with man, from the forehead to the lips. When the face is revered with white, it is considered a blemish ; but when a white spot only exists in the forehead, it is considered a beauty. 6£5& The markings in the face are useful to describe a horse by, and frequently lead to the recovery of a strayed or stolen one. In regimental accounts these marks are carefully noted. When a spot extends down the face, it is termed a blaze ; and when further continued into the muzzle, it is called blaze and snip. When a star is distinct, but with it there are white markings which begin some distance below it, and are continued downwards, it is called a race. 8257. The muzzle (h h) includes the lips, mouth, and nostrils ; the darker the colour of this part the more is the horse esteemed : very dark brown horses are an exception, for in them it is usually of a tan colour- and is praised both as a beauty and indicative of excellence. It is both a beauty and an excellence that the nostrils be thin, angular, and large The lips should be thin, firm, and by no means loose and pendulous, as is the case in the old and sluggish. The lips in the horse are the p'rincipal organs of touch and discrimination, and hence are exquisitely sensible. The form of the mouth, as receiving the bit, is important. It is also of more consequence than is usually supposed, that its commissure or opening be sufficiently deep ; when shallow, it is not only in- elegant, but it will not admit a bridle favourably into its proper resting place upon the bars. Within the mouth are situated the teeth, which are so placed as to have interrupted portions of jaw above and below of considerable extent. These vacancies are called bars, and are parts of extreme importance to the horse- man, as it is by means of agents called bits resting on these parts, and operating on their sensibility by means of a lever, the long arm of which is in the hand of the rider, that he ensures obedience. In aid of this mechanism, to one portion of this lever is attached a chain, called a curb, which acting on the outer part of the chin, increases the pressure. This latter part has been called the barb or beard, but its situation is evidently above that Book VII. ORGANOLOGY OF THE HORSE. 957 6260. The teeth (fig. 829.), which present themselves on the lower parts of the jaws are the incisive and canine. The two front incisives are popularly 'called nippers or gatherers (a) ; the two next adjoining, separators or middle teeth (b) ■ and the outer, the corners (c) ; but it would be more definite to say the first, second, and third incisives, beginning at the corner. The tusks or tushes (dd) occupy part of the intermediate space between the incisive and grinding teeth. The teeth, as criteria of age, will be considered in another place, and as organs of mastication, they will be further noticed in the anatomical detail. 6261. The organs of the neck. The exterior parts which compose the neck are first the upper surface, which is furnished throughout its whole extent with an elegant assemblage of hair called mane (fig. 828. e e). In some instances, as in stallions, it is of enormous length and thickness. In dark-coloured horses it is commonly black, but in horses of colours approaching to a light hue the reverse is frequently seen, and the mane and tail are in these often lighter than the body. 6262. To make the hnirs of the mane and tail lie smooth is an object with most horsemen, but the pulling the hair out in tufts by wrapping it round the fingers is a most erroneous practice, and not only at the time frustrates the end intended, but a mane so pulled will seldom hang well after. The writer of this has always made use of a three-pronged angular mane-puller, which, if used two or three times a week, will bring both mane and tail into perfect order, and will keep them so. This iron is manufactured and sold by Long, veterinary instrument maker in Holborn, London. 6263. The upper surface of the neck (i) should form a moderate but elegant curve, which is greatly favourable to beauty : this curve is, however, not so considerable in the pure eastern variety as in the better sort of northern horse. 626+. The under surface of the neck (k k) should be nearly straight; in the cock-throttled horse it arches outwards, and the upper surface in these instances is sometimes hollowed inwards in equal pro- portions, when such horse is called ewe-necked. When this deformity is considerable, it prevents the head from being carried in its true angle, and particularly so under the action ol the bridle ; in which case the nose being projected forwards, carries the axis of the eyes upwards: such horses are called star- gazers ; and it is to be observed that they are seldom safe-goers. In mares and geldings a very just cri- terion of a sluggish disposition, maybe formed from the presence of a considerable quantity of flesh on the upper surface of the neck : when the crest is very thick and heavy, it is almost an unerring prognostic of a decided sluggard. In stallions it, however, forms a distinctive sexual mark, and therefore is less to be depended upon in them. In a well-proportioned horse, the length of the neck, the length of the head, and of the angle uniting the two, should give the height of the withers from the ground. When the neck is too long, the head must of course gravitate by the increased length of the arm of the balance; it likewise seldom presents a firm or proper resistance to the bridle. When, on the contrary, the neck is too short, the head is frequently ill placed, and the lever in the hand of the rider will be- too short also. 6265. The organs of the trunk or carcase are various. Considered as a whole, Clark has not unaptly likened it, when separated from the limbs, to a boat ; within which are disposed various important viscera. The bony ribs he likens to the wooden ones encom- passing the vessel, and the sternum or breast-bone, being perpendicularly deep and thin, carries the resemblance further, and fits the machine to cleave the air as the boat does the water. Within this animal vessel, according with the justest mechanical principles, the weightiest of the viscera, the liver, is placed in the centre, and the others follow nearly in the relative order of their gravity ; so that the lungs, the lightest of the whole, are stowed in front, where great weight would have been most disad- vantageous. 6266. The shoulders (a a, b b) are commonly considered as extending from the withers above to the point In front, and to the line behind formed from the elbow upwards : but a correct description considers them as those parts immediately concerned in motion ; that is, the scapula or blade-bone, and its attachments. The shoulders are too apt to be confounded with the withers above, and with the arm below, erroneously called the point of the shoulders. From this confusion, great error is committed in appreciating their nature and action ; but this is removed by recourse to the skeleton (fig. 830. i,k, I). The withers (e e) may be justly proportioned at the same time that the shoulders may be narrow, straight, and altogether badly formed, and vice versa. The shoulders should be muscular and narrow, but not heavy ; and to de- termine between these essential points, requires the eye of experience in the viewer, and the presence of condition in the viewed. A muscular shoulder is essentially necessary, when we consider that the fore extremities are wholly connected by muscle, and not as in man, by the intervention of the bony union of the clavicle or collar bone. In the horse, therefore, we find that large muscular masses unite the shoulder blade, by its upper and inner surfaces, to the chest ; while other powerful muscles suspend as it were the machine between them. By this contrivance, elasticity is preserved and strength gained; for had the shoulders possessed a bony connection, when the body is propelled forwards, its weight and force being received by the fore extremities, painful and hurtful shocks would have been experienced at every step. Powerful muscles for the shoulders are also as necessary for progression as for attachment. It is not therefore with judgment that a very thin meagre shoulder is commonly preferred. It is by the union of strength with just proportions, and a proper situation of the parts, that the value of the animal is determined. 6267. The centre of action in the shoulders (c) is in their common centre, and the extent of aition of any part moving on its centre, is dependent on the length of such part ; the motion the shoulder enjoys is confined to the perpendicular backwards, and to as great an elevation of the muscles as they will admit of forwards. It will be therefore evident that the more oblique is the situation of the shoulder blade, the greater number of degrees it can go through ; it must be as evident also that when the shoulder blade is long and deep, as well as oblique, that this advantage is increased. It is commonly observed, although it is not invariably the case, that when the shoulder is short, it is also upright (b b). Obliquity and length in the shoulder favour the safety of the progression also : for as the angles formed between the shoulder, the arm, and fore-arm, are consentaneous, and make, when in action, a bony arch ; so the obliquity and length of the shoulders is favourable to a due elevation of the limb, on which, in a great degree, depends the safety of progression. Thus mares are, ceteris paribus, more unsafe than horses, their shoulders being short to correspond with the low mare-like forehand ; and their decreased obliquity usually regulates an increased obliquity in the whole limb downwards, or as is familiarly expressed, they stand with their legs under them. Unfavourable as is this form of the mare, both for the speed and safety of their action, it was given for advantageous purposes : for, by such a position in the lore extremities, the hinder are raised higher to afford additional security against the evils of gravitation and dislodgement of the foal from the pelvis. Few rules can be laid down in the exterior conformation that are more important, or of such general application, as that a short and upright shoulder, particularly when united with an is PRACTICE OF AGRICULTURE. Pari III. Inclined direction of the whole limb backv mark of an unsafe goer, and commonly, though 11 i;\ irlably, of a slow one also, It now and then happens indeed, that horses having defective shoulders prove speedy and good movers, which would appear to contravene these principles ; but it will be found, th.tt, wherever horses having these di ft cts in their fore legs yet prove quick and sale in progression, tin y invariably have hinder parti ol gre.t strength and proportion to make up the deficiency. Indeed, it appears probable, thai the hind ami fore parts do nol bear the same relative proportion in all horses alike; in blood horses, the withers are no) always high, and although their shoulders are commonly deep ana oblique, >ei the lore limbs are altogether shorl in proportion to the hinder, in a great Dumber oi the fleetest racers ■ (or, as speed appeal - to be a principal end in their formation, and as comparative anatomy rum is hes us with abundant prool that all animals destined to make considerable leaps and the full gal lop is nothing more than a succession ol leaps are low before, the end of their formation is really bi -t answered by this arrangement of parts ; it is also more than probable that, although speed in the gallop may be found with a defective forehand, yet, in the slower paces of the canter, trot, and walk, a justly formed shoulder is more immediately requisite. This subject will be still further elucidated when we treat on the mechanical properties oi the skeleton. The withcrt <■ <• are formed by the long transverse processes of the dorsal vertebra? (Jig. I and as their Use is to serve as levers to muscles, SO their length characterised by the height of the withers mu-t be ot great advantage, and enable such horses to go high above their ground ; for the muscles of the back, a tin > to greater advantage, elevate the lore p arts more forcibly, from this we may also learn that the elevation of the lore part-, or the horse's going above his