474 



THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 



as the all to the scholu- for tho proficiency he lias dis- 

 played ? Tlie only absurdity is llio advancement of 

 such an argument. The very emblems of Peace and 

 War are tlie Sword and the Plough, and surely it is as 

 {iood to honour the man who e.vcels in the one art as in 

 the other. Hut tho proper way to honour him is to pay 

 him better. Exactly so, although, unfortunately again, 

 but a tu quoque showing. The two or three 

 pounds may be of some use, we readily admit, to the 

 farm -labourer, while the medal cannot bo so 

 readily turned to account by the soldier, simply be- 

 cause especial care is taken to prevent his disposing of 

 it. But we trust we should be the last to disparage 

 such a distinction, whoever may have earned it ; and 

 we would say of tlie soldier's reward of merit what 

 Mr. Biiller lately did, down in Devonshire of the 

 labourer's : — "It is a token valuable not only 

 through this day, but for the remainder of bis life." 

 " It is quite a mistake," said a farmer in Bedford- 

 shire to us at one of these meetings, " for you gentle- 

 men of the Press to laugh at these rewards for 

 labourers. You haven't the chance of seeing the good 

 they do." We agree with him that it is a mistake ; 

 and we wish especially not to be classed with that por- 

 tion of our contemporaries who indulge in this irrational 

 ridicule. Fortunately, we repeat, it has not had the 

 least perceptible effect. Neither landlord, employer, or 



labourer — president, secretary, or committee-man, have 

 taken tho slightest heed of sucli abuse; or, if they have, 

 it has been only in increased energy, and determination 

 to show how uncalled- for this has been. One might 

 almost wonder how such a course could have been con- 

 tinued j but we suspect what Mr. Cliowler said at Col- 

 lingham was rather near the mark — " His own impres- 

 sion was that they attacked these societies simply 

 because tlioy bad originated with the agriculturists. If 

 they bad originated with the towns, probably they 

 would have been all right; but having orighiated with 

 tho country people, it did seem to him that nothing 

 sufficiently strong could be said in their disparage- 

 ment." 



At the time when an Agricultural Society meant a 

 Protection Society the orders no doubt were to turn 

 everything into ridicule : hence the attack on any con- 

 comitant feature in the proceedings. But Protection 

 has now become history, and the farmer is commanded 

 to conquer his prejudices, and to adapt himself to the 

 spirit of the age. We may say with an honest pride 

 that he has done so. But is there no one else with 

 prejudices to conquer? None still apt to call the agri- 

 culturist hard names, that might find a more fitting 

 application for tliem nearer home ? Who, in this very 

 instance, is it that is obstinate, pig-headed, and wil- 

 fully blind to what the country is doing ? 



ESSAY ON INTENSIVE CULTIVATION. 



TRANSLATED FROM THE FRENCH, FROM THE " JOURNAL d'aGRICULTURE TRATiaUE." 



"It ought to be generally known that every couple of 

 hectares, auhjeoted to this system, will in some seasous double 

 its cereal produce." — Le Conite de Gasparin. 



Sir, — After reflecting for a long while ou the advice given 

 in the Journal of Practical Agriculture, by M. le Comte de 

 Gasparin, our illustrious master iu all things, I determiued to 

 try upon a small space of about twelve hectares the biennial 

 course of cropping, conaistina; of au alternate cultivation of 

 cattle food strongly mauureii, auJ a crop of wheat. 



I divide the forage crop into five sections, namely : roots ; 

 maize for seed; broad or horse beaua ; cow cabbages ; and annual 

 herbaceous plants, chiefly a mixture that we call " winterage" 

 {hivernayej, and which consists of winter tares, winter Icutih, 

 grey peas, and a little rye. 



This course receives, before winter and during the current 

 season, a hundred cubic metres of dung per hectare, and over 

 and above, for the maize, a half manuring in the spring before 

 the last hoeing. 



In commencing this system of culture, it was at first neces- 

 sary for me to purchase manure ; but the production of cattle 

 food having accrued much more rapidly than that of wheat, I 

 have been able to increase the number of my animals, 

 and have succeeded in producing on my owu land the 

 necessary quantity of dung. To tliia I add only the sweep- 

 ings of our village, which I now farm, and the night-soil, 

 which is given to me, and costs only the expense of drawing 

 auddisiiifecting. 



I am thus now enabled to feed abundantly, and without 

 purchasing forage, two bead of large cattle, or their equivalent 



iu pigs or sheep, per hectare of cultivation. The former con- 

 sists of three draught horses, eight cows or heifers, a ahe-asa, 

 fourteen sheep, and a piggery, comprising a boar and three 

 sows with their families, besides some fattiug pigs. My 

 sheep are Berichonnes improved by four generations with rams 

 of the Charmoise breed. I procured these from my excellent 

 neighbour and friend M. Malingie, the manager of that school 

 farm, who coutir.ues so worthily the work undertaken by hia 

 illustrious father. 



I have heard two principal objections against this course of 

 cropping: ]at. " Whatever care," they say, "may be taken to 

 prevent the impoverishment of the soil, wheat cannot without 

 inconvenience he cultivated every other year on the same land. 

 We are always able to supply, by manuring, the azotous 

 matters taken from it, in sufficient quantities. But we are not 

 so certain of being able to prevent the weakening of some of 

 the mineral principles necessary to the formation of the grain, 

 and above all, that of the straw, especially silica in a soluble 

 state, and hence those wheats which shed their grain in con- 

 sequence of the weakness of their stalks." 



2iid. " That course of crops which on principle excludes 

 oats, provides no nourishment for horses." 



My reply, fuuiuled upon practice, to these two objections, 

 which arc far from invalid, is as follows : 



In the first place, I return to the soil all that I take from it, 

 with the exception of a portion of the wheat and meat sold 

 away ; all the rest being consumed in the house by the 

 family, or by the cattle, sheep, &c. The straw, the grain, the 

 roots, and the artificial foiagc return in great part to the land ; 



