oS8 



THK FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 



a separate and complete occupation. To reap a produce 

 equivalent to that of the crops, which would otherwise 

 be grown, we must obtain at most fou.- quarters per 

 acre; and the profit, if our expenses equal those of Mr. 

 Smith, will bo £'3 per acre when wheat is only 4.0s. a 

 quarter. Thus much we educed in our last paper. 

 Lund, such as we speak of, sooietimes yields five quar- 

 ters an acre, and has been known to carry six quarters 

 as a remarkably heavy crop ; but much less than these 

 quantities on an average. Wc have no doubt, there- 

 fore, that Mr. Smith could get his average produce of 

 four-and-a-half quarters by his system of manual dig- 

 ging ; our propojed yield of four quarters thus allow- 

 ing a difi'erence of four bushels for the inferiority of 

 horse-tillage to that of the digging-fork. We are not 

 at all sure that a sovereign expended in subsoiliug and 

 scarifying by horse labour would not exert as great an 

 effect upon the crop as if spent in manual digging, &c. ; 

 as we may perhaps find the greater number of pulveriz- 

 ings and stirrings in the farmer case of equal efficacy 

 with the less frequent but deeper and more perfect ac- 

 tion of the hand-tool. But say that the same outlay in 

 horse-labour tillage will not bring so large a produce ; 

 nay, let us even assume that an amount of horse-tillage 

 costing as much as Mr. Smith's manual digging is insuf- 

 ficient to produce the four quarters we desire ; then we 

 may moderate and reduce the proposal to grow manure 

 as wlU as corn ; and pay back the straw, instead of con- 

 suming it, for the advantage of the hundred and eighty 

 acres. Let the system be simply " self-maintainijig." 

 Every acre of an arable occupation is entitled to 

 its share of the manure made at the farmstead ; and call 

 this quantity, on an average, 16 loads every fourth year — 

 equivalent to 4 loads yearly. The wheat land may not 

 lay claim to so much as a full average share of the ma- 

 nure consisting of its own decomposing straw, but in- 

 termingled, as it is, with eurichiug roots and oilcake, 

 corn and hay devoured by the cattle, and expensively 

 manufactured into its present applicable condition ; but 

 certainly it may receive manure of equal value to (he 

 straw it has furnished, and still be " self-sustaining." 

 Giving up, then, the idea of replenishing the other por- 

 tions of the farm (without cost) by our new wheat- 

 growing, the 120 acres are simply to take care of them- 

 selves, consuming their own straw (or straw's worth) 

 as manure, and yielding in return for our tillage 4 quar- 

 ters per acre annually. The produce of straw will be 

 1-2- or 2 tons per acre, which we may value to the farm- 

 yard at 10s. a ton; and hence there will be ISs. or 20s. 

 an acre to be annually spent in manure. The straw may 

 go of course to the 180 acres which are under general 

 culture, but must be paid for out of that portion of the 

 business. Now, what amount of produce may be ex- 

 pected to arise from this sum applied in artificial ma- 

 nure .' We might purchase 1^ or 2 cwt. per acre of 

 guano, which (we suppose) would safeiy produce a gain 

 of 5 to 7 bushels ; or, rather, say a dressing of 2 cwt. of 

 salt and 20 to 30 bushels of soot, which would probably 

 gaiii much more. But remember that our crop stands 

 upon only half the land ; and the manure sown along 

 the triple-row stripes, and missing the fallow intervals, 

 would operate like an almost double dose, giving us 

 say an increase of 1 or 1^ quarters beyond what tillage 

 alone would produce. 



