The Dorset County Express and Agricultural Gazette.
Dorchester, Dorset, England, 1858-03-02 00:00:00

agriculture.

Tee KOORIA MOORIA GUANO ISLAIIDL —At • meet-
ing of masters of 39 vessels, held at tlie Boccie lifooria
Islands on the 14th of January, resolutiona were passed,
stating that the three lolando, Fiacki, Jibleas, and ()bur-
sood, are not covered with guano, ea stated by Ord,
H.nilson, awl Hayes. the lewoetto : that the quality ix not
anything like Icholse and Upper Peru; that the facili-
ties for loading are not wino( to those at 'choke ; that
the men ia often very rough, awl sevaral ships have lost
anchor., ; that there are nu s te horboun furoliipa on the
islond of Jibleea, Write even nut being alwayasa‘e ; that
alum lance of labour, OAMIOt be obtained from Aden, the
Indian Government having refused labourers periunision
to leave Aden ; Eliot the otatewent of the drynew oh the
climate ix take, rain ving freuuently fallen ; that no
ion hAD been /kb:o to dig mud load half-ikon a-day ; that
nu ship win 107 with alfety within half a wile of Jildisea ;
that the meeting outsiders that the lessees ohould forfeit
the wiluunt of li, fee., end that no moisten of ships at
the Kuoria Manila Islawls should sign bills of lading (ex-
cept under protest) for any piano got there. The meet'
mug conolniled with a reoolution condemnatory of the
portieo who circulated false reports respecting the value
cud ouontity of the guano, 0011 regrettnig toot Captain
Freeunin le's report allowing the true Mete of the eitee
' had not been pubholicl curlier.

klitEDOW.t rite AAtICULrUIt tr ASSOCIATION.—A ecnn•
initter ineetlug in connection with this society wan held
it the ClArence Hutch Tsunton, on Wednestisy week,
for the purpose of passing the accounts of the year 1857.
The income for the year amounted to £l7O, and the
expenditure, happily, left a comfortable linlatioe in hand.
A long conversation took place as to the propriety of
adding now features to the nocioty's future shows,
which resulted in a determination to offer three prizes
to labourers with the longest families, whore eldens
child has reached 21 years of age, or urwartis, and who
have not been recipients of pariah relief • three prizes
to labourers who have been the longest time in the
service of farmers ; three prizes to labourers for thatch-
ing ; and three prizes to the moat praiseworthy female
servant in Bridgwater. A sheepshearing match it wan
also decided should be held in two classes, one for men
and the other for boys, three prizes in each. The com-
mittee were of opinion that this match should come off
during the week commencing June sth, when the
Yeomanry Cavalry will be assembled in Bridgwater.

