HORTICULTURE, &c.

New Zealand Colonist and Port Nicholson Advertiser, Volume I, Issue 55, 7 February 1843, Page 3

HORTICULTURE, &c.

PROCEEDINGS OF SOCIETIES. THE ROYAL HIGHLAND AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY. The annual meeting of this important institution has lately been held in Edinburgh, and is reported to have been one of great interest. An immense number of persons attended it, and the show of implements as well as stock was quite remarkable. On Monday, a lecture was delivered by Dr. Madden “ On the condition of Soil at Seed-time, as influencing the future prospects of the crop.” He proposed to give an account of the different soils at the time of putting seed into the ground, and to show that theory and practice were not so diverse as they were generally supposed to be. The first thing that occurred, to the seed after sowing was germination—to which process air, moisture, and a certain degree of warmth, were necessary. The soil, which is the vehicle through which these were communicated to the seed, consisted of particles of various shapes and sizes, and these were generally porous, though some of the smallest assumed a solid form. The fine dust of soil is found by the microscope to consist of broken down vegetable matter. There were two distinct kinds of pores in soil —those between the different particles, and those which exist in the particles themselves. Diagrams were produced, representing soil when the pores were supplied with air alone; when the pores were superabundantly supplied with water, and with water.alone; and when the pores in the particles were supplied with water while the other pores ' adtnitted air. The last was the proper state of the soil. Another diagram represented soil in which the interstitial pores were obliterated. This was in fact a clod, and of no more use for germination than a stone. The first state of too great dryness was very rare in this country, occurring in course sand; and the mode of detaining the moisture adopted in some places was to leave the stones on the surface, so as to prevent the evaporation of water. In the second instance, the water was absorbed by the pores of the particles passing through the canals; and the soil remained damp or moist, but was

not wet. If, however, from the occurrence of spring water, too-much water for the pores was furnished, the canals must of necessity be filled. This was the condition of undrained soil, and the whole process of germination and vegetation was materially interfered with. Hence the necessity for thorough draining. The first effect of this state of soil was to exclude the air, which was essential to germination ; the second was’ to reduce the temperature of the soil in summer, to the extent sometimes of six and a half degrees, which was equal to an elevation of 1,950 feet above the sea; so that supposing two fields on the same level, one of which was in a proper state, and the other was undrained, the difference' was the same as between a field near the level of the sea, and a field as lofty as the highest of the Pentland Hills. But while in undrained soil the temperature was lowered during summer, it was unnaturally high in winter ; for while the change of temperature amounted to between 30 and 40 degrees in the course of the year,, the temperature of soil saturated with water ranged only between some 6 or 7 degrees ; and thus the healthful influence of a variation in the temperature was lost. Dr. Madden then proceeded to show, in like manner, the necessity of attending to the pulverisation of soil, so as to prevent it from getting clodded, and to the advantage of drill sowing. He adverted to the benefits arising from attention to such points as those he had brought under the notice of the meeting; as neglect of the state of the soil, carelessness in sowing, and other circumstances within the control of the farmer, to some extent at least, were calculated to affect the seed in its various stages of germination, growth, flowering, and ripening. If anything caused the plant to flower too early, the produce was not so large as it would otherwise be; and so whatever tended to interfere with the due periods fixed by nature for the healthy performance of these various processes, should be as carefully guarded against as possible. After some remarks on the necessity for calling in the aid of practical knowledge to correct the deductions of scientific inquiries, he adverted, in conclusion, to the great utility of applying the results of scientific research in the cautious manner which he indicated to the improvement of agriculture—an art which was once the most important and the most extensively cultivated. At the great dinner some of the most distin guished agriculturists of England and Scotland were present, the Duke of Richmond in thechair. In the course of the evening the noble chairman took an opportunity of making some observations which deserve to be preserved, because of their truth and justice : —“Never have I been able to find any one reason why we farmers should not bring to our assistance that science which learned men after great research have discovered. When I see the advantage which commerce has derived from the application of steam ; when I see the enormous importance of the improvements which science has effected in our manufacturing system ; I confess I cannot understand why the farmers should not endeavour to profit by it likewise. From the first, I have felt great interest in this Agricultural Society, because it gives the landlords an opportunity of meeting their tenants in friendly and social intercourse. I believe that we do great benefit to the country by these reunions. I think it is impossible for any man to go to the remote lands of this country, and to the far distant hills, without being convinced of tiie great advantages which have resulted from the efforts and exertions of the Highland Society. They have excited a thirst for useful knowledge; they have induced practical men to turn their minds to the improvement and the cultivation of the soil, and to the better management of stock ; and they have promoted and fostered those local farmers’ clubs, which I am of opinion have done great benefit. I hope you will not think me presuming if in this great meeting I should tell the Highland Society what, in my opinion, may be amended. You are aware that a similar society has been formed in England, which has been of great service to the farmers there. But at this moment the parent society is behind its child in one thing. The society in England obtains subscriptions from its members ; but to each of its members it sends a quarterly journal, not only comprising the prize-essays paid by the subscriptions of its members, but also containing many useful papers from practical farmers; the effect of which is, that useful knowledge is disseminated in every parish of the country. I beg to call upon the Scottish landlords, then, to come forward ; for it is by them that the great expense should be borne. I call upon them to come forward with their subscriptions for this purpose, to enable every member of this society to know what has been done by his neighbours. They will there see the result of practical experiments —for /do not call upon the tenants to make too great experiments — I ask them ,to make experiments only upon such a scale as will hot hurt them. But to the landlords I say that it is' THEY WHO SHOULD MAKE EXPERIMENTS.” [Let us hope that this sentiment of the Duke of Richmond will be long remembered and often quoted.]