It comes, then, to this : that if we cannot get 4 quar- 

 ters an acre perpetually by tillage only, we can very 

 likely do so by expending £\ per acre in manure ; and 

 being content with £2, instead of £3, as our clear pro- 

 fit when wheat is at 40s. Hence there is a good prospect 

 for our 120 acres of Lois-Weedon wheat, few farmers 

 clearing ^800 a-year off a four-hundred-acre farm 

 with such low prices in the corn market ; and, at all 

 svents, the trial is worth making. Besides, judging 



from Mr. Smith's experience, and also i'rom the indica- 

 tions of our own first-year's practice, we believe that the 

 tilling, combined with the manuring, which is admissi- 

 ble, will raise more than the 4 quarters of wheat per 

 acre for many years, if not in perpetuity ; and that our 

 profit will consequently exceed, instead of falling below 

 that supposed. 



There is another point in our favour, encouraging us 

 to attempt Lois-Weedon husbandry on a large scale. 

 Whilo the crops in our district are occasionally bulky, 

 and measure well in the barn, the weight and quality of 

 the corn are always deficient, the usual sample being 

 red wheat of 59 to 61 lbs. per bushel. Now, Mr. 

 Smith finds that his roomy unconfined ciop, having a 

 stout straw, does not lodge and deteriorate when the 

 July rains come down ; the ears are colossal, and the 

 kernels bold and beautiful, and being healthily-grown and 

 nourished, instead of luxuriously forced and pampered, 

 the wheat escapes pretty clearly from damaging 

 blight and mildew ; the result of al! being that the 

 highest prices are realized in the market. There will be 

 a considerable gain, then, if we can make say 45s. per 

 quarter of our crop, when by the common method of 

 culture we could get only 40s. 



And the system would leave blessings in its train ; 

 for suppose a field well cleaned and stirred, and worked 

 10 inches deep for say six years, bearing its successive 

 grain crops without impoverishment, and then turned 

 again to root and green-crop growing on an ordinary 

 rotation ; undoubtedly the abundant productiveness 

 would prove the exhaustless benefit of repealed crumb- 

 lings and atmospheric fertilizings, and the mangold and 

 turnips, beans, peas, and oats would seize with a profi- 

 table avidity their special mineral nutriments that had 

 lain unappropriated through so many years. 



Perhaps we ought scarcely to mention the saving of 

 seed, though (with 3 instead of 7 pecks per acre) this 

 v.'ould amount to no Irss than 15 quarters; or the greater 

 expedition in harvesting, the crop being what is called 

 " all corn," carrying an extraordinary quantity of grain 

 in rows so thinly covering the lav.d. Neither need we 

 hint at the cuulinual opportunity and facility afforded 

 for weeding, up to the very harvest day if we please. 

 However, the more we ponder the scheme, the more 

 adapted does it appear ior meeting every exigency of 

 the wheat plant. In winter, the furrow-slices luid up 5 

 or 6 inches high at every 5 feet, shelter the young plants 

 from biting blasts, our crops bemg fresh and healthy 

 when the blades on all other fields are purple and perish- 

 ing. The deep-stirring and shaking of the ground in 

 early spring stimulates the growth or bare maintenance 

 of vigour of the wheat in spite of nipping frost ; and the 

 land, from the deep pulverization, arrests and retains 

 moisture for the low-burrowing roots, fortifjing them 

 against the arid north-easters. The summer horse- 

 hoeing promotes the healthy gi'owth of the crop, push- 

 ing it on'in times when other wheals are at a standstill 

 or turning yellow. And the waving flag breathing 

 freely because of the open-air intervals, the stems grow 

 strong and sturdy, and ripen their grain for bread, in- 

 stead of falling as crowded stalks do, to dwindle their 

 food for the chickens. 



Before detailing our method of wheat-growing on the 

 Lois-Weedon principle, but with traction implement, 

 instead of hand tools, we wish to impress upon our 

 readers the considerations which led us to engage in the 

 experiment. The proposal to have 120 acres out of 300 

 arable set apart for this culture has been shown to be 

 highly ^»'0?>i2»'«j(/ in various respects ; and we shall as- 

 sume, for the present, that the contemplated yield of 

 four quarters per acre can be annually reaped on our 

 good wheat soil by means of the horse-tillage we should 

 practise, and by the application of 16g. or 20s. worth of 



