204 



THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 



SUMMER FALLOWS IN SUSSEX. 



SiE, — I live in rather a benighted part of Sussex, where 

 good farming is the exception, not the rule. But I must give 

 due credit to the manner in which the hops are cultivated 

 generally; audit is to the attention and expense bestowed 

 on this uncertain crop that may be attributed the want of suc- 

 cess in the management of other crops. And now that hops 

 are of no value in the market, our Sussex farmers are in an 

 unpleasant prc.iicament, the end of which it is impossible to 

 foresee ; but, like the potato murrain in Ireland, it may in 

 time lead to an improvement in Sussex farming ; and it is now 

 the period for those who have dived deeper than their neigh- 

 bours iuto the arcana of agriculture, to best'r themselves, and 

 endeavour to bring about a more satisfactory state of things. 

 It is for this purpose that I am anxious to draw attention to 

 summer fallowing, a practice that has become almost obsolete 

 iu other parts of this country. In ray neighbourhood the land 

 consists chiefly of heavy undrained claj-, stated by the unini- 

 tiated to be impervious; this is broken up into slices, the size 

 of John Bull himself, by four elephantine horses, tandem 

 fashion, consolidating the subsoil ; which, instead of being a 

 pulverized receptacle for the roots of plants, is made more like 

 a turnpike-road, on the principle probably of a solid bottom 

 being beneficial for the wheat crop. 



The only reason I can assert for our farmers persisting in the 

 expensive and losing system of summer fallows is, that they 

 are ignorant of a better method ; probably not knowing that 

 a growing crop robs and extracts treasures from every brjath 

 of air that passes over their land ; the leaves absorbing and 

 laying up in the plants solid matter from the atmosphere, and 

 in a much greater degree than is commonly supposed. I can- 

 not in this place go into the actual amount of solids per acre ; 

 but in an example I am about to give it will cover the expense 

 of all manures, both for the fallow crop and the following 

 wheat crop, the labour of six or seven horse-hoeings and deep 

 stirrings, rent, and taxes included, and I make out something 

 for the pocket besides. But if the above expenses are paid for 

 by the fallow crop, instead of being at a great outlay, and 

 only arriving at the same ends at last, I consider myself amply 

 remunerated. 



To the enlightened and wealthy farmer I am not writing to 

 convey instruction ; but our unlearned and poorer brethren, 

 tillers of the Sussex clay, I could wish iu a more prosperous 

 condition. I have made some converts to my plan (not a new 

 one), who, now that they have found it answer, arc carryhig it 

 out with increasing vigour ; but the Sussex farmers are slow 

 to learn, so that it was necessary to send out teachers in the 

 first instance. This 1 Gnd not only an expensive plan, but one 

 not likely to extend beyond certain limits ; I have, therefore, 

 accepted the offer of the editor of this widely spread journal, 

 through its means to publish my views (wherever this darkness 

 exists) to the remotest parts of this land. I have lately, viz, in 

 October last, taken into my own hands a small farm ; the tenant 

 of which, to speak in mild terms, did not pay that attention to 

 the eradication of weeds that was compatible with profitable 

 and satisfactory farming. I will take, for example, a field of 

 five acres, which for foulness, to speak in rather strong terms, 

 it would be diflicnlt to equal. Imoginc a stiff wet clay 

 crowded with twitch, this'.les, coltsfoot, charlock, dock, and 

 such like. A summer fallow was the only way of farming land 

 of this description— a certaiu <«nd great expense, au uncertain 



gain. This neither agreed with my pocket nor ideas of economy 

 as taught by nature, so I determined to adopt my own plan ; 

 and, much to the astonishment of the intelligent farmers with 

 wl om I am surrounded, deviated altogether from established 

 custom. 



In November I ploughed this fieM, leaving it till the middle 

 of February to the action of the winter's frosts, when I har- 

 rowed it once, to level it slightly for the implement with which 

 I plant my seeds. I then dibbled beans with the band-planter 

 — au instrument not dependent on human caprice. The one 

 I used was a four-depositor, arranged thus : two at one end 

 six inches apart, then an interval of 26 inches, and another 

 double row six inches apart. From experience I should re- 

 commend that beans be always planted at these distances. 



Some perjons have an idea that the broadcast method for beans 

 produces most plants and the heaviest crops ; but this is not 

 the case, and the injury done to the land is incalculable. I 

 will give two instances of these methods lately practised close to 

 me, and one by myself. The first is a broadcast crop of beaur, 

 adjoining the field on which I am carrying out the experiment 

 above alluded to; it was sown broadcast at about three 

 bushels to the acre, the land being iu a very foul state, and 

 full of grub, as was also my own field. The plants appeared , 

 only to disappear again, and what were left were overgrown by 

 weeds. Part was ploughed up ; the remainder hoed twice by 

 hand Hot one inch deep, at an expense of 128. per acre for 

 each hoeing. I walked over the field yesterday ; it was 

 covered with twitch or couch. The owner is called rather a 

 clever man for these parts. I will now take you into the five- 

 acre piece : here is a field of luxuriant beans iu rows, with 

 hardly a miss, and the land as clean as a garden, the grub 

 twisted and turned about, not giving them time to commit 

 much damage, and the expense of cleaning not greatly exceeding 

 the one hand-hoeing of ray neighbour's field ; the promise of 

 crop three sacks to the acre more, and the depth of hoeing 

 and stirring, not one inch, but six aud seven. The wide inter- 

 vals of this crop have been hoed six times by horse-power, at 

 an expeu-e of Is. 6d. per acre, a deeper season being obtained 

 at each operatiou, the iiual one being the earthing-up process. 

 This I effect by a very simple implement, invented here to 

 carry out my plan. In Sussex we have a cornpact little imple- 

 ment called a break, expanding to different widths ; this is 

 much used amongst the hops, aud it is a useful article for 

 other purposes. We take out the five hoeing and stirring 

 shears, and in their place substitute a breast-plough, formed 

 of two theet-iron wings capable of boring furrows of different 

 widths ; it fits into the frame of the cultivator, and as it is 

 complete in itself, it cau be shifted with ease, and no part is 

 liable to be lost or get out of order; this I use for various 

 purposes. This implement is manufactured by Mr. C. Powell, 

 of Hurst Green. I earth up all my beans, throwing the fine 

 soil into the double rows, where it meets the earth of the next 

 row. This I find makes a very good finish to the work, fur it 

 buries any weeds in the double rows that may have grown 

 since the last hand-hociug of these double rows, the sharp 

 under-ciiges of the wings of this moulding plough shaving off 

 any weeds that may have grown in the wider intervals. I set 

 all my beans in the double raws 6 in. by C, in a richer laud 

 probably 6 in. by 7, or even 6 in. by 8 ; here 1 have au oppor- 

 tunity fur using a narrow haud-hoe, aud picking out every 



