AGRICULTURE.

IT is our principal object in this article to lay before our readers a view of the present state of British agriculture, particularly as the art is practised in our best cultivated counties. Much of what we shall state is derived from our own experience and observation; but we shall nevertheless be careful, on all matters of importance, to refer to the most approved authorities.

It is sufficiently evident that the culture of the soil must have somewhat preceded, and always kept pace with, the increase of population. When we read of the large armies brought into the field in the early ages, and the great number of inhabitants which some of the ancient cities are said to have contained, we must necessarily conclude that the labours of agriculture were conducted with skill, and that its produce was abundant. A considerable population may, no doubt, subsist upon a rich soil, even in a very rude state of the art, drawing from it only the supply of their own wants; but if much of the cultivator’s tune be required in the service of the public, and still more, if he has to provide for the subsistence and the luxury of large cities, he can obtain the necessary surplus produce only by successive improvements in his art. Not only his gross produce, but his net disposable produce, must be proportionally increased.

But of the rural economy even of the most civilized nations of antiquity, we are almost wholly ignorant. From the age of Moses, almost down to the commencement of the Christian era, though something may be gleaned from incidental notices in the Scriptures, and in the writings of a few ancient authors, we are quite unacquainted with the means by which food was obtained from the soil to support the rapid increase of mankind; especially when we find it accumulated on spots which seem to have been always naturally unproductive. We ought, perhaps, to except the Works and Days of Hesiod, who lived in the tenth century before our era, and who has described at some length the labours and the products of the agriculture of Greece at that early period. His work contains almost all the information we possess respecting the rural economy of that celebrated people.

Among the Romans this art seems to have obtained a high degree of improvement. It was practised by the rich and the great, and described by their poets and historians, several of whose works have reached our own times. These must be familiar to the classical scholar, and have been rendered accessible to all by Dickson, in his Husbandry of the Ancients, and other writers. We need therefore only mention the names ðf Cato, Varro, Virgil, Columella, Pliny, and Palladius, in the order in which they wrote. The treatises De Re Rustica of Varro and Columella are the most complete; but none of the Roman writers enables us to trace the rise and progress of agriculture, either in Italy or in any other country under their dominion. The most useful lesson they convey to the present age, perhaps, is the importance of attending to minute details, which their greatest names did not consider beneath their notice in the best period of their history.

From the fall of the Roman empire till the revival of learning in the fifteenth century, little is known of the state of agriculture in any part of Europe. The historians of the period were too much occupied in recording military achievements, and with the rude policy and intestine broils of their respective countries, to give much attention to the peaceful, and at that time degraded, labours of the husbandman. The policy of the feudal system, the distribution of society which it occasioned, and the perpetual dissensions and petty hostilities which it engendered, furnish the best evidence of the low state of an art which can flourish only under the protection of law, and be carried on with success only by the energy of free [7:2:252]men. But, during this long interval, the population of Europe was divided into two great classes, of which by far the larger one was composed of bondmen, without property, or the power of acquiring it, and small tenants, very little superior to bondmen; and the other class, consisting chiefly of the great barons and their retainers, was more frequently employed in laying waste the fields of their rivals, than in improving their own. The superstition of the times, which destined a large portion of the country to the support of the church, and which, in some measure, secured it from predatory incursions, was the principal source of what little skill and industry were then displayed in the cultivation of the soil. “If we consider the ancient state of Europe,” says Mr Hume,^[1. History of England, chap, xxiii. ] “we shall find, that the far greater part of society were everywhere bereaved of their personal liberty, and lived entirely at the will of their masters. Every one that was not noble was a slave; the peasants were not in a better condition; even the gentry themselves were subjected to a long train of subordination under the greater barons, or chief vassals of the crown, who, though seemingly placed in a high state of splendour, yet, having but a slender protection from law, were exposed to every tempest of the state, and, by the precarious condition on which they lived, paid dearly for the power of oppressing and tyrannizing over their inferiors.”—“The villains were entirely occupied in the cultivation of their master’s land, and paid their rents either in corn or cattle, and other produce of the farm, or in servile offices, which they performed about the baron’s family, and upon farms which he retained in his own possession. In proportion as agriculture improved and money increased, it was found that these services, though extremely burdensome to the villain, were of little advantage to the master; and that the produce of a large estate could be much more conveniently disposed of by the peasants themselves, who raised it, than by the landlord or his bailiff, who were formerly accustomed to receive it A commutation was therefore made of rents for services, and of money-rents for those in kind; and as men in a subsequent age discovered that farms were better cultivated where the farmer enjoyed security in his possession, the practice of granting leases to the peasant began to prevail, which entirely broke the bonds of servitude, already much relaxed from the former practices. The latest laws which we find in England for enforcing or regulating this species of servitude were enacted in the reign of Henry VII. And though the ancient statutes on this subject remain still unrepealed by Parliament, it appears, that before the end of Elizabeth, the distinction between villain and freeman was totally, though insensibly, abolished; and that no person remained in the state to whom the former laws could be applied.”

But, long before the fifteenth century, it is certain that there was a class of tenants holding on leases for lives, or for a term of years, and paying a rent in land produce, in services, or in money. Whether they gradually sprung up from the class of bondmen, according to Lord Kames,^[2. Karnes’s Law Tracts. ] or existed from the earliest period of the feudal constitution, according to other writers,^[3. Bell’s Treatise on Leases. ] their number cannot be supposed to have been considerable during the middle ages. The stock which these tenants employed in cultivation commonly belonged to the proprietor, who received a proportion of the produce as rent; a system which still exists in France and in other parts of the Continent, where such tenants are called metayers, and some vestiges of which may yet be traced in the steel-bow of the law of Scotland. Leases of the thirteenth century still remain;^[4. Sir John Cullum’s History and Antiquities of Harested (Suffolk.) ] and both the laws and chartularies^[5. Chalmers’s Caledonia, book iv∙ c. G. ] clearly prove the existence in Scotland of a class of cultivators distinct from the serfs or bondmen. Yet the condition of these tenants seems to have been very different from that of the tenants of the present day; and the lease approached nearer in its form to a feu charter than to the mutual agreement now in use. It was of the nature of a beneficiary grant by the proprietor, under certain conditions, and for a limited period: the cousent of the tenant seems never to have been doubted. In the common expression, “granting a lease,” we have retained an idea of the original character of the deed, even to the present time.

The corn crops cultivated during this period seem to have been of the same species, though all of them probably much inferior in quality to what they are in the present day. Wheat, the most valuable grain, must have borne a small proportion, at least in Britain, to that of other crops; the remarkable fluctuation of price, its extreme scarcity, indicated by the extravagant rate at which it was sometimes sold, as well as the preparatory cultivation required, may convince us that its consumption was confined to the higher orders, and that its growth was by no means extensive. Rye and oats furnished the bread and drink of the great body of the people of Europe. Cultivated herbage and roots were then unknown in the agriculture of Britain. It was not till the end of the reign of Henry VIII. that any sallads, carrots, or other edible roots were produced in England. The little of these vegetables that was used, was formerly imported from Holland and Flanders. Queen Catharine, when she wanted a sallad, was obliged to dispatch a messenger thither on purpose.^[6. Hume’s History of England, chap, xxiii. ]

The ignorance and insecurity of those ages, which necessarily confined the cultivation of corn to a comparatively small portion of country, left all the rest of it in a state of nature, to be depastured by the inferior animals, then only occasionally subjected to the care and control of man. Cultivators were crowded together in miserable hamlets; the ground contiguous was kept continually under tillage; and beyond this, wastes and woodlands of a much greater extent were appropriated to the maintenance of their flocks and herds, which pastured indiscriminately, with little attention from their owners.

The low price of butcher-meat, though it was then the food of the common people, when compared with the price of corn, has been justly noticed by several writers as a decisive proof of the small progress of civilisation and industry.

According to the reports of a writer who has had access to the best sources of information, in addition to his own observations, the present state of the agriculture of the greater part of the Continent of Europe is not very different from what it was in Britain during the prevalence of the feudal system. “The greater part of France,” he says, “a still much greater portion of Germany, and nearly the whole of Prussia, Austria, Poland, and Russia, present a wretched uniformity of system. It is called the three-course husbandry, consisting of, Hi, one year’s clean fellow; 2cf, winter corn, chiefly rye, with a proportion of wheat commensurate to the manure that can be applied; 3(Z, summer corn, or barley and oats. There are occasional and small deviations from this system. In some few cases potatoes, in others peas, are grown, in the fallow year; [7:2:253] but they are only minute exceptions to the generally established system. It is not surprising that under such a system the produce should not be much more than four times the quantity of seed, at which rate it is calculated, as appears to be rightly, by Baron Alexander Humboldt.”

« The fields are almost universally uninclosed, and exposed to the most injurious effects of a changeable and an intemperate climate. The ancient feudal system of tenure is still continued, modified indeed, and softened in some few parts, but not to a degree or an extent that deserves to be taken into account in the view now under consideration of the countries as a whole. The peasants, for the most part, are adstricti glebae ; and where, by recent laws, their condition has been changed, the practical effect has yet hardly had time to exhibit any observable improvement in their state. Labour, whether of men or of cattle, is usually exchanged for the occupancy of land; and hence the labour is performed in the most negligent and imperfect manner, that the vigilance of an overseer, who cannot be everywhere present, will allow.

“The lords of the soil, besides their demesnes, have the right of pasturage on the fields of their tenants from harvest to the next seed-time: hence none of those intervening crops which tend to enrich the soil can be cultivated without infringing on their rights.

“Among the cultivators of the land little or no accumulation of capital has been formed; from the lord to the lowest grade of the peasantry, all are alike destitute of disposable funds. The lords are only rich in land, and sufficiently at their ease, if that land be unencumbered with mortgages or annuities. The peasants, whether owners of the live stock and of the implements, or having the use of them with the land from its owners, are content to live on, from year to year, eating their own produce, growing their own wool and flax, and converting them into garments. They are quite satisfied if they can dispose of as much surplus produce as will pay the small share of money rent which becomes due to their lord.” (Tracts relating to the Corn Trade and Corn Laws, by William Jacob, Esq. 1828.)

It is certain, however, that an improved system has been introduced, and is extending itself, though slowly, in many parts of the countries which this writer has mentioned. Public establishments have been formed, which afford examples of correct management; and by these means knowledge is diffused among the principal land-owners in the first instance, and must ere long descend to the cultivator. Since the peace, many of the former class have visited other countries, and particularly Great Britain, with a view to the improvement of their estates. Some of them have held out encouragement to settlers from this country; others carried back our best implements, with farmbailiffs capable of instructing their people in the use of them, and of introducing our system of management generally; and not a few individuals of rank and influence in most parts of the Continent of Europe are now well acquainted with our agriculture, by their own personal observation. Prompted by interest, their active minds, no longer occupied in war, seem to enter eagerly upon this new field of employment. It is evident, indeed, from the great increase which has taken place of late in the population of these countries, as well as of our own, that a corresponding increase of produce must now be drawn from the soil. In all old peopled countries, the extension of tillage to fresh lands, without any improvement in the management, presents only a temporary and very limited resource.

At present, however, we have certainly little to learn from the agriculture of other countries; at least very little that can be beneficially introduced into our climate, which forbids any attempt at cultivating the fruits of the south of Europe. Even on a similar soil, and in the same latitude, the labours of the husbandman must be to a considerable extent directed and controlled by the local circumstances in which he is placed. This, perhaps, is the principal reason why the old system of successive crops of corn still prevails so generally throughout the Continent. The demand for butcher-meat, for instance, may not be such as to afford a suitable return for the extended culture of turnips and other ameliorating crops, which are found so beneficial in this country.

We should except from this remark much of the Netherlands, and probably a part of Italy. Flanders has long been celebrated for its agriculture; and tlíe care and success with which its labours are conducted seem not unworthy the attention of our best cultivators. The culture of the Vale of Arno, in Italy, also presents an interesting object, and has been warmly eulogized by Chateauvieux and other travellers. But instead of going into details here, we shall notice, under the heads to which they belong, the practices that appear to us of most importance in the agriculture of other countries, when we come to describe our own.

Before entering upon this our main object, it may not be without its interest to present a concise view of the progress of our agriculture to its present state, from the rude condition in which, in common with that of the rest of Europe, it was found at the time when we first have authorities to refer to on the subject. Such a view must necessarily include notices of the principal laws affecting it, as well as of our early writers, whose works are very little known; and it may serve to convey some idea of the successive changes that have occurred in the condition of the great body of our people.

The subject of this article will thus be considered under two divisions. In the first, we shall treat of the history of British agriculture; and in the second, of its present state; describing under the latter the crops, culture, and general management adapted to different soils, agreeably to the practice of our best cultivators.

Part I.

History of British Agriculture.

Of the early agriculture of England, and of the condition of its cultivators, we may form some conception by adverting to a few of the enactments, from the Conquest down to the beginning of the reign of Henry VII. in 1485, when the feudal system, which had been gradually falling into decay, was almost dissolved in that country.

One of the earliest and greatest grievances was the levying of Purveyance. This originally comprehended the necessary provisions, carriages, &c. which the nearest farmers were obliged to furnish to the king’s armies at the current prices, and to his houses and castles in time of war. It was called the great purveyance, and the officers who collected those necessaries were called purveyors. The smaller purveyance included the necessary provisions and carriages for the king’s household, when living at home, or travelling through the kingdom, which the tenants on the king’s demesne lands were obliged to furnish gratis; and the practice came to be adopted by the barons and great men, in every tour which they thought proper to make in the country. These exactions were so grievous, and levied in so licentious a manner, that the farmers, when they heard of the court’s approach, often deserted their houses, as if the country had been invaded [7:2:254]by an enemy. “Purveyance,” says Dirom,^[7. Inquiry into the Corn Laics, &c. p. 9. ] “was perhaps for many centuries the chief obstruction to the agriculture and improvement of Great Britain. Many laws were made for the reformation and regulation of purveyance, but without effect; and the practice continued down to so late a period as the reign of James the First.”

The home trade in corn was restrained by acts against forestallers in 1360, and at several subsequent periods. For many years after the Conquest, the greater part of the trade of England was carried on in markets and fairs; and a very considerable part of the revenue of the crown arose from the duties payable to the king, upon the goods brought to them for sale. The barons had also tolls at the fairs within their respective jurisdictions. When farmers and merchants were bringing their corn and other necessaries to be sold there, they were sometimes met on the way by persons who purchased their commodities, in order to retail them at a higher price. Thus the king and the lords of the manor lost the several duties payable to them; and the price, it was thought, was at the same time raised to the inhabitants. Such were the original forestallcrs, who were subjected by several statutes to severe penalties. This crime of forestalling, and the kindred ones of regrating and engrossing, were carefully defined, and the different degrees of punishment specified, in a new statuto in 1552, to be afterwards noticed. An early law of 1266, for regulating the assize of bread and ale, furnishes a clear proof of the little intercourse that must have subsisted at that time between town and country. “Brewers in cities,” says the statute, “may well afford to sell two gallons of beer or ale for a penny, and out of cities three or four gallons for a penny.”

Several laws were made in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, permitting the exportation of grain when the price of wheat did not exceed six shillings and eightpence a quarter; and in 1463 importation was prohibited when the price was lower. The last statute, however, was little attended to, and foreign grain was admitted as before; while the state of the country, and the restrictions on internal commerce, scarcely permitted any advantage to be derived from the acts allowing exportation.

In Mr Chalmers’s Caledonia, a great many valuable notices are collected regarding the husbandry of Scotland during these ages. It is evident from his elaborate researches, that the progress of cultivation in the 13th century had been greater than we should have expected from the turbulence of the times, and the comparatively rude and uncivilized state of society. Purveyance, and other obstructions to improvement, were nearly the same in Scotland as in England; the laws regarding the corn trade appear, in some instances, to have been copied from those of England; and in the northern, as in the southern part of the island, the clergy were by far the most skilful and industrious husbandmen.

Yet it is difficult to reconcile the idea of any considerable improvement, particularly in so far as regards the extensive cultivation of wheat (which Mr Chalmers infers from the authorities he quotes), with an act passed in 1426, which ordained every husbandman tilling with a plough of eight oxen to sow at least a firlot (little more than a Winchester busheD of wheat, and half a firlot of peas, with a proportion of beans; or with the state of the districts only a few years ago, where wheat is said to have been extensively grown at that early period.

By statute 1449, the tenant was for the first time secured in possession, during the term of his lease, against a purchaser of the land; and in 1469 he was protected from having his property carried oft’ for the landlord’s debts, beyond the amount of rent actually due; an enactment which proves his miserable condition before that time.

Soon after the beginning of the 16th century, agriculture partook of the general improvement which followed the invention of printing, the revival of learning, and the more settled authority of government; and instead of the occasional notices of historians, we can now refer to regular treatises, written by men who engaged eagerly in this neglected and hitherto degraded occupation. We shall therefore give a short account of the principal works, as well as of the laws and general policy of Britain, in regard to agriculture, from the early part of the sixteenth century to the Revolution in 1688, when a new era commenced in the legislation of corn, and soon after in the practice of the cultivator.

The first and by far the best of our early works is the Book of Husbandry, printed in 1534, commonly ascribed to Fitzherbert, a judge of the common pleas in the reign of Henry VIII. This was followed, in 1539, by the Book of Surveying and Improvements, by the same author. In the former treatise we have a clear and minute description of the rural practices of that period, and from the latter may be learned a good deal of the economy of the feudal system in its decline. The Book of Husbandry has scarcely been excelled by any later production, in as far as concerns the subjects of which it treats; for at that time cultivated herbage and edible roots were still unknown in England. The author writes from his own experience of more than forty years; and, with the exception of passages denoting his belief in the superstition of the Roman writers, there is very little of this valuable work that should be omitted, and not a great deal that need be added, in so far as regards the culture of corn, in a manual of husbandry adapted even to the present time. Fitzherbert touches on almost every department of the art, and in about a hundred octavo pages has contrived to condense more practical information than will be found scattered through as many volumes of later times; and yet he is minute even to the extreme on points of real utility. There is no reason to say, with Mr Harte, that he had revived the husbandry of the Romans; he merely describes the practices of the age in which he lived; and from his commentary on the old statute extenta manerii, in his Book of Surveying, in which he does not allude to any recent improvements, it is probable that the management which he details had been long established. But it may surprise some of the agriculturists of the present day to be told, that, after the lapse of almost three centuries, Fitzherbert’s practice, in some material branches, has not been improved upon; and that in several districts abuses still exist, which were as clearly pointed out by him at that early period as by any writer of the present age.

The Book of Husbandry begins with the plough and other instruments, which are concisely and yet minutely described; and then about a third part of it is occupied with the several operations as they succeed one another throughout the year. Among other things in this part of the work, the following deserve notice :—“Somme (ploughs) wyll tourn the sheld bredith at every landsende, and plowe all one way ;” the same kind of plough that is now found so useful on hilly grounds. Of wheel-ploughs he observes, that “they be good on even grounde that lyeth [7:2:255]lyghte and on such lands they are still most commonly employed. Cart-wheels were sometimes bound with iron, of which he greatly approves. On the much agitated question about the employment of horses or oxen in labour, the most important arguments are distinctly stated. u In somme places,” he says, “a horse plough is better,” and in others an oxen plough, to which, upon the whole, he gives the preference; and to this, considering the practices of that period, they were probably entitled. Beans and peas seem to have been common crops. He mentions the different kinds of wheat, barley, and oats; and after describing the method of harrowing “all maner of comnes,” we find the roller employed. “They use to role their barley grounde after a showr of rayne, to make the grounde even to mowe.” Under the article “To falowe,” he observes, “the greater clottes (clods) the better wheate, for the clottes kepe the wheat warme all wynter; and at March they will melte and breake and fal in manye small peces, the whiche is a newe dongynge and refreshynge of the come.” This is agreeable to the present practice, founded on the very same reasons. “In May, the shepe folde is to be set out;” but Fitzherbert does not much approve of folding, and points out its disadvantages in a very judicious manner. “In the later end of May and the begynnynge of June, is tyme to wede the corne and then we have an accurate description of the different weeds, and the instruments and mode of weeding. Next comes a second ploughing of the fallow; and afterwards, in the latter end of June, the mowing of the meadows begins. Of this operation, and of the forks and rakes, and the haymaking, there is a very good account. The corn harvest naturally follows: rye and wheat were usually shorn, and barley and oats cut with the scythe. This intelligent writer does not approve of the practice, which still prevails in some places, of cutting wheat high, and then mowing the stubbles. “In Somersetshire,” he says, “they do shere theyr wheat very lowe; and the wheate strawe that they purpose to make thacke of, they do not threshe it, but cut off the ears, and bynd it in sheves, and call it rede, and therewith they thacke theyr houses.” He recommends the practice of setting up corn in shocks, with two sheaves to cover eight, instead of ten sheaves, as at present; probably owing to the straw being then shorter. The corn was commonly housed; but if there be a want of room, he advises that the ricks be built on a scaffold, and not upon the ground. Com-stacks are now beginning to be built on pillars and frames. The fallow received a third ploughing in September, and was sown about Michaelmas. “Wheat is moost commonlye sowne under the forowe, that is to say, cast it uppon the falowe, and then plowe it under and this branch of his subject is concluded with directions about threshing, winnowing, and other kinds of barn-work.

Fitzherbert next proceeds to live stock. “An hous-bande,” he says, “can not well thryue by his corne without he have other cattell, nor by his cattell without corne. And bycause that shepe, in myne opynyon, is the mooste profytablest cattell that any man can haue, therefore I pourpose to speake fyrst of shepe.” His remarks on this subject are so accurate, that one might imagine they came from a storemaster of the present day; and the minutiae which he details are exactly what the writer of this article has seen practised in the hilly parts of this country. In some places at present, “they neuer seuer their lambes from their dammes ;” “and the poore of the peeke (high) countreye, and such other places, where, as they vsc to milke theyr ewes, they use to wayne theyr lambes at 12 weekes okle, and to mylke their ewes fiue or syxe weekes but that, he observes, “is greate hurte to the ewes, and wyll cause them that they wyll not take the ramme at the tyme of the yere for pouertye, but goo barreyne.” “In June is tyme to shere shepe; and ere they be shorne, they must be verye well washen, the which shall be to the owner greate profyte in the sale of his wool, and also to the clothe-maker.” It appears that hand washing was then a common practice ;' and yet in the west and north of Scotland, at this day, sheep are never washed at all. His remarks on horses, cattle, &c. are not less interesting; and there is a very good account of the diseases of each species, and some just observations on the advantage of mixing different kinds on the same pasture. Swine and bees conclude this branch of the work.

The author then points out the great advantages of inclosures; recommends “quycksettynge, dychynge, and hedgeyng ;” and gives particular directions about the settes, and the method of training a hedge, as well as concerning the planting and management of trees. We have then a short information “for a yonge gentylman that intendeth to thryue,” and “a prolonge for the wiues occupation,” in some instances rather too homely for the present time. Among other things, she is to “make her husband and herself somme clothes ;” and “she maye haue the lockes of the shepe eyther to make blankettes and courlettes, or bothe.” This is not so much amiss; but what follows will bring our learned judge into disrepute even with our most industrious housewives. “It is a wyues occupation,” he says, “to wynowe all maner of cornes, to make malte, to washe and wrynge, to make heye, shere corne, and, in time of nede, to lιelpe her husbande to fyll the mucke wayne or dounge carte, dryue the ploughe, to loode heye, corne, and suche other; and to go or ride to the market to sei butter, chese, mylke, egges, chekyns, capons, hennes, pygges, gese, and all maner of cornes.” The rest of the book contains some useful advices about diligence and economy; and concludes, after the manner of the age, with many pious exhortations.

Such is Fitzherbert’s Book of Husbandry, and such was the state of agriculture in England in the early part of the sixteenth century, and probably for a long time before; for he nowhere speaks of the practices which he describes or recommends as of recent introduction.

The Book of Surveying adds considerably to our knowledge of the rural economy of that age. “Four maner of commens” are described; several kinds of mills for corn and other purposes, and also “quernes that goo with hand ;” different orders of tenants, down to the “boundmen,” who “in some places contynue as yet ;” “and many tymes, by colour thereof, there be many freemen taken as boundmen, and their lands and goods is taken from them.” Lime and marl are mentioned as common manures; and the former was sometimes spread on the surface to destroy heath. Both draining and irrigation are noticed, though the latter but slightly. And the work concludes with an inquiry “how to make a township that is worth XX. marke a yere, worth XX. li. a year from which we shall give a specimen of the author’s manner, as well as of the economy of the age.

“It is undoubted, that to every townshyppe that standeth in tyllage in the playne countrey, there be errable landes to plowe and sowe, and leyse to tye or tedder theyr horses and mares upon, and common pasture to kepe and pasture their catell, beestes, and shepe upon; and also they have medowe grounde to get theyr hey upon. Than to let it be known how many acres of errable lande euery man hath in tyllage, and of the same acres in euery felde to chaunge with his neyghbours, and to leye them toguyther, and to make hym one seuerall close in euery felde for his errable lands; and his leyse in euery felde to leye [7:2:256]them togyther in one felde, and to make one seuerall close for them all. And also another seuerall close for his portion of his common pasture, and also his porcion of his medowe in a seuerall close by itselfe, and al kept in seue-ral both in wynter and somer; and euery cottage shall haue his portion assigned hym accordynge to his ’ rent, and than shall Ιιat the ryche man ouerpresse the poore man with his cattell; and euery man may eate his oun close at his pleasure. And vndoubted, that hay and strawe that will find one beest in the house wyll finde two beestes in the close, and better they shall lyke. For those beestis in the house have short heare and thynne, and towards March they will pylle and be bare; and therefore they may nat abyde in the fylde before the heerdmen in winter tyme for colde. And those that lye in a close under a hedge haue longe heare and thyck, and they will neuer pylle nor be bare; and by this reason the husbande maye kepe twyse so many catell as he did before.

“This is the cause of this approwment. Nowe euery husbande hath sixe seuerall closes, whereof iii. be for corne, the fourthe for his leyse, the fyfte for his commen pastures, and the sixte for his haye; and in wynter time there is but one occupied with corne, and than hath the husbande other fyue to occupy tyll lente come, and that he hath his falowe felde, his ley felde, and his pasture felde al sommer. And when he hath mowen his medowe, than he hath his medowe grounde, soo that if he hath any weyke catell that wold be amended, or dyvers maner of catell, he may put them in any close he wyll, the which is a great advantage; and if all shulde lye commen, than wolde the edyche of the corne feldes and the aftermath of all the medowes be eaten in X. or XII. dayes. And the rych men that hath moche catell wold have the advantage,' and the poore man can have no helpe nor relefe in wynter when he hath moste nede; and if an acre of lande be worthe sixe pens, or it be enclosed, it will be worth VIII. pens whan it is enclosed, by reason of the compostying and dongyng of the catell that shall go and lye upon it both day and nighte; and if any of his thre closes that he hath for his corne be worne or ware bare, than he may breke and plowé up his close that he hadde for his layse, or the close that he hadde for his commen pasture, or bothe, and sowe them with corne, and let the other lye for a time, and so shall he have aìway reist grounde, the which will bear moche corne with lytel donge; and also he shall have a great profyte of the wod in the hedges whan it is growen; and not only these profytes and advantages beforesaid, but he shall save moche more than al these, for by reason of these closes he shall save meate, drinke, and wages of a shepeherde, the wages of the heerdman, and the wages of the swine herde, the which may fortune to be as chargeable as all his holle rent; and also his come shall be better saved from eatinge or destroyeng with catel. For dout ye nat but heerdemen with their catell, shepeherdes with their shepe, and tieng of horses and mares, destroyed! moch corne, the which the hedges wold save. Par-aduenture some men would say, that this shuld be against the common weale, bicause the shepeherdes, heerdmen, and swyneherdes, shuld than be put out of wages. To that it may be answered, though these occupations be not used, there be as many newe occupations that were not used before; as getting of quickesettes, diching, hedging, and plashing, the which the same men may use and occupye.”

The next author who writes professedly on agriculture is Tusser, whose Five Hundred Points of Husbandry, published in 1562, was formerly in such high repute as to be recommended by Lord Molesworth to be taught in schools.^[8. Some Considerations for the promoting of Agriculture and employing the Poor. Dublin, 1723. ] The edition of 1604 is die one we make use of here, in which the book of husbandry consists of 118 pages; and then follows the Points of Housewifrie, occupying 42 pages more. It is written in verse. Amidst a vast heap of rubbish, there are some useful notices concerning the state of agriculture at the time in different parts of England. Hops, which had been introduced in the early part of the sixteenth century, and on the culture of which a treatise was published in 1574 by Reynolde Scott, are mentioned as a well-known crop. Buckwheat was sown after barley. It seems to have been the practice then, in some places, to “geld fillies” as well as colts. Hemp and flax are mentioned as common crops. Inclosures must have been numerous in several counties; and there is a very good comparison between “champion (open fields) country, and several,” which Blythe afterwards transcribed into his Improver Improved. Carrots, cabbages, turnips, and rape, are mentioned among the herbs and roots for the kitchen. There is nothing to be found in Tusser about serfs or bondmen, as in Fitzherbert’s works. This author’s division of the crop is rather curious, though probably quite inaccurate, if he means that the whole rent might be paid by a tenth of the com.
“One part cast forth for rent due out of hand.
“One other part for seed to sow thy land.
“Another part leave parson for his tith.
“Another part for harvest, sickle and sith.
“One part for ploughwrite, cartwrite, knacker, and smith.
“One part to uphold thy teemes that draw therewith.
“Another part for servant and workman’s wages laie.
“One part likewise for filbellie daie by daie.
“One part thy wife for needful things doth crave.
“Thyself and thy child the last part would have.”

The next writer is Barnaby Googe, whose Whole Art of Husbandry was printed in 1578, and again by Markham in 1614. The first edition is merely a translation of a German work; and very little is said of English husbandry in the second, though Markham made some trifling interpolations, in order, as it is alleged, to adapt the German husbandry to the English climate. It is for the most part made up of gleanings from the ancient writers of Greece and Rome, whose errors are faithfully retained, with here and there some description of the practices of the age, in which there is little of novelty or importance. Googe mentions a number of English writers who lived about the time of Fitzherbert, whose works have not been preserved.

For more than fifty years after this, or till near the middle of the seventeenth century, there are no systematic works on husbandry, though several treatises on particular departments of it. From these it is evident, that all the different operations of the farmer were performed with more care and correctness than formerly; that the fallows were better worked, the fields kept freer of weeds, and much more attention paid to manures of every kind. A few of the writers of this period deserve to be shortly noticed.

Sir Hugh Plat, in his Jewel House of Art and Nature, printed in 1594 (which Weston in his catalogue erroneously gives to Gabriel Plattes), makes some useful observations on manures, but chiefly collected from other writers. His censure of the practice of leaving farm dung lying scattered about is among the most valuable.
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Sir John Norden’s Surveyor’s Dialogue, printed in 1607, and reprinted with additions in 1618, is a work of considerable merit. The first three books of it relate to the rights of the lord of the manor, and the various tenures by which landed property was then held, with the obligations which they imposed. Among others, we find the singular custom so humorously described in the Spectator, of the incontinent widow riding upon a ram. In the fifth book there are a good many judicious observations on the “different natures of grounds, how they may be employed, how they may be bettered, reformed, and amended.” The famous meadows near Salisbury are mentioned; and when cattle have fed their fill, hogs, it is pretended, “are made fat with the remnant; namely, with the knots and sappe of the grasse.” “Clouer grasse, or the grasse honey suckle” (white clover), is directed to be sown with other hay seeds. “Carrot rootes” were then raised in several parts of England, and sometimes by farmers. London street and stable dung was carried to a distance by water, though it appears from later writers to have been got for the trouble of removing. And leases of 21 years are recommended for persons of small capital, as better than employing it in purchasing land; an opinion that prevails very generally among our present farmers.

Bees seem to have been great favourites with these early writers; and among others, there is a treatise by Butler, a gentleman of Oxford, called the Feminine Monarchie, or the History of Bees, printed in 1609, full of all manner of quaintness and pedantry.

We shall pass over Markham, Mascall, Gabriel Plattes, and several other authors of this period, the best part of their writings being preserved by Blythe and Hartlib, of whom we shall say a little immediately. In Sir Richard Weston’s Discourse on the Husbandry of Brabant and Flanders, published by Hartlib in 1645, we may mark the dawn of the vast improvements which have since been effected in Britain. This gentleman was ambassador from England to the elector palatine and king of Bohemia in 1619, and had the merit of being the first who introduced the great clover, as it was then called, into English agriculture, about 1645, and probably turnips also. His directions for the cultivation of clover are better than was to be expected. It thrives best, he says, when you sow it on the worst and barrcnest ground, such as our worst heath ground is in England. The ground is to be pared and burnt, and unslacked lime must be added to the ashes. It is next to be well ploughed and harrowed; and about ten pounds of clover seed must be sown on an acre in April or the end of March. If you intend to preserve seed, then the second crop must be let stand till it come to a full and dead ripeness; and you shall have at the least five bushels per acre. Being once sown, it will last five years; and then being ploughed, it will yield, three or four years together, rich crops of wheat, and after that a crop of oats, with which clover seed is to be sown again. It is in itself an excellent manure, Sir Richard adds; and so it should be, to enable land to bear this treatment. In less than ten years after its introduction, that is, before 1655, the culture of clover, exactly according to the present method, seems to have been well known in England, and it had also made its way to Ireland.

A great many works on agriculture appeared during the time of the commonwealth, of which Blythe’s Improver Improved, and Hartlib’s Legacy, are the most valuable. The first edition of the former was published in 1649, and of the latter in 1650; and both of them were enlarged in subsequent editions. In the first edition of the Improver Improved, no mention is made of clover, nor in the second of turnips; but in the third, published in 1662, clover is treated of at some length, and turnips are recommended as an excellent cattle crop, the culture of which should be extended from the kitchen garden to the field. Sir Richard Weston must have cultivated turnips before this; for Blythe says, that Sir Richard affirmed to himself he did feed his swine with them. They were first given boiled, but afterwards the swine came to eat them raw, and would run after the carts, and pull them forth as they gathered them; an expression which conveys an idea of their being cultivated in the fields.

Blythe’s book is the first systematic work in which there are some traces of the alternate husbandry so beneficially established since, by interposing clover and turnip between culmiferous crops. He is a great enemy to commons and common fields, and to retaining land in old pasture, unless it be of the best quality. His description of the different kinds of ploughs is interesting; and he justly recommends such as were drawn by two horses (some even by one horse), in preference to the weighty and clumsy machines which required four or more horses or oxen. Almost all the manures now used seem to have been then well known; and he brought lime himself from a distance of 20 miles. He speaks of an instrument which ploughed, sowed, and harrowed at the same time; and the setting of corn was then a subject of much discussion. “It was not many years,” says Blythe, “since the famous city of London petitioned the parliament of England against two anusancies or offensive commodities, which were likely to come into great use and esteem; and that was Newcastle coal, in regard of their stench, &c., and hops, in regard they would spoyle the taste of drink, and endanger the people.”

Hartlib’s Legacy is a very heterogeneous performance, containing, among some very judicious directions, a great deal of rash speculation. Several of the deficiencies which the writer complains of in English agriculture must be placed to the account of our climate, and never have been or can be supplied. Some of his recommendations are quite unsuitable to the state of the country, and display more of general knowledge and good intention, than of either the theory or practice of agriculture. Among the subjects deserving notice may be mentioned the practice of steeping and liming seed corn as a preventive of smut; changing every year the species of grain, and bringing seed corn from a distance; ploughing down green crops as manure; and feeding horses with broken oats and chaff. This writer seems to differ a good deal from Blythe about the advantage of interchanging tillage and pasture. “It were no losse to this island,” he says, “if that we should not plough at all, if so be that we could certainly have corn at a reasonable rate, and likewise vent for all our manufactures of wool and one reason for this is, that pasture employeth more hands than tillage, instead of depopulating the country, as was commonly imagined. The grout, which he mentions “as coming over to us in Holland ships,” about which he desires information, was probably the same with our present shelled barley; and mills for manufacturing it were introduced into Scotland from Holland towards the beginning of the last century.

To the third edition, published in 1655, are subjoined Dr Beatic’s Annotations, with the writer of the Legacy’s answers, both of them ingenious, and sometimes instructive. But this cannot be said of Gabriel Plattes’s Mercurius Laetificans, also added to this edition, which is a most extravagant production. There are also several communications from Hartlib’s different correspondents, of which the most interesting are those on the early cultivation and great value of clover. Hartlib himself does not appear much in this collection; but he seems to have been a [7:2:258]very useful person in editing the works of others, and as a collector of miscellaneous information on rural subjects. It is strange that neither Blythe nor Hartlib, nor any of Hartlib’s correspondents, seem ever to have heard of Fitzherbert’s works.

Among the other writers previous to the Revolution, we shall only mention Ray the botanist and Evelyn, both men of great talents and research, whose works are still in high estimation. A new edition of Evelyn’s Silva and Terra was published in 1777 by Dr Hunter, with large notes and elegant engravings, and reprinted in 1812.

The preceding review commences with a period of feudal anarchy and despotism, and comes down to the time when the exertions of individual interest were protected and encouraged by the firm administration of equal laws; when the prosperity of Great Britain was no longer retarded by internal commotions, nor endangered by hostile invasion.

The laws of this period, in so far as they relate to agriculture and rural economy, display a similar progress in improvement.

From the beginning of the reign of Henry VII. to the end of Elizabeth’s, a number of statutes were made for the encouragement of tillage, though probably to little purpose. The great grievance of those days was the practice of laying arable land to pasture, and suffering the farm-houses to fall to ruin. “Where in some towns,” says the statute 4th Henry VII. (1488), “two hundred persons were occupied and lived of their lawful labours, now there arc occupied two or three herdsmen, and the residue fall into idleness therefore it is ordained, that houses which within three years have been let for farms, with twenty acres of land lying in tillage or husbandry, shall be upheld, under the penalty of half the profits, to be forfeited to the king or the lord of the fee. Almost half a century afterwards, the practice had become still more alarming; and in 1534 a new act was tried, apparently with as little success. “Some have 24,000 sheep, some 20,000 sheep, some 10,000, some 6000, some 4000, and some more and some less and yet it is alleged the price of wool had nearly doubled, “sheep being come to a few persons’ hands.” A penalty was therefore imposed on all who kept above 2000 sheep; and no person was to take in farm more than two tenements of husbandry. By the 39th Elizabeth (1597), arable land made pasture since the 1st Elizabeth shall be again converted into tillage, and what is arable shall not be converted into pasture.

Many laws were enacted during this period against vagabonds, as they were called; and persons who could not find employment seem to have been sometimes confounded with those who really preferred idleness and plunder. The dissolution of the feudal system, and the suppression of the monasteries, deprived a great part of the rural population of the means of support. They could not be employed in cultivating the soil, for there was no middle class of farmers possessed of capital to be vested in improvements; and what little disposable capital was in the hands of great proprietors could not, in those rude times, be so advantageously embarked in the expensive and precarious labours of growing eom, as in pasturage, which required much less skill and superintendence. Besides, there was a constant demand for wool on the Continent; while the corn-market was not only confined by laws against exportation, but fettered by restrictions on the internal trade. The laws regarding the wages of labour and the price of provisions are a further proof of the ignorance of the age in regard to the proper subject of legislation.

By the statute 1552 it is declared, that any person that shall buy merchandise, victual, &c. coming to market, or make any bargain for buying the same before they shall be in the market ready to be sold, or shall make any motion for enhancing the price, or dissuade any person from coming to market, or forbear to bring any of the things to market, &c. shall be deemed a forestaller. Any person who buys and sells again in the same market, or within four miles thereof, shall be reputed a regrater. Any person buying corn growing in the fields, or any other corn, with intent to sell again, shall be reputed an unlawful ingrosser. It was also declared, that no person shall sell cattle within five weeks after he had bought them. Licences, indeed, were to be granted in certain cases, and particularly when the price of wheat was at or under 6s. 8d. a quarter, and other kinds of grain in that proportion.

The laws regarding the exportation and importation of corn during this period could have had little effect in encouraging agriculture, though towards the latter part of it they gradually approached that system which was finally established at and soon after the Revolution. From the time of the above-mentioned statute against forestalled, which effectually prevented exportation, as well as the freedom of the home trade, when corn was above the price therein specified, down to 1688, there are at least twelve statutes on this subject; and some of them are so nearly the same, that it is probable they were not very carefully observed. The price at which wheat was allowed to be exported was raised from 6s. 8d. a quarter, the price fixed by the 1st and 2d of Philip and Mary (1553), to 10s. in 1562; to 20s. in 1593; to 26s. 8d. in 1604; to 32s. in 1623; to 40s. in 1660 ∙ to 48s. in 1663; and at last, in 1670, exportation was virtually permitted without limitation. Certain duties, however, were payable, which in some cases seem to have amounted to a prohibition; and until 1660 importation was not restrained even in years of plenty and cheapness. In permitting exportation, the object appears to have been revenue rather than the encouragement of production.

The first statute for levying tolls at turnpikes, to make or repair roads in England, passed in 1662.

Of the state of agriculture in Scotland in the 16th and the greater part of the 17th century, very little is known; no professed treatise on the subject appeared till after the Revolution. The south-eastern counties were the earliest improved, and yet in 1660 their condition seems to have been very wretched. Ray, who made a tour along the eastern coast in that year, says, “we observed little or no fallow grounds in Scotland; some ley ground we saw, which they manured with sea wreck. The men seemed to be very lazy, and may be frequently observed to plough in their cloaks. It is the fashion of them to wear cloaks when they go abroad, but especially on. Sundays. They have neither good bread, cheese, nor drink. They cannot make them, nor will they learn. Their butter is very indifferent, and one would wonder how they could contrive to make it so bad. They use much pottage made of coalwort, which they call kail, sometimes broth of decorticated barley. The ordinary country-houses are pitiful cots, built of stone and covered with turfs, having in them but one room, many of them no chimneys, the windows very small holes, and not glazed. The ground in the valleys and plains bears very good corn, but especially bears barley or bigge, and oats, but rarely wheat and rye.”^[9. Select Remains of John Ray. Lond. 1760. ]
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It is probable that no great change had taken place in Scotland from the end of the 15th century, except that tenants gradually became possessed of a little stock of their own, instead of having their farm stocked by the landlord. “The minority of James V., the reign of Mary Stuart, the infancy of her son, and the civil wars of her grandson Charles L, were all periods of lasting waste. The very laws which were made during successive reigns, for protecting the tillers of the soil from spoil, are the best proofs of the deplorable state of the husbandman.”^[10. Chalmers’s Caledonia, vol. ii. p. 732. ]

Yet in the 17th century were those laws made which paved the way for the present improved system of agriculture in Scotland; By statute 1633, landholders were enabled to have their tithes valued, and to buy them either at nine or six years’ purchase, according to the nature of the property. The statute 1685, conferring on landlords a power to entail their estates, was indeed of a very different tendency in regard to its effects on agriculture. But the two acts in 1695, for the division of commons, and separation of intermixed properties, have facilitated in an eminent degree the progress of improvement.

' From the Revolution to the accession of George III. the 'progress of agriculture was by no means so considerable as we should be led to imagine from the great exportation of com. It is the opinion of well-informed writers,^[11. Annals of Agriculture, No. 270. Harte’s Essays. Comber on National Subsistence, p. 1G1. ] that very little improvement had taken place, either in the cultivation of the soil or in the management of live stock, from the Restoration down to the middle of last century. Even clover and turnips, the great support of the present improved system of agriculture, were confined to a few districts, and at the latter period were scarcely cultivated at all by common farmers in the northern part of the island. Of the writers of this - period, therefore, we shall notice only such as describe some improvement in the modes of culture, or some extension of the practices that were formerly little known.

In Houghton’s Collections on Husbandry and Trade, a periodical work begun in 1681, we have the first notice of turnips being eaten by sheep. “Some in Essex have their fallow after turnips, which feed their sheep in winter, by which means the turnips are scooped, and so made capable to hold dews and rain water, which, by corrupting, imbibes the nitre of the air, and when the shell breaks it runs about and fertilizes. By feeding the sheep, the land is dunged as if it had been folded; and those turnips, though few or none be carried off for human use, are a very excellent improvement, nay, some reckon it so though they only plough the turnips in without feeding.”^[12. Houghton’s_ Collections on Husbandry and Trade , vol. i. p. 213. edit. 1728. ] This was written in February 1694; but ten years before, Worlidge, one of his correspondents, observes, “sheep fatten very well on turnips, which prove an excellent nourishment for them in hard winters, when fodder is scarce; for they will not only eat the greens, but feed on the roots in the ground, and scoop them hollow even to the very skin. Ten acres (he adds) sown with clover, turnips, &c. will feed as many sheep as one hundred acres thereof would before have done.”^[13. Ibid. vol. iv. p. 142-144. ]

At this time potatoes were beginning to attract notice. “The potato,” says Houghton, “is a bacciferous herb, with esculent roots, bearing winged leaves and a bell flower.

“This, I have been informed, was brought first out of Virginia by Sir Walter Raleigh; and he stopping at Ireland, some was planted there, where it thrived very well, and to good purpose; for in their succeeding wars, when all the corn above the ground was destroyed, this supported them; for the soldiers, unless they had dug up all the ground where they grew, and almost sifted it, could not extirpate them; from whence they were brought to Lancashire, where they are very numerous, and now they begin to spread all the kingdom over. They are a pleasant food boiled or roasted, and eaten with butter and sugar. There is a sort brought from Spain, that are of a longer form, and are more luscious than ours; they are much set by, and sold for sixpence or eightpence the pound.”^[14. Ibid. vol. ii. p. 468. ]

The next writer is Mortimer, whose Whole Art of Husbandry was published in 1706, and has since run through several editions. It is a regular, systematic work, of considerable merit; and it does not appear that much improvement has been made since in the practices he describes, in many parts of Britain. From the third edition of Hartlib’s Legacy, we learn that clover was cut green, and given to cattle; and it appears that this practice of soiling, as it is now called, had become very common about the beginning of last century, wherever clover was cultivated. Ryegrass was now sown along with it. Turnips were hand-hoed, and extensively employed in feeding sheep and cattle, in the same manner as at present.

The first considerable improvement in the practice of that period was introduced by Jethro Tull, a gentleman of Berkshire, who began to drill wheat and other crops about the year 1701, and whose Horse-hoeing Husbandry was published in 1731. In giving a short account of the innovations of this eccentric writer, it is not meant to enter into any discussion of their merits. It will not detract much from his reputation to admit that, like most other men who leave the beaten path, he was sometimes misled by inexperience, and sometimes deceived by a too sanguine imagination. Had Tull confined his recommendation of the drill husbandry to leguminous and bulbous-rooted plants generally, and to the cereal gramina only in particular circumstances; and had he, without puzzling himself about the food of plants, been contented with pointing out the great advantage of pulverizing the soil in most cases, and extirpating weeds in every case, he would certainly have deserved a high rank among the benefactors of his country. A knowledge of his doctrines and practice, however, will serve as a necessary introduction to the present approved modes of culture.

Tull’s theory is promulgated with great confidence; and in the controversy which he thought proper to maintain in support of it, he scrupled not to employ ridicule as well as reasoning. Besides the Roman writers De Re Rustica, Virgil in particular, whom he treats with high disdain, he is almost equally severe on Woodward, Bradley, and other writers of his own time.

As the distance between his rows appeared much greater than was necessary for the range of the roots of the plants, Tull begins by showing that these roots extend much farther than is commonly believed, and then proceeds to inquire into the nature of their food. After examining several hypotheses, he decides this to be fine particles of earth. The chief, and almost the only use of dung, he thinks, is to divide the earth, to dissolve “this terrestrial matter, which affords nutriment to the mouths of vegetable roots and this can be done more complcte-Iy[7:2:260] by tillage. It is therefore necessary not only to pulverize the soil by repeated ploughings before it be seeded, but, as it becomes gradually more and more compressed afterwards, recourse must be had to tillage while the plants are growing, and this is hoeing, which also destroys the weeds that would deprive the plants of their nourishment.

The leading features of Tull’s husbandry are his practice of laying the land into narrow ridges of five or six feet, and upon the middle of these drilling one, two, or three rows, distant from one another about seven inches when there were three, and ten inches when only two. The distance of the plants on one ridge from those on the contiguous one he called an interval ; the distance between the rows on the same ridge, a space or partition : the former was stirred repeatedly by the horse-hoe, the latter by the hand-hoe.

The extraordinary attention this ingenious person gave to his mode of culture is perhaps without a parallel :—·“I formerly was at much pains,” he says, “and at some charge in improving my drills for planting the rows at very near distances, and had brought them to such perfection, that one horse would draw a drill with eleven shares, making the rows at three inches and a half distance from one another; and at the same time sow in them three very different sorts of seeds, which did not mix; and these, too, at different depths. As the barleyrows were seven inches asunder, the barley lay four inches deep. A little more than three inches above that, in the same channels, was clover; betwixt every two of these rows was a row of St Foin, covered half an inch deep.

“I had a good crop of barley the first year; the next year two crops of broad clover, where that was sown; and where hop-clover was sown, a mixed crop of that and St Foin; but I am since, by experience, so fully convinced of the folly of these, or any other mixed crops, and more especially of narrow spaces, that I have demolished these instruments in their full perfection as a vain curiosity, the drift and use of them being contrary to the true principles and practice of horse-hoeing.^[15. Horse-hoeing Husbandry, p. G2. Lond. 1762. ]”

In the culture of wheat, he began with ridges six feet broad, or eleven on a breadth of 66 feet; but on this he afterwards had fourteen ridges. After trying different numbers of rows on a ridge, he at last preferred two, with an intervening space of about ten inches. He allowed only three pecks of seed for an acre. The first hoeing was performed by turning a furrow from the row, as soon as the plant had put forth four or five leaves; so that it was done before or at the beginning of winter. The next hoeing was in spring, by which the earth was returned to the plants. The subsequent operations depended upon the circumstances and condition of the land and the state of the weather. The next year’s crop of wheat was sown upon the intervals which had been unoccupied the former year; but this he does not seem to think was a matter of much consequence. “My field,” he observes, “whereon is now the thirteenth crop of wheat, has shown that the rows may successfully stand upon any part of the ground. The ridges of this field were, for the twelfth crop, changed from six feet to four feet six inches. In order for this alteration the ridges were ploughed down, and then the next ridges were laid out the same way as the former, but one foot six inches narrower, and the double rows drilled on their tops; whereby, of consequence, there must be some row’s standing on every part of the ground, both on the former partitions, and on every part of the intervals. Notwithstanding this, there was no manner of difference in the goodness of the row’s; and the whole field was in every part of it equal, and the best I believe that ever grew on it. It is now the thirteenth crop, likely to be good, though the land was not ploughed cross ways.”^[16. Ibid. P∙ 424. ]

It follows from this singular management, that Tull thought a succession of crops of different species altogether unnecessary; and he labours hard to prove against Dr Woodward, that the advantages of such a change under his plan of tillage were quite chimerical; though he seems to admit the benefit of a change of the seed itself. But the best method of determining the question would have been to have stated the amount of his crops per acre, and the quality of the grain, instead of resting the superiority of his management on the alleged saving of expense, when compared with the common broad-cast husbandry.

On the culture of turnip, both his principles and his practice are much more correct. The ridges w ere of the same breadth as for wheat, but only one row was drilled on each. His management while the crop was growing differs very little from the present practice. When drilled on the level, it is impossible, he observes, to hoe-plough them so well as when they are planted upon ridges. But the seed was deposited at different depths, the half about four inches deep, and the other half exactly over that, at the depth of half an inch. “Thus planted, let the weather be never so dry, the deepest seed will come up; but if it raineth immediately after planting, the shallow will come up first. We also make it come up at four times, by mixing our seed half new and half old, the new coming up a day quicker than the old. These four comings up give it so many chances for escaping the fly; it being often seen that the seed sown over night will be destroyed by the fly, when that sown the next morning will escape, and vice versa : or you may hoe-plough them when the fly is like to devour them; this will bury the greatest part of these enemies: or else you may drill in another row without new-ploughing the land.”

Drilling and horse and hand-hoeing seem to have been in use before the publication of Tull’s book. “Hoeing,” he says, “may be divided into deep, which is our horsehoeing; and shallow, which is the English hand-hoeing; and also the shallow horse-hoeing used in some places betwixt rows, where the intervals are very narrow, as 16 or 18 inches. This is but an imitation of the hand-hoe, or a succedaneum to it, and can neither supply the use of dung nor fallow, and may be properly called scratchhoeing.” But in his mode of forming ridges his practice seems to have been original; his implements display much ingenuity; and his claim to the title of father of the present horse-hoeing husbandry of Great Britain seems indisputable. A translation of Tull’s book was undertaken at one and the same time in France, by three different persons of consideration, without the privity of each other. Two of them afterw ards put their papers into the hands of the third, Μ. Du Hamel du Monceau of the Royal Academy of Sciences at Paris, who published a treatise on husbandry, on the principles of Mr Tull, a few years after. But Tull seems to have had very few followers in England for more than 30 years. The present method of drilling and horse-hoeing turnips was not introduced into Northumberland till about the year 1780;^[17. Northumberland. Survey, p. 100. ] and it was then borrowed from Scotland, the farmers of which had the merit of first adopting Tull’s management in the culture[7:2:261] of this root about 1760, and from whom it has since made its way, but slowly, into the southern part of the island.

Among the English writers of this period may be mentioned Bradley, Lawrence, Hales, Miller, Ellis, Smith, Hill, Hitt, Lisle, and Home. Most of their works went through several editions in a few years; at once a proof of the estimation in which they were held, and of the direction of the public mind towards investigating the principles and practice of agriculture.

Of the progress of the art in Scotland, till towards the end of the 17th century, we are almost entirely ignorant. The first work, written by Donaldson, was printed in 1697, under the title of Husbandry Anatomized; or, an Inquiry into the Present Manner of Teiling and Manuring the Ground in Scotland. It appears from this treatise, that the state of the art was not more advanced at that time in North Britain than it had been in England in the time of Fitzherbert. Farms were divided into infield and outfield; corn crops followed one another without the intervention of fallow, cultivated herbage, or turnips, though something is said about fallowing the outfield; inclosures were very rare; the tenantry had not begun to emerge from a state of great poverty and depression; and the wages of labour, compared with the price of com, were much lower than at present; though that price, at least in ordinary years, must appear extremely moderate in our times. Leases for a term of years, however, were not uncommon; but the want of capital rendered it impossible for the tenantry to attempt any spirited improvements.

Donaldson first points out the common management of that period, which he shows to have been very unproductive; and afterwards recommends what he thinks would be a more profitable course. “Of the dale ground,” he says, “that is, such lands as are partly hills and partly valleys, of which sorts may be comprehended the greatest part of arable ground in this kingdom, I shall suppose a fanner to have a lease or tack of three score acres, at three hundred merks of rent per annum (L.16. 13s. 4d. sterling). Perhaps some who are not acquainted with rural affairs may think this cheap; but those who are the possessors thereof think otherwise, and find difficulty enough to get the same paid, according to their present way of manuring thereof. But that I may proceed to the comparison, I shall show how commonly this farm-room is managed. It is commonly divided into two parts, viz. one-third croft, and two-thirds outfield, as it is termed. The croft is usually divided into three parts; to wit, one-third barley, which is always dunged that year barley is sown thereon; another third oats; and the last third peas. The outside field is divided into two parts, to wit, the one half oats, and the other half grass, two years successively. The product which may be supposed to be on each acre of croft, four bolls (three Winchester quarters), and that of the outfield, three (2^ quarters); the quota is seven score bolls, which we shall also reckon at five pounds (8s. 4d.) per boll, cheap year and dear year one with another. This, in all, is worth L.700 (L.58. 6s. 8d. sterling).

“Then let us see what profit he can make of his cattle. According to the division of his lands, there is 20 acres of grass, which cannot be expected to be very good, because it gets not leave to lie above two years, and therefore cannot be well swarded. However, usually, besides four horses, which are kept for ploughing the said land, ten or twelve nolt are also kept upon a farm-room of the above-mentioned bounds ∙, but, in respect of the badness of the grass, as said is, little profit is had of them. Perhaps two or three stone of butter is the most that can be made of the milk of his kine the whole summer, and not above two heffers brought up each year. As to what profit may be made by bringing up young horses, I shall say nothing, supposing he keeps his stock good by those of his own upbringing. The whole product, then, of his cattle cannot be reckoned above fifty merks (L.2. 15s. 6d.). For, in respect his beasts are in. a manner half-starved, they are generally small; so that scarce may a heffer be sold at above twelve pounds (L.l sterling). The whole product of this farm-room, therefore, exceeds not the value of L.733 (L.61. Is. 8d. sterling), or thereabout.” The labourers employed on this farm were two men and one woman, besides a herd in summer, and other servants in harvest.

Donaldson then proceeds to point out a different mode of management, which he calculates to be more profitable; but no notice is taken of either clover or turnips as crops to be raised in his new course, though they are incidentally noticed in other parts of the work.

“I also recommend potatoes as a very profitable root for husbandmen and others that have numerous families. And because there is a peculiar way of planting this root, not commonly known in this country, I shall here show what way it is ordinarily planted or set. The ground must be dry; and so much the better it is if it have a good soard of grass. The beds or riggs are made about eight foot broad, good store of dung being laid upon your ground; horse or sheep dung is the proper manure for them. Throw each potatoe or sett (for they were sometimes cut into setts) into a knot of dung, and afterwards dig earth out of the furrows, and cover them all over, about some three or four inches deep; the furrows left between your riggs must be about two foot broad, and little less will they be in depth before your potatoes be covered. You need not plant this root in your garden; they are commonly set in the fields, and wildest of ground, for enriching of it.” As to their consumption, they were sometimes “boiled and broken, and stirred with butter and new milk; also roasted, and eaten with butter; yea, some make bread of them, by mixing them with oat or barley meal; others parboil them, and bake them with apples, after the manner of tarts.”

There is a good deal in this little treatise about sheep, and other branches of husbandry; and, if the writer was well informed, as in most instances he appears to have been, his account of prices, of wages, and generally of the practices of that period, is very interesting.

The next work on the husbandry of Scotland is, The Countrymans Rudiments, or an advice to the Farmers in East Lothian, how to labour and improve their grounds ; said to have been written by Lord Belhaven about the time of the Union, and reprinted in 1723. In this we have a deplorable picture of the state of agriculture in what is now the most highly improved county in Scotland. His lordship begins with a very high encomium on his own performance. “I dare be bold to say, there was never such a good easy method of husbandry as this, so succinct, extensive, and methodical in all its parts, published before.” And he bespeaks the favour of those to whom he addresses himself, by adding, “neither shall I affright you with hedging, ditching, marling, chalking, paring and burning, draining, watering, and Such like, which are all very good improvements indeed, and very agreeable with the soil and situation of East Lothian; but I know ye cannot bear as yet a crowd of improvements, this being only intended to initiate you in the true method and principles of husbandry.” The farm-rooms in East Lothian, as in other districts, were divided into infield and outfield. “The infield (where wheat is sown) is generally divided by the tenant into four divisions, or breaks, as they call them, viz. one [7:2:262]of wheat, one of barley, one of pease, and one of oats; so that the wheat is sowed after the pease, the barley after the wheat, and the oats after the barley. The outfield land is ordinarily made use of promiscuously for feeding of their cows, horse, sheep, and oxen; 'tis also dunged by their sheep, who lay in earthen folds; and sometimes, when they have much of it, they fauch or fallow a part of it yearly.” Under this management the produce seems to have been three times the seed; and yet, says his lordship, “if in East Lothian they did not leave a higher stubble than in other places of the kingdom, their grounds would be in a much worse condition than at present they are, though bad enough.”—“A good crop of corn makes a good stubble, and a good stubble is the equalest mucking that is.” Among the advantages of inclosures, he observes, “you will gain much more labour from your servants, a great part of whose time was taken up in gathering thistles and other garbage for their horses to feed upon in their stables; and thereby the great trampling and pulling up, and other destruction of the corns, while they are yet tender, will be prevented.” Potatoes and turnips are recommended to be sown in the yard (kitchen-garden). Clover does not seem to have been in use. Rents were paid in corn; and, for the largest farm, which he thinks should employ no more than two ploughs, the rent was about six chalders of victual “when the ground •is very good, and four in that which is not so good. But I am most fully convinced they should take long leases or tacks, that they may not be straitened with time in the improvement of their rooms; and this is profitable both for master and tenant.”

Such was the state of the husbandry of Scotland in the early part of last century. The first attempts at improvement cannot be traced farther back than 1723, when a number of landholders formed themselves into a society, under the title of the Society of Improvers in the Knowledge of Agriculture in Scotland. The earl of Stair, one of their most active members, is said to have been the first who cultivated turnips in that country. The Select Transactions of this society were collected and published in 1743 by Mr Maxwell, who took a large part in its proceedings. It is evident from this book that the society had exerted itself in a very laudable manner, and apparently with considerable success, in introducing cultivated herbage and turnips, as well as in improving the former methods of culture. But there is reason to believe that the influence of the example of its numerous members did not extend to the common tenantry, who are always unwilling to adopt the practices of those who are placed in a higher rank, and supposed to cultivate land for pleasure rather than profit. Though this society, the earliest probably in the United Kingdom, soon counted up-wards of 300 members, it existed little more than 20 years. Maxwell delivered lectures on agriculture for one or two sessions at Edinburgh, which, from the specimen he has left, ought to have been encouraged.

In the introductory paper in Maxwell’s collection, we are told, that “the practice of draining, inclosing, summer fallowing, sowing flax, hemp, rape, turnip and grass seeds, planting cabbages after, and potatoes with, the plough, in fields of great extent, is introduced; and that, according to the general opinion, more corn grows now yearly where it was never known to grow before, these twenty years last past, than perhaps a sixth of all that the kingdom was in use to produce at any time before.”

In this work we find the. first notice of a threshing-machine; it was invented by Mr Michael Menzies; advocate, who obtained a patent for it. Upon a representation made to the society that it was to be seen working in several places, they appointed two of their number to inspect it; and in their report they say, that one man would be sufficient to manage a machine which would do the work of six. One of the machines was “moved by a great waterwheel and triddles,” and another “by a little wheel of three feet diameter, moved by a small quantity of water.” This machine the society recommended to all gentlemen and farmers.

The next work is by the same Mr Maxwell, printed in 1757, and entitled the Practical Husbandman; being a collection of miscellaneous papers on Husbandry, &c. In this book the greater part of the Select Transactions is republished, with a number of new papers, among which, an Essay on the Husbandry of Scotland, with a proposal for the improvement of it, is the most valuable. In this he lays it down as a rule, that it is bad husbandry to take two crops of grain successively, which marks a considerable progress in the knowledge of modern husbandry; though he adds, that in Scotland the best husbandmen after a fallow take a crop of wheat; after the wheat, peas; then barley, and then oats; and after that they fallow again. The want of inclosures was still a matter of complaint. The ground continued to be cropped so long as it produced two seeds; the best farmers were contented with four seeds, which was more than the general produce.

The first act of parliament for collecting tolls on the highway in Scotland was passed in 1750, for repairing the road from Dunglass bridge to Haddington. In ten years after, several acts followed for the counties of Edinburgh and Lanark, and for making the roads between Edinburgh and Glasgow. The benefit which agriculture has derived from good roads, it would not be easy to estimate. The want of them -was one great cause of the slow progress of the art in former times.

The Revolution in 1688 was the epoch of that system of corn laws to which very great influence has been ascribed, both on the practice of agriculture and the general prosperity of the country. But for an account of these and later statutes on the subject, we must refer to the article Corn Laws.

The exportation of wool was prohibited in 1647, in 1660, and in 1688; and the prohibition strictly enforced by subsequent statutes. The effect of this on its price, and the state of the wool trade,’ from the earliest period to the middle of last century, are distinctly exhibited by the learned and laborious author of Memoirs on Wool, printed in 1747.

The gradual advance in the price of land produce soon after the year 1760, occasioned by the increase of population, and of wealth derived from manufactures and commerce, has given a more powerful stimulus to rural industry, augmented agricultural capital in a greater degree, and called forth a more skilful and enterprising race of cultivators, than all the laws for regulating the corn trade could ever have effected. Most of the inventions for increasing produce and economizing labour have either been introduced, or improved and greatly extended, since that time; and by means of both, the free surplus has been vastly increased for the supply of the general consumption. The passing of more than 3000 bills of inclosure, in the late reign, before which the whole number was only 244, is a proof how much more rapidly the cultivation of new land has proceeded than formerly; and the garden-like appearance of the country, as well as the striking improvement in the condition of all classes of the rural population, display, in the most decided manner, the skill and the success with which this great branch of national industry is now followed throughout the greater part of Britain. ' l [7:2:263]In a view of the progress of husbandry, any considerable improvements in the species of crops cultivated, and the order in which they succeed one another, in agricultural machinery, and in the kinds and varieties of live stock, are entitled to hold a very prominent place. Our limits do not permit us to do more than just to notice a few of the most important here; but we shall have occasion to describe them more fully in the second part of this article, when treating on the practice and present state of our agriculture.

The great line of distinction between the present and the former courses of cropping, consists in the alternation of what are called exhausting and ameliorating crops. The best cultivators rarely take two corn crops in succession; but corn is almost universally succeeded by a leguminous crop, or one of herbage, cut or pastured, or turnips, cabbages, rape, &c.; or, when the soil is not suited to turnips, by a summer fallow, recurring at as distant an interval as its condition will permit. In common language, a green or a pulse crop, or a plain fallow, is interposed between every two white corn crops. These green crops not only preserve the fertility of the soil, but when sown in rows, as most of them usually are, they afford an opportunity of extirpating weeds, by the use of the horse and hand hoe; and even when sown broad-cast, by their taking complete possession of the ground, if it is properly prepared, the growth of weeds is effectually checked. In other respects, these intermediate crops are of the utmost importance in every good course of management. Whether they be eaten on the ground or carried to the farm houses and straw yards, much valuable manure is obtained from their consumption; and on sandy or gravelly soils, when only a part of a turnip crop is eaten by sheep on the ground, the greatest defect of such land is removed by their treading, and in many cases it is rendered capable of producing as valuable a crop of wheat as soils of a closer texture. It is for these reasons that, by the cultivation of clover, and turnips in particular, in regular alternation with corn, the soil is so much enriched as to yield as much corn on the half of any given extent of land as the whole did under the old course of successive crops of corn; and, unless upon strong clays, an unproductive fallow is wholly dispensed with.

But these crops are not less valuable in another point of view. Before the introduction of clover and turnips, there was nothing for the maintenance of live‘stock but natural herbage in summer, with the addition of hay and straw in winter; and in the northern parts of the island in particular, where the winters are long and severe, it was seldom possible to do more, for about half the year, than preserve cattle and sheep from starving. Even in the most favourable situations, very little butcher-meat could be brought to market from December to June, unless at an expense which the great body of consumers were quite unable to reimburse. The more early maturity of cattle and sheep, and the regular supply of the market throughout the year, are therefore chiefly owing to turnips and clover, as well as the vast increase in the number of the live stock kept on arable land, and the great degree of perfection to which some breeds have been brought by the skilful experiments of several eminent agriculturists.

Among these, the first place is unquestionably due to Mr Robert Bakewell of Dìshley, in Leicestershire. By his skilful selection at first, and constant care afterwards, to breed from the best animals, he at last obtained a variety of sheep, which, for early maturity, and the property of returning a great produce of mutton for the food they consume, as well as for the small proportion which the weight of the offal bears to that of the four quarters, are altogether unequalled either in this or any other country. The Dishley or new Leicester sheep, and their crosses, are now spread over the principal corn districts of Britain; and, from their quiet domesticated habits, are probably still the most profitable of all the varieties of sheep, on farms where the rearing and fattening of live stock are combined with the best courses of tillage crops.

The practice of Mr Bakewell and his followers furnishes an instance of the benefits of the division of labour, in a department of business where it was little to be expected. Their males were let out every year to breeders from all parts of England; and thus, by judiciously crossing the old races, all the valuable properties of the Dish-ley variety descended, after three or lour generations, to their posterity. By no other means could this new breed have spread so rapidly, or been made to accommodate itself so easily to a change of climate and pasture. Another recommendation of this plan was, that the ram-hirer had a choice among a number of males of somewhat different properties, and in a more or less advanced stage of improvement, from which it was his business to select such as suited his particular object. These were reared by experienced men, who gave their principal attention to this branch alone; and having the best females as well as males, they were able to furnish the necessary supply of young males in the greatest variety, to those farmers whose time was occupied with other pursuits. The prices at which Mr BakewelΓs rams were hired appear enormous. In 1789 he received twelve hundred guineas for the hire of three brought at one birth; two thousand for seven; and for his whole letting, at least three thousand guineas.

Merino sheep were first brought into England in 1788, when his late Majesty procured "a small flock by way of Portugal. In 1791 another flock was imported from Spain. In 1804, when the annual sales commenced, this race began to attract much notice. Dr Parry of Bath crossed the Ryeland or Herefordshire sheep with the Merinos, and brought the wool of the fourth generation to a degree of fineness not excelled, it is said, by that of the pure Merino itself; while the carcass, in which the great defect of the Merinos consists, has been much improved. Lord Somerville and many other gentlemen have bestowed much attention on this valuable race, which, however, has not spread itself over the country; and the wool is understood to have deteriorated.

One of the most valuable plants introduced into cultivation since 1760 is the ruta baga or Swedish turnip, which in a great degree supplies the great desideratum of late spring food for live stock, after the common turnip is generally much damaged, and sometimes almost wholly destroyed, by the severity and changes of the weather. The Scotish yellow turnip is for the same reason a most useful variety, coming in between the white turnips and the Swedish, in some situations supplying the place of the latter, and yielding generally a larger produce. A new variety of oats, called the potato oat, was accidentally discovered in 1788. It comes early, and gives, a large produce both in grain and in meal, on good soils; and was soon cultivated over all the north of England and south of Scotland. But it has already begun to degenerate. A good many varieties of summer wheat have been introduced of late, but they arc only partially cultivated.

Under the head of agricultural machinery, we need only notice the improvement of the swing-plough by Small, and of the threshing-machine by Meikle; though the latter may rather claim the entire merit of the invention.
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We shall have Occasion to notice in its proper place the progress that has been made towards perfecting a machine for reaping corn, still an important desideratum.

The agriculture of Scotland has been benefited by an act in 1770, which relaxed the rigour of strict entails, and extended the powers of proprietors, in so far as regards the improvement of their estates and the granting of leases; but there is still much room for improvement in this branch of our legal polity.

There is nothing that shows more clearly the rapid progress of agriculture in Britain, than the great number of societies that have been lately formed, one or more in almost every county, for the diffusion of knowledge, and the encouragement of correct operations and beneficial discoveries. We have already noticed the Society of Improvers established in Scotland in 1723. Besides those respectable associations which have for their object the encouragement of arts, manufactures, and commerce generally, several large institutions have been formed, whose chief purpose is the improvement of agriculture. Among these the Bath and West of England Society, established in 1777, and the Highland Society of Scotland, in 1784, hold a conspicuous rank; nor ought we to pass over in silence the labours of the National Board of Agriculture, formed in 1793, but since abolished, which by means of the county-surveys has made us acquainted with the rural affairs of every part of the kingdom.

A great many excellent works on agriculture, and relative subjects, have been published since 1760; and among these several periodical miscellanies have been favourably received and widely circulated. But as they are comparatively recent, and the best of them well known, it is unnecessary to give any particular account either of their merits or defects.

Part II.

The Practice of British Agriculture.

We come now to our leading object, the present state of British agriculture, especially as it is found in our best cultivated counties. It is not our purpose to exhibit general views of a statistical nature,—such as the extent and produce of our territory, considered under the several divisions of corn-land, pastures, and wastes or tracts still in a state of nature. The proportion which each of these bears to the whole cannot perhaps be fixed with tolerable accuracy at any time, and is continually varying; and with regard to the aggregate produce, we have seen nothing but conjectural estimates, which, as might be expected, differ greatly from one another.

The first thing which naturally calls for our attention in a treatise on the practice of agriculture is the Soil, which may be termed the raw material on which the cultivator has to operate, and according to the nature of which his general management as well as his labour in detail must in a great measure be regulated.

In penetrating the superficial stratum, the first circumstance which presents itself is the different degree of resistance required to be overcome in different situations. Its component parts are found to be more or less cohesive; in some places nearly all of the same consistency, and in others mixed with decayed roots and small stones. The colour is also different, without any perceptible difference in other respects. These are the obvious varieties which occur immediately beneath the surface, or in what is properly called the soil; but upon going a little deeper, the texture and colour undergo further changes, even in the same situation. A compact, impervious mass, often imbedded with stones, sometimes succeeds to a superficial stratum of the most incohesive materials: elsewhere, the solid and dense surface soil passes, though commonly by slower gradations, into a substratum of an opposite description; and in many parts the rock itself, from which the soil is supposed to have been formed, rises so near the surface as to stop all further progress.

In addition to these obvious distinctions, it is soon observed that some soils are slow to admit moisture, and do not speedily part with it, but when dried become so indurated as to be reduced to a pulverulent state with great difficulty; while others are so porous as to allow water to pass through them freely, and so open to the influence of the atmosphere, that if it meets with any obstruction from the subsoil, it is very soon carried off by evaporation.