ground, as elevated action is expressed, is not altogether dependent on the motion of the shoulders, nor on the height to which the animal may be inclined to lift merely his legs ; but likewise, on the extent to which the fore half of the machine is alto- gether elevated by the action of the dorsal and lumbar muscles. When the withers are high, or the fore- Band Well up, as it is termed, it is favourable to the celerity and to the safety of the action ; but as these properties are less wanting in the heavy breeds, we find ill them a considerable variation of form : in the cart horse, weight of forehand is an essential requisite to his exertions; for drawing being an effort of the animal to preserve himself from the tendency which his weight gives him to the centre of gravity when no inclines forward, so the more weighty and bulky he is before, and the nearer he approximates this centre, the more advantageously he will apply his powers. It is not here intended to be hinted that nature gave him this form purposely to enable him to draw : this, indeed, would be an argument of necessity ; but this form has been judiciously imposed on him by men, by regulation of the sexual intercourse, anil by a careful selection of specimens having some of the requisites to propagate from, until at lai-t we have produced the massive weighty animal whose powers astonish as well as benefit us. 6269. The breast or counter iff) is the part between the point of the arms or shoulders, and which should be moderately wide and extended : when it is otherwise, the horse is seldom durable, or even strong, although he may be speedy; neither have the lungs sufficient room for expansion, nor the muscles great extent of attachment; frequently too it accompanies a general flatness of ribs, and want of circular form in the carcase in general ; all which experience has shown to be necessary to the perfection of the machine. The breast may, however, be too wide; it may also hang over or project beyond the perpendicular of the fore limbs, so as to overweigh the machine : this form, however, though unfavourable to the saddle horse, for the reasons just assigned, is much desired in the heavy draught horse. 6270. The bach. Where the withers end the back commences (g) ; the length should be moderate only, for a long cylinder cannot be so strong as one of less length ; long-backed horses are easy because the action and the reaction are considerable; but what is gained in elasticity is lost in strength. When the back is too short, the extremities are so much approximated that they frequently overreach each other, ami the hind foot strikes that before it, in progression: the back should be nearly straight, it has naturally an inclination in the line of its gravity ; but this exists in very different degrees in different horses When the incurvation inwards is considerable, such horses are called saddle-backed, and are usually considered weak ; but, to keep up the counterpoise, the crest in such horses is generally good; they also ride plea- santly, and commonly carry much apparent carcass ; sometimes indeed too much. When the back is curved upwards, it is called roach-hacked ; when considerably so, it is unfavourable to the liberty of action, as well as to the elasticity of motion : in these cases, to counteract the curve outward, the head is also usually carried low. A short-backed horse is in considerable request with many persons, who do not con- sider that when it is too much so there is seldom great speed ; for the hinder extremities cannot be brought sufficiently under the body to propel the mass forwards. 6271. The loins ,/t) may be considered as the part which extends from immediately behind the hinder edge of the saddle, when properly placed, to the rump. Anatomically it begins at the sacrum Jig 830. *), whose processes being sometimes defective or interrupted, leave an indentation, as though the union between the back and loins were incomplete; and such horses arc said to be badly loined : but although it may in some measure deprive the muscles of some slight attachments, yet the evil is not so considerable as is imagined. The width of the loins is of considerable import to the strength of the animal, as it affords a greater surface for the attachment of the powerful muscles of the back and loins ; and the muscles themselves should be so prominent, as to seem to swallow the back-bone amongst them. When the pro- tuberances of tlie ilium or haunch bone are very prominent, the horse is said to be ragged hipped ; but it operates to his disadvantage only in appearance, as extent in these parts, being favourable to muscular attachment, is always beneficial 6272. The croup extends from the loins to the setting on of the tail {n n). It should be long and only slightly rounded, which is another characteristic of the blood or improved breed. In the cart horse, on the contrary, it is seen short and much more considerably rounded (n n). A long croup is in every point of view the most perfect, for it affords a very increased surface for muscular attachment, and although the large buttocks of the cart horse would at first sight convey an idea of great strength and extent, vet, attentively viewed, it will be found that the early rounding of the sacral line, the low setting on of the tail, and the small space which necessarily exists between the hips and buttocks, all tend to lessen the surface of muscular attachment, compared with the broad croup, wide haunches, and deep spread thighs Of the blood horse. 6273. The flank I. , is the space contained between the ribs and haunches; when too extensive it in- dicates weakness, because it is the consequence of too long a back ; and such a horse is said not to be well ribbed up. When the transverse processes of the lumbar vertebra are short, as in badly loined horses, this part is hollow. The flank is usually looked to also as indicative of the state of respiration: thus, when it rises and falls quicker than ordinary, unless violent exertion has just been used, it betokens pre. sent lever, or otherwise, chronic disease of the lungs. 6274 The bell*) l). Having taken a tour round the upper parts of the carcase, we will carry the survey downwards and forwards. Anteriorly, the ribs should tie wide upwards, and as much deepened below as possible, which atlbrds what is termed great depth in the girth. This form greatly increases the surface of alt. uh men t oft lie motive organs, the muscles, and also allows room for the free expansion of the lungs ami consequently is favourable to the wind. Posteriorly, the ribs should form the body as much as pos- sible into a circular figure, that being of all others the most extended, and affording the- best surface for the absorption of nutriment ; thus barrelled horses, as they are termed, are greatly esteemed, and found to be lasting in work and readily brought into condition, and more easily kept so. When the chest is too flat and straight, the belly is also small : hence, neither can the blood absorb its vital principle from the air, nor the Luteals the chyhferous juices from the intestines ; these horses are therefore seldom durable. As lc»s nutriment is taken up by the constitution, so less is eaten, thus also they are seldom good feeders , Boos VII. ORGANOLOGY OF THE HORSE. 9.; 9 and as the pressure on the intestines must be considerable from the small containing surface, so they are usually likewise what is termed washy; that is, easily purged, whereby an additional cause of weakness exists, from the too early passing off of the food. Such horses are, nowever, very commonly spirited and lively, although not lasting. A knowledge of the advantages gained by a circular form of carcass or belly, as affording the greatest capacity, is what constituted Bakewell's grand secret in the breeding of cattle : he always bred from such animals as would be most likely to produce this form, well knowing that no other would fatten so advantageously. 6275. The whirlbone (I), among the jockeys and grooms, is the articulation of the thigh bone, with the pelvis, or basin, and form- the hip joint. The ligaments of this powerful joint are sometimes forcibly dis- tended by violence, and a very obstinate lameness is usually the consequence. The situation of the thigh (/, m) is in the horse, as in most quadrupeds, enveloped within the range of the trunk. 6276. The stifle (m) corresponds with the knee of the human figure, and is the point at the lower por- tion of the flank. It is evident that the part below this, which is generally called the thigh or gascoin, is erroneously so named. It should be very muscular and extended ; it should also make a considerable angle with the femur or thigh, and form a direct line under the hip or haunch. Its length in all animals destined for speed is considerable. 6277. The fore extremities or legs. In treating of the mechanical properties of the skeleton, we shall have to point out the essential differences between the geometrical structure and functions of the fore and hinder extremities. We shall here content our- selves with a simple examination of the individual parts. 6278. The arm of the horse Ji is apt to be overlooked, nor, without some consideration, does it strike the observer, that the arm covered with muscles, and enveloped within the common skin of the chest, extends from the elbow o) to the point of the shoulder, as it is termed, but correctly to its own point below and before the shoulder blade. (Jig. 830.) The same reasons which render a muscular, oblique, and deep shoulder advantageous, also make it desirable that this part should be muscular and extensive in length and breadth, and that its obliquity should be proportionate to that of the shoulder : whence it results, that the more acute the angle between them, the greater will be the extent of the motion gained by the flexion and extension of the parts. 627f. The fore arm (c), which horsemen consider and call the arm, is placed upright to counteract the angular position of the real arm and shoulder bones. As it is always found long in animals destined for great speed, as we witness in the hare and greyhound, it should therefore be also of considerable length ;ii the horse, when speed is a requisite quality ; but for the cadences of the manege, where the elasticity is required to be distributed equally through all parts of the limb, it is chosen short. The fore-arm is broad and large, particularly upwards, for here the powerful muscles that operate the motions of the parts below, are almost all of them situated. To prevent incumbrance, and to give solidity, these muscles de- generate into tendons and ligaments below the fore-arm ; but above, it is essentially necessary to strength that they should be large and well marked. 6280. The knee k rfl, so calleci, is properly, wi;h reference to human anatomy, the carpus or wrist It is composed of many bones to enable it to resist the jar arising from the action of the perpendicular parts above and below it. All the joints of the extremities, but particularly those of the knee and hock, should be broad, that the surface of contact may be increased, and the stability augmented ; by this means, like- wise, a more extensive attachment is afforded to muscles and ligaments ; their insertions are also thereby removed farther from the centre of motion. 6281. As criteria of safe going, the knees should be ■particularly examined when it is contemplated to purchase a horse, to see whether the skin has been broken by falls; and in this, very minute attention is required ; for sometimes the wound heals so perfectly, or otherwise so much art is used in shaving the hair, blistering, colouring, and rubbing it down, picking out the white or staring hairs, tkc, that more than common nicety is required to detect a slight scar. It is, however, prudent to remember, that it is not every horse whose knees betray a scar, that is a stumbler : the best may have a fall in the dark. It is also necessary to caution persons against the admission of a very common prejudice, that when a horse has once been down, however little he may have hurt his knees, he is rendered more liable than before to a similar accident. If his limbs have not been weakened by the accident, or if the cicatrix be not suffi- ciently large to prevent the free bending of the knee, he is not at all more liable to fall than another horse. If, therefore, a horse with a scar on his knee have the forehand good, and if his action correspond thereto, he ought not to be refused on this ground : but with a different conformation he ought to be steadily rejected, let the tale told be ever so plausible. In gross heavy horses a scabby eruption often seats itself around the inner bend of the knee (A), which is called mallenders. 