348 



THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 



and two horses can do in one day the work of twenty 

 men. Hence the paramount obligation to use ploughs, 

 and not spades ; and to create, through the medium of 

 nourishing agents, the principles of new vegetation : 

 for, as we cannot replace every year as much as we re- 

 move from our fields, in the form of produce, and since 

 we exhaust the finest soil by repeated cropping, we are 

 bound to replenish with fertilizing substances, and to 

 bring into operation, by artificial applications, those 

 active elements (hydrogen, carbon, oxygen, and nitro- 

 gen) which the Divine husbandry above-mentioned 

 would employ, were large and little farms exclusively 

 cultivated on the principle I have described. The 

 theory is most truthful, and for that reason I have ad- 

 verted to it ; but the practice is impossible, not only in 

 respect of cost, but of the climate ; and therefore the 

 healthful and refreshing ammoniacal aroma sent forth 

 from a field well ploughed, harrowed, and manured, in 

 the most approved fashion, will be as acceptable to my 

 critical nostrils as ever." 



The author appears to be unaware of Mr. Smith's 

 doings at Lois Weedon,aud he seems to imply that this 

 JVormandy farmer had practised the system ever since 

 the year 1848 or '9. If so, it will be exceedingly in- 

 teresting to find that two scientific cultivators, so far 

 apart, should have independently evolved identical 



methods of growing wheat in rows, and trenching and 

 horse-hoeing the fallow intervals ; for, though Mr. 

 Smith began operations in 1846, the methods and results 

 were not made public until the winter of 1849 50. It 

 may be, however, that had the above account been 

 more explicit as to dates, costs, and quantities, we 

 should have found that the " Word in Season," so little 

 heeded in our own land, crossed the Channel and went 

 at once to the heart of this Normandy husbandman, 

 who " cultivates his grain crop scleniifiquement ." 



At any rate, we have here a capital corroborative 

 experiment in the Lois Weedon system ; and we by no 

 means share in the author's opinion as to the impossi- 

 bility of carrying out the principle, owing to the grreat 

 cost of labour involved, and the want of time in our 

 climate to accomplish the digging. Mr. Smith has 

 already progressed a long M'ay towards rendering him- 

 self independent of manual spade-work, by his inven- 

 tion of a rotary digger, used in connection with the 

 ordinary plough ; and, as we shall relate in another 

 paper, there are other methods of endeavouring: to per- 

 form the requisite tillage by horse-labour. Let us try 

 to make i?-«c^ion-implements suffice ; and then we shall 

 not only cultivate with the greatest economy, but steam 

 may be employed as the motive power, and machinery 

 be more largely our fertilizer instead of manure. 



AN ENGLISH FARMER IN FRANCE. 



Sir, — According to promise I will give you my im- 

 pressions on all here that is novel and interesting to an 

 Englishman. As a farmer of 30 years, perhaps some 

 account of ithe agriculture may be acceptable to your 

 readers; but I will not confine myself to that alone. I 

 hope I am unprejudiced, and can I possibly find any- 

 thing worthy of adoption I will not fail to note it. In 

 many parts of England there are many things agricultu- 

 ral, which appear strange to a visitor from a distance, 

 but I make it a rule never to condemn too quickly. 

 The more ridiculous a custom appears the more certain 

 you may be there is some reason in it. In this frame of 

 mind will I view here all I see, and if any of my brother 

 farmers at home find amusement in my homely lucu- 

 brations, I shall feel repaid. 



First, a few words to any who may like to do as I am 

 doing, viz., enjoying health, amusement, and I may add 

 information, at a small expense. By all means take 

 your passport first. I did not, and so had to go to our 

 Consul here for it ; the charge is 5s. ; but whatever 

 number form your party one passport is enough. I pre- 

 fer entering France by Dunkirque, because it is its most 

 northern part; its richest in land, in population, and 

 in manufactures. I went on board the boat at the Tower 

 at 12 at night, by 12 o'clock next day, Oct. 16, I was 

 here. The sea was as smooth as a pond, and the sun 

 as brilliant as summer ; the cost 10s. for the boat, and 

 2s. for the steward. The coast of France in this part is 

 not very interesting, as all the country is as level as 

 Romney Marsh ; but still the first approach of a stran- 

 ger to a foreign part must always excite and interest 

 him. The moment I arrived no doubt could possibly 

 exist that this was not my native land. The men, the 

 houses, even the shipping was so unlike our Thames ; 

 one-third of all the men wear a uniform ; nothing pub- 

 lic can be done without it. Our first acquaintance, of 

 course, are the Custom-house people; there are 175 

 " douaniers," all dressed like soldiers, with muskets, 

 &c. ; the pohce in green clothes and cocked hats ! ! and 

 swords ; then the 800 soldiers, as a whole regiment, is 

 here always ; the priests in black gowns and hats, like 



our Quakers ; the Sisters of Charity ; the gendarmes 

 in their most picturesque dresses and cocked hats, 

 looking like the soldiers of Frederic the Great ; and 

 all the women, except the highest classes, without bon- 

 nets ; all these odd costumes make the streets appear to 

 a stranger almost like a carnival. The overhauling of 

 your baggage is soon over, and you go to your hotel. 

 The two best in town charge Is. 8d. per day for your 

 chamber, Is. 8d. for the table d'hote, and Is. 3d. for 

 breakfast ; so your expenses you know at once ; if you 

 like to stay a month they will do it cheaper. Every- 

 thing is clean, people attentive, and the beds the best I 

 ever slept in ; they are differently stuffed to any in 

 England ; even the poorest have good beds of dried 

 leaves. On having arranged your room, you have a 

 cup of coffee and Cogniac, which always join company 

 here, and have a look at the town ; streets straight, 

 houses high, rooms all lofty, roads and paths paved a- 

 like, most unpleasant to the feet, plenty of public build- 

 ings, large churches, and last, though not least interest- 

 ing, the fortifications, which, of course, now only are of 

 use to enable a small duty to be collected on all eatables 

 and drinkables that enter the town. You return 

 to dinner at 5 o'clock, and find for your two franks 

 soup, fish, meat, poultry, and sweets and beer. Wine 

 is extra. Common red wine, not so good as our cider, 

 If franc per bottle. Cogniac is about 12s. a gallon ; 

 and eau de vie, which is principally the spirit of the 

 beet-root, half the money. I like it, and it agrees with 

 me ; but it is not considered wholesome. So far my 

 friends would have been here twenty-hours, and have 

 seen the town itself. Tfiey would now begin to look at 

 other matters. The first thing that would strike the 

 eye of a farmer is the extraordinary waggons, and mode 

 of attaching the horses to them. The waggons of the 

 town are narrow, very long, and not a foot from the 

 ground : very convenient for the merchandize here. The 

 front wheels are not above 2 to 2i feet high, with a short 

 axle, to enable them to turn in a small space, as they 

 are altogether in front of the waggon-body. The horse 

 is in shafts, and draws from a bar, like a chaise, to give 