In the classification of soils with a view to practical utility, therefore, they may be all reduced under two general divisions, according to their texture. The terms stiff, heavy, strong, cohesive, and others of the same import, all denote soils of which the basis or principal ingredient is clay ; as, on the other hand, those in which sand predominates are called loose, light, porous, friable. Under each of these divisions, however, there are several varieties, such as gravel, loam, chalk, calcareous, alluvial, peaty, &c.; to which are added the common epithets of rich and poor, cold and hot, thin or shallow, and deep, and various others.

Of the crops best suited to these several kinds of soil, it is only necessary to observe here, that wheat, beans, clovers, and fibrous-rooted plants generally, are most productive on clays; while barley, turnips, and all bulbous and deep-rooted plants, thrive best in sandy soils. Loam, which may partake of either character, is an artificial soil, produced by cultivation and manure, and, when sufficiently deep, adapted to crops of every kind. Gravelly soils, which are usually considered as forming a distinct class, take their character from that of the rocky materials in which they abound. When very loose and porous, they are sometimes called hungry, the manure applied to them being as it were devoured and lost, from the want of materials in a state to be acted upon; but those of a better quality are not only productive both in corn and pasture, but their crops ripen very early. Calcareous matter, such as lime, chalk, and marl, is a necessary ingredient in all fertile soils, without which, indeed, it has been found impracticable to bring most crops to perfection. The soils formed by matters deposited by the tides and by rivers, called alluvial, usually consist of a variety of ingredients, and are for the most part very fertile. What is called a mossy or peaty soil is distinguished by its dark colour and spongy texture, and abounds in the roots of plants in a state of decay, from which, indeed, it seems to have been wholly formed. It is found in a great variety of situations, on the summits of mountains as well as in plains and hollows; in some cases so saturated with water as not to bear the weight of cattle, in others in so solid a form as to be cut for fuel; sometimes of the depth of many feet, and elsewhere of only a few inches; but in all situations its produce of stunted heath, occasionally intermixed with coarse herbage, is of little or no value. This description of soil, if it deserves the name, is of comparatively recent formation, having been found in several instances superincumbent upon cultivated soils which themselves appear to be alluvial, and consequently not of the earliest class. The terms moor and moorish are applied generally to inferior soils in a state of nature, whatever may be their distinctive character in other respects.

The quality of soils may sometimes be judged of with tolerable accuracy, by attending to the species of plants which they naturally produce, and observing whether they [7:2:265]grow close and vigorous, so as to cover the soil completely, or rise feeble and scattered, with unoccupied spaces between. The clovers, for instance, grow freely on calcareous soils, and the common ragwort (senecio Jacoboea) and the corn-thistle (serratula Arυensis) usually indicate a fertile soil, whatever be its texture. Science has supplied other tests, for which we may refer to Sir Humphry Davy’s Agricultural Chemistry. One of the simplest methods of ascertaining the presence of calcareous matter in the soil, is to pour upon it any strong acid, with which, if this ingredient abounds, it will effervesce freely. The power of retaining moisture, and, when dry, of absorbing it from the atmosphere, as well as the greater increase of temperature, which under the same circumstances takes place in some soils,—these and various other criteria may be employed to determine their comparative fertility.’ And, what is not unworthy of remark, it is known from experience that the productiveness of the soil, under similar circumstances m other respects, depends in some measure on the dryness or humidity of the climate. In the west of Scotland, for instance, where much more rain falls than in the east, light sandy soils do not suffer so much under a severe course of cropping as they are found to do in the latter situation.

In describing the practice of agriculture, it may be thought that the process by which lands in a state of nature are first brought into cultivation would be entitled to our earliest consideration, and that we should then proceed to describe the successive operations by which our fields have arrived at their present condition. But a moment’s reflection may convince us that such an arrangement would be inexpedient, if not impracticable, on the present occasion. The original state of much of our cultivated land, which has long since passed away, must have been very different in different situations, and would require a corresponding variety of operations to prepare it for growing corn; and a number of implements, however rude, must have been constructed, even before these operations could be commenced. It is only in an advanced stage of the art, and as a branch of general management, that the culture of wastes can demand our attention; for it is then only that capital and science may enable us to cultivate them with advantage.

But without pretending to scientific arrangement, we shall content ourselves with bringing together those parts of our subject that have a mutual relation and dependence on one another in practice, and endeavour to present its more important details under the four following chapters.

In the first, we shall treat of what regards the cultivation and products of arable land ; in the second, of the management of grass lands, and the improvement of wastes ; in the third, of agricultural live stock ; and in the fourth, which will be of a more general kind, lgwe shall endeavour to point out those circumstances which have more particularly contributed to the improvement of agriculture in this country, and those also which seem still to obstruct its further advancement.

There are, besides the subjects which fall to be treated under these divisions, some others, which certainly form component parts of agricultural science, and to which it will be necessary to advert in this work; but as these subjects are not of equal interest to husbandmen generally, and as they are capable of being treated with advantage in a separate form, we shall reserve them for distinct articles, to be afterwards introduced under their respective heads. Such are the subjects of the Dairy, of Drainage, of Embankment, of Irrigation, and of Woods and Plantations.

CHAP. I.

ARABLE LAND.

We shall endeavour to arrange all the most important details connected with this division of our subject under the following sections :—1. Of implements and machinery: 2. Of farm-buildings: 3. Of fences: 4·. Of tillage: 5. Of fallowing: 6. Of the cultivation of the different crops: 7. Of the order of their succession: 8. Of the various substances used as manure, and the modes of applying them.

Sect. I. Implements and Machinery.

The numerous implements of tillage husbandry may be arranged under these six heads ;—such as are employed, 1. in preparing land for semination; 2. in depositing the seed; 3. during the growth of the plants; 4. in reaping and securing the crop; 5. in preparing it for market; and, 6. in the general purposes of a farm. But as the same implement is sometimes used for more than one purpose, it would be of little consequence to adhere strictly to this or any other arrangement. The implements required for rendering land fit for tillage do not belong to this part of the article, and several others that have not yet been brought into general use, or are employed only for particular purposes, shall be noticed under the sections to which they respectively belong.

1. Ploughs.

Of ploughs there are a great many different sorts; and, besides the variety of construction occasioned by the difference of soils, and the different purposes for which they are employed even on the same soil, there is a considerable diversity in the form, in districts where both the soil and the mode of culture are nearly alike. The most obvious general distinction among ploughs is, their being constructed with or without wheels: and each of these kinds may be again distinguished by other circumstances ;—such as the form of the mould-board and share; their operation in making one or more furrows at a time; their size; and the depth at which they are calculated to work, as in trench-ploughing. It would neither be of much utility, nor at all consistent with our limits, to describe all the numerous varieties of form. The nature of the operation to be performed, and the rules for constructing ploughs that shall be adapted to the different purposes of the cultivator, have been fully described in a variety of works, particularly in those noted below;^[18. Small’s Treatise on Ploughs and Wheel-Carriages, 1784; Lord Kames’s Gentleman Farmer; and Bailey on the Construction of the Plough on Mathematical Principles. ] and all that is necessary here is to mention those ploughs that are in most general use in the best cultivated districts.

The Swing-plough, with a feathered sock or share, and a curved mould-board, is almost the only one used in Scotland, and throughout a considerable part of England. The old Scotish plough with a spear sock has been laid aside, except in a few of the least improved counties, where it is still found useful when the soil is encumbered by roots or stones. The swing-plough is drawn with less power than wheel-ploughs, the friction not being so great; and it probably[7:2:266] admits of greater variations in regard to the breadth and depth of the furrow slice. It is usually drawn by two horses abreast in common tillage; but for ploughing between the rows of the drill culture, a smaller one, drawn by one horse, is commonly employed. A plough of this kind, having a mould-board on each side, is also used, both in forming narrow ridges for turnips and potatoes, and in laying up the earth to the roots of the plants, after the intervals have been cleaned and pulverized by the horse and hand hoe. This plough is sometimes made in such a manner that the mould-board may be shifted from one side to the other when working on hilly grounds; by which means the furrows are all laid in the same direction ;—a mode of construction as old as the days of Fitzherbert, who wrote before the middle of the sixteenth century. This is called a turn-wrest plough.

Swing-ploughs, similar to the present, have been long known in England. In Blythe’s Improver Improved (edit. 1652), we have engravings of several ploughs; and what he calls the “plain plough” does not seem to differ much in its principal parts from the one now in use. Amos, in an Essay on Agricultural Machines, says that a person named Lummis (whom he is mistaken in calling a Scotchman, see Maxwell’s Practical Husbandman, p. 191.) “first attempted its construction upon mathematical principles, which he learned in Holland; but having obtained a patent for the making and vending of this plough, he withheld the knowledge of these principles from the public. However, one Pashley, plough-wright to Sir Charles Turner of Kirkleatham, having a knowledge of those principles, constructed upon them a vast number of ploughs. Afterwards his son established a manufactory for the making of them at Rotherham. Hence they obtained the name of the Rotherham plough; but in Scotland they were called the Dutch or patent plough.”—“At length the Americans, having obtained a knowledge of those principles, either from Britain or Holland, claimed the priority of the invention; in consequence of which, Mr Jefferson, president of the United States, presented the principles for the construction of a mould-board, first to the Institute of France, and next to the Board of Agriculture in England, as a wonderful discovery in mathematics.” ( Communications to the Board of Agriculture, vol. vi. n. 437.)

According to another writer, the Rotherham plough was first constructed in Yorkshire in 1720, about ten years before Lummis’s improvements. (Survey of the West Biding of Yorkshire.')

But the present improved swing-plough was little known in Scotland till about the year 1764, when Small’s method of constructing it began to exite attention. This ingenious mechanic formed the mould-board upon distinct and intelligible principles, and afterwards made it of cast-iron. His appendage of a chain has been since laid aside. It has been disputed whether he took the Rotherham or the old Scotish plough for the basis of his improvements. The swing-plough has been since varied a little from Small’s form, for the purpose of adapting it more completely to particular situations and circumstances. Of late it has been made entirely of iron. See Plate V.

Wheel-ploughs, used in many parts of England, are also constructed in a great variety of forms. Their chief recommendation is, that they require less skill in the ploughman; but it is admitted, that the friction caused by the wheels adds to the resistance, and that they are more expensive, and more liable to be put out of order, as well as to be disturbed in their progress by clods, stones, and other inequalities, than those of the swing kind. Wheel-ploughs, says Dr Dickson (Practical Agriculture, vol. i. p. 7j, should be seldom had recourse to by the experienced ploughman, though they maybe more convenient and more manageable for those who are not perfectly informed in that important and useful art.

The Hertfordshire and Kentish turn-wrest wheel-plough, as well as the swing-plough, are described by Blythe; and they do not seem to have received much improvement since his time. The former is thought most suitable for general purposes on stiff tenacious soils, and the latter where very deep ploughing is required.

On light, loamy, and friable soils, where deep ploughing is not necessary, the Norfolk wheel-plough will be found convenient and useful: it is compact and light in its form, doing its work with neatness, and requiring only a small power of draught.

To the improved common wheel-plough an iron earthboard, firmly screwed to the coulter, has been lately added. It is made use of when ploughing turf, which it takes off by itself, and turns into the furrow, immediately covering it with earth. It is observed that, by this management, turf at one ploughing has the appearance of a fallow, and harrows nearly as well; but more strength is required in the team. A similar sort of skim coulter may be added to any other plough, and may be useful in turning down green crops and long dung, as well as in trench-ploughing. But in most instances it is thought a preferable plan, where the soil has to be stirred to an unusual depth, to make two common swing-ploughs follow each other in the same track; the one before taking a shallow furrow, and the other going deeper, and throwing up a new furrow upon the former.

Two-furrow ploughs are used in a few places, but are not likely ever to become general. They arc constructed either with or without wheels. A plough of this kind was strongly recommended by Lord Somerville, and used by his lordship and others, apparently with some advantages. In Blythe’s Improver Improved, there is an engraving of this plough also. But with all the improvements made by Lord Somerville, it can never come into competition for general purposes with the present single furrow ploughs; and he admits that it would be no object to invade the system already established in well-cultivated counties; though, where large teams are employed, with a driver besides the ploughman, it would certainly be a matter of importance to use this plough, at least on light friable soils. “Their horses,” he says, “will not feel the difference between their own single furrow working one acre, or the well-constructed two-furrow plough with two acres per day; here is no system deranged, and double work done.” ( Communications to the Board of Agriculture, vol. ii. p. 418.)

Amos, already mentioned, has gone much beyond this. In his Essay in the Board’s Communications formerly referred to, he gives a description, with an engraving, of a machine which combines “two, three, or four ploughs together, for ploughing furrows nine by five inches square." On soils of a tenacity next to clay, “six horses will draw four ploughs, four horses three ploughs, and three horses two ploughs, and every plough to plough an acre a day." It is scarcely necessary to add, that such machines are altogether unfit for agricultural operations; the nature and condition of the soil and surface, varied in ways innumerable, will never permit the general use of them; and even in the few situations where they may be employed, there is reason to believe that ploughing cannot be done cheaper, and certainly not so well as by the two-horse single furrow plough.

Various other implements under the name of ploughs have been constructed for stirring the soil ;—such as the Miner, for following in the furrow of a common plough, [7:2:267]and loosening the ground to a greater depth, without bringing up the subsoil; the Paring Plough; and the Mole and other sorts of ploughs for draining, some of which shall be afterwards noticed under their proper heads.

A plough has been recently constructed by Mr John Finlayson, farmer at Muirkirk, which is found well adapted to coarse old swards. It is called the rid or self-cleaning plough, from its clearing itself from obstructions without often requiring the aid of the ploughman; and it turns over the furrow in a complete and workman-like manner in situations where it falls back after the common plough, notwithstanding the utmost exertions of the ploughman. It has been tried in various situations both in England and Scotland, and given much satisfaction to very competent judges; but it does not seem to possess any advantages over the common plough upon land under a regular course of cultivation. See Plate VI.

Several inventions are in use for ascertaining and comparing the power required to work the plough in different situations. These are known by the name of dynamometers, or draught machines; and they all agree in this, that the power is determined by a movable index pointing to figures denoting hundredweights on a dial-plate. The difference in the power necessary even upon the same soil, according to the construction of the plough, is greater than might be expected, varying upon cultivated land free from obstructions from three to five hundredweights and upwards. See Plate IX. (Prize Essays and Transactions of the Highland Society of Scotland, vol. iv.)

2. Cultivator and Grubber.

The plough, as is well known, covers the old and exposes a new surface; but as that is not always necessary, other implements are in use for stirring and pulverizing the soil without turning it over. Some of them are used in preparing it for the seed, and others, as horse-hoes, between drilled crops. It were to no purpose to enumerate and describe all these; we shall here notice only such as we know to be of practical utility. One of them, called a grubber, from its efficiency in bringing weed-roots to the surface, consists of two strong rectangular frames, the one including the other, and nine bars mortised into the inner one, with eleven coulters or tines with triangular sharp-edged dipping feet, four cast-iron wheels, two handles, &c. See Plate V. All the coulters are fixed in these bars except two, which are placed in the side beams of die outer frame, and may be set to go more or less deep by means of pins and wedges. It is useful in stirring land on which potatoes or turnips have grown, or that has been ploughed in autumn or during winter, so that a crop may be sown in spring without further use of the plough. It works as deep as the plough has gone, and, by the reclined position of the coulters, brings to the surface all the weed-roots that lurk in the soil. Beans and peas have been sown in spring on the winter furrow, after being stirred by die grubber; and barley also, after turnip, without any ploughing at all. In working fallow it is used with good effect in saving one, two, or more ploughings. This implement is made of different sizes, and may be worked either by four or by two horses.^[19. > In a work recently published by General Beatson, a small kind of hoe has been much recommended, which produces the required effect by successive operations, .going at first shallow, and then deeper and deeper, as may be found necessary, or as the soil will permit. ]

3. Harrows.

The harrows most generally used are of an oblong shape, each containing twenty tines, five or six inches long beneath the bulls or bars in which they are inserted. It is still common for every harrow to work separately; and though always two, and sometimes three harrows are placed together, each of them is drawn by its own horse. The great objection to this method is, that it is scarcely possible, especially upon rough ground, to prevent the harrows from starting out of their place, and riding on one another. To obviate this inconvenience, the exterior bulls of each are usually surmounted by a frame of wood, raised so high as to protect it from the irregular motions of its neighbour; but in many instances they are connected by chains, or hinges, or cross bars, which is a preferable plan. Another objection which has been made to the common harrows is, that the ruts made by the tines are sometimes too near and sometimes too distant from one another; but this is probably not a great fault when the soil requires to be pulverized as well as the seed covered, especially when they are permitted to move irregularly in a lateral direction. Where the soil is already fine, as it ought always to be before grass seeds are sown, lighter harrows are used, which are so constructed, that all the ruts are equidistant. See Plate V.

The brake, as commonly constructed, is nothing more than a heavier haιτow, sometimes in one, and sometimes in two pieces joined together; the tines being in number and length, and in the distance from one another at which they are placed, suited to the nature of the soil on which it is employed.

Within these few years, two harrows have been brought into use, which seem to be most efficient implements, especially where the soil abounds in weed-roots. The first of them is the invention of Mr Samuel Morton, agricultural implement maker, Edinburgh, and is called the Revolving Brake Harrow. When the soil has been sufficiently reduced, this is perhaps the best implement of any for bringing the roots to the surface; and to a certain extent it also acts in pulverizing the land when under fallow, so as to save one or two ploughings. See Plate VI. (Farmer s Magazine, vol. xviii. &c.)

The other has been constructed by Mr Finlayson, the inventor of the self-cleaning plough already mentioned; and is also a very powerful implement. See Plate VI.

4. Drill-Machines.

The purpose of these ingenious but often too complicated machines is, to deposit the seed in equidistant rows on a flat surface; on the top of a narrow ridge; in the interval between two ridges; or in the bottom of a common furrow. Corn when drilled is usually sown in the first of these ways, turnips in the second, and peas and beans in the third or fourth. One of the best for sowing all kinds of corn was invented by Mr Bailey of Chillingham,^[20. See Essay οη the Construction of a Plough deduced from Mathematical Principles; and Northumberland Report, p. 48. edit. 1800. ] who has paid great attention to the construction of agricultural implements, and applied to their improvement his knowledge both as a mathematician and agriculturist. The practice of drilling corn does not, however, seem to be gaining ground; and even where it is found of advantage to have the plants rise in parallel rows, as must always be the case where hand-hoeing is required, this is sometimes done by means of what is called ribbing, a process which will be afterwards described, as more convenient in many cases than sowing with a drill-machine.
[7:2:268]

In Scotland, turnips are universally sown with a drill-machinc, on ridges 27 or 30 inches broad, usually formed by one bout of a common plough. When turnips are extensively grown, the machine is made to sow two of these ridges at once, and two rollers are attached to it, one for smoothing the tops of the ridges before the seed is deposited, and the other for compressing the soil and covering the seed. The front roller is now made concave, which leaves the ridges in a better form for the seed. It is drawn by one horse walking between the ridges, and requiring no other driver than the person who guides the machine, which is simple in its construction, and most expeditious in its operation. Sec Plate VII.

Beans and peas, when sown in rows, are either deposited in the space between two ridgelets, which are afterwards reversed to cover them, or in the bottom of a furrow made by a common plough,—in Scotland, usually in that of every third furrow. The implement in most common use for this purpose is extremely simple, and is either wheeled forward by a man, or attached to the common plough itself.

5. Horse-Hoes.

The interval between the rows of drilled turnips, potatoes, and beans and peas, being commonly from 2 to 2½ feet, admits the employment of a horse-hoe or hoeing-plough. Of this kind of machine there are a great many varieties. A very good one is described in the Northumberland Report, p. 43; the body is of a triangular form, and contains three coulters and three hoes, or six hoes, according to the state of the soil. A hoe of the same kind is sometimes attached to a small roller, and employed between rows of wheat and barley, from 9 to 12 inches distant; it is also used in place of a cultivator, in preparing bean stubbles for wheat in autumn, and in pulverizing lands for barley in spring.

Another implement, which serves both as a double mould-board plough and a horse-hoc, is much approved of in the culture of drilled crops; and with some slight alterations it may be also employed as a small plough for taking the earth from the sides of the ridgelets. When it is used as a horse-hoe, the mould-boards are taken off, and two curved cutters or coulters expand from the beam on each side, to a less or greater distance, according to the width of the interval between the plants, and approach each other in the bottom of the furrow, where the share supplies their place. This machine is well adapted for light soils, and can be set to work very near the rows of plants; it is particularly useful in cutting up annual weeds preparatory to hand-hoeing, which it greatly facilitates. When it is to be employed as a single or double mould-board plough, the cutters are withdrawn. A very complete implement, answering these different purposes, is known under the name of Morton’s Universal Drill-Plough and Harrow, which is found very convenient in the hands of skilful ploughmen, and seems well suited for the use of small farms, or situations where a variety of implements is not often required; so many of these being combined in one, and admitting of being easily separated and used each by itself. See Plate VII.

6. Rollers.

These are constructed of wood, stone, or cast-iron, and of different dimensions, according to the purposes for which they are used. The spike-roller is employed in some places when the soil rises in large masses, difficult to be reduced. The Norfolk drill-roller, on which rings of iron are fixed at small distances, is considered a useful implement, as, by forming parallel ruts into which the seed falls, with small ridges between, the seed is better covered than by harrowing alone. But rollers are chiefly used for the purpose of smoothing and compressing the soil and breaking down clods; and their weight is varied accordingly. See Plate VII.

7. Horse-Rakes.

In those districts where corn is cut with the scythe, the horse-rake is found to be a useful implement for saving manual labour; it is also used for hay. The teeth are of iron, 14 or 15 inches in length, and set five or six inches distant. Its construction is very simple. A man and horse are said to be capable of clearing from 20 to 30 acres in a moderate day’s work, disposing the grain in lines across the field, by lifting up the rake and dropping it from the teeth, without stopping the horse. One of these has been lately used in the neighbourhood of Edinburgh for raking hay, and has given much satisfaction. See Plate VI.

8. Threshing-Machines.

Threshing-machines are now common in every part of Scotland, on farms where the extent of tillage land requires two or more ploughs; and they are every year spreading more and more in England and Ireland. They are worked by horses, water, wind, and of late by steam; and their powers and dimensions are adapted to the various sizes of farms. Water is by far the best power; but as a supply cannot be obtained in many situations, and as wind and steam require too much expense for most farms, horses arc still employed more generally than any other power. Where wind-mills are erected, it is found necessary to add such machinery as may allow them to be worked by horses occasionally, in very calm weather; and the use of steam must be confined·for the most part to the coal districts.

All the essential parts of this machine will be noticed in describing the engraving (Plate IX.), though several slight alterations are occasionally introduced. One of the most useful of these, perhaps, is the method of delivering the straw, after it has been separated from the corn by the circular rake, to what is called a travellingshaker, which carries it to the straw-l⅛arn. This shaker, which revolves like the endless web formerly used for conveying the corn to the beaters, is composed of small rods, placed so near as to prevent the straw from falling through, while any threshed corn that may not have been formerly separated drops from it in its progress, instead of falling along with it, where it would be trodden down and lost.

It is well known that the work of horses at threshingmills is unusually severe, if continued for any length of time; that they sometimes draw unequally; that they, as well as the machine itself, are much injured by sudden jerks and strains, which are almost unavoidable; and that, from this irregularity in the impelling power, it requires much care in the man who presents the corn to the rollers, to prevent bad threshing. It is therefore highly desirable that the labour should be equalized among the horses, and the movements of the machine rendered as steady as possible. A method of yoking the horses in such a manner as compels each of them to take his proper share of the labour has accordingly been lately introduced, and the necessary apparatus, which is neither complicated nor expensive, can be added to any machine worked by animal power. (Farmers Magazine, vol. xiii. p. 279.) See Plate IX.

All well-constructed threshing-mills have one winnowing-machine, which separates the chaff from the corn be [7:2:269]fore it reaches the ground; and a second sometimes receives it from the first, and gives it out ready for market, or nearly so; the work done varying with the power and the kind of grain from three to six or eight quarters in the hour. If the height of the building does not admit of this last addition, a separate winnowing-machine, when the mill is of great power, is driven by a belt from it. In either of these ways there is a considerable saving of manual labour. And with a powerful water-mill, it cannot be doubted that corn is threshed and dressed at no more expense than must be incurred for dressing alone when threshed with the flail. Besides, the corn is more completely detached from the straw; and, by being threshed expeditiously, a good deal of it may be preserved in a bad season which would have spoiled in a stack. The great advantage of transferring forty or fifty quarters of grain in a few hours, and under the eye of the owner, from the yard to the granary or market, is of itself sufficient to recommend this invaluable machine, even though there were no saving of expense.

A machine of this kind, which is worked by one or two men, may probably be found useful on small farms. It is made for L.8 or L.10, and is said to thresh ten or twelve bushels in an hour. (Id. p. 409.) In some parts, of England portable machines are in use, and carried from one farm to another, like any common implement.

9. Winnowing-Machine.

This is said to be of Chinese invention, and to have been brought to Europe by the Dutch, from whom it reached Scotland in the early part of the last century. They were first made by a person of the name of Rodgers, near Hawick, in Roxburghshire, who happened to see one in a granary at Leith in the year 1733, though it would appear that one had been brought from Holland to East Lothian, along with a barley-mill, twenty-two years before. Yet it does not seem to have been then known to farmers, nor did it come into general use till long after 1733; and in some parts of England and of the north of Scotland it is not employed even at this day. Two men and three women will dress and measure up into sacks, in about ten hours, from twenty to twenty-five quarters of corn, by means of this machine.

10. Chaff-Cutter, and similar Implements.

Chaff-cutters may be either wrought separately by manual labour, or by being attached to some other machine. This implement, like the operation it performs, is sufficiently simple, though its construction is various. MacdougaΓs patent chaff-cutter is understood to be one of the most useful of the kind, and may be easily repaired, when necessary, by any common mechanic. Another tool of a similar description is partially used for cutting turnips, which is often an advantageous practice, especially in feeding sheep of a year old in spring, after they have cast their first teeth. Various contrivances are also adopted by some farmers for cutting or bruising corn for horses, which ought to become a more general practice, particularly for old horses, and such as swallow their corn without mastication. Akin to these inventions is the steaming apparatus, which should be considered a necessary appendage to every arable and dairy farm of a moderate size. The advantages of preparing food for live stock by means of steam begin now to be generally and justly appreciated.

11. Wheel-Carriages. Waggons, though they may possess some advantages over carts in long journeys, and when fully loaded, are now admitted to be much less convenient for the general purposes of a farm, and particularly on occasions which require great dispatch, as in harvesting the crop. According to Marshall, the waggons used in Gloucestershire are the best in England, (Rural Economy of Gloucestershire.') In some places the improved Irish car is employ-, ed for light loads, while the waggon continues to be used for other purposes.

Carts, drawn by one or two horses, are, however, the only farm-carriages of some of the best cultivated counties, and no other are ever used in Scotland. Their load depends upon the strength of the horses and nature of the roads; but in every case, it is asserted that a given number of horses will draw a great deal more, according to some one-third more, in single-horse carts than in waggons. Two-horse carts are still the most common among farmers in Scotland; but those drawn by one horse, two of which are always driven by one man, are unquestionably preferable for most purposes. The carriers of the west of Scotland usually load from a ton to a ton and a half on a single-horse cart, and nowhere does it carry less than 12 cwts. if the roads are tolerable.

For corn in the straw, and hay, the farmers of the south of Scotland and north of England use a sparred frame, which is made to fit the same wheels from which the close body of the cart is removed. In other places the close body is retained, and movable rails attached to it for these loads. See Plate VI.

Carts are varied in their construction to suit different purposes. A very convenient carriage for home work, called a coup-cart, discharges its load with great ease and expedition; the fore part of the close body being made to rise up from the shafts on drawing out an iron pin, while the other end sinks, and allows the load to fall to the ground.

Broad wheels, with conical or convex rims, are common in England; in Scotland the wheels are generally narrow, though broader ones are beginning to be introduced. Those used for the common or two-horse carts are usually about 4½ feet high, and mounted on iron axles. The advantages of broad cylindrical wheels have been illustrated with much force and ingenuity in several late publications. ( Communications to the Board of Agriculture, vol. ii. and vol. vii. Part i.)

12. Reaping-Machines.

An implement capable of performing the process of reaping corn is yet a desideratum in agricultural machinery, but which will probably be supplied, at least for favourable situations, at no distant period. In all field operations, dispatch, in such a climate as this, is a matter of great importance; but in reaping corn at the precise period of its maturity, the advantages of dispatch are incalculable, especially in those districts where the difficulty of procuring hands, even at enormous wages, aggravates the danger from the instability of the season. It cannot, therefore, fail to be interesting, and we hope it may be also useful, to record some of the more remarkable attempts that have been made towards an invention so eminently calculated to forward this most important operation.

The first attempt of this kind, so far as we have learned, was made by a Mr Boyce, who obtained a patent for a reaping-machine about 30 years ago. This machine was placed in a two-wheeled carriage, somewhat resembling a common cart, but the wheels were fixed upon the axle, so that it revolved along with them. A cog-wheel within the carriage turned a smaller one at the upper end of an inclined axis, and at the lower end of this was a larger wheel, which gave a rapid motion to a [7:2:270]pinion fixed upon a vertical axis in the fore part of the carriage, and rather on one side, so that it went before one of the wheels of the carriage. The vertical spindle descended to within a few inches of the surface of the ground, and had there a number of scythes fixed upon it horizontally.

This machine, when wheeled along, would, by the rapid revolution of its scythes, cut down a portion of the corn growing upon the grdund over which it passed; but having no provision for gathering up the corn in parcels and laying it in proper heaps, it was wholly unfit for the purpose.

An agricultural implement maker of London, Mr Pluck-net, attempted some years afterwards to improve this machine. The principal alteration he made was in substituting for the scythes a circular steel plate, made very sharp at the edge, and notched on the upper side like a sickle. This plate acted in the same manner as a very fine-toothed saw, and was found to cut the corn much better than the scythes of the original machine.

A description and drawing of a machine, invented by Mr Gladstones of Castle Douglas, in the stewartry of Kirkcudbright, are given in the Farmer’s Magazine, vol. vii. p. 273. It operated upon nearly the same principles with Mr Plucknet’s; but Mr Gladstones made it work much better by introducing a circulai· table, with strong wooden teeth notched below all around, which was fixed immediately over the cutter, and parallel to it. The use of these teeth was to collect the corn and retain it till it was operated on by the circular cutter. The corn when cut was received upon this table, and, when a sufficient quantity was collected, taken away by a rake or sweeper, and laid upon the ground beneath the machine, in separate parcels. To this machine was added a small circular wheel of wood covered with emery, which, being always in contact with the great cutter at the back part, or opposite side to that where the cutting was performed, kept it constantly ground to a sharp edge.

The next attempt was made by Mr Robert Salmon of Woburn, Bedfordshire, whose invention, it is said, promised better than those we have mentioned. It was constructed upon a totally different principle, as it cut the corn by means of shears; and it was provided with a very complete apparatus for laying it down in parcels as it was cut.

One of the most promising machines of this kind of which we have received any account, was constructed by Mr Smith, of the Deanston Cotton Works, Perthshire. He made the first trial of it upon a small scale, during the harvest of 1811. It was then wrought by two men. In 1812 he constructed one upon a larger scale, to be wrought by a horse; but though he cut down several acres of oats and barley with considerable ease, it was found that, when met by an acclivity, the horse could not move the machine with proper effect. In 1813 he made a more successful attempt with an improved machine, worked by one man and two horses; and in 1814 it was still further improved by an additional apparatus, tending to regulate the application of the cutter when working on an uneven surface.

The cutter of this machine is circular, and operates horizontally; it is appended to a drum connected with the fore part of the machine, its blade projecting some inches beyond the periphery of the lower end of the drum (See Plate VIII.); and the machine is so constructed as to communicate, in moving forward, a rapid rotatory motion to this drum and cutter, by which the stalks are cut, and, falling upon the drum, are carried round and thrown off in regular rows. This ingenious piece of machinery will cut about an English acre per hour, during which time the cutter requires to be four times sharpened with a common scythe-stone. The expense is estimated at from L.30 to L.35. If properly managed, it may last for many years, only requiring a new cutter every two or three years; a repair which cannot cost much. But we are sorry to learn that, after some not unsatisfactory trials, Mr Smith has not found it convenient to prosecute his invention.

A more recent attempt has been lately made by Mr Patrick Bell, A. Μ. His machine was tried at Gowrie, in the county of Forfar, in the month of September 1829, in outting down oats, barley, and wheat, on ground of uneven surface and considerable declivity. It is about five feet broad, and consequently cuts down this breadth of corn as it moves onward. The stubble left was from three to four inches high; and the cut corn was deposited as the machine advanced, in a very regular manner. It was worked by one horse, and may cost about L.30, the work done being at about the rate of an imperial acre in the hour. In the opinion of the farmers and others present at this trial, this machine will come immediately into general use, and confer a signal benefit on agriculture. {Quarterly Journal of Agriculture, §c. No. HL p. 331.)

The Flemish or Hainault scythe has been tried at different times, and recommended as a better implement for reaping corn than the sickle or scythe in common use; and it was lately brought fully before the public, under the patronage of the Highland Society of Scotland. At the request of this society, Μ. Masclet, late French consul at Edinburgh, brought over two young men from Flanders to show the use of this implement, and to instruct our own labourers. The trials were made, after public notice, in several parts of Scotland, with the different varieties of grain, and under different circumstances as to the state of the crop at the time; and the results seem to be very much in its favour. The straw was cut nearly as close as with the common scythe, taken up clean except where the crop was very thin, and laid down regularly in a proper state for binding and threshing. A man will cut with this implement two roods or half an acre a day; and the saving has been calculated as equal to about one-third of what would be required to cut the same crop by the sickle now in use. See Plate VI.

Still, however, the most common implement for reaping is either the teethed hook or the smooth sickle, sometimes called the scythe-hook. It has been disputed which of these is preferable. The sickle cuts the straw like a scythe, and where the crops are strong, there can be no doubt that the work is performed with much less labour, and the crop taken up equally clean as by the teethed hook. But where the crop is thin and straggling, some of the stalks drop to the ground as they are cut, instead of being gathered and taken up, as they would have been by the teethed hook.

We have thus noticed all the most important implements in general use, and shall have occasion, under the proper heads, to advert to some others that are only employed occasionally. Our limits require us to pass over those of a more simple kind, which are well known, and may be found fully described in a variety of pûblications. (See Communications to the Board of Agriculture, the County Reports, and the General Report of Scotland.) Sect. II. Farm-Houses.

Suitable farm-buildings are scarcely less necessary to the husbandman than implements and machinery, and might, without much impropriety, be classed along with [7:2:271]them, and considered as one great stationary machine, operating more or less on every branch of labour and produce. There is nothing which marks more decidedly the state of agriculture in any district than the plan and execution of these buildings.

In erecting farm-houses, the first thing that deserves notice is their situation, both in regard to the other parts of the farm, and the convenience which they ought themselves to possess. In general, it must be of importance on arable farms, that the buildings should be set down at nearly an equal distance from the extremities; or so situate that the access from all the different fields should be easy, and the distance from those most remote no greater than the size of the farm renders unavoidable. The advantages of such a position in saving labour are too obvious to require illustration; and yet this matter is not nearly so much attended to as its importance deserves. In some cases, however, it is advisable to depart from this general rule, of which one of the most obvious is, when a command of water for a threshing-mill and other purposes can be better secured in another quarter of the farm.

The form most generally approved for a set of offices is that of a square, or rather a rectangular parallelogram, the houses being arranged on the north, east, and west sides, and the south side fenced by a stone wall, to which low buildings for calves, pigs, &c. are sometimes attached. The space thus inclosed is usually allotted to young cattle: these have access to the sheds on one or two sides, and are kept separate, according to their size or age, by one or more partition-walls. The farmer’s dwelling-house stands at a short distance from the offices, and frequently commands a view of the inside of the square; and cottages for servants and labourers are placed on some convenient spot, not far from the other buildings.

The number and arrangement, as well as the size of the different houses, must depend in some degree on the extent of the farm and the general management. It is therefore only necessary to notice particularly those which are indispensable in every case on an arable farm, and the degree of accommodation they should afford.

The barn is always set down so as to be as convenient as possible for the stack-yard, wherever corn is put up in stacks instead of being immediately carried from the field to the barn itself. Relatively to the other buildings, its situation may be varied according to circumstances; but two things should be-attended to; first, its contiguity to the granary; and, second, its facility of access for furnishing straw to the cattle-houses. In the plan delineated in Plate VI., it is placed in the middle of the north range, with one end projecting into the stack-yard, and the other, where the straw is lodged, on a line with stables on one side, and cattle-houses on the other, and having a door opening towards the straw-yards. As it is to be understood throughout this description that a threshing-mill is employed, a width of from 20 to 30 feet within walls, on the length of this side of the square, will generally be sufficient for the straw-house. The height of the barn must be such as to allow at least one winnowing-machine to be attached to the mill, and its length is determined by the size of the farm.

A granary is an indispensable accommodation on all tolerably large farms, and is commonly, though in many cases improperly, placed above the cart-sheds, to be afterwards noticed. From experience and observation, we would recommend that the granary should be under the roof of the bam, immediately above the floor on which the machine works; and that the corn should be raised to it from the ground-floor either by the threshing-mill itself, or a common windlass, easily worked by one man. When it is to be taken out and carried to market, it may be lowered down upon carts, with the utmost facility and dispatch. There is evidently no greater expense incurred by this arrangement, for the same floor and height of side-walls that must be added to the barn are required in whatever situation the granary may be, and it possesses several advantages. Owing to its being higher than the adjacent buildings, there is a freer circulation of air, and less danger of pilfering, or of destruction by vermin; the corn can be deposited in it as it is dressed, without being exposed to the weather; while the saving of labour is in most cases considerable. This plan has been lately recommended by several agricultural writers,^[21. Dickson’s Practical Agriculture, vol. i. p. 48; and General Report of the Agricultural State of Scotland, vol. i. p. 141. ] and has been found exceedingly convenient in practice.

Stables are now constructed in such a manner that all the horses stand in a line with their heads towards the same side-wall, instead of standing in two lines, fronting opposite walls, as formerly. Those lately erected are at least sixteen feet wide within walls, and sometimes eighteen, and the width of each stall upon the length of the stable is commonly five feet. To save a little room, stalls of nine feet are sometimes made to hold two horses; and in that case the manger and the width of the stall are divided into equal parts by what is called a half-tre-vice, or a partition about half the depth of that which separates one stall from another. By this contrivance, each horse indeed eats his food by himself; but the expense of single stalls is more than compensated by the greater ease, security, and comfort of the horses. The trevices, or partitions which divide the stalls, are of deals two inches thick, and about five feet high; but at the heads of the horses the partition rises to the height of seven feet, and the length of the stall is usually from seven to eight feet.

The manger is generally continued the whole length of the stable. It is about nine inches deep, twelve inches wide at the top, and nine at the bottom, all inside measure, and is placed about two feet four inches from the ground. Staples or rings are fixed in the breast of the manger, to which the horses are tied.

The rack for holding their hay or straw is also commonly continued the whole length of the stable. It is formed of upright spars, connected by cross rails at each end, and from two to two and a half feet in height. The rack is placed on the wall, about one foot and a half above the manger, the bottom almost close to the wall, and the top projecting outwards so as to form an angle with it of twenty or twenty-five degrees. The spars are sometimes made round, and sunk into the cross rails, and sometimes square. In a few stables lately built, the round spars turn on a pivot, which facilitates the horse’s access to the hay, without requiring the interstices to be so wide as to permit him to draw it out in too large quantities.

Immediately above the racks is an opening in the hayloft, through which the racks are filled. When it is thought necessary, this may be closed by boards moving on hinges.

Behind the horses, and about nine feet from the front wall, is a gutter, having a gentle declivity to the strawyard or urine-pit. Allowing about a foot for this, there will remain a width of eight feet to the back wall, if the. stable be eighteen feet wide; a part of which, close to the wall, may be occupied with corn-chests and places for harness.
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In some of the best stables the racks occupy one of the angles between the wall and trevices, and form the quadrant of a circle. The spars are perpendicular, and wider placed than in the hanging racks. The hay-seed falls into a box below, instead of being dropped on the ground, or incommoding the eyes and ears of the horses.

With a view to save both the hay and the seed, it is an advantage to have the hay-stack so near the stable as to admit of the hay being thrown at once upon the loft. In some stables there is no loft, and the hay is stored in a separate apartment. The floor is, for the most part, paved with undressed stones; but, in some instances, the space from the gutter to the back wall is laid with flags of freestone.

According to the plan we are describing, cattle-houses are placed on the other side of the straw-house, and, with a root-house, complete the north side of the square. The extent of these, it is evident, depends not only on the size of the farm, but on the general management, and must vary according as rearing, fattening, or dairy cattle, form the principal object. To avoid prolixity, let it be understood that this part of the range is allotted to fattening cattle. There are three ways in which the cattle are placed; first, in a row towards one of the side walls; second, in two rows, either fronting each other, with a passage between, or with their heads towards both side walls; and, third, across, or upon the width of the house, in successive rows, with intervening passages for feeding and removing the dung. In the first plan it is usual to have openings in the walls, through which they are supplied with turnips, otherwise they must necessarily be served from behind, with much inconvenience both to the cattle-feeder and the cattle themselves. The plan that is most approved of, and which is now becoming general when new buildings are erected, is to fix the stakes to which the cattle are tied about two and a half or three feet from the wall; which allows the cattleman, without going among them, to fill their troughs successively from his wheelbarrow or basket with much ease and expedition. It is also a considerable improvement to keep the cattle separate by partitions between every two. This will in a great measure prevent accidents, and secure the quiet animals from being injured by the vicious; for, in these double stalls, each may be tied up to a stake placed near the partition, so as to be at some distance from his neighbour; and it is easy to lodge together such as are alike in size and in temper. The width of such stalls should not be less than 7½ feet, and the depth must be regulated by the size of the cattle.

Wherever a number of cattle are fed, an apartment is required for containing turnips, potatoes, &c. when brought from the field, until they are dealt out into the troughs. This apartment is placed either on the line of the cattlehouses, or begins another side of the square, at the angle of the junction of the two sides. The outer door ought to be so large as to admit a loaded cart; and there is an inner door that opens into the feeder’s walk along the heads of the cattle. At the other end of this, a door opens into the straw-house; so that their food and litter are not exposed to the weather, and the labour of the fecdèr is greatly diminished.

The east and west sides of the square consist chiefly of sheds for the straw-yard cattle, and cart-sheds. But stables for young horses, riding-horses, and for separating the sick from the others, may be placed upon that side which connects with the common stable already described; and, in like manner, a part of the opposite side, connecting with the cattle-houses, may be allotted to cows; or, if^necessary, the feeding-houses may be continued. The cattle-sheds are open towards the straw-yards, and the cart-sheds outwards to the road. On one of these sides there should be a close apartment for small tools, and another for preparing corn and roots by steam, which may also serve for other purposes. In some convenient place near the stables and cattle-houses, or immediately over them, there should be sleeping-rooms for the servant' who have the charge of them, that they may be at hand in case of accidents during the night.

Along the wall which completes the inclosure, such low buildings may be set down, particularly hog-styes and poultry-houses, as maybe thought desirable. These styes should open behind into the straw-yards, to which the hogs should have access for picking up corn left on the straw, and such turnips, clover, &c. as are refused by the cattle. When they are kept in great numbers, it may be necessary to allot them a range of styes, with yards in front, in another place, as is commonly done by gentlemen farmers; but it is absurd fastidiousness in a rentpaying farmer to exclude these profitable animals from a place where a few of them will make themselves fat without a shilling of expense, and without any real injury to the cattle among which they feed.

It will be seen from the engraving (Plate XL), that a road, which should be always kept in good order, goes along three sides of this square, from which there is access to the houses, instead of entering through the .straw-yards from the inclosed area. All the houses in which live stock are kept have an opening behind towards the strawyards, for carrying out their dung.

This plan, which, with slight variations, required by circumstances, is common in the north of England and south of Scotland, is meant to combine convenience with economy, and is well adapted to most arable farms in the occupancy of tenants. Proprietors who farm, sometimes choose to add several other buildings, and at the same time to vary a little their distribution. Thus, it is common to separate the straw-yards from the sides of the square by a cart-way, towards which all the doors open, and the hog-styes with yards are usually placed behind one of the sides where they are least exposed to observation.

In every case, it is absolutely necessary that there should be water in or near the area. In the plan delineated in Plate XI. a pump is placed at the end of the wall which divides the area, and along this wall are fixed troughs, to which the cattle on each side have access at all times.

When a great number of cattle are fed at the stake, it is necessary to have a reservoir near the square to receive their urine. The urine is either applied to the land in its liquid state, or earth, peat-moss, &c. is thrown into the pit in such quantities as may be necessary to absorb it. Sometimes the reservoir is sunk below the area, and the urine raised by a pump, and spread over the strawyard. But on those arable farms where no more cattle are reared or fattened, and no more turnips consumed at the homestead, than what are needed for converting the straw into manure, a reservoir for urine is not required, the whole of it being absorbed by the straw as it is dropped.

The practice of feeding cattle in small sheds and strawyards, or what are called hammels in Berwickshire, deserves to be noticed with approbation, when saving of expense is not a paramount object. Two cattle are usually kept together, and go loose, in which way they are thought by some to thrive better than when tied to a stake, and, at the same time, feed more at their ease than when a number are kept together, as in the common straw-yards. All that is necessary is, to run partition-walls across the sheds and yards already described; or if these are allotted [7:2:273]to rearing stock, one side of the square, separated by a cartway from the straw-yards, is appropriated to these hammels.

On large farms, a smith’s and a wright’s shop are found exceedingly convenient, even though used only one or two days a week. Much time is lost in going to a distance to the residence of these necessary mechanics; and it is now not uncommon to have houses furnished with the necessary accommodations on farms of this description, where the smith attends at stated intervals, and the wright when wanted. It is better to set down these houses at a little distance, than to place them on the square, whence, among other inconveniences, the danger from fire is a sufficient reason for excluding them.

The cottages for farm-servants, which are usually set down in a line, at not an inconvenient distance from the offices, ought to contain each of them at least two apartments with fire-places, though in some of the best cultivated counties there is only one chimney, and no other division than what is made by the furniture. But better accommodation for this useful and meritorious class is now generally allowed in erecting new buildings. Every cottage has a small kitchen-garden adjoining; and as farm-servants in the southern counties of Scotland have each of them a cow, kept all the year on the farm as part of their wages, it is common to attach a byre for them to the range of cottages, and sometimes also hog-styes and apartments for fuel.

It is unnecessary to say any thing of a farmer’s dwelling-house, as the size and accommodations are very little different from those of other dwelling-houses possessed by people of the same property or income. It is only on dairy farms that particular apartments are necessarily appropriated to the business of a farm; and these shall be described under a separate article. See Dairy.

Most of the farm-buildings recently erected in the best cultivated counties are covered with slate. A thatched roof is still common for cottages, though for these also slate is beginning to be preferred. One cause of the comparative sterility of land in former times, was the great quantity of straw that was withdrawn from the food or litter of cattle, and used as thatch, instead of being converted into manure.

Tenants holding on leases for a term of years are usually taken bound to keep all the houses on a farm in sufficient repair during their occupancy, and to leave them so at their removal, having received them in such a state at their entry. It is common to have them inspected by tradesmen, both at the beginning and expiration of a lease, for the purpose of determining their condition, and awarding such repairs as may be necessary. In some districts it is the practice to ascertain their value at the commencement of a lease, the tenant being bound at his removal, when a second valuation takes place, to pay or to accept the difference. But the objections to this method arc obvious. If no change has taken place during the currency of the lease in the price of materials and wages of labour, the tenant suffers by being called upon to make good the decay occasioned by the lapse of time, which ought to be considered as covered by his rent. If, on the other hand, both materials and labour have advanced in price, as was the case of late years, the proprietor may be obliged to make a large payment to the removing tenant, even though the houses are rendered of less real value, not only by time, but by carelessness or dilapidations.

Sect. III. Fences.

Next to implements and machinery and suitable buildings, fences are in most situations indispensable to the profitable management of arable land. They are not only necessary to protect the crops from the live stock of the farm, but often contribute, in no small degree, by the shelter they afford, to augment and improve the produce itself. On all arable farms on which cattle and sheep are pastured, the case, security, and comfort, which good fences give, both to the owner and the animals themselves, are too evident to require particular notice. And as there are few tracts so rich as to admit of crops being carried off the land for a succession of years, without the intervention of green crops consumed where they grow, fences of some description or other can very rarely be dispensed with, even in the most fertile and highly improved districts.

There is no branch of husbandry so generally mismanaged as this. No district of any considerable extent, perhaps, can be named, in which one does not see the greater part of what are called fences, not only comparatively useless, but wasteful to the possessor of the lands which they occupy, and injurious both to himself and his neighbours, by the weeds which they shelter. This is particularly the case with thorn hedges, which are too often planted in soils where they can never, by any management, become a sufficient fence; and which, even when planted on suitable soils, are in many cases so much neglected when young, as ever afterwards to be a nuisance, instead of an ornamental, permanent, and impenetrable barrier, which, with proper training, they might have formed in a few years.

Until of late, inclosures have too often been made without much regard to the size of the farm, the exposure, the form of the fields, and the equability of the soil. This is the more to be regretted in the case of live fences, which ought to endure for a long course of years, and which cannot be eradicated without considerable expense. It is impossible, indeed, to lay down any rules on this subject that would be generally applicable; but upon a little reflection, it must be evident that the size of the field should be suited not only to the extent of the farm, but also to the nature of the soil, which ought to prescribe the course of management, whether in alternate white or green crops, or with the intervention of several years’ pasturage; that the exposure of the land should be considered, in order that the fences may give the shelter that is most required; that the form of the field should be such as to render it most accessible from the farm-buildings, and that it may be cultivated at the least expense, the lands or ridges not being too short, nor running out into angles at the points where the fence takes a different direction; and that the soil of the inclosure should be as nearly alike throughout as possible, that the whole field may be always under the same kind of crop. It must, in general, be a matter of consequence to have water in every inclosure; but this is too obvious to escape attention.

Notwithstanding the garden-like appearance which trees growing in hedges give to the landscape, it seems to be agreed by the most intelligent agriculturists that they are extremely hurtful to the fence, and, for some distance, to the crops on each side; and it is evident that, in many instances, the highways, on the sides of which they often stand, suffer greatly from their shade. It has therefore been doubted whether such trees be profitable to the proprietor, or beneficial to the public ;—to the farmer they are almost in every case injurious to a degree beyond what is commonly imagined.

In the subdivisions of an arable farm, whatever may be the kind of fence which it is thought advisable to adopt, we would recommend that particular attention be paid to [7:2:274]the course of crops which the quality of the soil points out as the most advantageous; and that, upon all farms not below a medium size, there should be twice the number of inclosures that there are divisions or breaks in the course. Thus, if a six years’ rotation be thought the most profitable, there should be twelve inclosures, two of which are always under the same crop. One very obvious advantage in this arrangement is, that it tends greatly to equalize labour, and, with a little attention, may contribute much to equalize the produce also. On large farms, where all the land under turnips and clover, for instance, is near the extremity of the grounds, or at a considerable distance from the buildings, supposed to be set down near the centre, it is clear that the labour of supplying the house and straw-yard stock with these crops, as well as the carriage of the manure to the field, is much greater than if the fields were so arranged as that the half of each of these crops had been near the offices. But by means of two fields for each crop in the rotation, it is quite easy to connect together one field near the houses with another at a distance, and thus to have a supply at hand for the home stock, while the distant crops may be consumed on the ground. The same equalization of labour must be preserved in the cultivation of the corn fields and in harvesting the crops. The time lost in travelling to some of the fields, when working by the plough, is of itself a matter of some consequence on large farms. But the advantages of this arrangement are not confined to the equalization and economy of labour; it may also in a great measure render the annual produce uniform and equable, notwithstanding a considerable diversity in the quality of the soil. A field of an inferior soil may be connected with one that is naturally rich; and in the consumption of the green crops, as well as in the allowance of manure, the poor land may be gradually brought nearer, in the quantity and quality of its produce, to the rich, without any injury to the latter. Thus, a field under turnips may be so fertile that it would be destructive to the succeeding corn crop to consume the whole or the greater part on the gròund; while another may be naturally so poor, or so deficient in tenacity, as to make it inexpedient to spare any part for consumption elsewhere. By connecting these two under the same crop,—by carrying from the one the turnips that are wanted for the feeding-houses and straw-yards, and eating the whole crop of the other on the ground with sheep, the ensuing crop of corn will not be so luxuriant on the former as to be unproductive, while the latter will seldom fail to yield abundantly. The same plan will also be advantageous in the case of other crops. Hay or green clover may be taken from the richer field, and the poorer one depastured; and on the one wheat may succeed both turnips and clover, while the more gentle crops of barley and oats are appropriated to the less fertile field.

These observations are particularly applicable to turnip soils, of such a quality as not to require more than one year’s pasturage, and which are therefore cultivated with corn and green crops alternately; but the same principle may be extended to clay lands, and such as require to be depastured two or more years in succession.

It is scarcely necessary to add, that upon wet soils, where hedges are employed as fences, it is of importance that the ditches be drawn in such a direction as to serve the purposes of drains, and also that they may receive the water from the covered drains that may be required in the fields contiguous. According as the line of the fence is more or less convenient in this respect, the expense of draining may be considerably diminished or increased.

The most common fences, of a permanent character, are stone walls and white thorn hedges. Stone walls have the recommendation of being an immediate fence, but the disadvantage of going gradually to decay, and of requiring to be entirely rebuilt, in some cases every twenty years, unless they are constructed with lime mortar, which is in many districts much too expensive to be employed in erecting common fences. White thorn hedges, on the contrary, though they require several years to become a fence of themselves, may be preserved at very little expense afterwards in full vigour for several generations.

Having thus thrown out a few hints of a general nature on this important subject, we shall only mention such of the fences as are in common use, and of a permanent character, without attempting to enumerate all the varieties and combinations which may be occasionally found in practice, or such as are only meant to serve a temporary purpose.

The two leading divisions, as just mentioned, are into hedges and stone walls; to which are added in particular situations fences of iron, though these last are for the most part confined to gentlemen’s parks, and partake as much of ornament as utility.

With regard to hedges, the plant in most common use is the white thorn, though we have seen very good hedges composed of beech, holly, and other plants; and it is not unusual to find a mixture of all these and others in many parts of England. The best hedges, however, are composed exclusively of the white thorn, which, when properly managed, makes the most effectual and durable of all fences. The usual practice is to open a trench or ditch, and with the earth to form a bank, on the face of which thorns are planted almost in a horizontal direction, and with their tops protruding a few inches outwards; the bank being continued above the roots of the thorns to such a height as may be deemed necessary. And as a further protection, while the plants are young, a paling or a dead hedge is carried along the top of the bank, which makes an effectual fence at the very outset. When the thorns have grown up to form a sufficient fence of themselves, the paling or dead hedge is no longer wanted. In some instances whins or furze are sown upon the bank, for the same purpose of protecting the young thorns, and rendering the fence more complete. The dimensions of the ditch and the height of the bank are in a great measure arbitrary, depending upon the nature of the soil, and whether the ditch is or is not required for the purpose of draining the land. A double ditch is sometimes used, with a bank in the middle, and a row of‘thorns on each side; but in ordinary cases it is a great objection that this fence occupies so much space, besides being more expensive, both in forming and rearing, than the single fence.

Stone walls are constructed of different dimensions, according to the purposes for which they are intended. The most common and generally useful for agricultural purposes are about five feet high, built close, and finished on the top with a coping of turf or long stones. The latter are laid on edge, and project a little over the breadth of the wall, the interstices being filled up and closely packed with small stones. In some parts of Scotland, what is called the Galloway Dyke is found to form a very cheap and useful fence on hilly grounds, where the inclosures are large. It is built close or double for about two feet from the ground, and then carried up to the height of four or four and a half feet with stones so placed as to admit of the light passing through the wall; and when any part of it falls down, it is easily repaired. Sheep, it is alleged, are deterred from leaping against such a [7:2:275] fence, from its being thus open, more than they would be if it were built solid and of greater height.

A fence which combines in some measure the advantages of both the quick hedge and the stone wall, has been found to answer in situations where the soil is not well adapted to the ditch and hedge alone, and particularly where land stones are abundant, and there is a scarcity of wood for rails or paling. This fence is executed in the following manner: A ditch is formed, with one side of it perpendicular, or nearly so, and a facing of stone is then begun at the bottom and carried up regularly in the manner that stone walls are usually built, the space between the wall and the side of the bank being filled up with the earth taken out of the ditch, which should be of a good quality, and mixed with lime or compost. The thorns are then laid down in such a manner as that four inches or more of the root or stem shall rest upon the earth, the top of the plant projecting beyond the wall. They are then covered with earth, and the wall and the bank behind carried upwards as far as may be thought necessary. In this way the plants appear to grow from the face of the wall which affords them protection, and they are not so liable to be annoyed with weeds as if they had been planted on a bank of earth. But this method seems better adapted to an outside fence than to one for separating fields on either side, unless the wall be carried up by itself considerably above the height of the bank. ( General Report of Scotland, vol. i.)

We may add, that in many instances there seems to be a radical error in the first construction and subsequent management of hedge-fences in particular, which might be easily removed under appropriate covenants of lease. The expense of inclosing, and of course the direction and construction of the fences, ought to be undertaken in almost every case by the proprietor, not merely for the sake of relieving the tenant from a burden which may be incompatible with his circumstances and professional duties, but also from a principle of economy on the part of the landlord. Whatever may be the tenant’s knowledge and capital, it is not to be expected that his views should extend much beyond his own accommodation during his temporary occupation; whereas the permanent interest of the landlord requires, not so much a minute attention to economy in the first instance, as that the amelioration shall be as complete and as durable as possible. The tenant’s outlay on fences must inevitably be returned by a diminution of the yearly rent, and probably with a large profit for the first advance of the money; while, at the same time, that money may be expended in an improvement which is neither so complete nor so lasting as it might have been rendered had it been done at the expense and under the direction of the proprietor.

But another error of the same kind is probably still more common, and by far more pernicious to landholders. The fences are to be kept in repair by the tenant; which, in so far as regards stone walls, is a stipulation no way objectionable. But it often happens that a landlord, even though he runs a hedge-fence at his own expense, leaves it to be trained up by the tenant without his interference; and the consequence is, that in perhaps nine cases out of ten, it never becomes a sufficient fence at all; that the original cost is lost for ever; and that the land which it occupies is not only unproductive, but actually a nuisance. Besides, it is evidently improper to require of a tenant to rear up a good fence, commonly by a greater outlay than was required for forming it, when the half of his lease perhaps must elapse before he can derive much benefit from it. This mistake on the part of proprietors is probably the principal cause of the badness of hedge-fences; for if they are neglected when the plants are young,—if cattle are allowed to make gaps,—water permitted to stagnate in the ditch,—or weeds to grow unmolested on the face of the bank, no labour or attention afterwards will ever make an equal and strong fence. As it is well known how difficult or rather impossible it is to enforce this care by any compulsory covenants, the best plan for both parties is that which is adopted in some districts, where hedges are reared at the mutual expense of landlord and tenant,—the thorns, while they require it, being protected by rails, or otherwise, so as to give the tenant all the advantages of a complete fence in the mean time. In this case he cannot justly complain that he pays a share of the expense; and this payment furnishes the strongest motive for preserving the young thorns from damage, and for training them with such care as to become a complete fence in the shortest possible period.

The provisions of the law of Scotland in regard to inclosing have greatly promoted this invaluable improvement. It holds out the greatest facilities, both for straightening the boundaries of conterminous properties, and for erecting march-fences, by obliging every proprietor, upon due notice from his neighbour, to defray half the charges of such a fence as the nature of the soil and surface may render most eligible. By an act in 1686, cattle must be constantly herded during the day, if the pastures be not inclosed, and are ordered to be kept during the night in houses, folds, or inclosures; a fine is exigible from the owner if his cattle trespass on his neighbour’s lands,—so much for every animal,—over and above the damage done, even where there are no fences; and, by the statute 1695, heavy penalties are denounced against such as destroy fences.

As connected with the subject of fences and other rural works, though applicable to many other purposes, we may notice an instrument called the Odometer, exhibited a few years ago to the Highland Society of Scotland by Mr Hunter of Thurston, of which figures will be found in Plate IX. By merely walking from one end to the other of any wall, road, hedge, ditch, &c. with this instrument; which is not more troublesome than a walking-stick, the length is found much more correctly than by a measuring chain, and with much greater expedition. Mr Hunter has one so constructed as to measure nearly 1300 miles, which may be attached to the wheel of any carriage, and will measure the road passed along at any rate of travelling.

Sect. IV. Tillage.

As the operations connected with tillage must necessarily be regulated by the condition of the soil and surface, and the crops to be cultivated, as to which we shall have occasion to treat in a subsequent section, all that is at present necessary is, to offer a few general observations, premising that we here take it for granted, that all those obstructions which fall to be considered under the chapter on Natural Pastures and Wastes, have either never existed, or been already removed.

It is well known to every husbandman, that clayey or tenacious soils should never be ploughed when wet; and that it is almost equally improper to allow them to become too dry, especially if a crop is to be sown without a second ploughing. The state in which such lands should be ploughed is that which is commonly indicated by the phrase, “between the wet and the dry,”—while the ground is slightly moist, mellow, and the least cohesive.

In ploughing the first time for fallow or green crops, all good farmers begin immediately after harvest, or after [7:2:276]wheat sowing is finished; and when this land has been gone over, the old tough swards, if there be any, are next turned up. The reasons for ploughing so early are sufficiently obvious; as the frosts of winter render the soil more friable for the spring operations, and assist in destroying the weed-roots. In some places, however, the first ploughing for fallow is still delayed till after the spring seed-time.

In the following remarks, the swing-plough, drawn by two horses, is to be understood as the one emplöyed, if no other be mentioned; and we shall here confine ourselves for the most part to the practice of the north of England and the south-east of Scotland.

Three different points require particular attention in ploughing: 1. the breadth of the slice to be cut; 2. its depth; and 3. the degree in which it is to be turned over;—which last circumstance depends both upon the construction of the plough, particularly the mould-board, and the care of the ploughman.

The breadth and depth of the furrow-slice are regulated by judiciously placing the draught on the nozzle or bridle of the plough; setting it so as to go more or less deep, and to take more or less land or breadth of slice, according as may be desired. In general, the plough is so regulated that, if left to itself, and merely kept from falling over, it would cut a little broader and a little deeper than is required. The coulter is also placed with some inclination towards the left or land side, and the point of the sock or share has a slight tendency downwards.

The degree to which the furrow-slice turns over, is in a great measure determined by the proportion between its breadth and depth, which for general purposes is usually as three is to two; or when the furrow is nine inches broad, it ought to be six inches in depth. When the slice is cut in this proportion, it will be nearly half turned over, or recline at an angle of 40 or 45 degrees; and a field so ploughed will have its ridges longitudinally ribbed into angular drills or ridgelets. But if the slice is much broader in proportion to its depth, it will be almost completely overturned, or left nearly flat, with its original surface downwards; and each successive slice will be somewhat overlapped by that which was turned over immediately before it. And finally, when the depth materially exceeds the width, each furrow-slice will fall over on its side, leaving all the original surface bare, and only laid somewhat obliquely to the horizon.

The first of these modes of ploughing, where the breadth and depth are nearly in the proportion already mentioned, is the best adapted for laying up stubble land after harvest, when it is to remain during winter exposed to the mellowing influence of frost, preparatory to fallow or turnips. The second or shallow furrow, of considerable width, as five inches in depth by eight or nine wide, is understood to answer best for breaking up old leys, because it covers up the grass turf, and does not bury the manured soil. The third is a most unprofitable and uselessly slow operation, which ought seldom or never to be adopted. The most generally useful breadth of a furrowslice is from eight to ten inches, and the depth, which ought to be seldom less than four inches, cannot often exceed six or eight inches, except in soils uncommonly thick and fertile. When it is necessary to go deeper, as for carrots and some other deep-rooted plants, a trench ploughing may be given by means of a second plough following in the same furrow. Shallow ploughing ought always to be adopted after turnips are eaten on the ground, that the manure may not be buried too deep; and also in covering lime,—especially if the ground has been pulverized by fallowing, because it naturally tends to sink in the soil. In ploughing down farm-yard dung, it is commonly necessary to go rather deep, that no part of the manure may be left exposed to the atmosphere. In the first ploughing for fallow or green crops, it is advisable to work as deep as possible; and no great danger is to be apprehended, though a small portion of the subsoil beat that time brought to the surface.

The furrow-slices are generally distributed into beds, varying in breadth according to circumstances; these are called ridges or lands, and are divided from one another by gutters or open furrows. These last serve as guides to the hand and eye of the sower, to the reapers, and also for the application of manures in a regular manner. In soils of a strong or retentive nature, or which have wet, close subsoils, these furrows serve likewise as drains for carrying off the surface water; and being cleared out after the land is sown and harrowed, have the name of water-furrows.

Ridges are not only different in breadth, but are raised more or less in the middle on different soils. On clayey, retentive soils, the great point to be attended to is the discharge of superfluous water. But narrow stitches of from three to five feet are not approved of in some of the best cultivated counties. In these a breadth of fifteen or eighteen feet, the land raised by two gatherings of the plough, is most commonly adopted for such soils; such a ridge being thought more convenient for manuring, sowing, harrowing, and reaping, than a narrower one; and the water is drained off quite as effectually.

On dry, porous turnip soils, ridges may be formed much broader; and were it not for their use in directing the labourers, may be, and sometimes are, dispensed with altogether. They are often thirty or thirty-six feet broad, which -in Scotland are called band-win ridges, because reaped by a band of shearers, commonly six, served by one binder. If it be wished to obliterate the intermediate furrows, this may be done by casting up a narrow ridgelet or single-bout drill between the broad ridges, which is afterwards levelled by the harrows.

With regard to the mode of forming these ridges straight and of uniform breadth, let us suppose a field perfectly level that is intended to be laid off’ into ridges of any determinate breadth. The best ploughman belonging to the farm conducts the operation, with the aid of three or more poles shod with iron, in the following manner: the first thing is to mark off the head ridges, on which the horses turn in ploughing, which should in general be of an equal breadth from the bounding lines of the field, if these lines are not very crooked or irregular. The next operation, assuming one straight side of the field, or a line that has been made straight, as the proper direction of the ridges, is to measure off from it with one of the poles (all of them of a certain length, or expressing specific measures) half the intended breadth of the ridge if it is to be gathered, or one breadth and a half if to be ploughed flat; and there the ploughman sets up a pole as a direction for the plough to enter. On a line with this, and at some distance, he plants a second pole, and then in the same manner a third, fourth, &c. as the irregularity of the surface may render necessary, though three must always be employed,—the last of them at the end of the intended ridge, and the whole in one straight line. He then enters the plough at the first pole, keeping the line of poles exactly between his horses, and ploughs down all the poles successively; halting his horses at each, and replacing it at as many feet distant as the ridges are to be broad; so that when he reaches the end of the ridge, all his poles are again set up in a new line parallel to the first. He returns, however, along his former track, cor [7:2:277] recting any deviations, and throwing a shallow furrow on the side opposite to his former one. These furrows, when reversed, form the crown of the ridge, and direct the ploughmen who are to follow. The same operations are carried on until the whole field is marked out. This is called fairing in Scotland, and strììàng the furrows in England. It is surprising with what accuracy these lines are drawn by skilful ploughmen.

Another method has been adopted for the same purpose, which promises to be useful with less experienced workmen. A stout lath or pole, exactly equal in length to the breadth of the intended ridge, is fixed to the plough at right angles to the line of the draught, one end of which is placed across the handles exactly opposite the coulter, while the other end. projects towards the left hand of the ploughman, and is preserved in its place by a rope passing from it to the collar of the near side horse. At the outer end of the lath, a coulter or harrow tine is fixed perpendicularly, which makes a trace or mark on the ground, as the plough moves onwards, exactly parallel to the line of draught. By this device, when the plough is feiring the crown of one ridge, the marker traces the line on which the next ridge is to be feired. (General Report of Scotland vol. i. p. 354.)

With regard to the · direction and the length of ridges, these points must.evidently be regulated by the nature of the surface and the size of the field. Short angular ridges, called butts, which are often necessary in a field with irregular boundaries', are always attended with a considerable loss of time, and ought to be avoided as much as possible.

In ploughing steep land it is advisable to give the ridges an inclination towards the right hand at the top, by which in going up the acclivity the furrow falls more readily from the plough, and with less fatigue to the horses. Another advantage of forming ridges in a slanting direction on such land is, that the soil is not so apt to be washed down from die higher ground, as if the ridges were laid at right angles. Wherever circumstances will permit, however, the best direction is due north and south, by which the grain on both sides of the ridge derives nearly equal advantages from the influence of the sun.

The land being thus formed into ridges, is afterwards cultivated without marking out the ridges anew, until the inter-furrows have been obliterated by a fallow or fallow crop. This is done by one or other of the following modes of ploughing:—1. If the soil be dry and the land has been ploughed flat, the ridges are split out in such a way, that the space which the crown of the old ridge occupied is now allotted to the open furrow between the new ones. This is technically called crown-and-farrow ploughing. 2. When the soil is naturally rather wet, or if the ridges have been raised a little by former ploughings, the form of the old ridges, and the situation of the inter-furrows, are preserved by what is called casting ; that is, the· furrows of each ridge are all laid in one direction, while those of the next adjoining ridge are turned the contrary way; two ridges being always ploughed together. 3. It is commonly necessary to raise the ridges on soils very tenacious of moisture, by what is called gathering, which is done by the plough going round the ridge, beginning at the crown and raising all the furrow-slices inwards. 4. This last operation, when it is wished to give the land a level surface, as in fallowing, is reversed by turning all the furrow-slices outwards, beginning at the inter-furrows, and leaving an open furrow on the crown of each ridge. In order to bring the land into as level a state as possible, the same mode of ploughing, or cleaving, as it is called, may be repeated as often as necessary.

High crooked ridges are .universally disapproved of, and are now very rare in the best cultivated districts. A machine employed in levelling such land is exhibited in Plate X.; and a reward was given by the Society of Arts in London for the improvements made on it by Mr David Charles in 1803.

On strong lands, a pair of good horses ought to plough three quarters of an acre in nine hours; but upon the same land, after the first ploughing, or on friable soils, one acre or an acre and a quarter is a common day’s work. Throughout the year an acre a day may be considered as a full average on soils of a medium consistency. The whole series of furrows on an English statute acre, supposing each to be nine inches broad, would extend to 19,360 yards; and adding twelve yards to every 220 for the ground travelled over in turning, the whole work of one acre may be estimated as extending to 20,416 yards, or eleven miles and nearly five furlongs.

A kind of ploughing known by the name of ribbing was formerly common on land intended for barley, and was executed soon after harvest, as a preparation for the spring ploughings. A similar operation is still in use in some places, after land has been pulverized by clean ploughings, and is ready for receiving the seed. By this method only half the land is stirred, the furrow being laid over quite flat, and covering an equal space of the level surface. But except in the latter instance, where corn is meant to grow in parallel lines, and where it is used as a substitute for a drill-machine, ribbing is highly objectionable, and has become almost obsolete.

Sect. V. Fallowing.

There is no branch of agricultural practice that has engaged more attention of late than this; and after many years’ controversy, in which some of the ablest cultivators of the present day have entered the lists, and exhausted perhaps all the legitimate arguments on both sides, the practice does not appear to give way, but rather to extend, on wet, tenacious clays; and it is only on such that any one contends for the advantages of fallowing. The expediency or inexpediency of pulverizing and cleaning the soil by a bare fallow, is a question that can be determined only by experience, and not by argument. No reasons, however ingenious, for the omission of this practice, can bring conviction to the mind of a farmer who, in spite of all his exertions, finds, at the end of six or eight years, that his land is full of weeds, sour, and comparatively unproductive. Drilled and horse-hoed green crops, though cultivated with advantage on almost every soil, are probably in general unprofitable as a substitute for fallow, and after a time altogether inefficient. It is not because turnips, cabbages, &c. will not' grow in such soils, that a fallow is resorted to, but because, taking a course of years, the value of the successive crops is found to be so much greater, even though an unproductive year is interposed, as to induce a preference to fallowing. Horse-hoed crops of beans, in particular, postpone the recurrence of fallow, but in few situations can they ever exclude it altogether.

