apart than in the northern counties. Being made without soles, this cart does not equal the first in durability for general purposes. It is constructed to carry 25 cwt., and costs from 121. to 121. 10s., according to the width of the tire. If fitted with curved raves, the cost is 21. more.

Whilst mentioning Crosskill's name, we should allude to his patent wheels. The manufacture of these wheels is conducted almost entirely by machinery, which enables them to be constructed more cheaply and strongly. The naves are of iron, cast upon steel pins, by which process they become so hard as to resist the file. When the spokes (made of well-seasoned oak) are properly driven, the wheel is fixed in a lathe, and the end of each spoke is turned, with the greatest possible accuracy, to fit double-shouldered sockets, bored with equal precision in the felloes. The felloes, too, are turned in a lathe; after which the hoop-tire is cut, bent, bevelled, and put on by machinery, with an accuracy and firmness that cannot be equalled by any hand process. The wheels can be supplied either with or without axles, and either with iron naves or wood naves and bushes. The axles of all the iron nave wheels are made to a gauge, so that wheels of different widths will fit the same axles; or, in case of accident, new wheels can be sent from Beverley without the axle being returned.

Note. If patent axles and oil-boxes are added, the cost is increased 11. 5s. Crosskill also manufactures a good pair-horse waggon, which has for four years carried off the prize of the Royal Agricultural Society.

The application of the drag in this waggon is ingenious. It is constructed to carry 3 tons, has 24 inch tire-wheels, and costs, with pole and shafts, 297. 10s. The patent axles and oil-boxes involve a further outlay of 21. 10s.

Messrs. Fry, of Bristol, make a cart, for which they claim the attention of agriculturists, known as the Newport cart. One good feature in its construction is that the body is kept low. Its price, with 34-inch wheels, is 157.

Stratton's (of Bristol) cart-wheels are deserving of notice. The spokes are of bar-iron, each spoke being a double loop of iron, and the whole surrounded by an iron rim. The cost of these wheels is from 71. to 81. a pair.

We may mention that Mr. Crosskill has invented a self-acting backboard, as also has Mr. Dunn, of Wellington: these, however, apart from their ingenuity, are of comparatively little value. The same remark applies to Thatcher's self-acting drag, which costs 31. 10s.

Nearly all the carts we have mentioned can be fitted with wings, so as to serve as harvest carts; but as Mr. Stephens, in his Book of the Farm,' observes, "the common corn or haycart is a more convenient and efficient vehicle for carrying the grain-crops into the stack-yard than the tilt-cart with the frame, inasmuch as the load is more on the level with the horse-draught, and the body being dormant, the load is not liable to shake with the motion of the horse."

Robertson's and Hannam's harvest-carts are the best known. The same wheels that serve for ordinary bodies or liquidmanure tanks will serve for Robertson's body. The framework costs from 51. to 71. It weighs, with wheels, 7 or 8 cwt. It presents a flat surface 7 feet by 11 feet. The bed is 2 feet 6 inches from the ground. A board, 4 feet 6 inches, extending over the top of the wheels, enables the man to pitch the load more easily.

Hannam's harvest cart is long and wide, the body being about 12 feet long by 6 feet 6 inches wide; the body is kept as near the ground as possible by the use of bent shafts. It weighs 64 cwt., and is sold by Messrs. Fry, of Temple-street, Bristol, for 151. 15s.

The Number of Carts or Waggons, either or both, required in West Country Farms of various sizes, from 200 to 300 acres.

The requirements and the views of different farmers differ so widely that it would be difficult to lay down any general average. Nothing can be more fallacious in farming operations than to fix a certain standard, with the view of applying it indifferently to all neighbourhoods. The nature of the soil, the system of cultivation, and the climate, all vary so much that nothing like an accurate estimate can possibly be formed. We will, however, give the opinion of three or four practical men on this subject. One gentleman, who farms in Cornwall, thus writes us:

"Much depends on circumstances, of what description the farm is, as to the number of carts and waggons that would be used. I believe it would be necessary to have not less than four carts and three waggons for the working of a farm of 200 acres. Although farmers who live in farms of this size may do with less, of the latter especially, by borrowing one of another, which is often done by small farmers, nevertheless, the working of a farm cannot be well done at all seasons without this number; and a farm of 300 acres would require only about one cart, and, if nearly all arable, one waggon more than a farm of 200. My father first rented a farm of 280 acres, and always kept from 4 to 5 carts and 2 waggons, and 2 curreys, the latter made up cheaply on purpose to carry hay and corn.

My present farm is nearly 500 acres. I use 3 small carts for one horse, or two occasionally, and 4 large carts for two and three horses, and never less than 4 waggons, and generally 5. I keep one light one to go on roads when only a small one is needed; but the latter is not particularly needed. Sometimes farmers have in use carts that they can attach ladders to, to carry corn, which would save a waggon or two; and this practice is done generally on hill farms, and where waggons cannot be well used."

Another farmer, resident near Bridgewater, says:

"My farm is about 500 acres, and I use on it 7 waggons and 7 carts. I think a farm from 200 to 300 acres would require 4 waggons and 4 carts."

Another farmer, resident at Wrington, says :

"In reply to your inquiry, I beg to say I think 3 dung-carts, so constructed that they might be occasionally used for other purposes during the harvest, &c., and (when liquid manure becomes more generally used) 2 liquid-manure carts, will be required.

