From the increased rental (which includes the tithes) deductions must be made for rates and taxes, as well as for the triennial dose of lime. The quantity of lime used is fifty bushels per acre, about every three years."

I must yet go further, and quote the following:

"The soil on which these improvements have been effected, all rests upon a substratum of gray slate (stone rag). The surface was in three different conditions: 1. Peat, to a depth of 5 feet, between which and the slate rock a layer of clay is interposed. 2. Old worn-out arable land. 3. Old grass fields, and open common which had never been cultivated, but was covered with fern and short English furze."

In Mr. Dixon's Essay on "Manuring Grass Lands" (Royal Agricultural Society's Journal, vol. xix. p, 205), we find another striking and paying result from the use of bones:

"A great improvement by bone manure was effected by Captain De Hollenworth, of Hollen worth Hall, Cheshire, between the years 1840 and 1843. In those three years about 1,500l. was expended on bones, principally boiled, and about 41. in value was used to the acre. Boiled bones at that time cost 4l. per ton; raw broken bones, 77. per ton. The character of the soil was various-some peaty, on aluminous shale or stone: other parts a lightish gray soil, on aluminous slaty stone. It was on the latter description of soil that the bones effected the greatest change. The quality of the herbage was totally changed within the first two years after boning. Some of the meadow land, which had been let at 30s. per acre, was readily raised to 31., and still made more money for the tenant when turned either to the feeding and breeding of sheep or the feeding of cattle."

Further on, Mr. Dixon, when speaking of composts, bears the following testimony to the effect of lime and earth (p. 213):

"This compost acted sooner than lime alone would have done; it has been equally, or I might say, to some extent more effective. About 1,000 tons of lime have been used on these small farms, at a rate of eight or nine tons to the acre. The lime costs here 123. per ton. In one year after the lime had been applied, from 10s to 15s. per acre advance in rent was readily obtained. . . I find, from further observation and experience, that manure of every description —even lime and marl-is much less lasting on high lands than on lands situated at lower altitudes, the difference beginning to be perceptible at an elevation of 250 to 300 feet."

If this be so, an outlay in bones or lime of 41. to 51. per acre would convert a large portion of our second-rate pastures into good feeding land. Every farmer knows the advantage of having some that will fatten bullocks, and if any is to be let there are always numerous offers for it at a high rent. Surely under these circumstances it would answer the purpose of occupiers under lease to convert some of their moderate grass into land worth nearly double its original rental !

We have thus far treated of improvements that may be ventured upon by tenants there yet remains to be mentioned the desirable plan, where practicable, of

a union between landlord and tenant to develop the resources of a farm. This may be acomplished in many ways.

The landlord may find or borrow money for improvements, and the tenant pay interest; he may remodel the farm, when it comes into hand, or otherwise, and then charge a proper rent for it for a term of years or he may go still further— take the farm in hand for a few years, and then let it with the permanent improvements made in it. Another plan is for the landlord to keep the old tenant in the farm, and to help him by finding capital for reinstating it. In such cases a mutual agreement should be drawn up, whereby landlord and tenant may each advance half way, to the benefit of both. As an instance of this good and practical fellowship, I may mention what is daily occurring under my own eye in the parish of Bray, North Devon. The late Sir Peregrine Acland introduced a plan amongst his tenantry, which has since been, and is now, adopted by the present Sir Peregrine P. Acland, viz., to give the tenants at the kiln mouth whatever lime they please to draw for the top-dressing of their permanent pasture and meadow lands, on condition that the lime so given shall be properly managed and mixed with earth in compost before applied to the land. This proposal was gladly accepted by the tenantry, it has been carried out to a considerable extent, and the practice still continues. Lands that have been let from time to time, as they have fallen into band, have not unfrequently been doubled in value. Here, then, is a practical illustration of our subject, and an example to improving landlords. It is not only found to pay the landlord, but the tenant also; for the farms obtain a popular reputation, and when by any chance one comes into the market, there are plenty of persons ready to take it. Nor is this a solitary case: similar results have followed in other and adjacent parishes from the application of lime There is yet another mode in which the landlord, at a very small outlay, may greatly help his tenantry. Suppose that a good tenant is disposed to seed down a field or fields for permanent grass without a corn crop-the land being efficiently cleaned, manured, and sown with roots, to be succeeded by rape and grass in the following year-a landlord may step in and give the tenant an additional quantity of manure, to be applied in the second year, as also some choice grasses, to be added to those already selected by the tenant. Thus at a small cost, in the nature of a gift or allowance to the tenant, immense good may be done, and the landlord will find his return in the enhanced value of the fee simple of the land, by its conversion into rich and permanent pasture land.