SCOTTISH AGRICULTURAL IMPLLMENTB.—I have been
much interested in the perusal of • paper, which was
read at a late ineetbag of the Society of Arts, and gives
in a condensed form • considerable amount of informs,
tion of what may, not improperly, be called the statistics
of agricultural inechanistu between the years 1837 and
1857. Approving generally both of the manner and
matter of the paper in question, it is not without con-
aiderable hesitation that I offer • few remarks on certain
8, which, to say the least of them, appear to me
to call for animadversion, or at all events explanation.
In so doing I hope to be acquitted, both by Mr. Sidney
and your readers, of anything bordering on discourtesy
or ill nature, for in the course of my long experience as
a reader and writer on such topics, I never knew any
good to arise from bandying hard words with an maw-
nist ; my maxim is the force of argument, not the ar-
gument of force. Speaking of the rapid progress which
has been made of late years in agricultural implement
making, Mr. Sidney purposely confines his remarks to
England, to the exclusion of Scotland. "Scotch agri-
culturists" he remarks, "make shift with barbarous
implements that have been discarded by all our best
farmers ; and where Scotch farmers use improved
ploughs, drills, hoes, and threshing machines, they
usually obtain them from English manufacturers."
There appears to me something unfair, and not strictly
speaking correct about this pasesage. As • Norfolk
men I cannot be supposed to have any particular pre-
dilection in favour of Scotch husbandry, but I should be
sorry to overlook some of the obligations it has con-
ferred upon even the most celebrated of our southern
agricultural districts. Nearly a century has elapsed
since James Small invented the celebrated plough which
still bears his name, and though improved by Wilkie,
Finlayson, and other comparatively modern makers,
under the name of the Scotch plough, is even to this day
regarded as one of the first, if not the very first specimen
of the application of true mathematical principles to
plough making. Compared with this, look at the great
majority of ploughs in general use in England. Can
anything be more at variance with one's ideas of Ise-
chanical perfection as exhibited in the amended produc-
tions of Howard, Itansoule, and other of our modern
manufacturers, to whom, according to Mr. Sidney, the
Scotch lemon are obliged to resort for their beat ito pie-
ments. Admitting the fact, what then ? They at least
deserve praise, rather than censure, for judgment in the
selection ; and, such being the case, what becomes of
the charge of making shift with barbarous instruments?
To Seotchmen, be it remembered. we owe the threshing
icarbine ; and the history of its inveution under dif-
ferent forms and modification' for the last hundred
years exhibits a long list of noses, of which • very owl-
ablerable number are Scotch. Amongit the moat con-
apionotia of these was Andrew Meikie, wl o more than
70 years ago first applied the principle of feeling.
rollers, end revolving beaters to hie machine. s princi-
ple which with certain alterations continues to the
present day. Of the dr II lindon.lry, as applied to
corn, I have nothing te say to the credit of our Scotch
neighbouni, and tan only express icy surprise that those
who have proved themselves such adepts in the drilled
culture of turnips, can be so indifferent if not postively
averse to apply the saute system to corn. It is one of
those anomalies I never could comprehend, and all the
limn, wonderful because adopted by a people standing
deservedly high as practical farmers. Of their seven-
ority as tornip growers no one entertains a doubt ; for
whilst Norfolk said other celebrated English counties
were raising as large, perhaps larger breaultlis of this
root, no one seemed to have an idea beyond the oil
jog-trot broad-cast method of depositing the deed, nor
wee it till the visit of Mr. Coke into Scotland solos 40
years ago, that he was convinced by personal observa-
tions of the vast enveriority of the raised drill over the
old broad-cast system. Mr. Blaikie hiismelf a Scotch-
inert and • strong advocate of the row culture, had
fortunately about this time enteral upon the manage-
ment of the Holkham estate, and with his able CG-0141‘.
tion Mr. Coke had very WWI the pleasure of exhibiting
on his own farm the whole of his turnip crop (some 500
acres) under an improved and garden like system of
culture. The success of this noble experiment induced
others to follow it, and from that period limy be dated
the gradual abandonmeet in Norfolk of the old broad-
cast, in favour of the drill, either on the Hat or in
ridges. To this end the application by Mr. Blaikie of
his ingenious implement the inverted horse hoe not •
little contributed another Scotch invention, Mr.
Sidney, for the acknowledgment of which I beg to
thank my friend Mr. Garrett. It fully confirms what
I lied said in my brief memoir of Mr. Blaikie in • former
number of the Oaseltee ; and the admission reflects
credit on Mr. G., who very wisely contends himself with
the honour of being the maker, though not the inventor,
of the best implement of its kind going. The last
Sooteh invention to which I shall advert is the re
machine of the Rev. Patrick Bell, which tbocein
nearly thirty years standing, has been for the most part
of that period standing still, until developed of late years
by Mr. Crosskill, of Beverley, and ethics, in Mon
hands it promises to become as ellective an implement as

the inverted hoes in those of Mr. Garrett. I have thus
endeavoured, I hope not unsuccessfully, to oontrovert
the opinion held and promulgated by Mr. Sidney, that
Scotch fanners are content with the leavings of their
English brethren. He this so or not, I think I have
'Mown that we English hsve not scrupled to avail our.
selves of the inpnnity of our northern friends, when.
ever and wherever it may have suited our purpose. of
which the instant*, I have given (and I might greatly
have extended them) are amide proof. Nor let u over
be unwilling or ashamed to mknowledp the fact, but
readily and cheerfully award credit to whom credit is
due. Above all, it strikes miss hie time to de sway
with anything like petty jealousy between people eir.
gaged in similar pursuits, inverted by Om same laws,
and having one and the same object in view, the good
the community at larp.—Sainsef Taylor, Olouololor.