On the process in managing arable land, the great object of Hertfordshire husbandry, Mr. Young is very minute; and his remarks are prefaced by a piece of historical information which perhaps is new to most of our readers, viz. that turnips and clover are supposed to have been introduced into this county in the time of Oliver Cromwel, who gave 100l. a-year on that account to a farmer of the name of Howe; and that it appears also, by old leases, that the course of crops, and the management in general, have experienced very little change in the last hundred years.' Preparation of wheat introduces the subjects of Steeps and Smut, the former being generally supposed to be a preventative of the latter: but it still may fairly be a matter of doubt whether the preparation of the seed has any connection with the disease termed Smut, by which the substance of the grain is converted into a kind of small puff-ball or fungus. A proper caution is given against the use of chamber-ley; which, if added after brining, or if the corn be steeped in it when it is stale, kills the wheat: Mr. Leach has bought smutty wheat, to sow for curiosity, and ' even the worst which he could find: he steeped it six hours in a very strong brine, made to swim a large egg: he dried it with hot lime, and sowed it directly, and had no smut. He has tried this several times, always with success. He steeps clean wheat but three hours. Mr. Sedgwick steeps his seed in brine, as above, six hours; then dries it with lime, and sows it directly; and he never has any smut: he omitted it three or four years, and suffered severely by such omission.' The Reporter observes under the title Smut: There seems to be no security against this distemper in any part of the county; yet under the article Steeps, it is seen that they generally pickle the seed. This disorder must, therefore, arise from the too general practice of only wetting the seed with the brine, or of steeping it too short a time; and very possibly from swimming too much together, by which the skimming of it is very much im peded.' An annotator, who signs H, assures us that these opinions. are just; yet we venture to question them. We have known smutty wheat sown without preparation, and no smut has appeared at the harvest; and we have also sown the best seed which could be procured, and brined and limed it with care, but smut has still manifested itself in the crop. If the cause of this disease were in the grain before it was deposited in the ground, could a saline steep reach it? That which affects the germ, as chamber-ley, may destroy vegetation; and that which affects only that part which perishes in the ground can have little connection connection with the quality of the future produce. We request farmers to consider whether smut be not occasioned by a baneful influence on the plant in its growing state, and particularly when it is in bloom. The internal part of each grain is then in a soft pulpy state, which, under favouring circumstances, becomes a hard farinaceous substance: but, by being checked in its natural progress, or by having its tender structure destroyed, it is converted into a black powder. If such be the theory of smut, brining can be of little use: yet farmers are everywhere partial to the practice. Among the Hertfordshire cultivators, the name of the Marchioness of Salisbury frequently occurs; and in one place, her Ladyship is designated by the epithet of this excellent farmer.' The sections on Parsnips and Beets detail only her practice: 6 SECT. XV.-PARSNIPS. This plant makes a great figure in the experiment ground of the Marchioness of SALISBURY: the crop is good, and quite clean. Fatting oxen consume them most advantageously: their benefit thus applied, is so great as nearly to equal, in the opinion of Mr. STEPHENSON, oil-cake: they are consequently excellent for all stock, but superior in fatting bullocks. SECT. XVI. -BEETS. The common red beet, and the root of scarcity, are cultivated successfully in the experiment ground of the Marchioness of SALISBURY; the former answer greatly in fattening cattle, almost as well as parsnips, and better than carrots.' The evidence here collected by Mr. Young, respecting the Drill-Husbandry, is not in its favour. After having stated several experiments, he says: A conclusion is fairly to be drawn, that a method of putting in crops which has failed with several intelligent cultivators, and only partially succeeded with some others, cannot be generally necessary as a means of profit. The observations relative to barley and oats are against the practice. I allude here to nothing done or talked of in other counties, as my business is with Hertfordshire; and certainly in this county, the experiments made, by no means ascertain that any advantage whatever may really exist; nor will the point be cleared up in this county, till some capital farmer, by means of drilling, shall exceed the crops and profit which a YOUNG of Hurral, a WHITTINGTON of Broad-water, and a Doo of Bygrave gain by the common method.' Of Irrigation, we are informed, great opportunities occur in this county, but this improvement is obstructed by the frequency of mills. On this fact a judicious comment is made by the reporter, which deserves the attention of juries: The The contests between millers and occupiers of land, are perpe tual and universal all over the kingdom. It would be well worthy the attention of the Board, to obtain an equitable decision of the points contested, or likely to be contested: at present, the fashion of law is favourable to millers, and unfavourable to flooding, although the latter is considerably more beneficial to society; for almost any water mill is capable of flowing, by means of a level taken from its head, more land than would pay the rent of the mill; and without losing many days' grinding in the year. Mr. BAKEWELL, of Dishley, tock a lease of Dishley-mill, which enabled him to improve hist land more in its annual value than twice the rent of the mill; but such improvement by no means rendered the mill uscless. J. HUTCHINSON made a similar offer to Lord SALISBURY, for an old papermill at Hatfield, but it was refused; he then availed himself of an eld prescriptive right of taking water without consent, but it was scarcely sufficient; notwithstanding which, he effected the improvement before-mentioned. Mr. MAWE afterwards took the SalisburyArms inn, and with it the demesne lands which J. HUTCHINSON Sold to Lord SALISBURY at Woodhall: he neglected the flowing the meadows, and they became very bad: he has since