6282. The canon or shank (e) carries the limb down elegant, light, straight, and strong. Much stress is deservedly laid on the necessity that this part of the limb should be wide when viewed laterally. Viewed in front, its being thin is favourable, because made up as it is principally of bone and tendon, aiiy addition to it beyond these must arise from useless cellular matter, or otherwise from matter worse than useless, being placed there by disease. Any thickening of the part generally or partially, should be looked on with suspicion; as, if natural, likely to interfere with motion without adding to strength ; or if acciden- tal, as a mark of acquired injury likely to remain. In the bony skeleton may be seen within and behind the knee an apparatus destined to remove the acting ligaments and tendons from the centre of motion, by which great advantage is gained in strengthening and facilitating their flexions. It is a default in this conformation that renders horses tied in under the knee, as it is usually termed. The limb below the knee, instead of proceeding downwards of a uniform width, is seen suddenly narrowing immediately as it leaves the knee. Such horses are invariably found to bear exertion badly ; their legs at an early period become bowed or arched, and totter on the slightest exertion. In cart horses this conformation is very common ; but in them it is of less consequence than in those destined for quicker motion, where the elevation of the limb is so extensively and so frequently repeated. To render this subject familiarly clear, we will recom- mend that a cord be placed round the ball of the thumb, and passed up close to the arm until it reaches the bend : with the other hand, by straightening and extending this cord, but held close to the arm, en- deavour to flex the hand and wrist inwards : operated in this way it will require great force to do it ; but remove the hand only two inches from the arm, and the bound hand will yield readily to a less force. Exactly the same happens to the ligaments and tendons called back sinews which flex or bend the fore legs ; for by an apparatus, formed from the position of one of the carpal bones (pisif&rmis), they are, in well formed legs, set out wide from the knee. 6283. The back sinews should not only be large and firm, but they should, like the limb generally, be very distinct from the knee to the fetlock : in this course, if any thickening be observed, it betokens former injury, as extension or rupture of ligamentous fibres, which usually have a disposition to recurring weak- ness. If a hard swelling appear on the inner side, not on the tendon, but on the I. one, a splint is present which is more or less injurious as it is nearer or farther from the knee, or distinct from or situated among the tendons and ligaments; but when it is considerable in size, hot to tre feel, and extends inwards and backwards among them, it usually produces most injurious consequences. To detect these evils the eye alone should not be trusted, particularly where there is much hair on the legs, as on cart horses, and even on hackneys in the winter, but the hand should be deliberately passed down the shank before and behind. An enlargement or scar situated close to and on the inner side of the knee, must not be mistaken for a splint ; it more frequently arises from a custom some horses have when trotting fast, of elevating their feet and cutting this part with their shoes, and it is thence called the speedy cut. 96n PRACTICE OF AGRICULTURE. Part III. R284 Tke pattern a»& fetlock .if \ General usage has applied the term fetlock to the joint itself, and paatern to the part extending from the fetlock to the toot; properly speaking, the fetlock or footlocku Onlj the potterlor part of the joint, whence grows the lock or portion of hair, which, in many horses. Bow* over and around the hinder part of the foot; .a short and upright pastern is inelastic, and such horses arc uneasy goers ; thej arc unsafe also, for the pastern being already in so upright a position, re- quires but little resistance, or only a slight shock, to bring it forwards beyond the p< rpcndicular ; and the weight of the mail then forces the animal over. Nor are these the only evils ari-mg from this form- ation, for the ends of the bones being opposed to each other in nearly a perpendicular direction, receive at each movement ajar or shock, which leads to an early derangement of the joint, and to the appear- ance called overshot On the contrary, when the patterns are too long they are frequently too oblique also ; and although their elasticity may he pleasant to the rider, such formation detracts from the strength of the limb. These joints both before ami behind are very subject to what is called windgalls, which are swellings formerly supposed full of air, whence their name; but they are now known to contain an in- creased quantity of the mucus destined to lubricate the parts in their motions. These pull'y elastic tumours are originally sin. ill and hidden between the loner end of the canon and the flexor tendon, or back sinew ; but when hard work has inflamed all the parts, the secretion within increases, and then they become visible to the eye; but unless they are so considerable as to obstruct the due action of the parts, they are no otherwise objectionable than as they tell a tale of inordinate wear of the limbs generally. The form of tin- patterns influence* the defect called cutting, which arises from a blow given to either the fore or hind fetlocks by one leg to the other during its elevation. Horses narrow in the chest, or which turn their toes out, or have other peculiarities of form, cut permanently, and are then very ob- jectionable; but others only cut when fatigued, or when very low in flesh. Horses often cut when young, who leave it off when furnished, and of mature growth. 6286. The feet gg). These essential and complex organs will be more fully examined in the anatomi- cal detail, but much also presents itself to the consideration in an exterior examination. Horses might be presumed to be naturally born with perfect feet ; but experience shows that defects in these organs are hereditary. In some, the peculiarities of climate operate ; and in others, a constitutional predisposition exists ; dependent on some cause with which we are unacquainted. 6887. Climate influences the form of the horse's foot. In the arid plains of the east, where every im- pediment to an extensive search for food is removed, the feet are hard, dry, and small ; this form, not- withstanding the alterations of breed and culture, in some degree still adheres to the blood or aboriginal eastern horse : artificial habits have extended the evil, and now small and contracted feet are to be seen in every variety, except in the coarse heavy breeds. (>2N8. Constitutional and hereditary causes operate on the feet. That a constitutional predisposition exists in the production of a particular form of foot, we know from the fact, that dark chesnut horses are more prone to contraction of the hoofs than any other coloured horse ; and that the form of the foot is hereditary, may be gained from the known circumstance that some of the Lincolnshire stallions always get large flat-footed progeny; while some full bred entire horses entail small upright feet on all their offspring. commonly called the thigh, in well formed horses is powerfully furnished with muscles, and very extended in its figure ; it should also make a considerable angle with the femur or real thigh, and form a direct line under the hip or haunch ; for the same reasons that make it desirable to have a long arm in the fore extremities, it is also advantageous that the leg should be so likewise, and this is the form usual among all quadrupeds of speed. 6293. The hock (2) is the important joint immediately below the leg, or thigh commonly so called, and is interposed between the tibia and tarsal bones 'Jig. 830.), purposely to increase the extent of attachment, and to break the shock of great exertion ; it may be considered as the most complex and important joint of the body : like the knee, it should be extended and broad ; for, in proportion as the calcaneum or point of the hock ip], and which is the real heel, extends itself beyond the other bones, so the powerful tendo Achilles inserted into it, acts with a longer lever, and with a greater increase of power. This joint is sub- ject to several important diseases, which, in the examination of a horse, require particular attention ; when a soft puffy swelling is discovered in the ply or bend of the hock (3;, it is termed a blood spavin, which will be noticed among the diseases ; it is, in fact, a similar enlargement with the windgalls before mentioned, and what has been said on them equally applies to these. When similar mucous capsules become enlarged on each side of the hock, the enlargement receives the name of thorough-pin. A small bursal enlargement is sometimes found at the very point of the hock (5), and is then called a capulet ; to all which what has been said on windgalls applies, that they are only to be deemed of consequence when so large as to inter- fere with the motion of the parts they are situated with or near ; or, as indicative of an undue portion of work. The ligaments at the back of the hock sometimes become strained or extended, and heat, inflam- mation, and swelling follow, which is then called a curb. As rest or very mild treatment soon reduces it, it is not to be considered as of great consequence. The inner part of the joint at the ply or bend, is some- times attended with a skin affection similar te the mallenders before alluded to, and is called sel/enders t] ; but the most serious disease to which the hock is liable, is a disease of the ligaments of some of the tarsal bones. Sometimes one or more of these bones, or the ligaments which unite them, inflame, and an exostosis or splint is formed : to detect the existence of this affection, the hocks should be attentively viewed from behind, when any enlargement in the spavin place (3, 4) maybe easily detected. The me- chanism of this joint will be further considered when we treat of the skeleton generally. 6294. The colour of horses does not depend on their real skin, as with man, but upon an exterior beautiful covering which nature has given them, called hair ; nevertheless, the hair is, in some measure, influenced by the skin, as light-skinned horses have light hair, and when the hair is light, the eyes are usually so likewise : hair presents many varieties of tint, so horses are said to be of various colours. Buflbn has conjectured that horses were originally of one colour, which he presumes to be bay ; but such wild horses as have been seen, and which have been supposed to be pure originals, have not justified this opinion. This same author has divided the colours of the horse into simple, compound, and strange or extraordinary. 