On the other hand, the instances that have been adduced of a profitable succession of crops on soils of this description, without the intervention of a fallow, are so well authenticated, that it would be extremely rash to assert that it can in no case be dispensed with on clay soils. Instances of this kind are to be found in different parts of Mr Young’s Annals of Agriculture ; and a very notable one, on Mr Greg’s fiirm of Coles, in Hertfordshire, is accurately detailed in the sixth volume of the Communications to the Board of Agriculture.
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The principal causes of this extraordinary difference among men of great experience may probably be found in the quality of the soil, or in the nature of the climate, or. in both. Nothing is more vague than the names by which soils are known in different districts. Mr Greg’s farm in particular, though the soil is denominated “heavy arable land,” and “very heavy land,” is found so suitable to turnips, that a sixth part of it is always under that crop, and these are consumed on the ground by sheep—a system of management which every farmer must know to be altogether impracticable on the wet, tenacious clays of other districts. It may indeed be laid down as a criterion for determining the question, that wherever this management can be profitably adopted, fallow, as a regular branch of the course, must be not less absurd than it is injurious both to the cultivator and to the public. It is probable, therefore, that in debating this point, the opposite parties are not agreed about the quality of the soil, and in particular about its property of absorbing and retaining moisture, so different in soils that in common language have the same denomination.

Another cause of difference must be found in the climate. It is well known that a great deal more rain falls on the west than on the cast coast of Britain, and that between the southern and northern counties there is at least a month or six weeks’ difference in the maturation of the crops. Though the soil therefore be as nearly as possible similar in quality and surface, the period in which it is accessible to agricultural operations must vary accordingly. Thus, in the south-eastern counties of the island, where the crops may be all cut down, and almost all carried home by the end of August, much may be done in cleansing and pulverizing the soil during the months of September and October, while the farmers of the north are exclusively employed in harvest work, which is frequently not finished by the beginning of November. In some districts in the south of England wheat is rarely sown before December; whereas in the north, and still more in Scotland, if it cannot be got completed by the end of October, it must commonly be delayed till spring, or oats or barley be taken in place of wheat.

It does not then seem of any utility to enter farther into this controversy, which every skilful cultivator must determine for himself. All the crops, and all the modes of management which have been proposed as a substitute for fallow, are well known to such men, and would unquestionably have been generally adopted long ago, if, upon a careful consideration of the advantages and disadvantages on both sides, a bare fallow was found to be unprofitable in a course of years. The reader who wishes to examine the question fully may consult, among many others, the works noted below.^[22. Young’s Annals of Agriculture, and his writings generally; Hunter’s Georgical Essays; Dickson’s Practical Agriculture; Sir H. Davy’s Agricultural Chemistry; Brown’s Treatise on Hural Affairs; The County Reports; and The General Report of Scotland. ]

However necessary the periodical recurrence of fallow may be on retentive clays, its warmest advocates do not recommend it on turnip soils, or on any friable loams incumbent on a porous subsoil; nor is it in any case necessary every third year, according to the practice of some districts. On the best cultivated lands it seldom returns oftencr than once in six or eight years, and in favourable situations for obtaining an extra-supply of manure, it may be advantageously dispensed with for a still longer period.

Fallows are in many instances so grossly mismanaged, particularly where they recur so often as to make it an object to derive some profit from them by means of sheep, that it may be of use to describe the several operations, according to the justly esteemed practice of East Lothian and Berwickshire.

“Invariably after harvest, the land intended for being summer-failowed in the ensuing yèar gets an end-long ploughing, which ought to be as deep as the soil will admit, even though a little of the till or subsoil is brought up. This both tends to deepen the cultivated or manured soil, as the fresh accession of hitherto uncultivated earth becomes afterward incorporated with the former manured soil, and greatly facilitates the separation of the roots of weeds during the ensuing fallow process, by detaching them completely from any connection with the fast subsoil. This autumnal ploughing, usually called the winter furrow, promotes the rotting of stubble and weeds; and if not accomplished towards the end of harvest, must be given in the winter months, or as early in the spring as possible. In giving this first ploughing, the old ridges should be gathered up, if practicable, as in that state they are kept dry during the winter months; but it is not uncommon to split them out or divide them, especially if the land had been previously highly gathered, so that each original ridge of land is divided into two half-ridges. Sometimes, when the land is easily laid dry, the furrows of the old ridges are made the crowns of the new ones, or the land is ploughed in the way technically called crown-and-fur. In other instances, two ridges are ploughed together by what is called casting, which has been already described. After the field is ploughed, all the interfurrows, and those of the headlands, are carefully opened up by the plough, and are afterwards gone over effectually by a labourer with a spade, to remove all obstructions, and to open up the water furrows into the fence ditches, wherever that seems necessary, that all moisture may have a ready exit. In every place where water is expected to lodge, such as dishes or hollow places in the field, cross or oblique furrows are drawn by the plough, and their intersections carefully opened into each other by the spade. Wherever it appears necessary, cross cuts are also made through the head ridges into the ditches with a spade, and every possible attention is exerted that no water may stagnate in any part of the field.

“As soon as the spring seed-time is over, the fallow land is again ploughed end-long. If formerly split, it is now ridged up; if formerly laid up in gathered ridges, it is split or cloven down. It is then cross-ploughed; and after lying till sufficiently dry to admit the harrows, it is harrowed and rolled repeatedly, and every particle of the vivacious roots of weeds brought up to view, carefully gathered by hand into heaps, and either burnt on the field or carted off to the compost midden. The fallow is then ridged up, which places it in a safe condition in the event ‘of bad weather, and exposes a new surface to the harrows and roller; after which the weeds are again gathered by hand, but a previous harrowing is necessary. It is afterwards ploughed, harrowed, rolled, and gathered as often as may be necessary to reduce it into fine tilth, and completely to eradicate all root-weeds. Between these successive operations, repeated crops of seedling weeds are brought into vegetation and destroyed. The larvae likewise of various insects, together with an infinite variety of the seeds of weeds, are exposed to be devoured by birds, which are then the farmer’s best friends, though often proscribed as his bitterest enemies.

“Some writers on husbandry have condemned the use [7:2:279]of the harrow and roller in the fallow process, alleging that frequent ploughing is all that is necessary to destroy root-weeds, by the baking or drying of the clods in the sun and wind; but experience has ascertained, that frequently turning over the ground, though absolutely necessary while the fallow process is going on, can never eradicate couchgrass or other root-weeds. In all clay soils the ground turns up in lumps or clods, which the severest drought will not penetrate so sufficiently as to kill the included roots. When the land is again ploughed, these lumps are simply turned over and no more, and the action of the plough serves in no degree to reduce them, or at least very imperceptibly. It may be added, that these lumps likewise inclose innumerable seeds of weeds, which cannot vegetate unless brought under the influence of the sun and air near the surface. The diligent use, therefore, of the harrow and roller, followed by careful hand-picking, is indispensably necessary to the perfection of the fallow process.” (General Report of Scotland, vol. i. p. 419.)

When effectually reduced to fine tilth, and thoroughly cleansed from roots and weeds, the fallow is ploughed end-long into gathered, ridges or lands, usually 15 or 18 feet broad, which are set out in the manner already described in treating of the striking of furrows, or feiring. If the seed is to be drilled, the ridges are made of such widths as may suit the construction of the particular drill-machine that is to be employed. After the land has been once gathered by a deep furrow, proportioned to the depth of the cultivated soil, the manure is laid on, and evenly spread over the surface, whether muck, lime, marl, or compost A second gathering is now given by the plough; and this being generally the furrow upon which the seed is sown, great care is used to plough as equally as possible. After the seed is sown and the land thoroughly harrowed, all the inter-furrows, furrows of the headlands, and oblique or gaw furrows, are carefully opened up with the plough, and cleared out with the spade, as already mentioned respecting the first or winter ploughing.

The expense of fallowing must appear, from what has been said, to be very considerable, when land has been allowed to become stocked with weeds; but if it be kept under regular management, corn alternating with drilled pulse or green crops, the subsequent returns of fallow will not require nearly so much labour. In common cases, from four to six ploughings are generally given, with harrowing and rolling between, as may be found necessary; and, as we have already noticed, the cultivator may be employed to diminish this heavy expense. But it must be considered, that upon the manner in which the fallow operations are conducted depends not only the ensuing wheat crop, but in a great measure all the crops of the rotation.

Sect. VI. Of the different kinds of Crops.

The crops cultivated in Britain present every variety of which the soil and climate will admit; and in an agricultural point of view may be considered under several divisions, according to their nature, or the purposes for which they are intended. The most popular arrangement places all sorts of farm crops under the two general heads of corn and green crops; the former applicable to the use of man, and the latter to that of cattle, sheep, and other varieties of live stock. The former include the different cerealia, of which the most important are wheat, barley, rye, and oats. The latter, or green crops, comprise a still greater variety, the words being, in common language, applied not only to pulse or leguminous plants, such as peas, beans, tares, &c. but also to the different varieties of herbage, as well as to turnips, potatoes, and other roots. A leading distinction between these two divisions is, that corn or other culmiferous plants ripening their seeds are held to be scourging crops, whereas those that fall under the denomination of green crops are considered to be of an ameliorating description, or at least as not impairing the productive powers of the soil in the same degree. As it is our object to treat only of matters of practical utility, we shall not attempt any scientific arrangement, but content ourselves with describing the principal crops, with their mode of culture, produce, and application, in popular language, confining our remarks at present chiefly to such as are cultivated from year to year, as distinguished from those which, like the pasture grasses, are intended to occupy the soil permanently or for an indefinite period. Of these by far the most important is,

1. Wheat.

The soil best adapted to this grain is a clay or strong loam, though its growth is by no means confined to such soils. Before the introduction of turnips and clover, all soils but little cohesive were thought quite unfit for wheat; but, even on sandy soils, it is now grown extensively and with much advantage after either of these crops. The greater part of the wheat crop throughout Britain, however, is probably still sown upon fallowed land. When it succeeds turnips consumed on the ground, or clover cut for hay or soiling, it is commonly sown after one ploughing; but, upon heavier soils, or after grass of two or more years, the land is ploughed twice or three times, or receives what is called a rag-fallow.

The varieties of this grain are so numerous as not to admit of being enumerated here; but the most general classification is according to colour, all the varieties being divided into white and red, though with several shades between; or according to the time which the grain requires to remain in the ground, being either sown before winter, or in the spring months; and hence the distinction between winter and spring or summer wheat. But this last variety must not be confounded with the winter wheats, which are sometimes sown in spring. Several other differences in wheat are sufficiently obvious: thus, the true summer wheat is usually bearded, and some of the winter varieties are distinguished by being woolly-cared, or by the thickness of the chaff; all which and other peculiarities give rise to different names, which are sufficiently understood in particular districts, though not in general use.

The fine white wheats are considered more delicate than the red; but the latter, though seldom sown on rich warm soils, are found most profitable, from their hardiness and early ripening, on inferior land, in an unfavourable climate. A great many different sorts of summer wheat, transmitted some years ago to the president of the Board of Agriculture by the Agricultural Society of Paris, were divided, for the purpose of experiment, among several distinguished agriculturists (Communications to the Board of Agriculture, vol. vii. page 11); but their comparative merits, or adaptation to the climate of Britain, do not seem to have been satisfactorily ascertained. Summer, or, as it is often called, spring wheat, has, however, been long and extensively cultivated in some parts of England, particularly in Lincolnshire, and may probably be found a valuable crop in the southern counties; but the trials that have been made of it in the north do not entitle it to a preference over winter wheat sown in spring, or even to oats or barley, in that climate. It is sometimes usefully employed in filling up any blanks that appear in spring among the winter-sown wheats [7:2:280]Winter wheat is sown on early turnip soils, after clover or turnips, at almost every period from the beginning of September till the middle of March; but the far greater part is sown in September and October. For summer wheat, in the southern districts, May is sufficiently early; but in the north, the last fortnight of April is thought a more eligible seed-time. In the cultivation of spring-sown winter wheat, it is of importance to use the produce of spring-sown grain as seed, as the crop of such grain ripens about a fortnight earlier than when the produce of the same wheat winter-sown is employed as spring seed.

Wheat, before being sown, is usually prepared with pickles or steeps and quicklime, as a preventive of smut. We shall only add a short account of a method of preparation which has been followed with success in the south of Scotland, and of the efficacy of which we can speak from our own experience. Take four vessels, two of them smaller than the other two, the former with wire bottoms, and of a size to contain about a bushel, the latter large enough to hold the smaller within them. Fill one of the large tubs with water, and, putting the wheat in a small one, immerse it in the water, and stir and skim off the grains that float above; and renew the water as often as is necessary, till it comes off almost quite clean. Then raise the small vessel in which the wheat is contained, and repeat the process with it in the other large tub, which is to be filled with stale urine; and in the mean time wash more wheat in the water tub. When abundance of water is at hand, this operation is by no means tedious; and the wheat is much more effectually cleansed from all impurities, and freed more completely from weak and unhealthy grains and the seeds of weeds, than can be done by the winnowing-machine. When thoroughly washed and skimmed, let it drain a little, then empty it on a clean floor, or in the cart that is to take it to the field, and riddle quicklime upon it, turning it over, and mixing it with a shovel, till it be sufficiently dry for sowing.

Wheat is most commonly sown broad-cast, in a manner too well known to need any description. Drilling is, however, extensively practised in some districts, and is becoming more general on lands infested with the seeds of annual weeds, especially when sown in spring. A machine which sows at three different intervals, according to the judgment of the farmer, of 12, 10½, or 9 inches, is much approved of in Scotland. It deposits six, seven, or eight rows at once, according as it is adjusted to one or other of these intervals, and the work is done with ease and accuracy when the ridges are previously laid out of such a breadth, 12½ feet, as to be sown by one bout ; the machine going along one side of such a ridge, and returning on the other, and its direction being guided by one of its wheels, which thus always runs in the open furrow between the ridges. If the 10½ inch interval be adopted, and it is the most common one in that country, the machine sows seven rows at once, or 14 rows on a ridge of 12½ feet. But the space between the rows varies in some parts still more than this machine admits of; it ought not, however, to be so narrow as to prevent hand-hoeing, even after the crop has made considerable progress in growth; and it cannot advantageously be so wide as to admit the use of any effective horse-hoe.

A third mode of sowing is common in some places, by which a drill-machine is dispensed with, though the same purpose is nearly answered. This is by what is called ribbing, which we have already adverted to in the section on tillage. The seed is scattered with the hand in the usual broad-cast manner, but as it necessarily falls for the most part in the furrows between the ribbs, the crop rises in straight parallel rows, as if it had been sown by a drill machine; and the ribbs are afterwards levelled by harrowing across them. This plan has nearly all the advantages of drilling, in so far as regards exposure to the rays of the sun, and the circulation of air among the plants; but, as some plants must always rise between the rows, it is not quite so proper when hand-hoeing is required.

The dibbling of wheat is practised to some extent in the county of Norfolk, and occasionally in other quarters, though it is perhaps too laborious and tedious a process in our unsteady climate ever to come into general use. An expert dibbler, with the assistance of three children to drop the grains, goes over about half an acre a day; and the seed, which is usually from one bushel to six pecks per acre, is covered by means of a bush-harrow. The principal, if not the only advantage that attends this method, is the saving of seed. An attempt was made to employ a machine for the purpose, but it has never come into use. We have seen a field of which a part was sown broad-cast and a part dibbled, for the purpose of comparison; and the latter certainly appeared at the time more equal and luxuriant than the former, but it had no superiority in point of produce, except perhaps that it contained a less proportion of small grains, or presented altogether a more equal sample.

The quantity of seed necessary depends both on the time of sowing and the state of the land; land sown early requiring less than the same land when sown in winter or spring, and poor land being at all times allowed more seed than the rich. The quantity accordingly varies from two bushels or less to three, and sometimes even to four bushels per imperial acre. Winter wheat, when sown in spring, ought always to have a liberal allowance, as the plants have not time to tiller much without unduly retarding their maturation.

When wheat is sown broad-cast, the subsequent culture must generally be confined to harrowing, rolling, and hand-hoeing. As grass-seeds are frequently sown in spring on winter-sown wheat, the harrows and roller are employed to loosen the soil and cover the seeds. But these operations, to a certain extent, and at the proper season, are found beneficial to the wheat crop itself, especially on strong clays, and arc sometimes performed even when grass-seeds are not to be sown. One or two courses of harrowing penetrate the crust which is formed on tenacious soils, and operate like hand-hoeing in raising a fresh mould to the stems of the young plants. Rolling in spring ought never to be omitted on dry, porous soils, which are frequently left in so loose a state by the winter frosts, that the roots quit the soil and perish; and if the land be rough and cloddy, the roller has a still more beneficial effect than the harrows in pulverizing the inert masses, and extending the pasture of the plants. Hand-weeding, so far as to cut down thistles and other long weeds, is never neglected by careful farmers; but the previous culture ought to leave as little as possible of this work to be done when the crop is growing. Annual weeds, which are the most troublesome, can only be effectually destroyed by hand-hoeing; and to admit of this, the crop should be made to rise in rows, by being sown either by a drill-machine, or on ribbs. Where grass-seeds are to be sown on drilled wheat, the hand-hoeing assists in covering them.

Wheat, which is almost universally reaped with the sickle, ought not to stand till it be what is called dead ripe, when the loss is considerable, both upon the field and in the stack-yard. When cut, it is usually tied up in sheaves, which it is better to make so small as to be done by bands the length of the straw, than so thick as to require two lengths to be joined for bands. The sheaves [7:2:281]are set up in shocks or stooks, each containing in all twelve, or, if the straw be long, fourteen sheaves. In the latter case, two rows of six sheaves are made to stand in such a manner as to be in contact at the top, though, in order to admit the circulation of air, at some distance below; and along this line two sheaves more are placed as a covering, the corn end of both being towards the extremities of the line. In a few days of good weather the crop is ready for the barn or stack-yard. In the stack-yard, which is commonly contiguous to the farm-offices, having the barn on one of its sides, it is built either in oblong or circular stacks, sometimes on frames supported with pillars, to prevent the access of vermin, and to secure the bottom from dampness; and as soon afterwards as possible the stacks are neatly thatched. When the harvest weather is so wet as to render it difficult to prevent the stacks from heating, it has been the practice to make funnels through them, a large one in a central and perpendicular direction, and small lateral ones to communicate with it. A particular method of constructing pillars, frames, and bosses, as the funnels are called, is described in a recent publication. (Husbandry of Scotland, vol. i. p. 373.) In the best cultivated counties, the use of large barns for holding the crop is disapproved of, not only on account of the expense, but because corn keeps better, or is less exposed to damage of any kind, in a well-built stack.

By means of the threshing-mill all sorts of corn are expeditiously separated from the straw and dressed for market One man feeds the grain in the straw into the machine, and is assisted by two half-grown lads, or young women, one of whom pitches or carries the sheaves from the bay close to the threshing-stage, while the other opens the bands of every sheaf, and lays the sheaves successively on a small table close by the feeder, who spreads them evenly on the feeding-stage, that they may be drawn in successively by the fluted rollers, to undergo the operation of threshing. In the opposite end of the barn or straw-house into which the rakes or shakers deliver the clean threshed straw, one man forks up the straw from the floor to the straw-mow, and two lads, or young women, build it and tread it down. In a threshing-machine worked by water or wind this is the whole expense of hand labour in the threshing part of the operation; and as a powerful machine can easily thresh from two to three hundred bushels of grain in a working day of nine hours, the expense is exceedingly small indeed. Assuming 250 bushels as an average for the work of these people for one day, and their wages to be nine shillings, the expense does not amount to one halfpenny for each bushel of grain. Even reducing the quantity of grain threshed to 150 bushels, the easy work of ,a good machine of inferior size and power, the expense does not exceed three farthings the bushel. But the whole of this must not be charged against the threshing only, the grain being half-dressed at the same time, by passing through one winnowing-machine, which is always attached to a complete threshing-mill; and where a second can be conveniently connected with it, as is commonly the case if the mill be of considerable power, the corn comes down nearly ready for market: so that the threshing, dressing, and building of the straw, with the use of a powerful water-mill, will scarcely cost more than dressing alone when the flail is employed, after every reasonable allowance for the interest of money, and the tear and wear of the machine.

When grain is threshed with a machine worked by horses, the expense is necessarily and considerably enhanced. One capable of effecting the larger quantity of work already calculated on will require eight good horses, and a man to drive them, who may perhaps require the aid of a boy. The value of the work of eight horsés for a day may be stated at 30 shillings, and the wages of the driver may be called two shillings and sixpence. Hence the total expense of threshing 250 bushels may amount to about twopence per bushel, when the wages of the attendants are added; still leaving a considerable difference in favour of threshing by the machine in preference to the flail. Were it even ascertained that the expense of threshing by horses and by the flail is nearly the same, horse-mills are to be recommended on other accounts; such as better threshing, expedition, little risk of pilfering, &c.

The produce of this crop, like that of most others, necessarily depends mainly upon the nature of the soil and season. In a rich clayey loam it has been known, to yield so much as eight quarters the imperial acre, weighing when dressed about 60 lbs. the bushel; but the common return has been estimated at less than half this quantity, and the average cannot perhaps be safely stated higher throughout any one county than from 3 to 3½ quarters, the weight varying from 54 to 62 or 64 lbs. per bushel. The weight of the straw, which may run from a ton to a ton and half per acre, is used for thatch, packing, and, in the country, chiefly for litter to the live stock.

The season best adapted for wheat is universally understood to be a summer in which there is much sunshine and little rain. Both in regard to quantity and quality, the crop is always best in a season rather too dry and hot for some other crops, the produce being then usually much greater than the bulk of the straw would lead one to expect.

Wheat is liable to a variety of diseases, particularly in the more advanced stages of its growth.. Of these the most destructive are smut and mildew. The former appears in the shape of a black or smut ball (ly coper don globosum), which partially occupies the ear of the stalk, to the exclusion of the grain, and so far lessens the quantity of produce. But its worst effect is, that when the ball crumbles into powder in the threshing and dressing, this powder contaminates more or less all the sound grain, and thus greatly injures the quality of the whole, whether it be converted into flour or used as seed. If it prevails to a great extent, the wheat is rendered quite unfit for being sown, and ought never to be used in that way, to whatever process it may be previously subjected. We have already noticed a useful method of preparing the seed, which answers the double purpose of clearing the grain from any slight taint of smut, and of separating light grains as well as noxious seeds, but we are aware that the same effect may be obtained by various other means. The object in all cases is to destroy the infection to which the grain is liable from the powder of the smut ball, as it is a general opinion among all intelligent agriculturists, that smut in the seed will produce a smutted crop if sown without preparation. But the safest course is to select such grain for seed as exhibits no appearance of smut at all.

Mildew is a disease of a very different nature from smut, and its ravages in the most aggravated cases are far more destructive. It is generally thought to be produced by a peculiar state of the atmosphere; and when it comes on between the periods of flowering and ripening, it has been known to destroy whole fields within a few days. In such cases nothing can be done either by way of prevention or remedy. It has been found, however, that in all seasons mildew prevails more or less in particular situations; and there is reason to believe that the vicinity of the barberry bush, and probably several other shrubs,contributes to produce it, the same parasitical fungi being found on the straw of mildewed wheat which are known to abound on the barberry and some other plants. The prevalence of [7:2:282]heavy fogs or mist, drizzling rains, and sudden changes in the temperature, have been assigned as the causes of mildew; and as it has been found that open airy exposures are much less affected than low sheltered lands, in years when mildew prevails most generally, the disorder may perhaps be somewhat diminished by drilling, which admits a freer circulation of air. Spring or summer wheat is less liable to mildew than the winter species, though it does not always escape. (Sir Joseph Banks on Mildew, and Communications to the Board of Agriculture, vol. vii.)

2. Rye.

The cultivation of this species of grain is more limited than it was in former times, when rye, either by itself or mixed with wheat, furnished the bread of the labouring classes; and in most parts of Britain there is no steady demand for it. It is nevertheless a profitable crop in particular districts, and especially on sandy soils, that will scarcely carry any other kind of grain. There are two general varieties, the one sown before winter, and the other in spring; and it is further distinguished by its black or white colour. The winter sort, which is the most plump and hardy grain, is sometimes cultivated as a green crop, to be eaten in spring, where turnips are not raised, or after they are consumed. There is nothing in its habits or mode of culture that requires particular notice. It is sometimes sown on the margins of fields, near farmhouses, as a protection to other crops against the depredations of poultry, which do not feed on it, and seldom penetrate through it; and its straw is more valuable for thatch, though useless as fodder, than that of any other species of corn.

3. Barley.

This is a much less hardy grain than either of the former, and succeeds best on a finely pulverized soil, not so little cohesive as that which will carry rye, but much farther removed, on the other hand, from the clays best adapted to the growth of wheat. It is cultivated largely as a rotation crop in most parts of Britain, and generally sown after turnips, though sometimes after beans or peas; and even after a bare fallow, if the land be not thought fit for wheat, or if the weather has prevented it from being sown at the proper season. Spring-sown wheat, either of the winter or summer species, and early oats, particularly the potato variety, now occupy a portion of the land that was formerly allotted to barley.

The most intelligible distinction among the different kinds of barley is founded on the number of the rows on the ear. Thus we have Hordeum disuclion, two-rowed barley, which is the kind most extensively cultivated, and comprises several varieties; Hordeum tetrastichon, four-rowed barley, often called bear or bigg, the culture of which is, for the most part, confined to inferior soils, or to situations where the climate is unfavourable to the former species; and Hordeum hexastichon, or six-rowed barley, which is but little known in Britain, though it is the prevailing kind in the north of Europe, and said to be the hardiest of all.

To whatever crop barley succeeds, die harrow and roller, when the plough alone is insufficient, should be employed in reducing the soil to a considerable degree of fineness. In most cases more than one earth is· given; though, after a winter furrow, the cultivator may be used in spring instead of the plough. After turnips, eaten on the ground by sheep, the land, being consolidated by their treading, sometimes receives two ploughings; but if only one, it should be well harrowed and rolled; and it is often finished by harrowing after the roller, especially if grassseeds be sown, which are covered by this last harrowing. Barley is sometimes sown on the first ploughing, and covered by a second shallow ploughing. As it is found of 1 great importance, with á view to speedy and equal vegetation, that the ground should be fresh and moist, barley is generally sown upon what is termed hot-fur ; that is, as soon as possible after it is turned up by the plough.

From the beginning of April to the middle of May is! considered the best season for sowing barley, though in 1 early situations it may be sown a fortnight later. Bear, or bigg, is an earlier, as well as a hardier kind, than the two-rowed barley, and may be sown later. Winter-sown barley, which may be eaten in spring and afterwards stand for a crop, is found to answer well in particular districts. On land infested with annual weeds, the drilling of this grain is an advantageous practice; but throughout the country at large, this, and all other culmiferous crops, are more generally sown broad-cast. If the land be rich, a small quantity of seed is sufficient; often so little as two bushels per acre, and seldom more than three or three and a half; and its produce varies from three to five quarters the acre, and may average four quarters. The chief consumption is in the distilleries and breweries; but in the north of England, and in Scotland, it is partially used for bread, either by itself, or mixed up with a small proportion of beans or peas, though much less so now than formerly. Part of it is made into what are called pot barley and pearl barley, in which the husk is taken off at the mill; and, in the latter case, so much of the kernel as to give it a round form. It is also occasionally ground into flour by taking out the bran, and in this state made into cakes, which are much esteemed in some parts of Scotland.

Barley, like wheat, is most productive in a dry, warm season. For this reason, what is grown in the south of England is almost always superior to the produce of the northern parts of the island. It is not, like wheat, liable to any peculiar disease; and is, of all the corn-crops, the best nurse for clover, which, under good management, is usually sown along with it. The straw of this grain, which may weigh upon an average about a ton per acre, is used chiefly as litter for live stock.

Barley is cut down in some places with the sickle, and in others with the scythe; in England, very commonly with the latter, and in Scotland, almost always with the former. It is the most difficult of all the species of corn to save in a precarious harvest, and usually requires more labour in threshing and dressing, particularly in separating the awns from the grain, for which an apparatus called a hummelling -machine is sometimes added to the threshing-mill.

4. Oats.

This hardy grain is sown, with little preparation, mi almost every kind of soil, and too often follows culmiferous crops, as well as pulse, herbage, and bulbous-rooted plants. Where a correct course of alternate white and green crops prevails, oats usually succeed dover; and it is almost always the first crop on land that has been several years in grass. As it prospers, best on a soil not too finely pulverized, it is commonly sown on one earth.

There are numerous varieties of this species, which are distinguished by colour, form, and the period of ripening; and by the· names of the countries, such as the Poland and the Dutch, from whence they are understood to have been brought, or of the places where they were originally cultivated. The chief of these are the common white variety, so well known as to need no description; the red; and what is called the potato-oat. For land in good cultivation, the two latter are probably the best,—the red [7:2:283]for uplands exposed to high winds,—and the potato variety in lower situations. Both of these are early, and yield more abundantly, in grain as well as meal, than most others. The potato-oat is said to have been discovered by accident in Cumberland in 1788. {Farmer s Magazine, vol. xiv. p. 167.) But it is now very extensively raised, on suitable soils, in the north of England, and throughout the lowlands of Scotland. It usually brings a higher price at Marklane than any other variety. The red oat is so called from the colour of its husk: it has a thinner and more flexible stem, and the grain is more firmly attached to it, than in any of the early varieties; so that upon good soils, in high situations, as it is in less danger of suffering from wind, and is at the same time so much earlier than the common kinds, it is entitled to a decided preference, particularly in a late climate. It is understood to have originated in the county of Peebles, and is sometimes called the Magbiehill-oat, from the name of the estate where it was first cultivated.

Oats are sown, usually broad-cast, in the months of March and April, seldom earlier or later; and from four to six bushels are allowed to an acre. The produce, which varies greatly, from this grain being sown on land of every quality, may be stated generally at about five quarters per acre. They are often carried to the barn like hay, without being tied up in sheaves; but in the north they are either managed in the way already described for wheat, or set up in single sheaves or gaits as they are cut, and tied more tightly when ready to be carried, and then built in the stack-yard. Wherever a threshing-mill is employed, as it is necessary, in order to have the work done well, that corn should be presented to the rollers in a regular, uniform manner, the practice of mowing, and carrying it in a loose state, is highly improper; and, independently of this objection, the season often occasions much damage to coin managed in this slovenly manner, which it would have escaped in sheaves and covered shocks.

The straw of oats is of more value as fodder than that of any other corn crop, and it is advantageously used as a substitute for hay during the winter months in some of the best cultivated districts, both for farm-horses and cattle. »

5. Peas and Beans.

Since the introduction of clover and turnips, the culture of peas, which are almost everywhere a most precarious crop, has been greatly diminished. Their straw or haulm is sometimes more valuable than the grain produce, which, in a wet or late season, is frequently little more than the seed; and when the straw is not luxuriant, so much of the land is left exposed to the growth of weeds, that it is rendered unfit for carrying corn crops till cleansed by a fallow or fallow crop. Drilling is but an ineffectual remedy for these inconveniences, the stems falling over and covering the ground in so irregular a manner as in a great measure to prevent either horse or hand-hoeing at the time when it would be most beneficial. Yet a luxuriant crop of peas, by completely covering the surface, keeping the soil in a moist and mellow state, and preventing the growth of weeds, is a good preparation for either wheat or barley.

The culture of beans is almost confined to clays and strong loams in the best managed districts, turnip soils being by no means suited to this crop. Beans usually l succeed wheat or oats, but sometimes also clover or pasture grass. The common horse-bean is the kind most generally cultivated; but large and small ticks are preferred in some of the English counties.

Beans, though still sown broad-cast in several places, and sometimes dibbled, are for the most part drilled by judicious cultivators, or deposited after the plough in every furrow, or only in every second or third furrow. In the latter method, the crop rises in rows, at regular intervals of 9, 18, or 27 inches, and the hand-hoe ought invariably to be employed; but it is only where the widest interval is adopted that the horse-hoe can be used with much effect in their subsequent culture.

In the preparation of the land, much depends on the nature of the soil and the state of the weather; for as beans must be sown early in the spring, it is sometimes impossible to give it all the labour which a careful farmer would wish to bestow. It must also be regulated in some measure by the manner of sowing. But as we are decidedly of opinion that beans ought in general to be planted with such a distance between the rows as to admit of horse-hoeing, we shall confine ourselves to this mode of culture, which we think should be generally known, making use of the latest publication on the subject, which contains an accurate account of the different operations. {General Report of Scotland, vol. i. p. 515.)

In preparing ground for beans, it ought to be ploughed with a deep furrow after harvest or early in winter; and as two ploughings in spring are highly advantageous, the winter furrow may be given in the direction of the former ridges, in which way the land is sooner dry in spring than if it had been ploughed across. The second ploughing is to be given across the ridges, as early in spring as the ground is sufficiently dry; and the third furrow either forms the drills or receives the seed, as shall be mentioned immediately.

Dung is often applied to the bean crop, especially if it succeeds wheat. By some, dung is spread on the stubble previous to the winter ploughing; but this cannot always be done in a satisfactory manner, at least in the northern parts of the island, unless during frost, when it may lie long exposed to the weather before it can be turned down by the plough. The most desirable mode therefore is, to lay the manure into drills immediately before the beans are sown.

There are, as already hinted, two several modes of drilling beans. In one of these, the lands or ridges are divided by the plough into ridgelets or one-bout stitches, at intervals of about 27 inches. If dung is to be applied, the seed ought first to be deposited, as it is found inconvenient to run the drill-machine afterwards. The dung may then be drawn out from the carts in small heaps, one row of heaps serving for three or five ridgelets; and it is evenly spread, and equally divided among them, in a way that will be more minutely described when treating of the culture of turnips. The ridgelets are next split out or reversed, either by means of the common plough or one with two mould-boards, which covers both the seed and the manure in the most perfect manner.

When beans are sown by the other method, in the bottom of a common furrow, the dung must be previously spread over the surface of the winter or spring ploughing. Three ploughs then start in succession, one immediately behind another, and a drill-barrow either follows the third plough, or is attached to it, by which the beans are sown in every third furrow, or at from 24 to 27 inches asunder, according to the breadth of the furrow-slice.

Another approved way of sowing beans, when dung is applied at seed-time, is to spread the dung, and to plough it down with a strong furrow; after which shallow furrows'are drawn, into which the seed is deposited by the drill-machine. Whichever of these modes of sowing is followed, the whole field must be carefully laid dry by [7:2:284]means of channels formed by the plough, and when necessary by the shovel; for neither then nor at any former period should water be allowed to stagnate on the land.

The time of sowing beans is as early as possible after the severity of winter is over; in the south sometimes in January, but never later than the end of March, as the ripening of the crop and its safe harvesting would otherwise be very precarious in this climate.

’ The quantity of seed allowed is very different in the southern and northern parts of Britain; in the former, even when the rows are narrow, only two bushels or two bushels and a half; but in Scotland seldom less than four bushels to the English statute acre, even when sown in ridgelets 27 inches distant, and a bushel more when sown broad-cast.

- Both in the broad-cast and drill husbandry it is common to mix a small quantity of peas along with beans. This mixture improves both the quantity and quality of the straw for fodder; and the peas-straw is useful for binding up the sheaves in harvest.

. : The bean crop is generally harrowed to destroy annual weeds; sometimes just before the plants make their appearance, and sometimes after the beans have got their first green leaves, and are fairly above ground. When so&n in rows in either of the ’ modes already mentioned; the harrows are employed about ten or twelve days after; and, being driven across the ridgelets, the land is laid completely level for the subsequent operations.

l After the beans have made some growth, sooner or later, according as the soil may happen to be encumbered with or free from weeds, the horse-hoe-is employed in the interval between the rows, and followed by the hand-hoe for the purpose of cutting down such weeds as the horse-hoe canħot reach: all the weeds that grow among the beans beyond the reach of either hoe should be pulled up with the hand. ∙ ’ ∙The same operations are repeated as often as the condition of the land in regard to cleanness may require!

’ Before the introduction of the horse-hoe, which merely stirs the soil, and .cuts up the weeds, a common small plough, drawn by one horse, was used in working between the 7 rows, and is still necessary where root-weeds abound. This plough goes one bout, or up and down in each interval, turning the earth from the beans, and forming a ridgelet in the middle: then hand-hoes arc immediately employed; and after some time a second hand-hoeing succeeds, to destroy any fresh growth of weeds. The same plough, with an additional mould-board, finally splits open the intermediate ridgelet, and lays up the earth to the roots of the beans on each side. The benefit of laying up the earth in this manner, however, is alleged to be counterbalanced by the trouble which it occasions in harvest, when it is difficult to get the reapers to cut low enough, and may be properly dispensed with, unless the soil be very wet and level.

In an early harvest, and when the straw is not immoderately rank, the bean crop becomes ripe in good time, and is easily prepared for the stack-yard. But in moist warm seasons the grain hardly ever ripens effectually, and it is exceedingly difficult to get the straw into a proper condition for the stack. In such cases it has been found of advantage to switch off the succulent tops with an old scythe* blade set in a wooden handle, with which one man can easily top-dress two acres a day. This operation, it is said, will occasion the crop to be ready for reaping a fortnight earlier, and also perhaps a week sooner ready for the stack-yard after being reaped. In order to have the land prepared for a wheat crop, beans arc sometimes removed from the ground, and set up to dry in another field-

The most approved mode of reaping beans is with the sickle, but they arc sometimes mown, and in a few instances even pulled up by the roots. They should be cut as near the ground as possible, for the sake of the straw, which is of considerable value as fodder, and because the best pods are often placed on the stems near the roots. They are then left for a few days to wither, and afterwards bound and set up in the shock to dry, but without any head-sheaves.

Beans are built in circular or oblong stacks, often in the latter form; and it is always proper, if the stack be large, to construct one or more funnels, to allow a free circulation of air. They may be threshed by the mill, and dressed by the winnowing-machinc, like any other grain.

The produce of beans, like that of other pulse crops, is exceedingly precarious, and probably does not exceed: upon an average three quarters per acre. That of peas, as we have observed, is still more uncertain. But the haulm of both is valuable in the feeding of live stock; and the bean crop comes in on clay soils as a preparative for wheat, thus postponing the recurrence of a naked fallow. The consumption of peas and beans is chiefly in the feeding of horses and hogs; but the proportion in which the former is grown in the best courses of husbandry is comparatively inconsiderable.

In the neighbourhood of London and some other large towns, varieties of the pea are cultivated for supplying green peas at an early period of the season, which at that timtí bring a very high price; but this belongs to gardening rather than to agriculture.

6. Tares.

The tare, though cultivated for its stems and leaves rather than for its fruit or seeds, is so similar to the pea in its habits and mode of culture, that it seems proper to mention it in this place.

The common tare is distinguished into two sorts, the winter and spring tare. It is the opinion of an eminent botanist that they are the same plant (Walker’s Hebrides, vol. i. p. 228); but though this may have been true of the tare in its natural state, there is reason to believe that a material difference now. exists, superinduced perhaps by cultivation. {Annals of Agriculture, vol. ii.) The winter tare, by the experiments detailed in the work just referred to, escaped injury from frosts whiclι destroyed the spring variety. The difference in the colour and size of the seeds is, however, so inconsiderable as to be scarcely ∙ distinguished; but “the winter tare vegetates with a seed leaf of a fresh green colour, whereas the spring - tare comes up with a grassy spear of a brown dusky hue.” (Dickson’s Practical Agriculture, vol. ii. p. 889.)

The winter variety is sown in September and October, and the first sowing in spring ought to be as early as the season will permit. If they are to be cut green for soiling throughout the summer and autumn, which is the most advantageous method of consuming them, successive sowings should follow till the end of May. The quantity of seed to an acre is from 2½ to 3½ bushels, according to the time of sowing, and as they are to be consumed green or left to stand for a crop.

Tares are· in some places eaten on the ground by different kinds of live stock, particularly by sheep; and as the winter-sown variety comes very early in spring, the value of this rich food is then very considerable. The waste, however, in this way, even though the sheep be confined in hurdles, must be great; and still greater when consumed by horses or cattle. But if the plants be cut green, and given to live stock either on the field or in the fold-yards, there is, perhaps, no green crop of greater [7:2:285]value, nor any better calculated to give a succession of herbage from May to November. The winter-sown tare, in a favourable climate, is ready for cutting before clover; the first spring crop comes in after the clover must be all consumed or made into hay; and the successive spring sowings give a produce more nourishing for the larger animals than the aftermath of clover, and may afford green food at least a month longer.

A little rye sown with winter tares, and a few oats with the spring sort, not only serve to support the weak creeping stems of the tares, but add to the bulk of the crop by growing up through the interstices.

There is little difference in the culture of tares and of peas; they are often sown broad-cast, but sometimes in rows, with intervals to admit of hand-hoeing. The land ought to be rolled as a preparation for mowing; and they should always be cut with the scythe rather than with a sickle, which, by tearing up a number of the plants by the roots, renders the second growth of little or no value. When cut with the scythe, even an early spring-sown crop sometimes yields a tolerable after-crop.

In those districts where winter-sown tares are found to succeed, which is not the case in the north, the ground may be cleared in time for being sown with turnips, or dressed like a fallow for wheat to be sown in autumn.

7. Potatoes.

The varieties of this root are so numerous, that it would be hardly possible to give the names of them all. They differ not only in quality,' being more or less farinaceous, but in the appearance of their leaves, haulm, and flowers, and in their time of ripening, as well as in the colour of the roots. Among those most commonly grown in the fields, the latter is the most obvious distinction. They are either of a white or of a purple colour approaching to black; the former being in most repute during the early months of winter, and the latter in the spring and summer months. The kind most generally cultivated round London is the early champion, which is very hardy, prolific, and farinaceous. The yam or Surinam potato, the oxnoble, and the late champion/ are grown exclusively for live stock. New varieties may be easily obtained from the seed contained in the apple. The earlier varieties, indeed,“do not usually carry any flower; but by removing the earth from the roots,' and the small potatoes themselves as they began to form, Mr Knight, the president of the Horticultural Society, succeeded in forcing the plant into blossom, and thus obtained seeds from the early as well as the common kinds.

The potato is planted in almost every description of soil, but thrives best in one that is somewhat loose and porous. In many parts of Ireland it is the practice to plant them upon what are called lazy-beds, the sets being placed upon the surface and covered with earth taken out of a trench formed around them.

Under the best management, the land is prepared for the potato much in the same manner as for the turnip. It is of much importance to free it. as completely as possible from weed-roots, which cannot be so well extirpated afterwards, as in the culture of turnips and other drilled crops, both because the horse-hoe must be excluded altogether at a time when vegetation is still vigorous, and because at no period of their growth is it safe to work so near the plants, especially after they have made some progress in growth. It is the earlier time of planting and of finishing the after-culture that renders potatoes a very indifferent substitute for fallow, and, in this respect, in no degree comparable to turnips. For this reason, as well as on account of the great quantity of manure required, their small value at a distance from large towns, and the great expense of transporting so bulky a commodity, the culture of potatoes is by no means extensive in the best-managed districts. Unless in the immediate vicinity of such towns, or in very populous manufacturing counties, potatoes do not constitute a regular rotation crop, though' they are raised almost everywhere to-the extent required for the consumption of the farmer and his servants, and in some cases for occasionally feeding horses and cattle, particularly late in spring.

The first ploughing is given soon after harvest, and a second, and commonly a third, early in spring. The land is then laid up into ridgelets from 27 to 30 inches broad, as for turnips, and manured in the same manner. The usual season of planting potatoes in the fields is April, but it frequently continues till the middle of May. A week or two before the planting begins, the roots are cut into pieces or sets, each having at least one eye ; what is called the nose-end of the root being the most valuable for this purpose.“Under the drill system the sets are placed in the bottom of the furrow, between the ridgelets, at from four to eight inches distance, and the ridgelets then reversed to cover them. But in some places they are still planted after the plough, commonly in every third furrow; by which means they rise in rows, at much the same distance as in the former case, and admit of nearly the same after-culture. In either case the land remains untouched till the tops of the plants begin to rise above the surface, when it is usual to harrow slightly across the ridges; and afterwards the horse-hoe or small hoeing-plough and the hand-hoe are repeatedly employed in the intervals and between the plants, as long as the progress of the crop will permit, or the state of the soil may require. The earth is then gathered once or oftener, from the middle of the intervals towards the roots of the plants, after which any weeds that may be left must be drawn out by hand; for when the radicles have extended far in search of food, and the young; roots begin to form, neither the horse nor hand-hoc can be admitted without injury.

Potatoés are usually taken up with the common plough, but sometimes with three-pronged forks: the plough goes, twice along each ridgelet, in . such a manner as not materially to injure any of the roots with its share or coulter, and the potatoes are gathered by women and children placed along the line at proper distances. When the land is somewhat moist, or of a tenacious quality, the furrow-slice does not give out the roots freely, and a harrow, which follows the plough, is commonly employed to break it and. separate them from the mould. Various contrivances have been resorted to for this purpose: a circular harrow or brake to be attached to the plough (see Plate VII.) has been found to answer the purpose well, and to effect a considerable saving of labour.

Various suggestions have been offered for the purpose of improving the cultivation of this root. Instead of cutting the roots to be planted into sets, some have recommended the planting of them whole, and others have thought that a great saving of the root might be made by scooping out the sets. See Plate X. Several experiments have been made to augment the produce and accelerate the ripening of potatoes, by plucking off the blossoms from the shaws or haulm. But none of these innovations has yet entered into general practice, and the trials have not been so numerous nor so satisfactory as to warrant any conclusions of real utility.

The potato crop is preserved through winter, sometimes in houses, but more generally perhaps in some convenient place near the farm-buildings, in camps, ]nes, or pits, covered first with straw, and then with earth dug up [7:2:286]around the heaps in the form of a trench, which discharges any water that might otherwise lodge about the bottoms.

The produce per acre may vary from five or six to ten or twelve tons; but the average, perhaps, cannot be stated at more than six or seven. The potato is for the most part consumed after no other preparation than boiling or roasting, and unfortunately it is not fit for being stored up and kept over from one year to another. To make it more generally useful, it has been recommended to convert its farinaceous matter into flour, in which state, if well dried and closely packed, it maybe preserved for several years. Its flour has been recommended· for a variety of culinary preparations, and is said to be often used in place of arrow-root in the medical treatment of patients in the hospitals of the Continent. Ardent spirits have also been obtained from potatoes, even after they had been so injured by frost as to be useless for any other purpose. (Farmer’s Magazine, vol. xvii. p. 325.)

The curl is the most destructive disease to which this plant is liable; and the only preventive hitherto known is a change of seed or sets. It is a prevailing opinion that it is occasioned by the over-ripeness of the plants used as seed; and it is therefore the practice to take up what is intended for seed some weeks before they are fully ripe. Others prefer bringing their seed from a colder situation, the success of the change probably depending upon the circumstance of the roots not being fully ripened.

8. Turnips.

Turnips and clover are the two main pillars of the best courses of British husbandry. They have contributed more to preserve and augment the fertility of the soil for producing grain, to enlarge and improve our breeds of cattle and sheep, and to furnish a regular supply of butchermeat all the year, than any other crops; and they will probably be long found vastly superior, for extensive cultivation, to any of the rivals which have often been opposed to them in particular situations.

Turnips cannot be advantageously cultivated on wet, tenacious clays, but are grown on all comparatively dry soils, under all the variations of our climate. On dry loams, and all soils of a looser texture, managed according to the best courses of cropping, they enter into the rotation to the extent of a fourth, a sixth, or an eighth part of the land in tillage; and even on clayey soils they are frequently cultivated, though on a smaller scale, to be eaten by cattle, for the purpose of augmenting and enriching the manure into which the straw of corn is converted.

It will be sufficient in this place to describe the practices of the best managed counties of Scotland in regard to the culture of turnips, which are universally raised in rows at such a distance as to admit of horse-hoeing; and every step of the process is conducted with much accuracy and success.

The varieties commonly cultivated by the best farmers are, the white globe, which comes early and gives a very weighty crop, but often suffers much from the frosts of winter; the yellow, which is more hardy, and answers well for succeeding the globe in spring·; and the ruta baga, or Swedish, which may be preserved for consumption till the end of May.

The drill culture of turnips was first firmly established in Scotland by the practice of Mr William Dawson, a farmer at Frogden, in the county of Roxburgh, soon after his entry to that farm in 1759. Turnips had.,been sown indeed on narrow ridges, according to the practice of Tull, many yearebefore that period; but chiefly by .proprietors, upon a very small scale; and the several operations were neither so correct, so uniform, nor so much simplified as to induce general imitation. The first person who ever formed turnip ridges in Scotland with a two-horse plough without a driver was instructed by Mr Dawson, and died only a few years ago.

In the drill culture of turnips, the land is ploughed with a deep furrow soon after harvest, usually in the direction of the former ridges, though, if the soil be dry, it is of little consequence in what direction. As soon as the spring seed-time is over, a second ploughing is given across the former, and the harrows, and, if necessary, the rollers, are then set to work to clean and pulverize the soil. All the weed-roots that are brought to the surface are carefully gathered into heaps, and either burnt on the ground, or carried off to form a compost, usually with lime. The land is then generally ploughed a third time, again harrowed well, sometimes also rolled, and the weedroots picked out as before. Unless land is in a much worse state, in regard to cleanness and pulverization, than it usually is after turnips have been for some time a rotation crop, no more ploughings are necessary. It is next laid up in ridgelets from 27 to 30 inches wide, either with the common swing-plough, or one with two mould-boards, which forms two sides of a ridgelet at once. Well-rotted dung, at the rate of 12 or 15 tons per acre, is then carried to the field, and dropt from the cart in the middle one of three intervals, in such a quantity as may serve for that and the interval on each side of it. The dung is then divided equally among the three by a person who goes before the spreaders, one of whom for each interval spreads it with a small three-pronged fork along the bottom. The plough immediately follows, and, reversing the ridgelets, forms new ones over the dung; and the drill-barrow, commonly one that sows two drills at once, drawn by one horse, deposits the seed as fast as the new drills are formed. This drill machine is usually furnished with two small rollers; one that goes before the sowing apparatus, and levels the pointed tops of the ridgelets, and another that follows for the purpose of compressing the soil and covering the seed. From the time the dung is carted to the ground, until the seed is deposited, the several operations should go on simultaneously: the dung is never allowed to lie uncovered to be dried by the sun and the wind; and the new ridgelets are sown as soon as formed, that the seed may find moisture to accelerate its vegetation.

The time of sowing the several varieties is somewhat different; the Swedish should be put in the earliest, and then the yellow, — both of them in the month of May. But as these kinds are much less extensively cultivated than the globe, the month of June is the principal seedtime; and after the first week of July a full crop is not to be expected in the northern parts of the island. The quantity of seed most commonly allowed is two pounds to the acre, which, though much more than sufficient to stock the ground with plants, is thought to be necessary for insuring a regular crop on most soils. The supernumerary plants are. easily taken out with the hoe; but if any parts are missed, they can be filled up only by inserting a few Swedish plants: the other varieties seldom succeed after transplantation.

As soon as the plants have put forth the rough leaf, or sooner if annual weeds have got the start of them, a horse-hoe is run between the ridgelets, which cuts up the weeds on each side, almost close to the rows of the turnip plants, clearing out the bottom of the interval at the same time. The hand-hoers are always set to work as soon after, as possible, and the plants are left about nine inches [7:2:287]distant—the Swedish kind somewhat closer. If the ground has been-well prepared, and the plants not allowed to get too large, three experienced hoers go over an acre a day. A few days after this a small swing-plough, drawn by one horse, enters the interval between the rows, and, taking a furrow-slice off each side, forms a smaller ridgelet in the middle. If the annuals still rise in great abundance, the horse-hoe may be employed again, otherwise the next operation is to go over them a second time with the handhoe, when the intermediate ridgelet is levelled. Sometimes a third hoeing must be given; but that is done very expeditiously. When no more manual labour is required, a small plough with two mould-boards is employed to lay up the earth to the sides of the plants, leaving the ridgelets of the same form as when sown, which finishes the process. Large fields, dressed in this manner throughout their whole extent, are left as clean and as pleasant to the eye as the best cultivated garden. The horse and hand-hoeing in ordinary cases may cost about fifteen shillings per acre.

Where the soil is perfectly dry, and has been well prepared, the small plough has of late been laid aside by many farmers, and the space between the rows is kept clean by the horse and hand-hoe alone; but if the soil be either wet from springs, or so flat as not easily to part with surface water, it is still considered proper to earth up the roots as the concluding part of the process; and it is always useful to plough between the ridges when couchgrass and other weeds have not been completely picked out before the land was sown.

The gathering of the weeds, the spreading of the dung, and the hand-hoeing, are almost always performed by women and boys and girls.

A good crop of white globe turnips weighs from 25 to 30 tons per acre, the yellow and Swedish commonly a few tons less. Of late there have been instances of much heavier crops; and in Ayrshire it would appear that above 60 tons have been raised on an English acre, the leaves not included. (Farmers Magazine, vol. xv. and xvi.) But such an extraordinary produce must have been obtained by the application of more manure than can be provided, without injustice to other crops, from the home resources of a farm; and where turnips form a regular crop in the rotation, no such produce is to be expected under any mode of culture.

Turnips are consumed either on the spot where they grow, on grass fields, in fold-yards, or in feeding-houses; the far greater part, wherever they are extensively cultivated, by sheep. The price per acre when sold depends not only upon the weight of the crop, but also on the mode of its consumption.

When eaten by sheep in the place of their growth, turnips are lotted off, by means of hurdles or nets, that they may be regularly consumed. When the first allowance is nearly eaten up, the bottoms or shells are picked out of the ground by means of a two-prönged blunt hook adapted to the purpose; and then another portion of the field is taken in, by shifting the hurdles or nets; and so on regularly until the whole are finished; the cleared part of the field being usually left accessible as a drier bed for the sheep, and that they may pick up the shells that remained when a new portion of the field was taken in.

The turnips required for other modes of consumption are usually drawn out at regular intervals before the sheep are put upon the field; unless the soil be so poor as to need all the benefit of their dung and treading, in which case the whole are consumed where they grow; or so rich as to endanger the succeeding crops, by eating any part of the turnips on the ground. In the latter very rare instance, the whole crop is carried to be consumed elsewhere, as must always be done if the soil be naturally too wet for sheep feeding.

In wet weather, when sheep ought not to be allowed to lie on the turnip field, it becomes necessary to carry the turnips to a grass field; and store sheep, not requiring to be so highly fed, frequently eat their turnips on such fields, as well as rearing cattle, and sometimes milch cows. A grass field contiguous to the turnip one is always very desirable, that the sheep, confined on other sides by hurdles or nets, may always find a dry place to lie on.

In the distribution of turnips among young cattle, and sheep in their first year, towards spring, when the loosening and shedding of their teeth render them unable to break the hard roots, it is usual to cut or slice the turnip, either by means of a spade or chopping-knife, or by an implement constructed for the purpose, called a turnipslicer, formerly mentioned; or they are crushed by means of a heavy wooden mallet.

During severe frosts, turnips become so hard that no animal is able to bite them. The best remedy in this case is, to lay them for some time in running water, which effectually thaws them; or, in close feeding-houses, the turnips intended for next day’s use may be stored up over night in one end of the building, and the warmth of the animals will thaw them sufficiently before morning. But in those months when frosts are usually most severe, it is advisable to have always a few days’ consumption in the turnip-barn, formerly mentioned. When a severe frost continues long, or if the ground be covered deep with snow, potatoes ought to be employed as a substitute.

The advantages of eating turnips on the place of their growth by sheep, both in manuring and consolidating the ground, are sufficiently well known to every farmer. One great defect of the inferior sort of turnip soils is the want of tenacity; and it is found that valuable crops of wheat may be obtained upon very light, porous soils, after turnips so consumed.

The value or price by the acre is so various, from differences in soil and seasons, and fluctuates so much according to the degree of abundance and demand, that nothing can be decisively stated on this subject. It likewise varies according to the modes of application, as above noticed. A farmer who has turnips to sell will demand more money per acre, if they are to be drawn and consumed by the purchaser in the fold-yard, or on the pastures of the farm, than if eaten by sheep where they grow; and will require a much higher price if they are· to be carried off’ the farm. Indeed, hardly any price will compensate for such abstraction of manure, and consequent loss of future fertility, unless where manure can be readily purchased to supply the defalcation; and that can only be done by those who are situated near towns and large villages, where a few turnips may be sold in that way for the cows of the inhabitants. Eight guineas an acre is considered a good price, in seasons of uncommon demand, for a full crop; five guineas in ordinary years; and down to thirty and forty shillings for inferior crops. Upon an average of years, five guineas may be reckoned a fair price for a good crop, eaten by sheep where they grow. Near large towns, where turnips are in demand by cowfeeders, they will sell in ordinary years for double, and when in extraordinary demand, for three or even four times these prices; but in these cases they are always removed from the farm, and consequently the manure which they produce is lost to the soil.

It is not uncommon to let turnips at an agreed price, or board, for each sheep or beast weekly. This varies, [7:2:288]according to’age and size and the state of the demand, from fourpence or less to eightpence or more for each sheep weekly, and from two shillings to five for each beast. An acre of good turnips, say 30 tons, with straw, will fatten an ox of 60 stone, or 10 Leicester sheep. Supposing the turnips worth six guineas, this may bring the weekly keep of the ox to 6s. 3½d. and of the sheep to about '7½d. a week. In this way of letting, however, disputes may arise, as the taker may not be careful to have them eaten up clean.

The person who lets the turnips has to maintain a herd for the taker; and when let for cattle, and consequently to be carried off, the taker finds a man and horse, and the letter maintains both. The taker has to provide hurdles or nets for fencing the allotments to sheep, but the letter must fence his own hedges if necessary. The period at which the taker is to consume the whole is usually fixed in the agreement, that the letter maybe enabled to plough and sow his land½n proper season.

Common turnips are seldom stored in any great quantity, though sometimes a portion is drawn and formed into heaps like potato camps, and lightly covered with straw, or preserved for some time under a shed. On these occasions the shaws or leaves and the tap-roots must be cut off and removed before storing up, to prevent heating and rotting. The heaps must not be covered with earth like potatoes, for in this case their complete destruction is inevitable. This root contains too much water to. be preserved for any length of time in a fresh and palatable state after being removed from the ground; and though the loss in seasons unusually severe, particularly in the white globe variety, is commonly very great, it is probable that a regular system of storing the whole, or the greater part of the crop every season, would upon an average of years be attended with still greater loss; besides, the labour and expense, where turnips are cultivated extensively, would be intolerable. Yet it has become a practice in some parts, particularly in Norfolk, to preserve a portion of the turnip crop through the winter, by what is called placing. They arc removed from the field where they grow, and the tap-roots being taken off, the bulbs, with the haulm on, are placed close together in the position in which they grew, upon some dry, sheltered spot near the farm-houses, where they are ready for use as wanted; and in this way, with little or no artificial shelter, they are found to keep in a fresh state longer than if they had been left in the field.

Besides the damage sustained by a turnip crop from beetles and other insects, a very destructive disease, formerly confined to particular districts, has lately begun to extend itself in an alarming manner; and there is reason to fear, if some means of prevention be not soon discovered, that it may almost put an end to the cultivation of this root, in some situations where it is of essential importance, both with a view to the produce of grain and to the rearing and fattening of live stock. In Holderness it is known by the quaint name of fingers and toes, from the shapes into which the disease distorts either the bulb or tap-root, or frequently both. An ingenious paper on this subject was read to the Holderness Agricultural Society in 1811, by Mr William Spence, their president, from which we shall abstract some account of this hitherto local disease.

In some plants the bulb itself is split into several finger-diverging lobes. More frequently the bulb is, externally, tolerably perfect, and the tap-root is the part principally diseased, being either wholly metamorphosed into a sort of mis-shapen secondary bulb, often larger than the real bulb, and closely attached to it, or having excrescences of various shapes, frequently not unlike human toes (whence the name of the disease), either springing immediately from its sides or from the fibrous roots that issue from it. In this last case each fibre often swells into several knobs, so as distantly to resemble the wire and accompanying tubers of a potato; and not seldom one turnip will exhibit a combination of all these different forms of the disease. These distortions manifest themselves at a very early stage of the turnip’s growth; and plants scarcely in the rough leaf will exhibit excrescences, which differ in nothing else than size from those of the full-grown root.

The leaves discover no unusual appearance, except that in hot weather they become flaccid and droop; from which symptom the presence of the disease may be surmised without examining the roots. These continue to grow for some months, but without attaining any considerable size, the excrescences enlarging at the same time. If divided at this period with a knife, both the bulb and the excrescences are found to be perfectly solid, and internally to differ little in appearance from a healthy root, except that they are of a more mealy and less compact consistence, and are interspersed with more numerous and larger sap-vessels. The taste, too, is more acrid; and on this account sheep neglect the diseased plants. Towards the approach of autumn, the roots, in proportion as they are more or less diseased, become gangrenous and rot, and are either broken (as frequently happens) by high winds, or gradually dissolved by the rain. Some which have been partially diseased survive the winter; but of the rest at this period, no other vestige remains than the vacant patches which they occupied at their first appearance.

This disease, according to Mr Spence, is not owing to the seed, nor to the time of sowing, nor to any qualityorthe soil, either original, or induced by any particular mode of cropping or of tillage; and he adds, “that the most attentive and unbiassed consideration of the facts has led him to infer that the disease, though not produced by any insect that has yet been discovered, is yet caused by some unobserved species, which, either biting the turnip in the earliest stage of its growth, or insinuating its egg into it, infuses at the same time into the wound a liquid, which communicates to the sap-vessels a morbid action, causing them to form the excrescences in question.”

With regard to the prevention of this disease, mari has been recommended by Sir Joseph Banks and others; and where marl cannot be procured, it has been thought that an addition of mould of any kind that has not borne turnips will be advantageous; such as a dressing taken from banks, headlands, ditches, &c. and mixed up with a good dose of lime. But lime alone has been tried in vain; and no great dependence can be placed upon fresh mould, as this disease has been known to prevail upon lands that had scarcely ever before borne a crop of turnips. {Farmer’s Magazine, vol. xiii.)

9. Mangold Wurzel.

The mangold wurzel, or field-beet, is cultivated in muelv the same manner as turnip, and used in the same way in the feeding of live stock. It has been long grown in Germany, Switzerland, and other parts of the Continent, but has been but recently introduced into Britain, and is still cultivated here only upon a small scale. Very heavy crops have been raised upon clay; a circumstance which is alleged to be in favour of introducing it into the general rotation; but the same thing is true of turnip, the difficulty consisting not in the productive power of such a soil, but in its preparation and the carrying away of the [7:2:289] crop. As the sowing of mangold wurzel should not be deferred beyond the middle of April, it must rarely be practicable to have heavy land in a suitable condition so early. Like the Swedish turnip, however, it admits of being transplanted, which may be done in May, so as to give more time for preparing the soil.

The produce in ordinary cases is much the same as that of the Swedish turnip, but it is understood to contain a greater proportion of nutritive matter. Near London it is in much repute for the feeding of milch cows. The tops are taken off' first and given by themselves; and afterwards the roots, which are more liable to be injured by frost than the Swedish turnip.

10. Carrots.

This crop, it is well known, requires a deep soil, inclining to sand, and cannot therefore be so generally cultivated as turnips. But it has been too much neglected on lands where it would have yielded a more valuable product, perhaps, than any bulbous or tap-rooted plant whatever. Several contradictory experiments in its culture have been detailed in a number of publications, from which the practical husbandman will be at a loss to draw any definite conclusion. But in a communication to the Board of Agriculture, from Mr Robert Burrows, an intelligent Norfolk farmer, who has cultivated carrots on a large scale and with great success for several years, so accurate an account is presented of the culture, application, and extraordinary value of this root, that carrots will probably soon enter more largely into the rotation of crops on suitable soils. We shall give the substance of this communication in his own words.

“I usually sow seed of my own growth, from eight to ten pounds per acre: if purchased, the price is in general from one shilling to one shilling and sixpence per pound. By sowing seed of my own growing, I am enabled to speak both to the nature of its stock, and likewise its quality in regard to newness. The latter circumstance is of particular consequence in obtaining a full and healthy plant, and not always to be guarded against if the seed is purchased of the seedsman. Having weighed the quantity of seed to be sown, and collected sand or fine mould in the proportion of about two bushels to an acre, I mix the seed with the sand or mould, eight or ten pounds to every two bushels; and this is done about a fortnight or three weeks before the time I intend sowing, taking care to have the heaps turned over every day, sprinkling the outside of them with water each time of turning over, that every part of die sand heaps may be equally moist, and that vegetation may take place alike tliroughout. During this time the land is preparing with a good dressing of manure, of about sixteen cart-loads per acre of rotten farm-yard manure or cottagers’ ashes; the load about as much as three able horses can draw, and, if bought, costs about four shillings and sixpence per load, besides the carting on the land. I usually sow my wheat stubbles after clover; plough the first time in autumn, and once more in the early part of the month of February, if the weather permits; setting on die manure at the time of sowing, which is about the last week in March, or sometimes as late as the second week in April; but have generally found early-sown crops the most productive. I have great advantage in preparing the seed so long beforehand: it is by this means in a state of forward vegetation, therefore lies but a short time in the ground, and, by quickly appearing above ground, is more able to contend with those numerous tribes of weeds in the soil whose seeds are of quicker vegetation.

“Within about five or six weeks the carrots are ready to hoe; and, upon an average of six years, on a light sandy loam, they have cost me L.l. 10s. 8d. per acre hoeing; usually performed three, and sometimes four times, or until the crop is perfectìy clean. The first hoeing is with hoes four inches long, and two and a quarter inches wide; the second hoeing invariably takes place as soon as the first is completed, and is performed with six-inch hoes, by two and a quarter inches wide. By this time the plants are set; the first time of hoeing nothing was cut but the weeds. I endeavour to leave the carrots nine inches apart from each other; sometimes they will be a foot or even farther asunder.

“No other expense now attends the crop until the time of taking them up, which is usually about the last week in October, as at that time I generally finish soiling my horses with lucerne, and now solely depend upon my carrots, with a proper allowance of hay, as winter food for my horses, until about the first week of June following, when the lucerne is again ready for soiling. By reducing this practice to a system, I have been enabled to feed ten cart-horses throughout the winter months for these last six years, without giving them any corn whatever, and have at the same time effected a considerable saving of hay from what I found necessary to give to the same number of horses when, according to the usual custom of the country, I fed my horses with corn and hay. I give them to my cart-horses, in the proportion of 70 lb. weight of carrots a horse per day upon an average, not allowing them quite so many in the very short days, and something more than that quantity in the spring months, or to the amount of what I withheld in the short winter days. The men who tend the horses slice some of the carrots in the cut chaff or hay, and barn-door refuse; the rest of the carrots they give whole to the horses at night, with a small quantity of hay in their racks: and with this food my horses generally enjoy uninterrupted health. I mention this, as I believe some persons think that carrots only, given as food to horses, are injurious to their constitutions; but most of the prejudices of mankind have no better foundation, and are taken up at random, or inherited from their grandfathers.

“So successful have I been with carrots as a winter food for horses, that with the assistance of lucerne for soiling in summer, I have been enabled to prove, by experiments conducted under my own personal inspection, that an able Norfolk team-horse, fully worked two journeys a day, winter and summer, may be kept the entire year round upon the produce of only one statute acre of land. I have likewise applied carrots with great profit to the feeding of hogs in winter, and by that means have made my straw into a most excellent manure, without the aid of neat cattle: the hogs so fed are sold on Norwich hill to the London dealers as porkers. The profit of carrots so applied I shall likewise show in my subsequent statement; together with an experiment of feeding four Galloway bullocks with carrots, against four others fed in the common way with turnips and hay.

“The taking up of the crop is put out to a man, who engages women and children to assist him: the work is performed with three-pronged forks. The children cut off the tops, laying them and the roots in separate heaps, ready for the teams to take away. The expense altogether L.l. Is. per acre, of not less than seven or eight hundred Winchester bushels. The carting away depends upon the distance of the place where carried to: if not far, the expense will be lõs. to 18s. per acre. The value of carrot tops given to bullocks and sheep in the first winter quarter more than repays the two last-mentioned expenses. I take up in autumn a sufficient quantity to [7:2:290]have a store to last me out any considerable frost or snow that may happen in the winter months; the rest of the crop I leave in the ground, preferring them fresh out of the earth for both horses and bullocks. For the former, perhaps, it would be as well to wash the roots when they are very wet and dirty, though I by no means think washing generally necessary. The carrots keep best in the ground, nor can the severest frosts do them any material injury. The first week in March it is necessary to have the remaining part of the crop taken up, and the land cleared for barley. The carrots can either be laid in a heap with a small quantity of straw covered over them, or they may be laid into some empty cuthouse or barn in heaps of many hundred bushels, provided they are put together dry. This latter circumstance it is indispensably necessary to attend to; for, if laid together in large heaps when wet, they will certainly sustain much injury. Such as I want to keep for the use of my horses until the months of May and June, in drawing over the heaps (which is necessary to be done the latter end of April, when the carrots begin to sprout at the crown very fast) I throw aside the healthy and most perfect roots, and have their crowns cut completely oft' and laid by themselves. By this means carrots may be kept the month of June out in a high state of perfection.” ( Communications to the Board of Agriculture, vol. vii. p. 72.)

Mr Burrows next proceeds to state the expense of his crops for four years successively, in which he cultivated forty-nine acres in all; the average of the first three years being L.10. 13s. 2½d. and the expense of the last year, when he had twenty-five acres, L.8. 8s. 4d. per acre. In these sums, rent, interest of capital, and all other charges are included. He then details at some length the application of the crops, averaging upwards of 800 bushels per acre, to the feeding of cart-horses, hogs, and cattle—both milch cows and fattening bullocks,—from which there appears to result a clear profit on the first three crops of no less than L.27. 18s. 3½d. per acre. The fourth crop of twenty-five acres was sold to the tenant who succeeded him in his farm at twenty guineas per acre, the price fixed by neutral men, leaving him a profit of L.12. Ils. 8d. per acre. Mr Burrows was so well convinced of the great advantages of this management, that he began with sixteen acres of carrots on his new farm; and we are told, that the cultivation of this root is becoming more extensive, in consequence of his successful practice.

Carrots in many instances are sown by hand in rows, at narrow intervals for hand-hoeing, the seeds not being easily deposited in a regular manner by the use of the drill-machine. The hand-hoeing is certainly performed more correctly, and with much less labour, when the plants are cultivated in rows.

11. Parsnip.

The parsnip has a root like the carrot; and the soil, preparation, and manure, as well as the after-culture, are nearly the same for both. The quantity of seed when sown in drills is from 4 to 5 lbs. per acre, but in broadcast 6 or 8 lbs. About the middle of February is the usual sowing season, but sometimes September; and the breadth of the drills when sown in this way is 15 or 18 inches. In the island of Jersey, where it is most extensively cultivated, beans are commonly grown along with it, the beans being first dibbled in, and the parsnip seed afterwards sown, broad-cast For fattening cattle it is considered equal, if not superior to the carrot, and gives an exquisite flavour and a juicy quality to the meat. About 30 lbs. of the root is the usual allowance to an ox at each meal, with a little, hay between. When milch cows are fed with this root and hay in winter, the colour and quality of the butter are said to be equal to what is produced by the best pastures. Yet after all, both carrot and parsnip require so much labour, and are such uncertain crops in most parts of Britain, that they cannot be said to enter into the general rotation.

12. Pape.

Rape is now grown to a considerable extent in some I districts, not only for the sake of the oil expressed from its seed, but also for feeding sheep on land not well adapted to turnips. It is cultivated on a variety of soils, as a first crop after paring and burning, and when old grass lands are brought into tillage; and it often yields a very valuable crop. Upon lands kept under the plough it comes into the rotation as a green crop; and the preparation and after-culture are the same as for turnips; and it is sown much about the same time, or a little later, but may also be transplanted from a seed-bed so late as September or October. A variety of this plant is largely cultivated in Flanders, chiefly for the sake of the oil obtained from its seed. The husks, in the form of cake or dust, after the oil is expressed, are a well known manure, which we shall have occasion to notice under the proper head. We shall give some remarks by the late Mr Culley of Northumberland, founded on his own excellent practice, in which rape was substituted for fallow on a poor clayey soil.

“Rape may be sown from the 24th of May to the 8th of June, but comes to the greatest growth if sown in May. If sown earlier it is apt to run to seed. From two to three pounds of seed is required per acre, sown by a common turnip-seed drill. But as rape-seed is so much larger than turnip-seed, the drill should be wider. When hoed, the rape should be set out at the same distance as turnip plants. The drills should be from 26 to 28 or 30 inches, according to the quantity of dung given. As many ploughings, harrowings, and rollings, &c. should be given, as may be necessary to make that kind of poor soil as fine as possible, and cleared of twitch, &c.; the produce will be from twenty-five to even fifty tons per acre, or upwards. But it is not so much the value of the green crop (although the better the green crop, the better will the wheat be), as the great certainty of a valuable crop of wheat, that merits attention. The sheep are put on from the beginning to the middle of August: they must have the rape consumed by the middle, or at latest by the end of September, so that the wheat may be got sown on such poor damp soils, before the autumnal rains take place. The number of sheep must depend upon the goodness or badness of the crop. But as many sheep must be employed as to eat the rape by the middle of September, or end of that month at the latest, for the reasons formerly given. The Burwell red wheat (so called from a village in Cambridgeshire) is always preferred. Poor clays will not allow deep ploughing; consequently that operation must be governed by the depth of the soil. The land must be made as clean as any naked fallow. There is scarcely an instance known of a crop of wheat, sown after rape and eat off with sheep, being mildewed; and the grain is generally well perfected. Mr Culley has known a crop of wheat after rape, upon a poor moorish thin clay soil, worth much more than the fee simple of the land that produced it. He has frequently known land, both after rape and after naked fallow, in the same field; and invariably the rape wheat was better in every respect than that after naked fallow.” (Husbandry of Scotland, vol. ii. appendix, p. 45.)

