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The Country Gcntlanans Magazine 



the artificial grasses at any season of the year, it would 

 seem as if it were destined, perhaps at no very distant 

 period, to complete that perfect circle of systematic 

 husbandry wliich now begins with the steam-plough, 

 and ends with the thrashing-machine. 



" When continuous employment can once be found 

 for the ' iron horses,' we may hope to see tliem on 



every considerable farm in the kingdom ; first, break- 

 ing up and cultivating the soil ; next, mowing, reaping, 

 and gathering the produce ; and, finally, passing from 

 field to field, and from farm to farm, saving, drying, 

 and bearing home the harvest." 



A full description of Mr Gibbs' mode of operation 

 will be found at page 351. 



AUTUMN CULTURE OF THE SOIL. 



IT seems but a trite saying to make use of, 

 that the " more carefully you cultivate 

 the soil the better will be its produce ;" yet, 

 trite as it is, the principle which it involves is 

 singularly overlooked by many farmers. For 

 if not, how comes it that a by no means ex- 

 tended survey of farming districts serves to 

 shew how that, while one farmer will be busy 

 at the most appropriate season, in turning 

 every minute to account in availing himself 

 of appropriate weather to work his soils, you 

 will find others who are quite indifferent as to 

 the work being done, evidently ignorant that, 

 every benefit is to be derived from doing it, for 

 otherwise it can scarcely be that they are too 

 lazy or unwilling to do it. These considera- 

 tions came up with great force upon us when, 

 a few days ago, we saw a well-known, and 

 in every sense an advanced farmer taking 

 advantage of a double blessing — an early har- 

 vest, which cleared his fields from their sum- 

 mer produce, and fine weather, so as to break 

 them up to get all the advantages of the system 

 of autumn culture ; while some of, we might 

 say all, his neighbours were as indifferent to 

 these opportunities and these advantages as 

 lie was alive to them, and were doing nothing 

 while he was doing much. And yet, even 

 amongst those who are indifferent to the sub- 

 ject, it will not be denied that great advan- 

 tages are to be derived from the carrying out 

 an autumn cultivation of the soil, not only 

 because it enables the farmer to get rid of 

 weeds, but also to lay up his soil in the best 

 possible condition, to get from the atmospheric 

 influences of the autumn and winter all the 

 advantages which they can and do bring with 

 them. 



And first, as to the advantages brought about 

 by the system of autumn culture in the way of 

 getting rid of the weeds. Wlien the crop is 

 on the ground — we here suppose it, of course, 

 to be a cereal one — the weeds do not make 

 much progress ; they are, so to say, over- 

 shadowed by the superior power of the crop. 

 But the moment that the surface is laid bare 

 to the influences of light and air, then they 

 begin to assert their power, and all who have 

 to do with weeds know what that means and 

 Avhat it involves. And it is just at this 

 point that the diff'erence is shewn between a 

 farmer who really understands his business, 

 and one who does not, or, if knowing it, does 

 not care to apply his knowledge to his prac- 

 tice. The longer the land is allowed to lie 

 in the same condition as it is left after the 

 corn crop is taken from it, just so much more 

 completely will the weeds be allowed to 

 take possession of the soil. It is no uncom- 

 mon thing to find that the weeds have been 

 allowed to grow unmolested, and for such a 

 time that they take such a possession of the 

 soil, that scarcely anything less than a summer 

 fallow will suffice to get rid of them. The 

 sooner, then, that weeds are brought to the 

 surface after the crop is off the ground the 

 better, so that they may be placed as much 

 as possible under the scorching influence of 

 the autumnal sun — in this year we may 

 almost say the summer one, so early has been 

 the harvest. To bring the weeds to the 

 surface, we believe that there is no implement 

 so eifective as the grubber or cultivator ; and 

 the advantages of using jrhis are all the more 

 marked where the soil is much infested — as 

 unfortunately too many soils are infested — 



