The Dorset County Express and Agricultural Gazette.
Dorchester, Dorset, England, 1859-11-08 00:00:00

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SMITHFIZLD CLUB CATTLE Sunw.—The entries for
the ensuing annual show of fat cattle, sheep, pigs, ke.,
which will be held early next month at the Carriage
Bazaar, King-street, Baker-street, Portman-square,
closed on Friday. There are now separate classes for
Devons, Herefords, short-horns, Sussex. Suffolk, or
Suffolk polled, long-horned Scoth, Scotch polled, Irish,
Welsh, and cross or mixed; long-woolled sheep, cross-
breds, short-wools, and pigs. In addition to the large
amount now offered in money prizes, there are also fifty
silver and five gold medal.. No article will be allowed
to be exhibited except such as have an immediate con-
nexion with agriculture, and the secretary has refused
all other articles offered. Persons not being members
of the club and wishing to exhibit stock, implements,
roots, seeds, ke., have been allowed to do so on payment
of a fee of one guinea for their standing-room during the
exhibition.

ALDERMAN MIECHII ON CERSPOOLIL—At the meeting
of the Braintree Agricultural Society Alderman Mechi
remarked that Boards of I leattli were being established
throughout the country, and they were excellent sani-
tary arrangements so far as concerned the general
health ; but they might depend upon it they were hay-
ing an evil influence as to the furnishing of the 'kith'
stomach. and the doing away of all cesspoola deprived
agriculture of an important manuring resource, lie
did not think he could illustrate it better than by com-
paring the lose of the sewage of the 15,000,110.) inhabi-
tant* living in towns to tenting 15,0110.000 sheep, and
throwing all their manure into the nearest river. The
great authority, Baron Liebig, whoin he considered the
Sir Isaac Newton id agrietiltural science, lately called
attention to the snbject, and showed the HOOK lOW bene-
fit that must result from bringing the sewage of the
population hack upon the land. The farmers said they
were prodncing more corn than they used to ilO but he
was not prerared to admit that. Mr. in his book
a few years ago, told them that Arthur Young estimated
the amount of wheat grown in England in 1770 at
2,000,01 M quarters re than we HOW produced, for
they must bear in mind that we were now importing ,
10,000,000 quarters of corn annually.
THE 110LCUN SACCHARATUR (Sorghum oarrharaloso)
North China Sugar Cane, the Sorge mere of the French'
has of late attracted in much attention that we (Agri'
collared GazTltr)olfer no apology fur inserting a few re-
marks upon some experiments on the growth and
economy of this plant with which we have been engaged
during the present season. The examples alluded to are
as follows • patch of about a quarter of an acre
sown on the farm, in coil of a tolerably good depth, rest-
ing on the brash of the great uwhite, the previous crop
having been potatoes. The only manure employed was
ashes from burnings of roadside parings and the refuse
of hedgerows. The seed was drilled on the lath if
May in rows 14 inches apart, and at a depth of about :1
inches ; it came up very well and evenly, and through
the summer went on growing very luxuriantly, and its
large flags presented a most handsome appearance.
Alsint the same time we sowed one of our experimental
plots with seed of Holcus obtained from the Messrs.
Sutton, iif Reading. the coil here being forest marble
clay resting on the great isilite, and ashes from garden
refuse being the manure. The distance apart was in
this instance 20 inches, depth not more than a inches.
This came up soon, and fur the first month did not at all
promise the fine aspect it afterwards showed, but as
soon as the warm nights came on it made rapid growth,
and we were thus led to infer that too early sowing is
by no meant a saving of time, though we are not quite
sure whether getting strong plants early by germinating
in • hothouse or under glass with artificial heat and
gradually exposing them to harden before trans-
planting would not be advisable, especially where the
growth of Holcus is attempted in cold, exposed, or late
growing situations, and in this case of course the oper-
ation of transplantation should be done in wet weather,
the saving of seed and the ensuring of a well regulated
equidistant plant being taken as no bad equivalent for '
the extra labour and expense. In this as in the other
case the crop was hoed, but thia is • delicate operation
in the Sorghum, as it sends out adventitious roots front
the joint immediately above the ground, which dip into
the soil, and if not interfered with sill immensely in
forwarding the growth and development of the plant.
Hoeing them befors this lirocess commences encourages
it, but by no means can it be properly done when this
is in progress. When, however, the new roots are
fully established • careful stirring of the ground between
the rows, not between the individual plants, appear
very much to facilitate • largo and, what is more Lai-

portant, a quicker growth. Thus, then, we have
brought up the history of both pieta until about the
middle of August, when trials were made of the feeding
properties of the field crop, or rather of the tastes of
cattle in regard to it. Food parcels o t& whole plant
were cut close to the ground and carried at once to the
farmstead and tried, with the following effect :—Horses
would not touch it. A two-year-old bull ate it greedily,
and could scarcely be induced to eat anything else.
The milking cows partook of it very sparingly. The
pigs had no prejudice with regard to it. Having our-
selves made trial of some of the produce of the experi-
mental plot at this with some cows we conclude that
matters were with it pretty much as with the farm crop.
Now, on applying the KIIMe teat to our own palate, we
did not wonder at the general coolness of the cattle to-
wards it, as even the most forward parts of the crop
were at this time intensely bitter, and we began to fear
that the cold climate of at least some part of England
WM inimical to the development of the saccharine mat-
ter which this plant is known to possess when grown in
warm climates, • circumstance which we still think will
militate against this plant succeeding in perfection—at
least over a great part of the United Kingdom. In
September we again employed the trial by taste, and in
the larger or central stalk we then found a great change;
these had become very sweet and the cows then partook
of it at least with an apparent relish, but while this
was so with the principal or main stem the @talons or
side shoots were still bitter, and it ICU not until the
present month that the major part of theme became
sufficiently sweet to warrant one in the conclusion that
the feeding qualities of the plant had made any great
Advance towards their full development. Now these
facts seem to point to some rather important conclu-
sions with regard to the use of this grass, namely that
it dues not all ripen together, the central or oldest stein
is perfect before the lateral shoots, so that while this is
1 sweet those are even intensely hitter, and if we wait
until the sweet matter is develoisit in all, the central
I stein will by that time be so hard and woody as not to
be capable of being used as a cattle food—hence then
i we would advise that the central skin be the first to be
gathered. This can easily be done by boys who can
readily detach it with some kind of knife, and this done
the other shoots will at once make accelerated growth,
so that by adopting this expedient we have a better
chance of deriving the full benefits from the whole of the
crop. As regards the amount of the crop our calcula-
tions founded upon the results of the smaller
experiment would lead us to infer that the
weight per acre in the second week of September was
somewhere about tiff tons to the acre, and the farm pro-
duce seemed to us to be very nearly of the same quality
and quantity. This is a large yield, and this season it is
not very likely to have improved beyond that time, as
the first cold nights played sad havoc with the flap of
our plants, from which we may conclude that the alight
frosts towards autumn are as prejudicial to the older
I plants as the spring frosts to the younger ones. With
I only this evidence before us it may perhaps be considered
premature to judge of the agricultural merits of the Hol-
cus saccharatus, but we yet cannot help expressing the
opinion that the changeable nature of our climate is op-
posed to its growth in anything like full perfection. If
I summer suddenly commenced and kept on uniformly
I warm until near winter, there would be a chance, but
I while

"Sant Bartholomel
Bring% cold dew,"

and this has such effect upon the growth of the plant
that we have not seen • care of ripening of seed, scarce-
ly, indeed, of flowering, we shall have some difficulty
here in acclimating this denizen of a warmer and more
steady temperature.