left the place.' Minutes are collected to ascertain the important question respecting the most profitable breeds of sheep, to which this general result is subjoined: The most interesting feature of these minutes, is the comparison of the Wiltshire and South Down breeds. Amongst very practical and reasonable men, the notion of the former doing best on turnips, and the latter on grass, has gained such ground, that I can scarcely conceive it to be a mere prejudice: and I ought to remark, that I have in other counties, and on various occasions, met with so many instances of Wiltshire wethers paying greatly for turnips, that I am inclined to think there is much truth in the Hertfordshire notion. Let me combine it with another well known fact, which is, that the Norfolk breed also pay remarkably well while fatting on turnips, I take these two breeds to be, generally speaking, the worst in the kingdom: it is, therefore, somewhat remarkable, that they should agree in this point of merit. It is sufficiently evident, that accurate experiments (by no means easy to make) are much wanted, clearly to ascertain such facts; which certainly ought to be ascertained more satisfactorily than any general ideas or remarks, or general experience can effect.' The comparative merit of horses and oxen employed in agriculture makes a part of this as of other similar County Surveys. It is remarked, against the use of bullocks that they are very improperly said, in the First Report, to be fittest for strong heavy lands; for they poach and spoil the land, and tire themselves much worse than horses: it can only answer to keep them where there is plenty of pasture land of mode rate rate value, and where wages of men are low; because, by reason of their slowness, a great deal of the time of those employed about them is lost.' An able advocate for uxen is found in Mr. Young's correspondent, the Hon. George Villiers; part of whose letter we shall extract: I have often heard that bullocks will plough an acre of strong land in as short a time as horses: I have not found this to be the case; but though they may remain two hours longer in the field, they do not require stable attendance after their work. They cannot bear heat in the summer months equal to horses, and therefore (with me) they enter upon their work at two or three o'clock in the morning, by which means they nearly complete their business in the cool part of the day. However, the point on which I lay my greatest stress, on the advantage of bullocks over horses, is on the few (comparative) diseases to which the former are subject, and which instantly reduce the value of the latter perhaps from forty to four guineas. Spavins, grease, cankers, broken wind, blindness, farcy, mange, are all disorders very common among farm horses, not to mention more frequent injuries than to bullocks, from colds, kicks, and bad shoeing: on the other hand, except where a bullock appears to have too relaxed and weak a habit, I know of no disorder which reduces his real value; and it rests with his owner what improvement he wishes him to make for the butcher whilst in the yoke.' The chapter on Political Economy is short, and contains ittle worth notice; except the high earnings of the strawplaiters, and a letter respecting the Poor from Mr. Villiers to the Secretary. Only two articles appear under the head Miscellanes; viz. the price of land in Hertfordshire, and an account of Lady Salisbury's experimental farm. From the specimens which we have given of the contents of this volume, a tolerable idea may be formed respecting its execution; which will not be found to lessen Mr. Young's character either as an agriculturist or a writer. It is embellished, in addition to the map of the county already mentioned, with plates representing the Hertfordshire mode of making hedges, and a moveable sheep-house invented by Mr. Villiers. ART. V. The British Museum; or elegant Repository of Natural As an abridged and popular view of animated nature, this compilation has some claim to our favourable notice. The quadrupeds, in particular, are delineated with a considerable degree Mo-y, degree of interest: but the fishes and insects, though they The style of the compilers, on the whole, is clear and appropriate, though it is too often marred by a contempt of the established concord of noun and verb. Thus we have the teeth of the elephant has caused,' the shortness of his legs prevent, a bag with which it is furnished approximate,' the conformation of the minuter parts were,' -- their stock of provisions rarely fail,'—' their habit of laying traps for other animals render,' the blood of seventy thousand people were,the whole extent of their cells sometimes exceed,'-' the holy scriptures gives us,' &c.-Torpitude and torpidity are very unnecessary substitutes for torpor; and we are little enamoured of such expressions as, had not have been taken,' and 'escape all possibility of escape.' The misprintings are also numerous. The writers have manifested their good sense in the rejec tion or confutation of several fabuleus circumstances which have been reported of different animals; and they seldom hazard a remark or conjecture, without foundation. Yet we cannot approve of their cool allusion to the crude and useless deformities of nature. In nature there are no real deformities, nor any thing which we are intitled to denominate crude or useless. The apparent defect or uselessness of certain natural objects results from our own prejudices, and from our inability to trace the connections and dependencies of a complex and extensive system. As a specimen of the work, we extract at random the article Serval: This fierce and rapacious animal, is a native of India and Tibet; in the Linnæan system it is denominated felis serval; Buffon calls it, the serval, or mountain cat; but Pennant, who in his Quadrupeds, likewise, calls it the serval, makes a distinction between this and the former auimal. The natives of Malabar call it the marapute, or maraputa, and by some travellers, it has been described under the name of the tiger cat. In a work by the French academicians, entitled " Memoires pour servir a l'Histoire des Animaux," it seems first to have been noticed by the name of the chat pard; and was therein described as measuring two feet and a half, from the nose to the insertion of the tail; its shape and make was very thick and strong; its upper parts were of a fox-coloured red, with the throat, breast, belly, and inside of the legs, a dun white, the body was spotted with black, those spots on the 1 |