stantial, and moated round in the old style; and he had a partner to share his joys and his sorrows. But barberry bushes were dotted here and there in the hedges all over the farm, and to this he attributed the fact of his corn having suffered greatly from mildew. At the end of four years he had to quit, in consequence of the sale of the farm, and Thomas French, Esq., of Cranley Hall, Eye, gave him the offer of a farm at Witnesham, of 180 acres, at £40 a year less rent than what he was then paying, and, in addition, an offer of a lease for 21 years. This offer he embraced; he took stock and crops at valuation, and in 1807 took possession of the land, which he continued to cultivate for nearly forty-five years. When he came to the farm, although 160 acres of arable land, there were but two acres of white turnips grown: they were very small, and this was about the average proportion grown by the farmers in the parish. The mode of cultivating swedes was then unknown in this neighbourhood. Mr. Poppy found the white turnips almost useless on his heavy-land farm; the roads were so bad that carting them home was difficult, so that in sharp winters they sometimes rotted in the field, and in mild ones ran away so early that there was no feed left for the spring. This led him to turn his attention again to the cultivation of swedes, for which, and his experiments with the turnip fly, he afterwards became celebrated. The importance of these experiments may be judged of from the fact that one of the best agricultural authorities, Mr. Macro, has estimated the loss by the fly to amount to one year's crop out of five or six.

When, in 1827, the gold medal was presented to Mr Poppy by the Duke of Sussex, in the Haymarket Theatre, for his endeavours to prevent the ravages of the turnip fly, Sir John Sinclair introduced himself to the Suffolk farmer, and did all he could to make known the nature of Mr. Poppy's experiments.

Unfortunately for him, the promised twenty-one years' lease of the Witnesham farm was never executed. Mr. Poppy kept on farming and improving, prices were increasing almost every year, and in a few years he paid a heavy penalty for neglecting the affair of the lease. The owner of the farm and a friend visited him, and the next rent day the alternative was to Mr. Poppy either to pay an advanced rent or to quit. It was in vain that he pleaded his agreement there was no written contract. He had himself be. come a family man, had expended a considerable sum in improvements, and it was not likely that another farm could then be obtained, and he had therefore to submit to the demand. His case is one among many of the folly of making improvements without security.

About this period he entered into a correspondence with Arthur Young about the "scarifier," and he sent a model of the instrument he had invented to the Board of Agriculture, at the time Sir John Sinclair was President; both Arthur Young and Sir John highly approved of the model implement, and felt sure of its getting ultimately into general use. Young, however, advised Mr. Poppy not to take out a patent, and the result is, that at the present day, scarifiers, of which his was the original type, may be seen on almost every farm in this district.

White carrots were introduced into this district by Mr. Poppy. He brought the seeds from France in 1828. Sauntering about Calais prior to embarkation, he saw some strange roots lying on the stalls of the market-place, that "looked like a hybrid between a parsnip and a carrot," and he at once bought some seed to try their growth in East Anglia. He was incessant in his labours to introduce mangold wurzel, but he for a long time met with great difficulties in persuading farmers to grow this valuable root, and he distributed seed, published pamphlets, and wrote letters to the public journals, with the hope of getting the root into general use; and there cannot be a doubt but that his exertions were of great value. Mr. Collett, of Clopton, had succeeded in growing the root, but his want of knowledge in storing them caused his crop to spoil. A labourer from that parish brought one to Mr. Poppy as a curiosity, saying, he "din't know what that was; if 'twas a carrot 'twas a stamming great un." Mr. Poppy has also been zealous in promoting the cultivation of "millett" as a useful stallfeeding plant for storing, and as a substitute for clover.