13. Cabbages.

The culture of cabbage in the fields is not carried on [7:2:291]upon a great scale, though very profitable crops have been raised in particular situations. The variety cultivated for cattle is the large field cabbage, known by several names. It prefers a strong loam, which is to be prepared in much the same manner as for potatoes or turnips, the plants being dibbled along the top of each ridgelet any time from March to June, though the earliest crops are usually the best. Plants to be used in March must be got from seed sown in the month of August preceding; but those planted out in May or June may be raised from a sowing in February or March. The after-culture consists in horse and hand hoeing and weeding, the produce being from 35 to 40 tons the acre, which is commonly used in the feeding of milch cows, but sometimes also in fattening sheep and oxen. They are excellent food for ewes that have newly dropt their lambs, as they produce abundance of milk.

14. Clovers.

Clovers enter largely into the succession of crops on all soils, and in every productive course of management. Before they were introduced into cultivation, when land was exhausted by grain crops, it was necessary to leave it in a state of comparative sterility for several years before it was either valuable as pasture, or again fit for carrying corn. But at present clovers are not only indispensable in the cultivation of white and green crops alternately upon very rich soils, but are the foundation of convertible husbandry on land that is not so rich as to permit of constant aration, and which therefore requires two or more years’ pasturage at certain intervals. As the succession of crops forms the subject of the following section, in which we shall have occasion to notice the great value of clover as a crop in the alternate and convertible systems of husbandry, we shall here consider it without any particular reference to its general utility in that view.

Red clover, or, as it is sometimes called, broad clover, is the kind most generally cultivated on land that carries white and green crops alternately, as it yields a larger produce for one crop than any of the other sorts. White and yellow clover are seldom sown with it, unless when several years’ pasturage is intended. As ryegrass is almost invariably sown with clover, it will be necessary to notice it also in this place.

Clover and ryegrass are sown broad-cast along with or upon growing culmiferous corn crops of every kind, and are found to prosper almost equally well with spring-sown wheat, barley, and the early varieties of oats. Being most generally sown in spring, they are usually put in immediately after the soil has been pulverized by harrowing in the corn seed, and are themselves covered by one course more of the harrows; or if the corn is drilled, they are sown immediately before or after hand-hoeing, and the land is then finished by a course of the harrows. A lighter harrow is generally employed in covering grassseeds than that used for corn. When the land is under an autumn-sown crop of wheat or other grain, though the clovers and ryegrass arc still sown in spring, the proper period must depend both upon its condition and the progress of the crop; and it may be often advisable to break the crust formed on the surface of tenacious soils, by using the harrow before the clovers are sown, as well as afterwards to cover them. Sometimes the roller only is employed at this time; and there are instances of clover and ryegrass succeeding when sown without either harrowing or rolling. But it is commonly of advantage to the wheat crop itself to use the harrows in spring; and the roller alone cannot be depended on, unless the season be very favourable. In some cases grass-seeds are sown by themselves, either in autumn or spring, but rarely on tillage land, the subject of the present chapter.

The quantity of red clover and ryegrass sown on an acre is exceedingly various, not only according as more or less white or yellow clover is sown along with them, as when pasturage is intended; but even when they are the only kinds sown, the quantity is varied by the quality of the soil, and the different purposes of hay, soiling, or one year’s pasture, to which the crop is to be applied. When pasture is the object, more seed ought to be allowed than is necessary when the crop is to be cut green for soiling; and for hay, less may suffice than for either of the former. Finely pulverized soils do not require so much seed as clays on which clover and ryegrass are very frequently sown among autumn or winter-sown wheat, when there is more danger of a part of it perishing from being imperfectly covered. In general, eight or ten pounds may be taken as the minimum quantity, though there have been instances of good crops from less; and from that to 14 lbs. or more per English statute acre. Ryegrass, commonly at the rate of a bushel per acre, but in many cases only half or two-thirds of a bushel, is mixed with this weight of clover, and both are sown at the same time. The ryegrass may be either of the perennial or annual variety, as it is understood that the herbage is to be continued for only one year; and the annual Γs sometimes sown in preference, as producing a bulkier crop than the. perennial.

In the selection of clover and ryegrass seeds, particular attention should be paid to their quality and cleanness. The purple colour of the clover seed denotes that it has been ripe and well saved, and the seeds of weeds may be detected in it by narrow inspection if there be any; but various noxious weeds are frequently mixed up with the seeds of the ryegrass, which it is difficult either to discover or to separate from them. Between the seeds of the annual and perennial ryegrass the difference is hardly discernible; and therefore, unless it is of his own growth, the cultivator must depend in a great measure on the character of the person from whom he purchases it. Red clover from Holland or France has been found to die out in the season immediately after it has been cut or pastured; while the English seed produces plants which stand over the second, many of them the third year (General Report of Scotland, vol. i. p. 537), thus remaining in the latter case four summers in the ground from the time of sowing.

Clover and ryegrass, as has been already hinted, are made into hay, cut green for being used in soiling, or depastured. As we shall have occasion to speak again of hay-making, we shall here only notice the principal operations.

This sort of herbage ought always to be cut as close to the ground as possible; and the soil, having been previously cleared of any stones that might impede the scythe, and also levelled with a heavy roller, admits of mowing being performed in a very uniform and perfect manner, unless the crop be lodged or broken down by wind. Whatever part of the stems is left by the scythe is not only lost, but the after-growth is neither so vigorous nor so weighty as when the first cutting is taken as low as possible.

Clover and ryegrass are commonly all mown in June, though in the north sometimes not till near the end of July. The time of mowing must, indeed, be determined by the growth of the plants; but it is a common error to allow them to stand too long. They should in every case be cut down before the seeds are formed, that their juices may be as much as possible retained in the hay. When [7:2:292]the stems become hard and sapless, by being allowed to bring their seeds towards maturity, they are of little more value as provender than an equal quantity of the finer-sort of straw of corn.

One of the best among the various modes of hay-making, at least for clover and ryegrass, may be described in a few words. As soon as the swath is thoroughly dry above, it is gently turned over (not tedded or scattered), ’ without breaking it. Sometimes this is done by the hand, or by a small fork; and some farmers are so anxious to prevent the swath from being broken, that they will not permit the use of the rake-shaft. The grass, when turned over in the morning of a dry day, is put into cocks in the afternoon. The mode of performing this is very simple and expeditious; and none but women, boys, and girls, under the eye of a confidential servant, are usually employed. If the crop is heavy, a row of cocks is placed in the middle ridge of three, and if light, of five ridges. A distinct company of carriers and rakers is allotted to every such number of ridges; and the separate companies proceed each on its own ground, in the same manner as in reaping grain, which occasions a degree of competition among them for dispatch, clean raking, and neat well-built cocks. The carriers gather the hay, and carry it to the ridge where the cock is to be built, by one of the most experienced hands. A raker follows the carrier, taking up .and bringing to the cocks the remains of the swath. There may be in general about five people employed about each row of cocks; a carrier and raker on each side of the ridge on which the cocks are placed, and a person on the ridge, who builds them. But when the crop is not weighty, more rakers are required, as a greater space must be gone over.

As the cocks are thus placed in a line, it is easy to put two or more into one afterwards; and the larger cocks may be speedily drawn together, to be put into trampricks, by means of ropes thrown round their bottoms, and dragged along by a horse. It is impossible to lay down any rules for the management of hay after it is put into cocks; one thing is, however, always attended to, not to shake out, scatter, or expose the hay oftener than is really necessary for its preservation. Sometimes the cocks have been put up so large, that they never required to go to a tramp-rick, but were carted to the stack-yard, without ever being broken, and put up in alternate layers with old hay. But where this is attempted, there must not be much clover. The practice of mixing the new with the old hay is, however, a good one, and saves a great deal of time and labour, at the same time that the old hay is much improved by the mixture.

The best managers disapprove of spreading out the swaths of clover and ryegrass, though this is often necessary with natural grasses, which are cut and harvested later in the season. The more the swath is kept unbroken, the hay is the greener and the more fragrant.

Another mode of hay-making, said to have been originally practised in Lancashire, has been found to answer well in the moist atmosphere of the west of Scotland. This is called tippling or rippling ; and, if the grass be dry, the operation begins as soon as it is mown. “In making a tipple, a person, with his right hand, rolls the swath inwards, until he has a little bundle; then the same is done by the left, until both meet, and form 8 to 12 pounds, or nearly so. This bundle is then set up against the legs, or between the feet; a rope is twisted off the grass, while the bundle is supported in this manner, and tied round it, near its top; and from the top are drawn up a few straggling stems, which are twisted, to make the tipple taper to a point, and give it as much a conical shape as possible. If the crop is strong, there is a row of tipples placed on each swath; if light, two of these are put into one row. After standing a few hours, they become so smooth on the outside, that the heaviest rains seldom wet them through; and when wet, they are soon dried again in good weather. As soon as ready, they are put into the summer-rick, or, if very dry, even into the winter-stack, but are never opened out or tedded to make them dry, as they never require it By this method not a blade is lost, and the hay is nearly as green as a leaf dried in a book. In a moderate crop, one woman will tipple to one mower, and a woman will rake to two tipplers or two swathers. But where the crop is strong, it may require three women to keep pace with two mowers. After the hay is put up in this manner, the crop may be considered as secure, though it may continue wet weather for a considerable length of time.” (General Report of Scotland, vol. ii. p. 11.)

Hay is commonly carried to the stack-yard, and built either in circular or oblong stacks (the latter form being most generally approved of), and carefully thatched, as has been already observed in regard to corn. It is never advisable to allow this kind of hay to become heated in any considerable degree in the stack, though a slight exudation, with a very gentle warmth, is usually perceptible, both in the field ricks and in the stacks, for a few days after they are built; but this is quite a different thing from that intentional heating, carried so far, in many instances, as to terminate in conflagration.

The weight of hay from clover and ryegrass varies, according to the soil and the season, from one to three tons per English acre, as it is taken from the tramp-ricks; but after being stacked and kept till spring, the weight is found to be diminished 25 or 30 per cent. Its price per ton depends entirely on situation: at a distance from towns or large villages, in ordinary seasons, the price is usually very low, and the whole of it is generally consumed on the farm that produced it. Its intrinsic value as fodder, in comparison with the straw of beans or peas, may be in the proportion of three to two; and with the finest straw of corn crops, in the proportion of two to one.

Many intelligent cultivators consider ryegrass as a very severe crop for the soil; and it is alleged that wheat does not succeed well after the herbage with which it is intermixed in any considerable quantity. Other plants have accordingly been recommended as a substitute for ryegrass, and cocksfoot (Dactylis glomerata) has been tried, apparently with great success, by Mr Coke of Holkham, in Norfolk, and others. But this is a very coarse grass when allowed to rise to any height, and the use of it for hay has not yet been fully ascertained.

When the hay crop is cut and removed, there is commonly a vigorous after-growth, which may be either cut or pastured. As this consists almost exclusively of red clover, and is extremely succulent, it is seldom made into hay, owing to the difficulty of getting it thoroughly dried at a late period of summer, when other more urgent operations usually employ all the labourers of a farm. If it be cut for this purpose, the best method of saving it is, to mix it up with straw, which will absorb a part of its juices. It is often cut green, as a part of the soiling system; or, where a sheep stock is kept, pastured by the old ewes, or other sorts, that are to be fattened the ensuing winter on turnips.

On all farms under correct management, a part of this! crop is cut green for the working horses, often for milch cows, and in some instances both for growing and fattening cattle. This mode of consuming it is known by the name of soiling. There can be no doubt of the advantages of this practice in regard to horses and cows; but for young and for fattening beasts, a sufficient number of [7:2:293]experiments are not known to have been yet made with any great degree of accuracy. Young animals require exercise in the open air, and probably will not be found to thrive so well in houses or fold-yards, during summer, as on pastures; and though in every case there is a great saving of food, the long, woody, and comparatively naked stems of the plants, with leaves always more or less withered, are perhaps not so valuable in the production of beef on fattening stock, as a much smaller weight of herbage taken in by pasturing. Milch cows, however, are so impatient of heat and insects, that this way of feeding them, at least for a part of the day, in warm weather, ought to be more generally adopted; and the convenience of having working horses always at hand, besides that they fill their stomachs speedily, is of no less importance than economy.^[23. See Communications to the Board of Agriculture, vol. vii.; Brown’s Treatise on Rural Affairs, vol· ii.; General Report of Scotland, vol. ii. and iii. ]

In feeding cattle with green clover, attention must be paid to prevent swelling or hoving, which is very apt to take place when they are first put on this food, especially if it be wet with rain or dew; and cattle are exposed to this danger, whether they are sent to depasture the clover, or have it cut and brought home to them; though, if the plants be somewhat luxuriant, the danger is greater in the former case. After being accustomed to this rich food for a few days, during which it should be given rather sparingly, the danger is much diminished; but it is never safe to allow milch cows, in particular, to eat large quantities of wet clover.

We have hitherto spoken of red clover and ryegrass, as cultivated for the sake of the stems and leaves, and shall now add a few words about the management required when the object is to save their seeds. Ryegrass seed is gathered in almost every part of Britain, but clover seed can seldom be saved in any profitable quantity in the northern parts. In Scotland, red clover is never cultivated for seed.

The common practice in regard to ryegrass is, to let the mixed crop of that and clover stand till the seeds of the former have attained a considerable degree of ripeness, when it is cut down and made into hay in the usual manner; and the seeds of the ryegrass are separated by the use of the flail, commonly before the hay is put into the field-ricks. Sometimes, when but a small quantity is wanted, the hay is merely shaken well upon a cloth, when it is building in the stack-yard; or afterwards, in the stableloft, before it is put into the horses’ racks. But in all of these methods, in order to obtain good seed, the clover must remain uncut beyond the proper season; and it is thus materially injured in quality, while the value of the ryegrass seed, in such a crop, is merely a secondary consideration.

When seed is the principal object of the culture of ryegrass, it ought not to be mixed with clover at all, though it maybe sown along with any of the kinds of corn already mentioned; and it is treated the year after in every respect as a crop of corn; bound up in sheaves, built in stacks, threshed with the flail, and dressed by the winnowing-machine, in the same manner.

The difficulty of distinguishing between the annual and perennial varieties of ryegrass has led to the practice, in some places, of cutting or pasturing the first year’s crop, and taking a crop for seed in the second year. If the growth of the ryegrass plants be close and vigorous the second year, there is reason to be satisfied that the seed is of the perennial variety; and though red clover has been sown with the ryegrass, a great part of it disappears by that time, and forms but a‘small portion of the second year’s cutting.

The seed of red clover is saved with more labour and difficulty. As the plant does not perfect its seed early in summer, it is necessary to take off the first growth, either by feeding or cutting. In the first case, it is eaten till about the end of May, frequently by ewes and lambs; and this is understood to be an advantageous practice, because the land is less exhausted, and the green food is of great value for stock in the spring months. It is not uncommon, however, to cut the first growth for a hay crop; and this should be done earlier than usual.

The growth thus reserved for seed must be suffered to remain till the husks become perfectly brown, when it is cut and harvested in the usual manner, leaving it on the field till it is very dry and crisp, that the seeds may become more fully hardened: it may then be laid up dry, to be threshed out at the farmer’s convenience.

Much labour and expense are necessary in separating the seed from the capsule or seed-coat, especially when it is effected by threshing, which seldom costs less than from five to six or seven shillings per bushel. By the use of mills the work may be done much cheaper.

The produce in seed may generally be from three to four or five bushels per acre when perfectly clean, weighing from two to three hundredweights. But there is great uncertainty in the produce of clover seed, from the lateness of the season at which it becomes ripe; and the fertility of the soil is considerably impaired by such a crop. Yet the high value of the seed is a great inducement to the saving of it, in favourable situations. (Dickson’s Practical Agricultures vol. ii. p. 863.)

When it is intended to retain the land in pasture for several years, the quantity of red clover is diminished, and several kinds of more permanent herbage are added, the most common of which are, white and yellow clover, and ribwort. No general rule can be laid down as to the proper quantity of each of these kinds; in some cases red and white clover are sown in equal proportions, and in others the latter is made greatly to predominate. The yellow clover and ribwort are not often sown at the rate of more than two or three pounds per acre. It is scarcely necessary to add, that in this case the ryegrass should always be of the perennial sort.

When permanent pasture is the object, a still greater variety of seeds has been recommended. But as cultivators are by no means agreed on this point, and as the different kinds and proportions which are thought best adapted to different soils have none of them the sanction of extensive experience, we shall refer the reader to the third volume of Communications to the Board of Agricultures which is wholly occupied with essays on the best means of breaking up old grass-lands, and restoring them after a few years to permanent pasture.

15. Lucerne.

This is a deep-rooting perennial plant, that sends up numerous tall clover-like shoots, which bear blue or violet-coloured flowers. It is much cultivated in the south of Europe, and has also been found to answer in some parts of England, though the principal seat of its culture is Kent. The Roman writers Be lie Rustica extol this plant beyond all reasonable bounds, and are very minute in their directions about its cultivation. Lucerne requires a very deep, [7:2:294]friable soil, inclining to sand, with a subsoil of a similar character. It is sown, either in drills or broad-cast, in March or early in April, and sometimes along with barley; the quantity of seed being from 15 to 20 pounds if sown in the latter way, and from 8 to 12 if in the former. It must always be kept free from weeds, and should be top-dressed with dung or other manure at least every five or six years. Some prefer giving it a slight dressing every spring. It is consumed in much the same way .as clover, either in a green state, or after being made into hay. In some very favourable situations it admits of being cut five times in the course of the summer. It is an excellent food in its green state, both for horses and milch cows; and if it be equal in the quantity of its produce to a full crop of red clover, and continue in a productive state for nine or ten years with only the expense of occasional top-dressings, it would appear to be entitled to a preference on all suitable soils and situations. The failure of clover on lands where it has been long or too frequently grown, a fact which seems to be generally admitted, may induce our farmers to make trials of lucerne in places where it is yet very little known; and it may possibly in time become so inured to our climate as to answer in parts of the island where it is now thought unlikely to succeed. Though it can never come into our rotations like red clover, on lands kept under an alternate course of corn and green crops, not attaining its most productive state in a single year, yet it may be introduced upon those soils which require to be kept from the plough, and in pasture for several years, before they are restored to tillage.

16. Saintfoin.

This is also a deep-rooting perennial plant, suited to dry, warm, chalky soils. It is sown in February or March, at the rate of about four bushels to the acre, sometimes along with barley or other kinds of grain; is ready for being mown the second year, and may last from seven to ten years, though in its greatest perfection in about three years. The produce in hay is from 1½ ton to 2 tons per acre. It is mown for soiling or hay, or pastured in the same way as clover. If the crop is chiefly taken off by mowing, it must be occasionally top-dressed with manure or peat ashes.

17. Flax and Hemp.

The soil most proper for flax is one that is deep, friable, and rather moist. It often succeeds well in lands taken up from grass, or after only one crop of corn. In Ireland it is usually sown by the small farmers after potatoes. The land must be well pulverized before the seed is sown, cleared of stones or roots, and rolled after the seed is put in. The usual time of sowing is from the middle of March to the end of April. Dutch seed is in the highest estimation, affording a greater produce than the American seed, and a finer quality than the Riga. The after-culture consists in taking up the weeds as they rise,—a very tedious process if the land be at all foul, as it can only be done by the hand,—and in some cases in the further use of the roller. The crop is raised by pulling up the plants by the root: immediately after, they are put into a pool to be steeped or watered; and, when taken out of the pool, spread out upon grass-land to dry and bleach. The time allowed for steeping and bleaching varies with the condition of the plant and the state of the weather, but need seldom exceed 10 or 12 days for each. But both these processes may be dispensed with by the use of Hill and Bundy’s patent machines, by which the entire preparation may be completed in six days. The produce in seed, when that is the object, is from 6 to 8, and sometimes as high as 10 or 12 bushels per acre. The best of it is kept for sowing again, the next quality is crushed for oil, and the inferior is boiled or steamed for cattle. The cake itself, or the residuum after the oil has been expressed from the seed, is alone a valuable article in the fattening of live stock and in the rearing of calves. The produce of flax in fibre may vary from 3 cwts. to half a ton the acre.

Hemp requires a deep, black, vegetable soil, somewhat inclined to moisture; and the preparation and season for sowing, and the after-culture and management, are all nearly the same as for flax. But the male plants are usually taken up four or five weeks before the female, so as to give the latter time to ripen their seeds.

Flax and hemp, when allowed to ripen their seeds, are considered exhausting crops, even more so than corn; and, in most parts of Britain, are so uncertain in their produce, that their cultivation has hitherto been very limited. But a great deal of flax is raised in Ireland.

18. Hops.

The hop has been long cultivated extensively in several parts of England, and would probably answer in the south of Ireland; but it is not adapted to the climate of Scotland. In the most favourable situations it is a most precarious crop, sometimes yielding large profits, and at others scarcely defraying the expenses of management. The soils most favourable to the growth of hops are clays and strong deep loams, with a dry, friable subsoil.

“When it is intended to make a new plantation, the best method is to have cuttings from approved stock planted out the year before they are wanted in the hopground, as the use of plants instead of cuttings not only gains a year, but they are more certain to flourish, as many of the cuttings will not take root in a dry season, unless they are watered, which is seldom resorted to. A small piece of moist land is sufficient to raise plants for many acres, and at little expense. If the ground be in grass, some would pare and burn the surface, and take a crop of grain, which is not so advisable as paring and digging in the sods. The land is worked with a spade, and set out into ridges of 3½ yards wide, and two yards between each, having a strip of grass (called a pillar) next every ridge, and an open drain between every two pillars, the depth of which must vary according to the soil, some being less than one foot, and others nearly four feet in depth. Three rows of plants, or, as they are termed, hills, are made upon each ridge, which should intersect each other. They are generally nearly two yards distant in the rows, so that about 1300 are the usual number of hills in a statute acre; but as some grounds, where only two poles are set at each hill, are in narrower ridges, the number of hills is consequently greater.' Small sticks are proper to tie the bines up to the first year, then small poles for a year or two, the size of which should be gradually increased. Some set two poles to every hill, which is proper for ground producing luxuriant bines; but on clay land, three poles are set in a triangular form to the hills on the two outside rows of each ridge, and only two in the middle row. Many additional poles, longer than the rest, called catch-poles, are also set to take the bines as they run beyond the lesser poles. Where the bine is weak, three heads are commonly trained up each pole; though two are better, if strong. Their course round the pole is the contrary to that of the kidney-bean. If the ground intended for a new plantation is not clean from couchgrass, a complete fallow is essential, whether it is grass or stubble; and a crop of turnips may be taken to advantage if the land is proper for their growth, and can be made clean, as hops are planted in March.
[7:2:295]

"The expense of taking up hop-ground is from five to six pounds per acre, as the price of planting varies with the mode pursued; and if the drains are required to be deep, or the soil is particularly strong, a still greater sum will be expended; to which may be added L.25 per acre for poles, before the ground has its full quantity; and also the rent, taxes, &c. and the working for three years, before many hops can be expected. A substantial building for an oast or kiln cannot be erected for L.100, if it has store-rooms necessary for only five acres. The following are termed the annual orders :—Digging the ground completely over, hoeing the earth from the hills, and cutting off the stock a little above the root, which are called pickling and cutting; poling, which is carrying the poles from the stacks, and setting them down to the hills with a round implement shod with iron, and called a poy, having a crutch at the top, and a peg through the middle to tread upon; tying the bines round the poles with rushes, and pulling up the superfluous bines; hoeing the ground all over with a hoe of large dimensions; wheeling and laying manure upon every hill; covering the manure with the soil, which is done by scraping the ground over with a hoe, and is called hilling; and stacking, which is carrying and setting up the poles into heaps or stacks, after the crop has been taken. The annual expense of these orders varies from L.2. 15s. to L.3, 5s. per acre.

“As to the manure most proper for the hop-culture, good stable dung is much used, and is preferred to the manure made by cattle, as the latter encourages ants on strong ground. Woollen rags are the best for forcing a luxuriant bine, and, if used with judgment, are excellent for clay ground; but they are apt to make the hops small, if too many are used. Malt culm and dove manure are excellent; and one complete dressing with lime is very serviceable for strong ground.

a When the crop is ripe, a proper number of pickers are procured, for whom are provided light wooden frames, called binges: they are clothed with hop-bagging, into which the hops are picked off the poles by women and children, having them brought by men, who take them up by cutting the bines about a foot above the ground, and drawing up the poles by an instrument called a dragon. Each binge has from four to six pickers, and a man attends to one or two binges, according to the crop; he strips the bines from the poles as they are picked, and lays them in heaps ready for stacking; he also carries the hops to the kilns, if near, or to a cart as they are measured from the binge. It is necessary to have a supply of cokes in the kilns to dry the hops, which are spread on a hair-cloth which is upon an upper open floor of wood, above the fire or fires, every noon and midnight, whilst the picking continues. They are stirred repeatedly, and, when cured, are turned oft’ into the store-room, to be put into bags and pockets (after they have been there about a week), which is done by fixing each bag ("being first legally marked with the grower’s name, &c.) in a frame, and treading the hops in. The excise-officer, who attends during the season, then weighs them, and charges 2d. per pound for the duty, when they become marketable.

“From the foregoing particulars, it will appear that there is scarcely any hop ground but costs yearly upwards of L12 per acre (exclusive of the picking and duty, which may exceed L.20 per acre, or be very little); and there are other grounds in which upwards of L.20 per acre are annually expended; so the average may be said to be about L.15 per acre, without the picking, drying, and duty.

“If a good plantation produces 10 cwt. per acre in a crop year, which are sold at L.5 per cwt., the annual expenses being L.20, and the picking, &c. and duty L.20> the profit will be L.10; and admitting that the same ground pays all expenses in a blight year, and supposing that to be every third year, the profits would be nearly L.7 per acre annually; but, as the foregoing crop cannot be expected on any ground every other year, the produce of the third year may be stated at 5 cwt. per acre, at 8 guineas per cwt., deducting the annual expenses, L.20, and the picking and duty, L.12.

“This plant is extremely liable to disasters, from its first putting up in the spring, until the time of picking the crop, which is in September. Snails or slugs, ants and fleas, are formidable enemies in the first instance. Frosts are inimical to its growth; and the bines are frequently blighted, even after they have readied the top of the poles. Small green flies, and other insects, which make their appearance in the months of May and June, when the wind is about north-east, often greatly injure them; and they are subject to take damage by high winds from the south-west. The best situation for a plantation, therefore, is a southern aspect, well shaded on three sides, either by hills or planting, which is supposed to be the chief protection that can be given them.” We have taken these observations on hops from an able communication by Mr Parkinson, himself a hop-grower, given in the Farmer’s Magazine, vol. xvi.

On a suitable soil, a hop plantation may continue for fifteen years or more, but commonly begins to fall off about the tenth year. The expense of forming one has been estimated in all at from L.70 to L.100 per acre. One objection to the cultivation of hops is, that they require a great deal of dung, which in most cases can only be procured by abstracting it from the tillage-lands. On the other hand, it is admitted, that upon suitable soils, and under good management, they make a very profitable return.

19. Crops occasionally cultivated.

Under this head we may notice a few plants, which, though of some local importance, cannot be considered as forming an object to agriculturists generally.

1. The Fullers Thistle or Teazle, the heads of which are used for raising the nap on woollen cloths. It is grown in Essex and the west of England.

2. Wood. This is now chiefly cultivated in Lincolnshire. It is used in dyeing, as a basis for black and other colours.

3. Weld or Dyer’s Weed is cultivated in some parts of England, chiefly in Essex, and used for giving a yellow colour to cotton, &c.

4. Spurry {spergula arvensis), which is a diminutive annual weed, that grows on dry, sandy corn lands in most parts of Europe. In Germany and the Netherlands it is sown on corn stubbles, and fed off with sheep; and is said to enrich the milk of cows, and improve the quality of mutton. Some writers have recommended its cultivation in England, where it probably would not pay the expense of seed and labour.

5. Fiorin. This plant has been strongly recommended, within these few years, by the late Dr Richardson of Ireland, as suitable, not for meadows or hay ground only, but also for arable land; and for this reason it is noticed here. In consequence of that gentleman’s writings, trials were made of it upon a variety of soils in different parts of Scotland, particularly and upon a large scale at Dalswinton in Dumfries-shire; and the result seems to be, that though a heavy crop of it may certainly be procured on mossy or peaty soils, yet that upon all other descriptions of land it is not by any means so valuable as the crops already in [7:2:296]use. It does not admit of being pastured, affords only one cutting in the year, requires to be top-dressed with ashes or other manure; and after all, upon moderately dry soils, the produce is of very little value. We have seen a crop of it upon rather dry land, under the management prescribed by the doctor himself, which would scarcely pay the expense of cutting and carrying to the farm-yard. Still we think it deserves the notice of those who possess moss lands, as there can be no doubt of its having yielded a large produce under the doctor’s own management, and we believe also on a similar soil at Dalswinton. It is certainly relished by horses and other live stock.

6. Buck Wheat. In this country buck wheat is chiefly cultivated for feeding poultry, pigeons, and hogs; though it is also used in the distilleries, and occasionally the meal is made into thin cakes for bread. It will grow on almost any soil, and may produce on an average from 3 to 4 quarters the acre. The season of sowing is the last week of April, or first week of May. When allowed to stand for a crop, there is nothing worthy of particular notice in its after-culture or management; but some think it of most value when ploughed down green, as a preparation for other crops.

7. Maize or Indian Corn is now under trial in this country by Mr William Cobbett, who is very sanguine of success. It has been hitherto considered as a crop quite unsuited to the climate of Britain.

8. Kelp. The plants from which this substance is made can hardly be said to belong to agriculture, yet it is nevertheless of too much importance in many parts of Scotland and Ireland to be passed over without notice. It is made from different varieties of the fuci, among which the fucus vesiculosus is considered the most productive. The plants which grow on the sea-coast are cut in the summer months, and dried and burned in a rude sort of kiln on the spot. It is of great importance to preserve them from the rain when they have been laid out to dry. The plants may be cut when two or three years old. There are immense tracts on the coast of the mainland and islands of Scotland, where it is thought kelp might be produced merely by putting down stones upon the vacant spaces. During the late war, the best sorts of kelp sometimes sold for L.20 per ton, and the land-owners derived a very considerable profit from its manufacture; but since the peace, barilla having come again into our market at a reduced price, that of kelp has fallen so low as to yield little or no profit, after defraying the necessary expenses. The principal consumption of kelp is in the manufacture of glass and soap. The barilla plant itself, it is believed, might be tried in this country, with a reasonable prospect of success. It has been introduced into France, where the produce was found to be as good in quality as that procured from Alicant. But the most important step, perhaps, would be to improve the manufacture of our own kelp; a point to which the Highland Society of Scotland has very properly given much of its attention of late, and in whose publications a great deal of useful information will be found upon the subject.

The following account of the manufacture in the island of Harris, one of the western isles of Scotland, is from the 6th volume of the Prize Essays and Transactions of that Society, published in 1824.

“1. The quantity of kelp manufactured on the farm of Strond this season was 115 tons.

“2. All the kelp was made from cut-ware of two years’ growth.

« 3. The plants used were, fucus nodosus, or lady-ware; fucus vesiculosus, or bell-ware; and fucus serratus, or black-ware.

“It may not be superfluous to remark, that all the kelp made of cut-ware is from these different plants, and that they are always mixed together, as the different varieties' grow on kelp-shores generally, and in the following order :—The fucus nodosus grows on that part of the shore between high-water spring-tides and high-water neap-tides; and mucous bell-ware, named graepach by the manufacturers, is interspersed with it. As these kinds of ware are but seldom covered by the sea, they are short, and only a little of them can be obtained. The fucus vesiculosus, or bell-ware, grows on that part of the shore between high-water neap-tides and low-water neap-tides. From the circumstance of this ware being alternately covered by the sea and exposed to the air for nearly the same space of time, it grows stronger than any of the other varieties; is consequently more plentiful, and most productive. That part of it which grows near low-water-mark neap-tides is of a thinner texture, and is called floating-ware, or gleurach. The fucus serratus, or blackware, grows between low-water neap-tides and low-water spring-tides; this variety of ware is plentiful on such shores as are flat, and which only ebb with spring-tides. Black-ware makes good kelp, but is not so productive, from its thin texture.

“Different varieties of tangle-ware appear lower down than the black-ware at low-water spring-tides, but are not cut for kelp-making in those parts, and are only used when drifted ashore for making cast-ware kelp. ii 4. The specimens of Strond kelp now sent to the Society were taken without any pains of selection, from about 60 tons of the kelp; each specimen sent being taken from different kelp-kilns, containing from 2 to 2½ tons of kelp each. All the kelp made on the farm was equal in quality to the specimens sent, with the exception of about 6 tons, which were made in a bay into which there is a run of fresh water, and where the ware is only covered with salt water with spring-tides. Kelp made of such ware contains less of the alkaline salts than when it is made from that which grows on strong tide-ways.

“5. The kelp from which the specimens were taken was sold by Messrs Macdonald and Ravenscroft, agents, Liverpool, for L.10. 5s.

“6. The process of manufacturing this kelp is as follows, and though similar, may be found to differ in some respects from the general mode of kelp-making. Wherein I consider this difference lies I will point out, by underscoring that part of the description of the process.

“1. The ware is cut off the rocks with a common hook, similar to that used for shearing (reaping), but stronger, and having a rougher edge.

“2. Care is taken to land the ware on clean spreading ground; and if any sand or mud is found to stick to the ware, it is always washed before landing it.

“3. The ware is spread out every dry day, and made into small cocks at night. When in this way it is found to be pretty dry, it is made into larger cocks, and left to heat in them for six or eight days; but if the ware is of that description which I have mentioned above as growing in bays into which there is a run of water, suck ware is always left in large cocks for 15 or 20 days.

“4. The ware being thus secured, a dry day with a good breeze of wind is watched for, in order to burn it.

“5. The kelp-kilns are constructed of middlesized[7:2:297] stones, of hard texture, and built up carelessly; the outsides of the kilns are covered with turf; die length of each kiln is from 15 to 18 feet, breadth 2½ feet, height 2 feet. They are made on the surface of the ground, and on the firmest sward they can find.

“6. The process of burning is as follows :— A small bundle of straw or heather is set on fire; the dryest part of the ware is placed over this, and gradually added, until the flames become general through the kiln; then the ware to be burnt is thrown in, little by little, till the whole is reduced to ashes. If, however, it happens that the day is too calm, or that the ware is not sufficiently dry, so that the ashes cool and cake into white crusts, the manufacturer stops burning any more, until he rakes all the ashes in the kiln ; then commences burning again, and goes on in this way until he has the whole thoroughly burnt. Want of attention to this method leaves kelp of a white colour and porous texture.

“7. The last process is the raking or working of the ashes, with an iron with a wooden handle, made for the purpose, until the whole is brought into a solid semi-vitrified state. Most manufacturers commence this process immediately after the last part of the ware is put into the kiln, and when a good deal of the ware is not sufficiently burnt, and of a black colour. The Strond manufacturers, however, do not commence raking the ashes for at least half an hour after the last of the ware is put on, so that the whole may be thoroughly burnt. Want of attention to this particular leaves kelp of an ugly black colour.

“The raking of the ashes is simply done by working the kclp-irons through it until the whole becomes a semi-vitrified mass. Three or four men are employed at this process; if fewer, the ashes will not be sufficiently worked, and consequently a great part of them must be mixed in the next burning.

“ Finally, The kelp is broken into pieces of about 2 cwt.; these are made into conical heaps, covered with dry ware, and over that is placed a layer of turf, which secures the kelp tolerably well, if early shipped.”

9. Sea-grass (zostera marina) is a plant which abounds in the Orkney Islands, and has lately come into use for stuffing chairs, mattresses, and other sorts of furniture in which horse-hair was formerly used. When properly prepared, it is found to be elastic and durable, and is not subject to the attacks of those insects which often infest mattresses made of wool or cotton.

The following account of this plant is taken from the Prize Essays and Transactions of the Highland Society, vol. vi. and was written in 1823.

“The zostera generally grows at such depths as to be left nearly dry by the ebbing of spring-tides.

“The leaves remain attached to the stem until the month of September, and during the autumn and beginning of winter are thrown ashore in large quantities.

“As this plant floats near the surface of the water, it is always driven before the wind; unlike the other marine plants of these islands, which (with the exception of fucus vesiculosus, whose air-vessels keep it afloat) remain near the bottom, and are forced ashore, against the wind, by the ground-swell or reflux of the waves.

“The sea-grass is used by the inhabitants of these islands as manure for their fields, for which purpose it is either gathered into heaps with other marine plants, and allowed to ferment before being applied to the land, or formed into compost with earth, litter, &c.; in both of which ways it is found to answer well.

“It is also used by the poorer classes of labourers or cottars as thatch for their houses, and in this way forms a good defence against the violent winds and heavy rains of their rude climate, for two years.

“Its application as a substitute for horse-hair, in stuffing mattresses and furniture, was unknown in these islands until the attention of a few individuals was devoted to it by the offer of a premium by the Highland Society of Scotland, for its preservation for that purpose, and with a view to its introduction as a useful article of manufacture.

“The list of premiums offered by the society happening to come into the hands of the writer of this brief and imperfect sketch during last autumn, he conceived he might employ some of his people profitably in collecting, washing, and drying the grass for sale. The season being unluckily too far advanced for procuring any large quantity, he prepared, by way of experiment, 1 ton 3 cwts. 14 lbs. which his agent has since sold to the manager of the Asylum for the Industrious Blind at Edinburgh, at the rate of 12s. 9d. per cwt. On this quantity, which grossed L.14. 15s. his net profit did not exceed L.8; but this partly arose from inexperience in the mode of preparing it. On a quantity amounting to nearly three tons, which he has got ready for market within these few weeks, the expenses of washing, drying, and picking, have not amounted to more than half of the charge on the smaller quantity first noticed. The first was carefully washed twice in vessels filled with fresh water, and dried quickly, and then any sea-weed that had floated ashore with it picked out when dry. The last was carted to a freshwater lake, and steeped during a week, when it was taken out, and picked by boys and young girls while spread wet upon the ground. If properly steeped, exposure to drought for one day will make it sufficiently dry for packing. WTιen dry, care must be taken, if the weather is windy, to gather it into heaps or cocks, otherwise it may be blown away, being then extremely light. The first quantity prepared was sent to market in large bags of sacking, of the size of wool-packages, very hard packed; yet that small quantity required 14 bags to contain it. The last has been twisted into ropes, of the thickness of a man’s waist, and then compactly made up in nets formed of ropes made of bent-grass.

“The zostera is a plant of a very imperishable nature, and may be kept for any length of time in fresh or salt water, without any apparent decay. Should a sufficient demand arise for this grass, at a fair price, any quantity could be collected in the Orkney Islands that the market could require; and it would furnish a species of labour well adapted to old people past hard work, and young people not yet able for hard work. The wages generally given for such sort of work at present is 6d. per day, which is more than can be earned by plaiting straw, the staple employment of young people in the Orkney Islands.”

Sect. VII. Succession of Crops.

There is no branch of husbandry that requires more judgment, nor any on which the profits of the farmer more depend, than the order in which the several crops cultivated are made to succeed one another. The general rule is, that culmiferous crops, ripening their seeds, should not be repeated, without the intervention of pulse, roots, herbage, or fallow. This rule is recognised in the practice[7:2:298] and writings of all judicious cultivators, more generally, perhaps, than any other in the whole compass of the art of agriculture.

With regard to the particular plants that enter into the course of cropping, these, it is evident, must be such as are suited to the soil and climate, though they will be somewhat varied by local circumstances, such as the proximity of towns and villages, where there is a greater demand for turnips, potatoes, hay, &c. than in thinly peopled districts. In general, beans, and clover with ryegrass, are interposed between corn crops on clayey soils, and turnips, potatoes, and clover and ryegrass, on dry loams and sands, or what are technically known by the name of turnip soils. A variety of other plants, such as peas, tares, cabbages, and carrots, occupy a part, though commonly but a small part, of that division of a farm which is allotted to green crops. This order of succession is called the system of alternate husbandry ; and on rich soils, or such as have access to abundance of putrescent manure, it is certainly the most productive of all, both in food for man and for the inferior animals. One half of a farm is, in this course, always under some of the different species of Cereal gramina, and the other half under pulse, roots, cultivated herbage, or plain fallow.

But the greater part of the arable land of Britain cannot be maintained in a fertile state under this management; and sandy soils, even though highly manured, soon become too incohesive under a course of constant tillage. It therefore becomes necessary to leave that division, or break, that carries cultivated herbage, to be pastured for two years or more, according to the degree of its consistency and fertility; and all the fields of a farm are treated thus in their turn, if they require it/ This is called the system of convertible husbandry ; a regular change being constantly going on from aration to pasturage, and vice versa.

Another rule with regard to the succession of crops, is not to repeat the same kind of crop at too short intervals. Whatever may be the cause,—whether it is to be sought for in the nature of the soil, or of the plants themselves, experience clearly proves the advantages of introducing a diversity of species into every course of cropping. When land is pastured several years before it is brought again under the plough, there may be less need for adhering steadily to this rule; but the degeneracy of wheat and other corn crops recurring upon the same land every second year for a long period, has been very generally acknowledged. It is the same with what are called green crops; beans and peas, potatoes, turnips, and in an especial manner red clover, become all of them much less productive, and much more liable to disease, when they come into the course, upon the same land, every second, third, or fourth year. But what the interval ought to be has not yet been determined, and (from the great num· ber of years that experiments must be continued to give any certain result) probably cannot be determined, until the component parts of soils, and particularly the sort of vegetable nourishment which each species of plants extracts from the soil, have been more fully investigated.

A change of the variety, as well as of the species, and . even of the plants of the same variety, is found to be attended with advantage; and in the latter case, or a change of seed, the species and variety being the same, the practice is almost universal. It is well known, that of two parcels of wheat, for instance, as much alike in quality as possible, the one, which had grown on a soil differing much from that on which it is to be sown, will yield a better produce than the other that grew in the same, or a similar soil and climate. The farmers of Scotland, accord ingly, find that wheat from the south, even though it be not, as it -usually is, better than their own, is a very advantageous change; and oats and other grain, brought from a clayey to a sandy soil, other things being equal, are more productive than such as grew on the sandy soil

With these general remarks we proceed to mention the most approved rotations on the two general classes of soil, namely, what are called heavy and light, or clay and turnip soils.

1. Rotations on Clay Soils.

We have already endeavoured to establish the necessity of a naked or summer fallow on land of this description; and beginning with this as the commencement of the course, one of the most approved rotations is,—

1. Fallow with manure;

2. Wheat with seeds;

3. Red clover with ryegrass;

4. Oats;

5. Beans drilled and horse-hoed;

6. Wheat.

In this course, manure should be applied either to the clover stubble before it is broken up for oats, or before the beans are sown.

This rotation has been found to answer on clayey soils generally, but upon those of a superior quality it may be extended to eight years. In that case the order of the crops is,—

1. Fallow;

2. Wheat;

3. Beans;

4. Barley;

5. Red clover and ryegrass;

6. Oats;

7. Beans; and

8. Wheat.

Upon soils of an inferior description, or thin clays, a four years course is,—

1. Fallow with manure;

2. Wheat;

3. Red clover and ryegrass;

4. Oats; and it is considered an improvement on this course to let the clover and ryegrass division stand to be pastured for two or three years. In that case the ryegrass should be of the perennial description; and white clover must be added to the red in an equal or greater proportion.

In particular situations, where the soil is either very rich or can be abundantly supplied with manure, it has been found profitable to cultivate wheat and beans, and wheat and potatoes, for several years in succession.

2. Turnip Soils.

On the best description of such soils as do not require a naked fallow, but which admit of turnips being grown and consumed upon the ground, a favourite rotation is,—

1. Turnips, of which at least two-thirds should be eaten by sheep where they grow;

2. Spring wheat or barley, sown from time to time as the turnips are cleared away;

3. Clover and ryegrass;

4. Wheat.

On land of a medium quality, and without an extrasupply of manure, this has been found a very exhausting course, and ought not to be persisted in. Instead of taking two crops of wheat in the four years, it is better to take only one of wheat and one of barley; and the greater part of the clover and ryegrass should, as indeed is usually the case, be pastured the first year, instead of being cut for hay.
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By much the greater proportion of turnip soils, however, do not admit even of this modified course, but require, after being sown with grass-seeds, to be retained in pasture for two or more years. The most common period we believe is three years, but upon sandy soils it is better to continue the land, in pasturage for five or six years; and on land of this description wheat should not be attempted at all. The rotation would then be,—

1. Turnips, to be nearly all consumed on the ground;

2. Barley;

3. Red and white clover, with perennial ryegrass, to which is sometimes added ribwort (plantago lanceolatα) and other seeds suited to such soils; the land to be continued in pasture for at least three years, and broken up with,

4. Oats or rye; the latter will often be found the more profitable.

The general rule in all these cases is, that culmiferous crops ripening their seeds must never follow one another without the intervention of a fallow, or a cleansing and ameliorating crop.

Though these be the rotations most generally approved by our best farmers, yet deviations from them may be permitted in particular cases without injury either to the soil or the cultivator. In the neighbourhood of large towns, and in other situations where an abundant supply of manure can be obtained, the crops are not only varied in the order of succession, but others may be''Substituted for some of those before mentioned. Thus, potatoes near large towns are often found more profitable than turnip, as they serve to prepare the land for wheat, which is almost always the next crop. And it is to be understood that peas, potatoes, cabbages, rape, and other green crops, are not to be considered as excluded from the general rotations; on the contrary, it is usual 'to sow a small proportion of peas along with the beans, and to allot part of the division under turnips for potatoes, rape, &c. ç but those we have mentioned occupy the greater part of each division.

Sect. VIII. Manures.

Under this head we shall notice the several substances most extensively employed, with their management and application, without going into detail as to the various articles of this kind that are to be procured only in small quantities, or in particular situations, and which are therefore used on a very limited scale.

1. Farm-yard Dung.

This manure, composed chiefly of the straw of grain, and the excrementitious substances of live stock, is the principal, and in most instances the only fertilizer of the soil to which farmers have access. Its use is so universal and so well known, that a very few observations will suffice.

As straw is the basis of this compost, every judicious farmer takes care to have his crops cut as low as possible, as it is evident to every one that a few inches of straw towards the root-end adds much to the weight of the crop. From every ton of dry straw about three tons of farm-yard dung may be obtained, if the after-management be properly conducted; and as the weight of straw per acre runs from 1 ton to 1½, about 4 tons of dung, on an average of the different crops, may be produced from the straw of every acre under corn. (Husbandry of Scotland, vol. ii.)

The straw is served out to cattle and horses in the houses and fold-yards, either as provender or litter, commonly for both purposes; and turnips in winter, and green clover in summer, on which food the animals pass a great deal of urine, afford the means of converting the straw into a richer manure than if it were all eaten by itself.

All the dung from the houses, as they are cleaned out, ought to be regularly spread over the yards, in which young cattle are left loose, where litter is usually allowed in great abundance; or over the dunghill itself, if there be one at hand. This renders the quality of the whole mass more uniform; and the horse-dung, which is of a hot nature, promotes the decomposition of the woody fibres of the straw.

At a convenient season, usually during the frosts of winter, this mass of materials is carted out to the field to which it is to be applied, and neatly built in dunghills of a square form, three or four feet high, and of such a length and breadth as circumstances may require. What is laid up in this manner early in winter is commonly sufficiently prepared for turnips in June; but if it be not carried from the straw-yards till spring, it is necessary to turn it once or oftener, for the purpose of accelerating the decomposition of the strawy part of the mass. When dung is applied to fallows in July or August, preparatory to autumn-sown wheat, a much Jess degree of putrefaction will suffice than for turnips—a clay soil, on which alone fallows should ever be resorted to, not requiring dung so much rotted as a finely pulverized turnip soil; and besides, as the wheat does not need all the benefit of the dung for some time, the woody fibre is gradually broken down in the course of the winter, and the nourishment of the plants continued till spring or later, when its effects are most beneficial.

In the application of dung to land under tillage, particular attention should be paid to the cleanness of the soil, and to use it at the time when, from the pulverization of the ground, it may be most intimately mixed with it. The most common time of manuring with farm-yard dung is, therefore, either towards the conclusion of the fallowing operations, or immediately before the sowing of fallow crops. If no dung can be procured but what is made from the produce of the farm, it will seldom be possible to allow more than ten or twelve tons to every acre, when the land is managed under a regular course of white and green crops; and it is thought more advantageous to repeat this dose at short intervals, than to give a larger quantity at once, and at a more distant period in proportion. ( General Report of Scotland, vol. ii. p. 517.)

Farm-yard dung, it is well known, is greatly reduced in value by being exposed to the atmosphere in small heaps previous to being spread, and still more after being spread. Its rich juices are exhaled by the sun, or washed away by the rains, and the residuum is comparatively worthless. This is in an especial manner the case with long fresh dung, the far greater part of which consists of wet straw in an entire state. All careful farmers, accordingly, spread and cover in their dung with the plough as soon as possible after it is brought on the land.

It has been urged by a celebrated chemist, that farmyard dung ought not to be allowed to ferment in any considerable degree, as during a violent fermentation a large quantity not only of fluid but likewise of gaseous matter is lost, which, if retained by the moisture in the soil, would be capable of becoming a useful nourishment to plants. He therefore recommends that it should be applied after a slight incipient fermentation, which he admits to be useful in bringing on a disposition in the woody fibre to decay and dissolve; and this is always, he adds, in great excess in the refuse of a farm. (Davy’s Agricultural Chemistry, p. 302. 8vo.)

From a recent publication (Husbandry of Scotland [7:2:300] vol. i. p. 174), the practice of the best farmers of turnip soils in Scotland appears to be decidedly adverse to the use of fresh dung; and its inutility, or rather injurious effects, from its opening the soil too much, is a matter of experience with every one who cultivates drilled turnips on a large scale. As the whole farm-yard dung on such land is applied to the turnip crop, it must necessarily happen that it should be laid on in different stages of putrefaction; and what is made very late in spring, often after a very slight fermentation, or none at all. The experience of the effects of recent dung is accordingly very general, and the result in almost every case is, that the growth of the young plants is slow,—that they remain long in a feeble and doubtful state,—and that they seldom, in ordinary seasons, become a full crop, even though twice the quantity that is given of short muck has been allowed.

On the other hand, when the manure is considerably decomposed, the effects are immediate, the plants rise vigorously, and soon put forth their rough leaf, after which the beetle or fly does not seize on them; and in a few weeks the leaves become so large, that the plants probably draw the greater part of their nourishment from the atmosphere.

Though it were true, therefore, that more nutritive matter were given out by a certain quantity of dung applied in a recent state, and allowed to decompose gradually in the soil, than if applied after undergoing fermentation and putrefaction, the objection arising from the slowness of its operation would, in many instances, be an insuperable one with farmers.

But there seems reason to doubt whether fresh strawy manure would ferment much in the soil, after being spread out in so small a quantity as has been already mentioned; and also, whether in the warm dry weather of summer, the shallow covering of earth given by the plough would not permit the gaseous matters to escape to a much greater amount than if fermentation had been completed in a well-built covered dunghill.

Another great objection to the use of fresh farm-yard dung is, that the seeds and roots of those plants with which it commonly abounds spring up luxuriantly on the land; and this evil nothing but a considerable degree of fermentation can obviate. The mass of materials consists of the straw of various crops, some of the grains of which, after all the care that can be taken, will adhere to the straw,—of the dung of different animals, voided, as is often the case with horses fed on oats, with the grain in an entire state,—and of the roots, stems, and seeds of the weeds that had grown among the straw, clover, and hay, and such as had been brought to the houses and foldyards with the turnips and other roots given to live stock.

No rule of universal application can be laid down on this subject; the degree of decomposition to which farmyard dung should arrive before it can be deemed a profitable manure, must depend on the texture of the soil, the nature of the plants, and the time of its application. In general, clayey soils, more tenacious of moisture, and more benefited by being rendered incohesive and porous, may receive manure less decomposed than well-pulverized turnip soils require. Some plants, too, seem to thrive better with fresh dung than others,—potatoes in particular; but all the small-seeded plants, such as turnips, clover, carrots, &c. which are extremely tender in the early stage of their growth, require to be pushed forward into luxuriant vegetation with the least possible delay, by means of short dung. The season when manure is applied is also a material circumstance. In spring and summer, whether it be used for corn or green crops, the object is to produce an immediate effect, and it should therefore be more completely decomposed than may be necessary when it is laid on in autumn for a crop whose condition will be almost stationary for several months.

2. Lime.

Next to farm-yard dung, lime is in most general use ash a manure, though it is one of a quite different character; and when judiciously applied, and the land laid to pasture, or cultivated for white and green crops alternately, with an adequate allowance of putrescent manure, its effects are much more lasting, and in many instances still more beneficial, than those of farm-yard dung. Fossil manures “must produce their effect, either by becoming a constituent part of the plant, or by acting upon its more essential food, so as to render it more fitted for the purposes of vegetable life.” (Davy’s Agricultural Chemistry, p. 314.) It is perhaps in the former of these ways that wheat and some other plants are brought to perfection after lime has been applied upon land that would not bring them to maturity by the most liberal use of dung alone.

“The most common form in which lime is found on the surface of the earth, is in a state of combination with carbonic acid or fixed air. If a piece of limestone or chalk be thrown into a fluid acid, there will be an effervescence. This is owing to the escape of the carbonic acid gas. The lime becomes dissolved in the liquor. When limestone is strongly heated, the carbonic acid gas is expelled, and then nothing remains but the pure alkaline earth; in this case there is a loss of weight, and if the fire has been very high, it approaches to one-half the weight of the stone; but in common cases, limestones, if well dried before burning, do not lose much more than from 35 to 40 per cent., or from seven to eight parts out of twenty. When burned lime becomes mild, it regains its power of effervescing, and is the same chemical substance as chalk or limestone.

“When newly burned lime is exposed to air, it soon falls into powder; in this case it is called slacked lime; and the same effect is immediately produced by throwing water upon it, when it heats violently and the water disappears. Slacked lime is merely a combination of lime with about one-third of its weight of water, that is, 55 parts of lime absorb 17 parts of water.

“When lime, whether freshly burned or slacked, is mixed with any moist fibrous vegetable matter, there is a strong action between the lime and the vegetable matter, and they form a kind of compost together, of which apart is usually soluble in water. By this kind of operation, lime renders matter which was before comparatively inert nutritive; and as charcoal and oxygen abound in all vegetable matters, it becomes at the same time converted into carbonate of lime.

“Mild lime, powdered limestone, marls, or chalks, have no action of this kind upon vegetable matter; by their action they prevent the too rapid decomposition of substances already dissolved, but they have no tendency to form soluble matters.

“It is obvious, from these circumstances, that the operation of quicklime and marl or chalk depends upon principles altogether different. Quicklime, in being applied to land, tends to bring any hard vegetable matter that it contains into a state of more rapid decomposition and solution, so as to render it a proper food for plants. Chalk and marl, or carbonate of lime, will only improve the texture of the soil, or its relation to absorption; it acts merely as one of its earthy ingredients. Quicklime, when it becomes mild, operates in the same manner as chalk; but, in the act of becoming mild, it prepares soluble out of insoluble matter.
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"The solution of the question, whether quicklime ought to be applied to a soil, depends upon the quantity of inert vegetable matters that it contains. The solution of the question, whether marl, mild lime, or powdered limestone, ought to be applied, depends upon the quantity of calcareous matter already in the soil. All soils are improved by mild lime, and ultimately by quicklime, which do not effervesce with acids, and sands more than clays." (Davy’s Agricultural Chemistry, p. 315, et seq.)

From the mode in which lime operates, it necessarily follows that quicklime should not be applied to lands that contain much soluble matter, nor be mixed up in composts with animal manures.

“It had been long known to farmers in the neighbourhood of Doncaster, that lime made from a certain limestone, applied to the land, often injured the crops considerably. Mr Tennant, in making a series of experiments upon this peculiar calcareous substance, found that it contained magnesia; and on mixing some calcined magnesia with soil, in which he sowed different seeds, he found that they either died, or vegetated in a very imperfect manner, and the plants were never healthy. And, with great justice and ingenuity, he referred the bad effects of the peculiar limestone to the magnesian earth it contains.” (Zrf. p. 322.) Yet it is advantageously employed in small quantities, seldom more than 25 or 30 bushels to the acre. A simple test of magnesia in the limestone is the circumstance of its effervescing little when plunged into an acid, and its rendering diluted nitric acid or aquafortis milky. Stones of this kind are usually coloured brown or pale yellow, and are found in several counties of England, and in many parts of Ireland, particularly near Belfast.

With regard to the quantity of lime that ought to be applied to different soils, it is much to be regretted that Sir Humphry Davy did not enter fully into the subject. Clays, it is well known, require a larger quantity than sands or dry loams. It has been applied, accordingly, in almost every quantity from 100 to 500 bushels or upwards per acre. About 160 bushels are· generally considered a full dressing for lighter soils, and 80 or 100 bushels more for heavy cohesive soils.

In the application of lime to arable land, there are some general rules commonly attended to by diligent farmers, of which we shall present an abstract.

1. As the effects of lime greatly depend on its intimate admixture with the surface soil, it is essential to have it in a powdery state at the time it is applied.

2. Lime having a tendency to sink in the soil, it should be ploughed in with a shallow furrow.

3. Lime may either be applied to grass land, or to land in preparation for green crops or summer fallow, with almost equal advantage; but, in general, the latter mode of application is to be preferred.

4. Lime ought not to be applied a second time to moorish soils, unless mixed up as a compost; after which the land should be immediately laid down to grass.

5. Upon fresh land, the effect of lime is much superior to that of dung. The ground, likewise, more especially where it is of a strong nature, is more easily cultivated; in some instances, it is said, “the saving of labour would be sufficient to induce a farmer to lime his land, were no greater benefit derived from the application than the opportunity thereby gained of working it in a more perfect manner/’ (General Report of Scotland, vol. ii. p. 536.)

In improving hilly land with a view to pasture, a much smaller quantity of lime has been found to produce permanent and highly beneficial effects, when kept as much as possible near the surface, by being merely harrowed in with the seeds, after a fallow or green crop, instead of being buried by the plough. As this is a matter of much importance to farmers of such land, especially when lime must be brought from a great distance, as was the case in the instance to which we are about to allude, the successful practice of one of the most eminent farmers in Britain cannot be too generally known.

“A few years after 1754,” says Mr Dawson, “having a considerable extent of outfield land in fallow, which I wished to lime previous to its being laid down to pasture, and finding that I could not obtain a sufficient quantity of lime for the whole in proper time, I was induced, from observing the effects of fine loam upon the surface of similar soil, even when covered with bent, to try a small quantity of lime on the surface of this fallow, instead of a larger quantity ploughed down in the usual manner. Accordingly, in the autumn, about twenty acres of it were well harrowed, and then about fifty-six Winchester bushels only, of unslacked lime, were, after being slacked, carefully spread upon each English acre, and immediately well harrowed in. As many pieces of the lime, which had not been fully slacked at first, were gradually reduced to powder by the dews and moisture of the earth,—to mix these with the soil, the land was again well harrowed in three or four days thereafter. This land was sown in the spring with oats, with white and red clover and ryegrass seeds, and well harrowed, without being ploughed again. The crop of oats was good, the plants of grass sufficiently numerous and healthy; and they formed a very fine pasture, which continued good until ploughed some years after for corn.

“About twelve years afterwards I took a lease of the hilly farm of Grubbet, many parts of which, though of an earthy mould tolerably deep, were too steep and elevated to be kept in tillage. As these lands had been much exhausted by cropping, and were full of couchgrass, to destroy that and procure a cover of fine grass, I fallowed them, and laid on the same quantity of lime per acre, then harrowed and sowed oats and grass-seeds in the spring, exactly as in the last mentioned experiment. The oats were a full crop, and the plants of grass abundant. Several of these fields have been now above thirty years in pasture, and are still producing white clover and other fine grasses: no bent or fog has yet appeared upon them. It deserves particular notice, that more than treble the quantity of lime was laid upon fields adjoining of a similar soil, but which being fitter for occasional tillage, upon them the lime was ploughed in. These fields were also sown with oats and grass-seeds. The latter throve well, and gave a fine pasture the first year; but afterwards the bent spread so fast, that in three years there was more of it than of the finer grasses.”

The conclusions which Mr Dawson draws from his extensive practice in the use of lime and dung, deserve the attention of all cultivators of similar land.

“1. That animal dung dropt upon coarse benty pastures produces little or no improvement upon them; and that, even when sheep or cattle are confined to a small space, as in the case of folding, their dung ceases to produce any beneficial effect after a few years, whether the land is continued in pasture or brought under the plough.

“2. That even when land of this description is well fallowed and dunged, but not limed, though the dung augments the produce of the subsequent crop of grain, and of grass also for two or three years, that thereafter its effects are no longer discernible either upon the one or the other

“3. That when this land is limed, if the lime is kept upon the surface of the soil, or well mixed with it, and then laid down to pasture, the finer grasses continue in possession of the soil, even in elevated and exposed situations[7:2:302], for a great many years, to the exclusion of bent and fog. In the case of Grubbet-hills, it was observed, that more than thirty years have now elapsed. Besides this, the dung of the animals pastured upon such land adds every year to the luxuriance, and improves the quality of the pasture, and augments the productive powers of the soil when afterwards ploughed for grain; thus producing, upon a benty outfield soil, effects similar to what are experienced when rich infield lands have been long in pasture, and which are thereby more and more enriched.

“4. That when a large quantity of lime is laid on such land, and ploughed down deep, the same effects will not be produced, whether in respect to the permanent fineness of the pasture, its gradual amelioration by the dung of the animals depastured on it, or its fertility when afterwards in tillage. On the contrary, unless the surface is fully mixed with lime, the coarse grasses will in a few years regain possession of the soil, and the dung thereafter deposited by cattle will not enrich the land for subsequent tillage.

“ Lastly, It also appears from what has been stated, that the four-shift husbandry is only proper for very rich land, or in situations where there is a full command of dung; that by far the greatest part of the land of this country requires to be continued in grass two, three, four, or more years, according to its natural poverty; that the objection made to this, viz. that the coarse grasses in a few years usurp possession of the soil, must be owing to the surface soil not being sufficiently mixed with lime, the lime having been covered too deep by the plough.” (Farmers Magazine, vol. xiii. p. 69.)

Limestones differ much in purity, or in the quantity of calcareous matter which they contain. According to Mr Headrick (Farmers Magazine, vol. v. p. 451) it is usually from 60 to 85 per cent.; but he afterwards analyzed some limestones from the county of Fife, which contained 99½ per cent, of carbonate of lime, the residuum being fine clay. Farmers generally estimate the purity of limestones by the quantity of slacked lime produced from a given quantity of burnt limestone, or shells as it is usually called, the pulverized lime of the best shells being three times the measure of the shells. But it is easy to ascertain the quantity of calcareous matter, in the stone itself, by the use of muriatic acid; that stone being the best which leaves the least sediment, the lime itself dissolving in the acid.

3. Marls.

Marl, which was more extensively employed as a manure in former times than it has been of late, since the properties of lime have been better understood, is usually divided into stone, clay, and shell marl, of which the last is the most valuable. All marls contain a portion of calcareous matter, and their operation is not materially different from that of mild lime, as has been formerly noticed; but the greater quantity required, owing to the smaller proportion of calcareous matter which they contain, confines the use of them to a few miles around the places where they are found. The effects of marl are slower than those of quicklime, but, from the earthy substances combined with the calcareous matter, and the larger quantity usually applied, the staple of the soil is deepened, and the benefit is considered more durable.

4. Sea-Weed.

This is an excellent manure, though not lasting in its effects, suited to all soils and crops, with the exception perhaps of clovers of the first year’s growth. It should be applied fresh as it is gathered, if the land be ready to re ceive it, otherwise it maybe mixed’up with fresh dung, or used as a top-dressing to grass-lands.

5. Bones and Homs.

Bones are a source of manure too little attended to in most places, though their value is well ascertained by a pretty extensive experience of their effects in several districts. The following particulars were transmitted from Yorkshire, in answer to some queries proposed by the writer of this article.

“1. It is thought that all the bones of every animal are not equally valuable; but all the bones of an animal suitable for manure are equally good, and are much better when fresh.

“2. The bones which are best filled with oil and marrow are certainly the best manure; and the parts generally used for buttons and knife-hafts are the thigh and shank-bones.

“3. The powdered bones are dearer, and generally used for hot-beds in gardens, being too expensive for the field, and not so durable a manure as bruised bones, though for a short time more productive.

“4. A dry, light or gentle soil, is best adapted for the use of bone manure, as it is supposed that, in land which retains wet, the nutritive part of the bone washes to the surface of it, and does not incorporate sufficiently with the soil.

“5. The autumn is the most proper time for the use of this manure, which should then be laid on fallows for a turnip crop. The powder only should be used on a green crop, as the bruised bones would interrupt the progress of the scythe.

“6. The effects produced on different crops arc generally good on such soil as named in No. 4.

“7. Bruised bones are better when mixed with ashes or any other manure, as the juicé of the bones is then more equally spread over the field.

“8. Bone manure ought to be ploughed into the land in tillage. On grass, the powder should be sown in by the hand.

“9. This manure is used on land before described, to the extent of several thousand acres, in the higher parts of Nottinghamshire, and the wolds (or high land) in Lincolnshire, and the East and West Riding of Yorkshire.

“10. The primary object of keeping a bone mill is the bruising of bones, which pays better, than selecting and selling such as are suitable for buttons, &c.

“11. In an agricultural district, where the generality of the land is of the nature before mentioned as best suited for bone manure, a mill for the purpose of bruising bones would certainly indemnify the proprietors. The cost of a mill is from L.10Ò to L.200. As to the number of miles the manure may be carried, the proprietors of the mill will be best able to judge of that.” See Plate X.

The use of bones as a manure has been only recently introduced into Scotland; but the experiments, as far as they have gone, are highly satisfactory, and the practice is rapidly extending.

The following account of some of these experiments, extracted from the Quarterly Journal of Agriculture, is given by the gentleman who made them, Mr Watson of Keillor, near Cupar-Angus, in a communication dated in February 1828. Mr Watson obtained bone manure for two acres in 1821, the greatest quantity recommended being 25 bushels for the Scotish acre. “This,” says he, “I applied, the following turnip-sowing season, to two acres of a field of sharp black land on this farm, and on two adjoining acres of the same field I applied 25 cart-loads per acre of well-made farm-yard dung. The season, at time [7:2:303]of sowing, was rather wet, and not very favourable for the first growth of turnips. Those with bones came above ground on the third day very dark coloured and broad in the leaf, and by the tenth day they were all in the rough blade. At this time I examined the state of the manure, and found it one mass of maggots; but two days after they were all dead; and the weather being now dry and warm, the most rapid vegetation I ever remarked took place; so that by the fifteenth day from time of sowing, the turnips were fully strong for being thinned out. This operation I had performed by women, pulling out the spare plants with their hands (being afraid to remove any part of the manure from the roots of the plants); but I have since found that the common turnip-hoe, carefully used, does the work very well, and leaves the manure undisturbed.

“The plants where the farm-yard dung was applied did not come up till the fifth day, and the turnips were twenty days sown before they were fit for being thinned. By this time the bone turnips were meeting on the top βf the drill, and they continued to maintain the advantage of their first start until the month of September, which set in rather dry. At this time I anticipated that the bones would be exhausted, and the crop stop growing; but such was not the case, for while the dunged crop began to fade and stop growing, the bone turnip kept growing vigorously. About the middle of October, when I considered both crops at maturity, I had a comparative trial of their weight carefully made, the result of which was six tons per acre in favour of the bones,—they being 28 tons per acre of Aberdeenshire yellow turnip, and the farm-yard dung only 22 tons per acre.

“From this experiment, and the valuable information I had now obtained through my friend Mr Healy of Lough-ton, in Lincolnshire, I was induced to extend the use of bones on my farms, growing annually from 70 to 100 acres of turnips with this manure, which gives me a great command of dung for my other crops. In 1823 I erected machinery for grinding bones, my neighbours having now all be∞me convinced of their great utility; and the first season I sold to the amount of L.1500 worth. This last season, not less than L.10,000 has been paid for bones used in this district of Strathmore, in the counties of Angus and Perth, a great part of which was commissioned from Hull. There are now machines erected for grinding bones in various parts of the country; so that the expense of inland carriage is in many cases much lessened.

u The general practice is, to use bones on dry light soils, where the turnip can be eat off the ground with sheep, in such proportion (not less than one half) as may be reckoned necessary to manure the ground for an aftercrop of oats or barley. The quantity of bone manure may be varied from 15 to 25 bushels of dust per acre, according to the state of the land. Some difficulty was at first found in depositing the bones so that the plants might reap all the benefit of it; but this is now obviated by the application of two additional hoppers and spouts to the turnip sowing machine, which conduct the manure and seed into the drill at the same time, and with the same expedition as sowing the seed by the old machine. These barrows are made by most carpenters in the country, and cost about L.8.

“Doubts have been raised whether the succeeding crop of oats or barley is in any degree benefited by the small quantity of bones used in growing a crop of turnips. I can confidently state, that on my farms both the quantity and quality, of my barley particularly, have been improved, and the grass for the first year is a fortnight earlier in its growth than after other manures.

“In the crop of 1825 the bone manure was a great blessing to the breeders and feeders of cattle in this district, and in some instances saved the industrious tenant from ruin. The severe drought even of that season did not prevent a crop of turnips with bones, while all other manures failed; and it was thus the means of bringing through that disastrous winter, herds of cattle which must have otherwise perished for want of fodder.”

Horn, says Sir H. Davy, is a still more powerful manure than bone, as it contains a larger quantity of decomposable animal matter. The shavings or turnings of horn, though they cannot be procured in great abundance, are much esteemed as a manure, and have been long known to the farmers in the west of Scotland, who sometimes bring them from Ireland. They are sown by the hand as a top-dressing for wheat and other crops.

6. Burnt Clay.

This is a mode of preparation which was introduced into the west of Scotland some years ago from Ireland, by Mr Craig at Cally, in the stewartry of Kirkcudbright. That its effects have been beneficial in many cases cannot well be doubted, and it is still in use by some very intelligent cultivators. But, as frequently happens, it was recommended too warmly and in too unqualified a manner by its earliest promoters; and experience in many instances not having confirmed their statements, it has of late fallen into disrepute, and is now but little employed. It will therefore be sufficient to refer to the Farmers Magazine, vol. xvi., where the practice is treated at some length by those who first brought it into notice.

7. Miscellaneous Articles.

We shall now mention some of those numerous vegetable, animal, and other substances, which, though not in general use as manures, are sometimes employed for that purpose, in particular situations.

It had been long known that moss or peat, made up in compost with farm-yard dung, affords a valuable manure; but it was first introduced to general notice by the late Lord Meadowbank. The usual proportions may be about two-thirds of moss and one-third of farm-yard dung, spread out in layers, one above another, in forming the dung heap, but the bottom and top should be of moss. This heap in a few days acquires a considerable degree of heat, indicating the progress of the process of fermentation. It is then turned over, and made up again with or without a further addition of moss and dung. When this compost has been properly managed, the whole heap forms a homogeneous mass, moist, black, friable, and excellently adapted to turnips, and all other crops that require rotted dung. No lime or other calcareous matter should be admitted into the compost.

The same object of increasing the quantity of manure may be obtained by carting the moss to the farm-yard in which cattle are kept, where, without any further trouble, it will become mixed up with their litter and dung, and be carted out to the fields in one mass.

Some very interesting and successful experiments have been made with oil mixed up with farm-yard dung and moss, by Mr William Bell, on his estate in Roxburghshire. We have entire confidence in the accuracy of this gentleman’s statements, and present them in his own words in a recent communication to the Highland Society of Scotland.

“The object in view in the experiment now to be detailed, was to procure the means of converting moss, or other decayed vegetable substance, into a rich top-dressing, in a situation so far inland, that the expense of carriage from the sea-coast (L.2. 5s. per ton) precluded the [7:2:304]use, with any expectation of profit, of blubber, bone, rapc-dust, or other similar substances. Attention had been drawn to oil as a manure, by the practice of the Flemings, in forming their liquid dung-pits, and by the fact that, in the use of blubber and rape-cake for this purpose, the benefits following their application are in the precise proportion of the inefficacy of the means employed for expressing the oil from them. It was also conceived, that, to a certain extent at least, the nutritious matter contained in bone-dust may be traced to the oleaginous particles of the bony substance.

“It was resolved to commence with one ton of oil, and such a proportion of moss as, in all probability, that quantity of oil could easily convert by heating, into a more profitable substance.

“It was further resolved, that the process of heating should be aided by a certain quantity of stable-dung, and that 250 cubic yards of moss to the ton of oil should, in the first instance, be tried with 25 cubic yards of dung, though it was expected that a much greater quantity of moss might be fully converted into manure by that quantity of oil and dung.

