The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1881-01-01 00:00:00

DEATH OF MR. MECHI.

The Times obituary of Tuesday give the following
—" We regret to record the death of Mr. John
Joseph Mechi, the distinguished agriculturist, which
occurred on Sunday, at his residence, Tiptree-hall,
Essex, in his 79th year. He was the eldest son of
Mr. James Mechi, of Bologna, Italy, who in early
life settled in England and, having been naturalized
obtained a post in the household of George 111. His
mother was Elizabeth, daughter of Mr. J. Beyer, of
Poland-street, London, and he was born in the year
1802.. At the age of 16 Mr. Mechi was placed
as a clerk in a mercantile house in the New-
foundland trade, and while thus occupied con-
trived to turn his leisure time to profitable account by
selling, among Ms friends and acivaintances in the
city, a'small and inexpensive article of which he had
bought the patent, and by the sale of which he was
enabled, about the year 1827, to set up in business on
his own account in a small shop in Leadenhall-street.
In the course of a few years he realized a handsome
fortune by the " magic razor-strop" which bears his
name. In 1840, having attentively studied the defects
of English farming, he resolved to try his
band on improvements in agriculture, and accord-
ingly bought a small farm of some 170 acres, at Tip-
tree-heath, in Essex, and here carried out his system of
deep drainage and other methods of cultivation, so that
in a few years his model farm was brought into a
state of productiveness which yielded annually a
handsome profit. In 1856 Mr. Mechi was appointed
Sheriff of London; and in the following year he was
elected an alderman, but he resig:ned his aldermanic
gown about eight years afterwards. About the same
time his servicee to the science of agriculture., were
rewarded by the presentation to him of a handsome
testimonial of the value of £5OO, subscribed for by
noblemen and gentlemen at home and abroad. Mr.
Mechi was for many years a member of the Council
of the Society of Arts, and was a juror in the Depart-
ment of Art and Science at -the Great Exhibition of
7851, and at the Industrial Exhibition at Paris in
1854, to which he was specially sent by her Majesty's
Government. In 1858 he published an account of his
improved agricultural system, of which, in 1864, a new
and enlarged edition was issued under the title
.of
'How to Farm Profitably.' Mr. Mechi was a magis-
trate for Middlesex and a'Commissioner of Lieutenancy
for the City of London. He was twice married—first,
to Fanny, daughter of Mr. Frost; and, secondly, to
Charlotte, daughter of Mr. Francis Ward, of Chilies-
ford, Suffolk."

In noticing the death of Mr. Mechi, the Standard
remarks :

"A taste for the country and for conntry pursuits were
Innate in him, and as a boy he spent his holidays among the
farmers of Suffolk and Essex. He felt confident that he had
discovered tke true reason why so much of the land culti-
vated did not pay the cost of cultivatien. He believed that
the science of drainage was not understood or practised
aright, and he had no sooner acquired possession of
Tiptree 'Hall than he showed what good drainage would
do. In this manner he reclaimed mile after mile of
swamp, and, by dint of chalking and steam cultivation,
turned acres of morass into fertile pssture ground. This, of
course, was exceedingly costly. But the results achieved re-
payed the labour and the sums expended. Mr. hlechrs Farm
became one of the sights of agricultural England, and he
used to enumerate the chief points of his system to
those who came to inspect his property in the follow-
ing words Tile draining ' • deep cultivation; thin seeding;
covered and ventilated stock-yards; no hedge-row timber;
plenty of straw as food for stock; steam-power whenever it
can be used; utilise your farm produce to the utmost;
waste no seed by too thick sowing • keep your land clean;
and be sure that the manure used does not lose its virtues
by unnecessary exposure.' At first Mr. Mechi was regarded
as a quack and an empiric. He was assailed with
letters of all kinds, some interrogatory only, others
depreciatory, many abusive. But he persevered along the
lines which he had marked out for lihnself, and those who
consulted him and followed his advice found that he was
no mere pretender. About twenty years ago he began
to publish his -Farm balance-sheets, and it was clear that his
system paid. Since then its merits have been extensively
recognised. If it has not been exactly reproduced many
hints from it have been taken by our most considerable
agriculturists, and altogether Mr. Mechfa Tiptree hall experi-
ment may be said to mark an era in the history of English
farming."