Mr. Poppy, in connection with a few friends in his

neighbourhood, established the first organised Farmers' Club (the Ashbocking) for the exchange and record of the results of their practice. Of this club he was appropriately chosen chairman, and he was especially the guiding spirit of the club. His great natural abilities, extensive experience, and generous disposition eminently fitted him for the duties he undertook. By these meetings he connected himself personally and by correspondence with men of intelligence, activity, and industry-that portion at least of the agricultural body whose general knowledge and energy were far in advance of the great majority of farmers of that day, and thus, directly and indirectly, he greatly aided in propelling onward the art of agriculture in this county. After the establishment of this club, the system of Farmers' Clubs became rapidly established throughout the kingdom. Mr. Poppy is not what is generally termed an educated man, but his mind is one of no common calibre, and its strength and rugged energy have to a great extent supplied the want of educational tact. His practical suggestions have ever been deservedly esteemed by those who did not fear to travel out of the beaten tracks. He adhered to his plans with a degree of steadiness which some called obstinacy, but he was always determined that his experiments should have a fair trial, and all parties admit that his observations are acute. correct, and judicious.

The

In 1850, our experimentalist, being nearly eighty years of age, left the farm, and retired with his aged partner to a small cottage that overlooks every field on the farm, the cultivation of which he had so long superintended. time at which he quitted his occupation was a bad one, stock and crops sold at very low prices, thereby greatly reducing even the limited means which this aged couple had to depend on for subsistence during the remainder of their days.

Charles Poppy is not like Tull, a gentleman of ancient family; nor like Stillingfleet, the grandson of a bishop; nor like Arthur Young, a Fellow of the Royal Society; but he is a practical agriculturist, who, in proportion to his means, has done more, by experiment and correspondence, to advance the agricultural art in this county than any other man living, and as such is worthy of all honour.

THE PROPOSED ESSEX AGRICULTURAL ASSOCIATION.-The adjourned meeting of the committee appointed to promote the establishment of an agricultural society in the county of Essex, took place on Friday, March 26, at the Shirehall, Chelmsford; Mr. C. Du Cane, M.P, in the chair, Mr. Bramston, M.P., one of the other county members, and a considerable number of gentlemen connected with the agricul ture of the district, were present. The hon. chairman stated that 34 vice-presidents at £5 5s. each, 39 members at £28. 2s. each, 151 members at £1 1s. each, 24 members at £1 each, and 269 members at 10s. 6d. each, had been enrolled, in all 517 gentlemen. The surplus arising from the local fund raised for the Chelmsford Meeting of the Royal Agricultural Society was about £315, and there was, therefore, a sum of £350 available for the inauguration and establishment of the association. With regard to the rules, the chairman further stated that he had prepared them, having previously received copies of those governing the Suffolk and the Bath and West of England Societies. The hon. gentleman's code, which he read, was adopted, with a few slight alterations. It provides for the management of the association by a committee of 24 members, chosen equally from the northern and southern divisions of the county, and that no political discussions shall be introduced into the society, which is to be devoted exclusively to agricultural objects. The meeting resolved on the appointment of a secretary at a salary of £50 per annum, and Mr. W. Tuffnell undertook to act as treasurer. It was also determined, after some discussion, that the first exhibition of the association should be held at Chelmsford, on Tuesday, June 15, and the meeting adjourned to March 26, for the reception of a schedule of prizes to be prepared in the interim, and to be then submitted for approval.

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The results of a few experiments with different kinds of manures are all I have to lay before you. I have no historical account of the various manures now in use; nor have I anything to say of their chemical properties. There will doubtless be a difference in the opinions of many here as to the comparative merits of different manures; but I think you will agree with me as to the necessity of applying manure of some kind if we expect to raise a prolific green crop. We all know that in carrying away from the land a crop of any kind, whether cereals or root crops, we are robbing the soil of chemical properties which must be returned to it again in one shape or other, if we would maintain the land in high condition; and perhaps one of the most difficult problems for an agriculturist to solve is the one now before us-What is the kind of manure which, at the least cost, will raise the largest green crop, and at the same time leave the land in the best condition for the succeeding rotation? A thrifty housewife, on one occasion, presented a friend who had called with skim milk cheese, bread and butter, by way of refreshment. He deliberately spread a slice of cheese with the butter, saying, "I restore unto thee what was feloniously taken away;" | and if we wish to raise luxuriant crops of potatoes and turnip, we must restore to the land the chemical properties which previous crops had carried off. Manuring land is no modern practice. It is quite true some agriculturists in the present day profess to grow a succession of crops for a series of years on the same land without applying manure of any kind-and the evidence that this has been successfully done seems so complete that we cannot dispute it. Still, I think you will agree with me when I say that even in the Lothians, which has been styled "the_garden of Scotland," we must apply manure, and that, too, with no niggard hand, if we expect to raise a crop that will cover seed, labour, aud rent. In the wheat-growing districts of Canada, where the soil is so rich that the farmers for years did not require to give it manure, now, instead of carting their manure to the river side as the easiest mode of getting quit of it, they collect it carefully and apply it to the land. Chemical science has done much for agriculture in analyzing soils, testing the manurial qualities of various substances, and thus guiding the practical farmer to the kind of manure best adapted for the respective soil and crops to which they are applied; and yet, withal, agricultural chemistry may be said to be yet in its infancy, although it has attained to the ordinary span of human life. Yet it seems to have received no attention from practical agriculturists