6295. The simple colours are bay, chestnut, dun, sorrel, white, and black ; bay is a very prevailing tint among European horses, and admits of many shades, but is admired in all : there are bright bays, blood bays, dark and dappled bays ; broirnbay is a very esteemed colour, and consists of bay and black in unequal proportions in different horses: brown horses are highly prized; the darker varieties have usually beautiful tan markings, as about the muzzle, &c. : they have commonly also black manes and tails, with legs and feet of the same hue; and it may be here remarked, that horses of compounded colours, of whatsoever tint the mane and tail may be, will be found invariably formed of one of the compounding colours ; thus light greys, which are a compound of black and white, have often white manes and tails : sorrels, again, which are formed of white, with a small proportion of red, have also frequently white manes and tails : chestnut, which is also a very common colour, admits of almost as many shades as the bay, from the lightest tint to the deepest tone. Very light chestnuts have frequently still lighter manes and tails, with mealy legs and light feet ; so marked, they are certainly not to be chosen for strength, durability, or pliancy of temper : the Suffolk punch, however, may be considered in some degree an ex- ception, although the true breed is hardly so light as those hinted at here. Dark chestnuts are con- sidered, and with justice, as fiery in their dispositions; they are also more subject to contracted feet than horses of any other hue. Dun is a colour that has several varieties ; it is sometimes accompanied with a white mane and tail, at others they are seen even darker than the rest of the hair. In some, a list or line of deeper tint extends along the back, which is regarded by some as an indication of hardihood : a similar line is sometimes seen in the bay. Dun horses do not appear to be at all influenced in their quali- ties by their colour, or rather no criteria are offered by it, for there are good, bad, and indifferent in all the varieties of shade. The sorrel is a variety of the chestnut, but not a favourite one. White as a native colour is not in much estimation, neither is it very common, for many horses are white only through age, as all light-grey and flea-bitten horses become so. Black is a very usual colour, and in the large heavy northern breed it seems to be an original tint ; and perhaps it is to this their goodness may be attributed, for, among the lighter breeds, there are more indifferent black horses than of any other colour. The tempers of black horses are commonly in the extreme, either sluggish to stupidity, or fiery to excess. The colour itself admits of many shades ; but a perfect black horse is more unusual than it is generally thought to be : a star on the forehead is common to relieve the ebon hue ; and in the absence of that, a few white hairs on the brea-t frequently interrupts the uniformity. It is, perhaps, on this principle that black horses have white legs so often as they do. 6296. The compound colours maybe considered as those in which the hairs are compounded, but not the colours themselves ; otherwise the bay, the chestnut, brown, &c. might be considered as compounded colours. The roan is a mixture of red and white: its varieties are the common, the red, and the dark All the roans are esteemed. Grey admits of a great number of shades and varieties, but all are com pounded of black and white, except the iron grey, which receives a few bay hairs among the black and white ; a considerable prejudice exists in favour of this colour. Greys are light or dark ; there are also the dappled, the markings of which are extremely beautiful, and the silver grey. Grey horses become lighter bv age : many old white horses have been grey until age overtook them. Grey horses, like black, admit of'no settled character; though, unlike them, they are not to be generally disapproved of. They have, however, all the extremes within their range; the darker ones are usually good, the lighter ones not generally so. 6297. The extraordinary colours are not very numerous, and it may be remarked, that white is always the relieving tint, intermixed with distinct markings, in various proportions, of bay, brown, black, jr chestnut. Flea-bitten is grey or white, with small bay spots. When these spots are very large, and have a marginal surface of lighter maikings, they give the name tiger coloured ; and although they are un. common with us, they are not unfrequent in Germany find Barbary. Pied or pie-bald is one of the most numerous extraordinary colours, and is usually composed of two colours, in distinct large markings. 3 Q. SG2 PRACTICE OF AGRICULTURE. Part TIT. Now anil then a third interferes: there are pies of all original colours with white, and all arc held in estimation. 8396. Colour, as a criterion of mental and pergonal qualities, is laid much stress on by ninny persons ■ and long experience has ihown that certain tints are usuall] accompanied bj certain qualities of person or disposition. As a general rule, dark-coloured horses are certainly the best; but, as before observed, it la peculiar that black, as the darkest of all, should form an exception to this rule. Light shades appear un- favourable to strength and durability ; they are also accompanied frequently with irritability and perverse- nets ol temper. Something like ■ general law In the animal economy seems to prevail, to make white a distinctive mark of weakness. Age, which is thepsrent of weakness, brings with it white burs, both in man and in horses, and most other quadrupeds. The hair formed alter a wound has robbed a part of its original covering is often white, because the new formed surface is yet in a state of debility. It is likewise a fact well known among the observant, that the legs and feet when white are more obnoxious to disease than those of a darker tune. The Arabs remarks, that light chestnut horses have soft tender feet. It is theobservance of these peculiarities that has at length guided our taste, and formed our judgment of beaut] With us much white on the legs is considered as a deformity, and is expressively calledjimf marked, whereas pled markings In other parts are reckoned beautiful. In Africa, however, Captain Lyon informs us a superstitious dependence is placed on horses with legs and feet stockinged with white. It does not ap- pear thai climate has the same influence on the colour of hones as on that of other domesticated animals. In all latitudes in which the horse can live, he is black or white indiscriminately ; but as he cannot endure extreme rigour, it is not necessary that he .should vary. Sect. III. The Bony Anatomy or Osseous Structure of the Horse. 6299. ./// quadrupeds are formed on an earthy base called bone, and tlie assemblage of bony parts is called a skeleton. Hones are formed of earth and membrane (1S81.) ; they are covered also by an investure called periosteum. The earthy part is the last formed, and consolidates the bones as the animal becomes fitted to exert all his powers. This deposit of earth in the bones appears to be hastened by any tiling that permanently quickens the circulation: heat does this, and hence the hitman and brute inhabitants of warm climates come to perfection sooner than those of northern regions ; but they are generally smaller, for by prctcrnaturally hastening the earthy deposit before the mem- branous part of the bones becomes fully evolved or grown, they do not attain the bulk they would be otherwise capable o'\ Undue exertion has the same effect ; and thus wc learn why horses too early and too hard worked become stinted in their growth. Pres- sure likewise occasions an early, and also a preternatural ossification : in this way the parts of the spine which bear heavy loads present large masses of bone, brought on by this cause alone. For the same reasons, horses early worked put out splints, spavins, and other bony concretions. Bones are all of them more or less hollow : within their caverns an oily fluid is secreted, called medulla or marrow, which serves for their sup- port, and that of the constitution generally. The bones have nerves, blood-vessels, and absorbents. Bones are capable of reproduction, as proved by their uniting when broken ; and also by the yearly renewal of the antlers of the deer, which are not horn as in the ox or sheep, but pure bone. Bones are connected together by articulation : when such articulation is moveable, it is termed a joint. In some cases bones articulate by suture or indentation of parts, as in the skull. We shall consider, in succession, the anatomy of the head, trunk, and extremities. Subsect. 1. Osseous Structure of the Head. fioOO. The bones of the head are as follows. The occipital (fig. 83(X between a & 6\ which is the largest bone of the skull, in the colt is composed of several pieces which uuiteliy age; it articulates with the atlas (a) or first of the cervical or neck vertebra?. At its posterior surface it is perforated by a large hole, wl" ich gives passage to the spinal marrow. The two frontal bones (b) unite also by age; and behind them is lodged the anterior and inferior portion of the brain. A division of their bony surfaces forms two cavities called the frontal sinuses, which are lined by the nasal membrane throughout The sagittal sature unites these two bones. The remainder of the bones of the skull are the two parte/ its, the two temporals, divided into a squamous and petrous portion, within the latter of which is situated the internal ear; and to the former the posterior or lower jaw articulates. The sphenoid and ethmoid bones are hollow and irregular, serving to intersect and attach the others ; and also to assist by their cavities in extending the pituitary or smelling membrane. filol. The bones of the face are ten pairs and two single hones The nasal (c) pair, within their union, hold the septum nariuin or long cartilaginous plate which separates one nostril from the other. These bones also greatly assist to extend the surface of the smelling organ. In the old heavy breeds, it was very common to see these bones arched outwards ; but in the improved breed, particularly in those approach- ing full blood, it is not uncommon to find them slightly curved inward. The fossa? within these bones are the principal seat of glanders. The two angular! form a considerable portion of the orbits of the eyes. The two malar, jugal, or cheek bones occupy also a portion of the orbits. The superior maxillary bones i>) are the largest of the face bones, and contain all the upper molar teeth The inferior or intermaxillary bones (rf) are wanting in man, in whom the face is short: these bones concur with the former in forming alveoli or sockets for lodging the teeth. The superior palatines, the inferior palatines, the pterygoids, the two anterior, and the two posterior turbinated bones, with the vomer or ploughshare, make up the remaining facial bones, with the exception of the posterior maxillary or lower jam bone (/), which on its anterior edge is pierced to lodge the teeth ; at the upper part it extends itself into two angular branches, each of which ends in two processes and an intermediate groove. The superior of these processes arti- culates with the upper jaw. This bone throughout shows the most admirable mechanism ; the molar or grinding teeth, on which most is dependent, and whose exertions are greatest, are placed near the centre of motion : and as the upper jaw in most animals is fixed, or nearly SO, it was necessary that the lower should have considerable extent of motion fur the purpose of grinding; and it is accordingly so formed as to admit of motion in every direction. The OS hyoules is a bone situated within the head at the root of the tongue, to which it serves as a support, and for the attachment of muscles. 6.102. The teeth of the horse are the hardest and most compact bones of the body. There are usually forty of them in the horse, and there are thirty six in the mare ; in which latter the tushes are usually wanting. In anatomical language, they are divided into incisbres cuspidati, and molbres, or according to the language of fairicrs and horsemen, into twelve nippers (fig. b'jy. a, b, c), four lushes \dd), and Book VII. ANATOMY OF THE HOUSE. 963 twenty-four grinders, which numbers are equally divided between the two jaws. The teeth are inserted into indentations or sockets between the bony plates of the jaw, called alveoli, by cone-like roots. The bodies of the teeth are principally composed of two substances, one of the nature of common bone, giving bulk and form, and one of extreme hardness, called enamel, placed in man and carnivorous animals wholly without the teeth, to give strength and durability; but in the horse and other Granivora, the latter particularly, it is placed in the grinders, in perpendicular plates, within the body of the teeth ; by which contrivance, a rough grinding surface is kept up; for the mere bony parts wearing faster than the lamella; of enamel, it follows that ridges remain to triturate the vegetable matter that passes between the teeth. 