14 



TJic Country Gcntlcinaiis Alagazinc 



the fact that he had crops, and good crops 

 too — although, from various causes, he never 

 could get above the world — is one strong 

 proof of the inherent vitality and value of the 

 system — the sole support of the crop under 

 his manipulation having been derived from 

 the air, with what little exhausted remains of 

 inorganic matter, in a limited depth of the 

 soil, were developed by repeated and con- 

 stant pulverization. 



Our root and green crops — viz., potatoes, 

 turnips, &c., are the only crops to which we 

 have apphed Tull's system. There is, indeed, 

 a form of drilling cereal crops, but to speak 

 of it as carrying out the system of Tull is a 

 miserable mockery. The system developed 

 by Tull cannot be carried out in its integrity 

 without the free access of air to all parts of 

 the plant, which involves a sufficiency of space 

 to afford the means of supply to the roots 

 also, as well as the leaves, by repeated and 

 constant trituration. But the interstices startle 

 the belief of our cautious agriculturists, which 

 they are apt to regard as dead loss ; and, 

 possibly, in the greater part of our present- 

 ly ill-farmed land it would not be success- 

 ful—but perseverance sometimes works 

 wonders. It must have been a very great 

 stretch of faith at first to observe the turnip in- 

 tervals ! 



" How Tull's system of wheat cultivation 

 was tried and then dropped," said the Rev. 

 Mr Smith of Lois-Weedon, who carried on 

 for nearly a quarter of a century a modifi- 

 cation of Tull's plan most satisfactorily and 

 profitably — " how the necessary width of the 

 fallow intervals, together with the perilous 

 operations of the plough at spring and be- 

 fore winter, so lowered the average produce 

 as to hold out litUe inducement even to the 

 most sanguine practical farmer to leave the 

 beaten track of husbandr}^, would occujjy too 

 great a space to dwell upon here." 



Notwithstanding all our high farming, we 

 have never yet got our land into such a state 

 of tilth as that possessed by an auV wife's 

 kail-yard. This must yet be done; and when 

 that is accomplished, under the broadcast 

 system, the crops will fall and rot. Such a 

 catastrophe plainly points out the invalidity 



of the system, independently of any other ob- 

 jection, and demands improvement. The 

 succedaneum will be found in the row cul- 

 ture. Under that system, from the increased 

 strength of the straw, the rearing of a healthy 

 plant, and bringing it successfully to maturity, 

 will be compatible with the highest state of 

 tilth of which the soil is susceptible. 



Then will be the period of scientific hus- 

 bandry. In it will be the adoption of mode- 

 rately large farms — the range say betwixt 50 

 and 500 acres — a useful medium being be- 

 tween 200 and 300 acres, for in very large 

 farms there will uniformly be found a waste 

 that could support several individuals. The 

 reason of the farm being tolerably large, is 

 that, as well as intelligence, capital will be 

 required to carry out the improvements. 

 The row culture fulfils two great desiderata 

 — more labour and more money to pay for it ; 

 whilst the grand principle will be attained, 

 an increased supply of food, which constitutes 

 the real wealth of a nation. 



From the progress of mechanical skill, since 

 the advent of the present century, many of 

 our agricultural implements are nearly per- 

 fect. Our ploughs for preparing the soil for 

 the crop, and our machinery for thrashing 

 that crop when harvested, are perhaps all 

 that could be desired. Some improvement, 

 probably, is still capable of being admitted 

 to our carts, which are too clumsy and heavy, 

 and — did the good taste and sense of profit 

 of our farmers only supersede their parsimony 

 or laziness, so as to permit them to improve 

 their roads — these carts would be;nuch more 

 advantageous if set on springs. Our reaping 

 implements are sadly behind ; but this is due 

 probably less to inventive genius than to the 

 defective system that evokes them. A great 

 deal of mechanical skill has been expended 

 on the perfecting of an implement for cutting 

 down our cereal crops. It never occurred 

 to the inventors that agriculture is in a tran- 

 sition state, and that on the existing order 

 of things passing away the present ingenious, 

 but necessarily ungainly implement, will be 

 left high and dry — a curious relic in the 

 history of agriculture of the misapplication 

 of mediaeval ingenuit}' The fact of the 