“A ton of “dreg,” or coarse whale-oil, therefore, costing L.16, was purchased at Leith, and sent out at the cost of L.2. 10s. In the beginning of June 1825, a bed was formed a foot thick of moss, which had been thrown out some time before, but which still retained all its peaty qualities, and which, though still moist, yet having lain in a heap for some months, was substantially freed of much of its superfluous moisture.

“Twenty-five cubic yards of good stable-dung were then laid in a thick layer upon this bed; above which, another layer of moss was laid, fully a foot thick. On this second layer of moss the whole quantity of oil was poured, and the residue of the moss was laid above all, and along the sides, so as completely to cover the whole well up.

“In ten days the whole mass came freely into heat. It was turned after an interval of about eight weeks, when it was found to have been greatly changed in its texture and quality. After having been so treated, it heated freely again, and, on inspection, was found to have been altogether altered. It had now all the appearance of the richest possible black garden-mould, and was quite full of large, fat earth-worms. It gave out a strong oily smell, from which it was inferred that too little moss had been used; and some apprehension was entertained as to its fitness for being applied to its primary destination,—a top-dressing for grass-land.

“The costs were as follows :—
[table]

“No charge for casting the peat is made, both because in this instance it was desirable to consume the substance which had been thrown out of the ditches, and because the compound lay contiguous to the ground on which it was to be used, while the cost of casting and turning was deemed equivalent to the carriage afield of the manure that would have been required.

260 cubic yards compound, at Is. 11∣d∙, about L.25 3 9

“The farm-steward was of opinion that the produce was so rich as safely to admit of its being used in equal quantities with ordinary farm-dung. Two several portions of land, each of half an acre, were accordingly devoted to a trial of its powers on that principle; tiic one, rich old turnip soil, worth 40s. of rent per English acre; the other, new turnip land, which had never been broken up. These portions were laid off in the centre of the two several fields, and the manure was applied to the turnip' crop in the usual way. The other parts of both fields were dunged with farm-yard manure,—equal quantities of it and of the compound being given to the acre. The summer 1826 was not favourable to turnip-crops generally; but it so happened that the crops on both these fields were very, great.

“On the old land, the turnips grown with the oil compound sprung earlier than on the rest of the field, grew larger, and were more luxuriant, and very decidedly kept the lead, both in root and shaw, during the whole season; but absence from the spot prevented a minute register of weight and measure being kept.

“On the new land, no difference could be distinguished betwixt the crop from the two several manures: both were so good, that better could scarce have grown.

“In the next crop (oats on both fields), though minutely inspected, no difference in produce could be detected; but the same causes prevented the circumstances of the case being duly attended to.

“This year both fields are in grass, and both will be hayed. At present (30th June) no difference can be detected.

“No inconvenience from the oily smell was felt when the residue of the compost was applied to grass-land. It was laid on early, and the ground was hayed. It was given to the meadows last improved, and therefore the least advanced; while rush-root compound, and other substances, were given to the older portions. The crop on each was very great; but the preference was rather given to the oil.

“These results were so far encouraging, that next year, 1826, two tons of oil were purchased at the price of L.14 per ton, and used with rather less than 90 cubic yards of manure, and fully 900 of moss. About 550 cubic yards were used in the first instance, in the same manner as on the former occasion, and the residue of 350 thrown in when the compound was turned. It is now believed, however, that it would have been better to have made up the whole at once, by adding to the thickness of the several layers of moss, especially the centre one.

“The cost on this occasion was as follows :—
[table]

“The result again was very satisfactory; the moss heated fully the first time, and freely the second, notwithstanding the error committed,—the result of which was apparently to check the second fermentation a little, and to leave lumps here and there not quite decomposed. But the whole has been substantially and effectually changed, and confirms, in every respect, the result of the former experiment.

“On both occasions, moss thrown out at the same time remained altogether unchanged: while the one was luxuriantly covered with vegetable growth, the other continued a sterile heap.
[table]

“The effect of these operations is probably twofold. In the first place, the oil, thus divided, may be rendered a fit element for the nutrition of plants; and, in the second place, unquestionably much benefit is secured by the [7:2:305]change effected on the substance of the peaty matter. Fully the larger share of benefit is ascribed to this circumstance; but, at the same time, it is very probable that it may be found by experiment that oil may with great advantage be used with every other species of manure, or even with compounds of purely earthy ingredients.”

Manure, in a liquid state, is used to a considerable extent in Flanders, where the utmost attention is paid to the collecting of every substance that can serve to enrich the soil. This consists of urine in which rape-cake has been dissolved, the former being collected in subterraneous drains of brick-work, from which it is raised by a temporary pump, and delivered into carts for being carried to the field, where it is spread by means of hollow shovels or scoops. This is the manure almost universally used for the flax crop, to which it is applied at the rate of about 2500 gallons English beer measure the acre.

Salt has been warmly recommended within these few years as a valuable manure, and at the same time for its property in destroying weeds. The recent repeal of the duties on salt has rendered this substance accessible to farmers in every part of the country; and it has been subjected to a variety of experiments. These, as might be expected, have not always given the same results; but the best attested experiments do not seem to have been attended with such success as to justify the encomiums that were at one time lavished upon this substance; and the general impression among farmers is, that it is of little or no value whatever as a manure. We are aware that a difference of opinion still exists on this point; but such is the opinion we have come to, on what we conceive to be the best authorities.

Of the substances of vegetable or animal origin occasionally or locally applied in this way, the number is very great. All green succulent plants add to the fertility of soil when ploughed into it; and it is by no means uncommon to cultivate buck-wheat and other plants expressly for this purpose. Thistles, docks, and other noxious weeds, which at any rate should be always cut down before forming their seeds, may be advantageously used as manure, and are sometimes mixed with farm-yard dung when laid out to ferment, in the manner already described. Rape-cαkβ is an excellent dressing for turnips, and is most economically applied when thrown into the soil at the same time with the seed.^[24. Daw’s Agricultural Chemistry, p. 281. ] By covering dead animals with five or six times their bulk of soil, mixed with one part of lime, and suffering them to remain for a few months, their decomposition impregnates the soil with soluble matters, so as to render the mass an excellent manure; and by mixing a little fresh quicklime with it at the time of its removal, the disagreeable effluvia may be in a great measure destroyed.^[25. Zòid.’p. 288. ] Fish are well known to be a powerful manure, though the quantity should be limited. A full crop of turnips has been got from spoiled herrings laid on before the winter ploughing, at the rate of twenty-five barrels to an acre.^[26. Ibid, and General Report of Scotland, vol. ii. p. 527∙ ] Blubber has been used with great success by Lord Somerville, mixed with clay, sand, or any common soil, so as to expose a large surface to the air;^[27. Davy’s Agricultural Chemistry, p. 289. ] but it has been found injurious in some instances,^[28. Farmer’s Magazine, vol. xvi. ] probably owing to its having been applied too largely, as has happened in the case of fish, or from not having been combined with a suf ficient quantity of soil. The refuse of the different manufactures of skin and leather affords very useful manures, such as the shavings of the currier, furriers’ clippings, and the offals of the tan-yard and of the glue-maker. The value of urine is well known. According to Sir H. Davy, it should be used as fresh as possible, but not without being diluted with water. Night-soil is a most powerful manure. The disagreeable smell may be destroyed by mixing it with quicklime. The Chinese mix it with one-third of its weight of fat marl, make it into cakes, which are said to be a common article of commerce, and dry it by exposure to the sun.^[29. Davy’s Agricultural Chemistry, p. 298. ] Next to this, in its fertilizing powers, is pigeons dung, commonly used in a dry state as a topdressing, at the rate of about twenty bushels to an acre.^[30. Davy’s Agricultural Chemistry, p. 299, and General Report of Scotland, vol. ii. p. 545. ]

Manures of a mineral or fossil origin are also numerous. Limestone gravel, which abounds in Ireland, chalk, pounded limestone, sea-shells, and shelly sand, arc all employed, some of them to a considerable extent, in much the same manner as lime; but their effect, though durable, is not so immediate. Gypsum, or sulphate of lime, is found in several parts of England, but its value as a manure does not yet appear to be clearly determined. It does not seem to operate by accelerating putrefaction,^[31. Davy’s Agricultural Chemistry, p. 331. ] but it is supposed that lands which have ceased to bear good crops of clover or cultivated grasses may be restored by being manured with gypsum, as it is found in considerable quantities in their ashes.^[32. Ibid. p. 332, 333. ] Soot is known to be a useful top-dressing, either by itself or when mixed with earth and lime, in the proportion of one part soot, five parts earth, and one part lime;^[33. Ibid. p. 341, and General Report of Scotland, vol. ii. p. 543. ] but its effects are not lasting. Sleech or sea-ooze, .containing animal and vegetable substances, with a large proportion of calcareous matter, affords a valuable dressing, increasing the staple of the soil to which it is applied, as well as its fertility. Pond and river-mud, mixed with lime, has been often applied with good effect. Even coal-sill or schistus has been used with much advantage by Mr Curwen and others, after being decomposed with lime, in the proportion of one part of the latter to six of the former.^[34. Farmer’s Magaxine, vol. xiv. p. 286. ]

The great quantity of valuable manure obtained from large towns is a mixture of almost all these ingredients; and what was formerly a nuisance is now a source of revenue to the inhabitants, and of fertility to the country around them.

In several districts land is manured on the surface, by cattle and sheep confined in temporary folds. See the chapter on Live Stock, where the benefits of this practice will be inquired into. Its expediency is a question that cannot be determined without a reference to its effects on the animals themselves, as well as to the value of the manure.

Sect. IX. Warping.

This is a mode of fertilizing lands, by depositing a coat of alluvial matter on their surface, and is practised on the borders of large rivers and estuaries into which the tides flow. It is said to have been first tried on the banks of the Humber about a century ago, but was first brought into notice by Marshall in 1788, and afterwards by the Report of the West Riding of Yorkshire. A similar practice has been long known in Italy.
[7:2:306]

The waters of the tides that come up the Trent, the Ouse, the Don, and other rivers which empty themselves into the great estuary of the Humber, are so loaded with mud, that if a cylindrical glass twelve or fifteen inches long be filled with them, there will presently be deposited an inch or sometimes more of what is called warp. But where this matter comes from has been the subject of dispute; for the water of the Humber at its mouth is clear, and in the very driest seasons the warp is most plentiful. The improvement consists in nothing,more than letting in the tide at high water, to deposit the warp, and permitting it to run off again as the tide falls.

The effect of this practice is to cover the surface with a new soil, which may be raised in the course of one summer from 6 to 16 inches, so that it is immaterial what may be the nature of the original soil; and the whole surface is left quite level, whatever hollows there may have been before being now filled up.

The operation begins usually in the month of July, and proceeds during the rest of the summer season. The expense is said not to exceed L.12 or L.15 the acre; and land has been known to rise in value by warping from L.5 to L.40 or L.50 per acre. This new soil is so rich that it will carry very large crops for several years afterwards without any manure; but it should be sown with clover, and left in that state for two years, before it is opened for corn: it will then bear any sort of crop suited to the quality of the soil. In this respect there is a considerable difference even upon the same field, the warp in some places being a strong loam, and in others light and friable. For a more particular description of this process, the reader is referred to the Agricultural Survey of the West Piding of Yorkshire.

The Italian practice referred to is thus described by an intelligent tourist :—

“In the Val di Chiana, fields that are too low are raised and fertilized by the process called Colmata, which is done in the following manner. The field is surrounded by an embankment to confine the water. The dyke of the rivulet is broken down so as to admit the muddy water of the high floods. The Chiana itself is too powerful a body of water to be used for this purpose; it is only the streams that flow into the Chiana that are used. This water is allowed to settle and deposit its mud upon the field. The water is then let off into the river at the lower end of the field, by a discharging course called scolo, and in French, canal d' écoulement. The water-course which conducts the water from a river, either to a field for irrigation or to a mill, is called gora. In this manner a field will be raised five and a half, and sometimes seven and a half feet in ten years. If the dyke is broken down to the bottom, the field will be raised the same height in seven years; but then in this case gravel is also carried in along with the mud. In a field of 25 acres, which had been six years under the process of Colmata, in which the dyke was broken down to within three feet of the bottom, the process was seen to be so far advanced, that only another year was requisite for its completion. The floods in this instance had been much charged with soil. The water which comes off cultivated land completes the process sooner than that which comes off hill and woodland. Almost the whole of the Val di Chiana has been raised by the process of Colmata” {Journey in Carniola, Italy, and France ; by W. A. Cadell, Esq. F. R. S.)

Sect. X. Farm Drains.

Though we propose to treat of the important subject of drainage in a separate article, yet it seems proper here to notice such drains as are usually executed by farmers themselves, without the assistance of a professional man. These may be divided into such as are best suited to soils rather loose and incohesive, and such as are best adapted to alluvial clays or soils of a uniform and close texture.

With regard to the first sort of drains, the practice is to cut them in such a situation as to catch the spring before it oozes out of the subsoil and spreads itself over the surface. In common language, the line of the drain commences between the “wet and the dry,” and is of such a depth as may be necessary to get down to the porous or sandy subsoil from which the spring emerges. In general from two and a half feet to three and a half feet may be a sufficient depth; and where the spring is not found at the latter depth, tapping or boring may be resorted to. These drains are cut about the breadth of the spade at bottom, and opened no wider at the surface than is necessary to give room to the labourer to work, which may be usually from fifteen to eighteen inches. The best material for filling them up with is small round stones, which are usually to be got from the surface of the land itself; but a variety of other materials are occasionally employed, such as furze, broom, and even straw, in situations where stones cannot be readily procured. If there be reason to expect a constant current of water in the bottom of the drain, some care must be taken in laying the stones at the bottom, by forming a sort of arch, or by building up either side a few inches, and laying flat stones as a coping above, leaving a clear space for the stream below. But in most cases it is sufficient to select small round stones for the bottom, which are thrown in promiscuously, the interstices, as in the case of gravel, allowing the water to percolate freely through them. When the drain has been filled up to within ten or twelve inches of the surface, the stones are covered with turf or sod, the grassy side undermost, and then the earth that had come out of the drain is thrown above until it comes to the level of the surface. It is obvious, that to insure the free working of these drains, they must never be disturbed by the plough, and therefore the covering of earth should be always somewhat deeper than the plough works.

On alluvial or clayey soils not infested with springs, the evil is necessarily somewhat different, and requires a different remedy. Here the soil is of itself tenacious of moisture, and does not allow the rain water to pass freely through it. On such soils it may bethought that covered drains can be of little use; but long experience has proved their efficacy, and the practice has within these few years been introduced into Scotland from Essex and other parts of England. It is thus described in a communication to the Highland Society of Scotland, and our own observation can bear witness to the writer’s accuracy.

“The work is performed by means of three spades of different sizes. The first may be a common spade of moderate breadth, with which the surface-clay may be taken off to the depth of eight or ten inches, or not quite so much if the clay be very strong. The breadth of the drain at top may be from a foot to fifteen inches, but it should never be less than a foot, as it is an advantage that the sides should have a considerable slope,—and the two sides should slope as equally as possible. Another workman follows the first, with a spade six inches broad at the top, and becoming narrower towards the point, where it should not exceed four inches. The length of the plate of this second spade should be fourteen inches, and with it a foot or fourteen inches in depth can easily be gained. A third workman, and he should be the most expert, succeeds the second, and his spade should be four inches broad at the top, only two inches broad at the point, [7:2:307]and fourteen or fifteen inches in length. With this spade a good workman can take out at least fifteen inches of clay. A sort of hoe or scoop, made of a plate of iron formed nearly into the shape of a half-cylinder, of two inches diameter and a foot or fourteen inches long, and fastened at an acute angle of perhaps 70° to a long wooden handle, is now employed to scrape out the bottom of the drain, and remove any small pieces of clay that may have fallen into it.

“This completes the cutting of what is by the workmen called a three stamp drain. Where circumstances may render it necessary, they may be made of four, five, or more stamps. I would in no case, unless perhaps where the land is to remain permanently in sheep-pasture, and is free from moles, recommend their being made less than three feet deep; and I am inclined to think, that where levels will admit of it, it would almost always be more advantageous that the depth should be four feet. Where the field is in summer fallow at the time, six inches of depth can generally be gained by gathering the ridges pretty high, and taking as deep a water-furrow as possible, with a wide-set plough. Three stamps or spits taken from the bottom of this water-furrow will give a depth of at least three feet and a half when the ridges are reduced to the proper shape, which is easily done in the course of the subsequent ploughings. In all cases I think it best to put a drain in every furrow, though some people put only one in every second furrow.”

In filling these drains, turf matted with the roots of coarse grasses is considered the best material, though where this cannot be got, other articles, such as wood, peat, clay, and even straw, have been found to answer. “The turfs should be cut into an oblong shape, about four inches and a half broad (some make them narrower a little at the grassy side than at the other, but this is not very easily done, and I believe not very materiaD, and from three to five inches thick. They are generally made about fourteen inches long. The grassy side of the turf being turned undermost, they are put down into the drain, the workman standing upon them after they are put in, and pressing them down with his whole weight till they are firmly wedged between the sloping sides of the drain. The ends of the turfs being cut somewhat obliquely, they overlap each other a little; and by this means, although there is sufficient opening for the surface-water to get down, nothing else can. The open space below the turf ought to be about five or six inches in depth, three inches wide at top, and one and a half or two inches at bottom. Some people prefer making the turf a little broader, and by that means leaving a larger space below, from the idea that it will be less likely to choke; but when the open space is much larger, the sides of the drain below the turf are probably more apt to give way for want of support.

“The operation may now be completed by turning in as much earth, either with the spade or the plough, as to fill up the drain to the proper level.”—“I must remark, that the improvement has always appeared to me more striking in the first two or three crops than afterwards; and the reason, I apprehend, is, that although the drains remain perfectly clear, the clay above them becoming gradually more compact, the surface-water does not get down into them so quickly after a few years as it did at first.

“The price I now pay for cutting wedge-drains three feet deep, including the cutting of the turf and putting it in, is 4d. per rood of 20 lineal feet; and I am at the expense of carrying the turf from the place where it is cut, and laying it down close to the drains in a regular line, so that the person employed by the contractor in putting it in can easily reach it without coming out of the drain.

“The expense of draining per acre must, it is obvious, depend on the breadth of the ridges. Where these are of fifteen feet, the most common breadth in our carses, it will cost about L.2. 17s. per acre; but in wedge-drained land, I think the ridges may be advantageously made eighteen or twenty feet broad, which will of course be attended with a proportionate reduction of the expense of draining.” (Prize Essays and Transactions of the Highland Society of Scotland, vol. vi.)

With respect to currents of water so considerable as not to admit of covered drains, the drains must of course be left open; but in this case it may usually be practicable to carry the water, by means of covered drains, into the fence-ditches, instead of leaving them open in the middle of the field. It has been already observed that a ditch forms a part of the fence, wherever the white thorn or other live hedges are employed for that purpose.

CHAP. II.

OF LAND UNDER PERENNIAL HERBAGE, AND IN A STATE OF NATURE.

There are few tracts of any extent throughout Great Britain, if we except the shifting sands on some parts of the coast, that do not bear plants of one kind or other; and having treated, in the preceding chapter, of crops raised by the labours of agriculture, it remains to consider those parts of our territory which nature has clothed with plants, the spontaneous products of soil and climate, and to mention the purposes to which these tracts are applied, and the improvements of which they are susceptible.

In the earlier stages of society, the cerealia used for the food of man necessarily obtain the principal attention of the cultivator. Little or no labour is required to provide food for the few animals whose assistance he needs in his rude operations; and herds and flocks, which propagate around him without his care, find the means of subsistence in those extensive wilds on which his feeble exertions have not yet materially encroached. Though he is chiefly indebted to these animals, at this period, both for his food and clothing, agriculture must have made considerable progress before he attempts to supply their occasional wants by improving their pastures or cultivating plants expressly for their maintenance. Until the middle of the seventeenth century, neither roots nor herbage were cultivated for live stock in England, nor in Scotland till about a hundred years after. The only provision for their subsistence, during the long winters of our latitude, was natural herbage in the state of hay, commonly the produce of some marshy or humid soils, along with the straw of corn; and during summer, the natural pastures, too generally occupied in common, were thought to require and to admit of little or no improvement.

It is not till the increase of population, and the extension of tillage to supply its wants, that, in consequence of successive encroachments on the range of the inferior animals, it becomes necessary at last to allot a part of the cultivated land itself for raising their food. In most countries of Europe it is not found profitable, even at this day, to cultivate herbage and roots to any extent for feeding cattle; and the same course of successive crops of corn, with which the earliest agriculturists everywhere began their labours, still prevails almost universally in the north of Europe; not because all the land is required for producing grain, but, on the contrary, because the demand of the population for grain is so limited, compared with the extent of the country, as to leave the far greater part in the possession of the inferior animals, which in this case [7:2:308] can be brought to market at a much lower price than would replace the charges of feeding them on crops raised by means of aration.

Other causes than the scantiness of population have produced a similar effect, though in a much smaller degree, in Great Britain; and by far the larger part of our territory also is still appropriated to the maintenance of live stock. A great portion of it, indeed, is incapable of being cultivated with any advantage; but meadows, pastures, and wastes, are spread over extensive tracts, that would yield cultivated crops in abundance, both for man and the inferior animals. Before concluding this article, we shall have occasion to notice what seem to be the causes of this state of things; but it is unquestionable that, in the present circumstances of the country, a great deal of tire most fertile land is employed more profitably for its owners and occupiers, under perennial herbage, than it could be under our most approved courses of tillage. In what respect the interest of the nation is concerned in this arrangement, this is not the place to inquire.

To give a concise view of the agricultural state of the land in Britain not subjected to aration, we shall offer some observations on Meadows, on Natural Pastures, and on Wastes, in separate sections.

Sect. I. Meadows.

By meadows, we understand all such land as is kept under grass chiefly for the sake of a hay crop, though occasionally, and at particular seasons of the year, it may be depastured by the domesticated animals; and we usually include under this term the notion of a greater degree of moisture in the soil, than would be thought desirable either for permanent pasture or lands in tillage. Where hay is in great demand, as near large towns, and especially if a good system of cropping be but little understood, a great deal of arable land, indeed, may be seen appropriated to hay crops; but the most valuable meadows are such as are either naturally rather moist, or rendered so by means of irrigation.

As the alternate and convertible systems of husbandry, before explained, prevail throughout all the lowlands of Scotland, there is little land that deserves the name of meadow; though it is sometimes applied to marshy spots, not worth improving for tillage, which yield a quantity of coarse herbage to be made into hay, and are called bog meadows. The only natural hay grounds of much value in Scotland are to be found in the sheep-walks of the southern counties, where one or two small inclosures near the farmer’s or shepherd’s dwelling-house are commonly reserved for producing hay to feed the flocks during a deep snow; and as there is seldom much land in tillage in such places, the manure made from a few horses and cows is sometimes spread on the surface of these fields, though by no means according to any regular plan. To a very small extent, watered meadows have been tried in Scotland; but, from a general conviction of the superior advantages of cultivating herbage and roots on all soils that can be made to produce them, and probably also owing to the less fertilizing qualities of the waters, even meadows of this kind are not likely ever to become of general importance there. The remarks which we mean to offer on this subject must therefore be understood as applicable to the practice of England only.

The indigenous plants of which meadow-grass consists necessarily vary with the qualities of the soil. The most valuable are, the sweet-smelling vernal-grass (Anthoxanthunι odoratum) ; perennial ryegrass (Lolium perenne) ; foxtail (Alopecurus pratensis) common meadow-grass {Poa trivialis and Poa pratensis) ; and soft meadow-grass (Holcus lanatus). The poas compose the greater part of the celebrated Orcheston meadows near Salisbury, and of the no less productive meadows near Edinburgh.

The period at which stock is excluded from meadows, in order that the grasses may rise for a hay crop, is different, according to the nature of the soil in regard to humidity, and the kind of stock with which the land is depastured. In some instances the cattle are removed in November, while the sheep are continued on the ground till February. (Middlesex Report, p. 224.) In other places the meadows are open to all kinds of stock from August to April (Id. p. 219), and to sheep even till May. (Lincolnshire Report, p. 196.)

In the judicious management of meadow lands, attention must be paid to prevent the stagnation of water and the growth of aquatic plants, and to extirpate fem, docks, thistles, and other weeds. Moss, in particular, often establishes itself on such lands, to the great injury of the valuable grasses, and can with difficulty be removed, even by the application of calcareous manures. Ant and molehills also abound in meadows, and are too often so much neglected as to render a large portion of the surface nearly unproductive. And in these, as in all other hay grounds, the preparatory operations for the scythe should always conclude with the use of a heavy roller.

The most important particulars in the management of meadow lands are, their improvement by irrigation, and by the application of manure. Of Irrigation we shall treat in a separate article.

With regard to the time at which manure should be applied, a great difference of opinion prevails among the farmers in England. In the county of Middlesex, where almost all the grass-lands are preserved for hay, the manure is invariably laid on in October (Middlesex Report, p. 224), while the land is sufficiently dry to bear the driving of loaded carts without injury, and when the heat of the day is so moderated as not to exhale the volatile parts of the dung. Others prefer applying it immediately after the hay-time, from about the middle of July to the end of August, which is said to be the “good old time ;”^[35. Com. to Board of Agriculture, vol. iv. p. 138. ] and if that season be inconvenient, any time from the beginning of February to the beginning of April.^[36. Dickson’s Practical Agriculture, vol. ii. p. 915. ] It is, however, too common a practice to carry out the manure during frosty weather, when, though the ground is not cut up by the carts, the fertilizing parts of the dung are dissipated and washed away by the snow and rains before they can penetrate the soil.

“There is scarcely any sort of manure that will not be useful when laid on the surface of grass-lands; but in general those of the more rich dung kinds will be the most suitable for the older sorts of sward-land, and dung in composition with fresh vegetable earthy substances the more useful in the new lays or grass-lands.”—“In this district it is the practice of the best farmers to prefer the richest dung they can procure, and seldom to mix it with any sort of earthy material, as they find it to answer the best in regard to the quantity of produce, which is the principal object in view; the cultivators depending chiefly on the sale of their hay in the London markets.”—“It is the practice to turn over the dung that is brought from London in a tolerable state of rottenness, once chopping it well down in the operation, so as to be in a middling [7:2:309]state of fineness when put upon the land. It is necessary, however, that it should be in a more rotten and reduced state when applied in the spring, than when the autumn is chosen for that purpose.” (Dickson’s Practical Agriculture, vol. ii. p. 915.)

Some very interesting experiments have been made with different kinds of manure, for the purpose of ascertaining their effects,both in regard to the quantity and quality of the produce on different kinds of land. Fourteen lots, of half an acre of eight yards to the rod each, were thus manured, and the grass was made into hay, all as nearly alike as possible. The greatest weight of hay was taken from the lot manured with horse, cow, and butchers’ dung, all mixed together, of each about an equal quantity. It lay in that state about two months, and was then turned over and allowed to lie eight or ten days more, after which it was put on the land before it had done fermenting, and spread immediately. And to ascertain the quality of the produce of the different lots, a small handful from each was laid down on a dry, clean place, where there was little or no grass, and six horses were turned out to them, one after another. In selecting the lots, there seems to have been little difference of taste among die horses; and all of them agreed in rejecting two lots, one of which had been manured with blubber mixed with soil, and the other with soot,—in both instances laid on in the month of April preceding. {Lancashire Report, ]). 130, et seq.)

“The proportion of manure that is necessary must in a great measure depend upon the circumstances of the land, and the facility of procuring it. In this district (near London), where the manure is of a very good and enriching quality, from its being produced in stables and other places where animals are highly fed, the quantity is usually from four or five to six or seven loads on the acre, such as are drawn by three or four horses in their return from town on taking up the hay.” (Dickson’s Practical Agriculture, vol. ii. p. 916.)

Manure is laid on at intervals of time, more or less distant, according to the same circumstances that determine the quantity of it. Though there are some instances of hay-grounds bearing fair crops every year during a length of years without any manure, or any advantage from pasturage, except what the after-grass has afforded,^[37. Marshall’s Review of Reports to the Board of Agriculture, p. 183, Western Department. ] yet in general manure must either be allowed every third or fourth year, or the land depastured one year and mown the other; “or, what is better, depastured two years and mown the third.” {Northumberland Report, p. 111.) A succession of hay crops, without manure or pasturage, on meadows not irrigated, is justly condemned by all judicious farmers, as a sure means of impoverishing the soil.

The mode of converting this herbage into hay, being somewhat different from that which has been described in regard to clovers and ryegrass, requires to be mentioned here. The farmers of Middlesex, who supply the metropolis with hay, are understood to manage this department of rural economy in a very perfect manner; and a particular account of their practice is given in the Report by Middleton, to which we refer.

“In the course of hay-making,” says this writer, “the grass should, as much as possible, be protected both day and night against rain and dew, by cocking. Care should also be taken to proportion the number of hay-makers to that of the mowers, so that there may not be more grass in hand at any time than can be managed according to the described process. This proportion is about twenty hay-makers (of which number twelve may be women) to four mowers: the latter are sometimes taken half a day to assist the former. But in hot, windy, or very drying weather, a greater proportion of hay-makers will be required than when the weather is cloudy and cool.

“It is particularly necessary to guard against spreading more hay than the number of hands can get into cock the same day, or before rain. In showery and uncertain weather the grass may sometimes be suffered to lie three, four, or even five days in swath. But before it has lain long enough for the under side of the swath to become yellow (which if suffered to lie long would be the case), particular care should be taken to turn the swaths with the heads of the rakes. In this state it will cure so much in about two days as only to require being tedded a few hours, when the weather is fine, previous to its being put together and carried. In this manner hay may be made and stacked at a small expense and of a good colour, but the tops and bottoms of the grass are insufficiently separated by it.

“There are no hay-stacks more neatly formed, or better secured, than those of Middlesex. At every vacant time, while the stack is carrying up, the men are employed in pulling it with their hands into a proper shape; and about a week after it is finished, the whole of it is properly thatched, and then secured from receiving any damage from the wind, by means of a straw-rope extended along the eaves, up the ends, and near the ridge. The ends of the thatch are afterwards cut evenly below the eves of the stack, just of sufficient length for the rainwater to drip quite clear of the hay. When the stack happens to be placed in a situation which may be suspected of being too damp in the winter, a trench of about six or eight inches deep is dug round, and nearly close to it, which serves to convey all the water from the spot, and renders it perfectly dry and secure.” {Middlesex Report, p. 238-241.)

When the grass has risen again after the hay crop, it is usually depastured, as has been already mentioned when treating of clovers: to mow a second time is considered a bad practice among the best hay farmers. {Middlesex Report, p. 249.) But it is the usage of some to leave the after-grass on the ground without being eaten till spring, when it is said to be preferable, for ewes and lambs, to turnips, cabbages, or any other species whatever of what is termed spring-feed. This mode of management, which is strongly recommended by Mr Young, and in some cases by Mr Marshall also, is unknown in the north, where, though it is in many cases found beneficial, with a view to an early spring growth, not to eat the pastures too close before winter, it would be attended with a much greater loss of herbage than any advantage in spring could compensate, to leave the after-growth of mown grounds untouched till that season. There has never been found any deficiency of milk with ewes that are tolerably well supplied with turnips a little before and after they drop their lambs.

The weight of the hay produced on meadows well managed, being on an average about one ton and a half per acre, holds out little encouragement to retain good arable land in this condition; and, unless near London and a few other large towns, pasturage would probably give a much more valuable return. In Lincolnshire, where there are some of the richest grazing lands in England, it is observed that all lands that will feed cattle should be mown as little as possible; and nothing pays worse there than the [7:2:310]scythe: “it costs as much labour as a crop of corn, and more than in many counties, and is not of half the value.” ^Lincolnshire Report, p. 195.)

Sect. II. Pastures.

We have already mentioned, in the preceding chapter, that pasturage for one, two, or more years, is frequently interposed in the course of cropping arable land, to prevent that exhaustion of the soil which is commonly the consequence of incessant tillage crops. The pasture lands to be treated of here are, therefore, such as are retained permanently, or at least for an indefinite period, in this state, merely for the sake of the herbage they yield, and without any particular view to the amelioration of the lands for bearing crops of grain. In this general application of the word, permanent pastures include not only such land as might be cultivated by the plough, but also all those uplands to which tillage operations could not be extended with any prospect of remuneration, such as the far greater part of the hilly and mountainous sheep grounds throughout this kingdom. The nature of these pastures is, however, so different, and the expediency of retaining arable land in permanent pasture has been so keenly discussed, that it will be proper to notice the two descriptions separately, under the general though not quite accurate appellations of feeding and hilly pastures. Under the former we may comprehend all old rich pastures that are capable of fattening cattle; and under the second, such as are adapted to rearing them only, or are more advantageously depastured by sheep.

1. Feeding-Pastures.

Of these there is a great extent in most of the counties of England, but very few in Scotland, except near the houses of great proprietors; and much useless controversy has been carried on between the farmers of the two countries, about the comparative advantages of preserving such pastures, or of bringing them under a regular system of alternate or convertible husbandry. That much of this land in the south would be more productive, both to the proprietor and occupier, under a good course of cropping than under pasture, it is impossible to deny; but it is no less certain, that there are large tracts of rich grazing land, which, in the present state of the demand for the produce of grass-lands, and of the law of England with regard to tithes, cannot be employed more profitably for the parties concerned than in pasture. The interest which the Board of Agriculture has taken in this question, with a view to an abundant supply of corn for the wants of a rapidly increasing population, seems, therefore, not to have been well directed. Instead of devoting a large portion of their volumes to the instruction of farmers regarding the best method of bringing grass-lands into tillage, and restoring them again to meadow or pasture without deterioration, the first thing required was to attempt removing the almost insuperable obstruction of tithes, by proposing to the legislature an equitable plan of commutation. If some beneficial arrangement were adopted on this head, there is no reason to doubt that individual interest would soon operate the wished-for change; and that all grass-lands capable of yielding more rent and profit under tillage than under pasture would be subjected to the plough as fast as the demands of the population might require.

Except in regard to those necessary operations that have been already noticed under the former section,— such as the extirpation of weeds and noxious shrubs, clearing away ant and mole-hills, &c—there are few points respecting the management of this kind of land, on which some difference of opinion does not prevail. The time of stocking,—the number of the animals, and whether they should be all of one or of different species,—the extent of the inclosures,—and the propriety of eating the herbage close, or leaving it always in a rather abundant state,—are all of them questions which it is· scarcely possible to decide in a satisfactory manner by the application of general rules. They can only be resolved, with any pretensions to utility, by a reference to the particular circumstances of each case; for the practice of one district, in regard to these and other points, will be found quite inapplicable to others, where the soil and climate, and the purposes to which the pastures are applied, are materially different.

It has been recommended to apply manure to grasslands, even where, not being used as hay grounds, they afford no means of supply. (Dickson’s Practical Agriculture, vol. ii. p. 953.) But, excepting the dung dropped by the pasturing animals, which should always be regularly spread from time to time, it may be laid down as a rule of pretty extensive application, that if grass-lands do not preserve their fertility under pasturage, it would be much better to bring them under tillage for a time, than to enrich them at the expense of land-carrying crops of corn.

Another practice, which is scarcely less objectionable, is that of stacking on the field, or carrying to be consumed there during winter the provender that ought to have furnished disposable manure for the use of the farm at large. It is to no purpose that such a wasteful practice is defended, on dry light soils, which are alleged to be thus benefited by the treading of the cattle. (Marshall’s Fural Economy of Yorkshire, vol. ii. p. 131.) During the frequent and heavy falls of rain and snow in winter, there is scarcely any land so dry as not to be injured by the treading of heavy cattle; and were there any thing gained in this respect by this management, it would be much more than counterbalanced by the loss of a great part of the manure from the same cause. The able writer to whom we have just referred very properly disapproves of carting on manure in winter; and for the same reason,—namely, the loss of it which must necessarily be the consequence,—he ought to have objected to foddering on the land, or teathing, at that season. The practice, however, is but too common in those districts, both in South and North Britain, where the knowledge of correct husbandry has made but little progress. It is equally objectionable, whether the fodder be consumed on meadows where it grew, or on other grass-lands. The fodder should in almost every instance be eaten in houses or fold-yards, instead of the dung being dropped irregularly over the surface, or, as must be almost always the case, accumulated in some spots sheltered by trees and hedges, to which the animals necessarily resort during the storms of winter.

The time of opening pastures in spring must evidently be earlier or later, according to the climate, and in the same climate according to the season; and the state of: growth which it is desirable that the grass should attain before being stocked, must in some degree be determined by the condition and description of the animals to be employed in consuming it,—whether they are only in a growing state, or approaching to fatness,—whether milch cows or sheep, or a mixture of animals of different species. It conveys no very precise idea respecting these points, though the remark itself is just, to say that the herbage should not be allowed to rise so high as to permit the coarser plants to run to seed, and that it is bad management to suffer store stock to be turned upon a full bite.
[7:2:311]

(Marshall’s Yorkshire, vol. ii. p. 129.) The great objects to be aimed at are, that the stock, of whatever animals it may consist, should be carried forward, faster or slower, according to tire purposes of their owner; and that no part of the herbage should be allowed to run to waste, or be unprofitably consumed. But nothing but careful inspection of the land and of the stock, from time to time, can enable any grazier to judge with certainty what are the best measures for attaining these objects.

“ Fatting cattle? says Mr Marshall, “which are forward in flesh, and are intended to be finished with grass, may require a full bite at first turning out. But for cows, working oxen, and rearing cattle, and lean cattle intended to be fatted on grass, a full bite at the first turning out is not requisite.”—“Old Ladyday to the middle of April, according to the progress of spring, appears to me at present as the best time for shutting up mowing grounds and opening pastures? (Marshall’s Yorkshire, vol. ii. p. 152-3.)

In regard to the state of the growth of pastures when first stocked, some distinction should be made between new leys and old close swards. To prevent the destruction of the young plants, whether of clovers or other herbage, on die former description of pasture, which would be the consequence of stocking them too early, especially with sheep, they should be allowed to rise higher than would be necessary in the case of old turf; and to secure their roots from the further injury of a hot summer, it is advisable not to feed them close in the early part of the season, and probably not at any time throughout the whole of the first or second season, if the land is to be continued in pasture. The roots of old and firm sward, on the other hand, are not in so much danger, either from close feeding or from die heats of summer; and they are in much less danger from the frosts and thaws of winter.

Another circumstance almost equally indeterminate with the time of opening pastures, is the stock which should be employed, and whether they should be all of one or of different kinds.

With regard to the former, all soils rather moist, and of such a quality, as is the case with rich clays, as to produce herbage suited to the fattening of cattle, will in general be more advantageously stocked with them than with sheep; but there can be no other rule for the total exclusion of sheep than the danger of the rot, nor any other general rule for preferring one kind of stock to another than their comparative profits.

With regard to a mixed stock, the sentiments and practice of the best graziers seem to be in its favour. “It is generally understood that horses and cattle intermixed will eat grass cleaner than either species will alone, not so much from their separately affecting different grasses, as from die circumstance of both species disliking to feed near their own dung.” (Marshall’s Yorkshire, vol. ii. p. 154.) “Some few graziers follow the old custom of keeping only one kind of stock upon the same ground, whilst others, we think with more propriety, intermix with oxen and cows a few sheep and two or three colts in each pasture, which both turn to good account and do little injury to the grazing cattle. In some cases sheep are a real benefit, by eating down and destroying the ragwort (Senecio jacobaea), which disgraces some of the best pastures of the county, where oxen only are grazed.” (Northumberland, Report, p. 126.) And in Lincolnshire, where grazing is followed to a great extent, and with uncommon success, as well as in most other districts, the practice seems to be, almost invariably, to keep a mixed stock of sheep and catee on the same pasture (Lincolnshire j‰- ρort, p. 174), in proportions varying with the nature of the soil and the quality of the herbage.

It is obviously impossible to estimate the number of animals that may be depastured on any given extent of ground, without reference to the particular spot in question; and the same difference exists, with regard to the propriety of feeding close or leaving the pastures rough, that prevails in most other parts of this subject. Though there be loss in stocking too sparingly, the more common and dangerous error is in overstocking, by which the summer’s grass is not unfrequently entirely lost. There seems to us, however, to be a season, some time during the year, when grass-lands, particularly old turf, should be eaten very close, not merely for the sake of preventing waste, but also for die purpose of keeping down the coarser kinds of plants, and giving to the pastures as equal and fine a sward as possible. The most proper period must partly depend upon the convenience of the grazier; but it can hardly be either immediately before the drought of summer or the frost of winter. Some time in autumn, when the ardent heat of die season is over, and when there is still time for a new growth before winter, may be most suitable for the land itself, and generally also for the grazier, his fat stock being then mostly disposed of, or carried to the after-grass of mown grounds. The sweeping of pastures with the scythe may be employed as a substitute for this close feeding; the waste and labour of which, however, though they be but trifling, it does not seem necessary to incur on rich grazing lands under correct management.

The size of inclosures is a matter of considerable importance on grass-lands, both for the stock itself, and the mode of consuming the produce. In general, pastures best adapted to sheep should be in large fields. The animals are not only impatient of heat, and liable to be much injured by flies, in small pastures often surrounded by trees and high hedges, but they are naturally, with the exception perhaps of the Leicester variety, much more restless and easily disturbed than the other species of live stock. “Sheep,” says a well-known writer, “love a wider range, and ought to have it, because they delight in short grass: give them eighty or ninety acres, and any fence will keep them in; confine them to a field of seven or eight acres, and it must be a very strong fence that keeps them in.” (Kames’s Gentleman Farmer, p. 203.) Though fields so large as 80 or 90 acres can be advisable only in hilly districts, yet the general rule is nevertheless consistent with experience in regard to all our least domesticated varieties.

The size of fields deserves attention on another account; for there are strong reasons for preferring pasture land in two or more inclosures, to the same extent in one large field. Besides the advantages of shelter, both to the animals and the herbage, such subdivisions enable the grazier either to separate his stock into small parcels, by which means they feed more at their case, or to give the best pastures to that portion of them which he wishes to come earliest to market. The advantages of moderate sized inclosures are well known in the best grazing counties; but the subdivisions are in some instances much more minute than is consistent with the value of the ground occupied with fences, or necessary to the improvement of the stock.

“In all cases,” says Marshall, “where fatting cattle or dairy cows make a part of the stock, and where situation, soil, and water will permit, every suite of grazing grounds ought, in my idea, to consist of three compartments ; one for head stock (as cows or fatting cattle), one for followers (as rearing or other lean stock), and the third to be shut up to freshen, for the leading stock.” (Marshall’s Yorkshire, vol. ii. p. 158∙) [7:2:312]It is sufficiently obvious that every inclosure of pasture land should be provided with abundance of water at all times, though this is in some districts a matter of considerable difficulty. Mr Marshall has given a full account of the method of forming drinking pools in Yorkshire, but our limits oblige us to refer the reader to his work.

A practice has been introduced into Norfolk within these few years, the object of which is to obtain a rich turf, with all the valuable qualities of old pasture, much sooner than from seeds alone. This is called transplanting turf, or inoculating land with grass. A field of good old grass-land is stripped of part of its turf, which is cut into pieces of about three inches square, and placed in its new situation, about six inches apart, on land previously prepared to receive it. In this way one acre of turf will plant nine acres; but it is only a part of the old pasture that is taken off, and this is done in such a manner as not materially to injure it. After being thus planted, the roots are pressed down by means of heavy rollers, which cause them to spread along the ground instead of rising up in tufts; and in a summer or two, during which this transplanted pasture should be very lightly if at all fed upon, the grasses shed their seeds and fill up the interstices, the whole being then formed into a compact and uniform turf. (Blaikie on the Conversion of Arable Land into Pasture.') Later writers, particularly Sinclair, the author of Hortus Gramineus Woburnensis, think this practice has excited notice only by its novelty, and that it never can become of extensive utility.

2. Hilly Pastures.

These include such low hills as produce fine short herbage, and are with much advantage kept constantly in pasture, though they are not altogether inaccesible to the plough; as well as such tracts as, from their acclivity and elevation, must necessarily be exclusively appropriated to live stock. The former description of grass-lands, though different from the feeding pastures, of which we have just treated, in respect of their being less convenient for tillage management, are nevertheless in other circumstances so nearly similar as not to require any separate discussion. These low hills are for the most part occupied with sheep, a very few cattle being sometimes depastured towards their bases; and they frequently comprise herbage sufficiently rich for fattening sheep, together with coarser pastures for breeding and rearing them. In many instances, a small part of such tracts is cultivated chiefly for providing green crops for the sheep in winter; but corn is quite a subordinate object, and extensive aration is seldom attempted, except for the purpose of laying down the land to grass in an improved condition.

The more elevated pastures, from which the plough is altogether excluded, have been commonly classed among waste lands,—even such of them as bear herbage by no means of inconsiderable value,—as well as heaths and moors, with patches of which the green pastures are often chequered. The general term wastes is therefore a very indefinite expression, and indeed is not unfrequently made to comprehend all that extensive division of our territory that neither produces corn nor rich herbage. Yet it is on such tracts that by far the greater part of our butcher-meat and wool is grown, and not a little of the former fully prepared for the market. Foreigners and superficial readers at home must accordingly be greatly mistaken if they imagine that what are called wastes by the Board of Agriculture, and other' writers on rural economy, are really altogether unproductive; and it would be a still grosser error to believe that these wastes owe their continuance to neglect or mismanagement, and that any exertions of human industry can ever render the greater part of them, including all the mountainous tracts of Great Britain, more valuable than they are at present, without a much greater expenditure of capital than, under almost any circumstances, they could possibly return. Yet as this vague general term has been established by use, we shall bring together, in the following section, a few observations on the present condition of that part of our territory which is still almost in a state of nature, and the improvements of which it is susceptible.

Sect. III. Wastes.

That part of Britain which is still in a state of waste might be treated of under a number of heads, corresponding to the various causes of its infertility. Land is comparatively unproductive, owing, Is/, to the surface being covered with stones, or occupied with worthless shrubs and other plants; 2dly, to the superabundance of water, as in the case of mosses and marshes; 3dly, to an original defect in the soil, as in loose sands, moors, and compact sterile clays, sometimes called till; 4thly, to the elevation and ruggedness of the surface, and the ungenial character of the climate, as in our mountainous districts; 5thly, to the previous exhaustion of the vegetable matter of the soil by injudicious cropping; and, 6thly, to the mode of tenure and occupancy, as in commons.

It is matter of regret that the subject of wastes has not yet been treated in that distinct and scientific manner which its importance deserves. It would be advisable to have it ascertained what portion of these divisions, or of others under which our wastes may be arranged, is capable of improvement, and how far such improvement is eligible, on a fair estimate of the cost, and the probable increase of produce. It should also be considered, as far as precision is attainable on such points, how much farther a proprietor might advantageously proceed in the expenditure of capital, than one who is merely a temporary occupier. For it is evident that an improvement will be sufficiently profitable to the former if he draws for his outlay 4 or 5 per cent, yearly; whereas a tenant, holding on a lease of 20 years, must have an annuity for that period of at least three times the amount, in order that his capital may be returned, with the ordinary profits of trade, before its expiration.

The delusive prospects of profit from the improvement of wastes, held out by speculative men, have an unhappy tendency to produce disappointment in rash and sanguine adventurers, and ultimately to discourage such attempts as, with judicious attention to economy, would in all probability be attended with great success. Those who are conversant with the publications that have lately appeared on this subject, must be aware with what caution the alleged results of most of these writers ought to be examined, and how different has been the experience of those who have ventured to put their schemes in practice, from what they had been led to anticipate.

There are few soils, however, so unfertile, and few tracts of any extent so destitute of soil, as not to be susceptible of profitable improvement, if the climate be not altogether hostile to vegetation, or the surface so steep or so rugged as not to admit of any other operations than such as must be executed by manual labour. With this exception, and the exception probably of what is called flow moss,—that innabilis wiula, on which there is reason to fear much capital has been employed to little purpose,— wastes are certainly capable of considerable improvement, by surface or underdraining; by top-dressing with calcareous[7:2:313] manures; by paring and burning as a preparation for tillage; by trenching, irrigation, and embankment.

We shall offer a few remarks on this subject, in the order first above mentioned.

1. When the surface of ground is much covered with stones, it is material to consider not only the expense which will attend the clearing of it, but whether the soil and climate be such as to remunerate the cultivator after it has been brought into a state of tillage, and to what purpose the stones themselves may be applied. When the stones that project from the surface are a part of the rock continued beneath the soil, it may be doubted whether, instead of incurring the expense of working away the rock to such a depth as would allow the plough to pass over it, it may not be advisable to let the land remain in pasture, and improve it by top-dressings.

Very large blocks of stone are cleared away by means of gunpowder; but if this is not necessary, they are raised by levers, and rolled upon a sledge, or by the use of a block and tackle attached to a triangle. In the latter case, a hole is bored into the stone, and an iron bolt with an eye driven into it; and this, though apparently incapable of bearing any great weight, serves to raise the stone in a perpendicular direction, until it can be deposited upon a cart or sledge placed below it, to be carried off the field.

As soon as the stones are removed, the holes must of course be filled up, and the surface rendered tolerably level. The best method of doing this is by trenching, which answers the further purpose of deepening the soil, and removing any remaining obstacle within the reach of the plough.

“The greater part of the land in the vicinity of Aberdeen,” says the author of the Report of that county, “has, from the most barren and unproductive state, been thoroughly improved by trenching. Not less than 3000 acres have been trenched within three miles of Aberdeen; and in all places of the county considerable additions have been made to the arable, by trenching the barren lands.”

“It is practised in barren land, which abounds in stones of different dimensions, sometimes, where the soil is dry, and in other cases, where it is wet, united with draining: it is practised when the object is to deepen the soil, or to mix a portion of the subsoil along with it: it is practised when the subsoil is tilly or very tenacious, as well as when that next the surface is unproductive, moory, or exhausted by overcropping: and, lastly, it is practised when the land is foul, and when stronger or cleaner soil can be brought up to the surface.

“The expense indeed could not have been borne in many cases, if the first crop (for so it may be called, as it covered the whole soiD that was raised by the spade and mattock had not produced from L.30 to L.50 per acre. This was a crop of granite stones, which was sold for paving the streets of London. But, after all, the ground that was thus gained to the community would not have been able to recompense the cultivator, if a mixture of the spade and plough husbandry had not been introduced. The rent of the land in the immediate vicinity of Aberdeen is extremely r high, being now, on a lease for years, from L.5 to L.10 per acre, and in a few cases not less than L.18; nay, when let for a single crop, sometimes as high as L.20. Yet all this is necessary to remunerate the improver, who trenched, dunged, limed, and cultivated this thin soil, which must be frequently manured. It would have yielded too little produce, if tilled only by the plough; and would have been cultivated at too great an expense, if the soil had been constantly digged by the spade. A medium between these two, viz. either the alternate use of the plough and spade, or at least a mixture of plough and spade husbandry, was thus introduced by necessity, and has been attended with the happiest effects.” (Aberdeenshire Report.')

2. In the case of mosses and marshes, the first thing is to get rid of the superabundance of water, by opening a main drain, into which such smaller ones as may be necessary will discharge themselves. On the subject of improving moss land a great deal has been written within these few years, and many experiments made with very different results. In favourable circumstances, if the operation is carefully and economically conducted, there can be no doubt that land of this description may be improved with ultimate benefit to the undertaker. But the great object ought to be, not (at least for some years at first) to convert the land into tillage, but merely to render it productive in the state of meadow or pasture. With this view, the first operation after draining should be to get rid of the heath and coarse herbage on the surface, by burning, levelling it where necessary at the same time, and then to top-dress with calcareous matter, either by itself or mixed up in compost with earth and other substances, as a preparation for grass-seeds. If it be necessary to turn over the whole surface, this in many cases may be done as cheaply by the spade as by the plough, and to much better purpose. Timothy (phleum pratense) will be found one of the most valuable grasses on such a soil; but if the surface be sufficiently saturated with calcareous matter, and not too wet, clovers, particularly white clover, and the grasses usually sown upon arable land, may be used with advantage. The after-management must of course depend upon circumstances. Frequent rolling must always be of use in compressing a soil which is naturally spongy; thus preventing the’ roots of the plants from being thrown out of the ground: and we should think that in general it must be better to retain such land for some years in the state of meadow, top-dressing it occasionally, than even in pasturage.

Among the various attempts that have been made upon a large scale to reclaim moss land, we shall mention two that seem worthy of particular notice.

The first cannot be considered as an improvement of the mossy soil itself. On the contrary, the improvement consists in getting rid of it altogether. The practice may be shortly described as follows :—

“A stream of water is carried first upon the spongy upper stratum of moss, which is by this means conveyed away to the neighbouring frith or arm of the sea, the light moss being thrown into a ditch, made as the temporary bed of this artificial rivulet. The upper part, or spongy moss, is thus carried off by successive ditches, to the extent of 30 or 40 yards broad; then a second deeper ditch is cut into the clay or bottom of the flat stratum of the heavy moss, and a number of parallel ditches are made for admitting the rivulet, into which the remaining moss is thrown, till nearly the whole is carried off, excepting a thin stratum, consisting partly of black peat-earth, and partly of decayed wood found in the moss, which is burnt for manure to the carse soil about to be cultivated. Much ingenuity has been shown in constructing machinery to supply water for removing the moss, previous to the improvement of the carse or rich soil below. For some years after being thus cleared both of peat-moss and the remains of wood, successive crops of oats were formerly too often repeated; but this was found to be injurious, and a more regular mode of cropping is now introduced.

“In 1766, the late Lord Kames became proprietor of the estate of Blair-Drummond, in the county of Perth, where he resolved to carry on with spirit this mode of improvement on the moss of Kincardine. After trying [7:2:314]several experiments, he at last adopted the plan of giving profitable leases to small occupiers of land, to induce them to remove the moss; and before his death in 1782, no less a number than 336 acres were cleared of moss, and brought into cultivation. His son and successor pursuing the same plan, got 440 acres more let in three years, to which additions were made periodically. In 1792 the population had increased to 764 souls, who cultivated 444 acres. By a survey in 1805, 577 acres were cleared, including 12 acres occupied by roads. In 1814 considerably above 800 acres were cleared, and the population amounted to upwards of 900 souls.

“Thus an extensive tract of country, where formerly only a few snipes and muirfowl could find subsistence, has been converted, as if by magic, into a rich and fertile carse of alluvial soil, worth from L.3 to L.5 per acre.”

The other instance is that of the improvement of Chat moss in the county of Lancaster, by Mr Roscoe of Liverpool. The length of this moss is about six miles, its greatest breadth about three miles, and its depth may be estimated at from 10 to upwards of 30 feet. It is entirely composed of the substance well known by the name of peat, being an aggregate of vegetable matter, disorganized and inert, but preserved by certain causes from putrefaction. On the surface it is light and fibrous, but becomes more dense below. On cutting to a considerable depth, it is found to be black, compact, and heavy, and in many respects resembling coal. There is not throughout the whole moss the least intermixture of sand, gravel, or other material, the entire substance being a pure vegetable.

It is now upwards of 20 years since Mr Roscoe, in company with Mr Wakefield, began to improve Trafford moss, a tract of 300 acres, lying two miles east of Chat moss; and his operations on it seem to have been so successful as to encourage him to proceed with Chat moss. But in the improvement of the latter, he found it unnecessary to incur so heavy an expense for drainage. From observing that, where the moss had been dug for peat, the water had drawn towards it from a distance of 50 to 100 yards, he conceived that if each drain had to draw the water only 25 yards, they would, within a reasonable time, undoubtedly answer the purpose. The whole of the moss was therefore laid out on the following plan.

“I first carried a main road,” says Mr Roscoe, in a recent communication to the Board of Agriculture, “nearly from east to west, through the whole extent of my portion of the moss. This road is about three miles long and 36 feet wide. It is bounded on each side by a main drain, seven feet wide and six feet deep, from which the water is conveyed, by a considerable fall, to the river. From these two main drains other drains diverge, at 50 yards distance from each other, and extend from each side of the road to the utmost limits of the moss. Thus each field contains 50 yards in front to the road, and is of an indefinite length, according as the boundary of the moss varies. These field-drains are four feet wide at the top, one foot at the bottom, and four feet and a half deep. They are kept carefully open, and, as far as my experience hitherto goes, I believe they will sufficiently drain the moss, without having recourse to under draining, which I have never made use of at Chat moss, except in a very few instances, where, from the lowness of the surface, the water could not readily be gotten off without open channels, which might obstruct the plough.”

The cultivation of the moss then proceeds in the following manner. “After setting fire to the heath and herbage on the moss, and burning it down as far as practicable, I plough a thin sod or furrow with a very sharp horse-plough, which I burn in small heaps, and dissipate; considering it of little use but to destroy the tough sods of the Eriophora, Nardus stricta., and other plants, whose matted roots are almost imperishable. The moss being thus brought to a tolerably dry and level surface, I then plough it in a regular furrow six inches deep; and as soon as possible after it is thus turned up, I set upon it the necessary quantity of marl, not less than 200 cubic yards to the acre. As the marl begins to crumble and fall with the sun or frost, it is spread over the land with considerable exactness; after which I put in a crop as early as possible, sometimes by the plough, and at others with the horse-scuffle or scarifier, according to the nature of the crop; adding, for the first crop, a quantity of manure, which I bring dow n the navigable river Irwell to the borders of the moss, setting on about 20 tons to the acre. Moss land thus treated may not only be advantageously cropped the first year with green crops, as potatoes, turnips, &c. but with any kind of grain; and as wheat has of late paid better to the farmer than any other, I have hitherto chiefly relied upon it, as my first crop, for reimbursing the expense.”

The expense of the several ploughings, with the burning, sowing, and harrowing, and of the marl and manure, but exclusive of the seed, and also of the previous drainage and general charges, amounts to L.18. 5s. per acre; and in 1812, on one piece of land thus improved, Mr Roscoe had 20 bushels of wheat, then worth a guinea per bushel, and on another piece 18 bushels; but these were the best crops upon the moss.

“Both lime and marl arc generally to be found within a reasonable distance; and the preference given to either of them will much depend upon the facility of obtaining it. The quantity of lime necessary for the purpose is so small in proportion to that of marl, that, where the distance is great, and the carriage high, it is more advisable to make use of it; but where marl is upon the spot, or can be obtained in sufficient quantity at a reasonable expense, it appears to be preferable.” Mr Roscoe is thoroughly convinced, after a great many different trials, that all temporizing expedients are fallacious; and that “the best method of improving moss land is by the application of a calcareous substance, in a sufficient quantity to convert the moss into a soil, and by the occasional use of animal or other extraneous manures, such as the course of cultivation and the nature of the crops may be found to require."

There seems to be little more that is peculiar to himself in Mr Roscoe’s operations and course of cropping, except his contrivance for setting on the marl. It would not be practicable, he observes, to effect the marling at so cheap a rate (L.10 per acre), were it not for the assistance of an iron road or railway laid upon boards or sleepers, and movable at pleasure. Along this road the marl is conveyed in waggons with small iron wheels, each drawn by one man. These waggons, by taking out a pin, turn their lading out on either side: they carry about 15 cwts. each, being as much as could heretofore be conveyed over the moss by a cart with a driver and two horses.

In the month of November 1805, Mr Roscoe began the drainage by cutting out the main drains on each side of the road, throwing out the moss from the drains into the middle of the road. In 1807 the smaller drains, at 50 yards distance from each other, were begun, and about 1000 acres laid out in the manner already mentioned. In 1808 part of the moss was sufficiently consolidated to be worked with horses in pattens: this year a farm-house, with out-buildings, cottages, &c. was erected, and marl was set upon the land prepared for that purpose. About 20 acres were cropped with turnips and potatoes in 1809; and in the year following, upwards of 80 acres, of [7:2:315]which 20 were wheat. In 1811 Mr Roscoe had 100 acres in crop, chiefly in wheat; and in 1812 marl and street manure were applied in the quantities specified above. The crops were wheat and beans, which much surpassed those of any preceding year. “In the course of the present year (1813) I shall have brought into cultivation about 160 acres, which will be cropped with wheat, oats, potatoes, and beans. A tract of 30 acres of clover appears to be very promising.”

The depreciation of agricultural produce in 1815, and the difficulty of combining a regular course of cropping with the bringing in of additional waste land, induced Mr Roscoe to laydown the whole of the improved part of Chat moss into meadow land. So long as land of this description continues productive in the state of meadow or pasture, it does not appear advisable to attempt any course of cropping whatever; and to lay it down for either of these purposes ought perhaps to form the chief inducement to its improvement.

3. A third cause of sterility is found in the natural texture of the soil, as in loose sands and coarse impermeable clays. Moving or blowing sands occur on the sea-coast of many parts of Scotland, and are not only worthless themselves, but frequently inflict serious injury on the lands within their reach, over which the sand spreads itself. This is a matter to which the Highland Society of Scotland have very properly turned their attention; and we shall extract from their communications some account of an attempt that has been recently made to fix these sands, and to render them in some measure productive. The experiment to which we allude was made in 1819 and 1820, on a farm in the parish of Harris, and county of Inverness, by the proprietor, Alexander N. Macleod, Esq., “who has completely succeeded in reclaiming and bringing into useful permanent pasture above 100 Scotch acres of useless blowing sand, by planting in it sea-bent (Arundo arenaria), known in the Hebrides by the name of bent-grass, and sowing rape-seed on it in a small proportion. The rape-seed requiring to be covered with sea-weed or some other manure immediately after sowing, is not considered so beneficial as the grass, as this requires no manure, or any other cultivation or top-dressing whatever, after being properly planted.

“The operations commenced upon the above farm in the month of September 1819, by cutting the Arundo arenaria or bent-grass about two inches below the surface, with a small thin-edged spade with a short handle, which a man can use in his right hand, at the same time taking hold of the grass in his left; other persons carrying it to the blowing sand, to be planted in a hole, or rather a cut made in the sand, about eight or nine inches deep (and deeper where the sand is very open and much exposed), by a large narrow-pointed spade. A handful of Arundo arenaria or bent-grass was put into each of these cuts, which were about twelve inches distant, more or less according to the exposure of the situation. When properly fixed in the blowing sand, the roots begin to grow, and spread under the surface, in the course of a month after planting.

u When Mr Macleod commenced the operations in reclaiming the tract of ground alluded to, it was altogether covered with blowing sand in winter and spring, and nearly so in summer. A great part of it consisted of high banks of sand, which did not produce grass or verdure of any kind whatever.

“The Arundo arenaria or bent-grass is relished by cattle in summer, but it is of greater value by preserving it on the ground for wintering cattle. It would be injudicious to cut it, because it will stand the winter better than any other grass, and is seldom covered with snow. Neither wind, rain, nor frost will destroy it; but the old grass naturally decays towards the latter end of spring and the beginning of summer, as the new crop grows.

“White and red clover will grow spontaneously among this grass in the course of a few years, provided it is well secured. It will produce seed in some instances within twelve months after planting; but the seed does not, on high exposed situations, come to the maturity that seed requires for sowing. On this account, to propagate this grass from the root is considered preferable to sowing.

“The Arundo arenaria or bent-grass operations should not commence in any season earlier than about the 20th October, and should be given up about the beginning of March, as this planting thrives much better in the wet season.”

The other descriptions of soil, which owing to their texture are of little value in their natural state, are close, compact clays, imbedded with small stones, and incumbent upon subsoils which do not allow the water to escape. Such land is in general covered with stunted heath and other coarse plants, and to the other causes of its infertility is often added a bad climate. The object in this case, as in the former, should generally be to obtain better herbage, rather than to convert it into arable land.

One of the most common and effectual practices in improving this description of land is paring and burning; a practice which, in the case of old swards matted with the roots of coarse herbage and heath, is acknowledged, both by scientific and practical writers, to be highly advantageous as the next step to be taken after drainage. “The process of burning,” says Sir Humphry Davy, “renders the soil less compact, less tenacious and retentive of moisture; and, properly applied, may convert a matter that was stiff, damp, and in consequence cold, into one powdery, dry, and warm, and much more proper as a bed for vegetable life.

“The great objection made by speculative chemists to paring and burning is, that it destroys vegetable and animal matter, or the manure in the soil; but in cases in which the texture of its earthy ingredients is permanently improved, there is more than a compensation for this temporary disadvantage. And in some soils, where there is an excess of inert vegetable matter, the destruction of it must be beneficial; and the carbonaceous matter remaining in the ashes may be more useful to the crop than the vegetable fibre from which it was produced.

“Many obscure causes have been referred to for the purpose of explaining the effects of paring and burning; but I believe they may be referred entirely to the diminution of the coherence and tenacity of clays, and to the destruction of inert and useless vegetable matter, and its conversion into a manure.

“All soils that contain too much dead vegetable fibre, and which consequently lose from one-third to one-half of their weight by incineration, and all such as contain their earthy constituents in an impalpable state of division, i. e. the stiff clays and marls, are improved by burning; but in coarse sands, or rich soils containing a just mixture of the earths, and in all cases in which the texture is already sufficiently loose, or the organizable matter sufficiently soluble, the process of torréfaction cannot be useful.

“All poor silicious sands must be injured by it; and practice is found to accord with theory. Mr Young, in his Essay on manures, states, ‘ that he found burning injure sand and the operation is never performed by good agriculturists upon silicious sandy soils, after they have once been brought into cultivation.” (Agricultural Chemistry, p. 346.) [7:2:316]Some eminent cultivators, however, prefer using the plough at the very first. They begin with a wide, shallow furrow, laying over the surface as flat as possible; and in that state it remains to rot for fifteen or eighteen months. It is then cross-ploughed, usually about midsummer, and well harrowed; dressed with lime, ridged up, and sown with rye or oats the following spring. As soon as the crop is removed, it is ploughed for turnips, to which dung is applied; and the turnips being eaten on the ground by sheep, it is laid to grass the year after, the seeds being sown along with oats or barley.

This mode of management, however, can only be adopted on lands of rather a loose texture, suited to turnip. On more compact soils, we should think paring and burning, followed by top-dressings of lime and compost, a preferable practice. But if it be thought expedient to turn over the turf or sod with the plough, a great number of ploughings and harrowings must be required to destroy the roots and pulverize the soil sufficiently; and two summers at least will be necessary to complete the operation. When it is thus brought into a state to be sown with grass-seeds, lime should be freely applied after the last ploughing, and well harrowed in; and then the grass-seeds soxvn with or without a corn crop. Wherever the object is pasture, a comparatively small quantity of lime will produce the desired effect, if it be kept on the surface instead of being turned down by the plough. It is unnecessary to mention, that on soils of this description, tenacious of moisture, open trenches will be necessary, to prevent any water from stagnating, the furrows also being made so deep as to draw off and discharge any excess of moisture in the soil itself. This kind of land is evidently better suited to pasturage than to meadow, and the pasture may be kept from deterioration by repeated top-dressings.

4. Much of our mountainous districts is necessarily left in a comparatively unproductive state, from the elevation and ruggedness of the surface, and ungenial character of the climate; but such tracts present so great a variety in their circumstances, that it would be idle to attempt laying down any rules of general application. The leading improvement, we conceive, must be in carrying off the surface-water in open drains, and providing shelter by means of plantations.

5. A soil not naturally unproductive has in many cases been rendered sterile, at least for a time, by injudicious management. When lime and other calcareous manures were first applied to fresh soils, the corn crops produced were often so valuable as to lead to their repetition year after year, without the intervention of ameliorating crops or the application of manures. We have known three successive crops of wheat taken from the same land, and of corn altogether not .less than ten crops in as many years. Under this management the soil could not fail to be reduced to a state of barrenness and waste, of which there are still too many instances in many parts of Scotland. The appropriate remedy here is the use of enriching manures, and after a time lime or other calcareous matters may be added. Such land has not only been robbed of its nutritive powers, but the very texture of the soil itself has experienced an unfavourable change. A few years’ pasturage must always be useful on land that has undergone so severe a course of tillage.

6. Much of the commons and common lands throughout the country may be considered as retained in a state of comparative waste, by reason of their tenure and mode of occupancy. In Scotland there is now very little land in this state, the law affording a ready means of dividing it, with a few exceptions, among the proprietors or occupants, according to their respective rights and interests. It is otherwise, however, in England, where a special act of parliament seems to be necessary in almost every instance; and though much has been done there in the way of allocating and improving such land under the authority of inclosure acts, much still remains to be done. But the improvement of such land is not so much an agricultural as a political question. When once it is brought into the state of private property, the methods to be adopted for rendering it more productive will necessarily depend upon the nature of the soil and other circumstances.

CHAP. III.

LIVE STOCK.

In the observations which we have to offer on this grand department of husbandry, which in some quarters of the island enjoys a decided preference over tillage, we shall treat, 1. Of Horses; 2. Of Cattle; 3. Of Sheep; 4. Of Swine; and, 5. Of Miscellaneous Stock.

Sect. I. Horses.

The form of a horse peculiarly adapted to the labours of agriculture, has been well described by a writer of great experience, in the following words:—.

“His head should be as small as the proportion of the animal will admit; his nostrils expanded, and muzzle fine; his eyes cheerful and prominent; his ears small, upright, and placed near together; his neck, rising out from between his shoulders with an easy tapering curve, must join gracefully to the head; his shoulders, being well thrown back, must also go into his neck (at what is called the points) unperceived, which, perhaps, facilitates the going much more than the narrow shoulder; the arm or fore thigh should be muscular, and, tapering from the shoulder, meet with a fine, straight, sinewy, bony leg; the hoof circular, and wide at the heel; his chest deep, and full at the girth; his loin or fillets broad and straight, and body round; his hips or hooks by no means wide, but quarters long, and tail set on so as to be nearly in the same right line as his back; his thighs strong and muscular; his legs clean and fine-boned; his leg-bones not round, but what is called lathy or flat.” (Culley on Live Stock, p. 21.)

1. Breeds.

1. The black cart-horse, bred in the midland counties of England (see Plate XH.), is better suited for drays and waggons than for the common operations of a farm. The present system of farming requires horses of more mettle and activity, better adapted for travelling, and more capable of enduring fatigue, than those heavy, sluggish animals. This variety is understood to have been formed, or at least brought to its present state, by means of stallions and mares imported from the Low Countries; though there appears to be some difference in the accounts that have been preserved, in regard to the places whence they were brought, and the persons who introduced them.^[38. See Culley on Live Stock, p. 32; and Marshall’s Economy of the Midland Countiet, vol. i. p. 306. ] “The breed of grey rats,” says Mr Marshall, “with which this island has of late years been overrun, is nota greater pest in it than the breed of black fen horses; at least while cattle remain scarce, as they are at present, and [7:2:317] while the flesh of horses continues to be rejected as an article of human food.” (Marshall’s Yorkshire, vol. ii. p. 164.) The present improved subvariety of this breed is said to have taken its rise in six Zealand mares, sent over from the Hague by Lord Chesterfield, during his embassy at that court.

2. The Cleveland bays, which owe some of their most valuable properties to crosses with the race-horse, have been long celebrated as one of the best breeds in the island; but they are said to have degenerated of late. They are reared to a great extent in Yorkshire, the farmers of which county are remarkable for their knowledge in every thing that relates to this species of live, stock. In activity and hardiness these horses have perhaps no superior. Some capital hunters have been produced by putting full-bred stallions to mares of this sort; but the chief object latterly has been to breed coach-horses, and such as have sufficient strength for a two-horse plough. Three of these horses carry a ton and a half of coals, travelling sixty miles in twenty-four hours, without any other rest than two or three baits upon the road; and they frequently perform this labour four times a week.

3. A third variety is the Suffolk Punch, a very useful animal for rural labour. Their merit seems to consist more in constitutional hardiness than true shape. See Plate XII. “Their colour is mostly yellowish or sorrel, with a white ratch or blaze on their faces; the head large, ears wide, muzzle coarse, fore-end low, back long, but very straight, sides flat, shoulders too far forward, hind quarters middling, but rather high about the hips, legs round and short in the pasterns, deep-bellied, and full in die flank; here, perhaps, lies much of the merit of these horses; for we know, from observation and experience, that all deep-bellied horses carry their food long, and consequently are enabled to stand longer and harder days’ works. However, certain it is that these horses do perform surprising days’ works. It is well known that the Suffolk and Norfolk farmers plough more land in a day than any other people in the island; and these are the kind of horses everywhere used in those districts.” ( Culley on Lire Stock, p. 27.)

4. The Clydesdale horse has been long in high repute in Scotland and the north of England, and, for the purposes of the farmer, is probably equal to any other breed in Britain. Of the origin of this race various accounts have been given, but none of them so clear or so well authenticated as to merit any notice. They have got this name, not because they are bred only in Clydesdale or Lanarkshire,—for the same description of horses are reared in the other western counties of Scotland, and over all that tract which lies between the Clyde and the Forth,— but because the principal markets at which they are sold, Lanark, Carnwath, Rutherglen, and Glasgow, are situated in that district, where they are also preserved in a state of greater purity than in most other parts. They are rather larger than the Suffolk Punches, and the neck is somewhat longer; their colour is black, brown, or grey, and a white spot on the face is esteemed a mark of beauty. The breast is broad; shoulder thick, the blades nearly as high as the chine, and not so much thrown backwards as in road-horses; the hoof round, usually of a black colour, and the heels wide; the back straight and broad, but not too long; the bucks visible, but not prominent, and the space between them and the ribs short; the tail heavy, and well haired, the thighs meeting each other so near as to leave only a small groove for the tail to rest on. One most valuable, property of this breed is, that they are remarkably true pullers, a restive horse being rarely found among them. See Plate XIII.