6303. There are two sets of teeth, a temporaneous or milk set, and a permanent or adult set, in which wise provision man and most brutes participate. The milk set are some of them, as the molars, apparent at birth ; there being usually six grinders in each jaw, three on each side in the new-born foal, and which number of this set is never increased. The nippers begin to appear soon after birth, and follow a regular order of succession until the animal is three or four months old ; at which time he begins to require sup- port from herbage as well as milk. The temporaneous set remove gradually one after another ; had they all been displaced at the same time, or even had several of them fallen out together, the animal must have suffered great inconvenience, and perhaps have been starved. This removal, which commences at the age of two years anil a half, and is completed between the fourth and fifth year, is effected by the action of the absorbents on their fangs, and appears to be occasioned by the stimulus of the pressure received from the growing teeth under them. For although these two sets appear with an interval of some years between them ; yet the rudiments of both are formed at nearly the same period, and both sets may be thus seen in a dissected jaw. Regulated by the stimulus of necessity, as soon as the tem- poraneous set falls out, the permanent appears : and that such appearance follows the necessity is evident ; for a premature or accidental removal of the colt's teeth is soon followed by the appearance of the others. Dealers and breeders, aware of this, draw the milk teeth to make their colts appear as horses. It was necessary there should be two sets of teeth ; for, as they grow slowly in proportion to the jaws, had there been but one only, the disproportion of growth between the teeth and jaws must have separated them. 630* The forms of the teeth vary more than their structure. The incisive or nippers are round, which is favourable for the pressure they undergo ; the upper more so than the lower. On the upper surface a hollow is seen in the young tooth, which, not extending through the whole substance, naturally wears out with the wear of the tooth ; and as a considerable degree of regularity occurs in this wearing away in all horses, it has gradually settled into the general criterion of age. The nippers are not all of them exactly similar ; the corner teeth differ most in being nearly triangular, and in having an internal wall or side, which does not become level with the rest until long after those of the others. The cuspidate tusks or tushes are permanent, appearing at about five years or rather earlier ; those in the front jaw are usually nearer the nippers than those below. Each presents a slight curve, which follows the direction of all the canine or pugnatory teeth of other Mammalia. The pointed extremity wears away by age, leaving merely a buttoned process, which may serve as a guide to the age when a horse is suspected to be Bishoped, as it is called, from a man of that name who was peculiarly dexterous in imitating on old teeth the dis- tinctive cavity of youth. The molar or grinding teeth are stronger in the upper than in the lower jaw ; which was necessary, as they form the fixed point in the process of grinding. The upper surface presents nearly a long square, indented from the alteration of the enamel with the bony portions ; and as the in- terior or upper teeth hang over the posterior, so the ridges of the one set are received into the depressions of the other. 6305. Wear of the teeth. The teeth, in a state of nature, would probably present a surface opposed to each other for mastication, to the latest period of the most protracted life ; but the removal of the animal from moist food to that which is hard and dry, must occasion an unnatural wear in those organs ; and hence, although the teeth of the horse, even in a domesticated state, are not subject to the caries of the human ; yet the grinders are liable to become thus injured by continued exertion. In the young or adult horse, the upper and under grinders do not meet each other horizontally ; on the contrary, they have naturally an inclination obliquely inwards; and those of the upper jaw present small spaces between each other, while those of the lower are more continuous ; by which means, as the food, particularly its inter- rupted portions, as gTain, becomes ground, it falls within the mouth to be replaced under the grinding sur- 3 Q. 2 964 PRACTICE OF AGRICULTURE. Tart III. i"iv the superior wear of the inner surface of the upper grinders, as well as In the general misapplication of the surfaces of both upper and under teeth, by con- stant attrition, when worn down nearlj to the gums. The unfortunate animal feels sensible of this, and endeavours to remedy it by throwing the "car on the outer edge, by an inclination of the lower jaw and of the head in general ; and which is so particular in its appearance as to engage the attention of the by-standers This defect may be in a considerable degree remedied by casting the animal, and having opened and wedged the mouth M a. to keep it SO, removing the inequalities with a well tempered con. rave tile, as much M may he. When the delect is considerable, and the horse is mild and quiet, it is better to file the inequalities CTery day, which will gradually but effectually wear them down. It how. ever happens, that the inclination thus to wear is commonly resumed, and gradually the same loss of nutriment takes place: in which case, soft moist food, as carrots, mashes, soiling, or grazing, must be Substituted for harder substances, and if corn he actually necessary, let it he bruised. Whenever an old horse betravs svmptoms of want of condition, or weakness, and emaciation, that neither his mode of feeding, hit his ratio of work will account for, and particularly if whole grains should he found in his dung, Ins teeth should be examined carefUUy. '1'his undue wearing of the teeth occasions another evil often, which is ulceration of the cheeks, by reason of the projecting ragged surface of the uneven teeth, which can only be remedied by the removal of such portions. These projecting j>ortions are called by farriers wolves' teeth, Subsf.ct. 2. Bony Anatomy of the Trunk. 6306. The trunk of tlie skeleton consists of the spine, the pelvis, and the thorax or chest, composed of the ribs and sternum. 6.507. The bony column called the spine is made up of seven cervical, eighteen dorsal, six lumbar, and Ave sacral vertebra, with the addition of thirteen or fourteen small tail-bones. The spinal bones are thus divided on account of the varieties they present ; they have, however, some characteristics in com- mon. Each is composed of a spongy bony body, with protruded points called processes, which processes unite, to form a hollow through which the spinal marrow is transmitted ; and by some of these processes the vertebra arc articulated with each other, as well as by their bodies, by which their strength as a column is much increased. Though but little motion exists between any two vertebras, yet the flexibility of the whole spine is considerable. 6308. The cervical or neck vertebra? [g, h) are called, by farriers and butchers, the rack bones. It is remarkable, that, let the neck be long or short, the number of bones is the same in most quadrupeds. The tir-t and second differ from the rest in figure, and present some other peculiarities. The first is the only one of them to which the great suspensory ligament of the neck does not attach itself, which would have interfered with freedom of motion. It articulates with the second by receiving its tubercular pro. cess within it, and from which process the second of these bones has been called dentiita. Between these two neck bones is situated a part, where the spinal marrow is exposed from any bony covering ; at which part butchers plunge a pointed knife into what they call the pith of the neck, when they want to kill their animals instantaneously, and without effusion of blood ; whence it is called pithing. The remaining five neck bones are not very dissimilar from each other. 6.509. The dorsal vertebra! {>/} are now and then, though rarely, nineteen in number ; they do not differ materially from each other, but in the length of the spinous processes of the first seven or eight. It is to these elongated spines that we owe the height of the withers; and as the intention of these parts seems principally to serve as levers for the muscles of the back inserted into them, so we can readily understand why their increased or diminished height is favourable or unfavourable to progression. These like the former articulate with each other by processes, as well as by the anterior and posterior surfaces of their bodies ; between each of which is interposed a substance, semi-cartilaginous in its structure, which is most compressible at its sides, these permitting the motion of the spine. 6310. The six lumbar vertebra? differ from the foregoing in having a longer body, and very long trans- verse processes to make up for the deficiency of ribs in the loins. These bones often unite by the pressure of heavy weights, ami sometimes spontaneously by age, and thus we need not be surprised at the stillness with which some old horses rise when down. 6.31 1. The five sacral vertebra? (z) are united into one to give strength to the column, and to serve as a fixed support to the pelvis, or basin, with which it is interwedged. From this detail it will appear how admirably this spinal column is adapted to its important functions of serving as a flexible but powerful support to the machine; and how by the formation of a large foramen within the substance of each vertebra?, a bony canal is offered for the safeguard of the spinal marrow, from which, through lateral openings in these vertebra-, the spinal nerves are given off in pairs. The pelvis or basin \2) is composed of the sacrum, the two ossa innominata and coccygis. The dssa innominata in the foetal colt before birth are each composed of the ilium, the ischium, and the pubis, all traces of which division are lost before birth. The ilium is the most considerable, and forms the haunches by a large unequal protuberance which, when very prominent, occasions the horse to be called ragged-hipped. The next largest portion is the ischium or hip bone, on each side. It forms a part of the cotyloid cavity, or cup for the thigh bone, and then stretches back also into a tuberosity which forms the points of the buttocks. The pubis or share bone is the least of the three : in conjunction with the former it forms the acetabulum or cup-like cavity in which the head of the thigh-bone lodges. The pelvis or basin is attached to the sacrum by ligaments of immense strength ; but it has no bony union, by which means, as in the fore extremities, some play is given, and the jar of pure bony connection is avoided. The dssa cuccygis, or bones of the tail, vary from eight to sixteen, but are very commonly thirteen or fourteen. 6 IIS. The thorax or chest comprises the sternum or breast bone, and the ribs. The sternum («•) of the horse is inclined like the keel of a ship, to which the ribs are attached by strong ties. The rSts Ux) are usually eighteen to each side, of which eight articulate with the sternum, and are called true, while the rem. lining ten, uniting together by intervening cartilages, are called false ribs. The centrals are the longest, those anterior, as well as posterior, are less so: the first is placed perpendicularly, the second less so ; and their obliquity, as well as dimensions, increase as they advance, so as to enlarge the chest to in almost 1 ircular form, which is the most desirable ; but when they are less arched, the belly partakes of the defect, and a H.it-sided horse is commonly a bad carcascd one also. Subsect. 3. Bony Anatomy of the Extremities. 6313. An examination of the bony ports of the limbs excites our admiration at the wonderful mechanism displayed in their formation: osseous portions also present them- selves, which may be regarded as principally subservient in keeping up that vast chain of continuity and similarity observable throughout Nature's works. In the following ex- planation we shall have occasion to notice several of these. 