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THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 



an occasional dressing of manure would be requisite ; 

 but the root and fallow crop ought to have a good ap- 

 plication of the best fold-yard manure, both to cause 

 the production of it in bulk and to impart to it a nutri- 

 tive value. Deep cultivation and subifoil drainage are the 

 great things needful for clay lands, and no modes hitherto 

 discovered can vie with steam in producing such advan- 

 tages, and without poaching or injury to the surface — 

 no treadings, no kneading ; but all is left porous, open, 

 and friable, so that the roots of plants may revel luxu- 

 riously. 



Sometliing must be done to retrieve the circumstances 

 of the farmer ; he cannot exist, or carry on his business 

 under the present low range of prices. Unless some 

 considerable advance of prices take place, or some mode 

 of enhancing his productions is discovered, he must sink. 

 I hail this discovery of steam cultivation as one great 

 means of bettering his condition. He does now thrash 

 bis corn by steam power ; he must also cultivate his 

 land by steam power : he will thus make it more pro- 

 ductive at a less cost, and he will have the spare horses, 

 and the food usually consumed by them, to sell. The la- 

 mented Henry Handley used to call cart horses the great 

 cormorants of agriculture. How would he have rejoiced 

 to have seen the introduction of steam culture, an 

 achievement he and his friend Heathcofe, of Tiverton, 

 did so much to effect ! We know but little yet of what 

 it will accomplish, but if we are to have 20,000 horse- 

 power annually thrown into the farmer's hands to apply 

 to cultivating purposes, we may expect great things. 

 As to seasons, rotations, and management, all will be 

 more under the control of the farmer than ever. The 

 system of rotations of cropping must be left entirely to 

 every intelligent farmer's judgment : he must be unfet- 

 tered and free to manage as his judgment dictates. With 

 a new and most powerful motive-power, he must devise 

 and adopt a far more productive and heavier course of 

 cropping. This motive-power makes him comparatively 

 independent : he can convert his clay lands into friable, 

 open soils, capable of culture at any time ; and his light 

 sands or gravels he can cultivate by grubber, roll, and 

 harrow, almost without the plough or team at all, and 

 at such precise periods as he deems best. The general 

 opinion prevails that a low range of prices for corn must 

 be the rule, as our ports are open to the world, and no 

 difficulties lie in the way of importation. Not so with 

 live stock, they cannot come from far ; we may there- 

 fore pretty nearly keep and sc-ure the fresh meat trade 

 to our own soils ; and then follows my suggestion, that 

 our heavy lands must be prepared for those varieties of 

 root or food crops ; and I hold it to be a very important 

 acquisition to our agriculture to be able thus to prepare 

 our heavy soils for whatsoever crops we desire them to 

 produce. Our I'ght soils have long produced very su- 

 perior food crops in turnips and seeds, and latterly in 

 mangels and swedes. We cannot hold out any great 

 hopes of much further advancement for them besides a 

 cheaper mode of cultivation, just at the time needed, and 

 a more extended use of artificial foods, whereby a larger 

 number of stock may be supported, and manures thereby 

 improving the lands, and bettering the crops in a two- 

 fold manner. 



I have every confidence in the intelligence, judgment, 

 energy, and perseverance of the -British farmer. This 

 has been triumphantly proved by Mr. Bond, and that 

 he has advanced to an extent equal to the progress 

 made by any other class. Mr. Morton shows what 

 forces are at his command, and our Times writer points 

 to the application of an immense power. With our 

 heavy taxation, public and parochial, and our liberal 

 rate of wages, it is utterly impossible for us successfully 

 to compete with the other nations of the world, except 

 by our skill, capital, and industry. If France only pro- 



duces 14 bushels of wheat per acre, America ISJ bushels, 

 and other countries in a similar ratio, how is it that we 

 can produce " more than 28 bushels," and the like in 

 our increase of animal food ? Why, by our superior 

 cultivation, our selection of grain seeds and roots, and 

 their management, and also by a superiority in our 

 domestic breeds of animals and their management ; in 

 other words, by enhanced production in every way ; and 

 rely upon it, this is the only sure and certain course 

 whereby we can achieve the prosperity of British agri- 

 culture. 



We must then, for the year upon which we have now 

 so happily entered, look well about us, and see if there 

 is anything in our business that is wrong. Have we 

 been managing too expensively ? Have we adopted those 

 improved courses in cropping, and selected those im- 

 proved breeds of animals for grazing for which our 

 farms are best adapted ? In what way can we best 

 enhance the produce of our farms ? In what way can 

 we advantageously reduce our expenditure ? In what 

 way can we lay out our capital to greater advantage in 

 the cultivation of our farms and the general manage- 

 ment of our affairs ? 



We live in eventful times : the whole world moves at 

 a more rapid rate than formerly, and we must keep pace 

 with it. We are the providers for the nation, and they 

 will expect a cheap provision from us. Be it ours, then, 

 to do our utmost during the ensuing year for our 

 country's good : be it ours to adopt, and with energy 

 put in practice every established improvement whereby 

 the produce of our farms (which are the increase of a 

 nation's wealth) may be abundantly extended. In enter- 

 ing upon a now year, be it mine, as an old contributor, 

 to congratulate my brother-farmers upon the less warlike 

 aspect of the times. We need not entertain a fear as to the 

 stability of our homes and institutions. Was there ever 

 a more spontaneous, a more generous display of patriotic 

 feeling than is now exhibited in the establishment of 

 voluntary corps for the protection of all that is dear to 

 us? We may, then, pursue our peaceful avocations 

 with the utmost confidence, feeling assured that what- 

 ever may be the result of any commotion to other 

 countries, we shall reap that we sowed. I trust the year 

 I860 may prove a happy and peaceful one, and that 

 the hearts of our friends may be continually cheered by 

 the encouraging probpects'dawning before them Allow 

 " A Practical Farmer" heartily to wish you " A Happy 

 New Year." 



EXPORT OF HEREFORD CATTLE AND SHROP- 

 SHIRE SHEEP.— The Vincenza has arrived at Sydney, 

 ttiC stock exported in her, consisting of twenty Shrop- 

 shire Down rams, selected by Mr. Duckhara from the 

 flocks of Mr. Williams, of Culmington, Salop, and Mr. Hands 

 of Ludlow, together with a Hereford bull from his own herd, 

 were much admired by the coloniats. Mr. Strafford'a selection 

 of Hereford bulla, purchased by him from the well-known 

 herds of Mr. Price, of Pembridge, Lord Bateman, and Mr. 

 Duckham, are now far advanced on their voyage to that 

 flourishing colony ; and last week those purchased by Mr. 

 Cardell sailed in the John Marshall, from London. Our 

 readers will perhaps remember Mr. Cardell purchased the 

 first and third prize yearling bulls at the recent Herefordshire 

 Agricultural Show — viz ,Sir John, bred by Mr. Price, and got 

 by that beautiful and celebrited animal, Goldfinder the 3rd, and 

 Cefuesco, bred by the Reverend Archer Clive. To these he 

 added a yearling heifer from Mr. Rea'a herd, of Monaughtj-, 

 and two Shropshire Down rams from the flock of Mr. Clement 

 Downes, of Eardisley Park, Herefordshire. 



