Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1893-04-02
Enclish Holds and Farming.

To he Editor Of he Dispatch:
Are the English fields better titled than
ours, Have the English farmers Smucn
labor-saving machinery. and are they
ahead of our farmers as practical agrlcul-
turahstsl HENRlco.
These are things about which opinions
will differ.
The best that we can 10 Is to quote from
a very recent report made 10 the State De-
phrtment by United States Consul Howard
at Cardiff. III Wales.
However proyident he may be in other
things. the English farmer Is hopeless
spendthrift III labor, which Is really his
| sole advantage. Last spring in seed-time
j saw two men with five horses working q
| common seed-drill such as III the United
States would have been managed with one
man and two horses. Two men plough
ing-one to manage the team and one 10
manage the plow-ls not an unusual
sight. A man, a horse, and cart form
| tho common trio in this country III farm
ing operations This present harvest |
travelled through. the heart OF England,
and in days Journey saw only three mar
vestipg machines working in the fields,
but saw hundreds of men Teaping the grain
with sickles, followed by women who
bound the sheaves. Conservative English
labOrers still cling TO the respiDg-hook OF
thousand wears ago. and the transition
gram cradle of our fathers has apparently
made little impression upon them. Much
of the hav is mOwn with scythes and raAed
10y hand, and practically all OF 1t Is stacked
in the fields or yards.
The English fields are as rule, clearly
and beautifully titled, but with an excess
of labor that tho farmer can i'll afford the
Il nh hU q
American farmer with half the labor and
sufficiently well. Another point, and one
counting largely IN net results, is the
smallness of the English field. necesslta-
ting much loss of time in cultivation. In
this connection | may observe, what has
been often noted by others, that the
farm tools and implements here are much
heavier and more cumbersome than those
in the United States. As bearing upon
the cost of farm machinery affecting the
profits in this country, made careful in
Quiry last summer OF many dealers in agri-
cultural implements and found that an
English moving machine costs the farmer
from $Sj to 800. and bOrse-rakes from S3j
to $40, with discount OF only 10 per cent.
for cash. and other farm machinery III pro-
portion.
We have an idea in the United States
that English farms are all well titled. that
English cattle and sheep are always fat,
aad that all the agriculture OF this coun-
try is after the model of farmers institutes
and agricultural colleges: but the fact is
that there Is a great deal of slovenly farm
ing in England. and that scrawny cattle
and foot-rot sheep are not unknown IN
the British Isles.
This IS my view of some phases of Eng
lish agriculture as have observed 1t from
the highway and in the fields. The pres
ent season was favorable 10 grain-growing,
but the hay harvest was almost failure,
and the rainy weather in August and Sep
tember caused much of the wheat 20
grow in the shock, and has added another
TO the long list of disappointing harvests
for tine English farmer; and so he comes
TO the winter Of his discomfort.