says he, will ever plant to profit, who does not go through his plantations early with an axe in his hand and a cold calculating heart.' He mentions plantations which have been absolutely ruined for want of this said clearing axe, and we in our rambles have observed others in the same predicament. Dr. A. reports an observation made to him many years ago by an old gentleman, " that any fool could plant, but only a wise man could rear timber;" and we offer it third-hand to our readers, hoping that it will be sounded in the ears of planters.

Following the example of Dr. Ainslie, Mr. Miles Braithwaite, of Kendal, in Westmorland, has been engaged in clothing with trees a soil which was in other respects not very promising; and he reports to the Society the particulars of a Plantation of sixty thousand timber trees, near Hawkeshead, in Lancashire. Of this number, 45,600 were larches; and the quantity of land planted was about 22 acres, interspersed with rocks. The lesser silver medal was given to Mr. B.

John Austin, Esq. of Grange, near Strabane, in the county of Tyrone, Ireland, details an account of his having in 1806 Embanked about 300 Scotch acres of a Swampy Marsh, over which the sea flowed at spring-tides; and by drainage, in addition to the embankment, he brought land which was before nearly useless, into so high a state of cultivation as to produce from 3 to 4 tons of hay per acre, and to let on an average at 61 per acre. Subsequent mention is made of a farther embankment of nearly 100 acres; and Mr. Austin complains of the expence as having been almost ruinous to him: but no items of this expence are given, and without them the paper is so defective that we think it scarcely ought to have been rewarded with the gold medal.

A communication from the Reverend Dr. Francis Haggitt, of Durham, acquaints us with his Improvement, by underdraining, of 50 acres of boggy land, at Piddington, near Durham. This clergyman, though he had only a life-interest in the estate, as prebendary of Durham, undertook in a very spirited manner the drainage of a farm which was little better than a morass; and thus he made the 50 acres of land, which before his improvements were worth at most only 2s. 6d. per acre, yield an annual rent of 100%. Little matters did not discourage Dr. H.; and to aid similar exertions we shall transcribe the account of his process:

• The drains vary in depth from three to seven feet, according to circumstances, and are laid in the conduit form with side-stones, and a cover, and (wherever it appeared necessary) with flag-stones at the bottom, forming an open space of seven inches by five for the pas

sage

sage of the water. But a difficulty occurred in many places on account of quick-sands, which were so loose and soft that the stones would have sunk in them; to obviate which, planks were laid at the bottom for the side walls to rest upon, with shoulders to prevent the stones from slipping inwards on the boards; and by this contrivance any dislocation of the drain was effectually prevented.'

Dr. H. has not been guilty of the omission just noticed, but adds that the whole expence of cutting the drains, quarrying and leading the stones, laying and filling-in, amounted to 8221. 25. 4d.; and the timber for planking cost 251. For a clergyman, who had only a life-interest in the estate which he was improving, this was a large sum to expend: but, had it been his freehold, it would have been a small sum for such a benefit. Here the gold medal was properly awarded. A similar account follows, of the Draining and improving of twenty-one acres of Boggy Land, at Clapham, in the County of York, by Major Bryan Hesleden, 1st West York regiment of Militia. The expence of cutting and covering the drains, blowing up the rock which obstructed the work, carrying the main-drain through a hill, and dressing the surface with lime, is stated at 3651. 25. The lesser silver medal rewarded this undertaking.

Admeasurements of the progressive growth of timber are of great use in calculating the value of plantations; and the paper of J. H. Moggridge, Esq. of Laurumney, near Newport, Monmouthshire, including a table of the Growth of Trees from 1805 to 1810, in a plantation of four acres made in 1793 on very unfavourable soil, communicates information which, in addition to Mr. Waistell's tables given in a former volume of the Society's Transactions, may be useful to country-gentlemen. -The lesser silver medal was also adjudged to Mr. M.

J. C. Curwen, Esq. M. P. of Workington-hall, Cumberland, who has on many former occasions been noticed by us as a very able and spirited agriculturist, and who has been honoured with the rewards of the Society for his experiments on soiling cattle, and on feeding them with steamed potatoes, presents himself again before us, stating his Method of feeding milch Cows with steamed food, for which the lesser gold medal was awarded. It has for some years past been the system of this gentleman to give cooked food to all animals,' so that he may be considered as head-cook to his farm-yard-stock. Like the late Count Rumford, his object has been to cook with the least possible cost of labour and fuel; and he reports an apparatus now in use at the Schoose-farm, by the help of which he flatters himself that he has obtained complete success. The mode of using this apparatus, the articles and quantity of food

steamed, the method of conveying it to the cows, and the quantity and excellence of the milk which they produce, as well as their health and high condition, (though never suffered to be turned out,) are fully described, and especially demand the notice of the London cow-keepers; who may very advantageously steal a leaf out of Mr. Curwen's book *. The cows which are kept in the stalls are regularly carded and curried; and, as a proof of the richness of their milk, this fact is produced, that 12 quarts of it will give from 16 to 18 ounces of butter, which is little inferior to the quantity obtained at the height of the grass. For Mr. Curwen's calculations, table, and wood-cut representing the apparatus, we must refer to the volume.

According to a communication from C. T. Skurray, Esq. of Alverdiscot, near Barnstaple, Devon, (which was rewarded by the silver medal,) it appears that the triticum astivum, Blễ Tremois of the French, or summer-wheat, is a more valuable grain than it has hitherto been supposed to be; and that both farmers and the public are interested in its cultivation, since its produce is double that of the common wheat, and it is not subject to those blights and mildews which often attack corn sown in autumn. We need only copy Mr. S.'s evidence in favour of summer-wheat, which is bearded, and originally came from Jersey:

oats.