As an example of what may be effected under a liberal and spirited ownership, allusion may be made to the now very beautiful grass land property at and around Tavistock and Milton Abbott. By the combined aid of good agents, enterprising tenants, and a liberal landlord, the once familiar small fields and numberless hedgerows upon the Bedford property have steadily and judiciously merged into respectable farms and fields. The crude and weedy culture of old -when white straw crops were the prevailing elements in a course-have disappeared before the improver, and given way to verdant and well stocked pasture lards, now of infinite credit and profit to all.

In the same district, upon the Whiteford Estate, similar improvements have been instigated, and are steadily going on. The use of bones upon this estate has proved so beneficial and commanded so much attention, that it has been fully determined by the proprietor to erect a bone-mill upon the estate. Thus in starting a sawing mill by water-power, a bone-crushing mill will be attached, to be used when the sawing-machine is idle. The tenants will thus be able to purchase bones which are genuine, supplied close to their farms, and at the very lowest price. This advantage will doubtless create a great demand, which I hope may not stay at the arable land, but extend also to the pastures. At all events they will be liberally used upon the park and other grass lands now in hand The additional cost for the bone-mill, in conjunction with the sawing-machine, will be about 150%.

Mr. Langford (the bailiff ) thus alludes to a new theory:

"We have a vein of soft freestone upon the Whiteford property, which I feel sure is rich in mineral phosphate; this stone I intend to grind up by aid of the water-wheel, and use as a top-dressing for grass on the soils resting upon the quartz or spar substratum. Experience has shown that we can readily change the herbage growing upon land, without ever sowing the seed of those grasses. Nature is ever at work; the atmosphere is ever ready to give a helping hand. Let the land be free from weeds, finely comminuted, the soil rich in mineral phosphates, and you will be certain to obtain a fine herbage. The clover sickness' may be fairly attributed to the absence of mineral phosphates; the land has become bankrupt through a long course of cropping."

ESTATES. The conclusions to be drawn from the foregoing pages are: that the remodeling of estates and farms, and other permanent improvements, can be effected by the owner of the soil, the tenant paying ample interest for well-employed capital, while the contour of the estate and the appearance of the neighborhood would be so improved that the selling value of the property would be enhanced. This may be done by the landlord and tenant uniting their efforts for the purpose of mutual benefit; or lastly, if the other means fail, the improvement may be successfully and profitably effected under the powers and directions of the Land Loan and Enfranchisement Act, at a cost which is scarcely appreciable when spread over twenty five years.

MANURES-It is clearly shown that we have two classes of manures, and two purposes to put them to. If we want to improve the herbage and to make a lasting improvement upon pasture lands, we must use lime or bones. If we wish to increase our quantity of grass for present return, and to stimulate the meadows, &c., we must use guano, nitrate of soda, soot, or other ammoniacal manure. In the latter case a mixture of equal weights of best Peruvian guano, nitrate of soda, and common salt, to be used in early spring at the rate of 3 or 4 cwt. per. acre, according to the condition of the land, will be found an effective dressing. If this should make the grass too strong and coarse, them lime or bones must be applied as a corrective in the succeeding year.

If proper arrangements can be made as to tenure, the safest and soundest

economy is to obain an effect at once, and not by piecemeal application. An outlay of 41. to 57. per acre in bones or lime is found to convert second-rate pastures into good feeding land. It is also proved to be better to turn a bullock into a pasture when lean and take him out when fat, than to leave it to be done by other artificial agents in the winter-a costly process, and one that never pays. If a balance were struck between the cost of producing lean and fat meat, at per stone, under the two systems of grazing, the result would be so emphatically in favor of the latter as to furnish another proof that the "putting off" system does not pay. Indeed the increased number of stock, that improved land will carry, leave a corresponding amount of droppings behind them, both solid and liquid; a true illustration of the Lincolnshire saying-"If a beast be fed on straw, and straw only, the manure is straw, the fields become straw, the tenant straw, the landlord straw-in fact, all are straw together." On the contrary, "if a beast be richly fed," say on oilcake, "the manure is rich, the fields become rich, the tenant rich, the landlord rich-in fact, all are rich together." This certainly applies most forcibly to the rich and poor pasture lands throughout England.

