THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 



Ml 



the kingdom at large, and the greater the profit to the tenant 

 and landlord. 



To recapitulate briefly, I have shown how greatly the agri- 

 culture of EugUud surpasBca that of France, or auy other 

 country, in its corn and meat produce. I have shown that 

 England has almost doubled its yield of grain and animal f jod 

 within the past half century. I have pointed out that by a 

 gradual depreciation in the price of wheat 33 per cent., and an 

 iiicrease of rental 28 per cent , food for the million is produced 

 at a ranch cheaper rate than heretofore. I have remarked that 

 the incrense in rental to the amount of 9,000,000 pounds 

 sterline make.i it perfectly clear thut the liudlord has been the 

 great gainer in agricultural prsigress, whilst the extreme com- 

 petition for laud has prereuted an increase in the per ceutage 

 return to the tenant. I have explained the extreme competi- 

 tion for farms of the present day, upon the fact that farming 

 is a pleasureable occupation, especially to those who can afford 



to disregard profits ; and that the increased wealth and popu- 

 lation of the kingdom, without any increase in area, have 

 caused the demand for laud to exceed the supply. I have 

 pointed out the fact that the labourera' position has improved 

 with the increase of agricultural produce, and that at the pre- 

 sent time his prospects are still improving. I have expressed 

 my opinion that certain alterations and amendments would 

 assist still further to increase the return in produce, and, in 

 consequence, agricultural money itakiug ; and that the agri- 

 culture of England will yet become even more great, more 

 glorious, and more free. 



Mr. Bond having concluded his remarks, an animated dis- 

 cussion eusucd, in which the Chairman (Mr. Robert Haward), 

 Mr. C. Haward, Mr. R. Tacon, Mr. F. B. Strathern, and others 

 took part ; and after a vote of thanks to Mr. Bond for his 

 able lecture, the meeting separated. 



THE GREAT TILE-DRAINER. 



HIS HISTORY— HIS FARM-HIS PRACTICE— AND HIS FEEDING. 



Mr. John Johnston, near Geneva, N. Y., at one time 

 esteemed a fanatic by his nei!»hbour3, has come of late years 

 to be generally known as " the father of tile-drainage in Ame- 

 rica." After thirty years of precept and twenty-two of ex- 

 ample, he hns the satisfaction of seeing his favourite theory 

 fully accepted, and to some extent practically applied through- 

 out the country. Not without labour, hosvever, nor without 

 much ecepticiam, ridicule, and controversy has this end beeu 

 attained ; and if, now that his head is whitened, and his course 

 all but run, he finds himself respected and appealed to by 

 persons in every State of the Union, he does not forget that 

 it has been through much tribulation that he has worked out 

 this exceeding great weight of glory. Mr. Johnston is a 

 Scotchman, who came to this country thirty-nine years ago, 

 and purchased the farm he uoiv occu(pies on the easterly shore 

 of Seneca Lake, a short distance from Geneva. With the 

 pertinacity of his nation he stayed where he first settled, 

 through ill fortune and prosperity, wisely concluding that by 

 always bettering his farm he would better himself, and make 

 more money in the long run than he could by shifting uneasily 

 from place to place in search of sudden wealth. He was poor 

 enough at the commencement ; but what did that matter to 

 a frugal, industrious man, willing to live within his means 

 and work hard to increase them ? And so with unflagging 

 zeal he has gone on from that day to this. 



HIS FARM. 



His first purchase was 112 acres of land, well situated, but 

 said to be the poorest in the county. He knew better than 

 that, however ; for although the previous tenant had all but 

 starved upon it, and the neighbours told him such would be 

 bis own fate, he had seen poorer land forced to yield large 

 crops in the old country, and so he concluded to try the 

 chances for life or death. The soil was a heavy gravelly clay, 

 with a tenacious clay subsoil, a perfectly tight reservoir for 

 water, cold, hard baked, and cropped down to about the last 

 gasp. The magician commenced his work. He found ia the 

 bara-yard a great pile of manure, the accumulations of years, 

 well rotted, black as ink, and '• as mellow as an ash-heap." 

