The Dorset County Express and Agricultural Gazette.
Dorchester, Dorset, England, 1861-03-05 00:00:00

ilgtrulturc.
FIFTEENTH YEAR OF THE LOLSWEEDON
WHEAT DEW'.

Loos WIZDON VICARAGE..
Very carly last spring a first-rate practical f.rauer
went over any field ot wheat, and HAW, 'lt is,
capital land, Sir; worth 4m. at acre ; "and said nothing

inure.
Ile was undeniably right that it in capital land,
beyond his estimate by 154. at least. For, a portion of
the field winch was double dug first hsa a staple of
net nwllow loom from 18 to 20 inches deep ; and the
remainder a few inches leas. Su that beyond • doubt it
is fint-rate land, of the higlicsit value fur the growth of

every description of crop.
But as my visitor come to inspect and report, he
should have gone below the surface and said something
mute. Heating where he did, the inevitable conclusion
,was, "There is nothing in it : no wonder the crops
ore heavy, fur the land is so good." He should have
gone to the ditch-side and look. He shou:d have taken
A spade and dug. His Alt* was a reapon.ible one, and
lie should have rigidly searched out the truth. He
would then have gut an inkling of the gist of the
&AMAMI. He would have found that the staple of my
field at the outset was, for the moat part, only 5 inches
.fiep, with a subsoil, generally, of stiff yellow clay.
This 5-loch staple was deepened by degrees. At in.
terva.s, inch by inch, the clay was brought to the
surlace and mixed ; and at the end of 17 years—fur
therc were two crops before the srst sowing of wheat
--the field has become what it is, a brown deep loam,

worth 600. an Acre.
His duty was not over then. lie should have found
out the actual rent of situilar hood under ortlaary
My own tenant has, in round nututers, a 406.
act e farm, with • deeper staple and of similar quality,
which he rents at 275. ; and for heavy. hard. totting
laud like that, it is tent etiough. That 1 believe is the
aversio of such latiol al over my parish of 2.000 acres.
A wide strip of the same heavy laud, of the same
geological formation, runs right Litmus; the country,
north and euuth. and fete, I believe, at much the mute
rate. And yet the field I cultivate is picked out and
erraigiaxi ass capital laud—the best wheat land in the
couutry ; anol with laughing crops, never-ending, still-
beginning. pleads guilty to the charge.
But the. was not all. When my visitor ended his
survey and came bark from the tripled-rowed wheat
and the yard- aide (allows, lie gravely demanded, " Sir,
why would not this do as well : act apart an acre alter-
nately °hirer fallow. Let the two acres be cropped and
(allowed in succession. It would be easier : why not
as well ?” It was titian iniposauble to answer thud clue,
tient serimuoly and fully then ; and so i 1 1u how, without
'peaking a pamphlet ; and tic tt would be a tiresome
tale, twice told. Why. it touchea the main point of
toe very gist of the scheme. The scheme la. to get
without manure a full crop of wheat. And at the self-
same time a bare fallow too. Suppose. theta, 2 acres on
the fallow iuterval and triple row dyAteill, and another
2 sere. on the suggested plait. In a aueoession of years
34 bushels would he the popoodole average tof the latter 2
cures together ; while—judging f the past—the '
yield oh the former two together would be 70 bushels—
ju"t double as mech.
The 'practical termer objected still. The plan seems
souud one, and the practice is good. But the details'
are difficult—troublesome to learn, and hard to tarry
tout, and where are the hands? It camiut be dune on a
faro'. Besides, we don't depend upon wheat. Things
Are altered now, aud other produce is as paying as
wheat.
lie was so far right, that things are much altered now.
There is full employ for the labouriug man. With many
drawbacks still times are not bad • so th.pt what drew
attention in '5O and '6O was olai:alete. 1 will never
believe, notwithstanding. that the plan cannot work on
• farm. Fur • change 1111 A arisen hi my favour, too.
Hand labour is amine, but I need not trust mainly to
that. For steam has come to supplant the fork, and
trenchong may he done as well by the plough.
There is a great virtue in it. lf farthing were iny
pursuit ; if my tastes lay auprethely that way ; if above
all, other and higher aims were not my calling, 1
aliould take in hand may 40U acres of clay land at one.
should ths so with euittiolence ; for my 13th wheat
crop (for Ism was 38 hualiela. The 14th for 1860),
unthreshed as yet, was exceedingly fine. Having been
early sown, it wee cut early, without • drop of relit ;
and again the estimate of the yield its 40 bushels. The
growing crop for 1861, notwithatauding the frost, looks
strung and well, with scarcely • gap. Thus year after
year gives growing confidence in the scheme, and
speak with the utmost sincerity when I declare that,
according tootles best of my belief, and judging from the
past, the annual result of an actual farm would be highly
success! ul.
Trials have taught tile on what plan I should farm.
Twicel have grown oats in trtple rows anti three feet
intervals, and I make a heavy demand on the faith of
the reader wheu 1 tell liimum that the produce of the first
year was si quarters of fine upstanding Poland oats—
upstanding from beim earthed up--the weight of which
was 46 lbs. to the bushel; and of the second year, nearly
the same.
The general mole of cultivation, then, would be
with manure for oats, barley, beaus, awl roots. The
into raLt should be wide, seeing that, while the produes.
of the half id as much as the whole, the adolitionalbettelit
of cleat). deep, ready-prepared (allows fur future crop.
is beyond all price.
The light gravelly land, spoken of hitherto as the four-
acre piece, is now set apart for expetimeitta of this
nature, antl will he seen this season in full operation.
Supposing, then, Ira moment that I had a farm ttf
400 Acres in hand, 11)0 acres should he given wholly and
solely to wheat ; the remaining 300 acres to erupt; in
rotation, with gram and stock. Other produce is as
paying as wheat. 1 will not keep the objector too
c;ustly to this assertion, but in the follow mug Atatemeut
make it only half as laying.
The titled* of the wheat amount, showing, with
wheat at 40,, • net 'refit of more thus £4 an acre. 'file
digging each half acre loy band is there put at 34a.
Steam would ieduce it to 104. at must. The balance of
245. would well meet contingelicies, such as the want
ot pliospltatets in very inferior clays.
Net profit on 100 *errs of wheat, unnianured ... £4OO
Net profit on 30U acres of rotation and grass crops,