6

Ist. It may be sown with success so late as the 1st of May. 2dly. It requires no extra culture beyond other spring corn. 3dly. It is a better nurse to clovers, and grasses, than barley or

4thly. It contains more nourishment than common wheat.

5thly. It yields (in soils unfit for winter wheat) a large increase. 6thly. The straw is excellent fodder for cattle, and superior to barley straw.'

These advantages must recommend this kind of wheat: but let the farmer take notice that he should be careful to procure the genuine seed, since upwards of forty varieties of this species occur, some of which are so inferior as to yield little profit to the grower. After all, Mr. S. does not advise the sowing of summer-wheat in situations favourable to winter-wheat: but he mentions it as a resource in cases of failure, and states the following circumstance to enable us to estimate its value, that it sells in the market for the same price as Lammas-wheat, and is eagerly bought by the millers.'

good red

*Mr. C. invites the cow-keepers about the metropolis to visit his Schoose-farm, and pledges himself to pay the expences of their journey if they find his statements to be erroneous.

II

Apibus

Apibus quanta experientia parcis is a subject of the Virgilian muse; and the rearing of bees is laudably recommended by the Board of Agriculture, as well as encouraged by the premiums of this Society. It is not every situation, however, which is favourable to them; and, unless the neighbourhood furnishes a quantity of bee-pasturage, the stocks will never thrive. John Finch, Esq. of Red Heath, near Watford, Herts, informs the Society that he had in his possession 123 stocks of Bees, which he had raised from a single swarm, which he originally found in his orchard. Mr. F. is not sufficiently communicative on the subject of the quantity of honey which his numerous hives produce: but he enables us to guess whence his industrious colony "steal their balmy sweets," by describing his situation to be between two parks, where are a great number of lime-trees; and he adds that in his vicinity many acres of buck-wheat are sown, and the mountain-sage is very abundant. It is to be recollected that bees do not make honey, but merely collect it; and that, where no plants yielding honey are pro duced, the apiary will be a very unprofitable concern. silver medal was conferred on Mr. F.

The

From the produce of fields and groves, whether obtained by the labour of men, of cattle, or of bees, we proceed to notice a contrivance or two for the profitable treatment of this produce; viz. the humble invention of a Pot for preserving Butter from becoming rancid in warm weather or hot climates, by Mr. Arthur Hodge, Bride-lane, Fleet-street: a Churn, by which butter may be easily and quickly made, by Mr. William Sampson, No. 20. Great Wild-street; and an improved Instrument for Pruning young Trees, by Mr. James Ogden of Dukinfield, Cheshire. Plates are subjoined, which give a clear idea of inventions. Ten guineas were adjudged for each of them, and the silver medal also to Mr. Sampson.

In the class of CHEMISTRY, we are presented with only three papers, occupying a few pages. The first respects the invention of a Composition, forming a substitute for Portland-stone Chimney-pieces, by Mr. Charles Wilson, No.35. Worcester-street, Borough; for which 25 guineas were voted. The composition and process are fully described: but no mention is made of the hearth-slab, without which the chimney-piece would be incomplete; though Mr. W. adds that a common plain chimney-piece of his composition is sold at only seven shillings, and a reeded one, completely fitted up, at twenty-eight shillings.'

H. B. Way,

H. B. Way, Esq. of Bridport Harbour,' with his maid-servant, Hannah Peters, next present themselves, the one as the contriver, the other as the kneader of Bread, made from a mixture of Wheaten Flour and Potatoes. The reader will perhaps smile on seeing Hannah Peters here walked over the stage: but she is introduced, we are gravely told, for her success in making this compound dough, as well as for her management of the oven; and, as this damsel figures so prominently in the Transactions of the Society for Arts, we hope that she will be allowed all due precedence among the maid-servants of her own parish. The committee report that Mr. Way's composition, prepared and baked by his maid Hannah, is a successful mode of making bread.

The last paper is a letter from the Secretary of the Cork Institution, accompanied by fourteen specimens of Irish marbles.

The POLITE ARTS furnish only two inconsiderable communications, and both from the same person, Mr. R. D. Cathery, No. 9. Mead-row, near the Asylum, Lambeth; the first detailing his Method (which is very simple) of fixing Chalk Drawings, and the other exhibiting his mode of preparing Transparent Paper, for the Use of Engravers and Painters. For the fixing of chalk drawings, gum or isinglass is employed; and for rendering paper transparent, spirit or oil of turpentine, with two other ingredients. Twenty guineas, and five guineas, were voted to Mr. C.

:

The Papers in MANUFACTURES are not much more numerous, but of more importance, than those in the last-mentioned class. In the 23d Vol. of the Society's Transactions, A Machine for creaking and cutting Wires for Cards employed in carding Cotton and Wool, by Mr. Joseph Beard, of Coggeshall, Essex, was noticed as having been honoured with a distinguished premium but the account then given of this machine was unaccompanied with a descriptive plate, owing to the difficulty of explaining its construction by a drawing. Now, however, it appears that Mr. Farey, junior, has surmounted this difficulty; and an excellent engraving, with a long and minute illustration, forms the first article in the present department. This paper requires to be studied, is incapable of abridgment, and the manufacturer whom it concerns must read for himself.

To the Merino breed of sheep, and to the growth and preparation of British Merino wool, the attention of farmers and manufacturers has of late years been much directed; and every useful hint on these subjects will be gratefully received. Persons belonging to either of the above-mentioned classes