122 



Jlie Cotintry Gentleman s Magazine 



not force good corn and root crops like that 

 from fattening animals. No doubt when we 

 breed either cows or sheep Ave must " go in " 

 for a heavy consumption of cake and beans 

 that did not grow on our land, and we must 

 supplement our manure by guano or super- 

 phosphate of lime. The right thing is to 

 breed, feed, and fatten, and thus grow plenty 

 of meat and corn concurrently. That is my 

 practice with sheep. Selling lean stock means 

 impoverishing the farm, unless much artificial 

 food and manure are used. I said to my 

 bricklayer to-day (age sixty), " Do you re- 

 member old Mr and Mrs Sadler, and the old 

 lath-and-pl9,ster buildings ?" " Yes," he said, 

 " for as a boy I had to fetch skimmed milk 

 for the brick-makers, at a y^d. a-pint ; and 

 I had to clean the halfpence as I went down, 

 for the old lady would not take the coppers 

 unless the heads and tails were distinctly 

 visible." 



Walls of wheat v. walls of hedges. — The 

 conclusion I have arrived at is " for the 

 plaintiff" For twenty-eight years, as I ap- 

 proach my home by the winding back road, 

 formerly shut in by huge fences with trees 

 and ditches, but now fringed by tall wheat 



crops, I ask myself why were robber fences 

 and useless ditches there, depriving the public J 

 of their food and the farmer of his profit? 1 

 They are rendered unnecessary by movable 

 iron hurdles on wheels for enclosing stock, 

 thus giving up the roaming-at-large system. 

 Like Mr Prout, I -have gained a quantity of 

 acres of available land — almost like a gift. 

 Where fences were required, my worthy friend 

 Garrett fitted me with a lot of strained wires, 

 no thicker than a tobacco pipe, under 2S. per 

 yard. After twenty-eight years' wear the\' 

 appear quite juvenile, and likely to become 

 centenarians. They are bullock-proof, and 

 almost invisible, obstructing no view, and 

 having no greedy fangs. We may make 

 up our minds to see a new style of landscape. 

 It must come, as rents become higher and 

 human food more in demand. In fact, we 

 shall take a more unobstructed view of British 

 agriculture in more than one sense. Oh ! 

 Mr Mechi, but does it pay? Yes, it does pay. 

 Labourers' wages in this neighbourhood 

 have been raised to 13s. (including beer 

 money, is. or beer), and for ploughmen and 

 stockmen, 14s. 6(1. This refers to able- 

 bodied men. 



IMPEDIMENTS TO AGRICULTURAL PROGRESS. 



By Mr John Ridley. 



THE subject we have for discussion is 

 the Impediments to the Progress of 

 Agriculture — physical, social, and financial. 

 On the first part of the subject, more espe- 

 cially, is it difficult to make any observation 

 worth having, for we all know perfectly well 

 that land, being so cumbersome a commo- 

 dity, its very size must imply toil and la- 

 boriousness of working, and when to this you 

 add the further difliculty caused by climate, 

 almost every act of husbandry being depen- 

 dent more or less upon the w^eather, it is at 



Read before the Hampshire Chamber of Agri- 



cultur 



once manifest that the physical impediments 

 of farming are of a special nature, totally 

 unlike those to which other employments 

 are subject. It is further removed from 

 man's control, and to overcome those im- 

 pediments requires patience combined with 

 well-timed action, ever bearing in mind not 

 to thwart but to assist Nature. One diffi- 

 culty before us is the unsatisfactory concU- 

 tion which farm workmen are said to be in. 

 Although in my humble opinion this unsatis- 

 factory condition has been exaggerated, it is 

 no doubt desirable to improve their position 

 as to work and pay, for cases are constantly 

 occurring where men prefer slovenly work 