 This he put on as much laud as possible, at the rate of seoenhj- 

 five loads to the acre, ploughed it in deeply, sowed his grain, 

 cleaned out the weeds as well as he could, and the land on 

 which he was to starve gave him about twenty-five bushels of 

 wheat per acre. The result was, as uausl, attributed to luck, 

 and anything but the real cause. To turn over such deep 

 furrows wag sheer folly, and such heavy dressings of manure 

 would not fail to destroy the seed. But it didn't; and let our 

 farmers remember that it never will ; and if they wish to get 

 rich, let them cut out thjs article, read it often, and follow the 

 example of our fanatical Scotch friend. 



Tnis system of deep ploughing and heavy miinuring wrought 

 its results in due time. Paying oflf bis debt, putting up 

 buildings, and purchasing stock each year to fatten and sell, 

 Mr. Johnston after seventeen years of hard work at last 



found himself ready to incur a new debt, and to commence 

 laying tile drains. Of the benefits to be derived from drainage 

 he had long been aware ; for he recollected that when he was 

 only ten years of age, his grandfather, a thrifty farmer in the 

 Lothians, seeing the good effects of some stone drains laid 

 down upon bis place, liad said : " Varily, I believe the whols 

 airtb should be drained." This quaint saying, which needs 

 but little qualiticatiou, made a lasting impression on the mind 

 of the boy, that was to be tested by the man, to the permanent 

 benefit of this country. 



Without sufficient means himself, he applied for a loan to 

 the Bank in Geneva ; and the President, knowing his integrity 

 and industry, granted his request. In 1833 tiles were not 

 made in this country, so Mr.Johnston imported some as sam- 

 ples ; and a quantity of the " horse-shoe" pattern were made 

 in 1838, at Waterloo. There was no machine for producing 

 them ; so they were made by hand, and moulded over a stick. 

 This slow and laborious process brought their cost to 24 d. per 

 thousand, but even at this enormous price Mr.Johnston deter- 

 mined to use them. His ditches were opened, and his tile 

 laid ; and then what sport for the neighbours ! They poked 

 fun at the deluded man ; they came and counselled with him, 

 all the while watching his bright eye and intelligent face for 

 signs of lunacy; they went by wagging their heads, and saying 

 "Aha 1" and one and all said he was a most consummate ass to 

 put crockery under ground, and bury his money so fruitlessly. 

 Poor Mr. Johnston ! He says he really felt ashamed of himself 

 for trying the new plan ; and when people riding past the 

 house would shout at him, and make coatemptuous signs, he 

 was sore-hearted and almost ready to conceal his crime. But 

 WHAT WAS THE RESULT? Why tliis : that laud which 

 previously was sodden with water, and utterly unfruitful, in 

 one season was covered with luxuriant crops, and the jeering 

 sceptics were utterly confounded ; that in two crops all his 

 outlay for tiles and labour was lepaid, and he could start 

 a.^resh and drain more land ; that the profit was so manifest 

 as to induce him to exteud his operations each succeediug 

 year, and go on until 1856, when his labour wae finished, after 

 having laid 210,000 tiles, or more than fifty miles in length ! 

 And the fame of this individual success going forth, one and 

 another duplicated his experiment, and were rewarded accord- 

 ing to their deserts. 



It was not long after the manufacture of the first lot of tile 

 that a machine was contrived which would make them quite as 

 well, and faster; end by its aid they were afforded at quite as 

 low a price as after an English machine was imported. The 

 horse-shoe tile has been used by Mr. Johnston almost exclu- 

 sively, for the reason that they were the only kind to be pro- 

 cured at first, and on his hard subsoil, finding them to do as 

 well as he could wish, he has not cared to make new experi- 

 ments. He has drains that have been in function for more 

 than twenty years without needing repair, and are apparently 

 as efficient now as they were when first laid. In soft land 

 pipe or sole tiles would be preferable, or if horse-shoe were 