When poor pastures are thoroughly bad, a great effort must be made entirely to change their character. If a field is only stunted in its herbage, stimulating manures may be applied; if coarse in its herbage, a few bones may be sown per acre, which will quickly sweeten it, especially if well soaked with liquid manure from a cattle-yard.

It thus appears that money judiciously laid out in the improvement and extension of grass land brings in a more certain return to both landlord and tenant than when extended in the growth of corn. Grass lands are by no means subject to so many vicissitudes as corn crops; the latter too frequently suffer from unfavorable seed-times, bad harvests, and severe winters, while pastures may with comparative ease be controlled and regulated. If in a growing season there is more grass than is required for the time, an additional hay-stack is never found to incommode the cattle in their winter quarters, whil: a "lodged crop" of corn rarely if ever recovers itself, and the farmer has no remedy at hand.

[NOTE.-I think it essential that it should not be supposed that we have only two classes of manures for grass lands. I have paid great attention to the improvement of grass land, and have made many experiments with all manures that have been suggested, and I have found that none equal farm-yard manure ; other manures have done more or less -temporary good, but none have left such enduring good as well-mixed farm-yard manure. Bones on my farm were of no use. I was warned by a Cheshire friend to try them on small portions of land, and fortunately I attended to his advice. Nitrate of soda gave me a great length of grass for hay, but the aftermath was almost worthless, and the next year's crop was less than usual. The true plan is, I believe, to try on each farm in small plots the various manures, and after proof of failure or success to work on the larger scale. I believe that no improvement on a farm is so profitable as the improvement of all the grass lands.-PORTMAN.]

FUNGI.

The word FUNGI comprehends a whole tribe of plants belonging to the lowest type of vegetable existence. Toadstools, mushroons, the mold of bread, of cheese, of preserves, the mildew of fruits, and the rust and smut on grains, are all included in the term. So is the mother of vinegar. The yeast of bread and of beer are composed mostly of fungi. Usually they are of very rapid growth. Darkness and decay favor their production. In a single night they are often produced in great abundance. Generally they are of a soft substance, though some of them (Lenzites betulina and Dadalea quercina, which grow, the first on the birch and the latter on the oak) are firm and almost as hard as wood. Some are gelatinous, slimy, and present a very unsightly appearance; others are beautiful in color, elegant in form, and exquisitely delicate. Some are eatable, others respectively poisonous, medicinal, intoxicating and luminous. As culture has greatly improved and is still improving those plants cultivated by man; as the apple, pear and the peach originated from inferior and almost worthless sorts of these fruits; as the potato has in a few centuries been brought from a wild state to be one of our most valuable plants, so there is little doubt that some of the varieties of fungi can by cultivation, under proper circumstances, be brought to a high degree of perfection, and become, not only as now, a luxury for the few, but a valuable article of food for the many.

NATURE OF FUNGI.-Equally with the leaf and fruit-bearing plants, fungi are true vegetables, and the phenomena of their growth are essentially the same as of all vegetables. Though they often occur in situations least expected, and where it would seem as if their growth must depend on "spontaneous generation," yet the most careful experiments have shown that pre-existent germs are necessary to their production. Their germs are so small and so freely carried by the air, that they are not easily excluded from any position. There is nothing of chance in their appearance. The species are as distinct and as well defined as in other parts of the vegetable kingdom.

HABITATS OF FUNGI.-It is doubtful if there is any substance or situation where vegetation can be supported, that some forms of fungi do not make their appearance. Not only are they found on decaying wood or vegetable and animal substance, upon flint, on glass, in poisonous solutions in fluids not subject to decomposition, but on living animal and vegetable structures. The Coprina sometimes appears on the dressings of amputated limbs so suddenly that surgeons are sometimes unjustly charged by those who do not know the speed with which it passes through its changes. Mitrula paludosa grows uniformly on vegetable matter floating in water. Oil casks and the walls of oil mills produce a mold of gigantic growth; so do casks of grease. Tan bark partly decomposed is favorable to the growth of many species, and so are solutions of arsenic, sulphate of iron, and copper. Cellars for wine, wine casks, and the casks of wine bottles are all subject to mold. Sometimes it is produced in the cavities of potatoes and tomatoes, when the external air is excluded.