THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 



343 



reault. AVhea farmers come to me for seed of my large beet- 

 roots, ill order to have them of the same size on their farms, 

 I say to them, " Dung well and plough deep, and you will have 

 them as fine with any other seed." In the meanwhile, I have 

 often been assured by them that they have sown my seed, and 

 others less ripe, and the beetroot proceeding from them 

 appeared not to be of the same species. 



I will not go so far as to say that everything depends upon 

 the seed ; for a good seed committed to a bad soil, or one 



badly prepared, will assuredly yield a bad crop ; whilst seed of 

 an ordinary quality will sometimes succeed in a good soil. 

 But I am satisfied, from observations which I have had the 

 opportunity of making during an extended practice, that the 

 choice of seed is very important, and that we cannot make too 

 great sacrifices to obtain seeds well harvested, and that have 

 arrived at their full maturity. J. Bodin, 



Director of the Agricultural School 

 of Rennes (Ille-et-Vilaine). 



THE TRADE IN AGRICULTURAL IMPLEMENTS, 



If we occasionally take a hint from, or adopta transat- 

 lanticor colonial mechanical improvement, we still keep 

 up our reputation and credit for agricultural machinery 

 and mill-work, and carry on a large and profitable 

 trade in supplying foreign and colonial orders. Where- 

 ever scientific agriculture is pursued, there the best 

 class of implements is speedily in request for tilling the 

 ground and harvesting the crops. Although labour- 

 saving machines are less in demand here, for many or- 

 dinary purposes, than they are in the United States and 

 in Australia, where wages arc high, and labourers 

 saucy and independent, still we give fair and frequent 

 trials to steam ploughs, reaping machines, drills, and 

 every contrivance or implement that bids fair to im- 

 prove existing processes of tillage or cheapen produc- 

 tion. The ingenuity and skill of the mechanician and 

 the engineer have done much to improve our imple- 

 ments, and the implement-makers of Great Britain 

 may certainly take rank as the first in the world for 

 quality and performance of their implements, much as 

 our American brethren plume themselves on their in- 

 ventions and handiworks. Their manufacture in this 

 country has been taken up as a separate and very im- 

 portant trade, and many individuals have gone largely 

 into this business, which employs a great amount of 

 capital and skilled hands. Only those, however, who 

 study the parliamentary returns can form any estimate 

 of the increasing value of the exports of agricultural 

 implements, machinery, and mill work, carts, and 

 waggons, as well as saddlery and harness, &c. And 

 this increase is not only a proof of the quality and es- 

 timation in which British manufactures are held, but 

 is also an evidence of the progress of scientific agri- 

 culture in distant quarters. 



Farmers are no longer content with the rough- 

 and-ready implements which were formerly turned 

 out to do duty on the soil. English-made ploughs and 

 harrows, horse hoes and drills, carts and thrashing ma- 

 chines are found to do their work better, and to be more 

 durable, than anything of native manufacture could be, 

 and therefore it pays better to import them, even at an 

 enhanced price. Even such an article as mill-grease, 

 to the extent of 70,000 or 80,000 cwt. a year, must be 

 had from England. 



The declared value of the agricultural implements 

 sent out from this country annually averages now about 

 £190,000, of which the great bulk (£100,000) goes to 

 our own colonies. Upwards of 1,000 carts and wag- 



gons are also sent away, valued at £20,000. The 

 mill-work and machinery exported averages nearly 

 £2,800,000, of which about one-fourth is ordered by 

 India and the colonies. The mill-work and machinery 

 shipped have doubled in value in the past five years, 

 exclusive of steam-engines, many of which arc ordered 

 for agricultural use, and especially for sugar estates, 

 saw-mills, &c. 



The detailed return of exports for 1859 is not yet 

 published; but referring to 1858, we find that of the 

 foreign countries Russia took the largest amount of 

 agricultural implements, £22,966 in value ; Brazil 

 next, £12,200 ; Hanover standsfor £9,129, the United 

 States £6,027 ; France, Germany, Prussia, and a few 

 other Continental States for a few thousand each. Of 

 the British colonies Australia took nearly £79,000 

 worth, and the Cape £12,000. Russia takes the 

 largest amount of our machinery [and mill-work) in- 

 cluding steam-engines); the shipments in 1858 were 

 to the amount of £564,115. France stands second in 

 the list for £229,546, Hamburgh £171,221, 

 Belgium £127,456, Spain £110,000, Brazil £83,461, 

 and various other countries for sums below these. Of 

 our foreign possessions India takes the largest amount, 

 £251,388; Australia stands second, £120,000; aid 

 our West India colonies and Demerara third, for 

 £76,852. 



Widely as improved agricultural implements arc 

 now employed, we should like to see them in more ex- 

 tensive use in such countries as India, China, Turkey, 

 Brazil, and other quarters. The better the soil is 

 tilled and the crops gathered, the greater the advantage 

 to the producer and the consumer. 



The wildness of the forest is subdued by implements 

 of iron ; the axe and the spade are the pioneers of cul- 

 tivation, and the portable steam-engine, the improved 

 plough, horse-hoe, and drill follow in their train. A 

 large and important department of manufacturing 

 skill is that which is devoted to agricultural implements 

 and machines, to those mechanical aids by which the 

 produce of the soil is developed. Count Gasparin, in his 

 Corns (V Agriculture, presents an analysis and classifi- 

 cation of agricultural implements, according to the 

 nature of the operations which they are destined to per- 

 form. Descriptive works and treatises on the subject 

 of different implements have been published from time 

 to time. The aggregate value of this manufacturing 

 industry, we have, however, not seen estimated with 



