500 



THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 



that opportunity of calling their landlords' attention to 

 the present extraordinary state of the soil, and then 

 ask him to do something with regard to efficient 

 drainao'e. He was sure any of them who had 

 their lands drained this year would be able, on com- 

 paring it to landsleftundrained,atonce to see the wisdom 

 and utility of drainage, and the superior condition of 

 drained land would appear so apparent to the landlord 

 that if the tenants availed themselves of the present 

 time by urging the matter, the- other would not say that 

 the land did nor want drainage, nor that the request 

 was premature. Of course they would come to an ar- 

 rangement of a fair and proper character ; and the 

 tenant must meet the landlord and pay a per-centage 

 upon the outlay." But a landlord in Kent had just 

 about the same time been saying at Groombridge that 

 which a farmer in Surrey had recommended at Croy- 

 don. Lord Delawar " had found where land had been 

 deeply-drained and well-cultivated and cleansed, the 

 injury sustained by the crops was by no means so great 

 as where those operations had been less attended to. 

 He was told that where land had been well drained for 

 several years past, well cleansed and kept free from 

 weeds, the crops had been brought earlier to maturity, 

 and therefore suffered less from the influence of the 

 weather, as the farmers had been able to take more 

 advantage of the few opportunities offered by fine 

 weather for gathering in their corn. Those circum- 

 stances showed how very important it was that the 

 cultivation of land should be strictly attended to, and 

 that deep draining especially should receive more at- 

 tention than it had yet done in this part of the 



country." It is encouraging to see the two 

 classes so mainly concerned making such sound 

 deductions from the past, with a view to the 

 future. But each of us has at least one joet 

 remedy of his own — and Mr. Wood would kill the slugs 

 with lime and soot — Mr, Hunt would strongly recom- 

 mend steam-ploughing — Mr. Brown thought the better 

 and deeper they ploughed their wet lands the more- 

 they would get the water away— and Mr. Staveley pro- 

 posed that the landlords generally should give up the 

 Michaelmas rent due ! 



The steam-plough recipe was not very heartily 

 received, but was met with two queries — Whei^e were 

 they to get one ? and then. Where were they to use 

 it? " It could not be employed for fields of less than 

 thirty acres." Still it must be by no means assumed 

 that any hints for the mitigation of our ills begin and 

 end with the Croydon Club. On the contrary, in 

 a letter from the well-known Mr. Smith of Woolston, 

 details how he has finished his harvest and carted 

 his beans " well" — how his swedes are good, and his 

 mangolds are pulled — how the land is everywhere clean, 

 the stubble smashed up, and the wheat drilled. This, 

 in the way of a contrast, is really an imposing array of 

 facts, and the secret of all this is cultivation by steam- 

 power. Surely, as the founder of it says, there must 

 be some value in a system that, in such a season, can 

 tlius expedite the business of the farm. It is, too, under 

 difficulties that we more especially appreciate the 

 services of a friend ; and if ever any man was really in 

 difficulties, it is the farmer as he stands just at present. 

 The elements are against him. 



THE NORFOLK AND DEVONSHIRE SYSTEMS OF FARMING CONTRASTED. 



Having ' been a farmer for thirty years, he must crave their 

 permission to speak on one or two points of practical im- 

 portance. He did not wish to refer to his own doings in the 

 shape of boasting ; and their best course was to apply their 

 own individual judgment to what he said. All of them had 

 prejudices, and he, perhaps, was apt to think too much of Nor- 

 folk farming, aa they, on the other hand, might err in their 

 preference for Devonshire. First, as to farming. The system 

 pursued among them was quite opposite to the Norfolk sys- 

 tem. Which was the best he would leave it to them to de- 

 cide ; but his experience was in favour of the latter. He 

 did not, as here was the custom, plough each way for the 

 sake of getting a good seed bed. This edge ploughing 

 allowed the grass and weeds to grow as well as the corn. 

 His method was to use the drill after the ground had been 

 once opened in furrows nine inches wide, and as flat as he 

 could make it. The drill was of modern introduction, and 

 supplied the place of broadcast sowing ; and the fact that 

 drilling was superseding the old system of sowing, from one 

 end of the country to the other, established its superiority 

 without the necessity of argument from him. Until modern 

 days Devonshire was so far removed from London that it 

 did not possess the advantages of other counties in reference 

 to improvements in farming. The edgeways ploughing 

 gave an opportunity for burying seed; but by the 

 Norfolk system they drilled more regularly, and com- 



pletely covered the seed with mould. After ploughing 

 the land flat there is no fear of its turning hack 

 and spoiling the' seed bed. The land being closer down, 

 too, it was less liable to he injuriously affected by frost; 

 whereas, where it was hollow, the frost often got between and 

 killed the plant. The crops were thus more secure by the 

 Norfolk system of planting ; and he hoped before they met 

 again they would give it a trial. Another implement which 

 he used, and which he thought more important than any other^ 

 was Coleman's grubber. He had not seen one at work in 

 Devonshire, but that might be because he was rather confined 

 at home. This implement, he was sure, would eventually su- 

 persede the plough. His own system, to a great extent, was 

 to plough his land but once in the year. They were all aware 

 of the expense of ploughing in Devonshire. In Norfolk a 

 man might plough two acres a-day ; but here half an acre or 

 less was the quantity on some land. The grubber had the 

 advantage of acting as a harrow as well as a plough; 

 it cut open the ground quite as well as the plough, and 

 made a better seed-bed for the barley in the spring. Imme- 

 diately his mangold were off in November, he ploughed seven 

 inches deep, and left the ground all the winter. The surface 

 thus exposed to the atmosphere and the frost became in a 

 beautifully pulverized state, which was better to get in the J 

 seed upon than the fresh clay. The grubber not only did | 

 the work more simply and better, but with a saving of ex- 