6314. The scapula or shoulder blade (He, I), is a broad, flat, and rather triangular bone. It is very unlike the human scapula, having neither acromion, coracoid, nor recurrent process : neither is its situation at all similar to the human blade bone applied to the back ; for, in this instance, the horse may be said to Rook VII. ANATOMY OF THE HORSE. 965 have no proper back, but to be made up of sides and chest. In man, the scapula is in a direct angle with the humerus, but in the horse it does not pass out of the plane of the arm. Its superior surface is fur- nished with a considerable cartilage J, m), by means of which its surface is augmented without weight. The posterior surface ends in a superficial cavity called glenoid, which receives the head of the humerus or arm bone. It is divided in its upper surface by its spine. The shoulder blade, as has been already shown in the exterior conformation, has neither bony nor ligamentous union, but is held in its situation by very powerful muscles, as the serratus major, pectoralis, and others. Its usual situation is to a plane perpendicular to the horizon, at an angle of thirty degrees; and it has a motion in its greatest extent of twenty degrees : hence, as it does not pass beyond the perpendicular backwards, so the more oblique its natural situation, the more extensive ar<* its motions. 6515. The humerus or arm bone [m) is so concealed by muscles as to be overlooked by a cursory ob. server, and hence the radius or next bone is popularly called the arm. It extends from what is called the point of the shoulder, but which, in fact, is a protuberance of its own to the elbow, forming an angle with the scapula, and extending obliquely backwards as that does forwards. Near its upper extremity it sends off a very powerful head to articulate with the shoulder blade. The motions of the humerus arc necessarily confined to a removal from its inclined point backward to the perpendicular line of the body. When this bone is too long, it carries the fore legs too much under the animal, and if this defect is joined to a shallow upright shoulder, the evil will be increased. It, however, fortunately happens that both the angle and extent of these two parts are usually regulated by each other. 6316. The fare-arm n n, oo) is composed of the radius .00), and an appendage united to it, which, in man and some animals, forms the ulna n n), but which, as the leg of the horse requires no rotatory motion, was unnecessary in him. Here, however, to keep the link of resemblance in all her children of the higher order, Nature has stretched out a large process; which in the colt is really distinct, and may then deserve the name of ulna; and in the adult horse unites with the radius, and serves as an attachment to muscles. On the slightest inspection of the skeleton, it will appear how much the motions of the fore leg must depend on the length and obliquity of this process; which, acting on the principle of a lever in the extension of the arm, must necessarily, as it is either long or short, make all the difference between a long and a short purchase. The breadth of the arm, as it is called, at this part, will, from this reasoning, be seen to be very important. This bone articulates with the knee by its in- ferior portion. 6317. The carpus, or wrist, called the knee { pp s , is composed of seven bones, whose principal uses appear to be to extend the surface of attachment of ligaments and tendons, and by their interruptions to lessen the shocks of progression. It may be remarked that all hoofed quadrupeds have the anterior extremities permanently in the state of pronation, or with what is called the back of the wrist turned outwards. The carpal bones articulate with each other, and have one investing capsular ligament, by which means the smallest wound of the knee which penetrates this ligament has the effect of opening the whole joint : hence the quantity of synovia or joint oil which escapes in these cases, and hence also the dangerous con. sequences which ensue. strong ligamentary attachment, converted by age into a bony one. Although these additions may some, what increase the surface of attachment, their principal use appears to be to keep up the connection with the digiti, of which they appear the rudiments. In the cow there are no splint bones, but the uniformity is more perfectly kept up by the divided hoof: in her, therefore, the canon branches at its inferior sur- face into condyles for the reception of the two claws. 6319. The pastern (//). The rest of the extremity below the canon, consists of one phalange only, com- prising all the mechanism, and a double portion of complexity of all the phalanges of the digitated tribes. Four bones enter into its composition with two small sesamoids (ss) to each fetlock ; placed there not only to act as a spring and prevent concussion, but to throw the tendon of the foot which runs over them farther from the centre of motion. The pastern bone is situated obliquely forward, and on this obliquity depends the ease and elasticity of the motion of the animal : nevertheless, when it is too long, it requires great ettbrts in the tendons and ligaments to preserve it in its situation ; and thus long-jointed horses must be more subject to fatigue and to strains than others. 6320. The lesser pastern or coronary bone \t,v) receives the great pastern, and below expands into a considerable surface articulating with the coffin and navicular bones. 6321. The coffin bone [w] farms the third phalange, and corresponds in shape with the hoof. It is very porous, and laterally receives two prominent cartilages. It is around the outer surface of this bone that the sensible lamina? are attached ; and the inferior surface receives the flexor tendon. 6322. The navicular nut, or shuttle bane, is situated at the posterior part of the cottin, and unites with that and the preceding bone. 6323. The posterior extremities differ much from the anterior, not only in their superior strength, and in the different lengths and directions of the parts, but also, in some degree, in their uses. 6.324. The femur, or thigh bone (3, 4 1 is the largest of the body, its vast indentations and risings, almost peculiar to it, show the great strength of the muscles inserted into it It articulates with the acetabulum or hip joint by a strong head called the whirl-bone. In this situation it is held not only by a powerful capsular ligament, and still more powerful muscles, but by an admirable contrivance resulting from a ligamentous rope, which springs immediately from the middle of its head, and is firmly fixed within the socket of the joint. In its natural situation it is not perpendicular as the human femur, but inclines to an angle of about forty-five degrees. This bone presents large protuberances for the attachment of very powerful muscles called trochanters. Throughout it exhibits a mechanism uniting the combined qualities of celerity and strength unknown to other animals. The inferior end of this bone is received by its condyles into depressions of the tibia, while the patella, or knee-pan, slides over the anterior portions of both bones. 6325. The patella (5), which is by farriers called the stifle, is nearly angular, and serves for the insertion of some of the strongest muscles of the thigh , which are then continued down to the leg. It thus appears to act as a pulley. 6326. The tibia or leg bone (6, 6) is usually, in horsemen's language, called the thigh. It is a bone formed of a large epiphysis, with a small attached part called the fibula {';, a long body, and an irregular inferior end, adapted to the peculiarities in shape of the principal bones of the back, with which it articulates. The obliquity in the situation of this bone corresponds with that of the femur, being as oblique back- wards as the former is forwards. The length of the tibia is a prominent character in all animals of quick progression ; in this respect it corresponds with the fore-arm, and the remarks made on that apply, with even more force, to this — that length is advantageous to the celerity, but less so to the ease, of the motion. 6327. The fibula (7,7) forms a prominent instance, in common with the splint bones, of what was re- marked in the outset of our osteological detail of the extremities — that many parts, whose uses were not apparent, would be found to be organs of harmony, placed in the body to prevent interruption to the completing the general plan of animal organisation. In this way the fibula appears but a process spring- ing from the posterior part of the tibia, forming but the rudiments of the human bone ol that name. 3 Q. 3 966 PRACTICE OF AGRICULTURE. Part III. In the ox it is wanting ; in the dog and eat, as requiring numerous motions in their limbs, it is, on the ™2££F , jJEtdriiil,Or hock ofth, hone (10, 10), is a striking instance of Hie perfect mechanism displayed in the bony structure of thU admired animal it is formed by an assemblage ot six bonea, and (ometimea of seven ■ while in the ox, sheep, and deer, there are Mldom more than five Between these bones there an open aiiu'lc with III*- tilna, aim is lar iraiuun m>m mi *• ...... ... ,....., ...... ..... d-— --— ■ --- -• anadraneda all the bones, from Hie hock downwards, are much elongated, and form a part of the upright Dillar of the linili In the horse, therefore, the point of the hoek is the true point ol the heel, and, as in the human liu-nrc the great twisted tendons Ot the gastrnciieimi muscles are inserted into it: but the ■imicll ition oftendo vchilles would be too forced here A broad hoek, as already observed m the exterior conformation, may be now still more plainly seen to be very important to strength and speed; for the tenser the calcaneum or heel bone of the hock, the longer must be the lever that the muscles ot the thi^h let'bv • and a very slight increase or diminution in its length must make a very great difference in the nower of the joint It it by this tendon acting on this mechanism, that, when the animal has inclined the ancle between the canon and the tibia, or, in other words, when the extremities arc bent under him in theraUop OX trot, he is enabled to open it again. The bones of the hock, like those of the knee, are united Wether by strong ligamentous fibres; and it is to an inflammation of those uniting the calcaneum and cuboid boms,' that the disease called curb is to be attributed ; and to a similar inflammatory affection of the ligaments in the front of the hocks, that spavin* of the first stage are owing : in the latter stages the periosteum and bones themselves become affected. The remainder of the bones below do not differ so easenti illy from the corresponding bones in the fore extremities as to need an individual description. It lmv however be remarked, that the hinder canon or shank bone is longer than the lore, and that the pastern is also the same, but is less oblique in its situation ; by which wise provision the horse is enabled to elevate and sustain his body entirely on his hinder parts without danger; which would not have been the case if the obliquity of those parts had been considerable. Subsect. 4. General Functions of the Bony Skeleton. RS29 The tkeletOH of the horse must be considered as a mechanism of admirable wisdom and contrivance, which having considered in detail, we offer the following summary of its functions generally as a whole. It will be found to present nearly a quadrilateral figure, having an inclined cylinder resting on four sup. uortin" pillars The spinal column, as the inclined cylinder, serves as a base for the soft parts, and is found not truly horizontal, but dipping downwards over the forelegs; by which the propelling force of the hinder extremities is relieved by the maximum of strength thus transferred. 