The national era. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1847-1860, 1857-12-10
ENGLISH FARMING.
BY JUDGE HENRY F. FRENCH, OF EXETER.


horses, 10 that part of England. spent sev.
era' days nnder his hospitable roof, and gave
his stock OF animals pretty thorough exarnin.
| alton. He farms about 5000 acres and bas
1 hundreds of cattle and horses, and thousands ~
sheep. Perhaps ride round the farm. for il
is quite too large to walk over, NAV give Ar
idea OF q large farmers affairs in that part OF
| Eoglend. Mr.. Crisp is, like most farmers, a
tenant, and not the owner of the land he occu.
/ pies. These tenancies, usually, find, are not
i by written lease, bat by sort Of understand.
ing, not quite definite enough for my taste, reg.
ulated much by the customs of the particular
! estate. A large proprietor, Lord somebody, OF
the Duke of something, owns some e, 900 OF
4 10000 acres, which has been in the family a
1 thousand years, or, at least, from the time OF
William the Conquero-. This proprietor usu.
J ally gives 10 personal attention to his estates
so far rs the rents are concerned, but intrusts
all such affairs to q steward, who makes his
| bargains with the tenants, and the lord of the
| domain sometimes does not even visit farm
/ IN generation the tenant occupies at a 6 xed
rate, which he pays halfyearly in cash and al.
though neither party is bound for more than the
year, the tenant often occupies for his lifetime,
! and his son takes the farm at his decease
Landlords are willing to give long leases, but
tenants seem to prefer the yearly system, so far
as | have observed.
i Ihe tenant farmer seems to go on and make
the permanent improvements, often at grea.
expense, and lays out his work as if he owned
the Zee simple; and on the whole, homes are
more permanent IN this land of mere tenants.
than IN our land Of fee-simple owners with mi
/ grstory habits. The farmer pays a rent of, saw
five dollars per acre, annually, for his land and
conducts his operations in his own way, provi-
ded he does not cut down trees, or pillow up any
pasture land, or disturb the game, such as haree,
ana partridges, and pheassnts, which 90 where
they please, and do as much damage as they
! like, unmolested.
a keeper that is, game-keeper-lives
on the estate, whose business it is to protect
the game, and catch the poachers who presume
to touch these animals, who are held as sacred
as the geese in Rome's capital. The game
laws are, and ever have been, fruitless source
OF crime and suffering, and always will be, till
human nature is thoroughly changed. On ev.
cry estate where | have been, | have noticed
with Indignation the ravages of these useless
animals called game in the fields of the finest
wheat, while neither farmer nor laborer dares
even drive them away, on penalty of his lords
d'spleasure, and the loss of his lease next year.
VIII say, however, that, properly viewed, this
waste OF human food is not the loss of the farm.
to the preservation of game is, for that reason,
/ leased at higher rent
There are no large barns for grain and hay
In the south of England, as with US, but those
products which we so carefully protect are never
housed. have discussed the topic a good deal
with farmers here, and they have reasons for
! tEelr course; some cannot venture to answer.
They say they cannot afford the expense OF
barns, and that, if they could, hay would heat
and burn up by spontaneous combustion, if put
iuto them. The climate there is much more
moist than ours, and think the storms are not
80 violent. Hay does not dry go readily nor
Inlure 60 much IN the stack as with US, and, on
the whole, If English FARMERS like their own
mode best, we will ird no fault with their iudg-
nent bet ! am sure it is poor economy for
New Eoglaniers to follow their example in this
particular. The low price of labor and the high
price of building material in England, make in
favor of stacks and against barns.
In Mr.. Crisp's farm yard. saw an original
OF The farm yards in which Landseer, and Her
ring, and other painters of animals, so much
delight Around in some order, though with
no great regularity, are huge stacks of wheat,
and barley, and hay, and straw, as large as
good'y sized barns, all neatly matched and
trimmed.
There is donkey quietly meditating upon
the better condition Of half dozen cart horses
that are standing up to their knees in straw.
eating rye-gTass and clover from the rack; and
there dozen black pigs Of two months, with
their maternal relative roofing about the very
feet OF the horses Flocks of ducks are wad.
ding about in the same yard, and hens and
chickens mix into the scene in crowds. A big
dog Is chained to the gate, and a smaller one
IL barking to any stranger who approaches.
| a low IL c,I u
keep company with "a many long handled, long.
nosed, long.besmed plows
steam engine is putting away quietly and
blsIy with a threshing machine. Two or three
men are passing NJ the ehesves from the rick
and two women on the top of the thresher re.
ceive 1T and unite the bands, while two more
men are pitching the straw on TO q new stack,
about IA large and high up as forty-foot barn |;
while on TIE top of the same stack a boy is
mounted on horse of near toms weight, riding
constantly about to tread down the straw. The
horse and rider remind you of an equestrian
statue on very large pedestal and as The horse
IS gradually rising higher and higher, you won.
der how he ID ever to get down again, seeing
that the stack is perpendicular on every side
aud fifteen feet high already. Everywhere is
straw foot thick--about the yards, in the sta.
bies, In the cow-stals-the greater object seem.
We went down to the tide-water which bounds
one side Of the farm, and examined the embank
ment agGinst the sea. The embankment extends
about twenty-five miles, and the marshes" las
the drained lands are celled) are come of the
most valuable wheatfelds have ever seen. /
have since examined the Lincolnshire fens"
and the mode of drainage by immense steam.
engines, as well a. large tracts reclaimed from
the sea elsewhere, and feel safe in saying that
the heaviest crops Of wheat / have seen liz Eng
land are upon the3e fens and marshes. They
require peculiar treatment, and a different
rotation from the uplsnds; but the whole sub.
ject ia well understood, and may be studied with
advantage by all of US who live on the banks
of rivers, or on the coast of the Atlantic.
Upon one part Of the estate we found brick
and tile works, where all the operations of ma
king, setting, ard burning drain tiles were going
on. This is a subject which has specially occu-
pied nay attention, and / have seen various
machines in operation in several places, and
have narrowly watched the methods of LAYING
out the drains and laying the tiles. am more
impressed with the Importance of the subject
to US at home. Much perhaps of our New
England soil requires no draining, but much of
our most valuable land, am satisfied. would
double in value, at small expense, by draining
with tiles, when we have them at a fair price.
and know how to use them.
haze not space now to speak particularly
OF the crops Of wheat and other grain, nor Of
the culture of the root crops, nor of the mag.
nlhcent stock of cattle, swine, and sheep, nor of
the blowing with those queer, old plows, straight
burrows for half mile, such as never saw in
America. We have had many talks about
plows, but they have one argument in favor of
their ungainly implement. Their work is far
better than ours, aud it is either because they
have better plows or hold them better, and our