"In some districts I believe waggons are most useful for hauling hay and corn; 3 are required during the harvest. I am aware that one-horse carts are considered by some men preferable to waggons, but my experience teaches me that waggons are best if the hay or corn has to be conveyed some distance on hilly or irregular roads."

A Devonshire farmer says:

"On our farms, from 200 to 300 acres, generally about one-half arable, there would be wanted 4 carts and 3 waggons or kerrys, and even sometimes in harvest another waggon may be borrowed of a neighbour, if corn or hay has to be carried any distance."

The foregoing forms, we believe, a fair sample of the different opinions held in different districts.

There is still in the West of England a leaning in favour of the old waggon, especially for harvesting purposes. We believe an improved mode of construction must eventually drive the waggon out of the field. We have already shown how the cart may be adapted for harvesting as well as other farm purposes. It is mainly through defective construction in carts that waggons have been able so long to maintain their ground.

Of the liquid-manure cart we say but little, as we believe it will be found most advantageous to apply the manure in a solid form, and that therefore there will be eventually little or no demand for the liquid-manure cart.

Probably the smallest number of carts it would be possible for

any farmer to manage with would be three 4 inch-wheel carts and one 3 inch-wheel cart; the 4 inch being for farm, and the 3 inch for market, purposes. This is very much less than any farmer ought to have.

With three dung-carts, one may be filling, one going, and the other returning. We prefer the 4 inch-wheel to a wider one, for the 6 inch we think too heavy for harvesting purposes; the 3 inch wheel would cut the land, which the 41⁄2 inch does not.

The cart, we have already said, is, in our opinion, vastly superior, for nearly every purpose of the farm, to the waggon ; still the waggon has many advocates. A heavy load of hay may be hauled to the pasture-ground, and allowed to remain on the waggon until the sheep have consumed it. This is an advantage. Again, where the farm lies scattered and hilly, a waggon may be more useful than a cart, on account of the advantage of dragging in going down hill.

We have now discussed the various heads of our subject, and have, we trust, proved that the cart, for all farm purposes, is superior to the waggon, and that it only requires a correct knowledge on the part of our mechanists to supersede the latter. If this paper should induce a more careful consideration of these principles, its object will have been well answered.

VI.-On Orchards. By WILLIAM HEALE, Upton Nurseries,

Chester.

THE cultivation and management of orchards, generally speaking, is much neglected in the western counties. The treatment they require is not well understood, and in most cases they are left to themselves as soon as they have become well established in the soil. The care they receive is confined to cutting off dead branches, or those which hang down in the way of cattle that are allowed to graze under them.

In the accompanying pages it will be my aim to give such information to the cultivator as has either fallen within my own observation and practice, or as I have been enabled to gather from the published opinions of others.

To the late Mr. Andrew Knight we are much indebted for the improvement of the race of fruits in this country: many of his seedlings have proved themselves to be of great value.

The Horticultural Society of London, during the time he was connected with it, conferred great benefit on this country. Great pains were taken to test the quality of the fruits cultivated, and to class them under their correct names, many kinds of apples, pears, &c., having previously had a large number of synonyms differing in different localities. Their catalogue of fruits, published in 1842, is a work no pomologist can do without, and their supplement, published since, although not so complete, is of great utility, and reflects much credit on Mr. Robert Thompson, who has spent the greater part of his life in the service of the Society and in the study of fruits. Some idea may be formed of the magnitude of this work, from the fact that in the catalogue of 1842, 897 distinct sorts of apples, 442 distinct sorts of pears, 127 distinct sorts of plums, and 80 distinct sorts of cherries, besides hundreds of peaches, nectarines, apricots, &c. (which are not used in this country as orchard fruits), have all been tested in the Society's garden, and all have their synonyms attached.

During the last few years no advance of any consequence was made by the Horticultural Society as regards orchard fruits until last autumn, when the Society had a magnificent display of both home and foreign fruits at Willis's Rooms (London), and awarded prizes to a considerable amount.

This inertness on the part of the Horticultural Society called into existence a society bearing the title of 'The British Pomological Society,' which holds numerous meetings during the year, and has received the support of all the leading nurserymen and gardeners, both professional and amateur, in the United Kingdom. This Society affords to all persons, whether members or not, the means of having their fruits (especially seedlings) tested against all the best known existing sorts.

Mr. Rivers, of Sawbridgeworth, publishes also annually a descriptive catalogue of fruits of great utility to every cultivator, and it has this merit, that the accuracy of its descriptions can be relied upon, having been made from his own personal observations.

There is one of his recommendations, however, on which I must differ from him, i. e. the cultivation of the pear on quince stocks; this may probably be of utility on very stiff clay-land and for garden trees, but on light lands and for orchard purposes I would caution purchasers against it. I have known so many failures arise from this stock having been used, that I recommend no pear-trees but those grown on pear stocks.

Mr. Rivers has also published several other valuable and interesting works on fruit trees. There is one class of fruits that seems, however, not to have attracted the attention it deserves-viz., apples used for cider. Whilst fruit for dessert and kitchen purposes has been largely grown, and great improvements have been made in it, the cultivation of trustworthy kinds for cider seems to have been neglected, and there are no data by which correct nomenclature can be ensured.

The demand for fruit trees of all descriptions, during the last