duced a considerable impression at the time amongst farmers, some of the more sanguine imagining that a new era had dawned upon agricul ture. Greatly increased crops were to be raised by new manures, adapted to each description of grain and root crop, at one-half the former price. But alas! we all know to our cost that ever since, notwithstanding all the aid of chemistry, manures of all kinds have been gradually rising, till last season we paid a higher price for them than we ever did at any former period. Let me not be understood as speaking lightly of the aid which chemistry renders to agriculturists in judging of manures. So far from it, I believe that we may on good grounds cherish the hope that this abstruse science will yet discover for us more plentiful and consequently cheaper supplies of artificial manures. patient analyses and experiments may be necessary. Let us be patient.

Years of

Let us remember what chemistry has done in supplying us with manures in time past. Thirty or forty years ago, when turnips began to be more extensively cultivated, all the farm-yard manure that could be collected was found quite inadequate. Bones were introduced, and with marked success, especially in sharp soils. Then by the aid of chemistry these bones were dissolved, and the quantity formerly reckoned necessary for an acre was found amply sufficient for four. But even with all this multiplication of the power of manure, it was found insufficient for the land under green crop. Then some sixteen or seventeen years ago guano was introduced, which met the desideratum for the time; and now, when farm-yard manure, bones, dissolved bones, guano, &c., &c., are all found unequal to manure the vast extent of land under green crops, I doubt not some substitute will be forthcoming in the time of need. To chemistry all eyes are at present directed, and I trust they will not look in vain. It is but a few months since that wonder-working science resolved the gas contained in our Torbanehill coal into a liquid, which I know some of you are pouring into your lamps, and obtaining a good light for a half-penny a night; while a wick the length of your finger will last you a twelvemonth. If that eagle-eyed science which detected the liquid gas in the dark coal-beds of Torbanehill, and made it equal if not to the light of day, at least, to a gas light more brilliant than any light these dark December days can boast, is it too much to expect that she will unlock the vast storehouses of Nature's laboratory, and bring forth the many rich fertilizers lying dormant, whether it be from the enormous beds of nitrate of soda in South America, or the deposits of fossil remains of whales, sharks, and other gigantic monsters of the deep that in some remote period of the earth's history seem to have sported their short-lived day in our seas, and had their bones deposited in the south of

England for the use of the British agriculturists of the 19th century?

To make use of a Yankee expression, I believe in chemistry, and it its power to guide us in the choice of manures. But I have still stonger faith in experiments, although these are not always safe guides. There are so many circumstances to be taken into consideration-the character of the soil, climate, period of sowing, the season, &c., &c., that implicit confidence cannot be placed in any one experiment; but if year after year we make trials of manures on different kinds of soils, and carefully ascertain the results, we shall be able to arrive at general conclusions on which we may depend as safely as any chemical theory, however beautiful.

Farm-yard manure, guano, ground bones, charcoal manure, and dissolved bones, are the manures I have made the experiments with, the results of which I now beg to lay before you. In the season of 1856 I tried six different lots of three drills each. The First was manured with 5 cwt. Peruvian guano per Imperial acre, and yielded-21 tons 1 cwt. Second, with 5 cwt. dissolved bones-17 tons 1 cwt.

Third, with 5 cwt. charcoal manure-12 tons 9 cwt.

Fourth, with 2 cwt. each guano and dissolved bones-18 tons 15 cwt.

Fifth, with 2 cwt. each guano and charcoal

manure-21 tons 1 cwt.