1 he increased weight of the hinder part of the cylinder is admirably counterpoised by the head and neck, which are projected forwards • by these means leaving the line of direction near the centre of the whole. The length of a cylinder may be such as not to support its own weight ; Nature, therefore, has limited the length of the spines of animals : hence, ceteribus paribus, a long-backed horse must be weaker than a short one ; and thus likewise, small horses can carrv proportionably more than larger ones. Ihe four pillars which suDu'ort this cylinder are not perpendicular partially ; but they are so totally : lor a perpendicular drawn from their common centre of gravity will be found to fall nearly in their common base, by which means thev are supported as firmly as though their individual axes had been in a line perpendicular to the horizon Had they been perpendicularly opposed to each other, there could have been but little elas- ticity and consequent ease in motion ; every exertion would have proved a jar, and every increased effort would h-ive produced luxation or fracture. To increase our admiration ot this mechanism, we need only turn our attention to the contra-disposition of these angles in the fore and hinder supporting pillars. the various bony portic... muscles • and wherever the angles are found most extensive, the muscles will be found proportionally Btrone and large This muscular exertion, to counterbalance the angular inclination, occasions fatigue; as the set of muscles immediately employed becoming weary, the animal is obliged to call another set into action which change is necessarilv more or less freqnent as the animal is weaker or stronger. 6A3l' The extent of the action of the bony portions of the extremities is the produce ol the length and direction of the various parts entering their composition, and of the different angles they are capable of forming- as progression itself is effected by these angles closing, and suddenly extending themselves a-ain The force of the action arises from the direction of the component parts of the ankles, in combin- ation with the agency of the muscles. The repetition of the action is dependent on the muscles alone ; but as the original action arose out of the length and direction of the parts, so it will be evident that in every subsequent repetition, it will be more or less extensive, as these are more or less perfect in their formation even though the muscular exertions should be the same; thus, some strong animals cannot mote so fast as others with less strength, as the cart-horse and racer, or greyhound and mastiff: 6o3" The bony mechanism of the fore and hinder extremities presents some differences. 1 hat of the fore limb may be said to exhibit altogether a different character. The fore-leg bones are much less angular, and appear framed purposely to receive the weight imposed on them by the impulse ot the hinder limbs. This weight thev are destined to sustain, until the elevation is forced on them by the tendency the general inclined mass has to meet the ground, or to find its common centre in the earth. The tore extremities, under this view of the matter, could not have been placed with equal wisdom in any other situation, nor have taken any other form. The hinder extremities having less weight on them, and at no time bearing an increase of pressure, as the fore do by the impetus communicated from behind, are much more angular; and their angles, by being thrown into a backward direction, afford the necessary impetus for the projection of" the body forward. This important operation of impelling the mass being almost wholly dependent on the hind extremities, as that of sustaining it is principally confined to the fore extremities ; so the former are also much stronger in point of muscular apparatus; by which their angles can be advantageously opened and closed with superior effect in progression. Sect. IV. Anatomy and Physiology of the soft Parts. 6333. We shall include under appendages to bone, the muscles and tendons, blood- vessels, absorbents, nerves and glands, integuments, head, ear, eve, nose, mouth, neck, chest, abdomen, organs of gent-ration, and the foot. Subsect. 1. Appendages to Bone, the Muscles, and Tendons. fV534. The appendages to bone are cartilages or gristle, periosteum, medulla or marrow, ligaments, and synovia or joint oil. Book VII. PHYSIOLOGY OF THE HORSE. 967 6335. Cartilages are of three kinds, articular (1887. \ which cover the ends of the bones by a thin layer, enabling them to slide easily on one another ; non-articular, or such as are platen between bones im- moveably joined ; unattached, as those of the ears and larynx ; and temporary, as the ends of bones in very young animals before their earthy deposit is completed. The general nature of cartilage is smooth, white, solid, elastic, and hard. 6336. The periosteum is a general uniting membrane to bones and their appendages (1S82.) ; on the skull it is called pericranium ; when it covers ligaments, peridtsmium ; and perichondrium, when it invests cartilage. Its uses appear to be to furnish vessels to the bones. It is little sensible, except under inflam- mation, when it becomes highly so. 6337. Medulla, or marrow, is a soft fatty substance deposited in the cavities of bones. 6338. Ligaments (1891.] are close, compact, fibrous substances, of immense strength in the horse, neces- sary to bones as a connecting medium ; ligament is also a common membrane in every part of the body. Ligament is considered inelastic; there are, however, many exceptions, of which the cervical and meta- carpal and metatarsal are instances. In some cases they are semicartilaginous. The suspensory ligaments attach and suspend parts, as that of the thigh bone to its socket, &c. Capsular ligaments surround the two opposed ends of jointed bones, and form a complete cavity. 6339. The synovia or joint oil, being secreted from the inner surface of the capsular ligaments, fills up this cavity, and affords a slipperv medium, which enables the bones to slide readily over each other. 6340. Muscle is that part of tne body of the horse which we term flesh, to distinguish it from skin, gristle, bone, ligament, &c. Muscles appear composed of bundles of reddish fibres, the ultimate division of which it is impossible to trace ; and as the motions of an animal are very various, and as almost all motion is operated through the agencv of the muscles; so the peculiar shape they take on is very varied. To the generality of muscles, particularly to those ending in bones, is added a portion of a very different nature, called tendott. , . . , ■ _■ • 6341. Tendons are insensible, inelastic, tough, fibrous substances, of a whitish colour: expanded into thin lavers, they are called aponeuroses. The tendons are eminently useful to muscles, diminishing their size without decreasing their strength. What would have become of the light eleyant limb, had the large muscular masses been continued to their terminations below in equal dimensions? Muscles are highly vascular, as their colour testifies ; but the tendons are very little so, hence their powers of life are very different : one can regenerate itself with ease, the other with extreme difficulty. The muscles also possess a large share of nerves, and consequently of sensibility and irritability, to which properties the surprising phenomena they exhibit must be attributed ; while their extreme vascularity furnishes them with powers to keep the energies requisite for these agencies. They contract and shorten at pleasure, acquire a power of acting dependent on their situation, and can change the fixed for the movable point, and vice versa. 6.342. Muscles are voluntary and involuntary. The former are immediately under the influence of the will, as those of the legs, eves, mouth, &c. Involuntary muscles are such as are not under the guidance of the will, and whose functions go on without control, as the heart, the respiratory and digestive mus- cular organs. Muscles are many of them covered by a cellular or membranous covering, called fascia, and their tendons bv another, but stronger investure, 'called thica or sheath. At the tendinous extremity there is usually a capsule containing a quantity of lubricating mucus, the diseased increase ot which tonus what is termed windgalL Subsect. 2. Blood-vessels of the Horse. f-343. The arteries are long membranous canuls, composed of three strata, which are called tunica: or coats, as, an external elastic, a middle muscular, and an internal cuticular. Each of these coats is the cause of some important phenomena, as well in disease as in health. The elastic power enahlcs them to admit a larger quantity of blood at one time than another, and thus they are turgid under inflammation : bv this also thev can adapt themselves to a smaller quantity than usual ; otherwise a small hamorrhage w : ould prove fatal. The muscular tunic appears to exist in much greater proportion in the horse than in man, and this accounts for his greater tendency to inflammation, and also why inflammatory affections run to their terminations so much sooner in the horse than in man. The arteries gradually decrease in their diameter as they proceed from the heart Our knowledge of the terminations of these vessels is very confined ; we know thev terminate by anastomosis, or by one branch uniting with another. I hey ter- minate in veins, and thev terminate oh secretin? surfaces, in which case their contents become changed, and the secretion appears under a totally different form. Another common termination ot the arteries is bv exhalant openings, bv which sweat is produced. The use of the arteries is evidently to convey blood from the heart to different parts of the body, and according to the part the artery proceeds trom, or pro- ceeds to, so does it receive an appropriate name. 6344. The aorta is the principal member of this system. Originating from the left ventricle ot the heart it soon divides into two branches, one of which, the anterior, or aorta ascendens [fig. 833. p\ proceeds forward to be divided into two principal divisions : the carotids q , by which the head is furnished, and the axillaries, bv which the fore limbs receive their blood, under the names of humeral, radial, and meta- carpal arteries ;"and the posterior, or aorta descendens {ft), which is distributed to the trunk and hinder extremities. . . , . 63*5. The pulmonary artery is a trunk of five or six inches in length ; an.-ing out of the anterior ven- tricle of the heart, and continued by the side of the aorta. It soon divides and enters the lungs, tnrougli which it ramifies. , . , h._»»j-~i 6346. The vans are also membranous canals which begin where the arteries end, and return that blood which has been distributed bv their means. They have less solidity, and possess two tunics or coats only. They usually accompany the'arteries in their course, but are more numerous, being wisely oivu.ea into a superficial aiid a deep-seated set, to avoid the dangerous effects of interruption, lo prevent the return ot the blood they are furnished with valves also. . , ,. . . . „ 6347. The original venal trunks of the horse are ten in number; the anterior cava, the posterior cava, and eight pulmonary, to which may be added the vena p.'.rta?. . 6348. The vena cava passes out of the heart by two trunks from separate parts of the right auricle. The anterior, or cava ascendens fig. I-3 '. n), opposite to the first rib, divides into tour principal trunks ; two axillaries, and two jugulars, (fig. 83.3. r). The axillaries furnish the fore limbs under the names of the humeral, the ulnar, and the metacarpals. The jugulars ir) run up one on each side of the trachea to return the blood of the head. The posterior, or cava descendens [o), returns the blood from the body and ^X^TheTinTporta? is formed from the veins returning the blood from the viscera, which, uniting to enter a sac of that viscus, are ramified through all parts of the liver, where the ™^.