5. The Welsh horse bears a near resemblance, in point of size and hardiness, to the best of the native breed of the Highlands of Scotland, and other hilly countries in the north of Europe. It is too small for the present two-horse ploughs, but few horses are equal to them for enduring fatigue on the road. “I well remember one,” says Mr Culley, “that I rode for many years, which, to the last, would have gone upon a pavement by choice, in preference to a softer road.” ( Observations on Live Stock, p. 35.)

6. A little horse, of much the same size with the former, or rather larger, called a Galloway, from its being found chiefly in that province of Scotland, has now become very rare; the breed having been neglected, from its unfitness for the present labours of agriculture. The true Galloways are said to resemble the Spanish horses; and there is a tradition, that some of the latter, that had escaped from one of the vessels of the Armada, wrecked on the coast of Galloway, were allowed to intermix with the native race. Such of this breed as have been preserved in any degree of purity are of a light bay or brown colour, with blacklegs, and are easily distinguished by the smallness of their head and neck, and the cleanness of their bone.

7. The still smaller horses of the Highlands and Isles of Scotland are distinguished from larger breeds by the several appellations of Ponies, Shelties, and, in Gaelic, of Garrons or Gearrons. They are reared in great numbers in the Hebrides, or Western Isles, where they are found in the greatest purity. Different varieties of the same race are spread over all the Highland district and the Northern Isles. This ancient breed is supposed to have been introduced into Scotland from Scandinavia, when the Norwegians and Danes first obtained a footing in these parts. “It is precisely the same breed that subsists at present in Norway, the Feroe Isles, and Iceland, and is totally distinct from every thing of horse kind on the continent of Europe south of the Baltic. In confirmation of this, there is one peculiar variety of the horse in the Highlands that deserves to be noticed. It is there called the eel-backed horse. (See Plate XIII.) He is of different colours, light bay, dun, and sometimes cream-coloured; but has always a blackish list that runs along the ridge of the back, from the shoulder to the rump, which has a resemblance to an eel stretched out. This very singular character subsists also in many of the horses of Norway, and is nowhere else known.” (Walker’s Hebrides, vol. ii. p. 158.)

“The Highland horse is sometimes only nine, and seldom twelve hands high, excepting in some of the southern of the Hebrides, where the size has been raised to thirteen or fourteen hands by selection and better feeding. The best of this breed are handsomely shaped, have small legs, large manes, little neat heads, and are extremely active and hardy. The common colours are grey, bay, and black; the last is the favourite one.” ( General Report of Scotland, vol. iii. p. 176.) ,

2. Ereeding and Hearing.

The same attention to select the best males and females for breeding, which has been productive of the most advantageous rosults in the case of cattle and sheep, does not prevail very generally in the breeding of farm-horses: on the contrary, though every one exercises some degree of judgment in regard to the stallion, there are few breeders, comparatively,,who hesitate to employ very ill-formed and worthless mares,—and often solely because they are unfit for any thing else than bringing a foal. All the best writers on Agriculture reprobate this absurd and unprofitable practice. “In the midland counties of England the breeding of cart-horses is attended to with the same assiduity[7:2:318] as that which has of late years been bestowed on cattle and sheep, while the breeding of saddle-horses, hunters, and coach-horses, is almost entirely neglected; is left almost wholly to chance, even in Yorkshire, — I mean as to females. A breeder here would not give five guineas for the best brood-mare in the kingdom, unless she could draw or carry him occasionally to market, nor a guinea extraordinary for one which could do both. He would sooner breed from a rip which he happens to have upon his premises, though not worth a month’s keep. But how absurd! The price of the leap, the keep of the mare, and the care and keep of her progeny, from the time they drop to the time of sale, are the same, whether they be sold from ten to fifteen, or from forty to fifty pounds each.” (Marshall’s Economy of Yorkshire, vol. ii. p. 166.)

In those districts where the breeding of horses is carried on upon a large scale, and upon a regular plan, the rearing of stallions forms in some degree a separate branch, and is confined, as in the case of bulls and rams, to a few eminent breeders. These stallions, which are shown at the different towns in the vicinity,—sometimes sent to be exhibited at a considerable distance,—are let out for the whole season, or sold to stallion-men, or kept by the breeder himself, for covering such mares as may be offered, at a certain price per head; and this varies according to the estimation in which the horse is held, and sometimes according as the mare has more or less of what is cal⅛d blood. For farm-mares, the charge for covering by a stallion of the same kind is commonly about a guinea, with half-a-crown to the groom; and it is a common practice in the north to agree for a lower rate if the mare does not prove with foal; sometimes nothing more is paid in that case than the allowance to the groom.

The age at which the animals should be allowed to copulate is not determined by uniform practice, and is made to depend in some measure on the degree of maturity, which, in animals of the same species, is more or less early, according to breed and feeding. Yet it would seem in general to be an improper practice to allow animals to propagate while they are themselves in a raw, unformed state, and require all the nutriment which their food affords, for raising them to the ordinary size of the variety to which they belong. It may, therefore, be seldom advisable to employ the stallion till he is about three years old, or the mare till she is a year older. But the greater number of mares kept for breeding are much older than this, and are, in many cases, not allowed to bring foals till they are in the decline of life, or otherwise unable to bear their full share in rural labour.

In the breeding of horses, as in all other kinds of live stock, it is of importance that, at the season of parturition, there should be a suitable supply of food for the young. The time of covering mares ought, therefore, to be partly regulated by a due regard to this circumstance, and may be earlier in the south than in the north, where grass, the most desirable food both for the dam and foal, does not come so early by a month or six weeks. In Scotland it is not advantageous to have mares to drop their foals sooner than the middle of April; and, as the period of gestation is about eleven months, they are usually covered in May, or early in June. But if mares are intended to bring a foal every year, they should be covered from the ninth to the eleventh day after foaling, whatever may be the time; and the horse should be brought to them again nine or eighteen days afterwards.

The mares are worked in summer as usual, and more moderately in the ensuing winter, till near the time of foaling, when, if the season be somewhat advanced, even though the pasture be not fully sufficient for their maintenance, they should, be turned out to some grass field near the homestead, and receive such additional supply of food as may be necessary, under sheds adjoining. It is both inconvenient and dangerous to confine a mare about to foal in a common stable, and still more so to leave her loose in a close stable among other horses; and confinement is not much less objectionable after dropping her foal. Such sheds are also exceedingly convenient even after grass has become abundant, as the weather is often cold and rigorous during the month of May. When the foal is a few weeks old, the mare is again put to light work; and she is separated from the foal altogether, after having nursed it for about six months.

Breeding mares are evidently unable to endure the fatigue of constant labour for some months before and after parturition. This has led a few farmers to rear foals upon cow-milk; but the practice is neither common, nor likely ever to become so. The greater number of horses, therefore, are bred in situations where a small portion of arable land is attached to farms chiefly occupied with cattle or sheep, or where the farms are so small as not to afford full and constant employment to the number of horses that must nevertheless be kept for the labour of particular seasons.

“During the first winter, foals are fed on hay, with a little com, but should not be constantly confined to the stable; for even when there is nothing to be got on the fields, it is much in their favour to be allowed exercise out of doors. A considerable proportion of succulent food, such as potatoes, carrots, and Swedish turnips (oilcake has been recommended), should be given them through the first winter; and bean and peas meal has been advantageously substituted for oats, which, if allowed in a considerable quantity, are injurious to the thriving of the young animal, from their heating and astringent nature. Their pasture, during the following summer, depends upon the circumstances of the farms on which they are reared. In the second winter they are fed in much the same manner as in the first, except that straw may be given for some months instead of hay; and in the third winter they have a greater allowance of com, as they are frequently worked at the harrows in the ensuing spring, when about three years old.” (General Report of Scotland, vol. iii. p∙ 183.)

The rearing of horses is carried on in some places in so systematical a manner, as to combine the profit arising from the advance in the age of the animals, with that of a moderate degree of labour before they are fit for the purposes to which they are ultimately destined. In the ordinary practice of the midland counties, the breeders sell them while yearlings, or perhaps when foals, namely, at six or eighteen months old, but most generally the latter. They are mostly bought up by the graziers of Leicestershire, and the other grazing parts of that district, where they are grown among the grazing stock until the autumn following. At two years and a half old they are bought up by the arable farmers, or dealers of Buckinghamshire, Berkshire, Wiltshire, and other western counties, where they are broken into harness, and worked till they are five, or more generally six years old. At this age the dealers buy them up again to be sent to London, where they are finally purchased for drays, carts, waggons, coaches, the army, or any other purpose for which they are found fit. (Marshall’s Economy of the Midland Counties, vol. i. p. 311.)

A similar mode of transferring young horses from hand to hand is common in the west of Scotland. The farmers of Ayrshire and the counties adjacent, who generally crop not more than one-fourth, or at most one-third, of their [7:2:319] arable land, and occupy the remainder with a dairy-stock, ι purchase young horses at the fairs of Lanark and Carn-wath before mentioned,—work them at the harrows in the following spring when below two years old,—put them to the plough next winter at the age of two years and a half, and continue to work them gently till they are five years old, when they are sold again at the Rutherglen and Glasgow markets, at a great advance of price, to dealers and farmers from the south-eastern counties. A considerable number of horses, however, are now bred in the Lothians, Berwickshire, and Roxburghshire, the very high prices of late having rendered it profitable to breed them, even upon good arable land. But many farmers of these counties, instead of breeding, still prefer purchasing two and a half or three and a half year old colts, at the markets in the west country, or at Newcastle fair in the month of October. They buy in a certain number yearly, and sell an equal number of their work-horses before they are so old as to lose much of their value; so that their stock is kept up without any other loss than such as arises from accidents; and the greater price received for the horses they sell is often sufficient to cover any such loss. (General Report of Scotland, vol. iii. p. 182.)

Castration is performed on the males commonly when they are about a year old; but a late writer strongly disapproves of delaying this operation so long, and recommends twitching the colts (a practice well known to rambreeders) any time after they are a week old, or as soon after as the testicles are come down; and this method, he says, he has followed himself with great success. (Parkinson on Live Stock, vol. ii. p. 74.) Another writer suggests, for experiment, the spaying of mares, thinking they would work better and have more wind than geldings. (Marshall’s Yorkshire, vol. ii. p. 169.) But he does not appear to have been aware that this is by no means a new experiment; for Tusser, who wrote in 1562, speaks of folding fillies as a common practice at that period. The main objection to this operation is not that brood-mares would become scarce, as he supposes, but that, by incapacitating them from breeding, m case of accidents and in old age, the loss on this expensive species of live stock would be greatly enhanced. An old or lame mare would dien be as worthless as an old or lame gelding is at present.

3. Feeding and Working.

The age at which horses are put to full work, in the labours of a farm, is usually when four or five years old, according to the nature of the soil and the numbers of die team; but they are always understood to be able to pay for their maintenance after they are three years old, by occasional work in ploughing and harrowing.

lt is not so common a practice as it should be to subject young horses of this kind to any regular course of training; but they are made familiar with their keeper as soon as they are weaned, led about in a halter, rubbed down in the stable, and treated with gentleness; and before being put to work, it is usual to place them under the charge of a steady, careful servant, who very soon learns them to drag a harrow alongside of an older horse, and afterwards to take their share of the labour at the plough, and, by degrees, in all the other work of the farm.

With regard to the mode of feeding and working them, and their treatment in general, the practice is so various, according to the state of agriculture in different districts, and the circumstances of their owners, that all that can be done here is to mention some leading points of management, in which all good farmers are agreed.

The selection of horses adapted to particular situations is evidently a matter of primary consideration. It has been already hinted that the heavy, black cart-horses, so much valued in London and a few other great towns, are but ill adapted to the operations of modem husbandry ;' and the nature of the soil and surface, and the situation of a farm in regard to markets, manure, and fuel, require some difference in the strength, activity, and hardiness of this instrument of labour. Accordingly, in the northern counties of Britain, where economy in this department is more attended to than in the south, we find horses of considerable strength, and a moderate share of activity, employed on firm, cohesive soils; and on light, friable soils, such as are possessed of more activity, not apt from their weight to be soon fatigued by working on an unequal surface, and able to endure travelling, with a moderate load, for a considerable distance, without injury.

Whatever may be the description of horses employed, it is always a rule with good managers never to allow them to fall off in condition so much as to be incapable of going through their work without frequent applications of the lash. There is nothing which more clearly marks the unprosperous condition of a tenant, than the leanness of his working cattle, and their reluctant movements under this severe stimulus. There are particular operations, indeed, such as turnip-sowing, seeding fallows, harvestwork, &c. which require to be executed with so great dispatch in our variable climate, that unusual exertions are often indispensable. At these times it is hardly possible, by the richest food and the most careful treatment, to prevent the animals from losing flesh, sometimes even when their spirit and vigour are not perceptibly impaired. Such labours, however, do not continue long, and should always be followed by a corresponding period of indulgence. It is particularly dangerous and unprofitable to begin the spring labour with horses worn down by bad treatment during winter.

Much has been said about the great expense of feeding horses on corn and hay, and various roots have been recommended as advantageous substitutes. That these animals can ever be made to perform their labour, according to the present courses of husbandry, on carrots, turnips, potatoes, or other roots alone, or as their chief food, our own experience and observation lead us to consider as very improbable· They will work and thrive on such food; but they will work as much more, and thrive as much better, with oats or beans in addition, as fully to repay the difference in expense. One of the three meals a day which farm-horses usually receive may consist of roots, and a few of them every twenty-four hours are highly conducive to the health of the animals; but we have never had occasion to see any horse work regularly throughout the year, in the way they are usually worked in the best cultivated districts, without an allowance of at least an English peck of oats, or mixed oats and beans, daily, less or more at particular periods, but rather more than this quantity for at least nine months in the year.

It has been already observed, that machines are in some places used for cutting hay and straw into chaff, for bruising or breaking down corn, and for preparing roots and other articles by means of steam. The advantages of these practices, both in regard to the economy of food and the health of the animals, are too evident to require illustration. But the custom, which has been adopted by a few individuals, and injudiciously recommended by others, of cutting down oats with their straw into the state of chaff, without being previously threshed, is wasteful and slovenly in the extreme. The proportion, as to quantity or quality, which the oats bear to the bulk of the straw, being various in every season, and almost in every field, the proper allowance of oats can be served out only [7:2:320] by first separating them from the straw, and then mixing them with the cut straw or chaff, in suitable proportions, before being laid into the manger.

The work performed is evidently a question of circumstances, which does not admit of any precise solution. It has been observed in the section on tillage,' that a two-horse plough may, on an average, work about an English acre a day throughout the year; and, in general, according to the nature of the soil, and the labour that has been previously bestowed on it, a pair of horses, in ploughing, may travel daily from ten to fifteen miles, overcoming a degree of resistance equal to from four to ten hundredweights. On a well-made road, the same horses will draw about a ton in a two-wheeled cart for twenty or twenty-five miles every day; and one of the better sort, in the slow movement of the carrier or waggoner, commonly draws this weight by himself on the best turnpike roads. In some places horses are in the yoke, when the length of the day permits, nine hours, and in others ten hours a day; but, for three or four months in winter, only from five to eight hours. In the former season they are allowed to feed and rest two hours from mid-day; and, in the latter, they have a little corn on the field when working as long as there is day-light, but none if they work only five or six hours.

In the section on farm-buildings, we have described with some minuteness the construction and interior arrangement of modern stables; and it is only necessary to add here, that the stable-management of horses has been greatly improved of late years. It is not long since there were instances, even in the Border counties, of horses being turned loose into a stable, without racks or mangers, and without any other litter than the straw intended for their food, which they tossed about in all directions. Even those farmers who found it necessary to confine them to separate stances, did not see the advantage of separating them by partitions, but left them standing, as is too generally the case at present with cattle, at liberty to inflict, and exposed to endure, serious injuries and privations. When at last they were confined in stalls, it was common to place two in each, by way of saving room and the expense of partitions; and with the same view they were made to stand in double rows, one row on each gable or side-wall, the hind legs of each row so near those of the opposite one as to leave little room for carrying away their dung without danger, and to afford little security against the attacks from behind of vicious horses placed on the opposite sides of the stable. That all these inconveniences are avoided in the present stables, must be evident from the description already given, and the engraving there referred to.

It is now well understood that the liberal use of the brush and the currycomb twice a day,—frequent but moderate meals, consisting of a due proportion of succulent joined to more solid food,—abundance of fresh litter, and great attention to method and cleanliness, are as indispensable in the stable of a farmer (as far as is consistent with a just regard to economy) as they have always been held to be in the treatment of horses kept for pleasure. Good dressing, with all well-informed and attentive men, is considered to be no less necessary to the thriving of the horses than good feeding: according to a common expression, it is equal to half their food. We shall conclude this section with an extract from a recent publication, for the purpose of explaining the minutiae of management adopted in the most improved counties of Scotland.

“For about four months in summer, horses are fed on pastures, or on clover and ryegrass, and tares cut green and brought home to the stable or fold-yard; the latter method being by far the most economical and advantageous. For other eight months they are kept on the straw of oats, beans, and peas, and on clover and ryegrass hay. As soon as the grass fails towards the end of autumn, they have hay for a few weeks; and when the days become so short as to allow of no more than from six to eight hours’ work, they are very generally fed with different kinds of straw, according to the circumstances of the farm. In the month of March they are again put to hay, till the grass is ready for being cut. Throughout all the year they are allowed more or less corn when constantly worked; and during the time they are on dry fodder, particularly when on straw, they have potatoes, yams, or Swedish turnips, once a day, sometimes boiled barley, and, in a few instances, carrots. A portion of some of these roots is of great importance to the health of horses, when succulent herbage is first exchanged for hay at the end of autumn; and it is no less so towards the latter end of spring, when hay has become sapless, and the labour is usually severe. At these two periods, therefore, it is the practice of all careful managers to give an ample allowance of some of these roots, even though they should be withheld for a few weeks during the intermediate period.

“The quantity of these different articles of food must depend on the size of the horses, and the labour they perform; and the value, upon the prices of different seasons, and in every season, on the situation of the farm with respect to markets, particularly for hay and roots, which bring a very different price near large towns, and at a few miles distance. It is for these reasons that the yearly expense of a horse’s maintenance has been estimated at almost every sum from L.15 to L.40. But it is only necessary to attend to the expense of feeding horses that are capable of performing the labour required of them under the most correct and spirited management. Such horses are fed with oats, sometimes with beans, three times a day, for about eight months; and twice a day for the other four, when at grass; and, at the rate of eight feeds per bushel, each horse will eat fifteen quarters of oats, or twenty bolls Linlithgow measure, in the year. When on hay, he will require about one stone of twenty-two pounds avoirdupois daily, and five pounds more if he does not get roots. One English acre of clover and ryegrass, and tares, may be necessary for four months soiling; and a quarter of an acre of potatoes, yams, or Swedish turnips, during the eight months he is fed with hay or straw. The use of these roots may admit of a small diminution of the quantity of corn m the winter months, or a part of it may be, as it almost always is, of an inferior quality.”

The expense of a horse-plough must be different according to the situation, but is in every case considerable. The feeding of the horses, with the interest of capital, decline in value, and loss by accidents or disease, and the charges for harness, shoeing, and farriery, were calculated, towards the latter end of the last war, when the prices were high, at from L.90 to L.100 per annum, which, with the wages of the ploughman, would be equal to 4Ós. for every acre of the land which they cultivated; but with present prices an abatement may be made of 20 or 25 per cent.; reducing the whole charges upon a plough, wages included, to about L.100 per annum, and the expense per acre to 30s. or 32s. It is no doubt true that the expense is in many places considerably less than this; but we speak here of horses fully employed throughout the year, and in the improved system of husbandry. Farmers who keep their accounts in a proper manner charge for every day’s work of a man and a pair of horses from 7s. 6d. to 10s.; and [7:2:321] when land is in an ordinary state of cultivation, it is sometimes let out to plough at the rate of 6s. to 8s. per acre.

It has been long alleged that oxen might be beneficially substituted for horses, in the common operations of agriculture; and a great many calculations have been submitted to the public on both sides of the question. Startling as it may seem, however, these calculations prove nothing. The first point is to show, that the two animals are equally adapted to every sort of farm labour. There are other elements which enter into this question than the actual expenditure on either side; and with reference to the present state of agriculture in this country, we hold it as a fact ascertained by general experience, that oxen cannot be employed with advantage, except in particular sorts of labour which do not go on all the year round, but are only performed occasionally or at certain seasons. The constant employment of oxen, to the entire exclusion c.f horses, is, we venture to assert, impracticable in this country, and, if it were practicable, would not be profitable. It is readily admitted, that oxen are well adapted t-) the ploughing of coarse tough swards, .and other lands so much occupied with stones or roots as to require a slow and steady power. They have also been found useful for threshing-machines worked by animal power, for the same reason. But in almost all the other kinds of labour necessary upon an extensive farm, oxen, such at least as are bred in this country, are troublesome, inefficient, slow, and improfitable labourers. They are not suited to the cart or waggon, even on our fields, and far less for travelling upon our public roads. They cannot perform their work with the dispatch necessary in our variable climate at seedtime and harvest; and in the preparing, manuring, and seeding of large fields of turnip, a process which calls for so much exertion and dispatch in Norfolk and other turnip counties, the employment of oxen is entirely inadmissible. Within certain limits a horse will work according as he is fed; but if an ox is pushed beyond his natural step, he is soon rendered useless.

On a practical question of this nature it is experience alone that can decide; and there is none as to which general experience is more conclusive. In the rude state of agriculture which prevailed in this country before the introduction of clover and turnips, oxen were, as they still continue to be in some parts of the Continent, more gene* rally employed in the home work of a farm than horses; but in the progress of improvement, oxen have been gradually laid aside, till horses are now, with comparatively few exceptions, universally employed in their stead. So much is this the case, that one might almost estimate beforehand the state of agriculture in any district where oxen are in general use. But the change from oxen to horses, in the labours of agriculture, is not confined to this country. A similar change has been long going on on the Continent, particularly in France, where, according to their best agricultural writers, the horse is preferred for the same reasons as in this country. The advocates for the use of oxen, in fact, are in general persons of little or no practical knowledge, who look only to the original cost and the comparative expense of maintaining the animals, with the accidents and diseases to which the horse is liable; but they do not take into view what that cost and that expense of maintenance would be if oxen were to come into general use, and how far this change would affect the supply of our butcher market; nor do they consider the loss upon the ploughman’s wages, when he goes over an acre a day or more with the one species of animals, and not more than half as much with the other.

They might reflect too upon the necessity there is for the employment of horses in drays and waggons in our public streets and in long journeys. To provide for the necessary supply, these horses must be reared as a part of the farmer’s live stock; and as he begins to work them so early as at three years old, they return to him much more than the price of their food, before they come to the age of five or six years, which is as soon as they are fit for the waggoner or the drayman. With all these considerations in view, the arguments drawn from the husbandry of the Greeks and Romans, and the modern practice of other countries, will have no more weight with the enlightened farmers of Britain than if it were attempted to prove the superiority of manual and animal labour over machinery in threshing and other operations. Such men will always continue to apply each species of animal to its proper use, and seek for labour from the horse, and beef from the ox; improving the breeds of both with a view to these distinct objects, instead of vainly attempting to obtain meat and labour from the latter animal. By this management, as we shall see immediately, our cattle are now prepared for the butcher at a much earlier period than formerly, and afford an adequate return in their carcass alone.

Sect. II. Cattle.

The purposes for which cattle are kept being more various, and cattle being also for the most part not so completely domesticated as horses, this species includes a much greater number of breeds and varieties. The different races have been distinguished generally by tlte length of their horns, or by their having no horns at all; and again subdivided, and more particularly described under the names of the counties or districts where they are supposed to have originated, where they most abound, or where they exist in the greatest purity.

In Britain, as in most other countries, horses are useful only for the labour they perform, though it is probable that nothing but prejudice prevents them from enlarging, at least occasionally, the supply of human food; and to render them fit for labour, they must sooner or later in their lives be entirely subjected to the care and control of man. Cattle, on the other hand, except the few kept for labour' and for their milk, have not, till of late (and even now only in particular countries), been the objects of that discipline and those experiments which seek to restrain habits acquired in a state of nature—to improve forms and proportions, perpetuated and somewhat varied by climate, surface, and herbage—and to cultivate and bring to perfection, with the greatest possible economy, all those valuable properties with which nature has endowed the inferior animals for the subsistence and the comfort of man. In most parts of the world cattle are still merely the creatures of soil and climate; and it is a striking evidence of the greater progress of social improvement in Britain, that we possess races of cattle and sheep, formed in a great measure by skill and industry, which excel beyond all comparison those of every other country.

The three great products of cattle—meat, milk, and labour—have each of them engaged the attention of British agriculturists; but experience has not hitherto justified the expectation that has been entertained of combining all these desirable properties, in an eminent degree, in the same race. That form which indicates the property of yielding the most milk, differs materially from that which we know from experience to be combined with early maturity and the most valuable carcass; and the breeds which are understood to give the greatest weight of meat [7:2:322]for the food they consume, and to contain the least proportion of offal, are not those which possess, in the highest degree, the strength and activity required in beasts of labour.

As we propose to treat of the produce and manufacture of milk in a separate article (see Dairy), we shall there have occasion to notice those breeds of which the females are most valuable for the dairy; only referring at present to Plate XIII. for an engraving of the Ayrshire cow, an excellent race, spread over that and the counties adjacent. And as cattle are seldom or never reared exclusively, or even chiefly, for the purpose of labour, which is now in most parts of Britain performed entirely by horses, it will be sufficient to apply our remarks in an especial manner to the races themselves, and the modes of treatment which are best adapted to the production of beef.

“Whatever be the breed,” says Mr Culley, “I presume that, to arrive at excellence, there is one form or shape essential to all, which form I shall attempt to give in the following description of a bull.

“The head of the bull should be rather long, and muzzle fine; his eyes lively and prominent; his ears long and thin; his horns white; his neck rising with a gentle curve from the shoulders, and small and fine where it joins the head; his shoulders moderately broad at the top, joining full to his chine and chest backwards, and to the neck-vein forwards; his bosom open; breast broad, and projecting well before his legs; his arms or fore thighs muscular, and tapering to his knee; his legs straight, clean, and very fine boned; his chine and chest so full as to leave no hollow behind the shoulders; the plates strong, to keep his belly from sinking below the level of his breast; his back or loin broad, straight, and flat; his ribs rising one above another, in such a manner that the last rib shall be rather the highest, leaving only a small space to the hips or hooks, the whole forming a round or barrel-like carcass; his hips should be wide placed, round or globular, and a little higher than the back; the quarters (from the hip to the rump) long, and instead of being square, as recommended by some, they should taper gradually from the hips backward, and the turls or pottbones not in the least protuberant; rump close to the tail; the tail broad, well haired, and set on so high as to be in the same horizontal line with his back.” (Culley on Live Stock, p. 38.)

1. Breeds.

1. The Long-horned or Lancashire breed of cattle is distinguished from others by the length of their horns, the thickness and firm texture of their hides, the length and closeness of their hair, the large size of their hoofs, and coarse, leathery, thick necks: they are likewise deeper in their fore quarters and lighter in their hind quarters than most other breeds,—narrower in their shape, less in point of weight, than the short-horns, though better weighers in proportion to their size; and though they give considerably less milk, it is said to afford more cream in proportion to its quantity.

They are more varied in their colour than any of the other breeds; but, whatever the colour be, they have in general a white streak along their back, which the breeders term finched, and mostly a white spot on the inside of the hough. (Id. p. 53.)

In a general view, this race, notwithstanding the singular efforts that have been made towards its improvement, remains with little alteration; for, excepting in Leicestershire, none of the subvarieties (which differ a little in almost every one of those counties where the long-horns prevail (have undergone any radical change, nor any obvious improvement. The improved breed of Leicestershire is said to have been formed by Mr Webster of Can-ley, near Coventry, in Warwickshire, by means of six cows brought from the banks of the Trent about 90 years ago, which were crossed with bulls from Westmoreland and Lancashire. Mr Bakewell of Dishley, in Leicestershire, afterwards got the lead as a breeder, by selecting from the Canley stock; and the stocks of several other eminent breeders have been traced to the same source. (Marshall’s Midkind Counties, vol. i. p. 318.) See Plate XIV.

2. The Short-horned, sometimes called the Dutch breed, is known by a variety of names, taken from the districts where they form the principal cattle-stock, or where most attention has been paid to their improvement. Thus, different families of this race are distinguished by the names of the Holderness, the Teeswater, the Yorkshire, Durham, Northumberland, and other breeds. The Teeswater breed, a variety of short-horns, established on the banks of the Tees, at the head of the vale of York, is at present in the highest estimation, and is alleged to be the true Yorkshire short-horned breed. Bulls and cows from this stock, purchased at most extraordinary prices, are spread over all the north of England and the border counties of Scotland. The bone, head, and neck of these cattle are fine; the hide is very thin, the chine full, the loin broad, and the carcass throughout large and well fashioned; and the flesh and fatting quality equal, or perhaps superior, to those of any other large breed. The short-horns give a greater quantity of milk than any other cattle; a cow usually yielding 24 quarts of milk per day, making three firkins of butter during the grass season. Their colours are much varied, but they are generally red and white mixed, or what the breeders call flecked. See Plate XIV.

“The heaviest and largest oxen of the short-horned breed, when properly fed, victual the East India ships, as they produce the thickest beef, which, by retaining its juices, is the best adapted for such long voyages. Our royal navy should also be victualed from these; but, by the jobs made by contractors, and other abuses, I am afraid our honest tars are often fed with beef of an inferior quality. However, the coal ships from Newcastle, Shields, Sunderland, &c. are wholly supplied with the beef of these valuable animals.

“These oxen commonly weigh from 60 to 100 stone (14 lb. to the stone), and they have several times been fed to 120, 130, and some particular ones to upwards of 150 stone, the four quarters only.” (Culley on Live Stock, p. 48.)

3. The Middle-horned breeds comprehend in like manner several local varieties, of which the most noted are the Devons, the Sussexes, and the Herefords; the two last, according to Mr Culley, being varieties of the first, though of a greater size, the Herefords being the largest. These cattle are the most esteemed of all our breeds for the draught, on account of their activity and hardiness. They do not milk so well as the short-horns, but are not deficient in the valuable property of feeding at an early age, when not employed in labour.

The Devonshire cattle are “of a high red colour (if any white spots, they reckon the breed impure, particularly if those spots run into one another), with a light dun ring round the eye, and the muzzle of the same colour; fine in the bone, clean in the neck, horns of a medium length bent upwards, thin-faced and fine in the chops, wide in the hips, a tolerable barrel, but rather flat on the sides, tail small and set on very high; they are thin-skinned, and silky in handling, feed at an early age, or arrive at maturity sooner than most other breeds.” (Culley οη [7:2:323]Live Stock, p. 51.) Another writer observes, that they are a model for all persons who breed oxen for the yoke. (Parkinson on Live Stock, vol. i. p. 112.) The weight of the cows is usually from 30 to 40 stone, and of the oxen from 40 to 60. The North Devon variety, in particular, from the fineness in the grain of the meat, is held in high estimation in Smithfield. (Dickson’s Practical Agriculture, vol. ii. p. 120.)

The Sussex and Herefordshire cattle are of a deep red colour, with fine hair and very thin hides; neck and head clean; horns neither long nor short, rather turning up at the points; in general they are well made in the hind quarters, wide across the hips, rump, and sirloin, but narrow in the chine; tolerably straight along the back; ribs too flat; thin in the thigh; and bone not large. An ox, six years old, when fat, will weigh from 60 to 100 stone, the fore quarters generally the heaviest. The oxen are mostly worked from three to six years old, sometimes till seven, when they are turned off for feeding. The Hereford cattle are next in size to the Yorkshire short-horns. Both this and the Gloucester variety are highly eligible as dairy stock, and the females of the Herefords have been found to fatten better at three years old than any other kind of cattle except the spayed heifers of Norfolk. (Marshall’s Economy of Gloucestershire.')

4. The Polled or hornless breeds. The most numerous and esteemed variety is the Galloway breed, so called from the province of that name, in the south-west of Scotland, where they most abound. The true Galloway bullock “is straight and broad on the back, and nearly level from the head to the rump; broad at the loins, not, however, with hooked bones, or projecting knobs; so that when viewed from above, the whole body appears beautifully rounded, like the longitudinal section of a roller. He is long in the quarters, but not broad in the twist. He is deep in the chest, short in the leg, and moderately fine in the bone, clean in the chop and in the neck. His head is of a moderate size, with large, rough ears, and full but not prominent eyes or heavy eye-brows, so that he has a calm, though determined look. His well-proportioned form is clothed with a loose and mellow skin, adorned with long, soft, glossy hair.” ( Galloway Report, p. 236.) The prevailing colour is black or dark brindled; and, though they are occasionally found of every colour, the dark colours are uniformly preferred, from a belief that they are connected with superior hardiness of constitution. The Galloways are rather under-sized, not very different from the size of the Devons, but as much less than the longhorns as the long-horns are less than the short-horns. On the best farms the average weight of bullocks three years and a half old, when the greater part of them are driven to the south, has been stated at about forty stone avoirdupois. Some of them, fattened in England, have been brought to nearly one hundred stone. See Plate XV.

The general properties of this breed are well known in almost every part of England, as well as in Scotland. They are sometimes sent from their native pastures directly to Smithfield, a distance of 400 miles, and sold at once to the butcher; and in spring they are often shown in Norfolk, immediately after their arrival, in as good condition, or even better than when they began their journey. With full feeding, there is perhaps no breed that sooner attains maturity, and their flesh is of the finest quality. Mr Culley was misinformed about the quantity of milk they yield, which, though rich, is by no means abundant.

“It is alleged not to be more than seventy or eighty years since the Galloways were all horned, and very much the same, in external appearance and character, with the breed of black-cattle which prevailed over the west of Scotland at that period, and which still abound in perfection, the largest sized ones in Argyllshire, and the smaller in the Isle of Skye. The Galloway cattle, at the time alluded to, were coupled with some hornless bulls, of a sort which do not seem now to be accurately known, but which were then brought from Cumberland; the effects of which crossing were thought to be the general loss of horns in the former, and the enlargement of their size; the continuance of a hornless sort being kept up by selecting only such for breeding, or perhaps by other means, as by the practice of eradicating with the knife the horns in their very young state.” (Coventry on Live Stock, p. 28.)

The Galloway cattle, besides occupying almost exclusively the stewartry of Kirkcudbright and the shire of Wigton, the two divisions of Galloway, are now spread over the adjoining county of Dumfries, and are to be found in smaller numbers in most of the other districts of Scotland. The cattle of Angus or Forfarshire, on the east coast, many of which are also without horns, resemble the Galloways in their colour, size, and general properties.

The Suffolk Duns, according to Mr Culley, are nothing more than a variety of the Galloway breed. He supposes them to have originated in the intercourse that has long subsisted between the Scotish drovers of Galloway cattle, and the Suffolk and Norfolk graziers who feed them. The Suffolks are almost all light duns, thus differing from the Galloways; and are considered a very useful kind of little cattle, particularly for the dairy.^[39. Culley on Live Slock, p. 6G; and Parkinson on Live Stock, vol. i. p. 118. ]

5. The cattle of the Highlands of Scotland are divided into a number of local varieties, some of which differ materially from others, probably owing to a difference in the climate and the quality of the herbage, rather than to their being sprung from races originally distinct, or to any great change effected either by selection or by crossing with other breeds. It is only of late that much attention has been paid to their improvement in any part of that extensive district; and in the northern and central Highlands the cattle are yet, for the most part, in as rude a state, and under management as defective, as they were some centuries ago.

These cattle have almost exclusive possession of all that division of Scotland, including the Hebrides, marked off by a line from the Frith of Clyde on the west to the Moray Frith on the north, and bending towards the east till it approaches in some places very near to the German Ocean. Along the eastern coast, north of the Frith of Forth, the Highland cattle are intermixed with various local breeds, of which they have probably been the basis. There are more or less marked distinctions among the cattle of the different Highland counties; and, in common language, we speak of the Inverness-shire, the Banffshire, &c. cattle, as if they were so many separate breeds; but it is only necessary in this place to notice the two more general varieties, now clearly distinguishable by their form, size, and general properties.

The most valuable of these are the cattle of the Western Highlands and Isles, commonly called the Argyllshire breed, or the breed of the Isle of Skye, one of the islands attached to the county of Inverness. The cattle of the Hebrides are called Kyloes, a name which is often applied in the south to all the varieties of the Highland cattle, not, as a late writer (Dickson’s Practical Agriculture, vol. ii.
[7:2:324]

p. 1124) has imagined, from the district in Ayrshire called Kyle, where very few of them are kept, but from their crossing, in their progress to the south, the kyloes or ferries in the mainland and Western Islands, where these cattle are found in the greatest perfection. (General Re port of Scotland, vol. iii. p. 26.)

A bull of the Kyloe breed should be of a middle size, capable of being fattened to fifty stone avoirdupois. His colour should be black, or dark brown, or reddish brown, without any white or yellow spots# His head should be rather small, his muzzle fine, his horns equable, not very thick, of a clear green and waxy tinge; his general appearance should combine agility, vivacity, and strength; and his hair should be glossy, thick, and vigorous, indicating a sound constitution and perfect health. See Plate XV.

For a bull of this description Mr Macneil of Colonsay refused 200 guineas; and for one of an inferior sort he actually received L.170 sterling. Mr Macdonald of Staffa bought one, nine years old, at 100 guineas. (Report of the Hebrides, p. 425.)

The lean weight of the best stock, from three to four years old, when they are commonly sold to the south, is from twenty-six to thirty stone the four quarters; but when brought to good pastures, they can be easily raised to fifty stone and upwards. There is perhaps no other breed whose weight depends so much on feeding, nor any that fattens and grows so much at the same time. They are exceedingly hardy, easily maintained, speedily fattened on pastures where large animals could scarcely subsist; the beef is fine in the grain, and well marbled or intermixed with fat; and their milk is rich, but small in quantity.

The other variety of Highland cattle is the Norlands, or North Highlanders, including the stocks of the counties of Ross, Cromarty, Sutherland, Caithness, and parts adjacent. Their hides are generally coarse, backs high and narrow, ribs flat, bones large, and legs long and feeble for the weight of the chest; and they are considered very slow feeders. But though this description be but too applicable to the cattle of the greater part of that remote district, considerable improvement has been effected in many parts of it, by crossing with the Skye or Argyll breeds, within the last twenty years.

The cattle of the northern isles of Orkney and Zetland are of a most diminutive size; an ox weighing about sixty pounds a quarter, and a cow forty-five pounds. They are of all colours, and their shapes are generally bad; yet they give a quantity of excellent milk, fatten rapidly when put on good pastures, and, in their own district, are considered strong, hardy, and excellent workers, when well trained to the yoke, and so plentifully fed as to enable them to support labour.

6. It has been already observed, that all along the lowlands of the eastern coast of Scotland, to the north of the Frith of Forth, there are varieties of cattle which, whatever may have been their origin, differ as much from the cattle of the western and northern Highlands as most of those that have been described as separate breeds. Of the Fifeshire cattle, Mr Culley observes, “You would at first imagine them a distinct breed, from their upright white horns, being exceedingly light-lyered and thin-thighed; but I am pretty clear it is only from their being more nearly allied to the kyloes, and consequently less of the coarse kind of short-horns in them.” (Culley on Live Stock, p. 69.) Notwithstanding this opinion, the cattle of the north-eastern counties of Scotland require, for every useful purpose, to be mentioned separately from the Highland breeds; and as all of them have a general resemblance, it will only be necessary, in this place, to notice the Fife cattle in particular.

There are various traditions about the origin of this variety. It is said to have been much improved by English cows, sent by Henry VΠ. to his daughter, the consort of James IV., who usually resided at the palace of Falkland in that county; and as there is some resemblance between the cattle of Fife and Cambridgeshire, they are supposed to have been brought originally from the latter county. Others ascribe the origin of the present breed to bulls and cows sent by James VI. (James I. of England), in payment of the money which his obliging neighbours in Fife are said to have advanced for his equipment, when he went to take possession of the English throne. (Report of Nairn and Moray, p. 305.)

The prevailing colour of the Fife cattle is black, though sometimes spotted or streaked with white, and some of them are altogether grey. The horns are small, white, generally pretty erect, or at least turned up at the points, bending rather forward, and not wide-spread like the Lancashire long-horned breed. The bone is small in proportion to the carcass, the limbs clean but short, and the skin soft. They are wide between the hook-bones; the ribs narrow, wide set, and having a great curvature. They fatten quickly, and fill up well at all the choice points; arc hardy, fleet, and travel well, and are excellent for labour, both at plough and cart. A good cow of this breed gives from eighteen to twenty-four quarts of milk per day, yielding from seven to nine pounds of butter, and from ten to twelve pounds of cheese per week (twenty-four ounces to the pound), for some months after calving. (Fife Report, p. 251 and 253.)

'The cattle of Aberdeenshire, the largest of which are said to have been produced by crossing with Fife bulls, have been long highly esteemed in the southern markets. It is observed, that every succeeding generation of them has increased in size for the last 30 years, and that the native breed has doubled its former weight since the introduction of turnips. (Aberdeenshire Report, p. 468.) The colour is commonly black, but there are many of a red and brindled colour. They are thinner in the buttock in proportion to their weight, and deeper in the belly in proportion to their circumference, than the West Highlanders, and they yield a much larger quantity of milk. Many of them are brought to the south of Scotland, and kept during winter in the straw-yards, for which they suit better than smaller cattle, as they are not so impatient of confinement. The ordinary weight of middle-sized oxen, at from three to five years old, is from forty to fifty stone; but after being worked for some time, and thoroughly fattened, they have been known to reach double this weight.

7. Of the Welsh cattle “there seem to be two distinct kinds. The large sort are of a brown colour, with some white on the rump and shoulders, denoting a cross from the long-horns, though in shape not the least resembling them. They are long in the legs, stand high according to their weight, are thin in the thigh, and rather narrow in the chine; their horns are white, and turned upwards; they are light in flesh, and, next to the Devons, well formed‰ the yoke; have very good hoofs,, and walk light and nimble. The other sort are much more valuable; colour black, with very little white; of a good useful form, short in the leg, with round, deep bodies; the hide is rather thin, with short hair; they have a lively look and a good eye; and the bones, though not very small, are neither large nor clumsy; and the cows are considered good milkers.” (Parkinson on Live Stock, vol. i. p. 135.)

8. The Alderney cattle are to be met with only about [7:2:325] the seats of a few great landholders, where they are kept chiefly for the sake of their milk, which is very rich, though small in quantity. This race is considered by very competent judges as too delicate and tender to be propagated to any extent in Britain, at least in its northern parts. Their colour is mostly yellow or light red, with white or mottled faces: they have short, crumpled horns, are small in size, and very ill shaped; yet they are fine-honed in general; and their beef, though high-coloured, is very well flavoured. I have seen, says Mr Culley, some very useful cattle bred from a cross between an Alderney cow and a short-horned bull.

9. The last variety of cattle we shall mention is the ιcild breed, which is found only in the parks of a few great proprietors, who preserve the animals as a curiosity. Those kept at Chillingham Castle in Northumberland, a seat belonging to the earl of Tankerville, have been very accurately described in the Northumberland Report, and in Mr Culley’s book on Live Stock, so often quoted in this article.

“Their colour is invariably of a creamy white; muzzle black; the whole of the inside of the ear, and about one-third of the outside, from the tips downward, red'; horns white, with black tips, very fine, and bent upwards; some of the bulls have a thin upright mane, about an inch and a half or two inches long. The weight of the oxen is from 35 to 45 stone, and the cows from 25 to 35 stone the four quarters (14 pound to the stone). The beef is finely marbled, and of excellent flavour.

“From the nature of their pasture, and the frequent agitation they are put into by the curiosity of strangers, it is scarce to be expected they should get very fat; yet the six-years-old oxen are generally very good beef, from whence it may be fairly supposed that, in proper situations, they would feed well.

“At the first appearance of any person they set off in full gallop, and, at the distance of about 200 yards, make a wheel round and come boldly up again, tossing their heads in a menacing manner; on a sudden they make a full stop, at the distance of 40 or 50 yards, looking wildly at the object of their surprise, but, upon the least motion being made, they all again turn round, and fly off with equal speed, but not to the same distance, forming a shorter circle, and again returning with a bolder and more threatening aspect than before; they approach much nearer, probably within 30 yards, when they again make another stand, and again fly off: this they do several times, shortening their distance, and advancing nearer and nearer, till t!ιey come within such a short distance that most people think it prudent to leave them, not choosing to provoke them further.

“The mode of killing them was perhaps the only modem remains of the grandeur of ancient hunting. On notice being given that a wild bull would be killed on a certain day, the inhabitants of the neighbourhood came mounted and armed with guns, &c. sometimes to the amount of 100 horse and 400 or 500 foot, who stood upon walls or got into trees, while the horsemen rode off the bull from the rest of the herd, until he stood at bay, when a marksman dismounted and shot. At some of these huntings, 20 or 30 shots have been fired before he was subdued. On such occasions the bleeding victim grew desperately furious, from the smarting of bis wounds, and the shouts of savage joy that were echoing from every side. But, from the number of accidents that happened, this dangerous mode has been little practised of late years, the nark-keeper alone generally shooting them with a rifled gun at one shot.

“When the cows calve, they hide their calves for a week or ten days in some sequestered situation, and go and suckle them two or three times a day. If any person come near the calves, they clap their heads close to the ground, and he like a hare in form, to hide themselves. This is a proof of their native wildness, and is corroborated by the following circumstance that happened to the writer of this narrative (Mr Bailey of Chillingham), who found a hidden calf, two days old, very lean and very weak. On stroking its head it got up, pawed two or three times like an old bull, bellowed very loud, stepped back a few steps, and bolted at his legs with all its force; it then began to paw again, bellowed, stepped back, and bolted as before; but knowing its intention, and stepping aside, it missed him, fell, and was so very weak, that it could not rise, though it made several efforts :—but it had done enough ;—the whole herd were alarmed, and, coming to its rescue, obliged him to retire; for the dams will allow no person to touch their calves, without attacking them with impetuous ferocity.

“λVhen a calf is intended to be castrated, the park-keeper marks the place where it is hid, and when the herd are at a distance, takes an assistant with him on horseback; they tie a handkerchief round the calf s mouth to prevent its bellowing, and then perform the operation in the usual way, with as much expedition as possible.— When any one happens to be wounded, or is grown weak and feeble through age or sickness, the rest of the herd set upon it and gore it to death.” (Culley on Live Stock, p. 73.)

2, Breeding and Rearing.

Thŏ pedigrees of the best cattle have been preserved with no less care, in several parts of England, than those of race-horses; and in the selection of breeders, the properties of the family from which they have descended are matters of scarcely less importance than the form of the young animals themselves. In rearing calves, the blood and the colour seem to be more attended to by breeders in general than the form. (Marshall’s Yorkshire, vol. ii. p. 203.) The extraordinary prices paid for the best bred bulls and cows, show that this attention has not been without its reward.

The best bulls are either let out for the season, or cows are brought to. them at a certain rate per head. The practice of letting bulls is said to have originated with Mr Bakewell (Marshall’s Midland Counties, vol. i. p. 334), who, so far back as 1792, let a bull for 152 guineas, to be used only four months (Parkinson on Live Stock, vol. ii. p. 469); and five guineas per cow were about that time commonly paid to him and other eminent breeders.

The age at which bulls should begin to be employed, and the number of seasons they should be allowed to serve, as well as the age at which the females should begin to breed, are points regarding which practice is by no means uniform. In the midland counties the bulls are pretty commonly allowed to leap while yearlings, and, if good stock-getters, are kept on as long as they will serve, perhaps till they are 10 or 12 years old. In other places they are employed only three seasons, for the first time at two years old. The females in some instances bring their first calf at the age of two years, but more commonly, perhaps, not till they are a year older; and in some of the Highland districts, where, owing to a want of proper nourishment in their infancy, they are later in reaching their full growth, the females do not often become mothers till they are about four years old.

The period of gestation with cows has been found, upon an average of a great number of experiments, to be about 40 weeks; and they seldom bring more than one [7:2:326] calf at a birth. When they produce twins, one of them a male and the other a female, the latter, which is called a free martin, is commonly considered to be incapable of procreation. Yet there seem to have been well-authenticated instances to the contrary. (Farmer’s Magazine, vol. vii. p. 462, and vol. viii. p. 466.)

Though calves are dropped at all seasons of the year, the spring is the most common period; and, except in those districts where the fatting of calves is an object of importance, it is probably the most advantageous time, as the calves, having all the grass season before them, become sufficiently strong for enduring the change to a less agreeable food in the ensuing winter. A calf newly weaned seldom thrives well during that period, unless it is pampered with better food than usually falls to the share of young animals.

In Galloway and the Highlands of Scotland the almost invariable practice is to allow the calves to suck the cows, and this commonly as long as the cows give any milk; most of them, indeed, will not give down their milk unless the calf is put to one side of the udder, while the milkmaid draws the teats on the other side; and if the maid gives the least interruption to her rival, the cow punishes the fraud by a blow with her leg, often overturning both the offender and the milking-pail. (General Report of Scotland, vol. iii. p. 47.) Where there is not an inclosure for confining the calves when they are put to grass, a muzzle is made for the nose, with iron spikes fastened on it, which prick the cow when the calf attempts to suck at forbidden times, and obliges her to keep it off till the muzzle be removed at the stated periods' of milking. But this is too troublesome where many of them are reared, in which case they are kept apart from the cows till the hours of milking.

This natural method of rearing calves is common, at least for a short time, in other parts of Britain. Bull-calves, and sometimes high-bred heifers, are suffered to remain at the teat until they be six, nine, or perhaps twelve months old; letting them run either with their dams, or more frequently, especially when the dairy is an object, with less valuable cows or heifers bought in for the purpose, and, when the intention is fulfilled, sold or fatted; each cow being generally allowed one male calf or two females.

“The best method of the dairymen is this :—The calves suck a week or a fortnight, according to their strength (a good rule); new milk in the pail, a few meals; next new milk and skim-milk mixed, a few meals more; then skimmilk alone, or porridge made with milk, water, ground oats, &c. and sometimes oil-cake, until cheese-making commence; after which, whey porridge, or sweet whey, in the field; being careful to house them in the night, until warm weather be confirmed.” (Marshall’s Midland Counties, vol. i. p. 338.)

This method of suckling is not, however, free from objection; and, in the ordinary practice of rearing calves, it is held to be a preferable plan to begin at once to learn them to drink from a pail. The calf that is fed from the teat must depend upon the milk of its dam, however scanty or irregular it may be; whereas, when fed from a dish, the quantity can be regulated according to its age; and various substitutes may be resorted to, by which a part of the milk is saved for other purposes, or a greater number of calves reared upon the same quantity. (General Report of Scotland, vol. iii. p. 51.) Yet it would seem to be a good practice to allow calves to suck for a few days at first, if there was no inconvenience to be apprehended both to themselves and their dams from the separation afterwards.

When fed from the pail, the average allowance to a calf is about two imperial wine gallons of milk daily for 12 or 13 weeks; at first fresh milk as it is drawn from the' cow, and afterwards skim-milk. But after it is three oy four weeks old, a great variety of substitutes for milk are used in different places, of which linseed, oil-cake, meal, and turnips, are the most common. The practice, however, varies so much, no particular substitute being in general use, nor the quantity, nor the time of giving it, accurately determined, that it would be of no use to go into details here. For the feeding and treatment of fattening calves, see Dairy.

It is a rule, applicable to all kinds of live stock, to perform castration, where that is to be done, while the animals are yet very young, and just so strong as to endure this severe operation without any great danger of its proving fatal. The males, accordingly, are cut commonly when about a month old, and the females at the age of from one to three months; but in Galloway, where more heifers are spayed than perhaps in all the island besides, this is seldom done till they are about a year old.

The treatment of young cattle from the time they are separated from their dams, or able to subsist on the common food of the other stock, must entirely depend upon the circumstances of the farm on which they are reared. In summer their pasture is often coarse, but abundant; and in winter all good breeders give them an allowance of succulent food along with their dry fodder. The following description is not less applicable to the best practice in the rearing of all cattle bred on arable land, than to the short-horns :—

“The first winter they have hay and turnips; the following summer, coarse pasture; the second winter, straw in the fold-yard, and a few turnips once a day, in an adjoining field, just sufficient to prevent the straw from binding them too much; the next summer, tolerably good pasture; and the third winter, as many turnips as they can eat, and in every respect treated as fatting cattle.” (Culley on Live Stock, p. 47.) The only difference is, that, where straw is in great abundance, the cattle sometimes do not eat their turnips on the fields, but in the fold-yard. In those situations where turnips cannot be extensively cultivated, or where cattle are sold for grazing instead of being fattened, a Smaller allowance of turnips the third winter is made to suffice.

3. Fatting.

Cattle are fatted on grass in summer, commonly on pastures, but in a few instances on herbage cut and consumed in feeding-houses or fold-yards; and in winter by far the greater number are fatted on turnips, along with hay or straw. Oil-cake, carrots, potatoes, and other articles of food, are used occasionally, and in particular districts; oil-cake chiefly for feeding the larger animals; but few comparatively are fatted on any of these without the addition of turnips of one or other of the varieties formerly mentioned. See Sect. VI. A considerable number of cattle are also fatted on the offals of distilleries, when working from com; a source of supply, the frequent interruption of which, till of late, was much felt in those situations where the soil does not permit the extensive cultivation of turnips.

It is seldom or never the practice of the best managers to fatten cattle with roots or other winter food on the field during that season, but to confine them to houses or fold-yards, where they are well littered, regularly fed, not liable to be disturbed, and sheltered from the inclemency of the weather,, and where the manure they make is an object of Very considerable importance, and [7:2:327] of much greater value than if it were dropped at random over a whole field.

The age at which cattle are fatted depends upon the manner in which they have been reared, upon the properties of the breed in regard to a propensity to fatten earlier or later in life, and on the circumstances of their being employed in breeding, in labour, for the dairy, or reared solely for the butcher. In the latter case, the most improved breeds are fit for the shambles when about three years old, and very few of any large breed are kept more than a year longer. As to cows and working oxen, the age of fatting must necessarily be more indefinite; in most instances the latter are put up to feed after working three years, or in the seventh or eighth year of their age.

In general it may be said that the small breeds of cattle are fattened on pastures, though sometimes finished off on a few weeks’ turnips; and that large cattle, at least in the north, arc chiefly fatted in stalls or fold-yards, by means of turnips and the other articles before mentioned.

Stall-feeding is the most common, and, when judiciously conducted, probably the most eligible method in regard to the cattle themselves, the economy of food, and the expense of farm-buildings. The small shed and fold-yard, called a hammd, are used only for the larger breeds; but they do not seem well calculated for an extensive system of tatting by those who do not breed, but purchase stock every year from different parts. See Chap. I. Sect. II.

Cattle, it is well known, have long been the staple produce of Scotland; and since the union of South and North Britain, immense numbers have been carried every year to the feeding pastures and markets of England. But besides this transportation, so beneficial to both parts of the island, cattle often change their pastures and their owners before leaving Scotland, according to arrangements which, though not conducted with all the uniformity of system, are found to be very advantageous to the individuals concerned, and ultimately to the public at large.

“The Highland cattle often pass through three different hands, or more, before they come to the butcher. They are improved at every stage by a greater quantity and better quality of food, instead of being suddenly transported from poor to rich feeding; and while each successive owner applies his produce to the best advantage, and receives a suitable return according to its value, from the advance of price, the consumer at last purchases his beef cheaper, and of a better quality, than if the cattle had been sent to the shambles from any of the intermediate stages.

“The West Highland cattle make this progress oftener than the larger cattle of the north-eastern counties. Many of them are brought to Dumbartonshire and other places at the age of two years and two years and a half, wintered on coarse pastures, with a small allowance of bog-hay or straw, and moved to lower grounds next summer. They are then driven farther south, where they get turnips in straw-yards through the following winter, and in April are in high condition for early grass, upon which they make themselves fat in the month of June.

“The larger varieties of the north-eastern counties do not leave the breeder at so early an age. They are seldom brought to market till they are three or three years and a half old, and then frequently in good condition for being fattened, either on grass or turnips. A great many of the Aberdeenshire cattle are bought for the strawyards of the southern counties, get a few turnips through winter and spring, and are either driven to England in April, or fattened at home in the course of the ensuing summer. The Fife cattle, like the other breeds of the Lowlands, are generally sold to the graziers at three years old, having got a liberal allowance of turnips during the preceding winter.” (General Report of Scotland, vol. iii.

Notwithstanding the high degree of perfection to which some breeds of cattle have been brought in England, and the great attention that is paid by the most eminent breeders to every part of their management, several interesting points are not by any means clearly ascertained. Much certainly remains to be known regarding the nutriment afforded by different kinds of herbage and roots,— the quantity of food consumed by different breeds, in proportion as well to their weight at the time as to the ratio of their increase,—and the propriety of preferring large or small animals in any given circumstances. Even with regard to the degree of improvement made by fatting cattle generally, from the consumption of a given weight of roots or herbage, no great accuracy is commonly attempted; machines for weighing the cattle themselves and their food, from time to time, not being yet in general use in any part of Britain.

Sect. III. Sheep.

This species being still more than cattle exposed to all the influences of soil and climate, displays a much greater variety in form, size, and general properties. In different counties, though the breed be originally the same, a very perceptible difference is found in all these respects; and there arc not unfrequently considerable variations among the flocks of the same district, even those of contiguous farms. Yet in other situations, where rich food is abundantly supplied at all times of the year, sheep have been more highly improved than any other animals; and the breeds most esteemed for the arable land of Britain are in a great measure the creatures of the industry and sagacity of man. Hardly any two animals are more unlike than the small dun-faced sheep, supposed to be the most ancient of the kind in Britain, and the Leicester or Dish-ley male, whose every point must be exactly formed according to an established model of symmetry and usefulness.

The various breeds of sheep, and the modes of management, almost as numerous as these varieties, would require a much larger space for their description than it is possible to allot to it in a section of this article.

According to one writer (Culley on Live Stock, p. 102), there are fourteen different breeds of sheep in Great Britain, all of them sufficiently distinguished by their horns, or by being hornless, by the colour of their faces and legs, and by the length and quality of their wool. To these a later writer adds two varieties more (Dickson’s Practical Agriculture, vol. ii. p. 1135); but a third work, still more recent (Parkinson on Live Stock, vol. i. p. 249), enumerates no fewer than thirty-seven breeds, to each of which are assigned one or more characteristic peculiarities. This great diversity renders it necessary to decline a particular description of each: perhaps the most eligible mode of classification would be, to consider separately those races which are best adapted to inclosed arable-land; those which occupy green hills, downs, and other tracts of moderate elevation; and, finally, such as inhabit the higher hills and mountains. On the first description of land every sort of practicable improvement may be’ effected, though there the carcass has hitherto been the chief object; on the second the carcass is smaller, but the wool generally finer,—and it is probably with such sheep that the greatest improvements ought to be attempted on the fleece; and on the last division the breeds are necessarily small and hardy, and, in regard to form and general pro [7:2:328] perties, still almost in a state of nature. ’ The improvement of sheep must mainly depend on the circumstances of every district, in regard to the food and shelter it affords them; and it is only where these indispensable requisites are abundantly provided by nature, or by human industry, that the most skilful management can be successful. The sheep of the rugged heathy mountains of the Highlands of Scotland must ever retain the form, the size, and the habits which the uncontrollable influence of their situation has impressed on them.

But this mode of classification is more applicable to the general management adopted on' the several sorts of land, than to the present breeds themselves, which are found intermixed in every district, and often even on the same field. We shall therefore in this, as in the two former sections, describe the distinguishing characteristics of the principal breeds as concisely as possible.

There is, however, in the case of sheep, as of all the other kinds of live stock, a certain form,—a sort of standard established by experience and observation of the best individuals,—to which it is wished that all the breeds of this species should approach. Mr Culley, to whom we have so often referred, as being by far the most skilful of our writers on live stock, thus describes the best form of a ram :—

“His head should be fine and small, his nostrils wide and expanded, his eyes prominent and rather bold or daring, ears thin, his collar full from his breast and shoulders, but tapering gradually all the way to where the neck and head join, which should be very fine and graceful, being perfectly free from any coarse leather hanging down; the shoulders broad and full, which must at the same time join so easy to the collar forward, and chine backward, as to leave not the least hollow in either place; the mutton upon his arm, or fore thigh, must come quite to the knee; his legs upright, with a clean, fine bone, being equally clear from superfluous skin and coarse hairy wool from the knee and bough downwards; the breast broad and well forward, which will keep his fore legs at a proper wideness; his girth or chest full and deep, and instead of a hollow behind the shoulders, that part by some called the fore flank should be quite full; the back and loins broad, flat, and straight, from which the ribs must rise with a fine circular arch; his belly straight, the quarters long and full, with the mutton quite down to ;the hough, which should neither stand in,nor out; his twist deep, wide, and full, which, with the broad breast, will keep his four legs open and upright; the whole body covered with a thin pelt, and that with fine, bright, soft wool. >

“The nearer any breed of sheep comes up to the above description, the nearer they approach towards excellence of form.” (Culley on five Stock, p. 103.)

1. Ereeds.

The sheep suited to arable land, in addition to such prope r ties as are common in some degree to all the different breeds, must evidently be distinguished for their quietness and docilitj⅛ r habits which, though gradually acquired and established, by means of careful treatment, are more obvious, and may, be more certainly depended on, in some b ceds. than in others. These properties are not qnly valuable for the sake of the fences by which the ßheep are confined,, but as a proof of the aptitude of the animals to acquire flesh in proportion to the food they consume.

, The long-woolled large breeds (the varieties usually preferred on good grass-lands) differ much in form and size, and in their fatting quality, as well as in the weight of their fleeces. The principal are, the Lincoln, the Tecs-water, and the Dishley or New Leicester.

In some instances, with the Lincolns in particular, wool seems to be an object paramount even to the carcass; with the breeders of the Leicesters, on the other hand, the carcass has always engaged the greatest attention; but neither form nor fleece separately is a legitimate ground of preference, the most valuable sheep being that which returns, for the food it consumes, the greatest marketable value of produce.

The Lincolnshire breed have no horns; the face is white,' and the carcass long and thin, the ewes weighing from 14 to 20 lb., and the three-year-old wethers from 20 to 30 lb. per quarter. They have thick, rough, white legs, bones large, pelts thick, and wool long,—from 10 to 18 inches,—- weighing from 8 to 14 lb. per fleece, and covering a slow-feeding, coarse-grained carcass of mutton.

.This kind of sheep cannot be made fat at an early age, except upon the richest land, such as Romney-marsh, and the rich marshes of Lincolnshire; yet the prodigious weight of wool which is shorn from them every year is an inducement to the occupiers of the marsh-land to give great prices to the breeders for their hogs or yearlings; and though the buyers must keep them two years more before they get them fit for market, they have three clips of wool in the mean time, which of itself pays them well in those rich marshes. Not only the midland counties, but also Yorkshire, Durham, and Northumberland, can send their long-woolled sheep to market at two years old, fatter in general than Lincolnshire can at three. Yet this breed, antl its subvarieties, are spread through many of the English counties.

The Teeswater breed differs from the Lincolnshire in’ their wool not being, so long and heavy; in standing upon higher, though finer-boned legs, supporting a thicker, firmer, heavier carcass, much wider upon their backs and sides; and in affording a fatter and finer-grained carcass of mutton, the two-year-old wethers weighing from 25 to 35 lb. per quarter. Some particular ones, at four years old, have been fed to 55 lb. and upwards.

There is little doubt that the Teeswater sheep were originally bred from the same, stock as the Lincolnshire, but, by attending to size rather than to wool, and constantly pursuing that object, they have become a different variety of the same original breed.

“The present fashionable breed is smaller than the original species, but they are still considerably larger and fuller of bone than the Midland breed. They bear an analogy to the short-horned breed of cattle, as those of the Midland counties do to the long-horned. They are not so compact, nor so complete in their form, as the Leicestershire sheep; nevertheless, the excellency of their flesh and fatting quality is nöt doubted, and their wool still remains of a superior staple. For the banks of the Tees, or any other rich fat-land country, they may be singularly excellent.” (Marshall’s Yorkshire, vol. ii. p. 221.) Rams of this kind have been employed of late in Northumber-land and Berwickshire, in crossing ewes of the Leicester breed, but with what success there has not yet been time to determine.

The. Dishley or New .'Leicester breed is distinguished from other long-wop∏ed breeds by their clean heads, 1 straight, broad, flat backs, round, barrel-like bodies, very fine small bones, thin pelts, and inclination to make fat at. an early age. This last property is most probably owing to the .before-specified qualities, and which, from long experience and observation, there is reason to believe, extends through every species of domestic animals. The Dishley breed is not only peculiar for its mutton being [7:2:329]fat, but also for the fineness of the grain and superior flavour, above all other large lòng-wooìled sheep, so as to fetch nearly as good a price, in many markets, as the mutton of the small Highland and short-woolled breeds. The weight of ewes three or four years old is from 18 to 26 lb. a quarter, and of wethers two years old from 20 to 30 lb. The wool, on an average, is from 6 to 8 lb. a fleece. See Plate XVI.

A fourth hornless variety of long-woolled sheep is the Devonshire Nots, having white faces and legs, thick necks, narrow backs, and back-bone high; the sides good, legs short, and the bones large; weight much the same as the Leicesters, wool heavier, but coarser. In the same county there is a small breed of long-woolled sheep, known by the name of the Exmoor sheep, from the place where they are chiefly bred. They are horned, with white faces and legs, and peculiarly delicate in bone, neck, and head; but the form of the carcass is not good, being narrow and flat-sided; the weight of the quarters and of the fleece about two-thirds that of the former variety.

The shorter-woolled kinds, and such as, from their size and form, seem well suited to hilly and inferior pastures, are also numerous. Generally speaking, they are too restless for inclosed arable land on the one hand, and not sufficiently hardy for heathy, mountainous districts on the other. To this class belong the breeds of Dorset, Hereford, Sussex, Norfolk, and Cheviot.

The Dorsetshire sheep are mostly horned, white-faced, Stand upon high, small, white legs, and are long and thin in the carcass. The wethers, three years and a half old, weigh from 16 to 20 lb. a quarter. ∣The wool is fine and short, from 3 to 4 lb. a fleece. The mutton is fine-grained and well flavoured.

This breed has the peculiar property of producing lambs at almost any period of the year, even so early as September and October. They are particularly valued for supplying London and other great towns with house-lämb, which is brought to market by Christmas, or sooner if wanted; and after that a constant and regular supply is kept up all the winter.

According to Mr Culley, the Wiltshire sheep are a variety of this breed, which, by attention to size, have got considerably more weight, viz. from 20 to 28 lb. a quarter. These, in general, have no wool upon their bellies, which gives them a very uncouth appearance.

“The variations of this breed are spread through many of the southern counties, as well as many in the west, viz. Gloucestershire, Worcestershire, Herefordshire, &c. Though some of them are very different from the Dorsetshire, yet they are, I apprehend, only variations of this breed, by crossing with different tups; and which variations continue northward until they are lost amongst those of the Lincolnshire breed.”

The Herefordshire sheep are known by their want of horns, and their having white legs and faces, the wool growing close to their eyes. The carcass is tolerably well formed, weighing from 10 to 18 lb. a quarter, and bearing very fine short wool, from l½ to 2½ lb. a fleece: the mutton is excellent.

The store or keeping sheep of this breed are put into cots at night, winter and summer, and in winter foddered in racks with peas-straw, barley-straw, &c. and in very bad weather with hay. These cots are low buildings, quite covered over, and made to contain from 100 to 500 sheep, according to the size of the farm or flock kept. The true Herefordshire breed are frequently called Fyeland sheep, from the land formerly being thought capable of producing no bettet grain than rye, but which now yields every kind of grain. See Plate XVI.

The South Down sheep are without horns; they have grey faces and legs, fine bones, long small necks; are low before, high on the shoulder, and light in the fore quarter; the sides are good, and the loin tolerably broad, backbone too high, the thigh full, and twist good. The fleece is very short and fine, weighing from 2½ to 3 lb. The average weight of two-year old wethers is about 18 lb. per quarter, the mutton fine in the grain, and of an excellent flavour. These sheep have been brought to a high state of improvement by Mr Elman of Glynd, and other intelligent breeders. They prevail in Sussex, on very dry chalky downs producing shortfine herbage. See Plate XVI.

In the Norfolk sheep the face is black, horns large and spiral; the carcass is very small, long, thin, and weak, with narrow chines, weighing from 16 to 20 lb. per quarter; and they'have very long dark or grey legs, and large bones. The wool is short and fine, from 1∣ to 2 lb. per fleece.

This race have a voracious appetite, and a restless and unquiet disposition, which makes it difficult to keep them in any other than the largest sheep-walks or commons. They prevail most in Norfolk and Suffolk, and seem to have been retained solely for the purpose of folding; as it does not appear they have any other good property to recommend them besides being good travellers, for which they seem well adapted, from their very long legs and light lean carcasses.

The Cheviot breed are without horns, the head bare and clean, with jaws of a good length, faces and legs white. See Plate XIV. The body is long, but the fore quarters generally want depth in the breast, and breadth both there and on the chine, though in these respects great improvement has been made of late. They have fine, clean, smallboned legs, well covered with wool to the hough. The weight of their carcass, when fat, is from 12 to 18 lb. per quarter; their fleece, which is of a medium length and fineness, weighs about 3 lb. on an average.

Though these are the general characters of the pure Cheviot breed, many have grey or dun spots on their faces and legs, especially on the borders of their native district, where they have intermixed with their black-faced neighbours. On the lower hills, at the extremity of the Cheviot range, they have been frequently crossed with the Leicesters, of which several flocks, originally Cheviot, have now a good deal both of the form and fleece.

The best kind of these sheep are certainly a very good mountain stock, where the pasture is mostly green sward, or contains a large portion of that kind of herbage, which is the case with all the hills around Cheviot where those sheep are bred. Large flocks of them have been sent to the Highlands of Scotland, where they have succeeded so well as to encourage the establishment of new colonies; yet they are by no means so hardy as the heath or blackfaced kind, which they have in many instances supplanted.

Of those races of sheep that range over the mountainous districts of Britain, the most numerous, and the one probably best adapted to such situations, is the Heath breed, distinguished by its large spiral horns, black faces and legs, fierce, wild-looking eyes, and short, firm carcasses covered with long, open, coarse wool. Their weight is from 10 to 16 lb. a quarter, and they carry from 3 to 4 lb. of wool each. They are seldom fed until they are three, four, or five years old, when they fatten well, and give excellent mutton and highly flavoured gravy. Different varieties of these sheep are to be found in all the western counties of England and Scotland, from Yorkshire northwards; and they want nothing but a finer fleece to render them the most valuable upland sheep in Britain. See Plate XV.
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The Hcrdwick sheep are peculiar to that rocky, mountainous district, at the head of the Duddon and Esk rivers, in the county of Cumberland. They are without horns, have speckled faces and legs, wool short, weighing from 2 to 2½ lb. per sheep, which, though coarser than that of any of the other short-woolled breeds, is yet much finer than the wool of the heath sheep. The mountains upon which the Herdwicks are bred, and also the stock itself, have, time immemorial, been farmed out to herds,· and from this circumstance their name is derived.

The Dun-faced breed, said to have been imported into Scotland from Denmark or Norway at a very early period, still exists in most of the counties to the north of the Frith of Forth, though only in very small flocks: Of this ancient race there are now several varieties, produced by peculiarities of situation and different modes of management, and by occasional intermixture with other breeds. We may therefore distinguish the sheep of the mainland of Scotland from those of the Hebrides and of the northern islands of Orkney and Zetland.

“The Hebridean sheep is the smallest animal of its kind. It is of a thin, lank shape, and has usually straight, short horns. The face and legs are white, the tail very short, and the wool of various colours, sometimes of a bluish grey, brown, or deep russet, and sometimes all these colours meet in the fleece of one animal. Where the pasture and management are favourable, the wool is very fine, resembling in softness that of Shetland; but in other parts of the same islands the wool is stunted and coarse, the animal sickly and puny, and frequently carries four, or even six horns.”

“The average weight of this poor breed, even when fat, is only 5 or 5½ lb. per quarter, or nearly about 20 lb. per sheep. It is often much less, only amounting to 15 or 16 lb.; and the price of the animal’s carcass, skin and all, is from 10s. to 14s. We have seen fat wedders sold in the Long Island at 7s. a head, and ewes at 5s. or 6s. The quantity of wool which the fleece yields is equally contemptible with the weight of the carcass. It rarely exceeds 1 lb. weight, and is often short of even half that quantity. The quality of the wool is different on different parts of the body; and inattention to separating the fine from the coarse renders the cloth made in the Hebrides very unequal and precarious in its texture. The average value of a fleece of this aboriginal Hebridean breed is from 8d. to Is. sterling. From this account it is plain that the breed in question has every chance of being speedily extirpated.” (Macdonald’s Report of the Hebrides, p. 447.)