A SCOTCHMAN IN LONDON.

It is scarcely a paradox to say that you meet with more intense nationality in London than

in Scotland. Every valley or strath of Scotland has a character of its own, and in Edinburgh, the capital, where representatives of all these districts are brought into contact, the. clannish spirit of the people prevents their mixing. This is the most disagreeable feature of Edinburgh society, or rather, this is what prevents it having any society properly so called. Circles there are, or have been, as pleasant as heart can wish; that of which Lord Jeffery used to be the centre of attraction, the re-unions of Professor Jamieson, and some ethers, live pleasantly in the memory, but they were rather in Edinburgh than of it. Apart from them the population of Edinburgh consisted of Dumfriesshire people, Fife people, Aberdeenshire people, and so forth. A man must keep company with his own countrymen or live alone, for access there was none to the intimacy of the different coteries, except by right of birth. In London, ou the contrary, Scotsmen recognise a common nationality as they do in any other foreign country, and herd lovingly together. The English part of the community know them as merchants of lawyers, and, above all, as bakers (for strange though it may appear to those who have tasted bread in Scotland, almost every baker’s shop you enter is a 1 Scotsman’s); but they know little of them as persons to live with, —they are public mysteries, mid-day spectres, things to be seen, not touched, except by each other. “ They herd togetherthey have their Caledonian balls once a year, at which some of the most imaginative appear in the Highland costume ; they have their Presbyterian clergymen and places of worship—Scotch Presbyterianism is quite a different thing from English ; and they have an annual dinner of the Caledonian Asylum, after which Highland Chiefs win alt their hearts by dancing the Highland fling. This holds true of those who are transplanted to London full-grown and trained, for even Dr. Johnson admitted that a good deal may be made of a Scotsman if he is caught young. Scotsmen educated at Westminster or Eton, or even some who have only commenced their English education at Oxford and Cambridge, are scarcely to be known from Englishmen, except the latter, who are apt to be found out in the same manner as the lonian who was detected at Athens by the extreme purity of his Attic dialect. Scotsmen are so early drilled by their kirk sessions into punctilious carefulness in word and deed, that they are always on their guard themselves, and always expecting that others, should be so too, and this renders them uncomfortable companions. They can relish the greater freedom of England, but rarely emancipate themselves from their first fetters ; like Gray’s Eton truants, they taste a fearful joy. We remember a characteristic conversation between two Scotmen, —a retired Indian employ 4 and an eminent political writer, of whom Bentham used to say with more candour than politeness, “ That his leading articles were excellent, but that his conversation reminded him of a magpie chattering from the back of a jackass.” They had “ more suo” been for half an hour trying to trump each other’s panegyrics of their dear native land, when a sudden fit of candour seizing one oi them, he exclaimed “ After all, do you think that any one who has been accustomed to London life could exist comfortably in Scotland ?” “ No, by , was the reply. It is “thinking so much of themselves” in this more extended sense of the word, understanding thereby not merely a high estimate of their own merits and importance, but a pedantic, sleepless anxiety as to what people “ may say or think of them, that keeps Scotsmen in London from mingling kindly with others than themselves. — Charles Knight's London. The London Grand Junction Railway. —The half-yearly general meeting of the proprietors in this company was held on Monday, Mr. W. Cash in the chair. The accounts for the half-year exhibited a balance in the company’s favour of 3,565/. 17s. after payment of 543/. 11s. lid. for law, surveying, and general expenses. All operations having long ago been abandoned, a proprietor urged upon the directors the necessity of dissolving the company before the expiration of the powers of the act, in July next, so that the balance in hand might be divided among the unfortunate Shareholders. Mr. Sutton, the solicitor, replied that there were no objections to the pioposition, and that if the matter were so determined, a special meeting would at once be convened. The Pope and the Pacha. —“ Mehemet Ali, (says a letter from Rome), has written a letter to the Pope, expressing the utmost delight at receiving the mosaics which his holiness sent him, and addressing him by the titles of * Your Beatitude/ and ‘Lieutenant of the Caesars.’ The pacha promises to send him the obelisk of Heliopolis.”