The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1869-08-14 00:00:00

THIN SOWING.

Mr. Mechi, writing from Tiptree Hall, the 9th inst.,
has sent the following to The Tones
The following facts have so impartant a bearing upon the
question of thin sowing that I am induced, on national
grounds, to ask for an insertion of them in your columns.
A great outci y against steam cultivation for wheat has arisen
in this neighbourhood, and no doubt in many others,
the charge being that it has caused the wheat to become
root fallen, and thus reduced its yield nearly one.half.
Knowing that deep cultivation enriches the Rolland increves
the crop, I was at first unable to solve the riddle, but, on
reflection and examination. I find that the wheat plant
is rendered so much more luxuriant during its early
growth by the deeper steam cultivation, especially when
aided by the last very mild winter, that a too dense mass of
flag and crowded plants prevented circulation of air after
the very wet May and during the very cold June, so that
the water stagnated about the roots and stems and caused
them to rot and fall, reducing the wheat crop in many eases
from 5 quarters to 24, with mildewed straw and wretched
kernels. The blame laid upon the steam cultivation should
be placed upon the thick sower, font is quite clear to me that
the seed should have been reduced one-half, seeing that e
valuable deep steam cultivation, like an extra dressing A
manure, caused each plant to be greatly increased in bade,
thus crowding one against the other, shutting out ight and
air. Even with my bushel of wheat per acre the plants are
too thick, and some of them fall, while the plants of the
peck an acre stand firm anti rigid, and will be the best crop,
having permitted the drying of the soil.
The one and two pecks of wheat per acre and thefour
pecks of barley are pronounced, on my farm, to be the.best
crops.
This question of steam ploughing and thinner seeding is
of vast importance, involving this season a loss of from one
to three quarters per acre, and a wretched loss of quality.
In my letter mentioning the Saturday new moon as oc-
curring on the lath of August, I should have said the 7th of
August.
So far the labourers' prediction has proved, unfortunately,
too true, for the wet neatherdelays our already late harvest.

ANOTHER ACTION AGAINST A RAIL.
WAY COMPANY.—DAMAGES £1,500.
At the Manchester Assizes. the cause of " Jelly v. London
and North-Western Railway Company" has been heard, and
was an action for compensation.
The plaintiff, in 1867, was a traveller for Messrs.
Picksley, Sims, and Co., agricultural implement makers,
and on the 7th January of that year he was in a train
on the defendants' line, when a collision occurred, and
he was much hurt. An action was brought against the
defendants after fruitless efforts at negotiation for
compensation, and the cause was tried in this Court
before the Lord Chief Justice in the August,
1867, when the jury returned the damages at
£2,000; the Lord Chief Justice, however, thought
the damage a little excessive, and medical testi-
mony being that he might recover in four or five
months, and the result was that, very much against
the plaintiff's feeling and much against his will
the compensation was reduced to £1,500. It appeared
however, that the doctors did not turn out to be right,
and he never properly recovered from the effects of the
blow he had received, though able to take some employ-
went. So late as the early part of this year, ha
called to consult Dr. Erichson in London about
symptoms resulting from the accident, though at
the time he did not know they were the result of the
accident, and did not tell the doctor be had sustained a
railway inktry until asked. He was then obliaed to walk
with a stick, his right leg and foot having lost power.
He was then employed as traveller for Mr. Northcote,
of Ipswich, agricultural implement maker, and had a
commission from Mr. Milburne, for his grass cutter.
Mr. Northcote gave him £2 I.os. a week as salary, and
£6 a week for travelling expenses; and Mr. Milburne
gave him £1 10s. salary and -0 10s. travelling expenses.
He also took some orders on hirsown account. On the 15th
February. 1869, he was again a passenger on the de-
fendants' line from London, when, on the train arriving
at St. Alban's, it dashed into a local train. This second
collision was so violent that he was thrown forward on
his head, and then, by the recoil of the train from the
shock, thrown back again to the opposite side of the
carriage. He was carried to an inn at St. Alban's,
where Dr. Erichson was sent for from London to
visit him. The doctor artid he was so altered and
prostrated by the shock that he did not recognise him.
The spine was exquisitely tender and rigid, having so
far lost its suppleness that when he turned he had to
throw the whole body over at once. They could not
get him out cf bed ; an attempt was made, but he could
not stand. Ile was suffering from a spasmodic,
barking cough, and a cough that was something
between a hiccup and a deep sigh. This cough was de-
veloped within half an hour of the accident. He had
never been able since the accident in February to get
out of bed (he was brought into court on a kind of
stretcher, and lay on his back to undergo an examina-
tion), and was constantly attended by a male nurse,
who had to lift him about. He was partially para•
Freed, and his legs had wasted, especially the right inc.
He did not think he would ever recover, but he might
improve. His youth (34 years) was in his favour, but
Dr. Erichson did not think it probable he would ever
be able to walk again without support
Dr. Webster, and other medical men, were called in
support of evidence as to injury, and for the defend-
ants Dr. Watson Beevor, Dr. Noble, and a number of
medical witnesses, were examined as to the possibility
and probability of recovery.
Mr. Justice Hannen, in summing up, commented on
the undesirability of bringing plaintiffs who were so
badly injured into court, to excite the sympathy of the
jury, and remarked that on the last occasion it was
said the plaintiff was brought into court under similar
circumstances. He went very fully into the evidence
as to the plaintiff's income, and said, besides recom-
pensing him for loss of that, it would be desirable to
give him something for the pain he had suffered.
Therjury returned a verdict for the plaintiff, damages
£1,500.