In the Zetland Isles it would appear that there arc two varieties; one of which is considered to be the native race, and carries very fine wool; but the number of these is much diminished, and in some places they have been entirely supplanted by foreign breeds. The other variety, carries coarse wool above, and soft, fine wool below. “They have three different successions of wool yearly, two of which resemble long hair more than wool, and are termed by the common people fors and scudda. When the wool begins to loosen in the roots, which generally happens about the month of February, the hairs or scudda spring up; and when the wool is carefully plucked off, the tough hairs continue fast, until the new wool grows up about a quarter of an inch in length, when they gradually wear off; and when the new fleece has acquired about two months’ growth, the rough hairs, termed fors, spring up, and keep root, until the proper season for pulling it arrives, when it is plucked off along with the wool, and separated from it at dressing the fleece, by an operation called forsing. The scudda remains upon the skin of the animal, as if it were a. thick coat; a fence against the inclemency of the seasons, which provident nature has furnished for supplying the want of the fleece.

“The wool is of various colours. The silver grey is thought to be the finest; but the black, the white, the mowrat or brown, is very little inferior; though the pure white is certainly the most valuable for all the finer purposes in which combing wool can be used.” 1

In the northern part of Kincardineshire, as well as in most other of the northern counties, there is still a remnant of this ancient race, distinguished by the yellow colour of the face and legs, and by the dishevelled texture of the fleece, which consists in part of coarse, and in part of remarkably fine wool. Their average weight in that county is from 7 .to 9 lb. a quarter, and the mutton is remarkably delicate and highly, flavoured. (Kincardineshire Report, p. 385.)

The last variety we shall mention is the Spanish or Merino breed, bearing the. finest wool of the sheep species. The males usually have horns of a middle size, but the females are frequently without horns; the faces and legs are white, the legs rather long, but the bones fine. The average weight per quarter of a tolerably fat ram is about 17 lb., and that of ewes about 11 lb. The shape of this race is far from being perfect,- according to the ideas of English breeders, with whom symmetry of proportion constitutes a principal criterion of excellence. The throatiness, or pendulous skin beneath the throat, which is usually accompanied with a sinking or hollow in the neck, presents a most offensive appearance, though it is much esteemed in Spain, as denoting both a tendency to fine wool and a heavy fleece. Yet the Spanish sheep are level on the back and behind the shoulders; and Lord Somerville has proved, that there is no reason to conclude that deformity in shape is in any degree necessary to the production of fine wool.

The fleece of the Merino sheep weighs upon an average from 3 to 5 lb. In colour it is unlike that of any English breed. There is on the surface of the best Spanish fleeces a dark brown tinge, approaching, almost to a black, which is formed by dust adhering to the greasy properties of its pile; and the contrast between this tinge and the rich white colour below, as well as that rosy hue of the skin which denotes high proof, at first sight excites much surprise. The harder the fleece is, the more it resists any external pressure of the hand, the more close and fine will be the wool. Here and there indeed a fine pile may be found in an open fleece, though this occurs but rarely. Nothing, however, has tended to render the Merino sheep more unsightly to the English eye than the large tuft of wool which covers the head: it is of a very inferior quality, and classes with what is produced on the hind legs; on which account it does not sort with any of the three qualities, viz. Rejinos or prime, Finos or second best, and Terceros, the inferior sort, and consequently is never exported from Spain.

The Spanish flocks which yield fine wool are sometimes distinguished by the appellation of Trashurnante, on account of their travelling from one end of the kingdom to the other, though there are flocks that never travel, with wool equally fine. They are wintered in Estremadura 1 Sir John Sinclair.on the Différent Breeds of Sheep, &c—Appendix, No. 4. (Account of the Shetland Sheep, by Thomas Johnston, [7:2:331] and other warm provinces in the south; and during the summer months they graze on the northern mountains of Castile, Leon, and Asturias.

Merinos were first brought into England in 1788, but did not excite much interest before his Majesty’s sales, which began in 1804. The desirable object of spreading them widely over the country, and subjecting them to the experiments of the most eminent professional breeders, was greatly promoted by the institution of the Merino Society in 1811; which soon comprehended some of the greatest landholders and the most eminent breeders in die kingdom. See Plate XVII.

It seems to be generally admitted, however, that the wool is somewhat deteriorated since the sheep were brought to this country, whatever improvement inay have been made on the carcass. Valuable as the fleece is, our breeders still find that the carcass is the principal object; and their management must therefore be conducted rather with a view to the supply of the butcher than the clothier. There may be something in our climate unfavourable to the growth of fine wool; but the principal cause will probably be found in the mode of feeding, which is in every respect so superior to what they experience in Spain and other parts of the Continent. As a means of improving the wool of our own breeds, it may often be beneficial to cross with the Merinos; but as a separate and distinct race, it is hardly to be expected that they will ever establish themselves upon an extensive scale in this country.

2. Ereeding and Rearing.

A greater degree of perfection has been attained in the breeding of sheep than in any other species of live stock; and in this branch, in particular, the breeders of England stand higher than those of any other country.

We have therefore purposely deferred the observations which it seems necessary to offer on the different systems of breeding, to this part of our article; though they may apply generally to other species of animals as well as to sheep.

The males and females possessed of the properties the breeder wishes to acquire, may be, 1. of the same family; 2. of the same race, but of different families; or, 3. of different races.

The first method is called breeding in-and-in. This requires that animals of the nearest relationship should be put together, and is supposed by many to produce a tender, diminutive, and unhealthy progeny. But if a male and female, got by the same sire, were never to be put together, however excellent they might be, a stock that should by any means have become better than others could not belong preserved from deterioration by strangers, nor could it be still further improved by selection. By breeding in the same family for a great many years, Mr Bakeweĭl succeeded in raising his sheep to a degree of perfection which no other fattening animal ever attained in any age or country.

“It is certainly,” says Mr Culley, one of the most eminent of his disciples, “from the best males and females that the best breeds can be obtained or preserved.”—“When you can no longer find better males than your own, then by all means breed from them, whether horses, neat-cattle, sheep, &c.; for the same rule holds good through every species of domestic animals; but upon no account attempt to breed or cross from worse than your own; for that would be acting in contradiction to common sense, experience, and that well-established rule, ‘ That best only can beget best,' or, which is a particular case of a more general rule, viz. ‘ That like begets like.'"

This reasoning is opposed by others, who, however, rather deny the premises than dispute the conclusion. It has been contended that there never “did exist an animal without some defect in constitution, in form, or in some other essential quality ;” that “this defect, however small it may be at first, will increase in every succeeding generation, and at last predominate to such a degree as to render the breed of little value.”—“Mr Bakewell very properly considered a propensity to get fat as the first quality in an animal destined to be the food of man. His successors have carried his principle too far; their stock are become small in size, and tender, produce little wool, and are bad breeders.” (Sebright on improving the Ereeds of Domestic Animals, p. 11, 14.)

It is admitted, however, that breeding in-and-in will have the same effect in strengthening the good as the bad properties, and may be beneficial if not carried too far, particularly in fixing any variety that may be thought valuable. And again, the same writer observes, “There may be families so nearly perfect as to go through several generations without sustaining much injury from having been bred in-and-in; but a good judge would upon examination point out by what they must ultimately fail, as a mechanic could discover the weakest part of a machine before it gave way.” (Sebright on improving the Ereeds of Domestic Animals, p. 12.)

“But one of the most conclusive arguments that crossing with a different stock is not necessary to secure size, hardiness, &c., is the breed of wild cattle in Chillingham park, in the county of Northumberland. It is well known these cattle have been confined in this park for several hundred years, without any intermixture, and are perhaps the purest breed of cattle of any in the kingdom. From their situation and uncontrolled state, they must indisputably have bred from the nearest affinities in every possible degree; yet we find these cattle exceedingly hardy, healthy, and well formed, and their size, as well as colour, and many other particulars and peculiarities, the same as they were five hundred years since.” (Culley on Live Stock, p. 10.)

Notwithstanding all this, it must be admitted that there is a great diversity of opinion among intelligent men respecting the expediency of this mode of breeding, and in most instances, perhaps, a pretty strong prejudice against it. The most common practice therefore is, to breed from different families of the same race. When these have been for some time established in a variety of situations, and have had some slight shades of difference impressed upon them by the influence of different soils and treatment, it is found advantageous to interchange the males, for the purpose of strengthening the excellencies or remedying the defects of each family. Of this advantage Mr Bakewell could not avail himself; but it has been very generally attended to by his successors. Mr Culley for many years continued to hire his rams from Mr Bakewell, at the very time that other breeders were paying a liberal price for the use of his own; and the very same practice is followed by the most skilful breeders at present. In large concerns, two or more streams of blood may be kept distinct for several generations, and occasionally intermixed with the happiest effects, by a judicious breeder, without having recourse to other flocks.

The only other method is, by crossing two distinct breeds or races, one of which possesses the properties which it is wished to acquire, or is free from the defects which it is desirable to remove. This measure can only be recommended when neither of the former methods will answer the purpose. The very distinction of breeds implies a considerable difference among animals in several[7:2:332] respects; and although the desirable property be obtained, it may be accompanied by such others as arc by no means advantageous to a race destined to occupy a situation which had excluded that property from one of its parents. To cross any mountain breed with Leicester rams, for example, with a view to obtain a propensity to fatten at an early age, would be attended with an enlargement of size, which the mountain pasture could not support; and the progeny would be a mongrel race, not suited to the pastures of either of the parent breeds. If the object be to obtain an enlargement of size, as well as a propensity to fatten, as is the case when Cheviot ewes are crossed with Leicester rams, the progeny will not prosper on the hilly pastures of their dams, and will be equally unprofitable on the better pastures of their sires. But the offspring of this cross succeeds well on those intermediate situations on the skirts of the Cheviot hills, where, though the summer pasture is not rich, there is a portion of low land for producing clover and turnips.

In every case where the enlargement of the carcass is the object, the cross breed must be better fed than its smaller parent. The size of the parents should also be but little disproportioned at first; and when some increase has been produced, one or more crosses afterwards may raise the breed to the required size. With these precautions, there is little reason to fear disappointment, provided both parents are well formed. (General Report of Scotland, vol. iii. p. 14—18.)

The breeding of males, still more in this species than in cattle, has long been a separate pursuit; and there are few flocks skilfully managed in which it is not still the practice to have recourse occasionally to rams hired at a high price from those men whose chief attention is devoted to this branch of business. These rams are shown for hire, at certain times and places during the summer, where every one may select such as promise to maintain or improve the particular state of his flock, and at such prices as his means and experience may justify. Two or more individuals frequently join together in the hire of one ram, to which they put the best of their ewes, for the purpose of obtaining superior males for the future service of the rest of their flocks; and in particular cases, when the owner of the ram does not choose to part with him, even for a season, ewes are sent to him to be covered at a certain price per head, superior animals of this class being very seldom sold altogether. Mueh as this mode of doing business has been reprobated as a monopoly, and much as there may sometimes be of deception in making up rams for these shows, all intelligent practical men must agree that there can be no better method of remunerating eminent breeders, and of spreading their improvements most widely, in the shortest period, and at the least possible expense. A single ram thus communicates its valuable properties to a number of flocks, often in distant parts of the country, without distracting the attention of ordinary breeders from their other pursuits. It is a striking instance of the division of labour, which in this, as in other branches, has been productive of the most beneficial results to all concerned, and to the community at large.

Rams and ewes are allowed to copulate earlier or later, according to the prospect of food for their young at the period of parturition,—usually in October and the early part of November; and as the time of gestation with sheep is twenty-one weeks, the lambs are accordingly dropped in March or April. The management of the Leicester breed, equally applicable to all the varieties kept on low arable land, having been detailed at some length in the works already referred to, we shall here give a condensed view of the best practices in regard to the stocks of hilly or mountainous districts, chiefly collected from the skilful management of the breeders of the Cheviot sheep on the borders of South and North Britain.

1. In November the rams are put to the ewes, a little earlier or later, according to the prospcet of spring food, but seldom before the 8th or 10th of that month. The number of rams required is greater or less, according to the extent of the pasture, and their own age and condition. If the ewes are not spread over an extensive tract, one ram to sixty ewes is generally sufficient. It is usually thought advisable to separate the gimmers (sheep once shorn) from the older ewes, and to send the rams to the latter eight or ten days before they are admitted to the former. Notwithstanding this precaution, which retards their lambing season till the spring is farther advanced, ewes which bring their first lamb when two years old, the common period on the best hill farms, are often very bad nurses, and in a late spring lose a great many of their lambs, unless they are. put into good condition with turnip before lambing, and get early grass afterwards. This separation, and difference in the time of admitting the rams to the ewes and gimmers, should therefore be always attended to.

2. When a farm under this description of stock has the convenience of a few good inclosures, still more minute attention is paid by skilful managers. It is not sufficient that the rams arc carefully selected from perhaps double the number; the ewes also are drawn out and assorted, and such a ram appropriated to each lot as possesses the properties in form or fleece in which the ewes are deficient. In other cases, the best ram and the best lot of ewes are put together. When neither of these arrangements can be adopted, owing to the want of inclosures, it is the practice to send the best rams to the ewes for a few days at first, and those of an inferior description afterwards. In every case, when the farmer employs rams of his own flock, he is careful to have a few of his best ewes covered by a well-formed and fine-woolled ram, for the purpose of obtaining a number of good ram-lambs, for preserving or improving the character of his stock.

3. The stock through winter, in a mere breeding farm, consists of ewes and gimmers which should have lambs in spring, ewe-lambs or hogs, and a few young and old rams. All these are sometimes allowed to pasture promiscuously, but on the farms around Cheviot the ewes and ewe-hogs are kept separate, and the latter are either put on rough pastures which have been lightly stocked in the latter end of summer, or get a few turnips once a day, in addition to the femains of their summer pasture. The most effectual preventive of the desolating distempers to which sheep of this age are liable is turnips; and though they should never taste them afterwards, a small quantity is frequently given them during their first winter. After the rams have been separated from the ewes, they are usually indulged with the same feeding as the hogs.

4. The ewes, during winter, are seldom allowed any other food than what their summer pasture affords, except that a small part of it may sometimes be but lightly eaten, and reserved as a resource against severe storms. When these occur, however, as they often do in the Cheviot district, there is little dependence on any other food than hay. When the snow is so deep as completely to cover the herbage, about two stones avoirdupois of hay are allowed to a score of sheep daily, and it is laid down morning and evening in small parcels on any sheltered spot near the houses, or under the shelter of stells or clumps of trees, on different parts of the farm.

5. In March, the ewes, at least the gimmers or young [7:2:333]ewes, are commonly allowed a few turnips once a day, on farms on which there is any extent of arable land, which are either carted to their pastures, or eaten on the ground by bringing the sheep to the turnip-field through the night. A part of the field, in the latter case, is cut off by nets or by hurdles, which inclose the sheep in the same way as if they were intended for fattening. When they are ready to drop their lambs, they are no longer kept on the turnip-field, but get what turnips maybe left, on their pastures. It is seldom, however, that the turnips last so long, though it is desirable to have a few remaining, to be given to the weakest ewes, or to such as have twins, in a separate inclosure.

6. A few days before the time of lambing, the ewes are collected for the purpose of being udder-locked. The sheep are raised upon their buttocks, their backs next to the operator, who then bends forward and plucks off the locks of wool growing on or near the udders, for the purpose of giving free access to the expected lambs. At the same time he ascertains the condition of the ewes, and marks such as do not appear to be in lamb, which may then be separated from the others. This operation is not without danger, and several premature births are usually the consequence. It is therefore not so general a practice as it was formerly, though still a common one on many, if not on most farms.

7. On those farms where the hogs have been allowed to pasture promiscuously with the ewes, which is seldom permitted on the Cheviot hills, a separation should always take place at the commencement of the lambing season; and the lowest and finest part of the pasture ought to be exclusively appropriated to the nursing ewes.

8. The ewes begin to drop their lambs in the first or second week of April, according to the time at which the rams were admitted; and such as have twins generally lamb among the first of the flock. At this season the most constant attention is indispensable on the part of the shepherds, both to the ewes in labour and to the newly dropped lambs. Though the Cheviot ewes are not so liable to losses in parturition as some larger breeds which are in higher condition, and though they make good nurses, unless they are very lean, and their food scanty, yet among a large flock there are always a number that need assistance in lambing, and in a late spring not a few that have not milk sufficient for their lambs, particularly among the gimmers or young ewes. A careful shepherd at this time always carries a bottle of milk along with him, which he drops from his own mouth into that of the lamb that may need it,—brings the ewes that have little milk to a better pasture, or to turnips,—and confines such as have forsaken their lambs in a small pen, or barrack as it is called, temporarily erected in some part of the farm-steading. The same confinement is necessary when it is wished to make a ewe that has lost her own lamb nurse that of another ewe that has had twins, or that has perished in lambing, or is from any other cause incapable of rearing her lamb. The ewe, after being shut up for a few hours with the stranger lamb, usually admits it to the teat, and ever after treats it as her own; though sometimes a little deception is necessary, such as covering the stranger with the skin of her own lamb, At this important season, an inclosure of rich early grass, near the shepherd’s cottage, is of vast advantage. Thither he carries the ewes and twins,—such as have little milk,—those that have been induced to adopt another’s offspring,—and, generally, all that need to be frequently inspected, and are in want of better treatment than the rest of the flock.

9. As soon as the weather is favourable, after a considerable number of the ewes have lambed, they are collected into a fold, and all the male lambs are castrated, except a few of the best, reserved for rams. The ewe-lambs are never spayed. It is advisable to perform this severe but necessary operation when the lambs are but a few days old, if the weather will permit, instead of delaying till the end of the lambing season, as is still the case in some instances.

10. Towards the end of the lambing season the ewes that have not yet dropped lambs are separated from the flock and kept by themselves, that they may be more under the eye of the shepherd, than if scattered over all the pasture. It is desirable to allow them finer grass for a few weeks after lambing, that their lambs may come to be nearly equal to the rest of the flock when weaned; or, if they are too late for this, that they may get ready for the butcher by the month of August, beyond which period the ewes must be much injured by suckling them.

11. When the'wool has risen sufficiently (and the proper time is easily known by the appearance of a new growth), the barren sheep are brought to the washingpool. Sometimes they are hand-washed by men, who stand in the pool and have the sheep forced towards them singly; but more commonly the Cheviot sheep, especially if the flock be numerous, are compelled to leap into the pool in a body for three or four times successively; and it is desirable that they should have room to swim a little, and come out on a green low bank on the opposite side. After being washed, the sheep are preserved as far as possible from rubbing against earthen dikes or banks, and from lying down on any dirty spot which might soil their wool. There are two methods of shearing; in the one, the operator sits on the floor or on the ground, lays the sheep on its back between his knees, begins with the belly, and afterwards, having tied the animal’s legs, proceeds very expeditiously, at the rate of four or five sheep in the hour, or from forty to fifty a day. This is the common method of shearing Cheviot sheep. In the other, which is a much more perfect method, the shearer raises the animal on its buttocks, and, beginning at the neck, clips in a circular direction from the belly to the backbone, for some time with one hand, and then on the opposite side with the other. The fleeces are neatly lapped up, after any filthy spots have been cut off, the shorn side outwards, beginning at the breech-wool, and using that of the neck and shoulders as a bandage. Before the shorn sheep are turned out to pasture, they are marked, commonly with the owner’s initials, by a stamp, or boost in provincial language, dipped in tar heated to a thin fluid state; and it is not unusual to place this mark on different parts of the body, according to the sheep’s age.

12. The principal markets for Cheviot lambs in the south of Scotland are held in the month of July, the first on the fifth of July; so that the lambs may commonly be weaned when about three months old, and sometimes sooner. When the ewes are gathered to be washed or shorn, the ewe-lambs to be kept for supplying the place of the old ewes, annually sold, are stamped in the same way as the ewes. The store-lambs are sent to some clean grassy pasture for a few weeks; and where the farm does not afford this accommodation, they must be summered, as it is called, at a distance. Several farms near Cheviot, and on the Lammermuir hills in Berwickshire, are appropriated to this purpose, the owner of the lambs paying so much a head for six or eight weeks. In the mean time the ewe-hogs, or gimmers, as they are denominated after shearing, have joined the ewe stock; and the lambs, when brought home, go to the pasture which they had occupied. Wherever they may be kept in winter, it is always desirable to allow them a few turnips, along with a full bite of coarse herbage.
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13. When the lambs had been separated from the ewes, it was formerly the practice to milk the ewes for six or eight weeks or more; and this most objectionable management is still continued by several farmers. The most skilful store-masters, however, have either laid aside milking, unless for a few days, or have shortened the period to two or three weeks. The value of the milk for eight weeks will not exceed from one shilling to one shilling and sixpence a head, and the sheep are injured to at least three times that amount, independent of accidents at the milking fold. The cream is separated from the ewe-milk, and made into butter for smearing, and the milk itself mixed with cow-milk, and converted into cheese.

14. The next object of attention is the drafting of the old ewes to be sold in September or October. Their age, on the Lower hills, is usually four years and a half, or they are disposed of after having reared lambs for three years. In some situations they are kept on till a year older; but when they are purchased, as they usually are, to be kept another year on lower grounds, it is commonly for the interest of the store-farmer to sell them when still in their full vigour. Skilful managers do not content themselves with drafting them merely according to age; and as there is no disadvantage in keeping a few of the best another year, they take this opportunity of getting rid of such of the flock of other ages as are not of good shapes, or are otherwise objectionable. As soon as the ewes to be disposed of are drawn from the flock, they are kept by themselves on better pasture, if the circumstances of the farm will admit of it. Sometimes they are carried on till they are fattened, and turnips are often purchased for them at a distance. When this is the case, it is not thought advisable to keep them longer than till between Christmas and Candlemas, as an old ewe does not improve like a wether in the spring months.

15. The last operation of the season is salving or smearing, which is usually performed towards the end of October or beginning of November, before the rams are sent to the ewes. The most common materials are butter and tar, mixed in different proportions; a greater proportion of tar being employed for the hogs or young sheep than for the older ones. The butter is slowly melted and poured upon the tar, and the mixture is constantly stirred till it becomes cool enough for use. The wool is accurately parted into rows from the head to thie tail of the animal, and the salve is carefully spread upon the skin with the point of the finger, at the bottom of each row. The object of this operation is to destroy vermin, to prevent cutaneous diseases, and to promote the warmth and comfort of the animal during the storms of the ensuing winter. It is not necessary with sheep kept on low grounds, and well fed during winter; and it may be occasionally omitted for one season, particularly with old sheep, without material injury; but notwithstanding the ridicule that speculative writers have attempted to throw upon the practice, it is almost universally considered necessary and beneficial, on high exposed situations, by the store-farmers of the border hills. (General Report of Scotland, vol. iii.) Inconsequence of the great depression of late in the price of tarred wool, however, various attempts have been made to use in its stead other mixtures, which are laid on the sheep either in a liquid form, such as tobacco liquor and turpentine, or of the consistency of a salve, which is composed of oil and butter or tallow, with a mixture of turpentine. There has not been sufficient experience to ascertain whether tar can be altogether dispensed with in the case of the mountain flocks; but in general it is now used much more sparingly than formerly.

Besides those general rules of management which are applicable, with slight modifications, to all the numerous breeds of sheep, there are practices more or less extensively followed in particular districts, or with particular breeds, the most important of which are cotting and folding. In describing the Herefordshire sheep, the practice of keeping them in cots through the night has been already noticed; and a similar one is followed in some parts of the Highlands of Scotland with the small dun-faced flocks of that district.

Folding is adopted as a regular part of the system of management in several counties of England, for the purpose of turning the dung of the animals to the best account in promoting the fertility of their arable land. The same thing has been done to a small extent in Scotland, but it forms no part of general management there, and is confined to those situations where, from the want of inclosures, it is necessary to the protection of the crops, and to small patches of what is still in the ancient state of outfield, as a preparation for corn.

The sheep best adapted to the fold are those of the more active short-woolled varieties, such as the Norfolk, Wiltshire, and South Down breeds; the heavy long-woolled kinds being less hardy, and some of them, as the Leicesters, much too valuable for a mode of treatment that converts them into dung carriers. The following calculation will show, that though in open lands the practice may be in some cases tolerated on the ground of conveniency or expediency, it can possess no recommendation as a profitable mode of management in other circumstances; and the best farmers, indeed, from Bakewell, who used to say that it was robbing Peter to pay Paul, down to the present time, agree in reprobating sheep-folding as a branch of general management.

“This morning (September 22d, 1780) measured a sheep-fold set out for 600 sheep, consisting of ewes, wedders, and grown lambs. It measures 8 by 5½ rods, which is somewhat more than 7 rods to 100, or 2 yards to a sheep.”

“August 29, 1781. Last autumn made an accurate experiment, on a large scale, with different manures for wheat, on a sandy loam, summer-fallowed.

“Part of an 18 acre piece was manured with 15 or 16 loads of tolerably good farm-yard dung an acre, part with three chaldrons of lime an acre; the rest folded upon with sheep twice; the first time at the rate of 600 sheep to a quarter of an acre (as in first Minute), the second time thinner.

“In winter and spring the dung kept the lead; and now, at harvest, it has produced the greatest burden of straw.

“The sheep-fold kept a steady pace from seedtime to harvest, and is now evidently the best corned and the cleanest crop.

“The lime, in winter and spring, made a poor appearance; but after some showers in summer, it flourished much, and is now a tolerable crop, not less, I apprehend, than three quarters an acre.

“From these data, the value of a sheep-fold, in this ease, may be calculated.

“It appears from the first Minute that 100 sheep manured seven square rods daily. But the second folding was thinner,—suppose nine rods; this is, on a par of the two foldings, eight rods a day each folding.

“The dung could not be worth less than half-a-crown a load, and the carriage and spreading ten shillings an acre; together, fifty shillings an acre; which quantity of land the hundred sheep teathed twice over in forty days.

“Supposing them to be folded the year round, they would at this rate fold nine acres annually; which, at 50s. an acre, is L.22. 10s. a hundred, or 4s. 6d. a head.

“In some parts of the island the same quantity of [7:2:335]dung would be worth L.5 an acre, which would raise the value of the teathe to nine shillings a head; which, at twopence a head a week, is more than the whole year’s keep of the sheep.

“It does not follow, however, that all lands would have received equal benefit with the piece in consideration, which perhaps had not been folded upon for many years, perhaps never before; and sheep-fold, like other manures, may become less efficacious the longer it is used on a given piece of land.” (Marshall’s Rural Economy of Norfolk, vol. ii. p. 29.)

It must readily occur, that to fold on land in tillage all the year is nearly impracticable; and that where it could be done, the manure would be greatly diminished in value from rain and snow, to say nothing of The injury to the sheep themselves; so that the estimate of four shillings and sixpence, or nine shillings a head, is evidently in the extreme.

According to the experience of Mr Arthur Young {Farmers Kalendar), the same land will maintain one-fourth more stock when the animals are allowed to depasture at liberty, than when confined during the night in folds. The injury to the stock themselves, though it is not easy to mention its precise amount with any degree of accuracy, cannot well be doubted, at least in the ease of the larger and less active breeds, when it is considered that they are driven twice a day, sometimes for a distance of two or even three miles, and that their hours of feeding and rest are in a great measure controlled by the shepherd and his boy. “When they are kept in numerous parcels, it is not only driving to and from the fold that affects them, but they are in faet driving about in a sort of march all day long, when the strongest have too great an advantage, and the flock divides into the head and tail of it, by which means one part of them must trample the food to be eaten by another. All this proves the very reverse of their remaining perfectly quiet in small parcels.” Another writer observes, that “were the pasture sheep of Lincolnshire to be got into a fold once a week, and only caught one by one and put out again immediately,, it would prevent their becoming fat.” (Parkinson on Live Stock, vol. i. p. 367.) The only sort of folding ever adopted to any extent by the best breeders is on turnips, clovers, tares, and other rich food, where the sheep feed at their ease, and manure the land at the same time.

Another mode of management somewhat akin to this practice, and which is similar to one that has been warmly recommended in a recent publication (Sir J. Sinclair’s Husbandry of Scotland), as if it had been formerly unknown, is described and commented on by Mr Young as follows :—“This practice is, to confine them at night in a sheep-yard, well and regularly littered with straw, stubble," and fern; by which means you keep your flock warm and healthy in bad seasons, and at the same time raise a surprising quantity of dung,—so great a quantity, if you have plenty of litter, that the profit will be better than folding on the land. A great improvement in this method would be, giving the sheep all their food (except their pasture) in such yard, viz. hay and turnips, for which purpose they may be brought up not only at night,' but also at noon, to be baited; but if their pasture be at a distance, they should then, instead of baiting at noon, come to the yard earlier in die evening, and go out later in the morning. This is a practice that cannot be too much recommended; for so warm a lodging is a great matter to young lambs, and will tend much to forward their growth: the sheep will also be kept in good health; and, what is a point of consequence to all farms, the quantity of dung raised will be very great If this method is pursued through the months of December, January, February, March, and April, with plenty of litter, 100 sheep will make a dunghill of at least 60 loads of excellent stuff, which will amply manure two acres of land; whereas 100 sheep folded (supposing the grass dry enough) will not in that time equally manure an aere.”

That such a method may be advantageous in particular eases, it would be rash to deny; but, generally, it is not advisable, either on account of the sheep, or any alleged advantage from the manure they make. As to the sheep, this driving and confinement, especially in summer, would be just as hurtful as folding them in the common way; and it has been found that their wool was much injured by the broken litter mixing with the fleece, in a manner not to be easily separated; besides, now that it is the great object of every skilful breeder to accelerate the maturity of his sheep, as well as other live stock,—among other means, by leaving them to feed at their ease, and, if circumstances permit, in small parcels,—such a practice as this can never be admissible in their management. And with regard to manure, there can be no difficulty in converting into it any quantity of straw, stubble, and fern, by cattle fed in fold-yards, on green herbage in summer, and turnips or other succulent food in winter; while the soil, especially if it be of a light, porous quality, is greatly benefited, both by the dung and treading of sheep allowed to consume the remainder of both sorts of food on the ground. It is true that the dung of sheep has been generally supposed to be more valuable than that of cattle; but accurate experiments have not been made to determine the difference in this respect among these and other polygastric animals. The greater improvement of pastures by sheep is probably owing as much to their mode of feeding as to the richer quality of their dung.

On the subject of breeding and rearing sheep, it would be improper to omit noticing the judicious and successful experiments of Dr Parry and others, in crossing our native breeds with the Merino race, having for their object to improve the carcass without deteriorating the quality of the wool.

The land on which Dr Parry began his experiments was high, of a thin staple, dry, unsheltered, and consequently unproductive; and as his other avocations did not permit him constantly to superintend its management, he became impressed with the belief that its most profitable application would be to a breed of sheep, the return of which should chiefly depend on the fleece; and such a breed he proposed to obtain by means of crossing with the Merinos, some of which had then (1792) been recently imported by the king. Accordingly he fixed, as the basis of his experiments, on the Ryeland breed, which has long been reputed as affording some of the finest wool in the island.

Dr Parry objects to washing the wool on the sheep’s back before shearing. The fleece is so thick, that when thoroughly soaked with water it is very long in drying; and if the weather prove wet and cold, the sheep are evidently much incommoded. He therefore recommends public lavatories, as in Spain, for cleansing the wool after being shorn. His sheep are shorn about the second week of June; and if the weather be then unfavourable, he thinks it would be fit to house them for two or three nights or days after the operation. The lambs have been always shorn unwashed at the end of July or beginning of August, without appearing to have suffered any injury. The fleece of such lambs as are rather coarse, he thinks, should be always shorn, as he has shown that the wool of many of this race is comparatively coarse, even in those individuals in which the fleeces afterwards acquire the finest [7:2:336]quality. The finer-fleeced lambs may be left unshorn, as it has been proved that no loss is sustained by delaying shearing them till the usual period.

The effects of successive crosses, both on the form and the fleece of the progeny, are ably illustrated by this accurate experimentalist. With regard to the former, Dr Parry candidly declares that his only object, the improvement of the fleece, did not allow him to give attention to the best 'forms in selecting his breeders; but, notwithstanding this, “my sheep,” he observes, “are in general shorter in the legs and necks, have smaller bones, a rounder barrel, a wider loin, and consequently a better hind quarter, than any pure Merinos I have happened to see, except one particular ram belonging to Lord Somerville.” This change he attributes to the female or Ryeland blood, which, in forming the progeny, acts most on the carcass, while that of the male or Merino chiefly affects the skin and fleece.

According to the general opinion of cultivators on the Continent, any breed of ewes, however coarse and long in the fleece, will, on the fourth cross of the Merino ram, give progeny with short wool equal to the Spanish. Of the truth of this proposition, however, Dr Parry justly expresses some doubts, derived from his own experience and that of others. But it is certain, he adds, that one cross more will, in most cases, effect the desired purpose.

“If we suppose the result of the admixture of the blood of the Merino ram to be always in an exact arithmetical proportion, and state the native blood in the ewe as 64, then the first cross would give ½⅜ of the Merino; the second, the third, ½∣; the fourth,; the fifth, ∣⅛; the sixth, and so on. In other words, the first cross would leave 32 parts in 64, or half of the English quality; the second 16 parts, or one fourth; the third 8 parts, or one eighth; the fourth 4 parts, or one sixteenth; the fifth 2 parts, or one thirty-second; the sixth 1 part, or one sixty-fourth; and so on.

Now, if the filament of the Wiltshire or any other coarse wool be in diameter double that of the Ryeland, it is obvious that, according to the above statement, it would require exactly one cross more to bring the hybrid wool of the former to the same fineness as that of the latter. This, I believe, very exactly corresponds with the fact. The difference between one eighth and one sixteenth is very considerable, and must certainly be easily perceived, both by a good microscope, and in the cloth which is manufactured from such wool. In the latter method it certainly has been perceived; but I have hitherto had no opportunity of trying the difference by the former. The fifth cross, as I have before observed, brings the Merino-Wilts wool to the same standard as the fourth of the Merino-Ryeland.” ( Communications to the Board of Agriculture, vol. v. p. 438.)

Several other distinguished individuals have taken a lead in improving the fleeces of our native short-woolled breeds, by crossing them with the Merinos, and, while their patriotic exertions deserve well of their country, have considerably increased their own profits. At the head of these, perhaps, we ought to place Lord Somerville, who undertook a voyage to Portugal for the sole purpose of selecting from the best Spanish flocks such sheep as united in the greatest degree the merit of a good carcass to a superior fleece. Notwithstanding the difficulties he had to encounter, augmented by the war between Great Britain and Spain, he brought home, in 1801, a flock of the first quality, selected from the Trashumante or travelling breeds of Merinos, which was the admiration of the Spanish shepherds through whose flocks they passed in their journey to England. Small flocks of Merinos are now established in Ireland and Scotland; and the late Mr Malcolm Laing was very successful with a numerous one, so far north as the Orkney Isles.

We shall conclude our account of this valuable race and its cross-breeds with an extract from a letter sent by Mr Birkbeck, a professional farmer of the highest class, to Dr Parry, and quoted by the doctor in the essay above referred to. “The fleeces of the first cross (between Merinos and South Downs), washed, are to the parent South Downs as six to five in weight, and as three to two in value per pound. Thus,

100 South Down fleeces, 2½ lb. each at 2s. L.25.

100 First cross 3 lb 3s. L.45.

“So much for wool; and were it not for the air of extravagance it might give my statement, I should add, that there is an evident improvement, as to usefulness of form and disposition to fatten, in a large proportion of individuals. I had the courage to exhibit at Lord Somerville’s show, in March last, five ewe-hogs from your rams, and the honour to bear away the prize from all competitors, by the merit of carcass and fleece jointly. On the whole, I believe that the improvement of the wool may go on, without detriment to the carcass, until we shall attain a breed of sheep with Spanish fleeces and English constitutions; but I am also convinced that this must be the result of careful and judicious selection.”

3. Fatting.

After what has been said in the chapter on arable land (see Turnips, page 286), and in the second chapter (see Pastures, page 310), little remains to be added on this point. The age at which sheep are fatted depends upon the breed, some breeds, such as the Leicester, maturing at an earlier age than others under the same circumstances; and also on the abundance and quality of the food on which they are reared, a disposition to early obesity, as well as a gradual tendency towards that form which indicates a propensity to fatten, being materially promoted by rich food, while the young animals are yet in a growing state. On good land, the Leicester wethers are very generally brought to a profitable state of fatness before they are eighteen months old, and are seldom kept on for fatting beyond the age of two years. The Highland breeds, on the other hand, though prepared, by means of turnips, a year at least sooner than they could be in former times, usually go to the shambles when from three to four years old. The ewes of the first description are commonly fatted after having brought lambs for three seasons, that is, after they have completed their fourth year; and those of the small breeds at from five to seven years of age, according to circumstances.

Besides the numerous flocks fatted on pastures for the supply of the market during summer, a very large proportion, especially of the sheep kept on arable land, is fatted chiefly on turnips, the winter and spring consumption of butcher-meat being now abundantly provided for by means of this root, in all those districts where the best courses of husbandry prevail. We have already mentioned the weight of the different breeds in the description of them —the mode of feeding, under the heads of Pastures and Turnips —and shall now only add, that it is an invariable rule with all good managers, never to allow this, or any other animal reared solely for the shambles, ever to lose flesh, from its earliest age till it is sent to the butcher;— that it is found of much advantage, with a view to speedy fattening, as well as to the economy of food, to separate a flock into divisions corresponding with its different ages, and the purpose of the owner as to the time of carrying them to market ;—and that the change from the food of [7:2:337] store to fattening stock—from that which is barely capable of supporting the condition which they have already attained, to that which is adapted to their speedy improvement in fatting—ought to be gradual and progressive. Thus, very lean sheep are never, in good management, put to full turnips in winter, nor to rich pastures in summer; they are prepared for turnips on good grassland—often on the aftergrass of mown grounds; and kept on second year’s leys, and afterwards a moderate allowance of turnips, if they are to be fatted on pastures. It is a common practice, in the instance of the Leicesters, to keep all that are not meant for breeding always in a state of fatness; and, after full feeding on turnips through winter and spring, to finish them on the first year’s clovers early in summer, when the prices of meat are usually the highest.

The luxury of the age has called forth the ingenuity of man to accelerate the course of nature, at an expense which, in this species in particular, is in no degree compensated by the intrinsic value of the young animal as human food. House-lambs are fed in such numbers as the demand may require, in the vicinity of London and other large towns, where they are sold in the early part of the season, commonly at much higher prices than fat sheep of full growth. The Dorsetshire breed, as we formerly observed, can be made to yean at almost any season of the year, and they arc therefore the only kind kept near London. But in the neighbourhood of those towns where the rich are willing to dispense with lamb during the early part of winter, other breeds arc made to furnish the supply at a more advanced period of the season.

The following account of the London practice may be useful to those farmers who find it their interest to give their attention to this branch of management ;—

“The sucklers, salesmen, and butchers of London arc aware that such lambs as have sharp barbs on the inside of their lips are certainly of a deep colour after being butchered; and all those whose barbs are naturally blunt do as certainly produce fair meat.

“This knowledge has been the occasion of many lambs of the latter kind being kept far rams, and sent into Dorsetshire, expressly far the purpose of improving the colour of the flesh of house-lambs. “ The issue of such rams can generally be warranted fair, and such meat always sells at a higher price ; hence arose the mistaken notion, that Middlesex rams were necessary to procure house-lambs.

“The sheep, which begin to lamb about Michaelmas, are kept in the close during the day, and in the house during the night, until they have produced twenty or thirty lambs. These lambs are then put into a lamb-house, which is kept constantly well littered with clean wheat-straw; and chalk, both in lump and in powder, is provided for them to lick, in order to prevent looseness, and thereby preserve the lambs in health. As a prevention against gnawing the boards, or eating each other’s wool, a litttle wheβt-straw is placed, with the ears downwards, in a rack within their reach, with which they amuse themselves, and of which they eat a small quantity. In this house they are kept with great care and attention until fit for the butcher.

“The mothers of the lambs are turned, every night at eight o’clock, into the lamb-house to their offspring. At six o’clock in the morning these mothers are separated from their lambs and turned into the pastures; and, at eight o’clock, such ewes as have lost their own lambs, and those ewes whose lambs are sold, are brought in and held by the head till the lambs by turns suck them clean: they are then turned into the pasture; and at twelve o’clock, the mothers of the lambs are driven from the pasture into the lamb-house for an hour, in the course of which time each lamb is suckled by its mother. At four o’clock all the ewes that have not lambs of their own are again brought to the lamb-house, and held for the lambs to suck; and at eight the mothers of the lambs are brought to them for the night.

“This method of suckling is continued all the year. The breeders select such of the lambs as become fat enough, and of proper age (about eight weeks old), for slaughter, and send them to market during December and three or four succeeding months, at prices which vary from one guinea to four, and the rest of the year at about two guineas each. This is severe work for the ewes, and some of them die under excess of exhaustion. However, care is taken that they have plenty of food; for when green food (viz. turnips, cole, rye, tares, clover, &c.) begins to fail, brewers’ grains are given them in troughs, and second-crop hay in racks, as well to support the ewes as to supply the lambs with plenty of milk; for if that should not be abundant, the lambs would become stunted, in which case no food could fatten them.

“A lamb-house, to suckle from one hundred and sixty to one hundred and eighty lambs at a time, should be seventy feet long and eighteen feet broad, with three coops of different sizes at each end, so constructed as to divide the lambs according to their ages.” (Middlesex Report, p. 355.)

Sect. IV. Swine.

Though there are many^instances of this, species of live stock being kept in such numbers as to be a source of very considerable emolument to their owners, yet, generally speaking, swine are viewed by farmers merely as a subordinate concern; and perhaps, in most cases, their chief value is held to consist in their being maintained on what would otherwise be entirely lost. With millers, brewers, distillers, and dairymen, they are an object of more importance, and return, for the offals they consume, a greater weight of meat (according to some, double the weight) than could be obtained from cattle. In those parts where potatoes arc raised as a fallow crop, much beyond the demand for them as human food, as is the case in particular in Ireland and the west of Scotland, the rearing and feeding of swine, most of which are sent to a distance in the state of bacon and pickled pork, is a branch of management on which great dependence is placed for the payment of their rents and other charges.

It has been made a question, whether swine will pay for being wholly fed on crops raised for this purpose; and various calculations have been offered, to show how much they will return for a given quantity of corn and roots; but the results are so discordant, that much more accurate experiments must be made before any thing certain can be stated on this point Perhaps the principal consideration which affects the question is, the extremely prolific nature of the animal, which renders it easy, in a very short time, to supply them in too great numbers for the demand. It is this circumstance, probably, that has, more than any other, prevented the farmers of arable land from employing any large portion of their crops in feeding swine, the flesh of which varies in price more than that of other butcher-meat, and often at very short intervals. Yet if their food be herbage and roots, with a small allowance of corn or pulse in the last stage of fatting, and if the breeds arc judiciously chosen and well managed, there seems no reason to doubt that, in many situations, swine will yield as much, [7:2:338] perhaps, on an average of years, a greater profit, for the food they consume, than any other species of live stock.

It is only in particular districts that so much attention has been paid to this animal as to give rise to any accurate distinction of breeds; and nowhere has it received any considerable portion of that care in breeding which has been so advantageously employed on the other animals of which we have treated. Yet among none of the varieties of those is there so great a difference as among the breeds of this species, in regard to the meat they return for the consumption of a given quantity of food. Some races can with difficulty be made fat, even at an advanced age, though fed from the trough with abundance of such food as would fatten any other animal; while others contrive to raise a valuable carcass out of materials on which no other creature could subsist.

Mr Culley mentions only three breeds, viz. the Berkshire, the Chinese, and the Highland or Irish; but other writers have found a distinct breed in most of the counties of England, which they have thought proper to de- * scribe separately. The Chinese race has been subdivided into seven varieties or more; and it would be easy to point out twice the number of as prominent distinctions among the sorts in the third class. But such an affectation of accuracy is as useless as it would be tedious. One general form, approaching to that of other animals kept for their carcass, ought certainly to be preferred; and the size, which is the other distinguishing characteristic, must be chosen with a view to the food provided for their maintenance, and not because it is possible to raise the individuals to a great and probably unprofitable weight. The fineness of bone, and the broad though also deep form of the chest, denote in this, as in the other species, a disposition to make fat with a moderate consumption of food; and, while it may be advisable to prefer the larger breeds in those places where bacon and flitches are in most demand, the smaller breeds are most esteemed for pickling, and are, beyond all doubt, most profitable to those farmers who allow them little else than the range of the farm-yard and the offals of the kitchen.

The Berkshire pigs, now spread through almost every part of England and several places of Scotland, are in general of a reddish colour, with black spots, large ears hanging over their eyes, short-legged, small-boned, and inclined to make fat. The surprising weight that some of these hogs have been fed to would be altogether incredible, were not the facts well attested. “On Monday the 24th of January 1774, a pig (fed by Mr Joseph Lawton of Cheshire) was killed, which measured, from the nose to the end of the tail, three yards eight inches, and in height four feet five inches and a half. When alive,- it weighed 12 cwt. 2 qrs. 10 lb.; when killed and dressed, it weighed 10 cwt. 3 qrs. 11 lb. or 86 stones 11 lb. avoirdupois.” (Culley on Live Stock, p. 173.)

The Hampshire breed of hogs is also very large, being longer in the body and neck, but not of so compact a form, as the Berkshire: they are mostly white, and well disposed to fatten.

The Sussex pig is distinguished by being black and white, but not spotted, frequently black at both ends, and white in the middle. Their general size, when full-grown, is about 18 or 20 stone.

The Suffolk white pig stands high, is narrow on the back, with a broad forehead; the hair is short, with many bristles; weight 16 to 19 stone.

The Cheshire breed is distinguished by their gigantic size: in colour they are black and white, blue and white (not spotted, but in large patches of black or blue), and some all white. Their heads are large, with very long ears, remarkably long in the body, very narrow in proportion to their size, with large bones, long legs, and much loose skin.

The Shropshire pig is also a large, coarse animal, with much bone and hair, and many bristles; their colour mostly white, with black patches, some rather sandy. They are said to be much liked by the distillers.

The largest breed of the island is supposed to be kept about Ruagcwick, on the borders of Sussex and Surrey. They feed to an extraordinary size, and weigh, at two years old, nearly double or triple the weight of most other sorts at that age. {Middlesex Reports

The Chinese breed is of different colours, white, black, black and white in irregular patches, and of a sandy hue; and their size is no less varied, though all of them smaller than the breeds already mentioned. The larger sort, such as weigh 10 or 12 stones when about a year old, or rather perhaps a cross with some native breed, may be recommended as the most suitable kind for arable farms, when their maintenance is to be got chiefly in the fold-yards. The form of the Chinese pig is generally good, and their flesh excellent; but it is easily made too fat for delicate stomachs.

The most numerous in the lowland counties of Scotland were, and in many places still are, very unprofitable animals. They are of a white colour; have light, narrow carcasses, with bristles standing up from nose to tail; long legs; and are very slow feeders, even at an advanced age. In the Highlands and Hebrides the breed, supposed by Dr Walker to be the aboriginal, is of “the smallest size, neither white nor yellow, but of a uniform grey colour, and shaggy, with long hair and bristles. They graze on the hills like sheep; their sole food is herbage and roots, and on these they live the whole year round, without shelter, and without receiving any other sustenance. In autumn, when they are in the best order, their meat is excellent, and without any artificial feeding; but when driven to the low country, they fatten readily, and rise to a considerable bulk.” (Walker’s Hebrides, vol. ii∙ p. 17.) In the Orkney Islands they are commonly of a dark red, or nearly black colour, and have long bristles, with a sort of coarse wool beneath them.

The mode of breeding, the food, and the general management of swine, are all of them so much dependent on local circumstances, and are so much varied in consequence, that it is neither possible, nor would it be of any utility, to describe the practice of different counties, or rather of almost every different individual.

The period of gestation with swine is 16 weeks. The pigs are commonly weaned when six weeks old; soon after which the sow is again in season, so that two litters are usually farrowed within the year; sometimes, though very rarely, five litters in two years. There are two things of particular importance to be attended to in the breeding of swine. They should not be allowed to farrow in winter, as young pigs are exceedingly tender, and can with difficulty be preserved in very cold weather; nor at a time when food is scarce, as is generally the case upon corn-farms in summer, if the stock of them is large. Ike months of February and August have been recommended as the best periods for parturition. (Henderson on Swine, p. 27.) Twenty swine are estimated to bring at an average seven pigs and a half each for their first litter (Ibid. p. 17); but the number varies much, and many young pigs are lost soon after their birth by the unkindness of their dam, and by casualties, to which they are more exposed than most other young animals.

A sow in pigs should be· separated from the herd some time before she is expected to farrow, carefully watched, and littered with a small quantity of dry short straw. Too much straw is improper, both at the time of farrowing [7:2:339]and for a week or two afterwards, as the pigs are apt to nestle beneath it unperceived by the sow, and are thus in danger of being smothered when she lies down. A breeding sow should be well fed, particularly when nursing; and it is advantageous early to accustom the pigs to feed from a low trough, on milk or other liquid food mixed with meal or bran. Such of the pigs of both sexes as are not to be kept for breeding are usually castrated or spayed when about a month old, and the whole may be weaned at the end of six or seven weeks. They should then be fed regularly three times a day, with meal and water a little warmed, until they are able to shift for themselves among the rest of the stock.

The food allowed, whether to growing or fattening swine, depends on the circumstances of their owners. The cottager’s pig must be contented with the scanty offals of his kitchen and of his dairy, the produce generally of a single cow. Towards the end of autumn a few potatoes are added, for the purpose of preparing it for slaughter, and perhaps a little meal is mixed with boiled potatoes for a week or two before. Such pigs, however, often thrive amazingly, make themselves moderately fat, and form a must valuable addition to the winter stores of their owners. In the south-eastern counties of Scotland, the hinds or married ploughmen are commonly allowed to keep a pig each, which they feed in this manner, and from which their families derive much benefit at very little expense. On many corn-farms, the chief, and not unfrequently the only dependence of swine, is on the strawyards. The sweepings of the barn-floor, corn left upon the straw, and oats found among the dung of horses, with a share of the turnips given to the cattle in winter, and of the clover in summer, afford ample subsistence to swine, in the proportion, perhaps, of one to every five or six acres under corn, clover, and turnips. The kitchen and dairy give some assistance to pigs newly weaned, and also to such as are soon to be slaughtered. A great many are killed when about a year old that have never been fed at any expense that can be estimated. A fbw pigs, if of a good breed, will always be moderately fat at that age with the run of the straw-yards, and their flesh is of an excellent quality.

When farmers find it profitable to keep large swine that cannot be fattened for bacon, as is the practice in some of the western counties, without a regular supply of food being served up to them, the method is, to rear them chiefly on raw potatoes and Swedish turnips, and to fatten them on these roots boiled or prepared by steam, with a mixture of oat, barley, or bean and peas meal. Their troughs should be often replenished with a small quantity of food at a time, and kept always clean; and their food changed occasionally, and seasoned with salt. “If proper care be taken,” says a late writer, “a feeding pig should not consume more than six Winchester bushels of oats made into meal. It ought to be shelled before it is ground, the same as for family use, but need not be sifted.” (Henderson’s Treatise on Swine, p. 26.)

Swine, it is well known, are very apt to get into forbidden ground: upon tillage farms they are seldom, for this reason, permitted to go at large, unless sometimes for a few weeks on the stubbles, or where the number is so large as to afford the expense of constant herding. In many cases they are almost always confined to the cattleyard, or a fold-yard beside their styes. Another bad property in this animal is, the habit of digging into the soil; for which the most effectual preventive is, to cut the two strong tendons of their snout, by a slight incision with a sharp knife, about an inch and a half from the nose. This may be done with little pain, and no prejudice to the animal, when about two or three months old. The common practice of restraining them by rings fixed in the snout is painful and troublesome: they must be replaced as often as they give way; and that happens so frequently, that rings afford but little security against this nuisance.

Styes or swine-houses arc set down in different situations, according to the numbers kept, and the manner of feeding them. The cottager erects a little hut contiguous to his dwelling, and many small farmers also choose to lodge them near the kitchen. If swine are kept chiefly in the straw-yard, their houses are so situated as to give ready access by a door which opens into it. See Plate XI. The gentleman-farmer erects a range of low buildings on that side of his farm-offices which is least exposed to view, and incloses and subdivides a small yard for their use. Where this branch of husbandry is carried on in all its parts, there must be separate houses for sows heavy with young, for such as are nursing, for pigs newly weaned, and for rearing and for fattening stock. (General Report of Scotland, vol. iii. p. 217.)

In the pickling and kitting of pork, a branch of business which is carried on to a considerable extent at many of our seaports, the carcass is cut in pieces, and packed in kits made for the purpose, containing from one to two cwt. Salt is dissolved in water till the mixture be strong enough to swim an egg; it is then boiled, and, when cold, poured upon the pork. When the end of the kit is fixed in, the article is ready for being sent to market.

A late writer has given particular directions for the curing of bacon, founded upon a long course of experience, which therefore deserve to be more generally known. We shall give them in his own words.

“After the carcass has hung all night, lay it upon a strong table or bench, upon its back, cut off the head close by the ears, and cut the hinder feet so far below the hough as will not disfigure the hams, and have plenty of room to hang them by. Then take a cleaving knife, and, if necessary, a hand-mallet, and divide the carcass up the middle of the back-bone, laying it in two equal halves. Then cut the ham from the side by the second joint of the back-bone, which will appear on dividing the carcass; then dress the ham, by paring a little off the flank or skinny part, so as to shape it with a half-round point, clearing off any top fat that may appear. The curer will next take off the sharp edge along the back-bone with his knife and mallet, and slice off the first rib next the shoulder, where he will perceive a bloody vein, which he must take out, for if it is left in, that part is apt to spoil. The corners must be squared off where the ham was cut out.

“In killing a number of swine, what sides you may have dressed the first day lay upon some flags or boards, piling them across each other, and giving each flitch a powdering of saltpetre, and then covering it with salt. Proceed in the same manner with the hams by themselves, and do not omit giving them a little saltpetre, as it opens the pores of the flesh to receive the salt, and besides gives the ham a pleasant flavour, and makes it more juicy.

“Let them lie in this state about a week, then turn those on the top undermost, giving them a fresh salting. After lying two or three weeks longer, they may be hung up to dry in some chimney or smoke-house. Or, if the curer chooses, he may turn them over again, without giving them anymore salt; in which state they may lie for a month or two without catching any harm, until he has convenience for drying them. I practised for many years the custom of carting my flitches and hams through the country to farm-houses, and used to hang them in their chimneys and other parts of the house to dry, some seasons to the amount of five hundred carcasses. This plan I [7:2:340]soon found was attended with a number of inconveniences, yet it is still common in Dumfries-shire.

“About twenty years ago I contrived a small smokehouse, of a very simple construction. It is about twelve feet square, and the walls about seven feet high. One of these huts requires six joists across, one close to each wall, the other four laid asunder at proper distances. To receive five rows of flitches, they must be laid on the top of the wall. A piece of wood, strong enough to bear the weight of one flitch of bacon, must be fixed across the belly end of the flitch by two strings, as the neck end must hang downwards. The piece of wood must be longer than the flitch is wide, so that each end may rest upon a beam. They may be put so near to each other as not to touch. The width of it will hold 24 flitches in a row, and there will be five rows, which will contain 120 flitches. As many hams may be hung at the same time above the flitches, contrived in the best manner one can. The lower end of the flitches will be within 2½ or 3 feet of the floor, which must be covered five or six inches thick with sawdust, which must be kindled at two different sides. It will burn, but not cause any flame to injure the bacon. The door must be kept close, and the hut must have a small hole in the roof, so that part of the smoke may ascend. That lot of bacon and hams will be ready to pack up in a hogshead to send off in eight or ten days, or a little longer, if required, with very little loss of weight. After thebacon is salted, it may lie in the salt-house as described, until an order is received, then immediately hang it up to dry.

“I found the smoke-house to be a great saving, not only in the expense and trouble of employing men to cart and hang it through the country, but it did not lose nearly so much weight by this process.

“It may be remarked, that whatever is shipped for the London market, or any other, both bacon and hams, must be knocked hard, and packed into a sugar hogshead, or something similar, to hold about ten hundredweights. Bacon can only be cured from the middle of September until the middle of April.” (Henderson’s Treatise on Swine, p. 39.)

The treatment of boars for brawn, and the after-preparation of the article, is carried on in Kent and some other parts of England; but it is the object of those concerned in this business to keep the process secret. According to answers returned to queries transmitted by the Board of Agriculture in 1804, the boars are put up for feeding at all ages, and in an entire state; but they are preferred when only two years old. They were usually kept apart, each of them in a case so small as not to be able to turn round, but sometimes eight together in larger pens. Their food is beans, with sulphur given in their water. A large animal is preferred, producing a collar of about 30 lb. weight, which then brought 2s. per lb.; the lean parts being made into sausage meat, and sold at6d. per lb. (Farmer s Magazine, vol. vi. p. 431.)

Sect. V. Miscellaneous Live Stock.

Under this title we would comprise Asses, Mules, Goats, Rabbits, Pigeons, Poultry, and Bees.

The value of these animals, as agricultural live stock, is comparatively inconsiderable in Britain, notwithstanding their importance in some other countries; and, in an economical view, some of them are undoubtedly wasteful and pernicious. Asses and mules are seldom or never employed in field labour, though it was the opinion of Mr Bakewell, and a few other eminent agriculturists, that there would be some advantage in propagating the ass on account of its hardiness, and the coarse food on which it may be maintained. Trials have been made to improve our present breeds, by crosses with males introduced from foreign parts, without having had the effect, however, of bringing them into use, either for the plough or the cart; and wherever the services of a small animal are required, we have horses of all sizes, from nine to eighteen hands high, which seem better adapted to every purpose than asses or mules. Goats are to be found only in small numbers, except in some parts of the Highlands, and are kept chiefly for the medicinal quality of their milk. Pigeons are justly considered as a nuisance by every respectable writer on rural economy, and certainly by every farmer who is within the reach of their depredations.

Rabbits οxe a kind of stock about which some difference of opinion still exists among intelligent men, though there are perhaps very few situations in which they can be considered as more profitable than any other mode of occupancy. It is not merely that they in general return less for their food than other stock, but that they are also very difficult to confine, and most destructive to the crops and fences in their vicinity. Their number, though still considerable, has accordingly decreased, and continues to decrease, with the progress of improvement; and unless their skins shall become of much greater value than at present, they can be an object of consideration only on such tracts as must otherwise be left to the animals that are still in a state of nature. In the present state of our agriculture, however, if it be found advantageous to retain this species, it is proper that the best breeds and the best mode of management, as well as their value, should be known.

A deep, sandy, poor soil is the most suitable for rabbits, though, under good management, as turnips must be provided for winter, there should be parts of it capable of bearing that and other crops; and the situation may be either on the sides of hills or on a flat surface. Artificial burrows are made with an auger, to reconcile them to the ground, and to preserve them from vermin, until they have time to make their own burrows; and on level warrens, this implement may be usefully employed from time to time afterwards. Warrens are commonly fenced with a sod wall, capped with furze or black thorn, in all about six feet high, and should always be kept in complete repair. Besides the rabbits, a number of sheep are usually kept in these grounds during the summer.

The silver-haired rabbit is now more esteemed than the grey, though the latter is so much hardier, that if a warren be stocked with both, there will in a few years be nothing but greys. (Lincolnshire Report, p. 382.) The skin of the grey rabbit is cut, that is, the “wool” is pared off the pelt, as a material of hats; whereas that of the silver-haired, which sells much higher, is dressed as fur, and goes, it is said, principally to the East Indies. (Marshall’s Yorkshire, vol. ii. p. 265.)

One buck will serve one hundred does; the doe takes the buck the day she brings forth, and goes thirty-one days with young, which she suckles for about twenty-two days, for the first half of which they are blind. But when confined in warrens, rabbits seldom breed more than twice a year, and some of them only once: in particularly wet, cold seasons, few or none bring more than one litter. (Parkinson on Live Stock, vol. ii. p. 299.) The skins are in their best state from the middle of November till Christmas, during which period all that are not to be kept for breeding are slaughtered. Silver skins have been sold of late at from 15s. to 21s. a dozen.

“The best manner of taking rabbits is by folds, by means of nets and cords. The day before the rabbits are intended to be taken, the warrener, with his assistants, incloses many acres of ground, the bank generally making [7:2:341] one end, and sometimes part of a side: the fore part of the fold is left entirely open. Rabbits form their colonies in some part all together, at a distance from their feeding ground, and nearly all leave their home or burrows at the time of feeding, when the warrener fixes his nets, by two men beginning at each end, who meet in the middle. Thus, in fine dry weather they can nearly take all that is wanted at once; but it is a general practice to fold at two separate times from each colony. Within the fold are formed what are termed angles, in that part nearest to the burrows; as the rabbits, when they return, and find themselves checked in getting home, will beat about by the nets. These angles are therefore so contrived as to afford them an opportunity of secreting themselves, and are made thus :—an irregular groove or channel is cut, about twelve or fourteen inches deep, and about twelve inches wide, the sods being set up one against another over the groove, so as to form a ridge like the roof of a house. These channels are made of equal lengths, both ends being left open, so that when the rabbits meet they are head to head. When the rabbits find themselves prevented from returning to their former homes, and the day-light appears, hearing the warrener and his dogs enter the fold, they quickly run into the angles, when the warrener puts a sod against the open ends, to prevent their return. The few straggling rabbits remaining in the fold are hunted by boys with dogs; but the warreners have recourse to that method as little as possible, the dogs being apt to tear the skin, and injure the carcass.” (Parkinson on Live Stock, vol. ii. p. 299.)

“Turnips, clover, and sainfoin are the most proper kinds of winter food for rabbits, as also threshed oats or barley, when corn is tolerably cheap, may be given them with great propriety. The two latter need only be allowed when the ground is covered with snow, and when it does not blow about so as to cover the corn when laid down; but in severe storms, turnips are the most proper food, as they can find them by their scent, and will scratch the snow off when covered. Three large cart-loads of turnips a day will fodder one thousand or one thousand one hundred couples of rabbits, which are about a proper quantity to be left as breeding stock on 500 acres of inclosed warren land. In heavy snows, a great deal of money must be expended in clearing the snow from the warren walls, in order to keep as much as possible the rabbits within their bounds.” {Lincolnshirc Deport, p. 389.)

Among several calculations to show the expense and produce, Mr Arthur Young seems to consider the following as the most accurate; and as he is a decided enemy to this stock, there is no reason to suspect exaggeration.

“Mr Holdgate states the expense of 1700 acres under rabbits, the silver sort, thus :—
[table]
[table]

“Take it how you will, it explains the reason for so many of these nuisances remaining. The investment of a small capital yields an interest that nothing else will; and thus the occupier will be sure never to convert them to better uses.” {Ibid. p. 391.)

Of Poultry, the most difficult to rear, and the most voracious and unprofitable, is the turkey. Geese, which live, and even fatten on grass, are considered by some persons as the most valuable, and in many parts of England the number is considerable. Ducks are not only comparatively harmless, but, from their feeding chiefly on pernicious insects, are probably deserving of more attention than has hitherto been paid to them. But common fowls are by far the most numerous, and everywhere add something not inconsiderable to the income of the inhabitants of the country, and to the stock of food for the consumption of the people at large. The trade in eggs alone, between the country and the towns, is a matter of some importance, as affording profitable employment to those who collect them, and to others who afterwards send them in large quantities to the principal towns. According to the statistical account of Scotland, the people of Hawick, a small town in the county of Roxburgh, more than twenty years ago received L.50 weekly through the year, for eggs collected in the neighbourhood, and sent to Berwick for the London market; and in 1796 it was calculated that the peasantry of Mid-Lothian drew L.8000 a year for poultry and eggs. But in the way these fowls are commonly managed by farmers, there is reason to doubt whether they pay for the food they consume, and the waste they are too often allowed to commit. The number kept by any individual is commonly so small as to obtain little of that attention that is given to other domesticated animals, and their ravages are accordingly greater, and the returns smaller, than they would otherwise be.' Yet in the warm cottages of country labourers, the common farm-yard hen makes a valuable return for the food she requires, which is frequently potatoes, boiled and mashed, with a little oat-meal porridge, a portion of the daily meal of its owner. A comfortable degree of warmth is so essential, that some gentlemen have had stoves placed under their roosts.

The results of an experiment made with six hens and a cock in 1807 and 1808 were, that they ate half a peck of barley weekly, with very little other food, and laid 764 eggs in 52 weeks, the greatest number in the months of [7:2:342]May and August, and the smallest in November and December. The eggs were sold in the London market at l½d. each, and the net profit, besides 11 chickens, was L.2. 12s. 2d. They were confined in a small yard, well sheltered and heated by the fires of the houses with which it was surrounded, and prevented from sitting by means of a feather thrust through, the nostrils for a few days, the pain of which is supposed to have induced the hen to move about till the inclination to sit had passed away. (Parkinson on Live Stock, vol. ii.)

CHAP. IV.

GENERAL OBSERVATIONS ON THE AGRICULTURE OF BRITAIN.

The husbandry of a great part of Britain, both in respect to the cultivation of the soil and the breeding and management of live stock, is confessedly superior to that of any other country in Europe; and the quantity and value of its products, considering the character of the climate, as well as the industry, wealth, and respectability of its husbandmen, are without any parallel either in ancient or modem times. We find from Columella, that, under the Romans, the produce of the greater part of Italy was less than four times the seed (lib. iii. cap. 3); and this notwithstanding an unproductive fallow every second year, and apparently a much greater attention to minutiae than would be compatible with the more extensive concerns of the British farmer. The average crops of Britain have been stated so high as nine times the seed, and certainly, wherever the management is tolerably correct, cannot be less than double the proportion assigned by Columella to the richer soil and more genial climate of Italy. Of the agriculture of France before the Revolution a very full and accurate account has been furnished by Mr Arthur Young, from which it is sufficiently evident how much the general produce of that country, the best cultivated perhaps next to Britain, was inferior to that of even our middling lands; and the progress it has made since has not, according to the latest and apparently exaggerated accounts, been marked by any very great improvement either in live stock or machinery, the two most distinguishing parts of British husbandry.

It is natural to ask, to what causes this superiority is owing; and why it is confined to a part of our territory, instead of being extended, as our great demand of late for foreign corn would have led us to expect, to all soils that are capable of profitable improvement. On these two points we now propose to offer a few very general remarks; and we shall submit them to the reader without affecting that precision of arrangement which more ample details would have required.

1. The territory of Britain is not engrossed by a few individuals, like the northern countries of Europe, nor divided into such minute portions as that of some of the small states of the Continent. The vast tracts of country held by a Russian or Polish nobleman, and the diminutive possessions of the Swiss, and more lately of the French peasantry, are almost equally inconsistent with the more productive systems of rural economy. The former are too large for the superintendence of one individual with a view to profitable cultivation; and the existence of such extensive properties implies the degradation and poverty of the great body of the people, and the absence of a middle class, possessed of disposable capital, or at least of opportunities for its investment in the soil. The latter, on the other hand, afford no room for the employment of capital, nor of those inventions by which the charges of cultivation are diminished, and its products augmented. Such small landed properties return little more than the wages of the manual labour by which they must necessarily be cultivated. Their small surplus produce, which every bad season annihilates, cannot afford subsistence to those other classes whose labours are necessary to national prosperity and individual comfort; and a part of the families of the cultivators themselves, having neither food nor employment at home, must either emigrate or perish. To a certain extent these consequences have been already experienced, both in Ireland and the Highlands of Scotland; for it would be idle to maintain that a minute division of land in tenancy does not produce all the unhappy effects which must result from the minute division of land in absolute property.

Of two counties, in one of which estates are in general too large for the personal superintendence of the proprietors, and, in the other, the land is parcelled out into shares little more than sufficient for the subsistence of their owners, the condition of the great body of the people must be very much alike. In neither can there exist that middle class from which all valuable improvements proceed, nor any of those inventions which multiply and augment the productive powers of human industry. Both of these states of property must appear decidedly unfavourable to national prosperity, when measured by this unerring test—the quantity of the products of the soil which remains after defraying the charges of obtaining them; for upon this net surplus depend all the enjoyments of mankind beyond the mere necessaries of life, as well as the means of repelling foreign aggression, and preserving internal tranquillity.

The distribution of the landed property of Britain is equally distant from both these extremes. Though it is necessary, perhaps, to the political constitution of the country, that there should be a number of large estates, yet their extent is seldom so great as to produce any of the bad effects just mentioned, even within the bounds of a single county. Over the rural economy of the nation these large properties exert scarcely any influence at all, excepting such of them as are held by entail, which is certainly a mode of tenure greatly at variance with the full improvement of the soil. Many instances might be pointed out, of very extensive estates, fully as well cultivated, and yielding as large a surplus for the general consumption, as our agriculture, in its present state, obtains from any equal extent of similar land. It is true, that to increase the political influence of great proprietors, too many of these estates are possessed by tenants at will; but this grievance is not peculiar to such estates, the largest estates of Scotland being occupied on leases. This most serious obstacle to spirited cultivation must therefore be ascribed to political causes, and not to the engrossing of landed property.

2. Another arrangement, which may serve to account for the superiority of British agriculture, is somewhat akin to that division of labour by which all the arts have been carried to so great a degree of perfection in this country. Few great proprietors, comparatively, cultivate their own lands beyond the demands of pleasure and convenience. The far greater part of Britain is cultivated by professional men, with their own capital, and for their own profit. The price which they must pay for their temporary rights in the soil, in the shape of rent, instead of checking their exertions, has a powerful tendency to promote every profitable improvement, to discourage dangerous speculation, and to restrain wasteful expenditure. And as it is clearly the interest of such [7:2:343] men, still more than of proprietors themselves, to obtain the largest produce at the least possible expense, the intermediate portion of the produce—that which is disposable for the general consumption—is consequently as large as industry and economy, in the present state of our agriculture, can make it. It is true almost to a proverb, that farming upon an extensive scale is never profitable to a great landholder; and, with a view to the interest of the nation, it ought to be discouraged, as both wasteful and unproductive. In some countries this mode of farming is a matter of necessity, as in the north of Europe, where a class of free tenants does not exist; in others the business of cultivation must be carried on as a sort of partnership, or joint concern between the proprietor and tenant, as on the métairies of France. Fortunately, the general distribution of wealth has long since removed the necessity for either of these methods in Britain.

To give full effect to the professional system, it is necessary that the rights of the landlord and tenant, respectively, should be clearly defined and well secured by law and the private contract of the parties. The general principle which should regulate the terms of this connection seems to be, that while the farm ought to be restored to the owner at the expiration of the tenant’s interest, at least without deterioration, the tenant should be encouraged to render it as productive as possible during his possession. In both of these views a lease for a term of years is scarcely less nécessary for the interest of the landlord than of the tenant; and so much is the public interested in this measure, that it has been proposed by intelligent men to impose a penal tax on the rent of lands held by tenants at will.

That the value of the property is enhanced by the security which such a lease confers on the tenant, will be put beyond all doubt, if the rents of two estates for half a century back are compared; the one occupied by tenants at will, and the other by tenants on leases for a moderate term, and where the soil and situation are nearly alike in every respect. If the comparison be made between two tracts originally very different in point of value, the advantages of leases will be still more striking. While that which is held by tenants at will remains nearly stationary, the other is gradually yet effectually improved, under the security of leases, by the tenant’s capital; and, in no long period, the latter takes the lead of the former, both in the amount of the revenue which it yields to the proprietor, and in the quantity of produce which it furnishes for the general consumption. The higher rents and greater produce of some parts of Scotland, than of many of the English counties, where the soil, climate, and markets are much more favourable, must be ascribed to the almost universal practice of holding on leases in the former country, in a much greater degree than to any of the causes which have been frequently assigned. Less than a century ago, what are now the best cultivated districts of Scotland were very far behind the greater part of England, and indeed had made very little progress from the time of the feudal system. It is not 50 years since the farmers of Scotland were in the practice of going to learn from their southern neighbours an art which was then very imperfectly known in their own country. But in several parts of England there has been little or no improvement since, while the southern counties of Scotland have uniformly advanced, and at present exhibit, very generally, a happy contrast to their condition at the middle of last century.

In respect to farmers themselves, it cannot be necessary to point out the advantages of leases. It may be true that, under the security of the honour of an English landlord, tenants at will have been continued in possession from generation to generation, and acquired wealth which he has never, like the landholders of some other countries, attempted to wrest from them. But there are few individuals in any rank of life who continue for a length of time to sacrifice their just claims on the altar of pure generosity. Something is almost always expected in return. A portion of revenue in this case is exchanged for power, and that power is displayed not only in the habitual degradation of the tenantry, but in the control over them, which the landlord never fails to exert at the election of members of Parliament, and on all other political emergencies. No prudent man will ever invest his fortune in the improvement of another person’s property, unless, from the length of his lease, he has a reasonable prospect of being reimbursed with profit; and the servility which holding at will necessarily exacts is altogether incompatible with that spirit of enterprise which belongs to an enlightened and independent mind.