Sixth, with 1 cwt. each guano, charcoal, and dissolved bones-20 tons 2 qrs.

I ought to explain that the turnips were not sown till the 19th of June, quite too late to sow green top yellow, especially in such a season as 1856, and hence the crop was a very small one. I also weighed the same lengths of 3 drills of the same variety of turnips sown on the 24th of May, and manured with about 30 tons of farmyard dung, ploughed in December, and 1 cwt. each dissolved bones and guano, applied in the drills, which yielded 27 tons per imperial acre.

This season I had a trial of seven different lots, manured as follows:

First, manured with 6 cwts. of Peruvian guano, weighing 26 tons 19 cwts. Second, manured with 6 cwts. Patagonian guano, cost about 10s.-26 tons 13 cwts. Third, manured with 9 cwts. dissolved bones

22 tons 18 cwts. Fourth, manured with 6 cwts. do. from the same manufacturer, but much drier-25 tons 11 cwts. Fifth, manured with 6 cwts. dissolved bones, from another manufacturer-22 tons 19 cwts. Sixth, manured with 10 cwts. do.-22 tons 10 cwts.

Seventh, manured with 3 cwts. Peruvian guano and 3 cwts. charcoal manure-25 tons cwts.

18

These weights are all per imperial acre. I may state that Mr. Davidson and Mr. Cunningham were kind enough to assist me in measuring the land and weighing the turnip.

I tried another lot, manured with about 30 tons farmyard dung and 1 cwt. each guano, charcoal manure, and dissolved bones, which yielded 33

tons. The turnips in this last were Swedish variety: the others were all green top yellow. I have been in the habit of making a few experiments with different kinds of manures every year. Up till last season I always found dissolved bones to yield as large a crop, or nearly so, weight for weight, as guano, and certainly the largest crop for the money value of the manure, while its effects on the land were more lasting. Whether the deficiency the last two years arose from the wetness of the season or the quality of the manure, I know not. I dissolved the bones myself previously, but I had them from a highly respectable party, and do not believe they were in any way adulterated. I was in the habit of using bone meal, or the riddlings from the bones, to assist in drying them The addition of a portion of dry bone may perhaps account for the different result. Dissolved bones, I have observed, give a great stimulus to the young turnip plant, and by sending it rapidly on, it is sooner beyond the reach of that horrid enemy of the turnip plant-the fly. In this respect it excels all other manures except guano. You will observe one remarkable result in the lot with 10 cwt. of dissolved bones; the yield is no greater than with 6 cwt. This would not have surprised me had guano been the manure, but with bones it is to ine altogether inexplicable. In making a calculation of the cost of various manures used in these experiments, Patagonian produced the largest weight of turnips for the money cost, but inferior guanos are not to be depended on, with this exception. Half charcoal and half guano produce the next greatest weight of turnips for the money, reckoning the charcoal manure at 5s. 3d. per cwt. and the guano at 14s. Dissolved bones are the next cheapest.

Perhaps it may be expected I should say something of the manures best adapted for potatoes. I am not a large potato grower, seldom having more than eight or ten acres, and therefore leave that subject to another. I may state that I this year used 1 cwt. each of charcoal, guano, and dissolved bones, with farmyard dung ploughed in in autumn. A small portion of the field had 3 cwt. of guano, without charcoal or bones, and I could observe no difference in the produce. One word as to the Edinburgh Police Manure. I have found it suit well on stiff soil, but on lighter land I would decidedly prefer the one-half quantity of farmyard dung. I know this does not correspond with the experience of some of the most intelligent farmers of the district, who compare it with other manure in the proportion of three or two. One serious drawback to it is, you have even on this calculation three tons to load, cart, and spread, for two of the other, and it will take nearly double the time to fill and spread it. If liquid manure could be applied to turnips, I believe it would surpass every other manure for that crop. Some time ago, in transplanting some Swedes, I took urine from the tanks, and applied it after the turnip was transplanted, and its effects were very powerful.

The CHAIRMAN expressed the great satisfaction he had had in listening to the very able and suggestive paper of Mr. Rowat. It had brought out prominently a most important point, which was well worthy of our best consideration, viz., the most