^™L^fZ£™ some i 6350. circu in the fibrin, or is less in the horse than in man. A red colour is not necessary to the essential properi Ue '° f blood, str- ing the blood of some animals is white; and even some parts of th^borse s body are tu r nshe,l with colourless blood, as the transparent part of the eye, kc. 1 he coagulable lymph i or fi *?"" s kV„m seems to the most essential part of the blood, and that from which all the parts are lormeck The s ferum seems to dilute the whole. The quantity contained in the body is uncertain : young; an.ma Is P°^ess more h an older, and hence bear bodily injuries better. It is less in quantity m fat than in lean animals, and ill S Q 4 y G 8 PRACTICE Ol' AGRICULTURE. Part III. domesticated tha bote which run wild An animal will low one fifteenth before he dies. Ahorse tost forty-four pounds without apparent injury. Probably the quantity contained in the body may vary according to circumstances : between one eighth and one tenth of the whole mass is a fair medium. i, ; .1. The pulse. From the contraction of the heart and consequent dilatation ol the arteries lo receive the blixid, and pass it onward I" all parti Of the body, which is called the diastole ; SO a dilatation of the heart and contraction ol the arteries necessarily occurs, which Is called the systole; and these two causes operating alternately produce the phenomena of circulation. The momentary increase in capacity in the diameter of the artery >- called the pulse. As there is seldom disease present, without some alt. -ration m the circulation also, so the pulse is attended to as an indicadi 'health or disease 'J he i-ircui.it ion being carried on over the whole body, the pulse may be ti-it universally ; but some situations are more favourable than others, as the heart Itself, the pasterns, at the root of the ear, &c : but the most convenient of all is at the branch of the posterior Jaw, where the maxillary artery may be readily detected (Jig. 833. /). The natural pulse In the horse is about 45 beats in a minute : in the ox the same; in man 75; in the dog "ii When the pulse is much accelerated, the circulation is accelerated also. If, with its quickness. fulness of \ css.-ls and hardness are apparent, the circulation is morbidly hurried, and inflammation general or partial Is present. Subsect. 3. Absorbents of the Horse. 6.15° The absorbent system is a very extraordinary and a very important one ; for if the blood builds up and repairs parts, the absorbents pulf down, remove, and take them away again. They are composed of the lymphatics and laeteals. H"th kinds, although thin and transparent, are strong, and appear to have a contractile power • where very minute they are called capillaries. The lacteal absorbents are situated in the mesentery and intestines, whence they draw the chyle, or nutritious fluid by which the blood is nourished and augmented. The chyle is tarried forward from the mesentery into a tube called the thoracic duet which passing up by the side of the a6rta, pours its contents into the heart through the medium of the jugular 'vein. The lymphatic absorbents differ from the latter only in being situated over the whole bodv and being the recipients of the various matters of the body; whereas the laeteals apnear to absorb the chyle only From numerous facts, we know that the various organs are continually suffering a destruction and a removal of parts, and that what the absorbents take away, the arteries renew ; and to this constant change, most of the alterations of the body are to be attributed with regard to the structure of parts. We use our power over these vessels in the horse medicinally. We stimulate the absorbents to take up diseased solutions of fluids from various parts of the body, as in watery swellings in the legs by mercury and by friction, or by pressure in the way of bandage. When deposits are made ol hard matter, or ligament or bone we stimulate them by blistering or by firing. It is by stimulating the absorbents that splints and spavins are removed. Exercise is a very powerful stimulus to absorbents ; thus it is that swelled legs are removed by half an hour's exercise. In the horse, the lymphatics are more liable to disease than the laeteals, but in man the reverse. Farcy diseases the lymphatics irreparably. Subsect. 4. Nerves and Glands of the Horse. 63">3. The nervous si/stem of the horse is composed of white medullary cords, springing from the brain and spinal marrow, whence thev are generally distinguished into the cerebral and spinal nerves : the internal structure of these bodies is fibrous, and their ramifications extend to every part of the body; it is sup. posed that the brain is the seat of sensation and volition, and that the nerves are only the messengers of it. The sensibility of a part is usually proportioned to the number and size of its nerves ; nervous influence occasions motion. From some cause, unknown to us, some motions are voluntary, and some involuntary ; but both are brought about by nervous agency. As the nerves are the media of sensation ; so a division of their cords has lately been attempted, with success, to relieve certain painful affections ; the most prominent instance is, in the division of the pastern nerves for the relief of the painful affection of founder. Tetanus, or locked jaw, which seems a morbid irritation on the nerves, has been recom- mended to be treated in the same way. 6354. The cerebral nerves, arising in pairs immediately from the brain, are the olfactory, optic, motores oculi, patln'tici, trigemini, abduccnts, auditory, lingual,' par vagum, and the pair called the intercostal or great sympathetic, from its extensive connection. 6355. The spinal nerves are those which arise immediately from the spinal marrow, as the cervicals, nu- merals, ulnar, metacarpal, and pastern nerves ; the dorsal, the lumbar, crural, sciatic, popliteal, sacral, and the nerves to the posterior extremities, which correspond with those of the anterior. 6556. The glands are numerous, and placed in every part of the body ; they may be characterised as se- cretory bodies, composed of all the different vessels enclosed in a membrane ; their office appears to be to secrete or form some fluid, as the liver secretes bile, and the kidney urine. They are classed intofollicu- lose, globate, glomerate, and conglomerate ; they also receive specific names according to their situations, or according to the fluid they secrete, as lachrymal, salivary, ticc. Subsect. 5. Integuments of the Horse's Body. 6357. The common integuments may be considered as the hair, the cuticle, the epidermis, or insensible or outer skin, the rete mucosum, which is immediately under this, the cutis, sensible or true skin, the cellular membranes, which contain fat and other fluids, and the panmculus carnbsus or fleshy pannicle; to these may be added, the unguis, nails or hoofs, which we shall describe separately. 6358. Hair is the clothing of brutes, and hence is very important to them, and as it enters largely into the arts, it is also important to us. (1851.) It appears to be a production of the true skin, arising from a bulbous end, which penetrates the rete and cuticle in the form of an elongated cone. In some parts hairs appear singly, as about the muzzle ; in others in masses, as on the mane, tail, and over the body generally, as an inclined congregated mass ; hair varies in colour, and therefore appears by nature intended both for ornament and use. 6359. The cuticle is situated immediately under the hair (,1845.), and appears a hard insensible covering, purposely placed to guard or defend the sensible skin underneath. The cuticle lines many of the large openings of the body, as the mouth, whence it is continued into the stomach, lining one half of it. It is perforated by Innumerable small vessels that give out and take in various matters ; through these blisters act on the true skin, inflame it, and force it to secrete a quantity of fluid, which thus pushes the cuticle from the cutis. It exists before birth, and is speedily renewed after birth, when accidentally destroyed, and, like the true skin, thickens by pressure; it is constantly undergoing changes ; it exfoliates in the form of powder, or little scales, over every part of the body, and is that substance called dandriff, which grooms are so careful to remove with the currycomb. 6360. The rttc muebsum is a mucilaginous substance placed like a net between layers of cuticle and cutis ; and although very universal in animated nature, its use is unknown. 6361. The Cutis, cbrium, or true skin. (1847.) This very general investure of the body is situated im- mediately under the two former; it is very vascular, and is furnished with innumerable small villous processes of exquisite sensibility, and which, without doubt, were intended to constitute it as the real organ of touch. It is much thickened by pressure ; asses, from the beatings they are subjected to, have it of immense thickness on the rump. It naturally also exists in various degrees of density according to the wants of the animal. Like the cuticle it is perforated by numerous openings which correspond with those of the latter membrane. Its composition appears principally gelatine, and hence it is em- ployed in the manufacture of glue; its gelatine uniting with the matter called tannin, becomes insoluble Book VII. PHYSIOLOGY OF THE HOUSE. 0C9 in water, and then forms leather; and the value of the horse's hide in this particular is sufficiently known. &S62. Adipose membrane arid fat. These form very considerable parts of the body of most animals. The adipose membrane is not so universal as the skin ; some parts are completely without it, as the eye. lids, ears, sheath, and some portions of the extremities. It is cellular, but the cells fortunately do not com- municate or the fat would gravitate. The fat is the unctuous juice poured or rather secreted into these cells. It appears in greater quantities in some parts than in others, and in different degrees of consist- ence ; in the belly of some it is lard, and suet in others ; within the bones it is oleaginous in all. Different quadrupeds have their fat of different degrees of consistence, from the firm suet of the ox, and the tallow of the sheep, to the soft lard of the hog, and the intermediate state of the horse; it guards the parts, it preserves warmth ; but above all, it is a depot against occasional want : thus a fat animal can sustain itself without food much longer than a lean one. The torpid bear comes from his hibernation emaciated, be- cause his constitution has been subsisting on his fat 6363. Cellular membrane. (1849.) This complete invcsture of the body enters every part, and is formed of communicating cells ; as we see by the practice of butchers who blow up their meat ; and also by the emphysematous effects of a fractured rib, and the gaseous distention in some putrid diseases. It exists in different quantities, and under various modifications of density throughout the body, and is a very uni- versal medium of connection in the form of ligament. 63tH. Panniculus carnosus. (18+8.) The fleshy pannicle was kindly given to quadrupeds in lieu of hands, to enable them to corrugate or pucker the skin, and thus to shake off dust and insects. It is a thin mus- cular expansion peculiar to brutes, but not to all ; the swine family being denied it. By its attachments it can operate variously, as we see by the uses the horse makes of it. It is very vascular and sensible, also, from the numerous nerves which enter it. Subsect. 6. The Head generally. 6365. The parts of the head are external and internal ; some of these have been touched on, as the in. teguments, &c. : such as have not will follow in the order of their magnitude or situation. 6366. The brain of the horse (fig. 831. «, b, c), contained within the hollow of the skull, is so similar tJ 331 that of man, that to describe the one is to portray the other. Like the human, 'V^^^'tinua ion brum {a\ cerebellum (ft), and medulla oblongata (e). The medulla spmal.s is « jftect contuiu {'" f of the brain in the form of a medullary cord, called the pith or spinal marrow (*V "°?^ ls ^7^nd the the skull through the occipital foramen. The brain appears to be the organ ot consc aousnesi , anc i nerves which arise out of the medullary cord are the messengers by which sensation and %olition tributed to the various parts of the body. Subsect. 7. The Ear. 6367. The ears of the horse are composed of inner and outer parts Ttatattg»g££ ™&Te from those of the human, but the outer are adapted to his situation and JJ^f™^ The skin composed of the skin, the outer hair, the cartilages, and the muscles by w hie h they " e "™ en within the ears is furnished with sebaceous glands, which secrete a bitter mat ter, nox u to . ^ further to guard against these, it is tilled with hair ; which the false taste of grooms induces mem