This table, it will be observed, shews in the first column the supposed productiveness per Scots acre in oats; in the second column the proportion of produce in decimals to be reckoned as rent, which is found by dividing the respective numbers in column 1st by twenty; in the third column the proportion of actual productiveness in oats to be reckoned for rent, which is found by multiplying the respective numbers in columns 1st and 2d; in the fourth column the difference of the respective numbers in columns 1st and 3d, or the part of supposed produce left to the tenant after deducting the rent; and in the fifth column the supposed money-rent per acre, which is just the respective quantities in column 3d reckoned at 18s, for the boll.

Looking at this table, therefore, we see, that while land capable of producing ten bolls per acre brings out one-half for rent, land capable of producing two bolls per acre, only brings out onetenth for rent. Now, the principle upon which this proceeds is, that the expense of labour and management of two boll-land is just as much as that of labouring and managing ten boll-land, while the returns from the respective kinds are very different, and therefore, it is quite fair, that if, in the poor land, the tenant has due allowance afforded to him for the inferiority of the land, the same consideration should be due to the landlord on account of the superiority of it.

It

may

be remarked, that if the principle in question is carried to an extent much beyond ten boll-land, too great a proportion would soon accrue to the landlord for rent, but it will be found to hold good to an extent of productiveness fully equal to what we are ever accustomed to meet with in this country.

It may be mentioned that the produce of an imperial acre in bolls divided by 16, or in bushels divided by 96, will give the same proportion of the produce to be paid for rent as is obtained by dividing the bolls in a Scots acre by 20, so that column 2d of the above table may easily be made to shew the proportion of rent payable from the produce of an imperial acre. Thus, if the produce of an imperial acre be estimated at 8 bolls or 48 bushels, which is in the same ratio of productiveness as 10 bolls in a Scots acre, or is equal to .5 of a decimal, or one-half the produce for ten boll-land, as in the table, and so with the

rest.

8

16

48

96

DESCRIPTION OF THE POTATO-RAISER.

By Mr JOHN LAWSON junior, Elgin.

THE potato has become an almost indispensable article of food, and its cultivation is increasing every year. It, therefore, becomes a matter of no small importance to devise a plan by which the expense of obtaining it may, in any degree, be diminished. With this view, I conceived the plan of a machine which, I believed would accomplish the end I had in view, and which I now submit. Having stated it to the grieve on my farm, he

entered readily into the idea I had suggested, and, with the assistance of my blacksmith, carried it into effect.

The present method of raising potatoes, is by the spade or the plough. The latter is generally adopted as being the less expensive. When potatoes are thus raised, those that are left in the ground after the action of the plough are brought to the surface by hacks, which incur a great deal of manual lahour.

The machine I am about to describe, and which I would call the potato-raiser, besides doing its work more efficiently, a matter of great importance, saves all the hacking, and consequently all the expense of the manual labour which that operation incurs, for it throws the greater part of the potatoes on the surface of the ground, and at once enables the women employed for that purpose to gather them by hand into baskets.

The shortest description which, perhaps, can be given of this machine, is to say that you take a common plough, deprived of its mould-board, the share and coulter remaining in their usual position, and in room of the mould-board, attach an instrument similar to that which is represented in the cut in the margin, and which consists of malleable iron

bars, joined together in the form of a gridiron or brander. It is 26 inches long from a to c, 18 inches from c to d, and 27 inches along the line from d to b, and the breadth a to b 5 inches. It is attached by the edge a c to the furrow side and stilt of the common plough by screws, the fore part, a b, resting immediately behind the share, like the common mould-board, the an

a

gle at c is set about 8 inches above the sole of the plough, the edge c d slopes downwards in a convex curved form until the point d is about 4 inches above the level of the sole. The brander is fixed by screws at cf, and one may be required at the solid part a b, but these fixtures must be regulated by the construction of the plough. The following cut represents a plough mounted as a potato-raiser in the manner here described. The brander can be taken off the plough at pleasure, and the mould

board again attached, by which the plough can be again apapplied to its own proper use. One advantage of applying it to a plough, is, that the whole apparatus may be had for ten shillings.* It may be mentioned, that it is a matter of very considerable importance, to attend to the gradual slope which

the brander ought to have from the land ward edge. Were it to lean inwards, or towards the land-side of the plough, it would do its work but imperfectly.

The potato-raiser is drawn by one pair of horses, in the same manner as a common plough. In working it, the ploughman inserts the machine into the potato-drill, so as to have the whole of the potatoes on the right-hand side of the machine. He then proceeds along the drill, splitting it up in the common way. The earth is thus thrown to the right hand side, and the potatoes lie scattered on the surface of the ground behind the plough.

Women provided with baskets follow the machine. They gather the potatoes into the baskets, and throw the stems of the potatoes upon the drill which lies to the right-hand of the drill from which they are gathering the potatoes. The reason why the potato stems are thus removed, is, that, as soon as the potatoes which lie on the surface are gathered, the machine returns, and again procceds as before, through the part of the drill in which the potatoes lay, still turning the earth to the righthand side. This second operation raises to the surface any stray potatoes which the first may not have turned up, and the potatoes raised by the second operation, are immediately gathered by the women who attend for that purpose. This second ope ration may be delayed till about twelve drills are turned over by the first operation, and the potatoes gathered. The machine

• For the sake of those who desire to fit up ploughs in this manner, it is desirable that the strength of the iron of the brander had been particularized. We conceive the external frame should be five-eighths of an inch square, and the internal bars one half inch diameter.-EDItor.

may then be put through these twelve drills the second time. By this there will be a saving of labour, as a smaller number of women will gather the potatoes raised by the second operation. If the stems of the potatoes be very strong and luxuriant, a few women may be put along the drill to pull them out of the ground, at the same time gathering up any potatoes that may adhere to, and come along with, the stems. If this be done, the potato-raiser will turn up the greater part of the potatoes by going once only through the drill; in going twice it will do it in the most satisfactory manner. A man with one pair of horses will thus pass over the ground as quickly as with a common plough.

These two operations are all that are required to raise the potatoes to the surface, the land being afterwards harrowed in the common way. The potato-drills ought to be of the ordinary breadth, so as to give the machine room to work. Very narrow drills do not suit it.

I may mention, that the farm on which the potato-raiser has been used, is a light loam, and in that soil it performs its work in a very satisfactory manner. It pulverizes the soil in an extraordinary degree, and scarcely leaves a potato in the soil. I have never before been able to clear my fields of potatoes so effectually as by this machine, or at nearly so small an expense.

THE AGRICULTURIST'S NOTE-BOOK,-NO. II.

I. Embanking the Basin of Montrose.-In opening our notebook for December with some remarks on embanking, we had no intention of attempting a history or detailed account of what had, within the last ten years, been done in this way in Scotland, or the methods pursued, or profits obtained by those who had been engaged in it, as this was more likely to have filled a volume than to have furnished matter for the opening fragment of an article. Striking as were the facts which we had taken some labour to collect, and to check the accuracy of which no pains had been spared, we were not aware that they would seem so striking or so novel to the public as their almost uni