The people at large are evidently most deeply affected by every measure which has a tendency to fetter the productive powers of the soil, and, at the same time, to depress one of their largest and most valuable classes. It is clearly their interest that corn and other provisions should be supplied in abundance; and the people of England may justly complain of the want of leases as one of the principal causes which check the improvement of their own territory.

Wliat ought to be the term of a lease, can only be determined by a reference to the circumstances of each particular case. Lands naturally rich, or such as have already been brought to a high degree of fertility, requiring no great investment of capital, and returning all or nearly all the necessary outlay within the year, may be advantageously held upon short leases—such perhaps as give time for two or at most three of the rotations or courses of crops to which the quality of the soil is best adapted. The practice of England in this respect is extremely various,—almost every term, from twenty years downwards, being found in different parts of it In Scotland, by far the most common period is nineteen years, to which it was formerly the practice, in some places, to add the life of the tenant. In that country, even when it is thought expedient to agree for a much longer term, this is still expressed in periods of nineteen years,—a sort of mysterious cycle, which seems to be no less a favourite with the courts of law than with landholders and farmers. Yet this term is somewhat inconvenient, as it can never correspond with any number of the recognised rotations of arable land.

It has been maintained by several writers, that a lease for twenty years is not sufficient to reimburse a tenant for any considerable improvements; and landholdershave often been urged to agree to a much longer term, which, it is alleged, would be not less for their own interest than for that of the tenant. This is a question which our limits do not permit us to discuss; but after viewing it in different lights, assisted by the experience of long leases in different parts of Scotland, we cannot help expressing some doubts of their utility, even as regards the parties themselves; and we are decidedly of opinion, that a greater produce will be brought to market, from any given extent of land held on successive leases of twenty years, for half a century, than if held on one lease of that duration, whether the term be specified or indefinite, as in the case of a lease for life. As a general mode of tenure, leases for lives seem to us particularly objectionable.

The great advantages of a lease are so well known in Scotland, that one of her best agricultural writers, himself [7:2:344]a landed proprietor, has suggested a method of conferring on it the character of perpetu,ity, to such an extent as, he thinks, would give ample security to the tenant for every profitable improvement, without preventing the landlord from resuming possession upon equitable terms, at the expiration of every specified period. But the author of this plan (Lord Kames), in his ardent wishes for the advancement of agriculture, at that time in a very backward state in his native country, seems to have overlooked the diffi-cultiés that stood in the way of its adoption; and the great advance in the price of produce, and consequently in the rate of rents, since his Lordship wrote, has long since put an end to the discussion which his proposal excited. For a form of a lease on his plan, the reader may consult Bell’s Treatise on Leases ; and the objections to the plan itself are shortly stated in the supplement to the sixth edition of Kames’s Gentleman Farmer, published in ’ 1815.

Long leases have been sometimes granted upon condition of receiving an advance of rent at the end of a certain number of years; but covenants of this kind, meant to apply to the circumstances of a distant period, cannot possibly be framed in such a manner as to do equal justice to both parties; and it ought not to be concealed, that, in every case of a very long lease, the chances are rather more unfavourable to the landholder than to the farmer. If the price of produce rise as if has done for the last fifty years, no improvements which a tenant can be expected to execute will compensate the landlord’s loss; and if, on the other hand, prices shall decline, the capital of most tenants must be exhausted in a few years, and the lands will necessarily revert to the proprietor, as has often been the case of late. Hence a landholder, in agreeing to a long lease, can hardly ever assure himself that the obligations on the part or the tenant will be fully discharged throughout its whole term, while the obligations he incurs himself may always be easily enforced. He runs the risk of great loss from a depreciation of money, but can look forward to very little benefit from a depreciation of produce, except for a few years at most. Of this advantage a generous man would seldom avail himself; and, indeed, in most instances,'the advantage must be only imaginary, for it would be overbalanced by the deterioration of his property.

Where the circumstances of ä landholder, the state of his property, and the wealth and enterprising character of the tenantry, are such as to render long leases, or leases for an indefinite period, expedient, the most equitable mode, in regard to rent, would be to make it·rise and fall with the price of corn or other produce. ' A rent paid in corn is, indeed, liable, to serious objections, and can seldom be advisable in a commercial country. It necessarily bears hardest on a tenant when he is least able to dis^ charge it. In very bad seasons his crop may be so scanty as scarcely to return seed and the expenses of cultivation; and the share which he ought to receive himself, as the {ι'rofits of his'capital, as well as the quantity allotted to the ahdTord, may not exist at all. Though, in this case, if he pays a money rent, his loss maybe considerable, it maybe twice or thrcc times greater if the rent is to be paid in corn, or according to the high price of such seasons. In Jess favourable years, which often occur in " the variable climate of 'Britain, a corn-rent would, in numerous instances, absórb nearly the whole free or disposable’produce, as it is by no, means uncommon to find, the gross produce of even good land reduced from twenty to fifty per cérit. belowan average, in particular ∙seasons. And it ought to be considered, m regard to the landlςrd hiniself, that his income woùld thus’be doubled or trebled, ata time when all other classes were suffering from scarcity and consequent dearth; while, in times of plenty and cheapness, he might find it difficult to make his expenses correspond with the great diminution of his receipts. It is of much importance to both parties that the amount of the rent should vary as little as possible from any unforeseen causes, though tenants in general would be perhaps the most injured by such fluctuations.

To obviate these and other objections to a corn-rent, and to do equal justice at all times to both landlord and tenant, a plan has been suggested for converting the corn into money, adopting for its price, not the price of the year for which the rent is payable, but the average price of a certain number of years. The rent, according to this plan, may be calculated every year, by omitting the first year of the series, and adding a new one; or, it may continue the same for a certain number of yςars, and then be fixed according to a new average. Let us suppose the lease to be for twenty-one years, the average agreed on being seven years, and the first year’s rent, that is, the price of so many quarters of corn, will be calculated from the average price of the crop of that year, and of the six years preceding. If it be meant to take a new average for the second and every succeeding year’s rent, all that is necessary is, to strike off the first of these seven years, adding the year for which the rent is payable, and so on during all the years of the lease. But this labour, slight as it is, may be dispensed with, by continuing the rent without variation for the first seven years of the lease, according to the average price of the seven years immediately preceding its commencement, and, at the end of this period, fixing a new rent, according to the average price of the seven years just expired, to continue for the next seven years. Thus, in the course of twenty-one years, the rent would be calculated only three times; and for whatever quantity of corn the parties had agreed, the money payments would be equal to the average price of fourteen years of the lease itself, and of the seven years preceding it; and the price of the last seven years of the old lease would determine the rent during the first seven years of the new One.

The landlord and tenant, it has been thought, could not suffer either from bad seasons or any change in the value of the currency, should such a lease as this be extended to several periods of twenty-one years. The quantity of corn to be taken as rent is the only point that would require to be settled at the commencement of each of these periods; and though this would no doubt be greater or less, according to the state of the lands at the time, yet it may be expected that, in the twenty-one years preceding, all the tenant’s judicious expenditure had been fully replaced. Instead of the twofold difficulty in fixing a rent for a long lease, arising from uncertainty as to the quantify of produce, which must depend on the state of improvement, and still more perhaps from the variations in the price of that produce, the latter objection is ! entirely removed by this plan; and in all cases where land is already brought to a high degree of fertility,’ the question about the quantity of produce may likewise be dispensed

Upon this plan we shall take leave to observe, that if it be applied to leases of nineteen or twenty-one years, the inconvenience resulting from uncertainty as to the amount of rent, as well as other difficulties which must necessarily attend it, would be as great perhaps as any advantages which it holds out to either of the parties. If it be said that, a rent determined by’ a seven years’ average could not suddenly nor materially altér, this is at once to admit the inutility of the contrivance. The first thing which [7:2:345]must strike every practical man is, that corn is not the only produce of a farm, and, in most parts of Britain, perhaps not the principal source from which rent is paid; and there is no authentic record of the prices of butchermeat, wool, cheese, butter, and other articles in every county to refer to, as there is of corn. This is not the place to inquire whether the price of corn regulates the price of all the other products of land, in a country whose statute-books are full of. duties, bounties, drawbacks, &c. to say nothing of its internal regulations; but it is sufficiently evident, that, if corn does possess this power, its price operates too slowly on that of other products, to serve as a just criterion for determining rent on a lease of this duration. Besides, in the progress of agriculture, new species or varieties of the cerealia themselves are established even in so short a period as twenty-one years, the price of which may be very different from that of the corn specified in the lease. What security for a full rent, for instance, would it give to a landlord, to make the rent payable according to the price of barley, when the tenant might find it more for his interest to cultivate some of the varieties of summer wheat? or according to the price of a particular variety of oats, when, within a few years, we have seen all the old varieties superseded, throughout extensive districts, by the introduction of a new one, the potato-oat, which may not be more permanent than those that preceded it? There may be no impropriety in adopting this plan for ascertaining the rent of land kept always in tillage, but it would be idle to expect any important benefits from it during such a lease as we have mentioned. In some instances it is the practice to agree for a certain rent in money, which does not vary; and another portion is determined from time to time by the price of corn, the quantity and kinds of the corn only being previously fixed by the lease. This, we think, is a better plan than to make the whole rent vary with the price of corn.

With regard to much longer leases, this plan will no doubt diminish the evils which we think are inseparable from them, but it cannot possibly reach some of the most considerable. Its utmost effect is to secure to the landholder a rent, which shall in all time to come be an adequate rent, according to the state of the lands and the mode of cultivation known at the date of the lease. But it can make no provision that will apply to the enlargement of the gross produce from the future improvement of the lands themselves, or of the disposable produce from the invention of machinery and other plans for economizing labour. Old corn-rents, therefore, though much higher at present than old money-rents, are seldom or never so high as the rents that could now be paid on a lease of twenty-one years. But, independently of these considerations, which more immediately bear upon the interests of die parties themselves, one insuperable objection to all such leases is, that they partake too much of the nature of entails, and depart too far from that commercial character which is most favourable to the investment of capital, and consequently to the greatest increase of land produce.

A lease for a term of years is not, however, in all cases a sufficient encouragement to spirited cultivation: its covenants in respect to the management of the lands may be injudicious; the tenant may be so strictly confined to a particular inode of culture, or a particular course of crops, as not to be able to avail himself of the beneficial discoveries which a progressive state of agriculture never fails to introduce. Or, on the other hand, though this is much more rare, the tenant may be left so entirely at liberty, that either the necessity of his circumstances dur.

ing the currency of the lease, or his interest towards its expiration, may lead him to exhaust the soil, instead of rendering it more productive. When a lease therefore is either redundant or deficient in this respect—when it either permits the lands to be deteriorated or ptevents their improvement—the connection between landlord and tenant is formed upon other views, and regulated by some other principle, than the general one on which we think it should be founded.

Notwithstanding the high authority of Adam Smith, restrictive covenants are always necessary to the security of the landlord, and in some cases beneficial also to the tenant. Their expediency cannot well be questioned in those parts of the country where an improved system of agriculture has made little progress. A landholder, assisted by the advice of experienced men in framing these covenants, cannot adopt any easier or less offensive plan for the improvement of his property, and the ultimate advantages of his tenantry. Even in the best cultivated districts, while farms continue to be let to the highest responsible offerers, a few restrictive covenants cannot be dispensed with. The supposed interest of the tenant is too feeble a security for correct management, even during the earlier part of a lease; and in the latter part of it, it is thought to be his interest, in most cases, to exhaust the soil as much as possible, not only for the sake of immediate profit, but frequently in order to deter competitors, and thus to obtain a renewal of his lease at a rent somewhat less than the lands would otherwise bring.

With tenants at will, and such as hold on short leases, restrictive covenants are more necessary than with tenants on leases of 19 or 20 years; but in many instances they are too numerous and complicated, and sometimes even inconsistent with the best courses of modern husbandry. The great error lies in prescribing rules by which a tenant is positively required to act; not in prohibiting such practices, and such crops, as experience has not sanctioned. The improved knowledge and the liberality of the age have now expunged the most objectionable of these covenants; and throughout whole counties, almost the only restriction in reference to the course of crops is, that the tenant shall not take two culmiferous crops, ripening their seeds, in close succession. This single stipulation, combined with the obligation to consume the straw upon the farm, and to apply to it all the manure made from its produce, is sufficient not only to protect the land from exhaustion, but to insure, in a great measure, its regular cultivation; for half the farm at least must in this case be always under either fallow or green crops. The only other necessary covenant, when the soil is naturally too weak for carrying annual crops without intermission, is, that a certain portion of the land shall be always in grass, not to be cut for hay, but depastured. According to the extent of this will be the interval between the succession of corn crops on the same fields: if it is agreed that half the farm, for instance, shall always be under grass, there can be only two crops of corn from the same field in six years. In this case, not more than two-sixths being in corn, one-sixth in green crops or fallow, and three-sixths in clovers or grasses, it becomes almost impossible to exhaust any soil at all fitted for tillage. There are few indeed that do not gradually become more fertile under this course of cropping. It is sufficiently evident that other covenants are necessary in particular circumstances, such as permission to dispose of straw, hay, and other crops from which manure is made, when a quantity of manure equal to what they would have furnished is got from other places, and a prohibition against converting rich old grazing lands or meadows into corn-lands. In [7:2:346]this place we speak only of general rules, such as are applicable to perhaps nine-tenths of all the arable land of Britain, and such as are actually observed in our best cultivated counties.

For the last four years of a lease the same covenants are generally sufficient, only they require to be applied with more precision. Instead of taking it for granted that the proportion of the farm that cannot be under corn will be properly cultivated, from the tenant’s regard to his own ¾ interest, it becomes necessary to take him bound to this effect in express terms; the object generally being to enable the tenant, upon a new lease, to carry on the cultivation of the lands, as if the former lease had not terminated. What these additional stipulations should be, must depend in part on the season of the year at which the new lease commences, and in part on the course of crops best adapted to the soil and the particular circumstances of every farm.

3. The enlargement, of farms to such a size as admits of arrangements and machinery for saving labour, is the natural consequence of the progress of agriculture, and the acquisition of capital by cultivators, and becomes, in its turn, the cause of further improvements. We have not room to examine here the various objections to large farms which were urged by Dr Price, Lord Kames, and most of the economical writers of the last oentury. Much stronger reasons, certainly, than any that have been hitherto advanced must be required to justify the interference of the legislature with the rights of the agricultural classes,—with that of a landholder to draw the greatest revenue from his property, and with that of a farmer to extend his concerns as far as his capital and abilities will permit. Even though it should be conceded to Dr Price, that a given extent of land yields a greater produce in the hands of several small farmers than of one great farmer, it still remains to inquire, what part of that produce can be spared for the general consumption,—and whether the labour of these people might not be. employed with more advantage than on such minute portions of land as yield, even in the best seasons, little more than food for their own subsistence. In Britain, of which the families employed in agriculture are to those of the whole population only as 1 to 3, and in which the proportion of lands cultivated, or that may be cultivated, is not four acres to every individual, the great object ought certainly to be, to increase the disposable produce of the country for the supply of the general population.

The grand objection to large farms, that they depopulate the country, is not supported by facts. The population of the country has not only greatly increased since the enlargement of farms, but this increase appears to have been little less than that of the town population. The fact is, the increase of the rural population has been in a greater ratio than that of the towns, in those counties, such as Northumberland, where very large farms abound, and where, indeed, as is usually the case, this state of things is combined with a spirited and productive system of agriculture. Even in Lancashire, the ratio of increase in the 10 years from 1801 to 1811 was only two per cent, in favour of the towns; but no one will ascribe this to the enlargement of .farms, The truth seems to be, that wherever agriculture has made the greatest progress, whatever may be the size of farms, the increase of employment has been attended with a corresponding increase of population; and that the ratio of increase has been kept down below that of towns by no other causes than the stationary condition or slow progress of agriculture in some parts,.and the superior allurements of manufactures, and commerce in others.

It is further to be remarked, that, throughout the whole of the arable districts of Scotland, the number of people is proportionally greater on large than on small farms. The number of hands required on the former is too great to be lodged in the farmer’s own house; and therefore, on all such farms, cottages are built for their residence. These cottages are generally inhabited by married men, whose families find employment in hoeing green crops, and other easy work, from a very early age. In the less-improved counties, on the other hand, where small farms still prevail, unmarried servants are preferred, as, on such farms, there is little or no employment for the families of married servants. Our limits dp not permit us to inquire how far the poor-laws of England operate against the employment of married servants, living in cottages on every farm; but the happy effects of this arrangement are manifest in the south-eastern counties of Scotland, as we shall notice immediately.

The possession of land is held by some writers to be so important, with a view to the comforts of the labouring classes, as well as to the increase of the rural population, that they have not been contented with objecting to large farms, but have proceeded to recommend what are called cottage-farms, for country labourers generally. Of this plan we might say at once, that it must be limited everywhere by the demand for labour; and that, wherever such small allotments are required by the state of agriculture, they will gradually be formed from motives of interest, without the necessity of any higher control. They are at this time common in many parts of Britain; and a different system has been established in other parts, for no other reason than because of its superior advantages to all concerned. Yet as cottage-farms bear a very plausible appearance in the eye of speculative men, it seems necessary to offer some further remarks on a question which has been so often agitated.

If every labourer had a comfortable cottage and four acres of land at .a low rent, as recommended by some of the correspondents of the Board of Agriculture, there is reason to believe that his condition might be much improved for a few years, supposing the demand for labour to continue the same as at present. Even the colonies which this class would every year send forth in quest of new cottages might be supplied for a time; and though the wages of labour would sink very fast, still this premium might enable the labourers to multiply with little interruption for several generations. At last, however, the multiplication of cottage-farms must necessarily stop, and a great proportion of the people, without land and without the means of employment, would either sink into helpless misery, or be driven by despair to the commission of every species of enormity. Such was the state of England at the breaking up of the feudal system, the policy of which also was to increase the number of the people, without regard to the means of their employment; and such, though in a much less degree, is the present state of those parts of the united kingdom in which cottagefarms are the most prevalent.

The whole question, we think, is capable of being most satisfactorily decided by an appeal to the plain mercantile criterion of rent. If a. hundred labourers, each of them possessing four acres, can pay a higher rent than one farmer can pay for the whole four hundred, buildings, fences, and repairs being estimated, we can see no reason why they should not be preferred; but if-this be not the case, we are greatly at a loss to conceive with what justice landholders can be called upon to submit to sacrifices which no other class of the community is ever expected to make. We might, with just as much reason and jus[7:2:347]tice, require a manufacturer to employ a certain number of hands in proportion to the amount of his capital, however unprofitable to him might be their labour.

In all our best agricultural counties there are two sorts of cottages, occupied by two distinct classes of labourers. Of the first sort are the small agricultural villages, where those mechanics and other labourers reside, who could not find full employment on any one farm. To such men small farms are advantageous, or otherwise, according to the nature and the constancy of their employment.

The other class of cottagers, to which we have already alluded, are ploughmen and other servants employed throughout the year on a particular farm. To these men small possessions of land are almost as unsuitable as they would be to a country gentleman’s domestics. But a small garden is usually attaohed to each cottage; and they are often allowed to keep a cow as part of their wages, not upon any particular spot of their own, but along with their master’s cows. Their fuel is carried home by their master’s teams; and a part of∙his own field, ready dressed, is assigned them for raising potatoes, flax, or other crops, for their families. Thus, with little risk from the seasons or markets, and without any other demand on their time than a few leisure hours will satisfy, these people enjoy all the advantages which the occupancy of land can confer on a labourer. And there is not a more useful, we may also add, a more comfortable, body of men among the industrious classes of society.

To give this class of labourers four acres of land along with every cottage, would be to render them bad servants and worse farmers, and either a nuisance to the person on whose farm they reside, or his abject dependents for employment. The only proper residence for men who do not choose to engage, or are not wanted as constant labourers, is in such central agricultural villages as we have just mentioned, and not on separate farms, where they are excluded from the general market for labour.

But it has been lately suggested, that our poor soils might be cultivated by another description of cottagers, with benefit to the public generally, by the improvement of such lands and the diminution of the poor-rates, as well as with profit to those who advance the necessary capital. As far as there has yet been time to judge, some well-digested and economically executed plans of this kind have been very successful in Holland. The leading points deserving notice in these poor colonies are, the amount of capital sufficient to purchase the land, and to defray the necessary expense of buildings and stock; its division into farms of seven acres; the vigilant superintendence exercised over the colonists, whose operations are almost all performed by manual labour, and much of whose time is employed in collecting manure; their moral and religious instruction; and the surplus produce obtained to replace the original outlay, and afford a permanent clear income or rent in all time coming. The most considerable of these colonies was established at Frederick’s Oord in 1818, at an expense of L.22. 6s. 7d. for every individual; and after a few years’ experience, the annual excess of produce over subsistence for each family was found to be L.8.2s. 4d. after allowing for a rent of 12s. per acre. The whole outlay, it was calculated, would be replaced in sixteen years. The crops raised are barley, clover, potatoes, rye; and about one acre out of the seven is kept permanently in grass. The only sorts of live stock seem to ∙be cows and pigs. About the end of 1825 the number of colonists composing this settlement was 6778, and the population of all the other colonies of this description in Holland was then estimated at more than 20,000.

The founders of on¢ of these, formed near Antwerp in 1822, soon after made a contract with government to rhain-tain '1000 mendicants for sixteen years, at the rate of 35 guildèrs, or L.2. 18s. 4d., for each per annum; and more recently an individual possessing a portion of heath land near Bruges agreed to take another thousand on the same terms. But for a particular account of these colonies we must refer to Jacob’s Tracts on the Corn-Trade and Com-Laws, 1828.

But with regard to the size of farms in the agriculture of this country, we may add, that of all the witnesses examined before the committees of Parliament on the cornlaws, there was only one whose sentiments were opposed to the general feeling of all well-informed men, regarding the advantages that have resulted from the enlargement of farms. We shall therefore content ourselves with noticing what appears to be the natural progress in the size of farms,—the circumstances which prevent any possible enlargement of them from ever becoming injurious to the public,—and the influence which perfect liberty in this respect has exerted in the improvement of our agriculture.

During the feudal system, that part of an estate which was not cultivated under the direction of the proprietor himself, was let out in small allotments to his vassals, from whom he received military or other services, or a portion of the produce, in return. In those times of turbulence and insecurity, the power of the chief mainly depended on the number of his tenants; and it was therefore his policy to increase them as much as possible, by dividing his land into very small possessions. That they might assist one another in their rural labours, and in repelling the incursions to which they were incessantly exposed, these tenants were collected in a village near the castle of their lord. A certain extent of arable land was appropriated to it, on which they raised corn, and a much larger tract of waste or wood land, where their live stock pastured in common. Spirited cultivation could never be introduced into this system of occupancy; nothing more than the means of subsistence was sought by the tenantry; and power, not revenue, was the great object of the landholder.

For a long time after the fall of the feudal system, this arrangement continued to prevail with little alteration; its vestiges are still to be traced in every part of Britain; and it exists in several counties, though in a modified form, even at the present time. The common fields and co⅛mons of England, and the infield and outfield divisions of Scotland, did not originate in any regal’d for the welfare of the lower classes, to whom the tenancy of land is now thought to be so necessary, but in the anarchy and oppression of those dark ages in which all the landed property of the island was engrossed by a few great barons.

When these petty sovereigns were at last overthrown, and when commerce and the arts held up to them new objects of desire, and to their depressed tenantry new modes of employment and subsistence, the bond which had hitherto connected the landholder and cultivator became more and more feeble, and it was soon found necessary to establish it upon other foundations than those of feudal protection and dependence. The connection between landlord and tenant came gradually and generally to assume that commercial form, which is at once most conducive to their own interests and to the general welfare.

One great obstacle to this change was the want of capital ready to be embarked in agricultural pursuits. Under the feudal system there could be little or no accumulation. Property in land was the only means of obtaining the command of labour, and a share of the produce its [7:2:348]only recompense. Accordingly, upon the breaking up of the feudal system, large tracts were taken into the immediate possession of landholders themselves, because no suitable tenants could be found. The constant superintendence required in cultivating com-lands, as well as the absurd restrictions of those times upon the corntrade, and the constant demand for British wool pn the Continent, occasioned these tracts to be laid to grass and pastured with sheep. Hence the grievous complaints, during two centuries, of the decay of husbandry and farm-houses.

But this resource of land proprietors was effectual only On soils of an inferior description: on good arable land, the only method by which a part of the produce could reach them in the shape of rent was to enlarge their farms. The old occupiers were too numerous to spare any considerable part of the produce, and generally too indolent and unskilful to make any great exertions to augment it. In these circumstances the landholder must either have virtually abandoned his property, or reduced the number of its inhabitants, who were no longer permitted by Iaw to make him that return which had been the original condition of their tenures. But the population of the towns was now gradually increasing, and it was necessary, for the supply of their wants, as much as for the benefit of the landholders, that a large disposable produce should be obtained from the soil. The measure of enlarging farms was, therefore, in every view, indispensable. Even such of the tenants themselves as it was necessary to displace might have felt but a slight and temporary inconvenience had the change been gradual. Some of them would have found employment in towns, and others as hired labourers and artisans in the country. The dismission of the small tenants seemè, however, to have been the occasion of much misery; for, in the sixteenth century, manufactures and commerce had made comparatively little progress in Britain. In the present times, any length to which the private interest of landholders could operate in this manner would, in a national point of view, be too inconsiderable to deserve notice.

It is in this way that farms have been enlarged. The most skilful and industrious of these small tenants were naturally preferred, and their possessions afterwards extended as their capital increased. The consequence everywhere has been, a better system of cultivation, affording a higher rent to the land proprietor, and a greater supply of land produce for the general consumption.

But it is only for a time, and to a very limited extent, that the enlargement of farms can proceed. The interest of the landlord, which gave the first impulse, is ever vigilant to check its progress, when it is attempted to carry the measure beyond due bounds. It is in this that the security of the public consists, if it were ever possible that the public interest should be endangered by the enlargement of farms. Accordingly, in most of our counties, a few tenants, of superior knowledge and capital, have been seen to hold considerable tracts of land, which after a few years were divided into a number of separate farms. The practice of these men is a lesson to their neighbours; and their success never fails to bring forward, at the expiration of their leases, a number of competitors. Whenever skill and capital come to be generally diffused, there can be few instances of very large farms, if a fair competitión be permitted. No individual, whatever may be his fortune and abilities, can then pay so high a rent for several farms, each of them of such a size as to give full room for the use of machinery and other economical arrangements, as can be got from separate tenants. The impossibility of exercising that vigilant superintendence which is so indispensable in agricultural concerns, cannot long be compensated by any advantages which a great farmer may possess. His operations cannot be brought together to one spot, like those of the manufacturer; the materials on which he works are seldom in .the same state for a few days; and his instruments, animated and mechanical, are exposed to a great many accidents, which his judgment and experience must be called forth instantly to repair.

It has been said, indeed, that a great farmer may pay a higher rent, because he saves the family expenses of a number of small tenants. But from what fund do these tenants maintain their families? It ought to be either from the profits of their capital, or the wages of their labour, or from both combined, and certainly not from the landlord’s just share, in the shape of an abatement of rent. If they cannot pay so high a rent, it must be . because their capital and labour are less productive to the public than those of the large farmer. Such men might, in most cases, be employed with more advantage, even to themselves, in some other profession.

The various other reasons assigned for the great enlargement of farms are equally nugatory. There is generally no saving to the landlord in buildings and fences; and a very small difference of rent will pay for the trouble of keeping accounts, and settling with twenty tenants instead of one. The fact certainly is, that the principal, if not the only reason, why farms have been enlarged, is, the higher rent paid by their occupiers. To pay this rent, they must bring to market more produce; and this they are enabled to do, by the distribution of their crops and live stock to suitable soils and pastures; by an economical arrangement and regular succession of labour throughout the year; by the use of machinery; and, still more than all, perhaps, by the investment of capital in those permanent improvements which augment both the quantity and value of their products. Rent, in fact, is an almost unerring measure of the amount of - the free produce; and there is no better criterion for determining whether a tract of country be laid out in farms of a proper size, than the amount of the rent paid to its proprietors. Their interest is, in this instance, completely-identified with t⅛t of the great body of the people.

If we examine the various sizes of farms in those districts where the most perfect freedom exists and the best management prevails, we shall find them determined, with few exceptions, by the degree of superintendence which they require. Hence pastoral farms are the largest; next, such as are composed both of grazing and tillag e lands; then, such rich soils as carry cultivated crops every year; and, finally, the farms near large towns, where the grower of corn gradually gives way to the market-gardener, cultivating his little spot by manual labour. The hills of the squth of Scotland are· distributed into farms of the first class; the counties of Berwick and Roxburgh into those of the second; and the smaller farms of the Lothians and of the Carse of Gowrie, where there seems to be no want of capital for the management of large farms, are a sufficient proof of the general principle which determines the size of farms. ∙

It must readily appear from these remarks, in what manner the enlargement of farms, or rather the absence of all restraint upon the transactions of the landholder and farmer, has promoted the improvement of our agriculture. To confine the practice of this important art to the manual labour of men in a state of poverty and dependence, would be no less injudicious, and much more ruinous in a national point of view, than to destroy all the extraordinary inventions for saving labour in our manufactures. The effects of capital and machinery are the same in both [7:2:349]departments. But no man of education, and in circumstances much above the condition of a common labourer, would ever engage in farming, if his concerns could be no farther extended than to fifty or one hundred acres held at rack-rent; and on such farms there is no room for the most economical machinery,—for convertible husbandry, by which land is preserved in its highest fertility,—or, indeed, for any of those arrangements which approach in their effects to the division of labour in other arts.

Besides those general causes of the improvement of the agriculture nf Britain, arising from the division of landed property,—the existence of a distinct class of professional farmers, whose rights are secured by leases, and whose exertions are stimulated by a rent settled by competition,—and the opportunities held out for the investment of capital as far as it promises to be profitable,—there are several others of a more limited or temporary nature, but which it is only necessary barely to mention. The most important of these is the extent of the British market, which for many years has required more corn than was grown in the country. The gradual rise of price, which was the necessary consequence of this, and still more the enormous prices during the late war, in which foreign supplies were obtained with difficulty or altogether withheld, have contributed in no small degree to the improvement of our own ample resources. This has been further promoted by the facility and expedition with which commodities of every kind are transported by means of canals, roads, and railways. We may add, that the liberal accommodations afforded by the banking establishments during the suspension of cash payments enabled British farmers to operate upon extensive wastes, of which the improvement must be advantageous in a national point of view, though, in consequence of the change that has taken place since the peace, it may not in many cases have been profitable to individuals.

The progress of a correct system of agriculture is generally allowed to have been more rapid in Scotland than in England; the effects, at least, have been more conspicuous. Not only the rents paid in Scotland, but the actual produce per acre, and still moré the disposable produce, seem to be greater than in England, wherever the comparison is made with land of a similar quality, and with an allowance for the difference in climate and markets. The remark naturally leads us to advert to some circumstances which seem materially to impede the agricultural improvement of the country, particularly the southern part of it; arid with one or two observations on this head we shall conclude this article.

The low state of agriculture in many parts of Britain, with the advance in the price of corn, on the one hand, and the abundance of capital displayed in the manufactures and commerce of the country, on the other, are circumstances sufficient to convince every reflecting mind that there is no want either of means or of inducements to the improvement of our territory. It is impossible, indeed, to travel through, the country in any direction, without feeling a strong conviction that there must be some serious obstacles to the investment of capital iri agriculture. The circumstances which seem to have the most weight in determining men of capital to engage in any particular profession, are, the secùrity and productiveness of that capital, the power of transferring it, and the degree of estimation in which the profession is held by the public. To the absence of these essential requisites we must ascribe the backward state of this art, notwithstanding all the other motives, both of a public and private nature, which have long existed for it’s advancèmént.

To the class of drawbacks upon agriculture, and impediments ' to ' its improvement, belong tithes, poor-rates, payments in the shape of fines, and services exacted by the lords of manors; entails; tenancy at will, or on very short leases; unfair restrictions on the tenant as to the disposal of his lease, and as to the management of the lands during its currency; the game-laws; and the complicated regulations under which commons and common fields are cultivated, and the great expense required to place them in a state of severalty.

It appears that nearly three-fourths of the lands of England and Wales are exposed to claims which wrest from the husbandman one-tenth of the gross produce of his labour and capital, and this whether the remainder of the produce be or be not sufficient for his remuneration. Though no rent were paid for poor soils, this burden alone would effectually prohibit their correct cultivation; and even in the case of rich soils, tithes diminish the rent so considerably as to make it the interest of landholders, in many parts of England, to restrain their tenants from converting grass-lands into tillage; that is, from placing them under the most productive management for the community, both in regard to the supply of food and of employment-

To the enlightened inquirer it must appear abundantly clear, that all plans for the extension and improvement of British agriculture must prove ineffectual so long as these capital obstacles are left untouched; and that their removal is all that need be done, and all that ought to be done by a wise government, for securing an abundant supply of the first necessaries of life. Let all land be held and occupied in severalty; let it be exempted from all indefinite exactions, particularly such as diminish or altogether absorb the just returns of capital and industry; let the connection between the land proprietor and the farmer be everywhere formed upon equitable principles, to the exclusion of all remnants of feudal ideas, all notions of favour and dependence, and all obligations that do not appear in the lease itself, or are not imposed by the general principles of law; let the rights of a tenant be so far enlarged as that he may be enabled to withdraw his capital by a transference , of his lease, and to regulate the succession to it after his death; then there can be little doubt that a large part of the disposable capital of the nation, now embarked in much less profitable pursuits, would of its own accord turn towards the improvement of our lands, and thus furnish employment and subsistence for our population, secure from the caprice of fashion and the rivalry and jealousy of other countries. (d. )

EXPLANATION OF THE PLATES.

Plate V.

Figures 1 and 2 are different views of the Swing-plough, made wholly of iron; fig. 3, the body in one entire piece of cast-iron, which is attached to a wooden beam with screw-bolts. Fig. 4, a plan of the Grubber, the inner frame made to rise upon hinges, so as to keep the tines or coulters from the ground when it is removed from one field to another, and supported by iron stays. Fig. 5, section of the same, the fore wheel dragged in going down hill. Fig. 6, three different viéws of the coulters. Fig. 7 and 8, [7:2:350]a Erill-harrow, to work between the rows of plants, and made to contract or expand according to the width of the interval. Fig. 9, 10, Common Harrows·, each drawn by its own horse, though two and often three work together. Fig. 11 and 12, Improved Harrows, in general use for covering grass-seeds, by which all the ruts or tracks are made equidistant.

Plate VI.

Finlayson s Self-cleaning Plough. —Fig. 1, a, the beam, and b, the coulter, curved to form in their junction a segment of a circle of about 18 inches diameter; c, a share of a new form for moss or meadow land; the feather or cutting edge 26 to 30 inches long, and standing at an angle of about 20 degrees with the land-side. A little fin, as .represented at c, is screwed into the end of this share: its use is to cut the first two furrow-slices of each ridge clean out; for if any part be left uncut in land of this description, the furrow, from its elasticity, will fall back to its original position. Fig. 2, a view of the plough reversed: a, the coulter by itself, to show a piece of plate-iron welded on it above the cutting surface, which slips up in front of the beam, and prevents a niche being formed between them when the coulter is let down, wherein root-weeds or other substances would lodge as they are forced upwards: b, a view of a share.

Fig· 3. The American Hay-Fake. — A, the head or beam; B, the teeth inserted in the beam; C, the frame to which the horse is attached; D, catches to be loosened by the person who guides the rake, so as to raise it when the teeth are full, and allow the head and teeth to revolve, passing the rest, F, freely; after which the catches are replaced, and the work proceeds without stopping the horse; G, the connection road, which gives great lever power in raising the rest, and regulates the height at which the machine must revolve.

Fig. 4. Finlayson’s Self-cleaning Harrow.—-a, the teeth or tines, coming up by a circular sweep to b, and then continued upwards, and afterwards turned down and inserted horizontally into the frame-work; the part at b, where all weeds or other matters fall off, being about 9 or 10 inches from any part of the frame-work: c, a lever, bent back and jointed at e; d, the fore wheel, attached to the lever by a swivel joint, whereby it plays round when the harrow is turning. When the lever, c, is put down in the lateral spring,/ this fore wheel is depressed, and the first row of tines thrown out of the ground; it is therefore used at turning, being then put down to the lowest opening at i, and it is also used to regulate the depth of the fore tines when working, by being placed in any of the openings above/,· g, the hind wheels, brought up or down by a malescrew, h, passing through the axle, and thereby regulating the depth of the hind tines. The tines can be readily taken out when repairs are necessary.

Fig. 5. Mortons Revolving Harrow. — X, one of the wheels (W) brought forward and placed upon the axle at C, when the harrow is to be removed from one field to another; Y, a castor or truck-wheel placed at the back of the harrow at B, to facilitate its removal from one field to' another. In putting this implement together, 1, 2, 3,4, denote the bolts of the iron frame, and 5 that of the beam; the sword, R x connects the axle and beam, and at D the frame is locked upon the axle. The rake behind is attached to the frame by two iron rods, and secured by a forelock.

The Hainault Scythe. —Fig. 6, the scythe ABE, the handle about 26½ inches long, of which the curved part is 5½ inches, and the broad part at A 4 inches; at a there is a "leathern, loop through which the fore finger is passed. The blade from E to F is 21 inches long, and 2½ths broad, and the back ½th of an inch thick. Fig. 7, the crotchet or hook which the workman uses with his left hand to gather the quantity of corn he intends to cut, to support it while he is cutting, and lay it afterwards behind him; the handle, from G to H, is 3 feet 5 inches long, and the iron hook, from H to L, near 11 inches.

Fig. 8, a close-bodied two-horse cart, with frames for carrying hay and corn in the straw. The frames at other times are withdrawn.

Plate VIL

Fig. 3. A B C, a Double Mould-board Plough, with its mould-boards taken off, and expanding arms applied with circular coulters, for paring the edges of the drills; D D, the expanding arms, which are removed when the mouldboards are put on; EE, the circular coulters; P, a back view of a coulter; F, a scuffle, two of which are applied at pleasure, in place of E E, the circular coulters. Fig. 1 and 2, G G, the mould-boards taken off. Fig. 4, a one-horse Paring Plough, to which the beam and handles, A C (fig. 3), are applied when taken from the body B, and secured by three screwed bolts at 1, 2, 3; I, the coulter for the paring plough. Fig. 5, a Drill-harrow, to which also the beam and handles, A C (fig. 3), are applied in the same manner; K K K, scuffles or hoes, which maybe applied to the harrow in place of tines. Fig. 6, part of a common plough, with a wheel-brake attached; A, the axle screwed to the plough; B B, the screws; C, the wheel. Fig. 7, a Roller to be worked by two horses abreast, made of cast-iron.

Fig. 8. The Improved Turnip Sowing-Machine. — A, the seed box; B, manure boxes, for crushed bones or other matters; C, two large concave diverging rollers, which accommodate themselves to different widths of the drills or ridgelets, carrying along with them the seed and manure boxes, which distribute their contents in regular succession on the tops of the drills; D, two small rollers, also concave, for regulating the depth at which the seed and manure are deposited in the ground; E, a coulter, for receiving and discharging the manure conductor, and F, a similar one for the seed.

Plate VIII.

Fig. 1 represents a profile of Mr Smith’s Reaping-Machine, complete and in operation. It will be seen by this figure and fig. 2 (which is a bird’s-eye view of the machine), that the horses are yoked one on each side of a pole, which runs back from the frame of the carriage. The person who drives the horses and directs the machine walks behind, having command of the horses by a set of common plough-reins, and directing the machine by a hold of the end of the pole. The horses draw from a cross bar at the end of the pole by common plough chains, the back-weight of the carriage resting on their common cart-saddles by means of an apparatus such as is used in curricles. On the fore part of the carriage is hung a horizontal circular cutter, surmounted by a drum, the blade of the cutter projecting ð½ inches beyond the periphery of the lower end of the drum. When the carriage is moving forward, a rapid rotatory motion is communicated to the cutter and drum, from the motion of the carriage-wheels, by means of a series of wheels, pinions, and shafts. The diameter of the cutter projects beyond the carriage-wheels on each side, so as to cut a breadth sufficient to allow the carriage and horses to pass along without risk of treading down the uncut corn. The corn being cut by the rapid motion of the cutter, the lower ends rest upon the blade of the cutter, and the upper parts coming in contact with the drum, the [7:2:351]whole is carried round, and thrown off in a regular row at the side of the machine. The lower ends taking the ground first, the heads fall outwards, the stalks lying parallel to each other, and at nearly a right angle to the line of motion of the machine. The corn lying thus in regular rows, is easily gathered into sheaves by the hand, or by a rake, fork, or other convenient instrument, and is bound in the usual way.

Minute Description of the Plate.

Fig. 2. A, the frame of the carriage, made of oak or other strong wood, and put firmly together by bed-bolts screwed into the cross bars B. C, the pole, made fast to the cross bars. D, a cross bar, at the extremity of the pole, from which the horses pull; this bar is of iron, in order to give sufficient weight on the horses’ backs. E, the carriage-wheels, 5 feet in diameter, and 6 inches broad in the tread. F, the cutter, 5 feet 4 inches in diameter, composed of six segments bolted to an iron ring, 1½ inch broad and ∣ inch thick, which ring is connected to the foot of the upright spindle by the cross arms, G.-Fig. 6 shows one or these segments cm a larger scale: a is of hard wood, 3½ inches broad and 1 inch thick; b b are of German steel, and. of a scythe temper, 3½ inches broad, and I inch thick at the back; they overlap the wood, to whicn they are rivetted, 1½ inch, their upper side being flush with the wood; d, holes through which the ring-bolts pass. Fig. 5 is a transverse section of fig. 6..—II, fig. 2, a conical drum of slight tin-plate or basket-work, whose lower periphery is 5 inches within the edge of the cutter, but whose upper periphery extends as far as that of the cutter. This drum is two feet,deep, connected to the same ring with the cutter below, and to the spindle above by another ring, with four. arrns. The drum is covered on the outside with canvass, on which perpendicular strips of soft rope are sewed, being one inch thick, and three or four inches apart: these give sufficient friction to carry round the cut corn, whilst, from their softness, they have no tendency to shake or thresh it. The horses are yoked to the cross bar, D, by common plough-chains. The breeching-chains are linked to the draught-chains, and a breast-chain, which passes through a ring made fast to the kames, is drawn up to an eye at N. Fig. 4 is an inside view of the naves of the carriage-wheels; a, a tranverse section of the axle; b, a ratch-wheel, made fast on the square of the axle; c, catches, movable on pivots, made fast to the nave; <1, slight springs to keep the catches in gear. By this means the wheels carry the axle in revolution with them when the carriage is moved forward, but move, round upon it when the carriage is drawn in a contrary direction. This construction is necessary, to facilitate the turning of the machine. The axle moves in two cast-iron seats with caps, on which the frame of the carriage rests. A wheel, 0 (fig. 2), of 24 teeth of 1½ inch pitch, works into an intermediate wheel of the same dimensions. This wheel is in gear of a pinion of 12 teeth, fast on the end of the cross shaft Q. At the centre of this shaft, two bevelled wheels, R, with long sockets, are fitted loose. These wheels have each 28 teeth of 1½ inch pitch: in the bosom of these is a double reversing catch, which will be best explained by reference to fig. 3, which is a longitudinal section of the cross shaft with the wheels and catch; a, the shaft; b, the pinion; c, the bevelled wheels, R, of fig. 2, having long sockets fitted loose on the shaft; d, a double catch, which is movable longitudinally on the shaft, but is carried in revolution with it, by means of the feather, e, upon the shaft, fitted into a corresponding groove n the catch. This catch can be put into gear of either, if the wheels at pleasure, by means of the lever, «.(fig. 2), movable on a stool at T, and kept to its place when set, by notches in an iron stand at U. Both of the wheels are constantly in gear of a pinion of 14 teeth, V (fig. 2), and/ (fig. 3). By thus reversing the gearing, the cutter and drum can be made to revolve to the right or left, and consequently will throw the cut corn to either side of the machine at pleasure. On the opposite end of the shaft, W (fig. 2), on which the pinion V is fixed, is a bevelled wheel X of 28 teeth, in gear of a pinion of 14 teeth on the upright axle, (fig. 7 and 8). The velocity is so raised by these wheels and pinions, that the. cutter makes 128 revolutions per minute when the machine moves at the rate of 2½ miles per hour, the edge of the cutter passing through 32 feet per second. The upright spindle, shown in fig. 1 and 8, has three bearings, one in a brass bush fixed in an iron stay-frame, b ; a second bearing in a wooden bush with a cap on the front of the cross bar at c ; and a third in a socket resting on the small wheels, d. These wheels serve to keep the cutter always at an equal height from the ground. The particular construction of these wheels, with that of the frame and socket, will be better understood by reference to fig. 7 and 8. Fig. 8, a perpendicular section of the foot of the upright spindle and socket; a, the spindle; b, the socket; c, a groove in the spindle, into which the points of two screw pins, d, passing through the sides of the socket, are fitted. These are necessary to keep the spindle in its place, and to bear up the wheels when the spindle is raised. Fig. 7 is a bird’s-eye view of the wheels and carriage, with a transverse section of the socket and spindle; α, the wheels, 14inches in diameter, and 3 inches broad; b, the axle, to which is fastened an iron frame, c, movable on a pivot on the point of the iron bar,f and in a socket at e ; the bar f is one inch square, having a long ruff’ at g, which is turned and fitted to the eye, e, of the socket, fig. 8. The bar is bent so as to pass close under the cutter, and runs up to the pole. This bar is necessary to relieve the point of the upright spindle of the resistance opposed to the wheels in moving along. The cutter can be placed higher or lower on the spindle, so as to cut the straw to any height, by means of a series of holes through the spindle; pins passing through holes in the sockets of the arms, and the most suitable of the series. The cutter can also be screwed to any height from the ground, from two to eighteen inches, by means of an iron lever, on the point of which is a brass socket, in which the upright spindle runs, and on which it rests. The lever is hung by an iron chain passing over a pulley at ∕ and joining two iron rods at h, which connect it with a screw box, I, which is moved backwards and forwards, by turning round the screw, m. To the end of this screw is connected an iron rod, which runs along the upper side of the pole to a bearing at h. At the end of this rod is a winch, ο, of 9 inches radius, by which the person who guides the machine can turn round the screw, and so raise or lower the cutter at pleasure. This is principally of use to raise the cutter when passing over a deep furrow, or in going from one field to another. P is a hollow piece of wood put upon the end of the rod, by which the man holds with one hand when guiding the machine. In most cases the cutters will cut ½ of an acre without requiring to be sharpened, which can be done in two minutes by a common scythestone, two of which are conveniently carried in two leather pockets, q, fig. 2. When it is necessary to go with the machine to a distance, the upright spindle, with the drum and cutter, are taken from their place, and placed on the top of the carriage; and the small wheels are drawn close up to the cross bar. The draught bar, D, is taken from the end of the pole and placed ncar the frame [7:2:352] of the carriage. The horses are turned to draw from it, and can in this way travel any distance, and over any roads.

Plate IX.

Threshing-Machine.

Fig. 1. Plan of a Threshing-Machine, to be driven by water, or by four horses occasionally when there is not a constant supply of water, with the new-invented apparatus for yoking horses.

A, the perpendicular axle (see A, fig. 2), in which are fixed the arms or levers D, that carry the great wheel B; and upon these arms are fixed the limbers, by which the cattle pull the machine when threshing. No. 1 and 2 represent two frames fixed in the axle A, and supported by the arms D; upon these frames are placed the two shifting-blocks, as 3 4 and 5 6, which have liberty to move or slide, either inwards to the axle or outwards from it. In each of these shifting-blocks are placed two running sheeves or whorles. F F, an endless chain or rope, which passes over the two sheeves that are placed in the shifting-blocks at the ends 4 and 5. By this chain the two blocks are so connected, that if the one is pulled outwards from the axle A, the other is pulled inwards alternately. 15 and 15 are two sheeves, by which the chain F F is kept clear of the axle A when turning round. Y Y are two ropes that pass oyer the sheeves which are placed in the shifting-blocks at their ends 3 and 6: upon each end of these ropes is fastened a small block, in which are placed the running sheeves 7, 8, 9, 10, and over these sheeves pass the double ropes, by which the horses pull when working this machine, a, b, c, d, e,f and g, h, represent the limbers or ears, fixed by screw-bolts on the arms D D D D (see D D D in fig. 2), and in each of these ears are placed two running sheeves, by which the ropes are conveyed to the line of draught (see 1 and 2 in fig. 2); each horse is yoked to the ends of the chains or ropes, as at 11, 12, 13, and 14, these ropes passing over the sheeves 7, 8, 9, 10, which turn on their axis. By this means the draught will always press the collars equally upon the horses’ shoulders; and though they are walking in a circle, yet the strains of the draught must press fairly or equally on their shoulders, without twisting their body to either side. This advantage cannot be obtained in the common way of yoking horses in a threshing-machine, unless the draught-chains on each side of the horse be made in exact proportion in length to the diameter of the circle in which he walks, or the chain next to the centre of the walk made a little shorter than the one farthest from it, which is often neglected; but in this way of yoking the horses the strain of the draught will naturally press equally on his shoulders when pulling, which of course must be less severe on the animal when walking in a circle.

Thus, the draught-chains, or ropes, being all connected by means of the endless chain F F, and the shifting blocks, with their sheeves, having liberty to move either inwards to the axle A, or recede from it, it is apparent, that if one of the horses relax, the other horse will immediately press the collar hard to his shoulders, and excite him to exertion. For instance, if the horse hooked to the draught-chains at 12 were to relax, then the one yoked at 14 would instantly take up his chain, and pull the collar close to his shoulders; so that the horse at 12 must either exert himself or be pulled backward. And, supposing the horses at 12 and 14 were both to relax, then the exertions of the horses at 11 and 13 would immediately pull the shifting block from 5 towards 3, and of course press the collars hard on the horses at 12 and 14, which would tend to drag them back ward, and by this means push them to exertion. Thus, the horses being all connected by the draught-chains and shifting-blocks, their exertions are all united completely round the circle, so as to form one power applied to the machine, instead of as many independent powers as there are horses employed when yoked in the common way. It may sometimes be convenient to employ fewer horses than the whole number of which the machine admits. This is easily accomplished; for example, were the horse at 12 to be left out, then the two chains must be fastened or tied to the ears c d, and thus the horse at 12 is left out of the circle, whilst the horses at 11, 13, and 14, are nevertheless still united, so as to make one combined power act on the machine. This apparatus is the invention of Walter Samuel, an ingenious blacksmith at Niddry, in the county of Linlithgow. C C C C C C represent the pillars which support the large cross-beams V V V V, and roof of the course in which the horses walk when working this machine. B B represent the great wheel, fastened on the arms D D D D, that turns the pinion 16, which is fixed on one end of the horizontal axle E E, its other end having on it a toothed wheel near 21, that drives the pinion 18, placed upon the axle Q, on which axle is also fixed the wheel 19, to turn the pinion 20, which is fixed upon the gudgeon or pivot of the threshing-drum: by this means motion is conveyed from the great wheel to the drum. 21 represents a wheel fixed on the axle E, to drive the wheel 22, placed on the iron spindle S, on which spindle is fastened the wheel 23, to turn the wheel 24, placed upon the axle of the straw-shaker P; and on the pivot of the straw-shaker O∙ is fixed the wheel 25, turned by the wheel 22; in this, way, both straw-shakers are driven round when the machine is at work. 30 represents a small wheel fixed on the gudgeons of the axle Q, to drive the wheel 31, that turns the wheel 32, which wheel is fixed on the iron spindle R, having on its end at L a l socket, that takes in a square on the gudgeon in one of the feeding-rollers, by which means they are turned round. These rollers are generally made of cast-metal, the circumference of the. one being smooth, and of the other fluted, or having small teeth its whole length, in order to keep hold of the unthreshed corn; and as they revolve on their pivots, they feed the grain regularly forward, to receive the strokes from the threshers, by which the corn is detached from the straw. T T represent the axle on which is fixed the water-wheel 27; and upon the circumference of this wheel are placed the segments 28, to drive the wheel 29, which is fastened on the axle E E; by this means motion is conveyed from the waterwheel to the threshing part of the machine. Μ, the board or platform on which the unthreshed corn is spread, and introduced between the feeding-roller L L, which conveys it to the threshers. N, the threshing-drum; O, P, the two straw-shakers; and G G, H H, the frame that supports the feeding-rollers, threshing-drum, and straw-shakers. KK represent part of the barn walls or mill-house; UU, the joists of .the floor on which the threshing part of the machine is placed. (See Q Q in Fig. 2.) X X are windows in the side wall to light the house. ' 1

Fig. 2. Elevation of the same Machine. — A A represent the perpendicular axle or shaft, in which are fixed the arms or levers D DD, that carry the great wheel, and by which the cattle draw when working in this machine. Upon these arms are also fixed the ears or hanging pieces, in each of which are placed two running sheeves, as 3, 4, 6, 9, 10; and over these sheeves pass the ropes or chains, having on their ends the eyes c c c c c, to which the collar chains of the cattle are hooked. EE [7:2:353]represent two frames, fixed on the axle A, and arms D D; upon these frames are placed the two shifting blocks F F. (See 3, 4, 5, 6, in fig. 1.) B B represent the great wheel, fastened upon the arms D D D (see B B, in fig. I); this wheel turns the wheel 11, which is fixed upon the horizontal axle H; and on this axle is likewise fixed a wheel, to turn the wheel 13, placed on the axle K; on which axle is also fastened the wheel 14, to drive the pinion 15, which is fixed at P on the pivot of the threshing-drum. 16 represents a wheel fastened on the gudgeon of the axle K, to turn the intermediate wheel 17, that drives the wheel 18, which is fixed upon the iron spindle NI, connected with the pivot in one of the feeding rollers,' by which means the rollers arc driven round. R, the threshing-drum; S, the straw-shakers; U, the Scarce, through which the grain and chaff pass down the hopper V, into the fanners, by which the one is separated from the other, the clean grain running down T, and the lighter sort at X, while the chaff is blown backward. W represents the fans, which are inclosed in a box of thin boards. (See V, in fig. 3.) There is a sheeve or whorle fastened on the gudgeon P of the threshing-drum R; from this sheeve passes the belt or band 14, over the sheeve 24, which is fixed upon the iron spindle Y, attached to the axle of the fans W: by this means the fans arc driven with such velocity as to blow all the chaff and light refuse away from the grain. 19 represents the water-wheel, placed on the axle G G: upon the circumference of this wheel are fixed the toothed segments 20, that turn the wheel 21, which is fastened on the axle H; so that motion is by this means carried from the water-wheel to the threshing-drum; and when there is not a sufficient quantity of water, then the horses can be applied to drive· the machine. In this ease the frame or bearer that carries the wheel 19, must either be dropt a little down, so as , its teeth may be clear of the wheel 21, or else one of the segments 20 taken off, to allow the wheel 21 to run freely. But when there is plenty of water for turning the machinery, then the wheel 11 must be raised up clear of the wheel B, which is easily done by turning round the screw-bolts 25, and raising the bearer 26 a little upwards", until the teeth of the wheel 11 be fully clear of the wheel B, so as it may revolve freely when the wheel 21 is turned, by the teeth of the segments 20 acting upon its teeth, , Thus’ the threshing may be carried on without interruption, either with water or horses separately, or a small quantity of water may be applied to assist the horses at any time, when ή Sufficient supply of water cannot be obtained. O O, part of tire barn-wall; P, the building that supports the frame, and one end of the axle which carries the water-wheel. Z Z Z Z represent the pillars that support the great beams and roof of the circle, in which the horses walk when working the machine.

Fig. 3. Section of the same Machine. — A A represent the water-wheel; and B, east-metal segments fixed on its circumference, having teeth to turn; the wheel No? 2 (see 20 and 2l(fig. 2); and upon the same axle is fixed the wheel No. 8, that drives the wheel No. 4, on the axle of which is fastened the wheel No. 5, that turns a pinion placed upon the axle of the threshing-drum. (See 14 and 15 in fig. 2.) C represents the board upon which the unthreshed corn is spread, and introduced between the feeding-rollers, to receive the strokes from the threshers or beaters, which are fixed upon the arms of the threshing-drum. G represents the two straw-shakers. (See 0 and P in fig. 1.) H H are two screw-bolts, that, when turned round the slider in which the pivots of the feeding-roller revolve, are moved either inward to the threshing-drum or outward from it, and of course can easily be placed at a greater or less distance from the beaters of the drum. K represents a cover of thin boards, which inclose the threshing-drum above and below; L Μ are the covers that inclose the straw-shakers above, and below the shakers are placed the scarces O P R, that allow the grain and chaff to pass down through the hopper O R, into the fanners U V, by which they arc separated ;’ the clean corn running out at the opening X, and the chaff blown off at U, whilst the straw is thrown, out at R by the shaker G. ST represent the frames, in which are placed eods or bushes of brass; and on these cods the pivots of the threshing-drum and straw-shakers revolve. T represents the course of the water, which, falling into the wheel a little before the centre, turns it round, and falls off near Z, where the float-boards begin to ascend: Thus, the wheel is turned round by the weight of the water in the buckets, on nearly one-half of its circumference’; the ascending buckets, on the other half, of the wheel, being quite empty, give very little resistance to its motion.

View of a Threshing-Machine worked by horses or wind. Fig. 4.—Elevation of the tower, and machinery of the Wind power for turning a threshing-machine; with a profile of the machinery, with barn or mill-house, and horse-course or shed, adjoining. A A represent the perpendicular axle that supports the arms or levers B B B B, to which the cattle are attached when working the, machine. D D d d are ears, or hanging pieces of wood, fixed upon the arms B with screw-bolts. E represents a frame fixed upon these arm’s. On this frame are placed the shifting blocks F and I, each of them containing two running sheeves, over which passes the chain Or rope G G, and connects the. blocks together. In the shifting block I is placed a sheeve, over which passes the chain or rope that goes over the shéeves K K L L and Μ L L, placed in the ears d d. Likewise in the shifting-block F is placed a sheeve, and over it goes the chain or rope which passes on the sheeves Μ M and N N. By this means all the chains by which the cattle poll are directed to the line of draught. P P P P represent props or supports, to prevent the arms B, and the great· wheel C C, from being pressed downwards by the strains to which they are exposed when the machine is threshing. Q is a bolster or block of wood, and into it is fixed a eod of brass, in which the lower or foot gudgeon of the axle A turn§. R R R are pillars that support the large beams, and roof S S S, of the horse-course. C C represent the great wheel, fixed upon the arms B B B B; and on this wheel arc fastened east-metal segments, having teeth to drive the wheel No. 2, which is fixed on the horizontal ax!e T T; and upon this axle is also fastened the wheel No. .3, to turn the pinion No. 4, which is placed on the pivot of the threshing-drum: 5 and 6 are wheels that-turn the feeding-rollers. U represents the threshing-drum, W the straw-shaker, and X the hopper that conveys the corn into the fanners No. 7, by which it is separated from the refuse, the clean grain running out at Y, the light or small at Z, whilst the chaff is blown backwards*. No. 9, a sheeve fixed upon the axle of the threshing-drum; and over this sheeve goes a band or rope, that extends to the sheeve No. 10,’ which is fixed on, the axle of the fanners; and by this means the fans are turned round with such velocity as to separate the chaff from the grain. No. 12 represents a wheel' fastened on the threshing-drum axle) to turn the wheel No. 13, by which the straw -shakers are driven. 17 and 18 represent the side-walls of the barn, and 19 the roof.

A A represent the arms of the vans, and X X the frames in which the pivots of the cylinders turn when the [7:2:354]sails are either spread out or rolled up; B the shaft or axle on which the arms of the vans are fixed; and upon this axle is also fastened the wheel No. 1, to turn the wheel No. 2, which is fixed on the perpendicular axle C; and upon this axle is likewise placed the wheel No. 3, to turn the wheel No. 4, which is fixed on the axle D D, having upon its gudgeon at E a coupling or shifting-box, that connects it with the pivot of the threshing-drum when the machine is driven by the wind; and by the box having liberty to shift, the one axle can easily be detached from the other when the-horse-power is to be applied. No. 5 represents a sheeye or whorle, placed on the axle G; and over this sheeve goes the rope or band Y, that passes over the sheeve No. 6, which is fixed upon the iron spindle Z: by this means the balls in the frame are driven round. This frame, having movable joints at F F F, has liberty to yield; so that when the wind is very strong, the vans of course must move with too great velocity, and be apt to break some part of the machine. But by this quick motion the balls are thrown outwards from the spindle Z, by which the teethed rod G is pulled downwards, and turns the wheel No. 8, upon the axle of which is fixed a pinion, that drives the wheel No. 9; and upon its axle is fixed the pinion No. 10. This pinion acts on the teeth of an iron rod, that goes through a hole in the centre of the axle B, to N; this rod having teeth also at Μ, which act on the teeth of the segments PPM, that have liberty to move on their pivots at K, so that when the rod Μ is pushed by the pinion either outward or inward, the segments PPM are likewise moved forwards or backwards; and as one end of the iron rods P P is hooked to these segments, and their other ends attached to the frames X X, by this means the frames are moved either inward to the axle B or outwards from it; and as the pivots of the cylinders on which the sails are rolled turn in these frames, of course they are either rolled on or off, according to the strength of the wind or velocity of the vans. H H represent a small van, which turns the large ones to face the wind. No. 11 is a pinion, fixed on the axle of the small vans, to drive the wheel No. 12, which is placed upon one end of an iron spindle, having on its other end the pinion No. 13, to turn the wheel No. 14, fixed on an axle, upon which is also placed a pinion at 15, that acts on the teeth of the segments, which are fixed on the dead frame 16 and 16, which is placed on the top of the tower. Q Q, the moving frame that carries the vans and wheels; R represents friction-rollers, on which the neck of the wind-shaft revolves; S S, walls of the tower; T, a door; U U U U, windows to light the tower; V, the upper floor; W, the middle floor, and bearer, in which the lower gudgeon of the axle C turns when the machine is at work.

Fig. 5. Section of the threshing part of the Machine. — A represents the board upon which the unthreshed grain is spread, and introduced between the feeding-rollers B; C C represent one end of the drum, with the threshers or beaters D D D D fixed upon the extremity of its arms; E E E E the shaker that receives the straw from the threshing-drum, and conveys it to the shaker F F F F, by which it is thrown down the sloping .scarce Z, either on the low floor or upon a sparred rack, which moves on rollers turned by the machine, and by this means is conveyed into the straw-shed, or else into the barn-yard. The scarce L is placed below the threshing-drum, while its circular motion throws out the straw at an opening G, into the straw-shaker E, which conveys it to the shaker F; at the same time the chaff and grain pass down through a scarce or sparred rack, P, into the hopper Q, which conveys it into the fanners R S, by which the corn is separated from the chaff, the clean grain running out at the opening V, and the chaff or any light refuse blown out at R by the rapid motion of the fans, which are driven by a band or rope, T U, from a sheeve placed upon the axle of the threshing-drum, and passing over the sheeve 7, fixed upon the pivot of the fans. (See 9 and 10 in fig. 4.) X X is part of the sidewall of the barn or mill-house; Y. Y, the loft or floor whereon the frame is placed; and in this’frame are fixed eods or bushes of brass, in which the pivots of the threshing-drum and straw-shaker revolve; 8 and 8 are doors in the side-wall of the barn; 9 and 9 are windows in the side-wall, to light the house.

Figs. 6 and 7. The Odometer.

The wheel A is made of light iron, and measures two yards in circumference, being divided by six spokes into feet. One spoke must be painted white.

The handle B is divided at C like a fork, and embraces each end of the axis by its elasticity. Through the axis is a hole, into which the end H of the way-wiser fits, and is held fast by a nut D.

The way-wiser consists of a frame F G, F being hollow to receive a perpetual screw H, a part of which is visible near the index Μ. At the other end of the screw is a nut I, which keeps it in its place. The screw turns two brass concentric cogged wheels K and L; K conceals the scale of L, except where a piece is cut out, leaving an index at the beginning of the scale of K, and which, in the drawing, points to 78 of L.

The scale of K is numbered towards the left, and that of L to the right.

The wheel K has 100 eogs or teeth, and L 101; consequently, as the same endless screw turns both wheels, it is evident that when K has made a complete revolution of 100 teeth, L will also have made a revolution of 100 teeth; and the index of K will point to 1 of L, because L has 101 teeth. After a second revolution, it will point to 2, and so on; the number it points to marking the number of revolutions, each revolution showing 100 turns of the iron wheel A.

Accordingly, A measures six feet, or 1 turn; K 100 times 6 feet, or 600 feet, or 1 revolution; and L 101 times 600 feet, or 60,600 feet, equal to nearly 11½ English miles, the range of the instrument.

880 turns of this wheel make a mile.

It is advisable always to commence with the way-wiser set at 0 or zero. To do this, take out the screw in the centre, when the brass wheels K and L can both be set at zero, and the screw replaced. Set the wheel A upon the ground, with the white spoke undermost, and fix the way-wiser into the wheel by means of the nut D, always observing to put it on the left side, as shown in the plate at E.

At any period of measuring, you can tell exactly how far you have gone, and proceed without again setting the way-wiser at 0.

Suppose, as in the drawing, the spoke No. 2 at the ground, the index Μ pointing at 26 of K, and the index of K pointing at 78 of L; then the distance measured is 7826 turns of A and two feet; and as A measures two yards, 7826 × 2 = 15652 yards, to which add the two feet.

In reading off, particular care should be taken always to read the large figures (viz. those on the wheel L) first, and afterwards to add the small figures (viz. those on the wheel K); and if the figures on K amount to less than 10, a 0 must be prefixed, so that K shall always show two figures: for instance, L being at 46, and K at 4, the sum is 4604. The easiest way to guard against error, is'to read 46 and [7:2:355]add the word hundred; thus, forty-six hundred and four, and not four thousand six hundred and four.

Fig. 8.—Veitch’s Dynamometer. A B represent the two ends of the spring to which the plough and horses are yoked, C is a small bar with one of its ends turning tight on a round axis D, and the other end E pushes round the index F, which points out the number of stones (of 14 lbs.) on the index plate G.

- Plate X.

Fig. 1 and 2 are two elevations of a Bone-mill, the first being taken in front, to show the water-wheel and the length of the rollers, and fig. 2 at the end, to show the bones passing through the rollers. The water-wheel, A A, is represented as being of the over-shot kind; it is included between the two walls, B B, upon the top of which, the pivots or gudgeons of its axis are supported in brass bearings. A square formed on the end of one of the gudgeons is received into a square socket at the end of the connecting axis, D, which communicates the motion to the lowest, F, of the two rollers, the latter having a similar square on the end of its axis, to be received into the socket at the end of the connecting axis, D. The rollers are supported by a wooden frame, G G. Two iron frames, H H, are bolted down upon it, having grooves or openings in them, of nearly the whole length, to receive the brasses for the pivots of the rollers, as shown in fig. 2. At the upper ends of these grooves are screws, h h, by which the rollers can be made to act at a greater or less distance from each other, as the size of the bones which are to pass through them may require. Two pinions, k l, arc placed upon the ends of the axles of the two rollers, and by their teeth acting together, they compel the two rollers to accompany each other. The surfaces of the rollers are filled with indentations and strong teeth, which penetrate and break the bones to pieces. This is accomplished by employing separate cast-iron wheels, placed side by side upon an axis, to compose the rollers; the wheels have coarse teeth, similar to those of a saw or ratchet-wheel; each wheel of the lower roller, F, is an inch thick, and they are placed at distances of an inch and a half asunder, having circles of hard wood or iron placed between them, which are two inches less in diameter. Thus they leave grooves between the toothed wheels, which have the effect of rendering the teeth upon the surface of the roller insulated. The wheels of the opposite roller, E, are 1½ inch wide, and the spaces between them only 1 inch; and the two are so situated with respect to each other, that the teeth upon one are opposite to the spaces between the teeth of the other, as is clearly explained by the figure. A hopper, 11, is fixed above the machine, over the rollers, and into this the bones are filled, so that they rest upon the two rollers, and are drawn in by their motion, the teeth penetrating and breaking every piece, however large or solid it may be. The bones should be supplied rather gradually to the machine at first, to avoid choking it, and the rollers should then be adjusted to a considerable distance asunder; but when the bones have once passed through in this way, the rollers are screwed closer by the screws, h lι, and the fragments ground a second time. This will generally be found sufficient, as it is not advisable to reduce the bones to a state of extreme division. The pinions,must have deep cogs, to enable them to take deep hold of each other, when the rollers are set at only half an inch distance to grind fine, and without the cogs being liable to slip when the centres arc separated, so far as to leave a space of 1 inch, or 1½ inch, between the rollers, for the passage of the large bones the first time. The rollers will act most effectually if the different wheels are fixed upon their axles in such a position that the teeth will not correspond, or form lines parallel to the axes, and then no piece of bone can escape without being broken by some of the teeth. The bones which have passed through the rollers slide down the inclined board, R, and collect at the bottom in a large heap. When all the stock of bones is thus coarsely broken, a labourer takes them up in a shovel, and throws them again to the hopper, to be ground a second time.

Fig. 3. A Machine for grinding Potato-flour. — A, a cylinder covered with tin-plates, pierced with holes, so as to leave a rough surface, in the same manner as the graters used for nutmegs, &c. but the holes in this are larger. This cylinder is situate beneath a hopper, B, into which the potatoes arc thrown, and thence admitted into a kind of trough, C, where they are forced against the cylinder, which, as it revolves, grinds the potatoes to a pulp. Motion is given to the machine by a handle fixed upon the end of the axis of the grating cylinder, A; and on the opposite extremity of this axis is a fly-wheel, D, to regulate and equalize the movement. The potatoes, when put into the hopper, press by their weight upon the top of the cylinder; and, as it revolves, they are in part grated away. On one side of the lower part of the hopper is an opening, closed or opened, more or less at pleasure, by a slider, d ; and the degree of opening which this has regulates the passage of the potatoes from the hopper into the trough, C. This is as wide as the length of the cylinder, and has a concave board, R, fitted into it, which slides backwards and forwards by the action of levers, a, fixed to an axis extended across the frame of the machine; and a lever, N, is fixed upon this axis, and carries a weight which acts upon the board, R, by means of the levers, to force or press forwards the potatoes contained in the trough C against the cylinder, and complete the grating of them into a pulp. The tin-plate covering the cylinder is of course pierced from the inside outwards, and the bur or rough edge left round each hole forms an excellent rasping surface.

Fig. 4. A Potato-Scoop. — A, the end of the handle, having a round stem, which passes through a piece of metal, D, and has then a semicircular knife or cutter, E, fixed to it. This is sharp on both edges, and turns upon a pivot, fitted in a similar piece of brass to D, which, as well as the latter, is formed out of a piece of plate, B C. This forms a shield to hold the instrument firm upon the potato, by placing the thumb of the left hand upon the shield, B C, and pressing the points of D into the root, which is grasped in the hand; then, by turning the handle half round with the right hand, the semicircular knife makes a sweep, and cuts out a piece or set, which is a segment of a small sphere. Fig. 5 is an end view of the shield, B C, and the knife, E, also the piece of brass, D, placed upon the surface of a potato, F, in which the dotted line F G shows the piece the knife will cut out by its motion. The only attention necessary in the use of this tool is, that it be placed upon the potato, with the eye or part from whence the shoot springs in the centre of the semicircle of the knife, when it is laid flat upon the root. The advantage of this scoop, besides that it is very quick in its operation, is, that the pieces, being all of one exact size, which is about one inch diameter, they can be planted, by a bean-barrow or drill-machine, with much less labour and more accuracy than by the hand.

Fig. 6. AMaclùnefor levelling Land. — D, a pole to which the horses or oxen are harnessed, jointed to the axle-tree, E, of a pair of low wheels, A A. Into this axle-tree are mortised two long side-pieces, G G, terminating in handles, B B. Somewhat inclined to these long or upper sidepieces, shorter lower ones, H H, are jointed by cross pieces, [7:2:356] and connected by strong side-boards. The machine has no bottom; its back part, F, is strongly attached to an axle C; to the bottom of this back-board, the back or scraper part, d, of a strong iron frame, α, a, is firmly screwed, as ∕ shown in fig. 7, and the front ends of the slide-iron, b b, turning up, pass easily through mortises in the upper sidepieces, G, where, by means of pins, the inclination of the slide-irons and of the back-board can be adjusted within narrow limits, according to the nature of the soil to be levelled, and the mass of earth previously loosened by ploughing, which the back-board is intended to collect and force before it, until the machine arrives at the place where it is intended to be deposited. Here, by lifting up the hinder part of the machine by means of its handles, the contents are left on the ground, and the machine proceeds to a fresh hillock.

Plate XL The names of the different figures, and of the divisions of fig. 5, being marked on the engraving itself, no further explanation can be necessary.

Plates XII. XIII. XIV. XV. XVI. XVII. are sufficiently explained in the chapter on Live Stock, from which the necessary references are made to these plates.